Jerry Speziale

Gerald Speziale is an American law enforcement officer and Public Safety Director of the Paterson Police Department and the Paterson Fire Department in Paterson, New Jersey. A former member of the New York City Police Department, Speziale has also served as the Sheriff of Passaic County, New Jersey, as Deputy Police Superintendent - Assistant Director of Public Safety for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department, and as Chief of Police for the City of Prichard, Alabama. He has worked as an undercover officer in the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and for the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force while in the NYPD.
Jerry Speziale resigned in 2010 and took a position with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Speziale's decision to move from Passaic County to the Port Authority mid-election was the focus of controversy, and prompted allegations that the appointment was political. Sympathizing with Speziale's family situation, because his wife was suffering from a terminal illness, many respected his right to make this move, but local and countywide Democrats were disappointed with the abruptness of his departing.
In 2003, Speziale had been described as a "flamboyant figure" and as having a "flair for publicity." In 1986, just a few years into his time with the New York City Police Department, Speziale was shot in the line of duty, where Speziale and his partner were ambushed and he was shot. Two other cops were shot and Speziale returned fire and killed the suspect. Speziale, later got involved in undercover drug work that took him to Colombia to help fight the powerful cartels.
Those experiences formed the basis of his published ghostwritten book: “Without a Badge: Undercover in the World’s Deadliest Criminal Organization,” describing his experiences working undercover, and has been featured on the reality TV series "Cops". Speziale also played a police captain and served as a "police consultant" for the 2010 film "Brooklyn's Finest."
Early life and education.
Speziale was born in Paterson, New Jersey to Gerardo Speziale, a barber and Barbara Speziale, a paralegal. He grew up in Wayne, New Jersey. Jerry Speziale after the death of his wife Maggie Reinhardt Speziale to Cancer in 2013, Speziale married his current wife Beatrice Connors Speziale on September 23rd, 2017 and together they have a blended family of (5) children.
Law enforcement career.
Speziale joined New York City Police Department (NYPD) in 1983. In 1986, he was shot in the arm during a shootout with an addict who had taken hostages. Speziale later worked as a detective on the narcotics squad, and befriended future NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik. During the 1990s, he became an undercover agent for the DEA, and was a member of the DEA's "Group 93," which was tasked with fighting Colombian Drug Cartels. Having reached the rank of first-grade detective, Speziale retired from the NYPD on a disability pension in 1997, citing injuries. He returned to police work at the Bergen County Sheriff's Department, and served as the Chief of Police for New Hope, Pennsylvania, for five months in 2000, before running for Sheriff of Passaic County in the November, 2001 elections.
Passaic County Sheriff.
In November 2001, Speziale was elected Sheriff of Passaic County, New Jersey. Although he had campaigned for republican candidates in 1999, Speziale ran as a Democrat, and replaced Republican Edwin Englehardt, who had served as sheriff for 27 years. He was re-elected sheriff twice, in 2004 and 2007.
In August 2002, federal officials criticized him for a “shameful media grab at the expense of a federal investigation that was not complete” while conducting a raid of a Paterson office that produced phony documents that were reportedly sold to several 9/11 hijackers. Federal officials were upset that Speziale's detectives did not inform the FBI about the raid and Speziale publicly released the details of the Sheriff's Office investigation, and had invited reporters to accompany police on the raid. Shortly after the raid, New Jersey's Attorney General ordered all local law enforcement authorities to get permission from a special liaison before seeking terrorism-related search warrants. The incident reportedly led to a "deep chill" in relations between the US Attorney's office and Speziale's staff. Until the raid, the Sheriff's department and the FBI had been investigating jointly. Although, Speziale has served since 1994 as an consultant, instructor and subject matter expert on multi jurisdictional law enforcement investigations involving wiretaps to federal law enforcement agencies around the nation.
Speziale also came into conflict with Passaic County freeholders (county legislators) and the state Civil Service Commission over the number of patronage appointments that he was allowed to make as Sheriff. The dispute centered on whether supervisors should count as sheriff's officers when calculating the number of "at-will" investigators the Sheriff could hire. Initially, the state civil service commission and county freeholders accused Speziale of exceeding his budget by making an excessive number of patronage appointments, ordering him to fire eight investigators who had been hired in addition to the 20 "at-will" officers already added to the force. In March 2011, however, the New Jersey Civil Service Commission changed its stance, ruling that supervisors should count as sheriff's officers, and that Speziale had been within his rights to when he hired the eight additional officers. By that time, Speziale had already left the Sheriff's office and the number of staff had been reduced.
On August 10, 2010, Speziale resigned in order to accept a post as Deputy Superintendent of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police. Speziale cited family reasons as his reason for resigning and abandoning his re-election campaign. According to "Bergen Record" columnist Alfred Doblin, Speziale's decision to resign so suddenly, and during a campaign, was "a slap in the face to political allies and donors," and his decision to distribute the $1 million in campaign funds that Speziale had already raised to charity - rather than to other Democratic candidates - added "insult to injury." Republican Assemblyman Scott Rumana told reporters that he had helped to arrange Speziale's new job, in conjunction with the office of New Jersey's republican governor, Chris Christie. In response, the Passaic County freeholder board's democratic majority called for a criminal investigation, asserting that Speziale had been offered the job in order to entice him out of the race for Sheriff. Several years later, the "Bergen Record" reported that "nothing ever came" of the state investigation. Controversy over the appointment resurfaced in June 2015, however, when former Port Authority official David Wildstein - a key figure in the Fort Lee lane closure scandal -
alleged in a sworn statement that Christie had arranged for the Port Authority to hire Speziale in order to take both him and his campaign funds out of the race.
In 2019, a grass roots support group of Jerry Speziale collected 4000 signatures in a few days for him to run for Passaic County Sheriff, in the June 2019, Democratic Primary Election, but Speziale withdrew after speaking with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and State Democratic Chairman John Currie. Both urged him not to run and divide the party. They asked Speziale to be patient and wait his turn. Speziale agreed, stating “The Democratic Party is very important to me and that the party does not need a divisive primary battle."
NY-NJ Port Authority Police Department.
In 2010, Speziale was appointed to the role of Deputy Police Superintendent of the NY - NJ Port Authority Police Department.
In May 2014, Speziale sued the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in federal court, alleging that the Port Authority had retaliated against him after he uncovered wasteful spending by the authority. In the suit, Speziale claimed that the Port Authority had confiscated his work vehicle, denied him security credentials for Port Authority facilities, denied him medical leave benefits, and subjected him to "daily harassment, intimidation, and demeaning conduct" after he reported misspending to his superiors and that Superintendent Michael Fedorko used police emergency lights going through a red light and being issued an automated red light ticket in Newark, NJ, which was allegedly illegally dismissed. Speziale's civil complaint reported similar conduct and in April 2018, the Port Authority Inspector General's Office began investigating claims about special treatment Radio Host Rush Limbaugh said he received from Port Authority Police Superintendent Michael Fedorko on April 12, 2018, by receiving a police escort, lights and siren from Newark Liberty Airport to downtown Manhattan. Port Authority protocols prohibit providing a police escort for a celebrity. On May 7, 2018, Michael Fedorko's police escort of Rush Limbaugh from Newark Airport to Manhattan stirred controversy. Fedorko abruptly announced his retirement, less than a week after news reported investigators were looking into a recent "lights and sirens" escort provided for Rush Limbaugh. The Port Authority's ethics policy states it's a conflict of interest for a Port Authority employee to use his or her position to achieve or appear to achieve personal financial gain or other advantage. The agency's Inspector General had opened an investigation into the escort Fedorko gave the conservative radio show host from Newark Liberty International Airport to Manhattan, where he was a last-minute speaker at a charity dinner.
The case was put on hold in January 2016, because it involves witnesses in the criminal case related to the Fort Lee lane closure scandal and has been reopened in January 2018.
Prichard, Alabama police.
After seeking a position as police chief in Port St. Lucie, Florida, Miami, and Cincinnati, Speziale accepted a post as the police chief of Prichard, Alabama, in October, 2013. According to the "Bergen Record", Speziale continued to exhibit a "flair for publicity" as police chief in Prichard. The reality TV show "Cops", which had had a relationship with Speziale in Passaic County, filmed a segment in Prichard shortly after Speziale's arrival. Local media reported that Speziale was a "force on the streets" in Prichard, and was known for participating in raids and investigations alongside officers.
Speziale resigned as chief of the Prichard police after nine months in the post, citing his desire to return to New Jersey to be with his children after the recent death of his wife. His departure surprised Prichard officials.
Paterson, New Jersey police.
In July 2014, Paterson, New Jersey Mayor Jose Torres appointed Speziale as Paterson's new police director as one of his first acts upon assuming office. The number of reported crimes in Paterson reached a 25-year-low in 2016, according to data reported by the city. Overall reported crime fell by about 12 percent from 2015 to 2016. The drop is the second annual decrease for the city, after 5,060 crimes were reported in 2016. Mayor Joey Torres said he was encouraged by the statistics and said he was confident Police Director Jerry Speziale would continue to reduce crime. Speziale credited the work of city police officers.
In January 2019, Paterson saw a dramatic 50 percent reduction in the number of homicides in 2018, numbers officials are hailing as evidence that the city is becoming a safer place. The city's 12 homicides last year was lower than any other time since 2004, according to the Uniform Crime Statistics report compiled by the New Jersey State Police.
Hazleton, Pennsylvania Police Chief.
In January 2016, Hazleton, Pennsylvania Mayor Jeff Cusat appointed Speziale as Hazleton City's Interim Police Chief.
Months later, the "Hazleton Headlines" reported that Speziale became Hazleton City's full-time police chief sometime between late January and early February of that same year.
Crime in Hazleton decreased significantly in 2016. Year-end numbers show a 26 percent decrease in crime reported by the police department in November held steady through the final weeks of December. Police officers and the community working together, along with technology contributed to the crime decline, which Hazleton Police Chief Jerry Speziale said is at a 10-year low for the department in the major crime categories. Hazleton, Pennsylvania Police credit community, technology with 26 percent drop in crime.
Writing and acting career.
In 2019, Paterson's fire department began being featured on "Live Rescue," a new A&E show that follows police and fire departments and EMT squads as they respond to calls. Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale and Fire Chief Brian Mc Dermott and the Paterson Fire Department are riding live and being filmed and featured on A&E television in the show "Live Rescue."
In 2010, Speziale played the role of Captain Sidney Geraci in the Hollywood film "Brooklyn's Finest", directed by Antoine Fuqua. Speziale also received a credit as the film's "Police Consultant."
In 2003, Jerry Speziale released a book which he co-authored with journalist Mark Seal, titled "Without A Badge: Undercover in the World's Deadliest Criminal Organization", about his experiences working undercover in Colombia.


