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Mail on Sunday (album)

Mail on Sunday is the debut studio album by American rapper Flo Rida, and was released on March 18, 2008 under Atlantic, and Poe Boy Entertainment. It spawned three singles; the first, "Low" was number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks. The second, and third singles, "Elevator", and "In the Ayer", were successful as well, being top 20 hits. "Roll" featuring Sean Kingston was not an official single, but it managed to peak at number 59 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and number 43 on the Canadian Hot 100 due to digital sales in both countries.

Music
T-Pain, who laced the first single, is only one of the many featured guests throughout the album. Timbaland, who produced the second single "Elevator", is also featured on the track. Rick Ross, and Trey Songz made appearances as well. Lil Wayne has also been added to the list with assistance by young Memphian, Jamil Smith, while Sean Kingston appears on the J. R. Rotem-produced "Roll" the concept was created, and co-written by Compton rapper Spitfiya, from The Bullets Production Team, Various other guests include Birdman, Brisco. The third single is "In the Ayer" featuring will.i.am. The fourth single was scheduled to be "Money Right" featuring Brisco, and Rick Ross, but was canceled due to the release of his upcoming second studio album R.O.O.T.S. His second collaboration with T-Pain, "I Bet", his collaboration with Trina, named "Bout It" and as well as his second collaboration with Sean Kingston named "OG", all three didn't make the final track list, but were recorded. As for production, J. R. Rotem, DJ Montay, and Timbaland all provided tracks for Mail on Sunday, among others.

Critical reception
Mail on Sunday garnered mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 54, based on 12 reviews.

Steve 'Flash' Juon of RapReviews praised the album for containing great production and tracks that are potential singles but found the artist on said album lacking in identity, concluding with, "When you try to come up with positive comparisons to other artists, you realize just how derivative Flo Rida is. He's a little bit Twista, a little bit Trick Daddy, and a whole lot Nelly. None of those things are negative, but the fact he can't distinguish himself from any of them isn't a positive. I'd like to see Flo Rida convince me why he's special with his next album - until then he's just another MC with a well produced album who came out of a cookie cutter hitmaking mold." Joseph Barracato of Entertainment Weekly also praised the production for having "ferocious beats" and "infectious hooks," and gave credit to Flo Rida for delivering female anatomy metaphors in a creative way. Billboard writer Jeff Vrabel said that, "Flo Rida's flow is an engaging/ringy-dingy/he-sounds-like-Nelly thing. But his hooks can be rock-solid ("Ack Like You Know") and his interest in gleaming synthesizerism (opener "American Superstar" comes into "Tubular Bells" territory, really) helps set him off from the legions of rappers clawing over each other to break out of the South."

AllMusic's Andy Kellman said that, "Though Flo Rida has his own identity – for all the tough talk and the automotives fixation, he does come off as big-hearted, and he could just as easily make an R&B album – and covers more bases than what is typical from other mainstream-yet-street rap albums of 2007 and 2008, he's not nearly as distinctive as any of his predecessors." Robert Christgau graded the album as a "dud", indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought." Rolling Stone's Christian Hoard found the album trying hard to replicate the success of "Low" but found the tracks to be "generic pop rap" and both the production and vocal delivery "standard-issue." Wilson McBee of Slant Magazine criticized the record's tired use of party tracks, phoned in contributions, and misogynistic lyrical content, concluding that "unless he can once again catch the coattails of T-Pain or some other hit-magnet, odds are that he’ll be beginning his descent back into anonymity very soon."

Sales
Mail on Sunday debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 86,000 copies in its first week. As of May, 2009, the album has sold 390,000 copies in the US. It has been certified silver for sales in the UK.

Track listing
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Sample credits
 * "Still Missin'" contains elements of "Jazzy Belle", written by André Benjamin, Patrick Brown, Ray Murray, Antwan Patton, and Rico Wade.
 * "In the Ayer" contains interpolations from "Jam the Box", written by Tony Butler.
 * "Me & U" contains samples and elements from the Roger recording "Emotions", written by David Gamson and Roger Troutman.

title: Mail on Sunday (album)


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Classic rock

Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid-1990s, primarily focusing on commercially successful blues rock and hard rock popularized in the 1970s AOR format. The radio format became increasingly popular with the baby boomer demographic by the end of the 1990s.

Although classic rock has mostly appealed to adult listeners, music associated with this format received more exposure with younger listeners with the presence of the Internet and digital downloading. Some classic rock stations also play a limited number of current releases which are stylistically consistent with the station's sound, or by heritage acts which are still active and producing new music.

Among academics and historians, classic rock has been discussed as an effort by critics, media, and music establishments to canonize rock music and commodify 1960s Western culture for audiences living in a post-baby boomer economy. The music selected for the format has been identified as predominantly commercially successful songs by white male acts from the Anglosphere, expressing values of Romanticism, self-aggrandizement, and politically undemanding ideologies. It has been associated with the album era (1960s–2000s), particularly the period's early pop/rock music.

History
The classic rock format evolved from AOR radio stations that were attempting to appeal to an older audience by including familiar songs of the past with current hits. In 1980, AOR radio station M105 in Cleveland began billing itself as "Cleveland's Classic Rock", playing a mix of rock music from the mid-1960s to the present. Similarly, WMET called itself "Chicago's Classic Rock" in 1981. In 1982, radio consultant Lee Abrams developed the "Timeless Rock" format, which combined contemporary AOR with rock hits from the 1960s and 1970s.

KRBE, an AM station in Houston, was an early classic rock radio station. In 1983, program director Paul Christy designed a format which played only early album rock, from the 1960s and early 1970s, without current music or any titles from the pop or dance side of Top 40. Another AM station airing classic rock, beginning in 1983, was KRQX in Dallas-Fort Worth. KRQX was co-owned with an album rock station, 97.9 KZEW. Management saw the benefit in the FM station appealing to younger rock fans and the AM station appealing a bit older. The ratings of both stations could be added together to appeal to advertisers. Classic rock soon became the widely used descriptor for the format and became the commonly used term among the general public for early album rock music.

In the mid-1980s, the format's widespread proliferation came on the heels of Jacobs Media's (Fred Jacobs) success at WCXR, in Washington, D.C., and Edinborough Rand's (Gary Guthrie) success at WZLX in Boston. Between Guthrie and Jacobs, they converted more than 40 major market radio stations to their individual brand of classic rock over the next several years.

Billboard magazine's Kim Freeman posits that "while classic rock's origins can be traced back earlier, 1986 is generally cited as the year of its birth". By 1986, the success of the format resulted in oldies accounting for 60–80% of the music played on album rock stations. Although it began as a niche format spun off from AOR, by 2001, classic rock had surpassed album rock in market share nationally.

During the mid-1980s, the classic rock format was mainly tailored to the adult male demographic ages 25–34, which remained its largest demographic through the mid-1990s. As the format's audience aged, its demographics skewed toward older age groups. By 2006, the 35–44 age group was the format's largest audience; by 2014, the 45–54 year-old demographic was the largest.

Programming
Typically, classic rock stations play rock songs from the mid-1960s through the 1980s and began adding 1990s music in the early 2010s. Most recently, there has been a "newer classic rock" under the slogan of the next generation of classic rock. Stations such as WLLZ in Detroit, WBOS in Boston, and WKQQ in Lexington play music focusing more on harder edge classic rock from the 1980s to the 2000s.

Some of the artists that are featured heavily on classic rock radio are the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Quiet Riot, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Def Leppard, Boston, the Cars, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, Elton John, Bryan Adams, Eric Clapton, The Who, Van Halen, Rush, Black Sabbath, U2, Guns N' Roses, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eagles, the Doors, Kiss, Styx, Queen, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix. The songs of the Rolling Stones, particularly from the 1970s, have become staples of classic rock radio. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965), "Under My Thumb" (1966), "Paint It Black" (1966), and "Miss You" (1978) are among their most popular selections, with Complex calling the latter "an eternal mainstay on classic-rock radio".

A 2006 Rolling Stone article noted that teens were surprisingly interested in classic rock and speculated that the interest in the older bands might be related to the absence of any new, dominant sounds in rock music since the advent of grunge.

Characteristics and academic response
Classic-rock radio programmers largely play "tried and proven" hit songs from the past based on their "high listener recognition and identification", says media academic Roy Shuker, who also identifies white male rock acts from Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles through the late 1970s as the focus of their playlists. As Catherine Strong observes, classic rock songs are generally performed by white male acts from either the United States or the United Kingdom, "have a four-four time, very rarely exceed the time limit of four minutes, were composed by the musicians themselves, are sung in English, played by a 'classical' rock formation (drums, bass, guitar, keyboard instruments) and were released on a major label after 1964." Classic rock has also been associated with the album era (1960s–2000s), by writers Bob Lefsetz and Matthew Restall, who says the term is a relabeling of the "virtuoso pop/rock" from the era's early decades.

The format's origins are traced by music scholar Jon Stratton to the emergence of a classic-rock canon. This canon arose in part from music journalism and superlative lists ranking certain albums and songs that are consequently reinforced to the collective and public memory. Robert Christgau says the classic-rock concept transmogrified rock music into a "myth of rock as art-that-stands-the-test-of-time". He also believes it was inevitable that certain rock artists would be canonized by critics, major media, and music establishment entities such as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2018, Steven Hyden recalls how the appearance of classic rock as a timeless music lent it a distinction from the "inherently nihilistic" pop he had first listened to on the radio as a teenager in the early 1990s. "[I]t seemed to have been around forever," he writes of the classic rock format. "It was there long before I was born, and I was sure it was still going to be around after I was gone."

Politically, the mindset underlying classic rock is regarded by Christgau as regressive. He says the music in this format abandoned ironic sensibilities in favor of unintellectual, conventional aesthetics rooted in Victorian era Romanticism, while downplaying the more radical aspects of 1960s counterculture, such as politics, race, African-American music, and pop in the art sense. "Though classic rock draws its inspiration and most of its heroes from the '60s, it is, of course, a construction of the '70s," he writes in 1991 for Details magazine. "It was invented by prepunk/predisco radio programmers who knew that before they could totally commodify '60s culture they'd have to rework it—that is, selectively distort it till it threatened no one ... In the official rock pantheon the Doors and Led Zeppelin are Great Artists while Chuck Berry and Little Richard are Primitive Forefathers and James Brown and Sly Stone are Something Else."

