#The form of public media he was grown in a laboratory to be represented in was In Our Time

[the-busy-ghost]

The fact that there has never been an In Our Time episode devoted to Aelred of Rievaulx is bizarre to me, out of all the subjects that are tailor made for that programme and its interests, as well as the specific background of its host, I mean come on

[alexsmitposts]

Public Health Crisis: Tricky Ticks as “Ticking Time Bombs” Republic of the Congo declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Is this not something we have heard before, and not just when it makes it to Yahoo News – “Weaponised Bugs”, this time in the form of blood sucking ticks? A recent headline reads: US military chiefs ordered to reveal if Pentagon used diseased insects as biological weapons. Alarmist? Maybe not, when we see other headlines such as: Ebola outbreak in the Democratic July 17, 2019 – WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus today declared the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Ebola kills people. There was a time when huge resources were devoted to eradicating once widespread deadly diseases such as tuberculosis and cholera. That is the world most of us were brought up in. When people talk about “scientific advancement”, and how science is more important and relevant than the arts, this is what they mean. We like to think we still live in those times. So when we see a public health emergency break out, we assume that it cannot have been started deliberately but [perhaps] was merely an anomaly that slipped through the net of testing and care. We do not want to believe that it might have been started deliberately, as we then know that we could be the next victims, if someone wants it that way. But are all the billions being pumped into “health improvement” by governments doing what it says on the tin? Here is yet another in a long line of examples. You judge. Knowing too much to know anything It is not what the press release about the EVD outbreak says that is important, but rather what it does not say. Apparently this is yet another killer virus which just came out of the blue. 150 years ago, that might have happened. But we know so much about all these viruses now that the chances of this being true are very small. We can manufacture viruses more easily than we can find new ones, and disseminate them in any number of “approved” and innovative ways. In 2014 RIA Novosti caused a storm by blaming the United States for the deadly Ebola outbreak in Liberia and Sierra Leone, two of the West African countries known to host American biological warfare laboratories. The Russians would say that, wouldn’t they? I said that tongue n cheek in my last Ebola related article. But where else do you look for the source of a virus than the places which stores, work with and studies it? The 2014 allegations were supported by quoting Prof. Francis Boyle, a leading American professor and expert on international law. Boyle was responsible for drafting the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, the American implementing legislation for the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. Congress accepted his conclusions then, but has forgotten them ever since. As Jim Dean of Veterans Today wrote in commentary at that time, with a bit of paraphrasing, “Considering the whirlwind of Ebola stories in the international media, it is high time for world to take notice of American bio weapons programs (none so named as such) which operate under the flimsy disguise of civilian public health labs.” It was as obvious in 2014 as it is now that the bio weapons labs should come under close scrutiny. This would be a shell game run on five continents, a wild goose chase to run down what is being done and where. But so is, for example, the international narcotics trade, so do we give up investigating that? Dr. David Kelly, the British scientist who allegedly committed suicide in 2003, was one of those who went on that wild goose chase. There has still been no inquest into his mysterious death, and the verdict of suicide contradicts the known facts of the injuries he suffered and how they were inflicted. We are also told that he was “depressed” after contradicting the British government’s dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, and this led to his death. Only as an afterthought, if at all, does anyone mention that his primary role as a government scientist was to investigate the biolabs in Eastern Europe and other places, many of which the US took over from the Soviet Union. We don’t know what he found there – but we do know what happens to others who suggest things are not as they are portrayed by the US and its mainstream media lackeys. They get bricks thrown at them, have their passports take away, are illegally deprived of veteran’s benefits and have family members arrested, threatened and beaten up. We know this because the victims talk about it, and provide the proof in the form of hospital and legal records, but nothing is done by the government agencies which exist to help them. Or is this just a series of tragic accidents too? The US, not us But maybe someone is taking notice now. Better late than never, though as it not as if any of this could come as a surprise, considering the US involvement in using bio weapons and animals for experimental purposes, and the treasure trove of information it took from Japanese field trials in occupied China, where insects were indeed used, according to official records, as part of a then-evolving bio weapons programme. It is US lawmakers themselves who have voted to demand that the Pentagon discloses whether it has conducted experiments to “weaponise” disease-carrying ticks – and whether any such insects have been let loose outside the lab. A bill passed in the House of Representatives will require the Defense Department’s Inspector General to investigate whether biological warfare tests involving the tiny arachnids took place over a 25-year period (ticks are not insects). The tick-related amendment to the fiscal 2020 Defense Authorisation Bill was added by Republican Congressman Chris Smith prior to its passing. The New Jersey politician said the Inspector General’s office should “conduct a review of whether the Department of Defense experimented with ticks and other insects regarding use as a biological weapon between the years of 1950 and 1975.” That period may be too short to tell us much about what is happening now, but what may be revealed is how much of the bio weapons research was outsourced to countries like South Africa, and third world countries, when the bio weapons convention was passed in 1972, under Richard Nixon. From there, we can extrapolate many things – look at the countries the US has entered to install friendly regimes since then, and how far its sphere of influence has actually grown, and then entertain just how many have what looks suspiciously like a biological weapons lab—as in the case in Georgia, BSL3, and several other countries of the former Soviet Union and the African Continent. Blood borne and direct contact transmission via bodily fluids is associated with a high rate of virus occurrence. As in the case of the Ebola, these viruses can produce a mortality rate of up to 90%. If various experimental viruses are introduced into ticks, fleas and mosquitoes, it can potentially create an insect minefield for centuries to come, depopulating entire regions, and opening the way for resources to be exploited, with no government or population to defend what was rightfully theirs. Ask the Native American population, both in the US itself and the Southern Cone. Medicins sans raisonee What has been reported recently in the mainstream media is but the tip of the iceberg, and much of what the public is fed is mere fairy tales, like the one about eating bats being the cause of Ebola. The Ebola virus is a zoonosis, meaning an infectious agent that lives inconspicuously and innocuously within some nonhuman animal (its reservoir host). The official line is that this agent can sometimes transmit to humans, causing disease. Yes it can. But there are other causes of this transmission. After the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak which is estimated to have killed upwards of 20,000, the US Army was involved in its containment. You can see what this “containment” actually involved when you look at the title given to it: Operation United Assistance. Many still wonder why the US Army was so involved, and not the CDU or World Health Organization. Were they there to shoot the victims? Nor was it Army medical staff who were actually involved – COMBAT TROOPS, from the 101 Airborne Division. Why were engaged to deal with a threatened public health crisis, rather than doctors?! I wonder how much the US will get involved this time. Perhaps the troops’ job will be to do as the German army did in covering up the work of the death squads, the Sonderkommanders, in occupied Polish and Soviet territory, especially Ukraine, trying to make sure the bodies were burned and buried deep, and no witnesses were alive to tell the story. Or have they already done that, with Dr. David Kelly being one example? The real answers can likely be found in the existing records of the US Army, and other branches of the armed services. Perhaps soon the US Army, as was the case in South Africa with its own bio weapons programme, will have to acknowledge at least some of its dark past. Bitten where it hurts But uncomfortable questions will still remain, as discussed in Bitten, about issues such as why Lyme’s disease can be so difficult to both diagnose and treat, and why the government is so reluctant to classify chronic Lyme as a disease, and insurance companies to pay for treatment. During the time it was running a bio weapons programme in Plum Island and Fort Detrick the US military had cozy relationship with South Africa. It comes as no surprise these cozy relations with the American equivalent, and information was shared. This is one of many reasons why the Apartheid regime lasted as long as it did, despite sanctions and condemnation – one sort of moral criminal was blackmailing another over its covert programs. There are even consultants from South Africa who have regularly visited the Lugar Lab in Georgia. Naturally this is all for civilian purposes, but the same consultancy services could have been provided from most other countries, by actual medical personnel rather than US Department of Defense operatives, who still run this allegedly public and animal health facility. But it is not South African consultants who will be treating the victims of this latest Ebola outbreak but frontline medical staff – most local, naturally. They are the ones at greatest risk of cross infection. Due care should be taken for their welfare, but is the US more concerned with what they will see in the course of helping the sick, and the conclusions they will draw? In Charles Schulz’s famous comic strip Peanuts, a dialogue takes place between Linus and Charlie Brown about how abject their baseball team is. Linus reads the figures and tells Charlie Brown, “Statistics don’t lie”. Charlie Brown replies, “No, but they sure shout their mouth off a lot”. The statistics about this or that epidemic may be lies, or they may not. But whichever way you look at it, the fact that they are there at all means they are shouting their mouth off a lot, and it would be wise to listen.

