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Manafort faces a pair of sentencing hearings in the coming weeks in Virginia and in Washington where judges will determine what punishment he should face in two separate criminal cases brought by Mueller’s office involving tax fraud, bank fraud, unregistered lobbying for a foreign government and witness tampering.
The new court submission in Washington released on Saturday makes no explicit recommendation about how much prison time Manafort should serve, but urges U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson to consider making the longtime political consultant and lobbyist serve a total sentence in the roughly 17-to-22-year range by making her sentence consecutive to one a Virginia judge is expected to impose ahead of her early next month.
Jackson has the power in her case to sentence Manafort to up to ten years: the maximum allowed by law for the conspiracy and obstruction of justice crimes he pleaded guilty to before her last year as part of plea deal.
Last week, Mueller’s prosecutors told U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis in Alexandria that sentencing guidelines applicable to Manafort’s case there call for him to serve between 19 and a half and 24 and a half years in prison. The prosecution team also made no explicit recommendation for a sentence in that case, beyond urging that the punishment be “serious” and adequate to deter others from similar conduct.
In theory, Ellis could sentence Manafort to as long as 80 years in prison on the charges of tax fraud, bank fraud and failing to report foreign bank accounts that he was convicted of at a high-profile jury trial last August.
Based on his relevant sentencing conduct, Manafort presents many aggravating sentencing factors and no warranted mitigating factors. Manafort committed an array of felonies for over a decade, up through the fall of 2018. Manafort chose repeatedly and knowingly to violate the law— whether the laws proscribed garden-variety crimes such as tax fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and bank fraud, or more esoteric laws that he nevertheless was intimately familiar with, such as the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). His criminal actions were bold, some of which were committed while under a spotlight due to his work as the campaign chairman and, later, while he was on bail from this Court. And the crimes he engaged in while on bail were not minor; they went to the heart of the criminal justice system, namely, tampering with witnesses so he would not be held accountable for his crimes. Even after he purportedly agreed to cooperate with the government in September 2018, Manafort, as this court found, lied to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), this office, and the grand jury. His deceit, which is a fundamental component of the crimes of conviction and relevant conduct, extended to tax preparers, bookkeepers, banks, the Treasury Department, the Department of Justice National Security Division, the FBI, the Special Counsel’s Office, the grand jury, his own legal counsel, Members of Congress, and members of the executive branch of the United States government. In sum, upon release from jail, Manafort presents a grave risk of recidivism. Specific deterrence is thus at its height, as is general deterrence of those who would engage in comparable concerted criminal conduct.
"There's a gender imbalance in many African-American neighborhoods. Mass incarceration is largely to blame."
The current federal system awards good time credit — 15 percent — for all prisoners who behave. That means for every year done in prison, you receive 54 days off in good time credit.
For a long time, the Bureau of Prisons only gave 47 days of credit, but the First Step Act told BOP that 15 percent was really 15 percent and prisoners should get the full 54 days. Even with this directive, BOP has refused to give this credit, saying that there is an error in the statute, and has asked for Congress to reiterate that it really wants the 54 days of credit applied. This is completely absurd, and both parties agree that this should be fixed immediately. In addition to fixing the 54-day issue, there is one additional modest (and hopefully non-controversial) proposal that should be included.
As it stands, federal prisoners only receive good time credit if they are sentenced to more than a year of prison. That means that if you are sentenced to a year and a day, you will receive 15 percent off with good time and serve about 10 months; however, if you receive a sentence of exactly one year in prison, no such good time credit will be applied, and you will serve that year day for day.
That means that the prisoner who receives a longer sentence of a year and a day will serve less time than someone who is sentenced to a year or 11 months. It makes no sense. Those who are sentenced to the lowest sentences — the lowest-risk offenders — should get the most benefit for good time, not the other way around.
Brennan Center produces policy brief on "Ending Mass Incarceration: A Presidential Agenda"
For many voters, the past two years have brought a new awareness of profound, continuing injustices in American society. Among them is the civil rights crisis of mass incarceration. Even with recent reforms, more than two million Americans remain behind the bars of jails or prisons. Black men and women are imprisoned at roughly six times the rate of their white counterparts. The overuse of incarceration perpetuates economic and racial inequality, two issues at the top of the public concern.
Going into the 2020 election, contenders for the Democratic nomination — and the Republican incumbent — must have a plan to meet these challenges, or risk being out of step with the American people.
This report delineates how that can be done, outlining policies that would slash America’s incarceration rate, put people back to work, and reduce racial disparities in the process, while keeping the country safe. These solutions can be a transformative piece of a presidential campaign and help define a new president’s legacy.
Some consensus for these changes already exists. Late last year, Congress ended years of deadlock over federal sentencing reform by passing the FIRST STEP Act, which will reduce some of the most extreme and unjust sentences in the federal criminal code. These changes will put families back together, make prison more humane, and help restore trust in law enforcement.
But the bill also raises the bar for any candidates seeking the Oval Office. President Trump is already treating the act as a signature accomplishment, touting it among his top achievements in his State of the Union address. Candidates who are serious about combating racial and economic injustice — and want voters to know it — will have to think bigger.
Rather than focusing on individual reforms, candidates for the presidency should commit to tackling some of the most pervasive and damaging parts of our criminal justice system, including overly punitive sentences, bail practices that favor the rich, and drug policies that unfairly target people of color. These aren’t intractable problems, but they do call for sweeping changes, far more than what has been introduced to date. And enacting these in Washington can also spur more states to take action.
Incremental reforms will not make the history books. The time for bold action is now, and this report outlines precisely the type of transformative solutions that candidates can champion to define their campaign or cement their legacy.
The report includes a number of large and small action items, all of which are interesting and important and all of which I hope get robustly discussed on the campaign trail. The report has all prompted me to start a new blog category: "Campaign 2020 and sentencing issues."
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Public to hold public briefing on "Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars"
The Commission will examine consequences of discipline practices in women’s prisons and the impact on families when women are placed far from home or parental rights are terminated despite their caregiving role.
Commissioners will hear from women who have experienced incarceration, state and federal corrections officials, academic and legal experts, and advocates. Members of the public will be able to address the Commission in an open comment session. The Commission will accept written materials for consideration as we prepare our report; submit to womeninprison@usccr.gov no later than March 25, 2019.
This briefing will be live-streamed at this link, and the panelists' submitted written testimony are available here.
Making a robust case for "Sending Our Prisoners to College"
At the heart of conservative thinking are the tenets of individual dignity, public safety, family values, and fiscal prudence. Yet far too often, society fails to apply these principles to the criminal justice system. As a result, our current correctional system is failing all of us. It is clear that something must change.
We have a choice to make: we can let incarcerated individuals sit behind bars — isolated and idle — or we can take steps to provide education to incarcerated individuals who, as a result, will be more employable, stable members of our society when they are released.
The idea of educating incarcerated individuals has been met with strong opposition from those who question why Americans should be taxed so that those behind bars — who have done something wrong — receive a benefit. This sentiment led to the elimination of Pell Grants for prisoners in 1994. Pell Grants exist to provide all students with financial need with aid for college. Without financial support from these grants, the number of postsecondary prison programs plummeted from 772 programs to just 8 within three years.
By the late 2000s, individuals on both sides of the aisle began to recognize that prison systems were not stopping the continuing tide of crime. A more effective solution was needed to address the growing prison population. Finally, in summer 2015, the U.S. Department of Education announced the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program as part of the Experimental Sites Initiative. This program allowed some colleges to apply to pilot the use of Pell Grants to increase access to postsecondary education in correctional facilities, with the federal government evaluating the academic and life outcomes of those who received postsecondary education.
We are now over two years into the experiment. It is still too early to assess the initiative’s impact on recidivism rates. However, removing barriers has increased enrollment: from fall 2016 to fall 2017, enrollment at Second Chance Pell experimental sites increased by 236 percent. As of fall 2017, over 954 postsecondary credentials have been awarded, giving incarcerated individuals a better chance of obtaining employment through career technical certificates as well as two- and four-year degree programs. Both the Trump administration and many leaders in the Republican Party have expressed interest in the program.
Practically speaking, postsecondary courses give incarcerated individuals something to do and help corrections personnel create a structured routine for participants. These factors reduce the chance that prisoners will fill their time with less productive (and potentially criminal) activities. Ultimately, postsecondary education can make the difficult job of corrections both easier and safer — for staff as well as those behind bars.
Many people, and especially conservatives, have an instinctual bias against paying for prisoners’ education. Yet the reality is we already pay a high cost — fiscal, social, and personal — because we do not educate most prisoners. Indeed, the cost of an education is insignificant when compared to the costs our society suffers from criminal activity. Postsecondary education may require an upfront investment, but it’s one that will reduce the fiscal burden of government in the long run.
Our correctional system is in crisis. Ten thousand individuals are released from prison every week, many of whom are wholly unprepared for the world they will enter. Our public safety, families, and economy are undermined when released individuals resort to crime. We have tried building more prisons, increasing sentences, and making confinement more punitive. But time and again, this “tough on crime” approach has not worked. Instead, it has proven not only a fiscally wasteful policy that threatens public safety and family cohesion, but an affront to basic human dignity.
