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If you have never read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (author of The Chronicles of Narnia and Mere Christianity, and close friend to J.R.R. Tolkien), then you are missing out. In the book, the arch-demon Screwtape corresponds with his nephew Wormwood, who had recently been appointed his "temptership" on Earth. Lewis, in the voice of Screwtape, writes about the intricacies of sin and temptation, and it is an amazingly insightful work.
After publishing The Screwtape Letters, Lewis wrote an additional piece called "Screwtape Proposes a Toast," in which Screwtape is giving a lecture before the Tempters' Training College. (It is often included in current editions of the original book.) A most interesting element of the essay is the indictment of "democracy" itself, or perhaps "the diabolical democratic spirit." Having been reminded of this essay recently, I felt it would be fun and enlightening to share it with you. I've highlighted some significant parts throughout the essay. Enjoy!
(The scene is in Hell at the annual dinner of the Tempters' Training College for young devils. The principal, Dr. Slubgob, has just proposed the health of the guests. Screwtape, a very experienced devil, who is the guest of honour, rises to reply:)
It is customary on these occasions for the speaker to address himself chiefly to those among you who have just graduated and who will very soon be posted to official Tempterships on Earth. It is a custom I willingly obey. I well remember with what trepidation I awaited my own first appointment. I hope, and believe, that each one of you has the same uneasiness tonight. Your career is before you. Hell expects and demands that it should be — as mine was — one of unbroken success. If it is not, you know what awaits you.
I have no wish to reduce the wholesome and realistic element of terror, the unremitting anxiety, which must act as the lash and spur to your endeavours. How often you will envy the humans their faculty of sleep! Yet at the same time I would wish to put before you a moderately encouraging view of the strategical situation as a whole.
Your dreaded Principal has included in a speech full of points something like an apology for the banquet which he has set before us. Well, gentledevils, no one blames him. But it would be in vain to deny that the human souls on whose anguish we have been feasting tonight were of pretty poor quality. Not all the most skillful cookery of our tormentors could make them better than insipid.
Oh, to get one's teeth again into a Farinata, a Henry VIII, or even a Hitler! There was real crackling there; something to crunch; a rage, an egotism, a cruelty only just less robust than our own. It put up a delicious resistance to being devoured. It warmed your inwards when you'd got it down.
Instead of this, what have we had tonight? There was a municipal authority with Graft sauce. But personally I could not detect in him the flavour of a really passionate and brutal avarice such as delighted one in the great tycoons of the last century. Was he not unmistakably a Little Man — a creature of the petty rake-off pocketed with a petty joke in private and denied with the stalest platitudes in his public utterances — a grubby little nonentity who had drifted into corruption, only just realizing that he was corrupt, and chiefly because everyone else did it? Then there was the lukewarm Casserole of Adulterers. Could you find in it any trace of a fully inflamed, defiant, rebellious, insatiable lust? I couldn't. They all tasted to me like undersexed morons who had blundered or trickled into the wrong beds in automatic response to sexy advertisements, or to make themselves feel modern and emancipated, or to reassure themselves about their virility or their "normalcy," or even because they had nothing else to do. Frankly, to me who have tasted Messalina and Cassanova, they were nauseating. The Trade Unionist stuffed with sedition was perhaps a shade better. He had done some real harm. He had, not quite unknowingly, worked for bloodshed, famine, and the extinction of liberty. Yes, in a way. But what a way! He thought of those ultimate objectives so little. Toeing the party line, self-importance, and above all mere routine, were what really dominated his life.
But now comes the point. Gastronomically, all this is deplorable. But I hope none of us puts gastronomy first. Is it not, in another and far more serious way, full of hope and promise?
Consider, first, the mere quantity. The quality may be wretched; but we never had souls (of a sort) in more abundance.
And then the triumph. We are tempted to say that such souls — or such residual puddles of what once was soul — are hardly worth damning. Yes, but the Enemy (for whatever inscrutable and perverse reason) thought them worth trying to save. Believe me, He did. You youngsters who have not yet been on active duty have no idea with what labour, with what delicate skill, each of these miserable creatures was finally captured.
The difficulty lay in their very smallness and flabbiness. Here were vermin so muddled in mind, so passively responsive to environment, that it was very hard to raise them to that level of clarity and deliberateness at which mortal sin becomes possible. To raise them just enough; but not that fatal millimetre of "too much." For then, of course, all would possibly have been lost. They might have seen; they might have repented. On the other hand, if they had been raised too little, they would very possibly have qualified for Limbo, as creatures suitable neither for Heaven nor for Hell; things that, having failed to make the grade, are allowed to sink into a more or less contented subhumanity forever.
In each individual choice of what the Enemy would call the "wrong" turning, such creatures are at first hardly, if at all, in a state of full spiritual responsibility. They do not understand either the source or the real character of the prohibitions they are breaking. Their consciousness hardly exists apart from the social atmosphere that surrounds them. And of course we have contrived that their very language should be all smudge and blur; what would be a bribe in someone else's profession is a tip or a present in theirs. The job of their Tempters was first, or course, to harden these choices of the Hellward roads into a habit by steady repetition. But then (and this was all-important) to turn the habit into a principle — a principle the creature is prepared to defend. After that, all will go well. Conformity to the social environment, at first merely instinctive or even mechanical — how should a jelly not conform? — now becomes an unacknowledged creed or ideal of Togetherness or Being Like Folks. Mere ignorance of the law they break now turns into a vague theory about it — remember, they know no history — a theory expressed by calling it conventional or Puritan or bourgeois "morality." Thus gradually there comes to exist at the center of the creature a hard, tight, settled core of resolution to go on being what it is, and even to resist moods that might tend to alter it. It is a very small core; not at all reflective (they are too ignorant) nor defiant (their emotional and imaginative poverty excludes that); almost, in its own way, prim and demure; like a pebble, or a very young cancer. But it will serve our turn. Here at last is a real and deliberate, though not fully articulate, rejection of what the Enemy calls Grace.
These, then, are two welcome phenomena. First, the abundance of our captures: however tasteless our fare, we are in no danger of famine. And secondly, the triumph: the skill of our Tempters has never stood higher. But the third moral, which I have not yet drawn, is the most important of all.
The sort of souls on whose despair and ruin we have — well, I won't say feasted, but at any rate subsisted — tonight are increasing in numbers and will continue to increase. Our advices from Lower Command assure us that this is so; our directives warn us to orient all our tactics in view of this situation. The "great" sinners, those in whom vivid and genial passions have been pushed beyond the bounds and in whom an immense concentration of will has been devoted to objects which the Enemy abhors, will not disappear. But they will grow rarer. Our catches will be ever more numerous; but they will consist increasingly of trash — trash which we should once have thrown to Cerberus and the hellhounds as unfit for diabolical consumption. And there are two things I want you to understand about this: First, that however depressing it might seem, it is really a change for the better. And secondly, I would draw your attention to the means by which it has been brought about.
It is a change for the better. The great (and toothsome) sinners are made out of the very same material as those horrible phenomena the great Saints. The virtual disappearance of such material may mean insipid meals for us. But is it not utter frustration and famine for the Enemy? He did not create the humans — He did not become one of them and die among them by torture — in order to produce candidates for Limbo, "failed" humans. He wanted to make them Saints; gods; things like Himself. Is the dullness of your present fare not a very small price to pay for the delicious knowledge that His whole great experiment is petering out? But not only that. As the great sinners grow fewer, and the majority lose all individuality, the great sinners become far more effective agents for us. Every dictator or even demagogue — almost every film star or [rock star] — can now draw tens of thousands of the human sheep with him. They give themselves (what there is of them) to him; in him, to us. There may come a time when we shall have no need to bother about individual temptation at all, except for the few. Catch the bellwether, and his whole flock comes after him.
But do you realize how we have succeeded in reducing so many of the human race to the level of ciphers? This has not come about by accident. It has been our answer — and a magnificent answer it is — to one of the most serious challenges we ever had to face.
Let me recall to your minds what the human situation was in the latter half of the nineteenth century — the period at which I ceased to be a practising Tempter and was rewarded with an administrative post. The great movement toward liberty and equality among men had by then borne solid fruits and grown mature. Slavery had been abolished. The American War of Independence had been won. The French Revolution had succeeded. In that movement there had originally been many elements which were in our favour. Much Atheism, much Anticlericalism, much envy and thirst for revenge, even some (rather absurd) attempts to revive Paganism, were mixed in it. It was not easy to determine what our own attitude should be. On the one hand it was a bitter blow to us — it still is — that any sort of men who had been hungry should be fed or any who had long worn chains should have them struck off. But on the other hand, there was in the movement so much rejection of faith, so much materialism, secularism, and hatred, that we felt we were bound to encourage it.
