title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Bellar was convicted in October 2022 in Michigan state court of providing "material support" for a terrorist act, membership in a gang, and a gun crime. On December 15, 2022, he was sentenced to seven to 20 years in prison.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Brian Higgins was a resident of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, when he was arrested on October 15. He is alleged to have provided his night-vision goggles and dashcam to help conduct surveillance on Whitmer's home.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Higgins was one of five suspects turned over for trial on December 7, 2022. He is accused of providing material support for terrorist acts.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Defense attorneys have argued that at least twelve informants and/or undercover agents for the FBI were embedded among the suspected planners. The FBI has acknowledged using 3 informants and 2 agents in their investigation.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that they became aware of group chats on social media in early 2020 threatening to conduct the violent overthrow of state governments and law enforcement. A U.S. Army veteran, Dan Chappel, had joined the group but became concerned about their use of a hunting app that could be used to track the addresses of police officers. He informed a friend and a local officer from an unidentified police department in Michigan, who then relayed the concerns to the FBI. During the initial investigation of social media chats, the FBI said that they encountered Barry Croft and Adam Fox. The FBI then interviewed Chappel, who agreed to become a confidential source after they raised concerns that there were plans to kill officers.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: According to many of the plotters, as detailed in a report by "BuzzFeed News", their first meetings were arranged by someone who turned out to be a longtime government informant from Wisconsin, who paid for hotel rooms and food as incentives. On March 30, Pete Musico, a co-founder of the Wolverine Watchmen, made a comment about placing Whitmer under citizen's arrest and numerous other statements on tape that prosecutors later said had indicated "a violent intent".


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Intentions by the group to obtain Whitmer's address reportedly went as far back as April 19, according to court records. That same month, the Wolverine Watchmen built a fake house with PVC tubing, referred to as a "kill house", and Chappel showed them how to push inside the building and clear the rooms; according to Chappel, Musico would circle the fake house and pretend to wait for Whitmer so he could "catch that bitch as she came out the emergency exit." On April 30, all members of the group attended an armed protest at the Michigan State Capitol, which prosecutors said was the beginning of opportunities to conduct surveillance. Chappel reportedly heard "whispers" about storming the State Capitol during this time, but this did not happen when Michigan State Police officers stood down and granted the protesters access to the building.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On May 8, the FBI obtained a federal search warrant to review Croft's Facebook account. Agents found messages "plotting potential acts of violence", including a May 3 post referencing a male individual who "may be first" and was wanted "in custody"; the FBI claims this individual was South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: The plot was reportedly hatched in an official capacity on June 6, among a group of about a dozen individuals meeting in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb located northwest of Columbus. A confidential source at the meeting reported that the group primarily sought to establish a new, self-reliant society that adhered to the U.S. Bill of Rights. Participants reportedly discussed peaceful and violent actions of achieving this goal, with talks shifting to how state governments were allegedly violating the U.S. Constitution, how "tyrants" should be killed, and that those present should return home to recruit neighbors.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: The FBI subsequently began infiltrating the group online and in person with additional informants in June, according to a criminal complaint. A total of twelve informants were ultimately involved in the investigation, according to a federal court filing obtained by "BuzzFeed News". Starting at that point, the FBI began compiling photographs, video footage, telephone calls, and encrypted messages made by the suspects and storing them as evidence on a USB flash drive. The content, said to consist of "hundreds of hours of undercover audio recordings and more than 13,000 pages of encrypted text messages", was released by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan on October 16.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: After the Ohio meeting, Fox contacted the militia – already being investigated by the FBI – seeking assistance for the plot. On June 14, the militia held a field training exercise. That day, Fox contacted one confidential source in a recorded phone call, detailing the Ohio meeting, and he requested "200 men" to attack the State Capitol in order to take Whitmer and others as hostages and to hold a "trial" for the governor, accusing her of treason. During the call, Fox reportedly said to the source that the operation had to occur prior to the 2020 United States presidential election.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: During a Second Amendment event at the State Capitol on June 18, Fox was recorded by a confidential source attempting to recruit militia group leaders to unite in an effort to attack the State Capitol. Two days later on June 20, Fox invited individuals, including one confidential source, to where he was employed in Grand Rapids. According to the source, Fox collected cellphones to prevent recordings and led participants through a trapdoor from the main floor, though the source wore a concealed recording device unknown to those gathered. Audio from the meeting provided to the FBI contained discussions of an assault on the Capitol, how to counterattack first responders, and the use of Molotov cocktails to destroy law enforcement vehicles. It was concluded that the group would meet on the first weekend of July, where they would discuss plans and perform training exercises.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: In a June 25 Facebook video captured by the FBI, Fox held a livestream criticizing the justice system, the Government of Michigan and the state's order closing gyms, calling Whitmer a "tyrant bitch" and stating to viewers, "I don't know, boys, we gotta do something. You guys link with me on our other location system, give me some ideas of what we can do".


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Training first occurred on June 28 in Munith, Michigan at a militia member's property, with Fox, his girlfriend, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Caserta, and a confidential source participating in the exercises. Participants were told to leave if they felt uncomfortable with attacking the government and participating in kidnapping. According to Musico's defense attorney, Fox started making comments about storming the State Capitol during this training session, but there was no agreement from the other members, and Musico expressed concern about the plan's tactical viability, saying, "It's a fishbowl." Court documents released on November 13 alleged that in addition to storming the State Capitol, there were plans of executing hostages and televising them over the course of a week, or locking people inside the building, while the Legislature was in session, and setting it on fire with the intention of leaving no survivors.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: According to Musico's attorney, from that day to October 1, there was no activity from the Wolverine Watchmen due to a fight between Fox and Musico and Musico's eventual departure from the group. However, the FBI's confidential source for the investigation said that participants met for weapons exercises in Cambria, Wisconsin, between July 10 and 12, with Croft, Garbin, and a militia member attempting to make an improvised explosive device (IED) on July 11, though the device was defective. Franks also brought a rifle equipped with a silencer, firing it at the time.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: At a second meeting in Ohio held on July 18, audio collected by a confidential source revealed discussions of attacking a Michigan State Police station, though Garbin rejected plans of an assault on the Capitol building, instead suggesting to attack Whitmer's family vacation home on Birch Lake in Elk Rapids. In a July 14 call recorded by a source, Fox said he researched the governor's office, concluding that Whitmer would not be present there and was heard saying, "In all honesty right now ... I just wanna make the world glow, dude. I'm not even fuckin' kidding. I just wanna make it all glow dude. I don't fuckin' care anymore, I'm just so sick of it. That's what it's gonna take for us to take it back, we're just gonna have to everything's gonna have to be annihilated, man. We're gonna topple it all, dude. It's what great frickin' conquerors, man, we're just gonna conquer every fuckin' thing man." In a July 26 call with a confidential source, Fox said "Maybe we should just make a bunch of cupcakes and send them out", with the source interpreting this as Fox seeking to initiate a "widespread bombing campaign", according to the FBI.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Fox invited participants to his Grand Rapids location on July 27, where a confidential source provided recordings of discussions that shifted to kidnapping Whitmer when she was arriving at, or leaving, either her personal vacation home or the Michigan Governor's Summer Residence on Mackinac Island. According to the FBI, in sourced audio, Fox could be heard saying, "Snatch and grab, man. Grab the fuckin' Governor. Just grab the bitch. Because at that point, we do that, dude -- it's over." Fox was also heard in the recording suggesting that the group hire a realtor to find Whitmer's exact residence, collecting information on the surrounding area and recruiting individuals skilled with information technology and demolitions.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Participants met in Munith a second time for training on August 9, and afterwards, they communicated via group calls and chats monitored by a confidential source. In these communications, Fox suggested researching the governor's residence in Lansing and destroying Whitmer's boat. Harris said in a chat, "Have one person go to her house. Knock on the door and when she answers it just cap her ... at this point. Fuck it. ... I mean ... fuck, catch her walking into the building and act like a passers-by and fixing dome her then yourself." During further chats on August 18, participants concentrated on finding the Whitmer family's vacation home and planned on how to escape the area by boat.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On August 23, participants met at Harris' home in Lake Orion, where a secret recording was captured of the group discussing surveillance of the vacation home and Franks shared that he spent nearly $4,000 on night vision goggles and a helmet. A source captured audio of an August 29 surveillance operation, where Fox drove by the Whitmer family's vacation home, took photographs, and discussed response times of police in the area. On the recorded audio, Fox was heard saying, "We ain't gonna let 'em burn our fuckin' state down. I don't give a fuck if there's only 20 or 30 of us, dude, we'll go out there and use deadly force." The next day on August 30, the FBI said screen captures of the group chat showed Garbin suggesting the demolition of a bridge over the Elk River, near the vacation home, to slow and distract police.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Due to recommendation of the Michigan State Police and the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget, the construction of a $1.1 million barrier and electric fence at the Michigan Governor's Mansion in Lansing was announced on September 4 after weeks of construction, with spokeswoman Tiffany Brown saying "perimeter security and other safety upgrades" were being performed. Regarding the security upgrades, "The Detroit News" wrote "Whitmer, a Democrat who was first elected in 2018, has been the subject of menacing messages at Capitol demonstrations against her past COVID-19 stay-at-home orders", with the newspaper also citing other threats against Whitmer.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: While driving in three vehicles–with an undercover FBI agent and confidential source present–from a group camp in Luther towards the vacation home on September 12 and early September 13, Croft suggested that the group attempt to kidnap Whitmer that night, though the idea was dismissed. According to the FBI, Croft and Fox, who were in the first vehicle, planned on detonating a bomb on a bridge of U.S. Route 31 in Elk Rapids, photographing the underside of the bridge, and deciding where to place explosives. The group in the first vehicle then drove to a boat launch across the lake from the vacation home, waiting for a second vehicle to conduct surveillance on the location. The third vehicle, which was also occupied by an undercover agent, was tasked with monitoring for any followers or suspicious activity in the area. On the way back to Garbin's property, the group discussed abandoning the kidnapping plan and instead destroying the vacation home entirely.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: At a discussion recorded at Garbin's property on September 13, Fox said the plan would strictly be a kidnapping, with the end result reportedly being either the abandonment of Whitmer on a boat in Lake Michigan or her being subjected to a trial as a "tyrant" in Wisconsin. When a plan to destroy the bridge leading to the lake in order to slow down responding security and police officers were raised, an undercover agent told Fox that the explosives necessary for destroying the bridge would cost about $4,000. The group decided that a final training exercise would be conducted later in October, though Fox pushed for an earlier date the following day. Fox ordered the explosives from the undercover agent that same day. Also on that day, Croft and Harris detonated an IED containing shrapnel near human silhouette targets to test its effectiveness. On October 2, Fox told a confidential source that he purchased an 800,000-volt taser to be used for the kidnapping. That same month, he reportedly contacted Musico, who advocated for a nonviolent approach. Fox, Garbin, Harris, and Franks planned to meet with an undercover FBI agent to purchase explosives on October 7, though Caserta did not attend due to work obligations, while Croft returned to Delaware prior to the meeting. The prosecution was hampered in that an abduction date was never determined and the plot's details varied among the witnesses.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: All of the members involved were arrested on the night of October 7, and charges were filed against them the next day. Search warrants and arrests were executed all across Michigan. The arrests were reportedly part of a planned effort between federal and state authorities, launched after evidence was discovered indicating the suspects wanted to kidnap Whitmer before the 2020 election. At least seven FBI field offices, along with the operational divisions at the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C., were reportedly involved in coordinating the arrests. A week later, a fourteenth suspect was arrested and charged in state court. The investigation also involved people from Baltimore to Kansas City. Several weapons and other items were seized, including at least 1,916 rounds of pistol, rifle, and shotgun ammunition; hundreds of firearms; extended magazines; various silencers; speedloaders; and bomb-making equipment.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Six people (Adam Fox, Ty Garbin, Barry Croft, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, and Brandon Caserta) were charged in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan for conspiring to commit kidnapping. The federal charges carry a potential sentence of life imprisonment if convictions are obtained. A federal judge said the federal government had probable cause in the cases against five of the defendants and declared they could move forward to trial, while also denying bond to four of them.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: During a court hearing on October 13, an FBI agent testified that the conspirators had considered leaving Whitmer in a boat in the middle of Lake Michigan and disabling its motor. He also testified that the group had discussed, during early stages of the planning, kidnapping Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, who had also imposed strict lockdown orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This prompted the FBI to notify members of Northam's security staff about the potential threat.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On October 26, federal prosecutors announced the FBI had found "explosive device components" and ghost guns and are considering adding federal terrorism charges after they are analyzed by experts. On October 28, an unsealed search warrant revealed that some of the defendants had discussed South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster as another possible target during the early stages of planning in March. The warrant also revealed that, in late June, Croft had posted on Facebook a hit-list of politicians that he said he wanted to hang. The list included the names of McMaster, President Trump, former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, other Democratic and Republican elected officials, liberals, Muslims, and "all anti-Americans".