Regarding the relationship of economics to the rise of classic rock, Christgau believes there was compromised socioeconomic security and diminishing collective consciousness of a new generation of listeners in the 1970s, who succeeded rock's early years during baby-boomer economic prosperity in the United States: "Not for nothing did classic rock crown the Doors' mystagogic middlebrow escapism and Led Zep's chest-thumping megalomaniac grandeur. Rhetorical self-aggrandizement that made no demands on everyday life was exactly what the times called for." Shuker attributes the rise of classic-rock radio in part to "the consumer power of the aging post-war 'baby boomers' and the appeal of this group to radio advertisers". In his opinion, classic rock also produced a rock music ideology and discussion of the music that was "heavily gendered", celebrating "a male homosocial paradigm of musicianship" that "continued to dominate subsequent discourse, not just around rock music, but of popular music more generally."

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Classic rock


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Talk:Edi Rama

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 17:40, 22 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Edi Rama (portret).jpg

Makoçi's testimony in divorce hearings
I've been digging this story and so far I came to the conclusion it's unnecessary and useless. While I'm writing this it's worth mentioning I'm digging stories for other politians as well and I'll add some more controversies here, anyway I'll explain my conclusion. Out of the 3 citations it has the first one doesn't work, the second one is from the Democratic Party's official newspaper a.k.a his rival party so take it with a grain of salt what's says there and the third citation is partial copy of the second one. I've tried searching more but few newspapers report the same thing nothing more. Also this story doesn't add anything relevant his career (if it's true). Here an interview his his son Greg https://www.anabelmagazine.com/news/37606/greg-rama-beyond-art-39zaho-is-my-weak-point39/eng/ and here's the same interview more expanded but it's in Albanian (you can translate it) https://sot.com.al/aktualitet/gregor-rama-rrefim-te-vecante-jeten-pasionet-dhe-familjen-e-tij-zaho-pika-ime-e-dobet-ja. S.G ReDark (talk) 03:15, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

I will remove this story and will add new controversies while maintaining neutrality S.G ReDark (talk) 03:20, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

User:Albwiki001, you need to stop edit warring over poorly verified BLP content, and start explaining what you are doing. Drmies (talk) 15:53, 2 August 2022 (UTC)

 * @Drmies - Just so you know, S.G. ReDark has been removing entire sections from the Controversies section of Edi Rama's page, and in my view is engaging in selective "clean up" of the page to make the current Albania's PM look good. Whether or not he is on the government's payroll, I don't know and frankly don't care. All I know is Wikipedia is a Free Encyclopedia where different views and facts are discussed, and censorship is not tolerated.
 * To give a little bit of background, S.G. ReDar has been removing a story in connection with Edi Rama's claims during his divorce hearings that the baby his then wife Makoci was expecting couldn't be his since (1) he could not father children, and (2) Makoci had spent the time when she got pregnant on vacation with Rama's parents. The story, including the court statements, were first published by Gazeta Tema's Editor in Chief Mero Baze who is a reputable journalist in Albania, has previously worked for VoA, etc.
 * Notice S.G. ReDar started the edit war by removing the last sentece that said Gazeta Tema has retracted the story. I kindly invited him, and still do, to provide a link showing that they have retracted it. They couldn't provide so they started removing the story altogether which is super absurd.
 * In my view, it should be restored. If there are any missing citations, we could certainly add. That S.G. ReDar thinks it is "unnecessary and useless" and "doesn't add anything relevant" is irrelevant and I'm sure the vast majority of Wikipedia's readers would disagree. Albwiki001 (talk) 03:47, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Albwiki001, this is the kind of thing that is needed here: an evaluation of the sources, which is not so easy since we don't have many readers of Albanian here. As an admin I am less interested in the actual content than I am to reliability of sources--and if reputable sources have published the story, and commented on it, then we have valid material. What we really need though is some input from other editors who read Albanian. Drmies (talk) 14:19, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
 * @Drmies @S.G ReDark I am an Albanian speaker. I want to let you know how much relieved i am seeing that subjects like him are being stopped on English Wikipedia.
 * As regards the impartiality of the sources, you must know that the majority of Albanian newspaper are highly biased. Although there are few exceptions.
 * I saw his edits. As regards the sources, they cannot be defined reliable and impartial since "Rilindja Demokratike" (The Democratic Rebirth) is the official newspaper of the Democratic Party of Albania, namely the opposition party. They always use these type of attacks in order to make gossip about the current PM of Albania.
 * In fact, just like two days ago the Leader(!) of the DP said that Edi Rama wants to legalize cannabis cultivation just because he is a consumer himself!
 * Anyway these are my argumentations. If you need someone that can read Albanian you can ask me. FierakuiVërtet (talk) 16:54, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
 * @Drmies@S.G ReDark As regards the .jpg image of the alleged 'Gazeta Tema' front page provided as proof, i will say it is highly, highly grainy and absolutely nothing, except the titles, can be read. It could have easily been photoshopped. Moreover the Albanian newspapers articles dating back to the '90 and early 2000s cannot be considered reliable since the caotic (really extreme corruption and criminality) situation in Albania.
 * @Drmies Just to give you the context: take a look at the Albanian Civil War caused by the longest and widely known pyramid schemes. Allegedly nothing was controlled at that time and newspaper were a valid mean to distort public opinion. FierakuiVërtet (talk) 17:41, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
 * @Drmies - Agreed that if reputable sources have published the story and commented on it, we have a valid material. Notice the story was first published in October 2023 by Gazeta Tema, which has historically been an independent outlet with no political affiliation whatsoever. Its Editor in Chief, Mero Baze, has worked as a correspondent for the VoA and Radio Free Europe, so I'm sure you'll agree that the source is as reputable as it gets.
 * As for the claims this was not published in Gazeta Tema (really absurd in my view), I have my sources here in Albania that have confirmed they can provide an original issue of the newspaper from 2003 upon request. Honestly you can just do a Google Search for "Grigori nuk eshte djali im" (tra: Grigori is not my son) and see the image results to confirm this was published in Gazeta Tema. A simple Google Translate can also confirm that RD, a politically affiliated newspaper, covered the story referring to the original publication in Gazeta Tema. They did not break the story themselves as S.G.ReDark claims.
 * Also, @Drmies - please look at the edit history to confirm for yourself the gradual and persistent attempts from different users to "clean up" the Controversies section in Rama's Wikipedia page. For this story, they started with a naive attempt at adding language saying "Gazeta Tema has retracted the story as false". When I started challenging them and asking for proof of retraction, they started removing the whole thing on grounds that the story was never published, that Gazeta Tema is somehow party-affiliated and unreliable, etc. This can all be easily verified by looking at the Edit History. Albwiki001 (talk) 02:40, 4 August 2022 (UTC)

