title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: In June 1979, MacDonald invited author Joe McGinniss to write a book about his case. Initially unsure of MacDonald's guilt or innocence, McGinniss agreed to his request, and was given full access to MacDonald and his defense team during the upcoming trial.


title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: The book McGinniss authored relating to the murders, "Fatal Vision," portrays MacDonald as "a narcissistic sociopath" who was guilty of murdering his family and who believed in his ongoing capabilities to deceive both legal personnel and personal acquaintances. McGinniss quotes a 1979 report compiled by a psychologist named Hirsch Lazzaar Silverman, who stated MacDonald "handled his conflicts by denying that they even exist", adding that MacDonald lacked any sense of guilt, had been capable of committing "asocial acts with impunity", and had been "incapable of [forming] emotionally close" relationships with females of any age. Silverman further states MacDonald had avoided and resented his commitments as a husband and father and that, given his ongoing "denial of truth", he would continually seek both attention and approval.


title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: "Fatal Vision" also alleges a possible motive for the killings. As MacDonald was regularly taking the amphetamine Eskatrol in an effort to lose weight via a weight-control program for his Green Beret unit, McGinniss suggests MacDonald may have murdered his family in a spur-of-the-moment fit of psychotic rage as a result of his frequent consumption of the amphetamines. Furthermore, the book emphasizes the fact MacDonald worked extremely long hours in several medical employment roles in 1969 and 1970, and his extensive social and family commitments, resulted in his suffering from an increasing lack of sleep.


title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: Reportedly, MacDonald had expected McGinniss's book to profess his innocence and the ongoing miscarriage of justice to which he had been subjected. In 1987, he sued McGinniss for fraud, claiming that the author had agreed to hear his innermost thoughts in order to write a positive account of his ongoing fight for justice for himself and his family, but had actually falsely claimed to believe his claims of innocence after he had already reached a conclusion of his guilt, in order that he (MacDonald) continue cooperating with him on the project. This lawsuit resulted in a mistrial on August 21, 1987. The two later settled out of court for $325,000, although the Kassabs subsequently filed their own countersuit against MacDonald, citing an inheritance clause, resulting in MacDonald receiving only $50,000.


title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: Colette, Kimberley, and Kristen MacDonald were laid to rest side by side in Washington Memorial Park, Suffolk County, Long Island, on February 23, 1970. Each grave was initially inscribed with the surname of MacDonald, although the gravestones were later changed to Colette's maiden name of Stevenson.


title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: MacDonald is currently serving his life sentence at a federal prison in Cumberland, Maryland, and continues to maintain his innocence.


title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: Several individuals believe MacDonald's claims of innocence, and he remains determined to clear his name. In 2017 MacDonald stated: "I am not going to get out saying a falsehood to the parole commission in order for them to give me a break. If it takes me saying 'I killed my family' to the parole commission to get out of here and go home, I'm never going home."


title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: MacDonald's lawyers have repeatedly used the Freedom of Information Act to locate any evidence not presented by either counsel at his 1979 trial, citing suppression of evidence as justification for a retrial. All efforts have proved unsuccessful, as successive courts have ruled that these uncovered and stipulated items do not establish any proof of innocence and thus would not have influenced the verdict of the jury.


title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: MacDonald claims that unidentified fingerprint and fiber evidence uncovered inside his home has never been matched to any individual known to have been in the premises prior to or after the murders, and that these prints are evidence of his claim of home intruders. Further evidence he contends has been withheld include two unidentified 22 inch (56 cm) long synthetic hairs found in a hairbrush, but which were not made available to his defense at trial, and a minute spot of blood of either type O or type B origin (either his blood type or that of his younger daughter, Kristen) that was uncovered in the hallway. His supporters also point to unsourced black woolen fibers found upon Colette MacDonald's mouth and shoulder as evidence of intruders which, they contend, were also deliberately withheld by the government from the defense from presenting as evidence supporting MacDonald's contention.


title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: In August 2002, MacDonald married a former children's drama school owner/operator named Kathryn Kurichh. The two had first met in Baltimore decades previously, but became reacquainted in 1997 after Kurichh wrote MacDonald a letter offering to assist with his legal case. Their friendship gradually became romantic, and their marriage occurred while MacDonald was incarcerated at a federal prison in California. MacDonald was later transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution at Cumberland, Maryland, which is closer to his new legal state of residence as well as to his wife.


title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: MacDonald became eligible for parole in March 1991, but he did not apply for parole at that time. At the urging of MacDonald's second wife and his attorneys, MacDonald applied for a May 2005 parole hearing. His parole request was immediately denied. His next potential parole hearing was in May 2020, although it is unknown whether he applied for parole on this date.


title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: Gregory Mitchell, whom Helena Stoeckley accused of murdering Colette MacDonald, died of cirrhosis of the liver on June 2, 1982, at the age of 31. Like Stoeckley, Mitchell is known to have been a heavy narcotics user. Prior to his death, Mitchell allegedly confessed to multiple people of his involvement in the murders, although he had previously passed a polygraph test in 1971 and the CID had cleared him of any involvement.


title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: Helena Stoeckley died at the age of 30 in January 1983. Her body was found inside her Seneca, South Carolina apartment, with her death estimated to have occurred five days before her body was discovered on January 14. Her autopsy indicates she died of acute pneumonia and cirrhosis. In the years prior to her death, Stoeckley had undergone several years of treatment for drug addiction and psychiatric care.


title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: On December 17, 1995, Judge Franklin Dupree died at the age of 82 following a short illness. Bernard Segal, MacDonald's lead defense attorney, died in California in 2011. James Blackburn, a lead prosecutor in the 1979 trial, later admitted that between 1990 and 1991 he had forged several court documents unrelated to the MacDonald case, and illegally wired money from his law firm's bank account. In 1993, Blackburn pleaded guilty to fraud, embezzlement, forgery and obstruction of justice. He was disbarred and served three-and-a-half months in jail.


title: Jeffrey R. MacDonald

text: Colette MacDonald's mother and stepfather, Mildred and Alfred Kassab, both died in 1994; she on January 19 and he on October 24. Alfred Kassab had initially believed MacDonald's testimony and been a staunch and vocal supporter of his son-in-law, but he drastically changed his opinion and became one of MacDonald's fiercest adversaries. Initially, Mildred had welcomed a 1971 diagnosis of breast cancer, writing in her diary the cancer would help her in her "desire to just die" following the murders of her daughter and grandchildren. However, her husband's steadfast determination to see MacDonald brought to justice compelled her to assist him in his quest for justice, and she consented to submit to radiation therapy. In 1984, Kassab reflected on the impact the events made on his marriage to Colette's mother, stating: "Most people who go through traumatic things like this, nowhere near as lengthy, almost always end up in divorce, but, with us, it's drawn us closer." With his own health in decline, in 1989 Kassab recorded a message on a tape recorder, stating he wished the recording to be played at any future parole hearings. In this recorded message, Kassab stated: "I want to be sure he serves out his sentence the way it should be served out. I don't want him walking the streets."


title: 2022 in the United States

text: The following is a list of events from the year 2022 in the United States, as well as predicted and scheduled events that have not yet occurred.


title: 2022 in the United States

text: Politically, the United States has been dominated by a culture war, with the issue of abortion gaining special attention amidst the Supreme Court's decision to overturn "Roe v. Wade" with its ruling on "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization," sparking protests across the country, and eventually the world. America has also seen labor unions gaining increased traction, with Apple, Starbucks and Amazon, among the most notable targets. In conjunction, increased attention to critical race theory, the instruction of gender identity in schools, and the ongoing investigations into both former president Donald Trump and the January 6th attack have gained political attention. Mass shootings have also become an increasingly common phenomenon, with 622 occurring this year as of December 7, varying from those targeting schools (including the deadliest shooting of the year) to bias-motivated incidents which have targeted racial and sexual minorities.


title: 2022 in the United States

text: In the economy, the United States has been heavily impacted by the global inflation surge, a simultaneous stock market decline and a heavy increase in gasoline prices, all partly due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. America's largest tech companies were hit especially hard by the economy, with Meta Platforms in particular losing nearly $700 billion in valuation. The Federal Reserve has made its first interest rate hikes in years, with the current federal funds rate at 4.4%. 2022 has also marked a period of acquisitions within the tech industry as well, notably Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter and Microsoft's ongoing buyout of Activision Blizzard.


title: 2022 in the United States

text: The midterm elections are held on November 8, and all 435 voting seats of the House of Representatives, 35 seats in the Senate, 39 state and territorial gubernatorial elections, and numerous state and local elections are decided. Georgia's Senate election went to a runoff between Democrat incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker a month later, which Warnock ultimately won.


title: Christina Hall

text: Christina Meursinge Hall (née Haack, formerly El Moussa and Anstead; born July 9, 1983) is an American real estate investor and TV personality. She previously co-starred on HGTV's show "Flip or Flop" alongside her now ex-husband Tarek El Moussa and currently has her own HGTV show "Christina on the Coast".


