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Federal agency finds fault with Harmony schools admissions, services
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In the summer of 2012 a group of five Texans climbed to the summit of Mount Rainier, but it was a horrific and deadly trip back down the mountain that would challenge them to their core, and change them, perhaps forever.
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Berwick: Quest Program Results 'A Breakthrough'
In what former Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services administrator Don Berwick, MD, called "a breakthrough," hundreds of hospitals in a data- practice-sharing project have shown significant reductions in cost, mortality, and infections.
Some 333 hospitals are participating in the Premier Healthcare Alliance's data- and practice-sharing project called Quest. Premier's President and CEO Susan DeVore says the project has saved 92,000 lives and $9.1 billion, compared with what would be expected for its hospitals.
"What is intuitive in other industries, where if you buy something that doesn't work well it's going to cost you more in the long run, the same is true in healthcare, but people don't seem to get that," Berwick said at a news tele-conference Tuesday.
He added the Quest team has shown "as carefully as it's been done anywhere I've looked, that as quality gets better, and as the patient experience improves on the whole, costs can fall quite a bit."
"Quest is undoubtedly a breakthrough…given how interesting and how unexpectedly good the results are," and if the project goes forward outside acute care settings, "it can be a breakthrough for all American healthcare," he said.
The Quest project began in 2007, with hospitals collecting baseline data for evidence based processes of care, costs and mortality every year. It has published annual and sometimes quarterly reports with transparent data for participating hospitals that allow them to compare themselves, share solutions, initiate strategies for improvement and then measure again the following year to see what worked and what didn't.
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- CMS Mulls Income-Adjusting MA Stars
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- Providers' Push to Consolidate Roils Payers
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- No Employee Satisfaction, No Patient-Centered Culture
- 3 Ways to Rev Employee Development Programs
- 6 Not-So-Good Reasons for Avoiding Population Health
- Medicare Cost, Quality Data Tools Weak, Says GAO
- Aligning Executive Compensation with Provider Mission

subset: commoncrawl


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Xmas Tree Design
This great custom product in red from our department Women and T-Shirt category can be printed just for you in the size and style you like. The design Xmas Tree was created by inastore and uploaded to Spreadshirt for you to have printed on a T-Shirt. Next to a host of other great customized designs, you can find this Xmas Tree design in Spreadshirt's Christmas category. If you are interested in topics like Santa Claus or Tree, then you'll love Xmas Tree designs by inastore. Spreadshirt also offers a huge selection of custom t-shirts, hoodies and accessories for the category Christmas as well as top christmas clothing. inastore's designs have already impressed many of our customers, so we are sure that we've got right stuff for you! Spreadshirt is your destination for great designs of all kinds – whether it's Santa Claus, Tree or christmas. We are sure that you will find something nice in our shop, there are many amazing custom Christmas t-shirts, hoodies, or accessories for you to find! Tags: Design ID: 12179791
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Click through to get your copy of the latest Beneteau Magazine. 200+ pages of Beneteau history and innovation and some impressive photography.
The 9th edition of the Spirit Marine Queensland Beneteau Cup was held over the weekend on Moreton Bay, and the mood and the waves were high. Click here for a full recap.
Sydneysiders cooked under a spring blowtorch that took the temperature in the CBD past 30 degrees at 9am last Friday morning, November 21, 2014. Out on the harbour the real sizzle came from the class rivalry in the 23rd annual Beneteau Cup Sydney.


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Sun Lounge (railcar)
|Sun Lounge
The lounge area of the Hollywood Beach Sun Lounge.
Postcard of a Sun Lounge interior in the 1960s.
|Entered service
|Number built
|Number preserved
|Number scrapped
|Fleet numbers
3230–3232 (Amtrak)
|5 double bedrooms
|Seaboard Air Line Railroad
Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
The Sun Lounges were a fleet of three streamlined sleeper-lounge cars built by Pullman-Standard for the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1956. The cars featured a distinctive glass-topped roof area meant to capture the ambiance of a dome car in a lower profile, as tunnels on the East Coast of the United States prevented the use of dome cars there. The Seaboard employed all three Sun Lounges on its flagship Silver Meteor between New York City and Miami, Florida. The cars later saw service with the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad and Amtrak. Two of the three survive in private ownership.
The first successful dome design in the United States was the "Vista Dome", which began test runs in 1945. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad ("CB&Q") rebuilt a stainless steel Budd-built coach in their shops in Aurora, Illinois, with the Vista Dome design imagined and sketched by Cyrus Osborn. The dome area featured seats positioned lengthwise in the cabin facing double-pane windows which were designed to improve insulation.[1]:197 While popular with travelers, dome cars could not be used on most railroads in the Eastern United States because of the low clearance on various tunnels.[2]:39 Even the low-slung "Strata-Domes", designed by Pullman-Standard for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, could not travel north of Washington, D.C.[3]
The concept of a "sun lounge" or a "sun parlor" was not new in railroading. The Illinois Central Railroad's Panama Limited, introduced in 1911, included a "sun-parlor" observation car, with wrap-around windows and a mahogany interior.[4]:21 In the 1931 the Seaboard itself added a "lounge sun-parlor car" to the Southern States Special, one of its New York-Florida trains.[5]
The Seaboard turned to Pullman to design a sleeper-lounge which captured the ambiance of a dome car in a single-level car. The resulting Sun Lounge was split into two parts. At one end were five double bedrooms. At the other was a lounge for use by sleeping car passengers on the train.[6]:102 The lounge was unique, enclosed by large picture windows and glass windows on the roof, creating the effect of a dome without a dome. The lounge interior included such Floridian touches as lamps made of driftwood.[7]:66–67 In contemporary advertising the Seaboard touted the Sun Lounges as "unlike anything on the rails at present."[8]
Service history[edit]
Pullman delivered three Sun Lounges to the Seaboard: Miami Beach, Palm Beach, and Hollywood Beach. All three entered service in 1956 on the Silver Meteor.[9]:159 When the Seaboard merged with its rival the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1967 to create the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad the cars remained in service but were renamed, becoming the Sun View, Sun Beam, and Sun Ray, respectively. Amtrak inherited all three lounges in 1971. It retired Sun View in 1977; Sun Beam and Sun Ray in 1981. None of three were converted to head-end power under the Heritage Fleet program.[10]:129
The Sun Beam (Palm Beach) was scrapped in the 1980s. The other two cars are privately owned.[11]
- ^ White, John H. (1985) [1978]. The American Railroad Passenger Car 1. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801827221. OCLC 11469984.
- ^ Sanders, Craig (2003). Limiteds, locals, and expresses in Indiana, 1838-1971. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34216-3. OCLC 50598164.
- ^ "Dome Cars Due On Florida Special". Palm Beach Post. November 21, 1965.
- ^ Dubin, Arthur D. (March 1963). "The Panama Limited". Trains 23.
- ^ "New Parlor Cars Operate To City". Evening Independent. January 7, 1931.
- ^ Schafer, Mike; Joe Welsh (1997). Classic American Streamliners. Osceola, WI: MotorBooks International. ISBN 0-7603-0377-0. OCLC 37281634.
- ^ Johnston, Bob; Joe Welsh; Mike Schafer (2001). The Art of the Streamliner. New York: Metro Books. ISBN 1-58663-146-2. OCLC 47274004.
- ^ "Sun Lounge Sleeping Cars and Center-Lounge Coaches for your Seaboard Trip to Florida and the South!". Sunday Herald. November 13, 1955. Retrieved 2014-05-17.
- ^ Welsh, Joe; Bill Howes; Kevin J. Holland (2010). The Cars of Pullman. Voyageur Press. ISBN 0760335877. OCLC 401715735.
- ^ Simon, Elbert; Warner, David C. (2011). Amtrak by the numbers: a comprehensive passenger car and motive power roster, 1971-2011. Kansas City, MO: White River Productions. ISBN 978-1-932804-12-9. OCLC 837623640.
- ^ "SAL-Seaboard Air Line". Retrieved 2014-05-24.
External links[edit]
- Media related to Sun Lounge (railcar) at Wikimedia Commons


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Man Faces Charges In Girlfriend's Stabbing Death
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A man is facing charges after allegedly stabbing his girlfriend to death. According to reports, a woman was stabbed to death during a domestic dispute this past weekend. Her death became Galveston's fourth homicide this year.
Fifty-three-year-old Jackie Bergara was found dead of a knife wound Sunday. Her boyfriend 44-year-old Richard Beverly was charged with her murder.
According to law enforcement officials in Galveston, Beverly who had his bond set at $250,000, remained hospitalized this week after reportedly overdosing on medication.
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Every girl my sister has brought home from college I've had sex with, check and mate motherfucker
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Every girl my sister has brought home from college I've had sex with, check and mate motherfucker
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New wedding record, my shirt was off by 8pm!!!
No I got myself stoned. With her bowl. She was just a casualty of the War on Sobriety.
after further investigation i found out he's a little bit married..
he went at my nipples like a starved dog.
And for some reason I just want to have sex with EVERYTHING
You need to braveheart it on Monday. Blue face paint and a loin cloth screaming freedom in your front yard.
