text: In 2006, the US Courts of Appeals ruled that there was a case to answer bringing the area of a company's social responsibilities squarely into the financial arena. This area of concern is widening to include such considerations as the impact on local communities, the health and welfare of employees and a more thorough examination of a company's supply chain.


title: Environmental, social, and corporate governance

text: Until fairly recently, caveat emptor ("buyer beware") was the governing principle of commerce and trading. In recent times however there has been an increased assumption that the consumer has a right to a degree of protection and the vast growth in damages litigation has meant that consumer protection is a central consideration for those seeking to limit a company's risk and those examining a company's credentials with an eye to investing. The collapse of the US subprime mortgage market initiated a growing movement against predatory lending has also become an important area of concern.


text: Animal welfare concerns involve testing products or ingredients on animals, breeding for testing, exhibiting animals, or factory farms.


text: Out of the 435 ESG shareholder proposals that were recorded by the non-profit organization As You Sow in 2021, 22 were classified as conservative by the organization. The National Center for Public Policy Research has asked 7 companies to prepare a report on the BRT Statement of the Purpose of a Corporation. Other conservative proposals include reports on charitable contributions and board nominee ideological diversity.


text: Corporate governance is the structures and processes that direct and control companies. It makes companies more accountable and transparent to investors and gives them the tools to respond to stakeholder concerns.


text: ESG Corporate Governance from the Board of Director's view, Governance Lens watching over Corporate Behavior of the CEO, C-Suite, and employees at large includes measuring the Business ethics, anti-competitive practices, corruption, tax and providing accounting transparency for stakeholders.


text: MSCI puts in the Governance side of the bucket corporate behavior practices and governance of board diversity, executive pay, ownership, and control, and accounting that the board of directors have to oversee on behalf of stakeholders. Other concerns include reporting and transparency, business ethics, board oversight, CEO / board chair split, shareholder right to nominate board candidates, stock buybacks, and dark money given to influence elections.


text: The system of internal procedures and controls that makes up the management structure of a company is in the valuation of that company's equity. Attention has been focused in recent years on the balance of power between the CEO and the board of directors and specifically the differences between the European model and the US model—in the US studies have found that 80% of companies have a CEO who is also the chairman of the board, in the UK and the European model it was found that 90% of the largest companies split the roles of CEO and chairman.


text: In the United States Moskowitz's list of the "Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For" has become not only an important tool for employees but companies are beginning to compete keenly for a place on the list, as not only does it help to recruit the best workforce, it appears to have a noticeable impact on company values. Employee relations relate also to the representation of co-workers in the decision-making of companies, and the ability to participate in a union.


text: Companies are now being asked to list the percentage levels of bonus payments and the levels of remuneration of the highest paid executives are coming under close scrutiny from stock holders and equity investors alike.


text: Besides executive compensation, equitable pay of other employees is a consideration in the governance of an organization. This includes pay equity for employees of all genders. Pay equity audits and the results of those audits may be required by various regulations and, in some cases, made available to the public for review. Hermann J. Stern differentiates four methods to include ESG performance in employee compensation:


text: The three domains of social, environmental and corporate governance are intimately linked to the concept of responsible investment (RI). RI began as a niche investment area, serving the needs of those who wished to invest but wanted to do so within ethically defined parameters. In recent years it has become a much larger proportion of the investment market. By June 2020, flows into U.S. sustainable funds reached $20.9 billion, nearly matching 2019's flows of $21.4 billion. By the end of 2020, flows into U.S. sustainable funds surpassed $51 billion. Globally, sustainable funds held $1.65 trillion in assets at the end of 2020.


text: One of the defining marks of the modern investment market is the divergence in the relationship between the firm and its equity investors. Institutional investors have become the key owners of stock—rising from 35% in 1981 to 58% in 2002 in the US and from 42% in 1963 to 84.7% in 2004 in the UK and institutions tend to work on a long-term investment strategy. Insurance companies, Mutual Funds and Pension Funds with long-term payout obligations are much more interested in the long term sustainability of their investments than the individual investor looking for short-term gain. Where a Pension Fund is subject to ERISA, there are legal limitations on the extent to which investment decisions can be based on factors other than maximizing plan participants' economic returns.


text: Based on the belief that addressing ESG issues will protect and enhance portfolio returns, responsible investment is rapidly becoming a mainstream concern within the institutional industry. By late 2016, over a third of institutional investors (commonly referred to as LPs) based in Europe and Asia-Pacific said that ESG considerations played a major or primary role in refusing to commit to a private equity fund, while the same is true for a fifth of North American LPs. In reaction to investor interest in ESG, private equity and other industry trade associations have developed a number of ESG best practices, including a due diligence questionnaire for private fund managers and other asset managers to use before investing in a portfolio company.


text: There was a clear acceleration of the institutional shift towards ESG-informed investments in the second semester of 2019. The notion of "SDG Driven Investment" gained further ground amongst pension funds, SWFs and asset managers in the second semester of 2019, notably at the World Pensions Council G7 Pensions Roundtable held in Biarritz, 26 August 2019, and the Business Roundtable held in Washington, DC, on 19 August 2019.


text: Networks of institutional investors committed to curbing climate change have emerged, where in institutional investors are agreeing to hold themselves accountable to climate action targets. One such example is the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, looking to deliver significant progress to net zero by 2030. Moreover, the networks have collaborated with investment frameworks to "evaluate" corporate progress to net zero, with one such framework being the Climate Action 100+, a series of criterion used to evaluate the companies emitting the largest quantity of GHG.


text: The Principles for Responsible Investment Initiative (PRI) was established in 2005 by the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative and the UN Global Compact as a framework for improving the analysis of ESG issues in the investment process and to aid companies in the exercise of responsible ownership practices. As of April 2019 there are over 2,350 PRI Signatories.


text: The Equator Principles is a risk management framework, adopted by financial institutions, for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risk in project finance. It is primarily intended to provide a minimum standard for due diligence to support responsible risk decision-making. As of October 2019, 97 adopting financial institutions in 37 countries had officially adopted the Equator Principles, the majority of international Project Finance debt in emerging and developed markets. Equator Principles Financial Institutions (EPFIs) commit to not provide loans to projects where the borrower will not or is unable to comply with their respective social and environmental policies and procedures.


text: The Equator Principles, formally launched in Washington DC on 4 June 2003, were based on existing environmental and social policy frameworks established by the International Finance Corporation. These standards have subsequently been periodically updated into what is commonly known as the International Finance Corporation Performance Standards on social and environmental sustainability and on the World Bank Group Environmental, Health, and Safety Guidelines.


text: Asset managers and other financial institutions increasingly rely on ESG ratings agencies to assess, measure and compare companies' ESG performance. More recently, publications like Newsweek have used ESG data provided by market research companies like Statista to rate the most responsible organizations in a country.


text: Data providers such as ESG Analytics have applied artificial intelligence to rate companies and their commitment to ESG. Each rating agency uses its own set of metrics to measure the level of ESG compliance and there is, at present, no industry-wide set of common standards.


text: In Latin America, it is the Latin American Quality Institute with headquarters in Panama and operations in 19 countries that leads the movement with more than 10,000 certifications issued.


text: The first ten years of the 21st century has seen growth in the ESG defined investment market. Not only do most of the world's big banks have departments and divisions exclusively addressing Responsible Investment but boutique firms specialising in advising and consulting on environmental, social, and governance related investments are proliferating. One of the major aspects of the ESG side of the insurance market which leads to this tendency to proliferation is the essentially subjective nature of the information on which investment selection can be made. By definition ESG data is qualitative; it is non-financial and not readily quantifiable in monetary terms. The investment market has long dealt with these intangibles—such variables as goodwill have been widely accepted as contributing to a company's value. But the ESG intangibles are not only highly subjective they are also particularly difficult to quantify and more importantly verify. A lack of clear standards and transparent monitoring has led to fears that ESG avowals mainly serve purposes of greenwashing and other company public relations objectives, while distracting from more substantive initiatives to improve environment and society.


text: One of the major issues in the ESG area is disclosure. Environmental risks created by business activities have actual or potential negative impact on air, land, water, ecosystems, and human health. The information on which an investor makes their decisions on a financial level is fairly simply gathered. The company's accounts can be examined, and although the accounting practices of corporate business are coming increasingly into disrepute after a spate of recent financial scandals, the figures are for the most part externally verifiable. With ESG considerations, the practice has been for the company under examination to provide its own figures and disclosures. These have seldom been externally verified and the lack of universal standards and regulation in the areas of environmental and social practice mean that the measurement of such statistics is subjective to say the least.


text: One of the solutions put forward to the inherent subjectivity of ESG data is the provision of universally accepted standards for the measurement of ESG factors. Such organizations as the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) provide highly researched and widely accepted standards for many of the areas covered. Some investment consultancies, such as Probus-Sigma have created methodologies for calculating the ratings for an ESG based Ratings Index that is both based on ISO standards and externally verified, but the formalization of the acceptance of such standards as the basis for calculating and verifying ESG disclosures is by no means universal.


text: The corporate governance side of the matter has received rather more in the way of regulation and standardization as there is a longer history of regulation in this area. In 1992 the London Stock Exchange and the Financial Reporting Commission set up the Cadbury Commission to investigate the series of governance failures that had plagued the City of London such as the bankruptcies of BCCI, Polly Peck, and Robert Maxwell's Mirror Group. The conclusions that the commission reached were compiled in 2003 into the "Combined Code on Corporate Governance" which has been widely accepted (if patchily applied) by the financial world as a benchmark for good governance practices.


text: In the interview for Yahoo! Finance Francis Menassa (JAR Capital) says, that "the EU's 2014 Non-Financial Reporting Directive will apply to every country on a national level to implement and requires large companies to disclose non-financial and diversity information. This also includes providing information on how they operate and manage social and environmental challenges. The aim is to help investors, consumers, policy makers, and other stakeholders to evaluate the non-financial performance of large companies. Ultimately, the Directive encourages European companies to develop a responsible approach to business".


