1507: Leaky Labs

The new base will be home to the first permanent U.S. forces on NATO's eastern flank, Biden announced while speaking at the first day of a NATO summit in Madrid.

Link

Prysner described DeSantis’ actions as “TV worthy” – but not in the fictionalized sense, but rather running under the "true crime" genre. Washington kept details about DeSantis' role in Guantanamo Bay under wraps: Addressing inquisitions about what DeSantis’ role was, one Navy spokesperson responded: “Unfortunately, the specific details about Mr. DeSantis role are not available.”

What the podcast reveals is that DeSantis served as a JAG officer, which essentially means that he was a Judge Advocate General Corps. He was a law student, previously completing his undergraduate studies at Yale, where he was part of the Delta Cappa Epsilon like the two ‘Bushes’ – George HW Bush and his son, George Bush. Pro-Confederacy and blatantly racist, his political career with the Pentagon began immediately in his second year of law school.

However, his job was never reduced to courtrooms, but rather to conduct rogue, clandestine operations – his official job, a guise, was to “ensure the human rights of detainees.”

It was quite the opposite.

The height of inhumane treatment and systemic torture in the camp was during DeSantis’ term serving as a JAG officer, whose main task was to identify the weaknesses of the detainees and to “tighten the screws” on them – and, in addition, to keep a clean record. He made sure that human rights were violated to the worst degree, according to the podcast.

Link

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:47

(C) Getty; Zuma Press, Inc. / Alamy; The Atlantic Paxlovid is a paradoxlovid. The game-changing antiviral swooped in during the pandemic's worst winter with the promise of slowing COVID deaths to a trickle. But since it became widely available this spring, death rates have hardly budged.

According to the White House, the problem is not the drug but the fact that too few people are taking it. A recent CDC report found that from April to July, less than one-third of America's 80-plus-year-olds with COVID ended up taking Paxlovid, even though they had the most to gain from doing so. What gives? Some Americans may be having trouble accessing Paxlovid, but clearly, a significant proportion of patients and doctors are just saying no to antiviral drugs. There are no national statistics on Paxlovid refusal, so I talked with physicians around the country to learn more about their motivations. Who are the anti-Paxxers, and how dangerous is their dogma?

First things first: Paxlovid hesitancy does seem to be political, but that's not the whole story. As a rule, fewer prescriptions of the drug are given out per capita in red states than in blue ones: Wyoming, for example, appears to be the nation's leading anti-Paxxer state, with just one course of treatment given out for every 125 residents; in Rhode Island, the most Pax-enthusiastic state, it's one in 28. (I'm using courses of treatment per capita rather than per COVID case because of the general unreliability of case data these days and differences in testing and reporting practices among states.)

Still, clinicians working in deep-red parts of the country told me that, on this matter at least, their patients are not significantly divided by politics. ''Republicans and Democrats both love Paxlovid,'' says Jason Bronner, the medical director of primary care at St. Luke's Medical System, in Idaho. Some 20 to 30 percent of his COVID patients decline to take the drug, he told me, but they don't appear to be driven by the same polarized attitudes he sees around vaccines. Jessica Kalender-Rich, a geriatrician at the University of Kansas Health System, told me that she still gets occasional requests for ivermectin, and that some of her patients insist that COVID is a hoax. But the ones who outright refuse Paxlovid are not obsessing over microchips or government overreach. Instead, they mostly tell her that they're worried about treatment side effects and rebound infections of the virus.

Rebound COVID came up again and again when I asked doctors why their patients are hesitant to take Paxlovid. The link between the drug and a return of symptoms after an initial recovery has been the subject of much concern and debate since the spring; just last week, researchers reported in a study that has not yet been peer-reviewed that symptom rebound is more than twice as common among Paxlovid takers than among those who decline it. The fact that so many prominent figures in the federal government'--including President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, and White House Chief Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci'--have now had rebound certainly doesn't help inspire confidence. One of Kalender-Rich's patients specifically cited Fauci's experience when refusing the drug. (The next day, the patient felt worse and accepted a prescription.)

[Read: Of course Biden has rebound COVID]

Rebound may not be dangerous, but you have to admit that it doesn't sound like a good time. ''People will say, 'I'd rather be really sick for four or five days than just kind of sick for two weeks,''' says Adam Fiterstein, the chief of urgent care at the New York medical network ProHealth. The threat of rebound might be especially scary for geriatric patients and their family, because it means spending more time alone. ''For some of these older adults, that isolation time is actually way worse than the virus at this point in the pandemic,'' Kalender-Rich said. Paxlovid mouth'--a bitter, metallic taste that can last throughout the course of treatment'--can also be a concern for the elderly, who may already suffer from lack of appetite or other issues that restrict their eating.

Drug interactions are another source of worry for the anti-Paxxers. Official COVID-treatment guidelines warn that the antiviral may have ill effects when combined with any of more than 100 other medications. Geriatric patients in particular might need to tweak their daily regimens of pills while under treatment with Paxlovid, Kalender-Rich told me. That's hardly ever a problem medically, she said, but some people are still reluctant to make the change, especially if a previous doctor told them to never, ever skip a dose.

These potential downsides are extra salient for people who don't fear COVID like they used to. The patients who refuse Paxlovid are the ones who are doing well, Bronner said: ''They don't feel totally sick and are not scared like they were in previous waves.'' Hundreds of Americans are still dying daily from COVID, but any given community might have seen only a handful of severe cases and deaths since the spring. Many patients ''don't feel like they need to take a medicine, because their neighbor was fine,'' Kalender-Rich said.

[Read: Paxlovid mouth is real'--and gross]

Doctors too can be anti-Paxxers. Hans Duvefelt, a primary-care physician in rural Maine, won't prescribe Paxlovid to his patients. He told me via email that he avoids it on account of rebound risk, side effects, kidney concerns, and drug interactions. ''Paxlovid is an inferior choice,'' he said, when compared with molnupiravir, another COVID antiviral. To be clear, the data hold that molnupiravir is less effective than Paxlovid at preventing hospitalization and death. Also, a June preprint found that patients treated with molnupiravir rebounded at least as often as those treated with Paxlovid. Duvefelt did not respond to follow-up questions, so I couldn't ask him about these data.

Other doctors believe in the good Paxlovid can do but still struggle with the decision to prescribe. ''This is a much more nuanced risk-benefit discussion than giving somebody amoxicillin for strep throat,'' Jeremy Cauwels, the chief physician at Sanford Health in South Dakota, told me. ''If you're looking at that as an ER doctor, who by definition has no follow-up with the patient, it's very hard to say, 'I'm going to give you a drug that interacts with lots of medications.''' Persistent uncertainty about exactly how much Paxlovid helps people who are up to date on their COVID shots doesn't help.

Regardless of what's causing Paxlovid hesitancy, the exact stakes are difficult to define. Last month, Ashish Jha, the Biden administration's COVID-19 response coordinator, told The New York Times that daily deaths from the pandemic could drop by almost 90 percent if every COVID patient over the age of 50 were treated with Paxlovid or monoclonal antibodies. The doctors I spoke with mostly didn't dispute this; Kalender-Rich said she ''would believe a number closer to 75 percent'' but agreed with the general sentiment. That said, none of the doctors I spoke with could point me toward any specific cases where one of their patients refused Paxlovid only to end up severely ill or dead. And no one knows how many deaths could be reduced specifically by attacking anti-Paxxer beliefs as opposed to, say, removing barriers to access and encouraging more testing.

Because anti-Paxxerism appears to be less organized and ideological than anti-vaxxerism, some favored strategies to combat the latter'--targeting influencers on social media, for example'--might not work. The doctors I spoke with said that the best venue for changing minds is the exam room. ''It really comes down to a face-to-face conversation'' about the risks and benefits of the drug, Cauwels said: ''Our patients still trust us enough to have that conversation.''

Pax-hesitant providers, on the other hand, may just need a bit more time to feel convinced that the drug is safe and effective when used correctly; some may be waiting on more data from large, randomized clinical trials. ''Across different parts of the country, adoption of new things is always going to be slower,'' Kalender-Rich said. That's not exactly a comforting thought when hundreds of people are still dying every day, but it does suggest, at the very least, that we have something to look forward to.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:45

John Meringolo, a longtime Manhattan defense attorney who earned a reputation for besting federal prosecutors in high-profile cases, died Thursday. He was 48.

The veteran litigator's father, Richard Meringolo, confirmed his death to the Daily News. His cause of death was not immediately apparent, though his father said it was unexpected. Meringolo is survived by his twin 1-year-old sons, his wife, and his parents.

''It's horrifying,'' his heartbroken father said. ''It's a very sad day.''

Criminal defense lawyer John Meringolo (Byron Smith for New York Daily News)

Meringolo became a thorn in the side of federal prosecutors after winning streaks defending notorious clients in several prominent mafia, RICO, and large-scale narcotics cases.

In 2018, he scored a mistrial in the racketeering case of Joseph ''Skinny Joey'' Merlino, the reputed head of the Philadelphia crime family.

He convinced a Manhattan jury to acquit former NYPD deputy inspector James ''Jimmy'' Grant of charges alleging he took bribes from corrupt Brooklyn businessman Jeremy Reichberg in January 2019.

The Daily News Flash

Weekdays

Catch up on the day's top five stories every weekday afternoon.

A couple months later, he scored an acquittal for John ''Porky'' Zancocchio, the alleged lieutenant of the reputed head of the Bonanno crime family. Meringolo argued his client was a victim of ethnic profiling by the NYPD based on his Italian heritage.

He notched another win in the form of a mistrial earlier this year of Steve Bannon associate Timothy Shea in the federal ''We Build the Wall'' crowdfunding case. He also represented Shea at his second trial, which ended in a conviction last month.

He repped John ''Junior'' Gotti, Jr., at his fourth murder trial in 2009, which ended in a mistrial and the feds declining to bring more charges.

In 2012, he secured a $10 million settlement for the loved ones of fallen New York City firefighter Joseph Graffagnino, who died in 2007 in the infamous Deutsche Bank fire.

He was a law professor at Pace University, where he served as faculty advisor for the university's Italian American Association, according to his online profile. He also taught and mentored students from Brooklyn Law School and New York Law School.

Meringolo, who argued before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, co-founded a class at Pace University where students simulated the entire spectrum of a federal criminal case, from bail hearing to verdict, according to his profile on the university's website.

Representatives for his law firm Meringolo & Associates, P.C., could not immediately be reached.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:45

What if I told you that last week I predicted all eight winners of a round of the World Cup? And that instead of rankings or divination all I did was look up how many people in each team’s home country had a tiny parasite lurking in their amygdalas? Would you believe me? A decade ago, Discover Magazine concluded that parasites ruled the world, and now I’m going to try to tell you that, at the very least, parasites rule the World Cup.

First, a quick primer on the organism in question, a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii.

Toxo is one of the most successful parasites in the world and is found in almost every type of mammal. Goats, cows, pigs, sheep, humans. But it spends its time trying to get into the stomach of a cat, the only place where it can successfully reproduce. Thus the organism has evolved an unusual lifecycle relating to the brains of rats and mice. Rodents ingest little bits of Toxo from cat feces and Toxo goes straight to their heads.Once there, it scrambles the neurons around and reverses the animals’ natural aversion to cat urine. Soon after, a recently relieved cat returns to the scene and takes its supper. In other words, the rat plays taxi to the parasite, finding it a new feline host and completing the Toxo lifecycle.

Livestock fields are full of fertilizer made from, you guessed it, bits of cat feces. When the cows and goats graze, they ingest Toxo, and it sneaks its way into their brains. Eat one of these livestock uncooked and you’ll get Toxo in your brain, too. Thanks to the urbanization of cats (and their feces), almost a third of the human population now has a chronic, latent, and seemingly innocuous Toxo infection. This is, of course, an average: Rates vary a great deal from one country to another, from 6 percent in South Korea to 92 percent in Ghana.

A recent article in The Economist pushed the idea that Toxo infection can subtly influence human behavior and, writ large, worldwide culture. Studies find that national infection rates correlate with overall personality traits like neuroticism, perhaps because Toxo is having some effect on how our brains function. (According to one theory, the parasite can alter levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with reward and motivation.) But this research fails to consider one of the most compelling measures of national character: World Cup victories. Could rates of Toxo infection predict soccer success?

