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Jeff Flake

Jeffry Lane Flake (born December 31, 1962) is an American politician and diplomat who is the United States ambassador to Turkey. A member of the Republican Party, Flake served in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013 and in the United States Senate from 2013 to 2019, representing Arizona. He was nominated by Democratic president Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate for his ambassador post on October 26, 2021. He presented his credentials to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Presidential Complex of Turkey in Ankara on January 26, 2022.

Born in Snowflake, Arizona, Flake attended Brigham Young University, from which he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations, and later his Master of Arts degree in political science. In the early 1980s, he became a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Africa, where he learned to speak Afrikaans. After returning to the United States, Flake served as executive director of the Goldwater Institute, before being elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st congressional district in 2001. He served as the representative for the 1st district until renumbering following the 2000 census redefined the district to be Arizona's 6th congressional district, which he then represented until he entered the Senate in 2013.

Flake sought the Republican nomination for the 2012 Senate election after incumbent Jon Kyl announced his retirement. He defeated Democratic candidate and former United States Surgeon General Richard Carmona in the general election. Flake was one of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" U.S. senators who pushed an immigration reform bill through the Senate in 2013. He is known as a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, but generally voted in line with Trump's positions. On October 24, 2017, Flake announced that he would not seek re-election in 2018.

Throughout his Senate career, Flake suffered from consistently low approval ratings. In April 2013, less than three months after taking office, he had 32% approval and 51% disapproval ratings. By mid-2017, he dropped to 18% approval and 62% disapproval ratings, but recovered slightly near the end of his term, with 30% approval and 51% disapproval ratings as of July 2018.

On January 29, 2019, Flake was hired by CBS as a contributor for CBS News.

Early life, education, and early career
Jeffry Lane Flake was born in Snowflake, Arizona, the son of Nerita (née Hock) and Dean Maeser Flake. His birth town was named in part for his great-great-grandfather, Mormon pioneer William J. Flake. Flake obtained a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and a Master of Arts in political science from Brigham Young University. He took a two-year leave of absence to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Africa and Zimbabwe in the early 1980s. He speaks Afrikaans. He worked in the public affairs sector after college and was the executive director of the Foundation for Democracy in Namibia and executive director of the Goldwater Institute before entering the House of Representatives. He opposed economic sanctions on South Africa in the 1980s, arguing that sanctions would harm the black population who were already suffering under apartheid policies.

Elections
Flake was first elected to Congress in 2000 from what was then the 1st District, after Republican incumbent Matt Salmon stepped down to honor a self-imposed term limit. The district, which included most of the East Valley, was then renumbered as the 6th district as Arizona gained two Congressional seats because of the results of the 2000 census. Flake easily defeated his primary challenger.

In his campaign in 2000, Flake had pledged to serve no more than three terms in Congress which would see him serve no later than January 2007. Shortly after being elected for a third time, Flake announced in early 2005 that he had changed his mind on pledging term limits and was planning to run for reelection in 2006. "It was a mistake to limit my own terms," Flake said.

In that same election, three out of five mayors in his home district opposed his reelection because, according to Flake, he did not "bring pork barrel spending" to the mayors' cities. In 2006, several Democrats had announced their intention to run for the seat but only one met the June filing deadline, and that particular filing was rejected due to an insufficient number of nominating signatures. "I did expect to have a primary opponent. I deserve one," Flake said, referring to the term-limit pledge which he had broken. "By all rights, I ought to have an opponent. I just got lucky, I guess."

In the 2006 midterm elections, Flake had no Democratic Party opponent and easily defeated the Libertarian Party candidate, Jason Blair, with 74% of the vote.

Tenure
Flake was a member of the Republican Liberty Caucus, a group of libertarian-leaning Republican congressmen. He was also a member of the Republican Study Committee.

Committee assignments

 * Committee on Appropriations
 * Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
 * Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
 * Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies

2012 election
In February 2011, Flake announced that he was running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl in 2012. Flake easily won the Republican nomination against real estate businessman Wil Cardon. He faced former United States' surgeon general Richard Carmona, who sought office for the first time in the general election. In May 2012, Flake led Carmona by 13 points in the polls. In an October 2012 poll by Public Policy Polling, Flake was trailing Carmona by two points. After the race tightened, the Wall Street Journal criticized a controversial Flake ad that accused Carmona of having "issues with anger, with ethics, and with women." Flake was endorsed by the Casa Grande Dispatch, the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Senate Conservatives Fund, and the Club for Growth.

Flake defeated Democrat Richard Carmona 49–46% on November 6, 2012. He won mainly on the strength of carrying Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and 60 percent of the state's population, by 77,200 votes, more than the overall margin of 67,900 votes. He also benefited from Mitt Romney, whom Flake considers a friend, carrying the state by 10 points in the presidential election.

Tenure
Flake succeeded retiring Republican U.S. Senator Jon Kyl on January 3, 2013.

Flake used his experience surviving in the wild for six days with a Democratic Senator to develop an idea to end partisan gridlock in Washington. In 2014, Flake and U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) were featured on a Discovery Channel reality TV show, Rival Survival, where the two stayed on a small Micronesian island for six days. Flake later joked during a speech at the National Press Club that sending both Senate leaders (Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid [D-NV] and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell [R-KY]) to a remote island together might reduce partisanship and allow more legislation to move forward.

Flake was on the field during practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game when the Congressional baseball shooting happened on June 14, 2017. He said the attendees were like "sitting ducks" and that it was likely that the Capitol Police saved their lives:

"All of a sudden, we heard a very loud shot. Everybody thought 'sounds like a gun'. The gunman was over by the third base dugout, with a clear view of the field and everybody on it. A lot of us dove into the dugout and tried to get as many as we could, but at that point, there was firing behind us from the security detail, the Capitol Police, and I started yelling back, 'are you friendly?'—making sure that it was our guy, because we didn't know if there were other shooters that had us surrounded, and were coming into the dugout."

Former President Obama called Flake that morning to extend his best wishes and prayers for the victims. Flake had flown with Obama from Washington, D.C., to Arizona in 2011 after the shooting of then-Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.

On October 24, 2017, Flake announced in a speech that he would not seek a second term in the Senate. Flake's speech, which was described by McKay Coppins as a "thundering indictment of his party, his president, and his country's political culture," was called "the most important speech of 2017" by Chris Cillizza.

In May 2018, Flake stated that he would donate to Democratic Senator Joe Manchin's campaign if Don Blankenship (who had served time in prison) won the West Virginia Republican Senate primary. Blankenship was defeated by Patrick Morrisey.

Committee assignments

 * Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
 * Subcommittee on Energy
 * Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests and Mining
 * Subcommittee on Water and Power
 * Committee on Foreign Relations
 * Subcommittee on African Affairs (Chairman)
 * Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs
 * Subcommittee on European Affairs
 * Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs and International Environmental Protection, and Peace Corps
 * Committee on the Judiciary
 * Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights
 * Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security
 * Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security (Chairman)
 * Special Committee on Aging

U.S. ambassador to Turkey
After Joe Biden was elected President in 2020, Flake was seen as a contender for a job as an ambassador in Biden's administration, along with several other moderate Republicans who were close with Biden.

In June 2021, it was reported that Biden was set to offer Flake a position as the United States ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. Flake reportedly denied the rumor.

Flake was officially nominated by Biden to be the United States Ambassador to Turkey on July 13, 2021. On September 28, 2021, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On October 19, 2021, his nomination was reported favorably out of committee. On October 26, 2021, Flake was confirmed by the Senate by voice vote. Flake was sworn in on December 10, 2021.

Political positions
Jeff Flake has used the phrase "traditionally conservative Republican" to describe his political preference. The non-partisan National Journal published an analysis of his 2013 voting record and gave him a composite ideological score of 65% conservative and 35% liberal. The New York Times used an analysis of the Senate's ideological composition and ranked Flake as the fourth most conservative Senator in 2017. The American Conservative Union gives Flake a lifetime 93% conservative score and the fiscally conservative Americans for Prosperity gave Flake a 98% lifetime score; the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization focused on civil rights and liberties, gave Flake a 53% rating in 2014 and a 35% rating in 2016.

Budget and economy
Flake is a fiscal conservative, and a critic of government waste and advocates reducing federal spending. He was described by columnist Robert Novak as an "insistent reformer". Flake signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and one of eight House members to receive a 100% approval rating from the American Conservative Union. A "scourge of pork-barrel spending", Flake was ruled the least profligate spender in Congress by Citizens Against Government Waste in July 2007 and designated a "taxpayer superhero." In 2008, Flake voted against the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Flake is "known for his ardent opposition to earmarks." He has been called an "anti-earmark crusader," and frequently challenged earmarks proposed by other members of Congress. Starting in May 2006, he became prominent with the "Flake Hour," a tradition at the end of spending bill debates in which he asked earmark sponsors to come to the house floor and justify why taxpayers should pay for their "pet projects." He is credited with prompting House rule changes to require earmark sponsors to identify themselves.

