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Introduction Earn Money Online
Have you noticed that most WA Review you find on the internet is currently promoting this product for their commission? Since wealthy affiliate coaches are permitting their members to promote the course itself to get 50% commission.
Just How seriously can you take Those testimonials? Don't ya think it's gonna be little?
Well here is a unbiased Review of Wealthy Affiliate from somebody that went through the path but isn't encouraging it.
Meaning I am just going to talk Concerning weakness and the strength of this program, no holds barred.
I have studied affiliate Marketing courses such as Wealthy Affiliate.
Let me clarify everything that I have learned about it .
Wealthy Affiliate is a Training class showing people how to make money online.
1. First, Allow Me to explain what Affiliate marketing is then I'll go into what you can learn as soon as you turn into a Wealthy Affiliate member and if it is worthwhile or not?
2. The Good and the Bad of all Wealthy Affiliate program.
3. My recommendation. Should you join Wealthy Affiliate?
What is affiliate marketing?
Its earning money by promoting Other people's products. Then you get a commission for that referral if your referral link generates a sale.
People usually promote either Goods or product such as weight loss guidebooks.
Easily the place that Offers affiliate chance for physical product is Amazon.com
For goods and Everything in between, there's clickbank.com
Anyone can register and begin Marketing as an affiliate away.
Its simple, everyone gets Their own distinctive link and if they have the ability to generate traffic and people go to Amazon or clickbank through their link, and they purchase anything from these websites, they will make a commission. 5%-7% for Amazon, also for clickbank it is dependent on the offer.
There's so many offers at Clickbank to select from, this is how you can check.
Go into"Affiliate Marketplace" At the very peak of the site
Then you Whatever you want
You are going to find anything From weight loss provides, yoga, pet care, spiritually, cooking, games and much more.
I just wanted to illustrate The simple fact that there an affiliate supply online for everything and anything. Earn Money Online
Click Here to sign up for Wealthy Affiliate Today!
You can not locate an Affiliate application on clickbank or amazon.com? then try googling
"whatever your item is" + "affiliate program"
What are some of the Bad about Affiliate Marketing?
· Aggressive: If traffic can't be generated by you, you don't make any revenue. This is the largest challenge. When everybody can sign up for these affiliate offers for free (very low barrier for entry), today you have a circumstance where there's a boatload of rivalry for most affiliate chance out there. If you don't utilize paid visitors, the majority of men and women get traffic from building a site and ranking it in Google, which is exactly what Wealthy Affiliate teaches, but the problem is there is only 10 spots on the first page of Google. And you need to compete for all those spots with tens of thousands of affiliates around the globe.
· Some supplies may have conversion rates or commission: Not all affiliate offers were created equal. Some offers pay out more percent per sale. Despite sending them a lot of visitors, that isn't only converted by somer offers nicely. It's necessary to decide on a good deal that works nicely and pays out large. Start looking for supplies that are the most popular in your specialty in clickbank.com, or look at other affiliates rated on page 1 of Google within the niche and look at which sort of offers they're promoting. Most probably those are the offers to market in the market.
· Frequently times Affiliate Marketing is Over-Hyped: You will see a lot of testimonials promising spectacular results with online affiliate marketing, for example"individual X produced $60,000 in just 30 times as a brand new affiliate" and there is many similar messaging similar to this unfortunately give affiliate marketing the wrong perception, that its sort of get rich quick scheme, which it's far from. This type of insanely fast results came from powerful aid that was paid or a Facebook advertisement. Occasionally due to multitude of factors that an ad can take off and create earnings that are high for brief period and then burn out. The problem is being able to sustain those sort of numbers. FB for you does not enjoy most affilaite has to be promoted, so finally your FB ad account will probably get banned or your ad will burn its audience and quit working. I know this because I've been there done that. Those pay days are enjoyable but the real challenge is can you maintain it?
· Miss out on building your own brand: As as an affiliate you're always promoting other people's merchandise, your difficult work only goes toward building the new equity of different companies. Earn Money Online
· Untruthful Marketing: Affiliate advertising generates an environment where some people promote products to make money with it not necessarily because they tried the item or they believe in it.
What's great about Affiliate Marketing?
· Hassle-Free: You don't need to take any product or worry about customer order fulfillment, you merely have other businesses do all of that, you simply promote their product and make a quick percentage of their purchase. So its in that way.
· No Confusion Getting Credit for Sale and Getting Paid: Since you rely on technology to perform the monitoring for you, affiliates do not need to worry if they are receiving their credit or not. With hyperlinks that automatically track visitors using cookies, it's so east and accurate
· Potential for Big Cash: If you got the skills to generate large traffic to your affiliate link, you have the potential to make a great deal of cash without worrying about fullfilling orders.
· So many affiliate offers out there: No matter that thing you May Be into, there is probably an affiliate program for it to make cash
How to make money with Wealthy Affiliate?
So there is two ways to create Money mula with WA.
1. You follow their course and Construct your own niche affiliate website and try to create traffic to it to create your affiliate commission
2. Or wealthy affiliate Program itself to create 50 percent of this sale if you are a member
My Wealthy Affiliate Complaint
I personally do not know if its own A good idea to simply allow anyone and everyone to market Wealthy Affiliate in this manner since you are going to make group of WA members that have not really reached any level of success with affiliate advertising yet but they are promoting Wealthy Affiliate now like its the best business opportunity on the internet.
Where's yo road credit brah?
You end up making a great deal of Unfounded hype backed by no experience or evidence.
Potentially fostering a Situation where people are joining Wealthy Affiliate, not because its the best affiliate marketing training class online but for the interest of re-marketing the path to other people for profit.
This is starting to look Pretty like a MLM (Network advertising ), is it not?
Though they adamantly Claim they aren't. Earn Money Online
Anyway, just an observation I Made, since I encounter so many sites out there promoting Wealthy Affiliate like its the bee's knees.
Which is the reason most People won't find wealthy affiliate negative reviews.
Most training courses that are online Out there is gonna permit their students to turn around and market the course for 50% of the sale.
I mean should not the course Itself be what pupils use to go make money on the internet?
Not telling pupils to flip About and go sell the course to other people?
I mean That's What you are Effectively telling your pupils, when you let them go find affiliate offers to promote all which are 5-25percent commission and then you provide them the chance to market Wealthy Affiliate to get 50 percent commission.
I for one don't think its Ethical to market something that you yourself haven't experienced any success with yet.
Not my style. ya dig?
Is Wealthy Affiliate worth it?
WA was actually started by two Carson Lim and Men Kyle Loudon back in 2005.
Though they seem to be Adding some new stuff here and there for there members, to be honest, their affiliate training looks dated.
Here is the strategy in a nutshell.
1. Locate
2. Identify the "low-hanging Berry" aka keywords which are obsucre and not that aggressive
3. Construct a site and write great Content relating to this"low-hanging fruit" aka low competition key word with low search volumes
As I mentioned above, your skill To triumph with affiliate marketing is based on your capacity.
Here's the major issue
This Sort of tactic might have Functioned back before 2012 if the contest was easy as shit.
And there wasn't this flooding of SEO men dominating Google's first page with affiliate websites that are strong you see now.
It may nevertheless be carried out.
But you need SEO abilities that Are far beyond the reach of what's taught in Wealthy Affiliate.
That is not some biased opinion.
In 2019, you will need skills Like making your own blog network of powerful domains which is market relevant so that you can use them to produce your own backlinks to your affiliate website.
That is still the #1 Ranking element in Google. High-quality backlinks from sites that are real.
Not articles or Low-quality hyperlinks like forum posting, blog commenting, social media hyperlinks, etc..
Whenever another Powerful site links to youpersonally, it is just like a vote in the eyes of Google. The more quality links pointed from market websites to you, the higher you'll rank in Google.
Writing"quality material" and Hoping it will rank to page 1 is very old school strategy that does not work. Earn Money Online
This is what I call old-world That worked pre-2012.
In 2019, you better have the Ability backlinks for you or yourself will not earn any money.
Affiliate marketing is Probably among the toughest internet money making opportunities out there.
SO much competition.
And trust me when I say, I've Tried all online business opportunities on the market.
This might put it into Outlook for you bit.
Part of the reason Wealthy Affiliate coaches tell you to go after"low-hanging" fruit is that the coaches themselves definitely understand that with what they are teaching it is impossible to rank for medium-sized keyword phrases.
And this strategy might have Worked back before 2012, to assist students generate like $50-$100 per day if you built many sites which target these"low hanging" fruits.
However, in 2019 I doubt you can Even create that.
And there's a reason why it's Called"low-hanging fruit", since search volume is quite very low that it is almost not worth going after for many SEO's.
Its the Exact Same thing as fighting For scraps.
You Need to work more and Still earn less money than others with skills.
Why don't invest in receiving When doing less work skills that are better , so you can make money?
Also after the Google Panda Update in 2016, most of these fruit can be rated by low power websites anyways.
Google only likes powerful Authoritative sites nowadays like this blog.
So many Men and Women are so Desperate to earn quick bucks on the internet on what's the best business opportunity on the market for them they don't use proper discernment.
I see this mistake all the time. Earn Money Online
Hard work, dedication and Discipline is important but you may only get so far, if you're in the vehicle that is wrong.
I had a breakthrough when I realized this.
Other WA Features Offered Within the Program
· Website builder with 3,000 templates
· Siterubix website builder
· Webhosting for 25 sites
· Support staff if you Encounter problems with a website
· Feedback on your site
· Assessing for the health of the Website
· Security and Backup of the site
· Site comments — they teach you how to get others to comment on your site because they think engagement helps with rankings
· WA's own site registrars, claiming it's cheaper than namecheap.com but I found this to be false…
· Site speed plugin similar to cloudflare
The Majority of these attributes you can Get at GoDaddy.com or many other web hosting companies including site security and amazing support should you encounter any technical troubles.
It appears they rebranded a lot These features for their students.
I found that the website feedback You get because they only feel that its the site content and social participation that matters for 25, is basic.
In 2019, you will waste a lot Of time building websites such as these and be unable to have any positions in Google.
The sport has changed.
Wealthy Affiliate price?
There are few membership Options
Free membership — basic Training on how to build an affiliate site and how to get visitors to it. You can earn up to 15 percent for boosting Wealth Affiliate. You also get 2 free site using topics.
Premium Membership $49 per $359 per year or month — accessibility all the affiliate instruction that WA has to offer. You get 50% for boosting wealthy affiliate rather than 15%.
I suppose the membership Training will give you a few thoughts on what affiliate marketing is all about but to actually become successful with only the training is doubtful.
So most likely, anyone seirous About earning money online with Wealthy Affiliate is gonna wanna pay the $359 per year for the membership.
Wrap-up Earn Money Online
Overall I feel that this Affiliate marketing course is obsolete.
You simply Can't just write quality Content and expect your site to rank and generate traffic if you aim low competition keywords.
Think of how much more Competition there is currently in contrast to 2012 or even 2005, which was when wealthy affiliate was launched?
Every year of SEO Skills required to make money improved.
Capable to create market backlinks that are related.
I would be hard-pressed to find Any WA manhood making money with their training course.
Why do you see so Folks talking good about WA and promoting it?
Since WA offers 50% Commission as soon as you join them for promoting their course.
This created an environment Where you have these people that are not successful affiliate marketers promoting Wealthy Affiliate within an amazing affiliate course even though they have no idea what they are discussing.
It's Easy to spot.
It seems that the people Earning money with WA these days are those promoting WA.
Let's take a look at some of These WA student sites promoting WA for the commission that is 50 percent.
I google "Wealthy Affiliate Inspection" which still get approximately 8,100 monthly searches
You see websites like
newsonlineincome.com and eliteaffiliatehacks.com
In the top position, so these Are WA students. Their"high" pupils.
Tools can be used by you Such as moz domain authority checker to get an idea for how strong these sites are.
I'm not too impressed with A DA of 18 to get eliteaffiliatehacks.com
My website journalreview.org is DA of 30
newsonlineincome.com is DA of 23, . These websites are beatable with a site like mine or SEO's with abilities that are great.
I mean my tree service Site in Grand Rapids, MI has a DA of 23, (grandrapidstree.com).
BTW this tree service site Makes me $2,000 a month.
While I look at who's on the First page to get"Wealthy Affiliate Reviews" I see lot of poor websites that are simple enough to beat.
Consider searching affiliate Terms like"finest indoor grills" Earn Money Online
You're currently dealing with websites That are DA 40-80 on the page.
You want to build greater Powerful sites? You need backlinks that are strong.
Lets look into that real quick.
eliteaffiliatehacks.com has 72 Domains linking to him
So it is clear he knows at Something about SEO that is not educated in the WA course.
Now we need to Check out the As you can have these days which will hurt your site and lot of quality links quality of these links.
The Majority of his links are site Comments made by somebody coined"Tony Omary"
Again these are what's known as No-follow hyperlinks, so its not giving ranking power to you.
He's 30 do-follow Hyperlinks though, which can be more than many WA sites out there hence why he's at the top of the search positions.
They're still not the most High-quality links but its only enough to be on page for today.
By assessing the top WA Sites I will quickly see their skill levels in SEO / Search Engine Optimization.
And with these types of Backlinks I know because ranking for affiliate terms that many will not make a dime with affiliate advertising will be even harder than ranking page for WA phrase.
The truth may hurt.
What is Good About Wealthy Affiliate?
My hope is that folks that United WA to at least get an understanding that there are lots of opportunities and at the very least it makes you begin thinking like an entrepreneur.
There is 1 caveat, yes there Are many opportunities but its just those who really have abilities can earn money.
In the day's end.
Skills Pay The Bills.
I too went through many Biz opportunity before I found a mentor who taught me legit-ass skills.
If you are a reader of the Site, ya'al ready kno.
Free traffic is where it's at.
This is one matter where WA got it right.
For a novice, I think That using Free Traffic over Paid Traffic (FB ads) is the better way to go.
Why? Earn Money Online
As with traffic that is free, You are able to make consistent progress towards liberty.
Every site you are able to rank To page 1 of google gets the ability to generate money for one month.
This is how you can begin Generating multiple streams of income for yourself.
Retire from your 9 to 5 job Comfortably knowing that your bills are going to be taken care of by these websites which are ranked and generating income.
I have time and cash To begin new jobs like this blog.
That is what is known as an Authority site. Fundamentally, a website that ranks for many many key words online.
I would not recommend something Like this for a beginner.
It's Only and Requires.
If you are new to making money You will need something which could make you cash.
So you don't get Discouraged and quit.
Quick wins can keep you Motivated, which is important to be successful in this shit.
Click Here to sign up for Wealthy Affiliate Now!


