text_chunks:
<mask> (;  715/716 – August 12, 780), courtesy name Shi'an (), was a Chinese economist and politician during the Tang dynasty who served briefly as chancellor during the reign of Emperor Daizong – but who was more known for his reforms in the Tang salt monopoly and food transportation systems, credited with allowing the Tang economy to recover after the disastrous An Lushan Rebellion. In 780, during the reign of Emperor Daizong's son Emperor Dezong, after the chancellor <mask> made a series of false accusations against him, he was first demoted and then executed. Background
<mask> was born in 715 or 716. His family was from Cao Prefecture (曹州, in modern Heze, Shandong), and traced its ancestry to <mask> (), a younger brother of Han Dynasty's founder Emperor Gao. His great-great-grandfather <mask> () served as a county magistrate during Tang Dynasty's predecessor Sui Dynasty, and his great-grandfather <mask> () served as an imperial scholar early in Tang. His grandfather <mask> () served as a county magistrate, while his father <mask>hui () served as a county secretary general. During Emperor Xuanzong's reign
When Emperor Xuanzong offered sacrifices at Mount Tai in 725, <mask>, then a child, wrote a song and submitted it to Emperor Xuanzong.Emperor Xuanzong was amazed, and he had his chancellor Zhang Shuo test <mask>'s knowledge. Zhang was also impressed and stated, "This is a sign of fortune for the empire." He made <mask> a scribe in the imperial government, at his young age, and <mask> became referred to as the "godly child." The honored men all rushed to invite him to their households. During Emperor Xuanzong's Tianbao era (742–756), <mask> became the magistrate of Xia County (夏縣, in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi). Xia County was a key point for transportation of supplies to the Tang capital Chang'an, and it was said that while <mask> did not supervise the transportation of supplies through his county in a harsh manner, the supplies were nevertheless always on time. After receiving a recommendation, he was then made the magistrate of Wen County (溫縣, in modern Jiaozuo, Henan).It was said that the people were happy about his governance and made monuments for him. He was later recalled to Chang'an to serve as Shiyushi (), a low-level imperial censor. During Emperor Suzong's reign
In 755, the general An Lushan rebelled at Fanyang and by 756, the forces of his new state of Yan were approaching Chang'an, forcing Emperor Xuanzong to flee to Chengdu. <mask> fled to Xiangyang. Emperor Xuanzong's son and crown prince Li Heng fled to Lingwu instead, where he was declared emperor (as Emperor Suzong), an act that Emperor Xuanzong recognized. Emperor Xuanzong, however, prior to Emperor Suzong's declaration as emperor, had sent another son, Li Lin the Prince of Yong, to Jianling to oversee the Yangtze River region. When Li Lin arrived at Jiangling, he heard that <mask> was at Xiangfan and invited him to serve on his staff.<mask> declined, however, and wrote a letter to the chancellor Fang Guan, pointing out that at this point, having imperial princes with great powers would simply bring trouble. Emperor Suzong then issued an edict making <mask> the tax collector for the Yangtze-Huai River region. When <mask> reached Wu Commandery (roughly modern Suzhou, Jiangsu), he heard that Li Lin had rebelled against Emperor Suzong, and therefore met with the surveyor of the region, Li Xiyan (), to confer on how to resist Li Lin. Li Xiyan put <mask> in defense of Yuhang Commandery (餘杭, roughly modern Hangzhou, Zhejiang). After Li Xiyan was defeated by Li Lin late in 756, he fled to Yuhang and defended it together with <mask>. In 757, after Li Lin was defeated by other Tang generals, he initially considered attacking Yuhang, but after hearing that <mask> was defending it, he changed his mind and fled west. (He was eventually captured and killed by another Tang general, Huangfu Shen ()  <mask>, however, did not claim credit for the victory.At a later point, Emperor Suzong recalled him to serve as the governor of Pengyuan Commandery (彭原, roughly modern Qingyang, Gansu). He later served as the prefect of Hua Prefecture (華州, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), and then the mayor of Henan Municipality (), which encompassed the eastern capital Luoyang. However, as at that time Tang forces were still stalemated against the Yan emperor by that point, Shi Chaoyi (the son of An Lushan's general Shi Siming), and Luoyang was still in Yan hands, <mask>'s government seat was actually at Changshui (長水, near Luoyang). <mask> had already proved his worth by using impressed labor to dredge the long silted-over canal connecting the Huai and Yellow rivers; this project lowered transport costs, relieved food shortages, and increased tax revenues with little government investment. The Huai river ran through Northern Jiangsu, the location of coastal salt marshes which were the major source of salt. <mask> realized that if the government could control these areas to enforce a salt monopoly, such as had existed in earlier periods but fallen into disuse, it could sell the salt at a monopoly price to merchants, who would pass the increased price on to their customers. This monopoly price was an indirect tax which was reliably collected in advance without having to control the areas where the salt was consumed.In 758 <mask> created a Salt and Iron Commission whose revenues were particularly important since the central government had lost control of the provinces. Even better, the revenue originated in the south, where it could be safely used to buy grain to ship to the capital, Chang'an, by river and canal. By 760, <mask> was serving as the mayor of Jingzhao Municipality (), which encompassed Chang'an, when he, because he was believed to be capable in financial matters, was also made the deputy minister of census (戶部侍郎, Hubu Shilang), as well as the special director in charge of finance, minting, and salt and iron monopolies. It was said that in these positions, <mask> was not harsh but had a good grasp of the big picture, and that he served well. In 761, the official <mask>ang (), who had previously served An but later submitted to Tang, was accused of having secret communications with Shi Chaoyi. After <mask> was arrested, <mask> sent soldiers to guard <mask>'s mansion, ready to seize it if <mask> were found guilty. <mask>, however, was soon exonerated, and became resentful of <mask>.<mask> therefore accused <mask> of leaking contents of secret conversations that he had with Emperor Suzong. As a result of these counteraccusations, and also because the chancellor Xiao Hua was jealous of <mask>'s talents, both <mask> and <mask> were demoted — in <mask>'s case, to be the prefect of Tong Prefecture (通州, in modern Dazhou). His financial responsibilities were transferred to Yuan Zai. During Emperor Daizong's reign
Emperor Suzong died in 762 and was succeeded by his son Emperor Daizong. Emperor Daizong recalled <mask> to Chang'an to again serve in three posts – deputy minister of census, mayor of Jingzhao Municipality, and special director in charge of finance, minting, salt and iron monopolies, and food shipments. <mask> declined the posts of deputy minister of census and mayor of Jingzhao, yielding them to <mask> and <mask> () respectively. In 763, while still serving as special director of the various economy-related matters, he was also made the minister of civil service affairs (吏部尚書, Libu Shangshu) and given the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (), making him a chancellor de facto.In 674, however, he was accused of having close association with the eunuch Cheng Yuanzhen – who had been exceedingly powerful but who had been removed in 763 after he was blamed for not warning Emperor Daizong about a Tufan invasion – and he, along with a colleague who had been hated by other eunuchs for his role in Cheng's downfall, Li Xian, were removed from their chancellor posts, with <mask> being made a member of the staff of Li Kuo the Crown Prince. However, later in the year, <mask> was put in charge of the affairs of food shipments, taxation, salt and iron monopolies, and food management for the regions of Luoyang, Huai River, and Yangtze River. At that time, the Chang'an region was suffering from a food shortage, after years of warfare. Food supplies coming from the Yangtze region, which had been traveling through Bian River – a canal that connected the Huai River and Yellow River – prior to the Anshi Rebellion, had been unable to travel through it since it had been silted through the years. Instead, the shipments had to travel on the Yangtze River and Han River to Liang Prefecture (梁州, in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi), and then over the Qinling Mountains to Chang'an – a much more treacherous and costly route. <mask>, hoping to restore the Bian River-Yellow River route, personally travelled through the former route to examine it. He then wrote a detailed report to Yuan Zai, who had become a powerful chancellor by that point, explaining the benefits of the Bian River route.With Yuan's support, he began the project to clear Bian River of silt. Upon the completion of the project, the food supplies for the Chang'an regions became plentiful, even during times of poor harvest. Emperor Daizong, complimenting him, stated, "You, lord, are my Marquess of Zuan" — comparing him to the great Han Dynasty prime minister Xiao He. By 766, <mask> was serving as the minister of census (戶部尚書, Hubu Shangshu), and that year, the financial matters of the state were divided in halves — with him in charge of the eastern half of the empire, and his deputy Diwu Qi in charge of the western half. By 777, Yuan and his chancellor colleague Wang Jin, both of whom had become entrenched in their positions and become extremely corrupt, finally wore out Emperor Daizong's patience, and Emperor Daizong had them arrested. He ordered <mask> to interrogate them, but <mask>, not daring to carry this task out along, proposed that five officials, including himself and the chief imperial censor Li Han (), be appointed. Subsequently, Yuan was executed, but at <mask>'s suggestion that Wang was less culpable than Yuan, Wang's life was spared, although he was demoted to be a prefectural prefect.Subsequently, Chang Gun replaced Yuan, and Chang, jealous of <mask>, suggested to Emperor Daizong that <mask>, given his contributions, should be made Puye () – one of the heads of the executive bureau of government (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng); Chang did so with the intent that <mask> be stripped of his financial responsibilities. Emperor Daizong made <mask>ushe, but continued to have him be in charge of the financial affairs. It was said that during the years that <mask> was in charge of financial affairs, he carefully selected the officials in charge of financial matters in each region, choosing those who were young, energetic, and talented. Many times, powerful individuals would make recommendations; <mask> would take the people that they recommended and put them in honored posts with salaries, but not give them actual responsibilities. It was said that those officials that <mask> commissioned were faithful to their tasks and <mask>'s instructions, even if they were thousands of miles away from the capital. During Emperor Dezong's reign
Emperor Daizong died in 779 and was succeeded by Li Kuo (as Emperor Dezong). At that time, Han Huang was in charge of the financial matters of the western half of the empire (Diwu Qi having been removed from that post in 770).Emperor Dezong, hearing that Han was harsh and excessive, removed Han from his post and gave the responsibilities for the financial matters of the entire empire to <mask>. It was said that he improved the salt monopoly system that Diwu had instituted and increased the earnings tenfold, without any additional impositions on the people. However, <mask> was soon in a precarious position. <mask>, a protégé of Yuan's, had become the most powerful chancellor and was well-trusted by Emperor Dezong. <mask> had previously served under <mask> as deputy minister of civil service affairs, and they did not get along with each other; further, <mask> blamed <mask> for Yuan's death. At that time, there were rumors that <mask> had, during Emperor Daizong's reign, suggested to him that he create his favorite concubine, Consort Dugu, empress. (As Consort Dugu was not Emperor Dezong's mother and had her own son, Li Jiong () the Prince of Han, it was believed that such a move would have potentially endangered Emperor Dezong's position.)Further, many people had been jealous of <mask>'s long hold on financial matters. <mask>, wanting to avenge Yuan, thus took this opportunity to accuse <mask> of having endangered Emperor Dezong's position, along with the official Li Gan () and the eunuch <mask> () – both of whom had been executed in 779 under the same accusations of having supported Consort Dugu. <mask>'s chancellor colleague Cui Youfu opposed further investigation of <mask>, but still, in spring 780, at <mask>'s suggestion, <mask> was stripped of his special director status, and the financial responsibilities were returned to the bureaus under the ministry of census, which had previously been responsible for such matters. Subsequently, Emperor Dezong demoted <mask> to be the prefect of Zhong Prefecture (忠州, in modern Chongqing). In fall 780, at <mask>'s inducement, <mask>'s superior Yu Zhun () submitted an accusation that <mask> had written a letter to the general Zhu Ci, asking for Zhu's help, and that in the letter to Zhu he wrote many complaints about Emperor Dezong. Yu further accused <mask> of having requested additional soldiers for his prefecture with the intent to start a rebellion. <mask> urged Emperor Dezong to execute <mask>.Emperor Dezong agreed, and he sent eunuchs to Zhong Prefecture to secretly strangle <mask> to death, before issuing an edict publicly ordering <mask> to commit suicide. It was said that the entire empire mourned <mask>'s death and believed him to be innocent. His family was exiled to the Lingnan region, and his assets were confiscated. (When his assets were booked in order to be confiscated, it was discovered that <mask> had been so honest that as an official that he lacked any real wealth, and those who saw this were further impressed by him.) The warlord Li Zhengji, who had been looking for excuses to complain about imperial governance, submitted a petition stating that <mask> had been innocently killed and requested that his family be allowed to return to Chang'an — a petition that Emperor Dezong ignored. Nevertheless, because <mask> had been careful at selecting officials, particularly those with financial talents, it was said that for decades following his death, the officials in charge of financial affairs were mostly <mask>'s old subordinates. In 784, Emperor Dezong, beginning to believe that <mask> was in fact innocent, allowed him to be reburied in his home prefecture.In 789, he further made <mask>'s sons <mask>jing () and <mask>jing () officials. When <mask>jing offered to yield his posts in exchange for <mask> to be posthumously honored, Emperor Dezong posthumously honored <mask> Situ (司徒, one of the Three Excellencies). <mask>, the lead editor of the Old Book of Tang, commented thus about <mask>:

