title: Nuclear triad

text: During the Cold War, France obtained ballistic missile submarines, land-based missiles, and nuclear-armed bombers. France was the fourth country to maintain a nuclear triad. In February 1960, France performed its first nuclear weapons test codenamed "Gerboise Bleue", meaning Blue Jerboa. In 1955, the country started Project Coelacanth, the naval nuclear propulsion program. Their first attempt to build a nuclear ballistic missile submarine, Q.244, failed and was cancelled in 1959. The development of the land based reactor, PAT 1, allowed for Q.252 to be successful. The development of Q.252 led to the submarine "Le" . The French produced the Mer-Sol Balistique Strategique, or M1 MSBS, a "submarine-launched ballistic missile". Between 1971 and 1980, France finished their first generation of nuclear ballistic missile submarines, which included all five submarines in "Le" and the one "L" submarine. Of the five submarines in the "Le Redoutable" class, only one submarine contained an M-2 missile, the "Le Foudroyant"; The M-1 missile was put on the "Le Redoutable" and "Le Terrible"; two ships contained both M-2 missiles and M-20 missiles. The "L'Inflexible" contained M4 missiles. At this time, The Force Océanique Stratégique, the country's submarine fleet, contained 87 percent of the country's entire nuclear weaponry. Between 1986 and 2010, the country began work on their second generation of nuclear ballistic missile submarines, which included the , the "Téméraire", the "Vigilant", and the "Terrible". The "Triumphant" class of ships contained the M45 intermediate-range missile. The "Terrible" submarine contained the M51 missile.


title: Nuclear triad

text: Today, France's national security is based on deterrence. Since the Cold War, France has scaled down their weapons program; the budget for nuclear forces has been reduced from 40 percent to 20 percent; they stopped work on ground-launched ballistic missiles; nuclear testing sites have shut down; and their total ballistic missile submarine arsenal has been lowered from five to four.


title: Nuclear triad

text: While France has drastically reduced its nuclear arsenal, it currently maintains approximately 300 nuclear weapons. France deploys four "Le" nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) on the Atlantic Coast. Out of the four, one is deployed at all times and the other three are on standby at all times. France is in the process of upgrading its current SLBMs to a newer model. The most recent addition to the French submarine fleet came in September 2010 in the form of , which is equipped with the newer model of SLBMs. France plans to modernize the rest of its submarine fleet by the year 2020.


title: Nuclear triad

text: As far as air-capabilities are concerned, France maintains four separate fighter squadrons meant to act as a deterrence against foreign threats. There are 23 Mirage 2000N aircraft and 20 Rafale aircraft equipped with ASMP-air-launched cruise missiles (ALCM). The aircraft carrier also maintains approximately 24 Rafale M aircraft. The Rafale M aircraft, as well as the Mirage 2000N K3 aircraft, is equipped with an upgraded ASMP-A air-launched cruise missile with a range of 500 kilometers. In February 2015, Francois Hollande, the President of France at the time, declared that "France possesses 54 ASMP-A missiles", confirming their exact number of missiles.


title: Nuclear triad

text: Israel as a country and its citizens neither confirm nor deny the possession of nuclear weapons, as a national policy, but the existence of a nuclear force is often hinted at blatantly. Evidence of an advanced weapons program including miniaturized as well as thermonuclear devices has been presented, especially with the extensive photographic evidence given by former Israeli nuclear weapons assembler Mordechai Vanunu in 1986. Since the 1960s, in Dimona, they have operated a nuclear reactor and an underground plutonium-separation plant. The US Defense Intelligence Agency concluded in 1999 that Israel had produced approximately 80 warheads, and projected that their stockpile would moderately increase by 2020. They are currently estimated to have produced enough nuclear material for 115 to 190 warheads. Israel has been reported in a congressional testimony by the United States Department of Defense of having aircraft-delivered nuclear weapons as early as the mid-1960s, a demonstrated missile-based force also since the mid-1960s, an IRBM in the mid-1980s, an ICBM in the early 2000s and they are suspected of having second-strike capabilities with the arrival of the and Popeye Turbo submarine-launched cruise missile.


title: Nuclear triad

text: Israel maintains an inventory of nuclear-capable fighter aircraft such as the long-range F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16 and previously the F-4 Phantom, Dassault Mirage III, A-4 Skyhawk and the Nesher. Israel has a considerable and growing number of long-range tanker aircraft and aerial refueling capacity on its long-range fighter-bomber aircraft. This capacity was used in the 1985 long-range conventional strike against the PLO in Tunisia.


title: Nuclear triad

text: In a report by London's "Sunday Times" in June 2000, a missile test was reported. This being the only public evidence of a nuclear version of a single missile being tested off the coast of Sri Lanka. According to an official report that was submitted to the United States Congress in 2004, it may be that the Jericho 3 with a payload of 1,000 kg that allows Israel to have nuclear strike capabilities within the entire Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and almost all parts of North America, as well as within large parts of South America and Northern Oceania. Israel also has a regional reach with its Jericho 2 IRBM force.


title: Nuclear triad

text: While the Persian Gulf War was beginning in 1991, Germany agreed to subsidize the sale of two "Dolphin"-class diesel-powered submarines to Israel: there was a total of six submarines that were ordered and three have been delivered so far by the Germans. "Jane's Defence Weekly" reports that the Israeli "Dolphin-class" submarines are widely believed to be nuclear armed, offering Israel a second-strike capability with a demonstrated range of at least 1500 km in a 2002 test.


title: Nuclear triad

text: Israel is known to have nuclear-capable aircraft and land-base missiles, with the addition of nuclear-armed submarines this would mean that they now have a full triad of land-, air-, and sea-based nuclear delivery systems some of which would be invulnerable to a first strike by an enemy for the first time in their country's history. No other nation in the Middle East in known to be in possession of nuclear weapons, even though Iran, Iraq, Syria and Libya have started development programs that were never completed.


title: Nuclear triad

text: Nuclear delivery systems are not limited to those covered in the Nuclear Triad. Other methods of delivery could include orbital weapons, nuclear torpedo and hypersonic glide vehicles. The Outer Space Treaty bans these types of weapons from outer space. The treaty states that "the moon and other celestial bodies shall be used for peaceful purposes only" Although the treaty bans the use of nuclear weapons in space, the technology that is in space allows for potential military use. Both GPS and satellite technology can be used for military purposes, which are not the intended use for them. GPS can be used for missile and bomb direction and satellite technology can be used to gather information about other countries. The possibility of these technologies being utilized incorrectly increases the probability of a war conducted in space.


title: Nuclear triad

text: A nuclear torpedo is essentially a torpedo with a warhead attached to it. Russia is currently working on undersea nuclear torpedo, which is referred to as the Poseidon (Status-6), according to the Pentagon. This thermonuclear warhead has the potential to hit any United States coast and radioactively contaminate the coastal regions. The innovative missile is a concern to the United States, because there is potential for the missile to not be stopped by the country's ballistic missile defenses. Initial reports of Status-6 were not confirmed, but it has now been confirmed that weapon is real and capable.


title: Nuclear triad

text: Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGVs) are capable of containing nuclear warheads, and therefore could be used in strikes against nuclear assets. HGVs were developed to be lightweight, to travel at faster speeds, and to travel in the atmosphere. The difference between ICBMs and HGVs is that HGVs are designed to be powered by the oxygen in the atmosphere, while ICBMs have fuel on board; the fuel on board is heavy. Their ability to attack fast over long distance and hide from radars enables this technology to have the potential to be used as nuclear weapons.


title: Nuclear triad

text: William Perry, who served as the 19th United States Secretary of Defense, has spoken for the removal of the land-based missiles from the nuclear triad. Perry believes that ICBMs are turning more into liabilities than assets. Perry says it would save "considerable cost" and would prevent an accidental nuclear war. Perry had experienced a false alarm for an incoming missile which later turned out to be a computer error. Perry's experience occurred 40 years ago, but similar false alarms have occurred since then, such as the 2018 Hawaii False Missile Alert. Perry says that a major problem with ICBMs is that they cannot be recalled once launched in the event of a false alarm.


title: Nuclear triad

text: American political scientist Matthew Kroenig has spoken against the removal of the land-based missiles leg of the nuclear triad. Kroenig writes that ICBMs offer defense from a pre-emptive nuclear strike. If the US had hundreds of ICBMs all over the US then this first attack would be a "near-insurmountable task." Kroenig writes that these ICBMs could save "millions of American lives". A study estimated that if the US were to keep its ICBMs, a Russian nuclear attack would result in 70 million US casualties, whereas if the US were to remove its ICBMs, that number increases to 125 million US casualties. Kroenig also writes that the risk of accidental launch is less than the benefit of keeping ICBMs. Also, Kroenig says "If ICBMs are truly expendable, then there is no reason to risk an accidental nuclear war just to avoid losing them." Kroenig also writes that ICBMs are the least costly leg of the triad. The annual operating cost of ICBMs is $1.4 billion for ICBMs, compared to $1.8 billion for bombers and $3.8 billion for SLBMs.


title: Nuclear triad

text: The U.S. Department of Defense defends the current triad, stating that "Without ICBMs, a conventional-only attack on the limited number of submarine and bomber bases could significantly degrade the U.S. nuclear arsenal without rising to the level of nuclear use. This significantly lowers the threshold for an attack against the U.S. homeland. Also, the Triad's diversity enables mitigation of risk if a particular leg of the Triad is degraded or unavailable."


title: Sidney Powell

text: Sidney Katherine Powell (born 1955) is an American attorney, former federal prosecutor, and conspiracy theorist who attempted to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, which led the State Bar of Texas to seek sanctions against her including possible disbarment.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell began her career as an assistant United States attorney in the Western District of Texas. During her tenure, she prosecuted Jimmy Chagra who was implicated in the May 1979 assassination of United States district judge John H. Wood Jr. She represented executives in the Enron scandal and, in 2019, defended retired lieutenant general Michael Flynn in "United States v. Flynn".


