It is a hard question!

Hard
adjective (DIFFICULT)

Difficult to understand, do, experience, or deal with:

There were some really hard questions in the exam.
It’s hard to say which of them is lying.
It’s hard being a single mother.
Her handwriting is very hard to read.
He’s a hard man to please.
The topics get harder later in the course.
I feel sorry for the kids, too – they’ve had a hard time.

Opposite: easy

Cambridge Dictionary

An Inconvenient Truth

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Key Points Summary

The con man in the justice system


Bernie Madoff is the biggest con man

Bernard “Bernie” Madoff has been described as the largest investment fraud scheme – in history.

In March 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal crimes and admitted to turning his wealth management business into a massive Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of investors of billions of dollars.

Madoff said he began the Ponzi scheme in the early 1990s. However, federal investigators believe the fraud began as early as the 1980s, and that the investment operation may never have been legitimate

The amount missing from client accounts, including fabricated gains, was almost $65 billion.

The court-appointed trustee estimated actual losses to investors of $18 billion.

On June 29, 2009, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum allowed.

Trust is a paradox, isn’t it?

Bernie Madoff

Go the extra mile
Degrading and undermining the justice system

Statue of lady justice stands in front of an out of focus row of law books.

Een aberrant gebeuren in de wetenschap


De wetenschapsfraude door Diederiek Stapel
(Deel 2 van de website)

1 Hoogleraar Vingerhoets ook slachtoffer van frauderende collega Diederik Stapel

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25 nov. 2012

De Tilburgse hoogleraar Ad Vingerhoets is vorig jaar ook bijna het slachtoffer geworden van de fraudepraktijken van zijn collega Diederik Stapel. Stapel zoog onderzoeksresultaten uit zijn duim en werd door daarom de universiteit van Tilburg ontslagen.

2 Uitgebreid gesprek met hoogleraar Vingerhoets over zijn frauderende collega Stapel

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25 nov. 2012

De Tilburgse hoogleraar Ad Vingerhoets is vorig jaar ook bijna het slachtoffer geworden van de fraudepraktijken van zijn collega Diederik Stapel. Stapel zoog onderzoeksresultaten uit zijn duim en werd door daarom de universiteit van Tilburg ontslagen.

An excerpt from an articlel in The New York Times:

Suspecting fraud, he consulted a retired professor to figure out what to do.

“Do you really believe that someone with [Stapel’s] status faked data?” the professor asked him.

“At that moment,” Vingerhoets told me, “I decided that I would not report it to the rector.”

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If Stapel’s status served as a shield, his confidence fortified him further.
His presentations at conferences were slick and peppered with humor. He viewed himself as giving his audience what they craved: “structure, simplicity, a beautiful story.” Stapel glossed over experimental details, projecting the air of a thinker who has no patience for methods. The tone of his talks, he said, was “Let’s not talk about the plumbing, the nuts and bolts – that’s for plumbers, for statisticians.” If somebody asked a question – on the possible effect of changing a condition in the experiment, for example – he made things up on the spot. “I would often say, ‘Well, I have thought about this, we did another experiment which I haven’t reported here in which we tried that and it didn’t work.’ ”

An Aberrant Event in the Personal Life of an Individual

“I was going to sleep hoping I wouldn’t wake up.
Just to trying to get away from it.”

Woman who falsely accused a Williamson County man of assault will be arrested

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1 dec. 2018

She accused her ex of assault, but now prosecutors say she made it up and now they plan to hold her responsible. 
 
Agusta Sister
99 years vs 180 days…should be equal
Jan Martin Brenden
Like i say woman cant love a man. Like a man do. If she dont obey you she dont love you. Ofc moral obeying. If shes not submissive and humble cast her out.

3 Woman who falsely accused Cedar Park man arrested

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5 dec. 2018
An ex-girlfriend accused him of carving an “X” into her chest with a box cutter. Now she’s the one facing jail time.

Because it was common sense

Adam Foss speaks at TED2016 – Dream – Outside the Box, Vancouver Convention Center

True Justice or Keeping up appearances
Mauro Manuel an exceptionally human story

Mauro Manuel is de bekendste asielzoeker van Nederland

Mauro Manuel in Pauw & Witteman 22-09-2011

Geen verblijfsvergunning voor Mauro

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1 nov. 2011

Grote teleurstelling in Nederland. De achttienjarige Angolees Mauro Manuel krijgt geen verblijfsvergunning. Mauro woont al acht jaar in een Nederlands pleeggezin, praat vloeiend Nederlands en voetbalt bij de plaatselijke club. Maar nu hij meerderjarig is, kan hij wettelijk niet meer in het land blijven
When the reality of life and justice are at odds

Above Suspicion

Jimmy Savile

‘A compulsive, colourful and chilling read’
Sunday Times
‘An astonishing account’
Observer
‘An extraordinary book’
Mail on Sunday

Letter to the Pope

After years of abuse by his ‘uncle bishop’, Mark Vangheluwe decided to take up the fight and break the silence. In 2010, with the announcement of one of the biggest scandals within the Roman Catholic Church, he unleashed a media storm that was reported worldwide. Meanwhile, he leads a quiet life with his family in a remote corner of Flanders, but shame and fear continue to play tricks on him. Until the moment he realises that he can decide over his own life and finds the form and words to do so: a letter to the Pope.

“I have to tell you something, but powerlessness and especially shame stop me. Doubt and fear also play tricks on me. It is as if I am only now in possession of a piece of my memories and want to share them with you. Strange after so many years.”

‘Vangheluwe’s story stands out for its depth, its nuance and the richness of its language’.

de Volkskrant

The author does not go into detail, except in one explicit scene. The focus is on the psychological consequences of the abuse’.

de Volkskrant

‘A book with depth, written full of nuance and language skill’.

Twentsche Courant

‘With his shocking book Mark Vangheluwe has made a fundamental contribution to the debate that is still so urgently needed’.

Twentsche Courant

“Ik moet je iets vertellen, maar onmacht en vooral schaamte houden me tegen. Ook twijfel en angst spelen me parten. Het is alsof ik nu pas bezit krijg over een stuk van mijn herinneringen en dit met jou wil delen. Vreemd na zoveel jaren.”

“Het verhaal van Vangheluwe valt op door zijn diepgang, zijn nuance en de rijkdom van zijn taal”

de Volkskrant

‘De auteur treedt niet in detail, behalve in één expliciete scene. De aandacht gaat vooral naar de psychologische gevolgen van het misbruik’

de Volkskrant

‘Een boek met diepgang, vol nuance en taalvaardigheid geschreven.’

Twentsche Courant

‘Met zijn ontluisterende boek heeft Mark Vangheluwe een fundamentele bijdrage aan het nog altijd zo dringend noodzakelijk debat.’

Twentsche Courant

Canadian First Nation Residential Schools

For a period of more than 150 years, First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation children were taken from their families and communities to attend schools which were often located far from their homes. More than 150,000 children attended Indian Residential Schools. Many never returned.

Rose Anne Archibald: Uncovering Canada’s dark past   HARDtalk

Stephen Sackur speaks to RoseAnne Archibald, newly elected National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Canada.


The truth about the deaths of thousands of indigenous children in schools infamous for abuse and neglect has shocked the world. Why has Canada failed to heal the wounds of a dark past?

At former Indigenous schools, Canada unearths a brutal history. Flags and solar lights now mark the site where graves were found in Saskatchewan.

Rose Anne Archibald

How the Catholic Church Hid Away Hundreds of Irish Children
Children Abused By French Clergy
The Innocence Project
The world upside down

Top US general under fire for calls to Chinese officials l GMA

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Why Milley checked nuclear procedures, called China in final days of Trump presidency

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15 sep. 2021

Correction: The headline on this video has been updated to accurate reflect the steps Gen. Milley took to secure the nuclear launch process.
 
Explosive new details about former President Donald Trump’s actions around last year’s election and the January insurrection have been revealed in a yet-to-be-released book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of the Washington Post. Judy Woodruff discusses them and the questions they raise with White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor and foreign affairs and defense correspondent Nick Schifrin.

Trump and GOP accuse Gen. Milley of treason. Reporter urges them to read the book

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16 sep. 2021

 
CNN’s Jamie Gangel reports that Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley consulted with former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller before he called his Chinese counterpart about former President Donald Trump, and that 15 people were part of the call including a Trump State Department representative. The Joint Chiefs chairman has since come under attack over new reporting in “Peril,” a forthcoming book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, which details Milley’s phone conversations to reassure a nervous Chinese general and efforts Milley took to limit then-President Donald Trump from potentially ordering a dangerous military strike. Former NATO supreme allied commander Gen. Wesley Clark tells Anderson Cooper that Milley should be praised for what he did.

Trump Electors Plot Implodes: Giuliani And The Admission That May Haunt 45

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25 jan. 2022

In this special report, MSNBC’s Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber breaks down Trump’s multi-state bid to steal the 2020 presidential election with the help of fraudulent electors. This comes after former Trump campaign advisor, Boris Epshteyn, admitted to his involvement with the plot on “The Beat” and confirmed that Rudy Giuliani led it.
 
 
 
Justice for the Middle East

An Inconvenient Truth

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In the margin of the website

Home Page

9 Air Conditioner Falls From Window onto a Car

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6 feb. 2019

Will these strangers fall hard for this prank like the air conditioner falls from the window?

An Inconvenient Truth

Current page

In the margin of the website

Key Points Summary