title: Ranunculus

text: The hermaphrodite flowers are single or in a cyme, have usually five (but occasionally as few as three or as many as seven) sepals and usually, five yellow, greenish or white petals that are sometimes flushed with red, purple or pink (but the petals may be absent or have a different, sometimes much higher number).


title: Ranunculus

text: At the base of each petal is usually one nectary gland that is naked or may be covered by a scale. Anthers may be few, but often many are arranged in a spiral, are yellow or sometimes white, and with yellow pollen. The sometimes few but mostly many green or yellow carpels are not fused and are also arranged in a spiral, mostly on a globe or dome-shaped receptacle.


title: Ranunculus

text: The petals of buttercups are often highly , especially in yellow species, owing to a special coloration mechanism: the petal's upper surface is very smooth causing a mirror-like reflection. The flash aids in attracting pollinating insects and temperature regulation of the flower's reproductive organs.


title: Ranunculus

text: The fruits (in this case called achenes) may be smooth or hairy, winged, nobby or have hooked spines.


title: Ranunculus

text: The genus name "Ranunculus" is Late Latin for "little frog", the diminutive of "rana". This probably refers to many species being found near water, like frogs.


title: Ranunculus

text: The common name "buttercup" may derive from a false belief that the plants give butter its characteristic yellow hue (in fact it is poisonous to cows and other livestock). A popular children's game involves holding a buttercup up to the chin; a yellow reflection is supposed to indicate a fondness for butter. In ancient Rome, a species of buttercup was held to the skin by slaves attempting to remove forehead tattoos made by their owners.


title: Ranunculus

text: In the interior of the Pacific Northwest of the United States, the buttercup is called "Coyote's eyes"— in Nez Perce and in Sahaptin. In the legend, Coyote was tossing his eyes up in the air and catching them again when Eagle snatched them. Unable to see, Coyote made eyes from the buttercup.


title: Ranunculus

text: Molecular investigation of the genus has revealed that "Ranunculus" is not monophyletic with respect to a number of other recognized genera in the family—e.g. "Ceratocephala", "Halerpestes", "Hamadryas", "Laccopetalum", "Myosurus", "Oxygraphis", "Paroxygraphis" and "Trautvetteria". A proposal to split "Ranunculus" into several genera has thus been published in a new classification for the tribe Ranunculeae. The split (and often re-recognized) genera include "Arcteranthis" Greene, "Beckwithia" Jeps., "Callianthemoides" Tamura, "Coptidium" (Prantl) Beurl. ex Rydb., "Cyrtorhyncha" Nutt. ex Torr. & A.Gray, "Ficaria" Guett., "Krapfia" DC., "Kumlienia" E. Greene and "Peltocalathos" Tamura. Not all taxonomists and users accept this splitting of the genus, and it can alternatively be treated in the broad sense.


title: Ranunculus

text: The most common uses of "Ranunculus" species in traditional medicines are as a antirheumatic, as a rubefacient, and to treat intermittent fever. The findings in some "Ranunculus" species of, for example, protoanemonin, anemonin, may justify the uses of these species against fever, rheumatism and rubefacient in Asian traditional medicines.


title: Ranunculus

text: All "Ranunculus" (buttercup) species are poisonous when eaten fresh, but their acrid taste and the blistering of the mouth caused by their poison means they are usually left uneaten. Poisoning in livestock can occur where buttercups are abundant in overgrazed fields where little other edible plant growth is left, and the animals eat them out of desperation. Symptoms of poisoning include bloody diarrhea, excessive salivation, colic, and severe blistering of the mouth, mucous membranes and gastrointestinal tract. When "Ranunculus" plants are handled, naturally occurring ranunculin is broken down to form protoanemonin, which is known to cause contact dermatitis in humans and care should therefore be exercised in extensive handling of the plants. The toxins are degraded by drying, so hay containing dried buttercups is safe.


title: Ranunculus

text: †Ranunculus gailensis and †Ranunculus tanaiticus seed fossils have been described from the Pliocene Borsoni Formation in the Rhön Mountains, central Germany.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Convention defines a child as any human being under the age of eighteen, unless the age of majority is attained earlier under national legislation.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Nations that have ratified this convention or have acceded to it are bound by international law. When a state has signed the treaty but not ratified it, it is not yet bound by the treaty's provisions but is already obliged to not act contrary to its purpose.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, composed of 18 independent experts, is responsible for supervising the implementation of the Convention by the states that have ratified it. Their governments are required to report to and appear before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child periodically to be examined on their progress regarding the advancement of the implementation of the Convention and the status of child rights in their country. Their reports and the committee's written views and concerns are available on the committee's website.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Individuals can appeal to the Committee on the Rights of the Child if they believe that rights, according to the Convention, have been violated. The third possibility for monitoring the implementation of the Convention is inquiries that the Committee on the Rights of the Child can carry out on their own initiative if they have reliable information that leads them to believe that a member state has violated the Convention's rights. However, "states ... may opt-out from the inquiry procedure, at the time of signature or ratification or accession". Once a year, the Committee submits a report to the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, which also hears a statement from the CRC Chair, and the Assembly adopts a Resolution on the Rights of the Child.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The UN General Assembly adopted the Convention and opened it for signature on 20 November 1989 (the 30th anniversary of its Declaration of the Rights of the Child). It came into force on 2 September 1990, after it was ratified by the required number of nations. As of , 196 countries are party to it, including every member of the United Nations except the United States.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Two optional protocols were adopted on 25 May 2000. The First Optional Protocol restricts the involvement of children in military conflicts, and the Second Optional Protocol prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. More than 170 states have ratified both protocols. A third optional protocol relating to communication of complaints was adopted in December 2011 and opened for signature on 28 February 2012. It came into effect on 14 April 2014.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The Convention deals with child-specific needs and rights. It requires that the "nations that ratify this convention are bound to it by international law." Ratifying states must act in the best interests of the child.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: In all jurisdictions implementing the Convention requires compliance with child custody and guardianship laws as every child has basic rights, including the right to life, to their own name and identity, to be raised by their parents within a family or cultural grouping, and to have a relationship with both parents, even if they are separated.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The Convention obliges states to allow parents to exercise their parental responsibilities. The Convention also acknowledges that children have the right to express their opinions and to have those opinions heard and acted upon when appropriate, to be protected from abuse or exploitation, and to have their privacy protected. It requires that their lives not be subject to excessive interference.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The Convention also obliges signatory states to separate legal representation for a child in any judicial dispute concerning their care and asks that the child's viewpoint be heard in such cases.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The Convention forbids capital punishment for children. In its General Comment 8 (2006) the Committee stated that there was an "obligation of all state parties to move quickly to prohibit and eliminate all corporal punishment and all other cruel or degrading forms of punishment of children". Article 19 of the Convention states that state parties must "take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence", but it makes no reference to corporal punishment. The Committee's interpretation of this section to encompass a prohibition on corporal punishment has been rejected by several state parties to the Convention, including Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The European Court of Human Rights has referred to the Convention when interpreting the European Convention on Human Rights.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Global human rights standards were challenged at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna (1993) when a number of governments (prominently China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Iran) raised serious objections to the idea of universal human rights. There are unresolved tensions between "universalistic" and "relativistic" approaches in the establishment of standards and strategies designed to prevent or overcome the abuse of children's capacity to work.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Some scholars link child marriages to slavery and slavery-like practices. Child marriage as slavery is not directly addressed by the Convention.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: As of , 196 countries are parties to the UNCRC treaty (some with stated reservations or interpretations) include every member of the United Nations except the United States has either ratified or accepted the rights articulated for the child under eighteen or below the age of majority in that state. The most recent ratifications of the convention were by Cook Islands, Niue, the State of Palestine, and the Holy See. South Sudan ratified the convention in January 2015. Somalia's domestic ratification finished in January 2015 and the instrument was deposited with the United Nations in October 2015. Taiwan incorporated the Convention into domestic law on 20 November 2014, and signed an Instrument of Accession to the CRC on 16 May 2016.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: All successor states of Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic and Slovakia) and Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia) made declarations of succession to the treaty and have currently apply it.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The convention does not apply in the territories of Tokelau, Akrotiri and Dhekelia and Gibraltar. Guernsey was also excluded until 2020.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Azerbaijan ratified the Convention on 21 July 1992. In terms of the ratification of the Convention, a significant number of laws, decrees and resolutions were approved in Azerbaijan by the President and the Cabinet of Ministers focusing on the development of the child welfare system. In this regard, the Convention No. 182 of the International Labour Organization, i.e. the Convention on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, the Recommendation No. 190 of the International Labour Organization and the Hague Adoption Convention were ratified by Milli Majlis, the parliament of Azerbaijan, in 2004.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: There is a concern over the administration of juvenile justice in Azerbaijan, mostly regarding compliance with articles 37, 39, and 40 of the Convention, as well as other relevant standards such as the Beijing Rules, the Riyadh Guidelines, and the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty. Therefore, international organizations assisted Azerbaijan to improve the situation in the field of juvenile justice. Juvenile offenders have been added to the Presidential pardons on a regular basis.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Azerbaijan has built cooperation with many international organizations, particularly with UNICEF in child protection. In 1993, UNICEF began its activity in Azerbaijan. In 2005, Azerbaijan and UNICEF signed a five-year country program. The country program for 2005-2009 was implemented in child protection, children's health and nutrition, children's education and youth health, and their development and participation. Also, UNICEF supports Azerbaijan in improving its juvenile justice system, establishing an alternative care system and raising awareness among youth about HIV/AIDS.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Canada became a signatory to the Convention on 28 May 1990 and ratified in 1991. Youth criminal laws in Canada underwent major changes resulting in the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) which went into effect on 1 April 2003. The Act specifically refers to Canada's different commitments under the Convention. The convention was influential in the administrative law decision of "Baker v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration)".


