title: Marcus Wesson

text: At Wesson's trial, the prosecutor was Chief Deputy District Attorney Lisa Gamoian. Wesson was represented by public defenders Peter Jones and Ralph Torres. They presented the defense that his 25-year-old daughter Sebhrenah committed all the murders, including of her son Marshey, and then committed suicide. The murder weapon, a .22 caliber handgun, was found with her body, and Sebhrenah's DNA was found on the gun, which lent credence to Wesson's claim. The jury declined to find that Wesson fired the fatal shots but convicted him of murder anyway, presumably finding that he had persuaded his children to enter into a suicide pact.


title: Marcus Wesson

text: Wesson was convicted of nine counts of first-degree murder on June 17, 2005, and also found guilty on 14 counts of forcible rape and the sexual molestation of seven of his daughters and nieces. Wesson was sentenced to death on June 27, 2005, and is currently in San Quentin State Prison.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Jonathan Bryan Toews ( ; born April 29, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and captain of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nicknamed "Captain Serious", Toews was selected by the Blackhawks with the third overall pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He joined the team in 2007–08 and was nominated for the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year. The following season he was named team captain, becoming the second-youngest captain in NHL history (after Sidney Crosby) at the time. Toews won the Stanley Cup in 2010, along with the Conn Smythe Trophy for the most valuable player in the playoffs. After winning the Cup, Toews passed Peter Forsberg as the youngest player to join the Triple Gold Club. He won the Stanley Cup again in 2013 and 2015.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Toews competes internationally for Team Canada and has won gold medals at the 2005 World U-17 Hockey Challenge, 2006 and 2007 World Junior Championships, 2007 World Championships, the 2010 Winter Olympics (a tournament in which he was named best forward) and the 2014 Winter Olympics. In 2017, he was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Toews was selected first overall in the 2003 WHL Bantam Draft by the Tri-City Americans, but chose instead to play midget AAA hockey at Shattuck-Saint Mary's, a boarding school in Faribault, Minnesota, during the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons. The decision enabled him to retain his NCAA eligibility. Toews scored 110 points in 64 games in his second season with Shattuck-Saint Mary's before moving on to play college ice hockey.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Toews played two seasons at the University of North Dakota, compiling 85 points (40 goals and 45 assists), a +38 plus-minus rating and a 56.7% faceoff winning percentage in 76 games. He helped UND reach the NCAA Frozen Four in both 2006 and 2007, serving as an alternate captain in his sophomore season. Toews registered 39 points as a freshman and earned Rookie of the Week honours twice. He helped North Dakota capture the Broadmoor Trophy as Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) conference champions and also was named West Regional MVP after tallying five points.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Going into the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, Toews was ranked third among North American prospects by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau, and was ultimately chosen third overall by the Chicago Blackhawks.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: In 2007–08, he opted out of his final two years of college hockey eligibility to debut with the Blackhawks after signing a three-year, entry-level contract on May 16, 2007. He scored his first career NHL goal on his first shot in his first game on October 10, 2007, against the San Jose Sharks. He then recorded the second-longest point-scoring streak to start an NHL career, registering a point in each of his first ten games (five goals and five assists). On January 1, 2008, Toews sprained his knee in a game against the Los Angeles Kings. Despite missing 16 games from the injury, Toews led all rookies in goal-scoring and finished third in points. Toews finished second in team scoring behind fellow rookie Patrick Kane. Toews and Kane battled all season for the lead in team and rookie scoring before Toews went down to injury. The two were both nominated for the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year along with Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Bäckström; Toews finished as a runner-up to winner Kane.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Following his successful rookie campaign, Toews was named team captain of the Blackhawks on July 18, 2008. At 20 years and 79 days, he became the third-youngest team captain in NHL history, behind Sidney Crosby and Vincent Lecavalier. This feat was later surpassed by Gabriel Landeskog and Connor McDavid. Toews had previously been named an alternate captain in December 2007, during the 2007–08 season. In the subsequent season, he was voted as a starter, along with teammates Patrick Kane and Brian Campbell, for the 2009 NHL All-Star Game in Montreal, Quebec. He netted his first career hat-trick in the NHL on February 27, 2009, in a 5–4 overtime loss to Pittsburgh. Toews finished the 2008–09 season with 69 points in 82 games, helping the Blackhawks to their first Stanley Cup playoff appearance since 2002. He then added 13 points in 17 playoff games as the Blackhawks advanced to the Western Conference Finals, where they were eliminated by the Detroit Red Wings in five games.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Less than a month into the 2009–10 season, Toews was sidelined with concussion-like symptoms after receiving an open-ice hit from defenceman Willie Mitchell in a 3–2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on October 21, 2009. Toews had his head down while receiving a pass in the neutral zone when Mitchell left the penalty box and checked him with his shoulder. Toews was sidelined for several games before returning to the line-up.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: In the final year of his contract, Toews, as well as teammates Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane, agreed to extensions in early December 2009. His deal was structured similarly to Kane's, worth about $6.5 million annually for five seasons. Toews finished the season with 68 points in 76 games.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: During the 2010 playoffs, Toews recorded his second career hat-trick, along with two assists, leading the Blackhawks in a 7–4 playoff victory against Vancouver on May 7, 2010. On June 9, 2010, Toews led Chicago to the franchise's first Stanley Cup championship since 1961, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of the Finals. He became the second-youngest captain in the history of the NHL to win the Cup, behind Sidney Crosby, who led the Pittsburgh Penguins to the championship the previous season. Toews scored seven goals and 29 points in the playoffs, and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. By winning the Stanley Cup, he also became the youngest player, at 22 years of age, to become a member of the Triple Gold Club (Olympic gold, the Stanley Cup and World Championship).


title: Jonathan Toews

text: In the off-season, Toews was selected to be the cover player for EA Sports' video game "NHL 11" on June 21, 2010. It marked the first time in EA Sports history that two players of the same team were featured on a video game cover two years in a row, as teammate Patrick Kane had been on the cover of "NHL 10".


title: Jonathan Toews

text: During the 2010–11 season, Toews recorded a career-high 76 points in 80 games. Due to salary cap constraints, the Blackhawks were forced to trade away many of their players from the previous season's championship-winning team, including Antti Niemi, Dustin Byfuglien, Kris Versteeg and Andrew Ladd. As a result, the Blackhawks narrowly made the 2011 playoffs, ending the regular season as the eighth and final seed in the Western Conference. Down three games to none in the opening round against the Vancouver Canucks, the Blackhawks won three straight games to force a deciding Game 7. In the contest, Toews scored a short-handed game-tying goal with 1:26 remaining in regulation. The Canucks, however, went on to score five minutes into the ensuing overtime period to eliminate the Blackhawks. Toews had four points in the seven-game series.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Toews was to play in the 2012 All-Star Game, but an injury sustained during a 5–2 loss to the Nashville Predators kept him from playing; he was replaced by Scott Hartnell. Toews finished the 2011–12 season with 57 points in an injury-shortened year. He returned to play at the start of the 2012 playoffs, where he scored the overtime winner in Game 5 to send the series back to Chicago for Game 6, where the opposition Phoenix Coyotes won 4–0 to eliminate the Blackhawks from the playoffs.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: In the lockout-shortened season of 2013, Toews returned to top form. He helped the Blackhawks win the Presidents' Trophy as the team with the best regular-season record. In the 2013 playoffs, Toews led the Blackhawks to a Finals over the Boston Bruins, Chicago's second title in three seasons. At the end of the year, he was also awarded the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the League's top defensive forward and was named to the NHL second All-Star team.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Toews scored the second natural hat-trick of his NHL career on October 29, 2013, against Craig Anderson of the Ottawa Senators. The 2013–14 season finished as another productive campaign for Toews. In 76 games, he scored 28 goals and 40 assists for 68 points. The Blackhawks' 2014 playoff run lasted to overtime of Game 7 of the Western Conference Final, and Toews put up 17 points (nine goals and eight assists) in 19 games. For the second year in a row, he finished as a finalist for the Selke Trophy, though he came third in voting behind the winner Patrice Bergeron and first runner-up Anže Kopitar.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: On July 9, 2014, the Blackhawks announced that Toews, along with teammate Patrick Kane, had signed an eight-year extension with the Blackhawks at an average annual salary of $10.5 million. The contract will come into effect on July 1, 2015, for the 2015–16 season.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: During Game 7 of the 2015 Western Conference Final, Toews scored the game's first two goals en route to a 5–3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. In the Finals, Toews led the Blackhawks to their third Stanley Cup championship in six seasons after the team's Game 6 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2–0. On June 24, Toews was named the recipient of the Mark Messier Leadership Award, awarded to the individual "in recognition of his commitment and service to charities in his community," as well as exemplifying a superior leadership ability in hockey, beating-out fellow finalists Ryan Getzlaf and Andrew Ladd. Toews also won an ESPY Award for 'Best NHL Player' in 2015. Electronic Arts selected Toews to appear on the cover of NHL 16.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Toews was selected to play in the 2016 All-Star Game, but missed the game on account of illness. He was suspended for one game per NHL rules for not attending the All-Star game.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: During the 2016–17 Chicago Blackhawks season, Toews suffered a back injury that forced him to miss nine games. He was voted into the 2017 National Hockey League All-Star Game.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Toews' productivity declined during the 2017–18 season, where he posted a career-low 52 points. He revealed he adopted a new training regimen and nutrition plan to help him better prepare for the upcoming season. A rejuvenated Toews tallied a career-high 81 points while appearing in all 82 games for Chicago during the 2018–19 season.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Toews appeared in 70 games during the 2019–20 Chicago Blackhawks season, which was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He recorded 18 goals and 42 assists during the campaign while eclipsing the 800-career point milestone. Toews also totaled a team-high nine points in nine games during the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Before the start of the 2020–21 season, the Blackhawks announced Toews would be out indefinitely while recovering from an undisclosed illness. He missed the entire season before announcing in June 2021 that he was diagnosed with chronic immune response syndrome and that he planned to return for the 2021–22 season. In September 2021, he said an antibody test revealed he had COVID-19 at some point. Toews played the 1000th regular season game of his career on March 31, 2022. Toews appeared in 71 games for the Blackhawks, where he recorded 12 goals and 25 assists for a career-low 37 points. He also maintained a 57% faceoff win-rate, which was the third best in the NHL among all centers with at least 1000 faceoff draws.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: In 2005, Toews captained Canada West at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge to a gold medal. He scored the game-winning goal in a 3–1 win over Canada Pacific in the championship game. He finished with 12 points, ranked first in tournament scoring, and was named tournament MVP.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: In his draft year, Toews competed on Canada's junior team at the 2006 World Junior Championships as the youngest player on the team. He tallied two assists during the tournament, both against Norway in preliminary play, as Canada ultimately defeated Russia in the gold medal game, 5–0.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: In 2007, Toews earned a second-straight World Junior gold medal. In the tournament semi-final against the United States, Toews scored three times in the shootout to advance to the final. With seven points, Toews led Canada in scoring and was named to the Tournament All-Star team alongside teammate Carey Price. Shortly after his gold medal win, Toews was honoured by his hometown American Hockey League (AHL) team, the Manitoba Moose, on February 3, 2007, as he was presented with an honorary jersey for his tournament efforts.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: That same year, Toews also made his senior international debut at the 2007 World Championships and recorded seven points in nine games competing against mostly professional players after just his second year of college hockey (at the time of selection, Toews had not yet turned professional). Canada earned gold over Finland 4–2 in the championship game. After the victory, Toews became the first Canadian to win a World Junior championship and a World Championship in the same year. On June 29, 2007, Toews was awarded the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, an award given by the Province of Manitoba in honour of sporting achievements, for his play in the junior and senior world championships.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: On December 30, 2009, Toews was selected to play for Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was named to the squad along with Blackhawks teammates Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith. He ended the tournament with a team-leading eight points, while his seven assists tied with Pavol Demitra of Slovakia for the tournament lead. Toews' lone goal of the tournament opened the scoring in Canada's 3–2 overtime win in the gold medal game against the United States. As a result, he was awarded Best Forward and tournament all-star team honours. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, he scored the first goal in the gold medal game against Sweden on the way to Canada's second-straight Olympic gold medal.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Jonathan was born to Bryan Toews, an electrician at the University of Manitoba, and Andrée Gilbert, a native of Sainte-Marie, Quebec, who was the managing director and finance expert for a credit union in the Winnipeg region before retiring to oversee Toews' media relations. He is bilingual, speaking fluent French and English.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Like Toews, his brother David also attended Shattuck-Saint Mary's and began his freshman year at the University of North Dakota in 2008–09. His cousin Kai Toews is a professional basketball player.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: In January 2007, Toews and former North Dakota teammate T. J. Oshie received alcohol-related citations for being minors in a Grand Forks, North Dakota, tavern. Toews and Oshie pleaded guilty to the charges. The two were later placed on probation and ordered to perform community service.


