Archive for the ‘1996 TANF PRWORA (cat. added 11/2011)’ Category
UPDATE: Truth Initiative Financial Statements (YEJune2018) Surface Within 24 Hours of My Post Noting Their Odd Absence (This Update Publ. Aug. 16, 2019)
I also (below left) don’t particularly appreciating seeing typos in basic English four-letter words which are to be linking to how a major public program, ongoing now these twenty years at least, is managing itself and with itself, the public interest…. while investing in (it says here) five different countries outside the USA (not major amounts shown, but still…) (below, right).
(Reminder: what’s now “Truth Initiative” was formerly “American Legacy Foundation” and before that, I just learned, “MSA Foundation” when first formed in 1999).
For why we’re bothering to update, please take another** look at some of the numbers on the FY2002 tax return of the organization whose independently audited financials I just couldn’t find on its own website, clicking on the link which said “audited financials.”
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What’s happening to the Tobacco MSA Billions? From American Legacy Foundation (2002 Form 990 for EIN #911956621) to ‘Truth Initiative Foundation’ (Same Entity, New Name), Audited Financial Statements Promised but Not Produced (Publ. Aug. 14, 2019).
“MSA” stands in this context for “Master Settlement Agreement,” and the field is “big tobacco” to be countered with big health and public education/communications infrastructure to persuade everyone, especially young people in the United States, to quit smoking tobacco, among other things. See recent posts (and I also blogged this extensively in 2017; see Table of Contents).
There is an update. Perhaps this phrase should be part of the header to every post as I added to the recent top (Sticky) posts:
ANY post may be further edited (as in, condensed, or expanded, or both) after publishing. Blogger’s privilege!
Update on What?: See end of post title.. “What’s happening to the Tobacco MSA Billions? . . . Audited Financial Statements Promised but Not Produced (Publ. Aug. 14, 2019).” (shortlink ends “-aE7”, about 8,855 words, including the following insert explaining that I just found what the title says, couldn’t be found.
NOTE: This is an update, not a retraction. I keep records via screenprints, and will double-check my own various screenprints — because it was so odd that a link promising financial statements didn’t (at the time) produce them. I also noticed (via “statcounter”) two government entities (US Dept. of the Treasury and State of Minnesota, which comes up in one of the nonprofits discussed below) on the website August 15 (after publishing Aug. 14, late). However, meanwhile, I feel obligated to post the functional link to at least the:
Truth Initiative Foundation & Affiliate Consolidated Audited Financial Report | Title page (with url displayed at the top)
You can read the rest here: https://truthinitiative.org/annual-reports/financial-statement/2018-financial-statements
TO SEE THE REST OF THIS UPDATE (about 2,500 words only) and how it happened, go here:
As this says:
ANY post may be further edited (as in, condensed, or expanded, or both) after publishing. Blogger’s privilege!
I first typed the Updates here (complete with annotated images and some drill-downs, as well as explaining how I found the MIA financial statements), then moved the text to its own post, above, with a quick introduction.
Now that this was just published, I’m going to remove the material from here.
BEFORE all that update, the post started here:
I grabbed the closing text and screenshots for this QUICK post, What’s happening to the Tobacco MSA Billions? From American Legacy Foundation (2002 Form 990 for EIN #911956621) to ‘Truth Initiative Foundation’ (Same Entity, New Name), Audited Financial Statements Promised but Not Produced. (Publ. Aug. 14, 2019) (shortlink ends “-aE7”, about 7,800 8,855 (with update above) words)
from the bottom of ” A Health System Flush With Cash — because ‘Smoking Causes Cancer’
(1998 Tobacco Class Action Litigation MSA Payments, and Tobacco-Related Taxes Impact ‘in perpetuity’ on Systems Affecting Family Courts)… post short-link ends “-a6m,” published August 7,
both posts pointing towards another long-delayed one, which is up next.
The “next up” post urges readers to answer a few tough questions I deduce are not being addressed in public reporting on the problems with “custody courts” (family courts). Nor are these questions addressed or even being raised in the coordinated, multi-state and at some points, international efforts to correct course within the family law courts (Canada, USA and the UK) by a variety of means. That “next up” post is currently called:
What I have here is just paving the way, featuring some details which don’t really belong at the bottom of the previous post. The cause, the situation, and the organization (referenced in my post title) and the tobacco-sales-based resources coming its way — and coming from similar sources but through other conduits — is just too big. As I discovered taking another closer look this time, networked with certain other name-changing, trade-name using entities. As usual, at least one of these operates out of a university law school, helping to promote the law school’s and the individual running the nonprofit’s reputation as “one of the good guys” too.
An AFCC law professor also has for years worked in another part of the same school; seeing this setup reminded me again of the pattern of utilizing college connections to promote interests of private 501©s, utilize any available interns (graduate or undergrad students, giving them extra clinical experience) and portray it as in the public good. This leverages an obvious advantage to the general public in “priming the perspective” of future lawyers before they’re out the gate…
Non-professors and people who can’t afford to fund centers at law firms are at a disadvantage when conflicts of interest may indeed exist, but leverage to show (publicize) it does not.
As to the anti-tobacco (stop-smoking) public-interest nonprofits — why do the good guys have to employ chameleon tactics, wear in effect masks, and direct public resources to places unknown? For “ALF,” now “Truth Initiative,” that’s measured in billions, not millions. And we are twenty years into it as of 2019.
More on the sequence of posts here: Before the about seven recent posts cleaning up the blog’s sticky posts, sidebar widgets and producing a table of contents for 2019 (so far), on June 22, 2019, I was on the topic of things about which we should know by now. “By Now We Should Know“*** post indicates where I’m going; I just had to show why “A Health System Flush With Cash” is not something to be safely ignored, and give some indicators of size and scope.
***“By Now We Should Know!” (Impromptu Re-cap of Key Players addressing [how to handle] Domestic Violence especially as it impacts Family Courts) (Apr 28 ~> June 22, 2019). (short-link ending “-9NU”.. as insert to “More Perspectives” late April: 6,000 words; latest revs for clarity and extra links, 6/23/2019).
This post prepares people for another post, already written [[next up, not published yet, as shown above//LGH Aug. 2019]], which asks a hard, “what-if” rhetorical question. I hope readers on considering that (coming post’s) rhetorical question have the integrity to consider where they may have been radically mis-led about the real purposes of family court reform/fix/correct movements. Even though it may be embarrassing, confronting, or disturbing.
After ten years of blogging, I’m confident to say, I wouldn’t trust ANY group which has been around ten or more years — or drawing policy off any other which has been — who has failed to point this out. We are dealing with massive resources of the state’s health agencies, which are somewhat inexhaustible to the extent they continue taxation to replenish them…
EIN — Employee Identification Number. (Sometimes called “FEIN”).
ENOUGH INTRODUCTION. I have some things to say, to show also, and towards the bottom (clearly marked) a series of “clean-copy” tax return images (huge) from the organization on post title.
I may add some VERY much annotated ones I see made in 2017 on first discovering this, below them. Again, they’ll be easy to find. (May be 2002 annotated, or even some 2003). Or, more likely, a link adding to where they might be found. Those annotated tax returns should raise some serious questions about why we aren’t asking more serious questions about what kind infrastructure has been created here, and how FEW people, really, were behind its creation.
My reading shows that this was built up and primed intergenerationally. I believe it should be seen in that context because that’s how the largest foundations, and people drawn to powerful positions within government tend to operate.** Once in power, they don’t like to reliquish it easily. Embedding their programs within it and creating a public/private co-dependency “in the public interest” seems a great way to ensure continuity – – not matter what it costs the taxpayers.
**When it comes to the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes (now plural) of Health, that’s been documented. I have, on this blog; the HHS has, others have. One of the most powerful lobbyists was the widow (twenty? years his junior and outlived him by about 40 years) of an advertising giant: the heiress (because of that) Mary Lasker.
Now a large chunk of the ALF (as seen 2002) is going to advertising campaigns seeking to effect behavioral changes in youth, kids, and adults, massively so. Coincidence?
Is this all really science, or just the science of public relations, advertising, persuasion, and coordinated special interests in the public sphere? Take a look…
CONSIDER: PUBLIC (the State or Crown prosecutes) vs. PRIVATE (FAMILY/CIVIL) PROCEEDINGS:
Both types co-exist, parallel to each other, with major differences in ramifications.
Examples: Child abuse protections/dependency proceedings, or criminal prosecution of some forms of violence upon the person, i.e., domestic violence, stalking, kidnapping, etc. versus settling other issues and private debates about divorce, custody, visitation, etc. NOT involving criminal actions or allegations of them — just arguments about the best arrangements
While the USA and Commonwealth countries characterize, name, and it seems run these differently, similarities exist in that some involve the state in taking action to protect children or at times adults. In other words, a PUBLIC (dependency) aspect and the PRIVATE (“family courts”) one.
