Cuban War of Independence

The Cuban War of Independence (, 1895–1898) was the last of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being the Ten Years' War (1868–1878) and the Little War (1879–1880). The final three months of the conflict escalated to become the Spanish–American War, with United States forces being deployed in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippine Islands against Spain. Historians disagree as to the extent that United States officials were motivated to intervene for humanitarian reasons but agree that yellow journalism exaggerated atrocities attributed to Spanish forces against Cuban civilians.
Background.
During the years 1879–1888 of the so-called "Rewarding Truce", lasting for 17 years from the end of the 'Ten Years' War in 1878, there were fundamental social changes in Cuban society. With the abolition of slavery in October 1886, freedmen joined the ranks of farmers and the urban working class. The economy could no longer sustain itself with the shift and changes; therefore, many wealthy Cubans lost their property, and joined the urban middle class. The number of sugar mills dropped and efficiency increased: only companies, and the most powerful plantation owners, remained in business followed by the Central Board of Artisans in 1879, and many more across the island. After his second deportation to Spain in 1878, José Martí moved to the United States in 1881. There he mobilized the support of the Cuban exile community, especially in Ybor City (Tampa area) and Key West, Florida. His goal was revolution in order to achieve independence from Spain. Martí lobbied against the U.S. annexation of Cuba, which was desired by some politicians in both the U.S. and Cuba.
After deliberations with patriotic clubs across the United States, the Antilles and Latin America, "El Partido Revolucionario Cubano" (The Cuban Revolutionary Party) was in a state of pendency and was affected by a growing fear that the U.S. government would try to annex Cuba before the revolution could liberate the island from Spain.
A new trend of aggressive U.S. "influence" was expressed by Secretary of State James G. Blaine's suggestion that all of Central and South America would some day fall to the U.S.:
"That rich island", Blaine wrote on 1 December 1881, "the key to the Gulf of Mexico, is, though in the hands of Spain, a part of the American commercial system… If ever ceasing to be Spanish, Cuba must necessarily become American and not fall under any other European domination". Blaine's vision did not allow the existence of an independent Cuba. "Martí noticed with alarm the movement to annex Hawaii, viewing it as establishing a pattern for Cuba…"
War.
On April 1 and 11, 1895, the main Mambi leaders landed on two expeditions in Oriente: Major General Antonio Maceo along with 22 members near Baracoa, and José Martí, Máximo Gómez and 4 other members in Playitas. Around that time, Spanish forces in Cuba nutted about 80,000, of which 20,000 were regular troops and 60,000 were Spanish and Cuban volunteer militia. The latter were a locally enlisted force that took care of most of the "guard and police" duties on the island. Wealthy landowners would "volunteer" a number of their slaves to serve in this force, which was under local control as militia and not under official military command. By December, Spain had sent 98,412 regular troops to the island, and the colonial government increased the Volunteer Corps to 63,000 men. By the end of 1897, there were 240,000 regulars and 60,000 irregulars on the island. The revolutionaries were far outnumbered.
The Mambises were named after the Spanish officer, Juan Ethninius Mamby who joined the Dominican fight for independence in 1844. The Spanish soldiers referred to the insurgents in the Dominican Republic as "the men of Mamby" or "Mambies". When Cuba's first war of independence broke out in 1868, some of those same soldiers were assigned to Cuba; they brought along what had by then become a derogatory Spanish slur for insurgents. The Cubans adopted the name with pride.
After the Ten Years' War, the government had forbidden possession of weapons by private individuals. From the beginning of the uprising, the rebels were hampered by the lack of suitable weapons. They compensated by using guerrilla-style fighting, based on quick raids and fades to the environment, the element of surprise, mounting their forces on fast horses, and using machetes against regular troops on the march. They acquired most of their weapons and ammunition in raids on the Spaniards. Between June 11, 1895, and November 30, 1897, out of sixty attempts to bring weapons and supplies to the rebels from outside the country, only one succeeded. Twenty-eight ships were intercepted within U.S. territory; five were intercepted at sea by the U.S. Navy, and four by the Spanish Navy; two were wrecked; one was driven back to port by storm; the fate of another is unknown.
Martí was killed shortly after landing on May 19, 1895, at Dos Rios, but Máximo Gomez and Antonio Maceo fought on, taking the war to all parts of Oriente. By the end of June, all of Camagüey was at war. Based on new research in Cuban sources, historian John Lawrence Tone demonstrated that Gomez and Maceo were the first to force the civilian forces to choose sides. "Either they relocated to the east side of the islands, where the Cubans controlled the mountainous terrain, or they would be accused of supporting the Spanish and be subject to immediate trial and execution." Continuing west, they were joined by 1868 war veterans, such as Polish internationalist General Carlos Roloff and Serafín Sánchez in Las Villas, who brought weapons, men and experience to the revolutionaries' arsenal.
In mid-September, representatives of the five Liberation Army Corps assembled in Jimaguayú, Camagüey to approve the "Jimaguayú Constitution." They established a central government, which grouped the executive and legislative powers into one entity named "Government Council", headed by Salvador Cisneros and Bartolomé Masó. After some time of consolidation in the three eastern provinces, the liberation armies headed for Camagüey and then Matanzas, outmaneuvering and deceiving the Spanish Army several times. They defeated Spanish Gen. Arsenio Martínez-Campos y Antón, who had gained victory in the Ten-Year War, and killed his most trusted general at Peralejo.
Campos tried the same strategy he had employed in the Ten Years' War, constructing a broad belt across the island, called the "trocha", about 80 km long and 200 m wide. This defense line was to confine rebel activities to the eastern provinces. The belt was developed along a railroad from Jucaro in the south to Morón in the north. Campos built fortifications along this railroad at various points, and at intervals, 12 meters of posts and 400 meters of barbed wire. In addition, booby traps were placed at locations most likely to be attacked.
The rebels believed they had to take the war to the western provinces of Matanzas, Havana and Pinar del Rio, where the island's government and wealth were located. The Ten-Year War had failed because it had not managed to proceed beyond the eastern provinces. In a successful cavalry campaign overcoming the "trochas", the revolutionaries invaded every province. Surrounding all larger cities and well-fortified towns, they arrived at the westernmost tip of the island on January 22, 1896, exactly three months after the invasion near Baraguá.
Campos was replaced by Gen. Valeriano Weyler. He reacted to the rebels' successes by introducing terror methods: periodic executions, mass exile of residents and forced concentration of them in certain cities or areas, and destruction of farms and crops. Weyler's methods reached their height on October 21, 1896, when he ordered all countryside residents and their livestock to gather within eight days in various fortified areas and towns occupied by his troops.
Hundreds of thousands of people had to leave their homes and were subjected to appalling and inhumane conditions in the crowded towns and cities. Together with the forced reconcentrations done by the rebels in the eastern provinces, Using a variety of sources, Tone estimates that civilian losses totaled 155,000 to 170,000 deaths, representing nearly 10 percent of the total population.
Starting in the early 1880s, Spain had also suppressed an independence movement in the Philippines, which was intensifying. In effect, Spain was now fighting two wars, a heavy burden on its economy. In 1896 it turned down offers in secret negotiations by the United States to buy Cuba from Spain.
Maceo was killed December 7, 1896, in Havana province while returning from the west. As the war went on, the major obstacle to Cuban success was weapons supply. Although weapons and funding came from within the Cuban exile community and supporters in the United States, the supply operation violated American laws. These were enforced by the U.S. Coast Guard: of 71 attempted re-supply missions, only 27 got through; 5 were stopped by the Spanish, but 33 were stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard.
In 1897, the liberation army maintained a privileged position in Camagüey and Oriente, where the Spanish controlled only a few cities. Spanish Liberal leader Práxedes Mateo Sagasta admitted in May 1897: "After having sent 200,000 men and shed so much blood, we don’t own more land on the island than what our soldiers are stepping on". The rebel force of 3,000 defeated the Spanish in various encounters, such as the Battle of La Reforma, and forcing the surrender of Las Tunas on August 30. The Spaniards were kept on the defensive. Las Tunas had been guarded by over 1,000 well-armed and well-supplied men.
As stipulated at the Jimaguayü Assembly two years earlier, a second Constituent Assembly met in La Yaya, Camagüey, on October 10, 1897. The newly adopted constitution provided that military command was to be subordinated to civilian rule. The government was confirmed, naming Bartolomé Masó President and Domingo Méndez Capote Vice President.
Madrid decided to change its policy towards Cuba, and replaced Weyler. It also drew up a colonial constitution for Cuba and Puerto Rico, and installed a new government in Havana. But with half the country out of its control and the other half in arms, the colonial government was powerless and these changes were rejected by the rebels.
The "Maine" incident.
The Cuban struggle for independence had captured the American imagination for years. Some newspapers had agitated for US intervention, especially because of its large financial investment, and featured sensational stories of Spanish atrocities against the native Cuban population, which were exaggerated for propaganda.
Such coverage continued after Spain had replaced Weyler and changed its policies. American public opinion was very much in favor of intervening on behalf of the Cubans.
In January 1898, a riot by Cuban Spanish loyalists against the new autonomous government broke out in Havana. They destroyed the printing presses of four local newspapers that had published articles critical of Spanish Army atrocities. The U.S. Consul-General cabled Washington with fears for the lives of Americans living in Havana. In response, the battleship USS "Maine" was sent to Havana in the last week of January. On February 15, 1898, the "Maine" was rocked by an explosion, killing 260 of the crew and sinking the ship in the harbor. At the time, a military Board of Investigations decided that the Maine had exploded due to the detonation of a mine underneath the hull. However, later investigations decided that it was likely something inside the ship, though the cause of the explosion has not been clearly established to this day.
In an attempt to appease the United States, the colonial government took two steps that had been demanded by President William McKinley: it ended forced relocation of residents from their homes and offered negotiations with the independence fighters. But the truce was rejected by the rebels.
The Spanish–American War.
The sinking of the "Maine" sparked a wave of public indignation in the United States. Newspaper owners such as William R. Hearst leaped to the conclusion that Spanish officials in Cuba were to blame, and they widely publicized the conspiracy. Realistically, Spain could have had no interest in drawing the United States into the conflict. Yellow journalism fueled American anger by publishing "atrocities" committed by Spain in Cuba. Hearst, when informed by Frederic Remington, whom he had hired to furnish illustrations for his newspaper, that conditions in Cuba were not bad enough to warrant hostilities, allegedly replied, "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war". President McKinley, Speaker of the House Thomas Brackett Reed, and the business community opposed the growing public demand for war, which was lashed to fury by the yellow journalism. The American cry of the hour became, "Remember the Maine, To Hell with Spain!"
The decisive event was probably the speech of Senator Redfield Proctor, delivered on March 17, 1898, analyzing the situation and concluding that war was the only answer. The business and religious communities switched sides, leaving McKinley and Reed almost alone in their opposition to the war. "Faced with a revved up, war-ready population, and all the editorial encouragement the two competitors could muster, the United States jumped at the opportunity to get involved and showcase its new steam-powered Navy".
On April 11, McKinley asked Congress for authority to send American troops to Cuba for the purpose of ending the civil war there. On April 19, Congress passed joint resolutions (by a vote of 311 to 6 in the House and 42 to 35 in the Senate) supporting Cuban independence and disclaiming any intention to annex Cuba, demanding Spanish withdrawal, and authorizing the president to use as much military force as he thought necessary to help Cuban patriots gain independence from Spain. This was adopted by resolution of Congress and included the Teller Amendment, named after Colorado Senator Henry Moore Teller, which passed unanimously, stipulating that "the island of Cuba is, and by right should be, free and independent". The amendment disclaimed any intention on the part of the United States to exercise jurisdiction or control over Cuba for other than pacification reasons, and confirmed that the armed forces would be removed once the war is over. The amendment, pushed through at the last minute by anti-imperialists in the Senate, made no mention of the Philippines, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Congress formally declared war on April 25. The Senate and House passed the amendment April 19, McKinley signed the joint resolution on April 20, and the ultimatum was forwarded to Spain. War was declared on April 20/21, 1898.
"It's been suggested that a major reason for the U.S. war against Spain was the fierce competition emerging between Joseph Pulitzer's "New York World" and William Randolph Hearst's "New York Journal"". Joseph E. Wisan wrote in an essay titled "The Cuban Crisis As Reflected In The New York Press", published in "American Imperialism" in 1898: "In the opinion of the writer, the Spanish–American War would not have occurred had not the appearance of Hearst in New York journalism precipitated a bitter battle for newspaper circulation." It has also been argued that the main reason the United States entered the war was its failed attempt to purchase Cuba from Spain.
Hostilities started hours after the declaration of war when a contingent of US Navy ships under Admiral William T. Sampson blockaded several Cuban ports. The Americans decided to invade Cuba and to start in Oriente, where the Cubans had almost absolute control. They cooperated by establishing a beachhead and protecting the U.S. landing in Daiquiri. The first U.S. objective was to capture the city of Santiago de Cuba in order to destroy Linares' army and Cervera's fleet. To reach Santiago, the Americans had to pass through concentrated Spanish defences in the San Juan Hills and a small town in El Caney. Between June 22 and 24, 1898, the Americans landed under General William R. Shafter at Daiquirí and Siboney, east of Santiago, and established a base.
The port of Santiago became the main target of naval operations. The U.S. fleet attacking Santiago needed shelter from the summer hurricane season, thus nearby Guantánamo Bay, with its excellent harbor, was chosen for this purpose and attacked on June 6 (1898 invasion of Guantánamo Bay). The Battle of Santiago de Cuba on July 3, 1898 was the largest naval engagement during the Spanish–American War, resulting in the destruction of the Spanish Caribbean Squadron (Flota de Ultramar).
Resistance in Santiago consolidated around Fort Canosa, All the while, major battles between Spaniards and Americans took place at Las Guasimas on June 24, El Caney and San Juan Hill on July 1, 1898, outside of Santiago. after which the American advance ground to a halt. Spanish troops successfully defended Fort Canosa, allowing them to stabilize their line and bar the entry to Santiago. The Americans and Cubans forcibly began a bloody, strangling siege of the city which eventually surrendered on July 16, after the defeat of the Spanish Caribbean Squadron. Thus, Oriente was under control of Americans, but U.S. General Nelson A. Miles would not allow Cuban troops to enter Santiago, claiming that he wanted to prevent clashes between Cubans and Spaniards. Thus, Cuban General Calixto García, head of the Mambi forces in the Eastern department, ordered his troops to hold their respective areas. He resigned over being excluded from entering Santiago, writing a letter of protest to General Shafter.
Peace.
After losing the Philippines and Puerto Rico, which had also been invaded by the United States, and with no hope of holding on to Cuba, Spain opted for peace on July 17, 1898. On August 12, the United States and Spain signed a protocol of Peace, in which Spain agreed to relinquish all claims of sovereignty over Cuba. On December 10, 1898, the United States and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris, which demanded the formal recognition of Cuban independence on part of Spain.
Although the Cubans had participated in the liberation efforts, the United States prevented Cuba from participating in the Paris peace talks and the signing of the treaty. The treaty did not set a designated time limit for U.S. occupation, and the Isle of Pines was excluded from Cuba. The treaty officially granted Cuban independence, but U.S. General William R. Shafter refused to allow Cuban General Calixto García and his rebel forces to participate in the surrender ceremonies in Santiago de Cuba.


