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Getting It Wrong on Terrorism
By Tom Carter
Michael Hayden is a retired U.S. Air Force general and former Director of both the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency. He has a column today in The Washington Post that anyone who cares about the war on terror should read. Hayden begins with the specific case of the Christmas Day bomber:
In the war on terrorism, this country faces an enemy whose theory of warfare ends the hard-won distinction in modern thought between combatant and noncombatant. In doing that for which we have created government — ensuring life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — how can we be adequately aggressive to ensure the first value, without unduly threatening the other two? This is hard. And people don't have to be lazy or stupid to get it wrong.
Hayden says that "We got it wrong in Detroit on Christmas Day." He continues:
We allowed an enemy combatant the protections of our Constitution before we had adequately interrogated him. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is not "an isolated extremist." He is the tip of the spear of a complex al-Qaeda plot to kill Americans in our homeland.
The remainder of the column discusses the details of the Abdulmutallab case and then takes apart Administration policies on handling captured terrorists, CIA interrogation, irresponsible treatment of sensitive information, and retribution against CIA personnel for doing their jobs.
There are few people as knowledgeable as General Hayden and virtually none who will speak out with candor and honesty. His column is a must-read.
Tags: CIA, Hayden, interrogation, Miranda, NSA, terrorists, trials
Categories: News, Politics | Comments (13) | Home
13 Responses to "Getting It Wrong on Terrorism"
Lisa | January 31st, 2010 at 6:03 pm
General Hayden's article is a great one. He accurately and very authoritatively describes the irresponsible, flawed and lackadaisical approach of the current administration's approach to terrorism. The Obama administration's priority of the interrogation of CIA personnel for their alleged 2004 abuses outlined in the IG report taking precedence over the interrogation of al-Qaeda gives us all a very clear and frightening picture of the administration incompetency or worse its alliance.
Bob Nelson | February 1st, 2010 at 9:06 am
I've been lurking here for a while, getting the temperature of the place. I hope you don't mind a bit of input from a bleeding-heart, card-carrying Socialist (well… once upon a time…)
"We allowed an enemy combatant the protections of our Constitution before we had adequately interrogated him," says Mr Hayden. Please read that sentence. And then read it again.
It is pure nonsense.
If legal protections do not apply from the first instant, then they do not apply at all. If someone must decide whether or not Constitutional rights are to be applied… then those right DO NOT apply.
Would you give me the power to decide whether or not you have a right to a trial? If I decide that you do not have that right, then you go to jail indefinitely. For what crime? … … No matter.
You… go… to… jail… forever!
Tom | February 1st, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Bob, all opinions are welcome. And in fact, I agree with what you've written. Where we differ is that I don't think we should treat alien unprivileged enemy belligerents (the current awkward term created in the Military Commissions Act of 2009) as though they were entitled to constitutional protections enjoyed by American citizens and legal residents. They should be treated as enemy belligerents from the moment of capture and tried before military commissions, as provided for in law.
What makes no sense at all is to treat some as common criminals and some as enemy belligerents. It gets really weird when the poster boy for enemy belligerents, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, gets sent to federal court and treated like a U.S. citizen.
The military commissions also provide greater rights and protections than captured terrorists receive in almost all other countries. That system can work well, if the Obama Administration will use it.
Bob Nelson | February 2nd, 2010 at 6:40 am
I have a problem with "as though they were entitled to constitutional protections enjoyed by American citizens and legal residents. "
The Constitution applies to "persons" and to "people". Quite pointedly, it does not often invoke the word "citizen". If a person is under US authority, the Constitution applies. And thank God for that! Otherwise, we would all be susceptible to not be accorded our rights. After all… if we haven't proved that we're citizens, then we would not have citizens' rights… and without citizens' rights we would be unable to prove that we are citizens! Catch-22… with habeas corpus out the window!
I personally find absurd the contortions of the previous administration, trying to avoid the application of the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions. What abysmal lack of confidence in the rule of law. What an abysmal lack of confidence in American institutions!
The Conventions are very open in their definition of a POW. If the previous administration had had the slightest foresight, and had installed a triage system, designating swept-up captives as either "innocent bystanders" (to be sent home), or as POWs, then we would never have given our enemies the immense propaganda advantage that is Guantanamo… while holding our prisoners indefinitely! — remember that a POW may be held until the end of hostilities… until al Qaeda surrenders… until hell freezes over!.
Khalid Sheik Mohammed is not being treated like a US citizen. He is being treated like any person accused of a crime, within the American criminal justice system. Any person!
America is proving to the world that American justice is for all, not reserved for a select few.
There is every reason to imagine that the criminal justice system will return a guilty verdict and a death sentence.
Tom | February 2nd, 2010 at 11:55 am
Bob, I think you're talking about what you wish were true. The fact is, under several court rulings, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (as amended by the Act of 2009), and the Geneva Conventions, any alien terrorist can be treated as an unprivileged enemy belligerent. That means he is tried by a military commission. That's completely legal and constitutional.
The strange behavior of the Administration is that they're treating some of them, like KSM et al., as common criminals, and they're treating others as alien unprivileged enemy belligerents. That's totally incoherent. While the decision on how to classify and try these terrorists is within the President's authority, he needs to get his act together, start behaving consistently in this regard, and listen to what the majority of the people want.
You say there's "every reason to imagine" (imagine?) that KSM will be found guilty and sentenced to death. Really? What do you base that on? We all know he's guilty, he's said it over and over, he's asked for the death penalty so he can become a martyr…. However, that doesn't mean he'll be found guilty and appropriately sentenced. You can bet the slick, publicity-hungry lawyers in the $2,000 suits are just itching to get their paws on these cases. If there's any possibility, any loophole they can use to get an acquittal or a plea-bargained reduced sentence, they'll do it. And if that happens, my friend, President Obama and a whole lot of Democrats better start packing their bags because they're headed home for good.
Bob Nelson | February 4th, 2010 at 5:43 am
I don't say that "unprivileged enemy belligerent" is illegal. I say that it is stupid. The condemnation rate in Federal courts is 100%. I say again: 100%. Two thousand dollar suits notwithstanding: 100%. With over three hundred convictions. Federal prosecutors know their business!
POWs may be detained, conform to the Geneva Conventions, until the end of hostilities! As al Qaeda does not look to be surrendering any time soon, that is equivalent to "eternal detention".
So why, for God's sake, must we go embarrass ourselves before the civilized world, with stupidity like "unprivileged enemy belligerent"??
I agree that there must be a consistent, logical process for deciding how to pursue a terrorist. It seems a simple question to me: a prisoner taken on the battlefield should go through military procedures; a prisoner taken in a civilian context should be treated as a common criminal.
Brianna | February 4th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
> Well, if they're going to get convicted either way, then what difference does it make?
> That's al Qaeda's problem, not the US's. We are allowed to detain these people in accordance with the internationally accepted laws of war. The fact that their side doesn't want to quit is not a good reason to deviate from those rules. Quite the opposite, in fact, as it would probably just provide them with yet another disincentive to surrender.
> They are unprivileged enemy belligerents. That's what we call people who dress up in civilian clothes, waltz into a country under false pretexts, and then attempt to kill civilians and other non-combatants. That is a dictionary definition, not a piece of stupidity or legal wrangling.
> Just because unprivileged enemy belligerents deliberately attack in civilian settings does not mean that they are not foot soldiers in a war. We should not let the fact that these people deliberately let themselves be taken in non-combat settings, in all likelihood in a deliberate attempt to dredge up reactions similar to your own amongst the enemy populace, allow us to change how we view them or deal with them.
Brianna,
>> It is called "The Rule of Law". The justice system is not applied ad hoc.
> That's al Qaeda's problem, not the US's. We are allowed to detain these people in accordance with the internationally accepted laws of war.
>> No. "Unprivileged enemy belligerent" is an American term, not an international one. It was invented by the Bush administration in a totally useless attempt to circumvent the Geneva Conventions. Use of this category puts the US outside international law, for no good reason!
>>So… this is a US problem. We could be holding these people indefinitely and legally. Instead, for no advantage whatsoever, we are holding indefinitely and illegally.
> They are unprivileged enemy belligerents. That's what we call people who dress up in civilian clothes, waltz into a country under false pretexts, and then attempt to kill civilians and other non-combatants.
>> No. They are "Prisoners Of War". The category is very clearly — and very openly — defined in the Conventions.
>> Simply labeling them "POW" would carry huge advantages, not the least of which would be to make it clear to them, to the world, and to potential al Qaeda recruits that they will be freed only when al Qaeda lays down its arms.
> Just because unprivileged enemy belligerents deliberately attack in civilian settings does not mean that they are not foot soldiers in a war.
>> Exactly! And captured "foot soldiers in a war" become "Prisoners of War"…
Brianna | February 5th, 2010 at 8:49 am
"The National Defense Authorization Act, passed yesterday by the House of Representatives, includes a largely overlooked provision that modifies the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which allows the government to try certain terror suspects — now called "unprivileged enemy belligerents" instead of the Bush-era term, "unlawful enemy combatants…"
http://www.firejohnyoo.org/2009/10/unprivileged-enemy-belligerent.html
So we see that "unprivileged enemy belligerent" and "unlawful enemy combatant" are the same thing
"The phrase "unlawful combatant" does not appear in the Third Geneva Convention (GCIII).[1] However, Article 4 of GCIII does describe categories under which a person may be entitled to POW status; and there are other international treaties that deny lawful combatant status for mercenaries and children. In the United States, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 codified the legal definition of this term and invested the U.S. President with broad discretion to determine whether a person may be designated an unlawful enemy combatant under United States law. The assumption that such a category as unlawful combatant exists is not contradicted by the findings of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Celebici Judgment. The judgment quoted the 1958 ICRC commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention: Every person in enemy hands must be either a prisoner of war and, as such, be covered by the Third Convention; or a civilian covered by the Fourth Convention. Furthermore, "There is no intermediate status; nobody in enemy hands can be outside the law,"[4] because in the opinion of the ICRC, "If civilians directly engage in hostilities, they are considered 'unlawful' or 'unprivileged' combatants or belligerents (the treaties of humanitarian law do not expressly contain these terms). They may be prosecuted under the domestic law of the detaining state for such action".[1][5]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlawful_combatant
And we see that such a category, althougb not specifically outlined by the geneva conventions, is considered to be valid under international law.
POWs are soliders in uniform who attack military targets. Terrorists, whether we call them "unlawful enemy combatants" or "unprivileged enemy belligerents" do not fall into this category, and treating them as though they do is foolish, as well as undeserved on their part.
P.S. "Unlawful enemy combatant" was defined by the Bush administration. The term "Unprivileged enemy belligerent" was actually made up by the Obama administration. Get your facts straight.
Additionally, your jibes about the rule of law are misleading. The question here is not whether they will be tried or simply taken out back and shot. The question is whether it is more appropriate to try them in a civilian court or a military one. I say that considering the crimes under discussion, the fact that they are not citizens, and the fact that al Qaeda left a smoking hole in the middle of Manhattan, that they should not be entitled to all the treatment we would grant honorable soldiers and that they belong in a military court. You're free to argue civilian court and honorable POW status, but not free to say that we are arguing against the rule of law and that you are arguing for it.
Tom | February 5th, 2010 at 9:17 am
Exactly right, Brianna. You beat me to the punch on this one — I've got nothing to add.
Bob Nelson | February 7th, 2010 at 12:25 am
"…there are other international treaties that deny lawful combatant status for mercenaries and children."
I don't know these treaties. Could you cite them please? Do they mean that there are yet other categories, besides POW or unlawful combatant?
Please keep in mind that the US is a signatory of the Geneva Conventions. We, as a nation, pledged to obey those Conventions. If we do not respect those Conventions, our solemn oath… is empty.
My "Rule of Law" remark was not meant to be snarky. It is simple: A civilian arrested in a civilian context is tried in a civilian court. There is no legal reason for that person to be tried in a military tribunal.
I do not understand "honorable POW status". A prisoner is a POW or they are something else. "Honor" is not involved. Captured Waffen SS were POWs.
Finally… and fundamentally… why don't you want these prisoners to be categorized "POW"? That label is entirely advantageous for us. The prisoner may be held indefinitely — until the enemy agrees to peace terms. Since al Qaeda is not ever going to do that… We can hold a POW eternally, and legally. So I do not understand why anyone would want to place these prisoners in any other category. Why?
Bob, as one who spent his life under the rules of the Geneva Conventions and who has studied them extensively, I can tell you for certain that there's enough wiggle room to define things in lots of different ways. Whatever your preferred position, you can usually find a way to support it. But one thing is clear: captured terrorists are not required to be treated as POWs. They can be treated as "unprivileged combatants" and tried by military commissions, military tribuanals, or regular criminal courts. The Bush Administration did not act in violation of the GC, and even the very few cases of "torture" (like waterboarding) that folks have made so much hay with are mild compared to what other nations have done and still do.
Beyond the GC, which we are not in violation of, the Military Commissions Act of 2006/2009 established appropriate and legal methods of dealing with captured terrorists. The issue at hand is not the Geneva Conventions or the U.S. Constitution, and it never really has been. The issue is the policies of the Bush and Obama Administrations. Bush is the past; Obama is the present. It's time for the Obama Administration to start treating all captured terrorists as the unprivileged enemy combatants they are instead of picking and choosing a few to treat as common criminals. It couldn't be more simple, really.
As absurd as this sounds, the Obama Administration must start treating the defense of our country as more important than the rights of captured terrorists, however defined. It's crystal clear that this can be done legally and constitutionally; all the President has to do is get his priorities straight. If he's listening to the people at all, he should know that this is vital to his political survival.


