James P. Alexander, Birmingham, Ala., for petitioners in Nos. 87-1639 and 87-1668.
Robert D. Joffe, New York City, for petitioners in No. 87-1614.
Raymond P. Fitzpatrick, Jr., Birmingham, Ala., for private respondents.
Thomas W. Merrill, for federal respondents.
A group of white firefighters sued the city of Birmingham, Alabama (City), and the Jefferson County Personnel Board (Board) alleging that they were being denied promotions in favor of less qualified black firefighters. They claimed that the City and the Board were making promotion decisions on the basis of race in reliance on certain consent decrees, and that these decisions constituted impermissible racial discrimination in violation of the Constitution and federal statutes. The District Court held that the white firefighters were precluded from challenging employment decisions taken pursuant to the decrees, even though these firefighters had not been parties to the proceedings in which the decrees were entered. We think this holding contravenes the general rule that a person cannot be deprived of his legal rights in a proceeding to which he is not a party.
The litigation in which the consent decrees were entered began in 1974, when the Ensley Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and seven black individuals filed separate class-action complaints against the City and the Board. They alleged that both had engaged in racially discriminatory hiring and promotion practices in various public service jobs in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and other federal law. After a bench trial on some issues, but before judgment, the parties entered into two consent decrees, one between the black individuals and the City and the other between them and the Board. These proposed decrees set forth an extensive remedial scheme, including long-term and interim annual goals for the hiring of blacks as firefighters. The decrees also provided for goals for promotion of blacks within the fire department.
The District Court entered an order provisionally approving the decrees and directing publication of notice of the upcoming fairness hearings. App. 694-696. Notice of the hearings, with a reference to the general nature of the decrees, was published in two local newspapers. At that hearing, the Birmingham Firefighters Association (BFA) appeared and filed objections as amicus curiae. After the hearing, but before final approval of the decrees, the BFA and two of its members also moved to intervene on the ground that the decrees would adversely affect their rights. The District Court denied the motions as untimely and approved the decrees. United States v. Jefferson County, 28 FEP Cases 1834 (ND Ala.1981). Seven white firefighters, all members of the BFA, then filed a complaint against the City and the Board seeking injunctive relief against enforcement of the decrees. The seven argued that the decrees would operate to illegally discriminate against them; the District Court denied relief. App. to Pet. for Cert. 37a.
Both the denial of intervention and the denial of injunctive relief were affirmed on appeal. United States v. Jefferson County, 720 F.2d 1511 (CA11 1983). The District Court had not abused its discretion in refusing to let the BFA intervene, thought the Eleventh Circuit, in part because the firefighters could "institut[e] an independent Title VII suit, asserting specific violations of their rights." Id., at 1518. And, for the same reason, petitioners had not adequately shown the potential for irreparable harm from the operation of the decrees necessary to obtain injunctive relief. Id., at 1520.
The defendants moved to dismiss the reverse discrimination cases as impermissible collateral attacks on the consent decrees. The District Court denied the motions, ruling that the decrees would provide a defense to claims of discrimination for employment decisions "mandated" by the decrees, leaving the principal issue for trial whether the challenged promotions were indeed required by the decrees. App. 237-23 , 250. After trial the District Court granted the motion to dismiss. App. to Pet. for Cert. 67a. The court concluded that "if in fact the City was required to [make promotions of blacks] by the consent decree, then they would not be guilty of [illegal] racial discrimination" and that the defendants had "establish[ed] that the promotions of the black individuals . . . were in fact required by the terms of the consent decree." Id., at 28a.
Petitioners argue that, because respondents failed to timely intervene in the initial proceedings, their current challenge to actions taken under the consent decree constitutes an impermissible "collateral attack." They argue that respondents were aware that the underlying suit might affect them, and if they chose to pass up an opportunity to intervene, they should not be permitted to later litigate the issues in a new action. The position has sufficient appeal to have commanded the approval of the great majority of the Federal Courts of Appeals,  but we agree with the contrary view expressed by the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in these cases.
"The law does not impose upon any person absolutely entitled to a hearing the burden of voluntary intervention in a suit to which he is a stranger. . . . Unless duly summoned to appear in a legal proceeding, a person not a privy may rest assured that a judgment recovered therein will not affect his legal rights." Id., at 441, 54 S.Ct., at 479.
Joinder as a party, rather than knowledge of a lawsuit and an opportunity to intervene, is the method by which potential parties are subjected to the jurisdiction of the court and bound by a judgment or decree.  The parties to a lawsuit presumably know better than anyone else the nature and scope of relief sought in the action, and at whose expense such relief might be granted. It makes sense, therefore, to place on them a burden of bringing in additional parties where such a step is indicated, rather than placing on potential additional parties a duty to intervene when they acquire knowledge of the lawsuit. The linchpin of the "impermissible collateral attack" doctrine-the attribution of preclusive effect to a failure to intervene-is therefore quite inconsistent with Rule 19 and Rule 24.
Petitioners argue that our decisions in Penn-Central Merger and N & W Inclusion Cases, 389 U.S. 486, 88 S.Ct. 602, 19 L.Ed.2d 723 (1968), and Provident Tradesmens Bank & Trust Co. v. Patterson, 390 U.S. 102, 88 S.Ct. 733, 19 L.Ed.2d 936 (1968), suggest an opposite result. The Penn-Central litigation took place in a special statutory framework enacted by Congress to allow reorganization of a huge railway system. Primary jurisdiction was in the Interstate Commerce Commission, with very restricted review in a statutory three-judge District Court. Review proceedings were channeled to the District Court for the Southern District of New York, and proceedings in other District Courts were stayed. The District Court upheld the decision of the Interstate Commerce Commission in both the merger and the inclusion proceedings, and the parties to that proceeding appealed to this Court. Certain Pennsylvania litigants had sued in the District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania to set aside the Commission's order, and this action was stayed pending the decision in the District Court for the Southern District of New York. We held that the borough of Moosic, one of the Pennsylvania litigants, could not challenge the Commission's approval of the merger and inclusion in the Pennsylvania District Court, pointing out the unusual nationwide character of the action and saying "[i]n these circumstances, it would be senseless to permit parties seeking to challenge the merger and the inclusion orders to bring numerous suits in many different district courts." 389 U.S., at 505, n. 4, 88 S.Ct., at 612, n. 4.
Petitioners also rely on our decision in Provident Bank, supra, as authority for the view which they espouse. In that case we discussed Rule 19 shortly after parts of it had been substantially revised, but we expressly left open the question whether preclusive effect might be attributed to a failure to intervene. 390 U.S., at 114-115, 88 S.Ct., at 740-741.
Petitioners contend that a different result should be reached because the need to join affected parties will be burdensome and ultimately discouraging to civil rights litigation. Potential adverse claimants may be numerous and difficult to identify; if they are not joined, the possibility for inconsistent judgments exists. Judicial resources will be needlessly consumed in relitigation of the same question.
Even if we were wholly persuaded by these arguments as a matter of policy, acceptance of them would require a rewriting rather than an interpretation of the relevant Rules. But we are not persuaded that their acceptance would lead to a more satisfactory method of handling cases like these. It must be remembered that the alternatives are a duty to intervene based on knowledge, on the one hand, and some form of joinder, as the Rules presently provide, on the other. No one can seriously contend that an employer might successfully defend against a Title VII claim by one group of employees on the ground that its actions were required by an earlier decree entered in a suit brought against it by another, if the later group did not have adequate notice or knowledge of the earlier suit.
The difficulties petitioners foresee in identifying those who could be adversely affected by a decree granting broad remedial relief are undoubtedly present, but they arise from the nature of the relief sought and not be ause of any choice between mandatory intervention and joinder. Rule 19's provisions for joining interested parties are designed to accommodate the sort of complexities that may arise from a decree affecting numerous people in various ways. We doubt that a mandatory intervention rule would be any less awkward. As mentioned, plaintiffs who seek the aid of the courts to alter existing employment policies, or the employer who might be subject to conflicting decrees, are best able to bear the burden of designating those who would be adversely affected if plaintiffs prevail; these parties will generally have a better understanding of the scope of likely relief than employees who are not named but might be affected. Petitioners' alternative does not eliminate the need for, or difficulty of, identifying persons who, because of their interests, should be included in a lawsuit. It merely shifts that responsibility to less able shoulders.
Nor do we think that the system of joinder called for by the Rules is likely to produce more relitigation of issues than the converse rule. The breadth of a lawsuit and concomitant relief may be at least partially shaped in advance through Rule 19 to avoid needless clashes with future litigation. And even under a regime of mandatory intervention, parties who did not have adequate knowledge of the suit would relitigate issues. Additional questions about the adequacy and timeliness of knowledge would inevitably crop up. We think that the system of joinder presently contemplated by the Rules best serves the many interests involved in the run of litigated cases, including cases like the present ones.
"[P]arties who choose to resolve litigation through settlement may not dispose of the claims of a third party . . . without that party's agreement. A court's approval of a consent decree between some of the parties therefore cannot dispose of the valid claims of nonconsenting intervenors." Firefighters v. Cleveland, 478 U.S. 501, 529, 106 S.Ct. 3063, 3079, 92 L.Ed.2d 405 (1986).
For the foregoing reasons we affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. That court remanded the case for trial of the reverse discrimination claims. Birmingham Reverse Discrimination, 833 F.2d, at 1500-1502. Petitioners point to language in the District Court's findings of fact and conclusions of law which suggests that respondents will not prevail on the merits. We agree with the view of the Court of Appeals, however, that the proceedings in the District Court may have been affected by the mistaken view that respondents' claims on the merits were barred to the extent they were inconsistent with the consent decree.
^1 Judge Anderson, dissenting, "agree[d] with the opinion for the court that these plaintiffs [the Wilks respondents] were not parties to the prior litigation which resulted in the consent decree, and that the instant plaintiffs are not bound by the consent decree and should be free on remand to challenge the consent decree prospectively and test its validity against the recent Supreme Court precedent." In re Birmingham Reverse Discrimination Employment Litigation, 833 F.2d, at 1503. He distinguished, however, between claims for prospective relief and claims for backpay, the latter being barred, in his opinion, by the City's good-faith reliance on the decrees. Id., at 1502.
^2 We have recognized an exception to the general rule when, in certain limited circumstances, a person, although not a party, has his interests adequately represented by someone with the same interests who is a party. See Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32, 41-42, 61 S.Ct. 115, 117-118, 85 L.Ed. 22 (1940) ("class" or "representative" suits); Fed.Rule Civ.Proc. 23 (same); Montana v. United States, 440 U.S. 147, 154-155, 99 S.Ct. 970, 974-975, 59 L.Ed.2d 210 (1979) (control of litigation on behalf of one of the parties in the litigation). Additionally, where a special remedial scheme exists expressly foreclosing successive litigation by nonlitigants, as for example in bankruptcy or probate, legal proceedings may terminate preexisting rights if the scheme is otherwise consistent with due process. See NLRB v. Bildisco & Bildisco, 465 U.S. 513, 529-530, n. 10, 104 S.Ct. 1188, 1198, n. 10, 79 L.Ed.2d 482 (1984) ("[P]roof of claim must be presented to the Bankruptcy Court . . . or be lost"); Tulsa Professional Collection Services, Inc. v. Pope, 485 U.S. 478, 108 S.Ct. 1340, 99 L.Ed.2d 565 (1988) (nonclaim statute terminating unsubmitted claims against the estate). Neither of these exceptions, however, applies in these cases.
^3 For a sampling of cases from the Circuits applying the "impermissible collateral attack" rule or its functional equivalent, see, e.g., Striff v. Mason, 849 F.2d 240, 245 (CA6 1988); Marino v. Ortiz, 806 F.2d 1144, 1146-1147 (CA2 1986), aff'd, by an equally divided Court, 484 U.S. 301, 108 S.Ct. 586, 98 L.Ed.2d 629 (1988); Thaggard v. Jackson, 687 F.2d 66, 68-69 (CA5 1982), cert. denied sub nom. Ashley v. City of Jackson, 464 U.S. 900, 104 S.Ct. 255, 78 L.Ed.2d 241 (1983) (REHNQUIST, J., joined by BRENNAN, J., dissenting); Stotts v. Memphis Fire Dept., 679 F.2d 541, 558 (CA6 1982), rev'd on other grounds sub nom. Firefighters v. Stotts, 467 U.S. 561, 104 S.Ct. 2576, 81 L.Ed.2d 483 (1984); Dennison v. Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power, 658 F.2d 694, 696 (CA9 1981); Goins v. Bethlehem Steel Corp., 657 F.2d 62, 64 (CA4 1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 940, 102 S.Ct. 1431, 71 L.Ed.2d 650 (1982); Society Hill Civic Assn. v. Harris, 632 F.2d 1045, 1052 (CA3 1980). Apart from the instant one, the only Circuit decision of which we are aware that would generally allow collateral attacks on consent decrees by nonparties is Dunn v. Carey, 808 F.2d 555, 559-560 (CA7 1986).
^6 The dissent argues, on the one hand, that respondents have not been "bound" by the decree but, rather, that they are only suffering practical adverse effects from the consent decree. Post, at 770-772. On the other hand, the dissent characterizes respondents' suit not as an assertion of their own independent rights, but as a collateral attack on the consent decrees which, it is said, can only proceed on very limited grounds. Post, at 783-787. Respondents in their suit have alleged that they are being racially discriminated against by their employer in violation of Title VII: either the fact that the disputed employment decisions are being made pursuant to a co sent decree is a defense to respondents' Title VII claims or it is not. If it is a defense to challenges to employment practices which would otherwise violate Title VII, it is very difficult to see why respondents are not being "bound" by the decree.