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: India ratified UNCRC on 11 December 1992, agreeing in principle to all articles but with certain reservations on issues relating to child labor. In India, there is a law that children under the age of 18 should not work, but there is no outright ban on child labor. The practice is generally permitted in most industries except those deemed "hazardous", for which minimum ages apply. Although a law in October 2006 banned child labor in hotels, restaurants, and as domestic servants, there continues to be a high demand for children as hired help in the home. There are different estimates as to the number of child laborers in the country. According to the government's conservative estimate, in 2011 4.4 million children under 14 years of age were working in India, while the NGO Save the Children in a statement of 2016 cites a study by the Campaign Against Child Labour that estimates the number of child laborers in India at 12.7 million.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: In 2016, the Child and Adolescent Labour (Amendment) Act was introduced, which prohibited children's economic employment under the age of 14 years and the employment of adolescents (14–17 years of age) in hazardous occupations. Some exceptions exist for children under 14 —they can aid in the family enterprise and participate in the entertainment industry. It must not harm their school education and they must not work between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Iran has adhered to the convention (except for alleged child slavery) since 1991 and ratified it in the Parliament in 1994. Upon ratification, Iran made the following reservation: "If the text of the Convention is or becomes incompatible with the domestic laws and Islamic standards at any time or in any case, the Government of the Islamic Republic shall not abide by it." Iran has also signed both optional protocols which relate to the special protection of children against involvement in armed conflict and the sale of children and sexual exploitation.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Although Iran is a state party to the Convention, international human rights organisations and foreign governments routinely denounced executions of Iranian child offenders as a violation of the treaty. But on 10 February 2012, Iran's parliament changed the controversial law of executing juveniles. In the new law, the age of 18 (solar year) would be considered the minimum age for adulthood and offenders under this age will be sentenced under a separate law. Based on the previous law, which was revised, girls at the age of 9 and boys at 15 (lunar year, 11 days shorter than a solar year) were fully responsible for their crimes.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: "According to Islamic sources, the criterion for criminal responsibility is reaching the age of maturity which, according to the Shi'ite School of the IRI, is 9 lunar years (8 years and 9 months) for girls and 15 lunar years (14 years and 7 months) for boys."


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Ireland signed the Convention on 30 September 1990 and ratified it, without reservation, on 28 September 1992. In response to criticisms expressed in the 1998 review by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, the Irish government established the office of Ombudsman for Children. It drew up a national children's strategy. In 2006, following concerns expressed by the committee that the wording of the Irish Constitution does not allow the State to intervene in abuse cases other than in very exceptional cases, the Irish government undertook to amend the constitution to make a more explicit commitment to children's rights.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Israel ratified the Convention in 1991. In 2010, UNICEF criticized Israel for its failure to create a government-appointed commission on children's rights or adopt a national children's rights strategy or program to implement various Israeli laws addressing children's rights. The report criticizes Israel for holding that the Convention does not apply in the West Bank and for defining Palestinians under the age of 16 in the occupied territories as children, even though Israeli law defines a child as being under 18, in line with the Convention. A contemporaneous report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that Israel's investment in children is below the international average. The actual investment had fallen between 1995 and 2006. In 2012, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child criticized Israel for its bombing attacks on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, stating, "Destruction of homes and damage to schools, streets and other public facilities gravely affect children" and called them "gross violations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict and international humanitarian law". It also criticized Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza on southern Israel, which traumatized Israeli children, calling on all parties to protect children.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: New Zealand ratified the Convention on 6 April 1993 with reservations concerning the right to distinguish between persons according to the nature of their authority to be in New Zealand, the need for legislative action on economic exploitation—which it argued was adequately protected by existing law, and the provisions for the separation of juvenile offenders from adult offenders.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: In 1994, the Court of Appeal of New Zealand dismissed the suggestion that the Minister for Immigration and his department were at liberty to ignore the convention, arguing that this would imply that the country's adherence was "at least partly window-dressing".


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The Children's Commissioner Act 2003 enhanced the Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC), giving it significantly stronger investigative powers. The OCC is responsible for convening the UNCROC Monitoring Group, which monitors the New Zealand Government's implementation of the Children's Convention, its Optional Protocols and the Government's response to recommendations from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. The monitoring group comprises members from the Human Rights Commission (New Zealand), UNICEF New Zealand, Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa and Save the Children New Zealand.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: In May 2007, New Zealand passed the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007, which removed the defence of "reasonable force" for the purpose of correction. In its third and final vote, Parliament voted 113 to eight in favour of the legislation.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Saudi Arabia ratified the Convention in 1996, with a reservation "with respect to all such articles as are in conflict with the provisions of Islamic law" which is the national law. The Committee on the Rights of the Child, which reviewed Saudi Arabia's treatment of children under the Convention in January 2005, strongly condemned the government for its practice of imposing the death penalty on juveniles, calling it "a serious violation of the fundamental rights". The committee said it was "deeply alarmed" over the discretionary power judges hold to treat juveniles as adults: In its 2004 report, the Saudi Arabian government had stated that it "never imposes capital punishment on persons ... below the age of 18". The government delegation later acknowledged that a judge could impose the death penalty whenever he decided that the convicted person had reached his or her majority, regardless of the person's actual age at the time of the crime or at the time of the scheduled execution. But the death penalty was ended for minors in April 2020.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: On 20 October 2020, Human Rights Watch said that Saudi Arabia was seeking the death penalty against eight Saudi men who were accused of committing protest-related crimes at the age of 14 and 17. One of the boys who turned 18 in 2020 was charged with a nonviolent crime that he allegedly committed aged 9. Under the hudud – an Islamic law – prosecutors have reportedly sought the death penalty for the eight men, which if granted will make them ineligible for pardon.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The Convention on the Rights of the Child has status as Swedish law since 1 January 2020. Also before that, Swedish legislation was well in line with the convention and went in some cases further. It was given this status because Swedish authorities and the government thought the childs right perspective was not applied sufficiently in Swedish social welfare decisions and law enforcement.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The United Kingdom ratified the Convention on 16 December 1991, with several declarations and reservations, and made its first report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in January 1995. Concerns raised by the Committee included the growth in child poverty and inequality, the extent of violence towards children, the use of custody for young offenders, the low age of criminal responsibility, and the lack of opportunities for children and young people to express views. The 2002 report of the Committee expressed similar concerns, including the welfare of children in custody, unequal treatment of asylum seekers, and the negative impact of poverty on children's rights. In September 2008, the UK government decided to withdraw its reservations and agree to the Convention in these respects.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The 2002 report's criticism of the legal defence of "reasonable chastisement" of children by parents, which the Committee described as "a serious violation of the dignity of the child", was rejected by the UK Government. The Minister for Children, Young People and Families commented that while fewer parents are using smacking as a form of discipline, the majority said they would not support a ban. The devolved legislatures of Scotland and Wales have passed laws banning smacking, in force in November 2020 and March 2022 respectively.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: In evidence to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, the Committee was criticised by the Family Education Trust for "adopting radical interpretations of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in its pursuit of an agenda". The Joint Committee's report recommended that "the time has come for the Government to act upon the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child concerning the corporal punishment of children and the incompatibility of the defence of reasonable chastisement with its obligations under the Convention." The UK Government responded that "the use of physical punishment is a matter for individual parents to decide".


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Although child slavery is difficult to gauge within the UK, child slaves are imported into the UK and sold. Laws and enforcement mechanisms against slavery and human trafficking were consolidated and strengthened in the Modern Slavery Act 2015.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: On 1 September 2020, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill was introduced in the Scottish Parliament. This bill would enshrine the UNCRC into Scots Law. On 19 January, MSPs passed the general principles of the bill at stage 1, 118–0. The bill received many endorsements, including strong endorsement from the Scottish Youth Parliament. The bill passed unanimously on its third stage in the Scottish Parliament. However, in October 2021 the UK Supreme Court held that central provisions of the bill were outwith the authority of the Scottish Parliament, and the bill has not taken effect.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The United States government played an active role in the drafting of the Convention and signed it on 16 February 1995, but has not ratified it. It has been claimed that American opposition to the Convention stems primarily from political and religious conservatives. For example, The Heritage Foundation considers that "a civil society in which moral authority is exercised by religious congregations, family, and other private associations is fundamental to the American order", and the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) argues that the CRC threatens homeschooling.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Most notably, at the time several states permitted the execution and life imprisonment of juvenile offenders, a direct contravention of Article 37 of the Convention. The landmark 2005 Supreme Court decision in "Roper v. Simmons" declared juvenile executions to be unconstitutional as "cruel and unusual punishment"; in the 2012 case "Miller v. Alabama", the court held that mandatory sentences of life without the possibility of parole are unconstitutional for juvenile offenders.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: State laws regarding the practice of closed adoption may also require an overhaul in light of the Convention's position that children have a right to identity from birth.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: During his 2008 campaign for President, Senator Barack Obama described the failure to ratify the Convention as "embarrassing" and promised to review the issue but, as President, he never did. No President of the United States has submitted the treaty to the United States Senate requesting its advice and consent to ratification since the US signed it in 1995.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The United States has ratified two of the optional protocols to the Convention: the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, and the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: There are three optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The first, the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict requires parties to ensure that children under the age of 18 are not recruited compulsorily into their armed forces and calls on governments to do everything feasible to ensure that members of their armed forces who are under 18 years do not take part in hostilities. This protocol entered into force on 12 July 2002. As of , 172 states are party to the protocol, and another 8 states have signed but not ratified it.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The second, the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, requires parties to prohibit the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. It entered into force on 18 January 2002. As of , 178 states are party to the protocol, and another 7 states have signed but not ratified it.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: A third, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, which would allow children or their representatives to file individual complaints for violation of the rights of children, was adopted in December 2011 and opened for signature on 28 February 2012. The protocol currently has 52 signatures and 50 ratifications: it entered into force on 14 April 2014 following the tenth ratification three months beforehand.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: Proposals for additional optional protocols have also been made. In 2020, the independent "Lancet-WHO-UNICEF Commission" proposed the development of an optional protocol to protect children from the marketing of tobacco, alcohol, formula milk, sugar-sweetened beverages, gambling, and potentially damaging social media, and the inappropriate use of their personal data. (The WHO also has their own framework for making treaties.) In 2022, a group of international child rights and education experts joined a call for an update to the right to education under international law to explicitly guarantee children’s right to free pre-primary and free secondary education. Human Rights Watch has suggested doing so through a fourth optional protocol to the CRC.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: On 7 October 2020, the vote on United Nations Draft Resolution A/HRC/45/L.48/Rev.1 – "Rights of the child: Realizing the rights of the child through a healthy environment" submitted by Germany (on behalf of the European Union) and Uruguay (on behalf of GRULAC) was adopted.