Liberal Democrat Party of Chile

The Liberal Democrat Party of Chile (, PLD) was a Chilean political party that had legal existence from 1988 until 1989 under the state of "in formation".
Its symbol was a circle on top of which had outstanding printed in gold letters "Partido Liberal Demócrata" and at the bottom in letters of the same color and dimensions, "Libertad es progreso" ("Freedom is progress"). In the center, with a white background, it was the symbol of the party (PLD).
It was born as a faction of the opposition Liberal Party that criticized the attitude of the party itself to the military dictatorship and its merger with fellow dissident Republican Party into the Liberal-Republican Union. Originally adopted the name of Authentic Liberal Party ("Partido Liberal Auténtico"), soon to be renamed Liberal Party of Chile ("Partido Liberal de Chile") and finally changed its name to Liberal Democratic Party. It was officially established on July 7, 1988.
In late 1988 it created the short-lived Democratic Confederation ("Confederación Democrática") with the National Party (a faction that supported Pinochet), the Radical Democracy, the Social Democrat Party, the National Advance, the Democratic Party of Chile, the Free Democratic Centre and the Civic Committees. The confederation disappeared in 1989 during negotiations for parliamentary candidates that year.
The party began as a faction of the Liberal Party decided to support the option "Yes" which sought the continued rule of Augusto Pinochet in the plebiscite of 5 October 1988. It was dissolved by the Electoral Service of Chile on 14 February 1989, for failing to comply with legal requirements and many of its members joined to National Renewal (RN).


To Save America

To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular-Socialist Machine is a 2010 non-fiction book by former Speaker of the House and conservative activist Newt Gingrich, offering a critical view of supposed secular and socialist influences on American liberalism and the Democratic Party. It was a "New York Times" bestseller.
Overview.
"To Save America" focuses on secular and socialist ideas which, Gingrich writes, are entrenched in modern American liberalism. Acknowledging that his ideas "will be controversial," Gingrich coins the phrase "secular-socialist machine" to describe the current state of American liberal governance, especially the domestic policies and initiatives of President Barack Obama. According to Gingrich, the American political left can only be understood by considering the "interlocking relationship of secularism, socialism and machine politics."
In the book, Gingrich explains how the "secular-socialist machine" can be seen in the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") and alleged scandals such as ACORN voter registration fraud. He also tells how the Left sides with "big business" against small business and why "there is no liberty without religious liberty".
According to Gingrich, the influence of left-leaning politicians and government regulations has left the United States in a dire position, both in terms of the economy and the ideals instilled by the Founding Fathers. Some of these ideals include the importance of work ethic, private property rights and localism. Describing the current political situation, he writes that the "danger to America is greater than anything I dreamed possible after we won the Cold War and the Soviet Union disappeared in December 1991."
Gingrich also spends several chapters outlining his policy prescriptions for reviving the American economy, fixing the U.S. health care system and protecting religious liberty, among other issues. He argues that the existing bureaucratic systems in Washington and state capitals are so broken and so resistant to change that they must be "replaced — not reformed — if we want to remain competitive globally in the twenty-first century."
A late chapter, "Why the Tea Party Movement is Good For America," addresses the rise of the Tea Party movement, and praises the efforts of local and national groups to stand up to what he characterizes as the leftward shift in American politics. Gingrich also writes: "Remarkably, like the British in 1773, the elite media today misunderstand and mock the frustration of American tea partiers." Another chapter towards the end of the book describes the importance of the Second Amendment to American freedom.
Reception.
The book was received favorably by conservative-leaning reviewers and negatively by liberal-oriented ones. Writing for "Human Events", Donald Lambro stated that Gingrich's book "offers a futuristic agenda for reform that speaks to the angst and anger that is driving a mounting anti-government, anti-incumbent, anti-big-spending movement in this year’s midterm elections."
From a critical perspective, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" author Thomas Frank — who does praise Gingrich as being "ready with policy suggestions, actual steps the nation might take to translate the conservative sensibility into a ruling philosophy" — takes issue with what he calls Gingrich's "conversion to the devil theory of Barack Obama" and an exclusive focus on political corruption among Democratic politicians.
Following its release, "To Save America" reached number two on "The New York Times"' hardcover non-fiction bestseller list.