But by the latter part of the century the situation was much simpler, and also much more ominous. In the English sector (where I saw most of my front-line service) a horrible thing had happened. The Enemy, with His usual sleight of hand, had largely appropriated this progressive or liberalizing movement and perverted it to His own ends. Very little of its old anti-Christianity remained. The dangerous phenomenon called Christian Socialism was rampant. Factory owners of the good old type who grew rich on sweated labor, instead of being assassinated by their workpeople — we could have used that — were being frowned upon by their own class. The rich were increasingly giving up their powers, not in the face of revolution and compulsion, but in obedience to their own consciences. As for the poor who benefited by this, they were behaving in a most disappointing fashion. Instead of using their new liberties — as we reasonably hoped and expected — for massacre, rape, and looting, or even for perpetual intoxication, they were perversely engaged in becoming cleaner, more orderly, more thrifty, better educated, and even more virtuous. Believe me, gentledevils, the threat of something like a really healthy state of society seemed then perfectly serious.
Thanks to Our Father Below, the threat was averted. Our counterattack was on two levels. On the deepest level our leaders contrived to call into full life an element which had been implicit in the movement from its earliest days. Hidden in the heart of this striving for Liberty there was also a deep hatred of personal freedom. That invaluable man Rousseau first revealed it. In his perfect democracy, only the state religion is permitted, slavery is restored, and the individual is told that he has really willed (though he didn't know it) whatever the Government tells him to do. From that starting point, via Hegel (another indispensable propagandist on our side), we easily contrived both the Nazi and the Communist state. Even in England we were pretty successful. I heard the other day that in that country a man could not, without a permit, cut down his own tree with his own axe, make it into planks with his own saw, and use the planks to build a toolshed in his own garden.
Such was our counterattack on one level. You, who are mere beginners, will not be entrusted with work of that kind. You will be attached as Tempters to private persons. Against them, or through them, our counterattack takes a different form.
Democracy is the word with which you must lead them by the nose. The good work which our philological experts have already done in the corruption of human language makes it unnecessary to warn you that they should never be allowed to give this word a clear and definable meaning. They won't. It will never occur to them that democracy is properly the name of a political system, even a system of voting, and that this has only the most remote and tenuous connection with what you are trying to sell them. Nor of course must they ever be allowed to raise Aristotle's question: whether "democratic behaviour" means the behaviour that democracies like or the behaviour that will preserve a democracy. For if they did, it could hardly fail to occur to them that these need not be the same.
You are to use the word purely as an incantation; if you like, purely for its selling power. It is a name they venerate. And of course it is connected with the political ideal that men should be equally treated. You then make a stealthy transition in their minds from this political ideal to a factual belief that all men are equal. Especially the man you are working on. As a result you can use the word democracy to sanction in his thought the most degrading (and also the least enjoyable) of human feelings. You can get him to practise, not only without shame but with a positive glow of self-approval, conduct which, if undefended by the magic word, would be universally derided.
The feeling I mean is of course that which prompts a man to say I'm as good as you.
The first and most obvious advantage is that you thus induce him to enthrone at the centre of his life a good, solid, resounding lie. I don't mean merely that his statement is false in fact, that he is no more equal to everyone he meets in kindness, honesty, and good sense than in height or waist measurement. I mean that he does not believe it himself. No man who says I'm as good as you believes it. He would not say it if he did. The St. Bernard never says it to the toy dog, nor the scholar to the dunce, nor the employable to the bum, nor the pretty woman to the plain. The claim to equality, outside the strictly political field, is made only by those who feel themselves to be in some way inferior. What it expresses is precisely the itching, smarting, writhing awareness of an inferiority which the patient refuses to accept.
And therefore resents. Yes, and therefore resents every kind of superiority in others; denigrates it; wishes its annihilation. Presently he suspects every mere difference of being a claim to superiority. No one must be different from himself in voice, clothes, manners, recreations, choice of food: "Here is someone who speaks English rather more clearly and euphoniously than I — it must be a vile, upstage, la-di-da affectation. Here's a fellow who says he doesn't like hot dogs — thinks himself too good for them, no doubt. Here's a man who hasn't turned on the jukebox — he's one of those goddamn highbrows and is doing it to show off. If they were honest-to-God all-right Joes they'd be like me. They've no business to be different. It's undemocratic."
Now, this useful phenomenon is in itself by no means new. Under the name of Envy it has been known to humans for thousands of years. But hitherto they always regarded it as the most odious, and also the most comical, of vices. Those who were aware of feeling it felt it with shame; those who were not gave it no quarter in others. The delightful novelty of the present situation is that you can sanction it — make it respectable and even laudable — by the incantatory use of the word democratic.
Under the influence of this incantation those who are in any or every way inferior can labour more wholeheartedly and successfully than ever before to pull down everyone else to their own level. But that is not all. Under the same influence, those who come, or could come, nearer to a full humanity, actually draw back from fear of being undemocratic. I am credibly informed that young humans now sometimes suppress an incipient taste for classical music or good literature because it might prevent their Being Like Folks; that people who would really wish to be — and are offered the Grace which would enable them to be — honest, chaste, or temperate refuse it. To accept might make them Different, might offend against the Way of Life, take them out of Togetherness, impair their Integration with the Group. They might (horror of horrors!) become individuals.
All is summed up in the prayer which a young female human is said to have uttered recently: "O God, make me a normal twentieth century girl!" Thanks to our labours, this will mean increasingly: "Make me a minx, a moron, and a parasite."
Meanwhile, as a delightful by-product, the few (fewer every day) who will not be made Normal or Regular and Like Folks and Integrated increasingly become in reality the prigs and cranks which the rabble would in any case have believed them to be. For suspicion often creates what it expects. ("Since, whatever I do, the neighbors are going to think me a witch, or a Communist agent, I might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb, and become one in reality.") As a result we now have an intelligentsia which, though very small, is very useful to the cause of Hell.
But that is a mere by-product. What I want to fix your attention on is the vast, overall movement towards the discrediting, and finally the elimination, of every kind of human excellence – moral, cultural, social, or intellectual. And is it not pretty to notice how "democracy" (in the incantatory sense) is now doing for us the work that was once done by the most ancient Dictatorships, and by the same methods? You remember how one of the Greek Dictators (they called them "tyrants" then) sent an envoy to another Dictator to ask his advice about the principles of government. The second Dictator led the envoy into a field of grain, and there he snicked off with his cane the top of every stalk that rose an inch or so above the general level. The moral was plain. Allow no preeminence among your subjects. Let no man live who is wiser or better or more famous or even handsomer than the mass. Cut them all down to a level: all slaves, all ciphers, all nobodies. All equals. Thus Tyrants could practise, in a sense, "democracy." But now "democracy" can do the same work without any tyranny other than her own. No one need now go through the field with a cane. The little stalks will now of themselves bite the tops off the big ones. The big ones are beginning to bite off their own in their desire to Be Like Stalks.
I have said that to secure the damnation of these little souls, these creatures that have almost ceased to be individual, is a laborious and tricky work. But if proper pains and skill are expended, you can be fairly confident of the result. The great sinners seem easier to catch. But then they are incalculable. After you have played them for seventy years, the Enemy may snatch them from your claws in the seventy-first. They are capable, you see, of real repentance. They are conscious of real guilt. They are, if things take the wrong turn, as ready to defy the social pressures around them for the Enemy's sake as they were to defy them for ours. It is in some ways more troublesome to track and swat an evasive wasp than to shoot, at close range, a wild elephant. But the elephant is more troublesome if you miss.
My own experience, as I have said, was mainly on the English sector, and I still get more news from it than from any other. It may be said that what I am now going to say will not apply so fully to the sectors in which some of you may be operating. But you can make the necessary adjustments when you get there. Some application it will almost certainly have. If it has too little, you must labor to make the country you are dealing with more like what England already is.
In that promising land the spirit of I'm as good as you has already begun something more than a generally social influence. It begins to work itself into their educational system. How far its operations there have gone at the present moment, I should not like to say with certainty. Nor does it matter. Once you have grasped the tendency, you can easily predict its future developments; especially as we ourselves will play our part in the developing. The basic principle of the new education is to be that dunces and idlers must not be made to feel inferior to intelligent and industrious pupils. That would be "undemocratic." These differences between pupils – for they are obviously and nakedly individual differences – must be disguised. This can be done at various levels. At universities, examinations must be framed so that nearly all the students get good marks. Entrance examinations must be framed so that all, or nearly all, citizens can go to universities, whether they have any power (or wish) to profit by higher education or not. At schools, the children who are too stupid or lazy to learn languages and mathematics and elementary science can be set to doing things that children used to do in their spare time. Let, them, for example, make mud pies and call it modelling. But all the time there must be no faintest hint that they are inferior to the children who are at work. Whatever nonsense they are engaged in must have – I believe the English already use the phrase – "parity of esteem." An even more drastic scheme is not possible. Children who are fit to proceed to a higher class may be artificially kept back, because the others would get a trauma — Beelzebub, what a useful word! – by being left behind. The bright pupil thus remains democratically fettered to his own age group throughout his school career, and a boy who would be capable of tackling Aeschylus or Dante sits listening to his coeval's attempts to spell out A CAT SAT ON A MAT.
In a word, we may reasonably hope for the virtual abolition of education when I'm as good as you has fully had its way. All incentives to learn and all penalties for not learning will be prevented; who are they to overtop their fellows? And anyway the teachers – or should I say, nurses? – will be far too busy reassuring the dunces and patting them on the back to waste any time on real teaching. We shall no longer have to plan and toil to spread imperturbable conceit and incurable ignorance among men. The little vermin themselves will do it for us.