Clara Blandick

Clara Blandick (born Clara Blanchard Dickey; June 4, 1876 – April 15, 1962) was an American character, film, stage and theater actress. She played Aunt Em in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "The Wizard of Oz" (1939).
As a character actress, she often played eccentric elderly matriarchs.
Early life.
She was born Clara Blanchard Dickey, the daughter of Isaac B. and Hattie (née Mudgett) Dickey, aboard the "Willard Mudgett" – an American ship captained by her father (named after one of her maternal relatives), and docked in Victoria Harbour, British Hong Kong. She was delivered by Captain William H. Blanchard, whose ship, "Wealthy Pendleton", was anchored nearby. His wife, Clara Pendleton Blanchard, was also present. To thank the Blanchards, Captain and Mrs. Dickey named their daughter Clara Blanchard Dickey. When she became successful as an actress, she took the first syllable of "Blanchard" and the first syllable of "Dickey" to create her stage name, "Clara Blandick". While she often used 1880 as her year of birth for professional purposes, she was actually born in 1876. According to the newspaper "Daily Alta California", both the "Willard Mudgett" and the "Wealthy Pendleton" were in Hong Kong Harbor in June 1876. By 1880, Captain Dickey was in command of a different ship (the "William Hales"), and the rest of the family was in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Her parents had settled in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1879 or 1880. Sources vary on when the Dickeys settled there, and Clara may have been two or three years old when they made the move. In nearby Boston she met the Shakespearean actor E. H. Sothern, with whom she appeared in a production of "Richard Lovelace". She moved from Boston to New York City by 1900, and began pursuing acting as a career.
Acting.
Her first professional appearance came in 1901, when she was cast as Jehanneton in the play "If I Were King", which ran for 56 performances at Garden Theatre (an early component of Madison Square Garden). She achieved acclaim for her role in "The Christian".
In 1903 she played Gwendolyn in the Broadway premiere of E. W. Hornung's "Raffles The Amateur Cracksman" opposite Kyrle Bellew. She started in pictures with the Kalem company in 1908 and made a number of appearances such as in "The Maid's Double" in 1911. Blandick finally broke onto Broadway in 1912, when she was cast as Dolores Pennington in "Widow By Proxy" which ran for 88 performances through early 1913 at George M. Cohan's Theatre on Broadway. During this same period she appeared on stages throughout the Northeastern United States as a member of Sylvester Poli's stock theater company, The Poli Players. She continued to achieve acclaim for her stage work, playing a number of starring roles, including the lead in "Madame Butterfly". By 1914, she was back on the silver screen, as Emily Mason in the film "Mrs. Black is Back".
During World War I, Blandick performed some overseas volunteer work for the American Expeditionary Force in France. She also continued to act on stage and occasionally in silent pictures. In 1924, she earned rave reviews for her supporting role in the Pulitzer Prize winning play "Hell-Bent Fer Heaven", which ran for 122 performances at the Klaw Theatre in New York (later renamed CBS Radio Playhouse No. 2).
In 1929, Blandick moved to Hollywood. By the 1930s, she was well known in theatrical and film circles as an established supporting actress. Though she landed roles like Aunt Polly in the 1930 film "Tom Sawyer" (a role she reprised in the 1931 film "Huckleberry Finn"), she spent much of the decade as a character actor, often going uncredited. In Pre-Code films she often played mothers, including those of characters played by Joan Crawford ("Possessed") and Joan Blondell ("Three on a Match"). At a time when many actors were permanently attached to a single studio, she played a wide number of bit parts for almost every major Hollywood studio (though she would later be under contract with 20th Century Fox). In 1930, she acted in nine films. In 1931 she was in thirteen films. As is the case with some other busy character actors, it is difficult to make an exact tally of the films in which Blandick appeared but a reasonable estimate would fall between 150 and 200.
"The Wizard of Oz" and later years.
In 1939, Blandick landed her most memorable minor role – Aunt Em in MGM's classic "The Wizard of Oz". Though it was a small part (Blandick filmed all her scenes in a single week), the character was an important symbol of protagonist Dorothy's quest to return home to her beloved aunt and uncle. (Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are the only characters from the beginning of the movie, in black-and-white Kansas, not to have alter ego characters in the Land of Oz.) Blandick beat May Robson, Janet Beecher, and Sarah Padden for the role, and earned $750 per week. Some believed Aunt Em's alter ego was to be Glinda, the Good Witch of the North but the studio opted to use different actresses for each role. The reason was they wanted someone younger looking to contrast the good witch from the bad witches, although Billie Burke, who played Glinda, was only eight years younger. Blandick is only credited in the movie's closing credits.
After "The Wizard of Oz", Blandick returned to her staple of character acting in supporting and bit roles. She would continue to act in a wide variety of roles in dozens of films. She played the spiteful Mrs. Pringle in 1940s "Anne of Windy Poplars", a department store customer in the 1941 Marx Brothers film "The Big Store", a fashionable socialite in the 1944 musical "Can't Help Singing", and a cold-blooded murderer in the 1947 mystery "Philo Vance Returns". Her final two roles both came in 1950 – playing a housekeeper and a landlady in "Key to the City" and "Love That Brute", respectively. She retired from acting at the age of 69 and went into seclusion at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
Personal life and death.
Blandick was married on December 7, 1905, in Manhattan, to mining engineer Harry Stanton Elliott. Prior to his mining career, he had been an actor, and they had starred together in "The Christian". They separated by 1910, and are believed to have divorced in 1912. They had no children.
Throughout the 1950s, Blandick's health steadily began to deteriorate. Her eyesight began to fail and she was suffering from severe, painful arthritis. On April 15, 1962, she returned home from Palm Sunday services at her church. She began rearranging her room, placing her favorite photos and memorabilia in prominent places. She laid out her resume and a collection of press clippings from her lengthy career. She dressed immaculately in an elegant royal blue dressing gown, and with her hair properly styled, she took an overdose of sleeping pills. She lay down on a couch, covered herself with a gold blanket over her shoulders, and tied a plastic bag over her head. She left the following note: “I am now about to make the great adventure. I cannot endure this agonizing pain any longer. It is all over my body. Neither can I face the impending blindness. I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen.”
Blandick's landlady, Helen Mason, found her body Sunday morning. In preparing to die, she had disposed of all her medicines the previous week. She was survived by a niece, Catherine Hopkins, of Camarillo, California. Her ashes were interred at the Great Mausoleum, Columbarium of Security at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale along with those of her sister, Marcia D. Young, and Marcia's husband, George A. Young.
Blandick's ashes lie just yards from those of Charley Grapewin, her on-screen husband in "The Wizard of Oz".
Stage.
Note: The list below is limited to New York/Broadway theatrical productions


Pierre Laporte

Pierre Laporte (25 February 1921 – 17 October 1970) was a Canadian lawyer, journalist and politician. He was deputy premier of the province of Quebec when he was kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) during the October Crisis. When the FLQ's demands were refused, they killed him. Laporte's body was found in the trunk of Paul Rose's car (Rose having been one of the kidnappers).
Life and career.
Pierre Laporte, grandson of the Liberal politician Alfred Leduc, was born in Montreal, Quebec, on 25 February 1921. He was a journalist with "Le Devoir" newspaper from 1945 to 1961, and was known for his crusading work against Quebec's then-Premier Maurice Duplessis. During his years in journalism, he published a number of series targeting the management of the Duplessis government. In 1954, "Le Devoir" ran a six-part series on problems during the construction of the Bersimis-1 generating station. In 1958, he was part of a team of "Le Devoir" reporters exposing the natural gas scandal, leading to the formation of the Salvas Commission, soon after the election of 1960.
After Duplessis' death, Laporte successfully ran for a seat in Chambly in the Quebec National Assembly and served in the government of Premier Jean Lesage. Laporte was a member of the Quebec Liberal Party, and considered to be a leading member of the party's left wing. After Lesage announced in 1969 that he would step down as party leader, Laporte ran to succeed him, but lost the 1970 Quebec Liberal Party leadership election to fellow cabinet member Robert Bourassa.
After the Quebec general election in 1970, Premier Bourassa advised the Lieutenant Governor to appoint Laporte as Deputy Premier, Parliamentary Leader, Minister of Immigration, and Minister of Labour and Manpower.
Kidnapping.
On 10 October 1970, Laporte was kidnapped from his home on Robitaille Street in Saint-Lambert, Quebec, by the Chénier Cell of the FLQ. The kidnappers – Paul and Jacques Rose, Francis Simard and Bernard Lortie – approached Laporte while he was playing football with his nephew on his front lawn and forced him into their vehicle at gunpoint. They dubbed him the "Minister of Unemployment and Assimilation," and held him hostage, demanding the release of 23 "political prisoners" in exchange for his freedom. British diplomat James Cross was also being held hostage by the FLQ at the time, having been kidnapped on 5 October (Cross survived the experience, and was released on 3 December).
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked Canada's "War Measures Act" which allowed mass raids and arrests to take place in order to find the group who had kidnapped Laporte and Cross. Trudeau said:
On 17 October, seven days after he went missing, Laporte's body was found in the trunk of a 1968 Chevrolet Biscayne at Montreal Saint-Hubert Longueuil Airport. His kidnappers were subsequently captured and sentenced for his murder, and served terms ranging from 20 years to life. Laporte was buried in the Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Montreal, Quebec.
In 2010, journalist Guy Gendron produced a documentary series for Radio-Canada, in which he asserted that the killing of Pierre Laporte was unintentional – "Il a été étouffé dans un moment de panique [He was strangled in a moment of panic]".
Possible mafia connections.
According to an ex-agent of the Surêté du Québec, Claude Lavallée, prior to Laporte's death at the hands of the FLQ, he was suspected of having an association with well-known Montréal underworld figures, Frank Cotroni and Frank Dasti. This is cited as the reason why Laporte was not offered a portfolio in the Bourassa government. Due to his unexpected death and the unusual circumstances surrounding it, there was no further investigation of Pierre Laporte's alleged mafia activities.
Monument to Laporte.
On the 40th anniversary of his death, 17 October 2010, a monument to Laporte was unveiled by then-Premier of Quebec, Jean Charest. It stands at the St. Lawrence Seaway Park, near Laporte's home on Robitaille Street. On the monument is inscribed: "Nul ne vit pour soi-même. Nul ne meurt pour soi-même" ("No one lives for oneself. No one dies for oneself").


