Podcasts about Gaelic

Blanca, Dee and Mei recorded this special live episode in Kells Courthouse, Tourism and Cultural Hub at Samhain Festival 2022 – Celebrating 5,000 years of Food and Culture.  Samhain is such a special time of year and the ladies were delighted to be invited to be a part of the festival in County Meath celebrating it and highlighting incredible Boyne Valley food and drink. They kicked off this episode by delving into the traditional foods and feasting associated with this Gaelic festival that marks the end of the harvest and the beginning of the darker half of the year. And speaking of darker, they also explored other festivals connected to this time of year when the veil between the spirit world and ours is at its thinnest... Halloween, Dias Los Muertos in Mexico and Día de Todos Los Santos in Spain.  The stars of this episode however are Allen and Lorena Krause, the couple who have beautifully restored Killua Castle in Clonmellon, County Westmeath. Allen was born in Mexico of Austrian and Spanish ancestry and Lorena is also from Mexico. They have spent 21 years renovating the castle and land where they now use regenerative agriculture and have red deer, Irish moiled cattle, old Irish goats, Jacob sheep, Kerry Bog ponies, geese, ducks and hens. Plus they are in the final stages of their own restaurant on-site, which they hope to open soon.  Their story is fascinating and unfolded in the most charming way with our Spice Bags hosts before a live audience at Samhain. Tune in to hear it for yourselves!   https://boynevalleyflavours.ie/collections/boyne-valley-shop https://killuacastle.com/ With special thanks to Samhain Festival and Boyne Valley Flavours for including us as part of this year's line up. 

Leinster and Ireland legend Gordon D'Arcy and All-Ireland Final referee David Gough sat down with Adrian Barry for a fresh shave and interview around #Movember, mental health, rugby, Gaelic football, and more! Brought to you with Gillette - in association with #Movember. Effortless Shave, Magnificent Mo. You can sign up or donate now at Movember.com

In this episode, we look at the time of the Brehon laws of Ireland and take an example of just some of these Gaelic common laws that held our society together. We also chat about the Brehon families and some of the Irish surnames associated with these families. We then go on to chat about the early Irish monks and some of the monastic-related surnames of Ireland. We tie it all up by linking to the book "How The Irish Saved Civilization" with lots of good Gaelic Chieftain music and more along the way. Enjoy!

Leinster and Ireland legend Gordon D'Arcy and All-Ireland Final referee David Gough sat down with Adrian Barry for a fresh shave and interview around #Movember, mental health, rugby, Gaelic football, and more! Brought to you with Gillette - in association with #Movember. Effortless Shave, Magnificent Mo. You can sign up or donate now at Movember.com

Welcome to our first annual Halloween Special Episode! For this being our first year, we tell you guys the history of Halloween, where it originated, Christian and Gaelic influences on it. We also talk about food, costumes and where Trick-Or-Treating started!We hope you guys enjoy!!3 AM TALES OF TERROR CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT LISTENER DISCRETION IS ADVISEDSubscribe and view pictures from episodes at https://www.3amtalesofterror.comQuestions or story ideas for us? Email us at info@3amtalesofterror.comWant to support us? Become a member of our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/threeamtalesofterrorLike, follow, and subscribe to us on;Facebook https://www.facebook.com/3amtalesofterrorInstagram https://www.instagram.com/3amtalesofterror/YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyIyoetod5LNQnZ9qz4P8wAnd as always,Stay Terrified!We would also like to thank Tabletop Audio for the background and ambience music used in all our episodes!

Scott Carl Beltz is an entrepreneur, servant leader, and poetic seer involved with professional and communal initiatives including organizational development, dynamic partnerships, and peer-to-peer consulting.  He compares cultural dynamics of our past with our present, to determine optimal recourse for future societal engineering and cultural adaptation within organizational bodies and society at large.   Scott founded Nurture Culture® in 2019 with a vision for empathetic company cultures as the gold-standard. Nurture Culture® quantifies and manages organizational culture with Culture-as-a-Service (CaaS) methodology.  Alongside his professional endeavors, Scott interprets his ancestry to understand ancestral experiences as a foundation to help others comprehend both their ancestral trauma and their lineage's gifts.  Born in America to descendants of European Immigrants, his ancestors include the Gaelic, Germanic, Norman, Nordic, Baltic, Hellenic, and Scythian peoples.    Scott's gifts are channeling the fir flaithemon, the ‘truth of of the prince', and practicing techniques of the Filí, an ancient class of poetic seers, to hold space for sustainable decorum.  As heir apparent to the ancient, Gaelic royal family, the Uí Néill, it is Scott's life's purpose to embody and uphold the truthful accounts of his ancestry, his life's experiences both professionally and communally, and all peoples objectively correct assertions and subjective thoughts and feelings. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/normalizetheconversation/support

The42.ie's Gavan Casey is back to give us a preview on Katie Taylor's upcoming fight against Karen Carabajal this Saturday in London. Katie puts all her word lightweight titles on the line against the unbeaten Argentinian although she isn't expected to cause too many problems for the Irish Olympic Gold medalist. Although we usually only cover Irish topics or Irish sporting events in America….I felt it was worth keeping tabs on Katie this weekend given she is based in Connecticut and of course has fought stateside many times before. Gavan also gives us insight into why the Amanda Serrano rematch in Croke Park didn't materialize this year and he tells us if he thinks that megafight will happen next year…… Or Will we see Katie trading leather with the likes of MMA super Kris Cyborg back in Madison Square Garden or in Las Vegas. We also look back on the sensational success of Ireland's female boxers at the European Championships last weekend with gold for Kellie Harrington, Amy Broadhurst and Aoife O'Rourke. As listeners know, the podcasts have been a bit sporadic over the last few months and that's basically because I've been tied up myself playing Gaelic football here in New York. The season has now ended so I hope to get back up to speed with things here. I'm hoping to do a podcast at least once every 2 weeks, likely to be released midweek on a wed or Thursday. If there's anyone, you'd like to hear me interview feel free to reach out on our social media channels on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, @thelonghallpodcast. I have a really interesting interview with Irish whiskey expert Tim Herlihy that I've kept on ice over the last few months. Tim is the co-founder of the new Irish Whiskey called and that will be released next.Visit www.thelonghallpodcast.com for more boxing and New York GAA news.You will also find other New York GAA match reports on the site as well as a podcast with New York Hurling Division Chair Richie Hartnett.If you would like to send in your own match reports, or other Irish American sports stories, please reach out to us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, @thelonghallpodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Helen McNamara O'Shea tells us of the brave leap she made from a career as an accomplished doctor to that of a singer/songwriter.  Given that Helen describes herself as 'ancient', which she is not by any means, it seemed, on the face of things,  a switch that didn't make a whole lot of sense.But that's on the face of things, because both careers, to Helen, have something fundamental in common. Healing.And that's what Helen is at heart, a healer.  She just does it now through the power of music, no longer through the power of medicine. Follow along as Helen tells us of her remarkable upbringing in Ireland, her life in Montreal and in New Jersey.  And how she got the spiritual permission she needed, from a hugely important person in her life, to follow a passion that had long been locked away, and the pivotal moment where it all came together.And what's with the long name?  We'll let Helen tell you that story too.====================================You can help Helen produce her first a cappella album, about grief for the grieving, by contributing to her crowdfunding campaign.And a thanks to our centerpiece, Helen herself, for her songs heard in this episode, some of which are cover versions.  Here they are in order, and the albums they appear on, where applicable:Someone Is Waiting (from Know You're Enough)Hey Darlin' (from Know You're Enough)Cover Me Up (from Know You're Enough)Stay Here Now (from Know You're Enough)The Hereafter (with Jude Johnstone)Simple Man  (from Mama Told You)Moments (from Mama Told You)Fairytale of New York (with Mike Montrey)Prinetime (from Know You're Enough)For Me And You (for Cornelia)andBeautiful You (with Yancyabril)You can hear all of Helen's music on Spotify. Search under Helen O'Shea.A great big Thank You (a veritable Go Raibh Míle Maith Agat) to MacDara Ó Conaola for allowing us to use his recording of Céibh Chill Rónáin which demonstrates the ancient Gaelic art of Sean-nós singing.  MacDara's music in general can be found here:  The Love Token by Macdara on Amazon Music Unlimitedand you can follow MacDara on Twitter @MacDaraMusicA special shout out to Lochlainn Harte, Imaging Manager at Newstalk Radio, for extra, top class, professional sound editing.Thanks to Purple-Planet  for  Intro/Outro music, and to FreeSound for the sound FX.Check out the Celtic Irish American Academy. Support its work by donating (in USD $, with tax exemption benefits) here: CIAA Scholastic.W: CenterPieceNY.com.  Ratings & reviews here.FaceBook/Twitter: @CenterPieceNY

Celtic rituals? Classical mythology? Street meat?? Nancy Drew??? Listen to find out about the pagan roots of modern day Halloween and how it developed from a Gaelic festival and the Christian Feast of All Saints.

Today we're joined again by Jeremiah Roberts and Andrew Soncrant, hosts of the podcast "Cultish," this time to discuss the origins of Halloween and how Christians should view the holiday. We look at Samhain, a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season, and its origins and true meaning, as well as how it has historically been linked to Halloween's origins. We also talk about Guy Fawkes Day and the history of trick or treat and ultimately ask the question: Should Christians celebrate Halloween? If so, where is the line between celebrating death and gore and celebrating a kid-friendly festive holiday? We talk about the importance of understanding that we're in a cultural free fall into neo-Paganism and how this might contribute to our understanding and celebration of Halloween. What does good discernment look like in this context? Check out the Cultish website and Instagram! --- Timecodes: [01:11] New stickers! [02:06] Interview with Jeremiah & Andrew begins [14:43] How did Halloween develop into a holiday celebrating death? [20:02] Basing convictions on historical reality [25:31] Satanic panic [30:13] Discernment for the Christian [37:10] Reclaiming Halloween [45:00] Origins of Saimhain's false connection to Halloween --- Today's Sponsors: CrowdHealth — get your first 6 months for just $99/month. Use promo code 'ALLIE' when you sign up at JoinCrowdHealth.com. Hunter Douglas — get your free Style Gets Smarter design guide at HunterDouglas.com/ALLIE today! Patriot Mobile — go to PatriotMobile.com/ALLIE or call 972-PATRIOT and use promo code 'ALLIE' to get free activation! Covenant Eyes — protect you and your family from the things you shouldn't be looking at online. Go to coveyes.com/ALLIE to try it FREE for 30 days! --- Previous Episodes: Ep 666 | Confronting the Occult, Demonic Symbolism & Witchcraft | Guests: Jeremiah Roberts & Andrew Soncrant (Cultish) https://apple.co/3zf0M3P Ep 216 | The Rise of Millennial Witches https://apple.co/3TNMsao Ep 170 | Is It OK to Celebrate Halloween? https://apple.co/3TT6osm --- "R.I.P. ROE" Sticker: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey/products/rip-roe-sticker "Go VOTE" Sticker: https://shop.blazemedia.com/products/vote-sticker?pr_prod_strat=use_description&pr_rec_id=6552e1052&pr_rec_pid=7931910291709&pr_ref_pid=7926489317629&pr_seq=uniform --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 90, Brought to you in association with our friends at Soccer Coach Weekly (@SoccerCoachWeek) Episode 90 – What is Great Coaching? a conversation with Shane SmithIn this episode we talk to Shane Smith about what is great coaching and how to support player development.Shane has a BSc in Sports Science, an M.A. in Primary Education, is a primary school teacher and a coach. We discuss what great coaching may look like by reviewing the coach, the environment, the challenges, and the session. Shane shares his experiences of working and coaching in Ireland as well as his background of coaching a variety of sports including Gaelic football. Shane Smith – Twitter - @ShaneSmith197The Soccer Coaching Podcast, Twitter - @SoccerCoachCastThe Soccer Coaching Podcast, Email - thesoccercoachingpodcast@gmail.com This episode was brought to you in association with our friends at Soccer Coach Weekly.Established since 2006, Soccer Coach Weekly is a leading source of inspiration and advice for all grassroots coaches. Join thousands of youth soccer coaches, just like you, saving time and effort in their goal of having the most effective, enjoyable and successful coaching journey for them and their players. – https://www.soccercoachweekly.net/ Thanks for listening and we hope you enjoyed the episode!

The nature documentaries Addison watches with their homeschool co-op group are a bit different from the ones shown in public schools. Content warning: Language, mangled French and Gaelic, underwater sound effects, explosives, animal death, innuendos, predators feeding, death Written by Brenna Anderson-Dowd in collaboration with Frederick Elmore.  Sound design by Frederick Elmore.  Music production by Kevin Elmore.   Featuring Frederick Elmore as Cocques Blousteau and Cap'n Caper, Brenna Anderson-Dowd as the harpy and narrator, Noelle Rose as the siren, Rebecca Hansson of Be Not Afraid as the teacher, and Taryn Baldwin as Addison. 