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"Male Development of Chromosomally Female Mice Transgenic for Sry gene" (1991), by Peter Koopman, et al.
Early 1990s research conducted by Peter Koopman, John Gubbay, Nigel Vivian, Peter Goodfellow, and Robin Lovell-Badge, showed that chromosomally female (XX) mice embryos can develop as male with the addition of a genetic fragment from the Y chromosome of male mice. The genetic fragment contained a segment of the mouse Sry gene, which is analogous to the human SRY gene. The researchers sought to identify Sry gene as the gene that produced the testis determining factor protein (Tdf protein in mice or TDF protein in humans), which initiates the formation of testis.
Paul Kammerer's Experiments on Salamanders (1903-1912)
In the early twentieth century, Paul Kammerer conducted a series of experiments to demonstrate that organisms could transmit characteristics acquired in their lifetimes to their offspring. In his 1809 publication, zoologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck had hypothesized that living beings can inherit features their parents or ancestors acquired throughout life. By breeding salamanders, as well as frogs and other organisms, Kammerer tested Lamarck's hypothesis in an attempt to provide evidence for Lamarck's theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics.
Paul Kammerer's Experiments on Sea-squirts in the Early Twentieth Century
In the early twentieth century, Paul Kammerer, a zoologist working at the Vivarium in Vienna, Austria, experimented on sea-squirts (Ciona intestinalis). Kammerer claimed that results from his experiments demonstrated that organisms could transmit characteristics that they had acquired in their lifetimes to their offspring. Kammerer conducted breeding experiments on sea-squirts and other organisms at a time when Charles Darwin's 1859 theory of evolution lacked evidence to explain how offspring inherited traits from their parents.
Subject: Experiments, Organisms
Oviraptor philoceratops Dinosaurs
Oviraptor philoceratops was a small bird-like dinosaur that lived about seventy-five million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period. In 1923, George Olsen of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City, New York, discovered the first Oviraptor fossilized skeleton on top of a dinosaur egg nest in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia. Because of the close proximity of dinosaur and nest, when Henry Fairfield Osborn president of the AMNH published on the discovery, he assumed that the Oviraptor had died attempting to steal the eggs.
40 Weeks (2014)
In 2014, Big Belli, a media and social networking brand, released a documentary called 40 Weeks online. The documentary, directed by Christopher Henze, followed multiple women during their pregnancies. The film predominantly features three women, though it includes the stories of many. Throughout the film, women detail their accounts of the physical and emotional changes that occur during pregnancy.
"Improving Women's Health": Section 3509 of the Affordable Care Act of 2010
In 2010, US Congress enacted section 3509 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or ACA, to target issues relating to women's health. The ACA, signed into law by US President Barack Obama, aimed to increase people's access to high-quality healthcare in the United States.
Alec Jeffreys's Experiments to Identify Individuals by Their Beta-globin Genes (1977-1979)
In a series of experiments in the late 1970s, Alec J. Jeffreys in the UK and Richard A. Flavell in the Netherlands developed a technique to detect variations in the DNA of different individuals. They compared fragments of DNA from individuals' beta-globin genes, which produce a protein in hemoglobin. Previously, to identify biological material, scientists focused on proteins rather than on genes. But evidence about proteins enabled scientists only to exclude, but not to identify, individuals as the sources of the biological samples.
Bellotti v. Baird (1979)
On 2 July 1979, the United States Supreme Court decided Bellotti v. Baird, ruling that a Massachusetts law that prohibited minors from obtaining abortions without parental consent was unconstitutional. That law prohibited minors from receiving abortions without permission from both of their parents or a superior court judge. Under that law, if one or both of the minor's parents denied consent, the minor could petition a superior court judge who would determine whether the minor was competent enough to make the decision to abort on her own.
Sperm Capacitation
The male body, followed by male reproductive organs from which the sperm originates, is depicted from top to bottom at the left. Under the male reproductive organs is a diagram of a single sperm. To the right of the sperm diagram, the physiological and morphological changes a sperm undergoes to fertilize an egg are depicted from left to right. Each change is associated with a light pink rectangle background. Each light pink rectangle corresponds to the location of the sperm within the female reproductive organs, which is depicted above it.
Subject: Theories, Processes
The Baby Makers (2012)
In 2012, the production company Waddell Media Production released the documentary The Baby Makers. The four-part series, directed and produced by Edel O'Mahony, follows multiple couples in Northern Ireland struggling with infertility problems as they utilize different treatments such as in vitro fertilization, or IVF, egg donation, and egg freezing. IVF is a procedure in which a woman's egg is fertilized by a sperm outside of her body. Once the sperm fertilizes the egg, a fertility doctor places the fertilized egg back into the woman's uterus.
Subject: Outreach
Sheldon Clark Reed (1910-2003)
Sheldon Clark Reed helped establish the profession of genetic counseling in the US during the twentieth century. In 1947 Reed coined the term genetic counseling to describe the interaction of a doctor explaining to a patient the likelihood of passing a certain trait to their offspring. With physicians being able to test for genetic abnormalities like cystic fibrosis, Reed helped trained individuals give patients the tools to make informed decisions. In 1955 Reed published the book Counseling in Medical Genetics.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Praise for "When the World Stopped to Listen"
"A great book about a great American musician who, in the tensions of Cold War, helped move our world from war to peace."
— Sergei Khrushchev
"Exciting, thorough, and deeply moving... a most satisfying experience."
— Emanuel Ax
"...Marvelously researched and written. I couldn't put the book down."
— Yefim Bronfman
"Beautifully written, this is an insider's report of the onstage and offstage drama around the 1958 triumph of Van Cliburn and the incredible musical events that led to a Cold War 'thaw'..."
— André Watts
"A spellbinding, even a startling, adventure story, starring the legendary American pianist: a life of triumph and tragedy."
— David Dubal
"[Cliburn's] triumph and subsequent career can be understood only in the context of Cold War political, social, and musical tensions, a heady mix that Stuart Isacoff examines with unusual skill."
— Garrick Ohlsson
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When the World Stopped to Listen
Van Cliburn's Cold War Triumph, and Its Aftermath
"When the World Stopped to Listen: Van Cliburn's Cold War Triumph and Its Aftermath is an absorbing read of a real life cultural fairy tale at the intersection of classical music and politics. It's about holding on to love when genius disappears. It's about the depth music reaches in our hearts. And the Cold War part of the title is becoming frighteningly relevant."
— Huffington Post
"For a real insight into Van Cliburn's character, the inside story of the Moscow competition and the pianist's subsequent decline, the book to turn to is Stuart Isacoff's 'When the World Stopped to Listen.'"
— Gramophone
"Not only is Isacoff's prose evocative, he is both a pianist and a historian of the piano. His descriptions are often music lessons in themselves. … [the competing book on Cliburn] is... shot through with errors and simplifications."
— Tim Page, New York Review of Books
"Stuart Isacoff's 'When the World Stopped to Listen' is the more informed of [recent Cliburn] volumes, a tightly focused monograph that... profits from the fact that the author is himself a pianist. … If you want to know why Cliburn played the way he played — and how his distinctive style helped him win — then Mr. Isacoff is your man."
— The Wall Street Journal
"I have never read a more beautiful or penetrating description of Cliburn's Moscow triumph. … I'm grateful to the author for this deeply human portrait of the man so many of us in Texas grew to love. Through this book, it seems we can finally know Van Cliburn."
— Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
"Nigel Cliff's book Moscow Nights covers much of the same ground, and with greater emphasis on the political background. However, it is Isacoff — as a pianist himself — who paints a better and more vivid picture of Van. Beautifully written, this will undoubtedly be the reference book about the life of a pianist who, not unlike the Russian Sputnik satellites which shot to world fame as fast as they burnt out, left a blinding light in piano history." (Read the full review)
— Pianist (U.K)
"Isacoff places the glory within an illuminating framework that includes the pianist's touching final years.… This well-rounded biography will move readers."
— Booklist
"Isacoff pulls aside the curtain on the competition, from the backroom dealings to the (disgusting and dangerous) contents of the drug cocktail that fueled Cliburn to victory. He combines a sharp, unsparing biographical eye with a mastery of the musical and social history of the time."
— Book Reporter
"When the World Stopped to Listen is a great book about a great American musician who, in the tensions of Cold War, helped move our world from war to peace, from direct confrontation to peaceful coexistence."
— Sergei Khrushchev, author, Khrushchev in Power
"Stuart Isacoff's book is an exciting, thorough, and deeply moving reminder of Van Cliburn's triumph at the Tchaikovsky Competition. His penetrating comments on the elements that made Cliburn's playing so profoundly involving, and his sympathetic chronicle of the pianist's life, make this book a most satisfying experience."
— Emanuel Ax, musician
"A gripping story of an iconic American pianist, set in a dark era of the Cold War. A great read, not only for musicians, marvelously researched and written. I couldn't put the book down.
— Yefim Bronfman, concert pianist
"Stuart Isacoff lets us relive the career-birth of an American musical hero and a politically momentous event as profound as the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Beautifully written, this is an insider's report of the onstage and offstage drama around the 1958 triumph of Van Cliburn and the incredible musical events that led to a Cold War 'thaw' which changed the musical and political history of the world."
— André Watts, concert pianist
"Within the orbit of complex musical and Cold War intrigues, Stuart Isacoff, a stellar researcher, tells a spellbinding, even a startling, adventure story, starring the legendary American pianist: a life of triumph and tragedy."
— David Dubal, The Juilliard School
"When the World Stopped to Listen, a remarkably candid, sensitive, and level-headed narration of Van Cliburn's life, paints a broad and enlightening picture of the Soviet Union and the United Stated during Cliburn's musical ascendency. His triumph and subsequent career can be understood only in the context of Cold War political, social, and musical tensions, a heady mix that Stuart Isacoff examines with unusual skill.
— Garrick Ohlsson, concert pianist
"With Van Cliburn's remarkable victory in the 1958 Tchaikovsky Competition as centerpiece, Stuart Isacoff has given us a sensitive, in-depth portrait of the triumphs and tragedies which plagued Cliburn for the rest of his life."
— Martin Bookspan, broadcaster
"The singular odyssey of the Cold War's remarkable pianistic icon is recounted in a breathtaking synergy of unprecedented worldwide scholarship, fervent musical insight, and virtuoso storytelling. Stuart Isacoff recreates in telling detail the sights and sounds of an extraordinary time and voyage, one whose resonance continues both musically and diplomatically to this day. For any follower of matters cultural, societal, or historical, this is a volume that is most simply, and admirably, indispensable."
— Sara Davis Buechner, pianist
"Filled with behind-the-scenes stories and rare eyewitness accounts, this book will delight lovers of music and history alike. Stuart Isacoff finds the perfect balance of the private, public, cultural and political dimensions of Van Cliburn's life."
— Alek Laskowski, classical music broadcaster
"Extensively researched and illuminating, When the World Stopped to Listen revisits the 1958 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow from a broader perspective, providing new information about that event and its elusive winner, Van Cliburn.
— Barbara Jepson, President, Music Critics Association of North America
© Stuart Isacoff


