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The Problem With 'Social Construction'
Posted on November 3, 2008 by Timothy Burke
I've just been chatting in email with a friend who asked me to boil down my critique of the concept of social construction as it has appeared in history, cultural criticism, anthropology and so on over the last 25 years or so. The term itself now produces a kind of thoughtless, reactive sneer from many outsiders (rather like "relativism") that I'm almost tempted instead to write a sympathetic exploration of where the idea came from and why it was an important and useful idea before it became a banal shorthand. I took the time to collect my thoughts on the issue, and once I was done, it struck me as worth reproducing as a blog post.
My critique is a bit narrower than what you'd find in a work like Ian Hacking's The Social Construction of What?, which is a smart response to the version of the debate over "social construction" that pertains to scientific research.
There are four prongs to my critique.
The first is that the social construction argument as it appears in work like Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger's The Invention of Tradition is far too casual in its understanding of the historical processes through which inventions or constructions are assembled and become socially powerful or widely distributed. In this sense, arguing that something was "socially constructed" was a rephrasing of the claim that a belief or practice was ideological, e.g., created for narrowly and consciously instrumental purposes to advance the interests of a particular social or institutional group. In this use of "social construction", saying something is constructed is very much also saying something is a tool of ruling or oppressive interests–it piggybacks on a loosely Marxist concept of ideology or hegemony. As a consequence, the "invention of tradition" scholarship tended to completely overlook the organically historical roots of "constructions", the ways in which they are built up out of real experiences, real memories (collective and personal), authentic knowledge. The authenticity or power of constructions in the Hobsbawm/Ranger sense is seen as being secured through domination.
Carolyn Hamilton's book on the "construction" of the Zulu monarch Shaka, Terrific Majesty, is a good critique of this kind of argument–Hamilton argues instead that embedded inside successive "constructions" of Shaka was also always an organic, authentic, "real" series of historical experiences, that these constructions weren't arbitrary, that they aren't made in a simple instrumental fashion, and that people engaged in the act of construction don't themselves have a clear bird's eye view of what they're trying to do or why they want to do it. The act of "social construction" is constrained by what history really has been, both what really happened and how people really understood and interpreted what happened.
The second problem, as I see it, is what Michael Taussig complained about in Mimesis and Alterity: that for a lengthy time, many monographs were written where the sum total of the argument was, "X was socially constructed". Taussig says that this is silly because this isn't an argument, it's a given. He goes on to argue that instead what should we should be doing is construction ourselves. This I don't necessarily buy–this is what leads Taussig to some of his later performative excesses, playacting at being a shaman and so on.
In fact, I think this is the problem with the entire concept. Once you think of the process of social creation as a "construction", you're always going to be a phony when you participate in what you imagine to be social creation, because you're going to have a vanguardist or manipulative sensibility about what you're doing. (For example, Stuart Hall and Gayatri Spivak's talk about 'strategic essentialism'–a notion that we will know that we're not 'really' essential identities, but maybe the proles will not know and will be mobilized usefully by our strategic deployment of identities.) In any event, I think Taussig is right that spending a lot of time just to demonstrate that a particular identity or phenomenon is a social construction is a waste of effort.
My third objection follows on the second. The fact that for a long time scholars spent considerable effort to demonstrate that a given identity, institution, etc., simply was a social construction, tells you something about the intent of that argument. It was designed to undercut or demolish practices being described as such. The problem is that many scholars also recognized the "reality" of such constructions–that once constructed, they were social reality, that there wasn't any ontological, Platonic human "real" being concealed by constructions. If you said something like "modern subjectivities built around liberal individualism, around rights-bearing sovereign selves are a construction", you also had to say, "But no less real for that". A lot of Foucauldian work (including by Foucault himself) had this sort of coy double-gesture: madness, sexuality, criminality, etc., were "constructed", but also "real"–and thus if you said, "Well, so are you against those constructions as we have them?" you would hear "Oh, my no, there isn't anything but these constructions, there is nothing outside, nothing more 'real' beyond them".
But in Foucault and many aligned works, there's also this sense of expose, that in seeing something as construction, you were seeing its inauthenticity, you had discovered its hidden truth, you had caught it in flagrante delicto. This coy double-gesture got old real fast. If everything is "construction", then all we're doing is describing process of change over time, e.g., writing history. If some things are more constructed than other things, then we need some kind of foundationalist account of real identities, psychologies, social formations, etc. If some constructions are good and others bad, then we need some kind of normative ethical or political theory about the good and the bad. (This is something Lynn Hunt supplies nicely in her recent history of 'human rights': she says both 'They are constructions arising out of post-1789 global history AND they are desirable constructions'.) A lot of that leads us back away from "social construction" as cliche, but most people who used the trope too enthusiastically couldn't be weaned away from it.
My final complaint is a bit less grandiose: I just think that the promiscuous overuse of "social construction" led to a lot of methodologically shitty work in which scholars sat in a big library, called up a few novels and then argued that common images, tropes, metaphors and so on in those novels were "social constructions" which had wide constitutive power and general distribution in the "real world" that the novels sought to represent. This is kind of the methodological practice that got built up out of Said's Orientalism, maybe in its argumentative apex in something like Timothy Mitchell's Colonising Egypt. Mitchell says something like, "The way Egypt is represented in metropolitan texts IS Egypt; the desire to find a 'real Egypt' beyond its representation is a part of colonial discourse, not the antidote to it". Gyan Prakash has a fairly similar gesture in some of his work–that we can't know what the non-West was, that the only historical knowledge we can hope to have was what the West constructed the non-West as. I think their arguments have some integrity to them even if I really disagree with the epistemological despair behind them.
Nevertheless, there has been a lot of work along these lines that doesn't have that integrity–that just slaps together a couple of metropolitan texts and says, "Voila! colonial discourse, and colonial discourse is colonial reality, ergo this is not just a book about 'fictions of the empire' but about the empire as it actually was". If we're really serious about "social construction", we have to deal with the intensely complicated terrain of how representation travels, circulates, becomes more or less powerful as it iterates, etc.. This point a bit of what's behind John Tomlinson's critique of "cultural imperialism" or Nicolas Thomas is getting at in Colonialism's Culture–that some 'social constructionist' argument as applied to colonialism and empire is both epistemologically and methodologically suspect. You can really see the latter in one vein of work from the 1990s, when lots of folks just whipped off monographs that made enormous claims from slender readings.
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9 Responses to The Problem With 'Social Construction'
jpool says:
OK, so there's a lot here.
One thing I think you're not giving sufficient credit to is that a Foucauldian or Bourdieuian view of social construction (I'm thinking of Bourdieu's remark that the problem with "false consciousness" is that it's redundent; all consciousness is partial, located, etc.) was not and still is not especially common. I agree that demonstrating that this or that practice is socially constructed isn't showing much of anything, and at best it fits into what I like to call Stupid Historian Tricks (People think that it was thus, but really — Haha!). But people really did and do think that things are timeless, ancient and true in ways that can't possibly be changed (because they never ever have). This was and is worth challenging, even if it's not much an end in itself or can easily be bowdlerized (as, for example, in the way that many who have never read Anderson treat "imagined communities" as if this meant playing pretend).
The other thing that strikes me as strange is your point that to acknowledge something as constructed necessarily makes it feel fake. Do people really not want to celebrate Christmas anymore once they understand that the way we tend to celebrate it is pretty much a late 19th century creation rather than the way the Christians have always done things, or for that matter not enjoy pictures of Santa Claus once they know he was designed by Coke? Maybe on the second point if they have some preexisting antipathy to Coke, but that's a matter of totemic contamination rather than the constructed nature as such. I'm not Christian, but I enjoy celebrating Christmas, because I like exchanging gifts and hanging out with family. Rituals and traditions are what we make of themand I think modern folks are able to embrace the choices that offers without necessarily feeling robbed of authenticity as a result.
Timothy Burke says:
Here's the problem. For one group of practicioners, to acknowledge the constructedness (and thus historicity) of something undercuts some aspect of their ability to inhabit that practice and make claims about, if not its timelessness, its rootedness and authenticity. So, yes, there are people who are upset by a detailed historical anatomy of Christmas. It is not that they believe that Christmas has no history, but they tend to see that history in declensionist terms. (It used to be something good and traditional, and it is in danger of losing that character). When you undercut that sensibility by insisting that Christmas was something else again before that and before that, some people perceive that as an attack. (Just look at how attacks on Kwanzaa often are articulated: that it is an *invented* holiday, and thus somehow different than others.)
Second, I think that when you participate in cultural processes with a conscious sense that you're trying to construct a practice or identity which will then present itself as authentic and deeply rooted, you've got a double-consciousness that feels to intellectuals to be deceptive or manipulative. This is the problem with Taussig's injunction to go out and construct as an end in and of itself. We are doing that all the time, but we do it best when we don't see ourselves as doing it. I construct myself as a professional of a particular kind on this blog, and with some degree of introspection or self-consciousness, but not with bird's eye view of the total purposes and ends of such a construction. I do it because I feel it, because I live it, because I'm in it, and because that construction arises out of my life as a professional and my aspirations for my profession. People create new ideas about self and practice all the time, but I think they rarely do so with the instrumental intent to achieve those ends in and of themselves–they create as a response to their circumstances and experiences, out of the stuff of social life.
fridaykr says:
While I agree that the concept of the "socially-contructed" can and has been used as a jejune shorthand, your critique seems to focus scholarship that deploys the concept as a conclusion to be reached and not as an assumption that can be used productively to pursue other lines of thought.
Case in point, your take on Foucauldian scholarship. It should first be pointed out that much of Foucault's early work was itself an attempt to complicate the Marxist and Marxist-inspired scholarship that relied on instrumental conceptions of ideology. One implication of Foucault is that ideology–socially constucted or otherwise–is insufficient to explain the ways in which power and control are exerted on individuals. It's not simply that individuals participate in a socially-constructed ideology in which the interests of certain classes are advanced. A more nuanced reading of Foucault's genealogical approach suggests that multiple ideologies can converge and have real-world effects in unexpected ways as certain practices are realized and iterated through insitutions and individuals. As Discipline and Punish shows, the state and the ruling elite didn't simply decide and then implement more effective ways to control people. Rather, instrumental rationality became conflated–in very interesting and unexpected ways–with an emerging humanistic desire to be more humane.
But whether you buy Foucault's argument (which I am sure I have butchered; it's been a while) as compelling account of the rise of a more self-regulating, panoptic society or not, the usefulness of Foucault is not simply relishing the conclusion that power and control are "socially-constructed." Rather, it is the implicit critique of Marxist causality that is valuable, as well as the insight that ideologies and various social practices emerge and influence each other in unexpected ways. Further, Foucault's work gives us added justification to look for the disconnects between Ideology with a capital "I' and the agendas that are served through institutional practices.
So in short, I find Foucault's assumptions about "the socially constructed" compelling not as a epistemological premise, but as a productive starting point for describing the genealogy of ideas and social practices.
Nice points. I agree with what you say, but I think this is also what Taussig was poking at–that an account of social construction as genealogy is a starting place, not a conclusion, a premise and not an argument. But I think you're also right about why social construction was for many something much more than ideology, even in purely empirical terms. (As agency is something more than 'choice', if taken seriously as a concept.)
Of course you're right, folks can perceive a historicization of their "timeless" beliefs and practices as an attack, particularly if their invested in narratives of Tradition and Authenticity (and of course their are historical reasons for why T&A get invested with such power in our modernist society). I was responding to the notion that this is a necessary consequence, and wanting to emphasize that most people have some practice inventing traditions, if only in something as mundane as the blending of traditions that they and their partners bring to holliday rituals.
Is part of what your arguing that we need a different term without the same conntations as "social construction" or just that we can't be sloppy or simplistic in using it? Are you arguing, Ashis Nandi style, that historians and other scholars should just shut up sometimes and stop trying to ruin everything?
moldbug says:
All this textological balderdash from the '80s was a great dodge to keep kids from reading nasty old books and taking their authors seriously. But now we live in the 21st century and we have Google, and even if semiotics wasn't hilariously dated there would just be no hope.
For a random example, one could read Mitchell, or one could read John Romich Alexander's The Truth about Egypt. Or better yet, one could read both. That way you get the Exeter Hall party line, but you don't just get the Exeter Hall party line. Neat, huh?
cjlee1 says:
Can I make a reading recommendation? John L. Jackson's _Real Black: Adventures in Racial Sincerity_ (Chicago, 2005). I think he gets at these issues in a fresh way, by exploring what "real" and "sincerity" mean (as opposed to rehearsing social construction, etc.). Good writing, and students tend to like it.
peter55 says:
I am sure the situation is different in different disciplines. One could argue, for example, that the academic discipline of anthropology is nothing more than the systematic exploration of the notion that everything is socially constructed. But in other disciplines, the idea that even anything at all may be socially-constructed is still novel and, in consequence of that, still has great power.
The economic theorists who developed 35 years ago the so-called Black-Scholes equation used for pricing financial options, for instance (namely Black, Scholes and Merton), assumed that options traders would behave in a very precise way; they made these assumptions to make the mathematics of their model tractable. Their assumptions about trader behaviour were not based on any empirical evidence, not could they be, since there was little prior trading of options (because no one had a theory for how to price them coherently). For the same reason, options traders had no previous patterns of behaviour to call on when they began trading options. Thus, without any other guidance, traders behaved according to the assumptions of the Black-Scholes model. As the Edinburgh sociologist of economics Donald MacKenzie has demonstrated with his detailed (so-called "thick") studies, the economic theory of financial options has created – performatively – the very social phenomena it purports to describe and model. Most mainstream economists, with their theorem-envy of mathematics, have yet to accept even the possibility that their models may construct reality rather than describing it in some value-free way, let alone the actuality that they have in fact done this.
This is good to think with. It seems to me that one possible thread to pull here concerns a standpoint of critique. Social construction is a way to get at contingency, the possibility for things to be otherwise, as Foucault dramatizes with the wacky Chinese bestiary at the beginning of Order of Things. History and anthropology tend toward explorations of otherness, but both also have strands seeking to identify invariant human universals. Other (dare I say more practical) disciplines like economics have a much more comprehensive investment in stable essences. And social construction is certainly no given for my students, so getting at the dynamic conflations fridaykr points to is at least pedagogically a second-order problematic at this point.
It's true, I've seen so many lazy-bad demonstrations that this or that is socially constructed. This may tell us something about where the author is coming from, and/or it may tell us something about their sense of the field into which they're dropping their work. About the latter they're probably not wrong, as the fact of publication suggests.
I can't say I'm worried about the critique of Taussig, which seems to me to be based on a notion that naive intentions are somehow more authentic. If we actually accept that there is no preconstructive authenticity the concern that we're more manipulative when we become conscious of the process pretty much evaporates.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Nokia and Ericsson continue to gain ground in Europe
Written by Scott Bicheno
23 August 2021 @ 12:58
A1 Telekom Austria Group has gone full Nordic, while Ericsson seems to have replaced Huawei in the Faroe Islands.
The 5G networks run by A1 Telekom in Bulgaria, Croatia, the Republic of Serbia and Slovenia will consist entirely of kit provided by Ericsson and Nokia. Specifically, Ericsson got all of Croatia, Nokia got all of Serbia and Slovenia and will do the radio in Bulgaria, with Ericsson in charge of the core. Nokia is already doing the 5G full monty in Austria, so is the big winner with A1.
"By selecting the two network suppliers Nokia and Ericsson, who are already long-standing and reliable strategic partners for us, we took the decision to evolve our networks and services once more, and thereby again demonstrating our strong commitment to providing the best user experience in terms of communications and entertainment services on a high-class and secure infrastructure to our B2C and B2B customers." said Alexander Kuchar, Director Group Technology & Future Services at A1 Telekom Austria Group, on the decision. "At the same time, we are taking a strong stand on virtualization, automation and simplification of our network architecture."
Only Nokia saw fit to issue a special press release of its own on the matter, framing it as 'a multi-country single vendor deal,' for some reason. "We are delighted to have been selected by A1 Telekom Austria Group to support their rollout of our AirScale 5G RAN and core technology across Bulgaria, Serbia and Slovenia," said Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia. "They continue to place their trust in our technology and are committed to delivering best-in-class services to their subscribers around the world. We look forward to working collaboratively with them moving forward."
Ericsson did announce another deal win late last week, however, grabbing the prestigious Faroese Telecom 5G gig. This was more significant than it might seem on the surface because it would appear to mark the culmination of a long-running saga involving Huawei and the Danish government, which presides over the otherwise autonomous islands.
Last year it was reported that China's ambassador to Denmark threatened the Faroese leader over the possibility of Huawei not getting its 5G work. The news that Ericsson has won the work, apparently replacing Huawei in the process, indicates the threats were ignored. Maybe we'll now see Danish companies mysteriously missing out on Chinese business.
"Faroese Telecom has high ambitions for the network," said Jan Ziskasen, CEO of Faroese Telecom. "We are aiming at world-class coverage, speed and capacity. The Faroe Islands is one of the best connected countries in the world with 97.2 percent geographical coverage of 4G reaching even 100 kilometers out to sea.
"With Ericsson as our strategic partner, we will enable the next generation of innovation and more capacity in the network to achieve our goal of 100 percent geographic coverage – a demanding task given the geography and terrain of the Faroe Islands. The newest subsea tunnel, Eysturoyartunnilin, is 11 kilometers long and 187 meters deep and even has a roundabout. After the modernization, this will be the first undersea tunnel where you can roam on 5G whilst driving through a roundabout under the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean."
It's happening gradually but with each new announcement Europe seems to be evolving towards being free of Chinese telecoms vendors. The EU has yet to set out a clear, coherent strategy on the matter presumably, at least in part, because Germany want to keep selling cars in China, but the way things are going we probably haven't seen the last of China's retaliation.
Tags: A1 Telekom, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Ericsson, Faroe Islands, featured, Nokia, Serbia, Slovenia
Chris	23/08/2021 @ 3:49 pm
So you must be very happy since this is your favourite subject, since Trumps announcements!
Scott Bicheno	23/08/2021 @ 4:10 pm
Dan	23/08/2021 @ 3:52 pm
Hi there, lovely article, quick question.
I always knew Nokia to be a mobile phone device manufacturer.
Can you explain how Nokia is a network supplier?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_Networks
Guillaume	23/08/2021 @ 4:44 pm
Like Ericsson, they used to be a complete telco provider… ( both as Nokia and as Alcatel )
From the Consumer Products ( DECT Phones, mobiles ) to the PBX to the public exchanges ( fixed and mobile ) to the DSL Lines.
( and much more… In the case of Ericsson look up the Giraffe or the EriEye )
Then 2001 came and both companies disvested everything that wasn't their core. Ericsson joined with Sony for a time for the mobile phones, before bailing out, Nokia old straight away the mobile phones to Microsoft that fumbled with it and resold it.
And in the Background both Ericsson and Nokia kept building telecom networks.
Philip	23/08/2021 @ 8:36 pm
With Huawei's handd tied behind its back, what else Erisdon and Nokia cannot do? The firld is certainly not level. The question is how much E&N have to pay Huawei for patents each year for 5G?
G Lam	26/08/2021 @ 6:03 am
It is so strange that the share price of both Nokia and Ericsson are not rising any further…even both has been picking so many 5G contracts. Just like Nokia's stock price in US is still only about US $ 6 only…😳


