text:
SIR ARTHUR HASELRIG, 2ND BARONET (1601 – 7 January 1661) was a leader of the Parliamentary opposition to Charles I and one of the Five Members whose attempted arrest sparked the 1642–1646 First English Civil War. He held various military and political posts during the 1639–1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms but became an opponent of Oliver Cromwell during the Protectorate. In 1660, his actions inadvertently helped restore Charles II to the throne; unlike many senior Parliamentary leaders, his life was spared but he was confined to the Tower of London, where he died on 7 January 1661.

Life

Haselrig was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Hesilrige, 1st Baronet (alternative spellings “Heselrig” and “Haselrigge”), of Noseley Hall, Noseley, Leicestershire, and of Frances Gorges, daughter of Sir William Gorges, of Alderton, Northamptonshire.[1] From an early age he imbibed strong puritanical principles and showed a special antagonism towards Archbishop Laud.[2]

Short and Long Parliaments

In April 1640, Haselrig was elected Member of Parliament for Leicestershire in the Short Parliament He was re-elected MP for Leicestershire for the Long Parliament in November 1640.[3] He was heavily involved in the Act of Attainder against Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, the Root and Branch Bill and the Militia Bill of 7 December 1641. Charles I tried to arrest him for treason on 3 January 1642, along with John Hampden, Denzil Holles, John Pym and William Strode. However the so-called “Five Members”, together with the peer Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester who was also due to be arrested, were tipped off by Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex. The king marched with his guards into the chamber of the House of Commons chamber only to find that the Five Members had fled.

Civil War

Haselrig was very active in the First English Civil War on the Parliamentarian side. He raised a troop of horse for the Earl of Essex and fought at the Battle of Edgehill. He was a commander in the West under William Waller, being nicknamed his _fidus Achates_, and led his cuirassiers, who were known as the London lobsters. He and his troops distinguished themselves at the Battle of Lansdowne on 5 July 1643, where his men defeated Sir Beville Grenville's Pikemen, although the battle is traditionally seen as indecisive. At the Battle of Roundway Down, on 13 July, Haselrig's force met a Royalist cavalry charge at the halt and after a brief clash, retreated in disorder, the Parliamentarian army losing the battle to Lord Wilmot. Haselrig was shot three times at Roundway Down, with the bullets apparently bouncing off his armour. After firing a pistol at Haselrig's helmeted head at close range without any effect Richard Atkyns described how he attacked him with his sword, but it too caused no visible damage; Haselrig was under attack from a number of people and only succumbed when Atkyns attacked his unarmoured horse. After the death of his horse Haselrig tried to surrender; but as he fumbled with his sword, which was tied to his wrist, he was rescued. He suffered only minor wounds from his ordeal.[4] This incident was related to Charles I and elicited one of his rare attempts at humour. The king said that if Haselrig had been as well supplied as he was fortified he could have withstood a siege.

At the Battle of Cheriton, his men defeated Sir Henry Bard's cavalry charge, seriously weakening Ralph Hopton's army in the west. This battle was a turning point in the war and the king's secretary Sir Edward Walker said that after Cheriton, instead of an offensive war they were forced to make a defensive war.

Governor of Newcastle

Haselrig supported Oliver Cromwell in his dispute with the Earl of Manchester and the Earl of Essex. When the Self-denying Ordinance was approved by Parliament he gave up his commission and became one of the leaders of the Independent party in Parliament. On 30 December 1647 he was appointed governor of Newcastle upon Tyne, which he successfully defended, besides defeating the Royalists on 2 July 1648 and regaining Tynemouth. In October he accompanied Cromwell to Scotland, and gave him valuable support in the Scottish expedition in 1650.[5] Between 1647 and 1650 Haselrig and his son brought a large amount of property in the north east which included the manors of Bishop Auckland, Middleham, Easingwoodborough and Wolsingham at a total cost of over £22,500.[6]

Parliamentary career under Cromwell

Haselrig approved of the king's execution but declined to act as a judge at his trial. He was one of the leading men in the Commonwealth, but he was antagonised by Cromwell's expulsion of the Rump Parliament, and he opposed the Protectorate refusing to pay taxes.[7] Haselrig considered Cromwell to be a traitor to the cause after this as he was a staunch republican and opposed to all rule by a single person whether by hereditary succession or military might. Edmund Ludlow, one of his opponents admitted “to do him justice .. I must acknowledge that I am under no manner of doubt concerning the rectitude and sincerity of his intentions. For he made it his buseness to prevent arbitrary power wherever he knew it to be affected, and to keep the sword subserviant to the civil magistrate”.

In 1654, Haselrig was elected MP for Leicester in the First Protectorate Parliament and in 1656 for the Second Protectorate Parliament,[8] but he was excluded from them both. He refused a seat, offered to him by Cromwell, in the Protectorate House of Lords.

Parliament against Lambert

On Cromwell's death Haselrig refused support to Richard Cromwell, and was instrumental in his downfall. He was elected MP for Leicester for the Third Protectorate Parliament in 1659[9] and became one of the most influential men in both the Council of State and Parliament. He tried to keep a republican parliamentary administration, “to keep the sword subservient to the civil magistrate”.[10] He opposed the schemes of John Lambert who was resisting parliamentary control over the military. In one altercation Lambert complained that the army was being held at ransom; Haselrig replied that “You are only at the mercy of Parliament who are your friends” to which Lambert replied “I know not why they should not be at our mercy as well as we at theirs.” Anger at the independence of the army resulted in nine leading officers, including Lambert, being cashiered. Lambert reacted by calling out the army and blocking all routes to Parliament, and putting guards upon its doors.

After Lambert had halted Parliament, Haselrig decided to restore Parliament. The strength of the army in London called for another location, and for a variety of reasons Portsmouth was chosen. Portsmouth had strong naval traditions and had always maintained independence from the army; it benefited from defensible fortifications on its land side and the support of Admiral John Lawson ensured that the city would not fall easily to a protracted siege. Haselrig knew the area well having campaigned around Hampshire during the civil war. The newly appointed Governor Nathaniel Whetham was a republican who had declared that his men would support him. Whetham was a friend of General George Monck in Scotland who had the best forces in Britain at his disposal and who had declared himself for Parliament in October. On 4 December 1659 Haselrig met with his allies in the Red Lion Inn having arrived at 4 in the afternoon. By the next day a declaration was posted calling for citizens to “restore Parliament to their former freedom, being the peoples indubitable and undoubted birthright”. Hurst Castle and the Isle of Wight soon declared for Parliament. The military government, which was now named the Committee of Safety, despatched a force hoping that pro-army members would open the gates. However the Commander of the Army Colonel Nathaniel Rich entered into negotiations and his men decided to join Haselrig. Word soon spread and soon Hull and Plymouth were recorded to be going the same way. The army council, unsure of support of its troops, restored the Rump Parliament by 26 December. On 29 December Haselrig marched to London and attended Parliament still in his riding clothes. Haselrig was at the height of his power as the major figure in a restored republic and was appointed to the Council of State on 2 January 1660. On 11 February he became a commissioner for the army.

Monck and the Restoration

However Monck had begun to march south from Coldstream on 1 January. Lambert moved to face Monck but knowing the strength of Monck's forces and the doubtful loyalty of his own troops avoided engagement. Monck avoided answering questions as to his intentions and by 3 February entered London. Haselrig, trusting to his assurance of fidelity to the “Good Old Cause” consented to the retirement of his regiment from London.[11] The Rump Parliament was dissolved and Haselrig found himself marginalised by the unfolding events. A new Convention Parliament came in on 31 April and by 8 May Charles II was proclaimed King. Haselrig petitioned for a pardon, claiming he had not supported the overthrow of Charles I and had only supported the Commonwealth to avoid bloodshed.[12]

Despite Monck's guarantee of a pardon, Haselrig was targeted by the Royalist Silius Titus, who was also responsible for disinterring the bodies of Cromwell, Bradshaw and Ireton and having them ritually executed at Tyburn. His life was spared but he was imprisoned in the Tower of London where he died on 7 January 1661.[13]

Character

Clarendon described Haselrig as “an absurd, bold man.” He was rash, “hare-brained,” devoid of tact and had little claim to the title of a statesman, but his energy in the field and in parliament was often of great value to the parliamentary cause." He exposed himself to considerable obloquy by his exactions and appropriations of confiscated landed property, though the accusation brought against him by John Lilburne was examined by a parliamentary committee and adjudged to be false.[14]

Family

Haselrig married firstly Frances Elmes, daughter of Thomas Elmes of Lilford Hall, Northamptonshire, by whom he had two sons and two daughters. He married secondly Dorothy Greville, sister of Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke, by whom he had three sons and five daughters.[15]

Authorities

1.  , and authorities there quoted; _Early History of the Family of Hesilrige_, by WGD Fletcher;

2.  _Cat. of State Papers Domestic_, 1631–1664, where there are a large number of important references, as also in _Hist. manuscripts_, _Comm. Series Manuscripts_ of Earl Cooper, Duke of Leeds and Duke of Portland;
3.  also SR Gardiner, _Hist. of England_ _Hist. of the Great Civil War and Commonwealth_;
4.  Clarendon's History State Papers and Cal. of State Papers, John Langton Sanford's _Studies of the Great Rebellion_. His life is written by Noble in the _House of Cromwell_,

Notes

[1] The English baronetage: containing a genealogical and historical ..., Volume 1 By Arthur Collins

[2]

[3]

[4] Philip Haythornthwaite, _The English Civil War, An Illustrated History_, Blandford Press (1983) , p. 49.