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Restorative Neurology of Spinal Cord Injury
Milan R. Dimitrijevic, Byron A. Kakulas, W. Barry McKay, and Gerta Vrbova (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- 9780199746507
- eISBN:
- 9780199918768
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199746507.001.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Sensory and Motor Systems, Disorders of the Nervous System
Following injury or disease, neural circuitry can be altered to varying degrees leading to highly individualized characteristics that may or may not resemble original function. In addition, lost or ... More
Following injury or disease, neural circuitry can be altered to varying degrees leading to highly individualized characteristics that may or may not resemble original function. In addition, lost or partially damaged circuits and the effects of biological recovery processes coupled with learned compensatory strategies create a new neuroanatomy with capabilities that are often not functional or may interfere with daily life. To date, the majority of approaches used to treat neurological dysfunction have focused on the replacement of lost or damaged function, usually through the suppression of surviving neural activity and the application of mechanical assistive devices. This book offers a different and novel approach. Focusing on the spinal cord and its role in motor control, it details the clinical and neurophysiological assessment process and methods developed throughout the past half century by basic and clinical scientists. Then, through the use of specialized clinical and neurophysiological testing methods, conduction and processing performed within the surviving neural circuitry is examined and characterized in detail. Based on the results of such assessment, treatment strategies, also described in this book, are applied to augment, rather than replace, the performance of surviving neural circuitry and improve the functional capacity of people who have experienced injury to their spinal cords.Less

subset: commoncrawl


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Request on: DEUTZ BRUT ROSE NV 750 ML(781) 893-1900 firstname.lastname@example.com
- Country: FRANCE
- Region: CHAMPAGNE
- Color: Rose
- Producer: DEUTZ
- Sparkling: Yes
- Composition: CHAMPAGNE BLEND
- Rating: Light and fruity this is a delicate wine that exudes fresh berry fruits and balanced acidity. It's not a totally dry wine, and it has a soft texture as well as crispness, but shows the Deutz style with an emphasis on aerial lightness.
- Rating Wine Enthusiast: 90


text:
of abdominal/pelvic practitioners who work with . . .
Practitioners listed here are not vetted by us. Do your due diligence when choosing practitioners to work with.
Nurse Practitioner and Herbalist Bloom Pelvic Therapies
Office Location 2505 SW Spring Garden St Suite 200 Portland OR 97219 postal Office Phone: (503) 432-8050work Website: Bloom Pelvic Therapies
Office Location 1605 NE Broadway Portland OR 97213 USApostal Website: http://www.angelaseverson.com
Owner Spradlin Bodyworks, LLC
Office Location Portland OR 97206 United Statespostal Website: Abdominal Health


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5.3 Acres ~ Waterfront Waters Edge Ranch is the place to be... rolling hills of East Texas, convenient to Athens for shopping, dining. Dallas 1.5-Hr, Tyler 30-min. Pvt lake community w/ clubhouse, pool, trails, RV parking, stocked 378-Ac lake for fabulous fishing . Needs a boardwalk / pier across...5.32 Acres : $99,900
5.32 Acres In Henderson County
Athens : Henderson Co : Texas
POWELL Real Estate


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Zaloéƒil Rass, 26 Leden, 2017, 19:09:09
0 uéƒivatelé₤ a 1 Host prohlûÙéƒûÙ toto tûˋma.
CitaceJohansson: "OK. I am in it. At one point, I do think that the whole, the Infinity Wars, there are I think at one point 61 or 62 Marvel characters in it."Colbert: "What?"Johansson: "Yeah, there's a lot."Colbert: "In one scene, there's 61 or 62 Marvel characters?"Johansson: "I think in one particular scene there's like 32 of us. There's a lot. There are so many of us, I don't know who's a Marvel character and who's like a crew member. Honestly."