Until September 2010, Flake issued a press release listing an "egregious earmark of the week" every Friday. The earmark was usually followed by Flake making a humorous comment; as an example, Rep. Flake once said of Congressman Jose Serrano's $150,000 earmark to fix plumbing in Italian restaurants, "I would argue this is one cannoli the taxpayer doesn't want to take a bite of." The "earmark of the week" releases were ended and replaced with the "So Just How Broke Are We?" series of releases. In March 2010, the House Appropriations Committee implemented rules to ban earmarks to for-profit corporations, a change Flake supported. "This is the best day we've had in a while," he said to the New York Times, which reported that approximately 1,000 such earmarks were authorized in the previous year, worth $1.7 billion.

In September 2018, Flake was among six Republican senators, Mike Lee, Pat Toomey, Rand Paul, David Perdue, and Ben Sasse, as well as Bernie Sanders, that voted against a $854 billion spending bill, meant to avoid another government shutdown. Said bill included funding for the departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor and Education.

Disaster aid
In 2012, it was reported that Flake had on at least five occasions voted against legislation intended to prevent natural disasters and provide aid to those harmed by natural disasters. In 2005, Flake was one of only 11 House representatives to vote against a bill providing supplemental emergency funds to handle damage from Hurricane Katrina.

Donald Trump
Flake is known as a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump. Trump was "furious" that Flake called on him to withdraw from the presidential race after the emergence of the Access Hollywood tape. In August 2017, Flake published his book Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle, which expanded on his criticisms of Donald Trump.

In October 2017, upon announcing that he would not seek re-election in 2018, Flake delivered a speech on the Senate floor where he denounced the Trump Administration. Flake's speech, which was described by McKay Coppins as a "thundering indictment of his party, his president, and his country's political culture," was called "the most important speech of 2017" by Chris Cillizza.

In May 2018, Flake said that Trump had "debased" the presidency, that he had a "seemingly bottomless appetite for destruction and division," and that he possessed "only a passing familiarity with how the Constitution works." Flake vowed to hold up some of Trump's judicial nominees for lower courts positions until he obtained a non-binding vote in the Senate expressing opposition to Trump's tariffs. He was one of two Republicans to vote against the confirmation of Trump's nominee to be CIA Director, Gina Haspel. Flake also refused to push Trump to take a firmer stance on Russia. In November 2018, Flake announced that he would once again vote to hold up Trump's nominees to the judiciary until the Senate voted on a bill to protect the independence of Robert Mueller's FBI investigation. Flake was one of two Republicans to oppose the nomination of Thomas Farr to the federal judiciary; his opposition was crucial to the derailing of Trump's nominee. However, according to FiveThirtyEight, Flake had voted with Trump's position on legislative issues 84% of the time as of December 2018.

On August 24, 2020, Flake officially endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president. Flake was censured by the Arizona Republican Party on January 23, 2021 for his lack of loyalty to the party leadership. “If condoning the President’s behavior is required to stay in the Party’s good graces, I’m just fine being on the outs,” Flake wrote on Twitter before the vote.

Environment
On December 2, 2014, the Senate passed the Bill Williams River Water Rights Settlement Act. The bill would put an end to a fight over water rights in the Bill Williams River Watershed in Arizona. Flake introduced the Senate version of the bill along with Senator John McCain. The bill also helps the Hualapai Native American tribe, which uses water from the watershed. The bill would put a limit on the amount of water that a local mining company can use, and it would give legal recognition to the tribe's rights to the water source. The settlement would guarantee water rights for the tribe; provide water for Freeport's mine in Bagdad, Arizona; and give the state of Arizona rights to a property area that would be used for a conservation program for several species.

Flake and McCain sent a letter to the head of the EPA, citing a number of reasons why the regulation would hurt Arizona. One of the senators' concerns was about waterways that only flow in certain parts of the year. Flake and McCain believe that if the EPA includes those types of waterways in the new regulations, the regulations would have a negative effect on Arizona's agriculture industry. One of the reasons the EPA is using in deciding which waterways will fall under the new regulation is by concluding whether pollution in waterways will negatively affect other waters downstream. Flake and McCain asserted in their letter that little proof existed to back up such a conclusion, but the EPA responded by saying that the proposed regulation was carefully examined and was made with bipartisan input. Flake and McCain wrote that the new changes could make it harder for Arizona firefighters to fight wildfires.

Flake wrote that the EPA proposed rule did not make a distinction between waterways that flow all year or just part of the year. Flake said that 94 percent of Arizona's waterways do not flow continuously year-round, and argued that the lack of distinction in the rule would affect most of Arizona's waterways. He argued that the scientific evidence used by the EPA to back up the rule was "anything but settled." Flake and McCain had written to the EPA administrator about their concerns earlier, on May 6, 2014. Despite Flake's efforts against the bill, however, it was signed in to law by President Barack Obama on December 16, 2014.

Foreign policy
Flake voted in favor of the Iraq Resolution (authorizing the Iraq War) in the House of Representatives in October 2002. In a debate on the House floor on the authorization of force (October 8, 2002), Flake said, "We ought to let history be our guide here. But the most recent history in this case that we ought to look at is the vote that took place in this Chamber 12 years ago. During that time, we faced a very similar decision. Should we thwart Saddam Hussein in his attempt to go beyond his boundaries or should we appease him? Fortunately, the majority of this body and the other body agreed we ought to thwart him; and I think we can all agree that, had we not done so, that the biological and chemical weapons that Saddam Hussein possesses would be added to nuclear weapons which he would certainly possess today had he not been thwarted at that time. We are in this position today, I would submit, because we have no other choice. This is our only reasonable option. War will no doubt come at great cost. When we visit the war memorials, we see that cost, but the cost of appeasement is far greater. I commend the House leadership for bringing this resolution forward and for shepherding it through process. I especially commend our President who so forcefully pushed for this resolution and who has so deliberately pushed for this resolution. I urge support for the resolution."

After the 2006 election in which Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives largely due to the unpopularity of the war in Iraq, Flake changed his position on the Iraq War to one of cautious opposition, including voting against appropriations. At a 2008 congressional hearing featuring General David Petraeus, Flake said, "I still have a hard time seeing the big picture and what constitutes success [in Iraq]. That's not just one side of the aisle with those kind of concerns. Many on this side of the aisle have that as well."

Flake supported ending the Cuba Trade Embargo and otherwise normalizing relations with Cuba.

Flake supported President Barack Obama's 2014 decision to begin the process of normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba, despite opposition to the policy change from other Republican senators. Flake joined Democrats Chris Van Hollen and Patrick Leahy on a trip to Cuba to return Alan Gross to the United States. Gross, an American government contractor, had been imprisoned in Cuba for five years but was released as part of the agreement between Obama and Cuban leader Raúl Castro. Flake believes that the United States embargo against Cuba is flawed, stating, "The policy that we've had in place for the past 50 years has done more in my view ... to keep the Castro regimes in power than anything we could've done." Flake has traveled to Cuba nine times and supports loosening restrictions on Americans traveling to Cuba.

In August 2017, Flake co-sponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (s. 720), which made it a federal crime for American states to encourage or participate in boycotts against Israel, and allow states to cancel contracts with companies that support boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the West Bank Palestinian territories if protesting actions by the Israeli government.

Guns
On April 17, 2013, Flake joined 45 other senators in voting against the Manchin-Toomey Amendment, which would have required background checks on private gun sales. Following the vote, Flake was criticized for changing his position on background checks. Just days before the vote, he had sent the mother of one of the Colorado theater shooting victims a handwritten letter stating that "strengthening background checks is something we agree on." In response to a question asking whether he was worried about potential political consequences vowed by gun-control groups, Flake replied, "That's the beauty of a 6-year term. I truly want to do something on this, but what has been a little upsetting is to hear people try to maintain that we were just caving to pressure, discounting any issues that we had with the legislation, with the language. That's just not right." Following his no vote, Flake's approval rating fell from 45% favorable—43% unfavorable, to 32% favorable—51% unfavorable according to one poll, making him the most unpopular senator in America.

In March 2013, he voted with Senators Lindsey Graham and Mark Begich on introducing a bill that would prevent people from buying guns who have used an insanity defense, were ruled dangerous by a court, or had been committed by a court to mental health treatment.

Immigration
In 2007, Flake introduced legislation that would have provided a path to legalization for illegal immigrants, granted temporary legal status to illegal immigrants who paid a fine and passed background checks, and created a guest worker program. Also in 2007, Flake was removed from the House Judiciary Committee by Republican Minority Leader John Boehner for "bad behavior", which Boehner said was criticism of party leaders, though Flake himself attributed it to his support of comprehensive immigration reform.

In 2009, Flake introduced the Stopping Trained in America PhDs From Leaving the Economy (STAPLE) Act (H.R. 1791). The bill would have authorized students who earned a Ph.D. in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics from U.S. universities to be admitted for permanent residence and to be exempted from the numerical limits on H-1B nonimmigrants. The bill was reintroduced in 2011 and was referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement in February of that year.

In 2010, Flake voted against the DREAM Act, which would have provided a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrant minors provided that they join the military or go to university. In late October 2012, Flake stated that he may support it in the future.

In 2013, Flake was a member of the "Gang of Eight"—a bipartisan group of eight senators (four Democrats and four Republicans)—who sponsored an immigration overhaul bill. Flake said of the group: "Pretty quickly we determined that everybody around that table wanted to do this. We weren't looking to score political points." The Senate passed the bill with 68 votes, but the bill failed in the House.

