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Dollo's law of irreversibility

Dollo's law of irreversibility (also known as Dollo's law and Dollo's principle), proposed in 1893 by Belgian paleontologist Louis Dollo states that, "an organism never returns exactly to a former state, even if it finds itself placed in conditions of existence identical to those in which it has previously lived ... it always keeps some trace of the intermediate stages through which it has passed."

The statement is often misinterpreted as claiming that evolution is not reversible, or that lost structures and organs cannot reappear in the same form by any process of devolution. According to Richard Dawkins, the law is "really just a statement about the statistical improbability of following exactly the same evolutionary trajectory twice (or, indeed, any particular trajectory), in either direction". Stephen Jay Gould suggested that irreversibility forecloses certain evolutionary pathways once broad forms have emerged: "[For example], once you adopt the ordinary body plan of a reptile, hundreds of options are forever closed, and future possibilities must unfold within the limits of inherited design."

This principle is classically applied to morphology, particularly of fossils, but may also be used to describe molecular events, such as individual mutations or gene losses.

Use in phylogenetics
In maximum parsimony, Dollo parsimony refers to a model whereby a characteristic is gained only one time and can never be regained if it is lost. For example, the evolution and repeated loss of teeth in vertebrates could be well-modeled under Dollo parsimony, whereby teeth made from hydroxyapatite evolved only once at the origin of vertebrates, and were then lost multiple times, in birds, turtles, and seahorses, among others.

This also applies to molecular characters, such as losses or inactivation of individual genes themselves. The loss of gulonolactone oxidase, the final enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway of vitamin C, is responsible for the dietary requirement of vitamin C in humans, as well as many other animals.

A molecular example
A 2009 study on the evolution of protein structure proposed a new mechanism for Dollo's law. It examined a hormone receptor that had evolved from an ancestral protein that was able to bind two hormones to a new protein that was specific for a single hormone. This change was produced by two amino acid substitutions, which prevent binding of the second hormone. However, several other changes subsequently occurred, which were selectively neutral as they did not affect hormone binding. When the authors tried to revert the protein back to its ancestral state by mutating the two "binding residues", they found the other changes had destabilised the ancestral state of the protein. They concluded that in order for this protein to evolve in reverse and regain its ability to bind two hormones, several independent neutral mutations would have to occur purely by chance with no selection pressure. As this is extremely unlikely, it may explain why evolution tends to run in one direction.

Proposed exceptions
Although the exact threshold for violations of Dollo's law is unclear, there are several case studies whose results dispute the validity of some interpretations. For example, many taxa of gastropods have reduced shells, and some have lost coiling of their shell altogether. In Stephen Jay Gould's interpretation of Dollo's law, it would not be possible to regain a coiled shell after the coiling has been lost. Nevertheless, a few genera in the slipper snail family (Calyptraeidae) may have changed their developmental timing (heterochrony) and regained a coiled shell from a limpet-like shell. Frietson Galis observed that many of these studies are based on either molecular phylogenies or morphological cladistic analyses that are tenuous and subject to change.

Other proposed 'exceptions' include the ocelli and wings of stick insects, the larval stages of salamanders, lost toes and re-evolution of oviparity in lizards, lost lower teeth in frogs, clavicles in non-avian theropod dinosaurs, and neck, pectoral region, and upper limb musculature in primates, including the lineage leading to humans.

title: Dollo's law of irreversibility


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Category:Political writers

This lists writers whose work, be it fiction or non-fiction, considers politics, broadly defined. See also List of political authors

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

title: Category:Political writers


text: Category:Nobel Prize

title: Category:Nobel Prize


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Chris Smith (New Jersey politician)

Christopher Henry Smith (born March 4, 1953) is an American politician serving his 22nd term as the U.S. representative for NJ's 4th congressional district. Though it has taken various forms, his district has always been situated in central New Jersey. Currently, the district contains parts of Ocean and Monmouth counties. Smith is a member of the Republican Party, having switched from the Democratic Party in 1978.

Smith is the dean of New Jersey's congressional delegation and the longest-serving member of Congress in New Jersey's history. He has focused much of his career on promoting human rights abroad, including authoring the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 and several follow-on laws. From 1993 to 2019, he was the top House Republican on the United States Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. He has used his leadership positions, including chairmanships, to author multiple pieces of legislation focused on human rights and conduct aggressive oversight of human rights abuses, actions that have earned him scorn from abusing nations.

Early life, education, and early career
Smith was born in Rahway, New Jersey, on March 4, 1953. He attended St. Mary's High School in Perth Amboy, where he competed as a runner and wrestler.

After graduating with a B.A. in business administration from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey), Smith worked in his family's sporting goods business. In the 1976 election cycle, he managed the Democratic primary challenge of Steven Foley, an attorney and anti-abortion activist, against incumbent Senator Harrison A. Williams; Foley received about 15% of the vote, losing to Williams. In 1978, Smith switched to the Republican Party, and became executive director of the New Jersey Right to Life Committee, a part-time role.

1978
In 1978, while working at his family's sporting goods store, 25-year-old Smith ran for Congress as a Republican. He lost to longtime Democratic incumbent U.S. Congressman Frank Thompson 61%–37%.

1980
In 1980, Smith ran against Thompson again. Initially, Smith was thought to have a very slim chance of winning, but Thompson was indicted as part of the FBI's Abscam probe. With the race now considered competitive, Republicans considered replacing Smith, but two alternative candidates seen as more competitive, Hamilton mayor John K. Rafferty and 1978 Senate nominee Jeff Bell, declined. Helped by Ronald Reagan's strong performance in the district, Smith defeated Thompson 57%–41%.

1982
In 1982, Smith's district was redrawn to include more Democratic voters and his Democratic opponent was former New Jersey Senate President Joseph P. Merlino, who had directly controlled the redistricting process and run a competitive campaign for governor the year before. It was widely assumed that Smith's 1980 victory over the scandal-plagued Thompson was a fluke, and that he would lose to the better-known Merlino. At the end of one of their debates, Smith approached Merlino to exchange pleasantries. Merlino was quoted as saying "Beat it, kid."

During the campaign, Merlino ran a negative ad comparing Smith to Jimmy Stewart's character in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. In response, Stewart released a statement endorsing Smith and denouncing the ad: "When I played Mr. Smith in that picture, I did not think he was a naive hick. I thought he believed in honesty and integrity in government, the right of the people and the love of his country." Merlino pulled the ad.

Smith won the race with 52.7% of the vote.

Subsequently, a federal court found the 1982 redistricting was impermissible gerrymandering, and Smith's district was redrawn to more closely resemble the one used in 1980. He has not faced another contest that close since.

1984–present
From 1984 to 2016, Smith won reelection with over 60% of the vote.

In 2006, Smith's 66% was the highest percentage for any Republican in the New Jersey delegation.

In 2008, Smith defeated college history professor Joshua M. Zeitz, 66%–32%.

In 2010, Smith received 69.4% of the vote, ahead of Democratic nominee Howard Kleinhendler, Libertarian nominee Joe Siano, Green Party nominee Steven Welzer, and American Renaissance Movement nominee David Meiswinkle.

In 2018, Smith defeated Democratic nominee Joshua Welle with 55% of the vote to Welle's 43%. Smith was the only Republican to win a congressional race in New Jersey that year, reducing the GOP to its smallest presence in New Jersey's House delegation since 1918. This was Smith's closest election since 1982.

In 2020, Smith defeated Democratic nominee Stephanie Schmid.

In 2022, Smith defeated Democratic nominee Matthew Jenkins with 66.9% of the vote.

Tenure
Smith was ranked the 17th most bipartisan member of the House of Representatives during the 114th United States Congress (and the second most bipartisan from New Jersey) in the Bipartisan Index by the Lugar Center.

In November 1997, Smith was one of 18 House Republicans to co-sponsor a resolution by Bob Barr that sought to launch an impeachment inquiry against President Bill Clinton. The resolution did not specify any charges or allegations. This was an early effort to impeach Clinton, predating the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. That scandal led to a more serious effort to impeach Clinton in 1998. On October 8, 1998, Smith voted in favor of legislation that was passed to open an impeachment inquiry. On December 19, 1998, he voted in favor of all four proposed articles of impeachment against Clinton (only two of which received the needed majority of votes to be adopted).

It was revealed in October 2015 that intern applicants for Smith's office were required to rate "27 different personalities, organizations and political issues to indicate whether they tend to agree with them, disagree with them or have no opinion or knowledge of them." Personalities and organizations included Rachel Maddow, the Pope, Planned Parenthood, and The National Right to Life Committee.

Smith has been nominated and confirmed twice to serve as a member of the United States delegation to the United Nations General Assembly. He was nominated by President Barack Obama in 2015 for the 70th session and by President Donald Trump in 2017 for the 72nd session.

Smith voted against both articles in the first impeachment of Donald Trump, and the sole article of the second impeachment of Donald Trump.

Smith did not join the majority of Republican members of Congress who signed an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election. Smith voted to certify both Arizona's and Pennsylvania's results in the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count.

On February 4, 2021, Smith voted with 10 other House Republicans and all House Democrats to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of her House Education and Labor Committee and House Budget Committee assignments in response to controversial political statements she had made. On November 5, 2021, Smith was one of 13 House Republicans to break with their party and vote with a majority of Democrats in favor of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

In January 2001, Smith became chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee and pushed for policies Republican leadership opposed, including voting against the Republican and for the Democratic budget resolution because the latter included more spending on veterans programs. In 2004, Smith refused to endorse the Republican budget proposal unless it included more money for veterans. In a congressional hearing, Smith articulated his belief that the Bush Administration's budget request was $1.2 billion less than the Department of Veterans Affairs actually required, embarrassing the administration and Republican congressional leadership. During his four years as committee chair, Smith wrote 22 bills addressing veterans' issues. His unwillingness to follow the party line resulted in the House Republican Caucus removing him from his chairmanship (and from the committee altogether) in January 2005, at the beginning of the 109th Congress, with the chairmanship going to Steve Buyer instead, two years short of the normal six-year term. Veterans' groups such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Paralyzed Veterans of America praised Smith and criticized the decision to remove him.
 * Veterans

Legislation
On May 6, 2014, Smith introduced the bill International Megan's Law to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking (H.R. 4573; 113th Congress), which would require the notification of foreign governments when an American registered as a sex offender of children travels to their country.

As of April 2020, FiveThirtyEight reported that Smith voted in line with Trump's position 67.7% of the time, the third-lowest percentage among Republican members of Congress after fellow New Jerseyan Jeff Van Drew and Brian Fitzpatrick.

