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The History Of Las Vegas Casinos

Today, Las Vegas is a mass of gigantic resort complexes and blinding lights. As the spiritual capital of casino gambling, this is to be expected by Roger.
After all, it is this very same industry that transformed this once sleepy town into a bustling city with a population of nearly three million people.
Ever since the first Las Vegas casino opened back in 1906 the city has seen not only growth, but also a never-ending process of evolution that has caused many famous casinos to come and go.
And while most have long been destroyed, their legacy continues to shape Sin City today.

December 14, 2022
Macau Casino Renewals Designed to Maintain Employment as China Eases COVID-19 Rules

Macau last month agreed to issue the region’s current six commercial gaming operators with fresh 10-year licenses that will run from Jan. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2033.
Shares of the six publicly traded gaming entities have been surging since. The rally came in conjunction with China finally agreeing to curb its severe COVID-19 response protocols that have continued to greatly inhibit normal life across the mainland three years after the coronavirus first emerged.
Speaking this week with Asia Gaming Brief, Macau Economy and Finance Secretary Lei Wai Nong explained that the government opted to retain its current operators in order to maintain current employment among the group’s many casinos and multibillion-dollar integrated resorts.
Economy Lifeline
No country, territory, or in Macau’s case — Special Administrative Region (SAR) — relies more heavily on casino gaming to fund its government than Macau. One of only two SARs in China, with Hong Kong being the other, Macau is the only place in China where commercial casino gambling is allowed.
Prior to the pandemic changing seemingly everything in China, the enclave’s six gaming operators accounted for more than 80 cents of every tax dollar received by the Macau government. The resort companies are additionally Macau’s largest employers, with the sector responsible for keeping about 50K people employed.
The employment of the workers is always the principal focus of our work,” Lei said of Macau deciding to go with the same six companies and rejecting Genting’s bid.
Macau’s top officials, including Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng, urged the casino giants to refrain from terminating workers throughout the pandemic. The companies largely abided, despite the overhead greatly damaging their bottom lines.
The casinos did so because their current concessions are set to expire on Dec. 31, 2022, following a 20-year run. The companies bled money during the pandemic, keeping their workforces on the job while the resorts were largely vacant in order to remain in the Macau government’s good graces ahead of the licensing period.

Outbreak Expected
China is coming to the realization that most other global superpowers have long recognized — a world fully free of COVID-19 is implausible. The Communist Party is slowly moving toward lifting its draconian pandemic measures under its “zero-COVID” program, and health officials in Macau say that will result in a considerable outbreak of new infections.

Macau Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong said Thursday that she expects between 50% to 80% of the Macau population to become infected with COVID-19 in the coming 12 months. But so long as the caseload doesn’t move upwards of 5,000 infections at any given time, the region will continue to ease entry rules.
Macau remains desolate despite some recent easing of required quarantine times for visitors. Gaming analysts focused on Asia have said repeatedly that a meaningful visitor rebound cannot commence until foreigners can freely come and go to the casino hub.

December 14, 2022
Elections in India by Justice Markandey Katju

In India the state assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and for the Municipal Council of Delhi are over, and the results are awaited. Soon thereafter preparations will begin for the state assembly elections in 2023 in Tripura ( due in March ), Karnataka ( due in May ), Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh ( due in November ), and Rajasthan ( due in December ). And of course the parliamentary elections due in 2024.
India has 28 states and 8 union territories, apart from the hundreds of local bodies like Municipal Corporations, Zila Panchayats, Block Panchayats, gram panchayats, etc for which elections are held regularly. The country is perpetually in an election mode, and the public participate in them enthusiastically.
What our simpleton people do not realise is that they are being taken for a ride. Will change in the ruling parties or their representatives make any substantial difference in their lives ? Will it reduce or eliminate poverty, hunger, unemployment, price rise, lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses ? Not at all. It is change in the system which is required for this, but no one talks of that.
The system of parliamentary elections ( which we blindly borrowed from the British ) further entrenches casteism and communalism in India, which are the main feudal forces holding up our progress, for parliamentary elections largely run on caste and communal vote banks. And so it has to be replaced by an alternate system which unleashes our potential, and enables our country to march rapidly towards a high level of industrialisation and modernisation, which alone can give prosperity and a high standard of living to our people.But no one talks of that, not even our so called ‘intellectuals’ and our supposedly ‘free’ media.
It is time that the patriotic thinkers in India realise this, awaken our gullible masses from their slumber, and using their creativity think out and devise such an alternative to the present system. Otherwise we will remain in the mess we are in today indefinitely

December 6, 2022
What India requires is a modern minded dictatorship.