[5]

[6]

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[11]

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[15]

title: Arthur Haselrig

question: What is the motive of this article?

answer: The motive of this article is to educate the reader on Sir Arthur Haselrig.

question: Why did Haselrig's first marriage end?

answer: This information can't be found.

question: Why was Haselrig described as an 'absurd, bold man'?

answer: It may be implied that he was called so because he was rash.

question: Why did Haselrig refuse the seat he was offered in the Protectorate House of Lords?

answer: This information can't be found.


split: train

text:
I wrote this about one of my good friends, and he finds it to be humorous too.
I didn't use his real name in the story for obvious reasons.
This is also located on r/Writing
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It's been apart of me since... Well, ever since I was old enough to understand what masturbation was, and now it was gone. I first understood what masturbation was and how to do it by the time I was seven. Then by the time I was eight I had already managed to obtain at least five Brazzers accounts along with a subscription to Playboy. That is when it really took off – my addiction to porn. Masturbation was almost synonymous with pornography for me.

At first I only masturbated  at night time when no one could hear me. However, by the time I was ten years old I was already watching porn and masturbating twice a day – once in the morning, and once at night. Pornography had consumed my life, driving away the few friends I had. I had never even told anyone; we were ten years old they would have shunned me. Maybe it was the way I looked at my female teachers and fellow classmates, or how it always look as if I had a tiny pencil sticking out of my pants? By the time I was fifteen I masturbated between 5 and 10 times a day. My penis was purple by the time I got out of school, but I still went on to masturbate two more times before I went to bed.

Once I got to high-school, I couldn't control my self. There was so much ass everywhere I had to masturbate during school. It was simple how I pulled it off; we had eight minutes in between classes, and it took  two minutes to go to my locker then make it to my next class in time. That meant I had an extra six minutes to rub one off before I went to my next class. No one still ever wanted to talk to me – probably because I was constantly sweating, and my hands were sticky.

Then it happened – I got caught watching porn. It was a relatively normal day; I had just got home and I had just turned on my computer so I could fap once more. Once powered on, I opened up Google Chrome in Incognito mode any proceeded to navigate to Brazzers and login. Normally I would have just clicked a video and started going to town, but there was something wrong. There was a strange feeling in the air, so, I just waited a little while before starting. Growing impatient, I just went ahead and clicked a video and starting going to town. Then right as soon as I started to climax, my muscles starting to spasm, and my starting to moan the actress' name of whom I was watching. When suddenly my mom walked in. In that instant it hit me, I forgot to lock my door, but I had done it so many time how could I just 'forget'? In the heat of the moment, I asked my mother if “She wanted to join”. I was instantly disgusted; how could I ask my mom that? “Turn that fucking shit off and put your pants back on! Your father will speak with you when he gets home!” she replied, as she closed the door with a disheartening look on her face.

I knew what was going to happen – I was going to get grounded. Dad was going to come home and yell at me then take my computer and Playboys. My whole world would collapse without pornography. After coming to this heart breaking realization I rubbed one off one last time; then walked into my bathroom grabbed a bottle of Clorox chugged it, then hung myself.

title: [Cross-Post] The Nathan Moore Chronicles - Problem with Pornography (Humor)

question: What did the narrator get caught doing?

answer: Masturbating

question: What does the narrator do in response to getting caught?

answer: After getting caught, the narrator kills themselves.

question: Who catches the narrator?

answer: His mother

question: How old is the narrator?

answer: While the narrator's exact age isn't mentioned, they are high-school aged.

question: What website is the narrator using when they're caught?

answer: Brazzers

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator develops a porn addiction at an early age and frequently masturbates. Their habit only gets worse as they get older. One day, the high-school aged narrator starts masturbating after school and his mother catches him. His mother yells at him and threatens to tell his father. Knowing he'll be punished and that all his pornography will be taken away, the narrator kills himself.


text:
The sound of a door creaking open tore through the calm summer air as a tall man strode stiffly out of the house on the corner of Stallion Drive. Stiff grass crunched under his feet and as he reached the car parked underneath the streetlight at the end of the drive his face was thrown into relief.

The man’s beard was overgrown and his hair fell messily in his pale face. He wore a dirty flannel shirt under a military jacket and his slim fit jeans were tucked into his scuffed leather boots. This man was rather dull looking other than his eyes, which flashed deep blue from beneath his thick-framed glasses, and although his eyes were definitely his most defining feature his underfed and pallid appearance were a close second.

The man reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the key to his beat up red convertible.  He unlocked and opened the passenger side and reached for a pill bottle that rested on the seats torn upholstery. Suddenly the man dropped the pill bottle and jumped as though he had heard something and quickly turned around.

“Who’s there?” He murmured quietly into the darkness, but there was no answer.  The man turned back to his car and began searching for the bottle he had dropped. Just as he located the bottle, which had fallen underneath the glove box, he heard a soft voice come from directly behind him. Startled the man sat bolt upright, hitting his head on the glove box as he came up.

“Hi Jamie.” The voice, which belonged to a beautiful young woman, whispered. Her dark hair fell around her shoulders highlighting her thin pretty face and her prominent collarbones. She wore a flowing white dress with a black polka dot print and boots similar to that of the man she was addressing.

“Hello Lana” he muttered venomously “don’t call me that.”

“Then what do you want me to call you?” Lana said impatiently.

“James, my name is James Lana.” James tucked the pill bottle he had clutched in his hand into the pocket of his jacket. “Why are you here” he asked as he slammed the passenger door closed, although it was clear that he didn’t care to know the answer.

“Jamie… James, I’m so sorry for everything.” Lana’s voice trembled as she spoke and her knees shook in unison. James said nothing to this apology. “I never meant to hurt you” she continued awkwardly “I really did love you.”

“Bullshit” James spat. “You never loved me” his voice was raising in volume now “you’re a heartless bitch, and you’re not sorry.” Lana stood shaking a single tear fell from the corner of her eye unnoticed by James. “Now,” James said with a regained composure, “why are you here?”

“I… I’m worried about you Jamie…” she whispered sadly.

“Don’t. Fucking. Call me that!” James roared at her, and Lana flinched. James scratched at his beard and rubbed his eyes wearily. When he finally looked back up at Lana his blue eyes were even more vivid as they stood out against bloodshot red.

“Everyone’s been worried about you James… Dallon and Tyler said that they haven’t seen you in weeks, they’re worried about you and…” Lana paused as though she was worried about what she needed to say next.

“They said you’ve been abusing your prescriptions.” As she said this she walked closer to James’ car as if she was trying to peek inside, but James held out his arm to stop her.

“I’m not abusing the pills Lana.” James said firmly. “I need these, if I didn’t take them then I wouldn’t be able to functi-”

“What about the alcohol?” Lana interjected hysterically. “You’re mixing the pills with alcohol…” Lana’s eyes were now flooded with tears. “From the smell of it, I can only assume that you’re drinking a lot!”

“I drink what I need to feel good, and I can’t give up the medicine unless I want to be in unbearable pain.” James muttered remorsefully.

“Don’t worry about me Lana.” James’ voice was now steady and any hint of remorse was now gone. “I’ll be absolutely fine.”
Without another word James walked around to the other side of his car, got into the drivers seat, started up the engine and sped away. Lana stood silently shaking in James’ front lawn and just as James turned the corner she let out a furious scream.

“I HATE YOU!” Lana yelled through her uncontrollable sobbing. Lana collapsed onto the lawn sobbing even harder than before. She lay there for almost half an hour before she finally got up and walked slowly back to her house. Her white dress was covered in dust from the dry ground and her makeup was smeared across her still beautiful face, her hair was tangled in the back and as she walked she would succumb to violent shaking fits.

Back at her home Lana collapsed on the couch sobbing quietly into a pillow as the television flickered before her. A clock began to ring and Lana looked over to the mantle to see that it was 2 o’clock, it had been one hour since James had driven away and Lana still shook with unease.

Before she knew it Lana was sitting bolt upright on the couch a phone on the table next to her was blaring next to her ear, she glanced at the clock and saw that it was 4 AM. Lana quickly grabbed the phone off the hook.

“James?” she said urgently.

“Hello, am I speaking to a miss… Lana Studebaker?” the voice on the other side of the phone was cold and uncaring.

“Yes, who is this?” A sinking feeling was setting into the pit of Lana’s stomach.

“This is the Eastburn County Police department,” tears began to stream down Lana’s face “We’re calling to inform you about a fatal car crash that occurred this morning at 2:45 Am.”

“Yes?” Lana whispered as tears slowly rolled down her cheek.

title: *67

question: What is the relationship between James and Lana?

answer: James and Lana seem to be ex-lovers.

question: Is James an alcoholic?

answer: It was implied that he consumed a lot of alcohol.

question: What kind of prescription drugs is James taking and why?

answer: James may be taking painkillers, but it is not certain why.

question: Why did Lana apologize to James?

answer: She may have ended their relationship.

question: Write a ~6 sentence summary.

answer: James is heartbroken by Lana, a young, beautiful, dark-haired woman with whom he may have been in a relationship in the past. His current state of mind is in shambles, and it seems he decided to keep his distance from everyone that knows him. James has been consuming a lot of alcohol and abusing his prescription drugs. Lana finds him and tries to make amends, but his ice-cold demeanor upsets her. He drives off in annoyance, leaving Lana in uncontrollable tears. The next morning, Lana receives a call from the police department about a fatal car crash and fears James might have been involved in the accident.


text:
LEFT RENEWAL is a political faction that exists within the Australian Greens, primarily the NSW Greens branch, which was established publicly in late 2016.[1] Described by elements of the media as hard left, it regularly promotes ideologies and beliefs such as: anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, feminism, and anti-racist arguments through its online spaces and community events.

Ideology

Left Renewal launched their official Statement of Principles in late December, 2016.[2] It mirrors the Four Pillars that are the foundation policies of The Australian Greens and state Greens branches,[3] with added emphasis on the intersection between these pillars and a critique of capitalism.

