Issue advocacy ads (also known as interest advocacy ads or issue only ads) are communications intended to bring awareness to a certain problem.  Groups that sponsor this form of communication are known by several names including: interest advocacy group, issue advocacy group, issue only group, or special interest group.  The problems these groups raise awareness of can be either a social or political issue.

Interest versus express advocacy

The bright-line test doesn't cover forms of communication that are indirect or debatable.  Consider this message to voters:

If you like candidate X, you need to know he did Y.

In a communication like this, there is no mention about voting, however, the plain intention is to cast doubt on voters that supported candidate X.

Campaigning like this is typically called negative campaigning, making attack ads, or making thinly veiled promotional ads on the behalf of the candidate.

Interest advocacy
Interest advocacy is the act of making generalized communication regarding a public issue or problem without advocating voters to take a specific action at the election booth.

Identification of a pure "issue only ads" made by interest advocacy groups is difficult.  Groups that sponsored messages needed to make it clear, to a voter with reasonable intelligence, that the voter should cast their ballot in a manner the group wanted.

Keeping an advertisement issue important to only groups like 501(c)(3) non-profits. They were subject to limits or absolute prohibitions on engaging in political activities. Organizations can participate in nonpartisan voter education efforts, including registration and "get-out-the-vote" drives and issue advocacy.

Express advocacy

Express advocacy is largely used in connection with a debate in the US regarding when issue advocacy turns into campaigning.

Many groups that made what appeared to most to be campaign advertisements claimed that their communications to voters were really issue advocacy and not express advocacy. To help understand the difference, examine these two communications to voters:

Select John Smith.
Vote no! on Proposition 99.

In both examples the message's intention is clear. Using a standard that looks for specific words or phrases in a communication is called conducting a bright-line test. Bright-line is a standard if there is no mistake.  One or more of the "Eight Magic Words" or their  is present or not present.

Express advocacy is associated with independent expenditures.

History
In the 1970s, changes to regulations permitted non-candidate organizations to make independent expenditures and use their money in election season. They could neither give it directly to a candidate nor make advertisement on a candidates behalf.  Typical expenditures were described as being "party building" and get out the vote campaigns. Organizations, especially non-profits were supposed to do it on a nonpartisan basis. However, groups tended to focus efforts on signing up and getting the type of voters to the polls that were most likely to hold similar views.

The only barrier stopping a group from campaigning directly for their favorite candidate or cause was something called the "reasonable person" test: if a reasonable person, viewing the communication, comes to the conclusion the sponsor wants them to vote in one way, it is express advocacy, not interest advocacy.

Eight magic words
One problem with the reasonable person test is it is not definitive or a bright-line rule.  There was no clear line that clearly stated if you cross this point you are on the wrong side. In Buckley v. Valeo, decided in January 1976, the United States Supreme Court limited the reach of campaign finance laws to candidate and party committees, and other committees with a major purpose of electing candidates, or to speech that "expressly advocated" election or defeat of candidates. In footnote 52 of that opinion, the Court listed eight words or phrases as illustrative of speech that qualified as "express advocacy". A footnote was included in a US Supreme Court ruling providing eight examples.

Under the Buckley ruling, speakers that did not invoke any of the eight specific words and phrases of Buckley, or similar language expressly calling voters to vote for or against a candidate, were exempt from campaign finance laws.

The eight words and phrases appearing in Buckley were

 "vote for"
 "elect"
 "support"
 "cast your ballot for"
 "Smith for Congress"
 "vote against"
 "defeat"
 "reject"
 or any variations thereof.

That footnote was intended to provide examples of the types of things that would lead a reasonable person to conclude the speaker was advocating a particular candidate or ballot measure.

The Court felt that limiting campaign finance laws to speech with such express advocacy was necessary to avoid a "chilling effect" on speech about political officeholders and issues that was protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution.

As a hypothetical example, suppose someone placed an advertisement that went something like this:

John Smith is a decent man who earned his education in the field and stands up for worker rights. Mary Jones received her undergraduate degree at Yale, and a law degree at Northwestern.  She advocates eating vegetables. How do you feel about that?

Although the ad might influence potential voters for or against one of the candidates, it does not specifically advocate action to elect a candidate for office. As such, it falls outside of laws that restrict political speech intended to influence elections.

These type of ads became known colloquially as "issue ads".

After 1976
However, rather than using them as examples, many found it easier to just leave out the "magic words" and claim their communications to voters were fine. By 1996, interest advocacy groups were spending millions of dollars on campaigns claiming their advertisements were "issue only" since they left out the "magic words."

By 2000, voters were inundated with $500 million worth of this type of advertisement. Owing to the "shame issue ads," scandals, and the amount of spending, Congress held a congressional investigation.  It reinvigorated campaign finance reform, and led to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act in 2002, which is more commonly known as McCain-Feingold.

In 2003, in McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, the Court detailed the difference between interest versus express advocacy. It ruled looking for "magic words" as "functionally meaningless" since an advertiser can communicate its intention to voters without them. Therefore, instead of looking for words, the Court again ruled that if a communication to voters had  "no reasonable interpretation other than as an appeal to vote for, or against, a specific candidate," it is "the functional equivalent of express advocacy."

In the 2004 United States presidential election, "issue only" ads continued and some famous ones were made by a group called Swift Boat.  They claimed their advertisements were issue only ads, not express advocacy. According to at least one analyst, voters voted exactly how the sponsors intended and the advertisements "torpedoed" Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004. Additionally, a political action committee Progress of America, ran an advertisement that showed the horrors of terrorism and stated that Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda want to kill American citizens. At the end, it asked, "Would you trust Kerry against these killers?" "George Bush did not start this War, but he will end it." The "magic words" are missing.

In 2007, the US Supreme Court in Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. ruled that issue ads may not be banned from the months preceding a primary or general election. The test to tell the difference between interest and express advocacy remained the reasonable person test.

However, that is said to have created a difficulty. A test that requires someone to consider how a reasonable person views a communication to voters requires someone to decide. The only definitive answer comes from a judge and that takes time. Election commissions are not judges, but they can issue advisory opinion on the matter. That led to a concern that in federal elections, that officials at the Federal Election Commission and state-level commissions would have to do work. Anyone cautious, wanting to make sure the communication to voters, was interest and not express advocacy would contact it for an opinion.  Communications to voters covers a wide range of areas including advertisements, e-mails, signs, and even speeches on the pulpit might want to ask someone.

To resolve this issue, the US Supreme Court looked back at a prior ruling. In 1976, in Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court held that one thing of key importance was protecting free speech.

In 2010, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission  determined, among other things, that it would be basically not possible for the federal government to be in the business of determining what does and does not constitute issue advocacy or express advocacy.

Disclosure requirements
In 2010, Citizens United "expressly rejected the contention that election-law disclosure requirements are limited to express
advocacy or its functional equivalent." While it and a subsequent case affected certain spending limitations, it did not permit those making the spending from evading disclosure requirements by claiming they were performing issue advocacy.

Also in 2010 in a case known as Doe v. Reed, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal to keep signatures upon a referendum from voters, based upon a claim it violated the First Amendment.

Lower courts are already applying these new standards to uphold a gamut of state disclosure laws ranging from ballot measures to candidate elections, and from express advocacy to issue advocacy.

See also
Political action committee
527 Organization
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)

References

External links
 Issue Advocacy Advertising During the 1996 Campaign

Advertising
Political communication

Issue advocacy ads


On 29 January 1223, during a church service, the Sackalians attacked the Germans inside the stronghold of Viljandi. They killed Sword-Brothers, vartels, merchants, and even Mauritius, the vogt of Viljandi. The rest of the Germans were put in stocks and shackles. Some men advanced on to the stronghold of Leole, where they told others to do the same. Subsequently, the same Sackalians took Hebbe, the vogt of Järvamaa, and brought him to Viljandi. The heart of a still-alive Hebbe was torn out of his chest, baked on fire and eaten ritually, in order to "become strong in the fight against the Christians".

Elders of Viljandi sent a victory notice to Otepää and Tartu, calling for Estonians to act the same way. Swords covered in German soldiers' blood, captured horses, and clothes were sent to the people of Tartu. Soon after, Otepää and Tartu were liberated and Johannes, the vogt of Tartu, killed. Like in Sakala, the bodies of the killed enemy were left on the fields "for dogs and birds".

A year later after this battle, construction of a new stone fortifications - Viljandi Castle - has started.

References

Viljandi 1223
Viljandi 1223
1223 in Europe
Viljandi 1223
Viljandi 1223
Viljandi

Battle of Viljandi (1223)


Käte van Tricht (October 22, 1909 – July 13, 1996), was a German organist, pianist, harpsichordist, and pedagogue.

Life
Käte van Tricht was born in Berlin. She was raised in Bremen, where  her mother encouraged her not only to take piano lessons, but also to join the Bremen Cathedral Choir at age eight. Van Tricht held her first position as organist at age 19 at the Alte Waller Kirche in Bremen, and in 1930 obtained master's degrees in piano and organ performance at Bremen Conservatory (Staatliche Privatmusiklehrer-Prüfung).

Through the support of Richard Liesche, Director of Music at Bremen Cathedral, Käte van Tricht was appointed Associate Organist at the Cathedral in 1933. From 1934 until 1937, she studied sacred music, piano performance (with Carl Adolph Martienssen) and organ performance (with Karl Straube), as well as counterpoint (with Johann Nepomuk David) at Leipzig Conservatory. During this time, she also frequently performed as a soprano soloist under the direction of Karl Straube.

In addition to her activities as Cathedral Organist in Bremen over a period of 41 years, Käte van Tricht launched a highly successful international career as an organ recitalist in the 1950s and made numerous recordings, both on LP and CD, at Bremen Cathedral and other venues. Following her retirement as Cathedral Organist in 1974, van Tricht was appointed as lecturer of music at Bremen University. In 1996, Käte van Tricht was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, First class (Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse). In July that year, she died at age 86 in Bremen.

Among her former students is the German organist Martin Welzel.