In this episode, Mike Carroll (@Fit_For_Golf) goes into depth about physical training for golf. Mike played golf his entire life, but stopped playing while attending college. Mike played Gaelic football in college and studied Sports & Exercise Science at the University of Limerick from 2010-2014 and began working as a personal trainer in 2011. In 2014, Mike traveled to the UK and got his TPI level 1 certification, and shortly after this created Fit For Golf. In 2016, Mike saw a job posting for a golf trainer in Orange County, California and eventually took the leap and moved. During the pandemic, the Fit For Golf app gained lots of popularity and Mike was able to go full time into it. Today, Mike resides in Orange County, California and trains golfers ranging from beginners to PGA tour players. You can learn more about Mike and golf fitness at www.fitforgolf.blog---Follow us:Twitter - @TournamentCodeInstagram - @thetournamentcodeYouTube - The Tournament CodeHosted by: Cooper Collins (@coopercollins99) and Daniel Hamrin (@DanielHamrin)---(1:10) - how Mike got into golf(8:08) - the start of Fit For Golf(16:44) - going from a 5 to a +1 handicap in under a year(30:13) - increasing clubhead speed(38:17) - importance of mechanics for speed(40:01) - using core lifts in golf training(45:56) - most common injuries in golf(52:06) - ideal physical training for kids(56:13) - speed training methods(1:00:03) - training during tournament weeks(1:09:53) - what Mike would tell himself as a junior golfer

Director Martin McDonagh talks about his new film The Banshees of Inisherin. The former Young People's Laureate for London, Selina Nwulu, discusses her latest collection of poems. John McDiarmid reports from The Royal National Mòd, Scotland's festival of Gaelic culture.

Samhain (pronounced the Gaelic way, SAH-win) is celebrated on October 31. This holiday marks the beginning of the dark half of the year here in the Northern Hemisphere and is the perfect time to hold space for ancestor connection, intuition, the thinning of the veil, death, introspection, rebirth, divination, and honoring the dead! It's a day to connect with ancestors and honor those who have passed on. Samhain is also an introspective time that can heighten intuition & divination, and call for meditation on death and rebirth.  Three of my favorite crystals to work with on and around Samhain are: Black Moonstone - A darkly reflective crystal perfect for promoting intuition and personal insight. Use it wisely when you're ready to ask big questions this month. Sangre Calcite - This deep red calcite is a powerful fire element symbol that makes it a great helper for vitality and motivation in the colder months. Howlite - This stone is associated with the world of dreams and that which lies "beyond the veil," making it a good complement for connection with ancestors and the spirit realm.   Suggested Crystals for Samhain: Black Obsidian Bloodstone Black Moonstone Black Onyx Carnelian Hagstone Howlite Jet Red Garnet Red Sangre Calcite Shungite Smoky Quartz Snowflake Obsidian Samhain Symbols: Ale or Mead Pumpkin Skull Besom or Broom Beans Cauldron Bat Key Squash Pomegranate Nuts Apples & Cider Bones Suggested Herbs for Samhain: Angelica Catnip Cinnamon Mandrake Mugwort Rose Hips Rosemary Vervain Wormwood Samhain is Also Known As/Related To: Halloween All Hallows Eve Calan Graeaf Ancestor Night Third Harvest Final Harvest Day of the Dead Witch's New Year Sauin Bonfire Night All Saints' Day All Souls' Day Celtic New Year If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, you'll be celebrating the festival of Beltain today instead of Samhain to keep with the seasonal cycles.  Open yourself up to the messages of illumination at this time of the Fire Festival of Samhain with a Sacred Card Spread!   This reading will cover 6 aspects of the Final Harvest and shift into the Celtic New Year with highly specific info to help you: Uncover hidden influences that are affecting the events in your life and navigate the thin, mystical spaces Hear messages from the universe specific to your unique spiritual path, intuition, and connection to your ancestors or guides Look into what you need to focus on now on your soul path by gaining insight into what to sow and cultivate now until the light returns   Interpreting Card #1 What are you harvesting now from the energy of this past year? This card helps summarize your journey over the past year and what has ripened and is now ready for harvest. Think of all you've been working to grow and create in your life - now is the time to reap the rewards of your efforts and call in the harvest. Interpreting Card #2 What should you sow and cultivate from now until the time when the light returns at Imbolc? Now that you've called in the harvest and completed a cycle, what would you most like to sow the seeds of in this moment? What will serve you best in the coming year? The energy you focus on now will begin to show itself and come back to you in big ways by Imbolc. This card may hold some hints or inspiration on what to do next. Interpreting Card #3 What should you release into the darkness and burn away in the bonfire of your soul? What needs to be released at this time? And what is no longer serving you? What is potentially holding you back from all that you'd like to embody in your life? This card is here to help you recognize and accept the things that are ready to be let go so that you can create space in your life for things that will better serve and support you in the coming yea...

On this week's Scran Rosalind is joined by TIk Tok star the Hebridean Baker aka Coinneach Macleod. Coinneach tells Rosalind about how his social media following took off overnight and how he was once referred to as 'how a shortbread cookie might sound if it came to life'. They talk about Coinnleach's love of his home and his native Gaelic and the infamous Scottish deep fried Mars Bar. With a new book  just released, 'My Scottish Island Kitchen', Coinnleach shares his passion for Hebridean cuisine and food culture.  We also get a great tip for Bake Off fans.

Its time for a lighthearted episode Creeps! And boy did Katie & Nate deliver on this one. After the last few episodes being such heavy ones it was time for a break and what better topic than the origin of Halloween. We got - Gaelic origin, Christian origin, Spanish origin.....candy corn origin? Plus, Nate finally admits Katie is a wildcard and his secret desire of....ghost cheeks. Get your sh*t together Creeps, this one was off the rails and sure to have you searching in the dark for the reason behind your case of the creeps.

The youngest ever Irish player to play in AFLW, and one of the most dominant junior players in Gaelic football history, Erika O'Shea is AFLW's next big star.  Hear the fellas unpack Erika's journey, from Cork, to the mighty North Melbourne.  Follow Erika on the gram: https://www.instagram.com/erikaoshea/?hl=en  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Tuesday's Morning Focus, Alan spoke to Eddie Lenihan, who is both an author and storyteller. Eddie is one of Ireland's last seanchaí and has been recording oral history for the past 50 years, with his tapes covering Gaelic mythology, local superstitions and memories of the Civil War. He discussed his discontent with Irish Constitutions and the lack of interest they have showed in his recordings. As a result, Eddie has decided to gift his recordings to an American University.

To kick off our Spooky Season Series we have very special guests: Bob Hicks and Brittani Clark of Tales From the Dark. A podcast that follows all things high strangeness. We talked about a variety of things such as: magick, hunting, Gaelic heritage, and so much more. It was a true honor to have this legendarty duo on and a great conversation!

On Wednesday's Morning Focus, Alan Morrissey was joined by Séamus Mac Mathúna and Dr Pádraig Ó Cearbhaill to discuss the upcoming fourth annual Irish-Language festival, Éigse Thomáis Uí Aodha. The festival will to be held this weekend by Oidhreacht an Chláir in Miltown Malbay. The festival is held in memory of Tomás Ó hAodha, a major literary and cultural figure at the time of the Gaelic renaissance and a Miltown native. A variety of events will be held throughout the festival to celebrate the life of Tomás.

In this episode I welcome George Reppert up on the front porch. He might just be one of the most interesting men in the world as you will hear from our interview. We discuss the time he lived in a homeless shelter even though he wasn't homeless and his experiences of owning a head shop in the 1970s. We then get a full on lesson about all things whiskey as George teaches us about what in Gaelic is called the "water of life."Get in touch with The Social Chemist. Learn more about the Hope Rescue Mission.Get your Front Porch Merch.Support the show

Summary Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (Website; Wikipedia) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss his book. He has studied American intelligence for 50 years. What You'll Learn Intelligence The CIA and the American presidents they served   The founding of the CIA just as America became a global superpower  Pearl Harbor, the USSR and covert action under Eisenhower Assassinations, controversy, the Church Committee, and 9/11 Reflections How much of the future can we predict Intention in history And much, much more… Episode Notes This week's guest, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, is Emeritus Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh. He has been studying American intelligence for half a century and has written a history of the CIA to coincide with its 75th anniversary, entitled: A Question of Standing.    This episode with Rhodri is a counterpoint to last week's episode with Robert Gates: a career historian and a career intelligence officer; a European and an American; a 70,000 feet view and a 30,000 feet one. Interestingly, they were born continents apart within almost a year of each other.   Rhodri is the author of over a dozen books, has a Ph.D. from Cambridge University, and grew up in Harlech, Wales.   And… Harlech, Wales, where Rhodri grew up, has the steepest street in the Northern Hemisphere. The steepest street in the Southern Hemisphere, and the world according to Guinness Records, is in Dunedin, New Zealand (Dunedin is Gaelic for Edinburgh). The steepest street in the continental United States is Canton Avenue in Pittsburgh (to celebrate its Welsh heritage the Steel City has a St. David's Society). Espionage in Welsh is ysbïo. Quote of the Week "CIA can't afford to rest on its laurels and continue with systems it has. It has to change all the time." – Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones Resources *Andrew's Recommendation* “Documents on Origins of CIA,” Truman Library [pdf] *SpyCasts* “The 75th Anniversary” – with Robert Gates (2022) *Beginner Resources* History of CIA, CIA (n.d.) [web] A Brief History of US-Iran Relations, ABC News (n.d.) [video] CIA Involvement in 1953 Iranian Coup, CNN (n.d.] [video] Iran & Guatemala, 1953-4, NYT (2003) [article] Books Covert Action & USFP, L. Johnson (OUP, 2022) A Brief History of the CIA, R. Immerman (Wiley, 2014) The [Dulles] Brothers, S. Kinzer (St. Martin's, 2014) Mighty Wurlitzer: How CIA Played America, H. Wilford (HUP, 2009) Countercoup: Struggle for Iran, K. Roosevelt (McGraw-Hill, 1979) Articles 64 Years Later CIA Releases Details of Iranian Coup, B. Allen-Ebrahimian, FP (2017) Video “The Nazi Spy Ring in America,” R. Jeffreys-Jones, SPY (2021) “Secrecy, Democracy & the Birth of the CIA,” H. Wilford, Great Courses (n.d.) Photo “The 1953 Iranian Coup,” Radio Free Europe Archives (2013) Documentary The Spymasters, Showtime (2015) CIA: Secret Wars, Part 1, Roche (2003) CIA: Secret Wars, Part 2, Roche (2003) Curatorial Pocket History of CIA, CIA (2014) Primary Sources History Staff Analysis: CIA & Guatemala Assassination Proposals, 1952-4 (1995) Iran 1953: Transcript of Interview with MI6 Officer Norman Darbyshire (1985) DCI Dulles to President Eisenhower (1953) Telegram from CIA to Station in Iran (1953) Telegram from Station in Iran to CIA (1953) Monthly Report, Directorate of Plans, CIA (1953) Memo from Deputy Director for Plans (Wisner) to DCI Dulles (1953) National Security Act (1947) Website Intelligence Milestones During Eisenhower Administration, Eisenhower Library (n.d.] *Wildcard Resource* Tom Paine (Common Sense, 1776), Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy in America, 1835) and Mork from Ork (Mork & Mindy, 1978-82) are all outsiders, like Rhodri, looking in. What can each of them tell us about the United States? What can they tell us that people born within an ecosystem can't?

Working towards success isn't a one-man job. You work with your colleagues, clients, and fellow entrepreneurs. Without these carefully cultivated relationships, you may find it difficult to bring your business to success. But when you build meaningful connections at work, you can be better together. Joining us in this episode is Morag Barrett, an expert on leadership and the power of relationships. She talks about meaningful connections as the secret to success. Listen and learn from Morag's advice on cultivating relationships on a foundation of trust. Find out how you could make friends at work and become better together. If you want to learn how to develop winning relationships, tune into this episode! 3 Reasons to Listen:Find out how business can be personal and why your relationships matter. Learn how to create and rekindle relationships built on trust. Become the colleague people want to work with. ResourcesSubscribe to the https://www.youtube.com/c/SeekGoCreate (Seek, Go, Create YouTube Channel) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE (Cat Herders EDS Commercial) https://grizzlyrose.com/ (Grizzly Rose) More about https://marshallgoldsmith.com/ (Marshall Goldsmith) https://www.100coaches.com/ (100 Coaches) Take the http://skyeteam.cloud/youmewe (Ally Mindset Profile Test) https://youmewebook.com/ (You, Me, We) by Morag Barrett https://www.amazon.com/Cultivate-Winning-Relationships-Morag-Barrett/dp/1626342423 (Cultivate: The Power of Winning Relationships) by Morag Barrett Connect with Morag: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moragbarrett (LinkedIn) | https://skyeteam.com/ (Skye Team website) About MoragMorag Barrett is a leadership expert, keynote speaker, and executive coach who has worked with leaders and organizations worldwide. She is the founder of Skye Team, a global leadership development team that aims to help companies work towards success. Morag helps her clients cultivate winning relationships to become successful in business and in life. Morag is the author ofhttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019ZVI5I8/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i2 ( Cultivate: The Power of Winning Relationships). Her upcoming book, https://www.amazon.com/You-Me-We-Need-Friend/dp/1774582031 (You, Me, We: Why We All Need a Friend at Work (and How to Show Up As One!)) talks about friends in work and in life. You can connect with Morag on https://www.linkedin.com/in/moragbarrett/ (LinkedIn) or find out more about her on https://skyeteam.com/ (Skye Team). Episode Highlights[02:05] Morag's Business RolesMorag is passionate about the quality of relationships. She helps build high-performing teams and leaders through meaningful connections and powerful relationships. Morag is the herder of cats, the truth speaker and truth seeker, and the poker of bears. [02:27] “There are many people in the world who have a great idea, a great product or service. That's what gets done. But the true secret to success is the quality of the relationships that we have. And even as a solopreneur, you are dependent on others for your success.” - https://ctt.ec/V600p (Click Here To Tweet This)[06:40] Be Intentional, Proactive and PresentThese days, people tend to be more passive in their roles. Morag's book, Cultivate, is about being present and aligning with what makes your leadership different. Be present and thoughtful about your leadership. Be intentional and choose how you show up. [08:07] “The mistake I know I've made in the past and the leaders that I'm working with right now is that they are not fully present. They rush from one hamster wheel to the next… And they aren't pausing long enough to think about ‘Okay, what energy am I bringing?'” - https://ctt.ec/Pj8eX (Click Here To Tweet This)[09:54] A Lesson on Leadership and TrustMorag is a Gaelic name that means great. Skye Team comes from her maiden name, MacLeod, a clan based on the Isle of Skye. She learned lessons vital to leadership, such as getting close to...