United States military veteran suicide

United States military veteran suicide is an ongoing phenomenon regarding the high rate of suicide among U.S. military veterans in comparison to the general civilian public. A focus on preventing veteran suicide began in 1958 with the opening of the first suicide prevention center in the United States. During the mid 1990s, a paradigm shift in addressing veteran suicide occurred with the development of a national strategy which included several Congressional Resolutions. More advancements were made in 2007, when the Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act created a comprehensive program including outreach at each Veterans Affairs Office (VA) and the implementation of a 24-hour crisis hotline. PTSD, depression, and combat-related guilt in veterans are often related to suicide as it can be difficult for veterans to transition to civilian life.
Background Information.
In 2012 alone, an estimated 7,500 former military personnel died by suicide. More active duty service members, 177, succumbed to suicide that year than were killed in combat, 176. The Army suffered 52% of the suicides from all branches.
In 2013, the United States Department of Veteran Affairs released a study that covered suicides from 1999 to 2010, which showed that roughly 22 veterans were dying by suicide per day, or one every 65 minutes. Some sources suggest that this rate may be undercounting suicides. An analysis done in 2013 found a suicide rate among veterans of about 30 per 100,000 population per year, compared with the civilian rate of 14 per 100,000. However, the comparison was not adjusted for age and sex.
According to a report published by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in 2016, which analyzed 55 million veterans' records from 1979 to 2014, the current analysis indicates that an average of 20 veterans die from suicide per day.
The total number of suicides differs by age group; 31% of these suicides were by veterans 49 and younger while 69% were by veterans aged 50 and older. As with suicides in general, suicide of veterans is primarily male, with about 97 percent of the suicides being male in the states that reported gender. In addition to differences among age and gender groups, there has also been found to be significant disparity in suicidal ideation and completion rates among marginalized groups such as LGBT military members. Suicidal ideation was found to be 2-3 times greater in LGBT active-duty and veteran service members, with transgender veterans having been found to commit suicide at double the rates of their cisgender peers.
In 2015, the Clay Hunt Veterans Suicide Prevention Act passed in the Senate and was then enacted as on February 12, 2015. It requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to organize an annual third-party evaluation of the VA's mental health care and suicide prevention programs, to mandate website updates at least once every 90 days about the VA's mental health care services, to offer educational incentives for psychiatrists who commit to serving in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), to collaborate with nonprofit mental health organizations with the goal of preventing veteran suicide, and to extend veterans' eligibility for VA hospital care, medical service care, and nursing home care. However, the limitations of this act are very restricting. Veterans can only access extended eligibility if they have been discharged or released from active duty between the years of 2009 and 2011 and if they have not enrolled in care during the five years following their discharge.
In August 2016, the VA released another report which consisted of the nation's largest analysis of veteran suicide. The report reviewed more than 55 million veterans' records from 1979 to 2014 from every state in the nation. The previous report from 2012 was primarily limited to data on veterans who used VHA health services or from mortality records obtained directly from 20 states and approximately 3 million records. Compared to the data from the 2012 report, which estimated the number of Veteran deaths by suicide to be 22 per day, the current analysis indicates that in 2014, an average of 20 veterans a day died from suicide.
In 2019, the VA released its National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, which stated that the suicide rate for veterans was 1.5 times the rate of non-veteran adults. The report established that there were 6000 or more veteran suicides per year from 2008 to 2017. The report also stated that veterans consist of 13.5% of all deaths by suicide in US adults but only make up 7.9% of the US adult population.
In May 2019, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, called the PREVENTS Initiative, to counter veteran suicide. The initiative aims to equip state and local governments with the resources necessary to identify and intervene in scenarios where United States Veterans may be at risk to suicide. In the past, the Veteran's Administration and other federal agencies relied upon the veteran to self-identify when needing help. $73.1 billion was secured for veteran health services. Included in the $73.1 billion funding is $18.6 billion towards mental health services.
In November 2019, the House of Representatives discussed a potential program that would provide grants to local organizations that support veterans who are possibly overlooked by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The motivation behind targeting this demographic of overlooked veterans is that statistically, 14 out of the 20 estimated veterans and current service members who die from suicide every day are not in regular communication with the department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This proposal, pushed by the VA, was for a test program that was to last three years. However, this idea languished in Congress despite some bipartisan support
Social Policy: History of Veteran Suicide Prevention.
The first suicide prevention center in the United States was opened in Los Angeles in 1958 with funding from the U.S. Public Health Service. In 1966, the Center for Studies of Suicide Prevention (later the Suicide Research Unit) was established at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Later on, in 1970, the NIMH pushed in Phoenix the discussion about the status of suicide prevention, presented relevant findings about suicide rate and identified the future directions and priorities of the topic.
However, it wasn't until mid-1990s when suicide started being the central issue of the political-social agenda of the United States. Survivors from suicide began to mobilize encouraging the development of a national strategy for suicide prevention. Two Congressional Resolutions—S. Res. 84 and H. Res. 212 of the 105th Congress—recognized suicide as a national problem and suicide prevention as a national priority.
As recommended in the U.N. guidelines, these groups set out to establish a public and private partnership that would be responsible for promoting suicide prevention in the United States. This partnership jointly sponsored a national consensus conference on suicide prevention in Reno, Nevada, which developed a list of 81 recommendations
Federal policy initiatives.
One of the first pieces of legislation to directly address Veterans' Suicide Prevention was the Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act (JOVSPA) of 2007, supporting the creation of a comprehensive program to reduce the incidence of suicide among veterans. Named for a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom who died by suicide in 2005, the act directed the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to implement a comprehensive suicide prevention program for veterans. Components include staff education, mental health assessments as part of overall health assessments, a suicide prevention coordinator at each VA medical facility, research efforts, 24-hour mental health care, a toll-free crisis line, and outreach to and education for veterans and their families. In the summer of 2009, VA added a one-to-one “chat service” for veterans who prefer to reach out for assistance using the Internet.In 2010, the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention was created and, in 2012, the National Strategy was revised. With Obama’s administration suicide prevention strategies for veterans expanded and a goal was formed to make the process of finding and obtaining mental health resources easier for veterans, work to retain and recruit mental health professionals, and make the government programs more accountable for the people they serve.
On August 31, 2012 President Barack Obama signed Executive Order (EO) 13625 titled "Improving Access to Mental Health Services for Veterans, Service Members, and Military Families". The EO calls on the cooperation of the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and local communities to improve their mental health care services for military service members, especially during their transition into civilian life. The EO is written specifically to expand veteran suicide prevention and drug abuse efforts. Not only does it demand the Veteran Crisis Line's capacity be expanded by 50% by December 31, 2012, it also demands the VHA to connect any veteran in mental health crisis to a mental health professional or trained mental health worker within 24 hours of contacting the Veteran Crisis Line. In conjunction, this EO calls on the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense to work together to launch a year-long veteran suicide prevention campaign starting September 1, 2012 to encourage veterans to proactively reach out for mental health services.
Suicide prevention hotline.
The primary mission of the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) is to provide confidential suicide prevention and crisis intervention services to veterans, active-duty service members, national guard/reserve members, and their families. The VCL is available 24/7 and can be reached via phone call, text message, or anonymous online chat. At its three call centers, the VCL maintains a qualified staff of responders who are ready to help veterans deal with their personal crises. Responders must make an accurate assessment of the needs of each caller under stressful, time-sensitive conditions.
"Since its launch in 2007, the Veterans Crisis Line has answered nearly 4.4 million calls and initiated the dispatch of emergency services to callers in crisis more than 138,000 times. The Veterans Crisis Line anonymous online chat service, added in 2009, has engaged in more than 511,000 chats. In November 2011, the Veterans Crisis Line introduced a text-messaging service to provide another way for Veterans to connect with confidential, round-the-clock support and since then has responded to more than 150,000 texts."
Federal Budget.
The VA federal budget has continued to maintain an upward trend for the last twenty years. Within the last decade alone, between 2010 and 2020, the VA budget has increased by 73.1% from $127.1 billion to $220.2 billion in total funding. One major health care provision within these budgets has been increased funding for mental health services and suicide prevention. In 2012, the proposed budget allocated $6.2 billion for mental health and $68 million for suicide prevention. In the approved 2020 VA budget, mental health services received $9.4 billion in funding while $222 million was devoted to suicide prevention.This yearly increase in funding is expected to continue, the 2021 budget proposal is requesting $243 billion in total funding with a $10.3 billion allocation to mental health services. Increases in funding have also been accompanied by expanded services within recent federal budgets. The 2018 federal budget expanded mental health screenings for veterans. This expansion includes required mental health screenings for all veterans with other-than-honorable-discharges prior to separation, and guaranteed mental health support for veterans who have experienced trauma while serving.
Causes.
A study published in the "Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine" found that,
The same study also found that in veterans with PTSD related to combat experience, combat-related guilt may be a significant predictor of suicidal ideation and attempts.
Craig Bryan of the University of Utah National Center for Veterans Studies said that veterans have the same risk factors for suicide as the general population, including feelings of depression, hopelessness, post-traumatic stress disorder, a history of trauma, and access to firearms.
Longer deployments increase the risk of divorce. When a soldier is divorced, it is nearly always soon after the end of their deployment.
A study done by the "Department of Veterans Affairs" discovered that veterans are more likely to develop symptoms of PTSD for a number of reasons such as:
The Department of Veterans Affairs also discovered that where a soldier was deployed and which branch of military they were with could also have drastic effects on their mental status after returning from service. As in most combat wars, their experiences would vary depending on where they were stationed.
The findings do not support an association between deployment and suicide mortality among all 3.9 million US military personnel who served during Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom, including suicides that occurred after separation.
Protective Factors.
Veterans can have difficulty transitioning from the military to civilian life. Many use their G.I. Bill or other education benefits; this can facilitate the transition to civilian life. Veterans pursuing education, especially those utilizing the post 9/11 GI Bill, are more likely to have protective factors related to socialization and reintegration.
However, the pursuit of education can also aggravate post-service conditions linked to a higher likelihood of suicide. These conditions include:
Despite these challenges, veterans often benefit from transitioning from the military into higher education. Academic life often requires student veterans to work and interact with other classmates. Many academic institutions have student veteran organizations and resources centers specifically to aid military veterans. Military education benefits often utilized by veterans include the Post 9/11 GI Bill, Montgomery GI Bill and Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment. These benefits cover tuition expenses up to a capped amount per academic year depending on benefit utilized. In addition, a stipend for books, supplies and housing is also provided within these benefits. Education benefits often give veteran students an income, a goal to continue to work towards and socialization with the general population.
Suicide rates for veterans are on a slight downward trend. Veterans generally have access to mental healthcare, and some branches take more proactive measures to reduce stigma and promote mental well-being, but the approach is inconsistent. It can be a challenge to obtain mental healthcare prior to discharge and to find individualized treatment. Mental health facilities, primary care providers and the Veterans Association do not always coordinate. Nationwide, there is a trend toward a broader spectrum treatment approach. The sustainability of long-term treatment plans may depend on communicating options about available treatment types, enabling veterans to access treatment, convincing them that it is socially acceptable to ask for help, eliminating stigma, and giving them a purpose to succeed.
Many non-profit organizations exist to promote awareness in local communities, such as Wingman Project and 22Kill. In 2013, 22Kill was started as a social media campaign to raise awareness about the staggering Veteran suicide statistics. By 2015, 22Kill had established itself as a 501c non-profit organization and soon after launched the viral #22Pushup Challenge. This movement helped them raise over half a million dollars and brought widespread attention to the Veteran suicide epidemic. During this time, 22Kill transitioned from awareness campaigns to suicide prevention offering a multitude of programs. These include clinical programs, non-traditional therapies along with family and community programs.


