Molecular Genetics – Molecular Biology Conferences

Sessions/Tracks

Track 1:Molecular Biology

Molecular biologyis the study of molecular underpinnings of the processes ofreplication,transcription,translation, and cell function. Molecular biology concerns themolecularbasis ofbiologicalactivity between thebiomoleculesin various systems of acell,gene sequencingand this includes the interactions between theDNA,RNAand proteinsand theirbiosynthesis. Inmolecular biologythe researchers use specific techniques native to molecular biology, increasingly combine these techniques and ideas from thegeneticsandbiochemistry.

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2nd World Congress onHuman Genetics&Genetic Disorders, November 02-03, 2017 Toronto, Canada; 9th International Conference onGenomicsandPharmacogenomics, June 15-16, 2017 London, Uk; 6th International Conference and Exhibition onCellandGene Therapy, Mar 27-28, 2017 Madrid, Spain; Gordon Research Conference,Viruses&Cells, 14 - 19 May 2017, Lucca, Italy;Human Genome Meeting(HGM 2017), February 5-7 2017, Barcelona, Spain; Embl Conference:Mammalian GeneticsAndGenomics:From Molecular Mechanisms To Translational Applications, Heidelberg, Germany, October 24, 2017;GeneticandPhysiological Impacts of Transposable Elements, October 10, 2017, Heidelberg, Germany.

American Society for Cell Biology;The Society for Molecular Biology & Evolution;American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology;The Nigerian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology;Molecular Biology Association Search Form - CGAP.

Track 2:Gene Therapy and Genetic Engineering

Thegenetic engineeringis also called asgenetic modification. It is the direct manipulation of an organism'sofgenomeby usingbiotechnology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of the cell and including the transfer of genes across species boundaries to produce improved novelorganisms. Genesmay be removed, or "knocked out", using anuclease.Gene is targetinga different technique that useshomologousrecombinationto change anendogenous gene, and this can be used to delete a gene, removeexons, add a gene, or to introducegenetic mutations. There is an dna replacement therapy, Genetic engineering does not normally include traditional animal and plant breeding, gene sequencing, in vitro fertilization, induction of polyploidy,mutagenesisand cell fusion techniques that do not use recombinant nucleic acids or a genetically modified organism in the process,diseases treated with gene therapywas initially meant to introduce genes straight into human cells, focusing on diseases caused by single-gene defects, such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, muscular dystrophy and sickle cell anemia

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8thWorld Congress onMolecular Pathology, June 26-27, 2017 San Diego, USA; 11thInternational Conference onSurgical Pathology& Practice, March 27-28, 2017, MADRID, SPAIN; 13th EuropeanPathologyCongress, Aug 02-03, 2017, MILAN, ITALY; 28th Annual Meeting, Austrian Society ForHuman GeneticsAnd The Swiss Society OfMedical GeneticsCombined Meeting 2017 march 29, 2017 - March 31, 2017, bochum , Germany.

Association for Clinical Genetic Science;Genetics Society of America | GSA;Association of Genetic Technologists;Molecular Genetics - Human Genetics Society of Australasia;Genetic Engineering - Ecological Farming Association.

Track 3:Cell & Gene Therapy

Cell therapy is also calledcellular therapyorCyto therapy, in which cellular material is injected into patient this generally means intact, living cells. The first category iscell therapyin mainstream medicine. This is the subject of intense research and the basis of potential therapeutic benefit. Such research can be controversial when it involves human embryonic material. The second category is in alternative medicine, and perpetuates the practice of injecting animal materials in an attempt to cure disease.Gene therapyis the therapeutic delivery of nucleic acid polymers into a patient's cells as a drug to treat disease. Gene therapy is a way to fix agenetic problemat its source. The polymers are either translated into proteins, interfere with targetgene expression, or possibly correct genetic mutations. The most common form uses DNA that encodes a functional,therapeutic gene to replace a mutated gene. The polymer molecule is packaged within a "vector", which carries the molecule inside cells. Vectors used in gene therapy, the vector incorporates genes intochromosomes. The expressed nucleases then knock out and replace genes in the chromosome. The Center forCell and Gene Therapyconducts research into numerous diseases, including but not limited to PediatricCancer, HIV gliomaandCardiovascular disease.

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2nd World Congress onHuman Genetics&Genetic Disorders, November 02-03, 2017 Toronto, 27 Canada ; 7th International Conference onPlant Genomics, July 03-05, 2017, Bangkok, Thailand ; American Society ofGeneandCell Therapy(ASGCT) 20th Annual Meeting, 10 - 13 May 2017, Washington, DC;Genomic Medicine for Clinicians(course), January 25-27, 2017, Hinxton , Cambridge, UK; Embo Conference:ChromatinandEpigenetics, Heidelberg, Germany, May 3, 2017; 14th International Symposium on Variants in theGenomeSantiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain, June 5 - 8, 2017;

Genetics and Molecular Medicine - American Medical Association;Genetics Society of America / Gsa;British Society for Genetic Medicine;British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy; Australasian Gene Therapy Society.

Track 4:Cell Cancer Immunotherapy

Immunologydeals with the biological and biochemical basis for the body's defense against germs such as bacteria, virus and mycosis (fungal infections) as well as foreign agents such asbiological toxinsand environmental pollutants, and failures and malfunctions of these defense mechanisms. Cancer immunotherapy is the use of the immune system to treat cancer. Immunotherapies can be categorized as active, passive or hybrid (active and passive). Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system that bind to a target antigen on the cell surface. The immune system normally uses them to fight pathogens. A type of biological therapy that uses substances to stimulate or suppress the immune system to help the body fight cancer, infection, and other diseases. Some types of immunotherapy only target certain cells of the immune system. Others affect the immune system in a general way. Types of immunotherapy include cytokines, vaccines, bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), and some monoclonal antibodies.

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9thAnnual Meeting onImmunologyandImmunologist, July 03-05, 2017 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 8th MolecularImmunology&ImmunogeneticsCongress, March 20-21, 2017 Rome, Italy; 8th EuropeanImmunologyConference, June 29-July 01, 2017 Madrid, Spain; July 03-05, 2017; B Cells and T Follicular Helper Cells Controlling Long-Lived Immunity (D2), April 2017, 2327, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada; Mononuclear Phagocytes in Health,Immune Defense and Disease, 304 May, Austin, Texas, USA;Modeling Viral Infections and ImmunityMAY 2017, 14, Estes Park, Colorado, USA; IntegratingMetabolism and Immunity(E4)292 June, Dublin, Ireland.

The American Association of Immunologists;Clinical Immunology Society ; Indian Immunology Society;IUIS - International Union of Immunological Societies;American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics.

Track 5:Clinical Genetics

Clinical geneticsis the practice of clinical medicine with particular attention tothe hereditary disorders. Referrals are made togenetics clinicsfor the variety of reasons, includingbirth defects,developmental delay,autism,epilepsy, and many others. In the United States, physicians who practice clinical genetics are accredited by theAmerican Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics(ABMGG).In order to become a board-certified practitioner of a Clinical Genetics, a physician must complete minimum of 24 months of his training in a program accredited by the ABMGG. Individual seeking acceptance intoclinical geneticstraining programs and should hold an M.D. or D.O. degree (or their equivalent)and he/she have completed a minimum of 24 months of their training in ACGME-accredited residency program internal medicine, pediatrics and gynecology or other medical specialty.

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Belgian Society OfHuman GeneticsMeeting 2017 february 17, 2017, Belgium; American College Of Medical Genetics 2017 AnnualClinical GeneticsMeeting march 21-25 2017, phoenix , United States; German Society Of Human Genetics 28th Annual Meeting, Austrian Society ForHuman GeneticsAnd The Swiss Society OfMedical GeneticsCombined Meeting 2017 march 29, 2017 - March 31, 2017, bochum , Germany; Spanish Society OfHuman GeneticsCongress 2017april 25, 2017 - April 28, 2017 madrid , Spain;

Clinical Genetics Associates;Clinical Genetics Society(CGS);The genetic associate;International Conference on Clinical and Medical Genetics;Association for Clinical Genetic Science;The American Society of Human Genetics.

Track 6:Pharmacogenetics

Pharmacogeneticsis the study of inherited genetic differences in drug metabolic pathways which can affect individual responses towards the drugs, both in their terms of therapeutic effect as well as adverse effects. In oncology, Pharmacogenetics historically is the study ofgerm line mutations(e.g., single-nucleotide polymorphisms affecting genes coding forliver enzymesresponsible for drug deposition and pharmacokinetics), whereaspharmacogenomicsrefers tosomatic mutationsin tumoral DNA leading to alteration in drug response.

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Spanish Society OfHuman GeneticsCongress 2017april 25, 2017 - April 28, 2017, madrid , Spain; 8th World Congress onPharmacology, August 07-09, 2017 Paris, France; World Congress onBio therapeutics, May 22-23, 2017, Mexico City, Mexico; 8th World Congress OnPharmacologyAndToxicology, July 24-26, 2017, Melbourne, Australia; German Society Of Human Genetics 28th Annual Meeting, Austrian Society ForHuman GeneticsAnd The Swiss Society OfMedical GeneticsCombined Meeting 2017march 29, 2017 - March 31, 2017 bochum , Germany.

Pharmacogenomics - American Medical Association;Associate Principal Scientist Clinical Pharmacogenetics;European Society of Pharmacogenomics and Personalised Therapy;Genome-wide association studies in pharmacogenomics.

Track 7:Molecular Genetic Pathology

Molecular genetic pathologyis an emerging discipline withinthe pathologywhich is focused in the study and diagnosis of disease through examination of molecules within the organs, tissues or body fluids. A key consideration is more accurate diagnosis is possible when the diagnosis is based on both morphologic changes in tissuestraditional anatomic pathologyand onmolecular testing. Molecular Genetic Pathology is commonly used in diagnosis of cancer and infectious diseases. Integration of "molecular pathology" and "epidemiology" led tointerdisciplinaryfield, termed "molecular pathological epidemiology" (MPE),which representsintegrative molecular biologicand population health science.

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8th World Congress OnMolecular Pathology, June 26-27, 2017 San Diego, USA; 11th International Conference OnSurgical Pathology& Practice, March 27-28, 2017, Madrid, Spain; 13th EuropeanPathologyCongress, Aug 02-03, 2017, Milan, Italy; Embl Conference:Mammalian GeneticsAndGenomics, Heidelberg, Germany, October 24, 2017; Embo|Embl Symposium: TheMobile Genome: Genetic And Physiological Impacts Of Transposable Elements, Heidelberg, Germany, October 10, 2017.

Clinical Pathology Associates Molecular Pathology; Association mapping Wikipedia;Association for Molecular Pathology(AMP);Molecular Pathology - Association of Clinical Pathologists;SELECTBIO - Molecular Pathology Association of India.

Track 8:Gene Mapping

Genomemappingis to place a collection of molecular markers onto their respective positions ongenome.Molecular markerscome in all forms. Genes can be viewed as one special type of genetic markers in construction ofgenome maps, and the map is mapped the same way as any other markers. The quality ofgenetic mapsis largely dependent upon the two factors, the number of genetic markers on the map and the size of themapping population. The two factors are interlinked, and as larger mapping population could increase the "resolution" of the maps and prevent the map being "saturated". Researchers begin a genetic map by collecting samples of blood or tissue from family members that carry a prominent disease or trait and family members that don't. Scientists then isolate DNA from the samples and closely examine it, looking for unique patterns in the DNA of the family members who do carry the disease that the DNA of those who don't carry the disease don't have. These unique molecular patterns in the DNA are referred to as polymorphisms, or markers.

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3rd WorldBio Summit&Expo, Abu Dhabi, UAE, June 19-21, 2017; 9th International Conference onGenomicsandPharmacogenomicsJune 15-16, 2017 London, Uk; Keystone Symposium: Mononuclear Phagocytes in Health,Immune DefenseandDisease, 304 May 2017, Austin, Texas, USA;Molecular Neurodegeneration(course) Hinxton, Cambridge, UK, January 9-14, 2017;

Association for Clinical Genetic Science;Genome-wide association study Wikipedia;Gene mapping by linkage and association analysis NCBI;Gene mapping by linkage and association analysis | Springer Link.

Track 9:ComputationalGenomics

Computational genomics refers to the use of computational and statistical analysis to decipherbiologyfromgenome sequencesand related data, including DNA and RNA sequence as well as other "post-genomic" data. This computational genomics is also known asComputational Genetics. These, in combination with computational and statistical approaches to understanding the function of the genes and statistical association analysis, this field is also often referred to as Computational and Statistical Genetics/genomics. As such, computational genomics may be regarded as a subset of bioinformatics and computational biology, but with a focus on using whole genomes rather than individual genes to understand the principles of how the DNA of a species controls its biology at the molecular level and beyond. With the current abundance of massive biological datasets, computational studies have become one of the most important means to biological discovery.The field is defined and includes foundations in thecomputer sciences,applied mathematics, animation, biochemistry, chemistry, biophysics,molecular genetics,neuroscienceandvisualization. Computational biology is different from biological computation, which is a subfield of computer engineering using bioengineering and biology to build computers, but is similar tobioinformatics.

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Modeling Viral Infections and Immunity,10. MAY 2017, 14, Estes Park, Colorado, USA;Integrating Metabolism and Immunity(E4)292 June, Dublin, Ireland; EMBL Conference:Mammalian GeneticsandGenomics, Heidelberg, Germany, October 24, 2017; EMBO|EMBL Symposium: The Mobile Genome:GeneticandPhysiological Impacts of Transposable Elements, Heidelberg, Germany, October 10, 2017;

American Association of Bio analysts - Molecular/Genetic Testing;ISCB - International Society for Computational Biology;International Society for Computational Biology Wikipedia;Bioinformatics societies OMICtools;Towards an Australian Bioinformatics Society.

Track 10:Molecular Biotechnology

Molecular Biotechnologyis the use of living systems and organisms to develop or to make products, or "any technological application that uses the biological systems, living organisms or derivatives, to make or modify products or processes for specific use. Molecular biotechnology results from the convergence of many areas of research, such as molecular biology, microbiology, biochemistry, immunology, genetics and cell biology. It is an exciting field fueled by the ability to transfer genetic information between organisms with the goal of understanding important biological processes or creating a useful product. The completion of the human genome project has opened a myriad of opportunities to create new medicines and treatments, as well as approaches to improve existing medicines. Molecular biotechnology is a rapidly changing and dynamic field. As the pace of advances accelerates, its influence will increase. The importance and impact of molecular biotechnology is being felt across the nation. Depending on the tools and applications, it often overlaps with the related fields of bioengineering,biomedical engineering, bio manufacturing andmolecular engineering.Biotechnologyalso writes on the pure biological sciences animalcell culture, biochemistry,cell biology, embryology, genetics, microbiology, andmolecular biology.

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8th EuropeanImmunologyConference, June 29-July 01, 2017 Madrid, Spain; World Congress onBio therapeutics, May 22-23, 2017, Mexico City, Mexico;Human Genome Meeting(HGM 2017), February 5-7 2017, Barcelona, Spain;Integrating MetabolismandImmunity (E4), 292 June, Dublin, Ireland.