If we set aside the qualifying rounds (in which teams can play to a draw) and focus on matches with a clear winner, the results are very compelling. In the knockout round of this year’s tournament, eight out of eight winners so far have been the teams whose countries had higher rates of Toxo infection. If we go back to the 2006 World Cup, seven out of eight knockout-round winners could be predicted by higher Toxo rates. The one exception to the rule was Brazil’s defeat of Ghana, a match between two nations that each have very high rates. (Aside from having the winningest team in World Cup history, Brazil has quite a few cases of Toxo: Two out of three Brazilians are infected.)

It gets better. Rank the top 25 FIFA team countries by Toxo rate and you get, in order from the top: Brazil (67 percent), Argentina (52 percent), France (45 percent), Spain (44 percent), and Germany (43 percent). Collectively, these are the teams responsible for eight of the last 10 World Cup overall winners. Spain, the only one of the group never to have won a cup, is no subpar outlier—the Spaniards have the most World Cup victories of any perpetual runner-up. 

What is going on here? Does Toxo really make people better at soccer?

The relationship is neither linear nor foolproof. Italy managed to win the World Cup in 2006, despite its relatively average infection rate of 33 percent. Certain African countries plagued with public health problems have astronomical Toxo rates. Yet the heavily infected players of Ghana, Gabon (71 percent), and the Ivory Coast (60 percent) have not yet managed to win a single cup. On the other end, England (6 percent), the U.S. (12 percent), and Japan (6 percent) are pretty OK at soccer yet have some of the lowest rates in the world.

So what can we make of the statistics? It looks like having some Toxoplasma gondii in the collective brains of your home country makes your team a little bitbetter at soccer, so long as you’re already among the top teams in the sport. Thus a difference in infection might separate a team like Germany (43 percent, three * World Cups) from perpetually lackluster England (6 percent, one World Cup).  And a bit of reflection reveals that the U.S. (12 percent) didn’t stand a chance against Ghana (92 percent), neither in this tournament nor the last one.

Now, what does the Toxo parasite do that could possibly relate to soccer performance? Not much is known about its impact on the human brain, but there are clues. We know that infection increases testosterone in male brains, making them more likely to get into car accidents, more attractive to females, and more prone to being jealous, dogmatic, and dismissive of authority. Evidence even suggests that motorcyclists are more likely to have Toxo. Something like a James Dean effect. Generally, males with Toxo are more aggressive and less inhibited. Keep in mind that FIFA, in line with most sporting organizations in the world, bans testosterone supplements of any kind. But they do not ban Toxo, and if Toxo increases testosterone levels, we may be dealing with a form of inadvertent, cultural doping.Certainly, there are caveats. First, it might be foolish to assume that the players on a national team will have the same rate of infection as their countrymen (especially if infection confers some kind of competitive advantage). On the other hand, having more Toxo-infected people around you at a young age might help your development as a player. Second, some studies have shown that those infected with Toxo have slower reaction times on certain tests than matched controls. It’s not clear how or why that effect would be helpful to a soccer player—or indeed that it would be something other than a detriment. Finally, it’s possible—likely, even—that the correlation between Toxo infection and World Cup success is a coincidence, or that it reflects some other common trait among successful soccer nations. Maybe it helps to have raw meat in your diet, and Toxo is just a side effect?In any case, let’s pause a moment before we start serving goat sushi at youth soccer camps. Prudence would say we wait until we know exactly how Toxo does what it does. Let’s use what information we have in just the sensible and cautious way you might expect from a nation without Toxoplasma gondii or, coincidentally, a World Cup.Correction, July 2, 2010:The original article assigned four World Cup trophies to Germany instead of three. (Return to the corrected sentence.)

Like Slateon Facebook. Follow Slate on Twitter.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:45

Thousands of Amazon warehouse workers are today staging a mass Black Friday strike across 40 countries including the US and Germany in a row over pay and working conditions.

The global strike action on one of the biggest shopping days of the year was called for by campaign group Make Amazon Pay. It has titled the protests 'Make Amazon Pay Day'.

The initiative, promoted by groups on Twitter under #MakeAmazonPay listed the industrial action planned in the 40 countries across the globe.

Employees at a company workhouse in St Peters, Missouri, will today stop work as part of the protests and Whole Foods stores owned by Amazon will also take labor actions. Strike action will also take place in Bessemer, Alabama; Columbia, Maryland; Detroit, Michigan; Durham, North Carolina; Garner ; Joliet, Illinois; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon; and Washington, D.C.

NEW DELHI: Gig Amazon Warehouse staged a strike against pay and conditions today as part of the global action

Also today, Amazon workers and activists will rally in front of a residence owned by billionaire company owner Jeff Bezos in New York City.

In a statement, Christy Hoffman, general secretary of UNI Global Union, leading the protests, said: 'On Black Friday, in what has already been named #MakeAmazonPay day, unions, civil society and progressive elected officials will stand shoulder to shoulder in a massive global day of action to denounce Amazon's despicable multimillion dollar campaigns to kill worker-lead union efforts.

'It's time for the tech giant to cease their awful, unsafe practices immediately, respect the law and negotiate with the workers who want to make their jobs better.'

NEW DELHI: A woman dressed as Jeff Bezos, Executive Chairman of Amazon, and other Gig Workers Association (GigWA) and Amazon Warehouse workers participate in a protest in New Delhi today

NEW DELHI: A member of Hawkers Joint Action Committee hangs up a poster during a protest by Gig Workers Association (GigWA) in association with Amazon Warehouse workers in New Delhi today

NEW DELHI: A member of Hawkers Joint Action Committee participates in a protest by Gig Workers Association (GigWA) in association with Amazon Warehouse workers in New Delhi today

FRANCE: French CGT union members demonstrate in front of the Amazon logistics center near Paris today, pictured

FRANCE: A protest over conditions and pay at an Amazon warehouse near Paris today, pictured

FRANCE: French CGT union members demonstrate in front of the Amazon logistics center in Bretigny-sur-Orge, near Paris, as part of a global day of actions against Amazon, pictured

FRANCE: French CGT union members demonstrate in front of the Amazon logistics center in Bretigny-sur-Orge, near Paris, pictured

Amazon has come under fire over tough working conditions in the past- including grueling hours and timed toilet breaks.

The company has also been criticized for its injury record. In 2021, nearly half of injuries at US warehouses occurred at Amazon, according to the Strategic Organizing Center, a coalition of unions.

The report released said: 'Amazon employed one-third of all warehouse workers in the U.S., but it was responsible for nearly one-half (49%) of all injuries in the warehouse industry.'

In the past, Amazon has defended its safety record and denied the claims over injury rates at warehouses.

FRANCE: French CGT union members demonstrate in front of the Amazon logistics center in Bretigny-sur-Orge, near Paris today

FRANCE: Pictured: Workers stage a protest against Amazon in front of a logistics center near Paris

The working conditions have led to some fed-up Amazon employees wanting to unionize. Workers in a warehouse in Staten Island in New York City were the first to take the step.

Other warehouses have also filed for collective bargaining rights. Last week, a federal judge ordered Amazon to stop action against employees participating in workplace action.

The judge ruling came in a court case brought by the National Labor Relations Board. It had sued Amazon in March and called for an employee to be reinstated after being fired for organizing the union in Staten Island.

Other countries affected by strikes and protests include: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, South Africa and Turkey.

FRANCE: A Make Amazon Pay banner is seen during one of the strikes in France today

FRANCE: CGT union members in France wield flags as they stage a protest against Amazon near Paris, pictured

FRANCE: Union members hold CGT flags as they protest outside Amazon near Paris today

FRANCE: A worker stands in front of a banner as Amazon employees stage a strike in France today

In Germany, work stoppages were planned at 10 fulfilment centers, according to the Verdi union.

The union demanded Amazon recognize collective bargaining agreements for the retail and mail order trade sector and called for a further collective agreement on good and healthy work.

Monika di Silvestre, Verdi's representative for Amazon workers, said: 'This is the first time that Amazon has had an international strike day.

'This is very important, because a major global corporation like Amazon cannot be confronted locally, regionally or nationally alone,' she added.

A spokesperson for Amazon said: 'These groups represent a variety of interests, and while we are not perfect in any area, if you objectively look at what Amazon is doing on these important matters you'll see that we do take our role and our impact very seriously.

'We are inventing and investing significantly in all these areas, playing a significant role in addressing climate change with the Climate Pledge commitment to be net zero carbon by 2040, continuing to offer competitive wages and great benefits, and inventing new ways to keep our employees safe and healthy in our operations network, to name just a few. Anyone can see for themselves by taking a tour at one of our sites.'

IRELAND: People attend a protest outside Amazon's European Headquarters in Dublin as part of the 'Make Amazon Pay' campaign today

IRELAND: A woman writes 'Pay your taxes, pay your workers' at a protest in Dublin as part of the 'Make Amazon Pay' campaign today

IRELAND: People hold flags and banners outside Amazon's European Headquarters as they protest today

IRELAND: Protesters outside Amazon's European Headquarters in Dublin to support the 'Make Amazon Pay' campaign

IRELAND: A woman holds a poster saying 'pay workers' and 'pay for climate' as she participates in a protest on the Make Amazon Pay day, organized to coincide with Black Friday

The strike action comes after it was revealed in June that Amazon could run out of new people to hire by 2024, with the company burning through its entire warehouse workforce annually due to grueling shifts, a leaked internal document showed.

The document, first reported by Recode, included the words: 'If we continue business as usual, Amazon will deplete the available labor supply in the US network by 2024.'

The document was published internally in 2021. According to Recode, an Amazon spokesperson did not refute its authenticity.

The areas where employees are expected to be most scarce include the Inland Empire, California, an hour and a half east of Los Angeles. The region is around two hour drive from 20 million potential Amazon customers.

The document said Amazon could run out of new workers in the Inland Empire by the end of 2021 or in 2022, although warehouses in Inland Empire continue to operate, and it's unclear what, if any, staffing issues they currently face.

Mesa in Arizona could also run out of staff, as statistics showed Amazon loses more workers than it hires every year.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy (above) said employee safety is the company's top priority

In 2020, for every 100 Amazon workers, six were injured, according to the Washington Post.

Wilmington, Delaware and Memphis, Tennessee were also at risk of running out of staff, the report showed.

According to Amazon's own data, the company had an attritional rate of 123 percent last year.

That means that over the course of the year, the number of workers who left the firm was equivalent to the entire number working there at the start of the year - with an additional 23 percent on top.

Many workers at Amazon do stay longer, particularly those in more senior roles. But others come and go within the course of a year, inflating the attrition figure.

Amazon employs around one million people in the US, including head office workers, making it the second biggest private employer, behind the 2.3 million-strong Walmart 'family.'

Its attrition rate is far above the national average for the most common jobs at Amazon, in warehouse work and transportation.

The national average for warehouse and transportation attrition was 46 percent in 2019 and 59 percent in 2020.

While for retail work, the average in 2019 was 58 percent and in 2020 it was 70 percent.

In 2020, for every 100 Amazon workers, six were injured, according to the Washington Post.

In September, the company's CEO Andy Jassy said in an interview on CNBC: 'For us, employee safety is priority number one for us in our fulfillment centers.'

Jassy assumed the role of CEO from founder Jeff Bezos in July 2021.

In the years before Covid-19, Amazon lost workers at a rate of 3 percent per week coupled with a 150 percent turnover annually, reports the New York Times.

Among the many reasons for the potential shortfall of workers is Amazon's controversial employment practices and worker health and safety

Jose Pagan, pictured here, said he was fired electronically after taking two days off to deal with an infected tooth

One anecdote relayed in the Recode article mentions an Amazon supervisor from The Bronx in New York.

Jose Pagan, 35, who supported his wife and children on his Amazon salary, said he was fired electronically after missing work to treat an infected tooth.

Pagan said he did not have enough notice to use vacation days and didn't have enough unpaid time off left, which is what led to his termination.

He went on to say that even though he had a doctor's note, the company didn't care.

Pagan worked for a full week following his health issues and found out he was fired when he showed up for work one night and discovered his keycard didn't work.

He was then told he no longer worked at the company.

Pagan went to a HR representative who told him the company would welcome him back in 90 days and in the meantime, he should try and get some work as a driver with Uber or Grubhub.

At the time of his firing Pagan was on the verge of being promoted.

One former manager said: 'It was almost impossible to get fired as a worker'

Jassy, said in an internal memo to employees in April 2022 there is no 'silver bullet' to make Amazon facilities magically safer

Despite multiple reports of casual firings, one former manager at Amazon's Phoenix plant, told Recode, the culture is now more geared toward keeping workers due to the high attrition rates.