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Two young Spaniards travel to Ukraine to fight alongside pro-Russian militia
Two young Spaniards have travelled to the east of Ukraine to join the pro-Russian militia known as the Vostok Batallion. Rafael Muñoz Pérez, 27, and Ángel, 22, reportedly form part of one of the most violent and feared groups, which the Kiev government blames for some of the worst atrocities of the conflict so far.
Pérez is a former social worker from Madrid, now based in Gijón (Asturias), where he has been a member of the youth wing of the United Left group since 2010. Ángel, meanwhile, is from Murcia, and belongs to the youth wing of a branch of the Spanish Communist Party.
There is no evidence as of yet that they have taken part in any operations
The pair traveled to Ukraine from Madrid in July, with barely "€500 in their pockets and no return ticket," according to newspaper La Nueva España, which first broke the story.
After a five-day stay in Kiev, from where they could observe the violence on the streets, they traveled to Crimea, where they joined the rebel forces in the east of the country.
They have since posted a number of videos on websites such as Facebook and YouTube, in which they appear carrying rifles and other weapons in Donetsk, one of the bastions of the resistance. There is, however, no evidence as of yet that they have taken part in any operations.
In Gijón, local residents were surprised to hear the news of their former neighbor Rafa
Judging by the photos and comments uploaded to the internet, the pair want to show their pride at joining a fight that they view as similar to the Spanish Civil War. "I've spent months following the conflict in Ukraine, both on TV and on the internet," Rafa told France 24 via an interview on Facebook. "This has allowed me to see the reality of what is happening here, as well as the manipulation and misinformation from the majority of the media in the West. Given that I don't currently have a lot of responsibilities I decided to sell my car so that I could travel out here and help the people in the southeast of the country as much as I can."
In Gijón, local residents were surprised to hear the news of their former neighbor Rafa. "He told me about it at the last minute," explained his friend Manuel. "He didn't want people to find out. He went to help the people in Ukraine and the truth is that it caught me on the back foot. He connects with me from time to time on Facebook and the truth is that the situation is very different from what they found when they arrived," he continues, adding that he is concerned about the situation, given that the family of the young man has health problems.
We need you to spread the truth, so that the world stops looking the other way"
EL PAÍS was unable to contact either of the young men via phone or the social networks.
"We need you to spread the truth, so that the world stops looking the other way, as was the case in our country in 1936," Muñoz stated in an interview, in which he described himself as a Republican. "I am sure I will be back soon to carry on the fight for Justice and Liberty. Many others did the same for the freedom of my country in '36, because the whole world was looking the other way back then, and that is something I have always criticized, given that it meant 40 years of Francoist dictatorship with HUGE oppression."
elpais.com, 08.08.14
spaniards, ukraine, vostok, terrorist
Eight Spaniards arrested after returning from combat in Ukraine
The Russian Cossacks arrive in Madrid
Spain catches up with Russian capitals
European Union may temporarily stop issuing visas to Russians

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Using Embedded Sounds and LiveAudio
In Netscape 2.0, you could only play sounds by sending them to a helper application. Using the LiveConnect feature of Netscape 3.0 and the LiveAudio plug-in (included with Netscape 3.0) you can use sounds from JavaScript in a more transparent way. See the example for a quick look at this technique, explained fully in the rest of this article.
NOTE: This example will work only in Netscape 3.0 (beta 6 or later), and only if you have the LiveAudio plug-in installed. You'll also need a computer with sound capability (such as a PC with sound card) to try the example.
Using the <EMBED> Tag
To use a sound in your web page with LiveAudio, use the <EMBED> tag to embed the sound. LiveAudio works with the common sound formats (.wav, .au, .aif). The <EMBED> tag for a sound can include the following attributes:
SRC is the URL of the sound file.
NAME is a name to be used for the sound file's sound object.
AUTOSTART can be either TRUE or FALSE; if true, the sound starts playing when the page finishes loading.
LOOP is a Boolean value that indicates whether the sound repeats after it finishes playing. You can also specify an integer value to loop a certain number of times.
STARTTIME and ENDTIME are the indexes within the sound file where playback will start and stop; these are in minutes and seconds; for example, 0:30 is 30 seconds from the start of the sound.
VOLUME is the relative volume of the sound, ranging from 0 to 100.
CONTROLS specifies the type of control, if any, displayed for the sound. The values include CONSOLE, a complete console, SMALLCONSOLE, a smaller version, and individual buttons: PLAYBUTTON, PAUSEBUTTON, STOPBUTTON, and VOLUMELEVER.
HIDDEN can be set to TRUE to display no control at all. This is useful if you will be controlling the sound via JavaScript.
MASTERSOUND must be used to specify that the sound file is a real sound file; LiveAudio allows "stub" files that refer to other files to be used instead.
NOTE: The MASTERSOUND attribute must be included for a sound to be controlled with JavaScript.
The Sound Object
When you embed a sound in your document with the <EMBED> tag, it is made available as a sound object, a child of the document object. The sound object's name is what you specified in the NAME attribute. The sound object has a variety of methods you can use from JavaScript:
play() starts playing the sound. You can specify a loop value, similar to the LOOP attribute values, followed by an optional URL for the sound if the original URL is not used.
stop() stops the sound if it is currently playing.
pause() pauses the sound at the current position. You can use the play() method, or the pause() method again, to continue the playback.
start_time() and end_time() allow you to override the start and end times. Specify the value in seconds.
start_at_beginning() and stop_at_end() reset the start and stop times to the begging and end of the sound file.
setvol() sets the sound's volume, from 0 to 100 percent.
fade_to() sets the volume, but fades from the current value.
fade_from_to() allows you to specify two values, and fades from one to the other.
In addition, you can use the following methods, which return a value:
IsReady() returns TRUE if the sound is loaded and ready to play.
IsPlaying() returns TRUE if the sound is currently playing.
IsPaused() returns TRUE if the sound is currently paused.
GetVolume() returns the current volume.
Example: Using Embedded Sounds
As an example of embedded sounds with the LiveAudio plug-in, I've written a quick script which plays a sound repeatedly and allows you to control it, using JavaScript event handlers. Follow this link to see this example in action or view its source.
michael moncur ... [email protected]