Penobscot Expedition Site

The Penobscot Expedition Site is a submerged historic archaeological area in the waters of the Penobscot River between Bangor and Brewer, Maine. The area is the site of the abandonment and loss of many vessels in the disastrous 1779 Penobscot Expedition, an American Revolutionary War expedition in which the rebellious Americans lost an entire fleet of ships. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973; it has been of interest to salvagers and later archaeologists since the early 19th century.
Description and history.
The Penobscot River flows into Penobscot Bay, a long bay that nearly bisects the state of Maine. At its head of navigation stand the cities of Bangor (on its western bank) and Brewer (on its eastern bank). The 1779 Penobscot Expedition was a military response by the state of Massachusetts (of which Maine was then part) to the seizure of Castine by British forces in June 1779. Beset by poor leadership, the amphibious expedition was scattered by the arrival of a British fleet on the bay. All of the expedition's ships were captured, scuttled, burned, or abandoned. Nine armed vessels and as many as 16 transports are documented to have made it as far upriver as Bangor.
Some materials were salvaged by the Royal Navy from the abandoned and sunken ships not long after the expedition. Readily-accessible wrecks were salvaged by local residents, and the state also authorized at least one formal salvage operation, whose results are not known.
In 1809 Ebenezer Clifford recovered 30 cannons and several tons of cannonballs from the river. Later finds in the Penobscot River included cannons found on the river bottom in the Bangor-Brewer area in 1876 and in 1954-55. The obvious importance of the area, with a well-documented history, led to the area's listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, primarily for the potential archaeological significance of materials located there, including military equipment, cargo, and other artifacts.
Between 1994 and 1997 surveys conducted by the University of Maine located several wrecks in the Penobscot, tentatively identified as the USS "Warren" and the transport "Samuel". In 1998 Brent Phinney, the owner of a riverfront industrial business in Brewer, reported the presence of Revolutionary War-era finds near his property in Brewer, and opposite downtown Bangor. These prompted archaeological teams from the United States Navy (which retains an interest in military shipwrecks) to conduct preliminary surveys in 1999, and more detailed fieldwork and excavation in 2000 and 2001. These surveys determined that the Phinney Site on the Brewer side was of a shipwreck, and that the Shoreline Site on the Bangor side consisted of dispersed artifacts, including cannon and other military hardware. The ship was determined to be a two-masted brig or schooner, and has tentatively been identified as the privateer "Diligent".


Robert Blair, Lord Avontoun

Robert Blair of Avontoun FRSE (1741–1811) was a Scottish advocate and judge who served as Solicitor General for Scotland from 1789 to 1806, Dean of the Faculty of Advocates from 1801 to 1808, and Lord President of the Court of Session from 1808 to his death.
Life.
He was the third son of Rev Robert Blair, the poet and Isabella Law, his wife, the daughter of Mr. William Law of Elvingston, East Lothian.
He was born in 1741 at the manse in Athelstaneford, where his father was the minister.
Young Blair commenced his education at the grammar school at Haddington, where he formed a friendship with Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, which only ended with their lives.
From Haddington he was removed to the high school at Edinburgh, and thence was transferred to the University of Edinburgh.
In 1764, he was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates, and soon obtained a considerable practice at the bar, where he and Henry Erskine were often pitted against each other. In 1789, Blair was appointed by his friend Dundas one of the depute advocates, which office he continued to hold until 1806. For some years also he was one of the assessors of the city of Edinburgh.
In November 1783 he was one of the founding members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
In 1789, at the age of forty-seven, Blair became Solicitor General for Scotland.
This post he continued to occupy until the change of ministry which was occasioned by Pitt’s death in 1806. During this period he twice refused the offer of a seat on the judicial bench, and both in 1802 and 1805 declined to accept the office of lord advocate. In 1801, he was elected dean of the faculty of advocates.
Upon the return of his friends to power in 1807, he refused the offices of solicitor-general and lord advocate, but in the next year, upon the resignation of Sir Ilay Campbell, he accepted the presidency of the college of justice, thereafter being known as Lord President Blair..
He died suddenly on 20 May 1811, at home at 56 George Square in Edinburgh. He is buried nearby in Greyfriars Kirkyard. The grave lies in the sealed south-west section of the graveyard known as the Covenanter's Prison.
His old friend, Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, who came to Edinburgh specifically to attend Blair's funeral, was taken ill, and died on the very day Blair was buried. This unusual coincidence gave rise a circulated publication, ‘Monody on the Death of the Right Hon. Henry Lord Viscount Melville, and Right Hon. Robert Blair of Avontown, Lord President of the College of Justice’ (Edinburgh, 1811), written by an anonymous author. Presuming this to be a correct story this would place the funeral on 28 May 1811.
Family.
Blair married Isabella Cornelia Halkett, the youngest daughter of Colonel Charles Craigie Halkett of Lawhill, Fife. His widow, one son, and three daughters, survived him; but he left them so badly off that a pension was granted by the crown to his widow and daughters through the instrumentality of Mr. Perceval.
His daughter married Alexander Maconochie, Lord Meadowbank and was mother to Prof Allan Alexander Maconochie FRSE.
Assessment.
He was a man of a very powerful understanding, with a thoroughly logical mind and a firm grasp of legal principles, but without any gift of eloquence or even of fluency of speech.
He had such ‘an innate love of justice and abhorrence of iniquity,’ and took so liberal and enlarged a view of law, that he was eminently qualified to fill the post which he held for so short a time.
It is somewhat remarkable that Blair never sat in parliament.
As a recreation he took much pleasure in agricultural pursuits, and he brought his small estate at Avontoun, near Linlithgow, to the highest state of cultivation.
His statue by Chantrey stands in the first division of the inner house of the Court of Session.
Two portraits of him were taken by Kay of Edinburgh, one in 1793, and the other in 1799.
References.
 Endnotes:


Union for Democratic Action

The Union for Democratic Action (UDA) was an American political organization advocating liberal policies and the preservation and extension of democratic values domestically and overseas. It existed from 1941 to 1947, and was the precursor organization to the group Americans for Democratic Action.
History.
The Union for Democratic Action was co-founded by liberal theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (then a member of the Socialist Party of America), James I. Loeb (later an ambassador and diplomat in the John F. Kennedy administration), International Ladies Garment Workers Union official Murray Gross, actor Melvyn Douglas, and others at the Town Hall Club in New York City on May 10, 1941. The impetus for the formation of the UDA was the pacifism advocated by the Socialist Party, which many socialist intellectuals and left-wing activists felt was inappropriate given the threat to western democratic nations posed by Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Other leaders and members of the UDA came out of William Allen White's Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, which was becoming increasingly conservative. The organization was explicitly pro-union, and barred political conservatives from membership. The organization also explicitly barred communists from membership as well.
Niebuhr was the organization's first and only chairperson. Loeb was its executive director.
The organization was widely quoted; its members often held influential positions in the presidential administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and it strongly supported the Lend-Lease arms supply program. But it was financially very weak and had only a handful of low-membership chapters on the East Coast. It had only one active chapter in 1944 and a mere 5,000 members in 1946. The organization was politically astute, however. It pioneered the use of the voting records of members of Congress as a means of swaying public opinion for or against its favored candidates.
The UDA undertook a major effort to support left-wing Democratic candidates for Congress in 1946. The defeat of a large number of Democrats in the 1946 elections prompted Loeb to advocate UDA's disbanding and the formation of a new, more broadly based, mass-membership organization. The Americans for Democratic Action was formed on January 4, 1947, and the UDA shuttered.


Karl Johan Edvardsen

Karl Johan Edvardsen (11 November 1883 – 18 September 1963) was a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party.
He was born in Brunlanes.
He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Vestfold in 1950, but was not re-elected in 1954.
Edvardsen held various positions in Brunlanes municipality council between 1919 and 1951, serving as deputy mayor in the periods 1928–1931 and 1931–1934 and as mayor in 1934–1937, 1937–1945, 1945–1947 and 1947–1951. He was also a member of Vestfold county council.


Antoine-Joseph Preira

Antoine-Joseph Preira (born 1782, Portugal), also known under the nom de guerre of Balidar, was of Portuguese origin but operated in the English Channel as a privateer under the French flag during the Napoleonic Wars.
Career.
At eight, Preira started a nautical career as an apprentice.
Preira enrolled on a privateer near Saint-Pol-de-Léon a region that harboured a number of Portuguese sailors. He served aboard the 14-gun privateer lugger "Réciprocité", under Captain Vincent Pouchain, before gaining his own command.
Captain of "Point du Jour".
In June 1808, Balidar took command of "Point du Jour", a lugger-rigged barge with a 34-man crew, armed with a 2-pounder gun and two swivel guns. He notably captured the merchantman "Goodrick" (), which he brought to Saint-Malo. "Lloyd's List" reported on 22 July 1808 that "Goodrich", Nicolle, master, had been taken by a privateer while sailing from Guernsey to Gibraltar, but that some of her crew had been able to return Guernsey. A report a month later stated that "Goodrich" had been taken into Roscoff.
Captain of "Embuscade".
In September 1808, Balidar took command of , a brand new ship with an 89 to 100-man crew. Balidar captained her in two cruises, funded by the shipowner Quenouille the Elder. On 30 December, "Embuscade" encountered a British 16-gun naval lugger, and battled her until Balidar made an aborted attempt at boarding; the two ships then disengaged, and "Embuscade" returned to port having lost 15 men killed and 22 seriously wounded. Her opponent was almost certainly the hired armed lugger "Sandwich" under the command of Lieutenant Atkins. "Sandwich" suffered one man killed and seven wounded (two dangerously).
On 17 March 1809 "Lloyd's List" reported that "Embuscade" had captured after an action lasting an hour and a half. "Vanguard" had been sailing from Trinidad to London, and "Embuscade" took her into Dieppe. Earlier, "Vanguard" had been able to capture a French privateer and to repel attacks by two others.
On 21 May, "Embuscade" departed La Hougue to patrol off England; two days later, she returned, bringing with her the brig "Favourite", Captain Pike, master, from Yarmouth, as his prize.
Captain of "Pourvoyeur".
On 25 June 1809, Balidar had a daughter with his lover Aimable Rose Démarigny. At the time, he was listed as captain of "Pourvoyeur", a captured privateer lugger from Jersey, of 40 men and eight guns.
In September 1809 the French privateer "Pourvoyeur", of Dieppe, captured the cutter "John Bull" and carried her into that port. Apparently "John Bull" and "Pourvoyeur" exchanged fire, and then the French boarded "John Bull" and took her in hand-to-hand combat. The French reported having lost one man killed; British casualties were 14.
Balidar sold his four prizes from his 20-day cruise, including "John Bull", in Dieppe. The other three prizes were: "Little Arthur", "Exchange" (of Wells), and "Suckey". He grossed 447,862 francs.
Captain of "Indomptable".
On 18 July 1810, Balidar married Aimable Rose Démarigny. At the time, Balidar is listed as captain of "Indomptable", a ship with 120 to 120 men and 18 guns, formerly the Revenue Cutter "Swan", out of Cowes.
On 1 October 1810, "Indomptable" encountered a British convoy off The Lizard in thick fog, and captured the merchantman "Roden"; Balidar released her master and crew, who proceeded to warn the escorting frigate . When the fog lifted, "Indomptable" found herself a short distance away from "Owen-Glendower" and "Persian"; a short cannonade wounded several of the crew of "Indomptable", and she struck. "Owen-Glendower" also retook "Roden".
Brought to England, Balidar was kept on a prison pontoon until 1811, when he escaped and returned to France.
From 1812, he served with Surcouf. After Alexandrine Rose, born in 1809, Balidar and Démarigny had a son.
Balidar and was again captured by the British, and was released in 1814.
Later life.
In 1815, Balidar fought with custom officers, beating them and stealing their weapons. Sentenced to 10 years of prison, Balidar fled, probably to Central America, where he might have taken part in the Mexican War of Independence.
Legacy.
A small house on Ile de Batz, formerly a custom guardhouse, is now known as the Privateer's House because it was used by Balidar to post sentries and warn him of incoming British shipping entering the Channel, that he could intercept.