title: Jonathan Toews

text: In the spring of 2010, a large mural of Toews visible from the Eisenhower Expressway in Chicago received a degree of notoriety. The mural depicted Toews with an abnormally shaped nose and mouth, posed beside a picture of the Stanley Cup (appropriately, Toews would end up holding the Cup after winning it later that year). Toews commented on the mural, stating: "I guess it's from a picture and they must have embellished it a little bit. They're not helping me by any means."


title: Jonathan Toews

text: Following the celebration of Toews bringing the Stanley Cup to his hometown of Winnipeg, the Province of Manitoba announced that it would be naming a northern lake after Toews in honour of his success. The lake is located north of Flin Flon and is named Toews Lake. The same day, the Dakota Community Centre in St. Vital where Toews first played organized hockey was renamed the Jonathan Toews Community Centre. Additionally, he was given the Keys to the City to honour his achievement and strong work ethic.


title: Arches National Park

text: Arches National Park is a national park in eastern Utah, United States. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, north of Moab, Utah. More than 2,000 natural sandstone arches are located in the park, including the well-known Delicate Arch, as well as a variety of unique geological resources and formations. The park contains the highest density of natural arches in the world.


title: Arches National Park

text: The park consists of of high desert located on the Colorado Plateau. The highest elevation in the park is at Elephant Butte, and the lowest elevation is at the visitor center. The park receives an average of less than of rain annually.


title: Arches National Park

text: Administered by the National Park Service, the area was originally named a national monument on April 12, 1929, and was redesignated as a national park on November 12, 1971. The park received more than 1.6 million visitors in 2018.


title: Arches National Park

text: The national park lies above an underground evaporite layer or salt bed, which is the main cause of the formation of the arches, spires, balanced rocks, sandstone fins, and eroded monoliths in the area. This salt bed is thousands of feet thick in places and was deposited in the Paradox Basin of the Colorado Plateau some 300 million years ago (Mya) when a sea flowed into the region and eventually evaporated. Over millions of years, the salt bed was covered with debris eroded from the Uncompahgre Uplift to the northeast. During the Early Jurassic (about 200 Mya), desert conditions prevailed in the region and the vast Navajo Sandstone was deposited. An additional sequence of stream laid and windblown sediments, the Entrada Sandstone (about 140 Mya), was deposited on top of the Navajo. Over 5,000 feet (1,500 m) of younger sediments were deposited and have been mostly eroded. Remnants of the cover exist in the area including exposures of the Cretaceous Mancos Shale. The arches of the area are developed mostly within the Entrada formation.


title: Arches National Park

text: The weight of this cover caused the salt bed below it to liquefy and thrust up layers of rock into salt domes. The evaporites of the area formed more unusual "salt anticlines" or linear regions of uplift. Faulting occurred and whole sections of rock subsided into the areas between the domes. In some places, they turned almost on edge. The result of one such displacement, the Moab Fault, is seen from the visitor center.


title: Arches National Park

text: As this subsurface movement of salt shaped the landscape, erosion removed the younger rock layers from the surface. Except for isolated remnants, the major formations visible in the park today are the salmon-colored Entrada Sandstone, in which most of the arches form, and the buff-colored Navajo Sandstone. These are visible in layer-cake fashion throughout most of the park. Over time, water seeped into the surface cracks, joints, and folds of these layers. Ice formed in the fissures, expanding and putting pressure on surrounding rock, breaking off bits and pieces. Winds later cleaned out the loose particles. A series of free-standing fins remained. Wind and water attacked these fins until, in some, the cementing material gave way and chunks of rock tumbled out. Many damaged fins collapsed. Others, with the right degree of hardness and balance, survived despite their missing sections. These became the famous arches.


title: Arches National Park

text: Although the park's terrain may appear rugged and durable, it is extremely fragile. More than 1 million visitors each year threaten the fragile high-desert ecosystem. The problem lies within the soil's crust, which is composed of cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, and lichens that grow in the dusty parts of the park. Factors that make Arches National Park sensitive to visitor damage include being a semiarid region, the scarce, unpredictable rainfall, lack of deep freezing, and lack of plant litter, which results in soils that have both a low resistance to and slow recovery from, compressional forces such as foot traffic. Methods of indicating effects on the soil are cytophobic soil crust index, measuring of water infiltration, and t-tests that are used to compare the values from the undisturbed and disturbed areas.


title: Arches National Park

text: Geological processes that occurred over 300 million years ago caused a salt bed to be deposited, which today lies beneath the landscape of Arches National Park. Over time, the salt bed was covered with sediments that eventually compressed into rock layers that have since been named Entrada Standstone. Rock layers surrounding the edge of the salt bed continued to erode and shift into vertical sandstone walls called fins. Sand collected between vertical walls of the fins, then slightly acidic rain combined with carbon dioxide in the air allowed for the chemical formation of carbonic acid within the trapped sand. Over time, the carbonic acid dissolved the calcium carbonate that held the sandstone together. Many of the rock formations have weaker layers of rock on bottom that are holding stronger layers on top. The weaker layers would dissolve first, creating openings in the rock. Gravity caused pieces of the stronger rock layer to fall piece by piece into an arch shape. Arches form within rock fins at points of intense fracturing localization, or weak points in the rock's formation, caused by horizontal and vertical discontinuities. Lastly, water, wind, and time continued this erosion process and ultimately created the arches of Arches National Park. All of the arches in the park are made of Entrada Sandstone, however, there are slight differences in how each arch was developed. This allows the Entrada Sandstone to be categories into 3 groups including Slick rock members, Dewey rock members, and Moab members. Vertical arches can be developed from Slick rock members, a combination of Slick rock members and Moab members, or Slick rock members resting above Dewey rock members. Horizontal arches (also called potholes) are formed when a vertical pothole formation meets a horizontal cave, causing a union into a long arch structure. The erosion process within Arches National Park will continue as time continues to pass. Continued erosion combined with vertical and horizontal stress will eventually cause arches to collapse, but still, new arches will continue to form for thousands of years.


title: Arches National Park

text: According to the Köppen climate classification system, Arches Visitor Center has a cold semi-arid climate ("BSk").


title: Arches National Park

text: Humans have occupied the region since the last ice age 10,000 years ago. Fremont people and Ancestral Puebloans lived in the area until about 700 years ago. Spanish missionaries encountered Ute and Paiute tribes in the area when they first came through in 1775, but the first European-Americans to attempt settlement in the area were the Mormon Elk Mountain Mission in 1855, who soon abandoned the area. Ranchers, farmers, and prospectors later settled Moab in the neighboring Riverine Valley in the late 1870s. Word of the beauty of the surrounding rock formations spread beyond the settlement as a possible tourist destination.