When in November 2014, Obama announced on TV that he would use his executive powers to allow some undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States, Flake said that the best response would be not to shut down the government, but to pass a bill that addresses immigration problems. As for Obama's executive plan, Flake said that he opposed it. Flake opposed using a government funding bill to stop Obama's executive action, but Flake also said that he believed that both parties' strategies would make it more difficult to pass immigration reform legislation.

Flake has publicly said that he believes that the reason so many children in recent years have come across the U.S. border illegally without parents is because parents believe their children will be able to stay in the United States if they do so. Flake has said that the Republican Party needs to take a rational approach to solving immigration problems, and if it does not, the party will have a difficult time winning national elections. Flake said that Jeb Bush's support of an immigration system reform makes Bush more electable in a general election. Flake supported Jeb Bush's remarks about immigration being an act of love, and said, "Growing up here in Arizona, I've seen what motivates those who come here illegally. Sure, some come with the intent to do harm or simply to take advantage of our generosity. But many come to find work to feed their families. To lump everyone who crosses the border illegally into the same class is unfair and unproductive."

Flake spoke out against President Donald Trump's January 2017 executive order to prohibit immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries. He stated that "It's unacceptable when even legal permanent residents are being detained or turned away at airports and ports of entry."

'Paid patriotism'
In 2015, Flake and Senator John McCain published a report detailing what they called "paid patriotism" by the U.S. Department of Defense for using soldiers, military equipment and resources at professional sports events in the United States. The report gave evidence that taxpayer-funded patriotic displays extended not only to the NFL but also to Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer.

Roy Moore
In October 2017, Flake refused to support Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore in the December 2017 Senate special election in Alabama. Flake said that he could not support a candidate who believed that Muslims should not be allowed to serve in Congress. After the Washington Post reported in November 2017 that a number of women had accused Moore of having pursued sexual relationships with them or sexually assaulted them when they were teenagers, Flake quickly condemned Moore and said he would prefer that Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate, win the special election instead of Moore. On December 5, 2017, one week before the election, Flake donated $100 to the Jones campaign and posted a tweet which said "Country over Party". Jones ultimately won the election, with Flake tweeting out "Decency wins".

Social issues
In October 2008, Esquire named Congressman Flake one of the Ten Best Members of Congress, saying in part, "A true conservative, Flake is as rare as the dodo. Republicans should learn from him, and liberals and libertarians will find in him a strong privacy-rights ally." During the 2005 debate on renewal of the expiring provisions of the USA Patriot Act, Jeff Flake successfully submitted several amendments to the bill in the House of Representatives. One required the FBI director to personally sign off on any request for library and bookstore records before applying to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, but it was altered in the United States Senate version of the bill. Two of his amendments were signed into law and they subjected any National Security Letter and its gag order to a judicial challenge by the recipient, and narrowed the scope of "Sneak and Peek" warrants to have definite time limits on their duration and extensions before they need to notify the target of the investigation. Before that, "Sneak and Peek" warrants could be extended by the standard of not "unduly delaying trial" without any defined time limitation. This amended bill was titled the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 and it was signed into law on March 9, 2006. This bill also required three Inspector General investigations that led to the discovery of exigent letters and National Security Letter abuses. On February 8, 2011, Flake voted to renew key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act. The vote failed. On February 10, 2011, Flake again voted to renew key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act. This vote succeeded.

On March 7, 2017, Flake introduced a bill to eliminate FCC Internet privacy rules that were passed under President Barack Obama. His proposed bill would allow Internet service providers to share and sell consumers' browsing history without consent. In regards to Obama's FCC Internet Privacy rules, Flake stated that "It is unnecessary, confusing and adds yet another innovation-stifling regulation to the Internet." Flake received $22,700 in donations from paid lobbyists representing Internet service providers and tech firms to sponsor the anti-privacy legislation. In April 2017, the legislation passed both houses of Congress, which were Republican-controlled, allowing ISPs to sell consumer browsing history and other information without the user's consent. One constituent at a town-hall meeting told Flake that "You sold my privacy up the river."

Flake is Pro-Life, opposing legal abortion, with exceptions for rape, incest, and to protect the life of the mother.

In 2010, Flake was one of fifteen Republican House members to vote in favor of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which repealed the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which banned openly gay service members. The Human Rights Campaign, which scores politicians' support for LGBT rights, gave Flake a score of 12% in the 115th Congress and a 32% in the 114th Congress. Flake had voted to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage with a Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and 2006.

In 2017, Flake voted three times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Although he voted in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in 2007, which would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation, Flake said he had concerns with the 2013 version, which includes both sexual orientation and gender identity. When the vote occurred on November 7, Flake cast his vote in favor of the 2013 version of ENDA.

Flake also cosponsored the bipartisan STATES Act proposed in the 115th U.S. Congress by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Colorado Senator Cory Gardner that would exempt individuals or corporations in compliance with state cannabis laws from federal enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act.

Supreme Court
In March 2016, Flake said that Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court seat vacated by the death of Antonin Scalia, should not be confirmed unless Hillary Clinton won the 2016 presidential election. Flake argued that should Clinton win, Garland should be confirmed in the Senate's lame-duck session because he was less liberal than any nominee Clinton might put forward. After meeting with Garland in April, Flake reiterated this position, saying that confirmation hearings on Garland's nomination should not be taken up until after the election, so that the American people could choose the next president, unless Clinton won, in which case, "we ought to approve him quickly."

In April 2017, he voted to invoke cloture (end debate) on the nomination of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, putting an end to the Democratic filibuster. Flake also voted for the "nuclear option," ending the ability to filibuster Supreme Court nominees. He stated, "While changing Senate rules was not my preferred outcome, this will simply make de jure what was de facto prior to 2003, when filibusters were virtually never used on the executive calendar."

On September 28, 2018, Flake announced his intention to vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh had been accused of sexual assault by a number of women, including Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who testified for several hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee the day before Flake's announcement. Kavanaugh subsequently testified and denied the allegations. Flake said that Ford's testimony was "compelling", but added that Kavanaugh's response was "persuasive" and left him "with as much doubt as certainty" regarding what had occurred. Following his announcement, Flake was confronted by Ana Maria Archila and Maria Gallagher, two anti-Kavanaugh protestors who had evaded security, in a Senate office building elevator. They were later removed. Despite their pleas, Flake voted not to subpoena Mark Judge (whom Ford had claimed was present during the supposed assault) to appear before the Judiciary Committee. That afternoon, Flake voted to advance Kavanaugh's nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but said he was a "yes" vote "only if the final Senate vote [was] delayed for one week, during which time the FBI [could] investigate sexual harassment allegations against Kavanaugh"; Senate Republican leaders agreed to support the proposed investigation. Later that day, President Trump directed the FBI to undertake a one-week, extremely limited investigation of the allegations against Kavanaugh, which found no corroboration for the charges against Kavanaugh. Democrats criticized the investigation as a sham since neither Ford nor Kavanaugh were interviewed by the FBI.

Trade
In November 2018, Flake was one of twelve Republican senators to sign a letter to President Trump requesting the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement be submitted to Congress by the end of the month to allow a vote on it before the end of the year as they were concerned "passage of the USMCA as negotiated will become significantly more difficult" if having to be approved through the incoming 116th United States Congress.

Personal life
Flake and his wife Cheryl (née Bae) have been married since 1985. They live in Mesa and have five children. The Flakes are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Flake spent time in Zimbabwe and South Africa as a missionary. His uncle, Jake Flake, served in both houses of the Arizona state legislature, including as speaker of the state house.

In 2009, while serving as a Representative, Flake spent a week alone on the island of Jabonwod, one of the Marshall Islands, as a survivalist venture. He survived by eating crabs, coconuts, and fish. Having enjoyed the experience, he decided to repeat it when he was a senator, this time bringing his two youngest sons with him to another island in the area, Biggarenn, for four days during a congressional recess in 2013.

Electoral history
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em ; font-size:95%" !|Year ! !|Democratic !|Votes !|Pct ! !|Republican !|Votes !|Pct ! !|3rd Party !|Party !|Votes !|Pct !
 * + Arizona's 1st congressional district: 2000 Results
 * 2000
 * |David Mendoza
 * align="right" |97,455
 * |42.4%
 * |Jeff Flake
 * align="right" |123,289
 * |53.6%
 * |Jon Burroughs
 * |Libertarian
 * align="right" |9,227
 * align="right" |4.0%
 * |Jon Burroughs
 * |Libertarian
 * align="right" |9,227
 * align="right" |4.0%

Publications

 * Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle. 2017. ISBN 978-0399592911,
 * Senator Jeff Flake Presents Wastebook Porkémon Go January 2017. 2017. ISBN 978-1973708094,
 * Jurassic Pork: Old Earmarks Have Survived. 2015. ISBN 978-1540739100,

title: Jeff Flake


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Jim Kolbe

James Thomas Kolbe (June 28, 1942 – December 3, 2022) was an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives. He represented Arizona's 5th congressional district from 1985 to 2003 and its 8th congressional district from 2003 to 2007. A moderate, pro–abortion rights Republican, he came out as gay in 1996 after voting in support of the Defense of Marriage Act; his subsequent re-elections made him the second openly gay Republican elected to Congress.

