title: Chuck Taylor (wrestler)

text: On November 6, 2017, Howard, as Chuckie T., was announced as a participant in New Japan Pro-Wrestling's 2017 World Tag League alongside Beretta. Chuckie was recognized as a member of the Chaos stable, having previously appeared alongside members of the stable at an ROH show on October 15. Chuckie and Beretta finished the tournament on December 9 with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals. On February 25, 2018, Chuckie T., was announced as a participant in the 2018 New Japan Cup, where he was eliminated by Sanada in the first round. On February 7, 2019, his profile was removed from NJPW website.


title: Chuck Taylor (wrestler)

text: On February 7, 2019, Taylor and Beretta appeared at an All Elite Wrestling (AEW) rally in Las Vegas and announced that they had joined the company. They would debut at AEW's inaugural event, Double or Nothing on May 25, where they defeated Angélico and Jack Evans. The following month at Fyter Fest, Best Friends competed in a three-way tag team match against Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen) and SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) for an opportunity to secure a bye in a tournament to determine to the inaugural AEW World Tag Team Champions, which they won. However, at All Out on August 31, Best Friends were defeated by The Dark Order's Evil Uno and Stu Grayson in a match where the winners qualified for the first round bye. Despite not receiving the bye, Best Friends still competed in the AEW World Tag Team Championship tournament, where they were eliminated in the first round by SoCal Uncensored. During this time they also became friends with and added Orange Cassidy to the team, including adding him to their trademark hug and zoom out. At Bash at the Beach on January 15, 2020, Best Friends competed in a four-way tag team match to determine the number one contenders for the AEW World Tag Team Championship, which was won by "Hangman" Adam Page and Kenny Omega. After winning a title shot when they defeated Private Party at Double or Nothing Buy-In, they faced Kenny Omega and "Hangman" Adam Page at Fyter Fest night 1, which they lost.


title: Chuck Taylor (wrestler)

text: In late August, Taylor and Trent started a feud with Santana and Ortiz after Trent's Mum's van was destroyed by the latter. This would culminate in a highly praised Parking Lot Brawl on the September 16 episode of Dynamite, where the Best Friends won. That match was rated 5-stars by wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer.


title: Chuck Taylor (wrestler)

text: Taylor, Trent, and Cassidy moved on to a feud with Kip Sabian and his "best man" Miro, following Trent's accidental destruction of Sabian and Penelope Ford's arcade machine. During the feud, Trent legitimately tore his pectoral muscle, sidelining him for months. This led to a match between Taylor and Miro on the January 13 "Dynamite" where, if Taylor lost, he had to serve as Miro's servant for a month. Following Taylor's submission loss to Miro, he was forced to wear a tuxedo and his ring name was tweaked to the more formal Charles Taylor, then telling Cassidy (at Miro's behest) that he was now best friends with Miro. At "Beach Break", Taylor and Cassidy crashed Sabian & Ford's wedding, marking the end of Taylor's servant contract with Miro and reverting to the Chuck Taylor ring name, though Miro continued to call him "Charles". On the March 31 episode of "Dynamite", Taylor and Cassidy fought Miro and Sabian in an "Arcade Anarchy match" where if Taylor lost again, he would become Miro's servant permanently. However, Taylor and Cassidy were victorious with assistance from a returning Trent and Kris Statlander, ending the feud.


title: 1980s in film

text: The decade of the 1980s in Western cinema saw the return of studio-driven pictures, coming from the filmmaker-driven New Hollywood era of the 1970s. The period was when "high concept" films gained popularity, where films were expected to be easily marketable and understandable. Therefore, they had short cinematic plots that could be summarized in one or two sentences. The modern Hollywood blockbuster is the most popular film format from the 1980s. Producer Don Simpson is usually credited with the creation of the high-concept picture of the modern Hollywood blockbuster.


title: 1980s in film

text: In the list, where revenues are equal numbers, the newer films are listed lower, due to inflation making the dollar-amount lower compared to earlier years.


title: 1980s in film

text: The films of the 1980s covered many genres, with hybrids crossing between multiple genres. The trend strengthened towards creating ever-larger blockbuster films, which earned more in their opening weeks than any previous film, due in part to staging releases when audiences had little else to choose.


title: 1980s in film

text: The decade also saw an increased amount of nudity in film and the increasing emphasis in the American industry on film franchises, especially in the science fiction, horror and action genres. Much of the reliance on these effect-driven blockbusters was due in part to the "Star Wars" films at the advent of this decade and the new cinematic effects it helped to pioneer. The teen comedy subgenre also rose in popularity during this decade.


title: 1980s in film

text: In the US, the PG-13 rating was introduced in 1984 to accommodate films that straddled the line between PG and R, which was mainly due to the controversies surrounding the violent content of the PG films "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and "Gremlins" (both 1984).


title: 1980s in film

text: Some have considered the 1980s in retrospect as one of the weaker decades for American cinema in terms of the qualities of the films released. Quentin Tarantino (director of "Pulp Fiction") has voiced his own view that the 1980s was one of the worst eras for American films. Film critic Kent Jones also shares this opinion. However, film theorist David Bordwell countered this notion, saying that the "megapicture mentality" was already existent in the 1970s, which is evident in the ten highest-grossing films of that decade, as well as with how many of the filmmakers part of New Hollywood were still able to direct many great pictures in the 1980s (Martin Scorsese, Brian de Palma, etc.).


title: Asian News International

text: Asian News International (ANI) is an Indian news agency that offers syndicated multimedia news feed to news-bureaus in India and elsewhere. Established by Prem Prakash in 1971, it was the first agency in India to syndicate video news and , is the biggest television news agency in India. The news agency has been criticized for having served as a propaganda tool for the incumbent central government, distributing materials from a vast network of fake news websites, and misreporting events.


title: Asian News International

text: Prem had started his career in the field of photography before being employed by Visnews (and Reuters) as a photojournalist, where he went on to cover some of the most significant historical events in post-independence India. A significant figure in the domain of news and documentary film-making in the 1970s, he commanded considerable respect among foreign journalists and film-makers, and were conferred with the MBE.


title: Asian News International

text: In 1971, Prem established ANI (initially TVNF, India's first television news feature agency) which gained extraordinary influence within the Congress Government. TVNF played a key role in fulfilling Indira Gandhi's wishes of showcasing a positive image of India, having produced numerous films for Doordarshan, and went on to gain a monopoly in the sector.


title: Asian News International

text: Smita Prakash, an alumna of Indian Institute of Mass Communication, joined ANI in around 1986 as an intern and was later inducted as a full-time employee. Daughter of Inna Ramamohan Rao, former director of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, she married Prem's son Sanjiv in 1988 which furthered ANI's access within the government. In 1993, Reuters purchased a stake in ANI, and it was allowed to exert a complete monopoly over their India feed.


title: Asian News International

text: By 2000, India had seen a boom of private 24x7 news channels; however, unsustainable revenue models meant that they did not have the capacity to hire video-reporters across the country. This provided scope for massive expansion of ANI's domestic video-production capacities at the behest of Sanjiv, who had a meteoric rise through the ranks (along with Smita) courtesy his shrewd managerial instincts. Asian Films TV was incorporated in 2000 to provide feed for newspapers and periodicals. The Caravan though notes that most of its foot-soldiers were low-cost recruits, who had little to do with journalism.


title: Asian News International

text: In 2000, the NDA government launched a Kashmir-based regional channel—DD Kashir, and ANI was allowed to produce its programs. By the end of 2005, ANI's business-model was faring impressively on a consistent basis and it shifted its office out of Gole Market, to a new five-storey building in R.K. Puram. ANI continued to be trusted by the upcoming UPA governments, to the extent of MEA choosing Smita to be a part of the two-member-strong contingent of Indian journalists at both of the joint press conferences between the incumbent prime ministers of India and USA.


title: Asian News International

text: In later 2000s, increasing charges of ANI feed and low quality of journalism coupled with the introduction of broadcast vans led to several national and regional channels unsubscribing them. The launch of UNI TV in 2010 by Yashwant Deshmukh gave stiff competition as well. However, Ishan Prakash, Smita's son who joined the company in 2011, procured multiple units of LiveU, expanded ANI's overseas bureaus and enlisted into contracts with multiple state governments and multiple union ministries. A monopoly was again re-created and most of its competitors shut down, eventually.


title: Asian News International

text: By late 2011, ANI accounted for about 99% of the Reuters feed and in FY 2017–18, they were paid ₹ 2.54 crore for the services. Archive videos were sold at rates as high as ₹ 1000 per second; in FY 2017–18, the firm reported revenues of ₹ 68.23 crore and a net profit of ₹ 9.91 crore.


title: Asian News International

text: Long-form reports by "The Caravan" and The Ken, along with reports by other media watchdogs have detailed of the agency having served as a propaganda tool of the incumbent union government.


title: Asian News International

text: "The Caravan" notes that for decades under Congress rule, ANI effectively served as the external publicity division of Ministry of External Affairs, showing the Army in a positive light and suppressing news about any internal discontent; the private nature of the organisation and the repute of its founder gave an air of non-partisan legitimacy to their videos. During the peak-spans of militancy in the Kashmir conflict, ANI was the near-sole purveyor of video-footage, esp. with Rao having been recruited as the media advisor to the state. ANI grew even closer to the government after Bharatiya Janata Party was elected to power in 2014; effects have ranged from sympathetic covering of the political campaigns by BJP to reporters being highly confrontational, when dealing with politicians from opposition parties. Smita has been widely accused of conducting favorable interviews for BJP.