The group has also made comment, through Facebook posts, printed flyers, and other media, on issues such as left populism, the rise of Jeremy Corbyn, rape culture,[4] carceral feminism,[5] Indigenous sovereignty,[6] Palestinian self-determination and the state of Israel, the rise of modern fascism, the Australian housing crisis of the 2010s,[7] public school funding, the RAAF's participation in the Syrian conflict,[8] the refugee crisis and Australia's refugee detention centres, penalty rates,[9] and many other progressive issues.

Social justice

The Left Renewal platform argues that society's struggle for social justice brings people into irreconcilable conflict with the capitalist mode of production and all other forms of class society, requiring them to take a strong stance on the struggle of the working class. This understanding of the working class extends “past the factory” to include home workers, sex workers, and others. It promotes workplace organising and support union activity as a vital political activity, whether in syndicates or traditional union structures. As part of this, the group commits to never undermining the industrial action of workers, a reference to the practice of 'scabbing' on striking workers by crossing a picket-line. Furthermore, the group pledges to join a union of some form in whatever place they may work.

As part of the social justice principle, the group recognises the need to create alternatives to and challenge all authoritarian and exploitative economic models, which it argues must ultimately require socialising the means of production. It rejects the idea that society can truly be changed through ‘good people’ gaining control of authoritarian and exploitative power structures, and that individual changes to personal consumption can create change. Finally, it outlines the necessity to take strategic concerns seriously. This includes unity and solidarity on the principle that work should serve to accomplish political goals, strengthen grassroots movements, build political consciousness, and lead the world on a path to social transformation.[10]

Grassroots democracy

As part of the group's interpretation of the 'grassroots democracy' pillar of the party, the statement strongly argues for a participatory, democratic society that they say will be embodied in the organisation, through value the organisation places on participatory self-management, through members having agency over decisions which affect them, and through access to resources on which they are dependent in proportion to the degree to which they are affected. Left Renewal argues that democracy “must come from the people, not from the bureaucracy”; a reference to the structure and function of the faction, of the party-at-large, and of society-at-large.[11]

Furthering this critique of bureaucracy, it argues that this can function as a mediator to suppress radical change. As such, and because of this, the group supports rank-and-file control of unions and of the Greens. Reiterating the grassroots underpinning of the pillar, it outlines that change can only come from below, not from bureaucratic declaration and mediation. In terms of its internal organising practices, Left Renewal states that a “degree of tactical unity” is necessary in order to have real collective influence. Once decision-making has taken place, in a participatory and democratic fashion, it is required by members that they respect, implement and where necessary, bind on the organisation's democratic decisions. The group states, quite simply, that, “In unity there is strength.”

Left Renewal has argued, and actively organised, for the direct and democratic election of the party's parliamentary leader. The group is generally in favour of a leader-less national structure, with greater agency invested in the states to allocate policy portfolios and other powers.

Left Renewal has been critical of the Greens' practice of announcing 'Election Initiatives' - policy ideas that are released in official election periods, and mandated to align loosely with Greens' policy. These are approved by a Senator's office, rather than by state branches or the National Council. This has most controversially been the case with Richard Di Natale's Sugar Tax.[12]

Peace and non-violence

Left Renewal statement then goes on to outline the violent and antagonistic relationship that they see between capitalism and workers. It is argued that as workers, waged or unwaged, all people experience perpetual violence and that this violence must be brought to an end. Due to this, the group forthrightly claims, “We therefore fight to bring about the end of capitalism.” It outlines that it believes that capitalism relies on violent and authoritarian divisions within the working class, such as elitism, sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, religious sectarianism, and ableism (among others); and that it is only with the abolition of these authoritarian relations that people will be able to create a thriving movement capable of transforming society. Due to this, the group feels there is an imperative to challenge these wherever they encounter it.

Left Renewal puts forward that the prosecution of peace requires an explicit rejection of imperialism, and the genocide upon which it depends. It understands that Australia is based upon an act of genocide which exists within a broader framework of global imperialism. As part of this, it rejects the artificial creation of borders, and supports the liberation struggles of oppressed peoples for their sovereignty and land rights. The group also promotes a rejection of class antagonism, and that a rejection of capitalism also depends on a rejection of the state’s legitimacy and the right of it, and its apparatuses, to impose oppression upon the working class and oppressed people. This, it argues, is in order to liberate the working class and all oppressed people. This includes state-mediated oppression in all of its forms, and recognises that violent apparatuses like the police force, “do not share an interest with the working class”.

Left Renewal has advocated for aggressive tactics in the pursuit of anti-fascist action, against police brutality, and in serving the interests of Indigenous Australians, arguing these are all forms of self-defense and therefore equate to legitimate forms of violence. This has led to some condemnation from the more conservative elements of the party, primarily through Richard Di Natale[13] and the party Co-convenors.

Environmental sustainability

Finally, Left Renewal outlines their approach to environmental sustainability as a movement to achieve climate justice, primarily through forms of eco-socialism. It is heavily argued that the intersection between society and environment cannot be separated, and that an internationalist perspective of climate justice is needed that recognises that all people are part of a global ecosystem irrespective of ethnicity, gender, or sexuality. As a logical conclusion to this, the group argues that people can only resolve climate change by achieving climate justice; again, providing a simple summation of, “None of us are free, until we are all free”. This follows on to the argument that the interests of the environment, and the working class, should never be pitted against one another, and that working toward a just transition in collaboration with and alongside the working class, is needed in order to “uncover a renewable world”. The statement concludes by outlining that solutions to climate change cannot come from green-capital partnerships, and top-down market solutions, but must come from people organising in their workplaces and their communities. As such, the group opposes consumer taxes, such as ‘cap and trade’ mechanisms, and cross-class compromises with big business and capital.

Controversy

It has been alleged that the group is aligned with Federal Senator Lee Rhiannon and NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge, though the group denies any involvement from current or former MPs. According to the group's own description, it is composed of rank and file Greens NSW members and as such MPs, MLCs, and senators are not eligible for membership.[14]

In early 2017, a 'Grassroots Greens' faction of the Victorian Greens branch was made public.[15] While this group purports to be aligned with Left Renewal, both groups have maintained that they are two separate entities.

In June 2017 Rhiannon was suspended from the Federal Greens party room following an internal dispute over her opposition to the Federal Greens' support for the Turnbull government education funding changes.[16] The Greens New South Wales subsequently issued a statement reiterating its support for Senator Rhiannon and support for public education.[17]

Left Renewal has stated that it has “long suspected Senator Richard Di Natale's office of leaking misinformation to the media to undermine the Greens NSW and Senator Lee Rhiannon”, and has gone so far as to post a video to its Facebook Page as evidence.[18]

Criticism

The group has drawn criticism from former Federal Greens Leader Richard Di Natale, completely dismissing the group as incompatible with the Greens principles and values, saying that, “If the authors of this ill-thought through manifesto are so unhappy with Greens policies, perhaps they should consider finding a new political home.”[19]

Former Greens leader Bob Brown described the group as a “hoax”.[20]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

title: Left Renewal

question: What is the Left Renewal?

answer: A political faction of the Australian Greens party

question: What distinguishes the Left Renewal from other Australian political parties?

answer: Far Left ideologies including anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, feminism, and anti-racist arguments.

question: How does the Left Renewal platform view society?

answer: As a class struggle where the working class includes home workers, sex workers, and others.

question: How does it propose Australians bring about change?

answer: Through a grass roots, bottom up strategy.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: The Australian Left Renewal is a faction of the Australian Greens party. It's notable because of its far left stance on questions of economics and social justice including anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, feminism, and anti-racist arguments. At its core is a view of society as a class struggle where the working class includes home workers, sex workers, and others. It advocates for democracy coming "from the people, not from bureaucracy," a bottom-up grassroots philosophy.


text:
EAGLE NEWS, formerly known as EAGLE TV ( _Iigl Televiz_) is a television broadcaster in Mongolia. The station focuses on independent news, uncensored live audience feedback, and, formerly, Protestant Christian programming.

History

From 1994 to 2002 Eagle Television was operated on terrestrial Channel 8 by Mongolian Broadcasting Company (MBC). MBC was a joint venture of the American nonprofit, AMONG Foundation, and Mongolia Media Corporation (MMC). Incumbent Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj-then well known Mongolian democracy leader and a Member of Parliament helped to create Mongolia's first independent TV station Eagle Television in 1994.[1] In 2002, the American Tom Terry took over the management of MBC and Eagle TV.

Terry moved to transform the TV station's struggling news and Christian programming in keeping with his vision of political freedom and the advocacy of Christianity. This proved to be a magnet of controversy as the station was opened to uncensored live commentary from viewers and launched the nation's first live international news coverage.[2] Uncensored public commentary was a radical change in Mongolia's media and political landscape. Newspaper articles and criticism from public officials on Mongolia's State run television were countered by Eagle TV openly advocating increased freedom of speech and press through television, and it launched a strategy to increase public input into Eagle TV's on-air operations.

In the early years, notable programming that aired on the channel included NBA playoffs with Mongolian commentary, The Flintstones (dubbed and renamed as _The Flintstone People_) and CNN relays. This was attached to religious programming, both local and American. In 1997, it was expected that the Christian programming would be dropped by 2000.[3]

At the same time, unbeknown to Eagle TV's viewers, the shareholders were embroiled in long-standing and severe disagreements over issues of contribution and control of the newly dynamic TV station.[4] One month after achieving its highest-ever ratings, the shareholders abruptly closed the station as a result of legal threats and corporate infighting.[5] The government of Mongolia, controlled by the former communist party, reacted by revoking MBC's broadcast license, preventing the station from re-launching its operations.