text: One of the key areas of concern in the discussion as to the reliability of ESG disclosures is the establishment of credible ratings for companies as to ESG performance. The world's financial markets have all leapt to provide ESG relevant ratings indexes, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, the FTSE4Good Index (which is co-owned by the London Stock Exchange and Financial Times), Bloomberg ESG data, the MSCI ESG Indices and the GRESB benchmarks


text: European regulators have introduced concrete rules to deal with the problem of greenwashing. These include a package of legislative measures arising from the European Commission’s Action Plan on Sustainable Finance.


text: The Kentucky Bankers Association of 150 banks doing business in Kentucky is suing Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron over his investigating banks’ ESG practices, such as commitments to combat climate change. In November 2022, the Kentucky Bankers Association sued Cameron in Franklin Circuit Court; Cameron had the case removed to the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky before Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove, for whom Cameron was previously a law clerk. The association said Cameron has displayed "amazing and disturbing broad overreach" by overstepping his legal authority, and did not have authority to demand detailed information from banks as part of an investigation into their environmental lending practices, which it said was a big government intrusion on private businesses that could create "an ongoing state surveillance system."


text: Under ESG reporting, organizations are required to present data from financial and non-financial sources that shows they are meeting the standards of agencies such as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, the Global Reporting Initiative, and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. Data must also be made available to rating agencies and shareholders.


text: According to a 2021 study done by the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, which looked at over 1,000 studies, "studies use different scores for different companies by different data providers."


text: Research shows that such intangible assets comprise an increasing percentage of future enterprise value. While there are many ways to think of intangible asset metrics, these three central factors together, ESG, comprise a label that has been adopted throughout the United States financial industry. They are used for a myriad of specific purposes with the ultimate objective of measuring elements related to sustainability and societal impact of a company or business. MSCI, a global ESG rating agency uses the term from investment perspective and defines ESG Investing as the consideration of environmental, social, and governance factors alongside financial factors in the investment decision-making process. Likewise, S&P highlights that through ESG investing, market participants consider in their decision-making the ways in which environmental, social, and governance risks and opportunities can have material impacts on companies' performance. Investors who use ESG in their decision-making are able to invest sustainably while maintaining the same level of financial returns as they would with a standard investment approach.


text: A study published by the European Securities and Markets Authority has also found that "ESG generally improves returns and cuts client costs over time". Analysis over a five-year period showed stock funds weighted towards ESG scores generally performed higher: an increase in annual average return of 1.59% in European markets, 1.02% in Asia-Pacific markets, and 0.13-0.17% in North American and global markets.


title: Pathos

text: Pathos (, ; plural: "pathea" or "pathê"; , for "suffering" or "experience") appeals to the emotions and ideals of the audience and elicits feelings that already reside in them. Pathos is a term used most often in rhetoric (in which it is considered one of the three modes of persuasion, alongside ethos and logos), as well as in literature, film and other narrative art.


title: Pathos

text: Pathos tends to use "loaded" words that will get some sort of reaction. Examples could include "victim," in a number of different contexts. In certain situations, pathos may be described as a "guilt trip" based on the speaker trying to make someone in the audience or the entire audience feel guilty about something. An example would be "Well, you don't "have" to visit me, but I just really miss you and haven't seen you in so long."


title: Pathos

text: In Stoicism "pathos" refers to "complaints of the soul". Succumbing to pathos is an internal event (i.e., in one's soul) that consists in an erroneous response to impressions external to it. This view of pathos, and the accompanying view that all pathos is to be extirpated (in order to achieve the state of "apatheia"), are related by Stoics to a specific picture of the nature of the soul, of psychological functioning, and of human action. A key feature of that picture is that succumbing to pathos is an error of reason – an intellectual mistake.


title: Pathos

text: Epicureanism interpreted and placed "pathos" in much more colloquial means and situations, placing it in pleasure, and studying it in almost every facet in regards to pleasure, analyzing emotional specificity that an individual may feel or may need to undergo to appreciate said pathos.


title: Pathos

text: In "Rhetoric", Aristotle identifies three artistic modes of persuasion, one of which is "awakening emotion (pathos) in the audience so as to induce them to make the judgment desired." In the first chapter, he includes the way in which "men change their opinion in regard to their judgment. As such, emotions have specific causes and effects" (Book 2.1.2–3). Aristotle identifies pathos as one of the three essential modes of proof by his statement that "to understand the emotions—that is, to name them and describe them, to know their causes and the way in which they are excited (1356a24–1356a25). Aristotle posits that, alongside pathos, the speaker must also deploy good ethos in order to establish credibility (Book 2.1.5–9).


title: Pathos

text: Aristotle details what individual emotions are useful to a speaker (Book 2.2.27). In doing so, Aristotle focused on whom, toward whom, and why, stating that "[i]t is not enough to know one or even two of these points; unless we know all three, we shall be unable to arouse anger in anyone. The same is true of the other emotions." He also arranges the emotions with one another so that they may counteract one another. For example, one would pair sadness with happiness (Book 2.1.9).


title: Pathos

text: With this understanding, Aristotle argues for the rhetor to understand the entire situation of goals and audiences to decide which specific emotion the speaker would exhibit or call upon in order to persuade the audience. Aristotle's theory of pathos has three main foci: the frame of mind the audience is in, the variation of emotion between people, and the influence the rhetor has on the emotions of the audience. Aristotle classifies the third of this trio as the ultimate goal of pathos. Similarly, Aristotle outlines the individual importance of persuasive emotions, as well as the combined effectiveness of these emotions on the audience. Antoine Braet did a re-examination of Aristotle's text and in this he examined the speaker's goal of the effect on the audience. Braet explains there are three perspectives of every emotion that a speaker is trying to arouse from the audience: the audience's condition, who the audience is feeling these emotions for, and the motive. Moreover, Aristotle pointedly discusses pleasure and pain in relation to the reactions these two emotions cause in an audience member. According to Aristotle, emotions vary from person to person. Therefore, he stresses the importance of understanding specific social situations in order to successfully utilize pathos as a mode of persuasion.


title: Pathos

text: Aristotle identifies the introduction and the conclusion as the two most important places for an emotional appeal in any persuasive argument.


title: Pathos

text: Scholars have discussed the different interpretations of Aristotle's views of rhetoric and his philosophy. Some believe that Aristotle may not have even been the inventor of his famous persuasion methods. In the second chapter of "Rhetoric", Aristotle's view on pathos changes from the use in discourse to the understanding of emotions and their effects. William Fortenbaugh pointed out that for the Sophist Gorgias, "Being overcome with emotion is analogous to rape." Aristotle opposed this view and created a systematic approach to pathos. Fortenbaugh argues that Aristotle's systematic approach to emotional appeals "depends upon correctly understanding the nature of individual emotions, upon knowing the conditions favorable to, the objects of, and the grounds for individual emotions".


title: Pathos

text: Modern philosophers were typically more skeptical of the use of emotions in communication, with political theorists such as John Locke hoping to extract emotion from reasoned communication entirely. George Campbell presents another view unlike the common systematic approach of Aristotle. Campbell explored whether appeals to emotion or passions would be "an unfair method of persuasion," identifying seven circumstances to judge emotions: probability, plausibility, importance, proximity in time, connection of place, relations to the persons concerned, and interest in the consequences.


title: Pathos

text: The 84 BC "Rhetorica ad Herennium" book of an unknown author theorizes that the conclusion is the most important place in a persuasive argument to consider emotions such as mercy or hatred, depending on the nature of the persuasion. The "appeal to pity", as it is classified in "Rhetorica ad Herennium", is a means to conclude by reiterating the major premise of the work and tying while incorporating an emotional sentiment. The author suggests ways in which to appeal to the pity of the audience: "We shall stir pity in our hearers by recalling vicissitudes of future; by comparing the prosperity we once enjoyed with our present adversity; by entreating those whose pity we seek to win, and by submitting ourselves to their mercy." Additionally, the text impresses the importance of invoking kindness, humanity and sympathy upon the hearer. Finally, the author suggests that the appeal to pity be brief for "nothing dries more quickly than a tear."


title: Pathos

text: The concept of emotional appeal existed in rhetoric long before Aristotle's "Rhetoric". George A. Kennedy, a well-respected, modern-day scholar, identifies the appeal to emotions in the newly formed democratic court system before 400 BC in his book, "The Art of Persuasion in Greece". Gorgias, a Sophist who preceded Aristotle, was interested in the orator's emotional appeal as well. Gorgias believed the orator was able to capture and lead the audience in any direction they pleased through the use of emotional appeal. In the "Encomium of Helen", Gorgias states that a soul can feel a particular sentiment on account of words such as sorrow and pity. Certain words act as "bringers-on of pleasure and takers-off of pain. Furthermore, Gorgias equates emotional persuasion to the sensation of being overtaken by a drug: "[f]or just as different drug draw off different humors from the body, and some put an end to disease and other to life, so too of discourses: some give pain, others delight, others terrify, others rouse the hearers to courage, and yet others by a certain vile persuasion drug and trick to soul."


title: Pathos

text: Plato also discussed emotional appeal in rhetoric. Plato preceded Aristotle and therefore laid the groundwork, as did other Sophists, for Aristotle to theorize the concept of pathos. In his dialogue "Gorgias", Plato discusses pleasure versus pain in the realm of pathos though in a (probably fictional) conversation between Gorgias and Socrates. The dialogue between several ancient rhetors that Plato created centers around the value of rhetoric, and the men incorporate aspects of pathos in their responses. Gorgias discredits pathos and instead promotes the use of ethos in persuasion. In another of Plato's texts, "Phaedrus", his discussion of emotions is more pointed; however, he still does not outline exactly how emotions manipulate an audience.<ref name="Bedford/ St. Martin's"></ref> Plato discusses the danger of emotions in oratory. He argues that emotional appeal in rhetoric should be used as the means to an end and not the point of the discussion.


