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Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Second Circuit › 1991 › United States of America, Appellee, v. Bernard Gelb, Defendant-appellant
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United States of America, Appellee, v. Bernard Gelb, Defendant-appellant, 944 F.2d 52 (2d Cir. 1991)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit - 944 F.2d 52 (2d Cir. 1991)
Argued Oct. 31, 1990. Decided Aug. 6, 1991
Gordon Mehler, Brooklyn, N.Y., Asst. U.S. Atty. for the E.D. of N.Y. (Andrew J. Maloney, U.S. Atty., for the E.D. of N.Y., Matthew E. Fishbein, M. Lawrence Noyer, Jr., Asst. U.S. Attys., of counsel), for appellee.
Paul A. Batista, New York City, for defendant-appellant.
Before NEWMAN and PRATT, Circuit Judges, and ROBERT W. SWEET, District Judge for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation.
GEORGE C. PRATT, Circuit Judge:
Defendant Bernard Gelb appeals from an order and an amended judgment entered in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Bruce M. Van Sickle, United States District Judge for the District of North Dakota, sitting by designation. The order denied his motion under Fed. R. Crim. P. 32 and 35 and 28 U.S.C. § 2255 for various forms of post-conviction relief; the amended judgment sought to correct certain errors in the original judgment of conviction.
Gelb was charged in a 78-count superseding indictment with defrauding the United States Postal Service and related offenses. Through his company, EDP Medical Computer Systems, Inc. ("EDP"), Gelb engaged in a scheme to avoid paying postage on mass mailings. He bribed postal officials to ensure that his fraud went undetected. He also subscribed to corporate tax returns that falsely claimed as tax deductions postage for which he never paid.
After a month-long jury trial, Gelb was convicted on one count of racketeering (18 U.S.C. § 1962(c)), one count of mail fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1341), 44 counts of bribery (18 U.S.C. § 201(b) (1) (C)), and three counts of filing false corporate tax returns (26 U.S.C. § 7206(1)). The jury acquitted Gelb of some of the other counts; the rest were dismissed.
On January 13, 1989, Judge Van Sickle sentenced Gelb as follows: on the racketeering count, 13 years and a $25,000 fine; on the mail fraud count, 5 years and a $1,000 fine; on six of the bribery counts, 13 years each to run concurrently; on each of the other 38 bribery counts, 5 years probation; on one of the tax counts, 5 years and a $75,000 fine; and on each of the other two tax counts, 5 years probation. The 5-year sentences for mail fraud and for tax fraud were to run consecutively to each other, although concurrently with the 13-year sentences for racketeering and bribery, which were to run concurrently with each other. In addition, Gelb was ordered, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3663, to pay restitution to the United States Postal Service in the amount of $5,000,000.
Since Gelb's offenses were committed before the Sentencing Guidelines went into effect, Gelb's sentence is governed by pre-guidelines principles. Gelb appealed his conviction and we affirmed. United States v. Gelb, 881 F.2d 1155 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 994, 110 S. Ct. 544, 107 L. Ed. 2d 541 (1989).
By this post-conviction motion, Gelb has raised six new issues. He claims that: (1) his 13-year prison term is disproportionately severe and requires reduction; (2) a provision in the judgment violates his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination by conditioning consideration of leniency or early release on his disclosure of other alleged criminal activity; (3) the restitution award is improper; (4) the presentence report was inaccurate and deficient; (5) his tax conviction sentence should be vacated because his original sentence as well as his amended sentence were incorrectly based on a statutory amendment which had not become applicable to him; and (6) any resentencing should be conducted by a different judge.
We agree that the district judge erred as to the sentences on the tax counts and in failing to expressly consider the factors required by 18 U.S.C. § 3664 when awarding restitution. Therefore, we remand for further proceedings for the imposition of correct sentences on the tax convictions and to reconsider the restitution award. Because we find no merit to Gelb's other arguments, we affirm the district court's order and amended judgment in all other respects.
Gelb contends that his sentence must be reduced because it is disproportionately severe, thus violating his eighth amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. Before considering the merits of this argument, we first address the question of waiver raised by the government. The government contends that under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, a defendant cannot collaterally attack on an issue which he failed to raise on his direct appeal. Without delving into the intricacies of § 2255 review, we note that Gelb asks for post-conviction relief under rule 32 and former rule 35 as well as under § 2255. Although the government is correct in suggesting that § 2255 relief will rarely be granted as to matters available for review where a conviction has been upheld on appeal, we have held, in the context of a motion under former rule 35, that a criminal defendant's election not to raise sentencing issues in a prior direct appeal does not constitute a waiver. United States v. Weichert, 836 F.2d 769, 772 (2d Cir. 1988); United States v. Ursillo, 786 F.2d 66, 69-71 (2d Cir. 1986). Since Gelb complied with the procedural requirements of former rule 35(b), his claim has not been waived.
However, we do not agree that his claim has any merit. In general, "a sentence within the legal limits and not based on materially inaccurate or otherwise improper information or communications will not be set aside on an appeal." United States v. DiPaolo, 804 F.2d 225, 234 (2d Cir. 1986). Gelb's sentence was under the statutory maximum, and he has not shown any "extraordinary" circumstances that demonstrate a need for reducing his sentence. See United States v. Golomb, 754 F.2d 86, 90 (2d Cir. 1985). Given the seriousness of his crimes and the extent of his fraudulent conduct, his sentence is not disproportionately severe. Thus, Gelb is not entitled to a reduction in his sentence.
B. Fifth Amendment Right against Self-Incrimination
Gelb also challenges a provision of the judgment which he contends conditions leniency or early release on his willingness to cooperate with the government. He claims the provision violates his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination. The challenged provision states:
It shall be a factor in any consideration of leniency as to early release or Rule 35 leniency that the defendant cooperate fully to establish all sums defruaded [sic] or embezzled, and the ultimate disposition of those funds.
Gelb claims that Judge Van Sickle offered him leniency if he would come forward with information to help determine the actual amount of the fraud. Gelb approached the government and offered to "come forward" and "disclose * * * to the fullest possible extent, the information identified by the Court." However, Gelb specified that he would disclose information only as to those issues that interested Judge Van Sickle, not those relating to alleged other criminal activity by Gelb and others. The government rejected this offer, saying that it had no interest in the financial disclosure that Judge Van Sickle had identified. The government specifically stated that Gelb would be treated no differently than any other defendant and that he would have to sign the standard cooperation agreement. No meeting ever took place between Gelb and the government about any information.
Despite the government's seemingly rigid rejection of Gelb's proffer, Gelb's claim here has no merit. Contrary to that claim, Judge Van Sickle's judgment did not condition leniency or early release on defendant's disclosure to the government of other criminal activity. Rather, it suggested only that he cooperate in establishing the amount of his unlawful gain from the extremely fraudulent activities for which he had already been convicted. Cf. United States v. Oliveras, 905 F.2d 623, 626-28 (2d Cir. 1990) (sentence reduction for acceptance of responsibility may not be withheld for failure to admit wrongdoing beyond scope of guilty plea). Such suggested cooperation was not a condition, but simply a factor to be considered in determining leniency or early release. A district court can properly consider, as one factor in imposing sentence, the defendant's refusal to cooperate with officials investigating a criminal conspiracy in which he was a confessed participant. Roberts v. United States, 445 U.S. 552, 553, 100 S. Ct. 1358, 1360, 63 L. Ed. 2d 622 (1980). Here, as in Roberts, no self-incrimination claim was asserted in the district court. In addition, the government's refusal to cooperate did not prevent Gelb from presenting information about the amount of his fraudulent gains directly to the court, fully separate from any cooperation that may have been sought by the government.
Judge Van Sickle, invoking 18 U.S.C. § 3663, included in the judgment a $5,000,000 restitution award for amounts lost by the U.S. Postal Service from Gelb's fraud. Gelb challenges this restitution order on several grounds, most importantly: (1) that the court failed to differentiate between pre-1983 and post-1983 losses; (2) that the government did not adequately show that the amount of the loss was $5,000,000; and (3) that the court failed to consider the factors outlined in § 3664, including Gelb's ability to pay and the needs of his wife and two children. We consider each of these claims in turn.
First, Gelb argues that because the Victim and Witness Protection Act, ("VWPA"), 18 U.S.C. § 3663, became effective on January 1, 1983, the district court erred by not distinguishing between losses suffered before and those suffered after the effective date of the statute. In its brief on appeal, the government conceded this point and agreed that a limited remand was necessary for reconsideration of the appropriate restitution. In a petition for rehearing, however, it now argues that its original position was error and that a remand is neither necessary nor correct to differentiate between the periods of losses under the circumstances of this case.
The government points to United States v. Bortnovsky, 879 F.2d 30 (2d Cir. 1989), as controlling on this issue. We agree that we are bound by Bortnovsky. In that case, we held that if one of the offenses on which a defendant is convicted is a RICO count and the RICO predicate crimes span the effective date of the VWPA restitution provision, any loss sustained as a result of any of the predicate acts underlying the RICO offense, whether or not the act was committed before 1983, falls within the scope of the restitution statute. Id. at 42. We stated that any other ruling "would improperly treat the predicate acts, rather than the RICO counts, as the offense for which the defendants were being sentenced." Id.
Gelb relies on United States v. Martin, 788 F.2d 184, 189 (3d Cir. 1986), where the third circuit acknowledged that all the defendant's offenses were part of a single scheme to defraud the postal service, but it held that a defendant could not be made to pay restitution for the particular offenses committed prior to 1983. In Bortnovsky, we declined to follow the reasoning of the third circuit, Bortnovsky, 879 F.2d at 42, but we also think that Martin is distinguishable here, because the defendant in that case had been convicted of 34 counts of mail fraud, not, as here, of a single RICO offense whose predicate crimes spanned the effective date of the restitution statute.
Although it may encompass a number of underlying acts, a RICO conviction is a conviction for a single offense. Consequently, restitution can be awarded for all losses arising from the offense and its component parts. Since Gelb was convicted under RICO, we agree with the government's revised position that there is no need to remand simply because the district court failed to differentiate between losses caused by predicate crimes committed before January 1, 1983, and those caused by predicates committed after that date.
Gelb's second argument is that the government did not prove a $5,000,000 loss by a preponderance of the evidence. Section 3664, which governs the procedure for issuing an order of restitution, imposes on the prosecution the "burden of demonstrating the amount of the loss sustained by a victim as a result of the offense" and establishes a preponderance of the evidence standard.
The government insists that it adequately proved the amount of the postal service's loss. Although the government was unable to obtain records concerning the complete volume of EDP's mailings between 1975 and 1983, it did produce a single set of records from which it projected its $5,000,000 figure. These records showed that, between 1977 and 1983, an EDP subsidiary had ordered nearly 25 million copies of promotional materials, which were dispatched in individual envelopes through tampered postage meters. The government calculated the $5,000,000 amount by multiplying 25 million by the twenty-cent first class postage rate in effect at the time. Although the district court expressed some reservations about this amount, it accepted the figure because it was unrebutted, and because in light of the other evidence it was probably on the low side. We think there was a sufficient basis on this record for the district court's finding.
Finally, Gelb is correct in asserting that, if restitution is to be ordered under § 3663, " [a] district judge must consider all the factors listed in section 3580(a) [now section 3664] at the time of sentencing, and may in his discretion reach a compromise figure based on that consideration." United States v. Atkinson, 788 F.2d 900, 904 (2d Cir. 1986). However, there is no requirement that specific findings be made on each factor because "such fact finding would unnecessarily encumber a sentencing proceeding". Id. at 902. Thus, on remand, the district judge need only "consider" the listed factors, id., and a statement that the district judge has considered the statutory factors is sufficient. Id. at 902-03.