Andrew Gillum, Democratic candidate for Florida governor and Tallahassee mayor responded Tuesday evening to reports that he unethically accepted Hamilton tickets from an undercover FBI agent. Gillum maintained his innocence and argued that Republicans were attempting to reinforce "stereotypes about black men," by bringing up the accusations.
The newly-released text messages from a federal investigation into corruption in Tallahassee indicate Gillum may have known that the undercover FBI agent, who was going by the name Mike Miller, was providing the tickets, despite previously saying he received them from his brother.
In an August 8, 2016 message, Gillum's friend, lobbyist Adam Corey, texted him saying, "Mike Miller and the crew have tickets for us for Hamilton tonight at 8pm," adding, "I think your brother has already arrived by the way."
Gillum's campaign claims that text doesn't contradict Gillum's story and that his brother was part of the "crew" referenced in the text.
In his Facebook Live video, Gillum called the newly-released text messages "distractions" from his campaign message and repeated that he had received the tickets from his brother.
"What I wanted to make sure that folks understood was that these messages only confirm what we have said all along," he insisted. "We did go to see 'Hamilton.' I did get my ticket for 'Hamilton' from my brother. At the time we believed that they were reserved by friends of Adam's, Mike Miller."
"When I got there after work -- got my ticket, we went in and saw it, assumed my brother paid for it and so far as I know that was the deal," he added.
"The goal is obviously to use my candidacy as a way to reinforce, frankly, stereotypes about black men," Gillum claimed regarding Republicans invoking the newly-surfaced messages.
"The Republicans obviously want to distract, want to suggest– all along on the trail they've wanted the people of this state to believe somehow I haven't deserved what I've gotten, I'm unethical, participated in illegal and illicit activity. I mean, you name it," he said.