title: Arches National Park

text: The Arches area was first brought to the attention of the National Park Service by Frank A. Wadleigh, passenger traffic manager of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Wadleigh, accompanied by railroad photographer George L. Beam, visited the area in September 1923 at the invitation of Alexander Ringhoffer, a Hungarian-born prospector living in Salt Valley. Ringhoffer had written to the railroad to interest them in the tourist potential of a scenic area he had discovered the previous year with his two sons and a son-in-law, which he called the Devils Garden (known today as the Klondike Bluffs). Wadleigh was impressed by what Ringhoffer showed him, and suggested to Park Service director Stephen T. Mather that the area be made a national monument.


title: Arches National Park

text: The following year, additional support for the monument idea came from Laurence Gould, a University of Michigan graduate student (and future polar explorer) studying the geology of the nearby La Sal Mountains, who was shown the scenic area by local physician Dr. J. W. "Doc" Williams.


title: Arches National Park

text: A succession of government investigators examined the area, in part due to confusion as to the precise location. In the process, the name Devils Garden was transposed to an area on the opposite side of Salt Valley that includes Landscape Arch, the longest arch in the park. Ringhoffer's original discovery was omitted, while another area nearby, known locally as the Windows, was included. Designation of the area as a national monument was supported by the Park Service in 1926 but was resisted by President Calvin Coolidge's Interior Secretary, Hubert Work. Finally, in April 1929, shortly after his inauguration, President Herbert Hoover signed a presidential proclamation creating the Arches National Monument, consisting of two comparatively small, disconnected sections. The purpose of the reservation under the 1906 Antiquities Act was to protect the arches, spires, balanced rocks, and other sandstone formations for their scientific and educational value. The name Arches was suggested by Frank Pinkely, superintendent of the Park Service's southwestern national monuments, following a visit to the Windows section in 1925.


title: Arches National Park

text: In late 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a proclamation that enlarged the Arches to protect additional scenic features and permit the development of facilities to promote tourism. A small adjustment was made by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960 to accommodate a new road alignment.


title: Arches National Park

text: In early 1969, just before leaving office, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a proclamation substantially enlarging the Arches. Two years later, President Richard Nixon signed legislation enacted by Congress, which significantly reduced the total area enclosed, but changed its status. Arches National Park was formally dedicated in May 1972


title: Arches National Park

text: In 1980, vandals attempted to use an abrasive kitchen cleanser to deface ancient petroglyphs in the park, prompting park officials to recruit physicist John F. Asmus, who specialized in using lasers to restore works of art, to use his technology to repair the damage. Asmus "zapped the panel with intense light pulses and succeeded in removing most of the cleanser".


title: Arches National Park

text: Climbing Balanced Rock or any named or unnamed arch in Arches National Park with an opening larger than is banned by park regulations. Climbing on other features in the park is allowed but regulated; in addition, slacklining and BASE jumping are banned parkwide.


title: Arches National Park

text: Climbing on named arches within the park had long been banned by park regulations, but following Dean Potter's successful free climb on Delicate Arch in May 2006, the wording of the regulations was deemed unenforceable by the park attorney. In response, the park revised its regulations later that month, eventually imposing the current ban on arch climbing in 2014.


title: Arches National Park

text: Approved recreational activities include auto touring, hiking, bicycling, camping at the Devils Garden campground, backpacking, canyoneering, and rock climbing, with permits required for the last three activities. Guided commercial tours and ranger programs are also available.


title: Arches National Park

text: Astronomy is also popular in the park due to its dark skies, despite the increasing light pollution from towns such as Moab.


title: Arches National Park

text: Delicate Arch is the subject of the third 2014 quarter of the U.S. Mint's America the Beautiful Quarters program commemorating national parks and historic sites. The Arches quarter had the highest production of the five 2014 national park quarters, with more than 465 million minted.


title: Arches National Park

text: American writer Edward Abbey was a park ranger at Arches National Monument in 1956 and 1957, where he kept journals that became his book "Desert Solitaire". The success of Abbey's book, as well as interest in adventure travel, has drawn many hikers, mountain bikers, and off-pavement driving enthusiasts to the area. Permitted activities within the park include camping, hiking along designated trails, backpacking, canyoneering, rock climbing, bicycling, and driving along existing roads, both paved and unpaved. The Hayduke Trail, an backpacking route named after one of Edward Abbey's characters, begins in the park.


title: Arches National Park

text: An abundance of wildlife occurs in Arches National Park, including spadefoot toads, antelope squirrels, scrub jays, peregrine falcons, many kinds of sparrows, red foxes, desert bighorn sheep, kangaroo rats, mule deers, cougars, midget faded rattlesnakes, yucca mothes, western rattlesnakes, and collared lizards.


title: Arches National Park

text: Plants also dominate the landscape in the park, including prickly pear cactus, Indian ricegrass, bunch grasses, cheatgrass, lichen, moss, liverworts, Utah juniper, Mormon tea, blackbrush, cliffrose, four-winged saltbrush, pinyon pine, evening primrose, sand verbena, yucca, and sacred datura.


title: Arches National Park

text: Biological soil crust consisting of cyanobacteria, lichen, mosses, green algae, and microfungi is found throughout southeastern Utah. The fibrous growths help keep soil particles together, creating a layer that is more resistant to erosion. The living soil layer readily absorbs and stores water, allowing more complex forms of plant life to grow in places with low precipitation levels.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The Saudi Arabian Armed Forces (SAAF) (), also known as the Royal Saudi Armed Forces, are the military forces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It consists of the Saudi Arabian Land Forces (or Army), the Royal Saudi Navy, the Royal Saudi Air Force, the Royal Saudi Air Defense, and the Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force. The King of Saudi Arabia is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and forms military policy with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior. The five Armed Forces are among eight military forces of Saudi Arabia, with the others including the Saudi Arabian National Guard (under the administrative control of the Ministry of National Guard), the Saudi Royal Guard Regiment and Saudi Arabian Border Guards.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The Royal Saudi Armed Forces are one of the best-funded in the world, having the world's sixth largest defense budget.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates in 2021 listed a total of 192,000 personnel (110,000 RSLF; 30,500 Navy; 23,000 Air Force; 20,000 Air Defense; and Strategic Missile Forces 5,500). The RSLF figure is a powerful force. The National Guard, with 100,000. The IISS Military Balance lists reserve personnel when reliable figures are available, but did not list any reserve personnel for Saudi Arabia.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The first steps towards building an institutionalised armed force for Saudi Arabia began in the 1940s, when Saudi regulars numbered perhaps 1,000–1,500, Gaub saying that officers mostly came from the Ottoman troops who had served the Sharif of Mecca before his being expelled in 1924. A Ministry of Defense was created in 1943; a military school founded in Taif, and the United Kingdom began efforts to try to build a professional force. After the failure of this UK programme, a subsequent U.S. programme which ran from 1951 also failed to reach its objective (the creation for three to five Regimental Combat Teams. Growth of the armed forces was slowed to some 7,500–10,000 by 1953. Continued enlargement came to a halt in the late 1950s due to internal Saudi power struggles (including two plots by senior officers) and geo-political concerns, namely the Free Officers Revolution in Egypt followed by a brutal Baathist coup in Iraq, wherein expanded post-colonial Arab armies overthrew the domestic monarchies they had sworn allegiance too in 1952 and 1958 respectively. These event led the Saudis to the rational conclusion their own military could potentially pose a greater threat to their line than any of their neighbors. In the decades that followed, though the Kingdom experienced unprecedented economic expansion and modernization; the Royal Armed Forces remained contained. From the late 1950s to the late 1970s, the Saudis did expand and modernize their military but at a stagnate rate, this despite the fact the region was regularly at war. In 1969, South Yemeni forces attacked the Kingdom along the border but were swiftly defeated by Royal and allied forces. When the Yom-Kippur War broke out in 1973, Saudi Arabia used "Oil as a weapon", to aid the Arab cause; this strategy significantly influenced world opinion against Israel though to what extent is remains unclear. Following these successes, the Saudis would pursue only limited increased support for their armed forces in the wake of the Grand Mosque Seizure in 1979. In the 1980s Saudi Arabia became a major source of financial but not military assistance, for the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, and the regime of Saddam Hussein in its war against Revolutionary Iran. The 1991 Gulf War saw the greatest threat to the Kingdom in modern history and the largest deployment of Saudi Armed Forces in history, with all levels of the Saudi military actively participating as part of the U.N. coalition against Iraq.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: In 1987, members of the air force, army, and navy used to be mainly recruits from groups of people without a strong identity from the Nejd tribal system and people from urban areas.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: King Abdullah increasingly moved towards comprehensive military reform following what he considered a failed response by Saudi forces to Houthi incursions in 2009.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: In the early 2010s, after almost 20 years of relatively modest increases in military spending, the Saudi government embarked an unprecedented expansion of the Kingdom's armed forces. This shift in policy was spear-headed primarily by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who took over as Defense Minister in 2015. It is believed the continued high level expansion of the Saudi Armed Forces was a response to not only short term threats (including incursions by Yemeni rebels and the rise of ISIS) but long term regional strategic concerns, namely the increasing strength of Iran and the uncertain future of America's role in the region.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: In 2019, the government of Saudi Arabia stated that women can start working in the military. In the past they could only work in police.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The armed forces are mainly the responsibility of the Ministry of Defense and Aviation, which also oversees the construction of civilian airports as well as military bases, and meteorology departments.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz was Saudi Arabia's Minister of Defense and Aviation from 1962 to 2011. The vice minister, Abdulrahman bin Abdulaziz, was his full brother and served until November 2011. His oldest son, Khalid bin Sultan, was appointed assistant minister in 2001 and was in office until April 2013.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: Spending on defense and security has increased significantly since the mid-1990s and was about US$67 billion in 2013. Saudi Arabia ranks among the top five nations in the world in government spending for its military, representing about 9% of GDP in 2013. Its modern, high-technology arsenal makes Saudi Arabia among the world's most densely armed nations, with its military equipment being supplied primarily by the United States, France, and Britain. According to SIPRI, in 2010–14 Saudi Arabia became the world's second largest arms importer, receiving four times more major arms than in 2005–2009. Major imports in 2010–14 included 45 combat aircraft from the United Kingdom, 38 combat helicopters from the U.S., 4 tanker aircraft from Spain and over 600 armored vehicles from Canada. Saudi Arabia has a long list of outstanding orders for arms, including 27 more combat aircraft from the United Kingdom, 154 combat aircraft from the U.S. and a large number of armoured vehicles from Canada.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The United States sold more than $80 billion in military hardware between 1951 and 2006 to the Saudi military. In comparison, the Israel Defense Forces received $53.6 billion in U.S. military grants between 1949 and 2007. On 20 October 2010, U.S. State Department notified Congress of its intention to make the biggest arms sale in American history—an estimated $60.5 billion purchase by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The package represented a considerable improvement in the offensive capability of the Saudi armed forces. The United States emphasized that the arms transfer would increase "interoperability" with U.S. forces. In the Persian Gulf War, having U.S.-trained Saudi Arabian forces, along with military installations built to U.S. specifications, allowed the U.S. military to deploy in a comfortable and familiar battle environment. This new deal would increase these capabilities, as an advanced American military infrastructure is about to be built. The U.S. government was also in talks with Saudi Arabia about the potential sale of advanced naval and missile-defense upgrades.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: Canada recently won a contract worth at least US$10 billion to supply the Saudi Arabian army with armored military vehicles.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The Royal Saudi Land Forces are composed of three armored brigades, five mechanized brigades, one airborne brigade, one Royal Guard brigade, and eight artillery battalions. The army also has one aviation command with two aviation brigades.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The army's main equipment consists of a combination of French- and U.S.-made armored vehicles: 315 M–1A2 Abrams, 290 AMX–30, and 450 M60A3 main battle tanks; 300 reconnaissance vehicles; 570+ AMX–10P and 400 M–2 Bradley armored infantry fighting vehicles; 3,000+ M113 and 100 Al-Fahd armored personnel carriers, produced in Saudi Arabia; 200+ towed artillery pieces; 110 self-propelled artillery pieces; 60 multiple rocket launchers; 400 mortars; 10 surface-to-surface missiles; about 2,000 antitank guided weapons; about 200 rocket launchers; 450 recoilless launchers; 12 attack helicopters; 50+ transport helicopters; and 1,000 surface-to-air missiles.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: In 1996 Saudi Arabia had military cities in the northeast, the King Khalid Military City, at Tabuk, at Dharhran, and at Abha in the southwest. There was a 1996 report that construction of a military city at Jizan, orientated toward Yemen, had begun with Defense Minister Prince Sultan pouring the first concrete on 8 May 1996.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The Library of Congress Country Study for Saudi Arabia, issued in 1992, noted that "[t]he army has been chronically under strength, in the case of some units by an estimated 30 to 50 percent. These shortages have been aggravated by a relaxed policy that permitted considerable absenteeism and by a serious problem of retaining experienced technicians and non-commissioned officers.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The navy is divided into two fleets: the Western Fleet has bases in Jeddah, Jizan, and Al Wajh; the Eastern Fleet has bases in Al Jubayl, Ad Dammam, Ras Mishab, and Ras al Ghar. The marines are organized into one infantry regiment with two battalions.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The navy's inventory includes 11 principal surface combatants, 65 patrol and coastal combatants, 7 mine warfare vessels, 8 amphibious craft, and 7 support and miscellaneous craft. Naval aviation forces have 19 helicopters (armed) serving in naval support.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The air force is organized in seven fighter/ground-attack squadrons, six fighter squadrons, and seven training squadrons. Saudi Arabia has at least 15 active military airfields.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: As of 2011, Saudi Arabia has around 300 combat aircraft. The kingdom's combat aircraft are newly acquired Typhoons and upgraded Tornado IDS, F-15 Eagle and F-15E Strike Eagle fighter planes. Saudi Arabia has a further 80+ F-15 Eagles on order and an option to buy another 72 Typhoons.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: Air Defense was part of the Army until 1981 when it was made a separate service. It operates "Peace Shield" a state-of-the-art radar and air defense system consisting of a Command Operations Center at Riyadh, and main operating bases at Dhahran, Taif, Tabuk, Khamis Mushait and Al Kharj. The total system includes 164 sites.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The system equipment comprises 17 General Electric AN/FPS-117 long-range 3D radars, 6 Northrop Grumman AN/TPS-43 tactical radars, and Raytheon Improved HAWK air defense missile system.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Forces (RSSMF) is equipped with the Chinese DF-3A (CSS-2) Dongfeng missile sold to Saudi Arabia by China. A conventional high-explosive warhead (2150 kg) variant of the DongFeng 3A Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile was developed for an export order to Saudi Arabia in 1987. About 30+ missiles and 9~12 launchers were reportedly delivered in 1988, though no known test launch has ever been made in the country.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The Strategical Missile Forces is top secret, so there is no open information concerning the budget and personnel. Probably it is separate branch officially called Strategic Missile Forces (guessing by its website URL http://www.smf.gov.sa/).