The district court, pursuant to § 3664, should consider the financial resources of the defendant and the financial needs and earning abilities of the defendant and his dependents. However, it is possible to impose financial obligations on "a defendant who is indigent at the time of sentencing but subsequently acquires the means to discharge his obligations." United States v. Brown, 744 F.2d 905, 911 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1089, 105 S. Ct. 599, 83 L. Ed. 2d 708 (1984). Many defendants do not have the funds to make restitution immediately. Atkinson, 788 F.2d at 904. If district judges did not have the discretion to "discount the importance of present indigency in performing the statutory balance", "an indigent defendant would evade the statutory purpose of making the victim whole in the event he should subsequently come into sufficient funds." Id.
D. Deficiencies in the Pre-Sentencing Report
Gelb next argues that he must be resentenced because his presentence report was inaccurate and the sentencing procedure itself was inadequate. The probation office prepared a presentence report in December of 1988 which was reviewed by Judge Van Sickle at sentencing in January of 1989. No changes were made in the presentence report; the copy of the presentence report in the Bureau of Prisons is identical to the presentence report prepared in December 1988.
The presentence report and the government's sentencing letter included more than 30 instances of other alleged "bad acts". The accusations ranged from claims that Gelb conducted "sweepstakes" operations that "were saturated with false pretenses" to assertions that he put sugar in the gas tanks of the cars of his employees. The sentencing hearings were devoted in large part to a consideration of the other "bad act" charges. Judge Van Sickle disclaimed that he was taking the majority of these charges into account, but he did specifically consider three of these alleged "bad acts"--a NLRB-contempt matter, alleged misstatements involving a 1983 proposal to New York City by EDP (Gelb's corporation), and an alleged failure by EDP to make unemployment tax contributions to the State of New York. On May 10, 1990, the district court ordered that a transcript of the sentencing hearings be forwarded to the Bureau of Prisons and be attached to the presentence report.
Gelb argues that the May 10th order did nothing to cure the basic problems associated with the presentence report or the sentencing. It is Gelb's position that the presentence report contained "such a welter of innuendo, rumor and invective--and was so infused with misinformation and inaccuracies--that the report profoundly skewed and distorted the sentencing process."
Gelb also contends that Judge Van Sickle did not give Gelb an adequate opportunity to controvert any of the host of claims made in the presentence report, including the three specific other "bad act" areas that Judge Van Sickle explicitly stated he had considered in formulating the sentence, as required by Fed. R. Crim. P. 32(c) (3) (D).
These claims have no merit. Rule 32(c) (3) (D) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure requires the sentencing judge, when relying on disputed facts in the presentence report, to make specific findings; it also requires him to order a transcript of the sentencing proceedings to be attached to the presentence report and forwarded to the Bureau of Prisons. Judge Van Sickle complied with these requirements.
In addition, all that is required during sentencing is that "the defendant ha [ve] an effective opportunity to rebut allegations likely to affect the sentence." United States v. Lee, 818 F.2d 1052, 1056 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 956, 108 S. Ct. 350, 98 L. Ed. 2d 376 (1987). Here, defense counsel received a copy of the presentence report several weeks before the sentencing hearing. The judge, during sentencing, reviewed each of the approximately 30 charges one-by-one and questioned both counsel as to the evidence supporting and contradicting the charges. In fact, Gelb did rebut some of the government's evidence in his presentence memorandum and at the sentencing itself. In the end, the judge made findings as to the three "bad act" charges on which he relied, and as to the others, he said that he was disregarding them. No more is required.
Gelb was convicted on three counts, counts 74, 75, and 76, of subscribing to false corporate tax returns for EDP on July 14, 1981 for the 1980 tax year; on May 17, 1982 for the 1981 tax year; and on July 18, 1983 for the 1982 tax year. His original sentence on these counts imposed imprisonment for 5 years and a fine of $75,000 on count 74, relating to the year 1980, and probation on counts 75 and 76, relating to the years 1981 and 1982. However, at the time the count 74 offense was committed, the statute, 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1), provided for a maximum term of imprisonment of 3 years and a maximum fine of $5,000. By a later amendment, for offenses committed after September 3, 1982, the maximum fine was increased to $100,000. P.L. 97-248, § 329(e) (emphasis added).
In Gelb's motion, he pointed out this statutory history, concluding that it was illegal to impose on him a sentence of 5 years and $75,000 for the count 74 offense committed on July 14, 1981. Judge Van Sickle recognized his error and sought to correct it with an amended judgment that imposed a sentence of three years and $75,000 on count 75, and 5 years probation on count 74. Gelb now argues on appeal, correctly, that the amended sentence on count 75 is also illegal, because that offense, committed on May 17, 1982, also occurred before the effective date of the amendment to § 7206(1).
The government concedes the point and recognizes that a remand is necessary. But the government suggests that the sentencing court be instructed to simply amend the judgment a second time by shifting the $75,000 fine to count 76, which involved conduct after the effective date of the amendment. This, the government argues, would effectuate the manifest intent of the district court, which was to impose on Gelb for his three tax violations the maximum possible term of imprisonment for any one count together with a $75,000 fine and two concurrent terms of probation. The government contends that changing the fine, first, from count 74 to count 75, and now to count 76, does not offend due process or double jeopardy principles.
Gelb, of course, argues that the original sentence on count 76 included no fine, that the maximum fine on counts 74 and 75 was $5,000, and that any fine on the tax counts above $5,000 violates his fifth amendment rights.
We are not persuaded by Gelb's reasoning. In United States v. DiFrancesco, 449 U.S. 117, 101 S. Ct. 426, 66 L. Ed. 2d 328 (1980), the Supreme Court held that, in certain circumstances, increasing a sentence after the defendant has begun to serve it does not violate the constitutional guaranty against double jeopardy. "The Double Jeopardy Clause does not provide the defendant with the right to know at any specific moment in time what the exact limit of his punishment will turn out to be." Id. at 137, 101 S. Ct. at 437. "So long as a sentence can be increased on appeal, defendant has no expectation of its finality." United States v. Rico, 902 F.2d 1065, 1068 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S. Ct. 352, 112 L. Ed. 2d 316 (1990) (citing DiFrancesco, 449 U.S. at 134-36, 139, 101 S. Ct. at 435-37, 438).
Prior to the Supreme Court's ruling in DiFrancesco, the second circuit had held that "increasing a sentence after the defendant has commenced to serve it is a violation of the constitutional guaranty against double jeopardy." United States v. Sacco, 367 F.2d 368, 369 (2d Cir. 1966). Since DiFrancesco, we have had several opportunities to reconsider the double jeopardy problems involved in resentencings. Basically, three distinct problems have been considered.
First, we have held that a sentencing judge could, on remand, increase the sentence on a specific count where the original sentence was imposed as part of a "package" that included a mandatory consecutive sentence which was subsequently found to be invalid. McClain v. United States, 676 F.2d 915, 917 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 879, 103 S. Ct. 174, 74 L. Ed. 2d 143 (1982); United States v. Diaz, 834 F.2d 287, 290 (2d Cir. 1987), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 818, 109 S. Ct. 57, 102 L. Ed. 2d 35 (1988). Where the entire original sentence is vacated and remanded for resentencing, the sentencing judge could impose a new sentence to carry out his original intention without running afoul of the double jeopardy clause. McClain, 676 F.2d at 917; Diaz, 834 F.2d at 290.
Second, we have held that a district judge could increase a defendant's sentence where the original sentence had been erroneously entered, despite the fact that the defendant had completed serving the prison term. Rico, 902 F.2d at 1068. In that case, the district court was unaware that a plea agreement provided for a longer sentence when the original sentence was imposed, but the court was allowed to resentence the defendant to reflect the terms of the plea agreement.
Finally, however, this court refused to extend McClain or Diaz to allow an increase in a sentence whenever one or more sentences that were part of a "sentencing plan" were vacated. United States v. Pisani, 787 F.2d 71, 75 (2d Cir. 1986). In that case, we had previously vacated defendant's convictions on all but one count, dismissing some counts while remanding the others for a new trial. United States v. Pisani, 773 F.2d 397 (2d Cir. 1985). The government then argued that the district court should be given the chance to increase the modest sentence imposed on the one conviction which had been affirmed. It contended that the district court probably had imposed a lighter sentence on that count because of the harsher penalties imposed on the convictions that were vacated and thus the court should have the opportunity to resentence the defendant to reflect more closely its original intent.
We held, however, that the sentencing court is not free to resentence the defendant on the convictions that are affirmed unless the district judge erroneously believed a mandatory consecutive sentence was necessary. Id. at 74. Even if the court may have been more lenient in sentencing on a particular count because of the comparative severity of the sentences imposed on the other counts, now dismissed, it is not entitled to resentence the defendant.
The case now before us, though sharing some similarities, is distinguishable from these previous decisions. No mandatory consecutive sentence was involved, as in McClain or Diaz. Nor was the sentence imposed on count 76, the sentence which the government seeks to increase, erroneously imposed, as in Rico. Nor were any of the convictions vacated, as in Pisani. The question here is whether, under double jeopardy principles, we can vacate a valid sentence of probation on count 76, on which the conviction has been affirmed, and allow the sentencing judge to impose an increased sentence on that count because the sentence on another similar count was erroneously imposed, when the end result would reflect the sentencing judge's original intent.
We hold that Gelb's sentence on count 76 can be increased without offending the double jeopardy clause. The situation is similar enough to that in Rico, where the district court erroneously imposed a light sentence based on incorrect information, to justify a modified resentencing. Here, Judge Van Sickle erroneously believed that § 7206(1) allowed the sentence he imposed on count 75. It is clear that, for having filed the three false tax returns, the judge intended to sentence Gelb to the statutory maximum term of imprisonment and a $75,000 fine plus 5 years of probation. There was no particular reason to select one of the three counts for the prison term and fine in preference to the others. In addition, Pisani does not control here because the reason for a resentencing does not stem from invalidation of the underlying conviction. Given the continuing vitality of all three convictions and the district court's original intent, confirmed by its ineffective attempt to correct the error, the district court should now be afforded a final opportunity to settle the matter by resentencing Gelb on all three of the tax counts.
In reaching this conclusion, we are not deciding whether a sentencing judge can always increase a sentence previously imposed on one count to adjust for infirmities in a sentence imposed on another count. We find no error in this case because it is obvious that the sentencing judge, in imposing the original sentences, regarded the three tax offenses as fungible. He made no discrete assessment of the degree of wrongdoing associated with each year's tax offense. We would face a different and closer question if a judge who had determined that a particular offense merited slight punishment revised that punishment to compensate for the disallowance of a penalty imposed for wrongdoing of a different sort.
Finally, Gelb asks that any resentencing be conducted by a different judge. We see no reason to grant that request. See United States v. Bradley, 812 F.2d 774, 782 n. 9 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 832, 108 S. Ct. 107, 98 L. Ed. 2d 67 (1987); United States v. Robin, 553 F.2d 8, 10 (2d Cir. 1977) (per curiam) (in banc). However, because Judge Van Sickle, who imposed the original and "corrected" sentences, was sitting in the Eastern District of New York by designation from his official station in the District of North Dakota, we leave it to the Eastern District of New York to determine, according to its own procedures and convenience, which particular judge shall conduct the resentencing.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
We affirm the district court's sentence on the racketeering and mail fraud counts since we find them not disproportionately severe. We find no violation of defendant Gelb's fifth amendment right, because the district court did not improperly condition leniency or early release on Gelb's disclosure of alleged other criminal activity. Nor do we find any reason for resentencing based on defendant's argument that the presentence report was inaccurate or deficient. We also find no error in requiring restitution for the full period of the RICO offense, and the amount of ordered restitution, $5,000,000, is sufficiently supported by the record.
We do, however, vacate the restitution award and remand with a direction to the district court to expressly consider the factors required by § 3664. In addition, we vacate the tax sentences and remand for resentencing on the three tax convictions in light of the analysis and legal principles discussed in this opinion.
of Second Circuit opinions.