Human Rights Now!

Human Rights Now! was a worldwide tour of twenty benefit concerts on behalf of Amnesty International that took place over six weeks in 1988. Held not to raise funds but to increase awareness of both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on its 40th anniversary and the work of Amnesty International, the shows featured Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, and Youssou N'Dour, plus guest artists from each of the countries where concerts were held.
Human rights activists and former prisoners from around the world, led by Sonny Venkatrathnam from South Africa, participated in the tour. At each location, the artists and Amnesty leaders held a press conference to discuss human rights, and concert-goers were provided with copies of the Universal Declaration in their language and opportunities to sign the Declaration themselves and join the worldwide human rights movement. The tour featured big concerts at big stadiums such as Camp Nou (90,000 people), Népstadion (80,000), JFK Stadium (78,000), River Plate Stadium (75,000), and Harare (75,000). Only Paris and Toronto got arena shows. The Paris concert was originally going to be Held at a big racing Track that could accommodate 72,000 people, but the promoters changed their minds and it was moved indoors.
The tour was made possible in part by a grant from the Reebok Foundation. The twenty concerts were the second stage of what subsequently became known collectively as the Human Rights Concerts - a series of music events and tours staged by the US Section of Amnesty International between 1986-1998.
Background.
The tour was originally conceived by the Executive Director of Amnesty International's U.S. section, Jack Healey after a suggestion from former Executive Director David Hawk, with some limited input from producer Martin Lewis, who had first recruited rock musicians to perform for Amnesty years before for the "Secret Policeman's Ball" series of benefits. Healey developed the concept with famed rock promoter Bill Graham, who had worked with Healey on Amnesty's shorter, United States-only tour in 1986, titled A Conspiracy of Hope, and who acted as tour director. Healey served as executive producer, leading the team of three producers: Mary Daly, Jessica Neuwirth, and James Radner, father of George Radner. The media strategies for the tour, based on concepts originated by Healey and Lewis, were developed by Healey and Daly and executed by tour media director Magdeleno Rose-Avela and Charles Fulwood, Communications Director for Amnesty International USA.


Frederick Ayer Jr.

Frederick Ayer Jr. (December 28, 1915 – January 4, 1974) was an American government official, attorney, and author who worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Mission in Greece, and the United States Air Force.
Early life.
Ayer was born on December 28, 1915 in to Frederick Ayer Sr. and Hilda Proctor Rice Ayer. He was born in Topsfield, Massachusetts but grew up in Wenham, Massachusetts. His uncle was General George S. Patton and his grandfather was Frederick Ayer.
Ayer graduated from The Hill School in 1933, Harvard College in 1937, and Harvard Law School in 1941. While an undergraduate, Ayer was a member of Harvard's varsity polo and track and junior varsity football and rifle teams. On November 16, 1941 he married Anne Proctor Moody of San Francisco in Hamilton, Massachusetts. They would have two sons and one daughter.
Government service.
From 1941 to 1946, Ayer was an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was sworn in on August 25, 1941, placed in an accelerated training program, and assigned to the Washington D.C. field office. One of his first targets was Inga Arvad, whom FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover believed could be a German spy. On his first ever technical surveillance operation, Ayer discovered that Arvad was romantically involved with one of his Harvard classmates, John F. Kennedy, then an ensign in the US Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence. The discovery of Kennedy's involvement with a married woman led to him being transferred to Charleston, South Carolina, where he would have little access to classified materials and increased surveillance on Arvad. Ayer was later assigned to the Boston and Cincinnati field offices and during World War II was loaned to the United States Army for a special assignment in Europe. He was eventually appointed chief of the FBI Liaison Units in the European Theater of Operations.
From 1947 to 1948, Ayer worked at the American Mission in Greece as deputy legal advisor. He later as the chief of the mission's Intelligence and Security Division, where he was tasked with stopping Communist activities in relation to the American aid program. In 1948, United States Secretary of State George C. Marshall assigned Ayer to assist Maj. Gen. William J. Donovan in the investigation of CBS reporter George Polk's murder. According to the "New York Times" Ayer was "credited with laying the groundwork for the inquiry that led to the solution of the case".
In April 1950, Ayer was named assistant counsel to the Tydings Committee, a United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations subcommittee investigating alleged communism in the State Department on the recommendation of Senators Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and Bourke B. Hickenlooper. His appointment was held up by Chairman Millard E. Tydings, after Tydings, who did not believe candidates for office should serve as members of the committee's staff, found out Ayer was running for Attorney General of Massachusetts. Tydings soon withdrew his objection, but Ayer declined the post, stating that he did feel he the "full confidence of the committee" due to the chairman's objections.
Fundraising.
In 1948, Ayer accepted an unpaid position as vice-chairman of the Boston Children's Hospital's Children's Medical Center Fund. The following year he was named chairman of the Fund. At the age of 33 he was believed to be the youngest chairman of a major charitable campaign in Massachusetts history. In 1951 he served as general chairman of the YMCA's World Service Campaign.
Political career.
Ayer was encouraged to enter politics by his uncle, George S. Patton, who told him that too many qualified people avoided politics because they thought it was a "dirty business". He was active in Leverett Saltonstall's 1936 campaign for Governor of Massachusetts and took two months off from law school to assist Wendell Willkie's presidential campaign. In 1948, Ayer served as vice chairman and later as acting chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party's Finance Committee.
On March 15, 1950, Ayer announced his candidacy for Attorney General of Massachusetts. He ran on a platform of fighting crime and combating "Communist infiltration and agitation". He supported the creation of a state school for police officers similar to the FBI National Academy in Washington D.C., stricter enforcement of fire codes, higher pay for police officers, higher standards for doctors, and an anti-pollution program. Ayer defeated 4 other candidates, including future Attorney General George Fingold, to win the Republican primary. During the campaign, Ayer criticized Democratic incumbent Francis E. Kelly for his handling of the Brinks robbery while Kelly described Ayer as a "10 month lawyer who has never tried a law case". Ayer lost to Kelly 52% to 47%, but received more votes than any other Republican candidate, including gubernatorial nominee Arthur W. Coolidge. In 1952, Ayer again ran for Attorney General, but lost the Republican nomination to George Fingold. Following his defeat, Ayer served as vice president of the Massachusetts Citizens for Eisenhower committee.
Later life.
In 1953 Ayer was named special assistant to United States Secretary of the Air Force Harold E. Talbott. On April 22, 1955, Ayer suffered a heart attack in Washington D.C. He eventually recovered and returned to work. After leaving government service in 1960, Ayer practiced law in Washington D.C. with the firm of Ford, Ayer, Horan, and Lester. He also dedicated much of his time to writing. His books included "Before the Color Fades: Portrait of a Soldier" about his uncle George S. Patton, "The Man in the Mirror: A Novel of Espionage", "Yankee G-Men", and "Walter, the Improbable Hound." He also wrote articles for Massachusetts newspapers, including "The Boston Globe" on a number of subjects, chiefly European affairs. Ayer died of a heart attack on January 4, 1974 while on vacation in Tucker's Town, Bermuda.