title: Sidney Powell

text: In 2020, Powell joined the legal team of then-President Donald Trump in an attempt to overturn Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election. After several interviews in which Powell spread baseless election fraud theories, Trump's legal team distanced itself from her, though she continued to meet with the president in the White House. Powell continued filing election lawsuits independently in district courts, and ultimately lost four federal lawsuits in Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, and Wisconsin.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell claimed that Flynn was framed by a covert "deep state" operation, and has promoted personalities and slogans associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory. She alleged that a secret international cabal involving communists, "globalists", George Soros, Hugo Chávez (who died in 2013), the Clinton Foundation, the CIA, and thousands of Democratic and Republican officials—including then-Trump ally and Georgia governor Brian Kemp—used voting machines to transfer millions of votes away from Trump in the 2020 presidential election. After she accused the election technology companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic of engaging in a conspiracy to rig the election, both companies sued her for defamation.


title: Sidney Powell

text: In August 2021, a Michigan federal judge formally sanctioned Powell, Lin Wood, and seven other pro-Trump lawyers for their suit seeking to overturn Trump's election loss. The judge determined the nine attorneys had participated in "a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process" by filing baseless and frivolous lawsuits in order to undermine public confidence in the democratic process. The judge ordered them to pay Michigan and Detroit for their expenses in defending against the lawsuit. The court also referred Powell and the other lawyers to state disciplinary authorities for possible disbarment for ethics violations.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Sidney Katherine Powell was born in Durham, North Carolina, grew up in the city of Raleigh, and knew from an early age that she wanted to be a lawyer.


title: Sidney Powell

text: She graduated from Needham Broughton High School and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts. At the age of 19, she was accepted into the University of North Carolina School of Law, where she graduated in 1978 with a Juris Doctor degree. She began her legal career as one of the youngest federal prosecutors in the US.


title: Sidney Powell

text: From 1978 through 1988, Powell was an assistant United States attorney for the Western and Northern Districts of Texas and the Eastern District of Virginia, where she handled civil and criminal trial work. She was appointed Appellate Section Chief for the Western District of Texas and then the Northern District of Texas.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell established her own law firm in 1993 in Dallas, Texas. Around 2002, she began to practice in Asheville, North Carolina, but moved back to Texas later.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell was one of the prosecutors in the 1979 trial of Jimmy Chagra. Chagra was accused in the assassination of John H. Wood Jr., a federal judge from Texas. He was acquitted of involvement in the assassination but convicted on other charges. He later admitted to his role in the conspiracy to murder the judge.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell in the 2000s represented firms and executives involved in the Enron scandal, including the accounting firm Arthur Andersen and former Merrill Lynch executive Jim Brown. She was an outspoken critic of the Enron Task Force prosecutions, and accused prosecutor Andrew Weissmann of overreach. After that, Powell wrote extensively about prosecutorial abuses in the 2014 book "Licensed to Lie". The book was noticed by then-Senator Orrin Hatch, who described it as "powerful".


title: Sidney Powell

text: In "Licensed to Lie," Powell contended that prosecutors in the corruption trial of U.S. senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, held in 2008, before federal judge Emmet G. Sullivan in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, intentionally withheld "Brady material" they should have disclosed to the defense and that they returned Rocky Williams, a terminally ill witness, to Alaska, ostensibly so that his testimony would not exonerate Stevens. The senator was subsequently convicted of seven felony counts of corruption for failing to annually declare gifts from VECO owner Bill Allen. However, due to numerous instances of prosecutorial misconduct, Attorney General Eric Holder moved to dismiss the indictment prior to sentencing, effectively vacating the conviction.


title: Sidney Powell

text: After publishing her first book, Powell continued writing opinion pieces for right-leaning websites. In 2017, Weissmann joined Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation, reviving interest in "Licensed to Lie" from Newt Gingrich and Sean Hannity. Using her status as a former federal prosecutor, Powell became a leading voice against the Mueller investigation; in a February 2018 op-ed, Powell wrote that retired lieutenant general Michael Flynn should "withdraw his guilty plea" for making false statements to the FBI, alleging "egregious government misconduct". Powell's appearances on Fox News to discuss the Flynn case were noticed by President Donald Trump, and the two spoke on several occasions. To raise money for Flynn's defense, Powell spoke at a November 2018 conference, where she met Flynn's siblings. They agreed that Flynn was the victim of a "deep state plot" and had only pleaded guilty because he was coerced.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Flynn released his law firm of Covington & Burling and retained Powell to serve as his lead attorney in June 2019. On the same day this was disclosed, Powell sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr requesting the "utmost confidentiality" and argued that Flynn's prosecution was due to "corruption of our beloved government institutions for what appears to be political purposes". Among other things, she requested that Barr appoint an outsider to investigate. Six months later, Barr appointed Jeffrey Jensen to conduct an investigation.


title: Sidney Powell

text: The Justice Department filed a motion to drop Flynn's prosecution with presiding federal judge Emmett Sullivan in May 2020. Sullivan did not immediately grant the motion; Powell later requested a writ of mandamus from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to compel Sullivan to drop the case. After an initial ruling in favor of Powell by a three-judge panel of the court, the case was appealed to the full court, which denied the mandamus request in an 8–2 ruling and returned the case to Sullivan's court. Powell had argued to the full court that Sullivan's role was "ministerial", giving him no discretion but to comply with the Justice Department motion, to which judge Thomas Griffith replied: "It's not ministerial and you know it's not. So it's not ministerial, so that means that the judge has to do some thinking about it, right?" Other judges on the court also pushed back on Powell's characterization of a federal judge's role. After Trump pardoned Flynn in November 2020, Sullivan dismissed the case as moot, though he stated he probably would have denied the Justice Department motion had the case proceeded.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Soon after taking the Flynn case, Powell had accused the Justice Department of prosecutorial misconduct against Flynn; in a footnote to a June 2020 court brief, the department described Powell's allegations as "unfounded and provide no basis for impugning the prosecutors from the D.C. United States Attorney's Office". Ultimately, Trump pardoned Flynn in November 2020. According to a Justice Department official, the Justice Department was not consulted about the pardon.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell has been described as a proponent of conspiracy theories about Flynn, namely that he was framed by members of the "deep state" who were trying to eject President Donald Trump from office.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Days before the 2020 presidential election, Dennis Montgomery, a software designer with a history of making dubious claims, asserted that a government supercomputer program would be used to switch votes from Trump to Biden on voting machines. Powell promoted the conspiracy theory on "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on November 6, and again two days later on Maria Bartiromo's Fox Business program, claiming to have "evidence that that is exactly what happened". She also asserted that the CIA ignored warnings about the software, and urged Trump to fire director Gina Haspel. Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), characterized the supercomputer claim as "nonsense" and a "hoax". CISA described the 2020 election as "the most secure in American history", with "no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised".


title: Sidney Powell

text: In the wake of the election, Trump established a legal team to challenge the legitimacy of the results. On November 14, Trump named Rudy Giuliani to lead the team, with Joseph diGenova, Victoria Toensing, Jenna Ellis, and Powell as members of this team. The team proceeded to file numerous lawsuits in several states over alleged vote harvesting, illegal votes, machine errors, vote dumps, and late-counted votes. Precisely how Powell gained prominence in the legal team is unknown, even to some campaign officials. One official claimed Powell "simply showed up at headquarters".


title: Sidney Powell

text: Giuliani and Powell alleged multiple instances of voter fraud in key states at a November 19 press conference. They cited an affidavit—filed by Russell Ramsland and L. Lin Wood on behalf of the Trump campaign—as evidence of manipulated results. In their comparison of votes cast against total voters registered in Michigan, Powell asserted that they found over-voting of "up to 350 percent in some places". However, the affidavit's conclusion was erroneous since it compared the Michigan vote tallies against population data from Minnesota (whose respective abbreviations are MI and MN, a possible source of the error). When "The Washington Post" independently checked the numbers, no voter discrepancies were found. When questioned the next day, Wood described this as "a simple mistake" and said the affidavit "will be corrected if it hasn't been already".


title: Sidney Powell

text: After Giuliani's segment ended, Powell took the lectern and alleged, without evidence, that an international communist plot to rig the 2020 election had been engineered by Cuba, China, Venezuela, Hugo Chávez (who died in 2013), George Soros, the Clinton Foundation and antifa. She also alleged that Dominion Voting Systems "can set and run an algorithm that probably ran all over the country to take a certain percentage of votes from President Trump and flip them to President Biden". The source for many of these claims appeared to be far right news organization One America News Network (OANN). She also repeated a conspiracy theory—spread by Congressman Louie Gohmert, OANN and others—that election results showing a landslide victory for Trump had been transmitted to the German office of the Spanish electronic voting firm Scytl, after which a company server was supposedly seized in a raid by the United States Army. The US Army and Scytl refuted these claims; Scytl has not had any offices in Germany since September 2019 and does not tabulate US votes. In a March 2021 report, the Justice and Homeland Security Departments flatly rejected accusations of voting fraud conducted by foreign nations. Jonathan Karl, former ABC News chief White House correspondent for the duration of the Trump presidency, wrote in his November 2021 book, "Betrayal", that Powell told Defense Department official Ezra Cohen-Watnick that CIA director Gina Haspel had been injured and detained in Germany while attempting to retrieve the alleged server and destroy the purported evidence. She asked Cohen-Watnick, who previously worked under Flynn in the government, to launch a special operations mission to seize Haspel and compel her to confess.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Later that evening on his Fox News program "Tucker Carlson Tonight", conservative commentator Tucker Carlson said he had invited Powell onto the show to provide proof of her allegations. After repeated requests, Powell became angry and said to "stop contacting her", Carlson stated. Carlson's team contacted other figures in the Trump campaign who said that Powell had given them no evidence for her allegations.


