title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: In June 2021, Miller was one of 21 House Republicans to vote against a resolution to give the Congressional Gold Medal to police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6.


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: In February 2022, Miller co-sponsored the Secure America's Borders First Act, which would prohibit the expenditure or obligation of military and security assistance to Kyiv over the U.S. border with Mexico.


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: Miller voted against H.R. 7691, the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022, which would provide $40 billion in emergency aid to the Ukrainian government.


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: Miller was one of 15 representatives to vote against H.R. 567: Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership Program Act of 2021, which would establish an interagency program to assist countries in North and West Africa to improve immediate and long-term capabilities to counter terrorist threats, and for other purposes.


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: On March 19, 2021, Miller was one of 14 House Republicans to vote against a measure condemning the Myanmar coup d'état that overwhelmingly passed, for reasons reported to be unclear.


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: On June 25, 2022, the day after the Supreme Court of the United States issued "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization", which overturned "Roe v. Wade" and "Planned Parenthood v. Casey", Miller spoke at a rally with Donald Trump and called the decision a "historic victory for white life". Later that night, her spokesman said that Miller had misread her notes and should have said "right to life".


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: Miller sponsored Representative Brian Babin's bill, H.R.140 - Birthright Citizenship Act of 2021, which would eliminate birthright citizenship.


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: Miller sponsored H.R. 6202, the American Tech Workforce Act of 2021, introduced by Representative Jim Banks. The legislation would establish a wage floor for the high-skill H-1B visa program, thereby significantly reducing employer dependence on the program. The bill would also eliminate the Optional Practical Training program that allows foreign graduates to stay and work in the United States.


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: Miller has called for the return of the role of God in public schools. She has also expressed support for Christian nationalism.


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: Miller introduced and sponsored H.R.1980 - Working Families Flexibility Act of 2021. This bill would cap the accrual of any non-union employee, per year, to 160 hours of compensated time off in lieu of overtime pay (the equivalent of 20 days if working 8 hours a day, or 4 weeks if calculated by a 40-hour work week) and prohibits the interference of employers with regard to forcing an employee to take the compensated time off.


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: Miller sponsored H.R.6579 - Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act of 2022, which would require companies to put workers on the board. This has been described as "company unions".


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: Miller expressed support for then-President Donald Trump's protectionist trade policies, expressing the feeling that farmers were taken advantage of in past trade deals such as NAFTA.


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: In 2022, Miller was one of 39 Republicans to vote for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: On January 5, 2021, two days into her House term, Miller issued a prepared speech to the conservative group Moms for America. She quoted Adolf Hitler, saying: "Each generation has the responsibility to teach and train the next generation. You know, if we win a few elections, we're still going to be losing unless we win the hearts and minds of our children. This is the battle. Hitler was right on one thing: he said, 'Whoever has the youth has the future.'"


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: A number of groups and politicians condemned the comment, criticized Miller, and urged the Republican party to do likewise. Illinois GOP Chairman Tim Schneider called her language "wrong and disgusting" and urged Miller "to apologize". Public statements were issued by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Anti-Defamation League (ADL), World Jewish Congress, and multiple lawmakers, including Adam Kinzinger and Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker. U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, and the Illinois legislative Jewish caucus called for Miller's resignation. On January 14, Schakowsky said that she would introduce a measure to censure Miller. ADL Midwest regional director David Goldenberg shared with Miller's office a list of 12 anti-Semitic incidents and 17 instances of white supremacist propaganda in the 15th district in 2019 and 2020 in an effort to make Miller aware of "what was going on in and around her district", he said, including information about extremist activity.


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: On January 7, Miller's office tweeted that her remarks had been intended to compare alleged youth indoctrination efforts by "left-wing radicals" to those of Hitler, while nonetheless encouraging Republicans to aggressively appeal to the youth as a means to collective power. On January 8, Miller apologized for having quoted Hitler in the message, but accused critics of twisting her words.


title: Mary Miller (politician)

text: Miller is married to fellow Republican politician Chris Miller. They own a farm in Oakland, near Charleston, where they grow grain and raise cattle. They have seven children and 17 grandchildren. The Millers are members of Oakland Christian Church.


"On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians" (, ) is an essay by Russian president Vladimir Putin published on 12 July 2021.


title: On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians

text: It was published shortly after the end of the first of two buildups of Russian forces preceding the large military invasion in February 2022. In the essay, Putin describes his views on Ukraine and Ukrainians.


text: According to RBK Daily, the essay is included in the list of mandatory works to be studied by the Russian military.


text: In the essay, Putin argues that Russians and Ukrainians, along with Belarusians, are one people, belonging to what has historically been known as the triune Russian nation. To support the claim, he describes in length his views on the history of Russia and Ukraine, concluding that Russians and Ukrainians share a common heritage and destiny.


text: Noting the large number of ethnic Russians in Ukraine, Putin compares "the formation of an ethnically pure Ukrainian state, aggressive towards Russia" to a use of weapons of mass destruction against Russians.


text: Putin openly questions the legitimacy of Ukraine's contemporary borders. According to Putin, the modern-day Ukraine occupies historically Russian lands, and is an "anti-Russia project" created by external forces since the seventeenth century, and of administrative and political decisions made during the Soviet Union. He also discusses the Russo-Ukrainian War, maintaining that "Kiev simply does not need Donbas".


text: Putin places blame for the current crisis on foreign plots and anti-Russian conspiracies. According to Putin, the decisions of the Ukrainian government are driven by a Western plot against Russia as well as by "followers of Bandera".


text: Several months later, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, also published an article on Ukraine. In it, he agrees with Putin's essay, and declares that there will be no negotiations with Ukraine until the Ukrainian government is replaced. The article, endorsed by the Kremlin, was criticized for its denigrating and antisemitic tone.


text: Vladislav Surkov, the personal adviser (2013–2020) of Putin, also published an article concerning Ukraine and other ex-USSR territories. In the article, he questions the legitimacy of the western border of Russia (including the borders with Ukraine and the Baltic states), and argues that Russia should abolish the "wicked peace" that keeps it confined by the borders.


text: In a speech on 21 February 2022, following the escalation in the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis, Putin said that "modern Ukraine was wholly and fully created by Bolshevik, communist Russia". Sarah Rainsford wrote in BBC News that Putin's speech was "rewriting Ukraine's history", and that his focus on the country was "obsessive".


text: The article "The Advance of Russia and of a New World" by Petr Akopov was briefly published in several Russian state news sites on 26 February 2022, two days after Russian forces openly invaded Ukrainian-controlled territory, but was soon deleted. Its original publication on RIA News at precisely 8:00 a.m. suggests it may have been automatically published by mistake. The article celebrates the "gathering the Russian world, the Russian people together—in its entirety of Great Russians, Belarusians and Little Russians" (using a Russian-empire term for colonized Ukrainians), and Vladimir Putin's historic responsibility for "resolution of the Ukrainian question". The same state-owned RIA News later published the article in 2022, "What Russia should do with Ukraine" openly advocating censorship and elimination of the Ukrainian culture, large-scale new education and de-ukrainisation of Ukrainians on the occupied territories.


text: On 29 March 2022, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the official government gazette of the Russian government, published an article that claims that European elites support the Ukrainian resistance because they are Nazis. According to the article, Ukraine must become a part of Russia, even if Ukrainians are against it.


text: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, criticized the essay on 13 July, comparing Putin's view on the brotherhood between the nations with the story of Cain and Abel. Former president Petro Poroshenko also sharply criticized the essay, describing it as a counterpart of Hitler's Sudetenland speech. Former president of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves similarly likened it to Hitler's 1938 rhetoric justifying the partition of Czechoslovakia. Ukraine's envoy to United Nations Sergiy Kyslytsya commented, "fables about the 'one people' ... have been refuted in Donbas battlefields".


text: According to the Institute of History of Ukraine, the essay represents the historical views of the Russian Empire. The Ukrainian World Congress compares Putin's view of Ukraine "as a non-nation" to that of Joseph Stalin under whose watch at least five million Ukrainians perished during the Holodomor. The analytics platform described the essay as a "mixture of historical myths, lies about Crimea and Donbas and manipulation of Ukrainian economic data".


text: The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace called the essay a "historical, political, and security predicate for invading [Ukraine]". The Stockholm Free World Forum senior fellow Anders Åslund branded the essay as "one step short of a declaration of war." According to "Foreign Policy", the essay is a "key guide to the historical stories that shape Putin's and many Russian's attitudes". Historian Timothy Snyder has described Putin's ideas as imperialism. British journalist Edward Lucas described it as historical revisionism. Other observers have noted that the Russian leadership has a distorted view of modern Ukraine and its history.


text: In Romania, a part of the essay caused outrage. The fragment in question describes how, in 1918, the Kingdom of Romania had "occupied" (and not united with) the geographical region of Bessarabia, part of which is now in Ukraine. Romanian media outlets such as "Adevărul" and Digi24 commented on Putin's statements and criticized them. Remarks were also made regarding Northern Bukovina, another former Romanian territory now part of Ukraine. , then a deputy of Romania, also replied to Putin's essay, declaring that Bessarabia was not occupied but "reattached" and "reincorporated" following "democratic processes and historical realities". Muraru also commented on Northern Bukovina.


text: A report by 35 legal and genocide experts cited Putin’s essay as part of "laying the groundwork for incitement to genocide: denying the existence of the Ukrainian group".


title: Autopilot

text: An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator's control of the vehicle, allowing the operator to focus on broader aspects of operations (for example, monitoring the trajectory, weather and on-board systems).


title: Autopilot

text: When present, an autopilot is often used in conjunction with an autothrottle, a system for controlling the power delivered by the engines.