title: Christina Hall

text: Hall was born in Anaheim, California. She has a sister, Carly, who is ten years younger. She went to school in southern California and began working in the real estate industry after graduating from San Diego State University. In 2005, she first met future husband and business partner, Tarek El Moussa while the two were working as real estate agents at Prudential.


title: Christina Hall

text: Hall ran the real-estate agency Tarek and Christina: The El Moussa Group with her first husband Tarek in Orange County, California. The husband-and-wife team sold real estate in the southern California area. When the housing market plummeted after the October 2008 stock market crash, their real estate business suffered. The El Moussas went from living in a $6,000-per-month house to a $700-per-month apartment in just a few years.


title: Christina Hall

text: In 2010, the El Moussas, along with their business partner Pete De Best, bought their first investment property in Santa Ana, California for $115,000, selling the property for a profit of $34,000. The trio continued to flip houses, expanding their real-estate investing business into Arizona and Nevada.


title: Christina Hall

text: The El Moussa Group was dissolved in 2018. The business is now owned by Tarek and Associates, a sole venture of Tarek El Moussa.


title: Christina Hall

text: In 2011, Tarek El Moussa asked a friend to help him make an audition tape for HGTV. Pie Town Productions expressed interest in the tape. HGTV producers had also noticed the couple's Instagram profile, which featured before and after profiles of several renovation projects.


title: Christina Hall

text: In 2012, HGTV signed the couple to produce a show for the network. In April 2013, "Flip Or Flop" debuted on the network. In a 2014 interview, Hall said, "Each episode shows things that can go wrong, and do go wrong".


title: Christina Hall

text: In June 2018, it was announced that Hall would be featured in her own spin-off show, "Christina on the Coast". The first episode of season 1 focused on Hall renovating her new post-divorce home, with the remaining seven episodes focusing on her renovating other people's homes. Filming began in fall 2018, for a spring 2019 premiere. The show's second season premiered on January 2, 2020, on HGTV.


title: Christina Hall

text: On July 14, 2020, Hall announced she will be partnering with Spectra Furniture to create a furniture line for the brand. The new line, Christina HOME, debuted in October 2020. In November 2021, Hall created a luxury vinyl flooring line, The Christina Collection, that features 21 different colors and styles.


title: Christina Hall

text: During her career, Hall has been featured in numerous magazines and publications such as "Good Housekeeping" and the "Orange County Register". She has graced the magazine covers of "HGTV" magazine and "People."


title: Christina Hall

text: In October 2006, she began dating Tarek El Moussa and the couple got married in 2009. Their daughter was born in 2010 and their son was born in 2015.


title: Christina Hall

text: In 2013, Tarek was diagnosed with both thyroid and testicular cancer. When doctors recommended radiation treatment, the couple decided to bank Tarek's sperm and try in-vitro fertilization to have a second child. The first attempt failed and Christina suffered a miscarriage on the second try. She became pregnant with their son in 2015.


title: Christina Hall

text: In May 2016, the couple separated after an incident at their Southern California home. Tarek was found by the police on a nearby hiking trail and was in possession of a handgun. He maintained he was never suicidal and had simply gone for a hike, taking a gun to protect himself from wild animals.


title: Christina Hall

text: In November 2017, she began dating English television presenter Ant Anstead. On December 22, 2018, she married Anstead at their Newport Beach, California home and officially changed her name to Christina Anstead, dropping the last name of her first husband. The couple's only child together was born on September 6, 2019. They announced their separation on September 18, 2020, and she filed for divorce in November. She also reverted to her maiden name of Christina Haack, dropping the last name of her second husband. The divorce was finalized in June 2021. On April 28, 2022, Anstead filed for full custody of Hudson, accusing Haack of exploiting their son on social media.


title: Christina Hall

text: In July 2021, "People" magazine announced that Haack was dating realtor Joshua Hall, and the couple got engaged the following September. On April 5, 2022, it was reported the couple married with her name also changing to Christina Hall. On September 3, 2022, the couple married a second time in Hawaii.


title: HelloFresh

text: HelloFresh SE is a publicly traded meal kit company based in Berlin, Germany. It is the largest meal-kit provider in the United States, and also has operations in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Europe (GB, D-A-CH, Benelux, France, Italy and Scandinavia) and Japan.


title: HelloFresh

text: HelloFresh was founded in November 2011 by Dominik Richter, Thomas Griesel, and Jessica Nilsson in Berlin, Germany. Richter and Griesel packed and hand-delivered to the first 10 customers. It was one of the earlier companies in the meal-kit industry. They were initially funded by Rocket Internet, a German startup studio company. They first started delivering meal kits to paying customers in early 2012, and expanded to the Netherlands, UK, US and Australia the same year. By 2014, the company claimed to be delivering 1 million meals per month. They raised $50 million in a 2014 funding round, after having raised $10 million in 2012 and $7 million in 2013.


title: HelloFresh

text: By March 2015, the company had 250,000 subscribers, although it was still not profitable. In September of that year, it was valued at €2.6 billion in a funding round where it raised €75 million, making it a unicorn company. The company was still majority-owned by Rocket Internet at that time. It cancelled a planned IPO in November, due to concerns about the company's proposed value. It experienced significant growth during the year, with 530,000 subscribers by the end of October. It had 750,000 subscribers by July 2016, and 1.3 million by the third quarter of 2017.


title: HelloFresh

text: In October 2017, the company announced a planned IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange to raise $350 million. On November 2, the company completed its IPO, valuing it at €1.7 billion. At the time of its IPO, the company had a market capitalization of more than double Blue Apron, its largest US-based competitor.


title: HelloFresh

text: In 2019, Rocket Internet sold its remaining stake in HelloFresh by accelerated book building to international institutional investors. Rocket Internet had held a 30.6% stake in HelloFresh, as of the end of 2018.


title: HelloFresh

text: HelloFresh's business model is to prepare the ingredients needed for a meal, and deliver them to customers, who must then cook the meal using recipe cards, which can take around 30–40 minutes. It generally provides about three two-person meals a week for about $60 to $70. It offers a choice from about 19 recipes. In several markets, HelloFresh provides "Rapid Box" meals which take only 20 minutes to prepare.


title: HelloFresh

text: In the United States, HelloFresh offers a wine-subscription service, based on that of its competitor Blue Apron. This subscription, HelloFresh Wine Club starts at $14.83 per bottle or $89 for the whole month (includes 6 bottles of wine). With the Wine Club, customers can also pick between All Reds, All White, or a Mixed Box (Red and White) for their wine.


title: HelloFresh

text: In March 2018, HelloFresh announced their acquisition of Green Chef, a USDA-certified organic meal kit company. HelloFresh planned to use the acquisition to offer the largest selection of meal plans and diets for consumers on the market, adding Green Chef's organic vegan and gluten-free menus, including those plans compliant with Paleo and Keto diets.


title: HelloFresh

text: The company's US operations were responsible for 60% of revenues as of November 2017, and it has approximately 44% of the American market. HelloFresh has operations in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Italy, New Zealand, Japan, Spain and Ireland.


title: HelloFresh

text: Warehouse workers for HelloFresh in Aurora, Colorado and Richmond, California initiated a union drive with UNITE-HERE in September 2021. HelloFresh management responded by hiring Kulture Consulting, a "union avoidance" consulting firm. Workers were compelled to attend captive audience meetings with anti-union messages. The Aurora election was held on November 22, and Richmond held its election on December 15; workers in both places voted decisively against unionization amid accusations of the company's interference and intimidation in the campaign, with the union contesting the results in Aurora. In Newark and Totowa, New Jersey, HelloFresh workers are unionizing with Brotherhood of Amalgamated Trades.


title: HelloFresh

text: In November of 2021, HelloFresh launched their Climate Labeling Initiative. This labeling is to let consumers know when recipes are producing up to 85% less CO2e emissions. The initial launch was in Germany, but as of December 19, 2022, the label is available in eight other EU countries (including AUS and NZ).


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk (; 10 January 1934 – 10 May 2022) was a Ukrainian politician and the first president of Ukraine, serving from 5 December 1991 until 19 July 1994. In 1992, he signed the Lisbon Protocol, undertaking to give up Ukraine's nuclear arsenal. He was also the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and a People's Deputy of Ukraine serving in the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) faction.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: After a political crisis involving the president and the prime minister, Kravchuk resigned from the presidency, but ran for a second term as president in 1994. He was defeated by his former prime minister, Leonid Kuchma, who then served as president for two terms. After his presidency, Kravchuk remained active in Ukrainian politics, serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada and the leader of the parliamentary group of Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) from 2002 to 2006.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk was born on 10 January 1934 in the village of Velykyi Zhytyn ("Żytyń Wielki") to an ethnic Ukrainian peasant family. At that time the village was part of Poland (Second Polish Republic). It became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic after the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 when Kravchuk was a child. His father served in the Polish army during the 1930s, and later he and his wife worked for the local osadniks (Polish colonists). During World War II, Kravchuk's father perished on the front lines.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Kravchuk married a mathematics teacher, Antonina Mykhailivna Mishura, in 1957. First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, Barbara Bush (wife of the 41st President of the United States George H. W. Bush), described Antonina in her memoirs: "She was the nicest young woman, a math teacher with absolutely no interest in politics".