title: Convention on the Rights of the Child

text: The Russian Federation's Amendments L.57 and L.64 to include parental rights were rejected. The Russian delegate, Kristina Sukacheva, remarked that governments voting against parents deliberately shirk their international responsibilities to provide for the rights of the child. At the time of adoption, Uruguay stated that the incorporation of parental rights language as proposed by the Russian Federation would "bring imbalance to the resolution and would also go against the spirit of the resolution".


title: Celtic Frost

text: Celtic Frost () was a Swiss extreme metal band from Zürich. They are known for their strong influence on the development of extreme metal and avant-garde metal.


title: Celtic Frost

text: In May 1984, extreme metal band Hellhammer dissolved, but two of the members of that band, guitarist/vocalist Thomas Gabriel Fischer (under the new stage name "Tom Warrior") and bassist Martin Eric Ain, went on to form Celtic Frost in June and release their debut, "Morbid Tales", by November of that same year. This was followed by "To Mega Therion" (1985) and the highly experimental "Into the Pandemonium" (1987), all of which were widely praised. Celtic Frost's next album "Cold Lake" (1988) saw a new lineup and a radical change of style, which was widely derided. After the release of "Vanity/Nemesis" (1990), the group disbanded. It re-formed in 2001 and released the critically acclaimed "Monotheist" (2006), before disbanding following frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer's departure in 2008.


title: Celtic Frost

text: Their music included elements of various extreme metal styles. Their earlier music was mostly classified as thrash metal and black metal with an experimental streak, while their last album was more akin to doom metal and gothic metal. Celtic Frost were inspired by metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Venom as well as new wave groups like Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Christian Death, and Joy Division and by the hardcore punk of Discharge and GBH.


title: Celtic Frost

text: Celtic Frost's frontman, guitarist and singer Tom Gabriel Fischer, adopted the alias Tom Warrior. With Steve Warrior on bass, he formed one of the earliest extreme metal bands, Hellhammer, in 1981. Steve Warrior was later replaced by Martin Eric Ain – also a pseudonym. The band attracted a small international fan-base, got signed to Noise Records in Germany and recorded their debut EP "Apocalyptic Raids" in March 1984, now a rare find on eBay or second-hand record stores around the world.


title: Celtic Frost

text: Metal publications were also skeptical of Hellhammer's musical endeavor. "Metal Forces" loathed the group; that started a long-lasting feud between that zine and Warrior, which kept Celtic Frost from playing in England for a couple of years. "Rock Power" was not fond of Hellhammer either – they considered it "the most terrible, abhorrent, and atrocious thing ‘musicians’ were ever allowed to record". In fact, they were "receiving miserable reviews everywhere", Warrior concluded.


title: Celtic Frost

text: Way back in 1984 and 85, when Martin Eric Ain and I recorded Celtic Frost's first two albums "Morbid Tales" and "To Mega Therion", Hellhammer lasted on us almost like a curse. Even though Hellhammer was the very reason we had thought over our goals and conceived the Frost, HH's left-overs kept being mighty rocks in our way. Many voices saw Frost as the same band with just a name-change. The lack of musical quality in HH made it almost impossible for us to get an unbiased reaction for Frost. To make a long story short, it almost killed all our work and dreams.


title: Celtic Frost

text: By May 1984, Hellhammer had disbanded. Fischer and Ain, along with session drummer Stephen Priestly, regrouped as Celtic Frost. Their 1984 debut EP, "Morbid Tales" was a hit in the underground metal scene, and the band set out on its first tour, through Germany and Austria. This was followed with an EP "Emperor's Return". Both early releases are now available on one CD.


title: Celtic Frost

text: One of their more influential recordings was 1985's "To Mega Therion" which did not feature Ain on bass, but stand-in Dominic Steiner. The cover artwork is a painting by H.R. Giger entitled "Satan I". The album was a major influence on the then-developing death metal and black metal genres. Ain did return after the album was recorded however.


title: Celtic Frost

text: These albums were some of the pivotal LPs for underground metal and introduced a new and more varied sound. Celtic Frost, along with Venom and Bathory were pioneers in the still underground black metal scene, although Celtic Frost were much more experimental with the addition of classical instruments, operatic female vocals and sampling.


title: Celtic Frost

text: In 1987, Celtic Frost released their second studio album "Into the Pandemonium". The album is more varied than many of Celtic Frost's past LPs, with unlikely covers (Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio"), emotionally charged love songs, the album's recurring industrial-influenced rhythmic songs of demons and destruction, traditional Frost styled songs about dreams and fear, and a dark, classical piece with female vocals.


title: Celtic Frost

text: The album is vastly different from the band's previous work and cemented its late 80s avant-garde metal term; it is also a departure from the extreme style found on the band's previous albums, "Morbid Tales" and "To Mega Therion" that Celtic Frost had become known for. However, it does have the recurring symphonic elements found on previous albums. The album has a more classic heavy metal style within the songs with elements of industrial, classical and gothic rock, and even has an industrial/electronic body music (EBM)-inspired rhythm in "One in Their Pride". It does have a few black metal elements remaining in Warrior's vocals, though, and some thrash-influenced guitar riffs.


title: Celtic Frost

text: After a subsequent North American tour (which saw the addition of a second guitarist, Ron Marks to the group's ranks), financial trouble, personal tension between the band members and an ill-fated relationship with their record label led to a dissolution of the band. Six months later, Warrior reformed the band with Stephen Priestly back on drums, Oliver Amberg on guitars and Curt Victor Bryant on bass and recorded the fourth studio album "Cold Lake", released on 1 September 1988 by Noise Records. Despite it being marketed to exploit the mass appeal of glam metal, the album has more of a traditional heavy metal sound.


title: Celtic Frost

text: Bryant fired Amberg and former live show guitarist Ron Marks returned for the recording of "Vanity/Nemesis" in 1990. The most significant change, however, was the return of early bassist Martin Eric Ain, but Celtic Frost's reputation did not fully recover. The group's next (and, as it would turn out, last for several years) album was a collection of rare recordings called "Parched with Thirst Am I and Dying" (1992). The compilation's title was inspired by an old Roman prayer. It featured unreleased material, re-recorded versions of older songs and some studio session versions.


title: Celtic Frost

text: A final proposed album titled "Under Apollyon's Sun" was never made under that title, although Fischer co-founded a new group called Apollyon Sun.


title: Celtic Frost

text: Several years following the disbanding of Celtic Frost, and after quite some time spent away from the music industry, Fischer co-founded a new group called Apollyon Sun with his close friend Erol Unala on guitars in the mid-1990s and recorded an EP "God Leaves (And Dies)" and a full-length album "Sub". Although clearly based on Celtic Frost's dark and more adventurous music, Apollyon Sun was an industrial metal project. During his hiatus from music, Fischer had also finished work on an autobiographical book, called "Are You Morbid?", which was published by London-based Sanctuary Publishing to fan acclaim in 2000.


title: Celtic Frost

text: In late 2001, Fischer and Ain began to write music together again, along with Unala on guitar and, from late 2002, experienced Swiss drummer Franco Sesa (also known within the group under the stage name Inverted Cross). The aim was to develop and record a new, very dark and heavy album. The completion of the project took far longer than anticipated (in part due to the DIY nature of the project and the project's financing) but finally resulted, in late 2005, in what Fischer and Ain describe as "perhaps the darkest album Celtic Frost have ever recorded", based on a combination of the musical aura of "To Mega Therion" and "Into the Pandemonium".


title: Celtic Frost

text: The newest and seventh Celtic Frost album was financed by the group itself through its own label, Prowling Death Records, and publishing imprint, Diktatur des Kapitals. Prowling Death Records originally was the self-founded underground label which released the Hellhammer demos and managed Hellhammer's career in 1983 and 1984. The album was produced by Celtic Frost with Peter Tägtgren (of Bloodbath/Hypocrisy/Pain) and mixed by Fischer and Ain. Celtic Frost and Prowling Death Records subsequently entered into a worldwide licensing deal with Century Media Records. The album, titled "Monotheist", was released on 29 May 2006.


