text:
Non-voting members of the United States House of Representatives
Non-voting member of the United States House of Representatives
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Non-voting members of the United States House of Representatives (called either delegates or resident commissioner, in the case of Puerto Rico) are representatives of their territory in the House of Representatives, who do not have a right to vote on proposed legislation in the full House but nevertheless have floor privileges and are able to participate in certain other House functions. Non-voting members may vote in a House committee of which they are a member and introduce legislation. [1] [2] There are currently six non-voting members: a delegate representing the District of Columbia, a resident commissioner representing Puerto Rico, and one delegate for each of the other four permanently inhabited US territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands. A seventh delegate, representing the Cherokee Nation, has been formally proposed but not yet seated, while an eighth, representing the Choctaw Nation, is named in a treaty but has neither been proposed nor seated. As with voting members, non-voting delegates are elected every two years, and the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico is elected every four years.
Privileges of delegates
Resident commissioner
List of past delegates
Current delegates
Native American treaty-right delegates
Expanding (and contracting) voting rights
Current non-voting members of the U.S. House of Representatives
Non-voting members serve exclusively in the House of Representatives; the Senate has no non-voting members (with the exception of the Vice president of the United States, who may vote only to break ties) and no members representing the territories or the District of Columbia. All delegates serve a term of two years, while resident commissioners serve a term of four years. [3] They receive compensation, benefits, and franking privileges (the ability to send outgoing U.S. mail without a stamp) similar to full House members. [4] Since 1993, the rules governing the rights of a non-voting member have changed three times, and current delegates—along with the resident commissioner—enjoy privileges that they did not have previously. [5]
John A. Burns of Hawaii, the last of a series of delegates to continuously serve in Congress
Territorial delegates existed before the ratification of the United States Constitution. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 allowed for territory with "five thousand free male inhabitants of full age" to elect a non-voting delegate to the Continental Congress. [6] After the ratification of the Constitution, the first United States Congress reenacted the Ordinance and extended it to include the territories south of the Ohio River.
In 1790, the state of North Carolina—having recently ratified the constitution, becoming the 12th state—sent its congressional delegation to what was then the federal capital at New York City. Among them was former State of Franklin governor John Sevier, whose district comprised the "counties beyond the Alleghenies". [7] He took office June 16, 1790, however, the government of North Carolina had ceded his district to the federal government on February 25, 1790, and it was organized into a territory on August 7, 1790. [8] He remained a member of the House until March 3, 1791, when he was appointed brigadier general of the militia. [9]
On September 3, 1794, James White was elected by the Southwest Territory, which contained Sevier's former district, to be their delegate to Congress. [5] [10] A resolution was put forth in the House to admit him to Congress, but as a delegate was not a position stated in the Constitution, the House debated what, if any, privileges White would have. As the Northwest Ordinance had only stated that a delegate is to sit "in Congress" the first debate was which chamber a delegate would sit in. Resolutions that he sit in both chambers and that his right to debate is limited to territorial matters were defeated. Ultimately, the House voted to allow him a non-voting seat in the House. [5]
Following his placement, representatives debated whether he should take the oath. Representative James Madison stated "The proper definition of Mr. White is to be found in the Laws and Rules of the Constitution. He is not a member of Congress, therefore, and so cannot be directed to take an oath, unless he chooses to do it voluntarily." [11] As he was not a member, he was not directed to take the oath, though every delegate after him has done so. [5] He was also extended franking privileges, which allowed him to send official mail free of charge, and compensation at the same rate as members. [5]
In 1802 Congress passed a law that specifically extended franking privileges and pay to delegates. An act passed in 1817 codified the term and privileges of delegates:
[I]n every territory of the United States in which a temporary government has been, or hereafter shall be established...shall have the right to send a delegate to Congress, such delegate shall be elected every second year, for the same term of two years for which members of the House of Representatives of the United States are elected; and in that house, each of the said delegates shall have a seat with a right of debating, but not of voting. [12]
From that point on, until August 1959, there was not a single congress without delegates. During the period from 1870 to 1891, there were as many as ten serving at one time. With the admission of Hawaii, and with Puerto Rico' sending a Resident Commissioner, the office temporarily went out of existence.
Federico Degetau y González of Puerto Rico, The first resident commissioner in the United States Congress
Similar to delegates are resident commissioners, who represented the large areas acquired during the Spanish–American War, and for much of the 20th century were considered colonies, not territories and unlike the previously acquired areas which would become the contiguous U.S. or Alaska and Hawaii, did not have residents with the rights of or to U.S. citizenship. [13] Unlike incorporated territories, they have the right to secede from the Union, [ citation needed ] and in the case of the Philippines, they have.
Main article: Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico
See also: Shadow congressperson § Puerto Rico shadow representatives
Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, has been represented by a non-voting resident commissioner since 1901. The resident commissioner holds a status similar to that of a delegate within the House, but serves a four-year term. The resident commissioner is the only individual elected to the House who serves for this duration. [14]
Main article: Resident Commissioner of the Philippines
From 1907 until 1937, while it was a U.S. territory, the Philippines elected two non-voting resident commissioners to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. From 1937 until 1946, while it was a U.S. commonwealth, the Philippines sent one non-voting resident commissioner to the House. Upon independence in 1946, the Philippines ceased to be represented in Congress.
Listed here by their congressional districts.
Alabama Territory 1818 1819
Alaska Territory 1906 1959
Arizona Territory 1864 1912
Arkansas Territory 1819 1836
Colorado Territory 1861 1876
Dakota Territory 1861 1889
Florida Territory 1822 1845
Hawaii Territory 1900 1959
Idaho Territory 1864 1890
Illinois Territory 1812 1818
Indiana Territory 1805 1816
Iowa Territory 1838 1846
Kansas Territory 1854 1861
Michigan Territory 1819 1836
Minnesota Territory 1849 1858
Mississippi Territory 1801 1817
Missouri Territory 1812 1821
Montana Territory 1865 1889
Nebraska Territory 1855 1867
Nevada Territory 1861 1864
New Mexico Territory 1851 1912
Northwest Territory 1799 1802
Oklahoma Territory 1890 1907
Oregon Territory 1849 1859
Orleans Territory 1806 1812
Philippines 1907 1946
Southwest Territory 1794 1796
Utah Territory 1851 1897
Washington Territory 1854 1889
Wisconsin Territory 1836 1848
Wyoming Territory 1869 1890
In the mid-1960s, a number of small territories that had no prospects of becoming states began to petition for representation in Congress. Starting in 1970, the House of Representatives started to grant representation to these territories, but with limited voting rights.
Amata C. Radewagen is American Samoa's first female delegate
Main article: List of Delegates to the United States House of Representatives from American Samoa
As the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam had delegates in Washington, D.C., the American Samoa-based Political Status Study Commission had meetings with the delegates from these two territories. They came home to Pago Pago convinced of the importance of having this representation in the nation's capital. Members of the American Samoa Fono had already been attending budget hearings in Washington for over a decade by 1970. During a special session held in July 1969, American Samoa Senate President Salanoa introduced Senate Bill 54 in order to create the Office of the Delegate at Large to Washington, DC. This was approved by Governor Owen Aspinall on August 8, 1969. Its first delegate, A. U. Fuimaono, was elected in 1970. Fuimaono ended his term in order to unsuccessfully run for Governor of American Samoa. Former speaker of the House and Senate President HC Lutali became the territory's second delegate to Washington. Fofō I. F. Sunia was elected the third delegate at large when Lutali decided not to seek re-election in 1978. Sunia went to Washington knowing his term would be limited to two years as the U.S. president had established a non-voting seat for American Samoa in the United States House of Representatives. However, Sunia was elected to American Samoa's first Congressional seat in 1981 and served until 1988. [15] He was succeeded by Eni Faleomavaega from 1989 to 2015. On January 3, 2015, Amata Coleman Radewagen became America Samoa's both first female delegate and their first Republican elected delegate.
Walter E. Fauntroy, delegate from the District of Columbia from 1971 to 1991
Main article: United States congressional delegations from the District of Columbia
See also: Shadow congressperson § District of Columbia shadow representatives
The District of Columbia is technically a federal district—not a territory, commonwealth or insular area. However, from 1871 to 1875, it briefly had a delegate to Congress. This situation did not last long and congressional representation was terminated. The district had no other delegates until 1971, when the House of Representatives agreed to seat Walter E. Fauntroy, [16] who served in that position between March 23, 1971 and January 3, 1991, when Eleanor Holmes Norton was elected. Norton continues in that position.
See also: United States Virgin Islands' At-large congressional district and United States congressional delegations from the United States Virgin Islands
In 1972, the House agreed to admit Ron de Lugo as a delegate from the United States Virgin Islands, which had been a U.S. territory since 1917 after they were purchased from Denmark under the 1916 Treaty of the Danish West Indies.
See also: Guam's At-large congressional district
In 1972, the House also agreed to admit Antonio Borja Won Pat as a delegate from Guam, which had been a U.S. territory since 1899 when it was ceded to the United States by Spain under the Treaty of Paris. Won Pat had been elected first in the mid-1960s and had been seeking a place in the House since then.
See also: United States congressional delegations from the Northern Mariana Islands
For thirty years, since 1978, citizens of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) elected a resident representative, commonly known as Washington representative, an office established by Article V of the Constitution of the Northern Mariana Islands for the purpose of representing the CNMI in the United States capital and performing related official duties established by CNMI law.
In 2008, the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, signed into law by President George W. Bush, replaced the position of Resident Representative with a non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives. The election of the first delegate took place in November 2008. It was the only contest on the ballot because CNMI elections traditionally occurred in odd-numbered years. Gregorio Sablan won the election and took office in January 2009. [17]
See also: List of Native Americans in the United States Congress and List of Native American politicians
Cherokee Nation Delegate to Congress Kimberly Teehee
The Cherokee and Choctaw Native American tribes may have the right to send delegates to Congress. The right to a non-voting delegate to Congress was promised to the Cherokee by the Treaty of Hopewell in 1785 (affirmed in 1835's Treaty of New Echota) and to the Choctaw under the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830, "whenever Congress shall make provision for [a delegate]". Congress has never provided for the appointment of delegates from Indian tribes. [18] The Choctaw tribe has never appointed a delegate to Congress [19] and the Cherokee had not until 2019. [20]
In addition, the first treaty signed between the United States and a Native American nation, the Treaty of Fort Pitt (1778) with the Lenape ("Delaware Nation"), encouraged them to form a state that would have representation in Congress; however, it is unclear if the treaty would allow a delegate without the formation of a U.S. state. [21] [22] [23]
A similar situation actively exists at the state legislature level with the Maine House of Representatives maintaining seats for three non-voting delegates representing the Passamaquoddy (since 1842), the Maliseet (since 2012), and the Penobscot (since 1823). [24] The rights of the tribal delegates has fluctuated over time but appears to have been bourn from a practice in Massachusetts General Court (Maine was a part of Massachusetts until 1820). [24] Unlike the situation at the federal level, Maine's state-level tribal delegates are established by state law rather than treaties. [24] As of 2015, only the Passamaquoddy seat is filled; the other two Nations have chosen to currently not fill their seats in protest over issues of tribal sovereignty and rights. [25] The Wisconsin Legislature, the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in Canada, and the New Zealand Parliament were allegedly reviewing Maine's indigenous delegate policy for their own adoption (though New Zealand had already had establish Māori electorates since 1867). [24]
There remain, however, untested questions about the validity of such delegates. One is violating one person, one vote if tribal citizens are represented in the House by both a voting member and a non-voting delegate. Another is which federally recognized tribes would appoint the relevant delegate: the Choctaw delegate might represent only the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, say, or also the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians; similarly with the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. [26]
On August 25, 2019, the Cherokee Nation formally announced its intention to appoint a delegate, nominating Kimberly Teehee, the tribe's vice president of government relations, as its first delegate. [27] According to the process used for other non-voting delegates, the House of Representatives must vote to formally admit Teehee. [28]
The positions of non-voting delegates are now a more or less permanent fixture of the House of Representatives, having been supported by Congressional legislation (see Section 891, of Title 48 of the U. S. Code). However, this legislation stipulates that "...the right to vote in the committee shall be provided by the Rules of the House." Hence, the House majority could, without consulting the Senate or the president, weaken the delegates.
