title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar faced no Republican opposition in 2014. Then Webb County Republican chairman Randall Scott "Randy" Blair of Laredo criticized Cuellar's 2010 vote for Obamacare but said the GOP could not find a candidate because of Cuellar's personal popularity, political longevity, occasional cooperation with Republicans, and strong campaign organization.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar won a rematch in the March 1, 2016, Democratic primary with former Republican congressional candidate William R. Hayward, who switched parties to run again for the House. Cuellar received 49,962 votes (89.8%) to Hayward's 5,682 (10.2%). Cuellar then defeated Republican Zeffen Patrick Hardin in the November 8 general election, 122,086 (66.2%) to 57,740 (31.3%). Green Party nominee Michael D. Cary received 4,616 votes (2.5%).


title: Henry Cuellar

text: In the general election held on November 6, 2018, Cuellar overwhelmed his lone challenger, Libertarian Arthur Thomas, IV, 117,178 votes (84.4%) to 21,647 (15.6%).


title: Henry Cuellar

text: On January 11, 2019, the progressive organization Justice Democrats, which supported U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's successful 2018 primary campaign in New York City, announced that it was seeking a primary challenger against Cuellar in the Democratic primary scheduled for March 4, 2020. On July 13, 2019, the Justice Democrats organization announced its support for Jessica Cisneros, a 26-year-old immigration and human rights attorney from Laredo who had announced a primary campaign against Cuellar. Cuellar defeated Cisneros 51.8% to 48.2% and was reelected in November.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar finished first with a plurality in the Democratic primary, tallying 23,552 votes, 48.4%, over Cisneros, who received 22,745, 46.9%, to qualify for the May runoff. Tannya Benavides was eliminated, getting 2,289 votes, or 4.7%.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: During the runoff, Cuellar faced renewed scrutiny over an incident in 2018 where he fired a pregnant staffer who had requested parental leave and subsequently suffered a miscarriage, and according to court documents, subsequently urged other staffers to help him discredit her.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: On June 7, Cisneros, 281 votes behind in the runoff, requested a recount to be conducted by the Texas Democratic Party. Cuellar gained votes during the recount, yielding a 289-vote margin. The Associated Press called the race on June 21, 2022.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar has described himself as a "moderate-centrist" or conservative Democrat. During the 117th Congress, he voted with the Democratic caucus 96.8% of the time. He voted with the Democratic majority 87.9% of the time during President Trump’s tenure, while voting with Trump's stance 40.6% of the time. Cuellar was ranked the fifth-most bipartisan member of the House of Representatives in the first session of the 115th United States Congress by the Lugar Center and McCourt School of Public Policy. He is one of two Blue Dog Democrats in Texas's congressional delegation.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: In 2011, Cuellar was the author and one of two main co-sponsors of legislation seeking to honor slain ICE agent Jaime Zapata. Billed as a border security bill, it would increase cooperation among state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies during investigations of human and drug smuggling from Mexico.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: In 2013, in a statement with House colleagues Beto O'Rourke and Filemon Vela Jr., Cuellar renewed his opposition to a border fence along the Rio Grande between the U.S. and Mexico. He denounced inclusion in the Senate immigration bill of an amendment sponsored by Senators Bob Corker and John Hoeven that called for 700 additional miles of border fencing, calling the fence an antiquated solution to a modern problem. The fence, he said, ignores the economic ties between the two nations, which reached $500 billion in 2012.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: In 2014, Cuellar was the only House Democrat to vote for a bill that would have made deporting unaccompanied minors to Central America easier. He also released unauthorized photographs of unsanitary conditions in Border Patrol detention centers. Despite these actions, Cuellar said he firmly supports "comprehensive immigration reform".


title: Henry Cuellar

text: In May 2015, Cuellar called for 55 more federal judges to handle the overload of 450,000 immigration cases. There were 260 such judges in 58 courts. Twenty-eight of them serve Texas; no immigration judge holds court in Laredo. Many of those awaiting hearings are held in detention centers or released on bond. In many cases, those on bond never come to their scheduled hearings. Cuellar said South Texas and Laredo have particular need for judges.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: On July 23, 2015, the occasion of Donald Trump's presidential campaign visit to Laredo, Cuellar said that Trump had "overgeneralized and exacerbated a rhetoric of immigrant crime that has offended many, particularly those of Mexican heritage". Cuellar added that Trump's meeting with border officials provided an opportunity for him to view Laredo as a "culturally rich and safe border community". In April 2017, Cuellar issued a statement accusing Trump of "threatening to shut down the government if he doesn't get to build his symbolic border wall. He wants to cut things like education, transportation, and health care, to fund his pet project. Now that he is facing bipartisan opposition to this irresponsible plan, he wants to punish the American people by shutting down the government."


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar was one of three Democrats to vote for Kate's Law, which expands maximum sentences for immigrants who reenter the U.S. after being deported. He supported legislation to strip federal funding for jurisdictions that have sanctuary policies in place.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: On June 15, 2007, Cuellar announced that he was endorsing then U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton for president in 2008, saying, "Senator Clinton is the only candidate with the experience and toughness to hit the ground running on her first day in the White House." In 2007, he held a fundraiser for Clinton in Laredo that raised over $200,000 and was attended by former President Bill Clinton. Laredo Mayor Raul G. Salinas joined Cuellar in giving his early support to Hillary Clinton, who came to Laredo in October 2008 to endorse Cuellar's reelection to the House. On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama defeated Republican John McCain in Webb County with 71% of the vote to McCain's 28%.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar rejected the first House bailout bill, which was voted down, but backed the final version that passed in the fall of 2008. He was also one of 27 Democrats to oppose the House financial regulatory reform bill, a top priority for Obama.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: On June 26, 2009, Cuellar voted with the House majority to pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act, also known as the cap and trade bill. He also supported the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which narrowly passed the House and in December 2009 met the threshold for shutting off debate in the U.S. Senate by a single vote.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar opposes abortion. He expressed concerns that the Senate health care bill allowed federal funding for abortion. He has voted for a ban on abortion after week 20. On March 21, 2010, Cuellar voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which passed the House by a vote of 219–212. In 2021, he was the only Democrat to vote against the Women's Health Protection Act, which aims to preserve access to abortion nationwide. The Act was proposed in response to the Texas Heartbeat Act which bans abortion after 6 weeks in Texas.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar's boosting of automated license plate recognition federal contractor Perceptics LLC was published in February 2020, showing lobbying by Podesta Group since 2009. Cuellar used talking points related to Perceptics contracts. He was called "our Cuellar firepower" and Perceptics CEO John Dalton called him a "friendly congressman" for Perceptics.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: In 2020, Cuellar was one of six House Democrats to vote against the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act to legalize cannabis at the federal level. In 2014, he was the lone Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee to vote for a measure blocking the implementation of a Washington, D.C., decriminalization law. Cuellar has also repeatedly voted against the Rohrabacher–Farr amendment, legislation that limits the enforcement of federal law in states that have legalized medical cannabis.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: In February 2020, Cuellar was one of seven House Democrats to vote against the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act that would overhaul labor laws. In March 2021, he was the only Democrat to vote against it.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: In August 2021, Cuellar joined a group of conservative Democrats, dubbed "The Unbreakable Nine", who threatened to derail the Biden administration's $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package meant to address the nation's physical infrastructure and social safety net.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: On July 29, 2022, Cuellar and four other Democrats joined the Republicans in voting against a bill banning assault weapons.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, have two daughters. In 2014, Cuellar portrayed George Washington in the annual Washington's Birthday Celebration in Laredo.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: On January 19, 2022, the FBI raided Cuellar's Laredo residence and campaign office and removed several items, including cases and at least one computer, as part of a federal probe relating to Azerbaijan, a country that has been criticized for its caviar diplomacy. On January 21, 2022, a federal grand jury issued subpoenas for records related to Cuellar, his wife, and at least one campaign staffer concerning "anything of value" that they may have been offered by certain business leaders or foreign officials and any "work, act, favor, or service" that they may have provided at the behest of certain foreign government officials, businesses, or others. Cuellar has taken particular interest in Azerbaijan and co-chairs the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus. Although Cuellar’s lawyer has maintained that Cuellar is innocent and is not a target of the investigation, the FBI has made no statement on the point.


title: Lauren Spencer-Smith

text: Lauren Spencer-Smith (born September 28, 2003) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Vancouver Island. She appeared as a contestant on the 18th season of "American Idol" in 2020, placing in the top 20 in the competition.


title: Lauren Spencer-Smith

text: Her 2019 album "Unplugged, Vol. 1" was a Juno Award nominee for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2020, but lost to Shine a Light by Bryan Adams.


title: Lauren Spencer-Smith

text: In 2022, Spencer-Smith became more known internationally when her self-released song "Fingers Crossed" reached the top 20 in numerous countries, including the US and making the top 10 of the charts in numerous countries including Australia, New Zealand and Spencer-Smith's native United Kingdom. This was on the back of a demo of the song which had gone viral on TikTok. Spencer-Smith's rise to popularity and success on social media has sometimes been compared to that of American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo. She released her song "Flowers" in 2022 and it has charted in several countries.


title: Lauren Spencer-Smith

text: Spencer-Smith was born in Portsmouth, UK. She moved to Canada at the age of three with her parents and brother.


title: Lauren Spencer-Smith

text: During the Top 20 round in which she was eliminated from the competition, Spencer-Smith performed from her father's home in Port Alberni with a view of Sproat Lake in her background.


title: Carlos I of Portugal

text: "Dom" Carlos I (; English: King Charles of Portugal; 28 September 1863 – 1 February 1908), known as the Diplomat (), the Martyr (), and the Oceanographer (), among many other names, was the King of Portugal from 1889 until his assassination in 1908. He was the first Portuguese king to die a violent death since King Sebastian in 1578.