After leaving Congress, Kolbe served on the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations under Democratic president Barack Obama. Kolbe left the Republican Party and became an independent in 2018 after the election of Donald Trump. He endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Early life
Kolbe was born in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, on June 28, 1942, the son of Helen Nevada (Reed) and Walter William Kolbe. When he was five, his family moved to a ranch in rural Santa Cruz County, Arizona. He attended Patagonia Elementary School and Patagonia Union High School, but graduated from the United States Capitol Page School in 1960 after serving for three years as a United States Senate Page for Barry Goldwater. In 1965, he received his bachelor's degree in political science from Northwestern University in Evanston, where he was a member of Acacia fraternity, and, in 1967, his master's in business administration from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. He served in the United States Navy, including a year in Vietnam in the riverine, "Swift Boat," force. He was a special assistant to Illinois Republican Governor Richard B. Ogilvie. He then moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he was a business executive.

Arizona Senate
In 1976, Kolbe ran for the Arizona Senate in a Tucson-area district and defeated Lucy Davidson, a one-term Democrat who had been elected in the national Democratic wave of 1974. He served three terms in that body, and was majority whip from 1979 to 1982.

U.S. House of Representatives
In 1982, Kolbe ran for the United States House of Representatives in the newly created Arizona's 5th congressional district. He lost to Democrat Jim McNulty, a member of the Arizona Board of Regents, by one percent. However, Kolbe sought a rematch in 1984. Buoyed by Ronald Reagan's massive national landslide that year (Reagan carried the 5th with 60 percent of the vote), Kolbe won, becoming the first—and until the 2014 elections, only—Republican to represent the Arizona-Mexico border region in the House. He was reelected 10 times, often facing only token opposition. In 1998, former Tucson mayor Tom Volgy challenged Kolbe, holding Kolbe to only 51 percent of the vote.

Kolbe was a moderate Republican. This served him well; although his district included most of Tucson's Republican-leaning suburbs, the brand of Republican politics practiced in Southeast Arizona has traditionally been a centrist and independently-minded one. Like his mentor, Goldwater, Kolbe supported abortion rights. He was generally more supportive of environmental legislation than most Republicans, especially those from the West. He was a member of various moderate Republican groups such as the Log Cabin Republicans, the Republican Main Street Partnership, the Republican Majority For Choice, Republicans for Choice, Republicans For Environmental Protection, and It's My Party Too. He was one of the four Republicans who voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act which was passed by the House of Representatives with 281–142 votes on October 2, 2003.

In 2001, Kolbe introduced the Legal Tender Modernization Act which would have ceased production of the U.S. one-cent piece (penny). In July 2006, Kolbe introduced the Currency Overhaul for an Industrious Nation (COIN) Act, which would round cash transactions to the nearest five cents. This act would effectively remove the penny from circulation. Kolbe argued that, because of inflation, the penny is virtually worthless, and that the U.S. should stop using the penny now that the costs of penny production exceed its value. Kolbe had received some media attention as one of the foremost promoters of eliminating the penny from circulation.

In 2004, State House Majority Whip Randy Graf challenged Kolbe for the Republican nomination. It was the first substantive primary challenge Kolbe had faced since his initial run for the seat in 1982. Graf ran well to Kolbe's right, but was best known for his hardline approach to illegal immigration. In contrast, Kolbe was a strong supporter of guest worker programs for immigrants. Kolbe defeated Graf. He easily won an 11th term in November. Also in 2004, Kolbe was among the 27 Republicans who voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment, a constitutional amendment intended to ban gay marriage. He voted against banning gay marriage again in 2006.

On November 23, 2005, Kolbe announced that he would not seek a 12th term in 2006. While Kolbe had usually coasted to reelection, it had been expected to be very competitive if he ever retired. (Bill Clinton had narrowly won the district in 1996, and George W. Bush narrowly edged out Al Gore and John Kerry in both of his presidential bids.) Graf won the five-candidate primary on September 12, 2006. Kolbe refused to endorse Graf, who lost to Democrat Gabby Giffords in the November 2006 election.

Kolbe endorsed State Senate President Tim Bee's bid to unseat Giffords in 2008. However, he withdrew his endorsement in July 2008.

Mark Foley scandal
In 2000, when Kolbe found out about former Congressman Mark Foley's "Internet communications with teenagers" who were subordinate to Foley, he informed the office that oversaw the page program. He assumed the matter had been taken care of, although this was not brought to the public's attention until September 29, 2006, when it became public that Foley had sent sexually explicit and solicitative e-mails and instant messages to young adult male pages. Republican leaders had claimed that they had only recently been made aware of Foley's actions, despite Kolbe's actions. In January 2007, the Federal Election Commission committee ruled that Kolbe could use campaign funds for legal expenses associated with the Foley scandal. Former Senator Larry Craig cited this ruling in 2012 in defense against a lawsuit by the FEC regarding Craig's use of campaign funds in his own legal defense.

In October 2006, federal prosecutors in Arizona opened a preliminary investigation into a camping trip that Kolbe took in July 1996 that included two teenage former congressional pages, as well as National Park officials, then-current staff, and Kolbe's sister. During that trip to the Grand Canyon, he was accused of "acting inappropriately"; NBC News interviewed several people who were on the trip, and their accounts vary. On June 5, 2007, federal investigators absolved Kolbe of any wrongdoing in the case. In a statement released by the Justice Department, "investigators have completed their work on the preliminary inquiry opened by federal prosecutors last fall, and see no reason to pursue it further."

After Congress
Following his career in elected office, Kolbe became a fellow at the German Marshall Fund think tank and a consultant at Kissinger McLarty Associates. He focused on issues that were his priorities while he was in Congress—trade, aid, and migration. During the fall semesters from 2007 to 2009, he taught a class on trade and globalization at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in Tucson. He was a member of the board of directors of the International Republican Institute. During the 2010 election he broke from the Republican Party to endorse the candidacy of Democrat Andrei Cherny for state treasurer. He was also a member of Washington D.C. based think tank the Inter-American Dialogue.

In September 2010, President Barack Obama appointed Kolbe to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. Kolbe served on the Board of Advisors for International Relief and Development Inc. He was also a Co-Chairman of the dollar coin alliance. Kolbe served on the board of directors of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

In 2018, Kolbe left the Republican Party. He endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president in the 2020 presidential election.

In 2020, Kolbe, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that President Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him."

Kolbe sat on the Executive Advisory Board for autonomous trucking company TuSimple. He joined nine other former members of Congress to co-author a 2021 opinion editorial advocating reforms of Congress.

Personal life
Kolbe was married to Sarah Dinham, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Arizona, from 1977 to 1992. He was a member of Catalina United Methodist Church.

Kolbe came out as gay in August 1996 after his vote in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act spurred efforts by some gay rights activists to out him. He won re-election that year. In 2000, he became the first openly gay person to address the Republican National Convention, although his speech did not address gay rights. He was the second openly gay Republican to serve in Congress, the first being Steve Gunderson of Wisconsin.

In 2013, Kolbe married his partner, Hector Alfonso. That year, Kolbe was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.

On December 3, 2022, Kolbe died from a stroke at age 80. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey ordered flags in the state to be lowered until the evening of December 4 in honor of Kolbe.

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

title: Jim Kolbe


text:
Ruan Lingyu

Ruan Lingyu (born Ruan Fenggen; April 26, 1910 – March 8, 1935), also known by her English name Lily Yuen, was a Chinese silent film actress. One of the most prominent Chinese film stars of the 1930s, her exceptional acting ability and suicide at the age of 24 led her to become an icon of Chinese cinema.

Early life
Ruan was born to a working class family in Shanghai, and her ancestral home is in Xiangshan, Guangdong. Her father died when she was young, and her mother brought her up working as a housemaid.

Early career
In 1926, to help make ends meet, Ruan signed up for the prominent Mingxing Film Company. She made her first film at the age of 16. The film, A Married Couple in Name Only (掛名的夫妻/挂名的夫妻), was directed by Bu Wancang.

Two years later, she was signed by Da Zhonghua Baihe Company (大中華百合公司/大中华百合公司), where she shot six films. Her first big break came in Spring Dream of an Old Capital (故都春夢 or Reminiscences of Beijing, 1930), which was a massive hit in China. It was Ruan's first major work after signing with the newly formed Lianhua Studio in 1930. In it, she played a prostitute by the name of Yanyan.

Breakthrough and important films
Thereafter, Ruan became Lianhua's major film star. Her most memorable works came after 1931, starting with the melodrama Love and Duty (directed by Bu Wancang). Ruan had by then gained popularity owing to a string of leading roles, and in 1933 she was voted second runner-up in a poll held by Star Daily (明星日報) for China's "movie queen". (Hu Die emerged the winner and Chen Yumei was first runner-up). Beginning with Three Modern Women (1932), Ruan started collaborating with a group of leftist Chinese directors.