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Sun Chemical receives 'UK Excellence Award Jury Commendation' from the British Quality Foundation
Comment Print
Wexham Springs, UK (News release) - Sun Chemical has received a Jury Commendation for the UK Excellence Award for "Managing with Agility" from the British Quality Foundation, after it received a five star EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) rating. Sun Chemical received the Commendation at the British Quality Foundation Awards dinner on Thursday 16th May at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London, after being shortlisted for a UK Excellence Award and Excellence in Collaboration Award.
The UK Excellence Award and Jury Commendation involves a robust assessment undertaken by an experienced team of trained assessors using the EFQM Excellence Model. The assessment judges various aspects of a business ranging from strategy and leadership to processes and business results. Sun Chemical first undertook the assessment in 2014, receiving a four star rating. The company was then reassessed in November 2018, resulting in a five star rating and it being shortlisted for the UK Excellence Award. Sun Chemical received the Jury Commendation for excelling in "Managing with Agility", for which it was specifically recognised for entering new markets.
Sun Chemical was also shortlisted as a finalist for the Excellence in Collaboration Award, in recognition of a project it ran in partnership with its packaging customer, Saica Flex, a division of Saica Group, at its Buxton site. As part of Sun Chemical's previous contract with Saica Flex, it adapted a partnership approach and, after carrying out an assessment at the Buxton site, implemented a project to insource more of their products and improve the capacity and speeds of various production lines. Thanks to this project, Saica improved its processes in a more efficient way. It also, helped Sun Chemical to increase its sales.
Greg Hayes,Group Managing Director Northern Europe, Sun Chemical, comments: "Utilising our business improvement skills in partnership with our customers has added tremendous value to customer relationships. The recognition of this by the British Quality Foundation in being shortlisted through such a rigorous process with other great companies is a great honour and a tremendous credit to the teams involved."


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Home / Blogs / California shelter bill pulled amid controversy
California shelter bill pulled amid controversy
Today, we received word from Assemblyman Mike Gatto's office that Assembly Bill 2343, has been pulled by Mr. Gatto, the bill's sponsor.
The bill's language had been the source of controversy within the animal welfare community – specifically the language around hold times for unidentified cats, and a provision in the original bill that would have allowed "for profit" entities to pull animals from California shelters.
We, along with others, had been working with Assemblyman Gatto's office to try to see amendments made to the bill that would allow Best Friends to support it, but that is not to be. Overall, we're disappointed to know that we will not see an update to the Hayden Act this year that could include more progressive language concerning community cats and a solution to the routine suspension of the extended hold times called for in Hayden that have been found to constitute an unfunded mandate.
Best Friends remains committed to being a part of the conversation on how we can improve on existing California law in a way that incentivizes lifesaving in California's municipal shelters.
In the meantime, we'll continue our work, including the thousands of lives saved in California through our Best Friends – Los Angeles program and the NKLA initiative.


Throughout the year, KAIA offers a number of opportunities for agents and agency staff to complete Errors & Omissions (E&O) training. The course - E&O Risk Management: Meeting the Challenge of Change - can help members reduce their E&O exposure based on real-life examples from other agencies, including some of the most recent E&O cases that have occurred right here in Kansas. The course is taught by experienced instructors who have worked in the insurance and/or legal profession.
This course qualifies agencies for the 10% loss control credit through Swiss Re Corporate Solutions.
We offer online E&O classes through our partnership with ABEN. Click here to find an online course.
email Barb, to learn more about hosting an E&O class at your office.


"The Lakehouse" is another Golden Eagle Log & Timber Homes project home, like the Double Eagle and the Country's Best Showcase homes. This home has been featured in a number of magazines and websites.
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Published on StoptheDrugWar.org (https://stopthedrugwar.org)
UN Drug Watchdog "Concerned" with Marijuana Legalization Votes
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by psmith [6], November 16, 2012, 02:31pm, (Issue #760 [7])
Colorado Amendment 64 [8]
Marijuana -- Personal Use [9]
Marijuana Industry [10]
Marijuana Legalization [11]
News Brief [12]
United Nations [13]
Washington Initiative 502 [14]
The International Narcotics Control Board predictably has "grave concerns" about the marijuana legalization victories in the US and urges the US government to ensure that it stays in compliance with international anti-drug treaties.
The president of the International Narcotics Control Board [15] (INCB) last Thursday voiced "grave concern" about the votes legalizing marijuana in the US states of Colorado and Washington, as well as in the Michigan cities of Detroit and Flint. INCB head Raymond Yans also warned that allowing for the legal, non-medical sale of marijuana would violate the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
INCB President Raymond Yans (incb.org)
The INCB is a quasi-judicial body charged with monitoring compliance with the Single Convention and associated treaties. It hectors governments that step outside its interpretation of what the treaties allow, although in practical terms, its ability to enforce its will is mainly rhetorical. INCB criticism of Australia and Canada over the establishment of safe injection sites, for example, has not moved those governments to end the practice, nor has its criticism of Bolivia over allowing coca cultivation resulted in a shift of policy in Bolivia.
Yans was inspired to speak out by the victories of Amendment 64 in Colorado and Initiative 502 in Washington state, both of which envisage legal, state-regulated commercial marijuana cultivation and distribution regimes and both of which will result in the possession of small amounts by adults being legal by early next year. The INCB also alluded to the votes in the Michigan cities of Detroit and Flint to legalize the possession of up to an ounce by adults on private property.
"These developments are in violation of the international drug control treaties, and pose a great threat to public health and the well-being of society far beyond those states," Yans said in a statement [16]. "Legalization of cannabis within these states would send wrong and confusing signals to youth and society in general, giving the false impression that drug abuse might be considered normal and even, most disturbingly, safe. Such a development could result in the expansion of drug abuse, especially among young people, and we must remember that all young people have a right to be protected from drug abuse and drug dependency."
This isn't your father's marijuana, Yans warned.
"Since the adoption of this Convention, very potent new forms of cannabis have appeared on the illicit market, and technological advances have been used to increase the content of the most 'active ingredient,' so to speak, in cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The cannabis on the illicit market today is much more dangerous than that seen in the 60s and 70s," Yans said.
Yans also noted that "for the international drug control system to function effectively, to achieve its aim of ensuring availability of drugs for medical purposes while preventing their abuse, the conventions must be universally adhered to and implemented by all states." He called on the US government "to take the necessary measures to ensure full compliance with the international drug control treaties within the entire territory of the United States, in order to protect the health and well-being of its citizens."
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IHQ, Know Your Army
How does The Salvation Army High Council work?
Chief of the Staff Commissioner Brian Peddle formally summoned 111 qualifying officers in mid-April to form the next High Council, meeting in London starting May 17 to elect the 21st General of The Salvation Army.
The High Council comprises all active Salvation Army commissioners, those officers who hold the appointment of Territorial Commander, and those who hold the appointment of Territorial President of Women's Ministries.
Sixty-one of the 2018 High Council members will be first-time participants, and women will outnumber men by 59 to 52. As in 2013, the High Council will meet at the Renaissance Hotel in West London.
The High Council is convened by the Chief of the Staff, who will lead until a President and Vice President are elected from among its members to oversee the prayerful and holy tasks leading to nominations and elections. Any active Salvation Army officer from the 128 countries in which the Army operates is eligible to be elected as General.
The man or woman chosen in this process will take office Aug. 3, following the retirement of General André Cox who has led the Army since Aug. 3, 2013.
Take the quiz here to test your knowledge.
High Council, know your army, May 2018, resources, Vol 36 No 05
Commissioning, Know Your Army
Two years at CFOT—from calling to cadet to commissioned officer
Del Oro, Know Your Army
A week in the life of a Salvation Army emergency disaster services officer
Know Your Army
Gender Equity and The Salvation Army
How much do you know about holiness?


