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Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), whose car part business received a $4.37 million PPP loan. Gregg Nash/Getty Images
Members of Congress Profited From COVID Bailout While Small Businesses Were Shut Out
This new analysis of how members of Congress benefited from the CARES Act comes as Congress failed to provide as much relief for ordinary workers as many had hoped in the latest round of stimulus.
Published on Dec 24, 2020 12:30PM EST Investments Primary category in which blog post is published
Justin Glawe	@JustinGlawe
Independent journalist and researcher, formerly of the Midwest and Texas, now in the Low Country.
Jeremy Borden	@Jeremy_Borden
Jeremy Borden is an independent researcher and journalist who writes at Untold Story.
Edited by Donald Shaw and David Moore
As members of Congress pat themselves on the back for passing a new coronavirus relief package after a nine-month impasse, Americans can count on less money in the form of stimulus checks and unemployment insurance than they did in the spring, when Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act)—and took advantage of it themselves.
A Sludge analysis of COVID bailout data found that companies at which 28 members of Congress or their spouses hold positions received at least $27 million in loans likely to be forgiven under the CARES Act.
The revelation that so many members of Congress personally benefited from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) authorized by the CARES Act comes as Congress must consider how to address President Trump's Tuesday night demand that all Americans be given $2,000 stimulus checks, after their Monday night bill cut in half unemployment insurance and stimulus checks for Americans compared to an earlier House proposal. President Trump criticized the bill but fell short of saying he'll veto it; Congress appears to have enough votes to override a veto. On Thursday morning, House Republicans blocked Democrats' attempt to increase stimulus check payments from $600 to $2,000.
Sludge found that 18 congressional Republicans and one Libertarian have received $21.7 million for 38 businesses with which they are associated. Nine Democrats received $6.1 million for 11 of their own businesses. An additional roughly $54 million went to nonprofits, think tanks and policy institutes, congressional caucuses, and higher education institutions tied to members of both parties.
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While the majority of Democrats and Republicans voted to pass Monday's COVID relief package, two Democrats and 57 Republicans voted against it. Among the Republicans who voted to not fund a second round of PPP, among other provisions, are 10 who received $15.3 million in PPP loans from the CARES Act.
"The opportunities for corruption and scandal are particularly ripe when the business interests of members of Congress and other government officials go to the trough for public funds from programs they helped design," said Craig Holman of Public Citizen, a non-partisan government watchdog. "Like the larger business that…reaped the greatest rewards from the PPP program, government officials themselves have inside knowledge of how the application process works and who to contact for the public assistance. Even if no deliberate favoritism is involved, the optics of potential self-dealing alone undermines public confidence in these programs."
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) was one of the members who voted nay on Monday night. He also benefited from PPP funding when his family's business received $4.3 million in loans that most likely will not have to be repaid.
Along with many other Republicans, Guthrie had decried stimulus spending aimed at ordinary workers and individuals who do not earn six digit salaries. In July, Guthrie, PPP recipient Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and 33 other GOP representatives wrote to President Trump and implored him to stop extended unemployment benefits from reaching jobless Americans in the spring and summer. Extending the additional $600 in weekly unemployment checks would "only slow our economic recovery," the lawmakers wrote.
It is not illegal or against House and Senate ethics rules for members to hold positions outside their duties in Congress—and many do, while simultaneously crafting legislation that will help those companies, Sludge found in July.
While the loans to lawmakers certainly are helpful for their businesses, some of the biggest financial assistance from the CARES Act likely comes in the form of tax relief for so-called "pass through" business entities, such as LLCs. It is common for members of Congress to be affiliated with or invested in such companies, Sludge's analysis shows. Provisions in the CARES Act allow for such companies to receive an immediate refund on losses from prior years and other lucrative tax deductions that amount to a windfall. The biggest winners will be "the roughly 43,000 taxpayers with $1 million or more in annual income [that] will reap 82 percent of the benefits and get an average tax cut of more than $1.6 million," according to tax expert Steve Rosenthal, writing in Forbes.
Congress could have targeted relief to the small businesses who need it most rather than millionaires and large businesses, Rosenthal argued. Of all the private companies members of Congress are associated with, the majority—205 of 347—are LLCs, according to Sludge's analysis.