In Little Toys (1933), a film by Sun Yu, Ruan played a long-suffering toy-maker. Her next film, The Goddess (1934; dir: Wu Yonggang), is often hailed as the pinnacle of Chinese silent cinema; Ruan sympathetically portrayed a prostitute bringing up a child. Later that year, Ruan made her penultimate film, New Women (directed by Cai Chusheng), in which she played an educated woman forced to death by an unfeeling society. The film was based on the life of actress Ai Xia, who killed herself in 1934. Her final film, National Customs, was released shortly after her death.

One of Ruan's earliest films, Love and Duty (1931), directed by Bu Wancang and long believed to be a lost film, was discovered in Uruguay in 1994.

Personal life
At the age of 16, Ruan became acquainted with Zhang Damin (张达民/張達民), whose family her mother worked for. Zhang was later driven out of his wealthy family due to his spendthrift ways and became a chronic gambler, supported by Ruan's salary. Unable to tolerate Zhang's gambling, Ruan split with him in 1933.

She then began living with Tang Jishan, a tea tycoon. In 1935, Zhang filed a lawsuit asking for reparations from Ruan. The tabloids seized on this opportunity to probe into Ruan's private life and put her under intense pressure.

Following the completion of New Women, Ruan's life began to unravel. The film opened in Shanghai in 1935. Cai Chusheng was under massive pressure from tabloid reporters, who were extremely hostile, owing to the scathing depiction of the Shanghai tabloids in the movie. Cai was forced to make extensive cuts to the film. Even after that, Ruan's private life was mercilessly seized upon by the tabloids and her lawsuit with her first husband, Zhang Damin, became a source of vindictive coverage.

Death
Faced with her various public issues and intense private problems, Ruan committed suicide in Shanghai on March 8, 1935, at the age of 24, by taking an overdose of barbiturates. Her suicide note apparently contained a line which says "gossip is a fearful thing" (人言可畏), although recent researchers have doubted the note's authenticity as it appears to have been forged by Tang Jishan. Even China's preeminent intellectual Lu Xun was appalled at the details surrounding Ruan's death and wrote an essay entitled "Gossip is a Fearful Thing", denouncing the tabloids.

Recent researchers believe her deteriorating relationship with Tang Jishan and Zhang Damin's lawsuit were the cause of Ruan's death. It was further intensified by the mob media of China after New Women was released, since the film depicted the life of actress Ai Xia, who committed suicide due to media rumors about her private life. Ruan is also believed to have been physically abused on the evening that she died.

Funeral services and subsequent tributes
Her funeral service at the Wanguo Funeral Home lasted for three days. Several well-known film actors and actress attended her funeral, including Wang Renmei, Lin Chuchu and Liang Saizhen, and her pallbearers included some of the leading film directors such as Lai Man-Wai, Fei Mu, Wu Yonggang and Cai Chusheng. After the service, Ruan's casket was taken to a cemetery in Zhabei district.

Her funeral procession was reportedly 3 mi long, with three women committing suicide during the event. The New York Times called it "the most spectacular funeral of the century".

In 1998, a uniquely designed monument dedicated to her debuted in Fushouyuan Cemetery in Shanghai.

Suicide notes and alleged forgery
Two sets of suicide notes existed that were purportedly written by Ruan Lingyu just before her death.

First version
The earlier suicide notes were first published in Lianhua Pictorial (聯華畫報) on April 1, 1935, in a commemorative issue on Ruan Lingyu's death, supplied by Tang Jishan with whom Ruan Lingyu was cohabiting at the time of her death.

These suicide notes are now believed to have been forged by Tang Jishan, as Ruan Lingyu was unlikely to have written a letter to the press over her suicide, furthermore with lines like "[my spirit] will watch over you forever and ever" to Tang Jishan, a notorious womanizer.

LETTER TO THE PUBLIC

"Once I die, people will surely think I did it [killed herself] out of guilt. But what crime have I committed, that I must feel guilty about? Because I never did Zhang Damin any wrong, not in any way. We shan’t talk about anything else, just this: I even gave him 100 yuan (Or 14.USD.) a month after we separated and started living apart.

I'm not making this up, I have proof and the receipts. But he repaid gratitude with revenge, gave resentment for kindness. Moreover, the outside world doesn't know this, he made them think I did him wrong.

So what else can I come up with? I gave it so much thought—only suicide can end it all.

Alas, it's no pity if I die. But gossip is a fearful thing. I'm still afraid people will talk, that's all."

''—Ruan Lingyu, last words. Midnight, March 7, 1924.''

"I can't prove my innocence unless I die. Now that I am dead, he can have his way. Although he didn't kill me himself, I have died because of him. Zhang Damin, let's see how you can escape public censure! You can't set Tang Jishan up now, since you have already driven me to my death!"

TO TANG JISHAN, WRITTEN AT MIDNIGHT

"Jishan: I never expected death to be separating us so soon. But don't be sad. Every banquet has to end in this world someday. Please don't keep grieving.

I'm really sorry, I let you suffer because of me. Although he did all he could to slander us, things will come to light one day. Justice has its net spread wide and no one can escape. Let's see how that man lives now.

Just before a bird dies, its cry will be plaintive. Just before a person dies, he or she will speak kind words. If my spirit still exists after my death, it will watch over you forever and ever. After I die, please use what remains of my wages to support my mother and Nannan [Ruan Lingyu's adopted daughter]. If the money is not enough, please help! And please be watchful all the time, make sure that my aged mother won't do what I am about to do. I really ask this of you.

If you truly love me, please don't let me down by ignoring my instructions. I have said enough, we shall meet again in our next lives if fate allows it! Please collect my wage arrears from the company and support Mom and Nannan with the money. That's 2,050 yuan (Or 305.72 USD.) in all. This is so important. And that other letter—please publish it in the papers if the outside world comes to know I have killed myself. If they don't know, please don't tell the public."

''—Lingyu. Last words. Midnight, March 7, 1924.''

Second version
On April 26, 1935, the Siming Journal of Business (《思明商學報》) published what are now believed to be the real suicide notes of Ruan Lingyu. As the Siming Journal was a journal with an internal circulation of just 1,500 copies, few in China read about this and the article was largely forgotten after its initial publication.

The editor of Siming Journal claimed that Tang Jishan got Liang Saishan (梁賽珊), the sister of his lover Liang Saizhen (梁賽珍), to forge Ruan Lingyu's handwriting and suicide notes, which were then published in Lianhua Pictorial. Pricked by their conscience, Liang Saishan and Liang Saizhen later supplied Siming Journal with Ruan Lingyu's real suicide notes.

The notes were allegedly carelessly written, with many characters stricken off and rewritten, reflecting Ruan Lingyu’s state of mind. Most researchers believe them to be the authentic suicide notes left behind by Ruan.

The suicide notes were republished by Professor Lian Wenguang (连文光) in his 1993 book, Chinese and International Cinemas: History and Anecdotes. Public interest reignited after Shanghai's Xinmin Evening News reported the research of film historian Shen Ji (沈寂) in 2001, which coincided with Lian Wenguang’s findings.

Suicide note 1:

"Damin: You drove me to my death, but who will believe that? Think about how I gave you 100 yuan each month after we separated.

You have no conscience at all. People will surely think I did this out of guilt? But what crime have I committed, that I must feel guilty about? I only deeply regret being a trophy fought over by the two of you. But it's too late now! You don't have to cry! I'll be dead! You don't have to repent either, since it has already come to this."

Suicide note 2:

"Jishan: If you weren't infatuated with XXX [left blank upon publication, allegedly Tang Jishan’s other lover, Liang Saizhen 梁賽珍], if you hadn't hit me that evening and again this evening, I probably wouldn't be doing this! After I die, people will surely call you a demon and a womanizer, and on top of that, call me a soulless woman. But by then, I'll be gone from this world. You can suffer alone!

Zhiyun in the past [Tang Jishan’s former actress girlfriend 張織雲], me today—I'm sure you know who it will be tomorrow. When I'm dead, I won't dare to hate you. I hope you will treat Mom and little Nannan [Ruan Lingyu’s adopted daughter] well.

And Lianhua owes me wage arrears of 2,050 yuan. Please use the money to take care of them. And please look after them attentively, since they can only depend on you!

Without me, you can do what you like. I'm very happy."

Films
Zhang Damin, who tried to tell his story regarding Ruan's suicide (and profit financially), agreed in 1935 to star as himself in a film titled Tears of Love (情淚). The film was aborted following angry backlash. Zhang did not give up, however. In 1937, a Hong Kong film titled Who's to Blame? (誰之過) directed by Shum Kat-sing (沈吉誠) appeared, starring Zhang as himself and Tam Yuk Lan (譚玉蘭) as Ruan; this may have been the same film as Tears of Love. In 1938, Zhang starred in yet another Hong Kong film, Wife of a Friend (朋友之妻), written and directed by Mak Tai-fung (麥大豐). This film did not invoke Ruan's name, but the reference cannot be more obvious: according to a handbill, the film told about an immoral womanizer who abandons his own wife to seduce his friend's, with the friend's wife committing suicide in the end. Neither film appears to have survived, and Zhang died from an illness later in 1938 in Hong Kong, apparently penniless.

In 1991, Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan made a movie about her life, Center Stage, starring Maggie Cheung as Ruan Lingyu. Cheung won the Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Actress. Zhang Damin and Tang Jishan are portrayed by Lawrence Ng and Chin Han respectively. The film is credited to have revived public interest in Ruan Lingyu and her films.