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On October 30, Franks' attorney requested a judge to reconsider her decision to keep him imprisoned, saying he is diabetic and fears contracting COVID-19 in jail.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On January 1, 2021, Croft, who remains jailed in a Philadelphia federal prison, asked to be released while he awaited his court hearings, due to the constant delays in a prisoner transfer and the subsequently slow progress of the case against him. Federal prosecutors argued against releasing him, describing Croft as a "violent extremist" and saying such a decision would be "unreasonable".


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On January 15, 2021, a judge ordered all six defendants to stand trial on March 23. The trial date was later postponed to October 12. Croft, Fox, Harris, Franks, and Caserta pleaded not guilty to the charges.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On January 27, 2021, Garbin pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit kidnapping. His sentencing was scheduled for July 8. As part of a plea bargain, he agreed to testify against his co-defendants in exchange for no additional charges being filed against him by prosecutors. On August 26, 2021, Garbin was sentenced to six years in prison and fined $2,500.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On April 28, 2021, federal prosecutors charged Fox, Croft, and Harris with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, in relation to the explosives that Fox ordered from the undercover agent on September 13, 2020.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: In December 2021, the five remaining defendants (Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, and Brandon Caserta) - who are still in custody - filed a motion to have the charges against them dismissed on the grounds of entrapment. Robert Jonker, the Chief federal district court judge assigned to the case rejected the defense's motion to dismiss on January 26, 2022. Though Jonker is allowing the defense to argue entrapment to the jury, he stated, “at this pretrial stage, the Court concludes the defense has not demonstrated as a matter of law that Defendants’ wills were overcome by the actions of the government.” After Franks pled guilty in February, the trial of the remaining four defendants was scheduled to commence March 8, 2022. The trial was delayed by a participant's positive COVID-19 test, and the court was scheduled to re-convene on March 17, 2022.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On March 8, 2022, trial began for Fox, Croft, Harris and Caserta in the United States District Court with Judge Jonker presiding.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On April 8, 2022, after five days of deliberation, Caserta was acquitted of the only charge he faced and Harris was found not guilty on all charges, while Fox and Croft received a hung jury. The judge declared a mistrial and ordered Fox and Croft remain in jail until re-trial.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On August 23, 2022, Fox and Croft were found guilty of kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to possess weapons of mass destruction at their retrial. Croft was also convicted of another explosives charge.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged seven other men (Pete Musico, Joseph Morrison, Shawn Fix, Eric Molitor, Michael Null, William Null, and Paul Bellar) with state crimes, including providing material support for terrorist acts, firearm crimes, and gang membership. Two of the defendants were each set a bond of $10 million, with preliminary examinations scheduled for October 21. Musico's bond was later reduced to $100,000 after his attorney convinced the judge his role in the plot was overstated.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On October 20, Bellar was charged with state crimes and was extradited from his home state of South Carolina for a formal trial.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On November 10, Fix was released on a $250,000 bond. Three days later, bond was reduced for Morrison, Musico, and Bellar. Bellar was released on a $75,000 bond on November 13.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On October 15, Brian Higgins from Wisconsin was charged by Nessel with material support of an act of terrorism, which carries a 20-year sentence. On October 19, Higgins was released on bail, with one of the imposed restrictions being that he not try to make contact with the other 13 defendants. On November 18, his attorney announced his client's plans to challenge his extradition from Wisconsin to Michigan. The basis of the challenge was that the extradition paperwork was signed by Whitmer, the target of the plot, thus creating a conflict of interest. On December 15, a judge in Columbia County, Wisconsin ruled there was enough probable cause for the transfer to occur. His extradition was delayed after his attorney filed an appeal on the ruling.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On December 18, a Jackson County judge denied a bond reduction request for Morrison, saying he could still pose a threat to the public.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On March 29, 2021, Morrison, Musico, and Bellar were bound over for trial after a three-day-long preliminary hearing. At the same hearing, threat of terrorism charges were dismissed against Morrison and Musico; Bellar did not face that charge.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On April 14, 2021, a judge lifted Michael and William Null's curfew and house arrest restrictions, but they were still required to wear GPS tethers.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On June 7, 2021, Musico called for his case to be dismissed, arguing entrapment by federal authorities and the confidential informant and claiming he would not have associated himself with Fox without police interference. He also claimed the informant led the training sessions for the Wolverine Watchmen; an FBI agent said in March that he instructed the informant to take on a leadership role during those sessions to prevent suspects from getting injured and thus requiring a law enforcement response while the Wolverine Watchmen were armed. Attorneys for Morrison and Bellar later similarly called for the case's dismissal due to entrapment. However, on March 1, 2022, a Jackson County judge denied the motion to dismiss.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On October 26, 2022, Bellar, Morrison and Musico were convicted of materially aiding a terrorist and being a member of a gang as part of a plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer. Bellar was sentenced to 20 years in prison with a minimum of seven to serve; Morrison to 20 years with a minimum of 10 to serve; and Musico to 20 years with a minimum of 12 to serve.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Whitmer spoke out during a livestream held after the thwarted plot was revealed by the FBI. She thanked the law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation, called the plotters "sick and depraved men", and cast blame on President Trump for refusing to explicitly condemn far-right groups and for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whitmer later urged in a tweet that the suspects be called domestic terrorists and not members of any militia organization. In an October 11 interview with "Face the Nation", she said security threats against her still existed and that extremists like the Wolverine Watchmen are "finding comfort and support in the rhetoric coming out of Republican leadership from the White House to our state House." Whitmer wrote about the plot in an opinion piece in "The Atlantic" on October 27, where she continued to blame Trump's rhetoric for causing divisiveness in the country.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel called the plot "one of the largest cases in recent history" and labeled the case as "rather unprecedented" in nature. State Senator Mike Shirkey, Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield, and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine condemned the plot. Chatfield later criticized Whitmer for not warning state lawmakers in advance about the plotters' original intent to storm the Michigan State Capitol building. Delaware Governor John Carney, who pardoned one of the suspects in 2019, called the federal charges "disturbing" and said, "This is also another warning sign about the growing threat of violence and radicalization in our politics." Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, who had also been discussed by the plotters as a potential target, declined to comment about the details of the plot but said he and his family felt safe with the protection of the Virginia State Police.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: In an October 8 interview, President Trump criticized Whitmer for her rebuke of him in response to the kidnapping plot, saying he condemned all forms of "extreme violence" and calling for her to reopen her state. During that interview, Trump falsely claimed that Michigan's schools and churches were closed under Whitmer's orders. In response to Trump's remarks, Whitmer said it "tells you everything you need to know" about the difference between him and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Biden also reacted to Trump's remarks on October 16, saying the "failure to condemn these folks is stunning."