Of course, this would not follow unless all education became state education. But it will. That is part of the same movement. Penal taxes, designed for that purpose, are liquidating the Middle Class, the class who were prepared to save and spend and make sacrifices in order to have their children privately educated. The removal of this class, besides linking up with the abolition of education, is, fortunately, an inevitable effect of the spirit that says I'm as good as you. This was, after all, the social group which gave to the humans the overwhelming majority of their scientists, physicians, philosophers, theologians, poets, artists, composers, architects, jurists, and administrators. If ever there were a bunch of stalks that needed their tops knocked off, it was surely they. As an English politician remarked not long ago, "A democracy does not want great men."
It would be idle to ask of such a creature whether by want it meant "need" or "like." But you had better be clear. For here Aristotle's question comes up again.
We, in Hell, would welcome the disappearance of democracy in the strict sense of that word, the political arrangement so called. Like all forms of government, it often works to our advantage, but on the whole less often than other forms. And what we must realize is that "democracy" in the diabolical sense (I'm as good as you, Being Like Folks, Togetherness) is the fittest instrument we could possibly have for extirpating political democracies from the face of the earth.
For "democracy" or the "democratic spirit" (diabolical sense) leads to a nation without great men, a nation mainly of subliterates, full of the cocksureness which flattery breeds on ignorance, and quick to snarl or whimper at the first sign of criticism. And that is what Hell wishes every democratic people to be. For when such a nation meets in conflict a nation where children have been made to work at school, where talent is placed in high posts, and where the ignorant mass are allowed no say at all in public affairs, only one result is possible.
The democracies were surprised lately when they found that Russia had got ahead of them in science. What a delicious specimen of human blindness! If the whole tendency of their society is opposed to every sort of excellence, why did they expect their scientists to excel?
It is our function to encourage the behaviour, the manners, the whole attitude of mind, which democracies naturally like and enjoy, because these are the very things which, if unchecked, will destroy democracy. You would almost wonder that even humans don't see it themselves. Even if they don't read Aristotle (that would be undemocratic) you would have thought the French Revolution would have taught them that the behaviour aristocrats naturally like is not the behaviour that preserves aristocracy. They might then have applied the same principle to all forms of government.
But I would not end on that note. I would not – Hell forbid! Encourage in your own minds that delusion which you must carefully foster in the minds of your human victims. I mean the delusion that the fate of nations is in itself more important than that of individual souls. The overthrow of free peoples and the multiplication of slave states are for us a means (besides, of course, being fun); but the real end is the destruction of individuals. For only individuals can be saved or damned, can become sons of the Enemy or food for us. The ultimate value, for us, of any revolution, war, or famine lies in the individual anguish, treachery, hatred, rage, and despair which it may produce. I'm as good as you is a useful means for the destruction of democratic societies. But it has a far deeper value as an end in itself, as a state of mind which, necessarily excluding humility, charity, contentment, and all the pleasures of gratitude or admiration, turns a human being away from almost every road which might finally lead him to Heaven.
But now for the pleasantest part of my duty. It falls to my lot to propose on behalf of the guests the health of Principal Slubgob and the Tempters' Training College. Fill your glasses. What is this I see? What is this delicious bouquet I inhale? Can it be? Mr. Principal, I unsay all my hard words about the dinner. I see, and smell, that even under wartime conditions the College cellar still has a few dozen of sound old vintage Well, well, well. This is like old times. Hold it beneath your noses for a moment, gentledevils. Hold it up to the light. Look at those fiery streaks that writhe and tangle in its dark heart, as if they were contending. And so they are. You know how this wine is blended? Different types of Pharisee have been harvested, trodden, and fermented together to produce its subtle flavour. Types that were most antagonistic to one another on Earth. Some were all rules and relics and rosaries; others were all drab clothes, long faces, and petty traditional abstinences from wine or cards or the theatre. Both had in common their self-righteousness and an almost infinite distance between their actual outlook and anything the Enemy really is or commands. The wickedness of other religions was the really live doctrine in the religion of each; slander was its gospel and denigration its litany. How they hated each other up where the sun shone! How much more they hate each other now that they are forever conjoined but not reconciled. Their astonishment, their resentment, at the combination, the festering of their eternally impenitent spite, passing into our spiritual digestion, will work like fire. Dark fire. All said and done, my friends, it will be an ill day for us if what most humans mean by "Religion" ever vanishes from the Earth. It can still send us the truly delicious sins. Nowhere do we tempt so successfully as on the very steps of the altar.
Your Imminence, your Disgraces, my Thorns, Shadies, and Gentledevils: I give you the toast of – Principal Slubgob and the College!


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subset: commoncrawl


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ATLANTA – Mike Evans endured four last-place finishes in the NFC South in his first six seasons with Tampa Bay before last season's breakthrough Super Bowl championship earned the Buccaneers long-awaited respect.
The former doormats of the division are now envied by every other NFL team.
"I've been waiting for this for seven years now," said Evans, a first-round pick in 2014. "That's what we want. When we went to Pittsburgh my rookie year, we wanted to be the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now everybody wants to be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That's what you want, and we look forward to the challenge."
Tom Brady and the Buccaneers aren't the defending division champions. New Orleans won its fourth consecutive division title at 12-4, one game ahead of Tampa Bay, which made the playoffs as a wild card.
The retirement of Saints quarterback Drew Brees only makes Tampa Bay a stronger favorite in the division.
First-year Falcons coach Arthur Smith, the former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator, says the Saints' four-year run atop the division deserves respect.
"I know Drew Brees is retired, but they've won a lot of football games and sustained success, so we've got all the respect in the world for New Orleans," Smith said.
Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians has reminded his players they can't lean on last year's run of eight consecutive wins to the championship. Arians relayed a simple message on the first day of training camp in July.
"Don't assume anything. We're starting from scratch. That was last year's team," Arians said.
Brady, 44 and who had offseason knee surgery, is doing his part to make sure complacency isn't an issue. Even though the Bucs return all 22 starters, Brady reiterated the difficulty of the challenge ahead.
It's difficult to repeat as Super Bowl champions, but Brady knows the path. No team has repeated since Brady led the 2003 and 2004 New England Patriots to consecutive titles.
"We have to be able to create our own future, and that's really about attitude, effort, and preparation," Brady said. "Nothing about last year is going to carry over into this year. ... It's an entirely new challenge."
Brees' retirement and Carolina's acquisition of Sam Darnold from the Jets created quarterback turnover in half of the division's teams. Brady returns for his second season in Tampa Bay while Matt Ryan, 36, enters his 14th season in Atlanta.
With Brees launching a new career as a broadcaster, Ryan says the division won't be the same.
"It's a little different," Ryan said. "Obviously playing against Drew every year for my entire career was a challenge. He's a great player."
Jameis Winston has been named the successor to Brees.
Saints coach Sean Payton must show he can win without Brees. GM Mickey Loomis says that point has been proven.
New Orleans was 8-1 without Brees the last two seasons, including 5-0 with Teddy Bridgewater when Brees was out with a thumb injury in 2019. The Saints were 3-1 with Taysom Hill at quarterback while Brees was out with injured ribs last season.
Hill is expected to have a role behind Winston this season. Loomis said Payton will find a way to keep the Saints winning.
"Sean and his staff will adjust accordingly," Loomis said. "I think they've been fantastic doing that over the years."
With a healthy Christian McCaffrey at running back, the Panthers have renewed cause for optimism.
Carolina's playoff hopes rest firmly on the right arm of Darnold, who has replaced Bridgewater. Darnold is looking for a fresh start in Carolina after going 13-25 in three seasons as Jets starter. Panthers second-year coach Matt Rhule has gone out of his way to avoid putting pressure on Darnold, emphasizing repeatedly that his role in the offense will be to avoid mistakes.
"I think Sam's doing really well," Rhule said. "He's evolving, he's growing, and getting good reps, and a lot of different looks, and for the most part protecting the football."
Darnold has more weapons to work with than in New York with 1,000-yard receivers D.J. Moore and Robby Anderson returning along with promising rookie Terrace Marshall Jr.
Darnold's best asset is McCaffrey, who is healthy after missing 13 games last season due to multiple injuries. McCaffrey, who caught 106 passes in 2018 and 116 in 2019, figures to be the primary check-down target for Darnold and will handle the bulk of the running game.
With wide receiver Julio Jones traded to Tennessee and a new leadership team of Smith and general manager Terry Fontenot making decisions, Atlanta's 2016 Super Bowl season is a fading memory.
A total rebuild likely would have meant the team would have used the No. 4 overall pick in this year's NFL draft to select a quarterback. Instead, tight end Kyle Pitts was the choice and Ryan returns for at least one or two more seasons.
Ryan has a capable lead receiver in Calvin Ridley. The big offseason addition was running back Mike Davis, who filled in for McCaffrey in Carolina last season.
Buccaneers, Saints, Panthers, Falcons
AP Sports Writers Fred Goodall, Brett Martel and Steve Reed contributed to this report.
