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Solving global environmental problems requires a major change of values. As relates to environmental education, worldview, ethics and spiritual issues are important elements. But how are environmental issues included in such school subjects that especially discuss values and ethics? In this article I examine 24 Finnish religious education and ethics textbooks to analyze, to what extent environmental issues are integrated and discussed in them. I conclude that there is confusion about what environmental education can be in societal school subjects. The environmental texts in textbooks do not always draw on the specific content of the societal subject in question but repeat content from the natural sciences. Therefore, I suggest contexts and perspectives for discussing environmental issues that would comport with these subjects and supplement existing environmental education at school.
Enligt FN:s mål om hållbar utveckling (Agenda 2030) betonas bland annat främjandet av en kultur av fred och icke-våld. Utvecklingen i finländska styrdokument för förskolan visar däremot att temat fred har nedtonats. Denna studie vill genom ämnesdidaktisk samverkan mellan bildkonst och religion synliggöra 6-åringars förståelse av fred, deras sätt att samtala om och i teckningar gestalta ett liv i fred med varandra. Den kvalitativa temaanalysen visade att barn i denna pilotstudie förstår fred som tillstånd, fred som relationer, fred som förhandlingar och fred som möte och handling. Samtal kring barnens teckningar och de visuella konkretiseringarna stöder tolkningen. Pilotstudien har genom pedagogiska och ämnesdidaktiska perspektiv på lärande för fred uppmärksammat vikten av att barns lärandeprocesser om fred, icke-våld och globalt medborgaskap behöver beakta kravet på tid, rum, språk och struktur för interaktion, tolkning, fördjupning och handling.
This qualitative study is done with the purpose of creating understanding for the theoretical democratic content in educational materials for Civic Education courses 1a1 and 1b during GY-11, so teachers create an intentional approach when using educational materials in their democratic education. This was motivated as important considering the reduction in obligatory Civic Education for the vocational programs. The study was conducted using a hermeneutic qualitative reading method where the educational materials, more specifically two series with one book for each course, was read with purpose of creating understanding for the democratic content according to ideal democratic models: deliberative democracy, participatory democracy and electoral democracy. A text voice analysis was also conducted using Bakhtins theory of dialogic and monologue text that contributed to the general result concerning the democratic content. The results show that the electoral democracy ideal is dominant in all educational materials, there is hence no striking difference between the democratic content in 1a1 and 1b educational materials. Though the study shows intention in the 1a1 educational materials towards a more participatory democracy ideal, the electoral ideal are still clearly dominant.
School access and staying in school is one the most important issue for the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan particularly for girls. According to the Ministry of Education (MoE), nearly seven million children have access to school in Afghanistan, 37 per cent of whom are girls.
Students drop out of schools before completing their education cycle, to know who drops out and to what extent; this study describes some of factors that influence students to drop out of school in grade 4 and grade 6.
To find out some factors that may influence girls and boys to drop out of schools in grade 4 and 6 six, structured interviews were conducted in 10 schools – 5 in rural area and 5 in urban area of Maidan Wardak province of Afghanistan. Data was collected by random sample from 32 girls and 48 boys who left schools. 20 teachers and 20 parents were also interviewed to know what their opinions are on drop out of students.
After data collection, several factors were found to cause students drop out of schools; some of the most prominent causes were Poverty, lack of security, long distance to school and socio- culture factors.
By looking to the current educational situation of the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan, there is a need of research almost in all areas particularly in the area of girls' education.
Pursuing Post-Conflict Reconciliation in a History Classroom. Theoretical and Practical Considerations
In a post-conflict society, history education may prolong the conflict on a symbolical level by fostering biased narratives of guilt and victimhood. To avoid this it is necessary to open and maintain a reconciling dialogue in history classrooms. The theory of deliberative communication, launched by Jürgen Habermas, has been applied to pedagogy by Tomas Englund. Deliberative pedagogical discourse implies an equal distribution of power in classroom interaction. Predetermined standpoints are avoided and majority decisions not pursued. Participants are expected to listen to each other instead of rushing to express their individual opinion. Deliberative discussion is founded on the ethos of social inclusion. Three concrete cases illustrate the chances of dialogical history education in post-conflict societies: Finland after the civil war of 1918, South Africa after the end of apartheid, and Bosnia-Hercegovina after the war of 1992–1995. South Africa provides the only example of a prompt post-conflict introduction of dialogical history education. The Afrikaner narrative of heroism and victimhood was after 1994 reserved a place in the new post-colonial history curriculum at the side of the narratives of apartheid and the Black resistance. The viability of dialogical history education has been monitored by attitude surveys. South African surveys reveal that dialogue does not inevitably rule out an identification with the traditional identity narratives. In Bosnia-Herzegovina only little has been achieved in introducing a dialogue in history education but there are signs of students, parents and teachers aspiring to inclusive lessons. The reconciliatory potential imbedded in the multiperspectival nature of the historical knowledge is available in history education.
A post-conflict society tends to get locked in a history war. As the practice of history in its broad sense is a moral craft, representations of guilt and victimhood prevail in social memory. The representations are often bolstered by mythical references, wherefore deconstruction of myths is expected from history education for the purposes of post-conflict reconciliation. This article deals with the post-conflict uses of history in Finland, South Africa and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The three cases constitute examples of a class war, a race conflict and an ethno-religious armed clash. The memory politics and history curricula differ between the cases. Their comparison indicates, how far an imposition of one ´truth´, a dialogue of two ´truths´ and segregation of different memory communities are feasible strategies of post-conflict history education. The article suggests that history lessons can be an asset instead of a liability in the pursuit of reconciliation.
This study aims at investigating and comparing state attitudes towards confession in policies regarding meetings with religious elements at schools. Two state policies have been examined through a text analysis inspired by Critical Hermeneutics – the 2012 guidelines, currently in use, and a historic guideline from 1967. Results show that two different stands are emerging regarding confessional elements. In the 1967 policy, pupils are encouraged to meet and tolerate different religious perspectives including non-religious attitudes in order to develop a democratic consciousness. Half a century later, the 2012 policy consider confession as problematic and something from which pupils ought to be protected. The study ends with a discussion of how recent regulations align with the ambition of training pupils in the encounter with religious others in the multicultural society Sweden and Europe presently are part of. Perhaps, something could be learned from previous state regulations – that encountering otherness does not necessary lead students to question their own beliefs, rather it may expand their horizon of cultural competence.
This study aims at investigating how the image of the religion of Christianity is constructed in Swedish textbooks for the Upper Secondary School (gymnasieskolan), with a specific focus on the perspective from which the text considers the religion and how this perspective creates possibilities for and limitations of pupils' identification. Introductions of Christianity through text and images were selected from six current textbooks; five printed and one digital. The method used for analysis was ideological text criticism with a combination of Linguistic and Theological perspectives. Three aspects were highlighted in the analysis: interest making strategies, demands of previous knowledge, and subject perspectives. The study showed that the examined texts did not express Christianity as the cultural norm as considered in previous research. Instead there seemed to be an ambivalence in the perspective from which the textbooks considered the religion. Demands of previous knowledge as well as subject positions varied highly both within and between textbooks.
This article presents a study of how the purpose of school in general and the civic education in particular has been told at the formal curricula. The used material are governmental documents about the compulsory school. The method used emanates from the concept of historical consciousness. It is however the concept´s narrative and temporal content that is the starting point, when David Carr´s theory of lived stories is used to understand temporal perceptions behind the formal curricula. Two time periods with different purposes for the school and the civic education, emanating from different temporal orientations, have been found, namely 1969-1980 and 1994-2011. During the first time period the temporal orientation was rather short in time, and the future vision clear. The purpose of school and civic education were told to prepare the citizens to cooperate in labour intensive workingplaces. Cooperation and willingness to defer to the collective, were the most important abilities. During the second time period the temporal orientation becomes more prolonged, a distant past was used to meet an uncertain future. The purpose of school and civic education were now told to foster a western moral cultural heritage together with a new creative entrepreneurial spirit.
Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka historielärares förståelse för begreppet historiebruk och hur de undervisar om historiebruk i kursen Historia 1b i gymnasieskolan. Historiebruk infördes i kurs- och ämnesplanen i gymnasiereformen 2011 och blev då en av tre övergripande mål som historieämnet bygger på, tillsammans med kunskap om historiskt innehåll och förmågan att tänka historiskt genom historisk metod. Denna uppsats undersöker det nya övergripande målet, historiebruk, ur ett lärarperspektiv.
För att undersöka detta genomfördes en kvalitativ intervjustudie där fyra historielärare intervjuades. Resultatet analyserades framförallt genom en typologi av Klas-Göran Karlsson. Analysen synliggjorde att lärare har olika förståelse om vad historiebruk är och det kan behövas kompetensutveckling så historielärare förstår hur de kan uppfylla kursplanens mål. Resultaten visade även att undervisning om historiebruk, eller undervisning som inkluderar ett historiebruksperspektiv, sker på många olika sätt. Synliggörandet av undervisningsexempel kan ses som inspiration till lärare för de många ingångar som undervisning om historiebruk kan ha.
Religion is a vast phenomenon, consequently the core elements in formal religious education are equally difficult to limit. Even though a national curriculum narrows down the scope of content to a certain extent, it is apparent how RE incorporates a whole range of methods and approaches. This article departs from another perspective, namely the fact that school is not exclusively responsible for religious education and formation. It raises the question of whether and how formal teaching from the perspective of teachers in school and vicars in church contributes to the specific pedagogical task of competence and authoritativeness (Bildung). One of the results of an action research project: 'Educating (Bildung) towards religious competence' is a fourfold model for developing analytical approaches to RE didactics based on the concept of competence/authoritativeness. With this model it is possible to connect knowledge of RE with general pedagogical and didactic reflection in the context of both school and church. In the article, we offer reflections on possible ways to strengthen the connection between RE research and teaching. The aim is to connect practical teaching experience with theoretical reflection, both knowledge of didactics and religious content knowledge. In recent times the ideal of formation for RE has understandably focused on competences for diversity and inter-religious understanding. The four-fold model for religious competence is our attempt to widen the scope and perspective of formation in schools.
Denna uppsats behandlar hur tre läroböcker i litteraturhistoria arbetar med det centrala innehållet i kursplanerna för Svenska 1 och Svenska 2 samt hur de förhåller sig till de principer som läromedelsforskaren Tom Wikman anser utgöra ett bra läromedel. Med utgångspunkt i dessa principer har två huvudområden behandlats. Studien undersöker dels hur läromedlet arbetar med att aktivera elever, dels hur läromedlet förhåller sig till det faktum att elever har olika förkunskaper. Jag har avgränsat mig till läromedel som är utgivna efter 2011 eftersom de är baserade på den aktuella läroplanen GY11. I studien har läromedlen Hej litteraturen! (2013), Svenska impulser 2 (2012) samt Svenska timmar litteraturen (2012) analyserats. I min analys har många likheter och skillnader synliggjorts mellan läromedlen. Alla läromedel sätter läsaren i fokus genom det personliga, och ofta direkta, tilltalet till läsaren. Den underhållande aspekten av läromedlet visar sig i alla läromedel. Varje lärobok har sina fördelar. Svenska impulser 2 har många bilder och illustrationer, Svenska timmar litteraturen har en tydlig författarröst och i Hej litteraturen! finns många texter av berättande karaktär. I Svenska timmar litteraturen och Svenska impulser 2 finns fördjupningsavsnitt och uppgifter av olika svårighetsgrad, vilket gör den tillgänglig för elever med olika förkunskaper. Denna nivåskillnad finns däremot inte i Hej litteraturen! Elevernas förkunskaper tas ändå i beaktande genom att alla läromedel relaterar historiska fenomen till mer vardagliga fenomen som elever troligtvis har kännedom om. Alla ger en kronologisk presentation av litteraturhistorien och behandlar i huvudsak det centrala innehållet för svenskkurserna. Det saknas dock avsnitt om nutida författarskap och verk i Svenska timmar litteratur och i Hej litteraturen! Dansk och norsk litteratur på originalspråk, som ingår i kursen svenska 2, lyser med sin frånvaro i alla läroböcker. I huvudsak är det den västerländska kulturen som är i fokus, men det finns några verk och författarskap från Asien och Afrika som presenteras även de är få.
