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As strange as it may sound, Donald J. Trump, the current president of the United States of America, has been repeatedly likened to Cyrus the Great (lived c. 600 – c. 530 BC), the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. The comparison between Trump and Cyrus the Great is especially popular among evangelical Christian Trump-supporters in the United States, but it also has some prominence among Israeli Jews. Let’s take a look at who Cyrus the Great was, why Donald Trump is being compared to him, and why these comparisons don’t hold up to scrutiny.Who was Cyrus the Great?Šāhanšāh Kūruš II of the Achaemenid Empire, most commonly known in English as “Cyrus the Great,” was a historical ancient Persian king who founded the Achaemenid Empire, the first of many Persian empires. He conquered the Neo-Babylonian Empire in September 539 BC after his armies defeated the armies of the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus in the Battle of Opis. He instituted a policy of religious tolerance and allowed the Judahites who had been taken captive in Babylon to return to Judah to rebuild the temple to their national god YHWH in Jerusalem.Partly on account of his decision to let the Judahites return to Judah, Cyrus figures prominently in the Hebrew Bible, in which he is portrayed a glorious, benevolent ruler acting as nothing short of God’s own vessel on Earth. In the Book of Isaiah 45:1, Cyrus is even referred to as a מָשִׁיחַ‎ (māšîaḥ), which means “anointed one” in Hebrew. To give you an impression of just what an important title this was, the English word Christ comes from the word χριστός (christós), which is the Greek translation of מָשִׁיחַ. In the Book of Isaiah, then, Cyrus bears the very same title that is applied by Christians today to Jesus.ABOVE: Presumed relief carving of Cyrus the Great in the form of a supernatural being from PasargadaeIn his book The Histories, the Greek historian Herodotos of Halikarnassos (lived c. 484 – c. 425 BC) portrays Cyrus as an ideal ruler and paragon of wisdom. He even ends his Histories with a quote which he attributes to Cyrus. The later Greek historian Xenophon of Athens (lived c. 431 – 354 BC) wrote a mostly fictional biography of Cyrus titled Kyropaideia or The Education of Cyrus in which he presented Cyrus as the ideal monarch, a wise and benevolent ruler over a nation of admiring subjects.Because Xenophon is known for his simple, easy-to-read style of writing, the Education of Cyrus is often one of the first works that students read when learning Ancient Greek. The Education of Cyrus was influential on the Founding Fathers, particularly Thomas Jefferson, who had two copies of the book in his personal collection. He studied the book in great detail in both Greek and in English and made extensive annotations on it.Of course, it is also extremely important to remember that, hidden beneath his now-gilded reputation, Cyrus also had a dark side. Like all ancient conquerors, he was hellbent on conquering neighboring peoples and forcing them into submission if necessary. Thus, he was capable of committing more than his share of violent atrocities. The Nabonidus Chronicle, for instance, records that, after he overcame the Babylonian forces in the Battle of Opis, there was a “massacre” of “the people of Akkad.”It is unclear whether this is supposed to refer to a massacre of enemy soldiers or of civilians, but, in any case, the mention of the “massacre” at all should remind us that Cyrus was no saint—a fact that I fear is often forgotten whenever Cyrus is being discussed. As I discuss in this article from January 2019, history is not always written by the victors, but, in the case of Cyrus, the narrative that is known today is very much one that is biased in Cyrus’s favor.ABOVE: Eighteenth-century tapestry depicting Cyrus the Great as a ruler of PersiaThe Trump-as-Cyrus story among evangelical ChristiansIn any case, from what I have said here, to most people, Cyrus probably does not sound very much like Trump at all. Nonetheless, it seems that evangelical Christians who support Trump are comparing Trump to Cyrus the Great almost constantly. As early as September 2016, Lance Wallnau, an evangelical leader, published an entire book titled God’s Chaos Candidate: Donald J. Trump and the American Unraveling in which he argued that Donald Trump is the modern-day equivalent of Cyrus the Great, handpicked by God as a new kind of candidate to lead the United States to greatness.The idea of Trump as a modern-day Cyrus has also been promoted by other prominent evangelical leaders. When asked about Donald Trump, Ken Ham, a very prominent evangelical apologist, the founder and CEO of Answers in Genesis, and founder of the Creation Museum, told the Mormon-affiliated news outlet Deseret News in January 2017:“God is in total control. He makes that very clear in the Bible where he tells us that he raises up kings and destroys kingdoms. He even calls a pagan king, Cyrus, his anointed, or his servant to do the things that he wants him to do.”In December 2017, Mike Evans, an evangelical leader and founder of the Jerusalem Prayer Team, said the following words to the evangelical Christian media outlet CBN News in response to Donald Trump’s decision to move the United States embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem:“I will see President Trump Monday. I will be in the White House on Monday and the first word I’m going to send to him, ‘Cyrus, you’re Cyrus. Because you’ve done something historic and prophetic,’ and he promised us he would do it. He [i.e. Cyrus] saved the Jewish people. He was used as an instrument of God for deliverance in the Bible and God has used this imperfect vessel, this flawed human being like you or I, this imperfect vessel and he’s using him in an incredible, amazing way to fulfill his plans and purposes. We are so happy. We couldn’t be happier and as somebody who has wanted and prayed and hoped for this for more than forty years, I see us in the middle of prophecy right now.”The idea of Trump as a modern-day Cyrus the Great featured prominently in the 2018 pro-Trump evangelical propaganda film The Trump Prophecy, produced by a collaboration of ReelWorksStudios and Liberty University’s Cinematic Arts program. The film’s basic message is that Donald Trump is a messianic figure appointed by God Himself to save the United States. The film explicitly compares Trump to Cyrus, declaring that, like Cyrus, Trump is God’s vessel on Earth. It also directly equates those who oppose Donald Trump with those who oppose the will of God Himself.ABOVE: Promotional image for the pro-Trump evangelical propaganda film The Trump Prophecy, which describes Donald Trump as the modern-day equivalent of Cyrus the GreatWhy? Why Cyrus?The reason why evangelical Trump-supporters keep comparing Trump to Cyrus is because, in their eyes, Cyrus serves as a clear and concrete Biblical justification for supporting Trump. Most evangelical Christians are intelligent enough to realize that Donald Trump is not one of them. Not only do Trump’s morals not align with those espoused by evangelicals, but Trump has also repeatedly shown an almost comical ignorance of the Bible. In an interview with Bloomberg in August 2015, Trump was asked what his favorite Bible verse was. This was his response:“I wouldn’t want to get into it because to me that’s very personal. You know, when I talk about the Bible, it’s very personal, so I don’t want to get into verses… The Bible means a lot to me, but I don’t want to get into specifics.”Here is a video of Trump saying this:It is pretty clear from this response that the reason why Trump cannot name a single Bible verse is because he has never read the Bible. On 14 April 2016, Trump was asked his favorite Bible verse again in a radio interview. This time he had an answer, but it wasn’t a good one: “An eye for an eye.” Evidently Trump has never read the Gospel of Matthew 5:38–42, in which Jesus says the following, as translated in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV):“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.”In other words, the one verse Trump picked happens to be one of the verses from the Hebrew Bible that, according to the gospel, Jesus specifically rejected. It should be clear to anyone with eyes and ears that Donald Trump is not a religious man.Nevertheless, many evangelical Trump-supporters look to Cyrus as a Biblical precedent for Trump. Cyrus was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but rather a Zoroastrian. Cyrus never read any of the Biblical