NOW CONSIDER: All family (private/civil) courts (USA or Commonwealth countries) will be at some point intersecting with national health systems (US: The Federal Dept. of HHS) and resources, especially where there are child protection proceedings. So will some of the dependency proceedings (criminal prosecution of child abuse & neglect) resulting in children needing new homes — i.e., foster care and adoption.
NOW CONSIDER: The size of the USA and its habit of taxing income of citizens, even income earned outside the country, and of (especially at home/domestically) promoting the proliferation of tax-exempt entities to assist it in delivering services is a major issue.
NOW [THIS POST] CONSIDER[s] ONE, SPECIFIC, BIG, TAX-EXEMPT, USA (“D.C.”) ENTITY…
which <> has already changed its legal name once from the already-broad reference ‘American Legacy’ to an even broader one ‘Truth Initiative’ — neither of which had the word “health” “tobacco” or “smoking.” which <> characterizes most of its expenses at “OTHER” (unidentified) on the tax returns, and <> which, while promising audited financial statements are available on-line on both its tax return and even on the (newer) website fails to deliver them (as in 2017, so still in 2019), despite initial billion-dollar assets held, and plenty of ongoing revenues.
Also, <> granting out, the year 2002, $27M, which grants are shown on the tax returns in close to invisible font-size, shrunk more than any other portion of the same tax return, and adding needless extra columns the IRS didn’t ask for. Many of these (visible, sort of, if you squint or utilize a magnifying glass (or, on-line, zoom function) while switching views back and forth because “grantee” name is so far away from the $$ amount) are to local health departments, which residents in any recipient state have a right to know its outside (private) revenue sources. These practices obscure that information and erect barriers to finding it.
(html error? loops back to requesting page, or a look-alike).
In that context, for this post, two other tax-exempts with, at least now, common leadership also came up. One of them has so far had several name changes since its startup (about the same time as American Legacy) and the other, which a closer look just brought to my attention through a detail on the first one, was a DC-based 1967-founded nonprofit, with leadership (at least in the last decade or so) in common, and definite global ‘health” goals.
I’m not doing a timeline on either of these two, but post here a few choice screenprints from website and/or excerpts from a tax return or two. Below that I’m going to post many from American Legacy Foundation, FY2002.
All this further illustrates what happens once such an issue-specific infrastructure is created, a few, privately controlled and funded, much smaller surrounding ones whose leadership was directly involved in the same issue, as both media and legal “technical assistance and training,” before, during and after.
The connections between those who helped set up the infrastructure and those who are still administering it remain strong. The connection to telling “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing BUT the truth,” remains weak, it seems, by design.
This post continues to look at how some of the health-related revenues here, not directly from income taxes, but dealing with the aftermath of United States attorneys general going after “big tobacco” for reimbursement of health costs, are being reported on the recipient entity (“American Legacy Foundation,” now called “Truth Initiative Foundation,” EIN #911956621) tax returns.
Read the rest of this entry »
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A Health System Flush With Cash — because ‘Smoking Causes Cancer’ (1998 Tobacco Class Action Litigation MSA Payments, and Tobacco-Related Taxes Impact ‘in perpetuity’ on Systems Affecting Family Courts) (Begun Early June; Publ. Aug. 7, 2019)
ANY post may be further edited (as in, condensed, or expanded, or both) after publishing. Blogger’s privilege!
A Health System Flush With Cash — because ‘Smoking Causes Cancer’ (1998 Tobacco Class Action Litigation MSA Payments, and Tobacco-Related Taxes Impact ‘in perpetuity’ on Systems Affecting Family Courts) ((Begun Early June; Publ. Aug. 7, 2019) post short-link ends “-a6m.” Currently 5,200 words, having just been shortened (split), but this one is still a bit complex. Following the funds has been made complex. Last update, Sunday, August 11, 2019.
This post represents a preview to the preview of a draft which when published may be found, with a short-link ending “-9PC,” HERE:
I was working towards getting that one published, while (as usual) stating my concerns and explaining the basis for them. Neither this post nor that one are “PC” / politically correct no matter which political party you may favor.
re: ‘TWO HELPFUL LINKS’ — Image from TopRightSidebar, ‘GO TO POSTS’ widget, shows TOC 2019 & 2018 + ‘Key Posts 2012-2017’ (LGH, @ Sept. 1, 2019)
TWO HELPFUL LINKS added Sept. 1, 2019 (for blog overview, recent years).
Table of Contents 2019, Family Court Matters’ Posts + Pages: January 1 – August 31 (so far). (Shortlink ends “-ayV.” About 6,300 words,posted August 5, updated Aug. 31) (You can also link to this TOC post any time from the top right sidebar, under”GO TO: All Posts, incl. Sticky, Tables of Contents..” widget, which holds several boxes for navigating to specific important places (posts or pages, incl. the home page), and,
(Table of Contents 2018, Posts and Pages.. (publ. 24Mar2019, short-link ends ‘9y7’)
To understand this post (and when published [it finally was: Aug. 28?, 2019], that one) it may help to realize how much time I spend “underground,” looking at organizations and their interactions with government using both their own descriptions (however mis-leading) and the ones available to me as a common person with normal internet access (i.e., not most specialty-journals, i.e., JSTOR, Wiley, many other publishers catering to the social science or legal sectors).
Not being in academia, or a member of some ‘consortium’ on specific problem-solving topics, I mostly look at public-access databases, whether on state or federal agency websites, at IRS.gov listings, and, where possible, tax-return databases (for USA), where tax returns may be posted. Or, at times, financial statements of an organization of interest. Because my lookups feature things that do NOT require special membership or journal subscriptions, I can say that those with basic internet access and willing (or able) to put in some personal time, can, and could have, found out the things I am reporting. Why so many haven’t may vary by personality, motivation, or opportunity.
I may seem “alarmist” but be properly alarmed about things which have missed observation while people are busy reading mainstream media on their favorite subject matter and following the thought-leaders often featured in them, for a good, general-interest story line.
In this post, I will be talking about some very large numbers. They are still just numbers…**
**CONSIDER WHY “NUMBERS” ARE STILL IMPORTANT, NOT TO BE IGNORED: ADDITIONAL COMMENTS (8/11/2019):
As measurements, numbers serve as a point of comparison other numbers: bigger or larger. They can be compared across the same named categories, or different ones. They can (ideally) be compared within one organization’s reports for a single years, across the years (one organizations), or cross-organization.
NUMBERS on tax returns (or federal grants databases) should provide a general sense of size, of the various categories (public, private, for-profit, not-for-profit (a technical term which ends up meaning almost the exact opposite: functioning NONprofit actually increases, preserves profits (through tax-exemption), depending on management). So is a general sense of growth (what direction business — or government — has been moving over time. Individually we (I hope!) do this for our own households and lives, maybe of our children’s — but what about of our own governments’ (plural), or the organizations dealing with them?
By “NUMBERS” I’m not just talking about dollars (revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities) but, for example, how many subcontractors (few or many?), grantees (the same), how many collaboratively networked organizations focused on getting a single — or a selected SET of — transformations in (A) practices, then (B) legislation to further regulate (endorse or prohibit) practices. They shouldn’t be ignored in the reporting of family court fiascoes, complaints about individual judges or associated professionals, and numbers that bear no resemblance to reality when quoted consistently by advocates should be taken as the red flags they are.
That’s my mini-spiel to counter a common protest at my continuing to look at the numbers on tax returns while others are posting head-shots and dramatic accounts of “judicial decision-making” gone horribly wrong….
…Their sheer size (see post title) is itself a message. Then, there’s a message in who, if anyone, is reporting anything credible about them, and in where the force of those numbers ($$) is applied, through whom, and how.
But, like welfare reform of 1996 and subsequent varieties, it is a United-States-specific situation (while impacting other countries and I imagine echoed by campaigns in other countries also; in fact WHO is known to be involved in the quit-smoking field, and as recently as 2009 the United States apparently became subject to a treaty related to this, which I posted in 2017 the first time I worked through much of this tobacco litigation situation).
Below in this post, I remind us of the American Legacy Foundation (now called “Truth Initiative Foundation,” dba “Truth Initiative,” which seems an even more grandiose title than “American Legacy” (and minus even any geographic or political/country reference). I had posted a link to a pdf which I’d in (it turns out) in late July, 2017, of its FY 2002 Form 990 IRS tax return (not the first one). I’d posted on this almost exactly two years ago (as I write on this update). Among several posts at the time, the level of detail on this next one will reward anyone who goes through it with better understanding of current, ongoing situations in the U.S. government.