and shall be enriched with silver and gold and many gifts."
nor depart from our religion in the slightest degree."
according to the king's order.
just as Phinehas did with Zimri, son of Salu.
and who stands by the covenant follow after me!"
I will rescue you, and you shall glorify me."


text:
Q: Interceptor ignored I have a JAVA based configuration with this line:
public void addInterceptors(InterceptorRegistry registry) {
    registry.addInterceptor((HandlerInterceptor) new LogInterceptor());
}

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public boolean preHandle(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response, Object handler) throws Exception {
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I use NetBeans Java Web Web Application with Spring MVC 4.0.1
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A: Add path patterns where you register your interceptor. You probably have them in your XML configuration and may forgot in java config.
public void addInterceptors(InterceptorRegistry registry) {
    registry.addInterceptor((HandlerInterceptor) new LogInterceptor()).addPathPatterns("/*");
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
: 2 min
The CEO of Safran Transmission Systems distinguished by the FCE-Aero Awards
Hélène Moreau-Leroy, CEO of Safran Transmission Systems, has been honored for her career by the French Federation of Female CEOs (FCE, Fédération des Femmes Chefs d'Entreprises), which organized the first edition of the FCE-Aero Awards on June 22, 2017, on the occasion of the 2017 Paris Air Show.
On Thursday, June 22, the GIFAS (French aerospace industry association) chalet was the setting for the FCE-Aero Awards ceremony during which four female executives or CEOs were distinguished for their careers in the aerospace industry. As one the women being honored, Hélène Moreau Leroy, CEO of Safran Transmission Systems, was presented with the "Exceptional Career for a Female CEO" award.
These trophies promote excellence in French industry and highlight the exemplary careers of women to encourage interest and incite vocations in the aerospace sector.
Holding a degree from INSA Lyon (1987) and an MBA from the University of New England (Australia, 1994), Hélène Moreau-Leroy started her career in various management roles in design offices and international purchasing and industrial departments in groups such as Thomson and Alstom. In 2003, she was hired by Safran's Purchasing Department to manage the field of forged and raw materials.
In 2005, she joined Messier-Dowty as the international Supply Chain Development Manager and in 2008, became Director of the Airbus and European Programs Business Unit and then Director of Messier-Bugatti-Dowty (now Safran Landing Systems) Programs in 2011.
She was appointed CEO of Hispano-Suiza (now Safran Transmission Systems) in 2013, a position she currently holds. Hélène Moreau-Leroy is a member of the Executive Committee of GIFAS's aerospace and defense equipment group (GEAD). She is also active in promoting female careers in the industry.
Learn more about Safran Transmission Systems
The Safran Foundation for Integration supports La Bergerie de Berdine
Discover "We Build the Future", Safran's new corporate film
From design engineer to line manager: follow Cécile's journey!
Ross McInnes and Philippe Petitcolin extend their best wishes for 2020

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;

namespace Monoamp.Common.Utility
{
    public static class PoolFilePath
    {
        private static Dictionary<string, string[]> pathArrayDictionary;
        private static Dictionary<string, DateTime> dateTimeDictionary;
        private static object objectLock;

        static PoolFilePath()
        {
			pathArrayDictionary = new Dictionary<string, string[]>();
            dateTimeDictionary = new Dictionary<string, DateTime>();
            objectLock = new object();
        }

		public static string[] Get( DirectoryInfo aDirectoryInfo )
        {
            lock( objectLock )
            {
				// If: Need to load new directory.
				if( pathArrayDictionary.ContainsKey( aDirectoryInfo.FullName ) == false )
                {
					pathArrayDictionary.Add( aDirectoryInfo.FullName, Directory.GetFiles( aDirectoryInfo.FullName, "*.*", SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly ) );
					dateTimeDictionary.Add( aDirectoryInfo.FullName, Directory.GetLastWriteTime( aDirectoryInfo.FullName ) );
                }