Supporting prison education does not mean being “soft on crime.” Rather, it is one of the clearest, cheapest, and most effective methods to get control over crime and make our correctional facilities safer. It paves the way for new family legacies based on education, productive labor, and prosperity, creating positive generational effects for years to come.
Conservatives should lead the way on repairing our broken criminal justice system. Study after study has identified the provision of postsecondary education in prisons as a promising approach to preventing crime and to facilitating future economic opportunity. The Second Chance Pell Pilot Program has created an opportunity to provide much-needed educational programs to incarcerated individuals. And, by expanding access to prison education programs, we can move toward an approach that embraces redemption, compassion, and second chances — and benefits society as a whole.
Recent criminal justice reform efforts have focused on electing progressive prosecutors to implement change, such as the reduction of cash bail as a requirement for pretrial release. However, critics worry that removing cash bail will decrease accountability and increase failure-to-appear in court.
We test this by looking at the effects of the No-Cash-Bail reform policy initiated by Philadelphia’s recently elected District Attorney, Larry Krasner. Under this policy, the DA’s office stopped requesting cash bail for defendants charged with a large variety of different offenses, both misdemeanor and felony. This policy led to an immediate 23% increase (12 percentage points) in the fraction of eligible defendants released with no monetary or other conditions (ROR), and a 22% (5 percentage points) decrease in the fraction of defendants who spent at least one night in jail, but no detectable difference for longer jail stays. The main effect of this policy was therefore to reduce the use of collateral to incentivize court appearance.
In spite of this large decrease in the fraction of defendants having monetary incentives to show up to court, we detect no change in failure-to-appear in court or in recidivism, suggesting that reductions in the use of monetary bail can be made without significant adverse consequences. These results also demonstrate the role of prosecutors in determining outcomes over which they have no direct authority, such as setting bail.
"Mandatory Minimums, Crime, and Drug Abuse: Lessons Learned, Paths Ahead"
In the 1970s, frustrated with an intolerable crime wave and unprecedented drug abuse, New York, Michigan, and Florida tried a new solution. Their theory was clear: harsh mandatory sentences would scare drug users into getting clean, deter would-be drug dealers from entering the trade, and incarcerate kingpins and major players who could not then continue to bring drugs into the state. Leaders in each state were confident that their proposed solution would finally be the one that worked.
More than 40 years later, New York and Michigan recognized that the solution in which their leaders had such sincere confidence could no longer be justified by evidence, data, or experience, and repealed their mandatory minimum drug laws. Those repeals were possible only after policymakers were honest about the failure of their solution to deliver on its promises.
Florida, however, has so far refused to join the emerging consensus in favor of mandatory minimum drug law reform. In spite of overwhelming evidence, Florida still clings to the same solution to drug abuse that has failed the state for 40 years, and continues to ignore the costly unintended consequences of its continued reliance on this failed strategy. Like New York and Michigan, attempts to reform Florida’s mandatory minimum drug laws are invariably met with dire predictions of doom and gloom, and Chicken Little-style warnings that without mandatory minimums Florida risks inviting 1970s-level crime once again.
The question presented: Is the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause an “incorporated” protection applicable to the States under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause? Like the Eighth Amendment’s proscriptions of “cruel and unusual punishment” and “[e]xcessive bail,” the protection against excessive fines guards against abuses of government’s punitive or criminallaw-enforcement authority. This safeguard, we hold, is “fundamental to our scheme of ordered liberty,” with “dee[p] root[s] in [our] history and tradition.” McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U. S. 742, 767 (2010) (internal quotation marks omitted; emphasis deleted). The Excessive Fines Clause is therefore incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Notably, the Court in Timbs does not address the subsequent issue of whether seizure of Tyson Timbs' Land Rover SUV Timbs constituted an excessive fine (as lower courts in Indiana had found). The Supreme Court was just content to resolve this incorporation issue.
Notably, Justice Gorsuch issued a concurring opinion and Justice Clarence Thomas issued an opinion concurring in the judgment in Timbs, and they are both writing separately to engage the issue of just how the Excessive Fines Clause should be incorporated against the states. Justice Thomas makes, through an extended opinion, this fundamental incorporation point that he has raised before: "Instead of reading the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause to encompass a substantive right that has nothing to do with 'process,' I would hold that the right to be free from excessive fines is one of the 'privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States' protected by the Fourteenth Amendment." Justice Gorsuch engages in a short opinion stating "As an original matter, I acknowledge, the appropriate vehicle for incorporation may well be the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities Clause, rather than, as this Court has long assumed, the Due Process Clause. "
Pressed on whether he personally supports the death penalty, DeWine paused. Seeming to choose his words carefully, he then said he was a sponsor of Ohio’s current capital punishment law, which took effect in 1981. “It is the law of the state of Ohio. And I’ll let it go [not comment further] at this point. We are seeing clearly some challenges that you have all reported on in regard to carrying out the death penalty. But I’m not going to go further down that path any more today,” he said.
DeWine, a Republican, ordered a review of Ohio’s death penalty protocols last month after a federal magistrate judge wrote that Ohio’s method of carrying out executions would subject a condemned Ohio prisoner to “severe pain and needless suffering.” Judge Michael Merz wrote Ohio could proceed with the execution, since the inmate, Warren Henness, did not produce an alternative that is ”available,” “feasible,” and can be “readily implemented,” required under a 2015 United States Supreme Court ruling that upheld lethal injection.
Ohio’s method of execution is to inject the condemned with a combination of three drugs: midazolam (as a sedative), a paralytic drug, and potassium chloride to stop their heart. Death penalty opponents have challenged similar methods in other states, saying they are unconstitutional because they cause cruel and unusual punishment.
DeWine’s review marks the second time in five years Ohio has searched for a new method of execution. The state changed the drugs it uses for lethal injection after the January 2014 execution of Dennis B. McGuire took more than 25 minutes.
Ohio had some two dozen execution dates scheduled over the next four years, but I think they are all now functionally on hold pending development of a new execution method. And, reading between the lines, I get the sense that Governor DeWine would be just fine if the state official did not try all that hard to devise a new execution method anytime soon.
When this case was before us two years ago, I wrote in dissent that the majority’s articulation of how courts should enforce the requirements of Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), lacked clarity. Moore v. Texas, 581 U.S. ___, ___–___ (2017) (slip op., at 10–11). It still does. But putting aside the difficulties of applying Moore in other cases, it is easy to see that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals misapplied it here. On remand, the court repeated the same errors that this Court previously condemned — if not quite in haec verba, certainly in substance. The court repeated its improper reliance on the factors articulated in Ex parte Briseno, 135 S.W.3d 1, 8 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004), and again emphasized Moore’s adaptive strengths rather than his deficits. That did not pass muster under this Court’s analysis last time. It still doesn’t. For those reasons, I join the Court’s opinion reversing the judgment below.
There is a whole lot here to notice, but I think especially important and notable is the fact that the newest Justice, Justice Kavanaugh, is with the majority of the Court and not the dissenters here. Because of the Chief Justice's vote, Justice Kavanaugh is not technically a swing vote in this capital case. But his vote still reveals that, unlike Justices Alito and Thomas (and even seemingly Justice Gorsuch), Justice Kavanaugh may be more inclined to scrutinize state capital practices than certain of his conservative colleagues.
Signed into law during the closing days of 2018, the bipartisan First Step Act expands rehabilitative programming, modifies some mandatory minimum laws to provide more proportional sentencing, and provides a second chance to people like [Matthew] Charles who’ve worked hard to transform their lives while in prison.... The law is also acting as a catalyst for states that haven’t yet reformed their criminal justice systems.
Congress should apply three of the law’s sentencing changes retroactively, to help people who received overly harsh sentences under outdated policies and pass other front-end reforms that prioritize prison beds for dangerous criminals while addressing low-level, nonviolent offenses through treatment and other programs that better serve this population.
In addition, Congress should codify the Supreme Court ruling that requires prosecutors share all of the information that they have about the alleged crime with the accused at the outset the case. Lawmakers can also address our over-incarceration epidemic by clarifying criminal intent standards and working to rein in our bloated federal criminal code and regulatory code, under which virtually anyone can be charged with a crime.
The Trump administration can act on its own to reform the executive clemency process to create second chances for people who wouldn’t necessarily qualify for relief under the First Step Act.
States can parallel many of these federal actions by removing barriers for people with criminal records. More “Clean Slate” laws, like the one enacted in Pennsylvania last year, will create second chances for people by unblocking them from jobs, housing, and education.
Businesses can help transform lives and enable people to contribute to their communities by hiring qualified candidates with criminal records. I’m proud to work for Koch Industries, which hires people with criminal records and recently signed the Getting Talent Back to Work pledge with the Society for Human Resource Management to end outdated, non-inclusive hiring practices.
We believe, as Winston Churchill did, in “an unfaltering faith that there is a treasure, if you can only find it, in the heart of every man.” We all share a moral imperative to help find and unlock that treasure, to unleash the potential in everyone.
If we all do our part, we can bridge the partisan divide and build on the great foundation provided by the First Step Act. It’s time to take the next steps on criminal justice reform, this year and beyond.
"A World of Steel-Eyed Death': An Empirical Evaluation of the Failure of the Strickland Standard to Ensure Adequate Counsel to Defendants with Mental Disabilities Facing the Death Penalty"