Wealthiest Members and Their Loans
Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), net worth $77 million, received a $135,800 loan for his Geniecast, LLC.
Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), net worth $73.9 million and the fourth-richest member of Congress, received $2.8 million in loans for four of his 27 companies.
Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), net worth $60.9 million, received a loan of $1,070,000 for his KTAK Corporation. Hern, who owns 97 percent of the company, estimated its value at between $5 and $25 million last year.
Norman, net worth $43.4 million, received $306,520 for four of his 20 companies.
Mitch McConnell and wife Elaine Chao, with a combined net worth of $34.4 million, are tied to a loan for the Chao-family owned Foremost Maritime Inc. of $417,700.
Roger Williams (R-Texas), net worth $27.7, received $1,430,000 for his JRW Corporation. Last year, he valued the company at more than $50 million.
Greg Pence, net worth $12.6 million, received a loan of $79,441 for his Pence Group, LLC, which he valued on his financial disclosure as worth between $5 and $25 million.
T.J. Cox (D-Calif.), net worth $11.8 million, received $609,825 for two of his 26 businesses.
Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), net worth $10.9 million, is tied to a loan of $1,100,000.00 that went to a law firm where her husband is chairman emeritus, Lowey Dannenberg P.C.
Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), net worth $10.4 million, received $974,100 for four of his car dealerships.
Ralph Abraham (R-La.), net worth $4.8 million, received loans of $38,300 for two of his four companies.
Earl Blumenaeur (D-Ore.), net worth $4.5 million, received $432,734 for his two companies.
Vicki Hartzler (R-Mo.), net worth $3.8 million, is tied to $451,200 for her husband's Heartland Tractor Company, which she valued at between $1 and $5 million and from which he claimed as much as $1 million in income last year.
Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), net worth $3.7 million, received $988,700 for his two family plumbing businesses.
Just as the majority of PPP money went to large companies and not the mom-and-pop small businesses the funds were intended for, Congress' PPP haul went to some of its richest members. Fourteen members who rank in the top 100 wealthiest in Congress, with a combined net worth of $354.7 million, received or are tied to entities that received $11.4 millions in loans. Among them are car dealerships owned by Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), which have been open since March as Florida pursued an aggressive re-opening strategy. The 12th-richest member of Congress, Roger Williams (R-Texas), received more than $1 million for a company he values at more than $50 million and where he is the sole director and president, according to his annual financial disclosure. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) received more than $1 million for the five McDonald's restaurants he owns a 97 percent stake in, even though dine-in service resumed in May. But these wealthy members who received PPP money don't make up the largest loans granted to lawmakers.
Largest Loan Recipients
Carol Miller (R-W.V.) is the legal secretary of four of five of her husband's car dealerships, which received loans totaling $3.1 million.
Two wineries and two farms tied to Devin Nunes (R-CA) received a total $2.95 million in bailout money.
Buchanan's car dealership loans topping $2.8 million.
Businesses owned by T.J. Cox received more than $600,000 in PPP and EIDL loans.
A hospitality company owned by Ed Case (D-HI) received $1.9 million thanks to the CARES Act. Two economic development organizations with which he is associated received a combined $670,030.
Markwayne Mullin's $988,700 in loans.
Mike Kelly's $974,100 in loans for his car dealerships. (Unlike his auto dealer colleagues in West Virginia and Florida, Pennsylvania did not deem the businesses essential and only allowed car sales online.)
Ralph Norman's hospitality and real estate companies took in a combined $306,520 in loans.
Eight Republicans and two Democrats comprise the ten highest loan amounts tied to or received by individual members. Atop the list is Carol Miller (R-W.V.), the legal secretary for her husband's car dealerships, which received more than $3.1 million in loans despite the fact that auto dealers were deemed essential businesses by Gov. Jim Justice in March. Two wineries and two farms tied to Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) received a total $2.95 million in bailout money.
The biggest single loan to a member's private company went to Trace Die Cast Inc., a family-run auto parts manufacturing operation based in Bowling Spring where Guthrie is a board member.
"Americans should never have to wonder how their elected officials are influenced by their personal businesses," said Jordan Libowitz of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). "Unfortunately, we now have to question that as a default."