Ok let me understand, you called my edits "vandalism" while I opened a discussion provided sources and EXPLAINED my edits when I made them. You are also accusing me of cleaning up the page to make Albanian PM look good and that I might be "on the government's payroll". Seriously you are not even trying to hide your POV and at the same time you start throwing accusations and conspiracies because someone disagreed with you. Also, I didn't start and edit war (just letting you know) and what last sentence are you referring to? When did you invite me (again what last sentence)? Oh the story is "unnecessary and useless" and "doesn't add anything relevant" since I provided YOU sources why it is. S.G ReDark (talk) 14:51, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
 * I looked into this matter a bit. It’s difficult for me, because I don’t speak Albanian.  However, as best I can tell, the publisher of the newspaper Tema did make a statement in 2019 about his newspaper’s earlier report on the paternity of Greg Rama.  In 2019, that publisher, Mero Baze, said he got the documents supporting that story from former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who was Edi Rama’s fierce political opponent.  Mero Baze says he has doubts about the veracity of the story: “the publisher Mero Baze reacted by showing for the first time how Berisha served the news about Rama's son to the newspaper 'Tema'. Baze says that the former prime minister offered him the documents as if Rama denied the paternity of his son, while he emphasizes that he has doubts about what was presented to him as the health ‘card’ of Edi Rame.” Here’s a link in English.  The publisher, Mero Baze, rather cavalierly added: “This of course makes that part of the newspaper's history dirty, but if we were different, we would be the New York Times, not an Albanian newspaper, and this neither embarrasses us, nor complicates us.”  So we could either keep this BS out of Wikipedia, or expose it as BS in this BLP. Anythingyouwant (talk) 09:00, 7 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Interesting take. I hope you'll agree that only a journalist of questionable professionalism and integrity would publish a story served by a political opponent without fact checking it first in great detail. That he has worked for the VoA and Radio Free Europe is strong evidence that he cannot be of such questionable professionalism and integrity. Such media outlets have very high standards for who they hire, and would've likely been able pick up on his flawed professionalism and either never hired him, or cut him loose after a month or two.
 * Let's suppose for a second that he faced such an immense pressure (professionally, personally, family-wise, etc.) back in 2003 to publish the story. Well, that would be a strange thing to assume, since back in 2003 Edi Rama's Socialist Party was in government, but let's assume he gave in to whatever pressure he was facing and published a false story. You'd think he'd want to make things right and issue an official retraction, wouldn't you? Mentioning it in passing in an interview is not nearly enough for such a reputable editor. Also, consider the following. Albania has some pretty strict libel laws. You'd think that if the story was definitely made up, Rama would sue Gazeta Tema like many of his political allies have sued media outlets for libel. He's never taken them to court. Why? Maybe because the story is true, and supported by court documents?
 * Last thing to add, Rama's been in government since 2013, with an increasing grip to power (e.g. Back in 2013 he was in a coaltion governmet. Since 2017 he's governing alone). Rather than calling Baze's story BS, doesn't it seem more likely to you and everyone reading this that Baze has been facing a lot of pressure to deny the story and has finally given in for whatever reason (e.g. protecting himself and his family, advancing his career, son gets a government scholarship to study in London, etc.) so the 2019 interview is BS? Albwiki001 (talk) 01:35, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
 * The newspaper publisher Mero Baze says: “According to a law of Sali Berisha in 2008, every Albanian student who is admitted to one of the 15 best universities in the world, the Albanian state pays the school fee, (not housing and food) and the student against a contract, is obliged to then work for two years in the Albanian administration. My son was accepted for a master's degree at UCL, which this year is in the top ten universities in the world.” Anyway, the story about Edi Rami claiming he was not the biological father of his son Greg is not well-sourced because you haven’t presented a reliable source that says Mero Baze was lying in 2019 about the dirtiness of that story. Anythingyouwant (talk) 02:53, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Yeah and that's just your opionion. Just ask yourself though, what did Baze have to gain by publishing the story in 2003? Not much, since Berisha was not in power back then so he couldn't really curry any favors from him. What did Baze have to gain by denying the story in 2019. A lot, since Rama had been in government since 2013 and had greatly tightened his grip to power.
 * The story that Edi Rama claimed he was not the biological father of Grigor is well-sourced since it was published in one of Albania's independent daily newspapers, with a Editor in Chief that has worked for very prestigious Western media such as the VoA or Radio Free Europe.That he would deny the story under political pressure in 2019 (or to advance his career, curry favors from Rama, such as son gaining a government scholarship, etc.) is not really that surprising under the current political conditions in Albania. Albwiki001 (talk) 03:48, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
 * I’m not saying Baze was telling the truth in 2019. What I’m saying is you haven’t yet produced a reliable source that says he was lying in 2019. See the difference? Anythingyouwant (talk) 04:12, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
 * If you're not saying Baze was telling the truth in 2019, then you'll agree this is still an open controversy. What's stopping Baze from issuing an official retraction in his newspaper? Unless there's an official retraction, everything else is just cheap talk.
 * Also, if the story is BS as you called it (you're absolutely not impartial in my view), what stopped Rama all these years from suing Gazeta Tema for libel? Albwiki001 (talk) 05:16, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
 * As of now, the sources I’ve cited from 2019 discredit the earlier report. But the earlier report can turn from BS to solid gold if you would present us with a reliable source that indicates Baze was lying in 2019.  I would support inclusion of this matter in our Wikipedia article if you can do that. You’re right that it’s strange there’s no official retraction, but what Baze said in 2019 seems like plenty enough to render the earlier report unreliable.  As for why Rama didn’t sue for libel, I don’t know, in the USA it’s very hard to sue newspapers unless the newspapers were certain they were telling a lie, whereas Baze says he did not know whether the info was true or not. Anythingyouwant (talk) 09:14, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Again, you're all over the place. First you said Baze denied the veracity of the story, now you're saying he did not know whether the info was true or not. You tried to distract by defending Baze's son scholarship (Since when is UCL a top 10 university in the world? Did it never occurr to you that hundreds of Albanian students every year get admitted at top 10 universities but never receive any government money?) Honestly, everyone reading this can see how ridiculous you're being, and frankly you're just supporting censorship for the benefit of an autocrat.
 * Since Gazeta Tema have never officially retracted the story, this is still an open controversy whether you like it or not. Everything else that Baze or anyone else may say is just cheap talk that doesn't count for anything. Baze had little to gain from publishing the story back in 2003, and a ton to gain from casting doubts in 2019. Everyone that engages in critical thinking understands this. Albwiki001 (talk) 11:58, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
 * I said above that “Mero Baze says he has doubts about the veracity of the story”. Maybe he didn’t go further and officially retract the story because he’s not sure it’s false.  Or maybe Baze knows it’s a false story, and always knew it was a false story, but if he says so then he would open himself up to a defamation lawsuit.  Anyway, to get this controversy included into this BLP, all we need is a reliable source saying that Baze was lying in 2019 when he wrote that his own newspaper’s prior report might be incorrect. Anythingyouwant (talk) 18:10, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
 * That's what you say is what we need, but you've failed to present any sensible arguments. At the very least, by your own admission the controversy is still unresolved. All that's needed is a retraction from Gazeta Tema, why wont they do it?
 * I'll go ahead and add the story again. If I have to escalate this issue to senior Wikipedia editors and management, I most certainly will. Albwiki001 (talk) 19:03, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Might save you some time if you read WP:RS, WP:V, and WP:BLP. Anythingyouwant (talk) 20:14, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
 * You're shilling for an autocrat and promoting a Stalinist-type removal of history, so no not taking advice from you. Albwiki001 (talk) 20:56, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
 * As I said above, one of our options is to include this matter briefly while explaining that the credibility of the accusation was greatly diminished by what Baze said in 2019. But you don’t seem to agree with that.  I don’t know hardly anything about Albanian politics, but I do know that even the nastiest living people are covered by WP:BLP. Anythingyouwant (talk) 21:00, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

Albwiki001 you again are using conspiracies and accusing editors that disagree with you. You are literally asking what Berisha had to gain by attacking his political opponents, @FierakuiVërtet@ Anythingyouwant and myself included explained to you and even provided sources but you still refuse all that. S.G ReDark (talk) 14:25, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

 * Weren't you the one disputing that Gazeta Tema published the article, saying only RD published it? You're a dishonest fraud, you should be banned from editing. Albwiki001 (talk) 15:38, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

Go on keep attacking me and see who's gonna get banned. Also I didn't say that, you can read my first message but obviously you don't. S.G ReDark (talk) 16:12, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

Impartiality/reliability/content manipulation/Propaganda in "Controversies"
I will rewrite here what my concerns are. In Controversies the content of the articles, used as a source, has been intentionally manipulated by changing the lexicon and omitting important parts.The result is an intentional semantic shift of the content, which mislead the reader. This methods has been widely used in Controversies by a user that is trying to defamate this politician by transforming his Wikipedia page in a sensationalistic Tabloid. Moreover, in one of my l even deleted a part about Egin Ceka/ Alleged Assault which was supposed to be justified by two articles provided as a source. But, when I looked into it, I found out that the articles were referring to another episode and not the Alleged assault. It is all in English, everyone can read the sources by himself.

FierakuiVërtet (talk) 12:01, 10 August 2022 (UTC)

 * Edi Rama physically assaulted Egin Ceka, according to multiple well-documented reports in the media. He engaged in unlawful physical contact, so it is assault by definition. You are engaging in selective "clean up" of stories you think are too inconvenient to appear on Wikipedia and doing a disservice to the community. Also, suggest you improve your English before editing pages. Albwiki001 (talk) 13:34, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
 * @FierakuiVërtet @Albwiki001 @S.G ReDark One of you should take this to Arbitration/Requests and let them sort it out instead of edit warring with each other.  –Skywatcher68 (talk) 14:05, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
 * @Skywatcher68 - Thanks for stepping in. Could you provide some detail on how I can present the case to Wikipedia's arbitration? I think it's clear and obvious to everyone reviewing Rama's history page that Fieraku and S.G.Redark (maybe the same person since Fieraku was banned in the past for socketpuppetry) are acting in concert to remove well-sourced factual content that they think is too inconvenient to appear on Wikipedia. For example, Rama has clearly violated (or at the very least directed and directly benefited from a violation of) U.S. Federal law when he engaged in campaign donations in a U.S. election. The language that I had included related to this 1-2 years ago, together with the links from U.S. media reports and court press releases were deleted by Fieraku earlier this week with no real support provided as to why (besides the fact that he is engaging in selecting "clean up" for the benefit of Rama). Albwiki001 (talk) 14:35, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Best thing I can recommend is to use one of the other Requests for Arbitration as a template.  –Skywatcher68 (talk) 14:40, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
 * @Albwiki001 so now you are accusing me of being a sockpupet of @FierakuiVertet, first you accuse me of being "on government payroll to make Rama look good" or that I'm "Rama minion" and there's probably more.

About the Egin Ceka case, you only provide one side of the history and never mention the other part (aftermath) and that's usually what POV pushing means. Now I've tried to be civil with you and tried to solve this thought discussion, but you instead accuse me and other editors with conspiracies and go on edit war every time you disagree with someone. — Preceding unsigned comment added by S.G ReDark (talk • contribs) 15:08, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

 * Then maybe instead of removing the whole story you can include language around "the other part (aftermath)" (not sure what you mean really, can't really understand your English). Whether you like it or not, the truth, documented by several independent eyewitnesses and reported in the media, is that Rama was escorted by security at that event, because he physically assaulted a diplomat. He engaged in unlawful physical contact, what's there so difficult to understand? I will go ahead and include the story again later today (and report both you and Fieraku, to Arbitration). Suggest you work on improving your English, instead of engaging in edit wars with me. Albwiki001 (talk) 15:53, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

 * My English is fine and clear, you chose to ignore the aftermath of this whole story (how it ended) and you know it, here for example https://shqiptarja.com/lajm/rama-i-shkuli-veshin-8-vite-me-pare-djali-i-neritan-cekes-le-shtetesine-shqiptare . Before you change anything to the page, discuss it here so we can de-escalate this edit war, btw you broke the "3 revert rule" accusing other editors being: "Rama minions", "you are on government payroll, " S.G ReDark and FierakuiVertet could be the same person", calling good faith edits "vandalism" and now you criticized mine and FierakuiVertet English. I could go on and on about how your behaviour is disrespectful towards other editors. — Preceding unsigned comment added by S.G ReDark (talk • contribs) 16:39, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Ok in the spirit of de-escalating the edit war you have started I will go ahead and add the physical altercation's controversy back on (together with the sources and support). You can go ahead and add the "aftermath of this whole story (how it ended)" and the sources. There is no case to be made that physical assault is not a controversy, so this is the best path forward. Albwiki001 (talk) 17:23, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Now we are getting to understand each other, before we make any move let's wait FierakuiVertet opinion, also would you be interested in the future to collaborate together and add controversies to other politicians?Or at least help me (give me articles etc), Since that's what I'm working on but I don't have much free time. S.G ReDark (talk) 17:30, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

That is not true.

 * 1) We were not disputing, and we did not dispute (until now), on Egin Ceka's alleged assault. An episode I had to rewrite, since it told only one side of the story. However, due to copyright (my fault), it got deleted, and I don't mind if someone else adds it again. But did not do so and did not mention it until now (i would have backed him up). Instead he decided to use this as an expedient to revert my edits on Bilal Shehu and the theatre. Bilal Shehu's charges have nothing to do with Rama. They were obviously added in order to defamate Rama, turning his Wikipedia page in sensationalistic tabloid.
 * 2) The same thing has been done with Rama's opinion regarding the national theatre's historical value. Pure Tabloid methodology.