In 1993, the 103rd Congress approved a rule change that allowed the four delegates and the resident commissioner to vote on the floor of the House, but only in the Committee of the Whole. However, if any measure passed or failed in the Committee of the Whole because of a delegate's vote, a second vote—excluding the delegates—would be taken. In other words, delegates were permitted to vote only if their votes had no effect on a measure's ultimate outcome. This change was denounced by Republicans (all five of the delegates either were Democrats or were allied with the Democrats at the time) as a case of partisanship;[ citation needed ] the Democrats had lost a dozen house seats in the 1992 election, and this change effectively reduced the impact by half. In 1995, this rule change was reversed by the 104th Congress, stripping the delegates of even non-decisive votes. The reversal was in turn denounced by Democrats (all five of the delegates either were Democrats or were allied with the Democrats at the time) as a case of partisanship;[ citation needed ] the change was made after Republicans gained control of the House for the first time in 40 years. In January 2007, it was proposed by Democrats in the House that the 1993–1995 procedure be revived.[ citation needed ] Delegates had this right during the 110th and 111th Congresses. [29] Republicans again objected, and when their party gained control of the House during the 112th Congress, the right of delegates to vote in the committee of the whole was again removed. [30] [31] When Democrats regained control in the 116th United States Congress, they again reinstated the right of delegates to vote in the committee of the whole. [32]
Delegates have always retained the right to vote in congressional committees and in conference committees (see House Rule III, 3[b]). Conference committees include representatives from both the House and Senate. These committees work to compromise and reconcile conflicts between House and Senate bills.
As of the 116th United States Congress, the six non-voting delegates consist of three Democrats, two Republicans and an independent. The independent, Gregorio Sablan, caucuses with the Democratic Party. Jenniffer González, of Puerto Rico, a member of the New Progressive Party in Puerto Rico, belongs nationally to the Republican Party.
House Caucus
American Samoa at-large Delegate Amata Coleman Radewagen Republican Republican 2014
District of Columbia at-large Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton Democratic Democratic 1990
Guam at-large Delegate Michael San Nicolas Democratic Democratic 2018
Northern Mariana Islands at-large Delegate Gregorio Sablan Independent Democratic 2008
Puerto Rico at-large Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González New Progressive Republican 2016
U.S. Virgin Islands at-large Delegate Stacey Plaskett Democratic Democratic 2014
Shadow congressperson
US State and territorial legislatures with non-voting delegates:
Maine Legislature: Maine House of Representatives (Non-voting tribal delegates)
American Samoa Fono: American Samoa House of Representatives (Swains Island)
↑ "Text searched: FLD003:#1(Rep. Pierluisi Pedro)" . Retrieved March 15, 2016.
↑ "Legislation". Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
↑ "Delegates and Resident Commissioners". Office of the Clerk of the US House of Representatives. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
↑ 48 U.S.C. § 1715
1 2 3 4 5 This article incorporates public domain material from the Congressional Research Service document: Betsy Palmer. "Delegates to the U.S. Congress: History and Current Status" (PDF).
↑ The Northwest Ordinance stated: "As soon as a legislature shall be formed in the district, the council and house assembled in one room, shall have authority, by joint ballot, to elect a delegate to Congress, who shall have a seat in Congress, with a right of debating but not voting during this temporary government."
↑ Gilmore 1887, p. 36, 217–218.
↑ Gilmore 1887, p. 222.
↑ "SEVIER, John". United States House of Representatives.
↑ "WHITE, James". United States House of Representatives.
↑ Annals of Congress, vol. 4, 3rd Cong., 2nd sess., November 18, 1794, pp. 884-889. cited in Palmer, ibid.
↑ An act further to regulate the territories of the United States, and their electing delegates to congress, Library of Congress, March 3, 1817
↑ Levinson, Sanford; Sparrow, Bartholomew H. (2005). The Louisiana Purchase and American Expansion: 1803–1898. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. p. 15.
↑ "111th House Freshmen: Pedro Pierluisi, D-Puerto Rico (AL)". Congressional Quarterly . November 5, 2008. Archived from the original on November 9, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
↑ Sunia, Fofō I. F. (1998). The Story of the Legislature of American Samoa: In Commemoration of the Golden Jubilee 1948–1998. Pago Pago, AS: Legislature of American Samoa. Pages 234-235. ISBN 9789829008015.
↑ Tarr, David R.; Benenson, Bob, eds. (2012). Elections A to Z (4th ed.). Sage Publications. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-87289-769-4.
↑ Donato, Agnes E. (November 19, 2008). "Absentee votes confirm Kilili victory". Saipan Tribune. Archived from the original on February 14, 2012.
↑ Pommersheim, Frank (September 2, 2009). Broken Landscape: Indians, Indian Tribes, and the Constitution. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-19-970659-4 . Retrieved January 4, 2019.
↑ Ahtone, Tristan (January 4, 2017). "The Cherokee Nation Is Entitled to a Delegate in Congress. But Will They Finally Send One?". YES! Magazine. Bainbridge Island, Washington. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
↑ Murphy, Sean (August 16, 2019). "Country's largest tribal nation seeks congressional delegate". Muskogee Phoenix. Muskogee, Oklahoma. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
↑ Casteel, Chris (September 8, 2019). "Teehee hopes for congressional collaboration on seating her as Cherokee Nation delegate". The Oklahoman. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
↑ Evarts, Jeremiah (1829). "William Penn Papers No. 9". Essays on the Present Crisis in the Condition of the American Indians. Boston, Massachusetts: Perkins & Marvin. pp. 33–34. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
↑ Rosser, Ezra (October 17, 2007). "Promises of Nonstate Representatives". The Yale Law Journal. 117. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
1 2 3 4 Starbird, Jr., S. Glenn (1983). "Brief History of Indian Legislative Representatives". Maine Legislature. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
↑ Moretto, Mario (May 26, 2015). "Passamaquoddy, Penobscot tribes withdraw from Maine Legislature". Bangor Daily News.
↑ Rosser, Ezra (November 7, 2005). "The Nature of Representation: The Cherokee Right to a Congressional Delegate". Boston University Public Interest Law Journal. 15 (91): 91–152. SSRN 842647 .
↑ "The Cherokee Nation wants a representative in Congress". www.msn.com.
↑ Krehbiel-Burton, Lenzy (August 23, 2019). "Citing treaties, Cherokees call on Congress to seat delegate from tribe". Tulsa World. Tulsa, Oklahoma. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
↑ H.Res. 78, 110th Congress
↑ H.Res. 5, 112th Congress
↑ Newhauser, Daniel (January 5, 2011). "House Delegates Stripped of Vote". Roll Call. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
↑ McPherson, Lindsey (January 4, 2019). "House adopts rules package with few Democratic defections over PAYGO provision". Roll Call. CQ Roll Call. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the United States, a federal republic in North America, composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories and several island possessions. The federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executive, and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U.S. Constitution in the Congress, the president and the federal courts, respectively. The powers and duties of these branches are further defined by acts of Congress, including the creation of executive departments and courts inferior to the Supreme Court.
The Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico is a non-voting member of the United States House of Representatives elected by the voters of the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico every four years, the only member of the House of Representatives who serves a four-year term.
Tribal sovereignty in the United States is the concept of the inherent authority of indigenous tribes to govern themselves within the borders of the United States. Originally, the U.S. federal government recognized American Indian tribes as independent nations, and came to policy agreements with them via treaties. As the U.S. accelerated its westward expansion, internal political pressure grew for "Indian removal", but the pace of treaty-making grew nevertheless. Then the Civil War forged the U.S. into a more centralized and nationalistic country, fueling a "full bore assault on tribal culture and institutions", and pressure for Native Americans to assimilate. In the Indian Appropriations Act of 1871, without any input from Native Americans, Congress prohibited any future treaties. This move was steadfastly opposed by Native Americans. Currently, the U.S. recognizes tribal nations as "domestic dependent nations" and uses its own legal system to define the relationship between the federal, state, and tribal governments.
In the United States House of Representatives, a Committee of the Whole House is a congressional committee that includes all members of the House. In modern practice there is only one such committee, the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, which has original consideration of all bills on the Union Calendar. While assembled the House may resolve itself temporarily into a Committee of the Whole House. Business can then proceed with various procedural requirements relaxed. At the conclusion of business, the committee resolves to "rise" and reports its conclusions or lack of conclusion to the speaker.
Several politico-constitutional arrangements use reserved political positions, especially when endeavoring to ensure the rights of minorities or preserving a political balance of power. These arrangements can distort the democratic principle of one person - one vote in order to address special circumstances.
The Treaty of New Echota was a treaty signed on December 29, 1835, in New Echota, Georgia, by officials of the United States government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political faction, the Treaty Party.
One man, one vote expresses the principle that individuals should have equal representation in voting. This slogan is used by advocates of political equality to refer to such electoral reforms as universal suffrage, proportional representation, and the elimination of plural voting, malapportionment, or gerrymandering.
The Treaty of Hopewell was signed by the Choctaw at the foothills of the Smoky Mountains on January 3, 1786. The ceded area amounted to 69,120 acres, and the compensation to the Choctaw took the form of protection by the United States. To elaborate, the plenipoteniaries were Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens and Joseph Martin representing the U.S. while representing the Choctaw were 13 small medal and 12 medal and gorget captains.
Voting rights of United States citizens in Puerto Rico, like the voting rights of residents of other United States territories, differ from those of United States citizens in each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Residents of Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories do not have voting representation in the United States Congress, and are not entitled to electoral votes for president. The United States Constitution grants congressional voting representation to U.S. states, which Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories are not, specifying that members of Congress shall be elected by direct popular vote and that the president and the vice president shall be elected by electors chosen by the states.
The 2008 United States elections were held on November 4. Democratic Senator Barack Obama of Illinois won the presidential election, and Democrats bolstered their majority in both houses of Congress.
The 2010 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, in the middle of Democratic President Barack Obama's first term. Republicans ended unified Democratic control of Congress and the presidency by winning a majority in the House of Representatives.
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders.
The United States House of Representatives is the lower house of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper house. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The 2012 United States elections took place on November 6, 2012. Democratic President Barack Obama won election to a second term, though the Republican Party retained control of the House of Representatives.
Kimberly Teehee is an American attorney, activist, and lobbyist on Native American issues. She is a Delegate-designate to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Cherokee Nation. She served as senior policy advisor for Native American affairs in the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2012. In February of 2020, she was named by Time as one of their 16 top activists fighting for a "More Equal America."
An Organic Act is a generic name for a statute used by the United States Congress to describe a territory, in anticipation of being admitted to the Union as a state. Because of Oklahoma's unique history an explanation of the Oklahoma Organic Act needs a historic perspective. In general, the Oklahoma Organic Act may be viewed as one of a series of legislative acts, from the time of Reconstruction, enacted by Congress in preparation for the creation of a unified State of Oklahoma. The Organic Act created Oklahoma Territory, and Indian Territory that were Organized incorporated territories of the United States out of the old "unorganized" Indian Territory. The Oklahoma Organic Act was one of several acts whose intent was the assimilation of the tribes in Oklahoma and Indian Territories through the elimination of tribes' communal ownership of property.
The 2016 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Republican nominee Donald Trump defeated Democratic former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, while Republicans retained control of Congress.
The 2022 United States elections will be held on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. During this mid-term election year, all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate will be contested. Thirty-nine state and territorial gubernatorial and numerous other state and local elections will also be contested. This will be the first election affected by the redistricting that will follow the 2020 United States Census.
Gilmore, James (1887). John Sevier As a Commonwealth-builder: a Sequel to The Rear-guard of the Revolution. New York: D. Appleton and Company.
History and powers of DC's Delegate to Congress
Lists of United States congressional delegations
Alabama (H, S)
Alaska (H, S)
Arizona (H, S)
Arkansas (H, S)
California (H, S)
Colorado (H, S)
Connecticut (H, S)
Delaware (H, S)
Florida (H, S)
Georgia (H, S)
Hawaii (H, S)
Idaho (H, S)
Illinois (H, S)
Indiana (H, S)
Iowa (H, S)
Kansas (H, S)
Kentucky (H, S)
Louisiana (H, S)
Maine (H, S)
Maryland (H, S)
Massachusetts (H, S)
Michigan (H, S)
Minnesota (H, S)
Mississippi (H, S)
Missouri (H, S)
Montana (H, S)
Nebraska (H, S)
Nevada (H, S)
New Hampshire (H, S)
New Jersey (H, S)
New Mexico (H, S)
New York (H, S)
North Carolina (H, S)
North Dakota (H, S)
Ohio (H, S)
Oklahoma (H, S)
Oregon (H, S)
Pennsylvania (H, S)
Rhode Island (H, S)
South Carolina (H, S)
South Dakota (H, S)
Tennessee (H, S)
Texas (H, S)
Utah (H, S)
Vermont (H, S)
Virginia (H, S)
Washington (H, S)
West Virginia (H, S)
Wisconsin (H, S)
Wyoming (H, S)
Dakota Territory
Orleans Territory
Southwest Territory
Lists of former House members
List of former senators