In March 2021, Smith was one of eight Republicans to join the House majority in passing the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021.

Committee assignments

 * Committee on Foreign Affairs
 * Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights (Ranking member)
 * Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
 * Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
 * Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Caucus memberships

 * Republican Main Street Partnership
 * Republican Governance Group
 * Problem Solvers Caucus

Abortion
Smith is strongly anti-abortion. He is a co-chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus and served as co-chair of the Trump Administration's Pro-Life Coalition. He supports the Mexico City policy, which blocks U.S. federal funding for non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling or referrals, advocate to decriminalize abortion or expand abortion services. In 2000, he voted for the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2000. In December 2023, Smith signed a letter of support to Tommy Tuberville thanking him for his nine-month hold on more than 400 military promotions over the Pentagon's abortion policy.

Smith expressed support for the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, an amendment to America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.

Smith has introduced various forms of the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, starting with the original proposal in 2011. The 2011 proposal prohibited federal funds from being used for health benefits that cover abortion, unless in the case of rape, incest or if the woman could die. It also disqualified abortions from being written off on taxes. In 2013, Smith reintroduced the proposal, which further restricted insurance coverage of abortions. The bill passed the House but has yet to be voted on by the Senate.

Domestic violence
Smith voted for the original 1994 Violence Against Women Act and co-sponsored the reauthorization bills of 2000 and 2005, the latter of which provided $1.6 billion for investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave un-prosecuted. Smith voted against reauthorizing the act in 2013, due to the Senate version of the bill's cutting of funding for the Trafficking in Persons Office at the State Department, which Smith's Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 created.

Environment
As of 2020, Smith has a lifetime score of 62% on the National Environmental Scorecard of the League of Conservation Voters, the second-highest of any sitting Republican member (after Brian Fitzpatrick). He has said, "Climate change is a global challenge that must be addressed with a global solution."

Smith also opposes offshore drilling, particularly in New Jersey.

Smith backed a carbon emissions trading bill to tackle climate change, one of only eight Republicans in the House to do so.

Guns
Smith opposes concealed carry. In 2016, he was one of four Republicans to receive a 100% rating from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and has generally received low or intermediate ratings from pro-gun organizations Gun Owners of America and the National Rifle Association. Smith did not co-sponsor the Brady Campaign's proposed legislation to expand background checks for gun purchasers.

Smith was one of five Republicans to co-sponsor HR 8 in the 116th Congress, which would require mandatory background checks for gun sales.

Smith called the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting "tragic beyond words" and said, "The terrorist's motive, if linked to radical Islamist ideology, underscores the escalating national and worldwide threat from global jihad."

In the wake of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Smith co-sponsored a ban on bump stocks with Leonard Lance.

Health care
Smith has written three major laws to address autism, including the most recent Autism CARES which included $1.3 billion in funding for research, services and supports and requires a report on aging out.

On May 9, 2014, Smith introduced the bill Autism CARES Act of 2014, a bill that would amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize research, surveillance, and education activities related to autism spectrum disorders (autism) conducted by various agencies within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

On May 9, 2019, Smith was one of only three Republicans who voted for HR 986, a measure supported by all voting House Democrats intended to maintain protections of those with preexisting medical conditions to have continued access to affordable medical insurance under the existing provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Five weeks earlier, he had voted with seven other Republicans to pass a resolution condemning the Trump administration's efforts by Department of Justice to have the courts invalidate Obamacare.

Smith has been a longtime promoter of the medically unrecognized "chronic Lyme disease", and has pushed for the medical establishment to recognize the condition. The condition, not to be confused with genuine Lyme disease, is generally rejected by medical professionals, and its promotion is generally seen as health fraud. In 2019, Smith proposed an investigation into whether the Pentagon had released "weaponized" ticks infected with Lyme disease into the environment between 1950 and 1975. Scientists identified this proposal, which Congress did not adopt, as based on a conspiracy theory and claimed that an investigation was unnecessary and a poor use of funds.

Human rights
Smith advocates for human rights, serving on numerous committees that seek to impact both national and international laws and legislation. He has stated that the bills he introduces to the house are meant to make the U.S. take "human rights seriously."

In 1999, Smith proposed, as part of the American Embassy Security Act, to stop a U.S. sponsored program which provided training to Royal Ulster Constabulary with the FBI, due to claims of human rights violations, i.e. harassment of defense attorneys representing republicans in Northern Ireland. However, he voted no on a bill that halts arms sales to Saudi Arabia and removes troops from Yemen.

He supported the return David Goldman's son in the Goldman child abduction case, which involved a trip to Brazil. Smith acknowledges the Armenian genocide and has made calls for the U.S. to recognize it.

In 2017, Smith co-sponsored an effort to prioritize human rights in Azerbaijan with Jim McGovern. The H. Res. 537 act also seeks to see further implementation of the Magnitsky Act regarding Azerbaijani officials, as well as a call for Azerbaijan to release all political prisoners. He supports efforts to deport Jakiw Palij, a denaturalized former American citizen residing in New York who failed to disclose he worked as a guard at a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. Smith condemned Turkey's wide-ranging crackdown on dissent following a failed July 2016 coup.

China
Smith has held congressional hearings and has proposed bills regarding human rights violations, specifically around women's sexual health, activism and religious groups, in China. He staunchly opposes the forced sterilization and forced abortions being implemented by the Chinese government towards women regarding China's one-child policy. Regarding the victimization of these women, Smith stated that "the agony that those women carry with them is beyond words. They talk about the pain that they carry for their child and for the violation by the state." In response, Smith wrote a bill, which was put into law in 1999, making it illegal for the U.S. to issue visas to foreign nationals who have been involved in forced abortion or sterilization.

Smith held a congressional hearing regarding the disappearance of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng. He attempted, in 2011, to visit Chen in China, when the activist was under house arrest, but was not granted permission. In response to the violations towards Chen and his family, Smith sponsored the China Democracy Promotion Act of 2011, which sought to prevent known Chinese human rights violators from entering the U.S.

In the wake of the 2014 Hong Kong class boycott campaign and Umbrella Movement, Smith co-sponsored the bipartisan Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, supporting Hong Kong's ongoing autonomy and the human rights of those Hong Kongers involved in nonviolent protests and/or those who have had their rights violated by the Chinese government.

In November 2018, Smith raised the issue of Xinjiang re-education camps and human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority. Smith said: "The internment of over a million Uyghurs and other Muslims in China is a staggering evil and should be treated by the international community as a crime against humanity. The Chinese government's creation of a vast system of what can only be called concentration camps cannot be tolerated in the 21st century."

In October 2022, Politico reported that Smith criticized some US-based financial executives attending the Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit, saying that companies "that trumpet their so-called 'Environmental, Social and Governance Principles' at home are quick to discard these 'values' for a chance to make a profit from China."

South Korea
Smith has indicated his serious concern on the amendment of the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act in South Korea which passed the South Korean National Assembly on December 14, 2020. It penalizes activists who send anti-North Korean material across the border as balloon propaganda. It was passed by the super-majority of the ruling party of President Moon Jae-in who is keen to improve cross-border ties. Smith stated that "While I would hope that members of Korea's Democratic Party would see how damaging this proposed legislation is to democratic principles and human rights, and thus reverse course, in the event that they pass such a law, I call upon our State Department to critically reevaluate the Republic of Korea's commitment to democratic values in its annual human rights report, as well as in its report on international religious freedom. It may very well be that we will see South Korea put on a watch list, which would be a very sad development indeed."

Religion
Smith supports religious rights regarding international human rights. He supports sanctions against Vietnam regarding its treatment of Catholics and China regarding the Uyghurs and Falun Gong.

Immigration
Smith supported the Indonesian Family Refugee Protection Act in 2012, which would have extended the deadline for Indonesian immigrants to file for citizenship.

Intellectual property rights
Smith authored the Global Online Freedom Act in 2007, but it did not become law. The proposed legislation was a bill "to promote freedom of expression on the Internet, to protect United States businesses from coercion to participate in repression by authoritarian foreign governments, and for other purposes." Specifically, the bill would prohibit American companies from turning over data about customers residing in "internet restrictive countries." The bill is supported by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders. It is opposed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

January 6 commission
On May 19, 2021, Smith was one of 35 Republicans who joined all Democrats in voting to approve legislation to establish the January 6 commission meant to investigate the U.S. Capitol attack.

LGBT rights
In 2015, Smith said he did not consider same-sex marriage a fundamental human right as defined by the United Nations.

In July 2022, Smith voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that required the U.S. federal government to recognize the validity of same-sex marriages.

Labor movement
Smith supports the Employee Free Choice Act. The AFL-CIO Legislative Scorecard, which tracks support for workers' rights, gives Smith a 61% lifetime rating, ranking him seventh of New Jersey's twelve Representatives, and 195th of the House's 435 Representatives.

The AFL-CIO endorsed Smith for re-election in 2018, calling him one of the "best candidates for working people," due to his support for collective bargaining, opposition to the Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision, and support for infrastructure funding, among other reasons.

As of March 2019, Smith is the only Republican co-sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act. He also supported the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which expanded the scope of the statute of limitations for pay discrimination.

Smith cited the example of Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement as a reason he support unions. He also said of his fellow Republicans, "What my Republican colleagues often don't understand is that labor is a human-rights issue".

Marijuana
Smith has a "D" rating from NORML regarding his voting record on cannabis-related matters. He has consistently voted against the Veterans Equal Access Amendment, which provides veterans access to information regarding medical marijuana accessibility in their respective states.

Veterans affairs
Bob Wallace, executive director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars calls Smith "the best friend" of veterans. In 2004, Smith refused to endorse the Republican budget proposal unless it included more money for veterans. In a congressional hearing, Smith publicly articulated his belief that the Bush Administration's budget request was $1.2 billion less than the Department of Veterans Affairs actually required, embarrassing the administration and Republican congressional leadership. In 2005, Smith was removed from his chairmanship and membership on the Veterans Affair Committee for his aggressive role in seeking more funding for veteran-related causes.

Science policy
Smith supports efforts to provide alternatives to embryonic stem cell research. In 2005, he co-sponsored a bill with Artur Davis to fund the creation of a network of national blood banks to distribute umbilical cord blood for stem cell research.

Taxation
Smith voted against the 2017 Republican tax legislation backed by Donald Trump; he was one of five Republican representatives from New Jersey who joined Democrats in opposing the bill. Smith opposed the bill as "unfair to the taxpayers of New Jersey" because it dramatically limited the federal reduction of state and local taxes (SALT). and said he would be "forced to oppose" more tax cuts if legislation included a provision permanently extending the $10,000 cap on the SALT deduction.