I gymnasieskolans kursplaner för ämnet fysik framhålls det undersökande arbetssättet genom att betona att eleverna ska ges förutsättningar att utveckla förmågan att söka svar på frågor, planera, genomföra, tolka och redovisa experiment. Eleverna ska dessutom ges möjligheter att använda sina kunskaper i fysik för att kommunicera, argumentera och presentera slutsatser. Utgångspunkten i den här avhandlingen är att laborationsmomentet skapar en speciell diskurs där eleverna blir aktörer och läraren iträder rollen som observatör. I en sådan miljö skapas förutsättningar för att eleverna på ett naturligt sätt får möjlighet att prata och diskutera fysik, utifrån sina egna förutsättningar. Syftet med denna avhandling är att genom praktikbaserade studier tydliggöra hur fysiklaborationens utformning påverkar elevernas kommunikation och vidare hur eleverna använder språket vid laborationstillfället för att skapa förståelse. Detta bidrar till debatten om fysiklaborationens effektivitet, sett både ur ett undervisnings- och inlärningsperspektiv. Resultaten visar att olika laborationsformer är uppbyggda av liknande aktiviteter, men varierar i tid som ägnas åt de olika aktiviteterna. Aktiviteterna i sin tur skapar samtal av olika karaktär. Olika samtalsformer används för skilda syften. Ett analytiskt ramverk har skapats för att ingående kunna studera hur och vad eleverna talar om både på en lingvistisk och kognitiv nivå.
The present paper reports on a case study that examined the effectiveness of a practical activity in physics, at a Swedish upper secondary school. A teacher and 19 students participated in the study. The students were observed while working with the topic motion, in a computer based laboratory environment (CBL). This case study is part of an ongoing longitudinal study, about the role of laboratory work with different degrees of freedom. The analysis of interviews, written reports and posttest, shows that the practical work was effective based on Millar's model. Even so, the students had difficulties expressing what they learned from the activity. This study emphasizes the complexity of planning and conducting laboratory work that is effective, from several different aspects.
In this case study, we explore students' communication during practical work in physics at an upper secondary school in Sweden from a sociocultural perspective. We investigate the relation between the interaction and content of students' communication and outcomes of their actions, with the purpose of finding new knowledge for informing teachers in their choice of instruction. We make discourse analysis of how students interact but also of what students are discussing in terms of underlying content at a linguistic and cognitive level. Twenty students divided into five groups were video recorded while performing four practical tasks at different stations during laboratory work about motion. An analytical framework was developed and applied for one group to three parts of the transcripts in which three different talk-types occurred. Discursive, content, action and purposive moves in the process were identified for each talk-type at both linguistic and cognitive levels. These moves represent information concerning what the teacher actually assigns students to do, and how students make meaning of the activities. Through these different communicative moves, students experience how laboratory work can enhance their competence to collaborate in a scientific environment with complex practical and theoretical questions to solve quickly. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Vid Karlstads universitet har vi sedan hösten 2017 infört energiteater som en aktivitet i fysikkurser på samtliga grund- och ämneslärarutbildningar. Energiteater kan betraktas som en kompletterande undervisnings- och inlärningsform, där studenter förväntas att i mindre grupper tillsammans diskutera och sedan gestalta förekommande energiformer och energiomvandlingar i olika vardagsscenarier. I den här studien har videoinspelningar av en grupps gestaltningar kring två skilda scenarier analyserats i syfte att klargöra på vilket sätt energiteater stimulerar studenternas kommunikation och interaktion. Scenarierna involverarde energiomvandlingar som sker då en studsboll studsar mot marken, respektive de energiomvandlingar som sker i ett snurrande änglaspel. Resultatet visar att energiteater i stor utsträckning stimulerar utforskande samtal mellan studenterna, vilket kan betraktas somen meningsskapande dialog. Aktivitetens karaktär bidrar till att alla deltagare blir aktiva och förtrogna med förekommande energiformer och energiomvandlingar. Planerandet och genomförandet av gestaltningen skapar spontana kvalitativa diskussioner kring flödet av energi mellan olika system, som på ett naturligt sätt motiverar studenterna att vidareutveckla själva gestaltningen. Vi menar att energiteater kan stärka lärarstudenternas egen förståelse av energi, men att den även kan erbjuda en möjlig alternativ undervisningsansats för lärarstudenterna i sin blivande roll som lärare i skolan.
In the present study, a teaching sequence concerning electromagnetic induction was introduced to 24 primary teacher students divided into six groups, in order to provide the students with deeper knowledge about how kinetic energy can be transformed into electricity. The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent these teacher students, developed an understanding of electromagnetic induction, without using a mathematical language. The teaching sequence consisted of a group discussion, a practical exercise, computer simulations and a final didactical group reflection. We used a context rich problem, where students were asked to describe how a wind power plant works. During these discussions, the students realised that some kind of generator was needed, but they did not understand its function and concluded that they as teachers only needed to know that it gives rise to an energy transformation. The practical exercise contributed to a deeper understanding of the observed phenomenon, even though students' ability to structure their inquiry varied a lot. The computer simulations turned out to be a valuable complement to the practical exercise. The practical experiment, together with the simulation, helped the students to understand how electrical current is produced. Based on our analysis, we can see how the different parts of the teaching activity, together but in different ways, help the students to develop their understanding and view of electromagnetic induction. The students' final group reflections show how important it is to have good physics content knowledge to be able to value and take advantage of the children's curiosity.
Eftersom det inte finns något universellt rätt eller fel sätt att hantera jordens resurser så håller etiska frågor på att bli en allt viktigare del av diskussionen kring våra gemensamma tillgångar. Det övergripande syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka och beskriva gymnasieungdomars etiska tankar kring människans förhållande till naturen. För analysen används två perspektiv som står i konflikt med varandra, nämligen de miljöetiska centrismerna och ekofeminismen, som kritiserar centrismtanken.
Sex gymnasieungdomar har intervjuats i grupper om tre angående sin syn på människans förhållande till naturen. Resultatet pekar på att elevernas miljöetik är mestadels antropocentrisk, med vissa inslag av djurrättsbiocentrism, och att de ser omsorg som ett moraliskt motiv.
I diskussionen problematiseras resultatet i förhållande till de två synsätten och kopplingar görs till den svenska samhällsdebatten, media och tecknad film. Slutsatsen är att omsorgsdimensionen bör stärkas i naturkunskapsundervisningen eftersom den idag är en outnyttjad resurs i fråga om att skapa engagemang för miljöfrågorna, men att man samtidigt inte får glömma bort att fakta utgör en viktig del av välgrundade beslut.
Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka vilken roll de estetiska lärprocesserna i historisk verkstad kan spela för att utveckla elevers historiemedvetande och historiska empati. Detta har undersökts genom att intervjua sex lärare som varit på Stavgards järnålderslägerskola med sina klasser. I undersökningen konstateras att historiska verkstäder är uppskattade bland lärare och elever och att det prioriteras i undervisningen trots att det innebär en stor ekonomisk ansträngning för skolan. De estetiska lärprocesserna representeras på Stavgard genom praktiskt arbete, berättelser och i viss mån drama. Vistelsen på Stavgard skapar en gemensam referensram för lärare och klass, utifrån vilken historiemedvetande byggs under kommande historieundervisning. På lägerskolan lever eleverna järnåldersliv under två dagar och undersökningen visar att eleverna genom att själv få uppleva järnåldersmänniskornas umbäranden utvecklar historisk empati. Utöver detta beskrivs också hur för- och efterarbetet i samband med Stavgardsvistelsen utformas av de olika lärarna.
This study investigates upper secondary school students' opinions on working with a computer simulation in microbiology. During one lesson, the students got to work with the simulation and answer questions about what was happening in the simulation. Collection of data was made through observation, surveys and interviews. The result shows an overall positive attitude among the students towards working with simulations in biology class. Despite this, using simulations as a learning tool can not be recommended without reservation. It is of importance that the simulation to be used is carefully selected according to learning goals and that students are supported in their interpretation of the simulation. The most important support is the teacher explaining what the simulation is showing.
The purpose of this article is to investigate learning goals, content, working methods and examinations in the vocational didactic sections of the vocational teacher education programme. In a case study, a total of forty study guides from one vocational teacher education programme have been analysed in order to answer what central content is highlighted, how the goals are examined, and what course literature is used in vocational subject didactics in a selected vocational teacher education programme at a Swedish university. The aim of the analysis, based on Hiim's (2010) model, is to find both clearly expressed and more latent elements. The results answer questions on what the subject didactics contain in three different courses. Vocational teacher educators plan their teaching with regard to the goals of vocational subject didactics, but the interpretation of goals varies among different educators and within different vocational subjects. The result also gives some indications of what could be general differences and similarities within and between different didactics teacher groups and/or vocational subjects. The analysis of the study guides also shows that educational background and the form of employment of educators seem to be of importance.
This study is about Afghan teachers teaching strategies and ways for dealing with large sized classes and to see the connection between class size and students final exam result in two different grades. The total pupation of students is 739. Out of this 565 participants of the study are in overcrowded classes. The rest of them were from small sized classes. The data is analyzed by comparing the tests of two different sized classes, it means students' achievement in large and small classes were compared. The research is also on finding about various teaching methods used by teachers in overcrowded classes and to see the effect of class size on learners achievement. The result of the study shows that teaching in an overcrowded classes is a challenging problem for teachers. The most serious issue in large sized classes is physical space limitation, teaching materials, text books and few furniture. They spend much of the time in arrangement of their classes, becauseof this teachers have less time for giving the actual lesson. It is difficult to motivate learners in large sized classes.
The data indicates that the performance of the students in large sized classes is very low compared to the smaller classes. The study need more investigation about using effective strategies for dealing with work in large classes.
This is a study that wants to investigate whether music can contribute to linguistic development through interviews. In the literature review, researchers and educators clarify the connection between music and languages. The study is based on the sociocultural perspective. The six educators interviewed for the study suggest that music has a contributing effect on children's language development. Furthermore, it is explained that music brings joy and fellowship that becomes an interaction between the children in preschool. By interaction and learning of other people's previous experiences, the children can develop their language. In the discussion it appears that the music gathering for children gives a sense of safety, which makes them comfortable to express feelings and thoughts, which in turn leads them to communicate and interact with others to develop their language.
Assessment is very important in teaching and learning and should be integral part of instructions in classrooms. It is believed that assessment; learning and teaching have close relationships with each other, which improve teachers teaching and students learning. As such teachers should pay attention to assessment, without assessment it is impossible for teacher to find weak and strong points of learning of the students as well as of their own teaching. Teachers should use different kinds of assessment like: diagnostic assessment, formative assessment and summative assessment in their teaching.
This study was conducted in two provinces in Southern part of Afghanistan: Zabul and Kandahar. For this study two data collections tools were used, one was teachers' questionnaire for 80 teachers in lower secondary schools in science subjects. The questionnaire is consist of 32 questions, in questionnaire it was asked from the teachers about assessments, next was classroom observation form which is consist of 22 questions, both of them were answered but some answers were misunderstood by the teachers that they provide wrong answers. Out of 80 teachers I observed 12 teachers' teaching. The data which was collected by classroom observation was poor and most teachers' activities related to one option of the classroom observation.
School geography is often quite different from academic geography and there are good reasons for that, as school is preparing young people to be able to lead the life they value instead of just training them to learn specific subject contents. In some countries school geography is understood as being mainly a social science. Nonetheless physical geography often plays an important part in textbooks and in everyday teaching in these countries. This presentation will examine how physical geography topics are justified in specialist teacher magazines in Germany. Are they justified by simply pointing at the value of the academic knowledge itself? Are they justified by claiming students' special interest in these topics? Or are they justified by showing the value of physical geography in promoting social aims such as sustainable development, freedom or equality?
