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Future Ashurst trainee solicitor has book published by Stormzy
By Aishah Hussain on Jul 2 2019 10:07am
Taking Up Space explores what it means to be a black girl studying at university
Left to right: Ore Ogunbiyi, Stormzy and future Ashurst trainee solicitor Chelsea Kwakye
A future City trainee solicitor has had her debut book published under grime artist Stormzy's publishing house.
Chelsea Kwakye (right) and Ore Ogunbiyi (left) co-authored Taking Up Space: The Black Girl's Manifesto for Change, which explores everything from the barriers of entry into university, discrimination in the classroom, activism, mental health, relationships and diversifying university curricula. It was published by #Merky Books — an imprint set up by Stormzy and publishers Penguin Random House — last week.
Commenting on the hardback's launch, Kwakye, who studied history at the University of Cambridge, tells Legal Cheek:
"A lot of time, research and critical discussion went into this book and we can only hope that this is the beginning of challenging institutions and individuals to have more engaging and critical discussions about what we mean when we talk about 'diversity', 'inclusion' and 'equality'."
The 22-year-old writer devoted her time during university to raising awareness around diversity and inclusion, namely as vice president of Cambridge's African-Caribbean Society and as BME officer for her college union. She has spoken candidly about being the "only black girl" in her cohort and developing a "serious case of imposter syndrome" as a result. "I shrunk back a lot and this really affected my first two years at university because I was surrounded by people who didn't look like me — students and staff alike," Kwakye reveals in an interview with The University of Law.
Since graduating the young writer has gone on to secure a City training contract with Ashurst following a summer vac scheme stint there and is currently undertaking the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) at The University of Law in Moorgate, with a view to embark on the Legal Practice Course (LPC) later this year.
British rapper Stormzy, 25, who headlined at Glastonbury Festival over the weekend, expressed his "awe" at the book's release. "This is one of the most brave, brilliant, bold, important, well-needed, exceptional books in recent British literature history and I say that with my CHEST! It's not your typical story of the trials and tribulations of being black in [an] all white institution — it BRILLIANTLY discusses and addresses the most intricate parts of being a minority… I am in awe," the Vossi Bop chart-topper wrote on Instagram.
⏰ COUNTDOWN TIME!! On Thursday, we'll be celebrating @takingupspacebook's official publication day 🙌 ⠀ ⠀ If you want to save yourself a copy and preorder, just click the link in our bio 🔥⠀ ⠀ (and yes, we are aware that we have mad photoshop skills)
A post shared by #Merky Books (@merkybooks) on Jun 25, 2019 at 11:00am PDT
#Merky Books focuses on fostering talent among young writers. It is part of the musician's growing #Merky empire, which also includes a record label and music festival.
Taking Up Space: The Black Girl's Manifesto for Change is available to purchase now.
For a weekly round-up of news, plus jobs and latest event info
Ashurst Stormzy University of Cambridge
Can someone write something similar about being BAME at the Bar?
Shocking that there are chambers in London with only 1or 2 non-White members.
I would be interested to know the BAME stats for those who start the Bar course and complete pupillage within 5 years. A lot of courses have international students that return home so perhaps it should be British BAME students to avoid including overseas students.
It always makes barristers squirm when you ask them about it.
They'll gladly talk to you for hours about how 'open-minded' they are about migrants, Remain, how they stupidly shrunk the clothes in the wash, how they love Club World and how great it is to see Polish and Korean food in the supermarket aisles.
But ask them exactly how many BAME are in chambers, they start to recoil and go on the defensive before lashing out.
It's like you've found out a horrible secret…
DeluxeBiscuit
It is shocking. I'm not for affirmative action despite being an ethnic minority. I feel it is counterproductive to the main issue.
However I was still suprised to see how few BAME members there were in London sets. I believe 16% of the population is BAME and there is obviously a give and take with how proportionate places can be, but 1-2 BAME members in a set of nearly 100 people compared to regional sets is suspicious.
This is especially worrying given this is in London. I would be curious to see if this could be researched further as perhaps its a self sustaining issue where BAME applicants see this set, think they have no chance because of how off the numbers look and chose to not even apply.
Jul 2 2019 1:13pm
I'm afraid, the answer will be, not alot. There are no HR teams. Recruitment is run by members and for members, with clients in mind.
This really should be spoken about and confronted a lot more.
The current BAME statistics don't seem to account for the fact that an increasing number of children in private schools and boarding schools (where the majority of barristers hail from) at present do not have parents who were born in the UK.
There is a huge influx of Saudi, Russian, Chinese, Singaporean, Nigerian and Indian students given these countries' changing economies and the importance to these parents of having their children educated in the UK.
I don't know how these barristers can keep straight-faced about working in a nearly all-White chambers in London, then stepping out onto the street or picking up their child from school to see a completely different reality.
There is no other enclave in the city like it.
The Bar is about 14% BAME compared to 16% of the population, though BAME is made up disproportionately by "AME" and there is woeful under-representation of the black community. But the powers that be don't really care, the box has been ticked. All they care about is the amount of women.
Between 2012 and 2014, 335 UK/EU students attained the grade 'Outstanding' on the BPTC. Of those, 293-296 (87.5 – 88.4%) were white.
Between 2012/13 and 2014/15, 1,333 – 1,348 students commenced a pupillage in a England and Wales. Of those, just 1,063 (78.9 – 79.7%) were white.
Therefore, when controlling for ability, white students are significantly underrepresented when it comes to pupillage enrolment.
If you're only interested in "B" students, it might interest you to learn that Between 2011 and 2013, 376-386 black students completed the BPTC. Of those, just 2 – 8 (0.5 – 2.1%) attained a grade of 'Outstanding', whilst 88 (22.8 – 23.4%) failed the course altogether.
For comparison, over the same period 1,963 white students completed the BPTC. Of those, 296 (15.1%) attained a grade of 'Outstanding', whilst 108 (5.5%) failed the course altogether.
If one actually looks at the data, there isn't the slightest hint of discrimination at the bar.
What are the statistics for BAME pupils at the chancery and commercial end of the Bar?
That's when things get embarrassing.
I think this is largely a London problem too, if you look at chambers in Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham etc. then there is definitely greater representation across the board.
That's the truth right there. Get it up you dickheads.
BAME here – I got my lowest marks on the BPTC on my Advocacy assessments marked by White assessors.
I completed 8 FRU cases before starting the course and also debated at university. With the course being so poorly managed, I saw no point in trying to argue against the marks.
As many get pupillage before the BPTC, the difference between a VC and an Outstanding is neither here nor there.
We really need much more research into whether unconscious bias has a role to play in how assessors mark practical assessments.
There are still chambers in London with very few BAME members and they must really hold people in contempt to think this wouldn't go unnoticed.
So your intellectual point is that statistics tell the whole story. I don't think your argument ban purely be strengthened by just using statists. There are also sociological issues to consider. In addition to certain courses being developed with a certain racial group in mind giving that group the advantage over others. A lot of discrimination is subtle and not recognisable especially to those who don't challenge their unconscious bias. This is just a brief alternative view.
Bored of 'diversity' whinges
Differences in careers outcomes start at home: with parents, not with employers. The bar provides an interesting case study. Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) barristers are extremely limited, but as a practising barrister warned, this is because, "Given the current pool of candidates available, a system which solely rewards merit must necessarily come at the expense of diversity. This may be a bitter pill for the politically correct brigade to swallow, but the facts speak for themselves; the data clearly show a significant gap in the average aptitude of white and black applicants, and therefore we should EXPECT a significant gap in attainment."
Her full comment is below, and can also be found here: https://www.legalcheek.com/2017/04/diversity-isnt-working-says-somali-refugee-who-beat-odds-to-become-a-barrister/#comment-1015273
"'The lack of 'diversity' at the Bar can be explained by the lack of good-quality BME applicants coming through the system. This is more than evident from the BSB's own figures:
Between 2011 and 2013, 1,963 white students completed the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC). Of those, 296 (15.1%) attained a grade of 'Outstanding', whilst 108 (5.5%) failed the course altogether. Over the same period, 376-386* black students completed the BPTC. Of those, just 2 – 8 (0.5 – 2.1%) attained a grade of 'Outstanding', whilst 88 (22.8 – 23.4%) failed the course altogether. Put another way, white candidates are approximately 4x less likely to fail the BPTC than their black counterparts, and somewhere between 7 and 30x more likely to get an Outstanding. Given that the Bar Standards Board (BSB)'s own figures show that BPTC grade is a far better predictor of gaining pupillage than either degree grade or university attended, it's little wonder that so few black students are getting pupillage.
People can argue that black people have fewer opportunities in early life and that this impacts their GCSE grades, A-level grades, University attended etc. People can likewise argue that pupillage committees are inherently biased and therefore subconsciously discriminate against black candidates. But, for all its faults, the BPTC is an extremely well-standardised course. Everyone, regardless of background, has access to the same teaching and access to the same course materials. Likewise, for the most part, everyone sits the same, blindly-marked exams. And yet, despite all of this, white candidates still significantly out-perform their black counterparts.
Clearly, therefore, any attempt to promote diversity for diversity's sake – at least at the BPTC/Pupillage stage – is foolish and misguided. Given the current pool of candidates available, a system which solely rewards merit must necessarily come at the expense of diversity. This may be a bitter pill for the politically correct brigade to swallow, but the facts speak for themselves; the data clearly show a significant gap in the average aptitude of white and black applicants, and therefore we should EXPECT a significant gap in attainment. Now, I am not suggesting that the Bar should abandon its commendable attempts to tear down barriers and improve ACCESS to the Bar. It might be the case, for example, that for whatever reason gifted black students are simply less likely to apply to the BPTC than their white counterparts. Indeed, speaking as someone who myself comes from a 'non-traditional background', I have no doubt that some such barriers continue to exist; and no candidate should be led to believe that their creed, colour or gender makes them any better or worse suited to a career at the Bar. However, it's important not to oversimplify the problem and blindly ascribe a lack of diversity in the profession to systemic prejudice. It's likewise important to recognise that promoting ACCESS is not the same as promoting DIVERSITY. All too often people conflate the two. The first speaks to opportunity whereas the second speaks to results. Our only duty is to level the playing field, not the score.
Moreover, access aside, it is undoubtedly the case that there is a disproportionately large number of poor-quality black candidates applying to the BPTC. The figures clearly show that, whatever it is that explains the lack of good-quality black candidates, it is NOT a belief in the black community that the Bar is closed to people of colour. Therefore, we need to be very careful to ensure that we are sending the right message – namely, "the Bar is open to all people who have the ability, regardless of their colour", NOT "we need more black candidates pursuing a career at the Bar". In other words, what we need is a colour-blind system, NOT this ridiculous, facile, intellectually dishonest, politically-driven system we currently have, which is absolutely OBSESSED with people's ethnicities and increasing 'diversity'. In this regard, I am sorry to say that [Legal Cheek, the website on which this was originally published] is very much part of the problem. Every article questions why there are so few black barristers, rather than why there are so few good-quality black candidates. I have read many articles lamenting the underrepresentation of minority groups at the Bar. However, I have never read any acknowledgement whatsoever of the marked disparity in attainment between different ethnic groups at the application stage.