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Gilead's Once-Daily Single Tablet Regimen Stribild™ Maintains High Viral Suppression Through Two Years of Therapy Among Treatment-Naïve HIV Patients
November 15, 2012 at 7:17 AM EST
Releasef5e575fc-6f80-49f3-9aa5-5577bcc9a8e1_1759099.pdf 126.7 KB
-- Pivotal Data from Two Phase 3 Studies Highlight Stribild's Sustained Efficacy, Safety and Tolerability Profile --
GLASGOW, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 15, 2012-- Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq:GILD) today announced two-year (96-week) results from two pivotal Phase 3 studies (Studies 102 and 103) evaluating the company's newest single tablet HIV regimen, StribildTM (elvitegravir 150 mg/cobicistat 150 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg), among treatment-naïve patients with HIV-1 infection. Data show that Stribild was non-inferior after two years of treatment to two standard of care HIV regimens, Atripla® (efavirenz 600 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg) in Study 102 and a protease-based regimen of ritonavir-boosted atazanavir plus Truvada® (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) in Study 103. These results were presented today in an oral session at the 11th International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV11) in Glasgow, United Kingdom.
"In these studies, Stribild demonstrated a robust clinical profile, including sustained efficacy, safety and resistance results over two years of treatment," said Jürgen Rockstroh, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of Bonn, Germany and a lead investigator for Study 103. "Stribild was also associated with a lower incidence of certain central nervous system side effects compared to Atripla, and had a favorable triglycerides profile versus the atazanavir-based regimen."
Stribild combines four compounds in one daily tablet: elvitegravir, an integrase inhibitor; cobicistat, a pharmacoenhancing agent; emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate. The regimen was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 27, 2012 for use by treatment-naïve HIV-positive adults based on 48-week results from Studies 102 and 103. A marketing application for Stribild is currently under review in the European Union.
Study 102 found that at 96 weeks of treatment, 84 percent of Stribild patients (n=293/348) and 82 percent of Atripla patients (n=287/352) achieved HIV RNA (viral load) < 50 copies/mL, based on the FDA snapshot algorithm (95 percent CI for the difference: -2.9 to +8.3 percent for Stribild vs. Atripla; predefined criterion for non-inferiority was a lower bound of a two sided 95 percent CI of -12 percent).
Similarly, results from Study 103 show that 83 percent of Stribild patients (n=294/353) and 82 percent of patients receiving the atazanavir-based regimen (n=292/355) achieved HIV RNA < 50 copies/mL, based on the FDA snapshot algorithm (95 percent CI for the difference: -4.5 to +6.7 percent for Stribild vs. the atazanavir-based regimen; predefined criterion for non-inferiority was a lower bound of a two sided 95 percent CI of -12 percent).
In both Studies 102 and 103, rates of discontinuation due to adverse events were similar across all treatment groups (5 percent for Stribild in each study, 7 percent for Atripla and 6 percent for the atazanavir-based regimen). The most common adverse events occurring in at least 10 percent of Stribild patients in Study 102 were diarrhea, nausea, upper respiratory infection, headache, abnormal dreams, fatigue, depression and insomnia; in Study 103, they were diarrhea, nausea, upper respiratory infection, headache, nasopharyngitis, depression, back pain and fatigue. In Study 102, there were consistently higher reports at each study visit through 96 weeks of abnormal dreams and dizziness in the Atripla arm, with 14 percent and 4 percent of patients experiencing abnormal dreams and dizziness, respectively, on the Atripla arm vs. 8 percent and 1 percent, respectively on the Stribild arm at 96 weeks. Similarly, in Study 103, reports of diarrhea were consistently higher through 96 weeks of treatment on the atazanavir-based arm compared to Stribild, with 4 percent of Stribild patients vs. 9 percent of patients on an atazanavir-based regimen experiencing this problem at 96 weeks.
The frequency of Grade 3-4 adverse events and laboratory abnormalities was also comparable between study regimens. However, in Study 102, patients taking Stribild experienced lower rates of neuropsychiatric side effects (Grades 1-4) through 96 weeks compared to Atripla patients, including abnormal dreams (15 percent for Stribild vs. 28 percent for Atripla), dizziness (8 percent vs. 25 percent) and insomnia (11 percent vs. 16 percent). Patients taking Stribild also experienced lower increases in total cholesterol and LDL (low-density lipoprotein or "bad" cholesterol) compared to Atripla, and in Study 103, experienced significantly smaller increases in triglycerides compared to those taking the atazanavir-based regimen. Additionally, through week 96, reports of Grade 3-4 hyperbilirubinemia were lower in the Stribild arm compared to the atazanavir-based arm (0.6 percent vs. 65 percent).
In September 2012, Stribild was added to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) guidelines as an "alternative" treatment regimen for patients new to HIV therapy. Atripla and ritonavir-boosted atazanavir plus Truvada are both listed as "preferred" first-line regimens in the guidelines. Stribild has a Boxed Warning of lactic acidosis/severe hepatomegaly with steatosis and post treatment acute exacerbation of hepatitis B; see below for important safety information.
Gilead recently initiated WAVES, a Phase 3b study evaluating Stribild compared to ritonavir-boosted atazanavir plus Truvadaamong more than 500 HIV-positive treatment-naïve women. Additional studies examining the efficacy and safety of switching treatment-experienced virologically suppressed patients to Stribild are also underway.
Study 102 is a randomized (1:1), double-blind Phase 3 clinical trial comparing the efficacy, safety and tolerability of Stribild (elvitegravir 150 mg/cobicistat 150 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg) (n=348) versus Atripla (efavirenz 600 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg) (n=352) among HIV-infected treatment-naïve adults with HIV RNA levels greater than or equal to 5,000 copies/mL. The primary endpoint of the study is the proportion of patients achieving HIV RNA levels < 50 copies/mL at 48 weeks of treatment, per the FDA snapshot algorithm. Secondary objectives will evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of the treatment regimens through 192 weeks of treatment.
At baseline, patients in the Stribild arm had a median HIV RNA of 4.75 log10 copies/mL and mean CD4 cell count of 391 cells/mm3. Patients in the Atripla arm had a median HIV RNA of 4.78 log10 copies/mL and mean CD4 cell count of 382 cells/mm3. Across both arms, 33 percent of patients had HIV RNA > 100,000 copies/mL, and 13 percent of patients had CD4 counts ≤ 200 cells/mm3.
At 96 weeks, mean increases in CD4 cell counts were 295 cells/mm3 for Stribild patients and 273 cells/mm3 for Atripla patients (p=0.19). Virologic failure rates were 6 percent for Stribild compared to 8 percent for Atripla.
Five percent of Stribild patients and 7 percent of Atripla patients discontinued treatment due to adverse events. The most common adverse events leading to treatment discontinuation among patients taking Stribild were renal events, depression and fatigue. Between 48 and 96 weeks of treatment, two Stribild patients discontinued due to serum creatinine increase without features of proximal renal tubulopathy, and both patients improved after treatment discontinuation.
Median changes from baseline in total cholesterol, HDL (high-density lipoprotein or "good" cholesterol) and LDL at 96 weeks were, respectively, +9, +6 and +9 mg/dL for Stribild and +18, +8 and +16 mg/dL for Atripla (total cholesterol, p<0.001; HDL, p=0.008; LDL, p=0.011). The median change in triglycerides was +4 mg/dL for Stribild and +8 mg/dL for Atripla (p=0.41).
Study 103 is a randomized (1:1), double-blind Phase 3 clinical trial comparing the efficacy, safety and tolerability of Stribild (elvitegravir 150 mg/cobicistat 150 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg) (n=353) versus atazanavir 300 mg boosted by ritonavir 100 mg plus Truvada (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) (n=355) among HIV-infected treatment-naïve adults with baseline HIV RNA levels > 5,000 copies/mL. The primary endpoint of the study is the proportion of patients achieving HIV RNA levels < 50 copies/mL at 48 weeks of treatment, per the FDA snapshot algorithm. Secondary objectives will evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of the treatment regimens through 192 weeks of treatment.
At baseline, patients in the Stribild arm had a median HIV RNA of 4.88 log10 copies/mL and mean CD4 cell count of 364 cells/mm3. Patients in the atazanavir-based arm had a median HIV RNA of 4.86 log10 copies/mL and mean CD4 cell count of 375 cells/mm3. Across both arms, 41 percent of patients had HIV RNA > 100,000 copies/mL and 13 percent had CD4 counts ≤ to 200 cells/mm3.
At 96 weeks, patients in both arms experienced similar increases in CD4 cell counts (mean increase of 256 cells/mm3 for Stribild and 261 cells/ mm3 for the atazanavir-based regimen). The virologic failure rate was 7 percent for both treatment regimens. Five percent of Stribild patients and 6 percent of patients on the atazanavir-based regimen discontinued treatment due to adverse events. The most common adverse events leading to treatment discontinuation among patients taking Stribild were renal events, diarrhea, pyrexia, nausea, vomiting and fatigue. Between 48 and 96 weeks of treatment, one Stribild patient and one patient in the atazanavir-based regimen discontinued due to serum creatinine increase without features of proximal renal tubulopathy, and both patients improved after treatment discontinuation.
Ocular icterus (associated with elevated bilirubin levels) was less common among Stribild patients (less than 1 percent) compared to patients taking the atazanavir-based regimen (14 percent).
Median changes from baseline in total cholesterol, HDL and LDL at 96 weeks, were, respectively, +14, +6 and +14 mg/dL for Stribild, and +8, +5 and +11 mg/dL for the atazanavir-based regimen (total cholesterol, p=0.046; HDL, p=0.24; LDL, p=0.32). The median change in triglycerides was +5 mg/dL for Stribild and +16 mg/dL for the atazanavir-based regimen (p=0.012).
Studies 102 and 103 are ongoing in a blinded fashion. After week 192, patients will continue to take their blinded study drug until treatment assignments have been unblinded, at which point all subjects will be given the option to participate in an open-label rollover extension and receive Stribild. Additional information about the study can be found at www.clinicaltrials.gov.
About Stribild
Stribild contains four Gilead compounds in a complete once-daily, single tablet regimen: elvitegravir 150 mg; cobicistat 150 mg; emtricitabine 200 mg; and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg. Stribild is indicated in the United States as a complete regimen for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults who are antiretroviral treatment-naïve. A Marketing Authorisation Application (MAA) for the regimen was validated for review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on December 20, 2011. Stribild does not cure HIV-1 infection.
Elvitegravir is a member of the integrase inhibitor class of antiretroviral compounds. Integrase inhibitors interfere with HIV replication by blocking the ability of the virus to integrate into the genetic material of human cells. Elvitegravir was licensed by Gilead from Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) in March 2005. Under the terms of Gilead's agreement with JT, Gilead has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize elvitegravir in all countries of the world, excluding Japan, where JT retains rights. Gilead submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to FDA for elvitegravir as a standalone agent on June 27, 2012, and the agency has set a target action date under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) of April 27, 2013. An MAA for elvitegravir in the EU was validated for review by EMA on June 18, 2012.
Cobicistat is Gilead's proprietary potent mechanism-based inhibitor of cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A), an enzyme that metabolizes drugs in the body. Unlike ritonavir, cobicistat acts only as a pharmacoenhancing or "boosting" agent and has no antiviral activity. Gilead submitted an NDA to FDA for cobicistat as a standalone agent on June 28, 2012, and a PDUFA date of April 28, 2013 has been set. An MAA for cobicistat in the EU was validated for review by EMA on May 22, 2012.
Elvitegravir and cobicistat as standalone agents are investigational products and their safety and efficacy have not yet been established.
Important Safety Information about Stribild
BOXED WARNING: LACTIC ACIDOSIS/SEVERE HEPATOMEGALY WITH STEATOSIS and POST TREATMENT ACUTE EXACERBATION OF HEPATITIS B
Lactic acidosis and severe hepatomegaly with steatosis, including fatal cases, have been reported with the use of nucleoside analogs, including tenofovir disoproxil fumarate ("tenofovir DF"), a component of Stribild, in combination with other antiretrovirals.
Stribild is not approved for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and the safety and efficacy of Stribild have not been established in patients coinfected with HBV and HIV-1. Severe acute exacerbations of hepatitis B have been reported in patients who are coinfected with HBV and HIV-1 and have discontinued Emtriva or Viread, which are components of Stribild. Hepatic function should be monitored closely with both clinical and laboratory follow-up for at least several months in patients who are coinfected with HIV-1 and HBV and discontinue Stribild. If appropriate, initiation of anti-hepatitis B therapy may be warranted.
Coadministration: Do not use with drugs highly dependent on CYP3A for clearance and for which elevated plasma concentrations are associated with serious and/or life-threatening events. Do not use with drugs that strongly induce CYP3A as this may lead to a loss of virologic response and possible resistance to Stribild. Use with the following drugs is contraindicated: alfuzosin, rifampin, dihydroergotamine, ergotamine, methylergonovine, cisapride, lovastatin, simvastatin, pimozide, sildenafil for pulmonary arterial hypertension, triazolam, oral midazolam, and St. John's wort.
New onset or worsening renal impairment: Cases of acute renal failure and Fanconi syndrome have been reported with the use of tenofovir DF and Stribild. Monitor estimated creatinine clearance (CrCl), urine glucose, and urine protein in all patients prior to initiating and during therapy; additionally monitor serum phosphorus in patients with or at risk for renal impairment. Cobicistat may cause modest increases in serum creatinine and modest declines in CrCl without affecting renal glomerular function; patients with an increase in serum creatinine greater than 0.4 mg/dL from baseline should be closely monitored for renal safety. Do not initiate Stribild in patients with CrCl below 70 mL/min. Discontinue Stribild if CrCl declines below 50 mL/min. Avoid concurrent or recent use with a nephrotoxic agent.
Use with other antiretroviral products: Stribild is a complete regimen for the treatment of HIV-1 infection. Do not coadminister with other antiretroviral products, including products containing any of the same active components; products containing lamivudine; products containing ritonavir; or with adefovir dipivoxil.
Decreases in bone mineral density (BMD) and cases of osteomalacia have been seen in patients treated with tenofovir DF. Consider monitoring BMD in patients with a history of pathologic fracture or risk factors for bone loss.
Fat redistribution and accumulation have been observed in patients receiving antiretroviral therapy.
Immune reconstitution syndrome, including the occurrence of autoimmune disorders with variable time to onset, has been reported.
Common adverse drug reactions in clinical studies (incidence greater than or equal to 5%; all grades) were nausea (16%), diarrhea (12%), abnormal dreams (9%), headache (7%), and fatigue (5%)
CYP3A substrates: Stribild can alter the concentration of drugs metabolized by CYP3A or CYP2D6. Do not use with drugs highly dependent on these factors for clearance and for which elevated plasma concentrations are associated with serious and/or life-threatening adverse events.
CYP3A inducers: Drugs that induce CYP3A can decrease the concentrations of components of Stribild. Do not use with drugs that strongly induce CYP3A as this may lead to loss of virologic response and possible resistance to Stribild.
Antacids: Separate Stribild and antacid administration by at least 2 hours.
Prescribing information: Consult the full prescribing information for Stribild for more information on potentially significant drug interactions, including clinical comments.
Adult dosage: One tablet taken orally once daily with food.
Renal impairment: Do not initiate in patients with CrCl below 70 mL/min. Discontinue in patients with CrCl below 50 mL/min.
Hepatic impairment: Not recommended in patients with severe hepatic impairment.
Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
Pregnancy Category B: There are no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women. Use during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk. An Antiretroviral Pregnancy Registry has been established.
Breastfeeding: Emtricitabine and tenofovir have been detected in human milk. Because of both the potential for HIV transmission and the potential for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants, mothers should be instructed not to breastfeed.
About Gilead Sciences
Gilead Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes innovative therapeutics in areas of unmet medical need. The company's mission is to advance the care of patients suffering from life-threatening diseases worldwide. Headquartered in Foster City, California, Gilead has operations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Forward-Looking Statement
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the risk that healthcare providers may not recognize the benefits of starting patients new to therapy on Stribild. As Stribild is used over longer periods of time by many patients with underlying health problems taking numerous other medicines, Gilead may find new issues such as safety, resistance or drug interaction issues, which may require it to provide additional warnings or contraindications on the label or narrow Stribild's approved indication, each of which could reduce the market acceptance of Stribild. In addition, regulatory authorities including the European Medicines Agency may not approve marketing applications for Stribild, elvitegravir and/or cobicistat in the timelines anticipated or at all. Further, even if marketing approval is granted for any of these products, there may be significant limitations on their use. These risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those referred to in the forward-looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These and other risks are described in detail in Gilead's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2012, as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Gilead, and Gilead assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.
U.S. full prescribing information for Stribild is available at www.Stribild.com.
U.S. full prescribing information for Atripla is available at www.Atripla.com.
U.S. full prescribing information for Truvada is available at www.Truvada.com.
EU Summary of Product Characteristics for Atripla and Truvada is available at www.ema.europa.eu
Stribild is a trademark of Gilead Sciences, Inc.
Truvada is a registered trademark of Gilead Sciences, Inc.
Atripla is a registered trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb & Gilead Sciences, LLC.
For more information on Gilead Sciences, please visit the company's website at www.gilead.com, follow Gilead on Twitter (@GileadSciences) or call Gilead Public Affairs at 1-800-GILEAD-5 or 1-650-574-3000.
Source: Gilead Sciences, Inc.
Patrick O'Brien, Investors, 650-522-1936
Cara Miller, Media (U.S.), 650-522-1616
Stephen Head, Media (Europe), +44 208-587-2359