Discography
 Das Orgelportrait: Das Silbermann-Positiv in der Krypta des Bremer Doms. Works by Johann Pachelbel and Franz Xaver Murschhauser. 1 Single. Germany: Psallite, n.d.
 Das Orgelportrait: Die Konrad-Euler-Orgel der Benediktinerinnenabtei Heilig Kreuz, Herstelle an der Weser. Works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Vincent Lübeck and Georg Böhm. 1 LP. Germany: Psallite, 1967.
 Das Orgelportrait: Die Sauer-Orgel des St. Petri Doms zu Bremen. Works by Alexandre Guilmant and Louis Vierne. 1 LP. Germany: Psallite, 1968.
 Das Orgelportrait. Die Breil-Orgel in der St. Urbanuskirche in Gelsenkirchen-Buer. Works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Ludwig Krebs, Jenö Kapi-Kralik, Ludwig Lenel, Walter Piston and Leo Sowerby. 1 LP. Germany: Psallite, n.d.
 Abendmusik in St. Severin zu Keitum/Sylt. Organ works by Jean Baptiste Loeillet, Henry Purcell and Ernst Pepping. 1 LP. Buchholz: Musica Viva, 1979.
 Music for Harpsichord and Organ. Works by George Frideric Handel, Nicholas Carleton, Thomas Tomkins, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, François Couperin and Bernardo Pasquini. Performers: Käte van Tricht and Wolfgang Baumgratz. 1 LP. Germany: EMI-Electrola, 1980.
 Käte van Tricht spielt an vier Orgeln im Bremer Dom. Works by Johann Kaspar Kerll, Johann Pachelbel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Max Reger, Paul de Maleingreau, Louis J. A. Lefébure-Wély, Johann C. H. Rinck and Charles Ives. 2 LPs. Detmold, Germany: Musikproduktion Dabringhaus & Grimm, 1983.
 Johann Sebastian Bach: Organ Works, played from the Karl Straube Edition (Sauer organ, Bremen Cathedral, Germany). 1 CD. Musikproduktion Dabringhaus & Grimm, 1987.
 Works by Franz Liszt and Max Reger (Sauer organ, Bremen Cathedral, Germany). 1 CD. Musikproduktion Dabringhaus & Grimm, 1989.
 Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations BWV 988 (Van Vulpen organ, Bremen Cathedral, Germany). 1 CD. Musikproduktion Dabringhaus & Grimm, 1992.
 Homage to Käte van Tricht (Organs at Bremen Cathedral, Germany). Works by Johann Pachelbel, Johann Kaspar Kerll, Johann Sebastian Bach, Max Reger, Paul de Maleingreau, Léon Boëllmann, Louis J. A. Lefébure-Wély, Johann C. H. Rinck, Charles Ives and Franz Liszt. 2 CDs. Musikproduktion Dabringhaus & Grimm, 1999.

Bibliography
 Van Tricht, Käte. Ischa Freimaak. Bremer Foxtrott für den kommenden Winter. Bremen, Germany: Aschoff, 1928.
 Van Tricht, Käte. Ein Leben auf der Walze. Lebenserinnerungen (unpublished memoirs). Bremen, Germany, n.d.
 Allers, Hans-Adolf. "Käte van Tricht", in: Lebensgeschichten: Schicksale Bremer Christen jüdischer Abstammung nach 1933, edited by the Vereinigung für Bremische Kirchengeschichte. Hospitum Ecclesiae (Forschungen zur Bremischen Kirchengeschichte), Vol. 23, 2006. Second Edition, 2009. Bremen, Germany: Hauschild.
 Winklhofer, Friedemann. "Nur einmal richtig glücklich sein. Käte van Tricht (1909–1996): Erste deutsche Konzertorganistin und 40 Jahre Domorganistin in Bremen," in Organ: Journal für die Orgel no. 2 (1999): 22–28.

External links
 Artist Biography of Käte van Tricht (in German) on the website of the Record Label Musikproduktion Dabringhaus & Grimm
 Website dedicated to Käte van Tricht by her son, Dr. Wolf Siegert (Iris Media, Berlin, Germany)

1909 births
1996 deaths
German classical organists
German women pianists
Cathedral organists
Organ improvisers
German classical pianists
Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
20th-century classical pianists
20th-century German musicians
20th-century organists
Women classical pianists
20th-century German women
20th-century women pianists

Käte van Tricht


The 2006 Riga summit or the 19th NATO Summit was a NATO summit held in the Olympic Sports Centre, Riga, Latvia from 28 to 29 November 2006. The most important topics discussed were the War in Afghanistan and the future role and borders of the alliance. Further, the summit focused on the alliance's continued transformation, taking stock of what has been accomplished since the 2002 Prague Summit. NATO also committed itself to extending further membership invitations in the upcoming 2008 Bucharest Summit. This summit was the first NATO summit held on the territory of the Baltic states.

Security measures

The summit was held in the Olympic Sports Centre, Riga. Roads in the center of Riga were closed down and parking was not allowed at the airport or at several roads, out of fear of car bombs. About 9000 Latvian police officers and soldiers took care of the Summit's security, while more than 450 other airmen from seven European NATO countries were called upon to ensure a no-fly zone above the summit in an operation called Operation Peaceful Summit. This enhanced ongoing Baltic Air Policing activities with additional aircraft, communications and maintenance support.

Summit
All agreements were not actually made in the North Atlantic Council meeting, but in fact, it was made in the Istanbul Summit, 2003, except for the signing of the missile defense contract which happened on 28 November. The Council meeting was held on 29 November.

Main topics
While the tensions between NATO members from the build-up to the invasion of Iraq had dissipated, the NATO summit, and the months preceding the summit, were marked by divisions between the United States and the United Kingdom on the one side and France, Germany, Italy and Spain on the other. Two rifts existed, one about the military contributions to the war in Afghanistan, and the other concerning whether or not NATO should assume a more global role.

War in Afghanistan

Before and during the summit US president George W. Bush, British prime minister Tony Blair, Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper and Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende made a plea to European NATO members to make more troops available for deployment in Afghanistan, remove the national caveats (i.e. national restrictions on how, when and where forces can be used) and start sending its troops into the conflict-ridden south of the country. According to Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General James L. Jones it was not the lack of combat troops and the caveats were the problem, but the lack of adequate helicopters and military intelligence to support airlift and on-the-ground operations.

While the NATO countries in question refused to participate in the fighting in the south, they agreed to remove some of these national caveats, and in an emergency situation, all national caveats should cease to exist, meaning that every ally should come to the aid of the forces that require assistance. A number of NATO member states also pledged to provide additional assets, including fighters, helicopters, infantry companies as well as training teams that will mentor the Afghan National Army. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that the removal of some of the caveats meant that some 20,000 of the 32,000 NATO troops in ISAF are made "more usable" for combat duties and that 90% of the formal mission requirements were now filled. Military sources, however, told reporters at the summit that these caveats never existed in emergency situations, adding that it would be a strange alliance where one country's soldiers refused to support their allies in an emergency. NATO leaders also backed a French proposal to set up a "contact group" to coordinate action concerning Afghanistan, but the United States had reservations about France's proposal to include Iran, which has considerable influence over the west of Afghanistan, in the proposed contact group due to the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme. The group was modelled on the one set up for the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s.

Political scientist Joseph Nye commented that "while the Riga summit relaxed some of these caveats to allow assistance to allies in dire circumstances, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, and the US are doing most of the fighting in southern Afghanistan, while French, German, and Italian troops are deployed in the quieter north. It is difficult to see how NATO can succeed in stabilizing Afghanistan unless it is willing to commit more troops and give commanders more flexibility." The controversy surrounding the differences in contributions to Afghanistan indeed remained after the summit. For instance, in March 2007, British commanders accused the NATO members that refused to fight in the conflict-ridden south (in non-emergency situations) of causing "huge resentment" and a sense of betrayal and undermined the credibility of the alliance. They added that despite the earlier pleas for reinforcements or to have "operational caveats" removed, some countries, notably France and Germany, were still not heeding their requests.

Besides the above discussion about contributions and caveats, the summit was noticed to paint an optimistic picture of the war in Afghanistan and Afghanistan's future. For instance, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that "real progress" had been made in Afghanistan and that this was the main highlight of the summit. He strongly disagreed with visions of "doom and gloom," and added that five years after the defeat of the Taliban regime, Afghanistan had become a democratic society that is "no longer a threat to the world." He also believed that the defeat of the insurgency was only a matter of time, stating that the war in Afghanistan "is winnable, it is being won, but it is not yet won because, of course, we have many challenges in Afghanistan." In his opinion, these challenges included besides military engagement mainly reconstruction and development work.

Role of NATO

The second, more fundamental rift, concerned a discussion about whether NATO should form close relationships with countries far beyond NATO's borders, in particular Australia, Japan and South Korea. The United States and some other NATO members pressed for a closer relationship with these countries. R. Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs explained the US proposal: "We seek a partnership with them so that we can train more intensively (...) and grow closer to them because we are deployed with them. Australia, South Korea and Japan are in Afghanistan. They have all been in Iraq (...) [and] in the Balkans." It was however not clear how far this plan would have gone in practice, but the US insisted they were not seeking to turn NATO into a global alliance: membership would not be offered to the prospective new partners. The idea of a "global" NATO however was strongly opposed by France, which considers NATO a regional defense alliance that should not spread its wings too far over the globe. The French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie summarized the position of France as follows: "The development of a global partnership could... dilute the natural solidarity between Europeans and North Americans in a fuzzy entity [and it would] send a bad political message, that of a campaign launched by the West against those who don't share their ideas. What a pretext we would offer to those who promote the idea of a clash of civilisations." The summit did not reach a satisfying consensus on the future role of NATO and it was considered an exercise in "papering over cracks", much more than it was ever a serious effort to decide on the future borders and core purposes. As a consequence, the debate continued after the summit.

Other topics

Kosovo
At the Riga summit, NATO members confirmed the role of NATO-led KFOR in ensuring a stable security environment there. This is perceived to be a reference to the possible United Nations decision in favour of independence.  Because Serbia strongly opposes the break-away of Kosovo, the resulting tensions between Serbia and Kosovo could create instability in the region.