[thechasefiles]

The Chase Files Daily Newscap 6/20/2019

Good MORNING  #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Thursday 20th June 2019. Remember you can read full articles for FREE via Barbados Today (BT), Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS) or by purchasing a Daily Nation Newspaper (DN).

ALL HANDS IN FIRE FIGHT –The fire that engulfed the Sustainable Barbados Recycling Centre (SBRC) on Tuesday is no longer a national threat, but it is a major concern for Government and a nuisance to residents. An inter-ministry approach has been undertaken to bring operations back to normal at the Vaucluse, St Thomas recycling plant. Yesterday, Minister of Environment and National Beautification Trevor Prescod met with Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson, Acting Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams, representatives from the Disaster Emergency Management, Environmental Protection Department, Ministry of Health, Sanitation Service Authority (SSA), Waste Haulers Association, SBRC and Chief Fire Officer Errol Maynard to address the situation. “Although the responsibility is SBRC’s, the only way we could resolve the issue is through concomitant representation,” Prescod told the NATION after meeting with officials at the nearby Central Country Club ground pavilion in Vaucluse. (DN)

SHORT-LIVED SCHOOL MEALS ACTION – Staffers at the School Meals Department at Lancaster, St James, were off the job again yesterday. However, this time it was not from the heat in the kitchen. Some employees began wildcat industrial action, but were back at their stations less than an hour later, after a visit by their representative, the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW). Assistant general secretary of the NUPW, Wayne Walrond, told the NATION the decision to strike was based on what they thought was a supervisor being passed over for promotion. “The workers were back on the job quickly. There was a miscommunication which led to them thinking a supervisor had been bypassed for promotion, but that was quickly clarified and they returned to work. (DN)

RETRENCHED PUBLIC WORKER AMONG PRIZE-WINNING UWI ENTREPRENEURS –A business idea from a former public sector worker who was retrenched last year is among winners of a University of the West Indies contest to find viable startups by UWI students. Five ideas made the final cut in the Student Entrepreneurial Empowerment Development (SEED) competition, who were presented with seed money in a ceremony attended by the Minister for Entrepreneurship Dwight Sutherland at the 3Ws Oval at the UWI’s Cave Hill campus. And even as the student-entrepreneurs were being toasted by the university, Sutherland called on the UWI to play a greater role in developing entrepreneurship in Barbados and the region. Winners of the competition were Mikhail Eversley and Kemar Codrington of Oasis Laboratory and Franz Harewood-Hamblin from Grow Smart Youth Farm. Over 60 businesses have been created out of the SEED programme over the years with the contribution of over $180,000 from the CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank. Sutherland said it was about time higher education institutions make every effort to “resist any temptation to be stymied by intellectual loyalty” and instead “reinvent” so that they could help individuals turn their ideas into viable businesses. He said it was important that regional universities foster entrepreneurial development by focusing on courses that place emphasis on creating new enterprises, provide positive role models in teaching and intensify experiential learning and real-world experiences. The Minister said: “You must see yourselves as an integral source of talent and ideas as you serve as economic magnets for investments, entrepreneurs and talent in the region. “Further, your role in economic development must continue to be increasingly magnified, given the fact that there is considerable leverage that can accrue through your agenda of core education, research and development, and other critical spillovers. “Your remit must, therefore, be to create the type of entrepreneurship education that causes those who graduate in the past to also become interested in up-to-date and transferable entrepreneurship programmes.” Sutherland said he saw the university playing a critical role in helping to develop the blue economy in the Caribbean as Barbados and the rest of the region continue to grapple with economic development issues. (BT)

ALL LOCAL ONIONS ON THE MARKET – Barbados is set to save US$1.5 million in foreign exchange this year from not importing onions. Board Member of the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC), Peter Chase told members of the media today that BADMC would not be importing onions any time soon, since local farmers have been able to produce a phenomenal onion crop of close to 300 000 pounds, that would last an estimated six months. “It is a major crop and a major savings for Barbadians. The crop was fantastic. We still have farmers coming in and for the last three months we have not imported any onions,” he said. Chase said farmers started reaping the five-month crop in April, a process, which he said, should be completed by July. Chase noted that currently, all onions being sold in supermarkets were locally grown. (BT)

HEALTH SECTOR TO GET BOOST FROM CUBA – For the second time in a matter of days, the health sector is set to benefit from a bilateral arrangement. This time the help is to come in the form of access to medical training and technology from Cuba. The revelation came from Minister of Foreign Affairs Senator Dr Jerome Walcott, following recent talks with his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez Parilla. Senator Walcott said that Barbados and Cuba have had a long history of collaboration and the visit from the Cuban foreign Minister allowed for further discussions on how this collaboration can be built upon in the current era. The move comes just days after Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced plans to augment chronic nursing shortages, with 400 nurses from Ghana, following the visit of President Nana Akufo-Addo. Said Senator Walcott of the bilateral talks with Cuba: “We spoke of the need to go into different areas in terms of specialist nursing, in terms of nurses being trained in oncology. We also dealt with the issue of pharmaceuticals.”  Speaking at a press conference at Accra Beach Hotel, Senator Walcott, himself a medical doctor, noted that he was especially excited about gaining access to Cuba’s technology on treating leg ulcers on persons with diabetes. “Cuba has some revolutionary techniques as it relates to diabetes in terms of the management of leg ulcers which is a scourge of diabetes in Barbados. They [Cuba] have done some very good work and we are looking at trying to get access to some of the drugs and methods. “We want our professionals to be trained in treating leg ulcers and the diabetic foot and we have had discussions on how this can become available to us.” The Foreign Minister noted that Cuba has done extensive work in the area of microbiology and vaccines, which are of significant interest to Barbados. “Many of you might not know that the vaccines for yellow fever was in fact discovered in Cuba. More recently they have discovered vaccines for certain types of cancers such as those that affect the head, neck, lungs and liver. These are areas that we can certainly work collaboratively.” But he noted that the health sector was not the only beneficiary of the exchanges with Cuba, as education, culture and sports, will also receive a boost as a result of the closer ties. “As it relates to education, we spoke about the need to widen this system of foreign languages. Cubans will be exposed in terms of training in English and we benefit in terms of Spanish training. “There is a MOU which is being reviewed by the Ministry of Education and we hope that this will roll out in the not too distant future.” (BT)