Anyone who has been involved with death penalty litigation in the past four decades knows that one of the most scandalous aspects of that process — in many ways, the most scandalous — is the inadequacy of counsel so often provided to defendants facing execution. By now, virtually anyone with even a passing interest is well versed in the cases and stories about sleeping lawyers, missed deadlines, alcoholic and disoriented lawyers, and, more globally, lawyers who simply failed to vigorously defend their clients. This is not news.
And, in the same vein, anyone who has been so involved with this area of law and policy for the past 35 years knows that it is impossible to make sense of any of these developments without a deep understanding of the Supreme Court’s decision in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), the case that established a pallid, virtually-impossible-to fail test for adequacy of counsel in such litigation. Again, this is not news.
We also know that some of the most troubling results in Strickland interpretations have come in cases in which the defendant was mentally disabled — either by serious mental illness or by intellectual disability. Some of the decisions in these cases — rejecting Strickland-based appeals — have been shocking, making a mockery out of a constitutionally based standard.
To the best of our knowledge, no one has — prior to this article — undertaken an extensive empirical analysis of how one discrete US federal circuit court of appeals has dealt with a wide array of Strickland-claim cases in cases involving defendants with mental disabilities. We do this here. In this article, we reexamine these issues from the perspective of the 198 state cases decided in the Fifth Circuit from 1984 to 2017 involving death penalty verdicts in which, at some stage of the appellate process, a Strickland claim was made (in which there were only 13 cases in which any relief was even preliminarily granted under Strickland). As we demonstrate subsequently, Strickland is indeed a pallid standard, fostering “tolerance of abysmal lawyering,” and is one that makes a mockery of the most vital of constitutional law protections: the right to adequate counsel.
This article will proceed in this way. First, we discuss the background of the development of counsel adequacy in death penalty cases. Next, we look carefully at Strickland, and the subsequent Supreme Court cases that appear — on the surface — to bolster it in this context. We then consider multiple jurisprudential filters that we believe must be taken seriously if this area of the law is to be given any authentic meaning. Next, we will examine and interpret the data that we have developed, looking carefully at what happened after the Strickland-ordered remand in the 13 Strickland “victories.” Finally, we will look at this entire area of law through the filter of therapeutic jurisprudence, and then explain why and how the charade of adequacy of counsel law fails miserably to meet the standards of this important school of thought.
In this post on Friday, I mentioned that I consider the statutory changes to the so-called compassionate release provisions in federal law to the "sleeper provisions" of the FIRST STEP Act. This four-page FAMM document, titled "Compassionate Release and the First Step Act: Then and Now," reviews some basics of the changes made by the FIRST STEP Act, and on page 3 one finds this account of what I think is a very big deal: "The most significant change to compassionate release is that the Act provides prisoners the power to file a motion for compassionate release if they can demonstrate they have tried and failed to convince the BOP to do so for them. Before passage of the First Step Act a denial by the BOP was not appealable." In other words, courts rather than the BOP are now ultimately to decide who may merit a reduced "term of imprisonment" under 18 USC 3582(c)(1)(A)(i).
To focus on the statutory language, prior to the FIRST STEP Act, a federal judge under 3582(c)(1)(A)(i) needed to first receive a "motion of the Director of the Bureau of Prisons" in order to have authority to "reduce the term of imprisonment [based on] extraordinary and compelling reasons [that] warrant such a reduction." The BOP was notoriously stingy about filing such motions (with only about .01% of inmates benefiting), and the program was, in the words of the Justice Department's Inspector General, "poorly managed and implemented inconsistently." Now persons in federal prisons still need to request the support of BOP for such a motion, but courts can now consider a sentence reduction "upon motion of the defendant" based on a claim that "extraordinary and compelling reasons warrant such a reduction" if BOP refuses move the court or 30 days after making the request. Importantly, the US Sentencing Commission has set forth a (reasonably expansive) policy statement concerning criteria for compassionate release via USSG 1B1.13, but it will now be fundamentally the province of the federal courts to develop jurisprudence on what should be deemed "extraordinary and compelling reasons" warranting a sentence reduction under 18 USC 3582(c)(1)(A)(i).
I plan to do a series of posts explaining why I think a number of different criteria ought to meet the (textually vague) requirements of "extraordinary and compelling reasons." For this first post in this series, I will focus on suggestions by the Justice Department's Inspector General when he testified on this issue back in 2016 before the US Sentencing Commission. Specifically, in testimony to the USSC, IG Michael Horowitz suggested that BOP make inmates eligible for consideration for compassionate release starting at age 50. According to the latest BOP data, there are currently nearly 35,000 persons in federal prison aged 51 or older. Of course, the IG did not call for early release of all post-50 prisoners, but he did urge: "Within that larger pool of eligible aging inmates, we believe the BOP could further identify more aging inmates whose offenses, criminal histories, conduct in prison, and release plans make them suitable candidates for compassionate release, resulting in reduced overcrowding and cost savings to the Justice Department and the BOP." As explained above, it would seem that it is now appropriate for the courts, and not just BOP, to take an active and ongoing role in deciding who among the 35,000 are "suitable candidates for compassionate release."
Importantly, ill prisoners as well as elderly prisoners should be ready candidates for compassionate release (and these two groups surely overlap). The latest BOP data here on medical placement shows that more than 5000 federal prisoners are in "care level" 3 or 4 facilities, and "Care Level 4 facilities are reserved for inmates who require daily nursing care or therapy." As the IG explained to the USSC in his testimony three years ago, beyond the humanitarian value of allowing ill persons to receive treatment outside of prison facilities, releasing ill prisoners helps "reduce overcrowding in the federal prison system" and can "result in cost savings for the BOP" and in turn the federal taxpayer.
Even if we imagine only 10 percent of elderly and ill federal inmates are "suitable candidates for compassionate release," we still could be looking at a means for releasing many thousands of federal prisoners in relatively short order. I fear, because these provisions are unfamiliar, that courts may not start making robust use of compassionate release right away. But I hope they will, and I especially hope that federal prisoners and their advocates will press this important new frontier for federal sentencing improvements.
Can judges, legally or functionally, actually refuse to allow a prosecutor to drop or dismiss charges as an exercise of discretion?
The judges on the city’s top court have decided to block Norfolk’s chief prosecutor from essentially decriminalizing marijuana possession, a setback he’s thinking about appealing to the state Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, prosecutors under Commonwealth’s Attorney Greg Underwood went to court for at least the third time to try to drop or dismiss misdemeanor marijuana charges. Prosecuting people for having marijuana disproportionately hurts black people and does little to protect public safety, he’s said.
For the third time, a judge rebuffed them, and told prosecutors she’s not alone, but joined by her seven colleagues. “We are of one mind on this,” Circuit Judge Mary Jane Hall said.
Underwood’s change on marijuana possession is part of his larger effort to bring what he calls criminal justice reform to Norfolk. In a Jan. 3 letter to judges, the police chief and other public safety officials, he announced he would support ending cash bail in many cases and seeking more equal sentences between prostitutes and their clients.
On Tuesday, Hall denied Fatehi’s motion to dismiss charges against Zemont Vaughan. The 24-year-old Norfolk man, who is black, had been convicted in a lower court in October, but on Tuesday, he went to the higher Circuit Court to appeal that conviction.
Prosecutors’ motions to dismiss or drop charges are typically formalities. They don’t generally like giving up on cases, so when they make what amounts to an admission of defeat, judges almost always grant them. Not this time.
Fatehi countered: Underwood is exercising the executive power voters gave him when they elected him the city’s top prosecutor. Part of the job is prosecutorial discretion, or deciding which laws should be enforced, especially since he has a limited amount of resources. In contrast to the misdemeanor possession charges, Underwood’s lawyers will keep prosecuting people accused of trafficking or dealing marijuana. “This is an exercise of our discretion,” Fatehi said.
Fatehi said Underwood is thinking about asking the state Supreme Court to reverse the judges’ decisions, adding that he’s “very close” to making a decision.
Whatever one thinks of the legal basis for judges refusing dismissals here, I also wonder how this will continue to play out practically. Will judges in this jurisdiction seek to appoint another prosecutor to pursue charges that the local prosecutor seeks dismissed? Do they have authority to do so and is there any other way for these cases to proceed absent such an appointment? If and when these cases are on appeal, might the defendants seek amicus support from Commonwealth’s Attorney Greg Underwood or at least a formal statement from him saying he believes the cases should no longer proceed?
"On probation until 2053? Sentencing disparities, lack of guidelines get long look at Minnesota Legislature"
Since getting clean, Jennifer Schroeder went on to manage the sober living house that nurtured her after a year in jail. She became the first in her family to graduate from college and, as an addiction counselor, now helps others struggling with the same demons she had to overcome.
Yet Schroeder’s own past will loom large into her 70s. The 36-year-old St. Paul resident is on probation until 2053 after being caught with 21 grams of meth during a traffic stop one summer in Wright County. “It’s hard to transform yourself into a new person when you are still labeled as your old self,” Schroeder said.
The same crime would net a fraction of that sentence in Minneapolis or Duluth, a chasm that underscores the disparate nature of punishment in a state with one of the nation’s highest rates of probation but with no clear guidelines for judges to rely on.
With the backing from top officials at the Department of Corrections, state lawmakers from both parties are now pushing new measures to cap probation sentences in Minnesota at five years. They are also calling on the state’s Sentencing Guidelines Commission to start issuing recommendations for probation like it has for prison sentencing for nearly 30 years. “We are failing the basic test that those convicted of the same crime should receive similar punishment,” said Rep. Jamie Long, D-Minneapolis, who is sponsoring both bills.
Support for changing the state’s probation laws mirrors the national conversation surrounding criminal justice reform, like the recent First Step Act that focused on federal prison sentencing and earned broad bipartisan support. Those testifying at the State Capitol this week included local representatives from both the liberal American Civil Liberties Union and the conservative Americans for Prosperity.

