Homer Mensch (November 14, 1914 in Sussex, New Jersey – December 9, 2005 in Manhattan, New York) was a prominent classical bassist who was a former member of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the New York Pops, and the NBC Symphony. Mensch held faculty positions at Yale University, at the Manhattan School of Music (in both the college and pre-college divisions), the Juilliard School (also in both divisions), the Mannes College of Music, Rutgers University, Dalcroze School, Queens College, and Catholic University. He taught upwards of 45 students a week from beginners, to conservatory students, to professionals both in the classical and jazz fields.

Career as a double bassist
Mensch studied bass with former New York Philharmonic principal bassist Anselme Fortier at the Manhattan School of Music. As a teenager, he played with the Dick Messner Big Band at the Hotel McAlpin in order to pay for his bass lessons. He was an excellent tennis player in his youth, and originally wanted to pursue a career in tennis. However, he was also a promising bassist and eventually chose music over tennis. "This was at the start of the Great Depression", he told the Juilliard Journal, "so pursuing a career in music was pretty risky. I was lucky that my parents didn't try to make me go into a field that was a safer bet."

Mensch joined the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1932 after winning the audition on the stage of Carnegie Hall in front of Otto Klemperer. He was assistant principal bass under Klemperer and Fritz Reiner until 1938. He then joined the New York Philharmonic under John Barbirolli. In 1943, Mensch left the Philharmonic to serve in the U.S. Army in Texas, during which time he played bass in the U.S. Army Band.

In 1944, Mensch returned to New York as a freelance musician. He subsequently performed with the NBC Symphony under Arturo Toscanini and played in numerous television and radio shows. He recorded with Gregor Piatagorsky, Isaac Stern, Nathan Milstein, the Bach Aria Group, the Casals Festival Orchestra, the Columbia Symphony, and on every commercial recording made in NY. He also recorded with Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney, and numerous others. Mensch can also be heard on many soundtracks from the 1940s until the 1970s.

At the request of the New York Philharmonic's then-conductor, Leonard Bernstein, Mensch returned to the Philharmonic in 1966. He remained until 1975, playing under Bernstein and Pierre Boulez. After leaving the Philharmonic, he served as principal bass of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the New York Chamber Symphony, the New York Choral Society, Little Orchestra Society, and the New York Pops.

Teaching career
Mensch joined the Juilliard faculty in 1970 and became the chair of the double bass department in 2002. He joined the Manhattan School of Music faculty in 1980 and received MSM's Presidential Medal for Distinguished Service in May 2005.

Collaborations
With Judy Collins
 Times of Our Lives (Elektra Records, 1982)

With Gloria Estefan
 Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me (Epic Records, 1994)
 Destiny (Epic Records, 1996)

With Michael Franks
 Passionfruit (Warner Bros. Records, 1983)

With Hope
 Hope (A&M Records, 1972)

With Jon Lucien
 Romantico (Zemajo, 1980)

With Nina Simone
 Baltimore (CTI, 1978)

With Cris Williamson
 Cris Williamson (Ampex Records, 1971)

Notable students
 Nathaniel Ayers, homeless cellist, subject of the book and movie, The Soloist, was Mensch's double bass student while at Juilliard; Mensch was his mentor
 Mark Helias, composer
 Steve Kirby, jazz bassist
 Albert Laszlo, Juilliard School and University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music professor of double bass
 Christian McBride, jazz master
 Linda McKnight, Manhattan School of Music professor of double bass
 Michael Benjamin Nigrin, member of the Buffalo Philharmonic
 Donald Palma, Yale University professor of double bass
 Frank Tusa, jazz bassist
 Jean-Yves Benichou, Toulouse Chamber Orchestra, Strasbourg Philharmonic, Electric Jazz Bassist
 Kurt Muroki, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Ctr, Indiana University Professor

See also
 List of contemporary classical double bass players
 Juilliard School
 Manhattan School of Music

References

External links

 Juilliard Journal 2005 obituary
 New York Times obituary
 PlayBill article on Mensch
 New York Times. "New York Day by Day: Stringed Subway Rider" (March 17, 1984)
 Official website
 Time: Still on the Beat (March 15, 2004)
 Juilliard Journal: Remembering a True Mensch
 Juilliard Journal: Interview with Homer Mensch

Classical double-bassists
1914 births
2005 deaths
People from Sussex, New Jersey
Juilliard School faculty
Manhattan School of Music faculty
Musicians from Pittsburgh
Yale University faculty
Rutgers University faculty
Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, Drama, and Art faculty
20th-century American musicians
20th-century classical musicians
20th-century double-bassists

Homer Mensch


The Constitution Committee is a cross-party select committee of the House of Lords, the upper chamber of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The committee's remit is "to examine the constitutional implications of all public bills coming before the House; and to keep under review the operation of the constitution". There is no consolidated written constitution in the United Kingdom, but the committee has defined the constitution as "the set of laws, rules and practices that create the basic institutions of the state, and its component and related parts, and stipulate the powers of those institutions and the relationship between the different institutions and between those institutions and the individual".

The committee has two main functions:
examining public bills for matters of constitutional significance; and investigating wider constitutional issues.

Scrutiny
The function of the committee is not to resist constitutional change, but to ensure that when such change takes places through legislation, this occurs as the result of a conscious decision of Parliament, reached where possible after informed debate.

When the committee looks at a bill, it asks if the bill raises issues of principle affecting a principal part of the constitution. If the committee thinks it does, it may request information from the minister responsible for the bill or seek advice more widely. The committee can simply publish the correspondence with the minister, or publish a report on the bill where this is thought to be necessary or desirable. These reports inform the deliberations of the House of Lords on the bill in question.

Recent scrutiny reports have looked at the following bills:
Public Bodies Bill (which became the Public Bodies Act 2011)
Police (Detention and Bail) Bill (which became the Police (Detention and Bail) Act 2011)

The committee also used to carry out pre-legislative scrutiny of Welsh Legislative Competence Orders. This function ceased following the referendum in Wales in March 2011 by which the Assembly was given power to legislate directly. Examples of scrutiny reports on Welsh Legislative Competence Orders include:
The National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence) (Social Welfare) Order 2009 (relating to Carers) 13th Report of Session 2008–09
Scrutiny of Welsh Legislative Competence Orders (December 2007)

Inquiries
The committee fulfils the second limb of its remit by carrying out longer investigative inquiries into wider constitutional issues. Once the committee has chosen a subject, it engages a specialist adviser (an external expert in the field) and written submissions are invited. The committee then takes oral evidence from a range of witnesses, including government ministers, and can also undertake visits.

The committee then publishes a report based on the evidence received, which makes recommendations aimed principally at the Government. The Government is obliged to produce a formal written response to the committee's recommendations. The report and the Government response are then usually debated in the House of Lords.

Recent inquiries have looked into:
The Process of Constitutional Change (July 2011)
The Cabinet Manual (March 2011)
Money Bills and Commons Financial Privileges (February 2011)

Membership
As of April 2023, the membership of the committee is as follows:

See also
List of Committees of the United Kingdom Parliament

References

External links
Constitution Committee website

Committees of the House of Lords
Constitution of the United Kingdom

Constitution Committee


Michael Yeo (born July 31, 1973) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and coach, currently serving as an assistant coach for the Vancouver Canucks. He is the former head coach of the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL), as well as interim head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. Yeo grew up in North Bay, Ontario. He has also been an assistant coach for the Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins and head coach of the American Hockey League's Houston Aeros.

Career
Yeo spent five seasons with the Houston Aeros while they were members of the International Hockey League (IHL). In 1998–99, he captained the team to the Turner Cup Championship.

In 1999, Yeo was signed as a minor league veteran by the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the top affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins at the onset of their inaugural season, in what would eventually become the first of eleven years of service with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. After a serious knee injury ended his playing career after just 19 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Yeo accepted an offer to remain with the team by becoming an assistant to head coach Glenn Patrick, a position he continued to hold when Michel Therrien replaced Patrick in 2003. Yeo was promoted along with Therrien in 2005 to the Pittsburgh Penguins as Therrien's assistant after the firing of Eddie Olczyk and his coaching staff. With his primary responsibilities focused towards special teams, Yeo aided Therrien in laying the groundwork for the Penguins rebuild towards future successes, ending the franchise's six-year playoff absence in the 2006–07 season, and leading the Penguins to their second-highest points total in franchise history in 2007–08. Continuing to work as an assistant under Therrien's successor, Dan Bylsma, Yeo began to have health issues with his blood pressure and in one game "felt lightheaded and dizzy and had chest pain... [his] blood pressure was really high" although he persevered and helped the team to a Stanley Cup victory in 2009.