By that I don’t mean just this Presidential Administration but the major, and often invasive, role the state (in the form of the DHHS) takes in dominating most of us, and between US DHHS and the USDOE (which, you may recall (or, see ALLgov.com or any other history) from 1953 -1980 used to be both under one federal department called “HEW — Health, Education, and Welfare.”
Another way to look at this — it was built up substantially after World War II.
More recent changes nationally and internationally (Brexit, mass shootings & the prospective of major changes in gun control legislation**, executive-branch USA initiated trade war with China affecting US farmers who sell much food to it (today’s local headlines…) continue fast, and furious, and altering fundamental relationships between (and within) countries I realize — but it really does help comprehension to take an overview (timeline) of key players in key federal agencies, and see mass movements in action from a structural/operational viewpoint.
**Searching just “gun safety” on this blog (for the posts I remembered writing, but not exactly when), one from December, 2017, comes up (I plan to off-ramp this next section to its own post, soon, however for which post is likely up (to be published) next, see the very bottom of this post…).
[SECTION REMOVED; PENDING POLISHING OF ITS DESTINATION POST, IT IS NOW OFF-LINE, THOUGH I HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING IT ON TWITTER, TO A DEGREE. August 10, 2019.]
Here, doing the “drill-down” (looking at actual nonprofit filings and how organizations refer to themselves and any related entities (or don’t when ought to) quickly leads to information which speaks loudly about their character (founders & funders’ intents as seen by design and, again, their reporting).
**[NOTE: THIS NEXT SECTION LIKELY TO BE NOW HAS BEEN SPUN OFF SOON, DUE TO NEW DISCOVERY DURING ROUTINE POST-PUBLICATION COPYEDITING. MY POST IS ABOUT PAYING ATTENTION TO THE HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE, DESPITE MASS SHOOTINGS/GUN CONTROL ISSUES AND DRAMATIC DISTURBING CURRENT EVENTS. MANY HIGH-PROFILE EVENTS AND SCENARIOS ARE CAPABLE OF BEING SET UP TO PROVOKE BASIC POLITICAL RESPONSES WHILE A POPULATION IS IN TRAUMA. REGARDLESS OF WHO PERPETRATED WHAT, EXISTING ORGANIZATIONS AND POWER STRUCTURES ARE PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF EXPLOITING THINGS THEY MAY HAVE HAD NO HAND IN CAUSING (OR, MAY HAVE HAD SOME HAND IN SETTING THE SCENE FOR; EITHER WAY. SOMETHING, AS INVESTIGATIVE BLOGGER ON DV TOPICS, I SEE DAILY, AND HAVE ALSO PERSONALLY EXPERIENCED FOR YEARS.]
** The next three paragraphs: (inside this box) paragraph from the removed section still apply. I’m still hoping to discover if there is — or definitely is NOT — any parallel capability in other, case in point of interest (for “FamilyCourtMatters.org”), Commonwealth countries as we have — though certainly not in full force, comprehensive, timely or accurate — in the USA).
MY MAIN POINT WAS THE ABILITY TO LOOK AT TAX RETURNS in the US. THE RECENT DISCOVERY of a CERTAIN Cafcass/Nuffield-Foundation connected, City University of London-educated on AFCC’s Board of Directors generated extra posting here… It caught me off-guard, although the friendly relations between the two organizations are not news.
In the US, we have an Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) and individually, corporately (including nonprofits) file tax returns. That’s one reason some people understand, for example, how AFCC’s incorporation and state-level nonprofit registration behavior has been, er, ah — not up to standard (and at times non-existant when it should’ve been). Yet it wants to set international standards for divorce, custody, mediation, how to handle domestic violence, and has a news letter (or had) called “Kids Count on Us.”
These are posted — not fully, not always timely, not always filled out right — but they ARE posted and the IRS (federal) can and does automatically revoke organizations which simply don’t file three years in a row. They can then re-instate (and may already have by the time the IRS data is updated to show they were revoked — which can take a few months, a half year, or it seems sometimes longer)..
My August 5, 2017 post (“An Alternate Viewpoint on the Anti-Smoking / Smoking Causes Cancer! Campaign and its Syndicated (?) Backers…”) (full title — yes it’s longer and explains the first part — shown just below) is a good preview for the post you see now, which exists to previews another (pending) one asking some very hard questions — hard because they are in fact common sense questions with heavy consequences if actually answered — about the Family Law System.
I expect to re-post or at least Tweet a link to that well-developed one written almost exactly two years ago, knowing I may not be able to keep up that level of research much longer “pro bono.”
So much of our basic health infrastructure is, when you look closely, heavily about publicity, advertising and media campaigns. Similar things could be said about the educationalestablishment (which this post goes into towards the bottom — the “RELs” (Regional Education Laboratories) — and in general, how scarce actual fiscal accountability can be and has been through-out.
“TruthInitiative.org” home page (top) viewed Aug. 7, 2019.
If you can understand some of the reported realities on such large-scope activities driven by so very few people, I hope that understanding just might transfer (and it must — soon!) how the same vast discrepancies in the number of family court “reformists” and the population of this country whose voice is NOT being heard about the family courts, in part because the history of those courts hasn’t been considered or understood, especially how heavily tied it is into the existing health apparatus.
It seems we want diversity in almost anything else, but when it comes to something this important, it’s basically one of only two sides, Pro/Con (for the courts).
That alone should signal something might be radically “off.”
And there are ways to look at some influential things which have NOT changed in decades — simply grown in size, scope, influence and (as this post says) the amount of assets privately controlled…with the public footing the bill, eventually…and/or up front.
An Alternate Viewpoint on the Anti-Smoking / Smoking Causes Cancer! Campaign and its Syndicated (?) Backers incl. the Whiteheads, the Laskers, the NIH and the U.S. Congress (from SmokersHistory.com and Other Sources. See also Tobacco Lawsuits and 1998 MSA Settlement Funds ~~} American Legacy Foundation, now the so-called Truth Initiative®) (post started 7/31, published 8/5/2017) with case-sensitive short-link ending “-7na” (15,400 words, “Fasten Your Seatbelts –this one’s details are SO still relevant to FAMILY COURT issues!! <~That comment, Aug. 7, 2019. I’m re-posting this (or Tweeting, etc.) in preparation for a follow up post//LGH)
I’ve been working diligently for some weeks on related but larger, in fact, macro-financed systems affecting the collective state (and county-level) health departments and agency systems which in turn influence the family courts.
Tobacco Settlement Payments to Counties and Cities, 1999-2019 (shows California only…). NOTE: One full page = one year’s worth; there are 20pp., so the total $$ showing at the top of page 1 first seen is for 1999 only. Some years have more columns (categories of payments) than others.… While CA and NY got the largest settlements (of those that signed on for the MSA), all other states and territories were also being paid..A separate quote below (from PHLC) says that by July 2018, these two states had received (combined) 25% of the total. Thus, what you see about would be about 12.75% or one-eighth. “Do the math….“
The Mary Lasker Papers (from profiles.NLM.nih.gov). I have posted this in context of big tobacco litigation, as I recall in 2017). See also her bio section there (wealthy ad agency owner Albert Lasker was nearly 60–nearly 20 yrs older– when they met after her prior divorce from an art gallery owner).
I’ve been revisiting the connections between tobacco litigation and tobacco-tax-revenue money and the expanding (yet consolidating) administrative levels of early-childhood (starting at age “0” at the latest) development seeking to swaddle entire communities/ counties/ states with early childhood development theory, practice, resources (curricula) and of course interventions —
— the same fields which dovetail naturally with divorce and custody proceedings and social science R&D on poverty (and abuse, and juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, etc.) theory as this blog has been reporting for years now. In these fields, psychology seems to reign supreme.
I’ve been trying to summarize, succinctly enough but still showing first, the billions of dollars per state per year, and “in perpetuity,” of extra financing which has been funneled through additional infrastructure (both public and private) set up specifically to handle it, and second, evidences of the impact.
CLASS ACTION MASTER SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN MOST STATES AND FIVE TERRITORIES AND USA’s LARGEST CIGARETTE MANUFACTURERS…
This doesn’t include, additionally, revenues from extra taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products some states (like California) enacted as well, then and/or later, all of which created revenue streams received SOMEWHERE within government and distributed FROM there, as authorized legislatively when those streams were created..
Master Settlement Agreement (<~From the Truth Initiative website): between 46 states and 5 territories (on one one hand) and the largest U.S. tobacco manfacturers and trade associations (on the other), after which, per this, 40 more tobacco companies joined. State attorneys-general sought and apparently got, billions of dollars of payments every year going to the states based on costs of treating “smoking-related illnesses” (quotation from above link):
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Table of Contents 2019, FamilyCourtMatters.org’s Posts + Pages: January 1 – Dec. 31(complete list).
(Post updated month by month since first posted Aug. 5. Some updates include explanations or commentary..//LGH Dec. 19, 2019
I added the last post published in 2019 (Dec. 21) to this Table on June 10, 2020; dates covered are later than date first published//LGH.