title: Pathos

text: George Campbell, a contributor to the Scottish Enlightenment, was one of the first rhetoricians to incorporate scientific evidence into his theory of emotional appeal. Campbell relied heavily on a book written by physician David Hartley, entitled "Observations on Man". The book synthesized emotions and neurology and introduced the concept that action is a result of impression. Hartley determined that emotions drive people to react to appeals based on circumstance but also passions made up of cognitive impulses. Campbell argues that belief and persuasion depend heavily on the force of an emotional appeal. Furthermore, Campbell introduced the importance of the audience's imagination and will on emotional persuasion that is equally as important as basic understanding of an argument. Campbell, by drawing on the theories of rhetoricians before him, drew up a contemporary view of pathos that incorporates the psychological aspect of emotional appeal.


title: Pathos

text: Pathos has its hand in politics as well, primarily in speech and how to persuade the audience. Mshvenieradze states that "Pathos is directly linked with an audience. Audience is a collective subject of speakers on which an orator tries to impact by own argumentation." Similarly to how Aristotle discusses how to effectively utilize pathos in rhetoric, the way in which one appeals to the reader is similar in appealing to an audience of voters. In the case of politics and politicians, it is primarily more in argumentative writing and speaking. In Book II of Aristotle's writing's in "Rhetoric," in essence knowing people's emotions helps to enable one to act with words versus writing alone, to earn another's credibility and faith.


title: Pathos

text: As Aristotle's teachings expanded, many other groups of thinkers would go on to adopt different variations of political usage with the elements of pathos involved, which includes groups such as the Epicureans and Stoics.


title: Pathos

text: The contemporary landscape for advertising is highly competitive due to the sheer amount of marketing done by companies. Pathos has become a popular tool to draw consumers in as it targets their emotional side. Studies show that emotion influences people's information processing and decision-making, making pathos a perfect tool for persuading consumers to buy goods and services. In this digital age, "designers must go beyond aesthetics and industrial feasibility to integrate the aspect of 'emotional awareness'". Companies today contain current culture references in their advertisement and oftentimes strive to make the audience feel involved. In other words, it is not enough to have a pleasant looking advertisement; corporations may have to use additional design methods to persuade and gain consumers to buy their products. For example, this type of advertising is exemplified in large food brands such as Presidents Choice's "Eat Together" campaign (2017), and Coca-Cola's "Open-happiness" campaign (2009). One of the most well known examples of pathos in advertising is the SPCA commercials with pictures of stray dogs with sad music.


title: Pathos

text: Pathos can also be also used in credited medical journals, research and other academic pieces of writing. The goal is to appeal to the readers' emotion while maintaining the necessary requirements of the medical discourse community. Authors may do so, by using certain vocabulary to elicit an emotional response from the audience. “God-terms” are often used as a rhetorical technique. It is imperative that authors still preserve the standard of writing within the medical community by focusing on factual and scientific information without use of personal opinion.


title: Pathos

text: It can be argued that most of artwork falls under the realm of pathos. Throughout history artist have used pathos within their work by utilizing colors, shape, and texture of the art work to draw out feelings within their audience. Political cartoons are but one example of artist using pathos to persuade or bring to light issues within the world centering around the government. Most times, the designs are blown out of proportion and are greatly exaggerated, but this adds to the raw feeling the artist tries to evoke within the viewer.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: The siege of Vienna, in 1529, was the first attempt by the Ottoman Empire to capture the capital city of Vienna, Austria, Holy Roman Empire. Suleiman the Magnificent, sultan of the Ottomans, attacked the city with over 100,000 men, while the defenders, led by Niklas Graf Salm, numbered no more than 21,000. Nevertheless, Vienna was able to survive the siege, which ultimately lasted just over two weeks, from 27 September to 15 October, 1529.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: The siege came in the aftermath of the 1526 Battle of Mohács, which had resulted in the death of Louis II, King of Hungary, and the descent of the kingdom into civil war. Following Louis' death, rival factions within Hungary selected two successors: Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria, supported by the House of Habsburg, and John Zápolya. Zápolya would eventually seek aid from, and become a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, after Ferdinand began to take control of western Hungary, including the city of Buda.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: The Ottoman attack on Vienna was part of the empire's intervention into the Hungarian conflict, and in the short term sought to secure Zápolya's position. Historians offer conflicting interpretations of the Ottoman's long-term goals, including the motivations behind the choice of Vienna as the campaign's immediate target. Some modern historians suggest that Suleiman's primary objective was to assert Ottoman control over all of Hungary, including the western part (known as Royal Hungary) that was then still under Habsburg control. Some scholars suggest Suleiman intended to use Hungary as a staging ground for further invasion of Europe.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: The failure of the siege of Vienna marked the beginning of 150 years of bitter military tension between the Habsburgs and Ottomans, punctuated by reciprocal attacks, and culminating in a second siege of Vienna in 1683.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: In August 1526, Sultan Suleiman I decisively defeated the forces of King Louis II of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács, paving the way for the Ottomans to gain control of south-eastern Hungary; the childless King Louis died, possibly drowning when he attempted to escape the battlefield. His brother-in-law, Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria, brother of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, claimed the vacant Hungarian throne. Ferdinand won recognition only in western Hungary; a noble called John Zápolya, from a power-base in Transylvania, challenged him for the crown and was recognised as king by Suleiman in return for accepting vassal status within the Ottoman Empire. Thus Hungary became divided into three zones: Royal Hungary, Ottoman Hungary and the Principality of Transylvania, an arrangement which persisted until 1700.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: Following the Diet of Pozsony (modern Bratislava) on 26 October, Ferdinand was declared king of Royal Hungary due to the agreement between his and Louis's families, cemented by Ferdinand's marriage to Louis's sister Anna and Louis's marriage to Ferdinand's sister Mary. Ferdinand set out to enforce his claim on Hungary and captured Buda in 1527, only to relinquish his hold on it in 1529 when an Ottoman counter-attack stripped Ferdinand of all his territorial gains.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: In the spring of 1529, Suleiman mustered a large army in Ottoman Bulgaria, with the aim of securing control over all of Hungary at his new borders by Ferdinand I and the Holy Roman Empire. Estimates of Suleiman's army vary widely from 120,000 to more than 300,000 men, as mentioned by various chroniclers. As well as numerous units of "Sipahi", the elite mounted force of the Ottoman cavalry, and thousands of janissaries, the Ottoman army incorporated a contingent from Moldavia and renegade Serbian warriors from the army of John Zápolya. Suleiman acted as the commander-in-chief (as well as personally leading his force), and in April he appointed his Grand Vizier (the highest Ottoman minister), a Greek former slave called Ibrahim Pasha, as "Serasker", a commander with powers to give orders in the sultan's name.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: Suleiman launched his campaign on 10 May, 1529 and faced numerous obstacles from the onset. The spring rains that are characteristic of south-eastern Europe and the Balkans were particularly heavy that year, causing flooding in Bulgaria and rendering parts of the route used by the army barely passable. Many large-calibre cannons and artillery pieces became hopelessly mired or bogged down, leaving Suleiman no choice but to abandon them, while camels brought from the empire's Eastern provinces, not used to the difficult conditions, were lost in large numbers. Sickness and poor health became common among the janissaries, claiming many lives along the perilous journey.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: Suleiman arrived in Osijek on 6 August. On the 18th he reached the Mohács plain, to be greeted by a substantial cavalry force led by John Zápolya (which would later accompany Suleiman to Vienna), who paid him homage and helped him recapture several fortresses lost since the Battle of Mohács to the Austrians, including Buda, which fell on 8 September. The only resistance came at Pozsony, where the Turkish fleet was bombarded as it sailed up the Danube.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: As the Ottomans advanced towards Vienna, the city's population organised an ad-hoc resistance formed from local farmers, peasants, and civilians determined to repel the inevitable attack. The defenders were supported by a variety of European mercenaries, namely German Landsknecht pikemen and professional Spanish harquebusiers sent by Charles V.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: Queen Mary of Hungary, who was the sister of the King of Spain and Emperor (Charles I of Spain and V of the Empire), in addition to 1,000 German Landsknechts under Count Niklas Salm, sent a contingent of 700–800 Spanish harquebusiers. Only 250 Spanish survived.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: The Spanish were under the command of Marshal Luis de Ávalos, with captains Juan de Salinas, Jaime García de Guzmán, Jorge Manrique, and Cristóbal de Aranda. This elite infantry excelled in the defense of the northern area and with discretion fire prevented the Ottomans from settling in the Danube meadows, near the ramparts, where they could have breached with enough space to work. These elite soldiers also built additional palisades and trap pits that would be essential during the siege.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: The Hofmeister of Austria, Wilhelm von Roggendorf, assumed charge of the defensive garrison, with operational command entrusted to a seventy-year-old German mercenary named Nicholas, Count of Salm, who had distinguished himself at the Battle of Pavia in 1525. Salm arrived in Vienna as head of the mercenary relief force and set about fortifying the three-hundred-year-old walls surrounding St. Stephen's Cathedral, near which he established his headquarters. To ensure the city could withstand a lengthy siege, he blocked the four city gates and reinforced the walls, which in some places were no more than six feet thick, and erected earthen bastions and an inner earthen rampart, levelling buildings where necessary to clear room for defences.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: The Ottoman army that arrived in late September had been depleted during the long advance into Austrian territory, leaving Suleiman short of camels and heavy artillery. Many of his troops arrived at Vienna in poor health after the tribulations of the long march through the worst of the wet season. Of those fit to fight, a third were light cavalry, or "Sipahis", ill-suited for siege warfare. Three richly dressed Austrian prisoners were dispatched as emissaries by the Sultan to negotiate the city's surrender; Salm sent three richly dressed Muslims back without a response.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: As the Ottoman army settled into position, the Austrian garrison launched sorties to disrupt the digging and mining of tunnels below the city's walls by Ottoman sappers, in one case almost capturing Ibrahim Pasha. The defending forces detected and successfully detonated several mines that had been intended to breach the walls. On 6 October, 8,000 men were dispatched to attack the Ottoman mining operations. They succeeded in destroying many of the tunnels, but they sustained heavy losses when the confined space hindered their return to the city.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: More rain fell on 11 October, and with the Ottomans failing to breach the walls, the prospect of victory began to fade. In addition, Suleiman was facing critical shortages of food, water and other supplies, while casualties, sickness, and desertions began to take their toll. The janissaries began voicing their displeasure at the lack of progress, demanding a decision on whether to remain or abandon the siege. The Sultan convened an official council on 12 October to deliberate the matter. It was decided to attempt one final, major assault on Vienna, an "all or nothing" gamble. The assault was launched on 14 October, but despite extra rewards being offered to the troops, it was beaten back, with the defenders' arquebuses and long pikes proving decisive. The following day, with supplies running low and winter approaching, Suleiman called off the siege and ordered a withdrawal to Constantinople.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: With unusually heavy snowfall, conditions deteriorated. The Ottoman retreat was hampered by muddy roads along which their horses and camels struggled to pass. Pursuing Austrian horsemen took many stragglers prisoner, although there was no Austrian counter-attack. The Ottomans reached Buda on 26 October, Belgrade on 10 November and their destination, Constantinople, on 16 December.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: Some historians speculate that Suleiman's final assault was not necessarily intended to take the city but to cause as much damage as possible and weaken it for a later attack, a tactic he had employed at Buda in 1526. Suleiman would lead another campaign against Vienna in 1532, but it never truly materialised as his force was stalled by the Croatian Captain Nikola Jurišić during the siege of Güns (Kőszeg). Nikola Jurišić with only 700–800 Croatian soldiers managed to delay his force until winter closed in. Charles V, now largely aware of Vienna's vulnerability and weakened state, assembled 80,000 troops to confront the Ottoman force. Instead of going ahead with a second siege attempt, the Ottoman force turned back, laying waste the south-eastern Austrian state of Styria in their retreat. The two Viennese campaigns in essence marked the extreme limit of Ottoman logistical capability to field large armies deep in central Europe at the time.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: The 1529 campaign produced mixed results. Buda was brought back under the control of the Ottoman vassal John Zápolya, strengthening the Ottoman position in Hungary. The campaign left behind a trail of collateral damage in neighbouring Habsburg Hungary and Austria that impaired Ferdinand's capacity to mount a sustained counter-attack. However, Suleiman failed to force Ferdinand to engage him in open battle, and was thus unable to enforce his ideological claim to superiority over the Habsburgs. The attack on Vienna led to a rapprochement between Charles V and Pope Clement VII, and contributed to the Pope's coronation of Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor on February 24, 1530. The outcome of the campaign was presented as a success by the Ottomans, who used the opportunity to show off their imperial grandeur by staging elaborate ceremonies for the circumcision of princes Mustafa, Mehmed, and Selim.