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL


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Buenos Aires
Street photography in Buenos Aires, a large and vibrant city, before heading to Patagonia - walk with me to the old port, then to Pope Francis' former cathedral, a view of the balcony used by presidents to address the Argentinian public, most famously by Eva Peron (recall "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" in "Evita"), ordinary citizens, the all encompassing graffiti, some artistic and some not. And, of course, the unofficial national dance of Argentina, the TANGO....in the streets, in the parks, in the restaurants and clubs.....everywhere!!!Read More


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Mavs pick up Spurs alumnus Ian Mahinmi on the cheap
Brendan Haywood is the only center the Mavs have under contract for next season, so rotation bigs remain fairly high on Dallas' off-season wish list. Erick Dampier will soon be shipped out to allow the Mavericks to benefit from his instantly expiring contract, and optimally the Mavs will need two more players who can hold their own at the 5 for next season.
One such player is Ian Mahinmi, a 23 year-old power forward/center fresh out of the San Antonio Spurs/Austin Toros camp. Dallas has agreed to a two-year deal with Mahinmi, likely to fill in as a third-string center. That still leaves a bit of a hole behind Haywood on the depth chart, but the Mavs are likely to have both the full mid-level exception and their biannual exception to fill that specific need.
There are conflicting reports as to exactly how much Mahinmi will make with the Mavs next season (Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com asserted Ian would make the full biannual exception, which would put his salary around $1.9 million per season, whereas NBA.com's Art Garcia reported that Mahinmi's salary would be for the veteran minimum, which is roughly half that), but Dallas will get a nice project center on the cheap, regardless. Mahinmi is a decent rebounder and shot blocker, even if his post moves are inconsistent and he lacks the ideal frame for an NBA center.
Ian isn't ready to be Haywood's primary backup, but he's definitely worth the salary the Mavs will be paying him next season. He has definite NBA skills and he's still 23 years young, which makes him a nice find for a team that was looking to add rotation talent for minimal cost. Dallas just doesn't have all that many ways to add decent talent at this point -- bench or otherwise -- and if the Mavs are able to score Mahinmi (one of the more promising young bigs in free agency) for the minimum salary, that's a great get.


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BRUSSELS — If Scottish voters this week say Yes to independence, not only will they tear up the map of Great Britain, they'll shake the twin pillars of Western Europe's postwar prosperity and security — the European Union and the U.S.-led NATO defense alliance.
In breaking away from the rest of the United Kingdom, Scotland would automatically find itself outside both the EU and NATO, and have to reapply to join both, officials from those Brussels-based organizations have stressed.
For the EU especially, Scottish re-entry could be a long and arduous process, with other countries dead set against letting the Scots retain the privileges awarded Britain: the so-called opt-outs from being required to use the euro single currency and to join the multination Schengen zone where internal border controls have been scrapped.
For NATO's admirals and generals, the current Scottish government's insistence on a sovereign Scotland becoming free of nuclear weapons would pose enormous strategic and operational headaches, even if a transitional grace period were agreed on. A new home port would have to be found for the Royal Navy's four Trident missile-carrying submarines and their thermonuclear warheads, currently based on the Clyde.
This "risks undermining the collective defense and deterrence of NATO allies," Britain's Ministry of Defense has said. In what might be read as a warning to the Scots, the ministry has said a nuclear-free stance could constitute a "significant" hurdle to Scotland being allowed back into NATO.
Until Scotland rejoined the alliance, to which it's belonged with the rest of Britain for 65 years, new arrangements would also need to be found to patrol vital shipping routes in the North Atlantic and North Sea. If Scotland were to choose not to rejoin, it would pose a conundrum for NATO for which there is no real precedent: what to do following the loss of a developed, democratically governed part of alliance territory that has opted for neutrality, said Daniel Troup, research analyst at the NATO Council of Canada.
Asked how NATO would react to secession, alliance secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen told The Associated Press that "should the Scottish people vote in favor of independence and should they decide to seek membership in NATO, in that case, such an application will be addressed like other applications and eventually it will need consensus, that is, unanimity among NATO allies to accept a new member of our alliance."
Rasmussen refused to say Monday what the military consequences of Scotland's independence might be for the alliance, saying, "I'm not going to interfere with the Scottish debate, and it is a hypothetical question at this stage, because we don't know the outcome of the referendum."
Emergence of a new Western European country of 5 million inhabitants with roughly the land area of the Czech Republic or the U.S. state of Maine or would also set in motion political and social forces whose effects are impossible to predict. Because of British voting patterns, the political groups in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that are seeking Britain's exit from the European Union would become proportionately stronger in Parliament.
Meanwhile, on the continent, from Catalonia in Spain to the Dutch-speaking Flemish areas of Belgium, other European peoples that do not have their own states would likely be emboldened to follow the Scots' example.
Loss of Scotland would also weaken the influence of Britain inside the 28-nation European Union. For the moment, the British, along with the Germans and French, constitute the trade bloc's Big Three. Without Scotland's population, Britain would drop to No. 4, behind Italy.
That would mean fewer British members of the European Parliament, as well as a reduced say in population-weighted decision-making in the EU's executive.
"In the European Union, size matters," said Almut Moeller, an EU expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations. "It will be a rump United Kingdom."
This would have major policy implications. A whittled-down Britain would have a weaker hand in pressing for the kind of EU it favors: more of a free market, and less of a political union.
Simultaneously, said Professor Richard G. Whitman, director of the Global Europe Center at the University of Kent, politicians and civil servants in London would be "massively preoccupied" for years in disentangling England from Scotland, following more than three centuries of political and economic unity.
The result would be "a much-reduced bandwidth for defending a more liberalistic agenda" in Europe, Whitman said, including the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the EU and the United States.
Under both NATO and EU rules, any existing member could blackball Scotland's application for admission, and some might find domestic political cause to do so. Spain, for example, might want to discourage independence-minded Catalans. For the English, divvying up the common assets with the Scots might turn as acrimonious as a Hollywood divorce, Whitman said.
If Scotland sought special arrangements while trying to get back into the European Union, that could provide a wedge for other countries to demand renegotiation of their own terms of membership, and calls to revise the treaties that are EU's constitutional basis, Moeller said. Germany, the bloc's richest and most influential nation, would be adamantly against that, she said.
A dissenting prediction comes from a Swedish expert on the EU. The 18-month interlude between Thursday's vote and the start date of actual Scottish independence would be enough to allow the Scots and EU to negotiate a deal so that on the very day it became a country, Scotland could seamlessly become an EU member in its own right, said Niklas Bremberg, a research fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.
The most fateful consequence of a Scottish vote in favor of independence could be very close to home: in neighboring England. The English have already soured sufficiently on the European Union to the extent that in the March elections for the European Parliament, they cast more votes for the anti-EU UKIP party than any other.
Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive of the European Policy Center, a Brussels-based think tank, predicted the Scots this Thursday could set an example of sorts—for the English.
"The exit of Scotland from the UK would increase the chances of the exit of the UK from the EU," Zuleeg said.
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The plaintiffs in error commenced this proceeding in the superior court of the state of Georgia, Chatham county, against the mayor, etc., of the city of Savannah and its city marshal, to enjoin the collection of taxes upon certain real estate in that city, of which they claim to be lessees from the city, and they allege that the taxes assessed upon such real estate are illegal; they also seek to recover from the city the amount of taxes theretofore paid by them on such real estate, under protest. The trial of the case resulted in a judgment for the city, which was, on appeal to the supreme court of the state, affirmed, and the plaintiffs have brought the case here on writ of error.
They claim that the levying and collection of the taxes referred to, under an ordinance of the city providing therefor, passed in 1878, constitute an impairment of the obligations of a contract between the city and the predecessors in title of the plaintiffs in error, made at the time the real estate was purchased, by which contract it was agreed that on the payment of a certain annual sum, called 'ground rent,' to the city by the holders of the real estate, it was to be forever exempt from all city taxation.
Upon the trial of the action these facts appeared: Prior to [181 U.S. 531, 532] 1790 the city of Savannah owned certain lots which were called 'common lots,' and on September 28 of that year the common council passed an ordinance for disposing of a portion of them. Each lot, by the provisions of the ordinance, was to be valued by the city, and then put up for sale at public outcry, and the highest bidder, over and including the original valuation, was to have the lot, and if he chose to pay the whole amount of his bid in cash he was to have a deed conveying it to him in fee simple, or he might, instead of making the whole cash payment, agree with the city to pay in cash the balance of his bid over to valuation, called the increase money, and also to pay a ground rent of 5 per cent upon the amount of valuation, payable quarterly, and in that event the lot might be retained in his hands or in the hands of his heirs and assigns forever on payment of such ground rent. The ordinance further provided that at any time thereafter the purchaser or his heirs or assigns should have the power to pay the original valuation money, with what rent might be due up to that time, in full discharge and extinguishment of the ground rent, and he or they should thereupon be entitled to the land in fee simple. The city was also to give a deed by way of bargain and sale to each purchaser of lots which should vest an absolute or conditional estate in the purchaser, according to the circumstances; that is to say, an absolute one if the valuation and increase money should be paid down, or a conditional one if the valuation money should not be paid down, but which should become absolute if and when the valuation money should at any future time be paid into the treasury, which payment should be acknowledged by the mayor and a majority of the aldermen, under the seal of the city and attested by the city treasurer, to be indorsed on the deed. The ordinance continued:
Pursuant to such ordinance the lands were sold and the purchasers of many of the lots elected to hold their purchases on ground rent payable quarterly, as stated in the ordinance. Deeds were thereupon executed on the part of the city and also were signed by the respective purchasers. Lands have been sold from time to time under ordinances of substantially the same character and containing language in substance the same up to 1872, since which time conditional sales have been abandoned.