They actually said and I quote "it definitely looks like your knees went through some over usage"
An outback commercial just played and I remembered that guy from Australia Imade out with at the Derby. Great Bachelorette Party, btw.


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In Bid for Birkins, Christie's Gets Slammed with a $60 Million Lawsuit
Dramz in the high-stakes world of used Birkins.Read more
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theFashionSpot's 10 Best Articles of the Week
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Zhineng Qigong Retreat - Mistletoe Bay, February 2015Zhineng Qigong New Zealand is hosting a 10 day retreat at Mistletoe Bay - an award-winning eco village in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand
Nelson tops survey of travellersA travel website has found Nelson has the highest-rated accommodation in the country.
The Anzac ExperienceA living history experience of trench warfare & life in war time, displays.
Lunar EclipseView the lunar eclipse at the Cawthron Atkinson Observatory - Tuesday 15th April 2014
Opera in the Park 2014Nelson's signature summer event - picnic under the stars as some of the country's top opera singers entertain you
Nelson Buskerburgoo 2014The buskers are back with the return of Nelson's annual busking and street theatre festival next month
Nelson, New Zealand
Kia Ora and welcome to NelsonWeb. Nelson New Zealand's longest serving online directory with our 'less clicks' Nelson Tourist and Visitor Information Guide.
Nelson Accommodation
Nelson Accommodation meets all requirements and budgets from the independent traveller to the more luxury traveller.
So whether it be a self-contained cottage, holiday home, backpacker hostel, bed and breakfast, motel or hotel, luxury lodge or boutique Nelson accommodation.
Checkout Nelson accommodation by location From Tahunanui to the Abel Tasman find your Nelson Accommodation here.
Whats Happening in Nelson
The Nelson events calendar has a year round focus from the Summer Festival to the Arts Festival in September. Bars and Clubs provide ample and varied evening entertainment. Live music is often a feature, from informal jazz evenings to classical music concerts at The Nelson School of Music.
read more on Nelson New Zealand …
Summer in Nelson
Think sunshine, beaches, seafood, chilled white wine and the Jazz festival. Collingwood street trolley derby is a favourite with young and old.
Winter in Nelson
Think sunshine, great golf, Pinot Noir wine, winter music festival and the Rainbow ski field.
The Nelson Experience
Interesting and art filled, there are plenty of reasons for the sun to shine in Nelson.
Enjoy the beautiful environment while you get involved with the creative local culture available in small boutique galleries to large open well established galleries, such as the Suter. There are a range of short term workshops available for visitors.
Nelsons Saturday Outdoor Market is an experience not to be missed to stop for food, jewellery and crafts.
Nelson has a thriving multi cultural cafe culture throughout. Many double up as galleries to display unique local art, there is a thriving Nelson wine industry and a number of boutique breweries, some offering tours and tasting!
Nelson visitors are also known to take advantage of the growing natural health, alternative medicines, and holistic well-being courses and treatments available in the area.


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5 ways to squeeze in a workout on Turkey Day
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Bella Thorne's new life: Author, actress, style scene stealer
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Party pretty Going out? Of course you are! We have celeb-worthy outfits and sparkly jewels for just $10.
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One lucky lady swipes it rich when she scores this 24-inch My Smart All-In-One tablet from AOC. Watch all the movies you want and browse the web with the touch of your finger. Download our December giveaway calendar for entry details HERE.
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Gear up with some awesome fitness swag. Plus, Linus Bike is giving one gal the chance to score the Roadster Classic in Cream--a $465 value! Download our January giveaway calendar for details HERE.
Website mentions in December/January 2015:
Page 7: Build an over-the-top gingerbread house!
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Page 24: The best and brightest statement jewels you need now
Page 49: Fashion face off: Vote on your fave Bella Thorne looks
Page 81: Let it glow: DIY gifts to make your friends and fam
Page 78: Want to start tracking your fitness? Click here to enter for a chance to win a Misfit: Flash
Page 82: Enter for a chance to win an adorbs 3D Cookie Kit!
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*Snag winter swag! Enter to win GL's holiday gift guide stash HERE!
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Your go-to chat up line to your crush is…
Love reading? Want to start an awesomely edgy new series?
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Wednesday, November 26, 2014
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Are You A Real Libra? You're a real charmer or aren't you. Test your Libra skills.
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10 Ways to Go Broke
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bills broke credit card credit card fees finance finance planning insurance investment money money management money saving tips moneysaving tips retirement
It's easy to find frugal advice on how to make and save money, but you rarely hear about the things you do to harm to your financial future. Sometimes we spend so much time scheming and planning for wealth, we forget to hang onto what we've already got. Before you break out the credit card or plan that expensive trip, check out these 10 ways you can easily -- and quickly -- go broke.
- Not Taking Care of Yourself - Unexpected medical bills for a serious illness or accident can decimate your savings and max out your credit cards quickly. If you fall behind on payments, you could destroy your credit or be forced to give up things like your car or home. Spend the money for annual check-ups, vitamins, a gym membership and health foods. Wear your seatbelt and look both ways before crossing the street - whatever it takes to keep you healthy and safe.
- Keeping All of Your Eggs in One Basket - Having all of your money tied up in one investment like a stock, property or trust fund gives you a higher risk of being completely wiped out financially if something goes wrong. Think about the disastrous results of the collapse of the banking system or the headline-making Ponzi schemes that left thousands without a dime. Diversifying your money will protect you in case of unexpected circumstances surrounding other investments.
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"You give a lot of detailed information on your site that isn't available on the news. A five star report" DF.
SYRIA and IRAQ NEWS
TIMELINE – 21st NOVEMBER 2014 14.26 GMT – UPDATED 23.59 GMT:
The fight for Kobane continues on the 68th day, slowly and painfully, fighting street by street, alley by alley.
The Islamic State continue to fire mortar shells into civilian areas of Kobane but the YPG and YPJ units at the same time are making more and more forays into the municipal area of the city in eastern Kobane.
In the last 48 hours, the YPG have carried several operations into the Sukuhal area, the "security zone" and around Azadi (Freedom Square). 10 Jihadist fighters have been killed and 1 YPG fighter.
On the southern front, where the Islamic State still hold a small amount of territory in the south-west of the city, guerilla tactics were again deployed during night time operations and another 9 x IS fighters killed and an IS motorcycle destroyed.
According to unconfirmed reports, in the last 2 days, 30 x IS fighters have been killed following action by the YPG and its allies, plus Coaltion airstrikes, including 2 x senior IS commanders, one known as Saifullah and the other as Abu Hares.
Ahmed Gerdi, who commands the 150 Peshmerga sent to reinforce the YPG in Kobane, confirmed that advances are not easy. "Making advances isn't that simple," Gerdi said.
"This is not a village that can be controlled in a single attack. It is a slow street fight. We need to secure every alley that we take."
Gerdi also confirmed that 10 Peshmerga soldiers had been injured so far since they had arrived in Kobane, but none of them critically. There are also unconfirmed reports that the Peshmerga brigade have received fresh supplies of ammunition into the city in the last couple of days.
Free Syrian Army (FSA) units are also well involved in the fight against IS, as can be seen from this footage, HERE:
Retired General John Allen, who is the US Government co-ordinator of the Coalition forces against IS in Iraq and Syria, said on a visit to Ankara for talks with the Turkish administration, that the Islamic State had "impaled itself" on Kobane.
Allen went on to say that the US estimated that Coalition airstrikes on Kobane had cost IS 600 fighters and commented, "Any time you mass to achieve the affect that they are trying to achieve with respect to Kobane, you create targets," adding, "I think, the sense is, if they pull out, this is going to be a real indicator that the 'march to victory' of ISIL has finally hit its high water mark."
Good article on the publicity battle surrounding this war from the New York Times Syria news.
Courtesy of @deSyracuse, here is a situation map for Kobane as of yesterday. Clearly there is still a long way to go, especially in the eastern part of the city, but note the now very small IS enclave in the south and often mentioned locations and sites in the east, here:
For a bigger version go HERE:
And perhaps a good reminder of what this battle is all about. The Kurdish Self-Administraton of Afrin, Jazira and Kobane, known as Rojava, in northern Syria has produced a Social Contract to protect the rights of all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, religion, sect, sex or race.
Well worth a read in its entirety, the document pledges to protect the rights of all e.g.:
Article 6: All persons and communities are equal in the eyes of the law regarding rights and
Article 9: The official languages of the Canton of Jazirah are Kurdish, Arabic and Syriac. All
communities have the right to teach and be taught in their native language.
Article 21: The Charter incorporates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as other internationally recognized human rights conventions.
Article 24: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 25: Everyone has the right to liberty and personal security. All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated humanely and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 26: Every human being has the inherent right to life. No one within the jurisdiction of the Democratic Self-administration shall be executed.
Article 27: Women have the inviolable right to participate in political, social, economic and cultural life.
Article 28: Men and women are equal in the eyes of the law. The Charter guarantees the effective realization of equality of women and mandates public institutions to work towards the elimination of gender discrimination.