The BSB, Media and scorned students can whinge, whine, bleat and screech all they want, but sets of chambers will NOT start recruiting sub-par applicants simply because it promotes diversity in the profession. Unlike law firms, for example, chambers are far less invested in promoting a politically correct corporate message, and thus far more invested in recruiting candidates based on merit alone. Please abandon this relentless and myopic pursuit of 'diversity'. And please, please, please, PLEASE, for the LOVE OF GOD, stop assuming that differences in attainment between whites/blacks, males/females, state-school/public school, northerners/southerners, gay/straight, left-handed/right-handed are always and necessarily attributable to systemic prejudice. It's statistics 101: correlation does not imply causation, and just because any one group is underrepresented at the Bar, it does not necessarily mean that that group is discriminated against.
* When the number of students falling into a particular category is particularly low, the BSB merely states the number as being '< 5', '< 10' or '<15'. This is the case for black students attaining the grade of 'Outstanding' in the years 2011 and 2013, and the grade of 'Not Yet Competent' in 2011. Therefore, it is not possible to determine the exact number of black students who completed the BPTC over that time period, nor is it possible state exactly how many black students attained a grade of 'Outstanding'. Nevertheless, there is sufficient information to calculate a reasonably narrow range of possible values.'"
Chancery barrister on pupillage committee
Be brave and put your name and chambers down in agreement.
Why do you fear saying out loud that you think BPTC statistics prove black candidates don't make as good advocates as White ones?
Because I fear the mob mentality. I certainly don't fear reasoned debate.
I don't believe that any candidate should be treated any differently than any other based gender or ethnicity.
The BPTC is not marked 'blindly' as the assessors for the advocacy, negotiation and conference modules can clearly see what a candidate looks like.
The best chambers secure many of their candidates before they even start the BPTC. Your statistics show greater White attainment on the BPTC, but it is disingenuous to cite BPTC marks as no chambers use these to pick their candidates.
An 'Outstanding' does not erase a 2.2 undergraduate degree in the mind of the pupillage committee.
My understanding was that most barristers treat the BPTC as a necessary evil rather than decisive of potential as an advocate. Otherwise, they'd all rush to teach it.
The majority of the top chancery sets that have been criticised here will be recruiting persons with firsts, double firsts and BCLs from Oxford.
A first from Oxford will secure you interviews but will not get you pupillage. I would be very surprised to find any BAME candidate with a double first and/or a BCL without pupillage (assuming a few years of trying).
You know as well as I do that commercial and chancery sets have taken pupils and tenants in the last 10 years with 2.1s. You are likely to have one yourself.
Why will you not stand up using your name and chambers to publicly state that you personally think BPTC statistics prove Black advocates cannot achieve the same as White advocates?
The vast majority of persons in chancery sets with 2.i degrees will be lateral moves. They would have come from other sets, built a practice and then decided to move to increase career prospects. I can't speak about other sets but we have not taken a pupil candidate with a 2.i for so long as I have been on the committee (5 years or so). The vast majority will be oxbridge firsts, double firsts etc.
Anon @9:29am, I am the original poster whom Anon @7:51am quoted. I have to say that I am both surprised and slightly flattered that somebody has remembered and reposted a comment which I made several years ago. Since Legal Cheek started deleting contentious comments, I tend not to come to this website very often anymore. Anyway, as it happens, I am here today and you raise two interesting points so I thought I'd step in and address them.
First, you make the point that some modules on the BPTC are not blindly marked. This is true (although to my knowledge they no longer teach negotiation on the Bar Course). However, the same pattern holds true even if one only looks to the centrally-marked exams. In other words, even when one only considers blindly marked modules, white students still significantly out-perform black students.
Secondly, you make the point that lots of chambers don't consider BPTC grades when making pupillage offers. With respect, this is exactly the point. As I said in my initial comment, "the Bar Standards Board (BSB)'s own figures show that BPTC grade is a far better predictor of gaining pupillage than either degree grade or university attended".
When pupillage committees seem to favour people who were educated at Oxbridge, for example, some people argue that this is because Oxbridge correlates with high aptitude. However, others argue that pupillage committees are simply giving an unfair degree of weight to the Oxbridge name. In turn, if one takes the view that the Oxbridge admissions process is discriminatory, this allows those people in the second camp to argue that the Bar is discriminatory against people of colour.
However, one cannot make that argument when citing BPTC figures because (i) the BPTC is (virtually) open to everyone, with scandalously low entry criteria and (ii) as you say, many pupillage committees give no weight to BPTC grade whatsoever. In other words, we have a variable with strong predictive value which simply cannot be explained in terms of systematic privilege.
If one actually looks at the data, the evidence is overwhelming.
If you are so confident in the data and sincerely believe there's no racism or prejudice towards Black applicants, I don't understand why you won't put your real name and chambers to your conclusions on Black BPTC students within a public blog post or to Counsel magazine.
Go on. Get the word out and silence the whiners once and for all.
I'm sure the Twitter crowd will thank you for it.
Because my argument relies on evidence, not authority.
Bumblebee's comments, both in 2017 and just above, stand in their own right. I would just answer one question. Both in response to Bumblebee, and to 'Chancery barrister on pupillage committee', someone has, in purported ignorance, asked, "I don't understand why you won't put your real name and chambers to your conclusions on Black BPTC students".
The answer, as they almost certainly know, is that anyone transgressing from the politically-correct new orthodoxy (that black failure is down to discrimination not underperformance/anti-education culture) would have their lives destroyed by foaming-at-the-mouth social justice warriors.
The US, as in many areas, sets the tone for the UK. Many minorities perform superbly: Asians, in particular. In response, universities have introduced positive discrimination to favour under-performing blacks, and left-wing organisations have sought to downplay the role of culture in explaining black underperformance. Certain things are 'not allowed to be said': (a) a black culture of educational underperformance, and idolisation of violence; (b) poor discipline by black parents; and (c) irresponsible breeding by black men who won't marry their partners, and black women who sleep around before marriage. Children without fathers do badly. (In the US, much of this was covered in the 1965 Moynihan report: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Negro_Family:_The_Case_For_National_Action).
Last week's Financial Times 'Alphachat' podcast covered the issues of left-wingers shutting down debate by harassing people out of the public sphere. This 20-minute podcast is well worth listening to, particularly the last five minutes, when these issues are focused on:
FT Alphachat: Angela Nagle on the online culture wars. Angela Nagle, author of Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right, talks to FT Alphaville's Jemima Kelly about the online culture wars and the rise of the alt-right.
Podcast:	https://media.acast.com/ft-alphachat/angelanagleontheonlineculturewars/media.mp3
web:	https://ftalphaville.ft.com/series/Alphachat
Benny Morris
Re "Bored of 'diversity' whinges" at 11:48, I'm not sure that that analysis really follows from the (mainly factual) points made by Bumblebee.
First of all, attempting to actually explain the discrepancy in 'racial' terms falls into the same fallacy discussed, of conflating correlation with causation. You are assuming the racial background of those candidates has a causative relevance. Secondly, the Moynihan report was discussing African-American families in the United States. What does that have to do with the people categorised as black BPTC students, who will be either immigrants from the Caribbean/Africa in the UK to study, or Brits of similar extraction? These are different people. I for one am unclear as to what your comments about 'black culture' and 'blacks' are based on, and who exactly they are supposed to relate to. Simply in presentational terms, it is worth exercising some caution before attributing profoundly negative behavioural traits to an entire group of people based on the colour of their skin.
Not surprised
@ Benny Morris, I couldn't respond to your message but I agree with your points. The previous poster took comments from a US focused reports and applied them to the UK because it suits his racist agenda. Irresponsible breeding by black men? Really? In 2019 you are referring to such terms. What is the rate of marriage in the white community? In the UK can you compare Nigerian, Ghanaian, Jamaican, Guyanese, Trini, Somalian, Kenyan families? Do you have that breakdown, or do you want to lump all those groups together into black? The reason you are shut down is because you are irresponsible in your use of data.
Just trying to follow up on the stats
Link to the stats please…please note 'my biased imagination' is not a recognised research body
Link the stats
Link to the actual reports from 2011-2018/2019 is possible.
I am interested in reading all of it not the link to Legal Cheek's article
Ore Ogunbiyi went to a school that costs £40,000 per year. She also did a masters course that cost $60,000 in the US.
Fair play to her.
BAME in the Square Mile
I was going to say the same thing to be honest. I feel like at Uni there is a perception that all black people have the same experience. But some of us had to struggle on our own to get there, whilst others got the fast track via an expensive school. Now they are writing a book together, the assumption will be that both the girls have the same background and the same experiences, which is far from true. On campus this perception continues, and there is the assumption that we all buy into the same things. There are a lot of very privileged Africans getting top jobs in the square mile (as well as Hong Kong/Arab/European even Eurasian youngsters these days) who have had a classic British public school education, but they want to project an image of being part of the under represented, when they are typical of the establishment. And I would personally sympathise with a working class white guy from the north who struggles to get in, and then is told he enjoys privilege.
The other thing I have to say, the background of Chelsea shows that kids from poor schools can do exceptionally well when given opportunities. Her GCSEs on her LinkedIn are lower than the average at Russell Group Universities, yet she aced her A-levels and sailed a first class at Cambridge in history. It shows that contextual recruitment can work, and that students of all colours who go to poor performing state schools and do well are very strong and should be given opportunities.
Unapologetic Elitist
Sorry, an Oxbridge degree is not an 'opportunity' or something. People like Chelsea basically see it as some sort of social mobility booster rocket enabling them to go from a deprived background to a shiny city job.
Now aside from the very questionable ethics of social mobility itself (which imo is just a way of moving from dismissing vast swathes of people based on wealth to dismissing vast swathes of people based on 'intelligence') this completely misunderstands what Oxbridge is or why it should admit people.
It does not exist to do favours to the poor of any colour in order to enhance their CV; it exists purely to be a site of academic excellence and to produce a) high-quality research in various subjects and b) a pipeline of future researchers who will be the best in the world. That is the sole factor that should motivate admissions, and therefore there should be no reason why a white man from Eton and a black girl from the East End should be treated differently.
(6) (31)
Oxbridge is the biggest social mobility rocket any Brit can ever get.
Sorry I don't really understand the nonsense you wrote. She got a first, which means that she is better than most of her peers there. If she decided to go into research or academia then she would be far better placed than most to contribute to Cambridge's rich history of top class scholarship. Her entry was not because she was favoured, it was because they looked at the context of her school attainment and identified that she is one smart cookie from the assessments she had to do to get in. Clearly they got it right. This is really the wrong example to spout your rubbish on.