This exploratory article is based on a researchproject which runs 2011-2013 that examines how global processes are expressedin educational policies and pedagogical texts in Lebanon, Sweden and Turkey byfocusing on school subjects like civics, history, geography, and religion. In thistext we discuss the development ofeducation in Lebanon, the development of history and civics after the civilwar, and on opinions about these school subjects in order to make a preliminaryanalysis of how the future Lebanese citizen is depicted in policies,curricula, and textbooks. Lebanon is interesting because of its uniqueeducation system in which foreign international institutions rather thannational ones have the task of preparing individuals for a globalized world.Material for the study were collected from a sample of curricula used inprivate and public or national schools for history and civics/citizenshipeducation in grade 8 as well as interviews and conference proceedings andconversations with activists, teachers and principals. We also reviewedfindings of relevant empirical studies conducted in Lebanon. Our datacollection was guided by three questions: how is the right citizen depicted inthe Lebanese material? How is the relationship between national and globalperspectives treated in guidance documents and pedagogical texts? What civicrights and obligations are given attention and what individuals are included/excluded? Our preliminary findings imply that there is no consensus on theimportance of teaching a unified history and civics book and subjects inLebanon. Other findings indicate that private and international schools have agreater impact than national schools on preparing Lebanese students as futurecitizens.
As mentioned the discussion about gender equality in education is often concerned with how gender roles are promoted and encouraged through teaching and learning materials in schools, where textbooks are one of the most important tools, so the objective by this study is to look and discuss the gender issue in term of equality in Dari textbooks of grades 4 to 6. The intention is to find out to what extent gender equality - the issue that has been very much in policy documents - has been reflected in the textbooks.
The method used to achieve the objectives was to look at the Dari language textbooks for grades 4 to 6 during various political regimes in Afghanistan in order to trace back the changes and progress. Textbooks of different periods have been scrutinized to find out the feature and nature of gender biases. The textbooks were selected from different political regimes in Afghanistan in five past decades.
Although gender equality and equity have been addressed in the policy documents of the Ministry of Education, but as found by this study, gender biases still to a large extent are there in textbooks e.g. in one of the new textbooks out of 136 pages only one page was talking about gender equality. Also disparity in terms of role between male and female has been found to some extent in the entire textbook for Dari language.
A considerable difference between male and female depiction regarding frequency of names, occupations/roles outside home and in public sphere have been observed in the textbooks developed and used during all the political periods, but some improvement noticed in the new textbooks developed based on Curriculum Framework 2003. Only 5 percent of all names used in texts and examples were feminine in pre-Soviet period, while the depiction has increased during Soviet era i.e. after 1978. In Taliban and Mujahedeen period, the female depiction has experienced a backlash but after Taliban period there had been an improvement, although still far from full materialization of gender equality in different aspects. Interestingly, it was observed that on the cover pages of all of the new Dari languages textbooks for these grades pictures of girls classes where female teacher stands in front of them, are printed, which may indicate that at least an awareness exist. On the other hand, little improvement has been made in the content of the textbooks.
This paper investigates how textbook design may influence students' visual attention to graphics, photos and text in current geography textbooks. Eye tracking, a visual method of data collection and analysis, was utilised to precisely monitor students' eye movements while observing geography textbook spreads. In an exploratory study utilising random sampling, the eye movements of 20 students (secondary school students 15–17 years of age and university students 20–24 years of age) were recorded. The research entities were double-page spreads of current German geography textbooks covering an identical topic, taken from five separate textbooks. A two-stage test was developed. Each participant was given the task of first looking at the entire textbook spread to determine what was being explained on the pages. In the second stage, participants solved one of the tasks from the exercise section. Overall, each participant studied five different textbook spreads and completed five set tasks. After the eye tracking study, each participant completed a questionnaire. The results may verify textbook design as one crucial factor for successful knowledge acquisition from textbooks. Based on the eye tracking documentation, learning-related challenges posed by images and complex image-text structures in textbooks are elucidated and related to educational psychology insights and findings from visual communication and textbook analysis.
This is a quantitative study which explores the use of Lesson Plans (LPs) in Afghan primary schools. The main objectives of this study were to find out the implementation method of LPs, reasons of applying LPs and teachers' views on LPs.
This study was conducted in three districts (Shekh Ali, Siah Gerd and Shinwari) and Charikar city of Parwan Province and data was collected by questionnaires filled in by 200 language and math teachers (100 male and 100 female).
The main findings of the research show that all teachers regardless of sex, education level and teaching experiences claimed that they used LPs in their teaching. A majority of teachers, regardless of sex, education background and years of teaching experience elaborated LPs of their own and did not use the format instructed by Teacher Training Colleges (TTC). Most teachers prepared their LPs one day before and at home. To consider the importance of LP stages the findings show that the majority of both male and female teachers responded to all stages. Through a short glance on reasons of applying LPs we see that 50% of both male and female teachers used LPs to achieve the goal. More experienced teachers didn't use LPs because of having enough experiences. Important parts of LPs include motivation of students and student activities. The study found that teachers often motivated their students by telling a story or poem. Group work was a common activity.
One implication of this study is that the TTC should revise their teaching on LPs since hardly any teacher seems to use these formats.
The overall aim of this study is to analyse history teachers' understanding of the school subject history. The aim have also been to uncover what factors the history teachers say have affected their understanding of the school subject. Based on survey and interview methods, the question that this study deals with is: in the light of which general understanding of the school subject history, do the teachers make didactic choices on a daily basis?
The first theme is biographical. The teachers' life-history is taken into consideration and several factors in the teachers' background and the school environment have been identified. It also seems as if the teachers' understanding of the school subject goes from an elementary and searching approach to one that is more complex and convinced.
The second theme is a more structural approach. The results shows three major orientations among the teachers' general understanding namely, educational (bildung) orientation, critical orientation and identity orientation. Even though a main orientation can be seen among the teachers, an important result is also that the orientation is overall complex.
At the most general level some patterns can be seen. First the connection between the teachers' biography and their general understanding of the school subject. In the understanding of the school subject, it is also notable that teachers relate in different ways to history as science, history as identity and history from an ideological viewpoint. It is also possible to note some signs of change in the school subject history that follows a lager historiographical context.
During the last decade there has been an increasing interest in the Swedish research field concerning assessment in schools, especially with focus on the school subject's history and social science. The aim of this article is therefore to explore what perspectives that have being used by researchers in the Swedish field of history and social science subject didactic, when investigating teacher's assessment practice. The method used in the article is a text analysis of 13 Swedish thesis and articles that deal with teacher's assessment practice within the Swedish field of history and social science subject didactics between 2009 and 2019. The result shows that there an overwhelming part of the studies deals with examine teacher's assessment practice. Another dominant trend is to explain the variations in teacher's assessment practice. Overall the result shows that there is a lack of studies which begin with teachers subject specific experiences and also a lack of studies with a policy critical approach. To try to capture the complexity in assessment we therefore argue in the light of the result that there is a need of both a theoretical and cumulative broadening of the Swedish research field concerning teacher's assessment with focus on the school subject's history and social science.
I skolans styrdokument betonas vikten av att elever ges möjlighet att utveckla sitt kritiska tänkande. Detta är inte minst angeläget i dessa tider av tillgång till sociala medier och spridande av så kallade alternativa fakta. Trots sin positiva klang finns det dock ingen etablerad konsensus kring vad kritiskt tänkande egentligen är. Inom ramen för ett skolutvecklingsprojekt i samverkan mellan Uppsala universitet och Tiundaskolan, en 4-9-skola i Uppsala, utforskar vi hur kritiskt tänkande kan uttryckas i undervisningspraktiken i ämnena svenska, historia, matematik och fysik. Som exempel har vi i fysikämnet designat, genomfört och analyserat en undervisningssekvens utifrån kärnkraft som tema, där elever i årskurs 9 gavs möjlighet att anamma olika åsikter och argument i frågan genom rollspel. Eleverna genomförde en debatt, där de representerade olika parter: boende nära Forsmark, miljöorganisationen Grön Fred, och företag som utvecklar kärnkraft, respektive vindkraft. Före och efter debatten skrev eleverna individuella texter där de argumenterade för sin personliga åsikt i frågan: Ska kärnkraften bevaras som den är, läggas ner, eller utvecklas? Vi fann att de genom debatten fick goda möjligheter att utveckla och visa kunskaper motsvarande flera kunskapskrav i kursplanen i fysik som annars sällan berörs i fysikklassrummet, såsom, för betyg A: "Eleven kan samtala om och diskutera frågor som rör energi, teknik, miljö och samhälle och skiljer då fakta från värderingar och formulerar ställningstaganden med välutvecklade motiveringar samt beskriver några tänkbara konsekvenser." Som exempel på naturvetenskapligt förankrade argument utnyttjade eleverna genererad energi per utsläppt mängd koldioxid som ett mått vid jämförelser mellan kärnkraft och andra energikällor. I de individuella texterna höll de flesta eleverna fast vid sina åsikter från innan de arbetade med temat även efteråt, men nu med fler och mer nyanserade argument.
The central role of education for sustainable development (SD) has been emphasized since the 1990s. SD involves the three areas of environment, economy and society, with a focus on the relationships between environmental protection and human development. Education for sustainable development (ESD) takes a holistic view on the environmental, economic and social dimensions of SD and aims to empower students to engage in the democratic development of society in a more sustainable direction. Policy-level and research community discussions have addressed the ways in which ESD has been implemented internationally. This study focuses on upper secondary students, and investigates their views on sustainability and the ways they make decisions related to SD. The study aims to address the interdisciplinary and multidimensional content embraced in the concept of SD and the development of competences often associated with ESD. A survey investigating students' (n=638) sustainability consciousness (SC) and their decision-making in a number of SD related contexts was conducted in 15 Swedish upper secondary schools. The results show that students attending schools with an ESD profile are characterized by stronger SC than students attending regular schools; however the difference is small and mostly related to the economic dimension of SD. Furthermore, students who prioritize environmental decisions in SD dilemmas show stronger SC than students giving priority to economic reasons. When environmental, economic and social dimensions are introduced separately, social aspects are given the highest priority by the students. In contrast, environmental aspects are up-graded when the dimensions are introduced in an integrated manner. However, different dimensions are prioritized in different contexts. The study provides empirical support for using multiple contexts and including both harmonious and conflict-based perspectives on SD in education. It also contributes knowledge to the discussion about the implementation of ESD in Sweden in terms of outcomes among students.
The work in this thesis centers on upper secondary students' views of the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development and their interconnectedness. The focus has been to study the diversity of students' views in various contexts. The research uses as its starting point the aims of education for sustainable development to facilitate a holistic understanding among students, which implies the consideration of environmental, social and economic perspectives when dealing with issues of sustainability.
A mixed methods and iterative approach was applied in this research. Two data sets were collected: one larger-scale data set from 638 students in grade 12 (aged 18-19) on science and social science programs, and one smaller set involving 18 students of similar age and programs. In the first data collection exercise, the students responded to questionnaires investigating their sustainability consciousness and decision-making within different everyday contexts. The aim of the second data collection exercise was to study, in-depth, patterns of students' views on the interconnectedness of sustainability dimensions.
The results reveal a diversity of student views that specifically relate to the economic dimension in sustainable development. The economic dimension is perceived differently in their sustainability consciousness, and when they encounter the economic dimension in various sustainability contexts. Moreover, there are four distinctly different beliefs among students about the interconnectedness of the economy and sustainable development. The four beliefs are identified as the un-differentiating positive, the nuanced ambivalent, the two-way convinced and the critical, differing in their arguments about the interconnectedness of environmental, social and economic dimensions. The findings indicate the potential resource students' views and different contexts can represent in teaching that aims at perspective-shifting and learning about the complexity and dynamic nature of sustainability issues.