title: Celtic Frost

text: On 29 May 2006, Celtic Frost embarked on the most extensive tour of the band's career, the "Monotheist Tour", initially headlining festivals (e.g. the Wacken Open Air festival, in front of an audience of 50,000) across Europe the United States and Canada in 2006, and the group's first ever shows in Japan in January 2007. In early 2007 the European leg of the tour took place and a return to the United States as a special guest to Type O Negative. Further festival appearances and concerts followed in mid-2007.


title: Celtic Frost

text: On stage, Celtic Frost play with an additional tour guitar player, who plays rhythm guitar and provides a fuller sound. This position was initially filled by Anders Odden (Cadaver, Satyricon, Magenta), and later by V Santura (of Dark Fortress).


title: Celtic Frost

text: Only a few hours until I am to depart to Norway for a few weeks to participate in the production of a black metal project with close friends and peers. In early March I shall return to Switzerland to take further steps towards the realization of my own black metal/doom side project, the idea for which has taken an increasingly defined shape during the past months.


title: Celtic Frost

text: Fischer spoke to Spanish metal webzine "Hall of Metal" about new material: "I'm actually working on a new album of Celtic Frost and I think it's going to be really extreme and dark. Celtic Frost has its own style, its own sound and it expresses a lot of emotions. The music I write shows the state of my life, and now I feel very comfortable with such dark music."


title: Celtic Frost

text: As of Celtic Frost's announcement of their second breakup in September 2008, there is no talk of recording and releasing the new album. The last shows of Celtic Frost were in Mexico, one on 12 October 2007, in Monterrey, and the last one on 13 October 2007, in Mexico City.


title: Celtic Frost

text: Fischer tendered his resignation from Celtic Frost on 9 April 2008, with this message displayed on the band's official website:


title: Celtic Frost

text: Celtic Frost singer and guitarist Tom Gabriel Fischer has left Celtic Frost due to the irresolvable, severe erosion of the personal basis so urgently required to collaborate within a band so unique, volatile, and ambitious.


title: Celtic Frost

text: Bassist Ain stated that the band was "still alive, albeit in a coma of sorts." He went on further to say that the remainder of the band is "not going to continue recording or touring," saying this "would be preposterous" without Fischer. Fischer has himself gone on to form a new band called Triptykon, featuring Celtic Frost touring guitarist V Santura, original Celtic Frost drummer Reed St. Mark (although he has since departed and was replaced by Norman Lonhard), as well as bassist Vanja Slajh. Fischer has also said that his new band will sound similar to the direction Celtic Frost took on their 2006 album, "Monotheist".


title: Celtic Frost

text: On 9 September 2008, Celtic Frost members Martin Eric Ain and Tom Gabriel Fischer confirmed on Celtic Frost's official website that the band had "jointly decided to lay Celtic Frost to rest for good".


title: Celtic Frost

text: In a 2021 interview with Heavy Culture, Tom Gabriel Fischer spoke of an open possibility in doing "one or two" Celtic Frost tribute shows in memory of Ain, consisting of former members. He clarified that he did not speak of or would ever be interested in reforming the band since his departure, but possibly reunite former members and perform tribute shows, "Should this ever happen, it would not be a permanent project, nor would it be 'Celtic Frost', in spite of the fact that it would only Celtic Frost alumni. It would simply be a means to pay deference, perhaps for one or two concerts, to the deceased co-founder of the band." On December 8th 2022, Fischer's successor band Triptykon announced they will be performing a Celtic Frost tribute set on the Saturday special guest slot of Bloodstock Open Air Festival in the United Kingdom, following the withdrawal of Anthrax from that slot.


title: Celtic Frost

text: Celtic Frost's style gradually changed over the years. The band's early work has been described as thrash metal and death metal. Celtic Frost has also been described as avant-garde metal due to their use of classical and electronica elements in some of their music, such as on their album "To Mega Therion". Although Celtic Frost are often described as black metal, according to authors Axl Rosenberg and Christopher Krovatin, the band's "music was too tight, and its connection to old school rock 'n' roll music too readily apparent, to be black metal." Celtic Frost's later work has been described as doom metal.


title: Celtic Frost

text: Tom G. Warrior said that there were two types of music that influenced him: heavy metal and new wave. "In Heavy Metal, it's fair to say bands like Black Sabbath, Angel Witch and Venom influenced us. Martin and I were heavily influenced by the New Wave music of the time too, such as Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Christian Death and I think it's a mix of these musical directions that influenced the sound of Celtic Frost". Ain was also marked by Joy Division while Warrior also came from a jazz and classical background. "I loved the ‘70s prog bands like Emerson, Lake & Palmer, early Roxy Music".


title: Celtic Frost

text: Celtic Frost have influenced a number of black metal, death metal, thrash metal, and standard heavy metal bands. The band Therion, for example, took its band name from the album "To Mega Therion". Other bands that have cited Celtic Frost as an influence, or have covered Celtic Frost, include Anthrax, Obituary, Death, Benediction, Brutal Truth, Neurosis, Eyehategod, Cradle of Filth, Marduk, Dimmu Borgir, Goatwhore, Sepultura, Cancer, Asphyx, Pro-Pain, Gorgoroth, Gallhammer, Paradise Lost, Evoken, Napalm Death, and many others. Coroner, another pioneering Swiss extreme metal band, originally started off as road crew for Celtic Frost. Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic from Nirvana were also fans of Celtic Frost.


title: Celtic Frost

text: Dave Grohl (ex-Nirvana, Foo Fighters) and Mark Tremonti (Alter Bridge, Creed) have both stated on several occasions that Celtic Frost were an influence. Grohl subsequently invited Celtic Frost singer Tom Gabriel Fischer to participate in the recordings of his 2004 solo project, "Probot", resulting in the co-written song "Big Sky". Alternative country singer Ryan Adams has also claimed influence from Celtic Frost, amongst many other metal bands.


title: Celtic Frost

text: In 1996, Dwell Records released "In Memory of Celtic Frost", a collection of songs covered by other bands. Notable bands that appeared on this tribute collection include Enslaved, covering the song "Procreation (of the Wicked)"; Opeth, covering the song "Circle of the Tyrants"; Swedish death metal band Grave, covering the song "Mesmerized"; Canadian thrash metal band Slaughter, covering the song "Dethroned Emperor"; Apollyon Sun (featuring Tom G. Warrior himself), covering the song "Babylon Fell"; and the Norwegian black metal bands Emperor, covering "Massacra", and Mayhem, covering the song "Visual Aggression". The tribute album also features Celtic Frost songs covered by several lesser known and now defunct metal bands. The hard to find CD is now out of print.


title: Celtic Frost

text: Despite this, when Fischer was asked to comment on their influence on heavy metal, he replied: "No, I try to stay away from that. I'm a musician, I don't want to get involved with all that. It's not healthy. I want to do good albums. I'm still alive and I feel there's still so much in front of me. I don't want to be bothered with who has influence and where we stand and all that. I think it's a negative thing."


title: Celtic Frost

text: In 2015, Corpse Flower Records released a tribute of their own entitled "Morbid Tales! A Tribute to Celtic Frost". Notably, it compiles a number of Celtic Frost covers by other bands, including Child Bite (featuring Phil Anselmo), Acid Witch, Municipal Waste, Hayward (featuring members of Neurosis), among others.


title: Celtic Frost

text: In 2018, British deathcore band, Black Tongue covered the song, A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh, on their second album, Nadir which was released on Halloween of 2018.


title: Celtic Frost

text: The hip-hop group "Circle of Tyrants" featuring Necro, Ill Bill, Goretex, and Mr Hyde also took their name from the Celtic Frost song.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: Defiance is a 2008 American war film directed by Edward Zwick set during the occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany. The screenplay by Clayton Frohman and Zwick was based on Nechama Tec's 1993 book "Defiance: The Bielski Partisans", an account of the Bielski partisans, a group led by Polish Jewish brothers who saved and recruited Jews in Belarus during the Second World War. The film stars Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski, Liev Schreiber as Zus Bielski, Jamie Bell as Asael Bielski, and George MacKay as Aron Bielski.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: Production began in early September 2007. After a limited release, e.g. Los Angeles, New York City, in the United States on December 31, 2008, it went into general release worldwide in January and February 2009.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: In August 1941, Nazi Germany's are sweeping through Eastern Europe systematically killing European Jews. Among the survivors not killed or restricted to ghettoes are the Jewish Bielski brothers: Tuvia, Zus, Asael and Aron. Their parents are dead, killed by local under orders from the German occupiers. The brothers flee to the Naliboki forest, vowing to avenge the deaths of their parents.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: The brothers encounter other Jewish escapees hiding in the forest and take them under their protection and leadership. Tuvia kills the chief responsible for his parents' deaths. Over the next year, they shelter a growing number of refugees, raiding local farms for food and supplies and moving their camp whenever they are discovered. The Bielski brothers stage raids on the Germans and their collaborators. Casualties cause Tuvia to reconsider this approach because of the risk to the hiding Jews. Rivalry between the two eldest brothers, Tuvia and Zus, fuels a disagreement between them about their future; as winter approaches, Zus decides to leave the camp and join a local company of Soviet partisans, while his older brother Tuvia remains with the camp as their leader. An arrangement is made between the two groups in which the Soviet partisans agree to protect the Jewish camp in exchange for supplies.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: After a winter of sickness, starvation, attempted mutiny and constant hiding, the camp learns that the Germans are about to attack them in force. The Soviets refuse to help and they evacuate the camp as Stukas bomb them. A delaying force stays behind, led by Asael, to slow down the German infantry. The defense does not last long; only Asael and a camp member named Sofiya survive to rejoin the rest of the group, who, at the edge of the forest, are confronted with a seemingly impassable marsh. They cross the marsh with only one casualty but are immediately attacked by a German platoon supported by a Panzer III tank. Just as all seems lost, the Germans are assaulted from the rear by a partisan force led by Zus, who has deserted the Soviets to rejoin the group.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: In the epilogue, it is revealed that the survivors lived in the forest for another two years, building a hospital, a nursery, a school, growing to a total of 1,200 Jews. Original photographs of the participants are shown, including Tuvia in his uniform and their fates are described: Asael was conscripted into the Red Army and was killed in action, never getting to see the child he fathered; Tuvia, Zus and Aron survived the war and emigrated to the United States to form a trucking firm in New York City. The epilogue also states that the Bielski brothers never sought recognition for what they did and that the descendants of the people they saved now number in the tens of thousands.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: Zwick began writing a script for "Defiance" in 1999 after he acquired film rights to Tec's book. Zwick developed the project under his production company, the Bedford Falls Company, and the project was financed by the London-based company Grosvenor Park Productions with a budget of $32 million.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: In May 2007 actor Daniel Craig was cast in the lead role. Paramount Vantage acquired the rights to distribute "Defiance" in the United States and Canada. The following August, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, and Tomas Arana were cast. Production began in early September 2007 so Craig could complete filming "Defiance" before moving on to reprising his role as James Bond in "Quantum of Solace".