Mate, ignore the dickheads. Every single word you wrote is true. You know it, I know it. And half the people giving it thumbs down know it.
Ore is still black so she is still underrepresented, regardless of her family's wealth.
That's just the fees. To live and study in New York you're talking $100k at least.
She got a scholarship for her master's.
The scholarship covered everything? Very unlikely. Her background is classic Lagos Princess, but she did well to go to Cambridge and not Warwick/Reading.
Class and money is an infinitely greater barrier to educational achievement than race or ethnicity. A white working class person from a single parent family will have a much tougher journey in life than a middle class person from the suburbs. The idea of a scholarship awarded to a certain race is ludicrous.
But you ignore the fact race and class are inexorably linked. One race proportionally predominates the under class due to systemic historical injustices that continue to this day. The British government has no real plan for the economic uplift of the Caribbean migrant communities that came here to rebuild following WW2. The racism and hostility they faced up to today with Windrush has played an incredible role in economically excluding them and their children. These non-white communities get less government attention (remember Grenfell?), their inhabitants are seen as expendable, and have less social capital than the white counter parts leading to less opportunities for their kids and alas the racial attainment gap.
Tashfag
Those in power focus intently on race and gender, and pretend that race is largely co-extensive with class, SPECIFICALLY IN ORDER TO KEEP THE LOWER CLASSES DOWN and protect their own position.
These people do not actually care about gender and skin colour. So they bestow membership of the elite to ladies and bames with great fanfare – as long as they play the game, copy the right habits, adopt the correct attitudes, etc.
What you will not find is any ACTUAL PLEBS, black or white, getting ANYWHERE NEAR the top of anything.
SJW's have been fooled into thinking they're doing God's work. They are not. They are fighting on behalf of the oppressors.
There are no barriers, except your own stupidity. This leftist idea is being way overblown.
Why has this become an issue all of a sudden? There are no such racial barriers in the City or in our educational system in this day an age. I seriously doubt that a hiring manager or an academic managing university student applications would see a name of African or Asian decent and straight away dismiss the application.
The only handicap that exists for people of a minority background are other people saying that this issue still exists, thus resulting in people in (naively) deciding to not bother applying.
This all falls back onto the daft left wing virtue signaling fad that is infesting the majority of the Western World at the moment. I suppose it goes hand in hand with the 'colonial guilt' that seems to be in fashion at the moment. SAD!
We are privileged enough to live in a society that boats a meritocratic and free economic market. If you want something and if you show true grit, it is yours for the taking.
Remember lads, equality now means taking X group and putting it at the top of the pile.
Congrats on winning the straw man trophy. Your statement is 100% true considering 100% of City partnership is BME
Quex
I'm my chambers equality and diversity officer. I literally don't give a single fuck about any of this bame diversity bollocks – because it's all a load of silly bollocks. I'm just doing it to put on my silk application. Not even joking.
Ha. This is not even satire. I know this to be true as the same in my chambers too
Wimmin can't be lawyers, gawd.
Down and Out in Paris and London, I meant.
He lived as a miner for The Road to Wigan Pier.
Funnily enough, he left Eton to work in the Police in Burma as a regular PC, he did not go to Cambridge or the City.
His view of life changed when he escorted a prisoner to the gallows and the terror of the empire and inequality dawned on him as the doomed , bare footed prisoner athletically avoided all the puddles on the way, so that he didnt get wet feet. This was a thinking man who was alert and alive who was being processed by the system, George realised in a flash.
The human race, does anyone remember that classification before bame became the paradigm ?
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Witchy Media, Samhain 2018 edition!
Greetings witches, pagans, nymphs, sprites, druids, daimons, and denizens of the dark forest realms of magic etc etc. Happy October! It's been a while, and your witchy media correspondent has had a very busy and crazy year. Good news though: there is so much witchy media out there it is hard to know where to begin, and I have no doubt I will be adding to this list soon, so watch this space. Witches are very much in the news lately, and witchcraft is very trendy on social media and pretty much everywhere, and I realize we may all have mixed feelings about that, but one sure sign 'o the times is the number of witches we're seeing at the movies and on television.
Stevie and Misty, together again!
First off, if you've been watching American Horror Story: Apocalypse (on FX), you know it's gone from being a rather silly and snarky (and not terribly interesting) end of the world scenario to a flat out war between the witches of AHS: Coven and a group of fabulously-dressed warlocks in an underground bunker somewhere in the desert. It's not entirely clear where it's all going, but they brought back Misty Day and Stevie Nicks sang to her and that certainly should have happened the first time around! Fiona Goode will be back this week. The witchery is delicious in this season, and I will keep watching. Working on a review and will be posting my weekly thoughts soon. The notion that the end of the world will be bought about by a feud between witches and warlocks is…interesting, no?
The new Charmed reboot looks great! I see that huge grimoire is still a thing.
The new reboot of Charmed premieres TONIGHT on CW. There's been much talk of this already (some of it asking, simply, do we really need this reboot?), but the casting is bold, and the shifting of the characters away from white to Latina promises to be interesting at the very least. Will you be tuning in? Share your comments! I'm looking forward to it, even as I was not such a huge fan of the original series; but obviously my opinion did not matter since it ran for almost a decade! There was some controversy when the reboot was announced, mainly from former actresses who felt their input was ignored (since they were all involved in storylines and production decisions during the original series).
The remake of Suspiria (Dario Argento's cult classic about a secret witch cult at an exclusive dance academy premiered in 1977) is wowing audiences at film festivals around the world. It premieres in the US on October 26th, going nationwide on November 2. Directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name and I am Love), this is already drawing rave reviews for its lush visuals. It stars Tilda Swinton and is full of witchery and that's enough for me; I'll be seeing a premiere of it in New York the day before my birthday! Do see the original, too; it's wonderful, and lead actress Jessica Harper also makes an appearance in the remake.
The new Riverdale spinoff, hot on the heels of the show's third season, which promises to have some dark, occult undertones (or is it overtones?), is the eagerly-awaited Chilling Adventures of Sabrina also premiering on October 26th, on Netflix. Starring Mad Men's Kieran Shipka as a sixteen year old who is forced to assert her witch identity even though she is half "mortal" (does this mean witches are immortal?), the series features a fabulous eclectic cast (including Mirada Otto from the Lord of the Rings trilogy), beautiful visuals and a heady mix of humor and horror. I'm only one episode in, but it's very promising, and I am planning to have my review up this week!
There's more to come, believe me! Still planning to review Apostle, Killing Eve, and some other new TV shows, and I'll post some Hallowe'en week movie suggestions as usual, but is that enough to get you excited and in the mood? I hope so. Let me know what you're watching and please share your suggestions.
Twin Peaks: The Return ~ This much-anticipated continuation of David Lynch's groundbreaking TV series Twin Peaks (which premiered on ABC in 1990) did not disappointed attracted many new viewers to this weird and wonderful world. Kyle MacLachlan gave the performance of the year as whipsmart, compassionate FBI detective Dale Cooper, who, as Twin Peaks ended more then two decades ago, found himself possessed by the psyche of a sadistic killer. Showtime produced this new series, although somehow missed having it debut on the 25th anniversary of the show, despite having a clearly defined moment when Cooper dreams himself twenty-five years into the future. We find out (well, more or less) what happened and how other well-loved characters have fared over the years as new mysteries descend on the tiny Northwestern town of Twin Peaks. The cast, including many new characters, is excellent, and the musical performances ending each episode are brilliant (my brother was a couple of episodes ahead of me. I certainly recommend seeing the first two seasons, and maybe the prequel film Fire Walk with Me, before you dig into this sublime, beautiful, mystical oddity. Coffee and cherry pie optional.
American Horror Story: Cult ~ I've been a big fan of this anthology show from the beginning, despite my frequent complaints about how uneven the writing can be. The only season I have not yet watched is AHS: Hotel, and I still think the first two seasons (Murder House and Asylum) are the best ones. AHS: Coven was promising but ultimately so disappointing. Two recent seasons, AHS: Freakshow and AHS:Roanoke, were very good, but borrowed rather shamelessly (and not in a "cool homage" kind of way, which of course this series is also known for) from other texts like The Blair Witch Project, HBO's Carnivale, and The Witch. Still, I was excited to see this season that was framed by our recent presidential election and that referenced a number of cult figures like Andy Warhol, Charles Manson and Jim Jones, all played superbly by AHS regular Evan Peters, whose main character, Kai, is a blue-haired (the opposite or orange, get it?) right wing ideologue who runs for local office, emboldened by Trump's victory. For me, it was rather traumatizing reliving Election Night 2016; and Sarah Paulson is excellent as a liberal voter whose stress causes her to have a near breakdown. The entire cast is superb as always, with regulars in cool cameos like Frances Conroy, Adina Porter and Dennis O'Hare, and some new cast members I enjoyed (especially Billie Lourd, Alison Pill and Leslie Grossman). The trajectory of the show did what it always does: opens up multiple story arcs and themes and then seems to juggle them willy-nilly as some stay in the air and some tumble down and fall away (although the creepy killer clown motif remains throughout, referencing IT and The Strangers, as well as AHS: Freakshow). Because this was was based so strongly in current reality and actual history, it resonated a bit more than usual with me.~~~~~~~Also recommended, some short takes: Samantha Morton and Lesley Manville in Harlots.
The Keepers ~ Documentary series from Netflix exploring the orders of two young women in 1969 in Baltimore. One was a nun and teacher whose former students keep her memory alive as they search for clues to solve her murder. To say the church was implicated in this crime is an understatement. Beautifully filmed, suspenseful and fascinating.
3% ~ A Brazilian series on Netflix that's sort of like The Hunger Games meets The Cool Dharma Initiative Sequences of Lost. In a post-apocalyptic world beset by poverty and environmental decay, a group of young people chosen at random must pass a series of tests to be able to live in a land of beauty and plenty. Netflix automatically sets their foreign series to dubbing mode these days; be sure to switch to subtitles!
Black Mirror (Season 4) ~ I am still processing these six episodes, but I have to say this show seems to get better with each season. There seems to be slightly less emphasis on social media this season, and more on the intimate, personal toll taken by technology in our lives. There's a Star Trek-inspired episode (USS Callister) that wins a prize for sheer ingenuity and dark humor. One with terrifying robotic dogs (Metalhead) is a tour de force of special effects. Crocodile is a harrowing tale of a young woman caught up in a violent crime that tries to keep it secret for decades. Hang the DJ is a clever take on computerized dating apps, and it was my personal favorite (also one of my favorite songs from the 1980s). Arkangel, directed by Jodie Foster (and can you believe this is the FIRST episode of this show directed by a woman?), follows a single mom and the computer system she uses to protect her daughter from infancy through adolescence. The finale, Black Museum, is a complex, horrifying story of a doctor who invents a device allowing him to feel the physical sensation of others, and the chaos this creates in the hands of an unscrupulous sales rep.
Some other cool pagan and/or occult, fantasy, horror, thriller, historical, dystopian, nerdy shows I have watched and love but am generally behind on: Riverdale, Turn, Peaky Blinders, Halt and Catch Fire, The Exorcist, Lucifer, The Americans, The Santa Clarita Diet, Atypical, Fargo, Better Things. Some shows that are on my list to watch ASAP: American Gods, Dark, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Legion.