YOU ARE READING:
Table of Contents 2019, FamilyCourtMatters.org’s Posts + Pages: January 1 – Dec. 31 (complete list).
(Shortlink ends “-ayV.” About 9,600 words (w/ monthly updates extending the table; word-count high in part because of the post “tags” added to the table as their own rows). Last update Dec. 19, 2019, adds all Nov. posts and all Dec. posts so far (@12/19).
Post published August 5, and updated periodically as the blog grows. The post shows on the table, chronologically under Aug. 5th, but being marked “Sticky” remains in top position of “Current Posts.” TOCs 2018 and 2019 are both recommended reading for my current research focus (browse titles) as is anything which made it onto my top right sidebar widget. Direct links to both this post and TOC 2018 show on my right sidebar, and both also are marked sticky, so TOC 2018 is also stationed among the top 12 posts. I’ll explain this again below with some images.
Within the table of contents, you’ll see this August 5 post easily from its white-on-black color scheme:
| 2019 | FAMILYCOURTMATTERS.org The Year in Posts & Pages (so far, through Dec. 16) (with approximate word counts for each and “tags” for some) |
URL: short-link ends: |
|---|---|---|
| (Normal color for a row containing a post title & link) | ||
| Aug. 5 STICKY, & THIS POST |
Table of Contents 2019, Family Court Matters’ Posts + Pages: January 1 – Dec. 16 (so far). (“Sticky.” About 6,000 words initial; the word count growing month-by-month with each update of course) |
-ayV |
Table of Contents Post PREVIEW
Table of Contents 2019 here, unlike TOCs for 2012-2014, 2016, and 2017, incorporates any new pages by date published. Individual TOCs for late 2012 – 2017 can still be accessed within the top dozen sticky posts through the one for “2017” which internalizes links to the others: full title: 2017 Table of Contents Continues Themes From 2016. See TOC for: (1) 2017 now thru March Sept. 21; (2) 2016 All; (3) Sept. 2012 – June 2014, Reverse Chrono, and (4) See Also More Info Below. Shortlink-ends 5qZ,first published Jan. 9, 2017..
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58 More Essays (Pages) on Essentials** of the Family Court Arena. **IMHO, as expressed 2009-2019.
You are reading: 58 More Essays (Pages) on Essentials** of the Family Court Arena. **IMHO, as expressed 2009-2019. (WordPress-generated, case-sensitive short-link ends “-ar9“. //LGH July 31, 2019. About 8,000 words as updated Aug. 4, 2019) This title will be repeated a few inches below (that time with a Footnote [1]).
ANY post may be further edited (as in, condensed, or expanded, or both) after publishing. Blogger’s privilege!
re: ‘TWO HELPFUL LINKS’ — Image from TopRightSidebar, ‘GO TO POSTS’ widget, shows TOC 2019 & 2018 + ‘Key Posts 2012-2017’ (LGH, @ Sept. 1, 2019)
TWO HELPFUL LINKS added Sept. 1, 2019 (for recent subject matter overview):
Table of Contents 2019, Family Court Matters’ Posts + Pages: January 1 – August 31 (so far). (Shortlink ends “-ayV.” About 6,300 words,posted August 5, updated Aug. 31) (You can also link to this TOC post any time from the top right sidebar, under”GO TO: All Posts, incl. Sticky, Tables of Contents..” widget, which holds several boxes for navigating to specific important places (posts or pages, incl. the home page), and,
(Table of Contents 2018, Posts and Pages.. (publ. 24Mar2019, short-link ends ‘9y7’)
I had fun writing these; hope you enjoy reading them. Browse their titles, pick somewhere and dive in!
The “58 Essays” referenced in the title came from ‘PAGES’ (widget) from off right sidebar with all the links. The list of those titles with links directly to each one, also a 3X3 (nine total screenshots index) of all titles as seen formerly on the sidebar widget are the only illustrated (images involved) items on this post and are at the bottom. Look for images with some colorful lines and arrows, a bit of side-line commentary like these next two:
4
8
All material is my writing except where quoted, and all 58 pages were previously written across that ten-year time span. Now pinned to the top of the blog (designation “Sticky”), this post features them as basic content (and shortens the sidebar considerably).
As ever, I voice my concerns about and continue to raise awareness of both current developing and longstanding situations whenever/wherever I have opportunity, including while writing this introduction.
Having written too much while creating this administrative/index post, I then off-ramped extra introduction text to:
Acknowledgements, Executive Summary (Current Projects | Rolling Blackouts) and What Makes This Blog “What You Need to Know” (July 31, 2019). (shortlink ends “-auh”, also marked sticky).
That post holds key content on current developments and actors seeking to change family court legislation “locally” (within certain United States) and, I see, the battle pro/con “parental alienation” continuing internationally, with some of the same players on the “opposed” side, regarding publication by WHO of another “ICD-11” nomenclature for diseases. … (July 10 2019, Collective Memo of Concern to WHO … RE: Inclusion of “Parental Alienation“[2]
I just happened to write the material on my mind while setting up this post. There are still some opening comments here, though; some navigation, some, just want I want to say: call it my opening spiel. (That too may be condensed later)…
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Acknowledgements, Executive Summary (Current Projects | Rolling Blackouts) and What Makes This Blog “What You Need to Know” (July 31, 2019).
ANY post may be further edited (as in, condensed, or expanded, or both) after publishing. Blogger’s privilege!
You are reading: Acknowledgements, Executive Summary (Current Projects | Rolling Blackouts) and What Makes This Blog “What You Need to Know” (July 31, 2019). (Shortlink ends “-auh”, marked sticky, this is currently 10,600 words. That includes two lengthy footnotes, one of which I expect to remove to its own post.)
Most of this post’s content has been moved from: 58 More Essays (Pages) on Essentials** of the Family Court Arena. **IMHO, as expressed 2009-2019. (Published July 31, 2019; Short-link ends “-ar9”) after both posts were published “sticky.” Because of that, there’s an element of “patchwork” in the post; but each part I hope communicates.
This post describes current projects in process, re-iterates my rationale for the blog, and gives key examples, “clues,” with links to where more may be found, showing that such clues have been around for a long time.
My blog in general alerts people (it cannot fully cover, solo) to the existence of a major information gap in reporting on family court-related matters, a gap it seems has been maintained by those wishing for a global restructuring of family law (nation by nation, apparently under UN / WHO standards) to go a certain way without addressing what, in fact, happened in the United States of America, where we have an allegedly secular (or at least Congress shall establish no-national-religion) government but somehow want to maintain official fatherhood policy — moderated by “family violence services” — closely mimicking several major religions, including those historically at war with each other, while emphasizing compromise with criminality and systemic abuse of women and children as the norm … “for family unity…”
BOTH the “Pro” and the “Con” sides on any (gender-based or”faith-based”) issue seem to be profiting from it. With this type of prolonged conflict an obvious question is, who stands to gain what from refusing to resolve it according to law, or common sense? How genuine are the causes being put forth as put forth?
I see this as more than just a power struggle for the role and place of women regarding men. It’s also a power struggle for control of future generations of workers, i.e., population regulation, and it’s a power struggle for economic dominance through infrastructures that continue to supersede and undermine from within (any jurisdiction, including country), the rule of law specific to that country. So, I’m going to continue testifying in this media, if not allowed another, to what I have not only experienced, but also witnessed and have been documenting for ten years now (and taking historical look-backs by government agency, nonprofit organizations, where available, and also reporting changes “in action” as they occur).
Just two post sections reflected in post title:
- Acknowledgements
- A significant part of the landscape, i.e. “The Problem” is a “Rolling Blackouts” situation // a sarcastic thank you to those generating a need for this blog. it’s also in part a statement of the problem; could’ve gone under “Executive Summary” where I see the title has it.
- Executive Summary
- “Current Projects” just names a few themes (geographies of interest) I’m working on now, of enough significance they got onto this top-ranked (pinned) post.
- Executive Summary contains quick summaries directed at people who may not “get” the role of the U.S. Congress in the current family court problems, and some exhibits (images).
- While I might expect that from people who don’t live or work in the USA, it’s a sad testimony that it continues being under-estimated or ignored by so many who do. (See “Rolling Blackouts” reference).
- Any footnotes to the same (or, they may be integrated into main text, if it flows right). Right now I have one referring to the State of Pennsylvania only.
These categories were added after I wrote, providing handy but casual labels, not for hard and fast rules.
This post despite its beginnings as a placeholder is I feel appropriately still near the top of the blog (right now, in Position #2) because it references currently developing events in different states (USA) and countries, some of which demand urgent attention from people who may not be aware of them, or of what seems like a coordinated strategy across different countries and in different states, frequently involving people and organizations I’ve had to report on, and at times personally deal with regarding those strategic cover-ups Read the rest of this entry »
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The “C” in “Comprehensive Annual Financial Report” Doesn’t Mean “For Nerds Only”! Short Preview/Review Sampler (July 27, 2019).