title: Carlos I of Portugal

text: Carlos was born in Lisbon, Portugal, the son of King Luís and Queen Maria Pia, daughter of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, and was a member of the House of Braganza. He had a brother, Infante Afonso, Duke of Porto. He was baptised with the names "Carlos Fernando Luís Maria Víctor Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis José Simão".


title: Carlos I of Portugal

text: He had an intense education and was prepared to rule as a constitutional monarch. In 1883, he traveled to Italy, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, where he increased his knowledge of the modern civilization of his time. In 1883, 1886 and 1888, he ruled as Regent as his father was traveling in Europe, as had become traditional among the Portuguese constitutional kings. His father Luis I advised him to be modest and to study with focus.


title: Carlos I of Portugal

text: His first bridal candidate was one of the daughters of German Emperor Frederick III, but the issue of religion presented an insurmountable problem, and diplomatic pressure from the British government prevented the marriage. He then met and married Princess Amélie of Orléans, eldest daughter of Philippe, comte de Paris, pretender to the throne of France.


title: Carlos I of Portugal

text: Carlos became king on 19 October 1889. After the 1890 British Ultimatum, a series of treaties were signed with the United Kingdom. One signed in August 1890 defined colonial borders along the Zambezi and Congo rivers, whereas another signed on 14 October 1899 confirmed colonial treaties dating back to the 17th century. These treaties stabilised the political balance in Africa, ending Portuguese claims of sovereignty on the Pink Map, a geographical conception of how Portuguese colonies would appear on a map if the territory between the coastal colonies of Angola and Mozambique could be connected with territory in central Africa. These central African territories became part of the British Empire with the Portuguese concession becoming a source of national resentment in the country.


title: Carlos I of Portugal

text: Domestically, Portugal declared bankruptcy twice – on 14 June 1892, then again on 10 May 1902 – causing industrial disturbances, socialist and republican antagonism and press criticism of the monarchy. Carlos responded by appointing João Franco as prime minister and subsequently accepting parliament's dissolution.


title: Carlos I of Portugal

text: As a patron of science and the arts, King Carlos took an active part in the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Prince Henry the Navigator in 1894. The following year he decorated the Portuguese poet João de Deus in a ceremony in Lisbon.


title: Carlos I of Portugal

text: Carlos took a personal interest in deep-sea and maritime exploration and used several yachts named "Amélia" on his oceanographical voyages. He published an account of his own studies in this area.


title: Carlos I of Portugal

text: On 1 February 1908, the royal family was returning to Lisbon from the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa in Alentejo, where they had spent part of the hunting season during the winter. They traveled by train to Barreiro and, from there, they took a steamer to cross the Tagus River and disembarked at Cais do Sodré in central Lisbon. On their way to the royal palace, the open carriage with Carlos I and his family passed through the Terreiro do Paço fronting on the river. In spite of recent political unrest there was no military escort. While they were crossing the square at dusk, shots were fired from amongst the sparse crowd by two republican activists: Alfredo Luís da Costa and Manuel Buíça.


title: Carlos I of Portugal

text: Buíça, a former army sergeant and sharpshooter, fired five shots from a rifle hidden under his long overcoat. The king died immediately, his heir Luís Filipe was mortally wounded, and Prince Manuel was hit in the arm. The queen alone escaped injury. The two assassins were killed on the spot by police; an innocent bystander, João da Costa, was also shot dead in the confusion. The royal carriage turned into the nearby Navy Arsenal, where, about twenty minutes later, Prince Luís Filipe died. Several days later, the younger son, Prince Manuel, was proclaimed king of Portugal. He was to be the last of the Braganza-Saxe-Coburg and Gotha dynasty and the final king of Portugal.


title: Carlos I of Portugal

text: Carlos I was married to Princess Amélie of Orléans in 1886. She was a daughter of Philippe, Count of Paris, and Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans. Their children were:


title: Carlos I of Portugal

text: A woman known as Maria Pia of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza claimed to be the illegitimate daughter of King Carlos I of Portugal with Maria Amélia Laredó e Murça. Maria Pia claimed that King Carlos I legitimized her through a royal decree and placed her in the line of succession with the same rights and honours as the legitimately-born princes of Portugal; however, no undisputed evidence was presented to demonstrate this, and the king did not, constitutionally, have the personal authority to do so. Maria Pia's paternity was never proven and her claim not widely accepted.


title: The Medium (video game)

text: The Medium is a psychological horror video game developed and published by Bloober Team. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X/S on January 28, 2021, for PlayStation 5 on September 3, 2021 and for Amazon Luna on February 17, 2022.


title: The Medium (video game)

text: "The Medium" is a psychological horror game played in third-person as Marianne, a medium who can travel into the spirit realm. Being able to inhabit both worlds aids puzzle solving. Her psychic abilities may also be used against hostile forces and are recharged by interacting with energy spots called spirit wells.


title: The Medium (video game)

text: "The Medium" is set in post-Communism Poland in 1999. Marianne, a spirit medium that helps troubled souls seek final respite, has a recurring dream of a man shooting a young girl by a lake. While grieving over the death of her foster father, Marianne receives a mysterious phone call from a man named Thomas, who knows of her abilities. Thomas offers to explain the origin of Marianne's powers, as well as the meaning of the dream. However, he is only willing to talk if Marianne agrees to meet him at the Niwa Workers' Resort, an abandoned communist-era vacation resort in the Polish wilderness. The Resort had been shuttered by the government years earlier after an event called the Niwa Massacre, in which a large number of people were murdered and the survivors fled the area.


title: The Medium (video game)

text: While exploring Niwa, Marianne finds the place has strong ties to the spirit realm, and evidence that Thomas, the resort's manager, and his daughter Lilianne were at the epicentre of the Niwa Massacre. In the spirit world, she encounters Sadness, the spirit of a young girl who warns her of the Maw, a hostile and malevolent spirit that has managed to also partially exist in the real world. The Maw was responsible for the Niwa Massacre by occupying human hosts and using their bodies to murder others, and begins hunting down Marianne to sate its hunger and escape Niwa. Marianne repeatedly offers to send Sadness to her peace, but she refuses. Through her visions, Marianne finds out that Sadness is the spirit of Lilianne, who was molested by Thomas' older and trusted friend Richard.


title: The Medium (video game)

text: Marianne pieces together enough clues to learn that Thomas was also a medium, and due to this was experimented on by Nazis and Soviets, who found out that his powers could be used to sever people's minds from their bodies. Eventually Thomas fled back to Poland, hiding at Niwa and starting a family, but an agent of Służba Bezpieczeństwa named Henry discovered him. Henry subdued Thomas and forced him to watch as he set fire to Thomas' home with his children inside, causing Thomas to attack and murder him. Marianne comes to realize that she is Thomas' youngest daughter, having fallen into a coma after the fire, and that Thomas left her at the hospital while he remained with Lilianne at Niwa.


title: The Medium (video game)

text: Marianne discovers a fallout bunker hidden beneath the ruins of her family home where she encounters Thomas' spirit half. He explains to Marianne that Lilianne had trouble controlling her own powers, so Thomas kept her confined in the bunker. However, this did not stop Lilianne's powers from going out of control, and after she was raped by Richard, she created the Maw as the manifestation of her tormented soul. Eventually the Maw broke out of the bunker and caused the Niwa Massacre. While Thomas' spirit half is confident that Thomas would never hurt Lilianne, he is unaware of Thomas' current whereabouts. As the Maw approaches, Thomas' spirit half assures Marianne that she is the only one that can end this, and sends her off, preparing to sacrifice himself to delay the Maw.


title: The Medium (video game)

text: Still troubled over Lilianne's fate, Marianne leaves the bunker and heads for the lake that she saw in her dreams. There, she encounters Lilianne, who explains that the dream Marianne has been seeing is not a memory of the past, but a vision of the future. She then hands Marianne a gun and pleads with her to kill her, as the Maw cannot be banished as long as she is alive; explaining why Sadness, her spirit, refused to be sent off to peace. Marianne hesitates, and, considering Thomas' words, threatens to kill herself instead, as without her as a medium, the Maw will remain trapped in Niwa forever. The Maw then arrives, forcing Marianne to fire, but it is left unclear as to whom she shoots.


title: The Medium (video game)

text: In a post-credits scene, a man is seen wandering the spirit world, stopping briefly to pick up Thomas' pocketwatch.


title: The Medium (video game)

text: "The Medium" was developed by Bloober Team, with lead designer Wojciech Piejko and producer Jacek Zieba coming up with the idea in 2012. The core concepts of the game had been about a medium and her abilities to see two worlds simultaneously. Piejko said "The Medium" imparts the message that "there is no universal truth".


title: The Medium (video game)

text: They had originally planned for release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U in 2012, but rendering two point-of-views at the same time was a technical challenge for these platforms, and Bloober Team shelved the idea. In the following years, the concept of "The Medium" became its own type of mythos within Bloober as the company waited for technology to catch up. After Microsoft provided developers with preliminary material on the upcoming capabilities of the Xbox Series X/S consoles (which were released in November 2020), Bloober Team recognized they could now build out "The Medium" and began development.


title: The Medium (video game)

text: Initially they approached the game with a first-person perspective, splitting the player's screen in two. After deciding to have Marianne exist in both the real and spirit world as to handle the situation with collisions, they found initial playtesters had difficulty maneuvering in this view, often twice going over an area to first focus on one world's view and then to focus on the other. They took cues from Japanese horror games like "Silent Hill" and "Resident Evil" which used fixed cameras and third-person perspective to better present the game for players to see both worlds at the same time while capturing the spirit of these horror games. This also helped to enhance the player's immersion in the game. They maintained this split-screen concept in cutscenes as well, though frequently switching up camera angles. This partially was used to mask unrendered details in some settings, but was also used to keep a sense of unease as when Marianne has a conversation with characters in the spirit world, while her real self is shown interacting with nothing.