writings and he did not worship the Judeo-Christian God. In fact, he probably was not even a monotheist in the sense that we would think of today, since Zoroastrianism at the time of Cyrus was still more henotheistic than truly monotheistic.Nevertheless, the Bible portrays Cyrus as an instrument of God’s will. The way many evangelical Trump-supporters see it, Trump is like Cyrus; he is not a Christian (certainly not a devout Christian at any rate), but, in their eyes at least, he supports Christian interests.ABOVE: Cyrus Hunting Wild Boar, painted by Claude Audran the Younger (lived 1639–1684)The Trump-as-Cyrus story among IsraelisAmerican evangelical Trump-supporters are not the only ones who keep comparing Trump to Cyrus. Many Israelis who support Trump are making the same comparison. In March 2018, Benjamin Netanyahu, the current prime minister of Israel, lavished praise on Donald Trump for his decision to move the United States embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, comparing him the Cyrus the Great:“I want to tell you that the Jewish people have a long memory, so we remember the proclamation of the great king, Cyrus the Great, the Persian king 2,500 years ago. He proclaimed that the Jewish exiles in Babylon could come back and rebuild our Temple in Jerusalem. We remember a hundred years ago, Lord Balfour, who issued the Balfour Proclamation that recognized the rights of the Jewish people in our ancestral homeland. We remember 70 years ago, President Harry S. Truman was the first leader to recognize the Jewish state. And we remember how a few weeks ago, President Donald J. Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Mr. President, this will be remembered by our people through the ages.”In an interview in June 2019, Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair Netanyahu praised Trump as well, comparing him to Cyrus the Great, saying, “The Jewish people still remember King Cyrus the Great from Persia that recognized Jerusalem 2,500 years ago, so we have a long-term memory.”The Israeli Mikdash Educational Center is even selling novelty coins depicting Trump and Cyrus the Great standing next to each other in profile with the words “And He charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem” in both Hebrew an English. The words on the coin are taken from the Decree of Cyrus, which is found in the Second Book of the Chronicles 36:22–23. Here is the passage, as translated in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV):“Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him! Let him go up.”The message of the coin is very explicit: Trump is the new Cyrus who has been sent on a mission by God to support the nation of Israel.Obviously, not all Israelis support the comparison between Donald Trump and Cyrus the Great. Indeed, many Israelis are even opposed to Trump. Certainly, the vast majority of Jewish people in the United States despise Trump. A Gallup poll from March 2019 found that 71% of Jewish people in the United States disapprove of Donald Trump—the highest percentage of all the religious groups who were included in the poll. Nonetheless, among the Jews and Israelis who do support Trump, the comparison to Cyrus seems to be prominent.ABOVE: Image of a novelty coin being sold by an Israeli organization depicting Donald Trump and Cyrus the Great standing side-by-side in profileDonald Trump’s promotion of the comparison between himself and CyrusProbably largely as a result of evangelical leaders like Mike Evans telling him to his face that he is “Cyrus,” Donald Trump is not totally oblivious to the frequent comparisons between himself and Cyrus the Great. In fact, there is some evidence that he has actively promoted such comparisons. For instance, on 22 March 2017, in an official statement released in recognition of the Persian holiday of Nowraz, Trump referenced a quote that is misattributed to Cyrus the Great:“Cyrus the Great, a leader of the ancient Persian Empire, famously said that ‘freedom, dignity, and wealth together constitute the greatest happiness of humanity. If you bequeath all three to your people, their love for you will never die.’ On behalf of the American people, I wish you freedom, dignity, and wealth.”To be clear, Cyrus the Great never actually said this. Like most other quotes you find attributed to people from ancient times on the internet, the quotation is fake. Also, calling Cyrus “the leader of the Persian Empire” is probably not the most accurate way of describing him, since there were, in fact, multiple Persian Empires and Cyrus was specifically the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the earliest of them all. In any case, the fact that Trump (or at least whoever wrote this statement for Trump) made a point of including a quote that he believed came from Cyrus most likely represents a subtle encouragement of the association between Cyrus and Trump.Trump is not the only one in his administration who has made references to Cyrus. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also extolled Cyrus the Great as an ideal ruler, perhaps implicitly comparing him to Trump. Pompeo has also (even more bizarrely) explicitly compared Trump to Esther, the heroine of the Book of Esther, who is described in the book that bears her name as preventing a massacre of the Jews that had been plotted by Haman, the evil vizier of the Achaemenid king Ahasuerus.ABOVE: Queen Esther, painted in 1879 by the British Academic painter Edwin Long. Mike Pompeo has (rather bizarrely) compared Trump to Esther.Well… how do they compare?Since so many people are comparing Trump to Cyrus the Great, I suppose we should probably look at how the two men actually compare. Right from the get-go, they are very different. We do not know much about Cyrus, but we do at least know a little bit about him. Our surviving sources generally portray him as a talented military strategist who commanded respect even from his enemies.Trump seems to be almost the opposite of this. For instance, his withdrawal of United States troops from northern Syria in October 2019 resulted in a widely-predicted debacle in which forces aligned with the Turkish government invaded the region and attacked the Kurdish militant groups with which the United States was previously aligned. The Kurds subsequently sided with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, an enemy of the United States and ally of Vladimir Putin. Trump’s decision not only won criticism from his enemies, but also from members of his own party.Cyrus the Great is also portrayed in the ancient sources as a generally merciful leader who often chose to show clemency towards his defeated enemies. His clemency even went so far as giving his defeated opponents positions in his administration. For instance, Herodotos records in Book One of his Histories that, after Cyrus defeated King Kroisos of Lydia in the Battle of Thymbra in 546 BC, he decided to not only spare Kroisos’s life but also appoint Kroisos as one of his advisors.Donald Trump, on the other hand, is notoriously vindictive towards his enemies, even those whom he has defeated. Could you imagine Donald Trump appointing Hillary Clinton as a member of his own cabinet? No, of course not. Honestly, Cyrus was more like Barack Obama in this regard, since Obama appointed Hillary Clinton, whom he defeated in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, as his Secretary of State for his first term in office and often made a point of listening to the views of his opponents and former opponents.ABOVE: Attic red-figure amphora dating to between c. 500 BC and c. 490 BC depicting King Kroisos of Lydia about to be burned on a pyre under the orders of Cyrus. According to Herodotos, Cyrus decided at the last moment to not only spare Kroisos’s life, but also to appoint Kroisos as one of his advisors.About that whole embassy thing…Trump has been most often compared to Cyrus in the context of his decision to move the United States embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem—a decision which has been likened to Cyrus’s decision to let the Judahite captives in Babylon return to Judah and rebuild their temple. It was in the context of the embassy move that many evangelical and Israeli leaders made the association between Trump and Cyrus explicit.Even this comparison, though, does not really hold up to scrutiny. Cyrus allowed perhaps as many as around 20,000 Judahites who had been held in captivity in Babylon to return to the homeland many of them had been desperately pining for. The Babylonian captivity that Cyrus brought to an end had lasted for