title: Autopilot

text: An autopilot system is sometimes colloquially referred to as ""George"" (e.g. ""we'll let George fly for a while""). The etymology of the nickname is unclear: some claim it is a reference to inventor George De Beeson, who patented an autopilot in the 1930s, while others claim that Royal Air Force pilots coined the term during World War II to symbolize that their aircraft technically belonged to King George VI.


title: Autopilot

text: In the early days of aviation, aircraft required the continuous attention of a pilot to fly safely. As aircraft range increased, allowing flights of many hours, the constant attention led to serious fatigue. An autopilot is designed to perform some of the pilot's tasks.


title: Autopilot

text: The first aircraft autopilot was developed by Sperry Corporation in 1912. The autopilot connected a gyroscopic heading indicator and attitude indicator to hydraulically operated elevators and rudder. (Ailerons were not connected as wing dihedral was counted upon to produce the necessary roll stability.) It permitted the aircraft to fly straight and level on a compass course without a pilot's attention, greatly reducing the pilot's workload.


title: Autopilot

text: Lawrence Sperry, the son of famous inventor Elmer Sperry, demonstrated it in 1914 at an aviation safety contest held in Paris. Sperry demonstrated the credibility of the invention by flying the aircraft with his hands away from the controls and visible to onlookers. Elmer Sperry Jr., the son of Lawrence Sperry, and Capt Shiras continued work on the same autopilot after the war, and in 1930, they tested a more compact and reliable autopilot which kept a U.S. Army Air Corps aircraft on a true heading and altitude for three hours.


title: Autopilot

text: In 1930, the Royal Aircraft Establishment in the United Kingdom developed an autopilot called a pilots' assister that used a pneumatically-spun gyroscope to move the flight controls.


title: Autopilot

text: The autopilot was further developed, to include, for example, improved control algorithms and hydraulic servomechanisms. Adding more instruments, such as radio-navigation aids, made it possible to fly at night and in bad weather. In 1947, a U.S. Air Force C-53 made a transatlantic flight, including takeoff and landing, completely under the control of an autopilot.


title: Autopilot

text: Bill Lear developed his F-5 automatic pilot and automatic approach control system, and was awarded the Collier Trophy in 1949.


title: Autopilot

text: The lunar module digital autopilot of the Apollo program was an early example of a fully digital autopilot system in spacecraft.


title: Autopilot

text: Not all of the passenger aircraft flying today have an autopilot system. Older and smaller general aviation aircraft especially are still hand-flown, and even small airliners with fewer than twenty seats may also be without an autopilot as they are used on short-duration flights with two pilots. The installation of autopilots in aircraft with more than twenty seats is generally made mandatory by international aviation regulations. There are three levels of control in autopilots for smaller aircraft. A single-axis autopilot controls an aircraft in the roll axis only; such autopilots are also known colloquially as "wing levellers", reflecting their single capability. A two-axis autopilot controls an aircraft in the pitch axis as well as roll, and may be little more than a wing leveller with limited pitch oscillation-correcting ability; or it may receive inputs from on-board radio navigation systems to provide true automatic flight guidance once the aircraft has taken off until shortly before landing; or its capabilities may lie somewhere between these two extremes. A three-axis autopilot adds control in the yaw axis and is not required in many small aircraft.


title: Autopilot

text: Autopilots in modern complex aircraft are three-axis and generally divide a flight into taxi, takeoff, climb, cruise (level flight), descent, approach, and landing phases. Autopilots that automate all of these flight phases except taxi and takeoff exist. An autopilot-controlled approach to landing on a runway and controlling the aircraft on rollout (i.e. keeping it on the centre of the runway) is known as an Autoland, where the autopilot utilizes an Instrument Landing System (ILS) Cat IIIc approach, which is used when the visibility is zero. These approaches are available at many major airports' runways today, especially at airports subject to adverse weather phenomena such as fog. The aircraft can typically stop on their own, but will require the disengagement of the autopilot in order to exit the runway and taxi to the gate. An autopilot is often an integral component of a Flight Management System.


title: Autopilot

text: Modern autopilots use computer software to control the aircraft. The software reads the aircraft's current position, and then controls a flight control system to guide the aircraft. In such a system, besides classic flight controls, many autopilots incorporate thrust control capabilities that can control throttles to optimize the airspeed.


title: Autopilot

text: The autopilot in a modern large aircraft typically reads its position and the aircraft's attitude from an inertial guidance system. Inertial guidance systems accumulate errors over time. They will incorporate error reduction systems such as the carousel system that rotates once a minute so that any errors are dissipated in different directions and have an overall nulling effect. Error in gyroscopes is known as drift. This is due to physical properties within the system, be it mechanical or laser guided, that corrupt positional data. The disagreements between the two are resolved with digital signal processing, most often a six-dimensional Kalman filter. The six dimensions are usually roll, pitch, yaw, altitude, latitude, and longitude. Aircraft may fly routes that have a required performance factor, therefore the amount of error or actual performance factor must be monitored in order to fly those particular routes. The longer the flight, the more error accumulates within the system. Radio aids such as DME, DME updates, and GPS may be used to correct the aircraft position.


title: Autopilot

text: An option midway between fully automated flight and manual flying is Control Wheel Steering (CWS). Although it is becoming less used as a stand-alone option in modern airliners, CWS is still a function on many aircraft today. Generally, an autopilot that is CWS equipped has three positions: off, CWS, and CMD. In CMD (Command) mode the autopilot has full control of the aircraft, and receives its input from either the heading/altitude setting, radio and navaids, or the FMS (Flight Management System). In CWS mode, the pilot controls the autopilot through inputs on the yoke or the stick. These inputs are translated to a specific heading and attitude, which the autopilot will then hold until instructed to do otherwise. This provides stability in pitch and roll. Some aircraft employ a form of CWS even in manual mode, such as the MD-11 which uses a constant CWS in roll. In many ways, a modern Airbus fly-by-wire aircraft in Normal Law is always in CWS mode. The major difference is that in this system the limitations of the aircraft are guarded by the flight computer, and the pilot cannot steer the aircraft past these limits.


title: Autopilot

text: The hardware of an autopilot varies between implementations, but is generally designed with redundancy and reliability as foremost considerations. For example, the Rockwell Collins AFDS-770 Autopilot Flight Director System used on the Boeing 777 uses triplicated FCP-2002 microprocessors which have been formally verified and are fabricated in a radiation-resistant process.


title: Autopilot

text: Software and hardware in an autopilot are tightly controlled, and extensive test procedures are put in place.


title: Autopilot

text: Some autopilots also use design diversity. In this safety feature, critical software processes will not only run on separate computers and possibly even using different architectures, but each computer will run software created by different engineering teams, often being programmed in different programming languages. It is generally considered unlikely that different engineering teams will make the same mistakes. As the software becomes more expensive and complex, design diversity is becoming less common because fewer engineering companies can afford it. The flight control computers on the Space Shuttle used this design: there were five computers, four of which redundantly ran identical software, and a fifth backup running software that was developed independently. The software on the fifth system provided only the basic functions needed to fly the Shuttle, further reducing any possible commonality with the software running on the four primary systems.


title: Autopilot

text: A stability augmentation system (SAS) is another type of automatic flight control system; however, instead of maintaining the aircraft required altitude or flight path, the SAS will move the aircraft control surfaces to damp unacceptable motions. SAS automatically stabilizes the aircraft in one or more axes. The most common type of SAS is the yaw damper which is used to reduce the Dutch roll tendency of swept-wing aircraft. Some yaw dampers are part of the autopilot system while others are stand-alone systems.


title: Autopilot

text: Yaw dampers use a sensor to detect how fast the aircraft is rotating (either a gyroscope or a pair of accelerometers), a computer/amplifier and an actuator. The sensor detects when the aircraft begins the yawing part of Dutch roll. A computer processes the signal from the sensor to determine the rudder deflection required to damp the motion. The computer tells the actuator to move the rudder in the opposite direction to the motion since the rudder has to oppose the motion to reduce it. The Dutch roll is damped and the aircraft becomes stable about the yaw axis. Because Dutch roll is an instability that is inherent in all swept-wing aircraft, most swept-wing aircraft need some sort of yaw damper.


title: Autopilot

text: There are two types of yaw damper: the series yaw damper and the parallel yaw damper. The actuator of a parallel yaw damper will move the rudder independently of the pilot's rudder pedals while the actuator of a series yaw damper is clutched to the rudder control quadrant and will result in pedal movement when the rudder moves.


title: Autopilot

text: Some aircraft have stability augmentation systems that will stabilize the aircraft in more than a single axis. The Boeing B-52, for example, requires both pitch and yaw SAS in order to provide a stable bombing platform. Many helicopters have pitch, roll and yaw SAS systems. Pitch and roll SAS systems operate much the same way as the yaw damper described above; however, instead of damping Dutch roll, they will damp pitch and roll oscillations to improve the overall stability of the aircraft.


title: Autopilot

text: Instrument-aided landings are defined in categories by the International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO. These are dependent upon the required visibility level and the degree to which the landing can be conducted automatically without input by the pilot.


title: Autopilot

text: CAT I – This category permits pilots to land with a decision height of and a forward visibility or Runway Visual Range (RVR) of . Autopilots are not required.


title: Autopilot

text: CAT II – This category permits pilots to land with a decision height between and and a RVR of . Autopilots have a fail passive requirement.


title: Autopilot

text: CAT IIIa -This category permits pilots to land with a decision height as low as and a RVR of . It needs a fail-passive autopilot. There must be only a 10 probability of landing outside the prescribed area.