What is to be done
By Justice Katju
What India requires is a modern minded dictatorship determined to rapidly industrialise and modernise the country, e.g. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who rapidly modernised Turkey in the 1920s, or the advisers of Emperor Meiji who rapidly modernised Japan after the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
They did not do this democratically. The majority have reactionary, backward feudal mindsets and do not want modernisation. If their consent is sought, they will oppose it tooth and nail, and there will never be any modernisation, and the country will remain backward and feudal.
In India, we adopted the system of parliamentary democracy. But this runs largely on the basis of caste and religion vote banks. Casteism and communalism are feudal forces, which have to be destroyed if India is to progress, but parliamentary democracy further entrenches them. So it has to be replaced by a system under which the country rapidly moves forward.
What will this alternative system be is a matter which requires seriously consideration by the patriotic modern minded thinkers in the country
Author Justice Markandey Katju is former Chairman , Press Council of India and former Judge , Supreme Court of India.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors’ and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house.

Justice Markandey Katju

November 16, 2022
Muslim houses in India razed by bulldozers in the name of encroachment.

On my ( Justice Markandey Katju ) last facebook post someone commented
Muhammad Hamza
Sir what do you think about the razing of Muslim houses in India by bulldozers in the name of encroachment? Why is the SC and whole country silent?
And I replied
:Muhammad Hamza : Have u never heard of Bheeshma Pitamah ? He shut his eyes when Draupadi was being publicly disrobed. So we are following a time honoured tradition
Author Justice Markandey Katju is former Chairman , Press Council of India and former Judge , Supreme Court of India.
Justice Markandey Katju
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors’ and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house.

November 16, 2022
Imran Khan’s party will sweep the polls whenever elections are held, but army will be the real ruler.

The News Caravan News Desk
Justice Markandey Katju
In my opinion all this talk is irrelevant. The real ruler of Pakistan, was, is, and will remain its army. So even if Imran Khan again becomes the Prime Minister, he will only be a dummy and a puppet.
It is said that Imran Khan has massive support in Pakistan. That may be true. But if these supporters create any problem, a grape of whiffshot will make them disperse and disappear, like the Paris mob at Vendemiarie in 1795 when faced with Napoleon’s troops.
Author Justice Markandey Katju is former Chairman , Press Council of India and former Judge , Supreme Court of India.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors’ and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house.

November 16, 2022
Ghalib describes the present situation in India – Justice Katju

TheNewsCaravan WebDesk
Rau mein hai rakhsh-e-umr kahaan dekhiye thame
Nai haath baag par hain na paa hai rakaab mein – Mirza Ghalib
रौ में है रख़्श-ए-उम्र कहाँ देखिये थमे
नै हाथ बाग पर हैं ना पा है रिक़ाब में
رو میں ہے رخش عمر کہاں دیکھیے تھمے
نے ہاتھ باگ پر ہے نہ پا ہے رکاب میں
مرزا غالب –

This sher of Ghalib describes the age we are living in. Rau means galloping, rakhsh means horse, umr means age or era, thame means halts.

Mirza Ghalib
So the first line means “ The horse of our times is galloping. Let us see where it halts “. In other words, things are happening fast nowadays, developments are taking place rapidly.
In the second line, ‘baagh’ means the rein ( of the horse ), ‘rakaab’ means stirrup. So the literal meaning of the second line is “ neither are the reins in the rider’s hands, nor are his feet in the stirrups “. In other words, things are out of control.
This seems to describe conditions in India today, where developments are taking place fast, but everything seems to be out of control
Author Justice Markandey Katju is former Chairman , Press Council of India and former Judge , Supreme Court of India.
Justice Markandey Katju
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors’ and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house.

November 15, 2022
Bazzaat Kashmiri’s by Justice Katju

I have joked about many communities, Bengalis, Tamils, Biharis, Nagas, etc, so naturally people asked me to joke about my own community, Kashmiris.
There is a Persian adage that one should avoid 3 types of people : awwal Afghan, doyam Kambo, soyam bazzaat Kashmiri ( i.e. first Afghans, second Kambos, third rascally Kashmiris )
Now regarding Afghans and Kambos the meaning is clear. They are all to be avoided.
But regarding Kashmiris, there is a confusion. The word ‘bazzaat’ has only been used before the word ‘Kashmiri’, not before ‘Afghan’ or ‘Kambo’.
So one meaning can be that whereas all Afghans and Kambos are wicked, and hence all of them are to be avoided, but only wicked ( bazzaat ) Kashmiris are to be avoided, not the good ones.
But the other interpretation can be that the word ‘bazzaat’ has only been used before the word ‘Kashmiri’ to emphasise that Kashmiris are particularly bazzaat ( wicked ), even more than Afghans and Kambos.
Now it is for you folks to decide which interpretation is correct. I, being a Kashmiri, would naturally prefer the first
Author Justice Markandey Katju is former Chairman , Press Council of India and former Judge , Supreme Court of India.