Cora Staunton, Mickey Quinn and Ciarán Byrne joined John Duggan on The Saturday Panel to discuss Geelong Cats' AFL Grand Final victory. They also discussed their own Aussie Rules journeys, homesickness, and how Gaelic football skills compare to the oval ball.

Cora Staunton, Mickey Quinn and Ciarán Byrne joined John Duggan on The Saturday Panel to discuss Geelong Cats' AFL Grand Final victory. They also discussed their own Aussie Rules journeys, homesickness, and how Gaelic football skills compare to the oval ball.

It is 5am on a Monday morning in Washington, D.C.I have no shortage of work that needs to be done. I have emails to send, meetings for which to prep and schedule, calls to make, just a lot of things to do that really cannot be put off. And yet, here I am, at an ungodly hour, watching dignitaries slowly file in for the funeral of a woman I never met and who never did anything for me. Why?How does a kid raised in trailer parks in Central Texas come to be obsessed with the British Monarchy and admire Queen Elizabeth II?Nowadays, TLC is a channel where you'll find programming as illuminating and varied as “90 Day Fiancé” and “90 Day Fiancé: Pillow Talk” and “90 Day Fiancé: Just Landed” and “90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days” (I'm not kidding; these are all real titles, and I've intentionally kept the list short).But in the early ‘90s, it was literally known as The Learning Channel, and in the only real bonding moments I can remember having with my maternal grandmother, we would sit beside each other in her bed in my grandparents' trailer and watch episodes of “Great Castles of Europe”, a series that ran for two seasons on the network.The show would take viewers on tours of these castles and the royalty that lived in them and the culture and social structure of the time in which they lived. My grandmother would smoke a cig that she had asked me to spark on the kitchen stove and have me grab her a coke and we'd sit there for half an hour marveling at the gorgeous scenery on the tube while she told me the bits and pieces she knew about the British Royals.I was hooked. I knew what “divine right” meant long before 4th grade social studies, to say nothing of the increasing controversy surrounding Charles & Diana, earning a fluency in House of Windsor scandals, via my grandmother, that would later shock my elementary school teachers.The typical American view in the ‘90s was this: we didn't think much of Charles, but we loved both Diana and the Queen—for different reasons. More on that in a second.Some of our British friends have openly wondered why Americans are obsessed with the Windsors, especially given our supposed aversion to elitism and complicated class politics and living thousands of miles away and the not-so-small fact that our nation was borne out of rebellion against the British Crown.Honestly, I wish it were complicated, but it's not. The simple answer is that it's free and glorious entertainment. It costs us nothing. Americans don't have to pay for the show, but we still get to watch it. There's the soap opera drama, sure, but even were it not for the salaciousness, there's still the over-the-top pageantry. We love a big wedding.Nor has it ever really cost us having an opinion on the existence of the Monarchy. We have never been truly obligated to any degree of partisanship on the question. Vehemently oppose the Monarchy? Okay. Weirdo American royalist? Okay, too. Who cares — let's all watch the shenanigans together and comprise a ridiculous peanut gallery from across the pond. Nothing lost and nothing gained.There's a sort of unspoken inside joke to observing the Monarchy as an American, something which we historically don't even acknowledge to each other because, until recently (with the ludicrous, racist treatment of Meghan), there's been no need. It would be stating the obvious.That is: does any American really believe the British Monarchy represents the best of humanity, the embodiment of morality? Hell no. It's a silly question, one so obviously answered that there's no need to discuss it.The 19th-century British writer Walter Bagehot is most frequently cited when explaining the justification for the existence of the Crown. Bagehot wrote that Parliament is the “efficient” part of the State and the Crown is the “dignified” part of it.The Crown is meant to be above the fray, never sullied with day-to-day politics and, instead, serves as the supposed living embodiment of British values. The Crown is meant to provide a steady and unwavering bulwark of morality.This is, on its face, completely ridiculous. How can the Crown supposedly embody British values without ever speaking to what those values should be or how they should evolve? No one really seems to know, but moreover, that's not really the point. It's silly to defend the British Monarch as a head of state. The Crown has no real legal power on paper. It cannot make new laws. It can't dictate the Armed Forces. It can't express partisan opinions. Even the speeches offered by the Monarch to open Parliament aren't written by the Monarch. It is merely a formal mouthpiece used by the government.The Crown does not really exist to express defined and irrefutable values. The most dedicated royalist, in good faith, must inevitably concede that the British Sovereign does not really perform as a nuanced arbiter of right and wrong. And deep down, regardless of nationality, we all kinda know that. The reality is that the House of Windsor's primary purpose is being one of the most popular entertainment brands in the world. This is an acting troupe. With few exceptions, every member of the British Royal Family is simply playing a role for the public that is typically at odds with their authentic self.Ah, but the exceptions. That's where it gets interesting. To be an exception to this framework is to go one of two directions: either breaking away from the firm completely or having an existence, public and private, that is indistinguishable from it.Diana broke way. As did Harry and Meghan. And they are beloved for it. They said “to hell with this” and rejected the obligation of playing a role. We love them for their commitment to authenticity in opposition to their institutional obligations.We love Queen Elizabeth II for a different reason. She was not acting. She truly believed that every fiber of her being must serve in existence as an anchor for the Commonwealth. In the place of evolution, she offered an ironclad resolve to tradition and dignity. The Queen in private was essentially the Queen in public, and we all knew that.You didn't have to like the Queen to know that she would have never abandoned the United Kingdom. If that island had been invaded at any point during her reign, she was committed to going down with the ship. And you respected that about her.Ironically, in a role that is meant to be bereft of opinion, her commitment to outward neutrality made her partisan moments all the more powerful, however subtle or implied — her opposition to Apartheid, her annoyance with Thatcher's austerity, her tacit support of LGBTQ rights, her less-than-subtle disgust with Trump, her protocol-breaking warmth toward Michelle Obama.When she came down to London to address the nation and the world in the wake of Diana's death, that was more than enough to alleviate the outrage at the Crown's initial response. When she made her historic trip to the Republic of Ireland in 2011 and demonstrated a substantial degree of humility and respect, literally bowing and speaking in Gaelic, that was more than enough to win over her hosts.There was a density to her gravitas that made every gesture and word carry enormous impact, far more than any other world leader.She truly believed in her earthly commission during a reign that increasingly saw global leaders become more cynical and openly performative, and thus, most of us gave her substantial benefit of the doubt.If there were ever an Era of Earnestness in global politics, that has definitively come to a close with her death. Sobering, to say the least.During one of our evenings in her bedroom, I remember asking my grandmother why she despised Charles but loved the Queen, and she didn't say anything for a moment, the smoke billowing from her hand as she briefly appeared lost in thought.“You never have to guess with her”, she answered a few moments later, her voice raspy. “What you see is what you get.”And we'll never have that again.Charlotte's Web Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Hi, I'm Charlotte Clymer, and this is Charlotte's Web Thoughts, my Substack. It's completely free to access and read, but if you feel so moved to support my writing, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription: just $7/month or save money with the $70/annual sub. You can also go way above and beyond by becoming a Founding Member at $210. Get full access to Charlotte's Web Thoughts at charlotteclymer.substack.com/subscribe

Irish lovers in Teacherland, you are in for a treat! Today I am in conversation with Aoife Crowne who teaches traditional Irish Gaelic in Bantry in southern Ireland. Aoife and I discuss the mindset she uses each day to motivate her 16 year-olds to learn Gaelic and how she battles time in the go-go-go Back to School pace alive and well even in a small town. Aoife also describes what she would do if she was Minister of Education in Ireland for a day and could fix some of the problems that Irish teachers face. Don't miss this very beautiful conversation with Aoife Crowne. Resources: Follow Chrissy on Instagram @chrissyconcept. Sign up for a FREE 30 minute coaching call. More About Teacher Talk with Chrissy Nichols: Teacher Talk is the podcast for educators like you who are on the brink of burnout, or are already there. It's your guide to feeling better about being at school and being in your life. Your host, Chrissy Nichols, is a life coach for teachers. In her weekly episodes, she will give you quick tools, tips, and brain hacks to understand that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. It's time to find the joy in teaching again and get back to feeling like the best version of yourself.

have you ever read someone's diary?... Jonny causes a scene because he's tired... Robin and Jonny got an email from HR... Britain is being terribly British after the passing of Queen Elizabeth... the time Robin nearly got a hair transplant... Jonny absolutely loses it... Calm Larry's AC broke... how many video game consoles have ever come out?... Jonny tries to encourage Robin to play Gaelic Football... why a man cut off a woman's hair... 94 percent of us can spot one of these... Jonny has more examples of songs that have ripped off other songs... this is the time of year you might be cheating... Jonny was recognized, but there's a twist... why did Jonny nearly drive through a red light?... who's funnier, men or women?... tips to improve your Monopoly game... the guys have s a new sponsor for the radio show... why was the goalkeeper sent off... the boys say 'goodbye' to Jishnu the engineer... the world's oldest tooth... the guys discuss a radio station in the UK that re-broadcasts their show... who would Robin and Jonny have in their entourage?... Robin's iPhone quiz... tricks and tips for "small talk"... the proof you should never say 'hello' to Jonny if you meet him... what's the impulse purchase you never use?...

Indiscipline in Gaelic games often makes the headlines and it's back on the news following an alleged assault on a referee at an underage football match in Roscommon. Sunday Independent Columnist Joe Brolly discusses referees, violence, and abuse in the GAA. Host Fionnán Sheahan. Guest Joe BrollySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode welcomes guest speaker Alexander Hislop, A Scottish Presbyterian Preacher and best selling author who introduces the show in Gaelic instead of Hebrew. Being from Scotland he knows something about our topic instrument and its rich cultural heritage. As a proud Scotsman he will share with you one of his favorite bagpipe bands and give you a cultural rundown of the bagpipes evolution linguistically in various countries. Finally Robert returns for the latter half of the show to have a heart to heart chat with the listeners about up coming plans for the show in Season two and beyond.    Video :Army Core of Bagpipers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBYVmnMFMtA   Podcast Streams Anchor https://anchor.fm/kadosh-shachah Castbox https://castbox.fm/vc/2208477 Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kadosh-shachah-holy-worship/id1472295079 Google Podcasts https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9jODE0ODg0L3BvZGNhc3QvcnNz Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/00nCHOB2eR8XberphEmIRi I heart Podcast https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9jODE0ODg0L3BvZGNhc3QvcnNz Amazon music https://music.amazon.es/podcasts/b4c3976c-1a00-444d-bd3e-d12e244b5a46/holy-worship-the-music-of-the-bible Pocket Casts https://pca.st/3o49 Breaker https://www.breaker.audio/kadosh-shachah-holy-worship Radio Public https://radiopublic.com/kadosh-shachah-holy-worship-6nVNky  

Fairies aren't just for little kids. Explore Nova Scotia's fairy beliefs - from Gaelic, Acadian, and Mi'kmaw traditions - and meet the believers, as producer Maryanne McLarty asks: why do so many adults seem to lose the ability to indulge in fairy wonder?

This week we discuss all the products introduced at Apple's Far Out event on Sept 7, 2022. We fact check Compose Custom Layouts in SwiftUI, the checkmark in the Developer app, Friday Night Baseball in Canada, and Universal Control. We follow up on Apple's Self Repair now includes M1, and Xcode Cloud availability for trial. We discuss the past and future of the 360iDev conference. We discuss the Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch Ultra, Air Pods Pro 2nd gen, the iPhone 14, and the iPhone 14 Pro. We also discus What's New in Swift 5.7. Picks: WWDC22 SwiftUI Lounge archived, Cmd Opt R, Cmd Shift J, Swift Version, SwiftUI Essential Training, and Design the Next iPhone.

If not for a knee injury sustained playing Gaelic football as a teenager, Paul McGinley's life may have turned out very different.That injury saw the Irishman turn to golf and he went on to become a European Tour stalwart, hole a Ryder Cup winning putt and later Captain the Europeans to victory over the Americans. But McGinley has much more to offer the game beyond his fine playing credentials. In this extensive chat with host John Huggan, McGinley covers everything from his unusual start in the game to the impact of LIV on professional golf.

With stories and columns concerning the mistreatment of GAA referees featuring heavily in the Sunday newspapers, John Duggan, Mick O'Keeffe and Brendan O'Brien considered why this problem exists in Gaelic games and how it may be resolved. This discussion took place during this weekend's edition of the Sunday Paper Review. You can be listen back in full now if you search the 'OTB's Sunday Paper Review' wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Explore the ancient Gaelic winter festival of Samhain and its influence on Halloween. This was a time when this world and the Otherworld intersected, and supernatural beings of all kinds roamed the earth. What was the religious significance of the beginning of winter to the ancients, and how can we learn from their wisdom? Please email the show with questions, experiences, or comments: hiddenpassagepodcast@gmail.comFollow on Twitter 

This episode is a little bit different from previous episodes.  It's a lecture given by Lachlan (Lachie) MacLean, Lachie Knock, to the Mull Historical Society in the 1980's. The lecture has the loose title of Tales From the Glen.  Lachie talks about the origins of the clan MacLean, the struggle to keep the Gaelic language and culture alive, Glen Forsa and Glen Cannel, place names, local story tellers of his youth in Loch Buie and so, so much more.  
This recording comes from the archive of Donald MacLean, Donald Langamull, which was bequeathed to Mull Museum in Tobermory. I'm releasing this recording on the main stream of What We Do in the Winter as I think it would be of interest to so many of our listeners.  The rest of Donald Langamull's archive will be released over the coming years in partnership with Mull Museum and can be found on both the WWDitW sound cloud and main webpage.    Thanks for listening! 
whatwedointhewinter.com

We're delighted to welcome Brian Keane onto this week's podcast. Brian is a man of many talents - he's a strength and conditioning coach with a highly successful business and has an unmatched depth of knowledge in a range of sports through personal experience. He played Gaelic football to an elite level, has competed in CrossFit and placed in the Top 10 at the world fitness modelling championships. He's now made the shift to ultra endurance events and has recently completed the Marathon Des Sables and a non-stop 230km ultra through the Arctic. Brian is in a unique position to share his learnings from his breadth of experience to develop endurance performance. If you're looking for actionable strength and conditioning work for aerobic endurance athletes, you're in the right place. WEBSITE: https://www.33fuel.com/all-products/ TWITTER: www.twitter.com/33fuel FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/33fuel INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/33fuel/ EMAIL: contact@33shake.com

After playing Gaelic games professionally for nearly 15 years, JP and Dermot started Gaelic Performance, a firm which sold equipment into the highly niched Gaelic sports market. Sandbags and other products didn't really hold up and they ended up developing a much more sturdy and versatile product called the RAM and started RAMfit (Recycle And Move.) There's a heavily green ethos to the company and the product is made from recycled tires (which are heavily regulated in Europe) and steel from companies based in Ireland.  "Looking back on it now, we were that entrepreneur who thought we can go our own way. One big thing we learned from the Spartan Race partnership was that, yes, while we have a very good product, at the end of the day, we're not going to revolutionize the world of fitness with it. So what benefits us is actually going out there and seeking these partnerships. That's what has accelerated our growth and which will help our growth in the future," states McArdle. JP and Dermot discuss their fantastic partnerships with Yancy Culp, the Spartan Race, how they survived post-COVID, their new partnership with Camp Gladiator, the benefits of going "deep" instead of "wide" so you can own your market, and more!  Click here to download transcript. 

Mike Bubbins, Elis James and Steff Garrero will be performing LIVE at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff on February 3rd 2023. Tickets for the original date in 2022 are still valid - and if you haven't bought a ticket yet they are available via https://motorpointarenacardiff.co.uk/whats-on   You can watch us on BT Sport's Down The Clubhouse https://www.bt.com/sport/watch/bt-sport-shows/down-the-clubhouse      This Week's Show Steff Documentary AGAIN: The Figo Affair: The Transfer That Changed Football https://www.netflix.com/title/81386989 Steff Book: Tokyo Junkie by Robert Whiting https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781611720679?gC=5a105e8b&gclid=CjwKCAjwx7GYBhB7EiwA0d8oe__F3vCg5HsBNIojQJuBtvmNC6NFpBnvMcik-Fm51sapVpg4-gvxXhoCPR0QAvD_BwE  Elis: Castleford v St Helen's, 2002. Mick Morgan reading out the teams  https://twitter.com/trylineuk/status/1559517834887282688?s=21 Mike clip: Gaelic football handshake  https://twitter.com/sportsfunnies/status/1550788162980651008?s=21&t=HJUXGEV3wi4t0XSIGi5TTQ  Steff: Dina Asher Smith on Periods https://www.instagram.com/reel/Chj-D7UA9yy/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/aug/18/dina-asher-smith-powers-into-200m-final-and-says-calf-cramps-were-caused-by-period  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/athletics/62612876  Second Round of Clips (via https://anchor.fm/nata-media/subscribe & https://www.patreon.com/distantpod ) Steff: Leon Edwards UFC Title win https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_wrz_fsF1c  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEOJW1jMR4I  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnMGm0MRYt8  Elis: Carl Leaburn is given a telly  https://twitter.com/sid_lambert/status/1561418011986247681?s=21 Mike: Mondo Duplantis 10 year journey https://youtu.be/guSvVZ-3BrM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's chaos, baby! And what more would you expect from one of our absolute faves, Racquel Belmonte (comedian), who returns to the show to drive the entire thing directly off the highway and into a rapidly flowing ravine. It starts almost immediately as discussion of The Sopranos devolves into a long segment about pegging, and never really recovers from there. Stefan buys a bidet live on the show after using John's for the first time in a while, while Racquel regales us about a particularly strong bidet in Hawaii that she uhh...used for other purposes. It's not all insane though, as John and Stefan discuss the wedding they went to over the weekend, Harry Styles waxes poetic about chicken nuggets, Twitter goes wild over student debt forgiveness, and we listen in on some Gaelic football commentary. Oh, and Racquel tries profusely to get blocked by The Pope and when she doesn't, agrees to commit a sin live on air. Which one? You'll have to listen to find out! If you want to commit a more tasteful sin, you can head on over to patreon.com/blockedparty, where $5/month gets you access to THREE bonus episodes every single month. This week, Chris James returns to the show to discuss Stefan getting blocked by Benny Johnson, and last week saw the release of our second Secret Party episode, as Nathan Hare joined us to break down some listener secrets. Plus we've got merch discounts, a great Discord, and MORE. So get on over there, would'ja? Racquel Belmonte is an improviser and voice-over actress who can be heard on the upcoming fourth season of Dragon Prince on Netflix. You can follow her on Twitter at @raqattack5 and on Instagram at @racqcity5. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One third of the Tommy, Hector and Laurita Podcast, Laurita Blewitt joined Ger Gilroy to discuss her return to the Gaelic pitch as part of the #GaelicForMothers&Others programme.

An event happening at the Skye River Trail this weekend aims to form friendships between the Mi'kmaw and Gaelic cultural communities of Mi'kma'ki.

A contemporary ghost story based on Gaelic folklore. By Kenny Boyle.

Beyond Exclusion: Intersections of Ethnicity, Sex, and Society Under English Law in Medieval Ireland (Brepols, 2022) offers a fresh look at the legal status of minorities in English Ireland. Through a detailed analysis of case studies gleaned from medieval court rolls, Stephen Hewer challenges the prevailing narrative of wholesale ethnic discrimination and presents a nuanced picture of intersectional identities, strategies of negotiation, and evolving tensions between legal principle and practice. The notion that all Gaelic peoples were immediately and ipso facto denied access to the English royal courts in Ireland, upon the advent of the English in 1167, has become so accepted in academic and popular histories of Ireland that it is no longer questioned. This book tackles this narrative of absolute ethnic discrimination in thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century English Ireland on the basis of a thorough re-examination of the Irish plea rolls. A forensic study of these records reveals a great deal of variation in how members of various ethnic groups and women who came before the royal courts in Ireland were treated. Specifically, it demonstrates the existence of a large, and hitherto scarcely noticed, population of Gaels with regular and unimpeded access to English law, identifiable as Gaelic either through explicit ethnic labelling in the records or implicitly through their naming practices. Dr. Margaret Smith is a historian of medieval Ireland and Research Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities in the IRIS Center at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Beyond Exclusion: Intersections of Ethnicity, Sex, and Society Under English Law in Medieval Ireland (Brepols, 2022) offers a fresh look at the legal status of minorities in English Ireland. Through a detailed analysis of case studies gleaned from medieval court rolls, Stephen Hewer challenges the prevailing narrative of wholesale ethnic discrimination and presents a nuanced picture of intersectional identities, strategies of negotiation, and evolving tensions between legal principle and practice. The notion that all Gaelic peoples were immediately and ipso facto denied access to the English royal courts in Ireland, upon the advent of the English in 1167, has become so accepted in academic and popular histories of Ireland that it is no longer questioned. This book tackles this narrative of absolute ethnic discrimination in thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century English Ireland on the basis of a thorough re-examination of the Irish plea rolls. A forensic study of these records reveals a great deal of variation in how members of various ethnic groups and women who came before the royal courts in Ireland were treated. Specifically, it demonstrates the existence of a large, and hitherto scarcely noticed, population of Gaels with regular and unimpeded access to English law, identifiable as Gaelic either through explicit ethnic labelling in the records or implicitly through their naming practices. Dr. Margaret Smith is a historian of medieval Ireland and Research Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities in the IRIS Center at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

Beyond Exclusion: Intersections of Ethnicity, Sex, and Society Under English Law in Medieval Ireland (Brepols, 2022) offers a fresh look at the legal status of minorities in English Ireland. Through a detailed analysis of case studies gleaned from medieval court rolls, Stephen Hewer challenges the prevailing narrative of wholesale ethnic discrimination and presents a nuanced picture of intersectional identities, strategies of negotiation, and evolving tensions between legal principle and practice. The notion that all Gaelic peoples were immediately and ipso facto denied access to the English royal courts in Ireland, upon the advent of the English in 1167, has become so accepted in academic and popular histories of Ireland that it is no longer questioned. This book tackles this narrative of absolute ethnic discrimination in thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century English Ireland on the basis of a thorough re-examination of the Irish plea rolls. A forensic study of these records reveals a great deal of variation in how members of various ethnic groups and women who came before the royal courts in Ireland were treated. Specifically, it demonstrates the existence of a large, and hitherto scarcely noticed, population of Gaels with regular and unimpeded access to English law, identifiable as Gaelic either through explicit ethnic labelling in the records or implicitly through their naming practices. Dr. Margaret Smith is a historian of medieval Ireland and Research Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities in the IRIS Center at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

A centering prayer meditation with 10 minutes of silence, and closing with a Gaelic blessing. In centering prayer, we use a sacred word to gently hold our attention on the loving gaze of God. You are invited to … Continue reading "Centering Prayer: 10 minute silence" The post Centering Prayer: 10 minute silence appeared first on contemplative at home.

Two of Gaelic's best strikers of the ball, Kerry captain Seán O'Shea and Galway ace Shane Walsh, are joined by American Football player Tadhg Leader to talk Tommy Rooney though how they've mastered the art of kicking! American football is touching down in Dublin, and you don't want to miss it! The Aer Lingus College Football Classic will see the Northwestern Wildcats play the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday 27th August and it's all in partnership with Visit Dublin. Tickets available at ticketmaster.ie/touchdowndublin.

www.patreon.com/accidentaldads for bonus content and to support the show AND The Save The Music Foundation!   Top police stings   A sting operation is a deceitful operation used by law enforcement to apprehend criminals in the act of trying to commit a crime. In order to obtain proof of a suspect's misconduct, a typical sting involves an undercover law enforcement officer, investigator, or cooperative member of the public acting as a criminal partner or prospective victim and cooperating with a suspect's activities. Journalists for the mass media occasionally use sting operations to film and disseminate footage of illegal conduct.   Sting procedures are prevalent in many nations, including the United States, but are prohibited in others, like Sweden and France. Certain sting operations are prohibited, such as those carried out in the Philippines where it is against the law for police enforcement to act as drug traffickers in order to catch purchasers of illegal substances.   Examples   Offering free sports or airline tickets to lure fugitives out of hiding. Deploying a bait car (also called a honey trap) to catch a car thief Setting up a seemingly vulnerable honeypot computer to lure and gain information about hackers Arranging for someone under the legal drinking age to ask an adult to buy an alcoholic beverage or tobacco products for them Passing off weapons or explosives (whether fake or real), to a would-be terrorist Posing as: someone who is seeking illegal drugs, contraband, or child pornography, to catch a supplier (or as a supplier to catch a customer) a child in a chat room to identify a potential online child predator a potential customer of illegal prostitution, or as a prostitute to catch a would-be customer a hitman to catch customers and solicitors of murder-for-hire; or as a customer to catch a hitman a spectator of an illegal dogfighting ring a documentary film crew to lure a pirate to the country where a crime was committed.   Whether sting operations constitute entrapment raises ethical questions. Law enforcement might have to be careful not to incite someone who wouldn't have otherwise committed a crime to do so. Additionally, while conducting such operations, the police frequently commit the same crimes, like purchasing or selling narcotics, enticing prostitutes, etc. The defendant may raise the entrapment defense in common law jurisdictions.   Contrary to common belief, however, laws against entrapment do not forbid undercover police personnel from pretending to be criminals or deny that they are police officers. Entrapment is normally only a defense when suspects are coerced into confessing to a crime they probably would not have otherwise committed. However, the legal meaning of this coercion differs widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Entrapment might be used as a defense, for instance, if undercover agents forced a possible suspect to manufacture illicit narcotics in order to sell them. Entrapment has often not taken place if a suspect is already producing narcotics and authorities pretend as purchasers to apprehend them.   Operation Entebbe The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commandos successfully carried out Operation Entebbe or Operation Thunderbolt, a counterterrorism hostage-rescue mission, at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on July 4, 1976. A week earlier, on June 27, two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - External Operations (PFLP-EO) (who had previously split from the PFLP of George Habash) and two members of the German Revolutionary Cells hijacked an Air France Airbus A300 jet airliner carrying 248 passengers. The declared goal of the hijackers was to trade the hostages for the release of 13 detainees in four other countries and the release of 40 Palestinian terrorists and related prisoners who were detained in Israel. The flight, which had left Tel Aviv for Paris, was rerouted after a stopover in Athens through Benghazi to Entebbe, the country of Uganda's principal airport. The ruler Idi Amin, who had been made aware of the hijacking from the start[10], encouraged the hijackers and personally greeted them. The hijackers confined all Israelis and a few non-Israeli Jews into a separate room after transferring all captives from the plane to a deserted airport facility.  148 captives who were not Israelis were freed and taken to Paris over the course of the next two days. Ninety-four passengers—mostly Israelis—and the 12-person Air France crew were held captive and threatened with execution.  Based on information from the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, the IDF took action. If the demands for the release of the prisoners were not granted, the hijackers threatened to murder the hostages. The preparation of the rescue effort was prompted by this threat. These strategies included getting ready for armed opposition from the Uganda Army. It was a nighttime operation. For the rescue mission, Israeli transport planes flew 100 commandos to Uganda over a distance of 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles). The operation took 90 minutes to complete after a week of planning. Out of the 106 captives still held, 102 were freed, and three were murdered. In a hospital, the second captive was later slain. Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, the unit leader, was one of the five injured Israeli commandos. Netanyahu was Benjamin Netanyahu's elder sibling and the future Israeli prime minister. Eleven Soviet-built MiG-17s and MiG-21s of the Ugandan air force were destroyed, and all five hijackers and forty-five Ugandan troops were killed. Idi Amin gave the command to attack and kill Kenyans living in Uganda after the operation because Kenyan sources supported Israel. 245 Kenyans in Uganda were killed as a consequence, and 3,000 left the nation. In honor of Yonatan Netanyahu, the commander of the force, Operation Entebbe, which had the military codename Operation Thunderbolt, is occasionally referred to retroactively as Operation Jonathan.   Operation Valkyrie Senior Nazi military officers and Adolf Hitler convened in the Wolf's Lair in Rastenburg, Eastern Prussia, on July 20, 1944. Hitler's body was discovered scattered across the table as the Nazi military chiefs sat down to plan troop deployments on the Eastern Front when an explosion burst through the steamy meeting room. With the Führer's death, the Nazi threat to Europe could have been lifted. or so it seems at first.   Claus von Stauffenberg and his accomplices believed they had turned the course of World War II and maybe saved thousands of extra lives for a brief period of time in history. The July Plot, also known as Operation Valkyrie, was the most famous attempt to have Hitler killed, although it was ultimately unsuccessful for a variety of reasons, some of which are still unknown to this day. The July Plot Is Hatched Many Germans, including some of the country's top military figures, had begun to lose faith in Germany's ability to win the war by the summer of 1944. Hitler was widely held responsible for ruining Germany. The Wolfsschanze was one of Hitler's military headquarters. A number of prominent politicians and senior military figures devised a plan to murder the Führer by detonating a bomb at a conference there in order to spark political unification and a coup. Operation Valkyrie was the name of the strategy. The plan was that after Hitler's death, the military would assert that the murder was the result of a Nazi Party coup attempt, and the Reserve Army would take significant buildings in Berlin and detain senior Nazi figures. Carl Friedrich Goerdeler would become Germany's new chancellor, and Ludwig Beck would become its first president. The new administration wanted to negotiate a peaceful conclusion to the war, ideally with benefits for Germany. The main conspirators' motives varied, according to Philipp Freiherr Von Boeselager, one of the last remaining participants in the July Plot. Many of them only saw it as a means of avoiding military defeat, while others hoped to at least partially restore some of the nation's morals. They chose Claus von Stauffenberg, a young colonel in the German army, to carry out the assassination. Despite not being a member of the Nazi party in the traditional sense, Stauffenberg was a devoted German patriot. In the end, he came to think that if Germany was to be saved, it was his patriotic duty to expel Adolf Hitler. Hitler, though, had experienced assassination attempts before. Assassination attempts against Hitler had been more frequent since his spectacular ascent to the top of Germany's political scene in the late 1930s. Hitler, who was becoming more and more paranoid, frequently altered his plans without warning and at the last minute. What Went Wrong Stauffenberg entered the bunker at Wolfsschanze on July 20, 1944. The conference was planned to take place in a concrete, windowless subterranean bunker that was closed off by a large steel door. By making sure it happened within one of these facilities, the detonation would be confined and anyone nearby the explosive device would die quickly from the shrapnel. The conference was moved to an above-ground wooden bunker with better air circulation on July 20 due to the oppressively hot weather, according to Pierre Galante's Operation Valkyrie: The German Generals' Plot Against Hitler. Numerous windows, a wooden table, and other beautiful furniture were all present in the area, which meant that the potential explosion would be much diminished since the energy of the blast would be absorbed and diffused. Stauffenberg was aware that this was the case, but he nonetheless proceeded, assuming that two explosives would be sufficient to destroy the room and kill everyone within. Stauffenberg excused himself when he arrived, saying that he needed to change his clothing, and went to a private room. The two explosives needed to be armed and primed. However, he only had time to arm one of the two devices due to an unexpected phone call and a quick knock at his door. Thus, the possibility of a greater blast was cut in half. Stauffenberg realized that in order to cause any kind of harm, the explosive device needed to be placed as near to Hitler as possible. He was able to get a seat as near to Hitler as possible with only one other person between them by claiming that his hearing was impaired due to his wounds. Placing the bag as near to Hitler as possible, Stauffenberg then left the room pretending to take a personal call. The briefcase was accidentally shifted to the opposite side of a large wooden leg that was supporting the meeting room table as another official was taking a seat. The Aftermath Panic broke out after the device exploded at precisely 12:42 pm. Twenty individuals were hurt, including three cops who subsequently died from their injuries, and a stenographer was instantaneously murdered. Stauffenberg and his assistant Werner von Haeften leapt into a staff car and bluffed their way past three different military checkpoints to flee the mayhem at the Wolfsschanze complex because they believed that Hitler was indeed dead. Hitler, however, along with everyone else who was protected by the large wooden table leg, only suffered a few minor cuts and an eardrum perforation. He had fully torn-up pants, and the Nazi leadership would subsequently utilize pictures of them in a propaganda effort. Ian Kershaw, a historian, claims that during the explosion, contradictory news concerning Hitler's fate came. In spite of the disarray, the Reserve Army started detaining senior Nazi officials in Berlin. The entire scheme, however, was eventually thwarted by delays, unclear communication, and the announcement that Hitler was still alive. The conspirators were all given the death penalty in a hastily called court martial the same evening by General Friedrich Fromm. In the courtyard of the Bendlerblock, a makeshift firing squad murdered Stauffenberg, von Haeften, Olbricht, and another officer, Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, while Ludwig Beck committed himself. At Berlin's Plötzensee jail, Berthold Stauffenberg was gently strangled while the incident was being recorded for Hitler to see. Hitler's life was ultimately saved that day by a number of interrelated reasons, but the conspirators were right that Germany was headed for disaster. Less than a year later, the Nazi leader and his closest advisers committed suicide. Operation Iceman Ever wonder what its like working undercover with an alleged murderer? Well, let's just say it's not hard to get a stuffy nose around this case… In fact, serial killer Richard Kuklinski's preferred method of murder involved using a nasal spray bottle to spritz cyanide into the faces of his victims. As a result, undercover agent Dominick Polifrone was never more on guard than during the 18 months he spent building a case against the so-called Iceman. “No matter where I went with him, I wore this leather jacket with a pocket sewn inside containing a small-caliber weapon,” recalls Polifrone, who gained his target's confidence and taped dozens of their conversations. “I knew that I was somewhere on his hit list. If he'd pulled out that nasal spray, I'd have to protect myself.” The streetwise New Jersey officer acquired enough proof before Kuklinski had suspicions, preventing that situation from occurring. Finally, the enormous 6-foot-4 gangland killer was apprehended thanks to his evidence. “I've met hundreds of bad guys, but Kuklinski was a totally different type of individual,” he tells The Post. “He was coldhearted — ice-cold like the devil. He had no remorse about anything.”  Kuklinski was captured by Polifrone in a combined operation between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the office of the New Jersey attorney general. The criminal, who was a leading suspect in the murder of a mobster whose body was found two years after his disappearance, was posing as a respectable businessman residing in suburban Dumont, New Jersey. The reason the medical examiners discovered ice in the muscle tissue was because Kuklinski, who earned his notoriety for frequently freezing the bodies of his victims and then defrosting them, erred that time. Police made an indirect connection between the deceased man and Kuklinski, who was charged with a number of previous homicides.  “We had to get something nobody knew,” recalls Polifrone. The sting only appears briefly on screen in the film. In order to gain Kuklinski's trust, Polifrone, a resident of Hackensack, New Jersey, pretended to be a "bad person" for a whole year and a half. They met in parks and rest areas along highways and discussed the horrific killings Kuklinski had carried out, including a Mafia hit in Detroit for which he was paid $65,000. Additionally, there were "statement killings." To put a dead canary in the mouth of a victim as a warning to other victims, one mafia leader paid him extra. Another occasion, Kuklinski made light of the fact that he saw a gang member consume an entire cheeseburger laced with cyanide before passing away while joking with Polifrone. Recalls the cop: “He told me that cyanide normally works real quick and easy, but that ‘this guy has the constitution of a God damn ox, and is just eating and eating.  “He said he almost ate the whole burger and then, bam, he's down!” Polifrone knew exactly how to play his role. “I laughed, of course,” he shrugs. “That's what bad guys do.”  Paradoxically, Kuklinski was a committed family man. He led a Jekyll-and-Hyde existence.  “He never socialized, gambled or messed around with other women,” adds Polifrone. “He lived for his wife and kids.” One minute he'd be repairing his daughters' toys, the next, dismembering a body with a chain saw and stuffing it into an oil drum. “He would come home and completely shut off this murderous component and seek security and love from his family,” says “Iceman” director Vromen. “He fulfilled the need to provide for them by killing.” Polifrone finally nailed Kuklinski after tricking him into buying what he thought was pure cyanide. A team of feds and ATF officers arrested him in December 1986. Twenty-eight years later, he reflects on the man who died, apparently of natural causes, in Trenton Prison in 2006 at age 70. Eyebrows were raised because he was due to appear as a witness at the trial of a Gambino family underboss. “I hope he died a slow death because of what he did to families and individuals,” concludes Polifrone. “He had no mercy. And if it was foul play, that's OK with me.” So let's talk about some controversial sting operations you may or may not have heard of.   ACORN Sting   Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is known as ACORN. ACORN was a group of neighborhood-based organizations in the US that supported low- and middle-income families. They also offered details on affordable housing and voter registration. James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, two young conservative activists, published recordings that had been edited with care in 2009. The two pretended to be a pimp and a prostitute before using a hidden camera to get unflattering answers from ACORN workers that seemed to give them advice on how to hide their prostitution business and avoid paying taxes.The plea for assistance in obtaining funding for a brothel didn't appear to deter the ACORN employees either. This sparked a national debate and led to a reduction in financing from public and private sources. ACORN declared on March 22, 2010, that it was disbanding and shutting all of its connected state chapters as a result of declining funding. Interesting fact: On January 25, 2010, James O'Keefe and three other people were detained on felony charges for allegedly tampering with the phones at Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu's office in New Orleans. O'Keefe stated that he was looking into claims that Landrieu's staff had dismissed constituent phone calls over the health care issue. O'Keefe recorded the action as they pretended to be telephone repairmen.In the end, they were accused with breaking into a government building under false pretenses, a misdemeanor. Following his admission of guilt, O'Keefe received a three-year probationary period, 100 hours of community service, and a $1,500 fine.   Operation West End The largest undercover news story in Indian journalism has been described like this. In order to expose the alleged culture of bribery inside the Indian Ministry of Defense, a well-known newspaper from India by the name of Tehelka—which translates as "sensation" in Hindi—started its first significant undercover operation, "Operation West End" in 2001. Two reporters from the publication pretended to be London-based armaments dealers from a fake firm. In the undercover film, numerous politicians and defense officials are shown discussing and accepting bribes in exchange for assisting them in obtaining government contracts, including Bangaru Laxman, secretary of the ruling BJP party. Laxman and Military Minister George Fernandes (shown above) resigned following the release of the tapes, and a number of other defense ministry employees were placed on administrative leave.   Interesting Fact: Instead of initially acting on the evidence from the sting operation, the Indian government accused the newspaper of fabricating the allegations. The main financial backers of Tehelka were made targets of investigations, and the newspaper company was almost ruined. In 2003, Tehelka was re-launched as a weekly newspaper, and was funded by faithful subscribers and other well-wishers. In 2007, Tehelka shifted to a regular magazine format.   Senator Larry Craig On June 11, 2007, an undercover police officer conducting a sting operation targeting males cruising for sex at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport detained Idaho Senator Larry Craig. Sgt. Dave Karsnia, the arresting officer, claimed that just after noon, the suspect entered a restroom and shut the door. Craig then moved into the stall next to him and propped his suitcase up against the stall door's front. By obscuring the front view, this is frequently done in an effort to hide sexual activity. Several minutes later, the officer claimed to have noticed Craig looking into his stall through a gap, tapping his right foot repeatedly, then moving it till it brushed Karsnia's. Craig then passed his hand under the stall divider into Karsnia's stall with his palm up and guided it along the divider toward the front of the stall three times. Karsnia then waved his badge back, to which the senator responded, “No!” The senator pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and paid a fine, but changed his mind after word of his arrest later became public. Craig claimed he just had a “wide stance”, and he only pleaded guilty to avoid a spectacle.An appeals court rejected his request to change his mind about entering a guilty plea. Craig completed his time in the Senate but was unable to have his case dismissed by the Senate Ethics Committee. Craig departed office on January 3, 2009, having not to run for reelection in 2008. Fascinating Fact: Soon after Craig was arrested, the men's room started to resemble a tourist destination, with people coming to seek directions and take photographs. Even restroom tissue may be purchased on eBay. Listen to the conversation between Senator Craig and Sgt. Karsnia immediately following the arrest here.   7 Sarah Ferguson was victimized by Mazher Mahmood, a reporter for the tabloid daily "News of the World," in May 2010. In order to set up a meeting with Ferguson, Mahmood pretended to be a wealthy international businessman. The Duchess, who was discreetly recorded throughout the encounter, offered to connect the "tycoon" with Prince Andrew's influential inner circle. "500,000 pounds when you can, to me, open doors," Sarah Ferguson is heard saying on the video. She may also be seen removing a briefcase that is holding $40,000 in cash. After the event was reported, Ferguson's spokesman claimed she was both "devastated" and "regretful." She said that she had been drinking before asking for the money and was "in the gutter at that point" in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. Mazher Mahmood, the guy who pretended to be the tycoon, is referred to as the "Fake Sheikh" and has conned several famous people. No one is certain if that is his true name or what his real history is since he likes to make things as mysterious as possible. The journalist denies ever allowing his face to appear in any of his pieces and claims to have received several death threats. He also avoids public appearances.   Bait Cars The Minneapolis Police Department employed the first bait cars in the 1990s. The largest bait car fleet in North America is now situated in Surrey, British Columbia, which is widely regarded as the continent's "auto theft capital." The cars are carefully modified, equipped with GPS tracking equipment, audio/video surveillance, and an engine-disabling remote control. It has helped to lower car theft by 47% when it was introduced in Surrey, British Columbia, in 2004. In one of the more contentious bait vehicle stings, a lady was murdered nearly instantaneously after a robber driving a bait car drove into her in Dallas, Texas, in 2008. To resolve the litigation, $245,000 was given to the victim's family. Fact: The key to determining whether police are utilizing a bait car improperly and would result in entrapment is if they left it in a way that would tempt someone who would not ordinarily commit a crime. Here, you can view one of the more eye-catching (to put it mildly) bait vehicle stings. Many others will undoubtedly have the same thoughts as I had. “Where the heck was the kill switch?”   Marion Barry A well-known politician and former mayor of Washington, D.C., Marion Barry. Police were going to conduct an undercover narcotics transaction with former Virgin Islands official Charles Lewis on December 22, 1988, but they were turned back when they discovered Mayor Marion Barry was in Lewis's hotel room. This prompted a grand jury inquiry into potential mayor meddling in the narcotics probe. Barry testified for three hours in front of the grand jury before telling reporters he had done nothing wrong. Then, on January 18, 1990, Barry was arrested in a Washington, D.C. hotel after using crack cocaine in a room with his former girlfriend, who had turned informant for the FBI. This was the result of a sting operation put up by the FBI and D.C. Police. Barry said the now-famous phrase, "Bitch set me up," which has come to be linked with him. Following his arrest and subsequent trial, Barry made the decision not to run for mayor again. He was charged with 14 charges by a grand jury, including suspected grand jury perjury. The mayor could have spent 26 years in prison if found guilty on all 14 counts. Barry was only given a six-month prison term after the jury found him guilty of using cocaine. Barry campaigned for municipal council after being let out of prison. He garnered 70% of the vote due to his widespread popularity and the perception held by many that Marion Barry was the target of a political witch hunt by the government. Then, in 1995, Barry won a fourth term as mayor of Washington, D.C. Barry is currently back in his position on the D.C. city council. Regardless of your opinion on Marion Barry, you have to respect his perseverance and drive to help the people of Washington, D.C. The aforementioned occurrence is only a small portion of his remarkable life. A documentary titled "The Nine Lives of Marion Barry" was produced by HBO.    Joran Van der Sloot Dutch national Joran Van der Sloot is a key suspect in the case of Natalee Holloway, who vanished on May 30, 2005, while traveling to Aruba to celebrate her high school graduation. On March 29, 2010, Van der Sloot got in touch with Beth Twitty Holloway's mother's attorney John Q. Kelly, reviving the case. Van der Sloot promised to provide details about Holloway's demise and the whereabouts of her remains in exchange for a total of $250,000 with a $25,000 down payment. After Kelly and Twitty made contact with Alabama law enforcement, the FBI launched a sting operation. On May 10, Van der Sloot accepted a wire transfer of $15,000 to his Dutch bank account along with an additional cash payment of $10,000. He drove Kelly to the location of Holloway's remains in exchange for the cash. He indicated a home, saying that his father had assisted in burying the body in the foundation. The home had not yet been constructed when Holloway vanished, therefore this turned out to be untrue. Later, Van der Sloot informed Kelly through email that the entire incident was a fraud. At this point, police might have detained Van der Sloot for wire fraud and extortion, but they chose to wait while they worked to establish a case of murder against him. Van der Sloot was not only let free, he was also given permission to depart Aruba and travel to Bogotá, Colombia, and then Lima, Peru, with the money he had made from the operation. He met Stephany Flores Ramirez, a 21-year-old University of Lima business student, in a casino hotel in the city. Ramirez and Van der Sloot are seen entering a hotel room together on security footage, but only Van der Sloot is seen exiting. On June 2, Ramirez was discovered dead in the hotel room that Van der Sloot had booked, her neck broken and she had been battered to death. On May 30, 2010, precisely five years after Natalee Holloway vanished, Ramirez passed away. A person arrested Van der Sloot He admitted to the murder on June 3 and June 7. Fascinating fact: Van der Sloot is presently detained at Peru's Miguel Castro jail, where murder charges have been brought. He apparently now claims that if he is permitted to move to a jail in Aruba, he would tell the whereabouts of Natalee Holloway's remains.   Perverted Justice Stings Perverted-Justice is a group that uses volunteers to masquerade as juveniles online, often between the ages of 10-15, and wait for an adult to message or email the decoy back. If the topic becomes sexual, they won't actively reject it or support it. Then, in order to set up a meeting, they will attempt to identify the males by acquiring their phone numbers and other information. The group then provides law enforcement with the information. Additionally, Perverted-Justice has worked with the American reality show "To Catch a Predator." In Murphy, Texas, one of the more contentious instances took place in 2006. Louis Conradt (seen above), a district attorney in Texas, pretended to be a 19-year-old college student and had sexually explicit internet conversations with a person he thought was a 13-year-old kid. They hired an actress to portray the youngster on the phone when Conradt demanded images of the boy's genitalia. Conradt stopped returning phone calls and instant messages, so police and the reality program decided to conduct a search warrant operation at his residence. A gunshot was heard as the police entered the scene to make an arrest. Conradt was inside with a self-inflicted wound when they arrived, and he eventually passed away at a hospital. 23 people were taken into custody for online solicitation of minors as a consequence of the sting operation in Murphy, Texas. Due to inadequate evidence, none of the 23 instances were prosecuted as of June 2007. Conradt's family launched a $105 million lawsuit against Dateline's To Catch a Predator series. The dispute was ultimately resolved outside of court. All next episodes' development was halted by the network in 2008. Rachel Hoffman On February 22, 2007, a traffic stop in Tallahassee, Florida, resulted in Rachel Hoffman being found in possession of 25 grams of marijuana. Then, on April 17, 2008, police searched her flat and found 4 ecstasy tablets and 151.7 grams of marijuana. Police allegedly threatened to put her in jail unless she worked as an undercover informant for them, according to her account. She was then dispatched untrained to an undercover gathering to purchase a weapon and a significant quantity of narcotics from two alleged drug traffickers. The suspects relocated the drug purchase while she was there. When she departed the buy place in the car with the two suspects, the police officers who were keeping an eye on the sting lost sight of her. The identical gun she was intended to purchase was used to kill her by the two suspects while they were in motion. Two days later, her corpse was discovered close to Perry, Florida. One of the murder suspects was convicted of first-degree murder and given a life sentence without the possibility of parole on December 17, 2009, which would have been Rachel Hoffman's 25th birthday. Trial for the second murder suspect is set for October 2010. Interesting Fact: On May 7, 2009, a law called “Rachel's Law” was passed by the Florida State Senate. Rachel's Law requires law enforcement agencies to (a) provide special training for officers who recruit confidential informants, (b) instruct informants that reduced sentences may not be provided in exchange for their work, and (c) permit informants to request a lawyer if they want one.    Mr. Big The Royal Canadian Mounted Police created Mr. Big, sometimes known as "the Canadian method," in the early 1990s in response to unsolved killings. It is employed in Canada and Australia, but many other nations, like the United States and England, view it as entrapment. The technique works something like this: An undercover police unit poses as members of a fictitious gang, into which the suspect is inducted. The suspect is invited to participate in a series of criminal activities (all faked by the police). In addition, the “gang members” build a personal relationship with the suspect, by drinking together and other social activities. After some time, the gang boss, Mr. Big, is presented to him. The police have a fresh interest in the first crime, and the suspect is instructed to provide the gang with further information. They clarify that Mr. Big might be able to affect the course of the police investigation, but only if he confesses to the full extent of the crime. He is also warned that if he conceals any other previous offenses, the gang could decide against working with him in the future since he would be a burden. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are shown in the picture above carrying the hats of the four officers who were killed in Edmonton, Canada, in 2005 at a memorial service. Two of the men serving prison sentences for the murders made confessions to Mr. Big operatives.Interesting Fact: In British Columbia, the technique has been used over 180 times, and, in 80% of the cases, it resulted in either a confession or the elimination of the suspect from suspicion. However, cases of false confessions and wrongful convictions have recently come to the public's attention, and many are starting to question the controversial technique. In 2007, a documentary was made, called Mr. Big, that was very critical of the procedure.   You can't talk about undercover operations without talking about the mob. Here are five badasses who infiltrated the mob.   In law enforcement, working as an undercover officer carries the high risk of discovery by criminal suspects, leading to violence, torture and death. But the rewards can be huge, with wire recordings and eyewitness testimony that can result in arrests and convictions. A trained officer knows how to strategize, win the confidence of their targets and get them to reveal what's needed to build a case to take to trial. It requires an unusual kind of person, able to work under stress, stay focused, pull off the character he or she is playing and be prepared to tell many lies. What follows here is a list of five remarkable individuals whose undercover operations, despite real dangers, resulted in the convictions of leaders and associates of organized crime, over almost a century. This list leaves out many other famous undercover officers, whom we would like to recognize in the future. Perhaps because of the gravity of the investigations, and the financial resources required, all of these undercover officers worked for agencies of the U.S. government. MICHAEL MALONE Mike Malone worked undercover for the Treasury Department's Intelligence Unit. In the late 1920s, he infiltrated Al Capone's Chicago Outfit and helped convict the crime boss of tax evasion. Michael Malone had all the makings of an undercover agent who would successfully infiltrate Al Capone's Chicago gang for nearly two years. Malone, whose parents came over from Ireland, grew up in New Jersey and meshed well with its European immigrants, eventually learning to speak Gaelic, Italian, Yiddish and Greek. With his “black Irish” dark hair and skin, he resembled someone from southern Europe. After finessing his way into Capone's inner circle in 1929, Malone proved invaluable to his superiors in the Treasury Department pursuing a tax evasion case against the Chicago crime boss. Despite the danger, Malone kept an iron will. Blowing his cover would have proved fatal. But given his skills, it didn't happen. While Malone kept up the charade, he delivered information that proved incriminating not only for Capone, but for his top enforcer, Frank Nitti (aka Nitto). Malone remained disguised within Capone's bootlegging band even for a time after the feds filed tax charges against Capone, Nitti and Capone's brother, Ralph, in 1931. When Capone's jury trial commenced, and the Treasury Department removed Malone from his undercover job, the agent gained a bit of respect from the embarrassed gang chief himself. In the Chicago courthouse, Malone happened to enter an elevator where Capone stood with his defense lawyers. “The only thing that fooled me was your looks,” Capone is said as to have remarked to Malone. “You look like a Wop. You took your chances, and I took mine. I lost.” From 1929 to 1931, Malone fed intelligence about Capone that would culminate in the historic conviction of the nation's most notorious Mob boss. His fascinating story began after his service in World War I. With law enforcement his career goal, Malone joined the Treasury Department's Intelligence Unit later known as the “T-Men.” Early on, in the 1920s, Malone appreciated how donning disguises brought him closer to the suspects. He posed in everyman roles such as garbage man and shoe shiner. Elmer Irey, chief of the Intelligence Unit, had worked with undercover agent Malone on Prohibition cases. Once, Irey enlisted Malone to smash a West Coast version of “Rum Row,” rumrunners selling contraband Canadian liquor from ships off the coast of San Francisco. Malone posed as gangster from Chicago in hiding, with money to invest in illegal booze. He devised a nighttime sting operation. Agents posing as bootleggers drove speedboats out to the booze-laden mother ship and, after money changed hands, Malone fired off a flare, signaling the U.S. Coast Guard, which boarded the mother ship and arrested the astonished bootleggers. President Herbert Hoover entered office in March 1929, a few weeks following the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago, where seven men associated with Capone's bitter rival in bootlegging, George “Bugs” Moran, died in gunfire. Hoover conferred with Irey and urged him to compile a team of special agents to “get Capone” on tax charges. Meanwhile, another team of Prohibition Unit agents in Chicago, headed by Eliot Ness, would attack Capone on violations of federal liquor laws under the Volstead Act. Irey appointed Special Agent Frank Wilson, Malone and several others to the get Capone team. Meanwhile, a group of wealthy business executives in Chicago, called the Secret Six, donated large sums of money for expenses to assist the feds in getting Capone. Malone used their largess to purchase some expensive clothing to look the part of a well-heeled hoodlum that Capone would envy. Malone set about infiltrating Capone's underworld at its core – the Lexington Hotel, where the boss and his men lived. Wearing a fancy suit, purple shirt and white hat, Malone sat in the lobby, reading newspapers for days on end. He spoke in an Italian accent, introduced himself as “Mike Lepito,” met Capone men playing craps and played the part of a mobster. He mailed letters to friends in Philadelphia, who wrote back. Capone's guys broke into his room, noted his pricey checkered suits and silk underwear. They opened his mail from Philadelphia, read the letters written, impressively, in underworld lingo they understood. They informed Capone. Finally, Capone sent a cohort down to the lobby to ask “Lepito” about his business in town. “Keeping quiet,” Malone replied in his Italian inflection. In the coming days, over drinks, Malone told the guy he was on the lam for burglary in Philadelphia. That got Malone invitations to play poker and trade gossip with the gang, then dinner at their hangout, the New Florence, and then to attend the birthday party Capone planned for Frank Nitti at the Lexington. Malone met Capone at Nitti's party. The secret agent's new acquaintances included big-shot hoods Nitti, “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn, Jake “Greasy Thumb” Guzik, Paul “The Waiter” Ricca, Murray “The Camel” Humphreys and Sam “Golf Bag” Hunt. Malone was in. He discreetly phoned Wilson about what he'd overheard within the gang. Wilson and his aides traced signatures on bank checks while pursuing tax evasion cases against Nitti and Guzik. A federal court in Chicago convicted Guzik, who got a five-year sentence. But Nitti skipped town. Malone, assigned to find him, followed Nitti's wife to an apartment building in Berwyn, Illinois. There, the cops nabbed Nitti, later sentenced to 18 months in prison for tax evasion. Then the police pinched Al himself following his 1931 indictment on tax charges. “Mike Lepito” was there at the Lexington when Al Capone arrived back, triumphant about his release on $50,000 bail. Malone listened and reported to Wilson about Capone's scheme to bribe and fix the jury in his favor. The feds moved quickly and a judge created a new list of jurors. Malone then reported Capone's plot to hire five gunman from New York to kill four federal officials in Chicago – including Wilson. With safety measures in place, Capone ordered the gunmen to leave town. Capone's trial, after a judge refused to plea bargain with the Mob boss, started in October 1931. Four days afterward, Malone finally gave up the act. The news spread fast to Capone and his men. Malone had heard that Phil D'Andrea, Capone's bodyguard, planned to bring a concealed gun into the courthouse. Malone and another agent frisked and disarmed D'Andrea, and had him arrested. A jury Capone could not fix found the boss guilty on 22 criminal counts. The judge gave him 11 years in the federal pen and a $50,000 fine, plus court costs. Months later, in early 1932, the Intelligence Unit had Malone, Irey, Wilson and Special Agent A. P. Madden probe the kidnapping of aviator Charles Lindbergh's son. The team's persistence paid off within two years, with the capture (and conviction) of suspect Bruno Hauptman, who still had some of the marked currency the agents convinced Lindbergh to use as ransom money. Malone had other notable cases. In 1933, Irey assigned him to find fugitive New York gangster Waxey Gordon, wanted for tax evasion. Malone located Gordon in a remote cottage in the Catskill Mountains. Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey took the case, and the court put Waxey away for 10 years. A year later, Malone infiltrated Louisiana Governor Huey “Kingfish” Long's crooked crew. After Long's assassination, the IRS won a tax fraud conviction against Malone's target, Long's close aide, Seymour Weiss. In his last undercover operation before his death, the Intelligence Unit gave Malone a large amount of cash and a Cadillac to use in Miami Beach, disguised as a rich syndicate man. He found and reported what the agency wanted – details of a coast-to-coast illegal abortion ring. After Malone's death in 1960, Wilson described him to a news reporter as “the best undercover agent we ever had.” JOSEPH PISTONE Joe Pistone is one of the FBI's most celebrated undercover agents. Using the name Donnie Brasco, he infiltrated the New York Mafia and helped produce 200 indictments. Courtesy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In New York City during the mid-1970s, the FBI investigated a rash of truck hijackings happening each day. The agency assigned agent Joseph “Joe” Pistone to go undercover for six months to find out where the Mob-connected thieves took the stolen cargo. His adopted name was “Donnie Brasco.” He was so effective as a wiseguy that the FBI let him keep it up. No one knew how far the investigation would lead, or what it would mean for Pistone, who started as an agent in 1969. His experience would eventually prompt the mobsters in New York to put out a $500,000 contract for his murder, but it never happened. In the end, the evidence and trial testimony he provided in the 1980s produced 200 indictments of Mob associates and more than 100 convictions. His work decimated the Bonannos, one of New York's five major crime families. Pistone's journey while undercover, impersonating a mobbed-up jewel thief, would last an incredible five years, from 1976 to 1981, during which he penetrated the upper levels of the Bonnano organization. No FBI agent had made it inside the Mob like that. The agency beforehand had to rely on informants. Pistone took a class to learn about jewelry to make his affectation believable. In Brooklyn and Manhattan, he roamed bars and restaurants frequented by Mob types. He communicated using the street smarts he absorbed growing up as a working-class Italian-American kid in Paterson, New Jersey, where he went to Italian social clubs and encountered local hoods. Years in, he had the Bonanno circle so convinced that it moved to have him a “made” man shortly before the FBI ended his assignment. At first he befriended low-level mobsters. He wore a wire to record conversations, and committed to memory names and license plates since taking notes would obviously raise red flags. By 1976, he'd won the trust of important Bonnano members, notably family soldier Benjamin “Lefty Guns” Ruggiero, said to have killed 26 people, and capo Dominick “Sonny Black” Napolitano. Ruggerio recommended him so that he could join the clan. Pistone's Mob activities centered in New York and Florida, taking him away from his wife and young daughters for extended times. Pistone even had to vacation with his demanding cohorts. He moved his family members out of state for their protection. As “Donnie Brasco,” Pistone helped Ruggerio transfer stolen goods and sell guns. He engaged in loansharking, extortion and illegal gambling. Once, while pretending to be an expert in burglar alarms, angry Mob associates intent on committing burglaries demanded he reveal the name of a mobster who would vouch for him. The FBI used an informant to quell their suspicions. In the 1997 film Donnie Brasco, undercover agent Joe Pistone is played by Johnny Depp, left. Al Pacino, right, plays Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero. In 1981, the situation intensified again when the crime family commanded him to kill an adversary. The FBI pulled him out of the sting. It was time to start making cases, and for him to testify in open court as himself. Starting in 1982, Pistone's testimony over the next several years in racketeering cases sent more than 100 mobsters to long prison terms. Prosecutors considered him crucial to convicting 21 defendants in the “Pizza Connection” case of pizzerias used to traffic in heroin and launder money for the Sicilian Mafia. Pistone went into hiding and later retired from the FBI, unscathed, in 1986. In the 1990s, Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, former underboss for the Gambino family who turned FBI informant, said the embarrassment from the “Brasco” case drove bosses in New York's crime families to suspend the Bonanno group from its board of directors. But Pistone couldn't stay retired. In 1992, at age 53, he requested reinstatement with the FBI, which agreed only if he would enter the agency's strict training class, lasting 16 weeks at its base in Quantico, Virginia. Pistone endured the rigorous course alongside recruits in their 20s. He passed and the FBI rehired him, at least until the mandatory retirement age of 57. Pistone's 1988 book on his undercover experiences, Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia, was a bestseller. Based on the book, actor Johnny Depp portrayed Pistone in the 1997 feature film Donnie Brasco, with Al Pacino as Ruggerio. JACK GARCIA Jack Garcia was an FBI undercover agent of Cuban descent who convinced members of the Italian-American Mafia that he was Italian. He took part in more than 100 undercover investigations over a 26-year career. Before he succeeded in infiltrating New York's Gambino crime family, FBI agent Joaquin “Jack” Garcia had to go school. That is, the FBI's “mob school,” where he received an education in how to hit the ground running with veteran mobsters. His teacher was special agent Nat Parisi. First off, Parisi said, do not carry a wallet – wiseguys carry wads of currency, often bound by the kind of rubber band grocery stores use to keep broccoli together. Also, correctly pronouncing Italian food matters – as Tony Soprano might say, those long pasta shells are not “manicotti,” but “manicote.” Another valuable lesson he learned is that his Mob brethren loved compliments – his favorite one: “Where did you get those nice threads? You look like a million dollars.” In his 26-year career as an FBI agent, Garcia took part in more than 100 undercover investigations, from Miami to New York, Atlantic City and Los Angeles, targeting mobsters, drug traffickers and corrupt politicians and cops. He participated in the highest number of undercover cases in FBI history. In many of his capers, he impersonated a mobster, using the name “Jack Falcone” (in honor of the Italian judge Giovanni Falcone, killed by the Sicilian Mafia in the 1990s). As a backstory, he told his Mob marks about having a Sicilian pedigree (actually he's a native of Havana and grew up in the Bronx) with an expertise in stealing and fencing stolen goods, with jewelry as his specialty. Sometimes, he had to run several undercover roles at once. He took advantage of his fluency in Spanish and Italian, being careful not to mix things up when the phone rang. In the early 2000s, the FBI chose Garcia for what would be the most fruitful infiltration of an organized crime