title: Siege of Vienna (1529)

text: Ferdinand I erected a funeral monument for the German mercenary Nicholas, Count of Salm, head of the mercenary relief force dispatched to Vienna, as a token of appreciation of his efforts. Nicholas survived the initial siege attempt, but had been injured during the last Ottoman assault and died on May 4, 1530. The Renaissance sarcophagus is now on display in the baptistery of the Votivkirche cathedral in Vienna. Ferdinand's son, Maximilian II, later built the Castle of Neugebaeude on the spot where Suleiman is said to have pitched his tent during the siege.


title: Toyota L engine

text: The L family is a family of inline four-cylinder diesel engines manufactured by Toyota, which first appeared in October 1977. It is the first diesel engine from Toyota to use a rubber timing belt in conjunction with a SOHC head. Some engines like the 2L-II and the 2L-T are still in production to the present day. , the 5L-E engine is still used in Gibraltar in the fifth-generation Toyota HiAce, eighth-generation Toyota Hilux, second-generation Toyota Fortuner, and fourth-generation Toyota Land Cruiser Prado. Vehicles with the diesel engine were exclusive to Toyota Japan dealership locations called "Toyota Diesel Store" until that sales channel was disbanded in 1988.


title: Toyota L engine

text: The L is the first L engine produced. Toyota solely refers to it as the L engine, not the 1L engine. , four-cylinder diesel engine. Bore and stroke are , with compression ratios of around 21.5:1


title: Toyota L engine

text: The 2L is a 4-cylinder diesel engine. Bore and stroke are , with compression ratios of around 22.3:1 and a redline of 4800 rpm. Outputs range from and torque of .


title: Toyota L engine

text: The 2L-II is an upgrade of the 2L introduced simultaneously with the 3L engine in 1988 in the 5th generation Hilux. Although bore and stroke remain the same, multiple changes have been made in its design. The engine block was made more rigid through the use of finite element analysis and through adding reinforcement ribbing. The most significant change is the redesigned cylinder head, where the camshaft now lifts the valve directly via tappet instead of using a rocker arm. The exhaust valve is 1mm larger in diameter and the inlet manifold is made 10mm larger in diameter. The pistons with a 5mm shorter compression height and piston rings were placed closer to the combustion chamber to reduce wasted volumetric capacity while durability was improved by the adoption of fiber reinforced piston grooves from the 1st Generation 2LTE to improve piston ring seizure resistance, groove wear resistance, thermal conductivity and thermal fatigue resistance over the previous Ni-Resist cast iron insert used previously to address ring seizure issues and wear resistance in bare aluminum pistons while the oil squirters were relocated to spray underneath the hottest part of the piston to further aid cooling. The revised pistons were 100g lighter than the ones in the 1st Generation 2L and the compression ratio changed to 22.2. The valve clearance is adjusted using shims. Later L engines (3L and 5L) also use this method of valve operation.


title: Toyota L engine

text: The 2L-T is a turbo version of the 2L still being produced since 1982. The bore and stroke are the same but the 2L-T has a compression ratio of 20:1. Output is gross at 4000 rpm with gross of torque at 2200 rpm. A dual mass flywheel was introduced in 1985 and pilot fuel injection in 1988.


title: Toyota L engine

text: The 2L-T(II) is an upgrade of the 2L-T. Of the same dimensions as all other 2L engines, the most significant change is that the camshaft lifts the valve directly via tappet instead of a rocker arm. The valve clearance is adjusted using shims. Compression rate varies with fitment. Output is at 4000 rpm, at 2400 rpm.


title: Toyota L engine

text: Developed as a new version of 2L-T in 1982, the 2L-TE featured a new development used in diesel engines at that time, the EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection) system. Although such systems had long been used in gasoline engines, this is among the first diesel engine to adopt such a system. The EFI system meters fuel with great precision and increased the engine's efficiency. It works through a combination of multiple sensors similar to those in a gasoline engine, but rather than actuating a fuel injector it actuates an SPV (Spill Control Valve) which is located on the head of the injection pump. To improve durability a new piston design using alumina-silica ceramic fiber reinforced piston ring grooves was used in place of the usual cast iron insert. This makes it one of the earliest applications of metal matrix composites. Like the 2L-T, it is a turbocharged SOHC (single overhead cam) engine with 8 valves. The bore and stroke is . Due to the EFI system, the 2L-TE develops significantly more torque than its predecessor. The redline of this engine is at 4800rpm, the compression ratio is 20.0:1. The 2L-TE was largely replaced by the KZ engine in 1993, although it continued to be used in some models until 2000.


title: Toyota L engine

text: The 2L-TE(II) is an upgrade of the 2L-TE. Of the same dimensions as the 2L-TE engine, the most significant change is that the camshaft lifts the valve directly via tappet instead of a rocker arm. The valve clearance is adjusted using shims (the earlier heads were prone to cracking under high temperatures because of a cooling chamber that runs between the intake and exhaust valves and allows for steam build up at high temperature - part number 11101-54120, that was fixed in the later 2nd gen heads - part number 11101-54121). Compression ratio is also increased to 21.0:1, slightly higher than the 2L-T and 2L-TE. Maximum horsepower is at 3800rpm and maximum torque ranges from to at 2400rpm.


title: Toyota L engine

text: Introduced in 1984, the High Pressure turbocharged version of 2L-TE features ceramic chambers. In this engine, the fuel is injected with a high pressure system. Bore and stroke remains the same, for both however compression is increased to 21:1. The maximum output was at 4000 rpm and maximum torque was . The engine comes with a Turbo charger and used the EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection) system as well. Ignition feedback control would be added in 1985.


title: Toyota L engine

text: Has the same dimensions and is still referred to as the 2L-THE engine, the most significant change is that the camshaft lifts the valve directly via tappet instead of a rocker arm. The valve clearance is adjusted using shims.


title: Toyota L engine

text: The 3L is a four-cylinder diesel engine. The bore and stroke of this engine is , and the compression ratio of 22.2:1.


title: Toyota L engine

text: The 5L-E is a EFI version of the 5L engine. It is the latest member of the L family. It has a bore and stroke of , with a compression ratio of 22.2:1. Output (as fitted to the Hilux) is gross at 4200 rpm with gross of torque at 2200 rpm. Power output varies according to fitment. The engine number is found on the top face of the block at the front of the engine.


title: Spore

text: In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, fungi and protozoa.