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Trump continued to attack Whitmer for her COVID-19 mitigation measures at a rally in Muskegon on October 17, which was matched with chants of "Lock her up!", to which he replied, "Lock 'em all up." Trump's daughter-in-law Lara, a campaign surrogate, later insisted he was merely "having fun" at the rally. In a subsequent interview with NBC's "Meet the Press", Whitmer called Trump's rhetoric "incredibly disturbing" and said it is "inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism". She also countered Trump's claims at the rally that she should relax the statewide COVID-19 restrictions, saying Michigan hasn't had a stay-at-home order since spring. At an October 27 rally in Lansing, Trump downplayed the domestic terror aspect of the plot and continued the verbal attacks on Whitmer, which were also met with chants of "Lock her up!".


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Since the kidnapping plot at one point involved an intended attack on police, state law enforcement agencies were put on high alert in response.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Dar Leaf, the elected sheriff of Barry County, Michigan, appeared to defend two of the suspects in an October 8, 2020 interview, saying that "a lot of people are angry with the governor, and they want her arrested. So are they trying to arrest or was it a kidnap attempt? Because you can still in Michigan if it's a felony, make a felony arrest." Citing the state's citizen's arrest statute, he continued, "It doesn't say if you are an elected office that you're exempt from that arrest. I have to look at it from that angle and I'm hoping that's more what it is, in fact, these guys are innocent till proven guilty so I'm not even sure if they had any part of it."


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: The interview went viral on the internet, along with the revelation that Leaf had shared the stage with one of the suspects at a May 18 anti-lockdown protest. Attorney General Nessel condemned the remarks as "dangerous", while a number of other Michigan sheriffs expressed their outrage as well. Law experts disagreed with the notion that the Wolverine Watchmen were simply planning to conduct a legal citizen's arrest on Whitmer, saying it was far-fetched. Leaf later clarified his comments, claiming he simply wanted a fair trial for the accused and did not agree with their actions, which he called "horrible". His earlier comments and his ties with one of the suspects during the anti-lockdown protest have spurred calls for him to resign. On October 13, Leaf acknowledged the criticism but said he would not resign.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Democrats in the Michigan Legislature renewed calls for a ban on guns in the State Capitol building in response to news of the plot, following an unsuccessful September proposal drafted in response to armed anti-lockdown protesters storming the building in April.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On December 14, the day that Michigan's electors to the Electoral College were set to meet at the capital, authorities closed the Michigan State Capitol to the public and shuttered state legislators' offices, after "credible threats of violence" were received. The building was left open only to those needed for the Electoral College. Earlier that day, State Representative Gary Eisen claimed there would be a "Hail Mary" effort regarding a plan to prevent electors from casting a vote. When asked if he can assure the public that it will be a safe day in Lansing, and that nobody would get hurt, Eisen replied, "No. I don't know. Because what we're doing today is uncharted." Shortly after the interview, Chatfield and Speaker-Elect Jason Wentworth released a statement disavowing any threat of violence or intimidation and announcing Eisen would be removed from his committee assignments for the rest of the term.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: On January 11, 2021, Michigan banned the open carry of firearms on the State Capitol, citing the kidnapping plot and the storming of the United States Capitol. The ban was supported by both Democratic and Republican state lawmakers. On January 15, 2021, the Michigan National Guard was requested, and heavy fencing was put up around the State Capitol, in preparation for an armed protest two days later, on January 17.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: A spokesperson for Facebook, which had been used by the suspects in plotting Whitmer's kidnapping, said the company would be cooperating with the FBI's investigation.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: A scheduled October 13 campaign stop by Eric Trump at a Lyon Township gun store was moved to a banquet center in Novi after it was discovered one of the suspects had worked there for three weeks before being fired.


title: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot

text: Some users on social media falsely asserted that the Wolverine Watchmen were anarchists affiliated with the antifa and Black Lives Matter movements. Some posts promoting these theories were flagged by Facebook as part of its anti-misinformation campaign, while PolitiFact rated the posts as "Mostly False", noting that only one of the suspects, Daniel Harris, is known to have attended a BLM protest.


title: Faith Jenkins

text: Faith Elizabeth Lattimore (née Jenkins; born September 21, 1977) is an American attorney, legal commentator and media personality. On March 11, 2014, she joined MSNBC as a legal analyst. Currently, she is presiding judge over the long-running courtroom series "Divorce Court". She was also the arbitrator on "Judge Faith", a daytime court show, where she rendered decisions in a television courtroom. The court show ended production in 2018.


title: Faith Jenkins

text: A native of Louisiana, she graduated from C. E. Byrd High School in Shreveport, Louisiana and attended nearby Louisiana Tech University where she earned her bachelor's degree in political science.


title: Faith Jenkins

text: Jenkins was involved in beauty pageants and won several major titles. She was the first African-American woman to win the Miss Louisiana Tech title. In 2000, she won the Miss Louisiana title and advanced to compete in the Miss America 2001 competition, where she was named first runner-up, winner of the Quality of Life award, and preliminary winner in swimsuit and talent.


title: Faith Jenkins

text: Jenkins earned her Juris Doctor from the Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she was ranked first in her class.


title: Faith Jenkins

text: On March 8, 2020, Jenkins married singer Kenny Lattimore. In August 2022, they announced that they are expecting their first child.


title: Faith Jenkins

text: She started her legal career in the New York City office of Sidley Austin. After five years as a litigator, she was an Assistant District Attorney, prosecuting criminals at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.


title: Faith Jenkins

text: Jenkins has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel and Fox Business Channel as a legal analyst, on shows including "Fox & Friends", "The O'Reilly Factor", "Hannity", "Politics Nation with Rev. Al Sharpton", "Studio B with Shepard Smith", "Happening Now", "Lou Dobbs Forum", "Your World with Neil Cavuto", and "Willis Report", as well as truTV's "In Session". She has also contributed opinion editorials addressing current events in the "New York Daily News".


title: Faith Jenkins

text: On May 29, 2014, it was announced that she would headline as a judge on daytime TV show "Judge Faith", a "nationally syndicated arbitration-based court" TV series which premiered September 22, 2014.


title: Faith Jenkins

text: Jenkins is also a host of true crime documentary series entitled "Justice By Any Means", which premiered on December 7, 2015, on TV One.


title: Atlantropa

text: Atlantropa, also referred to as Panropa, was a gigantic engineering and colonisation idea that was devised by the German architect Herman Sörgel in the 1920s, and promoted by him until his death in 1952. The project was devised to contain several hydroelectric dams in key points of the Mediterranean Sea, such as the Strait of Gibraltar and the Bosporus, to cause a sea level drop and create new land to settle.


title: Atlantropa

text: The central feature of the Atlantropa proposal was to build a hydroelectric dam across the Strait of Gibraltar, which would have generated enormous amounts of hydroelectricity and would have led to the lowering of the surface of the Mediterranean Sea by up to , opening up large new lands for settlement, such as in the Adriatic Sea. The project proposed four additional major dams as well:


title: Atlantropa

text: Sörgel saw his scheme, which was projected to take over a century, as a peaceful Pan-European alternative to the concepts, which later became one of the stated reasons for Nazi Germany's conquest of new territories. Atlantropa would provide land, food, employment, electric power, and, most of all, a new vision for Europe and neighbouring Africa.


title: Atlantropa

text: Active support was limited to architects and planners from Germany and a number of other primarily-Northern European countries. Critics derided it for various faults, ranging from lack of any co-operation of Mediterranean countries in the planning to the impacts that it would have had on the historic coastal communities that would be stranded inland when the sea receded. The project reached great popularity in the late 1920s to the early 1930s and again briefly in the late 1940s to the early 1950s, but it soon disappeared from general discourse after Sörgel's death.


title: Atlantropa

text: The plan was inspired by the then-new understanding of the Messinian salinity crisis, a pan-Mediterranean geological event that took place 5 to 6 million years ago. The contemporary geologists proposed that the large salt deposits surrounding the Mediterranean coast were the result of its partial isolation by a shrinking of the seaways connecting to the Atlantic. Today, most geoscientists believe that the Mediterranean underwent a significant drawdown during that period of at least a few hundred meters.


title: Atlantropa

text: The utopian goal was to solve all the major problems of European civilisation by the creation of a new continent, "Atlantropa", consisting of Europe and Africa, to be inhabited by Europeans. Sörgel was convinced that to remain competitive with the Americas and an emerging Oriental "Pan-Asia", Europe needed to become self-sufficient, which meant possessing territories in all climate zones. Asia would forever remain a mystery to Europeans, and the British would not be able to maintain their global empire in the long run, and so a common European effort to colonise Africa was necessary.