Biotech Associations - Stanford University;Indian Society of Genetics, Biotechnology Research & Development;Genetics and Molecular Medicine - American Medical Association;Genetics Society of America | GSA, British Society for Genetic Medicine;Heritability in the Era of Molecular Genetics - Association for Psychological science.

Track 11:Genetic Transformation

Genetic Transformationis the genetic alteration of cell resulting from the direct uptake and incorporation ofexogenous genetic materialfrom its surroundings through thecell membrane. Transformation is one of three processes for horizontal gene transfer, in which exogenous genetic material passes from bacterium to another, the other two being conjugation transfer of genetic material between two bacterial cells in direct contact andTransductioninjection offoreign DNAby a bacteriophage virus into thehost bacterium. And about 80 species of bacteria were known to be capable of transformation, in 2014, about evenly divided betweenGram-positiveandGram-negative Transformation" may also be used to describe the insertion of new genetic material into non-bacterial cells, including animal and plant cells.

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13th EuropeanPathologyCongress, Milan, Italy; Embl Conference:Mammalian GeneticsAndGenomics, Heidelberg, Germany, October 24, 2017; Embo|Embl Symposium: TheMobile Genome: Genetic And Physiological Impacts Of Transposable Elements, Heidelberg, Germany, October 10, 2017; 2nd World Congress onHuman Genetics&Genetic Disorders, November 02-03, 2017 Toronto, Canada; 9th International Conference onGenomicsandPharmacogenomics, June 15-16, 2017 London, Uk;

American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy: ASGCT;Gene Therapy Societies and Patient Organizations - Gene Therapy Net;European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT);British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy;Gene Therapy - American Medical Association.

Track 12:Genetic Screening

Genetic screenis an experimental technique used to identify and select the individuals who possess a phenotype of interest inmutagenized population. A genetic screen is a type ofphenotypic screen. Genetic screen can provide important information on gene function as well as the molecular events that underlie a biological process or pathway. While thegenome projectshave identified an extensive inventory of genes in many different organisms, genetic screens can provide valuable insight as to how thosegenes function.

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13th EuropeanPathologyCongress, Aug 02-03, 2017, Milan, Italy; 2nd World Congress onHuman Genetics&Genetic Disorders, November 02-03, 2017 Toronto, 27 Canada; 7th International Conference onPlant Genomics, July 03-05, 2017, Bangkok, Thailand; Embl Conference:Mammalian GeneticsAndGenomics, Heidelberg, Germany, October 24, 2017; Embo|Embl Symposium: TheMobile Genome: Genetic And Physiological Impacts Of Transposable Elements, Heidelberg, Germany, October 10, 2017, 10 - 13 May 2017, American Society ofGeneandCell Therapy(ASGCT) 20th Annual Meeting, Washington, DC;

Association for Clinical Genetic Science; Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP);Mapping heritability and molecular genetic associations with cortical;Genetics and Molecular Medicine - American Medical Association.

Track 13:Regulation of Gene Expression

Regulation of Gene expressionincludes a wide range of mechanisms that are used by cells to increase or decrease the production of specific gene products (protein or RNA), and is informally termed gene regulation. Sophisticated programs of gene expression are widely observed in biology, Virtually any step of gene expression can be modulated, fromtranscriptional initiation,RNA processing, and post-translational modificationof a protein. Often, one gene regulator controls another in a gene regulatory network. Any step of gene expression may be modulated, from theDNA-RNA transcriptionstep to post-translational modification of a protein.

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7th International Conference onPlant Genomics, July 03-05, 2017, Bangkok, Thailand; EMBO|EMBL Symposium: The Mobile Genome:GeneticandPhysiological Impacts of Transposable Elements, Heidelberg, Germany, October 10, 2017; 10. MAY 2017, 14, Estes Park, Colorado, USA,Modeling Viral Infections and Immunity; 292 June, Dublin, Ireland,Integrating Metabolism and Immunity(E4); MAY 2017, 14, Estes Park, Colorado, USA,Modeling Viral InfectionsandImmunity; 8th EuropeanImmunologyConference, June 29-July 01, 2017 Madrid, Spain; 9th International Conference onGenomicsandPharmacogenomics, June 15-16, 2017 London, Uk;

Gene Therapy Societies and Patient Organizations - Gene Therapy Net;European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT);British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy;Gene Therapy - American Medical Association

Track 14: Cancer Gene Therapy

Cancer is an abnormal growth of cells the proximate cause of which is an imbalance in cell proliferation and death breaking-through the normal physiological checks and balances system and the ultimate cause of which are one or more of a variety of gene alterations. These alterations can be structural, e.g., mutations, insertions, deletions, amplifications, fusions and translocations, or functional (heritable changes without changes in nucleotide sequence). No single genomic change is found in all cancers and multiple changes (heterogeneity) are commonly found in each cancer generally independent of histology. In healthy adults, the immune system may recognize and kill the cancer cells or allow non-detrimental host-cancer equilibrium; unfortunately, cancer cells can sometimes escape the immune system resulting in expansion and spread of these cancer cells leading to serious life threatening disease. Approaches to cancer gene therapy include three main strategies: the insertion of a normal gene into cancer cells to replace a mutated (or otherwise altered) gene, genetic modification to silence a mutated gene, and genetic approaches to directly kill the cancer cells. Pathway C represents immunotherapy using altered immune cells. Another unique immunotherapy strategy facilitated by gene therapy is to directly alter the patient's immune system in order to sensitize it to the cancer cells. One approach uses mononuclear circulating blood cells or bone marrow gathered from the patient.

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8th EuropeanImmunologyConference, June 29-July 01, 2017 Madrid, Spain; World Congress onBio therapeutics, May 22-23, 2017, Mexico City, Mexico;Human Genome Meeting(HGM 2017), February 5-7 2017, Barcelona, Spain;Integrating MetabolismandImmunity (E4), 292 June, Dublin, Ireland.

Biotech Associations - Stanford University;Indian Society of Genetics, Biotechnology Research & Development;Genetics and Molecular Medicine - American Medical Association;Genetics Society of America | GSA, British Society for Genetic Medicine;Heritability in the Era of Molecular Genetics - Association for Psychological science.

Track 15:Genetic Transplantation

Transplantation genetics is the field of biology and medicine relating to the genes that govern the acceptance or rejection of a transplant. The most important genes deciding the fate of a transplanted cell, tissue, or organ belong to what is termed the MHC (the major histocompatibility complex). Genetic Transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site to another location on the person's own body, to replace the recipient's damaged or absent organ. Organs and/or tissues that aretransplantedwithin the same person's body are calledauto grafts. Transplants that are recently performed between two subjects of the same species are calledallografts. Allografts can either be from a living or cadaveric source Organs that can be transplanted are the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, intestine, and thymus. The kidneys are the most commonlytransplanted organs, followed by the liver and then the heart. The main function of the MHC antigens is peptide presentation to the immune system to help distinguish self from non-self. These antigens are called HLA (human leukocyte antigens). They consists of three regions: class I (HLA-A,B,Cw), class II (HLA-DR,DQ,DP) and class III (no HLA genes)

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8th World Congress onPharmacology, August 07-09, 2017 Paris, France; International Conference onClinicalandMolecular Genetics, Las Vegas, USA, April 24-26, 2017; Aug 02-03, 2017, 13th EuropeanPathologyCongress, Milan, Italy; Embl Conference:Mammalian GeneticsAndGenomics, Heidelberg, Germany, October 24, 2017; 7th International Conference onPlant Genomics, July 03-05, 2017, Bangkok, Thailand.

American society of Transplantation;American Society of Transplant Surgeons: ASTS; Patient associations. Donation and transplantation;American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy ASGCT;Gene Therapy Societies and Patient Organizations - Gene Therapy Net.

Track 16:Cytogenetics

Cytogeneticsis a branch ofgeneticsthat is concerned withstudy of the structure and function of the cell, especially thechromosomes. It includes routine analysis of G-banded chromosomes, othercytogenetic banding techniques, as well as molecular Cytogenetics such as fluorescent in suitable hybridization FISH and comparativegenomic hybridization.

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9thAnnual Meeting onImmunologyandImmunologist, July 03-05, 2017 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 8th MolecularImmunology&ImmunogeneticsCongress, March 20-21, 2017 Rome, Italy; 8th EuropeanImmunologyConference, June 29-July 01, 2017 Madrid, Spain; July 03-05, 2017; B Cells and T Follicular Helper Cells Controlling Long-Lived Immunity (D2), April 2017, 2327, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.

European Cytogeneticists Association;Association of Genetic Technologists;Association for Clinical Genetic Science;Cytogenetics - Human Genetics Society of Australasia;European Cytogeneticists Association

Molecular Biology 2016

Molecular Biology 2016 Report

2ndWorld Bio Summit & Molecular Biology Expowas organized during October 10-12, 2016 at Dubai, UAE. The conference was marked with the attendance ofEditorial Board Members of supporting journals, Scientists, young and brilliant researchers, business delegates and talented student communities representing more than 25 countries, who made this conference fruitful and productive.

This conference was based on the theme Recent advances in Bio Science which included the following scientific tracks:

Molecular Biology

Microbiology

Analytical Molecular Biology

Bioinformatics

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Molecular Biology and Biotechnology

Cancer Molecular Biology

Computational Biology

Molecular Biology of the Cell

Molecular biology of the cardiovascular system

Molecular Biology in Cellular Pathology

Molecular Biology of Diabetes

Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering

Enzymology and Molecular Biology

Molecular Biology of the Gene

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Molecular Genetics - Molecular Biology Conferences

ASCO and Foundation Medicine Announce Collaboration to Help Research Sites Identify Potential Participants for the … – Business Wire (press release)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO) and Foundation Medicine (NASDAQ: FMI) today announced entry into an agreement to create efficiencies for research sites participating in ASCOs TAPUR Study in identifying potential participants for the study. ASCO is announcing that reports from Foundation Medicines comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) assays, FoundationOne, FoundationOne Heme and FoundationACT will receive the new optimized for TAPUR reporting designation available to entities that demonstrate reporting of nearly 75% of TAPUR-specific genes in a format that meets criteria established for the TAPUR Study. The TAPUR Study is a first-of its-kind clinical trial designed to evaluate molecularly targeted cancer drugs and collect data on clinical outcomes to learn about additional uses of these drugs outside of indications already approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

As part of this pilot program, Foundation Medicine will use its SmartTrials technology to create reports for TAPUR sites that identify patients who may qualify to participate in the TAPUR Study. SmartTrials is a molecularly-matched, location-specific, clinical trials database that informs physicians about clinical trials to accelerate patient enrollment. Early use of the SmartTrials report by one TAPUR site was associated with a significant increase in patient accrual with the site reporting identification of more than 60 patients whose genomic profiles matched TAPUR drug targets within a few months of implementing the SmartTrials technology. As part of this arrangement, Foundation Medicine will be launching its SmartTrials reporting to an initial pilot set of the TAPUR Studys participating clinical sites.

We are excited to designate Foundation Medicines CGP assays as providing reports that are optimized for TAPUR participation and work with Foundation Medicine to allow TAPUR Sites to incorporate SmartTrials reporting to streamline identification of patients who may qualify for the TAPUR study, said ASCO Chief Medical Officer and TAPUR Study Principal Investigator, Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FASCO, FSCT. It is our hope that Foundation Medicines unique expertise in genomics will enable many more patients to access investigational therapies through the TAPUR Study clinical trial.

The TAPUR Studys innovative, biomarker-driven design will expand access for patients to innovative new targeted therapies, while enhancing the collective understanding of the genomic basis of cancer biology, said Vincent Miller, M.D., chief medical officer at Foundation Medicine. Applying the SmartTrials reporting to the TAPUR Study can facilitate rapid and accurate patient identification, accelerating patient enrollment.

About the TAPUR Study TheTAPUR Studyis a non-randomized clinical trial that aims to describe the performance (both safety and efficacy) of commercially available, targeted anticancer drugs prescribed for treatment of patients with advanced cancer that has a potentially actionable genomic variant. The TAPUR Study provides approved targeted therapies that are contributed to the program by collaborating pharmaceutical companies, catalogues the choice of genomic profiling test by clinical oncologists and aims to learn about the utility of registry data to develop hypotheses for additional clinical trials.

About ASCO: Founded in 1964, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO) is committed to making a world of difference in cancer care. As the worlds leading organization of its kind, ASCO represents more than 40,000 oncology professionals who care for people living with cancer. Through research, education, and promotion of the highest-quality patient care, ASCO works to conquer cancer and create a world where cancer is prevented or cured, and every survivor is healthy. ASCO is supported by its affiliate organization, the Conquer Cancer Foundation. Learn more at http://www.ASCO.org, explore patient education resources at http://www.Cancer.Net, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

AboutFoundation Medicine Foundation Medicine(NASDAQ:FMI) is a molecular information company dedicated to a transformation in cancer care in which treatment is informed by a deep understanding of the genomic changes that contribute to each patient's unique cancer. The company offers a full suite of comprehensive genomic profiling assays to identify the molecular alterations in a patient's cancer and match them with relevant targeted therapies, immunotherapies and clinical trials.Foundation Medicine'smolecular information platform aims to improve day-to-day care for patients by serving the needs of clinicians, academic researchers and drug developers to help advance the science of molecular medicine in cancer. Foundation Medicines SmartTrials program helps clinical research sponsors design, plan and implement clinical trials using Foundation Medicines oncology knowledge base and physician network. For more information, please visithttp://www.FoundationMedicine.comor followFoundation Medicineon Twitter (@FoundationATCG).

Foundation Medicineand FoundationOneare registered trademarks and SmartTrialsTMis a trademark ofFoundation Medicine, Inc.

ASCO, American Society of Clinical Oncology and TAPUR are trademarks of American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the value and performance capabilities of Foundation Medicines comprehensive genomic profiling assays; the ability of CGP and the SmartTrials services to help accelerate clinical trial enrollment; and the ability of a clinical trial, including the clinical trial design, to expand access to therapies or improve cancer care. All such forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include the risk thatFoundation Medicine'sCGP andservices will not be able to identify genomic alterations in the same manner as prior clinical data or prior experience;clinical trial enrollment does not increase in the expected manner; and the risks described under the caption "Risk Factors" inFoundation Medicine'sAnnual Report on Form 10-K for the year endedDecember 31, 2016, which is on file with theSecurities and Exchange Commission, as well as other risks detailed inFoundation Medicine'ssubsequent filings with theSecurities and Exchange Commission.All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, andFoundation Medicineundertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.