title: Spore

text: Bacterial spores are not part of a sexual cycle, but are resistant structures used for survival under unfavourable conditions. Myxozoan spores release amoeboid infectious germs ("amoebulae") into their hosts for parasitic infection, but also reproduce within the hosts through the pairing of two nuclei within the plasmodium, which develops from the amoebula.


title: Spore

text: In plants, spores are usually haploid and unicellular and are produced by meiosis in the sporangium of a diploid sporophyte. Under favourable conditions the spore can develop into a new organism using mitotic division, producing a multicellular gametophyte, which eventually goes on to produce gametes. Two gametes fuse to form a zygote which develops into a new sporophyte. This cycle is known as alternation of generations.


title: Spore

text: The spores of seed plants are produced internally, and the megaspores (formed within the ovules) and the microspores are involved in the formation of more complex structures that form the dispersal units, the seeds and pollen grains.


title: Spore

text: The term "spore" derives from the ancient Greek word σπορά "spora", meaning "seed, sowing", related to σπόρος ', "sowing", and σπείρειν ', "to sow".


title: Spore

text: In common parlance, the difference between a "spore" and a "gamete" is that a spore will germinate and develop into a sporeling, while a gamete needs to combine with another gamete to form a zygote before developing further.


title: Spore

text: The main difference between spores and seeds as dispersal units is that spores are unicellular, the first cell of a gametophyte, while seeds contain within them a developing embryo (the multicellular sporophyte of the next generation), produced by the fusion of the male gamete of the pollen tube with the female gamete formed by the megagametophyte within the ovule. Spores germinate to give rise to haploid gametophytes, while seeds germinate to give rise to diploid sporophytes.


title: Spore

text: Vascular plant spores are always haploid. Vascular plants are either homosporous (or isosporous) or heterosporous. Plants that are homosporous produce spores of the same size and type.


title: Spore

text: Heterosporous plants, such as seed plants, spikemosses, quillworts, and ferns of the order Salviniales produce spores of two different sizes: the larger spore (megaspore) in effect functioning as a "female" spore and the smaller (microspore) functioning as a "male". Such plants typically give rise to the two kind of spores from within separate sporangia, either a megasporangium that produces megaspores or a microsporangium that produces microspores. In flowering plants, these sporangia occur within the carpel and anthers, respectively.


title: Spore

text: Fungi commonly produce spores during sexual and asexual reproduction. Spores are usually haploid and grow into mature haploid individuals through mitotic division of cells (Urediniospores and Teliospores among rusts are dikaryotic). Dikaryotic cells result from the fusion of two haploid gamete cells. Among sporogenic dikaryotic cells, karyogamy (the fusion of the two haploid nuclei) occurs to produce a diploid cell. Diploid cells undergo meiosis to produce haploid spores.


title: Spore

text: In fungi and fungus-like organisms (e.g. Pseudofungi), spores are often classified by the structure in which meiosis and spore production occurs. Since fungi are often classified according to their spore-producing structures, these spores are often characteristic of a particular taxon of the fungi.


title: Spore

text: Under high magnification, spores often have complex patterns or ornamentation on their exterior surfaces. A specialized terminology has been developed to describe features of such patterns. Some markings represent apertures, places where the tough outer coat of the spore can be penetrated when germination occurs. Spores can be categorized based on the position and number of these markings and apertures. Alete spores show no lines. In monolete spores, there is a single narrow line (laesura) on the spore. This indicates the mother spore split into four along a vertical axis. In trilete spores, each spore shows three narrow lines radiating from a center pole. This shows that four spores shared a common origin and were initially in contact with each other forming a tetrahedron. A wider aperture in the shape of a groove may be termed a colpus. The number of colpi distinguishes major groups of plants. Eudicots have tricolpate spores (i.e. spores with three colpi).


title: Spore

text: Envelope-enclosed spore tetrads are taken as the earliest evidence of plant life on land, dating from the mid-Ordovician (early Llanvirn, ~), a period from which no macrofossils have yet been recovered.


title: Spore

text: Individual trilete spores resembling those of modern cryptogamic plants first appeared in the fossil record at the end of the Ordovician period.


title: Spore

text: In fungi, both asexual and sexual spores or sporangiospores of many fungal species are actively dispersed by forcible ejection from their reproductive structures. This ejection ensures exit of the spores from the reproductive structures as well as travelling through the air over long distances. Many fungi thereby possess specialized mechanical and physiological mechanisms as well as spore-surface structures, such as hydrophobins, for spore ejection. These mechanisms include, for example, forcible discharge of ascospores enabled by the structure of the ascus and accumulation of osmolytes in the fluids of the ascus that lead to explosive discharge of the ascospores into the air.


title: Spore

text: The forcible discharge of single spores termed "ballistospores" involves formation of a small drop of water (Buller's drop), which upon contact with the spore leads to its projectile release with an initial acceleration of more than 10,000 g. Other fungi rely on alternative mechanisms for spore release, such as external mechanical forces, exemplified by puffballs. Attracting insects, such as flies, to fruiting structures, by virtue of their having lively colours and a putrid odour, for dispersal of fungal spores is yet another strategy, most prominently used by the stinkhorns.


title: Spore

text: In Common Smoothcap moss ("Atrichum undulatum"), the vibration of sporophyte has been shown to be an important mechanism for spore release.


title: Spore

text: In the case of spore-shedding vascular plants such as ferns, wind distribution of very light spores provides great capacity for dispersal. Also, spores are less subject to animal predation than seeds because they contain almost no food reserve; however they are more subject to fungal and bacterial predation. Their chief advantage is that, of all forms of progeny, spores require the least energy and materials to produce.


title: Spore

text: In the spikemoss "Selaginella lepidophylla", dispersal is achieved in part by an unusual type of diaspore, a tumbleweed.


title: John Rocker

text: John Loy Rocker (born October 17, 1974) is a former American relief pitcher who played six seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Atlanta Braves. Making his major league debut in 1998 as a member of the Braves, with whom he played four seasons, he was also a member of the Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays for one season each. He last played professionally for the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball in 2005.


title: John Rocker

text: Rocker received notoriety during his career for making controversial statements, which began with a 1999 "Sports Illustrated" interview and continued after his retirement. Following the conclusion of his baseball career, Rocker competed on "" with girlfriend Julie McGee, placing 16th.


title: John Rocker

text: In high school, he was a pitcher for First Presbyterian Day School in Macon, Georgia. He threw three no-hitters during his high-school career. He initially committed to play college baseball for the Georgia Bulldogs. He was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 18th round (516th overall) of the 1993 Major League Baseball Draft.


title: John Rocker

text: In 1998, he was promoted to the major league club. In Rocker's first season in the major leagues, he was 1–3 with a 2.13 ERA in 38 innings pitched. The following year, an injury put Atlanta closer Kerry Ligtenberg on the DL, moving Rocker into the role of closer, where he was 4–5 with 38 saves and a 2.49 ERA. In 2000, he was 1–2 with 24 saves, posting a 2.89 ERA, but in June 2000, Rocker was demoted for threatening a reporter.


title: John Rocker

text: Rocker started to receive intense taunting from opposing teams' fans due to his negative behavior, and his pitching performance began to decline. On June 23, 2001, Rocker, along with minor-league infielder Troy Cameron (Atlanta's first-round draft pick in 1997), was traded to the Cleveland Indians for right-handed relievers Steve Karsay and Steve Reed, along with cash. In Cleveland, his record that year was 3–7 with a 5.45 ERA and four saves. Rocker also played that year for the Indians in the ALDS against the Seattle Mariners. The following year, the Indians traded him to the Texas Rangers for pitcher David Elder. In Texas, he refused designation to the minor leagues. In 2002, he again struggled at 2–3 with a 6.66 ERA and was released. In 2003, Rocker signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays but was released after two appearances and an ERA of 9.00.


title: John Rocker

text: He took the 2004 season off to recover from surgery on his left shoulder. In 2005, he signed with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. In April 2005, he asked New Yorkers to "bury the hatchet." After going 0–2 with a 6.50 ERA in 23 games, he was released on June 27, 2005.


title: John Rocker

text: In a story published in the December 27, 1999, issue of "Sports Illustrated", Rocker made a number of allegations stemming from his experiences in New York City and answering a question about whether he would ever play for the New York Yankees or the New York Mets.


title: John Rocker

text: The interview was conducted while driving to a speaking engagement in Atlanta. The reporter, Jeff Pearlman, wrote that during the interview session, Rocker spat on a Georgia State Route 400 toll machine and mocked Asian women. Also, Rocker referred to Curaçaoan teammate Randall Simon as a "fat monkey".


title: John Rocker

text: Although Rocker later apologized after speaking with Braves legend and Hall of Famer Hank Aaron and former Atlanta mayor and congressman Andrew Young, he continued to make controversial remarks. For his comments, Commissioner Bud Selig suspended Rocker without pay for the remainder of spring training and the first 28 games of the 2000 season, which on appeal was reduced to 14 games (without a spring-training suspension).


title: John Rocker

text: In 2002, while with the Rangers, Rocker again made national headlines for his views after directing slurs towards patrons of a Dallas restaurant at which he was dining, located in the heavily LGBT-populated neighborhood of Oak Lawn.


title: John Rocker

text: In June 2006, Rocker defended former teammate Ozzie Guillén, at the time the manager of the Chicago White Sox, for referring to "Chicago Sun-Times" sports columnist Jay Mariotti as a "fag". Guillen, a native of Venezuela, claimed it was not a derogatory term and that, in Venezuela, the term only questions another man's courage rather than his sexual orientation.


title: John Rocker

text: "This is a free country. If he wants to use a lewd term, he should be able to use a lewd term," Rocker told the "Chicago Tribune". "Can't you use a lewd term in America if you want?" Referring to sensitivity training, he was quoted as saying: "It was a farce, a way for the scared little man, Bud Selig, to get people off his ass." Rocker stated that when he attended mandatory sensitivity training he would seldom remain longer than 15 minutes. He also claimed he never paid the $500 fine that was levied against him.