After the station's closure, AMONG Foundation formed Eagle Broadcasting Company,[6] appointing Tom Terry as Managing Director, and charging him with re-launching Eagle TV as a cable TV channel. About half a year later the new Eagle TV began broadcasting on SANSAR Cable as Mongolia's first all-news cable channel.

Eagle TV launched a 24/7 news format with uncensored public commentary during live newscasts as a cornerstone of the station. In addition, it launched the nation's first live coverage of in-country breaking news including the only all-day live coverage of Mongolia's 2005 presidential election.

In light of the increasing popularity of Eagle TV's cable operations, the former business partners AMONG and MMC negotiated their further cooperation over most of 2005. The talks resulted in an agreement in September 2005 for the Mongolian side to acquire the broadcast license for terrestrial Channel 8, and Eagle Broadcasting Company to have exclusive use of the channel for ten years, and exercising exclusive control over all television content during that period. Based upon the agreement the Mongolian government restored the license for Channel 8, paving the way for Eagle TV to return to its former channel.[7]

On October 22, 2005, Eagle Television launched its Channel 8 broadcasts with live all-day coverage of U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s visit to Mongolia.

On April 1, 2011 Eagle TV was sold to Mongolia Media Corporation, a subsidiary of Bodi International. Terry resigned his position as company president and was appointed as Executive Director of AMONG Mongolia, a television production company in Ulaanbaatar producing Christian television programming airing on Eagle TV.

On February 3rd, 2014 Terry released, “Like An Eagle,” a biography of his nine years with Eagle Television. At this point, the station had become a full-on news channel (Eagle News) owned by Mongol Mass Media Group, also becoming a CNN partner. The channel had become entirely secular, having dropped their religious programming from the days as a station owned by the AMONG Foundation. The religious programming moved to sister channel EAGLE LIVE, with AMONG only being involved in program production rather than channel ownership.

[1]

[2] Charisma Magazine, “[Financial Dispute Forces Mongolian Christian TV Station to Shut Down]http://www.charismamag.com/display.php?id=8086,” October 2003

[3] The New York Times, [Go Shout It From the Tent Tops!]https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/26/magazine/go-shout-it-from-the-tent-tops.html, June 10, 2003.

[4] _Mongol News,_ “Eagle Shuts Down,” April 22, 2003.

[5] Washington Post, [Mongolian Christian TV Station Shuts Down]http://www.asuult.net/nemesis/mongolian_judiciary/newseagle.htm, June 10, 2003.

[6] Mongol News, “Eagle's Staff Got Paid,” May 2, 2003.

[7] Across Pacific Magazine, "[Eagle Television Begins Broadcasting on Channel 8]http://across.co.nz/MongoliaChristianTV.html, October 18, 2005.

title: Eagle TV

question: Summarize everything relating to censorship.

answer: Eagle News broadcasts uncensored live audience feedback. Opening the statement to uncensored live commentary from viewers caused much controversy. This was a radical change for Mongolia's media and political landscape. Eagle TV openly advocated for increased freedom of speech and press through television. Eagle TV later launched a 24/7 news format with uncensored public commentary.

question: Summarize everything relating to Tom Terry.

answer: Tom Terry is an American who took over the management of MBC and Eagle TV in 2002. He moved to transform the station to bring it in line with his vision of political freedom and the advocacy of Christianity. He was later appointed Managing Director of Eagle Broadcasting Company and charged with relaunching Eagle TV as a cable TV channel. He resigned from his position as company president in 2011 and was appointed as Executive Director of AMONG Mongolia. In 2014, he released "Like An Eagle", a biography of his nine years with Eagle Television.

question: What does the article say about Tom Terry's personal life?


text:
**Red Ribbon**

   Each blink is more difficult and it takes me just a bit more effort to open my eyes than it did the last time. The cold of my bathtub is comforting. I lean back, take a deep breath and slowly exhale. My mind hasn't stopped racing, showing me images from my childhood, from my adolescence, from high school, from college.

   At four years old, I ran away from a camping trip to try to catch up to my parents on a hiking trail. I didn't know which direction they had gone, so I just followed the river. Ten minutes later, I was still alone and it started to sink in. No one is going to take care of me but myself. “#%!^, that's a scary thought. How will I be able to eat? I don't know how to do anything...” I wandered for what felt like forever, never straying from the security of the path I was on. Ah, the path.

   I snapped back to the present. That path. Nearly thirty years later and I realized I was jealous of that path. It had a direction, it knew where it was going. The only surprises on that path came from off the trail. Was this the right way to live my life? Is this how I would find happiness? Should I become a singularly focused individual, striving only for one goal, ignoring anything outside of that? This path is more soulful than I would have imagined a dirt road could be.

   I blink again. My eyelids feel sticky. I'm in my kitchen and I'm nine years old. Our kitchen is being remodeled and the floor is missing. I can see the dirt, spiderwebs, the century of unuse under the house. There is no rot, there is no termite damage, there is no foundation. Our house sits directly on the dirt hillside, raised up just enough to allow air to flow underneath. The house feels sturdy but there is nothing holding it in place, it could slide down the hill at any moment. Who cares? What does this mean?

   The hole in the floor of the kitchen is all I can think about when I open my eyes again. This house has lasted for more than 100 years. All without any sort of foundation, in earthquake country. It has been shaken and beaten more then I ever could be. It refuses to collapse but instead welcomes new people and wraps them in its love. This house is like a grandmother nearing senility; a shaky foundation, but a strong outward presence. A welcoming hug every time you enter through the front door. Is this how I should live? Wandering the earth, rootless, searching for a place to make a stand and show my love for my fellow man? I tried that in college, it didn't work. Free love and no foundation made me completely insecure. At any moment I could be cast aside and would have nothing to fall back on.

   My eyes lose focus as I follow the wall down from the ceiling to the bathtub, finally coming to rest on the floor of the bathtub. The rouge river winds down hands to my knees and finally pools at my heels until there is enough to continue its one-way journey. The thin thread heads straight into the darkness at the end of the tub, where it drips nosily into the drain.

   I blink twice. The second blink takes me away again. It's my Sophomore year of high school and I'm in love for the first time. Her name was Carrie, she was blonde with blue eyes. She was the co-captain of the JV Cheer squad and she always smelled like a freshly picked peony. We went on our first date together when I asked her to the Winter Formal. When I picked her up, I had to sit through “the talk” from her father while I waited for her to put her finishing touches on. After the dance, we went to an after party thrown by one of the Seniors. I didn't drink at all (it was part of “the talk”) but she did and by the time I got her back to her house, the alcohol was in full effect. We made out for half an hour. That 30 minutes was all it took, I knew I was in love. Our relationship lasted for the rest of the year but it didn't make it past the Summer she spent working on her uncle's ranch in Wyoming. I got two reasons out of her, and I've never known which one was more true. She said, “You're just too....nice” and “Cowboys.” My soul crushed, I spent the next two months sad and pitiful. First love, first loss, first time the nice guy finished dead last.

   My eyelids are heavy, but I open them and sigh. I'm back in the bathtub. I'm not an adolescent any more. I sigh again, this time in relief. The bathtub isn't so cold anymore, it has stolen my body heat giving only white porcelain in return. I brush my hand against the side of the tub, leaving irregular streaks as I move my fingers and paint with my essence. I see bits of Van Gogh and Cezanne in the chaotic crimson my fingers trail behind. I shut my eyes and am transported to my friends dorm in college. Jill is seated on her bed with Starry Night peaking at me over her right shoulder. There are two other friends in here, but I can't see their faces or remember their names. We have been discussing which super power we would want to have and why for the last three hours. I have held to my contention that being able to stop time would make one unstoppable while heavily debating flight and superspeed. We finally stop debating at 2am and I go home to sleep. In the morning, I hear from friends in the dorms near Jill. They are all asking me what I was talking about last night, apparently they could hear my laugh from the next dorm over. I tell them. They laugh more. I feel ashamed that my laugh has made me recognizable from hundreds of feet away. I am embarrassed by our conversation. I make a mental note, which I will immediately forget, to tone down my laugh.

   As I open my eyes from this memory, I realize the truth. I have spent most of my life running from my emotions. They crippled me time and again. My brain doesn't see it that way however, it relishes the emotions, the differences, the change, the unique. The problem is that I don't. My brain is pleading with me in the only way it knows how. It is pleading for me to reverse this process. It is imploring me to lift myself up, to stand up again. It has shown me the memories that were most important to me. I finally relent and lift my heavy hands, attached to heavy arms, to the edge of the tub. I set my feet flat against the floor of the tub, toes pushing against the side so I don't slip in the pooled and partially coagulated blood. I see my phone, it is across the room. It is now my only chance for survival. I strain my muscles to stand.

My eyes close.

title: Red Ribbon [1200 words] (first post here, feedback welcome, please comment)

question: Under what circumstances does the narrator realize that nobody was going to take care of him?

answer: At the age of four, he ran away from a camping trip to look for his parents on a hiking trail. After hours of going around, he still couldn't find them. It's then that he realizes that nobody was going to take care of him beside himself.

question: Is all of this the narrator's imagination?

answer: No, these are flashbacks of his past. While the narrator is lying in the bathtub, every time he shuts his eyes he has a flashback of the past.

question: What emotions does the narrator experience while revisiting his past?

answer: All of these memories make the narrator feel unwanted, alone, and unhappy. The narrator keeps running away from these emotions.

question: What do all of these flashbacks point to?

answer: After all these flashbacks, the narrator realizes that throughout his life he has been running away from his emotions. His brain is asking him to lift himself up and reverse this process and face his emotions.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator is taking a relaxing bath in the bathtub. Every time he shuts his eyes, his past flashes before his eyes. All of these flashbacks are not happy memories. They all point towards the fact that the narrator has been running away from his emotions throughout his life. His brain pleads him to lift himself and reverse the process by starting to face his emotions.


text:
BY KEVIN SIEFF | WASHINGTON POST

PHARR, Texas – On paper, he’s a devoted U.S. citizen.