Enhanced cooperation with non-members
Enhanced cooperation with non-member states closer at home was less controversial and two offers were made: an extension of Partnership for Peace membership, and a training initiative.
 Partnership for Peace (PfP) membership was offered to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. NATO hoped that this would bring these countries more into the Euro-Atlantic community as the PfP is a programme of practical bilateral cooperation between individual Partner countries and NATO, thereby allowing Partner countries to choose their own priorities for cooperation. It is expected that PfP membership is for these three countries the first step towards NATO membership. As a result, the PfP offer sparked the anger of the UN tribunal trying suspected war criminals from the Balkans.
 NATO launched a Training Cooperation Initiative offering to share NATO training expertise with its Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) countries (Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel and Jordan) and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) countries. The initial phase included expanding those countries' participation in relevant existing NATO training and education programmes, and the establishment of a Middle East faculty at the NATO Defense College in Rome. As a second phase, NATO would consider supporting the establishment of a Security Cooperation Centre in the region, to be owned by the MD and ICI countries, with regional funding and NATO assistance. Senior NATO staff have tended to highlight this project as evidence of NATO's forward-thinking and its desire to avoid becoming a party to a "clash of civilizations".

Comprehensive Political Guidance
Comprehensive Political Guidance (CPG), a policy document that had been agreed upon by Defence Ministers in June 2006 and an addition to the 1999 Strategic Concept document, was formally endorsed during the summit. The CPG intends to provide a framework and political direction for NATO's continuing transformation in the coming 10 to 15 years. More specifically, the document expresses the belief that the principal threats to the Alliance in the coming decades are terrorism, proliferation, failing states, regional crises, misuse of new technologies, and disruption of the flow of vital resources. According to this document, the Alliance should adapt to these new threats and set out the Alliance vis-a-vis capability issues, planning disciplines and intelligence for the next 10 to 15 years, including among others the need for joint expeditionary forces and the capability to deploy and sustain them over long periods of time. The document further underlined that NATO's forces should be able to conduct a variety of missions, from high to low intensity, and emphasized the likelihood that NATO will need to carry out a greater number and range of smaller operations. The CPG also confirmed the principle that 40% of the member states' military forces must be re-deployable, and 8% must constantly be on operations abroad. This principle makes it, among other things, possible to effectively compare the contributions made by various states, irrespective of the size of their populations.

The CPG policy document is regarded as self-contradictory for at least two reasons. Firstly, it identified the two greatest threats to NATO as terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), whilst simultaneously reaffirming the 1999 Strategic Concept as "remaining valid" despite the fact that it barely mentioned these threats. Secondly, the document states that collective defence remains the core purpose of NATO, but at the same time emphasizes potential NATO contributions to conflict prevention and crisis management, and the potential planning and management of missions like that in Afghanistan. The Riga Declaration even described the capability for such missions as NATO's "top priority". Additionally, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer wanted and expected a new Strategic Concept to be debated and agreed upon by 2008, reinforcing already existing views that the CPG will most likely last much less than the 10 to 15 years as the guiding policy document.

Energy security

The Riga summit was the first NATO summit that underscored the need for energy security, following the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute. The "Riga Summit Declaration" (par. 45) stated that "Alliance security interests can also be affected by the disruption of the flow of vital resources" and that it supported "a coordinated, international effort to assess risks to energy infrastructures and to promote energy infrastructure security." It further states that NATO leaders "direct the Council in Permanent Session to consult on the most immediate risks in the field of energy security, to define those areas where NATO may add value to safeguard the security interests of the Allies and, upon request, assist national and international efforts." Radio Free Europe reports that an unnamed diplomatic source told that several NATO leaders, including Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga, had tried to make arrangements for bilateral talks concerning this topic with Russian president Vladimir Putin during the summit, but Putin instead attended the CIS energy summit in Minsk, Belarus on 28 November 2006. In contrast, The Independent reported that the summit was marred by a diplomat fracas over an invitation to President Vladimir Putin and that he was eventually not invited, and that Putin as a result threatened that he would visit Latvia for the first time since independence during the summit to upstage the summit. It was even proposed that Putin could honour French president Jacques Chirac, who was at the summit and whose 74th birthday coincided with the summit, by visiting Latvia. He later made clear that this would not go ahead.

2008 membership invitations
The NATO Heads of State and Government congratulated the efforts of the three Balkan states currently in NATO's Membership Action Plan: Albania, Croatia and Macedonia, and declared that the Alliance intends to extend further invitations to these countries during the 2008 Bucharest Summit, on condition that these countries meet NATO standards. The Alliance also affirmed that NATO remained open to new European members under Article X of the North Atlantic Treaty, but remained largely silent on the prospects of Georgia and Ukraine, two countries that had declared membership as a goal, as the summit limited itself to noting the efforts of both countries to conduct an "intensified dialogue" with NATO. Nevertheless, Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said after the summit that he had discussed Georgia's membership with US president Bush on 28 November. He further added that in his view Georgia had "very good chances" to join NATO if the planned reforms would continue and that a Membership Action Plan, the next necessary step on Georgia's way towards membership, was only "a small step away". Preceding the summit, it was expected that Ukraine was on a fast track to membership: it was believed that Ukraine would have received an invitation to a Membership Action Plan during the summit, followed by an invitation to join in 2008 and membership in 2010. According to political scientist Taras Kuzio the summit showed that Georgia rapidly moved ahead of Ukraine in its drive to join NATO, even though it joined the Intensified Dialogue program a year later than Ukraine, because president of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko failed to support a pro-Western Orange revolution coalition following the Ukraine's parliamentary elections of March 2006. In other words, Ukraine showed more ambivalence in its desire to join NATO, whereas in Georgia the pro-Western Rose Revolution coalition remained united.

NATO Response Force
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced that the NATO Response Force was finally fully operational since all capabilities necessary were in place. The force is believed to be capable of performing missions worldwide across the whole spectrum of operations (such as evacuations, disaster management, counterterrorism, and acting as "an initial entry force") and can number up to 25,000 troops and should be able to start to deploy after five days' notice and sustain itself for operations lasting 30 days or longer if resupplied. The heads of state and government also agreed to share the costs of airlift for the short notice deployments of the Response Force.

2010 Theatre Missile Defence
In September 2006, NATO selected an international consortium led by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to build an Integration Test Bed for the Alliance's future Active Layered Theatre Missile Defence (ALTBMD) capability. After two months of negotiations, ALTBMD Programme Manager, General (Ret) Billard, and SAIC contracting Officer, Mr. Robert Larrick, signed the contract on the first day of NATO's Riga Summit. This decision was based on an unpublished report agreed upon earlier by NATO ministers following a study into the feasibility of theatre missile defences.

This programme is one of three programmes that NATO is pursuing in the area of missile defence. The contract puts the Alliance on track for having, by 2010, a system to protect troops on missions against ballistic missiles. The contract is worth approximately 75 million EUR for work that would be conducted over a period of six years. The theatre missile defence would be a multi-layered system of systems, comprising early warning system sensors, radar and various interceptors. While NATO member countries would provide the sensors and weapon systems, NATO itself would develop a commonly funded NATO architecture to integrate all of these elements. The development of the ALTBMD system was agreed by NATO members in large part because it is limited. NATO members are deeply divided about the multi-tiered BMD architecture promoted by the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA).

Views on the summit
For the three formerly Soviet-occupied states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania such a high-level event was held for the first time in the region. As a consequence, it held symbolic meaning. It is perceived to have increased the visibility of these three Baltic states as NATO members.

References

External links
 Riga Summit, Official Web Site,
 NATO, NATO Riga Summit, http://www.nato.int/docu/comm/2006/0611-riga/index.htm
 US Department of State, The NATO Riga Summit, https://web.archive.org/web/20071212224704/http://www.state.gov/r/pa/scp/2006/76799.htm
 M. Bucher, "NATO, Riga and Beyond" in Disarmament policy, (2007), 84, http://www.acronym.org.uk/dd/dd84/84nato.htm

2006 Riga summit
2006 in Latvia
2006 in politics
Diplomatic conferences in Latvia
21st-century diplomatic conferences (NATO)
2006 in international relations
2006 conferences
21st century in Riga
Latvia and NATO
November 2006 events in Europe

2006 Riga summit


The Order of Santiago (;  ) is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the patron saint of Spain, Santiago (St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgrims on the Way of St. James, to defend Christendom and to remove the Muslim Moors from the Iberian Peninsula with the Reconquista. Entrance was not restricted to nobility of Spain exclusively, and some members have been Catholic Europeans from other parts of Europe. The Order's insignia is particularly recognisable and abundant in Western art.

With the culmination of the Reconquista and the death of the Grand Master Alonso de Cárdenas, the Catholic Monarchs incorporated the Order into the Spanish Crown, and the Pope Adrian VI forever united the office of Grand Master of Santiago to the Crown in 1523.

The First Republic suppressed the Order in 1873, but it was re-established in the Restoration as a nobiliary institute of honorable character. The Order was again supressed after the proclamation of the Second Republic in 1931. With the fall of the Republic and the re-establishment of the Monarchy, the Order of Santiago was definitely restored with the kingship of Juan Carlos I with the character of a nobiliary, honorable, and religious order; and remains as such.

The Order of Santiago is one of the four Spanish military orders, together with those of Calatrava, Alcántara, and Montesa.

Insignia

The Order's insignia is said to originate from the Battle of Clavijo, and is a red cross resembling a sword, with the shape of a fleur-de-lis on the hilt and the arms. The knights wore the cross stamped on the royal standard and white cape. The cross of the royal standard had a Mediterranean scallop in the center and another one at the end of each arm.

The three fleurs-de-lis represent the "honor without stain", which is in reference to the moral features of the Apostle's character.

The sword represents the chivalrous character of the apostle St. James and his martyr ways, since he was decapitated with a sword. It can also symbolize taking the sword in the name of Christ, in a certain sense.

It is said that its shape originated in the era of the Crusades, when the knights took with them small crosses with sharpened bottoms to stick them in the ground and carry out their daily devotions.

History

Middle Ages
Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, the centre of devotion to this Apostle, is neither the cradle nor the principal seat of the order. Two cities contend for the honour of having given it birth, León in the kingdom of that name, and Uclés in Castile. At that time (1157–1230) the royal dynasty was divided into two branches, the rivalry of which tended to obscure the beginnings of the order. The Knights of Santiago had possessions in each of the kingdoms, but Ferdinand II of León and Alfonso VIII of Castile, in bestowing them, set the condition that the seat of the order should be in their respective states. Hence arose long disputes which only ended in 1230 when Ferdinand III, the Saint, united both crowns. Thereafter, Uclés, in Cuenca Province, was regarded as the headquarters of the order; there the grand master habitually resided, aspirants passed their year of probation, and the rich archives of the order were preserved until united in 1869 with the "Archivo Histórico Nacional" of Madrid. The order received its first rule in 1171 from Cardinal Jacinto (later Pope Celestine III), then legate in Iberia of Pope Alexander III. This first Grand Master was Pedro Fernández de Castro, also known as Pedro Fernández de Fuentecalada, a soldier of King Ferdinand II and a former crusader.