TV series
In 1985, Cecilia Wong (黃杏秀) played Ruan in a 20-episode TV series aired on Asia Television, titled Ruan Lingyu/The Stardust Memories.

In 2005, Jacklyn Wu Chien-lien played Ruan in a 30-episode Chinese TV series, also titled Ruan Lingyu.

Kong Lingjie (孔令洁) played Ruan Lingyu in the 1996 Chinese TV series Movie Queen Butterfly (影后胡蝶).

Ruan Lingyu's name was discussed throughout the HK TVB series - The 'W' Files (衛斯理) in 2003; however, there was no character portrayal. It was fitting to mention her name in the series since the plot was set in Shanghai during the 1930s, and she was a notable figure during that time.

title: Ruan Lingyu


text:
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title: User:Pmcray


text:
Kaministiquia River

The Kaministiquia River is a river which flows into western Lake Superior at the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Kaministiquia (Gaa-ministigweyaa) is an Ojibwe word meaning "where a stream flows in island" due to two large islands (McKellar and Mission) at the mouth of the river. The delta has three branches or outlets, reflected on early North American maps in French as "les trois rivières" (the three rivers): the southernmost is known as the Mission River, the central branch as the McKellar River, and the northernmost branch as the Kaministiquia. Residents of the region commonly refer to the river as the Kam River.

Water flow in the Kaministiquia River system is regulated at the Dog Lake dams 1 and 2 and at the Greenwater, Kashabowie and Shebandowan dams. Two generating stations, one at Kakabeka Falls (25 MW) and another at Silver Falls (48 MW), are operated by Ontario Power Generation (OPG), a public company wholly owned by Government of Ontario.

Geography
Kakabeka Falls, located on this river, is the largest waterfall in the Lake Superior watershed at a height of 47 m. Below these falls, the river flows through an extensive floodplain created by an ancient predecessor that flowed through this region following the last ice age.

Tributaries

 * Whitefish River
 * Matawin River
 * Depot Creek
 * Dog River

History
"Kamanistigouian", as a place, is first mentioned in a decree of the Conseil Souverain de la Nouvelle-France dated August 23, 1681 instructing one of two canoes to make known the king's amnesty to coureurs de bois. The unnamed river is depicted on the 1671 "Carte des Jésuites" as "R. [rivière] par où l'on va aux Assinipoualacs à 120 lieues vers le Nord-Ouest" (river by which one travels to the Assinipoualacs 120 leagues to the north-west). Like the Pigeon River, this river was an important part of the water route into western Canada. During the French regime, two fur trading posts were established at the delta of the Kaministiquia, the first by Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut (1684/85-1696) and a second one in 1717 by Zacharie Robutel de la Noue. Both are now usually referred to as "Fort Kaministiquia" because of the large number of variant spellings used during the French regime, such as Kamanistigouian, Camanistigoyan, Kaministigoyan, etc. Decades later, a British trading post of Fort William was established here in 1803 by the North West Company at the river's mouth, and another upstream at Point de Meuron by the Hudson's Bay Company. The two rival British posts were amalgamated in 1821. The river has had many spellings since 1681, finally being spelled as Kaministiquia, although for a time Kaministikwia was also an official spelling.

Following the opening of the United States canal and locks at Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, in 1855, the river became more accessible to navigation. Silt had created a sand bar at its principal mouth, such that dredging was required as early as 1873 to enable larger boats to venture farther upstream.

After 1883, the lower Kaministiquia river was heavily industrialized by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which constructed railway yards, coal yards and docks, grain elevators, shipping docks, and sawmills. The double-deck Jackknife Bascule Bridge was built by the CPR in 1913 to allow trains and vehicles to cross from the mainland to Mission Island. The Thunder Bay Generating Station is located on Mission Island in the river's delta. The three branches of the river at the delta were extensively dredged and widened by the federal Department of Public Works in the early twentieth century to facilitate navigation.

The river has been depicted by many prominent Canadian artists such as William Armstrong (1822–1914), Frances Anne Hopkins (The Red River Expedition at Kakabeka Falls, 1877) and Lucius Richard O'Brien (Kakabeka Falls, 1882).

Voyageur route
Since the Grand Portage route was better, the Kaministiquia route was soon forgotten. The problem was that it was on the US side. In 1784 the North West Company sent Edward Umfreville to find a route on the British side. He failed. In the summer of 1798 Roderick McKenzie, the cousin of Alexander Mackenzie, met a group of Indians on the Height of Land Portage, who showed him the Kaministiquia route. The new route was approved by Simon McTavish in 1799.

This section covers the voyageur route from Fort William 135 mi west to the juncture of the Grand Portage route at Lac La Croix. For the other route see Grand Portage. For the whole route to Lake Winnipeg see Winnipeg River and for all routes see Canadian canoe routes. The Kaministiquia and Grand Portage were the two main routes used by Canadian fur traders to travel to western Canada from the Great Lakes. The Kaministiquia route was first used in 1688 by Jacques de Noyon. About 1731 La Vérendrye used Grand Portage, which became the preferred route. Since it was impractical for western traders to make a round trip to Montreal in one season, they would go to Grand Portage and exchange goods with boats that had come up from Montreal. By 1803 it was found that Grand Portage was on the US side of the border and the route was moved 40 mi northeast to Fort William.

The canoe route ran west from Fort William with only one decharge to Kakabeka Falls, which was passed by the Mountain Portage. The North West Company soon built a road to a depot above the falls. From here north up a swift stretch with at least seven portages, and then some more portages and significant altitude gain to Dog Lake about 25 mi northwest of Fort William. Then an easy 50 mi northwest up the twisting Dog River, Jordain Creek and Cold Water Creek to Cold Water Lake. Then began a difficult boggy stretch west through the 3 mi Prairie Portage, Height of Land Lake, the 1/2 mi De Milieu Portage, Lac de Milieu, the 1+1/2 mi Savanne Portage to the Savanne River in the Lake Winnipeg drainage. Then west down the Savanne to Lac des Mille Lacs. Since the Seine River is too rough for freight canoes, the route went over the 1/4 mi Baril Portage to the Pickerel River and Pickerel Lake, the Pickerel and Deux Rivières Portages to Sturgeon Lake and down the Maligne River to Lac La Croix, where the route from Grand Portage came in from the southeast. For the route west from Lac La Croix see Canadian canoe routes.

title: Kaministiquia River


text:
Sogdianus

Sogdianus ( or ; Σογδιανός Sogdianos) was briefly a ruler of the Achaemenid Empire for a period in 424–423 BC. His short rule—lasting not much more than six months—and the little recognition of his kingdom are known primarily from the writings of Ctesias; who is known to be unreliable. He was reportedly an illegitimate son of Artaxerxes I by his concubine Alogyne of Babylon.

Death of Artaxerxes I
The last inscription mentioning Artaxerxes I being alive can be dated to December 24, 424 BC. His death resulted in at least three of his sons proclaiming themselves King of Kings. The first was Xerxes II, who was reportedly his only legitimate son by Queen Damaspia and was formerly the heir. Xerxes II's rule was apparently only recognized in the Persian heartlands. The second was Sogdianus himself, presumed to have initially been recognized only in Elam. The third was Ochus, son of Artaxerxes I by his concubine Cosmartidene of Babylon and satrap of Hyrcania. Ochus was also married to their common half-sister Parysatis, daughter of Artaxerxes I and his concubine Andia of Babylon. The first inscription of Ochus as Darius II can be dated to January 10, 423 BC. He seems to have been recognized by Medes, Babylonia and Egypt. If it is correct that all three declared themselves king at the same time, then the Achaemenid Empire had three King of Kings for a brief period.

Rise and fall
This chaotic state of affairs would prove short-lived. Xerxes II only ruled for forty-five days. He was reportedly murdered while drunk by the eunuch Pharnacyas and Menostanes, conspirators who sided with Sogdianus, on his orders. According to Ctesias, Pharnacyas had the greatest influence over Xerxes II, next to Bagorazus and Menostanes.

Sogdianus apparently gained the support of his regions and reigned for six months and fifteen days before being captured by his half-brother, Ochus, who had rebelled against him feeling dishonoured he was passed up over Sogdianus for the throne—since he outranked the latter.

Sogdianus was executed by being suffocated in ash per Ochus' promise he would not die by the sword, by poison or by hunger. Pharnacyas was condemned to be stoned to death. "Menostanes was also arrested and condemned, but anticipated his fate by suicide.".

Ochus then ascended to the Achaemenid throne as Darius II; he was the sole ruler of the Persian Empire until 404 BC.

Name
He is called Σογδιανός by Manetho and Diodorus Siculus, and Σεκυνδιανός by Ctesias.

title: Sogdianus


text:
Thomas Muir

Thomas Muir may refer to:
 * Thomas Muir (mathematician) (1844–1934), Scottish mathematician
 * Thomas Muir of Huntershill (1765–1799), political reformer, leader of the Scottish "Friends of the People Society"

title: Thomas Muir


text:
Internationalized domain name

An internationalized domain name (IDN) is an Internet domain name that contains at least one label displayed in software applications, in whole or in part, in non-Latin script or alphabet or in the Latin alphabet-based characters with diacritics or ligatures. These writing systems are encoded by computers in multibyte Unicode. Internationalized domain names are stored in the Domain Name System (DNS) as ASCII strings using Punycode transcription.