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The EZ Doe Bleat Plus was developed after careful observation of young deer in distress. The call appeals to the natural instincts in parent animals to respond to a fawn's cries of distress. This call can actually bring both does and bucks close as it plays on a doe's parental instinct and a buck's curiosity.
The "threadlock" barrel design threads into the shortened end piece for ease of disassembly. The wedge, reed and sound board are also changed, so the reed "locks" into place. This allows the call to be reassembled just as it came from the factory - every time. This compact call produces bleats and bawls of young deer and does. It calls all deer and predators. Great for early season hunting.

subset: commoncrawl


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Soul Butter Station vol. 2 (Vonnie Lopez/World's Best)
In a matter of milliseconds I was teleported into a corridor of "all the right feels." Apparently, I wasn't the only one with this reaction. Judge, Faith Hill, stated, "This is what it feels like to have the Holy Spirit in a place,"


text:
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The Constitution Corrupted
You turn on the daily news, and there it is again—another federal court has found against Trump, ruling that an executive order is unconstitutional. What does "unconstitutional" mean in this Brave New World where judges legislate, Congress prosecutes, and the President is forced to spend more time as a legal defendant than in protecting the nation? As an attorney who has argued constitutional law in federal court, I'm amazed at how judges and the public at large perceive the U.S. Constitution. Barely taught in law schools today, the actual Constitution is a different animal from what most people apparently think it is.
First, a little philosophy—also not taught. The U.S. Constitution is an expression of Natural Right. Conceived as a check on the power of government to deny the inalienable natural rights of the People, it was divided into three branches, and into federal versus state jurisdictions, to prevent the U.S. government from exercising unlimited power over the states or over the People. Contrary to today's popular notion, the Constitution is a limiting document. It grants the U.S. government only specific enumerated rights—those powers which are not enumerated in the Constitution the U.S. does not possess, but, under the 9th and 10th Amendments, are instead reserved to the States or to the People. The Constitution is a "social compact" in the sense of John Locke, the foremost Enlightenment philosopher, and is a contract between the People and the U.S. government and among the several states, and impliedly reserves the right of the People to abolish the Constitution, or revolt, if the U.S. government exceeds its authority and no longer protects the People's inalienable natural rights. Among these rights, subject to certain obvious, long-recognized, common-sense limits, are freedom of political speech, political press, political assembly, redress of political grievances, the right to bear arms (in order to secure the aforementioned rights), to be secure in their persons and houses and effects, right to trial by jury in criminal matters, right to due process, right to criminal defense counsel, and freedom from excessive fines and cruel & unusual punishments—and any and all other rights which the Constitution does not explicitly grant to the U.S. government.
In the 20th century, the Democratic Party brought a sea-change to this conception of the Constitution as a limiting document. The Interstate Commerce Clause (Art I, Sec 8), which originally applied only to "exchange of goods" across state lines, was expanded in the 1890s to end national monopolies under the rationale of protecting the "natural laws of trade." In 1937 under FDR, in National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) v Jones, SCOTUS abandoned a literal interpretation and traditional notions of protecting natural rights by moving to a balancing test for the Commerce Clause, and soon thereafter applied a "rational basis" test to allow legislatures to expand governmental power under this clause. Under U.S. v Darby, SCOTUS declared that the Negative Commerce Clause rendered the 10th Amendment a "truism," and law schools have since taught that the 10th Amendment is void and has no meaning. (NCC is the notion that U.S. jurisdiction on Interstate Commerce always preempts State jurisdiction, even in the absence of positive federal law.)
In 1942, FDR's Democrat-dominated SCOTUS in Wickard v Filburn ruled in effect that even a backyard vegetable garden owned by a recluse and intended only for personal use, since it had mere potential to affect interstate commerce, however slight, was subject to regulation by the U.S. under the Interstate Commerce Clause, permanently delegating unlimited power to the federal government to regulate virtually anything anywhere, in theory even a corpse in its grave because its failure to breathe was negatively affecting interstate commerce. Contrary to popular perception, the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s were largely implemented under the ICC (and not the 14th A), precisely because SCOTUS had so completely infused the ICC with unlimited federal power since the 1930s.
Similarly, in the Contracts Clause (Art I, Sec 10), SCOTUS has abandoned reading this clause as protecting inalienable rights from the overreach of states in favor of interpreting it as a minor principle of little relevance. Though there is no explicit right to property or right to contract in the Constitution, it clearly presumes these exist, otherwise the "no [State] Impairing the Obligation of Contracts" clause would make no sense at all, and the very purpose of having a written Constitution, which is itself a written contract, would be pointless. Contrary to the unlimited context that SCOTUS applied when interpreting the ICC, in Home Building Loan v Blaisdell (1934), SCOTUS ruled that real estate leases were not contracts at all and could be voided virtually at will by States for purposes of rent control, and also directly by the U.S. if said real estate leases were located in Washington DC, even though impairing contracts is nowhere an enumerated power of the U.S., and even though the Contracts Clause specifically bars States from impairment, and therefore the power to decide rents under the Constitution is necessarily reserved to the People, presumably the parties to the lease, in the 9th and 10th Amendments…and despite the fact that this clear governmental impairment of contracts surely must disrupt interstate commerce more than the non-breathing of a buried corpse, or the non-sale of a sprig of wheat.
In Blaisdell, SCOTUS also condoned a State voiding future contracts before being entered into, thus bringing into question whether the Contracts Clause might be as void and meaningless in SCOTUS' view as the 10th Amendment. This, even though if any "penumbra" exists in the Constitution at all, it must assuredly be for the protection of inalienable rights to property and for parties who enter into enforceable contracts. But the new emphasis on a flexible so-called "living Constitution" to meet modern needs, as defined exclusively by SCOTUS without resort to the legal process prescribed by the Constitution for new Amendments, was part of the new Democratic era under FDR, and this "living Constitution" approach remains the dominant philosophy for constitutional interpretation today in SCOTUS and in most American law schools. Like the 10th Amendment, since 1940, law schools have taught that the Contracts Clause is also entirely devoid of meaning.
The 14th Amendment, however, is where SCOTUS has truly exceeded itself. In the 19th century Slaughterhouse and Cruikshank cases, SCOTUS had already dismissed the Privileges or Immunities (POI) clause as merely a redundancy to the Privileges and Immunities (P&I) clause of Art IV, leaving only the Due Process and Equal Protection and "born or naturalized" clauses as having any meaning. In perhaps the most famous SCOTUS case of all time, Lochner v New York (1905), SCOTUS for the first time found a substantive right in the 14th Amendment Due Process clause, ruling that New York bakers had a substantive "right to contract" with their employees for overtime, and thus ruled unconstitutional that part of the New York bakery "health & safety" regulation which had prohibited employees working overtime. In subsequent cases SCOTUS showed that the new order of the day was to regard the "right of contract" as a principle subject to "balancing," i.e., no longer an inalienable human right derived from natural law, and even though the Civil War had in part been fought over the South's violation of African-Americans' "natural right of contract" for their labor, thus undermining one of the chief rationales for prosecuting the Civil War, for outlawing slavery, and for passing the 14th Amendment itself.
In Nebbia v N.Y. (1934), under pressure by FDR during the Depression, SCOTUS ruled that "the 14th Amendment does not prohibit [any] governmental regulation of the economy for the public welfare…all we need to know is whether the State regulation is…reasonable." Lochner and Nebbia opened the door to finding new "Substantive Due Process" rights such as this under the 14th Amendment. This was soon matched by U.S. v Carolene Products (1937) where the new Democrat-dominated FDR SCOTUS ruled that the 14th Amendment Equal Protection clause, formerly virtually ignored and regarded by all prior SCOTUS's as applying only to African-Americans, was suddenly discovered to apply to any "discrete and insular minority," with a brand-new "rational basis" test for any governmental regulation or law that purported to protect such minorities, and which has since broadened from the Amish, which would seemingly be a "rational" view faithful to the genuine text of the 14th Amendment, to encompass nine-tenths of the world's population, including multiple failed states whose residents—as President Trump recognizes—have no more affection for or familiarity with American history, institutions, or values than the Man in the Moon. This last sleight of hand was accomplished by choosing to read literally "All persons born or naturalized in the U.S….are citizens…" while ignoring "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," which, if a modicum of the creativity that SCOTUS has imputed into the Due Process clause since 1937 were applied, should result in canceling tourism birthright citizenship outright and rendering the latter as void as the 10th Amendment and the Contracts Clause.