Electoral history
! Year ! ! Republican ! Votes ! % ! ! Democratic ! Votes ! % ! ! Third Party ! Party ! Votes ! % ! ! Third Party ! Party ! Votes ! % !
 * + New Jersey's 4th congressional district: Results 1978–2022
 * 1978
 * |Chris Smith
 * |41,833
 * |36.9%
 * |Frank Thompson (Inc)
 * |69,259
 * |61.1%
 * |John Valjean Mahalchik
 * |Independent
 * |1,145
 * |1%
 * |Paul Rizzo
 * |No Slogan
 * |827
 * |1%
 * 1980
 * |Chris Smith
 * |95,447
 * |57%
 * |Frank Thompson (Inc)
 * |68,480
 * |41%
 * |Jack Moyers
 * |Libertarian
 * |2,801
 * |2%
 * |Paul Rizzo
 * |No Slogan
 * |1,776
 * |1%
 * 1982
 * |Chris Smith
 * |85,660
 * |53%
 * |Joseph Merlino
 * |75,658
 * |47%
 * |Bill Harris
 * |Libertarian
 * |662
 * |0%
 * |Paul Rizzo
 * |No Slogan
 * |374
 * |0%
 * 1984
 * |Chris Smith
 * |139,295
 * |61%
 * |James Hedden
 * |87,908
 * |39%
 * 1986
 * |Chris Smith
 * |78,699
 * |61%
 * |Jeffrey Laurenti
 * |49,290
 * |38%
 * |Earl Dickey
 * |Stop Financing Communism
 * |789
 * |1%
 * 1988
 * |Chris Smith
 * |155,283
 * |66%
 * |Betty Holland
 * |79,006
 * |33%
 * |Judson Carter
 * |Independent
 * |1,114
 * |0%
 * |Daniel Maiullo
 * |Libertarian
 * |791
 * |0%
 * 1990
 * |Chris Smith
 * |99,920
 * |63%
 * |Mark Setaro
 * |54,961
 * |35%
 * |Carl Peters
 * |Libertarian
 * |2,178
 * |1%
 * ! style="background:#FF7575; "|Joseph Notarangelo
 * ! style="background:#FF7575; "|Populist
 * ! style="background:#FF7575; "|1,206
 * ! style="background:#FF7575; "|1%
 * 1992
 * |Chris Smith
 * |149,095
 * |62%
 * |Brian Hughes
 * |84,514
 * |35%
 * |Benjamin Grindlinger
 * |Libertarian
 * |2,984
 * |1%
 * |Patrick Pasculi
 * |Independent
 * |2,137
 * |1%
 * 1994
 * |Chris Smith
 * |109,818
 * |68%
 * |Ralph Walsh
 * |49,537
 * |31%
 * |Leonard Marshall
 * |Conservative
 * |1,579
 * |1%
 * ! style="background:#00bfff; "|Arnold Kokans
 * ! style="background:#00bfff; "|Natural Law
 * ! style="background:#00bfff; "|833
 * ! style="background:#00bfff; "|1%
 * 1996
 * |Chris Smith
 * |146,404
 * |64%
 * |Kevin Meara
 * |77,565
 * |34%
 * |Robert Figueroa
 * |Independent
 * |3,000
 * |1%
 * |J. Morgan Strong
 * |Independent
 * |2,034
 * |1%
 * 1998
 * |Chris Smith
 * |92,991
 * |62%
 * |Larry Schneider
 * |52,281
 * |35%
 * |Keith Quarles
 * |Independent
 * |1,753
 * |1%
 * |Morgan Strong
 * |Independent
 * |1,495
 * |1%
 * 2000
 * |Chris Smith
 * |158,515
 * |63%
 * |Reed Gusciora
 * |87,956
 * |35%
 * |Stuart Chaifetz
 * |Independent
 * |3,627
 * |1%
 * |Paul Teel
 * |Independent
 * |712
 * |0%
 * 2002
 * |Chris Smith
 * |115,293
 * |66%
 * |Mary Brennan
 * |55,967
 * |32%
 * |Keith Quarles
 * |Libertarian
 * |1,211
 * |1%
 * |Hermann Winkelmann
 * |Honesty, Humanity, Duty
 * |1,063
 * |1%
 * 2004
 * |Chris Smith
 * |192,671
 * |67%
 * |Amy Vasquez
 * |92,826
 * |32%
 * |Richard Edgar
 * |Libertarian
 * |2,056
 * |1%
 * 2006
 * |Chris Smith
 * |124,482
 * |66%
 * |Carol Gay
 * |62,902
 * |33%
 * |Richard Edgar
 * |Libertarian
 * |1,539
 * |1%
 * |Louis Wary
 * |Remove Medical Negligence
 * |614
 * |0%
 * 2008
 * |Chris Smith
 * |202,972
 * |66%
 * |Joshua Zeitz
 * |100,036
 * |32%
 * |Steven Welzer
 * |Green
 * |3,543
 * |1%
 * 2010
 * |Chris Smith
 * |129,752
 * |69%
 * |Howard Kleinhendler
 * |52,118
 * |28%
 * |Joe Siano
 * |Libertarian
 * |2,912
 * |2%
 * |Steven Welzer
 * |Green
 * |1,574
 * |1%
 * 2012
 * |Chris Smith
 * |195,146
 * |64%
 * |Brian Froelich
 * |107,992
 * |35%
 * |Leonard Marshall
 * |No Slogan
 * |3,111
 * |1%
 * 2014
 * |Chris Smith
 * |118,826
 * |68%
 * |Ruben Scolavino
 * |54,415
 * |31%
 * |Scott Neuman
 * |D-R Party
 * |1,608
 * |1%
 * 2016
 * |Chris Smith
 * |211,992
 * |64%
 * |Lorna Phillipson
 * |111,532
 * |34%
 * |Hank Schroeder
 * |Economic Growth
 * |5,840
 * |2%
 * |Jeremy Marcus
 * |Libertarian
 * |3,320
 * |1%
 * 2018
 * |Chris Smith
 * |159,965
 * |55%
 * |Joshua Welle
 * |123,995
 * |43%
 * |Michael Rufo
 * |Libertarian
 * |1,352
 * |1%
 * |Ed Stackhouse
 * |Independent
 * |1,034
 * |0%
 * 2020
 * |Chris Smith
 * |254,103
 * |60%
 * |Stephanie Schmid
 * |162,420
 * |38%
 * |Hank Schroeder
 * |Independent
 * |3,195
 * |1%
 * |Michael Rufo
 * |Libertarian
 * |2,583
 * |1%
 * 2022
 * |Chris Smith
 * |173,288
 * |66%
 * |Matthew Jenkins
 * |81,233
 * |31%
 * |	Jason Cullen
 * |Libertarian
 * |1,902
 * |0.7%
 * |David Schmidt
 * |Independent
 * |1,197
 * |0.5%
 * |Chris Smith
 * |202,972
 * |66%
 * |Joshua Zeitz
 * |100,036
 * |32%
 * |Steven Welzer
 * |Green
 * |3,543
 * |1%
 * 2010
 * |Chris Smith
 * |129,752
 * |69%
 * |Howard Kleinhendler
 * |52,118
 * |28%
 * |Joe Siano
 * |Libertarian
 * |2,912
 * |2%
 * |Steven Welzer
 * |Green
 * |1,574
 * |1%
 * 2012
 * |Chris Smith
 * |195,146
 * |64%
 * |Brian Froelich
 * |107,992
 * |35%
 * |Leonard Marshall
 * |No Slogan
 * |3,111
 * |1%
 * 2014
 * |Chris Smith
 * |118,826
 * |68%
 * |Ruben Scolavino
 * |54,415
 * |31%
 * |Scott Neuman
 * |D-R Party
 * |1,608
 * |1%
 * 2016
 * |Chris Smith
 * |211,992
 * |64%
 * |Lorna Phillipson
 * |111,532
 * |34%
 * |Hank Schroeder
 * |Economic Growth
 * |5,840
 * |2%
 * |Jeremy Marcus
 * |Libertarian
 * |3,320
 * |1%
 * 2018
 * |Chris Smith
 * |159,965
 * |55%
 * |Joshua Welle
 * |123,995
 * |43%
 * |Michael Rufo
 * |Libertarian
 * |1,352
 * |1%
 * |Ed Stackhouse
 * |Independent
 * |1,034
 * |0%
 * 2020
 * |Chris Smith
 * |254,103
 * |60%
 * |Stephanie Schmid
 * |162,420
 * |38%
 * |Hank Schroeder
 * |Independent
 * |3,195
 * |1%
 * |Michael Rufo
 * |Libertarian
 * |2,583
 * |1%
 * 2022
 * |Chris Smith
 * |173,288
 * |66%
 * |Matthew Jenkins
 * |81,233
 * |31%
 * |	Jason Cullen
 * |Libertarian
 * |1,902
 * |0.7%
 * |David Schmidt
 * |Independent
 * |1,197
 * |0.5%
 * |159,965
 * |55%
 * |Joshua Welle
 * |123,995
 * |43%
 * |Michael Rufo
 * |Libertarian
 * |1,352
 * |1%
 * |Ed Stackhouse
 * |Independent
 * |1,034
 * |0%
 * 2020
 * |Chris Smith
 * |254,103
 * |60%
 * |Stephanie Schmid
 * |162,420
 * |38%
 * |Hank Schroeder
 * |Independent
 * |3,195
 * |1%
 * |Michael Rufo
 * |Libertarian
 * |2,583
 * |1%
 * 2022
 * |Chris Smith
 * |173,288
 * |66%
 * |Matthew Jenkins
 * |81,233
 * |31%
 * |	Jason Cullen
 * |Libertarian
 * |1,902
 * |0.7%
 * |David Schmidt
 * |Independent
 * |1,197
 * |0.5%
 * |66%
 * |Matthew Jenkins
 * |81,233
 * |31%
 * |	Jason Cullen
 * |Libertarian
 * |1,902
 * |0.7%
 * |David Schmidt
 * |Independent
 * |1,197
 * |0.5%
 * |Independent
 * |1,197
 * |0.5%

 * In elections marked with an asterisk (*), additional candidates received less than 1% of the vote.

title: Chris Smith (New Jersey politician)


text:
Category:Neon Genesis Evangelion

These articles pertain to the anime franchise Neon Genesis Evangelion.

title: Category:Neon Genesis Evangelion


text: Category:Languages

title: Category:Languages


text:
User:Zora

Zora is back in a timid, dipping a toe into the water, way.

