title: Skunk Anansie

text: Skin has described Skunk Anansie as a "clit-rock" group, which Allmusic clarifies as "an amalgam of heavy metal and black feminist rage". Members Skin and Ace have mentioned the Sex Pistols, Blondie, dub, reggae, electronica, hip-hop and world music as significant influences.


title: Skunk Anansie

text: The band also covered The Stooges' song "Search and Destroy" specifically for the soundtrack of Zack Snyder's film "Sucker Punch", released on 25 March 2011. The soundtrack also includes a Skunk Anansie remix of the song "Army of Me" by Björk.


title: Psilocybe

text: Psilocybe ( ) is a genus of gilled mushrooms, growing worldwide, in the family Hymenogastraceae. Most or nearly all species contain the psychedelic compounds psilocybin and psilocin.


title: Psilocybe

text: A 2002 study of the molecular phylogeny of the agarics indicated that the genus "Psilocybe" as then defined was polyphyletic, falling into two distinct clades that are not directly related to each other. The blue-staining hallucinogenic species constituted one clade and the non-bluing species the other. The previous type species of the genus, "Psilocybe " (now Deconica montana), was in the non-bluing clade, but in 2010 the type species was changed to "P. semilanceata", a member of the bluing clade. A 2006 molecular phylogenetic study of the Agaricales by Matheny and colleagues, further demonstrated the separation of the bluing and non-bluing clades of "Psilocybe" in a larger, strongly supported phylogenetic tree of the Agaricales.


title: Psilocybe

text: "Psilocybe" had been placed taxonomically in the agaric family Strophariaceae based upon its spore and pileipellis morphology. The phylogenetic study by Matheny "et al.", placed the non-bluing "Psilocybe" and its close relatives in a basal position within the Strophariaceae, a sister taxon to a clade containing the other genera within that family. The bluing "Psilocybe", however, form a clade that is sister to "Galerina" in the newly revised family, Hymenogastraceae that used to be restricted to secotioid, false-truffles. The phylogenetic study by Moncalvo, "et al." confirmed that the agaric genus "Melanotus" is simply a subgroup of the non-bluing "Psilocybe", all of which are placed in "Deconica", and also pointed to a close relationship between the latter genus and the genera "Kuehneromyces" and "Phaeogalera".


title: Psilocybe

text: In 2007, a paper by Redhead "et al." proposed conserving the genus "Psilocybe" with "Psilocybe semilanceata" as its type species. The suggestion was accepted by unanimous vote of the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi of the International Botanical Congress in 2010, meaning that "P. semilanceata" (a member of the bluing clade) now serves as the type species of the genus. Since "P. semilanceata" is now the type species of the genus, the bluing hallucinogenic clade remained in the genus "Psilocybe" (Hymenogastraceae) while the non-bluing clade were transferred to the genus "Deconica" (Strophariaceae). However, it has been demonstrated that "P. fuscofulva", a species that used to be known as "P. atrobrunnea", belongs to the genus "Psilocybe" s.s. but does not contain psychotropic compounds. Negative results have also been published for "P. fimetaria".


title: Psilocybe

text: The genus name "Psilocybe" is a compound of the Greek elements ψιλός ("psilós") "bare" / "naked" and κύβη ("kúbe") "head" / "swelling", giving the meaning "bare-headed" (i.e. bald) referring to the mushroom's detachable pellicle (loose skin over the cap), which can resemble a bald pate.


title: Psilocybe

text: "Psilocybe" fruit bodies are typically small, nondescript mushrooms with a typical "little brown mushroom" morphology. Macroscopically, they are characterized by their small to occasionally medium size, brown to yellow-brown coloration, with a typically hygrophanous cap, and a spore print-color that ranges from lilac-brown to dark purple-brown (though rusty-brown colored varieties are known in at least one species). Hallucinogenic species typically have a blue-staining reaction when the fruit body is bruised. Microscopically, they are characterized by pileipellis with hyphae that run parallel to the pileus surface, forming a "cutis", by their lack of chrysocystidia, and by spores that are smooth, ellipsoid to rhomboid to subhexagonal in shape, with a distinct apical germ pore. Ecologically, all species of "Psilocybe" are saprotrophs, growing on various kinds of decaying organic matter.


title: Psilocybe

text: Geographically, species in this genus are found throughout the world in most biomes. The greatest species diversity seems to be in the neotropics, from Mesoamerica through Brazil and Chile. "Psilocybe" are found in a variety of habitats and substrates. Many of the species found in temperate regions, such as "Psilocybe cyanescens", seem to have an affinity for landscaped areas mulched with woodchips and are actually rather rare in natural settings removed from human habitation. Contrary to popular belief, only a minority of "Psilocybe" species, such as "P. cubensis" and "P. subcubensis", grow directly on feces. Many other species are found in habitats such as mossy, grassy, or forest humus soils.


title: Psilocybe

text: The psilocybin molecule is indirectly responsible for the hallucinogenic properties of the "Psilocybe". This compound, as well as all other indole alkaloids, are derived from the amino acid tryptophan, being the only amino acid with the indole-amine ring. Tryptophan is converted to tryptamine by decarboxylation. Two methylation steps occur producing DMT, another psychedelic compound. Hydroxylation of this compound produces the more potent hallucinogen psilocin, followed by phosphorylation yielding psilocybin. After ingestion of the psilocybin compound alkaline phosphatases present in the body's digestive system, kidneys, and possibly in the blood readily cleave the phosphoryl ester bond from psilocybin, yielding the hydroxyl compound, psilocin. Psilocin is the chemical primarily responsible for the hallucinogenic effects of the "Psilocybe". The blue-staining species of "Psilocybe" are characterized by the presence of psilocin and psilocybin. This blue-staining reaction occurs after the fruit body has been injured, particularly near the base of the stalk. This reaction is thought to be due to the oxidation of psilocybin after the outer surface of the fruit body has been breached. The degree of bluing in a "Psilocybe" fruit body roughly correlates with the concentration of psilocin in the mushroom. Psilocybin is chemically far more stable than psilocin, the latter compound being largely lost when the mushroom is heated or dried.


title: Psilocybe

text: The chemical structure of serotonin, an innate indole alkaloid neurotransmitter that regulates our mood and therefore happiness, is nearly identical to that of psilocin. The latter differs mainly by the hydroxyl group moving one carbon and the addition of two methyl groups that make the molecule lipophilic (fat soluble), ergo capable of crossing the lipid membrane sheaths of the central nervous system. After psilocybin has been ingested and dephosphorylated, to psilocin, the mechanism it uses in the brain has a direct agonist effect on the 5-HT serotonin receptors. To explain this effect, the psilocin molecule essentially mimics the serotonin molecule, binding to the 5-HT receptors and initiating the same response as the serotonin. This effect explains the euphoria experienced by ingestion of this "agonist." Initially, hallucinogens were thought to blockade these serotonin neurotransmitters, but persistent research led to this agonist effect conclusion.


title: Psilocybe

text: Woolley and Campbell conducted research to determine whether the depletion of the hormone serotonin had a direct effect on mental disorders and that hallucinations might be due to an excess of serotonin. Their results led them to study chemicals analogous to serotonin. They found that the psychoactive chemicals psilocybin and psilocin exhibited serotonin-like effects, however as dosage increased, these compounds acted as serotonin antagonists, psilocybin being comparable to the most potent antagonist yet discovered. This is a plausible basis for the psychological effects of these hallucinogenic compounds.


title: Psilocybe

text: Even though these chemicals are psychoactive and therefore the basidiomycete deemed toxic, there have been no reports of fatalities or induced internal organ damage directly associated with ingestion of these chemicals. Misidentification of the fruit body could lead to ingestion of a lethal fungus.


title: Psilocybe

text: Some psychoactive species contain baeocystin, norbaeocystin and β‐carboline monoamine oxidase inhibitors in addition to psilocin and psilocybin.


title: Psilocybe

text: The medicinal uses of the "Psilocybe" was recorded by Native Americans of Central America. Shamans, or curanderas would avidly ingest the "sacred mushrooms" for the extrasensory perceptual effects it gave them in order to better assess problems faced in their society. The observed effects of the alkaloids found in these mushrooms has given rise to research into their possible uses for psychiatric medicine.


title: Psilocybe

text: Hallucinogenic species of "Psilocybe" have a long history of use among the native peoples of Mesoamerica for religious communion, divination, and healing, from pre-Columbian times up to the present day. Hallucinogenic "Psilocybe" were known to the aboriginal Mexicans as "teonanácatl" (literally "divine mushroom") and were reportedly served at the coronation of Moctezuma II in 1502. After the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the use of hallucinogenic plants and mushrooms, like other pre-Christian traditions, was forcibly suppressed and driven underground.


title: Psilocybe

text: By the 20th century, hallucinogenic mushroom use was thought by non-Native Americans to have disappeared entirely. However, in 1955, Valentina Wasson and R. Gordon Wasson became the first Westerners to actively participate in an indigenous mushroom ceremony. The Wassons did much to publicize their discovery, even publishing an article on their experiences in "Life" in 1957. In 1956, Roger Heim identified the hallucinogenic mushroom that the Wassons had brought back from Mexico as "Psilocybe" and in 1958, Albert Hofmann first reported psilocin and psilocybin as the active compound in these mushrooms. There is some skepticism as to whether or not these "sacred mushrooms" were actually in the genus "Psilocybe". However, according to Heim's research in Mexico, he identified three species of "Psilocybe" that he believed were used in these native ceremonies. The species identified by Heim were; "P. mexicana, P. caerulescens", and "P. zapotecorum". are a variety of "Psilocybe" mushrooms that make up the "teonanácatl" group of hallucinogenic mushrooms, including "P. cubensis". Isauro Nava Garcia, a Mazotec man, provided guidance to Heim while Heim conducted his field and culture work. Garcia was an avid observer of the fungi in his environment while identifying specific characteristics about the fruit body of the "Psilocybe" his ancestors utilized, as well as knowing where they could be found.


