title: Glory Road (film)

text: Several scenes in this movie were filmed at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), which is the former Texas Western College, and El Paso High School in El Paso, Texas. Other scenes were filmed at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana, Jesuit High School and Douglas High School, formerly F. T. Nicholls High School, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Chalmette High School in Chalmette, Louisiana. The IHOP scene was filmed in the old Airline Motors Diner on Airline Highway just west of New Orleans. The school shown for the girls' basketball game in Fort Worth, Texas at the beginning of the film is actually the front of El Paso High School, as shown by the engraving on the top of the columns. The lunchroom basketball trash can scene was filmed at Booker T. Washington High School, the first high school built in New Orleans for African-Americans. Towards the beginning of the film for the shot of Texas Western College, the Wells Fargo Plaza and the Chase Bank Building in downtown El Paso can be seen in the top left corner. The Wells Fargo Plaza was not completed until 1971, and the Chase Bank Building was still the Texas Commerce Bank building until the early 1990s. In addition, Ralph Strangis (the former Dallas Stars play-by-play announcer) had a small speaking role as a courtside broadcaster. Ben Affleck was the original choice for the role of coach Don Haskins, but had to drop out of the filming due to prior commitments. NBA point guard Kirk Hinrich was offered a role in the film, but chose not to participate "because of time constraints".


title: Glory Road (film)

text: During the scene of the Texas Western-Seattle University basketball game broadcast the announcers inadvertently used the call letters WTSM, which is an FM radio sports station from Tallahassee, Florida instead of the El Paso station KTSM.


title: Glory Road (film)

text: Kentucky Wildcat fans and other Rupp supporters said the film at least implicitly portrayed UK coach Adolph Rupp as a racist, with such lines as Bobby Joe Hill's that Rupp would not have recruited him. Like other teams in the Southeastern Conference, Kentucky was all-white, but they were the first and for about a decade the only SEC team to regularly play inter-conference opponents with black players, starting in the 1950s, and took the place of Alabama (1956) and Mississippi State (1959, 1961) in the NCAA Tournament after their respective state legislatures or university leadership refused the invitations because of the possibility of playing against integrated squads. Starting in 1964, Rupp had recruited Kentuckians Wes Unseld and Butch Beard, along with eight other black players who received formal scholarship offers before Tom Payne in 1969 became University of Kentucky first black player. While doing so, he told them (just as Branch Rickey did to Jackie Robinson) about the racial difficulties they could expect in playing in the SEC, and Unseld and Beard went to Louisville instead.


title: Glory Road (film)

text: In the game between East Texas State University, now known as Texas A&M University–Commerce, and Texas Western, East Texas State fans are shown throwing popcorn and drinks, and yelling racial epithets. In a later scene, racial slurs are shown painted onto the hotel rooms of the black Texas Western players. After verification that the events never took place, Texas A&M–Commerce asked for an apology from Disney and the makers of the film. Disney did not directly apologize; rather, it explained that the movie was not a documentary and that it had been necessary to consolidate events given the time limitations of the film, and that Disney did not intentionally set out to misrepresent any group and was sorry for any misunderstanding. The President of Texas A&M–Commerce said that, given the way the school was shown in the film, it was hard to believe that Disney could plausibly argue that the portrayal of the school was unintentional. The scene even prompted the Texas state senate to consider a bill which would allow financial assistance from the state to be withheld for films that portray the state negatively.


title: Glory Road (film)

text: On January 10, 2006, the soundtrack was released on the Hollywood Records label. The film score was orchestrated by musician Trevor Rabin and features music composed by various artists.


title: Glory Road (film)

text: Following its release in theaters, separate widescreen and fullscreen editions of the motion picture were released on DVD in the United States on June 6, 2006. A UMD version of the film for the PlayStation Portable was also released on June 6, 2006.


title: Glory Road (film)

text: A restored widescreen high definition Blu-ray version was released on October 17, 2006. Special features include backstage feature film: Audio commentary with producer Jerry Bruckheimer & director James Gartner; Audio commentary with screenwriters Chris Cleveland and Bettina Gilois; "Surviving Practice" – a featurette looking inside a typical grueling Haskins practice with former NBA star Tim Hardaway, and seamless menus.


title: Glory Road (film)

text: Among mainstream critics in the U.S., the film received mixed reviews. , the film holds a 55% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 152 reviews, with an average score of 5.92/10. The consensus states, "As formulaic as sports movies get, this underdog story still triumphs on the strength of its inspiring story." At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average out of 100 to critics' reviews, "Glory Road" received a score of 58 based on 33 reviews.


title: Glory Road (film)

text: The film won the 2006 ESPY Award for "Best Sports Movie". Furthermore, in 2006, "Glory Road" was nominated for the Humanitas Prize. In 2007, the film garnered nominations for "Best Screenplay, Adapted or Original" and "Best Original or Adapted Song" from the Black Reel Awards.


title: Glory Road (film)

text: The film became a box office number-one in the U.S. grossing $16,927,589 on its opening weekend, yet was only released straight to DVD or just shown on TV in some countries that have no connection to college basketball. The film grossed a total of $42,938,449 worldwide.


title: Daryl Morey

text: Daryl Morey (born September 14, 1972) is an American sports executive who is the president of basketball operations of the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He co-founded the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Morey's basketball philosophy, heavily reliant on analytics, favors three-point field goals and lay-ups over mid-range jumpers. This style has been dubbed "Moreyball", as a nod towards Michael Lewis's "Moneyball".


title: Daryl Morey

text: During his tenure as general manager for the Houston Rockets from 2007 to 2020, he had posted the second-most wins in the NBA—behind only the San Antonio Spurs—and since the blockbuster trade that brought James Harden to the Rockets, he had posted the third-best record, behind only the Spurs and the Golden State Warriors.


title: Daryl Morey

text: Morey was born on September 14, 1972, in Baraboo, Wisconsin. He graduated from Highland High School in Medina, Ohio before receiving a bachelor's degree in computer science with an emphasis on statistics from Northwestern University in 1996, as well as an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.


title: Daryl Morey

text: Morey began his career in 1992 with STATS, Inc., a pioneer sports data firm where Bill James also worked. During his time there he was the first to adapt James' Pythagorean expectation to professional basketball. He found that using 13.91 for the exponents provided an acceptable model for predicting won-lost percentages:


title: Daryl Morey

text: Daryl's "Modified Pythagorean Theorem" was first published in "STATS Basketball Scoreboard, 1993–94".


title: Daryl Morey

text: In 2000, Morey worked at EY-Parthenon, a leading strategy consulting firm, as a principal consultant with an emphasis on sports.


title: Daryl Morey

text: In 2002 Morey left EY-Parthenon to become senior vice president of operations for the Boston Celtics, with responsibility for setting ticket prices and developing analytical methods and technology to enhance basketball decisions related to the draft, trades, free agency, and advance scouting of opponents for the coaching staff.


title: Daryl Morey

text: Then-Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander named Morey the team's assistant general manager on April 3, 2006. Morey succeeded Carroll Dawson as general manager on May 10, 2007, following the "Moreyball" trend of integrating advanced statistical analysis with traditional qualitative scouting and basic statistics. Although several teams had previously hired executives with non-traditional basketball backgrounds, the Rockets were the first NBA team to hire such a general manager. In the fall of 2012, he and the Rockets acquired now-All-Star and 2017-18 league MVP James Harden via trade from the Oklahoma City Thunder. During Morey's tenure, the Rockets did not have a losing record and advanced to the playoffs 9 times, including to the Western Conference Finals in 2015 and 2018. He was also named the NBA Executive of the Year in 2018.


title: Daryl Morey

text: On October 15, 2020, the Rockets announced that Morey would step down as general manager on November 1, 2020. He confirmed his departure in a full page ad in the Houston Chronicle on October 18, 2020. After Morey's departure, the Rockets would embark on a rebuild by trading away Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Morey's resignation made Donnie Nelson of the Dallas Mavericks the longest-tenured general manager in the NBA, as Presti was hired in June 2007, a month after Morey became the Rockets' GM.


title: Daryl Morey

text: Morey and the organization selected Tyrese Maxey with the 21st pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, acquired Seth Curry and Danny Green, and signed Dwight Howard in November 2020.


title: Daryl Morey

text: On March 22, 2021, Morey said "3-pointers should be worth 2.5 points" and the court should be widened to make corner 3-pointers longer.


title: Daryl Morey

text: On February 10, 2022, Morey and the 76ers traded for James Harden and Paul Millsap. They traded away a package including Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, the 76ers unprotected 2023 first round draft pick, and the 76ers 2027 first round draft pick, top-8 protected.


title: Daryl Morey

text: Morey is the co-chairperson for the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. He is also an avid Esports supporter, has attended MLG (Major League Gaming) events, and was part owner of Clutch Gaming, the Houston, Texas-based League of Legends Championship Series eSports team. Morey is also passionate about musical theater. He commissioned and produced the basketball themed musical Small Ball, which opened in April 2018 at the Catastrophic Theater in Houston, Texas.


