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Forum Capital Group
Forum Capital Partners
Forum Capital Seafood
TEAM PAGE PREVIEW
Our Pillars of Success include Leadership in Business Consulting and Private Equity in the Global Marketplace
Purpose & Passion in a Family of Companies
At Forum Capital we are proud to serve a wide array of diverse clients with exceptional business expertise. We share our valuable global relationships in order to reach mutual success, attained through trust, understanding and earned respect.
Uniquely positioned to accept small-to-large strategic projects, we collaborate closely to meet common goals. Our firm is sought after because of our personal relationships with global thought leaders and corporate decision makers. Our pillars of success are formed with transparency and a unique understanding of our clients' cultures and business philosophies. So let's begin the conversation…
Lazar S. Finker, PhD, Chairman
Lazar S. Finker, PhD
Chairman of the Board, Forum Capital Group
Dr. Finker is recognized internationally and nationally as a multi-faceted leader in many sectors. He offers a triad of invaluable life-long experiences to Forum Capital Group. As a life-long educator, he was founder and director of the first private community college in Russia. As an author, he has written numerous publications on the issues of juvenile delinquency and continuing education. In addition, Lazar also has a law degree, giving him a well-rounded reservoir of knowledge from which to utilize for his clients. A recognized leader, he is a proud citizen of the United States since 1998. He and his family reside in Jacksonville, FL | Master of Arts, Kazan Academy of Culture (Russia); PhD in Education, Academy of Pedagogical Science (Russia); Law Degree, Kazan State University; Visiting Professor, Florida Community College of Jacksonville; Vice President of Public Relations, an international energy company
Raissa M. Frenkel, PhD
President and CEO, Forum Capital Group
Born in Russia, Dr. Frenkel is an expert in global finance and economics. As a leader in these fields, she is knowledgeable in both education and corporate finance. She has held principal positions in global corporate ventures of importance. Dr. Frenkel is a proud citizen of the United States since 1998. | PhD in Economics, Kazan Finance and Economics Institute; Department Chair, Political Economy, and Professor, Kazan Finance and Economics Institute
William E. Chattin
Treasurer, Forum Capital Group
William (Bill) was born in Jacksonville, FL. He continues to have a very successful career in finance, especially as it relates to the international energy sector. As a CPA, he was in the private practice of public accounting for two decades and received his CPA certification in 1980. He has also been the Vice President and CFO of a prominent international energy corporation for 15 years prior to his position with Forum Capital Group | Bachelor of Business Administration, University of North Florida
Steven C. Koegler
Chief Legal Counsel, Forum Capital Group
Originally from Philadelphia, PA, Steve has extensive experience in the practice of law with a special focus on taxation. As a tax lawyer, he has worked in various American corporations and held executive positions as Tax Principal for J.K. Lasser & Company; Tax Supervisor for Lybrand Ross Bros. & Montgomery CPA; Assistant director for Tax Research and Planning for Monsanto Corporation; Managing Director for International Spirits, LLC; and VP/General Counsel for a major international energy group. He was in the private practice of law and is a member of the International Law Sections, The Florida Bar Association. Born in Philadelphia, PA, he is active in the Jacksonville community as a board member and trustee in various educational, corporate and religious organizations. | BSBA in Marketing and Management, Jacksonville University; Juris Doctorate, Florida State University College of Law; Post Graduate Study, Securities Law, Villanova University
Lisa Kavalieros
Managing Director, Forum Capital Group
Born in Memphis, TN Lisa's career path has been extensive in three international business sectors while she continued her dedication to community work. She has held executive positions in finance, banking and trading operations with a prominent international energy firm and its subsidiaries from 1995-2015. Her community work includes a board member of Harry's of America, Community Hospice PedsCare and Wolfson Children's Hospital at Baptist Medical Center – Downtown in Jacksonville, FL, and Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA | BA in Advertising with a Minor in Mathematics, University of Florida
Brad Hudson
Managing Partner, Forum Capital Group
Brad began his career at International Farming Corporation, one of our nation's leading agriculture private equity funds, where he focused on farmland and agribusiness investments. He continued developing a sound financial background by working in capital markets with the Investment Banking Division at Bank of America Securities (now Bank of America Merrill Lynch). He executed a variety of corporate financial transactions for REITs and private equity funds, including mergers and acquisitions, public/private capital structures, corporate recapitalizations, loan securitizations, raising private capital, and advisory work. Brad developed capital market products for the commercial real estate business with EverBank Financial, where he established the Structured Finance Group. Specializing in North America, he now leads our firm in the worldwide seafood sector where focus is given to procurement, processing and the selling of lobster, scallop and finfish as well as business expansion into other food industries. | BS in Business Administration, The University of North Carolina (Charlotte); MBA, Kenan-Flagler Business School, The University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)
Nick Kavalieros
Nick's unique knowledge of history and culture helped to fuel our entering the domestic and international energy and logistics sectors for more than two decades with a world-renowned corporation dealing primarily with countries in the former Soviet Union and South America. His network of national and global partners is invaluable as he is deeply involved in all aspects of our firm's operations with a primary focus on luxury real estate development in the United States. His broad experience to earn and exceed the expected ROI includes the acquisition, development and land management of investments on multiple platforms within a variety of property types, including residential, office, retail, industrial, and timberland. | BA in History, University of North Florida
Tim Ritch
Initially a CPA, Tim's career sequel to Wachovia Capital Markets where he successfully structured a broad range of leasing transactions for the bank's corporate and institutional clients. His experience included acquiring and selling single-tenant portfolios, structuring sale-leasebacks, and creating financing structures utilizing bank debt, private placements, securitizations, and commercial paper conduits. He joined our firm nearly 15 years ago to focus on national and international real estate business by creating value-added opportunities, such as structuring numerous investments, including timberland, residential developments, commercial real estate, and single-tenant properties. | BS in Accounting, University of Florida; MBA, University of South Florida
FORUM CAPITAL GROUP | 9995 Gate Parkway N., Suite 400 | Jacksonville, Florida, 32246 | info@fcginc.net | 904.380.5555
Copyright 2015. Forum Capital Group | Website design by Fisher Design


in terms of a minor feature (one small lobe eliminated in one but not in theother).
According to the principle of top-down encoding, the time needed to detect a difference between stimuli that differ in only one critical feature will increase as the level of that feature decreases (from a global to a major specific to a lower-grade specific feature).
The results of this study supported the view that top-down encoding occurs, and indicate that, unless attention is explicitly directed to specific features, the likelihood of encoding such features becomes less the lower its structural level. One of the experiments tested whether the size of the feature made a difference, and it was decided that it didn't.
1. Jones, G.V. 1990. Misremembering a familiar object: When left is not right. Memory & Cognition, 18, 174-182.
Jones, G.V. & Martin, M. 1992. Misremembering a familiar object: Mnemonic illusion, not drawing bias. Memory & Cognition, 20, 211-213.
Nickerson, R.S. & Adams, M.J. 1979. Long-term memory of a common object. Cognitive Psychology, 11, 287-307.
We don't store in memory every detail of common objects.
Repeated exposures to an object don't necessarily result in remembering any more about them.


The OnePlus 6 leaked online yet again earlier this week, with a set of low-resolution images showcasing the device from all angles making their way to Chinese Baidu forums. While far from the most detailed look at the upcoming Android flagship so far, the new set of images does illustrate the difference between the size of the notch present on the top of the OnePlus 6 and that of Apple's iPhone X, the handset that truly popularized screen cutouts late last year despite not being the first smartphone with such a design cue to hit the market. According to the phone maker's previous disclosure, the notch found on the OnePlus 6 is approximately 19.616 x 7.687mm in size and has been designed to be as minimal as possible without impacting the functionality of the handset.
Much like every other major smartphone manufacturer that embraced the notch so far, OnePlus isn't claiming the cutout is an aesthetical choice but one that was made to maximize the amount of screen real estate offered to users without delivering a product with a larger physical footprint. The OnePlus 6 should hence be no bigger than the OnePlus 5T which measured 156.1 x 75 x 7.3mm in size, with recent rumors and teasers even suggesting the new Android phablet may be slightly slimmer than its direct predecessor. The latest set of leaks also shows the bottom-facing 3.5mm headphone jack OnePlus already committed to retaining, as well as the difference in looks between a OnePlus 6 with a visible notch and a hidden one.
The OnePlus 6 will be officially announced on May 16, with the Chinese firm being set to start retailing its first units on May 21 via pop-up stores scattered across the world. No general sale date has yet been provided by the original equipment manufacturer, though one is expected to be disclosed at the upcoming launch event, with OnePlus's previously employed product practices suggesting its next offering will become widely available for purchase no later than some ten days following its official announcement. The handset will boast a dual-camera setup, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 chip, and up to 256GB of storage space, with the company already confirming its most premium variant will also feature 8GB of RAM.


This event is complimentary; however, registration is requested in advance.
Join us for a Stanford reception at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Conference. You will have the opportunity to hear an update on the Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences from Dean Steve Graham and network with classmates and faculty in the Stanford community.
This event is complimentary and includes cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.


I was honored to appear on Tom Fox's regular podcast series. Tom and I discussed the trend in internal controls enforcement, following the series of postings I wrote (here, here, here and here).
Here is the link to our Podcast — Here.
Previous story What to Do When The CEO Vanishes?


Stipend will be paid as per Govt. rules.
Candidates willing to apply for JRF – DRDO Fellowship must go through the below details carefully. There are 14+ Research posts available with exclusive fellowships. Postgraduate candidates with Life Science & Biochemistry degree will be preferred.