title: Autopilot

text: CAT IIIb – As IIIa but with the addition of automatic roll out after touchdown incorporated with the pilot taking control some distance along the runway. This category permits pilots to land with a decision height less than 50 feet or no decision height and a forward visibility of in Europe (76 metres, compare this to aircraft size, some of which are now over long) or in the United States. For a landing-without-decision aid, a fail-operational autopilot is needed. For this category some form of runway guidance system is needed: at least fail-passive but it needs to be fail-operational for landing without decision height or for RVR below .


title: Autopilot

text: CAT IIIc – As IIIb but without decision height or visibility minimums, also known as "zero-zero". Not yet implemented as it would require the pilots to taxi in zero-zero visibility. An aircraft that is capable of landing in a CAT IIIb that is equipped with autobrake would be able to fully stop on the runway but would have no ability to taxi.


title: Autopilot

text: Fail-passive autopilot: in case of failure, the aircraft stays in a controllable position and the pilot can take control of it to go around or finish landing. It is usually a dual-channel system.


title: Autopilot

text: Fail-operational autopilot: in case of a failure below alert height, the approach, flare and landing can still be completed automatically. It is usually a triple-channel system or dual-dual system.


title: Autopilot

text: In radio-controlled modelling, and especially RC aircraft and helicopters, an autopilot is usually a set of extra hardware and software that deals with pre-programming the model's flight.


title: Flight 7500

text: Flight 7500 is a 2014 American supernatural horror film directed by Takashi Shimizu and starring Leslie Bibb, Jerry Ferrara, Ryan Kwanten, and Amy Smart. It revolves around a supernatural force on a plane. The film is loosely based on the Helios Airways Flight 522 incident that took place in 2005. The film was released in the United States on April 12, 2016, by CBS Films and Lionsgate, after being released theatrically in Asia.


title: Flight 7500

text: Vista Pacific Airlines flight 7500, a Boeing 747-300, departs from Los Angeles to Tokyo Haneda. Passengers onboard include a group of two vacationing couples, Lyn (Aja Evans) and Jack (Ben Sharples) and Brad (Ryan Kwanten) and Pia (Amy Smart), who have secretly broken up; a thief named Jake (Alex Frost); a suspicious businessman traveling with a strange wooden box, Lance Morrell (Rick Kelly); a young woman named Raquel (Christian Serratos); newlyweds Rick (Jerry Ferrara) and the snobby Liz (Nicky Whelan); and the goth Jacinta (Scout Taylor-Compton). Air hostesses Laura (Leslie Bibb) and Suzy (Jamie Chung) welcome the passengers on board, and Suzy questions Laura about her secret relationship with the married captain, Pete (Johnathon Schaech).


title: Flight 7500

text: Lance has a panic attack and begins to bleed profusely from his mouth. When Lance suddenly dies, Captain Pete continues to Japan, moving the first-class passengers into Economy class and keeping Lance's body in the closed-off first class.


title: Flight 7500

text: While dispensing drinks, Laura notices plastic water bottles collapsing and quickly warns everyone to fasten their seatbelts, as the cabin pressure drops. Oxygen masks are dispensed above the seats, but at least one does not work. The co-pilot falls unconscious. A thick smoke fills the cabin floor. After the cabin pressure returns to normal and the smoke disappears, Laura finds Raquel unconscious in the toilet and revives her with an oxygen tank. Meanwhile, the plane's radio has stopped working and Captain Pete cannot contact Tokyo air traffic controllers.


title: Flight 7500

text: Jake goes to first-class to steal the Rolex from Lance's body when the body suddenly moves. He does not notice; when he pulls back the cloth covering the body, he is petrified by something the audience is not shown. Suzy finds out that Jake, and Lance's body, have both disappeared. When Laura notices an F-16 fighter jet flying beside their plane and calls the cockpit to inform Pete, he replies that no fighter jets are present. Brad's in-flight TV show (The Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet") distorts and shows an image of Lance, while Liz is startled by a reflection of Lance on her laptop screen. Raquel returns to the washroom to do a pregnancy test and is relieved to find it negative. However, smoke begins to fill the toilet and a hand grabs her and pulls her into the floor.


title: Flight 7500

text: The images of Lance appearing on their screens lead the group to search his belongings. Inside his carry-on are multiple tubes of hair with women's names taped onto them. They open Lance's small wooden box and find a "death doll," which Jacinta explains is a shinigami — a being who collects people's souls after they die, but only if they let go of whatever is holding them to this world. Subsequently, Suzy informs Laura that Lance's death has made her realize she does not want to marry her fiancé, which in turn leads to Laura breaking up with Pete.


title: Flight 7500

text: Laura searches Lance's checked luggage, entering the cargo hold through a small hatch. A hand emerges and drags Laura away. As Suzy waits for Laura by the hatch, another hand grabs at her. Suzy runs into first class, while a cloud of smoke follows her. The smoke quickly clears and Brad, Pia, Rick, Liz, and Jacinta rush to find out what is wrong. As Suzy walks towards them, one of the overhead compartments opens and she disappears into it. While the others rush towards the cockpit, Jacinta hears her own words and hesistantly walks towards an unknown figure which appears before her.


title: Flight 7500

text: The others discover Captain Pete and the co-pilot slumped in their seats. They eventually, alone or with another, find themselves slumped in their seats. The entertainment screen in the cabin suddenly shows a breaking news story that Flight 7500 suffered a catastrophic decompression, communication had been lost, and a fighter jet found no sign of life on board. It is revealed that everyone who has disappeared was taken after they let go of the one thing that had been tying them to the world. Brad and Pia accept their death and reconcile as the plane runs out of fuel and crashes into the ocean. Sometime after, Liz awakens to find the plane empty. She hears a strange noise coming from one of the waste bins, a discolored hand appears, and Liz ducks out of frame.


title: Flight 7500

text: In November 2011, CBS Films set the film, then known as "7500", for an August 31, 2012 release. Trailers ran in theaters, attached to screenings of "The" "Possession". However, in May 2012, it was pulled from the schedule for a 2013 release date. The film was released on April 12, 2016, on video on demand and on home media formats under the title "Flight 7500".


title: Flight 7500

text: The film was released theatrically internationally in countries such as Philippines, Turkey, and Japan.


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: Close to You is the second studio album by American duo Carpenters, released on August 19, 1970. In 2003, the album was ranked number 175 on "Rolling Stone"s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list. The album contains the hit singles "(They Long to Be) Close to You" and "We've Only Just Begun". The former was the song which earned the Carpenters an international reputation. The album topped the Canadian Albums Chart and peaked at number 2 on the US "Billboard" albums chart. It was also successful in the United Kingdom, entering the top 50 of the official chart for 76 weeks during the first half of the 1970s.


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: The album and its singles earned Carpenters eight Grammy Award nominations including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year. It won the Best New Artist and Best Contemporary Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus for the album.


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: Drummer Hal Blaine reported that the Carpenters' parents were in the recording studio for the "Close to You" album and "You could tell right away they ruled the roost." According to Blaine, Karen's mother dictated her singing style and expressed disapproval that she did not perform as a drummer on all the songs. Blaine countered that though Karen was a capable drummer, she was accustomed to playing loudly for live performances and thus was not familiar with the different requirements of recording in a professional studio; however, she had been informed beforehand of Blaine's involvement and indicated her approval.


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: "(They Long to Be) Close to You" was the first Burt Bacharach/Hal David composition the Carpenters covered. The song was recorded time and time again during the sixties, but didn't do well at all until the Carpenters version. It became Richard and Karen Carpenter's first RIAA-certified Gold single, as well as their first "Billboard" Hot 100 single that reached the Top 10. It stayed at number 1 for 4 weeks, and became the Carpenters' iconic song. Richard devoted the song to Karen.


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: "We've Only Just Begun" started out as a commercial for Crocker Citizen's Bank in 1970, composed by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols. The commercial showed a couple getting married and starting their life together. In August 1970, it became the Carpenters' second RIAA-certified Gold single. Richard regards this as the duo's signature song.


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: Originally written by Ralph Carmichael for the early contemporary Christian musical "Tell It Like It Is", "Love Is Surrender" was a song Richard and Karen heard during their teen years. Several of the overtly Christian lyrics were changed for this version, notably from "Without Him, love is not to be found" to "Without love you are not to be found" and "You must surrender to His will" to "You must surrender if you care." The arrangement is very similar to an arrangement Carmichael did for the Valentine's Day 1970 broadcast by evangelist Oral Roberts. This version was released, along with other songs for that broadcast, on an album, "Love Is...". The Carpenters' recording is one of only two tracks on the album on which Richard Carpenter performs lead vocals.


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: "Maybe It's You" is a song written by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis for their previous band, Spectrum. It's a very low-key song, with an oboe solo by Doug Strawn.


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: "Reason to Believe" is a song composed by Tim Hardin in the 1960s. Rod Stewart made a hit with it in 1971. Karen claimed in a live concert that the reason why they love the song is because it was one of the first songs they performed together as a group.


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: "Help!" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney in early 1965. The Carpenters produced four Beatles covers ("Ticket to Ride", "Help!", "Can't Buy Me Love" from "Your Navy Presents", and "Nowhere Man").


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: "Baby It's You" is a song composed by Burt Bacharach, Barney Williams, and Mack David. It was sung by Richard and Karen in 1970, and performed on their TV show, "Make Your Own Kind of Music".


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" is the third consecutive Burt Bacharach composition on the album. It was included on their medley the following year, on the album "Carpenters". According to Tom Riddle of "Your Navy Presents", there was a 29 part vocal harmony on the song. Originally part of the score for Bacharach and David's 1968 musical "Promises, Promises", the song had provided a top-ten hit for Dionne Warwick in January 1970.