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Kajal Aggarwal's 'Uma' Poster Gives A Glimpse Of Her Character In The Film
The story of the film is a family drama, set in an aristocratic household with a wedding backdrop where the entire family assembles.
Kajal Aggarwal's 'Uma' Poster Gives A Glimpse Of The Characters From The Film(Pic Credit: Instagram/kajalaggarwalofficial)
The poster of the upcoming film 'Uma' starring Kajal Aggarwal released on Tuesday, gives a glimpse of the characters from the film.
Talking about the poster, director Tathagat Singha said, "The post-production of the film is on. The poster has the look and feel of the film. It's a slice of life, feel-good family entertainer and we are really happy with the way the film is shaping up."
The film 'Uma' also features Tinnu Anand, Harsh Chhaya, Meghana Malik, Gaurav Sharma, Shriswara, Ayoshi Talukdar and Kiaan Sharma, was shot in Kolkata in a start to finish schedule.
Sarkaru Vaari Paata: Mahesh Babu's Wife Namrata Shirodkar & Keerthy Suresh Are Having Fun On The Sets & Here's A Proof Of The Same
Pushpa: Saami Saami Song Ft. Allu Arjun & Rashmika Mandanna Fails To Live Up To The Hype
The story of the film is a family drama, set in an aristocratic household with a wedding backdrop where the entire family assembles. The drama unfolds through the multifaceted characters in the house with the arrival of a stranger Uma.
Previously, Kajal Aggarwal spoke about the film. She said, "I've had a fabulous experience working on 'Uma'. My director and all the artists and technicians were wonderful. There are certain characters that just stay with you and 'Uma' is going to leave me with a massive, beautiful hangover! This is one film which is all heart, I'm very excited about and will always cherish."
Produced by Avishek Ghosh and Mantraraj Paliwal, the makers are yet to announce the release date of the film.
What do you think about Kajal Aggarwal's new film?
Must Read: Adipurush: Prabhas Finally Calls It A Day For Om Raut's Lavishly Mounted Mythological Drama
Aggarwal
Ayoshi Talukdar
Harsh Chhaya
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Shriswara
Tathagat Singha
Tinnu Anand
When Kajal Aggarwal Denied Going 'Topless' For A Magazine Cover & Accused Them Of 'Morphing The Image' For 'Publicity'
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Panthers WR Stephen Hill carted off field with right leg injury
In this June 4, 2015, photo Carolina Panthers' Stephen Hill runs after a catch during an NFL football organized team activity in Charlotte, N.C. Hill has been cited for knowingly possessing drug paraphernalia with intent to use. Concord Police Department records indicate Hill was cited Tuesday near Charlotte Motor Speedway for possessing two grinders with marijuana residue and a marijuana bowl used to process, prepare and store. Panthers players are scheduled to arrive for training camp on Thursday. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Panthers wide receiver Stephen Hill was carted off the field Saturday with a right leg injury.
Hill attempted to make a catch across the middle during an afternoon practice in intense heat, but came down wrong on his leg and fell to the ground screaming in pain.
Trainers taped Hill's knee before helping him on to a cart. Hill left the field with his head in his hands and a towel draped over his head.
Panthers assistant coach Steve Wilks said after practice he had no immediate word on the extent of the injury and didn't want to speculate.
''I saw Hill go up in the air and come down on his knee and possibly twist it a little bit, but I don't want to say anything until I have a chance to meet with (the trainers),'' said Wilks, who was filling for coach Ron Rivera.
The former New York Jets' second-round pick was battling for a roster spot in Carolina. He spent last season on the Panthers' practice squad.
It's been a rough week for Hill.
He was cited Tuesday by police in Concord, North Carolina for knowingly possessing drug paraphernalia with intent to use. Coach Ron Rivera said the arrest wouldn't affect Hill's chances of making the team.
Rivera is in Reno, Nevada attending his brother's funeral.
Wilks has run practice before for the Panthers and said it was business as usual.
''The biggest thing is we have is a great group of guys, great leadership within that locker room,'' Wilks said. ''There are guys understand the philosophy and the culture that we have created in that locker room. It was great today.''


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Reportedly, South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare has signed a non-binding agreement with subsidiary firms of U.S. company Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) for a licensing deal to package, market and sell the J&J's COVID-19 vaccine in Africa.
Currently, Aspen packages J&J's COVID-19 vaccine at its South African plant under contract, so it does not have any distribution or pricing power over the product.
Dow 30 component Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is a worldwide healthcare-focused company that embraces research and science so that it can provide customers with innovative ideas, products, and services. To learn more about Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and to continue to track its progress visit the Vista Partners Johnson & Johnson Coverage Page.
If you liked this story please consider, visiting the Atossa Therapeutics (ATOS) dedicated page at Vista Partners to learn about the Seattle-based biotech firm's work towards finding therapeutic treatments for Breast Cancer and the Coronavirus.
(Read Original Story: S.Africa's Aspen signs non-binding agreement with J&J for COVID vaccine license in Reuters)


WOW! Beautifully updated home. Kitchen and bath are fabulous. New carpet in living room. Looks like HGTV inside! Private, fenced rear yard with deck and patio. Versatile sunroom. Attached garage. Really nice rec room with fireplace and great built-ins. New front door, breaker box 2015, new shed, furnace 2010. Home warranty. Contingent upon sellers finding suitable housing.


Starting a cannabis company in Arizona? We've put together a state-specific guide covering everything from fees and local rules to what you should include in an Arizona cannabis business plan. Jump to a section by clicking below, or go straight to our sample cannabis business plan.
Are cannabis business plans required in Arizona?
Since proposition 203 passed in 2010, Arizona adults can possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis if they have a written recommendation from a doctor. More than 162,000 patients have registered in Arizona. People can grow marijuana plants at home for medicinal use, but only if the closest dispensary is more than 25 miles away. Not-for-profit cannabis dispensaries are allowed, but as of 2018, all available 130 business licenses for cannabis dispensaries had already been granted (so there aren't any available). The allowed number of dispensaries is tied to the number of existing pharmacies in Arizona, and it is reviewed every year. Medical marijuana sales are estimated to be as high as $475 million in 2018.
Arizona only issues licenses for not-for-profit medical marijuana dispensaries, which have to grown their own cannabis. A dispensary is a retail storefront where anyone 21 and over can purchase marijuana with a valid doctor's recommendation. In Arizona, dispensaries must follow strict protocols for security, cultivation, location (at least 500 feet from a school), hours (open at least 30 hours a week), inventory control, recordkeeping, and more.
Standalone grow operations (marijuana cultivation), standalone infused product manufacturing, and cannabis delivery are all illegal in Arizona. Unlike other states (such as Alaska), cannabis testing isn't required in Arizona, but that may change in the near future.
If you don't want to grow and sell cannabis in Arizona, you have other options that don't require a cannabis business license. You can create an app, payment processing service, advertising and branding agency, ad network, consulting firm, pest management product, automated plant watering system, security service, or anything else you can think of.
Local governments may forbid cannabis companies or certain locations, so check city and county regulations--you have to get local approval before you can launch a marijuana business. As part of your application, you must submit documentation from a local authority that your dispensary's location complies with zoning rules.
Application fee: It costs $5,000 to register a cannabis business in Arizona. If denied, you will get $1,000 refunded. Renewing your registration costs $1,000.
Fingerprinting and background check: Medical dispensary owners and employees must be fingerprinted, as well as undergoing a criminal record check.
Registry ID card: It costs $500 for a "dispensary agent" (employee, board member, volunteer, etc.) to get a registry identification card, which is required.
Food license: If you want to sell or prepare cannabis-infused edibles, first you have to have written authorization as well as a Food Establishment License.
Medical director: Arizona requires dispensaries to hire a physician to serve as their medical director. The medical director has to train employees, be reachable at all times the dispensary is open, and provide oversight for the dispensary's educational materials.
Do you need a cannabis business plan in Arizona?
Yes, Arizona requires a cannabis business plan for dispensaries (see page 23 here). It must include, among other things, the expenses you've already incurred, investment or other assets you've received, projected expenses before your dispensary opens, projected expenses after it opens, and projected revenue. A business plan for an Arizona dispensary will also help if you plan to raise money from investors.
Product/service description: What's unique about your dispensary? Be as specific as you can. Which strains of flower and which products will you sell?
Market research: How many people live within five miles? If you're creating an app, who will be the user base, and why would they use your app instead of someone else's? Use concrete numbers verified by a third party whenever possible (instead of estimates).
Management team: Summarize your qualifications and those of others on your management team, such as your medical director. Obviously include cannabis industry experience, but don't worry if you don't have any. Highlight leadership skills, customer service, and business development experience in other industries.
Financials: This part can be tricky. You need a five-year financial forecast, including projected annual revenue, operating expenses, costs, and net profit. Each year's projected revenue should include not only revenue but also your margin and direct costs. You can forecast revenue by estimating how much product you think you'll sell (based on market potential), your retail price, your production cost, and how much you'll spend on payroll, rent, and other expenses. Your cash flow statement will show that you'll have enough cash to stay operational. You might want to include a sensitivity analysis (best- and worst-case scenarios), which shows 15% higher and 15% lower revenue than your initial forecast. It's important to do a sensitivity analysis based on future potentialities of the wholesale price per pound. You can also include a break-even analysis, showing which month you will be profitable.
Arizona-specific requirements: Include any details that Arizona requires about your security system, product tracking, secure product transport, waste plan, and other aspects of your business.
Google your city or municipality name and "cannabis regulations" or "marijuana laws" -- here's Phoenix, for example. If your city or municipality's website doesn't have information about cannabis, contact your city clerk, city manager, or town hall.