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: But RSSMF certainly has one advanced Al-Watah ballistic missile base (found on the satellite images) in the rocky central part of Saudi Arabia, some 200 km south-west of the capital city Riyadh. Two other bases include Al Sulayyil ballistic missile base (the older base located 450 km southwest of Riyadh) and Al Jufayr base (placed 90 km south of Riyadh) share many similarities, suggesting that they share the same role.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: Armed Forces Medical Service of Saudi Arabia provides medical services to all members of the Armed Forces. It is led by a Director General and is responsible for 24 military hospitals across Saudi Arabia.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: In 1979, Islamic extremists took control of the Grand Mosque in Mecca. The extremists were led by Juhayman Al Otaiba and held many worshippers hostage for weeks.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: With the help of Pakistani and Western troops, the Saudi military captured the terrorists inside the Grand Mosque.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: When Iraq invaded Saudi Arabia's northern neighbor Kuwait in 1990, Saudi Arabia immediately requested the deployment of U.S. troops within the country to deter further aggression. Saudi forces participated in the subsequent Operation Desert Storm: Saudi pilots flew more than 7,000 sorties and Saudi troops took part in the battles around the Saudi town of Ras al-Khafji.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: Since the Gulf War, the United States stationed 5,000 troops in Saudi Arabia, a figure that rose to 10,000 during the 2003 conflict in Iraq.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: Operation Southern Watch enforced the no-fly zones over southern Iraq set up after 1991, as well, the country's oil exports through the shipping lanes of the Persian Gulf are protected by the United States Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain. It was conducted by Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) with the mission of monitoring and controlling airspace south of the 32nd Parallel (extended to the 33rd Parallel in 1996) in Iraq, following the 1991 Persian Gulf War until the 2003 invasion of Iraq.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: This was one of the stated motivations behind the September 11 attacks, as well as the Khobar Towers bombing. Bin Laden interpreted the Islamic prophet, Muhammad as banning the "permanent presence of infidels in Arabia".


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: On 5 November 2009, the Royal Saudi Land Forces launched a sweeping ground offensive against Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels after they crossed the Saudi border in order to outflank the Yemeni Army, which had launched a military campaign against the Houthis to control and pacify the northern Yemeni mountains, and killed two Saudi border guards. The Saudi forces relied heavily on air power and artillery to soften the rebels without risking their men. The Saudi Army lost 133 soldiers in the fighting against the rebels, with most of the casualties occurring when ground forces tried to move into areas that had been softened by shelling that "raised alarms across the Sunni Arab world about the possibility that Iran might be supporting the Yemeni rebels".


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: The vast majority of Saudi Arabia's military equipment is imported from the Western world. However, the Al-Fahd Infantry fighting vehicle and the Al-Faris 8–400 armored personnel carrier, used by Saudi land forces, were manufactured by the Abdallah Al Faris Company for Heavy Industries, based in Dammam.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: Also, Al-Kaser and Al-Mansour armored vehicles and the Al-Masmak MRAP which has achieved very high protection, all are Saudi-made Ashibl 1 and Ashibl 2 are Saudi-made armored vehicles used by the Royal Saudi Land Forces and the kingdom's most elite special operations units of Battalion 85. Saudi Arabia has also recently unveiled the new Tuwaiq MRAP.


title: Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabian Military Industries signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ROSOBORONEXPORT for the local production of the 9M133 Kornet-EM anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system, the TOS-1A advanced multiple rocket launcher and AGS-30 automatic grenade launchers with grenades and Kalashnikov AK-103.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Michael Cernovich (born November 17, 1977) is an American alt-right social media personality, political commentator, and conspiracy theorist. Though he initially called himself alt-right, he dissociated from the movement after Richard Spencer became its public face. Cernovich describes himself as part of the new right and some have described him as part of the alt-lite. Cernovich has been a regular host of the far-right "The Alex Jones Show" on InfoWars.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich became a blogger in the 2000s, focusing on anti-feminist themes. He gained notice within the manosphere, and made a number of inflammatory comments about dating and sexual assault, including the claim that date rape "does not exist". He created a website, "Danger and Play", in 2011; it was first known for his postings about men's rights and mindset techniques. In 2014, Cernovich became a prominent figure in the Gamergate harassment campaign against several women in the video game industry, and through this built a following among the alt-right. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he adapted his website to a political blog. He was an early supporter of Republican candidate Donald Trump, and promoted conspiracy theories about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Since 2018, he has become increasingly critical of Trump, and now opposes him in the 2024 election.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich is known for his promotion of fake news, conspiracy theories, and smear campaigns. He helped spread the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which falsely claimed that John Podesta and other high-ranking Democratic Party officials were involved in a child-sex ring. Cernovich has frequently made false accusations about political opponents of being pedophiles. He unearthed old tweets by Sam Seder and James Gunn joking about pedophilia, and initially succeeded in pressuring to get them fired, but both were reinstated after public outcry.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich was born on November 17, 1977, in the farming town of Kewanee, Illinois. His family was poor, and his parents were both devout Christians.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Springfield in 2001. He graduated with a Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2004.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In 2004, Cernovich started a legal blog entitled "Crime & Federalism", where he wrote about law from a libertarian perspective.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Shortly after his divorce in 2011, he created the blog "Danger & Play", where he wrote about men's rights, fitness, and self-help topics. The title of "Danger & Play" came from a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche: "The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything."