A China Student Visa is also called X Visa. It is needed if you are not a Chinese citizen and you plan to go to China for your studies or intern practice for a period of MORE THAN six months.
Don't confuse the Chinese student X visa with the U.S. student F-1 visa. If you have a short-term study or intern practice that lasts no more than six months, you don't appy for a student X visa; instead, you need to apply for a Chinese Business Visa or F Visa. Yes, business visa.
Your passport must have at least a remaining time of six months.
Your passport must have at least one blank visa page in it.
A copy of the information page of your valid passport.
One of your recent 2x2 square inch photo. Both black & white and color are fine. You need to glue or staple it on the designated place on your application form.
The original AND photocopy of the approved Foreign Student Visa Application Form (JW201 or JW202) issued by a relevant Chinese government unit.
The admission notice from the Chinese school you are going to study at.
You need to write down your Chinese name on the application form.
Prepare your original Chinese passport to submit.
Prepare a photocopy of your information page on the passport.
If your former citizenship was Chinese, and you've been a citizen of another country, and the passport you're holding now is not the first passport of your current country, then you need to submit your older passport or a photocopy of the most recent Chinese visa on it.
If you are a foreigner with a valid visa and a legal status in another country, you may apply for Chinese student X visa in the Chinese Embassy in that country. Be prepared to be asked to provide the original and photocopy of the legal status document.
For example, if you are a legal foreigner in the U.S, you may be asked for your US Green Card, Work Permit, I-20 Form, valid US Visa or other additional documents. The China visa officer will make a decision on whether to issue the China student visa case by case.
How to apply, Processing Time, Visa fees and Additional Information.


