Suchergebnisse

I thank Anatol Lieven for the kind words expressed at the beginning of his critique and for his conclusion that I am a brilliant political economist. He reasonably enough notes some of the things I neglect, like India and Africa, and the politics of personal identity, to which I can only reply in pragmatic terms—is not the book long enough without them? He says very little about either economic or military power, which is at least half the book. He focuses overwhelmingly on the intersection of ideological and political power, especially on nationalism and what he calls "political culture." So I too will focus on this terrain. We obviously disagree on some issues. However, some of his substantive criticisms are mixed in with misunderstandings of my arguments, often due to the fact that he has not apparently read—or not read carefully enough—the second and third volumes of my Sources of Social Power. This is especially true of nationalism, which he accuses me of neglecting in my previous volumes as well as this one. This is untrue. My second volume, on the long nineteenth century, has the subtitle "The Rise of Classes and Nation-States" and its central argument is that the two emerged entwined, mutually influencing one another. For example, I argue that the resolution or repression of class conflict went beyond the local or sector level and served to increase the salience of the nation-state in peoples' everyday lives. Despite what he says, I also discuss the rise of mass national education and mass national armies. I stress that the origins of modern welfare states lay in veterans' benefits, specifically discussing the Bismarckian programs in Germany, although in the case of France and the USA, I trace this practice further back, well before Bismarck. Clearly, national identities intensified in the nineteenth century, although I stand by my argument that "a sense of nationhood did diffuse but rarely dominated people's consciousness." Here, we clearly disagree. I would also stick by my statement that nineteenth century states did a lot less than twentieth century states, or that aggressive nationalism grew much more in the twentieth century. But my discussion of nationalism and national self-identification is more nuanced than a simple "rise and rise" story. I try to identify the precise social location of emergent nationalism, seeing its nineteenth century heartland as the middle class who worked in the state sector. Outside this sector, I do not find much support for aggressive nationalism. For example I say, Int J Polit Cult Soc (2016) 29:217–220 DOI 10.1007/s10767-015-9213-3

Знание судьей тактических особенностей и решений проблем использования результатов судебной экспертизы за заведомо ложные сообщения об акте терроризма способствует вынесению справедливого решения или приговора. Также способствует в правильной оценке доказательств во время судебного следствия. Предлагается создание единой базы данных использования результатов судебной экспертизы по всем уголовным делам «Expert». Сущность работы этой базы состоит в быстроте получения правоохранительными органами результатов судебно-экспертных исследований. Структурой этой базы являются результаты судебно-экспертных исследований по различным видам преступлений конкретных уголовных дел. База предназначена для облегчения поиска необходимой информации по персональным данным человека, обстоятельствам совершения и видам преступлений. ; If you encounter problems in the process of evaluation of evidence that the defendant is guilty of the use of the results of a forensic examination is of great importance for the judicial investigation in criminal cases for obviously untrue report on the terrorism act. This is due to the fact that the judiciary is necessary to establish the age, mental or physical condition of the defendant when there is doubt of defendant's sanity. On the trial stage of criminal proceedings for knowingly false information about a terrorist act, the results of forensic phonoscope examination play an important role in these situations. In the authors' opinion, the idea of trial-and-phonoscope examination in the judicial investigation for crimes under article 207 of the Criminal code of the Russian Federation definition of the strategic objectives of the speech of the defendant. It is noted that forensic phonoscope examination can be difficult for experts then the use of modern information technologies is involved. In order to achieve efficient use of time, material and intellectual resources, it is necessary to create a single database "Expert", which would contain information about the different results of forensic examinations in all criminal cases. Today there are such databases by analogy, but the database "Expert" should be the modern information system that meets the requirements of realities of modern life. Such database "Expert" needs to be high-protected taking into account hackers and others, who interested in information about the results of forensic examinations. And use the use the latest technologies for data security. A specialist working with a database "Expert" must have the appropriate specialty and undergo additional training in order to master the technology work. Database "Expert" will allow law enforcement and intelligence agencies with the permission of the system administrator to obtain the necessary information, the results of forensic studies. This information can be obtained through private data of the person (gender, age, occupation, social status, information on military records and others). In addition, the results of the forensic examination can be obtained according to the nature, method, place and time of committing the crime. Thus, to improve the use of results of judicial-expert studies in the judicial process, the effective implementation of modern information technologies, of the database "Expert" and application of new scientific theories in practice are required.

Yet another attempt from the founder of a fast food chain to tell us that - well, fast food actually - obesity is one of the grand public costs: Britain's weight problem is costing almost £100 billion a year and will scupper Rishi Sunak's plans to get the sick back to work, analysis suggests.This is not, in fact, true. It's not true in the slightest. We assume that the idea is if the insistence is made forcefully and often enough then the political system can be stampeded into doing the wrong thing. The cost to the NHS of obesity-related illness is now estimated at £19.2 billion a year, up from £10.8 billion, while the wider social costs include productivity losses of £15.1 billion, compared with £1.7 billion previously. The total cost of £98 billion, which includes the £63 billion cost of shorter, unhealthier lives, is equivalent to about 4 per cent of GDP.As we've pointed out, repeatedly, obesity does not cost the NHS money. Yes, obviously, treating obesity related diseases has a cost. But we have a lifetime health care system. Therefore it is lifetime health care costs that matter. People dying young of exploding hearts save the system the money required for decades of hip replacements and Alzheimer's care. The researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people racked up the most expensive health costs. But because both the smokers and the obese people died sooner than the healthy group, it cost less to treat them in the long run.On average, healthy people lived 84 years. Smokers lived about 77 years and obese people lived about 80 years. Smokers and obese people tended to have more heart disease than the healthy people.Cancer incidence, except for lung cancer, was the same in all three groups. Obese people had the most diabetes, and healthy people had the most strokes. Ultimately, the thin and healthy group cost the most, about $417,000, from age 20 on.The cost of care for obese people was $371,000, and for smokers, about $326,000.That NHS cost of £19.2 billion therefore does not exist. The correct number is actually negative, not positive. The £63 billion is a private, individual, cost not a societal nor public one. We'd be willing to take a bet that those public costs, all in, are negative given that the NHS cost is negative. All of which really does leave us with something of a puzzle. Why are people trying to influence public policy with numbers that are so obviously untrue? We've even been quoted making this point: Tim Worstall, of the Adam Smith Institute, has called warnings that obesity poses an NHS funding crisis "nonsense on stilts". He wrote: "When you add in the costs of the state pensions that those who die young don't get, smoking and gorging save the government vast sums of money. Having us all slim . . . would cost the NHS very much more money than the current level of topers, smokers and lardbuckets does."Disagreeing with us is obviously no sin but being at odds with reality is. So why are they doing this? What's the plot here?

Political advertising becomes a simultaneous part of electoral process for all political parties, as common independent elections are approaching and the citizens of a country are going to vote for their representatives to the government. This process becomes especially important to political parties, as recent evidence proves that every political force in Lithuania can potentially apply for the same electors in Lithuania, as they are not devoted to one exact party. The number of such voters, who make up their decision on who to vote during the elections, is increasing. The expression and influence on the electors of political advertising in the media has widely been analysed, however, the process of creating political advertising has not been thoroughly researched in Lithuania. Therefore, the concept of political advertising is comparatively new in our country. The objectives of this work – is to analyse and explain the procedure of creating political advertising – in the process of planning, organizing and realizing it. Besides, the purpose is to research the legal regulations of political advertising on the basis of Lithuanian legitimate system. The object for the research is political advertising itself as well as the process, structure and peculiarities of creating it. The study relies on the analysis, filing and classification of Lithuanian and foreign scientific literature. In addition, the qualitative investigation, i.e. partly structural interview, is carried out. The latter method has been chosen, in order to discover the organizational characteristics of the process of creating political advertising in political communication in Lithuania, as well as to ground and illustrate the analysed theoretical studies. Lithuanian politicians or people, working in electoral headquarters during the elections, have been chosen as research objects (see appendix no.), as well as the representatives of advertising companies and specialists of public relations (see appendix no.), working in the field of creation of political advertising. In order to achieve the clear evidence, Lithuanian and foreign advertising experts have been interviewed. Political advertising in Lithuania is not supported by stable background of legal regulation. In European Union and other foreign countries every single move of political advertising is governed by statutes. In Lithuania the problem is connected with having a general system of legal regulation of political advertising. For some time political advertising was not legally governed at all. Even though the Statute of Advertising 2001 was adopted, it is not applicable for political advertising. For the first time the concept of political advertising, it's propagation means and restraints were defined in 2004 when the Parliament of Lithuania in urgent order and special session adopted the Statute of Financing and Financing Control of Political Parties and Political Campaigns. The study has proved that the model chosen by the political parties in Lithuania this year will be common to post-modern electoral campaigns. The characteristic features were reflected in the interviews with the respondents. This is a long period of campaign, the major part of work being accomplished by professional advisers and not by the party authorities; moreover, a wide range of media is employed. Electoral campaigns are concentrated on the needs of electors, whereas, the comprehensive analysis of electors or their groups provides the possibility to form effective political offer. The hypotheses raised in the study proved out only partly. The research confirmed that the common concept of political advertising in Lithuania does not exist. The data of the qualitative research allows to state that the representatives of Lithuanian political parties and the specialists of public relations are aware of the fact, political advertising performing the function of persuading. Moreover, political advertising is the process of communication, during which a political party or a candidate gets the possibility to send political news via the media channels and to influence political views of the recipients of that information. The second hypothesis appeared to be untrue, as the process of creating political advertising does take place during the electoral campaign. Representatives of bigger parties claimed that it is necessary to start the preparatory work as soon as the elections are over.