Thus, after Lochner & Nebbia, the 14th Amendment Due Process clause has become a repository of innumerable "fundamental rights" with SCOTUS discovering ethereal new ones with every decade, including Roe v Wade, matched by a parallel series of new "rights" being discovered with regularity in the Equal Protection clause, including Title IX, with all of these new "rights" subject to "rational basis balancing" exclusively by an unelected SCOTUS, and relying for enforcement on the new unlimited federal power derived from the ICC. Moreover, the Democrat-dominated SCOTUS decided that the 14th Amendment also requires that the Bill of Rights, even though these were only exceptions from federal power, must apply equally to the States, restricting State governments as much as the U.S. government, and even though the States under the actual text of the Constitution are supposed to retain their sovereignty under the 9th and 10th Amendments, and even though the Constitution does not provide SCOTUS with jurisdiction in un-enumerated matters, and even though the 14th Amendment says nothing whatsoever about this completely fictional "Incorporation Doctrine," but strongly implies against it. Justices like Clarence Thomas have sought to resurrect the 14th Amendment POI clause to cut off this never-ending flow of new federal fundamental rights, enforced by unlimited federal power, being discovered by so-called "Progressives" in the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses, which has brought us Roe v Wade and Department of Justice bathroom inspections, but Thomas' efforts have been unsuccessful.
The new order of "balancing" was adopted by Democrat-appointed Justices in SCOTUS precisely in order to transmute the Constitution from a government-limiting document into a government-empowering document. This "living Constitution" transmutation not only expands governmental power, but necessarily erases the very purpose in having a written Constitution, which was to permanently protect the People's inalienable rights from the disease of unlimited government in plain language and to write it down so that everyone could understand and remember its purpose. Ever since Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.'s famous "liberal" (read "statist") dissents in the early 20th century, in Lochner and similar cases, the Democrats have made it clear that they do not believe in Natural Law or inalienable rights of the People, in which ranks one must include democratic elections since the right to vote, being part of freedom of speech, is also a Natural Human Right. On the contrary, the prevailing philosophy among the Democrats in SCOTUS ever since FDR's era, has been that rights are whatever the government says they are. Period. In other words, the so-called "liberals" on SCOTUS perceive the Constitution as merely a tool of state, to be interpreted in whatever way is conducive to ever-greater governmental power funded by ever-greater levels of confiscatory taxation, and regardless of the outcome of "outmoded" democratic elections, even to canceling elections or executive orders whenever a Democrat federal judge personally dislikes the outcome, by simply labeling it "racist" or "sexist" or in some other way "unconstitutional".
The current debate therefore between so-called "Liberals" and "Conservatives" (I prefer "the Regressive Left" v "Advocates of a de-politicized civil society" since few old-style "liberals" remain) is not about the meaning of any specific clause, or method of interpretation, and certainly not about Trump's personality—as a MSM-manipulated public like to assert—but over the purpose of the Constitution as a whole, and the proper role of government. By redefining "liberty" as only a revocable grant by government ("the liberty safeguarded is liberty in a social organization which requires the protection of law," Chief Justice Hughes in West Coast Hotel v Parrish, 1937, a leader in the Progressive movement and also ironically a registered Republican, and often the swing vote in the 1930s), the Democrats on SCOTUS have defined rights as nothing more than temporary grants by the state, and the Constitution itself is viewed as entirely dispensable, to be consulted only when convenient or when Democrats wish to pose as "defenders of the Constitution," a curious phenomenon that manifests itself mostly in four-year cycles during election years.
There is no Merger Clause in the Constitution, which means that the common law rule of using extrinsic evidence to clarify the intent of the parties in analyzing the meaning of ambiguous language applies to interpreting the Constitution. This means we can look to the Declaration of Independence, to the Federalist papers, and to any other contemporary documents to understand the Constitution and its Amendments, but not to modern perceptions. This is Originalism, otherwise known as meeting-of-the-minds of the original parties to the contract, a principle of interpretation that is rooted in centuries of Anglo-American jurisprudence.
The Leftists, OTOH, by denying the relevance of Original Intent of the Framers, emphasize searching for meaning in ever smaller snippets of text stripped of all context, history, and culture, making the Constitution ever more obscure and amenable to ascribing their own agenda and the Democrats' esoteric doctrines which they have implanted in the 14th Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection clauses precisely because they are obscure. Just as attacks on the Framers are intended as indirect attacks on the legitimacy of the Constitution as a whole, which the Leftists (the "Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse": Ginsburg, Kagan, Sotomayor, and, as I like to add, Breyer) regard as a nuisance that is best jettisoned. In the Brave New World of the Democratic anti-Constitutionalists and un-Constitutionalists on SCOTUS, implementing fundamental rights which are newly discovered in mirage-like "penumbras" pieced together and inferred from various snippets of Constitutional text is more important than preserving the separation of powers provided explicitly by the Constitution or the limitation of U.S. powers inherent in its divided structure.
The Democrats play with fire. Truth and Natural Law were the bedrock on which the Constitution was built, and on which our jury system and electoral system rest. Given the Leftist view that there is no Truth, only perception, that rights are only what the state grants and can be inverted or denied whenever convenient to the ruling elite, including the right to vote, which they now see as a revocable privilege, it should be no surprise that the new Democrat view is that speech itself is an "act," and can be punished as a "hate crime" whenever SCOTUS perceives the speech to be unpleasant, a development that is entirely without precedent in a millennium of Anglo-American law, and entirely at odds with the American philosophical tradition of Natural Right, which is now termed Human Rights. Just as it should be no surprise that such so-called "Progressives" have no issue with forging close alliances with dictatorships and theocracies since the latter share the "Progressive view" that "rights" are only tools of the state and always revocable at the whim of governing elites.
Given that the Deep State, with its ABC agencies and MSM mouthpieces, have essentially no limit on their power, or institutional restraint on their behavior, what's clear is that SCOTUS has become a "super-legislature" and that virtually all decisions of importance formerly exercised by Congress are being made by Dictators in Black Robes, who are unelected and ideologically driven, and occupy their positions of unlimited power for life, even if senile, crippled, and blind. That part of the Constitution, SCOTUS insists on reading literally… If there is no Truth, then communication cannot be an estimation of Truth, but is an act in itself, therefore there can be no Right to Free Speech in the Leftist philosophical view, and as a corollary, the Right to Vote, which is a version of speech, is also meaningless and can be ignored by the U.S. as it pleases—which SCOTUS has done repeatedly by invalidating state elections for decades whenever it has decided that the results might violate their penumbra-discovered fundamental right mirages. And given that the Constitution is "the Supreme Law of the Land," dispensing with the written Constitution undermines the idea of Law itself, transmuting Law into Process, merely a pliable instrument of state to be imputed with new invisible doctrines as SCOTUS pleases, as made clear in Nebbia, Blaisdell, and NLRB. When Law becomes Process, "reeducation" camps are not far behind.
So what the public at large believes to be the Constitution is actually just the 14th Amendment with its sacralized esoteric interpretations and its globalist "all shall be made equal" mantras, and the Incorporation Doctrine, which is of more than questionable provenance. These are being used to render the Constitution into a dispensable instrument of state by a coterie of quasi-religious fanatical Justices, and by SCOTUS' long history of declaring that some explicit clauses in the Constitution have no meaning while other obscure clauses are mystically filled with invisible significance shows this clearly. If the Regressive Left continues to have its way in the Federal Judiciary, the very notion of preserving a written Constitution, free speech, and voting will continue to be under assault and may disappear into the dustbin of history, and the Sovereignty of the People become as quaint and ignored as States' Rights are today—rights which were also at one time regarded just as securely protected by the Constitution, but which now must wage law-fare just to decide who uses which bathroom. If the Deep State and the Democrats prevail in their efforts to use the Federal Judiciary to neutralize electoral decisions, voting will become a matter of quotas, with "free speech" set-asides defined by ethnicity, with SCOTUS invalidating subsequent national or state elections as "racist" (read "heretical") violations of the catechistic mantras of the 14th Amendment Equal Protection and Due Process clauses whenever the Leftists happen to disapprove of the results. But, if so, we will at least be "diverse" and we won't have a President who tells dirty jokes.
Given that the current crop of unelected politicians-for-life on SCOTUS is profoundly unrepresentative of the People, including not a single non-Catholic Christian (Gorsuch was raised Catholic), although a majority of U.S. citizens are and always have been Protestant Christian, if SCOTUS continues to neutralize elections, I propose popular election of Supreme Court Justices by region. There is a precedent. Prior to 1913, U.S. senators were "chosen by the Legislature thereof" (Art I, Sec. 3). The 17th Amendment changed this to popular election by their respective states. Given that SCOTUS is now a super-legislature (recall the zombie-like pounding of disappointed citizens on SCOTUS' door over the appointment of Kavanaugh), I see no reason why Supreme Court Justice appointments should not also be decided by popular election by region. Requiring agenda-driven Justices to campaign for their office like any other professional politician can only reduce the bias on SCOTUS and restore Sovereignty of the People. Review by Glenn Lazar Roberts for SiriusReviews.com.