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: "Defiance" was filmed in three months in Lithuania, just across the border from Belarus. Co-producer Pieter Jan Brugge felt the shooting locations, between 150 and 200 kilometres from the actual sites, lent authenticity; some local extras were descended from families the group had rescued.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: "Defiance" received mixed reviews from film critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 59% of critics gave the film a positive review based upon a sample of 189, with an average score of 5.91/10. The site's consensus states: "Professionally made but artistically uninspired, Ed Zwick's story of Jews surviving WWII in the Belarus forest lacks the emotional punch of the actual history." At Metacritic the film has received an average score of 58/100 based on 34 reviews.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: Critic A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" called the film "stiff, musclebound". He said Zwick "wields his camera with a heavy hand, punctuating nearly every scene with emphatic nods, smiles or grimaces as the occasion requires. His pen is, if anything, blunter still, with dialogue that crashes down on the big themes like a blacksmith's hammer". Scott also said the film unfairly implied that "if only more of the Jews living in Nazi-occupied Europe had been as tough as the Bielskis, more would have survived". The review adds that "in setting out to overturn historical stereotypes of Jewish passivity ...(the film) ends up affirming them."


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: Zwick responded: "it is a tribute to honor and luck, and to help other people escape it is an honor. But the fact that you don't escape it is not a negative verdict on your honor."


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: "The New Yorker" critic David Denby praised the film, saying: "it makes instant emotional demands, and those who respond to it, as I did, are likely to go all the way and even come out of it feeling slightly stunned." Denby praised its performances, which he described as "a kind of realistic fairy tale set in a forest newly enchanted by the sanctified work of staying alive."


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: A review by "Armchair General" magazine cited the book "Women in the Holocaust" by Dalia Ofer and Lenore Weitzman, to argue that in reality the Bielskis were less egalitarian than the film suggests, and that "the fighters had the first pick among women for sexual partners."


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: Zwick responded to the criticism by saying that "Defiance" is not a simple fight between good and evil. He told "The Times": "The Bielskis weren't saints. They were flawed heroes, which is what makes them so real and so fascinating. They faced any number of difficult moral dilemmas that the movie seeks to dramatise: Does one have to become a monster to fight monsters? Does one have to sacrifice his humanity to save humanity?"


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: Nechama Tec, on whose book the film is based, stated in an interview with "Rzeczpospolita" that she was initially shocked by the film, especially by the intense battle scenes including combat with a German tank. These never occurred in reality; the partisans tried to avoid combat and were focused on survival. She explained this as a concession by the producer in order to make the film more thrilling and obtain the necessary funding from Hollywood. Nevertheless, after seeing the film a number of times, Tec said that she is liking it "more and more". Zwick said Adolf Hitler sent two German divisions into the forest to search for the partisans, but they were unable to locate them.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: "The Times" and "The Guardian" reported that Poles fear "Hollywood has airbrushed out some unpleasant episodes from the story", such as the Bielski partisans' alleged affiliation with those Soviet partisans directed by the NKVD, who committed atrocities against Poles in eastern Poland, including the region where Bielski's unit operated. "Gazeta Wyborcza" reported six months before the film's release that "News about a movie glorifying [the Bielskis] have caused an uproar among Polish historians", who referred to the Bielskis as "Jewish-Communist bandits". The newspaper commented that it "departed from the truth on several occasions", including depicting pre-war Nowogrodek as a Belarusian town where "no one speaks Polish", "there are only good Soviet partisans and bad Germans", and "Polish partisans are missing from the film altogether".


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: The wave of criticism against the film has led to charges that the criticism was fueled by anti-semitism. According to "The Guardian" a "storm of protest" erupted in Poland, that the movie was booed at some cinemas and banned from others due to a "local perception that it is a rewriting of history and anti-Polish". On March 11, 2009, the Polish Embassy in London disputed the report, stating: "This embassy has been in touch with Defiance's only distributor in Poland, Monolith Plus, and we have been told that this film has not experienced any form of booing, let alone been banned by any cinemas."


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: Most reviewers from Belarus criticised the film for a complete absence of the Belarusian language and for the Soviet partisans singing a Belarusian folk song while they would more likely be singing Russian songs. "The word "Belarusian" is spoken out only three times in the movie", the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda v Belorussii" wrote. Veterans of the Soviet partisan resistance in Belarus criticised the film for inaccuracies. Some reviews, as in Poland, criticised the film for ignoring the Bielski partisans' crimes against the local population.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: The mention of ampicillin is an anachronism. In one scene it is stated that there may be an epidemic of typhus, and that ampicillin (which was not discovered until 1958) is needed.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: "Defiance" made $128,000 during its two weeks of limited release in New York City and Los Angeles. It made $10 million during its first weekend of wide release in the United States, and by the end of its box office run, the film made approximately $52 million worldwide.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: On January 22, 2009, the film received a nomination for an Academy Award in the category of Best Original Score for its soundtrack by James Newton Howard. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for 2008.


title: Defiance (2008 film)

text: "Defiance" was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 2, 2009. The bonus features included a commentary by director Edward Zwick and four features about the making of the film.


title: Clyde Tolson

text: Clyde Anderson Tolson (May 22, 1900 – April 14, 1975) was the second-ranking official of the FBI from 1930 until 1972, from 1947 titled Associate Director, primarily responsible for personnel and discipline. He was the "protégé", long-time top deputy, and possible lover of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.


title: Clyde Tolson

text: Tolson was born in Laredo, Missouri to James William Tolson, a farmer and railroad freight guard, and Joaquin Miller Tolson (née Anderson). His brother, Hillory Alfred Tolson (1887–1983), was assistant director of the National Park Service and executive director of the White House Historical Association, and an FBI agent before entering the Park Service. Tolson graduated from Laredo High School in 1915 and attended Cedar Rapids Business College, from which he graduated in 1918.


title: Clyde Tolson

text: From 1919 to 1928, Tolson was confidential secretary for three Secretaries of War: Newton D. Baker, John W. Weeks, and Dwight F. Davis. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at George Washington University in 1925 and a Bachelor of Laws from the same institution in 1927. While attending George Washington, Tolson became a member of the Delta Pi chapter of Sigma Nu.


title: Clyde Tolson

text: In 1928, Tolson applied to the FBI and was hired as a special agent later that year. Tolson reportedly indicated on his application that he wanted to use the job as a stepping stone to gain experience and earn enough money to open a law practice in Cedar Rapids. After working in the FBI's Boston and Washington, D.C., field offices, he became the chief FBI clerk and was promoted to assistant director in 1930.


title: Clyde Tolson

text: In 1936, Tolson joined Hoover to arrest bank robber Alvin Karpis. Later that year, he survived a gunfight with gangster Harry Brunette. In 1942, Tolson participated in capturing Nazi saboteurs on Long Island and in Florida. In 1947, he was made FBI Associate Director with duties in budget and administration.


title: Clyde Tolson

text: It has been stated that J. Edgar Hoover described: "They rode to and from work together, ate lunch together, and often traveled together on official or unofficial business." Their relationship has been described as "what many considered a 'spousal' relationship between the two men". Some authors dismissed the rumors about Hoover's sexual orientation and possible intimate relationship with Tolson, while others have described them as probable or even confirmed, and still others reported the rumors without stating an opinion. The two men often spent weekends together in New York, Christmas season together in Florida, and the start of the Del Mar horse racing season together in California.


title: Clyde Tolson

text: When Hoover died in 1972, Tolson inherited his estate of US$551,000 ($ million today), moved into his house, and accepted the U.S. flag draped on Hoover's coffin.