title: Sidney Powell

text: In a subsequent interview with Newsmax on November 21, Powell accused Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp, of being "in on the Dominion scam" and suggested financial impropriety. Powell additionally alleged that fraud had cost Doug Collins the nonpartisan blanket primary against incumbent Kelly Loeffler in the Senate race in Georgia. She also claimed the Democratic Party had used rigged Dominion machines to defeat Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary, and that Sanders learned of this but "sold out". She said she would "blow up" Georgia with a "biblical" court filing. Powell suggested that candidates "paid to have the system rigged to work for them". On the basis of these claims, Powell called for Republican-controlled state legislatures in swing states to disregard the election results and appoint a slate of "loyal" electors who would vote to re-elect Trump, based on authority supposedly resting in .


title: Sidney Powell

text: Giuliani and Ellis issued a November 22 statement that Powell was "practicing law on her own" and was not (or was no longer) a part of the Trump legal team. According to "The Washington Post", the Trump campaign cut ties with Powell because she was seen as harming Trump's broader legal efforts, and because Trump disliked the coverage she received from "Tucker Carlson Tonight". Shortly after the announcement, her client Michael Flynn tweeted that Twitter had suspended her account for twelve hours, and that she agreed with the campaign's announcement and was "staying the course" to prove election fraud. Dominion Voting Systems released a statement refuting Powell's claims of fraud on November 26.


title: Sidney Powell

text: During an Oval Office meeting with Powell, Giuliani, Flynn, and Pat Cipollone on December 18, Trump suggested naming Powell as a special counsel to investigate allegations of election fraud. Most Trump advisors opposed the idea, while Powell characterized them as quitters. The meeting was reportedly heated and included Flynn's proposal for the president to declare martial law. Powell had previously called on the president to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy military forces. In January 2022, a draft executive order dated December 16 surfaced that called for Trump to order a military seizure of voting machines and the appointment of a special counsel, though it was not immediately clear who drafted the order. "Politico" reported in January 2022 that Trump ally Bernard Kerik had testified to the January 6 committee that Michael Flynn associate Phil Waldron originated the idea of a military seizure of voting machines.


title: Sidney Powell

text: By December 2020 over 4,000 attorneys had signed an open letter asking bar disciplinary authorities to condemn and investigate Powell's behavior.


title: Sidney Powell

text: In May 2021, Powell continued to express the hope that the election result would be reversed. She spoke at a QAnon conference in Dallas over Memorial Day weekend, where she falsely asserted Trump "can simply be reinstated, that a new Inauguration Day is set", eliciting cheers from the crowd. The date for this was supposedly August 13, however this date passed and Trump was not reinstated.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell was subpoenaed in January 2022 to testify before the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.


title: Sidney Powell

text: While working for Trump, Powell stated she would "release the Kraken", a catchphrase from the 1981 film "Clash of the Titans", and the expression spread across Twitter. After the Trump campaign cut ties with Powell, she continued to file independent election lawsuits in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Sources described Powell's election-related filings as filled with significant "sloppy mistakes". In her Georgia lawsuit, she claimed that a computer algorithm took votes from Biden and flipped them to Trump, later amending the filing. In Powell's submissions to district courts in Georgia and Michigan, "district" was misspelled three different ways on the first pages. Powell's Michigan filing also had numerous formatting errors and misidentified one of her experts. Two Republicans said they had been named as a plaintiff in the Georgia and Wisconsin lawsuits despite not having given permission to be included (although one later agreed to remain as a plaintiff).


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell's lawsuits cited an anonymous witness, referred to as "Spyder" or "Spider", who alleged that American voting systems were "certainly compromised by rogue actors, such as Iran and China". Spyder's real name was redacted from submitted documents; however, a bookmark in the file revealed his identity to be Joshua Merritt, an IT consultant. Although Powell's filings describe Merritt as a former "military intelligence expert", the United States Army Intelligence Center stated that he never worked in military intelligence and had not finished a training course in military intelligence. Merritt acknowledged that the description was wrong and attributed the error to Powell's clerks. However, Merritt claimed he did finish the training, producing an "unofficial transcript" as evidence.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell also presented an affidavit from an individual she described as a former intelligence contractor with knowledge of a foreign conspiracy to subvert democracy, who Powell said needed to remain anonymous to protect their "reputation, professional career and personal safety". "The Washington Post" identified the individual as pro-Trump podcaster Terpsichore Maras-Lindeman, and that parts of the affidavit matched a blog post she had written in November 2019. Maras-Lindeman had served in the Navy for less than a year over two decades earlier, and in a November 2018 civil suit the attorney general of North Dakota accused her of misappropriating funds for personal use from a charitable event she tried to organize. State attorneys asserted that she exaggerated her credentials and used multiple aliases and Social Security numbers in "a persistent effort...to deceive others". Asked about Maras-Lindeman, Powell told the "Post": "I don't have the same information you do."


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell filed a federal lawsuit against Arizona governor Doug Ducey, Arizona secretary of state Katie Hobbs and other Arizona election officials on December 2, alleging that "poll watchers failed to adequately verify signatures on ballots, that Maricopa County ballot dispute referees were partisan, that Dominion backups had no chain of custody, and the Dominion machines themselves suffered from errors during state evaluations." The plaintiffs asked the court to decertify Arizona's election results or order that Arizona certify Trump electors. On December 9, U.S. district judge Diane Humetewa ruled that Powell's plaintiffs lacked legal standing and that the allegations of impropriety were "sorely wanting of relevant or reliable evidence", instead being "largely based on anonymous witnesses, hearsay, and irrelevant analysis of unrelated elections". The judge singled out the fraud allegations being put forth, writing that they "fail in their particularity and plausibility" and that there would be "extreme, and entirely unprecedented" harm to Arizona's more than 3 million voters to entertain Powell's lawsuit "at this late date". Powell filed an appeal of the lawsuit's dismissal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in December, which scheduled the due date for the opening brief to be two months after the inauguration. That month, Powell also filed an emergency petition with the United States Supreme Court seeking an extraordinary writ of mandamus for intervention in the case. The petition was denied without comment on March 1, 2021, ending the matter.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell and Lin Wood filed a lawsuit against Georgia governor Brian Kemp and other state officials on November 25, alleging that Dominion Voting Systems was used to rig votes for Biden. The plaintiffs asked the court to halt the certification of elections results and order Kemp to certify Trump as the winner in Georgia. U.S. district judge Timothy Batten issued a temporary restraining order on November 29 that voting machines in Georgia's Cobb, Gwinnett, and Cherokee counties were to preserve their data, after Wood had argued to retain "this information on a very limited basis". Powell appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to expand the restraining order. A three-judge panel unanimously dismissed Powell's appeal on December 4, citing a failure to prove that the restraining order caused serious harm. The panel also indicated that the original lawsuit, in which Powell also sought to have voting machines inspected, was "considerably delayed" by the appeal.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell's evidence in the Georgia lawsuit included an affidavit from Ron Watkins, a former administrator of 8chan/8kun, the online home of QAnon. In his affidavit, Watkins stated that his reading of an online user guide for Dominion Voting Systems software led him to conclude that election fraud might be "within the realm of possibility". Watkins did not provide any legitimate evidence of fraud. Powell also claimed that "a certificate from the [Georgia] Secretary of State was awarded to Dominion Voting Systems but is undated." However, the attached certificate had apparently been edited to remove the date; the actual certificate is dated and available publicly.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Batten dismissed the case in a ruling from the bench on December 7. The judge ruled that the plaintiffs did not have legal standing to bring the case, filed the case too late (as the Dominion machines were adopted months earlier), and filed the case in the wrong venue, the appropriate venue being a state court. Batten also stated that the relief sought by Powell was impossible to grant. The plaintiffs filed an appeal (Case No. 20-14579) of Batten's decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on December 8. Powell also appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied a motion to expedite the case. She dropped the lawsuit on January 19, 2021, one day before Biden's inauguration.


title: Sidney Powell

text: In August 2022, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis sought to have Powell testify before a special grand jury seated for the investigation into possible illegal election interference. Powell was involved in arranging for the collection of data from the Election/Voting machines and systems at the county’s elections office in rural Coffee County in January 2021.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell filed a lawsuit against Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and other state officials on November 25, alleging a variety of violations of the election code and asking the court to decertify the state's election results or certify them for Trump. In the lawsuit, Powell submitted a witness's declaration that Joe Biden had "received more than 100% of the votes" in Edison County; however, there is no Edison County in Michigan or any other U.S. state. There is an Edison Township in Minnesota, leading to speculation that the information was again taken from a list of Minnesota precincts.


title: Sidney Powell

text: U.S. district judge Linda V. Parker denied the requested relief on December 7, stating that the plaintiffs had only offered "theories, conjecture, and speculation" of potential vote switching. The judge also declared that the "ship has sailed" for most of the relief requested by the plaintiffs, while the rest "is beyond the power of any court". Furthermore, Parker wrote that the relief requested would "greatly harm the public interest" and felt that the plaintiffs' motive for filing the case was not to win, but rather to shake "people's faith in the democratic process and their trust in our government". Powell has filed an appeal of the decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied a motion for expedited review of the case. The city of Detroit has called for sanctions against the plaintiffs in the case as well as their counsel, requesting that Powell and the other attorneys be disbarred for "trying to use this court's processes to validate their conspiracy theories". Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel filed a similar motion on January 28, 2021, accusing Powell and three Michigan lawyers of violating their oaths by attempting to overturn Biden's victory. On February 1, 2021, Nessel, along with Michigan governor Whitmer and Michigan secretary of state Jocelyn Benson, filed complaints with the State Bar of Texas seeking Powell's disbarment.


title: Sidney Powell

text: During a July 2021 hearing to consider sanctions against Powell and other attorneys for their activities in Michigan, Parker discussed the hundreds of pages of allegations by others that the attorneys had submitted to courts, which included an individual claiming to have witnessed poll workers changing votes from Trump to Biden. None of the attorneys responded when Parker asked if they had spoken to the witness to vet their allegation.