title: Atlantropa

text: The lowering of the Mediterranean would enable the production of immense amounts of electric power, guaranteeing the growth of industry. Unlike fossil fuels, the power source would not be subject to depletion. Vast tracts of land would be freed for agriculture, including the Sahara, which was to be irrigated with the help of three sea-sized manmade lakes in Africa. The massive public works, which were envisioned to go on for more than a century, would relieve unemployment, and the acquisition of new land would ease the pressure of overpopulation, which Sörgel thought were the fundamental causes of political unrest in Europe. He also believed the project's effect on the climate could be only beneficial, and that the climate could be changed for the better as far away as the British Isles, as a more effective Gulf Stream would create warmer winters. The Middle East, under the control of a consolidated Atlantropa, would be an additional energy source and a bulwark against the Yellow Peril.


title: Atlantropa

text: The publicity material produced for Atlantropa by Sörgel and his supporters contain plans, maps and scale models of several dams and new ports on the Mediterranean, views of the Gibraltar dam crowned by a tower designed by Peter Behrens, projections of the growth of agricultural production, sketches for a pan-Atlantropan power grid, and even provision for the protection of Venice as a cultural landmark. Concerns about climate change or earthquakes, when mentioned, were framed as positives rather than negatives. Sörgel's 1938 book has a quote from Hitler on the flyleaf to demonstrate that the concept was consistent with Nazi ideology.


title: Atlantropa

text: After World War II, interest was piqued again as the Western Allies sought to create closer bonds with their colonies in Africa in an attempt to combat growing Marxist influence in that region, but the invention of nuclear power, the cost of rebuilding and the end of colonialism left Atlantropa technologically unnecessary and politically unfeasible, although the Atlantropa Institute remained in existence until 1960.


title: Atlantropa

text: Most proposals to dam the Strait of Gibraltar since that time have focused on the hydroelectric potential of such a project and do not envisage any substantial lowering of the Mediterranean sea level. A new idea, involving a tensioned fabric dam stretched between Europe and North Africa in the Gibraltar Strait, is envisioned to cope with any future global sea level rise outside the Mediterranean Sea Basin.


title: Atlantropa

text: A version of the Atlantropa project was put forward by a character in Philip K. Dick's novel "The Man in the High Castle" and Amazon Studios series "The Man in the High Castle", former Martin Heusmann, who proposed to drain the entire Mediterranean with a dam across the Strait of Gibraltar.


title: Penrose stairs

text: The Penrose stairs or Penrose steps, also dubbed the impossible staircase, is an impossible object created by Oscar Reutersvärd in 1937 and later independently discovered and made popular by Lionel Penrose and his son Roger Penrose. A variation on the Penrose triangle, it is a two-dimensional depiction of a staircase in which the stairs make four 90-degree turns as they ascend or descend yet form a continuous loop, so that a person could climb them forever and never get any higher. This is clearly impossible in three-dimensional Euclidean geometry but possible in some non-Euclidean geometry like in nil geometry.


title: Penrose stairs

text: The "continuous staircase" was first presented in an article that the Penroses wrote in 1959, based on the so-called "triangle of Penrose" published by Roger Penrose in the "British Journal of Psychology" in 1958. M.C. Escher then discovered the Penrose stairs in the following year and made his now famous lithograph "Klimmen en dalen" ("Ascending and Descending") in March 1960. Penrose and Escher were informed of each other's work that same year. Escher developed the theme further in his print "Waterval" ("Waterfall"), which appeared in 1961.


title: Penrose stairs

text: In their original article the Penroses noted that "each part of the structure is acceptable as representing a flight of steps but the connections are such that the picture, as a whole, is inconsistent: the steps continually descend in a clockwise direction."


title: Penrose stairs

text: Escher, in the 1950s, had not yet drawn any impossible stairs and was not aware of their existence. Roger Penrose had been introduced to Escher's work at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Amsterdam in 1954. He was "absolutely spellbound" by Escher's work, and on his journey back to England he decided to produce something "impossible" on his own. After experimenting with various designs of bars overlying each other he finally arrived at the impossible triangle. Roger showed his drawings to his father, who immediately produced several variants, including the impossible flight of stairs. They wanted to publish their findings but did not know in what field the subject belonged. Because Lionel Penrose knew the editor of the "British Journal of Psychology" and convinced him to publish their short manuscript, the finding was finally presented as a psychological subject. After the publication in 1958 the Penroses sent a copy of the article to Escher as a token of their esteem.


title: Penrose stairs

text: While the Penroses credited Escher in their article, Escher noted in a letter to his son in January 1960 that he was:


title: Penrose stairs

text: Escher was captivated by the endless stairs and subsequently wrote a letter to the Penroses in April 1960:


title: Penrose stairs

text: At an Escher conference in Rome in 1985, Roger Penrose said that he had been greatly inspired by Escher's work when he and his father discovered both the Penrose tribar structure (that is, the Penrose triangle) and the continuous steps.


title: Penrose stairs

text: The staircase design had been discovered previously by the Swedish artist Oscar Reutersvärd, but neither Penrose nor Escher was aware of his designs. Inspired by a radio programme on Mozart's method of composition—described as "creative automatism", that is, each creative idea written down inspired a new idea—Reutersvärd started to draw a series of impossible objects on a journey from Stockholm to Paris in 1950 in the same "unconscious, automatic" way. He did not realize that his figure was a continuous flight of stairs while drawing, but the process enabled him to trace his increasingly complex designs step by step. When M.C. Escher's "Ascending and Descending" was sent to Reutersvärd in 1961, he was impressed but didn't like the irregularities of the stairs (). Throughout the 1960s, Reutersvärd sent several letters to Escher to express his admiration for his work, but the Dutch artist failed to respond. Roger Penrose only discovered Reutersvärd's work in 1984.


title: Penrose stairs

text: "The Escherian Stairwell" is a viral video based on the Penrose stairs illusion. The video, filmed at Rochester Institute of Technology by Michael Lacanilao, was edited to create a seemingly cyclic stairwell such that if someone walks in either direction, they will end up where they started. The video claims that the stairwell, whose name evokes M.C. Escher's impossible objects, was built in the 1960s by the fictitious architect Rafael Nelson Aboganda. The video was revealed to be an Internet hoax, as individuals have travelled to Rochester Institute of Technology to view the staircase.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: Eddie Bauer, LLC is an American clothing store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Eddie Bauer sells its merchandise via retail stores, outlet stores, and online and via phone, with a call center in Groveport, Ohio. Its flagship store is in Bellevue at Bellevue Square. In addition to the three sales channels, the company operates a distribution and fulfillment center in Groveport, Ohio; an IT facility in Westmont, Illinois; and a distribution center in Vaughan, Ontario. Eddie Bauer is also a minority participant in joint ventures in Japan and Germany that include retail stores, catalogs, and websites. The company also selectively licenses the Eddie Bauer brand name and logo for various products sold through other companies including eyewear, furniture, bicycles, and, up until the 2010 model year, upper level versions of Ford Motor Company's Bronco, Explorer, Expedition and Excursion SUVs.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: The company was established in 1920 in Seattle by Pacific Northwest outdoorsman Eddie Bauer (1899–1986). In 1940, Bauer patented the first quilted down jacket. The company was the first independent company that the United States Army allowed to use a logo on the Army-issued uniform. Bauer retired and sold the company to his partner in 1968. General Mills bought the company in 1971 and Spiegel acquired it from General Mills in 1988. In 2003, Spiegel filed bankruptcy and in May 2005, it emerged from bankruptcy under the name "Eddie Bauer Holdings, Inc.". On June 17, 2009, Eddie Bauer filed bankruptcy and was acquired by Golden Gate Capital the following month. In 2021, it was acquired by Authentic Brands Group and SPARC Group LLC.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1920, at the age of 21, Eddie Bauer, established his first store in downtown Seattle, "Eddie Bauer's Tennis Shop", in the back of a local hunting and fishing store. He first specialized in building and repairing tennis rackets and the shop was only open during the tennis season; Bauer spent the rest of the year pursuing his own sportsman activities. Bauer expanded his line of merchandise to include his own hand-made golf clubs and fishing tackle and he changed the name of his store to "Eddie Bauer's Sport Shop". Bauer developed and patented a standardized shuttlecock in 1934. The Bauer Shuttlecock popularized badminton in the United States. While operating this first store, Bauer developed his creed, "To give you such outstanding quality, value, service and guarantee that we may be worthy of your high esteem", still used by the modern company.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: While on a winter fishing trip in Washington, Eddie Bauer developed hypothermia. He then began trying to develop alternatives to heavy wool garments used by outdoorsmen at the time. He attempted to offset the bulkiness of down by quilting a down jacket. In 1940, Bauer patented the first quilted goose down-insulated jacket in the United States: and introduced it in his store as "The Skyliner". Bauer received over 20 patents on various outdoor clothing and sporting equipment between 1934 and 1937.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1942, the United States Army Air Corps commissioned Eddie Bauer to develop the B-9 Flight Parka. More than 50,000 parkas were manufactured for airmen during World War II. The parka was designed to keep pilots warm at high altitudes. Of all government suppliers, only Eddie Bauer was granted permission to affix his company logo to his products used by the United States Army. In addition to the parkas, Eddie Bauer supplied the army with backpacks, pants and sleeping bags, all of which became standard issue for American troops in the war. Prior to his involvement, the United States Army had a shortage in sleeping bags; Bauer eventually sold over 100,000 sleeping bags to the United States Army.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1945, soon after he began selling women's clothing as well as men's, Eddie Bauer issued his first mail order catalog. The original mailing list included the names of 14,000 soldiers who had worn Eddie Bauer clothing provided by the United States Army during their service. By 1949, Bauer employed 125 seamstresses. He closed his downtown store and got out of retailing, except for showroom sales at his Seattle factory.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: By 1950, Eddie Bauer's health was declining due to overwork and a serious back injury. Bauer transferred all of the common stock in Eddie Bauer, Inc., to his hunting partner, William F. Niemi, who reorganized the store and improved cash flow.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: By 1953, catalog sales totaled US$50,000. At this point, Bauer returned to being a shareholder in the company and formed a 50-50 partnership with Niemi. During the 1950s, the company supplied outwear for many scientific and exploratory expeditions.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1960, Eddie Bauer and William Niemi took on their sons, Eddie C. Bauer and William Niemi Jr. as partners in the company.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: The company supplied equipment for the American K2 Himalayan Expedition and several journeys through Antarctica. In 1963, despite being an employee of REI, Jim Whittaker, the first American to climb Mount Everest, wore an Eddie Bauer parka and other company products during his expedition.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1968, Eddie Bauer retired and he and his son sold their half of the business to William Niemi, his son, and their investors for $1.5 million. That same year the first store outside of Seattle opened, in San Francisco.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1970, the company's first large store opened in downtown Seattle. In order to appeal to a broader range of consumers, Niemi shifted the company's focus featuring casual lifestyle apparel. The emphasis on women's apparel and accessories was also greatly expanded in all stores.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1971, William Niemi sold the company to General Mills. After the sale, the company shifted its focus to casual clothing and expanded to 61 stores and made $250 million in sales by 1988. This shift included the company dropping the tagline "Expedition Outfitter."