Notes and references

 Old Book of Tang, vol. 123. New Book of Tang, vol. 149. Zizhi Tongjian, vols.221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226. 710s births
780 deaths
8th-century executions by the Tang dynasty
Chancellors under Emperor Daizong of Tang
Mayors of Luoyang
Mayors of Xi'an
Economists from Shandong
Executed Tang dynasty people
Executed people from Shandong
Forced suicides of Chinese people
People executed by poison
Politicians from Heze
Tang dynasty economists
Tang dynasty politicians from Shandong

masks:
Liu Yan
Yang Yan
Liu Yan
Liu Jiao
Liu Jin
Liu Yu
Liu Gong
Liu Zhi
Liu Yan
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu Yan
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu Yan
Liu
Yan Zhu
Yan
Liu
Yan
Yan
Yan
Liu
Yan
Liu
Liu
Liu
Yan
Liu
Liu Yan
Liu
Yan Zhenqing
Yan Wu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu P
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu Yan
Liu
Yang Yan
Yang
Liu
Yang
Liu
Liu
Liu
Yang
Liu
Liu Zhongyi
Yang
Liu Yan
Yang
Liu Yan
Liu
Yang
Liu
Liu
Liu
Yang
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu
Liu Zhi
Liu Zong
Liu Zhi
Liu Yan
Liu Yan
Liu Xu
Liu Yan


text_chunks:
<mask> (born May 8, 1947) is an American biologist best known for his research on the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, for which he was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, together with Sydney Brenner and John E. Sulston, whose "seminal discoveries concerning the genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death" were "important for medical research and have shed new light on the pathogenesis of many diseases". Education and early life
<mask>tz was born in Chicago, Illinois to Jewish parents, the son of Mary R. (Savit), a school teacher, and <mask>, a GAO accountant. He majored in mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he joined Alpha Epsilon Pi and spent his summers working for IBM, at first wiring panels for accounting machines and then in his final summer helping to develop IBM's Conversational Programming System. During his senior year, <mask>tz took his first courses in biology and was encouraged by his professors to continue to study biology in graduate school, despite his limited coursework in the field. After he completed his undergraduate studies in 1968, he enrolled in graduate studies in biology at Harvard University, where he studied T4-induced modifications of E. coli RNA polymerase under the direction of Walter Gilbert and James Watson. He completed his PhD in 1974. Career
In 1974, <mask>tz took a postdoctoral position at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, England, where he worked with his future Nobel prize co-winners Sydney Brenner and John Sulston on the genetics and cell lineage of C. elegans.In 1978, <mask>tz was offered a faculty position at MIT, where he is currently Professor of Biology and a member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. He is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. <mask>tz serves as the chair of the board of trustees for Society for Science & the Public and is a member of the USA Science and Engineering Festival's Advisory Board. Research
At LMB, <mask>tz worked with Sulston to track every non-gonadal cell division that occurred during larval development, and published a complete description of these lineages in 1977. Later, in cooperation with Sulston and Martin Chalfie, <mask>vitz began investigations first characterizing several cell lineage mutants and then seeking genes that controlled cell lineage or that controlled specific linages. In 1981, they identified and characterized the gene lin-4, a "heterochronic" mutant that changes the timeline of cell fates. In his early work at MIT, <mask>tz continued his work on cell lineage and cell fate, using C. elegans to investigate whether there was a genetic program controlling cell death, or apoptosis.In 1986, he identified the first "death genes", ced-3 and ced-4. He showed that functional ced-3 and ced-4 genes were a prerequisite for cell death to be executed. He went on to show that another gene, ced-9, protects against cell death by interacting with ced-4 and ced-3, as well as identifying a number of genes that direct how a dead cell is eliminated. <mask>vitz showed that the human genome contains a ced-3-like gene. <mask>vitz's later research continued to use C. elegans to analyze the genetic control of animal development and behavior, as well as to link discoveries in the nematode to human diseases, particularly cancer and neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He made further advancements in defining the molecular pathway of programmed cell death, and has identified several key components, including: EGL-1, a protein which activates apoptosis by inhibiting CED-9; transcription factors ces-1 and ces-2, and ced-8, which controls the timing of cell death. He has also continued work on heterochronic mutants and other aspects of cell lineage, and established lines of research in signal transduction, morphogenesis, and neural development.<mask>tz has collaborated with Victor Ambros and David Bartel on a project to characterize the complete set of the more than 100 microRNAs in the C. elegans genome. Works

<mask>tz has over 255 publications, has been cited over 49,000 times and has an h-index of 108. Awards and honors

1986 Spencer Award in Neurobiology from Columbia University
1986 Warren Triennial Prize from the Massachusetts General Hospital
1988 U.S. Steel Foundation Award in Molecular Biology from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences
1991 Member, U.S. National Academy of Sciences
1993 V.D.

masks:
Howard Robert Horvitz
Horvi
Oscar Freedom Horvitz
Horvi
Horvi
Horvi
Horvi
Horvi
Hor
Horvi
Hor
Hor
Horvi
Robert Horvi


text_chunks:
<mask> (born December 17, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician. He served as mayor of the city of Seattle, Washington, and is a neighborhood activist and a former State Chair of the Sierra Club. In what was characterized as a "sea change in the power structure of Seattle,"  McGinn differentiated his campaign by his opposition to the proposed tunnel replacement to the Alaskan Way Viaduct. He was elected in November 2009 with the support of groups considered "political outsiders", such as environmentalists, biking advocates, musicians, advocates for the poor, nightclub owners, and younger voters. Early life and education
Originally from Long Island, New York, McGinn earned a B.A. in economics from Williams College and worked for Congressman Jim Weaver as a legislative aide. McGinn attended law school at the University of Washington School of Law.After graduating, he practiced business law for the Seattle firm Stokes Lawrence, becoming a partner. He left Stokes Lawrence in 2005 and started Great City Initiative, a nonprofit advocacy group. Political activism
<mask> is credited with increasing the "clout" of the Sierra Club, helping transform it into a "real political force" in Seattle. According to McGinn, the club's political committee was "moribund" when he volunteered to lead it in the mid-1990s. The group grew to 50 active political leaders by 2009. <mask> is the founder and former executive director of the Seattle Great City Initiative, a nonprofit advocacy group, and a former head of the Greenwood Community Council. At Great City, he oversaw a budget of $160,000 and worked alliances with companies like Triad Development, Harbor Properties and Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc. on environmental and urban development issues.As a neighborhood organizer and head of his nonprofit, McGinn endorsed his future opponent Mayor Greg Nickels and worked with him to bar development of large, commercial "big box stores", eliminate street parking in favor of bus lanes and push for changes in zoning laws to encourage greater density in the Greenwood neighborhood. <mask> stepped down from his position as head of the Greenwood Community Council in 2006 and stepped down as executive director of his nonprofit in March 2009 to run for mayor. In 2007, <mask> used his position as a leader in the Sierra Club's Cascade Chapter to help successfully campaign against metropolitan Seattle's Proposition 1, a combined road and mass transit measure, in favor of a transit-only measure. He later chaired the successful campaign to pass a Seattle parks levy. <mask>'s management record as an activist has come under scrutiny, including his chairmanship of Seattle's successful 2008 parks levy campaign. Brice Maryman, a leader in the parks campaign, said, "There wouldn't have been a parks levy on the ballot ... without <mask>'s leadership", but some Seattle City Council members, including Tom Rasmussen, said that McGinn mismanaged the effort. The City Council became "alarmed" at what members described as a disorganized effort.It appointed Seattle Parks Foundation Executive Director Karen Daubert as co-chair to help save the levy campaign. Rasmussen says that it was Daubert who "saved the day" for the levy. <mask> credited his grassroots style of campaigning for the victory. 2009 Seattle mayoral campaign