title: Asian News International

text: In 2020, an investigation by EU DisinfoLab concluded that ANI had on multiple occasions published mostly anti-Pakistan and sometimes anti-China opinion pieces and news content, including opinion pieces falsely attributed to European politicians and other instances of disinformation, and that this material was known to have been sourced from a vast network of pro-India fake news websites run by a certain "Srivasta Group". The report noted that mainstream Indian news media regularly relies on content provided by ANI, and that ANI had on several occasions provided legitimacy and coverage to the entire "influence operation" run by the fake news network, which relied "more on ANI than on any other distribution channel" [to give it] "both credibility and a wide reach to its content". A primary aim of this fake news coverage was to "discredit Pakistan" in international forums. ANI is also believed to have played significant roles as allies of the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency; many of its videos depicted protests by fringe lobby groups and activists, on the aspects of human rights abuse in Pakistan.


title: Asian News International

text: ANI has been also accused of misreporting events, by fact checkers certified by the Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), including Alt News. "The Caravan" came across several video footages from ANI, wherein logos of random television channels from Pakistan along with Urdu tickers were superimposed on news showcasing India in a positive light; their video editors have admitted to forging clips.


title: Asian News International

text: Under a new management, ANI has been accused of practicing an aggressive model of journalism focused at maximum revenue output, where journalists were easily dispensable with. Multiple employees have accused ANI of not having any human resource management system and ill-treating their ex-employees.


title: Shoreline Mafia

text: Shoreline Mafia was an American hip hop group based in Los Angeles and currently signed to Atlantic Records. The group released their first full-length mixtape, "ShoreLineDoThatShit", in November 2017. That album was re-released by Atlantic in May 2018. In August 2018, they also released an EP titled "Party Pack" through Atlantic. In September 2019, they released "Party Pack Vol. 2" through Atlantic. In July 2020, they released their debut album, "Mafia Bidness". In early April 2020, the group's founding member "Fenix Flexin" announced his departure from the group.


title: Shoreline Mafia

text: Shoreline Mafia was composed of four members: OhGeesy (real name: Alejandro Coranza), Rob Vicious (Robert Maggee), Fenix Flexin (Fenix Rypinski) and Master Kato (Malik Carson). Ohgeesy and Fenix met in 2012 while doing graffiti in Los Angeles. The pair began making music soon after, and, sometime later, Rob Vicious and Master Kato joined them. Although they produced music for several years, they did not become a rap group until 2016. They chose the name Shoreline Mafia at some point after their formation.


title: Shoreline Mafia

text: In November 2017, they independently released their first full-length mixtape, "ShoreLineDoThatShit". The album featured songs such as "Nun Major," "Musty," and "Bottle Service". Most of the songs on the album were produced by Ron-Ron including "Musty" and "Bottle Service", the beats for which the group was not initially authorized to use. Despite this, the two parties eventually formed a partnership that continues to exist. In December of that year, the group performed at the Rolling Loud Festival in San Bernardino, California. In the spring of 2018, the group headlined their "Only The Xclusives" (OTX) tour.


title: Shoreline Mafia

text: In May 2018, Atlantic Records announced that it had signed Shoreline Mafia. At that time, the label also re-released "ShoreLineDoThatShit" and debuted a new music video for the song "Musty". Later that month, the group embarked on the "Still OTX" tour, which included stops at the Rolling Loud Festival in Miami and, later, at the "Billboard" Hot 100 Music Festival in New York. In June 2018, Shoreline Mafia was featured on songs on the "Ron-Ron and Friends" compilation mixtape alongside 03 Greedo, Drakeo the Ruler, and others.


title: Shoreline Mafia

text: The following month, Rob Vicious released a solo mixtape titled "Traplantic". The songs on the album also featured members of Shoreline Mafia, including "Bands" which had verses from everyone. In August 2018, the group released a 4-track EP called "Party Pack" via Atlantic Records. In the fall of 2018, the band went on their "Only The Xclusives" tour throughout the United States. The group also performed at the Los Angeles iteration of the Rolling Loud Festival in December 2018. In early April 2020, Fenix Flexin announced that he would be leaving Shoreline Mafia after the release of their new album, "Mafia Bidness". The album followed on July 31, 2020.


title: Bombax ceiba

text: Bombax ceiba, like other trees of the genus "Bombax", is commonly known as cotton tree. More specifically, it is sometimes known as Malabar silk-cotton tree; red silk-cotton; red cotton tree; or ambiguously as silk-cotton or kapok, both of which may also refer to "Ceiba pentandra".


title: Bombax ceiba

text: This Asian tropical tree has a straight tall trunk and its leaves are deciduous in winter. Red flowers with 5 petals appear in the spring before the new foliage. It produces a capsule which, when ripe, contains white fibres like cotton. Its trunk bears spikes to deter attacks by animals. Although its stout trunk suggests that it is useful for timber, its wood is too soft to be very useful.


title: Bombax ceiba

text: "Bombax ceiba" grows to an average of 20 meters, with old trees up to 60 meters in wet tropical regions. The trunk and limb bear numerous conical spines particularly when young, but get eroded when older. The leaves are palmate with about 6 leaflets radiating from a central point (tip of petiole), an average of wide, in length. The leaf's long flexible petiole is up to long.


title: Bombax ceiba

text: Cup-shaped flowers solitary or clustered, axillary or sub-terminal, fascicles at or near the ends of the branches, when the tree is bare of leaves, an average of wide, in width, petals up to in length, calyx is cup-shaped usually 3 lobed, an average of in diameter. Staminal tube is short, more than 60 in 5 bundles. stigma is light red, up to in length, ovary is pink, in length, with the skin of the ovary covered in white silky hair at 1mm long. Seeds are numerous, long, ovoid, black or gray in colour and packed in white cotton.


title: Bombax ceiba

text: The fruit, which reaches an average of in length, is light-green in color in immature fruits, brown in mature fruits.


title: Bombax ceiba

text: The tree is widely planted in southeastern Asian countries and regions (such as in Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, southern China and Taiwan, etc.) According to Chinese historical record, the king of Nam Yuet (located in the southern China and northern Vietnam nowadays), Zhao Tuo, gave a tree to the emperor of the Han dynasty in the 2nd century BC.


title: Bombax ceiba

text: This tree is commonly known as Let-pan (Burmese language: လက်ပံ), "semal" (), "shimul" () or "ximolu" (Assamese: শিমলু) in India. It is widely planted in parks and on roadsides there because of its beautiful red flowers which bloom in March/April. This tree is quite common in New Delhi although it doesn't reach its full size of 60m there because of the semi arid climate. The cotton fibers of this tree can be seen floating in the wind around the time of early May. This tree shows two marked growth sprints in India: in spring and during the monsoon months. Perhaps due to subtropical climate and heavy rainfalls, it is found in dense populations throughout the Northeast India. In Myanmar, its flowers are let to be dry and cooked, which is one of the traditional foods of Myanmar.


title: Bombax ceiba

text: This tree is also found in the eastern parts of Pakistan, especially in the eastern city of Lahore. The local Urdu and Punjabi names for the tree is "sumbal", "semal", "sainbhal".


title: Bombax ceiba

text: The 1889 book 'The Useful Native Plants of Australia records that the tree was at that time known as Bombax malabaricum, and its common names included 'Simool Tree;or 'Malabar Silk-cotton Tree of India' and that the calyx of the flower-bud is eaten as a vegetable in India."


title: Bombax ceiba

text: The white fluffy fibres are carded into thread and woven into textiles in Nepal and India. In North India, the fibers are also used in pillows. In Thailand, the dry cores of the "Bombax ceiba" flower () are an essential ingredient of the nam ngiao spicy noodle soup of the cuisine of Shan State and Northern Thailand, as well as the kaeng khae curry.


title: Bombax ceiba

text: Its flower buds known as "Marathi Moggu" are also used in regional cuisine of Southern India as a spice as well as in herbal medicine.


title: Bombax ceiba

text: Bombax ceiba is literally known as “cotton-tree flowers” in Cantonese. It plays a vital role in Southern Chinese, especially Guangzhou Cantonese culture. It is the official flower of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province in southern China. With some trees flowering from late February to early May. Fruiting can start as early as March. At the peak of its flowering season, elderly people may often be seen gathering the fallen flowers from the ground to dry, which they later use to prepare tea or soup. The flowers are very attractive to local wildlife, with many birds like the Japanese white-eye, a type of fruit eating bird, which often draws a hole in an unopened Bombax ceiba flower bud. Honey bees, and bumble bees also attracted to the flowers to collect pollen and nectar. Because the flowers attract many insects, crab spiders can be occasionally found on a fully opened flower, hunting bees.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The European Court of Justice (ECJ, ), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting EU law and ensuring its uniform application across all EU member states under Article 263 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).


title: European Court of Justice

text: The Court was established in 1952, and is based in Luxembourg. It is composed of one judge per member state – currently – although it normally hears cases in panels of three, five or fifteen judges. The Court has been led by president Koen Lenaerts since 2015.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The ECJ is the highest court of the European Union in matters of Union law, but not national law. It is not possible to appeal against the decisions of national courts in the ECJ, but rather national courts refer questions of EU law to the ECJ. However, it is ultimately for the national court to apply the resulting interpretation to the facts of any given case, although only courts of final appeal are bound to refer a question of EU law when one is addressed. The treaties give the ECJ the power for consistent application of EU law across the EU as a whole.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The court also acts as an administrative and constitutional court between the other EU institutions and the Member States and can annul or invalidate unlawful acts of EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The court was established in 1952, by the Treaty of Paris (1951) as part of the European Coal and Steel Community. It was established with seven judges, allowing both representation of each of the six member States and being an odd number of judges in case of a tie. One judge was appointed from each member state and the seventh seat rotated between the "large Member States" (West Germany, France and Italy). It became an institution of two additional Communities in 1957 when the European Economic Community (EEC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) were created, sharing the same courts with the European Coal and Steel Community.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The Maastricht Treaty was ratified in 1993, and created the European Union. The name of the Court did not change unlike the other institutions. The power of the Court resided in the Community pillar (the first pillar).