title: Daryl Morey

text: Author of "Moneyball", Michael Lewis, chose Daryl Morey as the new nerd-hero at the center of his 2016 book, "The Undoing Project". Whereas "Moneyball" highlighted the plight and success of Billy Beane as GM of the Oakland Athletics in 2003, "The Undoing Project" reveals Daryl Morey as the underdog king of basketball, making use of a similar analytical method to acquire undervalued talent as Beane did with the A's to produce a forceful team. Lewis uses Morey as a real-world example of one who has exemplified ideas introduced by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, two Israeli psychologists whose work pioneered the field of behavioral economics. The psychologist duo defined a simple, two-part distinction of the way the brain makes decisions: System 1 and System 2. A more intuitive, subjective, fast, and efficient process, System 1 represents the brain's capacity to make split-second choices, often using personal experience to guide decision-making. System 2, however, characterizes a slower, more analytical process of reasoning to reach a conclusion. Michael Lewis points out in "The Undoing Project" how Daryl Morey observed basketball experts of the time making awfully subjective assessments in looking at basketball players. Shifting the Rockets' scouting strategy to look at hard data over simple observations, Morey implemented a more System-2-based approach to the team's hiring practices. This strategy is thought to be critically linked to the Houston Rockets' recent success.


title: Daryl Morey

text: On October 4, 2019, Morey tweeted in support of the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, drawing criticism from Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, who said that while Morey was the best general manager in the NBA, the Rockets were not a political organization. Morey later deleted the tweet. In mainland China, where the Rockets have an extensive relationship after the selection of Yao Ming in 2002, Morey's tweet resulted in the Chinese Basketball Association's suspension of its relationship with the Rockets and the issuance of a statement of dissatisfaction from the consular office of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Houston. All Houston Rockets-related items were removed from the Tmall and JD.com sites and the team's games would no longer be broadcast on Tencent. The Associated Press said that the reactions underscored Beijing's sensitivity about foreign attitudes toward the protests.


title: Daryl Morey

text: At the time of the tweet, Morey and the Rockets were in Tokyo for the NBA's Japan Games. He remained isolated in his room at the hotel and only engaged with Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri upon the fallout. According to Ujiri, Morey said that the timing of his tweet was in response to a new law in Hong Kong prohibiting protesters from wearing masks and that himself and his friends had discussed political autonomy in Hong Kong since attending MIT Sloan.


title: Daryl Morey

text: A few days later, Morey and the NBA each issued a separate statement addressing the original tweet, with Morey saying that he never intended his tweet to cause any offense and the NBA saying that it was regrettable. The statements were criticized by US politicians and third-party observers for the perceived exercise of economic statecraft by the PRC and insufficiency of the NBA's defense of Morey's tweet. A bipartisan letter by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ted Cruz, and six other lawmakers fiercely criticized the NBA's handling of the controversy. The lawmakers wrote that the NBA's response not only "sold out an American citizen" but also "reinforces the Chinese Communist Party view that those who point to Chinese repression in Hong Kong are at best stating opinions, not facts", as well as being "a betrayal of fundamental American values". Critics also contrasted the league's disparate response to Morey's tweet with its history of political activism and compared the incident to an October 2 "South Park" episode "Band in China" which parodies the self-censorship of the American entertainment industry to meet PRC censorship demands. The statements also drew criticism from PRC state-run media for their perceived insufficiency, as Morey himself did not apologize.


title: Daryl Morey

text: NBA commissioner Adam Silver later defended the league's response to the tweet, supporting Morey's right to freedom of expression while also accepting the right of reply from the government of and businesses from mainland China. Further fallout from the tweet included the decision by China Central Television to cancel the broadcasting of two NBA preseason games, pro-Hong Kong protest demonstrations held at preseason games in the United States involving teams from the Chinese Basketball Association, the cancellation of NBA Cares community events in Shanghai, criticism by then-president Donald Trump of the perceived double standards by the reactions of specific coaches to NBA response relative to their past criticisms of his policies, and the suspension/termination of all mainland Chinese sponsors of the NBA. A Fox Business article said that the NBA would look to Africa and India for growth if the league were to sever ties with mainland China as a result of the tweet.


title: Boom Overture

text: The Boom Overture is a proposed , 65–88 passenger supersonic airliner with of range, which is planned to be introduced in 2029 by Boom Technology. The company claims that with 500 viable routes, there could be a market for 1,000 supersonic airliners with business class fares. It had gathered 76 commitments by December 2017. The aircraft is planned to have a delta wing configuration (similar to the Concorde), but will be built with composite materials. Following a redesign revealed in 2022 it is intended to be powered by four dry (non-afterburning) turbofans. Regulations for takeoff noise or overland boom can be met or changed.


title: Boom Overture

text: The company says five hundred daily routes would be viable: at Mach 1.7 over water, New York/Newark and London would be 3 hours and 30 minutes apart; Newark and Frankfurt would be 4 hours apart. With range, transpacific flights would require a refueling stop: San Francisco and Tokyo would be 6 hours apart.


title: Boom Overture

text: Boom targets a $200 million price, not discounted and excluding options and interior, in 2016 dollars. The company claims that operational costs per premium available seat mile will be lower than subsonic wide-body aircraft. The Boom factory will be sized to assemble up to 100 aircraft per year for a 1,000- to 2,000-aircraft potential market over 10 years.


title: Boom Overture

text: Boom targets $5,000 fares for a New York-to-London round-trip, while the same on Concorde cost $20,000 adjusted for inflation; it was its only profitable route. The same fuel burn enables fares similar to subsonic business class among other factors.


title: Boom Overture

text: For long-range routes like San Francisco–Tokyo and Los Angeles–Sydney, 30 lie-flat first-class seats could be proposed alongside 15 business-class seats.


title: Boom Overture

text: In March 2016, Richard Branson confirmed that Virgin Group holds options for 10 aircraft, and Virgin Galactic's subsidiary The Spaceship Company will aid in manufacturing and testing the jet. An unnamed European carrier also holds options for 15 aircraft; the two deals total 5 billion dollars.


title: Boom Overture

text: At the 2017 Paris Air Show, 51 commitments were added for a backlog of 76 with significant deposits. In December 2017, Japan Airlines was confirmed to have pre-ordered up to 20 jets among the commitments to 76 from five airlines. Boom CEO Blake Scholl thinks 2,000 supersonic jets will connect 500 cities and promises £2,000 for London to New York one-way, comparable with existing subsonic business class.


title: Boom Overture

text: On June 3, 2021, United Airlines announced they had signed an agreement to purchase 15 Overture aircraft with an additional 35 options, expecting to start passenger flights by 2029. On August 16, 2022, American Airlines announced an agreement to purchase 20 Overture aircraft with an additional 40 options.


title: Boom Overture

text: In October 2016, the design was stretched to to seat up to 50 passengers with ten extra seats, its wingspan marginally increased, and a third engine was added to enable ETOPS with up to a 180 minutes diversion time. The plane could seat 55 passengers in a higher-density configuration.


title: Boom Overture

text: Boom initially targeted a Mach 2.2 cruise speed to fit with transoceanic airline timetables and allow higher utilization, while keeping airport noise to Stage 4, similar to subsonic long-range aircraft. The plane configuration was intended to be locked in late 2019 to early 2020 for a launch with engine selection, supply chain, production site. Development and certification of the airliner and its engine were estimated at $6 billion, requiring Series C investors. Enough money was raised in the B round of fundraising to be able to hit key milestones, including flying the demonstrator (XB-1) to prove the technology, building up an order backlog, finding key suppliers for engines, aerostructures, and avionics, and lay out the certification process, with many special conditions but with precedents.


title: Boom Overture

text: At the June 2019 Paris Air Show, Boom CEO Blake Scholl announced the introduction of the Overture was delayed from 2023 to the 2025–2027 timeframe, following a two-year test campaign with six aircraft. In September 2020, the company announced that they have been contracted by the United States Air Force to develop the Overture for possible use as Air Force One.


title: Boom Overture

text: On October 7, 2020, Boom publicly unveiled its XB-1 demonstrator, which it planned to fly for the first time in 2021 from Mojave Air and Space Port, California. It expected to begin wind tunnel tests for the Overture in 2021, and start construction of a manufacturing facility in 2022, with the capacity to produce 5 to 10 aircraft monthly. The first Overture would be unveiled in 2025, with the aim of achieving type certification by 2029. Flights should be available in 2030, as estimated by Blake Scholl.


title: Boom Overture

text: Boom currently targets a slower Mach 1.7 cruise. In January 2022, Boom announced a grant of US$60m from the US Air Force’s AFWERX program to further develop the Boom Overture supersonic airliner. In July 2022, Boom announced a partnership with Northrop Grumman to develop a 'special mission' variant for the U.S. Government and its allies.


title: Boom Overture

text: On July 19, 2022, Boom unveiled a revised proposal for the production version of the Overture at the Farnborough Airshow. This version has four engines and a tailed delta wing.


title: Boom Overture

text: On December 13, 2022, Boom announced that it would develop its own turbofan engine after "Big Three" engine manufacturers Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney and General Electric, as well as CFM and Safran previously declined to develop a new engine due to high capital costs. Named Symphony, (see § Engines below) the engine will be developed under partnership with three entities: Kratos subsidiary Florida Turbine Technologies for engine design; StandardAero for maintenance; and General Electric subsidiary GE Additive for consulting on printing components.


title: Boom Overture

text: Overture's wing configuration is a conventional compound delta for low supersonic drag, designed to be like a 75% scale model of Concorde. It features no low sonic boom unlike the SAI Quiet Supersonic Transport (QSST), or laminar supersonic flow technology from the Aerion AS2. Due to the low 1.5 wing aspect ratio, low-speed drag is high, and the aircraft requires high thrust at take-off. Boom also needs to address the nose-up attitude on landing. Airframe maintenance costs are expected to be similar to those of other carbon fiber airliners. The Overture should operate at a quarter of the costs of Concorde by relying on dry (no afterburner) engines, composite structures, and improved technology since Concorde's development. The 55-seat airliner would weigh 77,100 kg (170,000 lb) It should be long by wide and could accommodate 45 passengers, including 10 in first class or 55 with a seat pitch. In 2021, Boom presents a longer length of 205 ft (62 m) with a capacity of 65 to 88. Changes to maximum take-off weight or required engine thrust are not disclosed.