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Kravchuk went to a vocational school before studying Marxist political economy at Kyiv University. He graduated at 24 and became a political economy teacher in Chernivtsi, in southwest Ukraine, before entering politics. Kravchuk joined the Communist Party of Ukraine in 1958 and rose through the ranks of the party and of its "agitprop" department.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: He became a member of the Ukrainian Communist Party Bureau in 1989, and on 23 July 1990, became Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR, becoming the republic's nominal head of state. On 24 October 1990, the monopoly of the Communist Party of Ukraine on power was abolished, and thus, Kravchuk became not only the nominal, but also the actual head of the republic.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: After the 19–21 August 1991 Soviet coup attempt Kravchuk, who did not support the attempt to remove Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev from power, resigned from the Communist Party. After the Verkhovna Rada passed the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine on 24 August, the constitution was amended to create the post of President of Ukraine. Before the vote for the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine Kravchuk was instrumental in persuading the communists parliamentary majority to accept the opposition's demands of Ukrainian Independence. Participants in the Belovezha talks said Kravchuk rejected any efforts to keep the Soviet Union going with reforms.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Following the Act of Declaration of Independence Kravchuk was vested with presidential powers, thus becoming both "de facto" and "de jure" head of state. Later that year, on 5 December 1991, voters formally elected him president in Ukraine's first presidential election. On the same day, the voters voted overwhelmingly to secede from the Soviet Union—a move which Kravchuk now fully supported. This made Kravchuk the first head of state of independent Ukraine.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: On 25 February 1992, as President of Ukraine, Kravchuk, issued Presidential decree 98/92 "About the changes in the system of central bodies of executive power of Ukraine".


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: On 6 May 1992, Kravchuk met George H. W. Bush in the United States and signed an agreement for the full removal of all nuclear tactical weapons from Ukrainian territory by 1 July, and in return obtained a credit line of $110 million to buy U.S. commodities. It led to the signing of the Budapest Memorandum. The document was signed on 5 December 1994 at the summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Budapest. In it, Ukraine, a nuclear power at that time, voluntarily gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Kravchuk achieved and strengthened the formal sovereignty of the country. He took a pro-European stance, developing relations with the West and signing a cooperation accord with the European Union. The Kravchuk administration was the source for Ukraine's depressing reputation as a champion of corruption and missed opportunities as Kravchuk was cozy with Oligarchs and supported Pro Russian Forces adding to escalation of Ukrainian–Russian tensions and a policy of cooperation with Moscow.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Kravchuk refused to retain the common armed forces and currency inside the Commonwealth of Independent States. On 2 July 1993, the Ukrainian parliament approved the statement; 'Ukraine advocates the creation of an all-embracing international system of universal and all-European security and considers participation [therein] a basic component of its national security'.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Ukraine under Kravchuk welcomed the idea of NATO enlargement. As president, he never opposed the expansion of the Alliance or the possibility of a future Ukrainian membership to NATO. This was reflected in his disdain for military cooperation with Eurasian structures, such as the Tashkent CIS Collective Security Treaty, in favour of European security structures. He said that "the best guarantee to Ukraine's security would be membership to NATO." He repeated his support for an immediate Ukrainian membership to NATO in 1994.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Ukraine and Russia argued over many issues, including how the Soviet Navy's Black Sea Fleet should be divided. In May 1992, Russia's Supreme Soviet voted to declare the Soviet government's 1954 grant of Crimea to Ukraine an illegal act. Ukraine opposed this decision. The status of the Russian Black Sea Fleet's presence in Sevastopol and the Crimea was not resolved by a 20-year lease agreement until 1997, three years after Kravchuk left office.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Under Kravchuk's leadership, Ukraine's economy slumped as corruption linked to privatization of Soviet-era industry thrived. Ukraine's economic woes caused a decline in Kravchuk's political popularity, sparking governmental infighting. Political tension reached a point in the fall of 1993 that the then-prime minister, Leonid Kuchma, resigned. By 1994, in less than three years of Kravchuk's presidency, the country's GDP had shrunk by 40 percent.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Kravchuk ran for a second term as president in 1994 but was defeated by his former Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma, with his loss being attributed to the rampant graft and the stagnant economy.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Soon after his defeat in 1994, Kravchuk joined the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) (SDPU(o)). He served as a member of the Verkhovna Rada from 1994 until 2006.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: In February 2003, Oleksandr Moroz, the leader of Ukraine's Socialist Party, accused Kravchuk and other 300 public high-ranked officials of being members of the Freemasons.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: During the 2004 presidential elections Kravchuk actively supported the candidacy of Viktor Yanukovych, and was a member of the Yanukovych team that negotiated with the opposition in the aftermath of that disputed election. In November 2004 he told the media that he was afraid that the resulting crisis would cause the disintegration of the country, intensifying movements for certain regions of Ukraine to join other countries.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: On 25 September 2009, Kravchuk declared during an interview with the newspaper "Den" that he left SDPU(o) and became unaffiliated again. He explained this based on the fact that his former party decided to join the Bloc of Left and Center-left Forces to run for the 2010 presidential elections. He was indignant due to the fact that the political council of the party decided to accomplish that behind the closed doors in non-democratic order. He called it [the] "block as the artificial union without any perspectives". Kravchuk endorsed Yulia Tymoshenko during the 2010 presidential elections campaign.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: During the 2010 election campaign, he accused incumbent president Viktor Yushchenko of having "turned into Yanukovych's aide. He has actually turned into an also-ran. His task is to slander Yulia Tymoshenko every day and prevent her from winning [the presidential elections]". Kravchuk explained his shift in support from Yanukovych to Tymoshenko was caused because he felt Yanukovych "turned his back" on all the issues Kravchuk wanted him to address as president: the Ukrainian language, culture, and the Holodomor. "Only the dead or the stupid do not change their views", he stated in December 2009 when he also voiced the opinion that voting for Yanukovych in the second round of the 2010 elections would indicate an anti-Ukrainian position.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: In July 2020, Kravchuk was chosen to represent Ukraine at the Trilateral Contact Group (formed to facilitate a diplomatic resolution to the war in the Donbass region), being appointed to replace Leonid Kuchma. He maintained this position until February 2022.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Kravchuk had heart surgery in June 2021. He was reportedly in ill health by this time. On 29 June 2021, the first president of Ukraine missed the solemn meeting of the Verkhovna Rada on the occasion of Constitution Day due to heart surgery. After surgery, the head of the Trilateral Contact Group was placed in intensive care and connected to a ventilator. In July, the media reported that Leonid Kravchuk had been in intensive care for a month.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: On 10 May 2022, a family member told the Ukrainian News Agency that Kravchuk had died at the age of 88 in Germany, after a long illness. His death was also confirmed by unnamed officials in Kyiv, as well as Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office. He died a week after Stanislav Shushkevich, another signatory to the Belovezh Accords, died in Minsk. On 11 May, President Zelenskyy issued a decree establishing the Kravchuk Prize in his memory.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: His funeral ceremony took place on 17 May at the Ukrainian House in Kyiv, and was attended by President Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska as well as three former presidents of Ukraine: Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko. In addition, guests included his wife Antonina, Mayor Vitali Klitschko of Kyiv, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov, and former politicians Oleksandr Kuzmuk, Oleksandr Moroz, and Mustafa Dzhemilev. He was buried at Baikove Cemetery.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Kravchuk was married to Antonina Mykhailivna Kravchuk. The couple married in 1957. She rarely attended official events with her husband.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Kravchuk and his wife had one child, Oleksandr Leonidovych Kravchuk (born 1959), president of the State Company "Nafkom-Ahro" and the former FC Nafkom Brovary. Kravchuk had two grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. After Kravchuk stopped working for the Ukrainian state, he lived in a state-owned dacha in Koncha-Zaspa.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: He is often associated as a key figure in achieving Ukraine's independence and in giving up Ukraine's nuclear arsenal.


title: Leonid Kravchuk

text: Former Belarusian leader, Stanislav Shushkevich, who took part in the Belovezha talks and signed the deal, said; "Kravchuk was focused on Ukraine's independence, he was proud that Ukraine declared its independence in a referendum and he was elected president on 1 December 1991." Following his death, Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Oleksii Reznikov, said, "Thank you for the peaceful renewal of our Independence. We're defending it now with weapons in our hands." Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, said it was "Sad news and a great loss," describing Kravchuk as "a wise patriot of Ukraine, a truly historical figure in gaining our independence." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid tribute to Kravchuk, calling him not just a historical figure but "a man who knew how to find wise words and to say them so that all Ukrainians would hear them."