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This hotel open in public 2010 with 510 room in 17 floors.


If you have 2 days to visit Angkor Wat then we will most likely have the chance to see the breathtaking sunrise in Angkor Wat. For that we will wake up early in the morning and i will pick you up in your hotel around 04:30am so that we get there early for you to get a good spot. After this we will cover all of the most important and beautiful temples (South Gate of Angkor Thom, the Bayon complex, the Elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King, Baphoun and Phimean Akas temple, the famous Ta Prohm temple and in the afternoon we can visit Angkor Wat from the inside).
*The itinerary is totally up to YOU.
*Book now, pay later (when you are here).
*Pick up/drop off to your place of accommodation in Siem Riep.
*Price will vary depending if you do sunrise or not.
* I have my own itineraries for those who want.
Angkor Thom (Khmer: អង្គរធំ; literally: "Great City"), (alternative name: Nokor Thom, Khmer: នគរធំ) located in present-day Cambodia, was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. It was established in the late twelfth century by King Jayavarman VII. It covers an area of 9 km², within which are located several monuments from earlier eras as well as those established by Jayavarman and his successors. At the centre of the city is Jayavarman's state temple, the Bayon, with the other major sites clustered around the Victory Square immediately to the north.
Angkor Wat (/ˌæŋkɔːr ˈwɒt/; Khmer: អង្គរវត្ត, "Capital Temple") is a temple complex in Cambodia and one of the largest religious monuments in the world, on a site measuring 162.6 hectares (1,626,000 m2; 402 acres). It was originally constructed as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, gradually transforming into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura (Khmer: យសោធរបុរៈ, present-day Angkor), the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum.
Ta Prohm (Khmer: ប្រាសាទតាព្រហ្ម, pronunciation: prasat taprohm) is the modern name of the temple at Angkor, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, built in the Bayon style largely in the late 12th and early 13th centuries and originally called Rajavihara (in Khmer: រាជវិហារ). Located approximately one kilometre east of Angkor Thom and on the southern edge of the East Baray, it was founded by the Khmer King Jayavarman VII:125:388 as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and university. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Ta Prohm is in much the same condition in which it was found: the photogenic and atmospheric combination of trees growing out of the ruins and the jungle surroundings have made it one of Angkor's most popular temples with visitors. UNESCO inscribed Ta Prohm on the World Heritage List in 1992.