title: Boom Overture

text: The FAA and ICAO are working on a sonic boom standard to allow supersonic flights overland. NASA plans to fly its Low Boom Flight Demonstrator for the first time in 2022 to assess public acceptability of a 75 boom, lower than Concorde's 105 PNLdB. The Overture is expected to not be louder at takeoff than current airliners like the Boeing 777-300ER. Supersonic jets could be exempted from the FAA takeoff noise regulations, reducing their fuel consumption by 20–30% by using narrower engines optimized for acceleration over limiting noise. In 2017, Honeywell and NASA tested predictive software and cockpit displays showing the sonic booms en route, to minimize its disruption overland.


title: Boom Overture

text: Design changes announced in July 2022 included an increase in the number of engines to four to allow for smaller less technically challenging engines and to allow takeoff at derated levels to lower noise, and redesigned gull form wing and fuselage to reduce drag.


title: Boom Overture

text: The Boom Symphony is a two-spool medium-bypass turbofan engine under development for use on Overture. The engine is designed to produce 35,000 pounds (160 kN) of thrust at takeoff and sustain Overture supercruise at Mach 1.7, and burn sustainable aviation fuel exclusively.


title: Boom Overture

text: Development of the engine will be conducted in partnership with Kratos subsidiary Florida Turbine Techonologies for engine design, General Electric subsidiary GE Additive for additive manufacturing consulting, and StandardAero for maintenance. Boom aims for initial production of the engine to begin in 2024 at the Overture factory at Greensboro, North Carolina.


title: Oliver Lynn

text: Oliver Vanetta Lynn, Jr. (August 27, 1926 – August 22, 1996), commonly known as Doolittle Lynn (also Doo and Mooney) was an American talent manager and country music figure, known as the husband of country music legend Loretta Lynn. Over the course of their often-tumultuous 48-year marriage, Lynn was instrumental in developing his wife's musical talent and country music career, purchasing her first guitar, lining up her first radio appearances, and serving as her "de facto" talent manager for many years. Lynn was also the President of Loretta Lynn Enterprises, Inc., a company formed in 1973 to take care of Lynn's businesses.


title: Oliver Lynn

text: In addition to his ongoing support for his young wife's career, Lynn's relationship with his wife was described in the following: "[He] thought I was something special, more special than anyone in the world, and never let me forget it... Doo was my security, my safety net". He was also known to be violent, an alcoholic, and a womanizer who was a somewhat reluctant participant in his wife's life as a country music celebrity. Nonetheless, he was a central figure in many of his wife's hits, including "Fist City", "The Pill", "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)", and "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)". Loretta said, "Doo really gave me a lot of things to write about, you know. He was very...what do you call it? Inspirational".


title: Oliver Lynn

text: The couple's marriage, which began when he was 21 and she was 15, has been described by historians and music scholars as "one of the great legends of the twentieth century" and "one of the most compelling tales in American popular culture."


title: Oliver Lynn

text: Of Irish descent, born in Butcher Hollow, near Paintsville, Kentucky in Johnson County, Oliver Lynn was an uneducated resident of a town based around the coal mining industry. Having served in the United States Army during World War II, he was uninterested in coal mining upon his return. He made a living selling moonshine, which earned him the nickname "Mooney." He earned the nickname "Doolittle"—which his wife Loretta shortened to "Doo"—because he was regarded by locals as a lazy person who didn't "do much." At age 21, Lynn met 15-year-old Loretta Webb at a pie social, and a month later they married. A year later, the newlyweds relocated to Custer, Washington, as Lynn searched for better work opportunities. By the time his wife was 19, the couple had three children. Throughout the course of their marriage, the Lynns had six children: Betty Sue, Jack Benny, Clara Marie ("Cissy"), Ernest Ray, and twin girls Peggy and Patsy (the latter named after Patsy Cline). Jack Benny Lynn predeceased his parents; Betty Sue Lynn died in 2013.


title: Oliver Lynn

text: During the early years of their marriage, as described by Loretta Lynn in her autobiography "Still Woman Enough":I married Doo when I wasn't but a child, and he was my life from that day on. But as important as my youth and upbringing was, there's something else that made me stick to Doo. He thought I was something special, more special than anyone else in the world, and never let me forget it. That belief would be hard to shove out the door. Doo was my security, my safety net. And just remember, I'm explainin', not excusin'. (Still Woman Enough xvii) ... Doo was a good man and a hard worker. But he was an alcoholic, and it affected our marriage all the way through. He was also a womanizer. Cheating husbands have been all over the news talk shows for a few years now. Lots of women say they don't understand why women stay with them dogs. My story is about one who did—me.(Still Woman Enough, p. xiii).


title: Oliver Lynn

text: In 1953, Lynn bought his 21-year old wife a guitar as an anniversary present and encouraged her to perform in local venues and on local radio. At a televised talent competition in Tacoma, Washington, Loretta Lynn was discovered by Norm Burley, who founded Vancouver, Canada-based label Zero Records solely to promote Loretta's music. As chronicled in the movie "Coal Miner's Daughter", Lynn was instrumental at this stage of his wife's career, during which the couple dutifully set out across the country to promote her debut release "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl". The song managed to climb into the top twenty of the country charts, and the couple ended their trip in Nashville with a performance at the Grand Ole Opry.


title: Oliver Lynn

text: Music scholar Martha Hume wrote:When you shake all the stardust off this tale, what you must begin with is an uneducated child from one of the most isolated cultures in the United States who was given in marriage to a man some six years her senior, a man who was a violent and sometimes brutal alcoholic, who was similarly uneducated and without any job skills to speak of. Add to that a migration to the state of Washington, where the child had no friends or relations; the arrival of four babies; regular—and reportedly mutual—domestic violence; and an income so unstable that there were times when the family had nothing to eat but dandelion greens, and you have a situation that might well have led to murder. But what actually happened was so improbable, so unimaginable, that the lives of Loretta and Mooney Lynn became one of the great legends of the twentieth century.


title: Oliver Lynn

text: Oliver Lynn died on August 22, 1996, five days before his 70th birthday. His death was attributed to diabetes-related health problems and heart failure. He was buried on the Lynn family estate in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.


title: Mobile payment

text: A mobile payment, also referred to as mobile money, mobile money transfer and mobile wallet, is any of various payment processing services operated under financial regulations and performed from or via a mobile device, as the cardinal class of digital wallet. Instead of paying with cash, cheque, or credit cards, a consumer can use a payment app on a mobile device to pay for a wide range of services and digital or hard goods. Although the concept of using non-coin-based currency systems has a long history, it is only in the 21st century that the technology to support such systems has become widely available.


title: Mobile payment

text: Mobile payments began adoption in Japan in the 2000s and later all over the world in different ways. The first patent exclusively defined "Mobile Payment System" was filed in 2000.


title: Mobile payment

text: In developing countries, mobile payment solutions have been deployed as a means of extending financial services to the community known as the "unbanked" or "underbanked", which is estimated to be as much as 50% of the world's adult population, according to Financial Access' 2009 Report "Half the World is Unbanked". These payment networks are often used for micropayments. The use of mobile payments in developing countries has attracted public and private funding by organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United States Agency for International Development and Mercy Corps.


title: Mobile payment

text: Mobile payments are becoming a key instrument for payment service providers (PSPs) and other market participants, in order to achieve new growth opportunities, according to the European Payments Council (EPC). The EPC states that "new technology solutions provide a direct improvement to the operations efficiency, ultimately resulting in cost savings and in an increase in business volume".


title: Mobile payment

text: In models connected to a bank or operator, a bank/operator is the central node of the model, manages the transactions and distributes the property rights. In collaborative model, the financial intermediaries and telephonic operators collaborate in the managing tasks and share cooperatively the proprietary rights. In ISP model, a third party of confidence operates as an independent and “neutral” intermediary between financial


title: Mobile payment

text: agents and operators. Apple Pay or PayPal are the ISP the most frequently associated to this model in these last months.


title: Mobile payment

text: Financial institutions and credit card companies as well as Internet companies such as Google and a number of mobile communication companies, such as mobile network operators and major telecommunications infrastructure such as w-HA from Orange and smartphone multinationals such as Ericsson and BlackBerry have implemented mobile payment solutions.


title: Mobile payment

text: A mobile wallet is an app that contains the user's debit and credit card information, letting the user pay for goods and services digitally with a mobile device. Notable mobile wallets include:


title: Mobile payment

text: A simple mobile web payment system can also include a credit card payment flow allowing a consumer to enter their card details to make purchases. This process is familiar but any entry of details on a mobile phone is known to reduce the success rate (conversion) of payments.


title: Mobile payment

text: In addition, if the payment vendor can automatically and securely identify customers then card details can be recalled for future purchases turning credit card payments into simple single click-to-buy giving higher conversion rates for additional purchases.


title: Mobile payment

text: However, there are concerns regarding information and payment privacy when cards are used during online transactions. If a website is not secure, for example, then personal credit card info can leak online.


title: Mobile payment

text: The consumer uses the mobile billing option during checkout at an e-commerce site—such as an online gaming site—to make a payment. After two-factor authentication involving the consumer's mobile number and a PIN or one-time password (often abbreviated as "OTP"), the consumer's mobile account is charged for the purchase. It is a true alternative payment method that does not require the use of credit/debit cards or pre-registration at an online payment solution such as PayPal, thus bypassing banks and credit card companies altogether. This type of mobile payment method, which is prevalent in Asia, provides the following benefits:


title: Mobile payment

text: Even as the volume of Premium SMS transactions have flattened, many cloud-based payment systems continue to use SMS for presentment, authorization, and authentication, while the payment itself is processed through existing payment networks such as credit and debit card networks. These solutions combine the ubiquity of the SMS channel, with the security and reliability of existing payment infrastructure. Since SMS lacks end-to-end encryption, such solutions employ a higher-level security strategies known as 'tokenization' and 'target removal' whereby payment occurs without transmitting any sensitive account details, username, password, or PIN.