Michael Garrigan said: 'They were so concerned about attrition and losing people that they rolled back all the policies that us as managers had to enforce.'

Garrigan said that managers joked about not bothering to write up workers with citations because HR would 'exempt it.'

He said: 'It was almost impossible to get fired as a worker.'

Jassy, said in an internal memo to employees in April 2022 there is no 'silver bullet' to make Amazon facilities magically safer, reports CBS News.

Jassy said in part: 'We don't seek to be average. We want to be best in class. We still have a ways to go.'

While in December 2021, six Amazon employees were killed in Edwardsville, Illinois, when a tornado struck the facility.

Workers who survived the tornado later filed a lawsuit against the construction company which built the facility. In it, the plaintiffs said there was no proper sheltering available inside, reported KMOV in May 2022.

Following the tornado, Amazon denied claims from employees at the Edwardsville center that the company had banned them from using their cell phones at work, reports Business Insider.

According to the activist group, More Perfect Union, two workers died at the company's Bessemer, Alabama, facility within 24 hours of each other.

The group said one of the deceased men had his request to go home denied by HR. Hours later he suffered a fatal stroke on the job.

The group alleges that a total of six people died at the Bessemer facility in 2021 and that Amazon has covered up the deaths.

Amazon denies these allegations.

In April 2022, Amazon was accused of illegally attempting to influence a defeated vote to unionize in the Bessemer facility, reports CNBC.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:45

Coming from Afghanistan, Africa, the Middle East, hundreds of people come knocking each morning at the door of the refugee office in Brussels, to seek asylum in Belgium.

Overwhelmed, the registration centre of Fedasil, which deals with asylum requests, can no longer cope. Humanitarian organizations are sounding the alarm.

''You see, the people sleeping here are often people who tried to get in yesterday, and the day before, but couldn't," says Helene Asselman, Coordinator for Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen. "They have to come back tomorrow or the day after. In the meantime, they have no rights in Belgium, they have no status, they are not legal residents. Even people who have already applied have no access to shelters. Especially single men."

''We are in a difficult psychological state," says Muhammad Mahani a Palestinian asylum seeker. "We've been in Belgium for four months and they didn't give us accommodation, or Sim cards. We live in this freezing cold. We immigrated to build our future.But what we saw in our country, we see here now."

Worrying health situationA few meters away from the asylum application centre, the association M(C)decins Sans Fronti¨res has set up mobile clinics, the same that it uses in war zones.

''There is a health situation that's quite worrying," says David Vogel, Advocacy Officer for M(C)decins Sans Fronti¨res. "There is an epidemic of scabies which is hard to control in Brussels since people, without accommodation, go back to their squat in the evening, or to the street. We also had 17 cases of suspected diphtheria, three of which were confirmed by laboratories. There is a very significant deterioration in the mental health of this public. With prolonged exposure to the street, on top of difficult migratory journeys, punctuated by violence and deprivation. And so, we really see a deterioration in that field, which is also quite worrying."

At mealtimes, queues form around the so-called Humanitarian Hub, an aid focal point managed by NGOs and citizens' collectives, in another part of town. The situation keeps getting worse, says one of the coordinators.

''We are providing an average of 1,000 to 1,200 meals a day, against around 800 people a year ago," says Clothilde Bodson, Operational Coordinator at the Brussels Humanitarian Hub.

"We offer specialized services such as medical checkups, psychological follow-ups, distribution of clothing, etc. There are different responses from civil society and humanitarian actors, but this is not enough. We are actually responding to needs because of the State deficiencies, and this is just not working."

Hundreds forced to sleep outsideEvery evening, aid workers multiply rounds across the city to help the hundreds of people forced to sleep outside. The crisis is such that even Ukrainian refugees, who have a special status in Belgium as elsewhere in Europe, are more and more numerous to be left out in the cold.

Like these women, whom we meet at the Gare du Midi, in the heart of Brussels.

''I have to travel between different places," says Liubov Skvorets a Refugee From Ukraine. "In order to spend nights in temporary shelters. But the situation is such in those shelters, that you can only spend the night there. And then you just have to take your belongings, and move on to another place''

''When I received my registration," says Tetiana Makukha, also recently arrived from Ukraine. "Although I showed them documents certifying I've got cancer, they gave me shelter for one night in a hostel in the city centre. Only one night. I have been staying here at the station for a whole week."

''The figure we get from the Red Cross is that on average, every day, there are a hundred Ukrainians who arrive here at the Midi station," says Magali Pratte from Samusocial Brussels. "And out of 100 people, there are about forty or fifty who really need accommodation, who have no solution on their own. And of these 40 people, there are 20 people who are very vulnerable, with children or pregnant women, disabled people, or sick people. But who are now told that there is no more accommodation space left. And so people keep leaving and coming back, leaving, coming back again. That's how things are these days."

Applicants for international protectionThe aid workers continue their round, this time among applicants for international protection. As here, at the foot of one of the accommodation centres of the agency in charge of asylum seekers. The Belgian Red Cross teams are also on the ground.

"We have set up additional rounds, as there are more needs," says Morgane Senden from the Belgium Red Cross. "We see that people really need more help than we can give them. Because we don't bring much, just coffee, tea, and a bit of food"

Many sleep on mattresses on the ground, without any protection. Their makeshift tents are regularly dismantled by the police and groups dispersed.

Here, as in the Netherlands, or in France and in the south of Europe, asylum seekers also pay the price of a failing European migration policy. Pushed back by some EU States, they suffer in others from dysfunctional management of asylum applications.

Belgian state condemnedIn desperation, groups of migrants have occupied empty buildings. One squat in a huge building that went from about 200 people to more than 600 in the space of a few days.

Marie Doutrepont represents several of the occupants of the squat, threatened with eviction, within a collective of lawyers who are tirelessly mobilizing for international protection.

"For a year, Fedasil and therefore through Fedasil, the Belgian State, has been condemned 7000 times by the labour court," she says. "Who said that it must respect the law and provide accommodation to these people, with judgments to which Fedasil did not comply, or with such delays that it no longer makes sense. The lawyers went to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which has just ordered provisional measures and confirmed this, saying that the law must be respected, and that these people need to be sheltered. And that failing to do so is subjecting them to inhuman and degrading treatment. And even that doesn't make the Belgian State move!."

Nasrullah was a soldier in Afghanistan. He used to work at the Bagram prison. Some members of the new Taliban government were in his custody there, before they took over power. His life is now under threat. Just like that of Jean de Dieu, a pastor in Burundi, and human rights activist.

We find them both again later, alongside other companions in misfortune, who came to take part in the demonstration organized by their lawyers, not far from the State Secretariat for Asylum and Migration.

"What's the point of putting on our lawyers' gowns," says lawyer Manon Libert. "Of working on our files, of going to plead, of winning procedures and facilitating judgments if the State then just tramples on this, and deliberately leaves women, children and men on the street! We are therefore asking Belgium today to fulfil its international obligations! "

The State Secretariat for Asylum and Migration, as well as the agency in charge of receiving refugees, turned down my interview requests.

Citing a lack of means, the government also point a finger at the absence of European solidarity. Arguments which demonstrators say are untenable, given the emergency.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:41

A recent study suggests that it is not mRNA COVID-19 vaccines that are "most likely" responsible for adverse effects such as blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks, but concerns widely expressed about the vaccines.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itselfIn September, the Indian journal "Biomedicine" published a so-called study by self-professed "mRNA Alchemist" and biotech engineer Raymond D. Palmer, entitled "Covid 19 vaccines and the misinterpretation of perceived side effects clarity on the safety of vaccines." The study is presently being hosted on the National Library of Medicine site, which is operated by the U.S. federal government.

While various experts, such as internationally esteemed American cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough, have issued warnings about potential downsides of the vaccines, Palmer, an astronomy hobbyist and former realtor, claimed that those wary about the COVID-19 vaccines do not just suffer "a profound lack of scientific and medical training" but are at the root of a great deal of vaccine recipients' suffering.

Palmer's paper claimed that various adverse effects that take place "in and around the time of receiving the [COVID-19] vaccine" may result from the "mental stress" generated by concerns about those very vaccines.

While noting that "the likelihood of mental stress causing strokes, heart attacks or blood clots may at first appear unlikely," Palmer nevertheless claimed that "anti-vaccination sentiment could be attributed to the alleged side effects that are perpetuated across social media from anti-vaccination groups."

According to Palmer, blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, dizziness, fainting, blurred vision, and loss of smell and taste are products of mental stress. The mRNA alchemist claimed also that the "science for the vaccines causing blood clots has not been found."

Contrary to Palmer's published suggestion, the University of Utah reported that the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have, for instance, been associated with thrombotic thrombocytopenia, where antibodies lead to "uncontrolled activation of platelets ... and blood clots to form."

In April 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a pause in its recommendations for the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for this very reason.

Discounting previous blood clot links, Palmer said that mental stress "clearly causes vasoconstriction and arterial constriction of the blood vessels."

Persons who are "panicked, concerned, stressed or scared of the vaccination" may therefore see their arteries "constrict and become smaller in and around the time of receiving the vaccine."

Furthermore, stress can induce myocardial ischemia (MSIMI), he said, whereby blood flow to the heart is restricted due to emotional distress.

Although Palmer did not rule "in or out every side effect seen," he suggested that "fear mongering and scare tactics used by various anti-vaccination groups" trigger these mental stressors, vasoconstriction and, subsequently, the very side effects so-called anti-vaxxers claim the vaccines are generating.

Obesity and poor arterial health, in combination with stress, may "heighten the chances of a vaccine side effect," added Palmer.

In the paper, Palmer did not account for adverse effects suffered by people who weren't necessarily panicked, concerned, stressed, or tuned into cautionary tales about the vaccines. Palmer focused on fear allegedly created by the "anti-vaccination movement."

Palmer also did not explore potential links between MSIMI or clotting and statements like President Joe Biden's December 2021 warning that America would experience "a winter of severe illness and death" or former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's (D) suggestion that the unvaccinated may "wind up killing your grandmother."

It is altogether unclear from Palmer's paper whether fear-inspiring rhetoric advanced by the government and other advocates for the mRNA vaccines might have created "adverse effects" in the vaccinated or the unvaccinated or both.

While the Australia-based former realtor underscored that those fearful of suffering adverse side effects "may increase their risk of experiencing adverse side effects," his proposed remedy was not censorship or chemically-induced fearlessness. Instead, Palmer suggested that prospective vaccine recipients should "visit their medical practitioner and discuss the use of therapies or medications" designed to improve healthy blood flow and address heart conditions.

When asked by Rebekah Barnett of the "Dystopian Down Under" Substack about his Ph.D. candidacy, Palmer allegedly said he couldn't provide an answer on account of having signed nondisclosure agreements.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:40

The IRS is reminding Americans to report income of at least $600 that are processed through third-party payment facilitators such as Venmo and PayPal. Getty Images/iStockphotoThe Internal Revenue Service is reminding tax filers to prepare to report transactions of at least $600 that are made through so-called ''third-party'' facilitators such as Venmo and PayPal.

The agency on Tuesday posted an explainer warning American business owners earning $600 or more per year on payments that are received through apps such as Zelle, Cash App, Venmo, and PayPal to file a tax form known as Form 1099-K.

The IRS is interested in transactions involving part-time work, side gigs, and selling goods, according to the agency.

The rule does not apply to noncommercial payments like reimbursing someone for food or rent or other one-off transactions such as selling an old piece of furniture, according to accountants.

Before this year, the threshold for filing a Form 1099-K report was at least 200 transactions totaling an aggregate of at least $20,000.

When Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, it included a provision that reduced the reporting threshold to a single transaction over $600.

Filers will be sent Form 1099-K from third-party payment facilitators. A copy of the form will also be sent to the IRS. Getty Images/iStockphotoThe Biden administration hopes that by reducing the threshold, the measure will crack down on Americans evading taxes by not reporting the full extent of their gross income.

The proposal was offered as a way to help pay for a $3.5 trillion social spending bill that would invest in climate programs, child care and education.

Tommy Lucas, an Orlando, Fla.-based certified financial planner, told CNBC that filers must include any sum that is reported on Form 1099-K as part of their business income.

Failure to do so could trigger an audit since the IRS obtains a copy of Form 1099-K directly from the third-party payment facilitator.