title: Clyde Tolson

text: In 1975, Tolson suffered a stroke and remained somewhat frail for the remainder of his life. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded him the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, saying that Tolson "has been a vital force in raising the proficiency of law enforcement at all levels and in guiding the Federal Bureau of Investigation to new heights of accomplishment through periods of great National challenge." Hoover kept Tolson employed in the FBI even after Tolson became too old for police duty and passed the retirement age.


title: Clyde Tolson

text: After Hoover's death on May 2, 1972, Tolson was briefly the acting head of the FBI. L. Patrick Gray became acting director on May 3. Citing ill health, Tolson retired from the bureau on May 4, the day of Hoover's funeral. Mark Felt was appointed to Tolson's position.


title: Clyde Tolson

text: After Tolson left the FBI, his health began to decline further. On April 10, 1975, Tolson was admitted to Doctors Community Hospital in Washington, D.C., for kidney failure. He died there four days later of heart failure at the age of 74. Tolson is buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington D.C., near Hoover's grave.


title: Brian Henson

text: Brian Henson (born November 3, 1963) is an American puppeteer, director, producer, voice actor and the chairman of The Jim Henson Company. He is the son of puppeteers Jim and Jane Henson.


title: Brian Henson

text: Henson was born on November 3, 1963, in New York City, is the third child of Jane Henson (née Nebel; 1934–2013) and Jim Henson (1936–1990). He has four siblings: Lisa (born 1960), Cheryl (born 1961), John (1965–2014), and Heather Henson (born 1970).


title: Brian Henson

text: As a child, he made several cameo appearances in some of the filmed segments his father produced for the PBS children's series "Sesame Street", most notably in various segments of the "Number Song Series."


title: Brian Henson

text: As a teenager, he built the first Muppet penguin puppet for the opening "Lullaby of Broadway" segment of a season three episode of "The Muppet Show". During his summer break from high school in 1980 at the age of 17, he assisted in the bicycle sequence in "The Great Muppet Caper" (1981); he helped create and operate a special rigging device that allowed the Muppets to ride bicycles since he was skilled in the use of marionette puppets. A few years later, after doing the marionette work in "The Muppets Take Manhattan" (1984) in the scene where rats cook food in a diner, he became the puppeteer who worked out complicated effects.


title: Brian Henson

text: During the 1980s, Henson performed Jack Pumpkinhead in "Return to Oz" (1985), operated special effects for "" (1985), and was a principal performer for the Audrey II puppet in "Little Shop of Horrors" (1986), controlling mouth movement while others performed the lips and vines. In addition, he also performed the voice of Hoggle, one of the main characters in his father's film "Labyrinth" (1986), and the Dog in both versions of "The Storyteller" (1988 and 1990).


title: Brian Henson

text: In 1992, Henson directed "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and directed the next film in the franchise, "Muppet Treasure Island", in 1996. He performed the role of Dr. Phil van Neuter, the Muppet mad scientist in "Muppets from Space" (1999). In 2018, he directed and produced "The Happytime Murders", a puppet crime-comedy film for adult audiences.


title: Brian Henson

text: Henson was the executive producer for several television series: "Dinosaurs" (1991–94), "Aliens in the Family" (1996), "Bear in the Big Blue House" (1997–2006), and "Farscape" (1999–2003). In addition to an executive producer's role, Henson played himself as the head judge on the 2014 reality TV show "Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge". He performed the roles of Janice and Scooter in the 2002 TV movie "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie".


title: Brian Henson

text: Henson returned to perform Sal Minella, a character he created for "Muppets Tonight", in "Muppets Haunted Mansion" (2021).


title: Brian Henson

text: Henson is the co-creator, producer, and currently a performer in the adult-themed puppet-based variety show Puppet Up!, and played various characters from that variety show on the British program "That Puppet Game Show".


title: Brian Henson

text: For "The Muppet Show Live" in 2001 he performed his own Muppet characters and one of his father's characters, The Muppet Newsman, for the first time. He reprised the role for the 2003 video game "Muppets Party Cruise".


title: Brian Henson

text: Henson married Ellis Flyte, costume designer for the 1986 fantasy adventure film "Labyrinth", in November 1990. They divorced in 2002. Since 2010, Henson has been married to actress Mia Sara. They have one child, a daughter born in 2005.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Polygamy is "the practice or custom of having more than one wife or husband at the same time." Polygamy has been practiced by many cultures throughout history.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Although the Old Testament describes numerous examples of polygamy among devotees to God, most Christian groups have historically rejected the practice of polygamy and have upheld monogamy alone as normative. Nevertheless, some Christians groups in different periods have practiced, or currently do practice, polygamy. Some Christians actively debate whether the New Testament or Christian ethics allows or forbids polygamy and there are several Christian views on the Old Covenant. This debate focuses almost exclusively on polygyny (one man having more than one wife) and not polyandry (one woman having more than one husband).


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: The Torah contains a few specific regulations that apply to polygamy, such as Exodus 21:10: "If he take another wife for himself; her food, her clothing, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish". , states that a man must award the inheritance due to a first-born son to the son who was actually born first, even if he hates that son's mother and likes another wife more; and states that the king shall not have too many wives.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: The Torah may distinguish concubines and "sub-standard" wives with the prefix "to" (e.g., lit. "took to wives"). Despite these nuances to the biblical perspective on polygamy, many important figures had more than one wife, such as in the instances of Esau (Gen 26:34; 28:6-9), Jacob (Gen 29:15-28), Elkanah (1 Samuel 1:1-8), David (1 Samuel 25:39-44; 2 Samuel 3:2-5; 5:13-16), and Solomon (1 Kings 11:1-3).


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Despite its prevalence in the Hebrew Bible, some scholars do not believe that polygyny was commonly practiced in the biblical era because it required a significant amount of wealth. Michael Coogan (and others), in contrast, states that "Polygyny continued to be practiced well into the biblical period, and it is attested among Jews as late as the second century CE".


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: The monogamy of the Roman Empire was the cause of two explanatory notes in the writings of Josephus describing how the polygamous marriages of Herod the Great were permitted under Jewish custom.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Polygamy was a rare exception in post-exilic Israel. The practice began to be criticized and declined during the intertestamental period but there is some extant evidence of polygamy being practiced in the New Testament period. The Dead Sea Scrolls show that several smaller Jewish sects forbade polygamy before and during the time of Jesus. The Temple Scroll (11QT LVII 17–18) seems to prohibit polygamy.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Three passages in the pastoral epistles (, and ) state that church leaders should be the "husband of one wife." This has been read by some Christian denominations as a prohibition of polygamy. Others argue that polygamy is allowed, but not for church leaders. Still others argue that the passage only prevents church leaders from divorcing their first wives. In his 1990 book Walter Lock argues that it simply prevents marital unfaithfulness since "no Christian, whether an overseer or not, would have been allowed to practice polygamy."


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: In 1 Corinthians Paul the Apostle states that a man is to have his own wife and a woman is to have her own husband.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: John Gill comments on 1 Corinthians 7 and states that polygamy is unlawful; and that one man is to have but one wife, and to keep to her; and that one woman is to have but one husband, and to keep to him and the wife only has a power over the husband's body, a right to it, and may claim the use of it: this power over each other's bodies is not such, as that they may, by consent, either the husband allow the wife, or the wife the husband, to lie with another.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Although the New Testament is largely silent on the issue, some point to Jesus' repetition of the earlier scriptures, noting that a man and a wife "shall become one flesh." (, ) However, some look to the : "Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh."" Supporters of polygamy claim this indicates a physical, rather than spiritual, union.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Most Christian theologians argue that in and referring to Jesus explicitly states a man should have only one wife:


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Polygamists do not dispute that in marriage "two shall be one flesh", they only disagree with the idea that a married man can only be "one flesh" with one woman. Assuming the man is married, the fact that a man can even be "one flesh" with a harlot apparently does not negate his being "one flesh" with his wife. Further, if a man is married, he and his wife are "one flesh." To add another wife would mean that the new wife becomes "one flesh" with the man "and" his current wife. Gill argues that polygamists in disagreeing with the idea that a married man can only be "one flesh" with one woman are in fact disagreeing with Apostle Paul, who makes it clear that in the Christian Covenant the man who already has one wife can not add another wife because his body belongs to the one wife and is no longer his; if the man adds another wife, then that woman is coveting another woman's husband. In the Christian Covenant, a woman shalt not covet another woman's husband just like in the Mosaic covenant a man is shalt not covet another man's wife.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Many critics of polygamy also point to the Pauline epistles that state that church officials should be respectable, above reproach, and the husband of a single wife. (,) Hermeneutically, the Greek phrase "mias gunaikos andra" is an unusual Greek construction, capable of being translated in multiple ways, including (but not limited to): 1) "one wife man," (prohibiting plural marriage) or 2) "a wife man" (requiring elders to be married) or 3) "first wife man" (prohibiting divorcés from ordination).


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: In the time around Jesus' birth, polygamy (also called bigamy or digamy in texts) was understood as having several spouses consecutively, as evidenced for example by Tertullian's work "De Exhortatione Castitatis". Paul the Apostle allowed widows to remarry (1 Cor. vii. 39. and 1 Tim 5:11–16). Paul says that only women older than 60 years can make the list of Christian widows, but that younger widows should remarry to hinder sin. Some conclude that by requiring leaders of the Church be monogamous, Paul excluded remarried widowers from having influence. Perpetual monogamy - even after the death of one’s spouse - would have been a more strict understanding of monogamy than Roman law codified, and would have been a new and unusual demand on men.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Tertullian, who lived at the turn of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, wrote that marriage is lawful, but polygamy is not:


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: The 3rd century Eusebius of Caesarea wrote the lost work "On the Numerous Progeny of the Ancients". Eusebius references this twice, in the "Præparatio Evangelica", and in the "Demonstratio Evangelica". Although his work has been given as an example of plural marriage being reconciled with the ascetic life, the problem dealt with was the contrast presented by the desire of the Patriarchs for numerous offspring and the honour in which continence was held by Christians.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Basil of Caesarea wrote in the 4th century of plural marriage that "such a state is no longer called marriage but polygamy or, indeed, a moderate fornication." He ordered that those who are engaged in it should be excommunicated for up to five years, and "only after they have shown some fruitful repentance" were they to be allowed back into the church. Moreover, he stated that the teachings against plural marriage are "accepted as our usual practice, not from the canons but in conformity with our predecessors."