title: Mobile payment

text: To date, point-of-sales mobile payment solutions have not relied on SMS-based authentication as a payment mechanism, but remote payments such as bill payments, seat upgrades on flights, and membership or subscription renewals are commonplace.


title: Mobile payment

text: In comparison to premium short code programs which often exist in isolation, relationship marketing and payment systems are often integrated with CRM, ERP, marketing-automation platforms, and reservation systems. Many of the problems inherent with premium SMS have been addressed by solution providers. Remembering keywords is not required since sessions are initiated by the enterprise to establish a transaction specific context. Reply messages are linked to the proper session and authenticated either synchronously through a very short expiry period (every reply is assumed to be to the last message sent) or by tracking session according to varying reply addresses and/or reply options.


title: Mobile payment

text: One of the drawbacks is that the payout rate will often be much lower than with other mobile payments options. Examples from a popular provider:


title: Mobile payment

text: More recently, direct operator billing is being deployed in an in-app environment, where mobile application developers are taking advantage of the one-click payment option that direct operator billing provides for monetising mobile applications. This is a logical alternative to credit card and Premium SMS billing.


title: Mobile payment

text: In 2012, Ericsson and Western Union partnered to expand the direct operator billing market, making it possible for mobile operators to include Western Union mobile money transfers as part of their mobile financial service offerings. Given the international reach of both companies, the partnership is meant to accelerate the interconnection between the m-commerce market and the existing financial world.


title: Mobile payment

text: Near-field communication (NFC) is used mostly in paying for purchases made in physical stores or transportation services. A consumer using a special mobile phone equipped with a smartcard waves his/her phone near a reader module. Most transactions do not require authentication, but some require authentication using PIN, before transaction is completed. The payment could be deducted from a pre-paid account or charged to a mobile or bank account directly.


title: Mobile payment

text: Mobile payment method via NFC faces significant challenges for wide and fast adoption, due to lack of supporting infrastructure, complex ecosystem of stakeholders, and standards. Some phone manufacturers and banks, however, are enthusiastic. Ericsson and Aconite are examples of businesses that make it possible for banks to create consumer mobile payment applications that take advantage of NFC technology.


title: Mobile payment

text: NFC vendors in Japan are closely related to mass-transit networks, like the Mobile Suica used since 28 January 2006 on the JR East rail network. The mobile wallet Osaifu-Keitai system, used since 2004 for Mobile Suica and many others including Edy and nanaco, has become the "de facto" standard method for mobile payments in Japan. Its core technology, Mobile FeliCa IC, is partially owned by Sony, NTT DoCoMo and JR East. Mobile FeliCa utilize Sony's FeliCa technology, which itself is the de facto standard for contactless smart cards in the country. NFC was used in transports for the first time in the world by China Unicom and Yucheng Transportation Card in the tramways and bus of Chongqing on 19 January 2009, in those of Nice on 21 May 2010, then in Seoul after its introduction in Korea by the discount retailer Homeplus in March 2010 and it was tested then adopted or added to the existing systems in Tokyo from May 2010 to end of 2012. After an experimentation in the metro of Rennes in 2007, the NFC standard was implemented for the first time in a metro network, by China Unicom in Beijing on 31 December 2010.


title: Mobile payment

text: Other NFC vendors mostly in Europe use contactless payment over mobile phones to pay for on- and off-street parking in specially demarcated areas. Parking wardens may enforce the parking by license plate, transponder tags, or barcode stickers.


title: Mobile payment

text: In Europe, the first experimentations of mobile payment took place in Germany during 6 months, from May 2005, with a deferred payment at the end of each month on the tramways and bus of Hanau with the Nokia 3220 using the NFC standard of Philips and Sony.


title: Mobile payment

text: In France, the immediate contactless payment was experimented during 6 months, from October 2005, in some Cofinoga shops (Galeries Lafayette, Monoprix) and Vinci parkings of Caen with a Samsung NFC smartphone provided by Orange in collaboration with Philips Semiconductors (for the first time, thanks to "Fly Tag", the system allowed to receive as well audiovisual informations, like bus timetables or cinema trailers from the concerned services). From 19 November 2007 to 2009, this experimentation was extended in Caen to more services and three additional mobile phone operators (Bouygues Telecom, SFR and NRJ Mobile) and in Strasbourg and on 5 November 2007, Orange and the transport societies SNCF and Keolis associated themselves for a 2 months experimentation on smartphones in the metro, bus and TER trains in Rennes. After a test conducted from October 2005 to November 2006 with 27 users, on 21 May 2010, the transport authority of Nice "Régie Lignes d'Azur" was the first public transport provider in Europe to add definitely to its own offer a contactless payment on its tramways and bus network either with a NFC bank card or smartphone application notably on Samsung Player One (with the same mobile phone operators than in Caen and Strasbourg), as well as the validation aboard with them of the transport titles and the loading of these titles onto the smartphone, in addition to the season tickets contactless card. This service was as well experimented then respectively implemented for NFC smartphones on 18 and 25 June 2013 in the tramways and bus of Caen and Strasbourg. In Paris transport network, after a 4 months testing from November 2006 with Bouygues Telecom and 43 persons and finally with users from July 2018, the contactless mobile payment and direct validation on the turnstile readers with a smartphone was adopted on 25 September 2019 in collaboration with the societies Orange, Samsung, Wizway Solutions, Worldline and Conduent.


title: Mobile payment

text: First conceptualized in the early 2010s, the technology has seen as well commercial use in this century in Scandinavia and Estonia. End users benefit from the convenience of being able to pay for parking from the comfort of their car with their mobile phone, and parking operators are not obliged to invest in either existing or new street-based parking infrastructures. Parking wardens maintain order in these systems by license plate, transponder tags or barcode stickers or they read a digital display in the same way as they read a pay and display receipt.


title: Mobile payment

text: Other vendors use a combination of both NFC and a barcode on the mobile device for mobile payment, because many mobile devices in the market do not yet support NFC.


title: Mobile payment

text: QR code is a square two-dimensional bar code. QR codes have been in use since 1994. Originally used to track products in warehouses, QR codes were designed to replace the older one-dimensional bar codes. The older bar codes just represent numbers, which can be looked up in a database and translated into something meaningful. QR, or "quick response", bar codes were designed to contain the meaningful information directly in the bar code.


title: Mobile payment

text: Mobile self-checkout allows for one to scan a QR code or barcode of a product inside a brick-and-mortar establishment in order to purchase the product on the spot. This theoretically eliminates or reduces the incidence of long checkout lines, even at self-checkout kiosks.


title: Mobile payment

text: Google, PayPal, GlobalPay and GoPago use a cloud-based approach to in-store mobile payment. The cloud based approach places the mobile payment provider in the middle of the transaction, which involves two separate steps. First, a cloud-linked payment method is selected and payment is authorized via NFC or an alternative method. During this step, the payment provider automatically covers the cost of the purchase with issuer linked funds. Second, in a separate transaction, the payment provider charges the purchaser's selected, cloud-linked account in a card-not-present environment to recoup its losses on the first transaction.


title: Mobile payment

text: The audio channel of the mobile phone is another wireless interface that is used to make payments. Several companies have created technology to use the acoustic features of cell phones to support mobile payments and other applications that are not chip-based. The technologies like near sound data transfer (NSDT), data over voice and NFC 2.0 produce audio signatures that the microphone of the cell phone can pick up to enable electronic transactions.


title: Mobile payment

text: In the T-Cash model, the mobile phone and the phone carrier is the front-end interface to the consumers. The consumer can purchase goods, transfer money to a peer, cash out, and cash in. A 'mini wallet' account can be opened as simply as entering *700# on the mobile phone, presumably by depositing money at a participating local merchant and the mobile phone number. Presumably, other transactions are similarly accomplished by entering special codes and the phone number of the other party on the consumer's mobile phone.


title: Mobile payment

text: In magnetic secure transmission (MST), a smartphone emits a magnetic signal that resembles the one created by swiping a magnetic credit card through a traditional credit card terminal. No changes to the terminal or a new terminal are required.


title: Mobile payment

text: Swish is the name of a system established in Sweden. It was established through a collaboration from major banks in 2012 and has been very successful, with 66 percent of the population as users in 2017. It is mainly used for peer-to-peer payments between private people, but is also used by churches, street vendors, and small businesses. A person's account is tied to his or her phone number and the connection between the phone number and the actual bank account number is registered in the internet bank. The electronic identification system "mobile BankID", issued by several Swedish banks, is used to verify the payment. Users with a simple phone or without the app can still receive money if the phone number is registered in the internet bank. Like many other mobile payment system, its main obstacle is getting people to register and download the app, but it has managed to reach a critical mass and it has become part of everyday life for many Swedes.


title: Mobile payment

text: Swedish payments company Trustly also enables mobile bank transfers, but is used mainly for business-to-consumer transactions that occur solely online. If an e-tailer integrates with Trustly, its customers can pay directly from their bank account. Unlike Swish, users don't need to register a Trustly account or download software to pay with it.


title: Mobile payment

text: The Danish MobilePay and Norwegian Vipps are also popular in their countries. They use direct and instant bank transfers, but also for users not connected to a participating bank, credit card billing.