Political advertising becomes a simultaneous part of electoral process for all political parties, as common independent elections are approaching and the citizens of a country are going to vote for their representatives to the government. This process becomes especially important to political parties, as recent evidence proves that every political force in Lithuania can potentially apply for the same electors in Lithuania, as they are not devoted to one exact party. The number of such voters, who make up their decision on who to vote during the elections, is increasing. The expression and influence on the electors of political advertising in the media has widely been analysed, however, the process of creating political advertising has not been thoroughly researched in Lithuania. Therefore, the concept of political advertising is comparatively new in our country. The objectives of this work – is to analyse and explain the procedure of creating political advertising – in the process of planning, organizing and realizing it. Besides, the purpose is to research the legal regulations of political advertising on the basis of Lithuanian legitimate system. The object for the research is political advertising itself as well as the process, structure and peculiarities of creating it. The study relies on the analysis, filing and classification of Lithuanian and foreign scientific literature. In addition, the qualitative investigation, i.e. partly structural interview, is carried out. The latter method has been chosen, in order to discover the organizational characteristics of the process of creating political advertising in political communication in Lithuania, as well as to ground and illustrate the analysed theoretical studies. Lithuanian politicians or people, working in electoral headquarters during the elections, have been chosen as research objects (see appendix no.), as well as the representatives of advertising companies and specialists of public relations (see appendix no.), working in the field of creation of political advertising. In order to achieve the clear evidence, Lithuanian and foreign advertising experts have been interviewed. Political advertising in Lithuania is not supported by stable background of legal regulation. In European Union and other foreign countries every single move of political advertising is governed by statutes. In Lithuania the problem is connected with having a general system of legal regulation of political advertising. For some time political advertising was not legally governed at all. Even though the Statute of Advertising 2001 was adopted, it is not applicable for political advertising. For the first time the concept of political advertising, it's propagation means and restraints were defined in 2004 when the Parliament of Lithuania in urgent order and special session adopted the Statute of Financing and Financing Control of Political Parties and Political Campaigns. The study has proved that the model chosen by the political parties in Lithuania this year will be common to post-modern electoral campaigns. The characteristic features were reflected in the interviews with the respondents. This is a long period of campaign, the major part of work being accomplished by professional advisers and not by the party authorities; moreover, a wide range of media is employed. Electoral campaigns are concentrated on the needs of electors, whereas, the comprehensive analysis of electors or their groups provides the possibility to form effective political offer. The hypotheses raised in the study proved out only partly. The research confirmed that the common concept of political advertising in Lithuania does not exist. The data of the qualitative research allows to state that the representatives of Lithuanian political parties and the specialists of public relations are aware of the fact, political advertising performing the function of persuading. Moreover, political advertising is the process of communication, during which a political party or a candidate gets the possibility to send political news via the media channels and to influence political views of the recipients of that information. The second hypothesis appeared to be untrue, as the process of creating political advertising does take place during the electoral campaign. Representatives of bigger parties claimed that it is necessary to start the preparatory work as soon as the elections are over.

Political advertising becomes a simultaneous part of electoral process for all political parties, as common independent elections are approaching and the citizens of a country are going to vote for their representatives to the government. This process becomes especially important to political parties, as recent evidence proves that every political force in Lithuania can potentially apply for the same electors in Lithuania, as they are not devoted to one exact party. The number of such voters, who make up their decision on who to vote during the elections, is increasing. The expression and influence on the electors of political advertising in the media has widely been analysed, however, the process of creating political advertising has not been thoroughly researched in Lithuania. Therefore, the concept of political advertising is comparatively new in our country. The objectives of this work – is to analyse and explain the procedure of creating political advertising – in the process of planning, organizing and realizing it. Besides, the purpose is to research the legal regulations of political advertising on the basis of Lithuanian legitimate system. The object for the research is political advertising itself as well as the process, structure and peculiarities of creating it. The study relies on the analysis, filing and classification of Lithuanian and foreign scientific literature. In addition, the qualitative investigation, i.e. partly structural interview, is carried out. The latter method has been chosen, in order to discover the organizational characteristics of the process of creating political advertising in political communication in Lithuania, as well as to ground and illustrate the analysed theoretical studies. Lithuanian politicians or people, working in electoral headquarters during the elections, have been chosen as research objects (see appendix no.), as well as the representatives of advertising companies and specialists of public relations (see appendix no.), working in the field of creation of political advertising. In order to achieve the clear evidence, Lithuanian and foreign advertising experts have been interviewed. Political advertising in Lithuania is not supported by stable background of legal regulation. In European Union and other foreign countries every single move of political advertising is governed by statutes. In Lithuania the problem is connected with having a general system of legal regulation of political advertising. For some time political advertising was not legally governed at all. Even though the Statute of Advertising 2001 was adopted, it is not applicable for political advertising. For the first time the concept of political advertising, it's propagation means and restraints were defined in 2004 when the Parliament of Lithuania in urgent order and special session adopted the Statute of Financing and Financing Control of Political Parties and Political Campaigns. The study has proved that the model chosen by the political parties in Lithuania this year will be common to post-modern electoral campaigns. The characteristic features were reflected in the interviews with the respondents. This is a long period of campaign, the major part of work being accomplished by professional advisers and not by the party authorities; moreover, a wide range of media is employed. Electoral campaigns are concentrated on the needs of electors, whereas, the comprehensive analysis of electors or their groups provides the possibility to form effective political offer. The hypotheses raised in the study proved out only partly. The research confirmed that the common concept of political advertising in Lithuania does not exist. The data of the qualitative research allows to state that the representatives of Lithuanian political parties and the specialists of public relations are aware of the fact, political advertising performing the function of persuading. Moreover, political advertising is the process of communication, during which a political party or a candidate gets the possibility to send political news via the media channels and to influence political views of the recipients of that information. The second hypothesis appeared to be untrue, as the process of creating political advertising does take place during the electoral campaign. Representatives of bigger parties claimed that it is necessary to start the preparatory work as soon as the elections are over.