§ 12. The police shall have immediate access to a member of the security forces who has used or is reasonably suspected of having used lethal force.'.
In Committee, the use of lethal force by the security forces was considered on several occasions. There has been a continuing debate on the issue—the matter was raised when last we had a full review of the Act in the previous Parliament. The new clause and the amendment attempt to deal with subsequent developments in the debate.
Amendment No. 39 seeks to complement the codes of practice issued under sections 48 and 49 of the Act by including guidance to the security forces on circumstances in which it is legitimate to use force. Given the controversies over the use of force by the security forces, and the implications for public confidence in the security forces, such a guide would help to clarify the nature of security force operations.
In his penultimate report, Lord Colville stated that the major difficulty for the administration of justice stemmed from deaths caused by the security forces. We have only to think of the Armagh killings and the Whiterock bookies shop case and other incidents to understand the passions and problems involved. Large sections of society believe that the security forces are immune from the law, and a number of killings by the security forces are not regarded as unavoidable or representing the legitimate use of force.
The new clause and the amendment are a response to the concern expressed by the Standing Advisory Committee on Human Rights last February. The new schedule copies the draft code of practice proposed by SACHR. It says that it is a "tentative draft" to provide a focus for proper consideration of the issue, but if the Government were to accept the principle of what we are urging we should be happy for them to produce a better 379 draft. The key elements of the draft code suggested by SACHR are as follows. The minimum possible force should be deployed, force should be used only when it is unavoidable, and senior officers should be held responsible for the actions of their subordinates if they permit violations of the code of practice.
The first principle differs from the existing provision in so far as it replaces the concept of reasonable force with the concept of minimum force. Such a standard would facilitate public understanding of the limits of legitimate use of force by the security forces. Using force only when it is unavoidable also differs from existing practice in so far as the existing law allows for the use of lethal force to apprehend a person who cannot otherwise be arrested. The logic behind it is that the failure to arrest an individual may allow that person to escape and commit further crimes of violence at a later date. While that is understandable, the practical consequences have been damaging as it has become lawful to use lethal force to apprehend a person who, it subsequently becomes apparent, is not a terrorist. The code of practice is designed to prevent recurrence of such incidents by ensuring that firearms can be used to effect an arrest only if there is immediate danger of a grave threat to life.
The purpose of making superiors responsible for avoidable breaches of the code of practice is to provide an incentive to maintain high standards of discipline. In addition, given that the preparation of an operation by superior officers may have a substantial influence on the behaviour of subordinates during an operation, the code of practice considers the responsibility of those who plan and those who conduct operations.
Paragraph 12 of the schedule deals with a problem that has caused some concern. When members of the security forces are involved in incidents where lethal force is used, RUC officers investigating such operations have experienced some difficulty gaining access to carry out questioning. The schedule would require access to be granted, thus eliminating any suggestion that such incidents are not properly investigated by the authorities.
Lord Colville has paid great attention to this issue over several years. In it report on the concept of the taking of human life, the other place also paid attention to the proposals, some based on the Australian code of practice, made by Lord Colville. Our proposal is based essentially on the recent proposals of SACHR. The code embodies what it is seeking and what it believes, in the interests human rights, should be adopted in Northern Ireland.
The hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, North (Mr. McNamara) said that the schedule in the amendment setting out the code of practice is based on the tentative views of the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights and it says that its proposals are based in part on a draft resolution prepared by a United Nations body. That makes one a little concerned—I say a little because in some respects I support the objective behind the new clause. There is merit in having a code of guidance on the use of potentially lethal force and in spelling out in more detail the rather old terms of section 3 of the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967. That is the ordinary criminal law base from which the security forces operate in the use of potentially lethal force, in all circumstances, not just in the emergency provisions.
380 An examination of the draft code shows that there are problems, which SACHR acknowledged. Comparing its document with the yellow card, it states: the yellow card expressly permits the use of lethal force to effect an arrest of someone who has just killed or injured another person, where there is no other way to make an arrest, while the UN Basic Principles permit the use of lethal force to effect an arrest only where the person continues to present an imminent threat of death or serious injury and where less extreme means are insufficient. It should be noted that this difference is probably an accurate statement of the current judicial interpretation of the terms of section 3 of the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967". The code is not an accurate statement of the law.
Paragraph 7 of SACHR's report—which I think hon.
Members received—states: In the second place the UN Basic Principles include more detailed provisions in respect of the responsibility of superior officers for the actions of their subordinates. There is no such provision in the yellow card. This again reflects a distinction which is inherent in the prevailing judicial interpretation … in … section 3 of the Criminal Law Act. SACHR acknowledges that its code does not correspond with the law.
If the code were enacted, we should have to change section 3 of the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967. If we enacted the code at present, we would be inaccurate and would give effect to something much narrower than section 3. Under new clause 17, failure to comply with the code will be an offence punishable on conviction by imprisonment for two years. The code is inappropriate. I have great difficulty understanding how one could comply with it.
(2) to prevent the commission of a particularly serious crime involving a grave threat to life".
How does one work out that the commission of a serious crime will involve a "grave threat to life"? How does one work out that there will be imminent threat of death or serious injury"? The paragraph refers to "serious" injury rather than just injury. A soldier is expected to deal with those complex issues in the agony of the moment, when a terrorist may use lethal force without the slightest compunction. Having decided that his action comes within those provisions, he is not to use force unless he gives the warning, "Army: stop or I fire", or words to that effect. The proposed schedule states that those words "are to be used". If they are not used, it will mean a failure to comply, which is an offence punishable by imprisonment for a certain term. That is not an appropriate measure.
I am not familiar with United Nations proceedings, so I do not understand why the United Nations document is only a draft resolution and did not proceed further perhaps it was because it was unrealistic. I hesitate to add to my criticisms of SACHR on other occasions, but I am not surprised that it adopted an unrealistic set of principles. SACHR does not have the competence to draw up such a code because it does not understand the position that soldiers and policemen will face. Although SACHR pointed out the difference betweent the code and the law, 381 it did not give due weight to the fact that under the law soldiers and policemen are under a duty to arrest persons whom they believe to be law breakers. They must use such force as reasonable to achieve that arrest. The code appears to weaken the duty on the police and the Army. The net effect will be that persons guilty of crime, or those whom the security forces suspect to be guilty, will go free.
I know that tragic mistakes have been made in Northern Ireland which have affected all sides of the community. Sometimes one wonders about the mistakes that generate concern and the principles that operate in such circumstances.
No one likes to see mistakes made, but they are unavoidable. The recent conflict in the Gulf has served to show that in a war, or in a situation where arms are used, mistakes will be made. When those mistakes occur, however, we must not lose sight of the fact that the ultimate responsibility for them rests with those who have created the violence. When members of the security forces act negligently and incorrectly and mistakenly kill others, we must not forget that the ultimate responsibility lies with the terrorist organisations.
Although I feel some sympathy with the concept of a code of practice, the present code of practice is not good. I do not like the provision in subsection (3) of the new clause to make that code of practice legally enforceable with criminal sanctions. For that reason, I cannot support the new clause or the schedule.
I agree with the hon. Member for Upper Bann (Mr. Trimble). If one looks at the current situation in Northern Ireland realistically, one must recognise that the schedule would put the terrorist at a tremendous advantage compared with the security forces.
I do not believe that the House appreciates the seriousness of the situation in Northern Ireland. A close friend of mine is approaching the end of his life in the Royal Victoria hospital. I cannot go to visit him without three Land Rovers of police and three Land Rovers of soldiers. I was speaking to another clergyman who also visits that hospital and he goes there in the same way. We are up against a serious situation in Northern Ireland.
Members of the security forces seek to provide protection and to defend the community against terrorism. If they were not allowed to draw their guns unless a superior officer tells them to do so, and so on, those people would have no defence and would be shot down. Terrorists will look upon the code of practice as a magna calla for success. We must be realistic.
I agree with the hon. Member for Upper Bann that there should be such a code of conduct, but it must be realistic in view of the terrorist threat. The code of practice is unrealistic. Members of the security forces may as well not be armed if they are unable to defend themselves and those who need to be defended. The code of practice envisaged in the new clause would make it impossible for members of the security forces to provide such protection from the current terrorist threat that we are up against.
I support my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull, North (Mr. McNamara), who moved the new clause.
We all agree that there is far too much use of lethal force in Northern Ireland and that there is too much killing. Both sides of the House deplore the use of force by 382 paramilitary organisations. We should also deplore the unjustified use of force by members of the security forces. Such unjustified use of force by the security forces is even worse in a sense than the use of lethal force by terrorist organisations. When the security forces resort to the unjustified use of lethal force, they are not just placing themselves at the same level as the terrorists they are supposed to be combating, but reducing if not eradicating respect for law and order. That can have serious repercussions in any society.
Sadly, over the past 20 years or more, there have been far too many instances of the use of unjustified force by members of the security forces. Hon. Members have said that mistakes are made, but we have a responsibility to try to create a legislative framework that will minimise the possibility of mistakes which may result in people being wrongfully killed. The account of former Assistant Chief Constable Stalker and his evidence points to a shoot-to-kill policy by the RUC. The Army and the Ulster Defence Regiment have killed people in circumstances which, to say the least, have been questionable.
Quite apart from those killed by the use of what might be called conventional weaponry, some people have been killed by plastic bullets fired by the security forces. We should not lose sight of that. Three or four years ago, I introduced a Bill that sought to abolish the use of plastic bullets in Northern Ireland or in any other part of the United Kingdom. At that time, the statistics showed that about 15 people had been lethally injured by plastic or rubber bullets. Most of them were children or young people who by no stretch of the imagination could have been described as suspected terrorists. Some of them were killed by plastic bullets fired at point blank range.
I do not know whether amendment No. 39 covers plastic bullets. I suspect that they might be covered, because that amendment refers to people "about to fire a weapon" and mentions "an explosive device".
Hon. Members spoke about the yellow card and the existing code of conduct, which may or may not be observed in all circumstances. It is plain that the code of practice is grossly inadequate, so we should accept the new clause and its related schedule.
I invariably shudder when I hear the word "accident" used in relation to lethal weapons. I vividly remember an occasion when Mr. Gerry Adams spoke on behalf of the organisation that he leads after a baby had been shot in Belfast. He pontificated to the world and said there would always be accidents when firearms were used, but he offered his organisation's apologies to the baby's mother and father and to all concerned for the death of the child. That is appalling. It is also appalling to use the word "accidents", especially in relation to circumstances in which there were other alternatives.
Public concern in the north of Ireland has made a clear distinction down through the years between a soldier, perhaps under threat from a sniper or a sudden movement, acting instinctively and using his weapon, and those incidents which have become issues of great contention, almost all of which happened during a concerted effort by the armed forces—in other words, when they were involved in a specific manoeuvre which would itself have made possible an arrest with the minimum use of force, not a matter of being overpowered or of superior fire power 383 coming from those whom the armed forces might have intended to arrest. In the real shoot-to-kill incidents, those people were unarmed.
If we look at the trend through the years, we see that not only have such incidents arisen during a manoeuvre, but they have been accompanied by erroneous intelligence. Almost invariably, when there is a controversial incident, one finds that the Army personnel involved were pumped up with adrenalin as a result of intelligence which ultimately proved faulty. I can be specific about that. We have only to look at the last three serious incidents in the north of Ireland to see that grossly faulty intelligence was at the root of them.
The problem is that, once an Army patrol is given intelligence and is primed to believe that, at a certain place and time and in a certain way, it will be facing dangerous and heavily armed people, the men in that patrol will naturally be in an aggressive frame of mind. When they are working on crucially faulty intelligence, the guilt lies with those who presented them with that intelligence and the direction under which they are operating. That is the substantial difference between what are now known in the north of Ireland as shoot-to-kill incidents and other incidents in which people have been killed as a result of other circumstances.
I remember clearly in my constituency when a bus 384 driver was shot at the permanent checkpoint in Middletown as a result of a conversation that he was having with a member of the security forces. Does one class that as a shoot-to-kill incident? That was a tragic circumstance for that man and his family, and for the young soldier involved. But when people have been stopped and searched and it has been established that they are not in possession of weapons and within a short time and less than 100 yards they are shot dead, one has to ask substantial and serious questions. Therein lies the difference.
I accept some of the criticisms of the new clause and schedule. The hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, North (Mr. McNamara) himself acknowledges how difficult it is to draft with a high degree of accuracy a schedule that meets every situation. Nevertheless, I support the schedule, because I do not accept the Gerry Adams thesis that in a war—we talked earlier about the use of that dangerous term—there will always be accidents. That argument plays right into the hands of people such as Mr. Adams, who spuriously apologised for the killing of a little child some years ago.
The new clause is the nearest that we have come to facing a problem that the Bill does not address, and I hope that it will be supported on the ground that a substantial change is needed.
I oppose the new clause. We have seen tonight that there is no shortage of armchair critics who know little about facing terrorists and what it is for a young man to go out to defend the innocent people of a community and risk being shot at any and every corner.
It is easy for hon. Members who sit in the comfort of the House and do not have to share the experiences of our soldiers, UDR members, police and reserves, who have to face the terrorist threat in our community. It is disgraceful to link our security personnel and their responses to anything that has come from the lips of the hypocritical Gerry Adams. That is not worthy of any further reference.
Some hon. Members—perhaps one cannot blame them for this, because they are far removed from the situation —seem to think that we in Ulster are in the midst of a picnic rather than in the midst of cruel warfare. Irrespective of whether the Government want to face this fact, the IRA has openly declared war on the British establishment and the British Ulster people. Sinn Fein means "Ourselves Alone'—and that certainly does not mean the British Ulster man or woman.
We are facing a bloodthirsty animal in the IRA terrorist. One might also think—if one attaches any credence to some of the remarks made a few moments ago —that our security forces are on the rampage, looking for innocent victims to shoot to kill, and that they have not performed their duties with great honour and diligence. I want to place on record the fact that our security forces and the forces of the Crown have acted with great courage and exemplary restraint over the past 20 years of murder and destruction in Northern Ireland.