The deeds contained a provision that 'in consideration of the rent to be paid, and of the several covenants and agreements to be performed ( mayor and aldermen), have bargained and sold, and by these presents do bargain and sell, unto the said _____ _____ all that lot of land ( describing it) . . . unto the said _____ _____ executors, administrators, and assigns, forever, on this express condition. Nevertheless, that _____ _____ the said _____ _____ executors and administrators and assigns' shall pay rent as covenanted; and 'in case of failure herein for the space of twenty days after any of the said quarterly payments shall become due, that then the said lot and premises shall revert to the corporation of the said city, who shall immediately thereafter possess the power of re-entry; and having, by means of their proper officers, exercised such power, and given a notice thereof in writing, posted on the promises, the said lot, with all improvements thereon, shall be considered, at the expiration of ten days thereafter, as absolutely revested in the corporation, and the estate by these presents created determined to all intents and purposes as fully [181 U.S. 531, 534] as the same had not been bargained for or purchased; any sale or encumbrance, or other act made or suffered by the said _____ _____ executors, administrators, or assigns, or others under him or them, to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding.'
The purchaser also covenanted to pay the annual rent, and that in case of failure the city should have the lawful right of re-entry as already provided for.
The deed also contained the following provision:
It was also provided in the deed that the purchaser, his heirs, executors, or administrators, or assigns, might at any time pay into the city treasury the valuation money and the rent then due, in full discharge and extinguishment of such rent, and in that case there should be an acknowledgment of such payment under the seal of the city, signed by the mayor and a majority of the aldermen and attested by the city clerk, and indorsed on the deed, 'which shall then and from thenceforth vest an absolute estate, in fee simple, of and in the said lot and premises, in the said _____ _____ heirs and assigns to _____ and their only proper use and behoof forever.' It is admitted that the same character of deed has been executed for lots sold under other sales since 1790
Extracts from the minutes of the proceedings of the common council of the city, in regard to meetings of that body in 1790 [181 U.S. 531, 535] and thereafter, were put in evidence, from which it appeared that the ordinance for the sale of these lots was induced by the fact that the expenses of the city government were more than its revenues, and these sales were provided for in the hope that the condition of the city's finances might thereby be improved. There was also put in evidence a notice of sale of lots, advertised in the Georgia Gazette of June 13, 1799, in which were specified the terms contained in the ordinance for the sale of the lots, and the advertisement contained the statement that the 'purchasers are at liberty to take a lease to him or her or his or her heirs and assigns forever of the lots so purchased, at a ground rent of 5 per cent on the valuation,' etc.
An ordinance for laying off into city lots what was called the 'Springfield Plantation,' and providing for the sale of the same, passed in the year 1851, was also put in evidence, which contained substantially the same plan as that provided for in the ordinance of September 28, 1790, except that the conditional sale was to be for twenty-four years only. Although the lots mentioned in the petition of the plaintiffs in error in this case are not situated within the Springfield Plantation, the ordinance and the deed thereunder regarding those lots were put in evidence for the purpose of comparison with the ordinance of 1790, and the deeds executed thereunder, in order to show that the same language, except as to the term, was used in the instrument which granted a lease for but twenty-four years as was used in the other granting a perpetual term. There were also ordinances of February 27 and July 31, 1851, put in evidence, the former of which permitted one of two or more tenants in common or joint tenants to pay his proportion of the purchase money, and, upon such payment, he should receive a deed in fee, and any lessee of a city lot might, on application, have it divided into two or more parts and receive a lease for the same; and the other ordinance provided for increasing the depth of certain lots, at an increased rent therefor, payable at the same time that the regular ground rents on these lots fell due.
A report of the mayor in 1854, to the common council, was put in evidence, in which was a statement of the resources of [181 U.S. 531, 536] the city of Savannah, among which were designated 643 lots in 22 wards 'under lease;' also two reports of the mayor, the one on October 31, 1855, and the other a year later, both containing similar statements as to the number of lots belonging to the city, which were 'under lease,' and similar reports from and including 1857, up to and including 1877, with the exception of the years 1864 and 1865, when no report was made by the mayors of the city. This class of evidence was offered for the purpose of showing that the title conveyed to the purchasers was under a lease, and that it was not a conditional estate subject to be terminated by a breach of a condition subsequent, and that the city recognized the conveyance as a lease, and not in truth as a conditional estate.
On April 7, 1806, an ordinance was passed by the city council for raising a fund for the support of a 'watch' in the city, which provided that a tax should be levied on property therein, 'including all lots held by lease from the corporation,' but on November 24, 1806, an ordinance was passed providing 'that so much of the 1st section of the aforesaid ordinance as imposes a tax on lots held by lease from the corporation . . . be and the same is hereby repealed.'
It was admitted that every annual tax ordinance to raise revenue for the city passed by the mayor and aldermen from the above date, November 24, 1806, up to and including the ordinance of January 22, 1857, used the words 'excepting lots held by lease from the corporation.' On December 11, 1857, the tax ordinance provided as follows:
The annual report of the mayor for the year 1871 was also put in evidence, in which the following language occurs: 'It is not known to the foreign public that a very large part of the real estate in the city consists of lots sold on condition of the payment of ground rent, and are, therefore, not the subject of taxation, and are not included in the assessments.'
It was also admitted that lots known as 'ground-rent lots' [181 U.S. 531, 537] were never in fact assessed for taxation from 1790 until some time after the passage of the ordinance of May 29, 1878, and that those lots were omitted from the assessment books made in 1807 and every year thereafter down to the assessment book made out in the year 1878, and that in fact no city taxes were ever levied on them until after the resolution of the common council of November 17, 1889, under which they have been for the first time assessed for city taxation for the year 1890.
It was also admitted that no taxes were in fact assessed or levied under the ordinance of April 7, 1806, above mentioned. The holders of these city lots have always paid state and county taxes, and street improvements, and assessments for sidewalks, and all other assessments and burdens common to lot owners in the said city, except city taxes. A report of the finance committee made in 1872 and signed by the chairman was also put in evidence, in which it was stated as follows:
The ordinance of May 29, 1878, provided that--
Oral evidence was also given from which it appeared that on sales of the property under various ordinances of the same nature as that of 1790 the city marshal by whom the sales were made 'would announce that so long as the lots were held under ground-rent plan they would be free from city taxes. These announcements were made under authority of the committee. And often when the bidding would lag the marshal would remind the bystanders that there was only a 20 per cent cash payment required, and that there was no city taxes, but only an annual ground rent.'
One of the witnesses, who was himself at the time of some of the sales an alderman between 1858 and 1869, stated:
Another witness said that he would not say that the city of Savannah ever at any time formally agreed not to tax ground-rent lots; he did not know of any official action taken thereon by the city.
The above are substantially the facts upon which the contention of the plaintiffs in error that their lots are exempt from city taxation is founded. There is no evidence that any of them bought their lots at a sale where an announcement of exemption was made, or that they purchased them under the belief that they were forever legally exempt from all city taxation.
They also claim that the deed itself, irrespective of the above testimony, necessarily and by its terms implies a perpetual exemption from all city taxation upon the lots so long as the ground rent is paid.
Messrs. Pope Barrow and J. R. Saussy for plaintiffs in error. [181 U.S. 531, 539] Mr. Samuel B. Adams for defendants in error.
Mr. Justice Peckham, after making the above statement of facts, delivered the opinion of the court:
The contention on the part of the plaintiffs in error is that, in the exercise of the taxing power granted it by the legislature, the common council of the city adopted the ordinance of May, 1878, and in providing therein for the taxation of the leased lots, it thereby impaired the obligation of the contract existing between the city and the holders of that class of property, among whom are the plaintiffs in error, and the ordinance is therefore to that extent void. This contract they say is evidenced, first, by the ordinance of 1790 and the deeds executed in pursuance of its provisions; also by the minutes of the common council of the city and by subsequent proceedings of the common council; by the statements of the city officials at the time when some of the sales of the property were made; by the reports of the officials, mayors of the city and committees of the common council; by the actual omission for a hundred years-from 1790 to 1890-to tax these lots; also by ordinances similar to that of 1700 for the sale of lots, passed subsequently to that year, and by the deeds executed pursuant to such ordinances, which, it is admitted, were is substance similar to those executed under the ordinance of 1790.