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1987, Eddie Bauer introduced the "All Week Long" concept. This was meant to provide women with clothing they could wear throughout the week, including at work, as opposed to just weekend wear. This concept was sold solely through the catalog until the first All Week Long store opened in Portland, Oregon in the summer of 1991.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1983, Eddie Bauer began a cross-branding partnership with Ford Motor Company to produce Eddie Bauer Edition Ford vehicles. In 1984, the first Eddie Bauer Edition Ford debuted: the limited edition "Eddie Bauer Bronco." The partnership ended in 2010, with the 2010 Explorer and Expedition the last two models available in Eddie Bauer edition.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1988, Spiegel acquired Eddie Bauer from General Mills. Aggressive expansion continued and within the first year the company had expanded from 60 to 99 stores. By 1996, an additional 300 stores had been opened.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1991, Eddie Bauer launched Eddie Bauer Home, a collection of home furnishings, including furniture, tableware, decor items and linens. The collection was meant to appeal to the customers that purchased apparel from the company. The home store maintained a "warm and cozy" theme by presenting beds with thick blankets and floors covered with wool rugs.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1995, in partnership with American Forests, the company launched the "Add a Dollar, Plant a Tree" retail program in which it offered to plant a tree every time a customer donated a dollar.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1996, Eddie Bauer launched its website. The company launched the EBTEK product line, including outerwear and casual activewear made of Gore-Tex, Polartec 200, and Eddie Bauer Premium Goose Down. Eight new stores opened in Japan that year, bringing the total to 14 stores and three outlets. Eddie Bauer Germany also opened two new stores in Germany.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: Eddie Bauer continued to expand in North America and internationally throughout 1997, opening the 500th U.S. store. Internationally, Eddie Bauer Japan opened 11 new stores, bringing the total to 24 stores in Japan, along with four outlet stores in various locations.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1997, Eddie Bauer Germany opened five new stores, bringing the total to seven Eddie Bauer stores in Germany. Eddie Bauer enters into a licensing agreement with the Lane Company, offering an exclusive collection of Eddie Bauer Home by Lane furniture.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In March 1998, Signature Eyewear launched Eddie Bauer performance sunwear featuring Oakley XYZ Optics.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: By 1998, over 500 stores had been opened in North America (556), Japan (32), and Germany (9). Eddie Bauer entered into a three-year licensing agreement with Giant Bicycle, Inc., to launch a line of Eddie Bauer Edition mountain bikes for off-terrain and city riding. Eddie Bauer and Signature Eyewear joined to produce the Eddie Bauer Eyewear collection for men and women. Eddie Bauer and Cosco, Inc., joined to build upon Eddie Bauer's "Baby by Eddie Bauer" collection of Eddie Bauer Home merchandise for infants.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In April 1999, the company signed a two-year agreement to be the official apparel sponsor of event staff at Safeco Field, the new home of the Seattle Mariners, through the 2000 Major League Baseball season.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: National Geographic Ventures joined forces with Eddie Bauer to include the corporate sponsorship of a new giant screen film on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Other elements included a multi-tiered travel alliance and Eddie Bauer sponsorships of Radio Expeditions (a National Geographic and National Public Radio co-production) and the National Geography Bee.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In March 2000, Eddie Bauer opened a store in Honolulu, Hawaii, completing Eddie Bauer's entry into all 50 American states.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In April 2000, Eddie Bauer joined forces with American Forests to launch the Wildfire ReLeaf program, established to help in the restoration of land decimated by forest fires in 2000.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In October 2000, Eddie Bauer launched its first exclusively on-line business venture, eddiebauerkids.com.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In January 2001, Eddie Bauer teamed with American Recreation Products through a licensing agreement to launch a collection of camping equipment to be sold by Target Corporation.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In March 2003, Spiegel filed for bankruptcy. It sold its flagship catalog business and its Newport News women's apparel unit and announced that Eddie Bauer Inc. was up for auction. More than 200 Eddie Bauer stores were closed. The company's corporate headquarters, in Redmond, Washington, was sold to Microsoft for $38 million.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: Despite interest from companies including L.L. Bean, Bain Capital, and Cerberus Capital Management, Spiegel pulled Eddie Bauer from auction due to lack of a satisfactory offer. Spiegel then reorganized around the Eddie Bauer business with Eddie Bauer emerging as a standalone company owned partially by Fidelity Investments (11%), Bank of America (6.9%), and J.P. Morgan Chase (6.2%). In May 2006, the company hired Goldman Sachs to explore a possible future sale.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 2009, the company launched a new line of clothing called FirstAscent that underwent testing under extreme conditions first on Mount Rainier, then on Cotopaxi in Ecuador and finally on Aconcagua in Argentina.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: On June 17, 2009, Eddie Bauer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company was acquired at bankruptcy auction by Golden Gate Capital in July 2009 with a winning bid of $286 million.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In May 2013, Eddie Bauer joined Disney, Nike, Patagonia, Quiksilver, and Todd Oldham to be the first apparel brands to join the Otis Sustainability Alliance, a partnership between the fashion industry and higher education that aims to advance environmental, social and economic sustainability.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In February 2014, Jos. A. Bank announced that it will acquire Eddie Bauer in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $825 million. However, in March 2014, it was announced that Men's Wearhouse announced the acquisition of Jos. A. Bank and terminated the deal with Eddie Bauer.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In March 2018, Eddie Bauer showcased the Eddie Bauer PET collection in the Global Pet Expo, in collaboration with PetRageous Designs.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In August 2022, the company partnered with Arrive to facilitate equipment rental and the resale of used equipment.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In 1998, the company settled a lawsuit that accused a security guard at a store of improperly accusing a young black male of shoplifting and detaining him and his friends.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In July 2020, Jackie Fisher, an Eddie Bauer client, dismissed his allegations claiming the company fooled outlet consumers with fake promotions and made-up comparison prices. Fisher said he had purchased jackets on sale because the advertising made it appear that he was getting a great deal.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: Eddie Bauer Japan, Inc., a joint venture between Eddie Bauer, Inc. and Otto-Japan, Inc., a subsidiary of the Otto Versand, was formed in 1994 to operate stores and mail order in Japan. The company opened its first store in September 1994 in Tokyo. In October 2021, the company announced the closure all of its operations in Japan by December of 2021.


title: Eddie Bauer

text: In June 1995, Eddie Bauer Germany was announced as a joint venture between Eddie Bauer Inc. and two members of Otto Versand (now Otto GmbH): Heinrich Heine GmbH (Heine Group) and Sport Scheck to operate stores and mail order in Germany. In March 2008, the company transferred its interest in the joint venture.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: "A Change Is Gonna Come" is a song by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. It initially appeared on Cooke's album "Ain't That Good News", released mid-February 1964 by RCA Victor; a slightly edited version of the recording was released as a single on December 22, 1964. Produced by Hugo & Luigi and arranged and conducted by René Hall, the song was the B-side to "Shake".