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: Originally performed by Karen and Richard in the California State University, Long Beach choir in 1969, "Crescent Noon" is a song composed by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis.


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: "Mr. Guder" was dedicated to Richard Carpenter and John Bettis's boss at Disneyland, Vic Guder. It was a bit of a last tease to the man who fired the duo. They were hired to play old-time music on piano and banjo at the park's "Coke Corner" on Main Street, U.S., but they persisted in playing contemporary tunes that the patrons requested. The lyrics say:


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: Many of their later recordings that were composed in the late 1960s were written during their Disneyland career.


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: "I Kept on Loving You", a song written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, features Richard on lead vocal and despite being uncredited in the album's liner notes, a guitarist is playing on the song, possibly either Gary Sims or a Los Angeles-based session guitarist.


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: "Another Song" was another Carpenter/Bettis creation that was very different from the typical Carpenters song and is essentially a suite in three movements: a pop section (0:00–1:45), a baroque-influenced section (1:45–2:28), and a jazz section (2:28–4:22). The song opens with a short prelude based on the harmony and melodic contour of the accompanied recitative "And, lo! the angel of the Lord came upon them" from Part I of George Frideric Handel's oratorio "Messiah" (1742).


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: "Close to You" was nominated for Record of the Year and Album of the Year at the 13th annual Grammy awards (1970). "Close To You" won the Carpenters a Grammy for Best New Artist and another Grammy for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group or Chorus the same year.


title: Close to You (The Carpenters album)

text: AllMusic's retrospective review deemed "Close to You" "a surprisingly strong album", particularly praising Richard Carpenter's original compositions "Maybe it's You", "Crescent Noon", and "Mr. Guder", describing them as superlative displays of both Karen Carpenter's vocal work and Richard's arranging talents. They also derided contemporary criticism against the album, insinuating that the negative reaction stemmed from "Close to You" being a successful pop record at a time of great political turmoil.


title: Rose Island (film)

text: The film is based on the true story of engineer Giorgio Rosa and the Republic of Rose Island. It was released on Netflix on 9 December 2020.


title: Rose Island (film)

text: Giorgio Rosa approaches the Council of Europe with a petition to protect and recognize his Island, which he later elaborates was built by him and his friend Maurizio Orlandini. The film flashes back a year to show how that after passing the state engineering exam, he met with his ex-girlfriend, Gabriella, in Bologna. While he drives them home, they are stopped by police because his homemade car lacks license plates. They also discover it was never registered. He is jailed for the night and bailed out by his father. Gabriella is fingerprinted, but not charged, and thus later must deal with having a mark on her record.


title: Rose Island (film)

text: Three months later, he is working for motorbike racer Bruno Spaggiari as an engineer when he sees a billboard showing an oil platform. Inspired, he convinces Maurizio who is tired of working in his father's company, to help him build an island just outside the territorial waters and, thus, the legal jurisdiction of Italy, where everyone is free to do as they want. With money that Maurizio has stolen from his father and innovative engineering solutions that drastically reduce the cost of materials, they successfully build an island of their own with a supply of fresh water. A cast-away welder with his boat asks for shelter during a storm and becomes the first resident.


title: Rose Island (film)

text: Club promoter Wolfgang Rudy Neumann visits the island. He is a stateless man of German origin and PR manager at a Rimini beach club. He starts to promote the island as a tourist destination and more people begin to visit, attracted by the freedom it represents from the established states. Franca, a 19-year-old pregnant girl, offers to become the barmaid of the 400-square metre island's sole bar. Gabriella, who had come to the island to tell Giorgio of her pending marriage, claims that it's not a nation, and is nothing more than a disco. Giorgio argues that the island, now named Rose Island, has its own language, currency, postal system and other amenities including a citizenship process that is soon to be started. Gabriella points out that there is no official recognition of it.


title: Rose Island (film)

text: A letter is written to the United Nations Headquarters in New York, who contact the Italian government. As the island's president, Giorgio is pressured by the government to relinquish control. He refuses. In retaliation, the Italian authorities arrange for his father to be fired from his job. Other members of the island are also made offers to leave, which they accept. Gabriella advises Giorgio to approach the Council of Europe for help, and accepted his case for further investigation. The Italian government threatens to destroy the island. When Giorgio refuses to back down, the other residents return and stand along with him on the island against the Italian navy. They are detained and the island is blown up. The film ends showing Gabriella and Giorgio getting back together. History notes Rose Island was, despite its short life, a landmark event of being the only nation to be directly attacked by the Italian Republic. To prevent similar accidents from occurring in the future, the UN extended the international waters territory from 6 to 12 nautical miles.


title: Rose Island (film)

text: "Rose Island" received generally positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of , based on reviews


title: Rose Island (film)

text: Linda Marric of "NME" wrote: "Sibilia and co-writer Francesca Manieri successfully mix whimsy and pathos to give us something truly inspiring."


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: Michael Martin Murphey (born March 14, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter best known for writing and performing Western music, country music and popular music. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums, including "Cowboy Songs", the first album of cowboy music to achieve gold status since "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" by Marty Robbins in 1959. He has recorded the hit singles "Wildfire", "Carolina in the Pines", "What's Forever For", "A Long Line of Love", "What She Wants", "Don't Count the Rainy Days", and "Maybe This Time". Murphey is also the author of New Mexico's state ballad, "The Land of Enchantment". Murphey has become a prominent musical voice for the Western horseman, rancher, and cowboy.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: Michael Martin Murphey was born on March 14, 1945, to Pink Lavary Murphey and Lois (née Corbett) Murphey, in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Texas, where he grew up. He has a brother, Mark, who is three years younger. When he was 6 years old, he started riding horses on his grandfather's and uncle's ranches. Years later he would remember sleeping on his grandfather's porch under the stars, listening to the older man's stories and cowboy songs.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: He enjoyed being around these men of the land as they went about their work. These experiences made a deep impression on the young boy. During these early years, he developed a special love for cowboy songs and stories. He was also an avid reader, especially drawn to the books of Mark Twain and William Faulkner. As a youth, he enjoyed writing poetry and loved listening to his uncle's old 78 rpm records, particularly the music of country and folk artists such as Hank Williams, Bob Wills, and Woody Guthrie.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In junior high school he began performing as an amateur, and later as a camp counselor at a summer camp called Sky Ranch. At the age of 17, he took his first "professional" music job, playing western songs around a campfire at a Texas ranch. By the early 1960s, Murphey was playing the clubs in Dallas, performing country music, folk music, and rock music. He won over Texas audiences with his charm and talent, and soon formed a band that developed a significant following in the Dallas area.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: After graduating from W. H. Adamson High School in Oak Cliff, Murphey studied Greek at the University of North Texas. As a member of the institution's Folk Music Club, he befriended Steven Fromholz, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Shiva's Headband fiddler Spencer Perskin and Armadillo World Headquarters co-founder Eddie Wilson. Murphey then moved to California, where he studied creative writing and majored in medieval history and literature at the University of California, Los Angeles. He signed a publishing contract with the Sparrow Music company, and soon he made a name for himself in the Los Angeles folk music scene. By 1964, he formed a musical group with an old Texas friend, Michael Nesmith, John London, and John Raines, under the name the Trinity River Boys.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: Murphey's first big break came through his friend Michael Nesmith, who had become part of the popular television musical group, The Monkees. Nesmith asked Murphey to write them a song for the next Monkees album, and Murphey composed "What Am I Doing Hangin' Round". The album "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd." sold over five million copies.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: Murphey formed the Lewis & Clarke Expedition with Boomer Castleman, and recorded one self-titled album for Colgems Records, the company that also released the Monkees' LPs. They had a modest hit with "I Feel Good (I Feel Bad)". Boomer Castleman went on to find success with his controversial song "Judy Mae" and as the writer and producer of the million selling novelty hit "Telephone Man" for singer Meri Wilson.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In 1968, Murphey moved to Wrightwood, a village in the San Gabriel Mountains adjacent to the Mojave Desert of California to work on his songwriting. Based on the success of his songs, he signed a contract with the Screen Gems company, the publishing arm of Columbia Pictures. Some of his songs were recorded by Flatt and Scruggs and Bobbie Gentry. Kenny Rogers and the First Edition recorded an entire album of Michael Murphey songs called "The Ballad of Calico", about a Mojave Desert ghost town.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: Murphey wrote some additional songs for The Monkees, but he grew disillusioned with the poor financial rewards and the Southern California music scene.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In 1971, Murphey returned to Texas and became part of the so-called Outlaw country movement, playing alongside other maverick performers such as Willie Nelson and Jerry Jeff Walker. He created a unique sound that combined his country, rock, and folk influences. It was during this period that Murphey co-wrote "Geronimo's Cadillac" with the lyricist Charles John Quarto, a song about Native American rights that later became an unofficial anthem for the American Indian Movement in the early 1970s.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In 1971, Murphey was signed to A&M Records by Bob Johnston, who discovered him in a Dallas club, the Rubaiyat. Johnston had produced some of the country's most popular recording artists, including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and Simon and Garfunkel. In 1972, Johnston produced Murphey's first album "Geronimo's Cadillac" in Nashville, Tennessee. The sound of the album reflects Murphey's love of country, folk, and blues music. Murphey's early gospel influences are also evident throughout the album. The title track was released as a single, and reached the Top 40 on the US pop charts. In addition to the title track, the album included "Boy from the Country", "What Am I Doin' Hangin' Around?", and "Michael Angelo's Blues". "Rolling Stone" magazine proclaimed, "On the strength of his first album alone, Michael Murphey is the best new songwriter in the country."