<mask> announced his candidacy in the 2009 Seattle mayoral election on March 24, 2009. He said his principal policy positions would center on schools, broadband Internet access and local transportation infrastructure. He advocated replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a surface street instead of the planned tunnel; supplanting private broadband Internet service with a fiber optic system built and operated by Seattle City Light, the city's municipally owned electric utility; and greater local neighborhood control of parking taxes and meter rates. He also raised the possibility of abolishing the city's independent school board, with operation of the schools to become a city government responsibility.Mayor Greg Nickels proposed eliminating Seattle's business tax on single-occupancy vehicle commuters on the grounds it was no longer needed and was hurting business and job growth. <mask> opposed ending the tax, called the Employee Hours Tax, which taxes business $25 for each of its employees who drives to work alone. <mask> said that Nickels and fellow candidate Joe Mallahan, who also favored repealing the tax, were "out of touch" and too close to the "business elite". McGinn rode his electrically assisted bicycle to and from political events and maintained no paid campaign staff. In an upset, aided by exposure in the form of a cover profile from The Stranger, <mask> led the August primary with 39,097 votes, ahead of Mallahan's 37,933 and Nickels's 35,781. By October 2009, the <mask> campaign had raised about $150,000. In the general election, T-Mobile executive Mallahan was perceived as the "insider candidate", endorsed by Governor Christine Gregoire, a supporter of the tunnel.<mask> defeated Mallahan on November 3 in a close race, with 51.14% of the vote. Although the race was so close in the early vote count that a recount was considered a possibility, the gap between the candidates widened as the tally proceeded. Mallahan conceded on November 9, saying of McGinn that "he seemed to be the superior campaigner this time around" and that <mask>'s message "seemed to resonate" with Seattle's voters. Describing the coalition that backed McGinn, University of Washington political science professor David Olson said, "these new actors are legitimate, numerically important and politically very skilled". Mallahan criticized <mask> for "push polling" with robocalls to Seattle residents during the campaign. Mallahan called one survey about the proposed Alaskan Way Viaduct "dishonest" but McGinn says the poll was legitimate research. Nickels had used "negative" robocalls himself against <mask> a few months earlier in the primary campaign.2013 Seattle mayoral campaign

In 2013, <mask> ran for reelection. He placed second in a field of nine candidates in the Seattle mayoral primary, and lost the general election with 47% of the vote to Ed Murray's 52%. 2017 Seattle mayoral campaign

On April 17, 2017, McGinn announced his candidacy in the 2017 mayoral election, looking to unseat Murray. Policy positions

Taxes and budget

In 2010, McGinn asked for a higher car tab tax and a mandatory doubling of the parking lot tax, a $241 million levy to replace the city's seawall two years early and almost doubling the city's education levy to $231 million. McGinn's budget included a mandatory, city directed increase in parking fees in several neighborhoods to $4 an hour, increases which were expected to return an estimated $20 million in revenue for the city. He allocated a $13 million funding increase for bicycle and pedestrian projects derived from new taxes on motorists. At the same time, he sought reduced funding in road maintenance and widespread cuts in basics such as police and library services.His increased funding of pedestrian and bicycle projects during a time of general cuts raised criticism of his budgetary priorities. In all McGinn's budget slashed $67 million from various areas by laying off 300 employees, reducing hours at community centers, cutting park maintenance, raising fees, and reducing the wages of union workers. For 2012, McGinn proposed deferring some maintenance on roads and buildings and across the board cuts into the 2012 fiscal year, alerting police, fire and human-services departments to prepare for three to six percent cuts and all other departments for four to eight percent cuts, in order to close a $17 million funding gap. In other areas McGinn proposed funding increases. Responding to a letter from Seattle Gay News, and at the recommendation of the city government's Seattle Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Commission, McGinn said he would "work to improve" city health benefits packages up for renewal in 2013 so that the city would be able to pay for transgender employees' mental health care, steroid treatments and sex change operations. Citing opinions by the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association, the Commission called the treatments "a medical necessity" and McGinn responded that the issue is more about fairness than costs. McGinn also created a new position at city hall for a former Cascade Bicycle Club lobbyist at $95,000 a year after giving a $21,000 raise to his new communications director, bringing that yearly salary to $120,000.The creation of the new position generated controversy as it coincided with across the board budget cuts for other departments. Education
After winning election, McGinn forwarded an expanded education levy that would raise $115 million in additional taxes for the Seattle Public School District. He asserted that doubling the levy was necessary to get additional money to programs serving low-income and minority families. The levy would also expand early education and kindergartens, extra elementary school programs for high poverty areas, support for struggling students transitioning from middle to high school, and academic, career and college planning for at risk high school students. The Seattle Times called the size of the tax hike "tone deaf" to the economic realities of voters. Acknowledging the size of the levy as a concern, the Seattle City Council still voted unanimously to forward the levy proposal to voters with Tim Burgess, the Council's lead on the levy, saying its size "matched the needs" of Seattle's children. The levy was approved by voters in the 2011 general election.McGinn and the school district launched a program to improve school attendance in Seattle Public Schools called "Be There Get Here" in 2011. The idea behind the program is to improve academic performance by improving attendance, based on data showing that students with fewer absences graduate at a notably higher rate. Incentives are offered to students, such as entering them in a raffle if they keep absences to less than five. Six months into the program, absences were reduced by 50%, the lowest rate in five years. Marijuana
<mask> supports the legalization and taxation of marijuana, saying on KUOW-FM, "We recognize that, you know, like alcohol, it's something that should be regulated, not treated as a criminal activity. And I think that's where the citizens of Seattle want us to go." He believes marijuana can be used as a cash crop to offset the city's financial problems.<mask> called for an executive review of Seattle's law enforcement policy in regard to marijuana after a police raid on a medical marijuana user who was growing plants in his home. He has said that he believes the country is in a time of transition in regard to marijuana policy citing California as a "social bellwether". In July 2011, McGinn signed a Seattle-specific medical marijuana bill similar to one vetoed by former governor Christine Gregoire. The bill allows the licensing of marijuana dispensaries within Seattle. Transportation

<mask> is a proponent of reducing car ridership and increasing bicycling, walking, and public transportation. He proposed raising taxes on car transportation. He has been described in a critical editorial as "philosophically anti-car".<mask> described the idea of a war on cars as "silly" and stated his transportation policy is focused on reducing the number of cars in Seattle and expanding biking, walking and public transit. From his time as a neighborhood activist in Greenwood to his mayoralty, <mask> pushed for the removal of car lanes and on-street parking around the city in favor of bus and bike lanes. He also supports the reduction of lanes dedicated to vehicular traffic within the city through

masks:
Michael McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
Mike McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn


text_chunks:
 "road diets". These programs convert four lanes of traffic into two lanes, using the added space from lane reductions for the inclusion of bike lanes and a center turn lane. Some of these programs have been well received as improving safety for bicyclists and lowering vehicle speeds while others have been opposed as hurting local business and inappropriate for arterial routes. McGinn opposed the planned replacement of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge that connects Seattle to Bellevue and Redmond. He tried to stop the plan, which calls for six lanes instead of four, citing his opposition to building new roads.McGinn opposed adding any traffic capacity and stated his desire to see the additional capacity instead used as transit-only lanes. He also supported tolling on the bridge in order to further diminish car usage. <mask> advocates expanding light rail in Seattle calling for a public vote in 2011 to raise taxes for a new light rail line for the western side of the city, including Ballard, Interbay, Queen Anne, Belltown, Downtown, West Seattle, and possibly Fremont. Proposed tunnel