The $600 threshold is designed to crack down on tax evasion. Thiago Prudencio/SOPA Images/ShuBut the provision has been met with pushback from sites like Etsy and eBay, who joined with smaller retailers to create the ''Coalition for 1099-K Fairness,'' which they say is aimed at protecting ''casual online sellers and microbusinesses from unfair tax and privacy burdens.''

Earlier this year, President Joe Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes a provision that will lead to the hiring of 87,000 additional IRS agents.

Critics said that the provision targets small businesses who earn side money doing part-time gigs. Thiago Prudencio/SOPA Images/ShuThe nonpartisan watchdog Joint Committee on Taxation said it anticipates that between 78% and 90% of the estimated $200 billion that the IRS will collect as a result of the bolstered workforce will come from small businesses.

President Biden and the Democratic Party have insisted that Americans earning less than $400,000 annually would not have to pay a cent more in taxes.

But the Joint Committee on Taxation disputes this, saying that between 4% and 9% of the money collected will come from businesses that earn above $500,000 a year.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:39

By Euronews with AP ' Updated: 26/11/2022 - 22:29

Argentina's Enzo Fernandez celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the World Cup match against Mexico in Doha, Qatar, Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022. -

Copyright

AP Photo/Moises CastilloThree European sides were in action on Saturday: Poland, France and Denmark. But the most significant game of the day was Argentina v Mexico with the losing side in all likelihood out of the competition, so both Latin American football powerhouses were fighting for victory in Qatar on Saturday night.

Tunisia 0'--1 AustraliaAustralia run out 1-0 winners, thanks to a Mitchell Duke header from a cross by Craig Goodwin in the first half.

The victory puts Australia back within a shouting chance of qualification from Group D, following the Socceroos' 1-4 routing by France in their opening match.

Tunisia however remain rooted to the bottom of the table on one point, after their opening goalless draw against Denmark. This despite having lost just one of their last 10 matches going into the tournament.

Tunisia and Australia met for just the third time in history, with the last match a 2-0 Tunisia victory in the 2005 Confederations Cup.

Poland 2'--0 Saudi ArabiaRobert Lewandowski scored his first World Cup goal in a 2-0 victory that puts Poland on top of Group C with four points.

Piotr Zielinski gave Poland a late first-half lead, before goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny made an amazing double save when Saudi Arabia were awarded a penalty.

First he plunged to his right to keep out Salem Al Dawsari's penalty, before leaping to his left to deflect Mohammed Al Burayk's follow-up over the bar. Already people are talking about the save of the tournament.

With 10 minutes to go, Lewandowski pounced on a defensive error, slotting home with his left foot -- finally breaking his scoring duck after four previous World Cup matches without a goal.

Saudi Arabia come down to earth after pulling offf an incredible upset to beat Argentina 2-1 in their first match. They have now lost 10 of their last 11 World Cup matches against European teams, including an 8-0 loss to Germany in 2002.

France 2'--1 DenmarkThe 2-1 win for the defending world champions against Denmark means France qualify for the last 16.

After a tight, goalless first half, the match came to life on the hour when Kylian Mbappe slotted home to give France the lead.

Minutes later, Denmark's Andreas Christensen headed an equaliser from a corner.

The goals totally opened up the match, with a flood of chances at both ends before Mbappe got on the end of a pinpoint cross from Antoine Griezmann to score his and France's second and decisive goal with just minutes remaining.

France overcame a slew of injuries -- including the loss of striker and Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema with a thigh injury on the eve of the tournament -- for an easy 4-1 defeat of Australia in their opening match.

The victory over Australia made France the first reigning champion to win their opening match of a World Cup finals since Brazil in 2006, but only four champions have won their opening two matches of a World Cup campaign.

France have also succeeded in becoming the first team since Spain in 2010 to win six consecutive World Cup matches.

Denmark had drawn their previous three matches including a 0-0 tie against Tunisia in their opening game.

Argentina 2'--0 MexicoLeo Messi breaks the deadlock in a tense match with a firm strike from just outside the penalty area just after the hour.

Enzo Fernandez of Benfica doubles Argentina's lead with a sublime shot late in the game, to secure the 2-0 victory.

Messi's goal was his eighth in a World Cup finals, putting him level with a certain Diego Maradona.

Argentina have only failed to advance out of the group stage twice in the last 60 years, in 1962 and 2002.

The odds were in Argentina's favour: they had beaten Mexico in their last 10 meetings dating to the 2004 Copa America, and they won all three of their previous World Cup matches against Mexico at the World Cup, in 1930, 2006 and 2010.

Mexico have now failed to score in their last four World Cup matches dating back to the group stage in Russia 2018, and came into the match with Argentina following a 0-0 draw in their opening match against Poland in Qatar.

Poland now lead the group on 4 points, followed by Argentina and Saudi Arabia on 3, and Mexico in last place with one point.

What happened at the World Cup on Friday?England missed the chance to advance to the last 16 by securing just a lacklustre 0-0 draw against USA.

Colombian captain ‰nner Valencia has become the top scorer at this World Cup with his third goal.

Hosts Qatar have crashed out without scoring a single goal, from a tournament they spent an estimated '‚¬200 billion preparing for.

Iran secured a stunning 2-0 win against Wales with both goals coming in injury time after the Welsh keeper had been red-carded.

What are the key talking points so far?Some high profile teams have been humbled: Saudi Arabia beat Argentina 1-2, while Japan beat Germany 1-2, and England were lucky to hold on with a 0-0 draw against USA.

Records have fallen: Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo made history as the first male player to score at five World Cups.

Drama on the pitch: German players held their hands over their mouths in a silent protest before kick-off of their first game, while Iranian players refused to sing their national anthem in the first game -- but were back to singing in the second game after a well-known player who didn't make the squad was arrested in Tehran, sending a clear signal to the players in Doha.

Drama off the pitch: European countries have lodged complaints against FIFA's ban on team captains wearing anti-discrimination armbands at the games.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:38

Wave of civil disobedience unprecedented under President XiRising frustration over Xi's zero-COVID policyDeadly apartment fire in Urumqi sparked demonstrationsBeijing, Chengdu, Lanzhou, Wuhan among cities with protestsSHANGHAI/BEIJING, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Hundreds of demonstrators and police clashed in Shanghai on Sunday night as protests over China's stringent COVID restrictions flared for a third day and spread to several cities in the wake of a deadly fire in the country's far west.

The wave of civil disobedience is unprecedented in mainland China since President Xi Jinping assumed power a decade ago, as frustration mounts over his signature zero-COVID policy nearly three years into the pandemic. The COVID measures are also exacting a heavy toll on the world's second-largest economy.

"I'm here because I love my country, but I don't love my government ... I want to be able to go out freely, but I can't. Our COVID-19 policy is a game and is not based on science or reality," said a protester in the financial hub named Shaun Xiao.

Protesters also took to the streets in the cities of Wuhan and Chengdu on Sunday, while students on numerous university campuses around China gathered to demonstrate over the weekend.

In the early hours of Monday in Beijing, two groups of protesters totaling at least 1,000 people were gathered along the Chinese capital's 3rd Ring Road near the Liangma River, refusing to disperse.

"We don't want masks, we want freedom. We don't want COVID tests, we want freedom," one of the groups chanted earlier.

A fire on Thursday at a residential high-rise building in the city of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, triggered protests after videos of the incident posted on social media led to accusations that lockdowns were a factor in the blaze that killed 10 people.

Urumqi officials abruptly held a news conference in the early hours of Saturday to deny COVID measures had hampered escape and rescue efforts. Many of Urumqi's 4 million residents have been under some of the country's longest lockdowns, barred from leaving their homes for as long as 100 days.

On Sunday in Shanghai, police kept a heavy presence on Wulumuqi Road, which is named after Urumqi, and where a candlelight vigil the day before turned into protests.

"We just want our basic human rights. We can't leave our homes without getting a test. It was the accident in Xinjiang that pushed people too far," said a 26-year-old protester in Shanghai who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter.

"The people here aren't violent, but the police are arresting them for no reason. They tried to grab me but the people all around me grabbed my arms so hard and pulled me back so I could escape."

By Sunday evening, hundreds of people gathered in the area. Some jostled with police trying to disperse them. People held up blank sheets of paper as an expression of protest.

A Reuters witness saw police escorting people onto a bus which was later driven away through the crowd with a few dozen people on board.

On Saturday, the vigil in Shanghai for victims of the apartment fire turned into a protest against COVID curbs, with the crowd chanting calls for lockdowns to be lifted.

"Down with the Chinese Communist Party, down with Xi Jinping", one large group chanted in the early hours of Sunday, according to witnesses and videos posted on social media, in a rare public protest against the country's leadership.

URUMQI, BEIJING, WUHAN[1/18] People gather for a vigil and hold white sheets of paper in protest of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions, as they commemorate the victims of a fire in Urumqi, as outbreaks of the coronavirus disease continue in Beijing, China, November 27, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Thursday's fire in Urumqi was followed by crowds there taking to the street on Friday evening, chanting "End the lockdown!" and pumping their fists in the air, according to unverified videos on social media.

On Sunday, a large crowd gathered in the southwestern metropolis of Chengdu, according to videos on social media, where they also held up blank sheets of paper and chanted: "We don't want lifelong rulers. We don't want emperors," a reference to Xi, who has scrapped presidential term limits.

In the central city of Wuhan, where the pandemic began three years ago, videos on social media showed hundreds of residents take to the streets, smashing through metal barricades, overturning COVID testing tents and demanding an end to lockdowns.

Other cities that have seen public dissent include Lanzhou in the northwest, where residents on Saturday overturned COVID staff tents and smashed testing booths, posts on social media showed. Protesters said they were put under lockdown even though no one had tested positive.

The videos could not be independently verified.

At Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University on Sunday, dozens of people held a peaceful protest against COVID restrictions during which they sang the national anthem, according to images and videos posted on social media.

ZERO-COVIDChina has stuck with Xi's zero-COVID policy even as much of the world has lifted most restrictions. While low by global standards, China's case numbers have hit record highs for days, with nearly 40,000 new infections on Saturday, prompting yet more lockdowns in cities across the country.

Beijing has defended the policy as life-saving and necessary to prevent overwhelming the healthcare system. Officials have vowed to continue with it.

Since Shanghai's 25 million residents were put under a two-month lockdown early this year, Chinese authorities have sought to be more targeted in their COVID curbs, an effort that has been challenged by the surge in infections as the country faces its first winter with the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

RARE PROTESTSWidespread public protest is rare in China, where room for dissent has been all but eliminated under Xi, forcing citizens mostly to vent their frustration on social media, where they play cat-and-mouse with censors.

Frustration is boiling just over a month after Xi secured a third term at the helm of China's Communist Party.

"This will put serious pressure on the party to respond. There is a good chance that one response will be repression, and they will arrest and prosecute some protesters," said Dan Mattingly, assistant professor of political science at Yale University.

Still, he said, the unrest is far from that seen in 1989, when protests culminated in the bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square.

He added that as long as Xi had China's elite and the military on his side, he would not face any meaningful risk to his grip on power.

This weekend, Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Ma Xingrui called for the region to step up security maintenance and curb the "illegal violent rejection of COVID-prevention measures".

Reporting by Martin Quin Pollard, Yew Lun Tian, Eduardo Baptista, Liz Lee and Thomas Peter in Beijing and by Brenda Goh, Josh Horwitz, David Stanway, Casey Hall and Engen Tham in Shanghai and the Shanghai Newsroom; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by William Mallard, Kim Coghill, Edwina Gibbs and Raissa Kasolowsky

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:38

(Reuters) '' Twitter Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk has said that new user signups to the social media platform are at an ''all-time high'', as he struggles with a mass exodus of advertisers and users fleeing to other platforms over concerns about verification and

hate speech.

Signups were averaging over two million per day in the last seven days as of Nov. 16, up 66% compared to the same week in 2021, Musk said in a tweet late on Saturday.

He also said that user active minutes were at a record high, averaging nearly 8 billion active minutes per day in the last seven days as of Nov. 15, an increase of 30% in comparison to the same week last year.

Hate speech impersonations decreased as of Nov. 13 compared to October of last year.

Reported impersonations on the platform spiked earlier this month, before and in wake of the Twitter Blue launch, according to Musk.

Musk, who also runs rocket company SpaceX, brain-chip startup Neuralink and tunneling firm the Boring Company, has said that buying Twitter would speed up his ambition to create an ''everything app'' called X.