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import org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlCursor;
import org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlString;
import org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlException;
import org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlErrorCodes;
import scomp.common.BaseCase;

/**
 *
 *
 *
 */
public class EmptyContentTest extends BaseCase {
    public void testIllegalContent() {
        EmptyTypeDocument doc = EmptyTypeDocument.Factory.newInstance();
        EmptyT elt = doc.addNewEmptyType();
        assertTrue(!elt.isSetEmptyAttr());
        elt.setEmptyAttr("foobar");
        assertTrue(elt.validate());
        XmlCursor cur = elt.newCursor();
        cur.toFirstContentToken();
        cur.beginElement("foobarElt");
        assertTrue(!elt.validate(validateOptions));
        showErrors();
        String[] errExpected = new String[]{
            XmlErrorCodes.ELEM_COMPLEX_TYPE_LOCALLY_VALID$ELEMENT_NOT_ALLOWED
        };
            assertTrue(compareErrorCodes(errExpected));

    }

    public void testLegalContent() throws XmlException {
        EmptyTypeDocument doc = EmptyTypeDocument.Factory.newInstance();
        EmptyT elt = doc.addNewEmptyType();
        assertTrue(!elt.isSetEmptyAttr());
        elt.setEmptyAttr("foobar");
        assertTrue(elt.isSetEmptyAttr());
        assertEquals("foobar", elt.getEmptyAttr());