Cloud computing has transformed IT, and IT has never been more complex. But you're a changemaker, confidently engaging with new parameters and integrating legacy systems and complex workflows into your hybrid IT strategy. You want a colocation provider you can trust, with a proven track record of protecting customers in times of change. That's Iron Mountain. Since 1951, we've been a trusted guardian of our customer's most important assets. Today, we serve more than 225,000+ customers, including 95% of the Fortune 100. With 12 colocation facilities (and counting) on three continents, Iron Mountain is a global data center leader. Count on us to help enable your digital transformation.


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Host Country Studies Trip to Eptapyrgio Fort, Trigonion Tower and Church of St. Nikolaos Orphanos
It was a very cold, windy Tuesday morning when Pinewood Middle School students were taken on a tour of "Ano Poli," in other words, the Acropolis of Thessaloniki. Our plan was to visit the Eptapyrgio Fort first. That's where our special guide, Ms Stavroula Tzevreni, a Byzantinologist working for the 9th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, started her very informative tour. It was interesting to see how the Fort was built, how masterfully bricks were used for decoration, and finally, how sturdy and powerful everything looked. We were especially intrigued by the Fort's long history, particularly how in the late 19th century the Fort was converted into a prison, known by its Turkish name – Yedi Kule.
Our second stop was at the Trigonion Tower on the North-Eastern side of Thessaloniki. It was through this point that the Turks breached the defenses of the city in 1430. Immediately afterwards, in the mid-15th century, the Ottomans replaced the Byzantine Trigonio Tower, incorporating the latter in its construction. The new Tower was built in order to deal with the new war technique of using firearms and its entire design serves this purpose. It was really interesting to see how the Tower was built, how thick the walls were, how its rooftop could effectively be used as surveillance terrace of the surrounding area and how masterfully the archaeologists of the 9th Ephorate restored it to its original glory.
Our trip ended in the Church of Saint Nikolaos Orphanos. The church dates from the second decade of the 14th century. It was the catholicon of a monastery, and it is referred to under the name Saint Nikolaos Orphanos, or 'ton Orphanon', in a codex dated 1745. These names may refer to the founder, or to the charitable work done by the patron of the church with orphans and widows. The church is beautifully decorated with frescoes presenting stories from the life and miracles of Christ, Saint Nikolaos, and Saint Gersimos. These frescoes, dating around 1310-1320, are considered unique examples of the Palaeologean Renaissance style.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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UN Chief Warns: Israel-Hezbollah Tensions Could Escalate Into Conflict
Antonio Guterres expresses concern over increase of Israeli overflights of Lebanese territory, unauthorized weapons in Hezbollah's hands and threatening rhetoric
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Hezbollah forces parade during a ceremony to honor fallen fighters, Tefahta village, south Lebanon, February 18, 2017.Credit: Mohammad Zaatari/AP
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning that unauthorized weapons in the hands of Hezbollah, coupled with threatening rhetoric from the Lebanese militant group and Israeli officials, "heightens the risk of miscalculation and escalation into conflict."
Iran's Revolutionary Guards: Hezbollah must stay armed to defend against Israel
Lebanon's army chief urges 'full readiness' on Israeli border, citing 'enemy's threats'
Nasrallah admits: Hezbollah smuggled advanced arms into Gaza
To really understand the Middle East - subscribe to Haaretz
The UN chief called on Hezbollah and Israel, who fought a war in 2006, "to exercise restraint at all times."
Guterres said in a report to the UN Security Council circulated Friday that allegations of arms transfers to Hezbollah continue "on a regular basis," which the UN takes seriously but "is not in a position to substantiate them independently.
>> Is Saudi Arabia pushing Israel into war With Hezbollah and Iran? | Opinion >>
He noted, however, that Hezbollah has acknowledged "use and display of that weaponry."
The UN resolution that ended the 2006 war calls for Hezbollah and all other militias operating in Lebanon to be disarmed and demobilized.
It also calls for the 10,700-strong UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL to monitor a zone south of the Litani River near Israel's border where Hezbollah is banned from keeping weapons.
Guterres said Israel informed UNIFIL of the alleged presence of Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure in three specific locations in that zone, which the UN force closely monitored, including by aerial reconnaissance, satellite imagery and patrols.
But he said "no evidence to confirm the allegations was established."
Guterres cited examples of heightened rhetoric between Hezbollah's leaders and senior Israeli officials and said that despite "relative calm" along the UN-drawn Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon the level of tensions between the two countries remains high.
Rhetoric on both sides, he said, has "resulted in increased anxiety, including among the local population."
On Tuesday, Lebanon's army chief urged "full readiness" at the southern border to face the "threats of the Israeli enemy and its violations," the army said in a tweet.
Guterres said he was equally concerned about continued Israeli overflights of Lebanese territory. From July 1 to October 30, he said UNIFIL recorded 758 air violations totaling 3,188 overflight hours," an increase of 80 percent compared with the same period in 2016." He said drones were involved in over 93 percent or 707 of the violations.
With over one million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Guterres also said "anti-Syrian refugee sentiment is on the rise in the media and in the political discourse."
He cited an increase in tensions between refugees and host communities, and "a marked increase" in protests over Syrians competing for jobs across Lebanon.
Guterres' report was written before Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri returned to Beirut. The UN chief stressed the importance of parliamentary elections taking place as scheduled in May 2018.


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By Alisa Poppen, Upper School science teacher and department chair
Editor's note: Alisa gave the following talk—lightly edited here for style and context—during a September 3 Upper School chapel that explored creativity in academics and life.
If you're a sophomore in chemistry right now, I wouldn't fault you for thinking that science is solely about precision. We've spent days and days making sure you know how to include the appropriate number of digits in a measurement. Most of you are with one of two women who seem strangely enthusiastic about the difference between 12 and 12.0.
When, in first-period chemistry last year, then-sophomore James Welt said, "In math, those two numbers might be the same, but in science…," I nearly teared up. And then quoted him at least 25 times. And possibly mentioned it at parent-teacher conferences. And in the first semester comments. And, most importantly, secured his permission to mention it, again, today.
The start of the year has been all about measurement and certainty. And doing it right. And if that was all you learned, you might lose sight of the fact that science is, at its essence, a creative endeavor.
If you're in Advanced Topics Biology, you've been counting and counting, and then carefully making graphs on which you place your error bars correctly to represent the range in which we would expect to find most sample means. In short, the start of the year has been all about measurement and certainty. And doing it right. And if that was all you learned, you might lose sight of the fact that science is, at its essence, a creative endeavor.
An example: In the 19th century, Gregor Mendel bred pea plants. Lots and lots of pea plants. He knew that, like many flowering plants, peas were most likely to self-pollinate, but he asked, "What if I force them to cross-pollinate?" When he finished, he counted pea plants. This many with purple flowers, this many with white…that's all he had: numbers of purple and numbers of white. But to make sense of those numbers, he imagined. What could be going on, deep inside those pea plants, to explain those numbers? He settled on this: each plant has two factors, pieces of information, only one of which was transferred to offspring. He couldn't see those factors with the naked eye, but he imagined they must be there. How else would those numbers make sense?
Alisa Poppen talks to chemistry students about a lab for which they're creating a representative sketch of an experiment and graphing actual results.
Mendel's rudimentary model inspired others—far too many to name—to creatively search for and characterize his factors. Spoiler alert: they're chromosomes, composed of DNA. Along the way, we've realized that Mendel's factors alone don't determine how we develop. And so we continue to look. A woman in California, Jennifer Doudna, characterized a protein complex from bacterial cells called CRISPR, and because of her work, we now ask questions like this: what if we could modify our own DNA? And (for Upper School ethics and English teacher Dr. Carolyn Hickman) if we could, should we?
We get to imagine. Anyone who tells you that creativity belongs only to the artists, or the writers, hasn't been paying attention. Science is, at its core, the act of asking questions—What if? How? Why?—and then creatively designing experiments to test those questions.
The summer before last, I worked in a lab that uses cotton as a model to study how genomes change. I would love to go on and on about the work, but to keep this short, I'll just say this: the cotton seeds were breathtakingly uncooperative. On Monday they behaved one way, and on Thursday they were completely different. The data were never the same twice. After testing several possible explanations, we were stumped.
Sitting in the lab one afternoon, I threw out a possible explanation that, truth be told, I wasn't completely sure of. Justin, my grad student/mentor, thought for a moment and then said, "What if that's it?" and then grabbed three paper towels and a Sharpie. "We could do this," he said, while sketching out the experiment. "And if we're right, the results will look like this," and he quickly drew a graph. We then sat quietly for a minute or so, staring at the paper towels, and then he said this: "This is my favorite part, when we get to imagine what the experiment would look like."
We get to imagine. Anyone who tells you that creativity belongs only to the artists, or the writers, hasn't been paying attention. Science is, at its core, the act of asking questions—What if? How? Why?—and then creatively designing experiments to test those questions. Testing a scenario that hasn't been tested before. Yes, we measure, and yes, we replicate, so that the answers to our questions are supported by evidence. But the measuring and the replicating is always preceded by an act of creativity. And that, for us, is often the favorite part.
'Scientists Get to Imagine': A Teacher's Case for Science's Inherent Creativity
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Three Years In, Responsive Classroom is Supporting Social and Emotional Learning in the Lower School
On a Thursday in November, Susanna Mellor's first-grade class was seated in a circle, ready to begin their morning meeting. That day, they started with a pinky greeting: everyone hooked fingers, forming a chain, and then Susanna turned to one of the students next to her. "Good morning, Thomas," she began. The salutation passed around the circle, ending with a hearty, full-group welcome: "Good morning!"