Asset Performance Canada (AP-Canada) is proud to announce the launch of their redesigned website, found at AP-Canada.ca. Along with the website, the company is debuting a new tagline: "Aim Higher. Aim Smarter." The tagline emphasizes the company's mission to help its clients Aim Higher to realize superior business outcomes and Aim Smarter to drive breakthrough performance in capital projects and plant turnarounds.
The new website also highlights the company's four Solutions areas: Capital Projects, Turnarounds, Innovative Web-Based Tools, and Benchmarking and Predictive Analytics. These four areas encompass the company's diverse offering of consulting engagements, Software as a Service (SaaS) tools, and benchmarking services. Each Solution area draws on AP-Canada's multi-disciplinary consulting staff packed with industry-recognized subject matter experts, its unrivaled databases of project and turnaround practices and outcomes, and its innovative software tools.
AP-Canada is the indispensable trusted partner to global petroleum, chemical, and energy companies that aim to optimize their assets' performance and maximize operational efficiency. Our company achieves its mission by infusing strategic innovation, proven expertise, actionable insights, and unparalleled businesses intelligence analytics into a unique, winning formula for success. We leverage our databases, benchmarks, Software as a Service (SaaS) engines, and our industry-recognized consulting expertise to ensure that our clients mitigate, manage, and control high-risk events. Ultimately, our clients Aim Higher to realize superior business outcomes, and Aim Smarter to drive breakthrough performance in capital projects and plant turnarounds. For more information on AP-Canada, please visit AP-Canada.ca.