Hundreds of members of Congress hold positions at private companies, which they're allowed to do under federal law and House and Senate ethics rules. (Members are barred from holding positions at publicly-traded companies.) Those positions are listed on their annual financial disclosures, which provide insight into their finances and business interests. Sludge combed all 535 members of Congress' most recent annual disclosures and compiled positions held at private companies and nonprofits. Once those positions were identified, Sludge entered the entities into a database created by Accountable.US, a nonpartisan watchdog group that compiled PPP and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) data obtained from the Small Business Administration. Sludge used that data to find previously unreported loans, combining it with reports about wealthy members bailing out their or their spouse's companies with COVID relief funds.
The result is the first publicly-searchable database of COVID bailout money for members of Congress. Sludge is making this one-of-a-kind database available to the public to promote transparency about the loans, which have been scrutinized from the beginning as mostly benefiting wealthy Americans.
Guthrie counts among those Americans. Worth an estimated $7.6 million, the Kentucky Republican cracks the top 40 richest members of Congress and maintains a position at Trace Die Cast. Listing himself as a board member of the company on his financial disclosure, Guthrie notes that the position is "uncompensated" as many members of Congress do for their own positions with private companies — House and Senate ethics rules prevent them from being paid for positions held outside their duties as lawmakers. Still, his ownership stake is worth between $500,001 and $1 million, according to his financial disclosure, and he has an additional up to $5 million invested in the company through a family trust.
Trace Die Cast in Bowling Green got more than $4 million in PPP support. Rep. Guthrie is a board member and has millions invested in the company.
The PPP loans have been credited for injecting billions of dollars into the economy quickly but criticized for a scattershot approach that has benefited mostly wealthy, well-connected companies. No one has suggested that members of Congress are breaking the law by taking advantage of the Small Business Administration loans, but it also isn't known whether entities tied to members of Congress received special treatment, as many large and well-connected businesses apparently did.
At least five Republicans were the recipients of campaign contributions from individuals and PACs affiliated with the financial institutions that approved their companies' PPP loans. Guthrie has received $3,000 since 2008 from Gary Broady, director of Franklin Bank. Guthrie's car part business' $4.37 million PPP loan was approved by Franklin Bank. Kevin Hern has received $5,400 in contributions since 2017 from Frank X Henke, president & CEO at American Bank & Trust Co, which approved a $1.07 million loan to Hern's KTAK Corporation, a S corporation in the food and beverage industry. Vicky Hartzler has received $1,500 from Hawthorn Bank CEO and President David Turner. Hawthorn Bank approved Hartzler Farm's $26,900 PPP loan. Finally, Vern Buchanan has taken in $5,000 from the PAC of BMO Harris Bank since 2007. BMO Harris Bank approved $2.23 million in PPP funds for Buchanan's Sarasota 500 LLC and $384,000 for his Nissan of Elizabeth City car dealership.
Rep. Vern Buchanan's Nissan dealership got $384,000 in PPP loans.
Ten Republicans who received loans for their private companies voted against the TRUTH Act, which would have required loan recipients to be publicly identified by the SBA—Ralph Norman, Brett Guthrie, Vicki Hartzler, Kevin Hern, Rick Allen, Greg Pence, Devin Nunes, Markwayne Mullin, Roger Williams, and Mike Kelly. An 11th Republican recipient of COVID bailout money, Vern Buchanan, did not vote.
"It's no surprise that there are members of Congress who benefited from PPP loans and would not want their constituents to know about it," CREW's Libowitz said.
The number of loans and members who benefited speaks to the private entanglements and financial conflicts of interest that have long dogged Congress. While Congress was able to secure loans for their own companies and nonprofits, Black- and minority-owned businesses have struggled to get access to the money.
The discovery of the substantial loans obtained by members of Congress comes as lawmakers passed only the second package with direct relief for many Americans since the pandemic began. Included in that package is an additional $284 billion in PPP funding but significantly reduced stimulus checks and unemployment benefits compared to the first round of COVID relief. Additionally, some members, including Guthrie and Norman, have been pushing for Congress to make a surplus of $130 billion in PPP money that was left behind from the spring bailout round available to businesses for a second loan application.
Guthrie and Norman were also among 37 Republicans who wrote to President Trump in July, urging him to halt extended unemployment benefits for millions of out-of-work Americans. The extra $600 that unemployed Americans received each week under the CARES Act caused some workers to earn more money from unemployment than when they had been employed, a common complaint among Republican politicians about the bill's extended unemployment benefits.