Morning meeting is one of several practices recommended by Responsive Classroom, a student-centered approach to social and emotional learning (SEL) and effective classroom management. Lower School Principal Jij de Jesus explained that the division started utilizing Responsive Classroom in 2016 as a way to support Rowland Hall's long-standing commitment to SEL, which is associated with higher academic achievement, improved teacher-student interactions, and higher-quality instruction.
Responsive Classroom gives teachers the tools to create truly joyful, safe, and inclusive classrooms. More importantly, it gives students more responsibility and ownership in the process of building a community of kindness, respect, and learning.—Lower School Principal Jij de Jesus
"Responsive Classroom gives teachers the tools to create truly joyful, safe, and inclusive classrooms that help our students thrive," he said. "More importantly, it gives students more responsibility and ownership in the process of building a community of kindness, respect, and learning with their classmates."
Morning meeting achieves this by engaging young learners in a welcoming atmosphere at the start of each school day. In addition to an inclusive greeting, the meeting includes a moment of sharing, a group activity, and a daily message. Whatever the day's focus, teachers use the meeting to make sure each child is recognized and participating in the class.
"Responsive Classroom practices help build confidence and ease anxiety by fostering a sense of belonging and significance," Susanna said. And, she added, as the school year progresses, its rewards multiply. "When they listen to each other, students feel that they matter. I see new friendships begin to bud, classmates work comfortably and easily together, and students take risks as they share ideas in class discussions."
The Responsive Classroom Approach
Responsive Classroom, first developed by the Center for Responsive Schools in 1981, creates safe, nurturing learning environments through four key domains: engaging academics, positive community, effective management, and developmentally responsive teaching. Because Rowland Hall is focused on integrating SEL into our academic and co-curricular programs (we formally added it to goal 1 of our Strategic Plan in November 2018), incorporating Responsive Classroom into the Lower School curriculum was a logical choice. And it has made a difference.
"It's given our teachers more clarity and alignment when they consider how best to support students, structure learning activities, and promote positive behavior expectations," Jij said. "Students, in turn, experience more consistency and are clear on why their actions matter for their own learning and for the learning of others."
Rowland Hall is focused on integrating social and emotional learning into our academic and co-curricular programs; we even formally added it to goal 1 of our Strategic Plan in November 2018.
To drive student success, Responsive Classroom also emphasizes interactive modeling to teach the skills, strategies, and procedures that help kids thrive at school.
"Interactive modeling has made my classroom a more calm, efficient, and productive learning environment," Susanna said. "When students watch and comment on what I do as I role-play a procedure, they actively deduce the steps by verbalizing them and listening to peers do the same. As a result, they have a firm and clear understanding when it comes time for them to begin the task at hand."
Integrating Responsive Classroom into Established Practices
Responsive Classroom has helped Rowland Hall refocus many classroom practices toward the school's overarching SEL goals. One example occurs at the beginning of each school year: developing classroom agreements. Unlike traditional lists of rules, classroom agreements are created in partnership, giving teachers and students buy-in on how their classrooms will run. While the agreements have been a part of the Lower School for many years, Responsive Classroom added another layer to the process.
"Using the Responsive Classroom approach has allowed my students to delve deeper into the process of exploring their own hopes and dreams, and how we can work as a group to help each other achieve our goals," Susanna said. She explained that students become engaged, thoughtful, and passionate as they determine what will help them do things like learn how to read, try harder math problems, or even score soccer goals. "I notice students putting much more thought and reflection into this process, making it more meaningful and effective," she said.
Collaborating on classroom agreements also makes it more likely that children will follow, and reference, those agreements during the school year.
"Students refer back to these agreements when obstacles arise and really demonstrate ownership of them," said Susanna. "For example, when having a class discussion about erasers being damaged intentionally, several children commented, 'That's not following our agreement. We said we'd take care of our materials this year so that we could become better writers.'"
Morning meeting gives students an opportunity to revisit class agreements and reflect on how they can work together in support of classroom goals.
Classroom agreements are referenced regularly by instructors too. In Susanna's morning meeting, for instance, students are asked which agreements they want to focus on and what actions they can take to make sure those agreements are honored. One student reminded classmates that they can meet their goal to keep calm in the classroom by walking; another observed that they can fulfill the agreement to try harder math problems by listening respectfully during instruction.
Using Responsive Classroom in New Ways
Responsive Classroom also inspires new methods to empower students. This fall, the Lower School used the foundation of classroom agreements in a new way: to create school-wide Winged Lion Agreements.
On September 6, 17 student delegates from grades one through five—one from each class—gathered in the McCarthey Campus parlor for the first-ever student constitutional convention. Delegates shared their classes' newly developed classroom agreements with the group before beginning a discussion on agreements that could be applied to the whole school.
Responsive Classroom helps educators look for ways to engage students in their school community. Above, the student delegates who helped craft the Lower School's first Winged Lion Agreements in September.
When students help make decisions about how the school runs, they understand their voices are valued and that they play a role in making school enjoyable for everyone.—Lower School Specialty Principal Linda Tatomer
Lower School Specialty Principal Linda Tatomer—who has completed all Responsive Classroom courses, including the Responsive Classroom for Leadership conference—led the discussion and was impressed by how the process unfolded. "When students help make decisions about how the school runs, they understand their voices are valued and that they play a role in making school enjoyable for everyone," she said. "And because each student was a stakeholder in the convention's outcome, they were serious about identifying meaningful goals." She was also thrilled by the inclusion she saw in the room, especially by the way fifth graders mentored the first graders. "They really made connections and made them feel valued," Linda said.
After thoughtful discussion, the group decided on five agreements for the year:
• Be kind
• Respect
• Work hard and never give up
• Be safe
• Have fun
Each item was purposefully selected, down to exact words—for instance, the delegates chose the word "respect" because of its ability to encompass a wide range of areas, from personal behavior to how students should treat their surroundings.
Designing Better School Days with Responsive Classroom
Responsive Classroom further helps the Lower School team continuously reevaluate how to best meet students' needs. One recent change to the school day occurred as a result of a February 2019 meeting with a Responsive Classroom consultant, who was sent to observe a full day at the school after Linda completed her training in the approach.
"One thing the consultant noticed was that our dining hall is very noisy," Linda remembered. The consultant recommended a proven solution she thought would benefit the division: moving recess before lunch, an idea that the Lower School student support team had been considering for two years prior to the visit.
In 2019, the Lower School moved recess from after to before lunch, resulting in school-wide behavior improvements.
"The change would have numerous benefits," said Linda. "Children could focus on eating, noise would go down, and no one would be racing to get outside." After presenting the idea to an enthusiastic Lower School faculty in the spring, Jij and Linda began working on making the change for the fall. When it was time to introduce the schedule adjustment to students during the second chapel of the year, Jij, Linda, and Chuck White, the McCarthey Campus emotional support counselor, were thoughtful in their approach, using a similar style students had already experienced in the classroom.
"We asked, 'What should lunch feel and sound like?'" Linda said. The team also emphasized the why behind the discussion so students would understand both the reason for change and its related benefits. "We talked about how we can all follow agreements to make school more enjoyable for everyone," Linda said.
Using a dining table that had been brought into the chapel, Jij, Linda, and Chuck then modeled for students proper lunch behavior: entering the dining hall respectfully, staying seated facing the table, and talking at an appropriate volume. Each child was also given the chance to practice at the table.
Children have adjusted well to the change, Linda said. It was, she explained, an extension of the discussions students have become accustomed to—and, importantly, it reminded them that they each play a part in creating a respectful, safe, and joyful school for all.
"I'm really proud of them," she said.
Responsive Classroom Resources for Parents and Caregivers
Responsive Classroom has been an influential tool in helping Rowland Hall meet SEL goals in the Lower School. Because we are committed to partnering with parents and caregivers in their children's education, we have made many Responsive Classroom materials available in the parent section of the McCarthey Campus' Steiner Library for those who are interested in more information about the approach.
4PreK Naturalists Harness Senses to Refine Perception, Fine Motor, and Other Early Development Skills
On an overcast autumn day, a voice rang out in the Lower School nature yard. "Match!" it cried.
At the sound, the entire 4PreK class came running. One by one, they began smelling one of the yard's plants, on a mission to find a scent match to a mystery plant they had been given that morning.
Research shows there are powerful benefits of sensory learning—building nerve connections in the brain, improving fine motor skills and perception, encouraging social interaction, and enhancing memory are among them.
This activity is one of several sensory learning exercises that Kate Nevins' and Brittney Hansen's preschool class enjoyed this fall, and was designed to engage students' sense of smell. Before going outdoors, each child had been given a bit of the crumpled mystery plant (wild sagebrush), which they rubbed between their hands and smelled. The group then went to the nature yard to locate a full sage plant by scent alone. "Children ran from plant to plant smelling the scent on the palm of their hand and then smelling the plant to see if the scent matched," the teachers wrote about the activity. "As soon as a child was sure they found the right plant they would yell, 'Match!' and we would all come running to smell for ourselves."
Because research shows there are powerful benefits of sensory learning—building nerve connections in the brain, improving fine motor skills and perception, encouraging social interaction, and enhancing memory among them—Rowland Hall embraces opportunities to add it to lessons. "The five senses have been a part of the 4PreK curriculum for at least the past 20 years—it is such a critical unit for four- and five-year-olds to explore," said Brittney.