Article 29: The Charter guarantees the rights of the child. In particular, children shall not suffer economic exploitation, child labour, torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and shall not be married before attaining the age of majority.
EDITOR: This well thought out and prepared document with 96 Articles, strikes me as the basis for the government of the whole of Syria, many other countries (including those Gulf State that profess to be opposed to the Islamic State), and even some Western ones.
Bravo! for the Kurds of Rojava. A Charter for human decency and human rights. You are leading in more ways than one.
You can read the full document, HERE:
US Central Command (Centcom) is reporting today 7 airstrikes in Syria between 19th and 21st of November, 6 of them near Kobane and 1 near Raqqah. The 6 near Kobane destroyed 4 x IS fighter staging areas, 2 x IS occupied buildings, 2 x IS tactical units and suppressed a further IS fighting position. The attack on Raqqah hit an IS barracks.
Elsewhere in Syria, yet another mass grave, this time with 21 corpses, has been found in Nawa in Daraa province after Assad's troops were driven out of the city, HERE: plus the remains of 13 bodies were found in Tal Horan area near the city of Nawa today , including 7 bodies of Opposition fighters and a woman along with her 5 children.
This follows on from 32 corpses found in Nawa just a few days ago, leading to further speculation that they are the disposed of victims of the Assad regime.
Opposition fighters briefly entered Baath City yesterday, Thursday, which, along with the adjacent town of Khan Arnaba are the last strongholds of Assad's power in Quneitra province. Once these are gone, the Opposition will control all of Quneitra.
Many of Baath City's 30,000 residents fled as the Opposition fighters approached. The city is named after Syria's ruling Baath Party led by the Assad family.
The city was named and established as an act of defiance after Quneitra city was destroyed in the war with Israel in 1967. Quneitra city was never rebuilt and Baath City become the province's administrative capital.
An Opposition fighting force of 2,000 is currently engaged in the battle to oust the Assad regime from the province, hundreds of Al-Nusra Front fighters moving south to join the fight after they were driven out of Deir Ez-Zour by the Islamic State.
In Raqqah city, the Islamic State are reported to have executed 4 of their fighters for "spying for rebels", other opposition groups opposed to both IS and the Assad regime. A FSA unit is reported to have set off an IED device in Raqqah city.
There are also reports that a number of young IS fighters, usually foreign and non-Arab, have been arrested and executed for wishing to leave the Islamic State and to return home.
One 17 year old Chechen was beaten up by his "Jihadist friends" after he told his family online that life in Syria was not what he expected and he wanted to come home. The swearing of allegiance to the Islamic State is considered by them a pledge for life.
In Deir Ez-Zour province, paranoid IS fighters raided Internet cafes in Al-Madin city, searched people's mobile phones and arresting 2 individuals. Heavy clashes are also reported once again between IS and the Assad regime around Deir Ez-Zour military airport, with Government jets targeting IS positions in the area.
In Homs province in the eastern desert, fighting has erupted once again between the Assad regime and the IS Jihadists over the Sha'er Gas Field.
Regime forces had recaptured some positions around Gas Well 107, but the situation is very fluid with territory going backwards and forwards into different hands. Heavy casualties on both sides are reported. The gas fields remain crucial to the Syrian Government keeping some of its major electricity power plants generating.
Last night, in the early hours of Friday morning, the Islamic State launched a surprise attack on Ramadi, the capital city of Anbar province.
Attacking from the north, south, east and west, IS launched a barrage of mortar shells hitting a police station and provincial government buildings. The attacks killed 6 people, including a police colonel. 12 IS fighters were killed in the subsequent fighting.
IS have controlled part of Ramadi and all of Fallujah in Anbar province since January.
Government forces were able to drive back IS out of one area and keep them out of others, but fighting is continuing into Friday night and the outcome either way is by no means certain.
Earlier in the week, the Islamic State were driven out of Baiji city and eventually the nearby oil refinery, helped by Coalition airstrikes.
Centcom reports today that the Coalition has made 23 airstrikes in Iraq between the 19th and 21st of November, 6 near Baiji. Another 4 airstrikes destroyed 8 x IS armoured vehicles and other facilities near Sinjar.
West of Kirkuk, 3 airstrikes destroyed 5 x IS bunkers, 2 x IS vehicles and an IS tactical unit. A further 9 airstrikes near Mosul, Al-Asad and Ramadi also destroyed or caused considerable damage to IS fighters and assets.
A strike on Tal Afar, where it had been claimed there were IS jets, damaged the airfield.
There are local reports from Mosul that the Coalition airstrike there on Wednesday afternoon killed Radwan Taleb Al-Hamdouni and his driver. Al-Hamdouni was the "Wali" or governor of Mosul and the most important IS official in the city.
True to form, the Islamic State is said to have publicly executed 2 young men in the market area of Zab in Kirkuk province for allegedly "cooperating with Iraqi Government forces".
Interesting story of Abu Shakr, a 36-year-old who was a former Islamic State commander but after being captured in 2013 now provides the Iraq Army with information on IS tactics and helps them find other Jihadists in return for regular contact with his family.
Apparently Shakr was able to give the Iraqi Army vital information which enabled them to recapture Baiji oil refinery. You can read more, HERE:
This is a Centcom video of a Coalition airstrike on an Islamic State ammunition bunker near Baiji on Wednesday, here:
There are futher videos of other recent airstrikes, HERE:
A detailed Iraq situation report for the 20th and 21st November, courtesy of the Institute for the Study of War, is here:
TIMELINE – 20th November 2014 11.41 GMT:
The US appear to have attacked the Al-Nusra Front again, Coalition aircraft bombing a location in the town of Harem in Idlib province, for the 4th time on Tuesday night.
Last week a US drone attacked the Agricultural Institute in Harem and killed 2 men believed to be Jihadists. This Tuesday's strike hit a "storage facility" according to US Central Command, also killing 2 men.
While the Al-Nusra Front (ANF) is aligned to Al-Qaeda, the United States say it is not attacking them per se, but a particular section within ANF known as the Khorasan group.
The US says Khorasan is not interested in attacking President Assad, but is dedicated to attacking targets in the West.
Analysts both inside and outside Syria have cast doubt on this distinction and many suggest it is a US-led attack pure and simple on the leadership of ANF as an Al Qaeda affiliate.
The US attacks may also have something to do with the Al-Nusra Front's aggression towards 2 of the more moderate Free Syrian Army (FSA) brigades which were cleared to receive US weapons in the war against Assad.
Following disagreements and disputes, ANF has almost driven those brigades completely out of Idlib province, capturing many of the sophisticated weapons the FSA units possessed. Previously, ANF and the FSA brigades had worked closely together.
As a result of all this, it is now likely that the flow (or trickle some might say) of US weapons to the Syrian Revolutionary Front (SRF) and the Harakat Hazzm Movement, previously the two major beneficiaries of the weapons programme in Syria, will stop altogether.
Hopefully and conversely, the successful Opposition fighters in the south of Syria will get increased supplies of weapons and ammunition via Jordan so they can carry their fight from the southern provinces right up into Damascus itself. You can read more, HERE:
Meanwhile, in Damascus Opposition fighters blew up a tunnel being dug by Assad's forces under Beit Sahm, a south-eastern district of the capital, HERE:
In Aleppo province 14 people have died after Assad regime helicopters dropped barrel bombs on an ambulance and mini-buses carrying civilian passengers in the Al- Qaber Al- Englizi area ( The English Tomb area) between the town of Hretan and village of Kafar Hamra. The dead included 5 children and 3 women.
The Assad regime, contrary to international law, has a habit of attacking medical staff, hospitals and ambulances in Opposition-held areas. According to Physicians for Human Rights, more than 560 medical personnel have been killed and 155 medical facilities have been attacked since the conflict began, though this is probably an underestimate.
Many doctors and nursing staff have just fled for their own safety. In Aleppo, Syria's largest city, there remain just 13 surgeons, who are now needed more than ever, for a population of over 2 million. You can read more, HERE:
The family of Dr Abbas Khan, the British surgeon who died in Assad regime custody just days before he was due to be released in December 2013, have announced in London that they are taking his case to the International Criminal Court at the Hague in the Netherlands.
Realising that it may take years, the Khan family are determined to seek justice.
The Assad regime claimed that Dr Khan "committed suicide" but an autopsy and and inquest in London found that he had been "unlawfully killed".
While the Coalition has been attacking the Islamic Front (IS), Assad has used the media diversion to IS and Kobane to up his own air attacks.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Wednesday, Assad's Air Force has carried out no less than 1,592 airstrikes in the last 30 days since October 20th, killing at least 396 people of which 109 were children.
At least another 1,500 were wounded in these explosions, the majority caused by barrel-bombs full of nails and other scrap metal.
Yesterday, Wednesday, another Assad regime airstrike hit the IS-controlled city of Raqqah, killing 9 civilians and another attack killed 8, including 4 women and a child, at Al-Hara in Daraa province.
The somewhat mysterious assassination of 5 nuclear scientists north of Damascus while travelling in a mini-bus last week, has led to speculation that Assad's "nuclear programme" is "alive and well".