Albwiki has alredy shown his will to defamate Rama, accusing him of being authoritarian. He also accused me of "being on government's payroll" and of being "Rama's minion". He went on, shamefully comparing us to the Stalinist censorship. I am planning to report him for repetively breaching WP:NPA, WP:NOTATABLOID, WP:NOTNP, WP:BLP (he insulted Rama numerous times in the talk page). I will repeat it: I don't care about Egin Ceka's part as long as it is not biased. FierakuiVërtet (talk) 18:13, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

 * Bilal Shehu pled guilty to making an illegal contribution (i.e., on behalf of a foreign agent) to Obama's campaign. Rama was the direct beneficiary of the illegal contribution since he attended a private, donor-sponsored U.S. political campaign event (using Bilal Shehu's wife's ticket, per media reports) and got a photo with Obama. How is this not a controversy? I will go ahead and re-add this. Albwiki001 (talk) 18:33, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
 * The fact that he attended the event and got a photo with Obama does not imply anything, it is not enough to pass WP:BLP. No charges have been pressed against Rama. These are Bilal Shehu charges, therefore your edit is openly in contrast with WP:NOTATABLOID, WP:NOTNP. I suggest you read these Wikipedia policies, instead of voluntarily ignoring them. I repeat it: Wikipedia is not a newspaper. FierakuiVërtet (talk) 19:10, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Disagreed that the edit is in contrast with Wikipedia's policies. Could you point to which specific policy it violates? That Rama hasn't been charged yet with a crime does not matter. Controversy still stands since there's plenty evidence to suggest he made a contribution to U.S. political campaign as a foreign agent. That's just the truth. Why are you trying to hide it? Albwiki001 (talk) 19:22, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Are you joking, right? Your assumptions do not necessarily correspond to the truth. Keep this in mind while editing Wikipedia. However:
 * as per the source you provided yourself here, You didn't even mention this fact ! You didn't even mention that all of this is nothing but a newspapers allegation ! Instead, you wrote an entire paragraph about Bilal Shehu(!)'s charges and entitled it Violation of U.S federal Laws, all of this on Rama's page. Do you think we cannot see what you have done here?! Better check your biases before accusing other editors.
 * The paragraph, as you wrote it, is unacceptable. If you want to suggest he made a contribution to U.S politcal campaign do it properly and propose another version. What do you think ? Personally, I am down for including this controversy, as long as it is written properly. FierakuiVërtet (talk) 21:56, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
 * @FierakuiVërtet - Your reading comprehension in English is obviously limited, I kindly suggest you improve it. Prosecutors did not identify does not mean prosecutors didn't know who the foreign national was. It simply means at the time of the bargain they decided not to include Rama's name in court ruling documents (honestly my best guess, from knowing the U.S. prosecutorial and court system in detail, is that they're holding onto this information so they can press charges against Rama at a later time). Multiple U.S. media released the information that Edi Rama was the foreign national who benefited from the donation and attended Obama's donor event using Bilal Shehu's wife's ticket, so this is a well documented controversy. I'm sure you don't like it, but that's not my problem. Albwiki001 (talk) 01:15, 7 September 2022 (UTC)
 * @FierakuiVërtet I 100% agree with you, If the story is rewritten and includes both sides (of the story) then it's fine by me. Also Albwiki001 by constantly criticizing others about how good their English isn't going to boost your argument any further. Let's keep continuing with the de-escalation "spirit" please. — Preceding unsigned comment added by S.G ReDark (talk • contribs) 03:59, 7 September 2022 (UTC)
 * @S.G ReDark Great! FierakuiVërtet (talk) 17:13, 7 September 2022 (UTC)
 * My English is fine, it is you that keeps ignoring basic Wikipedia's policies and what i am trying to say. Identify: I've never said they could not identify the source/national, I said they did not identify it!
 * Now, read this carefully: The fact that you(!) think prosecutors know that Rama is gulity, but are holding onto this information for later, is nothing but your assumption! We do not need your opinion here. The three (not multiple) media have not expressely made allegations against Rama, instead they have limited theirself to expose these events (which is exactly what you did here), in order to suggest an opinion to the reader.
 * An example to make this more clear: How do you know it was Rama the offender and not a lobbying (2013 p. elections)? How do you know it wasn't an oligarch the culprit? Did prosecutors exlude these eventualities? (if you got lost: the sources you provided tell that Rama was denied access to the event and suggest this whole thing (including the photo with Obama) was a scheme to gain consensus in the 2013 albanian p. elections. So, these are legit questions.)
 * Remember that benefiting does not mean he was the direct offender. This is not a newspaper and we do not need your opinion here. I am sure the arbitration committee would agree with me on this.
 * We need facts, what you can do is to write:  Rama is alleged to [...] or  Rama is under investigation for [...] . Then, provide the sources to this statemant. These are controversies! I will not comment anyfurther to this specific episode, as i believe i made myself clear. FierakuiVërtet (talk) 17:11, 7 September 2022 (UTC)
 * If you disagreed with the wording of what I had written, you could've tweaked it so it aligned closer with (what you think) are the facts. No, you deleted the whole thing. Why did you delete the whole thing? Is that professionalism, or is that censorship? Why do you engage in censorship, care to explain before we take this to arbitration? Why don't you, and @S.G ReDark, in the spirit of de-escalation, restore the stories, and I will tweak the language (I understand even tweaking will be very hard for you since your English is very good and you struggle making yourselves clear in writing). Albwiki001 (talk) 12:24, 8 September 2022 (UTC)
 * You have showed blatant biases in all the paragraphs you have wrote. It is odd how you, a native English speaker, have completely misinterpreted/manipulated the lexicon of the sources you provided yourself and changed the wording, isn't it? Is this professionalism? (Don't even ask me to prove this, just read the Egin Ceka episode). You can well understand that tweaks are not sufficient in these cases.
 * Besides, you reported Rama's exact words about the theatre's historical value and labeled them a 'controversy'! Please, it takes neither an arbitration committee nor a native English speaker to understand your intention was to defamate Rama with propaganda-like content? This is not the place for demagogy.

 * And finally, you might want to learn the difference between fine and very good. FierakuiVërtet (talk) 18:07, 8 September 2022 (UTC)
 * So your mask is finally off, you really showed your true intentions with your lasted edits. I guess the "de-escalation spirit" we where doing it's basically gone, since I don't have time can do an arbitration. S.G ReDark (talk) 13:44, 9 September 2022 (UTC)

""Vaccines smuggling" with Italy" paragraph in Controversies, removed by an Edi Rama fan that uses international Wikipedias for political propaganda purposes
I think that the different and reliable sources cited speak for themselves as regards the relevance and media attention reserved to the facts described by the president and to the words he used (the word "controversy" recurs several times). I'm a Neapolitan-Italian-Albanian and I'm always "in line with the law". 87.11.88.149 (talk) 14:04, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

"Speak for themselves" is not an argumentation. Explain clearly what is the controversy here. FierakuiVërtet (talk) 14:08, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

Read WP:5P4 and stop offending editors who disagree with you. FierakuiVërtet (talk) 14:11, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Edi Rama


text:
Stocks

Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law describing its use is cited by the orator Lysias: "'He shall have his or her foot confined in the stocks for five days, if the court shall make such addition to the sentence.' The 'stocks' there mentioned, Theomnestus, are what we now call 'confinement in the wood'" (Lys. 10.16).

Form and applications
The stocks, pillory, and pranger each consist of large wooden boards with hinges; however, the stocks are distinguished by their restraint of the feet.

The stocks consist of placing boards around the ankles and wrists, whereas with the pillory, the boards are fixed to a pole and placed around the arms and neck, forcing the punished to stand.

Victims may be insulted, kicked, tickled, spat on especially between the toes, or subjected to other inhumane acts. In the Bible, the treatment of Paul and Silas, disciples of Jesus, was detailed in the Acts of the Apostles: "Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks." The Old Testament's book of Job also describes the stocks, referring to God:
 * He puts my feet in the stocks, he watches all my paths.

The stocks were employed by civil and military authorities from medieval to early modern times including Colonial America. Public punishment in the stocks was a common occurrence from around 1500 until at least 1748. The stocks were especially popular among the early American Puritans, who frequently employed the stocks for punishing the "lower class".

In the American colonies, the stocks were also used, not only for punishment, but as a means of restraining individuals awaiting trial.

The offender would be exposed to whatever treatment those who passed by could imagine. This could include tickling of the feet. As noted by the New York Times in an article dated November 13, 1887, "Gone, too, are the parish stocks, in which offenders against public morality formerly sat imprisoned, with their legs held fast beneath a heavy wooden yoke, while sundry small but fiendish boys and girls improved the occasion by deliberately pulling off their socks and shoes and tickling the soles of their defenseless feet."

England's Statute of Labourers 1351 prescribed the use of the stocks for "unruly artisans" and required that every town and village erect a set of stocks. In towns and cities they were commonly placed in prominent central locations, such as the one before Bristol's High Cross. The 1351 Act was repealed in 1863. Sources indicate that the stocks were used in England for over 500 years and have never been formally abolished.

Their last recorded use in the United Kingdom was on 11 June 1872 at Newbury, Berkshire, England.

In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, court records from 1811 required the building of a set of stocks for punishment.

The Spanish conquistadores introduced stocks as a popular form of punishment and humiliation against those who impeded the consolidation of their settlements in the new world. They were still used in the 19th century in Latin America to punish indigenous miners in many countries for rebelling against their bosses.

United States
In 1989, the Arkansas town of Dermott passed a curfew law punishable by up to thirty days in jail for the offender and up to two days in the stocks for the offender's parents. The city almost immediately remitted the punishment because, among other things, the city did not have a set of stocks and had allocated no funds to build one.

United Kingdom
The British town of Thame made international headlines in 2016 when it took up a proposal to build stocks in the town. Introduced by Councillor David Bretherton, the stocks would be used for hire and for charitable events. As noted by Bretherton, "Perhaps for charity we could do something like that, get people in the stocks and have others donate money for the time they last while having their feet tickled and syrup poured between their toes for laughs." Bretherton noted that the stocks were still legal in England. It is not believed that the stocks would be used for actual punishment purposes. Currently, further study of the topic is ongoing.