Astrid Bekkenes

Astrid Bekkenes (born 5 July 1947) is a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party.
She serves as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Vest-Agder during the term 2005–2009.


Esther Raziel-Naor

Esther Raziel-Naor (, 29 November 1911 – 11 November 2002) was a Revisionist Zionist, Irgun leader and Israeli politician. She was the sister of fellow Irgun leader David Raziel.
Biography.
Early life.
Raziel was born in Smarhoń (now in Hrodna Voblast, Belarus) in 1911, a year after her brother, David. Her household spoke Hebrew, as her parents refused to speak the more common Yiddish. In 1914, her family immigrated to Eretz Israel, after her father was offered a Hebrew teacher’s position at the “Tachmoni” school in Tel Aviv. However, when World War I began, the family was deported by the Ottomans, along with other Russian nationals, to Egypt. She moved back to Russia and returned to Palestine in 1923, after an 8-year absence.
In 1932, she joined Betar and organized the "National Cells." In 1935, she completed the Levinsky Teachers Seminary in Tel Aviv and moved to Jerusalem to work as a teacher, but was fired after being caught wearing a Betar insignia. She returned to Tel Aviv and took a "Lieutenants" course.
"Irgun" activity.
In 1936, as the Arab Revolt began, she joined her brother in the Irgun. She took a first aid course and in August she took part in a reprisal. In 1939 she became the first broadcaster of the Irgun's underground radio station, Kol Zion Halohemet, as well as a writer for "Hamashkif", its newspaper. In 1943 she was selected to be a member of the Irgun's command structure.
On March 4, 1944, the police raided her parents' house and found the radio transmitter. She was arrested along with her husband, Yehuda Naor, and was jailed in Bethlehem (Yehuda was taken to Acre and later deported to Africa, where he stayed for four and a half years, until the establishment of the State of Israel). She was pregnant at the time of her arrest and on August 18, 1944, after a seven-month internment, she was released and gave birth shortly after. She was placed under house arrest and was frequently investigated.
On July 22, 1946, following the King David Hotel bombing, she was once again arrested and was sent to the Latrun detention camp, where she remained for several weeks. After her release she remained under strict surveillance and was prevented from continuing her underground activity.
State of Israel.
After the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was accepted on November 29, 1947, she returned to Kol Zion. After the establishment of the State of Israel she was one of the founders of Herut, and was elected on its list as a member of the 1st through 7th Knessets. Throughout her 25-year service she was a member of the Knesset's Education and Culture Committee and the House Committee. In the election to the 8th Knesset she was replaced by Geula Cohen.
She died on November 11, 2002, and was buried in Jerusalem. Her son, Aryeh Naor, whose wife is Miriam Naor, the President of the Supreme Court of Israel, was cabinet secretary for both of Menachem Begin's governments.


Izzy Asper

Israel Harold "Izzy" Asper, (August 11, 1932 – October 7, 2003) was a Canadian tax lawyer and media magnate. He was the founder and owner of the defunct TV and media company CanWest Global Communications Corp and father to its former CEO and President Leonard Asper, former director and corporate secretary Gail Asper, as well as former Executive Vice President David Asper. He was also the leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party from 1970 to 1975 and is credited with the idea and vision to establish the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Life and career.
Israel Asper was born to a Jewish family in Minnedosa, Manitoba, the son of musicians Leon Asper and Cecilia Swet, who had emigrated from Ukraine. Asper attended the University of Manitoba. In 1957 he received his law degree from the University of Manitoba, and was called to the bar shortly thereafter. He founded the firm of Asper, Freedman & Co. in 1959, and was also a partner and co-founder of the firm Buchwald, Asper, Henteleff (now Pitblado LLP) along with Harold Buchwald and Yude Henteleff. In 1970 he wrote "The Benson Iceberg: A critical analysis of the White Paper on Tax Reform in Canada".
He married Ruth Miriam "Babs" Asper on May 27, 1956 at Shaarey Zedek Synagogue (Winnipeg).
Also in 1970, Asper was elected leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party (defeating university professor John Nesbitt). Asper represented a right-libertarian strain within the party. In the Manitoba election of 1973, he promoted a laissez-faire economy, and advocated the elimination of the welfare state. He also advocated the public financing of election campaigns, to ensure that politics would not be dominated entirely by monied interests. His Liberals won only five seats, and Asper was elected in Wolseley by only four votes. He resigned as party leader and MLA in 1975, though he continued to support the Manitoba Liberal Party in later years.
His media empire started with the Winnipeg television station CKND-TV in 1975. CanWest grew to encompass the Global Television Network, the daily newspaper "National Post" and over 60 other Canadian newspapers.
Asper was noted for his fierce loyalty to Manitoba, refusing enticements to move east to Toronto. The faculty of management at the University of Manitoba renamed itself the Asper School of Business in 2000. He was also a noted philanthropist, making major donations to the arts and education; in 2001 he donated $5 million CAD to the St. Boniface Hospital & Research Foundation in Winnipeg. Asper became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995. Also in 1995, he was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame.
He was a prominent member of Canada's Jewish community, and a vocal supporter for Israel.
Asper was also a close friend of many of Canada's prominent political and business elite, including Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin.
Controversially, Asper's newspaper chain fired journalist Russell Mills when he wrote an article which was critical of Jean Chretien and demanded he resign.
Asper died in St. Boniface Hospital at the age of 71 after suffering a heart attack. He was buried in the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery in Winnipeg in the presence of 1,500 mourners, including Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and leading politicians.


Free To Choose Network

Free To Choose Network, sometimes referred to as Free to Choose Media, is a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation based in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Free To Choose Network has three main initiatives:
Free To Choose Network was founded by Bob Chitester, using start-up money provided by a number of charitable sources. At the time of Free To Choose Network's founding, Bob Chitester was the general manager of two public broadcasters in Erie, Pennsylvania: the PBS channel WQLN-TV and the NPR station WQLN-FM.
History.
The origins of the foundation lay in PBS's broadcast of "The Age of Uncertainty" (1975), a 13-part BBC series produced by Canadian-American liberal economist John Kenneth Galbraith. The chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was a classical liberal economist, W. Allen Wallis, who had met Chitester in 1975 when he participated in a symposium on "Technology and Society" arranged by Chitester in Erie and learned that Chitester shared his classical liberal economic views. Wallis and Chitester both believed that PBS should produce a classical liberal response to "The Age of Uncertainty". Wallis therefore introduced Chitester to his old friend Milton Friedman in early 1977 (shortly after Friedman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences). As a result, Chitester raised the necessary funding and executive produced a 10-part PBS series entitled "Free to Choose", which first aired in early 1980. Friedman also co-authored a book with his wife Rose Friedman that was based on the television series and also called "Free to Choose". The book spent 5 weeks at the top of the "New York Times" Non-Fiction Best Sellers List in 1980.
It was in the context of producing the "Free to Choose" series that Chitester first organized Amagin, Inc., which ultimately became Free To Choose Network. Under the trademark Free To Choose Media it continues to produce media describing classical liberal economic ideas to a mass audience. Beginning in 1999, Free To Choose Network, was licensed by ABC News to distribute John Stossel TV specials under the brand "Stossel in the Classroom". The license was cancelled in 2004.
Current projects.
Free To Choose Media has produced a number of programs for public TV including: a biography of Milton Friedman, entitled "The Power of Choice -" "The Ultimate Resource" (named after the 1981 book "The Ultimate Resource" by Julian Lincoln Simon) -"Turmoil and Triumph" a biography of George Shultz - "The Power of the Poor," hosted by Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto - "India Awakes", hosted by Swedish scholar Johan Norberg - "The Real Adam Smith," hosted by Johan Norberg, ""A More Or Less Perfect Union" "hosted by Federal United States district court judge, Douglas H. Ginsburg"," and most recently, "Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World," hosted by Johan Norberg.
The organization currently known as izzit.org was initially called In the Classroom Media. Izzit.org provides teachers with materials on current events and other topics for in-classroom use. Izzit.org has featured celebrities such as Drew Carey and Scott Bakula in some of its productions.
Much of the Idea Channel archival footage now appears on YouTube.


Anti-monarchism in Japan

Anti-monarchism in Japan was a minor force during the twentieth century.
History.
In 1908, a letter allegedly written by Japanese revolutionaries denied the Emperor's divinity, and threatened his life. In 1910, Kōtoku Shūsui and 10 others plotted to assassinate the Emperor. In 1923, 1925 and 1932 Emperor Hirohito survived assassination attempts.
After World War II, the communists were antagonistic to the Emperor. The Japanese Communist Party demanded the abolition of the emperor system. They boycotted the formal opening of the National Diet in 1949 because of the presence of Hirohito. The Japanese Communist Party continued to be antagonistic after Hirohito's death.
During the Imperial visits to Otsu, Japan in 1951, and Hokkaido in 1954, Communist posters and handbills antagonistic to the Imperial Family Members were plastered in the cities.
In 1951, three thousand students in Kyoto University protested against the reign of Emperor Hirohito.