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In an October 2016 blog post, Cernovich argued that date rape is a concept that is "harmful ... for men and women" that leads to false rape accusations; his comments were criticized.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In 2015, Cernovich self-published "Gorilla Mindset: How to Control Your Thoughts and Emotions, Improve Your Health and Fitness, Make More Money and Live Life on Your Terms", which became a bestseller in the motivational self-help category on Amazon.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In 2016, Cernovich published "Danger & Play: Essays on Embracing Masculinity". In October 2016, he published "MAGA Mindset: Making YOU and America Great Again" through Castalia House, a Finnish publishing house founded by Vox Day which primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In 2016, Cernovich was an associate producer for Cassie Jaye's documentary "The Red Pill", which discusses the men's right movement, and issues like male suicide, child custody, and educational inequality.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In 2018, Cernovich produced a documentary called "Hoaxed: Everything They Told You Is a Lie", with associate producers Scooter Downey and Jon Du Toit. "The Hollywood Reporter" described it as "a right-wing take on corporate malfeasance and media bias". The movie interviewed a wide range of conservative figures, including Anthony Scaramucci, Jordan Peterson, Scott Adams, James O'Keefe, and Alex Jones. "Hoaxed" was also made into a book of the same name. The documentary was listed on the Amazon platform before being removed without comment in 2020.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich's writings turned political after Trump announced his candidacy for the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He became notable for his trolling; his maxims were "conflict is attention", and "attention is influence". He identified himself as alt-right, and joined forces with provocateurs like Milo Yiannopoulos. Early on, the alt-right was a "big-tent" that included “any conservative or reactionary who was [...] too belligerently antiestablishment to feel at home in the Republican Party”. In November 2016, white nationalist Richard B. Spencer, who also self-identified as alt-right, became its "indelible face" after a video of him giving a Nazi salute provoked universal outrage. This led to a rift in the alt-right movement between white nationalists and civic nationalists, with the former branding the latter "cuckservatives" and "alt-lite". Following the schism, Cernovich disassociated himself from alt-right, saying: "The first order of business is getting that Nazi shit way the fuck away from me". He adopted the label "new right", and has also described himself as an economic nationalist.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich was one of the organizers of the January 2017 DeploraBall inaugural ball to celebrate Trump's victory; the name was a reference Hillary Clinton's earlier "basket of deplorables" comment. He banned fellow organizer Baked Alaska after the latter made an antisemitic tweet, and banned Spencer after he discovered the latter had bought a ticket. Notable atendees of the DeploraBall include Martin Shkreli, James O'Keefe, and Cassandra Fairbanks; Peter Thiel also briefly appeared. Outside the ball, there were clashes between Trump supporters and protesters.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In 2015 and 2016, Cernovich repeatedly made false claims that white South Africans were being genocided, which were debunked by "Genocide Watch". He later deleted the tweets.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: "Politico" described him in 2016 as wanting an IQ test requirement for immigrants and to end federal funding for universities. Interviewed on "60 Minutes" in March 2017, Cernovich supported single-payer healthcare. Cernovich has supported "some sort of universal basic income", and suggested in 2018 that the "new right" was “more of a populist movement than a conservative or liberal movement", and that "conservatism is on the way out".


title: Mike Cernovich

text: During the 2016 United States presidential campaign, Cernovich saw Donald Trump as a kindred spirit and, according to "Politico", during the 2016 campaign and early period of the Trump administration, Cernovich was an "indefatigable Trump cheerleader" and was among a group of alt-right celebrities who believed they could become a major influence on the Republican Party.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In 2018, Cernovich became "increasingly critical" of Trump, and less politically active. In September 2018, he tweeted his disappointment, "There's no Wall. She's not locked up. But Flynn got fired and sent to wolves. And Saudi Arabia sold weapons of murder. I give zero f-cks about Republicans losing the House." Also in 2018, Cernovich criticized the Trump administration's missile strikes against Syria, which divided the president's political base.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Following the 2022 midterm elections, Cernovich said the losses meant that "at least no one has to suck up to Trump anymore", and that "Trump has zero shot at 2024". He voiced his support for Ron DeSantis for the 2024 election.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: During the 2016 campaign, Cernovich told journalist Andrew Marantz: "if there’s a story that can hurt Hillary, I want it in the news cycle”. He set out to coin and promote hashtags that would promote these stories, and aimed to get the stories covered by conservative news aggregator "The Drudge Report," saying: "If it’s on Drudge, then it’s on Hannity. If it’s on Hannity, then Brian Stelter’s talking about it on CNN”. Researchers "Benkler et al." say it exemplifies a propaganda pipeline that "[takes] advantage of the media ecosystem architecture", in which "destructive memes" that emerge from the media's periphery (social media and sites like Infowars) can spread to its core, as mainstream media covers the controversies.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: During the 2016 campaign, Cernovich was "among the first" to spread rumors about Hillary Clinton's health. Clinton had previously experienced a brain concussion and blood clots, but testing found "complete resolution", and her doctors attested to her good health. In March 2016, he claimed that a photo of Hillary Clinton winking showed she had experienced a "mild stroke". In August, he promoted the hashtags: "#CoughingHillary" and "#SickHillary" on Twitter, and spread rumors that Clinton had epilepsy and Parkinson's disease. These rumors were amplified by the "Drudge Report" website, Rudy Giuliani, and Donald Trump. In September 2016, Clinton was filmed collapsing from pneumonia after a memorial service, and Cernovich started the #HillarysHealth hashtag, which trended nationwide; that month, Cernovich's tweets were seen more than 100million times.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In November 2016, Cernovich and other conspiracists promoted the baseless Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which misinterpreted the leaked Podesta emails to imply that high-ranking Democrats were involved in a child sex-trafficking ring. He also claimed that a 1997 video of Marina Abramovic's "spirit cooking" performance art constituted "occult symbolism" to "openly taunt the public", and that it proved that Clinton's inner circle was part of a sex cult. He helped "#Pizzagate" become one of the biggest trending hashtags on Twitter; the hashtag drew conspiracy theorists from across the political spectrum, whose common link was their "profound distrust of the mainstream media". The rumors later inspired a gun-wielding man to visit Comet Ping Pong. Cernovich, who had used the hashtag 60 times, later deleted the tweets, and downplayed his involvement in propagating the theory.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich regularly asserts his belief that there are active child sex rings in Washington, D.C. and in Hollywood. He has accused his opponents of being pedophiles on many occasions. A visit to Haiti by the Clintons, he saw as evidence the couple were involved in child trafficking. In another YouTube video, he said that most people employed by the news media and "every A-list actor" in Hollywood were also pedophiles.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich has also supported the unevidenced theory that there were multiple shooters at the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, which he claims the government is covering up. In 2016, Cernovich worked with Chuck Johnson and Wikileaks to offer a bounty for information supporting the conspiracy theory that murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich had been behind a leak of emails from the Democratic National Committee. In April 2017, Cernovich promoted a conspiracy theory that the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack in Syria was a hoax funded by an American financier.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: During the 2021 effort to recall incumbent California governor Gavin Newsom, Cernovich floated a potential run.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich's high prominence in pro-Trump social media circles led him to build a network of sympathetic sources, and break several stories on his blog, which he promoted on Twitter and video streaming sites like Periscope. "The New Yorker's" Andrew Marantz described it as "hardly journalism in its highest form. But it's not exactly fake news, either", comparing it to the "Huffington Post's" citizen journalism tactics. "New York Magazine's" Jesse Singal deemed it gonzo journalism, while "CNN's" Tom Kludt said Cernovich "gained prominence in the Trump-era for legitimate national security related scoops".


title: Mike Cernovich

text: On April 2, 2017, Cernovich broke the news that Susan Rice, Obama's national security advisor, had requested the unmasking of several Trump transition officials who appeared in intelligence reports. When electronic eavesdropping of foreign officials incidentally capture American citizens' names, those names are redacted in intelligence reports, but can be "unmasked" through a legal process. Cernovich publicized his claims in a "Medium.com" article, in tweets, and on Periscope live streams. The hashtag "#SusanRice" became a trending topic on Twitter; he later posted a screenshot showing the tweets received 400,000 impressions. Cernovich claimed that his sources were sympathetic employees of mainstream media outlets, whose outlets were "sitting on this story".


title: Mike Cernovich

text: The next day, "Bloomberg News" published its story on the intelligence unmasking. The White House falsely claimed it was a "smoking gun" that supported its past allegations that Obama had "illegally wiretapped" Trump Tower, though the Susan Rice story was tangential to those claims. Trump himself, conservative commentators Tucker Carlson and David French, White House conselor Kellyanne Conway, and congressmen Rand Paul and Devin Nunes all promoted the story. Donald Trump Jr. claimed Cernovich deserved a Pulitzer Prize. The story was criticized as a distraction from the Russia probe investigating Trump.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: "The New Yorker"'s Ryan Lizza said there were "valid reasons" for concerns about unmasking, but that it was constrained by a legal process and independent review, and noted there was no evidence of misconduct. Experts and bipartisan congresspeople concluded Susan Rice was "doing her job", that there was "absolutely" no smoking gun in the unmasked reports, and that the unmaskings were "neither unusual nor against the law".