title: Mobile payment

text: In India, a new direct bank transfer system has emerged called as Unified Payments Interface. This system enables users to transfer money to other users and businesses in real-time directly from their bank accounts. Users download UPI supporting app from app stores on their Android or iOS device, link and verify their mobile number with the bank account by sending one outgoing SMS to app provider, create a virtual payment address (VPA) which auto generates a QR code and then set a banking PIN by generating OTP for secure transactions. VPA and QR codes are to ensure easy to use & privacy which can help in peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions without giving any user details. Fund transfer can then be initiated to other users or businesses. Settlement of funds happen in real-time, i.e. money is debited from payer's bank account and credited in recipient's bank account in real-time. UPI service works 24x7, including weekends and holidays. This is slowly becoming a very popular service in India and is processing monthly payments worth approximately $10 billion as in October 2018.


title: Mobile payment

text: In Poland, Blik - mobile payment system created in February 2015 by the Polish Payment Standard (PSP) company. To pay with Blik, you need a smartphone, a personal account and a mobile application of one of the banks that cooperate with it. The principle of operation is to generate a 6-digit code in the bank's mobile application. The Blik code is used only to connect the parties to the transaction. It is an identifier that associates the user and a specific bank at a given moment. For two minutes, it points to a specific mobile application to which - through a string of numbers - a request to accept a transaction in a specific store or ATM is sent.


title: Mobile payment

text: Blik allows you to pay in online and stationary stores. By the Blik, we can also make transfers to the phone or withdraw money from ATMs.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Jeffry Lane Flake (born December 31, 1962) is an American politician and diplomat who is the current U.S Ambassador to Turkey. A member of the Republican Party, Flake served in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013 and in the United States Senate from 2013 to 2019, representing Arizona. He was nominated by Democratic president Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate for his ambassador post on October 26, 2021. He presented his credentials to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Presidential Complex of Republic of Turkey in Ankara on January 26, 2022.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Born in Snowflake, Arizona, Flake attended Brigham Young University, from which he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations, and later his Master of Arts degree in political science. In the early 1980s, he became a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Africa, where he learned to speak Afrikaans. After returning to the United States, Flake served as executive director of the Goldwater Institute, before being elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st congressional district in 2001. He served as the representative for the 1st district until renumbering following the 2000 census redefined the district to be Arizona's 6th congressional district, which he then represented until he entered the Senate in 2013.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake sought the Republican nomination for the 2012 Senate election after incumbent Jon Kyl announced his retirement. He defeated Democratic candidate and former United States Surgeon General Richard Carmona in the general election. Flake was one of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" U.S. senators that pushed an immigration reform bill through the Senate in 2013. He is known as a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, but generally voted in line with Trump's positions. On October 24, 2017, Flake announced that he would not seek re-election in 2018.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Throughout his Senate career, Flake suffered from consistently low approval ratings. In April 2013, less than three months after taking office, he had 32% approval and 51% disapproval ratings. By mid-2017, he dropped to 18% approval and 62% disapproval ratings, but recovered slightly near the end of his term, with 30% approval and 51% disapproval ratings as of July 2018.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Jeffry Lane Flake was born in Snowflake, Arizona, the son of Nerita (née Hock) and Dean Maeser Flake. His birth town was named in part for his great-great-grandfather, Mormon pioneer William J. Flake. Flake obtained a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and a Master of Arts in political science from Brigham Young University. He took a two-year leave of absence to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Africa and Zimbabwe in the early 1980s. He speaks Afrikaans. He worked in the public affairs sector after college and was the executive director of the Foundation for Democracy in Namibia and executive director of the Goldwater Institute before entering the House of Representatives. He opposed economic sanctions on South Africa in the 1980s, arguing that sanctions would harm the black population who were already suffering under apartheid policies.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake was first elected to Congress in 2000 from what was then the 1st District, after Republican incumbent Matt Salmon stepped down to honor a self-imposed term limit. The district, which included most of the East Valley, was then renumbered as the 6th district as Arizona gained two Congressional seats because of the results of the 2000 census. Flake easily defeated his primary challenger.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In his campaign in 2000, Flake had pledged to serve no more than three terms in Congress which would see him serve no later than January 2007. Shortly after being elected for a third time, Flake announced in early 2005 that he had changed his mind on pledging term limits and was planning to run for reelection in 2006. "It was a mistake to limit my own terms," Flake said.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In that same election, three out of five mayors in his home district opposed his reelection because, according to Flake, he did not "bring pork barrel spending" to the mayors' cities. In 2006, several Democrats had announced their intention to run for the seat but only one met the June filing deadline, and that particular filing was rejected due to an insufficient number of nominating signatures. "I did expect to have a primary opponent. I deserve one," Flake said, referring to the term-limit pledge which he had broken. "By all rights, I ought to have an opponent. I just got lucky, I guess."


title: Jeff Flake

text: In the 2006 mid-term elections, Flake had no Democratic Party opponent and easily defeated the Libertarian Party candidate, Jason Blair, with 74% of the vote.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake was a member of the Liberty Caucus, a group of libertarian-leaning Republican congressmen. He was also a member of the Republican Study Committee.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In February 2011, Flake announced that he was running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl in 2012. Flake easily won the Republican nomination against real estate businessman Wil Cardon. He faced former United States' surgeon general Richard Carmona, who sought office for the first time in the general election. In May 2012, Flake led Carmona by 13 points in the polls. In an October 2012 poll by Public Policy Polling, Flake was trailing Carmona by two points. After the race tightened, the "Wall Street Journal" criticized a controversial Flake ad that accused Carmona of having "issues with anger, with ethics, and with women." Flake was endorsed by the "Casa Grande Dispatch", the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Senate Conservatives Fund, and the Club for Growth.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake defeated Democrat Richard Carmona 49–46% on November 6, 2012. He won mainly on the strength of carrying Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and 60 percent of the state's population, by 77,200 votes, more than the overall margin of 67,900 votes. He also benefited from Mitt Romney, whom Flake considers a friend, carrying the state by 10 points in the presidential election.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake used his experience surviving in the wild for six days with a Democratic Senator to develop an idea to end partisan gridlock in Washington. In 2014, Flake and U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) were featured on a Discovery Channel reality TV show, "Rival Survival", where the two stayed on a small Micronesian island for six days. Flake later joked during a speech at the National Press Club that sending both Senate leaders (Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid [D-NV] and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell [R-KY]) to a remote island together might reduce partisanship and allow more legislation to move forward.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake was on the field during practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game when the Congressional baseball shooting happened on June 14, 2017. He said the attendees were like "sitting ducks" and that it was likely that the Capitol Police saved their lives:


title: Jeff Flake

text: All of a sudden, we heard a very loud shot. Everybody thought 'sounds like a gun'. The gunman was over by the third base dugout, with a clear view of the field and everybody on it. A lot of us dove into the dugout and tried to get as many as we could, but at that point, there was firing behind us from the security detail, the Capitol Police, and I started yelling back, 'are you friendly?'—making sure that it was our guy, because we didn't know if there were other shooters that had us surrounded, and were coming into the dugout.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Former President Obama called Flake that morning to extend his best wishes and prayers for the victims. Flake had flown with Obama from Washington, D.C., to Arizona in 2011 after the shooting of then-Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.


title: Jeff Flake

text: On October 24, 2017, Flake announced in a speech that he would not seek a second term in the Senate. Flake's speech, which was described by McKay Coppins as a "thundering indictment of his party, his president, and his country's political culture," was called "the most important speech of 2017" by Chris Cillizza.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In May 2018, Flake stated that he would donate to Democratic Senator Joe Manchin's campaign if Don Blankenship (who had served time in prison) won the West Virginia Republican Senate primary. Blankenship was defeated by Patrick Morrisey.