No doubt everyone can recount an incident in which someone has stepped outside the law—but they will have received their proper and due judgment. I wish, however, that hon. Members who are so quick to criticise and find fault were equally eloquent when it came to giving due praise to the security forces in the Province for facing the dastardly enemy in our midst.
Our security forces operate under a severe disadvantage every time they go out. Unfortunately, they are often reacting—the Government: have decided on a policy of reaction—rather than acting against the terrorists and their enclaves. The advantage is in the hands of the terrorists. For example, they have the element of surprise.
Terrorists can watch the movements of the security forces. Doubtless they can watch a young man walk up the street to go on duty. They can watch young UDR men as they leave and return to their homes and establish what time they go on duty. That has happened too often. They have been allowed to go up the road safely for as long as a year, but then they let down their guard and the IRA murders them on their way to the UDR camp or the police station. That chapter has been written over and over again.
We must sit back for a moment and reflect on whether we should make it more difficult for members of the security forces to carry out their duties. It is easy to say that they should have done it differently. With hindsight, it is easy to pontificate about the manner in which they should have arrested someone and to question whether minimum force was used.
386 The hon. Member for Falkirk, West (Mr. Canavan) talked about Stalker, but I do not remember how many times Mr. Stalker had to face an IRA bullet or bomb. I cannot recall the number of times that he was out on duty in Northern Ireland and faced terrorists on the streets. I cannot remember the number of times that he went on duty to find out the reality of the situation. If people put their minds together they will find, I think, that he was never on the streets of Northern Ireland in uniform. It was easy for him, who came from the comfort of some plush office, with his airs and graces, and had no understanding whatsoever of reality.
Hon. Members have paraded the shoot-to-kill policy in the House tonight. Yes, there is a shoot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland. The IRA has a full-blooded shoot-to-kill policy and intends to shoot every policeman, every UDR man and every Army lad or lassie who comes to the Province. That is the reality, and there is little or no hindrance whatsover to their efforts. The House ought to give credit and honour where it is due—to members of our security forces.
In relation to the plastic bullet issue, it was suggested that no young person could be responsible for terrorist activity. If the hon. Members for Upper Bann (Mr. Trimble) and for Londonderry, East (Mr. Ross) were listening, they would find it interesting to learn that there is a new terrorist cell in our locality. We have information that those who are being trained as the major gunmen are between 14 and 16 years of age. That is a new departure. I do not know whether they cannot get older people into the IRA groups. However, it is interesting that information from the security forces shows that, in our locality, the people who are going out to pull the trigger are very young.
I hope that I misheard the hon. Gentleman. Did he confirm that the information that formed the basis of the allegation came directly from the security forces in the north of Ireland? Is he willing to put that on record?
I do not think that that was what the hon. Gentleman wanted to say when he tried to intervene earlier. Let me tell him, however, that the people of Northern Ireland have often heard him parading, in the media, what he has been told by some member of the security forces. It is ridiculous for him to suggest that he alone should be allowed to hear things on the grapevine.
No. I have already given way to the hon. Gentleman once, and I want to finish what I am saying.
The hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, North (Mr. McNamara) said that no one could suggest that young people would be involved in the use of plastic bullets. Does he not realise that the IRA do not care who they use as a human shield—that fancy term that was coined during the Gulf war? They do not care if the child whom they put in the front line is killed by a plastic bullet. In the past, they have been willing to put not only women and children but even their own members in the front line, as long as they benefit from the propaganda.
I vividly remember the tragic case of the two young soldiers in west Belfast—two young men in a car who thought it wiser to hand themselves over to the republicans 387 than to draw their guns to defend themselves. They were killed. Anyone who remembers that incident will know that there was nothing pleasing in it: it was one of the most despicable, disgraceful and horrifying things that have ever been witnessed, as the films and photographs that were taken at the time will confirm. Many observers believe that those two young men died because they were afraid to break the yellow-card restrictions, fearing that, if they escaped with their lives, they would end up in court being treated as criminals.
I oppose the new clause, and I think that anyone who has any knowledge of what it is like to be a serving member of the security forces will do the same.
I have two main objections to the new clause and amendment No. 39. First, if they were adopted, the substantive law on self-defence would be fundamentally and radically changed in a way that would have important consequences for our criminal law. The Opposition have cooked up an amendment which they admit is based on tentative conclusions derived from a draft document laid before the United Nations. That gives no authority to the proposition that the general law of this country should be changed. If it is to be changed—if there is anything in the contention that the existing law is inadequate or wrong—surely the matter should be properly discussed outside the House.
The opinions of military and legal experts should be obtained and, if possible, some agreement should be reached. Until that is done, it would be highly irresponsible to accept such changes to the substantive law.
My second objection is that the new clause is rather airy-fairy. It is an idealised conception of what rules can be imposed on persons who must act in the agony of the moment. Her Majesty's forces are trained to use their weapons at such times, but no hon. Member can imagine what he would do. It is virtually impossible to lay down rules governing their behaviour in such circumstances.
Amendment No. 39 says: No live rounds are to be carried in the breech of a firearm … unless they are about to be fired. What an absurd suggestion, given the realities of war, violence and terrorism and the possibility that lurking around a corner ahead of a soldier is an armed man ready to open fire. Those rules will be imposed not on the IRA but on our representatives, who are protecting the ordinary people of Northern Ireland. It is absurd that we should say to them, "You cannot carry a live round in the breech of your gun because you have not had your superior officer's permission to do so. You must wait until you see your adversary aiming a gun at you before you are entitled to put a round in the breech of your gun."
That is so manifestly unreal that one reaches the conclusion that the Opposition have no faith in what they are doing but simply want to handicap the Government in their prosecution of the war against terrorism in Northern Ireland. For that reason, the new clause is a perfectly reprehensible idea.
When the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, North (Mr. McNamara) moved the new clause he said that we had discussed the use of lethal force several 388 times in Committee. It is right that we should do so again this evening because it is of considerable importance. As has been reflected in the debate, it leads to misconceptions. It is not frequently understood that split-second decisions must be taken when an incident is in progress. It also leads to the mistaken perception that there is, or has been, a shoot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland.
I acknowledge the strength of the concern expressed about the use of firearms by the security forces and the emotiveness of the issue in parts of the community in Northern Ireland. I recognise the argument advanced by the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights that a code, as proposed in the new clause, would provide a clear set of rules, with statutory effect, on the circumstances in which the security forces might use firearms, thereby showing the Government's commitment to the principle that the security forces are tightly governed by the rule of law and recognising the special circumstances in which the security forces operate in Northern Ireland.
The issues involved are complex. As he did in Committee, the hon. Member for Upper Bann (Mr. Trimble), with his legal training, illustrated some of the complexities and difficulties associated with the issue and with these proposals in particular. As I said in Committee, the use of firearms and the law on the use of force are matters that go beyond the emergency provisions legislation, since they affect the criminal law as a whole. It would be anomalous, in the Government's view, to make special provision for the circumstances in which policemen might open fire in dealing with suspected terrorists, but not in a range of other circumstances. We must also consider whether it would be desirable that the law on such a fundamental matter as the use of force in Northern Ireland should be distinct from that in England and Wales. These are thus issues which take the new clause and the amendment outside the scope of the Bill.
A statutory code of practice on the use of force, if such were to be introduced, would more properly belong in the ordinary criminal law, where the law on the use of force is to be found. As I explained to hon. Members in Committee, however, the Government will keep the issues under consideration. My Department accepted the offer of the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights to prepare a draft code so that we could see what it might look like and whether it was feasible or practicable for such a code to be drafted.
I have listened intently to the exchanges. In the analysis of a draft code of practice, will the Minister and his officials examine comparative evidence? Is it the case that such codes of practice exist in other states?
I am sorry that I cannot answer the hon. Gentleman's last question. Certainly, we would want to take wide cognisance of whatever information was available to us in the drafting of such a code, were we to decide to proceed in that way.
My question is much more fundamental. It relates to the central thrust of what the Minister has said so far. Is he of the opinion that a war is taking place in Northern Ireland?
What is taking place in Northern Ireland is a lot of criminal activity by criminals, by people 389 who are called terrorists and by thugs, but it is certainly not anything comparable to what we have just seen in the Gulf states. That was a war. I am not sure whether there is a lot to be gained from debating the semantics of the position.
We all recognise that there is the illegal use of force in Northern Ireland. The hon. Member for Mid-Ulster (Rev. William McCrea) was right. There is a shoot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland; it is conducted by terrorists, primarily by the Provisional IRA, but also by others, including loyalist terrorists. Whether the hon. Member for Newry and Armagh (Mr. Mallon) wants to call that war is a matter for him. The House clearly understands the circumstances of what is happening in Northern Ireland and the need to address those circumstances in a way which is within the law, but nevertheless gives the security forces the opportunities to respond on behalf of the people whom they are there to serve and to protect to the maximum possible extent.
The Minister has used the word "semantics". I agree that the debate is not about semantics. He has surely referred to the nub of the problem. He said in his answer that criminals are involved. Criminals are answerable to the law. Yet in all our debates we have the juxtaposition of one hon. Member saying that it is a war situation, the next saying that it is a matter for the ordinary law, and the next saying that it is a question of criminality. Certainly, some of the speeches made by Conservative Members show the need to make it clear that we are not talking about war. That is exactly what the Provisional IRA want us to talk about. It wants us to regard the situation as such because of the implications of that for the IRA. We are talking about trying to cope with criminal activity with the most normal law available to us.
It is for right hon. and hon. Members of the House to make their own speeches. I am not responsible for the speeches of other hon. Members. I am responsible on this occasion for expressing the view of the Government. I confirm to the hon. Gentleman that we are talking precisely about the law. That is what we have before us this evening. We have before us a Bill which, subject to the wish of this House and of another place, will become the law of the land. It will become the legal framework which governs the activities of security forces, police and others, in relation to those who go about terrorising, killing, maiming and breaking the law in Northern Ireland. The Bill will be used as law within the legal system for the protection of those who live in Northern Ireland. On that the hon. Gentleman and I are in agreement.
Surely there is a distinction between dealing with ordinary criminal activity and facing up to terrorist activity. Surely the Minister agrees that in Northern Ireland we face intense terrorist activity by people who are prepared to kill by all possible means.
I agree with the hon. Gentleman. If I may bring us back to the Bill, it is emergency provision legislation. It is an emergency provision for the reason that the hon. Gentleman has so eloquently stated, but it is still legislation. That is the way in which the House must proceed and the framework within which the security forces also have to proceed.
390 As the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, North said, the new clause appears similar to that which the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights has produced, as indeed it is. It is a useful contribution to our consideration of the issue. We have been giving our thought and consideration to that issue since we received the proposal from the commission, and our dialogue with the commission will continue—it has not ended just because we have had a suggestion from the hon. Gentleman.
The House will appreciate, however, that such issues require careful consideration. Indeed, some of the reasons why they need to be carefully considered were mentioned by several hon. Members. The consideration that the issues deserve and require will take the matter well beyond the immediate timescale of the Bill. Indeed, I understand that the commission itself said that it would have preferred to have more time to consider the proposals that it made to the Government.
Against the background that I have described, I invite the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, North to withdraw his new clause. It raises issues which go beyond the Bill. Therefore, and for the reasons that I have stated, the Government are unable to accept it. But I give the hon. Gentleman the assurance that we shall continue to review the position with SACHR in the weeks ahead.
I am grateful for what the Minister has just said, but I am afraid that I am not satisfied with it. Before I press the new clause to a Division, I would like to respond to some of the points made by other hon. Members.
Part of the code would require that firearms always be made safe. That was laughed at. Should firearms be unsafe? Is that what the hon. Members for Upper Bann (Mr. Trimble), for Orpington (Mr. Stanbrook) and for Mid-Ulster (Rev. William McCrea) are saying?
I spoke about warning and said that the words "army", "police", "stop or I fire", or words to that effect, should be used. Should they not be used when the code says that security forces shall give a clear warning of their intent to use firearms, with sufficient time for the warning to be observed, unless to do so would expose others or themselves to undue risk or would be clearly pointless or inappropriate in the circumstances."? One cannot be allowed to get away with partial quotations. People delight in using partial quotations when they do not like a concept that is proposed. In this case, the concept is that members of the security forces who are in possession of firearms of tremendous power ought to use those firearms responsibly. Normally, the arms should be carried safely, and anyone who appears to have used a weapon wrongly should be answerable under the law. It is not good enough for the hon. Member for Upper Bann to say, "It is terribly sad if a member of the security forces negligently or mistakenly discharges a firearm and kills somebody." The hon. Gentleman used the words, "negligently or mistakenly"; I took them down. It is indeed very unfortunate if a person is killed. Victims too have certain rights.
We are not arguing that this House should give way to terrorists. Nor are we suggesting that there is equality 391 between terrorists and the armed forces. There is no such equality. Terrorists are terrorists—people with a shoot-to-kill policy. No one should deny that for one moment. Indeed, it has been driven home by the events of the past week, but that is not what the argument is about. The argument is about the proper use of force. The security forces act in our name, under the rule of law, so their use of force must be controlled.
The hon. Gentleman quoted me as having used the words, "negligently or mistakenly". He seemed rather surprised that I should have done so. Is he seriously suggesting that when a mistake is made—even if there is negligence—criminal sanctions should follow?
The answer is yes. "Negligently" means without taking due care or precautions.
And criminal sanctions should follow?
Criminal sanctions should follow. Indeed, that is already the law.
Under military law, it is a criminal offence to discharge a firearm negligently. Anyone doing so ends up in the glasshouse.
The hon. Gentleman said that we should be changing the law if we were to pass this new clause. Of course we should. We introduced the new clause because we want to change the law. It cannot be acceptable to the House that a person who cannot be charged with murder must be discharged. In respect of the use of firearms, there are different levels of culpability.
There are cases in which people kill others as a result of negligent, mistaken or careless action. In such circumstances, the crime may not amount to murder as such, but the people involved must be held responsible. Under current criminal law, that is not the case. The hon. Gentleman says that this should be part of the general law of the land rather than of emergency law, but we are concerned here with the emergency use of troops in support of the civil power. This legislation is designed to deal with that situation, and that is our reason for tabling the new clause.
§ The House divided: Ayes 24, Noes 131.
McGrady, Eddie Mr. Thomas McAvoy and Mr. Harry Barnes.
Lord, Michael Mr. John M. Taylor and Mr. Neil Hamilton.