Musk's ''Twitter 2.0 The Everything App'' will have features like encrypted direct messages (DMs), longform tweets and payments, according to the tweet.

Advertisers on Twitter, including big companies such as General Motors, Mondelez International, Volkswagen AG, have paused advertising on the platform, as they grapple with the new boss.

Musk has said that Twitter was experiencing a ''massive drop in revenue'' from the advertiser retreat, blaming a coalition of civil rights groups that has been pressing the platform's top advertisers to take action if he did not protect content moderation.

Activists are urging Twitter's advertisers to issue statements about pulling their ads off the social media platform after Musk lifted the ban on tweets by former U.S. president Donald Trump.

Hundreds of Twitter employees are believed to have quit the beleaguered company, following an ultimatum by Musk that staffers sign up for ''long hours at high intensity,'' or leave.

The company earlier in November laid off half its workforce, with teams responsible for communications, content curation, human rights and machine learning ethics being gutted, as well as some product and engineering teams.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill)

');}return false;});$('#comments .commentlist .comment-content a').attr('target','_blank');});

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:38

Former United States President Donald Trump was a useful bogeyman for Europe. His successor, Joe Biden, is proving much trickier '-- a friend who says all the right things but leaves you in the lurch when it counts.

From Washington's surprise withdrawal from Afghanistan to the transatlantic blowup over submarine sales to Australia (AUKUS) and, now, a growing spat over the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which offers tax incentives and subsidies to green U.S. businesses, the Biden administration has, time and again, caught Europe off guard.

At each new perceived slight, the Europeans express shock, frustration and dismay: How could Washington fail to consult its allies, or at the very least inform them of its plans? Meanwhile, the American response is always some variant of: Terribly sorry, we didn't even think of that.

The underlying dynamic is one of polite indifference. Despite Washington's renewed commitment to NATO and massive outlay of arms and funds to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia, the U.S. remains steadfastly focused on what most perceive to be its main existential challenge: China.

In that equation, Europe is often an afterthought. It's just that many on this side of the Atlantic have failed to get the message '-- or draw conclusions of what it means for the bloc's future '-- instead preferring to act out a script of outrage and remonstrance.

A current example is the blooming transatlantic argument over Biden's IRA.

Months in the making, painstakingly hashed out on Capitol Hill, the legislation represents Washington's best bipartisan effort thus far to decarbonize its economy and prepare for decoupling from China. The bill flags $369 billion for energy and climate programs, including billions in taxpayer-funded subsidies for the production of electric vehicles inside the U.S.

It just so happens that it's a potential disaster for Europe.

Bruised and confusedAmid an energy crisis that has large parts of the European Union economy staring into an abyss, French President Emmanuel Macron has led the charge against Biden's IRA, accusing Washington of maintaining a ''double standard'' on energy and trade. He's called for Europe to respond in kind by rolling out its own subsidy plan, prompting a visit from U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to an EU trade ministers' meeting in Prague on October 31.

But rather than try to cajole them with concessions, Tai invited them to get on board the China train by rolling out their own subsidies '-- which isn't what the Europeans wanted to hear .

According to an EU diplomat who spoke to POLITICO ahead of a trade ministers' meeting on Friday, members of the bloc still hope that Biden will send the IRA back to Congress for resizing, a prospect U.S. officials say is about as likely as canceling Thanksgiving.

The result is that Europe is now back in familiar territory: Bruised, confused and scrambling for a response while failing to formulate its own cohesive strategy to contend with China. And instead of receiving solidarity from Washington in a time of war, they feel the U.S. has maneuvered itself into a perfect position to suck investment out of Europe.

The outlines of an EU response to the IRA did start to take shape earlier this week, when Paris and Berlin '-- only recently back on speaking terms after a falling out '-- jointly called for an EU plan to subsidize domestic industries.

But that plan is likely weeks, even months, away from becoming a reality. And even if all 27 EU countries manage to strike a deal, their leaders will be hard-pressed to inject anywhere near as much money into it as Washington has earmarked, as most EU countries are still howling in pain over the high price of gas '-- much of which they now import from liquid natural gas terminals in Texas.

Again, Biden's America is looking after its interests while the EU's left to groan about missed signals, hurt feelings and unfair practices.

The tragedy for Europe is that this is happening at a time when transatlantic relations are meant to be at an all-time high. Biden's election, followed by the war in Ukraine and Washington's massive investment in shoring up NATO's eastern flank, was meant to signal the U.S.'s decisive return to the European sphere.

But what the Europeans are discovering is that the Ukraine war is just one facet of the U.S.'s larger strategic duel with China, which will always take precedence over EU interests.

That was true under Trump, and it remains true under his successor. It's just that the message is delivered in a different style.

In the long run, Biden's polite indifference may prove more deadly.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:38

Image caption, A BBC team filmed confrontations between police and demonstrators in Shanghai at the site of a protest

By Stephen McDonell

China correspondent, Beijing

Acts of dissent are not unusual in China.

Over the years, sudden, local explosions of defiance have been triggered by a range of issues - from toxic pollution to illegal land grabs, or the mistreatment of a community member at the hands of the police.

But this time it's different.

There is one subject at the forefront of Chinese people's minds, and many are increasingly fed up with it - prompting widespread pushback against the government's zero-Covid restrictions.

This has come in the form of residents smashing down barriers designed to enforce social distancing, and now large street protests in cities and university campuses across the country.

In a way, it is hard to explain just how shocking it is to hear a crowd in Shanghai calling for China's leader Xi Jinping to resign.

It is extremely dangerous here to publicly criticise the Communist Party's general secretary. You risk being put in prison.

And yet there they were on the Shanghai street (Wulumuqi Lu) which carries the name of the Xinjiang city where a fire had killed 10 residents, and zero-Covid restrictions were blamed for hampering the rescue effort.

One protester calls out: "Xi Jinping!"

And hundreds reply: "Step down!"

Again and again: "Xi Jinping! Step down! Xi Jinping! Step down!"

The chant also went out: "Communist Party! Step down! Communist Party! Step down!"

For a political organisation with no greater priority than remaining in power, this is as big a challenge as they come.

The government appears to have drastically underestimated growing discontent towards the zero-Covid approach - a policy inextricably linked to Mr Xi, who recently pledged there would be no swerving from the policy.

What's more, there is no easy way out of the corner the Party appears to have painted itself into.

It has had three years to prepare for an eventual reopening, but instead of building more hospital ICU units and emphasising the need for vaccinations, it has poured enormous resources into mass testing, lockdown and isolation facilities designed to win a war against a virus which is never going away.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:37

Article continues below advertisement

The ruthless royal twisted the screws on his frail mom by refusing to pay her favorite son Prince Andrew's teen accuser a reported $13 million unless she agreed to let Camilla rule by his side as queen '-- and announce it to the world.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to keep conniving Camilla happy '-- and Charles seized it," said a source.

Source: Mega

Article continues below advertisement

Andrew, 62, was embroiled in a devastating New York civil court case with Virginia Giuffre, an accuser who claimed she was trafficked to the royal by the prince's late pedophile pal Jeffrey Epstein and his now-imprisoned madam Ghislaine Maxwell.

Although Andrew denied her charge, the blueblood settled out of court '-- even though he didn't have the cash to pay Virginia off.

So his big brother capitalized on the situation, spies said. "I'm told Charles knew Her Majesty was desperate to get Andrew off the hook at any cost '-- and he named his price to do it," confided the source.

The future king proposed a simple quid pro quo '-- he wouldn't oppose the multimillion-dollar settlement if Camilla was named queen, author Christopher Andersen, exposed the details of the bombshell deal in his new book, The King: The Life of Charles III.

"Charles was in a position where he needed the queen to endorse Camilla as they approached the Platinum Jubilee... and these things converged."

Article continues below advertisement

Source: Mega

The confrontation took place several months before the popular 96-year-old monarch died at her Balmoral retreat in Scotland on Sept. 8.

The royal family was said to be stunned by the queen's sudden February announcement that it was her "sincere consort when Charles succeeded her."

"They didn't have a clue this was coming," said the source. "Now we know the truth. Charles apparently realized the millions Her Majesty wanted to spend to bail out Andrew would effectively come out of his own inheritance '-- and he made his mother an offer too dangerous to ignore. If Her Majesty refused his proposal, Charles would reject Andrew's settlement deal, plunging the royal into yet another scandal."

Article continues below advertisement

Charles resorted to playing games with his mother while under tremendous pressure from Camilla, said another palace insider.

"He'd already persuaded his mother not to push him aside in favor of his son Prince William and beloved Kate. However, Camilla wasn't content with being called Princess Consort, which Charles had promised her when they wed in 2005. Her goal has always been to be queen. But Her Majesty was reluctant '-- until Charles apparently pulled out his ace card."

Source: Mega

Article continues below advertisement

"During one of their marriage crises, Camilla threatened a tell-all book exposing his deepest secrets, including his kinky sex habits," noted the courtier. "He knows he can't allow her to go rogue now. He'd have to retract Camilla's Queen Consort title himself.

"Making no mistake, Charles has waited for decades to become king, and he wants to cement his place in history. He won't let anything or anyone '-- even Camilla '-- stand in his way."

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:35

Image source, INSTAGRAM/CITIZENSDAILYCN Image caption, Posters critical of Xi Jinping were reportedly plastered on a wall at London's Central Saint Martins college

A rare one-man protest against Xi Jinping in Beijing has inspired solidarity protests around the world as China's party congress sits this week.

Last Thursday, a man strung banners across a bridge in China's capital that accused Mr Xi of being a dictator.

He was quickly detained but photos of his action spread around the world.

Since then similar signs and messages have appeared on several university campuses in the US, UK, Europe, Australia and elsewhere.

One handwritten sign at Colby College in the US state of Maine praised the Beijing man's action and said: "We, people of China, want to spread this message that speaks our mind in places without censorship."

Many replicate the messages displayed last week on the Sitong bridge in Beijing's Haidian district.

Image source, Twitter

Image caption, This was spotted in the University of Melbourne in Australia

Some posters also show anti-Xi messages like "Not My President" and "Goodbye JinPing".

On Instagram and Twitter, several China activism accounts have urged followers to heed the Beijing protester's rallying cry "to strike" and take action during the week of the Communist Party congress.

According to social media accounts, protest signs have been seen at Stanford, Emory, and Parsons School of Design in the US; Goldsmiths and Kings College in London; as well as universities in Hong Kong.

In some sites, they appeared to have been taken down shortly after they were put up. One sign, posted at the University of Toronto, attracted a rebuttal in the form of a letter defending Xi posted next to it on the noticeboard.

Similar signs have also purportedly appeared within China according to images shared by activist groups, with some referencing the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests - a taboo topic in China.

"The spirit of 8964 will never be snuffed out," said one piece of graffiti apparently scrawled on a public bathroom stall in Sichuan, referring to the date of the crackdown.

Last week's protest has sparked a swift crackdown online, with all footage, pictures and key words such as "Haidian", "Beijing protester" and "Sitong bridge" scrubbed from Chinese social media platforms. Even more vaguely-linked words like "hero" and "bridge" returned restricted results.

There has been heightened security in Beijing in the days following the protest, with extra police and personnel stationed at bridges in the city.

Image source, BBC/ED LAWRENCE

Image caption, "Bridge watchers" have been stationed at crossings across Beijing since last week's protest

Some WeChat users who shared the protest pictures online have had their accounts suspended, according to reports. One man was reportedly arrested after he shared pictures on Twitter, which can be accessed in China via a virtual private network.

The mystery protester, dubbed "Bridge Man", has been compared to "Tank Man", the unknown Chinese man who stood in front of a line of tanks during the Tiananmen protests.

"Bridge Man" has been the subject of extensive online investigations into his identity. Internet sleuths have identified him as an academic and tracked down his social media profiles which are said to include two Twitter accounts.

One of these was wiped on the weekend, and a new tweet was posted - a line from Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen's will - which read that the statesman had dedicated his life to seeking freedom and equality in China.

Activists have expressed fears for the "Bridge Man's" welfare, while also praising him for the protest where he disguised himself as a roadside worker, yelled slogans into a loudspeaker and set tyres on fire.

Videos from the scene showed the man apprehended by police officers and bundled into a car. Chinese police have declined to respond to BBC queries about the incident.

"With everything to lose, you wait patiently for them to come, and follow them into their car. You walk into the machine," one tribute on an activist account read. It added: "Your act is still reverberating around the world."