Taking all the foregoing evidence into consideration, including the ordinance of 1790 and the deeds executed under it, we are unable to see that any contract of exemption has been proved. The payment of taxes on account of property otherwise liable to taxation can only be avoided by clear proof of a valid contract of exemption from such payment, and the validity of such contract presupposes a good consideration therefor. If the property be in its nature taxable the contract exempting it from taxation must, as we have said, be clearly proved. It will not be inferred from facts which do not lead irresistibly and necessarily to the existence of the contract. The facts proved must show either a contract expressed in terms, or else it must be implied from facts which leave no room for doubt [181 U.S. 531, 540] that such was the intention of the parties and that a valid consideration existed for the contract. If there be any doubt on these matters, the contract has not been proven and the exemption does not exist. This has been many times decided by this court. Tucker v. Ferguson, 22 Wall. 527, 573, 22 L. ed. 805, 815; Bank of Commerce v. Tennessee use of Memphis, 161 U.S. 134, 146 , 40 S. L. ed. 645, 649, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 456, and cases cited.
The different annual ordinances for taxation passed by the common council, exempting from taxation thereunder the leased lots, were but exemptions for the year in which the ordinance was passed, and there can be no plausible claim urged that they, one or all, constituted any contract for exemption beyond the time of each specific ordinance. The statements of officials when lots were sold, that they were not taxable, did not constitute a contract. The lots had not in fact been taxed at the time of these statements and had been annually exempted from taxation, and the statements amounted to no more than opinions of officials as to what would be done in the future. There is no evidence that they had the least power to speak for or to bind the corporation in this behalf. The reports of committees that the lots were not taxable are of the same character,- merely the opinions of officials upon a question of law, and not in the nature of a contract.
Upon this question of proof of a contract we quote what was said by the supreme court of Georgia in this case upon the last review, through Mr. Justice Lewis:
We think the opinion correctly states the facts and the law relating to them.
Looking specially at the contents of the deeds executed under the ordinance of 1790, which were signed by both parties, the city and the purchasers, we find that the provision under which the purchasers took the title and by which they were thereafter peaccably and quietly to have possession of the lots was by positive agreement, 'subject to all such assessments and burthens as might be in common with other lot holders in the city.'
Plaintiffs in error endeavor to give to the word 'assessments,' contained in the deeds from the city, its more modern meaning of a peculiar kind of tax levied upon lands specially benefited by improvements which are to be paid for by such assessments. [181 U.S. 531, 543] The fact is notorious that a century ago special assessments of that kind upon the lands benefited were not usual in this country, and at that time the word was used as synonymous with 'rates or taxes,' generally. Thus, in a statute passed by the legislature of Georgia in the year 1787, to be found in Watkins's Digest of the Laws of Georgia, 1755-1790, at page 354, it was provided in the 4th section, in speaking of the city of Savannah and the hamlets thereof, 'that it shall and may be lawful for the said wardens, or a majority of them, yearly and every year, or oftener, if occasion may require, to make, lay, and assess one or more rate or rates, assessment or assessments, upon all or every person or persons who do or shall inhabit, hold, use or occupy, possess or enjoy any lot, ground, house, or place, . . . within the limits of the town of Savannah or hamlets as aforesaid, for raising such sum or sums of money as the said wardens, or a majority of them, shall in their discretion judge necessary for and towards carrying this act into execution; and in case of refusal or neglect to pay such rate and assessment, the same shall be levied and recovered in manner as hereinafter directed.'
Here is an instance of the use of the word 'assessment' at that time in relation to this very city as descriptive of a general tax upon the owners of property within the limits of the city, and to be expended for the general purposes of the corporation. We agree with Mr. Justice Lewis in his construction of this language contained in the deed.
It is further objected in behalf of the plaintiffs in error that the condition that the land was to be subject to assessments, etc., was inserted in the deeds without the authority of the common council, and that the ordinance of 1790 providing for the sale of lots contained no such provision. We think the deeds are substantially in accord with that ordinance, and there is nothing therein inconsistent or at war with the insertion of such provision in the deed; it was but providing for one of the details connected with the sale, and there was an implied power under the ordinance to do so. In addition to that the purchasers took their deeds with such language contained in them, and, having themselves signed the deeds, they personally agreed to [181 U.S. 531, 544] the condition, and took their titles subject thereto. We do not by this mean to intimate that the title would not have been equally subject to the condition contained in the deed by accepting the deed while not signing it; but in addition to the acceptance there is the affirmative act of signing the instrument, and we think the language subjecting the lots to the same assessments and burthens as were laid in common with other lot holders created a valid agreement, and made the lands subject to the same kind of taxation as is levied upon other lots in the city.
The covenant on the part of the city that the purchasers should have peaceable and quiet possession, use, occupation, and enjoyment of the lots upon payment of the rent as it became due, is in nowise violated by the taxation of the lots in the hands of the purchasers or their assigns. A covenant for quiet enjoyment would not under these circumstances include an exemption from taxation. The purchasers of these lots became to all intents and purposes their owners, as they had the right to their possession, use, and occupation forever upon payment of the rent, and they could assign or devise the same, and their assignees or devisees would take good title, and their heirs would also take in case there was no assignment or devise. They could also, at their discretion and on the payment of the money agreed upon, become owners in fee.
Although the city retained the right of reentry for nonpayment of rent, the character of the title conveyed to the purchasers and their heirs and assigns was not thereby so changed from an absolute fee that the property actually conveyed could not be assessed for the payment of city taxes. The interest of the purchasers was capable of assessment for taxation, and their right was in substance that of ownership. It bears no resemblance to the case of an ordinary lease for years between landlord and tenant.
In reference to this subject, Mr. Chief Justice Bleckley, in his opinion in this case on its first appearance in the supreme court of Georgia (87 Ga. 397, 13 S. E. 442), at page 399, S. E. p. 442, et seq., said:
We think these views are a correct exposition of the law applicable herein.
We find no element of estoppel in the case. As has been said, the statements of officials made at the time some of the sales may have been effected were nothing more than expressions of opinion, there being no evidence of any agreement on the part of the city or its duly authorized agents to exempt perpetually or at all these lots from taxation for city purposes. The ordinances and the deeds show the transaction and there is no estoppel arising from the language there used. On the contrary, there is evidence of an agreement to pay such taxes.
Such an estate as was created by these deeds does not in our opinion come under the general rule which imposes on a landlord, when the lease is silent upon the subject, the payment of taxes chargeable upon the premises during the term of the lease. Where the purchaser holds real property for a term which may be in perpetuity, upon the condition of paying a certain ground rent, and where he is entitled to a deed conveying the fee at any time on the payment of certain money, he is more nearly described as an owner than he is as a lessee of such property, and he would be liable to pay the taxes imposed upon the property upon the principle which is set forth in Sanderson v. Scranton, 105 Pa. 469, and Delaware, L. & W. R. Co. v. Sanderson, 109 Pa. 583, 58 Am. Rep. 743, 1 Atl. 394. It is not necessary to decide this question, however, as the specific language [181 U.S. 531, 548] of the deed places the burden of paying the taxes on the purchaser and his grantees.
The judgment of the Supreme Court of Georgia was right, and must therefore be affirmed.
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First Published: Die junge Garde (Berlin), No 2,4. December 1918.
Translation Published: The Class Struggle, Vol.III No.3, August 1919.
Online Version: Sally Ryan for marxists.org August, 2002.
Alternate Translation: The Socialisation of Society.
The revolution that has just begun can have but one outcome: realization of Socialism! The working class, in order to accomplish its purpose, must, first of all, secure entire political control of the state. But to the Socialist political power is only a means to an end. It is the instrument with which labor will achieve the complete, fundamental reconstruction of our entire industrial system.
To-day all wealth, the largest and most fruitful tracts of land, the mines, the mills and the factories belong to a small group of Junkers and private capitalists. From them the great masses of the laboring class receive a scanty wage in return for long hours of arduous toil, hardly enough for a decent livelihood. The enrichment of a small class of idlers is the purpose and end of present-day society. To give to modern society and to modern production a new impulse and a new purpose – that is the foremost duty of the revolutionary working class.
To this end all social wealth the land and all that it produces, the factories and the mills must be taken from their exploiting owners to become the common property of the entire people. It thus becomes the foremost duty of a revolutionary government of the working class to issue a series of decrees making all important instruments of production national property and placing them under social control.
But this is only the first step. The most difficult task, the creation of an industrial state upon an entirely new foundation, has only just begun.
To-day production in every manufacturing unit is conducted by the individual capitalist independently of all others. What and where commodities are to be produced, where, when and how the finished product is to be sold, is decided by the individual capitalist owner. Nowhere does labor have the slightest influence upon these questions. It is simply the living machine that has its work to do.
In a Socialist state of society all this will be changed. Private ownership of the means of production and subsistence must disappear. Production will be carried on not for the enrichment of the individual but solely for the creation of a supply of commodities sufficient to supply the wants and needs of the working class. Accordingly factories, mills and farms must be operated upon an entirely new basis, from a wholly different point of view.
In the first place, now that production is to be carried on for the sole purpose of securing to all a more humane existence, of providing for all plentiful food, clothing and other cultural means of subsistence, the productivity of labor must be materially increased. Farms must be made to yield richer crops, the most advanced technical processes must be introduced into the factories, of the mines only the most productive, for the present must be intensively exploited. It follows, therefore, that the process of socialization will begin with the most highly developed industries and farm lands. We need not, and will not deprive the small farmer or artisan of the bit of land or the little workshop from which he ekes out a meager existence by the work of his own hands. As time goes by he will realize the superiority of socialized production over private ownership and will come to us of his own accord.