During his campaign for mayor, McGinn said that the deep bore tunnel replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct was "a huge waste of money that's completely indefensible." His opposition to the tunnel was criticized by groups like the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the downtown business community, the King County Labor Council and the Seattle Times, which, in an editorial critical of both candidates, called McGinn's surface street plan "impractical" and claimed it would clog downtown and overwhelm nearby Interstate 5. Down in the polls during the final days of the campaign, <mask>, while reiterating his opposition to the tunnel, promised that as mayor he would honor the then-recent unanimous City Council vote to move forward with the project. After the election, state employee emails revealed a discomfort with the McGinn campaign by state government and transportation officials over McGinn's opposition to the tunnel.Ron Judd, an aide to Governor Gregoire, sent emails to staff and DOT officials saying McGinn's position was "BS" and accusing him of stoking populist anger and relying on voter's ignorance about funding details to advance opposition to the tunnel. Washington State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond described McGinn's budget forecasting as "wild accusations" as she monitored a campaign debate on her Blackberry, and in response to questions raising concerns about her involvement in opposing the McGinn campaign said, "I can't stand it when politicians make things up in order to win an election. When people do that, I think it's our responsibility to clear the record. That's my motivation." State officials were criticized for supporting Mallahan and opposing McGinn, and for releasing a video of a 2007 computer animation showing collapse of the Alaskan Way Viaduct in a hypothetical earthquake just nine days before the election. After taking office McGinn repeatedly made efforts to stop construction of the tunnel. Citing potential cost overruns, he proposed a surface street replacement of the viaduct and the reduction of cars on that portion of the Washington State Route 99 corridor from 105,000 to 50,000 per weekday.He sais the lost traffic capacity could be offset by diverting more cars to Interstate 5, increased transit use, walking, biking and drivers staying home. In The Stranger in June 2010, during negotiations on a master contract with the state, McGinn wrote, "Ninety percent of megaprojects have cost overruns… Seattle has to pay overruns, but has no say over the project…[b]ecause the tunnel is a state-controlled project, and the state maintains all decision-making authority over it… Cost overruns could lead to severe cuts to basic services." In February 2011, when the Seattle City Council voted 8-1 to sign an agreement allowing the tunnel project to proceed, McGinn vetoed the ordinance. The City Council then overrode his veto, again 8-1. After the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake in Japan, McGinn, citing the quake, called for the viaduct to be pulled down a year early. No plan to replace or mitigate the lost traffic capacity was put forward. The call was opposed by some businesses and transportation experts.The president of Ballard's North Seattle Industrial Association called the likely fallout of early closure "a horror show", citing the corridor's role as the primary arterial for workers, equipment and supplies between manufacturers along Seattle's two key manufacturing zones, the Duwamish Waterway and along the Lake Washington Ship Canal. Washington's State's Department of Transportation viaduct program administrator also opposed the idea, saying, "To simply close the viaduct without a reasonable replacement in place would be very damaging to the city of Seattle economically. To start over now and pursue a new alternative would delay the overall project schedule. The viaduct is just as vulnerable as it was before the earthquake in Japan." After having his veto on the tunnel overridden, <mask> called for a referendum on the tunnel. Two of his staff members took temporary leaves of absence to work on the anti-tunnel campaign and <mask> and his wife both donated money; Councilmember Sally Clark's aide took a leave of absence to run the pro-tunnel campaign. He called for others to support the measure and donate money.After the campaign turned in 29,000 signatures, Washington State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond said that delays and court costs associated with the referendum would cost the city $54 million and Ron Paananen, the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project administrator, said should it succeed it would cost the city over $1 billion. Fellow tunnel opponent City Councilman Mike O'Brien said that, when looked at a different way, cancelling the tunnel would save the city $700 million. The resulting referendum, on which a yes-vote was effectively pro-tunnel, was approved by about 60% of Seattle voters. Social welfare and public safety

As both a candidate and a mayor, McGinn supported his predecessor's attempts to ban all guns from parks and other public places. After the King County Superior Court overturned the gun ban for violating state law, McGinn petitioned the state legislature to change the law. After a series of controversial police actions, McGinn laid out in his State of the City address that there was "no place" for police officers in Seattle who did not share city officials' commitment to racial and social justice. News reports said that a Seattle Police Officer's Guild spokesperson thought "it's scary that the mayor is trying to influence how officers perceive things".Later, in the aftermath of the shooting of transient woodcarver John T. Williams by a Seattle police officer, <mask> declared February 27 "John T. Williams Day." The declaration was met with a variety of reactions from activists, the media and community groups. Some media figures and police officers complained that honoring a man with a long criminal record who had been recorded threatening the lives of police officers was inappropriate and others claimed the declaration was political pandering designed to distract from perceived failures in his leadership. Conversely, many members of the community and the Williams family expressed gratitude and John Diaz, Seattle Chief of Police, declared the invitation to the event "an honor." In his first two years as mayor, <mask> spearheaded a new program in the Seattle Police Department to expand foot patrols around entertainment venues and nightlife hot spots during the summer, predominantly in the Belltown neighborhood. The program came in response to several early-morning shootings outside bars and nightclubs. The emphasis of the program is to preempt crime in the area on evenings and weekends.Additional neighborhoods targeted for increased patrols were Alki beach and the Greek Row around the University of Washington. <mask> and an advisory panel of advocates for the homeless that he appointed called for the creation of a "long-term" housing facility for the homeless on city land. The panel forwarded seven different locations for the mayor's consideration. After initially choosing a site in the Georgetown neighborhood, McGinn elected to have the old Fire Station 39 in Lake City act as the site for a period of four to six months. In March 2011, the City Council rejected McGinn's plan for the permanent facility in Georgetown, citing the mayor's failure to secure the environmental review required by state law in order to make the necessary zoning changes. McGinn's criticized the Council and tried to draw a parallel to the Council's decision on the Alaskan Way Viaduct Tunnel project, saying, "They approved agreements with the state [for the tunnel] even though the environmental review is far from complete". The homeless facility was expected to cost approximately a half million dollars a year.McGinn vetoed a ban on aggressive panhandling that was passed by a 5-4 vote of the Seattle city council. Supporters said the law was designed to cut down on aggressive panhandlers using intimidating language and gestures, begging at ATMs, repeatedly soliciting people who have already said no or blocking people's path while soliciting money. He cited concerns about free speech rights, the panhandlers not having access to lawyers, and that the bill could compel people into mental health and drug treatment programs instead of what he called the "normal civil commitment process." In a "stunning display" of the clout of McGinn and his political allies to stop a measure that was widely expected to be implemented, the city council failed to override his veto of the panhandling law. Relations with organized labor
In his campaign for mayor, McGinn received the endorsements of several unions, including IBEW Local 77, SEIU Local 925, and UFCW Local 21. The King County Labor Council endorsed Mallahan, mainly because of McGinn's opposition to the tunnel to replace the viaduct, described by unions as a "deal breaker" that would cause the city and its unions to lose jobs and billions of dollars from the State of Washington and the federal government. The tunnel would have been partially funded by city, state, and federal governments, bringing federal money into the state and supporting the building industry.Seattle Firefighters Union Local 27 and the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) also endorsed Mallahan. SPOG President Rich O'Neill went on record at a news conference to criticize <mask>'s lack of an adequate policy position regarding public safety. <mask>'s prescriptions in 2010 for the city budget shortfall included additional furloughing of city employees, and were opposed by local public employee unions. Public approval
In February 2010, two months after his election, <mask>'s job approval was polled by SurveyUSA at 40% approve, 34% disapprove, and 27% unsure. By July, in a KING 5 poll, his approval was 45%, disapproving 38%, and 17% unsure. In March 2011, a poll by Elway Research reported public opinion of his performance as 4% excellent, 28% good, 39% fair, 27% poor, and 6% no opinion. A poll published by EMC Research in June 2011 showed a job approval rating of 33% and a disapproval rating of 65% in March.The same poll conducted in June showed a job approval of 23% and a disapproval of 73%. A SurveyUSA poll released on February 21, 2012, showed 33% approve, 50% disapprove, and 18% unsure. References

External links

Office of the Mayor: Mike McGinn
Biking to Work with Seattle's Mayor <mask> - Video by Streetfilms
CityMayors profile

1959 births
Mayors of Seattle
Washington (state) Democrats
University of Washington School of Law alumni
Sierra Club people
Living people
21st-century American

masks:
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
McGinn
Mike McGinn


text_chunks:
<mask> of the Netherlands (Wilhelmina Frederika Alexandrine <mask>; 5 August 1828 – 30 March 1871) was Queen of Sweden and Norway as the wife of King Charles XV & IV. Youth
Princess <mask> was born on 5 August 1828 in The Hague. Her father was Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, the second child of King William I of the Netherlands and Wilhelmina of Prussia. Her mother <mask> was the eighth child of King Frederick William III of Prussia and <mask> of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Her education was to large extent entrusted to her Belgian governess Victoire Wauthier, and she studied French, German, English, Russian and piano. In 1849, <mask> was selected as a suitable spouse for Crown Prince Charles, the son of King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway and Josephine of Leuchtenberg. The marriage was arranged after the negotiations to arrange a marriage between Charles and her cousin Princess <mask> of Prussia had failed.King Oscar I of Sweden wished to secure royal family connections between the new Bernadotte dynasty and the old royal dynasties of Europe, and a Protestant princess was also seen as a necessary queen of the Protestant Sweden-Norway after two Catholic predecessors. <mask> fulfilled these credentials, and a great dowry was expected from the rich House of Orange-Nassau. Cabinet secretary L Manderström was sent to inspect her, and diplomatically let it be known in his report that <mask> had an excellent education and a good character but that she was not attractive. In August 1849, a meeting was arranged between <mask> and Charles in the Hague. Reportedly, <mask> fell in love with Charles and felt an immediate attraction, while Charles in contrast was disappointed in her appearance. Charles, however, was convinced to agree to the marriage by the King. The engagement was officially declared in February 1850.The expectations of her great fortune was debated in Sweden, both in the parliament during the discussions about the allowance, and in the radical press, who suggested that the monarch would now be able to finance the construction of the Swedish rail road net by himself. In reality, however, her dowry turned out to be very small. During the engagement, <mask> studied the Swedish language and history; she never learnt Norwegian, however. Because the Dutch government had supported the marriage, she did not have to renounce her rights to the Dutch throne upon her marriage. Crown princess