Colombia
In Colombia in 2012, married thirty-four-year-old Alfreda Blanco Basilio and her eighteen-year-old lover Luis Martinez were placed in stocks by the Sampues tribe in Colombia due to Basilio's adultery. Basilio spent 72 hours barefoot in the stocks for her offense.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, police in Chinu, Colombia, placed residents who broke quarantine in stocks for a few hours.

Examples
Stocks are occasionally preserved in churches or museums; as wooden devices they are naturally subject to rotting and decay. Some have been heavily restored in the 19th and 20th centuries. Most are protected as listed buildings.

England

 * Evesham, Worcestershire, on Merstow Green.
 * Eyam, Derbyshire; 18th century, on the village green.
 * Little Longstone, Derbyshire; stone stock-ends in a small walled recess on the village street, dating from the 17th century or earlier.
 * Canewdon, Essex; inside the village lock-up, dated 1775.
 * Aldbury, Hertfordshire; combined stocks and whipping post on the village green.
 * Great Amwell, Hertfordshire; in the churchyard but originally sited behind a public house.
 * North Turton, Lancashire; 18th or 19th century stocks in the High Street.
 * Haveringland, Norfolk; 1804 or earlier.
 * Oakham Market Cross and stocks, Oakham, Rutland.
 * Alfold, Surrey; 18th century stocks and whipping post under a roof outside the church.
 * Bilton, Warwickshire; last used in 1866, located on The Green since 1954.
 * Ufton, Warwickshire; 18th century or earlier, by the churchyard wall.
 * Poulton-Le-Fylde, Lancashire; 18th century, in the market square.
 * Huntley, Gloucestershire

Northern Ireland

 * Dromore, County Down; in the Market Square.

title: Stocks


text:
Paavo Talvela

Paavo Juho Talvela (born Paavo Juho Thorén; 19 February 1897 – 30 September 1973) was a Finnish general of the infantry, Knight of the Mannerheim Cross and a member of the Jäger movement. He participated in the Eastern Front of World War I, the Finnish Civil War, the Finnish Kinship Wars, the Winter War and the Continuation War.

Talvela was also active in Finnish far-right politics, being involved in both the founding of the Academic Karelia Society and in the Lapua Movement. In 1940, he was also involved in talks with Germany about forming a Finnish Jäger battalion as part of the Wehrmacht.

Early life
Paavo Juho Talvela (originally Thorén) was born 19 January 1897 to farmer parents Johan Fredrik Thorén and Helena Uino in Helsingin maalaiskunta. One of eleven children, Talvela enrolled in secondary education, but became involved in the Jäger Movement, where Finnish volunteers received military training in Germany, leaving for Germany in 1916. While in Germany, the Finnish volunteers formed the 27th Royal Prussian Jäger Battalion, fighting for the Imperial German Army on the Eastern Front of World War I. During this time, Talvela saw combat in battles in the regions of Misa and Gulf of Riga, but was sent to Sweden and Finland for "special tasks" in 1917. He was arrested on the Finno-Swedish border and detained by Swedish authorities for multiple months. In late 1917, Talvela was able to enter Finland by traveling to Turku via Åland. In December 1917, Talvela moved from Turku to Vimpeli, where he would act as a military instructor. During 1918, Talvela took part in the Finnish Civil War on the side of the Whites under the pseudonym Strömsten. In 1918, Talvela was promoted from the private-equivalent rank of jäger directly to a lieutenant of the Finnish Army.

Talvela was promoted to a major after the civil war, briefly commanding both a battalion and a regiment, but resigned in 1919 to participate as a regimental commander in the Kinship Wars of the 1920s. Talvela became the commander-in-chief of the Aunus expedition after it had reached Petrozavodsk. After the failure of the Aunus expedition, Talvela re-joined the Finnish Army, but continued to view efforts to integrate East Karelia to Finland as crucial for both the security and the economy of the newly-independent Finland. As such, Talvela resigned again in 1921 to command a battalion during the Viena expedition which also failed. Following the failed military expeditions, Talvela joined the Finnish army the third time in 1922. He was also involved behind-the-scenes in the founding of the Academic Karelia Society, a student association that was also the first Finnish radical nationalistic movement.

Having returned to service, Talvela graduated from the English Coast Artillery School in 1923 before acting as the chief of coastal artillery in 1925. In 1926, he graduated from the Finnish War College, taking on the duties of commander of the Savo Jäger Regiment in 1926–1927. Following a 1925 promotion to lieutenant colonel, he was promoted a colonel in 1928. In 1930, he acted as the head of the Finnish General HQ's Operations Section, but conflicts with the head of the Finnish General Staff Martti Wallenius led to Talvela's third resignation.

Following his resignation, Talvela became politically active. He was a member of the electoral college for the President of Finland in 1931. He also became active in the radically nationalistic and "fascist-style" Lapua Movement, organizing the Peasant March. The movement was disbanded in the wake of the Mäntsälä Rebellion. Talvela ran for parliament as a member of Kokoomus in 1936 but was not elected. Talvela was also active in various economic affairs, working as the deputy director of Suomi-Filmi from 1929 to 1932 and the Finnish state alcohol monopoly Oy Alkoholiliike Ab from 1932 to 1937, following the end of the Finnish prohibition. From 1937 to 1939, Talvela worked as the deputy director of Suomen selluloosayhdistys, the association of Finnish cellulose producers. Concurrently with these duties, Talvela continued his activities in national defense, working as the chair of the Jäger Union to 1934 and in the governmental Defense Council.

Winter War and Continuation War
The Finno-Soviet Winter War broke out on the morning of 30 November 1939 with a Soviet assault over the Finno-Soviet border on the Karelian Isthmus. In the lead-up to the war, Talvela had been promoted to a major general and became a member of the war materiel council, but just two days after the start of the war he approached the Finnish commander-in-chief Mannerheim asking for a field command. Talvela proposed that he should be given command of a regiment of the 7th Division, which was being held as commander-in-chief's reserve. On 6 December, Mannerheim ordered that the Finnish IV corps would be split into two commands, with one being given to Talvela. Talvela's orders were to halt and throw back the Soviet advance in the area of Tolvajärvi.

The Finnish position in the Tolvajärvi region was in severe danger, and upon arriving in his area of operations Talvela's first task was to halt the retreat of Infantry Regiment 16. The following Battle of Tolvajärvi resulted in a Soviet retreat and the first Finnish victory of the war: The Soviet 139th Rifle Division lost its headquarters and most of its artillery. The 139th Division was replaced with the 75th Division, which was also forced to retreat just a few days later. Following these victories, the area saw only limited action to the end of the war. In February, Talvela was given command of the III Corps on the Karelian Isthmus in the area of Vuoksi and Lake Sukhodolskoye.

During the Interim Peace, in 1940, Talvela took part in the Finno-German negotiations regarding weapons shipments and the movement of German troops through Finland. He was made the chair of Suomen Aseveljien Liitto, the Union of Finnish Brothers-in-Arms. Talvela was also involved in 1940 talks about establishing a Finnish jaeger battalion within the German Wehrmacht. While these talks didn't lead to results, the Germans recruited some 1400 Finnish volunteers into the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS between 1941 and 1943.

At the start of the Continuation War in 1941, Talvela commanded the II Corps, but immediately following the start of the hostilities he was given command of the VI Corps. Under his command, the VI Corps participated in the Finnish invasion of Ladoga Karelia. As part of the Army of Karelia, VI Corps surrounded parts of the Soviet 7th Army north of Lake Ladoga. On 3 August 1941, Talvela was granted the Mannerheim Cross. The VI Corps reached Svir in September 1941, with the Finnish forces forming a 100 kilometer wide, 20 kilometer deep bridgehead over the river, thus cutting the Murmansk railroad. The Finns' refusal to advance further from Svir caused strain in the Finno-German relations, as German forces were able to reach a point some 80 kilometers to the southwest of the Finnish positions. The Germans had even moved the German 163rd Division to the Svir to help in securing the flanks for the "handshake at the Svir". The issue resolved itself once Soviet counter-attacks pushed the Germans further from the Svir in the south. In January 1942, Talvela was removed from his position as the commander of VI Corps and transferred to Germany, where he was the representative of the Finnish army in the German high command.

Talvela was recalled to Finland in February 1944. Having been promoted to lieutenant general in 1942, he was given command of the Aunus Group, which was in charge of the Finnish forces along the Svir. Following a Soviet landing in Tuloksa as part of the Soviet Svir–Petrozavodsk Offensive in 1944, the Finnish IV Corps, part of Talvela's Aunus Group, was in danger of being cut off. When the commander of VI Corps, general Aarne Blick, requested permission to pull back, Talvela refused and ordered the corps to instead conduct a delaying action. Blick ignored the orders, pulling VI Corps back, causing significant strain in the two commanders' personal relations. The animosity resulted in the replacement of Blick on 6 July.

On 16 July 1944, the Aunus Group was disbanded and Talvela was ordered to return to Germany. He would stay in Germany until the Finno-Soviet cease-fire and the breaking of the Finno-German relations, both of which came as a surprise to him. Before leaving Germany, Talvela was approached by Himmler, who requested that Talvela would lead Finnish armed resistance. Talvela indicated that he would be willing to lead a resistance movement, but only under orders from Mannerheim.

Later life and legacy
Talvela left the army in September 1944, returning to his job as the director of Pohjolan Liikenne which he had taken during the Interim Peace. As a result of the time he had spent in Germany during the war, he found working in Finland difficult, and lived in Rio de Janeiro selling cellulose between 1946 and 1949. Talvela returned to Finland in 1949, serving as a member of the City Council of Helsinki between 1954 and 1960. In 1958, he was the head consul for Philippines. He continued to be active in various activities related to paper production until his retirement. Talvela received his final promotion to the rank of general of the infantry (jalkaväenkenraali) in 1966.

Talvela married twice during his life. His first marriage with Martta Sofia Nikoskelainen ran from 1919 to 1922, ending in a divorce. He remarried in 1923 to Karin Johanna Tengman. During his marriages, Talvela had a total of four children, born between 1919 and 1926. He secretly had a fifth child born out of wedlock, Swedish writer Gunilla Boëthius in 1945; this wasn't discovered until long after his death. Talvela died on 30 September 1973 in Helsinki. He is buried in the Kulosaari Cemetery in Helsinki.