The assassination had all the hallmarks of an attack by Mossad, the Israeli Intelligence Service. Israel had previously destroyed a suspected nuclear plant in Syria in 2007.
Opposition reports said that one of the nuclear scientists killed last week was from Iran, a claim quickly denied by the Iranian Government who are in the middle of negotiations with the West over the their own nuclear ambitions. You can read more, HERE:
In Iraq, Masoud Barzani, the President of the independently governed Kurdistan region, has called on the West to supply the Kurds with more heavy weapons to tackle the invasion by the Islamic State. Despite receiving arms from several Western nations, Barzani said that to effectively defeat IS they needed armoured personnel carriers, helicopters and more artillery.
The Iraqi Government itself is claiming on its website that the Islamic State has stolen up to 1 million tons of grain from stores and farmers in the Niveneh province of Iraq and has smuggled the wheat and barley to the IS-held Raqqah and partly-held Deir Ez-Zour.
At Rabbia, a border crossing town between Iraq and Syria, the Kurdish Peshmerga repelled an attack by the Islamic State, killing 8 of the Jihadists and seizing 8 of their Humvee armoured vehicles.
IS were also accused of another car-bomb attack at midday yesterday, Wednesday, when a suicide bomber blew up a Hyundai Elantra full of explosives outside the Governorate building in the Kurdish capital of Erbil. Two guards and two civilians, who were close to the building were killed and 29 wounded. Ten vehicles were also destroyed in the blast.
TIMELINE – 19th NOVEMBER 2014 13.46 GMT – UPDATED 20th November 11.15 GMT:
The YPG and their allies advanced further in Kobane yesterday, Tuesday, seizing 6 buildings formerly held by the Islamic State (IS) and captured large quantities of weapons and ammunition.
The buildings were in the central municipal offices area towards the eastern side of the city, near to the so-called "security zone" which IS had tried to overrun.
Weapons captured included rocket propelled grenade launchers, sniper rifles and AK-47s, plus quantities of machine gun ammunition.
A YPJ fighter shows off newly captured weapons and ammunition from an IS position, HERE:
13 IS fighters were reported killed in the advance, including 2 senior militants, and 4 Coalition airstrikes also targeted IS positions in the central area.
IS positions are now concentrated in the eastern side of Kobane city and a smaller area in the southern districts.
All recent major attacks by the Islamic State have been repelled and the Peshmerga are hitting them hard with artillery fire.
At the same time, the YPG and YPJ are carrying out guerilla attacks at night in the Kobane countryside.
Yesterday they struck at several locations, reportedly killing as many as 27 Jihadists, including 1 commander known as an "emir".
One YPG guerilla attack near Celebi, 30 kilometres south-east of Kobane, killed 6 Jihadists and another on an IS ammunition truck killed 3 more.
The Islamic State are not only taking a beating in Kobane right now but also in Hasakah province in Syria's north-east. IS attempted to capture the border crossing at Ras Al-Ayn but have been pushed backed by the YPG there.
Currently heavy fighting is going on south of Ras Al-Ayn between Aalya and Tamer Hill and Mabrokeh and Al-Dahmaa to the south-west, with the YPG destroying 2 x IS vehicles and killing an unspecified number of Jihadists.
The IS positions are also coming under fire from the the south as well as the north, with Assad's Army shelling them from Hasakah city.
Interesting story emerging from the Netherlands, where a mother travelled to Turkey and then to the IS-stronghold of Raqqah wearing a burka to make a pre-arranged meeting with her 19 year old daughter. Her daughter had earlier married a Dutch Jhadist but then decided to leave.
Despite warnings of the dangers, her Mum came to her rescue. The daughter was at first arrested in Turkey for "entry without a visa" but Dutch embassy officials sought her release and she is now back in the Netherlands. You can read more, including video and photographs HERE:
Opposition fighters in Syria's southern Quneitra province, most of which they now control, have launched an attack against the province's largest city, Khan Arnabah, which is still held by the Assad regime, HERE:
The Opposition fighters claim to have already taken over Government and security buildings in Baath city on the western approaches to Khan Arnabah and to have captured 2 villages to the south of the city.
A roundabout with a checkpoint near Khan Arnabah was targeted with mortars, causing regime soldiers to flee after 4 of them were killed. A financial building in Baath city is also under attack.
In Daraa province, after capturing the major regime towns of Nawa and Shayykh Miskin, Opposition fighters are attacking Assad's Brigade 82 HQ nearby, HERE: , striking an ammunition store inside the base, HERE:
In the same province, they have also seized Burqah and Al-Dali villages due north of Shaykh Miskin and east of Nawa after fierce fighting, HERE:
Interestingly, in the capture of Sheikh Miskin in the last week, the Opposition fighters came across a substantial communications centre for the Syrian military which apparently held computer servers for the regimes 5 and 9 Divisions built by the German company Siemans, HERE:
More useful was the Opposition discovery of a store of ManPad shoulder-held anti-aircraft missile launchers after they captured Nawa, (rather shrill voice!) HERE:
After the liberation of Nawa, returning residents and farmers found a mass grave of 32 bodies and some older mutilated corpses which had been abandoned to dogs and other predators, (Caution – dead bodies) HERE:
The retreating regime forces in Nawa left unbelievable destruction behind, destroying civilian homes as they went, HERE:
TIMELINE – 17th NOVEMBER 2014 18.46 GMT – UPDATED 21.51 GMT:
The ongoing clashes reported on Friday have continued over the weekend, with the YPG and their allies make strong gains across the city.
According to reports, the Islamic State (IS) have been largely pushed out of western, southern and south-eastern neighbourhoods but persist in the central municipal area of Kobane and across the eastern districts.
The fighting has now turned very much into a war of attrition to see who can hold-out last, but the Kurds with Peshmerga, Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Coalition airstrike support are gradually winning the day.
Two streets on the south-eastern front have been recovered by the YPG in the last 2 days and 10 x IS Jihadists killed (including 2 x IS commanders) and another 30 x IS fighters on the eastern front are reported dead in recent fighting and bombing.
7 Coalition airstrikes struck IS positions on Saturday night through into Sunday morning and another 7 or 8 strikes have been reported this afternoon, Monday, and into the evening.
It may be that heavier munitions than usual are being used as people are saying that the ground and vehicles are being shaken by the blasts as far as 20 kilometres away from the city.
The Kurdish Peshmerga are also hitting IS targets with their artillery, with the YPG reporting that the Islamic State are now "less threatening".
The combined Kurdish/FSA forces have now gone on the attack, rather than just defense, but are moving ahead slowly and cautiously as most buildings and roads vacated by IS are booby-trapped.
The huge Coalition airstrikes today were concentrated on the central and eastern side of the city where the Islamic State still have some substantial territory but IS were forced to relinquish 2 positions in the eastern districts this evening. At the current time, between 60 – 70% of Kobane is probably back under Kurdish control.
Every time IS occupy a building with their fighters inside, the co-ordinates are passed to the Coalition and strikes soon follow. Many French, Uzbek and Chechen jihadists are reported fighting on the Islamic State side on the frontlines, but 5 French Jihadists were said to have been killed in one strike alone.
IS continue to bombard Kobane with mortar shells, but lost a tank between Tahtik and Bozik villages which was destroyed by the YPG who continue to use guerrilla tactics to attack IS vehicles, positions and supply routes into the city.
Interestingly, one YPG unit says it has captured from IS a M-16 rifle fitted with a US-made Raytheon W1000-9 thermal night vision sight, which allows the shooter to separate and target people from their backgrounds even in complete darkness. IS continue to use sniper fire from the tops of any buildings they hold.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that it had now documented 1,153 deaths in the battle for Kobane since the 16th September.
387 Kurdish fighters are reported killed, 16 from the FSA and 27 civilians (17 executed by IS including 2 teenagers). So far the deaths of 712 Islamic State fighters have been documented (23 of them detonating themselves in suicide bombings) but the total could be much higher as IS are very secretive about their causalities.
EDITOR: Not sure how accurate this map is, courtesy of Nathan Ruser @Nrg8000, as it is a very fluid situation, but IS holding the eastern side of the city in "black", most of the rest now "yellow", here:
Kobane and 2 other Kurdish enclaves near the Turkish border in Syria, make up the independent area known as Rojava. This BBC documentary explains all, here:
Once again, the bloody, abominable Islamic State took to video on Sunday to publicise its latest mayhem, the beheading of US aid worker Peter Kassig and 13 pilots and officers from Assad's military.
Peter Kassig, who had taken the name Abdul-Rahman since converting to the Moslem faith, had exhibited huge compassion in his life, working to supply aid to Syrians in need and even setting up his own charity to train 150 Syrians on how to provide medical assistance. But all that counted for naught in the eyes of the foul, insane and inhuman Islamic State murderers.
Peter Kassig was driving an ambulance with medical supplies to Deir Ez-Zour when he was kidnapped by IS militants in October of 2013 and then held with Alan Henning, David Haines and the 2 US journalists, all of them previously executed in the same way.