title: Psilocybe

text: At present, hallucinogenic mushroom use has been reported among a number of groups spanning from central Mexico to Oaxaca, including groups of Nahua, Mixtecs, Mixe, Mazatecs, Zapotecs, and others.


title: Psilocybe

text: The popularization of entheogens by Wasson, Timothy Leary, and others has led to an explosion in the use of hallucinogenic "Psilocybe" throughout the world. By the early 1970s, a number of psychoactive "Psilocybe" species were described from temperate North America, Europe, and Asia and were widely collected. Books describing methods of cultivating "P. cubensis" in large quantities were also published. The relatively easy availability of hallucinogenic "Psilocybe" from wild and cultivated sources has made it among the most widely used of the hallucinogenic drugs.


title: Psilocybe

text: The purified chemicals psilocybin and psilocin are listed as Schedule" "II drugs under the United Nations 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances. However, the UN drug treaties do not apply to cultivation, preparation, or international transport of psilocybin mushrooms.


title: Psilocybe

text: Internationally, the two chemicals are generally considered controlled substances. However, there is much ambiguity about what is considered a "container" of these compounds in several countries (e.g. Brazil), the chemicals themselves are listed as controlled substances, but the mushrooms that contain the chemicals are not, therefore deemed legal.


title: Psilocybe

text: In the United States, possession of "Psilocybe" mushroom fruiting bodies is illegal in every state except for Florida. This is because the Supreme Court of Florida does not believe that these mushrooms could "reasonably be found to be containers of the schedule I substance, psilocybin".


title: Psilocybe

text: In the United States there is no federal law mentioning the possession of "Psilocybe" spores, this is because only the psilocybin and psilocin compounds are considered Schedule I drugs and there is no presence of these compounds in the spores themselves, only in the fruiting body of the cultivated spores. However, there are several US states that have actually prohibited possession of these spores because they can be cultivated to produce these hallucinogenic, Schedule" "I drugs. These states includes California, Georgia, and Idaho.


title: Psilocybe

text: However, possession of the spores by a qualified mycologist in California is legal if being put to use for research purposes, which must be approved by Research Advisory Panel. If not authorized by law, possession of spores or cultivation of fruiting bodies of the "Psilocybe" is punishable to not more than one year in county jail or state prison.


title: Psilocybe

text: Psilocybin mushrooms as well as other "soft drugs" which are stronger than cannabis but not synthetic, are legally available through smart shops in the Netherlands. Only the truffle form of magic mushrooms (such as "P. tampanensis") are currently legal, but these still contain the active ingredients and produce similar effect as the caps and stalks.


title: Washington Consensus

text: The Washington Consensus is a set of ten economic policy prescriptions considered to constitute the "standard" reform package promoted for crisis-wracked developing countries by Washington, D.C.-based institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and United States Department of the Treasury. The term was first used in 1989 by English economist John Williamson. The prescriptions encompassed free-market promoting policies in such areas as macroeconomic stabilization, economic opening with respect to both trade and investment, and the expansion of market forces within the domestic economy.


title: Washington Consensus

text: Subsequent to Williamson's use of the terminology, and despite his emphatic opposition, the phrase Washington Consensus has come to be used fairly widely in a second, broader sense, to refer to a more general orientation towards a strongly market-based approach (sometimes described as market fundamentalism or neoliberalism). In emphasizing the magnitude of the difference between the two alternative definitions, Williamson has argued that his ten original, narrowly defined prescriptions have largely acquired the status of "motherhood and apple pie" (i.e., are broadly taken for granted), whereas the subsequent broader definition, representing a form of neoliberal manifesto, "never enjoyed a consensus [in Washington] or anywhere much else" and can reasonably be said to be dead.


title: Washington Consensus

text: Discussion of the Washington Consensus has long been contentious. Partly this reflects a lack of agreement over what is meant by the term, but there are also substantive differences over the merits and consequences of the policy prescriptions involved. Some critics take issue with the original Consensus's emphasis on the opening of developing countries to global markets, and/or with what they see as an excessive focus on strengthening the influence of domestic market forces, arguably at the expense of key functions of the state. For other commentators, the issue is more what is "missing", including such areas as institution-building and targeted efforts to improve opportunities for the weakest in society.


title: Washington Consensus

text: The concept and name of the Washington Consensus were first presented in 1989 by John Williamson, an economist from the Institute for International Economics, an international economic think tank based in Washington, D.C.


title: Washington Consensus

text: The consensus as originally stated by Williamson included ten broad sets of relatively specific policy recommendations:


title: Washington Consensus

text: Although Williamson's label of the Washington Consensus draws attention to the role of the Washington-based agencies in promoting the above agenda, a number of authors have stressed that Latin American policy-makers arrived at their own packages of policy reforms primarily based on their own analysis of their countries' situations. Thus, according to Joseph Stanislaw and Daniel Yergin, authors of "The Commanding Heights", the policy prescriptions described in the Washington Consensus were "developed in Latin America, by Latin Americans, in response to what was happening both within and outside the region." Joseph Stiglitz has written that "the Washington Consensus policies were designed to respond to the very real problems in Latin America and made considerable sense" (though Stiglitz has at times been an outspoken critic of IMF policies as applied to developing nations). In view of the implication conveyed by the term Washington Consensus that the policies were largely external in origin, Stanislaw and Yergin report that the term's creator, John Williamson, has "regretted the term ever since", stating "it is difficult to think of a less diplomatic label."


title: Washington Consensus

text: Williamson regretted the use of "Washington" in the Washington Consensus, as it incorrectly suggested that development policies stemmed from Washington and were externally imposed on others. Williamson said in 2002, "The phrase "Washington Consensus" is a damaged brand name... Audiences the world over seem to believe that this signifies a set of neoliberal policies that have been imposed on hapless countries by the Washington-based international financial institutions and have led them to crisis and misery. There are people who cannot utter the term without foaming at the mouth. My own view is of course quite different. The basic ideas that I attempted to summarize in the Washington Consensus have continued to gain wider acceptance over the past decade, to the point where Lula has had to endorse most of them in order to be electable. For the most part they are motherhood and apple pie, which is why they commanded a consensus."


title: Washington Consensus

text: According to a 2011 study by Nancy Birdsall, Augusto de la Torre, and Felipe Valencia Caicedo, the policies in the original consensus were largely a creation of Latin American politicians and technocrats, with Williamson's role having been to gather the ten points in one place for the first time, rather than to "create" the package of policies. Kate Geohegan of Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies credited Peruvian neoliberal economist Hernando de Soto for inspiring the Washington Consensus. Williamson partly credited de Soto himself for the prescriptions, saying his work was "the outcome of the worldwide intellectual trends to which Latin America provided" and said that de Soto was directly responsible for the recommendation on legal security for property rights.


title: Washington Consensus

text: The Washington Consensus is not interchangeable with the term "neoliberalism." Williamson recognizes that the term has commonly been used with a different meaning from his original prescription; he opposes the alternative use of the term, which became common after his initial formulation, to cover a broader market fundamentalism or "neoliberal" agenda.


title: Washington Consensus

text: More specifically, Williamson argues that the first three of his ten prescriptions are uncontroversial in the economic community, while recognizing that the others have evoked some controversy. He argues that one of the least controversial prescriptions, the redirection of spending to infrastructure, health care, and education, has often been neglected. He also argues that, while the prescriptions were focused on reducing certain functions of government (e.g., as an owner of productive enterprises), they would also strengthen government's ability to undertake other actions such as supporting education and health. Williamson says that he does not endorse market fundamentalism, and believes that the Consensus prescriptions, if implemented correctly, would benefit the poor. In a book edited with Pedro-Pablo Kuczynski in 2003, Williamson laid out an expanded reform agenda, emphasizing crisis-proofing of economies, "second-generation" reforms, and policies addressing inequality and social issues.


title: Washington Consensus

text: As noted, in spite of Williamson's reservations, the term Washington Consensus has been used more broadly to describe the general shift towards free market policies that followed the displacement of Keynesianism in the 1970s. In this broad sense the Washington Consensus is sometimes considered to have begun at about 1980. Many commentators see the consensus, especially if interpreted in the broader sense of the term, as having been at its strongest during the 1990s. Some have argued that the consensus in this sense ended at the turn of the century, or at least that it became less influential after about the year 2000. More commonly, commentators have suggested that the Consensus in its broader sense survived until the time of the 2008 global financial crisis. Following the strong intervention undertaken by governments in response to market failures, a number of journalists, politicians and senior officials from global institutions such as the World Bank began saying that the Washington Consensus was dead. These included former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who following the 2009 G-20 London summit, declared "the old Washington Consensus is over". Williamson was asked by "The Washington Post" in April 2009 whether he agreed with Gordon Brown that the Washington Consensus was dead. He responded:


title: Washington Consensus

text: After the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit announced that it had achieved agreement on a Seoul Development Consensus, the "Financial Times" editorialized that "Its pragmatic and pluralistic view of development is appealing enough. But the document will do little more than drive another nail into the coffin of a long-deceased Washington consensus."


title: Washington Consensus

text: The widespread adoption by governments of the Washington Consensus was to a large degree a reaction to the macroeconomic crisis that hit much of Latin America, and some other developing regions, during the 1980s. The crisis had multiple origins: the drastic rise in the price of imported oil following the emergence of OPEC, mounting levels of external debt, the rise in US (and hence international) interest rates, and—consequent to the foregoing problems—loss of access to additional foreign credit. The import-substitution policies that had been pursued by many developing country governments in Latin America and elsewhere for several decades had left their economies ill-equipped to expand exports at all quickly to pay for the additional cost of imported oil (by contrast, many countries in East Asia, which had followed more export-oriented strategies, found it comparatively easy to expand exports still further, and as such managed to accommodate the external shocks with much less economic and social disruption). Unable either to expand external borrowing further or to ramp up export earnings easily, many Latin American countries faced no obvious sustainable alternatives to reducing overall domestic demand via greater fiscal discipline, while in parallel adopting policies to reduce protectionism and increase their economies' export orientation.