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"Small businesses are facing unprecedented challenges caused by COVID-19 and the resulting lockdowns enacted by state and local governments," the authors of the letter, including Guthrie and Norman, wrote. "There could not be a worse time for the federal government to create disincentives for returning to work."
Norman voted for the CARES Act but against this month's COVID relief bill. Norman's communications director, Austin Livingston, responded to Sludge in an email: "Surely it cannot be lost on you that a Member of Congress could be very much in favor of targeted, specific COVID relief to help those who desperately need it, while opposed to recklessly spending hundreds of billions of dollars elsewhere when our nation is over $27 trillion in the hole."
Sludge provided links that show Norman's three affiliated companies received more than $300,000 in PPP loans, according to Accountable.US and the congressman's financial disclosures. Asked why providing loans to companies associated with a member of Congress whose net worth is more than $43 million qualified as "targeted, specific COVID relief," Livingston did not respond.
Office plaza in Myrtle Beach where Ralph Norman's LLCs FM Hotel and GBC Rock Hill are located. FM Hotel got $120,800 in PPP loans, while GBC Rock Hill got $164,900.
PPP loans are mostly forgivable and likely won't ever have to be paid back. That's because the loan forgiveness rules only required businesses to use 75 percent of the money for payroll costs and do not require them to prove that they lost income. Monday night's relief package requires second-time loan recipients to prove they lost up to 25 percent business to have their loans forgiven.
Whether Guthrie's and Norman's companies even needed the loans—or whether any of the nonprofits or companies tied to members of both parties needed them, for that matter—is one of the vexing and unanswered questions plaguing the Paycheck Protection Program. Many small, struggling businesses were left out in the cold for a variety of technical or access reasons, and closed for good. Many others received much-needed loans that saved them or helped them retain their workers.
Scores of Democrats and some Republicans are also tied to some $54 million in PPP and EIDL loans to nonprofits, think tanks and policy institutes, higher education institutions and congressional caucus organizations.
One of the Democrats associated with the largest amount of loans among members of his party is Bennie Thompson, of Mississippi. The longest-serving Black representative of the state, Thompson is a board member and trustee, respectively, of the Housing Assistance Council, a nonprofit that helps with housing in rural communities, and Tougaloo College, a Black liberal arts college in his home state. Combined, the two entities received $2,874,000 in PPP and EIDL loans.
This article has been updated to add that Nita Lowey's husband is chairman emeritus at Lowey Dannenberg P.C.
This report and database were produced with support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Disclosure: Both authors of this story received PPP loans.
Read more from Sludge:
EXPOSED: Reps Pass Bills That Benefit Their Own Private Companies
The Members of Congress Who Profit From War
As Markets Crashed, DeVos Sold Shares in Secretive Cayman Island Fund
Members of Congress Own Up to $93 Million in Fossil Fuel Stocks
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Companies Pause PACs While Fighting Democracy Reforms
Many of the companies that grabbed headlines by suspending their PAC donations after the assault on the Capitol Building are members of industry groups that oppose ethics and campaign finance reforms.
Published on Jan 18, 2021 7:34PM EST
North Carolina Primary category in which blog post is published
Revealing Money and Power Networks in North Carolina Campaigns
Jeremy Borden
Kathy Qian
Michael Taffe
A spatial analysis of campaign finance data reveals a 2020 statehouse landscape awash in cash as Democrats tried new efforts to win seats ahead of redistricting.
Published on Jan 15, 2021 10:00AM EST
DNC Primary category in which blog post is published
Biden to Pick Former Corporate Lobbyist Jaime Harrison for DNC Chair
During the Obama administration, Harrison lobbied for some of the Hill's top spenders, including Big Banks, Big Oil, and a coalition of coal companies that fought climate regulations.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Order N95 Masks
Order Hand Sanitizer
US pharmacists can now test for coronavirus. They could do more if government allowed it
Apr 13, 2020 covid19
It wasn't until April 8 that the federal government authorized U.S. pharmacies to begin testing for COVID-19. Alex Edelman/AFP/Getty Images
As Italy's death toll from the novel coronavirus climbed to one of the highest in the world, its doctors made a plea to other countries: Manage the pandemic in the community, not in hospitals and emergency rooms.
When people with COVID-19 show up at hospitals, they can spread the virus to other patients and health care workers. Italian authorities believe that the instinct to go to the emergency room first, even when the symptoms aren't severe, contributed to the country's current disaster.
Like Italy's, the United States' health system is hospital-centered. As a result, pandemics can quickly overwhelm the hospital system, limiting its capacity to deal with other urgent medical conditions.
But an alternative exists that could help manage the pandemic among the majority of COVID-19 patients with mild or moderate symptoms. It is the 67,000 community pharmacies in the U.S., whose numbers dwarf the 5,500 hospitals and 1,400 community health centers. They are staffed by 175,000 pharmacists frequently referred to as the most overtrained and underutilized health care professionals in America.
As a clinical pharmacist and a professor of pharmacy at the University of Southern California, I've seen firsthand how much health care pharmacists can deliver and what they could bring to the fight against the coronavirus.
Pharmacies becoming coronavirus test sites
Many pharmacies already offered testing for streptococcal and influenza infections, but it wasn't until April 8 that U.S. pharmacies were authorized to order and administer COVID-19 tests.
Pharmacists are now positioned to broadly perform testing that will provide vital data as public health professionals strategize how best to slow the virus's spread. Testing is an established tactic for significantly reducing the size of an infectious disease outbreak. Widespread testing for the coronavirus in countries including China, South Korea, Singapore and Germany and the subsequent isolation of infected patients appear to be common factors in containing the spread and limiting deaths from the disease.
But offering testing is just one step. Pharmacists have the knowledge to do more on the front lines of a pandemic. They are trained side by side with physicians and nurses, and many complete postgraduate residencies and fellowships.
Projects show pharmacists' potential impact
In a number of programs across the county, pharmacists have shown that they can dramatically improve control of medical conditions, avoid the need for hospital admissions and reduce health care costs.
When pharmacists in Los Angeles teamed up with barbershops to manage high blood pressure for black patients, nearly 90% of the patients reached their blood pressure target, compared to only one-third of patients who received traditional medical care.
A barbershop near Los Angeles teamed up with pharmacists to monitor customers' blood pressure. AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
In Kern County, California, another program had pharmacists contact 1,100 fragile Medicaid patients shortly after they were released from hospitals to ensure they were taking their medications correctly. The patients' hospital readmissions rate dropped by 32%, saving an average of US$2,139 per patient.
A University of Southern California study demonstrated that patients whose diabetes medications were managed by a pharmacist were three times more likely to reach their blood sugar targets.
First point of contact for COVID-19?
In the case of COVID-19, pharmacists could be a first point of contact for people who suspect they have been infected but aren't seriously ill.
With the proper precautions, pharmacists can offer drive-up testing and evaluation services that allow patients to remain in their cars, and they can provide selective home visits for those who are quarantined or self-isolated. Pharmacists can also refer patients for further medical care when needed.
Why wasn't all this already happening on a wide scale? Why did it require the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, brought on by the current pandemic?
The reason is pharmacists are not recognized by the federal government as health care providers. As a result, they do not have access to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement codes for providing medical services beyond filling prescriptions. This means they cannot be paid by the government or insurance companies for patient care services that they have the training to provide. Without the recent authorization from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, pharmacists would not have been able to perform COVID-19 testing.
Pharmacists are trained to ensure that over 10,000 prescription drugs are used properly. Advanced services, such as comprehensive medication management, provide an individualized evaluation, and pharmacists providing CMM can adjust medications in partnership with physicians and follow up with patients until treatment goals are reached. With strong links between common diseases, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma, and complications from COVID-19, these services are more important then ever.
COVID-19 has created new and unprecedented challenges for our health care system. With more than 90% of the U.S. population within 5 miles of a pharmacy, pharmacists are well-situated to step in to help beat this national crisis.
[Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter.]
This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.
Steven W. Chen receives or has received funding from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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The Civil Defense Forces (CDF) was a paramilitary organization that fought in the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002). It supported the elected government of Ahmed Tejan Kabbah against the rebel groups Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). Much of the CDF was made up of the Kamajors group, which is part of the larger Mende ethnic group. The Kamajors believed in many magical ways of defending themselves, such as rituals to create bulletproof skin.