title: Sidney Powell

text: On August 25, 2021, Judge Parker ruled that Powell, L. Lin Wood, and seven other pro-Trump lawyers, had filed the suit "in bad faith and for an improper purpose"; that their litigation was a "a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process"; and that they had filed a baseless, frivolous lawsuit in order to undermine public confidence in the democratic process. The court ordered that they pay attorney's fees to the City of Detroit and State of Michigan to reimburse them for the costs of defending against the suit, and referred them to their respective state bars for investigation into ethical violations, which could lead to disbarment.


title: Sidney Powell

text: On November 4, 2021, a closed-door investigatory hearing was held by the State Bar of Texas to begin the process of determining possible sanctions or disbarment for Powell. On December 2, 2021, Judge Parker ordered Powell, Wood and the other "Kraken" attorneys to pay $175,250 to the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell filed a federal lawsuit against the Wisconsin Elections Commission on December 1, claiming that Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic were used to conduct electronic ballot-stuffing and rig votes for Joe Biden. The lawsuit asked the court to decertify the state's election results or declare Donald Trump the winner of the state. The lawsuit mistakenly demanded the release of video footage from a voting center in Michigan and made erroneous references to the election in Georgia and the Georgia state legislature. U.S. district judge Pamela Pepper filed a December 2 order noting that while an "expedited" injunction was sought, the initial filings did not "indicate whether the plaintiffs are asking the court to act more quickly or why", and did not request a hearing or propose a briefing schedule. Pepper dismissed the case on December 9, writing that the "federal court has no authority or jurisdiction to grant the relief the remaining plaintiff seeks", and that the litigation on behalf of the plaintiff was "sometimes odd and often harried" and ultimately failed to establish why a federal case was appropriate. Pepper also repeatedly stated that the plaintiff did not have legal standing to bring the case and concluded that granting the relief would be unconstitutional. Powell then applied for a writ of mandamus from the U.S. Supreme Court, which rejected her petition on March 1, 2021, to end the lawsuit; Powell said the court's decision "completes the implosion of each of our three branches of government into the rubble of a sinkhole of corruption".


title: Sidney Powell

text: Dominion Voting Systems sent a letter to Powell on December 16, 2020, demanding she publicly retract her baseless allegations about the company. Shortly thereafter, the Trump legal team instructed dozens of staff members to preserve all documents relating to Dominion, Powell and others for any future litigation. Smartmatic sent a similar demand letter to conservative television outlets and within days Fox News, its sister network Fox Business and Newsmax broadcast segments walking back conspiracy allegations they had previously promoted.


title: Sidney Powell

text: On January 8, 2021, Dominion sued Powell for defamation and asked for over $1.3 billion in damages. On February 4, 2021, Smartmatic filed a defamation lawsuit that accused Powell, Fox News, some hosts at Fox News, and Rudy Giuliani of engaging in a "disinformation campaign" against the company, and asked for $2.7 billion in damages. In March 2022 a New York State Supreme Court judge dismissed the Smartmatic allegations against Powell.


title: Sidney Powell

text: On March 22, 2021, lawyers defending Powell against Dominion's lawsuit filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. They argued that "no reasonable person would conclude that the statements [by Powell about the 2020 election] were truly statements of fact". Instead, "it was clear to reasonable persons that Powell's claims were her opinions and legal theories", argued the lawyers. Furthermore, the lawyers claimed that Dominion could not prove that Powell took action with "actual malice", because "she believed the allegations then and she believes them now". On August 11, 2021, Judge Carl Nichols denied this motion to dismiss the lawsuit.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Venezuelan businessman Majed Khalil sued Powell, Fox News and Lou Dobbs for $250 million in December 2021, alleging they had falsely implicated him in rigging Dominion and Smartmatic machines.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell has been described by some sources as a supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory, a far-right conspiracy theory which alleges that a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles is running a global child sex-trafficking ring and plotting against former president Donald Trump, who is fighting the cabal. In January 2020, Powell denied knowledge of QAnon or Q; later that year, she retweeted major QAnon accounts and catchphrases and appeared on QAnon shows on YouTube. Upon leaving Trump's legal team, Powell was embraced by QAnon followers, many of whom had become discouraged that years of predictions of a Trump landslide victory and coming revelations about his enemies had not materialized.


title: Sidney Powell

text: On January 8, 2021, Twitter permanently suspended the accounts of Powell, Michael Flynn and others. A statement from Twitter said this development was in line with their policies on "coordinated harmful activity".


title: Sidney Powell

text: In May 2021, Powell (alongside Lin Wood and Michael Flynn) was a keynote speaker at what was essentially a QAnon conference in Dallas, Texas.


title: Sidney Powell

text: In November 2020, Powell established Legal Defense Fund for the American Republic, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization with stated purpose to collect funds to help prosecute fraud in U.S. elections. Powell launched Restore the Republic, a super PAC, in January 2021.


title: Sidney Powell

text: "The Washington Post" reported in November 2021 that the preceding September federal prosecutors had issued a subpoena for the financial records of groups Powell had formed, including Defending the Republic, which was registered as a social welfare organization, and a political action committee by the same name. Days after the election, Powell created a website to raise funds for her new organization, referring to "Sidney Powell's Legal Defense Fund," asking donors to make checks payable to her law firm. "The Daily Beast" reported that the organization's board of directors initially included Michael Flynn and Lin Wood, and Patrick Byrne as CEO. All left the organization in April 2021 after Powell refused to allow it to be audited. In a recorded phone call with Wood that Byrne confirmed as authentic, Byrne asserted Powell was diverting donations to pay for her legal defense against defamation lawsuits. Defending the Republic raised $16.4 million in the year following the election.


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell has written opinion pieces for "The New York Observer", "The Daily Caller", "The Hill", "National Review", Fox News, and media organizations and conservative content producers. She has published two books:


title: Sidney Powell

text: Powell has a son from a marriage that ended in divorce "decades ago". In 2004, she founded a non-profit for victims of domestic violence. She has participated in volunteer work for women's shelters and other charities. Powell was not recalled as "being a staunch conservative or even very political" by people who interacted with her in those organizations. Powell served as executive producer on the 2013 drama "Decoding Annie Parker", providing guidance to help bring the film to a commercial release. The film tells the story of Annie Parker and the discovery of the BRCA1 breast cancer gene. Powell oversaw fundraising screenings for the film that raised approximately $1 million for breast cancer charities.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his 1859 translation from Persian to English of a selection of quatrains ("") attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), dubbed "the Astronomer-Poet of Persia".


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: Although commercially unsuccessful at first, FitzGerald's work was popularised from 1861 onward by Whitley Stokes, and the work came to be greatly admired by the Pre-Raphaelites in England. FitzGerald had a third edition printed in 1872, which increased interest in the work in the United States. By the 1880s, the book was extremely popular throughout the English-speaking world, to the extent that numerous "Omar Khayyam clubs" were formed and there was a " cult of the Rubaiyat".


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: FitzGerald's work has been published in several hundred editions and has inspired similar translation efforts in English, Hindi and in many other languages.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: The authenticity of the poetry attributed to Omar Khayyam is highly uncertain. Khayyam was famous during his lifetime not as a poet but as an astronomer and mathematician. The earliest reference to his having written poetry is found in his biography by al-Isfahani, written 43 years after his death. This view is reinforced by other medieval historians such as Shahrazuri (1201) and Al-Qifti (1255). Parts of the "Rubaiyat" appear as incidental quotations from Omar in early works of biography and in anthologies. These include works of Razi (ca. 1160–1210), Daya (1230), Juvayni (ca. 1226–1283), and Jajarmi (1340). Also, five quatrains assigned to Khayyam in somewhat later sources appear in Zahiri Samarqandi's "Sindbad-Nameh" (before 1160) without attribution.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: The number of quatrains attributed to him in more recent collections varies from about 1,200 (according to Saeed Nafisi) to more than 2,000. Skeptical scholars point out that the entire tradition may be pseudepigraphic.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: The extant manuscripts containing collections attributed to Omar are dated much too late to enable a reconstruction of a body of authentic verses.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: In the 1930s, Iranian scholars, notably Mohammad-Ali Foroughi, attempted to reconstruct a core of authentic verses from scattered quotes by authors of the 13th and 14th centuries, ignoring the younger manuscript tradition. After World War II, reconstruction efforts were significantly delayed by two clever forgeries. De Blois (2004) is pessimistic, suggesting that contemporary scholarship has not advanced beyond the situation of the 1930s, when Hans Heinrich Schaeder commented that the name of Omar Khayyam "is to be struck out from the history of Persian literature".


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: A feature of the more recent collections is the lack of linguistic homogeneity and continuity of ideas. Sadegh Hedayat commented that "if a man had lived for a hundred years and had changed his religion, philosophy, and beliefs twice a day, he could scarcely have given expression to such a range of ideas". Hedayat's final verdict was that 14 quatrains could be attributed to Khayyam with certainty. Various tests have been employed to reduce the quatrains attributable to Omar to about 100. Arthur Christensen states that "of more than 1,200 ruba'is known to be ascribed to Omar, only 121 could be regarded as reasonably authentic". Foroughi accepts 178 quatrains as authentic, while Ali Dashti accepts 36 of them.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: FitzGerald's source was transcripts sent to him in 1856–57, by his friend and teacher Edward B. Cowell, of two manuscripts, a Bodleian manuscript with 158 quatrains


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: He made a revised draft in January 1859, of which he privately printed 250 copies. This first edition became extremely sought after by the 1890s, when "more than two million copies ha[d] been sold in two hundred editions".