title: Washington Consensus

text: Many countries have endeavored to implement varying components of the reform packages, the implementation sometimes being a condition for receiving loans from the IMF and World Bank.


title: Washington Consensus

text: According to a 2020 study, the implementation of policies associated with the Washington Consensus significantly raised real GDP per capita over a 5- to 10-year horizon. According to a 2021 study, the implementation of the Washington Consensus in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico had "mixed results": "macroeconomic stability is much improved, but economic growth has been heterogeneous and generally disappointing, despite improvement relative to the 1980s." Another 2021 study found that the implementation of the Washington Consensus in sub-Saharan Africa led to "initial declines in per capita economic growth over the 1980s and 1990s" but "notable increases in per capita real GDP growth in the post–2000 period." The study found that "the ability to implement pro-poor policies alongside market-oriented reforms played a central role in successful policy performance."


title: Washington Consensus

text: The Argentine economic crisis of 1999–2002 is held out as an example of the economic consequences said by some to have been wrought by application of the Washington Consensus. Many economists, however, challenge the view that Argentina's failure can be attributed to close adherence to the Washington Consensus. The country's adoption of an idiosyncratic fixed exchange rate regime (the convertibility plan), which became increasingly uncompetitive, together with its failure to achieve effective control over its fiscal accounts, both ran counter to central provisions of the Consensus, and paved the way directly for the ultimate macroeconomic collapse. The market-oriented policies of the early Menem-Cavallo years, meanwhile, soon petered out in the face of domestic political constraints (including Menem's preoccupation with securing re-election).


title: Washington Consensus

text: In October 1998, the IMF invited Argentine President Carlos Menem, to talk about the successful Argentine experience, at the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors. President Menem's Minister of Economy (1991–1996), Domingo Cavallo, the architect of the Menem administration's economic policies, specifically including "convertibility", said:


title: Washington Consensus

text: The problems which arise with reliance on a fixed exchange rate mechanism (above) are discussed in the World Bank report "Economic Growth in the 1990s: Learning from a Decade of Reform", which questions whether expectations can be "positively affected by tying a government's hands". In the early 1990s there was a point of view that countries should move to either fixed or completely flexible exchange rates to reassure market participants of the complete removal of government discretion in foreign exchange matters. After the Argentina collapse, some observers believe that removing government discretion by creating mechanisms that impose large penalties may, on the contrary, actually itself undermine expectations. Velasco and Neut (2003) "argue that if the world is uncertain and there are situations in which the lack of discretion will cause large losses, a precommitment device can actually make things worse". In chapter 7 of its report ("Financial Liberalization: What Went Right, What Went Wrong?") the World Bank analyses what went wrong in Argentina, summarizes the lessons from the experience, and draws suggestions for its future policy.


title: Washington Consensus

text: The IMF's Independent Evaluation Office has issued a review of the lessons of Argentina for the institution, summarized in the following quotation:


title: Washington Consensus

text: While President Néstor Kirchner's reliance on price controls and similar administrative measures (often aimed primarily at "foreign-invested" firms such as utilities) clearly ran counter to the spirit of the Consensus, his administration in fact ran an extremely tight fiscal ship and maintained a highly competitive floating exchange rate; Argentina's immediate bounce-back from crisis, further aided by abrogating its debts and a fortuitous boom in prices of primary commodities, leaves open issues of longer-term sustainability. "The Economist" has argued that the Néstor Kirchner administration will end up as one more in Argentina's long history of populist governments. In October 2008, Kirchner's wife and successor as president, Cristina Kirchner, announced her government's intention to nationalize pension funds from the privatized system implemented by Menem-Cavallo. Accusations have emerged of the manipulation of official statistics under the Kirchners (most notoriously, for inflation) to create an inaccurately positive picture of economic performance. "The Economist" removed Argentina's inflation measure from its official indicators, saying that they were no longer reliable.


title: Washington Consensus

text: In 2003, Argentina's and Brazil's presidents, Néstor Kirchner and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed the "Buenos Aires Consensus", a manifesto opposing the Washington Consensus' policies. Skeptical political observers note, however, that Lula's rhetoric on such public occasions should be distinguished from the policies actually implemented by his administration.


title: Washington Consensus

text: In the 1980s, a fall in oil prices and the start of the Latin American debt crisis brought economic difficulties to Venezuela. Additionally, President Luis Herrera Campins' economic policies led to the devaluation of the Venezuelan bolívar against the US dollar in a day that would be known as "Viernes Negro" (). The devaluation happened because of President. Following the oil price crisis, the Herrera Campins government declared bankruptcy to the international banking community and then enacted currency restrictions. The policies centred on the establishment of an exchange-rate regime, imposing a restriction on the movement of currencies, and were strongly objected to by the then-president of the Central Bank of Venezuela, Leopoldo Díaz Bruzual. The currency controls devalued Venezuelan purchasing power by 75% in a matter of hours; banks did not open on Viernes Negro, and even the Central Bank did not have many reserves of foreign currencies, causing the government to devalue the bolívar by 100%.


title: Washington Consensus

text: Carlos Andrés Pérez based his campaign for the 1988 Venezuelan general election in his legacy of abundance during his first presidential period and initially rejected liberalization policies. Venezuela's international reserves were only US$300 million at the time of Pérez' election into the presidency; Pérez decided to respond to the debt, public spending, economic restrictions and rentier state by liberalizing the economy and proceeded to implement Washington consensus reforms. He announced a technocratic cabinet and a group of economic policies to fix macroeconomic imbalances known as "" (), called by detractors as "El Paquetazo Económico" (). Among the policies there was the reduction of fuel subsidies and the increase of public transportation fares by thirty percent (VEB 16 Venezuelan bolívares, or US$0.4). The increase was supposed to be implemented on 1 March 1989, but bus drivers decided to apply the price rise on 27 February, a day before payday in Venezuela. In response, protests and rioting began on the morning of 27 February 1989 in Guarenas, a town near Caracas; a lack of timely intervention by authorities, as the was on a labour strike, led the protests and rioting quickly spread to the capital and other towns across the country.


title: Washington Consensus

text: By late 1991, as part of the economic reforms, Carlos Andrés Pérez' administration had sold three banks, a shipyard, two sugar mills, an airline, a telephone company and a cell phone band, receiving a total of US$2,287 million. The most remarkable auction was CANTV's, a telecommunications company, which was sold at the price of US$1,885 million to the consortium composed of American AT&T International, General Telephone Electronic and the Venezuelan Electricidad de Caracas and Banco Mercantil. The privatization ended Venezuela's monopoly over telecommunications and surpassed even the most optimistc predictions, with over US$1,000 million above the base price and US$500 million more than the bid offered by the competition group. By the end of the year, inflation had dropped to 31%, Venezuela's international reserves were now worth US$14,000 million and there was an economic growth of 9% (called as an "Asian growth"), the largest in Latin America at the time. The Caracazo and previous inequality in Venezuela were used to justify the subsequent 1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts and led to the rise of Hugo Chávez's Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, who in 1982 had promised to depose the bipartisanship governments. Once elected in 1998, Chávez began to revert the policies of his predecessors.


title: Washington Consensus

text: As of the 2000s, several Latin American countries were led by socialist or other left wing governments, some of which—including Argentina and Venezuela—have campaigned for (and to some degree adopted) policies contrary to the Washington Consensus policies. Other Latin American countries with governments of the left, including Brazil, Chile and Peru, in practice adopted the bulk of the policies included in Williamson's list, even though they criticized the market fundamentalism that these are often associated with.


title: Washington Consensus

text: General criticism of the economics of the consensus is now more widely established, such as that outlined by US scholar Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard University, in his paper "Goodbye Washington Consensus, Hello Washington Confusion?".


title: Washington Consensus

text: As Williamson has pointed out, the term has come to be used in a broader sense to its original intention, as a synonym for market fundamentalism or neo-liberalism. In this broader sense, Williamson states, it has been criticized by people such as George Soros and Nobel Laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz. The Washington Consensus is also criticized by others such as some Latin American politicians and heterodox economists such as Erik Reinert. The term has become associated with neoliberal policies in general and drawn into the broader debate over the expanding role of the free market, constraints upon the state, and the influence of the United States, and globalization more broadly, on countries' national sovereignty.


title: Washington Consensus

text: Some US economists, such as Joseph Stiglitz and Dani Rodrik, have challenged what are sometimes described as the 'fundamentalist' policies of the IMF and the US Treasury for what Stiglitz calls a 'one size fits all' treatment of individual economies. According to Stiglitz the treatment suggested by the IMF is too simple: one dose, and fast—stabilize, liberalize and privatize, without prioritizing or watching for side effects.


title: Washington Consensus

text: Besides the excessive belief in market fundamentalism and international economic institutions in attributing the failure of the Washington consensus, Stiglitz provided a further explanation about why it failed. In his article "The Post Washington Consensus Consensus", he claims that the Washington consensus policies failed to efficiently handle the economic structures within developing countries. The cases of East Asian countries such as Korea and Taiwan are known as a success story in which their remarkable economic growth was attributed to a larger role of the government by undertaking industrial policies and increasing domestic savings within their territory. From the cases, the role for government was proven to be critical at the beginning stage of the dynamic process of development, at least until the markets by themselves can produce efficient outcomes.


title: Washington Consensus

text: The critique laid out in the World Bank's study "Economic Growth in the 1990s: Learning from a Decade of Reform" (2005) shows how far discussion has come from the original ideas of the Washington Consensus. Gobind Nankani, a former vice-president for Africa at the World Bank, wrote in the preface: "there is no unique universal set of rules... [W]e need to get away from formulae and the search for elusive 'best practices'..." (p. xiii). The World Bank's new emphasis is on the need for humility, for policy diversity, for selective and modest reforms, and for experimentation.