<mask> left Germany by a Swedish boat from Travemünde and arrived to Sweden with her parents and sister Marie, who were present at her wedding. Princess <mask> and Crown Prince Charles married at Storkyrkan in Stockholm on 19 June 1850. She was given Countess Elisabet Piper as her hovmästarinna (senior lady-in-waiting) and Ottiliana Sparre and Ulrika Sprengsporten as maids-of-honor.After the wedding, her father-in-law the King took her on a tour through Sweden to introduce her to the country. The relationship between <mask> and Charles was unhappy. The couple had dissimilar personalities, with <mask> being introverted, shy and with a preference for a simple life, and Charles extraverted and with a love for parties and social life. <mask> was reportedly unhappily in love with Charles, who found her unattractive and was unfaithful to her, which pained her considerably. From 1852 until 1860, Charles had a relationship with Josephine Sparre, maid of honor to <mask>, which caused a scandal. Sparre was described as so dominant that the Crown Princess and her maid of honor was said to have changed places with each other and <mask> being the lady-in-waiting to Josephine Sparre rather than the other way around. Fritz von Dardel described Sparre: "The lady in question is a great favorite of the Crown Prince as well as with the Crown Princess, and she governs them both entirely in everything about their daily life.Gifted with an unusual talent to please and make herself indispensable, she has managed to capture the Crown Prince to a strange degree." <mask> was given sympathy and Charles was considered to be treating her with neglect. A known episode which attracted attention took place at the birthday garden party of <mask> at Drottningholm Palace in 1857, when the Crown Prince proposed a toast to his "secret love" with both <mask> and Josephine Sparre present. This caused a scene, and his brother, Prince Oscar, reprimanded him indirectly by asking his own spouse, <mask> of Nassau, to toast with him. This scene caused <mask> to burst into tears and suffer a nervous attack. <mask> bore two children; Princess <mask> in 1851, and Prince Carl Oscar in 1852. Due to complications that arose at the birth of Prince Carl Oscar, <mask> was unable to have any more children.In 1854, her 2-year-old son, Carl Oscar, died of pneumonia. As the Salic law prevailed at that time in Sweden (having been introduced by the constitution of 1809), <mask>'s daughter was not eligible to ascend the throne. Charles was very chagrined and disappointed because this meant that his progeny would not be the next monarch of Sweden; his heir would be his brother Oscar. <mask> offered Charles a divorce so he could remarry and produce a male heir, but he declined the offer. Crown Princess <mask> was not considered a social success, and her timid and shy nature was not appreciated in society because of her official position. Between 1857 and 1859, Crown Prince Charles was named regent during the incapacity of his father, and she took over the representational duties of first lady from her mother-in-law. During her spouse's reign as prince regent, she was described in the well-known court chronicle of Fritz von Dardel:
"A more lovable and talented woman would have entirely recreated the atmosphere in this circle and also exerted a good influence upon the Prince, who, of a good nature, easily let himself be led by those he likes, especially women.Although good, dutiful and not one to plot, the crown princess lacks higher qualities. She is a good housewife but thinks only of her husband, herself and those closest to her and she has not the good influence on him which her good character gives her the right to have. Because of her inborn shyness, she lacks the courage to meddle in his affairs, and her only wish is to gain his love. With one word; she seems not mature enough for her great task". Queen

<mask> became Queen of Sweden and Norway at the death of her father-in-law on 8 July 1859. She was the first queen of the union of Sweden-Norway to be crowned in both Sweden and Norway, as Norway had refused to crown her two predecessors because they were Catholics. <mask> was crowned Queen of Sweden in Stockholm on 3 May 1860 and Queen of Norway in Trondheim on 5 August 1860.She was the first queen to be crowned in Norway since the Middle Ages. <mask> was very celebrated in Norway during her stay there. <mask> exerted no influence upon state affairs whatsoever, nor did she show any ambition to do so. The fact that she did not meddle in politics was seen as a good role model and was favorably compared to previous queens who had, such as her predecessor, Queen Josephine, and this view is described in a contemporary encyclopedia from 1864: "At last, the two kingdoms can rejoice in the blessing of again having a Queen, who does not proceed the governmental power with her own thoughts, but calmly observes the natural process through King and legitimate authority. Loved by the Swedish people, she has enough opportunity for her noble wish to occupy herself in charity". She did not lack political views, however: she disliked the parliamentary reform of 1865, and she did not share the anti-German view of Charles. <mask> preferred to use her royal position for philanthropy, which was also expected of a female member of the royalty and upper class.<mask> was interested in music and history, and took piano lessons from the Swedish pianist Adolf Fredrik Lindblad. She translated work from English and Dutch into Swedish, which she sold for charitable purposes. <mask> and her daughter were students of Nancy Edberg, the pioneer of swimming for women: swimming was initially not regarded as being entirely proper for females, but when the Queen and her daughter Princess <mask> supported it by attending the lessons from 1862, swimming quickly became fashionable and accepted for women. <mask> employed Sweden's first female dentist, Rosalie Fougelberg, as her official personal dentist in 1867. Among her own personal friends was Aurore von Haxthausen, who was her maid of honor her entire time as queen, as well as Countess Stefanie Hamilton, who served as her Mistress of the Robes in 1859–60: the correspondence of <mask> and Stefanie Hamilton is preserved. She also kept in contact with her family and her old governess by correspondence. Queen <mask> preferred a quiet and anonymous family life and preferred to avoid ceremonial and representational duties whenever she could, some times by pretending to be ill. King Charles, however, did not like to appear without her at formal occasions and occasionally forced her to be present.On one occasion, he is known to have said to her that she would have to attend, otherwise: "The old women might think there is something wrong with you!" In 1866, for example, Charles made her open the General Industrial Exposition of Stockholm (1866) in his place. King Charles XV loved parties and masquerades, and his court life at Ulriksdal Palace was compared that at Versailles and was in some circles considered to shame the name of the monarchy, expressed by the vicar <mask> Bruun in 1881: "It still causes as shiver that the highest power of the church was placed in the hands of this degenerated King, who has filled the whole nation with talk of his debauched life." <mask> was given an important part to play in his court life as the Queen, and upon the death of Queen Dowager Desirée, who had occupied the Queen's wing in the Stockholm Royal Palace until her death in 1860, Charles redecorated it for <mask> and had a luxurious Venetian Mirror hall made to her reception room, which was much talked about (it was later removed by his successor). Her court was headed by Wilhelmina Bonde almost her entire tenure as queen. Reportedly, <mask> suffered from her spouse's adultery and did her best to compete with her rivals and entertain him, and her mother-in-law advised her to remove and marry away her maids of honor when Charles became attracted to them. Charles had a relationship with Hanna Styrell from 1860 until 1869 and with Wilhelmine Schröder from 1869 until his death, except from his more temporary relationships.Charles was very fond of their daughter; however, <mask> was worried that he treated their daughter too much like a son at a time  when gender roles were considered extremely important, allowing her more freedom than what was considered to be suitable for a female at that time. <mask> suffered from bad health. On at least one occasion, during a boat trip on Mälaren, she suffered some kind of a fit (possibly an epileptic seizure from contemporary descriptions), which was interpreted to have been a hysterical reaction to her husband's neglect. The court gathered to conceal her from public view, and the King quickly took her below deck. In this issue, it is reported that: "Lovisa could at any time faint and in connection to this, she could have what is called nerve- or cramp-attacks". In 1864, during a visit to court by a former lover of Charles, Josephine Sparre, Fritz von Dardel noted: "Initially the Queen is said to have felt worried for this visit; one evening, Her Majesty was about to have convulsions in the billiard hall, but this they attempted to conceal by claiming that it was caused by her chamberlain Liljenkrantz, who was supposed to have pushed her accidentally with his billiard pole..."

In 1870, Queen <mask> visited the Netherlands to be present at the death bed of her mother. Upon her return to Stockholm, Charles XV fell sick and she nursed him.Exhausted, she contracted pneumonia during a walk by carriage. On her death bed, she had long conversations with her family, which have been described as dramatic. Her daughter claimed: "It was as if mother exposed her entire life to us". <mask> asked Charles to forgive her everything in which she could have failed him, to which he responded by accusing himself, after which both he and his mother Josephine reportedly fainted because they were so moved. <mask> died on 30 March 1871. Issue
Louisa and Charles had two children together:
 Princess <mask> (31 October 1851 – 20 March 1926), later Queen of Denmark
 Prince Carl Oscar, Duke of Södermanland (14 December 1852 – 13 March 1854), who died in infancy

Ancestry

Notes and references

 Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon (1906), Lovisa. Nationalencyklopedin, Lovisa
 Christer Engstrand and Ingmar Andersson.Historiska Personer: Lovisa av Nederländerna. Retrieved 3 October  2004. Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien – eller historier – om en familj.. Stockholm: Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. http://www.historici.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/LouisevanOranjeNassau

Further reading

<mask> 1859
Norwegian royal consorts
Nobility from The Hague
1828 births
1871 deaths
Burials at Riddarholmen Church
House of Orange-Nassau
Princesses of Orange-Nassau
Crown Princesses of Sweden
Crown Princesses of Norway

masks:
Louise
Anna Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Sofia
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Christoffer
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise
Louise


text_chunks:
<mask> (August 24, 1903 – February 2, 1908), known as Little Nellie of Holy God,  was an Irish child, venerated by some in the Roman Catholic Church for her precocious spiritual awareness and alleged mystical life. Particularly dedicated to the Eucharist, the story of her life inspired Pope Pius X to admit young children to Holy Communion. In 1910, Pope Pius X issued the decree Quam singulari, which lowered the age of Holy Communion for children from 12 years to around 7. Early life

She was born in Waterford City, Ireland, the daughter of <mask> and Mary Ahern: she was the youngest of four children. While baptised <mask>, she was always called Nellie. Her father had been a laborer but earning very little; he had joined the army in 1897. In 1905 he was transferred to Spike Island, an island fort situated in Cork harbour.Here, while the family hoped for better times, <mask>'s mother Mary fell ill, and for over a year she struggled to raise her family as her health declined. In January 1907 she died of tuberculosis. With four children all under the age of nine, William found it impossible to raise them and maintain his job. A helpful neighbour helped from time to time, but he was beginning to feel the strain. Meanwhile, <mask>, already a delicate child, was displaying signs of disability: it seems a serious fall as a baby had left its mark. Her spine had become crooked, her hips and back, out of joint, caused her constant pain and as she grew up she became unable to sit up straight. William finally realised he could not care for the children himself and, in May 1907, he put each of his four children into care.<mask> and her sister Mary were sent first to a hospital run by the Sisters of Mercy – the two girls were found to be suffering from Whooping Cough. Then later they went to Saint Finbarr's Industrial School in Sunday's Well in Cork City, administered by the Good Shepherd Sisters. Life in the orphanage