Three leaders of the CDF were indicted at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, more specifically Samuel Hinga Norman (head of the CDF), Moinina Fofana (second in command) and Allieu Kondewa (military commander of the CDF).

History
The term Civil Defense Forces was first coined in between 1997 and 1998 by expatriate Sierra Leoneans in Monrovia. The title encompassed "disparate militias previously referred to by ethnically coded titles". The CDF included soldiers from the militia groups the , the , the  and , and the . The goal of the overarching title was to create a sense of unity and prerogative between the independent militias.

The largest group involved with the CDF was the , or . Traditionally, the title  is used to refer to the Mende belief in "specialized hunters empowered to use both firearms and occult 'medicines' in pursuit of big game" and against all other forces that threatened Mende villages. In Mende culture, the identity of the kamajors is synonymous with protection, and represented a similar meaning when community defense militias mobilized in reaction to the Sierra Leonean government's failure to defeat the rebel forces of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

The militia groups became increasingly consolidated as civilians came to distrust the military, which they saw as being as dangerous as the rebel groups. They soon fell under the influence and direction of academic Dr Alpha Lavalie and the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) Secretary of State East, Lieutenant Tom Nyuma. The CDF increased its prominence and influence following the election of the Sierra Leone People's Party into office in 1996, which was largely composed of Mende members. Sam Hinga Norman, the Regent Chief of Jiama-Bongor chiefdom, became a key figure in the  movement and was appointed as the SLPP's Deputy Minister of Defense. The CDF was widely viewed as the de facto security force for the SLPP, and would come into direct conflict with the military after the military's ousting of the SLPP government in May 1997. In coordination with the Nigerian-based Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), the CDF was able to reinstate the SLPP to power in March 1998, and would be officially constituted until the civil war was officially declared over in January 2002.