text:
Rubio: Global Ministries Foundation Is Stealing Taxpayer Money In More States Than Just Florida
Washington, D.C. – In a Senate floor speech today, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) discussed the ongoing problems at the Eureka Garden federal housing complex in Jacksonville, Florida, and highlighted the many problems associated with other Global Ministries Foundation (GMF) properties around the country. He called on his colleagues to look into GMF operations in their own states and to consider his legislation that will reform the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) oversight of housing projects.
"These are the conditions in Eureka Garden, and we got involved last October to get those remedied," said Rubio. "So there was a thinking, 'Well, maybe this is just one property. Maybe Global Ministries only has one property that's run this way, but generally they are a good actor.'
"Well, here's what we found. They have two properties, Warren and Tulane apartments in Memphis, Tennessee, that have such poor living conditions as well, that HUD pulled their federal funding from the housing," Rubio continued.
"In Atlanta, we found that their Forest Cove property has been plagued by rodents and sewage. Here's what news crews reported about their property in Atlanta. It said, 'Building, siding and ceiling tiles were peeling from many of the buildings. Garbage and stagnant green water were feet from playing children.' At the Forest Cove, here is what tenants said to news reporters. He said, 'I'm homeless right now. I have moved out to be homeless.' In essence, the conditions were so bad, the guy moved out of the property. In other words, they would rather be homeless than live in a Global Ministries Foundation property," Rubio added.
"So here we have two properties in Memphis, Tennessee, we have a property in Atlanta, then there is another property in Jacksonville that they own. It's called the Washington Heights property. It's also been noted for violation, and HUD's most recent review resulted in the property barely passing federal inspections," Rubio concluded.
A transcript of Rubio's full remarks is available below. A video is available here, and a broadcast quality video is available for download here.
Senate Floor Speech
https://youtu.be/3yqLbTX_sMw
Senator Marco Rubio: "I want to talk about the housing issues contained here in the bill that we're debating, and I want to talk specifically about a project in Florida that we became aware of back in October. Its name is Eureka Garden. It is a low-income, affordable housing project that uses Section 8 funds to house people of lower income, as you're all aware of that program.
"It's run by an organization that owns it. It's called Global Ministries Foundation. It's run by Reverend Richard Hamlet. It's organized as a 501(c)(3), the organization that owns this building. And Mr. Hamlet, as I've said, Reverend Hamlet, is the head of the organization.
"You look at their website for Global Ministries, there is a link that says 'What We Do.' And if you go on that section of Global Ministries, here's what it says that they do. It says, 'Providing affordable housing across the United States and ministering to the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of our residents.' That's what they state as their business purpose, and I imagine, that's what they needed to state because of their 501(c)(3) not-for-profit status.
"However, we have a quote here from Reverend Hamlet, who has said that his involvement in housing is purely business related. He said, 'This is a business. This isn't a church mission. These are business corporations that we set up, but we're no different from a real estate investment trust or a private equity group.'
"That's how he described his 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Global Ministries Foundation. Now Global Ministries Foundation has over 40 properties in multiple states, in Alabama, in Florida, in Indiana, in Louisiana, North Carolina, New York, Tennessee, and Georgia. In all of these states and all of these properties, they have over 5,000 units that qualify as assisted. In 19 locations across Florida, they have over 2,000 assisted units. This particular project in Jacksonville, Florida, Eureka Garden, has 396 assisted units.
"Now, here's the problem that we found with some of these properties. For example, in Eureka Garden, in the last year, property was found to be in horrifying condition. I have spoken about it on the floor before. I'm talking about people living in a place where there was mold on the walls, where the appliances were 15 years old, where the apartments hadn't been painted in 13 years, where windows didn't open, where staircases were literally falling down, where the city had to come in and evacuate people and condemn the property.
"These are the conditions in Eureka Garden, and we got involved last October to get those remedied. So there was a thinking, 'Well, maybe this is just one property. Maybe Global Ministries only has one property that's run this way, but generally they are a good actor.'
"Well, here's what we found. They have two properties, Warren and Tulane apartments in Memphis, Tennessee, that have such poor living conditions as well, that HUD pulled their federal funding from the housing.
"In Atlanta, we found that their Forest Cove property has been plagued by rodents and sewage. Here's what news crews reported about their property in Atlanta. It said, 'Building, siding and ceiling tiles were peeling from many of the buildings. Garbage and stagnant green water were feet from playing children.' At the Forest Cove, here is what tenants said to news reporters. He said, 'I'm homeless right now. I have moved out to be homeless.' In essence, the conditions were so bad, the guy moved out of the property. In other words, they would rather be homeless than live in a Global Ministries Foundation property.
"So here we have two properties in Memphis, Tennessee, we have a property in Atlanta, then there is another property in Jacksonville that they own. It's called the Washington Heights property. It's also been noted for violation, and HUD's most recent review resulted in the property barely passing federal inspections. I'll have more to say about federal inspections in a moment.
"By the way, at that Goodwill Village property in Memphis, one resident said that he thought the issue was snakes on the property. Snakes on the property. He thought they were being caused because they were coming to 'Eat the rats.' In Goodwill Village, the same property, a resident had an issue with a gas leak. The resident's home had the sink torn out, her stove and hot water disconnected, and a hole put into her wall. Two months after all of that, no one had come by yet to fix it.
"In Orlando, at the Windsor Cove apartments owned by Global Ministries Foundation, reporters saw holes in the wall where roaches and rodents came into the apartment. The same woman has a gap between her bathtub and the wall that lets water leak into the apartment below. After issues with his properties were exposed, here's what Reverend Hamlett said: 'No one should live under these conditions.'
"These are your properties, and it's not just one property, these are multiple properties across multiple states. I want to focus specifically on the one I visited last week in Jacksonville. By the way, it was an amazing experience.
"So 48 hours before we announced we were coming, nothing, literally nothing is happening at this property. When we announced that we were coming to visit the property, suddenly a bunch of contractors show up. They put up a banner welcoming the residents to all the great stuff that they do there. Suddenly work crews are walking all over fixing the place up. All of a sudden, because we're coming to visit, all these work crews mysteriously show up.
"Eureka Garden's problems have been going on for a long time, but they only became known in October of last year when a local television station and other local media began to highlight it. My Jacksonville office, my staff there, toured Eureka Garden in October of 2015. I want to report what they found in that one building. And as I said, we now have reports about other buildings with similar conditions run by this Global Ministries 501(c)(3), but I want to share with you what my staff found when they visited Eureka Garden.
"They saw crumbling stairs disguised with duct tape and covered with apparent black mold. So what I'm talking about with the stairs is, the stairs that connect the first floor of the building with the second floor of the building, these metal stairs, they would just put duct tape over the areas where the stairs and the wall were cracking and almost falling. They would just put duct tape on it. There was mold on these stairs - they spray painted over it. They found faulty electrical wiring, and you know what they did with the faulty electrical wiring? They covered it up with a garbage bag so no one could see it. They could smell the natural gas odor being sucked from an outdoor piping system into the air conditioning units of residents. And they found all sorts of other health and safety issues.
"At Eureka Garden, one resident said dogs live better than this when they were asked about the housing. In fact, there is a 4-year-old living in Eureka Garden who is suffering from lead poisoning, which her mother has a right to believe she got in her Eureka Garden apartment, an apartment, by the way, paid for with your taxpayer money. Section 8 housing is federal taxpayer money going into the hands of these slumlords, and a child now has lead poisoning because of it.
"In December of last year, HUD declared Eureka Garden to be in default of the contract, and it set its February 4, 2016 deadline to meet repair requirements. In February, Eureka Garden passed this inspection, but by March, HUD had written to Eureka Garden saying that the department does not believe the property would currently pass another inspection.
"So last Friday, as I said, I visited Eureka Garden and I saw, for example, an apartment where the window did not open. I saw an apartment where the window didn't open, a room where the window had been cracked, and you know how they fixed it? Somebody came in and put a glob of glue over where the window connects to the pane, and if you tried to open the window, it wouldn't go up. Meaning, if there was a fire in that house, the person sleeping in that room cannot get out of that window unless they break out of the home. I saw that with my own eyes last week when I was there.
"I saw an apartment that hadn't been painted in 13 years, 13 years. I saw a stove where the knobs were unrecognizable because they were covered with glue basically and grime. I saw a refrigerator that had to be -- it looked like it was from North Korea -- It had to be 15 years old, all sorts of rust on the side and they just spray painted over the rust.
"Global Ministries, by the way, as I said earlier, 48 hours before I visited, they started to fix some of these cosmetic issues. By the way, that included putting up a piece of wood with exposed nails and calling it a door.
"So this apartment has two exits, in the front and in the back. This lady gets home from work, she opens up her back door. They have boarded up the door and there are nails sticking through the wood.
"She has little kids, by the way, and the nails, by the way, were the kind that if you ran into that door because you didn't know it was there, you're getting a nail to the face, to the heart, to the gut.
"So you would ask yourself, all right, so you have these owners of all these units and they're getting this federal money under this HUD contract. Where does all the money go? What are they doing with all this money that they make?
"Well, you can look at their 990 tax forms, which are available for all 501(c)(3) organizations. Let me tell you about the 2014 tax year, which is the most recent one that's available. In the year 2014, the Reverend Richard Hamlet paid himself $495,000 plus $40,000 in non-taxable benefits.
"Also in 2014, the Reverend Hamlet's family members were paid an additional $218,000. By the way, he had previously failed to disclose his family members' compensation on tax forms, which is in violation of IRS rules that require CEO's to disclose the compensation of all family members who work for an organization.
"The IRS reports also show that between 2011 and 2013, Global Ministries Foundation, the landlord that owns all of these units in all of these buildings that your taxpayer money is paying for, they shifted $9 million away from the low-income housing not profit to its religious affiliate.
"And there is no one here who is a more strident proponent of private and public partnerships, of faith-based initiatives, but you have these buildings that are crumbling. You have these people living in these deplorable conditions, and they took, in addition to paying himself half a million dollars and his family another $200,000, they took $9 million, and instead of using it to fix these units, they transferred it to the other entity they had for religious purposes.
"They don't seem to want to spend the money, including the taxpayer money on making repairs, on making sure places like Eureka Garden are livable.
"Let me tell you what they do spend their money on. They spend their money on public relations specialists. Because last week, when I visited Eureka Garden, they had a public relations firm on the premises counter spinning me with the media, saying things like, 'Oh, well where has been Rubio all this time?' Well, this thing became available in October, and since October we have been involved in it.
"So they have the money to hire a law firm, they have the money to hire a lobbying firm, they have the money to hire a public relations firm, they have the money to transfer $9 million from the not-for-profit sector into their religious uses. They have the money to pay themselves half a million dollars a year plus $40,000 in nontaxable benefits, plus $200,000 for his family members, but they don't have the money to fix these units. And not just in Florida, but all across this country.
"Let me tell you what this behavior is, let me tell you what Global Ministries Foundation is; it is a slumlord. They are slumlords, and there are people that are living in these deplorable conditions while your taxpayer money is going into their bank account, and they are laughing at us.
"By the way, this minister the other day, he's now put these properties up for sale, and he told the press, 'This is such a profitable business, we have so many bidders that want these properties.'
"Well, if this is such a profitable business, then why are you organized as a 501(c)(3), number one, and number two, where is all the money? Where is all the profits? Why aren't they being invested?
"I am all in favor of faith-based organizations being involved in the public and civic life of this country, but as an organization who is organized on the principles of caring for others, this is not caring for people. This, my friends, is the stealing of American taxpayer money, subjecting people to slum-like conditions, pocketing the money, living off the money and transferring the money.
"I, for the life of me, don't know how they passed any inspections because, I'm telling you, I visited and I'm not a building inspector, but you don't have to be one to visit this building and know there is no inspection that that building should ever pass.
"And I would just say to you that this is the most outrageous behavior I've seen in public housing, and now I'm hearing the same conditions exist in Orlando, and in other buildings in Jacksonville. We know they exist in Memphis. In fact, they just lost their HUD contract in Memphis. The judge just issued a ruling against them yesterday on another issue in Memphis, Tennessee.
"So as a result of these conditions and other issues, I have filed four amendments that I briefly want to talk about. The first is amendment 3918, which passed. What it does is it shortens the required response time for contract violations from 30 days to 15 days. Within the 30 days that they found that gas leak at Eureka Garden, four people at Eureka Garden were hospitalized due to gas leaks. So shortening it I'm glad is going to be a part of it.
"Another amendment we passed, is one that basically asks HUD to determine the state of the assessments. Even the secretary himself has told me it's time to revisit these assessments, because if you look at this property, there's no way it should ever have passed any inspections.
"We need to fix the inspection process in HUD, because there's no reason any property like this should pass any inspection.
"The third amendment that I have filed, that I hope we can pass, would give state and local governments more say when HUD renews contracts for owners that have violated previous contracts. In essence, the amendment would allow the secretary to refuse to withdraw a notice of default if the governor of the requisite state petitions HUD to do that.
"Currently the only trigger for the secretary to withdraw a notice is a REAC score of 60 or above. If this amendment became law, if a property passed the inspection, but the governor of the state in which the property is located requests the secretary to overturn the result, the secretary would have the power to do so. And this impacts Eureka Garden and these other places because flawed inspections let HUD re-certify properties that are not up to standard.
"The Jacksonville City Council has been engaged, and the mayor of Jacksonville, Mayor Curry, is supporting this amendment. It would grant them the ability to seek the governor's support in having say over the process.
"The last amendment I filed is Rubio amendment 3986, and it is to make temporary relocation assistance available for residents in situations like the ones I've just described. This amendment would make tenant protection vouchers available for tenants living in units where the owner has been declared in default of a HUD housing assistance payment contract due to physical deficiencies, allowing the secretary to consider granting relocation vouchers sooner in the process.
"The lack of temporary relocation assistance has kept these tenants trapped in Eureka Garden. The inability to temporarily relocate resulted in tenants being hospitalized because of gas leaks and other difficult conditions. For example, a man had to sleep in his bathtub for a week at Eureka Garden, and tenants could not cook because the heat was shut off for days at a time.
"One of the things you hear from HUD is, 'Well, we can take away the contract but then what happens to all these people? So we don't want to do that.' And slumlords like Reverend Hamlet and his group, they know they can get away with this as a result.
"There's probably more to be done. I said publicly I think the Justice Department should look into these people. I think the Justice Department should look into places like this. I think the IRS should examine their tax status. I think people like this should never again be allowed to have a single HUD contract anywhere in America.
"This is unacceptable and it's happening right underneath our nose. Today it's Eureka Garden, but I already told you all the states. In fact, I encourage my colleagues who live in the states of Alabama, and Indiana, and Louisiana, and North Carolina, and New York and Georgia, you should look into the properties that Global Ministries Foundation operates in your states.
"Because if the trends continue, if the trends hold up, then I almost guarantee you that you are going to find slum-like conditions in your state the way I found in mine and the way they found in Tennessee. And I hope I can earn my colleagues' support in bringing these reforms as part of the bill that's before us today."