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Creating slime is amazing! Do you want to make firm or slippery slime, with or without glitter, and blue, yellow or green? Whatever you do, it will always smell nice thanks to the fragrance, and all the ingredients are safe!
- Borax-free.
- Make different types and colors of slime.
- All ingredients are safe for children
- Borax-free
- Manual with clear instructions
- Stimulates creativity.


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THE family fortune, the beautiful women, the private jet and much more besides are all part of the magazine empire launched 60 years ago by Hugh Hefner .
Hugh Hefner could trace his lineage back to the 17th-century Puritan patriarch William Bradford - who sailed to the New World on the Mayflower - and his parents were conservative Protestants who were the product of God-fearing Nebraskan farming stock. But that didn't stop his mother Grace lending him $1,000 to help launch the first issue of Playboy in 1953 - "Not because she believed in the venture but because she believed in her son," according to Hefner. She duly reaped the wages of sin when she became a millionairess several times over when the company went public in 1971.
Hefner had to drop Stag Party as the original title after the publisher of a magazine called Stag threatened legal action if he published under that name. Playboy was picked after a number of titles ranging from Gentleman and Bachelor to Top Hat and Pan were rejected.
Hefner was so unsure of commercial success that he didn't put an issue number on the first magazine. But his fears proved unfounded. He had Marilyn Monroe on the cover and then on the centrefold as Playboy's first Sweetheart (later Playmate) Of The Month. He sold 53,000 copies. Monroe had posed nude for the inside picture in 1949 and Hefner bought it for just $500. She later explained that she had accepted the modelling assignment - for which she had been paid $50 - because her car had been repossessed.
Although born in the same year, 1926, Hefner and Monroe were never great friends in life but they will be close in death. Hefner, 87, bought the vault next to hers at the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles for £46,000 in 1992.
Designed by Playboy's first art director Art Paul, the Bunny logo appeared in every issue of the magazine after the first one and became an iconic piece of branding. Indeed, the rabbit image became so associated with Hefner that the discoverers of an endangered marsh rabbit gave it the scientific name of "sylvilagus palustris hefneri".
When the first Playboy Club was opened in 1960, the Playboy Bunny was born. Waitresses wore a costume called a bunny suit inspired by Art Paul's logo, which consisted of a corset, bunny ears, a black bow tie, shirt cuffs and a fluffy cotton tail.
In 1970 with Playboy prospering as never before Hefner splashed out £5.5million on a McDonnell Douglas DC-9. He had it painted black, with a Playboy Bunny logo on the tail, and installed 12 on-board beds, a disco, a bar, a sunken Roman bath, a full crystal dinner set for 32 people and a king-sized water bed covered with Tasmanian opossum fur.
It was the most famous private jet of its era and was once hired as a tour plane by Elvis Presley. Sonny and Cher also rented it for a long weekend.
Playboy sales peaked at 7.1million in 1972 but when new titles started to eat into its market share Hefner decided such an extravagant accessory had to go. Hare Force One was sold to Venezuelan airline Aeropostal then Aeromexico. When it was retired from service in 2004 the wings and tail fin were sold off for scrap but the fuselage was donated to the Mexican city of Cadereyta where it was turned into a children's classroom which is still used.
Hefner championed the renovation of Los Angeles's greatest landmark when it had fallen into disrepair in the Seventies
Hefner married Mildred Williams, his college sweetheart, in 1949, four years before Playboy was launched. They went on to have two children, Christie, now 61, and David, 58, but divorced after 10 years.
Christie joined Playboy Enterprises in 1974 and was a vice-president within four years. In 1982 she was made president and took on more responsibility after Hefner suffered a stroke in 1985. She became chairman and chief executive in 1988. She saw the potential ofpotential of the web early on and in 1994 Playboy became the first national magazine in America to have a web presence. "I consider Playboy very wholesome, frankly," she said earlier this year. "I mean I don't think we'd have families without sex and Playboy's always been pro-sex."
She left the company in 2009 and now runs Canyon Ranch Enterprises, a spa resort company.
In July 1989, Hefner, then 63, married Kimberley Conrad, 25, that year's Playmate Of The Year. They had sons Marston and Cooper before separating in the late Nineties.
Hefner was due to marry his third wife Crystal Harris in June 2011 but five days before the wedding she pulled out. The July edition of Playboy had already been printed with Harris on the front alongside the cover line: "America's Princess, Introducing Mrs Crystal Hefner". Ever alert to a marketing opportunity, Hefner simply ordered it to be distributed with a sticker covering her bottom half saying: "Runaway Bride in this issue!"
Harris held on to a Bentley he had given her, tried to pawn her £60,000 engagement ring and launched a bid for custody of their King Charles spaniel Charlie. Within a year, however, the couple were reconciled and married on New Year's Eve last year. He was 86, she was 26.
Hefner championed the renovation of Los Angeles's greatest landmark when it had fallen into disrepair in the Seventies. He held a fundraiser at the Playboy mansion and auctioned off the original Hollywood letters for £17,000 each to fund the £153,000 cost of renovation.
Christie Hefner's husband William Marovitz agreed to pay £103,000 to settle a civil fraud case brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2011. He neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. The SEC alleged that Marovitz bought 9,000 shares of Playboy stock in November 2008 after learning the company was in talks to be acquired by Iconix Brand Group. When Iconix abandoned its bid a month later, Marovitz directed his broker to sell all his stock. When the news of the failed talks broke shares of Playboy fell 10 per cent. By selling stock, the SEC said Marovitz avoided thousands in losses. He and Christie divorced earlier this year.
Hefner has exploited the power of television since the early Sixties when he hosted Playboy's Penthouse. He followed this up with Playboy After Dark in 1968 and more recently The Girls Next Door. It focuses on the shenanigans of the Playmates who live in a house in the grounds of his Los Angeles mansion. The show ran for six seasons on E! Entertainment and has been sold to 150 countries. It stopped production after 95 episodes in 2009.
Apart from running pictures of girls with no clothes on, Playboy has commissioned many big-name interviews by heavyweight writers over the years.
Roots author Alex Haley interviewed Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, and David Sheff's interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared in the January 1981 issue that was on the shelves at the time of Lennon's murder.
But perhaps the magazine's greatest scoop was getting presidential candidate Jimmy Carter to admit: "I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I have committed adultery in my heart many times." As the quote emerged at the height of the campaign of 1976 it caused a furore but Carter went on to beat a lacklustre Gerald Ford and take the presidency.
Playboy has also published short stories by such literary greats as the science fiction star Arthur C Clarke, Lolita author Vladimir Nabokov, James Bond creator Ian Fleming as well as PG Wodehouse and Booker Prize winner Margaret Atwood.
Apart from supermodel Kate Moss, who is on the current 60th anniversary issue, fellow models Naomi Campbell and Samantha Fox, and actress Joan Collins are among the British beauties who have posed for Playboy. As has Marina Pepper (nee Baker), a Liberal Democrat member of Telscombe town council, East Sussex, who was Playmate Of The Month in March 1987.


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Melissa Phelps, violinist, gained recognition by age ten when she soloed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She graduated from the Crossroads School for the Arts and Sciences, was a Dorothy Delay student (New England Conservatory of Music), and she received a BA degree in music from CSUN. Awards she has garnered are: V.O.C.E., top honors from the Young Artists' Guild and she was an award winner in the International Coleman Competition. Melissa has soloed with and was an orchestral/chamber musician for festivals in: Banff, Ojai, Aspen, Sun Valley, Santa Fe, Mainly Mozart, and Spoleto Festival. Her radio and TV broadcasts and recordings span the globe. She is concertmaster of the St. Cecilia Opera Orchestra and the Ventura Master Chorale, and she performs with the New West and Santa Barbara Symphonies. She is a regular substitute in the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Melissa is Professor of Violin at Cal-Lutheran University.
Copyright © 2000, GCCS, All Rights Reserved


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Posts by CAN Updates
NIRS Publishes White Paper on Reactor Shutdowns and Phaseout Plans
Washington, DC — There is a growing consensus that action needs to be taken immediately to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Safe-energy organization, Nuclear Information and Resource Service , released a new white paper today: "Nuclear Reactor Closures: Practical, Cost-Effective Solutions for Communities and the Climate."
Dear UCS, More Nuclear Energy Is Not The Solution To Our Climate Crisis
Faced with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's latest report, some environmental leaders are all too ready to toss a lifeline to aging, uneconomic nuclear power plants. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), long venerated as America's most rigorous nuclear watchdog group, joined this chorus in early November.