The DNS, which performs a lookup service to translate mostly user-friendly names into network addresses for locating Internet resources, is restricted in practice to the use of ASCII characters, a practical limitation that initially set the standard for acceptable domain names. The internationalization of domain names is a technical solution to translate names written in language-native scripts into an ASCII text representation that is compatible with the DNS. Internationalized domain names can only be used with applications that are specifically designed for such use; they require no changes in the infrastructure of the Internet.

IDN was originally proposed in December 1987 by Martin Dürst and implemented in 1990 by Tan Juay Kwang and Leong Kok Yong under the guidance of Tan Tin Wee. After much debate and many competing proposals, a system called Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications (IDNA) was adopted as a standard, and has been implemented in several top-level domains.

In IDNA, the term internationalized domain name means specifically any domain name consisting only of labels to which the IDNA ToASCII algorithm (see below) can be successfully applied. In March 2008, the IETF formed a new IDN working group to update the current IDNA protocol. In April 2008, UN-ESCWA together with the Public Interest Registry (PIR) and Afilias launched the Arabic Script in IDNs Working Group (ASIWG), which comprised experts in DNS, ccTLD operators, business, academia, as well as members of regional and international organizations. Operated by Afilias's Ram Mohan, ASIWG aims to develop a unified IDN table for the Arabic script, and is an example of community collaboration that helps local and regional experts engage in global policy development, as well as technical standardization.

In October 2009, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved the creation of internationalized country code top-level domains (IDN ccTLDs) in the Internet that use the IDNA standard for native language scripts. In May 2010, the first IDN ccTLDs were installed in the DNS root zone.

Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications
Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications (IDNA) is a mechanism defined in 2003 for handling internationalized domain names containing non-ASCII characters.

Although the Domain Name System supports non-ASCII characters, applications such as e-mail and web browsers restrict the characters that can be used as domain names for purposes such as a hostname. Strictly speaking, it is the network protocols these applications use that have restrictions on the characters that can be used in domain names, not the applications that have these limitations or the DNS itself. To retain backward compatibility with the installed base, the IETF IDNA Working Group decided that internationalized domain names should be converted to a suitable ASCII-based form that could be handled by web browsers and other user applications. IDNA specifies how this conversion between names written in non-ASCII characters and their ASCII-based representation is performed.

An IDNA-enabled application can convert between the internationalized and ASCII representations of a domain name. It uses the ASCII form for DNS lookups but can present the internationalized form to users who presumably prefer to read and write domain names in non-ASCII scripts such as Arabic or Hiragana. Applications that do not support IDNA will not be able to handle domain names with non-ASCII characters, but will still be able to access such domains if given the (usually rather cryptic) ASCII equivalent.

ICANN issued guidelines for the use of IDNA in June 2003, and it was already possible to register .jp domains using this system in July 2003 and .info domains in March 2004. Several other top-level domain registries started accepting registrations in 2004 and 2005. IDN Guidelines were first created in June 2003, and have been updated to respond to phishing concerns in November 2005. An ICANN working group focused on country-code domain names at the top level was formed in November 2007 and promoted jointly by the country code supporting organization and the Governmental Advisory Committee. Additionally, ICANN supports the community-led Universal Acceptance Steering Group, which seeks to promote the usability of IDNs and other new gTLDS in all applications, devices, and systems.

Mozilla 1.4, Netscape 7.1, and Opera 7.11 were among the first applications to support IDNA. A browser plugin is available for Internet Explorer 6 to provide IDN support. Internet Explorer 7.0 and Windows Vista's URL APIs provide native support for IDN.

ToASCII and ToUnicode
The conversions between ASCII and non-ASCII forms of a domain name are accomplished by a pair of algorithms called ToASCII and ToUnicode. These algorithms are not applied to the domain name as a whole, but rather to individual labels. For example, if the domain name is www.example.com, then the labels are www, example, and com. ToASCII or ToUnicode is applied to each of these three separately.

The details of these two algorithms are complex. They are specified in RFC 3490. Following is an overview of their workings.

ToASCII leaves ASCII labels unchanged. It fails if the label is unsuitable for the Domain Name System. For labels containing at least one non-ASCII character, ToASCII applies the Nameprep algorithm. This converts the label to lowercase and performs other normalization. ToASCII then translates the result to ASCII, using Punycode. Finally, it prepends the four-character string " ". This four-character string is called the ASCII Compatible Encoding (ACE) prefix. It is used to distinguish labels encoded in Punycode from ordinary ASCII labels. The ToASCII algorithm can fail in several ways. For example, the final string could exceed the 63-character limit of a DNS label. A label for which ToASCII fails cannot be used in an internationalized domain name.

The function ToUnicode reverses the action of ToASCII, stripping off the ACE prefix and applying the Punycode decode algorithm. It does not reverse the Nameprep processing, since that is merely a normalization and is by nature irreversible. Unlike ToASCII, ToUnicode always succeeds, because it simply returns the original string if decoding fails. In particular, this means that ToUnicode does not affect a string that does not begin with the ACE prefix.

Example of IDNA encoding
IDNA encoding may be illustrated using the example domain. (Bücher.) This domain name has two labels, Bücher and example. The second label is pure ASCII and is left unchanged. The first label is processed by Nameprep to give, and then converted to Punycode to result in. It is then prefixed with  to produce. The resulting name suitable for use in DNS records and queries is therefore.

Arabic Script IDN Working Group (ASIWG)
While the Arab region represents 5 percent of the world's population, it accounts for a mere 2.6 percent of global Internet usage. Moreover, the percentage of Internet users among the population in the Arab world is a low of 11 percent, compared to the global rate of 21.9 percent. However, Internet usage in the region has grown by 1,426 percent between the years 2000 and 2008, which represents a large increase, particularly compared to the average world growth rate of 305.5 percent over the same period. It is reasonable to infer, therefore, that the usage growth could have been even more significant if DNS was available in Arabic characters. The introduction of IDNs offers many potential new opportunities and benefits for Arab Internet users by allowing them to establish domains in their native languages and alphabets, and to create a whole range of services and localized applications on top of those domains.

Top-level domain implementation
In 2009, ICANN decided to implement a new class of top-level domains, assignable to countries and independent regions, similar to the rules for country code top-level domains. However, the domain names may be any desirable string of characters, symbols, or glyphs in the language-specific, non-Latin alphabet or script of the applicant's language, within certain guidelines to assure sufficient visual uniqueness.

The process of installing IDN country code domains began with a long period of testing in a set of subdomains in the  top-level domain. Eleven domains used language-native scripts or alphabets, such as "δοκιμή", meaning test in Greek.

These efforts culminated in the creation of the first internationalized country code top-level domains (IDN ccTLDs) for production use in 2010.

In the Domain Name System, these domains use an ASCII representation consisting of the prefix " " followed by the Punycode translation of the Unicode representation of the language-specific alphabet or script glyphs. For example, the Cyrillic name of Russia's IDN ccTLD is "рф". In Punycode representation, this is " ", and its DNS name is " ".

Non-IDNA or non-ICANN registries that support non-ASCII domain names
Other registries support non-ASCII domain names. The company ThaiURL.com in Thailand supports ".com" registrations via its own IDN encoding, ThaiURL. However, since most modern browsers only recognize IDNA/Punycode IDNs, ThaiURL-encoded domains must be typed in or linked to in their encoded form, and they will be displayed thus in the address bar. This limits their usefulness; however, they are still valid and universally accessible domains.

Several registries support Punycode emoji characters as emoji domains.

ASCII spoofing concerns
The use of Unicode in domain names makes it potentially easier to spoof websites as the visual representation of an IDN string in a web browser may make a spoof site appear indistinguishable from the legitimate site being spoofed, depending on the font used. For example, the Unicode character U+0430 – Cyrillic small letter a – can look identical to the Unicode character U+0061 (a|Latin small letter a), used in English. As a concrete example, using Cyrillic letters а, е, і, р (a; then "Ie"/"Ye" U+0435, looking essentially identical to Latin letter e; then U+0456, essentially identical to Latin letter i; and "Er" U+0440, essentially identical to Latin letter p), the URL wіkіреdіа.org is formed, which is virtually indistinguishable from the visual representation of the legitimate wikipedia.org (possibly depending on typefaces).

Top-level domains accepting IDN registration
Many top-level domains have started to accept internationalized domain name registrations at the second or lower levels. Afilias (.INFO) offered the first gTLD IDN second-level registrations in 2004 in the German language.

DotAsia, the registrar for the TLD Asia, conducted a 70-day sunrise period starting May 11, 2011 for second-level domain registrations in the Chinese, Japanese and Korean scripts.