title: Washington Consensus

text: The World Bank's report "Learning from Reform" shows some of the developments of the 1990s. There was a deep and prolonged collapse in output in some (though by no means all) countries making the transition from communism to market economies (many of the Central and East European countries, by contrast, made the adjustment relatively rapidly). Academic studies show that more than two decades into the transition, some of the former communist countries, especially parts of the former Soviet Union, had still not caught up to their levels of output before 1989. A 2001 study by economist Steven Rosefielde posits that there were 3.4 million premature deaths in Russia from 1990 to 1998, which he party blames on the shock therapy imposed by the Washington Consensus. Neoliberal policies associated with the Washington Consensus, including pension privatization, the imposition of a flat tax, monetarism, cutting of corporate taxes, and central bank independence, continued into the 2000s. Many Sub-Saharan African's economies failed to take off during the 1990s, in spite of efforts at policy reform, changes in the political and external environments, and continued heavy influx of foreign aid. Uganda, Tanzania, and Mozambique were among countries that showed some success, but they remained fragile. There were several successive and painful financial crises in Latin America, East Asia, Russia, and Turkey. The Latin American recovery in the first half of the 1990s was interrupted by crises later in the decade. There was less growth in per capita GDP in Latin America than in the period of rapid post-War expansion and opening in the world economy, 1950–80. Argentina, described by some as "the poster boy of the Latin American economic revolution", came crashing down in 2002.


title: Washington Consensus

text: A significant body of economists and policy-makers argues that what was wrong with the Washington Consensus as originally formulated by Williamson had less to do with what was "included" than with what was "missing". This view asserts that countries such as Brazil, Chile, Peru and Uruguay, largely governed by parties of the left in recent years, did not—whatever their rhetoric—in practice abandon most of the substantive elements of the Consensus. Countries that have achieved macroeconomic stability through fiscal and monetary discipline have been loath to abandon it: Lula, the former President of Brazil (and former leader of the Workers' Party of Brazil), has stated explicitly that the defeat of hyperinflation was among the most important positive contributions of the years of his presidency to the welfare of the country's poor, although the remaining influence of his policies on tackling poverty and maintaining a steady low rate of inflation are being discussed and doubted in the wake of the Brazilian Economic Crisis currently occurring in Brazil.


title: Washington Consensus

text: These economists and policy-makers would, however, overwhelmingly agree that the Washington Consensus was "incomplete", and that countries in Latin America and elsewhere need to move beyond "first generation" macroeconomic and trade reforms to a stronger focus on productivity-boosting reforms and direct programs to support the poor. This includes improving the investment climate and eliminating red tape (especially for smaller firms), strengthening institutions (in areas like justice systems), fighting poverty directly via the types of Conditional Cash Transfer programs adopted by countries like Mexico and Brazil, improving the quality of primary and secondary education, boosting countries' effectiveness at developing and absorbing technology, and addressing the special needs of historically disadvantaged groups including indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant populations across Latin America.


title: Washington Consensus

text: In a book edited with future president of Peru, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in 2003, John Williamson laid out an expanded reform agenda, emphasizing crisis-proofing of economies, "second-generation" reforms, and policies addressing inequality and social issues.


title: Washington Consensus

text: Nobel laureate Michael Spence has defended the Washington Consensus, arguing "I continue to find that when properly interpreted as a guide to the formulation of country-specific development strategies, the Washington Consensus has withstood the test of time quite well." According to Spence, "The Washington Consensus was never intended as a complete or a one-size-fits-all development program." He does however note that the Washington Consensus "was vulnerable to misuse due to the absence of an accompanying and explicit development model."


title: Washington Consensus

text: Many critics of trade liberalization, such as Noam Chomsky, Tariq Ali, Susan George, and Naomi Klein, see the Washington Consensus as a way to open the labor market of underdeveloped economies to exploitation by companies from more developed economies. The prescribed reductions in tariffs and other trade barriers allow the free movement of goods across borders according to market forces, but labor is not permitted to move freely due to the requirements of a visa or a work permit. This creates an economic climate where goods are manufactured using cheap labor in underdeveloped economies and then exported to rich First World economies for sale at what the critics argue are huge markups, with the balance of the markup said to accrue to large multinational corporations. The criticism is that workers in the Third World economy nevertheless remain poor, as any pay raises they may have received over what they made before trade liberalization are said to be offset by inflation, whereas workers in the First World country become unemployed, while the wealthy owners of the multinational grow even more wealthy.


title: Washington Consensus

text: Despite macroeconomic advances, poverty and inequality remain at high levels in Latin America. About one of every three people—165 million in total—still live on less than $2 a day. Roughly a third of the population has no access to electricity or basic sanitation, and an estimated 10 million children suffer from malnutrition. These problems are not, however, new: Latin America was the most economically unequal region in the world in 1950, and has continued to be so ever since, during periods both of state-directed import-substitution and (subsequently) of market-oriented liberalization.


title: Washington Consensus

text: Some socialist political leaders in Latin America have been vocal and well-known critics of the Washington Consensus, such as the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, Cuban ex-President Fidel Castro, Bolivian President Evo Morales, and Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador. In Argentina, too, the recent Justicialist Party government of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner undertook policy measures which represented a repudiation of at least some Consensus policies.


title: Washington Consensus

text: Some European and Asian economists suggest that "infrastructure-savvy economies" such as Norway, Singapore, and China have partially rejected the underlying Neoclassical "financial orthodoxy" that characterizes the Washington Consensus, instead initiating a pragmatist development path of their own based on sustained, large-scale, government-funded investments in strategic infrastructure projects: "Successful countries such as Singapore, Indonesia, and South Korea still remember the harsh adjustment mechanisms imposed abruptly upon them by the IMF and World Bank during the 1997–1998 'Asian Crisis' […] What they have achieved in the past 10 years is all the more remarkable: they have quietly abandoned the Washington Consensus by investing massively in infrastructure projects […] this pragmatic approach proved to be very successful".


title: Washington Consensus

text: While opinion varies among economists, Rodrik pointed out what he claimed was a factual paradox: while China and India increased their economies' reliance on free market forces to a limited extent, their general economic policies remained the exact opposite to the Washington Consensus' main recommendations. Both had high levels of protectionism, no privatization, extensive industrial policies planning, and lax fiscal and financial policies through the 1990s. Had they been dismal failures they would have presented strong evidence in support of the recommended Washington Consensus policies. However they turned out to be successes. According to Rodrik: "While the lessons drawn by proponents and skeptics differ, it is fair to say that nobody really believes in the Washington Consensus anymore. The question now is not whether the Washington Consensus is dead or alive; it is what will replace it".


title: Washington Consensus

text: Rodrik's account of Chinese or Indian policies during the period is not universally accepted. Among other things those policies involved major turns in the direction of greater reliance upon market forces, both domestically and internationally.


title: Washington Consensus

text: The Washington Consensus as formulated by Williamson includes provision for the redirection of public spending from subsidies ("especially indiscriminate subsidies") toward broad-based provision of key pro-growth, pro-poor services like primary education, primary health care and infrastructure investment. This definition leaves some room for debate over specific public spending programs. One area of public controversy has focused on the issues of subsidies to farmers for fertilizers and other modern farm inputs: on the one hand, these can be criticized as subsidies, on the other, it may be argued that they generate positive externalities that might justify the subsidy involved.


title: Washington Consensus

text: Some critics of the Washington Consensus cite Malawi's experience with agricultural subsidies, for example, as exemplifying perceived flaws in the package's prescriptions. For decades, the World Bank and donor nations pressed Malawi, a predominantly rural country in Africa, to cut back or eliminate government fertilizer subsidies to farmers. World Bank experts also urged the country to have Malawi farmers shift to growing cash crops for export and to use foreign exchange earnings to import food. For years, Malawi hovered on the brink of famine; after a particularly disastrous corn harvest in 2005, almost five million of its 13 million people needed emergency food aid. Malawi's newly elected president Bingu wa Mutharika then decided to reverse policy. Introduction of deep fertilizer subsidies (and lesser ones for seed), abetted by good rains, helped farmers produce record-breaking corn harvests in 2006 and 2007; according to government reports, corn production leapt from 1.2 million metric tons in 2005 to 2.7 million in 2006 and 3.4 million in 2007. The prevalence of acute child hunger has fallen sharply and Malawi recently turned away emergency food aid.


title: Washington Consensus

text: In a commentary on the Malawi experience prepared for the Center for Global Development, development economists Vijaya Ramachandran and Peter Timmer argue that fertilizer subsidies in parts of Africa (and Indonesia) can have benefits that substantially exceed their costs. They caution, however, that how the subsidy is operated is crucial to its long-term success, and warn against allowing fertilizer distribution to become a monopoly. Ramachandran and Timmer also stress that African farmers need more than just input subsidies—they need better research to develop new inputs and new seeds, as well as better transport and energy infrastructure. The World Bank reportedly now sometimes supports the temporary use of fertilizer subsidies aimed at the poor and carried out in a way that fosters private markets: "In Malawi, Bank officials say they generally support Malawi's policy, though they criticize the government for not having a strategy to eventually end the subsidies, question whether its 2007 corn production estimates are inflated and say there is still a lot of room for improvement in how the subsidy is carried out".


title: Washington Consensus

text: In early 2008, the term "Washington Consensus" was used in a different sense as a metric for analyzing American mainstream media coverage of U.S. foreign policy generally and Middle East policy specifically. Marda Dunsky writes, "Time and again, with exceedingly rare exceptions, the media repeat without question, and fail to challenge the "Washington consensus"—the official mind-set of US governments on Middle East peacemaking over time." According to syndicated columnist William Pfaff, Beltway centrism in American mainstream media coverage of foreign affairs is the rule rather than the exception: "Coverage of international affairs in the US is almost entirely Washington-driven. That is, the questions asked about foreign affairs are Washington's questions, framed in terms of domestic politics and established policy positions. This invites uninformative answers and discourages unwanted or unpleasant views."