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In 1973, Murphey followed up with the album "Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir", which continued the urban cowboy theme of the first album. The album included "Cosmic Cowboy, Pt. 1", "Alleys of Austin", and "Rolling Hills".


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: Throughout this period, Murphey's band included Bob Livingston and Gary P. Nunn, the author of "London Homesick Blues". He performed a number of times at the Armadillo World Headquarters, and his photo was even used for the original cover of Jan Reid's book, "The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock". But Michael Murphey's musical vision was expanding beyond the confines of the outlaw country sound and moving toward a much more ambitious musical tapestry.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In 1973, Murphey signed to Epic Records and released the album "Michael Murphey" that same year. Produced by Bob Johnston, the album included the orchestra anthem "Nobody's Gonna Tell Me How To Play My Music", and "Southwestern Pilgrimage".


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In 1975, Murphey released his seminal album, "Blue Sky – Night Thunder", also produced by Bob Johnston. The album generated two hit singles: "Carolina in the Pines" and his Platinum-certified signature song "Wildfire", a sentimental song about the ghosts of a woman and her horse. As a boy, he first heard from his grandfather the story of a ghost horse rescuing people in the desert. Years later, Murphey had a dream about this ghost horse and wrote the words and music the same day with songwriter Larry Cansler.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In the summer of 1975, "Wildfire" became a chart-topping hit, reaching No. 2 in Cash Box and No. 3 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, as well as No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary charts, giving Murphey a new level of commercial success and exposure. It immediately sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in July 1975. It eventually surpassed two million in US sales and was awarded a platinum disc by the R.I.A.A. in September 2001. The song's harmonies were supplied by Jeff Hanna and Jimmy Ibbotson from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and the piano introduction and ending coda played by jazz pianist Jac Murphy. The introduction is based on a piece by the Russian classical composer Alexander Scriabin.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: During the late 1970s, he recorded four albums: "Swans Against the Sun" (1975), "Flowing Free Forever" (1976), "Lone Wolf" (1978), and "Peaks, Valleys, Honky Tonks & Alleys" (1979). The album "Swans Against the Sun" produced his first country hits "A Mansion on the Hill" and "Cherokee Fiddle", which also became a top ten hit for Johnny Lee. Murphey's friends, John Denver, Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels, and Steve Weisberg appeared on the album. In 1981, Murphey made his first film appearance in "Hard Country", which he cowrote.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: To distinguish himself from actor Michael Murphy, the singer began using his middle name for film and music credits. To this day, he is known as Michael Martin Murphey.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In 1982, Murphey signed with Liberty Records and produced two original albums, "Michael Martin Murphey" and "The Heart Never Lies", as well as a compilation of re-recorded versions of his A&M, Epic, and Liberty hits called "The Best of Michael Martin Murphey".


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In the early 1980s, Murphey had significant commercial success with hits like "Still Taking Chances", "Disenchanted", "Don't Count the Rainy Days", "Will It Be Love by Morning", "Radio Land", "Maybe This Time", and the number one hit "What's Forever For", written by Rafe Van Hoy, which also crossed over to number three at AC Radio and number 19 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart. In 1983, Murphey was voted Best New Male Vocalist of the Year by the Academy of Country Music. In 1985, his rerecorded version of "Carolina in the Pines" reached the Top 10.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In 1985, Murphey signed a new recording contract with Warner Bros. Records and continued his streak of successful recordings. In 1986, he released the album "Tonight We Ride", which included "Rollin' Nowhere", "Fiddlin' Man", and "Santa Fe Cantina". In 1987, he released the album "Americana", which included "Once Upon a Time", "My Darling Wherever You Are", and another number one country hit with the song "A Long Line of Love". That same album produced the hit single "A Face in the Crowd" with Holly Dunn, which was nominated for a Grammy Award.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In 1988, Murphey released the album "River of Time", which produced three hit singles that reached number three on the charts: Jesse Winchester's "I'm Going to Miss You, Girl", his own "From the Word Go", and "Talkin' to the Wrong Man", which featured his son Ryan. In 1989, Murphey closed out a successful decade of recording with the album "Land of Enchantment", which contained "Never Givin' Up on Love", "Got to Pay the Fiddler", "Route 66", and "Land of Enchantment", which became New Mexico's state ballad.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: Despite the impressive critical and commercial success he achieved throughout the 1980s, Murphey's authentic creativity began to gravitate towards the Western music that appealed to him as a child coming of age in Texas. As early as 1985, Murphey performed with the New Mexico Symphony in a show called "A Night in the American West", which led to many subsequent performances with American and Canadian symphonies, including the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C. These western shows, and the songs he was writing and recording at the time, presaged a major change in Murphey's career.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In 1990, he released the album "Cowboy Songs". The album contained Murphey's versions of old cowboy songs from the public domain such as "Tumbling Tumbleweeds", "The Old Chisholm Trail", the beautiful "Spanish is the Loving Tongue", the classic "The Streets of Laredo", and his tip of the hat to Roy Rogers, "Happy Trails". The album contained Murphey's own "Cowboy Logic".


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: Murphey was reluctant to promote the project, but he eventually released "Cowboy Logic" as a single and it quickly became a hit. Soon after, the album caught on and sold much better than expected. "Cowboy Songs" earned widespread praise from country and folk music critics, such as Jack Hurst from the "Chicago Tribune" who wrote, "[This is] not only one of the finest albums of [the] year but also one of the finest of the last decade. Its 22 riveting cuts represent a labor of not only love but also scholarship; it raises a cult musical genre to the level of mainstream art. "Cowboy Songs" went on to achieve Gold status, the first western album to do so since Marty Robbins' "No. 1 Cowboy" in 1980.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In 1991, Murphey followed up with two additional albums of cowboy songs. His innovative concept album, "Cowboy Christmas: Cowboy Songs II", contained versions of traditional and original western Christmas songs, including "The Christmas Trail," "The Cowboy Christmas Ball," and "Two-Step 'Round the Christmas Tree". An accompanying video was later released of one of Murphey's "Cowboy Christmas Ball" concerts, which included many of these songs. "Cowboy Songs III" contained a mix of traditional and original cowboy songs, including a virtual duet with Marty Robbins, "Big Iron," which used an early Marty Robbins' vocal track.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: "Cowboy Songs" and its follow-up albums were so successful that they inspired the formation of Warner Western, a new subsidiary label of Warner Bros. Records devoted to western music and cowboy poetry. In 1992, Warner Western issued albums by Don Edwards, Waddie Mitchell, and the Sons of the San Joaquin. All three records were produced by Murphey.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In 1995, Murphey further demonstrated his musical ambitions with the concept album "Sagebrush Symphony", recorded live with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, Herb Jeffries, and the Sons of the San Joaquin. In 1997, he released the album "The Horse Legends", a musical tribute to this majestic animal. The album included several new Murphey songs, a new version of "Wildfire", and covers of some well-known songs, such as Dan Fogelberg's "Run for the Roses" and Gordon Lightfoot's "The Pony Man".


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In 1998, Murphey left Warner Bros. Records and started his own record label, WestFest/Real West Productions. That year, he released "Cowboy Songs Four", which contained both traditional and original cowboy songs, including "Utah Carroll," "Little Joe, the Wrangler," and Murphey's "Song from Lonesome Dove". In 1999, he released "Acoustic Christmas Carols: Cowboy Christmas II", which included Murphey's quiet renditions of traditional Christmas songs, and featured his son Ryan and daughter Laura.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In 2001, Murphey released a compilation of some of his best-loved songs, "Playing Favorites", which included rerecorded versions of such songs as "Carolina in the Pines," "Cherokee Fiddle," "Cowboy Logic," "What's Forever For," and "Wildfire". He followed this up in 2002 with "Cowboy Classics: Playing Favorites II", which again included re-recorded versions of some of his best-loved cowboy songs. That same year, Murphey released "Cowboy Christmas III", which contained a new original song "The Kill Pen," as well as original cowboy poetry written and recited by his daughter Karen. In 2004, Murphey released "Live at Billy Bob's Texas", and in 2006, he released "Heartland Cowboy: Cowboy Songs, Vol. 5".


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: Murphey has championed Western cowboy culture and the wilderness. In 1986 he founded WestFest, an annual music festival held at Copper Mountain, Colorado that celebrates western art and culture. Molly Carpenter, writing in the "Richmond Times-Dispatch", noted, "Murphey's love for the American West clearly comes through in his songs, painted with vivid images of the rugged mountains and vast deserts of southwest landscapes, all evidence of his travels from his native Texas to California's Mojave Desert, Colorado's Rockies and the wild diversity of New Mexico, his home for the past 10 years."


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: During the 1990s, in a further effort to preserve the traditions of the West, Murphey led a group of performers—including cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell and western music historian and troubadour Don Edwards — in a series of improvisational concerts called "Cowboy Logic", which toured throughout the United States, including such unlikely locations as New York City and Las Vegas. Waddy Mitchell is the co-founder of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Murphey met Mitchell there in 1986, the first such event he had ever attended. He later described the transforming event as "a religious experience ... I'd been collecting cowboy music and performing it among my friends. But when I saw a lot of other guys like me and also women performing this music and enjoying each other's company, it was the most important thing that had happened to me in years in my musical life."