Zora is my nom de Distributed Proofreaders. That's where my heart is, preserving the literary heritage of the world. One of my DP teammates, Cimon Avaro, introduced me to Wikipedia. I'm also active in my local Zen group. When I am paid for working, I am a writer, copyeditor, and proofreader. I have three cats (Mamacita, Twit, and Makali‘i) and one daughter, who is a musician and sysadmin. I'm a book geek with a bad reading habit. I've attended Reed College and Berkeley (B.A.) and University of Chicago (M.A., A.B.D.). I also have an associate's degree in computer technology.

Thumbs down
I've been accused of being: I am always thrilled when I collect a new epithet for my roster of ethnic/religious insults.
 * A Pakistani
 * Anti-Pakistani
 * A Bengali
 * Anti-Hindu
 * An Arab
 * A Jew
 * A Zionist enforcer
 * A genoicidal Nazi
 * An Islamofascist
 * A Wahhabi spy
 * A Salafi
 * Anti-Shi'a
 * A Nasibi
 * A Takfiri
 * A racist
 * A Canadian
 * An Un-Canadian
 * A Martian
 * A Transgressional Conformist(?)

title: User:Zora


text:
Brothers and Sisters

Brothers and Sisters may refer to:

Books

 * Brothers and Sisters, a 1994 novel by Bebe Moore Campbell
 * Brothers and Sisters, a novel by Ivy Compton-Burnett

Film and television

 * Brothers and Sisters (1979 TV series), an American sitcom
 * Brothers and Sisters (1980 film), a 1980 British film
 * Brothers and Sisters (1992 film), a 1992 Italian film
 * Brothers and Sisters (1998 TV series), a British television series starring Sandra Bee, John Adewole, and Mark Arden
 * Brothers & Sisters (2006 TV series), an American television series
 * "Brothers & Sisters" (Family Guy), episode of Family Guy
 * "Brothers and Sisters" (The Green Green Grass), episode of The Green Green Grass
 * "Brothers & Sisters" (Arrow), an episode of Arrow

Music

 * Brothers and Sisters (album), by The Allman Brothers Band
 * Brothers & Sisters (album), a 2014 album by Soil & "Pimp" Sessions
 * Brother, Sister, an album by mewithoutYou
 * Brother Sister, an album by the Brand New Heavies

Songs

 * "Brothers and Sisters", a song by Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers / Ziggy Marley Joy and Blues (1993)
 * "Brothers and Sisters", a song by 2 Funky 2 (1993)
 * "Brothers & Sisters" (song), a 1999 single by Coldplay
 * "Brothers and Sisters", a song by Blur from Think Tank (2003)
 * "Brothers and Sisters", a song by Twin Atlantic from Great Divide (2004)
 * "Brothers and Sisters", a song by Joe Kum Yung Memorial Band & Dallas Tamaira from the single Happy Cones (2004)

title: Brothers and Sisters


text:
Optimum sustainable yield

In population ecology and economics, optimum sustainable yield is the level of effort (LOE) that maximizes the difference between total revenue and total cost. Or, where marginal revenue equals marginal cost. This level of effort maximizes the economic profit, or rent, of the resource being used. It usually corresponds to an effort level lower than that of maximum sustainable yield.

In environmental science, optimum sustainable yield is the largest economical yield of a renewable resource achievable over a long time period without decreasing the ability of the population or its environment to support the continuation of this level of yield, and enables an ecosystem to have a high aesthetic value. This concept is widely used specifically in the management of fisheries, where surplus fish are removed so the population stays at its carrying capacity. This allows the most fish to be harvested while still maintaining maximum population growth.

title: Optimum sustainable yield


text:
Talk:Rawlins Lowndes

Untitled
I listed him as the father of Thomas and William, based on the U.S Conress Bioguide which shows them as brothers. But, the dates and place of birth don't fit. I'm sure that Thomas was Rawlins' son, but I don't think Mattherw is. Needs research.... Lou I 21:52, 31 May 2004 (UTC)

Rawlins Lowndes: sources and children
Yes, Lou. One of the sources for him is (I think) the SC Biographical Directory (or something along those lines - I can't find my relevant source note naming it for some reason: my lousy filing) which is NOT always a desperately reliable source, however nicely it may have been printed and bound. A more carefully worked through source is one of those little family genealogy books by George Bigelow Chase, Genealogist  1835 - 1902, entitled Lowndes of South Carolina   1876,  (Published Boston Mass, USA  in 1876 by A Williams & Company), Page 12. You never quite know with these family genealogy books, but this one apears to me relatively careful and honest. Anyhow, if you google 'Rawlins Lowndes' you get to 'my' genealogy page on the Lowndes family in South Carolina which summarises my understanding of how the genealogy works.

I've not come across any son called Matthew. Also Matthew wasn't, as far as I can see, a family name for these Lowndess at this time.

But by his second wife, Mary Cartwright ? - 1772, Rawlins Lowndes begat Thomas Lowndes 1766 - 1843 who himself had a reasonably prominent political career.

By his third wife, young Sarah Jones 1757 - 1801, Rawlins Lowndes begat William Jones Lowndes 1782 - 1822 who also had a political career, cut short by his early death. He died at sea and I have a note that his widow throughout her life always remembered the noise of his body being thrown into the sea. More than you wanted to know?

I'm not sure what happens if one enters links to these talk pages, but try this...

http://www.hillmanc.fsnet.co.uk/lowndes.htm

and one of his third wife:

http://www.hillmanc.fsnet.co.uk/Images/Sarah_Jones_Lowndes_Picture.htm

Success Charles01 06:22, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

==

The article states that Lowndes returned to the General Assembly in 1778, just in time to debate the new US Constitution. This is clearly impossible, as the Convention did not take place until 1787. Was this just a transposition typo? That seems inconsistent with the later dates of his service.

DCrosby 12 June 2007

External links modified
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more work needed
see my note on the William Lowndes (congressman) talk page.Jweaver28 (talk) 15:52, 10 March 2019 (UTC)

 * I cleaned this up more and added citations, but didn't remove the additional citations needed tag. First, I could not find a source giving even a ballpark number on his slaveholdings, which seem critical to his opposition to the U.S. Constitution drafted in 1788; the reconstituted federal census records really just show him on various lists of potential jurors. Also, someone needs to check on his actual legislative history, because the family biography on ancestry.com seems to indicate that he was not a legislator during the prewar period when he was a prosecutor, and may be also not while he was a judge. I've encountered that dual-body prohibition in Virginia of that era and wouldn't be surprised if that also were true in South Carolina. The findagrave and national governors association bios don't even mention that he was a judge; even though his Stamp Act opinion of May 1766 was the first on that legislation and crucial according to his family biography. Finally, weeks ago when researching one of his sons, I came across a source that said Rawlins had petitioned to have his British citizenship restored after the war, but I saw no sign in this quick review. I really should have been working on personal business this afternoon instead of working on this because I was peeved that the same sleazy real estate investors who told me to shut up online several years ago called and left another soliciting robo-voicemail using a spoofed number after I posted changes early this afternoon while trying to replicate an ancestry.com problem I encountered over the weekend.Jweaver28 (talk) 23:51, 26 March 2019 (UTC)

title: Talk:Rawlins Lowndes


text:
Maltby

Maltby may refer to :

Places

 * Maltby le Marsh, Lincolnshire, England
 * Maltby, Lincolnshire, England, near Louth
 * Maltby, North Yorkshire, England, near Middlesbrough
 * Maltby, South Yorkshire, England, near Rotherham
 * Maltby, Washington, USA

Other uses

 * Maltby (surname)

title: Maltby


text:
Sanford Wallace

Sanford 'Spamford' Wallace (born c. 1968) is an Internet spammer. He initially sent junk faxes before coming to notoriety in 1997, promoting himself as the original "Spam King". Wallace's prolific spamming has resulted in encounters with the United States government, anti-spam activists, and large corporations such as Facebook and MySpace.

Early career
In the late 1990s, his company, Cyber Promotions, aka Cyberpromo, was widely blacklisted as a source of unsolicited email. Wallace's high-profile pro-spam stance and unrepentant persistence earned him the derisive nickname 'Spamford'.

Prior to his email spam ventures, Wallace had gained notoriety in other questionable marketing circles, as a heavy utilizer of junk fax marketing, a practice outlawed in the United States since 1991.

In 1995, Wallace formed Cyber Promotions, entering the spam market. Thanks to a self-marketing campaign, Cyberpromo rapidly became the most successful seller of email marketing—as well as the number one source of unsolicited email. In 1996 he was sued by Concentric Network, an ISP, and entered into a consent decree not to use their network again. After Cyberpromo failed to become a legitimate business, Wallace returned to junk faxing in late 1997.

Wallace's company brought a number of spam-blocking evasion tactics to the fore of the spam battle. False return addresses, relaying, and multihoming were among the questionable practices used by Cyberpromo to ensure the penetration of their advertising.

Retirement and reemergence
In April 1998, Wallace publicly announced that he was quitting the spam business. Cyberpromo was converted to what he claimed was an "opt-in" email marketing company and renamed GTMI. The revised company was plagued by major financial problems, as well as the spectre of its former self, with large numbers of people unconvinced of Wallace's change of heart. Wallace pulled out of the new venture quickly. GTMI's problematic origin led to its rapid demise.

After Wallace's internet connection was disconnected for spamming in 1999, he filed a lawsuit against anti-spam activist Mark Welch, but abandoned the suit a month later.

, Wallace was working as a DJ in New Hampshire, making weekly appearances at area nightclubs. Wallace performed under the name DJ MasterWeb. He was also the owner of a night club in New Hampshire called Plum Crazy, which filed for bankruptcy in 2004. It appears that Wallace did not leave the Internet marketing business entirely. In 2001 he was linked to a website, passthison.com, which utilized multiple-window launching to snag Web viewers, an advertising practice rarely seen outside of the online pornography industry. Wallace was also involved in another opt-in project, SmartBotPRO.NET, which is now apparently also defunct.

On October 8, 2004, the Federal Trade Commission filed suit against Wallace and his company, SmartBOT, for infecting computers with spyware then offering a solution to remove the problem for $30. In January 2005, it was announced that Wallace had agreed to stop distributing the software until the charges with the FTC are settled. Subsequently, a default judgment was issued against Wallace forbidding him and associates from distributing spyware or any other software without consumer's consent.

In March 2006, the FTC filed a suit again against Wallace and SmartBOT for practices similar to the 2004 suit. This time Wallace and his co-defendants were ordered to pay $5,089,550.48 in fines.