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Socrates of Constantinople wrote in the 5th century that the Roman Emperor Valentinian I took two wives and authorized his subjects to take two wives, supporting that Christians were then practicing plural marriage. There is no trace of such an edict in any of the extant Roman Laws. Valentinian I divorced his first wife according to John Malalas, the Chronicon Paschale and John of Nikiu, before marrying his mistress, which was viewed as bigamy by Socrates, since the Church did not accept divorce.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and Tertullian all spoke against polygamy, condemning it. Tertullian explicitly tackled the objection that polygamy was allowed for the patriarchs. He wrote, "each pronouncement and arrangement is (the act) of one and the same God; who did then indeed, in the beginning, send forth a sowing of the race by an indulgent laxity granted to the reins of connubial alliances, until the world should be replenished, until the material of the new discipline should attain to forwardness: now, however, at the extreme boundaries of the times, has checked (the command) which He had sent out, and recalled the indulgence which He had granted". ("De Monogamia" chapt. VI.) According to chapter XVI of "De Monogamia", Hermogenes thought it was allowed for a man to take several wives. Tertullian also made a direct attack on the polygamous practice of some cults in his work "Adversus Hermogenem". This is the same Hermogenes mentioned above. Tertullian writes that he was a sect leader, who mixed Stoic, Gnostic and Christian views to create a new religion.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: The Church held a synod in Hertford, England, in 673 that was supervised by Archbishop Theodore. Chapter 10 issued by the synod declared that marriage is allowed between one man and one woman, and separation (but not divorce) is only granted in the case of adultery, but even then remarriage is not allowed.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: In the medieval period, multiple wives were often obtained through kidnapping. It is with this in view that we must interpret the following laws: The Frankish Laws of 818–9 strictly forbade kidnapping of women. The XXVII. law issued by King Stephen I of Hungary (1000–1030) declares that the kidnapper must return the woman to her parents even if he has had sexual intercourse with her, and must pay a penalty to the parents. According to the Hungarian law, the kidnapped girl was then free to marry whomever.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: The Roman councils of 1052 and 1063 suspended from communion those laymen who had a wife and a concubine at the same time. Divorce was also forbidden, and remarriage after a divorce counted as polygamy. Nicholas the Great (858–67) forbade Lothair II of Lotharingia to divorce his barren wife Teutberga and marry his concubine Waldrada, with whom he had several children. After a council of the Lotharingian bishops, as well as the archbishop of Köln and Trier had annulled his marriage to Theutberga, the pope voided this decision, and made him take his wife back.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: In Scandinavia, the word for an official concubine was "frille". Norwegian Bishop Øystein Erlendsson (ca. 1120–1188) declared that concubines were not allowed to accept the sacraments unless they married, and men were forced to promise marriage to women they had lain with outside of wedlock. In 1280, the Norwegian king Eirik Magnusson (1280–99) declared that men were exempted from having to promise marriage to the frille if they went to confession and did penance. The Church answered by making several declarations in the 14th century, urging men to marry their concubines. In 1305, King Håkon V (1270–1319) issued a law that declared marriage to be the only lawful way of cohabitation, and declared that only women in wedlock were allowed to dress as they pleased, while the dress of concubines was restricted.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: "I confess that I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the Scripture. If a man wishes to marry more than one wife he should be asked whether he is satisfied in his conscience that he may do so in accordance with the word of God. In such a case the civil authority has nothing to do in the matter." (De Wette II, 459, ibid., pp. 329-330.)


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Monogamy was the norm among Christians, However, in the context of the sickness of a wife preventing matrimonial intercourse, the founder of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther wrote: "I confess that I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the Scripture. If a man wishes to marry more than one wife he should be asked whether he is satisfied in his conscience that he may do so in accordance with the word of God. In such a case the civil authority has nothing to do in the matter."


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Lutheran theologians approved of Philip of Hesse's polygamous marriages to Christine of Saxony and Margarethe von der Saale for this purpose, as well as initial disapproval of divorce and adultery. As well as Phillip, there was much experimentation with marital duration within early German Lutheranism amongst clergy and their erstwhile wives.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: The theologian Philipp Melanchthon likewise counseled that Henry VIII need not risk schism by dissolving his union with the established churches to grant himself divorces in order to replace his barren wives, but reluctantly, and with remorse afterward, consented that polygamy was an allowable alternative.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Anabaptist leader Bernhard Rothmann initially opposed the idea of plural marriage. However, he later wrote a theological defense of plural marriage, and took nine wives himself, saying "God has restored the true practice of holy matrimony amongst us." Franz von Waldeck and the other enemies of Anabaptist leader John of Leiden accused him of keeping 16 wives, and publicly beheading one when she disobeyed him. This was used as the basis for their conquest of Münster in 1535.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: The 16th-century Italian Capuchin monk, Bernardino Ochino, 77 years old and never married, wrote the "Thirty Dialogues", wherein Dialog XXI was considered a defense of plural marriage. Evidently, he borrowed some of his strongest arguments from a Lutheran dialogue written in 1541 in favor of plural marriage which was written under the fictitious name "Huldericus Necobulus" in the interest of justifying Philip of Hesse.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: A different position was taken by the Council of Trent in 1563, which was opposed to polygyny and concubinage, "If anyone says that it is lawful for Christians to have several wives at the same time, and that it is not forbidden by any divine law (Matt. 19:4f): let him be anathema". The polemicist John Milton expressed support for polygamy in his "De doctrina christiana".


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: The Lutheran pastor Johann Lyser strongly defended plural marriage in a work entitled "Polygamia Triumphatrix". As a result, he was imprisoned, beaten and exiled from Italy to the Netherlands. His book was burned by the public executioner. He never married nor desired wedlock. Samuel Friedrich Willenberg, a doctor of law at the University of Cracow wrote the pro-plural marriage book "De finibus polygamiae licitae". In 1715, his book was ordered to be burned. Friedrich escaped with his life, but was fined one hundred thousand gold pieces.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: One of the more notable published works regarding the modern concept of Christian plural marriage dates from the 18th century. The book "Thelyphthora" was written by Martin Madan, a significant writer of hymns and a contemporary of John Wesley and Charles Wesley. Although Madan was an adherent only of polygyny in a Christian context, this particular volume set the foundation of what is considered the modern Christian plural marriage movement.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: The Council of Trent condemns polygyny: "If any one saith, that it is lawful for Christians to have several wives at the same time, and that this is not prohibited by any divine law; let him be anathema."


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: The Catechism forbids polygamy as a grave offense against marriage and contrary to the original plan of God and equal dignity of human beings.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Nevertheless, in parts of Africa such as Kenya, many Roman Catholics including catechists, have more than one wife although these people are usually not vocal about the cultural practice because it is in conflict with Roman Catholic teaching.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Martin Luther deplored divorce (only permitting it in the cases of adultery and the Pauline privilege) and taught that polygamy was allowed in Scripture, citing positive examples of it from the biblical patriarchs; as such in 1521, he granted the approval for a man to take a second wife, and again in 1539 for Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse to take a second wife.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: In the 1970's, the Lutheran World Federation hosted a regional conference in Africa, in which the acceptance of polygamists and their wives into full membership by the Lutheran Church in Liberia was defended as being permissible. While the Lutheran Church in Liberia permits men to retain their wives if they married them prior to being received into the Church, it does not permit polygamists who have become Christians to marry more wives after they have received the sacrament of Holy Baptism. Evangelical Lutheran missionaries in Maasai also tolerate the practice of polygamy and in Southern Sudan, some polygamists are becoming Lutheran Christians.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: This Conference upholds monogamy as God's plan, and as the ideal relationship of love between husband and wife; nevertheless recommends that a polygamist who responds to the Gospel and wishes to join the Anglican Church may be baptized and confirmed with his believing wives and children on the following conditions:


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Polygamy (which was called "plural marriage" by Mormons in the 19th century or "the Principle" as it is called by modern fundamentalist practitioners) was taught by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and publicly practiced from 1852 to 1890, nevertheless, it was not the norm but the exception, even during this period. On September 24, 1890, Wilford Woodruff, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at that time, issued the 1890 Manifesto, which advised church members against entering into any marriage prohibited by the law of the land, and made it possible for Utah to become a U.S. state. Nevertheless, even after the Manifesto, the church quietly continued to perform a small number of plural marriages in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, thus a Second Manifesto was released during U.S. congressional hearings which were held in 1904. Although neither Manifesto dissolved existing plural marriages, plural marriage in the LDS Church gradually died by attrition during the early 1900s. The Manifesto was canonized in the LDS Church standard works as Official Declaration 1 and mainstream Mormons, believe it was prompted by a divine revelation in which Woodruff was shown that the church would be thrown into turmoil if they did not comply with it. Mormon fundamentalists dispute the claim that Woodruff received any such revelation and as a result, they continue to practice plural marriage; these denominations include the Apostolic United Brethren and Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, among others.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Interviewed by "Time" magazine about his book, Michael Coogan said that, from a strictly literalist view, fundamentalist Mormons are right about polygamy.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: William Luck states that polygyny is not prohibited by the Bible and it would have been required if a married man seduced (Ex. 22) or raped (Deut. 22) a virgin, as long as her father did not veto the marriage.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: However, in a book-length consideration of the problem, William George Blum argues that monogamy was always God's ideal. He points out that in every Old Testament example where polygynous families are described in any detail, family strife which involves the plural wives is also described. He argues that the concept of two becoming one flesh makes polygamy a violation of God's plan for marriage.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: On August 29, 2017, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood released a manifesto on human sexuality which is known as the "Nashville Statement". The statement was signed by 150 evangelical leaders, and it includes 14 points of belief. Among other things, it states, "We deny that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous, or polyamorous relationship."