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: On July 7, 2016, Micah Xavier Johnson ambushed a group of police officers in Dallas, Texas, shooting and killing five officers, and injuring nine others. Two civilians were also wounded. Johnson was an Army Reserve Afghan War veteran and was angry over police shootings of black men. The shooting happened at the end of a protest against the police killings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, which had occurred in the preceding days.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Following the shooting, Johnson fled inside a building on the campus of El Centro College. Police followed him there, and a standoff ensued. In the early hours of July 8, police killed Johnson with a bomb attached to a remote control bomb disposal robot. The robot charged into Johnson's legs and detonated, which killed him. It was the first time U.S. law enforcement used a robot to kill a suspect.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: The shooting was the deadliest incident for U.S. law enforcement since the September 11, 2001 attacks, surpassing two related March 2009 shootings in Oakland, California, and a November 2009 ambush shooting in Lakewood, Washington, which had each resulted in the death of four police officers and the shooting deaths of both suspects. It was the second-deadliest "targeted" attack of U.S. law enforcement officers in history; and the largest since the Young Brothers massacre of 1932 resulted in the deaths of six law enforcement officers in Missouri.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: A protest was organized in Dallas by the Next Generation Action Network in response to the killings of two men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, by police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota, respectively, days before. The Dallas protest was one of several held across the United States on the night of July 7. Around 800 protesters were involved, and around 100 police officers were assigned to monitor the event. About 20 to 30 open-carry gun rights activists joined the protest march, some wearing gas masks, bulletproof vests, and fatigues, according to Dallas Police Chief David Brown.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Most of the events happened in the streets and buildings around El Centro College, which forms a city block composed of multiple buildings. The block is bordered by Main Street on the south where the protest march was taking place; Lamar Street to the east from where Johnson initiated the shooting spree; and Elm Street to the north where Johnson eventually entered the college.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Around 8:58 p.m. Johnson parked his SUV sideways on Lamar Street, in front of the east entrance to the college, at Building A, and left the vehicle hazard lights blinking. At the time, the street had been cleared out in anticipation of the protest. Taking cover at street level, he began shooting at groups of police and protesters who were gathered on Main Street. Johnson was believed to have talked to three of the officers he shot before he first opened fire.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Three officers were killed in the initial gunfire, while at least three others and a civilian were injured. Eleven officers fired back. During the shooting, officers, unaware where the shots were coming from, scrambled to block intersections and were exposed to gunfire as a result.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Immediately afterwards, Johnson made his way north on Lamar Street, encountering Officer Brent Thompson along the way. A civilian recorded video of the encounter from his hotel balcony on Lamar Street. The video showed Johnson, clad in tactical clothing and armed with a rifle, loading his rifle and firing indiscriminately to draw officers near his position. When Thompson approached a corner, Johnson engaged him in a gunfight, forcing Thompson to take cover behind a concrete pillar. Johnson fired towards one side of the pillar, then ran over to the other side of the pillar to flank Thompson and shot him multiple times from behind, killing him.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Johnson, now injured during the firefight, attempted to enter the Lamar Street entrance of the college by shooting out the glass door but was unable to make his way in. He wounded two campus police officers who were near the doorway inside the building. Corporal Bryan Shaw was shot in the stomach underneath his bulletproof vest, while Officer John Abbott was hit by flying glass in the legs. Johnson then made his way to Elm Street where he shot out another glass door and entered the college unseen; he then made his way to Building B. Hearing the shattering glass, one of the injured campus officers, Corporal Shaw, made his way through the building and discovered a trail of blood leading to a stairwell. Accompanied by another police officer, Shaw entered the stairwell and was met with a hail of gunfire coming from above. Unable to see Johnson, he held his fire and retreated with the other officer.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Afterwards, Johnson made his way along a mezzanine between the school's second-floor dining area and third-floor library, but came onto a dead end of windows facing down onto Elm Street. He shot out multiple windows and fired repeatedly at officers on Elm Street. He hit Michael Smith, a police officer standing in front of a 7-Eleven, killing him and shattering the store-front glass. Officers began entering the college, sealing escape routes from the building, and evacuating students and teachers in the building, including those on a floor above Johnson, through a different stairwell.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Approaching Johnson on the second floor near the library, officers found him secured behind a corner firing intermittently. He was in an area filled with offices and the school's computer servers, with only two doors leading to where he was positioned, and a hallway about long separating him from SWAT members. At least 200 gunshots were believed to have been fired by Johnson and SWAT officers in that area during the standoff.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Body camera video released in July 2021 pursuant to an open records request shows Sergeant Larry Gordon, a SWAT negotiator at the time, and other officers attempting for several hours to negotiate with Johnson. Officers interviewed by WFAA later reported that they had sought to negotiate with Johnson because he was too heavily armed for the officers to risk charging him, but that they were under pressure and could not wait indefinitely because Johnson could pop out from behind a corner at any time to shoot an officer. The body camera footage shows Senior Corporal Matt Banes expressing concern that the bullets Johnson fired on the second floor were easily penetrating the drywall, making it impossible for the negotiators to find safe cover, and posing a risk to any unevacuated students who might have remained in the building.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Johnson shouted “Black supremacy! Black liberation!” and began firing on police officers when they initially cornered him in the hallway. As the officers began asking Johnson questions, Johnson said he would speak to Black police officers only and repeatedly referred to himself as "X". When the negotiator, Sgt. Gordon, told Johnson that he was Black, Johnson initially responded, "No way." Johnson told Sgt. Gordon that he served overseas in the military. At one point, as negotiations deteriorated, Johnson told Sgt. Gordon, "The talking is over. It's time for a revolution, brother. If you are my brother, turn your weapon on those behind you."


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Johnson said that he had acted alone and was not part of any group. According to Chief Brown, Johnson appeared delusional during his standoff; "We had negotiated with him for about two hours, and he just basically lied to us, playing games, laughing at us, singing, asking how many did he get and that he wanted to kill some more." However, Sgt. Gordon indicated in an interview that the shooter "wasn't delusional" and that "he was very lucid, seemed to be very sane and very in control".


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Johnson repeatedly taunted police by goading them into the hallway and claiming to have planted bombs throughout the city. Later searches of downtown Dallas found no evidence of explosives. After several hours of negotations, police determined that Johnson could not be persuaded to surrender and that they could not "wait him out" any longer because he might charge officers in the narrow hallway at any moment, as he had done several times earlier. So, the team began considering several tactical plans to end the standoff.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Sr. Cpl. Banes said they considered using a .50 caliber rifle to fire at the shooter, which had been successful in a similar attack on police 14 months earlier. However, in that case, the suspect had driven an armored truck into police headquarters and remained inside the armored vehicle. Johnson was holed up inside a populated college with thin sheetrock walls, so the tactical team deemed that approach too dangerous. They also considered rappelling down the building or attacking Johnson through the ceiling after opening it with explosives. Both options were ruled out due to the risks they might pose to the officers who would carry it out.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Senior Corporal Jeremy Borchardt and others ultimately arrived at the idea to use a bomb disposal remote control vehicle armed with about of C-4 explosive. The plan was to move the robot to a point against a wall facing Johnson and then detonate the explosives. The device exploded as intended at approximately 2:30 a.m., killing Johnson immediately. It was the first time that explosives strapped to a robot had been used in American domestic law enforcement. Although its arm sustained damage in the blast, the robot was still functional.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: In the aftermath, police investigated Johnson's body and equipment. He was found laying next to a rifle, two handguns, additional rifle magazines, and a bag filled with supplies. Police had initially located Johnson within the college by following a trail of blood he had left behind as he climbed to the 2nd floor, bleeding from a wound he had sustained on Lamar Street. After the standoff, investigators discovered that Johnson had scrawled the letters "RB" and other messages in his own blood while making his way up a stairwell. Police investigated the markings made by Johnson, but did not conclusively determine if they had any special meaning.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Asked about the remarks Johnson made during the negotiation, Sgt. Gordon later reflected, "I think he was angry...and he felt powerless, I think. And that's why I think he took the rifle and took it upon himself to attack us. Because he felt powerless, and he wanted to die to show...because he says he's doing this for his people...And I think the hook that I had with him was that I was an African-American male."