<mask> lived for eight months under the care of the Good Shepherd Sisters. She spent most of her time in the infirmary. Her religious experiences
She loved to visit the chapel which she called the House of Holy God, and she was fascinated by the statues and images on display, and in particular by the Stations of the Cross. When told the story of the suffering and death of Jesus she burst into tears. It is claimed that she developed a mysterious awareness of the Blessed Sacrament.One story relates how she knew a member of staff had not been to Mass that day, even though the young woman said she had. You did not get Holy God today the child said. This episode and others like it led some Catholics to believe that she had what is referred to as the mystical gift of "discernment". Meanwhile, she began to claim to have visions. She related how she saw Christ – usually as a little child like herself – and the Virgin Mary. On a number of occasions she claimed to have seen the Infant of Prague dancing for her. Her already precocious faith was growing, and those who came to know her testified to her holiness.She so impressed the sisters they began to entertain the possibility of recommending the child for the sacrament of confirmation. Contacting the local bishop, he agreed, and she was confirmed on October 8, 1907. First Communion
The child soon began to ask to receive Holy Communion. At first the sisters hesitated – she was too young for that sacrament. Wondering if she understood what the Eucharist was, they observed her at prayer in the chapel and saw that she was captivated by the tabernacle, which she usually referred to as the lock-up. <mask> had been born in the army barracks, where the prison was called the lock-up. Upon seeing the Eucharist in the tabernacle, she regarded Jesus as the prisoner in the lockup.During Mass when her carers came back from Communion, the child would ask them to kiss her so she could somehow share in their Communion. According to the rules of the Roman Catholic Church no child could receive Communion before a certain age. A four-year-old child was thought to be at least six years too young. The sisters spoke with a Jesuit priest who ministered to the community, and while he was hesitant, he decided to come to speak to the child. After spending some time with her he came to the conclusion that she had reached the age of reason, albeit at an extraordinarily young age. He brought the matter to the bishop's attention who, after thinking about it for a short while, consented, and <mask> made her First Communion on December 6, 1907. Last months

Between December 1907 and February 1908, <mask>'s health declined.She was in constant pain. Given the times, there was little that could be done. The sisters tried to make her as comfortable as possible. Various visitors, including the Bishop of Cork, noticed her fortitude and her intense prayer life. She was constantly happy. At this stage tuberculosis had set in and she was suffering from caries, making it difficult and painful for her to eat. The mouth disease caused a horrible odour which her caregivers treated with disinfectant.She did not complain of the pain this caused her as she instead, holding the crucifix in her small hands, contemplated the pain that Christ endured during the crucifixion, stating, Poor Holy God. Poor Holy God. It was noted by the sisters and nurses that after she began receiving Holy Communion, the smell completely disappeared. All she wanted at this stage was to receive Communion. She was also aware that she was going to die soon, and this did not trouble her: it made her happy – in fact she was looking forward to it. Death

After some four years of life, <mask> died on February 2, 1908. Witnesses said she appeared to see something at the foot of her bed which caused her to smile and her eyes to well with tears.She followed that something with her eyes, looking overhead, when she died. She was buried in Saint Joseph's Cemetery in the city of Cork. When, a year later, In 1909 her body was exhumed, it appeared unchanged from the day of her burial, with her limbs flexible and her dress and Communion veil like new. Her grave in the public cemetery attracted visitors from all over Ireland, as a result of which authorisation was given for her remains to be transferred to the cemetery of the Good Shepherd Sisters. Influence
<mask>'s life story caused her to become known as Little Nellie of Holy God and her fame spread throughout Ireland and beyond, even reaching Pope Pius X in Rome. Her life would prove providential for him. He had been considering lowering the age for the reception of the Eucharist.When he heard of Nellie, he took it as a sign and issued his decree Quam singulari, admitting children to Communion at the age of seven. Numerous books have been written about her, including a major study in French by the friar Bernard des Ronces: Nellie, la petite Violette du Saint Sacrement, morte en odeur de sainteté à l'âge de 4 ans et 5 mois, a book that, according to Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, "aroused wonder and delight in Pope Pius X". Despite devotion to her over the years, the Catholic Church has not yet opened a cause for her canonisation. Pope Pius X, having read Bernard des Ronces' book, was considering opening a Cause, but his death in 1914 prevented any further development. Her young age had been considered a major factor in not proclaiming her a saint. References

Bibliography
 Authentic Sources compiled in The Life of Little Nellie of Holy God, Tan Books, Rockford, Illinois, 2007. "<mask>", in Ann Ball, Young Faces of Holiness, Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 2004, p. 45-52.Maire Cotter, Little Nellie of Holy God - A Lily Aflame - On the Life of Nellie <mask>, 1956, 67 pages. Bernard Des Ronces, Nellie, la petite violette du Saint-Sacrement, Maison du Bon Pasteur, Paris, 1908, 240 pages. Sister Mary Dominic, R.G.S., Little Nellie of Holy God Tan Books, 2006. Leo Madigan. 'Miniature: Nellie <mask> 1903–1908. The Definitive Biography.' Fatima-Ophel Books.2011. 318 pages. Leo Madigan, Princesses of the Kingdom: Jacinta Marto and Nellie <mask>, Kolbe Publications, Cork, 2001
 <mask> Collins Saucier, Ellen, My Joy, Xulon Press, 2008, 140 pages. External links
 Abandoned Ireland
 Little Nellies House | Spike Island

1903 births
1908 deaths
Irish Roman Catholics
Wonderworkers
Irish Christian mystics

masks:
Ellen Organ
William Organ
Ellen
Ellen
Ellen Organ
Ellen Organ
Ellen Organ
Ellen
Ellen Organ
Ellen Organ
Ellen Organ
Ellen Organ
Ellen Organ
Organ
Organ
Organ
Sarah Ellen


text_chunks:
is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and submission wrestler, currently signed to Rizin Fighting Federation and Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is one-half of the former GHC Tag Team Champions with Takashi Sugiura. He has also competed in traditional puroresu for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and shoot-style competition for UWFi and Kingdom Pro Wrestling (KPW). He has fought in MMA competition in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Pride Fighting Championships, Hero's and Dream. He is known as the "Gracie Hunter" or the "Gracie Killer" due to his wins over four members of the famed Gracie family: Royler Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Ryan Gracie, and Royce Gracie. <mask> is famous for beating 13 champions of different top MMA organizations; opponents who were often many weight-classes above him. Known for his excellent skills in catch wrestling and unorthodox fighting style, he is considered to be one of the greatest mixed martial art fighters of all time, and also holds notable victories over 7 UFC champions, 3 Pancrase Champions, a DREAM champion, a King of the Cage champion and Battlecade Extreme Fighting champion; former Welterweight Champion Carlos Newton, two former Light heavyweight champions Vitor Belfort and Quinton Jackson, former Heavyweight Champion Kevin Randleman, 3-time UFC Tournament champion Royce Gracie, former Superfight champion and King of Pancrase Ken Shamrock, former  King of Pancrase Masakatsu Funaki, DREAM Super Hulk Tournament Champion Ikuhisa Minowa, former King of the Cage Light Heavyweight champion Vernon White, and former Battlecade Extreme Fighting champion Marcus Silveira. He is also the first of only two Japanese champions in UFC history.<mask>'s Pride fights routinely draw more than  viewers in Japan. <mask> is the founder of the submission wrestling promotion Quintet, where he has competed since 2018. Background
<mask> became a fan of Japanese professional wrestling on his childhood thanks to the Tiger Mask manga, with the eponymous New Japan Pro-Wrestling wrestler Tiger Mask being his favorite. After being convinced against dropping out of high school to pursue professional wrestling, <mask> began a career in amateur wrestling at the age of 15, hoping to gain a useful background to achieve his childhood dream. A high school stand-out, he finished as high as second in the nation before joining the freestyle wrestling squad of Chuo University, a team which had counted Olympic gold medalists Shozo Sasahara and Osamu Watanabe amongst its ranks. He won the East Japan Freshman championship in his first year and served as their team captain thereafter. In his senior year, he finished fourth place in the All-Japan tournament.Amongst his notable wins was one over future Olympic bronze medalist Takuya Ota. Upon graduating from college, <mask> initially thought about remaining with Chuo University as a coach. However, at the last minute, he decided to continue his road to professional wrestling. Professional wrestling
Having weighed  for most of his amateur wrestling career, <mask> was encouraged by his peers to gain weight, as it would be difficult to compete as a smaller fighter in pro wrestling. After working to gain the weight needed to compete, he never wanted to lose it anymore, something that would be reflected in his MMA career. Finding himself attracted by the shoot wrestling movement, which had been by his childhood idol Sayama, <mask> considered joining the mixed martial arts organization Pancrase, but he ultimately chose the promotion Union of Wrestling Forces International, a professional wrestling league that was nonetheless known for its highly technical and realistic-looking bouts. Union of Wrestling Forces International (1993–1996)
His time in the UWF-i would prove to be a formative experience for <mask>.He received his initial instruction in both grappling and striking under main trainer Yoji Anjo, later honing his catch wrestling skills under the tutelage of Billy Robinson. He also trained in muay thai under master Bovy Chowaikung, the main UWF-i striking teacher. Those disciplines would serve as the base of the unorthodox game that would later lead him to success in the Pride Fighting Championships. Over time he became one of Takada's four main trainees, along with Kiyoshi Tamura, Yoshihiro Takayama and Masahito Kakihara. In spite of his amateur pedigree, <mask> was forced to work his way up from the bottom of the UWFi's rung, as it is traditional in puroresu. <mask> lost his debut on August 13, 1993 to Steve Nelson and went winless through his rookie year with the league. It is also popularly alleged that under the eye of Kiyoshi Tamura, he was made to perfectly perform menial chores about the dojo.Still undeterred, <mask> steadily built a working knowledge of submission holds upon his freestyle wrestling base until his efforts were at last rewarded with a win over Mark Silver in October 1994. Though his record remained below .500, <mask> continued to edge his way closer to mid-card status through the rest of the year. Then, in 1995, the UWFi began an interpromotional feud with New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The vast majority of UWF-i workers came out on the losing end of the booking to the larger and more mainstream promotion and <mask> was no exception. He was defeated in high-profile bouts to Tokimitsu Ishizawa, Koji Kanemoto and Shinjiro Otani, bringing <mask> a new level of exposure to the public. The ring psychology and technical prowess he displayed in the bouts also impressed the management of the UWF-i enough that he was finally pushed towards main event status. New Japan's dominance in the feud injured the marketability of the UWFi promotion, which had pressed the perception that their athletes boasted legitimate skill in real fighting.In a bid to regain credibility, Yoji Anjo travelled to California to perform a dojo challenge on Rickson Gracie, only to be swiftly and brutally defeated before the assembled Japanese press that had followed him there. With the UWFi's formerly fearsome reputation in tatters, its attendance numbers swiftly decreased, with the federation closing its doors once and for all in December 1996. In their final show it was <mask> who at long last headlined, defeating Anjoh by submission. Kingdom Pro Wrestling (1997–1998)
Following the close of the UWFi, Nobuhiko Takada, the most popular of the UWFi workers amongst the mainstream public founded Kingdom Pro Wrestling, taking in <mask> and the majority of his fellow UWFi alumni. In the vein of its predecessor, Kingdom was primarily a league devoted to shoot-style realistic-looking works. Having by now established his ability, <mask> was this time booked as a main-eventer from the outset. However, unlike the UWFi, Kingdom struggled from the beginning to draw substantial crowds.Mixed martial arts was growing in popularity, and the dominance of the Gracie family and their fellow Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners over the field and more specifically over professional wrestlers, left the Japanese public ever more unconvinced as to the fighting ability of Kingdom's stable of athletes. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2012–2016)