NURSES, MINISTRY SET FOR FRESH CLINIC TALKS –Despite Government’s insistence that 24-hour polyclinics will open in a matter of weeks, it is unclear if the middle ground could be reached over the issue of the nurses’ refusal to work the shift system. A meeting is set for Friday between the Ministry of the Civil Service and the nurses who will staff the clinics in another effort to break the deadlock.    Nurses from the two polyclinics earmarked as the pilots of the programme, the Winston Scott and David Thompson Health and Social Services Complex, met this afternoon with the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) to strategise for the meeting. The Ministry of Health is also expected to outline Cabinet’s decision on the matter. Earlier this week, Minister of Health Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic told Barbados TODAY that last Thursday, ministers greenlighted the round-the-clock care plan and that it was just a matter of informing the unions of what is to come. Lieutenant Colonel Bostic said: “As a result of a decision taken at Cabinet on Thursday, I can tell you that we will commence the service within the coming weeks. “I don’t want to go into the specifics at this stage because I want to first share that information with the unions and with the staff before going public. “We had called a meeting with the unions on Saturday, but they were unavailable, so we have scheduled a second meeting to articulate what we are going to be doing going forward.” But following today’s two-hour meeting, which began at 3 p.m. at the Sir Winston Scott Polyclinic, NUPW acting General Secretary Delcia Burke, insisted that the matter was not going to be solved by ministerial directive. She told Barbados TODAY that although Government has not yet indicated what the new position is, union members were prepared to respond to most eventualities. “The nurses communicated their position to us and we would prefer to say it to the meeting first on Friday. “The Minister of Health did say that the 24-hour polyclinics will commence but he did not say when. It might move along but not with the nurses because there certainly aren’t enough nurses for the project. “It really now depends on what Government’s position is because the nurses have opted not to work the 24-hour clinics and nobody can’t make them change that if they don’t want to. So we will really have to see now what they are telling us.” The trade unionist also told Barbados TODAY that members had no problems with Goverment’s plan to bring nurses from Ghana, suggesting that the recruits could man the round-the clock facility, providing they met certain conditions. The NUPW acting general secretary said: “I believe that the nurses from Ghana will sort out this issue with the polyclinics but first we have to be sure that they can speak in a way that the average Barbadian can understand. “We have to also be sure that they are properly trained, and they would have to do the regional exams that our nurses are required to do. As long as they can meet those three criteria then we have no problem at all.” Earlier this week, the Health Minister said that he has looked into all of the nurses’ concerns and he is satisfied that the majority of them have been resolved. “Contrary to what has been said in the press by some people, the 24-hour polyclinics is not a proposal, it is documented Government policy. “For the last several months, the unions and staff have raised several issues and one by one we have solved those issues. “From transportation to security as well as appointment of nurses, we have dealt with all of those issues,” Bostic said. He declared that he was taken aback by the nurses’ security concerns, as this was a matter which, he said, he used his military expertise to address. “We have certainly done everything possible and that ranges from electronic security to human resources as well as protocols and procedures with the Royal Barbados Police Force. So, I am satisfied that we have done everything that was asked of us and we are ready to commence the service.” The Minister insisted that the start of the round-the-clock clinics was vital to Government’s plans to improve the health service and therefore nothing was going to derail it. “This is a service that is vitally important not only because it eases the situation at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s Accident and Emergency [Department], but more importantly it gives this country greater capacity in terms of responding to national emergencies, so that we don’t have everything centralised within Bridgetown.” (BT)

TOUGH TALK – The Prime Minister yesterday used a global labour forum to denounce a “racist and xenophobic” world order, in which large and powerful nations contribute to the downfall of “dispensable”, small ones. Before the International Labour Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland, the PM pleaded with world leaders to guard against a “multipolar” system, in which power and influence are confined to the hands of a few. Referencing the current wave of migration confronting rich nations, she accused unnamed world leaders of practising hypocrisy. “The world has made a pact that it is not prepared to protect those that are most vulnerable among the global community of nations. “It is unfortunate because it reminds us of a world that was not prepared to see the most vulnerable of human beings a hundred years ago, namely the workers. “It is also the global insecurity, the continued willingness to believe it is okay to move capital, but it’s not okay for people to move and hence mass migration of labour is unacceptable to a world whether for xenophobic, racial or other reasons,” she said. Aiming at the threat posed by climate change, Mottley predicted that if the world failed to take note, developed countries could be further bombarded with “climate refugees”. She declared: “Within our own region, we have seen more than two-thirds of the population of Montserrat leave because of a volcano. “Two years ago we saw the whole island of Barbuda evacuated because of a hurricane. We have seen the country of Dominica lose 226 per cent of its GDP and significant dislocation of its population due to two hurricanes two years ago. “We speak from event to event and from institution to institution and even though politics is the art of repetition, it appears that neither politics nor morality is having any meaningful impact on those whose actions and voices can make that significant difference to the climate difficulties that we did today.” Mottley said she could not support a world, which is only prepared to protect the most powerful countries. She contended that core values of equity and justice were being eroded. She said: “In spite of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in spite of all who have died and all that we have fought for, that we should continue to think that it is okay to view a group of nations as dispensable or worse still, not to view them at all against the very threat that is perhaps the greatest threat since mankind has ever inhabited this earth.  It is perhaps the greatest, most unfortunate aspect of our global affairs today.” (BT)

TAKE UP HYATT CAUSE! –Social activist and Ambassador to CARICOM David Comissiong is willing to fight any new application for a differently designed Hyatt on a bigger piece of land at Bay Street, The City. But he would like some other activist or any other institution to take up the mantle for such environmental matters. “The people of Barbados have to take an interest in environmental matters of this nature. This should not be seen as David Comissiong’s issue,” he said yesterday. “I am sending out a message to this society, to all of the relevant institutions – do your duty.” Comissiong singled out the Barbados National Trust, which he said “apparently dropped the ball” when it came to last week’s demolition of the home of National Hero Samuel Jackman Prescod. (DN)

BUSINESSES HELP REOPEN POLICE POST – The Police’s community outreach in The City has received a boost from corporate Barbados. Acting Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams today unveiled a reactivated police outpost at Lakes Folly which was refurbished by members of the business community. In praising the initiative, Abrahams said: “Time and time again it has been said that the Government cannot do it all. So, we are therefore heartened by this initiative and the continued commitment by corporate Barbados to assist law enforcement.” The Minister urged others within the private sector to follow this example, suggesting that the outpost at St Lawrence Gap could benefit greatly from such a private-public partnership. Abrahams said: “Other persons in the private sector should be saying to themselves that they too want to make a difference in their community. “There is one outpost here and there is another at St Lawrence Gap that could use this type of assistance. “However, there is no good reason why we should not have police outpost, not just in the areas that already desperately need them, but in areas where we can. This would prevent those areas from becoming areas that desperately need police presence.” The acting attorney general pointed out that community policing has always played an integral role in tackling crime and said the time had come for the return of this type of interactive policing. He declared: “When I was a child, we knew all of the police officers at these outposts by name. These officers were not fear figures, but they became extended members of the family. “We had incidents where parents turned up at the school with a collins (cutlass) for the teacher and the police were always able to respond quickly because they were always in the area. So, the presence of community police officers significantly aids the police in their rapid response.”  (BT)