title: European Court of Justice

text: The Court gained power in 1997, with the signing of the Amsterdam Treaty. Issues from the third pillar were transferred to the first pillar. Previously, these issues were settled between the member states.


title: European Court of Justice

text: Following the entrance into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009, the ECJ's official name was changed from the "Court of Justice of the European Communities" to the "Court of Justice" although in English it is still most common to refer to the Court as the European Court of Justice. The Court of First Instance was renamed as the "General Court", and the term "Court of Justice of the European Union" now officially designates the two courts, as along with its specialised tribunals, taken together.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The Court of Justice consists of Judges who are assisted by 11 Advocates-General. The Judges and Advocates-General are appointed by common accord of the governments of the member states and hold office for a renewable term of six years. The treaties require that they are chosen from legal experts whose independence is "beyond doubt" and who possess the qualifications required for appointment to the highest judicial offices in their respective countries or who are of recognised competence. In practice, each member state nominates a judge whose nomination is then ratified by all other member states.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The President of the Court of Justice is elected from and by the judges for a renewable term of three years. The president presides over hearings and deliberations, directing both judicial business and administration (for example, the time table of the Court and Grand Chamber). He also assigns cases to the chambers for examination and appoints judge as "rapporteurs" called 'Judge-Rapporteur' (reporting judges). The Council may also appoint assistant "rapporteurs" to assist the President in applications for interim measures and to assist "rapporteurs" in the performance of their duties.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The post of vice-president was created by amendments to the Statute of the Court of Justice in 2012. The duty of the Vice-President is to assist the President in the performance of his duties and to take the President's place when the latter is prevented from attending or when the office of president is vacant. In 2012, judge Koen Lenaerts of Belgium became the first judge to carry out the duties of the Vice-President of the Court of Justice. Like the President of the Court of Justice, the Vice-President is elected by the members of the Court for a term of three years.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The judges are assisted by eleven Advocates General, whose number may be increased by the Council if the Court so requests. The Advocates General are responsible for presenting a legal opinion on the cases assigned to them. They can question the parties involved and then give their opinion on a legal solution to the case before the judges deliberate and deliver their judgment. The intention behind having Advocates General attached is to provide independent and impartial opinions concerning the Court's cases. Unlike the Court's judgments, the written opinions of the Advocates General are the works of a single author and are consequently generally more readable and deal with the legal issues more comprehensively than the Court, which is limited to the particular matters at hand.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The opinions of the Advocates General are advisory and do not bind the Court, but they are nonetheless very influential and are followed in the majority of cases. In a 2016 study, Arrebola and Mauricio measured the influence of the Advocate General on the judgments of the Court, showing that the Court is approximately 67% more likely to deliver a particular outcome if that was the opinion of the Advocate General. As of 2003, Advocates General are only required to give an opinion if the Court considers the case raises a new point of law.


title: European Court of Justice

text: According to Article 255 TFEU the judges and advocates-general are appointed by common accord of the governments of the Member States after consultation of a panel responsible for assessing candidates’ suitability.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The Registrar is the Court's chief administrator. They manage departments under the authority of the Court's president. The Court may also appoint one or more Assistant Registrars. They help the Court, the Chambers, the President and the Judges in all their official functions. They are responsible for the Registry as well as for the receipt, transmission and custody of documents and pleadings that have been entered in a register initialled by the President. They are Guardian of the Seals and responsible for the Court's archives and publications.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The Registrar is responsible for the administration of the Court, its financial management and its accounts. The operation of the Court is in the hands of officials and other servants who are responsible to the Registrar under the authority of the President. The Court administers its own infrastructure; this includes the Translation Directorate, which, employed 44.7% of the staff of the institution.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of fifteen judges (including the president and vice-president), or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sittings are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges. Each chamber elects its own president who is elected for a term of three years in the case of the five-judge chambers or one year in the case of three-judge chambers.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The Court is required to sit in full court in exceptional cases provided for in the treaties. The court may also decide to sit in full, if the issues raised are considered to be of exceptional importance. Sitting as a Grand Chamber is more common and can happen when a Member State or a Union institution, that is a party to certain proceedings, so requests, or in particularly complex or important cases.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The court acts as a collegial body: decisions are those of the court rather than of individual judges; no minority opinions are given and indeed the existence of a majority decision rather than unanimity is never suggested.


title: European Court of Justice

text: It is the responsibility of the Court of Justice to ensure that the law is observed in the interpretation and application of the Treaties of the European Union. To enable it to carry out its duties, the Court has broad jurisdiction to hear various types of action. The Court has competence to, amongst other actions, rule on applications for annulment or actions for failure to act brought by a Member State or an institution; take actions against Member States for failure to fulfil obligations; and hear references for a preliminary ruling and appeals against decisions of the General Court.


title: European Court of Justice

text: Under Article 258 (ex Article 226) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Court of Justice may determine whether a Member State has fulfilled its obligations under Union law.


title: European Court of Justice

text: That action may be brought by the Commission – as is practically always the case – or by another Member State, although the cases of the latter kind remain extremely rare. Only six interstate cases have been decided by the court:


title: European Court of Justice

text: The commencement of proceedings before the Court of Justice is preceded by a preliminary procedure conducted by the Commission, which gives the Member State the opportunity to reply to the complaints against it. The court has decided that if the European Commission does not send the formal letter to the violating member state no-one can force them. If that procedure does not result in termination of the failure by the Member State, an action for breach of Union law may be brought before the Court of Justice.


title: European Court of Justice

text: If the Court finds that an obligation has not been fulfilled, the Member State concerned must terminate the breach without delay. If, after new proceedings are initiated by the Commission, the Court of Justice finds that the Member State concerned has not complied with its judgment, it may, upon the request of the Commission, impose on the Member State a fixed or a periodic financial penalty under Article 260 of the TFEU.


title: European Court of Justice

text: By an action for annulment under Article 263 (ex Article 230) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the applicant seeks the annulment of a measure (regulation, directive, decision or any measure with legal effects) adopted by an institution, body, office or agency of the EU. The Court of Justice has exclusive jurisdiction over actions brought by a Member State against the European Parliament and/or against the Council (apart from Council measures in respect of State aid, dumping and implementing powers) or brought by one Union institution against another. The General Court has jurisdiction, at first instance, in all other actions of this type and particularly in actions brought by individuals. The Court of Justice has the power to declare measures void under Article 264 (ex Article 231) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.


title: European Court of Justice

text: Under Article 265 (ex Article 232) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Court of Justice and the General Court may also review the legality of a failure to act on the part of a Union institution, body, office or agency. However, such an action may be brought only after the institution has been called on to act. Where the failure to act is held to be unlawful, it is for the institution concerned to put an end to the failure by appropriate measures.


title: European Court of Justice

text: Under Article 268 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (and with reference to Article 340), the Court of Justice hears claims for compensation based on non-contractual liability, and rules on the liability of the Union for damage to citizens and to undertakings caused by its institutions or servants in the performance of their duties.


title: European Court of Justice

text: Under Article 256 (ex Article 225) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, appeals on judgments given by the General Court may be heard by the Court of Justice "only if" the appeal is on a point of law. If the appeal is admissible and well founded, the Court of Justice sets aside the judgment of the General Court. Where the state of the proceedings so permits, the Court may itself decide the case. Otherwise, the Court must refer the case back to the General Court, which is bound by the decision given on appeal. No special procedure applies to allow for an appeal to proceed to the Court of Justice, except for cases which the General Court ruled on appeal against decisions of the independent Boards of Appeal of the EU agencies (as provided by Article 58a of the Statute of the Court).


title: European Court of Justice

text: References for a preliminary ruling are specific to Union law. Whilst the Court of Justice is, by its very nature, the supreme guardian of Union legality, it is not the only judicial body empowered to apply EU law.


title: European Court of Justice

text: That task also falls to national courts, in as much as they retain jurisdiction to review the administrative implementation of Union law, for which the authorities of the Member States are essentially responsible; many provisions of the Treaties and of secondary legislation – regulations, directives and decisions – directly confer individual rights on nationals of Member States, which national courts must uphold.


title: European Court of Justice

text: National courts are thus by their nature the first guarantors of Union law. To ensure the effective and uniform application of Union legislation and to prevent divergent interpretations, national courts may, and sometimes must, turn to the Court of Justice and ask that it clarify a point concerning the interpretation of Union law, in order, for example, to ascertain whether their national legislation complies with that law. Petitions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling are described in Article 267 (ex Article 234) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.


title: European Court of Justice

text: A reference for a preliminary ruling may also seek review of the legality of an act of Union law. The Court of Justice's reply is not merely an opinion, but takes the form of a judgment or a reasoned order. The national court to which that is addressed is bound by the interpretation given. The Court's judgment also binds other national courts before which a problem of the same nature is raised.


title: European Court of Justice

text: Although such a reference may be made only by a national court, which alone has the power to decide that it is appropriate do so, all the parties involved – that is to say, the Member States, the parties in the proceedings before national courts and, in particular, the Commission – may take part in proceedings before the Court of Justice. In this way, a number of important principles of Union law have been laid down in preliminary rulings, sometimes in answer to questions referred by national courts of first instance.


title: European Court of Justice

text: Rulings end with a dictum which summarises the decision which the Court has made and may direct how costs are to be managed.


title: European Court of Justice

text: In the ECJ's 2009 report it was noted that Belgian, German and Italian judges made the most referrals for an interpretation of EU law to the ECJ. However, the German Constitutional Court has rarely turned to the European Court of Justice, which is why lawyers and law professors warn about a future judicial conflict between the two courts. On 7 February 2014, the German Constitutional Court referred its first case to the ECJ for a ruling on a European Central Bank program. In 2017 the German Constitutional Court referred its second case to the ECJ but contrary to the binding nature of the Court of Justice's preliminary rulings, the German Constitutional Court in 2020 refused to abide by the preliminary ruling. According to the German Constitutional Court, the Court of Justice's answer was unintelligble. In June 2021, the European Commission announced it would start infringement proceedings against Germany for the German Constitutional Court's refusal to abide by the Court of Justice's preliminary ruling.