...the students have progressed wonderfully!
In these pictures, you can observe how students are learning to work quickly to shape and form the body as well as the clothing. Shading is a hit with the students as they become more confident building up the pastel to create a detail in their artwork.
All students are working on drawing and shading. Proportion and value are difficult skills and I am so proud of the improvements the students are making.
Finished shoe drawings were placed in the hall this week. Students showcase their clean lines and proportion in a line drawing. For the shaded drawing, they worked to achieve contrast as well as detail work. I think they look great!
These classes are building proportion skills as well as gradual shading, back shading, highlights, and shadows.
Figure drawing is the focus for the 8th grade students at this time. They are creating the correct shape and size for the body and then using that skeleton to help draw the clothing. Students will be using chalk pastel soon to shade.
Students in the 8th grade have continued to work on the Hidden Color Wheel in their spare time.
They recently finished up with clay and have had 2 full days progressing the painting and beginning to add patterns.
We specifically looked at Zentangles and the patterns should begin to take shape and make the project pop!
Sixth grade students began shoe drawings this week and have been doing a great job.
These are difficult skills and my students should be proud of their work!
Here are the wonderful 8th grade pendants ready to fire!
All clay projects will be finished by next Tuesday and firing will begin!
Will be ready by early next week.
Created from three slabs and will be attached soon.
Art teacher and mommy to 3 kiddos.