In order that all members of society may enjoy prosperity, all must work. Only he who performs useful service to society, manual or mental, will be entitled to a share of products for the satisfaction of his needs and desires. Idleness must cease and in its stead will come universal compulsory labor for all who are physically capable. Obviously those who are unable to work, children, invalids and the aged, must be supported by society. But not as it is done to-day, by niggardly charity. Bountiful sustenance, socialized education for the children, comfortable care for the aged, public health service for the sick – these must form all important part of our social structure.
For the same reason, i.e., in the interest of general welfare, society will be more economical, more rational in the utilization of its commodities, its means of production and its labor power. Waste such as we find to-day on every hand, must cease. The production of munitions and other implements of warfare must pass out of existence, for a Socialist state of society needs no tools of murder. Instead the precious materials and the enormous labor power that were devoted to this purpose will be used for useful production. The manufacture of useless and costly foolishness for the edification of wealthy idlers will stop. Personal service will be prohibited, and the labor power thus released will find more useful and more worthy employment.
While we are thus creating a nation of workers where all must be productively employed for the general welfare, labor itself must be completely revolutionized. Today labor in industry, on the farm and in the office is usually a torture and a burden to the proletariat. men and women work because they must in order to obtain the necessities of life. In a Socialist state of society, where all work together for their own well-being, the health of the individual worker, and his joy in his work must be conscientiously fostered and sustained. Short hours of labor not in excess of the normal human capacity must he established: recreation and rest periods must be introduced into the workday, so all may do their share, willingly and joyously.
But the success of such reforms depend upon the human beings who will carry them out. Today the capitalist with his whip stands behind the workingman, in person or in the form of a manager or overseer. Hunger drives the worker to the factory, to the Junker or the farm-owner, into the business office. Everywhere the employer sees to it that no time is wasted, no material squandered, that good, efficient work is done.
In a Socialist state of society the capitalist with his whip disappears. Here all workingmen are free and on an equal footing, working for benefit and enjoyment, tolerating no waste of social wealth, rendering honest and punctual service. To be sure, every Socialist plant needs its technical superintendents who understand its workings, who are able to supervise production so that everything runs smoothly, to assure an output commensurate with the labor power expended by organizing the process of manufacture according to most efficient methods. To insure successful production the individual workingman must follow his instructions entirely and willingly, must maintain discipline and order, cause no friction or confusion.
In a word: the workingman in a Socialist industrial state must show that he can work decently and diligently, without capitalists and slavedrivers behind his back: that of his own volition he can maintain discipline and do his best. This demands mental discipline, moral stamina, it demands a feeling of self-respect and responsibility, a spiritual rebirth of the workingman.
Socialism cannot be realized with lazy, careless, egotistic, thoughtless and shiftless men and women. A Socialist state of society needs people everyone of whom is full of enthusiasm and fervor for the general welfare, full of a spirit of self-sacrifice and sympathy for his fellow men, full of courage and tenacity and the willingness to dare even against the greatest odds.
But we need not wait centuries or decades until such a race of human beings shall grow up. The struggle, the Revolution will teach the proletarian masses idealism, has given them mental ripeness, courage and perseverance, clearness of purpose and a self-sacrificing spirit, if it is to lead to victory. While we are enlisting fighters for the revolution, we are creating Socialist workers for the future, workers who can become the basis of a new social state.
The young people of the proletariat are obtained to carry out this great work as the true foundation of the Socialist state. They must show, even now, that they are equal to the great task of bearing the future of the human race upon their shoulders. There is still an old world to be overthrown. A new world must be built!
Last updated on: 17.12.2008


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Vltor 5.56 Charging Handle
BATTLEARMS RACK Ambidextrous Charging Handle
Truly Original
The revolutionary new mechanism is unlike any other charging handle on the market.
We are pleased to receive U.S. Utility Patent No. 9964371, 9810494, 9587896.
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Machined from one single piece of aluminum, the RACK handle was designed with strength in mind.
It is also key to the sliding latch and the positive and balanced pull of the charging handle.
The RACK is designed and engineered in the United States.
It is precision CNC machined from billet 7075 T6 Aircraft Grade Aluminum in our brand-new manufacturing facility in Henderson, Nevada.
Coated in a hard anodized black finish.
Weight: 1.48 oz
Width: 2.75 in


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Banana Leaf Balinese Treat - Ubud, Bali
A rice, mango and orange treat wrapped in banana leaves. Ubud, Bali.
Plates of Sate at Sanur Night Market - Bali, Indonesia
Balinese Spice Mixture - Ubud, Bali
White pepper, black pepper, coriander, cumin, candlenut, nutmeg, cloves, sesame seeds. Taken as part of a cooking course in Ubud, Bali.
Tuna Sambal Matah - Bali, Indonesia
A delicious dish of Tuna Sambal Matah (tuna with raw sambal) made during a cooking class in Ubud, Bali.
Grilling Satay Beef at the Market - Bali
Notice the use of a fan to keep the charcoal going and oil to get the flames high. Taken at the market across the street from Semarapura Pavillions in Bali, Indonesia.
Tempe Manis - Bali, Indonesia
A Balinese dish made from fried tempe mixed in a palm sugar sauce with chili peppers. Crunchy and delicious. Made during a Bumi Bali cooking course in Ubud, Bali.
Bumbu Bali Fish - Sanur, Bali
Fish cooked in a Balinese spice sauce at Sanur beach in Bali, Indonesia.
Plate of Nasi Campur - Sanur, Bali
A delicious plate of nasi campur - rice with our choice of compnents like vegetables, tempeh, sati lilit, beef satay, and more. Eaten at the night market in Sanur, Bali (Indonesia).
Nasi Campur (Mixed Rice) - Bali, Indonesia
Tray of Chilies and Vegetables - Ubud, Bali
Taken at the Ubud food market, Bali.
Sambal Udang - Bali, Indonesia
Delicious sambal udang (prawns with a hot sambal sauce). Taken during a cooking course in Ubud, Bali.
Sari Bundo Restaurant - Sanur, Bali
Lots of plates of food on offer at Sari Bundo restaurant in Sanur, Bali.
Sayur Urab (Mixed Vegetables) - Bali, Indonesia
A Balinese vegetable dish made from lightly boiling vegetables and mixing it with a fried sambal (chili peppers, shallots, garlic, shrimp paste) and grated coconut. Made during our Balinese cooking class at Bumi Bali.
Bakso (Soup) - Sanur, Bali
A bowl of soup (bakso) with a boiled eggs, meat balls and some vegetables. Taken near the beach in Sanur, Bali.
Tempe and Tofu - Bali, Indonesia
Purple and White Aubergines - Bali, Indonesia
Baskets of purple and white aubergines (eggplant) at the food market in Ubud. Bali, Indonesia
Basa Gede - Ubud, Bali
Basa gede, Balinese spice paste. Also referred to as Bumbu Bali (literally, Balinese spice paste).
Grilled Sate Lilit - Bali, Indonesia
Sate lilit (spiced minced meat wrapped around a stick) for our cooking course. Really delicious. Ubud, Bali.
Durian Melon - Bali, Indonesia
The joke is that the durian melon smells like hell and tastes like heaven. We're not so sure about the heaven part. Bali, Indonesia.
Salt Vendor at Ubud Market - Bali, Indonesia
Nasi Campur - Sanur, Bali
A great lunch of nasi campur - mixed rice - made up of tempeh, coconut, chicken, shaved vegetables, and spices. And for $0.75 it was a great deal, too!
Opor Ayam - Bali, Indonesia
A big bowl of opor ayam (chicken curry) - rich, spicy, delicious. Made during our cooking class at Bumi Bali in Ubud, Bali.
Durian Melon Shopping - Bali, Indonesia
A woman smells the durian for freshness before buying at the Ubud market. Bali, Indonesia
Shopping for Greens at Ubud Market - Bali, Indonesia
Mangosteens - Bali, Indonesia
A big basket of mangosteens at the Ubud market. Bali, indonesia


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Hamlin receives March of Dimes award
Denny Hamlin had seen firsthand through his work with the March of Dimes the effects premature births have on children's long-term health.
He'd also seen the toll it can take on a family unable to bring their newborn home during the many hospital visits he'd made with sponsor FedEx as part of its longtime support of the March of Dimes foundation. It didn't hit him, though, until this year when he became a first-time father to a healthy baby girl.
"Now that I do have Taylor, and I am so blessed that she's healthy and was born on time with no issues, no complications, you really get a clear understanding," Hamlin told The Associated Press on Thursday. "When you are at the hospital and you walk into the nursery and there are two or three premature babies who are a month or two months early, you feel so lucky that yours is 100 percent and you get to go home in two days.
"The other families have to wait a really long time, and then they've got other health issues. Now that I am a father, you just understand what a difference it really is for those families."
Hamlin was being honored by the March of Dimes on Thursday night with the prestigious "Champion for Babies" award in recognition of his work raising awareness for the foundation's signature fundraiser. Hamlin joined Arnold Palmer, Joe Namath and Greg Gumbel as the fourth recipient of the award, presented at the March of Dimes Volunteer Leadership Conference gala in Washington, D.C.