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: On May 22, 2007, he made a rare appearance in New York City to perform "Wildfire" on the "Late Show with David Letterman". The song had become one of Letterman's favorites and was included regularly on the show. That same month, Murphey organized and performed for John Wayne's 100th Birthday Celebration, with the approval of the John Wayne Family. Murphey was commended by the White House for his activities. Later that year, he released three DVDs detailing his love of the cowboy ways, life, and preservation of the American West traditions. The DVDs document his trail rides, cattle drives, and Cowboy Poetry gatherings. One of Murphey's Cowboy Christmas Ball concerts, recorded in Oklahoma City, was included as a fourth DVD in the combination CD/DVD set.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In December 2007, Murphey released "A Soldier's Christmas" based on a poem by Michael E. Marks, a soldier serving in Iraq. Marks sent the poem to Murphey, who was so moved by the poem he sought permission to set it to music, which he did. He started including the song in all his concerts, including his Cowboy Christmas Ball concerts, to long standing ovations after its performance, which prompted its release in December 2007.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In February 2009, Murphey released "Buckaroo Blue Grass", which marked a return to his bluegrass musical roots. Murphey's love of Bluegrass music dates back to when he sang lead vocals with the Earl Scruggs Band. Over the years, his songs have been recorded by Bluegrass artists such as Flatt and Scruggs, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, the Country Gentlemen, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: On Buckaroo Bluegrass, Murphey offers new versions of his famous Bluegrass songs, such as "Carolina in the Pines", "Fiddlin' Man", "Lost River", and "What Am I Doing Hanging Around". Murphey also includes new Bluegrass versions of several of his classics, such as "Boy from the Country", "Dancing in the Meadow", and "Healing Spring". The album includes two new songs, "Close to the Land", the theme song of the PBS documentary television series America's Heartland, and "Lone Cowboy", a song that reflects Murphey's experiences as a solo artist performing throughout the West at music festivals, cowboy gatherings, historical theaters, and trail rides. Michael's son, Ryan, produced the album, and added acoustic guitar and vocals.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In February 2010, Murphey released a follow-up album, "Buckaroo Blue Grass II – Riding Song", which follows the production approach of the first album.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In May 2011, Murphey gave a benefit concert at the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper near Benton, Kansas to help save the cabin where Brewster Higley wrote the song "Home on the Range", Kansas' state song. "He might have been living anywhere," Murphey noted, "but he was inspired by that place. This song gives focus to the heritage of the American West, to the prairie and its songs, poems and literature." Murphey made his first pilgrimage to the cabin prior to the concert, where he performed the song.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In June 2011, Murphey released "Tall Grass & Cool Water", subtitled Cowboy Songs VI and Buckaroo Blue Grass III. The CD includes two classics from the Sons of the Pioneers, "Cool Water" and "Way Out There", as well as other Western classics such as "Texas Cowboy", "Santa Fe Trail", and "The James Gang Trilogy". Murphey closes out the album with a beautiful duet with Carin Mari, "Springtime in the Rockies".


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: On September 4, 2011, Murphey performed at the wedding of long-time friend David Lauren and Lauren Bush, the niece of former President George W. Bush, at Ralph Lauren's Double RL Ranch near Ridgway, Colorado. The event was called "America's Royal Wedding". Murphey, who helped Ralph Lauren find the ranch they now call home, has been friends with the Lauren family for nearly 30 years. "I go there to write songs from time to time", Murphey noted, "It's the most spectacular ranch in the Rockies." At David Lauren's request, Murphey performed "Vanishing Breed" for the couple's first dance. Murphey wrote the song at a cabin on the Lauren ranch in the 1980s. Murphey and his Rio Grande Band played nearly six hours for the Lauren and Bush families.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In January 2012, "Tall Grass & Cool Water" became the number 1 album on the Top 20 Western Music Albums Chart of the Western Music Association.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In July 2013, Murphey released "Red River Drifter", his first album of all new original songs in 20 years. The album reached number three on the "Billboard" Top Bluegrass Albums chart. He was named among the top 50 Greatest Country & Western singers by "American Cowboy" magazine.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: Murphey has had a successful music career that has spanned four decades and included such musical genres as folk, country, rock, popular, western, and cowboy music. As a singer, songwriter, and producer, he has contributed some of the best-loved songs of his generation. His songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, John Denver, Cher, Lyle Lovett, Flatt and Scruggs, Claire Hamill, Hoyt Axton, Roger Miller, Bobbie Gentry, Michael Nesmith, and the Monkees. Murphey is the narrator of the short film "Spirit of the Cowgirl" at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: Murphey played a major role in the resurrection of the cowboy song genre, recording and producing some of the most successful cowboy music of the past forty years. His album "Cowboy Songs" inspired a whole series of albums. For his accomplishments in the Western and Cowboy Music field, Murphey received five awards from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, formerly known as the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: Murphey has long been a champion of the western wilderness and wildlife, and has lent his support to various political causes associated with western culture and ideals. Early in his career, for example, he supported the Native American rights movement, which used his song, "Geronimo's Cadillac", as an anthem. In 1986, he founded an annual festival, WestFest, celebrating western art and culture in an effort to preserve the traditions of the West. He has been a long-time supporter of the conservation movement, attempting to find a middle ground between ranchers and activists on opposite sides of environmental issues.


title: Michael Martin Murphey

text: In the past decade, Murphey has focused his political energies on the issue of private property rights—especially in the western and southwestern United States. In 2006, he released "The Ballad of Kit Laney" in support of the New Mexico rancher's fight with the United States Forest Service over water rights. Laney was imprisoned for assault after standing up to federal agents who seized his ranch in 2004. Murphey helped form the Farmers' Freedom Agriculture Alliance and scheduled a benefit—The Farmers' Freedom Concert—to protest unfair land acquisitions across the western states. Murphey's opposition to the political forces threatening the American family farmer and rancher transcends political party affiliation. "I can tell you," Murphey observed, "that politics—doesn't matter whether it's Democrats or Republicans—have been involved with big agribusiness for a long, long time."


title: Retsina

text: Retsina () is a Greek white (or rosé) resinated wine, which has been made for at least 2,000 years. Its unique flavor is said to have originated from the practice of sealing wine vessels, particularly amphorae, with Aleppo pine resin in ancient times. Before the invention of impermeable glass bottles, oxygen caused many wines to spoil within the year. Pine resin helped keep air out, while infusing the wine with resin aroma. The Romans began to use barrels in the 3rd century AD, removing any oenological necessity for resin, but the flavor itself was so popular that the style is still widespread today.


title: Retsina

text: The earliest recorded mention of using resin with wine amphorae is by the first-century Roman writer Columella, who detailed in his work "De Re Rustica" (12,20,3 and 12,22,2) the different type of resin that could be used to seal a container or be mixed into the wine. He recommended, however, that the very best wines should not be mixed with resin because of the unpleasant flavor introduced thereby. His contemporary, Pliny the Elder, does recommend the use of adding resin to the fermenting wine must in his work "Naturalis Historia" (14.124) with the resin from mountainous areas having a better aroma than those that come from lower lands (16.60).


title: Retsina

text: The Roman settlements in Illyria, Cisalpine Gaul and Gallia Narbonensis did not use resin-coated amphorae due to the lack of suitable local pine trees and began to develop solid, less leak-prone wooden barrels in the 1st century AD. By the 3rd century, barrel making was prevalent throughout the Roman Empire. The exception was the eastern empire regions of Byzantium which had developed a taste for the strong, pungent wine and continued to produce resinated wine long after the Western Roman Empire stopped. The difference in taste between the two empires took center stage in the work of the historian Liutprand of Cremona and his "Relatio de Legatione Constantinopolitana". In 968, Liutprand was sent to Constantinople to arrange a marriage between the daughter of the late Emperor Romanos II and the future Holy Roman Emperor Otto II. According to Liutprand, he was treated very rudely and in an undignified manner by the court of Nikephoros II, being served goat stuffed with onion and served in fish sauce and "undrinkable" wine mixed with resin, pitch and gypsum—very offensive to his Germanic tastes.


title: Retsina

text: Pilgrims and Crusaders to the Holy Land during the Middle Ages recorded their experiences with the strong, resin wines of the Greek islands. Pietro Casola, an Italian noble who traveled to Jerusalem in 1494, wrote about the wines and cuisines of the places he stopped at along the way. In one of his entries, about his visit to Modone on Peloponnese, he wrote about the bounty of good quality wines made from Malmsey, Muscatel and Rumney varieties. Everything he tried was pleasing, except the strong, resinated wine with an unpleasant odor.


title: Retsina

text: Popular anecdotes about the evolution of retsina stem from the Roman conquest of Greece. Stories claim that the Romans plundered the wines of Greece, angering the citizens, who turned to pine resin as a way of extending their store of wine and as a deterrent to their thirsty conquerors. The harsh flavor was said to put off the Romans, who refused to drink the bitter ferment. Another anecdote claims that an excess of undiluted retsina was lethal for King Eric I of Denmark and Sigurd I of Norway.


title: Retsina

text: In Greece, local retsina is produced throughout the country. Major production centers around Attica, Boeotia and Euboea. The European Union treats the name "retsina" as a protected designation of origin and traditional appellation for Greece and parts of the southern regions of Cyprus. An Australian wine style made in South Australia can be called "resinated wine" but not "retsina".


title: Retsina

text: Today the traditional grape for retsina is Savatiano with Assyrtiko and Rhoditis sometimes blended in, as well as other grape varieties throughout Greece. On the island of Rhodes, Athiri is the main grape. Modern retsina is made following the same winemaking techniques of white wine or rosé, except for small pieces of Aleppo pine resin added to the must during fermentation. The pieces stay mixed with the must, and elute an oily resin film on the liquid surface; at racking the wine is clarified and the solids and surface film are removed from the finished wine. Nowadays, protecting the new wine from oxidation is easy to do with far simpler means and much less resin is used than traditionally called for. Such wines lack the pungent "whiff of turpentine" streak of old, and are considered ideal accompaniments to such strong-tasting local cuisine as pastırma or garlic dips, which are often consumed as mezes with alcoholic beverages.