In the 4PreK program, senses are introduced as tools for making scientific discoveries and observations about the world. And sensory learning can be quite simple. For example, for the listening exercise, the preschoolers walked to the McCarthey Campus back field, where they closed their eyes and concentrated on, and named, the sounds around them. When exploring touch, the children lay down on the grass and described how the blades felt against their bodies.
Our young naturalists were encouraged to slow down and use a keen eye. We are learning that scientists have to be patient and look very carefully.
Students also learned the importance of perseverance. For a color hunt designed to engage sight, each student painted the wells of an empty egg carton a different color, then went outdoors to collect items that matched those colors. "Some colors proved to be more difficult to find," the teachers said. "Our young naturalists were encouraged to slow down and use a keen eye. We are learning that scientists have to be patient and look very carefully."
The unit also recommended continuing sensory learning at home. After the color hunt, for instance, the teachers prompted parents and guardians to help students find ways to use their collection boxes around the house. "Encourage your children to take the cartons outside in your yard or with you on a neighborhood walk," they told parents and caregivers. This helps create a powerful connection between school and home (an ongoing goal at Rowland Hall) and builds early childhood skills like language development, fine and gross motor skills, and problem-solving in a pressure-free, fun way.
Interested in other ways you can bring sensory learning into your home? Check out 31 Days of Sensory Play to get started.
Rowland Hall Kindergarteners Study the Many Communities Around Them—and Their Place Within Them
In late October, Katie Williams' and Vicki Smith's kindergarten class buzzed with the noise of pint-sized architects and construction workers busy assembling miniature versions of their family homes. With printed photos as their guides and wooden and foam blocks as their materials, the children were hard at work building walls, adding stories, and brainstorming methods for constructing tricky architectural features.
This activity is one of many that makes up the unit of study on community that takes place every October and November. Katie explained that the unit—which begins after the first month of school, when students meet one another, and concludes before the family-centered Thanksgiving holiday break—is a fantastic way to help children discover more about themselves, their classmates, and their families, as well as how everyone fits into the communities around them.
By helping students see the bigger picture of how lives intertwine, they begin to learn how to balance the needs of themselves and others.
The class began the unit by reading Richard Scarry's What Do People Do All Day?, which explores the animal inhabitants of Busytown and how they work together to provide food, housing, and clothing for their families. The story started a kid-friendly discussion on the interconnectedness of communities, and because it also identifies children as helper workers, it opened the students' eyes to their own place within their communities. "They're still identifying who they are," Katie said. By helping them see the bigger picture of how lives intertwine, she continued, "they begin to learn how to balance the needs of themselves and others."
The class built on their discoveries. After identifying what makes them special individually, they expanded the discussion outward: from a person to a classroom community; from the classroom to the school community; from the school community to the surrounding neighborhood; and so on, up to the global community. The class took a walking field trip to 9th and 9th, where students identified what the Salt Lake City neighborhood and Busytown have in common (a bakery, a salon, and a fire station, among other things). The trip ended at Rowland Hall's Lincoln Street Campus, where the children enjoyed exploring the middle and upper schools they may one day attend.
Each person is one of many and responsible for helping their community.—Kindergarten teacher Katie Williams
While the unit's activities are definitely fun, they also stretch young learners developmentally. For example, collaborating with peers on community maps sharpened the children's social-emotional skills, while solving problems—like how to replicate the particularly difficult slope of a roof—built cognitive skills.
The unit also guided them toward the goal of balancing their needs with those of others. On that October morning, the students who first completed their homes began helping those who needed assistance, and after construction was complete, they connected their creations with roads, turning the classroom into a mini-neighborhood. It was a reminder that every student contributes to making kindergarten an enjoyable place. After all, as Katie said, each person is one of many and responsible for helping their community.
Promoting a Culture of Reading: Rowland Hall's #Shelfie Movement
Have you read anything good lately?
Publicly sharing titles we love leads to discussion and learning. After all, the kinds of books we choose often tell a little something about our past, present, interests, values, and perhaps even the way we see and experience the world.—Chelsea Vasquez, seventh grade English teacher
Those looking for book recommendations may find themselves combing social media for positive answers to that question. By searching #shelfie or #buildyourstack, users can find a trove of images celebrating the written word: color-coded shelves, beaming readers holding up their favorite novels, children sprawled on furniture lost in picture books. For Rowland Hall students, inspiration can also be found by wandering the halls of the Lincoln Street Campus.
This year, a new bulletin board in the Middle School is acting as a paper-and-ink version of digital shelfies and stacks, displaying photos of the books, magazines, and newspapers faculty are currently reading. At first glance, the board may simply seem like a place to browse for titles, but it offers the larger benefit of promoting a culture of reading by sparking conversations.
"The idea isn't necessarily for kids to read the same texts as us, but to show them that all of us are readers and we're open to discussions about the texts we engage with," explained seventh grade English teacher Chelsea Vasquez, who created the board. "Publicly sharing titles we love leads to discussion and learning. After all, the kinds of books we choose often tell a little something about our past, present, interests, values, and perhaps even the way we see and experience the world."
The shelfie bulletin board is displayed to the left of the elevator in the Middle School commons.
Upper School English teacher Kate Taylor agrees. In 2017, Kate created "What I'm Reading" signs for faculty and staff to post on doors to model their love of reading. Like the Middle School bulletin board, these signs act as recommendations, but they also convey an important message: that Rowland Hall is a community of diverse readers. By sharing what they enjoy reading for pleasure—even those titles that may not be deemed "serious"—teachers underscore that all reading is beneficial. Furthermore, Kate said, a diet of light and challenging materials is essential to creating strong readers.
By modeling their love of reading, faculty convey an important message: that Rowland Hall is a community of diverse readers.
"I view reading as both a habit and a skill," she said. "Both are formed and strengthened through repetition. In reading, like weight lifting, challenging reps develop strength while lighter reps develop endurance. Both have benefits. If we want students to be strong readers, they should definitely read texts that push their understanding and vocabulary, but they should also read lighter, more enjoyable works that simply get them reading to improve their endurance."
See Our Shelfies & Share Yours
Join the conversation! Share a photo of your book recommendations on social media and tag your posts with #RHshelfies. Rowland Hall's shelfie projects exemplify how educators find creative ways to develop lifelong readers, and we hope these projects inspire ripples through our larger community of diverse readers.


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Judge Weighs Whether Brooklyn's Federal Jail Has A "Broken" Response To COVID-19
Beth Fertig
JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
A group of people currently being held in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center say the federal Bureau of Prisons has failed to adequately protect the inmates from the COVID-19 pandemic, and have filed a class action lawsuit, asking a judge to immediately release all of the medically vulnerable inmates.
Over nearly 12 hours of videoconference testimony before a federal judge on Tuesday and Wednesday, attorneys for the petitioners argued that MDC does not know how many people in its custody are infected, or even symptomatic, because it's not fully tracking their symptoms and testing is limited because there were only about 10 testing kits.
Only 15 of the jail's roughly 1,700 inmates had been tested for the virus as of May 7th, six of whom were positive for COVID-19.
In contrast, hundreds of the roughly 4,000 detainees being held on Rikers Island, which is controlled by the city, have been tested for the coronavirus.
In testimony on Tuesday, Dr. Homer Venters, a former chief medical officer for the city jails who visited MDC on April 23rd, said he suspected the real number would be higher with ample testing, because 36 staffers had tested positive.
He added that he learned during this visit that MDC wasn't keeping the paper records of sick call requests and including them in inmates' medical records. He called this a "broken" system because, "the information I reviewed leads me to believe people are reporting COVID-19 symptoms in their sick call requests and not receiving care."
Venters issued a disturbing report after meeting with MDC staffers and 17 inmates on that date, and described conditions that could promote the spread of the coronavirus. He said COVID-19 screenings for inmates often relied solely on temperature checks instead of asking about other symptoms and described a lack of adequate masks and cleaning supplies.
Venters's report described two patients in the jail's isolation unit – for those with or suspected of having COVID-19 – who said they had difficulty getting anyone to take their complaints seriously for days because they didn't have elevated temperatures.
One of them, Justin Rodriguez, described being in a shared housing unit in March when he developed shortness of breath and lost his sense of smell -- which are considered symptoms of the virus. Despite making five or six sick call requests, Rodriguez claimed he couldn't get medical care because he didn't have a fever, according to Venters. After two weeks, he was moved to the isolation unit.
Rodriguez, 26, was one of the six original plaintiffs in the case and was seeking to be discharged ahead of his June release date because he claimed his asthma left him vulnerable to COVID-19. He was ultimately discharged in late April. Venters testified that Rodriguez tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies after he went home and told the court on Tuesday, "It was clear he had COVID-19 while at MDC and while he was seeking assessment and care of his symptoms."
Venters said he also met with detainees who were not screened upon their arrival at MDC, in violation of CDC guidelines, and that some detainees did not have access to adequate cleaning solutions or masks that fit properly. He said the jail should create separate sections for all inmates with weakened immune systems and other medical risks, where they'd get more frequent medical screenings. He described doing something similar at Rikers a decade ago during the H1N1 outbreak.
During cross examination, James Cho, an assistant U.S. attorney in New York's Eastern District, asked Venters if it's possible that the low numbers were due to MDC's success at preventing the spread of COVID-19. Venters said that would be "inconsistent" with what he knows about the lack of testing at the facility.
Cho also questioned if Venters had any proof that healthcare providers didn't respond to sick call requests.
"That is the crux of the failure," Venters responded, adding, "the system is set up to make that unknowable."