title: John Rocker

text: In late 2006, Rocker was interviewed by the sports blog Deadspin, along with fitness model and then-girlfriend Alicia Marie. In the interview, Rocker discussed his "Speak English" campaign, as well as his upcoming book, "Rocker: Scars & Strikes". Rocker stated that the book would not be used to try to repair his reputation, but would rather be "more conservative Republican rantings". Also during the interview, Rocker lambasted John Schuerholz, his former general manager with the Braves, calling him "a piece of shit".


title: John Rocker

text: On "Survivor", during an argument with fellow castaway Natalie Anderson, Rocker told her, "If you were a man, I'd knock your teeth out."


title: John Rocker

text: In March 2007, Rocker was implicated in a steroid ring that included Applied Pharmacy of Mobile, Alabama. In December 2011, he admitted to using steroids, saying "Yeah, of course I was [using steroids]. I mean who wasn't? Let’s be honest here, who wasn't?" In December 2007, he was mentioned in the Mitchell Report.


title: John Rocker

text: Rocker made his screen-acting debut in the 2002 horror comedy "The Greenskeeper" as a murderous golf-club groundskeeper.


title: John Rocker

text: In 2006, Rocker appeared on the Spike TV network's "Pros vs. Joes", a program that pits retired professional athletes against amateurs.


title: John Rocker

text: In August 2014 it was announced that Rocker would appear on the of the competitive reality series "Survivor" alongside his girlfriend Julie McGee. He was the third person voted out, finishing in 16th place after he became the center of negative attention. He was immediately recognized by some of the other players who were aware of his controversial statements. He was voted out of the game with an immunity idol in his pocket on Day 8. McGee made it to the merge phase of the game, but quit in 12th place after suffering an emotional breakdown, citing the negativity surrounding Rocker earlier in the game as one of the multiple reasons that she decided to withdraw from the competition.


title: John Rocker

text: Though not directly based on Rocker, Danny McBride said that Kenny Powers, the main protagonist of the HBO series Eastbound and Down that the pitcher was "more or less an inspiration" for the character.


title: John Rocker

text: In December 2011, Rocker released his autobiography, "Scars and Strikes". As of 2012, he writes a column for WorldNetDaily, a conservative political site.


title: Charismatic movement

text: The charismatic movement in Christianity is a movement within established or mainstream Christian denominations to adopt beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity with an emphasis on baptism with the Holy Spirit, and the use of spiritual gifts ("charismata"). It has affected most denominations in the US, and has spread widely across the world.


title: Charismatic movement

text: The movement is deemed to have begun in 1960 in Anglicanism, and spread to other mainstream protestant denominations, including Lutherans and Presbyterians by 1962 and to Roman Catholicism by 1967. Methodists became involved in the charismatic movement in the 1970s.


title: Charismatic movement

text: The movement was not initially influential in evangelical churches, and although this changed in the 1980s in the so called Third Wave, this was often expressed in the formation of separate evangelical churches such as the Vineyard Movement - neo-charismatic organisations that mirrored the establishment of Pentecostal churches. Many traditional evangelical churches remain opposed to the movement and teach a cessationist theology.


title: Charismatic movement

text: The classic Pentecostalism movement usually traces its origin to the early twentieth century, with the ministry of Charles F. Parham and the subsequent ministry of William Joseph Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival. Its unique doctrine involved a dramatic encounter with God, termed baptism with the Holy Spirit. The evidence for having received this experience was interpreted by some as speaking in tongues.


title: Charismatic movement

text: Before 1955 the religious mainstream did not embrace Pentecostal doctrines. If a church member or clergyman openly expressed such views, they would (either voluntarily or involuntarily) separate from their existing denomination. However, by the 1960s many of the characteristic teachings were gaining acceptance among Christians within mainline Protestant denominations. The charismatic movement represented a reversal of this previous pattern as those influenced by Pentecostal spirituality chose to remain in their original denominations. The popularization and broader acceptance of charismatic teachings as well as ideas are linked to the Healing Revival that occurred from 1946 to 1958. The revivalists of the time, including William Branham, Oral Roberts, and A. A. Allen, held large interdenominational meetings which emphasized the gifts of the spirit. This global revival led to greater awareness and acceptance of Pentecostal teachings and practices.


title: Charismatic movement

text: The high church wing of the American Episcopal Church became the first traditional ecclesiastical organization to feel the impact of the new movement internally. The beginning of the charismatic movement is usually dated to Sunday, April 3, 1960, when Dennis J. Bennett, rector of St Mark's Episcopal Church in Van Nuys, California recounted his Pentecostal experience to his parish, doing it again on the next two Sundays, including Easter (April 17), during which many of his congregation shared his experience, causing him to be forced to resign. The resulting controversy and press coverage spread an awareness of the emerging charismatic movement. The movement grew to embrace other mainline churches, where clergy began receiving and publicly announcing their Pentecostal experiences. These clergy began holding meetings for seekers and healing services which included praying over and anointing of the sick. The charismatic movement reached Lutherans and Presbyterians in 1962. The Catholic Charismatic Renewal began in 1967 at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Methodists became involved in the charismatic movement in the 1970s.<


title: Charismatic movement

text: The charismatic movement led to the founding of many covenant communities, such as Sword of the Spirit and Word of God, that are a force of ecumenism in that they have members from many major Christian denominations, such as Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Reformed and Methodists, who live and pray together.


title: Charismatic movement

text: Despite the fact that Pentecostals currently tend to share more in common with evangelicals than with either Roman Catholics or non-evangelical wings of the church, the charismatic movement was not initially influential among evangelical churches. C. Peter Wagner traces the spread of the charismatic movement within evangelicalism to around 1985. He termed this movement the Third Wave of the Holy Spirit. The Third Wave has expressed itself through the formation of churches and denomination-like organizations. These groups are referred to as "neo-charismatic" and are distinct from the charismatic movement of the historic Christian Churches. The Vineyard Movement and the British New Church Movement exemplify Third Wave or neo-charismatic organizations.


title: Charismatic movement

text: Charismatic Christians believe in an experience of baptism with the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts (Greek , from , grace) of the Holy Spirit as described in the New Testament are available to contemporary Christians through the infilling or baptism of the Holy Spirit, with or without the laying on of hands.


title: Charismatic movement

text: The charismatic movement holds that Baptism in the Holy Spirit is the "sovereign action of God, which usually occurs when someone with a disposition of surrender and docility, prays for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in his or her life." Additionally, "baptism in the Holy Spirit unleashes the Holy Spirit that is already present within us, by revitalizing the graces we received in the sacrament of Baptism." Baptism with the Holy Spirit "equips and inspires the individual for service, for mission, for discipleship and for life." Rev. Brenton Cordeiro teaches that those who have received Baptism with the Holy Spirit "testify that the experience brought them to a new awareness of the reality and presence of Jesus Christ in their lives [as well as] a new hunger for the Word of God, the Sacraments and were filled with a renewed desire for holiness."


title: Charismatic movement

text: Although the Bible lists many gifts from God through his Holy Spirit, there are nine specific gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8–10 that are supernatural in nature and are the focus of and distinguishing feature of the charismatic movement: word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in different tongues (languages), and interpretation of tongues.


title: Charismatic movement

text: While Pentecostals and charismatics share these beliefs, there are differences. Many in the charismatic movement deliberately distanced themselves from Pentecostalism for cultural and theological reasons. Foremost among theological reasons is the tendency of many Pentecostals to insist that speaking in tongues is always the initial physical sign of receiving Spirit baptism. Although specific teachings will vary by denomination, charismatics generally believe that the Holy Spirit has already been present in a person from the time of regeneration and prefer to call subsequent encounters with the Holy Spirit by other names, such as "being filled". In contrast to Pentecostals, charismatics tend to accept a range of supernatural experiences (such as prophecy, miracles, healing, or "physical manifestations of an altered state of consciousness") as evidence of having been baptized or filled with the Holy Spirit.


title: Charismatic movement

text: Pentecostals are also distinguished from the charismatic movement on the basis of style. Also, Pentecostals have traditionally placed a high value on evangelization and missionary work. Charismatics, on the other hand, have tended to see their movement as a force for revitalization and renewal within their own church traditions.


title: Charismatic movement

text: Cessationists argue these sign and revelatory gifts were manifested in the New Testament for a specific purpose, upon which once accomplished these signs were withdrawn and no longer function. Cessationists evidence this claim with an appeal for the rapid decline in reports of such gifts from the time of the Church Fathers onwards. Non-cessationists argue that testimonial claims of God doing signs, wonders and miracles can especially be found in the first three centuries of the church. Sacramental charismatics also point out that the means of distribution of charismatic gifts in the early church, was not limited to the laying on of hands of the canonical apostles, but was tethered to the receptivity of prayer connected to the sacrament of baptism. The Charismatic movement is based on a belief that these gifts are still available today.


title: Charismatic movement

text: In America, the Episcopalian Dennis Bennett is sometimes cited as one of the charismatic movement's seminal influences. Bennett was the rector at St Mark's Episcopal Church in Van Nuys, California when he announced to the congregation in 1960 that he had received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Soon after this he ministered in Seattle, where he ran many workshops and seminars about the work of the Holy Spirit.


title: Charismatic movement

text: In the United Kingdom, Colin Urquhart, Michael Harper, David Watson and others were in the vanguard of similar developments.


title: Charismatic movement

text: The Massey conference in New Zealand, 1964 was attended by several Anglicans, including the Rev. Ray Muller, who went on to invite Bennett to New Zealand in 1966, and played a leading role in developing and promoting the "Life in the Spirit" seminars. Other Charismatic movement leaders in New Zealand include Bill Subritzky.