title: Jeff Flake

text: After Joe Biden was elected President in 2020, Flake was seen as a contender for a job as an Ambassador in Biden's administration, along with several other moderate Republicans who were close with Biden.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In June 2021, it was reported that Biden was set to offer Flake a position as the United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. Flake reportedly denied the rumor.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake was officially nominated by Biden to be the United States Ambassador to Turkey on July 13, 2021. On September 28, 2021, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On October 19, 2021, his nomination was reported favorably out of committee. On October 26, 2021, Flake was confirmed by the Senate by voice vote. Flake was sworn in on December 10, 2021.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Jeff Flake has used the phrase "traditionally conservative Republican" to describe his political preference. The non-partisan "National Journal" published an analysis of his 2013 voting record and gave him a composite ideological score of 65% conservative and 35% liberal. "The New York Times" used an analysis of the Senate's ideological composition and ranked Flake as the fourth most conservative Senator in 2017. The American Conservative Union gives Flake a lifetime 93% conservative score and the fiscally conservative Americans for Prosperity gave Flake a 98% lifetime score; the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization focused on civil rights and liberties, gave Flake a 53% rating in 2014 and a 35% rating in 2016.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake is a fiscal conservative, and a critic of government waste and advocates reducing federal spending. He was described by columnist Robert Novak as an "insistent reformer". Flake signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and one of eight House members to receive a 100% approval rating from the American Conservative Union. A "scourge of pork-barrel spending", Flake was ruled the least profligate spender in Congress by Citizens Against Government Waste in July 2007 and designated a "taxpayer superhero." In 2008, Flake voted against the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake is "known for his ardent opposition to earmarks." He has been called an "anti-earmark crusader," and frequently challenged earmarks proposed by other members of Congress. Starting in May 2006, he became prominent with the "Flake Hour," a tradition at the end of spending bill debates in which he asked earmark sponsors to come to the house floor and justify why taxpayers should pay for their "pet projects." He is credited with prompting House rule changes to require earmark sponsors to identify themselves.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Until September 2010, Flake issued a press release listing an "egregious earmark of the week" every Friday. The earmark was usually followed by Flake making a humorous comment; as an example, Rep. Flake once said of Congressman Jose Serrano's $150,000 earmark to fix plumbing in Italian restaurants, "I would argue this is one cannoli the taxpayer doesn't want to take a bite of." The "earmark of the week" releases were ended and replaced with the "So Just How Broke Are We?" series of releases. In March 2010, the House Appropriations Committee implemented rules to ban earmarks to for-profit corporations, a change Flake supported. "This is the best day we've had in a while," he said to the "New York Times", which reported that approximately 1,000 such earmarks were authorized in the previous year, worth $1.7 billion.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In September 2018, Flake was among six Republican senators, Mike Lee, Pat Toomey, Rand Paul, David Perdue, and Ben Sasse, as well as Bernie Sanders, that voted against a $854 billion spending bill, meant to avoid another government shutdown. Said bill included funding for the departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor and Education.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In 2012, it was reported that Flake had on at least five occasions voted against legislation intended to prevent natural disasters and provide aid to those harmed by natural disasters. In 2005, Flake was one of only 11 House representatives to vote against a bill providing supplemental emergency funds to handle damage from Hurricane Katrina.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake is known as a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump. Trump was "furious" that Flake called on him to withdraw from the presidential race after the emergence of the "Access Hollywood" tape. In August 2017, Flake published his book "Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle," which expanded on his criticisms of Donald Trump.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In October 2017, upon announcing that he would not seek re-election in 2018, Flake delivered a speech on the Senate floor where he denounced the Trump Administration. Flake's speech, which was described by McKay Coppins as a "thundering indictment of his party, his president, and his country's political culture," was called "the most important speech of 2017" by Chris Cillizza.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In May 2018, Flake said that Trump had "debased" the presidency, that he had a "seemingly bottomless appetite for destruction and division," and that he possessed "only a passing familiarity with how the Constitution works." Flake vowed to hold up some of Trump's judicial nominees for lower courts positions until he obtained a non-binding vote in the Senate expressing opposition to Trump's tariffs. He was one of two Republicans to vote against the confirmation of Trump's nominee to be CIA Director, Gina Haspel. Flake also refused to push Trump to take a firmer stance on Russia. In November 2018, Flake announced that he would once again vote to hold up Trump's nominees to the judiciary until the Senate voted on a bill to protect the independence of Robert Mueller's FBI investigation. Flake was one of two Republicans to oppose the nomination of Thomas Farr to the federal judiciary; his opposition was crucial to the derailing of Trump's nominee. However, according to FiveThirtyEight, Flake had voted with Trump's position on legislative issues 84% of the time as of December 2018.


title: Jeff Flake

text: On August 24, 2020, Flake officially endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president. Flake was censured by the Arizona Republican Party on January 23, 2021 for his lack of loyalty to the party leadership. “If condoning the President’s behavior is required to stay in the Party’s good graces, I’m just fine being on the outs,” Flake wrote on Twitter before the vote.


title: Jeff Flake

text: On December 2, 2014, the Senate passed the Bill Williams River Water Rights Settlement Act. The bill would put an end to a fight over water rights in the Bill Williams River Watershed in Arizona. Flake introduced the Senate version of the bill along with Senator John McCain. The bill also helps the Hualapai Native American tribe, which uses water from the watershed. The bill would put a limit on the amount of water that a local mining company can use, and it would give legal recognition to the tribe's rights to the water source. The settlement would guarantee water rights for the tribe; provide water for Freeport's mine in Bagdad, Arizona; and give the state of Arizona rights to a property area that would be used for a conservation program for several species.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake and McCain sent a letter to the head of the EPA, citing a number of reasons why the regulation would hurt Arizona. One of the senators' concerns was about waterways that only flow in certain parts of the year. Flake and McCain believe that if the EPA includes those types of waterways in the new regulations, the regulations would have a negative effect on Arizona's agriculture industry. One of the reasons the EPA is using in deciding which waterways will fall under the new regulation is by concluding whether pollution in waterways will negatively affect other waters downstream. Flake and McCain asserted in their letter that little proof existed to back up such a conclusion, but the EPA responded by saying that the proposed regulation was carefully examined and was made with bipartisan input. Flake and McCain wrote that the new changes could make it harder for Arizona firefighters to fight wildfires.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake wrote that the EPA proposed rule did not make a distinction between waterways that flow all year or just part of the year. Flake said that 94 percent of Arizona's waterways do not flow continuously year-round, and argued that the lack of distinction in the rule would affect most of Arizona's waterways. He argued that the scientific evidence used by the EPA to back up the rule was "anything but settled." Flake and McCain had written to the EPA administrator about their concerns earlier, on May 6, 2014. Despite Flake's efforts against the bill, however, it was signed in to law by President Barack Obama on December 16, 2014.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake voted in favor of the Iraq Resolution (authorizing the Iraq War) in the House of Representatives in October 2002. In a debate on the House floor on the authorization of force (October 8, 2002), Flake said, "We ought to let history be our guide here. But the most recent history in this case that we ought to look at is the vote that took place in this Chamber 12 years ago. During that time, we faced a very similar decision. Should we thwart Saddam Hussein in his attempt to go beyond his boundaries or should we appease him? Fortunately, the majority of this body and the other body agreed we ought to thwart him; and I think we can all agree that, had we not done so, that the biological and chemical weapons that Saddam Hussein possesses would be added to nuclear weapons which he would certainly possess today had he not been thwarted at that time. We are in this position today, I would submit, because we have no other choice. This is our only reasonable option. War will no doubt come at great cost. When we visit the war memorials, we see that cost, but the cost of appeasement is far greater. I commend the House leadership for bringing this resolution forward and for shepherding it through process. I especially commend our President who so forcefully pushed for this resolution and who has so deliberately pushed for this resolution. I urge support for the resolution."


title: Jeff Flake

text: After the 2006 election in which Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives largely due to the unpopularity of the war in Iraq, Flake changed his position on the Iraq War to one of cautious opposition, including voting against appropriations. At a 2008 congressional hearing featuring General David Petraeus, Flake said, "I still have a hard time seeing the big picture and what constitutes success [in Iraq]. That's not just one side of the aisle with those kind of concerns. Many on this side of the aisle have that as well."


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake supported President Barack Obama's 2014 decision to begin the process of normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba, despite opposition to the policy change from other Republican senators. Flake joined Democrats Chris Van Hollen and Patrick Leahy on a trip to Cuba to return Alan Gross to the United States. Gross, an American government contractor, had been imprisoned in Cuba for five years but was released as part of the agreement between Obama and Cuban leader Raúl Castro. Flake believes that the United States embargo against Cuba is flawed, stating, "The policy that we've had in place for the past 50 years has done more in my view ... to keep the Castro regimes in power than anything we could've done." Flake has traveled to Cuba nine times and supports loosening restrictions on Americans traveling to Cuba.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In August 2017, Flake co-sponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (s. 720), which made it a federal crime for American states to encourage or participate in boycotts against Israel, and allow states to cancel contracts with companies that support boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the West Bank Palestinian territories if protesting actions by the Israeli government.


title: Jeff Flake

text: On April 17, 2013, Flake joined 45 other senators in voting against the Manchin-Toomey Amendment, which would have required background checks on private gun sales. Following the vote, Flake was criticized for changing his position on background checks. Just days before the vote, he had sent the mother of one of the Colorado theater shooting victims a handwritten letter stating that "strengthening background checks is something we agree on." In response to a question asking whether he was worried about potential political consequences vowed by gun-control groups, Flake replied, "That's the beauty of a 6-year term. I truly want to do something on this, but what has been a little upsetting is to hear people try to maintain that we were just caving to pressure, discounting any issues that we had with the legislation, with the language. That's just not right." Following his no vote, Flake's approval rating fell from 45% favorable—43% unfavorable, to 32% favorable—51% unfavorable according to one poll, making him the most unpopular senator in America .


title: Jeff Flake

text: In March 2013, he voted with Senators Lindsey Graham and Mark Begich on introducing a bill that would prevent people from buying guns who have used an insanity defense, were ruled dangerous by a court, or had been committed by a court to mental health treatment.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In 2007, Flake introduced legislation that would have provided a path to legalization for illegal immigrants, granted temporary legal status to illegal immigrants who paid a fine and passed background checks, and created a guest worker program. Also in 2007, Flake was removed from the House Judiciary Committee by Republican Minority Leader John Boehner for "bad behavior", which Boehner said was criticism of party leaders, though Flake himself attributed it to his support of comprehensive immigration reform.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In 2009, Flake introduced the Stopping Trained in America PhDs From Leaving the Economy (STAPLE) Act (H.R. 1791). The bill would have authorized students who earned a Ph.D. in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics from U.S. universities to be admitted for permanent residence and to be exempted from the numerical limits on H-1B nonimmigrants. The bill was reintroduced in 2011 and was referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement in February of that year.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In 2010, Flake voted against the DREAM Act, which would have provided a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrant minors provided that they join the military or go to university. In late October 2012, Flake stated that he may support it in the future.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In 2013, Flake was a member of the "Gang of Eight"—a bipartisan group of eight senators (four Democrats and four Republicans)—who sponsored an immigration overhaul bill. Flake said of the group: "Pretty quickly we determined that everybody around that table wanted to do this. We weren't looking to score political points." The Senate passed the bill with 68 votes, but the bill failed in the House.


title: Jeff Flake

text: When in November 2014, Obama announced on TV that he would use his executive powers to allow some undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States, Flake said that the best response would be not to shut down the government, but to pass a bill that addresses immigration problems. As for Obama's executive plan, Flake said that he opposed it. Flake opposed using a government funding bill to stop Obama's executive action, but Flake also said that he believed that both parties' strategies would make it more difficult to pass immigration reform legislation.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake has publicly said that he believes that the reason so many children in recent years have come across the U.S. border illegally without parents is because parents believe their children will be able to stay in the United States if they do so. Flake has said that the Republican Party needs to take a rational approach to solving immigration problems, and if it does not, the party will have a difficult time winning national elections. Flake said that Jeb Bush's support of an immigration system reform makes Bush more electable in a general election. Flake supported Jeb Bush's remarks about immigration being an act of love, and said, "Growing up here in Arizona, I've seen what motivates those who come here illegally. Sure, some come with the intent to do harm or simply to take advantage of our generosity. But many come to find work to feed their families. To lump everyone who crosses the border illegally into the same class is unfair and unproductive."