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Most of the victims were shot during the protests, and at least one other during a shootout. The dead comprised four Dallas Police Department (DPD) officers and one Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) officer. Four of the injured officers were from DPD, three were from DART, and two were from El Centro College. Seven of the injured officers were treated at Parkland Memorial Hospital. Two officers underwent surgery. One civilian was shot in the back of the leg, breaking her tibia.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: This was the deadliest single incident for law enforcement officers in the United States since the September 11 attacks, surpassing two 2009 shootings in Lakewood, Washington, and Oakland, California, where four officers each were killed.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Micah Xavier Johnson was born in Magee, Mississippi and raised in Mesquite, Texas. He once described his childhood as "stressful" during a VA visit on August 15, 2014, but further details were redacted on the visit report. When he was four, his parents divorced.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Johnson transferred into John Horn High School when he was 17 and participated in its Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, according to the Mesquite Independent School District. He struggled academically, graduating in 2009 with a 1.98 grade-point average and a ranking of 430 out of 453 students in his class.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: In the spring of 2011, he enrolled in four classes at Richland College, but never completed any of them. Investigators believed that Johnson had access to El Centro College through his enrollment at Richland, citing his pre-planned and coordinated movements throughout Building B.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Immediately after high school, Johnson enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve and served from March 2009 to April 2015 as a 12W carpentry and masonry specialist. He completed basic training, which required qualification on handling of an M16 rifle or M4 carbine, basic rifles for U.S. military personnel. According to Justin Garner, a high-school friend and classmate who later served alongside Johnson in the same unit, Johnson lacked proficiency in certain required technical skills, such as marksmanship.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Johnson was activated at the rank of private first class in September 2013 in support of the War in Afghanistan, where he was deployed from November 2013 to July 2014 with the 420th Engineer Brigade.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: People who knew Johnson during his time in the Army described him as openly religious and often socializing with white soldiers. A squad leader, who trained Johnson in tactical maneuvers and protection in 2009 and 2010, described him as "klutzy", "goofy sometimes", and "a nice guy", but also quiet and unmotivated.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Documents released by the Army on July 29 detailed early signs of disturbing behavior being exhibited by him, but specific details were redacted. They also said that while Johnson was sociable, he was generally described by soldiers as a loner who sometimes ate his lunch in a vehicle alone while the rest of his unit ate outside together.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: On May 1, 2014, during his deployment, he was accused of sexual harassment by a female soldier, who sought a protective order against him and said that he needed mental health counseling. The accusation was made after the soldier reported four pairs of women's underwear missing from her laundry bag. A "health and welfare inspection" of soldiers' rooms found one pair in Johnson's quarters, while a soldier discovered the remaining three in Johnson's pocket. Upon being confronted about it, Johnson fled with the undergarments and attempted to dispose of them in a nearby dumpster. He then lied that a female civilian acquaintance gave the underwear to him, but the female soldier confirmed that they were in fact hers.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: The female soldier told investigators that she and Johnson had been platonic friends for five years, but had stopped talking to each other. She described their relationship as being tumultuous and involving fights and disagreements. She specifically recalled one incident where Johnson punched out a car window over her leaving for college and severed an artery, then forced her to bring him to a hospital for treatment. However, Johnson claimed that he punched out the window when the soldier missed a movie they planned to see together, and added that he had been under stress from his job and turbulent home life at the time.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: According to the soldier, Johnson asked her for a pair of her underwear before the May 1 incident, but she declined. Also, during a Facebook conversation with her, Johnson mentioned "tying her down and having her face down on the bed" but then claimed the statement was a joke. Though she told him that rape was "never a joke" and to stop contacting her, the soldier did not report him for harassment at the time because she was used to that kind of rhetoric. Though the May 1 incident did not meet the Army's criteria for sexual harassment, investigators found that Johnson's sexually suggestive comments to the female soldier met said criteria.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Following the inspection, he was disarmed under the recommendation of his platoon sergeant, who felt he posed a potential threat. Another Army official later described the action as unusual, as Johnson did not appear to be visibly agitated or a threat to himself or others at the time. Johnson was then placed under 24-hour escort, which was reportedly a shameful and ostracizing experience, before being temporarily moved to Bagram Airfield on May 3, but he did not have enough time to pack all of his belongings. While soldiers were emptying Johnson's quarters and packing his belongings for him on May 14, they discovered an unauthorized single M430I High Explosive Dual Purpose 40mm grenade, a .50-caliber round, and another soldier's prescription medication in his sleeping bag.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Later, the Army sent Johnson back to the U.S., and according to the military lawyer who represented Johnson at the time, the Army initiated proceedings to give Johnson an "other than honorable" discharge. The lawyer claimed this was "highly unusual" because written reprimands are usually issued before more drastic steps are taken, and also because the decision was allegedly based on a single sexual harassment allegation. The lawyer was evidently unaware of the grenade and other contraband discovered in Johnson's possession shortly before he was repatriated to the United States from Afghanistan as well as other factors in Johnson's possibly redacted record. On the advice of his attorney, Johnson waived his right to a hearing in exchange for a more favorable general discharge under honorable conditions. He was honorably discharged in September 2014, apparently as a result of an Army error. Johnson remained in the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), meaning he could be recalled into the Army if needed, and was part of the IRR at the time of his death.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Johnson received the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with campaign star, Army Achievement Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, and NATO Medal for his tour of duty in Afghanistan.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Chief Brown said that Johnson, who was Black, was upset about recent police shootings of Black men and "stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers." A friend and former coworker of Johnson's described him as "always [being] distrustful of the police." Another former coworker said he seemed "very affected" by recent police shootings of Black men. A friend said that Johnson had anger management problems and would repeatedly watch videos of the 1991 beating of Rodney King by police officers. Johnson opposed Black Lives Matter due to their views in support of racial unity, instead believing in black separatism.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: "Two law enforcement officials told NPR's Dina Temple-Raston that they believe the suspect had been planning an attack for some time and acted on his own. They added that they have not identified a connection between the suspect and any international terrorism or domestic extremist groups".


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: An investigation into his online activities uncovered his interest in Black nationalist groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and news outlets reported that Johnson "liked" the Facebook pages of Black nationalist organizations such as the New Black Panther Party (NBPP), Nation of Islam, and Black Riders Liberation Army, three groups which are listed by the SPLC as hate groups. On Facebook, Johnson posted an angry and "disjointed" post against White people on July 2, several days before the attack.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: NBPP head Quanell X said after the shooting that Johnson had been a member of the NBPP's Houston chapter for about six months, several years before. Quanell X added that Johnson had been "asked to leave" the group for violating the organization's "chain of command" and espousing dangerous rhetoric, such as asking the NBPP why they had not purchased more weapons and ammunition, and expressing his desire to harm Black church preachers because he believed they were more interested in money than God. Following the shooting, a national NBPP leader distanced the group from Johnson, saying that he "was not a member of" the party.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Johnson also "liked" the Facebook page of the African American Defense League, whose leader, Mauricelm-Lei Millere, called for the murders of police officers across the U.S. following the 2014 murder of Laquan McDonald. In response to the police killing of Alton Sterling, the organization had "posted a message earlier in the week encouraging violence against police".


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Johnson's Facebook profile photo depicted Johnson raising his arm in a Black Power salute, along with images of a Black Power symbol and a flag associated with the Pan-Africanism movement. These symbols have long represented Black empowerment, but have also been co-opted by reactionary groups with bigoted views.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Conversely, people familiar with Johnson during his military service believed he may have been severely stressed with serving in a combat zone. They also said he had little interest in the topics of racial injustice and the killing of Trayvon Martin that occurred at the time. In an interview, Johnson's parents said that he was once extroverted and patriotic, and wanted to become a police officer. Following his discharge from the Army, they described him as disillusioned, reclusive, and resentful of the U.S. government; and believed he had been disappointed by his experience in the military. According to a soldier, Johnson had a small breakdown after he began losing his friends in the Army after details of the sexual harassment accusation were released.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: According to an employment application made by Johnson seven months before his death, he worked in a Jimmy John's sandwich shop in north Dallas beginning in 2010, and took a position as a quality assurance worker at a Garland, Texas, truck plant in 2012. At the time of his death, Johnson was working as an in-home caregiver for his mentally disabled adult brother. Both men lived with their mother in her home.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Johnson had no criminal record in Texas. However, the Mesquite Police Department documented an encounter with him in January 2011. According to the report, Johnson walked into their police station "visibly upset and...bouncing from side to side." He told an officer that a female friend had lied to him and that he had nowhere else to go. He also declined mental health treatment and claimed he was not a threat to himself or others. Johnson was eventually picked up from the station by a friend from his Army Reserve unit.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: The Veterans Health Administration released documents in August 2016 showing that Johnson had symptoms for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following his return from Afghanistan. He was not formally diagnosed with the condition, and doctors concluded that he presented no serious risk to himself or others. Johnson had sought treatment for anxiety, depression, and hallucinations, once telling doctors that he had experienced nightmares after witnessing fellow soldiers dying in explosions. Johnson also said that he would hear voices and mortars exploding; and that after returning to the U.S., he would be paranoid, suffer from lower back pain, and experience panic attacks a few times per week. For the latter condition, he recalled one incident at a Wal-Mart that required a police response. For his conditions, Johnson was prescribed several medications, including a muscle relaxant, an antidepressant, and anti-anxiety and sleep medication.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Chief Brown said that while Johnson had been planning the shooting before the deaths of Sterling and Philando Castile, both incidents served as the trigger to commit the shooting and that he saw the Dallas protest as "an opportunity" to attack police officers. Johnson had offered to work security at an anti-Donald Trump rally led by Dallas civil rights activist Reverend Peter Johnson on June 16, but he insisted on bringing a gun, so the reverend declined.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: According to police and a neighbor, Johnson practiced military exercises in his backyard. In 2014, Johnson received training and instruction at a private self-defense school that teaches tactics such as "shooting on the move" (i.e., quickly firing, then changing position and resuming gunfire). The tactic was designed to keep a gunman's location uncertain and create the impression of multiple shooters. Although the school's website does mention such training as being offered, Justin Everman, the founder of the school, stated that Johnson only took self-defense courses two years ago. Investigators believed that he began amassing his arsenal around the same time, stockpiling guns and gathering chemicals and electronic devices and PVC piping needed to build explosives.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: There were conflicting reports on the type of semi-automatic rifle that Johnson used during the shooting. Clay Jenkins, the Dallas County chief executive and the director of homeland security and emergency management, said Johnson used an SKS. News reports, all citing unnamed officials familiar with the investigation, said Johnson used an Izhmash-Saiga 5.45mm rifle, which is a variation on the AK-74.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: "The New York Daily News" did an interview with a man who sold Johnson a semiautomatic AK-74 pattern rifle in November 2014. The man said he sold Johnson the rifle and made the deal in a Target parking lot. When the man asked the ATF if his weapon played a part in the shooting, the ATF agent who responded said, "All we can say is it was recovered. We're just finding out everything we can."