Fort Trumbull

Fort Trumbull is a fort near the mouth of the Thames River on Long Island Sound in New London, Connecticut and named for Governor Jonathan Trumbull. The original fort was built in 1777, but the present fortification was built between 1839 and 1852. The site lies adjacent to the Coast Guard Station New London and is managed as the 16-acre Fort Trumbull State Park by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
History.
In 1775, Governor Jonathan Trumbull recommended building a fortification at the port of New London to protect the seat of the government of Connecticut. The fort was built on a rocky point of land near the mouth of the Thames River on Long Island Sound; it was completed in 1777 and named for Governor Trumbull, who served from 1769 to 1784. It was attacked in 1781 during the American Revolutionary War, and was captured by British forces under the command of Benedict Arnold.
Arnold's raid.
Benedict Arnold had changed his allegiances by this time, and he was serving as a brigadier general in the British Army when he led a raid on Groton and New London, Connecticut on September 6, 1781. Two bodies of troops were landed on either side of the mouth of the Thames River and marched towards Fort Trumbull in New London and Fort Griswold in Groton.
Fort Trumbull fell after little resistance, but about 150 Connecticut militiamen made a gallant stand at Fort Griswold in the Battle of Groton Heights. The British were finally able to enter the fort, and militia commander Lieutenant Colonel William Ledyard offered his sword to Major Bromfield, the British commander on the scene, as a token of surrender. According to contemporaneous accounts, Bromfield took the sword from Ledyard and drove it through him, and the British then proceeded to massacre the surviving defenders. Eighty-five of the militiamen were killed and the others were either severely wounded, taken prisoner, or managed to escape.
After the capture of both forts, the British proceeded to burn New London and then returned to their ships.
An account of the battle published in a Philadelphia newspaper follows:
- Extract of a letter from New London, dated Sept. 12.
 "Arnold had long promised to visit New London and the neighbouring towns on the sea shore, and the enemy having frequently appeared in sight of the harbour, the alarm guns fired on the present occasion were considered by the country around us the salutes of prizes or other vessels belonging to the port. He however arrived the 6th inst. about five o, and at seven o’ landed about 2500 men, half on each side of the river. At 8 o’ the militia mustered in parties of 8 or 10, and annoyed the enemy until about 100 of them came up and disputed their way to Fort Trumbull; their great superiority obliged our people to yield to them the possession of the fort. Col. Ledyard, with about 76 other brave fellows, retreated to the fort on Groton side, which they determined resolutely to defend. The next assault was upon this fort, where they were repulsed several times by a bravery unequalled, for about three hours. A flag was then sent, demanding a surrender of the fort, accompanies by a threat of giving no quarters in case of refusal. The commandant consulted with his brave garrison, who refused to submit. The action was then renewed, when the flag staff was unfortunately shot away; notwithstanding which the defence was gallantly continued until about five or six hundred of the enemy having forced the pickets had entered through the breach. At this time there were but four of the garrison killed, and it was thought prudent to submit, to preserve the lives of the remainder. The officer who at this time commanded the assailants, (Major Montgomery being killed) enquired who commanded the garrison? Colonel Ledyard informed him that he had had that honour, but was unfortunate in being obliged to surrender it, at the same time delivered up to him his sword, and asked for quarter for himself and people; to which the infamous villain replied, "ye rascals, I give you quarters," and then plunged the sword into his body. The inhuman banditti, taking this as a signal, drove their bayonets up to the muzzles of their pieces into the breasts of all that were taken, except one or two who made their escape."
 "After massacring the living they insulted the dead, by actions too horrid to mention --- the bodies were arranged alongside of each other for the purpose, and, to shew contempt to Col. Ledyard, they singled out a Negroe to place next to him."
"Never was there more distress in any place than there is here at present; there are 50 widows within 8 miles of Groton fort".
 "Before their departure, which was in the evening of the same day they landed, they burnt all the shipping that could not get up Norwich river, among which were several rich prizes lately arrived, with their cargoes, some of which were stored and the rest on board the vessels – about 40 sail, all on fire, were floating up and down the stream. The prize brig Hope, laden with provisions, happily escaped the general conflagration, altho'the fire from the shore several times caught the awning which covered her quarter deck, and went out --- several vessels in full blaze passed within two and three feet of her; ten lay within forty yards, and consumed to the wateredge, but Providence directed she should escape, and a very fortunate one it was, as there was no other supply of provisions in town." – The Pennsylvania Gazette, September 26, 1781
19th century.
The fort was repaired circa 1808, and redesigned and rebuilt in 1812 to meet changing military needs under the second system of US fortifications. First a redoubt was built at the site to react to threat of British attack. Secretary of War Henry Dearborn's report on fortifications for December 1811 describes the fort as "an irregular enclosed work of masonry and sod, mounting 18 heavy guns [with] a brick barracks for one company". The present fortification replaced the older fort, and was built between 1839 and 1852 as a five-sided, four-bastion coastal defense fort. It could accommodate 42 guns on the seacoast fronts, plus 10 additional guns in two flanking batteries outside the fort, along with flank howitzers in bastions for close-in defense. The new fort was built under the supervision of Army engineer George Washington Cullum, who later served as superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
During the Civil War, Fort Trumbull served as an organizational center for Union troops and headquarters for the 14th US Infantry Regiment. Here, troops were recruited and trained before being sent to war. Fort Trumbull was briefly commanded by John F. Reynolds, who rose to the rank of major general and was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.
From 1863 to 1879, Ordnance Sergeant Mark Wentworth Smith was assigned to Fort Trumbull and served as the caretaker of Fort Griswold, which was an un-garrisoned subpost of Fort Trumbull across the Thames River in the town of Groton. Among other duties, he maintained a vegetable garden to help feed the soldiers at Fort Trumbull. Smith was born in New Hampshire in 1803 and enlisted in the Army on January 27, 1827 at the age of 23. He was wounded in action at the Battle of Chapultepec during the Mexican War. For unknown reasons, he was allowed to serve on active duty in the Army until his death in 1879 at the age of 76. He was possibly the oldest enlisted man to serve on active duty in the United States Army in the 19th Century. (Army Air Forces Master Sergeant John W. Westervelt served on active duty during World War II until he was retired at age 77 in 1945. Chief Torpedoman's Mate Harry S. Morris was born in 1888 and served in the Navy from 1903 to 1958 when he was "only" 70 years old.) Sergeant Smith is buried in the Colonel Ledyard Cemetery in Groton.
In the late 1800s Fort Trumbull was modified to accommodate more modern artillery pieces. Specifically, these artillery pieces were 15-inch and 10-inch Rodman smooth bore guns and 8-inch converted rifles. Two 8-inch converted rifles are still at Fort Trumbull in a restored firing position.
20th century.
Coast Guard Academy.
After the Civil War, Fort Trumbull was improved by having more modern artillery pieces installed. In the early 1900s, several more modern Endicott era fortifications were built to defend Long Island Sound as the Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound, including Fort Mansfield in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, Fort H.G. Wright on Fishers Island, and Fort Michie on Great Gull Island. Fort Trumbull served as the headquarters of these forts until it was turned over to the Revenue Cutter Service (later renamed the Coast Guard) in 1910 for use as the Revenue Cutter Academy, which was renamed the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1915. The Academy moved to its current location about two miles up the Thames River in 1932.
Education facility.
Fort Trumbull served as the Merchant Marine Officers Training School from 1939 to 1946 and trained over 15,000 of the Merchant Marine officers who served during the Second World War. One of the Merchant Marine officers trained there was actor Jack Lord, who is best known for playing Steve McGarrett on the popular TV series "Hawaii Five-O" in the 1960s and 70s. The Fort was the site of a satellite campus of the University of Connecticut from 1946 to 1950, educating war veterans attending college under the GI Bill.
Naval Underwater Sound Laboratory.
During World War II, Fort Trumbull hosted an office of Columbia University's Division of War Research, which developed passive sonar systems. By 1946, this was consolidated with Harvard University's Underwater Sound Laboratory at Fort Trumbull. A result of this work was that Fort Trumbull was the location for the Naval Underwater Sound Laboratory from 1946 to 1970, which developed sonar and related systems for US Navy submarines. In 1970, the Sound Laboratory was merged with the Naval Underwater Weapons Systems Center (NUWS) to form the Naval Underwater Systems Center (NUSC) in Newport, Rhode Island. Work continued at both locations until the facility at Fort Trumbull was finally closed in 1996, marking the end of almost a century and a half of Fort Trumbull's service as a federal military facility.
State park.
After a redevelopment period lasting several years, Fort Trumbull was opened as a state park in the year 2000. It is used as a site for concerts and other special events. The main fort is open to the public and has an elevator to access the upper portions of the fort. There is a museum about the fort in the former officers' quarters.


Scottish Jacobite Party

The Scottish Jacobite Party was a political party in Scotland. It was registered with the Electoral Commission on 8 July 2005, and launched in Glenfinnan to coincide with the 31st G8 summit and roughly with the 260th anniversary of Bonnie Prince Charlie raising his standard there in 1745.
Though Jacobitism means the restoration of the House of Stuart to the throne of Scotland or the UK, the party was republican; leader Dr John Black told "The Guardian" that "It is an attempt to tie into the romance of Scottish history. Look, if you can rebrand Labour into New Labour, it is surely a minor matter to rebrand "Jacobite" as republican and non-religious". The party's ideal Scottish republic would be outside the European Union but use the euro. The party had three members – the minimum required under British law – and was entirely self-funded.
In the 2007 Scottish elections, the party nominated one candidate, John Black, who won 309 votes in Dumbarton constituency, and 446 votes in the West of Scotland region. Its total expenditure was returned as £528, the lowest of any party to submit a return. It filed an e-petition calling for a Scottish independence day.
The SJP was de-registered and removed from the Electoral Commission's Register of Political Parties on 19 July 2007, but re-registered on 22 March 2010. John Black received 156 votes for this party in the 2010 election in Argyll and Bute. Chris Black polled 134 votes in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk. The party de-registered again on 14 March 2011


Yehiel Hazan

Yehiel Hazan (, born 1 March 1958) is an Israeli politician. He is of a Tunisian-Jewish descent.
Political career.
Hazan was born in Hadera and grew up in Or Akiva. He was elected to the Knesset in the 2003 elections as a member of Likud. He chaired the committee on drug abuse, and was a member of several other committees.
During the Knesset term, it emerged that he had voted twice during the second and third readings of a bill on the emergency economic plan in May 2003. After voting on his own panel, he also voted using the panel of absent Likud MK Inbal Gavrieli; both votes were cast against the bill. After being accused, Hazan then attempted to tamper with the evidence by removing the machines in question from the storeroom in which they were kept. However, he was caught in the act by the Knesset's CCTV. Nevertheless, despite the clear evidence, on 22 December 2003, the Knesset narrowly voted (by a majority of one) not to lift his parliamentary immunity.
Hazan was convicted and sentenced to four months of community service, and a six-month suspended prison term. He appealed the sentence, but was rejected by the Jerusalem District Court on 17 January 2007. He was not re-elected to the Knesset in the 2006 elections.
Hazan also courted controversy for his comments about Arabs, stating, "The Arabs are worms who work underground and indiscriminately murder Muslim soldiers." Despite being asked by the Knesset speaker, he refused to retract his comments.
In 2015, his son Oren was elected to the Knesset on the Likud list.