On June 16, 2010, Yeo left the Penguins to take up the vacant head coach position at the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League (AHL), at that time the top AHL affiliate of the Minnesota Wild, replacing Kevin Constantine. The season prior to Yeo's hiring, the Aeros finished in last place in the West Division with low expectations. However, the Aeros added several offensive players such as Robbie Earl, Patrick O'Sullivan and Jed Ortmeyer. Under Yeo, the revitalized roster improved massively, reaching the AHL Calder Cup Finals in Yeo's first year behind the bench.

Yeo was announced as the head coach of the Minnesota Wild on June 17, 2011. The Wild under Yeo won their first game 4–2 at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Wild started the season 15–7–3, but failed to secure a winning record through each of the final five months of the season. The 2011–12 season marked a down-year for Yeo, as his team ranked last in number of goals scored in the NHL with a meagre 177 compared to the NHL average of 240. The team also did not make the playoffs, came third last in power play percentage, and were known for streaky play. The Wild tended to lose games in streaks, losing 32 out of 36 games in groups of two or more games. The team lost eight straight in December and seven straight in February effectively removing the Wild from playoff contention.

During the 2012–13 season, Yeo accused the San Jose Sharks players of embellishing penalties, and had to call Todd McLellan to apologize.

Early in the 2013–14 season, there were rumours that Yeo would lose his job. However, in the second half of the season, the Wild were able to make the playoffs for the second straight year. The Wild defeated the heavily favored Colorado Avalanche in seven games before losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round. On May 31, 2014, Yeo was given a three-year contract extension with the Minnesota Wild.

During the 2014–15 season, there were again rumours that Yeo would lose his job. However, a mid-season trade for goalie Devan Dubnyk saved not only his job, but also the team's season. The team had a record of 18–19–5 prior to the trade and finished the season with a record of 46–28–8. The Wild qualified for the playoffs with a win at Chicago on April 7, 2015. They were then eliminated by Chicago in the playoffs for the third consecutive season, losing in four games and scoring only 7 goals the entire series.

With the hirings of Jeff Blashill by Detroit and John Hynes by New Jersey during the summer of 2015, Yeo was no longer the youngest head coach in the NHL, a title he had held for his first four seasons.

On February 13, 2016, Yeo was fired as head coach of the Minnesota Wild, after losing 13 of his last 14 games as head coach.

On June 13, 2016, he was named as the eventual successor to Ken Hitchcock as coach of the St. Louis Blues. He served as an assistant coach during the 2016–17 season and was to assume the head coach position beginning in the 2017–18 season.

On February 1, 2017, Yeo was named as the head coach of the Blues after Ken Hitchcock was fired. Yeo led a remarkable turn-around for the Blues in the second half of the season, going 22–8–2 and reaching the playoffs, where he defeated his former club Minnesota in the 1st round before bowing out to eventual Stanley Cup finalists Nashville Predators.

On November 19, 2018, the Blues fired Yeo and replaced him with Craig Berube who then coached the Blues to their first Stanley Cup Championship.

On May 6, 2019, the Philadelphia Flyers announced that Yeo would assume an assistant coaching position under Alain Vigneault. On December 6, 2021, Yeo was named the interim head coach of the Flyers following the firing of Vigneault. Yeo was then fired by Philadelphia on May 3, 2022, after the conclusion of the 2021–22 season.

On July 1, 2022, Yeo was hired as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks under Bruce Boudreau.

Personal life
Yeo and his wife Tanya have a daughter, Braeden and a son, Kyler. He attended Widdifield Secondary School.

Despite having a surname that is commonly associated with Asian culture, Yeo is not of Asian descent. He has stated that his surname was shortened from Yeomen by an early ancestor.

Career player statistics

NHL coaching record

Notes:
 † Lockout-shortened season

References

External links

1973 births
Living people
Houston Aeros (1994–2013) players
Minnesota Wild coaches
Philadelphia Flyers coaches
Pittsburgh Penguins coaches
Ice hockey people from North Bay, Ontario
Ice hockey people from Scarborough, Toronto
St. Louis Blues coaches
Stanley Cup champions
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins players

Mike Yeo


was a Japanese Nihonga painter and educator. Born in Setoda-chō, Hiroshima Prefecture, he was famous in Japan for Silk Road paintings of dreamy desert landscapes in Iran, Iraq, and China.

Biography
In 1952, he graduated from the Tokyo School of Art, or what is today's Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (popularly known as "Geidai"), and became a disciple of Maeda Seison. Hirayama also served as President of his alma mater twice (1989–95 and 2001–05).

He produced a series of paintings depicting the introduction of Buddhism to Japan. A hibakusha, he portrayed the A-bomb attack on Hiroshima. He was also active in the preservation of the cultural heritage of the world (e.g., the Bamiyan Buddhas) and is internationally appreciated for his efforts in this sphere. Hirayama was awarded the French Légion d'honneur Order in 1996 and Japan's Order of Cultural Merit in 1998 amongst others. He was the President of the Tokyo University of fine Arts and Music and President of the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO.

He was sometimes criticized for his profit making activities at the time when he held a position of President of a national university. Some (would-be) connoisseurs even cast doubts upon the authenticity of his highly profitable artworks, claiming that his wife and others made them under his name.
He was a patron of historical institutions and gave £500,000 pounds to the British Museum for the creation of The Hirayama Studio, a conservation studio specializing in Eastern pictorial art, which was opened in 1994 and named after him.
He had a studio in Kamakura, Kanagawa. He also established the Hirayama Trainee Curator in Silk Road Coins at the British Museum. There is a museum dedicated to the artist in Setoda which also has an English Web site at .

The Prix Hirayama is awarded by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres for distinguished contributions to scholarship on Asia.

Collecting
Ikuo Hirayama actively collected material relating to the historical silk road. The Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum includes Chinese and Gandhara sculpture, Sasanian and Central Asian silver ware, toilet trays and coins, in total at least 222 pieces. His collection is particularly notable for its collection of Gandharan art from Pakistan and Afghanistan. His collection of Central Asian coins was small, containing only 101 items, though these included one of the best preserved of Kanishka I's Buddha coins as well as other important examples

References

External links

Obituary, in The Independent, 12 Dec 2009.https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ikuo-hirayama-5512206.html

1930 births
2009 deaths
Hibakusha
Nihonga painters
Buddhist artists
Tokyo School of Fine Arts alumni
Recipients of the Order of Culture
Recipients of the Legion of Honour
Ramon Magsaysay Award winners
20th-century Japanese painters
UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors
People from Onomichi, Hiroshima

Ikuo Hirayama


Recover My Files is a data recovery program that uses file carving to extract lost files from unallocated clusters. Recovery is based on the interpretation of file content, usually through the process of reverse engineering a file type.

It can be used to recover data from external and internal hard disks, in FAT, NTFS, HFS and HFS+ file systems.

The program uses two techniques:  a lost file, and a lost drive recovery.

In the lost file recovery technique the program finds deleted file entries, and if requested will do a file carve of selected file types.  A variety of popular file types can be found and carved.  There is no way to add unknown file types.  The file name is found in the deleted file search, but not in the lost file.  This is because in most file systems the file name and date/times are stored on disk and are only marked for re-use by the system, and not completely removed.

In the drive recovery technique the program finds orphaned file system entries and reconstructs the missing/lost/corrupted volumes.  The user can help the program by selecting file types that may have existed on the old system, but for majority of cases the automatic detection works.  The user can also do a file carve in this technique as well.  The program will reconstruct the file names and date times if available.  This is obtained from non-deleted file system records such as from the NTFS $MFT as discussed here.

The program can be used on physical drives, forensic images, and RAID drives.  In the latter case it can also reconstruct the RAID structure. Files can only be recovered after purchasing a product activation key.

See also
 List of data recovery software

References

External links

Data recovery software

Recover My Files


Jiangxia Commandery () was a Chinese commandery that existed from Han dynasty to Tang dynasty. Its territories were located in present-day eastern Hubei province.

History
Jiangxia Commandery was established during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. In the Western Han dynasty, the commandery consisted of 14 counties: Xiling (西陵), Jingling (竟陵), Xiyang (西陽), Xiang (襄), Zhu (邾), Dai (軑), E (鄂), Anlu (安陸), Shaxian (沙羨), Qichun (蘄春), Meng (鄳), Yundu (雲杜), Xiazhi (下雉) and Zhongwu (鍾武). The total population in 2 AD was 219,218 individuals, in 56,844 households. During the Eastern Han period, Xiang and Zhongwu counties were abolished, while Pingchun (平春) and Nanxinshi (南新市) were added. By 140 AD, the population had grown to 265,464, in 58,434 households.