title: Thank You (2011 film)

text: Thank You is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Anees Bazmee. The film stars Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol, Suniel Shetty, Irrfan Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Rimi Sen and Celina Jaitly. Ranjeet, Mukesh Tiwari, Rakhee Tandon, Smita Jaykar and Chahat Khanna are featured in supporting roles with Mallika Sherawat and Vidya Balan in special appearance.


title: Thank You (2011 film)

text: Released on 8 April 2011, and conceptually similar to Bazmee's "No Entry" (2005), "Thank You" revolves around three married men and best friends at work who engage in philandering behaviour and run a yacht business, trying to have some fun outside their marriage. However, when suspicion plays its cards right on their wives, enlisted for help arrives private investigator Kishan Khurana, a detective who specializes in extra-marital relationships. However, the course of events that follows Kishan's attempts to expose and reform the men, takes twists and turns that are hard for him to deal with, and what follows suit forms the rest of the story. Most of the scenes in this film were shot in Vancouver, British Columbia and Toronto, Ontario in Canada.


title: Thank You (2011 film)

text: Raj Malhotra, Vikram Chopra and Yogi Mathur are best friends and business partners who are married to Sanjana, Shivani and Maya respectively, and live in Vancouver, Canada. The three of them constantly cheat on their wives with not one or two but many women. However, while Yogi is the only unsuccessful one due to Maya having a secret friend spying on him, Raj and Vikram are able to get away with their flirtatious behaviour by fooling their wives and keeping them under check.


title: Thank You (2011 film)

text: One day, when the three wives, who are also friends, meet up, and Maya brings up Sanjana's issue about a free necklace due on Raj when the two met previously that day in a mall, she and Shivani insist on Sanjana having a detective, Kishen Khurana, in reality Maya's "friend", solve the problem. However, when Maya arranges a meeting between them, things don't seem to work out because Sanjana happens to rubbish away Kishen's accusations against Raj. This compels Kishen to try exposing Raj by calling all his girlfriends to the New Year's Eve party, but Kishen's plan goes haywire when Vikram steps in and saves Raj.


title: Thank You (2011 film)

text: Confused to the next day, Raj and Vikram suspect a spy being part of the scandal that was about to occur last night and seek help from friend and Canadian Security Intelligence Service agent KD, who instead suggests hiring a private detective as the matter is too trivial and unprofessional for an intelligence agency to handle. However, as fate would have it, they land up at Kishen's place, and, having recognized him from the party, enlist his help. Kishen, who is apparently crushing on Sanjana, decides to engage Raj and Vikram in a double game, which results in the duo mistakenly assuming Yogi as the informer after Kishen shows them a doctored video of Yogi conversing with Sanjana, and ceasing their friendship with him by exposing him on one of his cheat dates. Later that day, he creates a fracas for Raj by nearly exposing him as a cheater when he is caught in a bathing robe, but Vikram again comes up with an idea, this time about having Raj pose as an undercover cop in the CSIS, who was unintentionally exposed during a "mission" for KD, who played his boss, and was responsible for killing dreaded don King's brother. Sanjana believes the story and forgives Raj, later snubbing Kishen over the exposé.


title: Thank You (2011 film)

text: Realizing that something is wrong with the deal, Kishen learns from Yogi about the plan and decides to expose them by staging himself as King and having them assemble blindfolded, with Sanjana and Shivani in attendance. When the truth is out, Sanjana tries to commit suicide, but Kishen convinces her otherwise, and comes up with a plan to reform Raj and bring his loving former self back to her life, part of which is a plan to entice Raj into jealousy by having Yogi inform him and Vikram of Sanjana beginning an affair and relationship with a dynamic, handsome man, who would be none other than Kishen himself.


title: Thank You (2011 film)

text: Eventually, Kishan's plan of the jealousy game works out well, but trouble brews big time when Shivani, through Kishen's help, has Vikram thrown out of the house upon having obtained ownership of all his property by getting him to unsuspectingly sign "bank account" papers during the time he was advising a troubled Raj, who made a witness. Helpless and destroyed, the three men turn to Kishen for help again, where they request him to blow the covers of their enemies, and vow to batter their fugitives to death, little knowing that they instead have a common enemy in Kishen, who throws a subtle suggestion about the same which they fail to recognize, and while Sanjana is to keep a fast for Raj, Kishan comes up with his own plan and lures the trio to King's house after they end up with his jacket. Kishen then arranges the trio to meet King's wife Maddy, who too is doubting King's possible affair, but the meeting turns out a disaster when they learn that King is innocent and Maddy starts shooting at King left, right and center for flirting with another girl.


title: Thank You (2011 film)

text: While waiting for him at his office to discuss details of the meeting, Raj and Vikram, along with Yogi, finally figure out in a sudden fit of musical epiphany that Kishan was in on the scam, double-crossing the three men while playing for their wives, posing as Sanjana's boyfriend, Shivani's "brother", and Maya's "friend", having lured them to King's lair out of intent. Sanjana disrupts a fight about to break between the four after Kishen arrives to find himself exposed. Assuming her to be openly in league and love with Kishan, Raj demands a divorce from Sanjana, and a shocked Kishan, in the next few days, manages to convince a crying Sanjana for marriage. However, while trying to invite the trio, Kishan is mistaken as the groom-to-be, and they, drunk, are arrested for smashing a police officer's head.


title: Thank You (2011 film)

text: While in the cell, Raj rues about Sanjana and contemplates deceiving her, when he, Vikram and Yogi are bailed out by an injured King. Raj is in fury and decides to kill Kishen, for which King has his henchman Benny give him a gun. Raj succeeds, but when Sanjana confronts him, it turns out that the assembly of people was for the couple's remarriage. However, Kishan reveals himself to be alive, giving the wives relief, with King and Maddy showing up, as Kishan had arranged for their bail. Seeing his dedication, the wives, and Sanjana's mother and sister, ask Kishan about his reason for helping Sanjana way too personally, something which is unexpected of a professional of his kind. Kishen then reveals that his wife Divya once walked in on him cheating on her and killed herself by slitting her wrist. Feeling guilty and breaking down, he set off on a mission to help aggrieved ladies of his wife's kind in order to redeem himself. However, it was with Sanjana that he saw a reflection of his wife in her, and decided to help her.


title: Thank You (2011 film)

text: Kapoor replaced Katrina Kaif as the lead actress, since Bazmee wanted to have a change with Kumar's love interest. The film was shot at different locations in Vancouver, Toronto and Bangkok. It was made on a budget of 500 million, while an additional amount of 80 million was spent on promotions.


title: Thank You (2011 film)

text: Though earning more than INR 1 billion and emerging as a commercial success, "Thank You" opened to negative reviews from critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama rated the film with 2/5 Stars saying, "What could've been an honest take on dishonesty fails to leave a mark eventually". Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the film one star and stated, "Badly scripted, shoddily photographed and embarrassingly performed, "Thank You" is one of those rare films that gets absolutely nothing right." Anupama Chopra of NDTV gave one and a half stars and commented, "My brains were battered to pulp and my eardrums are still recovering from Pritam's cacophonous sound-track." Nikhat Kazmi of the "Times of India" awarded two and a half stars saying, "You have a film that can be an average weekend getaway. Nothing more, not even Mallika Sherawat's item number."


title: Thank You (2011 film)

text: "Thank You" had a below average opening of 50 million according to "Box Office India". It showed a 20% increase on Saturday, bringing the two-day total to 110 million nett. The film grossed approximately 320 million by the end of the weekend and 520 million nett by the end of its first week.


title: Thank You (2011 film)

text: It raked in 112.5 million in its second week taking the total to 400 million net. The film netted a total of 600 million in India taking its worldwide total 1.08 billion. The film was declared "average" by BoxofficeIndia.com. The film however managed to recover 90% of its cost through the sale of satellite, music and territorial rights. The satellite and music rights were sold to Colors and T-Series respectively for a sum of 300 million.


title: Thank You (2011 film)

text: The film's soundtrack was composed by Pritam. The lyrics were penned by Kumaar, Ashish Pandit and Amitabh Bhattacharya. The song "Pyaar Do Pyaar Lo" is originally taken from the film "Janbaaz", and is the first remake of the song, the second being "Ek Toh Kum Zindagani" by Tanishk Bagchi for "Marjaavaan". An additional song "Viah Di Raat ("Khushiyan Da Mela")" was used in the film but has not been included in the soundtrack album.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: The Federal Reserve Act was passed by the 63rd United States Congress and signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on December 23, 1913. The law created the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: The Panic of 1907 convinced many Americans of the need to establish a central banking system, which the country had lacked since the Bank War of the 1830s. After Democrats won unified control of Congress and the presidency in the 1912 elections, President Wilson, Congressman Carter Glass, and Senator Robert Latham Owen crafted a central banking bill that occupied a middle ground between the Aldrich Plan, which called for private control of the central banking system, and progressives like William Jennings Bryan, who favored government control over the central banking system. Wilson made the bill a top priority of his New Freedom domestic agenda, and he helped ensure that it passed both houses of Congress without major amendments. Later, President Wilson criticized the large centralization of credit and pointed out the direct harm to the development of the state. He wrote it in his book "Woodrow Wilson The New Freedom" on original page 111 or in pdf viewer page 116:


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: "However it has come about, it Is more important still that the controll of credit also has become dangerously centralized. It is the mere truth to say that the financial resources of the country are not at the command of those who do not submit to the direction and domination of small groups of capitalists who wish to keep the economic development of the country under their own eye and guidance. The great monopoly of this country is the monopoly of big credits. So long as that exists, our old variety and freedom and individual energy of development are out of the question. A great industrial nation is controled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is privately concentrated."