Unlike the contemporary orders of Calatrava and Alcántara, which followed the severe rule of the Benedictines of Cîteaux, Santiago adopted the milder rule of the Canons of St. Augustine. At León, they offered their services to the Canons Regular of Saint Eligius in that town for the protection of pilgrims to the shrine of St. James and the hospices on the roads leading to Compostela. This explains the mixed character of their order—hospitaller and military—like that of St. John of Jerusalem. They were recognized as religious by Pope Alexander III, whose Bull of 5 July 1175, was subsequently confirmed by more than twenty of his successors. These pontifical acts, collected in the Bullarium of the order, secured them all the privileges and exemptions of other monastic orders. The order comprised several affiliated classes: canons, charged with the administration of the sacraments; canonesses, occupied with the service of pilgrims; religious knights living in community, and married knights. The right to marry, which other military orders only obtained at the end of the Middle Ages, was accorded them from the beginning under certain conditions, such as the authorization of the king, the obligation of observing continence during Advent, Lent, and on certain festivals of the year, which they spent at their monasteries in retreat.

The mildness of this rule furthered the rapid spread of the order, which eclipsed the older orders of Calatrava and Alcántara, and whose power was reputed abroad even before 1200. The first Bull of confirmation, that of Pope Alexander III, already enumerated a large number of endowments. At its height Santiago alone had more possessions than Calatrava and Alcántara together. In Spain, these possessions included 83 commanderies (of which 3 were reserved to the grand commanders), 2 cities, 178 boroughs and villages, 200 parishes, 5 hospitals, 5 convents, and 1 college at Salamanca. The number of knights was then 400 and they could muster more than 1000 lances. They had possessions in Portugal, France, Italy, Hungary, and even Palestine. Abrantes, their first commandery in Portugal, dates from the reign of Afonso I in 1172, and soon became a distinct order which Pope Nicholas IV released from the jurisdiction of Uclés in 1290.

Their military history is linked with that of the Iberian states. They assisted in the eviction of the Muslims and doing battle with them, sometimes separately, sometimes with the royal armies, a notable example being the conquest of Algarve, in modern-day Portugal. They also had a share in the fatal dissensions which disturbed the Christians of Iberia and brought about more than one schism in the order. Finally they took part in the maritime expeditions against the Muslims. Thus arose the obligation imposed upon aspirants to serve six months in the galleys, which still existed in the eighteenth century, but from which exemption was easily purchased. Authority was exercised by a grand master assisted by a Council of Thirteen, which elected the grand master and had the right to depose him for due cause; they had supreme jurisdiction in all disputes between members of the order. The first grand master, Pedro Fernández de Castro, died in 1184. He had had 39 successors, among them several Spanish Infantes, when, in 1499, Ferdinand the Catholic induced the pope to assign to him the administration of the order. Under Charles V, Pope Adrian VI annexed to the crown of Spain the three great military orders (Alcántara, Calatrava, and Santiago) with hereditary transmission even in the female line (1522). Thenceforth the three orders were united under one government, though their titles and possessions remained separate. To discharge the detail of this administration, Charles V instituted a special ministry, the Council of Orders, composed of a president named by the king, whom he represented, and six knights, two delegates from each order. To this council belonged the presentation of knights to vacant commanderies and jurisdiction in all matters, civil or ecclesiastical, save the purely spiritual cases reserved for ecclesiastical dignitaries. Thus ended the autonomy of the orders, but not their prestige.

Modernity
The Order of Santiago still exists under the protection of the Spanish Crown. , there were 35 knights and 30 novices in the order. Admission to the Order was restricted to applicants of noble blood. Until 1653, nobility was checked by looking at only the paternal grandparents' family history. Changes were made so that maternal grandparents are included in verifying noble ancestry. The applicant must be a practicing Roman Catholic, be of legitimate birth through both parents and grandparents, not be descended from non-Christians, and prove at least 200 years of confirmed nobility of birth (not of privilege) from each of their four grandparents by legitimate marriage.  Duties added in 1655 included defence of the belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

Their symbol is a cross of Saint James, a red cross terminating in a sword (cross fleury fitchy in heraldry), which recalls their title De la Espada.

Internal organization

Prerequisites for entrance into the Order
In its beginnings, entrance into the Order was not difficult, but after mid-thirteenth century it became more complicated.

Once the Reconquest was finalized, a candidate who wished to join the Order of Santiago must have proved in his first four last names that he, his parents, and his grandparents were of noble descent by blood and not by privilege, and had never worked in manual or industrial labor.

Many classes of people were permanently disqualified from membership of the order due to their origins or circumstances. They included the following categories and their descendants: Jews, Muslims, heretics, converts to Christianity, or a mixture of these, no matter how far removed. Also included were people who had been punished for acts against the Catholic faith; had been an attorney, moneylender, notary public, retail merchant, or had worked where they lived or would have lived from their trade; had been dishonoured, had neglected the laws of honor and executed any act not proper for a perfect gentleman, or who lacked means of support. The prospective member then had to live three months in the galleys and reside for a month in the monastery to learn the Rule.

Later the King and the Council of the Orders abolished many of these prerequisites.

The convents
The Order of Santiago operated convents, both male and female. Aside from the convents for friars of Uclés and San Marcos (León), the Order had other convents in Vilar de Donas (a church in Palas de Rei, Lugo), Palmela (Portugal), Montánchez (Cáceres), Montalbán (Teruel) and Segura de la Sierra (Jaén).

In 1275, the Order also had six convents for nuns, who called themselves the Mothers Superior. The wives and family of the friars could stay there when they went to war or died. The friars only professed conjugal chastity, but not everlasting, and because of this they could leave the convent and marry. The convents that are mentioned are: Santa Eufemia de Cozuelos (Palencia), founded in 1502; Convento de Sancti Spiritus of Salamanca, given to the Order in 1233; San Vicente de Junqueras (Barcelona), founded in 1212; San Pedro de la Piedra (1260), in Lérida; Santos-o-Velho (1194), in Lisbon and Destriana (León). The convents of Membrilla (Ciudad Real) and the Mothers Superior of Madrid (1650) came after these dates.

Territorial division
The Order was divided into several provinces, the most important ones being Castille and León because of their number of properties and vassals. At the head of each province there was a military commander with headquarters in Segura de la Sierra, Castilla and Segura de León, León. The province of León was divided into two parts, Mérida and Llerena; in each of them there were various encomiendas.

The most important internal subdivision of the military orders were called "encomiendas", which were local units directed by a knight commander of military order. The "encomienda" could place the headquarters or residence of the knight commander in a castle or fortress or in a small town and was the administrative or economic center in which the rents of the estate and properties relevant to that "encomienda" were paid and received; it was the habitual residence of the knight commander and some other knight.

Each "encomienda" had to support the knight commander and the other knights living there, and to pay and arm a certain number of spearmen, who had to be properly equipped and take part in military actions they were called to by their master. All of them formed the armed retinue or army of the Order, which answered to the orders of its master. The revenue of the Order came from land, pastures, industries, toll and right of way, taxes, and tithe. The revenue was allocated between the respective "encomiendas" and the board that financed the Master of the Order.

By 1185, the order possessed lands as far afield as France, England and Carinthia.

Female members
Women were admitted into the order from the beginning, since its members could marry. The work of the ladies of the order, who were required to be of noble status and to prove the purity of their blood (limpieza de sangre) with corresponding records, was limited to the task of educating the children of the knights. However, some were given authority over certain tasks.

List of grand masters

In popular culture
In the grand strategy game
series Crusader Kings II and Crusader Kings III made by Paradox Interactive, the Order of Santiago can be created, as a militarized order akin to the Knights Templar.

Knights of Santiago are a unique crusading military units that can be raised by the Spanish faction in the game Medieval II: Total War, made by Creative Assembly.

See also
Order of Calatrava
Balthazar Bourke, an Irish soldier and Knight of Santiago, fl. 1607

References

Bibliography

External links

Catholic Encyclopedia
The Cross of Saint James, history of the St James' Cross used by the Order of Santiago.

Order of Santiago


A motor–generator is a device for converting electrical power to another form. Motor–generator sets are used to convert frequency, voltage, or phase of power. They may also be used to isolate electrical loads from the electrical power supply line. Large motor–generators were widely used to convert industrial amounts of power while smaller motor–generators were used to convert battery power to higher voltages.

Nowadays, motor–generators have largely been replaced by semiconductor devices. Examples include rectifiers for converting alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) and inverters for converting DC to AC.

Electricity

Motor–generator


Private William H. Folly was an American soldier in the U.S. Army who served with the 8th U.S. Cavalry during the Apache Wars. He was one of thirty-four cavalry troopers who received the Medal of Honor for gallantry in several engagements against the Apache Indians in the Arizona Territory from August to October 1868.

Biography
William H. Folly was born in Bergen County, New Jersey. He later enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private with Company B of the 8th U.S. Cavalry. Folly was assigned to frontier duty and saw action during the Apache Wars during the late-1860s. In the late summer and fall of 1868, Folly was among the 50-60 cavalrymen, mostly from Company B and L, ordered to protect settlers in the Arizona Territory from Apache raiding parties. He and his comrades frequently encountered the Apache during their patrols, often in ambushes or sniper attacks from hidden ravines, and won distinction in several of these battles during this 90-day period. On July 24, 1869, in one of the largest award presentations ever held at the time, Folly was among the thirty-four men in his regiment who received the Medal of Honor for "bravery in scouts and actions against Indians".

Medal of Honor citation
Rank and organization: Private, Company B, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Arizona, August to October 1868. Entered service at:------. Birth: Bergen County, N.J. Date of issue: July 24, 1869.

Citation:

Bravery in scouts and actions against Indians.