				// If: Updated.
				if( dateTimeDictionary[aDirectoryInfo.FullName].Ticks != Directory.GetLastWriteTime( aDirectoryInfo.FullName ).Ticks )
                {
					pathArrayDictionary[aDirectoryInfo.FullName] = Directory.GetFiles( aDirectoryInfo.FullName, "*.*", SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly );
					dateTimeDictionary[aDirectoryInfo.FullName] = Directory.GetLastWriteTime( aDirectoryInfo.FullName );
				}
            }

			return pathArrayDictionary[aDirectoryInfo.FullName];
		}

		public static long GetTimeStampTicks( DirectoryInfo aDirectoryInfo )
		{
			if( pathArrayDictionary.ContainsKey( aDirectoryInfo.FullName ) == false )
			{
				Get( aDirectoryInfo );
			}

			return dateTimeDictionary[aDirectoryInfo.FullName].Ticks;
		}
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Entries / Imperial Family
Categories / Capital/Imperial Court
IMPERIAL FAMILY, members of the Russian monarch's family, called by succession to the throne or by lawful marriage to those who had such right. Legal status of the Imperial Family was ratified by Emperor Pavel I in 1797 by the Resolution on the Imperial Family, which was changed in 1886 under Emperor Alexander III. Members of the Imperial Family had the right of title, annual income from appendages, a personal court, a coat of arms, and other privileges. In 1797-1917, the Imperial Family included (excepting the Emperors and the Empresses) 31 Grand Princes, 43 Grand Princesses, and 27 princes and princesses of Imperial blood, all of which lived almost exclusively in St. Petersburg. Old palaces and residences were bought for them and new ones built in St. Petersburg and its suburbs (see Grand Princes' Palaces). In the 19th - the early 20th century, members of the Imperial Family participated in all important events of Russian life. Male representatives of the Imperial Family served in the capital's guard units. For centuries, Grand Princes headed the guard and artillery (Konstantin Pavlovich, Mikhail Pavlovich, Mikhail Nikolaevich), and for decades they headed the St. Petersburg Military Command - including Nikolay Nikolaevich the Elder, Alexander Alexandrovich (future Emperor Alexander III), Vladimir Alexandrovich, Nikolay Nikolaevich the Younger, and the Navy - Konstantin Nikolaevich and Alexey Alexandrovich - as well as the military schools. Until the early 20th century, members of the Imperial Family initiated and headed the majority of scientific, charitable, and cultural organizations situated in St. Petersburg, playing an important role in the capital's secular life. Originally, members of the Imperial Family were buried in the SS. Peter&Paul Cathedral, and from the early 20th century in the Grand Princes' Burial Vault. Until 1917, there were monuments to members of the Imperial Family throughout the St. Petersburg suburbs, which have not been preserved, including ones to Grand Princess Alexandra Nikolaevna (1825-1844) in the Alexandrovsky Park at Tsarskoe Selo and in Alexandria, to Alexandra Pavlovna (1783-1801) in Pavlovsk, to Vyacheslav Konstantinovich (1862-1879) in Pavlovsk, to Elena Pavlovna (1784-1803) in Pavlovsk, to Mikhail Nikolaevich (1832-1909) in Peterhof, and to Prince Nikolay Alexandrovich (1843-1865) in St. Petersburg and Pavlovsk. In 1994, a monument to Prince Alexey Nikolaevich (1904-18) was installed in Peterhof (sculptor V.V. Zayko).
References: Скотт С. Романовы: Царская династия. Кто они были? Что с ними стало? Екатеринбург, 1993; Кузьмин Ю. А. Члены императорской фамилии на военной службе // Из глубины времен: Альм. СПб., 1999. Вып. 11. С. 3-20; Носков С. И., Шевыркова Н. А. Места Романовых в Санкт-Петербурге и его окрестностях, 1703-1917. СПб., 2000; Пчелов Е. В. Романовы: История династии. М., 2001.
Y. A. Kuzmin.
Alexander III, Emperor
Alexandra Nikolaevna, Grand Princess
Alexandra Pavlovna, Grand Princess
Alexey Alexandrovich, Grand Prince
Elena Pavlovna, Grand Princess
Konstantin Nikolaevich, Grand Prince
Konstantin Pavlovich, Grand Prince
Mikhail Nikolaevich, Grand Prince
Mikhail Pavlovich, Grand Prince
Nikolay Alexandrovich, Grand Prince
Nikolay Nikolaevich (Jr.), Grand Prince
Nikolay Nikolaevich (Sr.), Grand Prince
Paul (Pavel) I, Emperor
Vladimir Alexandrovich, Grand Prince
Vyacheslav Konstantinovich, Grand Prince
Zayko Viktor Vladimirovich
Кузьмин Ю. А. Члены императорской фамилии на военной службе // Из глубины времен: Альм. СПб., 1999
Скотт С. Романовы: Царская династия. Кто они были? Что с ними стало? Екатеринбург, 1993
Пчелов Е. В. Романовы: История династии. М., 2001
Носков С.И., Шевыркова Н.А. Места Романовых в Санкт-Петербурге и его окрестностях, 1703 - 1917. СПб., 2000
Grand Princes' Palaces and Mansions (entry)
SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral
Grand Princes' Burial Vault


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Netflix Gets Into Steampunk and Time Travel with New Film and Series
By Abbey White | January 21, 2016 | 2:45pm
Photo via Getty Images, Kevin Winter TV News Netflix
Netflix is expanding its sci-fi series roster to include a time travel thriller film and an adaptation of Richard Morgan's popular steampunk novel Altered Carbon.
The Flash's Robbie Amell and Jessica Jones' Rachael Taylor are both expected to star in the upcoming post-apocalyptic tale ARQ, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series finds its leads trapped in a time loop as masked raiders attempt to break their way into the characters' fortified home.
Amell will star as an engineer who has discovered and now must protect a renewable energy technology that could save a future where the oil supply has run dry and wars have broken out around the world. It's that very same technology that triggers the nightmarish time loop Amell's character is trapped in. Taylor's roll has yet to be named. Tony Elliot, a writer and story editor for Orphan Black, will serve as the film's writer and director.
Meanwhile, fans of Richard Morgan's steampunk, body transference tale have been granted a 10-episode order from Netflix. Based 500 years in the future, humans have cheated death by learning how to store conscious memory. Near the point of death, they transfer that "soul" from the old body to a new one. The process is formally known as "resleeving."
When a wealthy and recently resleeved man believes he was murdered, but has no memory backed up from the last 48 hours, ex-U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs sets out to uncover the truth. Kovacs will face a number of hurdles, one of which is that authorities are convinced Kovacs' client committed suicide.
Altered Carbon is produced by Skydance Studios and will be written be Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island, Terminator Genisys) according to Deadline.
rachael taylor
robbie amell
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Q: C# - Break Loop from another button In my program i'm starting for loop using button, I want to break this for loop using another button.
For example:
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    for( int i = 0; i <  var; i++)
    {
        //doing something
    }
}

And using second button break loop,
private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    //breaking loop;
}

Need help :)

A: *

*Set a flag in button2_Click() method and check it in the button1_Click()'s loop.

*In order to process Windows events and allow button2_Click() handle to run while iterating, add Application.DoEvents() in your loop:
bool breakLoop = false;

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    breakLoop = false;
    for( int i = 0; i < var && !breakLoop; i++)
    {
         //doing something
         Application.DoEvents();
    }
}

private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    breakLoop = true;
}

A: You cannot do that, because the loop in button1_Click event handler will be holding the UI thread. Your user interface will not respond to any event, showing hourglass icon, until the loop is over. This means that button2_Click cannot be entered until button1_Click has completed.
You need to replace the long-running loop from the event handler with something that runs outside the UI thread. For example, you can use Tasks, which can be cancelled using CancellationToken (related Q&A).