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In 2017, Cernovich launched a sustained campaign to influence Trump's to fire his national security advisor, H. R. McMaster, claiming that McMaster was undermining the president's America First agenda. He started the McMasterLeaks.com website to document his and others' criticisms of McMaster.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: On May 8, 2017, Cernovich reported that H. R. McMaster had called White House director of strategic communications Hope Hicks a "high schooler". "New York Magazine's" Olivia Nuzzi later corroborated the quote.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich was interviewed on "Foreign Policy's" podcast in relation to his McMaster campaign, and discussed the tension between journalism and activism.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: On October 12, 2017, Buzzfeed revealed the existence of the "Shitty Media Men" spreadsheet, which had been created a day earlier in the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, and was used by female journalists to crowdsource allegations ranging from "weird lunch dates" to rape and stalking committed by their male coworkers. The list included reporters from "The" "New York Times", "The Wall Street Journal", "The New Yorker", and "Buzzfeed."


title: Mike Cernovich

text: On October 16, Cernovich offered to pay $10,000 for a copy of the list. He obtained it on October 21, claiming the source "was insistent on not accepting anything", and announced his intent to release it; he published two of the names, but held back the rest after consulting his lawyer. "New York Magazine" denounced Cernovich's actions as a weaponization of the allegations in order to "attack the hated liberal media". The list itself later led to a string of investigations, resignations and firings.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In November 2017, Cernovich uncovered sworn affidavits in which former staffers accused Democratic congressman John Conyers of sexual harassment. The documents also revealed that the accusers were paid a settlement by Congress's Office of Compliance in exchange for a confidentiality agreement. Cernovich then gave the documents to BuzzFeed, saying he did not publish them on his own because he thought Democrats would attempt to discredit him. BuzzFeed verified that the documents were real, and published their article on November 20, 2017. The House Ethics Committee launched an investigation; other allegations followed, and Conyers resigned in December 2017.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: "New York Magazine's" Jesse Singal said Cernovich benefited from common conservative sentiments that mainstream journalism is "fake news" and "utterly corrupt", sentiments which blur the line between established news organizations and activists, and lead conservatives to downplay or excuse fake news published by "their side". Singal described conservatives as believing "[people like Cernovich] are on "the right side", and they’re set to overtake those corrupt "dinosaurs" who have controlled the flow of information for far too long".


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In an interview with "Vice News", Cernovich claimed he was filling a "vacuum" created by conservative distrust of mainstream media.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In the same segment, "VICE" noted that only 32% of Americans trusted the press, and interviewed Eugene Yi of the MIT Media Lab, who showed that mainstream journalists had practically no reach among conservative Twitter users.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In 2015, Virginia Giuffre sued Ghislaine Maxwell, alleging that Maxwell sexually trafficked her for Jeffrey Epstein while she was a minor. Maxwell settled the suit


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In January 2017, Cernovich filed a motion to unseal evidence and depositions from Giuffre's lawsuit. He told "Politico" he was "astonished" by the amount of redactions the judge allowed, with some documents "largely or entirely redacted". Alan Dershowitz later filed a similar motion, and the "Miami Herald" filed a third in April 2018. The motions were denied by the trial court, and Cernovich and the "Herald" appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (which includes the "Associated Press") filed an amicus brief to support the appeal. In July 2019, the Court of Appeals ordered the documents unsealed.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In February 2020, Cernovich filed a third-party motion in Roger Stone's criminal case, calling for the release of the jury foreperson's questionnaire answers.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich calls his adversaries "beta males", losers, or "cucks", saying: "to beat a person, you lower his or her social status”. Cernovich admits to using trolling tactics, which he says he uses to build his brand rather than for his own amusement.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In December 2017, Cernovich hosted an "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit, regarded as a failure by several media outlets.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In 2014, Cernovich became a prominent figure of Gamergate, which targeted feminists as part of a nascent culture war in the aftermath of the MeToo movement. He encouraged the doxing of opponents, and wrote about women attacking men with false rape allegations. "Wired Magazine" wrote that Cernovich "gained a kind of leadership over the unruly mob", and that the movement had more to do with identity than with gaming or women.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich hired private investigators to hound Zoë Quinn, a central target of Gamergate, and worked with Eron Gjoni, Quinn's former boyfriend who had written the disparaging blog post about Quinn which incited the harassment campaign. According to O'Toole et al. writing in "Gender Violence", "Cernovich's ongoing strategy, even after Gamergate itself died down, has been to promote conspiracy theories, provide dubious legal advice, and offer a constantly rotating platter of targets." Writer and activist Soraya Chemaly called Gamergate a "breeding ground and practice ground" for the 2016 campaign.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In December 2017, Cernovich published a Medium post and contacted several journalists and news outlets about a joke tweet that comedian and MSNBC contributor Sam Seder had written in 2009. Cernovich claimed that the tweet, which read "Don't care re Polanski, but I hope if my daughter is ever raped it is by an older truly talented man w/a great sense of mise en scene," proved Seder tacitly endorsed Roman Polanski's sexual abuse crime. MSNBC elected to sever ties with Seder by not renewing his contract (due to expire in February 2018) due to the controversial tweet. Seder defended the tweet by pointing out that, taken in context of the current events around the time he posted it, it was a satiric response to a petition urging Polanski's release from detention in Switzerland because of his stature as an artist, and that he had been mocking Polanski's apologists. After news of the termination broke, Cernovich released a video on Twitter video celebrating his triumph. By then, Seder noted that advertisers on "The Majority Report with Sam Seder" podcast were also being contacted and pressured by Cernovich and his followers to cut ties with the show over the tweet. In response, Seder launched a GoFundMe campaign to help maintain funding for the show in the face of potential loss of advertising revenue, and also to produce a three-minute video educating people on Cernovich's tactics. According to Seder, Cernovich's ploy had been retribution for Seder's frequent criticism of then-President Donald Trump as well as Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. Cernovich retorted to CNN that "the left isn't going to stop going through our tweets so we aren't going to stop going through theirs."


title: Mike Cernovich

text: The news of Seder's dismissal prompted an almost immediate backlash. Over 12,000 people signed a petition protesting Seder's termination, arguing that Cernovich had acted in malice and was deliberately mischaracterizing the tweet. "AV Club" wrote that "MSNBC has now fully bought into that smear campaign ... whose openly stated goal is the destruction of news outlets just like it through the use of blatantly manipulative trolling techniques." "Mother Jones" rebuked MSNBC for capitulating "to the demands of a lunatic conservative." "HuffPost" chided that Cernovich was now MSNBC's new "De Facto Ombudsman." MSNBC primetime anchor Chris Hayes tweeted, "The entire culture and our politics are now dominated by people who have weaponized bad faith and shamelessness." There was considerable dissent within MSNBC over Seder's termination. Some employees expressed concerns that his firing would encourage other far-right personalities to launch similar smear campaigns. A senior MSNBC employee characterized the capitulation as "really weak" and "pathetic". MSNBC's management itself was unsettled by the celebratory reaction from the far-right. On December 7, 2017, MSNBC decided to reverse their decision to terminate Seder's employment."


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich acknowledged that "some are saying Seder was making a joke or being sarcastic." However, he maintained that he didn't misrepresent the tweet and that he had simply "reported on what [Seder] said."


title: Mike Cernovich

text: "Columbia Journalism Review" cited the incident as an example of a broader pattern of far-right media personalities using online smear campaigns to get mainstream journalists fired.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: On July 18, 2018, filmmaker Mark Duplass faced swift backlash on Twitter for recommending his "fellow liberals [cross] the aisle" and follow conservative commentator Ben Shapiro on Twitter; filmmaker James Gunn came to Duplass's defense, and Duplass publicly retracted his endorsement, calling it "a disaster on many levels". A day later, Cernovich and conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec unearthed tweets by Gunn in which he joked about pedophilia and rape; Gunn had been a vocal critic of Donald Trump, and the tweets were widely shared among conservatives, and trended nationwide on Twitter. The next day, Gunn issued an apology for the tweets. Disney called the tweets "indefensible", and fired Gunn from "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3." After Gunn's firing, Cernovich also unearthed similar tweets by comedians Michael Ian Black and Patton Oswalt.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Disney's decision to fire Gunn was criticized by fans of the series, Hollywood stars, and several media outlets. An online petition urging Disney to re-hire Gunn received over 400,000 signatures. Fellow "Guardians of the Galaxy" cast members released a statement expressing their "[full] support" for Gunn.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: In March 2019, Gunn was reinstated by Disney as director of the third film. Prior to his rehiring, he had also signed on with Warner Bros. to write and later direct what would eventually become the DC Extended Universe film "The Suicide Squad". In 2022, Gunn was chosen to lead DC Studios, the retooled film division of DC Comics.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich was arrested and charged with rape in 2003. The rape charges were dismissed, but he was ordered to perform community service for misdemeanor battery. His record was later expunged.


title: Mike Cernovich

text: Cernovich married his first wife when he was a law student in 2003. He later said the marriage was "ruined by feminist indoctrination". An attorney for a Silicon Valley firm, his first wife earned millions of dollars from an initial public offering (IPO). She filed for divorce in 2011, and Cernovich received what he has described as a "seven-figure sum" in the settlement. He later married his second wife, Shauna. The couple has three children together.


title: Ian Gomez

text: Ian Braque Gomez (born December 27, 1964) is an American actor known for his comedic TV work, which include series-regular roles as Javier on "Felicity" and Andy on "Cougar Town".


title: Ian Gomez

text: On "The Drew Carey Show" from 1995 to 2004, Gomez played Larry Almada, a co-worker of Drew Carey's character (also named Drew Carey) at Winfred-Louder. He also worked with Carey in 1999 on the show "Whose Line is it Anyway?" From 1998 to 2002, he played Javier Clemente Quintata on the WB show "Felicity".


title: Ian Gomez

text: In 2002, Gomez starred in Alanis Morissette's "Hands Clean" music video. In the same year, he appeared with Jeff Garlin, Ted Danson, Michael York, and Hugh Mellon in two episodes of the HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm", where he played the "bald chef", hired by Larry to cook in the restaurant he owned.