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: The extreme popularity of FitzGerald's work led to a prolonged debate on the correct interpretation of the philosophy behind the poems. FitzGerald emphasized the religious skepticism he found in Omar Khayyam. In his preface to the "Rubáiyát", he describes Omar's philosophy as Epicurean and claims that Omar was "hated and dreaded by the Sufis, whose practice he ridiculed and whose faith amounts to little more than his own when stripped of the Mysticism and formal recognition of Islamism under which Omar would not hide". Richard Nelson Frye also emphasizes that Khayyam was despised by a number of prominent contemporary Sufis. These include figures such as Shams Tabrizi, Najm al-Din Daya, Al-Ghazali, and Attar, who "viewed Khayyam not as a fellow-mystic, but a free-thinking scientist". The skeptic interpretation is supported by the medieval historian Al-Qifti (ca. 1172–1248), who in his "The History of Learned Men" reports that Omar's poems were only outwardly in the Sufi style but were written with an anti-religious agenda. He also mentions that Khayyam was indicted for impiety and went on a pilgrimage to avoid punishment.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: Critics of FitzGerald, on the other hand, have accused the translator of misrepresenting the mysticism of Sufi poetry by an overly literal interpretation. Thus, the view of Omar Khayyam as a Sufi was defended by Bjerregaard (1915). Dougan (1991) likewise says that attributing hedonism to Omar is due to the failings of FitzGerald's translation, arguing that the poetry is to be understood as "deeply esoteric". Idries Shah (1999) similarly says that FitzGerald misunderstood Omar's poetry.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: The Sufi interpretation is the view of a minority of scholars. Henry Beveridge states that "the Sufis have unaccountably pressed this writer [Khayyam] into their service; they explain away some of his blasphemies by forced interpretations, and others they represent as innocent freedoms and reproaches". Aminrazavi (2007) states that "Sufi interpretation of Khayyam is possible only by reading into his Rubaiyat extensively and by stretching the content to fit the classical Sufi doctrine".


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: FitzGerald's "skepticist" reading of the poetry is still defended by modern scholars. Sadegh Hedayat ("The Blind Owl", 1936) was the most notable modern proponent of Khayyam's philosophy as agnostic skepticism. In his introductory essay to his second edition of the "Quatrains of the Philosopher Omar Khayyam" (1922), Hedayat states that "while Khayyam believes in the transmutation and transformation of the human body, he does not believe in a separate soul; if we are lucky, our bodily particles would be used in the making of a jug of wine". He concludes that "religion has proved incapable of surmounting his inherent fears; thus Khayyam finds himself alone and insecure in a universe about which his knowledge is nil". In his later work ("Khayyam's Quatrains", 1935), Hedayat further maintains that Khayyam's usage of Sufic terminology such as "wine" is literal, and that "Khayyam took refuge in wine to ward off bitterness and to blunt the cutting edge of his thoughts."


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: Of the five editions published, four were published under the authorial control of FitzGerald. The fifth edition, which contained only minor changes from the fourth, was edited posthumously on the basis of manuscript revisions FitzGerald had left.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: Numerous later editions were published after 1889, notably an edition with illustrations by Willy Pogany first published in 1909 (George G. Harrap, London). It was issued in numerous revised editions. This edition combined FitzGerald's texts of the 1st and 4th editions and was subtitled "The First and Fourth Renderings in English Verse".


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: A bibliography of editions compiled in 1929 listed more than 300 separate editions. Many more have been published since.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: FitzGerald's translation is rhyming and metrical, and rather free. Many of the verses are paraphrased, and some of them cannot be confidently traced to his source material at all. Michael Kearney claimed that FitzGerald described his work as "transmogrification". To a large extent, the "Rubaiyat" can be considered original poetry by FitzGerald loosely based on Omar's quatrains rather than a "translation" in the narrow sense.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: My translation will interest you from its form, and also in many respects in its detail: very un-literal as it is. Many quatrains are mashed together: and something lost, I doubt, of Omar's simplicity, which is so much a virtue in him. (letter to E. B. Cowell, 9/3/58)


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: I suppose very few people have ever taken such Pains in Translation as I have: though certainly not to be literal. But at all Costs, a Thing must live: with a transfusion of one's own worse Life if one can't retain the Originals better. Better a live Sparrow than a stuffed Eagle. (letter to E. B. Cowell, 4/27/59)


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: For comparison, here are two versions of the same quatrain by FitzGerald, from the 1859 and 1889 editions:


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: This quatrain has a close correspondence in two of the quatrains in the Bodleian Library ms., numbers 149 and 155. In the literal prose translation of


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: Two English editions by Edward Henry Whinfield (1836–1922) consisted of 253 quatrains in 1882 and 500 in 1883. This translation was fully revised and some cases fully translated anew by Ali Salami and published by Mehrandish Books.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: Whinfield's translation is, if possible, even more free than FitzGerald's; Quatrain 84 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above) reads:


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: John Leslie Garner published an English translation of 152 quatrains in 1888. His was also a free, rhyming translation.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: Justin Huntly McCarthy (1859–1936) (Member of Parliament for Newry) published prose translations of 466 quatrains in 1889.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: Richard Le Gallienne (1866–1947) produced a verse translation, subtitled "a paraphrase from several literal translations", in 1897.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: In his introductory note to the reader, Le Gallienne cites McCarthy's "charming prose" as the chief influence on his version. Some example quatrains follow:


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: Edward Heron-Allen (1861–1943) published a prose translation in 1898. He also wrote an introduction to an edition of the translation by Frederick Rolfe (Baron Corvo) into English from Nicolas's French translation. Below is Quatrain 17 translated by E. H. into English:


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: The English novelist and orientalist Jessie Cadell (1844–1884) consulted various manuscripts of the Rubaiyat with the intention of producing an authoritative edition. Her translation of 150 quatrains was published posthumously in 1899.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: A. J. Arberry in 1949 and 1952 produced translations of two putative thirteenth-century manuscripts recently acquired by the Chester Beatty Library and Cambridge University Library. However, it was soon established that, unbeknown to Arberry or the libraries, the manuscripts were recent forgeries. While Arberry's work had been misguided, it was published in good faith.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: The 1967 translation of the Rubáiyat by Robert Graves and Omar Ali-Shah created a scandal. The authors claimed it was based on a twelfth-century manuscript located in Afghanistan, where it was allegedly utilized as a Sufi teaching document. But the manuscript was never produced, and British experts in Persian literature were easily able to prove that the translation was in fact based on Edward Heron Allen's analysis of possible sources for FitzGerald's work.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: John Charles Edward Bowen (1909–1989) was a British poet and translator of Persian poetry. He is best known for his translation of the Rubaiyat, titled "A New Selection from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam." Bowen is also credited as being one of the first scholars to question Robert Graves' and Omar Ali-Shah's translation of the Rubaiyat.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: A modern version of 235 quatrains, claiming to be "as literal an English version of the Persian originals as readability and intelligibility permit", was published in 1979 by Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: Their edition provides two versions of the thematic quatrain, the first (98) considered by the Persian writer Sadeq Hedayat to be a spurious attribution.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: In 1988, the Rubaiyat was translated by an Iranian for the first time. Karim Emami's translation of the Rubaiyat was published under the title "The Wine of Nishapour" in Paris. "The Wine of Nishapour" is the collection of Khayyam's poetry by Shahrokh Golestan, including Golestan's pictures in front of each poem.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: In 1991, Ahmad Saidi (1904–1994) produced an English translation of 165 quatrains grouped into 10 themes. Born and raised in Iran, Saidi went to the United States in 1931 and attended college there. He served as the head of the Persian Publication Desk at the U.S. Office of War Information during World War II, inaugurated the Voice of America in Iran, and prepared an English-Persian military dictionary for the Department of Defense. His quatrains include the original Persian verses for reference alongside his English translations. His focus was to faithfully convey, with less poetic license, Khayyam's original religious, mystical, and historic Persian themes, through the verses as well as his extensive annotations. Two example quatrains follow:


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) published an English translation and other translations of 75 quatrains in 1996, with a glossary, spiritual interpretation and practical applications.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: Friedrich Martinus von Bodenstedt (1819–1892) published a German translation in 1881. The translation eventually consisted of 395 quatrains.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: The first French translation, of 464 quatrains in prose, was made by J. B. Nicolas, chief interpreter at the French embassy in Persia in 1867.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: "Au printemps j’aime à m’asseoir au bord d’une prairie, avec une idole semblable à une houri et une cruche de vin, s’il y en a, et bien que tout cela soit généralement blâmé, je veux être pire qu’un chien si jamais je songe au paradis."


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: The best-known version in French is the free verse edition by Franz Toussaint (1879–1955) published in 1924. This translation consisting of 170 quatrains was done from the original Persian text, while most of the other French translations were themselves translations of FitzGerald's work. The "Éditions d'art Henri Piazza" published the book almost unchanged between 1924 and 1979. Toussaint's translation has served as the basis of subsequent translations into other languages, but Toussaint did not live to witness the influence his translation has had.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: "Au printemps, je vais quelquefois m’asseoir à la lisière d’un champ fleuri. Lorsqu’une belle jeune fille m’apporte une coupe de vin, je ne pense guère à mon salut. Si j’avais cette préoccupation, je vaudrais moins qu’un chien."


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: Many Russian-language translations have been undertaken, reflecting the popularity of the "Rubaiyat" in Russia since the late 19th century and the increasingly popular tradition of using it for the purposes of bibliomancy. The earliest verse translation (by Vasily Velichko) was published in 1891. The version by Osip Rumer published in 1914 is a translation of FitzGerald's version. Rumer later published a version of 304 rubaiyat translated directly from Persian. A lot of poetic translations (some based on verbatim translations into prose by others) were also written by German Plisetsky, Konstantin Bal'mont, Cecilia Banu, I. I. Tkhorzhevsky (), L. Pen'kovsky, and others.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: FitzGerald rendered Omar's name as "Omar the Tentmaker", and this name resonated in English-speaking popular culture for a while. Thus, Nathan Haskell Dole published a novel called "Omar, the Tentmaker: A Romance of Old Persia" in 1898. "Omar the Tentmaker of Naishapur" is a historical novel by John Smith Clarke, published in 1910.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: "Omar the Tentmaker" is a 1914 play in an oriental setting by Richard Walton Tully, adapted as a silent film in 1922.