From the comic Undiscovered CountryIf one looks at the Executive Orders passed by Trump in the first week of his second presidency, and manages to look past the horror, one can see their utter consistency in terms of their vision of government, history, and society. This consistency makes up a universe, what could be called the Fox News Extended Universe. In this universe undocumented immigrants, or "illegals" as they are called, are illegal through and through, the laws they broke to get or stay in this country puts them outside of any law. They can only be harbingers of crime. In this universe DEI, or really any attempt to address this country's history of racism since the civil rights act, can only be understood as racism. To mention race is to divide by race, and the true victims of this racism are the white men and women who have lost jobs, or at least social standing, by having to treat others as equals. In this universe, public health can only be a secret grab for power, and the CDC, WHO, etc., are nefarious tools of domination. In this universe the federal government spends too much money on foreign countries, pointless research, and, as The Simpsons put it the "perverted arts."These are all myths. I mean that first in the most obvious and banal sense of the word. Each and every one of them is untrue; undocumented migrants do not commit more crimes than citizens, and probably commit less violent crime than US citizens; DEI is an attempt to address the long history of structural racism and inequality, not replace "white people"; the CDC is not trying to control us with chips, just possibly control bird flu; and I am not sure how to put this in DOGE speak, but the amount spent on foreign aid, scientific research, arts and humanities is dwarfed by what is spent on the military maintaining the US empire. That they are untrue should not eclipse two equally important characteristics of these myths. First, this myth has an entire media universe propagating it, and has for decades now, all of these stories, criminal immigrants, reverse racism, government overspending on foreigners and perverts, could be a night of Fox News or its modern spinoffs online. Second, these myths work because they fit together as a coherent myth. They have at the core the ur-myth of modern society, the individual, responsible and isolated, trying to make their way in a world of hostile forces. They point a coherent and simple picture of what is happening and what is wrong. This picture is reinforced by daily experience, to paraphrase Spinoza, people are born conscious of their status of individuals and unaware of what government is for.  Of course the simplicity of this myth is an effect not a given. Even the putative natural givenness of race and gender, and their corresponding hierarchies, are an effect of a long history. The immediacy of experience and the mediation of mass communication intwine and reinforce each other, especially as social media becomes the constant chorus accompanying daily life. The right has always given lip service to these myths, but for the most part they were aimed more for popular consumption than government policy. Actual governing has always had to deal with the distance between myth and reality. It was necessary to believe in the myth of "illegals" while still relying on undocumented workers to pick crops and clean hotel rooms. It is necessary to pay lip service to the idea that Medicaid and Social Security are drains on state finances, while recognizing that they are popular and necessary social programs. The last thirty or so years have been a perpetual conflict in the Republican party between the "true believers" and the "realpolitiks." This conflict stirs up again and again when it is time to raise the debt ceiling or bail out businesses. Trump is a true believer, and this time he has surrounded himself with true believers, with people whose expertise and understanding is entirely fit for the fictional universe of soundbites and tweets. Which is as good of point as any to bring up Citton, whose Mythocracy is coming out in English this Spring. In that book Citton writes the following: "The last decades have been characterized in effect by the incapacity of the political forces of the "left" to tell convincing stories. For reasons that we must comprehend, the "right" (security, neoliberal, xenophobic) has become a widespread, open, but relatively coherent story of images, various facts, information, statistics, slogans, fears, and reflexes and objects of debate that mutually reinforce the heart of one and the same "imaginary of the right." The (soft) force of this imaginary has been its ability to rapidly colonize the discourse of number of leaders of parties that are supposedly officially left. How has this "imaginary of the right" been able script large sections of our political life. On what bases is it possible to reinvigorate an imaginary of the left capable of taking charge of the powers of scripting."This brings up a final, equally important point about this myth. It does not have a real counter, no real opposition, at least in the dominant political parties. For years the question for the Democratic Party is how are they going to answer the questions that the Republican Party poses for them; what are they going to do about the "crisis at the border"? How are they going to be tough on crime? How will they restrict spending and so on. This is sharply distinct from setting their own questions, or even defining their own crises, such as global warming, a crisis that not only in part explains the former but dwarfs it. Of course that would be a fundamentally different party. There are occasional ruptures of this myth, the disruptions brought about by Covid brought about a government that did unprecedented things in addressing the needs of everyday working people, from relief checks to student loan forgiveness, everything we are told that government cannot do, but that was a moment of crisis. At every moment when it seems that the Democratic Party is going to construct its own myths, or at least call into question the prevailing ones, it veers back into line, claiming that it will be truly tough on the border, cut government spending, and respond to calls to abolish the police with even more police. There are multiple examples of this rightward turn, but I remember seeing the clip of Kamala Harris and Oprah Winfrey online and thinking how much it showed that the Democratic Party was working from within the myths of the Republican Party. Kamala Harris does not just say that she believes in the right to own guns, but situates that right within the myth of having to protect herself from an intruder. For a long time the Democratic Party has been content to dwell within the myth of the other, and to paraphrase Gilles Deleuze, that means they are fucked. There are many tasks in the difficult years ahead, and most of them involve actual organizing and working, the stuff that cannot be done on a screen. I think that it is equally important to continue to not only undermine these myths, pointing out the flawed and incomplete vision of the world they come from, but to create our own myths of solidarity, generosity, and joy. 

I. EinführungII. Die Strafbarkeit von Bilanzfälschung, Marktpreismanipulation und fehlerhafter Publizität nach den geltenden Strafgesetzen1. "Bilanzfälschung" – Vom Fälschungsdelikt zum Darstellungsdelikt2. "Kursbetrug": Vom (Pseudo-)Betrugsdelikt zum Manipulationsdelikt3. Publizitätsdelikte (fehlerhafte Ad-hoc-Publizität)III. Der Ruf nach dem Strafrecht – Hauptprobleme aus strafrechtlicher Sicht1. Die Rechtsgüterfrage – Wer soll strafrechtlich geschützt werden? Soll der Anleger "Verletzter" im strafrechtlichen Sinne sein?2. Strafrecht als geeignetes und gebotenes Instrument?3. Bestimmtheitsgrundsatz – Artt. 103 II, 104 I 1 GG Probleme der strafbewehrten Verbotsdefinition im Strafgesetz selbst4. Das "Einwirkungsdelikt" als Königsweg? § 38 I Nr. 4 WpHG zwischen Unternehmensdelikt und ErfolgsdeliktIV. Ausblick ; Which role should the law, particularly criminal law, play in the regulation of today's financial markets? Which types of conduct can and should be prohibited and penalized? Clearly, this is the most difficult task for lawmakers: Any "market", after all, is a kind of organism, and hence operates by self-regulating mechanisms, a fact which makes intervention, especially by punitive sanctions, more precarious than in the more commonly "criminal" areas such as murder, theft, and fraud. What is particularly new is that the misdeeds in question are often crimes of gross unfairness rather than crimes of direct harm. Insider crimes and falsification of financial statements are the most prominent – and most recognized – examples; others are the issuance of misleading brochures, wrongful publicity, director's dealings, and various forms of exchange and stock price manipulation.MAJOR TRENDSIN CURRENT LAW REFORMSIn Germany, the criminal law presently includes the crimes of falsification of financial statements (Bilanzfälschung), market price manipulation (Marktpreismanipulation), and wrongful publicy (fehlerhafte Publizität), partly as a result of recent statutory reforms (Viertes Finanzmarktförderungsgesetzvon 2002).With regard to the integrity of financial statements, a number of recent scandals have produced a series of wake-up calls. Now, falsification – not only in the (classical) form of forgery, but also in various forms of misrepresentation as well as non-compliance with regulatory governance rules – has consequently become a new focus for criminal prosecution. Moreover, European law obligates Germany to do away with a number of striking regulatory and enforcement deficits. For too long, formerly existing crime statutes remained dead-letter "law on the books" for decades. Among others, the old "accounting" crimes focussed on a narrow set of misrepresentation scenarios which were largely limited to end-of-year financial statements and contained mens rea requirements such as "intent to deceive the public" that proved non-functional in practice. In the 1990s, the legislature tried to beef up these publicity crimes, even at the price of legal certainty. Beyond the falsification of written financial statements, crimes of "misrepresentation" now encompass any conduct by which the perpetrator misrepresents or disguises "the affairs of the company" (§§ 331 I HGB, 400 I AktG). With regard to corporations, transparency duties are no longer limited to accounting matters: Falsehoods and window-dressing are financial crimes, too, when committed in any presentation on the financial status or on the "affairs" of the corporation, even by way of oral presentations and other statements at the main stockholder assembly. In sum, the old concept of "accounting crimes" has mutated into a new concept of "transparency crimes". At the same time, the object of interest has undergone a dramatic shift: To publicize the truth about the current "financial status" is no longer enough – we also expect full information on other relevant "affairs of the person" of the company in a wider sense. As with "natural" persons, their relationships with others are of special interest when we assess their prospects for the future – so it is only that our commercial trade and corporation laws define the "affairs" of the company as "including its relations with associated companies" (cf. §§ 331 HGB, 400 AktG).The second major area where the proper extraction and definition of criminal conduct is difficult is that of securities trade and stock exchange. Clearly, the crime of fraud is punishable, but what about manipulations that do not fit the traditional definition of "fraud"? As early as 1896, the German "Stock Exchange Code" created a crime called "exchange rate fraud" (§ 88 BörsG a.F.) which, however, remained dead. Nowadays, in addition to "insider" crimes which were introduced a decade ago, and which penalize the abuse of true information, the new law also punishes stock-market and other market-price manipulations committed by the use of untrue information, thus replacing the old, unworkable pseudo-fraud concept by a modern manipulation concept (see, in particular, § 20a I WpHG, §§ 38 ff. WpHG). Striking features are not only its systematic complexity and the employment of techniques unfamiliar to criminal doctrine, such as "safe-harbour" regulations, but also the tendency to shift more power – including, eventually, punitive power – to the executive and their regulatory bodies, such as the new Federal Financial Trade Oversight Office (BaFin, Bundesamt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht). It is noteworthy as well that the new law even protects financial assets in foreign markets, and applies to violations of foreign prohibitions of similar content. This represents a remarkably new way of internationalizing municipal criminal laws.Third, the protection of financial markets and particularly stock exchanges today requires compliance with rules on ad-hoc publicity. Broadly orchestrated activities by the legislature are underway to secure transparency with regard to all activities that are relevant for the market, as part of the new German corporate governance system. Of particular importance is the issuer's duty to publicize "new" market-relevant facts, and the duty of board members' personally liable associates to publicize their "director's dealings" (§§ 15, 15a WpHG).CONTENTIOUS ISSUES FROMTHE CRIMINAL LAW PERSPECTIVEThe first issue seems to be a merely doctrinal one: What are the legal interests that are protected by financial market crimes? Is it primarily public or community interests – in the functioning of the market, the trust in financial trade regulations, the community of stockholders, etc.? To what extent are these criminal laws meant to protect the property interests of the individual? The answer is relevant for very practical purposes. To the extent that the commission of a crime violates individual property interests, the disadvantaged person may claim victim status. Normally, crime victims automatically have a cause of action in tort law, and thus are entitled to damages. Moreover, there are important procedural benefits, such as victims' participation and discovery rights at the investigation and trial stages. In developing and extending those victim's rights, however, the lawmakers primarily had the victim of crime against the person in mind. This, in turn, suggests that in the absence of a clear expression of legislative intent, it remains doubtful whether such victim status benefits may be conferred on "victims" of financial market crimes.A second problem which is specifically virulent in the area of financial market crimes is generated by the German constitution's rule-of-law standards on specific legality (Art. 103 II GG). From the viewpoint of efficiency, the diversity, changeability, and specificity of practices in the financial markets calls for a flexible system that confers powers of quick reaction and intervention on the executive. Comitology rather than legislatory lawmaking seems best suited to do the job. In fact, the reformed German Wertpapierhandelsgesetz (WpHG, securities and exchange code) takes a big step in that direction. The power to define criminal practices has been shifted to a considerable degree from parliament to a special oversight agency located in the executive branch (Bundesaufsicht für Finanzdienstleistungen, BaFin). Whether this is compatible with rule-of-law standards is, at present, highly controversial.

"Fake News" bilden seit Menschengedenken ein zentrales Problem für die individuelle und öffentliche Meinungsbildung. Dabei wird die Wirkung verbreiteter Desinformation heutzutage durch die technischen Möglichkeiten im Bereich der Online-Kommunikation, etwa durch die Echokammern in sozialen Netzwerken oder den Einsatz künstlicher Meinungsverstärker, mitunter noch verstärkt. Effekte von einmal geäußerter Desinformation lassen sich aus kognitionswissenschaftlicher Perspektive nur noch sehr schwer korrigieren. Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich daher mit dem (kommunikations-)grundrechtlichen Schutz vo...

"Fake News" bilden seit Menschengedenken ein zentrales Problem für die individuelle und öffentliche Meinungsbildung. Dabei wird die Wirkung verbreiteter Desinformation heutzutage durch die technischen Möglichkeiten im Bereich der Online-Kommunikation, etwa durch die Echokammern in sozialen Netzwerken oder den Einsatz künstlicher Meinungsverstärker, mitunter noch verstärkt. Effekte von einmal geäußerter Desinformation lassen sich aus kognitionswissenschaftlicher Perspektive nur noch sehr schwer korrigieren. Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich daher mit dem (kommunikations-)grundrechtlichen Schutz vo...

It's a great first step, but the Louisiana Legislature
can do a whole lot better when it comes to a responsible fiscal year 2024
budget and use of surplus dollars over the last couple of years.

This week, the state's general operations budget HB 1 kicked
off its journey to the consternation of free spenders. Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards and
his partisan followers in the Legislature – and not a few Republicans including
chamber leaders – had grandiose ideas about the using the bonus bucks mainly on
infrastructure and larding out all sorts of new commitments, such as pay raises
for educators and local public safety personnel, in this year's spending plan.

But to accomplish that, the state would have to
bust its spending cap by several hundred million dollars, a move opposed by the
Louisiana Conservative Caucus
that is comprised of most House Republicans as well as the Louisiana
Freedom Caucus, which likely overlaps in membership considerably with the
Conservative Caucus. These legislators argue that the surplus money (past the constitutional
mandates for its use) primarily should go to paying down unfunded accrued
liabilities in the state's retirement systems, which not only would avert
breaching the cap but also would relieve local governments from having to pay
excess contributions into the state systems for defeasance of the UAL
constitutionally mandated by 2029 that would free up money for other uses such
as raising salaries.

The amended bill takes a small step towards that
with an additional contribution to reducing the UAL by $185 million while excising
anticipated new early childhood education spending of $51 million, new higher
education expenditures of $57 million, reducing the size of elementary and
secondary education pay raises by $46 million, and lopping off $159 million to
Medicaid providers other than those involved in catering to disability services.
This shifting apparently is in response to the fact that the Conservative
Caucus with more than a third of House membership (all Republican) can block
jacking up the expenditure limit.

Naturally, this fiscal prudence provoked cries of
horror from leftist media and politicians. The Louisiana Illuminator, a
web-based news site backed in part by extreme leftist funders, scarily
suggested about how the reduction in the rate of growth of Medicaid might
imperil some programs and particularly those related to disability services.
Edwards, when informed about the House committee action, bleated
that he "Didn't know that education ceased to be a priority."

Such responses range from the disingenuous to fabrication.
HB 1 specifically tells the Department of Health not to touch waiver programs
and supports for people with disabilities when assigning the cut – and keep in
mind that this reduction represents less than one percent of the over $16 billion,
or some 35 percent of the entire state's spending, of the amount apportioned to
medical vendors, or about 7 percent of the state's portion. Consider as well
that for the past few years the state consistently has spent less on Medicaid
than budgeted – even as it badly
underestimated the hit it would take because of Edwards' triggering Medicaid
expansion in 2016 – because of an extreme shortage of nursing providers that
have left without services clients utilizing Medicaid waivers, thus saving the
state money.

Edwards' comment merely continued his history of contrafactual
remarks, premised upon the belief that saying something untrue often enough
will make people think it true, when the shortcomings of his policy preferences
are exposed, as well as displayed his frustration at the deft countering of his
agenda. Obviously, reducing the UAL burden on local education agencies leaving
them more resources for things such as pay raises,  is anything but reducing education as a
priority.

However, legislators can do better. The Freedom
Caucus outlined how that is possible with its issuance of a "Recipe for Fiscal Responsibility"
that proposes using surplus dollars to eliminate entirely the UAL, chunk money
into the Budget Stabilization Fund to its limit, and then spend the remaining
$285 million on infrastructure. The near-term impact would leave the state over
$150 million more a year in discretionary funds, over $100 million more a year
for schools and over $40 million a year for higher education, and allow local education
agencies enough freed funding to pay for around $2,000 pay raises for teachers
(although they would have to allocate additional dollars after 2029 to support these).

Ideas
like this aren't new, but the Freedom Caucus does a service in explaining the
savings amounts and how they project over the next five years. In order for HB
1 to take on this form, it would have to jettison state-funded teacher pay raises
as well as have changes made to capital expenditures in the companion bill HB
550.

Legislators should pursue this, although the
timidity of legislative Republican leadership – apparently more interested in
small capital outlay carveouts for themselves an allies squirreled away in HB 1
than in a true sea change from redistributionist mentality – likely means the
current form of HB 1, in that form only because of Conservative Caucus
leverage, is the best that can be done. Still, a quarter-loaf is better than
none at all.

With most through to another four years of office, in
their latest meeting Bossier Parish police jurors reverted to their typical
arrogance and obtuseness. Perhaps they should pay attention to the shape of their
future: what happened at the last Bossier City Council meeting.

Recent election results guaranteed nine jurors
would return to office. The one runoff that remains will send a new member to
the Jury since District 10 four-decade veteran Jerome
Darby retired, but vying as his replacement leading into the runoff is his
brother Democrat Julius Darby. Republican challenger Keith Sutton defeated
incumbent Republican Mac Plummer in
District 12, while the GOP's Pam Glorioso beat incumbent Democrat Charles
Gray in District 9.

But over the past two years, all jurors had
engaged in questionable, if not illegal, acts. They hired, knowing
full well it was against the law, Butch Ford as parish administrator, because
he was not a registered voter in Bossier Parish. He would not become one until
ten months into his tenure, but even
now some dispute remains over whether that residence qualifies for that purpose.
They also filled completely the parish's Library
Board of Control with themselves, a move which
is of uncertain legal status and unprecedented across the state.

When at that latest meeting
a couple of citizens questioned the reappointment
of Republican Juror Doug
Rimmer to the Board, drawing upon attorney general documents that declared
sitting jurors on library boards was dual officeholding, as well as questioning
why all five board members had to be jurors when in a parish approaching
130,000 residents surely there were more than enough non-jurors willing to
serve, the likes of Rimmer and another juror on the Board, Republican Julianna
Parks, at jury meetings and other forums have asserted the necessity of
having jurors on the Board because of alleged and nebulously specified problems
with the Board. As well, at this meeting Rimmer stated, on the advice of Parish
Attorney Patrick Jackson, that the ability for jurors to serve on the Board was
unquestioned.

The problem is, in addition to the Attorney
General's office publicly taking the opposite position, case law not addressing
this exact situation – at the meeting Jackson erroneously implied that it had
and in favor of his interpretation – and conflicting statutes that seemingly give
a parish the ability to dodge dual officeholding restrictions in this instance,
Jackson himself doesn't have a good track record when it comes to understanding
what the law means concerning appointments in parish government. In the past, he
told jurors that, absent a court
ruling otherwise which eventually happened, that Jury appointee Robert Berry
to the Cypress Black Bayou Recreation
and Water Conservation District could serve in that capacity and as the agency's
executive director without violating dual officeholding law. And Rimmer stated at
a recent Republican Parish Executive Committee meeting that Jackson also advised
jurors they could appoint Ford as parish administrator despite his voter
registration not being in Bossier while he looked to rectify that, which appears
nowhere in the law and an action Ford showed no signs of pursuing until this
space publicized his continued registration in Caddo parish ten months after
his appointment.

Worst of all, Jackson either apparently was
unaware of, tacitly approved of, or actually counseled in favor of the fact
that the Board, then comprised of Rimmer, Republican Bob
Brotherton who won reelection, and Gray illegally had made Ford interim
library director in October, 2022, in contravention of R.S. 25:215 that states
any head of a library system must have qualifications under R.S. 25:222, or a certification
by the State Board of Library Examiners. Ford would serve six months in that
job.

This unequivocally illegal action by three jurors
(probably four, as minutes of that meeting never haven been made widely available,
if they exist; the next meeting's minutes imply at that previous meeting
Republican Juror Glenn
Benton had been appointed but it's unknown whether he participated in the
vote to appoint Ford) belies the argument that jurors were necessary to "clean
up" the Board. In fact, they disgraced it and themselves by behaving illegally.

And the whole argument of juror necessity to respond
to some problem is untenable, if not a mendacious excuse to justify the juror
takeover. In fact, jurors were serving on the Board as long ago as 2016,
when the Jury expanded the Board to include Rimmer and Brotherton with five
other citizens (boards can have five to seven members). If there were alleged
difficulties, not only have these been going on a long time, but also jurors by
definition contributed to these so how can adding more jurors – and retaining the
two already there – solve for problems jurors already are creating? So what's
so great about juror service on the Board if they act illegally and supposedly
badly enough to need outside intervention?

Of course, to clarify about whether jurors can
serve on the Board, a simple request to the Attorney General's office for an opinion could be pursued. That
would take a resolution passed by the Jury, but no juror has suggested this
happen – perhaps because they know their policy might be in trouble. And the
dismissive attitude that Rimmer and other jurors showed in the meeting towards
citizen concerns on this issue illustrates their haughtiness and a belief they
are above the citizenry, if not the law, emboldened now by recent electoral
success.

If it stays that way. And it may not, if the
latest Bossier City Council meeting indicates anything. Because three years ago,
the Council was much like the Jury today. Back then five members of almost two
decades or more service on the Council, actively supported by another more
junior member, ran the show with little transparency, using their voting power
and a compliant mayor to foist an avalanche of unneeded capital spending fueled
by debt onto the backs of the citizenry.

However, the stench of that awakened enough voters
so that two of the graybeards lost their jobs and eventually were replaced by
newcomers Republicans Chris Smith and
Brian
Hammons. Since then, the pair have become increasingly vocal about use of
tax dollars going to genuine needs rather than to monuments, figurative and literal,
to long-serving councilors' egos.

While Hammons missed the last meeting, Smith more
than made up for the both of them with a display of this critical attitude over
spending. On an item
for more capital expenditures for parks and recreation, Smith pointed out that
in recent years over $20 million in tax dollars had gone for capital expenditures
at the Tinsley Park complex, yet tax-paying citizens often couldn't use these
in being crowded out instead by out-of-towners paying fees to use these.

Sparring with head of the Bossier City Department
of Parks and Recreation Clay Bohanan, who with past mayoral and current Council
graybeard support has pursued a model
that puts revenue generation ahead of citizen ability to use certain facilities,
Smith not only fought back against Bohanan's arrogance, who was joined by graybeard
Democrat Councilor Bubba Williams
implying that their exclusionary pay-to-play model was unimpeachably correct,
but he also made the heretical suggestion that in following that model it would
make more sense just to sell off the facilities to private operators.

In the larger scheme of things, Smith's argument
was that instead of taxpayer dollars going to paying of the principal and
interest on debt on things of little value to the citizenry, it could be
reserved to fund employee raises, particularly for public safety personnel.
When Williams subsequently challenged (actually calling untrue) a Smith
statement that Bossier City's salaries ranked at the bottom of the region by
pointing to a study
done a couple of years back comparing Alexandria's public safety salaries to
others in the state that put Bossier City police in the middle of the pack,
Smith trumped him with his own very recent data looking at regional agencies,
almost all in Texas, which had Bossier City salaries at or near the bottom.

Such argumentation would have been unheard of
coming from the Council three years ago. But Smith and Hammons' elections in 2021 brought a breath of fresh air into Council debates that until then had been
almost always get-along-go-along with no dissension on big spending plans with
total disregard of airing out negative implications of that spending.

Hopefully, those kinds of debates will commence
and flourish now that at least one reform-minded outsider, Sutton, will join
the Jury. Glorioso was part of the cabal united with the Council graybeards
when she served as Bossier City chief administrative officer until her boss
lost reelection, so it seems unlikely that she would act differently in opening
up the Jury. Perhaps Darby's opponent Democrat Mary Giles would ally with
Sutton, while Julius Darby seems unlikely to.

But as the events surrounding Bossier City
government over the past couple of years have shown, you don't have to have a
majority to change the atmosphere. Perhaps a couple of years from now the
sunshine even one dissenter can bring will have started to show results in curbing
the Jury's penchant for lawless, sanctimonious behavior while deflating its members'
attitude of insufferably unaccountable behavior.

Scott Lincicome and Alfredo Carrillo Obregon


It's a well‐​known fact in the nation's capital that politicians' rhetoric gets progressively detached from reality as a November election approaches. During a race's final few months, inconvenient things like "facts" and "logic" tend to get thrown out the window as candidates get desperate for votes.
On trade, at least, it seems President Biden has kicked off the 2024 "silly season" more than a year early.
In particular, Biden's recent proclamation announcing World Trade Week 2023 (and implicitly justifying his tariff‐ and subsidy‐​heavy "worker‐​centric" trade policy) stated that, "For decades, the middle class and thriving towns across America were hollowed out as good‐​paying jobs moved overseas and factories at home closed down." Were this claim in the middle of an early‐​autumn stump speech—from Biden or former President Trump—we may have given it a pass. But since the claim comes in the middle of a World Trade Week proclamation from the sitting president of the United States, we feel compelled to correct the record.
First, the only "hollowing out" of the American middle class over the last few decades has been due to U.S. households moving up the income ladder, not down. For example, Census Bureau data show that between 1990 and 2019—the era of "peak globalization"—the share of middle‐ and low‐​income U.S. households (adjusted for inflation) have both declined, while the share of U.S. households annually earning $100,000 has increased (see Figure 1). Research on individuals' wages shows much of the same thing.











Wage and income gains have been solid for lower‐​income Americans over this same period. The Congressional Budget Office, for example, finds a 55 percent increase in the inflation‐​adjusted incomes of U.S. households in the bottom 20 percent. These improvements would be even larger after accounting for taxes and transfers. (As noted in the introduction of the new Cato Institute book, Empowering the New American Worker, household income gains are likely not owed to a substantial increase in two‐​earner families since 1990.) According to the most recent calculations from economist Michael Strain, moreover, inflation‐​adjusted wages increased between 1990 and 2022 by 50, 48, 38, and 39 percent at the 10th, 20th, 30th, and 50th (median) percentiles, respectively (see Figure 2).











Second, while it is undeniably true that the United States has fewer manufacturing workers today than in the 1970s or 1980s and that most jobs (even male‐​dominated, blue‐​collar ones) are in services, American industrial jobs have not all been "shipped overseas." As explained in a 2022 Cato paper, globalization undoubtedly eliminated some U.S. manufacturing jobs, especially labor‐​intensive, low‐​wage industries like textiles/​apparel and furniture, but the main, long‐​term drivers of U.S. manufacturing job‐​losses are productivity gains and a shift in U.S. consumption from goods to services. Thus, countries around the world—including ones with large and persistent trade surpluses and active industrial and labor policies—have experienced their own, if not larger, declines in manufacturing jobs, and recent increases in U.S. manufacturing jobs have been accompanied by stagnating U.S. manufacturing productivity.
Furthermore, as explained in Empowering, there are still manufacturing jobs available in the United States—for those who want and can qualify for them:
Contrary to the conventional wisdom…, the current U.S. manufacturing job situation is not due to a lack of demand for these workers (caused by globalization or automation, for example): in the first quarter of 2022, there were around 850,000 unfilled manufacturing job openings, and new research from Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute estimates that this figure could hit 2.1 million by 2030.

A year later, even after a significant cooling of the U.S. manufacturing sector, job openings there are historically elevated. At the same time, the Census Bureau reports that very few prime‐​age American workers are out of work because they can't find a job (Figure 3).











Third, President Biden ignores, as we explained in a 2022 paper, the tens of millions of American jobs in services and in manufacturing that are today dependent on trade and globalization:
[A] 2020 report found that trade—imports and exports—directly or indirectly supported approximately 40.6 million jobs in both goods‐​producing industries (agriculture, construction, manufacturing, etc.) or services‐​producing industries (wholesale/​retail trade, transportation, professional services, etc.). Imports alone support an estimated 17.3 million American jobs in transportation, logistics, wholesale and retail trade, and other services industries, which comprise more than 10 percent of total employment in the sector. And almost half of all dollars spent on imported goods go to American workers rather than to the foreigners producing the goods. Thus, new research finds that, while only 6 percent of U.S. firms in manufacturing and services are goods traders, these firms account for half of economy‐​wide employment today and supported 60 percent of all new net jobs created after 2008, primarily through the establishment of new businesses. [See Figure 4.]
Meanwhile, foreign direct investment supported approximately 8 million jobs in 2019. By contrast, these same American workers are harmed by protectionism: higher input costs, for example, typically mean reduced wages or unemployment in the consuming company or industry at issue.












Surely, not every American worker has come out ahead since the United States became more integrated into the global economy, but—even leaving aside the important consumption benefits that globalization has provided all Americans (even ones who lost jobs from import competition)—the narrative of broad, trade‐​driven declines in middle class jobs and lifestyles is simply false. As the Financial Times' Martin Wolf put it in April (citing the latest academic research), "contrary to the widespread view, it is untrue that liberal trade is a dominant or even significant cause of the woes of the working classes of western societies." Indeed.
Finally, similar conclusions may be drawn regarding American communities—including ones once dependent on manufacturing. For example, a 2018 Brookings Institution report found that 115 of the 185 counties that had a disproportionate share (20 percent or more) of manufacturing jobs in 1970 had successfully transitioned away from manufacturing by 2016. Of the remaining 70 "older industrial cities", 40 had exhibited "strong" or "emerging" (above‐​average) economic performance over the same period. Thus, by 2016 almost 85 percent of American communities once dependent on manufacturing—and thus potentially "hollowed out" by new import competition—had moved or were moving beyond their industrial past. That a handful of U.S. "mill towns" hadn't adjusted in more than four decades reveals other (and deeper) problems than simply exposure to the modern global economy. For example:






"Labor Market Conflict and the Decline of the Rust Belt" https://t.co/WN5RINmBF1"Rising foreign competition plays a more modest role quantitatively, and its effects are concentrated in the 1980s and 1990s, after most of the Rust Belt's decline had already occurred." 👀 pic.twitter.com/4c9xWaWgud— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) May 12, 2023




Anecdotal evidence supports these conclusions. Former textile town Greenville, South Carolina is (along with its next door neighbor Spartanburg) today a bustling metro area with a diverse economy—including several multinational manufacturers. Just up the interstate, Hickory, North Carolina—a former textile and furniture hub that was the poster‐​child for the persistent ravages of the so‐​called "China Shock"—has just been named by U.S. News and World Report as the "best affordable place to live in the United States" for 2023–24. (Speaking of the China Shock, the authors of those influential studies have since acknowledged that, once you consider the substantial consumer gains from China trade, just 82 of 722 U.S. commuting zones, representing 6.3 percent of the U.S. population, would experience net welfare losses. Other scholars, of course, challenge the China Shock approach and conclusions more broadly.)
For Hickory, the USNWR highlights that manufacturing continues to account for most of the area's jobs, yet "the industry is [now] diversified, with plastics, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals playing a bigger role." Moreover, Google and Apple have established data centers in the area, and service‐​sector businesses are growing. Recognizing the area's potential, Appalachian State University will open a Hickory‐​based campus this August.
Coming in second on the same USNWR list is former steel town Youngstown, Ohio, which is "in the midst of a cultural and economic renaissance" driven mainly by service‐​sector businesses.
So much for being "hollowed out."
None of this means, of course, that certain American communities and workers don't face real challenges in today's globalized world. But alleging that trade caused these ills not only ignores the gains that the vast majority of Americans have experienced since the United States opened to the world decades ago, but also distracts from—as Empowering details—"the panoply of federal, state, and local policies that distort markets and thereby raise the cost of health care, childcare, housing, and other necessities; lower workers' total compensation; inhibit their employment, personal improvement, and mobility; and deny them the lives and careers that they actually want (as opposed to the ones DC policymakers think they should want)."
Blaming trade for these and other policies' failures might make for a good campaign soundbite, but that doesn't make it any less silly—especially during World Trade Week.