title: Charismatic movement

text: As of the early 21st century a "charismatic evangelical" wing or school of thought is commonly identified in the Church of England, contrasted with the conservative evangelical, Anglo-Catholic and other tendencies. An influential local church in this movement has been London's Holy Trinity Brompton, and Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury since 2013, has a background in charismatic evangelicalism.


title: Charismatic movement

text: Larry Christenson, a Lutheran theologian based in San Pedro, California, did much in the 1960s and 1970s to interpret the charismatic movement for Lutherans. A very large annual conference was held in Minneapolis during those years. Lutheran charismatics in the US formed the Alliance of Renewal Churches. Richard A. Jensen's "Touched by the Spirit" published in 1974, played a major role of the Lutheran understanding to the charismatic movement. Another Lutheran charismatic leader is Morris Vaagenes. In Finland the emergence of charismatic congregations has reversed, in some places, a decline in attendance of Lutheran congregations.


title: Charismatic movement

text: In Congregational and Presbyterian churches which profess a traditionally Calvinist or Reformed theology, there are differing views regarding present-day continuation or cessation of the gifts ("charismata") of the Spirit. Generally, however, Reformed charismatics distance themselves from renewal movements with tendencies which could be perceived as overemotional, such as Word of Faith, Toronto Blessing, Brownsville Revival and Lakeland Revival.


title: Charismatic movement

text: Prominent Reformed charismatic denominations are the Sovereign Grace Churches and the Every Nation Churches in the United States, in Great Britain there is the Newfrontiers churches and movement, founded by Terry Virgo.


title: Charismatic movement

text: In the United States the Catholic charismatic renewal was focused in individuals like Kevin Ranaghan and others at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana. Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, which was founded by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, a Catholic religious community, began hosting charismatic revivals in 1977.


title: Charismatic movement

text: In a foreword to a 1983 book by Léon Joseph Cardinal Suenens, at that time the Pope's delegate to the Catholic charismatic renewal, the then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI), comments on the Post Second Vatican Council period stating,


title: Charismatic movement

text: In the Roman Catholic church, the movement became particularly popular in the Filipino, Korean, and Hispanic communities of the United States, in the Philippines, and in Latin America, mainly Brazil. Travelling priests and lay people associated with the movement often visit parishes and sing what are known as charismatic masses. It is thought to be the second largest distinct sub-movement (some 120 million members) within global Catholicism, along with Traditional Catholicism.


title: Charismatic movement

text: A further difficulty is the tendency for many charismatic Catholics to take on what others in their church might consider sacramental language and assertions of the necessity of "Baptism in the Holy Spirit," as a universal act. This causes difficulty as there is little to distinguish the "Baptism" from the sacrament of confirmation. In this regard, a Study seminar organized jointly in São Paulo by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Bishops Conference of Brazil raised these issues. Technically, among Catholics, the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit" is neither the highest nor fullest manifestation of the Holy Spirit.


title: Charismatic movement

text: Thus "Baptism of the Spirit" is one experience among many within Christianity (as are the extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit in the lives of the saints, notably St. Francis of Assisi and St. Teresa of Avila, who levitated), and thus less dogmatically held by Catholic charismatics (than by Pentecostals). Possibly, Padre Pio (now St. Pio) provides a modern-day Catholic example of this experience. Describing his confirmation, when he was 12 years old, Padre Pio said that he "wept with consolation" whenever he thought of that day because "I remember what the Most Holy Spirit caused me to feel that day, a day unique and unforgettable in all my life! What sweet raptures the Comforter made me feel that day! At the thought of that day, I feel aflame from head to toe with a brilliant flame that burns, consumes, but gives no pain." In this experience, Padre Pio said he was made to feel God's "fullness and perfection." Thus a case can be made that he was "baptized by the Spirit" on his confirmation day in 1899. It was one spiritual experience among many that he would have.


title: Charismatic movement

text: Recent Popes (John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II and Francis) have all emphasised the importance of a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit for all Catholics, and have spoken encouragingly to the Catholic charismatic renewal organisation on many occasions. On June 8, 2019, Pope Francis encouraged everyone in Charismatic Renewal "to share baptism in the Holy Spirit with everyone in the Church." On June 6, 2019, the CHARIS ("Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service") service was officially inaugurated by Pope Francis. CHARIS has a "public juridic personality" within the Roman Catholic Church and has come into being as a direct initiative of the highest ecclesiastical authority, Pope Francis. The primary objectives of CHARIS are "To help deepen and promote the grace of baptism in the Holy Spirit throughout the Church and to promote the exercise of charisms not only in Catholic Charismatic Renewal but also in the whole Church."


title: Charismatic movement

text: In the Methodist tradition (inclusive of the holiness movement), baptism with the Holy Spirit traditionally refers to the second work of grace subsequent to the New Birth and is called entire sanctification, in which original sin is removed and the person is made perfect in love (Christian perfection). Entire sanctification, which may be received instantaneously or gradually, "cleanses the heart of the recipient from all sin (I John 1:7, 9; Acts 15:8, 9), sets him apart and endows him with power for the accomplishment of all to which he is called (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8)."


title: Charismatic movement

text: When the Methodist movement was initiated, "many individuals in London, Oxford and Bristol reported supernatural healings, visions, dreams, spiritual impressions, power in evangelizing, [and] extraordinary bestowments of wisdom". John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, "firmly maintained that the Spiritual gifts are a natural consequence of genuine holiness and dwelling of God's Spirit in a man." As such, Methodist Churches hold to the theological position of continuationism. With its history of promoting holiness and experiential faith, many Methodist congregations now engage in charismatic worship since the arrival of the charismatic movement to Methodism, though other Methodist connexions and their congregations eschew it. In the latter case, the Pentecostal doctrine of a third work of grace accompanied by glossolalia is condemned by some connexions in the Methodist tradition, such as the Pilgrim Holiness Church, which teaches that the state of Christian perfection in which a person is perfect in love is the goal for humans:


title: Charismatic movement

text: Charismatic Methodists in the United States allied with the Good News caucus and those in Great Britain have been supported by the Lay Witness Movement, which works with Methodist Evangelicals Together. In the United Methodist Church, the charismatic apostolate Aldersgate Renewal Ministries was formed "to pray and work together for the renewal of the church by the power of the Holy Spirit". It runs events at local United Methodist churches, as well as the Methodist School for Supernatural Ministry.


title: Charismatic movement

text: Some members of the Moravian Church accepted certain elements from the charismatic movement as it spread.


title: Charismatic movement

text: A minority of Seventh-day Adventists today are charismatic. They are strongly associated with those holding more "progressive" Adventist beliefs. In the early decades of the church charismatic or ecstatic phenomena were commonplace.


title: Charismatic movement

text: Although most Laestadians are Lutheran and they are often termed Apostolic Lutherans, it is an interdenominational movement, so some are Eastern Orthodox. Eastern Orthodox Laestadians are known as (article is in Russian). Laestadian charismaticsm has been attributed to influences from the shamanistic ecstatic religious practices of the Sami, many who are Laestadians today.


title: Charismatic movement

text: The charismatic movement has not exerted the same influence on the Eastern Orthodox Church that it has on other mainstream Christian denominations. Although some Eastern Orthodox priests have advanced Charismatic practice in their congregations, the movement is seen as incompatible with Orthodoxy by writers within the church. For instance, an article published in the Journal "Orthodox Tradition" says "There is nothing Orthodox about the charismatic movement. It is incompatible with Orthodoxy, in that it justifies itself only by perverting the message of the Fathers, suggesting that the Church of Christ needs renewal, and indulging in the theological imagery of, Pentecostal cultism."


title: Charismatic movement

text: Despite this some priests forward Charismatic renewal in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, the Brotherhood of St. Symeon, and other orthodox churches.


title: Charismatic movement

text: The movement led to the creation of independent evangelical charismatic churches more in tune with the revival of the Holy Spirit. These churches are often nondenominational. Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, California was one of the first evangelical charismatic churches, founded in 1965. In the United Kingdom, Jesus Army, founded in 1969, is an example of the impact outside of the United States. Many other congregations were established in the rest of the world.


title: Pike County shootings

text: The Pike County Shootings, also known as the Pike County Massacre, occurred on the night of April 21–22, 2016, when eight people all belonging to the Rhoden family were shot and killed in four homes in Pike County, Ohio, near the village of Peebles, from Columbus and from Cincinnati. Their bodies were found later on April 22. Seven of the victims six adults and a 16-year-old boy were discovered to have been shot execution-style in three adjacent houses, while the eighth victim, an adult, was found shot to death in his camper in nearby Piketon. Three young children, including two infants, were unharmed. At least two shooters were initially believed to be responsible.


title: Pike County shootings

text: Investigators believe the murders were premeditated, and that the perpetrators were known to the Rhoden family. On April 25, the Ohio Attorney General's office confirmed the presence of marijuana cultivation and cockfighting operations at some of the crime scenes, but did not confirm a direct connection to the killings. The ensuing investigation soon became the largest in Ohio's history.


title: Pike County shootings

text: In November 2018, four members of the Wagner family, who were known to the Rhodens, were arrested in Ohio and Kentucky, and charged with the eight murders. Edward "Jake" Wagner, an ex-boyfriend of victim Hanna Rhoden and father of her three-year-old daughter, Sophie, pleaded guilty to all eight murders but admitted to shooting only five of the eight victims.


title: Pike County shootings

text: The bodies were first discovered on April 22, 2016, after Bobby Jo Manley, a sister of victim Dana Rhoden, came to feed pets at the homes. Police were first alerted after receiving a 9-1-1 call about two bodies inside a home on Union Hill Road, at 7:51 a.m. EDT. Before the police arrived, Manley discovered two more bodies in the second home on the property. Her brother, James Manley, went to check on their sister Dana, and discovered the third crime scene, where the police found three more victims when they arrived. At 1:26 p.m., a 9-1-1 call reported an eighth body, an adult male, at a fourth residence in the nearby village of Piketon.


title: Pike County shootings

text: Three young children—ages three years, six months, and four days—were unharmed during the shootings, with the four-day-old being found in bed with her mother's body. Seven adults and a 16-year-old were among those slain. The four-day-old and the six-month-old were placed under protective services, and the three-year-old was put under the guardianship of his mother, who was not involved in the shootings.


title: Pike County shootings

text: The bodies of the victims were taken to the Hamilton County Coroner's Office in Cincinnati, where autopsies found that all but one of the victims were shot multiple times. Four of the victims were shot once, twice, or three times; one was shot four times; two were shot five times; and the eighth suffered a total of nine gunshot wounds. Death certificates released on May 28 clarified that six of the eight victims were shot in the head only; Christopher Rhoden Sr. suffered gunshot wounds to the head, torso and limbs, and Dana was shot in the head and neck. Bruising was also found on some of the bodies, indicating some of the victims were beaten as well. Some of the victims were found shot in their beds. From the number of gunshot wounds on the victims' bodies, an estimated total of 32 shots were fired during the killings.


title: Pike County shootings

text: The offices of the county coroner and the Ohio Attorney General announced that the full final autopsy reports would not be released to the public, citing security concerns. On July 22, 2016, "The Cincinnati Enquirer" filed a lawsuit against the Pike County Coroner's Office, asking for the full autopsy records of the victims. On August 12, 2016, a similar lawsuit was filed by "The Columbus Dispatch". In both cases, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine called for mediation, which attracted criticism and accusations that it was merely a delay tactic. A lawyer representing both newspapers said there was no legal basis for law enforcement's withholding of information from the public.


title: Pike County shootings

text: In a filing on September 6, 2016, DeWine responded to "The Columbus Dispatch"s lawsuit against the coroner's office, saying:


title: Pike County shootings

text: Public release of information known only to law enforcement and the killer(s) directly threatens the success of the investigation. Among other consequences, releasing this type of information impedes investigators' ability to separate genuine leads from fake, which wastes resources; makes it difficult to analyze confessions, which are fact-checked against information known only by investigators; and devalues information provided by witnesses who come forward after public release.


title: Pike County shootings

text: Amid lawsuits by media outlets, the coroner's office released heavily redacted versions of the final reports on September 23, 2016. The Fourth District Court of Appeals denied the Enquirer's request for an unredacted copy of the autopsy report on March 17, 2017. On September 19, 2018, the Ohio Supreme Court overturned a lower court's refusal to release the autopsy reports and the full autopsy reports were then publicly released.


title: Pike County shootings

text: On April 28, Gary Rhoden was the first of the victims to be buried, with his funeral proceedings being held in South Shore, Kentucky. Hannah Hazel Gilley was the next to be buried, on May 1, at Otway, Ohio. Funerals for the remaining victims took place on May 3 at West Portsmouth, where there was a high level of security. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine approved more than $20,000 to help pay for the funerals.


title: Pike County shootings

text: Ohio Governor and 2016 U.S. presidential candidate John Kasich, who was briefed on the killings, described them as "tragic beyond comprehension".


title: Pike County shootings

text: Cincinnati-area businessman Jeff Ruby (namesake of Jeff Ruby Steaks) offered a reward of $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the shootings. On April 28, 2016, Ruby withdrew his reward, citing "recent complex criminal developments" in a post on Twitter. A reward of $10,000 from the Southern Ohio Crime Stoppers fund was authorized on May 10, but not announced by authorities until ten weeks later on July 21 due to a "miscommunication and a misunderstanding" about public notification.


title: Pike County shootings

text: Police believed that more than one shooter was responsible for the killings, since two of the crime scenes were within walking distance, a third located about a mile away, and the fourth about eight miles away. Investigators briefly considered the possibility of a murder–suicide, but it was discredited as none of the victims' deaths appeared to be suicides. Attorney General DeWine stated that the killings were planned, premeditated, and "a sophisticated operation," citing the efforts taken by the shooter or shooters to cover up their tracks and remove any incriminating forensic evidence.


title: Pike County shootings

text: All of the victims were members of the Rhoden family. Surviving family members were urged by police to take precautions, and all residents of Peebles were advised to stay inside their homes the following night. An investigative task force of at least 100 members, led by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI), was assembled. More than 251 law enforcement officials were involved in the investigation overall, and sheriffs from 25 offices across Ohio offered to provide resources to Pike County. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration provided technical expertise to DeWine's office.


title: Pike County shootings

text: At least five search warrants were executed, and more than 50 people were interviewed in connection with the killings. Seventy-nine pieces of evidence were examined, including a Facebook threat aimed at Christopher Rhoden Jr., which was posted before the shootings.


title: Pike County shootings

text: On April 25, a spokesperson for DeWine's office also confirmed that cannabis was discovered at the three crime scenes on Union Hill Road, including an indoor grow house in which hundreds of cannabis plants were being grown, as well as chickens and equipment consistent with breeding chickens for cockfighting. An estimated total of 200 cannabis plants were recovered from the crime scenes and are believed to have been grown for sale and not for personal use. It was not known whether the cannabis was connected to the shootings, though investigators confirmed the possibility of the involvement of a Mexican drug cartel.


title: Pike County shootings

text: Cannabis cultivation is a common occurrence in Pike County: in 2010, 22,000 cannabis plants were seized by authorities in Latham, west of Piketon; and a major cannabis growth site was discovered by police in August 2012, with about 1,200 cannabis plants being destroyed by investigators. In both cases, police suspected connections to Mexican drug cartels.


title: Pike County shootings

text: On April 26, Dana Rhoden's father, Leonard Manley, stated that the victims knew their killer(s), citing the presence of Dana's two protective dogs. There was no indication that the dogs tried to attack anyone during the shootings, and there were no signs of forced entry at any of the crime scenes. Manley, who was not involved in the shootings, also said his daughter had no involvement in the exposed cannabis operations, saying that "they are trying to drag my daughter through the mud, and I don't appreciate that."


title: Pike County shootings

text: Some family members have acknowledged brothers Kenneth and Christopher Rhoden Sr. growing cannabis, but added that they were unaware of any high-volume cultivation occurring.


title: Pike County shootings

text: On May 3, following the funerals of the last six victims, authorities towed away at least three vehicles from property belonging to the Rhoden family; a spokeswoman for Mike DeWine said they were towed "as part of the investigation". Additional vehicles were towed the next day as well. They were all dropped off at the base of operations set up by the investigative task force. As of May 12, more than 500 tips had been submitted and 128 interviews were conducted.


title: Pike County shootings

text: On May 12, DeWine and Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader announced the state's intention to relocate the mobile homes where the killings occurred to a secure location, in order to preserve evidence and protect the personal effects of the Rhoden family. Three of the homes were taken to a property in Waverly, where the investigative task force set up their command center, while the fourth would arrive later due to complications in removing it.


title: Pike County shootings

text: As of October 6, the homes were being stored in a warehouse that was once part of a chemical processing company. On November 24, dozens of family vehicles and farming equipment, which were seized and investigated earlier in May, were returned to the victims' relatives.


title: Pike County shootings

text: On August 4, during a court hearing relating to the custody of the 6-month-old and 4-day-old children left alive, Sheriff Charles Reader confirmed investigators' early suspicions that more than one shooter was involved in the killings. He also said that the two children remained in "grave danger" because of the investigation, and that the investigation was possibly the largest in the BCI's history.


title: Pike County shootings

text: On August 13, KVIA-TV incorrectly reported that two men arrested in Hatch, New Mexico, for the shooting death of a police officer were also suspected in the Rhoden familicide. The men, in reality, were suspected of another shooting death in Londonderry, Ross County, Ohio. DeWine and Pike County Sheriff Charles S. Reader issued a statement saying that they were unaware of a link between the case and the New Mexico arrests, that there was no evidence confirming it, and that New Mexico authorities had not contacted them about a suspected connection. KVIA later retracted the error.


title: Pike County shootings

text: On August 20, DeWine announced new information regarding the investigation. He confirmed family and community members' suspicions that the perpetrators were familiar with the victims, their homes, and the surrounding area. He also announced that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies had become involved with the investigation. In addition, DeWine speculated that residents in the area have more knowledge than what they are sharing with investigators.


title: Pike County shootings

text: On August 23, officials in Kenton County, Kentucky, located about from Pike County, reported similarities between the Ohio shootings and a double homicide in Kenton County that occurred two weeks before. The victims, a well-known drug dealer and his girlfriend, were found fatally shot execution-style in their bed. The uncaught Kenton County killers, who were believed to be familiar with the victims' home, also left any children in the house unharmed. A total of 770 tips had been submitted to investigators as of September 23, according to court documents released on October 7.


title: Pike County shootings

text: On September 28, WXIX-TV reported that the Rhoden family houses, all seized by the state as part of the investigation, were not being guarded properly. A news team had spent six weeks, starting from August 14 and ending in late September, watching the warehouse. Their surveillance reportedly turned up an absence of uniformed officers guarding the building, as well as a lack of security cameras and an unlocked, open main gate. DeWine responded to the claims, calling them "ludicrous" and asserting that the evidence was preserved and is not compromised. Reacting to the report, a former prosecutor from Hamilton County criticized the inadequate security measures and said, "Any evidence that they would pull out of that thing would be virtually useless."


title: Pike County shootings

text: On October 1, DeWine said that investigators were getting leads in the case and that the state had enough physical evidence for prosecution. He also appealed to the public, explaining that there are people who know more about the shootings.