Listen to reporter Beth Fertig's radio story for WNYC:
Cho argued that the petitioners can't meet the burden of proving "deliberate indifference," the standard in determining whether inmates' Constitutional rights were violated. He denied allegations that the jail had ignored the needs of people with serious medical needs, and said the Bureau of Prisons had "successfully contained the spread of the coronavirus." No deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported at the jail.
The government attorneys also accused the petitioners of trying to short-circuit the existing process by which prisoners can ask judges for compassionate release.
Three government witnesses disputed Venters's findings and recommendations. Nicole English, assistant director of the health services division of the Bureau of Prisons, said she was initially alarmed after reading the doctor's report. But she didn't see the problems he described when she made her own unannounced visit with a small team in early May, after Venters's report made news.
"I was pleasantly surprised to see how clean the institution was," she said, describing inmates wearing protective masks. "Staff were doing what they needed to do to stay safe and keeping the inmates safe to the best of their ability."
English said the normal sick call procedure changed to paper slips when the pandemic hit, and inmates went into lockdown mode with just three hours a week of recreation in small groups. She said there were initially some delays in getting these notes to healthcare providers, but that inmates were put on a schedule to be seen and the timing would depend on their symptoms. She said no emergent or urgent cases were still waiting to be seen, and that more testing kits were being sent to MDC, now that the shortage has lessened.
The government also presented an epidemiologist from Lenox Hill Hospital who refuted Venters's contention that people at heightened risk should be placed together. She said that could pose additional health risks to those with compromised immune systems.
Another expert witness for the government, former Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard, said putting inmates of different backgrounds, security levels and gang affiliations in the same area could also be dangerous.
Beard visited MDC on April 28th – a visit he said was announced – and described seeing staffers and inmates wearing masks, except when alone in a cell or office. He also described seeing plenty of soap and disinfectant in cells.
Beard said he visited the same four housing units as Venters and that inmates and staffers described computers and phones being wiped down with disinfectant after every use, contrary to what Venters reported. He said the warden told him temperature checks were taken twice a day for inmates in isolation and that sick calls were conducted twice a day in every housing unit, for inmates to request medical care.
When questioned by an attorney for the plaintiffs, Beard acknowledged he did not see any sick calls during his approximately two hour long visit.
The government claims it has thousands of pages of new evidence it's collected showing that sick calls are logged into a computer system. Judge Rachel Kovner asked the two sides, in their summaries, to recognize she's already read their voluminous filings. "What I'm looking for is what you think the evidence shows on deliberate indifference" of inmates' rights, she said, referring to the legal standard for granting a preliminary injunction.
Closing arguments for the case are scheduled for Thursday afternoon. A similar suit was recently filed against the federal jail in Manhattan.
Beth Fertig is a senior reporter covering immigration, courts, and legal affairs at WNYC. You can follow her on Twitter at @bethfertig.
Hochul is backing Adams' plan to require NYC contractors to hire local and "economically disadvantaged" candidates.
NY Gov. Hochul's veto of Grieving Families Act leaves frustrated lawmakers looking ahead


of given an UNESCO Cross!
Boiler room scammers from throughout the world are now tuning into an internet site dedicated to exposing the activities of the 'Wolves of Bangkok'.
The site has been getting numerous visits from Spain, Cyprus, and Eastern Europe, all favourite 'boiler room' locations but today the site concentrates on the companies of one American, Paul Richard Bell, aka Dr. Richard King, his boiler room operations, and his registrations in Hong Kong where a lot of the boiler rooms bank.
Bell is actually a convicted boiler room scammer. In 2001 – the same year Thai police made a number of raids on boiler rooms in Bangkok's central business district – he was arrested in Brisbane, Australia, and pleaded guilty to 21 charges relating to his activities running 'cold-calling' companies out of Thailand and the Philippines.
But all that happened to him was that he was given two suspended six month prison sentences and fined AUS$12000.
'This outcome shows that ASIC is determined to pursue share cold-callers who come to Australia, in addition to assisting Asian regulators shut down and prosecute share cold-callers in their countries', ASIC's Executive Director Consumer Protection, Peter Kell said afterwards.
Of course the statement by ASIC was total bull. Recent events have shown they are totally incapable of acting as a financial watchdog.
In 1992 Mr. Bell was fined $100,000 and had his registration under the US Commodities Exchange Act permanently revoked, for similar offences – something ASIC did not appear to be aware of.
When that happens – these people turn to Bangkok.
In 2008 the City of London Fraud Squad broke up a meeting hosted by Bell promoting his Hong Kong-based ALV Group, a broking firm that had been the subject of warnings by watchdogs in Portugal and Sweden and arrested three people.
But his most famous investment vehicle was International Asset Management that cheated investors around the world.
Paul Richard Bell was among several boiler room scammers who joined the 'Pattaya Optimists' former by American Drew Walter Noyes. The club however was removed from Optimists International after #DrewNoyes failed to pay their fees.
Paul Richard Bell has recently been reported to have passed on to the big bank in the sky.


The Virginia Enterprise Zone Program remains a critical tool in supporting business expansion and location in Newport News. During the most recent grant cycle, the Virginia Enterprise Zone program benefited 17 Newport News businesses by providing approximately $644,000 in incentives for real property improvements and job creation. Newport News continues to be among the top users of the Enterprise Zone program in the state, consistently leveraging a significant share of grant dollars set aside to support the growth of qualifying businesses.


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Category: Haunted Locations
In this article we will be taking a look at the reported paranormal activity from the Theatre Royal of Drury Lane over the years – a famous capital city venue where some past performers have decided to stick around the location…despite the fact that they have been dead for quite some time.
Let's take a closer look….
The Ghost of Charles Macklin
Charles Macklin (1699 – 1797) is an entity with a really strange background – he is actually an actor that was classed as a bit of a murderer when he was alive.
History tells us that he got in an argument with another actor over a wig, and eventually lost his temper and stuck a sharp cane through the guy's eye, killing him instantly.
It's usually the ghost of the victim that is left to haunt venues – NOT the murderer.
Joseph Grimaldi
Nothing freaks me out more than clowns – I didn't like them as kid…and I certainly don't like them that much now (I blame Stephen King!).
Joseph Grimaldi (1778 – 1837) was actually a professional stage clown that worked at the Theatre Royal of Drury Lane, and for some reason he has decided to stick around long after his calling to the other side.
His ghost is regarded as a really beneficial one, and over the years there have been numerous reports from famous actors claiming that Grimaldi has appeared to them during stage performances, and in some cases, has even guided around the stage.
The Man in Grey
Often referred to as the most prominent ghost in the theatre – The Man in Grey.
This entity has been frequently spotted floating and gliding through the halls of the famous old building. This 'Man in Grey', as he has been dubbed, is described as wearing the clothing of a respectable gentleman of the 18th century.
Certain paranormal experts believe that this entity could possibly be the spirit of one of the past theatre owners, and others firmly believe that he was a rich and successful member of the audience (in years gone by).
Certain renovations to the theatre took place back in 1848, and during the work there a wall was removed revealing a skeleton with a knife embedded in it's rib cage. Could this be the body of The Man in Grey?
Over the years there have also been reports of the ghost of King Charles II being spotted within the theatre from time to time, but this could have been the spirit of just about anyone from that period when you think about it!
If you have any thoughts or opinions on the subject we have covered here today, please leave them in the comment section below.
Categories: Haunted Locations Tags: London, Theatre Royal of Drury Lane Leave a comment
In this article we will be covering the infamous haunting of Sallie House in Atchison, Kansas. The property has been covered by numerous paranormal reality shows, but what is behind the strange forces within it's walls?
Sallie House, one night in 1906, and it's owner, Dr. Charles Finney is awoken by a loud banging at his front door. He tenderly creeps downstairs and peeps out of the window…to find a young mother holding her ill daughter.
The little girl looked like she was in a terrible state of health.
Finney agrees to check over the young girl and apparently finds a growth inside her stomach. He declares he needs to operate on the girl at once to save her life.
The operation turned out to be a tragic mistake, and the little girl died on the doctor's operating table. Many people now believe that Finney was nothing more than a sadistic medical professional, that killed the girl on purpose.
Others are convinced that he was possessed by a demon residing in the house, and this demon took control of his hands…resulting in the death of the child.
A Young Girl Named Sallie
Many paranormal experts now believe that the little girl was named Sallie, and her twisted spirit now resides in the house. She only ever targets men – as a type of revenge for what the cruel doctor did to her on the operating table.
The strange paranormal events that had taken place at the Sallie House first became public by the accounts of Tony and Debra Pickman, who lived at the property with their newborn.
They firmly believe that the paranormal activity first centred itself in their baby's bedroom. On numerous occasions they would enter the room to find soft toys lined up around the child's bed. These soft toys had somehow been removed from a high shelf in the room.
A Psychic Named Renae Leiker
Tony and Debra Pickman eventually had enough of the strange happenings inside their home, so they decided to contact a psychic named Renae Leiker.
When Leiker first visited the home she made sure that the Pickmans were out. As she stepped out of the car she noticed a man sitting in the window of the house, who slowly got up and walked away when she approached the front door.
Inside there was no sign of the man.
The psychic reported to the family that there was indeed a demonic entity in the home, and they were to burn off sage in an attempt to get rid of it. They followed her instructions, but the entity did it's best to stop them. At one point Tony was apparently thrown across the room as he attempted to burn more sage.
Things Go From Bad To Worse…
The Sage incident seemed to make the entity pissed – REALLY pissed!
Tony now seemed to be the regular target of the demonic entity, constantly being scratched by invisible hands. Things got so bad that the family contacted the crew of a 90's TV ghost show named Sightings.