A: Arguably it would be better to use threads and cancellation tokens in some form, rather than the Application.DoEvents(). Something like this:
private CancellationTokenSource loopCanceller = new CancellationTokenSource();

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
    {
        try
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++)
            {
                this.loopCanceller.Token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested(); // exit, if cancelled

                // simulating half a second of work
                Thread.Sleep(500);

                // UI update, Invoke needed because we are in another thread
                Invoke((Action)(() => this.Text = "Iteration " + i));
            }

        }
        catch (OperationCanceledException ex)
        {
            loopCanceller = new CancellationTokenSource(); // resetting the canceller
            Invoke((Action)(() => this.Text = "Thread cancelled"));
        }
    }, loopCanceller.Token);
}

private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    loopCanceller.Cancel();
}


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text:
Q: Alpakka Kafka Stream not restarting after connection errors despite using RestartSource I have a simple committable source for Kafka stream wrapped in RestartSource. It works fine in happy path, but if I deliberately severe the connection to Kafka cluster, it throws connection exception from underlying kafka client and reports Kafka Consumer Shut Down. My expectation was it to restart the stream after ~150 seconds, but it doesn't. Is my understanding/usage of RestartSource incorrect from below:
val atomicControl = new AtomicReference[Consumer.Control](NoopControl)
val restartablekafkaSourceWithFlow = {
        RestartSource.withBackoff(30.seconds, 120.seconds, 0.2) {
          () => {
            Consumer.committableSource(consumerSettings.withClientId("clientId"), Subscriptions.topics(Set("someTopic")))
              .mapMaterializedValue(c => atomicControl.set(c))
              .via(someFlow)
              .via(httpFlow)
          }
        }
      }
val committerSink: Sink[(Any, ConsumerMessage.CommittableOffset), Future[Done]] = Committer.sinkWithOffsetContext(CommitterSettings(actorSystem))

val runnableGraph = restartablekafkaSourceWithFlow.toMat(committerSink)(Keep.both)

val control = runnableGraph.mapMaterializedValue(x => Consumer.DrainingControl.apply(atomicControl.get, x._2)).run()

A: Maybe you are getting error outside of RestartSource.
You can add recover to see the error, and/or create a decider like below and use it in runnableGraph.
private val decider: Supervision.Decider = { e =>
    logger.error("Unhandled exception in stream.", e)
    Supervision.Resume
  }

runnableGraph.withAttributes(supervisionStrategy(decider))


text:
Abigail Haunting
After escaping the clutches of an abusive relationship, Katie reluctantly returns to the foster home she grew up in. Little does she know, her foster mother Marge is harboring a sinister secret dating back a decade. Now, Katie finds herself caught up in a horrifying family drama while confronting an angry spirit named Abigail.
Director: Kelly Schwarze
Actors: Austin Collazo, Brendan Daly, Chelsea Jurkiewicz, Christopher Brown, Eric Rickey, Michael Monteiro, Taylor Johnson
When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to…
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller
After status-obsessed teen Sara has sex for the first time, she wakes up the next day nine months pregnant-with an alien.
Two young sisters find that all the mirrors in their estranged aunt's house are covered or hidden. When one of them happens upon a mirror in the basement, she unknowingly…
A crew of aquatic researchers work to get to safety after an earthquake devastates their subterranean laboratory. But the crew has more than the ocean seabed to fear.
Country: Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, USA
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Thriller
Aquaslash
Thrills, Chills and screwball comedy meet tiny bikinis and gory dismemberment in this chlorine and blood drenched murder mystery.
After a family moves into the Heelshire Mansion, their young son soon makes friends with a life-like doll called Brahms.
Agramon's Gate
A psychic reader and Medium are invited to a party. Something goes very wrong and something comes over from the other side to haunt the people from the party. They…
Verotika
Glenn Danzig's directorial debut, is a horror anthology that compiles stories from Danzig's line of comic books of the same name. Stories which focus on horror content that's often sexual…
For We Are Many
An anthology film based around demons, specifically Legion.
Home with a View of the Monster
Dennis and Rita arrive home to a series of mysterious events.
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Don't Let Them In
A home invasion horror movie in the vein of You're Next and The Purge, about a group of people under siege by masked intruders in an abandoned hotel.


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text:
Tag: Roman Empire
Hear Me Roar: Reboot
Today on Museum Bites we're taking a closer look at some badass women. This colorful cast includes a champion of women's health, a defiant ruler, and a steadfast and devoted queen. Rebellious, revolutionary and revered, each took on the system in her own way. For a brief introduction, let's begin by turning back the clock to ancient Rome…
Today on Museum Quick Bites we're stepping into the Basilica di San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy to learn more about Byzantine Empress Theodora (c497-548). Inside these 6th century walls, her portrait, crafted from colorful glass and gold-infused tiles, offers clues about this powerful, multi-faceted woman. From devout Christian to demonic consort, Theodora's portrayal in art, literature, and even the stage is much like her empire, complex.
Byzantine Bling: Quick Bite
Today on Museum Quick Bites we're winding back the clock to the 6th century and taking a closer look at Byzantine bling.
Power Couples: Reboot
Today on Museum Bites we're celebrating power couples. From a royal abduction to religious reformists these dynamic duos have inspired a cult, scandalized the church, and went so far as to start a war. Join me for a brief look at the lives and loves of three legendary couples. We begin by rolling back the clock to ancient Greece…
Hear Me Roar
Today on Museum Bites we're continuing our tour through the Art Institute of Chicago with a look at some badass women. This colorful cast includes a champion of women's health, a defiant ruler, and a steadfast and devoted queen. Rebellious, revolutionary and revered, each took on the system in her own way. For a brief introduction, let's begin by turning back the clock to ancient Rome…
Ancient Bling: Reboot
Today on Museum Bites we're rolling out the bling. From tiaras to toe rings, we humans have for centuries, pierced, stretched, looped, pinned and poked our bodies with a glittery assortment of baubles and beads.
Shatter Proof: The Reboot
Like a sleek new iPhone, glass became the got-to-have-it merch.
Mind Your Head – Part 2
When I first stumbled across the Vajen-Bader Smoke Protector, I initially thought it was a prop from Dr. Who or Star Wars. This bizarre looking hood was created in the 1890s by hardware salesman, Willis Vajen and piano maker, William Bader to prevent the inhalation of smoke and toxic fumes.
If I Had a Hammer
The power drills and circular saws are kicking up dust at my house so today on Museum Bites we're taking a closer look at a classic tool, the hammer. From the maul to the meat mallet, hammers, in one form or another, shape our everyday life. The framing hammer builds houses while a sledge hammer... Continue Reading →


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text:
Phuket COVID cases remain at three
News >> Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) has announced that the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 on the island remains at three: the father who contracted the virus at a big bike rally on Koh Lanta last week and his two sons, aged 9 and 13.
COVID-19corruptionhealth
By The Phuket News
Friday 25 December 2020, 05:13PM
PPHO Chief Thanit Sermkaew leads a meeting on the COVID situation in Phuket. Photo: PPHO
Migrant workers being screened at Chalong Hospital. Photo: Chalong Hospital
Many schools have undergone intensive sanitisation. Photo: PR Phuket
The PPHO noted in its that so far 156 people who had come into contact with the man or his sons had been tested for the virus, with 156 testing negative and five test results still yet to be confirmed.
The PPHO marked its report as accurate as of 8:30pm last night (Dec 24).
The 40-year-old father, designated "Case 228", had come into low-risk contact with 40 people, and high-risk contact with a further 31 people, the PPHO reported.
Of the 31 believed to have been high-risk candidates for contracting the disease, 26 tested negative and five were still waiting for test results, the PPHO noted.
The man's 13-year-old son, designated "Case 229", came into high-risk contact with 70 people. All 70 tested negative for COVID-19, the PPHO said.
The father's other son, a 9-year-old boy designated "Case 230", came into high-risk contact with 60 people. All 60 tested negative for COIVD-19, the PPHO also noted.
Amid fears COVID-19 would spread quickly among those who had come into contact with the two children, the two schools that the boys attended, the 13-year-old attended Phuket Wittayalai School in Phuket Town, and the 9-year-old attended kindergarten classes at Kajonkietpattana School in WIchit, were both closed immediately on being informed that the children were COVID-positive.
All government schools and many private schools were soon closed to prevent any possible transmission of the disease, and subsequently many schools across the island underwent intensive sanitising of risk areas.
PPHO Chief Thanit Sermkaew yesterday also noted that intensive checks on all migrant workers are continuing across the island following the outbreak from the fishing port area in Samut Sakhon.
He also urged people to report any incidents or people suspected of being related to COVID-19 risk to call the "Phuket COVID Hotlines" at 094-5938876 and 062-2435116.
The government yesterday reported 81 new COVID cases, including migrants.
Of the 81 new COVID-19 cases, 37 were local infections, 35 were migrant workers and nine were quarantined arrivals – altogether raising the total to 5,910, reported the Bangkok Post.
Dr Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), said 26 of the 37 local infection cases were linked to the novel coronavirus outbreak in Samut Sakhon province. The other 11 were still under investigation.
The local infections included vendors, government officials, seafood transport workers and bank employees. Most were of working age and showed symptoms of the disease, he said.
So far, the outbreak that emerged at the Central Shrimp Market of Samut Sakhon province had spread to 31 provinces, the spokesman said.
The 35 new cases among migrant workers were detected by active testing.
They were among 8,810 people tested in Samut Sakhon. Of those tested, 1,308 (15%) were positive. Health officials planned to test about 10,000 people in Samut Sakhon to ensure Covid-19 control, Dr Taweesilp said.
Of the 1,308 infected migrant workers, about 500 were admitted to hospitals, with a few cases of serious illness. The others were quarantined only, he said.
Dr Taweesilp asked local people in Samut Sakhon not to oppose the establishment of a field hospital in the province. It was important to detect cases in Samut Sakhon as soon as possible, and the field hospital had an important role in the process, he said.
The field hospital did not pose any transmission threat to local people. It was as safe as quarantine facilities, including the hotels providing quarantine services in urban areas, Dr Taweesilp said.
He said that as long as COVID-19 cases, and the spread of the virus, were at controllable levels, people and businesses cooperated, and there were adequate medical and public health resources, the system of Covid-19 control zoning would continue.
However, if any of the conditions failed there would be a national lockdown, as was imposed in March this year, Dr Taweesilp said.
The nine quarantined arrival cases came from the United States, Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Myanmar and the United Arab Emirates.
Of the total 5,910 local cases, 4,130 had recovered, including 21 discharged over the past 24 hours, and 1,713 were in hospitals. The death toll remained at 60.
Since the pandemic started early this year, local COVID-19 cases have consisted of 3,967 local infections, 1,943 arrivals and 1,308 migrant workers, the CCSA said
Global COVID-19 cases rose by 665,189 over the previous 24 hours to 79.73 million. The worldwide death toll was up by 11,718 to 1.75 million. The US had the most cases at 19.11 million, up 193,030.


text:
Comments by CK MacLeod
On "note on anti-Americanist conservatism in re Obama in Israel"
(Well, I didn't, four years ago, call Daniel Larison a vulgar ideologue. I suggested that his polemic on that occasion stooped to that level, in a way I found typical for American Conservative conservatism. Since then, I've rather lost touch with his work, so have no fresh opinion on it.)
On "Jennifer Rubin: Pro-Trump Republicans will get nothing, not even retention of a House majority – The Washington Post"
Thanks, Mr. McK. I don't see the Rs in any better a position, nor the independents for that matter. All the People's Political Scientists and all the People's Political Consultants can't solve the peculiar form of paralysis built into America's contradictory constitution (not the same as, but certainly including the form of its written Constitution). It seems to take catastrophe to do that work, but the great news is that we are sure to get catastrophe. Indeed, we may already have gotten it, and may just be waiting for the larger waves to reach the shore.
On "Thesis on the Great Trumpian Victory (OAG #6)"
to Will H.
Thanks, Will H, for the thoughtful comment (which, in addition to being correspondingly thought-provoking, also happened to reveal a coding error making comments on this type of post unreadable on my phone).
Not sure how the process you describe lands us on the Right, however, since the process itself is Whig history, classically on the Left or, as later, "progressive." So, even if the process itself somehow favors the Right, the presumption is of an under- and overlying Left/progressive tendency. Specifically in regard to voting rights, extension of the franchise has been a demand against whichever powers that were, even if the King and the People may have been from other perspectives or in other epochs allies vs. the lesser nobility and the church, and even if the further-Left has critiqued the vote itself.
A realignment based on the general trend is still resisted by the American Right for different, possibly complementary reasons. The Democrats consistently support extending the vote or ease of voting, and tend to support the popular voting and proportional representation. You might say that friction over the general trend favors the Right in a certain sense, in that it leads to greater intensity of feeling on the part of those who perceive a threat to their positions of relative privilege, but the victories of shrinking minorities over increasing majorities are unlikely to last forever, and defending for too long or too fiercely may make the eventual winners less forgiving.
But I'm not really sure what this all has to do with Trump specifically.
On "While 2017 happens…"
Yes - that is very un-sympatico reactionwise, bob. Which is unusual for you. Though Joni Mitchell might once have sympatico'd your unsympatico-ness kind of maybe, at least in the Summer.
Main problem in my neighborhood, now that the drought is officially over, is the most lawn-obsessed near-neighbor loves his leaf-blower fiercely, meaning early wake-ups on a regular basis. He also happens to the only neighbor who throws loud latenight parties. I am thankful that he doesn't connect the two practices, or at least hasn't so far: Loud latenight party followed by early morning leafblowing.
I don't know whether he supported that fellow. It would surprise me for various reasons having to do with ethnicity. Might seem too personal a question for me to ask him, as we're just neighbors, not friends, even though it might be interesting in relation to your theory, if not obviously definitive evidence in isolation - I mean as to whether relative lawn-obsession correlates more strongly with that-fellow-support than ethnic factors. We may never, sadly, know the answer, what with so many skilled researchers devoting themselves to tired, over-researched subjects like climate change and species extinction and such.
On "German Trust in America – the Trend (#OAG 12b)"
Congratulations on at least admitting when you, or your source, sbeen touched!
As for the faddishness of disapprobation of Donald Trump, that plunge at the end of the opinion chart strikes me as a bit more like a total sudden collapse, or fall off a cliff, than the emergence of enthusiasm for Hula Hoops or nose-rings among some sector of the populace. That's a general opinion poll, not a sales chart. The only time you see action like that in stock-trading, for example, is when the FBI arrests the CEO, or the company declares bankruptcy out of the blue... and the CEO is arrested.
I think the Germans correctly understood the 2016 election as to have revealed something which previously only a few thoughtful observers had noted about the vulnerability of the American electoral system to unexpected outcomes. The system was revealed to be unreliable in the process of producing an unreliable leader running on a platform of decreased reliability. The possibility that his personal unreliability would help defeat the unreliable platform is only one of several.
It's a bit like a marriage after the discovery of an affair or occurrence of some other disruptive event. It was always a possibility, and there may be a home, children, and any number of other factors to consider before leaping to divorce, but, even if the marriage continues, with what may be called greater realism, it still won't be or feel the same.
On "Tweet-Drizzle on Merkel on New World Disorder (OAG #12)"
That fellow and his movement would be as much symptoms as causes, of course. Ash had Obama or Obama's America ca. 2013 in view when he coined the term "withdrawalism." A consistent withdrawalist might would be constrained from acting to preserve or enhance the value of NATO, and a rigorously consistent one would be constrained even from acknowledging the question or from looking into it.
All that said, I readily acknowledge a counterargument, which is also a complementary view. I even went on to tweet a short summary. I think I'll tweet-drizzle it.
On "The Economist: How to understand Angela Merkel's comments about America and Britain "
I don't know where MK Bhadrakumar gets his stats - possibly Russia Today: https://www.rt.com/news/germany-lose-trust-us-snowden-431/ - although RT gives the date as 2014. Die Welt, just to provide one quick example, reports a decline of 37% on the same question from November 2016 to the Feburary, on 70% distrust vs 22% trust. Certainly there was decline from Obama's first year over the course of his term, with some notorious incidents - especially around the Snowden affair - punctuating and deepening it. If you really want to examine German public opinion,
https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article161766668/Deutsche-verlieren-wegen-Trump-Vertrauen-in-die-USA.html (The decline numbers are the ones in parentheses after each country name.)
I'll be posting a quick rundown on the recent history of that poll.
On "Theodicy of Trump – a Tweet-Drizzle (OAG #11)"
From early on, Trump gave his adversaries abundant excuses to declare him illegitimate, or illegitimate as far as their principles were concerned.
To skip ahead to the Fall and to imagine Hillary Clinton "re-born hard," refusing to debate the man who incited violence at his rallies; who crudely demeaned his opponents; who ran a campaign filled with stooges of a foreign power; who encouraged, celebrated, and exploited the actions of WikiLeaks; who ran a never-disavowed multi-year effort to de-legitimize the sitting president; and so on, is difficult precisely because many or most of those justifications had been present for months, and had already been "normalized." The refusal to debate would have been a clear statement, but the person able to make it in September-October would have been able to make it or its equivalent in January-February.
HRC's message in the end seemed to be that Trump was unfit and unacceptable, as Jeet Heer notes. Debating him contradicted or blunted that message, but so did a thousand other things she did and didn't do. She could also have chosen to let others make that argument, and to focus all of her strength on the "agenda" that Heer says she downplayed. Instead, she tried to do both - "It's an emergency! Here's my worker retraining proposal!" - in the political equivalent of dividing her forces in the face of the enemy.
In short, she tried to play the odds and play the game, just as Obama tried to play the odds as he calculated them, in the hope of getting by with a "normal" victory. Obama apparently was ready to go public on the Russian allegations by the Summer, for instance, but is said to have backed down when Mitch McConnell threatened to call it "politics." You don't have to take a position on the intrinsic importance of the Russian question to understand the contradiction in the Democrats' response to it, the same as the contradiction in relation to Trump: If it was a matter of the greatest significance, then there should not have been any backing down to McConnell. Obama should have treated the issue as an emergency, taken extraordinary measures, and alerted the public. That he did not treat the issue as an emergency then compromises his defenders now when they ask us to treat it that way now. I discussed this question in some detail at around the same time the Russian question was receiving its first major post-election public airing late last Fall (OAG #2).
The same goes in regard to dealing with Trump. Unfortunately for his opponents, the kind of candidate who could have refused to debate Trump and could have driven the point home and sustained it is not the kind of candidate that the Democrats were prepared to nominate. They don't understand how to be hard in that way. As I've been saying, that is the one or perhaps the only thing that Trump seems to understand: how to go on with passionate intensity vs those who lack all conviction. Instead of backing down to a McConnell like Obama, we can assume that in a similar situation Trump would have been blurting out the awful truth at the first opportunity and every subsequent one.
The point of this argument is not to imagine going back in time and persuading HRC to adopt a saving tactic at the last possible second. The point is to illustrated the problem that the anti-Trump coalition was not able to face last year, but may be forced to face eventually, or may be in the process of being forced to face. To beat Trumpism they will have to mimic it without, if possible, succumbing to it, just as to beat the fascist totalitarians, we once upon a time needed to get a lot more fascist-totalitarian than we had been (and lastingly).
I'd go much further than perhaps you might expect in supporting your criticism of the Democrats here, or crucial aspects of it. There's no reason the Electoral College should be a problem for a party that truly captured the "soul" or "spirit" of the nation, and the "WWC" at minimum has a claim on that soul or spirit (or idea or essence...), if not possibly the exclusive claim on which White Supremacists insist.
So, I accept that there is a peculiar, very typical blindspot among modern American liberals or left-liberals regarding this deficit. Their blindspot refers (or fails to refer them) back to itself: They are blind to their blindness. They are also Dunning-Kruger victims on this one. They cannot, for example, abide the argument which tends to get expressed by racists as "if Blacks can have Black Power, why can't we have White Power?" The problem is that answering this question truly adequately would necessarily involve us in matters about which neither side and no one else is prepared to speak in any political context. The problem is, for us, philosophic and historical. Our inability and unwillingness to address it defines us in many ways. I discussed the matter, or one major aspect of it, in more detail in my pieces on "Chait's Insanity," though it also shows up in the Left-Liberal "thymotic" deficit or problem with Jacksonianism.
We seem to be without exception mediocrities and hopeless cranks when it comes to these topics. That's what it means to be trapped within one's era by history. Anyone capable of comprehending the situation is pre-emptively barred from doing so to any effect. It's left to the naturally very decadent products of a very decadent political system to blunder their way through - people like those in the Trump Administration and their counterparts in Congress, but not just them by any means. We're still waiting to find out if America can manage to work things out despite Americans and everyone else, as it has in the past.
Additionally: What matters most to Republicans, or in politics as in many other matters to the "white working class," may be whether they believe or perceive themselves or their status to be in grave jeopardy. They seem to believe the flood is coming, so it's matter of seizing and fortifying as much of the high ground as possible. If and after the wave hits, they may face an empowered majority that will see little or no or anyway much less reason not to adopt the same or many of the very same tactics to reinforce their power and impose their will, regardless of formerly respected constraints that the "conservative" party, in its desperation, has been willing to undermine.
Mr. McKenzie - there's no timer til the next break for a commercial, so no point at all in selectively quoting a text that's right up there for all three of us to see. When Rubin writes "the precedent of firing an FBI director investigating the White House," and you shorten it to "the precedent of firing an FBI director" in order to frame some bit of ridicule first in her direction, then presumably in the direction of anyone who finds what she has to say of interest, you're not arguing a point worth arguing. You're trolling us or playing to a non-existent gallery.
Ditto when Rubin attaches the word "uniquely" to "dishonest," but you respond as though she had extended the adverb comprehensively to the full list of adjectives. Specifically on the matter of honesty, the assessment she is referencing is quite defensible. All presidents have lied. All people lie. Few presidents or people compare to Trump on the matter of compressing so many prevarications, contradictions, falsehoods, and distortions into such small spaces so constantly and so consistently, and in making flagrantly dishonest arguments central to his political practice, from Birtherism to the latest fumbled cover-up. The only stories he seems able to keep straight for any extended time are the most flagrantly ridiculous: That his inauguration was fantastically well-attended and his inaugural speech highly rated, that millions of illegal immigrants were the only reason he did not win more raw votes than crooked Hillary, etc. Otherwise, given the President's manifest verbal and intellectual disabilities, his difficulty holding or completing a thought at all, or recalling what he himself was saying a few years, months, weeks, days, or minutes ago, or caring, the question is whether he and the Administration he leads are capable of honesty, as the term is commonly understood, except inadvertently.
A framed map depicting the 2016 popular vote distribution, which roughly replicated the current US population distribution by density if you color-coded low density in red, high in blue, was recently spotted being brought into the White House. If we view the character of the US government to be of, by, and for the people rather than of, by, and for the acres, the map points to a distorted view of electoral support for the President in November 2016. Treating counties as equivalent units amounts to an even more extreme distortion, kind of an intellectual gerrymander, since "county" in the U.S. covers the ground, as it were, from Pop. 82 Loving, Texas, to Pop. 10,000,000 Los Angeles, CA. By land mass it covers 53 sq. mi. Kalawao, HI, to my own beloved San Bernardino, 51,590 sq. mi. I'll not pause to review the so-called "county equivalents," and instead end my Google-Wikipedia researches here.
Anyway, I'll readily acknowledge, as often in the past I have been among the first to note, that, if you judge results by attachment of the letter R to numbers of representatives at all levels of government, vs attachment of the letter D, then the R party has done quite well for itself up to the present moment. The exercise in which Jennifer Rubin in her column, and bob and I way down here, have been indulging, is one in which credibility is lent to the Q poll, as in, "if the election were held today" and so on: So: If the Q polls and other polls are to be trusted at all - are as close to the final results as were, say, the much-abused 2016 presidential election polls - if the election were held today, and voting decisions roughly matched polled party preferences according to historical patterns, then... the very same judgment currently declaring the Rs the great historical winners will have to be reversed, just as similar ones were reversed in 2006 - 8, prior to the next reversal, and so on.
There are other ways to assess results. The judgment of history in 1942 might have seemed, to those who have no understanding of the idea of the judgment of history, wholly in favor of the German Reich and Co, or of Napoleonic France in 1812, etc., very etc. In short, the someone or -thing is surely coming, as it comes to all, great empires and nobodies on or off the internet. The question now is whether what the Rs finally leave behind will be a shattered visage of Donald Trump and the inscription "Look on my works, ye Haters and Losers, and despair!"
Or there's a sunk costs syndrome going on as well. They gave in to what became the Tea Party, beginning at latest with the failure of "Compassionate Conservatism," and their only unifying theory, vis-a-vis the federal government and its intrinsically progressive constitution, is negation. They've now put more than 10 years into it, and they have no choice or interest-calculus other than to continue as they have been until someone or -thing compels them to stop.
On "Jeffrey Goldberg: The Obama Doctrine, R.I.P. – The Atlantic"
Not sure where you got the idea that I ever wrote "[President Trump] doesn't know what he's doing!!!!!!" - bob's idea for a possible rallying cry - but I don't see why it matters.
To the extent that various politicians worldwide may have voiced degrees and types of support for the Khan Sheikhoun retaliation strike - e.g., referring to justification for it without ever specifically endorsing it, voicing reservations about its legality while keeping the onus on Assad, suggesting that it would be supportable if part of a larger strategy, suggesting that its status as, apparently, a one-off, meant that problems with it need not be emphasized, etc. - then, indeed, they, too, in multiple senses, may not know what they're doing. They may not know what they're doing because they cannot know what they are doing in present circumstances. They may not know what they're doing in part because international law itself is a bit of a mess on the underlying questions, and because the value of international law seems uncertain to them, and because they are incompetent in other ways, and perhaps not least because what the notional Leader of the Free World intends to do and what he is doing are not really knowable, in other words because the specific problem of President Trump is that, even if he were to decide firmly in his own mind what he is doing and intends to do, and were to articulate one or both clearly, there is nothing in his conduct and record that suggests he would understand himself to be bound by his word, however clearly stated. To me it seems doubtful even that the words "firmly in his own mind," which presume the existence of sound mental faculties, are to be applied to him at all.
Whether or how much the last problem
- the empty head of government and state problem - matters defines the natural experiment that we have set up for ourselves, with ourselves as natural experimental subjects. That in that experiment a kind of policy inertia in line with a kind of strategic inertia or strategic necessity may already be trumping Trump, or trumping Trumpian political and intellectual inconsistency, may be for us a good thing or at least better than certain worse things. There are names for the various schools of political science that predicted something like this. I've never denied such hopes, and I wouldn't deny them.
It does not follow, however, that an openly admitted distaste for Trump and associated alarm at the reality of President Trump must equate with particular "love" and support for whatever "establishments" or for agreement with whatever whichever of their representatives happen to have said whenever. I've long been of the opinion - as I have, I believe, expressed with non-Trumpian consistency - that the Trump presidency represents a system failure, and that a system failure is our failure. Put plainly: I think and have said that I think he's our fault, as I think and have said that Obama's Syria fiasco was also our fault as much as it was Obama's fault in particular, and I also happen to find the degree of moral, political, and also legal confusion at work and shirk in the world today to be downright spectacular. We - from the best and the brightest to just plain folks like you and me - did these embarrassing things, or failed to come up with anything better, together. That's what I think, and I can't see why anyone should think anything else.
No Center at the Center
History, International Relations, Neo-Imperialism, The Exceptionneo-imperialism Political Philosophy Political Theology Rousseau The Exception United Nations
The world's chieftain cannot serve the general interest effectively and reliably unless convinced that serving the general interest also serves "his" self-interest - that the two interests are finally the same or non-severable. When the chieftain falls into a depressive state - of apathy, or aboulia, or neurasthenia; doubting all, negating itself to negate all - the system fails, and the will to stasis is realized, or hypostatized, as crisis.
Prelude to an escape from history
Culture & Entertainment, US HistoryExhaustion of the American Idea as National Idea Hegel's Philosophy of World History
Pessimism about one's own nation is an all-encompassing and all-defining condition, because everything any of us positively can be or seek as individuals is affected where not wholly determined by our membership in a national community - the state broadly defined. When we refer to an "unhappy childhood," it will usually matter a great deal whether we're referring to our own childhood, and the same is true when we refer to the unhappy conditions of our national upbringing or to a "broken" national home. Yet national pessimism is still not the same as absolute pessimism. We can imagine the failure of any nation, including our own nation, as we have seen great national disasters, that would not equate with the failure of history itself. We could even come to equate the failure of a national idea as essential to some higher good: It would not be the first time for us, just the first time that we were referring to ourselves.
A national pessimist suffers a kind of exile from his own future, but he can still visit happier outcomes, on a kind of spiritual visa. Over time, he may even be accepted by the natives, and find a new home. Americans are particularly well-prepared to make this transition, because our national identity, paradoxically, is already built on the cancellation of nationality, on immigration and nothing else. Our new citizenship may not be full and authentic, of the blood and soil, but neither is the one with which we are born. The American idea at inception had before it a vast national phase to undergo, but what defined the American nation was that it was not and never could be a nation like the others: The idea of a new world had to take on a purpose-fabricated national costume for us to assume and sustain a place within the world of nations, but the realization of our idea could never have been contained in a merely national destiny. For the same reason, the victory of our "Greatest Generation," at our national apogee, was the victory over ultra-nationalism, in favor of a new international system implying the supersession of nations, justifiable as an American national project strictly on that basis. All of our history since that time has been governed by the same paradox of nationalized internationalism, but from the other, declining side, as accompanied by the conversion of American energy into mere mass - the accumulation of material wealth alongside the decay of national institutions.
We can therefore look forward to the completion of our creative self-destruction with greater hope, or at least with greater equanimity, than others in our approximate position have been able to muster. What we stand to lose is everything we never really thought was worth having. What we stand to gain is what we always sought.
After East Ghouta 1: Minimum Leader
International Relations, Neo-Imperialism, WarAfter East Ghouta neo-imperialism Obama Syria War
If at this moment the President appears less than he was, he is the image of our own self-diminution reflected back at us: His state is our state.
David Bentley Hart as Atheist (On Creative Principle and Creator Principal)
Lee M.
I think there's plenty of blame to go around here. Gopnik seems stunningly ignorant of the Western theistic tradition, at least based on the quote [...]
For Better or Worse America Is Progress
Oh, our conversations will get less frustrating as you learn the other 90% of what I'm on about. ;-)
In this case, although there was [...]


Photo by RPN photo by Miles Moore Abby Morgan (right), a NHTSA safety standards engineer, sits with Eugene Peterson, tire program manager at the Consumer Reports Auto Test Center.
HILTON HEAD, S.C.—The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration could decide as early as this spring whether to pursue rulemaking on tire aging, a NHTSA official told the audience at the 30th annual Clemson University Tire Industry Conference, held recently at Hilton Head.
A final rule updating federal truck and bus tire safety standards can be expected this year, as can the long-awaited labeling and consumer information portions of the tire fuel efficiency final rule, said Abby Morgan, a NHTSA safety standards engineer.
The Rubber Manufacturers Association regards consumer tire information and standards from the tire fuel efficiency rule as one of its current key issues, along with proper tire repair, tire inflation pressure maintenance and banning unsafe used tires from the road, said Tracey Norberg, RMA senior vice president and general counsel.
NHTSA has run five separate phases of tire aging tests on light vehicle tires since 2002, beginning when agency crash data suggested a trend of higher rates of failure among older tires, Morgan said.
NHTSA experimented with multiple oven temperatures, durations and inflation gas contents before developing an oven aging test procedure it found satisfactory, Morgan said.
"Five weeks in an oven equals four years in a hot environment," she said.
The agency noted endurance test failures after oven aging, Morgan said. However, tires manufactured according to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 139, the revised safety and endurance standard for passenger and light truck tires, perform better after oven aging than pre-139 tires, she said.
Reports on Phases 1, 3, 4 and 5 of tire aging testing can be found at www.regulations.gov in Docket NHTSA-2005-21276. An agency report summarizing tire aging tests and NHTSA's next steps on the issue will be added to that docket this spring, Morgan said.
FMVSS No. 119, the safety standard for truck and bus tires, has been in effect since 1973, according to Morgan. But the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation Act of 2000 mandated an update of all tire safety standards, and FMVSS 139 for passenger tires came out in 2003.
NHTSA published a proposed rule on truck tires in September 2010. Among the key changes proposed in the document were a new high-speed test, an upgraded endurance test and new maximum speed labeling.
The agency conducted additional endurance testing on truck tires in 2011 and 2013, to evaluate the performance of mixed-service tires and assess the appropriateness of a 50-mph drum test speed, Morgan said.
It published a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking in January 2013, and it expects to issue a final rule this year, she said. Meanwhile, Docket NHTSA-2010-0132 contains all the information on this rulemaking, she said.
The partial final rule for tire fuel efficiency grading came down four years ago, but it took time to respond to petitions for reconsideration, conduct necessary consumer research and assign a rolling resistance test laboratory (Smithers Rapra), Morgan said.
It took months to research the variability of rolling resistance, traction and treadwear ratings under the rule, she said. However, a consumer information program proposal has been developed and will be outlined in a supplemental proposed rule, she said.
Full implementation of the consumer information program will be set for six months after its final publication, she said.
Photo by RPN photo by Miles Moore From left, Patrick Keating, senior manager-technical engineering for Yokohama Tire Corp,. sits with Tracey Norberg, RMA senior vice.president and general counsel, at the Clemson Tire Industry Conference.
The final rule on consumer tire ratings and information should be the final piece of the puzzle locking in with standards for tire fuel efficiency and wet traction, according to Norberg.
"We were out in front on an issue we felt would make the industry better," she said. The RMA wrote the tire fuel efficiency provisions that became law in the Energy Independence and Security Act in December 2007.
A 2006 National Academy of Sciences study showed that a 10-percent reduction in rolling resistance translates to a fuel consumption reduction of 1 or 2 percent, according to Norberg. Yet consumers still have no real way of choosing fuel-efficient tires, she said.
Any good tire consumer education program should be based on proper tire maintenance, Norberg said. "You can drive the best tires in the world, but if you're not inflating or aligning them properly, you won't get the best out of those tires," she said.
• The establishment by NHTSA of a rolling resistance reference machine based on Standard 28580 from the International Standards Association.
Minimum rolling resistance standards will eliminate the least fuel-efficient tires from the U.S. passenger tire market, Norberg said. At the same time, wet traction minimum standards should be consistent with draft global technical standards for passenger tires and should be designed to ensure that the rolling resistance standard is not achieved at the expense of wet traction, she said.
Other nations have already adopted, or are in the process of adopting, minimum standards for tire fuel efficiency and wet traction, according to Norberg.
"Catching up to other nations will help ensure that the U.S. does not become a dumping ground for lower-performing tires," she said.
Meanwhile, on the state level, the RMA continues to support legislation that would prohibit unsafe used tires from going back into service, Norberg said.
The RMA's model used tire legislation is based on the association's Tire Information Service Bulletin on used passenger and light truck tires, she said.
The RMA does not advocate a complete ban on used tires, only penalties for putting unsafe used tires on the road, she said.
• They have bulges, irregular treadwear or other signs of internal separation.
The RMA is targeting Florida, Georgia and South Carolina for introduction of used tire legislation, Norberg said.


WARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS,OHIO-The manufacturer, Doosan Infracore Forklifts, has appointed three newauthorized dealers to its North America distribution network.
The lift truck product lineincludes 63 separate models that consists of 82 various engine/batteryconfigurations of internal combustion and electric-powered vehicles incapacities ranging from 3,000 to 33,000 pounds. All trucks are manufactured inan ISO 9001 certified facility.
Associated Supply Co., covering Lubbock, Midland, Abilene and San Angelo,Texas.
Kelly Tractor Co. for Miami, West Palm Beach and Fort Myers, Fla.
Morrison IndustrialEquipment, covering Grand Rapids,Kalamazoo, Greenville, Holland, Mason, Muskegon and Traverse City, Mich. andalso for Elkhart and South Bend, Ind.


text:
Warner on Senate Passage of a Resolution to End U.S. Military Assistance in Saudi-led war in Yemen
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) issued the below statement following the passage of S.J.Res.54, a joint resolution to end U.S. military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen:
"I voted for the resolution to end unauthorized U.S. military involvement in Yemen because I can no longer, in good conscience, support the current approach by the Saudi-led coalition in that conflict. As the years-long conflict drags on, the people of Yemen are suffering one of the most devastating humanitarian crises in the world. Despite stated commitments by the Saudis to improve the targeting of their air strikes, scores of innocent civilians continue to be killed by careless bombings, and deep lasting progress towards a negotiated end to the violence has remained elusive. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remains an important partner in confronting shared threats like al-Qaeda and ISIL and in countering Iran, and we will continue to work on shared security interests, but we should be clear that the United States will not provide unconditional assistance to their operations in Yemen.
"Unfortunately, at a moment in which it is most needed, the Trump Administration has abdicated America's moral leadership. In filling that void and in light of the actions by the Saudis both in Yemen and in Jamal Khashoggi's murder, the Senate must send a message that America's moral voice will not be diminished."
Permalink: https://www.warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2018/12/warner-on-senate-passage-of-a-resolution-to-end-u-s-military-assistance-in-saudi-led-war-in-yemen