text:
Q: HSQLDB function creating Caused by: org.hsqldb.HsqlException: ISSUE:
I am using HSQLDB as inmemory database for my testing, I am able to execute tables  fine, I am getting below exception when I tried to create the function and run.
Exception:
Caused by: org.hsqldb.HsqlException: error in script file line: 54   org.hsqldb.HsqlException: error in script file: CREATE FUNCTION get_mask()
                    at org.hsqldb.error.Error.error(Unknown Source)

Test script for hypersonic:
            SET DATABASE UNIQUE NAME HSQLDB2467A82B33
            SET DATABASE GC 0
            SET DATABASE DEFAULT RESULT MEMORY ROWS 0
            SET DATABASE EVENT LOG LEVEL 0
            SET DATABASE SQL NAMES FALSE
            SET DATABASE SQL REGULAR NAMES TRUE
            SET DATABASE SQL REFERENCES FALSE
            SET DATABASE SQL SIZE TRUE
            SET DATABASE SQL TYPES FALSE
            SET DATABASE SQL TDC DELETE TRUE
            SET DATABASE SQL TDC UPDATE TRUE
            SET DATABASE SQL TRANSLATE TTI TYPES TRUE
            SET DATABASE SQL CONCAT NULLS TRUE
            SET DATABASE SQL NULLS FIRST TRUE
            SET DATABASE SQL UNIQUE NULLS TRUE
            SET DATABASE SQL CONVERT TRUNCATE TRUE
            SET DATABASE SQL AVG SCALE 0
            SET DATABASE SQL DOUBLE NAN TRUE
            SET DATABASE SQL LONGVAR IS LOB FALSE
            SET DATABASE TRANSACTION CONTROL LOCKS
            SET DATABASE DEFAULT ISOLATION LEVEL READ COMMITTED
            SET DATABASE TRANSACTION ROLLBACK ON CONFLICT TRUE
            SET DATABASE TEXT TABLE DEFAULTS ''
            SET FILES WRITE DELAY 0
            SET FILES BACKUP INCREMENT FALSE
            SET FILES CACHE SIZE 10000
            SET FILES CACHE ROWS 2000
            SET FILES SCALE 64
            SET FILES LOB SCALE 32
            SET FILES DEFRAG 0
            SET FILES NIO FALSE
            SET FILES NIO SIZE 256
            SET FILES LOG TRUE
            SET FILES LOG SIZE 0
            SET DATABASE SQL SYNTAX ORA TRUE
            CREATE USER SA PASSWORD DIGEST 'd41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e'
            CREATE SCHEMA PUBLIC AUTHORIZATION DBA
            SET SCHEMA PUBLIC
            CREATE MEMORY TABLE PUBLIC.EMPLOYEEDETAILS(EMPNAME VARCHAR(20))
            CREATE MEMORY TABLE PUBLIC.VW_OH_MKT_OFFERS(MKT_OFFER_UID VARCHAR(12) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,INTENT VARCHAR(3),LEGACY_OFFER_CODE VARCHAR(12),PRODUCT_LINE_CODE VARCHAR(10),STATUS VARCHAR(1),BEGIN_DATE DATE,END_DATE DATE,SOURCE_KEY_UID VARCHAR(12),SOURCE_KEY_CODE VARCHAR(20),PT_CODE VARCHAR(12),OFFER_GROUP_CODE VARCHAR(12),OFFER_CODE VARCHAR(12),ITEM_CODE VARCHAR(30),VENUE_CODE VARCHAR(20),SUPERVENUE_CODE VARCHAR(12),CURRENCY_CODE VARCHAR(3),INITIAL_UNIT_PRICE DECIMAL(10,2),INITIAL_NUMBER_OF_PAYMENTS NUMERIC(10),INITIAL_FIRST_PAYMENT_AMOUNT DECIMAL(10,2),INITIAL_FIRST_SHIPPING_AMOUNT DECIMAL(10,2),INITIAL_STD_SHIPPING NUMERIC(128),INITIAL_STD_SHIP_AVAILABLE VARCHAR(1),INITIAL_RUSH_SHIPPING DECIMAL(10,2),INITIAL_RUSH_SHIP_AVAILABLE VARCHAR(1),INITIAL_2DAY_SHIPPING NUMERIC(128),INITIAL_2DAY_SHIP_AVAILABLE VARCHAR(1),INITIAL_SDAY_SHIPPING NUMERIC(128),INITIAL_SDAY_SHIP_AVAILABLE VARCHAR(1),INITIAL_REG_NAME VARCHAR(2),INITIAL_REG_STD_SHIPPING NUMERIC(128),INITIAL_REG_STD_SHIP_AVAILABLE VARCHAR(1),WEB_CART_TITLE VARCHAR(30),WEB_CART_TEXT VARCHAR(30),WEB_CART_IMAGE VARCHAR(30),WEB_CART_MAX_QUANTITY VARCHAR(30),FFC_CODE VARCHAR(100),MULTI_NODE_SHIPPING_LOCATION VARCHAR(60),ITEM_CONTINUITY_CODE VARCHAR(30),OMX_CID VARCHAR(30),OMX_KEYCODE VARCHAR(30),OMX_PAYMENT_PLAN_ID VARCHAR(30),OMX_SOC_CONFIGURATION_ID VARCHAR(30),HP_KEY_CODE VARCHAR(20),HP_PRODUCT_NUMBER VARCHAR(20),HP_MPG_CODE VARCHAR(10),LEGACY_SCRIPT_CODE VARCHAR(12),TENANT_ID BIGINT)
            ALTER SEQUENCE SYSTEM_LOBS.LOB_ID RESTART WITH 1
            SET DATABASE DEFAULT INITIAL SCHEMA PUBLIC
            GRANT USAGE ON DOMAIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.YES_OR_NO TO PUBLIC
            GRANT USAGE ON DOMAIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TIME_STAMP TO PUBLIC
            GRANT USAGE ON DOMAIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.CARDINAL_NUMBER TO PUBLIC
            GRANT USAGE ON DOMAIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.CHARACTER_DATA TO PUBLIC
            GRANT USAGE ON DOMAIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SQL_IDENTIFIER TO PUBLIC
            GRANT DBA TO SA
            SET SCHEMA PUBLIC
            INSERT INTO EMPLOYEEDETAILS VALUES('Test1')
            INSERT INTO EMPLOYEEDETAILS VALUES('Test2')
            INSERT INTO EMPLOYEEDETAILS VALUES('Test3')
            INSERT INTO VW_OH_MKT_OFFERS VALUES('1142675','TLM','DR1138','PA','C','2008-08-22','2008-08-22','YYYY-MM-DD','34DUN','KPA510C34DUN','PPAJ9R','HPADJPT','OPA18RAG','PA1467','28','5',29.22,1,29.95,5.99,6,'1',5.99,'1',0,'0',0,'0','CA',0,'1',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'EDS',NULL,NULL,NULL,'34DUN',NULL,NULL,'558358','014399','300','DR11',1);
            CREATE FUNCTION get_mask()
            RETURNS VARCHAR(3)
            BEGIN ATOMIC
            DECLARE max_event VARCHAR(3);
            SET intent = SELECT INTENT FROM VW_OH_MKT_OFFERS WHERE MKT_OFFER_UID='1142675';
            RETURN intent;
            END