The protest took place on the eve of the 20th Communist Party congress, which will run until the end of this week. Mr Xi is expected to be elected as party leader for a third term, cementing his grip on power.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 15:23

(C) Provided by The Telegraph breast cancer screening The cost of the pandemic for cancer sufferers is starting to emerge, experts fear, as new figures show that hundreds more people than expected are dying each month in England from the disease.

Charities and health experts are calling for the Government to act, warning that missed diagnoses during lockdown may be a factor - and that the problem is being compounded by the current NHS crisis.

Since the beginning of September, there have been nearly 900 more deaths in people with cancer than would be expected at this time of year, the most recent breakdown of causes of death from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) shows.

There were nearly 230 extra deaths in the worst week.

Deaths involving heart complaints or diabetes have been on the increase since the spring, but it is only in recent weeks that the numbers dying from cancer have been above the five-year norm.

It comes as the Prime Minister has made addressing the crisis in the health service one of his top priorities, along with the cost of living and the surge in migrants crossing the Channel in small boats.

It is set to dominate the political agenda in the coming months, as winter pressures mount on the NHS.

Waiting lists are already at a record high, with a backlog of 7.1 million patients, and the numbers are set to keep rising until at least 2024.

On Sunday, Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, admitted on BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that the health service was under ''severe pressure''.

'That's not a challenge, that's a disaster isn't it?'#BBCLauraK shows Health Secretary Steve Barclay the statistics on A&E waiting times

Barclay says the NHS is 'under severe pressure' and funding was prioritised in the Autumn Statementhttps://t.co/5ephVBKlcb pic.twitter.com/zEvX5em8PB

'-- BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) November 20, 2022 He has vowed to cut red tape and centralised targets to give local hospitals more power, to ensure the extra £3.3 billion pledged for the NHS in the Autumn Statement last week is spent on frontline services rather than being soaked up by bureaucrats.

The Telegraph can reveal that half of NHS England staff face the sack under the plans.

Ministers want to slash the budget for the organisation's 6,500 bureaucrats by as much as 50 per cent.

They favour a system modelled on the Tories' school reforms where freedom for headteachers was backed by Ofsted inspections and exam league tables to hold them to account, leading to the UK rising nine places up the international education ratings.

The shake-up is expected to be spelled out in an NHS review commissioned by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Mr Barclay to find ways of giving hospitals greater autonomy, reducing ''Stalinist'' national targets and making them more accountable for how they perform and what they spend.

A Government source said: ''Steve wants to cut out the pointless box-ticking and red tape so NHS staff can focus fully on caring for patients. He is determined to ensure every penny of investment goes into fixing the service rather than being squandered on ever-expanding layers of management.''

Urgent referrals hit new highsLatest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that there were 1,517 excess deaths in the week ending November 4, of which only 27 per cent (418) were due to Covid.

NHS data has shown that 38,000 fewer patients received a cancer diagnosis in England during 2020 - a 12 per cent drop from the previous year.

Analysis suggests that at least 22,000 fewer patients have undergone cancer treatment than would have been expected since the start of the pandemic.

The total number of urgent referrals for cancer has hit new highs this summer, with more than 255,000 cases in August - up from 190,369 in February 2020.

The total number of urgent referrals for cancer has also hit new highs this summer, with more than 255,000 cases in August - up from 190,369 in February 2020.

Professor Pat Price, chairman of Radiotherapy UK and co-founder of the #CatchUpWithCancer campaign, has urged Mr Barclay to intervene.

''The tragic reality is that the cancer backlog is the deadliest and most time-pressing of all and failure to tackle it will be measured in excess cancer deaths for years to come,'' she said.

''There is a frustration to the point of despair amongst my clinical colleagues because it doesn't need to be this way.''

Some of the worst cancer survival rates in EuropeMany patients failed to come forward during the pandemic for fear of being a burden on the NHS, while others were unable to access services as the health service turned its attention to Covid.

Dr Charles Levison, CEO of private GP DoctorCall said: ''Excess cancer deaths were not immediately expected following delays throughout lockdown due to the nature of the disease, but clearly tens of thousands of people missing their cancer diagnosis was always going to result in excess death - I worry this is now starting to show.

''We've had several patients who delayed for a variety of reasons during lockdown. That led to a more advanced stage of cancer developing, with the associated complications. Worsened outcomes are inevitable and tragically that will result in fatalities.''

Melanie Sturtevant, associate director of Policy, Evidence and Influencing at Breast Cancer Now, warned that in 2020, over 8,200 fewer breast cancers were diagnosed in England compared to the previous year, (a 21 per cent decrease) as a result of Covid-19 disruption.

The charity has called on the Government to act.

''While it's too early to know the long-term impact of the pandemic on breast cancer, we do know that the sooner breast cancer is diagnosed, the better the chances of treatment being successful and of lives potentially being saved,'' she said.

''Thousands of people are currently living with undiagnosed breast cancer, making it critical the Government acknowledges the perilous situation impacting breast cancer diagnosis, and commits to addressing the underlying systemic issues, including urgently publishing a fully funded long-term workforce plan.''

The UK already has some of the worst cancer survival rates in Europe and Cancer Research UK has warned that Britain's position among developed countries could get even worse.

'Immeasurable more suffering is to come'Dr Katrina Brown, stats manager at Cancer Research UK, said: ''With cancer diagnosis and treatment performance having been so far off-target for so long '' even before the pandemic '' we are facing the possibility that cancer survival could go backwards.

''Screening effectively stopped during the pandemic, the number of people being referred for diagnostic tests dropped massively and a lot of tests and treatments for cancer were postponed.''

This week, GPs were told to fast-track cancer patients so they will receive a scan within four weeks rather than waiting 12 weeks to see a specialist before a referral.

But Karol Sikora, an oncologist, described the backlog of cancer treatment and missed diagnoses as a ''total catastrophe''.

''Even our treatment targets, which are continually missed, are seen as woefully inadequate in neighbouring countries,'' he said.

''Immeasurable more suffering is to come - where is the Government press conference on this?''

'Stalinist centralism'Before he became Chancellor, Mr Hunt said the NHS needed to ditch the ''Stalinist centralism'' that had given it more targets than any healthcare system in the world. GPs alone were tracked by a ''whopping'' 72 indicators which made them the ''most micromanaged'' on the planet.

''We should replace national targets with easily accessible data that allows everyone to compare performance. Care Quality Commission (CQC) Ofsted-style ratings work well.''

NHS England is already facing a 30 per cent to 40 per cent cut in its staff budget but ministers believe it could rise to 50 per cent under the review that will be led by Patricia Hewitt, former Labour health secretary.

Ministers believe the review by a Labour grandee, who also chairs the local integrated care system in Norfolk, will stymie any political criticism of the reforms.

Mr Barclay's plans for reform of the health service include cutting central targets to free up hospitals to decide how they meet the needs of patients in their areas.

He told the BBC that the Department of Health had 50,000 employees in quangos and arms' length bodies costing the taxpayer £2.8 billion. ''That's over 50,000 people that aren't in directly patient-facing roles, so I think there's opportunities in terms of merging those,'' he said.

''It's about looking at a local level how we design a healthcare system in a way that more empowers local leaders, better uses the population level data that we will have, and less diktat from the centre in a one-size-fits-all.

''That is one of the things those within the NHS tell me is causing a lot of noise, causing a lot of disruption and actually getting in the way of them delivering patient care'... When I talk to Trust leaders, one of their frustrations is just the sheer amount of time they spend managing upwards.''

Mr Barclay has ordered all arms' length bodies to publish ''organograms'' of their management structure to show what they do and how much they earn.

The first, by NHS England, showed it was employing 430 bureaucrats on over £100,000 each a year, of which a quarter were on at least £150,000. Forty-five earned more than the Prime Minister's £164,000.

Major central targets such as ambulance waiting times and cancer treatment would remain, but others, such as the aim of admitting, transferring or discharging 95 per cent of patients coming into A&E within four hours - which has not been met since 2015 - could be scrapped.

Mr Barclay also said on Sunday that the Government had not abandoned the promised reforms of social care as he acknowledged the NHS was under ''severe pressure''.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, the body which represents all areas of the health service, has said his organisation ''absolutely supports'' Mr Barclay's proposals to devolve more power in the NHS.

He told Sophy Ridge on Sky News: ''I strongly support the idea that we should try to devolve more power in the health service so that local health systems, working with partners like local government, can find solutions that work for them.

''Too often these national systems treat everywhere as if it's the same, and places are very different.''

Mr Taylor added that ''almost every hospital'' in England, Wales and Northern Ireland ''has got wards full of people who could go home, who should go home'', but there was a lack of social care staff to look after them.

He said the health service has an issue ''about how we recruit, how we retain and how we motivate our staff''.

Sign up to the Front Page newsletter for free: Your essential guide to the day's agenda from The Telegraph - direct to your inbox seven days a week.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 15:20

There's been speculation over app stores potentially de-platforming Twitter following new owner Elon Musk's commitment to free speech. Musk unveiled a simple plan Friday night if Apple or Google decides to boot the social media platform from their stores: build a smartphone. And how hard could that be?

Musk responded to conservative commentator Liz Wheeler, who tweeted: ''If Apple & Google boot Twitter from their app stores, @elonmusk should produce his own smartphone. Half the country would happily ditch the biased, snooping iPhone & Android. The man builds rockets to Mars, a silly little smartphone should be easy, right?''

I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone

'-- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022''I certainly hope it does not come to that,'' Musk told Wheeler, ''but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone.''

Elon Musk Announces General Amnesty BUT Twitter T&C's Say 'Denial Of Violent Events' Will Not Be ToleratedSpeculation over app stores potentially targeting Twitter emerged after Apple executive Phil Schiller deactivated his Twitter account for no reason days after former President Trump's account was restored on the platform.

Then in a New York Times op-ed, the former head of trust and safety at Twitter, Yoel Roth, wrote Twitter under Musk's leadership is at risk of being removed from Apple and Google's app stores if they fail to follow guidelines:

''Failure to adhere to Apple's and Google's guidelines would be catastrophic, risking Twitter's expulsion from their app stores and making it more difficult for billions of potential users to get Twitter's services. This gives Apple and Google enormous power to shape the decisions Twitter makes,'' Roth said.

He explained, ''as I departed the company, the calls from the app review teams had already begun.''

How hard could it be for the world's richest person to have a team of Tesla engineers build a smartphone? They already mount cellular-connected giant iPad-like screens in all Tesla vehicles on the dashboard of vehicles.

If Apple or Google don't boot Twitter from their app stores, either way, Wheeler gave Musk an idea. How long until Musk unveils the Tesla smartphone and asks for $100 deposits?

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube:

Follow on Twitter:

Follow @PrisonPlanet'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/ALERT! In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch.

We need you to sign up for our free newsletter here.

Support our sponsor '' Turbo Force '' a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown.

Also, we urgently need your financial support here.'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 15:17

There is more to than what meets the eye on DeSantis' military past beyond a mere involvement in Guantanamo Bay.

An incorporation of Ron Desantis cracking up (AFP), alongside Mansoor Adayfi, photographed by the BBC. Image created by Al Mayadeen.A recent episode of the Eyes Left Podcast reels in a first-person perspective testimony from a Yemeni ex-Guantanamo Bay detainee who was tortured at the hands of popular Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.

The podcast was hosted by Mike Prysner, who is a US veteran that served in Iraq as a Specialist; his duties included ground surveillance and prisoner interrogation.

Watch next: Former Soldier Mike Prysner Interrupts Bush: "You Lied"

Prysner described DeSantis' actions as ''TV worthy'' '' but not in the fictionalized sense, but rather running under the "true crime" genre. Washington kept details about DeSantis' role in Guantanamo Bay under wraps: Addressing inquisitions about what DeSantis' role was, one Navy spokesperson responded: ''Unfortunately, the specific details about Mr. DeSantis role are not available.''

What the podcast reveals is that DeSantis served as a JAG officer, which essentially means that he was a Judge Advocate General Corps. He was a law student, previously completing his undergraduate studies at Yale, where he was part of the Delta Cappa Epsilon like the two 'Bushes' '' George HW Bush and his son, George Bush. Pro-Confederacy and blatantly racist, his political career with the Pentagon began immediately in his second year of law school.

However, his job was never reduced to courtrooms, but rather to conduct rogue, clandestine operations '' his official job, a guise, was to ''ensure the human rights of detainees.''