Atrocities
The CDF committed a vast number of atrocities and human rights abuses during the Sierra Leonean civil war.  During the war, while fighting alongside the Nigerian ECOMOG troops, the CDF was either complicit or directly responsible for many of the events brought before the Special Court for Sierra Leone.  In the offensive of January 1999 the CDF was accused of committing upwards of 180 executions of captured RUF members without validating their guilt. Furthermore, around the towns of Bradford and Moyamba, members of the Kamajors posed as rebels and launched multiple attacks on the civilian population that included robbery and indiscriminate murder.  There have also been countless accounts of CDF abuses on children as well as the indoctrination and forced subordination of child soldiers.

Indictments
In 2003 the Special Court for Sierra Leone was set up in cooperation with the United Nations to bring those responsible for the greatest crimes in the country's civil war to be prosecuted. Among the 13 convictions that were handed out were three prominent CDF members. The three men indicted were Allie Kondewa, Moinina Fofana and Samuel Hinga Norman.  Each of these men had been decided upon as the central leaders of the CDF and the most responsible for the crimes after a thorough investigation by the Court, which took the testimonies of thousands of victims.  The trial began in July 2004 and concluded in September 2006.  Before sentences could be handed out Samuel Hinga Norman died of natural causes during surgery in Dakar, Senegal.  Fofana and Kondewa were found guilty of the charges of murder, pillage and the use of child soldiers and were sentenced to six and eight years respectively.  In 2008 the appeal court changed the sentencing and gave Fofna fifteen years and Kondewa twenty years to be served out in Rwandan prison.

References

Notes

Sources

Description of Kamajors and CDF
 Action by Churches Together description of CDF and Kamajors

Paramilitary organisations based in Sierra Leone
Special Court for Sierra Leone
Rebel groups in Sierra Leone
1991 establishments in Sierra Leone

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Helitech programme features industry expert speakers and the exhibition brings together buyers from around the world with international exhibitors including 4 major OEMs and a full representation of the rotorcraft supply chain.
Visit Helitech Booth G15 to meet with Diagnostic Solutions International, LLC. for Honeywell HUMS, Test (Vibration/ Rotor Track & Balance), Sky Connect SATCOM (FDM), ASPIRE (In-Flight Connectivity), and Avionics, & Sentry CV/FDR Products. Our diverse line of products, coupled with our experienced and strategically placed staff, provides a single point of entry for all of our customers' needs, to include hardware, software, customer support, engineering and field support, system design and implementation, training, condition based maintenance (CBM), and data management and analysis services.
Helitech is the event to attend and we look forward to seeing you there!


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using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

[assembly: AssemblyTitle("Python Tools for Visual Studio project wizards")]
[assembly: AssemblyDescription("Provides various wizards for use in project templates.")]

// Do not modify this version number - it is a major breaking change.
// Additive changes to the assembly are okay, but removals or modifications
// will require a new project and assembly.
[assembly: AssemblyVersion("2.1.0.0")]

[assembly: ComVisible(false)]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


professional photographer(?) and photographic colourist, was born in Macclesfield, South Australia on 1 August 1848, twin eldest of the four children of the Adelaide lawyer Dr Ulrich Hübbe from Kiel, Germany, and Martha, née Gray from Glasgow, widow of a Swiss officer, Colonel Fuessli. In the mid-1860s Mary, as she was known, was working in Townsend Duryea 's Adelaide studio, presumably as a colourist, while John Hood was a camera operator. They married in 1869 and had at least four sons, several of whom also became photographers. Mary Hood died on 27 January 1881 and was buried in Brighton Cemetery (SA).


text:
Ereignisse
 Im Vertrag von Misenum regeln Octavian und Sextus Pompeius die Vorherrschaft im westlichen Mittelmeer.

Geboren
 Antonia die Ältere, römische Adlige
 Iulia, römische Adlige, Tochter des Augustus († 14 n. Chr.)
 um 39 v. Chr.: Claudia Marcella die Jüngere, römische Adlige

Gestorben
 Quintus Labienus, römischer Feldherr

Weblinks


text:
Save this link to find 2020 match reports and some old retro ones. Check out this one from June 2006
Thistle Giantkillers!
Cults CC 101 all out
Stonehaven Thistle CC 104 for 5.
History was made at Mineralwell on Saturday when Stonehaven Thistle 1st XI finally beat Cults Cricket Club (consistently the best club in the Aberdeenshire Grades) after 18 years of trying.
The historic milestone was begun when Cults made a slow start to their innings and Clive Hinchcliffe took a sharp caught and bowled off Patel. Young Chris Van de Ruit then bowled Graeme Gillanders for 1. After a bowling change spinners Andy Wilson and Brian Campbell tried their luck but Brian Alexander and Arun played sensibly taking the score to 69 for 2 off 25 overs and the years of frustration looked set to continue.
Then at the point where Cults would normally accelerate the scoring Alexander called a sharp single to a stroke played to fine leg. Symon Jacobsen fielding at square leg pounced on it and hurled the ball in. Alexander sent back by the non-striker was flailing in his attempt to regain his ground when Matt Jenkins whipped off the bails.
Suddenly it was a different game, and with Arun caught at Long on by Drew Hinchcliffe, Thistle began to believe in themselves, no doubt helped by their victory 2 weeks earlier against Kintore. Cults then collapsed to 101 all out in the space of 12 overs; the spinners doing most of the damage: "Mushtaq" Wilson 4 for 26, and "Murali" Campbell 2 for 32. Clive Hinchcliffe capped a brilliant bowling performance by dismissing Masood with the first ball of the 37th over and ended with 2 for 13.
The demons of the past loomed over Thistle as the teams took tea, but Thistle began their innings with a feeling that perhaps it was a day that the past could be put to rest. Drew Hinchcliffe began in his customary attacking style but soon fell for 6. At number three Dave Long attempted to push back the attacking field with some flashing strokes but when "Zorro" departed after three balls for 4, inform man Jonno Van de Ruit arrived choosing his attacking shots more carefully. Eight overs later and after 4 boundaries including a huge 6, "Baseball" Jonno edged one high in the air trying to knock one into the river. His quick 25 had clawed Stonehaven to 46 for 3, but there was still a long way to go.
Plainly the intent was there to put one over the Aberdeen side, as was epitomized by the dogged determined innings of Captain Grewar who refused to be phased by all that Cults threw at him and was backed up by incoming man Matt Jenkins who played a more circumspect innings than usual. The pair knew that with a total of 52 overs available to Thistle, the run rate required was only 2 an over. Never before had the odds been so stacked against the Cults side, but Thistle knew they had failed in the past when certain victory was in sight, and Cults were determined to make them scrap for every run. With the total on 68 Jenkins began to find the boundary and with 4 fours and a 6 was to finish on 31 not out.
With 2 runs for victory Grewar finally fell for 21 trying to hit the winning runs. "Baz" Milne was then run out without facing a ball and in the end the winning runs came off a no ball that went for 4 runs. Thistle used 44.1 overs. It didn't matter; the goal had finally been reached. The celebrations were not like the euphoric scenes two weeks earlier at Kintore, more of a satisfaction of a job well done after so many years of trying.
With no other matches played in Grade 1 at the weekend due to weather, this was essentially 30 free points for Thistle who jumped from 9th to 7th in the league but perhaps more significantly for Cults it dropped them off the top spot to 4th place by virtue of the percentage rules.
The match was sponsored by the Station Hotel; the next port of call.
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Looking specifically at the figures for Runcorn, at the last count in WA7 there were 27,997 properties. Since 1995, 18,142 properties in WA7 have changed hands and have been sold. Looking further at those 18,142 transactions in WA7 since 1995, using data from Land Registry and solicitors practice My-Home-Move, 16.68% have been leasehold (higher than the national average of 15%).


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