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Q: Notifications settings in Github I have an issue with Github notifications, I don't receive issues / pull requests in my own public repositories, it is quite annoying.
My settings in settings > notifications:

*

*Automatically watch teams

*Participating ( web, email )

*Comments on Issues and Pull Requests

*Pull Request pushes

When I try to add Watching, I now receive all update of a lot of repo, not good.
How should I simply receive important notifications in github ?
  - Comments made after a issue / PR I submitted in another repo
  - Issue / PR made by contributors in my own repos

A: Github has a decent native notification service, have you made sure to configure the webhook as well as setting your notification preferences?
You need to go in to Settings for the repo for which you'd like to be notified, then Webhooks, then select your application type: either JSON or www-form-urlencoded, then test connectivity, and you should be up and running from there.
Honestly, Github's native notifications are a bit lacking so Axibase designed a tool which enhances them via programmatic integration. You'll receive detailed notifications to email, or some messenger service of your choice like Telegram or Slack. The underlying process is here for the Watch event:

This is just one of the options, keep in mind, you can be notified for new watches, new pushes, new forks, new projects, just about everything for which you can be notified from Github.
From the Linux terminal, you launch ATSD (the database which supports all the data processing and storage tasks) which generates a webhook. You copy and paste the webhook into the Payload URL field, where your email would go, configure the webhook, and that's about it. The whole setup is around ten minutes. The complete procedure is here and has quick-launch and custom launch configurations. The quick-launch setup is configured for Slack.
Disclaimer: I work for Axibase.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Diane Dicksteen: Fun and a laugh, helping animals and neighbors
Rachel Olivier | August 2, 2018	| 0 Comments
DIANE DICKSTEEN
Diane Dicksteen likes to laugh — a lot — which is one of the reasons she ended up in Los Angeles and Windsor Village, albeit in a roundabout way.
"Born in Scotland, schooled in England, graduated in Canada, married in Los Angeles," quipped Diane when asked about her route to Los Angeles.
At the end of World War II, Diane's father, who was in the British Armed Forces, thought it would be safer for his pregnant wife to be in Scotland, away from any possible action in England. Soon after Diane was born, however, the family was back in England, where Diane went to primary school until the family immigrated to Canada when she was 12 years old.
In Canada, Diane loved ice skating and ice dancing, and was an instructor in both until a back injury prevented her from continuing.
Meanwhile, a young man, Shelly Dicksteen, whom she'd met and gone to school with in Canada, had moved to Los Angeles. He had been here nine years when he returned to woo Diane away from the Great White North to the land of palm trees, swimming pools and movie stars.
As Diane pointed out, he made her laugh and he already had a house here in the Southland, so she followed him down, moving into a home in Windsor Village, where she's lived ever since.
Shelly was a computer expert before such things were popular, says Diane. She worked in office administration at what was formerly Fred Sands Realty. She continued when it became Coldwell Banker and then Prudential, before eventually retiring.
Now, at 76 years young, she has worked and lived in the neighborhood for at least 40 years. And she was always surrounded by dogs she and Shelly rescued, as well as "the one cat," she laughs.
Love of animals
Diane's style isn't sitting still, and her love of animals prompted her to volunteer at the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens. She had the time, she says, and they needed the help.
In fact, she was involved in helping start sleepover and other overnight programs at the Zoo. When they first began the programs, the setup wasn't conducive to spending the night on the grounds at the Zoo. It has since become one of the Zoo's most popular programs. She volunteered there for 23 years.
Diane didn't limit her involvement with animals to the Zoo and her rescue dogs, however. She and her husband also loved to travel to anywhere there were interesting animals to see. Borneo and Madagascar are just two of the stops they made to see the variety of wildlife that lives on our planet.
Windsor Village Association
Diane also didn't limit her involvement in the community to furry friends. As president of the Windsor Village Association from 2010 to 2014, Diane was involved when the Historic Preservation Overlay Zone was created for Windsor Village, and also when Windsor Village and Fremont Place were redistricted from District 10 to District Four. The move ensured that the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council would be entirely in District Four.
Diane has also volunteered with the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council Outreach Committee and the Friends of Harold A. Henry Park Committee.
Still active
Shelly passed away about 10 years ago, and Diane is down to one dog, Calli, but she is still active.
Every five years, she meets up with four close friends from other parts of the world and they take trips together. Diane also still keeps her hand in when it comes to community affairs.
She likes to go to meetings for the WVA and GWNC to keep informed. "I'm nosey," she says. Currently she and others in WVA are working on getting people in the neighborhood acquainted with one another, and in reminding others to get their earthquake preparedness kits together.
She loves Larchmont, while lamenting the parking situation. But she makes the best of it, as one does.
Tags: Diane Dicksteen, Friends of Harold A. Henry Park Committee, greater wilshire Neighborhood Council, Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council Outreach Committee, GWNC, Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens, Wilshire Village Association, Women of Larchmont, WVA
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U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with his new Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh on July 9 at the White House. At left is Kavanaugh's wife, Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, and their two daughters, Margaret and Liza.
New U.S. Supreme Court nominee has deep Catholic roots
By Carol Zimmermann, Catholic News Service
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that his nominee for the Supreme Court is Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a federal appeals court judge in Washington and a Catholic who once clerked for retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.
"What matters is not a judge's personal views but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the Constitution require," Trump said in his July 9 announcement at the White House, adding: "I am pleased to say I have found, without doubt, such a person."
He said the nominee has "impeccable credentials" and is "considered a judge's judge."
"I am grateful to you and I am humbled by your confidence in me," said Kavanaugh, who was standing near his wife and two daughters.
Kavanaugh spoke about his Catholic faith saying he tries to live by the motto instilled in him by his Jesuit high school: "Be men for others."
Judge Brett Kavanaugh
Kavanaugh, like Justice Neil Gorsuch, attended Georgetown Prep, a Jesuit boys school in Maryland. He also pointed out that his former pastor, Msgr. John Enzler, was in the audience. He said he used to be an altar boy for him and now the two serve the homeless together.
Enzler is the president and CEO of Catholic Charities of Washington. Kavanaugh also gave a shout-out to the girls basketball team at his parish which he coaches. He said the team has nicknamed him "Coach K," the name given to Duke Unviersity basketball's head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Kavanaugh said if he is chosen to be on the Supreme Court he would "keep an open mind in every case" and "always strive to preserve the Constitution of the United States and the American rule of law."
Immediately after Justice Anthony Kennedy's announced his retirement June 27, Trump said he would move quickly to nominate a replacement, saying he would review a list of candidates from the list he had to fill the seat now held by Gorsuch after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Kennedy is one of five Catholic justices on the Supreme Court along with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor.
Kavanaugh, 53, is a Yale Law School graduate who currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where he has authored more than 280 opinions.
He was part of the Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's Whitewater investigation, which ultimately led to President Bill Clinton's impeachment by the House and acquittal by the Senate.
His biography on the court website notes that he is a regular lector at his church, the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Washington. He also volunteers for the St. Maria's Meals program at Catholic Charities, has been involved in Catholic Youth Organization, tutors at the Washington Jesuit Academy and belongs to the John Carroll Society, a group of Catholic lawyers and professionals.
He dissented from a recent ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that a teenager in an immigrant detention centre was entitled to seek an abortion. He claimed the decision would give immigrant minors a right to "immediate abortion on demand," but urged the government to transfer her to private custody so she could do "as she wished."
Kavanaugh also dissented from a majority decision of the D.C. Circuit that rejected a request from the Archdiocese of Washington and Priests for Life to have the full court review their challenge to the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive mandate.
He said that "the regulations substantially burden the religious organizations' exercise of religion because the regulations require the organizations to take an action contrary to their sincere religious beliefs."
But he also wrote that the government "has a compelling interest in facilitating access to contraception for the employees of these religious organizations" and should "achieve it in other ways."
The announcement of Judge Kavanaugh's nomination was met with demonstrations outside the White House.
Two of the other judges reported to be top picks as nominees are also Catholic: Judges Amy Coney Barrett and Thomas Hardiman. Judge Amul Thapar, on a broader top list, is also Catholic.
The nominee must be confirmed by the Senate in order to have a seat on the Supreme Court. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings questioning the nominee and if the committee approves, a vote for or against the nominee goes to the full Senate floor and must be approved with a simple majority or 51 votes.
Civil rights league honours priest for 30-year pro-life protest on Parliament Hill
Czerny family's experience as refugees helped shape future cardinal
2 thoughts on "New U.S. Supreme Court nominee has deep Catholic roots"
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There has to be a ԝay you are able to remоve me from that service?
Thankѕ a lot!
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Archbishop Macdonald