title: European Court of Justice

text: The constitutional courts of the member-states have in general been reluctant to refer a question to the European Court of Justice.


title: European Court of Justice

text: Procedure before the ECJ is determined by its own rules of procedure. As a rule the Court's procedure includes a written phase and an oral phase. The proceedings are conducted in one of the official languages of the European Union chosen by the applicant, although where the defendant is a member state or a national of a member state the applicant must choose an official language of that member state, unless the parties agree otherwise.


title: European Court of Justice

text: However, the working language of the court is the language of the case being heard with French being the common language for discussion, and it is in this language that the judges deliberate, pleadings and written legal submissions are translated and in which the judgment is drafted. The Advocates-General, by contrast, may work and draft their opinions in any official language, as they do not take part in any deliberations. These opinions are then translated into French for the benefit of the judges and their deliberations. However, all documents used in the case are in the language of that case and the only authentic version of the judgment handed down by either the Court of Justice or the General Court is that which appears in the language of the case.


title: European Court of Justice

text: All the EU's judicial bodies are based in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. The Court of Justice is seated in the "Palais de la Cour de Justice".


title: European Court of Justice

text: Luxembourg City was chosen as the provisional seat of the Court on 23 July 1952 with the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community. Its first hearing there was held on 28 November 1954 in a building known as Villa Vauban, the seat until 1959 when it would move to the Côte d'Eich building and then to the Palais building in 1972.


title: European Court of Justice

text: In 1965, the member states established Luxembourg City as the permanent seat of the Court. Future judicial bodies (Court of First Instance and Civil Service Tribunal) would also be based in the city. The decision was confirmed by the European Council at Edinburgh in 1992. However, there was no reference to future bodies being in Luxembourg City. In reaction to this, the Luxembourg government issued its own declaration stating it did not surrender those provisions agreed upon in 1965. The Edinburgh decision was attached to the Amsterdam Treaty. With the Treaty of Nice Luxembourg attached a declaration stating it did not claim the seat of the "Boards of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market" – even if it were to become a judicial body.


title: European Court of Justice

text: Over time ECJ developed two essential rules on which the legal order rests: direct effect and primacy. The court first ruled on the direct effect of primary legislation in a case that, though technical and tedious, raised a fundamental principle of Union law. In "Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen" (1963), a Dutch transport firm brought a complaint against Dutch customs for increasing the duty on a product imported from Germany. The court ruled that the Community constitutes a new legal order, the subjects of which consist of not only the Member States but also their nationals. Consequently Community law may, if appropriately framed, confer rights on individuals which national courts are bound to protect. The principle of direct effect would have had little impact if Union law did not supersede national law. Without supremacy the Member States could simply ignore EU rules. In "Costa v ENEL" (1964), the court ruled that member states had definitively transferred sovereign rights to the Community and Union law could not be overridden by domestic law.


title: European Court of Justice

text: Another early landmark case was "Commission v Luxembourg and Belgium" (1964), the "Dairy Products" case. In that decision the Court comprehensively ruled out any use by the Member States of the retaliatory measures commonly permitted by general international law within the European Economic Community. That decision is often thought to be the best example of the European legal order's divergence with ordinary international law. "Commission v Luxembourg and Belgium" also has a logical connection with the nearly contemporaneous "Van Gend en Loos" and "Costa v ENEL" decisions, as arguably it is the doctrines of direct effect and supremacy that allow the European legal system to forgo any use of retaliatory enforcement mechanisms by the Member States. Links between the direct effect doctrine and the suppression of inter-state retaliation between the EU member states can be found in many of the landmark early decisions of the European Court of Justice, and in the writings of the influential French judge, Robert Lecourt, perhaps the most important member of the Court between 1962 and 1976.


title: European Court of Justice

text: Further, in the 1991 case "Francovich v Italy", the ECJ established that Member States could be liable to pay compensation to individuals who suffered a loss by reason of the Member State's failure to transpose an EU directive into national law.


title: European Court of Justice

text: In 2008, the former German president Roman Herzog claimed that the ECJ was overstepping its powers. He was particularly critical of the court's judgment "Mangold v Helm", which over-ruled a German law that would discriminate in favour of older workers.


title: European Court of Justice

text: In 2011, the President of the Constitutional Court of Belgium, Marc Bossuyt, said that both the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights were taking on more powers by extending their competences, creating a threat of a "government by judges". He claimed that foreign judges were not always aware of the financial implications of their judgements on national governments.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: Operation Frequent Wind was the final phase in the evacuation of American civilians and "at-risk" Vietnamese from Saigon, South Vietnam, before the takeover of the city by the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) in the Fall of Saigon. It was carried out on 29–30 April 1975, during the last days of the Vietnam War. More than 7,000 people were evacuated by helicopter from various points in Saigon. The airlift resulted in a number of enduring images.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: Evacuation plans already existed as a standard procedure for American embassies. At the beginning of March, fixed-wing aircraft began evacuating civilians from Tan Son Nhat Airport through neighboring countries. By mid-April, contingency plans were in place and preparations were underway for a possible helicopter evacuation. As the imminent collapse of Saigon became evident, the U.S. Navy assembled Task Force 76 off the coast near Vũng Tàu to support a helicopter evacuation and provide air support if required. In the event, air support was not needed as the North Vietnamese paused for a week at the outskirts of Saigon, possibly waiting for the South Vietnamese government to collapse and avoiding a possible confrontation with the U.S. by allowing the mostly-unopposed evacuation of Americans from Saigon.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: On 28 April, Tan Son Nhut Air Base (next to the airport) came under artillery fire and attack from Vietnamese People's Air Force aircraft. The fixed-wing evacuation was terminated and Operation Frequent Wind began. During the fixed-wing evacuation 50,493 people (including 2,678 Vietnamese orphans) were evacuated from Tan Son Nhut. The evacuation took place primarily from the Defense Attaché Office compound, beginning around 14:00 on the afternoon of 29 April, and ending that night with only limited small arms damage to the helicopters. The U.S. Embassy in Saigon was intended to only be a secondary evacuation point for embassy staff, but it was soon overwhelmed with evacuees and desperate South Vietnamese. The evacuation of the embassy was completed at 07:53 on 30 April, but some Americans chose to stay or were left behind and some 400 third-country nationals were left at the embassy.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: Tens of thousands of Vietnamese evacuated themselves by sea or air. With the collapse of South Vietnam, numerous boats and ships, Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) helicopters and some fixed-wing aircraft sailed or flew out to the evacuation fleet. Helicopters began to clog ship decks and eventually, some were pushed overboard to allow others to land. Pilots of other helicopters were told to drop off their passengers and then take off and ditch in the sea, from where they would be rescued. In Operation Frequent Wind a total of 1,373 Americans and 5,595 Vietnamese and third-country nationals were evacuated by helicopter. The total number of Vietnamese evacuated by Frequent Wind or self-evacuated and ending up in the custody of the United States for processing as refugees to enter the United States totalled 138,869.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: Planning for the evacuation of the Americans and their South Vietnamese allies from South Vietnam had begun before April 1975. When U.S. President Gerald Ford met with the National Security Council on 9 April 1975 he was told by Henry Kissinger that a maximum of 1.7 million people had been identified as possible evacuees and that these included: American citizens and their relatives, the diplomatic corps, the International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS), third-country nationals under contract by the U.S. government and the employees of the U.S. and their dependents (estimated at about 200,000 people). In addition, the Vietnamese relatives of American citizens and senior Government of Vietnam officials and their dependents (about 600,000 people) were also identified as potential evacuees, along with Vietnamese formerly employed by the U.S. and their dependents.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: Although American officials at the highest levels of the intelligence community (e.g., CIA Director William Colby) were certain that the South Vietnamese government would collapse, everyone in the U.S. government underestimated the speed of the North Vietnamese advance during the 1975 Spring Offensive and how quickly the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) would collapse.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: Evacuation plans are standard for American embassies. The Saigon plan had been developed over a number of years. Originally codenamed "Talon Vise", the operation was renamed "Frequent Wind" when the original codename was compromised.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: By 1975, the Frequent Wind plan aimed to evacuate about 8,000 U.S. citizens and third-country nationals, but it was never able to estimate the number of South Vietnamese to include. There were about 17,000 at-risk Vietnamese on embassy rolls, which, using an average of seven dependents per family, meant that the number requiring evacuation was 119,000. Taken with other categories of Vietnamese, the number quickly passed 200,000. The Frequent Wind plan set out four possible evacuation options:


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: With Option 4, the helicopter evacuation would be expected to be similar to Operation Eagle Pull, the American evacuation by air of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on 12 April 1975.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: On 1 April an evacuation control center manned by U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force (USAF) and U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) personnel began operating at the Defense Attaché Office (DAO) compound on 12-hour shifts, increasing to 24-hour shifts the next day. Also on 1 April, Plan Alamo was implemented to defend the DAO compound and its annex so it could serve as a holding area for 1,500 evacuees for five days. By 16 April, Alamo was complete: water, C-rations, petroleum, oil, and lubricants had been stockpiled; backup electricity generators had been installed; sanitary facilities were completed; and concertina wire protected the perimeter.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: On 7 April Air America pilot Nikki A. Fillipi, with U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Robert Twigger, assigned to the DAO as the U.S. Navy liaison officer, surveyed 37 buildings in Saigon as possible landing zones (LZ), selecting 13 of them as fit for use. Workers from Pacific Architects and Engineers visited each of the 13 LZs to remove obstructions and paint H's the size of a UH-1 Huey helicopter's skids. President Ford, in an address to the American public on 11 April, promised to evacuate Vietnamese civilians of various categories. The 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade (9th MAB), which was to supply helicopters and a security force for the evacuation, sent a delegation to consult with Ambassador Graham Martin on current plans on 12 April. Martin told them that he would not tolerate any outward signs that the United States intended to abandon South Vietnam. All planning would have to be conducted with the utmost discretion. Brigadier General Richard E. Carey, commander of the 9th MAB, flew to Saigon the next day to see Ambassador Martin; he later said, "The visit was cold, non-productive and appeared to be an irritant to the Ambassador". Thirteen Marines from the Marine Security Guard (MSG) detachment were deployed to the DAO Compound on 13 April to replace eight Marine guards who had been providing security after they were withdrawn from the closed Da Nang and Nha Trang consulates.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: By late April, Air America helicopters were flying several daily shuttles from TF76 to the DAO Compound to enable the 9th MAB to conduct evacuation preparations at the DAO without exceeding the Paris Peace Accords' limit of 50 U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam. The U.S. government was continuing to observe its obligations under the Accords, notwithstanding the North Vietnamese invasion. In late April, the MSG Marines were ordered to abandon Marshall Hall/Marine House, their billet at 204 Hong Thap Tu Street (now 204 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street), and move into the recreation area in the embassy compound.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: The two major evacuation points chosen for Operation Frequent Wind were the DAO Compound next to Tan Son Nhut Airport for American and Vietnamese civilian evacuees, and the U.S. Embassy, Saigon for embassy staff. The plan for the evacuation included stationing buses and American civilian bus drivers at 28 buildings throughout metropolitan Saigon. The buses would follow one of four planned evacuation routes from downtown Saigon to the DAO Compound, each route named after a Western Trail: Santa Fe, Oregon, Texas, etc.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: By late March, the embassy began to reduce the number of U.S. citizens in Vietnam by encouraging dependents and non-essential personnel to leave the country by commercial flights and on Military Airlift Command (MAC) C-141 and C-5 aircraft, which were still bringing in emergency military supplies. In late March, two or three of these MAC aircraft were arriving each day and were used to evacuate civilians and Vietnamese orphans. On 4 April, a C-5A aircraft carrying 250 Vietnamese orphans and their escorts suffered explosive decompression over the sea near Vũng Tàu and made a crash-landing while attempting to return to Tan Son Nhut; 153 people on board died in the crash.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: With the cause of the crash still unknown, the C-5 fleet was grounded and the MAC airlift was reduced to using C-141s and C-130s. Rather than loading as many evacuees as possible, each evacuee was required to have a seat and a seatbelt, reducing the number of passengers that could be carried on each flight to 94 in a C-141 and 75 in a C-130. But these restrictions were relaxed and eventually ignored altogether as the pace of the evacuation quickened. Armed guards were also present on each flight to prevent hijacking. American commercial and contract carriers continued to fly out of Tan Son Nhut, but with decreasing frequency. In addition, military aircraft from Australia, Indonesia, Iran, Poland, the United Kingdom, France, and other countries flew in to evacuate their embassy personnel.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: Throughout April, the "thinning out" proceeded slowly, largely because the South Vietnamese government was slow to issue papers allowing Americans to take Vietnamese dependents with them, with the result that MAC aircraft were often departing empty. Finally, on 19 April, a simple procedure was implemented that cleared up the paperwork jam and the number of evacuees dramatically increased. The fall of Xuân Lộc on 21 April and the resignation of President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu on 21 April brought greater crowds seeking evacuation to the DAO Compound as it became apparent that South Vietnam's days were numbered. By 22 April, 20 C-141 and 20 C-130s flights a day were flying evacuees out of Tan Son Nhut to Clark Air Base, some 1,000 miles away in the Philippines. On 23 April President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines announced that no more than 2,500 Vietnamese evacuees would be allowed in the Philippines at any one time, further increasing the strain on MAC which now had to move evacuees out of Saigon and move some 5,000 evacuees from Clark Air Base on to Guam, Wake Island and Yokota Air Base. President Thiệu and his family left Tan Son Nhut on 25 April on a USAF C-118 to go into exile in Taiwan. Also on 25 April the Federal Aviation Administration banned commercial flights into South Vietnam. This directive was subsequently reversed; some operators had ignored it anyway. In any case this effectively marked the end of the commercial airlift from Tan Son Nhut.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: On 27 April, PAVN rockets hit Saigon and Cholon for the first time since the 1973 ceasefire. U.S. officials decided to stop using the less maneuverable C-141s, which had been loaded with up to 316 evacuees, and use only C-130s, which had been taking off with more than 240.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: With the fall of Saigon imminent, between 18 and 24 April the U.S. Navy assembled ships off Vũng Tàu under Commander Task Force 76:


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: each carrying Marine, and Air Force (eight 21st Special Operations Squadron CH-53s and two 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron HH-53s) helicopters.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: The and carrier attack groups of Task Force 77 in the South China Sea provided air cover while Task Force 73 ensured logistic support.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: The Marine evacuation contingent, the 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade (Task Group 79.1), consisted of three Battalion Landing Teams (BLT); 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines (2/4), 1st Battalion 9th Marines (1/9), 3rd Battalion 9th Marines (3/9) and three helicopter squadrons HMH-462, HMH-463, HMM-165 along with other support units from Marine Aircraft Group 39 (MAG-39).


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: In addition, a flotilla of Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships were assembled and these carried out seaborne evacuations from Saigon Port, this fleet comprised:


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: On 28 April at 18:06, three A-37 Dragonflies piloted by former RVNAF pilots, who had defected to the Vietnamese People's Air Force at the fall of Da Nang, dropped six Mk81 250 lb bombs on Tan Son Nhut Air Base destroying several aircraft. RVNAF F-5s took off in pursuit, but they were unable to intercept the A-37s. C-130s leaving Tan Son Nhut reported receiving PAVN .51 cal and 37 mm anti-aircraft (AAA) fire, while sporadic PAVN rocket and artillery attacks also started to hit the airport and air base. C-130 flights were stopped temporarily after the air attack but resumed at 20:00 on 28 April. At 21:00 on 28 April Major General Homer D. Smith, the Defense Attaché, informed the evacuation control center that 60 C-130 flights would come in on 29 April to evacuate 10,000 people.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: At 03:30 on 29 April a PAVN rocket hit Guardpost 1 at the DAO Compound, instantly killing Marine Corporals McMahon and Judge. They were the last American ground casualties in Vietnam.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: At 03:58, C-130E, #72-1297, flown by a crew from the 776th Tactical Airlift Squadron, was destroyed by a 122 mm rocket while taxiing to pick up refugees after offloading a BLU-82 at Tan Son Nhut Air Base. The crew evacuated the burning aircraft on the taxiway and departed the airfield on another C-130 that had previously landed. This was the last USAF fixed-wing aircraft to leave Tan Son Nhut. Between 04:30 and 08:00 up to 40 artillery rounds and rockets hit around the DAO Compound.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: At dawn the RVNAF began to haphazardly depart Tan Son Nhut Air Base as A-37s, F-5s, C-7s, C-119s and C-130s departed for Thailand while UH-1s took off in search of the ships of TF-76. Some RVNAF aircraft stayed to continue to fight the advancing PAVN. One AC-119 gunship had spent the night of 28/29 April dropping flares and firing on the approaching PAVN. At dawn on 29 April two A-1 Skyraiders began patrolling the perimeter of Tan Son Nhut at until one was shot down, presumably by an SA-7 missile. At 07:00 the AC-119 was firing on PAVN to the east of Tan Son Nhut when it too was hit by an SA-7 and fell in flames to the ground.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: At 07:00 on 29 April, Major General Smith advised Ambassador Martin that fixed-wing evacuations should cease and that Operation Frequent Wind, the helicopter evacuation of US personnel and at-risk Vietnamese should commence. Ambassador Martin refused to accept General Smith's recommendation and instead insisted on visiting Tan Son Nhut to survey the situation for himself. At 10:00 Ambassador Martin confirmed General Smith's assessment and at 10:48 he contacted Washington to recommend Option 4, the helicopter evacuation. Finally at 10:51 the order was given by CINCPAC to commence Option 4; due to confusion in the chain of command, General Carey did not receive the execute order until 12:15. At 08:00 Lieutenant General Minh, commander of the RVNAF and 30 of his staff arrived at the DAO compound demanding evacuation, signifying the complete loss of RVNAF command and control.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: In preparation for the evacuation, the American Embassy had distributed a 15-page booklet called SAFE, short for "Standard Instruction and Advice to Civilians in an Emergency." The booklet included a map of Saigon pinpointing "assembly areas where a helicopter will pick you up." There was an insert page which read: "Note evacuational signal. Do not disclose to other personnel. When the evacuation is ordered, the code will be read out on Armed Forces Radio. The code is: The temperature in Saigon is 105 degrees and rising. This will be followed by the playing of I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas." Frank Snepp later recalled the arrival of helicopters at the embassy while the song was playing over the radio as a "bizarre Kafkaesque time". Japanese journalists, concerned that they would not recognize the tune, had to get someone to sing it to them.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: After the evacuation signal was given, the buses began to pick up passengers and head to the DAO Compound. The system worked so efficiently that the buses were able to make three return journeys rather than the expected one. The biggest problem occurred when the ARVN unit guarding the main gate at Tan Son Nhut refused to allow the last convoy of buses into the DAO Compound at about 17:45. As this was happening, a firefight between two ARVN units broke out and caught the rearmost buses in the crossfire, disabling two of the vehicles. Eventually the ARVN commander controlling the gates agreed to permit the remaining buses to enter the compound. General Carey's threat to use the AH-1J SeaCobra helicopter gunships flying overhead may have played a role in the ARVN commander's decision.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: It was not known whether the PAVN and/or the ARVN would try to disrupt the evacuation and so the planners had to take all possible contingencies into account to ensure the safety and success of the evacuation. The staff of 9th MAB prescribed altitudes, routes, and checkpoints for flight safety for the operation. To avert mid-air collisions, the planners chose altitudes which would provide separation of traffic and also a capability to see and avoid the enemy's AAA, SA-2 and SA-7 missile threat ( for flights inbound to Saigon and for those outbound from Saigon to the Navy ships). These altitudes were also high enough to avoid small arms and artillery fire.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: In the event that the PAVN or ARVN shot down a helicopter or a mechanical malfunction forced one to make an emergency landing in hostile territory, two orbiting CH-46s of MAG-39 each carrying 15-man, quick-reaction "Sparrow Hawk" teams of Marines from 1st Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, from USS "Blue Ridge", were ready to land and provide security enabling a search and rescue helicopter to pick up the crew. In addition, two CH-46s would provide medical evacuation capabilities while AH-1J SeaCobras would fly cover for the transport helicopters and for any ground units who requested support. The SeaCobras could also serve as Forward Air Controllers.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: The air wings of USS "Enterprise" and USS "Coral Sea", were ready to provide close air support and anti-aircraft suppression if required with their A-6 and A-7 attack aircraft, and would provide continuous fighter cover the evacuation route including by VF-1 and VF-2, flying from "Enterprise" with the first combat deployment of the new F-14A Tomcat. USAF aircraft operating out of Nakhon Phanom Air Base, Korat Air Base and U-Tapao Air Base in Thailand were also overhead for the duration of the helicopter evacuation. A C-130 Airborne Command and Control controlled all US air operations over land. USAF F-4s, F-111s and A-7s provided air cover during daylight, being replaced by AC-130s from the 16th Special Operations Squadron at night. Strategic Air Command KC-135 tankers provided air-to-air refueling.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: The evacuation proceeded without interference from the PAVN. Aircraft flying air cover for the evacuation reported being tracked with surface to air radar in the vicinity of Biên Hòa Air Base (which had fallen to the PAVN on 25 April), but there were no missile launches. The Hanoi leadership, reckoning that completion of the evacuation would lessen the risk of American intervention, had apparently instructed General Dũng not to target the airlift itself. Members of the police in Saigon had been promised evacuation in exchange for protecting the American evacuation buses and control of the crowds in the city during the evacuation. Disgruntled ARVN troops repeatedly hit American helicopters with small arms fire throughout the evacuation, without causing serious damage. Despite receiving sporadic PAVN AAA fire, USAF and USN aircraft made no attacks on AAA or SAM sites during the evacuation. However, one USAF report states that an F-4C Wild Weasel and an F-4D of the 388th Fighter Wing, was patrolling between Tan Son Nhut and Bien Hoa about 16:00 when the Wild Weasel detected SAM radar emissions to the north. It immediately turned toward the threatening radar and fifteen to twenty anti-aircraft weapons opened up on it and the F-4D. The four crew members estimated they received more than 500 rounds of 23-mm, 37-mm, and 57-mm fire in the space of one minute. After receiving permission from the airborne commander, the Wild Weasel marked the three 57-mm sites with an AGM-45 Shrike missile and took evasive action to escape the tracers coming in. Then the F-4D was cleared to destroy the 57 mm battery and did so with two CBU-71 and two CBU-58 Cluster bombs, neutralizing the site, northeast of Saigon, without damage to either aircraft.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: Despite all the concern over these military threats, the weather presented the gravest danger. At the beginning of the operation, pilots in the first wave reported the weather as scattered, overcast with visibility, except in haze over Saigon, where visibility decreased to one mile. This meant that scattered clouds existed below their flight path while a solid layer of clouds more than two miles above their heads obscured the sun. The curtain of haze over Saigon so altered the diminished daylight that line of sight visibility was only a mile. The weather conditions deteriorated as the operation continued.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: As part of the evacuation plan agreed with the DAO, Air America committed 24 of its 28 available helicopters to support the evacuation and 31 pilots agreed to stay in Saigon to support the evacuation; this meant that most helicopters would have only one pilot rather than the usual two. At 08:30 on 29 April, with the shelling of Tan Son Nhut Airport subsiding, Air America began ferrying its helicopter and fixed-wing pilots from their homes in Saigon to the Air America compound at Tan Son Nhut, across the road from the DAO Compound. Air America helicopters started flying to the rooftop LZs in Saigon and either shuttled the evacuees back to the DAO Compound or flew out to the ships of TF76. By 10:30 all of Air America's fixed-wing aircraft had departed Tan Son Nhut, evacuating all non-essential personnel and as many Vietnamese evacuees as they could carry and headed for Thailand. At some point during the morning RVNAF personnel took five ICCS UH-1H Hueys and one Air America Bell 204 from the Air America ramp.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: At 11:00 the security situation at the Air America compound was deteriorating as General Carey did not wish to risk his Marines by extending his perimeter to cover the Air America compound (LZ 40), so all Air America helicopters from this time operated out of the tennis courts in the DAO Annex (LZ 35). This move created fuel problems for Air America as they no longer had access to the fuel supplies in their compound and at least initially they were refused fuel by the ships of TF76. According to US Naval Archives, at 12:30 an Air America Bell 205 landed Air Vice Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, Madame Kỳ, Dorothy Martin (wife of Ambassador Martin) and others on USS "Denver"; however, contemporary reports state and photos show that Marshal Kỳ piloted his own UH-1H Huey to USS "Midway".