See also

List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Indian Wars

References

External links

American military personnel of the Indian Wars
United States Army Medal of Honor recipients
People from Bergen County, New Jersey
United States Army soldiers
Year of birth missing
Year of death missing
American Indian Wars recipients of the Medal of Honor

William H. Folly


The Dalradian Supergroup (informally and traditionally the Dalradian) is a stratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the lithostratigraphy of the Grampian Highlands of Scotland and in the north and west of Ireland. The diverse assemblage of rocks which constitute the supergroup extend across Scotland from Islay in the west to Fraserburgh in the east and are confined by the Great Glen Fault to the northwest and the Highland Boundary Fault to the southeast. Much of Shetland east of the Walls Boundary Fault is also formed from Dalradian rocks. Dalradian rocks extend across the north of Ireland from County Antrim in the north east to Clifden on the Atlantic coast, although obscured by later Palaeogene lavas and tuffs or Carboniferous rocks in large sections.

Historical
The land to the southeast of the Great Glen was the old Celtic region of Dál Riata (Dalriada), and in 1891 Archibald Geikie proposed the name Dalradian as a convenient provisional designation for the complicated set of rocks to which it was then difficult to assign a definite position in the stratigraphical sequence.

In Archibald Geikie's words, "they consist in large proportion of altered sedimentary strata, now found in the form of mica-schist, graphite-schist, andalusite-schist, phyllite, schistose grit, greywacke and conglomerate, quartzite, limestone and other rocks, together with epidiorites, chlorite-schists, hornblende schists and other allied varieties, which probably mark sills, lava-sheets or beds of tuff, intercalated among the sediments. The total thickness of this assemblage of rocks must be many thousand feet." The Dalradian Series (as then defined) included the "Eastern or Younger schists" of eastern Sutherland, Ross-shire and Inverness-shire, the Moine gneiss, as well as the metamorphosed igneous and sedimentary rocks of the central, eastern and southwestern Scottish Highlands.

Age
The Dalradian is largely of Neoproterozoic (Sturtian to Vendian) age but likely extending into the Cambrian and possibly the Ordovician with the youngest rocks being at least 470 million years old. The oldest part of the sequence may be around 800 million years old.

Sub-units
The supergroup is composed of four groups which in stratigraphic order i.e. youngest at top, are:

Southern Highland Group
Argyll Group
Appin Group
Grampian Group

The upper three groups are applied to Ireland too; the Grampian Group is not recorded here nor in Shetland where the Dalradian is divided into a Clift Hills 'Division' which equates to the Southern Highland Group, a Whiteness 'Division' which equates to the Argyll Group and a Scatsta 'Division' which equates to the Appin Group. Though now metamorphosed, the Dalradian sequence was originally deposited as marine sands and muds, silt and limestone. Metamorphism has been low to medium grade for the most part and resulted in the formation of slates, phyllites, psammites, pelites and semipelites. The Tayvallich Subgroup contains volcanics within a turbidite basin and there are lavas within the overlying Southern Highland Group.

Southern Highland Group
The Southern Highland Group is found along the entire southeastern margin of the Grampian Highlands from Kintyre to Stonehaven and also in the northeast along the coastal strip between Fraserburgh and Portsoy, extending south to the Don valley. In Shetland, the Clift Hills Division extends from north of Lerwick south to Fitful Head. In Ireland the most extensive outcrop of the Southern Highland Group is to the north and south of Lough Foyle and west to Lough Swilly. Smaller exposures occur as far to the southwest as Inishbofin, County Galway.

Argyll and Appin groups

In mainland Scotland, the Appin and Argyll group sequences occupy the intermediate ground between the Southern Highland and Grampian groups. The Argyll Group is divided into four subgroups, thus:
Tayvallich Subgroup
Crinan Subgroup
Easdale Subgroup
Islay Subgroup
whilst the Appin Group is divided into three subgroups:
Blair Atholl Subgroup
Ballachulish Subgroup
Lochaber Subgroup
In Shetland the Whiteness 'Division' forms the core of  Mainland whilst the Scatsta 'Division' forms the western halves of Unst and Fetlar, all of Whalsay and much of the southeastern part of Mainland, east of the Nesting Fault. These rocks are also present in Ireland across County Londonderry and County Donegal and appear again in the Ox Mountains, the Nephin Beg Range and the Twelve Pins of Connemara.

Grampian Group
The Grampian Group rocks occupy the ground south west from Elgin and extending down the Great Glen as far as Corran on Loch Linnhe and, further east, as far south as Tyndrum. It is divided into three subgroups:
Glen Spean Subgroup
Corrieyairack Subgroup
Glenshirra Subgroup

Shetland sequence
The stratigraphic position of the sequence identified as Dalradian in the Shetland Islands is uncertain, because the main marker within the sequence in Scotland and Ireland, the Port Askaig Formation tillite, is not present. Carbon isotope data from four metamorphosed limestones within this mainly siliclastic sequence, suggest that the entire Shetland sequence probably lies stratigraphically above the tillite marker, explaining its absence.

Structure
The Grampian orogeny folded the sequence  in mainland Scotland into a series of major tight folds with NE-SW aligned fold axes. Much of the southeastern part of the outcrop forms a part of the Tay Nappe and involves the inversion of a large part of the succession. Caledonoid faulting on NE-SW lines affects the  sequence across the entire area.

References

External links

Metamorphic rocks
Geologic formations of the United Kingdom
Geology of Highland (council area)
Neoproterozoic
Geology of Ireland
Geological supergroups

Dalradian


Hemant Mehta (; born February 25, 1983) is an American author, blogger, YouTuber and atheist activist. Mehta is a regular speaker at atheist events, and has been a board member of charitable organizations such as the Secular Student Alliance and the Foundation Beyond Belief.

Mehta used to run the Friendly Atheist blog on Patheos, in which he and his associates published articles several times a day, and also co-hosts a weekly podcast called the Friendly Atheist Podcast. The blog stopped its activities on Patheos from December 14, 2021, as Mehta and some of his other associates moved to a new platform called OnlySky (Onlysky.media). Mehta currently also publishes on Substack.

On April 1, 2020, Mehta won his first appearance on the television game show Jeopardy!

Biography
Mehta was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1983. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2004 with a double degree in math and biology and began teaching in 2007. He acquired a master's degree in math education from DePaul University in 2010 and a national board certification in teaching in 2012. He taught high school math at Neuqua Valley High School until 2014 when he announced on Facebook and his blog that he had submitted his resignation to the school, citing that "As much as I love being in the classroom, the opportunities online are just a lot greater right now, and I don't want to have any regrets down the road about not taking this chance while I have it." After his resignation, he stayed on as the head coach of the school's speech team.

Mehta was raised in the Jain faith. He became an atheist as a teenager. Seeking to learn more about what motivated many Americans to be religious, he decided to attend and take notes at a number of churches across the United States. He based his choice of churches to attend on the results of an eBay auction in which he offered his bidders, "I am an atheist. You can bid on where I go to church or a temple or a mosque, etc." Mehta's experiences at the churches became the basis for his book, I Sold My Soul on eBay.

Activism
Hemant Mehta established a secular student group, Students WithOut Religious Dogma (SWORD), at the University of Illinois at Chicago while earning dual degrees there. Later, still in college, he served as board chair for the Secular Student Alliance. He interned at the Center for Inquiry where he became familiar with a lot of the national organizations and leaders in the activist world at that time. Now, he serves on the board of directors for the Foundation Beyond Belief, a non-profit charitable organization.

Mehta is a regular speaker at freethought and skeptical events around the U.S. He attempts to build bridges of understanding between believers and non-believers through his blog, The Friendly Atheist. Due in part to his positive message, he is also invited to speak at atheist events such as the one he presented at The Reason Rally or at the American Atheists Annual Convention in March 2012.

A vocal advocate of building an atheist community, Mehta's activism includes fundraising for charitable causes. He helped establish and serves on the board of the Foundation Beyond Belief, which has raised more than $2,400,000 since it launched in 2010. He also established a church cleanup fund in response to reports of church vandalism in Bend, Oregon, in 2012. The vandals tagged the church with allusions to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and Mehta's readers contributed nearly $3,000 in one day to help clean up the damage.

Mehta writes for the "On Faith" column in The Washington Post and has been featured in a New York Times debate on prayer.

When asked about his beliefs, he has stated: "Simply put, I have never seen any evidence of 'God's work' in action. I've seen what people think is God's work, but which actually has perfectly natural explanations. I believe that most people are good, even when nobody's looking. I believe our best path to discovering the truth lies in science, not religion."

In June 2013, Mehta wrote for the "Room for Debate" series in the New York Times, where he argued that "There's a very real downside to praying. It lulls believers into a false sense of accomplishment." In July 2013, he held an open discussion at the Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, where he explained his frustration at being confronted time and again with the same arguments for believing in God. He also commented that "Many Christians had negative stereotypes about atheists that prevented fruitful conversation."

Mehta was a guest on CNN on August 20, 2013, to discuss the rise of atheism among the millennial generation. Also in 2013, he began publishing "The Atheist Voice" series of video discussions on YouTube, which had over 215 thousand subscribers in 2020. He started a second channel, Friendly Atheist, in 2019, and has since gained almost 100 thousand subscribers.

Mehta is the co-host, with Jessica Bluemke, of a weekly podcast named the Friendly Atheist Podcast, which has produced over 270 episodes as of June 2019.

Published works
In January 2006, Mehta posted an auction on eBay where he explained his background in atheism and offered to go to the worship services of the winning bidder's choosing. The auction ended on February 3, 2006, with a final bid of $504 from Jim Henderson, a minister from Seattle, Washington.  Mehta later donated that money to the Secular Student Alliance, a non-profit organization for which he served as chair of the board of directors.

Nearly a month after the auction, an article about Mehta's experiences appeared on the front page of The Wall Street Journal,. He was featured in the Chicago Sun-Times, the Seattle Times, and the Village Voice, and on National Public Radio. Henderson asked Mehta to visit a variety of churches and write about the experiences on Henderson's website, offthemap.com.  Mehta eventually wrote about his visits at nine different churches as well as two additional pieces dealing with atheist conventions and Christian media. I Sold My Soul on eBay contains Mehta's observations and critiques of the churches along with background on how he became an atheist.

Other published works include The Young Atheist's Survival Guide published in 2012 and The Friendly Atheist: Thoughts on the Role of Religion in Politics and Media published in 2013. The former is aimed at students, teachers, and parents who may face ostracism due to their lack of religious belief. The latter is intended as a study guide for the many things written by Mehta.

In August 2014, Mehta announced his latest project, God is an Abusive Boyfriend (and you should break up), based on his YouTube series, The Atheist Voice. However, Mehta cancelled the project after receiving negative feedback from his readers.