Timeline

 * December 1996: Martin Dürst's original Internet Draft proposing UTF-5 (the first example of what is known today as an ASCII-compatible encoding (ACE)) – UTF-5 was first defined at the University of Zürich
 * March 1998: Early research on IDN at National University of Singapore (NUS), Center for Internet Research (formerly Internet Research and Development Unit – IRDU) led by Tan Tin Wee (T. W. Tan) (IDN Project team – Tan Juay Kwang and Leong Kok Yong) and subsequently continued under a team at Bioinformatrix Pte. Ltd. (BIX Pte. Ltd.) – an NUS spin-off company led by S. Subbiah.
 * June 1998: Korean Language Domain Name System is developed by Kang, Hee-Seung at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology)
 * July 1998:
 * Geneva INET'98 conference with a BoF discussion on iDNS and APNG General Meeting and Working Group meeting.
 * Asia Pacific Networking Group (APNG, now still in existence and distinct from a gathering known as APSTAR) iDNS Working Group formed.
 * October 1998:
 * James Seng, a former student of Tan Tin Wee at Sheares Hall, NUS, and student researcher at Technet and IRDU, Computer Center, NUS, was recruited by CEO S. Subbiah to lead further IDN development at BIX Pte. Ltd.
 * iDNS Testbed launched by BIX Pte. Ltd. under the auspices of APNG with participation from CNNIC, JPNIC, KRNIC, TWNIC, THNIC, HKNIC, and SGNIC led by James Seng
 * Presentation of Report on IDN at Joint APNG-APTLD meeting, at APRICOT'99
 * March 1999: Endorsement of the IDN Report at APNG General Meeting 1 March 1999.
 * June 1999: Grant application by APNG jointly with the Centre for Internet Research (CIR), the National University of Singapore, to the International Development Research Center (IDRC), a Canadian Government funded international organization to work on IDN for IPv6. This APNG Project was funded under the Pan Asia R&D Grant administered on behalf of IDRC by the Canadian Committee on Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS). Principal Investigator: Tan Tin Wee of National University of Singapore.
 * July 1999:
 * Walid R. Tout (WALID Inc.) filed IDNA patent application number US1999000358043 "Method and system for internationalizing domain names". Published 30 January 2001.
 * Internet Draft on UTF5 by James Seng, Martin Dürst and Tan Tin Wee. Renewed 2000.
 * August 1999: APTLD and APNG forms a working group to look into IDN issues chaired by Kilnam Chon.
 * October 1999: BIX Pte. Ltd. and National University of Singapore together with New York Venture Capital investors, General Atlantic Partners, spun off the IDN effort into 2 new Singapore companies – i-DNS.net International Inc. and i-Email.net Pte. Ltd. that created the first commercial implementation of an IDN solution for both domain names and IDN email addresses respectively.
 * November 1999: IETF IDN Birds-of-Feather in Washington was initiated by i-DNS.net at the request of IETF officials.
 * December 1999: i-DNS.net International Pte. Ltd. launched the first commercial IDN. It was in Taiwan and in Chinese characters under the top-level IDN TLD ".gongsi" (meaning loosely ".com") with endorsement by the Minister of Communications of Taiwan and some major Taiwanese ISPs with reports of over 200 000 names sold in a week in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Australia and USA.
 * Late 1999: Kilnam Chon initiated Task Force on IDNS which led to the formation of MINC, the Multilingual Internet Names Consortium.
 * January 2000:
 * IETF IDN Working Group formed chaired by James Seng and Marc Blanchet.
 * The second-ever commercial IDN launch was IDN TLDs in the Tamil Language, corresponding to .com, .net, .org, and .edu. These were launched in India with IT Ministry support by i-DNS.net International.
 * February 2000: Multilingual Internet Names Consortium (MINC) Proposal BoF at IETF Adelaide.
 * March 2000: APRICOT 2000 Multilingual DNS session.
 * April 2000: WALID Inc. (with IDNA patent-pending application 6182148) started Registration & Resolving Multilingual Domain Names.
 * May 2000: Interoperability Testing WG, MINC meeting. San Francisco, chaired by Bill Manning and Y. Yoneya, 12 May 2000.
 * June 2000: Inaugural Launch of the Multilingual Internet Names Consortium (MINC) in Seoul to drive the collaborative roll-out of IDN starting from the Asia Pacific.
 * July 2000:
 * Joint Engineering TaskForce (JET) was initiated in Yokohama to study technical issues led by JPNIC (K.Konishi)and TWNIC (Kenny Huang).
 * Official formation of CDNC (Chinese Domain Name Consortium) to resolve issues related to and to deploy Han Character domain names, founded by CNNIC, TWNIC, HKNIC and MONIC in May 2000.
 * March 2001: ICANN Board IDN Working Group formed.
 * July 2001:
 * Japanese Domain Name Association: JDNA Launch Ceremony (July 13, 2001) in Tokyo, Japan.
 * Urdu Internet Names System (July 28, 2001) in Islamabad, Pakistan, Organised Jointly by SDNP and MINC.
 * Presentation on IDN to the Committee Meeting of the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Academies USA (JULY 11–13, 2001) at University of California School of Information Management and Systems, Berkeley, California.
 * August 2001: MINC presentation and outreach at the Asia Pacific Advanced Network annual conference, Penang, Malaysia, 20 August 2001
 * October 2001: Joint MINC-CDNC Meeting in Beijing 18–20 October 2001.
 * November 2001: ICANN IDN Committee formed, Ram Mohan (Afilias) appointed as Charter Member.
 * December 2001: Joint ITU-WIPO Symposium on Multilingual Domain Names organized in association with MINC, 6–7 December 2001, International Conference Center, Geneva.
 * January 2003:
 * ICANN IDN Guidelines Working Group formed with membership from leading gTLD and ccTLD registries.
 * Free implementation of stringprep, Punycode, and IDNA are released in GNU Libidn.
 * March 2003: Publication of RFC 3454, RFC 3490, RFC 3491 and RFC 3492.
 * June 2003: Publication of ICANN IDN guidelines for registries. Adopted by .cn, .info, .jp, .org, and .tw registries.
 * May 2004: Publication of RFC 3743, Joint Engineering Team (JET) Guidelines for Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) Registration and Administration for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
 * March 2005: First Study Group 17 of ITU-T meeting on Internationalized Domain Names.
 * May 2005: .IN ccTLD (India) creates an expert IDN Working Group to create solutions for 22 official languages. Ram Mohan was appointed lead for technical implementation. C-DAC appointed a linguistic expert.
 * April 2006: ITU Study Group 17 meeting in Korea gave final approval to the Question on Internationalized Domain Names.
 * June 2006: Workshop on IDN at ICANN meeting at Marrakech, Morocco.
 * November 2006: ICANN GNSO IDN Working Group created to discuss policy implications of IDN TLDs. Ram Mohan elected Chair of the IDN Working Group.
 * December 2006: ICANN meeting in São Paulo discusses status of
 * January 2007: Tamil and Malayalam variant table work completed by India's C-DAC and Afilias.
 * March 2007: ICANN GNSO IDN Working Group completes work, Ram Mohan presents a report at ICANN Lisboa meeting.
 * October 2007: Eleven IDNA top-level domains were added to the root nameservers in order to evaluate the use of IDNA at the top level of the DNS.
 * January 2008: ICANN: Successful Evaluations of .test IDN TLDs.
 * February 2008: IDN Workshop: IDNs in Indian Languages and Scripts, ICANN, DIT, Afilias, C-DAC, NIXI lead.
 * April 2008:
 * IETF IDNAbis WG chaired by Vint Cerf continues the work to update IDNA.
 * Arabic Script IDN Working Group (ASIWG) founded by Ram Mohan (Afilias) and Alexa Raad (PIR) in Dubai.
 * June 2008:
 * ICANN board votes to develop final fast-track implementation proposal for a limited number of IDN ccTLDS.
 * Arabic Script IDN Working Group (ASIWG) membership expands to Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, Malaysia, UN ESCWA, APTLD, ISOC Africa, and invited experts Michael Everson and John Klensin.
 * October 2008: ICANN seeks interest in IDN ccTLD fast-track process.
 * September 2009: ICANN puts IDN ccTLD proposal on agenda for Seoul meeting in October 2009.
 * October 2009: ICANN approves the registration of IDN names in the root of the DNS through the IDN ccTLD Fast-Track process at its meeting in Seoul, 26–30 October 2009.
 * January 2010: ICANN announces that Egypt, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates were the first countries to have passed the Fast-Track String Evaluation within the IDN ccTLD domain application process.
 * May 2010: The first implementations go live. They are the ccTLDs in the Arabic alphabet for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
 * August 2010-: The IETF publishes the updated "IDNA2008" specifications as RFC 5890–5894.
 * December 2010: ICANN Board IDN Variants Working Group formed to oversee and track the IDN Variant Issues Project. Members of the working group are Ram Mohan (Chair), Jonne Soininen, Suzanne Woolf, and Kuo-Wei Wu.
 * February 2012: International email was standardized, utilizing IDN.

title: Internationalized domain name


text:
IDN

IDN can refer to:

 * Internationalized domain names
 * Institut Industriel du Nord, the former name of École Centrale de Lille
 * Indonesia, the ISO 3-letter country code
 * International Data Number, in the context of an X.121 address
 * Identity driven networking
 * Integrated data network, the digital data network developed by Reuters and dedicated to financial markets
 * Integrated Delivery Network, a network of healthcare organizations, see IDS
 * Intradermal nevus, a type of skin mole

title: IDN