In 2007, MySpace filed suit against Wallace for phishing and spamming. Wallace had used automated software not allowed by MySpace to create 11,000 fake profiles, in order to direct MySpace users to other websites. In July 2007, US District Judge Audrey B. Collins issued an order prohibiting Wallace from creating or maintaining MySpace profiles, and from using MySpace to post public comments, or send private messages. In April 2008, the California Central District Court issued a default judgment against Wallace in MySpace's lawsuit, after Wallace failed to turn over documents or appear in court.

On January 26, 2008, The Register reported that the FTC has asked the Judge overseeing the 2006 settlement to find Wallace and partner Walter Rines in civil contempt of court for their use of malware and social engineering on MySpace to promote porn and gambling sites. In May 2008 Wallace and Rines were ordered to pay $230 million to MySpace by the L.A. District Court when they failed to appear for trial.

Facebook sued Wallace in California District Court for posting spam messages on members' walls. Wallace has already been fined $4 million for installing ad-related spyware on peoples' computers, and was fined $230 million for his activities on MySpace, according to MediaPost.

Wallace filed for bankruptcy in June 2009. On October 29, 2009, federal judge Jeremy D. Fogel awarded Facebook $711 million in damages. Although Facebook believed it was unlikely to collect due to Wallace's bankruptcy, the presiding judge in the case also recommended criminal contempt charges against Wallace, which carry the possibility of incarceration.

On August 4, 2011, Wallace was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Jose, California, on various counts of electronic mail fraud, intentional damage to a protected computer, and criminal contempt. The indictment followed a two-year investigation by the FBI into his alleged infiltration of Facebook accounts in order to spam its users. Wallace denied the charges and was released on $100,000 bail.

In August 2015, Wallace pleaded guilty to electronic mail fraud and criminal contempt of court as well as admitting to mass spamming in 2008 and 2009. He also pleaded guilty to violating a court order to not access Facebook's computer network.

Conviction
In June 2016, Wallace was sentenced to thirty months in prison and ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution for bombarding Facebook users. U.S. District Court Judge Edward J. Davila also sentenced Wallace to mental health treatment and five years of probation once he is released. Judge Davila barred Sanford Wallace of possessing or using any computer without the permission of the probation order. He pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and related activity in connection with electronic mail and one count of criminal contempt of court.

Wallace served his sentence in Colorado, where he was assigned Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate number 16075-111. He was released from prison on May 21, 2018, after serving 21 months.

News articles

 * Sanford Wallace mini-bio and interviews from archive.org, originally at AnnOnline
 * CNET: Return of the Spam King November 20, 1997
 * CNET: Spam site killed under threats January 19, 1998
 * Wired: Sanford Wallace: Back to the Fax? January 23, 1998
 * FTC files case against spyware companies October 7, 2004
 * U.S. files first suit against Internet 'spy ware' October 8, 2004
 * Notorious Net marketer to halt spyware ads January 4, 2005
 * FTC Orders Former Spam King To Pay $4 Million For Spyware Scam May 4, 2006
 * MySpace files phishing and spam suit against Sanford Wallace March 27, 2007
 * Spamford Wallace's MySpace riches come under attack January 26, 2008
 * MySpace Wins Record $230m in Case Against 'Spam King' May 14, 2008

Court cases

 * Concentric Network Corporation v Cyber Promotions
 * Cyber Promotions v AOL
 * Cyber Promotions v CompuServe
 * Cyber Promotions v Earthlink Wallace case archives
 * Wallace v. Welch (1999)
 * Spamford Wallace banished from MySpace

title: Sanford Wallace


text: Category:Constructed languages

title: Category:Constructed languages


text: Category:Finnish language

title: Category:Finnish language


text:
Talk:Sanford Wallace

= Death source? =

I feel that listing a person as dead should require a source to be cited. The only thing I've come across is here. The timing matches the edit, but it's not clear that it's the same person. Incidentally, I stumbled upon this because a review for a pizzeria said that its owner passed. Until there's a source, I think the death date needs to be reverted. Acjohnson55 (talk) 20:26, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Sanford Wallace


text: Category:Extinct languages

title: Category:Extinct languages


text:
Dafydd Elis-Thomas

Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas, Baron Elis-Thomas, (Thomas; born 18 October 1946), is a Welsh politician who served as the leader of Plaid Cymru from 1984 to 1991 and represented the Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency in the Senedd from 1999 to 2021.

Born in Carmarthen, Wales, he was raised in Ceredigion and the Conwy Valley. He represented Merioneth and later Meirionnydd Nant Conwy as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 to 1992, and was Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales from the office's inception in 1999 to 2011. Elis-Thomas has been a member of the House of Lords since 1992 and a privy counsellor since 2004. In 2016, he left Plaid Cymru to support Carwyn Jones's government in the Senedd, sitting as an independent. He joined the Welsh government in November 2017 and was Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism until May 2021. Elis-Thomas applied to rejoin Plaid Cymru in August 2023, but withdrew his application later in the year.

Personal
Dafydd Elis Thomas was born on 18 October 1946 at Priory Hospital, Carmarthen, and brought up in the Llandysul area of Ceredigion, and in Llanrwst in the Conwy Valley. In 1970, he married Elen Williams and had three sons. They later divorced. From the mid-1980s until 1992 his partner was Marjorie Thompson, the chairwoman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). In 1993, he married Mair Parry-Jones. He lives in Llandaff, Cardiff (when working at the Senedd) and Betws-y-Coed (in the Aberconwy constituency, but prior to boundary changes in his constituency).

Professional career
He was the chairman of the Welsh Language Board between 1994 and 1999, and is a former member of the Arts Council of Wales and the British Film Institute where he was Chairman of Screen between 1992 and 1999. He was also a director and vice-chairman of Cynefin Environmental Ltd. between 1992 and 1999. A former university lecturer, he has also been the president of Bangor University since 2000, as well as currently being a member of the governing body of the Church in Wales.

UK Parliament
Having come third at Conwy in the 1970 general election, Thomas served as MP for Merioneth between 1974 and 1983, initially as the Baby of the House, and subsequently as MP for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy from 1983 to 1992. On entering the House of Commons in 1974, he became one of the first MPs to be allowed to take the oath of allegiance in Welsh as well as in English.

He was created a life peer on 18 September 1992 as Baron Elis-Thomas, of Nant Conwy in the County of Gwynedd, with a change of his surname from Thomas to Elis-Thomas. He sat as a crossbench peer because at that time he had taken on the non-political role of chair of the Welsh Language Board; in 2012, he took the Plaid Cymru whip in the Lords until leaving the party in 2016.

Senedd
Elis-Thomas was elected to the newly established National Assembly for Wales (now called "Senedd Cymru" or "the Welsh Parliament", or simply Senedd) in 1999, representing the Meirionnydd Nant Conwy constituency until the 2007 election, and then the Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency. He also held the position of Presiding Officer from the Assembly's inception in 1999 until 2011. During his tenure as Presiding Officer, he expelled Assembly member Leanne Wood from the Assembly chamber during a December 2004 debate after Wood referred to Queen Elizabeth II as "Mrs Windsor" during a debate and refused to withdraw the remark, the first time an AM was ordered out of the chamber on those grounds.

From 2011, Elis-Thomas was Plaid Cymru's spokesperson for Environment, Energy and Planning before transferring to Rural Affairs, Fisheries and Food in 2012. In October 2016 he left Plaid Cymru, but remained in the Assembly as an Independent member. In November 2017, as part of a Welsh Government reshuffle, Elis-Thomas was appointed as Minister for Culture, Tourism and Sport.

Elis-Thomas is also Honorary President of the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight Cymru.

He announced on Dewi Llwyd's BBC Radio Cymru programme on 12 April 2020 that he will not be standing in the 2021 Senedd election. After long consideration he said that he will not be standing in Dwyfor Meirionnydd in 2021, but said that there are many other ways to serve society.

title: Dafydd Elis-Thomas


text:
RPG-7

The RPG-7 (РПГ-7, Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт) is a portable, reusable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank, rocket launcher. The RPG-7 and its predecessor, the RPG-2, were designed by the Soviet Union, and are now manufactured by the Russian company Bazalt. The weapon has the GRAU index (Russian armed forces index) 6G3.

The ruggedness, simplicity, low cost, and effectiveness of the RPG-7 has made it the most widely used anti-armor weapon in the world. Currently around 40 countries use the weapon; it is manufactured in several variants by nine countries. It is popular with irregular and guerrilla forces.

Widely produced, the most commonly seen major variations are the RPG-7D (десантник – desantnik – paratrooper) model, which can be broken into two parts for easier carrying; and the lighter Chinese Type 69 RPG. DIO of Iran manufactures RPG-7s with olive green handguards, H&K pistol grips, and a commando variant.

The RPG-7 was first delivered to the Soviet Army in 1961 and deployed at the squad level. It replaced the RPG-2, having clearly out-performed the intermediate RPG-4 design during testing. The current model produced by the Russian Federation is the RPG-7V2, capable of firing standard and dual high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds, high explosive/fragmentation, and thermobaric warheads, with a UP-7V sighting device fitted (used in tandem with the standard 2.7× PGO-7 optical sight) to allow the use of extended range ammunition. The RPG-7D3 is the equivalent paratrooper model. Both the RPG-7V2 and RPG-7D3 were adopted by the Russian Ground Forces in 2001.

Description
The launcher is reloadable and based around a steel tube, 40 mm in diameter, 950 mm long, and weighing 7 kg. The middle of the tube is wood wrapped to protect the user from heat and the end is flared. Sighting is usually optical with a back-up iron sight, and passive infrared and night sights are also available. The launchers designated RPG-7N1 and RPG-7DN1 can thus mount the multi-purpose night vision scope 1PN51 and the launchers designated RPG-7N2 and RPG-7DN2 can mount the multi-purpose night vision scope 1PN58.

As with similar weapons, the grenade protrudes from the launch tubes. It is 40-105 mm in diameter and weighs between 2 kg and 4.5 kg. It is launched by a gunpowder booster charge, giving it an initial speed of 115 m/s, and creating a cloud of light grey-blue smoke that can give away the position of the shooter. The rocket motor ignites after 10 m and sustains flight out to 500 m at a maximum velocity of 295 m/s. The grenade is stabilized by two sets of fins that deploy in-flight: one large set on the stabilizer pipe to maintain direction and a smaller rear set to induce rotation. The grenade can fly up to 1100 m; the fuze sets the maximum range, usually 920 m.