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Ages of Time
"Dieu Et Mon Droit"
Murmurs felt below, the first warnings of that which it is yet to come. The great white snowy owl sits aloft, gazing over his dominion - pondering: how long - before its time.
As the vibrations grow louder, the denizens of the earth know a shift is beginning. The tectonic plates of history are repositioning themselves according to what has been, and what shall be.
A process born of desire - as all thought is. Its issuance into the outside world causes changes across the globe. Changes in the way man feels, thinks, and acts. The times they are a changing.
A force rarely visited upon the Isle of Man has been germinating for centuries. When the destiny of the world enters the field, it is best to sit up and take notice: to heed the warning, whatever it may be.
The Riddle of the Sphinx
A baby grows into a child, the child becomes an adult, the adult matures into old age, and the four phases of life are complete. So too does the human race progress: from the infant, to the child, to an adult, and finally to old age. As above - so below: the microcosm within the macrocosm.
The human race is at an important point in its progression: it either moves forward or falls back, it really is as simple as that. Man has entered a new age - the Age of Aquarius: the age of adulthood in which he can either blossom or regress. The choice is his and his alone.
Four broad strokes cross the canvas of man's history, the paradigm shifts that the human race has so far endured are destiny's brush - the collective behavior of the races provide the pallet of colors.
Man has traveled from the ancient world, to the industrial world, to the post-industrial world, to the age of technology - where man is trying to seek control of Mother Nature: not the wisest of choices he has ever made, but his to make nonetheless.
That is man's right, which free will offers. The consequences of his actions, however, form his destiny - as the potter's hands shape the form of clay that is the expression of his inner thoughts.
The journey through nature has involved billions of souls and billions of changes. Some were easy, while others seemed impossible. Time waits for no man, it marches on as the relentless measure of change: until no longer needed - its task complete - destiny fulfilled.
Many earth-moving events have occurred, caused by the tectonic plates of the human drama shifting about - moaning and groaning from the strain of the friction between the twins. At one moment in time the golden age prevailed, at another, the age of silver; next came the age of bronze, and last came the age of iron - the present time that is upon us.
The Industrial Revolution
There can be no doubt that the industrial revolution was an earth-shattering event that forever changed the landscape, as well as the lives of those thereon. It began in the late seventeen hundreds in Europe, its highpoint the middle to late 1800's.
A question of some substance is why did it start in Europe, predominantly in England, before other nations strode upon the stage. Why did England dominate the world from the mid 1700's to the early 1900's - until the end of the war?
The people that flooded into Europe during the Dark and Medieval Ages came up from the south and east; and down from the North and West. Once the Roman Empire fell the next millennium witnessed a great Diaspora spreading its wings across the land: the migration of man had begun.
The fields of England were chosen as the middle ground. The all-seeing owl nodded his head in approval, as he cast a glance over his shoulder - his shadow reflected upon the ground.
The Dark Ages
The greatness of Rome was no more; its fall left a large void in the world's collective consciousness. From the later 400's onward, the Dark Ages were the sign of the times.
Petrarch was the first to coin the term, referring to the time that followed ancient Greece and Rome, as the Dark Ages.
The darkness of the age had many shades: some referred to the lack of communication between different peoples, as books were rare artifacts, leaving entire nations unaware of their fellow man.
There was, however, a darker side as well, where bloodlust ruled the day. The most savage and evil tortures imaginable occurred, as if they were nothing more then a harsh lesson exacting its due toll. Even women and children suffered the curse of fate.
The Enlightenment
Then came the age of enlightenment, the rays of reason beamed bright on the child of man below. Just prior came the reformation, the time the Church's back was pinned against the wall: questions were asked in public, which before were whispered behind closed doors.
Now both mind and body joined to perform man's tasks. Man wrought forth great feats with nothing more than his bare hands guided by his wit. Huge Cathedrals, bridges, and cities now adorned the land.
Man had discovered that by using his mind he could produce more goods than by manual labor alone. The age of tools and machines had arrived: the age of industry - the industrial revolution.
The Age of Machines
At first, the tools were simple, but soon they grew into machines of greater complexity: spinning wheels and looms that processed cotton and wool, farm equipment that harvested wheat from the fields.
Finally, the invention that changed the world - the steam engine, and the huge machines it could power: the steam ship, and eventually the steam engine of the trains.
These were not just steps forward in man's productive well being - they were leaps across unknown waters that vastly improved the division of labor and the economy of man.
It was now possible to effectively transport both people and goods, over much longer distances, and into more remote areas; either on steamships along the waterways; or on trains along the iron rails.
Soon the ever-expanding need for more and more steel required the need for mass production of the metal: production begets production.
At the same time mass manufacturing of steel was taking place, other industries were beginning to blossom: the all important petroleum industry that provided fuel and lubricants the machines of the future required; the chemical industry that produced and refined the essential ingredients for both the construction of certain products, and the improvement and utility of others.
Then it came - like a bolt of lightening from out of the sky: electricity and all its marvels suddenly appeared upon the stage. Giants of industry were born: AT & T, US Steel, Standard Oil. The times they were a changing.
The Center of Finance
The birth of the industrial giants gave birth to yet another: the industry of finance. Thread Needle St., Wall Street, and the stock market were about to blossom.
It had become apparent to those in the know that the ways of money were unknown to all but a few, its tracks forever covered, hidden from sight, as are those of the wise old owl by a new fallen snow.
Many great minds have debated the reason as to why the revolution first took hold in England, well before other European nations. The answer is really quite simple: it was because Britain was where the preponderance of the elite banking families from Italy migrated to after the fall of Rome.
And as birds of a feather flock together - so too did the other great banking Houses of Europe set up shop in merry Old England. The land of the Brits became the hub of world finance, the center from which the clarion call to profits sounded loud and clear.
The Money Power
Money is the sinew of war - it is also the sinew of commerce and industry as well. The money power is the most awesome power that man possesses; and man should respect it accordingly - as opposed to his present meek acquiesance that hands the money power over to others: to the State and the elite bankers who have no right to possess such an unalienable and inviolate right of man.
Britain came out of the 19th century as the leader and super power of the world. This was in large part due to their leading role in the industrial revolution and the financing thereof. Their reach stretched across the world: to India, the Middle East, Australia, China, and Africa. No stone went unturned in the pursuit of profit. Then came the War to end all wars - World War I.
The mid 1700's witnessed the colonies of the New World revolting against the inequity and despotism of Britain's monarchy. The colonists were free men with unalienable rights - not subjects to be treated as mere chattel. Revolution was the call to arms that wrought forth liberty and freedom for all.
Then came the Great French War - the continuous years of fighting from 1792 until 1815, ending with the defeat of Napolean at the battle of Waterloo: defeated by the English under the leadership of General Wellington.
Some say it was Rothschild's gold delivered to Wellington that won the day; the same is said about Alexander's gold defeating his enemies - not Alexander. As Horace wrote: "Gold can a path through hosts of warders clear. And walls of stone more swiftly can displace than ever lightening could."
The War
World War I pitted The Allied Powers of France, England, and Russia, and eventually the United States, against the Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
The established worldview perceived the purpose of World War I to be the war to end all wars. It did not accomplish its stated cause; instead, it laid the groundwork for World War II. It was as if a purposeful design had formed and followed a desired function.
What World War I did accomplish, and with surgical precision, was the end of the Old World Order, and the preparation of a fertile crucible: the human race - to accept the New World Order.
So what was this Old World Order? First, recall that Napolean ruled over almost all of Western Europe, just as the Romans had in their time. The French Revolution expoused a set of ideals that flew in the face of the Old World Order: the order of absolutism.
Absolutism vests all power in the monarch - the King is the ruler of the land. He has the sovereign power to rule all men as his subjects, without question as to right or wrong - all rights were held by the King - for the King's advantage.
There were no laws other than the King's Perogative. The King was sovereign - the people were subjects of the King: mere chattel to perform his bidding. Right was had by might.
No opposition to the rule of might exists, unless one possesses a greater might, one capable of overpowering the King's men - the strong arm of en-force-ment. The law is what the King says it is. There is no Constitution declaring the rights of man. There is no natural law. The King rules by Divine Right. The law is what the King decrees it to be - nothing more nor less.
Old Ways Die Hard
It is most telling that even to this day, coronations of British monarchs still take place according to the Old World Order. Monarchs are anointed with the Holy oils by the Archbishop of Canterbury, just as they were in the days of old; thereby ordaining them to the rule with God's blessing - rule by Divine Right, which is fairly absolute is it not?
The roots of this heritage and bloodline of descent can be traced back to ancient times when David ruled as King. The Davidic line is coveted by those that have the need to do so - to fill the void within. Most Royal Houses can be traced back to the same roots: Cain and Able: the left hand path, and the right hand path.
The ancients themsevles ruled by Divine Right, at least the ancients that history is aware of: Egypt, Sumer, and Bablyon, and back further to Atlantis and Lemuria, and to the time when the watchers came and partook of the forebidden fruit; the time when the gods walked the earth - those that still had to obey the three Sisters of Fate - of Destiny - of that which is, and yet to come.
The supposed purpose of World War One was to end the Old World Order of absolutism, and to establish the New World Order. Yet even after the war was over, and to this very day, England retains the sacred tradition of the coronation ceremony, including the annointing with Holy Oil to ordain the ruler to be according to Divine Right and the will of God.
The Cost of War
At first the British sold large stock positions in the US railroads to raise needed capital to pay the huge expenses of war. All too soon the funds ran out. Britain was left with no other alternative to fund their war machine, except to borrow heavily from the U.S. bankers on Wall Street - many of whom were frontmen for the elite international bankers of Europe.
The Versailles Treaty culminated the end of the war. Germany was forced to pay staggering reparation payments. The Germans did this by borrowing from the United States bankers on Wall Street. It seems that both sides of the war were funded by the same entities, especially by the House of Morgan.
In 1919, the U.S. demanded that England repay their loans. These loans had been partially funded by German reparation payments. As stated above, German reparation payments were funded by loans from J.P. Morgan to Germany. By 1930 this little game of merry-go-round came to a halt - setting the stage for the rise of Nazi Germany and World War II.
As already stated, one of the main objectives of World War One was to replace the Old World Order with a New World Order. In regards to changing the Old World Order the war was quite successful. Four empires and their respective royal dynasties were destroyed: the Ottoman empire and dynasty; the House of Habsburg and the Austrian dynasty; the Romanovs and the Russian dynasty; and the House of Hohenzollern and the German dynasty.
Once again, just as in their keeping of the Old World Order Royal Coronation Traditions of Divine Right, Britain also retained the Old World Order of the ruling House of Windsor. It appears the New World Order entails Britain keeping its Old World Order intact, while the rest of the world marches to a different drummer.
Needless to say, the war wraught untold sufferring upon the world, leaving physical, emotional, and mental scars on both the land and greater still - on the people of the land. Different people reacted in different ways. For the very strong of heart, the war was a learning experience that made one stronger. Others were completely devastated.
Nationalism was the new scapegoat. The intelligenstia propagandized that the cause of the war was one nation trying to impose its belief system on another; and that the ONLY way such evil could be prevented was by a more internationalistic world: a New World Order - thus the League of Nations was born.
Others had pretty much the opposite reaction to the atrocities of the war, they became brazen and more emboldened in the belief that might was right; and to survive in the world one must be the strongest and most aggressive and dominant alpha male: thus Nazism and fascism rose from the ashes of the war to end all wars.
Communist and socialist ideaology suddenly became popular as well, especially in the European countries that had suffered the most during the war.
Recall that the war to end all wars had just been fought and did not quite accomplish its supposed goal of ending either war or absolutism, which were the reasons give that an international order of nations was needed.
This ends part one. The quote at the top of the paper: Dieu Et Mon Droit is the British Royal Family's motto, which translates as: God and My Birth Right. Absolute or not - the reader can judge for themselves.
Come visit our new website: Honest Money Gold & Silver Report
And read the Open Letter to Congress