Muhammad Zarqtuni

Muhammad Zarqtuni (, ) (1927-June 18, 1954) was a Moroccan nationalist born in Casablanca, Morocco. He was active in the Moroccan Nationalist Movement and is considered a symbol of Moroccan resistance to French colonialism.
Early life.
Muhammad Zarqtuni was born in the Medina of Casablanca in 1927. His mother was Khudooj Bint Reis of Fes father was the "muqqadim" of the Hamdushiya Zawiya, where Muhammad Zarqtuni learned to read and write. He soon enrolled at the Abdellaoui School, a school for learning hadith within the network of schools independent of the French system, administered by Moroccan nationalists in the early 1940s.
Between the ages of 15 and 16, he decided that he wanted financial independence, so he left school in order to work. However, he did not abandon his studies; he read Western media in French—particularly those with a political dimension—and Eastern media written in Arabic. Through these readings, he opened up to what was happening around him in Morocco, in the Maghreb, in the Arab world, and in the world, and he developed an awareness of his environment. This development happened within a particular political and historical context, namely that of the post-World War II period and the wave of decolonization movements in Africa that followed, and there's no doubt that these events had a profound impact on him.
From sports to resistance.
Passionate about soccer, Zarqtuni played for the Mawludiat Bou Tawiil Club () in 1948 and recruited the youth of the medina. He was made the manager of a championship tournament for clubs representing different neighborhoods in Casablanca. Certain athletic organizations, such as the Free Soccer League, which organized the neighborhood championship, had nationalist leanings. From this league, many notable nationalists, such as Abdeslam Bennani (), Abderrahman el-Youssoufi, Abderrahman Belmejdoub (), and others rose up.
Zarqtuni became a scout and, through this, he became affiliated with the Istiqlal Party. He worked on the party's logistics commission and commission for organizing events held by the party in Casablanca.
Resistance activities.
Having discovered the limits of civil, political resistance against General Alphonse Juin and his administration, he founded, with his friends including Abbas Messaâdi, the first clandestine cells of the armed Moroccan urban resistance. Expanding these cells across the entire city, he quickly formed relations with other urban networks. He organized training sessions in weapon handling and became one of the leaders of the Secret Resistance Organization, along with Abderrahmane Senhaji.
Arms smuggling.
Several operations were carried out. Zarqtuni organized missions to smuggle arms to Marrakesh.
Central Market Operation.
In response to the French government's colonial abuses generally, and its ousting of Sultan Muhammad V and forcing him into exile on August 20, 1953 (Eid al-Adha) specifically, Muhammad Zarqtuni attacked Casablanca's Central Market () on December 24, 1953 (Christmas Eve). Targeting French interests, he planted a bomb in the market at 10:00 am, and the explosion caused the death of 19 people.
He escaped the shots fired at him after the operation, but was captured by the forces of the French Protectorate shortly thereafter. On June 18, 1954, while imprisoned, he committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide tablet. Possessing critical and sensitive information, Zarqtuni did not want to risk giving up any secrets under torture that might betray his country. He is widely regarded as a national hero in Morocco, and as an icon of the resistance movement. One of Casablanca's main thoroughfares, "Boulevard Zerqtouni" , is named after him.
Family.
Muhammad Zarqtuni married Saadia Alami, also a nationalist and resistance fighter. She was born in Fes in 1936.


USS Nicholson (TB-29)

USS "Nicholson" (TB-29) was a in the United States Navy.
Built in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
The first ship to be so named by the Navy, "Nicholson" (TB–29) was laid down 6 December 1898 by Lewis Nixon's Crescent Shipyard, Elizabethport, New Jersey; launched 23 September 1901; sponsored by Mrs. Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont; and commissioned at New York City 10 January 1905, Lt. W. S. Miller in command.
Service with the U.S. Navy.
"Nicholson" served with the Atlantic Fleet until struck from the Navy List 3 March 1909.
Inactivation.
"Nicholson" was disposed of by being used as a target.


BJ Kang

BJ Kang is an American Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent known for high-profile investigations of securities fraud. After leading the perp walk of Bernie Madoff in 2008 and Raj Rajaratnam in 2009, Reuters described him as possibly "the most feared man on Wall Street."
Career.
Kang was an accountant before becoming an FBI agent. He started as an investigator in many types of cases before focusing on insider trading in 2006.
Kang was the lead investigator in the insider trading case against Raj Rajaratnam. In a "Newsweek" interview Rajaratnam says that when he was arrested Kang taunted him by telling him: “Take a good look at your son. You’re not going to see him for a long time. Your wife doesn’t seem so upset. Because she’s going to spend all your money.”
He led the investigation into insider trading at S.A.C. Capital Advisors in 2011, concentrating efforts on arresting Mathew Martoma and attempting to get him to flip on S.A.C. Capital head Steve Cohen. By 2012 he would move on from New York to the Washington office, sparking fears that his departure along with another two key investigation and prosecution team members would cause the insider trading cases pursued by the FBI to falter.


Max von Bahrfeldt

Max Ferdinand Bahrfeldt (), ennobled as von Bahrfeldt in 1913 (February 6, 1856, Willmine, District of Templin, Uckermark – April 11, 1936, Halle an der Saale) was a royal Prussian General of the Infantry, a local historian, and a numismatist of world renown. In the anglophone and francophone world, however, he was also notorious as the alleged perpetrator of atrocities in Charleroi, Belgium, during the German invasion of 1914.
Early life.
Bahrfeldt was born into a family from Prenzlau in the Uckermark. Joining the Corps of Cadets in 1869 he was made a Lieutenant in the 75th Infantry Regiment "Bremen" in 1873, stationed at Stade. Bahrfeldt had been interested in numismatics from his youth. He specialized in the coinage of the Roman Republic and the coins of Lower Saxony. Bahrfeldt commenced his numismatic researches while he was in the Army and he published his first numismatic essay in 1874. One year later he became co-editor of the "Numismatisch-Sphragistischer Anzeiger. Zeitung für Münz-, Siegel-, und Wappenkunde" (published in Hannover). 3 years later he was assigned to the post of Regimental Adjutant. During this period he served as secretary for the local historical society and curated its coin collection. He also carried out excavations at the Perleberg site of the beaker people.
On October 14, 1878, Bahrfeldt married in Gotha Elisabeth (Ella) Mary Charlotte Samwer (October 8, 1859, Gotha - October 19, 1954, Frankfurt/Main), the daughter of the jurist, professor of constitutional law and author Karl Friedrich Samwer (1819–1882), who was also a numismatist. In 1883 Bahrfeldt published in Vienna from Samwer's papers the "History of the Older Roman Coinage from about 200 B.C." He followed this up with further publications about the coinage issued in the region between the Elbe and the Weser. In 1879 Bahrfeldt published, based on the previous work of Wilhelm Heinrich Jobelmann and Wilhelm Wittpenning, a revised "History of the City of Stade". From 1882 to 1885 he studied at the Prussian Staff College. In 1911, Bahrfeldt was granted an honorary doctorate by the philosophical faculty of the University of Giessen and from 1921 onwards was honorary professor for numismatics at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. He was awarded the medal of the Royal Numismatic Society in 1912.
Late military career.
Bahrfeldt was promoted to Oberst in 1904, and to Generalmajor in 1908. He commanded the 37th Infantry Division from 1911 till 1913. Being promoted to Generalleutnant on June 16, 1913, Bahrfeldt was ennobled as a member of the Prussian hereditary nobility (as part of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II) and was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle 2nd class with oakleaves and the Order of the Crown 2nd class.
In August 1914, at the start of First World War, Bahrfeldt was given command of the 19th Reserve Division, part of the X. Reserve Corps and the 2nd Army. He captured Charleroi on August 22, 1914 and, accused by the Allies of atrocities at Charleroi, in 1925 he was condemned to death "in absentia" by a Belgian court. His division participated in the Battle of St. Quentin and the following Battle of the Marne. He fought in the First Battle of Champagne and in June 1915 he was given command of the 10th Reserve Division and promoted to General der Infanterie. He led his division into the Battle of Verdun and was phased out of the Army in April 1916.
Later life.
Bahrfeldt joined the Deutsche Vaterlandspartei upon its formation in 1917. In the Weimar Republic, he was a member of the conservative Deutschnationale Volkspartei and "Der Stahlhelm". After the dissolution of the Stahlhelm during the Third Reich, Bahrfeldt transferred to the reserve of the SA. Max von Bahrfeldt died on April 11, 1936 in Halle.
Bahrfeldt is acknowledged as one of the greatest, possibly the greatest, student of coinage of the Roman Republic.


Luther Sloan


Isabella Goodwin

Isabella Goodwin (née Loghry) was an American police officer and the first female detective in New York City.
Biography.
Isabella Loghry was born in Greenwich Village, Manhattan in 1865 to James Harvey Loghry and Anna J. Monteith, who ran a restaurant and hotel on Canal St. Around 1885, being 19, she married John W. Goodwin, a police officer. The couple had six children, of which four survived. Goodwin became a widow in 1896 when she was 30 years old.
The New York City police department had only started hiring women (“police matrons") to look after female and child prisoners in 1881. When Goodwin applied for a job after her husband died, she had to pass an exam then was hired as a jail matron by then police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, who later became the president of the United States. It was a low paid position, making only $1000/year, and she only had one day off each month. She served in this position for 15 years. During this time, she began going undercover to investigate crimes, and her mother watched her children.
In 1912, there was a case involving a midday robbery where "taxi bandits" beat up two clerks and stole $25,000 in downtown Manhattan. Even with 60 detectives assigned to the case, no one could solve the robbery. The story was followed nationally, according to a "New York Times" article at the time. After going undercover, Goodwin cracked the case. As a result, she was appointed as New York's first female detective and given the rank of 1st grade lieutenant. Her salary was raised from $1000 to $2,250/year. During her career, she specialized in exposing fortune tellers and swindlers.
In 1921, she married a man who was thirty years younger than her. She continued working after her marriage, which was not common at the time for a woman. When she retired, she had worked for the NYC police department for thirty years.