"It's an honor to recognize the great work that Denny has provided the March of Dimes," said Dr. Jennifer Howse, president for the March of Dimes. "Denny's heartfelt and genuine desire to help families less fortunate than him always shines through. He gives us more than his time. He gives us his heart. Denny is a true champion for babies."
Hamlin's involvement with March of Dimes began when he was hired to drive the FedEx-sponsored No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Hamlin and FedEx team each spring to support the March for Babies fundraising walk. They also host March of Dimes National Ambassador families at NASCAR races and Hamlin has raced with a special paint scheme at Texas in each of the past six seasons.
"I'm in huge elite company, but the others who received it obviously were huge advocates for the March of Dimes," Hamlin said. "They are recognizing me for the efforts that we've put in over these last six years for the March of Babies and the donations we try to raise, and the work we do through FedEx. It's a huge honor because there are millions of people who watch our NASCAR races each week, and see our car, and at statistics show at least 25 percent have had a premature baby and they recognize it and understand."


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Fort Washington Golf and Country Club began operations in 1923 as a 9 hole course with dirt fairways and sand greens. Its original design was the work of Mr. William Watson. The name Fort Washington was inspired by the area's military fort of the early pioneers and settlers.
Our Director of Golf, Mr. Alan Ehnes has been affiliated with the club since 1984 and has been a golf professional since 1994. Ali Peyvandi, was recently appointed Clubhouse Manager after serving for many years as Assistant Manager.
When it comes to the latest fashions and equipment for golf, our Pro Shop has a superb selection. Choose from men's and women's apparel, golf clubs, shoes, accessories, and more, including our convenient motorized caddies. Our friendly Pro Shop staff is on hand to assist you.
Our Director of Golf at Fort Washington is Alan Ehnes.
email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Here is what others are saying:
"My 105 pound Newfie would steal food from the dinner table, and then viciously snarl and bite if I tried to take it away. But after using the techniques in your program, Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer, my dog will now let me roll him on his side and take ANYTHING out of his mouth! Your tricks really work wonders. I'm convinced that you are one of the best dog trainers around!" -- Barbara Allen, Santa Ynez, CA
"After studying the content in your program, I was able to take my dog with me to Peet's Coffee, in Berkeley, and put him on a "down-stay' while I went in for a newspaper and mocha-latte. And guess what? When I came back outside he hadn't even moved DESPITE several other dogs walking around him. It's like having a whole new dog. I think any dog owner should buy this program! It really reveals all of the secrets to getting your dog to listen to you!" -- Edward Cummings, Manhattan Beach, CA
"The videos and audio tapes-- not to mention the book-- played a key part in helping me keep my sanity while dealing with puppy behavior! If you're like me and have a new puppy for the first time in your life, or if you've owned a dog for years, I highly recommend 'Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer!' "
"I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed 'Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer.' I have employed several of your methods on our dogs with great results. The best part is that you not only share your methods of training but you also explain 'why' the method works and why other methods that are generally accepted really don't work."
Dog Training Problems - Information and Resources on How to Train Your Dog or Puppy Understanding Your Dog Dogs Nature Dog Food Ingredients Dogs and Kids. Grooming Safe Dog Toys Dog Puppy Training House Training Puppy Safety Dog TrainingTips House Training The Adult Dog Dog Aggression. Dog Obedience Training Jumping Up Socializing Stop Your Dog Chewing Dog Barking Problems. Dog Crate Training Train The Trainer Dog Collar Training Pinch or Shock Collar The Gentle Leader Collar Electronic Collars Dogs and Horses Training Dog Agility. Introduction To Clicker Training Training the Deaf Dog More Information


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Via John McCormack of the Standard, who reminds us that this isn't the first time Reid has idly accused a major player on the right of tax-dodging. The difference between this time and last time: When he smeared Romney, he did it in a private interview with HuffPo. His smear of the Kochs is being hosted on his official Senate website — on a webpage devoted exclusively to attacking them.
Dude, this is real.
Among the "facts" listed on the site is this one, which is lifted from a slideshow at Forbes:
"They are known for bankrolling conservative, Libertarian and Tea Party causes and became poster boys for corporate tax reform last year when an Obama Administration official suggested Koch is organized as an S Corp. and so pays no corporate level taxes."
That last bit, as McCormack notes, is a reference to an offhand remark once made years ago by Obama econ advisor Austan Goolsbee, who suggested in a conference call that Koch Industries was organized in a way that would exempt it from paying corporate tax. The Kochs' chief counsel disputed that; Robert Gibbs was eventually forced to walk it back; Goolsbee himself disowned the remark last year, claiming that he had confused Koch Industries with a different company owned by a different Koch brother after a Treasury investigation was launched to determine whether he had gotten his information by improperly accessing IRS info on the Kochs. (The results of the investigation are … secret.) All of which is to say that this smear was debunked long ago. If Reid's team is still pushing it, it's not because they don't know it's false. It's because they don't care. Which, in fact, makes it very much like his smear regarding Romney's taxes.
Your homework assignment is this Mark Hemingway piece from last week comparing how, and how much, the Kochs spend on political advocacy to how Reid's friends in labor spend it. To answer Ed's question earlier about whether "Kochsteria" among Democrats is effective, I actually think it is — not for the party generally, which will suffer this fall no matter how many times this old man yells at this particular cloud, but for people like Reid who've taken the lead on it. Koch-bashing is Reid's way of building goodwill with progressive chumps who eat this demagoguery up ahead of his reelection bid in 2016. He faces a tough race potentially against Brian Sandoval; he'll need lots of money from the base, so he's decided to start stroking their political erogenous zones often and early. It won't save the Senate for Democrats but it might save Reid's seat eventually.


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Recovering Megalomaniac
Finished the head on the new warboss. I think the main difference in the new model(s) aren't so much the amount of details as the depth of them, the deep areas just seem to go deeper. Can't really describe it better. Anyway, here he is....
Started the new warboss tonight. great model but a bit static so I'm twisting the arm up a bit. Here's where it's at right now... And I think I'm over my greenstuff nervousness, now I just need the experience!
Got the time last night to test out the GW washes, well, one of them, at least. Devlin Mud will become a very popular wash, I predict.
Here's my testa boyz. In the pictures below (fronts, then backs), the top two are unwashed (heh, aren't all orks?) with two different colored pants. Both are GW Foundation colors, Tausept Ochre, the other Calthan Brown. The bottom is my first wash with the Devlin Mud. I applied this by dipping my brush into the pot, then dipping it in a water cup and
Finished off the deff guns, as seen here. A pile-o-deff guns.
Ed and Ned here don't seem none too happy to be missin' their arms. Finished greenskins green.
I'm trying somethign different this time. I did a complete paint up of the skin since I wanted to blend (I use that term loosely on these) and wash using green ink. Now I'm going to try the new GW washes. I blocked out the rest of the model in the appropriate colors using only the GW
Got some time in on the deffguns this weekend and took a couple shots along the way. Tedious but worth it in the end, the details on ALL of the new or k models are astounding. Here's da lads noise makers with the red finished and the metals started. And a groups shot with all the metals finished.Here's a four-up showing more details of each gun type. At this point, all the red and metals are dine - I'm going back through and doing the skin and the nall the little details and doodads (and
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Matt & Wendy Wooley
California Racing '11
EquiSport Photos "California" horse racing photos are Copyright Protected, and intended for MEDIA & EDITORIAL USE. Please contact us for media use. EquiSport Photos Contact the track photographer, Benoit & Associates 310.419.1635, to purchase similar images for personal or ad use. (http://www.benoitphoto.com/)Read More


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Sucking On Feet And Taking A Big Uncut Cock Bareback
I know all you feet lovers are going to love this new video from Toe Sucking Guys featuring Johannes Lars and Lucas Morrison. This hot dude wastes no time in cramming his bud's big toes into his mouth, eagerly licking and sucking Lucas' smelly toes. It really turns him on and gives him a boner to suck on his buds feet. Soon the two take each other's feet in their mouths, licking and sucking on one another while they stroke their hard uncut cocks. After some hard bareback fucking with a big uncut cock the two twinks go back and play with their feet some more. When Erik gets close he slides his cock between Lars' smooth ass while Lucas strokes his big uncut cock until he shoots cum all over himself. Fucking hot! Make sure to check it out.


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The Nick Mardon Trio is booked for a private event on July 30.
If you would like to book the trio for your party or private event contact us here!
The trio is led by Nick Mardon on Guitar and Vocals with Adin Pennington on Bass and Vocals and Andy Emery on Drums. The trio has performed hundreds of shows at bars, music venues, and festivals throughout the pacific northwest including Hard Rock Cafe Seattle, Highway 99 Blues Club, The Historic Everett Theatre, The Sunset Tavern, The Washington Beer Festival, Jazz in the Valley Ellensburg, and many more. Their music blends the sound of 60's and 70's blues-rock power trios with the Seattle sound of the 1990's. The Nick Mardon Trio has a setlist of over 200 songs including original music and timeless covers. Covers include Sublime, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Al Green, Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash, and more.