He had previously served in Iraq in the US Army's 75th Ranger Regiment, a special forces unit, sent to the conflict zone in 2007, before returning in 2013 after a medical discharge from the military, to set up his humanitarian aid charity.
The video took a different form from previous ones and according to one of the speakers was filmed in Dabiq in Aleppo province, just 6 miles from the Turkish border.
Dabiq, a small village of just 3,000 has huge significance, having been mentioned by Mohammed as the site of an "end of days" conflict with "the invaders". Dabiq is also the name of Islamic State's online magazine.
The speaker in the latest video, believed to be the British accented Jihadist knows as "Jihadi John" in the West, says, "Here we are, burying the first American Crusader in Dabiq, eagerly waiting for the remainder of your armies to arrive".
Much of the IS's current tactics seem to be about trying to lure Western forces, particularly US ground forces, into direct conflict in the way of another "crusade" between "Christians and Moslems". BBC Syria news explains more about Dabiq.
The 13 Syrian military men beheaded in the video are seen being dragged along individually prior to the executions wearing dark blue jumpsuits. Their executioners each select a knife from a box before going about their grisly deeds. Two of the executioners, all of which were unmasked except "Jihadi John", have been possibly identified as one being French and the other a second Briton.
Quite when this video was filmed is unknown, as there is also an unconfirmed report from a nurse at Al-Qaim hospital on the Iraq/Syria border that "Jihadi John" was recently treated there for injuries sustained in the Coalition airstrike on an IS convoy (scroll down -see below) reported earlier.
President Obama said in a statement that Peter Kassig "was taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group that the world rightly associates with inhumanity" and "which revels in the slaughter of innocents, including Muslims, and is bent only on sowing death and destruction".
The UK's Prime Minister, David Cameron, said he was "horrified by the cold-blooded murder" and described the actions of IS as "depravity".
Burhan Agha, a Syrian who had worked with Peter Kassig in Lebanon wept when talking to the press about the death of his friend.
"If I could apologise to each American, one by one, I would, because Peter died in Syria while he was helping the Syrian people. Those who killed him claimed to have done it in the name of Islam. I am a Muslim and am from Syria … His killers are not Muslims".
A defector from the Islamic State, who now resides in Turkey, talks on video about the brutality of IS on video to the BBC, HERE:
And one of the Kurdish schoolboys kidnapped by IS but later released, describes his experience with the Jihadists, HERE:
TIMELINE – 14th NOVEMBER 2014 15.45 GMT – UPDATED 21.09 GMT:
In continuous fighting for the last 40 hours, clashes are ongoing between the combined YPG/Peshmerga/FSA forces and the Islamic State (IS), with casualties on both sides.
On the 61st day of the battle for Kobane, the YPG are said to have regained more ground on Mishtenur Hill and pushed forward in the municipality area on the eastern side of the city.
The YPG say 4 Jihadists were killed near the Reshad Mosque and another 3 in Azidi (Freedom) Square, plus a good quantity of weapons and ammunition were also taken.
On the south-eastern front, the Kurdish forces came under heavy attack yesterday and all through Thursday night after they took control of the Islamic State's main supply route to the south.
So far the Kurds remain in control of the Helinj road and 13 Jihadists are reported killed in their failed attempts to get it back.
Several operations on the southern front resulted in the deaths of 7 more IS fighters as the YPG advanced for the first time in the area.
Heavy shelling and Coalition airstrikes have been made on the southern districts, today, Friday.
There are also unconfirmed reports Friday afternoon that "200 Islamic State fighters are under siege" and trapped in the eastern part of the city near the border.
To the west of the city, Kurdish operations have continued around the villages of Minaz and Gire Iza, the YPG destroying an IS vehicle and a motorcycle, killing 8 Jihadists and capturing more ammunition. The YPG report 4 deaths on their side in the last 24 hours but there may be more.
This video report, just released, from inside Kobane gives you an idea of the conditions there, but bear in mind it was filmed over 2 weeks ago before the Peshmerga arrived. The comments of the FSA leader too, now seem at odds with reality, HERE:
Many of you will remember the elderly Kurdish fighter Apê Nemir, who appeared in a number of videos and interviews.
It seems he has been wounded but is alive and recovering, and in good spirits. He is also now famous in the West, his image appearing on the back of a bus in Germany! (EDITOR: I think that is where it is – See photograph below):
Across the border in Turkey, 19 year old Turkish Kurd Rosa is waiting for final permission from the YPG to cross the border and join the fight, (English sub-titles) HERE:
While other Turkish Kurds patrol the border on a regular nightly basis looking for Jihadists that may be crossing the frontier behind the Kobane lines, HERE: the commander of Kobane's YPJ, Meryem Kobani (nom de gueurre), describes the current battle situation and the YPG/YPJ's tactics as they gain more experience, HERE:
The YPG have also withstood 23 Islamic State vehicle bombs since September 15th.
After many rumours on the Internet that Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State (IS), had been killed in a Coalition airstrike last week, and even photographs showing him dead or critically injured on the ground, an audio recording was released by IS yesterday with a message from him to their followers.
In the 17 minute tape, Al-Baghdadi calls on IS supporters to "erupt volcanoes of jihad everywhere. Light the earth with fire under all the tyrants and their soldiers and supporters".
In particular he singles out Saudi Arabia which he describes as the "head of the snake and stronghold of disease", urging people to "draw their swords" to fight and to kill Shia Muslims – referred to pejoratively with the sectarian term "rafidah".
Some of the Shia who live mainly in eastern Saudi Arabia, were attacked and killed by unknown gunmen 10 days ago.
Baghdadi also called for attacks on the "apostate" Houthis – Shia rebels fighting the Government in Yemen – but refers to the Sunni rebels in Egypt's Sinai peninsular, who have frequently attacked and killed Egyptian Government soldiers and policemen, as "the people of the Jihad".
In the recording, which appears to be authentic according to experts, the IS leader claims that the "crusader " United States-led campaign against IS was "failing" and that "America and its allies are terrified, weak, and powerless."
He also heaps scorn and abuse on "the Jews", "the apostates and the "treacherous Arab Muslim leaders who fear the return of the Muslim faithful to the ways of the caliphate".
Although Baghdadi does not refer to the airstrikes against IS, he does mention President Obama's decision to send another 1,500 troops to Iraq, an announcement that was made last Friday, the same day as Baghdadi was supposedly killed or injured (scroll down – see below). It is therefore still possible that the recording was made before the Coalition attacked the IS convoy transporting Baghdadi.
Finally, Baghdadi says that the media is "lying" in claiming that the Coalition has struck against IS targets.
"Be assured, O Muslims, for your state is good and in the best condition," Baghdadi declares. "Its march will not stop and it will continue to expand, by Allah's permission. The march of the mujahidin [Muslim holy warriors] will continue until they reach Rome".
(EDITOR: Well there's something for Italy to look forward to!)
Showing some media sophistication the audio broadcast was released on a Jihadi website and followed up with Twitter links to English and Russian translations.
According to another IS missive appearing on the Internet on Thursday, their Shura council had approved the production of its own currency based on gold, silver and copper coins of the "Islamic dinar", in order to "change the tyrannical monetary system", based on the economies of western states, that has "enslaved Muslims".
(EDITOR: Whether they will be come to be used as a functioning currency or merely a "collector's item", remains to be seen.)
At the UN the Commission of Inquiry on Syria presented its first report specifically on the Islamic State today, Friday, and revealed a horrific catalogue of evidence pointing to massacres, beheading boys as young as 15, amputations and lashings in public squares that residents, including children, were forced to watch, the widespread use of child soldiers, stoning women to death for suspected adultery, and holding women as sexual slaves , sometimes forcing them to bear children for the fighters.
The investigators, who had interviewed over 300 people who had fled IS held areas, as well as watching IS distributed videos, concluded that "The commanders of ISIS have acted wilfully, perpetrating these war crimes and crimes against humanity with clear intent of attacking persons with awareness of their civilian or 'hors de combat' (non-combat) status".
The perpetrators "are individually criminally responsible for these crimes," said the investigators and called for them to be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Netherlands, for prosecution.
According to reports from Iraq, Government troops, backed by Coalition airstrikes, have pushed the Islamic State out of the city of Baiji which is west of Mosul and 200 kilometres (150 miles) north of Baghdad. Iraqi Air Force jets targeted fleeing Jihadists.
The nearby Baiji Oil Refinery, lies around 6 kilometres away from the city centre of Baiji, which normally has a population of 200,000. However, the refinery itself may be more difficult to capture completely as the road to it and buildings within the site have been heavily booby-trapped.
Despite throwing almost everything at it, the Jihadists, who overran the area last June, were never able to capture the refinery completely. A group of Iraqi special forces continued to hold-out in an accommodation block, reinforced by regular airdrops, throughout the very long siege.
If the Iraqi Army completes its recovery of the whole of the Baiji area and manages to keep the Islamic State out it will be a significant advance and will cut an important IS supply line to Tikrit, which is also under Jihadist control.
Meanwhile, another 3 bombings across Baghdad today killed at least 19 people and wounded 50.