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SC collegium: Judicial oligarchy crumbles
by Sandhya Jain on 06 Sep 2016 20 Comments
Justice Jasti Chelameswar has struck a powerful blow against the poisonous legacy of the Supreme Court in the Second Judges Case, 1993, which usurped the Executive's power to appoint judges and replaced it with an opaque system of selection by dominant judges. By breaking the omerta code on this sham, Justice Chelameswar has shattered the ethical fig-leaf beneath which a brotherhood of judges functioned without accountability even within the closed circle that supposedly took decisions by 'consensus'.
By refusing to attend meetings of the Supreme Court 'collegium', a word that does not exist in the constitution, Justice Chelameswar has punctured the legitimacy of the system and put his brother judges in a bind. By not recusing himself from the collegium – which could replace him with a more amenable judge – he has forced it to make itself accountable, first to all collegium members, and then to the judicial community, including the Bar Association. This revolutionary step disrupts a status quo contrived during an era of weakening central authority.
Such misappropriation of power was unthinkable during the reign of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi, who ruled with absolute majorities. Now, after a hiatus of over two decades, the Centre is once again ruled by a party with its own majority in Parliament (in coalition by choice); hence, it would be appropriate to restore the constitutional position. This is not to say that weak coalition regimes should have their authority eroded by judicial overreach.
According to media reports, Justice Chelameswar has written a three-page letter to Chief Justice of India, T.S. Thakur, asserting that there is no point in attending collegium meetings if its deliberations are kept under wraps. Though the National Judicial Accountability Judgment (October 2015) emphasised transparency et al, the collegium continued with its old policy of keeping its deliberations, as also communications with the Centre on the Memorandum of Procedure, a secret.
The system reportedly functions by the two top judges deciding the names of candidates to be elevated – no reasons or opinions are recorded - and asking the collegium to approve the same. Genuine objections against undesirable candidates are shot down. Hence, Justice Chelameswar has taken the stand that he would examine files referred to him, regarding judicial candidates, and record his views in writing. This will automatically force the collegium members to record their own views before passing on the files to him.
Justice Chelameswar was the sole dissenter at the time of the NJAC judgement, delivered by a five-Judge Constitution bench. Terming as unfortunate the quashing of the NJAC Act, passed unanimously by Parliament, he urged the judiciary to introspect if the collegium system has become "a euphemism for nepotism" where "mediocrity or even less" is promoted and a "constitutional disorder" does not look distant. He disagreed that judicial primacy in appointments of judges is a basic structure of the Constitution: "To wholly eliminate the Executive from the process of selection would be inconsistent with the foundational premise that government in a democracy is by chosen representatives of the people." Not only does this have no parallel in any other democracy, it erodes the basic feature of checks and balances.
In December 2015, Justice Chelameswar joined the Court judgment on the Collegium as it proposed measures such as transparency, secretariat, eligibility criteria, and a mechanism for redressal of complaints for Government to follow while finalising the new Memorandum of Appointment. However, he soon became disenchanted with the collegium's functioning. His current action has brought it to a grinding halt.
In his dissenting judgment on NJAC, Justice Chelameswar had criticised the collegium system for being "absolutely opaque and inaccessible both to public and history, barring occasional leaks." Protesting its lack of accountability, he said, "The records are absolutely beyond the reach of any person including the judges of this Court who are not lucky enough to become the Chief Justice of India. Such a state of affairs does not either enhance the credibility of the institution or does good for the people of this country." Disagreeing with the notion of judicial primacy, he felt that total exclusion of Government from the appointment process was "wholly illogical and inconsistent with the foundations of the theory of democracy and a doctrinal heresy."
Within the legal fraternity, the collegium system is considered opaque and clannish. Justice Ruma Pal has reportedly stated on record that "Consensus within the collegium is sometimes resolved through a trade-off resulting in dubious appointments with disastrous consequences for the litigants and the credibility of the judicial system." Institutional independence has been compromised by growing sycophancy and 'lobbying'. None of this bodes well for the reputation of the judiciary whose growing tendency to overreach itself is leading to loss of credibility among the citizenry.
By demanding transparency in collegium proceedings, Justice Chelameswar has raised questions over the integrity of the present system. In previous appointments upheld by the Government of India, there have been hints that a preferred line of succession was being prepared for the next ten years, or more. If true, this deserves to be disrupted. Certainly, judicial vacancies are a serious problem. But if the apex Court is truly perturbed about the state of justice delivery, it must retreat from the brinkmanship practiced by the Chief Justice of India, who openly chastised the Prime Minister for not mentioning judicial vacancies in his Independence Day speech.
It bears stating that in the struggle to wrest some power from the Supreme Court, the Government erred in suggesting that a committee of former judges and eminent jurists be set up to prepare a shortlist of candidates for the collegium to consider. The Supreme Court rejected this on grounds that Government would insert its nominees into the selection process. But the danger is that this could turn into another cozy club where covert activists push favourites to the bench. Surrendering the power to make judicial appointments is abdication of a constitutional responsibility; we need restoration of the pre-1993 status quo.
Media reports hint that the Centre is reluctant to clear the suggested appointments as those being recommended are related to judges or politicians. Since Justice Chelameswar has revolted against the system by which such selections were made, the panel of 250 nominees must be scrapped immediately. A fresh selection must be made with Government exercising its supremacy.
EOM


Nov 13th - We're donating all the Crawfish Monica© you can eat at this year's STAIR Affair 2014 event.
Your appetite and support can help improve the reading skills and self-esteem of public elementary school students in the greater N.O. area.


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The Daisy Wheel™
TEAM GET IN TOUCH
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2022 | NEW YORK, NEW YORK | REGISTRATION REQUIRED
On Sunday, November 6th, Team Get In Touch will join 50,000+ other runners through 5 boroughs for the 51st Anniversary of the TCS New York City Marathon! We are so excited to be an official Charity Partner for 2022 with 5 guaranteed entries for the greatest marathon on earth.
Team Get In Touch members have a commitment of $3,500 which will help us educate more people globally on the importance of and how to do breast self-exams through our free Daisy Wheel Program for schools.
Interested in running the 2022 TCS New York City Marathon with us this year for The Get In Touch Foundation? Applications are now open!
WITH YOUR $3,500 FUNDRAISING COMMITMENT, YOU WILL RECEIVE:
Guaranteed entry to the 2022 TCS New York City Marathon
Official Team Get In Touch gear
One-on-one fundraising support and personalized HAKU page
Get In Touch pink water bottles to use for fundraising efforts
Get In Touch Cheer Zone on the racecourse!
Please note that the completion of this application does not guarantee your selection as a Team Get In Touch Charity Runner for the 2022 TCS New York City Marathon. Runners will be notified of their selection by the end of April.
Fundraising Commitment
Team Get In Touch runners commit to fundraising a minimum of $3,500 due in full by 11:59 p.m. EST on November 5, 2022. If the fundraising pledge is not met, the remaining balance is charged to the card on file on November 6th, 2022. In addition to the fundraising pledge, Team Get In Touch runners are responsible for the $295 sign-up fee. For those who have guaranteed entry and want to join Team Get In Touch for our perks, the commitment level is $1,000.
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text:
Biografia
Insieme a ʿAbd al-Karīm Qāsim, il generale al-Rubāʿī - che era entrato nell'Accademia Militare di Baghdad trent'anni prima della sua promozione a generale del 1957 - fu uno dei leader che portarono a segno il colpo di Stato che, il 14 luglio 1958, rovesciò la monarchia hascemita del giovane re Faysal II d'Iraq.

Mentre Qāsim (conosciuto in Occidente come Kassem) divenne Primo Ministro, gestendo sostanzialmente il potere, al-Rubāʿī fu eletto Capo della giovane Repubblica Irachena, col titolo d'ispirazione nasseriana, di Consiglio del Comando della Rivoluzione. Il Consiglio del Comando della Rivoluzione intendeva rappresentare le tre maggiori comunità etnico-religiose del Paese e al-Rubāʿī rappresentava in esso la comunità sunnita.

Nel 1963, quando Qāsim fu trucidato dal colpo di Stato guidato dal suo amico ed alleato Abd al-Salam Arif, al-Rubāʿī si ritirò dalla vita politica.

Morì 2 anni più tardi, nel 1965.

Onorificenze

Note

Presidenti dell'Iraq

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


I could tell you that you make me feel on top of the world and that life has never been better, yet even so my friend, I would tell you but a fraction of what my thoughts are, convey to your discerning ears a mere shudder of the quake that trembles within me. The spring colours sing softly to my thoughts; the dainty kiss of the departing winter, the gentle thud of spring landing.
You have received me well, as you always do and we have wined, dined, defined and redefined as indeed we always do. I find you in pleasant health, bursting at the seams with energy and sophistication. Yet your sultry and cynical nature doth manifest themselves every now and again, but not for long enough for me to forget the love we share. As grass green and gentle to the scorching southern sun, I need you by day and I love you by night, I dance in the heat of our romance and shudder in your absence.
I am home again amongst the shadows that lay claim to me. They embrace me with plush sincerity, content to see me in their own special way as indeed I am to see them. Invariably, my heart is heavy and aloof, for Paris grand and gorgeous I miss you so. Till the next time we meet mon cherie, a teary adieu to you I bid.
Merci beaucoup Paris, I am yours forever.


text:
Gérard Aygoui (* 5. Oktober 1936 in Montpellier; † 12. März 2021 ebenda) war ein französischer Fußballspieler.

Karriere
Gérard Aygoui begann seine Karriere beim HSC Montpellier, ehe er 1957 zu Olympique Marseille wechselte. In der Ligue 1 absolvierte er für Olympique Marseille 21 Spiele und schoss dabei 2 Tore. In der Ligue 2 konnte er in 52 Spielen für den Klub 21 Tore schießen. In der Saison 1963/64 war er an Olympique Nîmes ausgeliehen.