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Staff Reporter:
Two young men were killed in a road accident at Kanaipur on Dhaka-Khulna Highway in sadar upazila on Thursday night.
Witnesses said the accident took place when a motorcycle crashed into a parked covered van around 10 pm, leaving bike driver Rimon Mandol, 18, and pillion rider Rasel Talukdar, 20, dead on the spot.
On information, firefighters appeared at the spot and sent the bodies to hospital, said M Saifuzzaman, station manager of Faridpur Fire Service and Civil Defence.unb


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Huge discounts on some of our most popular parts.
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Thick glass crystal rectangle base, 260mm X 140mm, 1in deep, ½in center hole, sold only in 4's because of breakage. (ew)
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Winterwarm has recently refreshed its website to give improved information on products and services.
New features include an "enquiry" option and links to product information and the Webshop.
The Webshop is fast becoming the preferred route for spare part identification and sourcing. Photographs and technical information help ensure the correct part is obtained, avoiding costly delays when servicing or repairing heaters in the field, as well as providing details of products and accessories.
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graduation invitation template
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Fishing near shipwrecks warning from authorities
Authorities have warned people against fishing in the area of a protected shipwreck off Ardrossan on Yorke Peninsula.
The Zanoni was a 19th century merchant vessel which sank in rough weather in 1867 and was not located until 1983.
Environment Department maritime heritage officer Amer Khan said dropping an anchor or a fishing line near a fragile wreck could be damaging.
"Unfortunately we are hearing more and more reports of boats straying into the 550-metre protected area around the Zanoni," he said.
"The middle section of the wreck has already collapsed."
All shipwrecks more than 75 years old are automatically protected but the Zanoni has a wider protection zone, meaning a permit is needed to go within the zone.
The other special protection zone in SA waters is around the former navy destroyer Hobart, which was scuttled off Yankalilla nearly a decade ago.


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Student artwork entered in Congressional Art Competition
Congratulations to high school student artists Rebecca Kelley, Marielle Scott and Jake Tashman for having their artwork selected to be entered into the 2018 Congressional Art Competition, which is supported by Congressman Paul Tonko.
Their work is on display until May 4 at the Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy. A winner will be chosen to be showcased at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. and will have the opportunity to attend a ceremony in June 2018 unveiling the winners from across the country. A runner-up will have his/her piece displayed at Paul Tonko's Albany District office. Good luck, Spartans!