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: Norma Jean (formerly known as Luti-Kriss) is an American metalcore band from Douglasville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Since their inception in 1997, numerous lineup changes have left the band with no original members. To date, Norma Jean has released nine studio albums and received a Grammy Award nomination in 2006 for Best Recording Package for their second album "O' God, the Aftermath". The band's name is derived from the real name of actress Marilyn Monroe.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: Norma Jean formed in 1997 under the name Luti-Kriss with Josh Scogin on vocals, guitarists Scottie Henry and Chris Day, Josh Swofford on bass, Mick Bailey on turntables, and Daniel Davison on drums. The band recorded a split EP with Travail that was released in 1999 through Pluto Records. Luti-Kriss's songs from the split would later be released on "5ep", which was released on July 25, 2000 through Pluto Records. The sound of theses EPs differed greatly from future releases, featuring an aggressive nu metal and rap metal style. Shortly after the release of "5ep", Swofford would leave the band and be replaced by Josh Doolittle. The band then would start working on the debut album "Throwing Myself", with Bailey leaving during the album's production.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: Evolving from Luti-Kriss, the original Norma Jean lineup consisted of the final Luti-Kriss lineup, utilizing additional percussion on recordings instead of turntables. Drummer Daniel Davison, explained that the band got their name from actress Marilyn Monroe, whose real name is Norma Jeane Baker. It was not until after they decided upon that name that they "were looking at a book" which apparently claimed that "Norma" means "pattern", and "Jean" means "God's grace and mercy", combined into "Patterns of grace and mercy". In 2002 the band released "Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child" on Solid State Records. Their original vocalist Josh Scogin left the band shortly after the release of "Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child", stating that "it was just something that I felt led to do." Scogin has been known to join in with Norma Jean during live performances to sing "Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste" since his departure. Original bassist Joshua Doolittle also left the band around the same time as Scogin. Doolittle was replaced by Jake Schultz. Scogin left the band and later went on to start the Chariot; he was replaced by Brad Norris for about a year and nine months.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: Brad Norris was later replaced by Cory Brandan, formerly of the bands Eso-Charis, Living Sacrifice and Uses Fire. In March 2005 they released their second album, titled "O God, the Aftermath". It was also Cory Brandan's first album performance for Norma Jean. The artwork for the band's second album, "O God, the Aftermath" was nominated for Best Recording Package at the Grammy Awards of 2006. The artwork was designed by Asterisk studios in Seattle, Washington.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: "Redeemer", their third album, was recorded with producer Ross Robinson. On September 21, 2007, original drummer Daniel Davison announced that he would be leaving the band after their current tour ended, via the band's official website. His last show was on November 7, 2007 at Irving Plaza in New York, NY.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On December 17, 2007, Norma Jean announced that they would start writing for their new album, "The Anti Mother", in January, record in April, and will be playing the entire 2008 Warped Tour. Writing was officially announced on January 24. On February 13, Norma Jean announced in a Myspace bulletin that they were "about 6 songs deep." They wrote a song with Page Hamilton of Helmet, and collaborated with Deftones' frontman Chino Moreno. The band described the two songs they wrote with Moreno as diverse and anti-traditional. In early to mid February, they announced that their replacement drummer would be Chris Raines, who is also the drummer for the band Spitfire.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On August 5, 2008, Norma Jean released "The Anti Mother". Prior to leaving for their headlining tour, Norma Jean shot a music video for "Robots 3 Humans 0", with music video director Daniel Chesnut.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On January 3, 2009, Norma Jean announced on their official website that they would be writing songs for their next album. The band's upcoming fifth studio album was said to be a return "back to [their] roots."


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On April 5, 2009, Norma Jean announced on their website that they had dropped off their current tour due to a myriad of reasons.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On November 3, 2009, Norma Jean announced that they would be parting ways with longtime label Solid State and signing a deal with independent label Razor & Tie with plans to release an album in the summer of 2010.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: Norma Jean announced that a title for one of their new songs will be "Kill More Presidents" and have encouraged fans to film the live performance of this song. The video was released in early March.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: Fans could download the first track, titled "Leaderless and Self Enlisted" from "Meridional" by signing up for the band's email list via the band's website.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: In an interview with Exclaim! Magazine that was published the day of the "Meridional" album release, drummer Chris Raines spoke of how the sound of "Meridional" came to be and what influenced it." The last few records have been doing different things; this one truthfully mixed a lot of those records with what we wanted to do this time. I think we took all the good that we liked from the past records and added the new touch that we wanted to put on it, which was a heavier and darker theme."


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: Drummer Chris Raines was replaced by Matt Marquez in late 2010 with no formal announcement made for this exchange or if Raines would ever return. In 2016, Raines addressed leaving the band in an interview with Trav Turner (formerly of Aletheian, UnTeachers, Solamors) that it was mainly family issues.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On November 23, 2010, Norma Jean's former record label Solid State Records released a retrospective box set collection titled "Birds and Microscopes and Bottles of Elixirs and Raw Steak and a Bunch of Songs". The three CD compilation contains the band's first three studio albums ("Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child", "Redeemer" and "O God, the Aftermath"). In January 2011, founding guitarist Scottie Henry decided to take a temporary break from Norma Jean. He would later be replaced by Jeff Hickey, formerly of the Handshake Murders, for 2011 tour dates.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On October 30, 2012, the band announced that they would be going into the studio from December 2012 to January 2013, with Joshua Barber as the chosen producer. It is the first album by the band to feature new members Jeff Hickey on guitar, John Finnegan on bass, and Clayton Holyoak (formerly of Fear Before) on drums. "Wrongdoers" was released in the US on August 6, 2013 by Razor & Tie, with UK/EU to follow on September 9.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On July 9, 2015, Norma Jean announced the 10th anniversary of "O God, The Aftermath" North American Tour. They would perform the album in its entirety. The band later announced Sleepwave, '68, and the Ongoing Concept would join them.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On September 15, 2015, they announced they re-signed with Solid State Records, who will release their next album in 2016.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: In June 2016, the band announced they had released the first single, "1,000,000 Watts", off the new album, "Polar Similar". They released "Synthetic Sun" later that month. On August 11, 2016, Norma Jean released their third single off of "Polar Similar", which is titled "Forever Hurtling Towards Andromeda", which features Sean Ingram of Coalesce. Before the release of the album, Putman did an interview with "HM Magazine", in which they mentioned their newest member, Rhythm Guitarist Phillip Farris, who replaced Chris Day, the last remaining original member, though no statement was made of his departure. On September 28, 2017, Clayton Holyoak announced that he would be leaving to drum for Every Time I Die. John Finnegan has announced parting ways with Norma Jean.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On January 12, 2019, the band released the single "Children of the Dead" for streaming, with the song being a b-side from the "Polar Similar" sessions that originally appeared on the deluxe vinyl edition of the album. A music video for the song was released on January 15 via Solid State's official YouTube channel. On May 25, 2019, Norma Jean announced that they had parted ways with longtime guitarist Jeff Hickey.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On June 6th, 2022, Norma Jean announced their ninth album, "Deathrattle Sing for Me", to be released August 12, 2022. The album's first single, "Call for the Blood", was released as a music video on June 16.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: They played at 2006's Ozzfest with Ozzy Osbourne, Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, Hatebreed, DragonForce, System of a Down, Lacuna Coil, Black Label Society, Atreyu, Unearth, Bleeding Through, A Life Once Lost, the Red Chord, Walls of Jericho, Strapping Young Lad, All That Remains, Full Blown Chaos, Between the Buried and Me and Bad Acid Trip.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: In late 2006, they headlined the Radio Rebellion Tour with support from Between the Buried and Me, Fear Before, Misery Signals and the Fully Down. They played the entire Warped Tour in mid-2008.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On October 3, 2008, Norma Jean embarked on a U.S. headlining tour called "The Anti-Mother Tour". The tour lasted until November 15, 2008 and featured several other bands on Solid State / Tooth & Nail Records including Haste the Day, the Showdown, MyChildren MyBride, , and Oh, Sleeper. Children 18:3 only appeared on half of the tour dates (October 3–26) while Oh, Sleeper filled in throughout the rest of the tour (October 28 – November 15).


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On Thursday, September 17, 2009, Norma Jean announced they would enter a headlining tour spanning over November and December with Horse the Band, the Chariot, and Arsonists Get All the Girls. They also announced that in select cities, they would exclusively play their first album, Bless the Martyr & Kiss the Child, in its entirety. During the tour, the band played a song titled "Kill More Presidents", a B-side from their 2010 release, Meridional.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: Norma Jean was on the 2010 Mayhem Festival on the Mayhem Festival side-stage along with Atreyu, In This Moment, and 3 Inches of Blood. Other festival participants include: Korn, Rob Zombie, Lamb of God, Five Finger Death Punch, Hatebreed, Chimaira, Shadows Fall, and Winds of Plague.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: From the September 30, 2010 Norma Jean supported Architects on their UK headline tour. Further support came from UK metallers Devil Sold His Soul.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: In February/March 2011, Norma Jean headlined the "Explosions II Tour" with After the Burial, For the Fallen Dreams, Motionless in White and Stray from the Path.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On April 26, 2013, it was announced that Norma Jean would support the Dillinger Escape Plan on The Summer Slaughter Tour, along with Animals As Leaders, Periphery, Cattle Decapitation, the Ocean, Revocation, Aeon, Rings of Saturn, and Thy Art Is Murder.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: On December 12, 2016, Periphery announced that Norma Jean, the Contortionist and Infinity Shred would join them on the "Sonic Unrest Tour II" from March 31 to April 22, 2017.