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The last worldbuilding panel I attended at Boskone 47 was "Legal Systems in Worldbuilding." Panelists were Leah Cypress, Glenn Grant, Kate Nepveu and Ken Schneyer.
As the program description says, "many authors assume systems of rules or authority that are only superficially different from models in our own past or present."
The panelists ask, why do we care about legal worldbuilding? The world is one of the characters, so we want it to make sense. Legal systems govern the transfer of property and power, lineage and inheritance, conflict resolution and criminal proceedings, and even attempt sometimes to change the shape of society.
However, a legal system that is completely consistent and makes perfect sense is unrealistic. Legal systems evolve over time and change constantly as society changes. And of course, the laws are usually years (even centuries sometimes) behind the changes in society.
One panelist advised all worldbuilders to read an intro level college anthropology textbook, because it shows how all the pieces of a society fit together, including the legal system.
A few real world legal systems cited as examples:
Medieval Icelandic law, in which shame was a powerful social tool.
The American legal system, in which civil lawsuits have escalated to being a hugely traumatic experience draining everyone's wealth and energy, especially for the defendants. (Imagine a different kind of conflict resolution where a trial is not such an ordeal).
The intersection of Frankish and Roman law in the late Roman empire; a Frank was subject to the laws of whatever tribe he belonged to, while a Roman was subject to the laws of whichever province he was in at the time. (No doubt this led to a lot of legal maneuvering as people tried to get their case into the jurisdiction most likely to favor them!)
The Odyssey, written at the transition between matrilineal and patrilineal inheritance; the whole epic is an argument against matrilineal succession (whoever marries the Queen, Penelope, gets to be king).
In other real-world legal systems, there are whole different classes of rights that we don't use. (an example from my own reading: today we have a bipolar view of slavery: slave/freeman, and nothing in between. But medieval Europe and many other societies have had whole ranges of legal status with many specific degrees of freedom and unfreedom.)
Certain practices in our legal system seem to us to be so fundamental that we can't even separate them from our notions of justice and fairness. Our jury system is based on an assumption that that a trial procedure can arrive at the truth. Our criminal system presumes the accused is innocent until proven guilty. We also assume that a fair trial requires an impartial judge and jury. Other legal systems make very different assumptions about the same situations. French law presumes the accused guilty until proven innocent.
One common fault of many speculative fiction worlds is to have a complex imagined society, with extremely mundane ways of resolving conflict. Perhaps because of the assumptions just mentioned, most of us are unable to imagine any other "fair" way to work out a conflict than the ways we are used to. But let's not forget that in medieval Europe, trial by ordeal and trial by combat were considered quite fair and reasonable!
Finally, some works of speculative fiction mentioned by the panelists as addressing the question of law in interesting ways:
China Mieville, The City and The City
Janet Kagan, Hellspark (also mentioned in the language panel)
Kim Stanley Robinson, Galileo's Dream
Ursula K Le Guin, The Telling and The Dispossessed
J K Rowling, the Harry Potter series (Schneyer notes that the wizarding world's use of law seems so inept, he's convinced Rowling made it that way deliberately)


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Download Silent Hill 2 |PC►Enhanced Edition 2018| Gameplay Walkthrough No Commentary
Silent hill 2 : Enhanced Edition PC (Full Game Movie Playthrough) No Commentary Longplay Gameplay Walkthrough LetsPlay Full HD Part 1, Ending – In Water. Normal Difficulty.
This is the Definitive Silent Hill 2 HD Experience. Created for PC by a collaboration of talented modders. It brings True HD, True Widescreen, PS2 quality Fog/Audio/Grain, no loading between doors (instant transition) and a bunch of other improvements.
Check out the Enhanced Edition Trailer here ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v1US…
P.B. Horror Gaming's Rating – ★★★★★
Developer – Team Silent.
Publisher – Konami.
Platform – PS2/PS3/Xbox/360/PC