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake spoke out against President Donald Trump's January 2017 executive order to prohibit immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries. He stated that "It's unacceptable when even legal permanent residents are being detained or turned away at airports and ports of entry."


title: Jeff Flake

text: In 2015, Flake and Senator John McCain published a report detailing what they called "paid patriotism" by the U.S. Department of Defense for using soldiers, military equipment and resources at professional sports events in the United States. The report gave evidence that taxpayer-funded patriotic displays extended not only to the NFL but also to Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In October 2017, Flake refused to support Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore in the December 2017 Senate special election in Alabama. Flake said that he could not support a candidate who believed that Muslims should not be allowed to serve in Congress. After the "Washington Post" reported in November 2017 that a number of women had accused Moore of having pursued sexual relationships with them or sexually assaulted them when they were teenagers, Flake quickly condemned Moore and said he would prefer that Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate, win the special election instead of Moore. On December 5, 2017, one week before the election, Flake donated $100 to the Jones campaign and posted a tweet which said "Country over Party". Jones ultimately won the election, with Flake tweeting out "Decency wins".


title: Jeff Flake

text: In October 2008, "Esquire" named Congressman Flake one of the Ten Best Members of Congress, saying in part, "A true conservative, Flake is as rare as the dodo. Republicans should learn from him, and liberals and libertarians will find in him a strong privacy-rights ally." During the 2005 debate on renewal of the expiring provisions of the USA Patriot Act, Jeff Flake successfully submitted several amendments to the bill in the House of Representatives. One required the FBI director to personally sign off on any request for library and bookstore records before applying to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, but it was altered in the United States Senate version of the bill. Two of his amendments were signed into law and they subjected any National Security Letter and its gag order to a judicial challenge by the recipient, and narrowed the scope of "Sneak and Peek" warrants to have definite time limits on their duration and extensions before they need to notify the target of the investigation. Before that, "Sneak and Peek" warrants could be extended by the standard of not "unduly delaying trial" without any defined time limitation. This amended bill was titled the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 and it was signed into law on March 9, 2006. This bill also required three Inspector General investigations that led to the discovery of exigent letters and National Security Letter abuses. On February 8, 2011, Flake voted to renew key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act. The vote failed. On February 10, 2011, Flake again voted to renew key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act. This vote succeeded.


title: Jeff Flake

text: On March 7, 2017, Flake introduced a bill to eliminate FCC Internet privacy rules that were passed under President Barack Obama. His proposed bill would allow Internet service providers to share and sell consumers' browsing history without consent. In regards to Obama's FCC Internet Privacy rules, Flake stated that "It is unnecessary, confusing and adds yet another innovation-stifling regulation to the Internet." Flake received $22,700 in donations from paid lobbyists representing Internet service providers and tech firms to sponsor the anti-privacy legislation. In April 2017, the legislation passed both houses of Congress, which were Republican-controlled, allowing ISPs to sell consumer browsing history and other information without the user's consent. One constituent at a town-hall meeting told Flake that "You sold my privacy up the river."


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake is anti-abortion, opposing legal abortion, with exceptions for rape, incest, and to protect the life of the mother.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In 2010, Flake was one of fifteen Republican House members to vote in favor of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which repealed the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which banned openly gay service members. The Human Rights Campaign, which scores politicians' support for LGBT rights, gave Flake a score of 12% in the 115th Congress and a 32% in the 114th Congress. Flake had voted to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage with a Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and 2006.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Although he voted in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in 2007, which would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation, Flake said he had concerns with the 2013 version, which includes both sexual orientation and gender identity. When the vote occurred on November 7, Flake cast his vote in favor of the 2013 version of ENDA.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake also cosponsored the bipartisan STATES Act proposed in the 115th U.S. Congress by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Colorado Senator Cory Gardner that would exempt individuals or corporations in compliance with state cannabis laws from federal enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In March 2016, Flake said that Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court seat vacated by the death of Antonin Scalia, should not be confirmed unless Hillary Clinton won the 2016 presidential election. Flake argued that should Clinton win, Garland should be confirmed in the Senate's lame-duck session because he was less liberal than any nominee Clinton might put forward. After meeting with Garland in April, Flake reiterated this position, saying that confirmation hearings on Garland's nomination should not be taken up until after the election, so that the American people could choose the next president, unless Clinton won, in which case, "we ought to approve him quickly."


title: Jeff Flake

text: In April 2017, he voted to invoke cloture (end debate) on the nomination of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, putting an end to the Democratic filibuster. Flake also voted for the "nuclear option," ending the ability to filibuster Supreme Court nominees. He stated, "While changing Senate rules was not my preferred outcome, this will simply make de jure what was de facto prior to 2003, when filibusters were virtually never used on the executive calendar."


title: Jeff Flake

text: On September 28, 2018, Flake announced his intention to vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh had been accused of sexual assault by a number of women, including Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who testified for several hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee the day before Flake's announcement. Kavanaugh subsequently testified and denied the allegations. Flake said that Ford's testimony was "compelling", but added that Kavanaugh's response was "persuasive" and left him "with as much doubt as certainty" regarding what had occurred. Following his announcement, Flake was confronted by Ana Maria Archila and Maria Gallagher, two anti-Kavanaugh protestors who had evaded security, in a Senate office building elevator. They were later removed. Despite their pleas, Flake voted not to subpoena Mark Judge (whom Ford had claimed was present during the supposed assault) to appear before the Judiciary Committee. That afternoon, Flake voted to advance Kavanaugh's nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but said he was a "yes" vote "only if the final Senate vote [was] delayed for one week, during which time the FBI [could] investigate sexual harassment allegations against Kavanaugh"; Senate Republican leaders agreed to support the proposed investigation. Later that day, President Trump directed the FBI to undertake a one-week, extremely limited investigation of the allegations against Kavanaugh, which found no corroboration for the charges against Kavanaugh. Democrats criticized the investigation as a sham since neither Ford nor Kavanaugh were interviewed by the FBI.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In November 2018, Flake was one of twelve Republican senators to sign a letter to President Trump requesting the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement be submitted to Congress by the end of the month to allow a vote on it before the end of the year as they were concerned "passage of the USMCA as negotiated will become significantly more difficult" if having to be approved through the incoming 116th United States Congress.


title: Jeff Flake

text: Flake and his wife Cheryl (née Bae) have been married since 1985. They live in Mesa and have five children. The Flakes are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Flake spent time in Zimbabwe and South Africa as a missionary. His uncle, Jake Flake, served in both houses of the Arizona state legislature, including as speaker of the state house.


title: Jeff Flake

text: In 2009, while serving as a Representative, Flake spent a week alone on the island of Jabonwod, one of the Marshall Islands, as a survivalist venture. He survived by eating crabs, coconuts, and fish. Having enjoyed the experience, he decided to repeat it when he was a senator, this time bringing his two youngest sons with him to another island in the area, Biggarenn, for four days during a congressional recess in 2013.


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: Keep Running (), previously known as Running Man China, or Hurry Up, Brother () before 2017, is a Chinese variety show broadcast on ZRTG: Zhejiang Television. It is a spin-off from the popular original South Korean variety show "Running Man" by SBS. It was first aired on 10 October 2014. The show is classified as a game-variety show, where the MCs and guests complete missions at a landmark to win a race.


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: When the show was first announced, it was known as "" or "Running Man" in Chinese. Programs on the Zhejiang TV channel required names with five Chinese characters (words), hence the program was then renamed to "" or "Hurry Up, Brother". But, before the official name changed, ZRTG had registered "" as a trademark with the SAIC.


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: or "Name-tag Elimination" is one of the main games of each episode and is usually the longest game. There are also many games played by the MCs and guests that often contribute to their result for the final mission.


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: The team that wins the final mission will receive a prize, usually related to the theme of the episode. However, even if a team wins most of the games, victory is not guaranteed (for example in Season 1 Episode 2, Deng Chao did not win many games but the other teams who had won did not make the right choices of switching the waters, therefore causing their team to win).


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: The original members of "Running Man" are Deng Chao, Angelababy, Li Chen, Chen He, Zheng Kai, Wong Cho-lam, and Wang Baoqiang.


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: After season 1, Wang Baoqiang recorded his last episode and left the program to focus on his career but returned on season 3, episode 10 as a guest.


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: In season 2, Bao Bei'er replaced Wang Baoqiang but left at the end of the season as he was cast in Stephen Chow's "".


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: Dilraba Dilmurat replaced Angelababy in season 5 due to Angelababy's pregnancy. Due to scheduling conflicts, Dilraba left in season 6.