This study aims at analysing Brian O'Nolans literary production in the light of a reconsideration of the role played by his two most famous pseudonyms ,Flann Brien and Myles na Gopaleen, behind which he was active both as a novelist and as a journalist. We tried to establish a new kind of relationship between them and their empirical author following recent cultural and scientific surveys in the field of Humour Studies, Psychology, and Sociology: taking as a starting point the appreciation of the comic attitude in nature and in cultural history, we progressed through a short history of laughter and derision, followed by an overview on humour theories. After having established such a frame, we considered an integration of scientific studies in the field of laughter and humour as a base for our study scheme, in order to come to a definition of the comic author as a recognised, powerful and authoritative social figure who acts as a critic of conventions. The history of laughter and comic we briefly summarized, based on the one related by the French scholar Georges Minois in his work (Minois 2004), has been taken into account in the view that humorous attitude is one of man's characteristic traits always present and witnessed throughout the ages, though subject in most cases to repression by cultural and political conservative power. This sort of Super-Ego notwithstanding, or perhaps because of that, comic impulse proved irreducible exactly in its influence on the current cultural debates. Basing mainly on Robert R. Provine's (Provine 2001), Fabio Ceccarelli's (Ceccarelli 1988), Arthur Koestler's (Koestler 1975) and Peter L. Berger's (Berger 1995) scientific essays on the actual occurrence of laughter and smile in complex social situations, we underlined the many evidences for how the use of comic, humour and wit (in a Freudian sense) could be best comprehended if seen as a common mind process designed for the improvement of knowledge, in which we traced a strict relation with the play-element the Dutch historian Huizinga highlighted in his famous essay, Homo Ludens (Huizinga 1955). We considered comic and humour/wit as different sides of the same coin, and showed how the demonstrations scientists provided on this particular subject are not conclusive, given that the mental processes could not still be irrefutably shown to be separated as regards graduations in comic expression and reception: in fact, different outputs in expressions might lead back to one and the same production process, following the general 'Economy Rule' of evolution; man is the only animal who lies, meaning with this that one feeling is not necessarily biuniquely associated with one and the same outward display, so human expressions are not validation proofs for feelings. Considering societies, we found that in nature they are all organized in more or less the same way, that is, in élites who govern over a community who, in turn, recognizes them as legitimate delegates for that task; we inferred from this the epistemological possibility for the existence of an added ruling figure alongside those political and religious: this figure being the comic, who is the person in charge of expressing true feelings towards given subjects of contention. Any community owns one, and his very peculiar status is validated by the fact that his place is within the community, living in it and speaking to it, but at the same time is outside it in the sense that his action focuses mainly on shedding light on ideas and objects placed out-side the boundaries of social convention: taboos, fears, sacred objects and finally culture are the favourite targets of the comic person's arrow. This is the reason for the word a(rche)typical as applied to the comic figure in society: atypical in a sense, because unconventional and disrespectful of traditions, critical and never at ease with unblinkered respect of canons; archetypical, because the "village foolâ€, buffoon, jester or anyone in any kind of society who plays such roles, is an archetype in the Jungian sense, i.e. a personification of an irreducible side of human nature that everybody instinctively knows: a beginner of a tradition, the perfect type, what is most conventional of all and therefore the exact opposite of an atypical. There is an intrinsic necessity, we think, of such figures in societies, just like politicians and priests, who should play an elitist role in order to guide and rule not for their own benefit but for the good of the community. We are not naïve and do know that actual owners of power always tend to keep it indefinitely: the 'social comic' as a role of power has nonetheless the distinctive feature of being the only job whose tension is not towards stability. It has got in itself the rewarding permission of contradiction, for the very reason we exposed before that the comic must cast an eye both inside and outside society and his vision may be perforce not consistent, then it is satisfactory for the popularity that gives amongst readers and audience. Finally, the difference between governors, priests and comic figures is the seriousness of the first two (fundamentally monologic) and the merry contradiction of the third (essentially dialogic). MPs, mayors, bishops and pastors should always console, comfort and soothe popular mood in respect of the public convention; the comic has the opposite task of provoking, urging and irritating, accomplishing at the same time a sort of control of the soothing powers of society, keepers of the righteousness. In this view, the comic person assumes a paramount importance in the counterbalancing of power administration, whether in form of acting in public places or in written pieces which could circulate for private reading. At this point comes into question our Irish writer Brian O'Nolan(1911-1966), real name that stood behind the more famous masks of Flann O'Brien, novelist, author of At Swim-Two-Birds (1939), The Hard Life (1961), The Dalkey Archive (1964) and, posthumously, The Third Policeman (1967); and of Myles na Gopaleen, journalist, keeper for more than 25 years of the Cruiskeen Lawn column on The Irish Times (1940-1966), and author of the famous book-parody in Irish An Béal Bocht (1941), later translated in English as The Poor Mouth (1973). Brian O'Nolan, professional senior civil servant of the Republic, has never seen recognized his authorship in literary studies, since all of them concentrated on his alter egos Flann, Myles and some others he used for minor contributions. So far as we are concerned, we think this is the first study which places the real name in the title, this way acknowledging him an unity of intents that no-one before did. And this choice in titling is not a mere mark of distinction for the sake of it, but also a wilful sign of how his opus should now be reconsidered. In effect, the aim of this study is exactly that of demonstrating how the empirical author Brian O'Nolan was the real Deus in machina, the master of puppets who skilfully directed all of his identities in planned directions, so as to completely fulfil the role of the comic figure we explained before. Flann O'Brien and Myles na Gopaleen were personae and not persons, but the impression one gets from the critical studies on them is the exact opposite. Literary consideration, that came only after O'Nolans death, began with Anne Clissmann's work, Flann O'Brien: A Critical Introduction to His Writings (Clissmann 1975), while the most recent book is Keith Donohue's The Irish Anatomist: A Study of Flann O'Brien (Donohue 2002); passing through M.Keith Booker's Flann O'Brien, Bakhtin and Menippean Satire (Booker 1995), Keith Hopper's Flann O'Brien: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Post-Modernist (Hopper 1995) and Monique Gallagher's Flann O'Brien, Myles et les autres (Gallagher 1998). There have also been a couple of biographies, which incidentally somehow try to explain critical points his literary production, while many critical studies do the same on the opposite side, trying to found critical points of view on the author's restless life and habits. At this stage, we attempted to merge into O'Nolan's corpus the journalistic articles he wrote, more than 4,200, for roughly two million words in the 26-year-old running of the column. To justify this, we appealed to several considerations about the figure O'Nolan used as writer: Myles na Gopaleen (later simplified in na Gopaleen), who was the equivalent of the street artist or storyteller, speaking to his imaginary public and trying to involve it in his stories, quarrels and debates of all kinds. First of all, he relied much on language for the reactions he would obtain, playing on, and with, words so as to ironically unmask untrue relationships between words and things. Secondly, he pushed to the limit the convention of addressing to spectators and listeners usually employed in live performing, stretching its role in the written discourse to come to a greater effect of involvement of readers. Lastly, he profited much from what we labelled his "specific weightâ€, i.e. the potential influence in society given by his recognised authority in determined matters, a position from which he could launch deeper attacks on conventional beliefs, so complying with the duty of a comic we hypothesised before: that of criticising society even in threat of losing the benefits the post guarantees. That seemingly masochistic tendency has its rationale. Every representative has many privileges on the assumption that he, or she, has great responsibilities in administrating. The higher those responsibilities are, the higher is the reward but also the severer is the punishment for the misfits done while in charge. But we all know that not everybody accepts the rules and many try to use their power for their personal benefit and do not want to undergo law's penalties. The comic, showing in this case more civic sense than others, helped very much in this by the non-accessibility to the use of public force, finds in the role of the scapegoat the right accomplishment of his task, accepting the punishment when his breaking of the conventions is too stark to be forgiven. As Ceccarelli demonstrated, the role of the object of laughter (comic, ridicule) has its very own positive side: there is freedom of expression for the person, and at the same time integration in the society, even though at low levels. Then the banishment of a 'social' comic can never get to total extirpation from society, revealing how the scope of the comic lies on an entirely fictional layer, bearing no relation with facts, nor real consequences in terms of physical health. Myles na Gopaleen, mastering these three characteristics we postulated in the highest way, can be considered an author worth noting; and the oeuvre he wrote, the whole collection of Cruiskeen Lawn articles, is rightfully a novel because respects the canons of it especially regarding the authorial figure and his relationship with the readers. In addition, his work can be studied even if we cannot conduct our research on the whole of it, this proceeding being justified exactly because of the resemblances to the real figure of the storyteller: its 'chapters' —the daily articles— had a format that even the distracted reader could follow, even one who did not read each and every article before. So we can critically consider also a good part of them, as collected in the seven volumes published so far, with the addition of some others outside the collections, because completeness in this case is not at all a guarantee of a better precision in the assessment; on the contrary: examination of the totality of articles might let us consider him as a person and not a persona. Once cleared these points, we proceeded further in considering tout court the works of Brian O'Nolan as the works of a unique author, rather than complicating the references with many names which are none other than well-wrought sides of the same personality. By putting O'Nolan as the correct object of our research, empirical author of the works of the personae Flann O'Brien and Myles na Gopaleen, there comes out a clearer literary landscape: the comic author Brian O'Nolan, self-conscious of his paramount role in society as both a guide and a scourge, in a word as an a(rche)typical, intentionally chose to differentiate his personalities so as to create different perspectives in different fields of knowledge by using, in addition, different means of communication: novels and journalism. We finally compared the newly assessed author Brian O'Nolan with other great Irish comic writers in English, such as James Joyce (the one everybody named as the master in the field), Samuel Beckett, and Jonathan Swift. This comparison showed once more how O'Nolan is in no way inferior to these authors who, greatly celebrated by critics, have nonetheless failed to achieve that great public recognition O'Nolan received alias Myles, awarded by the daily audience he reached and influenced with his Cruiskeen Lawn column. For this reason, we believe him to be representative of the comic figure's function as a social regulator and as a builder of solidarity, such as that Raymond Williams spoke of in his work (Williams 1982), with in mind the aim of building a 'culture in common'. There is no way for a 'culture in common' to be acquired if we do not accept the fact that even the most functional society rests on conventions, and in a world more and more 'connected' we need someone to help everybody negotiate with different cultures and persons. The comic gives us a worldly perspective which is at the same time comfortable and distressing but in the end not harmful as the one furnished by politicians could be: he lets us peep into parallel worlds without moving too far from our armchair and, as a consequence, is the one who does his best for the improvement of our understanding of things.

The editorial board of the Ukrainian Information Space opens a new section entitled "Documents from Diaspora Archives" with an article by Petro Fedun (Poltava), a former head of the Information Bureau of the Ukrainian Supreme Council (UHVR), UPA main journalist and publicist. We plan to bring back from oblivion those texts completely unknown to Ukrainian researchers and journalists, the semantic accents of which are in line with the current realities of the development of the national information space.Petro Fedun (pseudo "Poltava", "Volianskyi", "Sever", "Zenon", "P. Savchuk") is considered the main ideologue ("political educator") of the Ukrainian armed underground OUN-UPA of 40–50s of the twentieth century. He should deservedly enter the recent Ukrainian history as a publicist, author and editor of many insurgent publications. Originally from the village of Shnyriv, not far from Brody in Galicia, where he was born in a peasant family on February 23, 1919.The biography of this talented person is full of incredibly shocking events: youth training in the underground OUN from the mid-30s; from 1939 — medical student of Lviv University, an expert in classical languages. With the conscription of the same year for service in the Soviet army, he went from private to officer, with the beginning of the war — the commander of a platoon of the Red Army soldiers. He fought on the Finnish-Soviet and German-Soviet fronts. Then he was a German prisoner, after happened an escape from there, and finally he became an underground insurgent in the ranks of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.The career growth in the underground was also impressive: from the editor of the magazine "Yunak" ("Youth") — to the Deputy Head of the General Secretariat of the UHVR; from an ordinary insurgent to a UPA colonel, a member of its General Military Staff. After Roman Shukhevych's death, he was elected as a Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (summer 1950).Petro Fedun (Poltava) was two months away from his 33rd birthday — he died as a hero in a battle with the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) in December 1951 in the woods near the village Novoshyn (now in the Zhydachiv district of Lviv region).The most famous work of this author, for the reading or distribution of which people were shot in Soviet Ukraine in the 1950s, is the brochure "Who are the Banderites and what are they fighting for?". It was repeatedly republished in underground printing houses of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and was also sent to Soviet territories from abroad. In the diaspora, this book was called the immortal legend of a warring nation.Despite the fact that Fedun's (Poltava) creative contribution is small in volume, but quite powerful in content. First of all, this is a series of analytical articles on the Ukrainian nationalism ideology. Among the first — "The concept of Independent Ukraine and the main trend of ideological and political development of the modern world", "For the type of organized democracy in the future independent Ukrainian state", "Who is a true nationalist-revolutionary". The main feature of such texts: they are written simply, intelligibly, and oriented on the reader who is not prepared in life and politics. In contrast to texts on a similar subject, written by the refined esthete and high standard writer Dmytro Dontsov, which are better perceived by an already prepared reader.The fact that Ukrainian editorial board was headed by an enemy of Ukrainians led to the appearance of the "Memorial of Ukrainians in Great Britain", which came as an official document addressed to the leadership of the "Voice of America".A number of wishes and suggestions were expressed at the Memorial. Their essence was reduced to one thing: Ukrainian programs should pay due attention to Ukrainian national ideals and national traditions. This could be achieved by including the following topics from time to time:- outlines on Ukrainian history and culture;- stories about national heroes of the past and modern era;- materials about the significant dates of Ukrainians' national liberation struggle;- reviews of the American and Western press, which deal with Ukraine and Ukrainians.Particular attention was paid to the need to separate the content of radio programs addressed to Ukrainians from Moscow ones: "Ukrainian radio broadcasts should be edited differently than Russian ones. The content of Ukrainian programs should also be different," — the document said.The impetus for writing the article "What should be 'Voice of America' radio programs for the Soviet Union" was the mass spontaneous movement of the Western Diaspora Ukrainians in the late '40s of the twentieth century in order to get the "Voice of America" radio broadcast in Ukrainian. The Ukrainians' demands became successful at the end of November 1949. However, at the initial stage, the Ukrainian-language broadcasts of this radio station were mostly unfavorable or untrue towards Ukrainians. The reason was that the head of the Ukrainian editorial office was a Russian Hryhoriev — an outspoken follower of the "Russian world".The article was written by an underground UPA journalist on the territory of Soviet Ukraine and expressed the views not only of the insurgents but also of a large part of Ukrainian population.The relevance of this text is felt today as never before. The reader only needs to replace the often-repeated phrases "Moscow-Bolshevik oppressors", "Bolshevik tyranny", "USSR" with "Russian aggression", "Russian propaganda" and "Putin's Russia". Within the context of the current undeclared Russian-Ukrainian war in the East of Ukraine, the article touches on a layer of problems of the modern humanitarian policy of the Ukrainian state in general and information policy in particular.First published in the biweekly of the Foreign Office of the UHVR "Modern Ukraine" (dated March 18, 1951) — shortly before the death of the publicist. There is no complete folder of this edition in any book collection of Ukraine and the world.A copy of the text was found by the author of these lines in the archives of the Ukrainian Publishing Union in London during a research internship in Great Britain. ; Статтею колишнього керівника Бюро інформації Української Головної Ради (УГВР), чолового журналіста й публіциста УПА Петра Федуна (Полтави) редакція «Українського інформаційного простору» відкриває нову рубрику «Документи з діаспорних архівів». Плануємо повертати із небуття ті зовсім невідомі українським дослідникам-журналістикознавцям тексти, змістові акценти яких суголосні нинішнім реаліям розвитку національного інформаційного простору.Петро Миколайович Федун (псевдо «Полтава», «Волянський», «Север», «Зенон», «П. Савчук») вважається чоловим ідеологом («політвиховником») українського збройного підпілля ОУН-УПА 40–50-х років ХХ ст. У новітню українську історію він має заслужено увійти як публіцист, автор та редактор багатьох повстанських публікацій. Родом із села Шнирів, що неподалік Бродів на Галичині, де народився в селянській родині 23 лютого 1919 р.Біографія цієї талановитої особистості переповнена неймовірно карколомними подіями: юначий вишкіл у підпільній ОУН від середини 30-х років; від 1939 року — студент медицини Львівського університету, знавець класичних мов. З призовом того ж року на службу в радянську армію пройшов шлях від рядового до офіцера, з початком війни — командир взводу червоноармійців. Воював на фінсько-радянському й німецько-радянському фронтах. Далі — німецький полонений, втеча звідти і — повстанець-підпільник у рядах УПА.Вражає й кар'єрний ріст у підпіллі: від редактора журналу «Юнак» — до заступника голови Генерального Секретаріату УГВР; від рядового повстанця — до полковника УПА, члена її Головного військового штабу. Після загибелі Романа Шухевича обирається заступником Головного Командира УПА (літо 1950).Петро Федун (Полтава) не дожив до свого 33-ліття два місяці — загинув як герой у бою з НКВС у грудні 1951 р. в лісі біля с. Новошин (нині в Жидачівському районі Львівщини).Найбільш відомий твір цього автора, за читання чи поширення якого в радянській Україні у 50-х роках розстрілювали, — брошура «Хто такі бандерівці та за що вони борються». Вона неодноразово перевидавалася в підпільних друкарнях УПА, а також пересилалася на радянські терени з-за кордону. У діаспорі цю книгу назвали безсмертною легендою воюючої нації.Загалом творчий доробок Федуна (Полтави) хоч і невеликий за обсягом, але досить потужний за змістом. Передусім це низка аналітичних статей про ідеологію українського націоналізму. З перших — «Концепція Самостійної України й основна тенденція ідейно-політичного розвитку сучасного світу», «За тип організованої демократії в майбутній незалежній Українській державі», «Хто є справжній націоналіст-революціонер». Особливість таких текстів: написані просто, дохідливо, у розрахунку на читача мало підготовленого в житті й політиці. На противагу, скажімо, текстам на подібну тематику вишуканого естета й літератора високої проби Дмитра Донцова, які краще сприймає вже підготовлений читач.Спонукою до написання статті «Якими повинні бути радіопередачі «Голосу Америки» для Совєтського Союзу» став масовий стихійних рух кінця 40-х років ХХ ст. українців західної діаспори з метою добитися мовлення радіостанції «Голос Америки» українською мовою. Домагання українців увінчалися успіхом наприкінці листопада 1949 р. Однак на початковому етапі українськомовні передачі цієї радіостанції носили здебільше не прихильний або неправдивий щодо українства характер. Причиною було те, що керівником української редакції виявився росіянин Григорьєв — неприхований адепт «русского міра».Факт очолювання української редакції ворогом українців став причиною появи «Меморіялу українців Великої Британії», що надійшов як офіційний документ на ім'я керівництва «Голосу Америки». У «Меморіялі» було висловлено низку побажань та пропозицій. Суть їх зводилася до одного: в українських передачах мала би бути належна увага українським національним ідеалам і національній традиції. Зреалізувати це можна було б включенням час від часу таких тем:- нариси української історії та культури;- розповіді про національних героїв минулого і новітньої епохи;- матеріали про знакові дати національно-визвольних змагань українців; - огляди американської та західної преси, у яких ідеться про Україну та українців. Окрема заувага стосувалася необхідності відмосковлення змісту радіопрограм, адресованих для українців: «Українські радіомовлення повинні бути інакше редаговані, ніж російські. Зміст українських передач повинен бути також інший», — йшлося в документі.Стаття написана підпільним журналістом УПА на території радянської України і виражала думки не лише повстанців, а і значної частини українського населення.Актуальність цього тексту відчувається сьогодні як ніколи. Варто читачеві лише замінити часто повторювані тут словосполучення «московсько-большевицькі гнобителі», «большевицька тиранія», «СССР» на «російська агресія», «російська пропаганда», «путінська Росія». Саме в контексті теперішньої неоголошеної російсько-української війни на сході України в статті зачіпається пласт проблем сучасної гуманітарної політики Української держави загалом та інформаційної зокрема.Уперше опублікована у двотижневику Закордонного Представництва УГВР «Сучасна Україна» (число від 18 березня 1951 р.) — незадовго до загибелі публіциста. Повної підшивки цього видання в жодній книгозбірні України і світу немає. Примірник тексту виявлено автором цих рядків в архіві Української Видавничої Спілки в Лондоні під час наукового стажування у Великій Британії.