The crew of the show actually managed to get some footage of the strange scratch marks on Tony's body…but the entity started to drift out of control with their presence. They soon packed up and cut the footage short.
The Pickman Family were all spent out – they decided to move from the property.
Nobody knows for sure what or who the demonic spirit is within this house. Tony eventually reported seeing the ghosts of two females during his time there – one was pleasant to him…whilst the other screamed whenever she appeared to him.
Is one of these the spirit of young Sallie?
Please leave your opinions in the comment section below.
Categories: Haunted Locations Tags: Hauntings, Kansas, Sallie House Leave a comment
Haunted Hospitals
In this article we will be covering five world famous haunted hospitals that have made their name through numerous paranormal incidents. Let's take a look at some of the darkest medical facilities on the planet…
Sai Ying Pun
The Sai Ying Pun Hospital was constructed in the later years of the 1800's and is situated in Hong Kong. In it's early years it was primarily used as a dormitory for nurses and medical personnel.
During the Second World War rumours began to surface about the Japanese army using the building to murder a selection of hostages…we still don't know how trustworthy these rumours actually were.
The first paranormal reports started surfacing in the 1970's, and locals immediately blamed the legendary 'murders' of the war time years. There have been reports of disembodied voices, headless ghosts, and footsteps in empty rooms.
St Augustine Hospital
The original St. Augustine's Royal Hope Hospital was built in Florida but ended up being brought down in the early 19th century due to age and wear. Another hospital was then quickly developed on the same spot of land.
The hospital has undergone numerous building projects over the last few decades and one of these constructions managed to uncover a ancient American Indian burial site.
The paranormal activity experienced within the hospital walls in now blamed on the angry spirits from the burial site below the building.
Severalls Hospital
This English hospital building has a twisted and tragic history of alleged mistreatment of its mentally ill patients. Over the years there have been numerous reports of unnecessary and cruel procedures which involve brain surgery and electric shock treatments.
The hospital was finally closed down and then abandoned in the middle of the 1990's…leading to numerous trespassers and vandals submitting terrifying reports of paranormal activity witnessed in the old mortuary section of the hospital.
The Waverly Hills Sanatorium Ghosts
Based in in Louisville, Kentucky, this infamous building saw more than 60,000 deaths in its history due to the tuberculosis crisis.
The Waverly Hills Sanatorium first opened in 1910 when the disease was at it's peak. It saw so many deaths the owners had to create a tunnel beneath the building to remove the dead bodies without alarming the other sick patients.
The two most famous entities at the hospital are a nurse who committed suicide, and a young boy who is sometimes spotted playing with his toys in the lonely, abandoned corridors.
The Taunton State Mental Hospital
Taunton State Hospital in Massachusetts was built in the middle of the 19th century to house psychiatric patients. It is the famous workplace of the dreaded nurse Honora Kelley (1857-1938) who is thought to have murdered over 30 patients.
The hospital also saw a large number of staff members apparently using mental patients in devil worshipping rituals that were held in it's basement area. These murdered patients, and the occult practices, are now blamed for the high number of paranormal incidents in the building.
Do you know of any famous haunted hospitals that we have not included in the article above?
If so we would love to hear from you!
Please leave your suggestions in the comment section below.
Categories: Haunted Locations Tags: Haunted Hospitals, Insane Asylums 14 Comments
Is The McPike Mansion Haunted?
In this article we will be covering the paranormal reports that have come in from the southwest corner of Illinois…the McPike Mansion.
Situated in Alton, a town now referred to as 'The Most Haunted Town In Amercia' – is the McPike Mansion haunted?
The McPike Mansion
Henry McPike and his family had the three-story red brick mansion built back in 1869. McPike was a very successful local businessman who had also served as mayor of Alton for three years.
When McPike moved on, the house was purchased by a man named Paul Laichinger, who turned the property into a kind of boarding home. He rented numerous rooms out to tenants looking for somewhere to live.
This is when the first instances of paranormal activity began to seep out of the building.
Many of these boarders or residents, reported strange events that could not be explained. In some cases these events included the sounds of children playing and laughing when there were no children in the area.
Laichinger died in 1945 and the premises sat vacant…before long it became a little on the derelict side.
Passers by began to reports seeing strange white faces in the windows of the once grand property.
In 1994 the building was finally bought up by Sharyn and George Luedke. They purchased the location in the hope that they could turn it into a famous bed and breakfast spot for the area.
After six weeks of working on the mansion, Sharyn had her first paranormal experience when she was rooting through the main garden…
As she worked she looked up to see a strange man staring down at her from one of the windows. He near enough instantly vanished, but not before Sharyn could take note of his strange attire.
Later, while researching the history of the mansion, Mrs. Luedke was startled as she came across a photo of previous owner Paul Laichinger…who was wearing the exact same clothes as the vanishing man in the window!
After this incident, Sharyn Luedke and her husband decided to let in various mediums and psychics to investigate the property properly. A lot of these studies led to the paranormal experts admitting that they could feel the McPike family and other residents of the estate.
Sharyn now believes that the McPike family and one of their servant girls, named Sarah Wells, haunt the old building.
Numerous other paranormal experts have reported the feeling of being touched in the dark, and a few have even caught a few orbs in photos taken inside the property.
The building's wine cellar seems to be the hub of the paranormal activity, with numerous reports of a strange mist that seems to follow anyone that is down there.
Categories: Haunted Locations Tags: Alton, Illinois, McPike Mansion 10 Comments
The Ghosts of the Baskerville Hall Hotel
In this article we will be taking a look at the ghosts of The Baskerville Hall Hotel in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, that are actually said to have been the inspiration for the famous Arthur Conan Doyle book…
The Hound of The Baskervilles
Baskerville Hall in Hay-on-Wye is the source of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of The Baskervilles. He actually had to relocate The Baskervilles to the Cornwall area in order to protect the local people that were involved in the story.
The Baskervilles and the Vaughan families lived very close together, therefore, numerous marriages happened between their family members.
History informs us that the Vaughan family spent about a decade being terrorised by a black dog, and many believe that this incident was behind Doyle's idea for the book.
However, locals point out that the book could well have been based on an incident that took place on the estate long before the Vaughan family lived in the area…
The Useless Hound
Local legend states that a past master of Baskerville Hall brought in a large hound to tackle the wolf problem he was seeing on the estate.
One night the hound awoke from his slumber only to see a wolf in the distance, and he started barking and growling immediately. His master was alerted by the noise, and grabbed a spear and walked downstairs in the darkness.
He checked the garden area and failed to notice the wolf cowering in the darkness, then turned to his useless hound in anger – this was not the first time the dog had got him out of bed for no reason!
In his rage he stabbed the hound through the head with his spear…then noticed the wolf bolt off into the countryside…
The dog had been right after all.
Locals believe that this dog's spirit has never really left the estate, and has been spotted on numerous occasions, prowling the garden areas looking for intruding animals.
The Wronged Dog
Many paranormal experts take the idea of this phantom dog with a pinch of salt, after all, Wales has it's fair share of 'the wronged dog' legends.
But there are those that believe that this is a solid legend. If you look closely at the coat of arms of the Baskervilles, you will notice the head of a canine being pierced by a spear in it's antique design.
The ghostly hound of Baskerville Hall has plenty of paranormal entities to keep it company during it's rounds…
Many visitors to the hall have reported bumping into an elegant gentleman on the grand staircase. There are also other reports of a gentleman ghost that tends to sit on the balconies of Rooms 3 to 7.
Some historians believe that these two 'gentleman' ghosts are linked to the lady in white that is sometimes spotted in the estate's gardens.
Categories: Haunted Locations Tags: Baskerville Hall Hotel, Dogs, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Wales Leave a comment
Hollywood Sign Ghost Stories – The Lady in White
This article will be covering one of the most famous Hollywood Sign ghost stories around – The Lady in White, thought to be the tragic spirit of Peg Entwistle.
Peg Entwistle
Peg was born in 1908, in a town named Port Talbot in South Wales. Unfortunately her mother died when she was very young and this resulted in her grieving father dragging the family to a new life in the States.
Not long into their American adventure, Peg's father met a new love and had two sons with her (Robert and Milton). Unfortunately tragedy was not finished with the Entwistle family, and Peg's father was struck and killed by a car on Park Avenue.
Port Talbot in South Wales
The two young boys went to live with their uncle, but Peg turned down his offer because she wanted to find fame and fortune in New York.
At the tender age of 17, she managed to make a breakthrough and landed a job with the Boston Repertory Company. She then went on to work in the prestigious Theatre Guild productions of Broadway.
A Sham Marriage
Robert Keith stole Peg's heart in 1927, within months they were married. Unfortunately Keith was a lot older than Peg, and she knew little about his past life.
Peg eventually found out that Keith had actually been married before and even had a 6 year old son, he never mentioned any of this before they tied the knot.
Peg decided that the marriage was a sham, and started divorce proceedings, but Keith managed to get into more trouble with the law. She put the divorce on hold when she bailed him out of prison…but started them back up again as soon as he was a free man.
The Breakthrough?
Peg managed to hit the stage in 1931 with Getting Married and Alice-Sit-by-The-Fire – two popular stage shows. Unfortunately by 1932 the work had dried up, and Peg started to sink into depression.
She was forced to move in with her uncle to make ends meet, and she then managed to pick up a stage part with with Billie Burke in The Mad Hopes.
Unfortunately this stage show only lasted a matter of months before closing down.
Peg's luck then seemed to change when she landed a part in Thirteen Women starring Irene Dunne. Unfortunately the critics had a field day at the movie's screening, and it ended up being re-edited.