Saleh al-Ali

Saleh al-Ali or Shaykh Saleh Ahmad al-Ali () (1884 in Al-Shaykh Badr – 13 April 1950 in Tartus) was a Syrian Alawi leader who commanded the Syrian Revolt of 1919, one of the first rebellions against the French mandate of Syria before the Great Syrian Revolt.
Background.
Saleh al-Ali was born in 1883 to a family of Alawi notables from Al-Shaykh Badr, in the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range in northwest. He reportedly clashed with the Ottomans in 1918 before their withdrawal from Syria, killing two Ottoman soldiers who were harassing a wife of his father. This act gained him a local reputation as a rebel. After his father's death, he built a shrine for him and reportedly performed miracles at the site, according to local legend.
Rebellion against the French.
Start of the rebellion.
In 1918 the French occupied the Syrian coast and began to move into the interior. On December 15, 1918, Saleh al-Ali called for a meeting of prominent Alawi notables in the town of Sheikh Badr. Al-Ali alerted the attendees that the French had occupied the Syrian coast with the intention of separating the region from the rest of the country, and urged them to revolt and expel the French from Syria. When the French authorities heard of the meeting, they sent a force from Al-Qadmus to the town of Sheikh Badr in order to arrest Saleh al-Ali. Al-Ali and his men ambushed the force at the village of Niha, west of Wadi al-Oyoun. The French forces were defeated and suffered more than 35 casualties.
Organizing the rebellion.
After the initial victory, al-Ali started to organize his rebels into a disciplined force, with its own general command and military ranks. The army was supported by the local population, and some women supplied water and food and replaced the men at work in the fields. Al-Ali also allied himself with the rebellion of Ibrahim Hananu in Aleppo, the uprising in Talkalakh by the Dandashi tribe and the revolt in Antioch by Subhi Barakat. He also received funds and arms from Kemal Atatürk of Turkey which was also at war with France at the time.
In July 1919, in retaliation to French attacks against rebel positions, al-Ali attacked and occupied several Ismaili villages that were allied to the French. A truce was concluded between the two, but the French violated it by occupying and burning the village of Kaf al-Jaz. Al-Ali retaliated by attacking and occupying al-Qadmus from which the French conducted their military operations against him.
Final stages.
The balance of power began to shift in favor of the French after they conquered Damascus, defeating a makeshift army at the Battle of Maysalun on 24 July 1920. In November, General Henri Gouraud mounted a full-fledged campaign against Saleh al-Ali's forces in the An-Nusayriyah Mountains. They entered al-Ali's village of Ash-Shaykh Badr and arrested many Alawi notables. Al-Ali fled to the north, but a large French force overran his positions and al-Ali went into hiding. A French court-martial convened in Latakia and sentenced him to death "in absentia".
Later years.
Al-Ali remained in hiding until General Gouraud issued a general amnesty in 1922. He returned to his home and abstained from all political activity until his death on 13 April 1950 in Tartus.
Legacy.
Saleh Al-Ali became a celebrated figure after the Syria's independence. Al-Ali, in his first public appearance since 1922, was a guest of honor of president Shukri al-Quwatli at the Evacuation Day celebrations on 17 April 1946.


The Sinking of the Lusitania

The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918) is an American silent animated short film by cartoonist Winsor McCay. It is a work of propaganda re-creating the never-photographed 1915 sinking of the British liner RMS "Lusitania". At twelve minutes it has been called the longest work of animation at the time of its release. The film is the earliest surviving animated documentary and serious, dramatic work of animation. The National Film Registry selected it for preservation in 2017.
In 1915, a German submarine torpedoed and sank the RMS "Lusitania"; 128 Americans were among the 1,198 dead. The event outraged McCay, but the newspapers of his employer William Randolph Hearst downplayed the event, as Hearst was opposed to the U.S. joining World War I. McCay was required to illustrate anti-war and anti-British editorial cartoons for Hearst's papers. In 1916, McCay rebelled against his employer's stance and began work on the patriotic "Sinking of the Lusitania" on his own time with his own money.
The film followed McCay's earlier successes in animation: "Little Nemo" (1911), "How a Mosquito Operates" (1912), and "Gertie the Dinosaur" (1914). McCay drew these earlier films on rice paper, onto which backgrounds had to be laboriously traced; "The Sinking of the Lusitania" was the first film McCay made using the new, more efficient cel technology. McCay and his assistants spent twenty-two months making the film. His subsequent animation output suffered setbacks, as the film was not as commercially successful as his earlier efforts, and Hearst put increased pressure on McCay to devote his time to editorial drawings.
Synopsis.
The film opens with a live-action prologue in which McCay busies himself studying a picture of the "Lusitania" as a model for his film-in-progress. Intertitles boast of McCay as "the originator and inventor of Animated Cartoons", and of the 25,000 drawings needed to complete the film. McCay is shown working with a group of anonymous assistants on "the first record of the sinking of the "Lusitania"".
The liner passes the Statue of Liberty and leaves New York Harbor. After some time, a German submarine cuts through the waters and fires a torpedo at the "Lusitania", which billows smoke that builds until it envelops the screen. Passengers scramble to lower lifeboats, some of which capsize in the confusion. The liner tilts from one side to the other and passengers are tossed into the ocean.
A second blast rocks the "Lusitania", which sinks slowly into the deep as more passengers fall off its edges, and the ship submerges amid scenes of drowning bodies. The liner vanishes from sight, and the film closes with a mother struggling to keep her baby above the waves. An intertitle declares: "The man who fired the shot was decorated for it by the Kaiser! "And yet they tell us not to hate the Hun"".
Background.
Winsor McCay (–1934) produced prodigiously detailed and accurate drawings since early in life. He earned a living as a young man drawing portraits and posters in dime museums, and attracted large crowds with his ability to draw quickly in public. He began working as a newspaper illustrator full-time in 1898, and in 1903 began drawing comic strips. His greatest comic strip success was the children's fantasy comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland", which he began in 1905. In 1906, McCay began performing on the vaudeville circuit, doing chalk talks—performances during which he drew in front of a live audience.
Inspired by the flip books his son brought home, McCay said he "came to see the possibility of making moving pictures" of his cartoons. His first animated film, "Little Nemo" (1911), was composed of four thousand drawings on rice paper. His next film, "How a Mosquito Operates" (1912), naturalistically shows a giant mosquito draw blood from a sleeping man until it burst. McCay followed this with a film that became an interactive part of his vaudeville shows: in "Gertie the Dinosaur" (1914), McCay commanded his animated dinosaur with a whip on stage.
The British liner RMS "Lusitania" briefly held the record for largest passenger ship upon its completion in 1906. McCay displayed a fondness for it, and featured it in the episode for September 28, 1907, of his comic strip "Dream of the Rarebit Fiend", and again in the episode for November 10, 1908, of "A Pilgrim's Progress by Mister Bunion", where Bunion declares it "the monster boat that has smashed the record".
The Germans employed submarines in the North Atlantic during World War I, and in April 1915 the German government issued a warning that it would target British civilian ships. The "Lusitania" was torpedoed on May 7, 1915, during a voyage from New York; 128 Americans were among the 1,198 who lost their lives. Newspapers owned by McCay's employer William Randolph Hearst downplayed the tragedy, as Hearst was opposed to the U.S. entering the war. His own papers' readers were increasingly pro-war in the aftermath of the "Lusitania". McCay was as well, but was required to illustrate anti-war and anti-British editorials by editor Arthur Brisbane. In 1916, McCay rebelled against his employer's stance and began to make the pro-war "Sinking of the Lusitania" in his own time.
The sinking itself was never photographed. McCay said that he gathered background details on the "Lusitania" from Hearst's Berlin correspondent August F. Beach, who was in London at the time of the disaster and was the first reporter at the scene. The film was the first attempt at a serious, dramatic work of animation.
Production history.
"The Sinking of the Lusitania" took twenty-two months to complete. McCay had assistance from his neighbor, artist John Fitzsimmons, and from Cincinnati cartoonist William Apthorp "Ap" Adams, who took care of layering the cels in proper sequence for shooting. Fitzsimmons was responsible for a sequence of waves, sixteen frames to be cycled over McCay's drawings. McCay provided illustrations during the day for the newspapers of William Randolph Hearst, and spent his off hours at home drawing the cels for the film, which he took to Vitagraph Studios to be photographed.
McCay's working methods were laborious. On "Gertie the Dinosaur" an assistant painstakingly traced and retraced the backgrounds thousands of times. Rival animators developed a number of methods to reduce the workload and speed production to meet the increasing demand for animated films. Within a few years of "Nemo"s release, it became near-universal practice in animation studios to use American Earl Hurd's cel technology, combined with Canadian Raoul Barré's registration pegs, used to keep cels aligned when photographed. Hurd had patented the cel method in 1914; it saved work by allowing dynamic drawings to be drawn on one or more layers, which could be laid over a static background layer, relieving animators of the tedium of retracing static images onto drawing after drawing. McCay adopted the cel method beginning with "The Sinking of the Lusitania".
As with all his films, McCay financed "Lusitania" himself. The cels were an added expense, but greatly reduced the amount of drawing necessary in contrast to McCay's earlier methods. The cels used were thicker than those that later became industry standard, and had a "tooth", or rough surface, that could hold pencil, wash, and crayon, as well as ink lines. The amount of rendering caused the cels to buckle, which made it difficult to keep them aligned for photographing; Fitzsimmons addressed this problem using a modified loose-leaf binder.
McCay said it took him about eight weeks to produce eight seconds' worth of film. The claimed 25,000 drawings filled 900 feet of film. "Lusitania" was registered for copyright on July 19, 1918, and was released by Jewel Productions who were reported to have acquired it for the highest price paid for a one-reel film up to that time. It was included as part of a Universal Studios Weekly newsreel and featured on the cover of an issue of Universal's in-house publication "The Moving Picture Weekly". Its première in England followed in May 1919. Advertisements called it "he world's only record of the crime that shocked humanity".
Style.
The animation combines editorial cartooning techniques with live-action-like sequences, and is considered McCay's most realistic effort; the intertitles emphasized that the film was a "historical record" of the event. McCay animated the action in what animation historian Donald Crafton describes as a "realistic graphic style". The film has a dark mood and strong propagandist feel. It depicts the terrifying fates of the passengers, such as the drowning of children and human chains of passengers jumping to their deaths. The artwork is highly detailed, the animation fluid and naturalistic. McCay used alternating shots to simulate the feel of a newsreel, which reinforced the film's realistic feel.
McCay made stylistic choices to add emotion to the "historical record", as in the anxiety-inducing shots of the submarines lurking beneath the surface, and abstract styling of the white sheets of sky and sea, vast voids which engorge themselves on the drowning bodies. Animation historian Paul Wells suggested the negative space in the frames filled viewers with anxiety through psychological projection or introjection, Freudian ideas that had begun circulating in the years before the film's release. Scholar Ulrich Merkl suggests that as a newspaperman, McCay was likely aware of Freud's widely reported work, though McCay never publicly acknowledged such an influence.
Reception and legacy.
"The Sinking of the Lusitania" was noted as a work of war propaganda, and is often called the longest work of animation of its time. The film is likely the earliest animated documentary. McCay's biographer, animator John Canemaker, called "The Sinking of the Lusitania" "a monumental work in the history of the animated film". Though it was admired by his animation contemporaries, Canemaker wrote that it "did not revolutionize the film cartoons of its time" as McCay's skills were beyond what animators of the time were able to follow. In the era that followed, animation studios made occasional non-fiction films, but most were comedic shorts lasting no more than seven minutes. Animation continued in its role of supporting feature films rather than as the main attraction, and rarely received reviews. "Lusitania" was not a commercial success; after a few years in theaters, "Lusitania" brought McCay about $80,000. McCay made at least seven further films, only three of which are known to have seen commercial release.
After 1921, when Hearst learned McCay devoted more of his time to animation than to his newspaper illustrations, Hearst required McCay to give up animation. He had plans for several animation projects that never came to fruition, including a collaboration with "Jungle Imps" author George Randolph Chester, a musical film called "The Barnyard Band", and a film about the Americans' role in World War I. Later in life, McCay at times publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the animation industry as it had become—he had envisioned animation as an art, and lamented how it had become a trade. According to Canemaker, it was not until Disney's feature films in the 1930s that the animation industry caught up with McCay's level of technique.
Animation historian Paul Wells described "Lusitania" as "a seminal moment in the development of the animated film" for its combination of documentary style with propagandist elements, and considered it an example of animation as a form of Modernism. Steve Bottomore called the film "he most significant cinematic version of the disaster". A review in "The Cinema" praised the film, especially the scene in which the first torpedo explodes, which it called "more than reality". The National Film Registry selected the film for preservation in 2017.