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Taramoa, Tātara-a-moa
Rubus australis. R. cissoides & R. schmidelioides "Bush lawyer" (Rosaceae)
From Proto Polynesian *Tara-qa-moa, Caesalpinia sp., esp. C. bonduc (Caesalpinaceae)
Tātarāmoa, Rubus cissoides
Western Hills, Lower Hutt, NZ (c) Jeremy Rolfe, NZPCN
Tongan: talatala'āmoa (Caesalpinia bonduc, Caesalpinaceae)
Niuean: talamoa (Caesalpinia major, Caesalpinaceae; Achyranthes aspera "Devil's horsewhip", Amaranthaceae)
West Futuna: taramoa, " bramble"
Hawaiian: ['ākala (Rubus hawaiensis & R. macraei, Rosaceae); kākalaioa (Caesalpinia bonduc, Caesalpinaceae)]
Tahitian: tataraamoa (Caesalpinia bonduc,Caesalpinaceae)
Rarotongan: tātarāmoa (Caesalpinia major, Caesalpinaceae)
Tōtara, the Tahitian name for a puffer fish, is the name given in Aotearoa to a tree (Podocarpus totara) with spine-like leaves. Like taramoa and the alternative forms listed below, this name also incorporates the Proto-Polynesian root *tara, "spike, spine, sharp protruberance".
Akatātaramoa, a generic name for all Aotearoa native Rubus species, the "bush lawyers", stressing their vine-like attributes.
Tātaramoa-turuhunga, another alternative generic name, in reference to the abundance of fruit the plants produce in due season, which are highly palatable to birds and appreciated too by people. "Turuhunga" is a term applied to a plant, especially a tree, with fruit on which birds will feast until they get very fat.
Taraheke, tātaraheke, alternative names for Rubus australis and R. cissoides.
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Introductory section
Tātara-a-Moa in poetry and proverbs
Tātara-a-Moa in Biblical translations
References, credits and gallery
There are varying reports about taste of the fruit (some people find it generally a little on the tart side), but it is certainly edible, and was made into jam by the early European settlers. There is a recipe in Andrew Crowe's Field Guide. The stems of the vine yield a liquid which is very pleasant to drink. Most species flourish best within the shelter of a forest habitat; in the open, Rubus cissoides assumes the form of a tangled mass of brambles with the leaves reduced to bare midribs, and does not flower. In a favourable environment it will produce large panicles of heavily scented flowers, as in the illustration on the left, and abundant fruit (hence the epiphet turuhunga). The species differ from each other in habit, although they are all well-equipped with hooked spikes to provide secure anchorage; it is these which are responsible for the English name for the plants -- "bush lawyers". R. parvus does not climb, forming instead an impressive but well-spiked ground cover, R. australis is a vigorous climber from the outset with the largest leaves and most profuse flowering habit; R. schimelioides doesn't become a serious climber until the final adult stage, but R. cissoides is superbly equipped for climbing from the outset, with its multi-spiked leaves and well as stems. The juvenile form of R. squarrosus is like the exposed form of R. cissoides -- a tangled mass of prickly stems with bare midribs for leaves. The leaves reappear when the forest canopy is reached and the plant matures. Rubus cissoides has the stoutest stems of all the Aotearoan species, up to 10 cm or more in diameter.
Rubus schimelioides and R. cissoides have red hooks; those of R. squarrosus are yellow. In addition to being annoying as well as painful if your skin comes directly into contact with them, these hooks may also be dangerous. According to Alan Clark (The Great Sacred forest of Tāne, p. 183), "several people have died from contact with its grim barbs, perhaps because they were alergic to it". Medicinally, its leaves and stems seem to have featured in remedies for a variety of ills, from upset stomachs to toothaches.
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Tātara-a-Moa in poetry and proverbs
Tātara-a-Moa in Biblical translations
References, credits and gallery
Tātara-a-Moa in poetry and proverbs.
The theme of tātarāmoa as representative of formidable obstacles is echoed in poetry and proverbs. In
"He tangi mō Te Karae" (NM #89), a lament by the Ngati Ruanui chief Tarawha for the death of his son, Te Karae, in a battle with the Taranaki iwi around the turn of the 18th Century, the tātarāmoa symbolizes the obstacles that prevented the father's avenging his son's death. According to the notes accompanying the song, there is another plant reference in the verse quoted, the matuku, a club moss (Lycopodium sp.), symbolic of danger when pointed to by a rainbow.
Moe mai, e tama, te moenga mātao;
Kia moe atu au te moenga i āhuru.
E kore e puta atu,
I runga te tūturihunga,
I roto te tātarāmoa,
Ngā heihei o Matuku.
[Sleep on, O son, on a cold couch;
Whilst I do lie on a couch so warm.
Unable, alas, to come to your aid
Because of crouching hostile foes,
Among the prickly thickets,
And the entangling shrubs of Matuku.] NM #89, Vol 1, pp. 404-5.
Moe mai, e tama, te moenga mātao;
Kia moe atu au te moenga i āhuru.
E kore e puta atu,
I runga te tūturihunga,
I roto te tātarāmoa,
Ngā heihei o Matuku.
[Sleep on, O son, on a cold couch;
Whilst I do lie on a couch so warm.
Unable, alas, to come to your aid
Because of crouching hostile foes,
Among the prickly thickets,
And the entangling shrubs of Matuku.] NM #89, Vol 1, pp. 404-5.
After rain has passed by and and the rainbow has appeared by the margin of swampy land, it indicates the place where it will be found growing. It is a sign that there are difficulties and dangers in the way. (NM Vol 1, pp. 406-407)
This is an interesting take on the ambiguity of the word "matuku", which also denotes an avian denizen of the swamp, the bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus). These birds are known as "ngā heihei o Matuku-tangotango", (the hens of Matuku-tangotango, the demonic being who killed Wahieroa's father, and is later snared and killed by Wahieroa's son, the culture hero Rata, whereupon he turned into a bittern). This too is a metaphor for well-concealed enemies lying in wait. Combined with the "prickly thickets" of tātarāmoa, the difficulties would be insuperable.
The proverbial reference in the compilation by Hirini Moko Mead and Neil Grove is indirect, but underlines the association of tātarāmoa with other obstructions to easy passage which reappears also in Biblical translations:
Ngā taero o Kupe, e, ngā rōrī o te whare o Uenuku.
[The obstructions which Kupe found were the knots which Uenuku used to fasten his door.] (M&G #2043, p. 329.)
... is understood to refer to the supplejacks (kareao), brambles or bush lawyer (tātarāmoa), spear grass (tūmatakuru), and stinging nettles (ongaonga) which made overland travel so difficult when Kupe arrived. They are now understood to symbolise mental difficulties and obstructions. (Ibid.)
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Tātara-a-Moa in Biblical translations
References, credits and gallery
Tātara-a-Moa in Biblical translations.
He tataramoa ano hoki, he tumtakuru ana e whakatupuake ai mau; a ka kai koe i te otaota o te parae. (Kenehi 3:18)
Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. (Genesis 3:18 NRSV)
Kahore hoki he tataramoa ngau a muri ake ki te whare o Iharaira, kahore he tumatakuru whakamaemae a te hunga katoa i tetahi taha o ratou, i tetahi taha, a te hunga ra i whakahawea ki a ratou ....
The House of Israel shall no longer find a pricking brier or a piercing thorn among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt ....
Mo reira tenei ahau te tutaki nei i tou ara ki te tataramoa, te hanga nei i te taiepa e kore ai ia e kite i ona ara. (PT Hohea 2:6)
Therefore I will hedge her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her
so that she cannot find her paths. (NRSV)
Nā ka mea ngā rākau katoa ki te taraheke, Haere mai hei kingi mō mātou. (PT Kaiwhakariterite 9:14)
So all the trees said to the bramble, "You come and reign over us."
(NRSV Judges 9:14)
A nā ka oti tētahi karauna tatarāmoa te whiri, ka pōtaea ki tōna matenga, me te kākaho ki tōna ringa matau .... PT Matiu:27:29
And after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand .... (NRSV, Matthew 27:29)
He tataramoa i mua, ka puta ake he kauri; he tumatakuru i mua, ka puta ake he ramarama .... (PT Ihaia 55:13)
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle .... (NRSV Isaiah 55:13)
E tupu ae le perosi e sui a'i le laau tuitui; e tupu le atasi e sui a'i le ogogo .... (TP Isaia 55:13)
There are four sets of species sometimes translated by tātarāmoa, and at other times by tūmatakuru. There is a lot of semantic overlap in many of the Biblical names -- the particular species designated can often be identified only through knowledge of the environment in which the plant referred to is likely to have been growing, and the era in which the particular passage of scripture was written. Often the plant names are simply symbolic -- of obstacles and misfortunes, in the case of these thorny plants. The four sets of plants with names translated occasionally by tātarāmoa are:
(1) Three species of thistles collectively called barkarim -- the Syrian thistle, Notobasis syriaca (pictured on the right), the globe thistle (Echinops viscosus), and the Holy Thistle, Silybum marianum, all members of the daisy family, Asteraceae, a.k.a. the Compositae. One or all of these may be the "thorns" referred to in the English version of this verse:
Na ka mea a Kiriona, mo reira kia homai e Ihowa a Tepa raua ko Taramuna ki toku ringa, ka haehaea e ahau o koutou kikokiko ki nga tataramoa o te koraha, ki te tumatakuru. (Kaiwhakariterite 8:7)
Gideon replied, 'Well then, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, I shall trample your flesh on the thorns of the wilderness, and on briers.' (NRSV Judges 8:7)
(2) The Grey Nightshade, Solanum incanum (Solanaceae; Hebrew hedek, photograph on left), another thorny hedge plant used to keep out stray animals and unauthorized fruit pickers. This word occurs twice in the Bible, in the quoted passage, and in the Book of Micah.
Ko te ara o te tangata mangere, ano he taiepa tataramoa; he ara nui ia to te tangata tika. (PT Whakatauaki 15:19)
The way of the lazy is overgrown with thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway. (NRSV Proverbs 15:19)
Ki te mea i kainga e ahau ona hua, he mea kihai i utua, a naku ranei ona ariki i mate ai, na, kia riro pu te witi i te tataramoa, te parei i te taro kino. (PT Hopa 31:39-40)
If I have eaten its yield without payment, and caused the death of its owners: let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley. (NRSV)
He tataramoa, he mahanga kei te ara o te whanoke; ko te tangata ia e tiaki ana i tona wairua, ka matara atu i ena. (PT Whakatauaki 22:5)
Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; the cautious will keep far from them. (NRSV)
Tātarāmoa thus stands in for a considerable variety of thorny plants in Biblical translations, but conveys well the overall impression intended by the text, an excellent example of a name with a specific referent being used for a more general purpose.
Back to top of page
Back to Introductory section
Back to Tātara-a-Moa in poetry and proverbs
Back to Tātara-a-Moa in Biblical translations
References, credits and gallery
Photographs: There are profiles and photographs of all the Rubus species on the NZ Plant Conservation Network web site. We are grateful to the NZPCN members Jeremy Rolfe, John Barkla, Mike Thorsen, and Peter de Lange, for permission to use their photographs for this page. The photograph of Rubus cissoides in the text is also by Jeremy Rolfe. The inset photographs in the Biblical section are from the Wikipedia Commons and Wikispecies sites and are used under creative commons licences (they may be reproduced non-commercially but the photographer must be acknowledged): "Davidbena", Zizyphus spina-christi (detail); "Rickp", Sarcopoterium spinosum (detail); Philipp Weigell, Solanum incanum (detail); Hans Hillewaert, Notobasis syriaca (detail); Paolo Bertinetto, Scolymus hispanicus (detail). The photo of Zilla spinosa (detail) is from the Flora of Qatar website. The photograph of Rubus sanctus in the gallery below is by "Eitan f", also on the Wikispecies web site.


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Who Will Be 'Game Of Thrones' Next Big Bad Now That Ramsay's Out Of The Picture?
Spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 6 ahead. It is an understatement to say that the death of one of Game of Thrones' most heinous villains was exciting for viewers. It was downright invigorating — as if the day of the episode was Christmas and Halloween and your birthday all wrapped in one "Battle of the Bastards." Yet while the death of Ramsay Bolton was certainly worth celebrating, his absence from the show going forward raises two big questions — who will be Game of Thrones ' next big villain, and will anyone be able to truly take Ramsay's place?
Drama-heavy series often need a Big Bad to remind us that even if our heroes aren't perfect, at least they aren't evil. This character is also essential because he or she (or it, in some cases) drives the plot — the protagonists want something, and the villains won't let them get it. On Game of Thrones, Ramsay seriously nailed both of these characteristics, and it will be difficult for someone else to step up to the plate of supreme evil. In Season 7, all the characters we like (the Starks, Danaerys and co, etc.) or at least don't totally hate (Cersei, the people of Dorne, etc.) are going to start butting heads, and that doesn't bode well for the Game of Thrones body count. And with all that conflict about to occur, it's worth wondering who will be GoT's next true villain, the character viewers are going to totally, completely, hate.
The most obvious answer is The Night King, the guy who pretty much exemplifies the phrase "chillin' like a villain." The whole crew — Lannister, Stark, Targaryen, Wildings, Brotherhood without Banners, all of Dorne, etc. — needs to get together and take this guy down for obvious reasons: the possibility of winter forever, everybody turning into weird zombie things, and the end of civilization as they know it. But at the same time, viewers don't yet hate The Night King, and it's hard to imagine him becoming the true Big Bad. After all, the Night King isn't cruel to be cruel, like Ramsay was. The King, like many of the other GoT characters, does some terrible things, but these acts seem to primarily be for survival of his people. And besides, its not like he asked The Children to turn him into a predator of the human species (well, probably not). It may be easy to hate a man who behaves like a monster, like Ramsay, but it's harder to truly hate a creature who didn't ask to be the monstrous figure he's become.
Then there's Melisandre and Cersei who are both mild sociopaths, but who have still managed to win us over with their gumption and powerful vibes. These qualities prevent them from becoming Big Bads, as whenever these women do something that is horrible or crazy, they do it to protect what they believe in and want to keep safe. Ramsay, meanwhile, tortured and maimed and flayed for fun. And whereas the women both have passion — Cersei for her children and Melisandre for the Lord of Light — Ramsay has no such feelings. Big difference.
I can't hate either the sorceress or the Queen, no matter how hard I try, as they're just trying to make it as powerful women with missions in a dangerous and sexist society. Compared to Ramsay, and Joffrey before him, who brought such heavy sociopath game to the table by torturing only for fun and power, it's hard to envision either Cersei or Melisandre as figurative mustache-twirling villains.
A popular strain of theorizing is that one of our favorite characters like Daenerys or Sansa is going to snap and turn evil, Mad King Aerys-style. But at this point, fans love these characters so much that it would be hard to relish their villainy and see them as Big Bads, if that were to happen. Unlike how fans were certain since the beginning, practically, that Joffrey and Ramsay were supreme evil, we've gotten to see Sansa and Dany as empathetic, likable characters, so it's impossible to consider them as prime candidates for the most heinous titles.
My money's on the idea that there is no super-villain in Season 7. I think this season will be about all our favorites working together and figuring out a peace, either via battle or compromise, so they can all fight against what's to come. Whether all these groups will be able to put aside their differences remains to be seen, and at the same time, viewers will probably learn more and more about the Night King's origin story via Bran — therefore slowly learning to not hate him while also greatly wanting the demise of all both him and his legions. In short, it seems incredibly unlikely that there'll be a huge Big Bad in any form in Season 7.
Game of Thrones has done its best to completely abandon character tropes — many of our favorites being brutalized in horrible ways, or evil characters turning into people we like (Jaime and Cersei, The Hound, etc.) — so it stands to reason that the show will also eliminate the idea of one supreme evil dude that fans totally despise. Now that Ramsay is gone, and with him most of what's keeping the Starks back, the show might not need someone who is super scary to keep this series interesting, anyhow.
No matter what happens, I'm so excited to see what the writers and George R.R. Martin come up with. It is bound to be a real treat, and Season 7 cannot come soon enough. For now, I'll just level a "Boy, bye" at Ramsay and continue toasting to his death Cersei-drinking-wine-style.
Images: Helen Sloane/courtesy of HBO, Giphy (4)


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> Chapter 15
Genesis 15
American Standard Version
God's Covenant with Abram
After these things the word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
And Abram said, O Lord Jehovah, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?
And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
And, behold, the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir; But he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
And he believed in Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.
And he said unto him, I am Jehovah that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
God Confirms His Promise
And he said, O Lord Jehovah, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
And he said unto him, Take me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.
And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other: but the birds divided he not.
And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him.
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.
And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.
In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,
and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,
and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.
Section Headings Courtesy INT Bible
© 2012, Used by Permission
God encourages Abram, who asks for an heir.
God promises him a son, and a multiplying of his seed.
Abram is justified by faith.
Canaan is promised again,
and confirmed by a sign, and a vision,
prophetic of the condition of his posterity till brought out of Egypt.
Genesis 1: The Creation
Genesis 2: The Seventh Day: God Rests
Genesis 3: The Serpent's Deception
Genesis 4: Cain and Abel
Genesis 5: The Descendants of Adam
Genesis 6: The Wickedness of Man
Genesis 7: Entering the Ark
Genesis 8: The Ark Rests on Ararat
Genesis 9: The Covenant of the Rainbow
Genesis 10: The Japhethites
Genesis 11: The Tower of Babel
Genesis 12: The Calling of Abram
Genesis 13: Abram and Lot Part Ways
Genesis 14: The War of the Kings
Genesis 15: God's Covenant with Abram
Genesis 16: Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael
Genesis 17: Abram Named Abraham
Genesis 18: Abraham's Celestial Visitors
Genesis 19: Lot Welcomes the Angels
Genesis 20: Abraham, Sarah and Abimelech
Genesis 21: The Birth of Isaac
Genesis 22: The Offering of Isaac
Genesis 23: The Death and Burial of Sarah
Genesis 24: A Wife for Isaac
Genesis 25: Abraham and Keturah
Genesis 26: God's Promise to Isaac
Genesis 27: Jacob's Deception
Genesis 28: Jacob Flees to Laban
Genesis 29: Jacob Meets Rachel
Genesis 30: Dan and Naphtali
Genesis 31: Jacob Flees From Laban
Genesis 32: Jacob's Fear of Esau
Genesis 33: Jacob Meets Esau
Genesis 34: The Defiling of Dinah
Genesis 35: Jacob Returns to Bethel
Genesis 36: Esau's Descendants
Genesis 37: Joseph's Dreams
Genesis 38: Judah and Tamar
Genesis 39: Joseph and Potiphar's Wife
Genesis 40: The Cupbearer and the Baker
Genesis 41: The Dreams of Pharaoh
Genesis 42: Joseph's Brothers Sent to Egypt
Genesis 43: The Return to Egypt with Benjamin
Genesis 44: Benjamin and the Silver Cup
Genesis 45: Joseph Reveals his Identity
Genesis 46: Jacob's Journey to Egypt
Genesis 47: Jacob Settles in Goshen
Genesis 48: Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh
Genesis 49: Jacob Blesses his Sons
Genesis 50: Mourning and Burial for Jacob
Bible Apps.com


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This Spinal package comprises a 45-minute consultation with X-rays if required, plus a 30 and a 10 minute follow-up appointment
Customer Reviews
What You'll Get
The Deal
- £29 for a spinal consultation with X-rays if required and two further appointments (73% off)
Spinal sessions at Total Balance focus on the spinal system, aiming to identify and alleviate the source of any discomfort. During the initial visit, a full consultation and examination will be conducted, as well as x-rays taken if required by the practitioner. On the second visit which is booked directly with the clinic at the end of the first visit, clients will be presented with a detailed verbal report of findings. If the client chooses to take up care, the first follow up session will be given at the same time offering treatment or advice tailored to the individuals needs. This will be followed up by another follow up session at a later date. Patients taking up care should expect to require further follow up sessions to complete their care, so distance from the practice should be considered when purchasing this deal.
The Fine Print
Expires 4 months after purchase. Limit 1 per person, may buy 1 additional as a gift. Mandatory booking required. To book, please call 01502 517070 and inform about purchasing a Groupon voucher. When attending first appointment voucher must be presented or the full new patient appointment price will be expected to pay. Booking required within 7 days of purchase; consultation must take place within 4 months. Follow-up appointments must be booked direct with the partner. 48-hour cancellation policy. For booking enquiries, please email firstname.lastname@example.com. New patients are seen at fixed times to keep the more popular times free for regular treatment sessions. Subject to availability, appointment slots are: Mon 10:15am, 12pm, 4pm; Tue 10:15am, 11am, 12pm, 3pm, 4pm and 6:30pm; Wed 11am, 4pm; Thu 11am, 12pm, 3pm; Fri 10:15am, 11am, 12pm, 3pm, 4pm, 6:30pm; Sat 12pm (these are popular slots and may involve a longer wait for an appointment). New customers only. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. Refund available from Groupon if no further follow ups sessions required. GCC numbers: 01262 and 00940. Valid only for option purchased.
About Total Balance Wellbeing Centre
Led by a wife-and-husband duo, appointments at Total Balance Wellbeing Centre focus on the back, neck and joints, aiming to identify and alleviate the source of any discomfort. Located near Lowestoft train station, the centre also offers referral options.


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Students have the ability to widen and explore their understanding of English as a subject beyond year 6. We work with partner primaries to ensure this is as seamless as possible. Students get the opportunity to study an eclectic mix of different text types from fictional novels to biographies, always taking into account the individual needs of our students. They will develop their analytical and evaluative skills, as well as their writing skills across the English curriculum. For our lower ability classes we have a separate curriculum: the Ruth Miskin Fresh Start programme, to enable students to catch up to their peers as quickly as possible. For the more gifted in the subject area we set independent learning projects, and give the opportunity to study more difficult and demanding texts. The main aim of the English curriculum is to ensure that all students not only develop skills and enjoy learning these, but to get students as ready as possible for the demands of the GCSE curriculum.
Years 7 & 8 we run a reading programme called Accelerated Reader. Students are expected to read a book targeted at their reading level for the first 15 minutes of each English lesson. Students take quizzes on these books, which allows teachers to monitor student progress even more closely. We have found this programme to be very successful not only in improving students ability in English, but it has created a culture and love of reading across the curriculum.
|Praising Stars 1
|Praising Stars 2
|Praising Stars 3
|Praising Stars 4
|Praising Stars 5
|Praising Stars 6
|Autumn Term 1
|Autumn Term 2
|Spring Term 1
|Spring Term 2
|Summer Term 1
|Summer Term 2
|Year 7
|Novel- Why the Whales Came
|Reading Non-Fiction
|Writing Non-Fiction
|Introduction to Shakespeare
|Short Stories
|Year 8
|Novel - Once
|Poetry 1798 - 1900
|Reading/writing Narratives
|Engaging Articles
|Shakespeare - Much Ado About Nothing
From summer 2017, GCSE English Language and English Literature will be assessed entirely by examination. The content and level of challenge has been considerably increased from the demands of previous GCSEs. The qualification is untiered, which means that all students will sit the same papers, regardless of ability.
For this qualification students will study a collection of poems from the anthology as well as a further selection of poetry in preparation for an unseen paper, Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice', 'A Christmas Carol' and 'Blood Brothers'. Revision materials will be shared with students and available electronically. The York Notes and CPG guides are available on Amazon or can be ordered at WHSmiths.
For Component 1 students must demonstrate the ability to read and understand one prose extract and complete one creative writing task. For Component 2, students will respond to a series of questions on two non-fiction texts one from the 19th century and one from the 21st century for and complete two transactional writing tasks writing in a range of styles including letters, articles, speeches and reviews.
English teachers and directors from across the Trust have created a revision website which is closely tailored to the messages students receive in their English lessons. We have a wealth of expertise in delivering the WJEC/Eduqas specifications that all our academies use for English and our website ensures that students can access advice and materials which will help them to achieve the best grades they can at any time. Students will need their academy Google login details to access the website.
The website can be accessed by following this link: Outwood English Revision


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|The Shady Rays Signature Series Black Infrared Polarized work great during sunrise out in the open on a trail run.
Disclaimer: I received a pair of
Shady Rays Signature Series Black Infrared Polarized sunglasses as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to find and write race reviews.
Action oriented, fashionable sunglasses continue to hit the market at much more reasonable costs than ever before it seems like the past couple of years. Shady Rays is one such company offering great specs specs at a decent price point with a strong lifetime warranty. Their glasses are shatter resistant polarized lenses in a variety of styles. They are an independent company and provide 11 meals for Feeding America with every order purchased. Sounds like something many of us could get behind here in the endurance sports community, but how are the actual glasses?
|As with most companies in this market, the Shady Rays come with a microfiber cleansing pouch.
I chose, without looking to be honest, just simply going by the description, to demo the Signature Series Black Infrared Polarized glasses. One of the ironic things about this pair of glasses to me is, that while the lenses look fire orange/red, looking through them, the lenses actually tone down the environment around you with more of a blue tint. This of course reduces the glare and makes it easier to see in the environment around you, being especially useful for surfaces such as snow and water.
I liked the black matte frame, choosing to keep it simple always works well I think, and though it's taken me a while to get use to the lens color from the outside, I think these will be awesome glasses come this winter when I hope to train and compete in a local snowshoe series.
|My Shady Rays in action earlier today in the humidity and mosquito craziness of a local trail run.
Glasses at the Shady Rays website range from $35-75 with the pair I demoed running $45 or you could upgrade to the extreme for another $15 and top out at $60 for a really nice pair of specs. I had a couple of other friends try them out and here's what they thought below:
Well, I thought they looked pretty hip, especially for a night out with the ladies at the local mountain lake. I think they draw attention away from my thin legs and towards my naturally beautiful face.
|Moose, just hanging around and trying on my specs.
Super Giant Lobster, Lobbie, or Super G:
The fire red/orange lenses really blend in well with my sleek red shell, making them almost an extension of my body. The polarized lenses are great for being able to see in the murkiest parts of the ocean floor. But I really wish they had included a strap so I could keep them on my head more easily as I trolled the sea floor looking for the ever elusive hideout of Atlantis.
|Yo! Don't eat me!
In conclusion, the glasses work well, are comfortable, come at a great price, have a lifetime warranty, and help proved food for those in need. Give them a try and enjoy!!!
|Added the Shady Rays sticker to my race shelf!


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On Newtown Anniversary: Has Anything Changed in America?
On Friday, one day before the first anniversary of the Newtown massacre, an 18-year-old entered a Colorado high school just ten miles from Columbine High, shot two people, and killed himself. It was a stark reminder that, one year after the shootings at Sandy Hook, there's still plenty of senseless gun violence in the United States. Has the country, in any sense, dealt with our nation's gun problem in a responsible or effective manner? That depends on how you look at it.
Frequency of Mass Shootings
There's no official definition of a "mass shooting," largely because the word "mass" is vague. One could argue that anytime more than two people are shot in the same incident, it's a mass shooting. But that's very broad: does "mass" really mean "more than two?" The FBI defines a "mass murderer" as someone who kills four or more people, but to peg the definition to the amount of people would miss the many incidents — such as the first mass shooting of the year — wherein multiple people are shot, but not killed.
Reddit users at the Guns Are Cool subforum* have attempted to crowdsource every mass shooting in 2013, and in doing so, they defined a "mass shooting" as any incident wherein four or more people are shot. That sounds about right to us, although of course there's no final word on this. The result of this effort — which is incredibly impressive and the only thing like it on the Internet — shows 349 mass shootings since the Jan. 1, 2013.
That comes out to just a shade under one mass shooting every day, a statistic that really requires no further elaboration.
Federal Response to Gun Violence
Mass shootings in America, then, are roughly as common as the sun rising.
Even by that standard, though, the nature of the Newtown killings seemed to be in a category unto itself, and many — including President Obama — had some hope that the episode would serve as a wake-up call to Congress. Obama responded by signing 23 executive actions on guns, but most of them were rather modest or vague, such as the directive to "nominate an ATF director." Obama also assigned Vice President Biden to head up a task force on gun violence. Most importantly, though, Obama implored Congress to pass some — any — gun control legislation.
California Senator Dianne Feinstein pushed hard for an assault rifles ban (despite the fact that such a ban wouldn't have prevented Newtown), but a policy requiring universal background checks seemed to hold the most promise of both passing Congress and having a tangible effect on gun violence. The hope was that if it was voted on soon enough after Newtown, the political will might just be strong enough to defy the National Rifle Association, and get the legislation passed.
But it wasn't. The amendment neared the 60-vote threshold Senate Republicans had required in order for it to pass, but ultimately failed by five votes. The larger gun control bill to which it was attached also went nowhere, and House Republicans characteristically did nothing at all about the issue.
Congress has passed exactly zero pieces of gun control legislation since Newtown.
How The States Strengthened Gun Control
But the federal government isn't the only entity that can limit gun availability. Many governors and state representatives across the country felt the responsibility to act after Newtown, and in the last year, 109 new gun laws have been signed across the states. In theory, this is at least something gun control advocates can celebrate, but there's a nasty flipside to state action on gun violence.
First, the good news: Over the last year. 21 states passed a total of 41 new gun control laws. Eighteen states plus the District of Columbia made it easier to track gun ownership; two increased restrictions on carrying guns in public, and a total of 13 states enacted some form of background checks legislation. According to a massive nationwide study by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Law Center To Prevent Gun Violence, gun laws were "significantly" strengthened in six states over the last year, and Mother Jones concluded that these new laws will affect roughly 189 million people, or more than half of the country.
These weren't just laws that directly regulated firearms. Many of them sought to improve the delivery of mental health services, which many argue is the real culprit behind many mass shootings. After Newtown, 37 states increased mental health care funding, and 15 passed laws making it harder for people with a history of mental illness to obtain and possess guns. That restriction now applies in 30 states. And on Tuesday, the vice president announced an additional $100 million in federal funding for mental health services.
How The States Weakened Gun Control
A lot of states, most but not all of them Republican-controlled, reacted to the prospect of new federal gun legislation by actually expanding gun access and weakening existing laws at the state level.
Between 70 and 75 states actually passed laws easing gun restrictions in 2013. In Utah, there's now a process by which people designated as mentally ill can ``get their gun licenses back." Since Newtown, nine states have made it easier to carry guns on school grounds, while eight have made it harder for the government to track guns. In total, 29 states eased gun restrictions in some way. Kansas and Alaska passed laws that, as written, direct state authorities to simply ignore federal gun laws, a constitutional question Attorney General Eric Holder has a mixed record in dealing with.
State politics usually gets less attention than national politics, but they also often has more of an affect on people's lives. That's most certainly true with gun laws over the past year, considering the national congress didn't do anything.
Newton's Effect On Policymakers
How the country has responded to Newtown is important, but so is how the country will respond going forward. Ultimately, elected officials are the ones writing the laws, and so the effect that the last year has had on them could provide a clue as to what the future of gun laws may hold.
Frustratingly, it's a mixed bag. On the one hand, several of the Senators who helped kill the background checks amendment became substantially less popular in their states after doing so. In a truly cowardly display, Senator Jeff Flake told a mother whose child was killed at Newtown that he supported background checks, then proceeded to vote against the bill. Shortly thereafter, his approval rating plummeted, and he dethroned Mitch McConnell as the least popular senator in the country. Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, who also voted against the amendment, suffered a 16-point drop in popularity after the vote, and several other senators declined in popularity as well.
This suggests that voting against such broadly popular policy doesn't come without consequences. Maybe, if background checks are ever proposed again, legislators will think twice before opposing them.
On the other hand, look at what happened in Colorado. John Hickenlooper, the state's uber-liberal governor, announced a gun control push after the Aurora shootings last year, and the state pushed through a series of truly sweeping gun reforms this year.
But there was a cost to this victory: Two Democratic state senators, including the Senate president, were subsequently recalled from office after the NRA petitions against them. This shrank the Democratic majority in the state Senate to a single seat.
And that is precisely what the NRA, and other pro-gun groups, had intended to make clear with the recall petitions: That there's a price for supporting gun control. In 2014, will that price outweigh the political, moral, and human cost of continuing to do nothing?