industry_corpus2: Law & Justice


text:
(a) Matrimonial cases defined. For purposes of this rule, matrimonial cases are defined as any proceeding for an order or judgment relating to dissolution, legal separation or invalidation of marriage including all ancillary proceedings.
(b) Notice of dispute as to child custody. If the custody of the children of the parties is in dispute, the plaintiff will so inform the court upon filing of the petition for dissolution, or as soon thereafter that a dispute is known to exist. In such a case, the court may order mediation, a background investigation, appoint a court consultant and/or Guardian ad Litem, or a combination thereof, and may order that one or both parties deposit with the Clerk of the Court all or a reasonable portion of the costs thereof.
(c) Financial Affidavit. In all proceedings in which there is a dispute involving property, temporary or permanent maintenance, or temporary or permanent child support, the moving party shall file a financial affidavit, similar to that found in Appendix A of these rules, contemporaneously with the request for setting for hearing, or when otherwise ordered by the court. Proof of service pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 11 shall be filed not less than seven (7) days prior to the hearing. The party responding to the petition shall file a financial affidavit with the court not less than seven (7) days prior to the hearing date and a copy shall be provided to opposing counsel. Submission of a pre-judgment pre-trial memorandum shall be in lieu of the financial affidavit and shall be in a form as prescribed by the court. If such affidavit or pre-judgment pre-trial memorandum has been filed for purposes of a hearing on temporary relief, an additional affidavit or pre-judgment pre-trial memorandum need not be filed prior to hearing for permanent relief unless there has been a substantial change.
(d) Statement of Proposed Property Apportionment. If the issue of property apportionment is in dispute, in addition to the financial affidavit or pre-judgment pre-trial memorandum, as the case may be, the court may require the parties to submit a statement of proposed property apportionment which shall include an itemization of all property which is claimed as marital and non-marital, together with a proposed fair cash market value of each item, at least seven (7) days prior to the hearing. If the issue of apportionment of marital indebtedness is in dispute, the statement shall also include a proposed apportionment of marital indebtedness and shall include a listing of any non-marital indebtedness for which either party is currently liable. Submission of a pre-judgment pre-trial memorandum shall be deemed to be in compliance with local court rules.
(e) Waiver of child support prohibited. The court shall not waive child support. The court shall enter a finding on the record in each case involving minor children that the children are, or are not, receiving public assistance.
(f) Written judgment order. If the court requires a written judgment order, the prevailing party shall prepare and submit a written judgment order to the court pursuant to Rule 5.1 of these rules within thirty (30) days of the final hearing.
(g) Post-trial affidavit. In all post-judgment petitions involving financial matters, other than petitions for enforcement of a judgment order, the moving party shall prepare a financial affidavit similar to that found in Appendix A of these rules which shall include facts about the party's present financial circumstances. The affidavit shall be filed prior to, or contemporaneously with, the request for setting. Notice shall be served pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 11 not less than seven (7) days prior to the hearing. In the event the moving party does not have an affidavit on file which represents his or her financial condition at the time of the dissolution, such party shall file such an affidavit at the time of filing their post-trial affidavit. The responding party shall file a post-trial affidavit setting forth their present financial circumstances at least seven (7) days prior to the scheduled hearing and at the same time shall file an additional affidavit setting forth his or her financial circumstances at the time of the dissolution, unless such an affidavit has been previously filed.


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Twenty five years on, survivors of riots in India's Bihar state still await justice as many of culprits roam free.
Hundred and five bodies were dug out of Logain, a whole 22 days after they were killed.
In October 1989, Parbatti, a locality in Bhagalpur town in the eastern state of Bihar, saw a well full of bodies cut into pieces which local reporters were quick to announce were the bodies of Hindu students murdered by Muslim mobs. But they were eventually identified as the family members of Mohammed Javed. All 12 of them.
The 1995 Riots Inquiry Commission Report by Justices Ram Chandra Prasad Sinha and S Shamsul Hasan blamed the administration, the press and the police for disseminating false information in an already communalised situation.
What happened on October 24, 1989 could be described as a riot, but what followed over the next month was nothing but an organised massacre of one group.
The violence was ignited after Hindu religious procession came under bomb attack.
Over the next few weeks, organised mobs of thousands would burn over 250 villages down, and mass killings would take place across the district. Official figures put the death toll at around 1,000 (with 90 percent Muslim), but independent estimates say the death toll was higher.
Two villages, Logain with around 118 dead and Chanderi with around 70 dead, received decent press coverage over the years, and with strong witnesses they would see prosecutions over a decade and more later. But the killings at Bhatoriya (85 dead), Rasalpur (30 dead), Padghari (27 dead), Chajghora (25 dead), and Silampur-Amanpur (77 dead), saw prosecutions and then bails, settled cases with killers roaming free, till date.
Jalebi Khatoon is part of the only Muslim family still living in Logain and says she had married during the 1946 partition riots of Bhagalpur. Even today there are conflicts with her neighbours over land and property.
Mallika Begum was the sole survivor of the Chanderi massacre (70 killed) and was merely 14 years old when she testified in the Patna High Court, and would become one of the most known survivors of the riots and pogroms of Bhagalpur. She lost her right leg in the killings when the villagers were taken in procession by the mob and cornered from all four sides, and systematically killed. (***)They didn(***)t have any hatred for us, it was hatred for all Muslims.(***) She says.
Mohammed Javed lost 12 members of his family when the killings hit Parbatti, a mixed neighbourhood in Bhagalpur town. They were all found dead in a well, and the bodies and parts of bodies were taken away by the Border Security Force. He never buried them. Today he is one of the only inhabitants of Parbatti in 1989 who still visits his old neighbourhood, to look after the (***)mazhaar(***) (shrine), as the lands and houses that once belonged to Muslims made way for new construction sites, and the graveyard that buried generations is now a grazing field for livestock.
There is a very evident construction boom in the Hindu side of Parbatti today on land and homes that used to belong to Muslim families.
Mohd Ilyaz was rounded up by the police in a house along with 38 other men where they were hiding from the riots. On this incident the Commission of Inquiry said: (***)The manner in which the search was conducted, was reminiscent of the searches in occupied Europe by the Nazis.(***) All 38 were taken to a petrol station, beaten repeatedly by the police for an hour, made to sit on their knees, deprived of water, and constantly abused by 20 policemen for inciting the riots... a sympathetic policeman drove them back to the police station and finally to Bhagalpur Central Jail.
On October 26, 1989, Bunni Begum from Nayabazaar was attacked by people she knew but has till date has refused to identify them.
Bunni Begum, 65, only has eight fingers, two large scars on her right arm, her neck and her left shoulder and can only just use her arms. She lost her fingers trying to push the sword away from her neck. They left her for dead and had killed her elder sisters Tameezul Nisa, 58, Chanda Begum, 50, and their caretaker Sachin, 15.
Kapildev Mandal was a witness at the inquiry commission and he testified that the procession was led by right-wing Hindu groups armed with swords, sticks, spears and pharsans. Kapildev sticks to his testimony even today, repeating that they were screaming slogans like (***)Baccha baccha Ram ka, baki sab haram ka.(***) (all are children of Ram, everyone else is illegitimate), a slogan from 1989 that very recently was articulated into controversy when one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi(***)s ministers Niranjan Jyoti made a similar comment.
Mohammed Tanveer Khan from Timoni village where 11 people were killed and every house looted, still has left part of his house as it was destroyed in 1989, in expectation of decent compensation. Most people only received Rs 3,000 ( $50) to Rs5,000 ($80) for the destruction of their homes.
Mani Khan, a sucessful businessman started a relief camp after the riots and had over 10,000 people living near his house and on his property. He recalls visiting Logain, and remembers the bodies of children. Of the almost 128 people killed there, 52 were children.