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: At approximately 14:30, Air America Bell 205 serial number "N47004" landed on the roof of the Pittman Apartment Building at 22 Gia Long Street to collect a senior Vietnamese intelligence source and his family. The Pittman Building was not an approved LZ, but when the agreed pickup point at the Lee Hotel at 6 Chien Si Circle was declared unusable, CIA Station Chief Tom Polgar asked Oren B. Harnage, Deputy Chief of the Embassy's Air Branch to change the pickup to the Pittman Building, which was the home of the Assistant Station Chief and had an elevator shaft believed capable of supporting the weight of a Huey. Harnage boarded an Air America Huey from the Embassy's rooftop heliport and flew the short distance to the Pittman Building. Harnage leaned out of the Huey and helped approximately 15 evacuees board the Huey from the narrow helipad. The scene was famously captured on film by Hubert van Es.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: Air America helicopters continued to make rooftop pickups until after nightfall by which time navigation became increasingly difficult. Helicopters overflew the designated LZs to check no Americans had been left behind and then the last helicopters (many low on fuel) headed out to TF76, located USS "Midway" or USS "Hancock" and shut down. All Air America flights had ceased by 21:00. With its available fleet of only 20 Hueys (3 of which were impounded, ditched or damaged at TF76), Air America had moved over 1,000 evacuees to the DAO Compound, the Embassy or out to the ships of TF76.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: At 14:06 two UH-1E Huey helicopters carrying General Carey and Colonel Alfred M. Gray Jr. (commander of Regimental Landing Team 4 (RLT4)) landed at the DAO Compound. During their approach to the compound, Carey and Gray got a firsthand view of the PAVN's firepower as they shelled nearby Tan Son Nhut Airport with ground, rocket, and artillery fire. They quickly established an austere command post in preparation for the arrival of the Marine CH-53s and the ground security force.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: The first wave of 12 CH-53s from HMH-462 loaded with BLT 2/4's command groups "Alpha" and "Bravo", and Company F and reinforced Company H arrived in the DAO Compound at 15:06 and the marines quickly moved to reinforce the perimeter defenses. As they approached the helicopters had taken rifle and M-79 grenade fire from ARVN troops but without causing any apparent damage. The second wave of 12 CH-53s from HMH-463 landed in the DAO Compound at 15:15 bringing in the rest of the BLT. A third wave of two CH-53s from HMH-463 and eight USAF CH-53Cs and two USAF HH-53s of the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (all operating from USS "Midway") arrived shortly afterwards.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: "Alpha" command group, two rifle companies, and the 81 mm mortar platoon were deployed around the DAO headquarters building (the Alamo) and its adjacent landing zones. Companies E and F respectively occupied the northern and southern sections between the DAO headquarters and the DAO Annex. "Bravo" command group, consisting of two rifle companies and the 106 mm recoilless rifle platoon, assumed responsibility for security of the DAO Annex and its adjoining landing zones. Company G occupied the eastern section of the Annex, while Company H assumed control of the western section.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: The HMH-462 CH-53s loaded with evacuees and left the compound, they unloaded the first evacuees delivered by Operation Frequent Wind at 15:40. At about 17:30 General Carey ordered the extraction of 3rd Platoon, Company C of BLT 1/9, which had been landed at the DAO Compound on 25 April to assist the Marine Security Guard. Between 19:00 and 21:00 General Carey transferred 3 platoons (130 men) of BLT 2/4 into the embassy compound to provide additional security and assistance for the embassy.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: At 19:30 General Carey directed that the remaining elements guarding the Annex be withdrawn to DAO headquarters (the Alamo) where the last of the evacuees would await their flight. Once completed, the new defensive perimeter encompassed only LZ 36 and the Alamo. By 20:30 the last evacuees had been loaded onto helicopters. With the evacuation of the landing control teams from the Annex and Alamo completed, General Carey ordered the withdrawal of the ground security forces from the DAO Compound around 22:50. At 23:40 Marines destroyed the satellite terminal, the DAO Compound's last means of direct communication with the outside world. At 00:30 on 30 April, thermite grenades, having been previously placed in selected buildings, ignited as two CH-53s left the DAO parking lot carrying the last elements of BLT 2/4.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: On 25 April, 40 Marines from the 9th MAB on USS "Hancock" were flown in by Air America helicopters in civilian clothes to the DAO compound to augment the 18 Marine Security Guards assigned to defend the embassy; an additional six Marines were assigned to protect Ambassador Martin. Martin had remained optimistic that a negotiated settlement could be reached whereby the US would not have to pull out of South Vietnam and, in an effort to avert defeatism and panic he instructed Major James Kean, commanding officer of the Marine Security Guard Battalion and Ground Support Force Commander United States Embassy Compound, that he could not begin to remove the tamarind tree and other trees and shrubbery which prevented the use of the embassy parking lot as a helicopter landing zone.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: By the morning of 29 April, it was estimated that approximately 10,000 people had gathered around the embassy, while some 2,500 evacuees were in the embassy and consular compounds. The crowds prevented the use of buses for transporting evacuees from the embassy to the DAO Compound for evacuation, and the embassy gates were closed to prevent the crowd from surging through. Eligible evacuees now had to make themselves known to the Marine guards or embassy staff manning the walls and were then lifted over the walls and into the embassy compound. Among those arriving at the embassy were Phan Quang Đán, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister responsible for social welfare and refugee resettlement, and Lieutenant-General Đặng Văn Quang.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: From 10:00 to 12:00 Major Kean and his Marines cut down the tamarind and other trees and moved vehicles to create an LZ in the embassy parking lot behind the chancery building. Two LZs were now available in the embassy compound, the rooftop for UH-1s and CH-46s and the new parking lot LZ for the heavier CH-53s. Air America UH-1s began ferrying evacuees from other smaller assembly points throughout the city and dropping them on the Embassy's rooftop LZ. At 15:00 the first CH-53s were sighted heading towards the DAO Compound at Tan Son Nhut. Major Kean contacted the Seventh Fleet to advise them of his airlift requirements; until that time the fleet believed that all evacuees had been bussed from the embassy to the DAO Compound and that only two helicopters would be required to evacuate Ambassador Martin and the Marines from the embassy.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: Inside the embassy, the evacuees had found whatever space was available inside the embassy compound and evacuees and some staff proceeded to take alcohol from the embassy's stores. From the billowing incinerator on the embassy roof floated intelligence documents and US currency, most charred; some not. An embassy official said that more than five million dollars were being burned.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: At 17:00 the first CH-46 landed at the embassy. Between 19:00 and 21:00 on 29 April approximately 130 additional Marines from 2nd Battalion 4th Marines were lifted from the DAO Compound to reinforce perimeter security at the embassy, bringing the total number of Marines at the embassy to 175. The evacuation from the DAO Compound was completed by about 19:00 after which all helicopters would be routed to the embassy; Major Kean was informed that operations would cease at dark. Major Kean advised that the LZ would be well lit and had vehicles moved around the parking lot LZ with their engines running and headlights on to illuminate the LZ. At 21:30 a CH-53 pilot informed Major Kean that Admiral Whitmire, Commander of Task Force 76 had ordered that operations would cease at 23:00. Major Kean saw Ambassador Martin to request that he contact the Oval Office to ensure that the airlift continued. Ambassador Martin soon sent word back to Major Kean that sorties would continue to be flown. At the same time, General Carey met Admiral Whitmire to convince him to resume flights to the embassy despite pilot fatigue and poor visibility caused by darkness, fires and bad weather.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: By 02:15 on 30 April one CH-46 and one CH-53 were landing at the embassy every 10 minutes. At this time, the embassy indicated that another 19 lifts would complete the evacuation. At that time Major Kean estimated that there were still some 850 non-American evacuees and 225 Americans (including the Marines), and Ambassador Martin told Major Kean to do the best he could. At 03:00 Ambassador Martin ordered Major Kean to move all the remaining evacuees into the parking lot LZ which was the Marines' final perimeter. At 03:27 President Gerald Ford ordered that no more than 19 additional lifts would be allowed to complete the evacuation. At 04:30 with the 19 lift limit already exceeded, Major Kean went to the rooftop LZ and spoke over a helicopter radio with General Carey who advised that President Ford had ordered that the airlift be limited to US personnel. Major Kean was then ordered to withdraw his men into the chancery building and withdraw to the rooftop LZ for evacuation.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: Major Kean returned to the ground floor of the chancery and ordered his men to withdraw into a large semicircle at the main entrance to the chancery. Most of the Marines were inside the chancery when the crowds outside the embassy broke through the gates into the compound. The Marines closed and bolted the chancery door, the elevators were locked by Seabees on the sixth floor and the Marines withdrew up the stairwells locking grill gates behind them. On the ground floor a water tanker was driven through the chancery door and the crowd began to surge up through the building toward the rooftop. The Marines on the rooftop had sealed the doors and were using Mace to discourage the crowd from trying to break through. Sporadic gunfire from around the embassy passed over the rooftop.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: At 04:58 Ambassador Martin boarded a USMC CH-46 Sea Knight, call-sign "Lady Ace 09" of HMM-165 and was flown to USS "Blue Ridge". When "Lady Ace 09" transmitted "Tiger is out", those helicopter crews still flying thought the mission was complete, and delayed evacuating the Marines from the embassy rooftop. CH-46s evacuated the Battalion Landing Team by 07:00 and after an anxious wait a lone CH-46 "Swift 2-2" of HMM-164 arrived to evacuate Major Kean and the ten remaining men of the Marine Security Guards, this last helicopter took off at 07:53 on 30 April and landed on USS "Okinawa" at 08:30.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: At 11:30 PAVN tanks smashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace less than 1 km from the embassy and raised the flag of the Viet Cong over the building; the Vietnam War was over.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: During the course of the operation an unknown number of RVNAF helicopters flew out of what remained of South Vietnam to the fleet. Around 12:00 five or six RVNAF UH-1Hs and one of the stolen ICCS UH-1Hs, were circling around "Blue Ridge". The RVNAF pilots had been instructed after dropping off their passengers to ditch their helicopters and they would then be picked up by one of the ship's tenders. The pilot of the stolen ICCS Huey had been told to ditch off the port quarter of the ship, but seemed reluctant to do so, flying around the ship to the starboard bow he jumped from his helicopter at a height of . His helicopter turned and hit the side of "Blue Ridge" before hitting the sea. The tail rotor sheared off and embedded itself in the engine of an Air America Bell 205 that was doing a hot refueling on the helipad at the rear of the ship. The Air America pilot shut down his helicopter and left it. Moments later a RVNAF UH-1H attempted to land on the helipad, locked rotors with the Air America Bell, almost pushing it overboard. A stolen Air America Bell 204 landed on "Kirk", from where US Navy pilots flew it to "Okinawa".


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: So many RVNAF helicopters landed on the TF76 ships that some 45 UH-1 Hueys and at least one CH-47 Chinook were pushed overboard to make room for more helicopters to land. Other helicopters dropped off their passengers and were then ditched into the sea by their pilots, close to the ships, their pilots bailing out at the last moment to be picked up by rescue boats.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: One of the more notable events occurred on "Midway" when the pilot of an RVNAF Cessna O-1 dropped a note on the deck of the carrier. The note read "Can you move these helicopter to the other side, I can land on your runway, I can fly 1 hour more, we have enough time to move. Please rescue me. Major Buang, Wife and 5 child." "Midway"s commanding officer, Captain L.C. Chambers ordered the flight deck crew to clear the landing area; in the process an estimated US$10 million worth of UH-1 Huey helicopters were pushed overboard into the South China Sea. Once the deck was clear Major Buang approached the deck, bounced once and then touched down and taxied to a halt with room to spare. Major Buang became the first RVNAF fixed-wing pilot to ever land on a carrier. A second Cessna O-1 was also recovered by USS "Midway" that afternoon.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: At the same time as the aerial evacuation, tens of thousands of South Vietnamese fled towards TF-76 aboard junks, sampans, and small craft. MSC tugs pulled barges filled with people from Saigon Port out to TF-76. A flotilla of 26 Republic of Vietnam Navy and other vessels concentrated off Long Sơn Island southwest of Vũng Tàu with 30,000 sailors, their families, and other civilians on board. On the afternoon of 30 April, TF-76 moved away from the coast, picking up more refugees as they went. On 2 May, Task Force 76, carrying the Operation Frequent Wind evacuees and 44,000 seaborne evacuees and the RVN Navy group set sail for reception centers in the Philippines and Guam.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: During the fixed-wing evacuation 50,493 people (including 2,678 Vietnamese orphans) were evacuated from Tan Son Nhut. Marine pilots accumulated 1,054 flight hours and flew 682 sorties throughout Operation Frequent Wind. The evacuation of personnel from the DAO compound had lasted nine hours and involved over 50 Marine Corps and Air Force helicopters. In the helicopter evacuation a total of 395 Americans and 4,475 Vietnamese and third-country nationals were evacuated from the DAO compound and a further 978 U.S. and 1,120 Vietnamese and third-country nationals from the embassy, giving a total of 1,373 Americans and 5,595 Vietnamese and third country nationals. In addition, Air America helicopters and RVNAF aircraft brought additional evacuees to the TF76 ships. Many of the Vietnamese evacuees were allowed to enter the United States under the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: Some 400 evacuees were left behind at the embassy including over 100 South Korean citizens; among them was Brigadier General Dai Yong Rhee, the intelligence chief at the South Korean Embassy in Saigon. The South Korean civilians were evacuated in 1976, while General Rhee and two other diplomats were held captive until April 1980. Forty-nine Americans, including dependents, were also left behind or chose to remain in Saigon. They were evacuated to Bangkok on 1 August 1976.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: While the operation itself was a success, the images of the evacuation symbolized the wastefulness and ultimate futility of American involvement in Vietnam. President Ford later called it "a sad and tragic period in America's history" but argued that "you couldn't help but be very proud of those pilots and others who were conducting the evacuation". Nixon's pledge of Peace with Honor in Vietnam had become a humiliating defeat, which together with Watergate contributed to the crisis of confidence that affected America throughout the 1970s.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: For an operation of the size and complexity of Frequent Wind, casualties were relatively light. Marine corporals McMahon and Judge, killed at the DAO compound, were the only members of US forces killed in action during the operation and they were the last US ground casualties in Vietnam. A Marine AH-1J SeaCobra ran out of fuel while searching for USS "Okinawa" and ditched at sea, the two crew members were rescued by a boat from USS "Kirk". CH-46F "Swift 1-4" of HMM-164 from USS "Hancock" flown by Captain William C. Nystul and First Lieutenant Michael J. Shea crashed into the sea on its approach to the ship after having flown a night sea and air rescue mission. The two enlisted crewmen survived, but the bodies of the pilots were not recovered. The cause of the crash was never determined.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: During the demolition of the embassy, the metal staircase leading from the rooftop to the helipad was removed and sent back to the United States, where it is now on display at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: The Cessna O-1 Bird Dog that Major Buang landed on USS "Midway" is now on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. The USS "Midway" is a museum ship in San Diego. "Lady Ace 09", CH-46 serial number 154803, is now on display at the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum in San Diego, California.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: On the afternoon of 29 April 1975, Hubert van Es, a Saigon-based photographer for United Press International, took the iconic photo of Operation Frequent Wind of an Air America UH-1 on a rooftop picking up Vietnamese evacuees. The building in the photo was the Pittman Apartment building at 22 Gia Long Street (now 22 Lý Tự Trọng Street), which was used as a residence by various embassy, CIA, and USAID employees. It has often been misidentified as the US Embassy. Hubert van Es' photo is frequently used in political cartoons commenting on US foreign policy.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: The second act of the stage musical "Miss Saigon" depicts events leading up to, and during Operation Frequent Wind, with the main protagonists (Chris and Kim) becoming separated as a result of the evacuation. Writer Claude-Michel Schönberg has acknowledged that the musical was inspired by pictures of the evacuation. Hugh van Es believed that "Miss Saigon" misappropriated his photo and considered legal action against the show, but decided against it.