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: US General Omar Bradley was given the nickname "Omar the Tent-Maker" in World War II, and the name has been recorded as a slang expression for "penis".


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: FitzGerald's translations also reintroduced Khayyam to Iranians, "who had long ignored the Neishapouri poet".


title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

text: 2009 marked the 150th anniversary of FitzGerald's translation, and the 200th anniversary of FitzGerald's birth. Events marking these anniversaries included:


title: Jo Joyner

text: Joanne Mary Joyner (born 24 May 1977) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Tanya Branning in the BBC soap opera "EastEnders" and Mandy Carter in Channel 4 drama "Ackley Bridge". Since 2018, she has starred as Luella Shakespeare in the BBC crime drama series "".


title: Jo Joyner

text: Joyner was born in Harlow, Essex to Anne (née McCormick) and Peter Joyner. She has one older brother, David. In 1999, she graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff with a BA in Acting.


title: Jo Joyner

text: After a stint of guest roles in shows such as "Always and Everyone", "The Cops", "Heartbeat" and "Clocking Off", Joyner came to prominence after playing Beth Nicholls in Channel 4 comedy drama "No Angels" between 2004 and 2006. She later appeared in four episodes of "North & South" as Fanny Thornton and in two episodes of "Doctor Who" as Lynda Moss. In June 2006, Joyner began appearing as Tanya Branning in BBC One soap opera "EastEnders". Joyner originally turned down the role on the show as she had doubts over whether she could work in a soap opera. She said "It was a massive decision. I said no originally. Playing someone in a soap is a big responsibility. People are very protective of the soap and if you are rubbish you can't get away from it." Also, having worked quietly and successfully in the industry for eight years, Joyner was unsure if she would be comfortable with the level of fame being on "EastEnders" would bring her. Joyner won the Most Popular Actress award at the Digital Spy Soap Awards in 2008 for the part of Tanya and also went on to win Best Dramatic Performance at the 2008 British Soap Awards, as well as making the final four in the Best Actress category. Joyner was nominated for the Best Actress award at the "All About Soap" Awards in 2012 and later won the award. In 2012, Joyner and co-star Jake Wood won the Best On-Screen Partnership category at the British Soap Awards. On Digital Spy's 2012 end of year reader poll, Joyner was nominated for Best Female Soap Actor and came fourth with 13.4% of the vote.


title: Jo Joyner

text: Whilst still appearing in "EastEnders" in 2011, Joyner appeared in BBC One comedy drama "Candy Cabs" as Jackie O’Sullivan. On 1 May 2012, it was reported that Joyner would take a prolonged break from "EastEnders" at the end of her current contract to spend time with her family. However, on 1 April 2013, it was announced that Joyner's departure would be indefinite as she wished to try new career paths. Speaking of this, Joyner said: "I love playing Tanya and being part of such a great show, but she has been on quite a rollercoaster over the past seven years and I have come to realise that it's right for her to step away from Walford for a bit longer than originally planned. I have been very fortunate to have been part of some fantastic storylines over the years, and I have worked with some wonderful people during my time on the show which I will always be very grateful for, but I feel that as a mother and an actress it is time for me to explore some other avenues for a while." Joyner filmed her final scenes on 15 May 2013. She departed the show on 28 June 2013. Joyner reprised the role of Tanya in "EastEnders" for the 30th anniversary specials in February 2015 and again on Christmas Day 2017 as part of the storyline surrounding the exits of her onscreen daughters.


title: Jo Joyner

text: In June 2017, Joyner began portraying Mandy Carter in Channel 4’s drama "Ackley Bridge". She departed from the series in the fourth series in 2021. In February 2018, she started to play Luella Shakespeare, alongside Mark Benton, in the BBC One comedy drama "". In December 2021, Joyner appeared in the Netflix drama series "Stay Close" as Erin Cartwright. Then in 2022, she is set to star in the Channel 5 drama series "Riptide".


title: Jo Joyner

text: Joyner announced in July 2009 that she was pregnant with twins as a result of IVF treatment. She gave birth to fraternal twins Freddie McCormick and Edie Rose Madden on 7 December 2009.


title: Eva LaRue

text: Eva Maria LaRue (; born December 27, 1966) is an American actress and model. She is known for her roles as Maria Santos on "All My Children" and Det. Natalia Boa Vista on "".


title: Eva LaRue

text: LaRue was born in Long Beach, California to Marcie and Luis LaRue. She has three siblings, sisters Nika and Lara and a brother, Luis Jr. She is a member of the Baháʼí Faith.


title: Eva LaRue

text: LaRue began acting at the age of six and was later a teenage beauty queen. She won Danfranc Productions Miss California Empire 1984 title at the state pageant held in Irvine, California. In 1985, she graduated from Norco High School.


title: Eva LaRue

text: LaRue started modeling after graduating from high school, first working with the Judith Fontaine Agency and eventually with Frederick's of Hollywood. She appeared in infomercials for Zumba fitness workout and Sheer Cover Studio mineral makeup. She has graced the cover of numerous magazines, including "LA Direct", "Vivmag", "Orange Coast", "InStyle Weddings", "Woman's World" and "Latina".


title: Eva LaRue

text: LaRue was the co-host and announcer on "Candid Camera" from 1991 to 1992. From 1993 to 1997, and again from 2002 to 2005, LaRue portrayed Dr. Maria Santos Grey on "All My Children". There, she was half of "All My Children" supercouple Edmund and Maria. She received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination in the category of "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" for "All My Children". She also received a nomination in 2004 in the category of "Outstanding Original Song" for composing the song "Dance Again with You", which was used as a backdrop to the lovemaking scene after the third marriage of the characters Edmund and Maria in June 2003.


title: Eva LaRue

text: In 2010, LaRue reprised her role as Maria temporarily on January 5 for "All My Children"'s 40th anniversary.


title: Eva LaRue

text: LaRue also performed in television movies over the years, appearing as Annette Funicello in a biographical movie of the former Mouseketeer and also in the adaptation of Danielle Steel's "Remembrance" as Princess Serena.


title: Eva LaRue

text: In 2005 LaRue portrayed Linda Lorenzo, George Lopez's "Long Lost" sister, on the TV sitcom "George Lopez". In the fall 2005, LaRue began the role of Natalia Boa Vista on "". It was revealed in the end of season four that Eva's character, Natalia Boa Vista, was the mole in the lab reporting back to the FBI. Beginning with season five, LaRue became a full-time cast member.


title: Eva LaRue

text: In July and September 2011, LaRue reprised her role as Dr. Maria Santos Grey on "All My Children" as a guest star as the show wrapped up its network run on ABC. In 2013 she played Agent Tanya Mays in the episode "Final Shot" on "Criminal Minds".


title: Eva LaRue

text: In July 2015, it was announced that LaRue had been cast on "Fuller House", the revival series of the sitcom "Full House". She portrayed the character of Teri Tanner, the vivacious and busty wife of Danny Tanner. The series premiered on Netflix in 2016. She also played the role of the Admirable in three episodes of "Mack & Moxy". In May 2019, she was cast on "The Young and the Restless" in the role of Celeste Rosales.


title: Eva LaRue

text: LaRue's sister Nika was one of the women photographed by convicted killer Bill Bradford for his collection. She was No. 3 (out of 54 photos) on the poster released by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department to find living victims. Bradford would photograph women he met in bars and photo shoots under the guise that he would assist their modeling careers. The incident was used in "CSI: Miami" in the season five episode "Darkroom" soon after the revelation. Nika guest-starred in the episode as a reporter. She was initially offered the role of Eva's on-screen sister and a surviving victim, but declined that role, describing it as being "too surreal".


title: Eva LaRue

text: LaRue was married to actor John O'Hurley for two years until 1994. She married fellow "All My Children" co-star John Callahan in November 1996. The couple served as co-hosts of the 1997 Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The couple's daughter Kaya McKenna Callahan was born in December 2001. The couple divorced in 2005.