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: The Federal Reserve Act created the Federal Reserve System, consisting of twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks jointly responsible for managing the country's money supply, making loans and providing oversight to banks, and serving as a lender of last resort. To lead the Federal Reserve System, the act established the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, members of which are appointed by the president. The 1933 Banking Act amended the Federal Reserve Act to create the Federal Open Market Committee, which oversees the Federal Reserve's open market operations. A later amendment requires the Federal Reserve "to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates."


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: The Federal Reserve Act created a system of private and public entities. There were to be at least eight and no more than twelve private regional Federal Reserve banks. Twelve were established, and each had various branches, a board of directors, and district boundaries. The Federal Reserve Board, consisting of seven members, was created as the governing body of the Fed. Each member is appointed by the President of the U.S and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. In 1935, the Board was renamed and restructured. Also created as part of the Federal Reserve System was a 12-member Federal Advisory Committee and a single new United States currency, the Federal Reserve Note. The Federal Reserve Act created a national currency and a monetary system that could respond effectively to the stresses in the banking system and create a stable financial system. With the goal of creating a national monetary system and financial stability, the Federal Reserve Act also provided many other functions and financial services for the economy, such as check clearing and collection for all members of the Federal Reserve.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: With the passing of the Federal Reserve Act, Congress required that all nationally chartered banks become members of the Federal Reserve System. These banks were required to purchase specified non-transferable stock in their regional Federal Reserve banks, and to set aside a stipulated amount of non-interest bearing reserves with their respective reserve banks. Since 1980, all depository institutions have been required to set aside reserves with the Federal Reserve. Such institutions are entitled to certain Federal Reserve services. State chartered banks were given the option of becoming members of the Federal Reserve System and in the case of the exercise of such option were to be subject to supervision, in part, by the Federal Reserve System. Member banks became entitled to have access to discounted loans at the discount window in their respective reserve banks, to a 6% annual dividend in their Federal Reserve stock, and to other services.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: Central banking has made various institutional appearances throughout the history of the United States. These institutions started with the First and Second banks of the United States, which were championed in large part by Alexander Hamilton.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: The American financial system was deeply fragmented after the American Revolutionary War. The government was burdened with large wartime debts, and the new republic needed a strong financial institution to give the country a resilient financial footing. Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson had opposing views regarding whether or not the US could benefit from a European-style national financial institution. Hamilton was in favor of building a strong centralized political and economic institution to solve the country's financial problem. He argued that a central bank could bring order to the US monetary system, manage the government's revenues and payments, and provide credit to both the public and private sectors. On the other hand, Jefferson was deeply suspicious of a central bank because, he argued, it would undermine democracy. Jefferson and Southern members of congress also believed that a strong central financial institution would serve commercial interests of the north at the expense of Southern-based agriculture interests whose credit was provided by local banks during the post-revolutionary war era.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: The First Bank of the United States was established in 1791 chartered for a period of twenty years. The US government was the largest shareholder of the bank. Despite its shareholder status, the government was not permitted to participate in management of the bank. The bank accepted deposits, issued bank notes, and provided short-term loans to the government. It also functioned as a clearinghouse for government debt. The bank could also regulate state-chartered banks to prevent overproduction of banknotes. The bank was very successful in financing the government and stimulating the economy. In spite of its successes, hostility against the bank did not fade. Jeffersonians questioned the bank's constitutionality. In 1811, the first bank of the United States failed to be renewed by one vote in both the House and the Senate.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: After the War of 1812, economic instability necessitated the creation of a second national bank. Due to expanding money supply and lack of supervision, individual bank activity sparked high inflation. In 1816, a second national bank was created with a charter of twenty years. Three years later, during the panic of 1819 the second bank of the United States was blamed for overextending credit in a land boom, and would tighten up credit policies following the panic.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: The Second bank was unpopular among the western and southern state-chartered banks, and constitutionality of a national bank was questioned. President Jackson would come into office, and wished to end the current central bank during his presidency. Under the premise that the bank favored a small economic and political elite at the expense of the public majority, the Second Bank became private after its charter expired in 1836, and would undergo liquidation in 1841.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: For nearly 80 years, the U.S. was without a central bank after the charter for the Second Bank of the United States was allowed to expire. After various financial panics, particularly a severe one in 1907, some Americans became persuaded that the country needed some sort of banking and currency reform that would, when threatened by financial panics, provide a ready reserve of liquid assets, and furthermore allow for currency and credit to expand and contract seasonally within the U.S. economy.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: Some of this was chronicled in the reports of the National Monetary Commission (1909–1912), which was created by the Aldrich–Vreeland Act in 1908. Included in a report of the Commission, submitted to Congress on January 9, 1912, were recommendations and draft legislation with 59 sections, for proposed changes in U.S. banking and currency laws. The proposed legislation was known as the Aldrich Plan, named after the chairman of the Commission, Republican Senator Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: The Plan called for the establishment of a National Reserve Association with 15 regional district branches and 46 geographically dispersed directors primarily from the banking profession. The Reserve Association would make emergency loans to member banks, print money, and act as the fiscal agent for the U.S. government. State and nationally chartered banks would have the option of subscribing to specified stock in their local association branch. It is generally believed that the outline of the Plan had been formulated in a secret meeting on Jekyll Island in November 1910, which Aldrich and other well connected financiers attended.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: Since the Aldrich Plan gave too little power to the government, there was strong opposition to it from rural and western states because of fears that it would become a tool of bankers, specifically the Money Trust of NYC. Indeed, from May 1912 through January 1913 the Pujo Committee, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Banking and Currency, held investigative hearings on the alleged Money Trust and its interlocking directorates. These hearings were chaired by Rep. Arsene Pujo, a Democratic representative from Louisiana.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: In the election of 1912, the Democratic Party won control of the White House and both chambers of Congress. The party's platform stated strong opposition to the Aldrich Plan. The platform also called for a systematic revision of banking laws in ways that would provide relief from financial panics, unemployment and business depression, and would protect the public from the "domination by what is known as the Money Trust." The final plan, however, was quite similar to the Aldrich Plan, with a few revisions. Sen. Carter Glass made these revisions, although the main premise of the Aldrich Plan was in there. Changes in the Banking and Currency System of the United States]. House Report No. 69, 63rd Congress to accompany H.R. 7837, submitted to the full House by Carter Glass, from the House Committee on Banking and Currency, September 9, 1913. A discussion of the deficiencies of the then current banking system as well as those in the Aldrich Plan and quotations from the 1912 Democratic platform are laid out in this report, pages 3–11.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: Attempts to reform currency and banking had been made in the United States prior to the introduction of H.R. 7837. The first major form of this type of legislation came through with the First Bank of the United States in 1791. Championed by Alexander Hamilton, this established a central bank that included in a three-part expansion of federal fiscal and monetary power (including federal mint and excise taxes). Attempts were made to extend this bank's charter, but they would fail before the charters expiration in 1811. This led to the creation of the Second Bank of the United States. In 1816, the U.S. Congress chartered this Second bank for a twenty-year period to create irredeemable currency with which to pay for the costs of the War of 1812. The creation of congressionally authorized irredeemable currency by the Second Bank of the United States opened the door to the possibility of taxation by inflation. Congress did not want state-chartered banks as competition in the inflation of currency. The charter for the Second Bank would expire in 1836, leaving the U.S. without a central bank for nearly eighty years.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: In the aftermath of the Panic of 1907, there was general agreement among leaders in both parties of the necessity to create some sort of central banking system to provide coordination during financial emergencies. Most leaders also sought currency reform, as they believed that the roughly $3.8 billion in coins and banknotes did not provide an adequate money supply during financial panics. Under conservative Republican Senator Nelson Aldrich's leadership, the National Monetary Commission had put forward a plan to establish a central banking system that would issue currency and provide oversight and loans to the nation's banks. However, many progressives distrusted the plan due to the degree of influence bankers would have over the central banking system. Relying heavily on the advice of Louis Brandeis, Wilson sought a middle ground between progressives such as William Jennings Bryan and conservative Republicans like Aldrich. He declared that the banking system must be "public not private, [and] must be vested in the government itself so that the banks must be the instruments, not the masters, of business."


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: Democratic Congressman Carter Glass and Senator Robert L. Owen crafted a compromise plan in which private banks would control twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, but a controlling interest in the system was placed in a central board filled with presidential appointees. The system of twelve regional banks was designed with the goal of diminishing Wall Street's influence. Wilson convinced Bryan's supporters that the plan met their demands for an elastic currency because Federal Reserve notes would be obligations of the government. The bill passed the House in September 1913, but it faced stronger opposition in the Senate. After Wilson convinced just enough Democrats to defeat an amendment put forth by bank president Frank A. Vanderlip that would have given private banks greater control over the central banking system, the Senate voted 54–34 to approve the Federal Reserve Act. Wilson signed the bill into law in December 1913.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: The Federal Reserve Act was amended in major ways over time, e.g. to account for Hawaii and Alaska's admission to the Union, for restructuring of the Fed's districts, and to specify jurisdictions.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: In June 1917 Congress passed major amendments to the Act in order to enable monetary expansion to cover the expected costs of World War I, which the US had just entered in April. The amendments allowed a more flexible definition of the gold backing the dollar currency in circulation. This relaxation de facto allowed less gold backing for each dollar note, and enabled the currency in circulation to more than double from $465m to $1247m just from June to December of 1917. This reform has been argued to have been necessary to finance the expected $2 billion dollar cost of participating in the war for a year. Price inflation followed.