Java Code:
                           //Java code to execute stored proc
                        Connection connection = null;
                             // resultset
                        ResultSet resultSet = null;
                        Statement statement = null;
                      // driver creation
                        Class.forName("org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver");

                                                    // connect to the db

connection =                                    DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:hsqldb:file:D:\\HyperSQLDB\\EMPLOYEEDB;shutdown=true", "SA", "");

            // getting statement

statement = connection.createStatement();

            // create callable statement for calling function
                        CallableStatement stat = connection.prepareCall("{call get_mask()}");
                // Check if the function is executed
                        System.out.println(stat.execute()); // => true
            // get the result
                        ResultSet rs = stat.getResultSet();
            // get the next result
                        rs.next();

A: The script is generated and used by the database engine. You should not add text to the script or modify it in a text editor.
You should execute the SQL statement below after connecting to the database via JDBC:
CREATE FUNCTION get_mask()
RETURNS VARCHAR(3)
BEGIN ATOMIC
   DECLARE max_event VARCHAR(3);
   SET intent = SELECT INTENT FROM VW_OH_MKT_OFFERS WHERE MKT_OFFER_UID='1142675';
   RETURN intent;
END

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Hi everyone, I'm here to tell you guys a story about henry.
Henry and his new group of friends took smoking, drinking and clubbing as their daily routine. Few months later, henry was diagnose of cancers of the lungs and he was dying in silence and his so called parents did still notice the changes in him as he has gone so pale. When he started looking weaker and weaker his parents finally noticed and he was brought to the hospital although it was rather late but they say' it is rather late than never' but as others will s ay 'never is kind than better'. The doctors later discovered that his lungs were completely damaged and so he needed an immediate transplant. His parents became worried and the feeling of remorse was written all over them and they regretted why they did not pay attention their only son as they were busy making money.
He was in coma for weeks because the right lungs for the transplant had not been found. The lungs were finally found and as the nurses had finished preparing the theatre for the operation, Henry dies his mom cried and said " what is the use of all the money that we have been making if there is no child to enjoy it with us". As usual we went to their house and sung mourning songs oh Oh WHAT A TRAGIC WASTE just as William loman in Authur Miller's DEATH OF A SALESMAN.
S parents love your children because they are blessing from GOD. Apart from that we also need to support them in the best way possible and always be there for them at all times. Be part of their everyday life. Share their worries and their joy with them because when they grow up you will never have the opportunity to be close to them like they say "a bird at hand is worth more than thousands in the bush".


Claim Adjustors investigate, analyze, and determine the extent of an insurance company's liability concerning personal, casualty, or property loss or damages, and attempt to effect a settlement with claimants. They correspond with or interview medical specialists, agents, witnesses, or claimants to compile information. They calculate benefit payments and approve payment of claims within a certain monetary limit.
Claims adjustors and underwriters perform their work at different points in the insurance process. The underwriter, who determines the risk and cost of the policy, performs her job before insurance is approved and provided. The claims adjustor comes in when the insurance company must decide whether to pay a claim.
Examine claim forms and other records to determine insurance coverage.
Interview or correspond with the insured, claimants' witnesses or their representatives. Consult police reports and inspect property damage to determine an extent of liability.
Negotiate claims settlements and recommend appraisal, mediation or litigation when settlement cannot be negotiated.
Refer questionable claims to management for further investigation or settlement.
In question below is given a statement followed by two conclusions numbered I and II. You have to assume everything in the statement to be true, then consider the two conclusions together and decide which of them logically follows beyond a reasonable doubt from the information given in the statement.
Statements: Company X has marketed the product. Go ahead; purchase it if price and quality are your considerations.
l. The product must be good in quality.
ll. The price of the product must be reasonable.
Q 2. Sara lives in a large city on the East Coast. Her younger cousin Marlee lives in the Mid-west in a small town with fewer than 1,000 residents. Marlee has visited Sara several times during the past five years. In the same period of time, Sara has visited Marlee only once.


One in every 4 million children suffers from a genetic disorder called progeria that causes them to age prematurely — developing wrinkled skin and baldness before the age of 10, and usually dying of heart disease or stroke by puberty. The disease has always intrigued researchers interested in unlocking the genetic key to aging. Now it looks like a group of geneticists at the National Human Genome Research Institute in Maryland may have found a drug that can reverse the effects of heart disease caused by premature aging. In an article published today, the team also suggests that this could have ramifications for adults with heart disease too. The group, led by geneticist Francis Collins, used transgenic mice designed to develop symptoms of heart disease like human children with progeria do. They treated the mice with a cancer drug called tipifarnib, part of the FTI family of drugs which are being used experimentally to treat several forms of cancer. It worked incredibly well. Below, you can see a diseased blood vessel at left, and on the right a healthy one treated by the drug.
This approach worked much better than we thought it would. Not only did this drug prevent these mice from developing cardiovascular disease, it reversed the damage in mice that already had disease.
If these drugs are found to have similar effects in children, this could mark a major breakthrough for treating this devastating disease. In addition, these findings shed light on the potential role of FTI drugs to treat other forms of coronary artery disease.


There are multiple ways to get a PDF version of a file, so I figured I'd show how you via a path to a file in SharePoint can use the Microsoft Graph API to get a PDF version of that file. I'll be using the Graph drive item conversion API for this.
After posting the question on Stack Overflow I received an answer from Vadim Gremyachev which takes it down to one API call.
Basically he clued me onto how you can create a sharing token for the item URL which is actually the file id. Code for this is listed in the Graph Sharing API docs.
First you base64 encode the URL, replace some characters and prefix with u!, then access the files via the /sharing API. The below code is using PowerShell to construct the token.
In order to get to the actual file two API calls are needed, one to fetch the drive (library) id, and one to fetch the file.
Note: This solution will not work on the root site collection as I make assumptions on the number of parts of a URL. The following file formats are supported: csv, doc, docx, odp, ods, odt, pot, potm, potx, pps, ppsx, ppsxm, ppt, pptm, pptx, rtf, xls, xlsx.
Splitting the URL on slashes we get the parts needed to get the id of the document library and the id of the file.
Part 2 is the tenant hostname, part 3+4 is the site path, part 5 is the document library, and part 6 and out is the item path relative to the document library.
The output of this call are all the libraries in the site.
Ideally you would use a $filter query to pick out just the library you want, but this is not supported for the drives endpoint, so you need to post-filter yourself.
By filtering out the item which has a webUrl matching part 2,3 and 4 combined you have the library you are looking for.
With the id of the document library in hand, it's time for the next query which will return the URL of the PDF version in a 302 Location header.
This is a pre-authenticated URL which can be called directly from anywhere without the need to logging in, and the URL is valid for a few minutes only.


6 minutes of pretty epic footage from 1962 Monaco Grand Prix. Let's Enjoy!
Note as cars pass it seems a very wide angle lens.
Especially interesting thru the Chicane where the groove is well rubbered-in.
Edited by John Woods, Jan 11 2018 - 05:19 PM.
Amazing video !!.It reminds me that a long time ago someone posted some screen shots of the 62mod almost ready. Does anyone know what happened to it ?
There has been recent work on 62mod, but there's much more work needed yet. Models are first on the production line - quality and accuracy take much longer.
That's just wonderful! Some of the best footage of Monaco I've ever seen - hard to believe that's from 1962.
Beautiful, just so beautiful! Thank you so much.
Wow! Amazing to see this in such HQ. A great source of info for the track guys too. Thanks for posting.


Posted in RS004 and tagged with 3.
March 29, 2013 by Crit Juice.
Posted in RS004 and tagged with 2.
March 16, 2013 by Crit Juice.
The group is finally at Blazestone, but with 5 extra rules from the Drinking Gods all the players are HAMMERED! Will they be able to take on Ofano the Hunter and Joan Rivers? Will the Princess finally kill Doc? All this and more in this episode of Crit Juice!
Posted in RS004 and tagged with 1.
February 15, 2013 by Crit Juice.


text:
District of New Jersey
William E. Fitzpatrick
Contact: Matthew Reilly
www.justice.gov/usao-nj
Member of Trenton Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison
TRENTON, N.J. – A Trenton man was sentenced today to 84 months in prison for his role in a drug trafficking organization that allegedly distributed hundreds of grams of heroin in Trenton and the surrounding areas, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.
Thomas Rogers, a/k/a "Herb," a/k/a "T-Rod," 23, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson to an information charging him with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin. As part of his guilty plea, Rogers admitted possessing at least one firearm during the conspiracy. Judge Wolfson imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
In December 2016, Rogers and nine other members of a drug trafficking organization operating in Trenton were charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute heroin. The complaint referred to the drug trafficking organization as the "Abdullah DTO," after its leader, Ishmael Abdullah. Since then, six of the 10 defendants, including Abdullah, have pleaded guilty.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
From June 2015 through December 2016, Rogers and others engaged in a drug trafficking organization that operated in the area of Spring and Passaic Streets in Trenton. Through the authorized interception of telephone calls and text messages, controlled purchases of heroin, the use of confidential sources of information, and other investigative means, law enforcement learned that defendant Ishmael Abdullah was a leader of the Abdullah DTO and was responsible for obtaining significant quantities of heroin from multiple suppliers, including from defendants Jose Joaquin Torres-Mezquita and Ileana Sanchez. Abdullah and Keith Hunter coordinated the organization's distribution of heroin through themselves and other conspirators, including Rogers.
Members of the Abdullah DTO used temporary prepaid phones, stash houses and cars, and spoke in code to avoid detection by law enforcement. In connection with their narcotics conspiracy, Rogers and other members of the Abdullah DTO maintained joint access to multiple firearms.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Wolfson sentenced Rogers to five years of supervised release.
Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited agents and officers with the Greater Trenton Safe Streets Task Force, including special agents of the FBI, Newark Division, Trenton Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher; special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Newark Division, Trenton Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge John B. Devito; officers of the Trenton Police Department, under the direction of Director Ernest Parrey Jr.; officers of the Princeton Police Department, under the direction of Chief Nicholas Sutter; officers of the Ewing Police Department, under the direction of Chief John P. Stemler III; and detectives of the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri, with the investigation.
He also thanked special agents of the FBI's Philadelphia Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Harpster; special agents of Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Debra Parker; officers of the N.J. State Police, under the direction of Superintendent Col. Joseph R. Fuentes; and officers of the Mercer County Sheriff's Office, under the direction of Sheriff John A. Kemler, for their assistance in the case.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Brendan Day of the U.S. Attorney's Office's Criminal Division in Trenton.
The charges and allegations against the remaining defendants are merely accusations and those defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Newark Field Division

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
The Lincolnshire Youth Commission project will enter it's second year
Young people across Lincolnshire will be given a chance to shape policing in the county as a ground-breaking project enters its second year.
The county's first ever Youth Commission was established last year to enable young people aged 14 to 25 to be consulted on policing, crime and community safety issues.
Now the Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones has launched a recruitment drive to enlist a new cohort of commissioners to continue the work.
The first Youth Commission – made up of 28 young people recruited from across the county – produced a report setting out key priorities for young people which identified mental health issues, relationship with the police, education on abuse and safety at night.
The report, written after consultation with 1,300 young people, was presented to senior officers from councils, Lincolnshire Police and youth workers.
The recommendations are already making a difference in the community.
The PCC is currently liaising with colleges and universities to bid for Government funding to improve the safety of public open spaces.
A Youth Commission member will now sit on the Lincolnshire Police Stop and Search Scrutiny Group
Funding for specialist stalking and harassment training for local victim support providers has been provided
The establishment of the commission is part of PCC Marc Jones drive to ensure members of the community have a say in how their villages and towns are policed.
"The Youth Commission has already done incredible work and the recommendations they made have already begun to have an impact," said Mr Jones.
"But we want the process of listening to young people to be an integral part of the ongoing consultation we do with residents and communities.
"I would urge young people to come forward and be heard. It is making a real positive impact and it is important we maintain the momentum for change."
The project is run on behalf of the PCC by Leaders Unlocked - a not-for-profit specialist social enterprise that enables young people and under-represented groups to have a stronger voice on the issues that affect their lives.
To find out more and access an application pack go to https://lincolnshire-pcc.gov.uk/your-pcc/youth-commission. The closing date for applications is June 25.