His official American birth certificate shows he was delivered by a midwife in Brownsville, at the southern tip of Texas. He spent his life wearing American uniforms: three years as a private in the Army, then as a cadet in the Border Patrol and now as a state prison guard.

But when Juan, 40, applied to renew his U.S. passport this year, the government’s response floored him. In a letter, the State Department said it didn’t believe he was an American citizen.

As he would later learn, Juan is one of a growing number of people whose official birth records show they were born in the United States but who are now being denied passports – their citizenship suddenly thrown into question. The Trump administration is accusing hundreds, and possibly thousands, of Hispanics along the border of using fraudulent birth certificates since they were babies, and it is undertaking a widespread crackdown on their citizenship.

In a statement, the State Department said that it “has not changed policy or practice regarding the adjudication of passport applications,” adding that “the U.S.-Mexico border region happens to be an area of the country where there has been a significant incidence of citizenship fraud.”

But cases identified by The Washington Post and interviews with immigration attorneys suggest a dramatic shift in both passport issuance and immigration enforcement.

In some cases, passport applicants with official U.S. birth certificates are being jailed in immigration detention centers and entered into deportation proceedings. In others, they are stuck in Mexico, their passports suddenly revoked when they tried to reenter the United States. As the Trump administration attempts to reduce both legal and illegal immigration, the government’s treatment of passport applicants in south Texas shows how U.S. citizens are increasingly being swept up by immigration enforcement agencies.

Juan said he was infuriated by the government’s response. “I served my country. I fought for my country,” he said, speaking on the condition that his last name not be used so that he wouldn’t be targeted by immigration enforcement.

The government alleges that from the 1950s through the 1990s, some midwives and physicians along the Texas-Mexico border provided U.S. birth certificates to babies who were actually born in Mexico. In a series of federal court cases in the 1990s, several birth attendants admitted to providing fraudulent documents.

Based on those suspicions, the State Department began during Barack Obama’s administration to deny passports to people who were delivered by midwives in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley. The use of midwives is a long-standing tradition in the region, in part because of the cost of hospital care.

The same midwives who provided fraudulent birth certificates also delivered thousands of babies legally in the United States. It has proved nearly impossible to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate documents, all of them officially issued by the state of Texas decades ago.

A 2009 government settlement in a case litigated by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) seemed like it had mostly put an end to the passport denials. Attorneys reported that the number of denials declined during the rest of the Obama administration, and the government settled promptly when people filed complaints after being denied passports.

But under President Donald Trump, the passport denials and revocations appear to be surging, becoming part of a broader interrogation into the citizenship of people who have lived, voted and worked in the United States for their entire lives.

“We’re seeing these kind of cases skyrocketing,” said Jennifer Correro, an attorney in Houston who is defending dozens of people who have been denied passports.

In its statement, the State Department said that applicants “who have birth certificates filed by a midwife or other birth attendant suspected of having engaged in fraudulent activities, as well as applicants who have both a U.S. and foreign birth certificate, are asked to provide additional documentation establishing they were born in the United States.”

“Individuals who are unable to demonstrate that they were born in the United States are denied issuance of a passport,” the statement said.

When Juan, the former soldier, received a letter from the State Department telling him it wasn’t convinced that he was a U.S. citizen, it requested a range of obscure documents – evidence of his mother’s prenatal care, his baptismal certificate, rental agreements from when he was a baby.

He managed to find some of those documents but weeks later received another denial. In a letter, the government said the information “did not establish your birth in the United States.”

“I thought to myself, you know, I’m going to have to seek legal help,” said Juan, who earns $13 an hour as a prison guard and expects to pay several thousand dollars in legal fees.

In a case last August, a 35-year-old Texas man with a U.S. passport was interrogated while crossing back into Texas from Mexico with his son at the McAllen-Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge, connecting Reynosa, Mexico, to McAllen, Texas.

His passport was taken from him, and Customs and Border Protection agents told him to admit that he was born in Mexico, according to documents later filed in federal court. He refused and was sent to the Los Fresnos Detention Center and entered into deportation proceedings.

He was released three days later, but the government scheduled a deportation hearing for him in 2019. His passport, which had been issued in 2008, was revoked.

Attorneys say these cases, where the government’s doubts about an official birth certificate lead to immigration detention, are increasingly common. “I’ve had probably 20 people who have been sent to the detention center – U.S. citizens,” said Jaime Diez, an attorney in Brownsville.

Diez represents dozens of U.S. citizens who were denied their passports or had their passports suddenly revoked. Among them are soldiers and Border Patrol agents. In some cases, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrived at his clients’ homes without notice and taken passports away.

The State Department says that even though it may deny someone a passport, that does not necessarily mean that the individual will be deported. But it leaves them in a legal limbo, with one arm of the U.S. government claiming they are not Americans and the prospect that immigration agents could follow up on their case.

It’s difficult to know where the crackdown fits into the Trump administration’s broader assaults on legal and illegal immigration. Over the past year, it has thrown legal permanent residents out of the military and formed a denaturalization task force that tries to identify people who might have lied on decades-old citizenship applications.

Now, the administration appears to be taking aim at a broad group of Americans along the stretch of the border where Trump has promised to build his wall, where he directed the deployment of national guardsmen, and where the majority of cases in which children were separated from their parents during the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy occurred.

The State Department would not say how many passports it has denied to people along the border because of concerns about fraudulent birth certificates. The government has also refused to provide a list of midwives who it considers to be suspicious.

Lawyers along the border say that it isn’t just those delivered by midwives who are being denied.

Babies delivered by Jorge Treviño, one of the regions most well-known gynecologists, are also being denied. When he died in 2015, the McAllen Monitor wrote in his obituary that Treviño had delivered 15,000 babies.

It’s unclear why babies delivered by Treviño are being targeted, and the State Department did not comment on individual birth attendants. Diez, the attorney, said the government has an affidavit from an unnamed Mexican doctor who said that Treviño’s office provided at least one fraudulent birth certificate for a child born in Mexico.

One of the midwives who was accused of providing fraudulent birth certificates in the 1990s admitted in an interview that in two cases, she accepted money to provide fake documents. She said she helped deliver 600 babies in south Texas, many of them now being denied passports. Those birth certificates were issued by the state of Texas, with the midwife’s name listed under “birth attendant.”

“I know that they are suffering now, but it’s out of my control,” she said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of her admission.

For those who have received passport denials from the government, it affects not only their travel plans but their sense of identity as Americans.

One woman who has been denied, named Betty, said she had tried to get a passport to visit her grandfather as he was dying in Mexico. She went to a passport office in Houston, where government officials denied her request and questioned whether she had been born in the United States.

“You’re getting questioned on something so fundamentally you,” said Betty, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because of concerns about immigration enforcement.

The denials are happening at a time when Trump has been lobbying for stricter federal voter identification rules, which would presumably affect the same people who are now being denied passports – almost all of them Hispanic, living in a heavily Democratic sliver of Texas.

“That’s where it gets scary,” Diez said.

For now, passport applicants who are able to afford the legal costs are suing the federal government over their passport denials. Eventually, the applicants typically win those cases, after government attorneys raise a series of sometimes bizarre questions about their birth.

“For a while, we had attorneys asking the same question: ‘Do you remember when you were born?’ ” Diez said. “I had to promise my clients that it wasn’t a trick question.”

question: Why was Juan's citizenship being questioned despite being born in the U.S.?

answer: The Trump administration is accusing thousands of Hispanics regarding their citizenship regardless of their birthplace.

question: How did the State Department defend itself from accusations?

answer: They claimed that their process is not based on prejudice or racism but that the U.S.-Mexico border region happens to be an area where citizenship fraud happens often.


text:
The seventh costliest Senate race in '14 (Arkansas) cost more than the entire 2010 British general election

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[]

HERE are two depressing thoughts for Americans who fear that money is killing their democracy, and who pin their hopes on campaign-finance reform saving the day. The first comes from some back-of-an-envelope maths, spurred by a press release from the estimable folk at the Brookings Institution who track campaign spending.

As Brookings announced:

  Totaling more than $111,000,000.00, the 2014 North Carolina Senate contest between Kay Hagan and Thom Tillis is the most expensive Senate election in the nation’s history (not adjusted for inflation).

Their report then listed the ten costliest Senate races in 2014. The numbers towards the bottom of the top ten, in the $50m range, rang a bell in Lexington’s memory, reaching back to the days, a few years back, when I wrote the Bagehot column on British politics.

Campaign spending is tightly regulated in Britain, along with other forms of free speech (broadcasters are still required to demonstrate political balance, for instance, and paid TV and radio political ads are outlawed). The Electoral Commission in Britain was thus able to put out a detailed report on the most recent general election in 2010, showing total spending by all political parties and outside groups. A quick bit of currency conversion generates depressing fact number one.

Total spending by political parties in the British general election was £31.5m ($49.9m). Total spending by outside groups was £2.8m ($4.4m). So all in all: $54.3m. With 45.6m registered voters in Britain, that comes out at $1.19 per voter.

Scan down the Brookings list, and that is less than the seventh most-costly Senate race (Arkansas), which cost $56.3m, or $26.47 per Arkansas voter. So the seventh costliest Senate race cost more than the entire 2010 general election in Britain.

And here is the second depressing thought. Many Americans worry that public faith in democracy is being undermined by vast sums of corrupting money. There is a prevailing suspicion that elected representatives are essentially bought and paid for by wealthy special interests.