title: Eva LaRue

text: LaRue and her daughter were stalked by James David Rogers from 2012 to 2022, when Rogers was sentenced to 5 years in prison for his actions.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: Lethal Weapon 4 is a 1998 American buddy cop action film directed and produced by Richard Donner, and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Chris Rock, and Jet Li (in his international film debut). It is the fourth installment in the "Lethal Weapon" film series. It is the last film in the series directed by Donner before his death, and the last to be released theatrically.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: A sequel titled "Lethal Finale" is in development for the streaming service HBO Max. Glover and Gibson will reprise their roles as Riggs and Murtaugh, with Gibson also in talks to direct.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: Lorna Cole is pregnant with LAPD Sergeant Martin Riggs' baby; they are not married, but both are thinking about it. LAPD Sergeant Roger Murtaugh's daughter Rianne, is also pregnant. Due to issues with the department's insurance carrier over Riggs and Murtaugh's actions as sergeants, the Police Chief has Captain Murphy promote them to captains.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: The officers along with Leo Getz come upon a Chinese immigrant smuggling ring after running an ocean-going vessel aground, though the captain of the boat escapes. In the subsequent investigation, Murtaugh finds Hong and his family hiding from US Immigration officers to avoid deportation. Murtaugh offers them shelter in his home, and their families, along with Riggs and Cole, quickly bond. Hong reveals he is looking for his uncle, a skilled engraver, who had paid for their passage to the United States. Riggs discovers through Lorna that Murtaugh's yet-to-be-born grandchild from Rianne is by Detective Lee Butters, which Murtaugh cannot possibly tolerate as he did not want his daughter to marry a police officer, and that Murtaugh still does not know who the father is due to the family hiding it from him.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: Continued investigation of the smuggling ring leads the officers to "Uncle" Benny Chan, a crime boss operating from a Chinatown restaurant. There, they are introduced to high-ranking Triad negotiator Wah Sing Ku. Chan forces them out of his restaurant when the officers show no probable cause. Riggs steals an umbrella from a counter in the restaurant and pulls the fire alarm so that the sprinklers go on, forcing all the restaurant customers to flee. Outside, Riggs spots the escaped captain and tries to give chase but fails to capture him. However, Ku later intercepts the captain and kills him as punishment for attracting the police's attention. Chan and Ku take steps to eliminate all those in on their plans.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: Hong is able to contact his uncle, but this leads the Triads to Murtaugh's house. Ku and the Triad thugs kidnap the Hongs, tie up Murtaugh, his family, Riggs and Cole and set the house ablaze. Ping, Hong's grandson, has evaded capture and helps to free the others in time. Though Riggs and Murtaugh chase down and kill some of the Triad members, Ku escapes. Ku brings Hong to his uncle at a warehouse, where he has been engraving plates for a counterfeiting operation for Ku and Chan in exchange for transit for his family. Ku kills Hong in front of his uncle to assure his continued work.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: With Getz serving as a distraction, the officers confront Chan at his dentist's office to interrogate him with laughing gas for more information but are unable to get any leads, and during which Riggs and Butters accidentally reveal the family secret to Murtaugh. Later, as they discuss what they know with Detective Ng, who has worked on cases involving the Chinese government before, Ng recognizes that Ku must be trying to negotiate with a corrupt Chinese general for the release of the Four Fathers, high-ranking Triad members that include Ku's brother. New information leads them to the abandoned warehouse where they find the bodies of Hong, his uncle, and Chan, the latter two killed by Ku after they served their usefulness. Knowing that Ku plans to use counterfeit money, the police intercept the exchange between Ku and the general, telling the general that the money is fake. The enraged general reacts by executing most of the Four Fathers before being shot and killed by the Triads, at which a firefight breaks out between the Triad, the general's private army and the police, and most of the Triad and army are killed; and Butters is wounded shielding Murtaugh. Ku attempts to escape with his brother, but his brother is shot and killed by Murtaugh. Riggs and Murtaugh pursue Ku to a pier where they engage him in a brutal fistfight. Murtaugh impales Ku through the stomach with a rebar before being knocked out by Ku, after which the pier collapses and sends Riggs and Ku into the water. Riggs is able to find a Kalashnikov assault rifle and finish off Ku, while Murtaugh recovers in time to rescue Riggs from a piece of concrete that had pinned him underwater.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: Later, Riggs visits his dead wife's grave and asks her for advice about his impending marriage with Lorna, about which he still has doubts; Getz arrives and offers a heartfelt childhood story that gives Riggs both a new light on the situation and a new perspective of Getz. They soon discover Lorna is about to give birth and race to the hospital, where Riggs and Lorna are ceremonially married by a rabbi just before she enters labor. Their son and Rianne's daughter are born, and Murtaugh accepts Butters as his son-in-law. Murphy gives Riggs and Murtaugh their rank of Sergeant back since the city is insured again and Hong's family is granted asylum.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: In early 1993, a year after the release and big success of "Lethal Weapon 3", Warner Bros. and producer Joel Silver tried buying new spec script by Jonathan Hensleigh titled "Simon Says", which was about police detective and shop owner who are forced by mad bomber to search and stop the bombs he planted all over the city, as part of his big revenge plan against the detective. Silver and Warner Bros. wanted to get the script and re-write it into "Lethal Weapon 4", however 20th Century Fox bought the script instead and originally they planned for it to be Brandon Lee's next film after "The Crow" or have it be re-written into sequel to his previous action film, "Rapid Fire". But after Lee's death during filming of "The Crow", Fox instead took "Simon Says" script and used it for third "Die Hard" film they had trouble developing at the time, and after many re-writes done by several writers, it was finally made into "Die Hard With a Vengeance" (1995). In July 1993, Warner Bros. and Silver started working on not just the fourth film, but the fifth one as well. Screenwriter and script doctor Jonathan Lemkin, who has just done some uncredited work for them on "Demolition Man" (1993), was hired to write the script for "Lethal Weapon 4" while another writer wrote the script for "Lethal Weapon 5". According to Silver, originally it was planned to film both films back-to-back, or use best parts from both scripts into one film.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: Between late 1994 and early 1995, screenwriter Jeffrey Boam, who did some uncredited work on first "Lethal Weapon" (1987), re-wrote original "Play Dirty" script for "Lethal Weapon 2" by Shane Black and Warren Murphy, and wrote the story and script for "Lethal Weapon 3", was brought in to re-write "Lethal Weapon 4" script which Warner Bros. were going to use for the film, but Boam had some problems with it, and he also wasn't sure about working on another "Lethal Weapon" film after bad experience he had with last film, like having to keep re-writing it during filming and even getting fired at one point only to be re-hired later. Then later on he started working on his own new story for "Lethal Weapon 4", which would have Riggs and Murtaugh fighting against neo-nazi survivalists who are committing terrorist attacks on L.A., like using Stinger missiles to try and shoot down the jet carrying Los Angeles Lakers. Boam wrote the first version of the script in January 1995, and he said in an interview how he would probably have to write at least three more drafts. By October 1995, Boam was still working on the script, and at the same time he was also working on fourth "Indiana Jones" film which was left unproduced.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: The book "The Gross: The Hits, The Flops: The Summer That Ate Hollywood" by Peter Bart, went into lot of details regarding the film's troubled production, from writing to release. While Boam was still working on his version of the story for "Lethal Weapon 4" about neo-nazi survialists, other writers were writing their own versions, all of which were rejected. Finally, Warner Bros. decided that they wanted for fourth film to focus on storyline involving Triads, so despite them and many other people really liking Boam's version and how he went back to the serious, darker and edgier tone of first film, it was rejected for those reasons. Boam would later say how he felt that the main plot Warner Bros. went with in final film about counterfeiting of Chinese money wasn't good or suspenseful enough plot for "Lethal Weapon" sequel.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: Jonathan Lemkin was once again brought in to write the first version of the script involving Triads, about four years after he wrote his first rejected version of "Lethal Weapon 4" script in 1993, and although his new script was received very positively, once again other writers were brought in to write other versions of the story. Alfred Gough and Miles Millar wrote one of the unused scripts, but for some reason they still have story credit in the film.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: Joel Silver brought in TV writer Channing Gibson to work on the script, after he was impressed by Gibson's re-write of 1993 spec script by another screenwriter Steven Maeda titled "Sandblast", an action adventure thriller described as ""Die Hard" (1988) meets "Cliffhanger" (1993) in a sandstorm", about ex-specialist who's also explosives expert leading the commando team into Iraq desert wasteland to search and recover lost nuclear warheads before traitorous team of green berets finds them first, and while dealing with deadly terrain and huge sandstorm. "Sandblast" was another Warner Bros. project on which Silver worked as producer between 1995 and 1996 when it was in production, and originally Eddie Murphy was going to star in completely serious action role, but after he left, Wesley Snipes was cast in the lead and for $10 million paycheck, and Jean-Claude Van Damme was going to play the main villain, however despite it having about $42 million budget and going into pre-production with cast and crew ready to start working in Morocco where sets were already built, "Sandblast" was cancelled in 1996 due to several different problems, and due to his "pay or play" deal, Snipes instead starred in "Murder at 1600" (1997).


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: Gibson took the job of writing "Lethal Weapon 4" mostly because he thought it would be more relaxed writing job than anything he did for TV, however much like what happened on previous two sequels, the script kept getting changed and re-written over and over again, and Gibson ended up doing more work and revisions on it than on all of his TV work put together. Production even started without half of the script finished, and ending wasn't written until it was finally time to film it.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: Leo Getz and Lee Butters weren't in original scripts, but then Joe Pesci was hired and paid $1 million for three weeks of work, and Gibson was "three-fourths" through his newest draft when Chris Rock was hired, which forced him to re-write the script yet again. Butters was originally written to be a gay detective, but immediately when they started filming police station scene between him, Riggs, Murtaugh and Leo, everyone felt how his character didn't work so he was changed and re-written to be Rianne's husband, although they only share one scene in the final film and never say anything to each other, due to last minute changes made on his character.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: Besides Lemkin, Gibson, Gough and Millar, some other writers did uncredited work on the script, including Michael Curtis, Greg Malins, Fred Dekker (who came up with the scene where Riggs and Murtaugh drive their car off the freeway and through the building), and even Boam was brought in to work on the script.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: Movie went into production in very early January 1998 and with already planned summer release of that same year, but due to issues during filming including the script changes, production ended around mid May, less than two months before its scheduled July release. Editors had to work very quickly to have the film ready, which is why the trailers for it show some deleted and alternate scenes which are not in the film. But despite this, the film was finished and released as planned.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: "Lethal Weapon 4" debuted at 1 at the box office with $34.05 million. Although the film grossed $130 million in the U.S., it was not considered a runaway financial success as the previous three films had been. Shooting began in January 1998, just months before the film's release, with a production budget estimated at $120–$150 million (although Warner Bros. maintained it cost less than $100 million) and an additional $50 million spent on marketing and distribution. This made the fourth film the most expensive entry of the series. Its profit margin was saved in part due to the combined foreign box office sales making the film gross approximately $285 million in total, making the second highest-grossing film in the "Lethal Weapon" film series behind, "Lethal Weapon 3" (1992). Still, like its predecessors, "Lethal Weapon 4" was among the top ten grossing films of its release year.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: Critical reaction to "Lethal Weapon 4" was mixed. The film currently holds a rating of 53% on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 69 critics, and an average rating of 6.4 out of 10. The site's consensus states: "Jet Li's arrival breathes fresh life into a tired franchise formula -- but not enough to put "Lethal Weapon 4" on equal footing with its predecessors." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating of 0-100 from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 37 out of 100 based on reviews from 21 critics, which means it has an indication of "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: James Berardinelli gave the film three stars out of four, writing: "Given the expectations that constrain it, "Lethal Weapon 4" is probably the best motion picture that could possibly result from another teaming of Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh. The series has lost a lot of steam since the first two entries, and, although the fourth movie ratchets up the energy level from the moribund state of the disappointing "Lethal Weapon 3", there's no sense of spontaneity." Roger Ebert gave "Lethal Weapon 4" two stars out of four, writing: ""Lethal Weapon 4" has all the technical skill of the first three movies in the series, but lacks the secret weapon, which was conviction. All four movies take two cop buddies and put them into spectacular and absurd action sequences, but the first three at least went through the motions of taking the plot seriously (and the first one did such a good job, it made my 'best 10' list of that year). This time, we're watching an exercise." Michael O'Sullivan of "The Washington Post" called it a "stupid and violent delicacy" that balances a "patented blend of high action and low comedy".