This post will be further edited after publishing. I made a decision to “just publish” July 27, 2019. It has enough content for relevant reading. Links are all present, not all quotes have been included or smoothly formatted towards the end. Bonus material keeps surfacing…and I am reporting in part on short-term (half-year) Workgroups on Custody (in one state) and trying to encourage all to, if necessary, take crash-courses on CAFRs and how government works, in part because of how it’s been working up til now!
This post came from More, Some Earlier, Sidebar Widgets Now Live Here (+ See Related July 9 post) [This one, Published July 19, 2019]* (shortlink ends “-ahh”) but you certainly don’t need that excuse to read it. The terms CAFR, GFOA, GASB are searchable on this blog; look for posts with some of those acronyms in a title.
re: ‘TWO HELPFUL LINKS’ — Image from TopRightSidebar, ‘GO TO POSTS’ widget, shows TOC 2019 & 2018 + ‘Key Posts 2012-2017’ (LGH, @ Sept. 1, 2019)
TWO HELPFUL LINKS added Sept. 1, 2019 (for recent subject matter overview):
Table of Contents 2019, Family Court Matters’ Posts + Pages: January 1 – August 31 (so far). (Shortlink ends “-ayV.” About 6,300 words,posted August 5, updated Aug. 31) (You can also link to this TOC post any time from the top right sidebar, under”GO TO: All Posts, incl. Sticky, Tables of Contents..” widget, which holds several boxes for navigating to specific important places (posts or pages, incl. the home page), and,
(Table of Contents2018, Posts and Pages.. (publ. 24Mar2019, short-link ends ‘9y7’)
This Post is: The “C” in “Comprehensive Annual Financial Report” Doesn’t Mean “For Nerds Only”! Short Pre-|Review Sampler. (Published July 27, 2019) (short-link ends “-ajs”) (about 8,500 words)
No, it certainly doesn’t. CAFRs are not just for nerds!
I’ve been working some of these topics long enough that it’s second nature to know where to look and how to find illustrations; I have a labeling syntax, stored folders with date and time (for most), try to save all originating links. Wrestling text (alone) or text and images into pleasant-looking blog posts is another matter; doing so with a nice, friendly tone and voice isn’t going to happen. Being sweet and friendly, long-suffering and above all patient seems just inappropriate to the situations developing right now in family courts inside and outside the USA. Some mental lights need to start going on outside the assigned, typically given more “take-it-on-faith” leeway standard experts canvassing the country for recruits and trying to, as ever, federalize and internationalize their pet perspectives on “what happened?!?” when kids are getting hurt by virtue of decisions made within the family court system and NOT made regarding some of the same actions in the criminal system.
Private court divisions and sytems which have only been set up “just in time” for welfare reform are now embedded, so the debate about DIS-embedding them would affect existing political powers in, probably, every state.
Lack of understanding of other countries’ systems or innovators (i.e., private associations featuring civil servants), similar-sounding but different-meaning terms (like “family courts”!) and differences in levels of public accountability (theoretical at least) for private associations a.k.a. foundations/charities/societies), is an issue.
Similarly lack of understanding differences in systems of taxation — i.e., government itself — particularly when it comes to federal vs. state or (Canada) provinces or (UK) the various countries involved blurs the significance of what is taking place now, but which has been set in process decades earlier. In other words, people who were thinking beyond their own generation of what they wanted the world (and I can speak for, the United States) to look like, are getting what they wanted now — chaos, division, exploitation, and, generally, a population which doesn’t bother or cannot read its own country’s financials, and know when it’s been lied to through withholding, or told the truth. THAT’s a gullible population which can be prodded into voting against its own best interests nearly any time of day or night. What I’m saying — “it’s a massive cattle drive.”
We can’t (logically) just “bail” on all skills involved in finding and reading financial statements (either public or private) and understanding where one intersects with the other (i.e., organizing principles) and expect to have some form of “justice” long-term.
CAFRs represent the government part. They have a message to tell; they are not just for nerds.*
* UrbanDictionary definition * Wikipedia
A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly technical, abstract, or relating to topics of science fiction or fantasy, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities.[1][2][3] Additionally, many so-called nerds are described as being shy, quirky, pedantic, and unattractive.[4]
Originally derogatory, the term “nerd” was a stereotype, but as with other pejoratives, it has been reclaimed and redefined by some as a term of pride and group identity. ..
Some of the stereotypical behaviors associated with the “nerd” stereotype have correlations with the symptoms of Asperger’s Syndrome or other autism-spectrum disorders.[25]
Looking up Hans Asperger (Austrian pediatrician active during Nazi era, his paper on Asperger’s pre-dated another’s on Autism): “Hans Asperger, National Socialism, and ‘race hygiene’ in Nazi-era Vienna” by Herwig Czech in Molecular Autism 9: article 29 (2018): Wow… Read the Abstract! and (not too surprising).
That subject deserves its own post. Apart from the stunning similarities to situations today, the back-story on the article is about the journal it’s in “Molecular Autism”, and the co-chief editors. The co-editor in chief from the UK, who’s made a career, basically developing theories and running centers featuring Autism (with Asperger’s being deemed on the AS — Autism Spectrum), was until 2016 married to a well-known and apparently loved family rights lawyer and “OBE” Bridget Lindley (she died, unfortunately and suddenly, at home, in 2016. That’s not the story but should also be explored for fuller understanding of how these things can still be…)
Illuminating article for sure, and situation, and its formal layout (and being open-access) is definitely appreciated..
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More, Some Earlier, Sidebar Widgets Now Live Here (+ See Related July 9 post) [This one, Published July 19, 2019]
More, Some Earlier, Sidebar Widgets Now Live Here (+ See Related July 9 post) [This one, Published July 19, 2019]* Published short (shortlink ends “-ahh”) Likely to be expanded or revised later. For any widget contents added later, I’ll also add a thumbnail image to the index. Last updated 7/20 to add the final widget listed in the Index which’d missed inclusion when first published. With that and comments (marked clearly) on top, approximately 6,300 words.
*Many of My Sidebar Widgets, Some Mostly Text, Others Mostly Links, Now Live Here! [Published July 9, 2019] (shortlink ending “-abt”)
In a continued effort to be nicer to readers — not nice enough to shut up on the subject matter, but nice enough to continue to shorten and spruce up the front pages and sidebar — and Whether New to You or Just a Helpful Review, here’s a second post containing widget contents (with an Index/Image Thumbnail Gallery) laced with links and language providing an overview and some timeline of blog contents. (See the first one at the “*” just above. I included its Thumbnail Index, clearly labeled, on this post too).
I am blogging in an enormous gap/blindspot of source information on the nature and character of major causes and movements. I am not the first explorer here, but explorers are hard to hear, sometimes, over the din of sponsored/professionally-affiliated experts with a narrow, easier-to-sell agenda. I don’t know what became of all previous explorers (many of them); I do know there is the burn-out factor AND the sell-out factor; and none of them are likely to live to be 100 and still reporting.
I suggest you get this while at least some of us are still alive, because that gap continues to widen. If only you could (or would dare to) see the connectivity in the underground caverns here, and knew first-hand through viewing it, how vastly different it is than surface reports are indicating.
Of this next batch of Sidebar Widgets whose contents are here (but may not stay on the sidebar for much longer):
One of them is from only four years into the blog; others, more recent.
One of them links to pages on another of my blogs (“Cold, Hard Facts”) which document my discovery of the CAFR factor and increasing interest in the larger history of major tax-exempt foundations (both of) which have driven international (and domestic) development for a century now. The pages also reference the origins and beliefs behind the USA’s “TANF” (“Temporary Aid to Needy Families, a term applied only 1996ff) and welfare policies today. There’s a connection by way of the former Arkansas Governor and U.S. President Bill Clinton to private influence beyond the reach of “White House Staffers” (as a consultant), to Rhodes Scholars. The Rhodes Trust (and Cecil Rhodes) is directly tied into colonization and exploitation of South Africa.
MINI-P/REVIEW of the “CAFR” ISSUE, in case it’s new territory — why you get to know that territory hands-on [your eyes on several types of ‘CAFRs’), not from second-hand summaries talking about them. Each CAFR also has its own summary and Notes!
FOR MORE INFORMATION on CAFRs (basics, significance), see:
The “C” in “Comprehensive Annual Financial Report” Doesn’t Mean “For Nerds Only”! Short Preview/Review Sampler. (July 21, 2019) (short-link ends “-ajs”/ post in process, active when published)
No, it certainly doesn’t. CAFRs are not just for nerds!