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: In addition to the rifle, Johnson carried at least one handgun with a high-capacity magazine during the attack. CNN, citing an unnamed official, reported that two handguns were recovered, one a Glock 19 Gen4 pistol and the other a Fraser .25-caliber.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Johnson's family home was searched by authorities the day after the shooting. Bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, two rifles, ammunition, and a "personal journal of combat tactics" containing "instruction on shooting techniques and tactical movements" were recovered from the home by detectives. Chief Brown reported that the journal included "quite a bit of rambling ... that's hard to decipher."


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Chief Brown said that recovered evidence pointed to Johnson practicing detonations and having enough explosive material to cause "devastating effects" throughout Dallas and the North Texas area. However, the latter claim was contradicted on July 18 by two officials familiar with the investigation, who both said small amounts of Tannerite, a binary explosive used to make explosive targets for gun ranges, and acetone, an accelerant in explosives, were recovered from the home.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Statements were taken from three hundred witnesses and officers during the course of the investigation. Investigators are examining Johnson's laptop, journal, and cell phone, along with 170 hours of body camera footage. However, there were concerns about the resolution quality of some of the 90 cameras installed in downtown Dallas, which could have recorded parts of the shooting essential to the investigation. The cameras were part of a multimillion-dollar downtown surveillance system implemented to reduce crime in the area. The Dallas Police Department planned to release surveillance footage of the shooting on August 29, but held it off, saying the release would interfere with its investigation.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Officials initially said two or more snipers carried out the shooting, with the confusion later attributed to ricocheting bullets and the echoes of gunshots. They later said that Johnson appears to have been the lone gunman, with all of the gunshots traced back to him. Three other people were taken into custody by police, "but officials have not said what roles they may have played." These three included two people seen carrying camouflage bags and leaving the shooting scene on Lamar Street. They were both stopped and detained after a six-mile chase. The detained persons were all later determined to be fleeing protesters who were either armed or carrying ammunition gear. However, police announced on July 9 that they were continuing to investigate whether Johnson acted alone or conspired with others in planning the shooting. Investigators obtained a search warrant to look for phone numbers connected to Johnson.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: One of the people taken into custody by police had attended the protest wearing a camouflage T-shirt and openly carrying an unloaded AR-15 rifle. Shortly after the shooting, the Dallas Police Department (DPD) tweeted a photo of the man describing him as one of their suspects and asked the public's help in finding him. The police-released image of the suspect was widely shared on social media and broadcast on national television. The suspect turned himself in and was subsequently released after questioning without charge.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: The then-president of the Dallas Police Association, Mike Mata, stated that due to the criticism of militarization of police, someone within the Dallas Police Department's chain of command ordered the officers assigned to the protest to not wear military-style bulletproof vests because they did not want the officers to look too "militaristic, aggressive" and instead to wear standard issue kevlar vests, which were not able to protect against the rifle rounds Johnson fired. For the same reasons, officers were not able to arm themselves with long guns, such as AR-15s. Mata was interviewed by the local CBS affiliate KDFW and said, "[A] lot of those shots, and a lot of those wounds… were chest shots, lower abdomen wound shots, and those heavy vests would have covered them".


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: On July 13, Pentagon officials announced that the U.S. Army had launched an internal review into Johnson's military service. The review was initiated after questions were raised about the appropriateness of his honorable discharge despite the sexual harassment allegations made against him, and the fact that the Army had been highly considering an "other than honorable discharge" for Johnson.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: During the investigation, the Army uncovered an incomplete amount of information regarding the sexual harassment allegations. The following day, another review was initiated by the Army's Criminal Investigation Command, to determine if a full investigation was made into the allegations. An Army official echoed a statement made by the lawyer who represented Johnson, saying that Johnson's honorable discharge may have been the result of an administrative error. The same official added that nothing had been found in Johnson's record that indicated a willingness to commit murder.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: On July 29, the Army released a heavily redacted report, which detailed the incident behind Johnson's discharge but did not address why he was discharged honorably. Another investigative report was released on August 17. On September 7, the Army released Johnson's personnel files.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: DART suspended service in downtown Dallas after the shooting, but resumed the next morning with the exception of West End station. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary flight restriction of civilian aircraft for the immediate vicinity in which the shooting occurred, allowing only police aircraft in the airspace.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: El Centro College canceled all classes on July 8. Police barricaded the perimeter and began canvassing the crime scene. The explosion that killed Johnson also destroyed the school's servers, further delaying reopening. The school partially reopened on July 20, with staff returning that day and students on the following day. Buildings A, B, and C remained closed pending the FBI investigation. A "Reflect and Renew" ceremony dedicated to demonstrating citywide efforts to unify Dallas was held at the college on July 27. Students and staff, along with city and community officials, were in attendance.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Chief Brown said that police efforts to identify the gunman were made more difficult by the presence of up to thirty civilians openly carrying rifles during the protest, which is legal in Texas. Brown said, "We're trying as best we can as a law enforcement community to make it work so that citizens can express their Second Amendment rights. But it's increasingly challenging when people have AR-15s slung over their shoulder and they're in a crowd. We don't know who the good guy is versus the bad guy when everyone starts shooting." In an interview after the shooting, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said that he supported changing state law to restrict the public carrying of rifles and shotguns so that the police could distinguish between suspects and civilians more easily during crises.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: "Dallas Observer" noted several similarities between Johnson and Mark Essex, a discharged U.S. Navy sailor and Black Panther who committed two attacks against White civilians and police officers on December 31, 1972, and January 7, 1973, in New Orleans. The attacks left nine people dead, including five police officers.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: In November 2016, Enrique Zamarripa, the father of Officer Patrick Zamarripa, one of the murdered police officers, filed a lawsuit against Black Lives Matter and 13 other defendants, including the Nation of Islam, the New Black Panther Party, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and individual activists. The lawsuit seeks $550 million in damages and claims that Johnson was acting as an agent for the defendants and alleged that the defendants incited violence and caused the Dallas shooting as a "direct result". The mother of the officer, Valerie Zamarripa, distanced herself from her ex-husband's lawsuit, saying that it did not reflect her views, or the views of the foundation set up in her son's name.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Earlier, in September 2016, a Dallas police officer, Sgt. Demetrick Pennie, represented by lawyer Larry Klayman, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas against 17 people—including Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam, Sharpton, the National Action Network, Black Lives Matter, DeRay Mckesson, Malik Zulu Shabazz, the New Black Panther Party, George Soros, President Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, and Jesse Jackson—blaming them for the attack and seeking damages of over $500 million. Klayman has used his nonprofit group Freedom Watch to pursue lawsuits that "further supposed 'far-right' causes" in the past. The lawsuit was seen as "unlikely to be taken too seriously by a judge" and all of Klayman's claims against Mckesson and Black Lives Matter were dismissed or withdrawn. Attorneys for Mckesson have argued that "Klayman should have known his claims were frivolous."


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: In January 2017, Pennie separately sued Twitter, Facebook, and Google in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claiming that the websites "knowingly and recklessly" allowed terrorist propaganda to be spread on their social networks.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: As a result of the shooting, local law enforcement officers worked more than $800,000 in overtime to help the Dallas Police Department (DPD). This included $86,000 spent by the Dallas County Sheriff's Office, $88,000 spent by the Arlington Police Department, about $705,250 by DPD, and unknown sums by the Irving Police Department and the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Following this shooting and another in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that killed three police officers and wounded three others, local law enforcement agencies across the U.S. began readjusting response strategies, with more officers being paired up in patrol vehicles. Departments also began to increase security and surveillance at protest events against police.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Within twelve days following the shooting, DPD received 467 job applications, representing a 344% increase from the 136 applications received by the department in June. In the months before the shooting, DPD, along with other police departments across the country, had been struggling to recruit new officers. DPD even had to cancel academy classes because there were not enough applicants, and also struggled in retaining officers due to a low salary. On August 25, DPD announced their goal to hire 549 officers by October 2017, though some police and City Council officials called it an unrealistic goal due to the department's strict hiring requirements.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: The killing of Johnson was the first time in United States history a robot was used by police to kill a suspect. The Remotec ANDROS Mark V-A1, a bomb disposal remote control vehicle used by police, was rigged with about of C-4 explosive. The decision to attack Johnson with a robot was made after it was concluded that the heavily armed assailant had secured himself behind a corner at the end of a hallway, with no safe way for police to rush him or reach him with a sniper.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: There were various reactions to the lethal use of a robot by police. P. W. Singer, a robotics expert at the New America Foundation, said it was the first instance of which he was aware of a robot being used lethally by police. Seth Stoughton, an assistant professor of law at the University of South Carolina, said, "This is sort of a new horizon for police technology. Robots have been around for a while, but using them to deliver lethal force raises some new issues."