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: The song was inspired by various events in Cooke's life, most prominently when he and his entourage were turned away from a whites-only motel in Louisiana. Cooke felt compelled to write a song that spoke to his struggle and of those around him, and that pertained to the Civil Rights Movement and African Americans.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: Though only a modest hit for Cooke in comparison with his previous singles, "A Change Is Gonna Come" is widely considered one of Cooke's greatest and most influential compositions and has been voted among the greatest songs ever released by various publications. In 2007, the song was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress, with the National Recording Registry deeming the song "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important." In 2021, it appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, ranked at No. 3.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: On October 8, 1963, en route to Shreveport, Louisiana, Cooke called ahead to the Holiday Inn North to make reservations for his wife, Barbara, and himself, but when he and his group arrived, the desk clerk glanced nervously and explained there were no vacancies. While his brother Charles protested, Sam was furious, yelling to see the manager and refusing to leave until he received an answer. His wife nudged him, attempting to calm him down, telling him, "They'll kill you," to which he responded, "They ain't gonna kill me, because I'm Sam Cooke." When they eventually persuaded Cooke to leave, the group drove away calling out insults and blaring their horns. When they arrived at the Castle Motel on Sprague Street downtown, the police were waiting for them, arresting them for disturbing the peace. "The New York Times" ran a UPI report the next day, headlined "Negro Band Leader Held in Shreveport," but African-Americans were outraged. In 2019, then-Shreveport mayor Adrian Perkins apologized to Cooke's family for the event, and posthumously awarded Cooke the key to the city.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: In addition, upon hearing Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" in 1963, Cooke was greatly moved that such a poignant song about racism in America could come from someone who was not black, and was also ashamed he had not yet written something like that himself. However, his image and fears of losing his large white fan base had prevented him from doing so. Cooke loved Dylan's song so much it was immediately incorporated into his repertoire. He was further influenced by the message of the dream in Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech at the civil rights march on Washington that year. Toward the end of 1963, according to Cooke, the "Change" composition came to him in a dream.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: Following Christmas 1963, Cooke invited J.W. Alexander to his home to preview a new song he had just written, one Cooke was very excited about. When he arrived, Cooke ran through the number on his guitar twice, the second time going over it line by line. Both were very excited to record the song, with Alexander viewing it as more personal and political than anything he had yet attempted. He warned Cooke that he might not profit off the song as he had with lighter, poppier songs, but Cooke did not care. He explained to Alexander that he hoped the song would make his father proud. "It was less work than any song he'd ever written," biographer Peter Guralnick says. "It almost scared him that the song—it was almost as if the song were intended for somebody else. He grabbed it out of the air and it came to him whole, despite the fact that in many ways it's probably the most complex song that he wrote. It was both singular—in the sense that you started out, 'I was born by the river'—but it also told the story both of a generation and of a people."


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: Cooke handed the song to his arranger René Hall, with no specific instructions as to what he personally wanted, but to give it “the kind of instrumentation and orchestration that it demanded.” Previously, the duo had collaborated on arrangement, but this was the first occasion in which Hall was granted complete control of the eventual arrangement, and he composed it as he would a movie score, with lush, symphonic strings. "I wanted it to be the greatest thing in my [life]—I spent a lot of time, put out a lot of ideas, and then changed them and rearranged them," said Hall. Cooke was well known as a perfectionist and "control freak" in the recording studio, so giving Hall total latitude was unprecedented.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: AFO drummer John Boudreaux was intimidated by the orchestral arrangement and refused to leave the control room; session player and close collaborator Earl Palmer was working next door and filled in for the song. Luigi Creatore asked Cooke to provide one more take, and the eighth take was "nearly perfect." Luigi was very pleased with the song, considering it among his best, both very serious and still uniquely his own. Cooke had initially imagined that Luigi, first and foremost a pop hitmaker, would not respect the socially conscious song.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: Each verse is a different movement, with the strings carrying the first, the horns the second, and the timpani carrying the bridge. The French horn present in the recording was intended to convey a sense of melancholy.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: Cooke incorporated his own personal experiences as well into the song, such as encounters in Memphis, Shreveport and Birmingham, to reflect the lives and struggles of all African-Americans of the time. The lines "I don't know what's up there / Beyond the sky" could refer to Cooke's doubt for absolute true justice on earth. The final verse, in which Cooke pleads for his "brother" to help him, is a metaphor for what Alexander described as "the establishment". The verse continues, 'But he winds up knocking me / back down on my knees.'"


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: "A Change Is Gonna Come" was recorded on January 30, 1964, at RCA Studios in Hollywood, California. The engineer present was Wally Heider, and the session was conducted and arranged by René Hall. The musicians also recorded "Falling in Love" the same day. Credits adapted from the liner notes to the 2003 compilation "".


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: Cooke first performed "A Change Is Gonna Come" on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on February 7, 1964. Cooke's new manager, Allen Klein, was infatuated with the song and persuaded Cooke to do away with promoting his most recent single, "Ain't That Good News", and perform "Change" instead, feeling that that was the statement he needed to make before a national audience. Cooke objected, noting that the album's release was a month away and that he had no time to pull together an arrangement within such a short time frame. Klein arranged for RCA to pay for a full string section and Cooke performed the song that Friday on "The Tonight Show" after performing "Basin Street". An NBC timekeeper logged down the number as "It's a Long Time Coming," but the network did not save the tape of the performance. Klein and Alexander both felt it would become a milestone moment in Cooke's career, but it was overshadowed by the Beatles' performance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on CBS just two days later.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: The song was issued on March 1 as a track on Cooke's album "Ain't That Good News". It would not be issued as a single for another nine months.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: Cooke elected not to perform "A Change Is Gonna Come" again in his lifetime, both because of the complexity of the arrangement and because of the ominous nature of the song. When shown to his protégé Bobby Womack, his response was that it sounds "like death." Cooke responded, "Man, that's kind of how it sounds like to me. That's why I'm never going to play it in public." Womack clarified his thoughts, that it wasn't deathly, but rather "spooky," but Cooke never performed the song again.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: In December, "A Change Is Gonna Come" was prepared for single release, with the verse and chorus preceding the bridge ("I go to the movies…") deleted for radio airplay. The civil rights movement picked up on "A Change Is Gonna Come" with near immediacy. On December 11, 1964, two weeks before the song was released, Sam Cooke was fatally shot at a Los Angeles motel. "Cash Box" described the single as "a moving, string-filled ‘message’ tune."


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: "A Change Is Gonna Come" became an anthem for the Civil Rights Movement, and is widely considered one of Cooke's greatest compositions. Over the years, the song has garnered significant praise. In 2004, it was voted number 12 by representatives of the music industry and press in "Rolling Stone" magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was then voted number 3 in "Rolling Stone's" 2021 edition of the list. The song was ranked number 3 in the webzine Pitchfork Media's The 200 Greatest Songs of the 60s. The song is also among 300 songs deemed the most important ever recorded by National Public Radio (NPR). Acclaimed Music ranked it as the 46th greatest song of all time, as well as the third best song of 1964. NPR called the song "one of the most important songs of the civil rights era."


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: In 2007, the song was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress, with the National Recording Registry deeming the song "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important."


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: In 2019, then-Shreveport mayor Adrian Perkins apologized to Cooke's family for the Shreveport event (see above under Background), and posthumously awarded Cooke the key to the city.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: The words “A change is gonna come” are on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; the museum opened in 2016.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: Otis Redding covered the song for his 1965 album "Otis Blue", saying he wanted to "fill the silent void" created by Cooke's death. His version, retitled "Change Gonna Come," is a more restrained arrangement without any orchestration. The 5th Dimension covered it on their 1970 album "Portrait", in a medley with the United States Declaration of Independence and People Got to Be Free, and released a popular single of the three songs. Baby Huey covered it in a posthumous album released in 1971.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: The song served as a sample for rappers Ghostface Killah (1996), Ja Rule (2003), Papoose (2006), Lil Wayne (2007) "Long Time Coming (remix)" Charles Hamilton, Asher Roth, B.o.B (2009), Nas's It Was Written album also features a similar opening as the song, On their album The Reunion hip-hop artists Capone-N-Noreaga used an excerpt from the song on the opening track which shares the same title as the Cooke original, and Bizzle (2011).


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: After winning the 2008 United States presidential election, Barack Obama referred to the song, stating to his supporters in Chicago, "It's been a long time coming, but tonight, change has come to America." A duet of the song by Bettye LaVette and Jon Bon Jovi was included in . In Washington DC, in the days leading up to the Inauguration of Barack Obama, this song could be heard played constantly in the city centre.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: In 2004, Patti LaBelle performed the song on the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert to a standing ovation.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: The West Wing season 6 episode 7 first aired on December 1, 2004. The episode was called "A Change Is Gonna Come" and featured a tribute to Sam Cooke, where James Taylor performed the song for President Bartlet and other guests at a reception.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: On June 1, 2013, Beyoncé Knowles sang the song during The Sound of Change Live concert in London, as part of Chime for Change, an organization which supports total equality between women and men in all areas of life. Mark Sutherland of "Rolling Stone" magazine noted that Knowles belted out the song, while Alice Vincent from "The Daily Telegraph" noted that the rendition of the song reflected the event's purpose. Later, on July 20, 2013, Knowles performed the song during a stop in Detroit as part of her Mrs. Carter Show World Tour. The performance followed the city's recent file for bankruptcy. As Knowles performed, the screen behind her displayed photos of Detroit's landmarks and icons including Aretha Franklin, Aaliyah, Eminem, Anita Baker, Bob Seger, Kid Rock, the White Stripes, Berry Gordy Jr., Joe Louis. The montage ended with the declaration "Nothing Stops Detroit!" and Knowles closed the performance by saying "I love you, Detroit". A spokesperson for the singer described the performance as a "unique tribute to the history of an incredible city and a celebration of the strong spirit of its people". A black-and-white video of the cover was uploaded on Knowles' official YouTube channel on July 30, 2013. It closes with a quote from Henry Ford: “Failure is simply the opportunity to start over, this time more intelligently." A reporter for "The Huffington Post" reported that the singer's "heartfelt" cover of the song "touched" her fans and the people who loved Detroit. Latifah Muhammad of the Black Entertainment Television wrote that Knowles' "powerful" rendition of the song came right on time. An editor for "Essence" described Knowles' cover as a "moving tribute to Detroit". Jordan Sargent of "Spin" wrote, "It all might come off as a bit heavy-handed if it wasn't for the fact that, well, Beyonce absolutely slays the cover." Lauren Moraski from CBS News described the tribute to the city as "touching".