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: For season 7, Deng Chao, Chen He and Lu Han left due to scheduling conflicts, while Wong Cho-Lam left to focus on his family. Lucas from South Korean boy group NCT and its Chinese unit WayV, Song Yuqi from South Korean girl group (G)I-dle and actors Zhu Yawen and Wang Yanlin replaced them in the new season.


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: For season 8, Zhu Yawen and Wang Yanlin left due to scheduling conflicts. Singer Cai Xukun, actor/comedian Guo Qilin, and actor Sha Yi joined as new members and replaced them. Lucas and Song Yuqi, who are both based in South Korea, were absent for the whole season due to COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions.


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: For the Yellow River special season, Lucas and Yuqi were again absent. Cai Xukun only participated in episodes 1-2 due to scheduling conflicts, while Guo Qilin only participated in episodes 3-4 due to scheduling conflicts. Zheng Kai was absent from episodes 1-2 due to the birth of his daughter.


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: For Season 9, Guo Qilin left the cast due to scheduling conflicts while Lucas and Yuqi rejoined the cast. Yuqi was absent from the first few episodes due to quarantine restrictions.


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: In Season 10, it was announced due to scheduling conflicts, Lucas would not be involved in filming, while Yuqi left to focus on her career. Actor Bai Lu, Actor and Singer Zhou Shen joined the cast, along with Cai Xukun after a temporary hiatus in the 2nd Yellow River season.


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: "If more than one set of teams are used other than the Race Mission teams, they are divided and distinguished to the corresponding mission under Teams. Team members are listed in alphabetical order from Team Leader to Members, to Guests. As some episodes consisted of road missions and were not confined to a single landmark nor was a landmark officially recognized on-air, the landmark shown for those episodes is the final mission venue."


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: Running Man is a 2015 Chinese reality comedy film directed by Hu Jia and Cen Junyi. Deng Chao was unable to participate in the movie filming due to scheduling conflicts. The movie was released to theaters on 30 January 2015.


title: Keep Running (TV series)

text: The following is a compilation of guests and the number of time they have been on the show. They are listed in order of appearance.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is Sentai Studios.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: The company has its origins in A.D. Vision, which was founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and Matt Greenfield. ADV collapsed due to low sales and eventually liquidated their assets in 2009. Ledford founded Sentai in 2008 and acquired the majority of ADV's titles. Sentai was then acquired by New York City-based AMC Networks in 2022 and became its subsidiary. Its offices are in the International District in Southwest Houston.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: In 1990, John Ledford, a native of Houston, started a Japanese video game and video console import business. He was introduced to anime when he watched "My Neighbor Totoro" at his friend's suggestion. His friend, Matt Greenfield, born in Sacramento, California, ran a local anime club called Anime NASA. Both men established A.D. Vision, which officially opened for business on August 17, 1992. Ledford contacted Toho about optioning the rights to license "Devil Hunter Yohko", which became the first title to be released by ADV.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: In June 2006, the Japanese Sojitz Corporation acquired a 20% stake in ADV Films. This was done as a means for ADV Films to acquire more titles in the Japanese market. From this point on, virtually all titles that ADV acquired were with Sojitz's help. The following year, Sojitz announced that Japan Content Investments (JCI), Development Bank of Japan, and film distribution company KlockWorx, planned to contribute money to ADV, in return for equity in the company. Ledford was to remain the majority shareholder and CEO. JCI subsidiary ARM also planned to contribute money for ADV to use in acquiring new distribution licenses. The investment was to ADV Films to raise its output of new anime titles, which had dropped in 2006, back to previous levels or above. In return, ADV planned to assist Sojitz with the acquisition of North American and European content for importation into Japan. According to ADV, they also reportedly had "big plans" for its manga line.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: However, in January 2008, ADV mysteriously removed a large number of titles from their website. Among the titles which were subsequently removed was "Gurren Lagann", which had test disks sent out with dubbed episodes. As a result, ADV sued ARM Corporation and its parent Sojitz for a breach in a contract made previously. In the suit, the exact amount ADV paid to license twenty-nine titles was disclosed. The lawsuit was withdrawn and no ruling was made. That July, Funimation announced the acquisition of thirty of these titles licensed by Sojitz from ADV.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: Ledford established Sentai Filmworks in October 2008. Among its first titles to be released were "Clannad", "Princess Resurrection", "Indian Summer", "Appleseed" and "Mahoromatic" (formerly licensed by Geneon). On September 1, 2009, ADV had closed its doors and sold off its assets, which included transferring distribution rights to Section23 Films.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: On July 4, 2013, during its industry panel at Anime Expo, Sentai Filmworks announced its plans to release a number of classic titles from Tatsunoko Production. The current list of released titles from the partnership include the original "Gatchaman" series and , "", and "Casshan", and more titles followed.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: Sunrise announced a licensing deal with Sentai Filmworks that included a number of titles from Sunrise’s library that were formerly licensed by Bandai Entertainment during its Otakon panel on August 8, 2013.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: On June 1, 2015, Sentai made an announcement on its Web site that "Akame ga Kill!" had been picked up by Adult Swim for broadcast on its Toonami block, almost one week after its announcement at MomoCon 2015. The show began airing on August 8, 2015, and its premiere night was one of the most watched programs in the block's history with over 1.8 million viewers. Later that year, "Parasyte -the maxim-", premiered on October 3. Sentai has promoted the time that the two shows air as "#SentaiHour" on social media. On July 6, 2019, "" began airing on Toonami.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: In March 2017, Sentai signed a deal with Amazon to stream the majority of its new licensees exclusively on its Anime Strike channel on Amazon Prime Video in the United States, starting with the Spring 2017 season. After Anime Strike was shuttered in early 2018, all titles previously exclusive to the service were made available to Amazon Prime subscribers in the U.S at no extra charge.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: On July 18, 2019, Sentai Filmworks launched a GoFundMe appeal in the wake of the arson attack at Kyoto Animation. With a target of US$750,000, it surpassed the $1 million donation mark within the first 24 hours, and reached $2,370,910 at closing.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: On August 1, 2019, Sentai Filmworks' parent company Sentai Holdings, LLC announced that the Cool Japan Fund invested for shares of the company, stating that "Sentai's independent status makes it a rarity in North America as a licensor of Japanese anime". On September 30, 2020, the Cool Japan Fund made an additional available, stating that Sentai had achieved better financial results in 2019 compared to 2018, with plans for medium and long-term growth, and strategic changes following the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: On September 5, 2020, Crunchyroll announced that they had entered in a partnership with Sentai Filmworks to distribute Crunchyroll licensed titles onto home video and electronic sell-through, with "Granbelm", "", "Ascendance of a Bookworm", and "World Trigger" being the first titles distributed through the partnership.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: On January 5, 2022, AMC Networks announced it had acquired Sentai Filmworks' parent company Sentai Holdings, LLC, and all its assets and subsidiaries, including HIDIVE, Anime Network, and "member interests" from the Cool Japan Fund, via its subsidiary Digital Store LLC. The acquisition comes months after Sony's Funimation Global Group (jointly owned by Sony Pictures Television and Aniplex) acquired the Crunchyroll streaming service from AT&T's WarnerMedia in August 2021. After Sony announced on March 1, 2022 that Funimation's corporate name would be renamed into Crunchyroll, many of its Sentai titles that were on Crunchyroll service were removed on March 31, 2022.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: Sentai Filmworks does not directly release its properties outside of America but instead sub-licenses to other companies. In 2011, MVM Entertainment licensed "" after Sentai's re-release of the series, and has done the same with "Broken Blade".


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: In March 2018, it was revealed that Sentai holds distribution rights to the film "" that the company gave to the Mexican distributor Madness Entertainment. It was revealed that they directly commissioned a Spanish dubbed version for the film. On March 15, Sentai announced the acquisition of "Alice or Alice" to Spain and Portugal.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: Hidive, LLC (stylized as HIDIVE) is a subscription video on demand service focused around streaming anime.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: After the discontinuation of Anime Network Online in 2017, Hidive LLC, a new company not affiliated with Anime Network, acquired the service's assets and spun them off into a new streaming service called Hidive. Former subscriptions for Anime Network Online were migrated over to Hidive.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: Hidive is the exclusive carrier of select licensed titles from Sentai and Section23. Following the closure of Anime Strike, Hidive began streaming titles that were previously exclusive to the former service.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: On July 21, 2017, Hidive announced the service would start to offer selected anime titles with Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: In April 2018, Hidive began offering "Dubcasts" to compete against Funimation's SimulDub program. Similar to SimulDubs, Hidive streams dubs of simulcast titles approximately two to three weeks after the initial Japanese broadcast.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: On October 18, 2018, VRV announced that Hidive would be launching a channel on its service. Hidive's channel replaced that of FunimationNow, which left the service on November 9, 2018.


title: Sentai Filmworks

text: Following Funimation's acquisition of VRV's parent company Crunchyroll on August 9, 2021, Hidive left VRV on September 30 of that year.


title: Jordan Smith (musician)

text: Jordan Mackenzie Smith (born November 4, 1993) is an American christian singer, songwriter, and musician from Harlan, Kentucky. Smith began singing in his church choir and continued through his college education at Lee University.


title: Jordan Smith (musician)

text: In 2015 he gained national recognition when he won season 9 of the singing competition "The Voice". During his time on "The Voice" he was the show's 1st artist of the season to reach No. 1 in sales of pop songs in the iTunes Store, and set new sales marks on "Billboard" charts. In 2022, he represented Kentucky on the "American Song Contest" with the song, "Sparrow", finishing 3rd place.