title: The Medium (video game)

text: They had chosen Poland during the 1990s, following its transition from a communistic to a democratic government in 1989, as the game's setting, as the nation's history represented the nature of duality, an overarching theme of the game. Aware that the post-war era as well as the more recent democratic era were not well known to an international audience, part of Bloober Team's goal was to make the setting approachable to the wide audience, and covered both aspects of these parts of Poland's history within the game. They recognized that with the success of their prior game "Observer" as well as interest in television shows about the Eastern Bloc such as "Chernobyl" and "Dark", the Polish setting would be of interest to players. The Soviet-era Hotel Niwa is based on a one-to-one rendition of the existing Hotel Cracovia located in Kraków. The opening apartments at the start of the game, while based on a real building in Kraków, is an Easter egg to "Observer: System Redux", where the same building is also present in that game's future setting. They modelled the supernatural setting after Zdzisław Beksiński's dystopian surrealist artwork.


title: The Medium (video game)

text: Audio for the game was made by a ""Silent Hill" dream team" according to Bloober Team, including "Silent Hill" series composer Akira Yamaoka, singer Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, and voice actor Troy Baker, Yamaoka was persuaded to take on the music when Piejko gave him a gameplay demonstration. Yamaoka and composer Arkadiusz Reikowski were tasked with scoring the physical and spiritual plane, respectively. Using synthesiser and analogue sounds, Reikowski likened his approach to that of "Stranger Things" and "Chernobyl". Baker voices the primary antagonist, known as the Maw, for whom another actor performed the motion capture on stilts. Actor Kelly Burke provided the voice for protagonist Marianne, with Weronika Rosati and Marcin Dorociński providing design and motion capture for Marianne and Thomas within the game. The developers had planned out the camera and actor's direction for motion capture prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which made it easy to complete the motion capture sessions under COVID-19 regulations during 2020. Overall, the game has about 90 minutes of motion capture. While the game takes place in Poland, Bloober Team specifically chose to have the characters speak with American Mid-Atlantic accents as to make the game approachable. The team had planned to include the option to switch dialog to Polish voice-overs with English subtitles but the pandemic caused them to fall back on this plan.


title: The Medium (video game)

text: Following its initial 2012 announcement and subsequent drawback, "The Medium" was reannounced in May 2020 to be released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X/S. Originally scheduled for 10 December 2020, the release was eventually delayed to January 28, 2021, due to the pandemic. A PlayStation 5 version was released on September 3, 2021, with a version for Amazon Luna releasing on February 17, 2022.


title: The Medium (video game)

text: "The Medium" received "generally favorable" or "mixed or average" reviews, depending on the platform, according to review aggregator Metacritic. IGN awarded the game an 8/10, stating "Brilliantly paced and palpably tense, The Medium is a psychological horror adventure that's all thriller and no filler."


title: The Medium (video game)

text: Bloober Team reported that within a few days of launch, they had been able to turn a profit from the development of "The Medium" from its initial sales. The game was nominated for best action adventure and best indie game at Gamescom 2020.


title: John Billingsley

text: John Billingsley (, born May 20, 1960<ref name="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0082517/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1"></ref>) is an American actor best known for his role as Doctor Phlox on the television series "".


title: John Billingsley

text: Billingsley was born in Media, Pennsylvania, and subsequently lived in Huntsville, Alabama and Slidell, Louisiana before his family settled in Weston, Connecticut. He graduated from Bennington College in 1982.


title: John Billingsley

text: Billingsley's first on-screen role was in 1991 as a difficult customer making a return in a customer service training video produced by Nintendo of America. He made an appearance in "It Happened in Juneau", a third-season episode of the TV comedy-drama "Northern Exposure", playing a patient treated by Marilyn. He then appeared in "The X-Files" episode "Three of a Kind", as a friend of the Lone Gunmen who turns out to be a government spy. He played Bill Gates in a sketch on Seattle comedy show "Almost Live!" One of Billingsley's earliest film roles was in the 2001 made-for-television historical drama "Just Ask My Children", in which he played corrupt lawyer Andrew Gines.


title: John Billingsley

text: Billingsley played Dr. John Fallow in a "West Wing" episode that featured the Gall–Peters projection map (season 2, episode 16). He was cast as Professor Miles Ballard in the short-lived television series "The Others"; then as the Denobulan Doctor Phlox in the fifth live-action "Star Trek" series, "", which ran for four seasons. He also played himself in an episode of "Roswell" that used the "Enterprise" set. He also starred in the independent film "Breathing Hard" (2000) in the same year. In 2002, he was a guest star in an episode of "Stargate SG-1", playing a scientist who is also a Trekkie, "worshipping at the altar of Roddenberry". He played a supporting role in the 2003 thriller "Out of Time" as medical examiner and best friend to the chief of police, played by Denzel Washington.


title: John Billingsley

text: Billingsley is well known to fans of the series "Cold Case" for his guest appearance in the show's second season, playing serial killer George Marks, the only killer on the show to get away with murder. He reprised the role in the season finale, in which Marks was killed. He also appeared as a blunt-force victim in the first season of "Six Feet Under", in the episode "The New Person".


title: John Billingsley

text: Billingsley appeared in the first season of the series "Prison Break" as the mysterious Terrence Steadman, brother of the Vice President, whose death is faked to frame Lincoln Burrows for murder. Soon after, he was cast as a regular on the series "The Nine". This left him unable to continue his role as Steadman, and he was replaced in the role by Jeff Perry. In 2005, he played the voice of Trask in "Ultimate Spider-Man". In November 2006, Billingsley portrayed William Bradford on two episodes of the podcast "The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd". In May 2007 he appeared on "NCIS" as a blind photographer in the episode, "In The Dark". He appeared in the seventh season of "24" as a recurring character. On October 8, 2007, he also made a guest appearance on "Journeyman" as Alan Platt. Billingsley played Prof. Harry, a biologist, in the 2007 independent science fiction film "The Man from Earth", as well as the 2013 sequel ‘’’’. He also made a guest appearance in an October 2007 episode of "", and in 2006 on the spinoff series "".


title: John Billingsley

text: Billingsley appeared as Jacob Nolston in "Crash Into Me", a two-part, fourth-season episode of the TV drama "Grey's Anatomy".


title: John Billingsley

text: Billingsley and his wife have also appeared as themselves on the HGTV series "My House Is Worth What?", in which a real estate expert toured their home and provided commentary for viewers before providing an appraisal.


title: John Billingsley

text: In 2008, Billingsley had a supporting role in several episodes of the HBO series "True Blood" as coroner Mike Spencer. In May of that year, he guest starred as John Harris, the father of the Kiss-Me-Not Killer, in "Never Tell", an episode of "Women's Murder Club".


title: John Billingsley

text: He appeared in the disaster film "2012", which was released on November 13, 2009, as Professor Frederic West, an American scientist. He subsequently appeared on the ABC series "Scrubs" in December 2009.


title: John Billingsley

text: In August 2010, Billingsley guest starred in an episode of the TNT series "Leverage" as Coswell, the head of security at the Boston Museum of Art and Antiquities. In November that year he guest starred as amateur psychic Ellis Mars in "Red Moon", an episode of "The Mentalist".


title: John Billingsley

text: In February 2011 Billingsley played Gidger in the Richard Greenberg's play "The Violet Hour" in Los Angeles. In August 2011, Billingsley starred in an episode of the USA Network drama "Suits" as the company accountant who is being released for never finishing university.


title: John Billingsley

text: In October 2012 Billingsley starred in the film "Trade of Innocents" alongside Dermot Mulroney and Mira Sorvino.


title: John Billingsley

text: On February 12, 2013, a web comedy video was released on Yahoo! Screens under the title "Forwarders" that featured Billingsley as an Dr. Alan Cooper, a psychologist and expert on compulsive e-mail forwarding. That same year he completed filming of the independent film "Red Line".


title: John Billingsley

text: On January 7, 2014, CBS television premiered the science fiction drama "Intelligence", on which Billingsley played Dr. Shenandoah Cassidy, the inventor of an implantable microchip that acts as an interface between a human mind and electronic devices.


title: John Billingsley

text: In November 2014, Billingsley guest-starred in the CBS crime drama series, "Hawaii Five-0", playing lawyer Eugene Goodman in the Season 5 episode, "Ka Hana Malu".


title: John Billingsley

text: In May 2015, Billingsley appeared in the second season of the AMC period drama, "", playing Samuel Townsend, father of American Revolutionary spy, Robert Townsend. He later returned to the role for the third season.


title: John Billingsley

text: Billingsley is married to fellow actor Bonita Friedericy. She first became interested in him after seeing him perform in a stage production of "Great Expectations". Friedericy appeared with Billingsley in "", a 2003 episode of "" in which she played Rooney. The couple has subsequently appeared in other productions together.


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: In Indian aesthetics, a rasa () literally means "nectar, essence or taste". It connotes a concept in Indian arts about the aesthetic flavour of any visual, literary or musical work that evokes an emotion or feeling in the reader or audience but cannot be described. It refers to the emotional flavors/essence crafted into the work by the writer and relished by a 'sensitive spectator' or "sahṛdaya," literally one who "has heart", and can connect to the work with emotion, without dryness.