Propulsion system
According to the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Bulletin 3u (1977) Soviet RPG-7 Antitank Grenade Launcher—Capabilities and Countermeasures, the RPG-7 munition has two sections: a "booster" section and a "warhead and sustainer motor" section. These must be assembled into the ready-to-use grenade. The booster consists of a "small strip powder charge" that serves to propel the grenade out of the launcher; the sustainer motor then ignites and propels the grenade for the next few seconds, giving it a top speed of 294 m/s. The TRADOC bulletin provides anecdotal commentary that the RPG-7 has been fired from within buildings, which agrees with the two-stage design. It is stated that only a 2 m standoff to a rear obstruction is needed for use inside rooms or fortifications. The fins not only provide drag stabilization, but are designed to impart a slow rotation to the grenade.

Due to the configuration of the RPG-7 sustainer/warhead section, it responds counter-intuitively to crosswinds. A crosswind will tend to exert pressure on the stabilizing fins, causing the projectile to turn into the wind (see Weathervane effect). While the rocket motor is still burning, this will cause the flight path to curve into the wind. The TRADOC bulletin explains aiming difficulties for more distant moving targets in crosswinds at some length.

Ammunition
[[File:PG-7V of RPG7 sect.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|Inside of an RPG's three sections.

I) The head contains 1. trigger

2. conductive cone

3. aerodynamic fairing

4. conical liner

5. body

6. explosive

7. conductor

8. detonator II) The rocket motor consists of 1. nozzle block

2. nozzle

3. motor body

4. propellant

5. motor rear

6. ignition primer III) The booster charge includes 1. fin

2. cartridge

3. charge

4. turbine

5. tracer

6. foam wad]] The RPG-7 can fire a variety of warheads for anti-armor (HEAT, PG-Protivotankovaya Granata) or anti-personnel (HE, OG-Oskolochnaya Granata) purposes, usually fitting with an impact (PIBD) and a 4.5 second fuze. Armor penetration is warhead dependent and ranges from 300-600 mm of RHA; one warhead, the PG-7VR, is a 'tandem charge' device, used to defeat reactive armor with a single shot. The Russian Ministry of Defense said in December 2023 that it has modified the RPG-7V grenade launcher in order to shoot 82-mm mines.

Current production ammunition for the RPG-7V2 consists of four main types:
 * PG-7VL [c.1977] – improved 93 mm HEAT warhead effective against most vehicles and fortified targets.
 * PG-7VR [c.1988] – tandem charge warhead designed to penetrate up to 750 mm rolled homogeneous armour equivalence of explosive reactive armor and the conventional armor underneath. It has a range of 200 m.
 * TBG-7V Tanin [c.1988] – 105 mm thermobaric warhead for anti-personnel and urban warfare.
 * OG-7V [c.1999] – 40 mm fragmentation warhead for anti-personnel warfare. Has no sustainer motor.

Other warhead variants include:
 * PG-7V [c.1961] – baseline 85 mm HEAT warhead capable of penetrating 260 mm RHA.
 * PG-7VM [c.1969] – improved 70 mm HEAT warhead capable of penetrating 300 mm RHA.
 * PG-7VS [c.1972] – improved 73 mm HEAT warhead capable of penetrating 400 mm RHA.
 * PG-7VS1 [c.mid-1970s] – cheaper PG-7VS version capable of penetrating 360 mm RHA.
 * GSh-7VT [c.2013] – anti-bunker warhead with cylindrical follow-through blast-fragmentation munition followed by explosively formed penetrator.
 * OGi-7MA [unknown] – anti-personnel fragmentation munition developed for the Bulgarian ATGL-L. improved equivalent to the Soviet OG-7V. Compatible with RPG-7.

Specifications
Manufacturer specifications for the RPG-7V1.

Hit probabilities
A 1976 U.S. Army evaluation of the weapon gave the hit probabilities on a 5x2.5 m panel moving sideways at 4 m/s. Crosswinds cause additional issues as the round steers into the wind; in an 11 km/h wind, firing at a stationary tank sized target, the gunner cannot expect to get a first-round hit more than 50% of the time at 180 m.

History of use
The RPG-7 was first used in 1967 by Egypt during the Six-Day War, and by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, but it did not see widespread usage in Vietnam until the following year.

The RPG-7 was used by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2005, most notably in Lurgan, County Armagh, where it was used against British Army observation posts and the towering military base at Kitchen Hill in the town. The IRA also used them in Catholic areas of West Belfast against British Army armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and Army forward operating bases (FOBs). Beechmount Avenue in Belfast became known as "RPG Avenue" after attacks on British troops.

In Mogadishu, Somalia, RPG-7s were used to down two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters in 1993.

During the first and second Chechen wars, Chechens used RPG-7 which they had captured from Soviet bases and used them against Russian armored columns. During the first war, Russians may have lost 100 tanks and 250 armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) in Grozny. The Chechens were able to knock out T-72s with three or four RPG-7 hits. Against T-72s with explosive reactive armor, the Chechens fired an RPG in close range (within 50 m) to detonate the armor and then followed this with RPG hits on the now exposed point of the tank, also from close range. The RPG-7 was also effective against AFVs, buildings and personnel.

The PG-7VR has been used by Iraqi insurgents. On 28 August 2003, it achieved a mobility kill against an American M1 Abrams hitting the left side hull next to the forward section of the engine compartment.

During the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), several M1A2 Abrams were temporarily disabled by RPG-7 hits.

Users

 * 🇦🇫 Afghanistan
 * 🇩🇿 Algeria
 * 🇦🇴 Angola
 * 🇦🇲 Armenia
 * Artsakh
 * 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
 * : Chinese Type 69 RPG variant used by Bangladesh Army.
 * 🇧🇾 Belarus
 * 🇧🇯 Benin
 * 🇧🇼 Botswana
 * 🇧🇬 Bulgaria: Produced locally by Arsenal Corporation as ATGL-L.
 * 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso
 * 🇰🇭 Cambodia
 * 🇨🇻 Cape Verde
 * 🇨🇫 Central African Republic
 * 🇹🇩 Chad
 * 🇨🇳 China: Type 69 reverse-engineered copy.
 * Congo-Brazzaville
 * Congo-Kinshasa
 * 🇭🇷 Croatia
 * 🇨🇺 Cuba
 * 🇨🇾 Cyprus
 * 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
 * 🇩🇯 Djibouti
 * 🇪🇬 Egypt: Locally produced without license as PG-7 by the Sakr Factory for Developed Industries.
 * 🇪🇹 Ethiopia
 * 🇪🇷 Eritrea
 * 🇪🇪 Estonia
 * 🇫🇯 Fiji
 * Georgia: Modified version "RPG-7D" locally produced by STC Delta.
 * 🇬🇭 Ghana
 * 🇬🇳 Guinea
 * 🇬🇾 Guyana
 * 🇭🇺 Hungary
 * 🇮🇷 Iran Produced locally as Sageg.
 * 🇮🇶 Iraq Produced locally as Al-Nassira from the 1980s by Ba'athist Iraq.
 * 🇮🇱 Israel: Large stocks held as secondary ATW. Rounds produced locally.
 * 🇯🇴 Jordan
 * 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
 * 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan
 * Laos
 * 🇱🇻 Latvia
 * 🇱🇧 Lebanon
 * 🇱🇸 Lesotho
 * 🇱🇷 Liberia: Used by both the Liberian Army and guerrilla factions in the Liberian Civil War.
 * 🇱🇾 Libya (used by both sides in the Libyan Civil War)
 * 🇲🇬 Madagascar
 * 🇲🇾 Malaysia: Bulgarian ATGL-L versions are purchased and used since the early 2000s
 * 🇲🇱 Mali
 * 🇲🇹 Malta
 * 🇲🇷 Mauritania
 * 🇲🇩 Moldova:
 * Transnistria
 * 🇲🇳 Mongolia
 * 🇲🇦 Morocco
 * 🇲🇿 Mozambique: Non state-users.
 * 🇲🇲 Myanmar: MA-10 RPG made by Myanmar Directorate of Defence Industries.
 * 🇳🇮 Nicaragua
 * 🇳🇬 Nigeria: Produced under license by the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria
 * 🇳🇪 Niger
 * 🇰🇵 North Korea
 * 🇵🇰 Pakistan: Used by the Pakistan Army and paramilitary forces. RPG-7V version made under license by Pakistan Machine Tool Factory.
 * 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea
 * 🇵🇭 Philippines: The army has three different variants: 250 ATGL-L2 from Bulgaria, 30 Type 69 from China, and 744 RPG-7V2 from Russia.
 * 🇵🇱 Poland: Produced RPG-7 and RPG-7W variants.
 * 🇷🇴 Romania: Produced locally by SC Carfil SA from Brașov as AG-7 (Romanian: Aruncătorul de Grenade 7, Grenade Launcher 7).
 * 🇷🇺 Russia
 * 🇷🇼 Rwanda
 * Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic: Used by the Polisario Front.
 * 🇸🇹 Sao Tome and Principe
 * 🇸🇳 Senegal
 * 🇷🇸 Serbia: Made by PPT Namenska.
 * 🇸🇨 Seychelles
 * 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone
 * 🇸🇴 Somalia
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa: South African National Defence Force.
 * 🇸🇸 South Sudan: South Sudan Democratic Movement, Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, South Sudan Defence Forces, Sudan People's Liberation Army used RPG-7, Type 69s and Iranian-made RPGs.
 * 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
 * 🇸🇩 Sudan: Made by Military Industry Corporation as the Sinar.
 * 🇸🇷 Suriname: Used by the Military of Suriname.
 * Syria
 * 🇹🇯 Tajikistan:
 * 🇹🇬 Togo
 * 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan:
 * 🇺🇦 Ukraine:
 * 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan: Produced locally.
 * 🇻🇪 Venezuela
 * Vietnam: Locally produced and designated as RPG7V-VN. Also popularly recognized under the designation B-41.
 * 🇾🇪 Yemen
 * 🇿🇲 Zambia
 * 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
 * 🇿🇲 Zambia
 * 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe

Non-state users

 * ISIL
 * Taliban
 * Hezbollah
 * Syrian opposition
 * Houthi movement
 * Flag of the Ulster Volunteer Force.svg Ulster Volunteer Force
 * New Irish Republican Army
 * Qassam Brigades
 * Al-Quds Brigades

Former users

 * 🇱🇹 Lithuania

1960s

 * Vietnam War (1955–1975): First used in 1967.
 * Rhodesian Bush War (1964–1979)
 * Six Day War (1967)

1970s

 * Yom Kippur War (1973)
 * Ethiopian Civil War (1974–1991)
 * Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990)
 * Angolan Civil War (1975–2002)
 * Sino-Vietnamese War (1979)
 * Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989)

1980s

 * Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988)
 * Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009)
 * Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005)
 * Nicaraguan civil war (1980-1990)

1990s

 * Gulf War (1990–1991)
 * Somali Civil War (1991–present)
 * First Chechen War (1994–1996)
 * Eritrean–Ethiopian War (1998–2000)
 * Second Chechen War (1999–2009)

2000s

 * War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
 * Iraq War (2003–2011)

2010s

 * Syrian Civil War (2011–present)
 * First Libyan Civil War (2011)
 * Central African Republic Civil War (2012–present)
 * War in Iraq (2013–2017)
 * South Sudanese Civil War (2013–2020)
 * Second Libyan Civil War (2014–2020)
 * Yemeni Civil War (2014–present)

2020s

 * Tigray War (2020–2022)
 * Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022–ongoing)
 * War in Amhara (2023–ongoing)
 * Israel–Hamas war (2023-ongoing)

title: RPG-7


text:
User:Morwen/test2

This is also a test
1 2 3 3b 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 17b 18 19 20

title: User:Morwen/test2


text:
Category talk:Finnish language

Untitled
Perhaps Category:Finno-Ugric languages and Category:Indo-European languages should have been made first? What else is going in here?--[[User:HamYoyo|HamYoyo (Talk)]] 21:58, May 31, 2004 (UTC)

 * Yeah, those probably should be made categories too. It's easy enough to change Category:Finnish language to be a subcategory of Category:Finno-Ugric languages, once that's created.