One of the earlier widgets hits on the Welfare Reform issue** quoting from the Clinton Library (an era that is more important and has more signals as to restructuring of government itself (US federal forcing the change at the State level through the force field of Social Services (Social Security Act of 1934) than most realize, especially when it comes to family court and domestic violence/child-abuse-related issues. Keywords from that short widget will lead to more source information (i.e., READ the documents available in that Presidential library to get a better understanding of some key people and organizations involved in it.).
**SPEAKING OF WHICH…. I am only in last few years realizing how parallel movements in this huge sector of US Government (when the former HEW split off its Education Department leaving “Health and Human Services” (HHS) administering “Welfare” now the largest grantmaking agency around), for the timing (1980s, 1990s) matches some major changes in the UK education system (Education Reform Act of 1988 was the first major one since 1944, and impacted higher education too, not just for the schooling of minors) and thereafter the Children’s Act of 1989. Both acts deal with levels of government control and subsidy affecting people locally, and social mobility, etc. Looking at how another country handles similar issues is helpful for an outsider’s view of our own — but only also taking into account key differences, too.
There are structural differences in education terminology, how government is run, the role of religion in state-sponsored education (i.e., see The Church of England), and, I think, transparency in financing, as well as it seems significantly, the way government obtains its tax revenues.
MOVING ON: BASIC BLOG NAVIGATION and STRUCTURAL TERMS
Pardon me for talking the medium (context: on-line platform/plural of “medium” is “media“;basic terms like “sidebar” or “widget”) before the message (widgets’ content), but I know understanding this — the basic parts and function of the parts on any website — also helps navigate other, far more complex websites, and quickly detect intentional obfuscation — roadblocks to self-identification by the funding entity.
I maintain an awareness of this basic knowledge when I investigating what is presented and reported on-line. First, I want to know who owns a particular website (or who pays whom to run it), and, if it applies, as part of which conglomerate. This gives it a geographic (jurisdiction), age (new name of previous organization, spin-off organization, or collaboration housed at organization A, B, or C on a cause:
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CENIC!! (Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California). And National LambdaRail + the New Owner of the Los Angeles Times: My 2019 {{~~ CENIC Notes and Updates.
Published July 13, 2019, minor revs. July 14, (including correcting the typo in the title which called my 2019 updates my 2018 updates!). Post title, with my update year now corrected: CENIC!! (Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California). And National LambdaRail + the New Owner of the Los Angeles Times: My 2019 {{~~ CENIC Notes and Updates. (case-sensitive short-link still ends “-aed”) (about 10,600 words)
As dramatic in scope and scale of operations as the subject matter here is, writing it up or developing the full plot outline and sequence is not my main priority this season, or on this blog. If I do write or reorganize more, it’s in the process of getting answers I myself would like about collective the bottom lines for customers of CENIC and similar networks which universities and research institutions already depend upon, including hospitals, and what it means for the future, including the future envisioned by some of the controlling personalities with whom CENIC has had to deal over the years. Otherwise I’d wait and finish major revisions, or a follow-up post.
Parts of this situation caught my attention a few years ago when I looked up an unknown (to me) browser name, discovered it was tied to a nonprofit tied to statewide, high-bandwidth, high-capacity communications — something every university, research scientist (in almost any field) and, as it turns out here, doctor with a patented potential cure for cancer, might want, and does. (Point-of Delivery genetically individually targeted assessment and treatments).
People with actual leisure time and a mind (and the ability) to investigate could write it up in the style of (for example), Edward Jay Epstein’s “The Diamond Invention” (<~on-line book: 22 chapters, prologue and endnotes; I’ve read it and posted on it in the context of the history of the Rhodes scholars/trust; chronology of Namibia, and too-close-for-comfort parallels between the administration of South African apartheid and intentions and policies in the current ‘Welfare Reform’ and Social Services scenarios today.) pulling the narrative together to show agents, actors, promoters, and of course time and place, further illuminating national and global governments in action until this day as pertains to the key subject matter. Even in The Diamond Invention’s prologue paragraphs, I see parallels to the situation here, although diamonds aren’t drugs.
It’s a short prologue, he’s a good writer — check it out! ). From that prologue:
In Japan, the matrimonial custom had survived feudal revolutions, world wars, industrialization and even the American occupation …. The ceremony was then consummated, according to Shinto law, by the bride and groom both drinking rice wine from the same wooden bowl. This simple arrangement had persisted for more than a millennium. There was no tradition for romance, courtship, seduction and prenuptial love in Japan; and no tradition that required the gift of a diamond engagement ring.
Then, in 1967, halfway around the world, a South African diamond company decided to change the Japanese courtship ritual. It retained J. Walter Thompson, the largest advertising agency in the world, to embark on a campaign to popularize diamond engagement rings in Japan. It was not an easy task. Even the quartering of millions of American soldiers in Japan for a decade had not resulted in any substantial Japanese interest in giving diamonds as a token of love.
The diamond company already had the product. It perceived an untapped mass market and getting there first, then maintaining control and value indefinitely, which required major persuasion of the popular mindset (at the consumer end), when as it says, quartering millions of American soldiers in Japan for a decade hadn’t.
After a few paragraphs describing the vastly successful results, the prologue assesses the accomplishment:
..The diamond invention was an ingenious scheme for sustaining the value of diamonds in an uncertain world. To begin with, it involved gaining control over the production of all the important diamond mines in the world. Next, a system was devised for allocating this controlled supply of gems to a select number of diamond cutters who all agreed to abide by certain rules intended to assure that the quantity of finished diamonds available at any given time never exceeded the public’s demand for them. Finally, a set of subtle, but effective, incentives were devised for regulating the behavior of all the people who served and ultimately profited from the system.
This example came to mind after writing this post and the most recent lookups (not all posted here yet), some are referenced though. I hadn’t realized at first that both originated, in different ways, in South Africa and with the vision of just a few dominant men intent on success as measured by their personal visions and willing to do whatever it took to get to that point, and maintain it.
HOW MUCH and WHAT ASPECTS of both Africa, Europe, and the USA today has been impacted by diamonds as signs of engagement and true love, whether or not they be ‘blood diamonds’ and regardless of what happened to the people in the mines? Will we ever acknowledge that this was a scheme, or undue its effects? Has it just maybe affected politics and national economies?
The invention had a wide array of diverse parts: these included a huge stockpile of uncut diamonds in a vault in London; a billion-dollar cash hoard deposited in banks in Europe; and private intelligence network operating out of Antwerp, Tel Aviv, Johannesburg and London; a global network of advertising agencies, brokers and distributors; corporate fronts in Africa for concealing massive diamond purchases; and private treaties with nations establishing quotas for annual production.
The invention is far more than merely a monopoly for fixing diamond prices…
Different times, different products and infrastructure development, but still mega profits, and what seems to me, clear intent to monopolize them. Here, it’s about research advances, and especially cures for cancer. Billions have already been made with a few proprietary drugs; those billions being invested to developing more AND keeping the money coming in through control of a high-speed, high-capacity (dark fibre?) network where others have failed.
Success builds upon success: here we can see intents to build health hubs in specific cities, a literal internet paradise metropolis (with multiple interlocking nonprofits by founders to keep taxes down). As the timing here was leading up to 2010, I can only assume there was anticipation that the Affordable Health Care Act might contribute to the coffers. However, even without it, control of the conduits and access to them guarantees ongoing revenues.
So I think this story could be written equally well as a nonfiction novel, covering about a 50 to 70-year timespan. The events in this novel are occurring now, but who’s reading the screenplay?
CENIC Network overview (@2019July2). If the map looks unfamiliar (see state outlines), it may because California here is horizontal; in an upright (N/S) alignment it covers a good deal of the USA’s Pacific Coast. Guess it fit the blog page better horizontally! (Notice San Francisco left, Los Angeles, San Diego further right).//LGH
Post Title: CENIC!! (Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California). And National LambdaRail + the New Owner of the Los Angeles Times. My 2019<~~ CENIC Notes and Updates. (shortlink ends “-aed”). About 9,500 words on publishing. Might be shortened post-publication with a spin-off post, but as the top of this one says, that also just might not be my calling at the moment. (Post was originally published with a typo. Said updates (additions) were as of this week ending Saturday July 13, 2019, not 2018!//LGH).
2011 Businesswire: Change of CENIC leadership. Current CEO, Louis Fox, took the helm in 2012, succeeding a Jim Dolgonas (running CENIC since 2002), per this Dec, 2011 BusinessWire. Think “Fibre-optic wire” (then, 3,000 miles, now closer to 8,000 miles):
New CEO for CENIC, California’s High-Performance Research and Education Network Corporation (Dec. 16, 2011, La Mirada, California). Louis Fox to Lead Non-profit Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) Serving Virtually All of the Golden State’s Public Education System
CENIC designs, implements, and operates CalREN, the California Research and Education Network, a high-bandwidth, high-capacity Internet network specially designed to meet the unique requirements of these communities. CalREN consists of a [then!-] 3,000-mile fiber-optic CENIC-operated backbone to which schools and other institutions in all 58 of California’s counties connect via leased circuits obtained from telecom carriers or via CENIC owned fiber-optic cable.