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Find A Park > Harlem Art Park > History
Harlem Art Park
East Harlem Art Park
East Harlem Art Park is located at the corner of East 120th Street and Sylvan Place, a small road between Lexington and 3rd Avenues that was closed off for use as parkland. The City of New York originally acquired the first part of this property, a .174-acre plot directly behind the Harlem Courthouse, as a site for a public bath in 1929. The bath never materialized and the site lay vacant for nine years. By 1938, the land had become a popular informal sitting park, but Parks did not acquire jurisdiction over the land until 1945. Sylvan Place was closed off in the early 1980s between East 120th and East 121st Streets to be used as a park by the Casabe Houses, the neighboring senior citizen housing development. On October 30, 1992, about half of the closed off road was assigned to Parks and added to the existing park, doubling the size of the park.
The park area is nestled between the Harlem Courthouse and Casabe Houses, which shares maintenance responsibilities for East Harlem Art Park with Parks. The courthouse, a red brick and brownstone structure with gables, archways, an imposing corner clock tower, and a terra-cotta roof, was originally the site of police court hearings in the early 1890s. The building later played a role in reformers' struggle to establish a separate correctional facility in the city for female inmates. In June 1966, the courthouse was granted landmark status.
In the early 1990s, the Small Claims Court moved to another location, but the Sanitation and Air Pollution Control Departments continued to keep offices in the building. During the last several years, the Department of General Services and its successor agency, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, have begun to restore the building.
One of the main attractions of the East Harlem Art Park is "Growth," an engaging 15-foot-high red sculpture located in the center of the park. Artist Jorge Rodriguez dedicated the sculpture in 1985. "Growth," Rodriquez's first large-scale permanent work, was also the first project completed by the Percent for Art Program. Administered by the City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Percent for Art Program uses one percent of specific capital project budgets to commission works of art as part of new construction.
Of his work Rodriguez says, "I have tried to capture the interaction between trees, birds, insects, flowers, and man. My sculpture may portray a seed sprouting from the ground, an insect transforming into a flower, or a bird changing into a tree. I hope to create an art piece that will serve as a source of enjoyment and inspiration to the community."
Directions to Harlem Art Park
NYC PARKS' CITYWIDE MONUMENTS CONSERVATION PROGRAM KICKS OFF ITS 21st YEAR
More About Harlem Art Park
Council Member: Diana Ayala
Park ID: M166


Krimson, the Ethiopia-based aviation services company, has appointed Getahun Seifeselassie to the role of flight operations supervisor with immediate effect.
The new position has been created in response to Krimson's continued strengthening of market position in Ethiopia and the east Africa region. A rise in demand for local ground handling in Ethiopia, the corresponding increased demand for overflight permissions since the opening of Eritrean airspace, and the growth in requests for trip planning services across east Africa from international and intra-continental clients, have all contributed to the need for the expanding company's need for a dedicated flight operation supervisor position.
Seifeselassie, who will report to Krimson Managing Director and founder Dawit Lemma, is responsible for a full range of flight operations services including development and filing of flight plans; performing flight briefings for crew and passengers; as well as navigating the complexity of sourcing all necessary overflight and landing permits at African airports. The role also involves the arranging of ground handling services including fuelling, catering, accommodation and ground transport services.


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How many moles are in a litter of babies?
How many moles live together?
What month do moles have babies?
How do moles carry their babies?
Do moles play dead?
Why do moles push up mounds of dirt?
Why do moles make mole hills?
A mole typically travels more than one-fifth of an acre. No more than three to five moles live on each acre; two to three moles is a more common number. Thus, one mole will usually use more than one person's yard. For effective control, several neighbors may need to cooperate.
Reproduction: Mating season begins in late winter. Gestation lasts about 42 days, after which time females give birth to 2-5 young. Baby moles become independent from their mothers after about a month of age.
Moles will reproduce only once per year, bearing 3 to 4 young in each litter. These mole babies will stay with the female in deep, underground tunnels for about 4 weeks. After a month, the baby moles will venture out and begin digging their own tunnels.
Do ground moles play dead? Moles are not entirely solitary creatures. Moles will fight to the death to defend their territory, but they often do not live alone.
If the ground is dry, moles will tend to dig deeper into the ground. When they can't get through, they'll push the dirt out of the hole creating mounds of dirt in your yard.
THIS IS AMAZING: Is Skin Cancer rough to touch?
The molehills are just the spoil from digging tunnels; it is easier for moles to get rid of this spoil on the surface when the tunnels are shallow. As the ground dries, insects follow the moisture level down, and the moles follow.


Hello Amy, thanks for stopping by the Disney Parks Moms Panel. I love the Disney Dining Plan. It is so nice to have meals paid for ahead of time. It really makes for a stress free vacation.
At this time, there really isn't any sharing on the Disney Dining Plan unless the child is under 3. When you dine at table service locations, your son will need to use his own credits for the meal. The nice thing about being on the Deluxe Dining Plan is that you do have quite a few credits to play around with. I am sure you'll be able to make something work for the 2 credit restaurants.
I hope this helps. If you have any other questions, please come back and ask. Happy planning!


UPDATED: Joseph Gordon-Levitt has ditched his "Sandman" project at New Line due to disagreement with the studio.
The announcement came a day after New Line confirmed that "The Conjuring 2" writer Eric Heisserer had come on board. "The Sandman" had been set up at Warner Bros. in 2013 with Gordon-Levitt coming aboard to produce with "The Dark Knight" screenwriter David Goyer for an adaptation of the DC Comics title.
Gordon-Levitt said Saturday that the disagrements emerged after Warner subsidiary New Line took over the project.
"So, as you might know if you like to follow these sorts of things, a while back, David Goyer and I made a producing deal with Warner Brothers to develop a movie adaptation of Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN," Gordon-Levitt wrote. "Neil himself came on as an executive producer, we hired the excellent screenwriter, Jack Thorne, and we started in on the ambitious task of adapting one of the most beloved and boundary-pushing titles in the world of comics. I was pleased with the progress we were making, even though we still had quite a ways to go.
"Recently, as you also might know if you like to follow these sorts of things, the sorta 'ownership' (for lack of a better term) of the Sandman material changed hands when Warner Brothers shifted the entire catalogue of Vertigo comics (an imprint of DC) to their subsidiary, New Line. And a few months ago, I came to realize that the folks at New Line and I just don't see eye to eye on what makes Sandman special, and what a film adaptation could/should be. So unfortunately, I decided to remove myself from the project. I wish nothing but the best for the team moving forward.