References

External links
Friendly Atheist blog on Patheos
Friendly Atheist blog on Substack
Hemant Mehta on Onlysky.media
Friendly Atheist Podcast
YouTube video of speech at Reason Rally, March 2012
Interview on The Young Atheist's Survival Guide on the Token Skeptic podcast (Ep. 149)

1983 births
American atheism activists
American bloggers
American biologists
American mathematicians
Schoolteachers from Illinois
DePaul University alumni
Living people
Former Jains
Writers from Naperville, Illinois
University of Illinois Chicago alumni
American people of Indian descent
American podcasters
Writers about religion and science
Jeopardy! contestants

Hemant Mehta


The Look of Love is the fifth album by singer Dusty Springfield to be released in the US, issued on the Philips Records label in late 1967. It gathered seven tracks from Springfield's British 1967 album Where Am I Going? with both the A- and B-sides of the singles "Give Me Time"/"The Look of Love" and "What's It Gonna Be"/"Small Town Girl" and became Springfield's final release on the Philips label in the US. In early 1968 she signed with Atlantic Records in America and as a consequence her 1968 album Dusty... Definitely, recorded for Philips in the UK, was not issued in the US at that time. Her next LP to be released in the North American market instead became her keynote work Dusty in Memphis. The tracks from the entire Dusty...Definitely album, the British recordings on the 1972 release See All Her Faces as well as a series of A- and B-side singles recorded in the UK between the years 1968 and 1972, were all first issued in the US in 1999 on the Rhino/Atlantic Records compilation Dusty in London.

The title track "The Look of Love", undoubtedly one of Springfield's best-known recordings, was first recorded with Burt Bacharach in January 1967 and included on the Casino Royale soundtrack album, issued on the Colgems label in the US and RCA in the UK. This Colgems issue became one of the most sought-after records of all time by US and European audiophiles (an excellent copy often selling for $300 to $500) after laudatory reviews by The Absolute Sound editor Harry Pearson and J. Gordon Holt of Stereophile. A second re-recorded version made with arranger Reg Guest in April that same year for Springfield's own record company Philips was surprisingly first relegated to the B-side of the single "Give Me Time" in both the UK and US. Despite this the song became a Top 30 hit (#22) in the US, the album was named after it, the track was later nominated for Best Film Song of the Year in the 1968 American Academy Awards, and the song is today considered one of Springfield's signature tunes.

The Look of Love album was first released on CD by Mercury Records/Universal Music in 1999, then with four bonus tracks.

Track listing
All tracks from UK album Where Am I Going?, unless otherwise noted.

Side A
"The Look of Love" (UK version) (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 3:36
Recorded in London, 14 April 1967. First release: Philips UK single BF 1577, (B-side of "Give Me Time"), 19 May 1967.
"Give Me Time" (Pietro Melfa, Amadeo Tommasi, Alberto Marina, Peter Callander) – 3:07
Recorded in London, 14 April 1967. First release: Philips UK single BF 1577, (A-side).
"(They Long to Be) Close to You" (Bacharach, David) – 2:25
"If You Go Away (Ne Me Quitte Pas)" (Jacques Brel, Rod McKuen) – 3:50
"Sunny" (Bobby Hebb) – 1:52
"Come Back to Me" (Alan Jay Lerner, Burton Lane) – 2:03

Side B
"What's It Gonna Be?" (Jerry Ragovoy, Mort Shuman) – 2:14
Recorded in the US and at Philips Studios, London, July 1967. First release: Philips UK single BF 1608 (A-side), 22 September 1967.
"Welcome Home" (Chip Taylor) – 2:38
"Small Town Girl" (Arnold Goland, Aaron H. Schroeder) – 2:08
 Recorded in London, 22 November 1965. First release: Philips UK single BF 1608 (B-side of "What's It Gonna Be"), 22 September 1967.
"Take Me for a Little While" (Trade Martin) – 2:22
"Chained to a Memory" (Kay Rogers, Richard Ahlert) – 2:35

Bonus tracks (1999 Reissue)
"I've Got a Good Thing" (Alternate take) (Ragovoy, Shuman) – 2:49
Outtake from the Where Am I Going? sessions. Previously unreleased.
"I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face" (Ragovoy, Taylor) – 2:39
From Where Am I Going? First Release: Philips UK album BL 7820 (Mono) SBL 7820 (Stereo).
"I'll Try Anything" (Mark Barkan, Vic Millrose) – 2:27
Recorded at CBS Studios, New York and Philips Studios, London, January 1967. First release: Philips UK single BF 1553 (A-side), 17 February 1967.
"It's Over" (Jimmie Rodgers) – 2:34
Recorded in London, March 1968. Originally unissued. First release: The Look of Love (1999 reissue). First UK release: 4-CD box set Simply Dusty, 2000.

Personnel and production
Dusty Springfield – lead and backing vocals
Lesley Duncan – backing vocals
Madeline Bell – backing vocals
The Echoes – accompaniment
Alan Tew – accompaniment, orchestra director
Arthur Greenslade – accompaniment, orchestra director
Wally Stott – accompaniment, orchestra director
Peter Knight – accompaniment, orchestra director
Reg Guest – accompaniment, orchestra director
Pat Williams – musical arranger
Jim Tyler – musical arranger
Johnnie Spence – musical arranger
Johnny Franz – producer
Jerry Ragovoy – producer ("What's It Gonna Be")
Mort Shuman – arranger ("What's It Gonna Be")
Garry Sherman – orchestra director ("What's It Gonna Be")
Carole King – backing vocals ("What's It Gonna Be")
Nickolas Ashford – backing vocals ("What's It Gonna Be")
Valerie Simpson – backing vocals ("What It Gonna Be")
Roger Wake – digital remastering (UK) (1999 reissue)
Mike Gill – digital remastering (UK) (1999 reissue)

References
Howes, Paul (2001). The Complete Dusty Springfield. London: Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. .

Dusty Springfield albums
1967 albums
Albums produced by Johnny Franz
Albums produced by Jerry Ragovoy
Philips Records albums

The Look of Love (Dusty Springfield album)


MercadoLibre, Inc. (literally "free market" in Spanish, and known as Mercado Livre in Portuguese) is an Argentine company headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay, incorporated in the United States that operates online marketplaces dedicated to e-commerce and online auctions. As of 2016, Mercado Libre had 174.2 million users in Latin America, making it the region's most popular e-commerce site by number of visitors. The company has operations in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. In 2023 Time included Mercado Libre in the list of the 100 most influential companies in the world.

History
Mercado Libre was founded in 1999 in Argentina. Founder and CEO Marcos Galperin established the company while attending Stanford University. He acquired funding from John Muse, co-founder of HM Capital Partners. Mercado Libre received additional funding from JPMorgan Partners, Flatiron Partners, Goldman Sachs, GE Capital, and Banco Santander Central Hispano. In 1999, Mercado Libre was chosen as an Endeavor company.

In September 2001, online auction company eBay purchased a 19.5% stake in the company. eBay sold its stake in Mercado Libre in 2016, but the companies continue to collaborate to expand eBay sellers into Latin America. eBay opened its first branded store on the Mercado Libre marketplace from Chile in March 2017.

The following month, Mercado Libre acquired iBazar Como, the Brazilian subsidiary of eBay's earlier acquisition, iBazar S.A. In 2006, MercadoLibre.com launched new operations in Costa Rica, Panama, and Dominican Republic.

In August 2007, Mercado Libre became the first Latin American technology company to be listed on the NASDAQ, under the ticker MELI. Mercado Libre acquired competitor DeRemate's operations in August 2008. Mercado Libre also acquired Classified Media Group (CMG) in 2008. CMG established the Latin American e-commerce portals tucarro.com and tuinmueble.com.

In 2011, the company transitioned its platform to open source technology. The transition allowed application programming interface (API) developers to expand the platform's solutions and services. In 2013, Mercado Libre launched the MeLi Commerce Fund, dedicated to investing in technology startups that create software using Mercado Libre's APIs. By August 2016, the fund had invested US$1.5 million in 15 companies in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. Mercado Libre acquired Portal Inmobiliario, a Chilean classified ad website, in 2014. In 2015, Mercado Libre announced its acquisition of Metroscúbicos.com, the portal of Mexico-based real estate company Grupo Expansión.

In 2016, Mercado Libre relocated its Brazilian headquarters to new offices in São Paulo, Brazil. The 17,000 square meter complex, named Melicidade, held a cafeteria, auditorium, gym, beauty parlor, meeting and training rooms, and a recreation area. In March 2016, Mercado Libre announced its expansion into Córdoba, Argentina with its new software center. Mercado Libre opened its first Colombian office in Bogotá in October 2016. It was the company's fourth customer service center in Latin America, following centers in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

In 2019, Mercado Libre opened its first distribution centers in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.

In March 2020, Mercado Libre announced its new distribution centers in Chile and Colombia. In June 2020, Mercado Libre announced its new software center in Colombia.

In March 2021, Mercado Libre announced an investment of $1.8 billion in its Brazilian operations.

Operations
Mercado Libre operates under five main business units. MarketPlace is its platform for users to sell products, Mercado Pago is its payment platform for online sales, Mercado Publicado is the advertising portion of Mercado Libre, Mercado Shops is a tool designed to enhance the platform's overall ecosystem, and Mercado Crédito is the company's credit line.

Mercado Libre's MarketPlace is a platform designed to match buyers and sellers. Customers bid for items or pay a set price for offered products. Items are delivered after payment, and users can provide feedback. 3,000 official stores or brands work with Mercado Libre.

Mercado Libre also runs a real estate and motors division under the name Mercado Libre Classificados. Realtors pay a monthly fee to list properties and automobiles on the Mercado Libre platform.

Mercado Libre launched MercadoPago, a secure payment system, to diversify payment options. MercadoPago processed 138.7 million transactions in 2016, which was a 73% improvement from 2015. Launched in 2012, MercadoShops was designed to allow small and medium-sized companies to open virtual stores on their existing websites. The stores feature integration with social network sites. In October 2014, a mobile app was released for MercadoPago which used a credit card reader to allow charges to be processed using a tablet or smartphone using a QR code. The company expanded MercadoPago into Colombia in July 2016.

Mercado Crédito's credit process works with buyers and sellers. Rate types for credit lines are determined through a borrower profile.