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ASCO and Foundation Medicine Announce Collaboration to Help Research Sites Identify Potential Participants for the ... - Business Wire (press release)

Caris Life Sciences’ Molecular Intelligence Platform Identifies Patients with MSI-High (or Mismatch Repair Deficient … – PR Newswire (press release)

"In the past, anti-neoplastic agents were developed based on the site of origin, such as breast, prostate or lung," said David Spetzler, M.S., Ph.D., M.B.A., President and Chief Scientific Officer of Caris Life Sciences and co-author on the paper. "With our increased knowledge, both of the genetic alterations that drive and sustain tumorigenesis, as well as the down-regulation of the immune system that enables tumors to escape an immune response, we are better positioned than ever to attack cancers based on their molecular profiles and to develop a treatment plan that is tailored to each patient, regardless of tumor origin. The results of this clinical trial demonstrate that this is truly the case. This now opens a new approach to therapy that is exemplified by the recent FDA approval of pembrolizumab for MSI-High or mismatch repair deficient solid tumors the first cancer therapy approved for use based on a biomarker, regardless of tumor type, and the same population evaluated in this study."

The clinical trial evaluated the efficacy of pembrolizumab in advanced MSI-High or MMR-deficient patients. Eighty-six patients, with 12 different tumor types were enrolled. The objective response rate was 53% and the complete response rate was 21%, demonstrating durable responses with pembrolizumab regardless of tumor origin. The investigators concluded that patients with a large number of neoantigens in MMR-deficient cancers made them sensitive to checkpoint inhibition. Researchers also included Caris Molecular Intelligence prevalence data for MSI-High or MMR-deficient tumors. Using next-generation sequencing (NGS) across 24 tumor types, Caris Molecular Intelligence identified patients with MSI-High solid tumors by evaluating more than 7,000 microsatellite regions across approximately 2,200 cases. Patients were considered MSI-High if they had at least 43 altered microsatellite regions, which was determined by comparing NGS results to traditional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. The Caris NGS platform performed at 95.8% sensitivity and 99.4% specificity.

"The results of this study, along with the FDA approval of pembrolizumab for MSI-High or mismatch repair deficient solid tumors, marks a turning point where precision medicine is now becoming standard of care for all solid tumor patients," said John Marshall, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Caris Life Sciences. Dr. Marshall is also the Associate Director for Clinical Care for the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Chief of the Division of Hematology-Oncology at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. "The Caris CGP+ tumor profiling platform enables more patients to get MSI results because it does not require normal tissue like the PCR assay, therefore making it optimally positioned to assist clinicians in accurately identifying MSI-High patients so that they receive appropriate therapy. In addition, CGP+ assists innovative biopharmaceutical companies and other healthcare organizations develop the next personalized cancer treatments."

The study was a multi-institution clinical trial conducted by academic, medical, government and commercial organizations including Johns Hopkins, Stanford University, Providence Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh, National Cancer Institute, Ohio State University, West Virginia University Cancer Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Merck & Company, with funding in part by The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research.

About Caris Life Sciences Caris Life Sciences is a leading innovator in molecular science focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine through quality and innovation. Caris Molecular Intelligence, the company's Comprehensive Genomic Profiling Plus (CGP+) molecular testing service and the world's leading immunotherapy diagnostic expert, assesses DNA, RNA and proteins, including microsatellite instability (MSI), total mutational load (TML) and PD-L1, to reveal a molecular blueprint to guide more precise and personalized treatment decisions. The ADAPT Biotargeting System, the company's revolutionary and unbiased profiling platform, is currently being utilized for drug target identification, therapeutic discovery and development, fixed tissue-based companion diagnostics, blood-based cancer screening and biomarker identification. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Caris Life Sciences offers services throughout the U.S., Europe and other international markets. To learn more, please visit http://www.CarisLifeSciences.com.

Media Inquiries: The Ruth Group Kirsten Thomas / Joanna Zimmerman kthomas@theruthgroup.com / jzimmerman@theruthgroup.com Tel: +1-508-280-6592 / +1-646-536-7006

Caris Life Sciences Media Relations & Corporate Affairs CorpComm@carisls.com 214-294-5606

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/caris-life-sciences-molecular-intelligence-platform-identifies-patients-with-msi-high-or-mismatch-repair-deficient-solid-tumors-more-likely-to-respond-to-immunotherapy-300471334.html

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Caris Life Sciences' Molecular Intelligence Platform Identifies Patients with MSI-High (or Mismatch Repair Deficient ... - PR Newswire (press release)

3-D Mammograms And Molecular Breast Imaging Personalized Approaches To Breast Cancer Screening – HuffPost

This article is authored by the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine. The mission of the Center is to discover and integrate the latest in genomic, molecular and clinical sciences into personalized care for patients.

A picture is worth a thousand words. While that saying may be true, for the more than 50 percent of all women who have dense breast tissue, a picture from traditional, 2-D mammography may not tell the full story about whether they have breast cancer.

Breast density is like the wolf in sheeps clothing. Both tumors and dense breast tissue appear white on a mammogram. A traditional 2-D mammogram may not distinguish between the two. Thats why mammograms find as few as 40 percent of cancers in women with dense breasts, says Deborah Rhodes, M.D., a Mayo Clinic Breast Clinic physician.

If tumors are obscured by dense tissue on a mammogram, the tumor may go undetected for a year or longer during which time the tumor will grow which is a significant problem when you consider how closely survival from breast cancer is linked to tumor size at diagnosis. If we discover a tumor when it is less than 1 centimeter, that patient has over a 90 percent chance of surviving. If we could reliably find tumors in dense tissue when they are small, more lives could be saved," adds Dr. Rhodes.

In addition to dense breast tissue masking tumors on a mammogram, research has shown that women with dense breast tissue have a higher risk of developing breast cancer. Many states have now passed legislation mandating that women found to have dense breasts on a mammogram be provided with information about the impact of breast density on breast cancer detection and risk.

Because both Minnesota and Arizona have this legislation, and because national guidelines on breast cancer screening differ, Mayo Clinic breast specialists developed consensus guidelines for breast cancer screening in women with dense breasts.

Bringing dense breast tissue into focus - 3-D mammograms and molecular breast imaging (MBI)

In order to provide the best screening to detect breast cancer, Mayo Clinic physicians recommend that women with dense breasts initially have a 3-D mammogram and be given the option to have further screening with molecular breast imaging (MBI).

Dense breast tissue what you should know

Women with dense breast tissue have a higher proportion of dense tissue compared to fatty tissue in their breasts. You can find out whether you have dense breast tissue by talking with your physician and reading your mammogram report.

Factors that lead to women having dense breasts include:

Adjusting the lens researchers work to refine screening tools

Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine has supported development of molecular breast imaging as an individualized approach to cancer screening and will continue to support research that refines this technology in order to provide patients with dense breast tissue the best care.

Our goal is to identify the best tool to screen for and diagnose cancer at its earliest stages, when it is more treatable. By finding the best individualized care for women with dense breasts, I think we can greatly reduce the number of breast cancers diagnosed when they are already advanced - cancers that were not visible on an x-ray. We have already demonstrated that MBI can detect many cancers including advanced cancers that were not seen on traditional 2-D mammography. Our future research will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of 3-D mammograms and MBI. While this research is ongoing and important, MBI is available now as a tool for women who seek additional screening because they have dense breasts, says Dr. Rhodes.

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3-D Mammograms And Molecular Breast Imaging Personalized Approaches To Breast Cancer Screening - HuffPost

The Photographer Capturing the New York You’ve Never Noticed – Artsy

While others on the street are staring at their smartphones, King is looking up, capturing the sculptures that ever-so-subtly change the space all around us, uploading the images to his Instagram, collecting them in books (his third, Figures in Stone, is on shelves now) or spotlighting them in exhibitions. His latest show on City Islandwhich sits just off mainland Bronx in the Long Island sound, and where he now lives after spending most of his life in Harlemopened June 2nd.

Our hour-long walking tour begins at a building at 181st Street and Fort Washington Avenue. Most buildings with interesting stone details date back to between 1850 and 1930; this ones smog-stained facade has seen better days, but a line of stone figures had caught Kings attention as he traveled to a nearby renovation job.

Sometimes I feel like these details talk to me, King says. He means it. What else besides a very interesting conversation could keep him photographing for decades? King began his hobby while taking a class on women in photography. His teacher gave an unusual assignment: Capture the image of women he didnt know. King felt too awkward photographing strangers, so turned his camera to women carved in stone instead. I got an A, he said, with a smile.

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The Photographer Capturing the New York You've Never Noticed - Artsy

Australia Proposes New Risk-Based Approach to Medicine Variations – Regulatory Focus

Australia Proposes New Risk-Based Approach to Medicine Variations Posted 08 June 2017 By Zachary Brennan

Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on Thursday released guidance on a plan to allow companies to make "very low risk" changes to registered medicines after submitting them to TGA and receiving an automated acknowledgement.

"These requests are known as 'notifications' but still require an application to the TGA," the regulator explained. "These lowest risk variations do not require evaluation but legally must still be approved by the TGA before implementation by the sponsor."

TGA says that such a risk-based approach to the management of variations to medicines, which will be only for changes that do not impact the quality, safety or efficacy of a medicine, will reduce regulatory burdens on industry, reduce unnecessary assessment work for TGA and allow for variations to take effect more quickly.

A list of variations that are acceptable for notification only will be developed, TGA adds, noting that it is looking to generally align with European Medicines Agency requirements.

However, changes to Australia'sTherapeutic Goods Act 1989are needed to implement this new notification process, TGA says, noting that it has introduced into Parliament a bill to amend the act, as well as amendments to theTherapeutic Goods Regulations 1990outlining the first set of changes proposed as notifications.

Other upcoming regulatory reforms were also outlined by TGA last September.

Notifications process: requests to vary registered medicines where quality, safety and efficacy are not affected

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Australia Proposes New Risk-Based Approach to Medicine Variations - Regulatory Focus

Topol: ‘Imprecision’ medicine is plaguing healthcare – Health Data Management

The future of precision medicine doesnt lie in some theoretical construct but is here now in the form of digital tools that are currently available to providers and patients alike.

Thats the contention of Eric Topol, MD, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute and a keynote speaker at Wednesdays opening session of the 2017 AHIP Institute & Expo in Austin, Texas.

However, before healthcare can take full advantage of a personalized approach to healthcare that treats individualsnot populationsthe industry needs to come to terms with its failed ways.

Medicine today is in a pretty sorry stateits sad to admit, and we have to face the problems we have, said Topol, who contends that imprecision is a root cause of the inefficiency and waste in medicine. We have this illusion that we provide such great healthcare in this country, and its so far from the truth.

Despite the billions of dollars spent developing medications, he pointed to the fact that 75 percent of patients who are prescribed the 10 top-selling drugs dont respond to these pharmaceuticals. In addition, Topol noted that the medical error problem in healthcare is profound, representing the third leading cause of death in the United States; in addition, 12 million Americans are misdiagnosed each year. Further, he said that one in four hospitalized patients are harmed while in the care of clinicians.

Were talking about at least $1 trillion of waste per year because of this imprecision of not seeing people as individuals, but rather (using) this population medicine approach, according to Topol. There is no one who is averagethat person doesnt exist.

Leveraging the available technology to understand each human being is where medicine needs to go in the 21st Century, he said. Whats needed is to map the human body, providing a Google Medical Maps equivalent. But, instead of the satellite street view and traffic view, you have the views of the persons phenome, external features, their DNA, RNA proteins, their epigenome, their microbiome and their exposome, added Topol.

According to Topol, mobile technology is the enabler for measuring human physiology. Today, we can use smartphones to accomplish a lot of this understanding of each individual, he said. And, the smartphone will indeed be the hub in the imminent years of medicine because there are sensors for every physiologic metric.

At the same time, Topol insisted that these medicalized smartphones will serve as technological enablers for the democratization of medicine, giving patients control of their own data, which has historically been the exclusive domain of physicians.

Also See: Medicalized smartphones to put health data in hands of patients

One of the mobile devices that Topol is particularly keen on is smartphone ultrasound. You can now get high-quality, high-resolution images through your phone of any part of your body except the brain, because you cant image through the skull, he added.

A cardiologist, Topol said he also uses a portable echocardiogram through his smartphone to monitor a beating heart.

Why would you ever listen to a persons heart with an obsolete stethoscope? he asked. It isnt even a scope. Its a stethophone. This is really a big shakeup in healthcare, and the fact is that most doctors are not using this. Theres only one reason why it isnt being used. It has something to do with the big Rreimbursement.

Health payers are in the drivers seat here, and theres no entity that has the power to change medicine as insurers, so Im hoping they will buy into these really exciting times that we are in, concludes Topol. We have the tools to do it. Hopefully, we have the will to do it.

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Topol: 'Imprecision' medicine is plaguing healthcare - Health Data Management

Nebraska medicine hits transplant milestone – KMTV.com – KMTV – 3 News Now

OMAHA, NE - Nine donors got to meet the nine people who received their kidneys Thursday during the largest living kidney donor chain in Nebraska history at the Nebraska Medical Center.

It was the first time that they met face to face. All nine transplants happened from February 27-March 3.

Many of the patients wanted to donate to a friend or family member but were matched to others on a Board of Hope.

Donating a kidney is one of the most courageous and noble acts a person can do. Sitting among all of you are 9 superheroes willing to donate a kidney to someone they had never met, knowing only that their friend or family member would receive a kidney in return, said Dr. Arika Hoffman, an NMC Transplant Surgeon.

The youngest recipient, 5-year-old Andy Aranda, concluded the chain and got to meet his donor Thursday. His father says hes needed a new kidney since he was 2-months-old.

He loves superheroes and riding bikes. Now, he knows a real life superhero, his donor, Tyler Sturgeon of Cozad, NE.

People like Tyler he shared his life and his organs for another person its a miracle, said Jesus Aranda, Andys father.

Sturgeon signed up to donate to his close friend, Ricky Love, but is excited to know his friend will live longer and so will the vibrant 5-year-old.

I was happy. Thats two people better than one. So I was like part of the exchange absolutely sign me up for it, and being part of nine makes it even a little more exciting, Sturgeon explained.

Previously the largest living-donor kidney chain at NMC was between three people in 2016.

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Nebraska medicine hits transplant milestone - KMTV.com - KMTV - 3 News Now

Few know identity of mystery $25M donor to UNLV med school – Las Vegas Review-Journal

The check with yellow strips of paper hiding the signature and address was not the oversized cardboard variety typically produced for such occasions.

But the amount on the pay to line $25 million stole the show at the Nevada Legislature on Monday.

The surprise gift to UNLVs new medical school from an anonymous donor immediately unleashed speculation about the identity of the deep-pocketed contributor with an aversion to publicity. Its a secret that, for now at least, is known to very few.

Mari St. Martin, spokeswoman for Gov. Brian Sandoval, said only a few members of his administration and UNLV representatives know whose name was beneath the yellow strips.

UNLV President Len Jessup is one of them.

I wouldnt accept the gift otherwise, he said. This gift is fantastic and transformational for the medical school. And again, a great example of a public-private partnership and how well that works in Nevada. Were very excited about this gift.

Jessup said both he and Barbara Atkinson, the dean of the UNLV School of Medicine, were personally involved in the cultivation of the gift. He said the relationship has been in the works for a long, long time. He would not disclose if the donor had given to the university in the past.

Matching funds required

In a surprise move Monday morning, the Legislature approved $25 million for the school, which was above and beyond the $21.8 million for 2017-18 and $30.2 million for 2018-19 allocated from the states general fund.

Lawmakers attached a stipulation, however: The money to help pay for construction of the schools planned $100 million medical education building would require the university to raise an equal amount in matching funds.

Those matching funds appeared in the form of a nondescript check just a few hours later, suggesting the donation may have preceded the bill, rather than vice versa.

According to Maria Di Mento, staff writer for the Chronicle of Philanthropy, anonymous gifts especially large ones are more common than people realize.

Once you give a large gift and you attach your name to it, you are inundated, slammed with giving requests from every charity in your city, state and beyond, she said, explaining why many philanthropists choose to remain out of the limelight. There is so much need these days that charities are desperate to know who can help them.

Tax-exempt public institutions like UNLV, on the other hand, generally prefer to have the donors name publicly attached to a gift, as that can help raise money from other wealthy donors, Di Mento said.

We expect a lot more to come

UNLV School of Medicine Dean Barbara Atkinsons original goal was to find a mega, $100 million donor by the close of the 2017 Legislative session. But she and Jessup both indicated that the sudden appearance of half that amount is a big step forward.

This very successfully kicks off the fundraising for the school of medicine facility, Jessup said. We expect a lot more to come.

Atkinson agreed, and said she wasnt concerned that the donor preferred to remain anonymous.

Im not worried about that, she said. There are a lot of people who give anonymous gifts. There are a lot of people who want to help and are very passionate about doing something that will make a difference, and they dont want their names out there.

She added that the UNLV Foundation, which will hold the money until the full amount for the schools building is raised, would not have presented the check to the governor without proper vetting.

While Board of Regents Chairman Rick Trachok said he didnt know the donors name, he had full confidence that the gift is from a highly respectable source.

For institutions of higher education, donors can sometimes be swayed to go public in exchange for naming rights for a building, a classroom wing or a department, Di Mento said.

While such considerations were not important to this donor, Atkinson said, the school is still looking for two others who would like to leave their marks on the new program one willing to put up the remaining $50 million for the new medical education building and one for the entire School of Medicine.

A potential liability

While many donors choose to remain publicly anonymous, most high-profile charities and tax-exempt public institutions are unwilling to accept a donation without knowing who was behind the gift, Di Mento said.

It could be a real liability to them (the nonprofit), she said.

Marc Owens, a partner with Loeb & Loeb, an international law firm with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, said he has facilitated anonymous contributions on a handful of occasions. He said such donors generally act out of pure altruism.

The donor truly doesnt want any public recognition, but feels an intense desire to support a particular charity, he said, adding that some donors dont even want the gift to be publicized.

According to Ellis Carter, managing law partner for the Caritas Law Group in Seattle, some go to great lengths to hide their identity, such as giving money through a donor-advised fund or a community foundation that can then re-grant it to the targeted charity in this case UNLVs Medical School.

Owens said the Internal Revenue Service doesnt have a problem with anonymous donations, and that there is no duty for the agency to investigate the source of such a gift.

However, he said there are risks for any institution that accepts a gift without knowing the source if, for example, it comes to light that it came from a criminal or a person with a bad reputation. He recalled such a scenario in the wake of the Enron scandal.

You had universities scrambling to rename buildings that were named after perpetrators of the Enron fraud, Owens said.

While anonymous donors are shy about publicity, they generally dont balk at taking the tax deduction that goes with a charitable contribution, Owens said.

He says a thank-you letter to the secret UNLV donor has likely already been penned by someone within the state government the proof necessary to claim such a write-off from the federal government.

Contact Natalie Bruzda at nbruzda@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3897. Follow @NatalieBruzda on Twitter.

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Few know identity of mystery $25M donor to UNLV med school - Las Vegas Review-Journal

UW medical school joins other schools to transform medical education – The Courier Life News

The UW School of Medicine and Public Health is joining the Medical College of Wisconsin and five other medical schools in a new effort to transform medical education, as health care focuses more on population groups as well as individual patients.

In addition to teaching students biomedical knowledge and clinical skills, they need to have the skills of professionalism, a societal perspective and be able to address the science of heath care delivery and public health issues, said Dr. Elizabeth Petty, senior associate dean of academic affairs at the UW medical school.

The newly formed National Transformation Network, announced Thursday, is part of the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education, based at the Medical College in Milwaukee.

The network also includes: the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire; Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota; University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine; University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School; and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.

The UW medical school has made changes in recent years to focus more on public health, which includes social determinants of health, such as poverty, nutrition and employment.

In 2005, the school added public health to its name, integrating community approaches to health with clinical and research efforts.

The Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine, or WARM, started in 2007, bringing in students from rural areas or with an interest in rural practice and training them in rural settings, with the hope that theyll work in similar locales after medical school.

Despite those efforts, the school could do better at preparing doctors for todays health care challenges, Petty said. We need to improve health outcomes and better address health disparities and inequities, she said.

The network will promote a Triple Aim for Medical Education: character, competence and caring. The idea springs from a well-known Triple Aim for Health Care, which focuses on enhancing the patient experience, improving the health of populations and reducing the cost of care.

Through the network, UW could exchange curriculum with other schools or set up faculty workshops or student exchanges with them, Petty said.

The collaboration will also teach medical students to work alongside nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals, as doctors are increasingly doing, she said.

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UW medical school joins other schools to transform medical education - The Courier Life News

UC Riverside medical school officials celebrate as first group of medical-school students graduates – Press-Enterprise

Four years ago, a group of 50 students signed on as guinea pigs.

They would be the first to go through the newly opened UC Riverside School of Medicine, a school that had been forced to delay that opening for a year when it could not get adequate funding. It took an intense cobbling together of government and private funding from the community to overcome that problem.

The school also had a somewhat unique mission: focus heavily on much-needed family physicians and try to keep its graduates local in order to address the Inland Empires chronic physician shortage.

At 6 p.m. Friday, June 9, 40 of those students will graduate and become doctors. All 40 will go to their first choice of residency programs, an unusual success rate, said Neil Schiller, the medical schools associate dean of student affairs. He said the hope he and his colleagues had for the school four years ago has paid off.

We took a chance on students that we thought were perfect for the mission of our medical school and were delighted when they took a chance on us, said Schiller, who oversaw the selection process. We realize how import that decision must have been for some, picking a medical school that had no track record as a four-year medical school.

Small groups of medical students had been spending their first two years of study at UCR since the 1970s those students then completed their training at UCLA but the school never had a full program.

School of Medicine Dean DeborahDeas said the first class of students are trailblazers.

They took a chance with us in being the inaugural class, she said.

At least some of the students saw it differently.

I felt like they were taking a chance on me more than I was taking a chance on them, said Isaiah Roggow, 38, who will be starting a residency in family medicine later this month at Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria. Ive never had a day when I regretted my decision. This was an awesome move.

Roggow said he came to UCR, in part, because of the programs heavy emphasis on family medicine and on providing care for underserved populations. He, like most of the medical students, spent time working at the schools free clinic in downtown Riverside that targets low-income and homeless patients. He said he appreciated the camaraderie among his classmates and the faculty and was attracted to the residency in Santa Maria for the same reasons.

I chose it because it echoed the same vibe I got from UC Riverside, he said, the sense of family, the sense of community. It felt like a good fit.

Roggow is among 30 students who are taking residencies out of the Inland Empire. The other 10 will remain local, less than most administrators had hoped for, but Deas called it a good beginning.

Dr. Paul Lyons, the associate dean who oversees education, said the small percentage is a reflection of the quality of the graduates.

One-quarter will end up in residencies here in the Inland Empire, which is maybe lower than wed hope. But they had opportunities all over the country in really good programs, Lyons said, pointing out that 100 percent of the students were matched with their top residency choice. Thats quite rare. Ive been in medical education for 25 years and Ive never seen it.

Deas said shes not seen it during the 20 years shes been an educator either. She also said she believes the medical school will be able to make a local impact even with 25 percent of students remaining local, particularly when the class size increases. This year, the school will admit 66 students into the program. Deas hopes to raise that to 125 in the next five years.

One of the students staying in the area is Esther Chu Zarecki. She will begin a family medicine residency at Kaiser Hospital in Fontana in two weeks. Zarecki not only earned a doctor of medicine degree in her four years at UCR, she also had two children. The youngest is just weeks old.

The demands of the medical program combined with parenting, she said, allowed me to see how much of a challenge I can handle.

Chu Zarecki said her graduation is a little bittersweet. She will miss the bonds she formed with her classmates.

I think the fact that UCR was so small, the class and the staff and administration was more like a family, she said. We know each other and each others kids names and even pets. Im excited that this journey is over but also kind of definitely a little sad as well. Its like leaving your nest.

That closeness helped her as a student, she said, giving her the kind of support that allowed her to feel she could ask for help when she needed it. She said one of the things shes learned is to recognize what she doesnt know.

There is no way you can know everything, she said. You have to be OK with that as a physician.

Chu Zarecki said she is happy to be staying in the Inland Empire, where shell be close to her extended family and some of her fellow doctors.

Another graduate, Rafael Ornelas, is heading to northern California for an internal medicine residency at UC Davis, but he said he might return to the Inland region.

I can definitely see myself moving back here, said Ornelas, who earned his bachelors degree in chemistry from UCR Ive been in the Inland Empire for 10 years. I understand the need here.

He said graduating from medical school is not just the culmination of four years of work, but of a journey that started many years, and many classes, before that. The feeling of achieving that goal hasnt yet sunk in, he said, and he expects todays graduation may feel a bit unreal.

For the most part, its going to be a kind of disbelief, he said. Even now Im just starting to feel those butterflies in my stomach.

Not all of the inaugural class will get diplomas this year. Schiller, the associate dean, said nine students either had to take breaks from the program or had to repeat portions of the program, but theyre expected to graduate next year. One dropped out to raise a family. Nonetheless, he said he is happy with the schools success so far.

I told my wife I probably should retire now because Ill never have a better year, he said. At Fridays ceremony, he said, I think Im going to be pinching myself.

For Lyons, the ceremony will bring relief.

We opened (the school) with a combination of hope and anxiety, he said. When the graduates residency matches were announced March 20, he added, I think thats the first time that I exhaled. I think the entire community should feel that way. This has been a breath-holding experience for the whole community who were pulling along with us and waiting to exhale right along with us. This really is, in a remarkable way, the communitys school.

The students are likely to be less staid. Roggow expects to be exhaling more energetically.

Like, bam! Im a doctor, he said. Whoo hoo!

UCR Medical School

What: Graduation of inaugural class

When: 6 p.m. Friday

Where: UCR Recreation Center

Info:http://commencement.ucr.edu/medschool.html

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UC Riverside medical school officials celebrate as first group of medical-school students graduates - Press-Enterprise

Patient safety culture should start in medical school – American Medical Association (blog)

At the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, students and residents bring to life what a new medical textbook describes: a culture of patient safety.

As part of their training, students at the Greenville, North Carolina, medical school participate in a monthly patient safety conference on their pediatrics clerkship where they identify errors and near misses. On their surgery clerkship they conduct a root cause analysis to gain firsthand experience in learning from mistakes and, in so doing, make necessary systemic changes that enhance patient safety.

Often, it is a system problem that leads to an error, rather than an individual making a mistake, said Danielle S. Walsh, MD, an associate professor of pediatric surgery at Brody. These efforts help teach students and residents how to identify the system errors that lead to problems and help change the culture of patient safety, added Dr. Walsh, a co-author of the patient safety chapter in the new textbook, Health Systems Science.

Dr. Walsh and her co-authors authorsLuan E. Lawson, MD, MAEd, Brodys assistant dean of curriculum, assessment and clinical academic affairs, and Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, an associate professor of anesthesiology, surgery, biomedical informatics and health policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicinenote that most errors occur largely due to system errors, though human error is commonly the focus of blame. The book teaches students that efforts must be made at the individual, local and even international levels to create and implement tools for evaluating and preventing patient harm.

The patient safety chapter also discusses the history of patient safety, the basic principles of patient safety and specific types of medical errors, including those related to medication, surgery, diagnosis, care transitions, teamwork and communication.

Through the use of standardization in communication, error assessment and awareness of human infallibility, a culture of vigilance for errors can supplement current prevention efforts and improve the safety of our health care systems, the authors wrote. Providing the right care for every patient at the right time requires that all members of the health care team understand errors and error prevention while being committed to creating solutions to improve patient care.

By teaching these skills at the onset of medical education as integral to patient care, the culture of safety and blame can be changed for the better, they added. Through these efforts, it is hoped that all health care professionals enter practice understanding their essential role in creating a patient-centered and team-based approach to patient safety.

Health Systems Sciencewas co-written by experts from the AMA and faculty from 11 of the 32 member schools in the AMAsAccelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium. The textbook retails for $59.99 and can be ordered from theAMA Storeand the publisher,Elsevier, as well as fromAmazonand other online booksellers. AMA members may order it from the AMA Store for $54.99. Individual chapters are available from Elseviers Student Consult platform for $6.99 each.

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Patient safety culture should start in medical school - American Medical Association (blog)

USS Liberty incident – Wikipedia

Events leading to the attack

During the Six-Day War between Israel and several Arab nations, the United States of America maintained a neutral country status.[10] Several days before the war began, the USS Liberty was ordered to proceed to the eastern Mediterranean area to perform a signals intelligence collection mission in international waters near the north coast of Sinai, Egypt.[11] After the war erupted, due to concerns about her safety as she approached her patrol area, several messages were sent to Liberty to increase her allowable closest point of approach (CPA) to Egypt's and Israel's coasts from 12.5 and 6.5nmi (14.4 and 7.5mi; 23.2 and 12.0km), respectively, to 20 and 15nmi (23 and 17mi; 37 and 28km), and then later to 100nmi (120mi; 190km) for both countries.[12] Unfortunately, due to ineffective message handling and routing, the CPA change messages were not received until after the attack.[12]

According to Israeli sources, at the start of the war on 5 June, General Yitzhak Rabin (then IDF Chief of Staff) informed Commander Ernest Carl Castle, the American Naval Attach in Tel Aviv, that Israel would defend its coast with every means at its disposal, including sinking unidentified ships. Also, he asked the U.S. to keep its ships away from Israel's shore or at least inform Israel of their exact position.[13][14]

American sources said that no inquiry about ships in the area was made until after the Liberty attack ended. In a message sent from U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk to U.S. Ambassador Walworth Barbour, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Rusk asked for "urgent confirmation" of Israel's statement. Barbour responded: "No request for info on U.S. ships operating off Sinai was made until after Liberty incident." Further, Barbour stated: "Had Israelis made such an inquiry it would have been forwarded immediately to the chief of naval operations and other high naval commands and repeated to dept [Department of State]."[15]

With the outbreak of war, Captain William L. McGonagle of Liberty immediately asked Vice Admiral William I. Martin at the United States Sixth Fleet headquarters to send a destroyer to accompany Liberty and serve as its armed escort and as an auxiliary communications center. The following day, 6 June, Admiral Martin replied: "Liberty is a clearly marked United States ship in international waters, not a participant in the conflict and not a reasonable subject for attack by any nation. Request denied."[16] He promised, however, that in the unlikely event of an inadvertent attack, jet fighters from the Sixth Fleet would be overhead in ten minutes.

Meanwhile, on 6 June, at the United Nations, in response to United Arab Republic complaints that the United States was supporting Israel in the conflict, U.S. Ambassador Arthur Goldberg said to the Security Council that aircraft of the Sixth Fleet were several hundred miles from the conflict,[12] indicating that elements of the Sixth Fleet itself were far from the conflict. When the statement was made this was the case, since Liberty, now assigned to the Sixth Fleet, was in the central Mediterranean Sea, passing between Libya and Crete;[17] but she would ultimately steam to about 13nmi (15mi; 24km) north of the Sinai Peninsula.[18]

On the night of 7 June Washington time, early morning on 8 June, 01:10Z or 3:10am local time, the Pentagon issued an order to Sixth Fleet headquarters to tell Liberty to come no closer than 100nmi (120mi; 190km) to Israel, Syria, or the Sinai coast (Oren, p.263).[19]:5, 58 (Exhibit N)

According to the Naval Court of Inquiry[20]:23 ff, 111 ff and National Security Agency official history,[21] the order to withdraw was not sent on the radio frequency that Liberty monitored for her orders until 15:25 Zulu, several hours after the attack, due to a long series of administrative and message routing problems. The Navy said a large volume of unrelated high-precedence traffic, including intelligence intercepts related to the conflict, were being handled at the time; and that this combined with a shortage of qualified Radiomen contributed to delayed sending of the withdrawal message.[20]:111 ff

Official testimony combined with Liberty's deck log say that throughout the morning of the attack, 8 June, the ship was overflown, at various times and locations, by Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft.[18] The primary aircraft type was the Nord Noratlas; there were also two unidentified delta-wing jets at about 9:00am Sinai time (GMT+2).[18]Liberty crewmembers say that one of the Noratlas aircraft flew so close to Liberty that noise from its propellers rattled the ship's deck plating, and that the pilots and crewmembers waved to each other.[22] It was later reported, based on information from Israel Defense Forces sources, that the over-flights were coincidental, and that the aircraft were hunting for Egyptian submarines that had been spotted near the coast.[23]

At about 5:45am Sinai time, a ship-sighting report was received at Israeli Central Coastal Command (CCC) about Liberty, identified by an aerial naval observer as "apparently a destroyer, sailing 70 miles [110km] west of Gaza."[24] The vessel's location was marked on a CCC Control Table, using a red marker, indicating an unidentified vessel.[25] At about 6:00am, the aerial naval observer, Major Uri Meretz, reported that the ship appeared like a U.S. Navy supply ship; the red marker was replaced with a green marker to indicate a neutral vessel, at about 9:00am.[25] At that same time, an Israeli jet fighter pilot reported that a ship 20 miles (32km) north of Arish had fired at his aircraft after he tried to identify the vessel.[25] Israeli naval command dispatched two destroyers to investigate, but they were returned to their previous positions at 9:40am after doubts emerged during the pilot's debriefing.[25] After the naval observer's Noratlas landed and he was debriefed, the ship he saw was further identified as the USS Liberty, based on its "GTR-5" hull markings.[26] USS Liberty's marker was removed from CCC's Control Table at 11:00am, due to its positional information being considered stale.[27]

At 11:24am, Israeli Chief of Naval Operations received a report that Arish was being shelled from the sea.[27] An inquiry into the source of the report was ordered to determine its validity.[27] The report came from an Air Support Officer in Arish.[28] Additionally, at 11:27am Israeli Supreme Command Head of Operations received a report stating that a ship had been shelling Arish, but the shells had fallen short.[28] (Investigative journalist James Bamford points out that Liberty had only four .50 caliber machine guns mounted on her decks and, thus, could not have shelled the coast.[29] ) The Head of Operations ordered that the report be verified, and determine whether or not Israeli Navy vessels were off the coast of Arish.[28] At 11:45am, another report arrived at Supreme Command saying two ships were approaching the Arish coast.[28]

The shelling and ships reports were passed from Supreme Command to Fleet Operations Control Center.[28] The Chief of Naval Operations took them seriously, and at 12:05pm torpedo boat Division 914 was ordered to patrol in the direction of Arish.[28]

Division 914, codenamed "Pagoda", was under the command of Commander Moshe Oren.[28] It consisted of three torpedo boats numbered: T-203, T-204 and T-206.[28] At 12:15pm, Division 914 received orders to patrol a position 20 miles (32km) north of Arish.[28] As Commander Oren headed toward Arish, he was informed by Naval Operations of the reported shelling of Arish and told that IAF aircraft would be dispatched to the area after the target had been detected.[28]

Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin was concerned that the supposed Egyptian shelling was the prelude to an amphibious landing that could outflank Israeli forces. Rabin reiterated the standing order to sink any unidentified ships in the area, but advised caution, as Soviet vessels were reportedly operating nearby.[23]

At 1:41pm, the torpedo boats detected an unknown vessel 20 miles northwest of Arish and 14 miles (23km) off the coast of Bardawil.[1][30] The ship's speed was estimated on their radars.[30] The Combat Information Center officer on T-204, Ensign Aharon Yifrah, reported to the boat's captain, Commander Moshe Oren, that the target had been detected at a range of 22 miles (35km), that her speed had been tracked for a few minutes, after which he had determined that the target was moving westward at a speed of 30 knots (56km/h; 35mph). These data were forwarded to the Fleet Operations Control Center.[30]

The speed of the target was significant because it indicated that the target was a combat vessel.[30] Moreover, Israeli forces had standing orders to fire on any unknown vessels sailing in the area at over 20 knots (37km/h; 23mph), a speed which, at the time, could only be attained by warships. The Chief of Naval Operations asked the torpedo boats to double-check their calculations. Yifrah twice recalculated and confirmed his assessment.[23][30] A few minutes later, Commander Oren reported that the target, now 17 miles (27km) from his position, was moving at a speed of 28 knots (52km/h; 32mph) on a different heading.[31] Bamford, however, points out that Liberty's top speed was far below 28 knots. His sources say that at the time of the attack Liberty was following her signal-intercept mission course along the northern Sinai coast, at about 5 knots (9.3km/h; 5.8mph) speed.[29]

The data on the ship's speed, together with its direction, indicated that it was an Egyptian destroyer fleeing toward port after shelling Arish. The torpedo boats gave chase, but did not expect to overtake their target before it reached Egypt. Commander Oren requested that the Israeli Air Force dispatch aircraft to intercept.[23][30] At 1:48pm, the Chief of Naval Operations requested dispatch of fighter aircraft to the ship's location.[32]

The IAF dispatched two Mirage III fighter jets that arrived at Liberty at about 2:00 pm.[33] The formation leader, Captain Iftach Spector, attempted to identify the ship.[33] He communicated via radio to one of the torpedo boats his observation that the ship appeared like a military ship with one smokestack and one mast.[34] Also, he communicated, in effect, that the ship appeared to him like a destroyer or another type of small ship.[34] In a post-attack statement, the pilots said they saw no distinguishable markings or flag on the ship.[34]

At this point, a recorded exchange took place between a command headquarters weapons systems officer, one of the air controllers, and the chief air controller questioning a possible American presence. Immediately after the exchange, at 1:57pm, the chief air controller, Lieutenant-Colonel Shmuel Kislev, cleared the Mirages to attack.[23][35]

After being cleared to attack, the Mirages dove on the ship and attacked with 30-mm cannons and rockets.[36] The attack came a few minutes after the crew completed a chemical attack drill, with Captain McGonagle on the command bridge.[37] The crew was in "stand-down mode", with their helmets and life jackets removed,[23] except battle readiness "modified condition three" was set which meant that the ship's four .50 caliber machine guns were manned and ammunition ready for loading and firing.[38][39] Eight crewmen were either killed immediately or died later, and 75 were wounded.[40] Among the wounded was McGonagle, who was hit in the right thigh and arm.[41] During the attack, antennas were severed, gas drums caught fire, and the ship's flag was knocked down. McGonagle sent an urgent request for help to the Sixth Fleet, "Under attack by unidentified jet aircraft, require immediate assistance."

The Mirages left after expending their ammunition, and were replaced by two Dassault Mysteres armed with napalm bombs, flown by Captain Yossi Zuk and his wingman, Yaakov Hamermish. The Mysteres released their payloads over the ship and strafed it with their cannons. Much of the ship's superstructure caught fire.[23][33] The Mysteres were readying to attack again when the Israeli Navy, alerted by the absence of return fire, warned Kislev that the target could be Israeli. Kislev told the pilots not to attack if there was any doubt about identification, and the Israeli Navy quickly contacted all of its vessels in the area. The Israeli Navy found that none of its vessels were under fire, and the aircraft were cleared to attack. However, Kislev was still disturbed by a lack of return fire, and requested one last attempt to identify the ship. Captain Zuk, made an attempt at identification while strafing the ship. He reported seeing no flag, but saw the ship's GTR-5 marking. Kislev immediately ordered the attack stopped. Kislev guessed that the ship was American.[23]

The fact that the ship had Latin alphabet markings led Chief of Staff Rabin to fear that the ship was Soviet. Though Egyptian warships were known to disguise their identities with Western markings, they usually displayed Arabic letters and numbers only. Rabin ordered the torpedo boats to remain at a safe distance from the ship, and sent in two Hornet (Arospatiale Super Frelon) helicopters to search for survivors. These radio communications were recorded by Israel. The order also was recorded in the torpedo boat's log, although Commander Oren alleged not to have received it. The order to cease fire was given at 2:20pm, twenty-four minutes before the torpedo boats arrived at the Liberty's position.[42] At 2:35pm, Liberty was hit by a torpedo launched from one of the torpedo boats.[43]

During the interval, crewmen aboard Liberty hoisted a large American flag. During the early part of the air attack and before the torpedo boats were sighted, Liberty sent a distress message that was received by Sixth Fleet aircraft carrier USS Saratoga.[40] Aircraft carrier USS America dispatched eight aircraft. The carrier had been in the middle of strategic exercises. Vice-Admiral William I. Martin recalled the aircraft minutes later.[23]

McGonagle testified at the naval court of inquiry that during "the latter moments of the air attack, it was noted that three high speed boats were approaching the ship from the northeast on a relative bearing of approximately 135 [degrees] at a distance of about 15 [nautical] miles. The ship at the time was still on [westward] course 283 [degrees] true, speed unknown, but believed to be in excess of five knots."[20]:38 McGonagle testified that he "believed that the time of initial sighting of the torpedo boats ... was about 14:20", and that the "boats appeared to be in a wedge type formation with the center boat the lead point of the wedge. Estimated speed of the boats was about 27 to 30 knots [50 to 56km/h]," and that it "appeared that they were approaching the ship in a torpedo launch attitude."[20]:38

When the torpedo boats arrived, Commander Oren could see that the ship could not be the destroyer that had supposedly shelled Arish or any ship capable of 30 knots (56km/h) speed. According to Michael Limor, an Israeli naval reservist serving on one of the torpedo boats, they attempted to contact the ship by heliograph and radio, but received no response.[44] At 6,000 meters (20,000ft), T-204 paused and signalled "AA" "identify yourself."[citation needed] Due to damaged equipment, McGonagle could only reply with "AA" using a handheld Aldis lamp.[citation needed] Oren recalled receiving a similar response from the Ibrahim el Awal, an Egyptian destroyer captured by Israel during the Suez Crisis, and was convinced that he was facing an enemy ship.[citation needed]

He consulted an Israeli identification guide to Arab fleets and concluded the ship was the Egyptian supply ship El Quseir, based on observing its deckline, midship bridge and smokestack. The captain of boat T203 reached the same conclusion independently. The boats organized into battle formation, but did not attack.[42][45]

As the torpedo boats rapidly approached, Captain McGonagle ordered a sailor to proceed to machine gun Mount 51 and open fire.[20]:38 However, he noticed that the boats appeared to be flying an Israeli flag, and "realized that there was a possibility of the aircraft having been Israeli and the attack had been conducted in error."[20]:39 Captain McGonagle ordered the man at gun mount 51 to hold fire, but a short burst was fired at the torpedo boats before the man was able to understand the order.[20]:39 McGonagle observed that machine gun Mount 53 began firing at the center torpedo boat at about the same time gun mount 51 fired, and that its fire was "extremely effective and blanketed the area and the center torpedo boat."[20]:39 Machine gun mount 53 was located on the starboard amidships side, behind the pilot house.[20]:16 McGonagle could not see or "get to mount 53 from the starboard wing of the bridge."[20]:39 So, he "sent Mr. Lucas around the port side of the bridge, around to the skylights, to see if he could tell [Seaman] Quintero, whom [he] believed to be the gunner on Machine gun 53, to hold fire."[20]:39

Ensign Lucas "reported back in a few minutes in effect that he saw no one at mount 53."[20]:39 Lucas, who had left the command bridge during the air attack and returned to assist Captain McGonagle immediately before a torpedo hit the ship,[20]:14 believed that the gunfire sound was likely from ammunition cooking off, due to a nearby fire.[20]:16 Prior to this time, after a torpedo hit the ship, Lucas had granted a request from Quintero to fire at the torpedo boats before heat from a nearby fire chased him from gun mount 53.[20]:26,27 (McGonagle later testified, at the Court of Inquiry, that this was likely the "extremely effective" firing event he had observed.[20]:49)

After coming under fire, the torpedo boats returned fire with their cannons, killing Liberty's helmsman.[43] The torpedo boats then launched five torpedoes at the Liberty.[46] At 1235Z (2:35 local time)[43] a torpedo hit Liberty on the starboard side forward of the superstructure, creating a 40ft (12m) wide hole in what had been a former cargo hold converted to the ship's research spaces and killing 25 servicemen, almost all of them from the intelligence section, and wounding dozens.[23][47] It has been said the torpedo hit a major hull frame that absorbed much of the energy; crew members reported that if the torpedo had missed the frame the Liberty would have split in two. The other four torpedoes missed the ship.

The torpedo boats then closed in and strafed the ship's hull with their cannons and machine guns.[citation needed] According to some crewmen, the torpedo boats fired at damage control parties and sailors preparing life rafts for launch. (See disputed details below.) A life raft which floated from the ship was picked up by T-203 and found to bear US Navy markings. T-204 then circled Liberty, and Oren spotted the designation GTR-5, but saw no flag.[citation needed] It took until 3:30pm to establish the ship's identity. Shortly before the Liberty's identity was confirmed, the Saratoga launched eight aircraft armed with conventional weapons towards Liberty. After the ship's identity was confirmed, the General Staff was notified and an apology was sent to naval attach Castle. The aircraft approaching Liberty were recalled to the Saratoga.[23]

According to transcripts of intercepted radio communications, published by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), at about 2:30pm, near the beginning of the torpedo boat attack, two IAF helicopters were dispatched to Liberty's location. The helicopters arrived at about 3:10pm, about 35 minutes after a torpedo hit the ship. After arriving, one of the helicopter pilots was asked, by his ground-based controller, to verify that the ship was flying an American flag. The helicopters conducted a brief search for crew members of the ship who may have fallen overboard during the air attack. No one was found. The helicopters left the ship at about 3:20pm.

At about 4pm, two hours after the attack began, Israel informed the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv that its military forces had mistakenly attacked a U.S. Navy ship. When the ship was "confirmed to be American" the torpedo boats returned at about 4:40pm to offer help;[48] it was refused by the Liberty. Later, Israel provided a helicopter to fly U.S. naval attach Commander Castle to the ship.[49] (pp.32,34)

In Washington, President Lyndon B. Johnson had received word from the Joint Chiefs of Staff that Liberty had been torpedoed by an unknown vessel at 9:50am eastern time. Johnson assumed that the Soviets were involved, and hotlined Moscow with news of the attack and the dispatch of jets from Saratoga. He chose not to make any public statements and delegated this task to Phil G. Goulding, who was an Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs at the time.[50]

Soon afterward, the Israelis said that they had mistakenly attacked the ship. The Johnson administration conveyed "strong dismay" to Israeli ambassador Avraham Harman. Meanwhile, apologies were soon sent by Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, Foreign Minister Abba Eban, and charg d'affaires Efraim Evron. Within 48 hours, Israel offered to compensate the victims and their families.[42]

Though Liberty was severely damaged, with a 39ft wide by 24ft high (12 m x 7.3 m) hole and a twisted keel, her crew kept her afloat, and she was able to leave the area under her own power. Liberty was later met by the destroyers USS Davis and USS Massey, and the cruiser USS Little Rock. Medical personnel were transferred to Liberty, and she was escorted to Malta, where she was given interim repairs. After these were completed in July 1967, Liberty returned to the U.S. She was decommissioned in June 1968 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register. Liberty was transferred to United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) in December 1970 and sold for scrap in 1973.

From the start, the response to Israeli statements of mistaken identity ranged between frank disbelief and unquestioning acceptance within the administration in Washington. A communication to the Israeli Ambassador on 10 June, by Secretary Rusk stated, among other things: "At the time of the attack, the USS Liberty was flying the American flag and its identification was clearly indicated in large white letters and numerals on its hull. ... Experience demonstrates that both the flag and the identification number of the vessel were readily visible from the air.... Accordingly, there is every reason to believe that the USS Liberty was identified, or at least her nationality determined, by Israeli aircraft approximately one hour before the attack. ... The subsequent attack by the torpedo boats, substantially after the vessel was or should have been identified by Israeli military forces, manifests the same reckless disregard for human life."[51][52]

George Lenczowski notes: "It was significant that, in contrast to his secretary of state, President Johnson fully accepted the Israeli version of the tragic incident." He notes that Johnson himself only included one small paragraph about the Liberty in his autobiography,[53] in which he accepted the Israeli explanation of "error", but also minimized the whole affair and distorted the actual number of dead and wounded, by lowering them from 34 to 10 and 171 to 100, respectively. Lenczowski further states: It seems Johnson was more interested in avoiding a possible confrontation with the Soviet Union, ...than in restraining Israel.[54]

McGonagle received the Medal of Honor, the highest U.S. medal, for his actions.[55][56] The Medal of Honor is generally presented by the President of the United States in the White House,[56][57] but this time it was awarded at the Washington Navy Yard by the Secretary of the Navy in an unpublicized ceremony, breaking with established tradition.[56]

Other Liberty sailors received decorations for their actions during and after the attack, but most of the award citations omitted mention of Israel as the perpetrator. In 2009, however, a Silver Star awarded to crewmember Terry Halbardier, who braved machine-gun and cannon fire to repair a damaged antenna that restored the ship's communications, in the award citation named Israel as the attacker.[58]

American inquiries, memoranda, records of testimony, and various reports involving or mentioning the Liberty attack include, but are not limited to, the following:

The U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry record contains testimony by fourteen Liberty crew members and five subject matter experts; exhibits of attack damage photographs, various messages and memoranda; and findings of fact. The testimony record reveals "a shallow investigation, plagued by myriad disagreements between the captain and his crew."[59] As to culpability, "It was not the responsibility of the court to rule on the culpability of the attackers, and no evidence was heard from the attacking nation", the court concluded that "available evidence combines to indicate ... (that the attack was) a case of mistaken identity." Additionally, the Court found that "heroism displayed by the Commanding Officer, officers and men of the Liberty was exceptional."

The Joint Chief of Staff's Report contains findings of fact related only to communication system failures associated with the Liberty attack. It was not concerned with matters of culpability, nor does it contain statements thereof.

The CIA Memoranda consist of two documents: one dated June 13, 1967, and the other dated June 21, 1967. The June 13 memorandum is an "account of circumstances of the attack ... compiled from all available sources." The June 21 memorandum is a point-by-point analysis of Israeli inquiry findings of fact. It concludes: "The attack was not made in malice toward the U.S. and was by mistake, but the failure of the IDF Headquarters and the attacking aircraft to identify the Liberty and the subsequent attack by torpedo boats were both incongruous and indicative of gross negligence."

The Clark Clifford Report consists of a review of "all available information on the subject" and "deals with the question of Israeli culpability", according to its transmittal memorandum. The report concludes: "The unprovoked attack on the Liberty constitutes a flagrant act of gross negligence for which the Israeli Government should be held completely responsible, and the Israeli military personnel involved should be punished."

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee Testimony contains, as an aside matter during hearings concerning a foreign aid authorization bill, questions and statements from several senators and responses from then Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, about the Liberty attack. For the most part, the senators were dismayed about the attack, as expressed by Senator Bourke B. Hickenlooper: "From what I have read I can't tolerate for one minute that this [attack] was an accident." Also, there was concern about obtaining more information about the attack, as expressed by Committee chairman J. William Fulbright: "We asked for [the attack investigation report] about two weeks ago and have not received it yet from Secretary Rusk. ... By the time we get to it we will be on some other subject." Secretary McNamara promised fast delivery of the investigation report ("...you will have it in four hours."), and concluded his remarks by saying: "I simply want to emphasize that the investigative report does not show any evidence of a conscious intent to attack a U.S. vessel."[60]

The House Armed Services Committee investigation report is titled, "Review of Department of Defense Worldwide Communications". It was not an investigation focused on the Liberty attack; although, the committee's report contains a section that describes communications flow involved with the Liberty incident.

The NSA History Report is, as its name connotes, a historical report that cited the U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry record, various military and government messages and memorandum, and personal interviews for its content. The report ends with a section entitled, "Unanswered Questions", and provides no conclusion regarding culpability.

The Liberty Veterans Association (composed of veterans from the ship) states that U.S. congressional investigations and other U.S. investigations were not actually investigations into the attack, but rather reports using evidence only from the U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry, or investigations unrelated to culpability that involved issues such as communications. In their view, the U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry is the only actual investigation on the incident to date. They say it was hastily conducted, in only 10 days, even though the court's president, Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd, said that it would take six months to conduct properly. The inquiry's terms of reference were limited to whether any shortcomings on the part of the Liberty's crew had contributed to the injuries and deaths that resulted from the attack.[61] According to the Navy Court of Inquiry's record of proceedings, four days were spent hearing testimony: two days for fourteen survivors of the attack and several U.S. Navy expert witnesses, and two partial days for two expert U.S. Navy witnesses. No testimony was heard from Israeli personnel involved.

The National Archives in College Park, Maryland includes in its files on casualties from the Liberty copies of the original telegrams the Navy sent out to family members. The telegrams called the attack accidental. The telegrams were sent out June 9, the day before the Navy Court of Inquiry convened.

Two subsequent Israeli inquiry reports and a historical report concluded the attack was conducted because Liberty was confused with an Egyptian vessel and because of failures in communications between Israel and the U.S. The three Israeli reports were:

In the historical report, it was acknowledged that IDF naval headquarters knew at least three hours before the attack that the ship was "an electromagnetic audio-surveillance ship of the U.S. Navy" but concluded that this information had simply "gotten lost, never passed along to the ground controllers who directed the air attack nor to the crews of the three Israeli torpedo boats."

The Israeli government said that three crucial errors were made: the refreshing of the status board (removing the ship's classification as American, so that the later shift did not see it identified), the erroneous identification of the ship as an Egyptian vessel, and the lack of notification from the returning aircraft informing Israeli headquarters of markings on the front of the hull (markings that would not be found on an Egyptian ship). As a common root of these problems, Israel blamed the combination of alarm and fatigue experienced by the Israeli forces at that point of the war when pilots were severely overworked.

After conducting his own fact-finding inquiry and reviewing evidence, Judge Yerushalmi's decision was: "I have not discovered any deviation from the standard of reasonable conduct which would justify committal of anyone for trial." In other words, he found no negligence by any IDF member associated with the attack.

Some intelligence and military officials dispute Israel's explanation.[65]

Dean Rusk, U.S. Secretary of State at the time of the incident, wrote:

I was never satisfied with the Israeli explanation. Their sustained attack to disable and sink Liberty precluded an assault by accident or some trigger-happy local commander. Through diplomatic channels we refused to accept their explanations. I didn't believe them then, and I don't believe them to this day. The attack was outrageous.[66]

Retired naval Lieutenant Commander James Ennes, a junior officer (and off-going Officer of the Deck) on Liberty's bridge at the time of the attack, authored a book titled Assault on the Liberty describing the incident during the Six Day War in June 1967 and saying, among other things, that the attack was deliberate.[67] Ennes and Joe Meadors, also survivors of the attack, run a website about the incident.[68] Meadors states that the classification of the attack as deliberate is the official policy of the USS Liberty Veterans Association,[69] to which survivors and other former crew members belong. Other survivors run several additional websites. Citing Ennes's book, Lenczowski notes: Liberty's personnel received firm orders not to say anything to anybody about the attack, and the naval inquiry was conducted in such a way as to earn it the name of "coverup".[54]

In 2002, Captain Ward Boston, JAGC, U.S. Navy, senior counsel for the Court of Inquiry, said that the Court of Inquiry's findings were intended to cover up what was a deliberate attack by Israel on a ship that the Israelis knew to be American. In 2004, in response to the publication of A. Jay Cristol's book The Liberty Incident, which Boston said was an "insidious attempt to whitewash the facts", Boston prepared and signed an affidavit in which he said that Admiral Kidd had told him that the government ordered Kidd to falsely report that the attack was a mistake, and that Boston and Kidd both believed the attack was deliberate.[70] On the issue Boston wrote, in part:

The evidence was clear. Both Admiral Kidd and I believed with certainty that this attack, which killed 34 American sailors and injured 172 others, was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew. Each evening, after hearing testimony all day, we often spoke our private thoughts concerning what we had seen and heard. I recall Admiral Kidd repeatedly referring to the Israeli forces responsible for the attack as 'murderous bastards.' It was our shared belief, based on the documentary evidence and testimony we received first hand, that the Israeli attack was planned and deliberate, and could not possibly have been an accident.

Cristol wrote about Boston's professional qualifications and integrity, on page 149 of his book:

Boston brought two special assets in addition to his skill as a Navy lawyer. He had been a naval aviator in World War II and therefore had insight beyond that of one qualified only in the law. Also, Kidd knew him as a man of integrity. On an earlier matter Boston had been willing to bump heads with Kidd when Boston felt it was more important to do the right thing than to curry favor with the senior who would write his fitness report.

Cristol believes that Boston is not telling the truth about Kidd's views and any pressure from the U.S. government.[71] Cristol, who also served as an officer of the U.S. Navy's Judge Advocate General, suggests that Boston was responsible in part for the original conclusions of the Court of Inquiry and, that by later declaring that they were false, Boston has admitted to "lying under oath." Cristol also notes that Boston's statements about pressure on Kidd were hearsay, and that Kidd was not alive to confirm or deny them. He also notes that Boston did not maintain, prior to his affidavit and comments related to it, that Kidd spoke of such instructions to Boston or to others. Finally, Cristol provides a handwritten 1991 letter from Admiral Kidd[72] that, according to Cristol, "suggest that Ward Boston has either a faulty memory or a vivid imagination".

The Anti-Defamation League supports Cristol's opinion:

... according to his own account, Boston's evidence of a cover-up derives not from his own part in the investigation but solely on alleged conversations with Admiral Kidd, who purportedly told him he was forced to find that the attack was unintentional. Kidd died in 1999 and there is no way to verify Boston's statements. However, Cristol argues that the 'documentary record' strongly indicated that Kidd 'supported the validity of the findings of the Court of Inquiry to his dying day.'[73]

According to James Ennes, however, Admiral Kidd urged Ennes and his group to keep pressing for an open congressional probe.[74]

The following arguments, found in official reports or other sources, were published to support that the attack was due to mistaken identity:

Several books and the BBC documentary USS Liberty: Dead in the Water argued that Liberty was attacked in order to prevent the U.S. from knowing about the forthcoming attack in the Golan Heights, which would violate a cease-fire to which Israel's government had agreed.[77] However, Syria did not accept the cease fire until 9 June, after the attack on Liberty.[78] Russian author Joseph Daichman, in his book History of the Mossad, states Israel was justified in attacking the Liberty.[79] Israel knew that American radio signals were intercepted by the Soviet Union and that the Soviets would certainly inform Egypt of the fact that, by moving troops to the Golan Heights, Israel had left the Egyptian border undefended.[80]

Lenczowski notes that while the Israeli decision to "attack and destroy" the ship "may appear puzzling", the explanation seems to be found in Liberty's nature and its task to monitor communications on both sides in the war zone. He writes, "Israel clearly did not want the U.S. government to know too much about its dispositions for attacking Syria, initially planned for 8 June, but postponed for 24 hours. It should be pointed out that the attack on Liberty occurred on 8 June, whereas on 9 June at 3am, Syria announced its acceptance of the cease-fire. Despite this, at 7am, that is, four hours later, Israel's minister of defense, Moshe Dayan, "gave the order to go into action against Syria."[81] He further writes that timely knowledge of this decision and preparatory moves toward it "might have frustrated Israeli designs for the conquest of Syria's Golan Heights" and, in the sense of Ennes's accusations, provides "a plausible thesis that Israel deliberately decided to incapacitate the signals-collecting American ship and leave no one alive to tell the story of the attack."[82]

U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Barbour, had reported on the day of the Liberty attack that he "would not be surprised" by an Israeli attack on Syria, and the IDF Intelligence chief told a White House aide then in Israel that "there still remained the Syria problem and perhaps it would be necessary to give Syria a blow."[83]

The 1981 book Weapons by Russell Warren Howe says that Liberty was accompanied by the Polaris ballistic missile-armed Lafayette-class submarine USSAndrew Jackson, which filmed the entire episode through its periscope but was unable to provide assistance. According to Howe: "Two hundred feet below the ship, on a parallel course, was its 'shadow'the Polaris strategic submarine Andrew Jackson, whose job was to take out all the Israeli long-range missile sites in the Negev if Tel Aviv decided to attack Cairo, Damascus or Baghdad. This was in order that Moscow would not have to perform this task itself and thus trigger World War Three."[84]

James Bamford, a former ABC News producer, in his 2001 book Body of Secrets,[85] says Israel deliberately attacked Liberty to prevent the discovery of what he described as war crimes, including the killing of Egyptian prisoners of war by the IDF that he alleges was taking place around the same time in the nearby town of El-Arish.[86] However, according to CAMERA, his claim that 400 were executed has been cast into doubt since reporters present in the town claimed that there had in fact been a large battle and this was the main cause of casualties.[87] Bamford also claimed that eyewitness Gabi Bron had claimed he saw 150 people executed by Israeli troops at El-Arish.[85] However, Gabi Bron claimed to have only seen 5 people executed by Israeli troops.[88][89]

The press release for the BBC documentary film Dead in the Water states that new recorded and other evidence suggests the attack was a "daring ploy by Israel to fake an Egyptian attack" to give America a reason to enter the war against Egypt. Convinced that the attack was real, President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson launched allegedly nuclear-armed aircraft targeted against Cairo from a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean. The aircraft were recalled only just in time, when it was clear the Liberty had not sunk and that Israel had carried out the attack. An information source for the aircraft being nuclear-armed, James Ennes, later stated:

Although America could not send conventionally armed jets, reports still come in that four jet bombers were catapulted from the carrier America with nuclear bombs aboard. Even today there is no official confirmation of that launch and much high-level denial. A nuclear launch has been strongly denied by Secretary McNamara, Admiral Martin (now deceased), Admiral Geis (deceased), Admiral Moorer, and Americas skipper, Admiral David Engen (deceased) and others. Yet eyewitness reports persist. Clearly no such launch could have been intended for offensive purposes. Surely nuclear weapons would not have been used in defense of the USS Liberty.