Ben Gummer

Benedict Michael Gummer (born 19 February 1978) is a British businessman and former politician. He is a partner of a number of building developers including Gummer Leathes. He is a senior adviser to McKinsey & Company, the management consultancy, and a visiting fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University.
Gummer served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ipswich from 2010 to 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, he became Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General in the First May ministry in 2016, entering the cabinet as its youngest member. He lost his seat in the House of Commons in the 2017 general election.
Early life and education.
Gummer is the eldest child of former Conservative Cabinet Minister John Gummer, and Penelope Jane (née Gardner). John Gummer was MP for Suffolk Coastal until the 2010 general election, when he moved to the House of Lords. Gummer attended St Saviour's Church of England Primary School in Ealing, West London. Between 1987 and 1991, he was a chorister at St John's College School, Cambridge, where he sang under George Guest and Christopher Robinson. Gummer was a music scholar at Tonbridge School in Kent. Having won the Vellacott Historical Essay Prize, he took a starred double first in History at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he was an exhibitioner and scholar.
Early business career.
After graduating, Gummer ran a small engineering firm. Between 2005 and 2010, he was managing director of the family-owned Sancroft International, a corporate responsibility consultancy.[5]
Historian.
Gummer published a history of the Black Death, "The Scourging Angel", in 2009. The book received favourable reviews. In "The Times Literary Supplement", Jonathan Sumption commented that Gummer "establishes the facts more thoroughly than any of his predecessors". Andrew Roberts described it as a "moving and incisive history" and one of his 'Books of the Year' in "The Daily Telegraph".
Political career.
Gummer was selected by open primary as the Conservative candidate in August 2007 for the Ipswich constituency. His main three pledges were the retention of services at Ipswich Hospital, a crackdown on binge drinking, and no new housing without provision of infrastructure. Gummer defeated incumbent Labour MP Chris Mole and became MP for the Ipswich constituency in the general election of 2010, enjoying the largest majority of any Conservative in Ipswich since 1935. In the 2015 election, Gummer was re-elected with an increased majority. In April 2017 Theresa May made him responsible for co-ordination of the Conservative manifesto alongside her former advisor Nick Timothy. He lost his seat in the 2017 election by a margin of 831 votes to the Labour candidate Sandy Martin.
Parliamentary interests.
Before becoming a minister, Gummer sat on two separate finance bill committees, as well as those on childcare payments, defamation, legal aid, and terrorism prevention. He was a member of the UK parliamentary delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and a patron of the Longford Trust.
Political views.
Gummer used his maiden speech to argue for rapid deficit and debt reduction and penal reform. He has spoken strongly against votes for prisoners, but in favour of more constructive prison and probation sentences.
He has described himself as "a libertarian" and has said that he has "absolutely no problem" with gay marriage, subsequently voting for it in Parliament. He also added his name to an amendment to clause one of the Protection of Freedoms Bill, which calls for the word 'insulting' to be dropped from section 5 of the Public Order Act. Gummer was strongly in favour of the United Kingdom Remaining in the European Union and described himself as "devastated" by the result.
Tax statements.
In 2012, Gummer proposed annual tax statements intended to show itemised spending per department in proportion to the amount the taxpayer paid in the year to date. Gummer's proposal was favourably received by the press in the UK and in the US by the Wall Street Journal It was included in the 2012 Budget and due for introduction in 2014 with George Osborne calling it "an excellent idea". The TaxPayers' Alliance subsequently honoured Gummer as their 'Pin-Up of the Month'.
It was also supported by the Prime Minister. Gummer's breakdown showed that someone with a salary of £25,500 in 2012 would be paying for the following through their income tax and national insurance contributions:
Gummer emphasised that this would help refute suggestions that most taxation goes to the EU, Africa or Trident.
Public debt management.
In the financial dailies City AM and the Financial Times Gummer has called for Swedish style fiscal rules. While other MPs argued for a 'deficit ceiling', Gummer argued instead that the government should change the way it sets budgets, ensuring a budget surplus over the medium term. To this end, in the 2012-13 session of Parliament he introduced a Private Members' Bill titled the 'Public Debt Management Bill', the aim of which was to introduce rule whereby the Chancellor of the Exchequer must ensure that the budget is in surplus by at least 1% of over the course of each business cycle. The bill was not taken forward, although in 2015 rules along similar lines, with the Office for Budget Responsibility involved in the way Gummer's bill suggested, were adopted by the government.
Renaming National Insurance.
In February 2014, Gummer brought in a ten minute rule bill to rename National Insurance contributions as an Earnings Tax. Although back-benchers were reported to be enthusiastic, the Treasury, which had launched a consultation exercise on it in 2011, is believed considered it too expensive.
Parliamentary Private Secretary.
In May 2012, Gummer was appointed Parliamentary Adviser to Andrew, Lord Feldman, the Conservative Party co-chairman, helping him to develop the relationship between Conservative Campaign Headquarters and Conservative MPs. In September 2012, Gummer was promoted to Parliamentary Private Secretary to Alan Duncan, Minister of State for International Development, in the government reshuffle. Duncan was responsible for Asia, the Middle East, Caribbean and Overseas Territories, International Finance, International Relations (except the EU), Trade, and Corporate Performance Divisions.
In October 2013, he became PPS to the Education Secretary, Michael Gove. Following the 2014 reshuffle, Gummer became PPS to Nicky Morgan. In May 2015 he was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health.
Health Minister.
Following the 2015 general election, Gummer became Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Care Quality in the Department of Health, one of the broadest junior ministerial briefs. Gummer's ministerial responsibilities included NHS hospitals, the NHS workforce, maternity care, patient safety and end of life care. Gummer's achievements include a new strategy to deal with high levels of stillbirths, the government commitment to ensure high quality, compassionate end of life care across the health system by 2020 and the introduction of reforms to nursing training and bursaries, which aim to create 10,000 more nursing, midwifery and allied health degree places and launching a consultation on a new nursing associate role. His ministerial role also involved him in the Junior Doctors' contract dispute and negotiations with the chair of the BMA junior doctors' committee Dr Johann Malawana. Gummer claimed that the new contract was "fair to all, including protected groups, whilst recognising the importance of the contract continuing to be built on equal pay principles". After a series of strikes the BMA returned to the negotiating table and agreed a deal with the government, although its membership rejected the deal, leading to Dr Malawana's resignation.
Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General.
In July 2016, Gummer was promoted by new prime minister Theresa May to the position of Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General. His ministerial responsibilities included the development, co-ordination and implementation of government policy, management of the functions of government (people, digital, property, procurement and security), oversight of the civil service, constitutional issues, the resilience of the UK's infrastructure and cyber security. A profile of Gummer by Andrew Gimson for Conservative Home described him as “the most important minister whose role you’ve never heard of…Gummer enjoys the confidence of May and her advisers, who describe him as 'first class'".
Constituency projects.
Upper Orwell Crossings.
In October 2014, Gummer launched the campaign for a new Wet Dock Crossing, as the project was called at the time. The project consists of three proposed new crossings to the River Orwell close to Ipswich town centre. The purpose of the crossings is to facilitate regeneration and reduce congestion in the town. £2 million were awarded by the Government in the 2015 budget to allow detailed plans for the project to be drawn up. The business case for the crossings, which noted that for every £1 invested, the scheme would yield £5.73 of direct benefits was submitted to the governmental administration in January 2016. Gummer lobbied Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne for the money needed and in the budget 2016, Osborne announced that the government would be funding the crossings.
The project was subsequently renamed the Upper Orwell Crossings. Some of the project's supporters include: The New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, Ipswich Borough Council, The University of Suffolk, Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, Associated British Ports (the landowner), and Suffolk County Council who are responsible for delivering the project.
Ipswich flood defence system.
Gummer supported completion of a £58 million small Thames Barrier scheme started in 2009 and designed to protect 1,500 homes and 400 businesses against a 1 in 300 year flood. According to David Ellesmere, Borough council leader, funding for key work worth £38 million had seemed unlikely until Ipswich Borough provided additional cash. The scheme, regarded as "vital for the town centre" was due to start in July 2014.
Ipswich Hospital specialist heart centre.
Gummer also supported a £5 million investment in a new heart unit at Ipswich Hospital and £5 million for a new hospital sterilisation unit.
Railways.
Gummer lobbied the Chancellor of the Exchequer for £500 million of investment into East Anglia's railways, along with Norwich North MP Chloe Smith and Witham MP Priti Patel, and has called for caps on rail fare increases.
Waterfront.
In March 2013 Gummer backed a call to improve the Ipswich waterfront suggesting Ipswich Borough Council used money raised by selling the Portman Road stadium to Ipswich Town F.C. The derelict waterfront land and was split into 5 sections and in some cases ownership was unclear. Borough council leader David Ellesmere strongly supported the idea of compulsory purchase but expected clearance and regeneration work to cost over £1m.
In September 2013, the Borough Council approved an application to have the ground registered as an Asset of Community Value, which would allow a grace period of six months for the local community to raise money to buy the ground before the Borough Council could sell it to another owner.
After politics.
In January 2018, Gummer joined McKinsey & Company, and the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. As of June 2018, he has not spoken in public since the 2017 election.
Personal life.
Gummer is married to Sarah Langford, a barrister in criminal and family law. They have two sons.