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: To this effect, Stoughton said, "I'm not aware of any police department having on hand something that is intended to be used as a weaponized explosive." He believed that the manner in which the police used the robot was justified due to Johnson being an imminent threat to police personnel and civilians, stating, "The circumstances that justify lethal force justify lethal force in essentially every form."


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety to offer any assistance to Dallas when requested. He also said, "In times like this we must remember—and emphasize—the importance of uniting as Americans." Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick attributed the violence to individuals on social media, "former Black Lives Matter protesters", and others with anti-police views, later expressing regret for his statement.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: President Barack Obama called the shooting a "vicious, calculated, despicable attack" and a "tremendous tragedy". He also made immediate calls for gun control. The Fraternal Order of Police, the largest police union in the U.S., called for the shooting to be investigated as a hate crime and criticized President Obama's response, saying that he needed to speak for everyone and not give one speech for police officers and another one for African Americans.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Leaders associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, including organizers of the protest rally, condemned the shooting.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: On July 8, the day after the shooting, a special interfaith vigil attracted hundreds of people to Thanks-Giving Square in Downtown Dallas, where Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and regional faith leaders led prayers for the officers involved in the shooting and for everyone affected by it.


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: An interfaith memorial to the dead officers was held at Dallas's Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center on July 12. U.S. President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush, a Texan who previously served as the 46th Governor of Texas, spoke at the ceremony, which was also attended by then-Vice President Joe Biden. Obama praised the Dallas police as heroes and called the killings "an act not just of demented violence but of racial hatred." In the aftermath, Obama urged Americans not to give in to despair, saying, "[W]e are not so divided as we seem."


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that agents from the ATF, FBI, Marshals Service, and other U.S. Department of Justice agencies were on the scene working with state and local agencies. Lynch stated that the proper response to uncertainty and fear "is never violence" but rather is "calm, peaceful, collaborative and determined action." Lynch also said, "To all Americans, I ask you, I implore you, do not let this week precipitate a new normal in this country."


title: 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers

text: After the shootings at Dallas, Louisiana, and Minnesota, the Bahamian government issued a travel advisory telling citizens to use caution when traveling to the U.S. due to racial tensions. They specifically advised that young men use "extreme caution" when interacting with police and to be non-confrontational and cooperative.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: The 2015 Canadian federal election held on October 19, 2015, saw the Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, win 184 seats, allowing it to form a majority government with Trudeau becoming the next prime minister.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: The election was held to elect members to the House of Commons of the 42nd Canadian Parliament. In keeping with the maximum four year term under a 2007 amendment to the "Canada Elections Act", the writs of election for the 2015 election were issued by Governor General David Johnston on August 4. The ensuing campaign was one of the longest in Canadian history. It was also the first time since the 1979 election that a prime minister attempted to remain in office into a fourth consecutive Parliament and the first time since the 1980 election that someone attempted to win a fourth term of any kind as prime minister.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: The Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, won 184 seats, allowing it to form a majority government with Trudeau becoming the next prime minister. Trudeau and the rest of his cabinet were sworn in on November 4, 2015. The Conservative Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, won 99 seats, becoming the Official Opposition after nearly a decade on the government benches. The New Democratic Party, led by Tom Mulcair, won 44 seats, becoming the third-largest party in the House of Commons, after having formed the Official Opposition following the 2011 election. The Bloc Québécois won 10 seats, the Green Party won 1 seat, and Strength in Democracy lost all its seats.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: The Liberal Party's increase of 148 seats from the previous election was the largest-ever numerical increase by a party in a Canadian election. Prior to the campaign, the Liberals had held only 36 seats—the fewest seats ever held at dissolution by any federal party that won the following election. The Liberals also became the first federal party in Canadian history to win a majority of seats without having been either the governing party or the Official Opposition in the previous parliament, and this was only the second time a party went from having the third-most seats to the most seats (the first being in 1925). It was the second largest number of seats won in a federal election for the Liberals, the best being 191 in 1949. The election also had the highest voter turnout since 1993. Every party represented in the House of Commons except the Liberal Party recorded a decrease in its popular vote share.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: Following the election, Harper conceded defeat to Trudeau and resigned as leader of the Conservative Party. Gilles Duceppe resigned as leader of the Bloc Québécois shortly after the election on October 22, 2015. Tom Mulcair announced his intention to remain leader of the NDP, but was forced to step down in October 2017, after losing a party vote on his leadership in the spring of 2016.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: The 2011 federal election resulted in the continuation of the incumbent Conservative government headed by Stephen Harper, while the New Democratic Party (NDP) became Official Opposition and the Liberal Party became the third party. The Bloc Québécois won four seats and the Green Party won one seat. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe resigned shortly after failing to win their own ridings. The Bloc Québécois lost official party status by failing to attain the minimum seats needed (12).


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: Bob Rae was chosen as interim leader of the Liberal Party. In July 2011 Jack Layton, suffering from cancer, temporarily stepped down as leader of the NDP because of illness, indicating his intention to return for the reconvening of Parliament in September. Weeks later Layton died of cancer and was given a state funeral. In March 2012 Tom Mulcair was elected leader of the New Democratic Party. In April 2013 Justin Trudeau was elected leader of the Liberal Party. Bloc Québécois leader Daniel Paillé stepped down in December 2013 and was eventually replaced in June 2014 by Mario Beaulieu, who in turn was later replaced in June 2015 by Duceppe. In late 2014, MPs Jean-François Larose of the NDP and Jean-François Fortin of the Bloc formed the new political party Strength in Democracy.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: As set forth in the "Fair Representation Act", the number of seats in the House of Commons to be contested in the 42nd Canadian federal election was 338, an increase of 30 seats from the 308 seats comprising the House of Commons of Canada of the 41st Parliament of Canada, at its dissolution.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: Prime Minister Stephen Harper requested writs of election for a federal general election from Governor General David Johnston on August 2. The official proclamations were issued on August 4. The date of the vote is determined by the fixed-date Canada Elections Act. At 11 weeks, the campaign was the longest in modern Canadian history.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: As a result of the 2012 federal electoral redistribution, the number of electoral districts was increased to 338, with additional seats based on population assigned to Alberta (6), British Columbia (6), Ontario (15), and Quebec (3).


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: Traditionally, party leaders participated in at least two nationally televised debates during the federal election – at least one each in English and French. These debates were produced by a consortium of Canada's major television networks. In May 2015, the Conservatives said they would not participate in the consortium debates and instead would take part in as many as five independently staged debates in the run-up to the fall federal election. Ultimately, the Conservatives agreed to participate in a French-language debate organized by the consortium of broadcasters as one of their five debates. The New Democratic Party confirmed that Tom Mulcair would accept every debate where the prime minister was present. The NDP had previously confirmed its intention to participate in both of the consortium debates before Stephen Harper withdrew but ultimately only participated in the French language consortium debate which included the Conservatives. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau attended the "Maclean's", "Globe and Mail", and French consortium debates; and the Liberals confirmed he would attend the other debates. The Bloc Québécois attended the French language consortium debate and confirmed its attendance at the French-language TVA debate. The Green Party attended the "Maclean's" and French language consortium debates, and confirmed its intention to participate in the English language consortium debate. Strength in Democracy, which had the same number of seats in the House of Commons at dissolution as the Greens and Bloc Québécois, were not invited to participate in any of the televised debates. The leaders of the party objected to their exclusion and launched a petition demanding that all parties represented in Parliament be invited to the debates. Other minor parties without representation in the House of Commons were not invited to participate in any of the televised debates.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: The second Canadian federal election to significantly incorporate social media, the 2015 campaign was notable for the rise of new avenues of scrutiny for potential candidates. A number of damaging revelations for each of the major political parties late in the campaign led to calls for increased vetting amongst political strategists, academics and outside observers.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: Evolution of voting intentions during the campaign leading up to the 2015 Canadian federal election to be held on October 19, 2015. Points represent results of individual polls.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: Before the campaign, there were no limits to what a political party, candidate, or third party (corporations, unions, special interest groups, etc.) can spend: spending rules are only in force after the writs have been dropped and the campaign has begun. Because the election period is set longer than the standard 37-day election period, spending limits are increased in proportion to the length of the period.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: Political parties receive a reimbursement for 50 per cent of their election expenses during the writ period. Similarly, candidates (through their official agents) receive a reimbursement of 60 per cent of their election expenses during the writ period. Both reimbursements are publicly funded.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: Elections Canada reports that during the financial quarter preceding the writ period, the Conservatives received $7.4 million in contributions, the NDP received $4.5 million, and the Liberals received $4.0 million. The NDP had the most individual donors at 48,314, followed by the Conservatives at 45,532 and then the Liberals at 32,789.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: The New Democratic Party stated that it collected greater than $9 million in the third quarter of 2015, the most it ever received from donors, and greater than the quarterly record established by the Conservative Party in 2011.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: At the riding level, financial reports in each of the 338 constituencies showed that in Conservative electoral district associations ended 2014 with net assets totalling more than $19 million, Liberal riding associations reported a total of about $8 million in net assets, and NDP associations more than $4.4 million.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: Individuals are able to give up to $1,500 to each political party and an additional $1,500 to all the registered associations, nomination contestants and candidates of each registered party combined.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: A person or group must register as a third party immediately after incurring election advertising expenses totalling $500 or more. There are strict limits on advertising expenses, and specific limits that can be incurred to promote or oppose the election of one or more candidates in a particular electoral district. There were 112 registered third parties in the 2015 election. There was a $150,000 election advertising expenses limit. Of that amount, no more than $8,788 could be incurred to promote or oppose the election of one or more candidates in a particular electoral district.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: Hours after conceding defeat on election night, incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper resigned as leader of the Conservative Party, though he announced his intention to remain in the new parliament as a backbencher after being elected in the riding of Calgary Heritage. The Conservative caucus met on November 5, 2015, and elected former health minister and Alberta MP Rona Ambrose as interim leader of the party, and hence, interim Leader of the Official Opposition. The next Conservative Party of Canada leadership election was held on May 27, 2017. Following his swearing in on November 4, 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that parliament would reconvene on December 3, 2015, with the Speech from the Throne to follow on December 4.