title: Ian Gomez

text: Gomez appeared in ABC's "Jake in Progress" (2005–2006), which starred John Stamos. 2006 saw Gomez appear in the fourth episode of "Lost"s third season, "Every Man for Himself", and as a therapist in the April 2006 episode "Here We Go Again" of "Reba".


title: Ian Gomez

text: Gomez took the part of Andy Torres in the ABC and later TBS comedy "Cougar Town" alongside fellow "The Drew Carey Show" castmate Christa Miller, from 2009 to 2015. In 2016, Gomez and his then-wife, Nia Vardalos, co-presented "The Great American Baking Show", a revival of "The Great Holiday Baking Show".


title: Ian Gomez

text: In 2020, Gomez was cast in the role of Luis Flores in the NBC comedy pilot "Night School" based on the 2018 film and written by Christopher Moynihan. However, NBC ultimately decided not to move forward with the series.


title: Ian Gomez

text: He was married to actress-writer Nia Vardalos of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" fame. He appeared in her films "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", "Connie and Carla", "My Life in Ruins", "I Hate Valentine's Day", and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2". Gomez is of Puerto Rican and Russian Jewish descent, and converted to Greek Orthodoxy upon marrying Vardalos, which is mirrored as a plot element in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". In 2008, the two adopted a daughter. It was announced on July 3, 2018 that Vardalos filed for divorce from Gomez after 23 years of marriage due to irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized in December 2018.


title: Catch wrestling

text: Catch wrestling (originally catch-as-catch-can) is a classical hybrid grappling style and combat sport. It was developed by J. G. Chambers in Britain . It was popularised by wrestlers of travelling funfairs who developed their own submission holds, or "hooks", into their wrestling to increase their effectiveness against their opponents. Catch wrestling derives from various different international styles of wrestling: several English styles (primarily Lancashire, as well as Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling, Devonshire, and Irish collar-and-elbow wrestling). The training of some modern submission wrestlers, professional wrestlers and mixed martial artists is founded in catch wrestling.


title: Catch wrestling

text: Professional wrestling, once a legitimate combat sport, was competitive catch wrestling. The original and historic World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship was created in 1905 to identify the best catch as catch can wrestler in the world, before the belt was retired in 1957 and unified with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Modern day professional wrestling has its origins in catch wrestling exhibitions at carnivals where predetermined ("worked") matches had elements of performing arts introduced (as well as striking and acrobatic maneuvers), turning it into an entertainment spectacle.


title: Catch wrestling

text: Catch-as-catch-can was included in the 1904 Olympic Games, it had new rules and weight categories introduced similar to other amateur wrestling styles, and dangerous moves — including all submission holds — were banned. New rules and regulations were later developed and codified by FILA and amateur catch wrestling became known as freestyle wrestling, which was then considered separate from the dangerous, professional catch style.


title: Catch wrestling

text: Other martial arts with origins in catch wrestling include folkstyle wrestling, Sambo, Luta Livre, shoot-style, shootfighting and mixed martial arts (MMA).


title: Catch wrestling

text: In 1871, John Graham Chambers, of aquatic and pedestrian fame, and sometime editor of "Land and Water", endeavoured to introduce and promote a new system of wrestling at Little Bridge Grounds, West Brompton, which he denominated, "the catch-as-catch-can style". However, the new idea met with little support at the time, and a few years afterward Chambers was induced to adopt the objectionable fashion of allowing the competitors to wrestle on all fours on the ground. This new departure was the forerunner of the total abolition of the sport at that athletic, and within a short period the wrestling, as an item in the programme.


title: Catch wrestling

text: Various promoters of the exercise, notably J. Wannop, of New Cross, attempted to bring the new system prominently before the public, with the view of amalgamating the three English styles viz. the Cumberland and Westmorland, Cornwall and Devon, and Lancashire. The sudden development of the Cumberland and Westmorland Amateur Wrestling Society, brought the new style prominently to the front, and special prizes were given for competition in that class at the society's first annual midsummer gathering at the Paddington Recreation Ground, which was attended by Lord Mayor Whitehead and sheriffs in state.


title: Catch wrestling

text: Wrestling on the "catch-as-catch-can" principle was new to many spectators, but it was generally approved of as a great step in advance of the loose-hold system, which includes struggling on the ground and sundry objectionable tactics, such as catching hold of the legs, twisting arms, dislocating fingers, and other items of attack and defence peculiar to Lancashire wrestling.


title: Catch wrestling

text: When catch wrestling reached the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it became extremely popular with the wrestlers of the carnivals. The carnivals' wrestlers challenged the locals as part of the carnival's "athletic show" and the locals had their chance to win a cash reward if they could defeat the carnival's strongman by a pin or a submission. Eventually, the carnivals' wrestlers began preparing for the worst kind of unarmed assault and aiming to end the wrestling match with any tough local quickly and decisively via submission. A "hook" was a technical submission which could end a match within seconds. As carnival wrestlers travelled, they met with a variety of people, learning and using techniques from various other folk wrestling disciplines, especially Irish collar-and-elbow, many of which were accessible due to a huge influx of immigrants in the United States during this era.


title: Catch wrestling

text: Catch wrestling contests also became immensely popular in Europe involving the likes of the Indian national wrestling champion Great Gama, Imam Baksh Pahalwan, Gulam, Bulgarian world heavyweight champion Dan Kolov, Swiss champion John Lemm, Americans Frank Gotch, Tom Jenkins, Ralph Parcaut, Ad Santel, Ed Lewis, Lou Thesz and Benjamin Roller, Mitsuyo Maeda from Japan, and Georg Hackenschmidt from Estonia.


title: Catch wrestling

text: Wrestling made a return at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, US, but different from previous editions, wrestling was disputed under catch-as-catch-can rules due the popularity of this particular style in the United States. The competition doubled as the United States Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) wrestling championships, which introduced new rules: it was single elimination tournament, with bouts being six minutes in duration plus an extra three minutes for overtime, In the case that no pinfall was registered, a judge would render the final decision. Six weight classes were introduced and all submission holds were banned. In 1912, the Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées (FILA)—current United World Wrestling—was founded in order to better organize Olympic wrestling. In 1921, FILA set the "rules of the game" which regulated and codified a new ruleset derived from catch, the new name chosen was "freestyle wrestling", which appears to have been a translation of the French "lutte libre", which itself is the French translation of catch-as-catch-can. The name was chosen to distance itself from catch wrestling, which had lost reputation due the rise of professional wrestling. In 1922 the AAU followed suit and adopted the new freestyle ruleset while abandoning catch-as-catch-can for their amateur competitions.


title: Catch wrestling

text: By the 1920s, most catch wrestling competitions started to become predetermined professional wrestling. As interest in professional matches started to wane, wrestlers began choreographing some of their matches to make the matches less physically taxing, shorter in duration, with better flow, more entertaining—giving emphasis on readable and more impressive moves—and with bigger focus on the personal charisma of the wrestlers, with the introduction of "gimmicks" (in-ring personas) and dramatic storylines surrounding the matches. The "Gold Dust Trio", formed by heavyweight champion Ed "Strangler" Lewis, his manager Billy Sandow and his fellow wrestler Joseph "Toots" Mondt, are credited with pivoting professional wrestling into a pseudo-competitive exhibition, by introducing the modern form of choreographed action-packed wrestling which they dubbed "slam-bang Western-style wrestling", and a new business model where the trio would promote large shows around the country and maintain wrestlers under long-term contracts, leading to the success of the partnership. Soon other promoters followed suit and the industry was fundamentally changed.


title: Catch wrestling

text: The English term "catch as catch can" is generally understood to mean "catch (a hold) anywhere you can". As this implies, the rules of catch wrestling were more open than the earlier folk styles it was based on, as well as its French Greco-Roman counterpart, which did not allow holds below the waist. Catch wrestlers can win a match by either submission or pin, and most matches are contested as the best two of three falls, with a maximum length of an hour. Often, but not always, the chokehold was barred. Other fouls like fish-hooking and eye-gouging (which were called "rips" or "ripping") were always forbidden.


title: Catch wrestling

text: Pins were the predominant way to win, to the point some matches didn't even include submissions as an additional way; submission holds (also called "punishment holds") were instead exclusively for control and to force the opponent into a pin under the threat of pain and injury. According to Tommy Heyes, student of Billy Riley, there are no registers of a single classical catch wrestler winning by submission. This is the reason why leglocks and neck cranks were emphasized as valid techniques, as while they are difficult to use as finishing moves without a good base, they can be used to force movement. Also, just as today "tapping out" signifies a concession as does shouting out "Uncle!", back in the heyday of catch wrestling rolling to one's back could also signify defeat, as it would mean a pin. Catch-as-catch-can toeholds typically only exert force if the opponent sits still; therefore, Frank Gotch won many matches by forcing his opponent to roll over onto their back with the threat of his signature toehold.


title: Catch wrestling

text: A "hook" can be defined as an undefined move that stretches, spreads, twists, or compresses any joint or limb. Therefore, another name for a catch wrestler was a "hooker," with the similar term "shooter" being relegated to specially skilled hookers.


title: Catch wrestling

text: Catch wrestling techniques may include, but are not limited to: the arm bar, Japanese arm bar, straight arm bar, hammerlock, bar hammerlock, wrist lock, top wrist lock, double wrist lock (this hold is also known as the Kimura in MMA, or the reverse Ude-Garami in judo), coil lock (this hold is also known as an Omoplata in MMA), head scissors, body scissors, chest lock, abdominal lock, abdominal stretch, leg lock, knee bar, ankle lock, heel hook, toe hold, half Nelson, and full Nelson.