DISMISS THE CASE! – The fact that five young men have been languishing in jail for the past four years without a file being presented cannot be justice, charged attorney Angela Mitchell-Gittens. And despite an impassioned submission by her for the matter to be dismissed in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court today, magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant denied the request. The five young men are among a group of eight charged with the August 6, 2015, murder of primary school teacher Dwight Holder. Rasheed Jabar Gittens, 20 and Akeem Adrian Gittens,19, both of Belleview Gap, Station Hill; Ayo Prince Bascombe, 24, of Headleys Land, Bank Hall; Adrian Antonio Watts, 41, of Windsor Road, Bank Hall; Brandon Damon Joseph, 22, of Beckwith Street, the City; Kemal Mario Straker, 20, of #15 Clapham Park, Nicholas Ricardo Clarke, 19, of 2nd Avenue Godding or Gooding? Road, Station Hill; and Rio Richian Jelani Benn, 23, of Upper Dukes Alley, Vine Street, The City, all in St Michael, have been charged with Holder’s murder. Rasheed Gittens, Benn and Bascombe have all been granted bail. When the men appeared in court today, prosecutor acting Assistant Superintendent Trevor Blackman said a voluntary bill of indictment was scheduled to go before Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. But an irate Mitchell-Gittens – who is representing Straker, Joseph and Rasheed Gittens – did not take kindly to the news, saying it was unacceptable that four years after her clients had been charged a file was yet to be presented. Furthermore, she contended that the prosecution had repeatedly offered up the voluntary bill as an excuse. “I would be comforted by those words except for the fact that I have heard them said many times before. “August 6, 2015 Dwight Holder lost his life. We are now in June of 2019. Apart from putting charge sheets in the hands of eight young men, nothing else has been done in this matter. His family must be wondering what is the state of justice in this matter,” Mitchell-Gittens pointed out. “And people want to know how people get bail for murder? This is how because we can’t charge people, send them to prison, forget about them and do nothing four years later.” The prominent lawyer said the long delay was not fair to either the deceased man’s family or the accused. “Your order on the last occasion was for the file to be brought here. You didn’t ask for a message, you asked for the file to be brought here. There is no file …no disclosure, but you charge eight young men with murder. Some of them are still in prison because we know how onerous High Court bail conditions are. They have spent four years in prison and not even the courtesy of an album, not even the most non-contentious statement has been served in this matter. That is the state of justice in Barbados,” Mitchell-Gittens said. “There is no justice for anybody to be had here, not for Dwight Holder’s family and not for these still in prison. I am inviting you to dismiss this case for want of prosecution. After four years, enough is enough, whatever the charge is…There is no justice in this matter for the deceased or his family. There is no justice for these eight young men, several of them have been incarcerated for the last four years and can’t get back any part of their lives that they spend in prison. “This is disrespectful behaviour, this cannot be the state of justice in the country. Where is the file, why have no documents been served?” she further questioned. Mitchell-Gittens reminded the court this was the fourth occasion she had asked for the matter to be dismissed. She maintained that while the charge was a serious one, it was unfair to expect accused persons to sit in jail until whenever the prosecution deemed it fit to present a file. “I am inviting you to dismiss this matter, let the public see what happens in Barbados. Let us see what happens to eight young men, black people children in this country, put a charge sheet in their hands and four years later, nothing. But the charge is murder so we must lock them up forever and when they come out, they come out. Nobody don’t care because once the police charge you that is the end of that,” Mitchell-Gittens proclaimed. “The time has come for you to dismiss it for want of prosecution and let the DPP, the police and whoever else do their jobs. When you charge people prepare the file, serve pre-trial disclosure in a timely manner.” After listening to her seven-minute submission, the magistrate ruled in favour of the prosecution and adjourned the matter until July 2.  (BT)

PRISONERS’ WISH – Six murder accused went before the High Court today wanting to plead guilty to manslaughter. Included were three charged with two separate murders who now want to plead guilty to the lesser count. Murder accused Applon Ishmael Ithamar Parris, 27, of Taitt’s Road, Brittons Hill, St Michael who is charged with the March 26, 2018 stabbing death of Police Constable Shayne Welch told the court he was among those ready to admit to manslaughter. Brothers Chris Amal Lorde, 31, of No. 31 Newton Terrace, Christ Church and Eddisa Deon Mitchell, 23, of 2nd Avenue, Thomas Gap, President Kennedy Drive, St Michael, accused of the death of businessman Colin Forde, 50, who was gunned down on May 10, 2016 on the steps of his business at Baxter’s Road, The City also want to go a similar route. The three made their intentions known in the No. 2 Supreme Court this morning as the status hearings for inmates on remand at Dodds continued before Justice Randall Worrell for the second straight day. The men were among 20 who appeared at the Whitepark Road, St Michael court complex today. In Lorde and Mitchell’s case, Senior Crown Counsel Olivia Davis informed the judge that the brothers were scheduled to be arraigned to plead before the No. 5 Supreme Court on June 28 and she was preparing to indict their case. The men, who have Safiya Moore as their legal counsel, stated that they wanted to plead guilty to manslaughter. Applon meanwhile, told Justice Worrell his file was at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions but he wanted to plead guilty to manslaughter. He also questioned whether he could plead to a serious bodily harm charge, which was committed to the High Court from the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court last year. In that case he is accused of causing serious bodily harm to Antonio Coco Todd on February 15, 2017 with intent to maim, disfigure or disable him or to cause some serious bodily harm to him. He will get another status hearing on July 31. Three other murder-accused also signalled intentions to plead guilty to manslaughter. Seventy-five-year Sylvester Nelson, who previously resided at a senior citizens home in Vauxhall, Christ Church told the High Court judge: “I am guilty for what I have done and I would like you to sentence me today.” However, he was informed that his matter needed to follow procedure in the form of an indictment. Attorney-at-law Angella Mitchell-Gittens, who is representing the accused as a friend of the court, informed Worrell that there was no file in Nelson’s matter and he would need to get legal aide. Meanwhile, there is an indictment in the capital case against Emmerson Hurdle, 46, of Gall Hill Land, St John, who says he has been on remand for the past seven years. “I would like to plead guilty to get it over it,” Hurdle stated but the judge made it clear “this was not a get over with it court”. Murder accused Floyd Leacock, 47, of Clifton Hill, St James was only charged in February this year and wished to plead guilty to manslaughter. However, his attorney Marlon Gordon informed the judge that his client’s case was still before the magistrates’ court at the sufficiency hearing stage. Gordon said now that he knows of Leacock’s intentions: “I will make every effort to have that facilitated”. Thirty-three-year-old Shane Ifill, of 4th Avenue New Orleans, St Michael who says he has been on remand for almost six years declared “I come here to plead guilty now sir”. He is on firearm and violent disorder charges. Three non-nationals were also among today’s group of 20. Crown Counsel Oliver Thomas was the second prosecutor at the sitting. However, 33-year-old Jamaican Bassonia McDermoth, who is charged for having counterfeit money, has already pleaded guilty and was just waiting on getting a pre-sentencing report done. Thirty-year-old Guyanese Andrew Mullins, who is facing cannabis charges, is in the same situation as McDermoth while Dave Peters, a 27-year-old from Arima, Trinidad who has been on remand for the past two years says he wants to plead guilty to drug charges. So far Justice Worrell has gotten information from 37 inmates and is getting ready to hear the status of the cases against 17 more tomorrow. (BT)

CONVICT PUT ON PAYMENT PLAN – A 19-year-old has been given eight months to pay back a woman for the damage he caused to the bonnet of her car. Not only that, Bridgetown Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant has allowed for Kevon Odane Forde, of Upper Collymore Rock, St Michael to pay Clydette Jordan in instalments, the $1,635 in damages he caused. The unemployed teen must return to the No. 2 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court every month to pay $137 until the payment is completed. He is to reappear before the magistrate on July 19 to honour the first payment. Forde has been warned that he will spend 12 months in prison if he fails to pay the money for damaging the car on May 28. (BT)