generations. Many of the people Cyrus allowed to return to Judah had probably never even seen their original homeland, since the initial deportation of Judahites to Babylon occurred in 597 BC and Cyrus’s decision to let the captives return occurred in 539 BC. Cyrus’s decision, though it was undoubtedly politically motivated, obviously meant a lot to the Jewish people.Trump, on the other hand, simply renamed the United States consulate compound that was already in Jerusalem an “embassy.” It was a purely symbolic move. Very little actually changed as a result of Trump’s decision. No matter where you stand on the political spectrum and no matter what your stance is on Trump’s decision, I think we all can agree that what Trump did wasn’t anything even remotely on the scale of what Cyrus did.ABOVE: Photograph of the United States embassy to Israel in Tel AvivA decidedly un-American comparisonThe persistent comparison between Donald Trump and Cyrus the Great is disturbing in so many ways. One reason why it is disturbing is because of the rhetoric and the ideology that are inextricably tied to it. In the eyes of many evangelicals, Trump is, like Cyrus, the vessel of God’s will. Whatever Trump’s personal flaws may be, his evangelical supporters still maintain that he is still God’s vessel and that people should support him no matter what, because opposition to Trump is opposition to God.This is an ideology much closer to the idea of the divine right of kings that flourished in western Europe during the Early Modern Period than the ideas on which our democracy rests. In the United States, the president is not supposed to be ordained by God Himself, but rather elected by the people. This is arguably the most fundamental idea on which our entire constitution rests. When the principle that the president should be chosen by the people and not by any other power is undermined, democracy begins to crumble.When people start saying that the president is appointed by God, the natural implication of this assertion is that only God can hold the president accountable and that the people have no right to challenge him. This is exactly the kind of reasoning that is used to justify a theocratic monarchy or dictatorship. It is the most fundamentally un-American way of thinking.The ideology of absolute monarchy is virtually inherent in the comparison between Trump and Cyrus, since Cyrus himself was an absolute monarch who justified his own rule by divine right. On the Cyrus Cylinder, a clay cylinder inscribed with a decree undoubtedly issued by Cyrus himself declaring his policy of toleration in Akkadian cuneiform, Cyrus explicitly declares himself as having been appointed by Marduk, the Babylonian national god.ABOVE: Daniel and Cyrus before the Idol Bel, painted in 1633 by the Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rij. Cyrus the Great was an absolute ruler who claimed to have been ordained by the gods. When people declare Trump the new Cyrus ordained by God, they imply that he is answerable to God alone.The depths of hypocrisyThe comparisons between Trump and Cyrus are also disturbing for another reason, which is that these comparisons reveal the extent to which some right-wing evangelicals are willing to bend to excuse and justify the deeds of a man whose actions they would ordinarily consider indefensible. They excuse and dismiss Trump’s misdeeds by asserting that God is using him as a vessel like Cyrus and they do not adequately address the serious problems with Trump’s morality.I am sure everyone remembers how, on 7 October 2016, a video recording came to light of Donald Trump on a bus with Billy Bush in 2005 on his way to an Access Hollywood shoot literally bragging about how much he loves sexually assaulting women. In the video, Trump said regarding women:“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful. I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. I just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. . . . Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything.”Here is the video itself in which Trump says these things:This is an unambiguous description of sexual assault. When the video came to light, Trump’s response was to simply insist that this was all “locker room talk.” This suggests that he doesn’t understand the difference between talking about consensual sexual activities and talking about sexual assault. Trump hasn’t just talked about assaulting women; there is considerable evidence that he has actually done it. Over the past roughly forty years, Trump has been credibly accused by at least twenty-three women of various forms of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment.Even if you leave aside his assaulting women, Trump’s relationships with women still leave much to be desired, especially from the perspective a conservative evangelical who truly believes that a man should have one wife for life and never engage in extramarital affairs. Trump is currently on his third wife, who is young enough to be his daughter. (Donald is currently seventy-three and Melania is forty-nine.)Trump is also notorious for his numerous extramarital affairs, including at least one with a porn star (i.e. Stormy Daniels) and at least one with a Playboy playmate (i.e. Karen McDougal), whom he paid settlements of $130,000 and $150,000 respectively in effort to keep them quiet about the affairs.ABOVE: Photograph originating from Stormy Daniels’s MySpace page of her and Donald TrumpABOVE: Photograph of Karen McDougal, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Melania TrumpMost evangelical Christians probably like to think of themselves as being opposed to racism and white supremacy. One of the things Cyrus the Great is most famous for is his policy of tolerance towards ethnic and religious minorities within his empire. Donald Trump, on the other hand, has repeatedly lent credibility and support to white supremacists. For instance, an infamous white supremacist rally organized by the Neo-Nazis Jason Kessler and Richard Spencer known as the “Unite the Right rally” was held in Charlottesville, Virginia, beginning on the evening of 11 August 2017 and continuing into the next day.On the night of 11 August, about 250 attendees of the rally marched through the campus of the University of Virginia carrying tiki torches and chanting Nazi slogans such as “Blood and soil!” “White lives matter!” and “Jews will not replace us!” Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, there were multiple incidents in which the white supremacists attacked various counter-protesters. At around 1:45 p.m., a self-identified white supremacist rammed a car into a crowd of peaceful counter-protesters, killing one person and wounding nineteen others.About two hours after the attack, Trump went on camera to issue a pre-written statement condemning the violence that took place in Charlottesville. Trump went off script, however, adding that the blame for the violence lay “on many sides,” implying that the peaceful anti-racist counter-protesters were equally to blame for the violence as the white supremacists.On 15 August 2017, Trump took questions from the press. When asked about his remarks on the Charlottesville rally from the preceding days in which he seemed to imply that the anti-white supremacist counter-protesters were just as bad as the white supremacists, he said the following words concerning the white supremacists who held the rally:“…you have some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. You had people in that group — excuse me, excuse me — I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.”Just for the record, these are the kinds of “pictures” Trump is referring to in this quote:ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of white supremacist protesters at the “Unite the Right” rally on 12 August 2019 carrying Confederate flags, Gadsden flags, flags with Nazi swastikas on them, and other white supremacist symbolsABOVE: Photograph of white supremacists in Charlottesville carrying white supremacist flags and wearing Ku Klux Klan robesABOVE: Photograph of white supremacists in Charlottesville giving Nazi salutes, at least one of them wearing a T-shirt with a Confederate flagABOVE: Photograph of some of the white supremacists on the night of 11 August 2017 who were carrying tiki torches chanting the Nazi slogans “Blood and soil!” and “Jews will not replace us!”The Unite the Right rally was explicitly a white supremacist rally from the beginning. Anyone who was there as part of the rally was a white supremacist. Trump, though, came away with the impression that there were “very fine people” among the white supremacists gathered there.Trump has also engaged in political corruption on instances too numerous to count. He has repeatedly and openly solicited foreign governments for dirt on his political opponents. For instance, on 27 July 2016, while speaking at a news conference that he knew was being recorded, Trump explicitly urged the Russian government to hack his opponent Hillary Clinton’s private emails and release them to the public:“I will tell you this, Russia: If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. That’s see if that happens. That’ll be next.”Here is the video of Trump saying this:More recently, in July 2019, Trump withheld $300 million in military aid that had been mandated by Congress to be sent to Ukraine. In a phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on 25 June 2019, Trump told Zelensky that he would only send the military aid to Ukraine if Zelensky announced that Ukraine was initiating investigations into Trump’s political opponent Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. According to a heavily redacted summary of the conversation released by Trump’s own administration, this is how the first crucial part of the conversation between Trump and Zelensky went:Volodymyr Zelensky: “I would also like to thank you for your great support in the area of defense. We are ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps, specifically we are almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes.”Donald Trump: “I would like you to do us a favor though, because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike … I guess you have one of your wealthy people … The server, they say Ukraine has it for sale. There are a lot of things that went on the whole situation … I think you’re surrounding yourself with some of the same people. I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it… As you said yesterday, that whole nonsense ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, it’s very important that you do it if that’s possible.”Here is the second crucial part of the conversation, according to Trump’s own summary:“Good because I heard you had a prosecutor who was very good and he was shut down and that’s really unfair. A lot of people are talking about that, the way they shut your very good prosecutor down and you had some very bad people involved. Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man. He was the mayor of New York City, a great mayor, and I would like him to call you. I will ask him to call you along with the Attorney General. Rudy very much knows what’s happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could speak to him that would be great. The former ambassador from the United States, the woman, was bad news and the people she was dealing with in the Ukraine were bad news so I just want to let you know that. The other thing, there’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it … It sounds horrible to me.”Here Trump very clearly tells Zelensky that receiving military aid from the United States is dependent on him announcing investigations into Trump’s political rival. There is currently no credible evidence personally linking Joe Biden or his son to any criminal activity in Ukraine. In reality, the “prosecutor” Trump is referring to here was widely known to have been corrupt and multiple organizations including the United States and the World Bank wanted him removed, not just Joe Biden. Trump is just looking for a way to tarnish his opponent’s reputation.By the way, this isn’t even a real transcript; it is a non-verbatim summary that has been heavily redacted and edited to make Trump appear in the best light possible. When even the redacted version is incriminating, you have to wonder what the non-redacted version is like.The examples I have given here are just a few of the more famous examples of things Trump has done that are inconsistent with traditional Christian morals. If a Democrat engaged in anything like the sort of conduct Trump has engaged in, evangelicals would be rightly condemning that Democrat’s actions as deplorable; they certainly wouldn’t be calling that Democrat the second coming of Cyrus the Great. Indeed, back in the 1990s, Republicans and evangelicals deplored Bill Clinton’s proclivities for womanizing, but yet today in 2019 they refuse to condemn Trump’s.ConclusionDonald Trump and Cyrus the Great are not only two completely different historical figures, but figures that come from completely and irreconcilably different worlds. Cyrus came from a world of absolute rulers, conquests, and empires; Donald Trump comes from a world of presidents, elections, and nation-states. When people compare Trump to Cyrus, declaring him God’s anointed, they are unknowingly sanding away at the very bedrock of democracy.I am not the only one criticizing the comparison between Trump and Cyrus the Great. There are even some evangelicals who criticized this comparison. For instance, in an article titled “Is Trump Our Cyrus? The Old Testament Case for Yes and No” published on 29 October 2018 in the evangelical periodical Christianity Today, Daniel I. Block, the Gunther H. Knoedler Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Wheaton College, concludes:“Moses’ ‘Charter for Kingship’ in Deuteronomy 17:14–20 presents an alternative to the prevailing exercise of kingship, a model in which rulers are to function as servants of their people. To guard against the predominant megalomaniacal paradigm, Moses focused on the personal character of the king. They were not to use their position of authority in self-interest (multiplying horses, women, and silver and gold for himself). Rather, Israel’s kings were to read the Torah for themselves and then embody the righteousness the Torah called for in all of YHWH’s people: fearing YHWH, walking in the ways of YHWH, and walking humbly among their fellow Israelites (vv. 18–20). In short, the Israelite king’s primary function was to be a model citizen, so that people could look up to him and declare, ‘I want to be like that person!’”[…]“To me, then, this biblical history suggests that no matter how and why we cast our vote for a particular candidate, Democrat or Republican, we must never allow ourselves to become blind to their personal and moral flaws. According to the Bible, leadership is more than effectiveness; it’s also (and, in fact, primarily) a matter of character. Jesus modeled perfectly the righteous standard of which he spoke: ‘I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep’ (John 10:11; cf. Eph 5:25b).”Meanwhile, an article written by Rachel Orpheff titled “Debunking the Trump-Cyrus Prophecy,” published on 5 November 2019 on the Christian website Red Letter Christians concludes:“The bottom line, folks, is that any prophecy spoken or written over Donald Trump isn’t biblical. That frees us all up to let it go and see him for who he truly is. You won’t be messing with the vessel. But you could be saving the world.”I want to emphasize that these are devout Christians writing these things. In other words, not all Christians are Trump supporters; at least some Christians are willing to recognize Donald Trump for the national disgrace he is.(NOTE: I have also published a version of this article on my website titled “Is Donald Trump the Second Coming of Cyrus the Great?” Here is a link to the version of the article on my website.)

Photography and Copyright Law© COPYRIGHT – Part 1In part one of a multi part series on Photographer’s Copyright, I’ll be talking with Carolyn E. Wright of the Law Office of Carolyn E. Wright, LLC. She is a full-time attorney whose practice is aimed squarely at the needs of photographers. Carolyn understands the special issues that confront both professional and amateur photographers alike, and was the perfect person to talk with about Photographers, Copyright, and the Law. While her legal credentials are among the best in the business, Carolyn thinks it is important to keep ties with the photographic community. That’s why she maintains an active wildlife photography business at Carolyn Wright, and enjoys teaching, writing and speaking about photography. She is a regular leader of photography workshops, and is a moderator and columnist for Nature Photography Resource for Bird, Wildlife, Landscape Photographers. When you turn to Carolyn for legal help, you are literally turning to the person who wrote the book on photography law. “Photographer’s Legal Guide”.On the topic of copyright, it was an obvious choice for me to want to have Carolyn share some of her wisdom with my readers. Since many of the people who read my blog are in the photography business, avid amateur photographers, or fans of photography as an art form, it seemed like a good topic to cover. Copyright is often misunderstood, and I hope that the series of articles I’m writing will help clear things up for those of us who create photography, and for those that use it commercially, editorially, or otherwise.In part two of this series, I’ll be sharing some very valuable information from the ASMP, PACA, Copyright Alliance, and other photography and copyright-related organizations.An interview with Carolyn E. Wright of Photo AttorneyPhotography and Copyright LawQ: The term “Copyright” is often misunderstood. Especially when it comes to art and photography. The first and most obvious question would therefore be; What is Copyright?In simple terms, copyright for photographers means owning property. With ownership, you get certain exclusive rights to that property. For photographic copyrights, the ownership rights include:(1) to reproduce the photograph;(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the photograph;(3) to distribute copies of the photograph to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;(4) to display the photograph publicly;Found in the U.S. Copyright Act at 17 U.S.C. 106 (Chapter 1 - Circular 92)Q: What is the difference between copyright and creative commons?Creative Commons is a type of licensing. Licensing means that you grant others some of the rights that you have to the photograph. For example, you may allow someone to reproduce your photo in the December issue of a magazine. You still own the copyright to the photograph, but you allow someone else to use a piece of it. Creative Commons provides different licensing packages without pay. The packages allow some flexibility with your licensing, such as whether you allow commercial use of your photo and whether you require certain attribution, such as your name or website, with the use.Q: Does a creative commons license mean that I can use the photograph any way I want, for free?If you offer licensing of your photo through Creative Commons, someone may use your photo for free but that person must follow the of the conditions of the license that you select. The Creative Commons license options include: “Attribution” (this license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation); “Attribution-NonCommercial” (this license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms); and “Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs” (this license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially).Q: Who owns the copyright in a photograph once it is taken?In general, when the shutter is released, the photographer who pressed the button owns the copyright. An exception is when the image falls into the “work-made-for-hire”(also known as “work for hire”) category. A work-made-for-hire relationship is created in two situations: (1) the photographer is an employee hired to take photographs for the employer—an example would be a photojournalist who is an employee of a newspaper but not a wedding or portrait photographer who is hired for one event; or (2) the photographer is hired to provide photographs for collective works or compilations and signs a written agreement that specifically states that the work is to be considered a work made for hire. Therefore, freelance photographers are subjected to work-for-hire status only when they agree to it contractually.Q: If I don’t register my copyright, do I still own the copyright to my photos?Yes. When a photo is not registered with the US Copyright Office prior to an infringement (or within three months of the first publication of the photo), a copyright owner may recover only “actual damages” for the infringement (pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 504 (b)), instead of statutory damages. Courts usually calculate actual damages based on your normal license fees and/or standard licensing fees plus profits derived from the infringement, if not too speculative. One source for standard license fees is a software program called Fotoquote.Q: Should only Americans register their copyright with the Library of Congress in the United States?No! All unpublished photos, regardless of the nationality of the photographer, are protected in the United States. Any photo that is protected by US copyright law can be registered, which includes works of foreign origin.If your photos are first published in the United States or in a country with which the US has a copyright treaty, they also are protected and may therefore be registered with the US Copyright Office. Also, if you are a citizen of or reside in a country that has a copyright treaty with the US, then you can register your photos with the US Copyright Office. See Circular 38a, International Copyright Relations of the United States, for the status of specific countries.Q: What is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), enacted in 1998, implemented treaties signed at the 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Geneva conference. It addresses many issues, one of which affects photographers directly. The DMCA states that while an Internet Service Provider (ISP) is not liable for transmitting information that may infringe a copyright, the ISP must remove materials from users’ websites that appear to constitute copyright infringement.Your copyright does not have to be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office for you to take advantage of this provision. If you find a website that is using one of your images without permission, contact the hosting ISP and report the infringement. My article here: Nature Photography Resource for Bird, Wildlife, Landscape Photographers tells you how to request that your image be take down from a website.The DMCA also provides for certain damages when your work is infringed. If the infringer has removed your copyright management information, such as your name, contact information, or copyright notice, from your work in an attempt to facilitate or conceal its infringement, the infringer may have violated the DMCA. Section 1202(b) of the DMCA prohibits the removal of “copyright management information” in certain circumstances. It states in pertinent part:No person shall, without the authority of the copyright owner or the law—(1) intentionally remove or alter any copyright management information . . . . knowing, or, with respect to civil remedies . . . having reasonable grounds to know, that it will induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal an infringement of any right under this title.The statutory award for each violation of Section 1202 ranges from $2,500 to $25,000. The DMCA is another important tool in the photographer’s legal toolkit.Q: If I am photographing a job for a client, does the client own the copyright or do I?See above regarding the “work-made-for-hire” discussion.Q: Do I need a model or property release to own the copyright in my photograph?Copyrights and rights of privacy for people are different rights. When photographers take photos of people, they must be careful to not invade their privacy. This happens when someone enters a person’s private domain in a manner that would be considered offensive to the average person. As a photographer, the act of going on someone’s land without permission would be trespassing and also may violate the person’s right of privacy. You don’t have to take a photo or publish an image photo for the action to be unlawful. Some courts have found that a photographer has violated privacy rights even when photographing someone in public. Instances would include cases where the photographers harass their subjects, use hidden cameras, or wait for a woman’s skirt to be blown at a fun house. It also is unlawful to view and photograph people inside of residences or other places where privacy is normally expected, even when the photographer is standing in public.After the photo is taken, however, the photographer should be concerned with the person’s right of publicity. You violate a person’s right of publicity when, without permission, you use a photo of a person for your own benefit. The “editorial” use of a photo is not considered a use of the person’s image for your own benefit. “Commercial” use is different because the use benefits the photographer, so you need the person’s consent to use their image. If you get a model release signed by the subject, you are free to use the image commercially, i.e., for advertising.If an image is used in a newsworthy item then that constitutes an editorial use. In such cases, a person’s rights are evaluated in light of constitutional interests. “Newsworthiness” is a First Amendment, freedom of the press interest and is broadly construed. Courts traditionally have defined public interest or newsworthiness in liberal and far-reaching terms, not limiting it to the dissemination of news in the sense of current events. They have extended it well beyond that to include all types of factual, educational and historical data, even including entertainment and amusement and other interesting phases of human activity in general.Commercial use of a photograph usually occurs when the picture of the person has been used purely for “advertising purposes.” While the photograph of a person may be used for something that is sold for profit, such as for use in a book or as a photographic print, selling the photo is not the test for a commercial usage. Using a picture of a person in advertising or for trade without consent may violate the person’s right of publicity, especially when it injures the economic interests of the person due to commercial exploitation. If someone looking at a photograph would think that the person in it is promoting or endorsing a product affiliated with the photograph, then the use is commercial. When the photo of a person is incorporated into a product such as a tee shirt, the use is commercial. At times, it is difficult to determine if a usage is considered commercial or editorial, so it is always safer to get the model release.In general, if property is visible and can be photographed from a public place, you don’t need a property release to use an image that depicts the property and you may use the photo in any manner. Copyright law provides an exclusion for photographing buildings located on property, but not for statues or other items that may have separate copyrights. There also are restrictions on some governmental property. These include federal seals and insignia as well as military or nuclear installations due to security concerns. If the statue or copyrighted item has minimal presence in your image, your photo may fall under the exclusion due to fair use. Otherwise, you must get permission to take an image and to use it for any purpose.Nevertheless, some companies have tried to prevent the use—both commercially and editorially—of photographs of their buildings or objects via trademark protection or contract law. Examples include the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Lone Cypress tree on the 17 Mile Drive at Pebble Beach, CA, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the “Hollywood” sign. While these attempts have been unsuccessful, it can be expensive to litigate themQ: Do I need to put the © notice on my photos?You’ll often see a copyright “notice”—the familiar © or the word “copyright” with a date and name of the copyright owner—posted on creative works. A proper notice has three parts: the first part is the © (the letter “c” in a circle), the word “Copyright,” or its abbreviation, “Copr.” Some people use a “c” within parentheses like this: (c), but it has not been designated to be part of the official copyright notice. The second part notes the year when the work was first published. The third required part of a copyright notice is the name of the copyright owner. The final form looks like this: © 2011 Carolyn E. Wright. Including a copyright notice is no longer required for copyright protection, but it is a good idea to use it.When you use the copyright notice it may stop someone from stealing your photographs, either because it serves as a reminder that the work is protected or because the notice interferes with the use of the work when it is part of the photo. Also, it helps to post a copyright notice on your photos because the infringer then cannot say the use was innocent. Further, you may be eligible for DMCA damages if your copyright notice is removed to hide an infringement (see above). You may use the copyright notice without registering your work with the U.S. Copyright Office.Q: What is “Fair Use”?Fair use is the right to use copyrighted materials without the copyright owner’s permission. It was designed as an exception to the exclusive rights granted above, permitting limited and reasonable uses without permission as long as they do not prejudice the copyright owner’s rights or interfere with normal exploitation of the work. The classic example of fair use is the quotation from a book being reviewed. Since an author usually does not review his own book, the impact of the quotation on his interests should be minimal. If, however, so much material is quoted that the review will substitute for a purchase of the book, the use will not be considered fair.Thus, fair use is intended to allow the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials for the benefit of society, believing such use serves a higher purpose. But fair use has its limits, too.Specifically, Section 107 of the Copyright Act states that:the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include –(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.All four factors (as indicated by the “and” before the last factor) are considered by a court to determine whether a use is fair.The “purpose and character of the use” is considered one of the most important indicators of fair use. Courts determine whether the copyrighted work has been used to create a new work (often referred to as a “transformative use”) instead of simply copied and/or placed into another work.A court is more likely to find fair use when the “nature” of the copyrighted work used has been published, rather than unpublished. Copyright law recognizes the right of photographers to control the first public appearance of works.An unauthorized use will more likely be considered a fair use if a small amount or insubstantial portion of the entire work has been used, such as a short quote from a book. While such a “de minimis” use is more difficult with photographs than when copying text, it can occur when the photos are in the background of a video, for example.When the unauthorized use directly effects and competes with the copyright owner’s business or potential for income, a court will usually find that the use was not a fair use. This is true even when the use is not in an area of business directly competing with the photographer – such as selling sculptures based on a photo. What matters is that the photographer could have made money in that field.Q: What is public domain?When a work is not protected by copyright law, it is considered as being in the “public domain” and any one may use the work without permission.Q: What is a derivative work and who owns the copyright?A derivative work is one that is based on one or more earlier works. Derivative works include editorial revisions, annotations or other types of modifications. The work must be different enough from the original to be regarded as a new work—in other words, it must contain some substantial, not merely trivial, originality. The threshold for originality in a derivative work is higher than that required for the original work.The person who creates the derivative owns the copyright to revision, annotation, or other type of modification only. The original copyright is still owned by the original creator.Q: Is copyright violation a crime?The Copyright Act includes elements of crimes related to copyright. Appendix G - Circular 92 The government usually prosecutes only the most egregious cases, such as counterfeited goods.Q: What happens when a copyrighted photo is used without permission?You have several options when you find that your photo has been infringed.Option #1 – Do NothingYou always have the option of doing nothing. If the infringer is in a foreign country where infringements are rampant and difficult to enforce or is a small website with little traffic, you may decide that it’s not worth your time and effort to fight the infringement.Option # 2 – Request a Photo CreditIf the website would provide a marketing outlet for you, you may only want the infringer to give you proper credit. If so, write the infringer a letter officially giving her the right to use the image. Be sure to designate the parameters of that use, such as who, what, why, when and where – see my blog entry here for more information. Include the condition that the infringer post a photo credit with a copyright notice on or adjacent to the use. You may also require the infringer to add a link to your website. You may get subsequent work from the infringer or others.Option #3 – Prepare a DMCA Take-Down NoticePurusant to the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) enacted in 1998, the Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) that hosts a website is not liable for transmitting information that infringes a copyright only if the ISP removes the infringing materials from a user’s website after receiving proper notice of the violation. The notice must: be in writing, be signed by the copyright owner or the owner’s agent, identify the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed (or list of infringements from the same site) and identify the material that is infringing the work. Additionally, the notice must include the complaining party’s contact information, a statement that the complaint is made in “good faith,” and a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information contained in the notification is accurate and that the complainer has the right to proceed (because he is the copyright owner or agent). Check my article at here to learn more about how to prepare a DMCA take-down notice. Even if you don’t reside in the U.S., you may use this great tool to stop an infringer whose ISP is in the U.S. from using your work.Option #4 – Prepare a Cease and Desist/Demand Letter YourselfWhen you don’t want to alienate the infringer (the infringer is a potential client and/or appears to be an innocent infringer), you may want to contact the infringer to explain that the use is not authorized and either request payment of an appropriate license fee, a photo credit with a link to your website (as discussed above), or that the infringer cease use of the image. It’s best to do this in writing – a letter by surface mail seems to have more clout than email correspondence.Photographers sometimes send an infringer an invoice for three times their normal license fee in an attempt to resolve the infringement issue. While the 3x fee may be an industry standard and some courts have used it, is not a legal right given by any court of law or statute. Instead, U.S. law states that you are entitled to actual or statutory damages for infringement as provided by 17 U.S.C. Chapter 5, specifically section 504. The damages that you can receive from infringement – especially if you timely register your photographs – sometimes can amount to a lot more than three times your normal license fee. So you may want to think 2x before you send the 3x letter.There are some risks in sending the letter yourself. First, the infringer may attempt to preempt an infringement lawsuit and file a request for declaratory judgment that the use is authorized. This may involve you in a legal action for which you may need legal counsel in a jurisdiction (court location) where you don’t want to litigate. Second, your demand for payment may be admissible against you if an infringement case is filed. If you demand too little, then it may limit your ultimate recovery. To avoid this possibility, include in your demand letter that “these discussions and offer to settle are an attempt to compromise this dispute.”Option #5 – Hire a Lawyer to Send a Demand Letter When an attorney gets involved, the matter is escalated and tensions rise. While the infringer may be more defensive, the weight of your demand letter is dramatically increased if it comes from an attorney and the infringer generally takes the matter more seriously. Some attorneys charge a flat fee to send a letter; others may charge a “contingency fee” which is based on the percentage of recovery. Or the fee may be a combination of both.Option #6 – File a Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Your most aggressive option is to pursue your legal remedies by filing suit. Unless you created the work outside of the United States and in a country that is a signatory to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, you must register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office, hopefully before but at least after the infringement. (If you created the photo in a country that is a signatory to the Berne Convention, you do not have to register in the U.S. to protect your copyright or to file an infringement lawsuit in the U.S. However, if you do, then you may be entitled to statutory damages and attorneys’ fees, as noted here.) If your photo was not timely registered for this infringement, you may want to register the photo for future possible infringements, as well, to be eligible for statutory damages of up to $150,000 per willful infringing use for each photograph. See 17 USC Section 504(b) and (c). Legal fees and costs also may be recovered from the infringer. See 17 USC Section 505.In most jurisdictions you need to have received your registration certificate to file a complaint. Unless you have a breach of contract or some other state claim, you must file your infringement claim in a federal district court. To file suit, it is best to hire an attorney to help you because the legal procedures are complicated. Note that you have three years from the date of infringement to sue for copyright infringement.When a photo is not registered with the U.S. Copyright Office prior to the infringement (or within three months of the first publication of the photo), a copyright owner may recover only “actual damages” for the infringement (pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 504 (b)), instead of statutory damages. Courts usually calculate actual damages based on your normal license fees and/or industry standard licensing fees. One source for standard license fees is a software program called Fotoquote. You also may recover the profits the infringer made from the infringement if they aren’t too speculative.Additional ClaimsWhile many photographers place “watermarks” including their name and/or their copyright notice on their images or in the metadata of the file to prevent someone from infringing them, it’s fairly easy to crop or clone over the mark, or to remove metadata. Fortunately, the DMCA section of the Copyright Act provides a remedy in addition to the infringement claim when the infringer removes your CMI to hide the infringement.Additionally, when you can prove that the infringement was done willfully, then you are entitled to enhanced statutory damages. “Willfulness” means that the infringer either had actual knowledge that it was infringing the owner’s copyrights or acted in reckless disregard of those rights. Evidence that the infringed works bore prominent copyright notices supports a finding of willfulness.Q: How can I get permission to use copyrighted photography?You may obtain a non-exclusive license from the copyright owner orally, but exclusive licenses must be in writing. It’s always best to put license agreements in writing, even if it’s only an email.Q: When can bloggers use photos they find online for free?A blogger may use photos found online for free only when the photo is in the public domain, the use is a fair use, or the copyright owner has granted the blogger a free license, such as through Creative Commons.Q: How do I know if a photo is in the public domain?The law is designed so that works of authorship eventually (or, in a few cases, immediately) are made available for all to benefit from and use freely. Works go into public domain for one of three reasons:(1) the author failed to satisfy the required statutory formalities needed to perfect the copyright;(2) it is a work of the U.S. government; or(3) the term of copyright has expired.Item (1) only covers work published prior to March 1, 1989. At that time, the copyright notice had to be affixed to the work immediately or it immediately lost copyright protection. (Copyright protection has been restored for some foreign works even if they were published without notice before 1989.) That law has been changed; work published after 1989 does not need a copyright notice to maintain its copyright protection. It is, however, a good idea to use a copyright notice when displayed or offered in any manner.Item (2) refers to works created by government employees such as maps, charts, and surveys. They fall into the public domain from the date of creation. Item (3) addresses the length of time that a work is protected by copyright law. Since the length of time that copyright protection remains in force has been changed several times over the years, it can be difficult to determine when exactly a given work falls into the public domain without doing some serious research. For photographs created after 1988, you (or your heirs) own the copyright for 70 years after your death (unless you have transferred it in writing). After that time, the copyright falls into the public domain; anyone can use the photos in any manner that they