During his career, Talvela was granted several awards. The most notable of these is the Mannerheim Cross, which Talvela was the second to receive. He also received the Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty and the Order of the White Rose. He also received the German Iron Cross (both 1st and 2nd class), German Cross in Gold and the Order of Merit of the German Eagle; the Swedish Order of the Sword and Order of Vasa; the Order of the Crown of Italy; and the Norwegian Order of St. Olav.

title: Paavo Talvela


text:
User talk:ElmoHoo

Hello Elmohoo, welcome to Wikipedia!

There are lots of resources around to help guide you.
 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style

 * image use policy before uploading any images

If you need any help try
 * Help
 * Village pump
 * My talk page User_talk:Jimfbleak.

Your current placing of the hen etc seems a reasonable compromise for now. i think we really need a separate article for Turkey (domesticated), like the equivalent for Chicken, since at the moment this is a mixture of a biological bit with a poultry bit. One day, when I get time... Jimfbleak.

Image:Vapepband.jpg listed for deletion
An image or media file that you uploaded or altered, Image:Vapepband.jpg, has been listed at. Please look there to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. User:Gay Cdn (talk) (Contr) 22:08, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Poult

The article Poult has been proposed for deletion  because of the following concern:
 * This should only be a dictionary entry. As it is unsourced and unsubstantial, it isn't worth the whole merge procedure. It can simply get a mention in the lede of Poultry. This should just be a redirect to that article.

While all contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, content or articles may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the article to address the issues raised. Removing will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 04:46, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:53, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:ElmoHoo


text:
3-Way

In cryptography, 3-Way is a block cipher designed in 1994 by Joan Daemen. It is closely related to BaseKing; the two are variants of the same general cipher technique.

3-Way has a block size of 96 bits, notably not a power of two such as the more common 64 or 128 bits. The key length is also 96 bits. The figure 96 arises from the use of three 32 bit words in the algorithm, from which also is derived the cipher's name. When 3-Way was invented, 96-bit keys and blocks were quite strong, but more recent ciphers have a 128-bit block, and few now have keys shorter than 128 bits. 3-Way is an 11-round substitution–permutation network.

3-Way is designed to be very efficient in a wide range of platforms from 8-bit processors to specialized hardware, and has some elegant mathematical features which enable nearly all the decryption to be done in exactly the same circuits as did the encryption.

3-Way, just as its counterpart BaseKing, is vulnerable to related key cryptanalysis. John Kelsey, Bruce Schneier, and David Wagner showed how it can be broken with one related key query and about $$2^{22}$$ chosen plaintexts.

title: 3-Way


text:
Talk:Lucifer (Sandman)

should this page perhaps just redirect to the Lucifer (Vertigo) page? --User:Mortene

title: Talk:Lucifer (Sandman)


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Jet d'Eau

The Jet d'Eau (, Water-Jet) is a large fountain in Geneva, Switzerland and is one of the city's most famous landmarks, being featured on the city's official tourism web site and on the official logo for Geneva's hosting of group stage matches at UEFA Euro 2008. Situated where Lake Geneva exits as the Rhône, it is visible throughout the city and from the air, even when flying over Geneva at an altitude of 10 km.

500 L of water per second are jetted to an altitude of 140 m by two 500 kW pumps, operating at 2,400 V, consuming one megawatt of electricity and costing 510,000 CHF per year. The water leaves the 10 cm nozzle at a speed of 200 km/h. At any given moment, there are about 7000 L of water in the air. Unsuspecting visitors to the fountain—which can be reached via a stone jetty from the left bank of the lake—may be surprised to find themselves drenched after a slight change in wind direction.

History
The first Jet d'Eau was installed in 1886 at the Usine de la Coulouvrenière, a little further downstream from its present location. It was used as a safety valve for a hydraulic power network and could reach a height of about 30 m. In 1891, its aesthetic value was recognised and it was moved to its present location to celebrate the Federal Gymnastics Festival and the 600th anniversary of the Swiss Confederation, when it was operated for the first time. Its maximum height was about 90 m. The present Jet d'Eau was installed in 1951 in a partially submerged pumping station to pump lake water instead of city water.

Since 2003, the fountain has operated during the day all year round, except in case of frost or particularly strong wind. It also operates in the evenings between spring and autumn, when it is lit by a set of 21 lights consuming 9 kW.

On 25 August 2016, the fountain celebrated its 125th anniversary at its present location. Between 30 March and 11 June 2020, the jet was shut off while the city was under public health measures due to COVID-19.

The Jet d'Eau featured in the titles and cut scenes of the late 1960s British television series The Champions.

title: Jet d'Eau


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Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir

Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir (Old Norse: Guðríðr víðfǫrla Þorbjarnardóttir ; Modern Icelandic: Guðríður víðförla Þorbjarnardóttir ; born possibly around 980–1019) was an Icelandic explorer, born at Laugarbrekka in Snæfellsnes, Iceland.

She appears in the Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders, known collectively as the Vinland sagas. She and her husband Þorfinnur Karlsefni led an expedition to Vinland where their son Snorri Þorfinnsson was born, the first known European birth in the Americas (outside of Greenland).

In Iceland, Gudrid is known by her byname víðförla (lit. wide-fared or far-travelled).

Biography
As recorded in The Saga of Erik the Red, Gudrid was the daughter of a chieftain by the name of Thorbjorn of Laugarbrekka. As the story goes, a young man by the name of Einar asked for her hand in marriage, but because his father was a slave, Gudrid's father refused to give her hand in marriage. Gudrid and her father promptly left Iceland and voyaged to Greenland to accompany Erik the Red. Thirty others went with them on the journey, but the group experienced complications due to poor weather, which slowed their progress during the summer. After this setback, illness plagued the group and half of the company died. Despite these failures, Gudrid and her father landed safely in Greenland in the winter. Although it is not mentioned in The Saga of Erik the Red, according to the Saga of the Greenlanders, at the time Gudrid was married to a Norwegian merchant named Thorir. According to this account, Leif Erikson rescued Gudrid and fifteen men from a skerry, brought them safely to Brattahlíð, and invited Thorir and Gudrid to stay there with him. That winter, Thorir died of illness.

In Eirik the Red's Saga, Gudrid exemplifies the transition from the pagan Norse religion to Christianity. One winter, Gudrid, her father Thorbjorn, and his companions feast at the home of Thorkel, who is visited by a seeress named Thorbjorg. Thorbjorg arrives at Thorkel's home, intending to carry out several magic rites, specifically ward songs, for which she needs the women present to help chant. Gudrid is the only woman present who knows the songs, having been taught them by her foster-mother Halldis, but she tells Thorbjorg that "These are the sort of actions in which I intend to take no part, because I am a Christian woman". With minimal effort, however, Thorbjorg and Thorkel convince Gudrid that taking part in the chants will help the people present, and not damage her status as a Christian woman. Gudrid performs the songs with admirable skill.

According to both sagas, Gudrid then married Thorstein Eiriksson, Leif Eiriksson's younger brother and Eirik the Red's son. According to the Saga of the Greenlanders, Gudrid then accompanied her husband on his quest to Vinland, with the hope that he could retrieve the body of his brother Thorvald. The two spent the winter in Lysufjord with a man by the name of Thorstein the Black and his wife Grimhild, but illness soon struck the group and both Grimhild and Gudrid's husband Thorstein died. According to this account, Thorstein temporarily rises from his dead bed to tell Gudrid that she will be married to an Icelander and that they will have a long life together with many descendants. He stated that she would leave Greenland to go to Norway and then Iceland, and after a pilgrimage south, she would return to Iceland, where a church would be built near her farm. According to the Saga of Eirik the Red, Thorstein makes the voyage to Vinland by himself, and it is only upon his return that the two marry. According to the Saga, "Thorstein had a farm and livestock in the western settlement at a place called Lysufjord" and another man by the name of Thorstein (whose wife in this version is named Sigrid) owned a half-share on this farm. The couple moved to the farm and, as in the Saga of the Greenlanders, Thorstein died and told Gudrid of her future, although in this version he focuses more on the importance of Christianity, asking Gudrid to "donate their money to the poor."

After his death, Gudrid moved back to Brattahlíð, where she married a merchant named Thorfinn Karlsefni, who is described in the Saga of Eirik the Red as being "a man of good family and good means" and "a merchant of good repute". According to The Saga of the Greenlanders, after their marriage, and at Gudrid's urging, the two led an attempt to settle Vínland with sixty men, five women, and a cargo of various livestock (while it is implied in The Saga of Eirik the Red that she accompanies him, Gudrid is never actually mentioned in the account of the journey). While in Vínland, the couple had a son whom they named Snorri Thorfinnsson, who is the first European reported to be born in the Western Hemisphere. There is speculation about the birth date of Snorri with birth years such as 1005, 1009, and 1012 being postulated, but all sources agree that he was born between 1005 and 1013. According to the Vinland sagas, when Snorri was 3 years old, the family left Vinland because of hostilities with indigenous peoples (called Skrælingar by the settlers, meaning "barbarians"). The family returned to the Glaumbær farm in Seyluhreppur, Iceland.

According to The Saga of Eirik the Red, the couple had another son named Thorbjorn. Although it is only mentioned in The Saga of the Greenlanders, Thorfin died, leaving Gudrid to live as a widow.

Christianisation of Iceland during this period meant that religious conversions were common. Gudrid converted to Christianity and, when Snorri married, went on a pilgrimage to Rome. While some have discussed the possibility that Gudrid spoke with the Pope on her journey, there is no proof of it. While she was away, Snorri built a church near the estate, fulfilling the prediction that Thorstein had made. When she came back from Rome, she became a nun and lived in the church as a hermit.

Genealogy
Her son Snorri Thorfinnsson had two children: a daughter named Hallfrid, and a son named Thorgeir. Hallfrid was the mother of Thorlak Runolfsson, bishop of Skálholt in the south of Iceland. Thorgeir was the father of Yngvild, the mother of the first Bishop Brand. One of the descendants of her son Thorbjorn, Bjorn Gilsson, was also a bishop of Hólar.