Peg slipped further into depression…
On September 18, 1932, an alcohol-fuelled Peg left her uncle's home, and headed to Mount Lee. Once there, she climbed the slope to the famous Hollywood sign.
She then left a suicide note with her coat, and climbed up the ladder that led to the top of the 'H' board…and threw herself off.
She was just 24 years of age.
The Hollywood Sign Ghost Lady in White
The spirit of Peg Entwistle has been spotted on numerous occasions since her tragic suicide. More often than not she is witnessed by hikers and rangers in the Griffin Park area.
The ghost resembles a young, attractive and blonde lady in white that walks sadly around the area in 1930's clothing.
A famous encounter from 1990 came from a couple of young lovers taking their dog for a walk. Suddenly the animal started barking at a wooded area, and a sad looking lady in white walked out. The couple decided to follow the lady for some distance…before she disappeared into thin air!
Griffith park ranger John Arbogast has made numerous reports of encounters with the ghost lady in white, always around the time of midnight when he's on his shift. He believes that scent of gardenias follow her around, and indicate that she is about to make an appearance.
If you have any thoughts or opinions on the ghost of Peg Entwistle, please leave them in the comment section below.
Categories: Haunted Locations Tags: Hollywood, Peg Entwistle, Port Talbot 4 Comments
Ghosts of the London Underground
In this article we will be covering the most (in)famous ghosts of the London Underground, and the areas of the system they are reported to appear…
The London Subterraneans
The London Subterraneans are entities that are based on an old urban legend – they are thought to be a group of Londoners that chose to live underground in the late nineteenth century.
Lack of sunlight and living in dark and damp conditions has apparently led to this group mutating over the years. Incidents involving the subterraneans seem to surface every couple of years. Many people believe that they now survive off the junk food discarded in the underground system.
There are also a number of rumors suggesting that these 'creatures' have feasted on missing night commuters…
The Faceless Woman of Beacontree Station
In 1992 a station employee at E11 (Greater London), Beacontree Station, was working alone in his office when he heard the doorknob begin to rattle. At first he thought it was a joke…but it continued to happen several times.
He eventually stood up and opened the door to find a woman standing there with long blond hair but no face. She had a smooth sort of 'plate' where her facial features were supposed to be.
When he later reported the incident to his superiors he discovered that numerous other underground workers had encountered the Faceless Woman over the years.
The Ghost of Sarah Blackhead
This is apparently the same ghost that haunts the Bank of England – Sarah Blackhead (The Black Nun). In life, Sarah went crazy when she realized that her brother was dead, and returned daily to his office to meet him.
She always turned up in black clothing – which is why she ended up with the nickname The Black Nun.
She has apparently been spotted on numerous occasions in EC2 (Greater London) , Bank Station, Central Line.
The Insane Rebecca Griffiths
EC2 (Greater London), Liverpool Street Station, is apparently haunted by the ghost of Rebecca Griffiths – a former resident of the Hospital of the Star of Bethlehem (a notorious insane asylum).
When she finally passed away, she was buried without the coin she spent most of her life gripping onto. Witnesses now believe that she has returned to haunt the area because she is in search of this beloved coin.
The Phantom Steam Train
During the Second World War, many locals to the Highgate High Level Station reported hearing the sounds of an invisible steam train.
The station was never actually finished, but numerous passers by reported hearing the ghostly sounds of an old fashioned train coming from the area where the track was going to be laid.
Skeptics believe that these sounds are nothing more than floating noises coming from the nearby stations which were active until the 1970.
The 'Repeating' Woman
Numerous commuters in NW1 (Greater London), King's Cross Station, have encountered a distressed woman in one of the corridors leading outside. She always appears to be on her knees with her arms outstretched…crying and screaming away.
Witnesses claim that she appears like an old fashioned reel of film – repeating every couple of seconds…
These phantom monks tend to appear around the Jubilee Line, from Westminster to Stratford, and have been reported hundreds of times since the year 2000.
They are always spotted walking along the tube tracks, silently.
Many locals believe that these monk's grave's were disturbed when the Jubilee line was being constructed, disturbing their peace and resulting in them roaming the underground station.
The Ghosts of the London Underground
Now it's over to you – these are just some of the more well-known phantoms that are spotted in the London Underground system, but have you heard of any others that would compliment this article?
If so we would love to hear from you – please leave your suggestions in the comment section below.
Categories: Haunted Locations Tags: London, London Underground, Tube Stations 6 Comments
The Boggo Road Gaol Ghosts
This article will be covering the Boggo Road Gaol ghosts. Also known as Brisbane Prison, this location is said to be haunted by both former prisoners and a warden/guard…
The Early Years of Boggo Road Gaol
The Boggo Road Gaol opened it's doors to inmates in 1883, after the original Brisbane Prison was finally closed down and demolished. The recycled materials from this first prison were then used to build the newer location.
The new prison was constructed on Bogga Road, Dutton Park, Queensland, Australia. The road got it's rather strange title from the nickname of 'Bolgo' – which came from the fact that the road often turned into a messy bog after a heavy downpour.
In 1903, prison authorities decided to convert a section of the location so that it could be used as a female prison, as well as male. The conversion was a huge success, and the prison ended up replacing the surrounding women's prisons and lockups.
Unfortunately the women of the area seemed to be quite well behaved – and the female section of the prison never really got more than half full.
The male side of the prison was completely overcrowded – so in 1921 the women inmates were moved out, and the male population of prisoners were spread throughout the whole location.
A Dark Place
From the period of 1883 to 1913, 42 inmates were executed at the prison, and then buried in unmarked graves in South Brisbane Cemetery. A lady named Ellen Thompson (nee Lynch) was the only female among the 42.
She was arrested with John Harrison in 1887 and accused of the murder of her second husband, William Thompson. She was found guilty and hung at the Goal.
Unfortunately the executioner had a bit of a bad day, and ended up misjudging the length of the rope. It ended up cutting straight into Thompson's jugular leaving her to bleed a painful death.
Many witnesses claim that her blood splashed out and covered her black dress, and the stones below the gallows.
The prison became headline news in the 1980's when it was taken over by riots and rooftop protests. This prison unrest was down to the terrible conditions at the Goal.
The authorities looked into the location and decided that the conditions were indeed too poor for the inmates – Boggo Road Gaol closed its doors in 1992.
The prison location is now said to be haunted by the 'pet' of the establishment in the 1970's – a cat named 'Tripod'.
Numerous visitors to the site have witnessed the strange three-legged black and white cat rub up against them, then casually disappear into the darkness as it walks away.
It is also known to house the ghost of Ernest Austin. Austin was a terrible man who was convicted of the rape and murder of eleven year old Ivy Mitchell. When he stood on the executioner's block, he informed the public that he would be back to haunt the building forever more.
His ghost is often spotted in the Division 2 area of the prison.
Many of the locals also believe that the spirit of warder Officer Bernard Ralph walks the dark halls. He was an unfortunate prison employee that ended up being killed at the Goal…by a metal bar wielding prisoner.
Categories: Haunted Locations Tags: Australia, Boggo Road Gaol, Brisbane Prison, Dutton Park, Prison, Queensland 4 Comments
The Ghosts of The Cowra POW Breakout
This article will be taking a look at the paranormal activity linked to the Cowra POW breakout from August the 5th, 1944, when over 1100 Japanese prisoners of war tried their best to break out of a prison camp in New South Wales, Australia…
Cowra
Cowra prison camp opened it's doors in June 1941 for it's first inmates – Italians.
Initially, the site was pretty basic, and the prisoners had to sleep out in tents. Their first 'hard labor' job was to construct weatherboard huts that they would later move into in 1942.
The first Japanese prisoner was named Toyoshima Hajime – he was apparently captured by aborigines after he had to make an emergency landing in his damaged warplane.
More Japanese followed and ended up in Compound B…an area that soon got completely overcrowded.
The Italian prisoners seemed to get on well with their captors, but the Japanese POW's did not. They saw their capture as nothing more than a violation of traditional and ethic codes.
Initially, the security at Cowra was pretty light – mainly made up of disabled veterans and newbie soldiers. This light security continued until news of a Japanese riot in Featherston POW camp in New Zealand, forced the army authorities to up their game.
Vickers and Lewis machine guns were installed all around the Australian prison camp…
The Cowra Prison Breakout
The Cowra guards became aware of the Japanese breakout plan when a Korean prisoner decided to 'back-stab' them on the third of June, 1944.
He informed the security authorities that the Japanese POW's were planning on storming the garrison, taking the weapons and escaping.
The authorities hastily decided to move the younger generation of Japanese soldiers to a new camp, as a way of splitting up the prisoner's plans. The Japanese were informed of this course of action on the day before it was due to be carried out.
At 1:58 am on the 5th, a bugle was sounded as the Japanese prisoners from compound 'B' charged the perimeter armed with improvised weapons. They were also equipped with blankets which they used to get over the sharp steel barbed wire fences.
Only 359 POW's managed to escape…but they were rounded up and recaptured within ten days of the prison break.
It is reported that 231 Japanese inmates were mowed down by machine gun fire during the escape – the Australian's lost 4 prison soldiers in total.
These days the Cowra site, along with it's buildings, is nothing more than a ruin…but it is reported to be one of the most haunted locations in the country.
Over the years there have been numerous reports of Japanese music softly playing on the wind, after nightfall. A large number of visitors to the area have also reported hearing footsteps shadowing them, as they walk through the ruins.
Many psychics have visited the camp, and continually reinforce the belief that it is indeed haunted by the dead Japanese soldiers.
If you have any thoughts or opinions on the Cowra POW breakout, please leave them in the comment section below.