H. Allen Smith (politician)

Howard Allen Smith (October 8, 1909 – June 4, 1998) was a Republican representative from California.
Born in Dixon, Lee County, Illinois, October 8, 1909, (Ronald Reagan's boyhood hometown) Smith was an F.B.I. agent and later a member of the California State Assembly for the 43rd district from 1949 to 1957, a Presidential Elector for California in 1956, and a representative from California's 43rd congressional district from 1957 to 1973. In Congress he compiled a conservative voting record. Smith voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but voted against the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He was also a delegate from California to the Republican National Convention in 1960. Member, Freemasons; Shriners. He died in Glendale on June 4, 1998, and is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.
He was married to Elizabeth Smith. They had two sons, Lauren and Stephen Smith.


Francis E. Quinlan

Francis E. Quinlan is a retired Brigadier General in the United States Marine Corps.
Biography.
Quinlan is a graduate of Boston University, Southwestern Law School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is married with two children.
Career.
Quinlan was commissioned an officer in the Marine Corps in 1970 and, following flight training at NAS Pensacola and NAS Whiting Field, Florida, was designated as a Naval Aviator, eventually flying the AH-1 Seacobra gunship. He later transferred to the United States Marine Corps Reserve. As a general officer, he served as Vice Commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific (MARFORPAC) and U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command (MARCENT) during Operation Enduring Freedom.
In civilian life, he is a practicing lawyer at Newmeyer & Dillion, a prominent business and real estate law firm in Newport Beach, California. Prior to joining Newmeyer & Dillion, he co-founded the AV rated Newport Beach firm of Kester & Quinlan, LLP, and for over 20 years represented banks, venture capital firms, mortgage, title and general liability insurers, public and private corporations, receivers and individuals in business. Previously, he has worked as a Special Agent and pilot with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Awards and decorations.
General Quinlan's decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Meritorious Unit Commendation, National Defense Service Medal with bronze star, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Armed Forces Reserve Medal (2d award) and Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal with three bronze stars.


Tyler Clementi


List of Terry stop case laws

Burger Court (1969-1986).
United States v. Cortez (1981)
External links.
Library of Congress - U.S. Reports - Supreme Court decisions:


SS Russia

SS "Russia" was an iron-hulled American Great Lakes package freighter that sank in a Lake Huron gale on April 30, 1909, near DeTour Village, Michigan, with all 22 of her crew and one passenger surviving.
"Russia" was built in 1872 in Buffalo, New York, by the King Iron Works, with the Gibson & Craig shipyard as the subcontractor. She was built for Charles Ensign of Buffalo and was operated as part of the Holt & Ensign Commercial Line, also of Buffalo. In 1884, after Ensign's death, "Russia" was sold for the first time. She would end up changing hands multiple times during her career.
In the evening of April 29, 1909, "Russia" left Alpena, Michigan, with a cargo of cement, wire fencing, galoshes and multiple barrels of dry goods, destined for Duluth, Minnesota. Around the time she passed Middle Island, the breeze which had been following "Russia" since she left Alpena suddenly began to strengthen; the combination of the gale and her heavy deck load caused "Russia" to roll severely. An eventual lull in the storm convinced Captain John McLean to continue towards Point DeTour, instead of turning back. However, "Russia" cargo shifted, causing her to list to port. Her crew began to move her cargo of cement in order to compensate for the list; after about two hours, she righted herself. However, "Russia" suddenly rolled over to port and then over to starboard. Further efforts failed to counteract the list. Eventually, Captain McLean ordered the crew to throw the bags of cement into Lake Huron. When this effort to save "Russia" was also unsuccessful, Captain McLean gave the order to abandon her early in the morning of April 30. The crew and the one passenger boarded the lifeboats and rowed to the DeTour Reef Light.
The wreck of "Russia" was discovered in of water on July 23, 2019, over 110 years after she sank, by a team of shipwreck hunters led by Tom Farnquist of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.
History.
Design and construction.
"Russia" (US official number 110063) was built in 1872 in Buffalo, New York, by the King Iron Works, with the Gibson & Craig shipyard as the subcontractor. She was built under the direction of master carpenter was David Bell. She was launched on August 20, 1872, as hull number #12. "Russia" was the third of five sister ships built between 1872 and 1873. She was preceded in construction by "Cuba", "Java" and was succeeded in construction by "Scotia" and "Arabia", although, some sources do not acknowledge "Arabia" as one of "Russia" sister ships.
"Russia" hull had an overall length of and a length between perpendiculars of (some sources state , or ). Her beam was (some sources state , or ) wide. Her hull was (some sources state or ) deep. "Russia" had a gross tonnage of 1,501.77 (one source states 1,501 and another states 1,502) tons and a net tonnage of 1,334.57 (one source states 1,335) tons.
"Russia" was powered by two, two-cylinder 72 rpm Steeple compound engines; the cylinders of these engines were and in diameter, and had a stroke of . Steam for the engines was produced by two × 75 psi firebox boilers. The engine and boilers were manufactured by the King Iron Works. She was propelled by two fixed pitch propellers.
"Russia" hull was made of iron only up to her upper deck. Her upper works were made of wood. She had double bottom ballast tanks, two watertight bulkheads, a steel boilerhouse, two decks, cabins capable of accommodating up to 50 passengers, six cargo hatches and originally one, later two mast(s). She originally had two funnels. "Russia" had a cargo capacity of 100,000 bushels.
Service history.
"Russia" was built for Charles Ensign of Buffalo, New York, and was operated as part of the Holt & Ensign Commercial Line, also of Buffalo. She received her first enrollment in Buffalo on August 26, 1872; her first home port was Buffalo. She originally ran between Buffalo, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois.
On December (one source states November) 6/7, 1872, at around 9:00 A.M., while bound for Buffalo with a cargo of grain, "Russia" struck a rock and sank at Bar Point, Lake Erie, near Amherstburg, Ontario. She sustained severe bottom damage. On December 9, she was raised and towed to Detroit, Michigan. The total loss amounted to $69,000. In July 1873, "Russia" machinery became disabled, causing $600 worth of damage. In August of that same year, "Russia" struck a boulder at Lime Kiln crossing in the Detroit River, near Amherstburg. She was repaired for $9,070. On September 12, 1873, while bound from Chicago for Buffalo with a cargo of wheat, "Russia" collided with the steamer "John A. Dix" in the Detroit River, receiving $3,000 worth of damage. She was repaired when she reached Buffalo. On February 1, 1874, "Russia" was damaged by freshet in Buffalo, sustaining $300 worth of damage. On September 16, 1874, "Russia" ran aground in Buffalo Harbor opposite Central Wharf. In November of that same year, "Russia" lost part of her rigging, including her gaff rig, on Lake Erie. In October 1876, "Russia" machinery became disabled on Lake Erie. She was towed to Port Colborne, Ontario, by the steamer "Granite State".
In 1884, following the death of Charles Ensign, "Russia" was sold to James Ash of Buffalo (one source also gives several co-owners: P. P. Pratt, F. L. Danforth and G. B. Rich). In 1886, "Russia" ran between Buffalo and Green Bay, Wisconsin. On June 1, 1886, "Russia" collided with and sank the schooner "Thomas P. Sheldon" in Lake George. The damage she sustained in the collision was repaired in Buffalo. In 1888 (one source states 1890), "Russia" was sold to the Lackawanna Transportation Company of Buffalo, which was managed by Drake & Maytham. At this time, she ran between Lake Erie, Milwaukee and Chicago.
On May 1/3, 1892, at around 6:00 P.M., while bound from Buffalo for Chicago with a cargo of coal, "Russia" collided with the steamer "Celtic" in a dense fog about off Rondeau, Ontario. "Celtic" struck "Russia" on her port bow, near the waterline. "Celtic" sank in less that ten minutes, taking one of her crew of 18 with her. After rescuing "Celtic" crew, "Russia" was beached to prevent her from sinking. She was raised, and with the help of the tug "Balize", made it to Buffalo where her coal was unloaded. On June 5/9 1893, "Russia" ran aground on Beaver Island, Michigan, in fog, and was eventually released.
On July 11, 1893, "Russia" was in Buffalo, loading a cargo of baled jute, rags, French clay and wood pulp. As the bales of jute were being loaded into her hold, two of the bales spontaneously combusted near the third bulkhead, just forward of the engine room. When the crew members in the hold became aware of the fire, they rushed to the deck and gave the alarm. "Russia" fire hose was turned on in her hold, but failed to have much of an impact on the fire. "Russia" began warning other ships in the area of the fire using her whistle. By the time the fireboat "John M. Hutchinson" reached "Russia", the fire had already burned through two of "Russia" decks, damaged her forward cabins and her engine room. "John M. Hutchinson" and several fire engines began pumping water into her hold. By noon, after two hours of fighting the fire, "Russia" hull had been filled with water, finally extinguishing the fire and causing her to list to port. She was repaired in Buffalo, with the repairs costing $15,000.
On July 31, 1893, as soon as "Russia" left drydock, she collided with the freighter "Thomas W. Palmer". Her bow made contact with "Thomas W. Palmer" hull, damaging her aft upper works and breaking several stanchions. "Russia" sustained no damage. On August 9, 1895/1896 (most sources state the 1895, but some also state 1896), "Russia" was upbound without cargo in the Detroit River. At around 4:00 P.M., she sighted the freighter "Britannic", which was downbound with a cargo of iron ore. The vessels signaled each other, but just as they were about to pass each other, "Britannic" suddenly veered to port, putting her directly in "Russia" path. The bow of "Russia" sliced into "Britannic" hull, amidships on her starboard side. "Britannic" sank with the loss of one life into of water off Wyandotte, Michigan; "Russia" had a hole punched in her bow and was eventually repaired in Buffalo. Sometime in 1897, "Russia" became trapped in ice in Green Bay. She was freed by the steamer "Algomah". On May 13, 1897, at 5:30 A.M. while downbound, "Russia" ran aground on Mackinac Point in dense fog. She was freed at 3:30 P.M. on the same day by the wrecking tug "Favorite".
In the summer of 1900, "Russia" was sold to the Lake Transit Company of Duluth, Minnesota (one source states Buffalo), managed by John J. McWilliams. Her home port was changed to Duluth. In 1905/1907, "Russia" was sold to the Port Huron & Duluth Steamship Company of either Port Huron, Michigan, or Duluth. The company was owned and managed by Charles O. Duncan.
Final voyage.
On April 29, 1909, "Russia" was in Alpena, Michigan, loading a cargo of 1,000 bags of cement. She was already loaded with two train cars filled with wire fencing, 1000 pairs of galoshes, barrels of various dry goods and rumored 1909 motorcycles destined for Duluth, Minnesota. As she was loading her cargo, a steady breeze began to build. In the evening of April 29, "Russia" left Alpena for Duluth under the command of Captain John McLean of Port Huron, Michigan, for what was to be her first trip of the shipping season. As well as Captain McLean, there were 21 crewmen and one unidentified passenger onboard. As "Russia" headed out into the open lake, towards the DeTour Passage, the breeze began to strengthen. Around the time she passed Middle Island, the breeze grew into strong gale. Due to the gale and her heavy deck load, "Russia" began to roll severely. An eventual lull in the storm convinced Captain John to continue towards Point DeTour, instead of turning back. However, "Russia" cargo shifted, causing her to list to port. In order to counteract the list, "Russia" crew began moving the bags of cement. After about two hours of what Captain McLean described as "back-breaking labour", she righted herself. However, "Russia" suddenly rolled over to port, caught herself, and rolled over to starboard. The crew once again tried to counteract the list, but this time they were unsuccessful. After the fruitless efforts to counteract the list, Captain McLean ordered the crew to begin throwing the bags of cement into Lake Huron. When this effort to save "Russia" also failed, Captain McLean gave the order to abandon her early in the morning of April 30. The crew of 22 and the one passenger boarded the lifeboats, rowing to the DeTour Reef Light. The crew arrived back in Detroit, Michigan on May 2, 1909.
"Russia" wreck.
Discovery.
For several years, "Russia" was sought by shipwreck hunters. Paul Ehorn of Waukegan, Illinois, spent twenty summers on Lake Huron trying to find her wreck. Although unsuccessful in finding "Russia", Ehorn managed to find the wreck of the schooner barge "Celtic", lost with all hands on November 29, 1902.
Tom Farnquist, founding member and Director Emeritus of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS) had had aspirations of locating "Russia" for several years, saying that she had "been on his bucket list since his late teens". Over the years, he had gathered several old newspaper accounts to help him track down her wreck.
In the winter of 2018/2019, Farnquist contacted veteran ship hunters Jerry Eliason and Ken Merryman (of Cloquet, Minnesota, and Fridley, Minnesota, respectively), requesting their assistance in finding "Russia" wreck. Ehorn shared the GPS coordinates for the wreck of "Celtic" with Farnquist, helping significantly reduce the search area for "Russia". Farnquist, Eliason and Merryman set out to find her wreck in July 2019, beginning the search operations on July 22. On July 23, the second day of their search operations, they managed to locate the wreck of "Russia" in of water, just outside the boundary of the 1,440 square mile (3,700 km2) Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Ironically, "Russia" wreck was discovered only from where Ehorn located the wreck of "Celtic".
Farnquist invited technical divers John Janzen and John Scoles (of Madison, Wisconsin and Minneapolis, Minnesota respectively) to capture footage of her wreck. Archaeologists from the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources conducted sonar imaging of the wreck. The Michigan State Police were also invited to capture additional video footage of the wreck, using a Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to capture it.
"Russia" today.
The wreck of "Russia" rests on an even keel in of water near the De Tour Passage, mostly intact. Her wooden cabins broke away when she sank, leaving only her steel aft cabins, boiler house and galley area intact. Her mizzen mast remains in place. There are dozens of unopened wooden crates stored below her decks which are visible through the exposed cargo hatches. Her wooden stock anchors are still in place on her starboard bow. There is a large field of debris surrounding her wreck.
As the wreck of "Russia" rests in Michigan waters, all artefacts on board are the property of the state and as such cannot be brought to the surface without its permission.


The Death of Cleopatra

The Death of Cleopatra (Spanish: La Muerte de Cleopatra
), also known simply as Cleopatra, is an 1881 painting made by the Filipino painter Juan Luna. The painting was a silver medalist or second prize winner during the 1881 National Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid (Exposicion Nacional de Bellas Artes). The 1881 Madrid painting contest was Luna's first art exposition. Because of the exposure, Luna received a pension scholarship at the Ayuntamiento de Manila. After the painting competition, Luna sold it for 5,000 Spanish pesetas, the highest price for a painting at the time. As Luna's "graduation work", "The Death of Cleopatra" was acquired by the Spanish government for one thousand duros.
A study of the painting was sold for at an auction by Salcedo Auctions in March 2019


The Sob

The Sob (Turkish: Hıçkırık) is a 1953 Turkish drama film directed by Atıf Yılmaz.


Skinnay Ennis

Edgar Clyde "Skinnay" Ennis Jr. (August 13, 1907 – June 3, 1963) was an American jazz and pop music bandleader and singer.
Early years.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. E.C. Ennis, he was born Edgar Clyde Ennis Jr. in Salisbury, North Carolina and had a brother, James W. Ennis. He met Hal Kemp while attending the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. The two were members of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity there.
Orchestras.
An obituary reported about Ennis and his orchestra, "His band had performed in every major dance palace in the nation."
Ennis joined Kemp's orchestra as a drummer and vocalist in the late 1920s, playing with him through 1937 including one tour of Europe in 1930.
In 1938, Ennis put together his own band, which became a popular ensemble in Hollywood films. "Got a Date With an Angel" was his theme song. During this time Gil Evans was one of his arrangers.
Toward the end of the 1950s Ennis's career had faded, and he worked mostly in hotels in the Los Angeles area.
Film.
Ennis appeared in the film "College Swing". as well as in "Blondie Meets The Boss" in 1939. His first film appearance was in the short film Eddie Peabody and his College Chums (1929).
Radio.
Ennis began performing comedy routines, and in 1938 he landed a job on Bob Hope's radio program, appearing as a regular until he entered the Army.
He returned to Hollywood bandleading at the war's end and joined the Abbott and Costello radio program during the 1946–47 season.
Military service.
Ennis joined the Army in 1943, serving as a "warrant officer in charge of a 28-piece band" during World War II.
Personal life.
Ennis was married to the former Carmene Calhoun for 20 years, and they had one son. The couple divorced in 1959.
Ennis, whose nickname originally was "Skinny," changed it to "Skinnay" after it was misspelled that way on the label of a record early in his career.
Death.
Two months before he would have turned 56, Ennis choked to death on a bone while eating dinner at a restaurant in Beverly Hills in 1963.


Fox v R

Fox v R is a 2002 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) case in which it was held that it was unconstitutional in Saint Kitts and Nevis for capital punishment to be the mandatory sentence for murder. The JCPC held that because the Constitution of Saint Kitts and Nevis prohibits "inhuman or degrading punishment", following a murder conviction, a trial judge must have discretion to impose a lesser penalty than death by hanging; capital punishment may be applied only in those cases that contain aggravating factors as compared to other murder cases.
The case involved British bodybuilder Bertil Fox, who in 1998 was convicted of murdering his former fiancée and her mother the previous year. The case was decided with "Reyes v R" and "R v Hughes", cases on the same issue on appeal from Belize and Saint Lucia.


Benoit Blanc