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: In 2017, Greta Van Fleet released a cover of the song on their double EP "From the Fires". Also, covered that year by Kimie for her 2017 album "Proud as the Sun".


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: In 2019, Céline Dion performed the song as a part of a tribute to Aretha Franklin called "Aretha! A Grammy Celebration For The Queen of Soul". The tribute was broadcast by CBS in March 2019.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: "A Change is Gonna Come" was featured in the 1992 Spike Lee-directed movie, "Malcolm X", for the scene near the end in which Malcolm X (played by Denzel Washington) is driving to the ballroom where he is about to be assassinated.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: In June 2020 a version of the song was recorded by Laurie Wright & Chris Faice with 100% of proceeds going to the Minnesota Freedom Fund.


title: A Change Is Gonna Come

text: In the 2020 film "One Night in Miami...", Leslie Odom Jr., portraying Cooke, sings the song in the movie's reenactment of Cooke's appearance on "The Tonight Show" in 1964.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: Frank Friedman Oppenheimer (August 14, 1912 – February 3, 1985) was an American particle physicist, cattle rancher, professor of physics at the University of Colorado, and the founder of the Exploratorium in San Francisco.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: A younger brother of renowned physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, Frank Oppenheimer conducted research on aspects of nuclear physics during the time of the Manhattan Project, and made contributions to uranium enrichment. After the war, Oppenheimer's earlier involvement with the American Communist Party placed him under scrutiny, and he resigned from his physics position at the University of Minnesota. Oppenheimer was a target of McCarthyism and was blacklisted from finding any physics teaching position in the United States until 1957, when he was allowed to teach science at a high school in Colorado. This rehabilitation allowed him to gain a position at the University of Colorado teaching physics. In 1969, Oppenheimer founded the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and he served as its first director until his death in 1985.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: Frank Friedman Oppenheimer was born in 1912 in New York City to Julius Oppenheimer and Ella Friedman. During his childhood, he studied painting. He also studied the flute under nationally known teacher George Barrera, becoming competent enough at the instrument to consider a career as a flautist.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: Frank began his schooling at the Ethical Culture School, where he attended until seventh grade. The remainder of his high school education was completed at Fieldston School in Riverdale; a school operated by the Ethical Culture Society.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: Frank eventually followed the advice of his older brother Robert, and became a professional physicist. He entered into studies at Johns Hopkins University in 1930, graduating three years later with a BS in physics. Afterwards, Frank studied for a year and a half at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England, where he also earned a pilot's license. In 1935, he worked on the development of nuclear particle counters at the Institute di Arcetri in Florence, Italy.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: While completing his PhD work at the California Institute of Technology, Oppenheimer became engaged to Jacquenette Quann, an economics student at the University of California, Berkeley; she was also active in the Young Communist League. In spite of Robert's recommendations, Frank and Jackie were married in 1936 and soon both joined the American Communist Party, also against the older brother's advice. Both Frank and his wife were atheists.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: During World War II, Frank's older brother Robert became the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory, part of the Manhattan Project, the Allied effort to produce the first atomic weapons. From 1941 to 1945 Frank worked at the University of California Radiation Laboratory on the problem of uranium isotope separation under the direction of his brother's good friend, Ernest O. Lawrence. In late 1943 he arrived at the Los Alamos Laboratory, working directly under Kenneth T. Bainbridge. His responsibilities included the instrumentation for the Trinity test site, in New Mexico. In 1945 he was sent to the enrichment facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to help monitor the equipment.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: Oppenheimer was involved in the founding of the Association of Los Alamos Scientists, on August 30, 1945. This organization promoted international peaceful control of nuclear power. He later also joined the Federation of American Scientists, and was a member of the American Physical Society.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: After the war, Oppenheimer returned to Berkeley, working with Luis Alvarez and Wolfgang Panofsky to develop the proton linear accelerator. In 1947 he took a position as assistant professor of physics at the University of Minnesota, where he participated in the discovery of heavy cosmic ray nuclei.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: On July 12, 1947, the "Washington Times Herald" reported that Oppenheimer had been a member of the Communist Party during the years 1937–1939. At first, he denied these reports, but later admitted they were true. In June 1949, as part of a larger investigation on the possible mishandling of "atomic secrets" during the war, he was called before the United States Congress House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Before the committee, he testified that he and his wife had been members of the Communist Party for about three and a half years. In 1937 they had been involved in local attempts to desegregate the Pasadena public swimming pool, which was open to non-whites only on Wednesday, after which the pool was drained and the water replaced.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: Oppenheimer said he and his wife had joined at a time when they sought answers to the high unemployment experienced in the United States during the later part of the Great Depression. He refused to name others he knew to be members. This caused a media sensation—that J. Robert Oppenheimer's brother was an admitted former member of the Communist Party—and led to Frank resigning from his post at the University of Minnesota.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: After being branded a Communist, Oppenheimer could no longer find work in physics in the US, and he was also denied a passport, preventing him from working abroad. Frank and Jackie eventually sold one of the Van Gogh paintings he had inherited from his father, and with the money bought of ranch land near Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and spent nearly a decade as cattle ranchers.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: In 1957, the Red Scare had lessened to the point that Oppenheimer was allowed to teach science at a local high school. Under Oppenheimer's tutelage, several students from Pagosa Springs High School took first prize at the Colorado State Science Fair. Within two years, supported by endorsements from physicists Hans Bethe, George Gamow, and Victor Weisskopf, Oppenheimer was offered a position at the University of Colorado teaching physics.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: While returning to particle physics research, Oppenheimer also took an increasing interest in developing improvements in science education. He was eventually awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop new pedagogical methods, which resulted in a "Library of Experiments"—nearly one hundred models of classical laboratory experiments which could be used in aiding the teaching of physics to elementary and high school children. These models would later become the core of the first exhibits at the Exploratorium. Oppenheimer also worked with the Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC), helping to develop a new high school physics curriculum in the immediate post-Sputnik years.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: In his work, Oppenheimer followed the well-known old Latin principle "Docendo discimus"—"the best way to learn is to teach".


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: In 1965, Oppenheimer was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to study the history of physics and to conduct bubble chamber research at University College, London, where he was exposed to European science museums for the first time. Inspired, Frank devoted the next years of his life to creating a similar resource in the United States. Upon his return from Europe, he was offered a job planning a new branch of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, but he instead chose to work on setting up a completely independent new type of museum in San Francisco.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: Four years later, in 1969, the Exploratorium opened its doors for the first time—an interactive museum of art, science, and human perception based on the philosophy that science should be fun and accessible for people of all ages, set within the north wing of the stately Palace of Fine Arts of San Francisco. Oppenheimer was able to fund the opening of the Exploratorium partly due to a grant from the San Francisco Foundation. The San Francisco Foundation gave a $50,000 grant to Oppenheimer to open the facility.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: Oppenheimer served as the first director of the museum, and was personally involved in almost every aspect of its daily operations for the rest of his life. Frank had also visited the Tel Aviv Science Museum in 1965, and later used several of Ivan Moscovich's designs and exhibits in his revolutionary Exploratorium in San Francisco. There were no admission charges at the Exploratorium for a full twelve years after its opening. The first exhibits in the Exploratorium were constructed with the aid of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and the Ames Research Center (NASA).


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: Frank Oppenheimer had a lifelong belief in the importance of art in an equal and closely connected relationship to science. He personally recruited artist Bob Miller to create "Sun Painting", the first major art installation at the Exploratorium. Another early work was the "Tactile Dome" (1971), by August Coppola (father of actor Nicolas Cage and brother of the film director Francis Coppola). This was a 3-dimensional tightly convoluted passage that was completely dark inside, and which visitors had to explore relying on the sense of touch, encountering many tactile experiences along the way. Both installations proved to be immensely popular, and renewed versions of both are still on display today. In 1974, Oppenheimer established an ongoing artist-in-residence program at the Exploratorium, regularly bringing in a succession of emerging and established artists working at the boundaries of art and science.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: The Exploratorium aimed to introduce and inspire, as well as teach. The museum exposed people to science by means of human perception. It provides a form of "educational sightseeing" as well as the understanding of the underlying principles. Its intention was not to replace a science class, but rather to inspire people to learn about science. The exhibits were arranged and structured to allow for free access to any part of the museum. Oppenheimer wanted people to be able to explore the museum and learn at their own pace, following a path that made sense to them and stimulated their curiosity. The idea of having people explore the museum in a way that appeals to everyone was an essential element. Instead of tour guides, fifteen to twenty college students or secondary students, as well as some adults, were employed as "explainers". They demonstrate the exhibits and explain the principles involved all while circulating among visitors, rather than guiding them along. Oppenheimer strove to make learning a fun and enjoyable experience for all.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: In 1977, Oppenheimer was diagnosed with lymphoma, and underwent two years of successful chemotherapy. Oppenheimer's first wife Jacquenette, died in 1980. In 1982, he married Mildred "Millie" Danielson.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: In 1983, lung cancer was discovered (he was a heavy smoker), and he underwent a lobectomy, in spite of which he continued to play the flute. Oppenheimer still remained active, appearing at the Exploratorium nearly daily until the last few weeks of his life. He died at home in Sausalito, California, on February 3, 1985.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: Frank Oppenheimer died in 1985, leaving his second wife Mildred Danielson, son Michael, and daughter Judith.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: Oppenheimer's papers and archives were transferred to the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. Oppenheimer authored over 60 technical and nontechnical papers. The bulk of this collection covers his work in physics and education in the years leading up to his founding of the Exploratorium. Also included are papers related to his investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Historical archives of the Exploratorium (1957—present) are also kept at the Bancroft. The University of Minnesota holds archives covering Oppenheimer's physics work during 1946–1959.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: Oppenheimer considered the Exploratorium and its educational programs to be his most important accomplishment and legacy. A collection of selected Oppenheimer papers on science, art, and education is available online at the Exploratorium website.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: The Frank Oppenheimer Fellowship Fund was created at the Exploratorium to provide for the exchange of science museum personnel both nationally and internationally.