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: The "rasa" theory has a dedicated section (Chapter 6) in the Sanskrit text "Natya Shastra", an ancient text on the arts from the 1st millennium BCE attributed to Bharata Muni. However, its most complete exposition in drama, songs and other performance arts is found in the works of the Kashmiri Shaivite philosopher Abhinavagupta (c. 1000 CE), demonstrating the persistence of a long-standing aesthetic tradition of ancient India. According to the "Rasa" theory of the "Natya Shastra", entertainment is a desired effect of performance arts but not the primary goal, and the primary goal is to transport the audience into another parallel reality, full of wonder and bliss, where they experience the essence of their own consciousness, and reflect on spiritual and moral questions.


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: Although the concept of rasa is fundamental to many forms of Indian arts including dance, music, theatre, painting, sculpture, and literature, the interpretation and implementation of a particular rasa differs between different styles and schools. The Indian theory of "rasa" is also found in the Hindu arts and Ramayana musical productions in Bali and Java (Indonesia), but with regional creative evolution.


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: The word "rasa" appears in ancient Vedic literature. In "Rigveda", it connotes a liquid, an extract and flavor. In "Atharvaveda", "rasa" in many contexts means "taste", and also the sense of "the sap of grain". According to Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe – a professor of Drama, "rasa" in the Upanishads refers to the "essence, self-luminous consciousness, quintessence" but also "taste" in some contexts. In post-Vedic literature, the word generally connotes "extract, essence, juice or tasty liquid".


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: Rasa in an aesthetic sense is suggested in the Vedic literature, but the oldest surviving manuscripts, with the "rasa" theory of Hinduism, are of "Natya Shastra". The Aitareya Brahmana in chapter 6, for example, states:


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: The Sanskrit text "Natya shastra" presents the "rasa" theory in Chapter 6, a text attributed to Bharata Muni. The text begins its discussion with a sutra called in Indian aesthetics as the "rasa sutra":


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: According to the "Natya shastra", the goals of theatre are to empower aesthetic experience and deliver emotional "rasa". The text states that the aim of art is manifold. In many cases, it aims to produce repose and relief for those exhausted with labor, or distraught with grief, or laden with misery, or struck by austere times. Yet entertainment is an effect, but not the primary goal of arts according to "Natya shastra". The primary goal is to create "rasa" so as to lift and transport the spectators, unto the expression of ultimate reality and transcendent values.


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: The "Abhinavabhāratī" is the most studied commentary on "Natyasastra", written by Abhinavagupta (950–1020 CE), who referred to "Natyasastra" also as the "Natyaveda". Abhinavagupta's analysis of "Natyasastra" is notable for its extensive discussion of aesthetic and ontological questions. According to Abhinavagupta, the success of an artistic performance is measured not by the reviews, awards or recognition the production receives, but only when it is performed with skilled precision, devoted faith and pure concentration such that the artist gets the audience emotionally absorbed into the art and immerses the spectator with pure joy of "rasa" experience.


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: Bharata Muni enunciated the eight Rasas in the "Nātyasāstra", an ancient Sanskrit text of dramatic theory and other performance arts, written between 200 BC and 200 AD. In the Indian performing arts, a "rasa" is a sentiment or emotion evoked in each member of the audience by the art. The "Natya Shastra" mentions six rasa in one section, but in the dedicated section on "rasa" it states and discusses eight primary "rasa". Each rasa, according to Nātyasāstra, has a presiding deity and a specific colour. There are 4 pairs of rasas. For instance, Hāsya arises out of Sringara. The Aura of a frightened person is black, and the aura of an angry person is red. Bharata Muni established the following:


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: A ninth rasa was added by later authors. This addition had to undergo a good deal of struggle between the sixth and the tenth centuries, before it could be accepted by the majority of the Alankarikas, and the expression ""Navarasa"" (the nine rasas), could come into vogue.


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: Shānta-rasa functions as an equal member of the set of rasas, but it is simultaneously distinct as being the most clear form of aesthetic bliss. Abhinavagupta likens it to the string of a jeweled necklace; while it may not be the most appealing for most people, it is the string that gives form to the necklace, allowing the jewels of the other eight rasas to be relished. Relishing the rasas and particularly shānta-rasa is hinted as being as-good-as but never-equal-to the bliss of Self-realization experienced by yogis.


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: According to the "Natyashastra", bhavas are of three types: sthayi, sanchari, sattvika based on how they are developed or enacted during the aesthetic experience. This is seen in the following passage:


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: Sanchari Bhavas are those crossing feelings which are ancillary to a permanent mood. A list of 33 bhAvas are identified therein.


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: According to "Natya shastra", a "rasa" is a synthetic phenomenon and the goal of any creative performance art, oratory, painting or literature. Wallace Dace translates the ancient text's explanation of "rasa" as "a relish that of an elemental human emotion like love, pity, fear, heroism or mystery, which forms the dominant note of a dramatic piece; this dominant emotion, as tasted by the audience, has a different quality from that which is aroused in real life; rasa may be said to be the original emotion transfigured by aesthetic delight".


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: Rasas are created through a wide range of means, and the ancient Indian texts discuss many such means. For example, one way is through the use of gestures and facial expressions of the actors. Expressing "Rasa" in classical Indian dance form is referred to as Rasa-abhinaya.


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: The theory of rasas forms the aesthetic underpinning of all Indian classical dance and theatre, such as Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri, Kudiyattam, and others.


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: In Indian classical music, each "raga" is an inspired creation for a specific mood, where the musician or ensemble creates the "rasa" in the listener. However, predominantly all "ragas" and musical performances in Hindu traditions aim at one of six "rasa", wherein music is a form of painting "love, compassion, peace, heroism, comic or the feeling of wonder" within the listener. Anger, disgust, fear and such emotions are not the subject of "rasa", but they are part of Indian theories on dramatic arts. Of the six "rasa" that are aimed at in Indian music, each has sub-categories. For example, love "rasa" in Hindu imagination has many musical flavors, such as erotic love ("sringar") and spiritual devotional love ("bhakti").


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: In the theories of Indian poetics, ancient scholars state that the effectiveness of a literary composition depends both on what is stated and how it is stated (words, grammar, rhythm), that is the suggested meaning and the experience of "rasa". Among the most celebrated in Hindu traditions on the theory of poetics and literary works, are 5th-century Bhartrhari and the 9th-century Anandavardhana, but the theoretical tradition on integrating "rasa" into literary artworks likely goes back to a more ancient period. This is generally discussed under the Indian concepts of "Dhvani", "Sabdatattva" and "Sphota".


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: The literary work "Bhagavata Purana" deploys "rasa", presenting Bhakti of Krishna in aesthetic terms. The rasa it presents is as an emotional relish, a mood, which is called Sthayi Bhava. This development towards a relishable state results by the interplay on it of attendant emotional conditions which are called "Vibhavas", "Anubhavas" and "Sanchari Bhavas". Vibhavas means Karana or cause: it is of two kinds - "Alambana", the personal or human object and substratum, and "Uddipana", the excitants. Anubhava, as the name signifies, means the ensuants or effects following the rise of the emotion. "Sanchari Bhavas" are those crossing feelings which are ancillary to a mood. Later scholars added more emotional states such as the "Saatvika Bhavas".


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: In the Indian theories on sculpture and architecture ("Shilpa Shastras"), the "rasa" theories, in part, drive the forms, shapes, arrangements and expressions in images and structures. Some Indian texts on "Shilpa" on image carving and making, suggest nine "rasas".


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: "Rasa" has been an important influence on the cinema of India. Satyajit Ray has applied the "Rasa" method of classical Sanskrit drama to movies, for instance in "The Apu Trilogy" (1955–1959).


title: Rasa (aesthetics)

text: In Hindi cinema, it is the theme of the film Naya Din Nayi Raat, where Sanjeev Kumar played nine characters corresponding to nine "Rasa".


title: Brother Blood

text: Brother Blood is the name of two supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first iteration, Sebastian Blood VIII, is a power hungry priest and the head of the Church of Blood, as well as the eighth person in the DC Universe to assume the mantle, after killing his father and taking the Brother Blood mantle from him. This tradition had gone on for generations, dating back to the 13th century, when the first Brother Blood was born after obtaining Christ's prayer shawl and gaining superhuman abilities. As Brother Blood, Sebastian served as a recurring adversary of the Teen Titans and the archenemy of Cyborg, until being killed by his successor, Sebastian Blood IX.


title: Brother Blood

text: A different iteration of Brother Blood appeared in the 2003 "Teen Titans" animated series, and its 2013 spin-off, "Teen Titans Go!", voiced by John DiMaggio. Sebastian Blood was also a recurring character on the second season of The CW Arrowverse show "Arrow", portrayed by Kevin Alejandro. Joseph Morgan appears as the character in the fourth season of the HBO Max series "Titans".


title: Brother Blood

text: The first Brother Blood, Sebastian Blood VIII, debuted in "The New Teen Titans" #21 (July 1982), created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez. He was a regular foe of the "Teen Titans" for many years.


title: Brother Blood

text: The second Brother Blood, Sebastian Blood IX, debuted in "Outsiders" vol. 3 #6 (January 2004), created by writer Judd Winick and artist ChrisCross.


title: Brother Blood

text: The first Brother Blood encountered by the Titans was the eighth to bear the title. Seven hundred years earlier, a priest in the fictional nation of Zandia named Brother Sebastian killed another priest to gain possession of what he believed to be Christ's prayer shawl. The shawl gave him invulnerability and reduced his aging, but the priest he killed cursed him to be slain by his son before his hundredth birthday. Upon doing so, his son became the second Brother Blood. He, in turn was killed by "his" son, and this continued for seven centuries.


title: Brother Blood

text: The eighth Brother Blood is, seemingly, the first who wishes to extend the Church of Blood beyond Zandia. He wants the Church to be a world power. The Church of Blood began operating in America, and the Titans were called to investigate when an ex-girlfriend of Cyborg attempted to escape this cult. Because of the Church of Blood's influence, the Titans found moving against him difficult, especially when public opinion was turned against them by Bethany Snow, a reporter who was also a member of the Church.