It is clear that I was mistaken about the aircraft involved, as F4s do not carry nuclear weapons. Others tell me that the aircraft that were launched carried Bullpup missiles, which might easily be mistaken for nuclear bombs. And we learned much later that the USS America was involved in a nuclear weapons loading drill at the very time the ship learned of the attack on the Liberty and that this drill is one factor that delayed America's response to our call for help. It is also possible that those were the weapons seen by our sources.

Also confusing this issue is an oral history report from the American Embassy in Cairo, now in the LBJ Library, which notes that the Embassy received an urgent message from Washington warning that Cairo was about to be bombed by US forces, presumably in mistaken retaliation for the USS Liberty attack. That strange message was never explained or cancelled.[90]

The video also provides hearsay evidence of a covert alliance of U.S. and Israel intelligence agencies.[91]

Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a critic of the official United States Government version of events, chaired a non-governmental investigation into the attack on the USS Liberty in 2003. The committee, which included former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia James E. Akins, held Israel to be culpable and suggested several theories for Israel's possible motives, including the desire to blame Egypt and bring the U.S. into the Six Day War.[92]

According to John Loftus and Mark Aarons in their book, The Secret War Against the Jews, USS Liberty was attacked because the Israelis knew that Liberty's mission was to monitor radio signals from Israeli troops and pass troop movement information to the Egyptians.[93][unreliable source?]

Within an hour of learning that the Liberty had been torpedoed, the director of the U.S. National Security Agency, LTG Marshall S. Carter, sent a message to all intercept sites requesting a special search of all communications that might reflect the attack or reaction. No communications were available. However, one of the airborne platforms, a U.S. Navy EC-121 aircraft that flew near the attacks from 2:30pm to 3:27pm, Sinai time (1230 to 1327 Z), had collected voice conversations between two Israeli helicopter pilots and the control tower at Hatzor Airfield following the attack on the Liberty.[94]

On 2 July 2003, the NSA released copies of the recordings made by the EC-121 and the resultant translations and summaries.[95] These revelations were elicited as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Florida bankruptcy judge and retired naval aviator Jay Cristol. Two linguists who were aboard the EC-121 when the recordings were made, however, said separately that at least two additional tapes were made that have been excluded from the NSA releases up to and including a 8 June 2007, release.[7]

English transcripts of the released tapes indicate that Israel still spoke of hitting an Egyptian supply ship even after the attack had stopped.[96][97] After the attack, the rescue helicopters are heard relaying several urgent requests that the rescuers ask the first survivor pulled out of the water what his nationality is, and discussing whether the survivors from the attacked ship will speak Arabic.[98]

A summary report of the NSA-translated tapes[99] indicates that at 1234Z Hatzor air control began directing two Israeli Air Force helicopters to an Egyptian warship, to rescue its crew: "This ship has now been identified as Egyptian." The helicopters arrived near the ship at about 1303Z: "I see a big vessel, near it are three small vessels..." At 1308Z, Hatzor air control indicated concern about the nationality of the ship's crew: "The first matter to clarify is to find out what their nationality is." At 1310Z, one of the helicopter pilots asked the nearby torpedo boats' Division Commander about the meaning of the ship's hull number: "GTR5 is written on it. Does this mean something?" The response was: "Negative, it doesn't mean anything." At 1312Z, one of the helicopter pilots was asked by air control: "Did you clearly identify an American flag?" No answer appears in the transcript, but the air controller then says: "We request that you make another pass and check once more if this is really an American flag." Again, no response appears in the transcript. At about 1314Z, the helicopters were directed to return home.

The NSA reported that there had been no radio intercepts of the attack made by the Liberty herself, nor had there been any radio intercepts made by the U.S. submarine USSAmberjack.

On 10 October 2003, The Jerusalem Post ran an interview with Yiftah Spector, one of the pilots who participated in the attack,[100] and thought to be the lead pilot of the first wave of aircraft. Spector said the ship was assumed to be Egyptian, stating that: "I circled it twice and it did not fire on me. My assumption was that it was likely to open fire at me and nevertheless I slowed down and I looked and there was positively no flag." The interview also contains the transcripts of the Israeli communications about the Liberty. The journalist who transcribed the tapes for that article, Arieh O'Sullivan, later confirmed that "the Israeli Air Force tapes he listened to contained blank spaces."[7]

The Liberty's survivors contradict Spector. According to subsequently declassified NSA documents: "Every official interview of numerous Liberty crewmen gave consistent evidence that indeed the Liberty was flying an American flagand, further, the weather conditions were ideal to ensure its easy observance and identification."[101]

On 8 June 2005, the USS Liberty Veterans Association filed a "Report of War Crimes Committed Against the U.S. Military, June 8, 1967" with the Department of Defense (DoD). They say Department of Defense Directive 2311.01E requires the Department of Defense to conduct a thorough investigation of the allegations contained in their report. DoD has responded that a new investigation will not be conducted since a Navy Court of Inquiry already investigated the facts and circumstances surrounding the attack.

As of 2006, the NSA has yet to declassify "boxes and boxes" of Liberty documents. Numerous requests under both declassification directives and the Freedom of Information Act are pending in various agencies including the NSA, Central Intelligence Agency, and Defense Intelligence Agency. "On 8 June 2007, the National Security Agency released hundreds of additional declassified documents on the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, a communications interception vessel, on 8 June 1967."[102]

On 2 October 2007, The Chicago Tribune published a special report[7] into the attack, containing numerous previously unreported quotes from former military personnel with first-hand knowledge of the incident. Many of these quotes directly contradict the NSA's position that it never intercepted the communications of the attacking Israeli pilots, saying that not only did transcripts of those communications exist, but also that it showed the Israelis knew they were attacking an American naval vessel.

Two diplomatic cables written by Avraham Harman, Israel's ambassador in Washington, to Abba Eban Israel's minister of foreign affairs, have been declassified by Israel and obtained from the Israel State Archive. The first cable, sent five days after the attack, informs Eban that a U.S. informant told him (Harman) that there was "clear proof that from a certain stage the pilot discovered the identity of the ship and continued the attack anyway."[15] The second cable, sent three days later, added that the White House is "very angry" because "the Americans probably have findings showing that our pilots indeed knew that the ship was American."[7]

Documents of the Israeli General Staff meetings, declassified in October 2008, show no discussion of a planned attack on an American ship.[103]

On 30 October 2014, Al Jazeera English broadcast a documentary film containing recent first-hand accounts by several survivors of the incident.[104] The documentary argues that Israel knew the ship was American, and planned to blame its sinking on Egypt in order to draw the US into the war on the Israeli side.

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USS Liberty incident - Wikipedia

Stranded runners leave Liberty softball’s season stuck in PIAA quarters – lehighvalleylive.com

Liberty High Schools softball team couldnt locate the big hit it needed to turn the tide of the game on Thursday.

And, while the Hurricanes searched, Spring-Ford found its knockout punch and ended the Bethlehem schools historic season.

Liberty fell to the Rams, 9-2, in the PIAA Class 6A quarterfinals at Parkland High School.

Spring-Ford, the third-place team from District 1, advances to Mondays state semifinals, where it will meet the Council Rock North-Hazleton winner.

The Rams jumped out in front during the games second at-bat when Megan Kern launched a home run over the right field fence, a rare occurrence at the South Whitehall Township venue.

Spring-Ford (21-4) led the rest of the way, tacking on an insurance run in the fifth inning, before breaking the contest open with a three-run sixth inning and four-run seventh.

Bridget Sharkey provided the pop in the last three innings, smacking a run-scoring double in each frame and finishing with five RBIs for the Rams.

We knew coming in that they were going to be one of the better teams weve faced, Hurricanes senior center fielder Reyna DeJesus said of Spring-Ford.

Liberty (21-6) put a pair of runners on base during the first, third and fifth innings, but didnt push any across.

We got the girls on base, we just couldnt get them around, Liberty coach Sam Carrodo said. We had first-and-second, second-and-third a few times, we just couldnt get that hit to bring them in. Thats what separates good teams from great teams when it comes to this level. If you want to advance, youve got to get those runners in.

The Hurricanes finally broke onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth inning thanks to RBI singles from Paige Zigmund and Alexa Burger.

I tell you what, they could have given up, Carrodo said. They could have let it go, but they kept fighting and fighting and fighting. You have to be proud of them. Theyre great kids.

Despite Thursdays disappointing conclusion, Liberty has plenty to be happy about at the end of the day. The Hurricanes had the most wins in program history, a District 11 title and the schools first victory in the PIAA tournament.

We had a great group of girls, said DeJesus, the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Co-MVP. People doubted us from the beginning. It was just great to show people what we can do.

Liberty will lose seven seniors: DeJesus, Kristin Kaleycik, Cailin Donegan, Skilee Diaz, Keri Appleman, Jess Watts and Miranda Kinney.

They made us proud all four years not only on the field, but off the field and in the classroom, Carrodo said. They were just outstanding young ladies. The hole that theyre going to leave is going to be very, very tough to fill. But, were going to work at it. We had a very good JV team Hopefully, we can fill some holes with some of those kids and continue on, because I think we have a bright future.

DeJesus, who is headed to the University of Delaware, is confident that the younger players will take this years success and run with it.

We have good freshmen coming in every year, she said. We have juniors and sophomores who are very good and are going to fill our positions when the seniors leave. I think theyre going to make a good run next year.

Kyle Craig may be reached atkcraig@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter@KyleCraigSports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.

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Stranded runners leave Liberty softball's season stuck in PIAA quarters - lehighvalleylive.com

Detective posing as 13-year-old girl online, leads to charges against Liberty, Mo. attorney – fox4kc.com


Kansas City Star
Detective posing as 13-year-old girl online, leads to charges against Liberty, Mo. attorney
fox4kc.com
LIBERTY, Mo. -- A Liberty, Missouri attorney faces charges of sexual exploitation of a minor because investigators say he had numerous chats online that were sexual in nature, with an undercover officer posing as a 13-year-old girl. Jerome M. Patience ...
Liberty lawyer accused of online sex crimes with someone he thought was a teen girlKansas City Star

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Detective posing as 13-year-old girl online, leads to charges against Liberty, Mo. attorney - fox4kc.com

Five injured in Liberty crash – The Wellsboro Gazette

Five people, four of them less than age 19, were injured in a one-vehicle crash in Liberty Township Saturday, June 3.

According to state police at Mansfield, Drake Schmouder, 18, of Roaring Branch was operating a 1992 Jeep Wrangler northeast on Route 414 in the right lane of travel.

A 2015 Volkswagen Jetta, operated by Danielle L. Page, 40, of Liberty, was traveling southwest on Route 414 in the right lane of travel when she drifted into the opposing lane and hit the Schmouder vehicle head-on, police said.

Page and her three-year-old female passenger were transported to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville with numerous serious injuries.

A 7-year-old passenger in the back seat of the Schmouder vehicle not wearing a seat belt was ejected from the vehicle and was unconscious and unresponsive at the scene, according to police.

The boy also was transported via medical helicopter to Geisinger Medical Center.

Schmouder and a 17-year old female passenger in the his vehicle were wearing seatbelts.

Both were transported to Geisinger Medical Center with serious injuries.

Page was listed in fair condition Wednesday.

Neither Schmouder nor the 7-year-old male were at Geisinger as of Wednesday morning, according to a public relations spokesperson there.

The conditions and whereabouts of the two and the others injured in the crash are unknown.

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Five injured in Liberty crash - The Wellsboro Gazette

Cooling off at Liberty Pool – Sedalia Democrat

Taking a leap of faith, Bryan Borgstadt, 11, left, and Hezikiah Montgomery, 12, both of Sedalia, dive off the deep end of the Liberty Pool Thursday afternoon. With sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s, the pool was a busy place Thursday. Sunshine and highs in the 90s will continue through the weekend.

Photos by Faith Bemiss | Democrat

Dylon Adair, of Sedalia, splashes into Liberty Pool after riding down the slide Thursday. Dylon was at the pool with his brothers Blayne Nicholson, 8, and Ricky Adair, 12, who were both celebrating their birthday.

Photos by Faith Bemiss | Democrat

Blayne Nicholson, 8, takes a leap and dives into Liberty Pool Thursday afternoon. Blayne, who was celebrating his birthday, was at the pool with his two brothers and mother, Heather Snyder, and father, Rickey Adair.

Photos by Faith Bemiss | Democrat

Getting ready to take the plunge, Ricky Adair, of Sedalia, holds his nose before hitting the water at Liberty Pool Thursday afternoon. Ricky was spending the day at the pool to celebrate his birthday.

Photos by Faith Bemiss | Democrat

Taking a leap of faith, Bryan Borgstadt, 11, left, and Hezikiah Montgomery, 12, both of Sedalia, dive off the deep end of the Liberty Pool Thursday afternoon. With sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s, the pool was a busy place Thursday. Sunshine and highs in the 90s will continue through the weekend.

Dylon Adair, of Sedalia, splashes into Liberty Pool after riding down the slide Thursday. Dylon was at the pool with his brothers Blayne Nicholson, 8, and Ricky Adair, 12, who were both celebrating their birthday.

Blayne Nicholson, 8, takes a leap and dives into Liberty Pool Thursday afternoon. Blayne, who was celebrating his birthday, was at the pool with his two brothers and mother, Heather Snyder, and father, Rickey Adair.

Getting ready to take the plunge, Ricky Adair, of Sedalia, holds his nose before hitting the water at Liberty Pool Thursday afternoon. Ricky was spending the day at the pool to celebrate his birthday.

Taking a leap of faith, Bryan Borgstadt, 11, left, and Hezikiah Montgomery, 12, both of Sedalia, dive off the deep end of the Liberty Pool Thursday afternoon. With sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s, the pool was a busy place Thursday. Sunshine and highs in the 90s will continue through the weekend.

http://sedaliademocrat.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_TSD060917PoolPhotos-1.jpgTaking a leap of faith, Bryan Borgstadt, 11, left, and Hezikiah Montgomery, 12, both of Sedalia, dive off the deep end of the Liberty Pool Thursday afternoon. With sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s, the pool was a busy place Thursday. Sunshine and highs in the 90s will continue through the weekend. Photos by Faith Bemiss | Democrat

Dylon Adair, of Sedalia, splashes into Liberty Pool after riding down the slide Thursday. Dylon was at the pool with his brothers Blayne Nicholson, 8, and Ricky Adair, 12, who were both celebrating their birthday.

http://sedaliademocrat.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_TSD060917PoolPhotos-2-.jpgDylon Adair, of Sedalia, splashes into Liberty Pool after riding down the slide Thursday. Dylon was at the pool with his brothers Blayne Nicholson, 8, and Ricky Adair, 12, who were both celebrating their birthday. Photos by Faith Bemiss | Democrat

Blayne Nicholson, 8, takes a leap and dives into Liberty Pool Thursday afternoon. Blayne, who was celebrating his birthday, was at the pool with his two brothers and mother, Heather Snyder, and father, Rickey Adair.

http://sedaliademocrat.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_TSD060917PoolPhotos-3.jpgBlayne Nicholson, 8, takes a leap and dives into Liberty Pool Thursday afternoon. Blayne, who was celebrating his birthday, was at the pool with his two brothers and mother, Heather Snyder, and father, Rickey Adair. Photos by Faith Bemiss | Democrat

Getting ready to take the plunge, Ricky Adair, of Sedalia, holds his nose before hitting the water at Liberty Pool Thursday afternoon. Ricky was spending the day at the pool to celebrate his birthday.

http://sedaliademocrat.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_TSD060917PoolPhotos-4.jpgGetting ready to take the plunge, Ricky Adair, of Sedalia, holds his nose before hitting the water at Liberty Pool Thursday afternoon. Ricky was spending the day at the pool to celebrate his birthday. Photos by Faith Bemiss | Democrat

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Cooling off at Liberty Pool - Sedalia Democrat

Is Proposed "State of Liberty" Constitutional? – The New American

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right a right which, we hope and believe, is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can may revolutionize, and make their own of so much of the territory as they inhabit. Speech by Abraham Lincoln in the House of Representatives, January 12, 1848

In December 2016, Washington State Representatives Matt Shea, Bob McCaslin, and David Taylor sponsored House Joint Memorial 4000, which would create the "State of Liberty," the 51st state, out of the portion of Washington State east of the Cascades. Opponents are saying such a move would be unconstitutional.

Sheas bill explains the impetus for the proposed partition: "Since statehood, the lifestyles, culture, and economies of eastern and western Washington have been very distinct and dramatically different, while the urbanization and rapid growth in the western portions of the state has progressively heightened this divergence of cultural and economic values between the western and eastern portions of the state."

Culturally, the area of the propsed State of Liberty, eastern Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming are all similar, and have been termed derisively by the Left as the "American Redoubt," a land of ignorant bigots, homesteaders, Bible-thumpers, preppers, gun nuts, and the like. But some residents of this cultural region are proudly adopting the term "Redoubt," noting that liberals have their "redoubts": socialist havens such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, New York, etc.

Conservative journalist Sheri Dovale explained the popularity among constitutionalists of the area that includes the proposed State of Liberty in a May 27 article for redoubtnews.com. Calling the American Redoubt a great place to live and to raise a family, she said, the weather is comfortable, it is not too crowded, and it is not overblown with government regulations. We can share our Conservative views and not be incarcerated for them. We can garden and preserve the fruits of our labors. We can raise livestock and provide meat for our families. We can go to church and share the word of God without fear, she added.

In an exclusive statement to The New American, Representative Shea reveals not only the popularity of the proposal, but the prospect for prosperity such a separation would bring: "Liberty State is hugely popular of over 10,000 people polled there is 74% support in eastern Washington. Seattle continues to disparage us on this side of the state and say we are a bunch of welfare freeloaders because we get more money expenditures than we raise in taxes. If we are such a burden then why not let us go then? This is not going away. Ultimately we will have success in this endeavor and keep pushing until we do."

An article published in Liberty Hangout lays out the plan, highlighting obstacles and opportunities:

If the bill succeeds, this would be an important domino for the secession movement, and help inspire other disaffected communities across the nation to secede. As governments decentralize, power is restored to the individual, and communities can appropriately govern themselves as they see fit, without outside influences. As even our founders recognized, the government which is closest to home is easiest to control.

Should the bill fail, communities ought to learn from their efforts and push forward with their own secession movements anyway. For if their voices are not being heard in the federal and state governments anyway, then what do they have to lose? They only have everything to gain.

Strictly speaking, should a new star be added to the flag of the United States for the State of Liberty, secession from the Union would not be involved (though this would involve secession from the state of Washington). Despite the fact that articles and blog posts by many supporters describe the proposal as act of secession, logically a state cannot leave the Union (secede) and be the 51st state!

In a recording posted to SoundCloud last week, Representative Shea refuted the assertion put forth by some opponents that the division of a state into two or more states is unconstitutional.

Thats simply ridiculous! Shea exclaims, referring to the charge of constitutional violation.

Shea cites Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution which reads, New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.

In other words, should lawmakers in the states parts of which would be ceded to form the State of Liberty agree to allow the division and should Congress do likewise, there is nothing in the Constitution that would prevent the proposal from being enacted.

In fact, this precise procedure has been followed a few times in American history: first, with the formation of the state of Kentucky. In 1789, the state legislature of Virginia approved the creation of the state of Kentucky, followed two years later by the constitutionally mandated approval by Congress; second, the state of Maine was formed in a similar fashion having separated from Massachusetts; and in 1861 in a manner much less constitutionally compliant West Virginia separated from Virginia.

Shea believes that separating from the other states and forming one where people share customs, beliefs, and values is the proper way to protect and preserve those beliefs for generations to come.

Classically, of course, the idea of restraining republics to territories wherein the residents share fundamental values was accepted as a given. In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu asserts that the public good is better felt, better known, lies nearer to each citizen. In this, the celebrated Frenchman was advocating a small size and the State of Liberty, should it be formed, is certainly not small.

The spirit of Montesquieus observation is present in the proposal, however. Those who would choose to become citizens of the State of Liberty would be those who, as explained above by Sheri Dovale, share a vision of the proper size and power of government, as well as more fundamental values, including the importance of religion, family, and self-sufficiency in a well-functioning, peaceful society.

As of now, there seems to be little movement on the part of the Washington State Legislature toward approving the separation. After all, proposals to form a new state out of Eastern Washington were put forth in 2015, 2005, 1991, 1985, and even as far back as 1915; none of which, obviously, succeeded.

Such lack of movement for separation is not not true globally, however, as evidenced by Brexit and the efforts by Scotland and Catalan to break away from the larger societies with which they are close geographically, but historically and culturally very distant. Perhaps these events are portents of a zeitgeist supportive of separation and decentralization and that spirit will sweep across the Cascades and across the State of Liberty.

Representative Shea is undeterred, and told me in a text message, "Liberty is not just a proposed state, it's a state of mind and the more we spread liberty the more successful we are."

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Is Proposed "State of Liberty" Constitutional? - The New American

Clay Twp. vet recalls ‘harrowing night’ on USS Liberty 50 years later – Port Huron Times Herald

Clay Township veteran Jack Beattie stands in front of a world map depicting all the places he was while in the U.S. Navy on Monday, June 5, 2017. He served on the American spy ship USS Liberty when it was attacked Israeli war planes and ships 50 years ago Thursday, June 8,(Photo: Jackie Smith/Times Herald)Buy Photo

Fifty years ago, Jack Beattie watched unknown pilots flying overhead while he was aboard the USS Liberty in the Mediterranean Sea.

They were close enough to wave to, but they didnt wave back.

Beattie questioned what was happening then. Five decades later, on the anniversary of the attack on his spy ship, hes still seeking answers.

Beattie, 69 ofClay Township,easily recounts the June 8, 1967, attack that took the lives of 34 men on Libertyand wounded 170 more. It's a story he wants Americans to hear and remember 50 years later.

The unprovoked attack by Israeliforces on the ship came during what is now known as the Six-Day War, a clash between Israel and several Arab nations. The U.S. stayedneutral during the conflict.

Beattie said survivors whove sought an investigation into the 1967 attack have often received some pushback that it was anti-Semitic or derogatory of an American ally. On Monday, he said they just wantanswers.

Clay Township Jack Beattie served on the USS Liberty, which was attacked by Israeli forces 50 years ago Thursday. He remembers keeping quiet of the events early on but has made an effort to share his experience since. Jackie Smith/Times Herald

Still, he added its humbling to be in a position to share the experience. It shouldve been done years ago, but it was not, he said. Weve been pushing this for the last 20 years, Id say.

The day of the attack started with aircraft circling overhead.In the hours before the attack, Beattie said they had felt safe onboard, thinking it was clear to whomever they were the Liberty was an American ship and not involved in the conflict.

You could actually wave to the pilots. They never waved back. I (saw) for myself, he said. One time I was on the main deck, and the Israeli transport plane flew over us and went around the ship several times and took off. We were monitored many times. So they knew who we were. The USS Liberty (showed it was the) AGTR-5 on the bow, port and starboard side, in 5-foot letters. On the back of the ship said (it was) the Liberty, and an American flag (flew).

Beattie was in a whaleboat hanging on the side of the ship, helping enginemen, when he saw sailors on the bridge looking at oncoming aircraft moments before rockets hit that day.

Once the rockets hit, he said, they were shocked, andjets came back and forth for about 40 minutes.

They said, Stand by for torpedo attacks, starboard side. Im thinking, Torpedos? Were not even at war. Whats going on? And Im looking at the wall there, and I (knew) thats the starboard side, he said. So I get on the phone; I said, Request permission to leave and they said, Wait one, which is hold on. Im thinking, How much longer are we going to hold on? So I have the phone on, and Im going up the ladder. Id just opened the hatch and was just getting out when the torpedo hit, and all the kids collapsed. There was smoke. It threw me around like a rag doll. And the ship just started rolling over.

The frenzy continued as crews made their way on deck, Beattie said, where they just hunkered down until the machine-gunning of the ship was over. He said hed been banged around but never sought medical treatment.

U.S. Navy veteran Jack Beattie, of Clay Township, shows a picture of himself on Monday, June 5, 2017. While on the USS Liberty, he was an E-3 fireman in the ship's machine shop.(Photo: Jackie Smith/Times Herald)

Beattie called it a harrowing night that left them to sleep in their life jackets for several nights on a ship that ultimately never sank.

In the half-century since the attack, hes made it almost his mission to share his story.

We didnt know it was Israel right away. Nobody knew, Beattie said Monday in his home. John Scott, he was a (damage control) officer with us, down on the deck. (We asked), Mr. Scott, whos shooting? and he said, I dont know. I dont know whos shooting at us. We thought it had to be Egypt. Then we found out.

Beattie, age 19 at the time, said theyd been told not to talk about it and largely kept quiet after the attack something he said probably changed after about 15 years.

Israel would go on to apologize for the attack, citing an error in mistaking the Liberty for an Egyptian ship. However, Beattie said hes among the survivors who believe theres a bigger story there.

When you tell the truth of what happened to you personally, it comes out the same every time, said the veteran, whose naval service ended in 1991.

The Liberty was an American technical research ship or a spy ship. Beattie had been on board two years and was an E-3 fireman, working in the ships machine shop.

Jack Beattie sorts through magazines, photographs and documents regarding the USS Liberty on Monday, June 5, 2017, in the kitchen of his Clay Township home. The U.S. Navy veteran served on the Liberty when it was attacked 50 years ago Thursday.(Photo: Jackie Smith/Times Herald)

In May, Beattie joined the other Vietnam-era veterans who received a special label pin honoring his service from state officials. Sen. Phil Pavlov, R-St. Clair Township, and Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Kowall shared the honors with Beattie, and Pavlov said 1,000 received the recognition in the capital last year.

Jack was one of the people that reached out, Pavlov said. It was very nice. Hes got a heck of a story if you havent talked to him about it yet. Its unique.

On Tuesday, Beattie was to leave for Washington, D.C., for events and recognition more specific to those who served on the Liberty. That was to include a visit to Arlington National Cemetery to recognize veterans and those killed in the attack and a reunion in Norfolk.

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.

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Clay Twp. vet recalls 'harrowing night' on USS Liberty 50 years later - Port Huron Times Herald

Letter: Libertarian Party misconceptions get cleared up | Kingman … – Kdminer

Jacob Story, Treasurer, Mohave County Libertarian Party

A few weeks back, the Mohave County Libertarian Party was meeting on a Thursday night at the Black Bridge Brewery, and we were talking about the array of misconceptions about the Libertarian Party.

We decided that theres a lot of misinformation out there, so I took it upon myself as the Treasurer of the Mohave County Libertarian Party to write this for the Kingman Daily Miner to get a few things straight.

I am reminded of a time when I was having a conversation with a friend who is a member of the GOP. I love this friend like a brother, and in jest he called me a libtard, which is a term I have heard before to describe a liberal or Democrat (it should also be noted that this word is offensive to people who are developmentally disabled).

This exchange, once again, made me believe that theres a lot of misinformation. It has also been suggested that we Libertarians are in the same realm as the resistance, also known as the indivisible group. Two groups that, from my understanding, decided the Democratic National Committee was too conservative, and theyre a fringe sect to the left of conventional DNC thinking.

Often people see the word libertarian and think liberal the word libertarian actually derives from the word liberty; not so coincidentally, one of the symbols often used by the Libertarian Party is the Statue of Liberty.

Generally the Libertarian party has a platform of the following: Small or almost nonexistent government; limited, if no taxes whatsoever; unfettered individual rights; people taking individual responsibility; noninterference with foreign nations issues; and open and free markets. This is to name a few of the basic principles of the Libertarian Party. It can be boiled down even further to the following notion: We leave you alone, you leave us alone. The Libertarian Party has also been described as socially liberal, fiscally conservative, which I suppose is fair.

Our party is relatively new, formed in 1971, but were growing. The 2016 election saw many new registered Libertarians and although we didnt have any federal wins our win was the fact that we received 4.5 million votes, or in other terms, 3.2 million more votes than our last go during the 2012 general election. That speaks volumes 3.2 million fed-up voters.

We are not naive, we KNOW this is an uphill battle. It is going to be a long hard fight. But were willing to fight for what we believe in.

We are not all crazy, aluminum-foil-hat wearing conspiracy theorists (some are). You will find were the people demanding government accountability, trying to stop the corruption and entitlements.

We simply want this great Republic to once again be for the PEOPLE not the select few elected to office.

If you want to hear more about what were all about, please come join us for a beer at 6 p.m. on the second Thursday of every month at Black Bridge Brewery.

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Letter: Libertarian Party misconceptions get cleared up | Kingman ... - Kdminer