Am 1. Mai 1960 schoss Aygoui beim 1:0-Sieg im Olympia-Qualifikationsspiel gegen die Schweiz das Siegtor. Wenige Monate später wurde er für das Aufgebot der Olympischen Sommerspiele 1960 in Rom nominiert. Jedoch kam er dort nicht zum Einsatz.

Weblinks

Fußballspieler (HSC Montpellier)
Fußballspieler (Olympique Marseille)
Fußballspieler (Olympique Nîmes)
Olympiateilnehmer (Frankreich)
Teilnehmer der Olympischen Sommerspiele 1960
Franzose
Geboren 1936
Gestorben 2021
Mann


Sense-Feel- Understand-Try - mathetik Webseite!
If you sense and feel, that several things are going to pieces and you do not understand what is happening, then the tools of MathEthics are helpful for understanding the activities of social systems.
There is nearly always a didactic control concept behind that.
To learn to understand the most fundamental characteristics of a didactical and mathEthical control.
The learning path leads over personal reference points to the dimensions of CybernEthics and back to the concrete reality of life.
The first understanding of MathEthical control leads to concrete application areas of work and into social systems.
The internal relations are 100,000 times more real, meaningful and effective than the external perceptions.


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Installation view of Shade: Clyfford Still/Mark Bradford at the Clyfford Still Museum. Photo by Justin Wambold
Shade: Clyfford Still/Mark Bradford
Apr 9–Jul 16, 2017
#MarkBradfordShade
Contemporary works and abstract expressionist masterpieces converge in Shade, a collaborative presentation by the Denver Art Museum (DAM) and Clyfford Still Museum (CSM). In this two-venue exhibition, paintings by renowned contemporary American artist Mark Bradford—who will represent the United States at the 2017 Venice Biennale—will be on view at the DAM, while a presentation of Still's work selected in collaboration with Bradford will be on view here at CSM. Shade is complemented by a host of special events and programs.
Read the latest New York Times coverage of Mark Bradford: "Black is not ever a neutral color, especially in the hands of a black painter…To go that deep into black is a very heavy and loaded action."
Mark Bradford, Realness, 2016. Mixed media on canvas; 108.25 x 168.5 in. Denver Art Museum Collection: Purchased with funds from anonymous donors; funds from Vicki and Kent Logan by exchange; Baryn, Daniel and Jonathan Futa; Craig Ponzio; Ralph L. and Florence R. Burgess Trust; DAM Contemporaries; Volunteer Endowment Fund; Suzanne Farver and Clint Van Zee; Andrea and William Hankinson; Amy Harmon; Arlene and Barry Hirschfeld; Lu and Chris Law; Sharon and J. Landis Martin; Tina Patterson and Bill Cottingham; Amanda J. Precourt; Judy and Ken Robins; Annalee and Wagner Schorr; Ellen and Morris Susman; Tina Walls; and Margaret and Glen Wood. © Mark Bradford.
In Shade, Bradford underscores the legacy of abstract expressionism and explores abstraction's power to address social and political concerns. The exhibition examines both his and Still's unique relationship to black in their paintings, whether it's used to force viewers out of their comfort zones, evoke emotions, or confront conventional notions of race. As an African American painter, Bradford has long been fascinated by Still's extensive use of black as a signature component of his work. Still made many statements about the color, referring to his canvases as "black suns" and "black monsters." "Black," Still proclaimed, "was never a color of death or terror for me. I think of it as warm—and generative. But color is what you choose to make it." Such affirmative references to blackness were unparalleled in a 1950s America divided by the early rumblings of the Civil Rights movement and the 1955 murder of Emmett Till.
"[Bradford's] work is filled with a rough, hard-fought elegance. He's improvising, using what's around him, trying to make something good out of it, and that's what makes him a great artist." –Artnet News
Bradford reads Still's relationship with black as an open-ended invitation for dialogue. "For me as an artist, I am much more interested in questions than answers. Shade is simply putting questions into the public domain," Bradford says. Bradford recently stated, "I think there are other ways of looking through abstraction. To use the whole social fabric of our society as a point of departure for abstraction reanimates it, dusts it off."
During Shade, visitors who purchase a general admission ticket at either CSM or the DAM can enjoy free admission next door when presenting their admission receipt. Purchase CSM tickets in advance and receive $1 off each one.
Jointly produced by CSM and the DAM, an original video featuring interviews with Bradford; Rebecca R. Hart, curator of modern and contemporary art at the DAM; and CSM director Dean Sobel is also included in the exhibition.
Tour your heart out with back-to-back public tours from April 9 to July 16. A 45-minute tour of Shade will be offered at the Denver Art Museum on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays at 2 p.m. On Wednesdays and Sundays, continue your tour at CSM at 3 p.m. Members of either museum enjoy both tours at no charge. The general public need purchase just one ticket at either venue; no reservations required. Information about private two-venue tours is also available here.
Shade: Clyfford Still/Mark Bradford is organized by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Its presentation in Denver is a collaboration between the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Clyfford Still Museum, and the Denver Art Museum. This exhibition has been made possible through the generosity of First Niagara Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Banta, Jay Goldman, Hauser & Wirth, Deborah Ronnen, and Amy and Harris Schwalb. The presentation at the Denver Art Museum and the Clyfford Still Museum is generously funded by Vicki and Kent Logan, Christie's, and US Bank. Additional funding is provided by the donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign, and the citizens who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). Promotional support is provided by 5280 Magazine, CBS4, Comcast Spotlight, and The Denver Post.
Artists Select: Jonas Burgert
A Daughter's Eye/A Daughter's Voice
Artists Select: Roni Horn
Artists Select: Julian Schnabel
Artists Select: Mark Mothersbaugh
Media Roundup: Bradford in Venice
Three Major Artists Set to Curate at CSM in 2017
Newest CSM Partnership Features Artist Mark Bradford