GUILTY PLEA – A St Michael man owned up to a robbery charge in the High Court today after maintaining his innocence for the past four years. London Bourne Towers, Bay Street resident, Demareco Rico Murray had been adamant that he did not “rob nobody” even after the complainant had recognised him and picked him out of a police line-up. However, when he appeared before Justice Randall Worrell today he admitted to robbing Sherene Mussenden of a chain, a cellular phone and a handbag totaling $1,120 on June 2, 2015. Mussenden was walking home in the company of a male friend around 1a.m. along Beckles Road, the City when she looked back and saw three men running towards her, one holding a gun and wearing a mask, while the other two were crouching. They pounced causing her and the friend to run. One of the men grabbed her from the back, while the masked gunman put the weapon to her stomach and robbed her of her belongings. Mussenden contacted police after escaping into a neighbour’s house, Crown Counsel Oliver Thomas told the judge in outlining the facts. The prosecutor also revealed that Murray turned himself to police and was told about the robbery. “I ain’t know about nothing, I ain’t do nothing . . . I ain’t rob nobody,” he told police when questioned four years ago. He also declined to give a written statement to police. Thomas said none of the property was recovered. Attorney-at-law Angella Mitchell-Gittens, who represented Murray as a friend of the court, requested that his time on remand be read in and a probation report be compiled in preparation for sentencing. The judge agreed and made the order and Murray, who is not known to the court, was told to return before the No. 2 Supreme Court on September 20 when the sentencing phase of his case will commence. (BT)

WORRELL PLACED ON BOND – A general worker who pleaded guilty to criminal damage has been ordered to be on his best behaviour for the next 18 months. The bond was imposed on Junior Ricardo Worrell, of Odessa McClean Drive, My Lord’s Hill, St Michael today in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court. If he breaches the order he will spend 12 months in prison. The 50-year-old admitted before Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant to damaging a camera and window belonging to Sunshine Early Stimulation Centre on May 26. Prosecutor Kenmore Phillips told the court workmen were on the job at Perry Gap, St Michael when they noticed that the camera and window were damaged. A check was made of the CCTV footage and Worrell was seen hitting the property with a stick. The matter was reported and he was arrested. Asked if he had anything to say in his defence, the convicted man replied that he had already spoken to the owner who agreed to accept compensation. Worrell must pay the money by next Thursday.  (BT)

SIR VIV BLASTS WINDIES – Iconic former captain Sir Vivian Richards has criticised West Indies’ “one dimensional” approach to their World Cup campaign and has slammed the lack of intensity shown in their defeat to Bangladesh last Monday. West Indies went down by seven wickets to Bangladesh in Taunton to suffer their third defeat in five matches, and remain on three points in seventh spot in the 10-team table. Their lone win came against Pakistan in their opener three weeks ago. The Caribbean side copped criticism for their persistence with the tactic of short-pitched bowling, which worked well against Pakistan and Australia but backfired against the Tigers, who completed their highest-ever run chase of 322 to win with 51 balls remaining. “There didn’t seem to be any planning where if this particular plan isn’t going to work then what about the plan B, plan C or whatever the case is. We are too one dimensional,” Sir Viv, who never lost a Test series as captain, told the Observer here.  (DN)

NEW ZEALAND DEFEAT SOUTH AFRICA BY FOUR WICKETS – New Zealand captain Kane Williamson played one of the great World Cup innings to steer his side to a tense four-wicket victory over South Africa. Needing eight to win from the final over, Williamson swept the second ball for six to complete a majestic century. And he sliced the next away for four to see the Black Caps past their target of 242 with three balls to spare. He was aided by Colin de Grandhomme's superb 60 off 47 balls after the Kiwis had slipped to 137-5. South Africa squandered chances to remove both during an absorbing finale, including failing to ask for a review before replays showed Williamson had nicked Imran Tahir behind to Quinton de Kock on 76. De Grandhomme was caught at long-off trying to hit the first ball of the penultimate over for six but the unflappable Williamson took his side home, ending unbeaten on 106. With the match reduced to 49 overs per side because of a wet outfield that delayed the start of play by 90 minutes, South Africa posted 241-5 following Rassie van der Dussen's 67 not out and Hashim Amla's scratchy 55. Their circumspect approach on a tricky two-paced pitch was not quite enough though, with a fourth defeat in six matches effectively eliminating South Africa from semi-final contention. New Zealand remain unbeaten, with four wins and a no result in their five games so far, and move back to the top of the table. (DN)

PRIMARY STARS – The girls of Wesley Hall Primary and the boys of Ifill School jumped for joy as they celebrated as first-time winners of the second annual National Primary Schools Volleyball Competition played this afternoon at the Wildey Gymnasium. Wesley Hall Primary won the two best of three final 15-12 and 15-12 against Deacons Primary who fought well but were unable to stop the King Street, St Michael school led by most valuable player Theanny Herbert-Mayers. He will be attending Christ Church Foundation in September and is certain to add to that school’s sports programme. Rajae McCollin of Ifill School was adjudged most outstanding male volleyballer as he piloted his team to a 15-9 and 15-10 victory in the best of three sets showdown. (BT)

BASHMENT SOCA FINALISTS ANNOUNCED –There is no Stiffy and no Scrilla but there are eight new artistes, three females (Mara Rose, Sita and SugahRhe) and Guyana, St Lucia and St Vincent are represented. The Yello International Bashment Soca Monarch Competition had 25 semi-finalists who received 98 000 online votes. “These votes, added to the judges scores shows we are in for the biggest Bashment Soca competition ever”, said 4D Entertainment, producers of the event which takes place on July 6 at Pirates Cove. The voting took place over five days. In the finals are Blaze Anthonio (Guyana); Sita The Lyrical Diva (St Vincent); Subance & Mighty (St Lucia) and from Barbados are – Jagwa The Champ, King Bubba FM, Mara Rose, Marz Ville, Mole,  SK, SugahRhe, UndaDawg and Walkes. The 2019 monarch will receive $60 000, which is $20 000 less than last year’s cash prize of $80 000. However, for the first time, there will be second and third place prizes in the competition, now in its fourth year. The second-placed artiste will receive $15 000, while the third will take home $5 000. The winners will all receive additional prizes and everyone who enters the competition will receive a performance fee. (DN)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 195 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles# dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

[newestbalance]

Italy’s Populists Get a Green Light to Govern, in New Threat to Europe

ROME — The populist parties that won Italy’s elections two months ago by demonizing the political establishment, the European Union and illegal migrants in often vulgar terms were granted the go-ahead on Wednesday to form a government, crystallizing some of the biggest fears of Europe’s leaders, who were already bracing for turbulence.

The rapid ascent of populists in Italy — the birthplace of Fascism, a founding member of the European Union, and the bloc’s fourth-largest economy — shattered the nation’s decades-old party system.

It also gave fresh energy to the nationalist impulses tugging at the Continent and moved the greatest threat to the European Union’s cohesion from newer member states on the periphery, such as Hungary and Poland, to its very core.

After 80 days of arduous talks, President Sergio Mattarella gave a mandate to form a government to the parties’ consensus pick for prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, a little-known lawyer with no government experience.

Critics assert that he will be but a pawn of the populist parties behind him: the Five Star Movement, a web-based protest party untested at a national level; and the League, a hard-right party that campaigned on a stridently Italians-first platform.