I have covered elections in America, and certainly hear such views all the time. I take them seriously. But here is the thing. I have covered elections in Britain and British voters voice _exactly the same complaints, word for word_. Angry, distrustful British voters are convinced that democracy is being undermined by vast sums of corrupting money, to the point that elected representatives are essentially bought and paid for by wealthy special interests.

Yet British election spending is regulated more tightly than any model dreamed of by even the most starry-eyed campaigner in America. Which suggests, I would submit, that when voters say that rich donors control everything, they may not be talking about absolute amounts of money, or even individual election rules. They are—at least in part—saying something else: that they feel the fix is in and ordinary voters are powerless in an economy run for the benefit of the rich and well-connected.

Now, that does not mean that campaign donations cannot be corrupting. At some basic level, it feels indecent to spend tens of millions of dollars on individual Senate races. Nor do I scoff for a moment at those who long for campaign finance reform. If big donors are to be allowed to pour fortunes into election races, for instance, it is common sense that they should not be allowed to do so anonymously.

So this columnist agrees with those rooting for campaign finance reform. I just would not expect it to have magical effects on the public’s angry, distrustful mood.

(Photo credit: KAREN BLEIER / AFP)

question: What do voters mean when they say that rich donors control everything?

answer: They feel the fix is in and ordinary voters are powerless in an economy run for the benefit of the rich and well-connected.

question: Why does the author think that the two thoughts he describes are depressing?

answer: Americans fear that money is killing their democracy and that elected representatives are bought and paid for by wealthy special interests.

question: Why does the author think that the British election system is better than the American?

answer: Because British election spending is regulated more tightly.

question: Compare total spending per voter in Great Britain and the US.

answer: $1.19 per voter in GB and $26.47 per Arkansas voter.

question: What do the British think about their voting system?

answer: British voters are convinced that democracy is being undermined by vast sums of corrupting money.


text:
[A cory catfish, a commonly kept bottom feeder species in freshwater aquaria]

A BOTTOM FEEDER is an aquatic animal that feeds on or near the bottom of a body of water.[1] Biologists often use the terms _benthos_—particularly for invertebrates such as shellfish, crabs, crayfish, sea anemones, starfish, snails, bristleworms and sea cucumbers—and _benthivore_ or _benthivorous_, for fish and invertebrates that feed on material from the bottom. However the term benthos includes all aquatic life that lives on or near the bottom, which means it also includes non-animals, such as plants and algae.[2] Biologists also use specific terms that refer to bottom feeding fish, such as demersal fish, groundfish, benthic fish and benthopelagic fish.[3] Examples of bottom feeding fish species groups are flatfish (halibut, flounder, plaice, sole), eels, cod, haddock, bass, grouper, carp, bream (snapper) and some species of catfish and shark.[4]

Feeding strategies

Some bottom feeders are detritivores.[5] This feeding strategy allows bottom feeders to take advantage of the dead organic material that drifts down through bodies of water to the floor.[6] In ocean environments, this downward drift of detritus is known as marine snow.[7] Bottom feeders may gather detritus manually, as some crab species do, or filter it out of the water using suspension feeding.[8] This recycling of organic matter is critical for the health of many aquatic environments as it helps maintain various biogeochemical cycles.[9] In 2014, it was reported that deep sea bottom feeders absorb carbon dioxide by eating creatures such as jellyfish and cephalopods, allowing the gas to be contained at the sea floor rather than be recycled back into the atmosphere.[10]

Other bottom feeders graze on living plants, as is the case in some sea urchin species.[11] Lastly, some bottom feeders are carnivorous and specialize in either hunting other bottom feeders and benthic animals, or scavenging from sunken bodies.[12]

Some carnivorous bottom feeders use the floor of their environment to ambush their prey.[13] One common method is the animal using body movements to cover itself with sand or sediment, then attempting to catch unsuspecting prey with fast strikes.[14] This tactic is used by many species of flatfish.[15] Other animals burrow into the bottom and hunt with most of the body remaining buried, as in the case of oceanic bobbit worms.[16]

Physiology

In fish, most bottom feeders exhibit a flat ventral region so as to more easily rest their body on the substrate.[17] The exception may be the flatfish, which are laterally depressed but lie on their sides.[18] Also, many exhibit what is termed an “inferior” mouth, which means that the mouth is pointed downwards; this is beneficial as their food is often going to be below them in the substrate.[19] Those bottom feeders with upward-pointing mouths, such as stargazers, tend to seize swimming prey.[20] Some flatfish such as halibut actually have a “migrating” eye that moves to the upward-facing side of the fish as it ages.[21]

Aquarium care

In the aquarium, bottom feeders are popular as it is perceived that they will clean the algae that grows in the tank. Generally, they are only useful for consuming the extra (fresh) food left by overfed or clumsy livestock; the added biomass of additional organisms means that the aquarium will likely be more dirty.[22] Some specialized bottom feeders are more specifically sold as “algae eaters” to increase the amount of free oxygen and aesthetic appeal of a tank.[23]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7] Dash, Pragyan & Kashyap, Dipanjan & Mandal, Sagar. (2012). Marine snow: Its formation and significance in fisheries and aquaculture.

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11] Norderhaug, Kjell & Christie, H.. (2009). Sea urchin grazing and kelp re-vegetation in the NE Atlantic. Marine Biology Research - MAR BIOL RES. 5. 515-528. 10.1080/17451000902932985.

[12] Mare, M. (1942). A study of a marine benthic community with special reference to the micro-organisms. _Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom,_ _25_(3), 517-554. doi:10.1017/S0025315400055132

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20] Kishimoto, Hirokazu & Last, Peter & Fujii, Eiichi & Gomon, Martin. (1988). Revision of a deep-sea stargazer genus Pleuroscopus. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology. 35. 150-158. 10.1007/BF02905400.

[21]

[22]

[23] Pedersen, Ole. (2011). The algal-free planted aquarium - grazing control. The Aquatic Gardener. 24. 32-39.

title: Bottom feeder

question: What does the text say about bottom feeder's feeding strategies?

answer: Some bottom feeders feed on dead organic material since those materials drift down towards the floor. The strategy of feeding on the sea bottom also helps contain carbon dioxide at the sea floor. Other carnivorous bottom feeders use the floor to ambush their unsuspecting prey by covering itself with bottom sediment and striking fast.


text:
Vineyards around Volnay. Most of the vineyards in the image, those to the left of the village and immediately beyond it, are classified Premier Cru. In the far distance are some village-level vineyards.
Volnay wine is produced in the commune of Volnay in Côte de Beaune of Burgundy, and in some vineyards in the commune of Meursault. The Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) Volnay is only used for red wine with pinot noir as the main grape variety. There are no Grand Cru vineyards within Volnay, but several highly regarded Premier Cru vineyards. The AOC was created in 1937.
In 2008, there were  of vineyard surface was in production for Volnay wine at village and Premier Cru level, and 7,733 hectoliter of wine was produced, corresponding to just over 1 million bottles.
The AOC regulations also allow up to 15% total of chardonnay, pinot blanc and pinot gris as accessory grapes in the red wines, but this not very often practiced. The allowed base yield is 40 hectoliter per hectare. The grapes must reach a maturity of at least 10.5% potential alcohol for village-level wine, and 11.0% for Premier Cru wine.
The style of Volnay wine is typically light and aromatic, and elegant rather than powerful, with considerably less tannin than the Pommard wines from the neighboring village.
 Premiers Crus
Three bottles of Volnay Premier Cru. The left-hand bottle is a named cuvée which does not mention a specific vineyard, the bottle in the middle is from the Champans vineyard, and the right-hand bottle is from Volnay-Santenots, a vineyard in the commune of Meursault.
There are 29 climats within the Volnay AOC that are classified as Premier Cru vineyards, which stretch in a wide band through the commune, located mid-slope and on both sides of the D973 road. Their wines are designated Volnay Premier Cru + vineyard name, or may be labelled just Volnay Premier Cru, in which case it is possible to blend wine from several Premier Cru vineyards within the AOC.
In 2007,  of the total Volnay vineyard surface consisted of Premier Cru vineyards. The annual production of Premier Cru wine, as a five-year average, is 4,756 hectoliter.
The climats classified as Premiers Crus, and located within Volnay, are:
* Pitures-Dessus
* Lassolle
* Clos des Ducs
* Le Village
* Clos de la Cave des Ducs
* Clos de l’Audignac
* Clos de la Chapelle
* Clos du Château des Ducs
* Clos de la Rougeotte
* Frémiets-Clos de la Rougeotte
* Clos de la Barre
* Clos de la Bousse d’Or
* Les Brouillards
* Mitans
* Les Angles
* Frémiets
* La Gigotte
* Les Lurets
* Robardelle
*Les Grand Champs
* Carelle sous la Chapelle
* Le Ronceret
* Champans
* Les Caillerets
* Les Caillerets-Clos des 60 Ouvrées
* En Chevret
* Taille Pieds
* Clos du Verseuil
* Clos des Chênes
 Volnay-Santenots
A bottle of Volnay-Santenots from the Hospices de Beaune.
Five climats in the north of Meursault, just across the border from the commune of Volnay, together make up Santenots, which also fall within the Volnay AOC and therefore can use the designation Volnay-Santenots for red wine. All are classified as Premier Cru. While it is allowed to produce both white and red Meursault wine, white wine production dominates, and Volnay is more famous than Meursault for red wine, so from a marketing point of view, the designation Volnay-Santenots is logical to use for the red wines. The "Santenots" part is not mandatory; wines from these vineyards may simply be called Volnay or Volnay Premier Cru.

title: Volnay wine

question: Summarize the Volnay AOC's wine regulations.