It was quite the opposite.

The height of inhumane treatment and systemic torture in the camp was during DeSantis' term serving as a JAG officer, whose main task was to identify the weaknesses of the detainees and to ''tighten the screws'' on them '' and, in addition, to keep a clean record. He made sure that human rights were violated to the worst degree, according to the podcast.

A story of sadism & manipulationIn this podcast, Prysner interviews Mansoor Adayfi, who was deceived by DeSantis first-hand as the incumbent governor not only ordered his torture, but also sat, watched, and laughed.

Adayfi is of Yemeni origin and was on a cultural mission to Afghanistan in the early days of the war. He was kidnapped by traitors and sold to the US, who relocated him to the notoriously infamous Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

As he endured torture during his imprisonment, Adayfi narrated that DeSantis walked in, and depicted himself as the good Samaritan who wanted to relay the prisoners' concerns to the administration. His persuasion would get the prisoners ''comfortable'' enough to talk, manipulating them.

For context, the host explained that during the time there was a mass protest of around 500 detainees who were on a hunger strike and that it was professed as a ''major problem'' for the Bush administration. So, ''they brought in a collection of new ruthless individuals to break the strike.''

Adayfi narrates, ''We went on a hunger strike in 2005 and there was like 500 prisoners participating in the hunger strike,'' after which DeSantis walked into the room, clarifying his intention to negotiate with the prisoners. ''We believed them, that they would negotiate and talk to us'... But it was a trap,'' said Adayfi.

Adayfi, who was 18 when he was detained, to his innocence thought that DeSantis would ''raise his concerns. But it was a piece of the game what they were doing. They were looking for what hurt you more to use it against you."

After DeSantis gathered intelligence on the detainees' weaknesses, an army general walked in, ready to exploit them: ''I have a job. I was sent here to break your f****** hunger strike. I do not care why you are here, I don't care who you are. My job, sir, here is to make you eat. Today we are talking, tomorrow there will be no talking.'' The prisoners were shaken to experience what was coming for them, and were shocked at DeSantis' deception.

The detainees were force-fed cans of Ensure, a liquid nutrition supplement usually taken by the elderly. DeSantis watched as detainees were strapped to the chair, force-fed can after can of Ensure through their noses.

"Ron DeSantis was there watching us. We were crying, screaming. We were tied to the feeding chair. And that guy was watching that. He was laughing," Adayfi lamented, saying that their bodies could not take the amounts of Ensure they were being forced and that he threw up on DeSantis' face.

''I threw up on his face. Literally. On his face,'' he said.

Common Article Three of the Geneva Convention stipulates that force-feeding is an act of torture, and it is prohibited by the World Medical Association in a 1975 declaration.

"They put laxative in our feeding liquid"Under DeSantis' supervision, prison administrators ''tied our heads, our shoulder, our rest, our thighs and our legs,'' putting ''some kind laxative in the feeding liquid so we s*** ourselves all the time,'' after which they were locked up into solitary confinement.

''They broke all of the hunger strikes in one week,'' Adayfi said. ''It was a machine. And he was there. All of them were watching - the colonel, officers, doctors, nurses - and not just that, they used to also beat us.

''And if we scream in pain, [with the] bleeding [that] came out of our nose and mouth'... They were like eat. The only word they told you eat. Eat, eat, eat. You know, we were beaten all day long. All day. There's a team. Whatever you are doing, they just beat you. Pepper spray, beating, beating, sleep deprivation, that continued for three months.

''When I was screaming, I look at him [Ron DeSantis] and he was actually smiling. Like someone who enjoyed it,'' Adayfi said. ''It shocked us all.''

DeSantis' position was not routineAnother weakness that DeSantis took advantage of was Adayfi's complaints of sleep deprivation, and the noise he was hearing in the night. In response, DeSantis ramped up intentional noise to continue torturing the prisoners.

To Adayfi and his comrades' misfortune, speaking to DeSantis about the meat in prison food only prompted the prison guards to mix all the food with meat, knowing that the detainees are largely Muslim and do not consume non-Halal products.

''Ron's position was not some routine one. He didn't just rotate in and take over for some other low-level officer. Until then, no JAG officer had been assigned to such a position. He was brought in during a crisis.''

A poll released last week revealed that DeSantis is a favorite candidate among the Republican party '' even more than Trump. The YouGov survey found that 42% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents and Republican-leaning independents said they would prefer DeSantis over Trump to run in 2024. Only 35% said they would prefer Trump over the Florida governor.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 15:10

Something very bad happened in the banking system.

Things can go very badly wrong when you don't understand the banking system.

You soon start joining the dots ....

1929, Japan 1991, and 2008

These are all fundamentally the same.

Bank credit is used to pump up asset prices and when these inflated asset prices collapse, this feeds back into the banking system.

We had to re-discover what they worked out after 1929 before we could see how they had done this before.

The financial crises are the keys to unlock the secrets of the monetary system.

The Japanese financial crisis in 1991 was a very significant key.

A successful stable, economy went completely off the rails.

This was a great starting point to identify what went wrong to cause the following financial catastrophe.

Richard Werner and Richard Koo turned the key.

They both opened different doors into understanding what had happened.

Richard Werner looked into what had happened to cause the financial crisis.

Richard Koo looked into what had happened after the financial crisis.

The Japanese blew up a real estate bubble of almost unimaginable proportions.

Where had the money come from to produce those insane valuations?

Richard Werner was in Japan at the time and realised banks must create money.

They could keep creating more and more money to pump into the Japanese real estate market.

He eventually produced empirical evidence that banks do create money and this got the central banks to start revealing the truth in 2014.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2014/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy.pdf

Private banks create the money supply.

Money and debt come into existence together and disappear together like matter and anti-matter.

Bank loans create money and debt repayments to banks destroy money.

Bank loans create 97% of the money supply

Banks create money, so bank lending is good for the economy.

What about the other side of equation?

We need to think about the associated debt.

This is where global policymakers have been getting into trouble, they don't think about the associated debt.

It's a debt based monetary system and you do need to think about the associated debt.

Freshly created money can be borrowed from the banks to pump up the markets.

They had worked this out after 1929.

What is the fundamental flaw in the free market theory of neoclassical economics?

The University of Chicago worked that out in the 1930s after last time.

Henry Simons and Irving Fisher supported the Chicago Plan to take away the bankers ability to create money.

''Simons envisioned banks that would have a choice of two types of holdings: long-term bonds and cash. Simultaneously, they would hold increased reserves, up to 100%. Simons saw this as beneficial in that its ultimate consequences would be the prevention of "bank-financed inflation of securities and real estate" through the leveraged creation of secondary forms of money.''

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Henry_Calvert_Simons

The IMF re-visited the Chicago plan after 2008.

https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2012/wp12202.pdf

This is why they put Glass-Steagall in place, to separate the money creation side of banking from the investment side of banking, and it also stopped the money creation side of banking from trading in securities.

They had been using the bank's ability to create money to inflate the value of securities produced by investment bankers.

When it was removed the same thing happened again, and this was the situation before 2008.

"It's nearly $14 trillion pyramid of super leveraged toxic assets was built on the back of $1.4 trillion of US sub-prime loans, and dispersed throughout the world" All the Presidents Bankers, Nomi Prins.

You can see the debt pile up in the banking system as they used bank credit to inflate asset prices.

1929 and 2008 stick out like sore thumbs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAStZJCKmbU&list=PLmtuEaMvhDZZQLxg24CAiFgZYldtoCR-R&index=6

At 18 mins.

Not considering private debt has always been the Achilles Heel of neoclassical economics.

By the time I started in 2008 a lot of the doors were already open, and I could go on to open a few more.

No one else seems to have followed this path, but it seemed like the next logical step to me.

If banks create money out of nothing, which they do.

What is real wealth?

This is when you realise they went through this before after they used neoclassical economics last time.

At the end of the 1920s, the US was a ponzi scheme of inflated asset prices.

The use of neoclassical economics, and the belief in free markets, made them think that inflated asset prices represented real wealth.

1929 '' Wakey, wakey

What is wealth?

The Americans had thought rising asset prices represented real wealth, until the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

They had trusted the markets to tell them what was going on in the economy, but this had proved to be a big mistake.

They needed something new to tell them what was really going on in the economy and they invented GDP.

GDP measures economic activity in the economy; the new items produced and sold every year in the economy.

That's where the real wealth in the economy lies.

It may not be perfect, but it's the best measure we have and this is why global policymakers want to grow GDP.

The Japanese pumped up real estate valuations with the money creation of bank credit.

Why did it cause the US financial system to collapse in 1929?

Bankers get to create money out of nothing, through bank loans, and get to charge interest on it.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2014/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy.pdf

Bankers do need to ensure that money gets paid back, and this is where they get into serious trouble.

Banking requires prudent lending.

If someone can't repay a loan, they need to repossess that asset and sell it to recoup that money.

If they use bank loans to inflate asset prices they get into a world of trouble when those asset prices collapse.

As asset prices collapsed, the banks became insolvent as their assets didn't cover their liabilities.

The banks become insolvent and collapsed, along with the US economy.

When banks have been lending to inflate asset prices the financial system is in a precarious state and can easily collapse.

The Japanese could study the Great Depression to avoid this fate.

When the real estate market collapsed, many of Japan's banks became insolvent, and they knew they were facing a Great Depression.

Richard Koo used to be a central banker at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and he looked at both sides of the bank's balance sheets around the Great Depression.

Richard Koo shows the US money supply / banking system (8.30 '' 13 mins):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YTyJzmiHGk

1) 1929 before the crash - June 1929

2) The Great Depression before the New Deal - June 1933

3) During the New Deal - June 1936

The money supply '‰ public debt + private debt

The ''private debt'' component was going down with banks going bust and deleveraging from a debt fuelled boom causing debt deflation (a shrinking money supply).

It was the public borrowing and spending of the New Deal that helped the economy recover.

The money supply '‰ public debt + private debt

The New Deal restored the money supply by increasing the ''public debt'' component of the money supply.

Once the New Deal was working, they reduced Government borrowing and plunged the nation back into recession again.

The enormous public spending and borrowing of WW2, eventually sorted things out.

It's all about maintaining the money supply to avoid debt deflation.

They needed to save the banks.

When banks go down this destroys money.

The money supply '‰ public debt + private debt

If the private debt term is going down, you want the public debt term to go up to compensate.

Japan used fiscal policy to maintain the money supply as they deleveraged. This was the lesson of the New Deal.

They paid down private debt and used Government borrowing and spending to maintain the money supply as they deleveraged to avoid debt deflation.

What happens if you don't use public borrowing and spending to compensate?

The IMF predicted Greek GDP would have recovered by 2015 with austerity.

By 2015 Greek GDP was down 27% and still falling.

The money supply '‰ public debt + private debt

The ''private debt'' component was going down with deleveraging from a debt fuelled boom. The Troika then wrecked the Greek economy by cutting the ''public debt'' component and pushed the economy into debt deflation (a shrinking money supply).

Greece was pushed into a Great Depression type event by the Troika.

The Japanese learnt the lessons of the Great Depression, but discovered a new problem, Japanification.

What was the good thing about the Great Depression?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAStZJCKmbU&list=PLmtuEaMvhDZZQLxg24CAiFgZYldtoCR-R&index=6

At 18 mins.

The claims on future spending power in the banking system were removed by the Great Depression, and the system was cleansed and ready to restart.

Japan learnt from the Great Depression.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YTyJzmiHGk

The debt in the banking system represents claims on future spending power.

They saved the banks, but left the debt in place, not realising the debt in the banking system were claims on future spending power, and this would suck the life out of the Japanese economy for decades to come.

They had come to the same conclusion after 1929.

''The Debt-Deflation Theory of Great Depressions'' Irving Fisher.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/meltzer/fisdeb33.pdf

Irving Fisher realised the problems after the financial crisis were associated with the debt that had been run up before the financial crisis.

The Japanese could learn from their mistakes, they have been fighting debt deflation since 1991.

They have compensated with public borrowing and spending.

The money supply '‰ public debt + private debt

The financial crises are the keys to unlock the secrets of the monetary system.

They learnt a lot after 1929.

Financial stability arrived in the Keynesian era and was locked into the regulations of the time.

https://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/banking-crises.png

''This Time is Different'' by Reinhart and Rogoff has a graph showing the same thing (Figure 13.1 - The proportion of countries with banking crises, 1900-2008).