(There are many Louis Fox’s around; The CENIC CEO Louis Fox’s LinkedIn (#9716404) shows he’d spent about 23 years at the University of Washington in a variety of positions (increasingly more responsible), has a B.A. from Kenyon (Kenyon College is in Ohio) and notations about (WU and) “Harvard” on the LinkedIn, but in what, not shown… (J. Ronald Fox at Harvard Business School) (<~just kidding, maybe a relative?)(probably much more current Louis Fox photo, at IeBroadband.com (apparently Oct. 2018, or upload that date). Even Bloomberg.com, (person profile #17502032), quite clear on his last three jobs, with big headings for “Career” “Education,” and “About” (CENIC, brief statement), lists the same three (well, one college and two universities) but the whole “Degrees” column is blank.
I don’t see any “Dr.” address throughout, so I’m going to assume that the highest level of graduate education Mr. (Louis) Fox MIGHT have reached would be a masters’ degree. I hope that working 23 years in increasingly responsible positions (so it seems) at major university in Seattle might require at least some proof of academia beyond a 4-year bachelor’s degree with no specific major (i.e., B.A. not B.S. or such)…
Right before CENIC he was simultaneously on PacificNorthwest GigaPOP (also a nonprofit, doesn’t post its financials), clearly international, and simultaneously (Mr. Fox was working for) what sounds like a US-based “JPA” | WICHE (Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, a trans-state governmental higher-education authority, like ‘WestEd’ I’ve blogged (this blog) earlier, particularly because its CAFRs are basically, hidden (if there are any being produced). WICHE operates as a nonprofit, lists is HQ as in Boulder, Colorado, includes both states and territories, has been around since 1953 (administering an education compact of the 1950s), and like the others, doesn’t post its financials, or any clear link to them, on a very informative and busy, brightly-formatted (black, white and blue mostly) website. It started at first in Eugene Oregon:
…WICHE began operations in 1953 in Eugene, OR, moving to its present location in Boulder, CO, in 1955. WICHE is governed by three gubernatorially appointed commissioners from each member. Under terms of the compact, each member commits to support WICHE’s basic operations through annual dues established by the full commission.
WICHE’s members include 15 Western states and member U.S. Pacific Territories and Freely Associated States (which currently include the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam).
(Next three images pertain to LinkedIn Louis Fox, but not WICHE I was also interested to see among PacificNorthwestGigaPOP’s Members, top of the list was EDUCAUSE which (I kid you not) was on my “To-Do” list, some of which is reflected on which windows I choose to keep open (see image gallery, showing some of my (alpha arranged by default) open browser windows, although none of the “NOYB” sort…).
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- EDUCAUSE (shown on my Browser Window) Screen Shot 2019-07-14
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- Louis Fox LinkedIn #9716404 (Middle (Work History 2010 (Inet2 – now (stable since Feb 2012) ~ SShot 2019July14 PST
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- PNWGP’net (Pacific NorthWest Gigapop) |people marked up to show (Educause & WICHE) viewed July 14, 2019 (for my CENIC!! post, revs). GLIF was in fact a key to that post (pulling together separate pieces of a puzzle)
CalREN is the product, CENIC operates it. CENIC is California only, what about interstate and international? What about networks in other states? There’s a definite story line here.
I’ve been cleaning up blog formats, and in the process, saw a full post of material on CENIC published, but submerged, as a sort of footnote to a Table of Contents page. It seemed like its own topic, and “CENIC!!” a natural title. A look through my saved files on this situation shows the interest went back to about January 2017, getting more serious in Sept. 2017, although it was obviously not the primary topic of this blog.
The bottom half (approximate) of this post, except any footnote, is what I understood on an initial drill-down, as originally published on my 2017 Table of Contents post (completed in early 2018), still one of the top sticky posts on the blog. (There are nine total: It’s ninth from the top, 2017 Table of Contents Continues Themes From 2016. (case-sensitive short-link ending “-5qz”. Until I publish again, it’s the one right above this post on “Current Posts” page.)
The top half (approximate) here holds my updates made while moving the earlier material. It’s a fascinating topic. I decided to share it (and take a break from blog administrative cleanup). There’s some repetition between top and bottom halves of the post and I’ve not re-arranged it as one piece with a timeline of news articles and key events by key players, though while reading I keep the general timeframe as attached to individual or entities A, B, or C in mind (a good practice in any reading; wish more people did this when it came to problem-solving the family courts, domestic violence and child abuse issues and causes).
re: ‘TWO HELPFUL LINKS’ — Image from TopRightSidebar, ‘GO TO POSTS’ widget, shows TOC 2019 & 2018 + ‘Key Posts 2012-2017’ (LGH, @ Sept. 1, 2019)
TWO HELPFUL LINKS added Sept. 1, 2019 (for recent subject matter overview):
Table of Contents 2019, Family Court Matters’ Posts + Pages: January 1 – October 31 (so far). (Shortlink ends “-ayV.” About 6,300 words,posted August 5, updated Aug. 31) (You can also link to this TOC post any time from the top right sidebar, under”GO TO: All Posts, incl. Sticky, Tables of Contents..” widget, which holds several boxes for navigating to specific important places (posts or pages, incl. the home page), and,
(Table of Contents 2018, Posts and Pages.. (publ. 24Mar2019, short-link ends ‘9y7’)
(2019 TOC Is now through October 31, 2019, as shown on the link (not the image) and about to be updated through Nov. The blog right sidebar will show most recent version of TOC 2019, post with shortlink ending “-ayV”)
CENIC had captured my attention back then as:
(1) a private nonprofit providing critical communications infrastructure for all levels (K-12 and universities, including some private and all? public ones in the state) and
(2) holding a strategically powerful position (“Connecting California to the World..” and interconnectivity among research institutions and universities within California: this state has several of famous ones, AND the public school systems K-12).
(3) I’d looked at the tax returns and, it being a California entity, its Charitable Registry annual filings, and quickly noticed failure to follow basic instructions and what appeared to be jacking up the access prices.
It’s obvious that when public institutions pay membership/access fees, the public is footing the bill, but probably unaware how unless actually involved. CENIC as a nonprofit controlled access to the network and its tax returns (see below) entailed some subsidiary (reported “Schedule-R” related organizations) one of which was “National LambdaRail” whether as an LLC or in acronym (NLR). etc.
As part of the communications infrastructure, it’s also part of the economic infrastructure of the country (and global communications). For CENIC’s “CalREN” (Research Education Network) no doubt there are others. (membership of “NLR” shows in its Wiki, below). The history of the fibre-optics network and “the need for speed” (and high-capacity info-crunching) comes with an economic corporate history also, and is an essential part of the 21st and last half of the 20th century.
[Considered explaining this further; decided “not here.” “Stay tuned…”]
Meanwhile men and women like myself have at times struggled to even retain access to slow-speed internet access, and at times, even a functional telephone or cell phone (and by “like myself” I mean those whose income depletion stretches over a decade or more in the family courts, especially those dealing with prior or current domestic violence (or should I call it “coercive control” and not violence or abuse?) issues, including stalking). Read the rest of this entry »
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FamilyCourtMatters.org Blog Previews, In Hindsight: Short(ish) Summaries (Collected July 1, 2019ff)
Post Title ~~>FamilyCourtMatters.org Blog Previews, In Hindsight: Short(ish) Summaries (Collected July 1, 2019ff) (Shortlink ends “-adQ”).<~~
I may add some “Taken From/Because” info for each, but in general the reasons are 1) No longer applicable except as a time capsule; life moves on… 2) Too damn long & 3) Embarrassing for other reasons also. I’m also curious what this personal “Wayback Machine” process may reveal about whether my current writing is just repeating with newer examples or is covering new ground.
~ ~ | (ca. 6,500 wds total) | ~ ~
I already know that as a blogger I’m digging into deeper layers on various subjects and/or entities, spiraling back into them over time, or if connections surface.
I don’t want to keep re-writing, at significant effort, things I’ve forgotten because, once something is written up well enough, it’s no longer the leading edge of my focus. The drill bit here, the edge, let’s not forget, is the inquiry itself; my curiosity and desire to know, NOT just to show, perhaps the force behind it. Like any drill bits, focus helps efficiency. (<~~That link is to a “Wiki,” with examples).