answer: The AOC allows up to 15% of chardonnay, pinot blanc and pinot gris as accessory grapes in red wines, which are mainly pinot noir. They also allow a base yield of 40 hectoliters per hectare. The AOC also has regulations regarding grape maturity and potential alcohol levels. These regulations differ between village-level and Premier Cru wine.

question: Summarize the Premier Cru vineyards of the Volnay AOC.

answer: Most of the vineyards within the AOC are Premier Cru, though none are Grand Cru. There are 29 climats within the Volnay AOC that are Premier Cru. Their wines are either bottled as Volnay Premier Cru + vineyard name, or Volnay Premier Cru. In the latter case, it is possible to blend wine from several Premier Cru vineyards within the Volnay AOC. There are five climats just across the border from Volnay that are also Premier Cru that can use the designation Volnay-Santenots for their wine.

question: Summarize the wine production of the Volnay AOC.

answer: Volnay is famous for its red wines which are mainly pinot noir. Volnay wine tends to be light an aromatic, with less tannin than Pommard wines from the neighboring village. In 2008 just over 1 million bottles of wine was produced at the village and Premier Cru level. As of 2007 the annual production of Premier Cru wine was 4,756 hectoliters, taken as a five year average.


text: A young traveller set his steed to gallop forth from the hamlet, harboring a freight of crumblecakes, humble pie, and a flask of mutton chowder. When dusk drew nigh, the hungry lad, carrying nary but a burlap sack and an unsheathed cutlass, happened upon a thicket of mangrove saplings. Said the saplings of the boy, "We pray thee not cleave thine halberd unto our husks! In our stead, decorticate thither elderberry bush upon the summit of of snowfall!" The lad, hoisting himself upon the mare with haste, fared north through the billows of the river and west betwixt the fallow canyons of bower. Walking apace atop a windy mount whereon grew the elderberry bush, grave were his spirits and empty were his intestines. Upon the icy mount the hardy-minded wayfarer stood aground, and seeking to instill a throng of sorrows upon the mighty elderberry bush with his famed falchion, the lad steadied his hand-spear above breast of the mighty shrub. On the brink of sword-swing, he yielded ere he bequeath the vegetable's final request. Thus spake the elderberry bush, "O, through vault of heaven bestirred by such sin-flecked beings, ride we anon! O, along woodland haunts and heirlooms of girded bairns, seekest thine most loyal liegemen! Hurry, my kinsman, to the midwives of brinewolves thou so-est despair. A face so fettered with bloodlust, so deftly dopping among the turbid winds of time, shalt not behest of the hellish fiend. Spurn thine baleful wields unto the rift of linden and begone!" Thus spake the elderberry bush.

title: The Fable of the Elderberry and the Wayfarer

question: Where is the young traveler going?

answer: Information not found.

question: What food did he bring with him on the trip?

answer: A freight of crumble cakes, humble pie, and a flask of mutton chowder.

question: How did the main character travel?

answer: He was riding a horse.

question: Who asked the traveler to cut the elderberry bush?

answer: A mangrove sapling

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: The traveler was galloping when a mangrove sapling asked him to cut the elderberry bush.


text:
“Have you ever seen a pig's tit before?” The farmer whispered in my ear. His hot breath filling my canal as his coarse mustache tickled my cartilage. I leaned away from him, unsure of how to respond. I had not seen a pig's tit before and if it was anything like a woman's, I'm sure it would be a treat. But I had just met this man and his question unsettled me. I wasn't sure I wanted to look at any kind of tit with him, let alone a pig's. I proceeded cautiously.

“Are they big?” I asked him.

“The biggest.” he responded.

“And the nipples?”

“Exquisite.”

This was not going to be easy. We were locked in a mental chess match and it was clear the man was practiced. He was proud of his pig's tits and if they were anything like how he described, it would be hard to blame him. Even so, it was getting late. I simply didn't have time for this.

“Listen Mister, I'm sure your pig's tits are great, and I'd really like to look at them sometime, but I should be going.”

He looked at me with vacant eyes, his mouth slightly ajar. I was beginning to think I had deeply offended him when suddenly, he leaned close, and unleashed his secret weapon.

“I'll. let. you. milk. them.” He said slowly, making sure I drank in every word.

He can't be serious, I thought. No self-respecting farmer would let a perfect stranger touch his animals' tits, not to mention a pig's. Yet there he was, staring at me in anticipation, panting silently, eyes wet with excitement. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little excited too. These weren't just any ordinary tits, they were milkin' tits. The kind of tits you only hear about in stories.

As I wondered if he'd let me taste the milk, I felt a hand grip me firmly by the arm and yank me backwards.

“It's time to go Billy, didn't you hear me calling you?” Ms. Palanski began pulling me towards the school bus.

“But Ms. Palanski, the farmer said-”

“What farmer?”

I turned back only to see an empty field. The farmer had vanished.

I stayed silent while she escorted me onto the bus, my fellow classmates staring as I searched for an open seat. They have no idea, I thought. No idea how close I came to milking some tits.

The bus roared to life and slowly started down the farm's dirt driveway. I watched the barn get smaller and smaller through a cloud of dust, wondering if I'd ever come back. Wondering if the tits would still be there when I did.

title: Pig Tit

question: Why is the farmer talking about pig tits?

answer: This information is not present in the story.

question: Where does the story take place?

answer: The story takes place in the narrator's imagination while they ride the bus.

question: What is the narrator doing when he is approached by the farmer?

answer: They are riding a bus.

question: Where does the farmer go?

answer: He vanishes, as if he was never real.

question: What is the intended effect of the story?

answer: As a surreal story, the purpose is to creep the audience out.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator imagines being approached by a farmer who talks about his pigs' tits. He offers to let the narrator touch and milk them. The narrator is tempted. Then the reverie is interrupted by the teacher when she grabs the narrator's shoulder. The narrator watches the farm disappear into the distance.


text:
Another short story that I just wrote. It is still a **rough draft** ,still also in Notepad please help me get things looking better please. I might want to put these together someday for her. If she ever wanted them. High hopes I know... This sucks guys and gals. I am just writing off my heart and mind so it wont be perfect. I think I might put a sub reddit up for them if people enjoy them enough. Or maybe just for myself.

Here you go:

"The Loneliness of an Open Room"

I sit still and listen sometimes to everything around me. Thoughts shut out, cold feelings all

around me. The room used to be warm, loving, welcoming. Not anymore, things just sit and feel cold.

The love has gone, the anger radiates. It knows the pain I feel and just lives off it. I wish

things could be different, but they can not be. It hurts.

Some mornings I used to make breakfast for two, hash browns, two eggs each, two pieces of toast

each and a nice glass of craneberry juice with half water. She did not like it strong. So I would

get everything ready for us to relax together on the couch producing warmth from the love we

shared. But now I sit in the dark. Just trying to get the room to speak, but it does not speak to

me knowing I am at fault and punishing me for the things I have done. I would just watch her

watching the tv. She would look at me and ask, what? But I never had a response because I would get

lost just looking into the eyes of the love I lost. I still do not know what I was thinking while I

looked into her eyes, our future? Where we might live someday? Maybe it was if our future child

together might look as beatuiful as her? I do not know now. Now I look and I see nothing but dark.

It hurts.

Evenings would come and she would come home from work and I would be like a dog, sitting and

waiting for her arrival. Sometimes we would make dinner together before I had to go to work sharing

the kitchen, me getting in the way because I wanted to try and help. Being told to go get a show

ready to watch. I knew she loved me. I knew I had everything. I would have something on that we

both would like to watch ready as she brought something she put together in for us to eat. I just

wanted her to sit and relax so I would offer to get drinks, napkins, seconds. But she would just

want me to sit with her as well. So I did. I was happy, we were happy. But why am I the way I am...

I still do not know and I need to find out so I can try and get things back. It hurts.

Now I get home from work and I just go to sleep so I do not have to think about breakfast without

her in the open room that use to be filled. Walking right be it not looking into the dark. By the

time I wake it has been eight or nine hours and I have to get something together for lunch. We

never really has lunch together so it does not really hurt to do it myself. Something small and

easy to make, a small sandwich maybe or just crackers and cheese, while I just sit in silence,

looking at the floor. Alone. That will be my meal till midnight at work, just thinking most of the

night on how I need to change. I do not want to eat lunch at work but I know if I do not I will get

tired faster. So I force down the food just thinking of her. Thinking if she is still on her phone

on Facebook just re-reading comments she has already seen. But most of all I think of her safe and

asleep. I wish I could be with her in slumber, but I can not be. It hurts.

The room is every room in the house. It is the loneliness of an open room that makes me not want to

be here anymore. Things need to change and be better so I can feel the warmth of her touch and the

beauty of her eyes.