Good progress is being made on one of Wokingham Borough's major highways schemes, with pre-construction works for the improvements at Lower Earley Way due to start shortly.
The works will see Lower Earley Way widened to allow two traffic lanes in both directions from Loddon Roundabout, near Showcase Cinema to the new junction with the Winnersh Relief Road, and footpaths improved for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists. This is part of the wider Winnersh Relief Road phase 2 scheme, which is one of nine projects that Balfour Beatty have been contracted to deliver on behalf of Wokingham Borough Council.
The overall package of works makes up Wokingham Borough's Major Highways Programme, which aims to build vital new strategic roads and highway improvements in order to relieve congestion and support growth in the borough.
The enabling works, which are expected to be completed before Christmas, will assist with the preparation of the site in anticipation of the construction start in Spring 2019. They will include site clearance, removal of vegetation as well as Japanese knotweed, ditch excavation and civil works to assist utilities' diversions. The aim will be to minimise traffic disruption in the area, with two-way traffic to be maintained on Lower Earley Way through narrow lanes traffic management.
As part of the work, a wetland environment will be provided and some trees will be removed to promote the re-establishment of wet grassland. This is part of the approved design agreed with ecology officers as a way to restore the local wildlife site to species rich grassland.
Wokingham Borough Council, in meeting its responsibilities to deliver new housing, is committing substantial investment, secured from developers, in a wide range of infrastructure. This comprises new schools, open spaces and leisure facilities, community facilities and roads amounting to nearly £1 billion investment.
Residents and businesses across the wards affected by the projects can expect to receive in the post a letter of notification about the nine schemes included in Wokingham Major Highways Programme delivered by Balfour Beatty alongside a newsletter. The newsletter provides contact details for the Major Highways Team should anyone have any queries relating to the programme.