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: In the aftermath of the 2011 election, many pundits had characterized it as a realigning election. Lawrence Martin, commentator for "The Globe and Mail" said, "Harper has completed a remarkable reconstruction of a Canadian political landscape that endured for more than a century. The realignment saw both old parties of the moderate middle, the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals, either eliminated or marginalized." Andrew Coyne, writing in "Maclean's", said the election marked "an unprecedented realignment of Canadian politics" as "the Conservatives are now in a position to replace the Liberals as the natural governing party in Canada."


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: Despite the grim outlook and poor early poll numbers, when the 2015 election was held, the Liberals under Trudeau made an unprecedented comeback. Gaining 148 seats, they won a majority government for the first time since 2000. Chantal Hébert, writing in the "Toronto Star," claimed the comeback was "headed straight for the history books" and that Harper's name would "forever be joined with that of his Liberal nemesis in Canada's electoral annals". Spencer McKay, writing for the "National Post", suggested that "maybe we've witnessed a revival of Canada's 'natural governing party'".


title: 2015 Canadian federal election

text: On November 4, 2015, the following individuals were sworn in as cabinet ministers of the 29th Canadian Ministry, in addition to Justin Trudeau as prime minister and minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Youth:


title: Card game

text: A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific.


title: Card game

text: Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card games played with traditional decks have formally standardized rules with international tournaments being held, but most are folk games whose rules vary by region, culture, and person.


title: Card game

text: Traditional card games are played with a "deck" or "pack" of playing cards which are identical in size and shape. Each card has two sides, the "face" and the "back". Normally the backs of the cards are indistinguishable. The faces of the cards may all be unique, or there can be duplicates. The composition of a deck is known to each player. In some cases several decks are shuffled together to form a single "pack" or "shoe". Modern card games usually have bespoke decks, often with a vast amount of cards, and can include number or action cards. This type of game is generally regarded as part of the board game hobby.


title: Card game

text: Games using playing cards exploit the fact that cards are individually identifiable from one side only, so that each player knows only the cards they hold and not those held by anyone else. For this reason card games are often characterized as games of chance or "imperfect information"—as distinct from games of strategy or perfect information, where the current position is fully visible to all players throughout the game. Many games that are not generally placed in the family of card games do in fact use cards for some aspect of their gameplay.


title: Card game

text: Some games that are placed in the card game genre involve a board. The distinction is that the gameplay of a card game chiefly depends on the use of the cards by players (the board is a guide for scorekeeping or for card placement), while board games (the principal non-card game genre to use cards) generally focus on the players' positions on the board, and use the cards for some secondary purpose.


title: Card game

text: The object of a trick-taking game is based on the play of multiple rounds, or tricks, in each of which each player plays a single card from their hand, and based on the values of played cards one player wins or "takes" the trick. The specific object varies with each game and can include taking as many tricks as possible, taking as many scoring cards within the tricks won as possible, taking as few tricks (or as few penalty cards) as possible, taking a particular trick in the hand, or taking an exact number of tricks. Bridge, Whist and Spades, and the various Tarot card games, are popular examples.


title: Card game

text: The object of a matching (or sometimes "melding") game is to acquire particular groups of matching cards before an opponent can do so. In Rummy, this is done through drawing and discarding, and the groups are called melds. Mahjong is a very similar game played with tiles instead of cards. Non-Rummy examples of match-type games generally fall into the "fishing" genre and include the children's games Go Fish and Old Maid.


title: Card game

text: In a shedding game, players start with a hand of cards, and the object of the game is to be the first player to discard all cards from one's hand. Common shedding games include Crazy Eights (commercialized by Mattel as Uno) and Daihinmin. Some matching-type games are also shedding-type games; some variants of Rummy such as Paskahousu, Phase 10, Rummikub, the bluffing game I Doubt It, and the children's games Musta Maija and Old Maid, fall into both categories.


title: Card game

text: The object of an accumulating game is to acquire all cards in the deck. Examples include most War type games, and games involving slapping a discard pile such as Slapjack. Egyptian Ratscrew has both of these features.


title: Card game

text: In fishing games, cards from the hand are played against cards in a layout on the table, capturing table cards if they match. Fishing games are popular in many nations, including China, where there are many diverse fishing games. Scopa is considered one of the national card games of Italy. Cassino is the only fishing game to be widely played in English-speaking countries. Zwicker has been described as a "simpler and jollier version of Cassino", played in Germany. Tablanet (tablić) is fishing-style game popular in Balkans.


title: Card game

text: Comparing card games are those where hand values are compared to determine the winner, also known as "vying" or "showdown" games. Poker, blackjack, mus, and baccarat are examples of comparing card games. As seen, nearly all of these games are designed as gambling games.


title: Card game

text: Solitaire games are designed to be played by one player. Most games begin with a specific layout of cards, called a tableau, and the object is then either to construct a more elaborate final layout, or to clear the tableau and/or the draw pile or "stock" by moving all cards to one or more "discard" or "foundation" piles.


title: Card game

text: Drinking card games are drinking games using cards, in which the object in playing the game is either to drink or to force others to drink. Many games are ordinary card games with the establishment of "drinking rules"; President, for instance, is virtually identical to Daihinmin but with additional rules governing drinking. Poker can also be played using a number of drinks as the wager. Another game often played as a drinking game is Toepen, quite popular in the Netherlands. Some card games are designed specifically to be played as drinking games.


title: Card game

text: Many card games borrow elements from more than one type. The most common combination is matching and shedding, as in some variants of Rummy, Old Maid, and Go Fish. However, many multi-genre games involve different stages of play for each hand. The most common multi-stage combination is a "trick-and-meld" game, such as Pinochle or Belote. Other multi-stage, multi-genre games include Poke, Gleek, Skitgubbe, and Tichu.


title: Card game

text: Collectible card games (CCG) are proprietary playing card games. CCGs are games of strategy between two or more players. Each player has their own deck constructed from a very large pool of unique cards in the commercial market. The cards have different effects, costs, and art. New card sets are released periodically and sold as starter decks or booster packs. Obtaining the different cards makes the game a collectible card game, and cards are sold or traded on the secondary market. "", "Pokémon", and "Yu-Gi-Oh!" are well-known collectible card games.


title: Card game

text: Living card games (LCGs) are similar to collectible card games (CCGs), with their most distinguishing feature being a fixed distribution method, which breaks away from the traditional collectible card game format. While new cards for CCGs are usually sold in the form of starter decks or booster packs (the latter being often randomized), LCGs thrive on a model that requires players to acquire one core set in order to play the game, which players can further customize by acquiring extra sets or expansions featuring new content in the form of cards or scenarios. No randomization is involved in the process, thus players that get the same sets or expansions will get the exact same content. The term was popularized by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) and mainly applies to its products, however some tabletop gaming companies can be seen using a very similar model.


title: Card game

text: These games revolve around wagers of money. Though virtually any game in which there are winning and losing outcomes can be wagered on, these games are specifically designed to make the betting process a strategic part of the game. Some of these games involve players betting against each other, such as poker, while in others, like blackjack, players wager against the house.


title: Card game

text: Poker is a family of gambling games in which players bet into a pool, called the pot, the value of which changes as the game progresses that the value of the hand they carry will beat all others according to the ranking system. Variants largely differ on how cards are dealt and the methods by which players can improve a hand. For many reasons, including its age and its popularity among Western militaries, it is one of the most universally known card games in existence.