Up on the top of Mount Sinjar (Shingal) today, the Iraqi Air Force dropped 9 tons of humanitarian aid to the Yezidi still trapped there by Islamic State fighters.
The Yezidi fighters, the HPS, backed by the Kurdish YPG, have put up stiff resistance against Jihadists trying to overrun the Yezidi shrine in the middle of the Sinjar mountain range at Sherfedin, where they are still protecting a large number of civilians.
West of Mount Sinjar, a combined HPS/YPG force has also recaptured the town of Bara, killing 30 IS Jihadists in the process and capturing another 4.
The Iraqi Government is said to have agreed to send the Yezidi fighters more weapons last week but conditions on top of the mountain as winter sweeps in are particularly harsh with zero temperatures at night and snowfalls in the coldest months.
This short film by Nawzad Shekhany, "The Black Massacre", is a good reminder of the Yezidi story, HERE:
Lastly for today, Syrian refugee children in Lebanon are being helped to explore their dramatic past by being given a 2 week computer and basic animation course where they learn to tell their story. In this one, 13 year old Adib who was forced to work carrying heavy loads while his bullying father stayed at home, recounts what happened to him and his aspirations – at BBC Syria news (recommended viewing – very moving).
TIMELINE – 12th NOVEMBER 2014 12.58 GMT – UPDATED 22.17 GMT and 11.42 GMT 13th NOVEMBER 2014:
Reports from Kobane today, Wednesday say that the combined Kurdish and FSA forces have regained control of part of the strategically important hill of Mistenur, which lies just 500 metres from the city's centre, and the remaining Jihadists are trapped on the top.
Reports 2 days ago suggested they were battling their way towards the hill with its distinctive radio tower, which is where the Islamic State's black flag first appeared when the Jihadists started to dominate Kobane.
If the Kurdish forces can hold their part of the hill, and even take the rest of it, it will be a distinctive marker of their progress.
Latest reports, midday Monday, said that the Kurdish forces have now targeted IS positions behind the hill and also cut off the Halanj-Ain al-Arab road, the Islamic State's main supply route to the city. 16 Jihadists are reported killed in the latest advance.
Heavy mortar and heavy machine gun fire can be heard from the eastern side of the city where streams of black smoke are rising into the air.
IS appear to be in something of a retreat but have in turn pounded the southern districts of the city in the last 24 hours with mortar and tank shells. 3 civilians have been killed in the latest attacks and 18 wounded, including women and children.
The Kurdish Peshmerga have returned fire with their heavy weapons on IS positions and the Coalition made 3 airstrikes yesterday afternoon, Tuesday, targeting Jihadists groups in Al-Baladia and southern Kobane. YPG forces claim to have found Jihadists in liberated areas who appear to have been executed by their own commanders.
Latest reports this evening, Wednesday, from Kobane say that 31 Jihadists were killed today, including an IS commander.
Opposition sources in the IS stronghold of Raqqah city have also reported that the Islamic State's inability to capture Kobane is causing dissent.
Some IS commanders do not understand why they leader, Al-Baghdadi, insists in pursuing what to them appears to be a lost campaign and are shocked that after detonating more than 20 suicide vehicle bombs, the YPG still resisted. This is counter to their experience elsewhere.
The same sources say that IS is now planning new campaigns in the countryside of Homs and Hama provinces where they are more likely to have success.
As to Al-Baghdadi himself, latest unconfirmed reports suggest that he was wounded in the airstrikes last Friday (scroll down – see below) but not killed and is now being treated for his injuries in Syria, most likely in Raqqah.
US Central Command (Centcom) reported today, that the Coalition have carried out 10 airstrikes since Monday near Kobane, 8 attacks hitting small IS units, 3 fighting positions damaged and an IS logistics facility destroyed.
Reports have emerged on the Internet of a Canadian/Israeli woman, Gill Rosenburg, becoming the first foreign female to join the YPG in Syria. Rosenburg, 31, seems to have had something of a chequered past, but is an experienced civil aviation pilot and has been a member of a search and rescue unit in the Isareli Army. You can read more, HERE:
Despite the fact that whatever the outcome Kobane has been largely destroyed, clearly the Kurds currently have something to celebrate. Some of their fighters will no doubt be taking a few moments out to dance to a little music and demonstrate some neat (checkpoint!) moves, (as recorded back in October) here:
As winter fast approaches in the Middle East, updated data from the UN estimates that 13.6 million people have now been displaced from the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Iraq – equivalent to moving the entire population of greater London's metropolitan area out of the city and into the countryside.
Amin Awad, who is the director for the Middle East and North Africa of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), said the world was becoming numb to the refugees' needs.
"Now when we talk about a million people displaced over two months, or 500,000 overnight, the world is just not responding," he said at a press conference in Geneva.
UNHCR needs a further $325 million to cover its work in Syria and the region for the rest of 2014, otherwise it will have to cut the rations it dispenses for a second time or stop them next month altogether.
UNHCR says it is short of $58.5 million to prepare 990,000 people most at risk of harm for winter. The most generous donors so far have been the EU (particularly the UK and Norway), the US, Japan and some Gulf States. China and Russia have managed to provide about 0.1% of that provided by other donors this year.
A UN convoy managed to enter the Al-Wa'er district of Homs yesterday and a further 12 trucks of supplies today from the Red Crescent and the International Red Cross bringing welcome relief, HERE:
Al-Wae'er, an Opposition-held district, has agreed a truce with the Assad authorities who control most of the city.
The UN's current special envoy on Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said after discussions with the Assad regime in Damascus on Tuesday that he was working on a proposal to get "peace in Syria" by extending the 35 truce areas already in the country and making it more widespread.
In particular, he proposed a "freeze in hostilities" in Aleppo and believed that this was a "realistic proposal".
However, the Revolutionary Military Council in Aleppo has already said it will not stop fighting Assad until he falls and others have pointed out that most so-called truces are tantamount to "surrender" and invariably the Syrian Army takes advantage of the situation to reinforce its positions.
Al Jazeera Syria news has a video report.
Certainly for the many the situation across Syria remains dire. In Eastern Ghouta, an Opposition-held area near Damascus which has been under attack and siege by the Assad regime for years, children go out every day with buckets searching for scraps of food in derelict buildings.
Some of the "bucket children" as they are known, walk up to 15 kilometres a day to find a piece of stale bread or animal feed to eat. For many it has become a way of life, breeding a sense of camaraderie and not opposed by overwhelmed parents. The UN's World Food Programme continues to push for access to the area. You can read more from Al Jazeera, HERE:
A former Islamic State bodyguard to the IS commander Saddam Jamal has described the horrific behaviour of the group's leader. Jamal was a former drug dealer who joined the Free Syrian Army (FSA) early on in the revolution and later defected to the Islamic State.
The bodyguard describes one occasion when Jamal ordered one of his men to behead 3 children one by one infront of their parents. "He doesn't really care if the mission spreads Islam. All he cares about is becoming more powerful. Now, if a stronger organisation emerges, he will join it. And there are lots of men in ISIL (IS) just like him". You can read more, HERE:
In Deir Ez-Zour, Opposition sources say that IS had just executed 2 former leaders of the Al Nusra Front who had joined the Islamic State earlier but were no longer trusted.
While in the Qalamoun region north of Damascus, pictures appearing on the Internet suggest the Opposition Al-Farouq and Al-Qusayr Brigades have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
Interesting report from the other side of the fence in predominately Kurdish Qamishli in Hasakah province in the north-east of Syria, where the Assad regime still has a small isolated outpost manned by the 54th Special Forces Paratroop regiment. There the Syrian Army soldiers spend their days fighting off the Islamic State as well.
In recent months the Paratroopers have regained around 20 miles of territory back from the Jihadists in order to prevent them shelling the centre of Qamishli but remain on their guard against a relentless foe who uses stealth at night and suicide car bombs to penetrate their defences. You can read more in the Independent Syria news.
In Homs province out in the desert once more, there are unconfirmed reports that the Islamic State killed between 50 and 70 of Assad's troops in the ongoing battle for control of the Sha'er Gas Field on Monday.
And in Hama province the more moderate Opposition has today hit one of Assad's last remaining working power plants with missiles setting part of it on fire, HERE:
In Aleppo, once again another new Opposition joint command has been formed and another new campaign started. Renewed fighting is reported around the regime's Air Force Intelligence HQ. An Opposition sniper is seen targeting some pro-Assad men with a heavy calibre weapon, HERE:
In Daraa province in southern Syria, where the Opposition have made huge advances in the last few days (scroll down – see below), the fighters have taken control of the northern rural part of Shaykh Mishkin city and moved on towards Izraa.
Unconfirmed reports from the regime's base at Regiment 175 say that some of Assad's troops have been executed by the Syrian Army after being charged with "treason" for allowing Shaykh Miskin to fall.
Latest reports from the area today, also say that a regime convoy travelling out of Izraa towards Shayk Miskin was destroyed in an Opposition attack.
Observers of the complex Syrian conflict are wondering what the Al Nusra Front's (ANF) next move will be after being attacked by the Coalition for the second time.
A massive ANF armoured convoy has been seen moving through Khan a-Subul in the southern part of Idlib province, HERE:
Is this force moving to drive out the remaining moderate Opposition brigades from their positions in the northern part of the province near the Turkish border (see below) or to attack the regime in their base at Wadi Deif?
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights this morning, 865 people have been killed by Coalition airstrikes in Syria since the 23rd September.
746 were estimated to be Islamic State fighters and 68 members of ANF. The other 51 were thought to be civilians, including several children.
The BBC, to its credit, is spending several days on special reports from Syria. This one concentrates on the nearly 90,000 who have just disappeared in Syria, most of them into Assad's prisons, HERE:
In a second report the BBC's Jeremy Bowen looks at both sides of the pro and anti-Assad coin in a "War Without End", HERE:
Lastly, a shred of good news. Doctor Maria Bahjat Sha'bo, who was arrested on the Syrian border after attending a human rights conference in Beirut at the beginning of the month, has been released. Dr. Sha'bo was actually born in one of Assad's prisons 26 years ago while her parents, who were active members of the Syrian Communist Party, were being detained.
Coincidentally, Louay Hussein, a prominent member of the "approved opposition" in Damascus (but also a former Communist Party member) was arrested on the same border crossing this afternoon while on his way to Spain. No reasons have been given.
TIMELINE – 10th NOVEMBER 2014 13.59 GMT – UPDATED 21.28 GMT:
Confusing and contradictory reports have emerged from Iraq over the weekend over Coalition attacks on the Islamic State (IS) leadership.
What is clear is that Coalition airstrikes took place on Friday night near Islamic State-controlled Mosul and also at Al-Qaim to the west, very near the Syrian border earlier in the evening.
US Central Command (Centcom) have confirmed that they struck a convoy of 10 armed vehicles near Mosul and a Mosul morgue official has said that 50 dead bodies had been delivered there.
Informed analysts suggest, given the Islamic State's awareness of the potential for Coalition airstrikes, the IS members concerned must have been on their way to a pretty important meeting to risk such a high profile convoy being detected and targeted by Coalition aircraft.
According to reasonably reliable sources, one of those definitely killed in the Mosul airstrike was Auf Abdulrahman Elefery, known as Abu Suja, a close confidante of the Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and rarely away from his side.
This has led to speculation that Al-Baghdadi was also hurt or killed in the attack.
Unconfirmed reports say that Al-Baghdadi was "critically injured" in the airstrike and "died from his wounds" on Sunday. Abu Suja was from the Iraqi town of Tal Afar and was apparently a "social affairs official, charged with paying salaries and caring for families".
The Iraqi Interior Ministry even went so far as to issue a list, compiled by its "Falcons Intelligence Unit", of 14 Islamic State members "confirmed dead". The list included the names of 2 of Al-Baghdadi's personal bodyguards and a close adviser, 3 x IS "Emirs", the IS "Governors" of Anbar and Qaim, a Saudi explosives expert and the IS security chief in Qaim.
This list seems to refer an attack on the Islamic State at Al-Qaim. Again, Centcom confirm they struck there hitting 2 x IS vehicles and 2 checkpoints. The sources connected with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which is usually reliable, say that wounded from the Al-Qaim strike were brought across the Iraqi border into Syria at Al-Abukamel and some later transferred to Raqqah.
Pentagon officials today, Monday, remain sceptical about the reports and say that if they had successfully targeted the IS leadership it was by "luck" rather than design.
EDITOR: Clearly something serious happened on Friday, but as with the report last week that "Al-Baghdadi had absconded with $300 million and been replaced" (scroll down – see below), it is best to retain a healthy scepticism until the Islamic State make a statement.
Chatter on IS Twitter feeds and websites points to confusion as well among their supporters, so more time is needed to evaluate the truth. The Iraqi Government unfortunately also has a reputation for exaggerating its successes and playing down its losses.
In the meantime a US bounty of $10 million for Al-Baghdadi's location and arrest remains on his head.
Whatever the correct detail of this story, the Islamic State arrested 25 members of the Iraqi Police over the weekend who had been trapped in Mosul when it was taken over by IS, but who later "disavowed thir connections with the Iraqi security services". Several of their colleagues had been earlier executed by IS for "giving information to the enemy".
In Baiji city, which has the remains of Iraq's most important oil refinery nearby, the Iraqi army has at last made some progress, entering the city from the south and west and taking over the Al-Tamim district and most of the city center.
However, one of the leader's of the operation, Major General Faisal Zamili the Federal Police, was killed when an armoured truck full of explosives rammed his vehicle. A British IS bomber, Kabir Ahmed, was reported in UK media to have been respnsible for this attack which killed 7 others in addition to the General and wounded 15. You can read more, HERE:
The Iraqi Army is also reported to have made progress near the town of Hit in Anbar province "liberating" 16 villages from IS control.
Following its reported execution of hundreds of members of the Albu Nimr tribe for "plotting against the Islamic State", concern has been expressed for 500 men and boys of the Al-Jubouri tribe who were rounded up by IS fighters on Sunday in the town of Al-Alam, a 100 kilometres north of Baghdad.
IS is said to have destroyed a number of homes belonging to Al-Jubouri tribesmen in Al-Alam, a town it controls, as well as the arrests. The men and boys were taken after some youths from the town tore down the IS flag in a central square and replaced it with the Iraqi State one.
According to reports this morning, Monday, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the main Jihadist group in Egypt which has already killed a number of policemen and soldiers in the Sinai desert, has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and Al-Baghdadi.
On Friday, President Obama announced that he is preparing to deploy another 1500 troops to Iraq as part of the "train and deploy" programme with the Iraqi Army and Kurdish forces. The troops, who would all be advisers and trainers, will bring the number of US troops back in Iraq to 3,100.
However, their deployment depends on a renewal of finance for military operations in Iraq and Syria by Congress on December 12th when financial support for current operations runs out. The President is asking for a new package at a cost of $5.6 billion to fund the fight against the Islamic State.
The UK used one of its Reaper Drones in a combat role for the first time over the weekend, attacking Islamic State targets near Baiji along with strikes by Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornados.
The latest situation report from the Institute for the Study of War is, here:
IN HUGE SURGE, OPPOSITION FORCES TAKE 4 MORE ASSAD BASES & NAWA, 2nd LARGEST CITY IN DARAA PROVINCE:
In a huge surge over the weekend, Opposition brigades from both the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Al-Nusra Front (ANF) took control of 4 of Assad's bases in Daraa province and overran the 2nd largest city of Nawa.
Only last week the Opposition fighters took the 3rd largest city in the province, Shaykh Miskin, and the bases nearest to it.
Now they have captured Brigade 112 south-east of Nawa, Tell Al-Hish to the north-east, Assad's tank battalion "Al-Hajjajjiyyah" also to the north-east and Tell Hartouch to the east of Nawa city.
In addition to taking all positions in Nawa city itself they have taken control of Assad's security headquarters there and all round from various bases seized huge amounts of tanks, armoured vehicles, weapons and ammunition.
EDITOR: Many videos of the major advance have been released and this is just a selection:
Opposition fighters remove tons of ammunition from Brigade 112 base, HERE: and trucks, field guns and other useful vehicles, HERE:
More footage from 112, HERE:
In this video the Opposition are infront of Assad's main military security building in Nawa, HERE:
And HERE: and HERE: they seize more spoils.
This video shows ANF footage from last week's capture of Shaykh Miskin, HERE:
Unconfirmed reports say that the Assad military elite is furious at the collapse of its forces in the province and "hundreds" of pro-Assad fighters have been killed.
Unsurprisingly the Syrian Air Force has hit Nawa and the area around it with at least 34 airstrikes since. This one at Brigade 112, narrowly misses the cameraman, HERE:
A map of the area around Nawa and Shaykh Miskin, courtesy of @Conflict_Report on Twitter, showing the all the recently captured bases, here:
In Hama province, Opposition fighters made a direct hit on an ammunition depot in Mork city causing problems for the regime forces currently occupying the city.
A MIG 21 was also shot down in eastern rural Hama near Sabburah in Islamic State held territory, HERE:
Fighting in Kobane is still extremely intense with the combined YPG/Peshmerga/FSA force advancing slowly, one street at a time.
Observers from across the Turksih border say that Coalition bombing on the city is striking further east and south.
In the Kaniya Kurda district of the city, the YPG and Peshmerga seem to have broken the "heavy weaponry attacks" of the Islamic State (IS) and 13 Jihadist fighters are reported killed in the municipality area since midday on Sunday.
8 Jihadists were also reported killed near the villages of Minaz and Gire Iza on the western front but fighting on the southern front was said to be lighter.
Coalition aircraft attacked IS positions in and around Kobane on Sunday and have continued that today, Monday, specifically targeting the Binar district in eastern part of the city.
The Coalition also struck at an IS convoy in the western part of Kobane known as Zurava this morning, Monday.
Two days ago, IS mortar shells hit Kurdish refugees trapped near the Turkish border, killing 2 and wounding dozens more.