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Plus, read below on how to download your copy of our FREE 35-page interactive eBook to help guide your finances!
Online Banking and Bill Pay–it’s just what the doctor ordered.
√Take Sarah lunch at school.
Mail Chad cash for uniforms.

industry_corpus2: Finance & Economics


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Joseph T. Tennis is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at the University of Washington Information School. He also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics, as a member of the Museology Interdisciplinary Faculty Group, and as a member of the Textual Studies faculty at the University of Washington. His research centers on classification theory and is primarily concerned with examining how classification systems change over time, how diverse design requirements are invoked by different communities, and how these systems can interoperate in a web environment. He is increasingly interested in the ethics of information organization, and novel ways to evaluate structures in diverse and varied work practice contexts and discourses. He gave the Sarada Ranganathan Endowment & Ranganathan Memorial Lectures in 2017.
iTrust Interdisciplinary Workshop on Provenance. World Bank. - Washington, D. C.

industry_corpus2: Subject Education


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Just in anyone was unaware!
Mentioning which version your talking about probably useful given the old version 1.6.5.5. on the firefox add-on site is about 2/3 versions behind the developers most recent.
The author is having a strop and refusing to develop this any further on Firefox.
He suggests that you use it with the Pale Moon Browser, but its not Firefox!
Have it working again. Did some fiddlin around. You can find a workaround on the net somewhere for unsupported add-ons.
probably is made undone if you upgrade ff to 48 or higher.
Had it working in Pale Moon but it quit last week. I'm a bit mystified as to why there isn't more of a kerfuffle about losing imagehost grabber - how on earth do people save whole photosets now?
Try Bulk Image Downloader. Free version works, but is cumbersome. But, free is free!
Cheers. I updated Imagehost Grabber to the latest version - IHG 1.7.0.4a, maintenance release - available at the Hot-Honeys forum and it's now working again in Pale Moon.
In principle I never understood why FF would not want IHG to work but just my non-tech opinion.
Any ??s abt my setup will try to help.
Firefox 49 is out. Maybe a fix?
No, FF new plugin model will never support Imagehost Grabber; IHG talks to the NPAPI (Netscape plugin architecture), no longer supported in Firefox; and IHG's original developer is off to do other things.
I keep a copy of "old Firefox" on my machine for this reason . . . I think you can still find the download.

industry_corpus2: Computing & Telecommunications


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The top day labor crews in Mccracken, KY are listed below, ready and waiting to aid in your moving day adventure. To see their pricing and availability enter your ZIP code and move date above.
If you're searching for day labor in or around Mccracken, picking someone up off the street is a risky move. Use the HireAHelper Kentucky day laborer marketplace to quickly browse through dozens of Mccracken laborers, compare reviews and clear pricing. Then book online within a few clicks.
Now, you can hire day labor throughout Mccracken confidently (or anywhere in Kentucky), knowing your payment is securely held in escrow via HireAHelper. No more awkward confusion about how much cash to have on hand to pay workers you weren't pleased with. HireAHelper charges your credit card one day before your job date, then holds the funds in a trust until you authorize those funds be released to the Mccracken day laborers you hired.
Read reviews on all the Mccracken area helpers to find the day labor crew that works the hardest. Some of the laborers might be cheaper for a reason. Average quality work means they can't charge as much. Every HireAHelper customer gets to leave an honest review of the Mccracken move help they received from their day laborers.
Why is it important to pick the right time to move in, out or across Mccracken, KY? Picking the right time means you get the best, most rested crew that's totally on top of their moving game. Here are the hours, days and dates that moving labor crews in Mccracken, KY are the busiest. If possible, try not to book a move during these times!
Moving from or around Mccracken? If you're loading or unloading in a nearby neighborhood, don't worry. Our movers also cover the areas below.

industry_corpus2: Others


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It's that time of the year - an overview of my top products for 2012. some have made it into my collection more recently than others, but these are all firm favourites that I will continue to use through the next 12 months.
Ren Hydra calm cleansing milk - I've been using this for the past 6 months and my skin adores it. It's gentle, cleanses well and doesn't break me out. I won't be swapping cleansers for a while unless something bad happens!
Ren Hydra calm global day cream - This works well with the Ren cleansing milk and I've also been using it for the past 6 months. It hydrates well and gives a good base for makeup to go onto. It also doesn't break me out, or irritate my sensitive skin.
YSL Faux Cils mascara - this is a relatively new addition to my makeup bag, but I've used it every day since I bought it. It gives me lovely big lashes and i've already got my second one on standby for when this one runs out (thanks Santa).
Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette - again, a newish purchase, but it's been worth it's weight in gold. I've used it pretty much every day, and it's versatile colours mean you can get so many different looks from it.
Essie nail polish - I can't pick one colour, but I love the whole range. They last well, go on easily and have an amazing range of colours. Expect to see more of these in my collection next year.
What were your favourite products of 2012?
What colour is the Essie polish on the left? It looks gorgeous!
I love L'Occitane hand cream too. I've used quite a lot of mine now so I'm using it sparingly!
It's called skirting the issue :) it looks great on too!
Love your shades of Essie polish! I have done the same post this evening.
I've not tried any of these products! Great post though :) I nominated you for the Liebster award on my blog!


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Every year Alberta government publishes its annual Sunshine List of public sector servants, which includes nurses, teachers, police officers, and firefighters, with six-figure salaries. In Education, 178 staffers made the list this year, earning a total salary of $22,174,523.00 in 2017.
Topping the list for Education was Deputy Minister of Education Curtis Clarke who brought home $285,877.00 in 2017.
Following Curtis Clarke was ADM, System Excellence Gene A Williams, who had annual earnings of $200,405.00. ADM, Program & System Support Michael E Walter made $200,405.00, ADM, Curriculum Division Heather M Caltagirone Karpacz made $189,722.00 and ADM, Strat Svcs & Governance Wendy Alison Boje round out the top-five highest-paid employees with $182,257.00 for the Education 2018 Sunshine List.
Among the 178 Education's employees, who received more than six-figure salaries 22 received earnings between $100,000 and $110,000 followed by 144 who received between $110,001 and $150,000 , 9 received between $150,001 and $200,000 , 2 received between $200,001 and $250,000 , 1 received between $250,001 and $300,000 at Education.


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So, we’ve been working on a game called POLITIKO: India. It’s a card game about AADHAR mix-ups, Third / Fourth / Fifth Fronts, and general fraudulent activity in Indian politics.
NO 1: What the hell do we know about Indian politics??
Before coming here we knew about Congress and Shiv Sena and people known as Dalits — so: pretty much nothing.
We asked some really idiotic questions, and our fellow residents gave us some illuminating answers. Now we know about the TDP and Narendra Modi and the fact that quite a few Indian politicians have criminal cases pending against them. So: still not enough.
We’re making the game anyway.
In POLITIKO, to win a player has to collect VOTER cards. There are 60 of them in our POLITIKO: India deck, identified along location (say, URBAN), class (MIDDLE CLASS), political-ideological (LIBERAL), and identity (SIKH) lines. We tried out many different axes before settling on the above four. They are mechanically relevant — meaning that some player actions will only affect urban upper-class voters, or conservatives, or OBCs.
We’ve been told that in India — big, decentralised, and disparate — coalitions are necessary for government. We’ve designed the game around this reality. Every PARTY in POLITIKO: India has a limit to how many VOTER cards they may acquire; small parties have lower limits (3 VOTERS) than the BJP- or Congress-equivalents (7 VOTERS). However, because you need 12 VOTERS to win, no one wins alone; the national organisations need the regional ones to succeed.
This is a departure from the Malaysian version of POLITIKO, in which it is very possible to win on your own. This is true for Malaysian politics.
In both cases we’ve tried to represent the “flavour” of the context in gameplay. We really think that such narrative elements should be communicated through the bedrock of mechanics, rather than the veneer of text; this way, players can be prompted to tell themselves the stories we’d like them to experience — active participants, instead of passive listeners/readers.

industry_corpus2: Gaming


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May 29, 2007 by Karl Fogel 37 comments on "Keepin’ it real for the Google Summer of Code students."
I’m a big fan of Google’s Summer of Code program — it’s brought a lot of new developers to the Subversion project, and this also seems to be true for many other open source projects.
Summer of Code encourages college students to participate in open source projects over the summer, by funding both the student (for the time spent coding and learning open source processes) and the project (for time spent mentoring). The students earn enough for it to be their main summer job, but they also often stay involved in their projects after the summer is over, which is a sure sign that the program is working. In some cases, a Summer of Code project has led directly to a full-time job offer for a graduating student, too.
Thus it came to pass that a couple of days this spring, I drove down to the Google offices in Mountain View, visited with my old teammates for a while, then went to a cubicle and signed books. Nearly a thousand of them — it took a lot longer than I expected, and my wrist hurt, but on the other hand it was interesting to have a way to physically feel how big the Summer of Code program is. Next time I ask a computer database to iterate over a thousand entries, I’ll do so with some sympathy.
Someone asked me if I signed every book exactly the same way. The answer is yes, except for one: there’s an Easter Egg book with a special message. If you got it, you’ll know it.