Mr. Conte promised “a government of change” that would “safeguard the interests of Italians” after emerging from a nearly two-hour meeting with the president at the Quirinal Palace and greeting a throng of reporters.

“I am aware of the necessity to confirm the European and international position of Italy,” he added, in a nod to the concerns the rise of the populist parties have stirred in Europe over their avowed agenda to crack down on illegal immigration, challenge budget rules from Brussels and lift sanctions against Russia.

“This is an historic moment,” Luigi Di Maio, 31, leader of the Five Star Movement, said in a Facebook Live video Wednesday night, calling it a “a real and true liberation.”

Some analysts agreed, but less ebulliently. “The wave of populists and anti-establishment forces is still on, and this will continue for the foreseeable future across Europe,” said Wolfango Piccoli, a political analyst and co-president of Teneo Intelligence.

Yet in Italy the sudden ascent of the populists to power was all but unforeseen even four years ago, when Europe looked to the country as a bastion of liberal values and center-left politics.

Mr. Conte will now present his cabinet choices to Mr. Mattarella, who has the power to reject individual ministers and is wary of empowering antagonists to the euro. But such a step is rare, and it is likely that Mr. Mattarella will approve the new government in the coming days.

Most worrying to many is the threat the new government’s agenda could pose to Italy’s finances: Analysts said the governing agreement announced last week was a potential budget-buster.

Matteo Salvini, 45, leader of the League, wasted no time after Mr. Conte’s remarks to promote a eurosceptic, Paolo Savona, as economy minister.

Italy, one of Europe’s largest manufacturers, is also among its slowest growing economies. Italy’s enormous government debt — about 130 percent of gross domestic product — makes it too big to bail out. If the Italian economy crashed, the European economy could tank, too.

Markets have already shown jitters about a populist government, and bond yields, a measure of nervousness, continued to climb this week. On Wednesday, European Union officials made clear that they expected Italy to meet its financial obligations.

“Our political message is very clear,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, vice president of the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm. “Italy needs to continue to reduce its public debt, which is indeed second highest in the E.U. after Greece.”

Mr. Conte’s debut on the national stage on Monday was not entirely smooth. Apparent exaggerations in his résumé, first reported by The New York Times, set off a deeply politicized debate about whether he should serve as prime minister.

But the populist leaders stuck with him, saying the alternative to Mr. Conte was new elections.

As Mr. Conte met with the president, Mr. Salvini told reporters on the street that the incoming prime minister would have “full” autonomy. He also said that for Mr. Conte, like for him, “the well being of Italian citizens” came before European considerations.

Five Star leaders applied pressure to the president to give them a chance at the helm, warning Mr. Mattarella against blocking the will of the people.

The 11th-hour deal between the two parties came last week after weeks of intense, and sometimes secretive, meetings between Mr. Di Maio and Mr. Salvini after the president threatened to impose a technocratic caretaker government.

The party leaders’ ambitions to become prime minister seemed the biggest obstacle. But once that was set aside in favor of backing Mr. Conte, their alliance made electoral sense. The parties together won half of the Italian vote in March: Five Star received a third of the vote, and the League won 17 percent.

The most hostile attacks often took place on social media, where both parties and their leaders are fluent, but where the Five Star Movement is a pioneer that has made Italy a laboratory for experiments with web-based democracy and viral messaging. Brussels was a frequent target.

“Italy has voted the first anti-European, no-Europe government among the countries that founded the European Union,” said Sergio Fabbrini, the director of the School of Government at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome. “I see instability, not stability, ahead.”

In recent weeks, however, Five Star and the League modulated that message — especially after a draft of their government agenda was leaked, including proposals about leaving the eurozone and asking the European Central Bank to cancel 250 billion euros, or almost $300 billion, in Italian debt.

The document jolted the markets and, perhaps even more important, made Mr. Mattarella nervous. It was quickly amended, and the party leaders moved to assure international observers that things would be fine.

Often the populist leaders seemed to be performing for an audience of one. But Mr. Mattarella’s power, absolute during the crisis, would transfer to the new government once its leaders took office.

Mr. Fabbrini said that government could move Italy beyond its traditional West European partners and closer to countries like the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland that are increasingly challenging the European Union.

“This is a group that would rather hollow it out from the inside, demanding more power over immigration, control of the border, a more loose stability and growth pact,” Mr. Fabbrini said. “It’s a more insidious coalition.”

Under a Five Star and League government, Italy would be by far the largest voice of such a group, an unwelcome development for officials in Brussels. But the cold shoulder those leaders gave to Italy’s outgoing center-left government on migration only fueled anti-migrant anger that benefited the populists.

As the migrants kept coming, the anti-migrant League grew stronger. The Five Star Movement also took a harder line, though its core message addressed the economic frustration of young Italians, especially those in the economically depressed south.

Despite its difficulty governing cities, such as Rome, Five Star has gained electoral strength, in part because its studied vagueness on controversial issues has avoided alienating voters on the left and right.

Many Italians are unclear where it stands. Its leaders have questioned the country’s membership in the eurozone, supported it, and recently questioned it again. They say they want Italy to be more balanced in its foreign policy, but have grown closer to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Their position on the dangers of vaccines keeps changing.

Party leaders attribute those changes to what they call direct democracy, expressed in online clicks of members who decide policies and candidates. Critics have instead raised questions about Davide Casaleggio, the son of the party’s late founder and an unelected businessman who controls Five Star’s web platform.

The alliance’s governing contract was ratified in recent days by the parties’ bases. It includes proposals that critics say have the potential to erode Italy’s representative democracy, such as banning members of Parliament from switching parties, or from dissenting from the party line.

The League, a more traditional right-wing party with formal associations with France’s National Front and Mr. Putin’s Russia United Party, started as a northern separatist movement.

But under Mr. Salvini, the League’s traditional theme — the excoriation of the work ethic of Italian southerners — switched to rallying Italians against the invasion of African migrants from the south and the meddling of Brussels bureaucrats from the north.

Sofia Ventura, a professor of political science at the University of Bologna, said the new coalition was a “mixture between ideology and incompetence.”

But Europe’s populists welcomed the new alliance warmly.

In an article published on Wednesday in the newspaper Corriere della Sera, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front in France, said that the “Europe of nations is close at hand” and heralded the new government as a harbinger for the collapse of the European Union.

Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party who helped lead the campaign for Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, has relished the prospect of the Italians giving the Germans a headache.

Stephen K. Bannon, an architect of the election of President Trump who said he had kept in close contact with League leaders, also welcomed the “historic” alliance with Five Star.

“First anti-establishment government in Europe,” he said in an interview, saying more would come. “First government built on populism and nationalism as its foundation.”

On Wednesday night, Mr. Conte said he was eager to represent that government at home and abroad. “I offer myself as the defense lawyer of the Italian people,” he said.

Elisabetta Povoledo contributed reporting.

The post Italy’s Populists Get a Green Light to Govern, in New Threat to Europe appeared first on World The News.

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[connorrenwick]

Getting Personal with Frank Lloyd Wright: Taliesin and Taliesin West

The following post is brought to you by The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Our partners are handpicked by the Design Milk team because they represent the best in design.

We’ve spent the last couple of months celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of iconic American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. From top designers explaining just how Frank Lloyd’s Wright’s design philosophy impacted them to a tour of some of our favorite Frank Lloyd Wright sites worthy of a road trip, we’ve hit some of the high points of what make Wright so integral to modern design and architecture.