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: "Lethal Weapon 4" has been released on VHS and DVD numerous times. It has been re-released in numerous sets that contain all four films in the series. "Lethal Weapon 4" was released on Blu-ray Disc as part of a box set with the additional "Lethal Weapon" films on May 22, 2012.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: The film's music was composed by Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton, and David Sanborn. This was the only film in the series not to have a soundtrack album released alongside it, but in 2013 La-La Land Records released the score as discs seven and eight of its limited edition "Lethal Weapon Soundtrack Collection".


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: There had long been talk of a fifth "Lethal Weapon" film, although both Mel Gibson and Danny Glover had initially expressed a lack of interest. In 2007, Moviehole.net received word from sources that Warner Bros. were in the early stages of trying to relaunch the "Lethal Weapon" series sometime in 2009 or later. A spec script treatment was written by Shane Black and Chuck Mondry, leading to rumors that the sequel was on fast track by Warner Bros. with Black in the director's chair. In 2008, Richard Donner said, "Mel turned it down. I would like to think that Mel turned it down because I wasn't involved." Donner said that he and "Lethal Weapon 4" writer Channing Gibson "had an incredibly strong story for the fifth movie" but that the studio had opted to work with Joel Silver instead.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: In November 2017, Mel Gibson hinted that a fifth movie might happen and that he, Richard Donner, and Danny Glover have discussed the idea to return. In December 2017, Donner confirmed in an interview on the Spocklight podcast that Gibson and Glover have agreed to return as Riggs and Murtaugh respectively and that he has a story all set. The only obstacle is Warner Bros. greenlighting the film. Channing Gibson remains involved as screenwriter. The story will take place in present-day and is intended to be the final film in the series. In February 2018, Donner revealed the film's official title to be "Lethal Finale"; while also stating that the film is being held up by the production company and story. In January 2020, producer Dan Lin confirmed that "Lethal Weapon 5" is in active development, with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover confirmed to return, and Richard Donner returning to direct, but that a script had not yet been finalized. In December 2020, Richard Donner confirmed that he was developing the sequel and would produce and direct it, adding that it would be the last film he directs. However, Donner died on July 5, 2021, leaving the fate of the film unknown. Mel Gibson has been approached for potentially directing the film.


title: Lethal Weapon 4

text: On November 15, 2021, Gibson confirmed that he is in talks to direct and star in the fifth "Lethal Weapon" film, saying that he would be helming the film to honor Donner. It was also revealed that Richard Wenk ("The Equalizer", "") had drafted a screenplay. The production will be exclusive to HBO Max with no theatrical release.


title: Hovercraft

text: A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces.


title: Hovercraft

text: Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull, or air cushion, that is slightly above atmospheric pressure. The pressure difference between the higher pressure air below the hull and lower pressure ambient air above it produces lift, which causes the hull to float above the running surface. For stability reasons, the air is typically blown through slots or holes around the outside of a disk- or oval-shaped platform, giving most hovercraft a characteristic rounded-rectangle shape.


title: Hovercraft

text: The first practical design for hovercraft was derived from a British invention in the 1950s. They are now used throughout the world as specialised transports in disaster relief, coastguard, military and survey applications, as well as for sport or passenger service. Very large versions have been used to transport hundreds of people and vehicles across the English Channel, whilst others have military applications used to transport tanks, soldiers and large equipment in hostile environments and terrain. Decline in public demand meant that , the only public hovercraft service in the world still in operation serves between the Isle of Wight and Southsea in the UK.


title: Hovercraft

text: Although now a generic term for the type of craft, the name "Hovercraft" itself was a trademark owned by Saunders-Roe (later British Hovercraft Corporation (BHC), then Westland), hence other manufacturers' use of alternative names to describe the vehicles.


title: Hovercraft

text: The standard plural of "hovercraft" is "hovercraft" (in the same manner that "aircraft" is both singular and plural).


title: Hovercraft

text: There have been many attempts to understand the principles of high air pressure below hulls and wings. Hovercraft are unique in that they can lift themselves while still, differing from ground effect vehicles and hydrofoils that require forward motion to create lift.


title: Hovercraft

text: The first mention, in the historical record of the concepts behind surface-effect vehicles, to use the term "hovering" was by Swedish scientist Emanuel Swedenborg in 1716.


title: Hovercraft

text: The shipbuilder John Isaac Thornycroft patented an early design for an air cushion ship / hovercraft in the 1870s, but suitable, powerful, engines were not available until the 20th century.


title: Hovercraft

text: In 1915, the Austrian Dagobert Müller von Thomamühl (1880–1956) built the world's first "air cushion" boat (). Shaped like a section of a large aerofoil (this creates a low-pressure area above the wing much like an aircraft), the craft was propelled by four aero engines driving two submerged marine propellers, with a fifth engine that blew air under the front of the craft to increase the air pressure under it. Only when in motion could the craft trap air under the front, increasing lift. The vessel also required a depth of water to operate and could not transition to land or other surfaces. Designed as a fast torpedo boat, the had a top speed of over . It was thoroughly tested and even armed with torpedoes and machine guns for operation in the Adriatic. It never saw actual combat, however, and as the war progressed it was eventually scrapped due to a lack of interest and perceived need, and its engines returned to the air force.


title: Hovercraft

text: The theoretical grounds for motion over an air layer were constructed by Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovskii in 1926 and 1927.


title: Hovercraft

text: In 1929, Andrew Kucher of Ford began experimenting with the "Levapad" concept, metal disks with pressurized air blown through a hole in the center. Levapads do not offer stability on their own. Several must be used together to support a load above them. Lacking a skirt, the pads had to remain very close to the running surface. He initially imagined these being used in place of casters and wheels in factories and warehouses, where the concrete floors offered the smoothness required for operation. By the 1950s, Ford showed a number of toy models of cars using the system, but mainly proposed its use as a replacement for wheels on trains, with the Levapads running close to the surface of existing rails.


title: Hovercraft

text: In 1931, Finnish aero engineer Toivo J. Kaario began designing a developed version of a vessel using an air cushion and built a prototype ('Surface Glider'), in 1937. His design included the modern features of a lift engine blowing air into a flexible envelope for lift. However, he never received funding to build his design. Kaario's efforts were followed closely in the Soviet Union by Vladimir Levkov, who returned to the solid-sided design of the . Levkov designed and built a number of similar craft during the 1930s, and his L-5 fast-attack boat reached in testing. However, the start of World War II put an end to his development work.


title: Hovercraft

text: During World War II, an American engineer, Charles Fletcher, invented a walled air cushion vehicle, the "Glidemobile". Because the project was classified by the U.S. government, Fletcher could not file a patent.


title: Hovercraft

text: In April 1958, Ford engineers demonstrated the Glide-air, a model of a wheel-less vehicle that speeds on a thin film of air only 76.2 μm ( of an inch) above its table top roadbed. An article in "Modern Mechanix" quoted Andrew A. Kucher, Ford's vice president in charge of Engineering and Research noting "We look upon Glide-air as a new form of high-speed land transportation, probably in the field of rail surface travel, for fast trips of distances of up to about ".


title: Hovercraft

text: In August 1961, "Popular Science" reported on the Aeromobile 35B, an air-cushion vehicle (ACV) that was invented by William Bertelsen and was envisioned to revolutionise the transportation system, with personal hovering self-driving cars that could speed up to .


title: Hovercraft

text: The idea of the modern hovercraft is most often associated with Christopher Cockerell, a British mechanical engineer. Cockerell's group was the first to develop the use of a ring of air for maintaining the cushion, the first to develop a successful skirt, and the first to demonstrate a practical vehicle in continued use. A memorial to Cockerell's first design stands in the village of Somerleyton.


title: Hovercraft

text: Cockerell came across the key concept in his design when studying the ring of airflow when high-pressure air was blown into the annular area between two concentric tin cans (one coffee and the other from cat food) and a hairdryer. This produced a ring of airflow, as expected, but he noticed an unexpected benefit as well; the sheet of fast-moving air presented a sort of physical barrier to the air on either side of it. This effect, which he called the "momentum curtain", could be used to trap high-pressure air in the area inside the curtain, producing a high-pressure plenum that earlier examples had to build up with considerably more airflow. In theory, only a small amount of active airflow would be needed to create lift and much less than a design that relied only on the momentum of the air to provide lift, like a helicopter. In terms of power, a hovercraft would only need between one quarter to one half of the power required by a helicopter.


title: Hovercraft

text: Cockerell built and tested several models of his hovercraft design in Somerleyton, Suffolk, during the early 1950s. The design featured an engine mounted to blow from the front of the craft into a space below it, combining both lift and propulsion. He demonstrated the model flying over many Whitehall carpets in front of various government experts and ministers, and the design was subsequently put on the secret list. In spite of tireless efforts to arrange funding, no branch of the military was interested, as he later joked, "The Navy said it was a plane not a boat; the RAF said it was a boat not a plane; and the Army were 'plain not interested'."