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Was the Regia Aeronautica prepared for WW2? Did they have the equipment, the people, the organization? What were the Italian intentions in the war? How was their Air Force meant to contribute to this? Lets exam the situation just prior to the war declaration.
On 7 June 1940 the following message was transmitted from the Stato Maggiore Grande (SMG) – the Italian Superior Command:
“In confirmation of the communication from today’s meeting of Head of SM, I repeat that the order of the Duce is the following; Keep an absolute defensive attitude towards France (Alps, Corsica, Tunisia, Djibouti), both on land and in the air. At sea: If you encounter French and British forces together, consider an attack on all enemy forces: If you encounter only French forces, only evaluate their intentions but be not the first to attack unless you are set in an unfavorable condition”.
Il Duce saw the British as his most dangerous enemy. His statement was three days before Italy declared war on France and Great Britain, nine months after the German invasion of Poland. The British had just been driven out of France. The Germans were now on the verge of breaking the French defenses along the River Somme, which would be their last realistic defense line. Mussolini was ready. Or was he?
It is interesting to see the similarities in the organizing of the German and Italian leadership. At the top of the pyramid were the two dictators, both acting as Supreme Commanders of their military establishments. Both had only a minimal immediate staff to support them in their strategic planning and coordination of the three main military branches, the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Consequently, there was always the problem of integrating these forces efficiently in their operations. Hitler worked this system purposely to keep control over his generals, to separate them. Benito Mussolini probably did not understand the drawbacks of this system. He was very disappointed when in June, the King stated that he would stand as the formal Superior-in-Command, even if the practical leadership was delegated to Mussolini. However, Mussolini was not a military man, he resembled Hitler, but saw his way forward mainly from a political point of view.
The British, on the other hand, had gone the other way with an overly complex command network. For the fighting around the Mediterranean, this would not complicate matters too much as many responsibilities were delegated to the local commanders.
There was another similarity between the Italian and German leadership. The leaders directly below the two dictators were vehemently opposed to entering into war – at the time. Mussolini’s aim was simple. He wanted to increase Italy’s stature in the Mediterranean and as a colonial power. Like Hitler, he saw a need to expand the territories available for Italian expansion – Lebensraum. To this purpose, he was willing to compromise and endanger himself as to which partners he chose to achieve his aims.
The Ethiopian adventure had worked out well for him. Even if the other great powers had protested and the League of Nations voted for embargo on trade with Italy, this had resulted in but minimal practical problems. The same can be said about Italy’s engagement in the Spanish Civil War, followed by the superficially disguised inclusion of Albania into Italy. The nations that could have put a brake on Mussolini in these places discreetly looked away, not to contribute to a further approach between Italy and the quickly upcoming Germany.
With Ethiopia safely in the bag, Mussolini could now look to his two other projects, North Africa and the Balkans. The relatively new Italian colony of Libya became firmly established after the subjugation of the domestic resistance at the beginning of the thirties. It was a resistance that had lingered on and off for twenty years. But, there were also significant Italian minorities in French Tunis, the Western neighbor of Tripolitania. Here was a pretext to contribute to the downfall of France. If Great Britain did not follow France in her fall, Egypt, with the Suez Canal, would have to be an essential target for Italy to secure its communication line to Italian East Africa. At the beginning of June, after the British headlong flight from Dunkirk, it was not unreasonable to think that England eventually would come to terms with the Axis.
Mussolini already had two feet in the Balkans, one in the Dodecanese island group and the other in Albania, why would he want more? Underlying it all was Mussolini’s craving for something equal to the ancient Roman Empire. Considering his original political orientation as a young barn-storming socialist, hating bolshevism intensely, this is rather strange. A probable explanation is that power corrupts. Like Hitler, he was also urged on by the fear of premature death – if the mission was not fulfilled in his time, it would never be.
The Roman Empire took centuries to build. Mussolini was set on doing it in his lifetime. The Regia Aeronautica was central in Mussolini’s plans. It was a common denominator for modern Italy as he saw it. In East Africa and Spain, it had proven that it was equal to or better than any equipment that was set against it by the other great powers. And he wanted to be a no less man than his sometimes hero – Hitler.
Regia Aeronautica Composition
If we took a look at the relative air force compositions in the Mediterranean in June 1940, it looked quite good for Italy. France was their worst potential enemy in the air as British units were practically non-existent in Gibraltar and Malta. At the same time, they were only a little better off in Egypt and the Middle East. But, none of the two potential Italian opponents had their best forces stationed close to Italy. The Italian Air Force could, therefore, be said to be in a relatively favorable position regarding the upcoming war in the air. Let us take a look at the way the Italian combat units were positioned around the Empire:
The areas of responsibility of the Regia Aeronautica were organized in Squadra Aeras, Air Force sectors, somewhat akin to the German Luftflotten and the British Groups. Fighter, bomber, and reconnaissance units were assigned to the various Squadra Aeras according to need. In addition to the 3 Squadras (there were also specific territorial force compositions called Aeronautica – they can be compared with German Fliegerkorps or Allied Air Forces, for example, the RAF Desert Air Force.
1st Area: Milano – Novara, Caselle and Padua airfields
2nd Area: Palermo – Catania and Palermo airfields
3rd Area: Roma – Viterbo, Ciampino South and Bari
Sardinia Air Force: Cagliari – Cagliari airfield
Albania Air Force: Tirana – Tirana airfield
Libyan Air Force: Tripoli – Tripoli and Tobruk airfields (renamed 5th Area on 25 July)
Aegean Air Force: Rhodes
Zona Aerea Territoriale: (renamed 4th Area 30 December)
Africa Orientale Italiana (AOI): HQ Addis Abeba
Naval air units were organized in the following areas: The Adriatic, Thyrrenean Sea 1, Thyrrenean Sea 2, The Ionian Sea, Sardinia, Sicilia, The Aegean. In addition to the primary airfields in each Squadra, there were dozens of secondary airfields. As an example, in Squadra One – Milano – there were more than 20 military airfields, in Libya, approx. 20 and in East Africa (AOI) more than 40. The Italians took the infrastructure question seriously.
The major Italian tactical unit was the Stormo. The Stormo was composed of one or more Gruppi, which again consisted of one or more Squadriglie. There were variations in the composition of these units, as well as the numbers of planes in each. Therefore, a Stormo could consist of 12-50 planes, depending on allocation, serviceable planes, and the number of pilots available. The Stormo could be compared with the German Gruppe and the British Wing. A German (fighter) Gruppe would generally consist of 3 Staffeln, each with 12 planes. These were split into Schwarms, each of four planes. A British squadron would ideally consist of 3 Flights, each with six planes. The full nominal inventory was 16 planes. The Germans operated their Schwarms in two Rottes (each a pair of aircraft), while the British split their Flights into two Sections of three planes each. The German Gruppe normally also had a Gruppe Staffel of four planes. The British and German Wings and Gruppes were homogenously equipped as to aircraft type. In the early summer of 1940, the Italian Stormos were often composed of Gruppi with different plane types. Even with Gruppi with different Squadriglie types. Finally, independent Gruppi could be split into sezione of 2-4 planes.
Equivalent bomber units would generally be organized along the same lines but with a lesser number of planes. This goes for all nations mentioned here, the French, too.
Mitigating the Threat in June 1940
In WW2, as a whole, Italy has been judged by how the war developed in time. In the summer of 1940, however, there were positive indicators as to how the future could work out for Italy, and the RA was going to be an essential part of it. The Allies indeed feared it. Mussolini wanted to play it cool against the French. A wise move as the French, in mainland France and Tunis, were more on par with Italy than the British in the Mediterranean and Egypt. In Southern France, the Armee de l’Air had such modern fighter monoplanes as the Morane-Saulnier 406 and the Bloch Mb.152, even some Dewoitine 520s. At the same time, the British in Egypt depended mainly on the Gloster Gladiator biplane. This aircraft can be compared with the main Italian plane at the time, the Fiat Cr.42 Falco. But the Italians had many more of these than the British had Gladiators. The RA could fly against the RAF operational areas in North Africa from bases in Libya, Italy, Albania, Rhodes, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somaliland. The Italian bomber forces were even more impressive than their fighter branch with some of the most modern bombers at the time.
Giulio Douhet and Air Power
As was the case with both the French and British air forces, the Italian was very much influenced by Douhet’s theories, originating after WW1. Dunning writes:
“Douhet was an army officer who had commanded the prewar Italian Air Corps but had been court-martialled in 1916 for disagreeing with his superiors on the use of aircraft. By the end of the war, he was working in aviation administration and had been reinstated with the rank of General. By 1922 he had determined to concentrate on writing about the theories concerning the use of airpower. In 1927 he revised and reissued a book which became widely read and of seminal influence throughout the Western world – “Command of the Air.” The main thrust of his argument was that future victory in war would go to the nation, which could dominate the skies. The bombing of industries and cities would cause panic among the population who would force their government to surrender. Ground forces were considered as purely defensive. Fighter aircraft were dismissed, as bombers were to be self-defending and as fast, or faster, than the interceptors. At the time, this was a reasonable proposition, as the latest bomber types entering service in the late 1920s-1930s were capable of out-flying any interceptors. A case in point being the Fairey Fox, which was faster than anything else in RAF service at the time of its debut”
Both the British Sir Hugh Trenchard and Billy Mitchell, an American colonel, hooked on to these ideas, under Douhet’s slogan, “the bomber will always get through.” Colonel Mitchell staged some bomber demonstrations on obsolete, anchored, warships. The tests were scheduled for June and July 1921. While the ships were being assembled off the Virginia coast, Mitchell amassed an armada of airplanes as the 1st Provisional Air Brigade. He ordered exhaustive bombing practice against mock ships near Langley Field. Army ordnance personnel produced the new 2,000-pound bombs that would be needed to sink a battleship.
The tests began as scheduled, and the careful preparations paid off. The bombers first sank a former German destroyer, followed by a light armored cruiser and then one of the world’s largest war vessels, the German battleship Ostfriesland, followed by the US battleship Alabama – and later the battleships New Jersey and Virginia. As far as Mitchell and the press were concerned, the assertion that airpower should be the nation’s first line of defense had been proved. “No surface vessels can exist wherever air forces acting from land bases are able to attack them.” Mitchell declared.
The tests had a couple of serious flaws. The ships were lying still. There was no anti-air barrage to divert the aim or destroy the bombers and, somewhere in the back of my head, I mean to have read that Mitchell saw to that the water-sealing doors between the ship’s compartments were left open.
For aviation enthusiasts, it is easy to forget that in 1940 the bomber, with its capacity to deliver heavy ordnance and ability to exert damage on the enemy, was the primary air asset of any air force. The fighter, with its glorified aces, originated out of the WW1 scout planes as a means to deny the scout planes of the other side achieving their missions. As air bombing developed, the fighters’ primary purpose turned to be countering the enemy bombers or defending their own bombers against enemy fighters. Apart from that, the fighter could do little damage to enemy assets except in the ground-strafing role.
When the war started in 1939, the balance of power between bombers and fighters had just begun to shift. The newest, faster-than-bomber fighter designs were only just being introduced into the world’s air forces. Still, in the Mediterranean Theatre, with France just about being knocked out of the fight, the bombers, particularly the Italian bombers, were the kings. The RA had also understood the secondary potential of their fighter forces, the fighter-bomber. Both the Cr.42 and the Cr.32 had been tested in a ground support role, mainly in anti-personnel missions with small bombs. The battlefields in Ethiopia and Spain had been effective proving grounds. The fighting in Spain had also shown that even unsophisticated anti-air artillery systems could be deadly. If bombers were kings, the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 was definitely the queen of the Italian bomber force in June 1940. To lead the Italian forces in North Africa was the incarnation of the large bomber formations himself – Italo Balbo.
Regia Aeronautica at Declaration of War
In June 1940, the leading Italian air threat against Southern France were the units belonging to Squadra Area 1 – Milano. Their primary mission was to support the Italian army units preparing to move into France and the reduction of the French naval bases and ships along the Mediterranean coast. A critical mission for the Sardinian Air Component was the cutting-off of French sea and air transports between its North African colonies and France. On 10 June 1940 Squadra Area 1 – Milano had the following force spread out on more than a dozen airfields:
40 Squadriglie in 20 Stormi + 1 independent Squadriglie with the following aircraft types:
90 RO 37 reconnaissance planes
113 Fiat BR.20 medium bombers
16 Caproni Ca.311 reconnaissance planes
81 Fiat CR.42
The Sardinian Air Contingent, operating from 5 different airfields:
17 Squadriglie in 8 Stormi + 1 independent Squadriglie with:
27 CR.32 fighters
17 CR.42 fighters
13 Ba.88 ground support aircrafts
62 SM.79 bombers
18 Cant Z.506 floatplane bombers
4 Ro.37 reconnaissance planes
To cover Malta and the central Mediterranean Squadra Area, two could muster, from 8 airfields:
30 Squadriglie in 14 Stormi:
26 CR.32 fighters
9 Ro.37 reconnaissance planes
14 S85 light bombers
177 SM.79 bombers
Against the French in Tunis and the British forces in Egypt, the Libyan Air Component had:
36 Squadriglie in 18 Stormi + 2 independent Squadriglie:
25 Ca.309 reconnaissance planes
24 Ca.310 light bombers
11 Ba.65 light bombers
25 CR.32 fighters
27 CR.42 fighters
27 SM.81 bombers
14 Ro.37 reconnaissance planes
8 SM.75 transports
99 SM.79 bombers
6 Cant Z.506 floatplane bombers
To cover the Eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean Air Component could field:
4 Squadriglie in 2 Stormi + 1 independent Squadriglie:
20 SM.81 bombers
11 CR.32 fighters
The Italian navy could muster ca. 80 floatplanes for reconnaissance, air-sea rescue, convoy escort, and day bombing along the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Aegean Seas.
Against Egypt, the Red Sea and the British possessions in East Africa the Orient Air Component had:
30 Squadriglie in 11 Gruppi + 11 independent Squadriglie with:
36 SM.81 bombers
103 Ca.133 reconnaissance planes
12 SM.79 bombers
9 Ro.37 reconnaissance planes
18 CR.32 fighters
24 CR.42 fighters
Opposing the RA in North Africa was the RAF Middle East Command with its forces spread around in Egypt, Iraq, the Mediterranean (Malta), and Aden. In Egypt, the RAF had 202nd Group with five bomber squadrons – 3 with Blenheim and one each with Bombays and Valentias. No fighters, but the Middle East Command could draw on the other units in the Command, in all 29 squadrons with less than 300 aircraft.
Was Regia Aeronautica Prepared?
It is often stated that Italy was badly prepared for war in June 1940. That might be, but if we compare the air situation with the other nations, as it has been outlined here, Italy was not alone in this. Purely counting the forces available to all parties, I would rather say the opposite. However, there were apparent shortcomings in Italy’s ability to fight a prolonged war. The most critical factor being its lack of an industrial base to sustain usage and losses with the simultaneous need to develop improved weapons systems of any numbers as the war dragged on.
Not comparing aircraft types, a couple of specific weaknesses stood out. Communication radios in aircraft were virtually non-existent. The ground organization was poorly equipped with vehicles and servicing equipment such as tractors, fuel trucks, and loading trolleys. The ever-present machine gun was the Breda 7.9 and 12.7 mm’s. These were reliable weapons if with a relatively low rate of fire for air fighting use and with a lower muzzle velocity than the venerable Browning 12.7 mm. (.50 caliber).
That said, at the time, Italian bombers were alone in having such a heavy weapon for defensive purposes, excepting the French LeO 451. The RA fighters usually had only a pair of the 12.7 mm guns, positioned above the engine. A general weakness in their fighters’ wing constructions contributed to this.
The RA had an extensive training organization for pilots and technicians, and there was no lack of candidates for either of these categories. The pilot training syllabus had an unusual peculiarity in that after having finished the second stage, the final aerobatic training was to be done at squadron level with squadron instructors, resulting in non-standard final training. Much emphasis was put on aerobatics with minor resources used on live firing or more cost-effective use of their war machines. This necessarily had to result in a sort of “on-the-job-training.” It is said that training in deflective shooting was virtually non-existent.
Mussolini would listen to no protestations against entering into war: “The war shall last no more than three months.”

domain: history


* The Cross Timbers Food Cooperative offers a retail exchange to the North Texas region for goods and services which are grown, produced, traded, and distributed locally, in a sustainable, equitable, and responsible manner.
* The Eat Well Guide is a free online healthy meat and dairy guide to sources of wholesome food from healthy animals.
* Local Harvest maintains a public nationwide directory of small farms, farmers markets, and other local food sources.
* Based in Oklahoma, the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture is a great resource for small, transitioning, or just plain curious farmers and food buyers.
* For the
latest in sustainable agriculture and organic farming news,
publications, events and funding opportunities visit ATTRA.
* The New Farm
* A national program of professional fellowships, the Food and Society Policy Fellows Program supports efforts to enhance communications about food and agriculture issues in the United States.
* The Thomas Jefferson Agricultural Institute is a non-profit agricultural education and research center based in Columbia, MO.
* Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners' Association


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How much does medical marijuana cost?
There are many different strains of medical marijuana that provide different types of relief. When you visit a state licensed dispensary, explain to them your needs. They will be able to recommend different options.
No one strain works perfectly for everyone, and it is important to find the best option for you.
All FAQ’s from General
- Are there different kinds of medical marijuana?
- Can I drive while using medical marijuana?
- How much does it cost to obtain a medical marijuana card?
- How much medicine can I have with my card?
- Is the Maine Medical Marijuana Card recognized by other states?
- Is there marijuana which won’t get me high?
- May I use marijuana while on parole/probation if I have a MMMP card?
- What forms does marijuana come in?
- What is a caregiver?
- What is the impact of possessing a medical marijuana card on employment?
- What should I tell my employer if I am subjected to a drug test?
- Where can I use my medication?
- Where do I get medical marijuana medication?
- Who can use medical marijuana?

domain: medical


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Here are the best Cyberpunk games on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. We listed the best titles that offer cyberpunk action.
While it has been a year and a half since CDPR’s Cyberpunk 2077 came out, the cyberpunk subgenre has been around for more than 30 years. The sci-fi genre depicts the darkest futures of humanity. Cyberpunk games, books, or movies invite us to dystopias where society is divided into socioeconomic classes. These fictional worlds delve into the concept of being human. In a world where technology overcomes human existence, what makes us human?
If you loved this question in Matrix, Blade Runner, or Ghost in the Shell, here are some of the best games that are similar to those works.
Cyberpunk Games on Xbox
The titles below are similar to Cyberpunk 2077 in terms of narrative and atmosphere. They also come with great synth-wave and retrowave music. Make sure you also listen to their soundtracks even though they are not your cup of tea. But before we proceed with the games, let’s see what cyberpunk means.
What does cyberpunk mean?
Cyberpunk is a genre of science fiction usually set in the dark dystopias of the far future. In a cyberpunk world, megacorporations are almost as powerful as government bodies. And the value of human life is on par with technological equipment. People “upgrading” their limbs with cybernetic augmentations is commonplace in the works of this genre. Cyberpunk works also tend to dive into the existentialist philosophies through concepts like artificial intelligence.
The first cyberpunk game in the history of gaming was Cyborg. Even though it was a text-only adventure game, Cyborg inspired the creators of Deus Ex, Bioforge, Shadowrun and I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.
The Ascent is the ultimate isometric RPG set in a cyberpunk world. This immersive RPG invites players to a place of constant conflict. It also offers a ton of quests and activities that you can complete with your friend. From megacorporations to cybernetic enhancements, The Ascent has all the things you would want to see in a cyberpunk game. It is a solid alternative for those who found Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City underwhelming as well.
What’s more, you can now experience the successful action-shooter on Xbox Game Pass.
Cloudpunk offers a very long night in the mesmerizing city of Nivalis. The game is filled with unique characters and interesting stories. And the players assume the role of a cargo driver named Rania. As a newcomer to the city, Rania finds a simple night job where she is tasked with delivering cargo throughout the city. Though what starts as a simple gig turns into a very unexpected journey.
The game combines an impressive and mysterious story with a beautifully designed open world. Its driving mechanics also make Cloudpunk stand out among other cyberpunk games. With the new expansion pack, City of Ghosts; the adventure in Nivalis extends to a whole new level.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
There is no doubt that Deus Ex is one of the best cyberpunk games out there. It is also among the longest-running video game series, as the first game of the franchise was released back in 2000. Deus Ex invites you to the wake of the human revolution in a near future. In a divided society of the game’s world, one group refuses their biological roots whereas the other ones believe in the power of cybernetic augmentation.
Deus Ex games take players to various locations of the world such as Detroit, Singapore, London, Dubai, and more. The action RPG series is the perfect choice for those who want a long journey set in a dystopian future.
The Red Strings Club
The Red Strings Club offers a unique experience and a beautiful narrative in a cyberpunk setting. The players take the role of a bartender and prepare drinks based on the customers’ moods. In a world where feelings are almost banned, The Red Strings Club celebrates the idea of being human through thoughts and emotions. It also uses the art of pottery to put an emphasis on human desires.
This one is truly a beautiful game for those who are looking for a cyberpunk narrative.
Ghostrunner is a solid parkour game set in a dystopian city called the Dharma Tower. Players assume the role of a special unit and try to climb to the top of the tower. From a divided society to brainwashed soldiers of a dictator, Ghostrunner offers everything you would want to see in a cyberpunk game.
Though it is essentially a parkour game where enemies can one-shot you to death. If you love challenges and want some synth action with great music, Ghostrunner might be your cup of tea.
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is the ultimate cyberpunk action game out there. As a standalone expansion to Far Cry 3, Blood Dragon invites players on an epic and sarcastic journey. The game takes place in 2007 and players take the role of Rex “Power” Colt. As an American super-soldier, players are tasked with dealing with a rogue commander called General Sloan.
Though this is not a simple mission. As the laser-firing beasts called Blood Dragons roam on the island.
Well, these are some of the best cyberpunk games on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. Definitely give them a chance if you love the genre.

domain: hobby


We propose a new multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) radar system with colocated antennas that can greatly reduce target fluctuations. This is achieved by employing frequency diversity. The proposed MIMO radar system results in a radar array with frequency-division multiplexing that can also incorporate beamforming to design the transmission beam pattern. After presenting an overview of existing MIMO radar systems and their related signal models, we provide a detailed description of the proposed frequency diversity technique and the corresponding transmitter and receiver structures. Furthermore, we present a maximum likelihood estimation algorithm that incorporates frequency diversity with MIMO radar, derive the corresponding Cramér-Rao lower bound, and demonstrate its improved performance using numerical results.


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The Barbie Trial (1987): Narrator of the Holocaust in France
While hiding in Latin America, Klaus Barbie was condemned to death for war crimes by the military tribunal of Lyon in 1952 and in 1954. The former Nazi officer, head of the Gestapo in Lyon and its environs during the Second World War, was judged again in France, this time in person, thirty-three years later. Following the trial, Barbie was condemned to a life sentence in prison for crimes against humanity. That said, Barbie’s trial cannot be reduced to merely the length of time it took (between May and July 1987), to place (the Tribunal of Lyon), or to the action (of judging a man for crimes against humanity). This article analyzes the Barbie trial as a narrator of the Holocaust to the French population, from the preparation of the trial in Germany in the 1970s, then in France after the extradition of Klaus Barbie in 1983. The construction, at once juridical, political, and media-related, of such an object of transmission often came into contact with the memory of the Resistance and of its hero, Jean Moulin. The mechanisms by which the Barbie trial was thus configured enable us to do a specific case study of the interactions at work, which can be applied more generally when it is a question of judging crimes of the past, issues of collective and individual memory, the involvement of historical figures, and media discourse.

domain: library


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Summer is a perfect time for a carnival, even one for dogs, cats and any other species.
That’s what is going to happen at the Animal Friends Clinic next month.
Susan Cantey of the Washington County Animal Friends says that Saturday, June 7th, the Clinic and the adjacent dog park at 3901 Highway 36 North will be the place where our four legged friends can have a fun day at the park. Cantey also says people can also have a lot of fun.
This is the carnival that was rained out in November.
The carnival begins at 10am Saturday, June 7th and goes until 3pm.
People will get free hot dogs, sodas, water,.
They will have a pet parade at noon.
The pet owners can also see demonstrations of the Brenham PD K-9, Miracle Farms, the True Blue Animal Shelter, the Texas Reptile and Hospice Sanctuary, Brenham Humane Society and Faske Longhorns.
The carnival also features animals available for adoption.

domain: news


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Kevin N. FLYNN and Randy Wolfson, Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. CITY OF BOSTON, et al., Defendants, Appellees.
Kevin Flynn and Randy Wolfson appeal from the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants in their action alleging that they were discharged from their jobs with Boston Community Centers in violation of the First Amendment. Their former employer is an agency of the City of Boston with 400 employees and a budget of $15 million. It is concerned with the delivery of social services, including child care, youth work, and senior citizen programs, and it administers grants both from city funds and from other sources.
In January 1994, the newly elected mayor of Boston appointed Evelyn Riesenberg, formerly one of his special assistants, as the director of Boston Community Centers. Kevin Flynn was then the associate director of administration and finance; Randy Wolfson was one of two associate directors for field operations. In their later filed court papers, Flynn and Wolfson describe Riesenberg's reign in very unflattering terms.
In particular, they charge that from the outset, Riesenberg pressed Wolfson to tell her which senior staff members had worked for particular mayoral candidates; and Flynn says that Riesenberg asked him how she could fire the entire central office staff and replace them with her own supporters or those of the mayor. Both say that they argued with Riesenberg against this course of action.
They also say that Riesenberg sought, over their opposition, to appoint unqualified personnel to reward supporters of the mayor, and they provide specific examples. Flynn says that Riesenberg ordered him to raise pay for a union worker in violation of the union contract. Flynn and Wolfson also say that Riesenberg mishandled several sexual harassment complaints and related personnel actions, despite their objections.
In August 1994, Riesenberg gave Flynn and Wolfson termination notices, asserting that she was reorganizing the agency. When they protested, the city's corporation counsel wrote to them that they were being discharged because of the reorganization and “an evaluation of their performance.” Flynn and Wolfson in turn say that the reorganization was a sham and that neither of them has any negative evaluations in his or her personnel files.
After Flynn and Wolfson were fired, they brought suit in the district court against Riesenberg, the mayor, and the city. The plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief, and damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, on the ground that their First Amendment rights had been infringed; they also made statutory and common law claims based on state law. After discovery, the plaintiffs waived some claims, and the district court dismissed or granted summary judgment in favor of defendants on all of the remaining claims.
On summary dispositions, we take the facts and draw inferences in favor of the non-moving party. Ortiz-Pinero v. Rivera-Arroyo, 84 F.3d 7, 11 (1st Cir.1996). But the question whether a position is subject to political discharge, or how far the First Amendment protects against having one's views considered in adverse personnel actions, are essentially legal questions for the court, even if they are close questions. McGurrin Ehrhard v. Connolly, 867 F.2d 92, 93 (1st Cir.1989).
From the outset of the Republic, government jobs have gone by political patronage, tempered now by civil service laws that afford varying degrees of protection, especially to lower level employees. See Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 377-79, 96 S.Ct. 2673, 2691-92, 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976) (Powell, J., dissenting). To this accommodation, the Supreme Court about 25 years ago brought a new constitutional principle: that political firings by the government are allowed only in those jobs for which political loyalty is an “appropriate” criterion. See Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 372-73, 96 S.Ct. 2673, 2689-90, 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976); Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507, 518, 100 S.Ct. 1287, 1294-95, 63 L.Ed.2d 574 (1980).
In response, the lower federal courts have tried to develop doctrine, but it is largely a porridge of general statements and variables: positions are less likely to be protected to the extent that they are “higher,” more “political,” more “confidential,” and so on; duties prevail over titles; everything depends on circumstances. See, e.g., Cordero v. De Jesus-Mendez, 867 F.2d 1, 10-21 (1st Cir.1989); see also 4 R.D. Rotunda & J.E. Nowak, Constitutional Law: Substance and Procedure § 20.42, at 272-75 (2d ed.1992). To get any practical sense of where the lines have been drawn, one has to look at the results. See Jimenez Fuentes v. Torres Gaztambide, 807 F.2d 236, 241 (1st Cir.1986) (en banc) (collecting cases), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1014, 107 S.Ct. 1888, 95 L.Ed.2d 496 (1987).
At least in the First Circuit, the cases have regularly upheld against First Amendment challenge the dismissal on political grounds of mid- or upper-level officials or employees who are significantly connected to policy-making. This result has followed where the plaintiff merely represented the agency's policy positions to other entities or to the public or where important personnel functions were part of the portfolio. See, e.g., Cordero, 867 F.2d at 11-12, 14. The common thread is that the officials or employees were policymakers or those who are in close working relationships with policymakers.
Thus, we have upheld political discharges of the regional director of an administrative agency, the municipal secretary in a mayor's office, an officer in charge of human resources, a director of public relations, a superintendent of public works, a director of a city's federal programs office, and a director of a satellite office of the Massachusetts Secretary of State.1 Many such plaintiffs were subordinates within their own offices. Just one decision provisionally protected an official with a high-sounding title, but her duties were essentially technical. See De Choudens v. Government Dev. Bank of Puerto Rico, 801 F.2d 5, 9-10 (1st Cir.1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1013, 107 S.Ct. 1886, 95 L.Ed.2d 494 (1987).2
By contrast, this court has disallowed political firings for a cleaning supervisor, a career employee administrative aide, and an auditor of books and records. See Cordero, 867 F.2d at 14-15, 16-18. The Supreme Court cases, granting or looking toward protection, have involved a floor supervisor, a guard, a process server, an assistant public defender, a rehabilitation counselor, a road equipment operator, a garage worker, and a dietary manager. See Elrod, 427 U.S. at 350-51, 372-73, 96 S.Ct. at 2678-79, 2689-90; Branti, 445 U.S. at 508, 519-20, 100 S.Ct. at 1289-90, 1295-96; Rutan v. Republican Party, 497 U.S. 62, 67, 76, 110 S.Ct. 2729, 2733, 2737-38, 111 L.Ed.2d 52 (1990). Thus, it is primarily low-level jobs that have been protected, although this encompasses most workers in most agencies of government.
“Appropriate”-the test used in Branti-is an elastic concept, but we have an obligation to apply it consistently within the circuit. Under our prior decisions, Flynn is not protected. As associate director of administration and finance at Boston Community Centers, he had authority over human resource issues, supervision of the grants managers and personnel director, labor negotiations, and liaison responsibilities with a number of city or state agencies. See Cordero, 867 F.2d at 11-15; cf. Goyco, 849 F.2d at 685. These major responsibilities meant that policy disagreements with his politically appointed supervisor could lead to less effective implementation of political goals.
Wolfson is a closer case, but not by much-given the standards of prior cases. She was associate director for field operations and supervised about half the site coordinators, oversaw several programs, served as liaison with two city agencies, oriented new local council members, and monitored compliance with legal requirements. Cf. Nunez, 834 F.2d at 24. Like Flynn, Wolfson reported directly to the executive director of the agency and so represented top management in an agency with 400 employees.
The responsibilities of Flynn and Wolfson just described-and these are functions, not titles-obviously implicate policy. Indeed, they are the same kind of senior management functions that our earlier decisions have ascribed to a number of employees found to be subject to political discharge. For example, Cordero, 867 F.2d at 13-14, upheld the dismissal of a municipality's director of finance, whose primary tasks included supervision of the accounting system, advising officials on fiscal matters, and supervising the disbursement of municipality funds. And in McGurrin Ehrhard, 867 F.2d at 93-95, we sustained the dismissal of the director of the Massachusetts Secretary of State's satellite office, whose job consisted essentially of providing information to citizens, “input” into personnel issues, and development of office policies.
Under our decisions, an employee is not immune from political firing merely because the employee stands apart from “partisan” politics, see Mendez-Palou, 813 F.2d at 1262-63, or is not the ultimate decisionmaker in the agency, see McGurrin Ehrhard, 867 F.2d at 95, or is guided in some of his or her functions by professional or technical standards, see Cordero, 867 F.2d at 13-14. Rather, it is enough that the official be involved in policy, see Jimenez Fuentes, 807 F.2d at 246, even if only as an adviser, implementer, or spokesperson, as Flynn and Wolfson certainly were. To hold Flynn and Wolfson to be protected would effectively depart from the main line of case law in this circuit.
One might ask why anyone, apart from elected officials, should be subject to “political” firing. The answer-this is folk wisdom, not mathematical proof-is that to implement their mandates, elected officials need a cadre of agency leaders and top subordinates responsive to the elected officials' goals. See, e.g., Elrod, 427 U.S. at 367, 96 S.Ct. at 2686-87. A rule effectively preventing the replacement of senior officials by new administrations would be a very serious step. A legislature can provide such tenure, but the Constitution does not command it.
None of this means that every “political” firing of a senior official is an act of good government. Indeed, if the allegations of the complaint are true, and they are still only allegations, Flynn and Wolfson were public servants honestly resisting very dubious behavior by a superior. But the main remedy for mismanagement is elections. And officials who rise to the level of Flynn and Wolfson do so at the cost of any constitutional tenure protection against political discharge-unless and until the Supreme Court takes a different view and extends Elrod and Branti further.
A different, although related, issue is presented by the plaintiffs' alternative claim that they were fired “in retaliation” for protected speech. The legal standard in this area is notoriously fuzzy because the cases deal under the same head with very different problems and “justifications,” for example, the disruptive employee, the whistle-blower who ignores channels, the official who disagrees about policy, the contractor who offers public political criticism of the agency, and so on.3
In the present case, we are not concerned with public expressions of political opposition or whistle-blower reports made publicly or within the agency but outside regular channels. Rather, the plaintiffs are policy level officials who disagreed with their superior on a number of policy and personnel issues before the agency and (quite properly, based on their allegations) expressed their disagreement to her. Although Riesenberg denies it, we must suppose (on summary judgment) that plaintiffs could prove at trial that these disagreements contributed to their firing.
To this extent, the plaintiffs' expression of their views on issues played a role in their loss of position, and we will assume arguendo that the issues upon which Flynn and Wolfson expressed disagreement are the types of matters “of political, social, or other concern to the community” that the Supreme Court has said would trigger First Amendment analysis. Connick, 461 U.S. at 146, 103 S.Ct. at 1689-90. But expressing views on matters of public concern is only the first step in the Supreme Court's test for whether an employee is protected by the Constitution from being fired for expressing views.
The second step, vital here, is a balancing of the employee's interests “as a citizen, in commenting upon matters of public concern” against “the interest of the State, as an employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees.” Pickering, 391 U.S. at 568, 88 S.Ct. at 1734-35. The Supreme Court has identified a number of state interests that might be impaired by an employee's statements (discipline, harmony among co-workers, interference with duties), but one such interest looms large here: the effect of the statements on those “close working relationships for which personal loyalty and confidence are necessary․” Rankin v. McPherson, 483 U.S. 378, 388, 107 S.Ct. 2891, 2899, 97 L.Ed.2d 315 (1987).
In Hall v. Ford, 856 F.2d 255 (D.C.Cir.1988), the District of Columbia Circuit addressed this type of justification in a situation somewhat akin to this case. In Hall, the University of the District of Columbia's athletic director was fired allegedly due to a disagreement between him and the university's president over the university's compliance with its own and NCAA rules. The court held initially that the athletic director's statements were about matters of public concern. It then moved to the second step, as we do in this case.
Recognizing that the Supreme Court had not yet squarely addressed the situation in free speech terms, the District of Columbia Circuit looked to the political patronage cases for help. 856 F.2d at 261-64. “Although not directly applicable, the patronage cases address similar concerns and recognize a government interest that is apposite here.” Id. at 261. Ultimately, the court upheld the right of the university president to insist on an athletic director who had compatible views on university matters, paralleling the political patronage cases. See also DiMeglio v. Haines, 45 F.3d 790, 805-06 (4th Cir.1995).
No mechanical formula exists to resolve all cases where an employee is fired and the firing can be traced back in some causal way to “speech” by the employee. But we think it is a reasonable working rule that, where the employee is subject to discharge for political reasons under the Elrod and Branti cases, a superior may also-without offending the First Amendment's free speech guarantee-consider the official's substantive views on agency matters in deciding whether to retain the official in a policy related position. Indeed, without this congruence, the latitude allowed to the superior by the Supreme Court could be effectively nullified.
The issues about which Flynn and Wolfson spoke-and the speech to which they attribute their firings-related to the operation of the office (primarily to matters of hiring, firing and discipline). Yet it is issues of this kind, and the views of management employees about these issues, that are properly considered by the head of the office in deciding who is best suited to be her direct subordinates. Precisely because Flynn and Wolfson's “speech” did bear on the job and on their working relationship with Riesenberg, Riesenberg was permitted to conclude reasonably that she did not have the necessary trust and confidence to retain them.
In this context, it does not make any difference that Flynn and Wolfson may have been “right,” and Riesenberg wrong in the positions urged or taken. A jury might easily be confused on this point, thinking that a junior official should be praised and not fired for giving sound advice. But staffing the senior levels of a city agency is the business of the mayor and his appointees, responsible in turn to the electorate, unless a legislature says otherwise.
This does not mean that anything goes for policy-related positions: this would be a different case if an executive were fired for reporting a crime or fraud or for expressing adherence to one church or another. Compare O'Connor, 994 F.2d at 915-16. So, too, the situation would be different if a clerical worker, in a non-disruptive and otherwise proper manner, disagreed about how the agency was doing its job. If the employee were not at a policy level, it might be hard to see why such criticism would be pertinent to retention.
Further, the lack of a First Amendment claim does not mean that the plaintiffs are without remedy. The district court dismissed plaintiffs' state-law counts for wrongful discharge and related misconduct, and plaintiffs have appealed. But absent federal claims, it is not clear why either this court or the district court should be drawn into issues that involve the construction of state statutes and of state common law as applied to regulate the personnel actions of a local governmental unit.
The only jurisdiction in the district court over the state claims was pendent, and the federal claims were dismissed before trial. Given the subject matter, there is special reason why state judges should referee disagreements about whether and when state or local officials may be fired. Cf. Pyle v. South Hadley Sch. Comm., 55 F.3d 20, 22 (1st Cir.1995). Where this is so, and where as here there are few economies in a federal court resolution, the better course is ordinarily to dismiss the state claims without prejudice and leave them to local courts. Cf. Carnegie-Mellon Univ. v. Cohill, 484 U.S. 343, 350, 108 S.Ct. 614, 619, 98 L.Ed.2d 720 (1988).
For the foregoing reasons, the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants on the federal claims is affirmed, the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants on the state-law claims is vacated, and the case is remanded for dismissal of the state-law claims without prejudice. Each side shall bear its own costs on this appeal.
It is so ordered.
I respectfully dissent. In my view, the court today focuses on job title and place in the organizational hierarchy to decide whether a position is subject to a political affiliation requirement. The majority measures the distance from Wolfson and Flynn to Reisenberg, a policymaker, to determine whether their jobs are political. Although job title and position are certainly relevant to decide whether a position is political, the court's inquiry does not square with the inquiries directed by the Supreme Court in Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507, 518, 100 S.Ct. 1287, 1294-95, 63 L.Ed.2d 574 (1980), or this court in O'Connor v. Steeves, 994 F.2d 905, 910 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1024, 114 S.Ct. 634, 126 L.Ed.2d 593 (1993), which require a close examination of the overall functions of the employee's department, as well as the particular responsibilities of the position.
Indeed, we have emphasized that the appropriateness of making political affiliation a job requirement is not solely determined by either agency hierarchy or the scope of job duties. “Regardless of the position of an employee within the government hierarchy, or the broad scope of his or her duties, if the employee is responsible only for duties that are measured solely by strictly technical or professional criteria, the job is nonpartisan in nature and not properly a target of patronage dismissal.” Mendez-Palou v. Rohena-Betancourt, 813 F.2d 1255, 1258 (1st Cir.1987).
The court today avoids the significance of our en banc decision in De Choudens v. Government Development Bank of Puerto Rico, 801 F.2d 5 (1st Cir.1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1013, 107 S.Ct. 1886, 95 L.Ed.2d 494 (1987).4 De Choudens, a companion case to Jimenez Fuentes v. Torres Gaztambide, 807 F.2d 236 (1st Cir.1986) (en banc), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1014, 107 S.Ct. 1888, 95 L.Ed.2d 496 (1987), nonetheless, is controlling. De Choudens had been Senior Vice-President of Finance at the Puerto Rico Government Development Bank, one of three vice presidents serving under the president and executive vice president. Id. at 6. The bank's primary functions were to act as fiscal agent and financial advisor to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its governor, and political subdivisions; lender to government and private industry; and depository of Commonwealth funds. Id. at 8. De Choudens claimed that she was demoted because of her political affiliation, and we affirmed the district court's order reinstating her.
We held that the bank had “indicia of legitimate partisan goals for government operations, not far removed from some of the policy objectives of [the agency] discussed in Jimenez Fuentes.” Id. at 8. Unlike Jimenez Fuentes, however, we concluded that De Chouden's job position did not justify a political affiliation requirement. She was a “staff official who, while indubitably in a policymaking, confidential, and communicative position, is both empowered and constrained by the limits of her specialized functions.” Id. at 9. Unlike the department in Jimenez Fuentes, “her division [was] not a microcosm of the larger agency.” Id. The government emphasized her broad discretion in rule-making, reorganization, accounting policy, investment strategy, and budget and personnel recommendations, but we found the need for political affiliation lacking:
While these responsibilities signify a position of substance, of valued policy contributions, recommendations, and advice, they involve politically-neutral, technical, and professional matters. Similarly, though plaintiff was indeed an agency spokesperson, there is no suggestion of any “party line” or political, goal-oriented message that she ever communicated.
Id. (emphasis added).
The court today gives only brief consideration to the tasks required of Flynn and Wolfson. The court does not focus on whether Flynn's and Wolfson's duties are “politically-neutral,” “technical,” or “professional,” De Choudens, 801 F.2d at 9, or whether their duties are those of a “policy maker, privy to confidential information, a communicator, or some other office holder whose function is such that party affiliation is an equally appropriate requirement.” O'Connor, 994 F.2d at 910. Nor does the court consider factors relevant to this determination such as “relative pay, technical competence, power to control others, authority to speak in the name of policy-makers, public perception, influence on programs, contact with elected officials and responsiveness to partisan politics and political leaders.” Jimenez Fuentes, 807 F.2d at 242.
Wolfson, as Associate Director for Field Operations, has described her job as:
overseeing the operations at 20 Community centers, including recreation, aquatics, programming, personnel, and budgets, monitoring the various programs of the [Boston Community Centers] for compliance with municipal, state, and federal regulations, providing technical assistance to the non-profit corporate arms of the centers, writing of the operational and non-profit fiscal compliance manuals for the agency, and supervision of capital improvements, maintenance, and repairs.
The City submitted a written job description 5 for Wolfson's position. The description provided that the Associate Director “shall, under the Director ․ oversee the daily operations of the Boston Community Schools & Recreation Centers Program.” The responsibilities included: monitoring, supervising, and assisting the coordinators; assisting in the governance process as it applies to the formation of new councils; facilitating referral and support networks between local operations; providing technical assistance in the recruitment and hirings of coordinators; and giving orientation and supervision to coordinators during the initial ninety days of employment.
Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Wolfson, I do not believe that party affiliation is an appropriate job requirement for her position. The focus of her responsibilities was community center operations, and she was involved in “hands-on,” day-to-day operations. Wolfson was responsible for operational concerns such as recreational programs, program personnel and budgeting, maintenance and capital improvements, and compliance with applicable regulations. She testified in her deposition that she oversaw the Boston Neighborhood Basketball League and supervised the aquatics directors for the pools. She explained that she worked with the advisory board and councils for the community centers, and her role was to ensure compliance with the plan of operations. Political party goals do not play a role in these aspects of operations. Rather, her specialized job responsibilities involved “politically-neutral, technical, and professional matters.” De Choudens, 801 F.2d at 9. See Cordero v. DeJesus-Mendez, 867 F.2d 1, 14-15 (1st Cir.1989). Although Wolfson had a connection to some policy-making functions, her specialized functions did not create or impact any policies of the department. See De Choudens, 801 F.2d at 6. There is no doubt that Wolfson occupied an important position with the Boston Community Centers, however, there is no evidence that her position allowed her to make partisan decisions, nor is there any suggestion that she ever communicated any political message. See De Choudens, 801 F.2d at 9. Cf. Hall v. Ford, 856 F.2d 255, 265 (D.C.Cir.1988) (“highly visible spokesman”). Political affiliation is not an appropriate job requirement.
Similarly, Flynn describes his job responsibilities as including the:
oversight of all finance and personnel functions within the [Boston Community Centers], preparation and implementation of the department budget, supervision of state, federal, and private grants management, management of the agency's payroll and contract functions, providing fiscal, legal, and personnel assistance to the non-profit corporate arms of the centers liaison to the city's law department, labor relations, and federal agencies.
Flynn's written job description 6 describes Flynn's duties as: planning and evaluating administrative procedures for the programs; developing analytical models for use in the evaluations; preparing statistical reports and working with others to evaluate the data; and developing procedural guidelines for appropriate staff.
I agree that reviewing Flynn's political affiliation claim is a closer question than Wolfson's because Flynn's position was more closely involved with policy formulation and confidential information at the Central Office. Nevertheless, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Flynn, as we are required to in the appeal from summary judgment, I believe that his position did not concern partisan political interests. Flynn's position lacked the capabilities of influencing political goals. His affidavit states that he “never worked with the Mayor's office to establish goals and objectives ․ but only to find out what the goals and objectives were.” Flynn explained in his deposition that “[t]he largest political policy issues would be dealt with [sic] the executive director.” Although Flynn was in charge of preparing the department budget, his deposition clarifies that he prepared the budget following the directives from the mayor and executive director. Flynn's responsibilities seem quite similar to those in Fontane-Rexach v. Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, 878 F.2d 1493, 1495, 1500 (1st Cir.1988), in which we noted that although the supply officer would not always approach his job in a uniform way, it was improbable that his decisions would involve partisan political goals. Id. at 1496. Likewise, Flynn's job duties were largely limited to the technical and specialized aspects of finance and budgeting, and his duties beyond those areas carried only a limited potential for influencing political goals. As in De Choudens, Flynn was essentially a staff official with specialized knowledge, and “although his position involved policy-making, the reposing of confidence, and communicating,” such functions were “remote from advancing or thwarting the agency's partisan-responsive goals.” See 801 F.2d at 6. Accordingly, political affiliation is not an appropriate requirement.
I believe that Flynn and Wolfson have presented evidence sufficient to survive summary judgment on their claim that they were terminated from their jobs because of their lack of political affiliation with the Mayor. Accordingly, I would reverse the district court's judgment on this issue.
Because I conclude that Flynn's and Wolfson's positions are not political positions, I also part company with the court's view that they have no First Amendment claim.
Flynn's and Wolfson's objections to Riesenberg's handling of certain sexual harassment claims constitute a matter of legitimate public concern. The allegations bear on Riesenberg's fitness to serve as Executive Director, similar to the public concern we identified in O'Connor. See 994 F.2d at 915. Because such statements concern a topic which is a matter of inherent concern to the public, we need not examine plaintiffs' personal motivations for speaking out. Id. at 915.
I concede that the employees' objections to Riesenberg about personnel practices present a more difficult circumstance. In Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983), the Court considered a questionnaire circulated by an assistant district attorney, inquiring about matters such as the office's transfer policy, office morale and the level of confidence in supervisors. Id. at 141, 103 S.Ct. at 1686-87. The Court concluded that this speech related only to internal office policy and did not touch upon matters of public concern.7 Id. at 154, 103 S.Ct. at 1693-94.
Compared to the speech in Connick, however, the complaints of Flynn and Wolfson about office policies and procedures touch upon matters more likely to be of public concern, i.e., whether the city based personnel decisions on political alliances without regard to qualifications. Because this speech does not necessarily qualify on its face as a matter of public concern, we must examine its context more fully. See O'Connor, 994 F.2d at 914. Unlike the statement in Connick, the statements at issue were not made after the adverse employment decision, thus suggesting retaliation, and were not directly related to the plaintiffs' own employment situation. See 461 U.S. at 148, 103 S.Ct. at 1690-91. While this is a close issue, I am convinced that the employees' evidence is sufficient to survive summary judgment. Personnel decisions based on political affiliation are much more than an individual employee's grievance against his employer. See Connick, 461 U.S. at 148, 103 S.Ct. at 1690-91. I do not address the second and third steps of the O'Connor analysis (balancing of interests and consideration of motivations for plaintiffs' terminations) because the district court did not reach those issues. See 994 F.2d at 912-13. I would only hold that the employees have raised a genuine factual issue as to whether they engaged in speech concerning a matter of public concern protected by the First Amendment.
Finally, I would also allow Flynn and Wolfson to assert their pendent state law claims for wrongful termination. The district court decided that a “whistleblowing” employee may be entitled to public protection under Massachusetts law. Nevertheless, the court granted summary judgment in the city's favor on the wrongful termination claim because of its ruling that the employees' speech criticizing Riesenberg's decision did not constitute whistleblowing. I have reached a contrary conclusion as to the public nature of the speech in question and, therefore, I would conclude that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the speech at issue falls within the public policy exception. See GTE Products Corp. v. Stewart, 421 Mass. 22, 653 N.E.2d 161, 164-65 (1995).
I would reverse the district court's judgment.
1. See Jimenez Fuentes, 807 F.2d at 246; Cordero, 867 F.2d at 10-12, 14; O'Connor v. Steeves, 994 F.2d 905, 911 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1024, 114 S.Ct. 634, 126 L.Ed.2d 593 (1993); Ortiz-Pinero v. Rivera-Arroyo, 84 F.3d 7, 17 (1st Cir.1996); McGurrin Ehrhard v. Connolly, 867 F.2d 92, 96 (1st Cir.1989).
2. De Choudens arose on interlocutory appeal, and this court did not decide that the official was protected but only that there was enough for a preliminary injunction. Later, in discussing De Choudens, this court made clear that an employee involved in technical matters might still be subject to political discharge on account of other duties (public litigation, advice) less technical in nature. Nunez v. Izquierdo-Mora, 834 F.2d 19 (1st Cir.1987). See also Goyco de Maldonado v. Rivera, 849 F.2d 683 (1st Cir.1988).
3. See Pickering v. Board of Educ. of Township High Sch. Dist. 205, 391 U.S. 563, 564, 88 S.Ct. 1731, 1732-33, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968); Mt. Healthy City Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ. v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 281-82, 97 S.Ct. 568, 573-74, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977); Givhan v. Western Line Consol. Sch. Dist., 439 U.S. 410, 411-13, 99 S.Ct. 693, 694-95, 58 L.Ed.2d 619 (1979); Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 140-41, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 1686-87, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983); Board of County Comm'rs, Wabaunsee County, Kan. v. Umbehr, 518 U.S. 668, ----, 116 S.Ct. 2342, 2345, 135 L.Ed.2d 843 (1996); O'Connor, 994 F.2d at 911-18.
4. While De Choudens granted a preliminary injunction, the only limitation to its ruling is that later development of the record for a permanent injunction could cause a different result if we found “a sufficient nexus” between the position and “policy relating to partisan concerns.” 801 F.2d at 10. The cases cited by the court have uniformly endorsed De Choudens, only finding it distinguishable on its facts. See, e.g., Nunez v. Izquierdo-Mora, 834 F.2d 19, 23-25 (1st Cir.1987); Goyco de Maldonado v. Rivera, 849 F.2d 683, 685-86 (1st Cir.1988).
5. Wolfson contends that this description was not the official description when she was employed by the Central Office. The district court relied on Wolfson's deposition testimony describing her position, and did not rely on this description. Nevertheless, I have reviewed the description and believe it is largely consistent with Wolfson's testimony describing her job. Flynn and Wolfson also attached to their affidavits job descriptions contained in the Operations Manual for the Boston Community Centers. The district court, however, struck these affidavits, which were submitted after the close of discovery.
6. Like Wolfson, Flynn contends that this was not the official job description when he was employed by the Central Office. The district court did not rely on this description, but on Flynn's deposition testimony. Nevertheless, the description appears to be, in many respects, consistent with Flynn's description of his job.
7. The questionnaire did touch upon one matter of public concern-pressure on employees to work in political campaigns-but the Court examined the circumstances of the plaintiff's circulation of her questionnaire and concluded that it was “most accurately characterized as an employee grievance concerning internal office policy.” 461 U.S. at 154, 103 S.Ct. at 1694.
BOUDIN, Circuit Judge.

domain: law


text:
Lots of people will have heard today about their fate for the next few months, regardless of whether the Lockdown 2.0 lifts in December or not.
For some, the prospect of being at home again will feel particularly difficult having assumed some normality around work over the last few months.
Ad hoc chats (not scheduled, not on Zoom!) at the coffee machine, popping out for lunch or a coffee with a colleague and that impromptu interaction with people outside of our households, all serve to feeling more connected with your employer, colleagues and your old way of life.
With those casual touchpoints taken away, employers need to work extra hard to ensure that whilst their employees are not visible in person, those that are not coping well, are “seen”.
I hear from my clients who are working at home, sometimes in small flats with no outside space. Many are feeling isolated and lonely, suffering in silence, fearful that should they complain about the increased workload as colleagues are furloughed or if the company is unstable, their employers will view them a liability and their role might be at risk. So much instability raises anxiety and our depletes energy levels when we need the energy to keep ourselves going, without the usual sources of energy.
Our mental health as a country has never been so fragile, employees need to be able to ask for help, know it is safe to do so and employers need to listen and take relevant action.
If you’re a business concerned about the mental health of your employees, and want to look to ensure the well being of your team, get in touch for a bespoke approach to workplace mental health carried out remotely.

domain: sociology


Teenage girls no longer plaster their bedroom walls with posters of heartthrob hunks thanks to what's been dubbed 'the Zoella-effect'.
Hip video bloggers, such as Zoella , are said to be encouraging young females to paint their rooms in grown-up 'classy' colours and decorate them with fairy lights.
The trend is seeing girls spurn posting pin-ups on the wall, with just seven per cent of the current crop of teenage girls pinning them up, compared to almost 90 per cent in the 1980s.
George Home by Asda , commissioned the survey, which found younger females are 'skipping the traditional teenage phase' as a result.
A total of 4,000 females, with an age range between 13 and 65, were quizzed on how they kitted out their bedroom during their formative years.
For those growing up between 2010 and now, most favoured white painted walls, fairy lights, a laptop, smartphone, flatscreen TV, full-length mirror and tablet computer.
The results have been credited to web stars like British fashion and beauty vloggers Zoella, 26, and Tanya Burr, 27.
It is in stark contrast to older women's tastes, such as those who grew up in the swinging '60s, whose record players, shag pile carpets and typewriters were overlooked by posters of pop stars like The Beatles .
In the 1970s, the Rolling Stones were still the most popular music stars fixed to girls' walls, while in the '80s Michael Jackson was the king of posters.
A total of 34 per cent of current teen girls said they ditched posters of pin-ups because wanted their bedroom to have a 'grown up' look and did not want to be affected by 'daft trends'.
"You couldn't really see the wallpaper at all. It was my haven really, I just hid away and dreamed about movie stars."
A spokesperson for George Home at Asda, said: “Times are changing and so are people and especially our homes - none less so than the bedrooms of our teenagers, which when we make a comparison is something we can all relate to.
"In the past bedrooms typically tended to feature similar items and a look a feel, as essentially friends tried to copy friends.
"In the modern day, access to the internet and superstar vloggers have played a huge role in changing this, driving a more grown up approach and appreciation for trends and what’s current and popular with a much younger audience.
"It may be different to eras gone by, but perhaps the fact that teenage girls want to reflect their own individual style in their bedroom décor is a sign of empowerment and positive influence."