However, there’s no better way to get at who Wright truly was as a designer and architect than to look at the spaces he designed for himself. Taliesin, in Spring Green, Wisconsin and Taliesin West, in Scottsdale, Arizona both provide that insight. At the request of an aunt, Wright built a windmill on the Taliesin estate in 1896 when he was 29 years old. He continued to experiment with designs at Taliesin West until his death at age 91—that’s 62 years of work represented in two buildings. Together, Taliesin and Taliesin West are often considered to be Frank Lloyd Wright’s autobiography in wood and stone.

These two pivotal structures continue to be relevant today. Frank Wright Foundation CEO Stuart Graff points out that the Foundation’s goal is to examine the values associated with each home and not only take care of the physical buildings themselves, but “to preserve the spirit of the buildings as well, continuing to use them as Wright used them in his own time. He notes that some of the innovations in these homes are so ubiquitous today that it may seem as though they’ve always existed. “Thanks to Wright’s forward thinking, many of us have grown up with open floor plans, wide expanses of windows, and many other innovations that seemed radical at the time.”

Taliesin exterior by Andrew Pielage

Taliesin

Frank Lloyd Wright built Taliesin, a home, studio, school, and 800-acre agricultural estate, on his favorite boyhood hill in the Wisconsin River Valley property homesteaded by his Welsh maternal grandparents. As a nod to his Welsh ancestry, he named the entire compound Taliesin in honor of the Welsh bard whose name means “Shining Brow.”

“Taliesin contains many examples of Wright’s forward thinking, from contour farming to structural experiments,” Ryan Hewson, the Foundation’s Collection and Preservation Project Manager at Taliesin points out. In 1896, he designed a windmill for his aunts to provide water for the Hillside Home School. It not only functioned, but became an iconic structure. “The name is derived from the structural conceit—which is that Romeo, the diamond shape has his prow pointing towards the primary wind direction, helping to direct the wind around the structure; while Juliet is the octagonal shape, is the stable shape that is responsible for the structure standing up. Finally, at the top of Juliet is a balcony that provides views of The Valley,” explained Hewson.

Romeo & Juliet Windmill at Taliesin

In 1911, Wright designed and built the home after leaving his first wife for Mamah Borthwick (who also left a husband for the architect). The home was intended to be a refuge for the couple from the prying eyes of the public increasing media attention.

Taliesin interior by Andrew Pielage

Taliesin breaks away from traditional prairie style houses, and is an excellent example of what wright calls a “natural house” due to the sites strong connection with the landscape and the use of the local area materials. Wright biographer Robert Twombly has written that his Prairie School period ended after the loss of Borthwick. The property used local materials to echo the expansiveness of the Wisconsin landscape with a layout that the architect described as “low, wide, and snug.” Local farmers helped Wright move stone from the yellow limestone quarry nearby, which he then mixed with sand from the river to create Taliesin’s walls. Taliesin features many architectural elements that Wright used in many of his structures such as cantilever roofs, wide windows and an open floor plan.

Taliesin by Jeff Goodman Courtesy of Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

The Taliesin estate was his laboratory of organic architecture, with designs from nearly every decade of Wright’s life. Many of the most iconic buildings of Wright’s career were designed here, including Fallingwater. As he worked on commissions, he also continually worked on improving and adding to the estate. The property showcases the evolution of Wright’s thinking. In addition to the residence, there are four other Wright-designed buildings, including the Romeo & Juliet Windmill (designed in 1896), Hillside School, Tan-y-Deri (home for his sister and brother-in-law), Midway Barn, and the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center.

Taliesin Preservation since 1990 has served as steward of Taliesin in a partnership with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

Taliesin West by Foskett Creative, Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

Taliesin West

A near-fatal bout of pneumonia coupled with the high cost and hard work of heating Taliesin during Depression-era winters convinced 70-year-old Wright to search for a place to create a desert “camp” where he could live and enjoy winter sunshine with his wife Olgivanna and their apprentices. Wright was able to purchase several hundred acres of land in the then-rural foothills of northeast Scottsdale. He had a vision of a desert utopia comprised of low-slung buildings designed to reflect the sweeping expansiveness of the desert. Wright wrote: “Arizona character seems to cry out for a space-loving architecture of its own” and then set about creating it. In an effort to preserve the local landscape, Wright would construct Taliesin West largely of “desert masonry”—local rock set in wooden forms and bound by a mixture of cement and desert sand.

Taliesin West by Andrew Pielage

During his lifetime, both Taliesin and Taliesin West were actively used, with Taliesin West becoming Wright’s beloved winter home. After his death, Taliesin West became the bustling headquarters of the Taliesin Fellowship. Deeply connected to the desert landscape, it was built and maintained almost entirely by Wright and his apprentices, making it among the most personal of the architect’s creations. Over the years, the complex was continually altered and expanded, eventually including a drafting studio, dining facilities, two theaters, a workshop, Wright’s office and private living quarters, and residences for apprentices and staff. Each building is connected through a series of walkways, terraces, pools and gardens. Wright designed much of the interior furniture and decorations, the majority of which were made on site by the apprentices.

Taliesin West sunset by Foskett Creative; Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

Wright would continue to spend winter in Arizona until his death in 1959. Today, Taliesin West continues to serve as the vibrant home of both the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and School of Architecture at Taliesin, carrying on many of the Fellowship’s traditions.

“The Frank Wright Foundation continues Wright’s legacy at Taliesin West by using it as a living laboratory for innovation,” explained Graff. “We installed a solar field in 2012 to offset our traditional energy sources, along with new LED lighting throughout the campus. With these innovations, we are more than halfway to our goal of net zero energy consumption, which is quite an achievement for a building that began construction in 1937. I hope that the exploration of values-based decision-making will aid the adoption of values-based conservation principles, and that the work done by the Foundation will provide a useful example for the field.”

For a truly unveiled look at the mind and thought process of Frank Lloyd Wright, Taliesin and Taliesin West are unmatched in importance. The two properties are world renowned not only as two of the most important landmarks of 20th-century architecture, but also as home to their creator. It’s through his own homes that we can really come to understand Wright’s legacy. So what are you waiting for—schedule a visit at FrankLloydWright.org.

Pro tip: bring a notebook—you’ll leave with more ideas than you came with.

To learn more about the 150th anniversary celebration and find events near you, visit FLW150.com.

For more information about Frank Lloyd Wright and his legacy, visit FrankLloydWright.org.

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[oldbeavers-blog]

Ian Wilmut

(b. July 7, 1944, Hampton Lucy, Warwickshire, Eng.)

Sir Ian Wilmut is an English developmental biologist who was the first to use nuclear transfer of differentiated adult cells to generate a mammalian clone, a Finn Dorset sheep named Dolly, born in 1996.

Education and Cryopreservation Research

Wilmut was raised in Coventry, a town in the historic English county of Warwickshire, and he attended the Agricultural College at the University of Nottingham. In his undergraduate studies, Wilmut initially pursued his lifelong interest in farming, particularly in raising animals such as sheep. However, he soon turned his attention to animal science and basic research. In 1966, his final year at Nottingham, he received a scholarship to conduct research for a summer under English biologist Ernest John Christopher Polge in the Unit of Reproductive Physiology and Biochemistry, then a division of the Agricultural Research Council at the University of Cambridge. During this time, Wilmut performed basic experiments on animal embryos. Following his graduation from Nottingham in 1967, he returned to Cambridge, where he pursued a doc- torate under the guidance of Polge, whose research was focused on improving methods of embryo cryopreserva- tion. In 1971 Wilmut was awarded a doctorate by Darwin College, Cambridge; the title of his thesis was “Deep Freeze Preservation of Boar Semen.” Wilmut remained at Cambridge and conducted extensive research on the cryopreservation of embryos. In 1973 he successfully implanted into a surrogate cow a calf embryo that had been cryopreserved. The embryo was carried to term, and Wilmut named the first-ever “frozen calf ” Frostie.