SUNY Purchase Prepares Students for a Lifetime of Collaboration.
Set on 500 acres of former farmland 35 minutes north of New York City, SUNY Purchase was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller to bring together conservatory arts training and liberal arts studies on one campus. Purchase College is home to four arts academies: the Conservatory of Music, Conservatory of Dance, Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film, and the School of Art and Design. The Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film offers programs in acting, film, dramatic writing and design/technology. Within design/technology are concentrations in scenic, costume and lighting design, costume technology, stage management and technical direction.
What sets Purchase apart from other theatre and arts schools is its faculty of award-winning working professionals and its selectivity and intensive professional training combined with af-fordability. Associate Professor of Film and Interim Dean of the Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film Gregory Taylor says, "We offer similar training and quality to Juilliard, but we're a state school. Our mission has always been to provide a high-quality, top-notch conservatory education and professional training in these fields to the public — something that is usually only available at elite private institutions." The tuition may not be elite, but competition for accep-tance is.
The arts programs at Purchase are highly selective, rigorous and demanding. For instance, the program has a total enrollment of around 70 students. From as many as 1,400 applicants, only approximately 35 are accepted each year, and that number dwindles as students decide to leave or are not invited back for the following year. In addition to at least 90 program credits, a student must also complete 30 liberal arts credits in order to graduate. A typical day starts with classes at 8:30 a.m., and rehearsals or performances can last until 11:00 p.m. Students are treated like professionals from the beginning.
Although this hierarchy is followed, everyone shares the grunt work of load-ins, load-outs, hanging and focusing lights, and the like. The Performing Arts Center comprises four theatres, providing students with state-of-the-art "laboratories" in which to experiment and perfect their crafts. "We try to expose students to every situation they would get into via regional theatre or commercial theatre," Grill says. The 500-seat black-box Repertory Theatre provides great flexi-bility in configuration with portable platform units, movable catwalks and a hydraulic lift. The 600-seat Recital Hall, engineered for chamber music and dance, has a sprung floor, rear-screen projection bay, portable acoustic orchestra shell and a downstage hydraulic lift. The PepsiCo Theatre, designed by Ming Cho Lee, holds over 700 and has a rear-screen projection bay, ha-namichi platforms along the sides and two downstage hydraulic lifts. The three-tiered Concert Hall, which has a capacity of over 1,300, has two downstage hydraulic lifts and a portable acoustic orchestra shell.
Also invaluable is the professional experience brought to the classroom by award-winning graduates of Purchase who now teach there, including Brian MacDevitt, 2007 Tony Award winner for lighting The Coast of Utopia (with Kenneth Posner, another Purchase alum), and Grill himself, a 1986 alumnus.
"Folks like Jason Lyons, Brian and me continually come back and circulate through the college to keep the education at its high level, as well as to afford the people who are in school the opportunity to solicit comments from that level of professional, plus potential internships and jobs after they get out of college," Grill says. Students learn practical, situational knowledge from current working professionals — not just from textbook examples.
If a school can be judged by its graduates, the Purchase results speak for themselves: Over 85% of design/technology grads are working in their field, many are members of the major theatrical unions, and alumni include Tony, Emmy, Obie and Drama Desk award winners. Acting graduates include Stanley Tucci, Edie Falco and Parker Posey.