title: Norma Jean (band)

text: Norma Jean's musical style has primarily been described as metalcore and hardcore punk. Additionally, the band's style and sound has been described as or containing elements of mathcore, post-hardcore, post-metal, sludge metal, and noise rock.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: The Kingdom of Germany or German Kingdom ( "kingdom of the Germans", "German kingdom", "kingdom of Germany") was the mostly Germanic-speaking East Frankish kingdom, which was formed by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, especially after the kingship passed from Frankish kings to the Saxon Ottonian dynasty in 919. The king was elected, initially by the rulers of the stem duchies, who generally chose one of their own. After 962, when Otto I was crowned emperor, East Francia formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire, which also included the Kingdom of Italy and, after 1032, the Kingdom of Burgundy.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: Like medieval England and medieval France, medieval Germany consolidated from a conglomerate of smaller tribes, nations or polities by the High Middle Ages. The term "rex teutonicorum" ("king of the Germans") first came into use in Italy around the year 1000. It was popularized by the chancery of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy (late 11th century), perhaps as a polemical tool against Emperor Henry IV. In the twelfth century, in order to stress the imperial and transnational character of their office, the emperors began to employ the title "rex Romanorum" (king of the Romans) on their election.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: The Archbishop of Mainz was "ex officio" arch-chancellor of Germany, as his colleagues the Archbishop of Cologne and Archbishop of Trier were, respectively, arch-chancellors of Italy and Burgundy. These titles continued in use until the end of the empire, but only the German chancery actually existed.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: Distinct titulature for Germany, Italy and Burgundy, which traditionally had their own courts, laws, and chanceries, gradually dropped from use as the King/Emperor's influence outside of Germany waned and the German kingdom came to be identified with the Holy Roman Empire.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: Reigns were either dated from the day a ruler was elected king (Philip of Swabia, Rudolf of Habsburg) or crowned king (Otto IV, Henry VII, Louis IV, Charles IV). The election day became the starting date permanently with Sigismund. Throughout the Middle Ages, the King of Germany was known as "King of the Romans" from his election as king until the Pope crowned him Emperor in Rome.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: The tripartite division of the Carolingian Empire effected by the Treaty of Verdun was challenged very early on with the death of the Emperor Lothair I in 855. He had divided his kingdom of Middle Francia between his three sons and immediately the northernmost of the three divisions, Lotharingia, was disputed between the kings of East and West Francia. The war over Lotharingia lasted until 925. Lothair II of Lotharingia died in 869 and the 870 Treaty of Meerssen divided his kingdom between East and West Francia, but the West Frankish sovereigns relinquished their rightful portion to East Francia by the Treaty of Ribemont in 880. Ribemont determined the border between France and Germany until the fourteenth century. The Lotharingian nobility tried to preserve their independence of East or West Frankish rule by switching allegiance at will with the death of king Louis the Child in 911, but in 925 Lotharingia was finally ceded to East Francia by Rudolph of West Francia and it thereafter formed the Duchy of Lorraine within the East Frankish kingdom.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: Louis the German was known at the time as ""Rex Germaniae"" (King of Germany) as his brother was called King of Gaul. This was meant to distinguish the different parts of a theoretically single Frankish kingdom, although it is not known if this was meant to signify anything further.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: East Francia was itself divided into three parts at the death of Louis the German (875). Traditionally referred to as "Saxony", "Bavaria", and "Swabia" (or "Alemannia"), these kingdoms were ruled by the three sons of Louis in cooperation and were reunited by Charles the Fat in 882. Regional differences existed between the peoples of the different regions of the kingdom and each region could be readily described by contemporaries as a "regnum", though each was certainly not a kingdom of its own. The common Germanic language and the tradition of common rule dating to 843 preserved political ties between the different "regna" and prevented the kingdom from coming apart after the death of Charles the Fat. The work of Louis the German to maintain his kingdom and give it a strong royal government also went a long way to creating an East Frankish (i.e. German) state.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: Within East Francia were large duchies, sometimes called kingdoms ("regna") after their former status, which had a certain level of internal solidarity. Early among these were Saxony and Bavaria, which had been conquered by Charlemagne.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: In German historiography they are called the "jüngere Stammesherzogtümer", or "younger stem duchies",


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: Saxony, Bavaria, Franconia, Swabia and Lotharingia. Thuringia, while one of the "old stem duchies", is not counted among the young stem duchies because it had been absorbed into Saxony in 908, before the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: The conventional term "younger" serves to distinguish them from the (poorly documented) duchies under the Merovingian monarchs.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: Herwig Wolfram (1971) denied any real distinction between older and younger stem duchies, or between the stem duchies of Germany and similar territorial principalities in other parts of the Carolingian empire:


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: I am attempting to refute the whole hallowed doctrine of the difference between the beginnings of the West-Frankish, "French", "principautés territoriales", and the East-Frankish, "German," stem-duchies ... Certainly, their names had already appeared during the Migrations. Yet, their political institutional, and biological structures had more often than not thoroughly changed. I have, moreover, refuted the basic difference between the so-called "älteres Stammesfürstentum" [older tribal principality] and "jüngeres Stammesfürstentum" [younger tribal principality], since I consider the duchies before and after Charlemagne to have been basically the same Frankish institution ...


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: There has been debate in modern German historiography over the sense in which these duchies were "tribal", as in a people sharing a common descent ("stem"), being governed as units over long periods of time, sharing a tribal sense of solidarity, shared customs, etc. In the context of modern German nationalism, Gerd Tellenbach (1939) emphasised the role of feudalism, both of the kings in the formation of the German kingdom and of the dukes in the formation of the stem duchies, against Martin Lintzel and Walter Schlesinger, who emphasised the role of the individual "stems" or "tribes" ("Stämme").


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: After the death of the last Carolingian, Louis the Child, in 911, the stem duchies acknowledged the unity of the kingdom. The dukes gathered and elected Conrad I to be their king. According to Tellenbach's thesis, the dukes created the duchies during Conrad's reign. No duke attempted to set up an independent kingdom. Even after the death of Conrad in 918, when the election of Henry the Fowler was disputed, his rival, Arnulf, Duke of Bavaria, did not establish a separate kingdom but claimed the whole, before being forced by Henry to submit to royal authority. Henry may even have promulgated a law stipulating that the kingdom would thereafter be united. Arnulf continued to rule it like a king even after his submission, but after his death in 937 it was quickly brought under royal control by Henry's son Otto the Great. The Ottonians worked to preserve the duchies as offices of the crown, but by the reign of Henry IV the dukes had made them functionally hereditary.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: The eastern division of the Treaty of Verdun was called the "regnum Francorum Orientalium" or "Francia Orientalis": the Kingdom of the Eastern Franks or simply East Francia. It was the eastern half of the old Merovingian "regnum Austrasiorum". The "east Franks" (or Austrasians) themselves were the people of Franconia, which had been settled by Franks. The other peoples of East Francia were Saxons, Frisians, Thuringii, and the like, referred to as "Teutonici" (or Germans) and sometimes as Franks as ethnic identities changed over the course of the ninth century.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: An entry in the "Annales Iuvavenses" (or "Salzburg Annals") for the year 919, roughly contemporary but surviving only in a twelfth-century copy, records that "Baiuarii sponte se reddiderunt Arnolfo duci et regnare ei fecerunt in regno teutonicorum", i.e. that "Arnulf, Duke of the Bavarians, was elected to reign in the Kingdom of the Germans". Historians disagree on whether this text is what was written in the lost original; also on the wider issue whether the idea of the Kingdom as German, rather than Frankish, dates from the tenth or the eleventh century; but the idea of the kingdom as "German" is firmly established by the end of the eleventh century. In the tenth century, German writers already tended toward using modified terms such as "Francia and Saxony" or "land of the Teutons".


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: Any firm distinction between the kingdoms of Eastern Francia and Germany is to some extent the product of later retrospection. It is impossible to base this distinction on primary sources, as Eastern Francia remains in use long after Kingdom of Germany comes into use. The 12th century imperial historian Otto von Freising reported that the election of Henry the Fowler was regarded as marking the beginning of the kingdom, though Otto himself disagreed with this. Thus: From this point some reckon a kingdom of the Germans as supplanting that of the Franks. Hence, they say that Pope Leo in the decrees of the popes, called Henry's son Otto the first king of the Germans. For that Henry of whom we are speaking refused, it is said, the honor offered by the supreme pontiff. But it seems to me that the kingdom of the Germans — which today, as we see, has possession of Rome — is a part of the kingdom of the Franks. For, as is perfectly clear in what precedes, at the time of Charles the boundaries of the kingdom of the Franks included the whole of Gaul and all Germany, from the Rhine to Illyricum. When the realm was divided between his son's sons, one part was called eastern, the other western, yet both together were called the Kingdom of the Franks. So then in the eastern part, which is called the Kingdom of the Germans, Henry was the first of the race of Saxons to succeed to the throne when the line of Charles failed ... [western Franks discussed] ... Henry's son Otto, because he restored to the German East Franks the empire which had been usurped by the Lombards, is called the first king of the Germans — not, perhaps, because he was the first king to reign among the Germans. It is here and elsewhere that Otto distinguishes the first German king (Henry I) and the first German king to hold imperial power (Otto I).


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: Henry II (r. 1002-1024) was the first to be called "King of the Germans" ("rex Teutonicorum"). The Ottonians seem to have adopted the use of the "Teutonic" label as it helped them to counter critics who questioned how the Ottonians, who were neither Carolingian nor Frankish, could legitimately rule. The Ottonians, by calling themselves "German" kings, instead presented themselves as rulers of all peoples north of the Alps and east of the Rhine. This "German kingdom" was later regarded as a subdivision of the Empire alongside Italy, Burgundy and Bohemia.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: In the late eleventh century the term "Kingdom of the Germans" ("Regnum Teutonicorum") had become utilised more favourably in Germany due to a growing sense of national identity; by the twelfth century, German historian Otto of Freising had to explain that East Francia was "now called the Kingdom of the Germans".