As the Han dynasty fell, Jiangxia was divided between Cao Wei and Eastern Wu. The seat was moved first to Shiyang (石陽, formerly part of Xiling County), and then to Anlu. In 221, Sun Quan added 4 counties of Jiangxia under his control to the newly formed Wuchang Commandery (武昌郡), with E as its seat. When Jin dynasty reunited China (280 AD), Jiangxia had 7 counties, namely Anlu, Yundu, Quling (曲陵), Pingchun, Meng, Jingling and Nanxinshi. The population was 24,000 households. Later, the commandery was further divided, and the seat was moved to Xiakou (夏口, in present-day Yunmeng County), where northern refugees from Runan were accommodated. In 464, the population was 23,810 individuals in 5,072 households. The commandery was abolished in early Sui dynasty.

In Sui dynasty and early Tang dynasty, Jiangxia Commandery became an alternative name of E Prefecture. The commandery administered 6 counties: Jiangxia (present-day Wuchang), Wuchang, Tangnian (唐年), Puqi (浦圻), Hanyang, and Chachuan (汊川). In 742, it had a population 84,563 individuals, in 19,190 households.

References

Commanderies of the Han dynasty
Commanderies of the Jin dynasty (266–420)
Commanderies of the Southern dynasties
Commanderies of the Sui dynasty

Jiangxia Commandery


ThinThread was an intelligence gathering project by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) conducted throughout the 1990s. The program involved wiretapping and sophisticated analysis of the resulting data. The program was discontinued three weeks before the September 11, 2001 attacks due to the changes in priorities and the consolidation of U.S. intelligence authority.

The "change in priority" consisted of the decision made by the director of NSA General Michael V. Hayden to go with a concept called Trailblazer, despite the fact that ThinThread was a working prototype that claimed to protect the privacy of U.S. citizens. ThinThread was dismissed and replaced by the Trailblazer Project, which lacked the privacy protections. A consortium led by Science Applications International Corporation was awarded a $280 million contract to develop Trailblazer in 2002.

Whistleblowing

A group of former NSA workers—Kirk Wiebe, William Binney, Ed Loomis, and Thomas A. Drake, along with House Intelligence Committee staffer Diane Roark (an expert on the NSA budget)—believed the operational prototype system called ThinThread was a better solution than Trailblazer, which was just a concept on paper at the time. They complained to the DoD Inspector General office in 2002 about mismanagement and the waste of taxpayer money at the NSA surrounding the Trailblazer program. In 2007 the FBI raided the homes of these people, an evolution of President Bush's crackdown on whistleblowers and "leaks" after the New York Times disclosed a separate program (see NSA warrantless surveillance controversy). In 2010, one of the people who had helped the IG in the ensuing investigation, NSA official Thomas Andrews Drake, was charged with espionage, part of the Obama administration's crackdown on whistleblowers and "leaks". The original charges against him were later dropped and he pleaded to a misdemeanor.

The result of the DoD IG complaint was a 2004 audit report that was released under FOIA in 2011. Although highly redacted, the report contained significant criticisms of Trailblazer, and included some relatively minor criticisms of ThinThread, for example, citing a low "quality of service and support" from the ThinThread program team, a lack of documentation, a lack of a configuration management system, and a lack of a trouble ticket system. However, "The findings that led to the recommendations would not have prevented the successful deployment of THINTHREAD ... the recommendations were made to improve the operational efficiency of THINTHREAD after it was deployed ..."

Technical details
The program would have used a technique of encrypting sensitive privacy information in an effort to comply with legal concerns, and would have automatically identified potential threats. The sources of the data for this program would have included "massive phone and e-mail data," but the extent of this information is not clear. Only once a threat was discovered, would the data be decrypted for analysis by agents.

ThinThread would have bundled together four cutting-edge surveillance tools.:
 Used more sophisticated methods of sorting through massive phone and e-mail data to identify suspect communications.
 Identified U.S. phone numbers and other communications data and encrypted them to ensure caller privacy.
 Employed an automated auditing system to monitor how analysts handled the information, in order to prevent misuse and improve efficiency.
 Analyzed the data to identify relationships between callers and chronicle their contacts. Only when evidence of a potential threat had been developed would analysts be able to request decryption of the records. This component is known as MAINWAY and, according to Pulitzer Prize winning journalist James Risen, "MAINWAY [became] the heart of the NSA's domestic spying program."

Intelligence experts describe as rigorous the testing of ThinThread in 1998, the project succeeding at each task with high marks. For example, its ability to sort through massive amounts of data to find threat-related communications far surpassed the existing system. It also was able to rapidly separate and encrypt U.S.-related communications to ensure privacy.

The Pentagon report concluded that ThinThread's ability to sort through data in 2001 was far superior to that of another NSA system in place in 2004, and that the program should be launched and enhanced.  ThinThread was designed to address two key challenges: One, the NSA had more information than it could digest, and, two, increasingly its targets were in contact with people in the United States whose calls the agency was prohibited from monitoring.

Trailblazer had more political support internally because it was initiated by Michael Hayden when he first arrived at the NSA.

NSA's existing system for data-sorting had produced a database clogged with corrupted and useless information.  The mass collection of relatively unsorted data, combined with system flaws erroneously flagging people as suspect, had produced numerous false leads, draining analyst resources.  NSA leads had resulted in numerous dead ends.

NSA dropped the component that monitored for abuse of records.  It not only tracked the use of the database, but hunted for the most effective analysis techniques, and some analysts thought it would be used to judge their performance. Within the NSA, the primary advocate for the ThinThread program was Richard Taylor.  Taylor has retired from the NSA.

One intelligence official told the Baltimore Sun that ThinThread "was designed very carefully from a legal point of view, so that even in non-wartime, you could have done it legitimately." However, Michael Hayden asserts in his memoir that in 2000 lawyers at the NSA and Justice Department would not allow the deployment of ThinThread because it would be illegal, despite its use of encryption for US citizen data: "The answer from Justice was... clear: 'You can't do this...'"

End of the project
The project was ended by General Michael Hayden after successful testing, and while the privacy elements were not retained, Hayden admitted that the analysis technology is the underlying basis of current NSA analysis techniques, saying in an interview: "But we judged fundamentally that as good as [ThinThread] was, and believe me, we pulled a whole bunch of elements out of it and used it for our final solution for these problems, as good as it was, it couldn't scale sufficiently to the volume of modern communications .

Some anonymous NSA officials told Hosenball of Newsweek that the ThinThread program, like Trailblazer, was a "wasteful failure". However, as noted, the MAINWAY component of ThinThread was deployed after 9/11. NSA even tried to put ThinThread into effect before 9/11. Hayden confessed in his memoir that in 2000, fearing further terrorist attacks like the Millennium Plot, he gave the order to put ThinThread into action: "Let me be clear: This was me arguing for a limited use of the Thin Thread approach prior to 9/11." The only reason ThinThread was not put into use was because it was deemed to be illegal under US law at that time.

See also
 NSA electronic surveillance program
 Stellar Wind (code name)
 Trailblazer Project
 PRISM (surveillance program)
 Mark Klein
 Thomas Tamm
 Russ Tice
 Edward Snowden
 A Good American, 2015 documentary film about the program and its discontinuation

References

External links
 William.Binney.HOPE.9.KEYNOTE.Part1, related to Thinthread development
 William.Binney.HOPE.9.KEYNOTE.Part2, related to Thinthread development
 Film on Thinthread and the SARC team

National Security Agency
Privacy of telecommunications

ThinThread


Tybroughton, occasionally written Ty Broughton, is the name of a former civil parish, historically in the Maelor Saesneg area of Flintshire, Wales and now in Wrexham County Borough. The rather isolated rural area contains no nucleated villages, although there are a few small hamlets such as Eglwys Cross.

The name is still used for an electoral ward of the community of Bronington.

History

Tybroughton was anciently a township (an administrative subdivision) of the parish of Hanmer: D. R. Thomas speculated that it was identifiable with the lost manor of 'Burwardestone' mentioned in the Domesday Book. The Wrexham historian Alfred Neobard Palmer said that the Welsh language place name Tybroughton was recorded as early as 1405 "and can only mean 'Broughton's House' ". Tybroughton was also recorded in 1699 by the antiquary Edward Lhuyd, who pointed out an "artificial mount" there called 'Mount Cop' or Eglwys y Groes, probably a motte.

In the mid 18th century,
Thomas Pennant stayed at a house in the area, writing: "I took my quarters at Broughton [...] a venerable wooden house in possession of my respected kinsman Peter Davies, Esq, in right of his lady, eldest surviving sister of the late Broughton Whitehall".