 * There's a bunch of stuff in Category:Finnish language now. ^_^  --Eequor 22:16, 31 May 2004 (UTC)

title: Category talk:Finnish language


text:
Scott Garrett

Ernest Scott Garrett (born July 9, 1959) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for NJ's 5th congressional district, serving from 2003 to 2017. He is a member of the Republican Party. He previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1990 to 2003. Garrett chaired the United States House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises. He lost his reelection bid in 2016 to Democrat Josh Gottheimer, becoming the only incumbent Congressman in New Jersey to be defeated that year.

On June 19, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Garrett to become chairman and president of the Export–Import Bank of the United States, a post that requires confirmation by the United States Senate. In a 10–13 vote on December 19, 2017, the Senate Banking Committee declined to advance his nomination. Garrett was subsequently hired into an excepted service position at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of General Counsel.

Early life, education and career
Garrett earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Montclair State College in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from Rutgers School of Law–Camden in 1984.

Born in Bergen County in the town of Englewood, Garrett spent much of his life living in North Jersey. He was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1991, and was re-elected five times, serving from 1992 to 2003, representing the 24th legislative district, which covered all of Sussex County and several municipalities in Morris and Hunterdon counties.

Elections
Garrett unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Congresswoman Marge Roukema in the 1998 and 2000 Republican primaries, on both occasions running well to the right of Roukema, a leading moderate Republican. In 2002, Roukema retired and Garrett won a contested five-way primary with 46% of the vote over State Assemblyman David C. Russo and State Senator Gerald Cardinale. Of the three major candidates, Garrett was the only one from the more rural western portion of the district, while Russo and Cardinale were both from Bergen County. Although Bergen was the most populous county in the district, Russo and Cardinale split the vote there, while Garrett dominated his base in the western portion of the district.

In the 2002 general election, Garrett faced Democratic candidate Anne Sumers, an ophthalmologist and former Republican. Garrett beat Sumers with 60% of the vote.

Garrett was reelected in 2004 with 58% of the vote. In 2006, Garrett defeated Republican primary opponent Michael Cino. In the November 2006 general election, Garrett defeated Paul Aronsohn, a former employee of the U.S. State Department during the Clinton Administration, to win a third term. Garrett defeated Democrat Dennis Shulman 56%–42% in the 2008 general election. In 2010, Garrett defeated Tod Theise, receiving 65% of the vote. In 2012, Garrett defeated Democrat Adam Gussen with 55% of the vote.

In 2014, Garrett defeated Democratic nominee Roy Cho with 55% of the vote.

Redistricting after the 2010 census made the 5th slightly more Democratic, as it gained heavily Democratic Hackensack and Teaneck. John McCain carried the old 5th with 54 percent of the vote in 2008, but would have only won the new 5th with 50.5 percent of the vote.

2016
Garrett ran for re-election in 2016 as the Republican candidate, besting Michael Cino and Peter Vallorosi in the primary. He faced former Clinton administration speechwriter Josh Gottheimer, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary. In an article published by OpenSecrets, Garrett was revealed to be heavily reliant on the financial sector to fund his campaign. In 2015, it was reported that Garrett stated he would not pay dues to the NRCC because they had supported openly gay candidates. Gottheimer and national Democratic groups used these comments to attack Garrett as too socially conservative for the district, while Wall Street firms that had donated to Garrett for years reduced their contributions.

Gottheimer won the general election on November 8, 2016, with 50.5% of the vote to Garrett's 47.2%. While Garrett carried three of the four counties in the district, he could not overcome a 33,800-vote deficit in the district's share of Bergen County; he lost overall by 14,900 votes.

Committee assignments

 * Committee on the Budget
 * Committee on Financial Services
 * Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises (chairman)
 * Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity

Caucus memberships

 * Congressional Constitution Caucus (chairman)

Legislation
On May 8, 2013, Garrett introduced the Budget and Accounting Transparency Act of 2014 (H.R. 1872; 113th Congress), a bill that would modify the budgetary treatment of federal credit programs. The bill would require that the cost of direct loans or loan guarantees be recognized in the federal budget on a fair-value basis using guidelines set forth by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. The bill would also require the federal budget to reflect the net impact of programs administered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The changes made by the bill would mean that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were counted on the budget instead of considered separately and would mean that the debt of those two programs would be included in the national debt. These programs themselves would not be changed, but how they are accounted for in the United States federal budget would be. The goal of the bill is to improve the accuracy of how some programs are accounted for in the federal budget.

Tenure
Garrett compiled an unshakably conservative voting record. This was unusual for New Jersey, a state where the brand of Republicanism has traditionally been moderate. He held a lifetime rating of 99.3 from the American Conservative Union. He was one of the most conservative lawmakers ever to represent New Jersey in Congress, and was considered one of the most conservative members of the House. While in Congress, he founded and led the House Constitution Caucus.

During his time in Congress, Garrett was a member of the Liberty Caucus. He was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus, which serves as a policy alternative to the Republican Study Committee, and is the only New Jersey representative to have been a member of the Freedom Caucus.

Foreign policy
In 2007, Garrett led nineteen U.S. lawmakers to introduce a bill in the House of Representatives backing United Nations membership for Taiwan.

Economic policy
In 2006, Garrett supported H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

Garrett voted to allow oil and gas drilling off the shore of New Jersey. He voted against making "price gouging" by oil companies a crime, and against the Further Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Hurricane Katrina Act of 2005. He was one of four members of the House of Representatives to vote against an extension of unemployment benefits.

Garrett voted against the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014 during the United States federal government shutdown of 2013. When opponents criticized Garrett for not signing a letter urging the House to provide prompt aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy, Garrett responded by saying he had signed nine other letters seeking aid and had helped sponsor a final bill authorizing money.

Education
As a state legislator in 2005, he proposed public schools include lessons on intelligent design alongside evolution. Garrett said he would not advocate for a law mandating changes to the state curriculum.

In July 2007, Garrett proposed an amendment to strike earmarked money in a spending bill for native Alaskan and Hawaiian educational programs. Congressman Don Young of Alaska defended the funds on the floor of the House, saying, "You want my money, my money." Young went on to suggest that Republicans had lost their majority in the 2006 election because some Republicans had challenged spending earmarks. While Garrett did not ask for an official reprimand, other conservative Republicans took exception to Young's remarks that the funds in question represented his money. Members of the Republican Study Committee gave Garrett a standing ovation later in the day during the group's weekly meeting.

LGBT rights
Following the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States by the Supreme Court of the United States in 2015, Garrett supported the First Amendment Defense Act, a bill allowing companies to deny service to same-sex weddings due to religious objections.

Also in 2015, Garrett refused to pay GOP campaign arm dues to the National Republican Congressional Committee because he said they were "actively recruiting homosexual candidates and had supported gay candidates in the past." Garrett later clarified his remarks, saying that he is opposed to same-sex marriage due to his faith, but that he does not "have malice" toward any group of people. Regarding his stance opposing gay Republican political candidates, he said that political opponents in the media distorted his views; while he affirmed that it was "everybody's right" to run for office, he reiterated his opposition to funding the campaigns of candidates who support same-sex marriage.

Suffrage
In 2006, Garrett was the only congressman from New Jersey to vote against the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, citing his opposition to requirements to print non-English ballots.

Export-Import Bank nomination
On April 14, 2017, President Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Garrett to become chairman and president of the Export–Import Bank of the United States. While in the House of Representatives, Garrett was a critic of the bank's existence. On June 19, 2017, Trump formally nominated Garrett to the post, which requires confirmation by the United States Senate.

Senator Sherrod Brown, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, was surprised by the nomination, saying that he had been led to believe that Trump would not go ahead with choosing Garrett in light of the opposition. Brown predicted that no Democrats would vote for Garrett, and that some Republicans would also be "unhappy with [the nomination]."

The nomination drew opposition from a number of national business organizations, such as the Aerospace Industries Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Business Roundtable. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was one of the Republicans reported to have concerns with the nomination. The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce opposed Garrett, and Graham said he would "try to get the administration to give us a better nominee." The New Jersey Business and Industry Association, the largest business group in Garrett's home state, called on him to withdraw from consideration for the post.

In August 2017, Politico reported that Trump would give Garrett a chance to rescue his nomination after privately questioning whether the nomination should proceed. Conservatives opposed to the Ex-Im Bank "have ratcheted up pressure on the administration to stick with Garrett’s nomination." Republican U.S. Senator Pat Toomey said: "I can tell you there will be Republican senators including myself who will put up quite a fight if his nomination doesn't go forward."

On December 19, 2017, the Senate Banking Committee voted by a margin of 10-13 not to advance Garrett's nomination to the full U.S. Senate. Republican U.S. Senators Mike Rounds and Tim Scott joined all of the Democrats on the committee in voting against Garrett. Trump did not formally withdraw the nomination; rather it was returned to Trump unconfirmed on January 3, 2018, under Standing Rules of the United States Senate, Rule XXXI, paragraph 6.

Personal life
Garrett is married and has two adult daughters. They homeschooled their daughters because there was "no high school offering a Christian education" in their area.

Electoral history

 * Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 2004, Socialist Party USA candidate Gregory Pason received 574 votes. In 2010, James Radigan received 336 votes.

title: Scott Garrett


text: Category:Alphabetic writing systems

title: Category:Alphabetic writing systems


text:
Abraham Osheroff

Abraham Osheroff (October 24, 1915 – April 6, 2008) was an American social activist, carpenter, war veteran, documentary filmmaker, and lecturer.