Edit: co-worker said I need to fix a lot. So pardon my poor grammar.

title: The loneliness of an Open Room (Rough Draft)

question: What does the text say about how the narrator remembers his girlfriend?

answer: He remembers the routine parts of a day he'd spend with her. Breakfast and dinner are especially vivid because they always ate together. Sometimes he wonders about whether she's thinking of him. He hopes she's safe and asleep on nights.

question: What does the story say about unrequited love?


text:
WWYK-Nocomus Columbus
	There’s a game I used to play, by myself, in my head of course.  I made up an acronym for it, the game that is.  I call it WWYK which is short for “who would you kill.”   I played WWYK a lot.  Obviously, I didn’t tell anyone about it.  You can’t really talk to people about something like WWYK.  It can get you in big trouble.
	“Hey Johnnie!”
	“Yes, Benedict?”
	“Would you like to play a game?”
	“Sure, what game?”
	“WWYK.”
	“Never heard of it.  How do I play?”
	“It’s a name game.  I’ll go first,” Benedict says, “I’d like to kill that one guy, you know that fat, woman-beating, son-of-a bitch, you know, the asshole that murdered the kid that was minding his own business.  You know, that black kid that was walking home with a bag of Skittles in his pocket until that small-dick piece of shit George walked over and shot him.
	“Umm,” Johnnie says, “I think I’ll pass on this game.  Oh and you should seek help.”
	Next thing you know, Benedict’s fired, or worse, in jail.  So I kept quiet about it.  I never really chose to play WWYK.  I didn’t snag it off of a clearance shelf at Wal-Mart.  I never sat down in my cubicle at work and thought gee, I think I’d like to play WWYK right now.  Actually I’m not even sure WWYK could really be considered a game.  It’s more like some sort of sick fantasy I guess.  That’s how it started anyway; as just a fantasy, until the fantasies became more and more frequent.  I mean it got to the point where I was having them on a daily basis.  I asked my doctor for something to clear my head, something to zone me out.  I didn’t tell him about WWYK of course.  Like I said, you can get in trouble talking about that kind of thing, even with your doctor.  So yeah, the doc put me on some stuff, and it worked!  I’m telling you it worked like a charm.  WWYK-gone!  The drugs kicked in after four to six weeks, and then Bam!  I actually started doing work at work.  I listened when my wife spoke.  My kids annoyed me way less.  But something happened.  Don’t ask me because I don’t fucking know; all I’m saying is something happened, something in my head, like my mind just said fuck it.
	I got real depressed, and bored, and every morning as I crossed the Metro link tracks on my way into work, I’d get this urge to just toss my man-bag and sit my ass down on the track.  I couldn’t do it though.  Instead I’d just walk really slow across the track, tease myself a little bit, but I knew, deep down, when push came to shove, if I actually thought I was going to get hit by that train you better believe I’d fucking jump out of the way.  Because even though life sucks, it’s still better than being dead.  Although I can’t say that for sure.
	So anyway, back to what I was saying.  I’m a selfish creature.  I mean if making other people slightly happier by making one’s self completely fucking miserable, means you’re a selfish person, then yeah, call me selfish.  Right?  I stopped the medicine.  Sorry big pharma, you can zombify someone else thank you very much.  After about a week the WWYK fantasies started coming back.  Thank god, something to get me out of this mundane shit that’s supposedly the American dream.  One night, or day, or afternoon- I don’t know for sure, I forget things all the time- I decided to take WWYK a step further.  I made a promise to myself.  I’ve made a lot of promises in life; I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve made those piss drunk, puke smelling, toilet-bowl promises to god.  They’d be like this- dear god, (hurl!), if you can just make my head stop spinning, I swear I’ll never drink again (hurl!).  I’ve broken that promise so many times it’s laughable.  But I’m still here.  I haven’t been struck down by lighting.  So I don’t believe in god.  Actually, I do believe in god, just not when I’m sober.  Anyway, so at some inexact moment, I made a promise, a promise to no longer play the WWYK fantasy.  It was time to make WWYK real.  It was time to live it.

title: WWYK (short story)

question: Summarize how the narrator's relationship with WWYK changes over the course of the story.

answer: The narrator would frequently play a game called "who would you kill" (WWYK), but only in their head because they believed it could get them into trouble. They began to play it so frequently that it was a problem, and they got psychiatric medication for it. The lack of WWYK fantasies helped his performance at work and improved his relationship with his family. However after some time, the narrator stops taking the medication and the WWYK fantasies come back. He pledges to end the fantasy, and make WWYK a thing he does in real life.

question: What does the story say about the negatives of WWYK?

answer: The narrator plays a game called "who would you kill" (WWYK). The negatives of it were that playing it out loud could result in big trouble, like being fired or going to jail. It proved to be even more negative because the narrator wasn't able to stop fantasizing about it. It harmed his work performance and relationship with his family. Another negative is that the game was very persistent when the narrator went off meds, and it eventually grew to be a thing the narrator wanted to actualize in real life.

question: What does the story say about selfishness?

answer: The narrator believes they're selfish. They know being on medication makes people around them slightly happier, but they make them miserable. They stop the medication, and the harmful WWYK fantasies come back. This confirms they may be selfish.

question: Summarize how the narrator's wife feels about his fantasies.


text:
A referendum on banning politicians and civil servants from having bank accounts or companies based in tax havens was held in Ecuador on 19 February 2017, alongside general elections.[1] The proposal was approved by voters, giving officials one year to transfer their assets or be removed from their posts.[2]

The question on the ballot was “Do you agree that, for those holding a popularly elected office or for public servants, there should be a prohibition on holding assets or capital, of any nature, in tax havens?”[3]

Classification of tax havens

In preparation for the referendum, the Ecuadorian Internal Revenue Service issued a resolution outlining the criteria for a jurisdiction to be considered a tax haven, establishing two categories: Preferential tax regimes, and low tax jurisdictions.[4] A preferential tax regime was classed as a jurisdiction whose effective tax rate is below 60% in relation to the Ecuadorian corporate income tax (CIT) rate of 13.2%.[5] A low tax jurisdiction was classed as having an effective tax rate below 60% in relation to the Ecuadorian CIT of 13.2% and no substantial economic activity.[6] The IRS may remove a country from their list of tax havens if it reforms its tax policy, if it enforces a treaty to avoid double taxation, including a special information exchange clause, or if its laws do not include banking confidentiality, securities or other regulations that prohibit sharing information with the Ecuadorian IRS.[7]

Along with this definition, the Ecuadorian IRS published a list of countries which currently meet the definition of a tax haven under their law.[8] This list included 28 jurisdictions in the Americas, 19 in Oceania, 16 in Europe, 13 in Asia, 9 in Africa and two other island territories.

  ---------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------- ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ----------------------
  AFRICA           AMERICAS                               ASIA                       EUROPE                                   OCEANIA                          OTHER

  -   Angola       -   American Samoa                     -   Bahrain                -   Albania                              -   Christmas Island             -   Ascension Island
  -   Cape Verde   -   Anguilla                           -   Brunei Darussalam      -   Andorra                              -   Cook Islands                 -   Tristan da Cunha
  -   Djibouti     -   Antigua and Barbuda                -   Jordan                 -   Azores Islands (Portugal)            -   French Polynesia
  -   Liberia      -   Aruba                              -   Kuwait                 -   Campione d'Italia (Italy)            -   Guam
  -   Mauritius    -   Bahamas                            -   Labuan (Malaysia)      -   Channel Islands                      -   Kiribati
  -   Nigeria      -   Barbados                           -   Macau                  -   Cyprus                               -   Marshall Islands
  -   Seychelles   -   Belize                             -   Maldives               -   Gibraltar                            -   Nauru
  -   Swaziland    -   Bermuda                            -   Myanmar                -   Isle of Man                          -   Niue
  -   Tunisia      -   Bonaire                            -   Oman                   -   Liechtenstein                        -   Norfolk Island (Australia)
                   -   British Virgin Islands             -   Qeshm (Iran)           -   Luxembourg                           -   Palau
                   -   Cayman Islands                     -   Sri Lanka              -   Madeira (Portugal)                   -   Pitcairn Islands
                   -   Cocos Island (Costa Rica)          -   United Arab Emirates   -   Malta                                -   Samoa
                   -   Curacao                            -   Yemen                  -   Monaco                               -   Solomon Islands
                   -   Dominica                                                      -   Ostrava Free Zone (Czech Republic)   -   Tokelau
                   -   Greenland                                                     -   San Marino                           -   Tonga
                   -   Grenada                                                       -   Svalbard (Norway)                    -   Tuvalu
                   -   Guyana                                                        -   Trieste (Italy)                      -   Vanuatu
                   -   Montserrat
                   -   Panama
                   -   Puerto Rico
                   -   Saint Kitts and Nevis
                   -   Saint Pierre and Miquelon
                   -   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
                   -   Saint Martin
                   -   Saint Helena
                   -   Santa Lucia
                   -   Trinidad and Tobago
                   -   Turks and Caicos Islands
                   -   United States Virgin Islands
  ---------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------- ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ----------------------

Campaign

Outgoing President Rafael Correa stated that he would campaign in favour of the proposal, having previously stated that tax havens were one of the biggest issues for democracy.[9]

Results

  Choice                      Votes        %
  --------------------------- ------------ -------
  Yes                         5,030,579    55.12
  No                          4,096,559    44.88
  Invalid/blank votes         1,336,496    –
  TOTAL                       10,472,302   100
  Registered voters/turnout   12,816,698   81.64
  Source: CNE

Notes

[1] Referendum on tax havens will be conducted in the elections of 2017 Ecuador Times, 22 November 2016

[2] Ecuador Revives Campaign for UN Tax Body IPS News, 27 January 2017

[3] Republic of Ecuador: Referendum IFES

[4] Ecuadorian IRS issues resolution with new list of tax haven jurisdictions EY, 9 February 2015

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9] President Correa: tax havens are one of the biggest problems in our democracies Andes, 29 July 2016

title: 2017 Ecuadorian tax haven referendum

question: When was the referendum held?

answer: February 19, 2017

question: What was the outcome of the referendum?

answer: The proposal was approved, giving officials one year to transfer their assets or be removed from office

question: How did the Ecuadorian IRS define a preferential tax regime?

answer: A jurisdiction whose effective tax rate is below 60% in relation to the Ecuadorian corporate income tax rate of 13.2%

question: How did the outgoing president feel about the proposal?

answer: He supported the proposal

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: The 2017 Ecuadorian tax haven referendum was a referendum held on February 19, 2017 which proposed to ban politicians and civil servants from having bank accounts or companies in tax havens. Voters approved the proposal, giving officials one year to transfer their assets or be removed from office.