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: In 1028, after his coronation as Emperor in 1027, Conrad II had his son, Henry III, elected King by the prince electors. When, in 1035, Conrad attempted to depose Adalbero, Duke of Carinthia, Henry, acting on the advice of his tutor, Egilbert, Bishop of Freising, refused to allow it, as Adalbero was a vassal of the King, not the Emperor. The German magnates, having legally elected Henry, would not recognise the deposition unless their king did also. After many angry protests, Conrad finally knelt before his son and pleaded for his desired consent, which was finally given.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: However, Conrad II used the simple title "king" or on occasion "king of the Franks and Lombards" before Imperial coronation, while his son Henry III introduced the title "King of the Romans" before the Imperial coronation. His grandson Henry IV used both "king of the Franks and Lombards" and King of the Romans before Imperial coronation.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: Beginning in the late eleventh century, during the Investiture Controversy, the Papal curia began to use the term "regnum teutonicorum" to refer to the realm of Henry IV in an effort to reduce him to the level of the other kings of Europe, while he himself began to use the title "rex Romanorum" or King of the Romans to emphasise his divine right to the "imperium Romanum". This title was employed most frequently by the German kings themselves, though they did deign to employ "Teutonic" titles when it was diplomatic, such as Frederick Barbarossa's letter referring to his receiving the "coronam Theutonici regni" (crown of the German kingdom). Foreign kings and ecclesiastics continued to refer to the "regnum Alemanniae" and "règne" or "royaume d'Allemagne". The terms "imperium"/"imperator" or empire/emperor were often employed for the German kingdom and its rulers, which indicates a recognition of their imperial stature. However foreign sources combined the imperial titles with "Teutonic" and "Alemannic" which reference a denial of their "Romanitas" or universal rule. The term "regnum Germaniae" begins to appear even in German sources at the beginning of the fourteenth century. During the celebrations on the canonisation of Charlemagne in December 1165 and January 1166, Barbarossa also called Aachen the "head and seat of the German Kingdom".


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: When Pope Gregory VII started using the term "Regnum Teutonicorum", the concept of a "distinct territorial kingdom" separate from Kingdom of Italy was already widely recognised on both sides of the Alps, and this entity was at least externally perceived as "German" in nature. Contemporary writers representing various German vassal rulers also adopted this terminology under papal influence. In the Papal-Imperial Concordat of Worms of 1122, which put an end to the Investiture Controversy, the authority of the Emperor regarding Church offices in this "German kingdom" was legally distinguished from his authority in "other parts of the Empire". The Imperial chancery did adopt the "German" titles, albeit inconsistently. Pope Gregory began using the term Regnum Teutonicorum even before his conflict with Henry IV. He was highly successful at encouraging his German supporters such as Berthold of Reichenau or Bernold of St Blasien to use the terms "Regnum Teutonicorum" or "Teutonicae partes". Prior to the civil wars of Henry IV and the letters of Pope Gregory VII which address the German people as a whole, the loyalties of Germans were primarily focused on local regions such as Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia, Upper or Lower Lotharingia, East or West Saxony. Only from the mid-1070s was there a common political awareness of a "German Kingdom" as a single unit of political loyalty.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: In the 13th century the term "Regnum Teutonicorum" started being replaced in Germany by the similar "Regnum Alemanniae", possibly due to French or Papal influence, or alternatively due to the Staufer emperors' base of power in the Duchy of Swabia, also known as Alamannia. Emperor Frederick II even proclaimed his son Henry VII as "Rex Alemannie" (King of Germany), to rule Germany under him while he ruled the rest of the empire. The Kaiserchronik explicitly describes Henry as having rule of a separate German kingdom ("siniu Tiuschen riche") under the empire. Henry's successor Konrad IV was also called king-designate of Germany (rex Theutonie designatus) by a contemporary writer.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: The Count Palatine of the Rhine was legally authorised to judge on the princes' affairs should the king leave Germany ("von teutchem lande"). In the Sachsenspiegel and Schwabenspiegel of the Medieval German law, the vassal princes were only required to provide service to the Empire and attend court within the German lands; Frederick II or his successors were unable to call upon the German lords to Bohemia, Italy or their other domains. Royal and Imperial legislation were sometimes specifically binding only within the borders of Germany, excluding the rest of the Empire.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: German writers after the Staufen period used variants of the term ""Regnum Alemanniae"" to indicate the weakened reach of the emperors who now confined themselves mainly to German matters. Anti-king Henry Raspe also described himself as "king of Germany and prince of the Romans". There were also scattered references to a political community of "Germans" excluding the rest of the empire. For instance, in 1349, Charles IV met the nobles and burghers of ""regnum Alamannie"", in 1355 he summoned the electors and burghers ""in regno Alemannie"". However, this tendency to refer to a "German" polity after the collapse of the Staufen empire did not develop further in the following period.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: The term ""regnum"" was sometimes used to refer a distinct political entity within the ""imperium"", but sometimes they were used interchangeably, and sometimes they were combined in phrases like ""Regnum Romanorum"". In the German language it was most common to simply use the term "German lands" rather than "kingdom". In 1349 Charles IV (King of the Romans) appointed the Duke of Brabant's son to govern on his behalf "in our "kingdom of the Romans" throughout "Germania" or "Theutonia"".


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: There were persistent proposals, including one that Ptolemy of Lucca claimed was discussed between Pope Nicholas III and Rudolf I, to create a hereditary German kingdom independent from the Holy Empire. This idea was met with horror in Germany. When Rudolf I was elected, the emotional attachment the German people had with the superior dignity of the universalistic Roman title had become so firmly established that it was unacceptable to separate the German kingship from it. There was a strong reluctance by the Emperors to use "German" titles due to strong attachment to Roman symbolism, and it seemed to be actively avoided. References to "German" titles were less rare but still uncommon among vassals and chroniclers.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: From 1250 onward, the association between "Germans" and the whole Empire became stronger. As post-Staufer German monarchs were too weak to secure coronation as emperor, German writers became concerned that Germany was losing the prestige of Imperial status. The lack of concentration of power in one ruler or region also made the monarchy more attractive to all Germans. These led to more interest in connecting German identity to being heirs of Imperial Rome (Translatio Imperii), by right of their military strength as defenders of Christendom. At the same time, the replacement of Latin with German in official documents entrenched the German character of the empire at large. In 1474 the term "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" appeared, becoming more common after 1512. However, even after 1560, only 1 in 9 official documents mention "Germany", and most omitted the rest as well and simply called it "the Empire". In 1544 the Cosmographia (Sebastian Münster) was published, which used "Germany" ("Teütschland") as synonymous with the empire as a whole. Johann Jacob Moser also used "German" as a synonym for "Imperial". This conflated definition of "German" even included non-German speakers.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: In 1508, Maximilian I, with papal approval, adopted the title "emperor elect" ("Dei gratia Romanorum imperator electus semper augustus"). Subsequent rulers adopted that title after their coronation as kings. At the same time, the custom of having the heir-apparent elected as king of the Romans in the emperor's lifetime resumed. For this reason, the title "king of the Romans" ("rex Romanorum") came to mean heir-apparent, the successor elected while the emperor was still alive.


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: After the "Imperial Reform" and Reformation settlement, the German part of the Holy Roman Empire was divided into "Reichskreise" (Imperial Circles), which in effect defined Germany against imperial territories outside the Imperial Circles: imperial Italy, the Bohemian Kingdom, and the Old Swiss Confederacy. Brendan Simms called the Imperial circles as "an embryonic German collective-security system" and "a potential vehicle for national unity against outsiders".


title: Kingdom of Germany

text: Nevertheless, there are relatively few references to a German kingdom distinct from the Holy Roman Empire.


title: Ficus elastica

text: Ficus elastica, the rubber fig, rubber bush, rubber tree, rubber plant, or Indian rubber bush, Indian rubber tree, is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae, native to eastern parts of South and Southeast Asia. It has become naturalized in Sri Lanka, the West Indies, and the US state of Florida.


title: Ficus elastica

text: It is a large tree in the banyan group of figs, growing to – rarely up to – tall, with a stout trunk up to in diameter. The trunk develops aerial and buttressing roots to anchor it in the soil and help support heavy branches.


title: Ficus elastica

text: It has broad shiny oval leaves long and broad; leaf size is largest on young plants (occasionally to long), much smaller on old trees (typically long). The leaves develop inside a sheath at the apical meristem, which grows larger as the new leaf develops. When it is mature, it unfurls and the sheath drops off the plant. Inside the new leaf, another immature leaf is waiting to develop.


title: Ficus elastica

text: As with other members of the genus "Ficus", the flowers require a particular species of fig wasp to pollinate it in a co-evolved relationship. Because of this relationship, the rubber plant does not produce highly colourful or fragrant flowers to attract other pollinators. The fruit is a small yellow-green oval fig long, barely edible; these are fake fruits that contain fertile seeds only in areas where the pollinating insect is present.


title: Ficus elastica

text: The natural range of "F. elastica" extends from Nepal in the north to Indonesia, Bhutan, Northeastern India, Myanmar, Yunnan in China, and Malaysia. It has been widely introduced in most tropical regions of the world, including Hawaii and the West Indies. In Europe, it can be found in mild locations throughout the Mediterranean Basin.


title: Ficus elastica

text: "Ficus elastica" is grown around the world as an ornamental plant, outside in frost-free climates (though it also tolerates light frosts) from the tropical to the Mediterranean and inside in colder climates as a houseplant. Although it is grown in Hawaii, the species of fig wasp required to allow it to spread naturally is not present there.


title: Ficus elastica

text: Most cultivated plants are produced by vegetative propagation. This can be done by cuttings or by layering.


title: Ficus elastica

text: All parts of the plant contain an abundant milky white latex, which has been tested for use in the manufacture of rubber, but without economic and technical results; commercial rubber is actually produced from the sap of the "Hevea brasiliensis".


title: Ficus elastica

text: In cultivation, it prefers bright sunlight but not hot temperatures. It has a high tolerance for drought, but prefers humidity and thrives in wet, tropical conditions. Ornamental hybrids (such as Robusta) have been derived from "Ficus elastica" with broader, stiffer and more upright leaves than the wild form. Many such hybrids exist, often with variegated leaves.


title: Ficus elastica

text: "Ficus elastica" yields a milky white latex, a chemical compound separate from its sap and carried and stored in different cells. This latex was formerly used to make rubber, but it should not be confused with the Pará rubber tree ("Hevea brasiliensis"), the main commercial source of latex for rubber making. Just as with "Hevea brasiliensis", the latex of "Ficus elastica" is an irritant to the eyes and skin and is toxic if taken internally.