title: Brother Blood

text: Brother Blood brainwashed Nightwing and attempted to take control of Raven's power. She defeated him, and his mind was seemingly destroyed. Brother Blood's wife Mother Mayhem later birthed a girl, suggesting the curse was over.


title: Brother Blood

text: Some time later, in "Outsiders" vol. 3, Brother Blood returned to villainy. Shortly after recreating his cult, he was killed by a young boy, Sebastian, claiming to be the new Brother Blood. This version reappeared in "Teen Titans" vol. 3.


title: Brother Blood

text: This teenaged Brother Blood seemingly based all his decisions on advice from Mother Mayhem, but this was actually a female cultist chosen at random and killed if the advice was not what he wanted to hear. He also exhibited vampiric abilities. He revealed that the Cult of Blood was based on the worship of Trigon the Terrible. It was for this reason that the new Bride of Blood was to be Raven. The Titans were able to save Raven, but the Church of Blood continued.


title: Brother Blood

text: Brother Blood later appeared during the "Infinite Crisis" storyline as a member of Alexander Luthor Jr.'s Secret Society of Super Villains, where he claimed an undead Lilith Clay to be his mother. He also summoned the first Hawk and Dove, Phantasm, Kole, and Aquagirl from the dead to be his own Teen Titans. Brother Blood was stopped by Kid Eternity and sent to the eighth level of Hell, but not before Kid Eternity summoned the past Brother Bloods, all of whom took out their anger and hatred on Sebastian.


title: Brother Blood

text: In the aftermath of the "Reign In Hell" miniseries, Blood, now an adult, escaped from his incarceration and was opposed by Kid Eternity. The fight between the two brought them to Titans Tower, where Blood fought the Titans. After draining Red Devil's powers, Blood realized that he had tainted himself with Neron's influence and fled the battle. He was later seen approaching an unknown woman, looking to make her his new mother.


title: Brother Blood

text: Sometime later, the Secret Six was hired to infiltrate one of Blood's cults and rescue a wealthy teenager who had been forced into the group against his will. After the team's cover was blown, they proceeded to kill a number of the church's members and ultimately destroyed their compound.


title: Brother Blood

text: In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, The Cult of Blood (once again as Trigon's pawns) makes their debut in issue one of the "Phantom Stranger". Brother Blood himself appears in "Ravagers". Blood kidnaps the team intending to use Beast Boy's powers in a ritual to travel in The Red's dimension. The Ravagers manage to interrupt the ritual as Terra buries him alive. He survives and returns in "Animal Man", where it is revealed his obsession with the Red came from being their first option for champion before Buddy Baker was chosen.


title: Brother Blood

text: In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called "DC Rebirth", which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "The New 52". Sonya Tarinka is a woman who has a deep connection to The Red, as well as the previous leader. As Mother Blood, she is shown to have the power of mind control as she mind-controlled Beast Boy.


title: Brother Blood

text: The first Blood is a formidable opponent who is backed by a massive number of fanatical followers. He is an expert manipulator who feeds off of the faith of his members. He ages at a much slower rate than normal humans. Brother Blood is immune to Raven's soul-self due to his shawl's powers. He is also nigh invulnerable and has supernatural physical strength.


title: Brother Blood

text: The second Blood's powers work in a manner similar to those of a vampire: he gains strength from blood, and can take on the abilities of anyone whose blood he has sampled. Like the first Blood, he is backed by a massive number of fanatical followers.


title: Brother Blood

text: Brother Blood is featured in the "Smallville Season 11" digital comic based on the TV series. In the story-arc "Harbinger", Blood and his cult plan to sacrifice teenager Rachel Roth but thwarted by John Constantine and Zatanna.


title: Brother Blood

text: In the alternate timeline of the "Flashpoint" event, Brother Blood is mentioned by his former student Jason Todd as being a developing drug lord.


title: Static Major

text: Stephen Ellis Garrett (November 11, 1974 – February 25, 2008), known professionally as Static Major (and previously as Static), was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Louisville, Kentucky. He was a member of the R&B trio Playa. He was also a songwriter for several artists, including Aaliyah, Ginuwine, Pretty Ricky, and Destiny's Child.


title: Static Major

text: Garrett started his producing career when he signed Swing Mob. He made a breakthrough working with R&B singer Ginuwine, writing and co-producing the song "Pony" which became a major hit and a milestone in both Garrett and Timbaland's careers. Garrett later became a member of the Def Jam group Playa, who were most known for their hit single "Cheers 2 U". Playa released an album of the same name in 1998.


title: Static Major

text: After working with Ginuwine, Garrett assisted in producing songs for Nicole Wray for her 1998 debut album, "Make It Hot". He would eventually become the lead songwriter for Aaliyah. His songwriting collaborations with Aaliyah include: "Are You That Somebody?", which was featured in the "Dr. Dolittle" soundtrack, and the "Romeo Must Die" soundtrack singles "Come Back in One Piece" and her only "Billboard" Hot 100 number-one single "Try Again". The songs "More than a Woman", "We Need a Resolution", "Rock the Boat", "Loose Rap" (which he was also featured on), "Extra Smooth", "I Refuse", "Read Between the Lines", "Those Were the Days", and "Never No More" were all featured on her third and final studio album "Aaliyah".


title: Static Major

text: Garrett collaborated with R&B group Pretty Ricky on their 2005 song "Juicy". He was featured on Lil Wayne's chart-topping 2008 song "Lollipop", which he co-wrote.


title: Static Major

text: Garrett once reflected on where his inspiration comes from, saying "I stay in the streets, that's where I draw my inspiration [...] If it can't be played in the hood, then it just doesn't work for me. And nobody can hold me on harmony. My whole aura is not your typical R&B aura."


title: Static Major

text: Garrett was featured posthumously on Drake's 2018 song "After Dark", which peaked at number 41 on the Hot 100.


title: Static Major

text: In 2020, Garrett was also featured on Jack Harlow's "Luv Is Dro" which is largely a reworking of Static's own song, also titled "Love Is Dro", which had been previously released in 2018.


title: Static Major

text: On December 17, 2021, a new posthumous single from Aaliyah was released, titled "Poison". The song featured The Weeknd, who was credited as a co-writer alongside Garrett and Belly. "Poison" contains vocals recorded by Aaliyah shortly before her death in 2001. Garrett can be heard delivering background vocals.


title: Static Major

text: Garrett died at age 33 at the Baptist Hospital East in Louisville, Kentucky, on February 25, 2008, from complications of a medical procedure. The music video for "Lollipop" was dedicated to his memory.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: Within the United States, each state, territory and federal district sets the marriage age in its jurisdiction. As of July 2022, in eight states there is no statutory minimum age when all exemptions were taken into account. These states are California, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: As of July 2022, seven states have banned underage marriages, with no exception: New Jersey (2018), Delaware (2018), Pennsylvania (2020), Minnesota (2020), Rhode Island (2021), New York (2021), and Massachusetts (2022). American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands, United States territories, have also ended child marriage in that time. Several other U.S. states have similar legislation pending.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: Between 2000 and 2018, nearly 300,000 minors were legally married in the United States. The vast majority of child marriages in the U.S. were between a minor girl and an adult man. In many cases, minors in the U.S. may be married when they are under the age of sexual consent, which varies from 16 to 18 depending on the state. In some states, minors cannot legally divorce or leave their spouse, and domestic violence shelters typically do not accept minors.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: Historically, child marriage has been a culturally acceptable practice, but today it is increasingly viewed as a form of child sexual abuse. Some international agencies, including the U.S. State Department, have declared it a human rights violation. Some researchers have concluded that there are consequences to child marriages; along with the threat of sexual abuse, children may be subject to decreased education, early pregnancies, and psychological trauma.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In ancient and medieval civilizations, it was a regular practice to give girls away in marriage as soon as they reached puberty, if not earlier. This practice continued throughout the Middle Ages and most girls were married by age fifteen. Ruth Lamden in her book "A Separate People: Jewish Women in Palestine, Syria, and Egypt in the sixteenth Century," notes that it is important to realize that for culture customs contribute to the perception of appropriate marriage age. She details that in those times, according to Jewish law, girls were considered adults by the time they were twelve and a half. In Antebellum American culture, marriages between older men and younger women were not viewed in the same way they are today. Although the practice was not extremely common, it was not counter cultural either. Marriage was viewed as more of a contract and the minors to be wedded, typically girls, were thought of as going from the responsibility of one man, the father, to the other man, the husband.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: There is no singular justification for child marriage. Some marry in accordance with religious or cultural traditions. Others do so to avoid legal ramifications of sexual activities with minors. Traditionally, specifically in developing nations, one of the most common reasons for child marriage was avoiding negative stigmas associated with premarital sex and teen pregnancy. By arranging the marriage of minors, typically girls and boys or men who have been involved in sex before marriage, the families seek to save face and maintain respect within the community.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In 2018, Alissa Koski and Jody Heymann, two researchers from the University of California Los Angeles, compiled a study detailing the prevalence of child marriage in the U.S. and common characteristics of those unions. The findings were published in their article "Child Marriage in the United States: How Common Is the Practice, And Which Children Are at Greatest Risk?: Child marriage in the United States". They found that out of every 1,000 children surveyed, about 6 were married. Prevalence varied by location, race/ethnicity, gender and age.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: Unchained At Last, an organization dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the United States, found marriage licenses for 232,474 children between 2000 and 2018. Based on the correlation between population and incidence of child marriage, they estimated that the actual number of child marriages in the U.S. during that time was closer to 300,000.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: Young females are more likely to be married than young males. According to statistics released by the Pew Research Center (based upon the American Community Survey), 55% of the surveyed married children at ages of 15–17 were female. According to a Frontline article, 87% of the total minors who got married in 2000-2015 were girls. Koski and Heymann found child marriage was higher among girls than among boys (6.8 vs. 5.7 per 1,000, or a ~19% difference). Most of the available statistics and literature on child marriages examine female minors as opposed to male minors. According to Unchained At Last's study, some 86% of the children who married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018 were girls – and most were wed to adult men an average of four years older.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: According to information compiled by the Pew Research Center, child marriage is generally more common in some of the Southern United States.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: The highest incidences of child marriages are in West Virginia, Florida, Texas, Nevada, Oklahoma, Arkansas, California, Tennessee, and North Carolina. According to a Frontline report by Anjali Tsui, Dan Nolan and Chris Amico, the states with the highest rates of child marriage in 2010 were: Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia and Missouri. The states with the lowest rates were Delaware, New Jersey, Montana, Indiana, North Dakota, Ohio, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: The Koski/Heymann study found prevalence of child marriage varied from more than 10 per 1,000 in West Virginia, Hawaii and North Dakota to less than four per 1,000 in Maine, Rhode Island and Wyoming.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: The Koski/Heymann also found that only 20% of married children were living with their spouses; the majority of the rest were living with their parents.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: Cases of child marriage exist in every racial or ethnic demographic but are more prevalent in some as compared to others. Instances of marriage were lower among white non-Hispanic children (5.0 per 1,000) than among almost every other racial or ethnic group studied; it was especially high among children of Native American or Chinese descent (10.3 and 14.2, respectively) Additionally, U.S.-born African American girls are about 1.5 times more likely to marry underage than U.S.-born Caucasian girls. Girls of Hispanic/Latina origin are more likely than those of black or white heritage to be married as a minor.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: It was more common for immigrating children to be married than those born within the United States. Between the budget years 2007 and 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services received 3.5 million immigration petitions, resulting in 8,686 approvals for people in marriages or engagements where one or both members of the couple was still a minor at the time of the petition. The Koski/Heymann study found that prevalence among children from Mexico, Central America, and the Middle East was 2-4 times that of children born in the United States.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: Unchained At Last, the only non-profit advocacy group dedicated to ending child marriage in the United States, found that only 14% of the child marriages conducted from 2000 to 2010 were between two children marrying each other. In most cases, child marriages are between a minor and an adult. In terms of spousal age, the majority of those surveyed, about 60%, reported being 18–20 years old. Less than 3% reported being over 29 years of age. In over 400 cases, the adult was aged over 40. And in 31 cases, they were over 60.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: According to data compiled by Anjali Tsui, Dan Nolan, and Chris Amico, who looked at almost 200,000 cases of child marriage from 2000-2015:


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: Extreme examples include a case in 2010 in Idaho, where a 65-year-old man married a 17-year-old girl. In Alabama, a 74-year-old man married a 14-year-old girl, though the state has since raised its minimum age to 16. According to Unchained At Last, the youngest girls to marry in 2000–2010 were three 10-year-old girls in Tennessee who married men aged 24, 25, and 31 in 2001. The youngest boy to marry was an 11-year-old, also in Tennessee, who married a 27-year-old woman in 2006.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: Every state except New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Massachusetts allows underage marriage in exceptional circumstances if one or more of the following circumstances apply:


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In California, for instance, the general marriage age is 18, but children may be married with parental consent and judicial approval with no minimum age limit.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: , in the 41 states that have set a marriage age by statute, the lower minimum marriage age when all exceptions are taken into account, are:


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: From 2017 to 2022, several states changed their law to set a minimum age, to raise their minimum age, or to make more stringent the conditions under which an underage marriage may occur. In the absence of any statutory minimum age, some conclude that the minimum common law marriageable age of 12 for girls and 14 for boys may still apply.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In the District of Columbia the general marriage age is 18, but 16-year-olds may marry with exceptions. The general age of marriage in Puerto Rico is 21, however, males aged 18 and females aged 16 can marry, with exceptions. In Guam, the general age is 18, but 16-year-olds can get married with the consent of at least one parent or guardian. In American Samoa, the marriage age has been changed to 18 for both sexes. This reflects a change in policy by Governor Lolo Moliga, who signed into law a bill that changed the marriage age for girls from 14 to 18 in September 2018. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, the age of marriage is 18 for both sexes. Prior to 2019, the age of marriage was 14 for females and 16 for males. In the Northern Mariana Islands males must be 18 to marry, while females can marry at 16 with parental consent.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: Critics have pointed out that laws regarding child marriage in the United States compare unfavorably to laws regarding child marriage in other countries. For instance, in 2017, Human Rights Watch pointed out that Afghanistan has a tougher law on child marriage than parts of the United States: in Afghanistan the minimum age of marriage is 15, and that only with permission from their father or a judge; otherwise it is 16. As of that date, 25 U.S. states had no minimum marriage age at all if one or more of the grounds for exception existed; this number has continually decreased since then.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In the United States, the age of sexual consent varies by state, territory/district, or federal law, and typically ranges from 16 to 18 years.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: State-legislated age of consent laws and marriage age laws are inconsistent in relation to one another. In some states, it is possible for a minor to legally marry even if they are below the age of consent in that state. Between 2000 and 2015, at least 200,000 minors were legally married in the United States. 86% of those marriages were between that minor and an adult. About 5% of the minors were aged 15 or younger, meaning they would be under the age of consent in all United States territories.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In some cases, judges who approve an underage marriage, for example because the minor is pregnant, may be approving a marriage between a rapist and their statutory victim.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In some states, marriage automatically emancipates a minor or increases his or her legal rights beyond allowing the minor to consent to certain medical treatments. Emancipated minors are theoretically considered adults, so that they may be able to file for a restraining order, get a divorce, and benefit from social services in certain states, though these laws are not universal. However, in practice such minors may still encounter difficulties, as many institutions do not deal with minors, or require parental consent.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In some states, a minor is not emancipated by marriage, and legal proceedings are required to obtain an emancipation decree. The absence of emancipation may result in legal complications, if, for example, the minor wants to separate from their partner or wants a divorce. They may have to wait years before emancipation in order to reach adult age. Those non-emancipated married minors may find themselves locked into a marriage, unable to leave or divorce an abusive spouse. 70%-80% of underage marriages end in divorce, but many minors locked in a marriage must wait years until they are old enough to legally end the marriage.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: According to researchers such as Camellia Burris and Anju Malhotra, there can be many repercussions that affect minors who have been married. Common ones include a greater risk for sexual misconduct/abuse, psychological trauma, risk of death or injury in childbirth, and a likelihood to drop out of school.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In some cases, child marriage may (either legally or informally) constitute a forced marriage, often in the context of sex trafficking. This enables sexual abuse to continue. According to "American Child Bride" by Nicholas Syrett, "There is a long history in the United States of marriage laws being used to circumvent legal repercussions of sexual activity with a minor". Due to the way many U.S. marriage policies are written, finding loopholes is a possibility that has been exploited before. Additionally, women who have suffered sexual abuse are more likely to be revictimized in the future.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: There are many effects that child marriages generally, and child abuse specifically, can have on an individual. The most common is the propensity for encountering abuse later on in life. According to data collected in 2015 by Jon D. Elhai, women who experienced traumatic events as children often experience mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and mood disorders, as well as low self-esteem. A correlation between childhood sexual abuse and substance abuse has also been found.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: Adverse physical effects often accompany child marriages. The most prevalent is pregnancy and childbearing complications. The body is not fully matured under the age of 18, so minors who become pregnant often face complications that are not as common in their older counterparts.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: UNICEF reported in 2007 that globally, a girl aged 15 is five times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their 20s. Young mothers also have an increased risk of developing obstetric fistula.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: The loss of educational opportunity and influence is of particular importance to those opposed to child marriages. According to academics such as Martha Nussbaum, education is a crucial component to protecting one's freedom or capabilities. This in turn limits their autonomy and job eligibility, making them dependent on their spouse or caretaker.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: There is not much federal legislation concerning child marriages. In 2013, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act mandated that the U.S. Secretary of State must "establish and implement a multi-year, multi-sectoral strategy to end child marriage".