Richard Engels, reporting for US station NBC, has just spent 3 days in Kobane. You can watch his report, (after boring Ad, but worth waiting for, here:
EDITOR: This map, courtesy of @RFS_NORTH, looks a little over optimistic for "current positions" in Kobane to me …. but lets hope it will be exact very soon! :
In an interesting move, the Kurdish independent enclave of Cizire in Syria's north-east, in a clear snub to the Islamic State, passed into law last week a decree giving equal rights to women.
Under the new law, which will endear it to Western democracies, women under 18 cannot get married and polygamy is banned. Women will have equal rights in divorce, are entitled to equal pay and can hold the same jobs as men, including in administration and politics. They will also be entitled to maternity leave for the birth of their first 3 children
So called "honour killings" will be also seen as a "violation of the law". Hassakah province, where the canton of Cizire lies is 30% controlled by the Islamic State in the south and south-east.
Up on Mount Sinjar in Iraq, the Yezidi aided by the Peshmerga are still holding their own against the invading Jihadists. Early this morning, Monday, a Kurdish charity, the Barzani Charity Organisation, based in Erbil, Kurdistan, delivered to the mountain by helicopter 120 tons of basic aid including warm clothes, shelters and blankets.


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William Morris Independent is touting its work on agency clients director Stephen Walker and producer Sally George, selling their popular doc, "Young @ Heart." After brokering a North American deal with Fox Searchlight back in June at the Los Angeles Film Festival, WMI broke with its tradition of working with overseas sales agents to sell the film to Jean Labadie's Le Pacte in France, Rialto in Australia/New Zealand, Senator Films in Germany, and Pix/Avex Group in Japan. The film, initially conceived for Channel Four in the UK, was re-tooled for theaters. It showcases an aging chorus of crowd-pleasers who sing The Clash and Coldplay. [Eugene...Read More »
Arthouse Films announced that it has acquired all North American rights and Worldwide Theatrical and DVD Rights (minus certain territories) for director Christina Clausen's doc, "The Universe of Keith Haring." Maid with the cooperation of the deceased artist's estate, the film explores the background and career of Haring and includes interviews with Yoko Ono, Madonna, Grace Jones, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, among others. "By using audio excerpts of Keith's own voice to narrate the film it was possible for me to bring the viewer in close contact with this extraordinary young man," said Clausen in a statement. "We look forward to wo...Read More »
Courtney Hunt's "Frozen River" has been acquired by NonStop Entertainment for distribution in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. [Eugene Hernandez]Read More »
North American rights to British thriller "Donkey Punch" have been acquired by Magnet Releasing, Magnolia Pictures' genre label. The film, directed by Olly Blackburn recently premiered at Sundance and will be released in the U.K. by Optimum Releasing this summer. Magnolia's SVP Tom Quinn and director of acquisitions Dori Begley, negotiated the deal with London-based Lumina Films' Samantha Holrley and Miles Ketley of Wiggin LLP. "Donkey" follows the travails of seven young adults who meet in a nightclub and decide to continue the party aboard a yacht in the Mediterranean. The fun is interrupted when one dies, leading to a ruthless fight for su...Read More »
Sidetrack Films has announced its acquisition of the worldwide rights for Alex Stapleton's documentary, "King of the B's: The Independent Life of Roger Corman." Corman has directed more than 50 films and produced more than 300, including "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Rock and Roll High School." Side...Read More »
After Dark Films announced that it has acquired the North American rights to Xavier Gen's "Frontier(s)." The horror film, which screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007, will be releasing theatrically on May 9, 2008 in select markets, and then on DVD on May 13, 2008 through Lionsg...Read More »
Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures has acquired the world distribution rights to rakontur's "Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin' With The Godmother." The film is the sequel to Magnolia's 2006 documentary, "Cocaine Cowboys." The sequel follows cocaine dealer Charles Crosby beginning in 1991 on the inner-city streets of Oakland, California. "The first 'Cocaine Cowboys has turned out to be a seminal crime documentary, an iconic title that has developed huge name recognition," said Magnet/Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles in a statement. "We're really excited to be partnering again with the savvy storytellers at rakontur for an equally a...Read More »
Celluloid Dreams has signed a deal to rep international sales for Jonathan Levine's "The Wackness," the recent dramatic audience award winner at the Sundance Film Festival. The film, recently acquired for North American distribution by Sony Pictures Classics, stars Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Famke Ja...Read More »
IFC Films today announced the acquisition of Lance Hammer's 2008 Sundance Film Festival dramatic competition debut, "Ballast." The company has acquired North American rights to the movie, which is set to screen in competition at the upcoming Berlinale. The deal was negotiated by VP of acquisitions Arianna Bocco and William Morris Independent's Cassian Elwes. Asked what prompted the idea for this film, in an interview with indieWIRE, director Hammer said recently, "The Mississippi Delta in winter is a cold and austere flatscape - almost lunar. Vast cotton acreages are fallow and devoid of human activity. The flatness is interrupted only by occ...Read More »
Strand Releasing has acquired U.S. rights to Lee Kang-Sheng's "Help Me Eros" at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, sales company Fortissimo Films announced Friday. The film, about a stock broker who loses everything in a market crash and turns to the marijuana he grows in his closet for comfort, won the Grand Prize at the Gijon Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize at the Bangkok Film Festival. Additionally, Strand also acquired reissue rights to the controversial gay film "For a Lost Soldier" directed by Roeland Kerbosch, which it has been distributing for Fortissimo for a number of years. The film will be remastered and a special...Read More »


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At its heart this graphic is about triumph and celebration. Stylistically and thematically the artwork draws on the humble, populist, graphic design of protest posters. Protest and politics are long-standing, if odd, bed fellows – at once against and for each other. In my piece I wanted to recognize the role that protest movements have played in the struggle for equal rights.
The raised arm and clenched fist has long been a symbol of protest, perseverance and ultimately empowerment – the fight to overcome – and forms the basis for the design. It has also long been associated with certain oppressive aspects of the public office: the military and government. I purposely draw on both of these references. Ultimately, the design subverts expectations, the flag declaring this an image of celebration, reminiscent of a homecoming or ticker-tape parade.
Find out which ones fit you at


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7360 Jackson Street,
Philadelphia, PA, 19136-0191
Philadelphia, PA, 19136-0191
Tel: (215)624-5204
Saint Bernard School is committed to academic excellence, to provide a safe and secure environment, to communicate the teachings of the Catholic Church,and to prepare students to function as responsible mature adults of the 21st century.
The philosophy of Saint Bernard School is rooted in the fundamental Catholic principle of respect for life: that human origin is from God and human destiny is with Him.
The purpose of our Catholic school is to help our youth grow in the knowledge and love of God and neighbor through learning about the world around them.
We recognize the need for a strong academic program that helps children increase their ability to reach their fullest potential, and the importance of instilling a value system that equips them to make morally sound decisions.
Saint Bernard School offers students the opportunity to interact in a Christian community, to build trusting relationships, and to witness through worship and service the Christian message as core to our Catholic heritage.
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Updated October 26, 2014
What do you do when you are dissatisfied with your local public schools? Homeschool your children? Send them to private school? Let's look at your options.
Your religion matters to you. You want your child to attend a school which will combine academics and religious education. Here is an overview of what is available together with some links to denominational web sites.
Add things up and you'll quickly find the answer- math is crucial both in academics and the real world. By following these strategies and following personal training programs, students can uncover their weaknesses and conquer math.


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With Augusta National finally admitting female members, Peter Dawson, the chief executive of the R&A, which stages The Open Championship, had a tense 45-minute press conference today trying to defend not only the lack of women in his governing-body organization but the fact that there are no female members at this year's host, Muirfield, along with two other clubs in the Open rota, Troon and Royal St. George's. He called it "absurd" to compare a men's-only (or women's-only) club to one that discriminates based on race. Men like to socialize with men and women like to socialize with women and the media need to get a life, he said in so many words. You could practically see the sweat form on Dawson's head when a female reporter asked, "Could you just explain to the 10 women in the room why racism is unacceptable and sexism clearly still is?"
"Well, I don't really think, to be honest, and we could sit here all day and debate this, but I don't really think that a golf club, which has a policy of being a place where like-minded men or, indeed, like-minded women, go and want to play golf together and do their thing together ranks up against some of these other forms of discrimination," Dawson responded. "I really just don't think they're comparable, and I don't think they're damaging. And it's just kind of, for some people, a way of life that they rather like. I don't think in doing that they're intending to do others down or intending to do others any harm. It's just a way of life that some of these people like. And realistically, that's all it is. You can dress it up and be a lot more if you want, but on Saturday morning when the guy gets up or the lady gets up and out of the marital bed, if you like, and goes off and plays golf with his chums and comes back in the afternoon, that's not on any kind of par with racial discrimination or anti-Semitism or any of these things. It's just what people kind of do."
Clearly, private clubs can do whatever they like, but it becomes a bit of a sticky wicket when the club provides a public function, as they do when they host the Open. What are you thoughts on the subject?
Jul 17, 2013 | 10:32 AM
Brewing Storm at Open
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