Writing in 1840 the topographer Samuel Lewis said the township had a population of 218. It was defined as a separate civil parish by the Local Government Act 1894, but was one of the civil parishes incorporated into the community of Bronington, part of the new county of Clwyd, under the terms of the Local Government Act 1972.

Buildings

Tybroughton Hall is a grade II listed house of the late 18th century.

References

Populated places in Wrexham County Borough

Tybroughton


In law, evidence is an object of some kind, a document of some kind, or the testimony of a person in a court of law.  Evidence is used to show something is either true or false. Evidence has to follow rules in most jurisdictions. In the United States, for example, evidence was based on legal precedent until 1975. In that year Congress created the Federal Rules of Evidence. They became the official rules that all forms of evidence must follow in federal courts. Most states in the US use rules based on the federal rules. China, while a civil law country, has followed much of the US Federal Rules of Evidence in their " Uniform Provisions of Evidence".

A subpoena can be used to require a person or organization to provide documents used for evidence.

Admissibility of evidence
In most jurisdictions there are exclusionary rules that automatically suppress certain kinds of evidence. For example, in the US, this may be evidence that violates the constitutional rights of a defendant. To be admissible in most jurisdictions, evidence must be relevant and it must be reliable. In most cases evidence that may prejudice a jury or judge against a defendant is inadmissible.

Kinds of evidence
Testimony is a statement made by a witness in a court. It is accepted as true or false based on other evidence.
Real evidence (also called Physical evidence). Real evidence is a thing, an object of some kind, that can be inspected. This may to be to see it actually exists or that it makes an inference of some kind.
Hearsay evidence is when a witness or other person makes a statement outside of court. It is a statement by a witness in court regarding something not of the person's own knowledge but that they heard from someone else. Generally, hearsay evidence is rarely admitted in court.
Documentary evidence is any document presented as evidence so it may be inspected in court.
Demonstrative evidence can be a model or demonstration of what happened at a particular time or place.
Eyewitness testimony is an account given under oath to events the person witnessed. It depends on human memory and can be affected by a number of factors which may make the accounts inaccurate.
Circumstantial evidence (also called Indirect evidence) is evidence that does not directly prove a fact of a case but may be inferred or presumed to have a bearing on a case. Circumstantial evidence can make a defendant appear to be guilty without directly proving guilt. Many courts consider circumstantial evidence to be more powerful than eyewitness testimony.
Corroborating Evidence is evidence used to strengthen other pieces of evidence already given.
Expert testimony is evidence given by experts in their fields. This may include "skilled witnesses" who by their experience may testify. Examples include bankers or landowners testifying to the value of a piece of land.

References

Legal terms

Evidence (law)


Sarah Simms is a supporting character in the DC Universe and a romantic love interest of Cyborg.

Fictional character biography
Vic Stone, having just been rejected by his lover/girlfriend because of his disfiguring implants, was brooding about how he cannot have a normal life and no one outside his teammates in the Teen Titans could stand being around him.

In the midst of this gloom, he was struck by a baseball. The child nervously asked for his ball and Vic handed it back, forgetting the child could see his metallic hand. To his surprise, the boy did not recoil at the sight of him, but instead marveled at Vic's metal prosthetics, and revealed he had a mundane regular prosthetic arm of standard plastic design. The boy called over the rest of his child physical rehabilitation support group, which was overseen by Sarah Simms, a teacher at West Side School for the Handicapped. The children immediately idolized Vic with his fancy parts and exciting life while he, encouraged by this heartening experience, became close friends with Sarah Simms. Both considered the idea of a strong romantic relationship, yet both were rather shy about asking for fear of placing a rift between their already strong and close platonic friendship.

Vic and Sarah's friendship was shaken when she was kidnapped by Deathstroke the Terminator in an attempt to get to the Titans. Vic felt responsible, and Sarah was upset by the event. Vic and Sarah later came to terms with this and resumed their close friendship.

Later, Sarah Simms was accosted on the street by Mark Wright, who insanely persisted in claiming to be her fiancé after she has told him repeatedly that they were never more than friends and co-workers. Mark, clearly unbalanced, dragged Sarah into a nearby sporting goods store, which he took over at gunpoint, wounding a cashier who tried to stop him. Using a rifle from the store merchandise, Mark held off the police, who surrounded the shop, while Sarah took advantage of his distraction to place a whispered phone call to Titans Tower. Cyborg, Changeling, and Raven, the only Titans on hand at the moment, arrived almost immediately, but their initial efforts to enter the store and disarm Mark were met with failure. Finally, confused and surrounded, Mark put down his weapon and collapsed into Raven's arms, surrendering.

Sarah's life was without much incident following her hostage situation with Mark Wright. She continued her friendship with Vic, and even attended Donna Troy's wedding as his date.

Following that, Vic's adventures left him little time for Sarah. Meanwhile, a new man entered her life: a coworker at the West Side School for the Handicapped by the name of Gary Sellers. Sarah and Gary did not plan on a relationship, but found themselves strongly falling in love. Sarah initially was hesitant to tell Vic, and he found out by accident. He was angry at first, but later accepted they were not meant to have a true and deep romantic relationship — just a close and strong friendship.

Eventually, Gary left Sarah and she found herself single again. She romantically flirted with the idea of a romantic relationship with Joe Wilson (Jericho), but nothing ever came of it.

Sarah Simms still remains a friend to Vic Stone and the Titans.

In The New Teen Titans: "Games", Sarah is killed by a bomb set by the book's mastermind. The book is stated to be outside the normal New Teen Titans continuity, so Sarah's ultimate fate remains unknown.

Additional notes
Marv Wolfman, on the possibility of a Vic/Sarah Simms romance: "Not necessarily. At first, I thought of it. And then decided there was nothing wrong with a good healthy friendship that isn't based on a sex. I received a letter that sort of helped me change my mind, from a black leader who felt that we had seen a lot of interracial relationships, but we haven't seen that many good, solid black-black relationships to show that a black hero doesn't always go together with a white heroine and vice versa. And that sort of got me thinking. That came very early in the relationship, that it made a lot more sense in terms of their needs to be very good friends on a platonic friendship level. He has no girlfriend who he is totally in love with in a sexual way at this time. He's just very good friends with her, And that in itself is a slightly different relationship".

In other media
 Sarah Simms appears in the episode "The Seeds of Doom", of The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians as teacher of handicapped children.
 In the Teen Titans episode "Cyborg the Barbarian", Cyborg is stranded in 3000 BC by a magic spell. While stuck in the past, he meets and falls in love with the warrior woman Sarasim (voiced by Kimberly Brooks), whose name is an homage to Sarah and a possible ancestor.

Miscellaneous
 Sarah also appears in the Teen Titans Go! comics which are based on the animated series. She is like her comic counterpart and has a very similar introduction issue. She also teaches handicapped children as a volunteer counselor. She leaves Cyborg briefly in issue #27 after a misunderstanding paired with Jinx's hostility toward her for being Cyborg's girlfriend. Sarah reunited with Cyborg in issue #39, where she and Cyborg go on a double date with Starfire and Robin. It is not known at this point what caused her to go back to Cyborg, but both she and Starfire bore roses. In issue #45, she, Beast Boy and Cyborg become supervisors of the children on a camping trip. The first portion of the story has Beast Boy telling his origin around the campfire. The second portion, which takes place later in the evening from the first story, has Cyborg telling Sarah his origin prior to joining the Titans. Cyborg tells her that he has strong feelings for her, and he believes that they have "met in another life". She mentions that she will be attending college later in the fall, with Cyborg mentioning that he will keep in touch through cellphone, e-mail and text, as he jokingly refers to himself as a walking communication center. The story ends with them embracing, and Beast Boy teasing them.

Appearances
 Issue #3: Lame
 Issue #13: What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf?
 Issue #20: Secret Moves
 Issue #27: Love is a Battlefield
 Issue #39: Stupid Cupid
 Issue #45: Biography of a Beast Boy/Cyborg's Story

References

Comics characters introduced in 1981
DC Comics female characters
Fictional schoolteachers
Characters created by Marv Wolfman

Sarah Simms


Designated School Official (DSO) is an official U.S. term for anyone who  officially represents an American college or university in matters dealing with F-1 (visa category for foreign students to enter the United States) affairs.  A school appoints its DSO, but it must also be approved by the  Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS), which is a federal government body.

The duties of the DSO include signing immigration documents for foreign students. The DOS also supports and advises foreign students.