and many other intelligent uses of foods and therapeutic plants -- nature's own medicine -- to alleviate discomforts.
Best of all, this invaluable reference stresses and approach that helps you teach you children the benefits of proventing illness -- not just treating it.
Today, according to the esteemed Journal of the American Medical Association, a full 42% of Americans have used natural healing therapies. To me, this is extremely good news because this was not always the case!
Although it was nearly 20 years ago, I vividly recall the afternoon I nervously gave my first talk on herbs to the local PTA. Even though I was among friends in a progressive community, I had no idea how they would react to my unconventional presentation on the healing power of herbs for children.
This was long before the popularity of Dr. Andrew Weil, organic foods, and the acknowledgment of the mind/body healing connection by the medical establishment. Keep in mind that until recently, "alternative" meant odd, and in many places in this country sprinkling sprouts on a salad was considered absolutely anti-establishment!
I was a mother of two sons and played an active role in the life of my town, so I felt people were willing to listen to what I had to say. My audience turned out to be receptive (albeit cautious) and I was encouraged to move forward with what was to become my life's work: sharing my knowledge of the healing power of herbs -- at first with family and friends, then with clients -- and now, with you. Though I was devoted to my subject, I could hardly have known, as I gave that brief speech, that two decades later I would be writing a book on natural healing. But spreading the word about healing herbs is, after all, the most rewarding aspect of my work. I believe, as do many parents, that in addition to a repertoire of remedies that helps the body heal itself, the natural approach to wellness helps engage our young to be involved in their own health care, offering a level of understanding that will stay with them for their entire lives. They learn that taking care of their bodies preventatively is every bit as important as consulting a doctor when they are sick.
America's surge in interest for natural therapies to complement, and sometimes even replace, conventional medical treatment has been reflected in, as well as driven by, mainstream media. As a result, educational opportunities in the field of holistic health care have blossomed. Even our most respected medical schools are adding studies in natural therapies to their curricula. Think back to the 1970s, when massage was noted for its sexual connotations. Now it's a reimbursable medical expense under many health-care plans. I could not have imagined twenty years ago that The New York Times would have run a piece on "alternative medicine" and was delighted when they wrote about me and herbal remedies.
In the sixties and seventies, my father's losing battle with heart disease fostered my interest in alternative healing options. I have always believed in the adage "Seek and ye shall find," and that's precisely what I did. I was surprised to discover that natural healing therapies never went out of style in Europe and, in fact, that they have long been the primary modality of healing throughout much of the world. According to the World Health Organization, over 80% of the world uses herbs for healing!
My undergraduate work focused on speech pathology for children. Throughout the years, as an early childhood teacher, and mother of two sons, I continued to be actively involved with children. Positive feedback is great for building one's confidence, so after years of informally sharing my herbal remedies with friends and family, I followed my heart's desire and formalized my studies in herbology. Four years of study, in addition to field work and apprenticeships helped me to attain the level of Master Herbalist. I was privileged to be mentored in the work of the late Dr. John R. Christopher, one of the most respected authors and practitioners of natural health care in this country. Dr. Christopher lovingly shared his botanical formulas with the world, and, in the spirit of carrying on his tradition, I gladly share them with you in the chapters to follow.
Three days: If you are dealing with an acute situation, expect it to be turned around within three days or seek medical help.
Three weeks: For a gentle program of internal cleansing of organs, allow three weeks.
Three months: To reverse a long-standing, chronic condition, create a three-month focus of healing therapies and lifestyle changes for your child.
All of the remedies presented here are perfectly safe, and are the result of years of experience with clients and, of course, my own sons, Chris and Brian. Best of all, incorporating these remedies into your children's lifestyles will teach them how important it is to be in charge of their own health, and the gift of health is, indeed, one of the greatest blessings of all.
As a Master Herbalist, I consider it an honor to be able to share over 25 years of experience with you, and to gently introduce you to the healing power of herbs. May this book be the cornerstone of your children's excellent health and wellness now, and for the rest of their lives.
Andrea Candee, M.H., M.S.C., is a master herbalist with a consultation practice in Westchester County, New York. She lectures at the New York Botanical Garden and throughout the country on how to use nature's pharmacy for regaining health and maintaining wellness. She consults with physicians and other health-care practitioners, designing protocols of botanical medicine for their patients. She has been featured in many publications, including the New York Times, Self, and New Woman, and has made numerous television and radio appearances.