        XmlString expected=XmlString.Factory.newInstance();
        expected.setStringValue("foobar");

        XmlString expected1=XmlString.Factory.newInstance();
        expected1.setStringValue("foobar");

        System.out.println( expected.equals(expected1));
       assertTrue( expected.valueEquals(elt.xgetEmptyAttr()) );

        elt.unsetEmptyAttr();
        assertTrue(!elt.isSetEmptyAttr());
        assertTrue(elt.validate());
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
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Talent Wars
The revolving doors in Silicon Valley are nothing new, but within the last two or so years the migration at the superstar techno level has been particularly intense—especially in the GPU and CPU space.
Some recent examples:
Martin Ashton served as EVP of PowerVR Multimedia IP at Imagination Technologies Group Plc until December 1, 2016 where he was instrumental in developing PowerVR graphics technology. He then moved to Intel, and most recently has moved on to AMD.
Jim Keller was corporate VP and chief cores architect at AMD, where he led the development of the Zen architecture. Previously, Keller was vice president of Engineering and chief architect at P.A. Semi, which was acquired by Apple Inc. in 2008. He led Apple's custom low-power mobile chip efforts with the original A4 processor that powered the iPhone 4, as well as the subsequent A5 processor. In April he joined Intel to lead the company's silicon engineering, which encompasses system-on-chip (SoC) development
Raja Koduri was at AMD, where he was senior VP and chief architect of the Radeon Technologies Group. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing all aspects of graphics technologies used in AMD's APU, discrete GPU, semi-custom and GPU compute products. Prior to AMD, Koduri served as director of graphics architecture at Apple. In November 2017, he left AMD and went to Intel to be chief architect, senior vice president of the newly formed Core and Visual Computing Group, and general manager.
Tim Leland VP of products at Qualcomm and driving force behind their GPU and Snapdragon development left to be the Vice President / GM of Frostbite Engine at Electronic Arts. Some of his Qualcomm GPU team left as well to go to AMD and Cisco.
John Metcalfe, Imagination Technologies COO left the company for Apple, and is now listed as a Senior Director at Apple. Key technologist Jonathan Redshaw followed him there a little later.
David Wang rejoined AMD as senior vice president of engineering for Radeon Technology Group (RTG). Prior to that he had been at Synaptics, where he was senior vice president of Systems Silicon Engineering. Prior to joining Synaptics, Wang was corporate vice president at AMD responsible for SOC development of AMD processor products, including GPUs, CPUs, and APUs. He left AMD when VP Rick Bergman left the company for Synaptics. (Sort of ancient news, but it's all part of the same carnival ride.)
These are not gig-workers, tinkerers going from camp to camp, they are mid-aged and older guys and gals making serious career and potentially life changing moves, so it's not done lightly or perfidiously. It's not just about money, although that's certainly a factor. And some mighty stellar salaries and stock options are being offered.
This apparent nomadic behavior isn't going to abate because in addition to being attracted by money, there is also the bigger desire to do something grand, to design something new and amazing. The mystic and superstar status legends created for and sometimes by these movers and shaker, who are literally movers, add to the excitement and rush, and fill the social media channels.
As noted in previous essays and editorials, it takes three to five years from inception to realization (see Raja Koduri to lead Intel to the promised land AI, AMD at Intel) for a GPU or CPU, and often the designs are multi-authored with the initial architect leaving and new person coming in. The designs become blended and homogeneous with the IP boundaries grayed out and unassailable—not that some ambitious paid by the hour lawyers won't try to assert infractions and IP theft. How does a brilliant designer or engineer forget things he or she has learned and seen at company A when he or she moves to company B? You can't. And the law says you can't be denied employment for what you know, so the migrations aren't going to end.
People whose livelihood depends on picking winners and losers both short term and long term watch these affiliation shifts Then, they try to crystal-ball a scenario that predicts what it means. The net result is a superstar that joins company B and is given a stock option can often enhance his or her profit by having the stock pickers run the share price due to the movement to company B.
Team mates often go with the superstars. Another reason people move from one company to another is because something has changed (or hasn't changed enough) in company A. When it's no longer fun, or potentially rewarding to be at company A, the most valuable people leave, and often their colleagues follow them. That complicates the equation because there are laws against poaching. So the second-tier or adjunct people have to be careful when they move, as do the hiring companies.
Another aspect to these employment changes is often a promotion, and that adds an element of risk for the new employer. It's the candidate's history that makes him or her attractive, but can they do something they haven't done before? It's not like moving from the right seat to the left seat in cockpit—co-pilots mostly fly the planes anyway. But can a really good circuit designer become a really good architect? Can an architect become a GM?
These movements from company to company aren't new, but they have become more intense and more high-profile.
Attracting and keeping talented engineers has always been a challenge, and it feels horrible when one of them leaves, especially if to a competitor. The top management, if they have any sense asks what could/should we have done differently. And then if they find an answer, can they, will they do it so more IP doesn't walk out the door, and/or they can attract new talent? Usually talented engineers and marketing people leave, or get fired when a company is acquired. It makes you wonder what the acquiring company thought they saw in the company before they acquired it, and what went wrong afterwards. You don't hear too much about those displaced souls, or the folks who joined a startup that failed to start, or sustain itself.
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Great Cycling around the World – Let's Go Biking! Great Cycling around the World – Let's Go Biking!
Here's a video about Groningen's cycling infrastructure.
cycling infrastructure photos and videos – located on the right hand sidebar.


One of my favorite aspects of 4E is the minion. Heroic and cinematic combat is always something I have tried to capture in my campaigns over the years. One thing that has always been a problem regardless of edition is the slowness of combat. Add in a table full of players at mid to high level and paint may dry faster than your average combat round.
It was minions in fact that actually got me to FINALLY try 4E after avoiding it for so long. Sure the game mechanic is easily transferable but using it with the edition it was born from made the most sense. Now a year later I can honestly say I LOVE minions. I have read plenty of bloggers who complain minions add too much of a Meta game element once players realize what they are dealing with. I tend to disagree because after all our stalwart heroes should be able to identify threat levels. Especially after a few rounds of combat when they have had time to size up the situation.
In using hordes of minions I realized I wanted to beef them up a tad as the players leveled. I reconnoitered various gaming forums and saw different DMs were using their own form of a two hit minions. I loved the concept and decided to implement the idea in my own home brew. These minions have valuable experience which sets them apart from their lesser colleagues. This mechanic has been great in my mid to high level games. It has effectively created good opponents which do not have both a super high AC and sponge of hit points.
Instead these minions have characteristics which make them deadly – but manageable by our heroes. And most importantly they make the clock manageable which in my mind is the most important thing. Our group plays on Saturday nights with only 4-6 hours to spare – being bogged down in mind numbing combat is not a road I want to go down.
These rules are simple and effective. I included the damage/critical clause because my initial multi-hit minions were a huge nerf to strikers. This way damage is still rolled and a big hit just gets the job done. I also have allowed Daily powers to instantly kill minions of any type on a DM discretionary basis. If it helps move combat along and make for an epic encounter then I am all for it.
The moral of the story is use minions liberally and make your combat much more fun!


Given the spate of insolvencies in the construction industry, it is unsurprising that we have acted for a number of contractors who have received correspondence from liquidators: asserting that certain payments made to the particular contractor represent an "unfair preference"; and dem..
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) recently dismissed an unfair dismissal claim brought by an ex-employee of a small business that sells bathroom supplies and fittings*. In rejecting the application for unfair dismissal, the Commissioner observed: "It appeared much of the issue for Mr Khan was t..
Beware when signing Form 15 – you may be personally liable In a recent case the Queensland Court of Appeal held an engineer personally liable for signing an incorrect Form 15 (compliance certificate for building design or specification). The exact damages payable are yet to be decided but ..
From 1 July, 2018, buyers of "new residential premises" or "new residential subdivisions" will be required to pay 1/11th of the purchase price to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) (instead of to the seller) at settlement. The New REIQ Residential Contract (15th Edition) The Real Estate..


Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP has supported the charter school movement for years. In 2001, our attorneys helped Indiana state legislators craft the law (Indiana Code 20-24) that today provides educational opportunities for thousands of Hoosier children in charter schools across the state.
Due to this broad experience, we also have a deep understanding of the operations of universities and cities that sponsor charter schools. Additionally, we offer guidance to the Charter Schools Association of Indiana.