References

Other websites
https://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/SEVP_DSO_Training.pdf
https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/2013/10/online-training-for-designated-school-officials

Immigration
Education in the United States

Designated School Official


Sun Fuling (; September 1921 – 18 May 2018) was a Chinese business executive and politician. He was General Manager of Fuxing Flour Mill, one of the largest Chinese-owned factories in Beijing, on the eve of the city's takeover by the Communist forces during the Chinese Civil War. He was subsequently appointed the first director and general manager of the nationalized Beijing General Flour Mill before entering politics. He served as deputy mayor of Beijing from 1983 to 1993 and Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1993 to 2003. He was a member of the China Democratic National Construction Association (Minjian).

Early life and education
Sun was born in September 1921 in Heihe, Heilongjiang Province, but was a considered a native of his ancestral home Shaoxing, Zhejiang, by Chinese convention.

From 1938 to 1940, he studied in the Department of Physics, Yenching University and the Department of Mathematics, Southwest Union University. From 1941 to 1945, he studied at the Political Economics Department of Guanghua University (then exiled in Chengdu during World War II) and the Economics Department of West China Union University, from which he graduated in 1945.

Business career
Sun was deeply influenced by his paternal uncle, the famous entrepreneur , who believed in saving China through industry. In December 1948, during the Chinese Civil War, he was appointed general manager of Fuxing Flour Mill (), then one of the largest Chinese-owned factories in Beijing, just before the city was taken by the Communist Party's People's Liberation Army. He made major donations to the People's Volunteer Army during the Korean War, and cooperated with the new Communist government in its campaign to nationalize China's private businesses. When 11 private-owned flour mills were partially nationalized and reorganized into the Beijing General Flour Mill, Sun was appointed its first director and general manager.

Political career
From 1958 to 1983, Sun served as director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Service Management, deputy director of the Municipal Foreign Trade Bureau, chairman of the Beijing Federation of Industry and Commerce, deputy chairman of Minjian Beijing Committee, and deputy chairman of the Beijing CPPCC.

From 1983 to 1993, he served as deputy mayor of Beijing, and vice chairman and executive vice chairman of All China Federation of Industry and Commerce. In March 1993, he was elected Vice Chairman of the Eighth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). In March 1998, he was re-elected as the vice chairman of the Ninth CPPCC National Committee, serving until 2003. He was also a member of the 2nd to 5th CPPCC National Committee and the 6th and 7th CPPCC Standing Committee.

Death
On 18 May 2018, Sun died in Beijing at the age of 96. His body was cremated on 24 May and his ashes buried at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery. Before the cremation, Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, and all other members of the Party Politburo Standing Committee paid their final respects at the cemetery.

References

1921 births
2018 deaths
Chinese chief executives
Businesspeople from Heilongjiang
Deputy mayors of Beijing
Vice Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
20th-century Chinese businesspeople

Sun Fuling


The Big Three television networks are the three biggest television networks in the United States that are still running. These networks are ABC, CBS, and NBC. The Big Three networks ruled over television in the United States until the 1990s. To this day, they are still considered major, long-lasting United States television networks.

Backgrounds
NBC and CBS were both founded as radio networks in the 1920s. Later on, NBC would have two radio networks for the United States. These networks were the Red Network and the Blue Network. They soon began television stations in the 1930s. In 1943, the U.S. government noticed how unfair it was for NBC to have two networks. They forced NBC to sell one of their networks. NBC chose to sell the Blue Network. Later on, the Blue Network became the ABC.

The DuMont Television Network launched in 1944. The three networks once controlled a few television stations. After a while, they affiliated with other stations to cover almost the entire United States by the late 1950s. Most of these stations are affiliated somehow with all three major networks and DuMont in markets where only one or two television stations operated in the early years of commercial television. It made some TV shows hard to handle. As more stations signed on, ABC, NBC, and CBS could carry enough programming on one station.

DuMont did not have a radio network like ABC or CBS. During all this, the Mutual Broadcasting System had considered creating a TV network. They would have Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer make some of the programming. WOR-TV & WOIC were known as "Mutual Television." This is the only evidence of the television network. Mutual then bought a stake in the Overmyer Network in 1967. That network never succeeded.

Network competition

Early years
For most of television history, the Big Three controlled most of television. DuMont stopped airing in 1955. From 1961 to the early 1990s, there were only three networks. Every hit series and every feature movie was aired by one of the Big Three networks.

There were attempts to become the fourth network. But they never work out. The cost of starting a network, the difficulty of competing with the Big Three and broadcasting were common in the 1980s. The Big Three had just enough stations to defeat anyone who tried to be just like them. Those networks that could have had the chance to compete would shut down because of legal threats.

Fox
An attempt for a fourth television network for the Big Three would not happen again until Fox was founded in October 1986. Fox became a fourth network in 1994 after a law forcing cable providers to add local stations was approved. The rules allowed Fox to become recognized by most audiences and become the fourth network.

Fox has beaten ABC and NBC in the ratings for its primetime programming. This made Fox become the second most-watched network behind CBS during the 2000s. From 2007 to 2008, Fox was the highest-rated of the big broadcast networks. Fox was even the first non-Big Three network to reach first place. From 2004 to 2012, Fox became known for its 18-49 demographic shows. Because of its success, it has been included with the Big Three. It was used with the term "Big Four."

Although Fox is known as the nation's fourth major network, it is not considered part of the Big Three. One reason being that Fox reduced its weekday programming. It does not have enough national morning and evening news programs. Fox does not feature any daytime programming, enough primetime, late-night talk shows, and Saturday morning children's programming. Fox had a block for children's programs in the 1990s called Fox Kids. However, it was sold to The Walt Disney Company in 2001 as part of Fox Family Channel.

Outside of prime time, Fox affiliates either make their programming or run syndicated shows. Fox also allows affiliates the option to air the Xploration Station block on Saturday mornings in place of the optional Weekend Marketplace infomercials block.

Fifth and sixth networks
Other networks soon launched in an attempt to compete with the Big Three as well as Fox. However, these "netlets" were not as successful as Fox. The WB and UPN launched in 1995. Just like Fox, they both added nights of prime time programming a few years later. The WB was the only one that aired any on weekends.

Both networks only aired prime time and children's programming. The children's programming was the only form of weekday daytime programming offered by either one. UPN discontinued its children's programming in 2003 after a deal with Disney. After that, UPN aired sports events such as the XFL, as well as WWF SmackDown!.

Although The WB and UPN both had some popular series during their time, they struggled from poor viewership and financial losses. It led their parent companies (Time Warner and CBS Corporation) to shut them down in 2006. They soon joined together in a joint venture called The CW. It originally had a mix of programs from their past networks. But they soon made new shows after the launch.

Fox launched MyNetworkTV at the same time as The CW, with a lineup of English language telenovelas. Later on, it shifted towards unscripted programs and movies. But because of low ratings, it led News Corporation to convert the channel into a syndication service in 2009.

PBS
Like Fox, the PBS is not considered part of the Big Three networks. PBS is a noncommercial service with a different distribution model compared to the major networks. Its stations own the network rather than the network owning some of its stations and affiliating with additional stations owned by other broadcasters. It keeps memberships with more than one educational station.

Market share
Today, the "Big Three" only control a small portion of the television market in the United States. It has suffered as a result of growing competition from other networks. Traditional networks such as Fox, The CW, and MyNetworkTV, Spanish language networks such as Univision and Telemundo, even national cable and satellite channels such as TNT, ESPN, and AMC, and web channels such as Netflix are sharing the space as well.

Related pages
 Cable television
 Communication
 High-definition television
 Television
 Television movie
 Big Five
 Major movie studios

References

Television networks
Television

Big Three television networks


Let Us Compare Mythologies is the first poetry book by Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen. Written in 1956, shortly after Cohen left McGill University where he studied English literature, it was first published as part of the McGill Poetry Series operated by Louis Dudek. In 2007, the book returned to print in a 50th anniversary facsimile edition, published by Ecco Press.

Published as the inaugural volume of the McGill Poetry Series in an edition of about 400.  (The first edition is now a prized rare book, with copies selling for over $1,000.)  The book consists largely of poems Cohen wrote as a student at McGill.  Though a young voice, it is already remarkably assured, and many of Cohen's continuing obsessions (love, power, religion, poetry) are already clearly evident.

1956 books
Poetry by Leonard Cohen
Books by Leonard Cohen

Let Us Compare Mythologies


Union busting is a range of activities undertaken to disrupt or prevent the formation of trade unions or their attempts to grow their membership in a workplace.

Union busting tactics can refer to both legal and illegal activities, and can range anywhere from subtle to violent.

Labor laws differ greatly from country to country in both level and type of regulations in respect to their protection of unions, their organizing activities, as well as other aspects. These laws can affect topics such as posting notices, organizing on or off employer property, solicitations, card signing, union dues, picketing, work stoppages, striking and strikebreaking, lockouts, termination of employment, permanent replacements, automatic recognition, derecognition, ballot elections, and employer-controlled trade unions.

Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that everyone has a right to form or join a trade union. The provision is, however, not legally binding and has, in most jurisdictions, no horizontal effect in the legal relation between employer and employees or unions.

There are many labor relations consultancies in the United States and worldwide. They specialize in industries such as entertainment (radio, television and motion picture), hospitality (culinary and food service), communications, manufacturing, aerospace, utilities, and healthcare.  Although many operate only in the United States, trade union organizing takes place multi-nationally.  According to the AFL-CIO, "one of the largest U.S. firms, Labor Relations Institute (LRI), offers a "Guaranteed Winner Package": if the corporation does not "win", it does not pay. In both the US and Europe, organizing campaigns increasingly involve immigrant non-English speaking workers.  Internationally, compliance with labor laws within developed countries can be vastly different from emerging countries. Both trade union organizers and management must know the law and avoid unfair labor practice (ULP) charges.

Application and adherence to labor laws may differ worldwide, but labor laws continue to expand into new countries such as the Labour Law of the People's Republic of China and the Indian labour law. Trade union organizing often starts with workers who are untrained or unaware of labour law.  Due to the changing global and multinational employment environment and labor relations/employment laws, the modern labor movement turns more and more to professional guidance.  Internationally, laws differ in how a bargaining unit is defined for workers with job descriptions involving supervision or management. Because the operative word is "law", trade unions and workplaces may retain legal counsel to navigate the complexities of local and/or international labor laws in order to avoid unfair labor practice charges.

History

Great Britain
Following the repeal of the Combination Laws in 1824, workers were no longer prohibited from forming labor organizations or collective bargaining, although significant restrictions remained. In 1832 the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers was formed in Dorset to challenge declining wages.  The members of the organization agreed to only work for wages greater than a certain amount.  In 1834 a landlord complained, and key members were charged and convicted under laws prohibiting the swearing of secret oaths.  The sentence of seven years penal transportation to Australia prompted a movement to defend the members, known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs (referring to the village where the organization originated), who were eventually released in 1836 and 1837.

Presently, UK labor laws are defined within the Employment Relations Act 1999 (ERA) and the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, and give workers no right to strike.
In the UK and EU, trade union opposition may occur during automatic recognition campaigns and ballot elections.  Workers in the UK may have union memberships that they retain job to job, potentially resulting in workers for the same employer having different union memberships. When a union is seeking to gain control of the collective bargaining at a place of employment without a ballot, workers with either individual and/or different union memberships working for that same employer may oppose that union.

Consultation is the process by which management and employees (or their representatives) jointly examine and discuss issues of mutual concern. It involves seeking acceptable solutions to problems through an exchange of views and information. Consultation does not remove the right of managers to manage, but it does impose an obligation that the views of employees be sought and considered before decisions are taken.  The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), is the UK government's independent agency for advice and conciliation.  Although the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and their member unions oppose the use of consultancies during recognition campaigns, calling it a union busting tactic, ACAS takes a different stance, "Employee communications and consultation are the lifeblood of any business. which "aims to improve organizations and working life through better employment relations".

Derecognition of a trade union, while legal, may be referred to as union busting by trade unions. Derecognition must be accomplished according to statutory guidelines. Workers may derecognize a union which either no longer has support from its members, or if union membership falls below 50%. Employers may derecognize a union if they no longer employ 21 or more workers.  If the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) accepts an application, and the union in question has either lost support or the membership level falls below 50% of the workers, the CAC can declare that a derecognition ballot be held."

2005 Heathrow union busting
One of the most significant cases of mass dismissals in the UK occurred in 2005, involving the termination of over 600 Gate Gourmet workers at Heathrow Airport. Gate Gourmet provides in-flight meals and had been owned by Texas Pacific since 2002. The company had been in talks with the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) over redundancies and changes to overtime pay to try and stem losses when it hired 130 seasonal staff on lower wages than the permanent workers. Seeing this as a threat to their jobs, one shift refused to go back to work. Because this was seen as unofficial strike action, the workers were sacked, reportedly with only three minutes notice. The TUC later reported that the dispute had been engineered by the company to allow it to replace staff with workers on worse contracts.

This mass dismissal was viewed by some as a union busting tactic, and caused a great deal of media scrutiny. The terminations prompted a walkout by British Airways ground staff that paralysed flights and stranded thousands of travellers in the UK. The BBC reported that Andy Cook, Gate Gourmet's director of human resources at the time, said "the company had not been looking to cut the size of the protests, only stop the minority engaged in harassment." Cooke continues to direct labor relations activities from his UK labor relations consultancy.

A deal was brokered between Gate Gourmet and the TGWU by the TUC in September 2005.

United States

Union busting in the United States dates at least to the 19th century, when a rapid expansion in factories and manufacturing capabilities caused a migration of workers from agricultural work to the mining, manufacturing and transportation industries. Conditions were often unsafe, women worked for lower wages than men, and child labor was rampant. Because employers and governments did little to address these issues, labor movements in the industrialized world were formed to seek better wages, hours, and working conditions. The clashes between labor and management were often adversarial and were deeply affected by wars, economic conditions, government policies, and court proceedings.

Companies may influence unions through bargaining, labor relations, and by other means, but employer-controlled unions in the United States have been outlawed since the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.  The act prohibits supervisors from joining unions as well as prohibiting employers from assisting (as in the event of unions competing in the organization of a company), or dominating any labor organization. Additionally, the two laws, passed in 1947 and 1959, respectively, were the Taft–Hartley Act and the Landrum–Griffin Act. These statutes guarantee the rights of private employees to form and join unions in order to bargain collectively. The vast majority of states have extended union rights to public employees. The Chamber of Commerce has a long history of anti-union lobbying and union-busting in the United States at the local and federal level.

In 1962 US President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order #10988  which established the right for public sector employees to form unions with certain limitations regarding collective bargaining and a special caveat making it illegal to strike (United States Code: Title 5,7311, U.S.). In 1981 the public sector union PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization) went on strike in violation of Kennedy's executive order. President Reagan exercised his power and fired all the striking members, causing the dissolution of the union. Although the firing was legal, he was criticized by labor organizations for union busting. PATCO reformed to become the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

In the US, unlike the UK and several other countries, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) provides a legally protected right for private sector employees to strike in order to gain better wages, benefits, or working conditions without the threat of termination. However, striking for economic reasons (i.e., protesting workplace conditions or supporting a union's bargaining demands) allows an employer to hire permanent replacements. If hired, the replacement worker can continue in the job, while the striking worker must wait for a vacancy. However, if the strike is due to unfair labor practices, the strikers replaced can demand immediate reinstatement at the end of the strike. If a collective bargaining agreement is in effect, and it contains a "no-strike clause", a strike during the life of the contract could result in the firing of all striking employees, and the dissolution of that union. Although legal, it is viewed by labor organizations as union busting.

Another common tactic is flooding the would be bargaining unit with new workers that are threatened and/or incentivised to avoid discussing the unionisation drive to refuse to sign cards or vote for the union, which can include importing workers with language skills uncommon to the workplace to drive a further wedge between the two sets of employees. Corporate headquarters staff can be assigned to individual units of the business in order to provide significantly increased surveillance of staff with the goal to reduce unionisation efforts and to find sham reasons to write up and fire organisers. These tactics often increase the cost to run the area in question significantly above what the unions would negotiate for but in the long term are viewed as acceptable in order to smash unions and prevent them taking a foothold. In worse case scenarios, entire stores may be closed under the auspices of "safety issues" or "redevelopment" and workers fired or diluted between multiple stores while also serving as a warning to other stores & workers that the company would rather fire them then have to negotiate with a union. In the United States businesses receive little pushback from regulator agencies and when violations are found they are often appealed and eventually dismissed or downplayed by judges, or are insignificantly punishing to prevent the illegal tactics being re-used.

Germany

NGG, the German union for restaurant and food workers in 1999 used the notion of union busting to characterize the practices of McDonald's in Germany to kick out employees' representative bodies (Betriebsräte) and to prevent the voting of such representative bodies. However, only the study Union Busting in Deutschland (Union Busting in Germany) by Werner Rügemer and Elmar Wigand introduced the notion and presented an analysis of union busting. The study was commissioned by the largest German union, the metal workers union IG Metall and has been published in 2014.

Rügemer and Wigand also referred in their study to US authors such as John Logan, Kate Bronfenbrenner, Martin Jay Levitt, and Joseph McCain. Subsequently, the authors published a much expanded and updated version in form of a book with the title Die Fertigmacher. Arbeitsunrecht und die professionelle Bekämpfung der Gewerkschaften (Union Busting, Labor Injustice and The Professional Fight Against Trade Unions). After this, the notion union busting is used routinely in the media and by all German unions.