On August 12, 2012, <mask>, alongside Katsuyori Shibata, started appearing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. It was <mask>'s first work for the company since 1995, and the first ever as a free agent instead of a representative from another promotion. <mask> and Shibata wrestled their first match on September 23, defeating Hiromu Takahashi and Wataru Inoue in a tag team match. <mask> and Shibata, collectively dubbed Laughter7, continued their winning ways at the following two pay-per-views, King of Pro-Wrestling on October 8 and Power Struggle on November 11, both times defeating the team of Togi Makabe and Wataru Inoue. Also at Power Struggle, Shinsuke Nakamura nominated <mask> as the next challenger for his IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On December 2, <mask> won his first exchange with Nakamura, when Laughter7 defeated Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii in a tag team match to remain undefeated since their return.On January 4, 2013, at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, <mask> suffered his first defeat since his return to professional wrestling, when he unsuccessfully challenged Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. <mask> and Shibata returned to their winning ways at the following pay-per-view, The New Beginning on February 10, where they defeated Hirooki Goto and Wataru Inoue in a tag team match. On April 7 at Invasion Attack, <mask> and Shibata suffered their first tag team loss, when they were defeated by Hirooki Goto and Yuji Nagata via referee stoppage, when <mask> injured his right elbow, after taking a belly-to-back suplex from Nagata, and unable to continue the match. New Japan later announced that <mask> would be sidelined for two to three months. <mask> wrestled his return match on July 20, defeating Yuji Nagata via submission. On September 8, <mask> and Shibata took part in the Wrestle-1 promotion's inaugural event, defeating Masakatsu Funaki and Masayuki Kono in a tag team match. <mask> continued his rivalry with Yuji Nagata at the September 29 Destruction pay-per-view, where he and Shibata defeated Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi with <mask> pinning his rival for the win.On October 14, <mask> was defeated by Nagata in a singles rematch between the two. Following the match, <mask> and Nagata came together to accept a challenge issued by Daniel and Rolles Gracie On January 4, 2014, at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, <mask> and Nagata defeated the Gracies via disqualification, after Nagata was choked out with a gi. A rematch between the two teams took place on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka and saw Rolles submit <mask> for the win. <mask> suffered another loss against the Gracies on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2014, where he teamed with Shinsuke Nakamura. On May 25 at Back to the Yokohama Arena, <mask> ended the Gracies' win streak by defeating Rolles in a singles match. <mask> then started a new rivalry with Minoru Suzuki, while also forming a partnership with Toru Yano, who was also involved in his own rivalry with Suzuki's Suzuki-gun stable. The partnership led to <mask> becoming an associate of Yano and Nakamura's Chaos stable, eventually becoming a full-time member.The rivalry between <mask> and Suzuki culminated in a match on January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, where <mask> was defeated. On April 5 at Invasion Attack 2015, <mask> submitted Katsuyori Shibata in a tag team match, where he and Yano defeated Shibata and Hiroshi Tanahashi, igniting a rivalry between the former Laughter7 partners. The two faced off on July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall in a match, where Shibata was victorious. Pro Wrestling Noah (2019–present)

After wrestling sporadically for independent promotions for a few years, <mask> returned to wrestling full-time for Pro Wrestling Noah, aligning himself with the Sugiura-gun faction headed by Takashi Sugiura. On 30 August 2020 <mask> and Sugiura defeated AXIZ (Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima) for the vacant GHC Tag Team Championship, <mask>'s first ever pro-wrestling title. In September <mask> entered the annual N1-Victory tournament as a singles competitor, finishing on 4 points with 2 wins and 3 losses. As of 22 November <mask> and Sugiura have successfully defended the GHC tag titles on two occasions.Mixed martial arts
Though sources often cite <mask>'s match with Kimo Leopoldo on July 14, 1996 as his first experience with mixed martial arts, there is debate about whether it was a shoot or a worked match. <mask> himself has stated that he doesn't remember it. However, his first contact with MMA can be traced to his different style fight at 26 June 1996 against Dutch kickboxer Rene Rooze, which was won by <mask> via ankle hold. Ultimate Fighting Championship
In an attempt to gain attention for the embattled Kingdom Pro Wrestling league, Hiromitsu Kanehara and Yoji Anjoh signed on to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship's Ultimate Japan tournament. Kanehara was injured in his training for the tournament, and <mask> wound up as his late-hour substitute. The tournament was intended for heavyweights, but <mask> who weighed 183 pounds (middleweight by modern standards), was nearly twenty pounds beneath the UFC's 200 pound designation for the weight class. Having reported himself as 203 pounds (Light heavyweight by modern standards) in order to gain entry, <mask> was paired off against the 240 pound Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt and former Extreme Fighting champion, Marcus Silveira.The match saw the two grapplers exchanging leglocks without any decisive movement. Following a barrage of light blows by Silveira, <mask> dropped for a low single leg takedown, but referee John McCarthy stopped the fight before <mask> could complete it, believing he had been knocked out by the punches. A loud protest followed from the crowd and an angry <mask> attempted unsuccessfully to take the microphone and address the Japanese audience. However, after reviewing tape, McCarthy changed his decision to a no-contest. As Tank Abbott, who had earlier defeated Anjoh, had dropped from the tournament due to an injured hand, it was ruled that <mask> and Silveira faced off once more that night in what would be the championship bout of the tournament. Silveira opened their second match taking Sakuraba's back, which the Japanese wrestler answered by attempting to apply a Kimura lock. After freeing his arm, Silveira capitalized on another Kimura attempt by Saku to try to twist it into an armbar from his guard, only for the Japanese to escape to his knees.Silveira then tried his own Kimura, but at that moment <mask> reversed it in the same way and locked the armbar, making the Brazilian submit. Afterwards, in the post-fight interview, <mask> famously stated, . With the victory <mask> remains one of the last UFC tournament champions to date. With Nobuhiko Takada having left Kingdom to challenge Rickson Gracie in an event called Pride Fighting Championships, the still struggling promotion capitalized on <mask>'s newly found popularity establishing him as Kingdom's top talent. He embarked

masks: Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba


text_chunks:
 on a winning streak against several foreign mixed martial arts competitors including Paul Herrera, Rene Rooze, Mark Hall and Orlando Weit. However, Kingdom continued to flounder and finally folded in March 1998. Pride Fighting Championships