family since Joe Pistone's in the 1970s. While undercover as “Jack Falcone” with the Gambino's family's chapter in Westchester County, New York, for two years, he flashed cash, Rolex watches, diamond rings, flat-screen TVs and other supposed stolen property (items seized in other FBI cases). Much of the cash he held went to pay for expensive dinners – mobsters, he said, are notoriously cheap when the check comes. He gained 80 pounds over the two years. One mobster in particular who liked his money and goods, and would become his almost daily companion, was Gambino capo Gregory DePalma. An “old school” hood who in 2003 finished serving 70 months for racketeering, DePalma right away threatened violence and extorted owners of Westchester-area construction firms, strip joints, restaurants and other businesses. Garcia said he witnessed DePalma commit a crime almost every day. The FBI had Garcia pose as a wiseguy seeking to invest in a topless bar in the Bronx. Garcia's inquiries led him to meet DePalma in 2003. By providing stolen property for DePalma to sell for cash, Garcia convinced him that “Jack Falcone” was an experienced jewelry thief and fencer from Miami. When Garcia hung out with DePalma over the two-year period, he wore a body wire, and the FBI planted bugging devices at DePalma's hangouts. Garcia gave DePalma a cell phone that the talkative mob capo used prodigiously, not knowing the FBI had bugged it. The operation yielded 5,000 hours of recorded conversations used to implicate DePalma and other Gambino men in racketeering. In 2005, DePalma planned to honor “Falcone” by rendering him “made” within the Gambino family. In a recorded conversation, Garcia as “Falcone” replied to DePalma, “I'm honored for that,” he said, in the tape later used in court. “I will never let you down either.” But it wasn't to be. After Garcia witnessed a Gambino soldier beat another member with a crystal candlestick, the FBI shut down the undercover operation. (Garcia and Pistone are the only law enforcement officers ever nominated to be “made.”) Garcia's efforts inside the Gambino crew paid off big time. The evidence he delivered for the FBI resulted in the arrest of 32 Gambino members and associates, including DePalma, Gambino boss Arnold “Zeke” Squitieri and underboss Anthony “The Genius” Megale. DePalma went to trial in 2006. Garcia, who retired from the FBI two months before the trial started, agreed to testify in federal court in Manhattan. The jury found DePalma guilty on 27 counts, and the judge gave the 74-year-old a 12-year prison term. Like Pistone, Garcia's undercover career is chronicled in a memoir, Making Jack Falcone: An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Family. KIKI CAMARENA Kiki Camarena was an undercover agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Mexico. After contributing information that led to major drug busts, he was tortured and murdered by drug cartel bosses in 1985. Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, the late Drug Enforcement Administration agent assigned to investigate drug trafficking in Guadalajara, Mexico, in the 1980s, is famous as one of the most heroic DEA agents ever. But he is more well-known in death than in life. His torture-murder in Mexico in 1985 took place at the hands of drug cartel bosses with the complicity of high-level Mexican government officials, law enforcement and, allegedly, the CIA. At the time, the Reagan administration was secretly training and supplying Central American guerilla fighters, known as the “Contras,” against the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The U.S. government allegedly granted the cartel bosses free rein to traffic drugs – to the point of using CIA-recruited American pilots to fly cocaine into the United States to sell for cash so the cartel could make donations to buy more weaponry for the Contras. Camarena, born in Mexicali, Mexico, in 1947, moved with his impoverished family to Calexico, California. He served as a firefighter in Calexico, and with a strong desire for police work, joined the Imperial County Sheriff's Department, moving up to its narcotics task force. The experience led to his career in the DEA starting in 1975. Assigned to the DEA office in the “narco paradise” of Guadalajara in 1980, Camarena was a convincing undercover officer with his appearance and ability to speak Spanish and barrio “street” language to fit in with the drug underworld. His target was the powerful Guadalajara drug cartel (which later evolved into the Sinaloa cartel). In the early 1980s, in what he called “Operation Padrino,” Camarena arranged for U.S. agents to seize international bank accounts held by wealthy cartel drug lords. He developed evidence of major marijuana plantations in the Mexican state of Zacatecas, based on informants and overflights in a plane flown by his DEA pilot, Alfredo Zavala Avelar. In November 1984, from his background work, Mexican federal police and the DEA raided enormous pot-growing operations on a ranch in Zacatecas that employed thousands of field hands. The task force confiscated 20 tons of marijuana, burned the crop and made 177 arrests. The bust cost cartel figure Rafael Caro Quintero about $50 million. Caro Quintero believed his operation had the protection of the Mexican army, and the CIA, since he owned a farm used to train the U.S.-backed Contras. He vowed revenge against Camarena. Meanwhile, a DEA force organized by Camarena seized a large cache of cocaine shipped by cartel boss Miguel Felix Gallardo's operation to New Mexico and Texas. Gallardo also believed he had CIA and Mexican official protection. During the fall of 1984, Quintero held meetings with top cartel traffickers Gallardo, Ernesto “Don Neto” Fonseco Carrillo and Ruben Zuno Arce. Also present, thanks to rampant corruption bought by the Guadalajara cartel, were Mexico's minister of domestic affairs and DFA chief Manuel Bartlett Diaz, plus Mexico's defense minister, the head of Mexico's Interpol office and the governor of the state of Jalisco. The agenda was to kidnap Camarena and get him to reveal his informants and other information. Zuno Arce gave the order. Fonseca only intended to scare and release him, but Quintero wanted to kill the DEA man. On February 7, 1985, Quintero and Gallardo directed their henchmen to kidnap Camarena off a street in Guadalajara. As the agent walked from the U.S. consulate to meet his wife for lunch, they forced him at gunpoint into a car and drove him to a residence used for cartel rendezvous. They bound and blindfolded him, turned on a tape recorder and questioned him, during which he was severely beaten and tortured. The lead interrogator was the crooked head of the secret police in Guadalajara, Sergio Espino Verdin. The cartel men wanted to know what Camarena knew about them, their dealings with Mexican officials and the CIA's involvement in drug trafficking. The gangsters also brought in and beat up Zavala, Camarena's pilot. Both men died about two days later, angering Fonseco, who told Quintero not to kill Camarena. Camarena's wife reported him missing and Washington launched what would be the largest manhunt in the history of the DEA. The cartel had the two men's bodies buried, then dug up and relocated to a farm in another state, where Mexican police found them in early March. During his funeral a week later, Camarena's family interred his ashes in Calexico. His slaying triggered an international incident. U.S. officials ordered all cars from Mexico at the border searched, effectively closing it. The investigation revealed the CIA connection, leading to bitter clashes between CIA and DEA agents. A federal court in Los Angeles charged 22 defendants in the murders of Camarena and Zavala. Under pressure, Mexican authorities acted, arresting 13 men. Mexican courts convicted Fonseco, Quintero and Espino, and sentenced each to 40 years, although Quintero won early release on a technicality in 2013. U.S. officials are still seeking Quintero to face federal charges. Mexican police arrested Gallardo in 1989, and he received 40 years. A court in Los Angeles found Zuno Arce guilty in the murders in 1990, sentenced him to two life terms in prison, where he died in 2012. In Camarena's honor, in 1985 the National Family Partnership started the National Red Ribbon Campaign, a volunteer anti-drug use and education effort that urges youths to recite a pledge to refrain from drugs, and celebrates “Red Ribbon Week” on drug awareness each October. Camarena's is featured as a character, played by actor Michael Pena, in a chapter of the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico, about on his actions with the DEA. JAY DOBYNS Jay Dobyns went undercover with the Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle gang for 20 months in Arizona on behalf of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. His work led to 16 arrests. For Jay Dobyns, fitting in with the infamous biker gang the Hells Angels for almost two years meant adhering to his undercover alter ego, Jay “Bird” Davis, to the point of obsession. To maintain his cover, he had to divert his mind away from his wife and kids. And it all would be worth it – at least that's what he thought at the time. Dobyns had hit on his best clandestine ruse yet while in Arizona in 2001, after 15 years of service as an undercover special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. While working undercover cases in the late 1980s for the ATF, he'd been injured twice – from a gunshot wound to the back from a suspect in Tucson and when gunrunners hit him with a car during an attempted getaway in Chicago. He took part in investigations of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Other undercover roles of his ended in the arrests of a Mexican drug boss and members of the Aryan Brotherhood gang. Altogether, he served in more than 500 undercover operations disguised as a hitman and Mob debt collector. He infiltrated organized crime groups and gangs engaged in drug and arms smuggling. In 2001, to gather intelligence as “Davis” for the ATF in northern Arizona, Dobyns worked in the Bullhead City area, posing as a gun seller and an enforcer for a nonexistent collections agency. But his operation was interrupted in 2002 with the now-famous riot and shootout among members of the Angels and a competing biker gang, the Mongols, at the Harrah's casino in nearby Laughlin, Nevada, during the annual River Run motorcycle rally. Two Angels and one Mongol died and dozens of people were injured. The ATF brass soon redirected him to penetrate the dangerous Hells Angels club. Dobyns certainly had the physical part down with his beard and six-foot, one-inch frame he used as an all-conference football player for the University of Arizona. Later, an Angels member would apply tattoos covering his upper arms. Dobyns teamed with another ATF agent, two other undercover officers and a pair of paid informants. The idea was to create a fake biker gang with the aid of one of the informants who once served in a motorcycle gang based in Tijuana, Mexico. The gangster informant and Dobyns would run the gang, called the Solo Angeles, promote it as a pro-Hells Angels crew and request to join the Angels as a “nomad” chapter. The ATF named the setup “Operation Black Biscuit.” As a convincer, Dobyns and his fellow agent feigned an execution of a Mongol member, tying up an agent, placing cow's brains and bloody Mongol clothing on him and taking a photo. Based on the picture, the Angels took the bait and let them hang out and ride with them. They trusted him so much they offered to make him a member of the Angels' Skull Valley Chapter. He was the first law enforcement officer to infiltrate the Angels. His undercover penetration of the Angels lasted more than 20 months, one of the longest ever for the ATF. His work ended with 16 arrests from the Angels gang. But the criminal case, amid problems between the ATF and Justice Department lawyers, fell through in federal court. Federal prosecutors blamed the ATF, saying the agency did not reveal evidence from informants. In 2006, the feds dropped racketeering enterprise charges – the most serious — against all but four of 42 Angels charged in the Laughlin riot. Dobyns' battle with his own employer, the ATF, soon began. He filed suit in federal court against the agency alleging it did not protect him while he was on duty. He won a $373,000 settlement in 2007. The next year, Dobyns's wife and two kids barely escaped after someone firebombed the family home in Tucson. The ATF investigated Dobyns himself as a suspect in the arson. Investigators cleared him. In 2014, the year he retired after 27 years with the ATF, he filed another suit, for $17.2 million, saying the ATF failed to safeguard his family amid death threats. A judge awarded him $173,000. During an appeal, the judge voided the monetary judgment, but recommended discipline for ATF personnel and barred seven Justice Department attorneys from the case. He ordered a special master to investigate government actions in the case, and possible misconduct by the feds in the arson investigation. But the judge died of cancer. The special master in a report said that the first case was fair enough and required no further probe into the federal government. A new judge accepted the recommendation. Dobyns has authored two books, one on his undercover experiences, another on his travails with the ATF. These days, he delivers lectures on his life to audiences at universities and law enforcement associations nationwide. And now some of our infamous quick hitters:   Donald Duck decoy   Police in Fort Lee, New Jersey used a Donald Duck costume as a decoy to catch drivers who failed to yield to pedestrians. Drivers who didn't stop for the cartoon duck were ticketed. One woman, Karen Haigh, fought her $230 ticket.   "They told me that I was getting a ticket for not stopping for a duck," she told Eyewitness News. "But it scared me. I'm a woman. This huge duck scared me."  Coco the Clown   These old clips from the show COPS show a strange undercover police sting, and proves the adage that clowns are usually scary or just creepy. One cop dressed up as Coco the Clown, an outfit that kind of resembles John Wayne Gacy, to catch women working as sex workers. Spoiler: he pretty much sprays all of them with silly string and the whole thing is sad to watch. Amish woman   At least one cop from the Pulaski Township Police Department in Pennsylvania dressed up as an Amish woman in an attempt to catch a sexual predator. Sgt. Chad Adams of the Pulaski Township Police Department wandered the streets for two months in 2014 after police were tipped off that a predator was masturbating in front of children, according to the Associated Press. He posted on the department's Facebook page, “Hey friends, sometimes being a police officer means going undercover and doing what you have to do to catch the bad guy. Now that our investigation is complete I'll share with you this photo! Back in January we had an individual preying on Amish children walking home from school. The male individual was pulling up to the children and getting out of his car and masturbating in front of them. Although we did not apprehend the individual we believe he was caught in another county. I wanted to share with you that we will use all means available to try and protect our children. That includes dressing up as an Amish woman to attempt to apprehend a pervert! Thanks goes out to the Neshannock police and New Wilmington police in assistance with the investigation! Sincerely, Sergeant Chad Adams.”   Sadly, the sting didn't work, but police believe it is because the culprit moved into another county.   DVD Prize sting   Police in Phoenix, Arizona set up a sting to catch people with outstanding warrants, mostly DUIs, in 2002. The people were told they won a DVD player. People thought they were showing up to pick up their prize. Instead, they walked right into their own arrest. Watch as these suspects went from excited to shocked to sad. Panhandling trick   In 2015, undercover cops in California posed as panhandlers to ticket distracted drivers. They stood on the side of the road, posed as panhandlers and holding signs that identified them as police officers. The pieces of cardboard they were holding also stated that they were looking for seatbelt and cellphone violations. For those drivers who weren't paying attention