Liberalism and radicalism in France

Liberalism and radicalism in France refer to different movements and ideologies.
The main line of conflict in France during the 19th century was between monarchists (mainly Legitimists and Orléanists, but also Bonapartists) and republicans (Radical-Socialists, Opportunist Republicans, and later socialists). The Orléanists, who favoured constitutional monarchy and economic liberalism, were opposed to Republican Radicals.
The Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party (now mostly re-grouped in the Radical Movement), and especially the Republican parties (Democratic Republican Alliance, Republican Federation, National Centre of Independents and Peasants, Independent Republicans, Republican Party, Liberal Democracy) have since embraced liberalism, including its economic version, and have mostly joined either the Union for a Popular Movement in 2002, later renamed The Republicans in 2015, or the Union of Democrats and Independents, launched in 2012. Emmanuel Macron, a former member of the Socialist Party, launched La République En Marche! in 2016 and was elected President of France the next year.
Background and history.
The early high points of liberalism in France were:
In France, as in much of Southern Europe, the term "liberal" was used during the 19th century either to refer to the traditional liberal anti-clericalism or economic liberalism. Economic liberalism in France was long associated more with the Orléanists and with Opportunist Republicans (whose heir was the Democratic Republican Alliance), rather than the Radical Party, leading to the use of the term "radical" to refer to political liberalism. The Radicals tended to be more statist than most European liberals, but shared liberal values on other issues, especially support for individual liberty and secularism, while the Republicans were keener on economic liberalism than secularism.
Intellectuals played a powerful role in all the movements, for example a major spokesman for radicalism was Émile Chartier (1868–1951), who wrote under the pseudonym of "Alain." He was a leading theorist of radicalism, and his influence extended through the Third and Fourth Republics. He stressed individualism, seeking to defend the citizen against the state. He warned against all forms of power – military, clerical, and economic. To oppose them, he exalted the small farmer, the small shopkeeper, the small town, and the little man. He idealized country life and saw Paris as a dangerous font of power.
After World War II, the Republicans gathered in the liberal-conservative National Centre of Independents and Peasants, from which the conservative-liberal Independent Republicans was formed in 1962. The originally centre-left Radical Party was a declining force and joined the centre-right in 1972, causing the split of the left-wing faction and the foundation of the Radical Party of the Left, closely associated to the Socialist Party. The former was later associated with the Union for a Popular Movement.
In 1978 both the Republican Party (successor of the Independent Republicans) and the Radical Party were founding components, along with the Christian-democratic Centre of Social Democrats, of the Union for French Democracy, an alliance of non-Gaullist centre-right forces. The Republican Party, re-founded as Liberal Democracy and re-shaped as a free-market libertarian party, left the federation in 1998 and was later merged, along with the Radical Party, into the liberal-conservative Union for a Popular Movement (later The Republicans) in 2002. The Radicals and several former Republicans launched the Union of Democrats and Independents in 2012.
In 2016 Emmanuel Macron, a former member of the Socialist Party, launched La République En Marche!, a liberal party, and was elected President of France in the 2017 presidential election. The party formed an alliance with the Democratic Movement, established in 2017 as a successor of the Union for French Democracy, stripped of most former Republicans, who joined the Union for a Popular Movement (later The Republicans) or the Union of Democrats and Independents.


Benedetto Della Vedova

Benedetto Della Vedova (Sondrio, 3 April 1962) is an Italian politician.
A keen pro-Europeanist, Della Vedova is currently president of Forza Europa (FE) and secretary of More Europe (+EU), the latter comprising FE and the Italian Radicals. He has held public office multiple times.
Biography.
Della Vedova, a long-time Radical, started to be active in politics in 1994, when he followed Marco Pannella, founder and leader of the Radical Party and the Transnational Radical Party, into the Pannella List, of which he was briefly secretary.
During his career, Della Vedova was member of the European Parliament for the Bonino List (1999–2004) – the electoral successor of the Pannella List –, candidate for President of Lombardy (2000), president of the Italian Radicals (2001–2003), founder and president of the Liberal Reformers (2005–2009) – which was then re-booted as Libertiamo –, member of the Chamber of Deputies for Forza Italia (2006–2008), The People of Freedom (2008–2011) and Future and Freedom (2011–2013), member of the Senate for Future and Freedom (2013), Civic Choice (2013–2015) and the Mixed Group (2015–2018), and under-secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Renzi Cabinet (2014–2016) and Gentiloni Cabinet (2016–2018).
More specifically, from 2001 to 2003 Della Vedova was president of the Italian Radicals, a party launched after the defeat of the Bonino List in the 2001 general election. In 2003 he was the strongest challenger to Daniele Capezzone for the leadership of the party, on a platform based on free-market economic liberalism and the hidden proposal of joining Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right House of Freedoms coalition, but was soundly defeated. In 2005 he left the Italian Radicals, which, under the leadership of Pannella, Bonino and Capezzone, had decided to join forces with the Italian Democratic Socialists in the Rose in the Fist and support Romano Prodi and his centre-left The Union, and launched the Liberal Reformers.
In the 2006 general election Della Vedova was elected to the Chamber of Deputies on the list of Forza Italia, Berlusconi's party and dominant force in the House of Freedoms. Re-elected to the Chamber in the 2008 general election, he later distanced from Berlusconi and the centre-right, joined Future and Freedom, was elected senator in the 2013 general election, switched to Civic Choice and was appointed in centre-left governments led by Democratic Prime Ministers.
In 2017 Della Vedova launched Forza Europa and later, in the run-up of the 2018 general election, he was a founding member of More Europe, part of the centre-left coalition. Having been defeated in the single-seat constituency of Prato, Tuscany, he was appointed coordinator of More Europe. In January 2019 he was elected secretary at the party's founding congress.


Adam Baldwin

Adam Baldwin (born February 27, 1962) is an American actor and voice actor. He starred in "Full Metal Jacket" (1987) as Animal Mother, as well as in the television series "Firefly" and its continuation film "Serenity" as Jayne Cobb. His roles include Stillman in "Ordinary People" (1980), Colonel John Casey in "Chuck", and Mike Slattery in "The Last Ship".
Early life.
Baldwin was born in Winnetka, Illinois, and studied at New Trier Township High School East in Winnetka.
Career.
Appearing in a large number of films since 1980, Baldwin rose to prominence as the troubled outcast Ricky Linderman in "My Bodyguard" (1980) and moved on to bigger roles in "D.C. Cab" (1983), "Full Metal Jacket" (1987), "Predator 2" (1989), "Next of Kin" (1989), "Deadbolt" (1992), "Independence Day" (1996), "The Patriot" (2000), and "Serenity" (2005)—in which he reprises his role as the mercenary Jayne Cobb from the television series "Firefly."
His other work includes "Radio Flyer" (1992), "From the Earth to the Moon" (1998), "The X-Files" (Knowle Rohrer), "The Cape", "", "Stargate SG-1", "Angel", "The Inside", "NCIS", and the 2005 remake of "The Poseidon Adventure". He also starred in the ABC series "Day Break" as Chad Shelten in 2006.
Baldwin parodied the Ricky Linderman character in the 2008 film "Drillbit Taylor". He is also known for NBC's "Chuck", in which he played John Casey, one of the lead characters for the five season run of the show.
In season four of "Castle", Baldwin was reunited with former "Firefly" castmate Nathan Fillion. He played Detective Ethan Slaughter in the 21st episode called "Headhunters" which aired April 16, 2012. He returned to "Castle" in season eight, episode six "Cool Boys".
Baldwin won a SyFy Genre Award in 2006 for "Best Supporting Actor/Television" for his role as Jayne Cobb in the television series "Firefly".
Baldwin was cast as Superman in "", which is based on DC Comics' "The Death of Superman". He also voices the character in the massively multiplayer online game "DC Universe Online".
Baldwin has a role as a voice actor in the Xbox 360 games "Halo 3" and ', the latter putting him in the role of Corporal Taylor "Dutch" Miles. Baldwin also appears as a voice actor in ' for various resistance soldiers and citizens. Along with his "Chuck" co-star, Yvonne Strahovski, he also appeared in "Mass Effect 2", playing the role of Quarian Marine squad leader Kal'Reegar.
Personal life.
He has three children with his wife, Ami Julius.
He is a supporter of Ride 2 Recovery, a bike-riding organization set up for the rehabilitation of wounded veterans. He participated in the 2009 "Don't Mess With Texas Challenge" bike ride.
Political views.
Politically, he states that he re-examined his liberal views after being given a copy of David Horowitz's book "Radical Son". He now considers himself a "small government conservative libertarian", and has contributed to "The Huffington Post".
In late 2015 Baldwin endorsed Ted Cruz for the 2016 United States presidential election via Twitter.
Involvement in Gamergate.
Baldwin has sometimes been credited with originating the hashtag #GamerGate near the end of August 2014 by posting the hashtag on Twitter alongside a pair of videos that, as part of wider criticisms, repeated earlier allegations against Zoe Quinn and Nathan Grayson.
His role in the GamerGate controversy led to a petition to prevent Baldwin from appearing as a guest at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo in 2015. The convention's management decided to keep Baldwin as a guest.


American Revolution Statuary

American Revolution Statuary is a group of fourteen statues in Washington, D.C., listed with the National Register of Historic Places. The statues are scattered across Washington, mainly in squares and traffic circles, with four statues of European officers displayed in Lafayette Square, across from the White House
In accordance with Executive Order 11593, by President Richard Nixon, the National Park Service surveyed, and registered Statuary of people of the American Revolution, in Washington, D.C. to aid in their preservation.
All but one of the statues are cast in bronze. Franklin's statue was carved in marble. Five of the statues depict American military men, two (Franklin and Witherspoon) American politicians, and an eighth statue, that of Artemas Ward, depicts a military man who was also governor of Massachusetts. Five statues depict European officers who aided the American cause, and the one of Edmund Burke, a British politician who spoke out for the American cause. The U.S. Congress authorized the original placement of all the statues, and all but four (Burke, Franklin, Hale, and Witherspoon) were fully paid for with federal funds.