Rügemer and Wigand defined union busting in the following sentences: "Union Busting is the purposeful application and modular combination of practices to prevent employer-independent organization and advocacy in a company. Another point is to prevent (sabotage) the industry. Union Busting is operated both to attack the achieved status quo of collectivity, participation and labor protection. As well as to end organizing efforts of employees already in the initial stage."

Later, Rügemer and Wigand founded the non-profit association Action Against Labour Injustice. The organization works for dependent employees and in particular works-councils. The target group are the people affected by union busting and other forms of work inequalities. The association helps the victims with public actions and by legal. Prominent examples for union busting in Germany are Amazon.com, Birkenstock, Legoland, Haticon, Nora Systems, United Parcel Systems, Charité/Vivantes, Neupack, Edeka, DURA Automotive Systems, Median, Maredo, H&M and OBI.

Derecognition or decertification of trade unions
Derecognition (UK) or decertification (US) of a union may be done lawfully, though these may be referred to as union busting by trade unions, even when it is initiated by members of the union.

Workers in the UK may derecognize a union that no longer has support from members or if union membership falls below 50%. Employers may derecognize a union if they no longer employ 21 or more workers. Generally, in the UK, an application for derecognition must be made to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), which declares that a derecognition/decertification ballot election will be held. However a company may decide to unilaterally derecognize, as long as it has a non-CAC recognition agreement in force.

In the US, the process is overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Employees may file a petition seeking a decertification election to determine whether or not the employees wish to retain the union. Like an election petition, a petition for decertification can only be filed during certain timeframes, specifically when a contract has expired or is about to expire.

In Canada all provinces have laws setting out provisions for employees to decertify unions. In most cases the governments have made it mandatory that employers post information for its employees on how to decertify the union.

Labor attorneys and consultancies
Organizations retain labor/employment attorneys and consultancies based on experience, track record, language skills, and reputation. Additionally, since labor laws differ from one nation to another, an organization might also consider experience with international labor laws within multinational corporations.

When trade union organizing occurs, labor attorneys are generally contacted for advice and often turn to consultants with whom they work on a regular basis who can do supervisory training on site. Some companies keep labor relations consultants and attorneys on retainer while others use external labor/employment lawyers and/or consultancies on an hourly per diem basis.

Many labor lawyers and consultants find clients by monitoring government offices such as the NLRB regional offices, where US trade unions are required to file RC (Representation Certification) or RD (Representation Decertification) petitions which are public record. These petitions reveal the names of organizations undergoing concerted activity and the name of the union seeking recognition or an election. These petitions are also used by organizations to conduct demographic studies of concerted activity regionally in order to prepare supervisory training in anticipation of organizing. Some companies maintain libraries and offer petition logs online as a courtesy for companies which cannot conduct the research themselves.

Similarly, UK trade unions are required by the ERA 1999 to adhere to specific procedures regarding trade union recognition, such as filing a "Letter of Intent" to the CAC, which simultaneously notifies not only the CAC but the employer as well.  The filing then becomes public record which labor lawyers and consultancies can access in order to market their services.

Unions as union busters
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), as an employer, refused to negotiate in 2011 with a group of its own union organizer employees who voted to form a union called the Federation of Agents and International Representatives (FAIR). On 29 August 2012, after being found guilty of unlawfully union busting their own employees' union, the IBT posted a notice  that, according to an agreement approved by a regional director of the Obama administration's NLRB, that they would stop union busting. The notice assures Teamster employees that they will no longer be prevented from exercising their rights.

In an action involving the Retail Clerks International Association (RCIA, a part of the AFL-CIO), they lost their case when the NLRB found that the RCIA violated the NLRA by refusing to bargain with the representative of certain of its employees and by threatening employees with loss of their jobs unless they resigned from the union. The Board further found that the RCIA had violated Section 8(a) (1) by engaging in coercive conduct with respect to certain of its own employees.

In the book Labor Organizations as Employers:  Unions Within Unions, the author explored three different unions and the struggle of their workforces to organize. Prompted largely by the same concerns which motivate employees of private and public employers to seek union protection, employees within several unions, the United Transportation Union (UTU), the Garment Workers (ILGWU), and the Textile Workers (TWUA) were thwarted in their attempts to organize.

Another recent example of union busting tactics used by one union against the other is the SEIU vs CNA conflict, where each union was battling for the others' members.  In a press release dated March 10, 2008 Andy Stern of the SEIU accused the CNA of union busting:  "The California Nurses Association has launched an anti-union campaign against nurses and other healthcare employees in Ohio, seeking to derail a three-year effort by the workers to unite in District 1199 of the Service Employees International Union."  Central to the SEIU-CNA dispute were accusations by both organizations of raiding each other's members and campaigns, as well as disagreements about the direction of the labor movement.  The SEIU is focused in its mission to organize workers at any cost, provoking criticism for its consolidation of smaller locals into mega unions.

Intelligence operations
Some corporations have sought to learn of union activities by employing informants, the same way that unions employ salts to infiltrate a non union organization to gather propaganda and sow discord to gain union support.   A plant or salt can be used to disrupt meetings, question the legitimacy and motives of either the union or management, and report the results of the meetings to their superiors. Disruption or reporting on union meetings is illegal, but can be difficult to prove in ULP hearings.

In 1980, the author of Confessions of a Union Buster, Martin J. Levitt, reported that he conducted a counter-organizing drive at a nursing home in Sebring, Ohio. He assigned confederates to scratch up cars, then blamed it on the union.  Similar activities have not been reported by others, yet Levitt said that creating and exploiting a prolonged climate of fear was key for him destroying the union's credibility.

In the United States, the US Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the National Labor Relations Board that employer espionage or an employer's use of spies or agents within labor unions is an unfair labor practice under the Wagner Act.

Legal actions
Labor consultants, union organizers, and attorneys use rules and regulations to gain control of organizing drives. Most employers oppose union plans for card check elections and employ tactics to insure secret ballot elections instead.  If the union focuses on one division of the company, employment lawyers may disrupt such plans and dilute the vote by petitioning the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to include other divisions. If the union seeks to include foreman or "junior supervisor" positions in a bargaining unit to increase membership, the definition of what constitutes a supervisor under the NLRA  will often be challenged by employment or new staff added to dilute the strength of the organisers. Even the jurisdiction of the NLRB to oversee an organizing drive may be challenged. Delays can turn an organizing campaign into a protracted struggle, and according to Martin J. Levitt such battles are almost always won by management.

Many of the methods for defeating unions have been practiced for a very long time. Harry Wellington Laidler wrote a book in 1913 which reported the use of delaying tactics and provocation by an undercover operative of one of the largest known agencies of the time called Corporations Auxiliary Company. They would tell prospective employers,

Once the union is in the field its members can keep it from growing if they know how, and our man knows how. Meetings can be set far apart. A contract can at once be entered into with the employer, covering a long period, and made very easy in its terms. However, these tactics may not be good, and the union spirit may be so strong that a big organization cannot be prevented. In this case our man turns extremely radical. He asks for unreasonable things and keeps the union embroiled in trouble. If a strike comes, he will be the loudest man in the bunch, and will counsel violence and get somebody in trouble. The result will be that the union will be broken up.

Lockouts
Employers may put pressure on a union by declaring a lockout, a work stoppage in which an employer prevents employees from working until certain conditions are met. A lockout changes the psychological impact of a work stoppage and, if the company possesses information about an impending strike, can be enacted prior to the strike's implementation.

Use of public funds in the United States
Although nonprofit hospital workers were covered by the original Wagner Act of 1935, they were excluded in 1947 with the Taft–Hartley amendments. However, during the 1960s, hospital workers at nonprofit hospitals wanted to form unions in order to demand better pay and working conditions. Major American cities were also experiencing hospital strikes which raised awareness of both labor leaders and the government regarding how to continue life-sustaining patient care delivery during work stoppages. Hospital workers and labor leaders petitioned the government to amend the NLRA. In 1974, under President Richard Nixon, the NLRA was amended to extend coverage and protection to employees of non-profit hospitals. According to the Obama administration NLRB, "When the new legislation was considered by the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, it was recognized that labor relations in the health care industry required special considerations. The Senate Labor Committee sought to fashion a mechanism which would insure that the needs of the patient would be met during contingencies arising out of labor disputes. The new law represented a sound and equitable reconciliation of these competing interests."