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Chapter II : Contraband of war - Art. 22.
Art. 22. The following articles may, without notice (1), be treated as contraband of war, under the name of absolute contraband:
(1) Arms of all kinds, including arms for sporting purposes, and their distinctive component parts.
(2) Projectiles, charges, and cartridges of all kinds, and their distinctive component parts.
(3) Powder and explosives specially prepared for use in war.
(4) Gun-mountings, limber boxes, limbers, military waggons, field forges, and their distinctive component parts.
(5) Clothing and equipment of a distinctively military character.
(6) All kinds of harness of a distinctively military character.
(7) Saddle, draught, and pack animals suitable for use in war.
(8) Articles of camp equipment, and their distinctive component parts.
(9) Armour plates.
(10)Warships, including boats, and their distinctive component parts of such a nature that they can only be used on a vessel of war.
(11)Implements and apparatus designed exclusively for the manufacture of munitions of war, for the manufacture or repair of arms, or war material for use on land or sea.
(1) In view of the difficulty of finding an exact equivalent in English for the expression "de plein droit", it has been decided to translate it by the words "without notice," which represent the meaning attached to it by the draftsman as appears from the General Report see p. 44 ' (note in the original) '.


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Hispanic performers have been a big part of surrounding the music industry worldwide. Out of Ricky Martin https://stg4.denimio.com/blog/passionate-honeymoons-in-asia-how-to-efficiently-date-a-girl-from-an-alternate-culture to Selena, their very own distinct music has made all of them iconic figures in the world of crop up. Their music styles puerto rican woman have helped to condition popular music, and they are a huge inspiration for musicians of all types. Their voices are effective and their words can contact the minds of audience everywhere. They are simply some of the best latino vocalists that have ever graced the background music industry.
One of the most powerfulk Hispanic performers of all time, Renombre Estefan is well know for wearing down barriers that prevented Latina music from currently being recognized by the world at large. She’s sold many albums and won a large number of prizes throughout her career. She actually is also a well-liked actress and has taken upon many other ventures in the entertainment world.
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The Rolling Stones just lately ranked the 200 best vocalists of all time, and many of the top musicians and artists on that list had been Latino. While there has been several drama about Celine Dion not really making the cut, we were very happy to see a few of our favorite Hispanic singers on the list. Check out the full list right here.

domain: artistic


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Category: Animals & Pets
Author: Nancy E. Hughes http://nancyehughes.com
Illustrator: Dougie K.
Paperback ISBN: 9781616335519; 1616335513
eBook ISBN: 9781616335526; 1616335521
Charlie is a little boy with a big imagination who discovers forest animals doing crazy things. Ants with holey underpants dancing with a hawk? A skunk playing a flute? A deer with sneakers? Yes and so much more! Read to the end for a huge surprise!

domain: literature


Joint Standing Committee on the Corruption and Crime Commission — Seventh Report —
“Unfinished business: The Corruption and Crime Commission’s responseto the Committee’s report on Dr Cunningham and Ms Atoms” —
Resumed from 28 November 2018 on the following motion moved by Hon Alison Xamon —
That the report be noted.
Hon ALISON XAMON: I would like to make a few comments on this report. People would be aware that this matter has been in front of the chamber for quite some time, but that it has taken a while for us to contemplate the matters fully because it was in front of the courts for a considerable time awaiting determination. After Professor Robert Cunningham and Ms Catherine Atoms had been rightfully awarded over $1 million in damages for the wrongs that were perpetrated against them, unfortunately, the government took it upon itself to appeal that decision. That meant that this poor couple, who had already been subjected to so much, had to wait for an inordinately long time before they got any sort of finalisation of the matter.
The last time we considered this report in this place, the clock had started ticking post the positive award to those two people. Effectively, the appeal had been dismissed, but the clock had started ticking on the question of whether there would be any further appeals to that outcome. I am very happy to report to members that no further appeals were lodged and, as a result, the final payment to Dr Cunningham and Ms Atoms has been granted. I am very pleased about that. Before members get the idea that this has somehow left them in an incredibly advantageous financial position, I point out that the nature of the damages were to cover the extensive legal costs that the couple accumulated over more than a decade. They also reflect that Ms Atoms, due to the trauma of what has happened to her and all the publicity that is arisen, was unable to work for an entire decade. Despite being a professional, highly intelligent woman, she was unable to do that. I remind members that the purpose of the payment was to try to put this couple back into the position that they would have been in had it not been for the corrupt behaviour that was perpetrated against them by the police.
The issue of the payments for this couple has effectively been resolved, and I am really pleased to see that. However, again I say how disgraceful it was that it took them having to take their own legal action, rather than the state supporting them in any way to get any semblance of justice. Unfortunately, the issues that led to the need for court action remain outstanding. This is the substance covered in the report titled “Unfinished business: The Corruption and Crime Commission’s response to the Committee’s report on Dr Cunningham and Ms Atoms”. I have been led to believe that at least a couple of the police officers who were involved in the initial incident are still working for the police force. However, I am not sure whether this is the case. I am not quite sure how we find out the status of the police who were involved in the initial incident. I am not sure whether we are entitled to know. It means that the general public is not necessarily to know. None of these police officers was stood down as a direct result of this incident, and that continues to raise concerns. I remind people that one of the reasons that what happened to Dr Robert Cunningham and Ms Catherine Atoms was so heinous was that the mere event of the wrongful tasering that occurred in Fremantle was not the entirety of the incident. For this couple, the true horror emerged after that when they were wrongfully charged and those charges were prosecuted. The Parliamentary Inspector of the Corruption and Crime Commission has effectively found that evidence was tampered with. That is incredibly serious, but what has happened with any of the people who were around that particular scenario is yet unknown.
I also remind members that we cannot put off this issue into the dark past. There appear to be ongoing issues around the culture of what is happening within Fremantle police. I remind members that it was only last Friday— a matter of five days ago—that the Corruption and Crime Commission tabled yet another report about misconduct arising from the misuse of a taser by a police officer. The report outlined that there were also ongoing concerns about an attempt to lay charges against the poor guy who had been assaulted and had a finger dislocated. Other incidents arise around the misuse of tasers. I want to correct something. Without the report in front of me, the report from five days ago was not about the misuse of a taser, but it was certainly about assault and attempts to wrongfully charge. In that instance, the due diligence employed by the police prosecutor ensured that the prosecution did not proceed. I acknowledge that some processes within the police force are clearly operating correctly, but it raises serious concerns about what on earth is happening out there when there seems to be this culture of these sorts of incidents happening and then the victims being subject to attempts to prosecute.
One thing that I think is also worthwhile talking about in relation to this issue of unfinished business is that this couple has been comprehensively failed by the state at every turn. For someone such as me who takes a very keen interest in the extraordinary powers of the CCC and the rule of law and how honest everyday citizens should be able to get on with their lives unimpeded, I continue to experience extreme disquiet over the failure of the CCC to deal appropriately with this couple’s incident and how they were subsequently treated by the government.
One issue that resulted from the legal matter that arose is the lack of model litigant guidelines in this state. This issue needs some urgent attention, and I think it behoves the Attorney General to look at it as a much-needed area of reform. Model litigant guidelines exist in other jurisdictions, but we clearly do not have anything like that here.
The CHAIR: Hon Alison Xamon.
Hon ALISON XAMON: I draw members’ attention to a question I asked of the Attorney General last year on the issue of model litigant guidelines for legal practitioners acting for the state and its agencies. I quote part of the Attorney General’s response to question on notice 1083 from Hansard of Wednesday, 16 May 2018 —
Generally, I have no plans to issue model litigant guidelines as the State of Western Australia, and its practitioners, have a duty to act fairly and honourably in the conduct of litigation.
The obligations on government practitioners do not differ from those incumbent upon all barristers and solicitors conducting litigation, albeit they are held to a higher standard. These obligations echo model litigant guidelines in other jurisdictions and it is difficult to envisage a way to express these higher standards for the purposes of codified guidelines.
That was the response I got. He effectively said, “No, we’re not going to be looking at this, but people are obliged to do the right thing anyway, so it shouldn’t be an issue.” With respect, clearly it is an issue, because Dr Cunningham and Ms Atoms had to go through the legal proceedings as described in this report, and the failure of the state to adhere to any sort of model litigant guidelines had the effect of subjecting them to a drawn-out and very expensive process. That is completely wrong.
I say that because the arguments put by the state in the courts that it was not liable for a payout in respect of both matters—the initial case and the appeal—were utterly contradictory arguments. In the first instance, when Dr Cunningham and Ms Atoms first brought the matter, the state argued that it was not liable to pay damages to either of them because what the police officers had done was reasonable and within their normal course of duty. As such, they were not entitled to get any sort of payout.
We know that there was a comprehensive judgement on that matter, and it outlined in horrific detail exactly why that claim by the state government was completely wrong. In my opinion, that judgement, which outlined the seriousness of the injustice that had been perpetrated against Dr Cunningham and Ms Atoms, should have prompted an acknowledgement by the Corruption and Crime Commission that there needed to be further investigation into the matter. In fact, the Parliamentary Inspector of the Corruption and Crime Commission pretty much said exactly the same thing in his report, which is part of what the Joint Standing Committee on the Corruption and Crime Commission has responded to.
Horrifyingly, this judgement from a court of law in which the standard of evidence is high was still not enough to encourage the Corruption and Crime Commission to further investigate the matter. I would have thought that, at the very least, the Corruption and Crime Commission would have been motivated at that point to look into the allegations of tampering with evidence, which is a really serious matter, but it was never looked at. That, to me, sets off major alarm bells. Why the lack of interest? Why is this not happening?
As an aside, when I talk to people outside this place about this matter, people who I think should know better keep saying to me, “Oh, Alison, there’s more to this. You just don’t know the full story. There’s more to it.” To which I say, “If there is more to it, come out with it. Come out with it in the courts, come out with it publicly, or even tell me privately.” But no-one has been able to say that. I am sick and tired of people saying that to me. To the next person who says to me, “Oh, Alison, nudge-nudge, wink-wink, you need to know there’s just more to this,” I say: absolute baloney. Absolute rubbish. There is nothing more to it. People just do not want to accept that justice has not been done and that the wrong thing happened to these people. That is the fact. If anyone comes up and says to members, “Oh, Alison keeps going on about this, but there’s more to it”, ask them what on earth they are talking about, because every time I ask, “Really? Tell me what on earth you are talking about”, no-one can say a thing, because it is absolute, unmitigated rubbish. There is nothing more to it. The wrong thing happened to this couple and the state failed and continues to fail to address that.
I return to the issue of the model litigant guidelines. The previous government decided to appeal the payout, and that decision was continued by the current government. I think that was a really terrible decision, but what is most horrendous is that the state suddenly changed its argument. The argument was no longer, “We shouldn’t have to pay the amount because what these officers did was within the realm of ordinary conduct”; instead, the argument became, “We shouldn’t have to pay this, because what the officers did was so wrong, so extreme and so erroneous that there is no way the state should be held liable for it.” The state took the exact opposite position.
The state wanted a bit both ways. This is one of the reasons there is a call for things like model litigant guidelines, because the average citizen—the average punter on the street—does not have the financial resources or tools at their disposal to take on the might of an entire state, which has a State Solicitor’s Office, barristers and everything at its disposal. This is a fundamental issue of justice and it is something that we in this place should be concerned about. This is something that we should take up and say, “Yes, we recognise that there needs to be limitations on the way that the state can use its extraordinary power and resources to effectively drag its citizens through court proceedings.” We need to recognise that.
There are ways in which we can mitigate the power of the state. For example, when it comes to dealing with criminal proceedings, people can in theory access Legal Aid if they need to. The state says, “Okay, you’re up against the DPP and we recognise that you need to be given some resources in order to deal with that, so we make Legal Aid available for you.” Of course, we can have discussions about the degree to which Legal Aid has had its funding slowly stripped and how much access is really there, but that is a discussion for another day; that is not one we need to have here.
The point I am making is that we already recognise that we need to be able to balance the might of the state against the need for people to be able to access appropriate services to get justice. But in this instance, even though it was an incredibly serious matter and even though the government had failed and continues to fail to use its departments to look into what happened to Dr Cunningham and Ms Atoms—they had to undertake that themselves—because the matter was a civil matter, the state did not hesitate to use its immense power and resources against this couple. As a result, it turned out that the appeal was not upheld, as it should not have been, because it was outrageous. It should never have happened in the first place. But that meant the payout to which this couple was entitled has been diminished even further. Seriously, how much do we need to ruin this couple’s life? So the matter is not finished. It is very much unfinished, and we will have to keep revisiting this.
Consideration of report adjourned, pursuant to standing orders.
Progress reported and leave granted to sit again, pursuant to standing orders.


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Flying killer robots may soon start targeting people by themselves. You read that right: Someone has invented a weapon designed to kill people without human input.
Conceived by Norwegian defense firm Kongsberg Gruppen, the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) is reportedly being designed to “make decisions to kill without human interference.”
The JSM, a missile reportedly capable of evading incoming fire with sharp aerial maneuvers, is being produced on order from the Norwegian Armed Forces. Reports say that a number of countries, including South Korea, Japan and the United States, have been pitched to purchase the weapon system. Last June, the Australian Royal Air Force reportedly showed interest as well, according to Business Insider, in equipping their fighters.
For now, it’s unclear whether the so-called killer robots will have the capability to transform into other types of vehicles, like Mack trucks or dinosaurs. It seems an inevitability, however, that the autonomous weapons will be deployed onto flying drones afflicted by a conscious malware that may or may not be the incarnation of Skynet.
Naturally, if you want a joint strike missile, you’ll need a plane to strap it to. Enter the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, “one of the most expensive conventional weapon systems in U.S. history,” according to Breaking Defense. At one point, the fighter was estimated to cost up to $1.1 trillion for development and operation over a 55-year lifespan (although that figure has been controverted by Lockheed Martin executives).
On the F-35, defense journalist Colin Clark wrote at Breaking Defense, that industry experts are most excited by the fighter’s unprecedented ability to confuse enemies and attack their electronics systems. “Think Stuxnet,” he wrote.
“Remotely controlled solutions for demanding civilian and military tasks have become increasingly more important during the last years,” a spokesperson for Kongsberg said, in response to the killer robot controversy surrounding JSM. “The Norwegian high-tech industry needs to join this development.”
In July, Raytheon and Kongsberg announced a partnership to compete for a $1 billion U.S. Navy contract for its Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare program, which seeks to replace the Harpoon anti-ship missile commonly deployed on the F/A-18 Hornet strike fighter.
“From the government side we are very pleased they maybe can sell it to more countries,” Norwegian Air Force Lt. Col. Sigurd Fongen, who oversees F-35 operations, told reporters.
In further response to the “killer robot” claims, Norwegian defense minister Ine Marie Eriksen Søreid assured the public that Norway adheres strictly to the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Testing on the JSM system will reportedly begin next year, with hopes it’ll become fully operational by 2025. At least now we have a date for the robot apocalypse.


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I don't see the point of paying all that money for a wheel bearing spacer when the front bearings are designed to have end float, this allows for expansion when hot.
I share your doubts, I worry about attempts to modify original designs because I am not convinced that people actually understand what they are modifying or doing.
It all depends on whether the movement this product is designed to remove was meant to be there, instead of a design flaw that should be engineered out.
I am sure one of the more knowledgeable posters will be able to tell us which it is.
They are used as OE on MGB's and many other cars. It does really not take the end float out, but locks te inner and outer races together so less movement and risk of wear to the stub axle. They are undoubtedly a good thing, and not used at the factory to save time/money.
There are many owners using them on a variety of Triumphs (including some fussy people) who are very pleased with them. These are cars used for long distance CT events, so a fair test.

domain: design


With the Shabelle River’s recent flooding claiming at least 10 lives in the town of Beletweyne in Somalia, those Somalis who are living downstream from Beletweyne are worried. Many believe that their communities may face similar flooding soon.
“The Deyr (seasonal) rains did not yet start and the river is (already) full,” said Ali, a resident of Afgooye. “When rain falls from the sky, it is the river where the rain water will end up. Now the river is full due to the heavy rains from upstream.”
The threat of flooding in Afgooye is so serious, that the Imam of the biggest mosque in town raised the issue of imminent floods during last Friday’s prayer sermon. Addressing his congregation, the Imam urged the community to contribute empty sand bags, in order to help areas that may be inundated.
“History may repeat itself,” a worried Ali says. “In 2007 we were alerted by community elders in Jowhar and Beledweyne of the imminent threat of floods, but no one listened to the alert until it was too late.” Back then in October of 2007, Afgooye was struck by its worst flood in decades. Floods from Shabelle River swept through many villages, destroying farm land and crop stores. Many small villages in the vicinity were completely cut off at the time. Hundreds of families fled their homes; more than 30 small villages in the area were affected.
Ali stated he was very concerned that the risk of flooding is high in coming weeks, since more rains are expected in Jowhar up river. Other riverine towns in the lower Shabelle region are also experiencing the same scenarios, with rivers already at full crest.
Ibrahim, a farmer from Afgooye District, agrees. “The water level of the Shabelle River in Afgooye District is projected to continue rising in the coming weeks, following the expected rains in Mid-October,” he said.
The SWALIM agency,(Somalia Water & Land Information Managaement) has stated in their October 1st update, “the currently observed river levels along the Shabelle River are high with a moderate risk of flooding in the lower reaches of the river.”
In addition to damages to farms and homes, flooding along the Shabelle River raises other health risks as well. In past years, floods have caused a rise in cases of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD), which together with cholera has already killed 32 Somalis this year. Polluted waters also raise the threat of cholera. Flood waters in the past have also lead to an increase in mosquitos, causing a rise in local cases of malaria.
Waterborne disease is a major threat to health throughout Somalia, as more than half of all Somalis do not have access to clean water and sanitation.