References

External links

Online auction websites of Argentina
EBay
Portuguese-language websites
Spanish-language websites
Internet properties established in 1999
Android (operating system) software
IOS software
2001 mergers and acquisitions
2007 initial public offerings
PayPal
1999 establishments in Argentina
Argentine brands

Mercado Libre


Herbert Jose "Betinho" de Souza (November 13, 1935 – August 9, 1997) was a sociologist and activist against economic injustice and government corruption in Brazil and founder of the Brazilian Institute of Social Analysis and Economics (IBASE). In 1963, he became chief of staff in the Ministry of Education, but exiled himself after the military took power in the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état.

Movements launched
In 1992, he launched Movement for Ethics in Politics, and in 1994, he started an annual drive, "Christmas Without Hunger". Most importantly, he was the leading figure in the foundation, in 1964, of the social and political organisation "Ação Popular" ("popular action"), a non-marxist leftist movement engaged in mobilizing the poor majority of the Brazilian population.

Death
Sousa died on August 9, 1997, following complications after contracting HIV and Hepatitis C through a blood transfusion. He, as well as his brother Henfil, was also hemophiliac.

Betinho Prize
The Betinho Prize is offered by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) in the field of information and communication technologies (ICTs).

Says the APC: "The Internet has not yet been converted into a giant online shopping mall. There are thousands of projects big and small working online around the world that prove that the Internet can be, and is being, used as a powerful tool for development and social justice."

Its goal is to focus on "exceptional and sometimes little known initiatives". In 2003 and 2005 the Betinho Prize is offered in recognition of outstanding examples of ICT use specifically based in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Applications are accepted in some of the most widely used languages in the region—Spanish, Portuguese and English. In 2005, the last date for applying was October 16, 2005. This year's subject is "community connectivity projects for
economic development".

Contribution over HIV/AIDS issue
Betinho's contribution in the fight against the HIV/AIDS is considered to be immense. In an article, the general former-coordinator of the Abia, Jane Galvão, remembers some of the actions of the sociologist in this front: the creation of the Abia, a multidiscipline and multi-sectoral reply to HIV/AIDS; the pressure against the commerce of blood and its derivatives; and the fight for access to medicines.

According to some who appreciate his role, the eyes of Betinho were as "lighthouses that guided and illuminated ways to be trod". In a 1994 article, for example, Betinho anticipated one of the main trends of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Brazil: its pauperisation.

Awards and recognition
On November 12, 2014 the Brazilian Congress voted to honor Betinho by changing the name of the bridge linking Rio de Janeiro and Niterói from Costa e Silva to Betinho.

See also
Henfil - Betinho's brother.
Global 500 Roll of Honour, Awarded to Herbert de Souza in 1991

References

External links
 "A Lista de Alice" ("Alice's A-List"): Herbert de Souza (in Portuguese)

1935 births
AIDS-related deaths in Rio de Janeiro (state)
1997 deaths
HIV/AIDS activists
People from Bocaiúva
Brazilian sociologists
Brazilian human rights activists

Herbert de Souza


Magic Island is a small man-made peninsula in Honolulu, Hawaii, adjacent to Ala Moana Beach Park and the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor.  It was created in 1964 as the site of a resort complex, but was subsequently converted to a park.  The name was changed to "Aina Moana," but the new name is used infrequently.

The park on Magic Island is a popular spot where people gather for picnics, frisbee, socializing, and occasional festival or drama performances. Because it was a preferred location among homeless squatters, overnight camping was recently banned in the park.

Each year, the Ala Moana Center puts on a fireworks show over Magic Island for the Fourth of July that draws numerous spectators to the surrounding parks. In conjunction with the show, the Ala Moana Center ropes off a portion of its parking lot for a Fourth of July concert featuring many local bands.

The park's hours are from sunrise to sunset daily.

Gallery

References

External links

Neighborhoods in Honolulu
Landforms of Oahu
Peninsulas of Hawaii

Magic Island (Hawaii)


5 Squadron SAAF was a South African Air Force Fighter / Fighter-Bomber squadron during World War II. It was disbanded at the end of the war and was re-commissioned in 1950. It remained active until 2 October 1992, when it was disbanded; its Atlas Cheetah E aircraft were also decommissioned.

History
The squadron was initially designated as a fighter-bomber unit and formed in Cape Town in April 1939. It was only active for eight months and was disbanded in December that year. It was re-formed on 7 May 1941 as a fighter squadron operating from Zwartkop Air Station equipped with Mohawk Vs. It deployed to Egypt in December 1941 re-equipped with Tomahawk IIBs.

The squadron was initially tasked with providing anti-shipping patrols and subsequently deployed as a fighter squadron over the Western Desert battlefield area. At the end of 1942 it received Kittyhawk IIIs and later Kittyhawk IVs and began to specialize in the ground-attack role, although still being retained as an ordinary fighter squadron as required. After the cessation of hostilities in Africa, the squadron moved to Malta to support the invasion of Sicily, after which it moved to that island and then on to mainland Italy. By the time the squadron was deployed to Italy, it was used only in the ground attack role.

While deployed to Italy, the squadron flew close air support and fighter-bomber missions, some over Yugoslavia. The squadron took part in the battles on the Sangro River, Monte Cassino and the Gustav and Gothic Lines. The Kittyhawks were replaced by Mustang IIIs (and later Mustang IVs) and these aircraft were retained until the end of the war in Italy when the squadron was disbanded.

5 Squadron was re-formed in Durban in December 1950 as an 'Active Citizen Force' unit flying Harvards. It was re-equipped with Impala Mk Is in July 1973 and Impala Mk IIs in early 1981. The squadron then moved to AFB Louis Trichardt to be equipped with Cheetah Es. It was finally disbanded on 2 October 1992 when its Cheetah aircraft were decommissioned.

Aircraft

See also
List of World War II aces from South Africa

References

Citations

External links

Squadrons of the South African Air Force
SAAF5
Military units and formations established in 1939
Military units and formations disestablished in 1992

5 Squadron SAAF


Asmodeus (; , Asmodaios) or Ashmedai (; , ʾAšmədʾāy; see below for other variations) is a prince of demons in Abrahamic religions. In Judeo-Islamic lore he is the king of both daemons (jinn/shedim) and demons (divs). Asmodeus is mostly known from the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit, in which he is the primary antagonist, or the Ars Goetia. In Peter Binsfeld's classification of demons, Asmodeus represents lust. The demon is also mentioned in some Talmudic legends; for instance, in the story of the construction of the Temple of Solomon. In Islam, he is identified with the "puppet" mentioned in the Quran.

Etymology

The name Asmodai is believed to derive from the Avestan *aēšma-daēva (𐬀𐬉𐬴𐬨𐬀𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬎𐬎𐬀*, *aēṣ̌madaēuua), where aēšma means "wrath", and daēva signifies "demon".  While the daēva Aēšma is thus Zoroastrianism's demon of wrath and is also well-attested as such, the compound aēšma-daēva is not attested in scripture. It is nonetheless likely that such a form did exist, and that the Book of Tobit's "Asmodaios" () and the Talmud's "Ashmedai" () reflect it. In the Zoroastrian and Middle Persian demonology, there did exist the conjuncted form khashm-dev (خشم + دیو), where both terms are cognates.

The spellings Asmoday, Asmodai, Asmodee (also Asmodée), Osmodeus, and Osmodai have also been used. The name is alternatively spelled in the bastardized forms (based on the basic consonants אשמדאי, ʾŠMDʾY) Hashmedai (חַשְמְדּאָי, Ḥašmədʾāy; also Hashmodai, Hasmodai, Khashmodai, Khasmodai), Hammadai (חַמַּדּאָי, Hammadʾāy; also Khammadai), Shamdon (שַׁמְדּוֹן, Šamdōn), and Shidonai (שִׁדֹנאָי, Šīdōnʾāy). Some traditions have subsequently identified Shamdon as the father of Asmodeus.

The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906 rejects the otherwise accepted etymological relation between the Persian "Æshma-dæva" and Judaism's "Ashmodai" claiming that the particle "-dæva" could not have become "-dai" and that Æshma-dæva as such—a compound name—never appears in Persian sacred texts. Still, the encyclopedia proposes that the "Asmodeus" from the Apocrypha and the Testament of Solomon are not only related somewhat to Aeshma but have similar behaviour, appearance and roles, to conclude in another article under the entry "Aeshma", in the paragraph "Influence of Persian Beliefs on Judaism", that Persian Zoroastrian beliefs could have heavily influenced Judaism's theology on the long term, bearing in mind that in some texts there are crucial conceptual differences while in others there seems to be a great deal of similarity, proposing a pattern of influence over folk beliefs that would extend further to the mythology itself. However, the Jewish Encyclopedia asserts that although 'Æshma does not occur in the Avesta in conjunction with dæva, it is probable that a fuller form, such as Æshmo-dæus, has existed, since it is paralleled by the later Pahlavi-form "Khashm-dev"'. Furthermore, it is stated that Asmodeus or Ashmedai "embodies an expression of the influence that the Persian religion or Persian popular beliefs have exercised" on Judaism.

In the texts

In the Book of Tobit
The Asmodeus of the Book of Tobit is hostile to Sarah, Raguel's daughter, (); and slays seven successive husbands on their wedding nights, impeding the sexual consummation of the marriages. In the New Jerusalem Bible translation, he is described as "the worst of demons" (Tobit 3:8). When the young Tobias is about to marry her, Asmodeus proposes the same fate for him, but Tobias is enabled, through the counsels of his attendant angel Raphael, to render him innocuous. By placing a fish's heart and liver on red-hot cinders, Tobias produces a smoky vapour that causes the demon to flee to Egypt, where Raphael binds him (). According to some translations, Asmodeus is strangled.

Perhaps Asmodeus punishes the suitors for their carnal desire, since Tobias prays to be free from such desire and is kept safe. Asmodeus is also described as an evil spirit in general: 'Ασμοδαίος τὸ πονηρὸν δαιμόνιον or τὸ δαιμόνιον πονηρόν, and πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτον (; ; ; ).

In the Talmud
The figure of Ashmedai in the Talmud is less malign in character than the Asmodeus of Tobit. In the former, he appears repeatedly in the light of a good-natured and humorous fellow. But besides that, there is one feature in which he parallels Asmodeus, in as much as his desires turn upon Bathsheba and later Solomon's wives.