Categories: Haunted Locations, Modern Hauntings Tags: Australia, Cowra, New South Wales, Prisoners 4 Comments
Fremantle Arts Centre – Paranormal Activity
This article will be covering what many people refer to as 'the most haunted building in Western Australia' – the Fremantle Arts Centre.
Originally used as a overcrowded and underfunded psychiatric hospital, this location seems to be a hot spot for paranormal activity…
Convict Establishment Lunatic Asylum and Invalid Depot
Quite a mouthful, isn't it?
Yet this was the original title given to the Fremantle Arts Centre back in 1864. It was set up out of necessity, as the original asylum was completely outdated and overflowing with unfortunate patients.
It has been reported that some of these patients, ended up in the local prison system, as this was the only way the local authorities could give them a bed!
It was originally set up to house no more than 50 patients, but it was soon expanded to accommodate many more inmates.
It is thought that the building had to expand during the gold rush of the 1890's – eventually taking in prostitutes, the elderly, and minefield workers who were suffering from extreme sunstroke.
The Death of Catherine Clifford
The building hit the headlines in Australia for all the wrong reasons, in the year 1900.
A woman named Catherine Clifford ended up in one of it's rooms after she had gone missing for days, and seemed to be a little confused when found.
On September the 25th, Mrs Clifford's husband visited her and found her in a terrible state. She had been beaten severely by the patient who shared a room with her.
Three days later Mr Clifford recieved the following telegram:
"Your wife died this afternoon reply re burial" J.W. Hope, acting superintending medical officer.
There was total confusion over her death – some people believed that she had died when falling down the main stairs in the building…whilst many others believed she died as a result of her injuries from the beating.
The authorities finally got involved and found out that the patients in the asylum were living a miserable life – it was completely overcrowded and in some cases, over 17 people were stuffed into one room!
They also uncovered information on another suspicious death that had taken place there, and decided to close the facility.
It took several years to relocate all of the unfortunate inmates.
The building was set to be demolished, but instead ended up being turned into a woman's home in 1909.
In 1955 it was refurbished and given a new purpose – the The Fremantle Arts Centre.
The large amount of paranormal activity that takes place in the centre is attributed to the suicides and suspicious deaths that took place when it was an asylum.
Cold spots are commonly felt, sounds of crying, laughter and yelling have been heard on occasion.
There have been several reports from visitors who claim that they have been tenderly kissed on the cheek whilst walking through the first floor (the main floor that seems to attract the most reports of paranormal activity).
The most famous apparition at the centre is that of a woman who lived there after her daughter was kidnapped.
She became heavily depressed when the authorities failed to locate her child and committed suicide by throwing herself through the first floor window.
Numerous reports claim to have seen this ghostly woman walking through the halls of the building, searching in vain for her missing daughter.
If you have any thoughts or opinions on the paranormal activity linked to the Fremantle Arts Centre, please leave them in the comment section below.
Categories: Haunted Locations, Modern Hauntings Tags: Fremantle Arts Centre, Insane Asylums, Western Australia 4 Comments


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FBI 1, Apple 1: Congress To Step In?
Wednesday March 2, 2016
This week a judge in New York ruled in a case similar to the San Bernardino case that Apple should not be compelled to do work for the government against its will, in these cases providing a back door to its encrypted products. Both the FBI and Apple were on the Hill this week to present their sides of the case, and Congress will likely soon step in to try and settle the dispute. Does anyone think Congress will come down on the side of privacy over government snooping? Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-IL) has given us a clue which side Congress will come down on when he told Apple's lawyers, "I warn you, you won't like what comes out of Congress." What to expect from Congress? Tune in to the Liberty Report...
Migrant Crisis: The End Of The EU?
Greece is wracked by financial meltdown but is hosting tens of thousands of migrants who are blocked from their intended journey northward. Calais in France is home to makeshift refugee camps where thousands hope to travel to the UK. The EU social welfare system attracts migrants from poorer regions, but Brussels following Washington's policy of destabilizing the Middle East has resulted in a perfect storm of hundreds of thousands seeking a better life in relatively rich Europe. Brussels is demanding that all EU Member states take in tens of thousands of migrants to share the burden equally. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban is resisting such demands and has called a referendum to let Hungarians decide if they want to take in migrants. Brussels is furious. Will this migrant crisis be the final undoing of the European Union? Tune in to today's Liberty Report...
Guantanamo Travesty: A Consequence Of Unconstitutional War
President Obama has made his final effort to fulfill a campaign promise to close down the US detention facility at the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba, sending Congress a plan that would see a new facility constructed in the US to house those of the 91 remaining prisoners who were not cleared for release. The plan is dead in the water in Congress, however, as Republicans in charge of the House and Senate have signaled a refusal to even work with the president on the issue. But this political tussle over the facility is in reality just a sideshow. Neither side wants to bring up the flawed and anti-American nature of Guantanamo and the undeclared and vague "war on terror" that prompted its creation. On the Liberty Report, however, that is precisely what we are interested in...
Syria Ceasefire: More War Or Chance For Peace?
Washington's hawks are already trashing the Syria ceasefire deal that the US and Russia presented yesterday. The Russians will never honor their agreement, they argue. Nevertheless the agreement offers some slight hope that the five year war might be coming to a close -- but only if some of the dangerous ambiguities in the agreement are spelled out properly. What else will have to change if this deal has any chance? Tune in to the Liberty Report to find out...
Will Syria Ceasefire Deal End War, or Lead to Nuclear Exchange?
As co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group, the US and Russia announced yesterday an agreement on the "cessation of hostilities" in Syria that is scheduled to go into effect at midnight on February 27th. According to the agreement, the militaries of the US-led coalition, Russia, and Syria would at that point cease hostile acts against opposition groups not named in UN Security Council Resolution 2254 (ISIS and al-Qaeda's Nusra Front) who "indicate to the Russian Federation or the United States...their commitment to and acceptance of the terms for the cessation of hostilities."
In other words, opposition groups who agree to this deal and have not been named "terrorist" by the UN will not be targeted militarily and will in turn agree to stop trying to take territory by means of force. The US, Russia, Syria, and their allies have agreed to the same.
The Syrian government was not a party to the negotiations, but presumably the Russians have impressed upon Damascus the need to accept the agreement.
As to the changes on the ground one might logically foresee once the agreement is in place, it is difficult to see how much will change from the Russian perspective. Russia has claimed that it has concentrated its bombing campaign on ISIS and elements of al-Qaeda in Syria, and it has already reached out to cooperate with several moderate opposition groups. Russia contends that it will continue to bomb ISIS and Nusra unabated -- permitted by the agreement -- and both the ISIS "capital" Raqqa and the Nusra stronghold Aleppo are on the verge of liberation by the Syrian army with Russian backing.
CIA Sends Torture Report Down Memory Hole
Why is the Justice Department trying to keep the Senate report on CIA torture under wraps? The same reason the CIA officer in charge of the torture program gave when he ordered the torture tapes destroyed: "the heat from destroying [the torture videos] is nothing compared to what it would be if the tapes ever got into the public domain." As it stands, not even government officials with the required security clearances are allowed to read the report. So much for oversight! More on this travesty on today's Liberty Report...
Reading Ron Paul in Beijing
Friday February 19, 2016
What a thrill it was for Dr. Paul to receive an email the other day from a young scholar and translator in Shanghai, China, to inform him that the Chinese language version of his very important book, Pillars of Prosperity, was now available on Amazon China! Imagine the power of these ideas in the hands of millions of Chinese!
As Ron Paul has said so many times, the ideas of liberty are popular. But they are not only popular here in the US. As we noticed when we started the Ron Paul Institute, support for peace and prosperity comes from every corner of the globe. Ours is a worldwide phenomenon and many of you are reading this message from Germany, Australia, Chile, Japan, and elsewhere -- in addition to every state in the US.
FBI vs. Apple: Is Liberty At Stake?
The FBI wants Apple to create software that will allow the Feds to break into the latest iPhones. Ironically, Apple upgraded its iPhone encryption as a result of the Snowden revelations about government spying on innocent Americans. The pretext for the government's demand is that the San Bernardino attackers used iPhones and the FBI needs to see their data. The mainstream media, as usual, takes the side of government and along with officials like Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) is demonizing Apple for resisting what amounts to forced conscription of Apple engineers for the US government. What is really at stake? Another government grab at our Constitutional liberties under the guise of "keeping us safe." How many terrorist plots has the FBI foiled through the use of surveillance on the rest of us? Zero. More today on the Liberty Report...
Supreme Court - The Soft Tyranny Of Judicial Review
Preservation of our civil liberties are very much tied up in the Constitutional separation of powers. We see daily in both the Legislative and Executive Branches the distortion and dysfunction of this important concept, where presidents legislate by Executive Order and Congress ignores its obligations regarding the use of military force. In the Judicial Branch this distortion of separation of powers occurs under the concept of "judicial review," which is the misguided idea that the courts somehow have veto power on actions by the other branches of government. What should the Supreme Court really look like if we are to preserve our liberties? Today's Liberty Report takes a look...
Turkey Bombing Syria - The Start Of Something Big?
After four days of bombing US allies in Syria -- the Kurdish YPG militia -- the Turkish government is now requesting that the US begin a ground invasion of Syria. Saudi fighter jets have reportedly arrived in Turkey to take part in the invasion if the US agrees. Meanwhile, the US has asked the Turks to stop bombing Washington's Kurd allies. And Turkey is also bombing Russian-backed Syrian government forces. We try to unravel this all in today's Liberty Report...