Wake County Field Trip: Fill & Download for Free

Mark Wahlberg aka Marky MarkDespite his catholic upbringing (in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, MA), Mark’s childhood was anything but pious.From Wikipedia and various sources:By age 13, Wahlberg had developed an addiction to cocaine and other substances.At 15, civil action was filed against him for his involvement in two separate incidents of harassing African-American children (the first were siblings of each other, and the second incident was a group of black school children on a field trip), by throwing rocks and shouting “We don’t like black niggers in the area, so get the fuck away from the area,” and “Kill the nigger, kill the nigger.”At 16, Wahlberg stalked, then approached a middle-aged Vietnamese man named Thanh Lam on the street, and using a large wooden stick, knocked him unconscious while calling him a "Vietnam fucking shit". That same day, Wahlberg also attacked a second Vietnamese man named Hoa "Johnny" Trinh, punching him in the face. He believed he had left his victim permanently blind in one eye (However, Trinh was later interviewed in December 2014 by the Daily Mail; he revealed that he had already lost that eye during the Vietnam War, and subsequently admitted that he did not know the identity of his assailant prior to being contacted by the media). Wahlberg was arrested later that night and returned to the scene of the first assault, he stated to police officers: "You don't have to let him identify me, I'll tell you now that's the motherfucker who's {sic} head I split open." Investigators also noted that he "made numerous unsolicited racial statements about 'gooks' and 'slant-eyed gooks'."For these crimes, Wahlberg was charged with attempted murder, plead guilty to assault, and was sentenced to two years in Suffolk County Deer Island House of Correction. He ultimately served only 45 days of his sentence, but carries a permanent felony record.In another incident, then 21-year-old Wahlberg fractured the jaw of a neighbor in an unprovoked attack. According to court documents: [Wahlberg and his friend Derek McCall] “viciously and repeatedly kicked the [victim]” in the face and jaw, causing multiple facial lacerations, as well as a fractured jaw, which had to be wired shut.Commenting in 2006 on his past crimes, Wahlberg stated: "I did a lot of things that I regret, and I have certainly paid for my mistakes." He said the right thing to do would be to try to find the blinded man and make amends, and admitted he has not done so, but added that he was no longer burdened by guilt:“You have to go and ask for forgiveness and it wasn't until I really started doing good and doing right by other people, as well as myself, that I really started to feel that guilt go away. So I don't have a problem going to sleep at night. I feel good when I wake up in the morning.”**Wow, what an asshole!Fast forward to late 2014, Mark has tried to receive a full pardon for his disturbing past. The following is from a People Magazine article:Mark Wahlberg may say he’s worked hard to correct his past mistakes, but an attorney who prosecuted him disagrees.[The actor] is asking Massachusetts for a pardon for assaults he committed in 1988, back when he was a troubled teenager in Boston.But prosecutor Judith Beals says Wahlberg doesn’t deserve a second chance.“I see no reason why that history should be erased from the public record through a pardon,” Beals wrote in a passionate op-ed for The Boston Globe.She continued: “I’m glad Mark Wahlberg has turned his life around. But a public pardon is an extraordinary public act, requiring extraordinary circumstances because it essentially eliminates all effects of having ever been convicted.”**Wow, she's my hero!We all know that he made it big in Hollywood (first as a musical artist, later as an actor), but many still are unaware of his criminal past. As of the end of 2016, he has not received a formal court pardon for his crimes (and likely never will), yet his childhood still remains largely unknown to the public.Sources:Mark Wahlberg - WikipediaMark Wahlberg Shouldn’t Be Pardoned for 1988 Assaults: ProsecutorMark Wahlberg’s Pardon Plea: A Look Back At His Troubling, Violent, and Racist Rap Sheet

A2A.First of, thanks Collin, for requesting me to answer this question. Truth be told, I’m very interested in this topic as well. I would think Taiwanese aborigines would be the strongest supporters of Taiwanese independence, since they are not Chinese (neither culturally nor by blood) at all. However, that’s not really the case.Unfortunately, I do not know much about the aborigine community. As such, I don’t have any first hand accounts on why this would be. Nonetheless, my father was a reporter in Taiwan 30 years ago, and he had once interviewed aborigines on their thoughts on the whole pan-Green and Taiwanese independence movement. It’s 30 years out of date, but considering that DPP still has problems courting the aborigines, maybe some of his findings decades ago might still prove to be relevant.Let’s dive into history a bit first. The first time there were large migrations of Han settlers into Taiwan was at the end of Ming dynasty, when the Manchus had taken control one of northern China. A Fujianese sailor named 鄭成功 (no relationship with my family… I get that a lot for some reason) took his men and escaped to the Penghu Islands and Taiwan Island. I will refer to him as Koxinga from now on, as that is how Western sources usually refer to him.Koxinga was loyal to the Ming dynasty, and refused to surrender to the Manchus. He pledged loyalty to the surviving members of the Ming royal family, and used Taiwan as a base to someday reclaim the Mainland (side note: for some reason, this story sounds eerily familiar…). At that time, Taiwan was under Dutch rule, but Koxinga defeated the Dutch and drove them out. Koxinga and his men (who were almost all from the counties in southern Fujian Province) later became the ancestors of Taiwanese benshengren (本省人); they make up anywhere from 70–80% of modern Taiwan’s population, and 99% of the time when we are talking about Taiwanese people, we are referring to these groups of people.Although the general story told among Taiwanese was that Koxinga was a hero and righteous person, what is generally left out was how these settlers from southern Fujian treated the native aboriginals of the islands. These new Han Chinese settlers frequently forced the aboriginals into poorer and less developed places, which were generally high up in the mountains.First, a note about the topography of Taiwan. Taiwan is a hilly and mountainous island. For those of you who are familiar with the Los Angeles or San Francisco area, it’s pretty similar to that (only Taiwan is very small, while LA and SF belong to the much larger California). As such arable land are few and precious. The Han settlers pretty much took all of the plains and arable land, while forcing the aborigines elsewhere. Many Taiwanese nowadays think that the aborigines are mountain people (高山族), but many are not aware that a lot of the aborigines were forced to move there against their own will. Farming on the mountains is very difficult. To make matters worse, Taiwan is a volcanic island; many of our mountains are actually volcanoes. I spent the first half of my childhood on Yangmingshan (陽明山), a mountain north of Taipei. It’s famous for its hot springs:While they are relaxing to enjoy in during winter, they also carry a lot of sulfur. Sulfur is not good for farming… my father said that during his youth, he had heard stories of how neighbors would commit suicide when their crops died (possibly because sulfur got into their fields… maybe through contaminated groundwater or something). As a result, these aborigines were forced into a lifestyle of poverty that most could never escape, not even after several generations.My father interviewed these aborigines once on how they felt about the whole Taiwanese independence. Rather than supporting it, most of the aborigines he interviewed were furious that the descendants of the people who had persecuted them had the audacity to call themselves real Taiwanese. A somewhat relevant analogy would be a white American telling the rest of the world that only white people are real Americans; imagine how the Native American tribes would feel hearing that?Back to the modern day story, Tsai Ing-Wen may have apologized, but as I’ve described above, this is a social issue that has been going on for hundred of years. One apology alone very likely would not undo all those years of persecution. In addition, it’s not clear if Tsai and the DPP are truly sorry, or if they are just trying to court the aborigines for political purposes. I mean, how much are the average DPP supporters aware about the persecution and cycle of poverty that many aborigines had to endure?I mean, a DPP member, Chiu Yi-Ying, openly called Taiwanese aborigines 番仔 (hoan-a), which was caught on tape: 【番仔片】邱議瑩看過來　罵人番仔的代價是這樣 | 蘋果日報NOTE: Never ever, under any circumstances, call a Taiwanese aboriginal a hoan-a. That is the most insulting thing you can say to them; it’s like calling black people the “n” word. The proper term is 原住民.Events like these probably convince the aborigines that the DPP are not serious about their apologies.UPDATE: I’ve told my mom about the incident where Chiu Yi-Ying called Taiwanese aboriginals hoan-a. At first, she couldn’t believe a 立法委員 (Member of the Taiwanese Parliament, I guess is the closest translation) would utter such a racist term.She told me a story of her childhood, where once her teacher took her class on a field trip to where the Taiwanese aboriginals lived to learn about their culture and way of life. When the school bus arrived at the location, her classmates immediately started to point