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In sports and in the workplace we need to know something about the competition to gain the edge. The same is true for rodent control. The more we know, the better we are at solving problems for our customers–whether it’s a large commercial facility or a residential structure.
With rodents comprising 40% of all mammal species, (and estimates of around 2000 different rodent species) we need all the tools possible to keep them in check.
* Rodents that have a good supply of food won’t spend a lot of time gathering additional food, and will spend more time doing other things like mating.
* The common female house mouse can breed when she is five weeks old and monthly thereafter. The litter size is between four and six.
* A female Norwegian rat could have 56 young (and over 400 grandchildren!) within 20 weeks of being born.
Granted with the second and third examples, not all of the young make it to be an adult because of competition for food, predators, weather, and lack of natural abilities–but these stats are frightening nonetheless.
Rodents tend to limit their breeding to stay fit, and are easily able to adapt to changing conditions for survival. As I’ve always heard from Pest Management Professionals “the second rat gets the cheese”…the perfect adage for this cautious creature.

industry_corpus2: Agriculture & Fisheries


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Islamic philosophy revived during the Nahda (awakening) movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and continues to the present day.
Islam has no philosophy. But the fact of the matter is that philosophy is an alien entity in the body of Islam.
Arabic grammarians, Islamic philosophers were very interested in working out the relationship between logic and language, and they devoted much discussion to the question of the subject matter and aims of logic in relation to reasoning and speech. In the area of formal logical analysis, they elaborated upon the theory of terms, propositions and syllogisms as formulated in Aristotle's Categories, De interpretatione and Prior Analytics. In the spirit of Aristotle, they considered the syllogism to be the form to which all rational argumentation could be reduced, and they regarded syllogistic theory as the focal point of logic. Even poetics was considered as a syllogistic art in some fashion by most of the major Islamic Aristotelians."
Avicenna says in his Metaphysica, is nothing else than the property of its being which has been established in it. So that is called true gold which has properly the being of gold and attains to the established determinations of the nature of gold. Now, each thing has properly being in some nature because it stands under the complete form proper to that nature, whereby being and species in that nature is."
"An actual infinite cannot exist." "An infinite temporal regress of events is an actual infinite." ".•. An infinite temporal regress of events cannot exist."
"An actual infinite cannot be completed by successive addition." "The temporal series of past events has been completed by successive addition." ".•. The temporal series of past events cannot be an actual infinite."
Universe just as the capital of a country is placed in its middle and the ruler's palace at the center of the city."
Nature proceeds in a similar way; however, it does not distinguish for its action is under all circumstances one and the same. It allows the leaves and fruit of the trees to perish, thus preventing them from realising that result which they are intended to produce in the economy of nature. It removes them so as to make room for others."
Sudan and other distant corners of the world. They are close to animals by their habits, deeds and behavior. [...] The human has features that distinguish him from other creatures, but he has other features that unite him with the animal world, vegetable kingdom or even with the inanimate bodies."
Charles Darwin and his inception of Darwinism, but has at one time been criticized as overenthusiastic.
Muslim thinkers state that ape then evolved into a lower kind of a barbarian man. He then became a superior human being. Man becomes a saint, a prophet. He evolves into a higher stage and becomes an angel. The one higher to angels is indeed none but God. Everything begins from Him and everything returns to Him."
"The drug must be free from any extraneous accidental quality." "It must be used on a simple, not a composite, disease." "The drug must be tested with two contrary types of diseases, because sometimes a drug cures one disease by Its essential qualities and another by its accidental ones." "The quality of the drug must correspond to the strength of the disease. For example, there are some drugs whose heat is less than the coldness of certain diseases, so that they would have no effect on them." "The time of action must be observed, so that essence and accident are not confused." "The effect of the drug must be seen to occur constantly or in many cases, for if this did not happen, it was an accidental effect." "The experimentation must be done with the human body, for testing a drug on a lion or a horse might not prove anything about its effect on man."
Muslim historiography helped indirectly and modestly to shape present day historical thinking."
"The existent being that has an essence must then be caused and existence that is pure existence ... is therefore a Necessary Being."
Muslim philosopher, poet and scholar from Pakistan (then British India).
Muhammad Iqbal, who reshaped and revitalized Islamic philosophy among the Muslims of the Indian sub-continent in the early 20th century. His The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam  is a milestone in the modern political philosophy of Islam. In contemporary Islamic regions, the teaching of hikmat or hikmah has continued to flourish.
Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr (died 1980) is a Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah and one of the most influential Islamic philosophers of the 20th century. His two most important contributions to philosophy are his books "Our Philosophy" and "The Logical Foundations of Induction." He is also widely known for his work on economics, including "Our Economics" and "The Non-Usury Banking System" which are two of the most influential works in contemporary Islamic economics.
Quran 9:51 Cohen-Mor (2001, p. 4): "The idea of predestination is reinforced by the frequent mention of events 'being written' or 'being in a book' before they happen: 'Say: "Nothing will happen to us except what Allah has decreed for us..." ' " Ahmet T. Karamustafa. "Fate". Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an Online. : The verb qadara literally means "to measure, to determine". Here it is used to mean that "God measures and orders his creation".
Islam I (2014): 17–38. See also references above in this section of the footnotes to some of Nader El-Bizri's other related earlier studies.
Encyclopædia Britannica article Arabian Philosophy.


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An introduction to yoga, some of which may show the use of props including belts, blocks, and blankets, as aids in performing postures.
New to Strength, Conditioning and HIIT classes and want to learn more before you book your first class? This 30 minute session will be an introduction to the benefits of classes such as HIIT, Circuits and Core. You will take part in a 15 minute 'learn the moves' session so you can experience some class content, and have any of your questions answered. The aim of the session is to help you feel more confident when you attend your first class with us. You will be active during the session, so workout kit is a must!
An introduction to the key elements of Pilates, including a beginner's warm up and stretching and toning exercises.
DL Kids Mini Club Night for 3 & 4 years.
A fun on court session with other players of the same age providing the opportunity to learn and develop the key skills of movement, balance, co-ordination and ball sense that are important for all sports, all through play and enjoyment with friends.
The reformer class is a sophisticated system of springs, straps and pulleys, which allow one to work precisely with alignment, core strength and Pilates exercises.
New to Cycling classes and want to learn more before you book your first class? This 30 minute session will be an introduction to the benefits of classes such as Group and Stages Power Cycling. You will take part in a 15 minute cycling class so you can experience the different style of cycling class (RPM/Group or Stages Cycling) and have any of your questions answered. The aim of the session is to help you feel more confident when you attend your first class with us. You will be active during the session, so workout kit is a must!
RPM™ is our indoor cycling class, set to the rhythm of motivating music. You could burn up to 620 calories a workout and get fit fast.
A slower paced exercise programme that focuses on overall conditioning of the body. The class will include exercises to improve strength and flexibility.
A Pilates based session to create lean and stronger muscles around abdominals, hips and back. Enhancing good posture is also a focal point in this class.
Fast Track Tennis is a coaching course for beginners where you learn the fundamentals of tennis in a fun environment with a small group of players. The course aims to get you started quickly and able to enjoy a social game.
The reformer class is a sophisticated system of springs, straps and pulleys, which allow one to work precisely with alignment, core strength and Pilates exercises. This taster will allow you to learn the basic techniques needed before you attend your first class.

industry_corpus2: Sports


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Where My Heart Lives...: WHO do you write like?
Daily I sit down, click-click-click to reach my Blogger dashboard and am delighted with what I read and see from all the friends who live in my computer.
This morning was no exception. Thanks so much Penni!
All of us, from the blogger-types to the journal jotters to the comment makers --- are writers of some sort. Some do a better job than others, but one thing is for darn sure. We all have a "style".
Check out this fun website to see who your style most resembles. Find out if you have the potential to someday be famous or should be fine tuning things before you submit your first manuscript.
Who knows, someday I may be able to say, "I knew her before she was discovered!"
Pssst...if you try this, post in the comments section "who" you write like!
I tried pasting the text of my blog post for today, which included the fact that I was reading a book by Ursula K. Le Guin, and--guess what? The answer came back that I write like Ursula K. Le Guin. Hmmm.
Wow, I am honoured! Apparently I write like James Joyce. Now that's some big shoes.
Oh, my goodness. Yesterday, I had never heard of Cory Doctorow (see my comment, above). Today, a blog post shows up about him here on the blog, Free Range Kids!
Fun link. I posted my last blog update and I write like Stephen King. Hum not sure that is a good thing. Wonder what they are looking at for analysis.
Sweeeeeeeet --- and a little salty!