Biography
Born into a family of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Sarah and Louis Osheroff, in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York, he spoke Yiddish and "a good smattering of Russian" before English and graduated from the City College of New York.

In the early 1930s, he began political work. In 1931, during the Great Depression, the police arrested him for moving the furniture of evicted families back into their houses. A policeman, who was a member of the American National socialist Bund, beat up Osheroff while he was incarcerated and called him a "Goddamn Jew." Around this time, he joined the Communist Party. In 1935, aged 20, he was organizing miners' unions on behalf of the party and raising aid for striking workers.

When the Spanish Civil War came in 1936, Abe felt no real compulsion to go and fight, until he saw the bombing of Guernica by the Luftwaffe. This convinced him to fight, as he believed no one should be allowed to inflict such suffering on others and get away with it. He joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and was wounded at the Battle Of Belchite (1937).

Back home in 1938 after a severe injury to his knee, Osheroff ran for the New York Legislature as a Communist. When World War II broke out, he enlisted in the US Army to fight the Third Reich in Europe. The Army did not allow him to go overseas because they were concerned about his political views. Instead, he served as an instructor, rank Sgt..based primarily in the South.

At the beginning of World War II, he married his first wife, Sylvia, and had a son Carl. After the war, he taught at the Jefferson School of Social Science in New York, a Marxist adult school with ties to the Communist Party. After his first wife divorced him, he married Claire Rosenbaum in New York City and they went semi-underground in 1949, moving around the country, working as a carpenter under an assumed name after a tip-off that he was pursued by the FBI. He left in 1951, under persecution from the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

He left the Communist Party in response to the revelation of Stalin's purges, and in 1956, moved to California with his wife and two-year-old son, Pete (b. 1954). He abandoned the family many times in order to pursue more lofty goals of "saving the world" and in 1959, when his daughter, Jo (b. 1958), was only six months old, his wife filed for divorce. In 1962, Abe married his third wife Noel Carrawan. They had three children, Nick (b. 1959), Dov (b. 1962), and Sara (b. 1964) and lived in Venice, California until they divorced in 1972. Abe was key in the struggle to save the Venice Canals from development and to stop authorities from driving out the poor families, like his, that dominated the area. Abe worked as a carpenter and taught his two sons, Nick and Dov, the trade.

After splitting from many of his best friends in the Communist Party, he threw his efforts into the Civil Rights Movement building a community center in 1965, in Holmes County, Mississippi, where he was threatened by the police because he was working with African Americans (the police were allied with Ku Klux Klan elements). Osheroff had initially thought to make a contribution to the civil rights movement in the American South by rebuilding the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, however, after discussing the matter with Myles Horton, Highlander's founder, a plan was developed to build a community center in Mississippi instead. While building the Mileston Community Center, Abe stayed with Hartman Turnbow, a leader of the movement in Holmes County.

In 1974 he completed the documentary Dreams and Nightmares, on the Spanish military bases sold to Francoist Spain by Richard Nixon, which shocked many, as at the time Nixon was still a popular president. Dreams & Nightmares won the top award at a socialist documentary film festival in Leipzig, then in Socialist East Germany. Permission to return to Spain in 1971 in order to create the documentary was obtained because Osheroff, despite his lack of experience, succeeded in duping the authorities of Francoist Spain.

In 1985, he organized a village building brigade in America to travel to Nicaragua to aid the Sandinistas. Later, he was highly active in movements opposing the Gulf War and Iraq War, and he drove the Peace Mobile.

In March 2008, Osheroff traveled with his wife, Gunnel Clark, and friends from his Seattle home to San Francisco for the unveiling of the United States's first monument to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. He was determined to go, and it took great effort to get him there. But Osheroff was the guest of honor, one of the 20 or so last survivors of the Brigade. Osheroff used to say, "I have one foot in the grave but the other keeps dancing."

After more than seven decades of deep involvement with what he called "radical humanism," Osheroff died on April 6, 2008, a few days after returning to Seattle.

title: Abraham Osheroff


text:
Category:Writing systems

A writing system is a type of symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.

title: Category:Writing systems


text:
Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified

Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) is a historic psychiatric diagnosis first defined in 1980 that has since been incorporated into autism spectrum disorder in the DSM-5 (2013).

According to the earlier DSM-IV, PDD-NOS referred to "mild or severe pervasive deficits in the development of reciprocal social interaction and/or verbal and nonverbal communication skills, or when stereotyped behavior, interests, and/or activities are present, but the criteria are not met for a specific PDD" or for several other disorders.

PDD-NOS was one of four disorders collapsed into the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in the DSM-5, and also was one of the five disorders classified as a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) in the DSM-IV. The ICD-10 equivalents also became part of its definition of autism spectrum disorder, as of the ICD-11.

PDD-NOS included atypical autism, a diagnosis defined in the ICD-10 for the case that the criteria for autistic disorder were not met because of late age of onset, or atypical symptomatology, or both of these.

Even though PDD-NOS was considered milder than typical autism, this was not always true. While some characteristics may be milder, others may be more severe.

Signs and symptoms
It is common for individuals with PDD-NOS to have more intact social skills and a lower level of intellectual deficit than individuals with other PDDs. Characteristics of many individuals with PDD-NOS are:
 * Communication difficulties (e.g., using and understanding language)
 * Difficulty with social behavior
 * Uneven skill development (strengths in some areas and delays in others)
 * Unusual play with toys and other objects
 * Repetitive body movements or behavior patterns
 * Preoccupation with fantasies that interfere and that are not normal to have at a certain age depending on social, cultural and religious norms.
 * Unconventional perception of the world
 * Maladaptive daydreaming, excessive daydreaming interfering with daily life

Diagnosis
PDD-NOS is not a current part of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders typology (as of the DSM-5), which is the most common diagnostic typology used in the United States. In the still used (though deprecated) ICD-10, it is considered "atypical autism" and "pervasive developmental disorder, unspecified".

The diagnosis of a pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified was given to individuals with difficulties in the areas of social interaction, communication, and/or stereotypic behavior patterns or interests, but who did not meet the full DSM-IV criteria for autism or another PDD. This does not necessarily mean that PDD-NOS is a milder disability than the other PDDs. It could simply mean that individuals who receive this diagnosis do not meet the diagnostic criteria of the other PDDs, but that there is still a pervasive developmental disorder that affects the individual in the areas of communication, socialization, and behavior.

As for the other pervasive developmental disorders, the diagnosis of PDD-NOS required the involvement of a team of specialists. The individual needs to undergo a full diagnostic evaluation, including a thorough medical, social, adaptive, motor skills and communication history. Other parts of an assessment can be behavioral rating scales, direct behavioral observations, psychological assessment, educational assessment, communication assessment, and occupational assessment.

Description of PDD-NOS merely as a "subthreshold" category without a more specific case definition poses methodological problems for research regarding the relatively heterogeneous group of people who receive this diagnosis. While it is true that children diagnosed with PDD-NOS, as a whole, show fewer intellectual deficits and are higher-functioning than autistic children, many others who fit the criteria for PDD-NOS have some autistic features but also have intellectual deficits that are so severe that it is difficult or impossible to tell whether some of the deficits come from the autism or from the severe to profound degree of intellectual disability itself. Furthermore, some others who fit the criteria for PDD-NOS come to professional attention at a later age, compared to those diagnosed with autism.

Subgroups
In 2004, Walker et al. found that persons with PDD-NOS belonged to one of three very different subgroups:
 * A high-functioning group (around 25 percent) whose symptoms more or less overlap with that of what was Asperger syndrome, while also not meeting the then current criteria for autism spectrum disorder, but who completely differ from those with Asperger syndrome in terms of having a lag in language development and/or mild cognitive impairment. (The criteria for Asperger syndrome excludes a speech delay or a cognitive delay in early life. )
 * Another group (around 25 percent) whose symptoms more closely resemble those of autism, but do not fully meet all its diagnostic signs and symptoms. This is because either the symptoms were recognized at a later age or because they were too young or have cognitive deficits that are too severe to properly identify all the symptoms of autism that they may have.
 * The biggest group (around 50 percent) consists of those who met all the diagnostic criteria for autistic disorder but whose stereotypical and repetitive behaviors were noticeably mild.

Treatment
There is no known cure for PDD-NOS, but there are interventions that can have a positive influence.

Some of the more common therapies and services include:
 * Visual and environmental supports, visual schedules
 * Social stories and comic strip conversations
 * Speech therapy
 * Physical and occupational therapy


text:
Old Harrison County Courthouse (Texas)

The Old Harrison County Courthouse is located in the center of Whetstone Square in Marshall, Texas and is one of the most famous and admired buildings in Texas. It is the signature landmark of Marshall and is frequently used to represent East Texas in travel literature.

The Old Courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. From 1964 until 2000 the building housed the Harrison County Historical Museum. The building is noted as being the location of the first sit-ins in Texas.

Design
The structure was designed by James Riely Gordon and supervised by a local architect C. G. Lancaster.

The Dome
The building's dome is its most distinctive feature and stands above a four-level rotunda. The rotunda is crowned by a coffered or false dome. Between the coffered dome and the outer dome are the workings of four-faced clock, that has been recently restored. Surrounding the coffered dome are six walls, which would resemble a hexagon if view from above, all of which support the outer dome. On the outside is a false portico aligned with each wall. Where the side of the hexagonal floor plan meet, a V-shaped brick pillar where two sides of the hexagon meet; thus each side of the V-shaped brick pillars span two porticos. In between the V-shaped brick pillars are three marble columns; one on each side of every window set into the walls supporting the outer dome. The windows are aligned to feed light through stained glass insets in the coffered dome hanging over the rotunda.

A cornice extends out over the false porticos and their pillar from the bottom of the outer dome. A balustrade, runs along the top of the cornice which like the porticos below it would appear as a hexagon if viewed from above. Eagle statues are perched wherever two sides of six-sided balustrade meet. The outer dome rise in from the cornice, which if viewed from above would appear as a circle inside a hexagon. The north, south, east, and west side of the outer dome are interrupted by clock faces, which maintain a vertical position even as the outer dome curves backwards. A false belfry, reminiscent of the lantern on top of the United States Capitol building, is located on top of the outer dome. On the top of the belfry is a 6 ft statue of Lady Justitia, which has the typical features of any Lady Justice: a blindfold, scales, and raised sword; as well as the rather atypical feature of a set of wings.

title: Old Harrison County Courthouse (Texas)