Smith Tavern

The former Smith Tavern is located on Bedford Road (state highway NY 22) in the hamlet of Armonk, New York, United States. It is a red frame building dating to the late 18th century, one of the few left in a region that has rapidly suburbanized over the past century. The Smith family, for whom it is named, did not build it but owned it for most of the 19th century.
It has seen many uses over its existence, most of them important to the development of the Town of North Castle. During the Revolutionary War it served as headquarters for the local militia. It was a frequent overnight stop for stagecoaches between New York City and Danbury, Connecticut. Later it was the post office and offices of the town clerk. Yale University owned it briefly, and it was also a parsonage for a nearby church. Two owners renovated it extensively, one reverting an addition made by the other. In 1977 it became the town's historical museum, and six years later it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Building.
The lot the tavern sits on is located on the north side of Route 22, a north-south highway which runs closer to east-west at this point, paralleling the Connecticut state line. It is in a residential area of large and mostly wooded properties a half-mile north along the highway from a commercial area between the junctions with Byram Lake Road and NY 433. A church is to the northeast.
A small fieldstone wall separates the building from the road. It is a clapboard-sided building on a stone foundation in three sections. The main one is five by two bays on the south (front) elevation and four in the rear, its two stories topped with a gabled roof shingled in asphalt and pierced by a single brick chimney. On the northeast, the wing that includes the original house is two by two bays and two stories high with a shallow pitched hipped roof. It has been extended to the northwest to create a garage.
Ornamentation on the building is minimal. At the roofline there is a simple cornice and returns. The windows have simple wooden sills and lintels. At the center of the first story, the main entrance is a double door with glass transom. The rear entrance is off-center.
On the inside the largest rooms on each story are in the southwest section. The meeting room on the first floor has a fireplace, paneling and wide floorboards, both in pine and all original. Other rooms on the floor have their original flooring and late 19th century wallpaper. In the master bedroom above it, museum collection items like tools and toys are displayed. The other bedrooms also have similar decor to their downstairs counterparts.
History.
It is unclear exactly when the current building was built, but there had been a tavern at the site since at least the Revolution. The local militia was headquartered at a tavern on the site in 1779. The first known owner, a Quaker named Benjamin Hopkins, sheltered refugees from British-occupied New York City there early in the war before himself departing for Fishkill in search of more neutral territory.
The British burned his house along White Plains Road in 1779, along with others in Bedford, and may have burned his tavern as well, then occupied by a tenant named Ichabod Ogden. It is possible that the current tavern may have been built around what remained afterwards.
By 1792, the tavern was owned by a Benjamin Tripp. Records show that the Town Board of that time met at the town clerk's office (his house) and then went to the tavern afterwards. The town clerk, Harrison Palmer, bought the tavern himself in the early 1790s, making the board's post-meeting trip unnecessary.
In 1797, Palmer sold the tavern to John Smith, a former Continental Army captain who had spent most of the war as a prisoner. He was elected town clerk the following year. Soon all political activity in the town, debates and rallies as well as meetings of official bodies, took place at the tavern. Since it was located at the 37th milestone along the Danbury Post Road, it was a frequent place for the stagecoach to overnight on the road, and its passengers gave the rural town a connection to events in the city and New England.
John Smith ran the tavern, farmed the nearby land and served as town clerk until 1830, when he was succeeded by his son Samuel. In 1809, when the local post office was established there, he was its first postmaster. By the time he left the post in 1855, the rise of the railroad displaced the Danbury stagecoach, and the inn became less locally important, eventually ceasing all commercial function and becoming the family house. Samuel Smith continued to live there and farm the land until his death in 1884.
His heirs sold it to Odle Knapp, a successful farmer from nearby Greenwich, Connecticut, who gave it to his son and daughter-in-law as a wedding gift. Augustus and Kate Knapp expanded and renovated the house greatly in 1898. They replaced all the front windows, extended the northeast wing and added a second story to it. A front gable and Victorian porch they added were later removed to restore the tavern's historical appearance.
In 1905 they sold the house and accompanying farmlands to a George Smith of Armonk, unrelated to the original owners. He farmed the land until selling it 11 years later, in 1916. The buyer, Fay Stanton of New York, was taken with the building's history and tried to revive it as a tavern, the Red Jacket Inn. It failed, and two years it and the remaining of the farm were sold at auction to wealthy New York City businessman John Sterling, joining a number of rental properties he owned in the area.
Sterling died later that year, and willed the property to his alma mater, Yale University. Almost two decades passed before the trustees of his estate transferred the property. Yale sold it and what was now five acres (2 ha) to Franklin and Frances Brown two years later. They began renovating it extensively, and sold it six years later to another couple, the Datlowes, who continued the renovations.
The combined work by the two couples was the most extensive done on the house. The Knapps' porch and gable were removed, and the chimney rebuilt. Inside, much of the wallpaper was removed to reveal the original paneling, and the kitchen and bathrooms modernized. The finished house was painted in its current colors.
The Datlowes sold it in 1974 to the nearby Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, which used as a parsonage and meeting place. Three years later, the church decided to build a more modern facility for this latter purpose, and sold the house and the last two acres of its original holdings to the North Castle Historical Society. It was converted into a museum and has remained in that role ever since. The society's docents graciously offer guided tours two days a week.
Smith Tavern Educational Complex.
The Smith Tavern is part of the Smith Tavern Educational Complex, which contains four additional buildings: the Brundage Blacksmith Shop, Dr. Jerry Light’s Privy, the one-room East Middle Patent Schoolhouse, and the 1798 Quaker Meeting House. The Brundage Blacksmith Shop was acquired in 1981, as was Dr. Jerry Light’s Privy. The Schoolhouse was acquiring in 1984 and the Quaker Meeting House was acquired in 1995.


Young Liberal Democracy

Young Liberal Democracy () (MLD) is the youth party of the Slovene political party Liberal Democracy of Slovenia. MLD is a national liberal youth organisation.
The members of MLD started with work on 1 February 1991. The members are engaging themselves on the national as well as the local level, they are taking an active part in the work of the central party.
Mlada liberalna demokracija is also connected with related foreign organisations. Full members status is held by , , ISEEL and UNITED.
Structure.
MLD's highest body is the Congress, which meets at least every second year. It adopts MLD's political platform, the Manifesto, and decides about MLD's activities. These are stated in a one-year Programme of Action. Furthermore, the Congress elects the President and decides upon the budget.
The Council is composed from at least one representative from each local committee; from one representative from each regional committee and the Bureau. It meets three times per year. Furthermore, the Council elects all the other Bureau members.
The MLD Bureau consists of a President, Vice-President, a Secretary General, an International Secretary, an Organisational Secretary, and five Bureau members. The Bureau has the responsibility for MLD's day-to-day management and is elected every two years.


Charles Hanger


Peter Krieg

Peter Krieg, born as Wilhelm Walter Gladitz (August 27, 1947 in Schwäbisch Gmünd, West Germany – July 22, 2009 in Berlin, Germany) was a documentary filmmaker, producer and writer. He initially enrolled in business and economics courses at Hamburg University but abandoned his studies to travel and teach horsemanship in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. He later returned to Germany with his first wife, the American Heidi Knott, with whom he studied film at the German Film & TV Academy (DFFB) in Berlin and collaborated on his early works.
For "September Wheat" Krieg received the German Film Award and the Adolf-Grimme-Prize. Many of his films were internationally distributed. He has also produced documentary films of other filmmakers, such as Egyptian/German A'Wahed Askar.
Biography.
Peter Krieg initiated and co-founded the OEKOMEDIA Institute and Festival for Ecological Media, (Freiburg, 1982–2005) as well as the interActiva Festival for Interactive Media (Cologne/Babelsberg 1991-1995).
He temporarily headed the design team of the HTC digital film production center at Babelsberg Film Studios, and was executive producer for several exhihibion and theme park attraction films (Expo 2000, Space Center Bremen, Nuerburgring Attraction Center).
In the late 1980s, Krieg became interested in second-order cybernetics and radical constructivism and edited a book honouring the 80th birthday of Heinz von Foerster ("Das Auge des Betrachters" - "The Eye of the Viewer").
After 1999 he promoted Pile Systems Inc, a software company developing a new "relationist" approach to data. That approach is based on the invention of Erez Elul and that company was broken apart in a bitter dispute over its policy and ownership and hence Erez became comcomist pro refugees activist.
Krieg, who called himself a "68-leftist-turned-libertarian", had two children and lived in Berlin.


Republican Party (Canada)

The Parti républicain/Republican Party was a Quebec-based Canadian political party that nominated two candidates in federal by-elections in 1971. None were elected.
The party nominated two candidates in by-elections held on 31 May 1971. In Chambly riding, leader Claude Longtin won 396 votes, (1.6% of the total), and in Trois-Rivières, Joseph Thibodeau won 170 votes (0.6%).
In June 1971, the party merged with the Parti de la Démocratisation Économique. Longtin later ran as an independent in the 1972 federal election in the riding of Chambly, receiving 474 votes (0.9%).


Libertarian Party (UK)

The Libertarian Party, also known as the Libertarian Party UK (LPUK), is a libertarian political party in the United Kingdom. Adam Brown has been the party's leader since August 2015.
History.
The party was founded in January 2008 under the leadership of Patrick Vessey, having registered the party with the Electoral Commission in November 2007. In May 2008, "The Daily Telegraph" leader writer Alex Singleton claimed the founders should have set up a pressure group rather than a party. Singleton believed the new party would reduce the influence of libertarianism.
On 17 September 2008, Vessey resigned as party leader and was replaced by Ian Parker-Joseph. The party claimed a membership of 1,000 and hoped in the wake of the parliamentary expenses scandal "to establish themselves in the media landscape with a couple of robust performances". He said the party wanted much smaller government and would initially cut taxation to 10% before removing it altogether.
On 28 November 2010, Andrew Withers was elected as party leader.
Following an internal ballot on 15 August 2015, party members elected Adam Brown as the party leader.
During the 2018 local elections, the party was described as on "the fringes of mainstream British politics".
In October 2018, MEP Bill Etheridge, a former member of the UK Independence Party, joined the party and became its deputy chairman. Etheridge continued as a member of the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy parliamentary group in the European Parliament. However, he then left to join the Brexit Party in February 2019.
Electoral performance.
General elections.
The party did not field parliamentary candidates at the 2015 general election, describing it as a "waste of time and funds".


Fuel Direct

Fuel Direct is a United Kingdom government policy whereby an individual on certain income related benefits can have a certain amount of their benefit money deducted in order to pay off fuel debts.