Drill bits come in so many shapes, sizes, and materials, depending the substance to be penetrated and how fast they’re going to be spun. They also wear out at different rates depending on their composition, what they’re drilling into (i.e., which surface may be tougher) and how fast rotated (where speed generates heat). I’m no mechanical engineer
I’m saying, it’s more effective to look at certain aspects than other when trying to get through the topsoil of this whole situation involving the family courts and why families are being destroyed, not particularly helped, through them. In some ways, our own ignorance functions as a substance, an opaque mask which needs to be penetrated, aired out, and seen through; but that’s an individual responsibility.
I’m most effective when highly focused without forgetting the overall direction and roadmap, and it’d help communications if there weren’t a need to re-iterate what that roadmap is every time, or every third time, as there’s not a whole team involved here. This post along with some others summarizing or keeping track of results as I find them (i.e., tables of contents, newly off-ramped sidebars, key posts, etc.) help me worry less about losing the chronology, better access parts of it not still residing just in my own internal “RAM” (or “cache”), etc.
They may also clear out (excess text summaries) prior drill-down sites for anyone who chooses to follow this type of inquiry and start doing (and ideally, posting, too) their own. Or even just to know the material, whether or not it’s written out, when it comes to on-line discussions with others aghast at the situation in public institutions, or what’s driving the ideology/ideologies behind them.
Is it really just beliefs, or a combination of beliefs and incentives, or mostly “incentives”? Wouldn’t it good be to have extra information on what’s on the menu of possibilities before deciding which meal to order, I’m talking, advocacy-wise?
In another blog** I know I’ve described the business entity (ensconced within public/private financial arrangements) drill-down process as going down a rabbit hole.
[**June, 2023 Update. I broke that link because it revealed too much personal information, like my family name.] (I’d written the post mostly for my own children, once they were adults). TImes have changed, and situations have changed for me. The blog dealt with the FJC topic, though, in some details because I’d sought help from them, during the dissolution (“custody-war”) and later, also. The details surrounding some of the origins of the first two in California are shocking. However, go look for the entities filings and learn on your own; that’s still possible.]
[Comments inside this blue-box added July 12, remembering the context and point of reference..]
**That blog was inspired (I began it) as a mother by a recent family outrage upon a (by then) young adult [son or daughter] and its significance in the larger context of court-connected events at the time), but in the process also deals extensively with family justice centers, who can be identified both organizationally (which parts public, which private, how they blend and where they tend to be housed — i.e., who rents to whom (Private to public, public to private, public to public, etc.) ) and who pays the staff/employees) and, if you’ve been to a few, by typical responses. I’ve been down a lot of rabbit holes in my time, looking to nail down who or what is the involved entity, and where nonprofits or government grants (i.e., potentially from either the US DHHS or the US DOJ ℅ the Violence Against Women (&/or “Victims of Crime”) Act to address things related to things this blog deals with (the issues coursing through the program-producing/maintaining veins of family court systems throughout the country, and internationally)), which ones — and how much father-engagement/marriage-mongering is taking place in the name of domestic (or “family”) violence prevention and — oh yes, why not also some — services.
Have done more types of investigations since I wrote that blog about six years ago but its topic covers a classic example (being replicated) endorsed by former U.S. President Bush in the early 2000s. It took me a while to understand how fiscally advantageous it was (due to tax-exemption) not to mention due to public/private blending, to co-locate “fragmented” services at “One-Stop Justice Shops” funded by the public, but often controlled or administered by a private tax-exempt foundation, making sure to encourage faith-based leadership (i.e., pastors et al.) to get involved.
Not all buildings labeled “Family Justice Center” seem to be necessarily aligned with “Alliance for Hope International, Inc.” fka the “National Family Justice Center Alliance,” (EIN#113692035<~FY2017 Form 990 in San Diego; also highly active in promoting batterers’ intervention and supervised visitation, etc. Someone ought to start a blog on this network. I’ve not posted all I have, but called them out long ago; visible on this post and the one linked just above this text box. An attempt was made to pass a law designating this model as THE model for co-locating DV and CA services throughout the state. It gained support from Former President Bush. SanDiego Union-Tribune Nov. 24, 2017, under “Watchdog” by Jeff McDonald(City Attorney just hired someone (Gael Strack) that refused to cooperate with a 2013 audit of the nonprofit. She’ll keep both jobs while City Attorney)<~~!!! Multiple name-changes of this filing entity and of its various “related” (or not) “Camps Hope,” i.e., let us get at those vulnerable kids (and some of their Moms) for nice vacation healing times — let us do the conference circuits and trainings; provide government grants (of course), but no (see their Form 990) we will NOT post our audited financial statements, (for the most part) file on time at the State level (as required by law) or even answer direct questions on short forms when submitting them months late — and all for a budget under $5M, involving government grants AND contracts, too..
Other search results** show that this (Ms. Strack, along with Mr. Gwinn also likely true) double-paid professional made a career in NOT talking about things like AFCC or “Fatherhood.gov” (at least on public websites) and taking advantage of Survivors as Volunteers (“VOICES”), has been making over $100K a year for a while. VOLUNTEERS can do something about this by insisting their supported organization file its tax returns on time, post independently audited financial statements voluntarily (Good Grief: Are former or current victims still concerned about stalking going to want to always provide address in exchange for information?) or go find some other volunteers — and report the organization meanwhile.
City Attorney position in any distinct from District Attorneys, in charge of prosecuting crime (or, under discretionary decision-making it seems, or practical matters, not doing so). Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer. **(Dec. 2017 (per url) sublinked through Bio posted at Strangulation Institute, an Alliance for Hope program (see footer © detail) // [End, comments added post-publication, on July 12].
Down those rabbit holes: With experience, it’s less overwhelming, but what often shows up is in essence corruption and hypocrisy which leads to an increasing personal awareness of just how powerfully placed the most corrupt manifestations of overall and even individual public sectors are.
The actual harm shows up more on the surface (and often dramatically so, along with long term erosion of basic living conditions). But below surface, it’s those previously-laid pipelines (whether electric, fiber-optic, water, plumbing & sewage, etc. — and I’m saying that metaphorically**) which show evidence of intent, planning and experienced planning at that. The infrastructure, the design, itself isn’t “flawed,” it’s predatory.
Divisive and conflicting theories of cause are set up, disseminated, and at certain boiling points, the “resolution” committees (already prepared for this) move into “help.” It’s disgusting in both quality and quantity.
**While some of those utilities are involved, I’m using those terms to refer to lines of communication, business entities, cross-border societies which provide expense-writeoffs for conferences to plan each new language or theory to drive government-backed commerce to (perpetrate) upon the unawares through basic judicial or other institutions
I cannot live down there mentally; I need to come up for air and food and more casual, normal human being communications. Condensing summaries here should help my own sense of the need to keep inserting them into posts, or just re-writing which was written OK the first time, although probably in different terms.
Format here is straightforward, just be aware a new heading represents a new summary added: Block copy & Block Paste. I’ll keep the same color scheme as originating post, and link back to it. If the material contains new or significant subject matter I’ve also posted on elsewhere, i.e., some show & tell images or links, I’ll try to tag those topics by content. My second entry below has some content tags already.
Either way (with or without new or significant subject matter), I’ll also tag them by date of where they came from in this format:
“About My Blog |taken from 2019March24 post”
On this post, to get to more than one summary, you must page-down past the ones on top: there are no drop-down-menus or fancy “see more at” linkages. (If you’re a WordPress user, so far I compose in “Classic Edit” mode not the newer “Block” mode which might facilitate this, but seems to complicate basic formatting access).I say this because browsing or skimming more than one will not be straight repetition (I’m fairly sure) and will include other material.
Thanks in advance for your time reading on such an important topic for our times, and all times: How we understand our own governments, how to put some back light on backstage operations of advocacy groups, cross-country and cross-jurisdiction database differences, and the vital importance of identifying WHO is speaking when ANY reference is cited.
Look up those references! whether you see them as footnotes to some publication (academic or otherwise) OR in casual or credential-building reference within a paragraph in some news article. I try to and, mostly, do!
And was it ever necessary for governments A,B,C, and/or D to make it that hard to follow the money and thus (so hard to) help put the brakes on mis-appropriation of it in the name of public services?
So far (starting list of contents), previews from posts published ~> Jan. 9, 2017# ~> March 24, 2018# ~> July 9, 2019 ~> From HOME Page (“FamilyCourtMatters.org”) removed Sept. 5, 2019, written sometime in 2018 ‘Why So Long?’ ~~>(tba with each new addition)
#at that time post marked “sticky”
TAKEN FROM POST:
||”Many of My Sidebar Widgets,…Now Live Here!”
Published July 9, 2019, shortlink ending “-abt” (full title included below).
The following preview is about: 2,151 words. There is some overlap.
Let's Get Honest! Absolutely Uncommon Analysis of Family & Conciliation Courts' Operations, Practices, & History 