Taxpayer funds provide state treasuries the monies for public employee salaries from which public employees pay union dues. At one time state laws did not allow government contracts to provide public money to labor relations consultancies. One such law, passed in Wisconsin in 1979, was struck down by the United States Supreme Court in the decision Wisconsin Dept. of Industry v. Gould. In effect, the 1986 Supreme Court decision meant that federal punishments are the maximum allowed, regardless of their limitations. Critics charged that, in effect, "federal labor law forces states to hire unionbusters."

In 1998, Catholic Healthcare West, the largest private hospital chain in California and a major recipient of state Medicaid funds, conducted a campaign against the SEIU in Sacramento and Los Angeles at a cost of more than $2.6 million. After the Catholic Healthcare West campaign, the California state legislature passed a law prohibiting employers receiving more than $10,000 in state funds from engaging in anti-union activities. However, the 2007 US Supreme Court decision in Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America et al. vs. Brown, Attorney General of California et al., the court ruled 7–2 that federal labor law pre-empted a California law that limited many employers from speaking to their employees about union-related issues. Justice John Paul Stevens stated that Federal labor law had embraced "wide-open debate" about labor issues, as long as the employer did not try to coerce employees into accepting its point of view. Consequently, the state law is incompatible with federal labor law.

Other efforts to restrict anti-union activities by recipients of state funds have also been struck down. A major recipient of state Medicaid funds, the Center for Cerebral Palsy in Albany, New York, hired a law firm to fight a UNITE organizing drive. In 2002 the State of New York passed a labor neutrality act prohibiting the use of taxpayer dollars for union busting. The law was passed as a direct result of the campaign against UNITE. In May 2005, a district court judge struck down the labor neutrality law in a ruling that the legal representatives of the Center for Cerebral Palsy described as "an enormous victory for employers".

Industrial psychologists as union busters
Nathan Shefferman introduced some basic psychological techniques into the union avoidance industry and the complementary service of union prevention. Building upon his work, professionally trained psychologists in the 1960s began using sophisticated psychological techniques to "screen out potential union supporters, identify hotspots vulnerable to unionization, and structure the workplace to facilitate the maintenance of a non-union environment." These psychologists provided companies with psychological profiles and conducted audits concerning a firm's susceptibility to unionization.

Between 1974 and 1984, one firm trained over 27,000 managers and supervisors to "make unions unnecessary" and surveyed almost one million employees in 4,000 organizations.

Anti-union employers' organizations in the United States

In the United States shortly after 1900, there were few effective employers' organizations that opposed the union movement. By 1903, these organizations started to coalesce, and a national employers' movement began to exert a powerful influence on industrial relations and public affairs.

For nearly a decade prior to 1903, an industrial union called the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) had been increasing in power, militancy, and radicalism in response to dangerous working conditions, the imposition of long hours of work, and what members perceived as an imperious attitude on the part of employers. In particular, members of the WFM had been outraged by employers' use of labor spies in organizing efforts such as Coeur d'Alene. The miners' frustrations had occasionally exploded in anger and violence, although they had also tried peaceful change. For example, after winning a referendum vote for the eight-hour day with support from 72 percent of Colorado's electorate, the WFM's goal of an eight-hour law was still defeated by employers and politicians.

In 1901, angry WFM members passed a convention proclamation that a "complete revolution of social and economic conditions" was "the only salvation of the working classes".  Colorado employers and their supporters reacted to growing union restlessness and power in a confrontation that came to be called the Colorado Labor Wars.  But fear and apprehension on the part of employers, who felt unions were threatening to their businesses, were by no means limited to Colorado. Across the nation, the first elements of a network of employers' organizations that would span the coming century were just beginning to arise.

Anti-union organizations played increasingly prominent roles in American politics. In April 1903, David M. Parry spoke to the annual convention of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), delivering a speech critical of organized labor, asserting that trade unionism and socialism differ only in method, with both aiming to deny "individual and property rights". Parry asserted the natural laws which governed the nation's economy, and he decried any interference with those laws, whether by legislative or other means. Parry asserted that the goals of the unions would inevitably lead to "despotism, tyranny, and slavery", and the "ruin of civilization".

To control this threat to the status quo, Parry advised that the NAM begin organizing employers and manufacturers' associations into a great national anti-union federation. The NAM convention agreed to the recommendation, and created an employers' organizing committee with Parry in charge. Parry began the organizing effort at once.  The prospect of a federal eight-hour law was particularly objectionable to the NAM, which declared it a "vicious, needless, and in every way preposterous proposition."

The NAM has fought against organized labor for more than a century through affiliated organizations. However, the organization once sought to moderate its image. After the 1937 La Follette Committee investigated employers and their anti-union allies, uncovering widespread abuses, the NAM denounced "the use of espionage, strikebreaking agencies, professional strikebreakers, armed guards, or munitions for the purpose of interfering with or destroying the legitimate rights of labor to self organization and collective bargaining." The brief nod to union rights did not last.

Other anti-union organizations have also made vocal contributions to anti-union discourse and union busting activities. The Citizens' Alliance was an employers' organization formed early in the 1900s specifically to fight trade unions. It worked with the NAM to strengthen anti-union movements in the early 20th century in the United States. The Council on Union Free Environment (CUE) had the specific mission of defeating President Carter's labor law reform bill that was designed to make union-organizing efforts more successful by, among other provisions, allowing for elections to occur within 15 days of filing a petition. The Labor Law Study Group, later called the Construction Users Anti-Inflation Roundtable, introduced dozens of labor law reform bills in the US Congress, but their primary focus was repealing state and federal laws that established minimum wage standards on publicly funded projects. Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is the construction industry's voice and is funded chiefly by non-union builders and related businesses and promoted the "merit shop" which sought to pay each employee according to his qualification and performance. While the group insisted it was not anti-union, the system would preclude workers from exercising many of the worker-related benefits of a union.

Other groups, such as the National Right to Work Committee, has lobbied for laws prohibiting the union shop. Similarly, the US Chamber of Commerce's core purpose is to fight for free enterprise before Congress, the White House, regulatory agencies, the courts, the court of public opinion, and governments around the world and has actively lobbied against the Employee Free Choice Act. The NLPC makes a case for the end of the use of union dues for political purposes. The Center for Union Facts maintains an anti-union website that provides financial and other records about unions.

Guide to modern union busting

Nathan Shefferman published The Man in the Middle, a 292-page account of his union busting activities, in 1961. Shefferman described a long list of practices which he viewed as tangential to union avoidance activities but which his detractors have labeled as support operations for these activities. Among these were the administration of opinion surveys, supervisor training, employee roundtables, incentive pay procedures, wage surveys, employee complaint procedures, personnel records, application procedures, job evaluations, and legal services. As part of his union busting strategies, all of these activities were performed with the goal of maintaining complete control of the work force by top management. Shefferman's book not only provided the concepts that animated all future union busting techniques, he also provided language that pro-labor supporters believe mask the intent of the policies.

See also

 Anti-union violence and union violence
 Captive audience meeting
 Confessions of a Union Buster
 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948
 Opposition to trade unions
 Salt (union organizing)
 Trade union prevalence worldwide

United States

 Grabow riot
 History of union busting in the United States
 Martin J. Levitt
 Mohawk Valley formula
 Right-to-work law

References

External links

 The Labor Research Association's Union Busting Watch
 Repression Against the IWW

Anti-union sentiment
Labor relations
Trade unions

Union busting


In algebra, given a differential graded algebra A over a commutative ring R, the derived tensor product functor is

where  and  are the categories of right A-modules and left A-modules and D refers to the homotopy category (i.e., derived category). By definition, it is the left derived functor of the tensor product functor .

Derived tensor product in derived ring theory
If R is an ordinary ring and M, N right and left modules over it, then, regarding them as discrete spectra, one can form the smash product of them:

whose i-th homotopy is the i-th Tor:
.
It is called the derived tensor product of M and N. In particular,  is the usual tensor product of modules M and N over R.

Geometrically, the derived tensor product corresponds to the intersection product (of derived schemes).

Example: Let R be a simplicial commutative ring, Q(R) → R be a cofibrant replacement, and  be the module of Kähler differentials. Then

is an R-module called the cotangent complex of R. It is functorial in R: each R → S gives rise to . Then, for each R → S, there is the cofiber sequence of S-modules

The cofiber  is called the relative cotangent complex.

See also
derived scheme (derived tensor product gives a derived version of a scheme-theoretic intersection.)

Notes

References
Lurie, J., Spectral Algebraic Geometry (under construction)
Lecture 4 of Part II of Moerdijk-Toen, Simplicial Methods for Operads and Algebraic Geometry
Ch. 2.2. of Toen-Vezzosi's HAG II

Algebraic geometry

Derived tensor product