industry_corpus2: Literature & Emotions


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10 Undeniable Reasons to Switch to Digital Quizzes Educational technology tips for teachers, librarians and schools.
Bring a new level of learning to your classroom with digital quizzes. These interactive tests are not just for wasting time online—they can boost student engagement, make your life easier and so much more.
Here are 10 undeniable reasons to make the switch to digital quizzes.
Digital quizzes are more than just a piece of paper with lines for writing answers. You can integrate interactive experiences, like watching a video, to make quizzes more engaging. The best part is, they can be classroom-based, with all students answering at the same time, or use with individual laptops, as part of a homework or individual assignment.
Digital quizzes make it easier to see how students are grasping concepts between larger unit exams because they’re easier for you to create and administer. In many cases, they get graded for you, which make them even less time-consuming to manage.
For example, assign digital quizzes at the end of a homework reading to see how much students understood from the chapter. If there’s more review needed, you can bring that into your next lesson.
Many students lament the time it takes for teachers to grade quizzes or tests. With digital quizzes, you and your students get instant results. You can also easily see if you need to reteach concepts or if your class is ready to move onto the next topic, as most platforms include an overview dashboard with insights.
You may even see students improving on test-taking over time. After playing a game, 65 percent of participating students earned an A on a second test on the same topic. Fun, digital learning produces both instant and long-term results.
Students want more interactivity. In a survey of college students, 61 percent thought greater homework interactivity would make learning better. Use digital quizzes to make homework more interactive, whether you use all different question formats or integrate the lesson’s slideshow presentation.
You won’t have to wonder whether your students understand what you’re teaching. Live digital quizzes, done during class, allow you see if the lessons are resonating with your students. No more guessing about what’s working and what’s not.
Most quiz tools provide analytics or insights that shed light on what percentage of students answered each question correctly or what topics were most challenging for a majority of the class. In this way, you can start catering your lessons toward what your students need that day, based on a quiz they took last night. You could also more effectively break out in groups depending on what each student needs to focus on.
Students naturally know how to use technology, and digital quizzes give them a chance to work with tools they feel most comfortable with. Since they don’t have to learn new techniques, they can concentrate on cooperation with other students in a social learning setting. Through this collaborative learning, students can help each other bridge knowledge gaps in their education.
Multimedia sources, such as videos and music, are easy to integrate into digital quizzes, as we’ve talked about a bit already. You can even have students watch an educational video before a quiz and answer questions about what they saw. This makes various aspects of your teaching more effective—rather than just idly watching a video, they need to stay engaged so they can pass the quiz at the end.
You’ll never have to make another trip to the copy room on test day. Digital quizzes end the need to put in requisites for copies, which means you have more time to teach and engage with your students instead. Better yet, you may just be able to sleep in a little later—which is still a win.
Keep students engaged when a substitute is teaching by using digital quizzes. You can create them at home, in bed, and then your sub can get them set up in the classroom. You can even start tweaking tomorrow’s lesson as the results of their quiz comes in.
The best part is: many digital quiz tools allow you to choose from pre-made questions, so when you’re sick, you can do less work to get the same results.
Digital quizzes give you an edge in your classroom. Not only will your students benefit from the quizzes, but you will, too. They make it easy to track student success and see results in real-time, allowing you to modify lessons and give students help where they need it the most.


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New Year's Resolution 2015: Study Smarter - Build the Strategy to Boost your Grades.
Many students revise last year in these days and think what to do better next year. Usually, those are some specific tasks. Typically, such resolutions blow up in one or two months. But what about to form a strategy that will lead to better grades?
BriefingWire.com, 12/30/2014 - Many students revise last year in these days and think what to do better next year. Usually, those are some specific tasks. “I will do my homework on time.” “I will spend more time studying.” “I will pay more attention in class.” Typically, such resolutions blow up in one or two months. But what about decision to form study strategy that will lead to better grades at the end of this school year? Such study plan with smart goals and clear way to it will stay on paper (or at a computer), so much probably it will be fulfilled.
It is sad fact that many students are in deep depression. Pressure in school is one of the main factors contributing to such state. How many students will be in the doldrums in the year 2015 because of big pressure from their schools? How many students will not foster their creativity and abilities because of routine boring tasks they will have to do instead of that?
“I know what does it mean when your child is thinking negatively.” It said the founder of the project “School Can Be Fun” Vit Skala, Ph.D., the project that helps students to be less stressed at school. Realistic description of the most liked job and setting goals leading to the fulfilment of this dream is the first part of study strategy that will strengthen students in their challenging time. You will realize after that it is enough you will focus only on several courses, and you do not have to be stressed by all assignments rolling on you. To recognize your prevailing learning style and adopting appropriate study habits are next steps.
So build your study strategy, study smarter and rejoice in summer that you already fulfilled your resolution for the year 2015!


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salted water to remove debris. Broccoli also is delicious steamed with butter and salt, or in dishes that allow the delicate florets to soak up a yummy sauce, such as sweet-and-sour or peanut.
Butternut squash looks intimidating on the outside, but it’s a sweet, meaty and versatile veggie. Select a whole squash that’s heavy for its size, with the stem intact. The skin should be smooth, matte and uniform in color. Store whole squash in a cool, dark place for up to a month, but don’t refrigerate. Pre-cut and cubed butternut squash should always be refrigerated. The simplest way to cook a whole butternut squash is to slice it in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and place the halves face down on a baking sheet. The skin can be removed before or after roasting.
Alternatively, toss pre-cut squash on a baking sheet with olive oil, salt and pepper. Cook squash until tender. Pump up your pasta, soups and stews with roasted butternut squash. It’s a tasty way to get a generous dose of vitamins A and C.
WINTERTIME DOESN’T mean you can’t still spruce up your recipes with hearty, healthy and beautiful additions to your table. Learn how to select, store and serve nature’s bounty for everyday dining and holiday entertaining.
Asparagus, like onions and garlic, is related to the lily family. Asparagus adds bright, slightly acidic flavor to your recipes, and loads of potassium and fiber for your body. Choose asparagus with tightly closed tips. Stalks should be bright green and firm. Keep for up to five days wrapped in a damp cloth, placed in a paper bag and stored in the produce drawer of your refrigerator. Be sure to cut off the woody ends of your asparagus before cooking. It’s tasty roasted or fried, but asparagus is especially delicious wrapped in prosciutto and puff pastry, and then baked.
Costco offers fresh French beans, asparagus, butternut squash, snap peas and broccoli, as well as other fresh and frozen produce.
Costco’s French beans and asparagus can last up to 15 days, depending on the sell date, if kept in the atmosphere-con-trolled bags in which they’re sold. Costco currently carries pre-cut butternut squash in cubes. Costco’s broccoli is conveniently pre-cut into florets.
up to five days. Blanch green beans and toss them into a salad, or sauté with olive oil, sea salt and sliced almonds for a quick side dish.
Snap peas pack a powerful punch of protein and fiber in a compact pod.
Holly Brown is the publisher and Web TV host of thebrownlounge.com.


text: I interviewed comedian, Aida Rodriguez on the red carpet of Tammi Mac's one woman show, 'Bag Lady'. I talked with Aida about an NBC project, and her involvement in Bill Duke's Light Girls documentary which premiered on Oprah Winfrey's Network. Light Girls is a follow up to the successful Dark Girls documentary.