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THE green-fingered winners of this year's individual garden and sheltered housing scheme competitions have now been revealed as part of the 2018 Tamworth in Bloom campaign.
As well as going for gold in the annual Heart of England in Bloom contest, Tamworth Borough Council also throws down the gauntlet to individual gardeners and residents of the town's sheltered housing schemes to do their bit to make the town blooming lovely.
Many take up the challenge and the standard in both competitions was again extremely high, but the winners have now been chosen.
This year's top prize for the best sheltered housing scheme was awarded to Bright Crescent in Kettlebrook. Its green-fingered residents always work hard to keep their scheme top notch, but it's been a few years since they took the top honour, so winning was a real delight.
Judges were impressed by the explosion of bright colours and the community spirit involved in creating such wonderful individual gardens and communal areas.
The gardening project sees residents of the scheme uniting to look after their own and each other's gardens, taking it in turns to water and dead-head plants, across the whole site.
Resident John Hollis said: "It's been a real community effort with everyone working together to create these wonderful floral displays. I often go out and water all the plants and we help each other where we can. Everyone is so friendly, it's been great."
Ken Lutwyche, who has lived at Bright Crescent for 16 years, added: "We have won this competition many times in the past, but we haven't had the top prize for a few years, so it's great to win again. I've really enjoyed it."
Certificates and £100 worth of vouchers to spend at Planters Garden Centre were presented to residents of the scheme by longstanding Tamworth in Bloom champion and judge, John Garner.
Ankermoor Court and Cheatle Court – both previous winners of the competition – were awarded 'highly commended' certificates for superb displays.
There are also many keen gardeners around Tamworth who contribute towards creating an attractive street scene with their impressive gardens. These enthusiasts were again invited to enter the individual garden competition by sending in pictures of their horticultural efforts.
This year's top prize, also of £100 worth of Planters vouchers, went to Linda Jackson of Litton in Stonydelph.
Linda has spent 20 years growing and shaping her little 'wildlife haven' which includes a huge variety of colourful flowers, planters, evergreens, trees, ornaments and figurines.
The 53-year-old senior care worker enjoys creating a garden that is welcoming to wildlife and often chooses plants that attract butterflies and bees, alongside two ponds and more than 15 bird boxes and feeders which are dotted around the space.
Linda said: "I do spend a lot of time in the garden. It's a working garden so there's always something to do, but I really enjoy it. I tend to go for bright colours, wildflowers and plants which attract bees and butterflies such as geraniums, busy lizzies, fuchsias and cosmos.
"We get all sorts of birds, bees and butterflies, as well as frogs and toads. It's my little wildlife haven and secret garden in the middle of a housing estate. I'm ecstatic to have won, it was really exciting."
Presenting this year's certificates was John Garner's last duty as Tamworth in Bloom champion as he steps down from the role after several years. He said: "Bloom is an important part of the environment of our town and you can see that lots of hard work and effort has been put in by winners of both competitions. With the sheltered housing schemes, Bloom also plays an important part in bringing the community together and getting people out and about."
This year's Tamworth in Bloom campaign had the theme 'Homecoming 2018' in celebration of three very important anniversaries – 100 years since the end of WW1, 100 years since Girlguiding Tamworth was formed and the1100th anniversary of the death of 'Lady of the Mercians', Aethelflaed, in Tamworth.
Heart of England in Bloom judges Nicola Clarke and Roger Tait were taken on a tour of the borough last month and were shown some of the many fabulous floral displays, community projects and wildlife habitats which made up this year's entry. Tamworth must now wait until next month to discover whether it has secured gold for a ninth consecutive year.
Cllr John Chesworth, Tamworth Borough Council's Cabinet member for Culture and Operational Services, said: "Tamworth in Bloom is a real community effort and the individual garden and sheltered housing scheme competitions are about acknowledging that pride that people have in their gardens and their community.
"It's clear we have a lot of people around the town who are putting a tremendous amount of effort into their floral and wildlife displays. However, the winners are very deserving and my congratulations go to them."


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SpywareQuake is Newest SpyAxe Clone
Been looking around and I am seeing a new probable variant of SpyAxe, SpywareStrike, and SpyFalcon. Newest name is SpywareQuake. You may see the following line from Hijackthis:
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SpywareQuake] C:\Program Files\SpywareQuake\SpywareQuake.exe /h
You may also find this file as a new dll controlling the fake warning near the clock:
You can follow the SpyFalcon removal instructions and add the above to the fix as needed


text: Woolfsmck 2,551 Posted September 10, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, FATCAT said: Sadly someone even MORE hawkish will be hired. I dunno about that.. I think they will get someone who fits Trumps criterion for the position. The main thing is that Trump is gonna make a decision if he feels he's right, not simply following everyone elses opinion. Edited September 10, 2019 by Woolfsmck like a cat in a sil, I observe life, moving and still. My words give a clue,look inside to see whats true Quote Share Link to post Share on other sites Facebook Twitter


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Lin & Kim discuss the government shutdown, the murder of Jazmine Barnes and more!
Hosts: Mei Lin Boykin & Kim Cannon
Topics: The Government Shut Down, The Murder of, Jazmine Barnes, The McDonalds Fight, Tiffany Haddish and Kevin Hart, Someone Coming Out?? This Ain't got Nothing to do With Nothing


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Delhi was suffering with "severe" air quality in the last few days.
As per the Air Quality Index (AQI) data, Delhi''s Lodhi Road area has prominent pollutant PM 2.5 in "very poor" category.
The AQI level in the capital was recorded in the "severe" zone for seven days between November 7 and November 13.
Delhi Environment Department Secretary will sound an alarm on Whatsapp if Air Quality Index (AQI) crosses a particular mark, asking authorities to carry out pollution control measures, official sources said on Wednesday.
"On the basis of AQI, an alarm will be triggered by the Secretary (Environment), GNCTD on Whatsapp. The follow-up action by authorities concerned is expected without delay," an Environment Department communique said.
The SOP (standard operating procedure) for controlling severe air pollution in Delhi asks city Municipal Corporations, Public Works Department, Delhi Development Authority and others to carry out different measures like sprinkling of water, checking of biomass burning, diesel generator sets, and polluting vehicles.
The heads of authorities concerned will work out an internal mechanism to carry out the task and communicate the name and mobile number of their nodal officers, the order said.(ANI)


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Solar Roof FAQs
How can I place a Solar Roof order?
You can place your Solar Roof order by completing the Solar Roof order form and making a $1000 USD payment.
When will my Solar Roof be installed?
Initial trial installations are complete and customer installations are underway with plans to ramp up in 2018. As production ramps, we will begin deliveries internationally. Solar Roof will be installed based on your order queue position when Solar Roof is ready for your region.
Can anyone, from any country place a Solar Roof order?
Yes, anyone from countries listed on the drop down list on our website can place a Solar Roof order.
What if I also want a Powerwall home energy storage battery?
We've designed Powerwall and Solar Roof to integrate seamlessly with each other. You may place an order for Powerwall on the same form.
Does Tesla offer finance alternatives for Solar Roof installations?
We plan to offer financing in the United States in 2018. In the meantime, you may be able to finance your Solar Roof with a personal loan, a home improvement loan, a home equity line of credit or other second mortgage product.
Will you take care of the entire roof installation process?
Yes, Tesla will take care of your entire Solar Roof experience, from the removal of your existing roof through permitting and installation of your new Solar Roof.
Can I cancel my Solar Roof order?
Yes, you can cancel at anytime until you've agreed to purchase. Log in to your Tesla Account and you will find a link to cancel. Refunds can take up to three weeks depending on your country of delivery.


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© University of Kent - Contact | Feedback | Legal | FOI | Cookies
The first few weeks
Following months of revision, exams and preparing for university, your son or daughter will soon be ready to begin their studies. At Kent, we send all new students a 'Getting Started at Kent' booklet, which gives them key information including what must be done prior to arrival, what to expect in their first few days and, if they are living in University accommodation, their moving in dates. The booklet is accompanied by the Getting Started at Kent website which is packed full of extra information and useful tips.
The best thing about starting university is that the vast majority of students are experiencing it for the first time. Once your son or daughter has moved in, their first week at Kent is known as 'Welcome Week'.
What to pack
- Air fresheners
- Alarm clock
- Blu-tac and pins
- Clothes airer
- Coat hangers
- Computer/laptop
- Duvet/pillows/sheets
- Extension lead (there are never enough plugs)
- Laundry bag
- Posters/ photos of friends and family
- Towels
Kitchen essentials
- Kettle
- Tea, coffee and biscuits (essential on moving in day!)
- Mugs and glasses
- Plates and cutlery
- Pots and pans
- Tin/bottle opener
And don't forget…
- Camera
- ID – Drivers licence or passport
- Memory sticks/blank CDs
- Passport photos
- Qualification certificates
- Rail Card/Coach card
- School uniform – for the School Disco and fancy dress!
- Something smart for the Freshers' ball
- TV licence*
*If you watch or record television programmes as they're being shown on TV – on any device including a laptop – you need to be covered by a TV Licence. The law applies to all viewing and recording devices, including TVs, computers, mobile phones, games consoles, digital boxes and DVD/VHS recorders. See the TV Licensing website for further details.
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Welcome Week
Welcome Week is designed to help all new students settle in and make the transition to university life as easy as possible so they can have the best start to their studies.
The week is usually made up different events:
- Induction events by their academic school
- Orientation events of key facilities (eg how to use the library)
- Social events organised by the students' union
You should encourage your son or daughter to throw themselves into Welcome Week; it is one of the best ways to get to know the people they will be living and studying with.
Watch our 2017 students arrive for Welcome Week!
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Settling in
Universities are aware that going to university, even if your son or daughter is local and knows the area, is a big change and events such as Welcome Week are carefully planned to make new students feel immediately part of their new community.
The majority of students settle into university life very quickly, but common problems in the first few weeks can include homesickness, study concerns and worries about making friends.
Going to a number of open days and visit days may be exhausting while you're doing it, but visiting the university beforehand really pays off. Your son or daughter will be familiar with their surroundings before they arrive, especially if you have visited more than once.
Most universities have their own online communities via Faceboook and Twitter which enable new students to find out about each other before they even arrive. Once the exam results are out and places are confirmed, Kent's Facebook pages are full of excited new first years chatting about which accommodation they're in (and subsequently finding their flatmates!), what course they'll be doing and, usually, how they can't wait to get started.
Your support can be invaluable during the first term, even if you are just on the end of a phone. If their concerns don't pass and they feel they need extra support, encourage them to make use of the support services offered by the university.back to top