Below is the genealogy of descendants of Snorri, as given in the close of each saga, Grœnlendinga saga ch. 9 and Eiríks saga ch. 14. It is supplemented with further ancestral information from (Eiríks saga ch. 7 and Landnámabók), a more complete family tree for which, see Thorfinn Karlsefni.

Memorials
There is a statue created by the sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson in 1938 for the 1939 New York World's Fair of Gudrid on display at Glaumbær, in Iceland. Its original Icelandic title refers to Gudrid as "Fyrsta hvíta móðirin í Ameríku" (The first white mother in America). Other copies of this statue, which typically refer to Gudrid as the "first European mother in America," are on display in Laugarbrekka in the Snæfellsnes peninsula on Iceland, in Ottawa, Canada, and at the Vatican. The statue depicts her on a boat, carrying her son Snorri on her shoulder.

In popular culture
Gudrid features as a main character in many modern literary works including Maurice Hewlett's Gudrid the Fair (1918), Harry Harrison's The Technicolor Time Machine (1967), Constance Irwin's Gudrid's Saga (1974), Elizabeth Boyer's Freydis and Gudrid (1976), John Andrew's A Viking's Daughter (1989), Kirsten Seaver's Gudrids saga (1994), Jónas Kristjánsson's Veröld við (1998), Margaret Elphinstone's The Sea Road (2000), Nancy Marie Brown's The Saga of Gudrid the Far-Traveler (2015), Gert Maarløw Nicolaisen's Nornespind (2018), Mathijs Deen's Over oude wegen (2018), a collection of historical European travelogues, and numerous others. Gudrid is also featured in Makoto Yukimura's manga Vinland Saga which follows the story of Thorfinn Karlsefni and his journey to Vinland.

title: Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir


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SEAL (cipher)

In cryptography, SEAL (Software-Optimized Encryption Algorithm) is a stream cipher optimised for machines with a 32-bit word size and plenty of RAM with a reported performance of around 4 cycles per byte. SEAL is actually a pseudorandom function family in that it can easily generate arbitrary portions of the keystream without having to start from the beginning. This makes it particularly well suited for applications like encrypting hard drives.

The first version was published by Phillip Rogaway and Don Coppersmith in 1994. The current version, published in 1997, is 3.0. SEAL, covered by two patents in the United States, both of which are assigned to IBM.

title: SEAL (cipher)


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Talk:Romantic fiction

I was under the impression that (at the bottom end of the market, at least) there were rather specific publishers' guidelines, similar to those in the porno novel industry; this event must occur by that page, etc. Does anyone have any cites, or can they show this to be untrue? -- Karada 17:03, 11 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * I used to have a copy of the Mills & Boon guidelines, but I don't remember it being that specific. US and UK publishers are probably different, in any case. Deb 17:14, 11 Aug 2003 (UTC)

from romantic
use if good

Romance as a genre of literature is a complex term. Initially, the term applied only to the 'romans' (narratives) of Anglo-French literature. These were rooted in the story of the founding of Rome, which was itself rooted in the Homerica. Thus, stories of Aeneas, Brutus, and Romulus and Remus were "romance" subjects. The stories of King Arthur were included in this genre, since Arthur is supposed to either be derived from Rome or to have been one of the sackers of Rome. Therefore, "romance" poetry included all chivalric tales.

By the Renaissance, "romance" referred to any courtly tale, and especially narratives and prose. This designation survives in the French usage of "roman" to refer to the novel. By the 17th and 18th centuries, "romance" had come to mean any long narrative, whether it had courtly or erotic content or not. Thus, Fielding's famous description of his Joseph Andrews as "comic romance" or "a comic epic poem in prose" was a way not of indicating that his novel would have erotic love in it, but rather that it would be a narrative.

'Romantic fiction' and 'Romance novel' articles
I noticed that the 'Romance novel' article is marked as needing attention. There's clearly an overlap between that article and this. IMHO, this article should be about the general history of romantic fiction, and the 'Romance novel' should be about the books you find in the 'Romance' sections in bookshops today.

This would mean that most of the content in the 'Romantic novels' section in this article, and the entirety of the 'Romantic genres' section, should be moved to the 'Romance novel' section, and could serve as the foundation for an expanded article.

Any thoughts?

-- Katherine Shaw 15:17, Sep 8, 2004 (UTC)

What about the love poems?
OK, I've been looking all over Wikipedia for someplace where "romance poetry" in the modern sense is discussed, and have not found even the tiniest bit of information on it anywhere. Love poem redirects to poetry even though love poetry is mentioned nowhere on the page (except for one external link), Romantic poetry deals solely with the Romanticism sense of the term rather than the romantic love sense, and Romance novel only addresses the narrowest sense of the word: heterosexual, novel-length, happy-ending typical stories. I finally found a link to Romantic fiction in Talk:Romance novel, where Katherine Shaw said: "For other fiction that has romantic content - but that does not fit the strict criteria of current Romances, there's the Romantic fiction article." So I came here thinking I'd finally found the page so very well-hidden on Wikipedia that would have the information we so need to link to from St. Valentine's Day and Romantic love and Romantic poetry and Heart (symbol) and many other pages, but no - nothing but an empty disambiguation page! So. Where can we put information on stuff like Roses Are Red? -Silence 08:13, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Romantic fiction


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Alexander Cockburn

Alexander Claud Cockburn (6 June 1941 – 21 July 2012) was a Scottish-born Irish-American political journalist and writer. Cockburn was brought up by British parents in Ireland, but lived and worked in the United States from 1972. Together with Jeffrey St. Clair, he edited the political newsletter CounterPunch. Cockburn also wrote the "Beat the Devil" column for The Nation, and another column for The Week in London, syndicated by Creators Syndicate.

Background
Alexander Cockburn was born on June 6, 1941, in Scotland and grew up in Youghal, County Cork, Ireland. He was the eldest son of journalist, Claud Cockburn, a former Communist author, and his third wife, Patricia Byron, née Arbuthnot. (She wrote an autobiography, Figure of Eight). His ancestral family included Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet, who was responsible for the burning of Washington, DC in the War of 1812. His two younger brothers, Andrew Cockburn and Patrick, are also journalists.

His half-sister, Sarah Caudwell, a barrister and mystery writer, died in 2000. His half-sister Claudia Cockburn and her husband Michael Flanders have two daughters, who are both journalists: Laura and Stephanie Flanders. Actress Olivia Wilde is the daughter of his brother Andrew.

Cockburn grew up between his family home in Ireland and Glenalmond College, an independent boys' boarding school, in Perthshire, Scotland. He later studied English at Keble College, University of Oxford.

United Kingdom
Cockburn graduated from Oxford in 1963, after which he worked at the New Left Review, becoming its managing editor in 1966. He was also assistant editor at the Times Literary Supplement, and in 1967 worked at New Statesman. In 1967 Cockburn co-edited The Incompatibles: Trade Union Militancy and the Consensus with Robin Blackburn. Blackburn described the book as "[bringing] together trade-union organizers, leftwing journalists including Paul Foot, Marxist economists and two liberals—Michael Frayn and Philip Toynbee—who mocked the demonization of union activists by Labour as well as Conservative pundits." In 1969 the pair co-edited Student Power: Problems, Diagnosis, Action, with contributors including Herbert Marcuse, Perry Anderson, and Tom Nairn. In 1968, Cockburn published a letter to The Times supporting British socialists protesting the Vietnam War.

United States
Cockburn moved to the United States in 1972 and lived there for the rest of his years. He contributed pieces to The New York Review of Books, Esquire, Harper's, and, from 1973 to 1983, The Village Voice. For the latter, he initiated the longstanding "Press Clips" column. His interview of Rupert Murdoch in The Voice preceded Murdoch's purchase of the paper. James Ridgeway later noted that "Murdoch, when he owned the Voice, was said to gag on some of Alex's pointed epithets, but he never did anything about it."

In 1975 Cockburn wrote Idle Passion: Chess and the Dance of Death. In 1979 Cockburn and Ridgeway co-wrote Political Ecology.

In 1982 Cockburn was suspended from The Voice for "accepting a $10,000 grant from an Arab studies organization in 1982." In 1984, Cockburn became a regular contributor to The Nation with a column called "Beat the Devil", titled for the novel of the same name written by his father. During the 1980s Cockburn also contributed to the New York Press, the Los Angeles Times, the New Statesman, the Anderson Valley Advertiser, The Week, The Wall Street Journal, and Chronicles.

In 1987, Cockburn completed the first of a series of books collecting columns, diary entries, letters, and essays dating from 1976, titled Corruptions of Empire; the cover featured a portrayal of Admiral George Cockburn torching the White House. Follow-up books included The Golden Age Is In Us: Journeys and Encounters (1995) and A Colossal Wreck: A Road Trip Through Political Scandal, Corruption, and American Culture (2013). In the 1990s Cockburn contributed to, and eventually became co-editor of, the newsletter CounterPunch.

Cockburn became a United States citizen in 2009. He lived in New York City for many years, before moving to Petrolia in Humboldt County in northern California in 1992.

Anti-war positions
In a January 1980, Village Voice column, Cockburn criticized the US media's coverage of the Soviet–Afghan War, and described Afghanistan as "An unspeakable country filled with unspeakable people, sheepshaggers and smugglers ... I yield to none in my sympathy to those prostrate beneath the Russian jackboot, but if ever a country deserved rape it's Afghanistan." Cockburn later said that his comments were "satirical," "tasteless," and that he "shouldn't have written it ... it was a joke."

The USS Vincennes fired a missile in 1988 that brought down Iran Air Flight 655, killing 290 people. With Ken Silverstein, in reaction the two men co-wrote articles critical of the United States military and its commanders. Cockburn also criticized economic and political sanctions imposed on the Iraqi government by the United Nations. He said that such policies targeted "rogue states (most of which, like the Taliban or Saddam Hussein, started off as creatures of US intelligence)." After the September 11 attacks, he criticized the 2001 United States invasion of Afghanistan, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq by United States-led forces.

Opposition to conspiracy theories
Cockburn opposed conspiracism, particularly in regard to 9/11 conspiracy theories. He interpreted the rise of these ideas as a sign of the decline of the American Left. Cockburn also criticized conspiracy theories related to the 1963 assassination of US president Kennedy and the Country Walk case. He did suggest in writing that the US government had prior knowledge of the 1941 Japanese military attack on Pearl Harbor.