choose. For a period of time before 1988, copyrights expired 50 years after the copyright owner’s death. Before then, the laws dealing with the length of copyright protection changed quite frequently. The chart found at WHEN WORKS PASS INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN may be helpful in determining the applicable duration of copyrights for works established at various times.Q: If you take a photo of a work of art that you did not create, who owns the copyright?As the creator of art, the copyright owner has the exclusive rights in the art such as for reproduction. Courts have disagreed as to whether taking photos of copyrighted works is a violation. Regardless, the law prevents you from having copyright ownership of anything that is an infringement.Q: If an illustration of one of my photographs is made and used commercially or editorially, is it an infringement of my copyright?Yes, if it is deemed to be a derivative work and the illustrator has copied your copyrightable elements.Q: Someone is using my photos without paying me or asking permission. What do I do now?See the options identified above.Tanzania Photo SafariI hope you all found this interview to be helpful with your questions and concerns regarding copyright in photography.For even more detailed information, please read PART 2 Photography Copyright InformationThank you Saddam Hossen!

Apply through Local Electricity Office (customer care centre)Applicant should go to the Local Electricity Customer care centre office personally to apply. Link for customer care centre :Link for centerApplication Form can be collected from concerned Electricity Customer Care Center of WBSEDCL @ Rs 5 only. ORApplication Form may be downloaded from WBSEDCL website (www.wbsedcl.in), at free of cost. Link for form : Form LinkSubmit the completed form along with documents to concerned Customer Care Center. Link for Customer care center: Link for Customer care centerAll the documents will be verified by the concerned Customer Care Center and a receipt cum Quotation for Earnest Money will be issued.Pay the amount at concerned customer care within 15 days of issuance of quotationAfter the payment is made, authorized representative of WBSEDCL will inspect premises to ascertain the details as per application.If there is any deviation found, authorities will suggest action to follow.If all are satisfactory, authorities will issue a Quotation for Service Connection and Security Deposit.Authorities will also inspect the common space for proper illumination and proper ventilation which should be free from any hindrances for installing the required meter(s).Applicant has to pay the advised service Connection Charge & Security Deposit shall have to be deposited at concerned Customer Care Center.After the payment is made, connection will be provided as per scheduleApply through WBSEDCLPlease use the following link to reach the online portal for applying to get electricity connection in West Bengal. Online portal linkIn the opening page, an applicant will have option to select from the given list.Please click select “LT Others” (for home consumers) to reach the next pageIn the new page you can create your new user id by selecting new user option. Applicant has to create user id by filling the prompted details and also authentication by using email id will be prompted. Once applicant completes the proceeding can enter login credentials to reach the next page for applying.In the new page select appropriate option to get the next pageIn the given page applicant has to select Region, Customer care center, consumer type, purpose of supply, address, type of electrical instruments and other details.Page will prompt the applicant to get the quote for amount to be paid by filling information as applicable and finally hit “Submit All Details” icon.Once submission is done, applicant can note down the application number displayed for future reference.Use the “Quotation letter” button to print the quotation letter.In the new screen please enter the application number to get the .pdf file and take printoutIn order to make payment, go to the page: Link for pagePlease select the payment mode. In the new page given, login with user name and passwordThe new page will display the details along with fees to be paid.Follow the screen prompts and make payment for the service.From this point on wards actual process of how to apply in person will be continued to give connectionRequired DocumentsClearances for establishment from the Pollution Control Board concerned where applicable .( residential / residential-cum-commercial premises of more than 100 flats)Self- certification for electrical installation of the premises of the consumer for which new connection is being applied for or the test results duly signed by the licensed Electrical ContractorRequisite Earnest Money as follows: Purpose of supplyIndustrial load - Rs.2,000/-For commercial purpose of contract - Rs 1,000/- demand of 10 KVA and aboveEarnest money shall also be taken from a State / Central Government department /office, State / Central Government hospital, non-profit making educational and research institutions including public libraries owned and run by either State Government or Central Government.For purpose other than (i) &(ii) above - Rs 200/-Proof of occupation or ownership of a premises through any one of the documents (Passport / Voter Identity Card / Rent Bill / Telephone Bill / Municipal or any other Tax Bill / Ration Card / Certificate from Panchayat)The detailed list of electrical equipment’s with number and corresponding wattagesFor LV & MV consumers, a sketch of new line required for service connection showing the premises from existing LV & MV line is required to be submitted by the intending consumer.NOC from issuing authorityLand PaperAadhar CardPhotograph of the applicantOffice Locations & ContactsHead Quarter Of WBSEDCL, Vidyut Bhavan,DJ Block, Sector II, Salt Lake City,Kolkata, West Bengal – 700091Ph : (033)2262-2641/40Link for Contacts : Link for contactsEligibilityThe owner of the proposed property for which the supply is requiredIf the applicant is not the owner of the premises for which supply is required, then he or she should produce a consent letter from the owner of the premiseIf the owner is not available or not intended to give consent letter, then the applicant should provide…proof of his/her being in lawful occupation of the premises execute an indemnity bond in Form 6 acceptance to pay security deposit twice the normal rate.FeesCharge differs with requirement. So, authorities estimate will give actual figure of amountValidityElectricity connection will exists till the premises exists.Processing TimeProcessing time varies from 30 / 60/ 90 / 150 / 180 / 270 daysRelated VideosWest Bengal - Obtain Electricity ConnectionInstructionsThe lawful owner / occupier of premises can apply for the new electricity connection.The applicant should apply in A-1 form at the section office domestic/commercial and for industrial at Sub-division/division along with no objection certificate if required.After load survey, he will be given quotation for payment of charges which includes Service connection charges , Service Line Charges, Security deposit etc.After payment of above charges the consumer will submit a Test report from the Licensed electrical contractor for the wiring.The service connection will be released as per the chronological order.Required InformationFull name of the ApplicantGenderAgeDate of BirthFather's Name or Husband NameMother's Maiden NamePermanent Address / Temporary AddressNeed for the DocumentOur every day life requires electricity more than anything else. Life without electricity is never possible.The need for Electricity connection starts from construction of house or factory.Connection may be required for a vacant land for water and to give lighting for the fence.Even during construction we require Electricity for many reasons including Water, operation of certain machinery and even to secure the valuables.Government provides electricity connection to those who apply for a new connection.Electricity should be consumed with responsibility. Because not only the cost counts but also this resource need proper care to make available for our future generationsInformation which might helpAlways use certified products for electrical wiringOne should not use domestic supply for commercial purpose and there will be a heavy fine and even action against consumer is inevitable.NOTE : This non - renewable source of energy should be used with careSource: West Bengal - Obtain Electricity Connection