title: Operation Frequent Wind

text: In "The Simpsons" at the end of Episode 16 of Season 6, "Bart vs. Australia", the Simpsons are evacuated from the American Embassy as angry Australians gather outside in a scene reminiscent of Hubert van Es's famous photo. Homer asks the helicopter pilot if they are being taken to an aircraft carrier and is told that "the closest vessel is the USS "Walter Mondale". It's a laundry ship".


title: Tom Walker (singer)

text: Thomas Alexander Walker (born 17 December 1991) is a Scottish singer-songwriter. He was trained at the stage school London College of Creative Media, and was given a contract soon after. He rose to fame after the release of his single "Leave a Light On", which peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart in June 2018.


title: Tom Walker (singer)

text: Walker was born in Kilsyth, near Glasgow, but at the age of three his family moved to the Cheshire town of Knutsford. He described his upbringing as being in a 'Glaswegian house' as his parents were Glaswegian sounding. He speaks with a Scottish accent when with family or in Scotland. His favourite artists while growing up included Ray Charles, Muddy Waters and Paolo Nutini.


title: Tom Walker (singer)

text: In 2017, Walker released "Just You and I", which was picked as Elvis Duran's Artist of the Month appearing on NBC's "Today" show with Kathie Lee Gifford where he performed the song. His follow-up single was "Blessings", the title track from his debut EP "Blessings". On 13 June 2017, Walker released the single "Heartland", which was co-written and produced by Naughty Boy. On 22 August 2017, the single was added to the BBC Radio 1 playlist. Later in 2017, Walker was named as one of the new additions to the BBC Radio 1 Brit List. Walker has played support slots for artists such as George Ezra, Gallant and Jake Bugg. On 28 September, Walker began his US tour, in Connecticut, supporting The Script.


title: Tom Walker (singer)

text: On 13 October 2017, Walker released his single "Leave a Light On" on Relentless Records. The single was co-written and produced by Steve Mac. The music video for "Leave a Light On" was produced by Charles Mehling, and filmed in Croatia. It impacted numerous international charts and was included in his debut studio album "What a Time to Be Alive". In 2019, Walker won the Best Breakthrough Act at the 2019 Brit Awards. His song "Leave the Light On" was also nominated for "Best British Single".


title: Tom Walker (singer)

text: In November 2019, Walker confirmed he had begun working on his second studio album. Following this, in early 2020, "What a Time to Be Alive" achieved platinum accreditation by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of over 300,000 units in the UK.


title: Tom Walker (singer)

text: As part of "Royal Carols: Together at Christmas", Tom Walker performed "For Those Who Can't Be Here" with Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge playing piano.


title: Angelique Cabral

text: Angelique Cabral is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Colleen Brandon-Ortega on CBS' sitcom "Life in Pieces" (2015–2019) and Staff Sergeant Jillian Perez on Fox's comedy television series "Enlisted" (2014). She has also appeared in films "The Perfect Family" (2011), "Friends with Benefits" (2011) and "Band Aid" (2017).


title: Angelique Cabral

text: Cabral booked her first professional job at 6 months old in a United Airlines commercial. She has appeared in various commercials, such as Citibank, The Home Depot, Captain Morgan, New York Lotto, Blue Cross and Toyota. Her print campaigns include Verizon, Western Union, Olympus, Redbook, Fed Ex, Loestrin. In 2004, she made her first on-screen appearance as Mrs. Mendez on CBS' soap opera "Guiding Light", in the episode "Episode #1.14503." She made guest appearances in several episodes of "One Life to Live" and "All My Children" between 2005 and 2007. Cabral portrayed Pam Niborski in the romantic comedy film "Friends with Benefits" (2011) and Angela Rayes in the comedy-drama film "The Perfect Family" (2011). "Friends with Benefits" was a commercial success at the box office, grossing over $150.4 million worldwide, against a budget of $35 million. Her stage credits include the Off-Broadway shows "Tape," "Jesse Garon Lives" and "Rubirosa."


title: Angelique Cabral

text: She had guest roles on several television shows, including "Devious Maids", "Two and a Half Men", "The Mentalist", "Happy Endings", "Mad Love", "Melrose Place", "Bad Judge", "State of Affairs", "Grey's Anatomy" and "Criminal Minds". In 2015, she landed the role of Colleen Brandon-Ortega on CBS' sitcom "Life in Pieces." The series chronicles the lives of three generations of the Short family as they go about their daily lives in Los Angeles County. The show was canceled by CBS after four seasons on May 10, 2019. In 2016, Cabral was cast as Becca Winograd Diaz in Amazon's animated original series "Undone."


title: Angelique Cabral

text: Her father has Mexican and Native American ancestry and her mother has English and French ancestry. Her mother is cousins with actress Edie McClurg. She has a half brother, Erin. On July 20, 2013, Cabral married marketing director Jason Osborn. The couple has two children, a daughter, Adelaide and a son, Alden.


An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code () is a law passed by the Parliament of Canada. The law adds gender expression and gender identity as protected grounds to the "Canadian Human Rights Act", and also to the "Criminal Code" provisions dealing with hate propaganda, incitement to genocide, and aggravating factors in sentencing.


title: An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code

text: The bill was introduced on 17 May 2016 by Justin Trudeau's Liberal government as Bill C-16 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. It passed in the House of Commons by 248–40 votes and in the Senate by 67–11 votes with three abstentions. The bill became law upon receiving Royal Assent on 19 June 2017, coming into force immediately.


text: The bill is intended to protect individuals from discrimination within the sphere of federal jurisdiction and from being the targets of hate propaganda, as a consequence of their gender identity or their gender expression. The bill adds "gender identity or expression" to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination in the "Canadian Human Rights Act" and the list of characteristics of identifiable groups protected from hate propaganda in the "Criminal Code". It also adds that evidence that an offence was motivated by bias, prejudice or hate based on a person's gender identity or expression constitutes an aggravating circumstance for a court to consider when imposing a criminal sentence.


text: The law amends the "Canadian Human Rights Act" by adding "gender identity or expression" as a prohibited ground of discrimination. That makes it illegal to deny services, employment, accommodation and similar benefits to individuals based on their gender identity or gender expression to matters within federal jurisdiction, such as the federal government, federal services to the public, or a federally regulated industry. A person who denies benefits because of the gender identity or gender expression of another person could be liable to provide monetary reimbursement.


text: The law amends the "Criminal Code" by adding "gender identity or expression" to the definition of "identifiable group" in section 318 of the "Code". Section 318 makes it a criminal offence to advocate or promote genocide against members of an identifiable group, which now includes gender identity or gender expression. Since the definition of "identifiable group" is also used in section 319 of the "Code", the amendment also makes it a criminal offence to incite or promote hatred because of gender identity or gender expression.


text: The law also adds "gender identity or expression" to section 718.2 of the Criminal Code. This section is part of the sentencing provisions and makes gender identity and gender expression an aggravating factor in sentencing, leading to increased sentences for individuals who commit crimes motivated by bias, prejudice or hate based on gender identity or expression.


text: The law is the most recent iteration of several proposed bills introduced to previous parliaments. In 2005, New Democratic Party MP Bill Siksay introduced a bill in the House of Commons to explicitly add "gender identity or expression" as prohibited grounds of discrimination in the "Canadian Human Rights Act". He reintroduced the bill in 2006. In May 2009, he introduced it again, with additional provisions to add gender identity and gender expression to the hate crimes provisions of the "Criminal Code". In February 2011, it passed third reading in the House of Commons with support from all parties but was not considered in the Senate before Parliament was dissolved for the 41st Canadian federal election. Two bills, C-276 and C-279, on the subject were introduced in the 41st Canadian Parliament by both the Liberals and the NDP, respectively. The NDP's Bill C-279 passed second reading on 6 June 2012. However, that bill also died on the Senate order paper when the 2015 federal election was called.


text: The Canadian Bar Association supported the passage of the bill by writing a detailed letter to the Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. Speaking for the CBA, the President, René J. Basque, Q.C./c.r, argued that the bill would provide necessary protections for transgender people, made explicit the protections for transgender people which were already contained in the prohibition on discrimination based on sexual orientation, and did not pose any risk to freedom of expression.