The Buganza Lab is an inclusive and diverse team of scholars. We welcome individuals of all identities, backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.
We are always seeking highly motivated undergraduate students looking to get research experience. Please get in touch with Professor Buganza for more information.
Interested MS students already at Purdue can contact Professor Buganza directly. If you are considering applying to graduate school and would be interested in working with us please apply through the ME website and, in the application, state your interesting in working with Professor Buganza.


text:
Home › Publications › Canadian Blind Monitor › CBM v. 17 - Transitioning, Growth and Development
The Case For Braille
By William M. Raeder
subjects: Blindness Skills
Editor's Note: Editor's Note: This item was originally written in January, 2003, and is reprinted with permission from the website of National Braille Press: http://www.nbp.org
From the mid-'60s to the present, the percentage of school-aged blind children in this country who use braille as their primary reading medium has dropped from 50 percent to 12 percent, and more than a generation of blind children has been largely allowed to grow up illiterate under the damaging notion that tape recordings and talking computers are sufficient for them.
This decline in the teaching and learning of braille has occurred not because the value of literacy has in any way diminished. On the contrary, in our democratic society for which a literate public is the cornerstone and in an economy, which is increasingly complex and information-driven, the ability to read and write is increasingly crucial. This is all the more true as society's vision of the capacity of blind people to achieve despite their handicap grows, as prejudices against them diminish, as the law supports them in equal employment opportunity, and as opportunities for blind people to produce and contribute are expanding.
Braille is the only means by which blind people can truly read the written language. It is certainly true that for easy reading materials such as novels, audio intake using the recorded human voice, or the electronically synthesized mimicking of the human voice, is not only satisfactory but sometimes preferred by blind people, just as it is by sighted people. By the same token, just as sighted people have by no means given up the written language in favour of audio only, so blind people should not be expected to give up their written language. Here are just a few examples of situations in which being able to truly read is critical:
Studying, not simply reading serially, complex material such as a chemistry book, cookbook, or financial statement;
Keeping two channels open to the mind at the same time, as in delivering a speech when referring to notes;
Taking notes and keeping records for easy reference, such as address books and "to do" lists, and labelling items such as food containers, file folders, and CDs;
Reading aloud, e.g. to children, in religious services, in class Learning the intricacies of language: spelling, grammar, and punctuation;
Communicating with and among people who are deaf and blind, who have no other means of human communication other than hand to hand "talking".
Academic research has shown that the early learning of braille correlates strongly with both academic and employment success later in life. Reading is not only a major--if not the major--source of practical information for effective thinking and productivity; but also a major source for knowledge, inspiration, creativity, and the development of values.
Braille means literacy.


text:
Commissioner Alison M. Collins
Alison Collins was elected SF Board of Education in November, 2018. She is an experienced educator and community organizer working for education equity in San Francisco for more than 20 years. As a former high school English teacher and instructional coach, her accomplishments include strategic planning of the "A-G for all" high school graduation initiative for Oakland Unified School District, authoring a successful grant for SFUSD and United Way Bay Area to engage parents of college-going students, and supporting families in organize for over $1 Million to redesign their Bayview school.
Collins is committed to giving back to the public education system that helped her mother rise out of poverty, and helped her father become one of the first Black professors at UCLA. She is cofounder if the SF Families Union, Parent advocacy organization committed to fighting for equitable and inclusive schools. She is also the author of a blog, SF Public School Mom, focused on race, parenting and education. She holds a masters degree in education from San Francisco State University. Collins lives in San Francisco with her husband and their twin daughters. Both children attend SFUSD schools.
AlisonMCollins@sfusd.edu
alisoncollinssf.com
San Francisco Public School Mom
@AliMCollins
@sfpsmom


text:
Home » Wiki » What Happened To Jessica Watson Partner Cameron Dale?
What Happened To Jessica Watson Partner Cameron Dale?
Jessica Watson recently confirmed the death of her partner Cameron Dale. Stay with the article to find out more about Dale's cause of death.
Jessica Watson is an Australian sailor who attempted a solo global circumnavigation at the age of 16 years. She left Sydney on October 18, 2009, and crossed the equator, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, before returning to Sydney on May 15, 2010.
Watson was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australian and named the 2011 Young Australian of the Year, reports ABC News. Born in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, to New Zealander parents, Jessica holds dual Australian and New Zealand citizenship.
When Did Jessica Watson Partner Cameron Dale Die?
Jessica Watson's partner Cameron Dale passed away on August 30, 2021.
Cameron Dale was Watson's long-time partner, and they had planned their life and future together. Jessica announced the news of his death on her Instagram account on September 1, 2021.
Dale and Watson started dating in 2011 and centered their worlds around boats. She described how much they loved each other in the post, and she affectionately called him Cam.
Cameron was born on December 21, 1991, and passed away at the age of 29 years.
What Is Cameron Dale Death Cause?
The cause of Cameron Dale's death is a catastrophic stroke. He suffered from a stroke around six weeks earlier and got admitted to the Gold Coast University Hospital.
Jessica expressed her indescribable grief on the Instagram post and also thanked her friends, family, and community for their support through this tough time.
Cameron Dale's obituary is posted on several news sites.
See Also James Garretson
Jessica Watson's Family Details Revealed
Jessica Watson lived on board a 16-meter cabin cruiser for five years with her family. They also lived on a purpose-built double-decker bus for a while.
Jessica was born to her parents are Roger Watson and Julie Watson. Her father, Roger, and her mother, Julie, moved to Australia from New Zealand in 1987.
She is the second among four siblings, and all of them took sailing lessons as kids. Her older sister is Emily, and her younger sister and brother are Hannah and Tom. Watson and her siblings were homeschooled with distance learning. Her mom, Julie, read Lionheart: A Journey of the Human Spirit, Jesse Martin's book, to her children, which lead to Jessica's ambition to sail around the world.
Jessica currently lives in Buderim, Queensland. As she was not yet married, Watson did not have a husband.
Alex Gonzalez Height, Weight, Net Worth, Age, Wiki, Who, Instagram, Biography
Do you have to have a language to get into university


text:
content >
Po Wah Theatre (Tai Po) / 寶華戲院 [1967-1995]
Submitted by OldTimer on Sun, 2017-02-05 11:05
Current condition:
Demolished / No longer exists
Date Place completed:
Date Place demolished:
There were two theatres in Tai Po with the same name - Po Wah Theatres 寶華戲院 - operating in different periods and locations. Information on both theatres is limited, however, this page attempts to summarize what is available.
The first Po Wah Theatre opened for business on February 1, 1967, but its closing date is unknown and so too is its seating capacity. It was located on Nam Shing Street 大埔墟南盛街街口 at the corner with either On Fu Road or Po Heung Street.
The second Po Wah Theatre, its marker shown on this map, was located at 15-19 Tai Wing Lane, Tai Po, about one city block east of the former Po Wah Theatre. It had a sitting capacity of 471, and operated from February 28, 1981 until sometime in the 1990s. For the purpose of this page, the operating period is considered from February 1, 1967 to the estimated date of January 1995.
Cinema Treasures: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/44300
Talk Cinema: https://talkcinema.wordpress.com/2014/04/05/%e5%a4%a7%e5%9f%94%e5%85%a9%...
Hong Kong Theatres Association Limited: http://hktaorg.com/en/cinemahistory.php **
** new link for HKTA - http://www.hktaorg.com/cinema.html
Photos that show this place
Now a Pricerite
Permalink Submitted by philk on Sun, 2017-02-05 16:51.
This one has since been turned into a Pricerite store. The auditorium is now the upstairs furniture dept.
The seating capacity of the
Permalink Submitted by Raymond Lo on Mon, 2018-01-01 17:32.
The seating capacity of the first Po Wah Theatre is 1,380. And the width of its screen is 52 feet.
A timeline of Places at this site.
Baggage Tag_KCR1980.jpg
How to research old buildings in Hong Kong
How to add a "Place" page to Gwulo.com


text:
Justice Robert H. Jackson's Unpublished Opinion in Brown v. Board
Conflict, Compromise, and Constitutional Interpretation
David M. O'Brien
Brown v. Board of Education is widely recognized as one of the US Supreme Court's most important decisions in the twentieth century. Robert H. Jackson, an associate justice on the case, is generally considered one of the Court's most gifted writers. Though much has been written about Brown, citing the writing and remarks of the justices who participated in the 1954 decision, comparatively little has been said about Jackson or his unpublished opinion, which is sometimes even mistakenly taken as a dissenting opinion. This book visits Brown v. Board of Education from Jackson's perspective and, in doing so, offers a reinterpretation of the justice's thinking, and of the Supreme Court's decision making, in a ruling that continues to reverberate through the nation's politics and public life.
Weaving together judicial biography, legal history, and judicial politics, Justice Robert H. Jackson's Unpublished Opinion in Brown v. Board provides a nuanced look at constitutional interpretation, and the intersection of law and politics, from inside the mind of a justice, within the context of a Court deciding a seminal case. Through an analysis of six drafts of Jackson's unpublished concurring opinion, David M. O'Brien explores the justice's evolving thoughts on relevant issues at critical moments in the case. His retelling of Brown presents a new view of longstanding arguments confronted by Jackson and the other justices over "original intent" versus a "living Constitution," the role of the Court, and social change and justice in American political life. The book includes the final draft of Jackson's unpublished opinion, as well as the Warren Court's opinions in Brown and in Bolling v. Sharpe, for comparison, along with a timeline of developments and decision making leading to the Court's landmark ruling.
"A worthwhile contribution to the literature."
"A welcome addition to the historiography on Brown."
"Using the private papers of the justices, the author gives the readers a multilayered discussion of the many issues that gave rise to and engulfed Brown v. Board."
—Great Plains Research
"[An] excellent exploration of Jackson's farewell meditation on the role of the Supreme Court in U.S. democracy at a crucial moment in its history."
"This slim volume overflows with fascinating details about Justice Jackson and the Supreme Court."
"We should be grateful that [O'Brien] has now made Jackson's opinion so easily accessible, along with background material on the Court's struggle to do the right thing in Brown."
"O'Brien's book is timely, and its subject matter seems even more relevant considering how much polarizing social commentary is now occurring in our cities and political circles on the issue of race equality."
—Arizona Attorney
"Provides a wealth of background material on arguably the most significant Supreme Court decision of the 20th century. This short book, which includes a chronology, relevant opinions, and extensive endnotes and bibliography, is an exceptionally useful resource for understanding the Brown decision. Highly recommended."
"Despite the plethora of books on Brown v. Board, David O'Brien has given us a new and striking look at that decision. Utilizing Justice Jackson's unpublished opinion, he brilliantly recreates the debate that took place within the Marble Palace, and in doing so, makes us rethink some basic assumptions about the greatest case of the twentieth century. O'Brien once again shows why he is one of the today's foremost scholars of the Court."
—Melvin I. Urofsky, author of Dissent and the Supreme Court: Its Role in the Court's History and the Nations Constitutional Dialogue
"OBrien's informative new book offers a comprehensive examination and reevaluation of the ongoing controversies over Justice Robert H. Jackson's motivations and actions in Brown v. Board of Education. Building off the six drafts of Jackson's unpublished opinion in this case, O'Brien usefully provides a new window not only into Jacksons role in this case, but into the Court's final ruling as well."
—Charles Zelden, author of Bush v. Gore: Exposing the Hidden Crisis in American Democracy, Abridged and Updated
"This is a well-crafted work in legal history. O'Brien is at his best in giving us a sense of the human interactions behind the Supreme Court's decision making. The meticulous research in this volume helps us to better understand the judicial process. O'Brien gives us valuable insight into the conflicts and countercurrents that contributed to the ultimate outcome in the Supreme Court's most important case, Brown vs. Board of Education. The book should gain a broad audience among scholars in law, history and political science and in undergraduate, graduate and law school classes."
—Robert J. Cottrol, author of The Long, Lingering Shadow: Slavery, Race and Law in the American Hemisphere
David M. O'Brien is Leone Reaves and George W. Spicer Professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia. He is the author, among other books, of Storm Center: The Supreme Court in American Politics, winner of the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award.