Support of US constitutional rights
Cockburn supported free speech, writing that "Free speech counts most when it's most risky". He said, "America is well on its way to making it illegal to say anything nasty about gays, Jews, blacks and women [...] with the First Amendment gone the way of the dodo." Cockburn wrote approvingly of the right-wing Patriot movement and militia rallies.

Asked about his position on the Second Amendment and gun control, Cockburn once said, "a native Mexican turkey wandered onto my property in Humboldt County, unaware that the California Fish and Game regulations permitted a window of vulnerability for the aforementioned wild turkey. I then proceeded to my 12-gauge and brought that turkey down, thirteen and a half pounds, plucked it, drew it, and ate it, with my loved ones as they say," but also said "I think that people shouldn't carry Howitzers." Following the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, Cockburn wrote, "There have been the usual howls from the anti-gun lobby, but it's all hot air. America is not about to dump the Second Amendment giving people the right to bear arms." He suggested several alternative measures to increased gun control around institutions of mandatory and elective education.

Social topics
Among other social topics, Cockburn wrote extensively about his opposition to “scaremongering” about illegal immigration to the United States, anti-Semitism and use of anti-Semitism accusations in modern politics  (for which he received criticism),   and his support of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Cockburn also wrote about same-sex marriage and Scientology.

Personal life and death
In December 1968, Cockburn married writer Emma Tennant; their daughter Daisy Alice Cockburn was born in February 1969. Cockburn and Tennant divorced in 1973.

Cockburn had a complicated personal and professional relationship with British author and journalist Christopher Hitchens. Robin Blackburn commented that Cockburn “sort of invented Christopher. He showed him what could be done."

Cockburn died on 21 July 2012, in Bad Salzhausen, Germany, age 71, after suffering from cancer for two years.

In CounterPunch, Jeffrey St. Clair wrote, "[Cockburn] didn't want the disease to define him. He didn't want his friends and readers to shower him with sympathy. He didn't want to blog his own death as Christopher Hitchens had done. Alex wanted to keep living his life right to the end."

Works
Books
 * The Incompatibles: Trade Union Militancy and the Consensus (1967) with Robin Blackburn.
 * Student Power (1969) with Robin Blackburn.
 * Idle Passion: Chess and the Dance of Death (1975)
 * Smoke: Another Jimmy Carter Adventure (1978) with James Ridgeway.
 * Political Ecology (1979) with James Ridgeway.
 * Corruptions of Empire (1988)
 * The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers and Defenders of the Amazon (1989) with Susanna Hecht.
 * The Golden Age Is in Us: Journeys and Encounters (1995)
 * Washington Babylon (1995) with Ken Silverstein.
 * Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press (1998) with Jeffrey St. Clair.
 * 5 Days That Shook The World: The Battle for Seattle and Beyond (2000) with Jeffrey St. Clair.
 * Al Gore: A User's Manual (2000) with Jeffrey St. Clair.
 * CounterPunch: The Journalism That Rediscovers America (2002) with Jeffrey St. Clair.
 * The Politics of Anti-Semitism (2003) with Jeffrey St. Clair.
 * Serpents in the Garden (2004) with Jeffrey St. Clair.
 * Imperial Crusades (2004) with Jeffrey St. Clair.
 * Dime's Worth of Difference (2004) with Jeffrey St. Clair.
 * End Times: Death of the Fourth Estate (2006) with Jeffrey St. Clair.
 * A Colossal Wreck: A Road Trip Through Political Scandal, Corruption, And American Culture (2013)

Articles
 * "Will There Always Be an England?" Ramparts Magazine (Apr. 1974), pp. 31-37.
 * "Beat the Devil." The Nation (Nov. 29, 1993), pp. 646-647.
 * "Tuna, Free Trade and Cocaine," with Ken Silverstein. Earth Island Journal, vol. 11, no. 3 (Summer 1996), p. 7..

Book reviews
 * "The Natural Artificer." Review of P. G. Wodehouse: A Biography by Frances Donaldson. New York Review of Books (Sep. 23, 1982).

Audio/spoken word
 * Beating the Devil: The Incendiary Rants of Alexander Cockburn. AK Press (2002).

Interviews
 * Chomsky, Noam. "Models, Nature, and Language." Interview with Alexander Cockburn. Grand Street, no. 50 (Autumn 1994), pp. 170–176. ..

title: Alexander Cockburn


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Ertzaintza

The Ertzaintza (, Public Guard or People's Guard) is the autonomous police force for the Basque Country, largely replacing the Spanish Policía Nacional (National Police) and Guardia Civil (Civil Guard). An Ertzaintza member is called an ertzaina.

Origins
The origins of the current Ertzaintza can be traced back to the old municipal militias, which were popular organizations at the service of local bodies, created to satisfy the need for public safety. But it was not until the 19th century when the almost permanent police corps of a professional nature were created.

It was a response to the banditry caused by the continuous social and political upheaval occurring from the end of the 18th century and well into the 19th. The decisive argument for its configuration was the First Carlist War, when the Miqueletes of Biscay and Guipuzcoa and the Miñones of Alava commenced their activities.

Once the urgencies of the war were overcome, the Spanish government attempted to recover the functions carried out by these regional forces and transfer them to the Civil Guard, which was created in 1844. Nevertheless, due to difficulties encountered when recruiting forces for this corps in the Basque provinces, plus the pressure posed by the other regional Governments, the very same regional forces were able to more or less carry on with their task.

After Carlist Wars
After the end of the Second Carlist War (1876), the Spanish government wished to curtail the regional autonomy. The Basque police forces had to adapt to this new centralist tendency, and these changes mostly manifested themselves in a reduction of personnel & operational capabilities. When the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed in 1931, political activity surged and so did the Basque claim to re-establish regional liberties that had been abolished in 1876. Thus, various projects for the Autonomy Statute were promoted.

On October 1, 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, the Basque Statute of Autonomy come into force, leading to the establishment of an autonomous government with actual authority over the provinces of Biscay and Guipuzcoa. One of the priorities of the new government was the re-establishment of public order.

The Basque Interior Minister Telesforo Monzón set up several institutions, such as the International Police Force, the Maritime Police and the Public Order Body. Their main task was the creation of a police force named Ertzaña (a Basque neologism for "People care"), with 500 infantry and 400 motorised (Ertzañ Igiletua) men, totalling joint forces of around 1,200 agents. Most of the British Riley Motor cars acquired for the motorised police did not arrive due to the Non-Intervention Pact. The majority of the Ertzaña were Basque speakers from the Basque Nationalist Party Its headquarters were in Bilbao, at the Ibaigane Palace (currently the headquarters of Athletic Bilbao).

When the war on the Basque front concluded, the Ertzaña was dissolved, and Franco's Nationalist regime pretended that this institution had never existed in the first place.

Having allied themselves with the losing Republican side, Biscay and Guipuzcoa were considered "traitor provinces" and most of their autonomy was annulled. However, since at the outbreak of the civil war Alava and Navarre had thrown their lot in with the Nationalists, the Miñones and Miqueletes continued on duty, with assignments such as traffic patrols and custody of the regional institutions.

During transition
After the Spanish transition to democracy, the autonomous Basque Government was restored. Its government once again took up the spirit of the Ertzaña of 1936 to design, in 1980, the new autonomous police force of the Basque Country, the Ertzaintza (a more grammatical form). Previously, a Royal Decree re-established the "Forales" and the "Miqueletes" in Biscay and Guipuzcoa and gave a new configuration to the "Miñones" corps in Alava. These institutions were incorporated into the new Basque Police Force.

Navarre, during the events surrounding Spain's 1978 Constitution, ended up with the status of Autonomous Community and was not lumped in with the Basque autonomous community, and its police force (Policía Foral) remains independent of the Ertzaintza.

Officers
The first officers were members of the Basque Nationalist Party. Although the law required that Ertzaintza commissioned officers had to be previous members of the Spanish army or the State police forces, this was often ignored.

This new police force, made up of Basque citizens, developed in an organized manner from 1982, and was progressively deployed starting from the countryside towards the cities.

Like many other Spanish Military and Police agencies Ertzaintza issues the H&K USP Compact chambered in 9mm.

Problems with ETA and controversies
Ertzaintza is not accepted by the Basque nationalist parties ETA and Batasuna, who deride it as zipaioak, or sepoys, an indigenous force serving the colonial power. As Ertzaintza took a more relevant role in the fight against ETA, it has become a target for them. It was soon infiltrated by ETA members, like Iñaki de Juana Chaos. In the areas where support for ETA is higher, ertzainas are forced to reside elsewhere and commute to work. Fourteen ertzainas have been killed or injured by ETA, sometimes being specifically targeted.

The Spanish government has had reservations about Ertzaintza. Spanish parties have often accused the Basque Home Office (in most terms held by the Basque Nationalist Party) of being soft on the fight against ETA and its supporting party Batasuna. Two police officers of Ertzaintza said that the former nationalist government "gave them orders not to act against ETA members and its social environment". Because of infiltration, Ertzaintza is not allowed by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior to access the Interpol intelligence network. On 1 March 2010, Ertzaintza joined the Center for Police and Customs Cooperation in Hendaye, France, near the Spanish border. It is a joint police station for information exchange with the French police. The Spanish Civil Guard, the Spanish National Police Corps and the Customs Watch Services of the Spanish Tax Agency are also part of the center.

Lack of communication has occasionally led to shootings among police forces.

Some councillors of the Basque Country said that they have perceived a "decrease of the pro-ETA menace because of the current important role of the Ertzaintza against terrorism".

Etymology
Ertzaña was a Basque neologism from eŕi ("people") and zañ ("guard") created by the Nationalist poet Esteban Urkiaga Lauaxeta. The generic Basque word for "police" is polizia. Following the standardization of Basque in the 1960s, the name of the restored force became "Ertzaintza" from the respelled herri and zain (compare with artzain, "shepherd" from ardi + zain), with the suffix -tza (compare Osakidetza, the Basque health service). However to maintain a link to the past, the silent H was not included. The Basque pop group Hertzainak ("The policemen") chose their name prior to the re-establishment of the corps and applied the modern spelling rules.

title: Ertzaintza