title: Mary Wiseman (actress)

text: Mary Wiseman (born July 30, 1985) is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Cadet (later Ensign, then Lieutenant) in the Paramount+ science fiction drama series "" (2017–present).


title: Mary Wiseman (actress)

text: Wiseman is the youngest daughter of Dorothy and Kevin Wiseman and has three older brothers. She grew up in Milford, Pennsylvania and Gaithersburg, Maryland. Wiseman attended the DC Shakespeare Theatre’s high school outreach program. She graduated from Quince Orchard High School in 2003 and later earned her BFA in Theatre Arts at Boston University. She went on to study at Juilliard School's Drama Division between 2011 and 2015, where one of her classmates was future "Star Trek: Discovery" cast member Mary Chieffo.


title: Mary Wiseman (actress)

text: Wiseman's stage roles have included Nitzan Halperin's "Sow and Weep" (2008, Boston University College of Fine Arts in New York), Ariel Carson's "I Wanted it to Have a How & I Wanted it to Have a Verb" (2011, Dixon Place) and Betsy/Lindsay in "Clybourne Park" (2013, Chautauqua Theater Company).


title: Mary Wiseman (actress)

text: Wiseman has performed in productions and workshops of new plays in Playwrights’ theatres like PS 122, The Public, Soho Rep, and New York Theatre Workshop.


title: Mary Wiseman (actress)

text: Wiseman appeared in the television series "Longmire" as Meg Joyce, a nurse and love interest for the character Archie "The Ferg" Ferguson.


title: Mary Wiseman (actress)

text: In 2022, Wiseman's portrayal of the character Carlo from the Off-Broadway play "At The Wedding" garnered her a Lucille Lortel Award nomination in the category of Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play.


title: Mary Wiseman (actress)

text: In 2013, Wiseman began dating actor Noah Averbach-Katz who was her Juilliard School classmate. The couple married on February 16, 2019.


title: Mary Wiseman (actress)

text: Wiseman identifies as queer, stating: "Before Noah, I dated and loved people of all genders. I never liked it when straight-presenting women dominated conversations about bisexuality/pansexuality when I was with women, so I try not to do it now, but I also don’t want it to feel like I’m hiding anything because I’m queer and proud!”


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: Paul Edward Goldschmidt (born September 10, 1987) is an American professional baseball first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB).


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: Lightly recruited out of The Woodlands High School in The Woodlands, Texas, Goldschmidt played for the Texas State Bobcats, and was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the eighth round of the 2009 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut with them in 2011, and they traded him to the Cardinals during the 2018–19 offseason.


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: Goldschmidt is a seven-time MLB All-Star. He led the National League (NL) in home runs and runs batted in during the 2013 season. He has won the NL Hank Aaron Award, Gold Glove Award, and Silver Slugger Award. Goldschmidt has twice finished runner-up for the NL Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award, in 2013 and 2015, before finally winning the award in 2022.


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: Goldschmidt was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on September 10, 1987. He grew up a Houston Astros fan. His parents, David and Kim, met at the Rochester Institute of Technology. His mother is Catholic and his father is Jewish. Goldschmidt and his two younger brothers were raised Catholic. His Jewish great-grandparents Paul and Ilse Goldschmidt and his grandfather, Ernie (who now lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida), escaped Nazi Germany in 1938 before the Holocaust. Goldschmidt said he and his two brothers "know our Jewish history and we respect those beliefs. We had both sides of it as kids. My dad's side, my mom's side. We were exposed to all of it." The Goldschmidt family moved from Wilmington to Dallas, and then to Houston, because of the flooring company his family owns. He grew up in The Woodlands, Texas, and attended The Woodlands High School and played for their baseball team. They won the state championship in 2006, with Goldschmidt playing as the team's third baseman.


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: He enrolled at Texas State University to play college baseball for the Texas State Bobcats baseball team. He was named the Southland Conference hitter of the year in 2008 and 2009, Southland player of the year in 2009, and was a third-team All-American as a junior in 2009 after hitting .352 with 18 home runs and 88 runs batted in (RBIs) in 57 games played. Goldschmidt set Bobcat career records with 36 home runs and 179 RBIs.


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: The Los Angeles Dodgers selected Goldschmidt in the 49th round of the 2006 MLB draft. The Dodgers knew he was a long shot to sign with them, but selected him nonetheless. Goldschmidt played with the son of one of the Dodgers' scouts. The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Goldschmidt in the eighth round, with the 246th overall selection, of the 2009 MLB draft. He signed with the Diamondbacks, receiving a $95,000 signing bonus. The Diamondbacks assigned Goldschmidt to the Missoula Osprey of the Rookie-level Pioneer League, where he hit .334 and 18 home runs along with 62 RBIs in his first 74 professional games. The 18 home runs were a Missoula franchise record. The following year, playing for the Visalia Rawhide in the Class A-Advanced California League, he hit 35 home runs, the most for all Class A players, and one behind Mike Moustakas and Mark Trumbo for the Joe Bauman Home Run Award. He was selected as an all-star and won the California League Most Valuable Player Award. He was also named the Arizona Diamondbacks Minor League Player of the Year.


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: In 2011, Goldschmidt played for the Mobile Bay Bears of the Class AA Southern League. He had a .306 batting average, 30 home runs, and 94 RBIs in 103 games played through the end of July, leading all minor leaguers in home runs and RBIs, while his 82 walks was third-best. After the season, Goldschmidt was again named the Diamondbacks' player of the year, a "Baseball America" first-team Minor League All-Star, Class AA all-star first baseman, Southern League all-star first baseman, and the Southern League's Most Valuable Player.


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: The Diamondbacks promoted Goldschmidt to the major leagues on August 1, 2011. The Diamondbacks intended to platoon Goldschmidt with Xavier Nady. Goldschmidt recorded a base hit in his first MLB at-bat on August 1, and hit his first MLB home run the next day off San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum. After Nady broke his wrist in mid-August, the Diamondbacks signed Lyle Overbay to replace him. Goldschmidt credited Overbay for his mentorship. Goldschmidt struck out 20 times in his first 44 MLB at-bats. In his rookie season, Goldschmidt batted .250 with eight home runs and 26 RBI in 48 games.


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: The Diamondbacks made the postseason, and played against the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2011 National League Division Series (NLDS). In Game 3, Goldschmidt hit a grand slam to extend the team's lead in its first victory of the series. His home run was the third grand slam by a rookie in MLB postseason history. The Diamondbacks lost the series in five games, and Goldschmidt batted .438 with six RBIs and an OBP of .526.


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: Goldschmidt and Overbay made the Diamondbacks' Opening Day roster in 2012. Goldschmidt hit his first career regular-season grand slam on June 1, 2012, off of Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Mármol at Wrigley Field. Four days later, Goldschmidt hit another grand slam off St. Louis Cardinals reliever Maikel Cleto. Overbay played sparingly, and was designated for assignment at the end of July. In 2012, Goldschmidt played 145 games and batted .286 with 20 home runs, 82 runs, 82 RBIs, 43 doubles, and 18 stolen bases.


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: Before the 2013 season, the Diamondbacks and Goldschmidt agreed to a $32 million contract covering the 2014 through 2018 seasons with a club option for the 2019 season worth $14.5 million. He would not have been eligible for salary arbitration until the 2014–15 offseason and free agency until the 2017–18 offseason. Goldschmidt was selected to the National League's team in the 2013 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Goldschmidt doubled with two outs in the ninth inning, one of only three hits for the National League, and the only extra-base hit. On August 13, he hit a game-tying home run against the Baltimore Orioles in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the game into extra innings. Goldschmidt then hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the eleventh. Goldschmidt hit a third grand slam on August 20, 2013, against J. J. Hoover of the Cincinnati Reds. In 160 games that season, he attained a .302 batting average, 36 home runs, and 125 RBI. Goldschmidt finished second in the voting for the National League's Most Valuable Player Award, behind Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen. He led MLB with four walk-off hits in 2013.


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: Goldschmidt was the starting first baseman for the National League in the 2014 MLB All-Star Game. In 2014, Goldschmidt batted .300 with 19 home runs, 75 runs, and 69 RBIs. While playing against the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 1, Goldschmidt was hit by a pitch from Ernesto Frieri and left the game. The resulting impact broke a bone in his left hand, which prematurely ended his season.


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: On June 10, 2015, Goldschmidt hit his 100th career home run against Brett Anderson of the Los Angeles Dodgers. At the time of his 100th home run, Goldschmidt was sixth on the Diamondbacks' all-time home run list. Later that year, Goldschmidt was again the starting first baseman for the National League in the All-Star Game. Goldschmidt attained a .321 batting average with 33 home runs and 110 RBIs, with a major-league leading 29 intentional walks, in 2015. He also was 2nd in the league in power-speed number (25.7). He won his second Gold Glove Award and Silver Slugger Award. For the second time in three seasons, Goldschmidt was voted the runner-up for the National League Most Valuable Player Award, this time finishing behind Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper.


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: In 2016, Goldschmidt batted .297 with 24 home runs, 106 runs, and 95 RBIs in 579 at-bats. He also was third in the league in power–speed number (27.4). He was selected to appear in the 2016 MLB All-Star Game, where he went 0-for-3.


title: Paul Goldschmidt

text: On August 3, 2017, Goldschmidt hit three home runs in a game for the first time, bolstering the Diamondbacks' 10–8 win over the Chicago Cubs. For the fifth time in his career, Goldschmidt was named to the National League's All-Star Team. On September 13, 2017, in a game against the Colorado Rockies, Goldschmidt recorded his 1,000th career hit. Goldschmidt finished the 2017 season batting .297 with 36 home runs, 117 runs, and 120 RBIs. He tied for the National League lead in power-speed number (24.0). After the season, Goldschmidt was awarded his third Gold Glove Award and Silver Slugger Award. He also finished third in voting for the National League Most Valuable Player Award.