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: As of January 2022, 41 states have set absolute minimum marriage ages by statute, which vary between 14 and 18 years of age. In recent years, several states have increased their marriage age, including, in 2020, Idaho, Indiana, and Minnesota. For more details on the marriage age by state, see Marriage age in the United States.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In September 2018, American Samoa raised the marriage age for girls from 14 to 18, to be in line with that of boys.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In April 2018, Arizona raised the minimum marriage age to 16. Such underage marriages must be approved by a superior court, must have either parental consent or an emancipated minor, and the age difference between the parties must not be more than 3 years.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In April 2019, Arkansas raised the minimum marriage age for girls from 16 to 17 with parental consent, to be in line with that of boys. Previously, there was no minimum age for a pregnant girl to marry.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In California in 2017, a bill that would have ended child marriage (by raising the minimum age to 18) ran into opposition from legislators, the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: Since January 1, 2019, California legally requires the parents and partners of minors wishing to marry to meet with court officials separately, to determine if there is any coercion. Additionally, minors have to wait 30 days to get married, unless they are 17 and have completed high school, or one of the partners is pregnant. However, there is still no minimum age for children to marry, if these conditions are met.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: On October 1, 2017, Connecticut raised the minimum marriage age to 16, as well as requiring both parental and judicial consent before minors could marry. Previously, there was no minimum marriage age so long as a judge consented.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In May 2018, Delaware became the first state to completely ban child marriage. The marriage age in Delaware is now 18, with no exceptions.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In early 2018, Florida passed and signed a law to amend its marriage laws, after having received intense media attention for its lax child marriage laws and the high toleration of the practice. Since July 1, 2018, the minimum marriage age is 17, with both parental and judicial approval required, and the age difference between the parties must not be more than 2 years. The new law was passed after sustained lobbying from a former victim of child marriage, Sherry Johnson.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In May 2019, Georgia raised the marriage age explicitly from 16 to 17. They must be emancipated minors, must have completed a premarital education course, and cannot marry anyone more than four years older than themselves. The new law went into effect on July 1, 2019.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In February 2019, a bipartisan anti-child marriage bill was voted down 39-28 by the Idaho House of Representatives. The bill would have made it illegal for anyone under 16 to get married, and for 16- and 17-year-olds it would have required the consent of parents, a judge, and the minor themselves. Idaho now has the highest rate of child marriage in the United States.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: Representatives Bryan Zollinger and Julianne Young voted against, citing their opinion that judges should not be involved in marriages, and that parental consent was sufficient. Representative Christy Zito complained that the bill would make it harder for people to start families if they conceive a child underage, compared to abortion.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In March 2018, Kentucky amended its marriage laws. After several failed attempts at restricting child marriage, a redrafted bill was introduced, passed all stages of the Kentucky Legislature, and was signed by the Governor of Kentucky on March 29, 2018. The new law sets a minimum age of 17, with judicial approval. Additionally, a 17-year-old cannot marry a person more than 4 years older than themselves, they must have completed high school or obtained an equivalent degree such as a GED, and must prove that they are able to take care of themselves.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: As of July 2022, Massachusetts Governor Baker signed into a law a bill raising the minimum age of marriage in all cases to the age of 18, no exceptions are made for parental or judicial consent. The ban was included in section 80 of the FY2023 budget bill.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In July 2018 Missouri raised the minimum age for marriage from 15 to 16. Parental permission is required.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: A 2021 bill raised the minimum age for marriage from 14 to 16. Additionally, under this bill, the spouse of a 16-year-old could be no more than four years older.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In June 2018, the New Jersey child marriage ban bill was signed into law by the Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, and went into effect immediately to implement a clear minimum age of 18, with no exceptions. This makes New Jersey the second state to completely ban child marriage, after Delaware.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: New Hampshire passed a law which was signed by Governor Chris Sununu in 2018 that legally raising the minimum marriage age to 16 with judicial approval. It came into effect January 1, 2019.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In 2017, New York state raised the marriage age to 18, but allowed marriage at 17 in special circumstances with parental and court consent. Prior to this law, the state allowed marriage in certain cases from the age of 14.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In 2019, Ohio raised the minimum marriage age to 18 for both parties, but allowed an exemption for 17-year-olds to marry if they have juvenile court consent, go through a 14-day waiting period, and the age difference between the parties is not more than four years.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In Tennessee, before 2018, there was no minimum marriage age with judicial consent. In March 2018, a proposed bill to end child marriage in Tennessee was terminated. The bill was revived due to political pressure, passed, and signed into law in May 2018 by Governor Haslam, preventing anyone younger than 17 from marrying in Tennessee.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In 2017, Texas raised the marriage age to 18; however, they kept an exception allowing emancipated minors aged 16–17 to marry.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: On March 25, 2019, the Governor of Utah, Gary Herbert, signed a law which raised the minimum marriage age from 15 to 16, with parental permission. The law also makes it illegal for a 16- or 17-year-old to marry someone who is more than 7 years older than them. The law passed the Utah House of Representatives 55 to 6, with 14 abstentions. It was described as a bipartisan effort, with a majority of Republicans, and all Democrats, voting in favor.


title: Child marriage in the United States

text: In 2016, Virginia changed the law to set 18 as a minimum age, and 16 in special circumstances with judicial approval. Prior to the passing of that bill, there was no minimum age in the state.


title: Ren Jialun

text: Ren Jialun (; born Ren Guochao on 11 April 1989), also known as Allen Ren, is a Chinese actor and singer. He is best known for his historical drama "The Glory of Tang Dynasty" (2017), "Under The Power" (2019), "Forever and Ever", "One and Only" (2021), as well as "The Blue Whisper" and "Thousand Years for You" (2022).


title: Ren Jialun

text: Ren was born in Qingdao, Shandong Province. His talent as a child was reflected in table tennis. He started playing at the age of 6 and was selected to the Shandong provincial team at the age of 13 due to his outstanding performance. Ren was a professional table tennis player, who trained alongside Zhou Yu and Zhang Jike. However, he had to quit the sport due to injuries.


title: Ren Jialun

text: After graduating from high school, Ren worked in airport ground handling and flight attendant work at Qingdao Liuting International Airport. And because of hard work and conscientious training, the airport and its alma mater issued an advocacy of "learning the work spirit of Ren Guochao". And Ren, who loves music and dance, also uses his spare time to learn to sing and dance, in order to chase and practice his dreams. In 2008, he began to participate in various draft competitions to exercise himself. Later, he won the support of his family and officially resigned from the airport, opening another road of life.


title: Ren Jialun

text: Prior to beginning his acting career, Ren participated in Hunan TV's "Super Boy" and "Korean Star". He was originally planned to debut in a Chinese-South Korean boy group, but quit in 2014 due to unknown reasons.


title: Ren Jialun

text: In 2014, Ren filmed his first television drama "Detective Dee", where he played the leading role of Di Renjie. The drama was delayed and only aired in 2017. In 2016, Ren featured in the fantasy action drama "Noble Aspirations" and crime drama "Memory Lost".


title: Ren Jialun

text: Ren rose to fame in 2017, after starring in the historical drama "The Glory of Tang Dynasty". His portrayal of Li Chu left a deep impression on audiences, and he received rave reviews for his acting. He received the Best Actor award at the 4th Hengdian Film and TV Festival of China.


title: Ren Jialun

text: In 2018, Ren starred in the fantasy romance drama "The Destiny of White Snake", based on the renowned Chinese folktale, playing Xu Xian.


title: Ren Jialun

text: In 2021, Ren starred in the Chinese drama "Miss Crow with Mr Lizard" alongside "Xing Fei", as his Co-star. The drama received many positive reviews in Asia and all worldwide. Ren also starred in "One and Only" and its sequel, "Forever and Ever" with Bai Lu as his Co star, which making both very popular recently. In the same year, he was cast in the drama "Twilight" alongside Angelababy.


title: Ren Jialun

text: In 2022, Ren starred with Dilraba Dilmurat in "The Blue Whisper", a fantasy romance drama. And a newly broadcast fantasy Republican Era drama, "Thousand Years For You" where Ren starred with Li Qin.


title: Ren Jialun

text: Ren Jialun's real name is Ren Guochao. Because of his down-to-earth name, he once became the first artist to top Weibo's hot search due to "failure to change his name".


title: Ren Jialun

text: Ren Guochao is not the only hidden name of Ren Jialun. He is most famous for the fact that one person can form the "RGC411 Heavenly Group". This group is composed of his multi-oriented former names, and one of the representatives of the group is Ren Yaoxi, who can sing and dance well. This name is derived from when Ren Jialun went to Japan for development, because the word "good" in Japan is "yaoxi", which is homonym for "Yaoxi" and has the meaning of shining star.


title: Ren Jialun

text: On February 2, 2018, Weibo announced the child's photo, announcing that he officially became a father.


title: Ren Jialun

text: From 2007 to 2009, Ren wrote down his thoughts and thoughts about life on his blog. After gradually gaining attention, they were collected and compiled into an autobiography called Guo Chao Collection.


title: Super Freak

text: "Super Freak" is a 1981 single produced and performed by American singer Rick James. The song, co-written by James and Alonzo Miller, was first released on James' fifth album, "Street Songs" (1981) and became one of James' signature songs. "Freak" is a slang term for the sexually adventurous, as described in the song's lyrics, "She's a very kinky girl / The kind you don't take home to mother". "Rolling Stone" magazine ranked the song number 477 in its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004, number 481 in 2010, and number 153 in an updated list in 2021. The song was nominated for the Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 1982 Grammys. The song has been sampled by MC Hammer in 1990 and by Nicki Minaj in 2022.


title: Super Freak

text: "Super Freak" was recorded with other tracks for the "Street Songs" album between December 1980 – January 1981 at the Record Plant, in Sausalito, California and Motown / Hitsville U.S.A. Recording Studios, Hollywood, California. It features background vocals from James' Motown labelmates The Temptations—in which the bassist was Greg "Big Money" Brown, Melvin Franklin—and Canadian singer Taborah Johnson. The tenor saxophone solo is by Stone City Band member Daniel LeMelle. James' improvised lyrics were later toned down by Los Angeles DJ Alonzo Miller, who received co-writing credit. James apparently was not particularly excited about the song, but reputedly wanted to have something on the album that "white folks could dance to."


title: Super Freak

text: In 2006, Dutch music group Beatfreakz covered the song as "Superfreak" and released it as a single. This cover reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart and number six in Finland and Hungary.


title: Super Freak

text: The predominant riff of the song was most popularly sampled in 1990 by MC Hammer in "U Can't Touch This". 32 years later, the song was sampled by Nicki Minaj in "Super Freaky Girl". Minaj previously appeared in the remix of Big Sean's "Dance (A$$)" (2011), which sampled "U Can't Touch This".


title: Ameer (director)

text: Ameer Sultan (born 5 December 1967) is an Indian film director, producer and actor, working in the Tamil film industry.


title: Ameer (director)

text: Ameer Sultan was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu India. He initially studied economics and worked as an entrepreneur before starting to work as an assistant director to Tamil filmmaker Bala on his award-winning film "Sethu" in 1999 and "Nandha" in 2001. Shortly after, he directed his first film, the romantic comedy "Mounam Pesiyadhe" (2002). The film starred Suriya in the lead and became Trisha Krishnan's first release featuring her in a leading role. The same year, he began his own production company, Teamwork Production House.