Alexander Gerega was born 27 June 1967 in the Town of Khmelnitsky region in a working class family.
• Higher education. First got higher – learning in the Gorodets branch of the Khmelnytskyi vocational school № 17 (1984 – 1985).
• 1987 – 1990 – studied in Khmelnytskyi co-operative College.
• Higher education in the Lviv commercial Academy in the specialty "Management of organizations and administration".
• In 1985 – 1987 served in the army.
Alexander Gerega he started working as an Expeditor in the carpool (1990 – 1991). Moved to Kiev and was engaged in various types of businesses.
In 1991, he founded a company selling ceramic tiles and sanitary ware, and in 1996 opened its first retail store.
From 2003 to 2012 he headed the company "Epicenter K" (Main specialization of the company – retail trade of construction materials). The first hypermarket of national chain "Epicenter K" was opened in 2003 in Kiev. Over 8 years of development across Ukraine opened 28 hypermarkets and 22 in the regions and 6 in the capital, employing nearly 18 thousand people.
Today in Ukraine (according to the latest data from September 13, 2017) operates 57 stores, the company "Epicenter".
October 2012 – ran as a candidate in single-mandate constituency № 192 (Khmelnytsky oblast) and first got the mandate of people's Deputy of Ukraine of VII convocation.
December 2012-October 2014 – people's Deputy of Ukraine of VII convocation (Party of regions).
Feb 21, 2014 Alexander Gerega left fraction of Party of regions in the Verkhovna Rada.
At the extraordinary elections to the Verkhovna Rada on 26 October 2014 was elected Deputy of the eighth convocation of the 192nd district, received 73,86% of the vote. Working as part of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on taxation and customs policy.
Alexander Gerega married. With his wife Galina Fedorovna – a son of Taras (1994), who is studying in Switzerland.
Awarded the title "Honored worker of service sector of Ukraine" and "Honorary citizen of the city of the Town".
Founder of the charity Fund "Fund of Alexander and Galina Geregu".
As the founder of LLC "Epicenter K" Olexander Gerega cares not only about the development of trade networks and the prosperity of the collective, but also dedicates substantial resources to Finance social and humanitarian projects. In particular, the company continually provides assistance to veterans of war, Afghans, Chernobyl veterans, soldiers of the ATO. Constant priority A. Gerega and his company is to help children, especially sick, disabled children. Substantial assistance is rendered to the sick, the treatment of which is quite expensive.
2013 elected President of the weightlifting Federation of Ukraine. Initiated the establishment of the sports club "Epicenter" in the Khmelnitsky region.
16 Oct 2014 in Town of the opening of the modern European sport complex "Epicenter" and the championship of Ukraine on heavy athletics.
July 3, 2015 – was opened a new modern sports complex "Epicenter" in Dnepropetrovsk.
16, 2015 – open weightlifting sports complex "Epicenter" in the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi in Khmelnytskyi region.
November 12, 2016 – the sports complex "Epicenter" in s. Plough Iziaslav district, Khmelnitsky region.
Also been conducted much of the capital repairs of the sports halls in the 192nd electoral district of Khmelnytskyi region (in the areas Gorodetsky, Dunayevetsky, chemerovetsky and yarmolinskaya).
The condition of Alexander Gerega separately from the General condition of his family is almost impossible, because together with his wife – Galina Gerega he owns the overall business.
In 2010 was ranked the 26th place in the rating "200 richest Ukrainians" in the magazine "Focus".
According to Forbes magazine, Galina Gerega has held the 38th position in the ranking of the 100 richest businessmen in Ukraine in 2011. Her fortune was estimated at $248 million Alexander Gerega was ranked in the same ranking 35th place with $279 million, the Magazine "Correspondent" in 2011 in the ranking of the wealthiest Ukrainians "Golden hundred" took Alexander and Galina 33rd place, assessing their joint fortune of $ 400 million. in addition, in 2011, Galina Gerega included in the list of "Top 100 most influential Ukrainians", taking 52 place (magazine "Correspondent").
In 2013, the "Focus" estimated the General condition of Galina and Alexander Gerega $794,7 million (24th place in the rating "200 richest people of Ukraine").
According to the Declaration of 2014, Alexander Gerega received income in the amount of UAH 18 million. Of them salary – 167 937 UAH. another 17 million UAH were members of his family (the Declaration States the wife). Of these, her salary amounted to 304 508 UAH, dividends and interest – UAH 17 million.
The main income of Alexander Gerega received as dividends and interest is over 18 million UAH.
The Declaration also stated the information on real estate: 7 plots of land (the largest – 217 500 m2), 2 houses (109 and 162.1 m2) 4 apartments (151,2; 57; 222 and 28.8 m2), holiday home (120 m2) and other real estate (17 m2).
General business – a network of hypermarkets "New line"; the network of hypermarkets "Epicenter K".
In one of the most recent data publicly available as of Alexander Gerega is $173 million.
The couple Gerega Alexander and Galina own the business together – a network of building hypermarkets "Epicenter". During the fall of the Ukrainian construction market, the couple not only kept his own company, and improve its performance. In the crisis of the couple Gereg not afraid to open one of the world's largest building hypermarkets, which recently got into the Guinness Book of records for its scale – the total area of 56 thousand sq. m. Galina Gerega, in addition to business, has succeeded in politics, as head of the Kyiv city Council.
In 2014, Alexander and Galina Gerega opened the world's largest DIY store. The area of the new "Epicenter" is 105 000 sq m, the total number of employees – more than 1,500 people, and the number of products – more than 200,000. However, because of the war in the East of the country, the company has lost several shops in uncontrollable Ukraine territories. In place of the "Epicenters" came the Russian network "Galaxy" selling household goods. Now in a network "Hub" is the eponymous 40 and 14 stores under the brand "New Line".
In February 2016, it became known that the couple are planning to purchase the shopping center "Alta Center", which will create a new supermarket.
First big money Alexander and Galina Gerega began to make in 2003, when together opened the company "Epicenter K" engaged in the sale of building materials. She took the position of financial Director of the company.
"My husband and I began to trade construction materials. The first shop in Kiev – shop ceramic tiles and sanitary ware at Peter Zaporozhets. I wanted to develop. For three years he studied the work of European networks. And when the first draft of the hypermarket came the chief architect of Kiev's Grandmother, he asked: "Guys, do you have money?" We said, "So the whole world lives at the expense of credits!" We just believed in success. In the end, and O. Omelchenko approved. We were allocated the first plot of land in Bratislava. That's when I realized who the officials are and how they help the business to grow. And a half years gathering the papers for the warrant construction. For the six months built. Then – the second. Believe me, as many businessmen in this country, we have gone through all circles of bureaucratic hell" – said G. Gerega at interview ZN.UA.
In 2006 Galina Gerega decided to go into politics and managed to get to the checkpoint of the list of Civil asset of Kyiv in the elections to the city Council. Rumor has it that the list she was on a competitive basis (say, sent a summary of your plan and vision for the development of the capital, and at the end of the interview like Alexander Pabata).
Earned before the crisis, millions, difficult for most enterprises of Ukraine years, the family business Gereg almost not noticed. In December 2009, the entrepreneurs did not hesitate to open one of the world's largest building hypermarkets of format DIY (do it yourself – DIY).
According to the newspaper Puls Biznesu, in 2009, Alexander Gerega has acquired a 5% stake in Lentex Polish – one of the largest factories in Eastern Europe for the production of floor coverings. As a result, the company was able to obtain the products of the Polish giant at special prices.
In 2010, they were added to the network three more hypermarkets, bringing the total number to 27.
In 2010, the "Hub" was presented as a sponsor of Euro 2012 and won the broad spectrum of rights, in particular, the owner of licensing rights to manufacture and sell products of UEFA EURO 2012.
April 21, 2011, plus Galina implemented as a successful policy and has headed the Kyiv city Council. The meeting lasted about an hour. During this time, the newly announced mayor Leonid Chernovetsky has managed to present Galina Gerega the hall, calling her a woman of the III Millennium. It was voted 89 deputies out of 90. But the new Secretary of the deputies have different opinions.
"She was a businessman, not a politician, and experience in government work she does not have", – told in the sidelines. Also add that it is particularly active in the work of the city Council was no different. Few can recall any of her brilliant speeches or initiatives. However, several years ago under the "Epicenter" of the Kyiv city Council took a decent chunk of land. Itself Galina prepared. "I know it will be hard, but I run 18-strong team, so will cope," she said.
On the day of his election, G. Gerega said that if once and voted for the wrong land decisions, henceforth, will not do this: "If me and mistakes were made, that henceforth I will not repeat".
In October 2012 Galina and Alexander took part in the parliamentary elections. Alexander won 192 constituency and became the people's Deputy of Ukraine of VII convocation. Galina lost in the 215-m constituency, losing to the candidate from "Freedom" Andrey Ilyenko.
About the business environment, little is known spouses. However, Galina Gerega in an interview, confirmed the information about the financial assistance of the banker with serious connections Yaroslav Soltis ("Ukrinbank"): "It's true. And it was one of our biggest successes. No one is believed. To 2-3 million dollars. credit was very difficult. But we were in the right spot".
In addition, according to her, in business development has helped the Association of cities of Ukraine: "ASU has really helped us with regional development. We got a lot of support from the mayors".
Gerega have a good relationship with former President Viktor Yushchenko. At the time, he actively supported their business. "It so happened that Viktor was our regular customer. And once during the President's visit to "the Hub" one of the Directors showed him the draft of our protracted. Yushchenko takes and writes this sketch: "I Bless." And when we were all at an impasse, wrote a letter to the President. The President arrived and took on huge responsibility. In his speech, said: let there be shame for those who hurt us. Two days later, the object was put into operation," – said in an interview Galina Gerega.
Some media say that the decisive role the appointment of Galina Gerega for the position of Secretary of the city Council was played by Leonid Chernovetsky, who from a list of possible candidates for the post of Secretary concurred only in the name of Gerega.
What she Ms. Gerega said: "I've always been independent and had their own point of view. MPs knew about my principled stance: I never could get them to change their decision in the hall of the city Council. About my ability and desire to work also known. Chernovetsky and his team including the" ("ZN", June 3, 2011).