title: Catch wrestling

text: The rules of catch wrestling would change from venue to venue. Matches contested with side-bets at the coal mines or logging camps favoured submission wins where there was absolutely no doubt as to who the winner was. Meanwhile, professionally booked matches and amateur contests favoured pins that catered to the broader and more gentle paying fan-base. The impact of catch wrestling on modern-day amateur wrestling is also well established. In the film "Catch: The Hold Not Taken", US Olympic gold medalist Dan Gable talks of how when he learned to wrestle as an amateur the style was known locally, in Waterloo, Iowa, as catch-as-catch-can. The wrestling tradition of Iowa is rooted in catch wrestling as Farmer Burns and his student Frank Gotch are known as the grandfathers of wrestling in Iowa.


title: Catch wrestling

text: A notable match in 1914 was between two prime representatives of their respective crafts: the German-American catch wrestler Ad Santel was the world light heavyweight champion in catch wrestling, while Tokugoro Ito, a fifth-degree black belt in judo, claimed to be the world judo champion. Santel defeated Ito and proclaimed himself world judo champion.


title: Catch wrestling

text: The response from Jigoro Kano's Kodokan was swift and came in the form of another challenger, fourth-degree black belt Daisuke Sakai. Santel, however, still defeated the Kodokan Judo representative. The Kodokan tried to stop the hooker by sending men like fifth-degree black belt Reijiro Nagata (who Santel defeated by TKO). Santel also drew with fifth-degree black belt Hikoo Shoji. The challenge matches stopped after Santel gave up on the claim of being the world judo champion in 1921 in order to pursue a career in full-time professional wrestling. Although Tokugoro Ito avenged his loss to Santel with a choke, official Kodokan representatives proved unable to imitate Ito's success. Just as Ito was the only Japanese judoka to overcome Santel, Santel was the only Western catch-wrestler on record as having a win over Ito, who also regularly challenged other grappling styles.


title: Catch wrestling

text: Karl Gotch was a catch wrestler and a student of Billy Riley's "Snake Pit" training school in the Aspull area of Wigan, then in Lancashire. Gotch taught catch wrestling to Japanese professional wrestlers in the 1970s including Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Hiro Matsuda, Osamu Kido, Satoru Sayama (Tiger Mask) and Yoshiaki Fujiwara. Starting from 1976, one of these professional wrestlers, Inoki, hosted a series of mixed martial arts bouts against the champions of other disciplines, including a legitimate mixed-rules match against boxer Muhammad Ali. This resulted in unprecedented popularity of the clash-of-styles bouts in Japan. His matches showcased catch wrestling moves like the sleeper hold, cross arm breaker, seated armbar, Indian deathlock and keylock.


title: Catch wrestling

text: Gotch's students formed the original Universal Wrestling Federation (Japan) in 1984 which gave rise to shoot-style matches. The UWF movement was led by catch wrestlers and gave rise to the mixed martial arts boom in Japan. Wigan stand-out Billy Robinson soon thereafter began training MMA veteran Kazushi Sakuraba. Lou Thesz trained MMA veteran Kiyoshi Tamura. Catch wrestling forms the base of Japan's martial art of shoot wrestling. Japanese professional wrestling and a majority of the Japanese fighters from Pancrase, Shooto and the now defunct RINGS bear links to catch wrestling. Randy Couture, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kamal Shalorus, Masakatsu Funaki, Takanori Gomi, Shinya Aoki and Josh Barnett, among other mixed martial artists, study catch wrestling as their primary submission style.


title: Catch wrestling

text: The term "no holds barred" was used originally to describe the wrestling method prevalent in catch wrestling tournaments during the late 19th century wherein no wrestling holds were banned from the competition, regardless of how dangerous they might be. The term was later applied to mixed martial arts matches, especially at the advent of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.


title: Terah

text: Terah or Terach ( "Teraḥ") is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis. He is listed as the son of Nahor and father of the patriarch Abraham. As such, he is a descendant of Shem's son Arpachshad. Terah is mentioned in Genesis 11:26–27, Book of Joshua 24:2, and 1 Chronicles 1:17–27 of the Hebrew Bible and Luke 3:34–36 in the New Testament.


title: Terah

text: Terah is mentioned in Genesis 11:26–27, Joshua 24:2, and 1 Chronicles 1:17–27 of the Hebrew Bible and Luke 3:34–36 in the New Testament. Terah is mentioned in Genesis 11:26–32 as a son of Nahor, the son of Serug, descendants of Shem. He is said to have had three sons: Abram (better known by his later name Abraham), Haran, and Nahor II. The family lived in Ur of the Chaldees. One of his grandchildren was Lot, whose father, Haran, had died at Ur.


title: Terah

text: In the Book of Joshua, in his final speech to the Israelite leaders assembled at Shechem, Joshua recounts the history of God's formation of the Israelite nation, beginning with "Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, [who] lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods." Terah is also mentioned in a biblical genealogy given in 1 Chronicles.


title: Terah

text: In the Genesis narrative, Terah took his family and left Ur to move to the land of Canaan. Terah set out for Canaan but stopped in the city of Haran along the way, where he died.


title: Terah

text: Genesis 11:26 states that Terah lived 70 years, "and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran". The Talmud says that Abraham was 52 years old at year 2000 AM (Anno Mundi), which means that he was born in the year 1948 AM.


title: Terah

text: According to rabbinic literature Terah was a wicked ("Numbers Rabbah" 19:1; 19:33), idolatrous priest (Midrash HaGadol on Genesis 11:28) who manufactured idols ("Eliyahu Rabbah" 6, and "Eliyahu Zuta" 25). Abram, in opposition to his father's idol shop, smashed his father's idols and chased customers away. Terah then brought his unruly son before Nimrod, who threw him into a fiery furnace, yet Abram miraculously escaped (Genesis Rabba 38:13). The Zohar says that when God saved Abram from the furnace, Terah repented (Zohar Genesis 1:77b) and Rabbi Abba B. Kahana said that God assured Abram that his father Terah had a portion in the "World to Come" (Genesis Rabbah 30:4; 30:12).


title: Terah

text: Terah is identified as the person who arranged and led the family to embark on a mysterious journey to Canaan. It is shrouded in mystery to Jewish scholars as to why Terah began the journey and as to why the journey ended prematurely. It is suggested that he was a man in search of a greater truth that could possibly be found in the familiar land of Canaan, and that it was Abram who picked up the torch to continue his father's quest, that Terah himself was unable to achieve.


title: Terah

text: In Jewish tradition, when Terah died at age 205, Abraham (70 years younger) was already 135 years old. Abram thus left Haran at age 75, well before Terah died. The Torah, however, relates Terah's death in Haran before Abram continues the journey to Canaan as an expression that he was not remiss in the Mitzvah of honoring a parent by leaving his aging father behind. The significance of Terah not reaching Canaan was a reflection of his character, a man who was unable to go "all the way". Although on a journey in the right direction, Terah fell short at arriving to the divine destination—in contrast to Abram, who did follow through and achieved the divine goal, and was not bound by his father's idolatrous past. Abram's following God's command to leave his father, thus absolved him from the mitzvah of honoring parents, and as Abraham, he would go on to create a new lineage distinct from his ancestors.


title: Terah

text: In the Christian tradition Abram left Haran after Terah died. The Christian views of the time of Terah come from a passage in the New Testament at Acts 7:2–4 where Stephen said some things that contrast with Jewish rabbinical views. He said that God appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia, and directed him to leave the Chaldeans—whereas most rabbinical commentators see Terah as being the one who directed the family to leave Ur Kasdim from Genesis 11:31: "Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram's wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran's child) and left Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan." Stephen asserts that Abram left Haran after Terah died.


title: Terah

text: According to Ibn Kathir, a scholar of Sunni Islam, Abraham's father is believed to have been a disbelieving man, due to his refusal to listen to the constant advice of his son. The earliest story involving Abraham in the Quran is his discussion with his "ab" (, 'father'. The name given for this man in is Āzar ()


title: Terah

text: As a father, Azar required his son's most sincere advice. Ibrahim, after receiving his first revelations from God, invited his father to the way of Islam. Abraham explained to him the faults of idolatry, and why he was wrong to worship objects which could neither hear nor see. From the Quran 74/6, "And [mention, O Muhammad], when Abraham said to his "aḇ" Azar: Do you take idols as deities? Indeed, I see you and your people to be in manifest error."


title: Terah

text: Abraham told his father that he had indeed received revelations from God, knowledge which his father did not possess, and told him that belief in God would grant him immense rewards in both this life and the hereafter. Abraham concluded his preaching by warning Azar of the grave punishment he would face if he did not mend his ways. When Abraham offered his father the guidance and advice of God, he rejected it, and threatened to stone him to death. Abraham prayed for his father to be forgiven by God, and although he continued to seek forgiveness, it was only because of a promise that he had made earlier to him. When it became clear that Azar's unrelenting hatred towards monotheism would never be fought, Abraham dissociated himself from him.


title: Terah

text: The Quran states that the people of Abraham were idolaters. When Abraham was a young boy, he decided to finally teach his community a lesson. He said to himself that he had a plan for their idols, whilst they would be gone away. The Qur'an goes on to narrate that Abraham subsequently broke the idols, all except the largest, which he kept intact. When the people returned, they began questioning each other over the wreckage, until some of the people remembered that the youth, Abraham, had spoken of the idols earlier. When Abraham arrived, the people immediately began to question him, asking him whether he had anything to do with the broken idols. Abraham then, in a clever taunt, asked the people as to why they do not ask the largest of the idols, which, they believed, could indeed hear and speak. The people of Abraham were then confounded with shame, and admitted that the idols were incapable of anything.


title: Terah

text: After the incident of the idol wreckage, the people of Abraham, while having admitted their fault, are said to have ignored Abraham's warning and instead retaliated by throwing him into a fire and exclaiming "protect your gods". Although the natural nature of fire is one of intense heat, God commanded the flame to be cool and peaceful for Abraham. Abraham, as a result, remained unhurt both physically and spiritually, having survived the fire of persecution. The people continued to taunt and persecute him, but to no avail, as the Qur'an says that it was they "that lost most". This means that Abraham came out unharmed and outstanded people.