title: Ameer (director)

text: His second directorial was the mystery thriller "Raam", which he produced himself. It was released three years later, in 2005. The film, which revolves around an autistic teenager, portrayed by Jiiva, who is highly attached to his mother, but becomes suspected of having murdered her, received critical acclaim, with Jeeva and the film's composer Yuvan Shankar Raja winning awards at the 2005 Cyprus International Film Festival. It also became Jeeva's first successful film in the film industry, who till then, had appeared in two unsuccessful home productions only.


title: Ameer (director)

text: In 2007, he directed the drama "Paruthiveeran" set in a village in Tamil Nadu, which marked the debut of Karthi, younger son of Sivakumar and brother of Suriya. Karthi as well as Priyamani, who performed the female lead, won several notable prizes for their performances. "Paruthiveeran" remains Ameer's most acclaimed work, having received six Filmfare Awards South including the Best Film and Best Director trophies, two National Film Awards, two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and four Vijay Awards. The film further fetched accolades at international platform, winning the Best Film Award at the Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema and Netpac Special Mention award at the Berlin International Film Festival. His fourth directorial, "Aadhi Bhagavan", starring Jayam Ravi and Neetu Chandra, released in 2013, to mixed reviews.


title: Ameer (director)

text: On 24 October 2008, Ameer was arrested. Being a Tamil activist, he took part in a film rally condemning state atrocities against Tamils in Sri Lanka, organised by director Bharathiraja, also a Tamil activist, and other prominent Tamil directors, actors, and producers. The rally was part of statewide protests across Tamil Nadu in 2008 condemning Sri Lanka. During the rally, Ameer and fellow director Seeman made speeches criticising the Indian government and expressing support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a Tamil separatist group on the island and condemning the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The two were later released on bail with the help of their assistant directors, Bharathiraja, and actor R. Sarath Kumar. Other Film directors such as Balu Mahendra, Bhagyaraj, Cheran, R K Selvamani, V Sekar, Bala, Rajkapoor, lyricists Arivumathi, Snehan and others waited from 8 am for the two directors' release.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song "Running Scared" by the duo Ell & Nikki. It was the first time Azerbaijan hosted the contestonly four years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster İctimai Television (İTV), the contest was held at the Baku Crystal Hall, and consisted of two semi-finals on 22 and 24 May, and a final on 26 May 2012. The three live shows were presented by Azerbaijani television presenter Leyla Aliyeva, newsreader Nargiz Birk-Petersen and singer Eldar Gasimov who was one of the previous edition's winners.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: Forty-two countries participated in the contest. returned to the contest for the first time since . Meanwhile, withdrew due to security concerns in relation to the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan. also did not participate due to financial concerns.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: The winner was with the song "Euphoria", performed by Loreen and written by and Peter Boström. , , and rounded out the top five, with Albania achieving their best result to date. Out of the "Big Five" countries, Germany, Italy and Spain all managed to rank within the top 10, finishing eighth, ninth and tenth, respectively.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: The lead-up to the contest was met with political concerns and protests surrounding the host country, including its human rights record and allegations by advocacy groups that Baku was carrying out forced evictions in the construction of the contest's venue, along with objections to the contest's presence by Iranian officialswho felt that the event was anti-Islamic because it was, according to them, a "gay parade".


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: Azerbaijan got the right to host the 2012 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest after winning the previous 2011 edition with the song "Running Scared" performed by Ell and Nikki. Baku, the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region, was named the host city for the contest, with the venue being the Baku Crystal Hall, built a few months prior to the contest on the city's coastline.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: Shortly after Azerbaijan's victory at the 2011 edition, officials announced that a new 23,000-seat concert venue was to be built near National Flag Square in Baku, as a potential venue for the event. Three days later, other venue options were revealed by organisers, such as the 37,000-seat Tofiq Bahramov Stadium and the Heydar Aliyev Sports and Exhibition Complex. On 2 August 2011, Alpine Bau Deutschland AG was awarded the contract to construct the Baku Crystal Hall. Preparations for construction began in the area shortly after the announcement. Even though the full cost of the contract was not named, the government allocated 6 million AZN for the construction of the venue.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: On 8 September 2011, Azad Azerbaijan TV (ATV) reported that Baku Crystal Hall would be the venue of the contest, but no formal confirmation was made at the time by the EBU. On 31 October 2011, Ismayil Omarov, the director general of Azerbaijani national broadcaster İctimai Television announced that a decision on the venue choice would be taken by the steering committee in January 2012. On 25 January 2012, it was confirmed that the Baku Crystal Hall would be the venue of the contest. Even though the venue had an extended capacity of 23,000 people, only 16,000 people were able to attend each show. Tickets for the contest became available online for purchase on 28 February 2012.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: In a meeting of the Eurovision Reference Group on 29 June 2011, it was decided that the televoting system would revert the format used most recently in the 2009 contest, in which the phone and SMS lines opened for a fifteen-minute window after all songs had been performed, instead of opening before the show starts, which was the system used between 2010 and 2011. The results format of each show remained the same with each country's votes being decided on a 50:50 split between televoting and a national jury. Each participating country had their own national jury, which consisted of five professional members of the music industry.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: Under the official rules released on 24 November 2011, the number of participants in the grand final was raised to 26, including the host nation, the "Big Five", and the ten qualifiers from each semi-final. This was the second time in the Eurovision Song Contest that 26 countries were in the grand final, the first being the 2003 contest.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: The draw that determined the semi-final running order was held on 25 January 2012 at the Buta Palace. The participating countries, excluding the automatic finalists (Azerbaijan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), were split into six pots, based upon how those countries voted in past contests. From these pots, half (or as close to half as possible) competed in the first semi-final on 22 May 2012. The other half in that particular pot competed in the second semi-final on 24 May 2012. This draw also acted as an approximate running order, in order for the delegations from the countries to know when their rehearsals would commence and determine which semi-final the automatic finalists would be allowed to vote in.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: The design of the contest was built around the motto "Light your fire!", inspired by the nickname of Azerbaijan itself, "Land of Fire".


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: Each introductory video postcard began with a shot of the artist and performers, followed with the flag and country name in a handwritten font with a background resembling the yellow, orange and red fire of the 2012 theme art. The postcards consisted of various shots of Azerbaijan, with a caption displaying 'Azerbaijan' and underneath 'Land of ...' (e.g. Land of Abundance; Land of Poetry etc.), which were then followed by the name of a town or geographic feature, showing the landscape and culture of the country. Some postcards focused on the host city of Baku with text changing to 'Baku' and underneath 'City of ...' (e.g. City of Jazz; City of Leisure etc.). The postcards finished with a shot of the Crystal Hall displayed in the colours of the performing country's flag. These postcards acted as a tourism mechanism to present the country to a wider audience.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: The artist, song and number graphics as well as tables and voting graphics were kept the same as those used in 2011, with a slight modification to incorporate the 2012 theme art. The lower points (1-7) were highlighted in red squares while the top points (8, 10, 12) were highlighted in orange squares with each square increasing in size in relation to the point value. Both sets of graphics were designed by London brand design agency Turquoise Branding.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: İctimai Television (İTV), which was the EBU member that broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan, is one of country's public-service broadcasters. Deputy Minister of Communication and Information Technology of Azerbaijan, Iltimas Mammadov, stated that telecom networks were ready to host the event. Azerbaijan's largest telecommunications operator, Azercell, was chosen as the presenting partner for the contest. On 1 December 2011, İTV named the German production company Brainpool as its official production partner for the contest, citing the quality of its work on the previous year's contest.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: On 17 January 2012, the EBU announced that initially forty-three countries would take part in the 2012 contest. The 57th edition saw the return of Montenegro, who was last represented by Andrea Demirović in 2009. Poland decided not to participate, due to the financial burden of the UEFA Euro 2012 (which Poland co-hosted with Ukraine) and the 2012 Summer Olympics. Armenia, who had originally planned to participate, later withdrew their application due to security concerns related to the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan, subsequently reducing the number of participating countries to 42.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: Four artists returned in this year's contest. Kaliopi for Macedonia who previously participated in the 1996 contest with the song "Samo ti", which placed in 26th position in the pre-qualifying round. Kaliopi would then go on to represent Macedonia once more at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: Joksimović had represented Serbia and Montenegro in 2004 with the song "Lane moje" which placed second in that year, and co-hosted the 2008 contest with Jovana Janković.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: For a second consecutive year Jedward participated for Ireland, after their 8th-place finish at the 2011 contest with the song "Lipstick".


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: Lys Assia, the winner of the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, had entered her song "C'était ma vie" written by Ralph Siegel and Jean Paul Cara into the Swiss national selection for the 2012 contest. The song, however, only came eighth in a closely fought national selection. Assia attended the event in Baku as a guest of honour.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: The Finnish entry, "När jag blundar", sung by Pernilla Karlsson, was only Finland's second entry in Swedish (after "Fri?" by Beat in 1990) and the first entry at all to be sung in Swedish since 1998. Russia's entry, "Party for Everybody", sung by Buranovskiye Babushki, was the first entry ever to be performed in Udmurt. The Georgian entry, "I'm a Joker" was the first Eurovision entry containing the Georgian language while the Bulgarian song "Love Unlimited" had a few words in the Azerbaijani language, both of whom never appeared at the contest before.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: Azerbaijan, Italy and Spain voted in the first semi-final. The EBU allowed the Albanian broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) to defer transmission and only use jury votes due to the Qafa e Vishës bus accident.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2012

text: France, Germany and the United Kingdom voted in the second semi-final. Germany requested that they vote in this semi-final. Before it withdrew, Armenia was drawn to perform in the first half of this semi-final.