Another Talmudic legend has King Solomon tricking Asmodai into collaborating in the construction of Solomon's Temple (see: The Story of King Solomon and Ashmedai).

Another legend depicts Asmodai throwing King Solomon over 400 leagues away from the capital by putting one wing on the ground and the other stretched skyward. He then changed places for some years with King Solomon. When King Solomon returned, Asmodai fled from his wrath. Similar legends can be found in Islamic lore. Asmodeus is referred to as Sakhr ( the Rock or the Stony One), because Solomon banished him into a rock, after he takes his kingdom back from him. He is considered to be a king of the jinn or demons (divs).

Another passage describes him as marrying Lilith, who became his queen.

In the Testament of Solomon
In the Testament of Solomon, a 1st–3rd century text, the king invokes Asmodeus to aid in the construction of the Temple. The demon appears and predicts Solomon's kingdom will one day be divided (Testament of Solomon, verse 21–25). When Solomon interrogates Asmodeus further, the king learns that Asmodeus is thwarted by the angel Raphael, as well as by sheatfish found in the rivers of Assyria. He also admits to hating water. Asmodeus claims that he was born of a human mother and an angel father.

In the Malleus Maleficarum
In the Malleus Maleficarum (1486), Asmodeus was considered the demon of lust. Sebastien Michaelis said that his adversary is St. John. Some demonologists of the 16th century assigned a month to a demon and considered November to be the month in which Asmodai's power was strongest. Other demonologists asserted that his zodiacal sign was Aquarius but only between January 30 and February 8.

He has 72 legions of demons under his command. He is one of the Kings of Hell under Lucifer the emperor. He incites gambling, and is the overseer of all the gambling houses in the court of Hell. Some Catholic theologians compared him with Abaddon. Yet other authors considered Asmodeus a prince of revenge.

In the Dictionnaire Infernal
The Dictionnaire Infernal (1818) by Collin de Plancy portrays Asmodeus with the breast of a man, a cock leg, serpent tail, three heads (one of a man spitting fire, one of a sheep, and one of a bull), riding a lion with dragon wings and neck - all of these creatures being associated with either lascivity, lust or revenge in some cultures. The Archbishop of Paris approved the portrait.

In the Lesser Key of Solomon
Asmodai appears as the king 'Asmoday' in the Ars Goetia, where he is said to have a seal in gold and is listed as number thirty-two according to respective rank.

He "is strong, powerful and appears with three heads; the first is like a bull, the second like a man, and the third like a ram or a goat; the tail of a serpent, and from his mouth issue flames of fire." Also, he sits upon an infernal dragon, holds a lance with a banner and, amongst the Legions of Amaymon, Asmoday governs seventy-two legions of inferior spirits.

In The Magus
Asmodeus is referred to in Book Two, Chapter Eight of The Magus (1801) by Francis Barrett.

Later depictions

In Christian thought
Asmodeus was named in the Order of Thrones by Gregory the Great.

Asmodeus was cited by the nuns of Loudun in the Loudun possessions of 1634.

Asmodeus' reputation as the personification of lust continued into later writings, as he was known as the "Prince of Lechery" in the 16th-century romance Friar Rush. The French Benedictine Augustin Calmet equated his name with a fine dress.
The 1409 Lollard manuscript titled Lanterne of Light associated Asmodeus with the deadly sin of lust. The 16th-century Dutch demonologist Johann Weyer described him as the banker at the baccarat table in hell, and overseer of earthly gambling houses.

In 1641, the Spanish playwright and novelist Luis Velez de Guevara published the satirical novel El diablo cojuelo, where Asmodeus is represented as a mischievous demon endowed with a playful and satirical genius. The plot presents a rascal student that hides in an astrologer's mansard. He frees a devil from a bottle. As an acknowledgement the devil shows him the apartments of Madrid and the tricks, miseries and mischiefs of their inhabitants. The French novelist Alain-René Lesage adapted the Spanish source in his 1707 novel le Diable boiteux, where he likened him to Cupid. In the book, he is rescued from an enchanted glass bottle by a Spanish student Don Cleophas Leandro Zambullo. Grateful, he joins with the young man on a series of adventures before being recaptured. Asmodeus is portrayed in a sympathetic light as good-natured, and a canny satirist and critic of human society. In another episode Asmodeus takes Don Cleophas for a night flight, and removes the roofs from the houses of a village to show him the secrets of what passes in private lives. Following Lesage's work, he was depicted in a number of novels and periodicals, mainly in France but also London and New York.

Asmodeus was widely depicted as having a handsome visage, good manners and an engaging nature; however, he was portrayed as walking with a limp and one leg was either clawed or that of a rooster. He walks aided by two walking sticks in Lesage's work, and this gave rise to the English title The Devil on Two Sticks (also later translated The Limping Devil and The Lame Devil). Lesage attributes his lameness to falling from the sky after fighting with another devil.

On 18 February 1865, author Evert A. Duyckinck sent President Abraham Lincoln a letter, apparently mailed from Quincy. Duyckinck signed the letter "Asmodeus", with his initials below his pseudonym. His letter enclosed a newspaper clipping about an inappropriate joke allegedly told by Lincoln at the Hampton Roads Peace Conference. The purpose of Duyckinck's letter was to advise Lincoln of "an important omission" about the history of the conference. He advised that the newspaper clipping be added to the "Archives of the Nation".

In the Kabbalah
According to the Kabbalah and the school of Shlomo ibn Aderet, Asmodeus is born as the result of a union between Agrat bat Mahlat and King David.

In the Treatise on the Left Emanation, which describes sitra achra (Aramaic: סטרא אחרא), meaning the "other side" or the "side of evil", Asmodeus is described as a figure living in the third ether of Heaven. He is Samael's subordinate, and married to a younger form of Lilith (Samael is married to the older Lilith). Asmodeus is still able to inflict pain and destruction, but only on Mondays.

In Islam

In Islamic culture, syncretists equate Asmodeus with Sakhr (rock), probably a reference to his fate being imprisoned inside a box of rock, chained with iron and thrown into the sea.

Asmodeus become a central figure in exegesis of the Quranic verse Surah 38:34: "We allowed Solomon to be seduced by temptation, and we cast a body upon his seat. Then he repented."

According Quranic exegesis (tafsir), the "body" is Asmodeus; either a jinni or demon (div) impersonating the king.  Ibn al-Faqih and Aja'ib al-Makhluqat in his Aja'ib al-Makhluqat refer to Sakhr as a jinni, while the Persian Quran exegete (224–310 AH; 839–923 AD) Tabari (224–310 AH; 839–923 AD) refers to him as a shaitan in his work Annals of al-Tabari. Others also identify him as a demon (div), which might have been the Persian term for shaitan as both refer to innovocally evil spirits. After forty days, Solomon defeats Sakhr and gets his throne back, whereupon he imprisons Sakhr in a rock sealed in iron chains and throws him into the sea.

The Stories of the Prophets Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyāʾ give various reasons for his punishment; sometimes because of acting injustly before a family dispute or hands the ring to a demon in exchange for knowledge, while most sources (such as Tabari, ʿUmāra ibn Wathīma, Thalabi, ibn Asakir, ibn al-Athir) invoke the idea that one of his wives committed idolatry.

This tale became key to medieval Sufism regarding spiritual development. Attar of Nishapur elucidates the allegory: one must behave like a triumphant 'Solomon' and chain the demons of the nafs or lower self, locking the demon-prince into a 'rock', before the rūḥ (soul) can make the first steps to the Divine.

The idea of a spirit in a bottle, released by a fisherman, is probably rooted in this legend concerning Solomon.

In the story of Sakhr and Buluqiya, a young Jewish prince, searching for the final Prophet (Muhammad), Sakhr is said to have reached immortality by drinking from the Well of Immortality, guarded by the mystical being Khidr. He explains the creation of the world by God, explains God's intention to place Muhammad therein and punish the infidels, describing the different layers (ṭabaqāt) of hell and mentions the angels.

In popular culture
On 23 May 1960, the Tel Aviv newspaper Haboker ran a banner headline announcing the capture of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann by Israeli security forces that read: Ashmadai b'Khevlei Yisrael (אשמדאי בכבלי ישראל), which translates as "Asmodeus in Israeli chains".

In a 1975 episode of "Kolchak: Night Stalker" titled "Demon in Lace," Asmodeus is the antagonist.

One of the main characters in Jack L. Chalker's 1979 novel And the Devil Will Drag You Under is named Asmodeus Mogart.

In the Children's Fantasy book series "Redwall", a side antagonist of the first book of the series (1986) is called Asmodeus Poisonteeth, a venomous snake who threatens the creatures of the forests surrounding Redwall Abbey.

In the manga Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun, running since 2017, Asmodeus is a prominent clan of devils, and one of their members, Alice Asmodeus, is depicted as the best friend of the main character.

Asmodeus is a Prince of Hell and one of the main antagonists in season 13 of Supernatural.

In the 2021 movie Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin, Asmodeus appears as an antagonist.

On October 3, 2021, an episode of the web series Puppet History mentioned Asmodeus's naming in the Loudun Possessions, and a three-headed puppet rendition of Asmodeus both performed the episode's customary ending song and featured in the episode's plot-heavy finale.

The 2023 film The Pope's Exorcist features a demonic possession attributed to Asmodeus.

Asmodeus is depicted as an evil deity and the King of the Nine Hells in most published material for Dungeons & Dragons.

Asmodeus appears in the adult animated web series Helluva Boss, voiced by James Monroe Iglehart. Nicknamed "Ozzie", he is the ruler of Hell's Ring of Lust and the owner of a popular nightclub.

Asmodeus is a character in the 2019 Otome game, "Obey Me!", and its prequel game, "Obey Me! Nightbringer". He is the avatar of lust, and the fifth born out of the seven demon brothers present in the game.

Asmodeus is Magnus Bane's father in the book series The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare.

See also

 Archdemon
 Belial
 Devil
 Samael
 Satan
 Shedim
 Jinn
 Serpents in the Bible
 Sin

References
Citations

Sources

External links

Ifrits
Book of Tobit
Demons in Christianity
Demons in Judaism
Demons in the Old Testament apocrypha
Devils
Goetic demons
Jinn
Mythological kings
Testament of Solomon
Solomon's Temple
Mythological princes

Asmodeus