title: Frank Oppenheimer

text: Interviewed by director Jon Else, Frank Oppenheimer appears throughout "The Day After Trinity" (1980), an Academy Award-nominated documentary about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the building of the atomic bomb.


title: Help (2021 television film)

text: Help is a 2021 British drama television film about the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, written by Jack Thorne and directed by Marc Munden. It follows Sarah (Jodie Comer), a young health care assistant who starts working at a care home in Liverpool, where she cares for Tony (Stephen Graham), a middle-aged man who has early-onset Alzheimer's disease; when the pandemic hits the UK, both their worlds are completely transformed. It premiered on Channel 4 on 16 September 2021.


title: Help (2021 television film)

text: In 2019, Sarah begins working as a care assistant at Bright Sky Homes, a care home in Liverpool. She is good at connecting with the residents, in particular a middle-aged man called Tony, who has early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Tony frequently walks out of the building and wanders the streets to try and go to his mother's house, forgetting that she has died and their home now belongs to another family.


title: Help (2021 television film)

text: The work load is tough, but everyone's world is turned upside down when the COVID-19 pandemic hits the UK in March 2020. Like most other care homes across the country, Bright Sky suffers a COVID-19 outbreak amongst residents. This is made all the worse by a severe lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) with supplies in NHS hospitals being prioritised above homes.


title: Help (2021 television film)

text: One night, when Sarah is left as the only carer on duty, Bright Sky resident Kenny suffers a serious coughing fit. Sarah calls the COVID-19 hotline, as well as NHS 111, but no ambulances are available in the area. Angry and frightened, Sarah wakes up Tony, who is also Kenny's best friend. He manages to turn Kenny over, but he is still in a bad way.


title: Help (2021 television film)

text: Later, Sarah finds out that Tony has been given new medicine by Steve, the head of the home. She confronts Steve, who tells her that Tony's GP had insisted upon the change. Enraged, Sarah takes Tony out of Bright Sky and brings him to a caravan owned by her family, where they spend twelve days. Sarah is found by her dad Bob, who commends her actions by asking her if she needs any supplies. Whilst playing Shithead, Tony and Sarah are found by the police, who received a tip-off from some dog walkers who spotted them. Tony is returned to Bright Sky and Sarah is arrested.


title: Help (2021 television film)

text: Sarah, in the back of a police car, breaks the fourth wall and warns the audience against turning a blind eye to the needs of others in society, from those in social care to those using food banks. The film ends with statistics about deaths in UK care homes at the beginning of the pandemic and the insufficient amount of PPE the government provided.


title: Help (2021 television film)

text: On 20 November 2020, Channel 4 announced that Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham would star in a television drama film produced by The Forge about the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact in the UK, with Jack Thorne writing the script and Marc Munden signing on as director. Speaking about the project, Thorne said: "About two years ago Stephen Graham came to me with an idea to write something for him and Jodie Comer. I tried to think of something and got nothing. Then this crisis happened, and we saw care homes getting squashed and battered by the government. It's been both a long process and a short one, trying to find a way to tell this story, the amazing thing has been sharing in working out the story with Stephen, Jodie, the amazing Marc Munden, Beth Willis and everyone at the Forge and Channel 4."


title: Help (2021 television film)

text: Thorne's original intention was to write a story about "different aspects of care homes and a different aspect of care home politics", but he was told to change it by The Forge founder George Faber. "I was a bit scared of writing about Covid," Thorne told "Empire" magazine's "Pilot TV". "I didn't really want to write a Covid drama. But then the more stuff I read, the more important it seemed to be."


title: Help (2021 television film)

text: "Help" was mostly shot in Liverpool, while some scenes were also filmed on Thurstaston Beach on the Wirral Peninsula, and in a former care home in Maghull.


title: Help (2021 television film)

text: The third part of the film, where Sarah is alone on the night shift and desperately tries to get in touch with the emergency services, was done in a single take that lasted over 26 minutes. During a press Q&A, Comer admitted that this sequence was "probably the most difficult" scene to shoot throughout filming. "Marc [Munden] really pushed me on that," she said. "I remember there was a moment, we'd done this whole take and I was so in my own head. And I was like, 'I think we've got it, we've got it, we've got it,' and Marc was like, 'No, no, no – we're gonna do one more,' and I was like, 'Oh okay'. I was so in my own head at this point and we did it again and the moment we got in that second take, we never ever would have got in the first. And I think Marc really was phenomenal at that, knowing just when to push you that little bit more. So I think that was probably the most difficult for all of us really because we all really had to huddle together and work as a team."


title: Help (2021 television film)

text: "Help" was acclaimed by critics. Carol Midgley of "The Times" gave the film five out of five stars and called it "a shaming nightmare [that] all ministers should see". Lauren Morris of the "Radio Times" gave it four out of five stars, praising the film for "hit[ting] home the traumatic experience many caregivers would have gone through whilst trying to look after vulnerable care home residents throughout the pandemic" and praised the performances of Graham and Comer.


title: Help (2021 television film)

text: "The Independent" gave the film four stars, similarly praising the cast and storytelling, with reviewer Ed Cummings remarking, ""Help" [is] at its best when it trusts its cast with the little unremembered acts of kindness and love that endured despite it all. With this subject matter, Graham and Comer are all the assistance you need." In a four-star review, "The Guardian" dubbing it "evocative and harrowing", but had issues with the resolution. "The Daily Telegraph"s Anita Singh gave "Help" four out of five stars and was particularly praising of Sarah's "hellish night shift", which Singh called "a virtuoso piece of directing from Marc Munden".


title: Help (2021 television film)

text: On 8 May 2022, for her portrayal of Sarah in "Help", Jodie Comer received a British Academy Television Award in the Lead Actress category, her second such award. In her speech, she thanked caregivers of the Dementia Society. Actor Stephen Graham, who played the role of Tony, was nominated for Lead Actor, and "Help" was nominated for Best Single Drama.


title: Air National Guard

text: The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It, along with each state's, district's, commonwealth's or territory's Army National Guard component, makes up the National Guard of each state and the districts, commonwealths and territories as applicable.


title: Air National Guard

text: When Air National Guard units are used under the jurisdiction of the state governor they are fulfilling their militia role. However, if federalized by order of the President of the United States, Air National Guard units become an active part of the United States Air Force. They are jointly administered by the states and the National Guard Bureau, a joint bureau of the Army and Air Force that oversees the United States National Guard.


title: Air National Guard

text: Air National Guard operating forces are structured where each of the 50 U.S. states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia of the United States, houses at least one wing. Each wing is either assigned aircraft, or aircraft are shared with a unit of the active duty Air Force or the Air Force Reserve under an "Associate" arrangement. The ANG of the territories of Guam and the Virgin Islands have no aircraft assigned and perform ground support functions. Air National Guard activities may be located on active duty air force bases, air reserve bases, naval air stations/joint reserve bases, or air national guard bases and stations which are either independent military facilities or collocated as tenants on civilian-controlled joint civil-military airports.


title: Air National Guard

text: ANG units typically operate under Title 32 USC. However, when operating under Title 10 USC all ANG units are operationally gained by an active duty Air Force major command (MAJCOM) or the United States Space Force. ANG units of the Combat Air Forces (CAF) based in the Continental United States (CONUS), plus a single air control squadron of the Puerto Rico ANG, are gained by the Air Combat Command (ACC). CONUS-based ANG units in the Mobility Air Forces (MAF), plus the Puerto Rico ANG's airlift wing and the Virgin Islands ANG's civil engineering squadron are gained by the Air Mobility Command (AMC).


title: Air National Guard

text: The vast majority of ANG units fall under either ACC or AMC. However, there remain a few exceptions, such as the Alaska ANG, Hawaii ANG and Guam ANG, whose CAF and MAF units are operationally gained by Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), while a smaller number of ANG units in CONUS are operationally gained by Air Education and Training Command (AETC), Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), and United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA).


title: Air National Guard

text: Established under Title 10 and Title 32 of the U.S. Code, the Air National Guard is part of the state National Guard and is divided up into units stationed in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the two U.S. territories. Each state, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have at least one Air National Guard wing level unit with a flying mission, while the Air National Guard in Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are strictly non-flying support organizations at the group or squadron level.