Justice Markandey Katju
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors’ and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house.

November 15, 2022
Swami Vishnudevanand ‘ of Yoga Vedanta Kutir, Allahabad by Justice Markandey Katju

When I was in Allahabad I would go regularly to a yogi sadhu, Swami Vishnudevanand Saraswati, to learn yoga. He had his ashram where he lived next to the Ganga bandh.
He was a Bengali and had become a sadhu at a very young age. He travelled to many places in north India looking for a guru, and had come to Allahabad during the Kumbh Mela of 1930, where he settled down there, becoming a disciple of another sadhu, Handia baba, who is said to have lived till he was 104 ( Swami Vishnudevanand told me he wanted to live longer than his guru, but he died when he was about 94 ).
Swamiji used to teach hath yoga in his ashram. Once Dr Sur, an eminent physician of Allahabad, came to Swamiji and said he had not been able to sleep for several days. Swamiji taught him a yogic kriya, which put Dr Sur to sleep continuously for 48 hours, after which he got up refreshed, and became normal. Thus, Swamiji was the doctor of even doctors.Similarly, Swamiji helped many people who would come to him.
Unlike ordinary Hindus whose bodies are cremated on their death, the body of a sadhu is not cremated, but is either buried ( the burial place is called a ‘samadhi’, or is immersed in a river ( called ‘jal samadhi‘ ). This is because when a person becomes a sanyaasi he has to perform his own funeral rites. So funeral rites cannot be performed twice. Swami Vishnudevanand’s samadhi, as well as that of his guru, are near the Ganga bandh
Swami Vishnudevanand had a lot of NRI disciples who lived in America, and who often invited him there. He told me a story of what happened there once.Swamiji was giving a religious discourse to NRIs in America, and during this discourse he said “ You people living in America have your brains in your pocket “.
At this, one gentleman in the audience got up angrily and asked “ How do you say we have our brains in our pocket ? “.
Swamiji replied coolly “ I will tell you. Suppose President Reagan ( who was the American President then ) gave you a cheque of 40 million dollars, and you put that cheque in your pocket. Where will your brains be ? “.
Everyone in the audience spoke out loudly “ In his pocket. Well said Swamiji. Jai ho aapki “

Author Justice Markandey Katju is former Chairman , Press Council of India and former Judge , Supreme Court of India.

Justice Markandey Katju
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors’ and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house.

November 15, 2022
Children’s Day is just a gimmick

Today, 14th November, is Children’s Day.How do we celebrate Children’s Day ? By ensuring that no child is abused or exploited, no child is deprived of food, clothing, education, medicine and shelter, no child is treated with hatred and made to have an inferiority complex.But how do we ensure that ?
Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru
The Supreme Court in several decisions has held that the right to life mentioned in Article 21 of the Constitution means the right to a life of dignity. Hence everyone, including children and women, are entitled to food, medical care, education, clothing, shelter, etc as these are part of a life of dignity.
But these are just words. Court verdicts, unless implemented on the ground, are just hollow talk. What is the ground reality ? The truth is that crores of our children are living in horrible conditions, without proper food, education, health care etc, often in slums with no proper electricity, water and toilet facilities, etc.
I once went to have a meal in a small restaurant. I was served by a tiny boy, about 10 or 12 years old. I asked him why was he working here, and was not in school ? He replied that his father was too poor to send him to school, so he had to work to earn some money.
So isn‘t celebrating Children’s Day hypocrisy and a gimmick ?
I am reminded of Sahir Ludhianvi’s verses :“ Zara mulk ke rehbaron ko bulao Yeh kooche yeh galiyaan yeh manzar dikhao Sanaakhwaan-e-taqdees-e-mashriq ko lao Sanaakhwaan-e-taqdees-e-mashriq kahaan hain ? “
Author Justice Markandey Katju is former Chairman , Press Council of India and former Judge , Supreme Court of India.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors’ and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house.

Justice Markandey Katju

November 14, 2022