industry_corpus2: Film & Entertainment


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Posted on 14, September 2016 by EuropaWire PR Editors | This entry was posted in Healthcare, Ireland, Pharma & Biotech and tagged CUVITRU, intravenous, Marcia Boyle, Perry Sternberg, Richard L. Wasserman M.D., Shire, subcutaneous immunoglobulin products. Bookmark the permalink.
Lexington, Mass., 14-Sep-2016 — /EuropaWire/ — Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPG) announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted approval for CUVITRU [Immune Globulin Subcutaneous (Human), 20% Solution] in adult and pediatric patients two years of age and older. CUVITRU is a treatment for patients with primary immunodeficiency (PI), a group of more than 300 genetic disorders in which part of the body’s immune system is missing or functions improperly; it affects up to six million people worldwide.
With the approval of CUVITRU, Shire now has the broadest portfolio of intravenous and subcutaneous immunoglobulin (IG) products, including the only once-a-month subcutaneous treatment option. CUVITRU is the only 20% subcutaneous IG treatment option without proline and with the ability to infuse up to 60 mL (12 grams) per site and 60 mL per hour, per site as tolerated, resulting in fewer infusion sites and shorter infusion durations compared to other conventional subcutaneous IG treatments. Regardless of infusion rate or volume per site, CUVITRU was generally associated with a low incidence of local adverse and systemic reactions (0.022/infusion and 0.042/infusion, respectively) in the North American clinical study.
The approval follows the recent publication of a Phase II/III study of CUVITRU among North American patients in the Journal of Clinical Immunology. Shire expects to launch CUVITRU in the U.S. in the coming weeks. CUVITRU was approved in 17 European countries in June of 2016. The company expects to initiate additional global regulatory submissions for CUVITRU in late 2016 and 2017.
Primary immunodeficiencies (PI) are a group of more than 300 disorders in which part of the body’s immune system is missing or does not function properly. Normally, the immune system protects the body from pathogenic microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, and fungi, which can cause infectious diseases. When any part of a person’s immune system is absent or dysfunctional, the individuals are susceptible to infections, and it may take longer to recover from infections. When a defect in the immune system is inherited and genetically determined, it is called primary immune deficiency. It is estimated that as many as six million children and adults may be affected by PI worldwide.
CUVITRU is an Immune Globulin Subcutaneous (Human) (IGSC), 20% Solution indicated as replacement therapy for primary humoral immunodeficiency (PI) in adult and pediatric patients two years of age and older.
CUVITRU is for subcutaneous infusion only.
Thrombosis may occur with immune globulin products, including CUVITRU. Risk factors may include: advanced age, prolonged immobilization, hypercoagulable conditions, history of venous or arterial thrombosis, use of estrogens, indwelling vascular catheters, hyperviscosity and cardiovascular risk factors.
CUVITRU is contraindicated in patients who have had an anaphylactic or severe systemic hypersensitivity reaction to the subcutaneous administration of human immune globulin and in IgA-deficient patients with antibodies against IgA and a history of hypersensitivity to human immune globulin treatment.
Hypersensitivity: Severe hypersensitivity reactions may occur, even in patients who have tolerated previous treatment with human immune globulin. IgA-deficient patients with antibodies to IgA are at greater risk of developing potentially severe hypersensitivity and anaphylactic reactions.
Renal Dysfunction/Failure: Monitor renal function and urine output and consider lower, more frequent dosing in patients who are at risk of developing renal dysfunction because of pre-existing renal insufficiency or predisposition to acute renal failure.
Transmittable Infectious Agents: Because CUVITRU is made from human plasma, it may carry a risk of transmitting infectious agents, such as viruses and other pathogens. No confirmed cases of transmission of viral diseases or variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) have been associated with CUVITRU.
The most common adverse reactions observed in clinical trials in ≥ 5% of patients were: local adverse reactions, systemic adverse reactions including headache, nausea, fatigue, diarrhea, and vomiting.
Please see Full Prescribing Information, including Boxed Warning regarding Thrombosis, available at:http://www.shirecontent.com/PI/PDFS/Cuvitru_USA_ENG.pdf.
Shire, Baxalta and Cuvitru are trademarks of Shire plc, its subsidiaries or affiliates.

industry_corpus2: Biopharmaceuticals


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Herbicide news and updates. Find articles on herbicide selection, handling, spraying and application, efficacy and new products and technology. Get news and updates on herbicides by interacting with experts and other farmers.
Insecticide news and updates. Find articles on insecticide selection, handling, spraying and application, efficacy and new products and technology. Get news and updates on insecticides by interacting with experts and other farmers.
A tool uses to calculate the approximate amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that is removed by the harvest of agricultural crops.
Well-fed plants are healthier, less susceptible to disease and insect problems, more productive and more beautiful.
There are 6 main nutrients that plants require. Plants obtain the first 3 main nutrients (carbon, hydrogen and oxygen) from air and water. The other 3 are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
1. Calcium is utilized by plants in cell membranes, at their growing points and to neutralize toxic materials. Additionally, calcium improves soil structure and helps bind organic and inorganic particles together.
2. Magnesium is the only metallic component of chlorophyll. Without it, plants can’t process sunlight.
3. Sulfur is a component of many proteins.
Justus von Liebig, generally credited as the “father of the fertilizer industry”, formulated the law of the minimum: if one crop nutrient is missing or deficient, plant growth will be poor, even if the other elements are abundant.
“Feed the Soil to Feed the Plants” The Soil Food Web is the basis of soil fertility in organic gardening and farming. Organic gardening relies on the interconnected web of soil organisms—from bacteria and fungi to protozoa, micro arthropods, and earthworms—to supply nutrients to your vegetables.


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Give Aways / Promos - Ugly Produce is Beautiful!
We're always looking for co-branding and co-marketing food waste initiatives. Contact us at sarah@foodemedia.com or use the CONTACT US link.
FourJ Foods and Zesty-Z @UglyProduceIsBeautiful Instagram Give Away.


text: A casual look that's sure to pique her interest, this pretty pendant is a dainty touch of sparkle for your daytime attire. Crafted in 10K gold, this open shape - a cross between a flame and teardrop - features a tilted squared composite of diamond accents at its base. Expertly finished and ready to wear, this pendant suspends along an 18.0-inch rope chain that secures with a spring-ring clasp.

industry_corpus2: Manufacturing


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In a tweet posted on Friday, the former Jammu-Kashmir CM said that the cricketer’s knowledge of Kashmir is equivalent to his lack of knowledge of cricket.
National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah slammed former cricketer Gautam Gambhir on Friday for the latter’s remarks on Mannan Wani, the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist who was killed on Thursday.
“This man wouldn’t be able to find Manan’s home district on a map much less his village & yet he presumes to know what drives young men in Kashmir to pick up the gun,” he said.
“Mr Gambhir clearly knows less about Kashmir than I do about cricket & I know almost nothing,” added Abdullah.
The former Jammu-Kashmir Chief Minister was referring to a tweet by Gambhir in which he said that Abdullah, former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Congress and the BJP should “bow their heads in embarrassment” because “they left a young man to embrace the bullet”.
“Mannan Wani’s death: We killed a terrorist and lost a radicalised talent. @OmarAbdullah @MehboobaMufti @INCIndia @BJP4India all should bow their heads in embarrassment that they left a young man drift from books to embrace bullet,” he wrote.
Mannan Wani, a PhD scholar of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) who left studies to join Hizbul, was killed on Thursday by security forces in Kupwara.
On Friday, clashes broke out in some pockets of the district after the news of Wani’s death spread. According to reports, internet service was snapped and all educational institutions closed in the Kupwara district as precautionary measure.
Wani was studying Applied Geology at AMU from where he went missing some time ago. A photograph of him holding an assault rifle appeared on social media a few days after he went missing.
Described as a brilliant student by his friends and family members, Wani had reportedly won the first prize at an international conference in Bhopal in 2016.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, on Thursday, said that Wani’s death is “our loss”.
“Today a PhD scholar chose death over life & was killed in an encounter. His death is entirely our loss as we are losing young educated boys everyday,” she wrote.
“It is high time that all the political parties in the country realise the gravity of this situation and try to facilitate a solution through dialogue with all the stake holders including Pakistan to end this bloodshed,” she added.

industry_corpus2: Politics & Administration


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Steroids have been in the market for many years. The popularity is going beyond the limit when it comes to the use of different steroids in the market. Among others, Danabol DS is one of the popular steroids that can be taken orally by bodybuilders in different parts of the world. Real Danabol can be called by many names like DBol, Blue Hearts, Dianabol, Methandrostenolone, Methandienone, and a lot more. When it comes to shape of this steroid, the pills have a similar appearance to the blue hearts. It was made by Dr. John Ziegler so that it could provide a complete edge to the US Olympic Team over the USSR athletes as they were giving competition.
After sometime, it was released in the marketplace of the Canada, USA, UK, and the Australia. Among people of different ages and backgrounds, it quickly becomes the favorite choice for muscle builders.
It was manufactured by Body Research, which is a real steroid that comes in the category of the anabolic option. It also has a little reduced androgenic effect when the comparison has made between the Anadrol and Testosterone. This is why the steroid is taken as too much effective for both strength and muscle. By taking it, you will see a great enhancement in the protein synthesis and glycogenolysis by triggering the receptors of the androgen. It will give actual effects for your body.
The steroid functions faster as compared to any other steroid in the market of different countries like Canada, UK, USA, and Australia. The real form of the Methandrostenolone is created for injecting in particular, but Danabol DS is a 17-aa steroid. You can take the steroid orally. To prepare the Danabol DS, Methandrostenolone needs to be modified at the 17th carbon point, which makes it able to cross through the liver.
Is this Steroid Fake or Real?
When you buy this steroid from reputed suppliers in the above-mentioned countries, it is going to give you real products. If you buy it from the shady sites or black market, the more chances, you may end up in getting a fake product. It is your responsibility to stay away from fake products so that you can really get the right value for your money. Some fakeproducts are actually marketed as fakes. Manufacturers have named them the best alternatives to steroids, which may give similaroutcomes with fewer side effects. Do you want the best alternative to Dianabol? D-Bal is one of the most popular alternative steroids you can get.
In the beginning, it was particularly developed for athletes. It can help you in increase the ability of athletes. Some experts recommend it because it can increase the intake of the carbohydrates and give you a bulky body appearance. So, if you want to reduce your weight and let them turned into a cut and leaner shape body, then this steroid is actually the best option. So, use it and start seeing the actual effects for your body after getting it online.