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Monk's Way, Sannyasi Way, Human Way…
A journey to ultimate freedom, compassion and bliss
Icons of the Path
A Potpourri
We will have a respite from my historical journey through Zen Buddhism this time—just a few odd pieces that have come to my attention.
There are two "happy" documents to come out from the recent gathering of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (to be distinguished from the more conservative Missouri Synod). There's probably a lot more good stuff going on there, but it's these two that caught my attention. First of all there was a "declaration of unity" with the Roman Catholic Church. It admits that there still are some real issues that need addressing but a "basic unity" is there and is more a process that we all are involved in. (By the way, Pope Francis is going to Lund, Sweden in October to participate in a celebration of the Protestant Reformation.) I always thought a lot of the Protestant-Catholic disputes were just so much verbiage due to ill feelings on both sides, gross misunderstandings in all the words we "shouted" at each other, and definitely some decadence and arrogance on the Catholic side. When we calmly look at what we hold and believe in, then the differences do not go away but do seem to shrink.
The other Lutheran document was a simple one declaring the church's support of the Palestinian people and condemning the Israeli practice of "apartheid" and the grabbing of their land. It is a courageous stand considering the powerful Israeli lobby in this country, but it is also in keeping with the sentiments of quite a few other religious groups. I am happy for all my Lutheran friends, but I do wish their church would get a bit more "mystical"!! (Not that mine is much better!)
Recently I again came across a well-known quote by Merton but one whose full ramifications are hardly explored. Here is the quote: "What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves." The fact is that we are trying to cross that abyss in all we do, try to do, in all our efforts and actions. This universal condition is explained in Catholic theology in terms of what is called "original sin." But theology never gets to the nitty-gritty of what this really means in everyday life except in abstract words like "sin," "greed," "lust," etc. And it readily loses the fact that religion itself shares in this problem. In other words religion itself can easily be part of the problem and not just part of the solution.
Now Buddhism, for one, has a more existential word: "suffering"–that which is that deep dissatisfaction in pursuit of this self that we feel is "graspable" in or through some experience out there; something that frees us from that spiritual vertigo of that abyss as deluded we imagine ourselves having crossed it. Modern life is so good at that. Visualize those racing greyhounds chasing a virtual rabbit, round and round they go, and never do they catch it. Such is a good picture of what is going on in all seeking of power and wealth and status and name and adulation and fame and possessions and yes of course the continual play of sex; you see this pursuit in endless shopping of something "ever new," some gimmick to give a temporary relief from the anxiety of sensing that abyss within ourselves, of sensing that we are not really "ourselves" but some image. Here we can also find religion as this kind of "gimmick"–an infantile religion that keeps us in an infantile place.
Zen is really good at addressing this problem; and here I don't mean just Zen Buddhism, but the heart of it all which is really Zen and which is at the heart of all true mysticism (this last statement I admit can be argued). All those good old Zen masters in China and Japan, all their words and gestures, everything they did and were, all this simply pointed at the "overcoming" of that abyss, at the full realization of selfhood, at the resolution of what seems like an unbridgeable duality. Now as I said all authentic religious mysticism deals with this also, but it's not just religion that's seeking an answer here. In the 1950s it became apparent that psychoanalysis was a secular version of an indepth analysis that dealt with this problem. At least this seemed the case with some great figures like Erich Fromm, who not only was open to religious language but also engaged in dialogue with Zen and religion through figures like D.T. Suzuki and Thomas Merton.
In 1957 Erich Fromm organized a conference around the topic of Zen and psychoanalysis. A number of practitioners came, such as Richard De Martino who was a psychoanalyst and a student of Zen and whom I found very illuminating, and of course D. T. Suzuki. Here is a summary of some things that Fromm had to say:
"At the beginning of the century, people coming to psychoanalysis were mainly those suffering from symptoms (i.e. paralyzed limbs, obsessional thoughts and actions). Now the majority of patients are those suffering from an "inner deadness"; they are generally unhappy with their lives wherein success has lost its satisfaction. This inner deadness manifests in the individual as an alienation from self, others and nature. Life poses the question – "how can we overcome the suffering, the imprisonment, the shame which the experience of separateness creates; how can we find union within ourselves, with our fellow man, with nature?" One is driven to solve this Koan – even in insanity an answer is given by striking out the reality outside of ourselves, living completely within the shell of ourselves and thus overcoming the fright of separateness, or alienation. The answers are only two: to find unity through regression to the pre-awareness state; or to be fully born, to develop one's awareness, one's reason, one's capacity to live, to such a point that one transcends one's own egocentric involvement, and arrives at a new harmony or oneness with the world. …. Well-being is possible only to the degree to which one has overcome one's narcissism, and is open, responsive, sensitive, awake, empty (in the Zen sense), fully related to others and to nature affectively; to become what one potentially is; to have the full capacity for joy and for sadness; to be creative (of seeing the world as it is and experiencing it as my world, the world created and transformed by my creative grasp of it – so that the world ceases to be a strange world 'over there' and becomes MY world; to drop one's Ego, to give up greed, to be and to experience oneself in the act of being, not in having, preserving, coveting, using. Most of what is in our consciousness is "false consciousness" and it is essentially society that fills us with these fictitious and unreal notions. This 'social filter' permits certain experiences to be filtered through to our awareness, while others are stopped and held in the unconscious, e.g. not allowing the awareness of a subtle or complex experience (seeing a rosebud in the early morning, a drop of dew on it, while the air is still chilly, the sun coming up, a bird singing) because the social filter does not consider such a multi-sense experience as sufficiently 'important' or 'eventful' to be recognized.
Again, certain cultures do not form words or vocabulary to recognize perspectives of reality not seen as priority distinctions. Different cultures have varied logic processes, and the logic of a reality can only be perceived through one's cultural social filter. The filter of one's culture may not allow one to be aware of certain attitudes or inclinations taboo to the group. The reason behind the social filter is that any society, in order to survive, must mold the character of its members in such a way that they want to do what they have to do; their social function must become internalized and transformed into something they feel driven to do, rather than something they are obliged to do. Were the society to lose its coherence and firmness, many individuals would cease to act the way they are expected to, and society itself would be endangered. In all societies there are taboos, the violation of which results in ostracism. The individual, cravenly fearful of ostracism, cannot permit himself to be aware of thoughts or feelings inconsistent with his culture, and learns to repress them.
Consciousness represents 'social' man, the accidental limitations set by the historical situation into which an individual is thrown. Unconsciousness represents universal man, the whole man, rooted in the Cosmos; it represents the plant in man, the animal in him, the spirit in him; it represents his past down to the dawn of human existence, and it represents his future to the day when man will have become fully human, and when nature will be humanized as man will be naturized. By repressing reality through the distorting cultural social filter, we "see as through a glass darkly (I Corinthians 13:11). Again, via cerebration we see the experiences as being, if not distorted, unreal – e.g. I believe I see – but I only see words; I believe I feel, but I only think feelings. The cerebrated person is the alienated person, the person in the cave (Plato) who sees only shadows and mistakes them for immediate reality. This cerebrated alienation arises through the ambiguity of language. In using words, people think they are transmitting the full experience. The receiver thinks he sees the transmitted message, inasmuch as he employs his own personal meaning of the words – he thinks he feels it – yet for him, the receiver, there is no personal experience except that of his own memory and thought. When he thinks he grasps reality, it is only his brain-self that grasps it, while he, the whole man (eyes, hands, heart, belly) grasps nothing – in fact, he is not participating in the experience which he believes is his."
(The extended quote above is from notes on the conference that I found on the internet. I believe these are summaries of Fromm's talk.)
And here is a direct quote from Fromm during this conference:
""Well-being is the state of having arrived at the full development of reason: reason not in the sense of a merely intellectual judgment, but in that of grasping truth by "letting things be" (to use Heidegger's term) as they are. Well-being is possible only to the degree to which one has overcome one's narcissism; to the degree to which one is open, responsive, sensitive, awake, empty (in the Zen sense). Well-being means to be fully related to man and nature affectively, to overcome separateness and alienation, to arrive at the experience of oneness with all that exists—and yet to experience myself at the same time as the separate entity I am, as the individual. Well-being means to be fully born, to become what one potentially is; it means to have the full capacity for joy and for sadness or, to put it still differently, to awake from the half-slumber the average man lives in, and to be fully awake. If it is all that, it means also to be creative; that is, to react and to respond to myself, to others, to everything that exists—to react and to respond as the real, total man I am to the reality of everybody and everything as he or it is. In this act of true response lies the area of creativity, of seeing the world as it is and experiencing it as my world, the world created and transformed by my creative grasp of it, so that the world ceases to be a strange world "over there" and becomes my world. Well-being means, finally, to drop one's Ego, to give up greed, to cease chasing after the preservation and the aggrandizement of the Ego, to be and to experience one's self in the act of being, not in having, preserving, coveting, using."
Now psychotherapy has had a lot of criticism and many key critics and much of this is well-deserved, but in the hands of a specially gifted practitioner like Erich Fromm it becomes an acute tool to diagnose what ails us, not in theological language but in existential terms. Thomas Merton himself benefited from his encounter with Fromm and his kind of psychotherapy. Then there was also Merton's famous exchange with the Iranian Sufi who was a psychotherapist, Reza Aratesh. Merton wrote a whole essay about his work, and that can be found in the collection Contemplation in a World of Action.
Recently I came upon this Zen story that pertains to one of the lesser-known Zen masters of China, Lung-t'an.
"A nun asked Lung-t'an as to what she should do in order to become a monk in the next life. The master asked, 'How long have you been a nun?' The nun said, 'My question is whether there will be any day when I shall be a monk.' 'What are you now?' asked the master. To this the nun answered, 'In the present life I am a nun. How can anyone fail to know this?' Lung-t'an fired back: 'Who knows you?'"
A truly remarkable encounter! The nun boldly addresses her condition on a social/historical level, and the zen master takes to a wholly different level. You can hear the complaint in her voice about the inherent unfairness of her status as a woman–nuns are rated inferior to monks. She is quite right as far as that goes, and this is the historical predicament of all women in all the religious traditions. But she is a kind of proto-feminist and she raises her voice with this master. No passive "little flower" here! But the Zen master takes her to a completely other level of identity. She brings her problem, her pain, her anxiety, her disenchantment, her impatience, her sense of justice; and Zen simply uses all that for leverage to open up a whole new vista of who she is. Zen does NOT solve our "problems"; it uses them to open us up to an awakening to whom we really are. And from this will spring the needed creativity and resources that will allow us to deal with our problem.
(Recall St. Paul's: There is no more male or female, no slave or free, no rich or poor, no Jew or Gentile….all these identity markers which were so important in Paul's world are now radically relativized–slavery is NOT by the way justified as some folk seem to think by this kind of language–and a whole new identity reality is pointed at which Paul equates with "Christ." That is the primary reality, and once you awake to that, then you can deal with all these other problems and divisions according to your new sense of identity.)
And to conclude I just want to share this image: a drawing by Japanese Zen Master Hakuin, 18th Century. The title of this drawing is "Blind Men Crossing a Bridge." An apt portrayal of the spiritual journey!!
This entry was posted in Interreligious Dialogue on August 26, 2016 by Monksway.
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UNCLE SCROOGE AND OTHER ANNOYANCES
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Whose Empire Is It Now? Some Reflections on Recent Events


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Q: Как форматировать JSON не в одну строку? При использовании файла .json (в моем случае python3, модуль json) в другой программе после сохранения командой json.dump(python_dict, json_file), если потом открыть самостоятельно файл .json, то он будет в виде одной огромной строки (2000+ символов).
Есть ли варианты это исправить?

A: Попробуйте в файл записывать json.dump с параметром indent:
import json

with open("my_file.json", "w") as json_file:
    json.dump(python_dict, json_file, indent=4, sort_keys=True)

в итоге для такого словаря:
python_dict = {'a': [1, 2, 3], 'b': [{'c': [456, 789, 123]}, {'d': 'e'}]}

файл будет выглядеть примерно так:

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange