Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Imperial Harem of the Ottoman Empire Served the Sultan in More Ways Than One
The imperial harem of the Ottoman era was the collection of wives, servants and concubines of the Sultan, who sometimes numbered in the hundreds. Some were mere playthings or used for the production of heirs, while others rose to great power and influence.
The term “harem” brings to mind an image of a room full of beautiful women whose sole purpose in life was to please their captor sexually. This image may have been inspired by the 16 th and 17 th century harems of the Ottoman empire. However, the harem were more than just sexual playthings for the Sultan. Existing between 1299 and 1920 AD, the Ottoman sultan’s harem was comprised of wives,servants, female relatives of the sultan, and concubines. The women in the harem played a much greater role than simply entertaining the sultan, some had a hand in governing the powerful Ottoman empire. A period known as the “Reign of Women” or the Kadinlar Sultanati saw the harem of women playing an important role within the Ottoman government, leading them to gain more power than ever before.
Large Harem, Great Power
The harem was the ultimate symbol of power and wealth of the Sultan. His ownership of women and eunuchs, mostly as slaves, showed his wealth and prowess.
The institution of the harem was introduced in Turkish society with the adoption of Islam, under the influence of the Arab Caliphate which the Ottoman’s sought to emulate.
Most of the men and women within the harem were bought as slaves to ensure obedience, however some remained free. The main wives, especially those married to solidify personal and dynastic alliances were free women. Slaves and free men and women alike were given an education within the harem. At the end of their respective educations, the men and women would be married off to each other. Subsequently, the men would be sent to occupy administrative posts in the empire’s provinces.
Due to this practice, only a small number of women were chosen to become part of the Sultan’s personal harem of concubines. This group of women was governed by the Valide Sultan, typically the Sultan’s own mother. An even smaller number of women would be chosen as the Sultan’s favourites, or the hasekis. Even these women could be chosen to be married off or sent as gifts to valued members of the Ottoman elite, that is if they hadn’t had sexual relations with the Sultan himself.
Dorotheum by Joseph Himmel, 1921. Shows the hierarchy within a harem ( Public Domain )
The First Lady of the Harem
The most powerful woman in the harem, the Valide Sultan, would have been a wife or concubine of the Sultan’s father and would have risen to supreme rank within the harem.
No court lady could leave or enter the premises of the harem without the permission of the Valide Sultan and the eunuchs of the court would answer directly to her. The Valide Sultan was also responsible for the education of her son on the intricacies of state politics. She was also often asked to intervene on her son’s decisions as a member of the imperial court.
The next most powerful women in the harem would be the concubines that rose through the ranks to attain the titles of Gözde (the Favourite), Ikbal (the Fortunate) or Kadın (the Woman/Wife). Traditionally the Sultan could only have these four as his favourites and they had an equivalent rank to the Sultan’s legal wives within the hierarchy of...
The most powerful woman in the harem, the Valide Sultan, would have been a wife or concubine of the Sultan’s father and would have risen to supreme rank within the harem.
No court lady could leave or enter the premises of the harem without the permission of the Valide Sultan and the eunuchs of the court would answer directly to her. The Valide Sultan was also responsible for the education of her son on the intricacies of state politics. She was also often asked to intervene on her son’s decisions as a member of the imperial court.
The next most powerful women in the harem would be the concubines that rose through the ranks to attain the titles of Gözde (the Favourite), Ikbal (the Fortunate) or Kadın (the Woman/Wife). Traditionally the Sultan could only have these four as his favourites and they had an equivalent rank to the Sultan’s legal wives within the hierarchy of...
Texas Company Learns That Hiring Illegal Aliens Will Cost Them Big!
Another piece of the wall is being built....
North Texas construction company Speed Fab Crete will pay the government $3 million for its role in a scheme to employ illegal aliens. Five individuals pleaded guilty in connection with the crime.
In a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Texas-based builder admitted it employed illegal aliens not authorized to work in the United States and agreed to forfeit $3 million to the U.S. Treasury for use in promoting law enforcement activities related to immigration enforcement.
Per the agreement – which requires Speed Fab Crete to cooperate with the government to ensure it will not violate immigration laws in future – the company pledged to continue to use E-Verify, the federal government’s web-based employment eligibility verification system; to comply with new internal verification procedures; to conduct company-wide training on immigration compliance; and to discipline those who attempt to employ illegal aliens.
The company’s three owners, Carl Eugene Hall, Ronald Alan Hamm, and David Leon Bloxom, are jointly and severally liable for the full amount if Speed Fab Crete does not fulfill its financial obligations under the non-prosecution agreement. Earlier this month, Hall pleaded guilty to conspiracy to unlawfully harbor illegal aliens, a felony. Mark Sevier, owner of Take Charge Staffing, a temp agency used by Speed Fab Crete, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to unlawfully harbor illegal aliens. Hamm, Bloxom, and Robert Edwin James, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, pleaded guilty to unlawful employment of illegal aliens, a misdemeanor offense.
According to their plea papers and Speed Fab Crete’s factual statement, the defendants admitted that they attempted to disguise the employment of illegal aliens at Speed Fab Crete by placing them on the payroll of Take Charge Staffing, then lied to the government, stating that the unauthorized workers were terminated from employment at Speed Fab Crete.
Per plea papers, after an I-9 inspection of Speed Fab Crete’s employment records revealed that 43 of the company’s 106 employees were aliens not authorized to work in the United States, Speed Fab Crete entered into a settlement with...
Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration to Deny Green Cards for Immigrants Likely to Abuse Welfare
This Is Part of Building The Wall!
The United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ruled on Monday by a narrow 5-4 decision that the Trump administration can lawfully deny green cards to immigrants who are likely to get on the dole and abuse welfare benefits as legitimized U.S. citizens.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented from the majority vote. Justices John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch voted to affirm the Trump administration proposal to reign in the out-of-control welfare system that is regularly exploited by foreigners in a myriad of ways.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated in August 2019 that they were intending to expand the definition of “public charge” to make it apply for immigrants whose financial status indicated a need for government to provide their income. The Trump administration intended to apply this not only to cash benefits but also to Medicaid, housing assistance, and food aid.
“I am tired of seeing our taxpayer paying for people to come into the country and immediately go onto welfare and various other things,” Trump said when announcing the rule last year. “So I think we’re doing...
How The Coronavirus Could Destabilize The Chinese Government And World
We can only hope this coronavirus crisis shall pass. But if it does not, the consequences for both China and the rest of the world could be momentous.
The virus is spreading easily between humans and currently has a basic reproduction number of about 3.5 to 5.5, meaning each infected person is spreading the virus to at least three other people. The World Health Organization, however, currently thinks the reproduction number is between 1.4. to 2.5, or each infected person is spreading the virus to two other people. That’s because the virus can lie dormant for days and may be mutating to spread more easily. In truth, nobody knows right now exactly how damaging the virus will be.
As we write, there have been almost 100 deaths and well more than 2,000 infections. The cases are concentrated on mainland China, but the virus may take hold outside China — already, there are five confirmed cases in the United States and several more in France, Japan, Australia, and southeast Asia.
We Still Have Much to Learn About the Coronavirus
The death toll will likely lag the number who have the virus, and a full picture of the virus’s lethality is not yet known. Yet a death rate of even 5 percent would be staggering, if the virus spreads easily enough. The Spanish flu pandemic of 1919 infected about 500 million people and ended up killing 50 to 100 million, up to 5 percent of the Earth’s population at the time. It wasn’t the extremely young and old who were hardest hit, either. For some reason, young adults were incredibly susceptible to the Spanish flu.
Of course, much remains unknown about the coronavirus. Accordingly, we can’t be certain about its political and economic effects. Nonetheless, it is not too early to begin considering what those effects might be. But the coronavirus plague might not turn out to be a passing phenomenon like the avian flu, which left little mark on world affairs. Even China’s President Xi Jinping has admitted China is facing a “grave situation,” and officials in China are saying the virus will spread further before it...
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