and laugh at the aboriginals: “Look! Look at at that hoan-a!” “Is that a traditional dress of the hoan-a? It looks so ugly!”My mother was absolutely horrified and disgusted by her classmates’ behavior, that at one point, she refused to go along with the rest of her classmates on the rest of the tour. When her teacher asked what was wrong, my mom said that she did not want the aboriginals to believe that all 本省人 were as racist and bigoted as her classmates were. (Lol, my mom was a Taiwanese SJW in her youth)When she got home, she told her mom (my grandma) about what had happened. My grandma was disgusted by what my mom had told her, and she would never refer to Taiwanese aboriginals as hoan-a. My mother learned from her conversation with my grandma that these kids didn’t suddenly just wake up one day and decided to call Taiwanese aboriginals racist names; they were taught and influenced by their own families that it was OK to discriminate against the aboriginals.I asked my mom if she thinks Taiwanese 本省人 still discriminate against aboriginals even to this day. She said that while most no longer show any outward hostilities, she believed that most 本省人 still hold racist thoughts and beliefs against Taiwanese aboriginals, at least on a subconscious level.

No more bad Canadians…insulted since last year !( Copied)Business travel for Canadians has gone from being routine to concerning to outright terrifying. I have two business trips to the U.S. planned this year, and I’m not taking it as a given that I will be let in. For someone who grew up in a border town, who treated Detroit like my own city and crossed countless times with nary a thought (and no criminal record), it’s a strange feeling.Crossing the border was a natural thing to do not a inconvenient. Since Sept 11 incidents security was tight but never over zealous. All of sudden since Trump additional unlimited military style powers where granted to regular borders agencies and personnel to zero in on all bad peoples. Heading for a 3 days shopping to Port Huron Michigan became erratic and challenging. After 40 years traveling weekly; something has changed to be preferable not to travel to the USA.NOW U.S. Customs and Border Protection has published a chilling “tearsheet” that is given to people who have their devices detained. It gives a list of reasons why visitors may be subject to an inspection, ranging from past crimes to random searches (so, pretty much any reason whatsoever).The ultimate power of law and order in the US comes from the Supreme Court Justices, who are not elected democratically themselves, and serve their terms for life.It notes that, among other things, the device could be copied. It also includes a disclaimer that says, essentially, confidential business information obtained from device searches will not be unlawfully disclosed. So score one for intellectually property…. Canadians with China working visa are questioned.The Privacy Commissioner of Canada points out that these searches can happen to people coming into Canada as well.“Canadian courts have generally recognized that people have reduced expectations of privacy at border points,” reads a statement on its website.Part of me seriously wonders if writing a column such as this, critical of an American government policy, will come back to haunt me. In my lifetime, I never expected that concern to cross my mind — we’re talking travel between two free nations that have been good neighbours for centuries. This has now changed.And yet I will have some trepidation the next time I hand over my passport.Uncertainty over rules pushed by Trump make some Canadians uneasy at the prospect of going south for business or pleasure.By Todd HumberAre you still comfortable travelling to the United States? Because a growing number of Canadians seem to be taking a pass, or at least a wait-and-see approach, in the wake of the controversial Trump travel ban.I’ll be honest — I cancelled a trip to Michigan because of it. A group of friends had planned to go to Frankenmuth for the Family Day weekend in February, but we refunded our hotel stay and turned it into a staycation instead.As Canadians, we have no right to vote in the U.S. or any say in their politics, but we can certainly choose where to spend our tourism dollars. We are now very bad Canadians following the Washington orders.The travel ban, which at press time was in its second version and was still blocked by the courts, would restrict travel from six predominantly (5) Muslim nations to the U.S. under the guise of national security concerns.A number of Canadian groups have made headlines for their refusal to cross the border anymore. One school board near the border city of Windsor, Ont., cancelled all field trips to the U.S.“Paramount for us is student safety,” said Clara Howitt, a superintendent with the Greater Essex County District School board. “We really don’t know what will happen to our students at the border.”A spokesperson for the board put it even more bluntly: “Where one person doesn’t go, nobody goes… we want to make sure nobody is excluded.”Muslim CountriesThe 90,000-member-strong Girl Guides of Canada have also joined the chorus, cancelling all trips south of the border. They made pains to say the move wasn’t a political protest, but it’s hard not to read between the words — even airport layovers are out of the question.“While the United States is a frequent destination for Guiding trips, the ability of all our members to equally enter this country is currently uncertain,” said a statement. “This includes both trips that are over or under 72 hours and any travel that includes a connecting flight through an American airport.”Just last week, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) announced it was suspending any new trips to the U.S. because of uncertainty over the ban. Trips currently planned are a go - for now - but that could change if Trump’s executive order is fully implemented, it said.“We do not make this decision lightly, but given the uncertainty of these new travel restrictions and when they may come into effect, if at all, we strongly believe that our students should not be placed into these situations of potentially being turned away at the border,” it said in a statement.It also made it clear that, for already approved trips, if one student “with the appropriate documentation” is denied entry for no legitimate reason, the entire trip will return to Toronto and not proceed.Recent Columns by Todd Humber ▶NBA owners want access to mental health records – I call a foul on thatGoogle, Microsoft, Amazon feel wrath of their workforcesA couple school boards and one organization might not make tourism professionals hit the panic button, but they’re the tip of the iceberg.The U.S. Travel Association has warned there are “mounting signs… of a broad chilling effect on demand for international travel to the United States.”In real numbers, that looks like this — New York City alone is expecting to welcome 300,000 fewer visitors in 2017 than it did in 2016, according to NYC & Company. How unusual is that for the Big Apple? Well, it’s the first time since the Great Recession in 2008 that the figure is expected to drop. And, spoiler alert, we’re not exactly in a recession.Another bellwether: A travel booking tracking firm called ForwardKeys is reporting a 6.5 per cent drop in international bookings to the U.S. That’s bad news for an industry that supports 15.1 million jobs and generates US$2.1 trillion in economic impact.It boils down to one word that does not belong in the employer’s dictionary: Exclusion.Derby Line VermontMany firms in the U.S. have taken sides in this battle, arguing — in no uncertain terms — that the travel ban is discriminatory. We’re talking industry giants — Facebook, Apple, Google, Twitter, Microsoft and more than 90 other corporations banded together to file briefs in support of state-sponsored challenges to the first iteration of the ban.For the last 30 years Lake Champlain Bernie Saunders lake was the friendly atmosphere to be for a Labor Day quiet week end. . Last year out of normally 25 Canadians only 2 couples showed up. So far nobody invited has confirmed their 2018 intentions to drive down to Lake Champlain before everything closes down in mid October. They live 40 minutes across the border and regularly came to the US on a monthly basis.This is no longer happening as they say the atmosphere is not friendly as before. The US border was never a friendly environment as they are trained not to be friendly. Under Donald Trump the border has become a military immigration hostility check point. Immigrants that are Canadian residents are scrutinised crossing the border and over questioned. Families are now traumatised going to the USA.It is not the dollar exchange, maybe not Donald Trump, but his orders of zero tolerance on Canadians and immigrants are enforced by Homeland Security and may be very well the issue. I know senior engineers living in Canada for 35 years being refused entry most likely they as they where born in India and had family members business card refering to India on a H-1B Visa living in NJ. Customs and immigration have memos and direct orders to clamp down on Canadians entering the US.,…So they are doing their job, Canadians holding a China work visa are questioned something not directly related to a week end travel for pleasure.Lately not as many Canadians in Upstate NY, VT, NH, ME.This is now the reality of the Canadians. Business on the border are hurting without the Canadians. They represent 60% of the trade as Canadians rather than spending the money in the USA are flying to Cuba, Mexico or Dominican Republic for $500 USD and up in a all included resort for one week….not harassed… !Crossing the U.S. border brings more trepidation | Canadian HR Reporter