Genetic Engineering and Cloning Research

Pharming In 1973 Wilmut was appointed senior scientific officer at the Animal Breeding Research Organisation (ABRO; renamed Edinburgh Research Station of the Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Research in 1985 and finally Roslin Institute in 1993), a government-supported research facility located in Roslin, Scot., just south of Edinburgh. At the ABRO facility, Wilmut studied embryo development and became interested in the underlying causes of embryo death in mammals. However, in the early 1980s, changes in ABRO leadership and a shift in the focus of government research projects forced Wilmut into the realm of genetic engineering. The new goal of ABRO was to generate sheep genetically engineered to produce large quantities of human proteins that would be suitable for therapeutic uses, a pursuit that came to be known as “pharming.” Although Wilmut had little experience with genetic engineering and had limited enthusiasm for the project, he used his knowledge of developmental biology to obtain zygotes (one-celled embryos) from sheep and developed techniques to inject DNA into the zygote pro- nucleus (a haploid nucleus occurring in embryos prior to fertilization). This work eventually led to the generation of a sheep named Tracy. Tracy was created from a zygote genetically engineered through DNA injection to produce milk containing large quantities of the human enzyme alpha-1 antitrypsin, a substance used to treat cystic fibrosis and emphysema.

Nuclear Transfer

Wilmut’s initial forays into cloning began in the late 1980s with embryonic stem cells. Wilmut and his colleagues were interested primarily in nuclear transfer, a technique first conceived in 1928 by German embryologist Hans Spemann. Nuclear transfer involves the introduction of the nucleus from a cell into an enucleated egg cell (an egg cell that has had its own nucleus removed). This can

be accomplished through fusion of the cell to the egg (the technique that Wilmut used in all his later cloning experiments) or through the removal of the nucleus from the cell and the subsequent transplantation of that nucleus into the enucleated egg cell (a technique refi ned in the early 2000s). In 1989 Wilmut and Lawrence Smith, a graduate student conducting his thesis research at Roslin, generated four cloned lambs by using embryonic cell nuclear transfer, in which the nucleus from an embryonic stem cell was inserted into an enucleated egg. This research led Wilmut and Smith to an important discovery—namely, that the stage of the cell cycle (the sequence through which

each cell progresses from one cell division to the next) at the time of nuclear transfer determined the success or failure of the experiment. They realized that the four clones they had generated happened by chance. In 1991 Wilmut hired English biologist Keith Campbell (Smith had left the research centre in 1990), whose knowl- edge of the cell cycle proved instrumental in advancing the technique of nuclear transfer developed at Roslin. Wilmut and Campbell’s first major success came in 1995, with the generation of two cloned Welsh mountain sheep, Megan and Morag. The following year Wilmut, Campbell, and their team of scientists decided to test a new theory based on the idea that the age or the stage of differentiation of a donor cell did not matter in nuclear transfer. Prior to this theory, nuclear transfer was believed to work only if the nucleus used as the donor for nuclear transfer came from a cell that was totipotent—i.e., having the ability to differentiate into any type of cell in the body and therefore possessing no characteristics of differentiation itself. However, observations from laboratory experiments and from Megan and Morag, who were produced using nine-day-old embryonic cells, which are presumably less totipotent than younger embryonic cells, indicated that an enucleated host egg could somehow reverse the differ- entiation of the donor cell nucleus, converting it back to a state of totipotency or pluripotency (slightly more differentiated than a totipotent cell). This led to the idea of using the nucleus from an already differentiated adult cell as a donor nucleus.

Dolly and Polly

During the winter of 1995–96, Wilmut was involved in three pivotal cloning experiments conducted at Roslin. In the first, Wilmut and his team of scientists performed

embryonic cell nuclear transfer by using cultured embryonic cells that were nine days old. This was similar to the exper- iment that led to the creation of Megan and Morag. How  ever, the new experiment involved a different sheep breed; the cells used for nuclear transfer came from a Poll Dorset sheep. This first experiment resulted in the birth in 1996 of four Poll Dorset clones: Cedric, Cecil, Cyril, and Tuppence. In the second experiment, the team used fetal fibroblasts isolated from sheep fetuses after 26 days of devel- opment; these cells served as nucleus donors for transfer into an enucleated egg. This experiment resulted in the birth of two clones, Taffy and Tweed. In the third experiment, the scientists isolated adult cells (in this case, mammary gland cells) from a six-year-old ewe and used these cells as nucleus donors for transfer into egg cells; this technique inspired the later development of a procedure called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Wilmut and his team constructed 277 embryos containing adult cell nuclei that were implanted into 13 surrogate mothers, only one of which became preg- nant. This pregnancy was carried to term successfully. The Finn Dorset lamb, born on July 5, 1996, was Dolly. In 1997, following the publication in the journal Nature of a summary of their research leading to Dolly, Wilmut, Campbell, and the Roslin Institute instantly became known for having opened the door to a new era of contro- versial cloning research. The cloning of Dolly generated speculation in the media and in the scientific community about the possibility of cloning humans. Wilmut considered human cloning impractical for both ethical and scientific reasons. From his work with sheep, he knew the dangers of cloning; many embryos died following implantation, and those embryos that survived and developed to term as full-grown fetuses sometimes died immediately following birth or were born with birth defects.

Wilmut was not interested in cloning simply for the sake of producing cloned animals, and neither was his team of scientists at Roslin. They still had problems to solve concerning their work on pharming. In 1997 Wilmut and his colleagues generated Polly, a Poll Dorset clone made from nuclear transfer using a fetal fibroblast nucleus genetically engineered to express a human gene known as FIX. This gene encodes a substance called human factor IX, a clotting factor that occurs naturally in most people but is absent in people with hemophilia, who require replacement therapy with a therapeutic form of the sub- stance. Polly—along with two other sheep engineered to produce human factor IX that also were born in 1997— represented a major advance in pharming. The successful birth of Polly marked Wilmut’s last major cloning experiment.

Later Career Throughout Wilmut’s career at Roslin, he had been slowly moving away from research relying on embryonic stem cells, primarily because culturing embryonic stem cells from sheep embryos was extraordinarily difficult and impractical in terms of cost and time. In 2000 Wilmut was promoted to head of the department of gene expression and development at the Roslin Institute, and his research interests shifted from animals to humans. He was particu- larly interested in uncovering the genetic mechanisms that control embryonic development and the role that these mechanisms play in human disease. In 2005 he accepted a position as chair of reproductive science at the University of Edinburgh. He maintained a relationship with the Roslin Institute, acting as a visiting scientist. Wilmut also directed the Medical Research Council’s

Centre for Regenerative Medicine, located in Edinburgh, and led research efforts into cellular reprogramming. Wilmut received several awards during his career, including the Ernst Schering Prize in 2002 and the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize in 2005. Wilmut also was made fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2000 and of the Royal Society of London in 2002; he was knighted in 2007. In addition to papers published in high-ranking journals such as Nature and Science, Wilmut also published several books, including The Second Creation: Dolly and the Age of Biological Control (2000; with Keith Campbell and Colin Tudge) and After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning (2006; with Roger Highfield).