<!--...---> is a comment tag, which is used to give the comment in your HTML source code.
The HTML 'comments' tag is used for creating comments within your HTML code. Comments are not displayed in the browsers. we can use comments to explain our code. It is very useful when we open the code at some other day or date. To see the comment we easily understand whats the code of line means. The opening tag for comment is <!-- and closing tag is -->. Everything between these two tags can become comment.


Give up with the intent of never / never claiming again.
Give up what is not strictly needed.
Give up or agree to forgo to the power or possession of another.
"Both sides have to give up some claims in these negotiations"
Allow the other (baseball) team to score.


text:
Diablo: The Black Road - Excerpt
Written by medievaldragon on January 1, 2002 . Posted in BlizzPlanet Articles, Diablo Pocket Book Excerpts
Pocket Book, 368 pages
Since the beginning of time, the angelic hosts of the High Heavens and the demonic hordes of the Burning Hells have been locked in a struggle for the fate of all Creation. That struggle has now come to the mortal realm…and neither Man nor Demon nor Angel will be left unscathed….
Darrick Lang is coming home. Years ago he left the town of Bramwell to walk the wide world as a soldier of fortune and champion of the realm. But Bramwell is not as he left it. Something dark and terrifying has ensnared the townsfolk, something very old and very patient, tangling innocents in a web of malice and profaning the very earth itself. Now that same power calls to Darrick;and his only hope may be to walk the same perilous path of damnation. Since the beginning of time, the angelic hosts of the High Heavens and the demonic hordes of the Burning Hells have been locked in a struggle for the fate of all Creation. That struggle has now come to the mortal realm…and neither Man nor Demon nor Angel will be left unscathed….
Darrick Lang is coming home. Years ago he left the town of Bramwell to walk the wide world as a soldier of fortune and champion of the realm. But Bramwell is not as he left it. Something dark and terrifying has ensnared the townsfolk, something very old and very patient, tangling innocents in a web of malice and profaning the very earth itself. Now that same power calls to Darrick and his only hope may be to walk the same perilous path of damnation.
An original tale of space warfare set in the world of the bestselling computer game!
Order this book at the Blizzplanet Store
Darrick Lang pulled at the oar and scanned the night-shrouded cliffs overlooking the Dyre River, hoping he remained out of sight of the pirates they hunted. Of course, he would only know they'd been discovered after the initial attack, and the pirates weren't known for their generosity toward Westmarch navy sailors. Especially ones who were hunting them pursuant to the King of Westmarch's standing orders. The possibility of getting caught wasn't a pleasant thought.
The longboat sculled against the gentle current, but the prow cut so clean that the water didn't slap against the low hull. Sentries posted up on the surrounding cliffs would raise the alarm if the longboat were seen or heard, and there would be absolute hell to pay for it. If that happened, Darrick was certain none of them would make it back to Lonesome Star waiting out in the Gulf of Westmarch. Captain Tollifer, the vessel's master, was one of the sharpest naval commanders in all of Westmarch under the king's command, and he'd have no problem shipping out if Darrick and his band didn't return before dawn.
Bending his back and leaning forward, Darrick eased the oar from the water and spoke in a soft voice. "Easy, boys. Steady on, and we'll make a go of this. We'll be in and out before those damned pirates know we've come and gone."
"If our luck holds," Mat Hu-Ring whispered beside Darrick.
"I'll take luck," Darrick replied. "Never had anything against it, and it seems you've always had plenty to spare."
"You've never been one to go a-courtin' luck," Mat said.
"Never," Darrick agreed, feeling a little cocky in spite of the danger they were facing. "But I don't find myself forgetting friends who have it."
"Is that why you brought me along on this little venture of yours?"
"Aye," Darrick replied. "And as I got it toted, I saved your life the last time. I'm figuring you owe me one there."
Mat grinned in the darkness, and the white of his teeth split his dark face. Like Darrick, he wore lampblack to shadow his features and make him more a part of the night. But where Darrick had reddish hair and bronze skin, Mat had black hair and was nut brown.
"Oh, but you're up and bound to be pushin' luck this night, aren't you, my friend?" Mat asked.
"The fog is holding." Darrick nodded at the billowing silver-gray gusts that stayed low over the river. The wind and the water worked together tonight, and the fog rolled out to the sea. With the fog in the way, the distance seemed even farther. "Mayhap we can rely on the weather more than we have to rely on your luck."
"An' if ye keep runnin' yer mouths the way ye are," old Maldrin snarled in his gruff voice, "mayhap them guards what ain't sleepin' up there will hear ye and let go with some of them ambushes these damned pirates has got set up. Ye know people talkin' carries easier over the water than on land."
"Aye," Darrick agreed. "An' I know the sound don't carry up to them cliffs from here. They're a good forty feet above us, they are."
"Stupid Hillsfar outlander," Maldrin growled. "Ye're still wet behind the ears and runnin' at the nose for carryin' out this here kind of work. If'n ye ask me, ol' Cap'n Tollifer ain't quite plump off the bob these days."
"An' there you have it then, Ship's Mate Maldrin," Darrick said. "No one bloody asked you."
A couple of the other men aboard the longboat laughed at the old mate's expense. Although Maldrin had a reputation as a fierce sailor and warrior, the younger men on the crew considered him somewhat of a mother hen and a worrywart.
The first mate was a short man but possessed shoulders almost an ax handle's length across. He kept his gray-streaked beard cropped close. A horseshoe-shaped bald spot left him smooth on top but with plenty of hair on the sides and in back that he tied in a queue. Moisture from the river and the fog glistened on the tarred breeches and soaked the dark shirt.
Darrick and the other men in the longboat were clad in similar fashion. All of them had wrapped their blades in spare bits of sailcloth to keep the moonshine and water from them. The Dyre River was fresh water, not the corrosive salt of the Gulf of Westmarch, but a sailor's practices in the King's Royal Navy were hard to put aside.
"Insolent pup," Maldrin muttered.
"Ah, and you love me for it even as you decry it, Maldrin," Darrick said. "If you think you're miserable company now, just think about how you'd have been if I'd up and bloody left you on board Lonesome Star. I'm telling you, man, I don't see you up for a night of hand-wringing. Truly I don't. And this is the thanks I get for sparing you that."
"This isn't going to be as easy as ye seem to want to believe," Maldrin said.
"And what's to worry about, Maldrin? A few pirates?" Darrick shipped his oar, watchful that the longboat crew still moved together, then eased it back into the water and drew again. The longboat surged through the river water, making good time. They'd spotted the small campfire of the first sentry a quarter-mile back. The port they were looking for wasn't much farther ahead.
"These aren't just any pirates," Maldrin replied.
"No," Darrick said, "I have to agree with you. These here pirates, now these are the ones that Cap'n Tollifer sent us to fetch up some trouble with. After orders like them, I won't have you thinking I'd just settle for any pirates."
"Nor me," Mat put in. "I've proven myself right choosy when it comes to fighting the likes of pirates."
A few of the other men agreed, and they shared a slight laugh.
No one, Darrick noted, mentioned anything of the boy the pirates had kidnapped. Since the boy's body hadn't been recovered at the site of the earlier attack, everyone believed he was being held for ransom. Despite the need to let off steam before their insertion into the pirates' stronghold, thinking of the boy was sobering.
Maldrin only shook his head and turned his attention to his own oar. "Ach, an' ye're a proper pain in the arse, Darrick Lang. Before all that's of the Light and holy, I'd swear to that. But if'n there's a man aboard Cap'n Tollifer's ship what can pull this off, I figure it's gotta be you."
"I'd doff my hat to you, Maldrin," Darrick said, touched. "If I were wearing one, that is."
"Just keep wearin' the head it would fit on if ye were," Maldrin growled.
"Indeed," Darrick said. "I intend to." He took a fresh grip on his oar. "Pull, then, boys, while the river is steady and the fog stays with us." As he gazed up at the mountains, he knew that some savage part of him relished thoughts of the coming battle.
The pirates wouldn't give the boy back for free. And Captain Tollifer, on behalf of Westmarch's king, was demanding a blood price as well.
"Damned fog," Raithen said, then swore with heartfelt emotion.
The pirate captain's vehemence drew Buyard Cholik from his reverie. The old priest blinked past the fatigue that held him in thrall and glanced at the burly man who stood limned in the torchlight coming from the suite of rooms inside the building. "What is the matter, Captain Raithen?"
Raithen stood like a mountain at the stone balcony railing of the building that overlooked the alabaster and columned ruins of the small port city where they'd been encamped for months. He pulled at the goatee covering his massive chin and absently touched the cruel scar on the right corner of his mouth that gave him a cold leer.
"The fog. Makes it damned hard to see the river." The pale moonlight glinted against the black chainmail Raithen wore over a dark green shirt. The ship's captain was always sartorially perfect, even this early in the morning. Or this late at night, Cholik amended, for he didn't know which was the case for the pirate chieftain. Raithen's black breeches were tucked with neat precision into his rolled-top boots. "And I still think maybe we didn't get away so clean from the last bit of business we did."
"The fog also makes navigating the river risky," Cholik said.
"Maybe to you, but for a man used to the wiles and ways of the sea," Raithen said, "that river down there would offer smooth sailing." He pulled at his beard as he looked down at the sea again, then nodded. "If it was me, I'd make a run at us tonight."
"You're a superstitious man," Cholik said, and couldn't help putting some disdain in his words. He wrapped his arms around himself. Unlike Raithen, Cholik was thin to the point of emaciation. The night's unexpected chill predicting the onset of the coming winter months had caught him off-guard and ill prepared. He no longer had the captain's young years to tide him over, either. The wind, now that he noticed it, cut through his black and scarlet robes.
Raithen glanced back at Cholik, his expression souring as if he were prepared to take offense at the assessment.
"Don't bother to argue," Cholik ordered. "I've seen the tendency in you. I don't hold it against you, trust me. But I choose to believe in things that offer me stronger solace than superstition."
A scowl twisted Raithen's face. His own dislike and distrust concerning what Cholik's acolytes did in the lower regions of the town they'd found buried beneath the abandoned port city were well known. The site was far to the north of Westmarch, well out of the king's easy reach. As desolate as the place was, Cholik would have thought the pirate captain would be pleased about the location. But the priest had forgotten the civilized amenities the pirates had available to them at the various ports that didn't know who they were ? or didn't care because their gold and silver spent just as quickly as anyone else's. Still, the drinking and debauchery the pirates were accustomed to were impossible where they now camped.
"None of your guards has sounded an alarm," Cholik went on. "And I assume all have checked in."
"They've checked in," Raithen agreed. "But I'm certain that I spotted another ship's sails riding our tailwind when we sailed up into the river this afternoon."
"You should have investigated further."
"I did." Raithen scowled. "I did, and I didn't find anything."
"There. You see? There's nothing to worry about."
Raithen shot Cholik a knowing glance. "Worrying about things is part of what you pay me all that gold for."
"Worrying me, however, isn't."
Despite his grim mood, a small smile twisted Raithen's lips. "For a priest of Zakarum Church, which professes a way of gentleness, you've got an unkind way about your words."
"Only when the effect is deserved."
Folding his arms across his massive chest, Raithen leaned back against the balcony and chuckled. "You do intrigue me, Cholik. When we became acquainted all those months ago and you told me what you wanted to do, I thought you were a madman."
"A legend of a city buried beneath another city isn't madness," Cholik said. However, the things he'd had to do to secure the sacred and almost forgotten texts of Dumal Lunnash, a Vizjerei wizard who had witnessed the death of Jere Harash thousands of years ago, had almost driven him there.
Thousands of years ago, Jere Harash had been a young Vizjerei acolyte who had discovered the power to command the spirits of the dead. The young boy had claimed the insight was given to him through a dream. There was no doubting the new abilities Jere Harash mustered, and his power became a thing of legend. The boy perfected the process whereby the wizards drained the energy of the dead, making anyone who used it more powerful than anything that had gone on before. As a result of this new knowledge, the Vizjerei ? one of the three primary clans in the world thousands of years ago ? had become known as the Spirit Clans.
Dumal Lunnash had been a historian and one of the men to have survived Jere Harash's last attempt to master the spirit world completely. Upon the young man's attaining the trance state necessary to transfer the energy to the spells he wove, a spirit had taken control of his body and gone on a killing rampage. Later, the Vizjerei had learned that the spirits they called on and unwittingly unleashed into the world were demons from the Burning Hells.
As a chronicler of the times and the auguries of the Vizjerei, Dumal Lunnash had largely been overlooked, but his texts had led Cholik through a macabre and twisted trail that had ended in the desolation of the forgotten city on the Dyre River.
"No," Raithen said. "Legends like that are everywhere. I've even followed a few of them myself, but I've never seen one come true."
"Then I'm surprised that you came at all," Cholik said. This was a conversation they'd been avoiding for months, and he was surprised to find it coming out now. But only in a way. From the signs they'd been finding the last week, while Raithen had been away plundering and pillaging, or whatever it was that Raithen's pirates did while they were away, Cholik had known they were close to discovering the dead city's most important secret.
"It was your gold," Raithen admitted. "That was what turned the trick for me. Now, since I've returned again, I've seen the progress your people are making."
A bitter sweetness filled Cholik. Although he was glad to be vindicated in the pirate captain's eyes, the priest also knew that Raithen had already started thinking about the possibility of treasure. Perhaps in his uninformed zeal, he or his men might even damage what Cholik and his acolytes were there to get.
"When do you think you'll find what you're looking for?" Raithen asked.
"Soon," Cholik replied.
The big pirate shrugged. "It might help me to have some idea. If we were followed today…"
"If you were followed today," Cholik snapped, "then it would be all your fault."
Raithen gave Cholik a wolfish grin. "Would it, then?"
"You are wanted by the Westmarch Navy," Cholik said, "for crimes against the king. You'll be hanged if they find you, swung from the gallows in Diamond Quarter."
"Like a common thief?" Raithen arched an eyebrow. "Aye, maybe I'll be swinging at the end of a gallows like a loose sail at the end of a yardarm, but don't you think the king would have a special punishment meted out to a priest of the Zakarum Church who had betrayed his confidence and had been telling the pirates what ships carry the king's gold through the Gulf of Westmarch and through the Great Ocean?"
Raithen's remarks stung Cholik. The Archangel Yaerius had coaxed a young ascetic named Akarat into founding a religion devoted to the Light. And for a time, Zakarum Church had been exactly that, but it had changed over the years and through the wars. Few mortals, only those within the inner circles of the Zakarum Church, knew that the church had been subverted by demons and now followed a dark, mostly hidden evil through their inquisitions. The Zakarum Church was also tied into Westmarch and Tristram, the power behind the power of the kings. By revealing the treasure ships' passage, Cholik had also enabled the pirates to steal from the Zakarum Church. The priests of the church were even more vengeful than the king.
Turning from the bigger man, Cholik paced on the balcony in an effort to warm himself against the night's chill. I knew it would come to this at some point, he told himself. This was to be expected. He let out a long, deliberate breath, letting Raithen think for a time that he'd gotten the better of him. Over his years as a priest, Cholik had found that men often made even more egregious mistakes when they'd been praised for their intelligence or their power.
Cholik knew what real power was. It was the reason he'd come there to Tauruk's Port to find long-buried Ransim, which had died during the Sin War that had lasted centuries as Chaos had quietly but violently warred with the Light. That war had been long ago and played out in the east, before Westmarch had become civilized or powerful. Many cities and towns had been buried during those times. Most of them, though, had been shorn of their valuables. But Ransim had been hidden from the bulk of the Sin War. Even though the general populace knew nothing of the Sin War except that battles were fought ? though not because the demons and the Light warred ? they'd known nothing of Ransim. The port city had been an enigma, something that shouldn't have existed. But some of the eastern mages had chosen that place to work and hide in, and they'd left secrets behind. Dumal Lunnash's texts had been the only source Cholik had found regarding Ransim's whereabouts, and even that book had led only to an arduous task of gathering information about the location that was hidden in carefully constructed lies and half-truths.
"What do you want to know, captain?" Cholik asked.
"What you're seeking here," Raithen replied with no hesitation.
"If it's gold and jewels, you mean?" Cholik asked.
"When I think of treasure," Raithen said, "those are the things that I spend most of my time thinking about and wishing for."
Amazed at how small-minded the man was, Cholik shook his head. Wealth was only a small thing to hope for, but power ? power was the true reward the priest lusted for.
"What?" Raithen argued. "You're too good to hope for gold and jewels? For a man who betrays his king's coffers, you have some strange ideas."
"Material power is a very transitory thing," Cholik said. "It is of finite measure. Often gone before you know it."
"I've still got some put back for a rainy day."
Cholik gazed up at the star-filled heavens. "Mankind is a futile embarrassment to the heavens, Captain Raithen. An imperfect vessel imperfectly made. We play at being omnipotent, knowing the potential perhaps lies within us yet will always be denied to us."
"We're not talking about gold and jewels that you're looking for, are we?" Raithen almost sounded betrayed.
"There may be some of that," Cholik said. "But that is not what drew me here." He turned and gazed back at the pirate captain. "I followed the scent of power here, Captain Raithen. And I betrayed the King of Westmarch and the Zakarum Church to do it so that I could secure your ship for my own uses."
"Power?" Raithen shook his head in disbelief. "Give me a few feet of razor-sharp steel, and I'll show you power."
Angry, Cholik gestured at the pirate captain. The priest saw waves of slight, shimmering force leap from his extended hand and streak for Raithen. The waves wrapped around the big man's throat like steel bands and shut his breath off. In the next instant, Cholik caused the big man to be pulled from his feet. No priest could wield such a power, and it was time to let the pirate captain know he was no priest. Not anymore. Not ever again.
"Shore!" one of the longboat crew crowed from the prow. He kept his voice pitched low so that it didn't carry far.
"Ship oars, boys," Darrick ordered, lifting his own from the river water. Pulse beating quicker, thumping at his temples now, he stood and gazed at the stretch of mountain before them.
The oars came up at once, then the sailors placed them in the center of the longboat.
"Stern," Darrick called as he peered at the glowing circles of light that came from lanterns or fires only a short distance ahead.
"Sir," Fallan responded from the longboat's stern.
Now that the oars no longer rowed, the longboat didn't cut through the river water. Instead, the boat seemed to come up from the water and settle with harsh awkwardness on the current.
"Take us to shore," Darrick ordered, "and let's have a look at what's what with these damned pirates what's taking the king's gold. Put us off to port in a comfortable spot, if you will."
"Aye, sir." Fallan used the steering oar and angled the longboat toward the left riverbank.
The current pushed the craft backward in the water, but Darrick knew they'd lose only a few yards. What mattered most was finding a safe place to tie up so they could complete the mission Captain Tollifer had assigned them.
"Here," Maldrin called out, pointing toward the left bank. Despite his age, the old first mate had some of the best eyes aboard Lonesome Star. He also saw better at night.
Darrick peered through the fog and made out the craggy riverbank. It looked bitten off, just a stubby shelf of rock sticking out from the cliffs that had been cleaved through the Hawk's Beak Mountains as if by a gigantic ax.
"Now, there's an inhospitable berth if ever I've seen one," Darrick commented.
"Not if you're a mountain goat," Mat said.
"A bloody mountain goat wouldn't like that climb none," Darrick said, measuring the steep ascent that would be left to them.
Maldrin squinted up at the cliffs. "If we're goin' this way, we're in for some climbin'."
"Sir," Fallan called from the stern, "what do you want me to do?"
"Put in to shore there, Fallan," Darrick said. "We'll take our chances with this bit of providence." He smiled. "As hard as the way here is, you know the pirates won't be expecting it none. I'll take that, and add it to the chunk of luck we're having here this night."
With expert skill, Fallan guided the longboat to shore.
"Tomas," Darrick said, "we'll be having that anchor now, quick as you will."
The sailor muscled the stone anchor up from the middle of the longboat, steadied it on the side, then heaved it toward shore. The immense weight fell short of the shore but slapped down into shallow water. Taking up the slack, he dragged the anchor along the river bottom.
"She's stone below," Tomas whispered as the rope jerked in his hands. "Not mud."
"Then let's hope that you catch onto something stout," Darrick replied. He fidgeted in the longboat, anxious to be about the dangerous business they had ahead of them. The sooner into it, the sooner out of it and back aboard Lonesome Star.
"We're about out of riverbank," Maldrin commented as they drifted a few yards farther downriver.
"Could be we'll start the night off with a nice swim, then," Mat replied.
"A man will catch his death of cold in that water," Maldrin grumped.
"Mayhap the pirates will do for you before you wind up abed in your dotage," Mat said. "I'm sure they're not going to give up their prize when we come calling."
Darrick felt a sour twist in his stomach. The "prize" the pirates held was the biggest reason Captain Tollifer had sent Darrick and the other sailors upriver instead of bringing Lonesome Star up.
As a general rule, the pirates who had been preying on the king's ships out of Westmarch had left no one alive. This time, they had left a silk merchant from Lut Gholein clinging to a broken spar large enough to serve as a raft. He'd been instructed to tell the king that one of the royal nephews had been taken captive. A ransom demand, Darrick knew, was sure to follow.
It would be the first contact the pirates had initiated with Westmarch. After all these months of successful raids against the king's merchanters, still no one knew how they got their information about the gold shipments. However, they had left only the Lut Gholein man alive, suggesting that they hadn't wanted anyone from Westmarch to escape who might identify them.
The anchor scraped across the stone riverbed, taking away the margin for success by steady inches. The water and the sound of the current muted the noise. Then the anchor stopped and the rope jerked taut in Tomas's hands. Catching the rope in his callused palms, the sailor squeezed tight.
The longboat stopped but continued to bob on the river current.
Darrick glanced at the riverbank a little more than six feet away. "Well, we'll make do with what we have, boys." He glanced at Tomas. "How deep is the water?"
Tomas checked the knots tied in the rope as the longboat strained at the anchor. "She's drawing eight and a half feet."
Darrick eyed the shore. "The river must drop considerably from the edges of the cliffs."
"It's a good thing we're not in armor," Mat said. "Though I wish I had a good shirt of chainmail to tide me through the coming fracas."
"You'd sink like a lightning-blasted toad if you did," Darrick replied. "And it may not come to fighting. Mayhap we'll nip aboard the pirate ship and rescue the youngster without rousing a ruckus."
"Aye," Maldrin muttered, "an' if ye did, it would be one of the few times I've seen ye do that."
Darrick grinned in spite of the worry that nibbled at the dark corners of his mind. "Why, Maldrin, I almost sense a challenge in your words."
"Make what ye will of it," the first mate growled. "I offer advice in the best of interests, but I see that it's seldom taken in the same spirit in which it was give. Fer all ye know, they're in league with dead men and suchlike here."
The first mate's words had a sobering effect on Darrick, reminding him that though he viewed the night's activities as an adventure, it wasn't a complete lark. Some pirate captains wielded magic.
"We're here tracking pirates," Mat said. "Just pirates. Mortal men whose flesh cuts and bleeds."
"Aye," Darrick said, ignoring the dry spot at the back of his throat that Maldrin's words had summoned. "Just men."
But still, the crew had faced a ship of dead men only months ago while on patrol. The fighting then had been brutal and frightening, and it had cost lives of shipmates before the undead sailors and their ship had been sent to the bottom of the sea.
The young commander glanced at Tomas. "We're locked in?"
Tomas nodded, tugging on the anchor rope. "Aye. As near as I can tell."
Darrick grinned. "I'd like to have a boat to come back to, Tomas. And Captain Tollifer can be right persnickety about crew losing his equipment. When we get to shore, make the longboat fast again, if you please."
"Aye. It will be done."
Grabbing his cutlass from among the weapons wrapped in the bottom of the longboat, Darrick stood with care, making sure he balanced the craft out. He took a final glance up at the tops of the cliffs. The last sentry point they'd identified lay a hundred yards back. The campfire still burned through the layers of fog overhead. He glanced ahead at the lights glowing in the distance, the clangor of ships' rigging slapping masts reaching his ears.
"Looks like there's naught to be done for it, boys," Darrick said. "We've got a cold swim ahead of us." He noticed that Mat already had his sword in hand and that Maldrin had his own war hammer.
"After you," Mat said, waving an open hand toward the river.
Without another word, Darrick slipped over the side of the boat and into the river. The cold water closed over him at once, taking his breath away, and he swam against the current toward the riverbank.