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: However, a group identifying as Evangelical Christians claim an estimated 50,000 of their group practice Christian polygamy in the West, based on their belief that the Bible glorifies this form of marriage, which they justify by citing the fact that many biblical prophets had multiple wives, including David, Abraham, Jacob and Solomon. Individual evangelical Christian pastors have married more than one woman throughout Christendom.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: The Presbyterian missionary Harold Turner acknowledged the fact that the practice of polygamy was a cultural norm in some parts of the world, such as Africa, and based on it, he cautioned Western Christian missionaries not to impose the foreign cultural norm of monogamy on the Christians of Africa because doing so would lead to the sin of divorce, leaving children without both of their parents, and leading divorced wives to remarry.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: Indeed, in many cultures, there is the possibility that the image of Christianity can be marred when a cleric in a Christian denomination which opposes polygamy "suggests that these wives may marry others, while the community regards them as still married to the first man"; in these cases, the Church can be seen as "a promoter of immorality and a destroyer of home and family" and become a stumbling block to nonbelievers.


title: Polygamy in Christianity

text: The Rev. Vincent Mulwa of Christ Pilgrim Restoration Centre opines that polygamy is a biblical practice, because it was the standard for various biblical prophets, and opposition to having more than one wife stems from Westerners imposing their views on Christians who belong to other cultures.


title: Gabe Kaplan

text: Gabriel Weston Kaplan (born March 31, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, and professional poker player. He played the eponymous teacher in the 1970s sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter". He later became a professional poker player and a commentator for the series "High Stakes Poker" on PokerGO.


title: Gabe Kaplan

text: As a child, Kaplan had aspirations of being a Major League Baseball player. However, he was unable to make the roster of a minor league team and decided to pursue other interests. He began working as a bellman at a hotel in Lakewood, New Jersey. Touring comedians sometimes performed at the hotel, and Kaplan began to work toward his own career as a stand-up comedian. Gabe honed his standup routine in 1964 in places such as the Cafe Tel Aviv at 250 West 72nd Street, New York City.


title: Gabe Kaplan

text: Kaplan's comedy was successful, and he toured the country with his act based on his childhood experiences in Brooklyn. He appeared five times on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" from May 1973 to December 1974. During that time, he also recorded the comedy album "Holes and Mello-Rolls," which included long routines about his high school days and other topics. The sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter", whose central characters he helped Eric Cohen and Alan Sacks create and whose core format he helped them to develop, was in part based on his comedy act. In the sitcom, Kaplan played Gabe Kotter, who returns as a teacher to the dysfunctional high school where he had been a student. The series ran from 1975 to 1979, and Kaplan bought a home in Palm Springs, California with his earnings. "Up your nose with a rubber hose!", sanitized from the original album line "Up your hole with a Mello-Roll!", became an unlikely catchphrase from the show. It became so popular that a comedy record by Kaplan, "Up Your Nose", was released by Elektra Records. The record, co-written and co-produced by Kaplan, dented the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1977, peaking at #93.


title: Gabe Kaplan

text: From 1976 to 1978 and again in 1981, Kaplan participated in the ABC celebrity athletic competition "Battle of the Network Stars". For the first five competitions, Kaplan was the captain of the ABC network team. In the very first competition, Kaplan defeated Robert Conrad, who was participating in the event representing the NBC team as its captain, in a race much to Conrad's chagrin. Kaplan, who was 31 at the time, passed Conrad, then 40, with a strong sprint to the finish line, giving ABC television network the win with 175 points. In 1981, Kaplan returned to the competition as the team captain for the NBC side, as he was appearing in the NBC TV show "Lewis & Clark".


title: Gabe Kaplan

text: After "Welcome Back, Kotter", Kaplan continued with his stand-up act and was in several movies, including a starring role in "Fast Break" in 1979, and he portrayed comic Groucho Marx in a one-man show.


title: Gabe Kaplan

text: Kaplan became involved in financial markets and poker during his acting career. He made his first appearance at the World Series of Poker in 1978. In 1980, Kaplan was considered one of poker's elite, as he won the main event at Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker and was presented with "a loving cup that was so enormous it made the gaudy gold bracelets given to the winners at the World Series of Poker look understated." Over the next five years his reputation was solidified as he made the final table at the Super Bowl's main event two more times.


title: Gabe Kaplan

text: In July 2004, Kaplan finished third in a World Poker Tour no-limit Texas hold 'em event, earning more than $250,000. He also finished second in the 2005 World Series of Poker $5,000 Limit Hold 'Em event, winning $222,515. Kaplan was joint TV commentator for the 1997 and 2002 WSOP events. In 2007, Kaplan won on NBC's "Poker After Dark" in the episode "Queens and Kings" after defeating Kristy Gazes heads-up and outlasting Howard Lederer, Ali Nejad, Vanessa Rousso and Annie Duke in a $20,000 buy-in, six-person No-Limit Texas Hold-Em winner-take-all Sit-and-Go.


title: Gabe Kaplan

text: In the 2007 World Series of Poker, Kaplan finished in ninth place in the $50,000 World Championship HORSE event, winning $131,424. As of June 2017, Kaplan's total live tournament winnings were $1,991,248. His eleven cashes at the WSOP were $539,159 of those winnings.


title: Gabe Kaplan

text: Kaplan won again on "Poker After Dark" during "Cowboys" week that first aired in February 2008 against Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Chau Giang, Hoyt Corkins and Doyle Brunson. Kaplan's "Poker After Dark" win in the first week of the 2010 season (the "Commentators III" episode) was the greatest comeback in the show's history.


title: Gabe Kaplan

text: Kaplan returned to host "High Stakes Poker" when Season 8 aired on PokerGO in 2021 alongside A.J. Benza.


title: Gabe Kaplan

text: Kaplan resumed performing stand-up comedy and worked on adaptations of "Welcome Back, Kotter." He still plays poker frequently and became a commentator for poker events and televised poker shows, including the "National Heads-Up Poker Championship" on NBC, "High Stakes Poker" on GSN, and the Intercontinental Poker Championship on CBS.


title: Gabe Kaplan

text: In 2007, he appeared in Zak Penn's improvisational comedy "The Grand" as Seth Schwartzman, father of brother-and-sister poker players. Also in 2007, Kaplan published a book titled "Kotter's Back: E-mails from a Faded Celebrity to a Bewildered World". In the book, people react to absurd e-mailed claims by Kaplan, such as that he:


title: Gabe Kaplan

text: In January 2011, GSN announced that Norm Macdonald would replace Kaplan as host of "High Stakes Poker". Kaplan would return alongside A.J. Benza when PokerGO relaunched the show for Season 8 in 2020.


title: Anti-Chinese sentiment

text: Anti-Chinese sentiment, also known as Sinophobia, is a fear or dislike of China, Chinese people or Chinese culture. It often targets Chinese minorities living outside of China and involves immigration, development of national identity in neighbouring countries, political ideologies, disparity of wealth, the past tributary system of Imperial China, majority-minority relations, imperial legacies, and racism.


title: Anti-Chinese sentiment

text: Today, a variety of popular culture clichés and negative stereotypes about Chinese people exist, notably in the Western world, and are often conflated with other Asian ethnic groups, known as the Yellow Peril. Some individuals may harbor prejudice or hatred against Chinese people due to history, racism, propaganda, or ingrained stereotypes. Its opposite is Sinophilia.


title: Anti-Chinese sentiment

text: In 2013, Pew Research Center from the United States conducted a survey on sinophobia, finding that China was viewed favorably in half (19 of 38) of the nations surveyed, excluding China itself. Beijing's strongest supporters were in Asia, in Malaysia (81%) and Pakistan (81%); African nations of Kenya (78%), Senegal (77%) and Nigeria (76%); as well as Latin America, particularly in countries heavily engaging with the Chinese market, such as Venezuela (71%), Brazil (65%) and Chile (62%). However, anti-China sentiment has remained permanent in the West and other Asian countries: only 28% of Germans and Italians and 37% of Americans viewed China favorably while in Japan, just 5% of respondents had a favorable opinion of the country. But in just 11 of the 38 nations surveyed China actually viewed unfavorably by at least half of those surveyed. Japan was polled to have the most anti-China sentiment, where 93% saw the People's Republic in a negative light. There were also majorities in Germany (64%), Italy (62%), and Israel (60%) who held negative views of China. The rise in anti-China sentiment in Germany was particularly striking: from 33% disfavor in 2006 to 64% in the 2013 survey, with such views existing despite Germany's success in exporting to China.