title: Claremont serial killings

text: Initial suspicion centred on the unidentified vehicles seen at two of the locations, and on an unidentified man seen in the video footage. Suspicion then focused on Perth's taxi drivers, because the women were last seen in circumstances where they may have used taxis. This included a driver who claimed to have transported Spiers the night before her disappearance. A massive fingerprint and DNA-testing exercise was then carried out on the thousands of taxi drivers licensed in Western Australia. Given evidence of a number of unlicensed operators, examining standards for eligibility were raised, and 78 drivers with significant criminal history were de-licensed. Stricter standards were also applied to verifying that decommissioned taxis were stripped of insignia and equipment. In December 2015, investigators finally revealed that fibres taken from Rimmer were identified as coming from a VS Series 1 Holden Commodore, one of the cars seen that night.


title: Claremont serial killings

text: Macro attracted both praise and criticism for its handling of the case. At its peak, it had over 100 members across 10 teams. To avoid leaks, strict confidentiality protocols were implemented, and details of the nature of the deaths and injuries were suppressed. One of the tactics used by Macro was the controversial distribution of questionnaires to 110 "persons of interest", including various confrontational enquiries such as "Are you the killer?" Another was its reliance on international experts and use of an imported lie detector machine. Further, one of its officers accepted an offer by David Birnie to assist the investigation. Criticism was also laid on its overly narrow focus on the initial prime suspect despite the lack of direct evidence (as occurred in the cases of Andrew Mallard and Lloyd Rayney). Over its lifetime, Macro had 11 police reviews, including one in August 2004 led by Paul Schramm, the officer who had led the Snowtown investigation. It was finally wound down in September 2005 and the investigation moved to the Special Crimes Squad.


title: Claremont serial killings

text: In April 1998, a public servant from Cottesloe, Lance Williams (41), was identified by police as the prime suspect, after his behaviour attracted their attention (e.g. driving around after midnight and circling the Claremont area up to 30 times) during a decoy operation. Subjected to a high level of surveillance and police pressure over several years, he continued to maintain his innocence. After interviewing him six times at length, police declared in late 2008 that he was "no longer a person of interest". He died in 2018.


title: Claremont serial killings

text: It was reported that police also investigated whether Bradley Murdoch may have been involved, although Murdoch was serving a custodial sentence from November 1995 until February 1997. In October 2006, it was also announced that Mark Dixie was a prime suspect in the killings, and that Macro had requested DNA samples. However, WA Police Deputy Commissioner Murray Lampard was later quoted as saying: "Dixie was closely investigated at the time and eventually ruled out as a suspect."


title: Claremont serial killings

text: On 22 December 2016, Bradley Robert Edwards (b. 1968) was arrested at his Kewdale house in relation to the deaths of both Rimmer and Glennon. The next day, he was charged with both murders. According to ABC News, he is believed to have had no previous link to the case, though he had pleaded guilty to the aggravated assault of a social worker at Hollywood Hospital on 7 May 1990. He was also charged in relation to two other attacks: the house break and enter and unlawful detention of an 18-year-old woman in Huntingdale on 15 February 1988 (where a stolen kimono with his DNA was dropped as the attacker fled), and the unlawful detention and two counts of aggravated sexual penetration without consent of a 17-year-old girl in Claremont on 12 February 1995. On 22 February 2018, Edwards was also charged with the wilful murder of the third victim, Spiers. In all, Edwards was charged with eight offences, and on 21 October 2019, Edwards pleaded guilty to the five non-murder charges (at Huntingdale and Karrakatta Cemetery).


title: Claremont serial killings

text: Before the trial, the prosecution applied for Edwards to be tried by judge alone without a jury. The application was granted due to the publicity surrounding the case and the graphic nature of the evidence. The murder trial began on 25 November 2019, before Supreme Court Justice Stephen Hall. During the trial, the court was told that two of the victims had defensive wounds. Edwards' DNA was also found under Glennon's fingernails (and matched to the kimono) although the defence argued this evidence was contaminated in the laboratory.


title: Claremont serial killings

text: One of the main pieces of evidence was the Telstra work vehicles. Edwards was working as a technician at the time, and it was claimed that he used company vehicles after hours to execute the crimes. This was corroborated by a witness, a security guard, who recalled seeing a Telecom van parked on multiple occasions at the Karrakatta Cemetery "for no apparent reason", both after the 1995 attack and before Spiers' 1996 disappearance. According to the prosecutor, Carmel Barbagallo, the state presented this evidence as part of a case called "Telstra Living Witness project" where, between 1995 and 1997, a man with a Telstra station wagon stopped to look at women and offer them rides.


title: Claremont serial killings

text: During the trial, a witness from the group of men dubbed "Burger Boys", identified a Series 1 VS Commodore station wagon as cruising past them shortly after Glennon walked past. The vehicle had distinctive tear-drop hubcaps which were present on some Series 1 VS commodores Between April 1996 and December 1998, Edwards drove a white VS Series wagon with Telstra logos. The vehicle was tracked down and impounded on the same day as his arrest. During the hearing, it was revealed that fibres matching carpet in the rear of Edwards' vehicle matched fibres found on the bodies of both Rimmer and Glennon although defence argued these fibres could have come from another source or another vehicle which was not included in the WA crime database.


title: Claremont serial killings

text: The trial concluded on 25 June 2020, after seven months of hearings and evidence from more than 200 witnesses. Justice Hall then retired to consider his verdict in the case, flagging that it may potentially be handed down before Edwards's remand in custody ends on 24 September 2020. On the final day of custody, Hall handed down a 619-page written verdict within which Edwards was found guilty of the murders of Rimmer and Glennon, but not of Spiers (though it was "more likely" that Edwards was involved in her disappearance than not). On 23 December 2020, Edwards was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of a parole after 40 years. Hall said there was a "high likelihood" that he will die in prison.


title: Claremont serial killings

text: It has been suggested by journalist Liam Bartlett that Spiers was not the first victim. He wrote that police have told the father of a fourth missing woman, 22-year-old Julie Cutler, that his daughter was probably a victim of the Claremont killer. Cutler, a university student from Fremantle, vanished after leaving a staff function at the Parmelia Hilton Hotel in Perth at 9:00 pm on 20 June 1988. Her car was found in the surf near the groyne at Cottesloe Beach two days later, and her fate remains unknown.


title: Claremont serial killings

text: Other possible cases include that of Lisa Brown (19), a sex worker who disappeared on 10 November 1998, and Sara McMahon (20), who disappeared on 8 November 2000.


title: 8 Seconds

text: 8 Seconds is a 1994 American contemporary Western biographical drama film directed by John G. Avildsen. Its title refers to the length of time a bull rider is required to stay on for a ride to be scored. It stars Luke Perry as American rodeo legend Lane Frost and focuses on his life and career as a bull riding champion. It also features Stephen Baldwin as Tuff Hedeman, and Red Mitchell as Cody Lambert.


title: 8 Seconds

text: The film was completed and premiered shortly after what would have been Frost's 30th birthday, in late 1993.


title: 8 Seconds

text: While growing up in Oklahoma, young Lane Frost learns the tricks of the bull riding trade at the hand of his father Clyde, an accomplished rodeo bronco rider himself. As he enters his teenage and early adult years, Lane travels the western rodeo circuit with his best friends Tuff Hedeman and Cody Lambert. He meets and falls in love with a young barrel racer, Kellie Kyle, and they eventually marry in 1984.


title: 8 Seconds

text: As Lane's legend and fame increase, so does the amount of pressure he puts on himself, to be what everyone wants him to be, and he wants to show that he is as good as they say he is. His ascent to the world championship is marred by a cheating incident, questions about Kellie's devotion, and a near broken neck. The film also follows him through the true life series between himself and Red Rock, a bull that no cowboy had ever been able to stay on for 8 seconds. It cuts the series down to three rides. In 1989, he is the second-to-last rider at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo. While riding on the bull known as "Takin' Care Of Business", he dismounts after his 8-second ride but the bull turns back and hits him in the side with his horn, breaking some ribs and severing a main artery. As a result of excessive internal bleeding, he dies on the arena floor before he can be transported to the hospital.


title: 8 Seconds

text: The final scene shows Hedeman later that same year at the National Finals Rodeo riding for the world championship. After the 8 second bell sounds, he continues to ride and stays on an additional 8 seconds as a tribute to his fallen best friend.


title: 8 Seconds

text: Filming took place in mainly in Boerne, Texas, Del Rio, Texas, Tucson Rodeo Grounds, San Antonio and Pendleton, Oregon and a handful of other minor locations.


title: 8 Seconds

text: "8 Seconds" was released in the United States on February 25, 1994. In the Philippines, the film was released on September 8, 1994, with free "Luke Perry handkerchiefs" handed out to moviegoers who present the film's newspaper ad at the lobby of any theater; the film was promoted as being the first American film to be given by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board's (MTRCB) an "Excellent" rating.


title: 8 Seconds

text: The "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel" praised Perry's acting but criticized the performance of Cynthia Geary, who played Kellie Frost. It holds a 31% rating from Rotten Tomatoes based on 13 reviews.


title: Fenriz

text: Gylve Fenris Nagell (born Leif Nagell; 28 November 1971), known professionally as Fenriz, is a Norwegian musician, part-time music journalist and online radio host (with the show "Radio Fenriz") who is best known as being one half of the extreme metal duo Darkthrone, alongside Nocturno Culto. Although primarily a drummer and songwriter, he has also played bass, guitar and done vocals for Darkthrone and several other metal bands. Fenriz is famed for his encyclopedic knowledge of metal music, his eager promotion of underground bands and the DIY ethic, and his rejection of the "showbiz side of the music industry". Fenriz was also the studio drummer for doom metal band Valhall, and has had several solo projects, including the folk black metal project Isengard and the dark ambient project Neptune Towers.


title: Fenriz

text: Fenriz's first exposure to heavy metal music came when he was a child and received Uriah Heep's album "Sweet Freedom" from his uncle for his birthday. At age 16, Fenriz dropped out of school and began working full time to support his music. In 1986 he co-founded the death metal band Black Death with Ivar Enger and Anders Risberget. By 1988 they had been joined by Ted Skjellum (Nocturno Culto) and were renamed Darkthrone. After releasing their first death metal album in 1991, the band changed style and became one of the leading bands in the early Norwegian black metal scene. Fenriz said he had a passive interest in Bathory and Celtic Frost, but claims that he did not understand the "darkness" of black metal until hearing a song by the Hungarian band Tormentor. The second album released by Darkthrone, "A Blaze in the Northern Sky", recorded in August 1991 at Creative Studios but not released until February 1992, is regarded as one of the most important albums that defined the black metal genre. Darkthrone were not involved in the church burnings and murders carried out by some other members of the scene, and Fenriz has denounced the "hype" surrounding it.


title: Fenriz

text: Since 1993, Darkthrone have been a duo of Fenriz and Nocturno Culto. Fenriz recorded all instruments on their albums "Transilvanian Hunger" (1994) and "Panzerfaust" (1995). From the late 1980s to the mid 1990s Fenriz also founded several solo projects, including the folk black metal project Isengard and the dark ambient project Neptune Towers. He was also the drummer for the band Valhall on their three studio albums. In the 1990s he co-founded the folk metal band Storm with Sigurd Wongraven, which released one album.


title: Fenriz

text: Both he and Nocturno have refused to play live since the 1990s. In 2004, they turned down a nomination for a Norwegian Alarm Award for their album "Sardonic Wrath". Fenriz said, "we have no interest in being part of the glitter and showbiz side of the music industry". Fenriz (alongside Varg Vikernes) is the principal focus of the 2008 black metal documentary film "Until The Light Takes Us".


title: Fenriz

text: In 2016, it was widely reported that Fenriz had been elected to his local municipal council, Oppegård. He was elected for a four-year term as a substitute councillor for the Liberal Party, explaining that he would "have to step in when the usual people who go to the big meetings are sick or something". Fenriz said: "They called and asked if I wanted to be on the list [of backup representatives]. I said yeah, thinking I would be like 18th on the list and I wouldn't really have to do anything". His "campaign" was a photo of him holding his cat with the caption "Please Don't Vote For Me".


title: Fenriz

text: Fenriz lives in his hometown of Kolbotn. According to "The Guardian", Fenriz "has long been a hero in the underground scene" and "has an obsession with unearthing new music and promoting it with rabid enthusiasm". The heavy metal magazine "Iron Fist" noted he has a reputation as a "walking metal encyclopedia". He is a part-time music journalist and hosts a monthly online radio show on NTS called "Radio Fenriz". He created the "Band of the Week" blog from which the acts for the underground metal festival Live Evil are sourced. Fenriz has famously been working part-time in the postal service since the late 1980s, which he says allows him to spend many hours each week listening to new music. He has also appeared on a Norwegian television show about hiking in forests.


title: Megan Young

text: Megan Lynne Young (born February 27, 1990) is a Filipino-American actress, model, television presenter and beauty queen who won the Miss World Philippines 2013 title and was later crowned as Miss World 2013. She is the first Filipina to win the title of Miss World.


title: Megan Young

text: Young was born on February 27, 1990 in Alexandria, Virginia to Victoria Talde, from Pandan, Antique, and American Calvin Cole Young III.


title: Megan Young

text: Young's family moved to Castillejos, Zambales when she was ten. She received secondary education in Regional Science High School III within the Subic Bay Freeport Zone from 2002 to 2005 before moving to Metro Manila to pursue her acting career. In 2011, she began studying filmmaking at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.


title: Megan Young

text: Young's first showbiz break was through the second season of the talent reality search, "StarStruck", wherein she placed in the top six. Her first acting job in GMA was in "Love to Love Presents: Love Ko Urok" wherein she played the role of Meg. She then played the role of Anna in "Asian Treasures" and the role of a fairy in "Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang".


title: Megan Young

text: After more than two years with GMA Artist Center, she moved to ABS-CBN following her sister, Lauren Young. She is the first "StarStruck" alumna to transfer to GMA's rival station, ABS-CBN.


title: Megan Young

text: Young first appeared in ABS-CBN in the youth oriented show "Star Magic Presents" "Astigs" and "Abt Ur Luv". She also played the role of Shane in "Kokey", opposite Zanjoe Marudo. She became well known when she appeared as one of the celebrity housemates in "", dubbed as "The Princess of Charm".


title: Megan Young

text: After "PBB", she portrayed the villain Marcela in ABS-CBN's remake of "I Love Betty La Fea" opposite John Lloyd Cruz. In 2009, she was one of four personalities introduced as video jockeys for the relaunching of Channel [V] Philippines. Young also became an occasional host in several shows in Studio 23. In 2012, Young had her big break as a lead actress in "Hiyas", reuniting with Zanjoe Marudo as her love interest. In 2013, she switched to TV5 but still made appearances in the Kapamilya network.


title: Megan Young

text: Aside from television, Young has also starred in a few films, one of which was "The Reunion", where she played Toyang, opposite Xian Lim. Young was nominated as Outstanding Guest Star on Dahsyatnya Awards 2014.


title: Megan Young

text: In March 2015, Megan Young returned to GMA Network after four years of exclusive contract with ABS-CBN. Her comeback project in the "Kapuso Network" is the most anticipated second adaptation of the hit Mexicanovela "MariMar" where she plays the title role. She is paired with Tom Rodriguez who plays the role of her love interest "Sergio". Her sister Lauren Young is also part of the show and plays the role of "MariMar's" main antagonist "Antonia". This marks their second project together after .


title: Megan Young

text: Megan is also one of the hosts in the sixth edition of the reality talent search "Starstruck" which launched her career as an artist. She's working alongside Dingdong Dantes as main host, and her co-"Starstruck" alumni Mark Herras, Rocco Nacino, Miguel Tanfelix, and Kris Bernal, who serve as "journey hosts". The show premiered on September 7, 2015.


title: Megan Young

text: She was crowned Miss World Philippines 2013 during the pageant coronation night on August 18, 2013. She also bagged the "Best in Fashion Runway", "Miss Sports" by Fila, "Miss Reducin", "Miss Olay", "Miss Laguna", "Miss Figlia" and "Miss Bench Body" awards.


title: Megan Young

text: On October 12, 2014, Young crowned Valerie Weigmann as her successor at the Miss World Philippines 2014 pageant held at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Philippines.


title: Megan Young

text: Young was crowned as Miss World 2013 in Bali, Indonesia, making her the first Filipina to win the title of Miss World since its creation in 1951.


title: Megan Young

text: During the preliminaries, she also won the "Top Model" competition, placed second in the "People's Champion," placed fourth in the "Multimedia Challenge" and fifth in the "Beach Beauty" contest.


title: Megan Young

text: In the final question and answer portion, the contestants in the Top 6 were asked the same question: "Why should you be the next Miss World?" and Young replied:


title: Megan Young

text: Young also received the Continental Queen of Beauty title as Miss World Asia 2013, the highest ranked contestant in the Asian region and was featured in the Dances of the World segment of the final show.


title: Megan Young

text: On December 14, 2014, Young crowned Rolene Strauss as her successor at the Miss World 2014 pageant held at the ExCeL London in London, United Kingdom.


title: Megan Young

text: In February 2017, Mikael Daez confirmed that he had been dating Young for six years, and the revelation was made after so long due to work commitments. On January 25, 2020, they announced their marriage.


title: Supermarine Spiteful

text: The Supermarine Spiteful was a British Rolls-Royce Griffon-engined fighter aircraft designed by Supermarine to Air Ministry specification F.1/43 during the Second World War as a successor to the Spitfire. It had a new wing design to improve its critical Mach number, and allow safe operations at higher speeds. The new design also had a modern inwards-retracting undercarriage. Other changes included a larger fin to improve the somewhat marginal stability of Griffon Spitfires and changes to the mounting of the engine to tilt it down slightly for better visibility over the nose.


title: Supermarine Spiteful

text: The Spiteful was ready for production as the war was ending, but was passed over in favour of jet-powered designs. The Royal Navy continued development as the Supermarine Seafang as it was not clear jets could safely operate from aircraft carriers, but the success of the de Havilland Sea Vampire led to this project being cancelled in 1945. Discussions with the French firm SNCAC to produce the Spiteful under licence were abandoned when France produced jet engines. Of the original order for 150 Spitefuls, only a small number were completed.


title: Supermarine Spiteful

text: In 1942 in order to improve the Spitfire's rolling characteristics, the Air Ministry asked Supermarine to devise a new wing, and to introduce a "laminar flow section" into the wing.


title: Supermarine Spiteful

text: By 1942, Supermarine designers had realised that the characteristics of the Spitfire's wing at high Mach numbers might become a limiting factor in increasing the aircraft's high-speed performance. The main problem was the aeroelasticity of the Spitfire's wing; at high speeds the relatively light structure behind the strong leading edge torsion box would flex, changing the airflow and limiting the maximum safe diving speed to 480 mph (772 km/h) IAS. If the Spitfire were to be able to fly higher and faster, a radically new wing would be needed.


title: Supermarine Spiteful

text: Joseph Smith and the design team were aware of a paper on compressibility, published by A.D. Young of the R.A.E, in which he described a new type of wing section; the maximum thickness and camber would be much nearer to the mid-chord than conventional airfoils and the nose section of this airfoil would be close to an ellipse. In November 1942, Supermarine issued Specification No 470 which (in part) stated


title: Supermarine Spiteful

text: Specification 470 described how the wing had been designed with a straight taper to simplify production and to achieve a smooth and accurate contour. The wing skins were to be relatively thick, aiding torsional rigidity which was needed for good aileron control at high speeds. Although the prototype was to have a dihedral of 3° it was intended that this would be increased in subsequent aircraft. To improve the ground-handling, the Spitfire's narrow-track, outward-retracting undercarriage was replaced with a wider-track, inward-retracting system. (This eliminated a weakness in the original Spitfire design, giving the new plane safer landing characteristics, comparable to the Hawker Hurricane, Hawker Typhoon, Hawker Tempest, Mustang and Focke-Wulf Fw 190.) The Air Ministry was impressed by the proposal and in February 1943, issued Specification F.1/43 for a single-seat fighter with a laminar flow wing; there was also to be provision made for a wing folding scheme to meet possible Fleet Air Arm requirements. The new fighter was to use a fuselage based on a Spitfire VIII. Three aircraft with contra-rotating propeller were ordered under the specification - intended to be largely experimental to test the wing and propeller. Supermarine were left to decide whether to use a Merlin or Griffon; the first two aircraft were built with Griffons, the third with a Merlin but all had the contra-rotating propeller. The Specification also called for the wing to be used on Mark VIII or Mark 21 airframes with the expectation that it would be used on production lines from the end of 1944.


title: Supermarine Spiteful

text: The new wing was fitted to a modified Spitfire XIV serial "NN660", in order to make a direct comparison with the earlier elliptical wing, and was first flown on 30 June 1944 by Jeffrey Quill. Although the new Spitfire's speed performance was comfortably in excess of an unmodified Spitfire XIV, the new wing displayed some undesirable behaviour at the stall which, although acceptable, did not come up to the high standards of Mitchell's earlier elliptical wing. "NN660" crashed on 13 September 1944 while performing mock-combat at low altitude with a standard Spitfire, killing pilot Frank Furlong. No reason for the loss was officially established, although Quill suspected that the aileron control rods had momentarily seized, the Spiteful using control rods rather than the Spitfire's cables. Quill noted that from then on a careful check was always made of the control rods at the factory, and that type of accident never re-occurred.


title: Supermarine Spiteful

text: In the meantime, the opportunity had been taken to redesign the Spitfire's fuselage, to improve the pilot's view over the nose and to eliminate gross directional instability by using a larger fin and rudder. This instability had been apparent since the introduction of the more powerful Griffon engine. The instability was exacerbated by the increase in propeller blade area due to the introduction of the four-bladed and subsequent five-bladed Rotol airscrews for the next aircraft, "NN664" (the first to be built to the full F.1/43 specification ). The updated design incorporated the new fuselage (although lacking the enlarged fin/rudder) and, as it was now substantially different from a Spitfire, the aircraft was named "Spiteful" (although "Victor I" had been originally proposed to be applied to the Mark 21 with standard wing with Victor II for Mark 21s with laminar wing. The name Valiant was also under consideration.). NN664 first flew in January 1945.


title: Supermarine Spiteful

text: The Spiteful was found to have higher speed than the Spitfire, but the increase was not as great as had been expected. The Spiteful had more adverse compressibility effects and poorer stalling characteristics than its predecessor. Nonetheless, the wing was judged suitable for jet aircraft and was fitted to the Supermarine Type 392.


title: Supermarine Spiteful

text: The Spiteful was ordered into production as the Spiteful XIV (having no preceding marks of its own, the numerals were carried over from the original Spitfire XIV conversion), and 150 of the aircraft were ordered. With the advent of jet propulsion, however, the future of high-performance fighters was clearly with the jet-engined aircraft, and so the order was later cancelled with only a handful of Spitefuls built. At the time however, there was some uncertainty over whether jet aircraft would be able to operate from the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers so it was decided to develop a naval version of the Spiteful, to specification N.5/45, subsequently named Seafang.


title: Supermarine Spiteful

text: The Seafang featured folding wingtips, a "sting"-type arrester hook and a Griffon 89 or 90 engine, fed from an extended carburettor air intake driving two new Rotol three-bladed contra-rotating propellers. The first one produced was a converted Spiteful XV ("RB520") but with the successful operation of the de Havilland Sea Vampire from the carrier in 1945, the need for the Seafang disappeared.


title: Supermarine Spiteful

text: With the end of the Second World War, Supermarine entered into discussions with "Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord" (SNCAN) about licence production of the Spiteful in France, but again the introduction of jet fighters overshadowed the piston-engined fighter and the talks came to nothing.


title: Supermarine Spiteful

text: In late 1943 or early 1944, Supermarine's chief designer Joe Smith suggested Supermarine develop a simple jet fighter based around the Spiteful's wing, and use a new jet engine being proposed by Rolls-Royce (later the Nene). This proposal was accepted and a new specification, E.10/44, was issued by the Air Ministry for an experimental aircraft which was initially referred to as the "Jet Spiteful"; the prototype "TS409" first flew on 27 July 1946. The E.10/44 was not ordered by the RAF, as its performance was not substantially better than the Gloster Meteor and de Havilland Vampire but the Admiralty expressed an interest in the aircraft for use as a naval fighter and issued specification E.1/45 around it. The aircraft was subsequently named "Attacker" and had a short career with the Fleet Air Arm and the Pakistan Air Force.


title: Supermarine Spiteful

text: The enlarged fin/rudder of the Spiteful was also used on the Spitfire Mark 22 and 24s and Seafire Mark 46 and 47s and was usually referred to as the "Spiteful type" tail.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli (, ; born 22 February 1952) is a Nepalese politician and former Prime Minister of Nepal. He served three terms as prime minister from 11 October 2015 to 3 August 2016, from 15 February 2018 to 13 May 2021 as the first elected prime minister under the new constitution, and from 13 May 2021 to 13 July 2021.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: Oli is noted for taking a more hardline stance with regard to the Indian government during and in the aftermath of the 2015 Nepal blockade. He strengthened relations with China as an alternative to Nepal's traditional close trade ties with India and updated the map of Nepal by constitutional amendment including territories disputed with India, for which he has received some domestic praise and a reputation as a nationalist. While in office, Oli was marred by controversy for frequent use of tongue-in-cheek remarks, hostility towards critics and the media, silence on corruption by colleagues and business aides, failing to deliver on economic growth, and for deviating from promised budgetary expenditures despite a historic majority in the 2017 legislative election.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: Oli was born on 22 February 1952 in Aathrai, Tehrathum as the eldest child of Mohan Prasad and Madhumaya Oli in a Brahmin family of farmers. He belongs to a Kumaoni Brahmin family. Oli was raised by his grandmother, Rammaya, after his mother died of smallpox when he was four. He completed his primary school education in Tehrathum and moved to Jhapa in 1962. Oli adheres to Hinduism.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: Oli began his political career in 1966 in opposition to the partyless Panchayat system in place at the time. He joined the Communist Party of Nepal in February 1970. He was involved in subversive politics and was arrested for the first time in 1970. A year later he became a district committee member of the party and soon the chief of the Jhapa Movement Organizing Committee in 1972. Oli was imprisoned for 14 consecutive years from 1973 to 1987 for being against autocratic Panchayat system. After his release from prison in 1987, he became a central committee member of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and in-charge of the Lumbini zone until 1990.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: After the 1990 People's Movement, he was elected to the House of Representatives from Jhapa–6 in 1991. He was appointed chief of the foreign relations department of the CPN (UML) in 1992.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: He was re-elected to the parliament in 1994 and served as the Minister for Home Affairs in Manmohan Adhikari's minority government. He was re-elected from in 1999 from Jhapa constituencies 2 and 6 upon which he gave up his Jhapa–6 seat.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: Oli was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs as part of the interim government of Girija Prasad Koirala in 2006. He was also assigned to look into the death of fellow politician Madan Bhandari.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: He was defeated in the 2008 Constituent Assembly election from Jhapa–7. He also lost the election for the position of chairman to Jhala Nath Khanal during the eight general convention of CPN (UML) in 2009.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: He was elected from Jhapa–7 in the 2013 Constituent Assembly election and became leader of the CPN (UML) parliamentary party on 4 February 2014, defeating party chairman Khanal by a vote of 98 to 75 in the parliamentary party. Oli was subsequently elected as the chairman of CPN (UML) in July 2014 during the party's ninth general convention.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: Oli was elected Prime Minister in a parliamentary vote on 11 October 2015, receiving 338 votes out of 597 members in the Legislature Parliament. Oli's candidacy was supported by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, and Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum along with 13 other small parties. He was sworn in on 12 October.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: His first stint was dominated by the economic blockade imposed by India upon the promulgation of the constitution of Nepal. He took a defiant stance against India's position to amend the constitution and signed trade and transit treaties with China to counter Indian dependence.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: Following the withdrawal of support from CPN (Maoist Centre) on 13 July 2016 from the existing coalition government and subsequent registration of a no-confidence motion by the party on 14 July 2016, the CPN (UML)–led government and prime minister Oli seemingly shrank into a minority, pressuring him to resign. However, CPN (UML) decided to discuss the filed no-confidence motion in the house which led to a three-day parliamentary meeting of the concerned parties. During the process, two other major parties, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum, also withdrew their support from the coalition. On the third day, 24 July 2016, after addressing the opposition parties in parliament, Oli announced his resignation. The Indian government was accused of conspiring in bringing down Oli as he stood firmly against the economic blockade imposed by India; an allegation categorically rejected by the Ministry of External Affairs of India.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: Oli was appointed Prime Minister for a second time on 15 February 2018 after CPN (UML) became the largest party in the House of Representatives following the 2017 legislative elections with support from Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), the same party whose withdrawal of support had led to resignation in his first term. He passed a motion of confidence with on 11 March 2018 with 208 out of 268 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives. The left alliance of the CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre) merged to form the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on 17 May 2018, turning Oli's coalition government to a majority, and giving him a two-third majority in the House.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: In May 2020, the Oli government unveiled new maps of the country including the disputed territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura in response to the inauguration of a road across the Lipulekh pass by the Indian government, which led to a "cartographic war" between the two countries. The government swiftly brought a constitutional amendment bill to amend the official map and emblem of the country in the parliament, which was passed unanimously in both houses before being authenticated by President Bidya Devi Bhandari.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: In December 2020, the Oli government recommended the dissolution of the House of Representatives and called for fresh elections on 30 April and 10 May 2021; a step that was readily endorsed by the president. Oli took this step after a series of infighting in the ruling NCP, which culminated with a faction of the party, led by former prime ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal, planning to register a motion of no-confidence against Oli in the House. Oli's reluctance in withdrawing a controversial Constitutional Council Act further led to tensions in the ruling party. This decision from Oli was overturned by the Supreme Court on 23 February 2021, when a constitutional bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana deemed the dissolution of the House to be unconstitutional, and called for the House to be reinstated and a meeting of the Parliament to be held within 13 days. Oli accepted the verdict of the Supreme Court and called for a meeting of the parliament on 7 March.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: On 7 March 2021, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark ruling awarding the Nepal Communist Party to Rishiram Kattel after he had challenged the Election Commission's ruling of providing the name of his party to the NCP formed after the merger of CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre). The court's verdict invalidated the ruling party jointly led by Oli and Dahal, effectively reviving the former CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre) parties. This reduced Oli's government back to a coalition further mounting political tensions in the country. The CPN (Maoist Centre) recalled its ministers on 13 March 2021 and withdrew its support from the Oli government on 5 May 2021, effectively turning it into a minority government.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: On 10 May 2021, Oli failed to obtain a vote of confidence gaining only 93 of the total 232 votes cast in the House of Representatives, which fell 43 votes short of reaching the 136-vote majority required to win the confidence vote. His status was subsequently converted to that of a caretaker prime minister until the appointment of another prime minister by the president.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: Oli was appointed Prime Minister for a third time on 13 May 2021 by President Bidya Devi Bhandari, albeit as a minority prime minister, as none of the opposition parties were able to form a majority government or lay their claim for it in the provided time frame. Following the dissolution of the House of Representatives by the president at midnight on 22 May 2021, the Oli government turned into an interim government until new elections are held, which are scheduled for 12 and 19 November 2021.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: On 12 July 2021, the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court formed to hear writs against the dissolution of the House of Representatives filed by the opposition alliance; the Supreme Court stated that president Bidya Devi Bhandari's decision to dissolve the House of Representatives on the recommendation of prime minister Oli was unlawful and ordered the appointment of Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba as prime minister within 28 hours.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: Recently,Oli has been appointed as chairman of CPN (UML) from his party convention that happened in Chitwan.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: He has been elected to the Pratinidhi Sabha from Jhapa in 1991, 1994, 1999 and 2017 on a CPN (UML) ticket. He contested and won from two constituencies in the 1999 election and gave up his Jhapa–6 seat. He lost the 2008 Constituent assembly election, but was elected in 2013. Since the promulgation of the new constitution, he has contested two elections from Jhapa -5 seat, one in 2017 and other in 2022, and won both by scoring majority of votes. Only the top two candidates are shown below.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: Oli is married to Radhika Shakya. He met his wife, a fellow communist, after he was released from prison. They first met during party activities and married later.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: Oli has twice undergone kidney transplant. The first transplant was done in 2007 in Apollo Hospital, New Delhi. The second transplant was carried out in 2020 in Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu. For the second transplant, he received kidney from 32-year-old Samikshya Sangraula, who is reportedly Oli's niece by relation. A senior transplant surgeon from New Delhi, who had done his transplant in 2007, was also present to assist the procedure in Kathmandu.


title: KP Sharma Oli

text: Oli is known for his tongue-in-cheek remarks and use of various slang and proverbs (), often with double meanings and criticism; some directed to his own party. Oli claims he learnt this technique during the Panchayat era when he was underground to entertain his colleagues. Some of his controversial claims are:


title: Plosive

text: In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases.


title: Plosive

text: The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lips (, ), or glottis (). Plosives contrast with nasals, where the vocal tract is blocked but airflow continues through the nose, as in and , and with fricatives, where partial occlusion impedes but does not block airflow in the vocal tract.


title: Plosive

text: The terms "stop, occlusive," and "plosive" are often used interchangeably. Linguists who distinguish them may not agree on the distinction being made. The terms refer to different features of the consonant. "Stop" refers to the airflow that is stopped. "Occlusive" refers to the articulation, which occludes (blocks) the vocal tract. "Plosive" refers to the release burst (plosion) of the consonant. Some object to the use of "plosive" for inaudibly released stops, which may then instead be called "applosives". The International Phonetic Association and the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association use the term "plosive".


title: Plosive

text: Either "occlusive" or "stop" may be used as a general term covering the other together with nasals. That is, 'occlusive' may be defined as oral occlusive (plosives and affricates) plus nasal occlusives (nasals such as , ), or 'stop' may be defined as oral stops (plosives) plus nasal stops (nasals). Ladefoged and Maddieson (1996) prefer to restrict 'stop' to oral non-affricated occlusives. They say,


title: Plosive

text: In addition, they restrict "plosive" for a pulmonic consonants; "stops" in their usage include ejective and implosive consonants.


title: Plosive

text: If a term such as "plosive" is used for oral non-affricated obstruents, and nasals are not called nasal stops, then a "stop" may mean the glottal stop; "plosive" may even mean non-glottal stop. In other cases, however, it may be the word "plosive" that is restricted to the glottal stop. Note that, generally speaking, plosives do not have plosion (a release burst). In English, for example, there are plosives with no audible release, such as the in "apt". However, English plosives do have plosion in other environments.


title: Plosive

text: In Ancient Greek, the term for plosive was ("áphōnon"), which means "unpronounceable", "voiceless", or "silent", because plosives could not be pronounced without a vowel. This term was calqued into Latin as , and from there borrowed into English as "mute". "Mute" was sometimes used instead for voiceless consonants, whether plosives or fricatives, a usage that was later replaced with "surd", from Latin "deaf" or "silent", a term still occasionally seen in the literature. For more information on the Ancient Greek terms, see .


title: Plosive

text: Only the hold phase is requisite. A plosive may lack an approach when it is preceded by a consonant that involves an occlusion at the same place of articulation, as in in "end" or "old". In many languages, such as Malay and Vietnamese, word-final plosives lack a release burst, even when followed by a vowel, or have a nasal release. See no audible release.


title: Plosive

text: Nasal occlusives are somewhat similar. In the catch and hold, airflow continues through the nose; in the release, there is no burst, and final nasals are typically unreleased across most languages.


title: Plosive

text: In affricates, the catch and hold are those of a plosive, but the release is that of a fricative. That is, affricates are plosive–fricative contours.


title: Plosive

text: All spoken natural languages in the world have plosives, and most have at least the voiceless plosives , , and . However, there are exceptions: Colloquial Samoan lacks the coronal , and several North American languages, such as the northern Iroquoian and southern Iroquoian languages (i.e., Cherokee), and Arabic lack the labial . In fact, the labial is the least stable of the voiceless plosives in the languages of the world, as the unconditioned sound change → (→ → Ø) is quite common in unrelated languages, having occurred in the history of Classical Japanese, Classical Arabic, and Proto-Celtic, for instance. Formal Samoan has only one word with velar ; colloquial Samoan conflates and to . Ni‘ihau Hawaiian has for to a greater extent than Standard Hawaiian, but neither distinguish a from a . It may be more accurate to say that Hawaiian and colloquial Samoan do not distinguish velar and coronal plosives than to say they lack one or the other. Ontena Gadsup has only 1 phonemic plosive /ʔ/. Yanyuwa distinguishes plosives in 7 places of articulations /b d̪ d ḏ ɖ ɡ̟ ɡ̠/ (it does not have voiceless plosives) which is the most out of all languages.


title: Plosive

text: Voiced plosives are pronounced with vibration of the vocal cords, voiceless plosives without. Plosives are commonly voiceless, and many languages, such as Mandarin Chinese and Hawaiian, have only voiceless plosives. Others, such as most Australian languages, are indeterminate: plosives may vary between voiced and voiceless without distinction, some of them like Yanyuwa and Yidiny have only voiced plosives.


title: Plosive

text: In aspirated plosives, the vocal cords (vocal folds) are abducted at the time of release. In a prevocalic aspirated plosive (a plosive followed by a vowel or sonorant), the time when the vocal cords begin to vibrate will be delayed until the vocal folds come together enough for voicing to begin, and will usually start with breathy voicing. The duration between the release of the plosive and the voice onset is called the "voice onset time" (VOT) or the "aspiration interval". Highly aspirated plosives have a long period of aspiration, so that there is a long period of voiceless airflow (a phonetic ) before the onset of the vowel. In tenuis plosives, the vocal cords come together for voicing immediately following the release, and there is little or no aspiration (a voice onset time close to zero). In English, there may be a brief segment of breathy voice that identifies the plosive as voiceless and not voiced. In voiced plosives, the vocal folds are set for voice before the release, and often vibrate during the entire hold, and in English, the voicing after release is not breathy. A plosive is called "fully voiced" if it is voiced during the entire occlusion. In English, however, initial voiced plosives like or may have no voicing during the period of occlusion, or the voicing may start shortly before the release and continue after release, and word-final plosives tend to be fully devoiced: In most dialects of English, the final /b/, /d/ and /g/ in words like "rib", "mad" and "dog" are fully devoiced. Initial voiceless plosives, like the "p" in "pie", are aspirated, with a palpable puff of air upon release, whereas a plosive after an "s", as in "spy", is tenuis (unaspirated). When spoken near a candle flame, the flame will flicker more after the words "par, tar," and "car" are articulated, compared with "spar, star," and "scar". In the common pronunciation of "papa", the initial "p" is aspirated whereas the medial "p" is not.


title: Plosive

text: In a geminate or long consonant, the occlusion lasts longer than in simple consonants. In languages where plosives are only distinguished by length (e.g., Arabic, Ilwana, Icelandic), the long plosives may be held up to three times as long as the short plosives. Italian is well known for its geminate plosives, as the double "t" in the name "Vittoria" takes just as long to say as the "ct" does in English "Victoria". Japanese also prominently features geminate consonants, such as in the minimal pair 来た "kita" 'came' and 切った "kitta" 'cut'.


title: Plosive

text: Note that there are many languages where the features voice, aspiration, and length reinforce each other, and in such cases it may be hard to determine which of these features predominates. In such cases, the terms fortis is sometimes used for aspiration or gemination, whereas lenis is used for single, tenuous, or voiced plosives. Be aware, however, that the terms "fortis" and "lenis" are poorly defined, and their meanings vary from source to source.


title: Plosive

text: Simple nasals are differentiated from plosives only by a lowered velum that allows the air to escape through the nose during the occlusion. Nasals are acoustically sonorants, as they have a non-turbulent airflow and are nearly always voiced, but they are articulatorily obstruents, as there is complete blockage of the oral cavity. The term occlusive may be used as a cover term for both nasals and plosives.


title: Plosive

text: A prenasalized stop starts out with a lowered velum that raises during the occlusion. The closest examples in English are consonant clusters such as the [nd] in "candy", but many languages have prenasalized stops that function phonologically as single consonants. Swahili is well known for having words beginning with prenasalized stops, as in "ndege" 'bird', and in many languages of the South Pacific, such as Fijian, these are even spelled with single letters: "b" [mb], "d" [nd].


title: Plosive

text: A postnasalized plosive begins with a raised velum that lowers during the occlusion. This causes an audible nasal "release", as in English "sudden". This could also be compared to the /dn/ cluster found in Russian and other Slavic languages, which can be seen in the name of the Dnieper River.


title: Plosive

text: Note that the terms "prenasalization" and "postnasalization" are normally used only in languages where these sounds are phonemic: that is, not analyzed into sequences of plosive plus nasal.


title: Plosive

text: Stops may be made with more than one airstream mechanism. The normal mechanism is pulmonic egressive, that is, with air flowing outward from the lungs. All languages have pulmonic stops. Some languages have stops made with other mechanisms as well: ejective stops (glottalic egressive), implosive stops (glottalic ingressive), or click consonants (lingual ingressive).


title: Plosive

text: A fortis plosive is produced with more muscular tension than a lenis plosive. However, this is difficult to measure, and there is usually debate over the actual mechanism of alleged fortis or lenis consonants.


title: Plosive

text: There are a series of plosives in the Korean language, sometimes written with the IPA symbol for ejectives, which are produced using "stiff voice", meaning there is increased contraction of the glottis than for normal production of voiceless plosives. The indirect evidence for stiff voice is in the following vowels, which have a higher fundamental frequency than those following other plosives. The higher frequency is explained as a result of the glottis being tense. Other such phonation types include breathy voice, or murmur; slack voice; and creaky voice.


title: Plosive

text: Many subclassifications of plosives are transcribed by adding a diacritic or modifier letter to the IPA symbols above.


title: FIVB Senior World Rankings

text: The FIVB Senior World Rankings is a ranking system for men's and women's national teams in volleyball. The teams of the member nations of Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), volleyball's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the most successful teams being ranked highest. A points system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of all FIVB-recognised full international matches. The rankings are used in international competitions to define the seeded teams and arrange them in pools. Specific procedures for seeding and pooling are established by the FIVB in each competition's formula, but the method usually employed is the serpentine system.


title: FIVB Senior World Rankings

text: The ranking system has been revamped in 2020, responding to criticism that the preceding calculation method did not effectively reflect the relative strengths of the national teams. The old version of the ranking system was finally used on 31 January 2020.


title: FIVB Senior World Rankings

text: As of 16 November 2022, the highest ranked team in the men's category is Poland, while in the women's category is the Serbia.


title: FIVB Senior World Rankings

text: The system of point attribution for the selected FIVB World and Official Competitions below is as follows:


title: FIVB Senior World Rankings

text: In 2019, FIVB collaborated with Hypercube Business Innovation of the Netherlands to design a new world ranking platform. The previous calculation method had a problem of circularity in the international volleyball calendar: only countries who participate in the major volleyball events can earn ranking points, whilst the number of ranking points of countries also determines seeding and access of teams for major events. This unfair principle does not contribute to the sporting and commercial quality of volleyball.


title: FIVB Senior World Rankings

text: On 1 February 2020, the new ranking system will be implemented and will take into account all results from 1 January 2019. The system will be consistently updated to reflect the latest results and performances. The new World Ranking considers the match results from all official competitions:


title: FIVB Senior World Rankings

text: It is based on the zero-sum system, like CONCACAF Ranking Index, and after each game points will be added to or subtracted from a team's rating according to the formula:


title: FIVB Senior World Rankings

text: Before the match at the "FIVB Volleyball World Championship (K = 45)", Brazil "(Team A)" is ranked number 1 with a "415 WR score" and Japan "(Team B)" is ranked number 11 with a "192 WR score".


title: FIVB Senior World Rankings

text: The five Continental Rankings filter the World Ranking points won and lost in matches played between teams from the same Continental Confederation.


title: All About Love: New Visions

text: All About Love: New Visions is a book by bell hooks published in 2000 that discusses aspects of love in modern society. Hooks combines personal anecdotes as well as psychological and philosophical ideas to develop and strengthen her argument. She focuses on romantic love and believes that in American culture men have been socialized to mistrust the value and power of love while women have been socialized to be loving in most situations – even when their need to receive love goes unmet.


title: All About Love: New Visions

text: Each chapter discusses an aspect of love. First she explains her position and introduces an external work which is primarily about that aspect of love. Then she provides suggestions on how to reverse our cultural training and become more open to giving and receiving love. These aspects are affection, respect, recognition, commitment, trust, care, and open and honest communication - rather than the customary forms stemming from gender stereotypes, domination, control, ego and aggression.


title: All About Love: New Visions

text: After many disputes with ex-boyfriends about the nature of love, hooks published "All About Love: New Visions" in 2000. She explains how her past two long-term boyfriends were foiled by "patriarchal thinking" and sexist gender roles, so neither relationship ever really had a chance. She kept wanting to recommend a book for the men to read, but could not find one that would clearly make her point. For this reason, she decided to write her own, which would go into depth about her true feelings towards love.


title: All About Love: New Visions

text: In this book, hooks combines her personal life experiences with philosophical and psychological ideas to shape her thesis and discuss her main concepts. She criticizes the way in which "love" is used in today's society: for example, we use the word without much meaning, when referring to how much we like or enjoy our favorite ice cream, color, or game. Hooks is very disturbed by the fact that our culture has lost the true meaning of love, and believes it is because we have no shared definition. For this reason, the first chapter of her book primarily focuses on what she thinks the definition of love is, which she explains includes components such as care, affection, trust, respect, honesty, communication, and commitment. She proposes that if we all came to the agreement that "love" is a verb rather than a noun, then we would all be happier. hooks believes love is more of an interactive process. It is not about what we just feel, but more about what we do. She states, "So many people think that it's enough to say what they feel, even if their actions do not correspond to what they are feeling". Bell hooks strongly clarifies why society needs to adopt a universal definition of love.


title: All About Love: New Visions

text: Hooks begins her book with a series of spiritual messages, including Bible verses, to support her definition of love. She claims that a standard definition of love must include spiritual growth for one's self and others. Although she refers to biblical messages, she does not promote religion; on the contrary, she encourages spiritual thinking. Hooks blames flaws in relationships nowadays on a loose understanding about love. She shares personal experiences about fearing rejection and emotional pain. As a result, she acknowledges lacking full commitment and expressing vulnerability because of the fear of not receiving those things in return, so giving care and affection were her minimal expectations in her relationships—necessary, but not sufficient. Hooks introduces the necessity of practicing self-love and care to sustain a healthy relationship with a concrete understanding of love.


title: All About Love: New Visions

text: Overall, this book sheds some light on what hooks sees as the modern day abandonment of love and what it means for people of today to experience love. One argument she proposes is that love cannot exist in the middle of a power struggle. Hooks goes as far as to present a number of problems she finds with our modern ideals of love and proposes possible solutions. She includes the propositions of full reconstruction and transformation of modern-day love based on "affection, respect, recognition, commitment, trust and care" (Nonfiction Book Review). Hooks also points out what she sees to be the roots of the problems regarding modern day love: gender stereotypes, domination, control, ego, and aggression (Nonfiction Book Review).


title: All About Love: New Visions

text: Hooks also discusses is the way, starting from a very young age, boys and girls are constantly being knocked down and told to fit into the tiny boxes of characteristics that are expected of them. hooks points out that the boy is denied his right to show, or even have, any true feelings. To further explain, she uses men in the American culture as an example, and describes how they have been socialized to mistrust the value and power of love, while the girl is taught that the most important thing she can do is change herself and her own feelings, with the hopes of attracting and pleasing everyone else. These unfair expectations lead boys and girls to grow up into men and women who are convinced that lies are the way to go, and no one should be showing their truest feelings to each other. This leads to the paradox hooks points out, because honesty is a natural requirement for a functional and healthy loving relationship. In hook's own words, "Lies may make people feel better, but they do not help them to know love".


title: All About Love: New Visions

text: Another central argument is that it is almost impossible for women to find happiness in what she sees as a brutal culture where men are taught to worry more about sexual satisfaction and performance than actually loving someone. Paired with the fact that women are encouraged to focus so strongly on obtaining a partner, this leads to most relationships being completely one-sided: the men are emotionally satisfied, and the women are left without any true happiness. Hooks points out that despite these evident problems in modern-day love culture, love can be revived, and this is what she is arguing throughout her book.


title: All About Love: New Visions

text: Hooks wrote this book to inform the world how we can change the way we think about love, our culture, and one another. She teaches us ways to love in a face of a planet of love-lessness. Her New Visions demonstrate how love is possible, and stress that all love is important— romantic love, friendship, our love of strangers, and community.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: The Scandinavian Defense (or Center Counter Defense, or Center Counter Game) is a chess opening characterized by the moves:


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: This opening is classified under code B01 in the "Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings" (). The Scandinavian Defense, described in the poem "Scachs d'amor", is the oldest opening by Black recorded in modern chess. The general goal of the defense is to prevent White from controlling the center of the board with pawns, effectively forcing an open game, while allowing Black to build a strong pawn structure.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: The Scandinavian Defense is one of the oldest recorded openings, first recorded as a fictional game between Francesc de Castellví and Narcís Vinyoles in Valencia around 1475 in what may be the first recorded game of modern chess. It was also listed in the 1497 Lucena's book "Repetition of Love and the Art of Playing Chess with 150 Games".


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: Analysis by Scandinavian masters in the late 19th century showed it is for Black; Ludvig Collijn played the opening with success. Although the Scandinavian Defense has never enjoyed widespread popularity among top-flight players, Joseph Henry Blackburne and Jacques Mieses often played it, and greatly developed its theory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was an occasional choice in this era for top players including Siegbert Tarrasch, Rudolph Spielmann, and Savielly Tartakower. Alexander Alekhine used it to draw against World Champion Emanuel Lasker at St. Petersburg 1914, and future World Champion José Raúl Capablanca won twice with it at New York 1915.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: A regular user from the 1950s onwards was Yugoslav International Master (IM) Nikola Karaklajic, but a lengthy period of non-support by top players ended by the 1960s, when former world championship finalist David Bronstein and women's world champion Nona Gaprindashvili played it occasionally. Danish Grandmaster (GM) Bent Larsen, a four-time world championship candidate, played it occasionally from the 1960s onwards; he defeated World Champion Anatoly Karpov with it at Montreal 1979, spurring a rise in popularity. The popular name also began to switch from "Center Counter Defense" to "Scandinavian Defense" around this time. Danish GM Curt Hansen is also considered an expert in the opening. Australian GM Ian Rogers has adopted it frequently starting in the 1980s. In 1995, the Scandinavian Defense made its first appearance in a world chess championship match, in the 14th game of the PCA final at New York City. Viswanathan Anand as Black obtained an excellent position using the opening against Garry Kasparov, although Kasparov won the game.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: During the sixth round of the 2014 Chess Olympiad at Tromsø, Magnus Carlsen chose the Scandinavian against Fabiano Caruana, and won; Carlsen used the opening again to draw with Caruana at the 2016 Chess Olympiad at Baku. Carlsen used the opening as Black in a blitz game to defeat Viswanathan Anand at the 2019 Grand Chess Tour stop in Kolkata.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: White normally continues when Black has two major continuations: and (the Modern Scandinavian). The rare gambit 2...c6 (the Blackburne-Kloosterboer Gambit) was played successfully by Joseph Blackburne on at least one occasion, but after 3.dxc6 is thought to be unsound and is almost never seen in master-level play.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: After 2...Qxd5, the most commonly played move is 3.Nc3 because it attacks the queen with gain of tempo. After 3.Nc3, Black has three main choices: 3...Qa5, 3...Qd8, and 3...Qd6.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: This is considered the "classical" line, and is currently the most popular option. White can choose from multiple setups. A common line is 4.d4 c6 (or 4...e5) 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bc4 Bf5 (6...Bg4 is a different option. Even though Black has shown that ...Bf5 can be an excellent move, trading the bishop for the knight after 6...Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 removes the knight, which if not removed, will find its way to e5 with excellent prospects.) 7.Bd2 e6. White has a few options, such as the aggressive 8.Qe2, or the quiet 8.0-0. Black's pawn structure (pawns on e6 and c6) resemble a Caro–Kann Defence structure, therefore many Caro–Kann players wishing to expand their have adopted this form of the Scandinavian.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: Another setup after 3...Qa5 is to target the b7-pawn by fianchettoing the bishop on the h1–a8 diagonal, instead of placing it on the a2–g8 diagonal, by 4.g3 Nf6 5.Bg2 c6 6.Nf3 followed by 0-0, Rb1, and then exploiting the b7-pawn by b4–b5. The line with 4.g3 has been tried by Anand, Baadur Jobava, Gyula Sax, and Francisco Vallejo Pons among others.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: A more speculative approach against 3...Qa5 is 4.b4?!, described by Nigel Davies as an "ancient gambit line". Grandmasters who have ventured this line as White include Lasker, Capablanca, and Paul Keres. If Black plays correctly, White should not have sufficient compensation for the sacrificed pawn, but it can be difficult to prove this . Davies suggests delaying the gambit with 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.b4 Qxb4 6.a4, with the idea of Bc1–a3, as a possible way to rehabilitate this line.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: The retreat with 3...Qd8 was depicted in Castellvi–Vinyoles, and may be the oldest of all Scandinavian lines. Prior to the 20th century, it was often considered the main line, and was characterized as "best" by Howard Staunton in his "Chess-Player's Handbook", but was gradually superseded by 3...Qa5. In the 1960s, 3...Qd8 experienced something of a revival after the move was played in a game by Bronstein against GM Andrija Fuderer in 1959, although Bronstein ultimately lost the game. Bronstein's game featured the older line 4.d4 Nf6, while other grandmasters, including Karl Robatsch, explored fianchetto systems with 4.d4 g6 and a later ...Ng8–h6.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: The line's reputation suffered after a string of defeats, however, including two well-known won by Bobby Fischer against Robatsch in the 1962 Chess Olympiad (later published in "My 60 Memorable Games") and William Addison in 1970. The variation with 4...g6 "has been under a cloud ever since [Fischer's] crushing win", but the 3...Qd8 variation as a whole remains playable, although it is now considered somewhat passive. It is played particularly by IMs John Bartholomew and Daniel Lowinger, and by the GMs David Garcia and Nikola Djukic.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: This move, called the Gubinsky-Melts Defense, offers another way to play against 3.Nc3, and it has been growing in popularity in recent years. At first sight the move may look dubious, exposing the queen to a later Nb5 or Bf4, and for many years it was poorly regarded for this reason. Numerous grandmaster games have since shown 3...Qd6 to be quite playable, however, and it has been played many times in high-level chess since the mid-1990s. White players against this line have found an effective setup with d4, Nf3, g3, Bg2, 0-0, and a future Ne5 with a strong, active position. The variation was covered thoroughly in a 2002 book by Michael Melts.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: 3...Qe5+, the Patzer Variation, is regarded as bad for Black; for example after 4.Be2 c6 5.Nf3 Qc7 6.d4 White has a handy lead in development.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: Likewise the rare 3...Qe6+?! is regarded as inferior. One idea is that after the natural interposition 4.Be2, Black plays 4...Qg6 attacking the g2-pawn. White will usually sacrifice this pawn, however, by 5.Nf3 Qxg2 6.Rg1 Qh3 7.d4 with a massive lead in development. David Letterman played this line as Black in a televised game against Garry Kasparov, and was checkmated in 23 moves.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: Alternatives to 3.Nc3 include 3.d4, which can transpose into a variation of the Nimzowitsch Defense after 3...Nc6 (1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5), or Black can play 3...e5, as well. After 3...Nc6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Be2 0-0-0 Black has better development to compensate for White's center after a future c4. Black may also respond to 3.d4 with 3...e5. After the usual 4.dxe5, Black most often plays the pawn sacrifice 4...Qxd1+ 5.Kxd1 Nc6. After White defends the pawn, Black follows up with ...Bg4+ and ...0-0-0, e.g. 6.Bb5 Bg4+ 7.f3 0-0-0+ and Black has enough compensation for the pawn, because he is better developed and White's king is stuck in the center. Less popular is 4...Qxe5, since the queen has moved twice in the opening and is in the center of the board, where White can attack it with gain of time (Nf3). Grandmasters such as Tiviakov have shown, however, that it is not so easy to exploit the centralized queen.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: Another common response after 2...Qxd5 is the noncommittal 3.Nf3. After 3...Bg4 4.Be2 Nc6, White can transpose to main lines with 5.d4, but has other options, such as 5.0-0.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: The other main branch of the Scandinavian Defense is 2...Nf6. The idea is to delay capturing the d5-pawn for another move, avoiding the loss of time that Black suffers in the ...Qxd5 lines after 3.Nc3. Now White has several possibilities:


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: The Modern Variation is 3.d4. GM John Emms calls this the main line of the 2...Nf6 variations, saying that "3.d4 is the common choice for White...and it is easy to see why it is so popular." The idea behind the Modern Variation is to give back the pawn in order to achieve quick development. 3...Nxd5 is the most obvious reply, although 3...Qxd5 is sometimes seen. Black wins back the pawn, but White can gain some time by attacking the knight. White usually responds 4.c4, when the knight must move.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: White may also play 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.c4. Now 5...Nb6 6.c5!? is a sharp line; Black should respond 6...N6d7!, rather than 6...Nd5? 7.Qb3, when Black resigned after 7...b6? 8.Ne5! in Timman–Bakkali, Nice Olympiad 1974, and 7...Bxf3 8.Qxb7! Ne3 9.Qxf3 Nc2+ 10.Kd1 Nxa1 11.Qxa8 also wins for White.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: An important and recently popular alternative to 3...Nxd5 is 3...Bg4!?, the sharp Portuguese Variation or Jadoul Variation. In this line, Black gives up the d-pawn in order to achieve rapid development and piece activity; the resulting play is often similar to the Icelandic Gambit. The normal continuation is 4.f3 Bf5 5.Bb5+ Nbd7 6.c4. Occasionally seen is 3...g6, the Richter Variation, which was played on occasion by IM Kurt Richter in the 1930s.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: Another common response is 3.c4, with which White attempts to retain the extra pawn, at the cost of the inactivity of the light-square bishop. Now Black can play 3...c6, the Scandinavian Gambit, which is the most common move. The line 4.dxc6? Nxc6, described by Emms as "a miserly pawn grab", gives Black too much central control and development. Furthermore, after 4.dxc6 Black can play 4...e5, the Ross Gambit, which after 5.cxb7 Bxb7 resembles a reversed Danish Gambit. Most common after 3...c6 is 4.d4 cxd5, transposing to the Panov–Botvinnik Attack of the Caro–Kann Defence. 3...e6!? is the sharp Icelandic Gambit or Palme Gambit, invented by Icelandic masters who looked for an alternative to the more common 3...c6. Black sacrifices a pawn to achieve rapid development. The most critical line in this double-edged variation is thought to be 4.dxe6 Bxe6 5.Nf3.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: A third major alternative is 3.Bb5+. The most popular reply is 3...Bd7, though the rarer 3...Nbd7 is gaining more attention recently. After 3.Bb5+ Bd7, White has several options. The most obvious is 4.Bxd7+, after which White can play to keep the extra pawn with 4...Qxd7 5.c4. The historical main line is 4.Bc4, which can lead to very sharp play after 4...Bg4 5.f3 Bf5 6.Nc3, or 4...b5 5.Bb3 a5. Finally, 4.Be2 has recently become more popular, attempting to exploit the misplaced bishop on d7 after 4...Nxd5.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: White's 3.Nf3 is a flexible move that, depending on Black's reply, can transpose into lines with ...Nxd5 or ...Qxd5.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: White's 3.Nc3 transposes into a line of Alekhine's Defence, normally seen after 1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.exd5, and generally thought to be . After 3...Nxd5 4.Bc4, the most common reply is 4...Nb6, although 4...Nxc3, 4...c6, and 4...e6 are also viable continuations.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: There are several ways for White to avoid the main lines of the Scandinavian Defense. One option is to defer or avoid the exchange of e-pawn for d-pawn. This is most often done by 2.Nc3, which transposes into the Dunst Opening after 2...d4 or 2...dxe4.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: If instead 2.e5?! is played, Black can play 2...c5, develop the queen's bishop, and play ...e7–e6, reaching a favorable French Defense setup, since here unlike in the standard French Black's light-squared bishop is not shut in on c8. This line can also be compared to the Caro–Kann variation 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5!?; since in this Scandinavian line Black has played ...c5 in one rather than two moves, he has a comfortable position. This line often leads away from open positions, however, towards blocked center positions, likely not Black's original intent.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: White can also gambit the e-pawn, most frequently by 2.d4, transposing into the Blackmar–Diemer Gambit. Other gambits such as 2.Nf3?! (the Tennison Gambit) are seldom seen.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: In general, none of these sidelines are believed to offer White more than equality, and the overwhelming majority of masters opt for 2.exd5 when facing the Scandinavian.


title: Scandinavian Defense

text: The Scandinavian is thus arguably Black's most "forcing" defense to 1.e4, restricting White to a relatively small number of options. This has helped to make the Scandinavian Defense fairly popular among club-level players, although it remains relatively rare at the grandmaster level.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Jeffrey Alan Merkley (born October 24, 1956) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Oregon since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Merkley served as the 64th speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives from 2007 to 2009.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Before his election to the Senate, Merkley was a five-term member of the Oregon House of Representatives, representing the 47th district in central Multnomah County at the eastern side of Portland. Merkley defeated two-term Republican incumbent Gordon Smith in 2008 and was reelected in 2014 and 2020, defeating Republican nominees Monica Wehby and Jo Rae Perkins.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Merkley has been an advocate of progressivism in the Senate, and was the only U.S. senator to endorse Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries. He was considered a potential candidate for president in 2020, but he chose to run for reelection to the Senate instead.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Merkley was born in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, the son of Betty Lou (née Collins) and Darrell Philip Merkley. His paternal grandmother was born in Calliope, Queensland, Australia. He attended first grade in Roseburg, Oregon, before moving to Portland with his family.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: He graduated from David Douglas High School, received a bachelor of arts degree in international relations from Stanford University in 1979, and earned a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University in 1982. After completing his master's degree, Merkley was selected as a Presidential Management Fellow, working at the Office of the Secretary of Defense on the security of American military technology. After his fellowship, he worked in the Congressional Budget Office, where he analyzed nuclear weapons policies and programs.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In 1991 Merkley returned to Portland, where he served as executive director of Portland Habitat for Humanity until 1994.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Merkley started the Walk for Humanity, initiated the Journey for Mankind, launched development of the Habitat Home Building Center, and initiated a pilot project for "YouthBuild" in which gang-affected youth built homes in their own neighborhoods. He also served as Director of Housing Development at Human Solutions, where he worked to make available affordable housing complexes and launched Oregon's first Individual Development Account (IDA) program, which helps low-income families save money to buy homes, attend college, or start businesses.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Merkley was President of the World Affairs Council of Oregon for seven years and continues to serve on the Board of Trustees.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In 1998 Merkley was elected as a Democrat to the Oregon House of Representatives from the 16th district in east Portland (renumbered as the 47th district after the 2002 redistricting). He succeeded Frank Shields, who moved from the House to the Oregon State Senate due to term limits. In its endorsement, "The Oregonian" predicted that Merkley was the most likely of several Democrats to "accomplish something positive in the Legislature." Following the 2003 session, he was elected Democratic leader, and after the House Democrats gained a majority in the 2006 Oregon statewide elections, they unanimously elected him Speaker of the House in the 74th Oregon Legislative Assembly.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: During Merkley's tenure as Speaker, the Oregon House passed numerous major pieces of legislation: It created a state "rainy day fund" (a savings account to protect public schools against the effects of any future fluctuating economy); increased Oregon public school funding by 14 percent ($1 billion) and state university funding by 18 percent ($1.4 billion); banned junk food in schools; expanded the Oregon commercial indoor smoking ban; revised the Oregon Bottle Bill; outlawed discrimination by sexual orientation and gender identity in housing and in the workplace; and gave same-sex couples rights, immunities, and benefits.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: On August 13, 2007, Merkley received the endorsements of Democratic Governor Ted Kulongoski and former Democratic Governor Barbara Roberts. He was endorsed in December 2007 by the Oregon AFL–CIO, the state's largest labor federation. The union federation's leaders cited Merkley's 97% record of voting in the interests of working families and his electability in a general election against the incumbent senator Gordon Smith. Merkley was the first federal candidate to be cross-nominated by the Independent Party of Oregon.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Merkley won the Democratic nomination to challenge Smith in 2008, narrowly defeating activist Steve Novick and four others in the Democratic primary. Merkley was initially thought to have only a moderate chance of unseating Smith, but a July 2008 Rasmussen poll showed him in the lead, albeit within the margin of error. By August, after strongly negative campaigning on both sides, Rasmussen reported that Merkley's support had deteriorated, with Smith taking a strong lead in the polls. Merkley's favorable rating was at 42%, while his unfavorable rating had risen to 45%.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Polls taken shortly before the election indicated that Merkley's standing had once again improved, with Merkley's 12-point deficit turning into a slight lead.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: On election night the race was too close to call, but media outlets including "The Oregonian" called it for Merkley on the morning of November 6, and Smith conceded later that morning. Ultimately, Merkley defeated Smith by three percentage points, 49% to 46%. While he carried only eight counties, one of them was his home county of Multnomah County, which he won by 142,000 votes—a deficit that proved too much for Smith to overcome. Merkley thus became the first person to unseat an incumbent Oregon senator since Bob Packwood's defeat of Wayne Morse in 1968.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Merkley formally resigned his seat in the Oregon House in a letter to Secretary of State Bill Bradbury on January 2, 2009. He was sworn in as a Senator on January 6, 2009. Upon his swearing in, Oregon was represented in the Senate by two Democrats (Merkley and Ron Wyden) for the first time since Maurine Brown Neuberger served alongside Morse from 1960 to 1967.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Merkley has a progressive record as a senator. He became the first Democratic member of the Senate to announce that he would vote against the confirmation of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, citing Bernanke's failure to "recognize or remedy the factors that paved the road to this dark and difficult recession". As a member of the Senate Banking Committee, Merkley became a leading force in the effort to pass the Wall Street reform bill. Along with Michigan Senator Carl Levin, he successfully added an amendment, usually called the Volcker Rule, to the Dodd–Frank Wall Street reform bill, which banned high-risk trading inside commercial banking and lending institutions. Merkley also championed an amendment that banned liar loans, a predatory mortgage practice that played a role in the housing bubble and subsequent financial collapse.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: He was a founding signatory of a mid-February 2010 petition to use reconciliation to pass legislation providing for a government-run health insurance program. Merkley also championed legislation to give new mothers private space and flexible break times to pump breast milk once they return to work. Merkley's breastfeeding amendment was included in the health care reform law and signed into law by President Obama in 2010.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In late February 2010, Merkley again made headlines when he unsuccessfully tried to persuade Republican colleague Jim Bunning of Kentucky to drop his objection to passing a 30-day extension of unemployment benefits for jobless Americans. Bunning replied, "Tough shit." A spokesman for Merkley said that Merkley did not hear Bunning's remark at the time.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In late 2010, Merkley began circulating a proposal about the need to filibuster in order to block legislation. In 2011, he introduced a bill to reform the filibuster. He was joined by Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico and Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Merkley was the only member of the Senate to endorse Bernie Sanders in his 2016 bid for the Democratic nomination for president.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: On April 4, 2017, Merkley held the senate floor for 15 hours and 28 minutes in protest of the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In June 2018, Merkley received national attention when he attempted to visit a facility holding the children of jailed adults who had attempted to cross the border to seek asylum. Children were separated from their parents and placed in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Merkley filmed his attempt to visit a facility in a former Walmart in Brownsville, Texas. He was denied entrance and the police were called and arrived as he continued to try to speak with the facility administrator. He commented in the film, "I think it's unacceptable that a member of Congress is not being admitted to see what is happening to children whose families are applying for asylum. I decided to come out here, go up to the door and ask to be let in." By midday the video had garnered more than one million viewers.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Merkley has been noted for his opposition to the Trump administration's immigration policies. In June 2018, he attempted to enter the Casa Padre processing facility in Brownsville, Texas, where children separated from their parents were being detained as a result of the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy. Merkley was not permitted to enter, and eventually the police were called and he was asked to leave the premises. Video of the event went viral on social media, drawing greater attention to the policy in traditional media and among the public. Speaking about the policy in an interview with "Time", Merkley said that "Part of this is the dehumanization of people seeking asylum in the U.S." By the end of June, Trump signed an executive order modifying the policy to replace family separation with family detention. Merkley has continued to oppose the administration's policy, dubbing it "handcuffs for all". As of July 2018, many children who were separated under the policy still had not been reunited with their parents.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In August 2018, Merkley was one of 17 senators to sign a letter spearheaded by Kamala Harris to United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen demanding that the Trump administration take immediate action to reunite 539 migrant children with their families, citing each passing day of inaction as intensifying "trauma that this administration has needlessly caused for children and their families seeking humanitarian protection".


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In November 2018, Merkley was one of 11 senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis about "the overt politicization of the military" with the Trump administration's deployment of 5,800 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border and requesting a briefing and written justification from the U.S. Northern Command for troop deployment, urging Mattis to "curb the unprecedented escalation of DOD involvement in immigration enforcement".


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In January 2019, Merkley was one of 20 senators to sponsor the Dreamer Confidentiality Act, a bill imposing a ban on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from passing information collected on DACA recipients to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Department of Justice, or any other law enforcement agency except in cases of fraudulent claims, national security issues, or non-immigration-related felonies.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In April 2019, Merkley was one of 11 senators to sign a letter to Juul CEO Kevin Burns asserting that the company had "lost what little remaining credibility the company had when it claimed to care about the public health" and that they would not rest until Juul's "dangerous products are out of the hands of our nation’s children". The senators requested Juul list each of its advertising buys and detail the steps it has taken to ensure its advertisements are not seen by people under 21 and asked whether Juul had purchased any social media influencers for product promotion.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In August 2013, Merkley was one of 23 Democratic senators to sign a letter to the Defense Department warning that some payday lenders were "offering predatory loan products to service members at exorbitant triple digit effective interest rates and loan products that do not include the additional protections envisioned by the law" and asserting that service members, along with their families, "deserve the strongest possible protections and swift action to ensure that all forms of credit offered to members of our armed forces are safe and sound".


title: Jeff Merkley

text: On June 28, 2018, Merkley was the only member of the Senate Appropriations Committee to vote against the $675 billion Pentagon spending bill for fiscal 2019 providing $607.1 billion for its base budget and $67.9 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO) war fund. The bill was a $20.4 billion increase over the fiscal 2018 level.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In November 2011, Merkley led an effort to urge President Obama to expedite transition of responsibility for military and security operations to the government of Afghanistan. The Senate passed an amendment to the defense authorization bill by voice vote that required Obama to deliver to Congress a timeline for an accelerated transition of all military and security operations to the Afghan government within 90 days of the law's enactment. Co-sponsors included Republicans Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In April 2019, Merkley was one of 34 senators to sign a letter to President Trump encouraging him "to listen to members of your own Administration and reverse a decision that will damage our national security and aggravate conditions inside Central America", asserting that Trump had "consistently expressed a flawed understanding of U.S. foreign assistance" since becoming president and that he was "personally undermining efforts to promote U.S. national security and economic prosperity" by preventing the use of Fiscal Year 2018 national security funding. The senators argued that foreign assistance to Central American countries created less migration to the U.S. by helping to improve conditions there.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Merkley supports the Reid-Feingold Amendment, a plan for removing troops from Iraq, and has his own five-point plan for stability in Iraq:


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In December 2010, Merkley voted for the ratification of New Start, a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russian Federation obliging both countries to have no more than 1,550 strategic warheads and 700 launchers deployed during the next seven years and to continue on-site inspections that halted when START I expired the previous year. It was the first arms treaty with Russia in eight years.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In February 2017, Merkley was one of 11 senators to sign a letter to United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions expressing their concern "about credible allegations that the Trump campaign, transition team, and Administration has colluded with the Russian government, including most recently the events leading to the resignation of Lieutenant General Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser". The senators requested the creation of "an independent Special Counsel to investigate collusion with the Russian government by General Flynn and other Trump campaign, transition and Administrative officials" in order to maintain "the confidence, credibility and impartiality of the Department of Justice".


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In December 2018, after United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the Trump administration was suspending its obligations in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 60 days in the event that Russia continued to violate the treaty, Merkley was one of 26 senators to sign a letter expressing concern that the administration was "now abandoning generations of bipartisan U.S. leadership around the paired goals of reducing the global role and number of nuclear weapons and ensuring strategic stability with America's nuclear-armed adversaries" and calling on Trump to continue arms negotiations.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In April 2019, after the Trump administration refused to distribute money to West Bank and Gaza "because of perceived intransigence on peace talks by the Palestinians and payments to the families of those who have attacked Israelis", Merkley was one of six Democratic senators to introduce a resolution restoring U.S. humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In June 2017, Merkley voted for a resolution by Rand Paul and Chris Murphy that would block Trump's $510 million sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia that made up a portion of the $110 billion arms sale Trump announced during his visit to Saudi Arabia the previous year.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In March 2018, Merkley voted against tabling a resolution spearheaded by Bernie Sanders, Chris Murphy, and Mike Lee that would have required Trump to withdraw American troops either in or influencing Yemen within the next 30 days unless they were combating Al-Qaeda.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In October 2018, Merkley was one of seven senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying that they found it "difficult to reconcile known facts with at least two" of the Trump administration's certifications that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were attempting to protect Yemeni civilians and were in compliance with US laws on arms sales, citing their lack of understanding of "a certification that the Saudi and Emirati governments are complying with applicable agreements and laws regulating defense articles when the [memo] explicitly states that, in certain instances, they have not done so".


title: Jeff Merkley

text: On February 28, 2019, Merkley introduced a resolution prohibiting American military intervention in Venezuela without Congress's approval, adding that it was "critical that the Venezuelan people are the ones to determine their own future, and that the U.S. does not repeat a failed strategy of military intervention in Latin America". Merkley called Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro "a brutal dictator and incompetent leader" and called for him to resign while new elections are held under an interim government.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: On 27 October 2022, Merkley and Representative Jim McGovern urged US financial executives to cancel their attendance to the Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit, saying "Their presence only serves to legitimize the swift dismantling of Hong Kong's autonomy, free press, and the rule of law by Hong Kong authorities acting along with the Chinese Communist Party."


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Merkley has focused on Wall Street reform in his position on the Senate Banking Committee. He and Carl Levin led an effort to crack down on proprietary trading at depository banks and other critical financial firms. The Dodd–Frank Act included the Merkley–Levin amendment to implement the Volcker Rule. The rule is premised on the notion that banks should not make risky, speculative bets while enjoying government deposit insurance. It is intended to prevent high-risk trading that jeopardizes the banking system. A $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in May 2012 prompted Merkley and Levin to push regulators to stiffen their draft language on the Volcker Rule provisions.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In January 2018, Merkley was one of ten senators to sign a letter to Trump encouraging him "to not only protect existing 'Buy America' laws, but to work with Congress to expand these protections and address coverage gaps" while the administration's infrastructure proposal was being drafted, and asserting that "no infrastructure proposal should allow circumvention of current requirements in federal law that ensure our public infrastructure is built with American-made iron, steel, and manufactured materials by workers who are paid a fair wage."


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In June 2019, Merkley was one of eight senators to sponsor the Made in America Act, legislation that would designate federal programs that had funded infrastructure projects not currently subject to Buy America standards and mandate that materials used in these programs be domestically produced. Bill cosponsor Tammy Baldwin said the bill would strengthen Buy America requirements and that she was hopeful both Democrats and Republicans would support "this effort to make sure our government is buying American products and supporting American workers".


title: Jeff Merkley

text: Merkley voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. He was a founding signatory of a mid-February 2010 petition to use reconciliation to pass legislation providing for a government-run health insurance program. Merkley also championed legislation that gives nursing mothers flexible break times and private space to pump breast milk at work. His breastfeeding amendment was included in the health care reform law and signed into law by Obama in 2010.


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In December 2016 Merkley was one of five senators to vote against the Obama administration-supported 21st Century Cures Act, legislation increasing funding for disease research while addressing flaws in the American mental health systems and altering drugs and medical devices' regulatory system."


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In December 2018 Merkley was one of 42 senators to sign a letter to Trump administration officials Alex Azar, Seema Verma, and Steve Mnuchin arguing that the administration was improperly using Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act to authorize states to "increase health care costs for millions of consumers while weakening protections for individuals with preexisting conditions." The senators requested the administration withdraw the policy and "re-engage with stakeholders, states, and Congress."


title: Jeff Merkley

text: In February 2019, Merkley was one of 23 Democratic senators to introduce the State Public Option Act, a bill that would authorize states to form a Medicaid buy-in program for all residents and thereby let all residents of the state buy into a state-driven Medicaid health insurance plan if they wished. Brian Schatz, a bill cosponsor, said the legislation would "unlock each state’s Medicaid program to anyone who wants it, giving people a high-quality, low-cost public health insurance option" and that its goal was "to make sure that every single American has comprehensive health care coverage."