Good bathroom tile design ought to create a flooring floor that's engaging, water resistant and secure to stroll on. Bathroom tile designs using ceramic tile, rubber flooring or vinyl and linoleum floors are examples of bathroom tile design material choices that must be accessible nearly anyplace. As you could already know, it's possible for a bathroom remodeling venture to increase the value of your house. Although there are a number of execs to bathroom transforming, there are also plenty of cons. If you are working with a very restricted finances you can decide which explicit elements of your bathroom that you would like transformed, similar to the bathtub or the toilet or the sink. As effectively because the furnishings, wall-hung sanitary ware is a good area-saving answer while giving the bathroom a up to date really feel. You can make sure that good fortune is plentiful for you and your slip, as soon as a wall mounted bathroom vanity enters the image. It is also important to think about the color schedule of your bathroom design for the 30's theme.
People who've been utilizing the same bathroom since a few years better perceive that how necessary it's to rework the bathroom. So you probably have the room then a large flooring mirror in the bathroom is a wonderful deal with. The cupboards which are in your bathroom might be modified to make the perfect use of your present house.
You can add room elements reminiscent of doorways and windows, inner partitions or individuals (remember the bathroom design software program is very versatile). The development in bathroom design has experienced certain adjustments within the latest years. My favourite de litter rule for the bathroom is anything that has not been used previously month. When decorating a traditional bathroom both mushy tones and bold colours can work properly.
First, for those who"re in an older house remodeling bathroom ideas are more difficult as a result of older properties sometimes have much smaller bathrooms then houses built during the last 20 years. Use traditional porcelain tiles together with your glass tiles for a novel look within the bathroom. The character of the top consequence should match the character of the home not your thought of what the perfect bathroom needs to be. Remember, you're in this for revenue. The quality, flexibility and ease of use of bathroom design software program can even contribute significantly in direction of a bathroom company's development and success, even in an more and more competitive market. Window remedies for the Zen bathroom decorating theme must be simple and plain.
Extractor followers in both the kitchen and loo are ideal for conserving the air round you clean, decreasing the chance of disease and illness. Kami mendesain, membuat serta memproduksi kemudian menjual kitchen set baik on-line maupun offline dengan bermacam macam jenis bahan baku dan finishingnya yang dapat diserasikan dengan impian serta kebutuhan Anda dengan harga yang lebih terjangkau,bahan berkwalitas menyesuaikan keuangan Anda.
Accidents occur in the kitchen from cans being dropped to animals and the checklist goes on. Marble could also be a grand selection but with some possible pink flags to consider carefully. We agreed to use a customized cabinetmaker due to a few of the strange configurations in our kitchen. Kitchen in restaurants prepare completely different kinds of meals for different races and cultures, whereas kitchens in hospitals prepare meal for varied diets together with No Salt, Low Salt and diabetics for example. With a stage of selection caused by this degree of competitors, it has become onerous to discover a needn't met by one of these kitchen islands. Jenis ini merupakan granit yang kasar, mungkin kurang cocok untuk countertop kitchen set, namun sesuai bagi Anda yang menyukai menggunakan, misalnya untuk bagian atas meja. Ukuran di pasaran juga macam-macam, ada yang besar, sampe yang kecil imut-imut.
Yes, my kitchen is organized, but the spices nonetheless appear to get out of order…I'm always picking up new ones from exotic grocery shops. Dibawah ini checklist product hasil produksi CV. Trijaya Kitchen Sarana Lengkap dengan daftar harga periode tahun 2018. Flan berada di tengah cake, masih agal cair (tidak set banget), cake berada di sekitar flan, jadi ada di atasn samping dan tengah, benar-benar disaster!!! Everything's all the time easier with a bit of expertise, click on by means of to see a group of kitchen ideas, find out how to videos and friendly advice masking every step of the way in which. Terbuat dari kayu stable (kayu murni) atau juga campuran, dengan bahan kayu bervariasi semisal kayu daru, merbau, jati dan kayu durian. Model kitchen set minimalis menjadi pilihan terbanyak dan terbaik bagi rumah sederhana minimalis. There must be the least amount of steps between the refrigerator, the sink and the stove.
Routinely clear the refrigerator, oven, stove, microwave, freezer and other kitchen appliances. Granit dengan motif ini juga bagus, untuk pojokan sebaiknya sedikit disamarkan dengan permainan kayu rak atau semacamnya agar menyamarkan tempat memotong granit tersebut. Her kitchen could be very nation full with the copper counter tops but the crowning glory is her coordination of the roosters complete to the switch plates. You can use another white board, like the one pictured here which additionally has a quad kitchen timer on it, on your rising purchasing checklist and even take that whiteboard with you to the shop. Di Garde Manger kitchen juga membuat berbagai macam saus-saus dingin (dressing).


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Black Widow Film Casts Fighting With My Family's Florence Pugh as Rival Spy
Pugh will star alongside Scarlett Johnasson.
Posted March 19, 2019, 1:03 a.m.
The standalone Black Widow movie may have found another actress to star alongside Scarlett Johansson as reports say that Fighting With My Family's Florence Pugh is in talks to join the film.
As reported by Variety, Pugh has been on Marvel's radar since last fall, and although they've met with several other candidates, Pugh came back to the forefront after "she drew strong reviews for the MGM comedy-drama "Fighting With My Family.""
In addition to Fighting With My Family, Pugh also starred in AMC's The Little Drummer Girl and in Outlaw King with Chris Pine.
Prior to the release of Black Widow, she will also appear in Greta Gerwig's Little Women and Midsommar, a film from Ari Aster of Hereditary.
As for Black Widow's director, Australian filmmaker Cate Shortland is set to helm the film and shooting is scheduled to begin in London this June.
The film will center around Scarlett Johansson's Natalia Alianovna Romanova/Black Widow, but it is unclear if this film will take place before or after the events of Avengers: Endgame, which will be released in theaters on April 26, 2019.
The Black Widow movie will, contrary to previous rumors, have a PG-13 rating and Scarlett Johansson will reportedly earn $15 million for the standalone film.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who is intrigued to see where this film falls on the MCU's timeline. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst.
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Shannon Binns
Sustain Charlotte Defends Streetcar on FOX
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - When Governor Pat McCrory was just plain old Mayor Pat, there were three things he believed.
McCrory supported raising taxes to pay for Charlotte public transportation; local leaders, not state legislators, decide city policy; and find creative ways to fund economic development project (remember Time Warner Cable Arena).
Now, due to his stance on the streetcar, some think McCrory has flip-flopped on all three.
"I think that it's moving along the way that it should, and hopefully it will continue to remain a local issue," said Shannon Binns, executive director of Sustain Charlotte.
The non-profit supports extending the Lynx Blue Line north and creating an East-West corridor with the streetcar.
Both projects are part of Charlotte's 2030 Transit System Plan.
"And that's really what's on the table here," said Binns. "Are we going to carry out the plan that's been approved by voters and approved by city council, or are we going to throw up our hands?"
As mayor, McCrory helped develop Charlotte's long-term transportation plan. He also pushed for a sales tax increase to pay for public transportation.
When that money couldn't pay for the streetcar, Mayor Anthony Foxx began pushing a property tax increase for a capital Improvement plan that includes paying for that project.
Until now, it has been city council members debating that issue.
"And I think that's the healthy type of democracy," said Binns, "and vigorous local politics that we want."
Last week, Gov. McCrory threaten to pull 25% of the state's share for the Blue Line extension if the city moved ahead with the streetcar.
"I think rightly the state would look at that," said Charlotte City Councilman Warren Cooksey, "and look at their budget and say, 'if you've got extra money for transit, what do you need us for?'"
Cooksey doesn't see McCrory meddling in a local issue. He and the governor believe legislators can change their minds.
"By having Charlotte go off on its own with the streetcar," said Cooksey, "it's jeopardizing the promises, it's jeopardizing the deal."
But the federal government has already agreed to pay for half of the Blue Line extension costs. If state lawmakers pull their share, that could also jeopardize future federal transportation funding.
"If anything the state should be happy that the city is looking to be as self-reliant as possible," said Binns.
McCrory was asked - if legislators begin to withhold money because they believe Charlotte has cash to spare, then would that apply to raising restaurant taxes to pay for the Carolina Panthers Bank of America Stadium renovations?
The Governor didn't answer.