Pride 2 through 8
Entering the Pride Fighting Championships on the heels of a defeat of stablemate Nobuhiko Takada at the hands of Rickson Gracie in the organization's initial event, <mask> was paired off against Vernon White, then a veteran of 32 bouts in Pancrase who also boasted a 20-pound weight advantage.Showcasing a balance of wrestling and submission prowess, <mask> came after White with constant takedowns and unceasing submission attempts. White held <mask> off for the first two rounds, but was ultimately submitted by armbar towards the end of the third round. Next, in Pride 3,  <mask> was matched against Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Carlos Newton. Though relatively new to mixed martial arts, Newton had recently disposed of the reigning Shooto light heavyweight champion Erik Paulson with a swift armbar victory and already developed a reputation as a talented grappler. Accordingly, the match was a back and forth grappling affair between the two fighters. At the second round, after several exchanges on the mat, Newton looked to capture <mask>'s back, but the Japanese trapped him in a rolling kneebar and finished him. Eager to capitalize on <mask>'s shoot wrestling prowess to reverse the perception that Japanese professional wrestlers were inferior to Brazilian combatants (in part perpetuated by his teammates' own defeats), <mask>'s next three bouts were scheduled against Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts Vitor Belfort, Allan Goes and luta livre black belt Ebenezer Fontes Braga.In a trend that would continue through <mask>'s Pride career, each opponent occupied a spot near the top of the 205-pound class at the time of their meeting with him and held a weight advantage of around 20 pounds. <mask>'s match against Goes would be an instrumental point in his fighting's style evolution, pitted against an opponent with a strong defensive guard. Through the bout, <mask> attempted several moves to bypass the stationary Goes's defense, including leglocks, dives and kicks to the legs, but he also would have to defend, as Goes was relentless in his upkicks and submission counterattacks. <mask> was threatened by a rear naked choke several times, and in turn he almost finished Allan as well with an armbar, but none of it came to fruition. Due to the absence of judges in Pride's ruleset at the time, the match was ruled a draw. <mask>, always humble, stated "I fight his style, not mine. I think I lost the fight", although Goes, a Carlson Gracie protege, would similarly state in a later interview "I've been training my whole life on the ground, and to me, [<mask>] was the best guy I ever faced on the ground".Belfort would be a different matchup, as his boxing prowess was known aside from his great grappling credentials. However, despite several big flurries by the Brazilian to open the match, <mask> went unscathed and took Belfort down, proceeding to land ground and pound. As Belfort would not leave the mat through the match, in part due to a broken hand in one of his own combos, <mask> deployed his improved strategy and punished Vitor with leg kicks and jumping stomps to the head, as well as landing unanswered striking combinations every time Belfort was called up by the referee. At the end, as Pride had just implemented the judges system, <mask> was awarded his first decision victory unanimously. Unlike the previous two matches, <mask> faced in Braga a consistently aggressive opponent, with the luta livre practitioner landing effective muay thai knees and kicks until <mask> put him down. The Japanese wrestler continued his signature guard assault, but also outstruck Braga in his last standing segment before taking him down again and lock an armbar for the tap out. "The Gracie Hunter"
After defeating Anthony Macias at Pride 7, <mask> was matched against Royler Gracie, who had previously conquered <mask>'s stablemate Yuhi Sano.It marked the largest weight advantage <mask> has enjoyed in his career to date (being around 30 pounds heavier than Royler). Royler, unable to score a takedown or strike effectively from a standing position, remained on the ground in an effort to bait <mask> into a grappling-oriented contest, while <mask>, standing, landed punishing kicks to Royler's legs, thighs and head. Eventually, with less than two minutes remaining, <mask> finally engaged Royler on the ground and instantly caught him in a Kimura lock. As <mask> wrenched on the submission, the referee intervened with 1 minute and 44 seconds remaining on the clock, ending the contest and awarding <mask> the win by TKO. <mask>'s victory over Royler constituted the first loss by a Gracie in professional fighting in several decades and as such, sent ripples of shock and controversy through the mixed martial arts community. Some protested that the victory was tainted due to the fact that Royler (although placed in a debilitating submission hold) never conceded defeat and was little time away from the final bell when the bout was stopped. It is worth noting that the last Japanese athlete to defeat a Gracie prior to <mask>'s win against Royler, legendary judoka Masahiko Kimura, had used the very same technique <mask> utilized to beat Royler.That time, the recipient had been Royler's father, Hélio Gracie, who had, like Royler, also refused to submit but likewise lost. Pride 2000 Grand Prix

While the Japanese fight media rejoiced and elevated <mask> to superstar status, the Gracie family took great umbrage over the incident, feeling that they had been cheated by Pride. Despite <mask> challenging Royler's older brother Rickson Gracie after the match, it was his younger brother and former UFC Champion Royce Gracie who, compelled to set the record straight and re-assert the dominance of his family, returned to the sport of mixed martial arts in 2000 and entered the 16-Man Pride Grand Prix alongside <mask> and several other top fighters of the era. Placed on the same side of the bracket, a special set of rules were requested by the Gracies in the event of a Sakuraba-Royce match, including no referee stoppages and no time-limits, the fight ending only in the event of a submission or knock-out (something prohibited in modern MMA because of the widely adopted Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts limiting matches to 25 minutes overall, 5 x 5 minute rounds). In his first fight of the 2000 Pride tournament <mask> once again found himself matched up against a heavier opponent, this time the well-regarded 205 pound fighter, former King of Pancrase Guy Mezger. After a closely fought 15 minutes the judges requested an overtime round, and the fight ended in controversy when Mezger's coach Ken Shamrock forced his fighter back to the locker room claiming that no additional rounds were agreed upon in the contract. <mask> ended up winning the match by forfeit.Meanwhile, Royce defeated Nobuhiko Takada by unanimous decision and thus set the stage for their much anticipated showdown. In the tournament quarterfinals Royce and <mask> battled for an hour and a half (six 15 minute rounds). Gracie opened the fight aggressively, raining punches from <mask>'s back while the Japanese fighter worked an armlock from standing, but <mask> kept calm, knowing Royce had no knockout power and expecting him to waste his energy; he even came to the point of smiling to the cameras during the attack. Towards the end of the round, <mask> nearly ended the match with a kneebar, while Gracie came back with a guillotine choke at the second, but <mask> again joked to show he was out of danger by simulating to pull down Royce's gi pants. <mask> switched to attack at the third round, dominating the stand up and making Royce lie repeatedly on the ground to avoid him. As the confrontation stretched on, the Gracie's own no time-limit rules began to work against Royce as <mask>'s wrestling skills and balance nullified Royce's ability to score a takedown and—in some instances—even pull guard. Even Royce's ever-present jiu-jitsu gi became a weapon for the wrestler to use against him as <mask> used it to help him control Gracie on the instances the fight did come to the ground.However, with <mask>'s control of the takedown, these instances of ground warfare became increasingly sporadic. After <mask> landed a long series of punishing leg kicks at the fifth and sixth rounds, Royce's brother, Rorion threw in the towel. Exhausted from his battle with Royce, <mask> surprised many when he emerged from the locker room for the tournament semi-finals. His opponent, Igor Vovchanchyn, outweighed him by close to sixty pounds (<mask> had come into the bout with Royce lighter than usual, at 176 pounds) and was considered to be the top heavyweight striker of the day. <mask> surprised many by taking Vovchanchyn down and nearly finishing him with an armbar. <mask> was actually leading the fight past the 10-minute mark, but near the end Igor was able to reverse a takedown and draw the first round even with ground strikes. After the first round was declared a draw <mask>'s corner threw in the towel before the beginning of overtime, primarily due to fatigue.Pride 10 through 15
Following the Grand Prix, <mask> was christened the "Gracie Hunter" by the Japanese sports media. Keeping in tow with his new nickname, <mask> sandwiched a swift victory via achilles lock against Shannon Ritch between fights against brothers Renzo Gracie and Ryan Gracie. In contrast to Royler and Royce, Renzo and Ryan were products of Carlson Gracie's approach to jiu-jitsu, which placed a stronger emphasis on combat-ready skills and training without a gi. At the time of his bout with <mask>, Renzo's only loss in 10 bouts was a closely contested decision to <mask>'s former UWFi stablemate and rival, Kiyoshi Tamura while Maurice Smith, Oleg Taktarov and Abu Dhabi champion Sanae Kikuta numbered amongst his victims. Renzo's stylistic differences from his cousins were in evidence from the outset of his contest against <mask>, as he pressed the pace of the bout with a variety of kicks and punches, although few connected. <mask> responded in kind, and the striking seemed to go to a stalemate. Throwing his wrestling into the equation, <mask> timed a number of double and single leg takedowns against Renzo's flurries from where he alternately attempted to cartwheel past Gracie's guard, malign his legs with kicks from the standing position and even attack with a baseball slide.However, Renzo's defensive skills from bottom nullified the entire gamut of <mask>'s offensive attempts, and after using an entry derived from the De la Riva guard, he took the wrestler's back, pressing him against the turnbuckle as mere seconds remained in the battle. With time ticking away, <mask> locked in a kimura from the back and spun around, flipping Renzo to the canvas even as he wrenched his arm behind his back. Like Royler and Helio before him, Renzo refused to submit to the hold despite his elbow being snapped prior to hitting the ground and, even as the referee stopped the contest due to the injury, which awarded victory to <mask>. Renzo took the microphone and, before the 35,000 fans assembled at the Seibu Dome, stated that <mask> was "the Japanese version of the Gracie family". Renzo has since referred to the bout as his proudest moment in mixed martial arts. Similarly, years later Gracie called <mask> "his hero" and remembered their match as "one of the biggest lessons he learned in his life". Commentator Stephen Quadros stated too: "if any fans still doubted the abilities of <mask> Sakuraba in MMA competition, they are now silent."Ryan Gracie, who had fought on the same card and emerged victorious, jumped into the ring issued a challenge to <mask>, which was accepted. Vitor Belfort also demanded a rematch, although <mask> had stated not to be interested in rematches due to his interest in facing Frank Shamrock, Tito Ortiz and Dan Henderson. The fight between <mask> and Ryan was scheduled to happen at Pride 12. Due to a shoulder injury, the fight was limited to a single 10-minute round, where Ryan's spirited efforts were generally stymied and controlled by <mask>, who noticeably avoided attacks on his younger opponent's injured arm. Despite it, <mask> later argued in an interview that he believed Ryan would have been faking the entire injury in order to catch him off guard. Nonetheless, the Japanese threw some of his usual antics during the match, at some points delivering chops to Ryan's rear while controlling him. Following the win against Ryan, <mask> was slated to battle Pancrase veteran Bas Rutten, but the latter declined and was replaced by Brazilian muay thai specialist Wanderlei Silva.<mask> was a heavy favorite to win, but he was fighting through a significant weight disadvantage. The bout was also contested under Pride's new rules, which allowed kicks and knees to the head of a downed opponent, a change that greatly benefitted Wanderlei. During the match, a <mask> willing to trade strikes managed to knock Wanderlei down with a right hook, but the Brazilian recovered and dropped the wrestler with a barrage of punches and kicks. As <mask> turtled while attempted a takedown, Silva delivered multiple knees to his head and ultimately finished him off with kicks to the face. It marked <mask>'s second defeat in mixed martial arts and his first loss in the 205-pound division. <mask> then shocked the audience further by giving Silva his belt with Saku engraved on it. Wanderlei then stated that he would willingly give <mask> a rematch if <mask> wanted one, which the Japanese accepted.After sitting out the next Pride to recuperate, <mask> found himself across the ring from Quinton Jackson, a former collegiate wrestler who had compiled a record of 10–1 on the American circuit. At the sound of the bell, <mask> immediately took the bigger man to the canvas with a low single-leg takedown. However, Jackson's superior size and enormous physical strength allowed him to muscle out of <mask>'s submission attempts.

masks: Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Kazushi Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Kazushi Sakuraba Sakuraba Kazushi Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Kazushi Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Kazushi Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Kazushi Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba Sakuraba