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A relationship is defined by emotional, social, physical, and spiritual wellness. Balancing wellness is a never-ending challenge, but continued effort can have lasting positive impacts for yourself and your relationships.
To learn more about maintaining a healthy relationship, checkout Why Good Health Matters in Relationships, a tip sheet made available by the National Resource Center for Healthy Marriage & Families.
By: Nora Rhoades


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About Us
Welcome to Xavier Law Firm.
We are a team devoted to protect the rights and interests of our clients
Xavier Law Firm
We now offer our immigration services worldwide! So whether you are a corporation interested in expanding into the United States or a local entrepreneur staking out a new venture, we are here to provide you with competent legal counsel to navigate the governmental and administrative hurdles you will face.
Xavier Chávez
An attorney devoted to the well-being of his community
At the early age of 15, Xavier Chavez arrived to the United States from South America. From 1981 until 1984 he served in the U.S. Navy, serving with distinction.
Not long after that, he became a Real Estate Broker in the South of California, where he helped the immigrant community to firmly establish its presence in the United States by means of home ownership.
In 1987, Xavier went back to school in order to become an attorney. It is noteworthy that he paid for his own education, studied full-time, and continued working as a Real Estate Broker, all at the same time.
He obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Finance and Real Estate from California State University. After that, Xavier attended Harvard University, where he finally obtained his Juris Doctor Degree.
Our Team
Estrellita Sandoval-Chávez
Civil and Criminal Defense Department Manager
Andrés Chávez
Offshore Department Manager
Mónica Sánchez
Administrative Manager
Montserrat Chávez
Immigration Department Manager
Isamar Hernández
Legal Assistant
Erik Sandoval
Legal Assistant
Marivel González
Legal Assistant
Ximena Chávez
Legal Assistant
Lorena Mondragón
Legal Assistant
Samia Brito
Legal Assistant
Aileen Monroy
Legal Assistant
Xavy Chávez
Amy Sánchez
Diana Guerrero
Contact Us
Whether you, or a close one or a relative, is in need of legal aid on Immigration; or you are a victim of the Judicial system, we can help you. Keep in mind:
Our Mission Is To Protect


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Notice: Gun show dates are updated daily. Please call before going to any gun show. Gun show dates, times, admission fees and locations are subject to change without notification. See a gun show that is missing...tell us about it here.
- Date:
- Friday, January 3rd, 2020
- Show Hours:
- 3:00 pm - 8:00 pm
- Saturday, January 4th, 2020
- 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
- Show Location:
- Best Western Wittenberg Inn
- Address:
W17267 Red Oak Ln Wittenberg, WI 54499 United States
- Promoter
- Bearing Arms Gun Shows
- Promoter website:
- Promoter Phone:
- (715) 308-8772 contact: Gary Thompson
- Promoter Email:
- email@example.com
- Ticket Price:
- General: $5.00 Children 14 & under: Free
This Wittenberg gun show is held at Best Western Wittenberg Inn and hosted by Bearing Arms Gun Shows. All federal, state and local firearm ordinances and laws must be obeyed.
- Exhibitor Information:
- 65 Tables $25 each. Show set up time begins at 9am, Call for any exceptions.
*Notice!: Please call or email the show promoter to verify show dates and times.


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I believe in God, the Father, Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Born of the Virgin Mary. Suffered by Pontius Pilate. Was crucified, died and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day rose again. He ascended into heaven. He's seated at the right hand of the Father and will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit. The holy universal church. The forgiveness of sin. The resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. The Creed. What Christians Believe.
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Press Release about Boat People
Discussions are underway of hand over 165 verified Bangladeshi nationals who are given temporary shelters at Taung Pyo (We') on 22 JuIy 2015
Through the coordinated efforts with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh on the repatriation of boat people who were rescued by Myanmar (Navy) on 21 and 29 May, a total of 187 Bangladeshi nationals were handed over to the Bangladeshi side last month.
At the same time, continued coordinated efforts are being made to hand over the remaining 544 boat people who are currently given temporary shelters at Taung Pyo (We'). As a result, discussions are underway to hand over the 165 verified Bangladeshi boat people on 22 July.
Along with the verification process, continuous efforts are being made for the remaining boat people to be repatriated expeditiously back to the place of origin based on neighbourliness relations between Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Humanitarian assistance are being provided to the boat people who are temporary sheltered at Taung Pyo (We'). It was learnt from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dated: 15 July 2015


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19 May 2017
In its manifesto, released yesterday, the Conservative Party pledged to abolish the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) as an independent agency, instead merging it with the much larger National Crime Agency (NCA):
'We will strengthen Britain's response to white collar crime by incorporating the Serious Fraud Office into the National Crime Agency, improving intelligence sharing and bolstering the investigation of serious fraud, money laundering and financial crime.'
The pledge was met by immediate and universal criticism from anti-corruption groups and financial crime experts. Jonathan Fisher QC, a leading barrister in white collar crime cases, said it sent a 'wrong message about the UK's resolve to tackle serious fraud and corruption'. David McCluskey, partner at the law firm Taylor Wessing, told the Financial Times that 'the UK's reputation as a bastion of the rule of law will be seriously harmed'.
They're quite right. If it is genuinely the Conservatives' aim to strengthen the UK's response to white collar crime, scrapping the SFO would be counterproductive. The agency is a world-leading repository of expertise on financial crime. In recent years it has taken a number of courageous decisions to mount prosecutions in complex and demanding areas of the law that a lesser agency would have filed as 'too difficult.'
In search of the government's rationale
The pledge to abolish the SFO made in the manifesto appears in a single sentence sandwiched between promises to 'create a national infrastructure police force' and 'extend direct entry into the police'. No explanation for it is given.
As Home Secretary, Theresa May tried twice merge the SFO with the NCA: once in 2011, when she was halted by opposition from Ken Clarke and Attorney-General Dominic Grieve, and again in 2014. Whether she is motivated by the potential for efficiency savings or by simple scepticism of the agency is unclear. The former would be particularly unwarranted, given the SFO's annual budget is a measly £33 million, which this year it has already made back many times over in fines.
The SFO has certainly had a mixed track record over the past decade. In 2006 it abandoned a corruption probe into BAE systems following pressure from Saudi Arabia, and in 2014 it had to pay more than £3 million in damages to entrepreneur Vincent Tchenguiz for his wrongful arrest. It was also caught making secret, unauthorised exit payments to senior staff.
But the agency has gathered speed in recent years, securing significant deferred prosecution agreements with Tesco for false accounting and with Rolls-Royce for crimes including conspiracy to corrupt, false accounting and failure to prevent bribery. In the latter settlement the fines totalled more than half a billion pounds, and commentators observed, wrongly, that the cloud above the SFO had finally lifted.
The agency continues to work on highly significant cases including an investigation into whether senior Bank of England staff were implicated in LIBOR rigging, and an examination of the links between Barclays and Qatar at the height of the financial crisis. It is a great shame that these will almost certainly now be disrupted.
The National Crime Agency: a poor fit for the SFO's specialist work
The mismatch between the SFO and the much larger National Crime Agency stems from the NCA's sprawling remit: it is required to tackle organised crime—from gang violence to paedophilia—in all its colourful forms. But the NCA lacks the SFO's hard-won expertise in investigating and prosecuting 'heavy fraud' and complex financial crime and few talented SFO employees—who will have no difficulty finding well-paid employment in the private sector—are likely to want to transfer to the larger agency.
The result of the Conservative manifesto pledge will be an immediate paralysis of ongoing investigations, an unwillingness to take new cases and, if the pledge is followed-through, significant damage to the SFO's world-leading expertise. With renewed allegations concerning large-scale money laundering in London's property market, the government's timing could hardly be worse.
The people happiest at this decision will be those in the crosshairs of the agency's investigations, who will no doubt rejoice that such a diligent and effective adversary is being shut down.
Tom Devlin is a leading financial investigator and a partner at Stephen Platt & Associates LLP. He has advised and acted for regulators, banks, investment funds, trust companies, and professional bodies.
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Orison Books
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Phone: 828-713-1755
Orison Books is a non-profit literary press focused on the life of the spirit from a broad and inclusive range of perspectives. As a volunteer-run organization, none of our editorial staff draw a salary, which means that every penny donated goes directly toward the publication and promotion of our remarkable books.
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