We dealt with the synthesis and photoluminescence (PL) behaviors of the Sm3+-activated CaLa2(MoO4)4 phosphors. Under 404 nm irradiation, the prepared samples emitted the visible red emissions from the intra-4f transitions of Sm3+ ions. The color coordinate and color purity of the achieved red emissions were (0.629, 0.370) and 78.2%, respectively. The PL-emission intensity was revealed to dependent on the dopant concentration and the optimal value was 3 mol%. By means of the theoretical calculation, it was found that the involved concentration quenching mechanism was dominated by the dipole–dipole interaction and the critical distance was 40.69 Å. Furthermore, the thermal quenching performance of the resultant phosphors was examined utilizing the temperature-dependent PL-emission spectra and the activation energy was decided to be 0.122 eV. Ultimately, through integrating the synthesized phosphors with a commercial near-ultraviolet chip, a red-emitting light-emitting diode was packaged to explore the feasibility of the Sm3+-activated CaLa2(MoO4)4 phosphors for solid-state lighting applications.
This work was supported by the K. C. Wong Magna Fund in Ningbo University (xkzw1507).


text:
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//     Copyright (c) 2013 Jordan Robinson. All rights reserved.
//
//     The use of this software is governed by the Microsoft Public License
//     which is included with this distribution.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Gorostiaga es la estación ferroviaria de la localidad homónima, Partido de Chivilcoy, provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

La estación corresponde al Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento de la red ferroviaria argentina y se ubica a 142 km al oeste de la estación Once.

Servicios
Desde agosto de 2015 no presta servicios de pasajeros. El servicio de Trenes Argentinos Operaciones entre Once y Bragado no cuenta con parada en esta estación.

Historia
La estación se inaugura en 1866 con el primer servicio de pasajeros del Ferrocarril del Oeste desde la Ciudad de Buenos Aires hasta la Estación Chivilcoy Norte.

Toponimia
Debe su nombre al antiguo latifundio en donde se asienta la estación, merced de la donación o cesión que realizara la familia Gorostiaga. Estas extensiones de tierras fueron propiedad de la Sra. Bernarda Frías de Gorostiaga, y luego de su fallecimiento, recae la propiedad en sus hijos. El solar donde se instaló la estación ferroviaria, pasó a propiedad de la Sra. Elisa Gorostiaga de Solveyra, tierras que también incluían la actual superficie que ocupa el núcleo poblado, y un segmento de la traza ferroviaria.
Al fallecimiento de Elisa Gorostiaga de Solveyra, las tierras son loteadas y vendidas. La denominación del naciente pueblo, había sido originalmente Villa Santa Elisa, aunque prevaleció en el tiempo la denominación de la estación ferroviaria, que a su vez es en memoria de la histórica familia afincada en suelo chivilcoyano desde mediados del siglo XIX.

Véase también
Ramal Once - Santa Rosa - Toay
Ramal Gorostiaga - Anderson

Referencias

Gorostiaga
Fotos de Gorostiaga

Gorostiaga
Gorostiaga
Partido de Chivilcoy

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia