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France, the Huguenots, and Deuteronomy 28
by Doug Hitzel | May 16, 2017 | All, Axe to the Root, Master
Bojidar Marinov
How did the most powerful nation in Christendom for several hundred years sink down to the level of such insignificance?
Assigned Reading: Covenant Enforced: John Calvin's Sermons on Deuteronomy 27-28
Welcome to Episode 53 of Axe to the Root Podcast, part of the War Room Productions, I am Bo Marinov, and for the next 30 minutes we will be talking about one of the worst sins of Christian Reconstruction in the eyes of antinomian supposedly "Reformed" seminary professors: namely, its doctrine of covenantal sanctions in history. We won't talk just in general terms about it, nor will we repeat over and over the theology behind it. This theology has already been expressed sufficiently by men greater than me, like R.J. Rushdoony, Gary North, and Greg Bahnsen. In fact, going all the way back to the Reformation, giants like John Calvin and John Knox believed that God visits nations and groups and kings and ruling bodies, in history, with His judgment – whether judgment for blessing for their obedience (as imperfect it can be at times) or judgment for curse for their disobedience. I don't need to repeat their words; it is your responsibility to sit on your you-know-what and read the big books. No amount of podcasts and episodes can replace solid reading. If you want to know what books speak of this doctrine of God's covenantal sanctions in history, you can find it developed in Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law, in chapters 13 and 15 of his Systematic Theology, and also in his Biblical Philosophy of History, in Greg Bahnsen's By This Standard andTheonomy in Christian Ethics, as well as in Gary North's Unconditional Surrender, Dominion and Common Grace, Millennialism and Social Theory, and the economic commentary on Numbers. And you can also revisit John Calvin's sermons on Deuteronomy 27-28.
So, in this episode I will be giving a specific historical example. It's much easier, y'know, after the big guys have written their books, for me to look at history and discover specific examples of a Biblical covenantal principle. Having studied history extensively, I can give tons of them, especially from the history of the Balkans, which I know quite well. But since these last weeks another European country has been in the focus of American conservatives – France – I will use the history of France as an example. And specifically, the history of the Roman Catholics in France as a distinct religious and cultural group.
Several years ago I gave talk at an American Vision conference, titled "Europe as a Mirror to America." In it, one of the historical examples I gave was the example of the French province of the Vendée and the revolt in the 1790s of its Roman Catholic population against the Republican government in Paris during the French Revolution. While I gave historical accounts of the horrible massacre of Roman Catholics by Republican troops (named officially "the columns of hell"), my focus was rather on the agenda of political secularism in fighting Christendom. In the case of the Vendée revolt, the issue was authority: whether family and church as institutions will be controlled by the government, or will remain as separate and independent in their spheres of jurisdiction. And I explained the reason why the French Republican government, in times of total war on all its frontiers against all of Europe, decided to set aside 20% of its army to not simply pacify, but completely massacre and obliterate a small province which was posing no real strategic threat to the government in Paris. The issue was religious, of course, it was an issue of whether family and church will remain free of government interference, or will become, in everything, subservient to the state.
What I didn't cover, however, was, why this happened to the Roman Catholics in the Vendée. And, in fact, why it all happened to France. Why did France, which used to be the most staunchly Roman Catholic nation in Europe, suddenly fall into secularism? And even worse, why did it have to happen with such bloodshed? Secularism advanced in other countries as well, but in many of them, while there was a change towards tyranny – because secularism always presupposes the tyranny of man, the new god – very few of them had such domestic genocide as France did. Why did that happen? This question is very important from a covenantal perspective, because it involves a fundamental ethical/judicial issue: why did moral restraint in France fail so spectacularly, to the point of Frenchmen killing Frenchmen by the hundreds of thousands and the millions?
The covenantal importance of this question becomes even more obvious when we consider the traditional role of France in Europe throughout most of the history of Christendom. Today, Americans and most Europeans look at France with a slight dose of condescension and even some disdain. After all, this is the country which, despite its population, got effortlessly defeated by Germany in three major wars (the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, WWI, and WWII). In the two world wars, France had to rely on the help of the United States, which most French disdain as an example of rugged individualism and capitalism; and of national pride and arrogance also. (Although, I would say on the pride and arrogance, the French seem to compete well with us, Americans; just as we seem to be trying to catch up with them in the socialism and collectivism race.) To add insult to the injury, France seems to be never capable of catching up with Germany in terms of economic growth, even when the cards are stacked decisively in its favor. After WWI, France received enormous reparations from Germany, plus control over Germany's most industrialized province, for several years. After WWII, Germany was devastated, deprived of 1/3 of its previous territory, and split in two. And yet, in both cases, just a decade down the road, France was eating the dust behind Germany's economic train.
The French themselves are aware of the inferiority of their own country. Just a few weeks ago, before the elections, one of the candidates, Marie le Pen, stated that no matter what the result of the elections, France will be ruled by a woman: Either Marie le Pen herself, or Germany's Angela Merkel. How correct that statement is we will leave aside; but the fact that it was accepted as valid by at least 40% of France's active voters shows that the French do not consider their country powerful or stable enough, and always in danger of being controlled by another nation. A sentiment that would be natural for a small Eastern European country, but hardly expected to come from one of the supposed world's superpowers.
Strange that this should be so. For much of its history, France was the undisputed political and cultural center of Europe. She was also the undisputed demographic center of Europe. In its modern territories, France reached a population of almost 30 million in the late 1600s and the early 1700s. To compare, Germany at the time (devastated by the Thirty-Year War), was about 10-12 million, and England, Scotland, and Wales numbered less than 7 million total. Four hundred years later, the UK has grown to 65 million (10-fold increase), Germany, with all its wars and disasters and calamities and political turmoil, and within only 2/3 of its previous territory, has grown to 82 million (7-8-fold increase), while France has grown to only 64 million, barely over two-fold increase of the population.
Put it in different terms, if modern stock exchanges existed in the 1500s or the 1600s, and if you asked an investment adviser, "What are the most prosperous and secure economies where I can invest my money for future generations of my children and grandchildren?", his first answer would be: France. His second answer would be: Spain. These were the most prosperous and the most stable nations in Europe. If anyone suggested that the Netherlands, or Germany, or England, or Switzerland, or Norway would be a good investment, you would laugh at them. And yet, 400 years down the road, France is steadily sinking in the ranking of world's superpowers, and soon will be nothing more than just another middle-size nation of marginal significance. And that, while nations who previously showed no prospect of any greatness, are now surpassing it on all fronts: economy, culture, technology, influence, etc.
How did that happen? How did the most powerful nation in Christendom for several hundred years sink down to the level of such insignificance?
The answer, of course, is covenantal. France – and specifically the Roman Catholic population of France, as a distinct religious and cultural group – has been under God's covenantal sanctions. And since this group has historically been the largest cultural group in France, God's covenantal curse on it has been affecting France as a whole. And the curse has been for committed injustice and murder against a whole group of other Frenchmen, for no other reason but for their conversion to Protestantism. This sin of the French Roman Catholics was not simply a sin of passivity and omission, where the civil rulers commit the injustice and the population just remains silent. (Think of the Holocaust in Germany.) It was a sin of commission, or even of active commitment by the general Roman Catholic population, far beyond the orders of its rulers, and at times, in opposition and disobedience to their rulers' edicts for toleration. We all know of the French Revolution and of the drunkenness of a whole generation in France and the rivers of blood shed during the last two decades of the 18th century. What is less known is that France had experienced a much worse drunkenness 200 years before that, and had shed rivers of blood for several generations.
To find out about it, we need to go back to the time of the Reformation. France gave the Reformation two of its most illustrious scholars and theologians, namely, William Farel and John Calvin. Calvin, whose name remained in history because of his work in the Reformation in Geneva, but also because of his enormous productivity as an author and his ability to summarize Christian doctrine, wrote in two languages: Latin and his native French. When we today think of Calvin's influence, we always imagine nations like the Netherlands, Scotland, England, and the United States. The truth is, originally, the first country to be most seriously impacted by his teachings was his native France.
Calvin published his first systematic treatise on the Christian religion, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, in 1536. It was in Latin. Over the next 28 years, with only a small leave of 2 years, he lived and worked in Geneva, expanding his Institutes, and also producing innumerable volumes of sermons, commentaries, and other theological material. He wrote much of it in French, and the Institutes themselves had six French editions, the last one being in 1560. While his material was mainly meant for the French-speaking Swiss and the Savoyards south of Geneva, an unknown number of copies have been smuggled in France and have been re-printed and distributed. Calvin never returned to his native France, but his books were having influence greater than he could ever achieve himself.
So successful were his books, that by the mid-1560s, and estimated 10-12% of the population of France was Protestant, or, as they called themselves, reformés, Reformed. The majority of the Reformed population was in the west of France, along the Atlantic coast, and the south central of France. These were the regions with the best developed urban and industrial culture; cities like La Rochelle, Montauban, Montpellier, were major industrial centers in the economy of France of the time. Since Protestantism largely spread by the power of persuasion of written theological books, the bulk of the Protestants in France was among the educated and the literate: the nobility and the urban industrial elite and factory workers. For their small overall numbers, Protestants could boast with a disproportional representation in the government of the country. The old royal family of Bourbon of Navarre joined the cause of the Protestants, and the brothers de Coligny – Odet, Gaspar, and François – of an ancient noble family of Burgundy also became champions of the Protestant faith in France. The second oldest of these brothers, Admiral Gaspar de Coligny, eventually became the undisputed political leader of Protestantism in France. As we will see, his influence and authority were of such great importance that when the Roman Catholic royal court decided to move against the Protestants, they found it expedient to start their attack with the assassination of Admiral Gaspar de Coligny.
By the early 1560s, the Protestants in France were known as Huguenots, for reasons that no historian today is able to guess. They were now a force to be reckoned with, for the teachings of Calvin were spreading in a number of cities. In 1558, a national Reformed synod was held in Paris. At the time, France was under the rule of Henry II, a king who was tolerant of the Protestants, and even took their sides on a number of issues. Henry, however, died in 1559 of an infected wound from a jousting incident. His son being only 14, the regency was given to Henry II's wife, the Italian Catherine de'Medici, a devout Roman Catholic, and a brutal and unprincipled political player.
Catherine started the persecutions almost immediately after the death of her husband. Huguenots were rounded up and delivered to Roman Catholic courts on charges of heresy. The first massacre happened in Wassy in north-east France, where the Huguenots were in the minority. A church gathering of Huguenots was attacked by royal troops and by the local Roman Catholic population. Close to 100 people were murdered, and 200 were wounded. After this, he Huguenots started organizing militarily and politically, and by 1562 they held over 60 walled cities, and their leaders, Henry of Navarre and Admiral de Coligny, commanded a significant army. Catherine de'Medici was soon forced to escalate the conflict to keep up with them, for the Protestants had become a serious threat to the royal government. For the next eight years, the French Wars of Religion continued with no clear promise of victory to either side; the death toll of these wars, however, for that period, was quite high. Close to half million people lost their lives between 1562 and 1570, until the peace of Saint-Germain, which put an end to the wars and restored all the rights and privileges of the Protestant minority.
Ironically, the culmination and the decisive action in the Wars of Religion came only after the peace treaty was signed. Catherine de'Medici, rather tired of the wars and desirous of consolidating the power of her family through diplomacy, offered her daughter Margaret in marriage to the Protestant prince Henry of Navarre; the rationale was dynastic connections and claims, not so much religion. By 1572 Catherine seems to had lost her zeal for religious controversies. The population of Paris, however, hadn't. The idea of one of their Roman Catholic princesses being married to a Protestant created a number of riots in Paris in 1572, as distinguished Protestant leaders began to arrive in the city for the royal marriage in August. While the government was seeking reconciliation and co-operation, the population of Paris was revolting. On August 18, 1572, a political assassin by the name of Charles Maurevert shot and wounded Admiral de Coligny, the leader of the Huguenots. For the next several days, rumors were spread in the city that the Huguenots were planning a revenge on the city and on the royal family. The rumors became so persistent, and the pressure of the mobs so uncontrollable, that on August 22, Catherine de'Medici reluctantly decided, for safety, to move against the Huguenots. She broke her promise and oath, as well as the peace treaty she had signed, and ordered the massacre of their leaders gathered in Paris.
On the night of August 23, the carnage started. But it didn't all go by plan. The original orders were to exterminate only the leaders. Once the common people of Paris got wind of what was happening, all Paris was cheerfully given to hunting and barbaric killing of all Huguenots: including women and children. Remember, the French government didn't order all the executions; the majority of the murders – especially of non-combatants and innocent people – were committed by the common people of Paris. The St. Bartholomew's Night was not just government injustice; it was truly a national crime of Biblical proportions, of all French Roman Catholics. Innocent blood was shed on that night on the streets of Paris, blood which later repeatedly spelled curse for Paris and the French nation.
There are no official numbers, but estimates of the massacre give anywhere between 25,000 and 50,000 Huguenots slain in one night. These were the elite of Protestantism in France, plus their entire households. Gaspar de Coligny was killed in his bed and his body was thrown out of the window, on the street. By the morning of August 24, the streets of Paris were full with the bodies of slain Huguenots and covered with blood.
The reaction of Christendom – whether Roman Catholic or Protestant – was unanimously negative. Protestant countries, of course, immediately cut their diplomatic ties with France, and for a generation, France – previously dominant on the European scene – lost both its ability to conduct a successful foreign policy and its control over the trade routes and market. (Protestant merchants, Dutch and English, who were gaining ascendance in the developing trade with Asia and America, simply preferred to avoid French ports.) The Roman Catholic world first reacted with joy to the news: the prospect of losing the most populous and most powerful European nation to Protestantism was a nightmare to the Papacy. When the details of the massacre became known, however, most Roman Catholics outside France changed their minds. The Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian II, father-in-law of the French king Charles IX, described the massacre as "shameful." Pope Gregory XIII, who first praised the massacre, later had misgivings about it. When the killer of Gaspar de Coligny, Charles Maurevert, wanted an audience with him, the Pope declined under the pretext that Maurevert was a murderer. The massacre became such a focal point of the attention of all Europe that even the Russian Czar, Ivan the Terrible, himself never flinching from shedding the blood of his own people, used it as an argument in a letter to Maximilian II concerning the dynastic succession in Poland. At the end of that letter, he added completely out of context, "You deplore, my brother, the horrible massacre of so many innocents on St. Bartholomew's Day! All Christian monarchs ought to be distressed on that account!"
The murder of innocents didn't stop there, however. The King sent orders to the provincial governors to refrain from violence and to abide by the terms of the peace of Saint-Germain. Once the news of the massacre reached the provinces, however, nothing could stop the local Roman Catholic population, goaded by the local clergy, from committing the same crimes. In many cities of France where there was a sizable Huguenot minority, there were massacres. Between August and November 1572, a number of French cities were entirely cleared of Protestants. Nobles and commonfolk, men and women and children were murdered indiscriminately. While numbers it is not possible to have exact numbers, estimates are that only in these months, more than 100,000 Huguenots were killed in France, in addition to the massacre in Paris. Many Huguenots escaped by fleeing deep in the south of France where the influence of Roman Catholicism was weaker. Thousands fled the country towards the Netherlands and England.
The culmination of Protestantism in France was 1572. The Huguenots numbered over 2 million. The pogroms of 1572 decapitated their community. From there, Protestantism started its decline in France. A decline caused not by its weakness, but by the treachery and bloodthirstiness of its enemies.
The persecutions didn't stop in 1572. The French government tried to restrain the population, and in 1589 an edict of toleration was declared. But that edict was violated multiple times by the central government and by the local governments. And, worst of all, the common population of France continued its hostilities against the Huguenots, despite the government attempts at greater restraint. Eventually, in 1685s, the Sun-King Louis XIV repealed the edict of toleration and declared Protestantism illegal in France. The sanctuary cities of the Huguenots – among which were Montpelier, La Rochelle, and others – were besieged by the army and their walls rased to the ground. Huguenot families were subject to official harassment by army officers, taken to court on trumped-up charges, their children taken away from them, or left to be lynched by the mobs. Within a few years, due to murders or emigration, France lost about 1 million Huguenots, many of whom fled to America or South Africa. By the end of his Reign, Louis XIV bragged that he left not a single Protestant in his realm.
It wasn't until the French Revolution that a French government officially erased the legal discrimination between the different Christian faiths. But God had more in store for France.
The decline of France as the greatest power in Europe started with the decline of Protestantism, in the late 1500s. For one, since the Huguenots at the time were disproportionately represented among the nobility and the industrial class (factory owners, factory workers, and craftsmen), the death and the emigration of hundreds of thousands of these people made France lose a significant share in the economy of Europe. Blacksmiths and goldsmiths, weavers, technicians and engineers, military commanders and executives took their knowledge and experience with them to the Netherlands and England. The loss of talent and skill is seldom replaceable within one generation; the loss of so much talent and skill was irreplaceable, period. Losing a significant portion of its middle class, France lost its economic advantage over the rest of Europe. The country was pacified, but only at the expense of losing the productivity which the peace was supposed to protect. Peace without rising productivity is the formula for stagnation, and for the next 200 years, France experienced only stagnation, watching its smaller competitors, the Dutch and the English, take over the ocean trade, build mighty fleets, and even challenge France on the battlefields of Europe. In the 1700s, this economic stagnation brought economic crisis, and even widespread famine. It is such famine that eventually became the trigger for the French Revolution; and it also became the context for the famous phrase ascribed to Marie-Antoinette, "If they don't have bread, let them eat cakes." God started his covenantal judgment on France immediately after its national crime in 1572.
But the economic judgment was nothing compared to what was coming; God was only preparing the stage for visiting the crimes of the fathers on the children. When the French Revolution started in 1789, its leaders specifically targeted Roman Catholics and their priests exactly the way 200 years earlier the Roman Catholics targeted Protestants. A predominantly Roman Catholic population which had previous rejected having Protestant political and economic elite was now subject to the bloodthirstiness and cruelty of a secularist elite. Ironically, as if to remind the Roman Catholics that this is God's judgment on them, some of the leaders of the French Revolution justified their acts of terror against Roman Catholicism with the fact that Roman Catholics were themselves guilty of terrorism against the Huguenots. And if this was not enough to point to God's judgment, the worst massacres of Roman Catholic population in France happened exactly in the same areas of France (in the west, that is, in the Vendée, and in the south) where for the last 200 years Huguenots were massacred. It is ironic that in the Vendée revolt against the republican government, the rebels raised a flag with a motto which 200 years prior was a motto of many Huguenots (some of whom were anti-monarchists): Dieu le Roi, God the King. And just as Huguenots used to be slaughtered under that motto in the 1570s, in the 1790s, hundreds of thousands of Roman Catholic Vendeans were slaughtered by the soldiers of the "columns of hell" sent by the republican government. For anyone who was paying attention in France, what was happening was clearly God visiting the nation and treating it the way it treated the Huguenots. Within two decades, the body of France was eaten from the inside. In 1815, all that was left of the old superpower was a defeated, bankrupt nation subservient to other, new superpowers.
God is not mocked. A nation can ignore His words in Deuteronomy 28, but it can't escape their implication. And until there is repentance in France, and Protestantism is revived again, as it was in the 1500s, France will continue to sink, slowly but surely. Even today, we Americans imagine that the population of France is predominantly secularist. The truth is, it is predominantly Roman Catholic. Remember, just last year, millions of ordinary French people demonstrated on the streets of France against the socialist government's attempt to legalize sodomite "marriage." Apparently, France still has more Roman Catholic influence than we can see on the surface. But this Roman Catholic population is ruled by a secularist elite. There is a reason why. And that reason is God's covenantal sanctions in history.
We would be fools if we stopped here, however. Every time we see God visiting a nation with His judgment, we need to stop and consider our own situation, as American Christians and conservatives. Is there a similar judgment of God on us as a religious and cultural group in America? And if there is, we need to pay attention and look for the reasons for it.
Indeed, there is such a judgment. Ever noticed how for the last 40 years, ever since the rise of Moral Majority, we as Christians seem to lose the cultural battles in America? No matter what we do, no matter how much effort we put into it, no matter how many billions of dollars we spend on conservative politicians and lobbying and political action councils, all we get is lies, broken promises, corruption, and new lies. No matter how much we spend on seminaries, evangelical celebrities, churches and pastors, we continue to see a decline of the influence of Christianity in our culture, and the cultural ascendance of the enemies of God. It's time for us to stop and consider: There is covenant judgment in action. It is still in its preliminary stages, but it is there and it is real. The question is, What brought it upon us? We must have committed injustice, in beliefs, words, or actions, against others. We need to find where the covenantal root of the problem is.
And indeed, we have committed many injustice. We have been silent and passive about the slaughter of unborn babies in our nation. We could have stopped this slaughter many years ago, if we cared. We have been silent about police brutality, especially against minorities. We have been silent about government schools – and we have even supported them. We have supported unjust immigration restriction laws. We have supported injustices like the War on Drugs and the prison-industrial complex. We have said nothing against the Federal Reserve and the IRS. Our pulpits have babbled about basic issues, but they have never touched on the tow pillars of God's Throne, Righteousness and Justice.
And there is judgment in progress. We better start making corrections in our faith, word, and action. Or our kids will pay the price for our complacency.
The book I will assign this week is The Covenant Enforced: John Calvin's Sermons on Deuteronomy 27 and 28. Read and consider how our nation, and we as Christians may fall under the curse section of these verses.
Remember also, I don't want donations for myself. There is a mission field which I have in my heart, and where I want to see God's Covenant enforced: Eastern Europe. Visit BulgarianReformation.com to read more about Bulgarian Reformation Ministries. Subscribe to the newsletter, and donate.
Assigned Reading
The Covenant Enforced: Sermons on Deuteronomy 27 and 28
https://media.blubrry.com/reconradio/p/archive.org/download/ARPEpisode53/ARP-Episode53.mp3


Oteil Burbridge has been keeping plenty busy with Dead & Company for the past couple years, but he's also been working on his own music. Now the groove monster has announced a new solo album and tour.
The album will feature Kofi Burbridge, Dave Yoke, Lil' John Roberts, Sean O'Rourke, Miguel Atwood Ferguson, Alfreda Gerald, and Mark Rivers. Burbridge will also be heading out on a tour with Oteil & Friends to support the album. His touring band will include Melvin Seals on vocals, Eric Krasno on guitar, John Kadlecik on guitar/vocals, Jay Lane on drums, Weedie Braimah on percussion, and Alfreda Gerald on vocals.


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What You Learned About Static Electricity Is Wrong
Surface before static charging (top) and after (below). Science
By John Timmer, Ars Technica For many of us, static electricity is one of the earliest encounters we have with electromagnetism, and it's a staple of high school physics. Typically, it's explained as a product of electrons transferred in one direction between unlike substances, like glass and wool, or a balloon and a cotton T-shirt […]
By John Timmer, Ars Technica
For many of us, static electricity is one of the earliest encounters we have with electromagnetism, and it's a staple of high school physics. Typically, it's explained as a product of electrons transferred in one direction between unlike substances, like glass and wool, or a balloon and a cotton T-shirt (depending on whether the demo is in a high school class or a kids' party). Different substances have a tendency to pick up either positive or negative charges, we're often told, and the process doesn't transfer a lot of charge, but it's enough to cause a balloon to stick to the ceiling, or to give someone a shock on a cold, dry day.
[partner id="arstechnica" align="right"]Nearly all of that is wrong, according to a paper published in today's issue of Science. Charges can be transferred between identical materials, all materials behave roughly the same, the charges are the product of chemical reactions, and each surface becomes a patchwork of positive and negative charges, which reach levels a thousand times higher than the surfaces' average charge.
Where to begin? The authors start about 2,500 years ago, noting that the study of static began with a Greek named Thales of Miletus, who generated it using amber and wool. But it wasn't until last year that some of the authors of the new paper published a surprising result: contact electrification (as this phenomenon is known among its technically oriented fans) can occur between two sheets of the same substance, even when they're simply allowed to lie flat against each other. "According to the conventional view of contact electrification," they note, "this should not happen since the chemical potentials of the two surfaces/materials are identical and there is apparently no thermodynamic force to drive charge transfer."
One possible explanation for this is that a material's surface, instead of being uniform from the static perspective, is a mosaic of charge-donating and charge-receiving areas. To find out, they performed contact electrification using insulators (polycarbonate and other polymers), a semiconductor (silicon), and a conductor (aluminum). The charged surfaces were then scanned at very high resolution using Kelvin force microscopy, a variant of atomic force microscopy that is able to read the amount of charge in a surface.
The Kelvin force microscopy scans showed that the resulting surfaces were mosaics, with areas of positive and negative charges on the order of a micrometer or less across. All materials they tested, no matter what overall charge they had picked up, showed this mosaic pattern. The charges will dissipate over time, and the authors found that this process doesn't seem to occur by transferring electrons between neighboring areas of different charge—instead of blurring into the surroundings, peaks and valleys of charge remain distinct, but slowly decrease in size. The authors estimate that each one of these areas contains about 500 elementary charges (that's ±500 electrons), or about one charge for each 10nm2.
The reason that this produces a relatively weak charge isn't because these peaks and valleys are small; the charge difference between them is on the order of 1,000 times larger than the average charge of the whole material. It's just that the total area of sites with positive and negative charges are roughly equal (the two are typically within a fraction of a percent of each other). The distribution appears to be completely random, as the authors were able to produce similar patterns with a white noise generator that fluctuated on two length scales: 450nm and 44nm.
So, what causes these charges to build up? It's not, apparently, the transfer of electrons between the surfaces. Detailed spectroscopy of one of the polymers (PDMS) suggests that chemical reactions may be involved, as many oxidized derivatives of the polymer were detected. In addition, there is evidence that some material is transferred from one surface to another. Using separate pieces of fluorine- and silicon-containing polymers allowed the authors to show that signals consistent with the presence of fluorine were detected in the silicon sample after contact.
The exact relationship between the charge transfer and the processes seen here—chemical reactions and the transfer of materials between the surfaces—isn't clear at this point. But there are plausible mechanisms by which these processes could build up charges, and the authors very clearly intend to follow up on these findings.
In the meantime, you can be duly impressed with how much charge you can shuffle around when you build up static. Each square inch is equivalent to about 6.5 x 1014 square nanometers, so based on the authors' numbers, that's a lot of electrons.
Image: adamentmeat/Flickr
Citation: Science, 2011. DOI: 10.1126/science.1201512
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During the 2016-2017 financial year, the Tasmanian Government funded eight Destination Action Plans (DAPs) to be completed at local destinations across the Cradle Coast region. DAPs were created through a facilitated workshop process.
This involved business and community representatives who considered and reached consensus on tourism development, marketing and management opportunities and challenges.
The groups then identified and agreed on key priorities and actions which would make a positive difference to the growth and sustainability of their respective local visitor economy's and improve the visitor experience.


Admittedly, quilted isn't the first word we think of when dreaming up our ideal riding kit, but sometimes that extra bit of insulation is what we truly need to get through the spring thaw. That's where the Rapha Women's Quilted Gilet comes into play. It offers lofty warmth, without the bulk of a puffy down vest, keeping your core primed and ready when temperatures are a bit hostile.
The Quilted Gilet is built for cycling, with a stretchy nylon fabric that moves with you on the bike, and a soft collar that stays comfortable when you're spending hours in the cycling position. It quilts in lightweight polyester insulation inside of its sleek chevron stitching, offering a layer of heat-trapping to keep you toasty when the mercury plummets. Because it features a slim fit, it's perfect for tossing over your spring jersey, on cool days, or using as a mid layer underneath your thermal jacket when winter sends its worst weather your way.


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TPR's director of AE to leave in 2020
27 Nov 2019by Amber-Ainsley Pritchard
The Pensions Regulator's (TPR) director of automatic enrolment, Darren Ryder, will be leaving the organisation.
Ryder is leaving to work directly with other countries planning to implement their own AE programmes
Ryder joined TPR eight years ago to support the initial design and delivery of automatic enrolment (AE) in the UK following his involvement in the successful implementation of Kiwi-Saver in New Zealand.
Initially joining on a six-month secondment, he decided to stay on at TPR and worked as head of compliance and enforcement before becoming director of the AE programme in 2017.
Ryder is leaving in early 2020 to work directly with other countries planning to implement their own automatic enrolment programmes.
Charles Counsell, chief executive of TPR, said: "Darren has made a huge contribution to the successful delivery of automatic enrolment in the UK, with more than 10 million people now saving into a pension.
"Darren only planned to be with us for six months, and he stayed for eight years, supporting me and the wider TPR team through the design, build and delivery of automatic enrolment. I am hugely grateful to him for the difference he has made and I wish him every success in the future."
Ryder added: "I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at TPR and am immensely proud of the work the team has achieved together. I know that I am leaving committed, talented people who will continue to build on the success of AE, ensuring that millions more people can save with confidence for their retirement."
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Will you make The Reward 300 2020?
Top stories15 Jan 2020by Amber-Ainsley Pritchard
The Reward 300 2020, sponsored by Cintra HR & Payroll, is now open for nominations. The questions is; will you make the index of the industry's most important influencers and decision-makers?
Flexible working and technology has blurred the lines for working parents
Over half of parents are working flexibly, but badly designed jobs have left many struggling to cope with the competing demands of home and the workplace, new research finds
How can data analytics be used to identify top performers?
Top stories15 Jan 2020by Brad Winsor
Every HR team needs data analytics. With the right analytics, HR teams can be armed with the necessary data to decide where resources can be better allocated
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published a determination notice outlining its decision to issue contribution notices for £9.5m against Dominic Chappell
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The PEcAn API package (pecanapi) is designed to allow users to submit PEcAn workflows directly from an R session. The basic idea is that users build the PEcAn settings object via an R script (manually, or using the included helper functions) and then use the RabbitMQ API to send this object to a Dockerized PEcAn instance running on a local or remote machine.
Initial setup goes over the configuration, both inside and outside R, required to make pecanapi work.
Building a settings object covers how to configure a PEcAn workflow using the PEcAn settings list.
Finally, submitting a run covers how to submit the complete settings object for execution.
This tutorial assumes you are running a Dockerized instance of PEcAn on your local machine (hostname localhost, port 8000). To check this, open a browser and try to access http://localhost:8000/pecan/. If you are trying to access a remote instance of PEcAn, you will need to substitute the hostname and port accordingly.
Here, the first port is the one used to access the database (can be any open port; most PostgreSQL applications assume 5432 by default), and the second is the port the database is actually running on (which will always be 5432). After making this change, reload the postgres container by running docker-compose up -d. To check that this works, open an R session and try to create a database connection object to the PEcAn database.
This code should print out five table names from the PEcAn database. If it throws an error, you have a problem with your database connection.
The rest of this tutorial assumes that you are using this same database connection object (con).
The pecanapi package has many other options that it uses for its default configuration, including the Docker server and RabbitMQ hostname and credentials. To learn more about them, see ?pecanapi_options.
For the PEcAn workflow to work, it needs to be registered with the PEcAn database. In pecanapi, this is done via the insert_new_workflow function.
Building a workflow requires two important pieces of information: the model and site IDs. If you know these for your site and model, you can pass them directly into insert_new_workflow. However, chances are you may have to look them up in the database first. pecanapi provides several search_* utilities to make this easier.
First, let's pick a model. To list all models, we can run search_models with no arguments (other than the database connection object, con).
We can narrow down our search by model name, revision, or "type".
Note that the search is case-insensitive by default, and searches before and after the input string. See ?search_models to learn how to toggle this behavior. For the purposes of this tutorial, let's use the SIPNET model because it has low input requirements and runs very quickly. Specifically, let's use the 136 version. We could grab the model ID from the search results, but pecanapi also provides an additional helper function for retrieving model IDs if you know the exact name and revision.
We can repeat this process for sites with the search_sites function (though there is currently no get_site_id function). Note the use of % as a wildcard (matches zero or more of any character, equivalent to the regular expression .*). The two sites in the search below are largely identical, so we'll use the one with more site information (i.e. where mat is not NA).
With site and model IDs in hand, we are ready to create a workflow.
The insert_new_workflow function inserts the workflow into the database and returns a data.frame containing the row that was inserted.
Now that we have a workflow registered, we need to configure it via the PEcAn settings list. The PEcAn settings list is a nested list providing parameters for the various actions performed by the PEcAn workflow, including the trait meta-analysis, processing input files, and running models. It can be created manually with a bunch of list calls. However, this is tedious and error-prone, so pecanapi provides several utilities that facilitate this process.
We start with a blank list.
Let's start by adding the workflow we created in the previous section to this list. This is done via the add_workflow function, which takes as input a workflow data.frame and adds the relevant fields to the right places in the settings list.
All add_* functions work by incrementally adding to an input settings object and returning a new modified settings object. The first argument of these functions is always the settings list, which gives these functions a consistent syntax and makes it easy to string multiple settings modifications together using the magrittr pipe (%>%), similar to tidyverse tabular data manipulations.
Let's continue by adding a basic database configuration to this settings list.
## Error in add_database(settings): could not find function "add_database"
The add_database function adds a sensible default configuration for the PEcAn database in the right place with the right names in the settings file. These defaults can, of course, be modified in the function call (see ?add_database), or, better yet, by setting package options, which is where most add_* functions get their defaults (see ?pecanapi_options).
Similarly, add_rabbitmq automatically adds the RabbitMQ configuration to the settings object. Like add_database, it takes all of its defaults from options (see ?pecanapi_options).
## Error in add_rabbitmq(settings): could not find function "add_rabbitmq"
PFTs are added to the settings object with the add_pft function. To search for PFTs, use the search_pfts function, which can take optional arguments for PFT name (name), description of its definition (definition), and model type (modeltype).
As with search_models and search_sites, these functions are case insensitive and do partial matching by default. The add_pft function adds individual PFTs by name.
## Error in add_pft(settings, "temperate.deciduous"): could not find function "add_pft"
This adds the temperate.deciduous PFT to the appropriate spot in the settings hierarchy. Whereas add_pft adds a single PFT to the settings, add_pft_list can add a vector of PFTs.
## Error in add_pft_list(settings, c("temperate.coniferous", "miscanthus")): could not find function "add_pft_list"
Like add_database, add_pft and add_pft_list can also take arbitrary additional configuration arguments via their ... argument. For add_pft, such arguments are passed only to that PFT, while for add_pft_list, they are shared between all PFTs. For more details, see ?add_pft.
One final note is that, because the settings object is just a list, you can make arbitrary modifications to it via base R's modifyList function (indeed, many of the pecanapi::add_* functions use modifyList under the hood).
Note that modifyList operates recursively on nested lists, which makes it easy to modify settings at different levels of the list hierarchy. For instance, below, we modify the previous settings object to make random.effects = TRUE, and change the download method of the inputs to OpenDAP, but keep all the other settings the same.
All of these steps can be chained together via magrittr pipes (%>%).
Now that we have all the pieces, let's put them together into a single settings object.
We can then submit these settings as a run via the submit_workflow function. This function has only one required input – the settings list – but a number of optional arguments for specifying how to connect to the RabbitMQ API (see ?submit_workflow for details).
If the workflow was submitted successfully, this will return the HTTP response routed = TRUE as a named list. Note that this only means that the RabbitMQ message was posted; the workflow can still crash for various reasons. To see the status of the workflow, look at docker-compose logs executor or use the Portainer interface.
All of PEcAn's outputs as well as its database files (dbfiles) can be accessed remotely via the THREDDS data server. You can explore these files by browsing to localhost:8000/thredds/ in a browser (substituting hostname and port, accordingly).
Outputs in NetCDF format can also be accessed via the OpenDAP service, which allows remote variable selection and subsetting (meaning you can only download the outputs you need without needing to download the entire file). These URLs are created via the thredds_dap_url (for a generic URL) or run_dap (to access outputs from a specific model run).


A dramatic reading of one of our books!
Latchis Arts, in association with Green Writers Press, presents a dramatic reading of Peter Gould's new novel, "MARLY," starring Jonny Flood and directed by Gould on Sunday, Feb. 7, at 4 p.m., in the Ballroom Theatre at the Latchis.
"Marly" is dramatic climate fiction in a new literary form. To find out what that means, read it, or hear it read aloud, or both. Green Writers Press is a new Brattleboro-based publisher lighting up the New England literary landscape with high-quality books on ecological themes. Come to the reading, and talk with Dede Cummings, founder of GWP, and her Bennington College interns. Gould, author of three well-known published novels, is a professor in the Conflict Transformation Program at Brandeis. He's the smaller, quieter half of the renowned theater duo, Gould & Stearns. Jonathan Flood has been doing theater non-stop with Peter since he was 12 years old. He's the director of several "Get Thee to the Funnery" youth theater camps, and he's also the new Education Director at NEYT.
The fictional female character, Marly, teaches at a small Vermont College, where she specializes in forestry, wildlife habitat, chainsaw technique and self-defense for women. She's a survivor of domestic violence; strong and self-actualized as she is, she still suffers from the after effect of the attack.
Please come and enjoy the reading, support the Freedom Center, and join the discussion. You'll be home in plenty of time to watch the Super Bowl, if that's your thing.
This entry was posted in Climate Change & Action and tagged Brattleboro, Climate change, drama, Environment, fiction, humor, latchis arts, novella, survivors of abuse, vermont, wind power, women on February 5, 2016 by Dede Cummings.


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Breitbart's Big Hollywood: Same old birtherism, comparisons of Obama to Hitler
Written by Eric Hananoki
Published 09/28/09 2:41 PM EDT
Recently, Fox News and other media outlets have given increased attention and influence to conservative web publisher Andrew Breitbart. One of his web outlets, BigHollywood.com, frequently accuses President Obama of failing to release a valid birth certificate and routinely compares Obama to Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Pol Pot, and Castro, despite Breitbart's claim that the site would "show another face to the conservative movement and the Republican Party."
Breitbart launches Big Hollywood promising "the opportunity to show another face to" conservatives and GOP
In a January 5 Washington Times column announcing his Big Hollywood blog, Breitbart wrote:
Big Hollywood also will offer politicians, think tank brains, pundits and sundry wonks the opportunity to show another face to the conservative movement and the Republican Party. No longer will "South Park" and Dennis Miller carry the load alone in pointing out the absurdities of the modern left.
I will be writing and recruiting like the madman that I am.
Hollywood may not be completely anti-American yet, but it is certainly no longer pro-American. And no one has put up a public fight to change that.
Until now.
Breitbart's Big Hollywood: Birtherism rampant
Contributors to Breitbart's Big Hollywood website have frequently made or defended the claim that Obama has not released a valid birth certificate:
On September 10, Burt Prelutsky criticized the "hypocrisy of liberals" in not expressing any "concern over Obama's refusal to offer up" his birth certificate:
Another thing about which all liberals agree is that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii. Recently, I even heard Bill O'Reilly insist that Obama's birth certificate is a non-issue and that nobody really cares about it. By this time, I have come to regard the Number One Name in Cable News as a big blowhard, so his observation, needless to say, did nothing to change my opinion. But the truth is, a lot of people care about the birth certificate and Obama's passport and what nationality he claimed to be on his college application. I know they do because they keep writing to me about these things. For my part, I hope Obama is an American citizen. I wouldn't want to witness the inevitable riots in the streets of this nation if there were a move to depose him. I would much prefer to see Blue Dog Democrats join with Republicans to stop Cap & Trade and Obamacare in their tracks, and then have conservatives elected in record numbers in 2010. Nothing I'd enjoy more than seeing Obama turned into a lame duck for the last two years of his term, and see people like Harry Reid, Arlen Specter, Chris Dodd and Henry Waxman, turned into private citizens. And the more private, the better.
The hypocrisy of liberals is apparent in the fact that not a single one has expressed any concern over Obama's refusal to offer up any of those documents or expressed the slightest alarm over the Constitution's being treated like so much toilet paper. On the other hand, imagine how the NY Times and all its hand maidens in the MSM would be carrying on if, instead of being a left-wing ideologue, The Man Without a Country were a Republican!
On August 22, Chele Stanton claimed that the media are giving Obama a "free pass" on issues such as Obama saying "he was born in Hawaii -- Yet his own Grandmother says he was born in Kenya and she was there at his birth" and that Obama "[w]on't release his school records, medical records, or birth certificate -- no explanation." Stanton concluded: "Obama promised transparency, but all I've seen is secrecy. If there is nothing to hide... then why are those records still being hidden? Concerned Americans want to know and deserve to know... the truth."
On August 11, Jeremy D. Boreing wrote a post headlined, "In Defense of the Birthers." Boreing claimed he is "not a Birther" but wrote that the treatment of birthers is "completely unfair" because they are raising "perfectly legitimate questions." Boreing added that Obama "plainly is not one of us":
For all of these reasons and many, many more, Barack Obama seems to be, if not un-American, then at least not-American. Which brings us back to citizenship. The question the Birthers are really trying to ask isn't 'is Barack Obama one of us.' He plainly is not one of us. The real question is 'why not?' The Birthers think the answer might be as simple as that he is not an actual citizen of this country. They think he must have been born somewhere else, like Kenya, to have the views and values he expresses. Others think that Mr. Obama was born here, but that perhaps his parents renounced his citizenship while he was living in Indonesia as a child, maybe to get him into certain schools or just because they thought at the time that they would live in Indonesia forever. Maybe that would explain how Mr. Obama paid from his Harvard education, through programs aimed at helping foreign nationals get American educations. Which might explain why none of his collegiate records or papers have ever been released. Which might further explain why there is just so much about his past that has been deliberately withheld from the public, or colorfully rewritten in his artificially sweetened autobiographies. I don't happen to agree with the Birthers or their legal-citizenship cousins, but my question for the Birthers-haters is -- When did it become incumbent on citizens asking reasonable questions about their president's life, experiences, and even his eligibility to be president, to simply accept the that president at his word? Is it not reasonable to expect an elected official, especially one who has promised unprecedented transparency, to simply reveal the documents relevant to answering the biggest questions about his life? Are we supposed to take all of our government officials at face value now, or just this one? Why does the media, whose job it is to hold the government accountable deride the Birthers and not demand the president simply remove the cloak he has so effectively hidden himself behind? Agree with them or not, the Birthers are just trying to answer the perfectly legitimate questions created by the patent dishonesty about and obscuration of most every aspect of Barack Obama's life. Who can blame them?
Carl Kozlowski wrote on July 30 that "the more I read about [Obama], the more questions I had. I also had always held respect for John McCain and his incredible sacrifices for the nation, so by the time fall rolled around, I was campaigning for the war hero and speaking out against the man who couldn't even produce a normal birth certificate to prove he belonged in the White House."
Joseph C. Phillips wrote on April 13 that "[t]here are a vast number of Americans that are not even aware that there are ambiguities surrounding the president's birth certificate or that those questions remain unanswered. The issue is not one promulgated by the opposition party, nor is it one entertained by any mainstream conservative or Republican writers."
Prelutsky claimed on April 15 that "our president went to Europe recently and, doing his rather uncanny impression of Michael Moore, apologized for American arrogance. Naturally, his own arrogant words were greeted with great applause from a pack of jackals who would have been under the boot of Hitler or Stalin, except for America's hatred of tyranny, its unrivaled display of courage and fortitude, and its sacrifice of treasure and blood. It is at such times that one can easily understand why the question about Obama's citizenship continues to plague so many people."
Breitbart wrote in an August 3 Washington Times column: "My long-held fear is that Mr. Obama is hiding something about his education. ... While I have no desire to see Mr. Obama's birth certificate, I do want to see his college transcripts. My suspicion, one could even call it a conspiracy theory, is that Mr. Obama committed himself to a radical curriculum, aligned himself with the far-left professoriate, and sought to keep this biographical information from his political enemies, especially then-rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, for fear that they would paint the former community organizer and follower of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright as something other than an advocate of racial reconciliation."
Breitbart's Big Hollywood: Obama routinely compared to Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Pol Pot, and Castro
Contributors to Big Hollywood have frequently compared Obama to Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Pol Pot, and Castro:
Leigh Scott wrote of the school kids "SHOCK VIDEO" on September 25: "Again, I must reiterate that if the left wants to discredit charges of Socialism, Communism, Nazism and Fascism; they should really think about not emulating Fascist, Communist, Socialist and Nazi regimes. As a child I remember films of kids my age in China, all dressed in creepy uniforms with red ties, pledging allegiance to photos of Chairman Mao."
On September 23, Alvaro Alvillar wrote of the controversy over an August 10 conference call involving the National Endowment for the Arts: "When did artists in this country decide it was a good idea to take marching orders from the government? Did I just wake up in some third-world country from a long sleep or am I having a nightmare where I go back in time to Mao's China, Stalin's Russian or Hitler's Germany? No such luck -- this is actually happening here and now and some of you artists are too stupid to figure out you're being had. Wake the $%@# up! Always question the powers that be! The only "change" that has taken place are the faces in high places. Politicians have an agenda-first, last and always -- but make no mistake -- these guys are worse, much worse!"
Scott asked on September 9, "Why should a lesbian like Rachel Maddow feel comfortable to share her sexual preferences with those around her (who coincidentally, could care less) but doesn't feel it appropriate to share her love of Chairman Mao and his policies?" Scott added:
In the 1930s, Fascism and Communism were all the rage in Europe. Democrats then, like the Democrats of today, were fascinated by Europe. They were convinced that there is some inherent wisdom lost upon the "colonists" and that we bumpkins should look to Europe for the answers. You can see this today as we march towards socialized medicine and embrace the climate change tomfoolery. Both are all the rage across the pond.
So, the Democrats of the 30s, the party of F.D.R,. did their best to emulate the enlightened leaders of Spain, Italy and Germany and started putting a little dash of Fascism and a pinch of Communism into the American melting pot.
Stir for seventy or so years and then serve yourself a heaping bowl of Obama!
On September 1, "Mr. Wrestling IV" -- a pseudonym for an "an actor in Hollywood" -- compared Democratic leaders on health care to "Lenin, Stalin, Pol Pot, Hitler, Castro, Idi Amin, Hussein, Guevara, and all the countless murderous dictators and thugs throughout history who have held onto power by murdering inconvenient people" and stated that they "have made the same argument: the murdered were expendable, unimportant, and the greater good was served":
But then I realized that this mindset is not from an alternate universe. It is from ours, and we have seen it before. We have seen it in godless countries like the USSR, and Cambodia, and the PRC, and in Nazi Germany. We have have [sic] seen it everywhere that individual human lives have been deemed expendable, and that all decisions must be made based on how they affect the State.
If one does not believe in a divine aspect to each human life, then any particular individual's life is expendable if it serves the "greater good." Furthermore, if we are not creations of God, then the greater good is determined by whatever political policies one happens to support. In other words, if there is no sacrosanct belief that an individual human life is a gift from a Creator, then any inconvenient life is expendable as long as it serves the current political will.
Lenin, Stalin, Pol Pot, Hitler, Castro, Idi Amin, Hussein, Guevara, and all the countless murderous dictators and thugs throughout history who have held onto power by murdering inconvenient people have made the same argument: the murdered were expendable, unimportant, and the greater good was served.
Is there now any wonder why most Americans do not want Statists like the deceased Sen. Edward Kennedy and his apologists and supporters in charge of our most vital commodity, our health care? If an individual human life is evaluated by its worth or cost to the State rather than by accepting its part in a plan far beyond our earthly understanding, then all of us are negotiable and, ultimately, expendable. And to their credit, it is logically consistent: if we are detrimental or costly to the State, and there is no divine reason to respect us, then we should be killed or mercifully given a cheaper pain pill if it serves the greater good.
Stanton wrote on August 22 that "now the White House is asking people to 'snitch' on those that oppose Obama's health care plan by notifying flag@whitehouse.gov. Is this Nazi Germany?!! Don't we still have freedom of speech?!! When did our representatives stop working FOR us and start appeasing this man and his obvious agenda of government control? The bills that get passed without even being read... it's unlawful, unpatriotic, and frankly, outrageous!"
Victoria Jackson claimed on August 18 that Obama and Hitler "have so many similar qualities":
As I walk into the gathering crowd, I notice that all the signs are polite, intelligent. No swastikas! Well, there was one poster of Obama with a Hitler mustache that was quickly taken down, but that poster seems appropriate since the two have so many similar qualities; the most recent being Obama purposefully stirring up racial conflict with the Gates-Crowley affair. Hitler did that...stirred up racial conflict. Obama's current attitude toward Israel is in question. Hitler did not support Jews. Obama is forming a volunteer/mandatory Youth Army. Hitler did that. Obama is trying to have government control everything, the media, cars, banks, houses, health. Hitler did that. Obama appointed 44 people (czars) that we didn't get to vote for. Hitler did that. Obama started a Snitch Program. Hitler did that. Obama wants the government to control who dies and when they die. Hitler did that. So did Stalin, Lenin and Castro.
On July 7, Jackson claimed that "Obama legally kills babies and now he can legally kill Grandmas! Hitler did this. He killed the weak, the sick, the old, and babies and races/religions he didn't like":
Obama legally kills babies and now he can legally kill Grandmas!
Hitler did this. He killed the weak, the sick, the old, and babies and races/religions he didn't like. Hitler also controlled the media. (Where's the public debate between scientists on "Climate Change/Global Warming?") Hitler had the VW bug invented as the state car. What will O's nationalized car be? So... kill off the weak. That's the plan. Tax the workers to death. Erase the middle class. Sounds like the evil governments we studied in high school long ago. The evil governments were : kings, oligarchies, facist, socialist, and communist. Now it's called the Obama Administration. Sounds like candy or a rock band.
On July 3, Jackson compared Obama to Soviet Communists, writing:
It's probably a compliment to the President since he likes to quote his Marxist professors, and by his own words and actions is trying his very best to "change" our country from Capitalist to Communist.
At my first protest, the Tea Party at Santa Monica Pier, I read from Webster's Dictionary the definition of Capitalism, Socialism and Communism, because I had begun to realize that Americans don't know what the words mean. Capitalism means freedom, the people control production. Socialism is the link between Capitalism and Communism. Communism is when the state controls everything; you know, like autos, banks, medicine, health insurance, taxes, television. (You know, like what Obama is doing.) No freedom. And soon...Poor, dirty, gray streets. Poor, dirty, gray faces.
Joseph Lindsey wrote on April 20 that Obama's "machine is pushing Obama porn. ... As a grown up I was okay with the Obama porn smeared all over the adult sections, but, when I reached the far corner of the store, next to the knee-high chairs and stuffed animals I almost lost it. There I found a whole wall of Obama porn for kids, featuring hardcore, hard covered, cartooned Barack Obama porn begging children to partake. Not since Chairman Mao have children been so assaulted by the likes of such pornographic political propaganda."
On March 22, Veronica DiPippo wrote under a poster of Mao, "Hope & Change circa 1940's China" and compared posters of Stalin and Obama. She also wrote of two Obama supporters who "entered their fully loaded Prius complete with scary, propagandic, Obama bumper sticker circa Leninist Russia."
Beck relies heavily on Drudge protégé Breitbart in recent attacks on NEA, Jones, and ACORN
Beck describes Breitbart as one of "the great journalists of our time." In recent weeks, Fox News' Glenn Beck has been credited with precipitating the resignation of White House "green jobs" adviser Van Jones, the reassignment of NEA communications director Yosi Sergant, and the amplification of anti-ACORN videos produced by a conservative filmmaker. In all three instances, Beck has credited the "instrumental" work of Breitbart, whom Beck has called one of "the great journalists of our time."
Breitbart thrives on Facebook, in part because the platform rewards sensational photos and videos
Research/Study 12/20/21 10:01 AM EST
Conservative media falsely claim activist parents will be labeled "domestic terrorists"
Article 10/27/21 12:04 PM EDT
Report: Bannon associate fielding questions from January 6 committee
Article 10/26/21 11:23 AM EDT


text:
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


It always amazes me how something so simple can become something so incredible. That is what I feel when I make this Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Yoghurt Sauce.
That's how I cook if I am not developing a recipe for publication. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, taste, adjust, bada boom, bada bing! Which means I often have to go back and re-develop a recipe if I make something for dinner and decide I want to share it with my readers. You would think after being a recipe developer for 15+ years that I would just write things down no matter what?! Yeah, that would be to easy.
I recently trotted the recipe out for my daughter's Brownie Troop when they needed to earn their snack badge. I cut a large platter of assorted fruits, and brought the sauce and bamboo skewers for them to make Fruit Kebabs. These girls are only 8, and I brought a really large platter of fruit, thinking I would be taking about half home. Like cute little locusts they descended upon the fruit and yoghurt sauce, leaving a platter with only a few seeds and a wee bit of juice.
But the most profound thing that afternoon was that the girls all raved about the yoghurt sauce. Even a few extremely picky eaters ate a good amount. Kids who didn't like yoghurt ate the yoghurt sauce. Had the world gone mad?
Nah, the girls had just discovered something really tasty and had absolutely no idea how healthy it was for them. Or how easy it was for their parents to make it for them.
I tend to use yoghurt in place of sour cream, or other higher fat forms of dairy. One of the brands I like to eat is Mountain High Yoghurt, which is free from all the additives you often find in other brands of yoghurt. No preservatives, no artificial flavors and colors, just simple goodness.
If you are a fan of Mountain High Yoghurt or whether you have never tried it, I urge you to click here to get a coupon to try Mountain High Yogurt for yourself.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the yoghurt, brown sugar and cinnamon.
Place your chosen fruit onto a plate or platter.
Drizzle the yoghurt sauce over the fruit or offer it in a bowl for dipping.
Visit the Mountain High social media pages for more great recipe and craft ideas!
Looks delish! Simple and yummy, my fave!
Love your photos! Looks yummy! We just loved trying Mountain High Yoghurt!


Do you want more inspiration in life? A unique experience that makes you see new possibilities? Then let me tell you a story.
We all share stories – on the bus, over lunch or at the side of a hospital bed. There really is no better communication tool. And so I've made storytelling my profession. I create and perform inspirational stories for conferences and seminars. When I tell a story, you'll not only hear it but feel it. That feeling of inspiration empowers you to change your perception. The perception of your own potential – and that of others.
2) Tell me what occation the service is for, and what would really lift your event. Please ask any question you ponder over. I'll be happy to answer.


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If you enjoy reading the incredible stories of recognizing God's Love in your life on "Weekly Inspiration" we invite you to also join us on YouTube. We will be posting a new video every week.
As amazing as reading the testimonies is, there is something truly special about hearing from the authors themselves.
Here are our first three videos.


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text:
Iowa Poll: Half of Iowans object to state law banning mask mandates, an increase since spring
© Copyright 2021, Des Moines Register and Tribune Co.
Half of Iowans oppose a state law banning local mask mandates, including at schools, a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll finds.
But nearly as many support it, a reflection of the hyper-divisive controversy playing out in courtrooms and at school board meetings across the state.
Fifty percent of Iowans now oppose the Iowa law banning mask mandates, and 47% favor. That means the larger share of public opinion has flipped since June, when a plurality of 49% approved of the new law, and 46% opposed it.
However, a clear majority of Iowans — 55% — say they would support changing state law to require the coronavirus vaccine for children once it receives full federal approval.
The poll illustrates how split the state is as families, educators and politicians grapple with keeping kids safe in school during the pandemic. The debate is so intense it has turned traditionally sleepy school board meetings into raucous affairs. Pockets of parents have protested outside schools. Meanwhile, coronavirus cases among children in Iowa and across the U.S. have increased.
Further complicating the issue: The results affirm that government-imposed COVID-19 mitigation efforts reflect the polarization between Republicans, who are less likely to favor coronavirus-related mandates, and Democrats, who are more likely to favor them.
Selzer & Co. conducted the poll of 805 Iowa adults Sept. 12-15. On the second day of polling, Sept. 13, a federal judged temporarily blocked Iowa's ban on mask mandates in schools. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Views on mask mandate ban divide by political party
Iowa legislators passed the ban on local mask mandates in the final hours of their session in May, putting Iowa among a handful of states to prohibit such requirements in schools.
Republicans said the law was a response to concerns from parents over school district mask mandates. Democrats opposed it, saying the law ties the hands of school officials who are best poised to make decisions based on local conditions. The law passed on a party-line vote.
The judge on Sept. 13 sided with parents of several students with disabilities. The parents had filed a lawsuit saying that without universal masking, their children were being denied equal access to education since they're at higher risk for COVID-19. In August, the U.S. Department of Education also announced it would investigate whether the Iowa law discriminates against students who could be more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
Since the judge's decision, school districts across Iowa have wrestled with whether to bring back mask requirements. Many have, but others have declined to do so.
Iowans' perspectives on the mask mandate ban fall along partisan lines: Sixty-eight percent of Republicans favor the ban, while 88% of Democrats oppose it. Independents are closely divided and reflect the state at large, with 47% saying they favor the ban, and 50% saying they oppose it.
Opinions also divide based on a person's vaccination status. Those who are already vaccinated oppose the law nearly 2-1, with 63% opposing the ban and 32% favoring it. Among those who do not plan to be vaccinated, 77% favor the law and 22% oppose it.
"I think it should be left up to the individual school district to monitor the health issues going on in their community and how their community feels about it," said poll respondent Sydney Conrad, a 37-year-old independent from Van Meter.
More:Do Iowa schools have mask mandates? See which schools require masks and which are still deciding
Conrad, who works for an insurance company, has children in the seventh and fifth grades. She said her seventh-grade son is fully vaccinated, which helps bring her some peace of mind when he's at school.
But 35-year-old poll respondent Gail Burlage, an independent from Quasqueton, said she supports the law because she believes having no mask requirement in school is helping bring children's lives closer to normal.
Burlage, who works at home and has three children in the Independence Community School District, said her kindergarten-age daughter, in particular, struggled with worrying about the pandemic. For her daughter, wearing a mask became a reminder of her anxieties, she said.
"Our kids need normalcy. They do — I'm sorry," she said. "I mean, these last couple years have been really tough for them. My goodness, they feel like the world's ending. And honestly, they should just be allowed to go back to normal."
Iowa Poll: Armed forces, local police, State Patrol are trusted; social media and cable news, hardly at all Iowa Poll: A quarter of Iowa adults don't plan to get COVID-19 shots; 70% have had the vaccine or plan to get it Iowa Poll: Half of Iowans object to state law banning mask mandates, an increase since spring Iowa Poll: Chuck Grassley leads Abby Finkenauer in test of possible U.S. Senate matchup Iowa Poll: Majority of Iowans believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases Iowa Poll: 85% of Iowans, a 'giant majority,' say ethanol is critically or fairly important to the state's economy
Burlage said her school district has not required masks this year, and she doesn't believe many of the parents in the district would support reinstating one. She believes that attending school in person has been a positive experience for her kids and that the school is a relatively safe environment. Children are more resilient against the virus as well, she said.
Medical experts say children are less likely to develop severe illness from the coronavirus but can still catch and transmit it. Nationwide, cases of COVID-19 in children have jumped about 240% since July. The school year began as the highly contagious delta variant of the virus had become the dominant strain in Iowa and across the country.
Iowa reported Wednesday that more than 3,000 children reported positive for COVID-19 during the latest seven-day reporting period — more than a quarter of the state's 12,163 new reported cases.
Majority of Iowans favor vaccine requirement for students
Iowa currently requires several vaccinations for students, such as measles, mumps and rubella, unless they have a medical or religious exemption.
More than half of Iowans — 55% — favor adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the list, once it receives full approval. Forty-one percent oppose that step, and another 4% are not sure.
No version of the coronavirus vaccine has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for use in children under 12, although Pfizer-BioNTech plans to submit data for an emergency use authorization before the end of the month. Pfizer announced Monday that a one-third dose of the vaccine is both safe and effective for children ages 5 to 11. Iowa officials say they'll be prepared to distribute the vaccine when the time comes.
Of Iowa adults who are already vaccinated against the coronavirus, 78% favor making the vaccine a requirement for students. But that number is just 6% among those who are not vaccinated and do not plan to be; 92% are opposed.
There's also an urban-rural divide. Rural Iowans are more likely to oppose adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required inoculations, with 54% against. In cities, 61% favor the addition.
Parents of children under 18 are also less likely to say they support requiring the vaccine, with 57% opposing and 41% favoring. Those 65 and older favor a requirement by more than 3-1. Those under 35 are closely split, with 48% in favor, and 49% opposed.
Iowa Poll on vaccine mandates:Feds shouldn't order employers to require COVID shots, 52% say
Jack Hendricksen, a 37-year-old poll respondent from Victor, said he plans to have his children vaccinated once it's fully approved. He said he believes school environments are unsafe and supports a vaccine mandate because he trusts the work of the scientists and health officials who are working on the shot.
"We get all the vaccines for the kids when they're allowed to after they're born," said Hendricksen, a heavy equipment technician who identifies as a Democratic Socialist. "I don't believe this is any different. It's something to keep your children safe, (and) I'd rather go that route."
But Burlage, the mother from Quasqueton, said she has concerns about the vaccine and whether there's enough research to support it for children.
"I don't want to put anything in their bodies that they don't need," she said. "Everybody should be free to make their own choice on it."
More:What Iowa parents need to know about the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for kids
Burlage herself has delayed taking the vaccine, partially because she was nursing her newborn son. She does plan to get it eventually, she said.
Iowa lawmakers would need to take action to allow schools to mandate the vaccine. An Iowa law that places limits on COVID-19 vaccination requirements prohibits schools from asking students, teachers, staff members or school visitors for proof of having received the coronavirus vaccine, according to guidance from the Iowa Department of Public Health.
Most Iowans feel school is safe for students, teachers
Nearly 3 in 4 Iowans overall say they believe students are safe attending school in person. But that number has dropped 5 percentage points since a March Iowa Poll taken before the delta variant of the coronavirus became dominant and fueled a rise in cases and hospitalizations.
Seventy-three percent of Iowans now believe it is safe for children to attend school. In March, it was 78%. In September 2020, that number was 54%.
Another 73% believe it is safe for teachers and staff, a slight drop of 1 percentage point since March.
Eighty-three percent of Iowans with children believe students are very safe or mostly safe.
Among them is Conrad, the Van Meter parent, who said the Winterset Community School District, where her children attend, does not require masks but is taking other precautions like social distancing and heightened cleaning protocols. That makes her feel safer about sending them.
Hendricksen, meanwhile, is among 17% of parents who say they believe the environment is "mostly unsafe" or "very unsafe" for kids.
Twenty-four percent of Iowans say the environment is unsafe for teachers and staff.
Hendricksen said his wife helped their two elementary-age children with online school last year but had to switch to in-person at the beginning of 2021 after the birth of another child. The school at the time required masks but no longer does.
"I believe it's unsafe for them to be in (schools), especially with how many people are dying from it," he said.
About this poll
The Iowa Poll, conducted September 12-15, 2021, for the Des Moines Register and Mediacom by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, is based on telephone interviews with 805 Iowans ages 18 or older. Interviewers with Quantel Research contacted households with randomly selected landline and cell phone numbers supplied by Dynata. Interviews were administered in English. Responses were adjusted by age, sex and congressional district to reflect the general population based on recent American Community Survey estimates.
Questions based on the sample of 805 Iowa adults have a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Questions based on the subsample of 620 likely voters in the 2022 midterm election have a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points. This means that if this survey were repeated using the same questions and the same methodology, 19 times out of 20, the findings would not vary from the true population value by more than plus or minus 3.5 percentage points or 3.9 percentage points, respectively. Results based on smaller samples of respondents — such as by gender or age — have a larger margin of error.
Republishing the copyright Iowa Poll without credit to the Des Moines Register and Mediacom is prohibited.
Dive into more details of the latest Iowa Poll
The Register's Samantha Hernandez contributed to this report.
Ian Richardson covers the Iowa Statehouse for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at irichardson@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8254, or on Twitter at @DMRIanR.


text:
L'unité urbaine de Parthenay est une unité urbaine française centrée sur la ville de Parthenay, sous-préfecture et troisième ville des Deux-Sèvres.

Données globales
En 2010, selon l'INSEE, l'unité urbaine de Parthenay était composée de cinq communes, toutes situées dans les Deux-Sèvres, dans l'arrondissement de Parthenay.

Dans le nouveau zonage de 2020, le périmètre est identique

En , avec , elle constitue la troisième unité urbaine des Deux-Sèvres se classant après les unités urbaines de Niort et de Bressuire et elle occupe le  en Nouvelle-Aquitaine, juste après l'unité urbaine d'Andernos-les-Bains.

En 2019, sa densité de population s'élève à , ce qui la classe au  départemental après l'unité urbaine de Niort ().

Elle représente le pôle urbain de l'aire urbaine de Parthenay.

Délimitation de l'unité urbaine de 2020

En 2010, l'Insee a procédé à une révision de la délimitation des unités urbaines de la France ; celle de Parthenay est demeurée inchangée étant composée de cinq communes urbaines.

Évolution territoriale de l'unité urbaine de Parthenay depuis 1975

En 1975, l'unité urbaine de Parthenay qui était constituée de quatre communes urbaines (Parthenay, Châtillon-sur-Thouet, Pompaire et Le Tallud), rassemblait . Elle était alors la deuxième unité urbaine des Deux-Sèvres, se classant après l'unité urbaine de Niort, mais devançant  l'unité urbaine de Bressuire. C'était la dixième unité urbaine de Poitou-Charentes.

Aux deux recensements suivants, 1982 et 1990, l'unité urbaine de Parthenay ne s'est pas agrandie mais sa population a diminué passant à . Elle est alors devenue la  urbaine des Deux-Sèvres, se classant derrière Niort et Bressuire et la  en Poitou-Charentes.

En 1999, cette unité urbaine a incorporé une cinquième commune, Viennay, et comptait ; son classement départemental et régional ne variant pas.

Lors de la dernière délimitation de 2010, l'unité urbaine de Parthenay n'a pas varié en nombre de communes.

En 2010 - comme en 2007 -, elle demeure toujours la troisième unité urbaine du département des Deux-Sèvres, se situant loin derrière l'unité urbaine de Niort mais talonnant de près l'unité urbaine de Bressuire.

En Poitou-Charentes, elle se classe au onzième rang régional, position qu'elle détient invariablement depuis le recensement de 1990.

Si l'unité urbaine de Parthenay n'a connu qu'une seule modification territoriale en 1999, ce n'est que depuis cette dernière date qu'elle dépasse le chiffre de population de 1975.

Évolution démographique

Voir aussi

Articles connexes
Données générales
 Unité urbaine
 Aire d'attraction d'une ville
 Espace urbain
 Liste des unités urbaines de France

Données en rapport avec l'unité urbaine de Parthenay
 Aire d'attraction de Parthenay
 Démographie des Deux-Sèvres
 Démographie de la Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Liens externes
 Données statistiques (dossier complet) de l'unité urbaine 2020 de Parthenay (79303)

Références

Parthenay

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
My Mascus – a New Version of Online Marketplace for Used Machinery
Mascus - an electronic marketplace for used construction equipment, agricultural machinery, and transportation vehicles - has launched a new version of its online platform to make business easier for the users.
Online PR News – 13-May-2010 – – 'My Mascus' gives users of one of the most successful buying and selling platforms for heavy used machinery, a host of new features including the ability to bookmark their favorite machines, compare available machines and save those they like. Customers can also post 'want ads' and receive email alerts when a specific item on their wish list becomes available. "My Mascus is purely designed to make life easier for our customers," says Fredrik Larsson, Mascus' Managing Director. "By enabling the ability to compare prices online, bookmark favorites and also put up want ads, we're also encouraging our visitors to return to the site again and again. It's a natural development of the site, and one that we believe our customers will really appreciate," he explains.
Customer friendly = business friendly
With over one million unique users each month, the introduction of 'My Mascus' is also a logical and necessary step. "By launching a site that offers advanced functionality, we believe that it will also give us better customer retention," says Rickard Petersson, Mascus' Sales Director. "We are present worldwide - across 42 domains and in 35 languages, so a facility that draws all the strands of the business together and makes it easier for customers to navigate is hopefully going to encourage them to come back to us often."
Buyers can contact sellers to make an offer, request information or ask about similar machinery they may have. There is also a 'Comparison Tool' function, which allows comparing used machinery or equipment advertised on the site. 'My Mascus' log-on page is easy to navigate and there is a range of special options available for signed-up users:
•	Faster searching, and access to "Comparison Tool "function
•	Sending contact requests without the need to re-enter contact data
•	Placing free 'want ads' and receiving notification about availability of searched equipment.
Mascus' team is convinced that these new functions will give users a better browsing experience, and will also encourage international trade. "My Mascus gives our customers a site that is easy to use and full of relevant features such as the ability to place 'want ads', or bookmarking favorites and it takes all the hassle out of buying and selling used heavy machinery and vehicles," says Larsson. "Our aim is to provide the best online platform for all our customers, regardless of location. My Mascus is the next generation of online buying and selling platforms and we believe that it will set a new benchmark for this kind of site throughout the world," he concludes.
Marc Mandt, USA Country Manager +1-877-7-MASCUS, +1-704-993-0033, marc@us.mascus.com
About Mascus:
Mascus USA is a trading company of Alma Media Corporation.
It is an electronic marketplace for used construction equipment, agricultural machinery and transportation vehicles. All dealers, manufacturers, and end-users are welcome to offer their used machines and equipment for sale via the online marketplace. Mascus makes trading in used machinery and equipment quicker and more efficient by collecting in one place information about the supply and the demand from across the world. Visit us online at http://www.mascus.com
Caterpillar and Mascus Join Forces Again
Mascus Acquires Majority Stake in Marknadspriser.Se
Mascus Launches New Brand Pages
Mascus – 1 Million Unique Visitors…and Growing
Polina Brachkov
Helsinki Helsinki, 00101
(003) 585-03814945
http://www.mascus.com/


text:
Q: How do I capture character keyboard buttons pressed in video fullscreen mode I'm using a HTML5 jw player 6.. Is it possible to capture character keyboard buttons pressed in fullscreen mode?
I have tried using
$("body").keyup(function(e) {
    div.innerHTML = e.keyCode;
});

But it seems to register only certain keys pressed (such as space, key right, key left etc) and no characters. I'd like to record normal characters such as the letter "a" being pressed down during playback...
Thanks for your help!

A: It's not fully implimented in all browsers, but this dev article from Opera should give you the details you need.
http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/introduction-html5-video/#scripting

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
HRC42 | States call on Saudi Arabia to improve its human rights record
Australia today delivered a significant joint statement on behalf of a cross-regional group of States expressing their concern over the persecution and intimidation of activists, including women human rights defenders, as well as in relation to widespread torture, extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearances, unfair trials, arbitrary detention and impunity. It calls on the Saudi government to end impunity, including for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, accept visits by UN experts, end the death penalty, and ratify international human rights treaties.
During the same debate, the sister of woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul, Lina Al-Hathloul called on the UN Human Rights Council to help her hold those who tortured her sister accountable, and secure her immediate and unconditional release.
Since March 2019, the Council has increased its scrutiny of Saudi Arabia, when Iceland delivered the first ever joint statement on the country. In June 2019, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial and summary executions Dr. Agnes Callamard presented to the Council her investigation which found the State of Saudi Arabia responsible for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey in October 2018. The UN expert urged States to act immediately to ensure accountability for Khashoggi's murder and guarantee non-repetition.
"A cross-regional group of States, led by Australia, have stood up today for human rights despite the political and economic costs", said Salma El Hosseiny, ISHR's Human Rights Council advocate. "The international community sent a strong and clear message to the government of Saudi Arabia that its crimes won't go unanswered and that as a Council member, it will be held to heightened scrutiny", added El Hosseiny.
ISHR as part of the Coalition of Free Saudi Women Human Rights Defenders* has been advocating for the immediate and unconditional release of Saudi women's rights activists who have been detained since mid-May 2018. Some of them have been tortured and sexually harassed; but no one was held accountable.
"Saudi Arabia, as a member of the Council, should listen to its peers and immediately and unconditionally release all the women's rights activists, drop all charges against them and guarantee that they can continue their activism without any fear or threat of reprisals", demanded the Coalition.
The statement has set out a list of measures that Saudi Arabia should take to demonstrate its political will to engage in good faith with the Council and improve its human rights record. They include:
Ending the persecution and intimidation of activists, journalists, dissents and their family members;
An end to impunity for torture and extrajudicial killings, including establish the truth and accountability for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi;
End its use of the death penalty;
Accept visits by relevant UN Special Procedures;
Ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
"If Saudi Arabia does not meet any of the benchmarks, the Council should follow up with a resolution establishing a monitoring mechanism over the human rights situation in the country in the upcoming session in March 2020", concluded El Hosseiny.
Read the joint statement here and watch Lina Al-Hathloul's statement here or below.
The States who signed on the joint statement are: Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, The United Kingdom.
*The Free Saudi WHRDs Coalition is: Women's March Global, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, CIVICUS, Equality Now, MENA Women Human Rights Defenders Coalition and Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain and ISHR.
Women's rights and WHRD