[Left] Devin with Eva Longoria who he met while working at AJ Hackett Bungy! [Right] Devin at Niagra Falls.
Meet new ITC staff member Devin Rawlinson – a well-travelled Kiwi-Canadian with a love for adventure tourism. He recently joined the ITC team as a tutor at our City Campus. Below, he gives an insight into his background and how he got to be where he is today.
Back in 1994, I was a little 12-year-old boy shaking with excitement and adrenaline after completing my first bungy jump. This was followed by jetboating, white water rafting, canyoning, abseiling, snowboarding, and the list goes on. The foundation of my tourism career had begun.
I was born in Tunis, Tunisia (famous for being the location of Tatooine from Star Wars). At the age of one, I moved to New Zealand and grew up on the Kapiti Coast. From there, I moved to Singapore for two years. In the second year I was in Singapore, the government banned chewing gum, so we had to get our grandparents to smuggle packs into the country! We then headed back to NZ and settled in Auckland.
I have dual citizenship (Canadian and NZ) so my next port of call was Calgary, Canada, where I saw my first of many beavers. Within my first month, I had seen bears, coyotes, deer, elk, and moose – all in the wild. Every weekend I was either playing golf or snowboarding, depending if there was snow or not. I learned how to ice skate, attended lots of Calgary Flames (NHL) games and developed a love of rodeo, cowboy hats, and poutine (fries, cheese and gravy). When I finished school and turned 18, I jumped on a plane and came back to Auckland.
My career in travel and tourism began with AJ Hackett Bungy NZ, working on the Auckland Harbour Bridge. I trained up and became a Jump Master, then Operations Manager. Over ten years, I got to meet many fun and famous people. When we were told that some young kid called Justin Bieber was on his way, we had to Google to see who he was!
After leaving AJ Hackett, I worked for Schindler Lifts as their National Health and Safety Manager. A major part of my role was to deliver training throughout New Zealand. I was fortunate to go to France every year with this job, since the corporate health and safety team was based there.
I now live on Waiheke Island with my wife, three kids, two cats, and a dog. When I'm not playing with the kids, changing diapers or watching those YouTube videos made for kids, I like listening to music, playing guitar or spending the day at the beach.