We removed the regulations and the financial crises have come back.

What was known became unknown.

Something this big indicated something was fundamentally wrong, and it is, at the lowest level, a general confusion over money and wealth.

Where does the confusion come from?

The classical economists identified the constructive ''earned'' income and the parasitic ''unearned'' income.

Most of the people at the top lived off the parasitic ''unearned'' income and they now had a big problem.

This problem was solved with neoclassical economics, which hides this distinction.

Any serious attempt to study the capitalist system reveals many at the top don't create any wealth; they just extract money from the system.

They confused making money with creating wealth.

Neoclassical economics was born.

Rentiers make money, they don't create wealth.

Rentier activity in the economy had been hidden by confusing making money with creating wealth.

Banks create money, not wealth.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2014/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy.pdf

What you think is happening and what is actually happening are two very different things.

Global policymakers don't know what is happening in the banking system.

Not knowing what wealth is, the neoclassical economist associates wealth with other things, like rising asset prices.

The real world then reveals this is not the case.

1929 '' Wakey, wakey

You then have to wait for a whole new generation to come along, who don't remember what happened last time, before you bring it back again.

When you've got money and wealth sorted out, and know how banks work, you are on the road to enlightenment.

The financial crises are the keys to unlock the secrets of the monetary system.

The Japanese financial crisis in 1991 was a very significant key.

A successful stable, economy went completely off the rails.

This was a great starting point to identify what went wrong to cause the following financial catastrophe.

What changed?

The BoJ used to control the amount of money created by private banks, and direct this for productive purposes.

They used a little known tool in the central banker's toolbox, credit/window guidance.

This was the secret of success of all the Asian Tiger economies.

Their economies got the stable money supply their economies required.

Financial liberalisation would lead to disaster within a few years as things went completely off the rails.

The UK was once the great financial superpower, and it looks like we understood the importance of managing the associated debt in the past.

https://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/uploads/monthly_2018_02/Screen-Shot-2017-04-21-at-13_53_09.png.e32e8fee4ffd68b566ed5235dc1266c2.png

How do the basic elements of the system fit together?

Wealth, money and debt.

It's all got very confused.

GDP measures the new goods and services being produced in the economy every year.

This is where the real wealth in the economy lies.

This is the foundation stone, you really need to know what wealth is as the rest builds on that.

Private banks create the money supply.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2014/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy.pdf

Money and debt come into existence together and disappear together like matter and anti-matter.

Bank loans create money and debt repayments to banks destroy money.

Bank loans create 97% of the money supply

The money supply should grow with the economy, i.e. GDP.

More goods and services in the economy require more money in the economy.

It's a debt based monetary system.

You want the debt to stay at a level where it will not adversely affect the economy.

You want GDP, the money supply and debt to grow together so the economy is not held back by the debt contained within it.

How do you achieve this?

The idea is that banks lend into business and industry to increase the productive capacity of the economy.

Business and industry don't have to wait until they have the money to expand. They can borrow the money and use it to expand today, and then pay that money back in the future.

The economy can then grow more rapidly than it would without banks.

Debt grows with GDP and there are no problems

The banks create money and use it to create real wealth

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2014/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy.pdf

When you have a firm grip on what money and wealth really are; and know how banks work, it all falls into place.

The Chinese have been learning from their mistakes and reached the same conclusion.

Davos 2019 '' The Chinese know bank lending needs to be directed into areas that grow the economy and that their earlier stimulus went into the wrong places.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNBcIFu-_V0

They had pumped bank credit into areas that don't grow GDP, and the private debt-to-GDP had risen to a level they were on the verge of a financial crisis.

Everyone does that with neoclassical economics, but they don't usually see the financial crisis coming, like the US in 1929, Japan 1991 and US, UK and Euro-zone in 2008.

You need to know what wealth is to get the system working properly.

The belief that asset prices represent wealth is where it all starts going wrong.

What goes wrong with neoclassical economics?

1) It makes you think you are creating wealth with rising asset prices

2) Bank credit flows into inflating asset prices.

3) No one notices the private debt building up in the economy as neoclassical economics doesn't consider debt.

4) The banking system and the markets become closely coupled, and as soon as asset prices fall it feeds back into the banking system

5) The money creation of unproductive bank lending makes the economy boom as you head towards a financial crisis and Great Depression.

We got there in 2008; Japan in 1991 and the Chinese saw the financial crisis coming at the last minute.

You think its rising asset prices that are so good for the economy, but it's the money creation of bank credit, being used to fund the transfer of existing assets, that is really driving the economy, as you head towards a financial crisis and are left facing a Great Depression.

Bank credit effectively brings future spending power into today.

They create the money out of nothing for you to spend today, and you make the repayments in the future. When you make the repayments, this destroys money.

Interest is the charge you pay for the service of borrowing your own money from the future.

You need to use bank credit to create wealth, not mess about with financial speculation.

The economy grows with the debt contained within it.

The Japanese studied the Great Depression to avoid that fate.

When the real estate market collapsed in 1991, many of Japan's banks became insolvent, and they knew they were facing a Great Depression.

Richard Koo used to be a central banker at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and he looked at both sides of the bank's balance sheets around the Great Depression.

Richard Koo shows the US money supply / banking system (8.30 '' 13 mins):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YTyJzmiHGk

1) 1929 before the crash - June 1929

2) The Great Depression before the New Deal - June 1933

3) During the New Deal - June 1936

The money supply '‰ public debt + private debt

The ''private debt'' component was going down with banks going bust and deleveraging from a debt fuelled boom causing debt deflation (a shrinking money supply).

It was the public borrowing and spending of the New Deal that helped the economy recover.

The money supply '‰ public debt + private debt

The New Deal restored the money supply by increasing the ''public debt'' component of the money supply.

Once the New Deal was working, they reduced Government borrowing and plunged the nation back into recession again.

The enormous public spending and borrowing of WW2, eventually sorted things out.

It's all about maintaining the money supply to avoid debt deflation.

They needed to save the banks.

When banks go down this destroys money.

The money supply '‰ public debt + private debt

If the private debt term is going down, you want the public debt term to go up to compensate.

Japan used fiscal policy to maintain the money supply as they deleveraged. This was the lesson of the New Deal.

They paid down private debt and used Government borrowing and spending to maintain the money supply as they deleveraged to avoid debt deflation.

They did finish paying back most of the debt some time ago, but the experience was so painful people don't want to borrow anymore.

A debt based monetary system needs new borrowing to keep it running.

It's always a delicate balance between the money being destroyed by debt repayments to banks, and the money being created by new bank loans being taken out.

The money supply '‰ public debt + private debt

They have to use public borrowing and spending to maintain the money supply.

The BoJ has to keep buying up Government bonds to keep the economy from collapsing into a deflationary spiral.

The Japanese monetary system is still broken today, thirty years after 1991, and they have been fighting debt deflation ever since.

What was the good thing about the Great Depression?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAStZJCKmbU&list=PLmtuEaMvhDZZQLxg24CAiFgZYldtoCR-R&index=6

At 18 mins.

The claims on future spending power were removed from the banking system.

The system was cleansed and ready to re-start.

Japan could study the Great Depression to avoid this fate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YTyJzmiHGk

How did Japan avoid a Great Depression?

They saved the banks.

They used public borrowing and spending to avoid debt deflation.

How did Japan kill growth and inflation for the next thirty years?

They left the debt in place and the repayments on that debt killed growth and inflation (Japanification)

They didn't realise the debt in the banking system were claims on future spending power, and this would suck the life out of the Japanese economy for decades to come.

What happens if you don't use public borrowing and spending to compensate?

The IMF predicted Greek GDP would have recovered by 2015 with austerity.

By 2015 Greek GDP was down 27% and still falling.

The money supply '‰ public debt + private debt

The ''private debt'' component was going down with deleveraging from a debt fuelled boom. The Troika then wrecked the Greek economy by cutting the ''public debt'' component and pushed the economy into debt deflation (a shrinking money supply).

Greece was pushed into a Great Depression type event by the Troika.

The zero sum nature of the monetary system causes it to behave in very different ways to that expected.

How are we going to pay back all that debt?

If you pay off all the debt there will be no money.

The debt based monetary system is like that.

It's full of surprises.

Private banks create the money supply.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2014/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy.pdf

Money and debt come into existence together and disappear together like matter and anti-matter.

Bank loans create money and debt repayments to banks destroy money.

Bank loans create 97% of the money supply

The money supply '‰ public debt + private debt

Money and debt are like opposite sides of the same coin.

Private debt and public debt are linked together in ways that we do not understand.

Richard Koo used to be a central banker at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

He looks at the system as a whole.

Richard Koo shows the US money supply / banking system around the Great Depression.(8.30 '' 13 mins):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YTyJzmiHGk

1) 1929 before the crash - June 1929

2) The Great Depression before the New Deal - June 1933

3) During the New Deal - June 1936

The money supply '‰ public debt + private debt

The ''private debt'' component was going down with banks going bust and deleveraging from a debt fuelled boom causing debt deflation (a shrinking money supply).

It was the public borrowing and spending of the New Deal that helped the economy recover.

The money supply '‰ public debt + private debt

The New Deal restored the money supply by increasing the ''public debt'' component of the money supply.

Once the New Deal was working, they reduced Government borrowing and plunged the nation back into recession again.

The enormous public spending and borrowing of WW2, eventually sorted things out.

A clanger from the Troika.

The IMF predicted Greek GDP would have recovered by 2015 with austerity.

By 2015 Greek GDP was down 27% and still falling.

The money supply '‰ public debt + private debt

The ''private debt'' component was going down with deleveraging from a debt fuelled boom. The Troika then wrecked the Greek economy by cutting the ''public debt'' component and pushed the economy into debt deflation (a shrinking money supply).

Greece was pushed into a Great Depression type event by the Troika.

Private debt and public debt are linked together in ways that they did not understand.

Why do you find Governments are often running a surplus when major financial crises hit?

Let's look at Japan 1991.

Richard Koo shows the graph central bankers use and it's the flow of funds within the economy, which sums to zero (32-34 mins.).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YTyJzmiHGk

As the Government was moving into a surplus, the corporate sector was taking on more and more debt.

This is the zero sum nature of the monetary system, as one thing goes up, something else is going down.

The Japanese Government was running a surplus as the financial crisis hit.

Financial crises come from excessive private debt.

You need MMT to understand the central banker's flow of funds within the economy

A government surplus is sucking money out of the private sector.

A government deficit is pushing money into the private sector.

This is the US (46.30 mins.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba8XdDqZ-Jg

The private sector going negative is the problem as you can see in the chart. This is when the financial crises occur.

When the Government deficit covered the trade deficit they were fine, but then they tried to balance the budget

As the Government goes positive, into Bill Clinton's surplus, the private sector is going negative causing a financial crisis.

The current account deficit/surplus, public deficit/surplus and private deficit/surplus are all tied together and sum to zero.

What were those old rules of thumb they developed over the years by trial and error?

Balanced government budgets AND balanced trade (current account)

You can't have one without the other, as the Americans have demonstrated so well.

Global policymakers are getting into serious trouble because they don't understand the monetary system.

The zero sum nature of the monetary system causes it to behave in very different ways to that expected.

Private debt and public debt are linked together in ways that they do not understand.

This is the most deceptive property of bank credit.

Global policymakers haven't realised what is happening as they achieve early success at the expense of an impoverished future.

Private banks create the money supply.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2014/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy.pdf

Money and debt come into existence together and disappear together like matter and anti-matter.

Bank loans create money and debt repayments to banks destroy money.

Bank loans create 97% of the money supply

The central banks have got the basics; they have failed to grasp the wider implications.

Bank credit effectively brings future spending power into today.

The banks create the money for you to spend today, and when you make the repayments this destroys money.

Interest is the charge you pay for borrowing your own money from the future.

Early success can be achieved at the expense of an impoverished future.

This was the secret of the Thatcher Revolution; using bank credit to bring future spending power into today.

All those claims on future spending power that built up in the economy from 1980 to 2008 are the cause of the Productivity Puzzle.

https://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/uploads/monthly_2018_02/Screen-Shot-2017-04-21-at-13_53_09.png.e32e8fee4ffd68b566ed5235dc1266c2.png

Japan is the best example.

In the real estate boom, new money pours into the economy from real estate lending, fuelling a boom in the real economy, which feeds back into the real estate boom.

The Japanese real estate boom of the 1980s was so excessive the people even commented on the ''excess money'', and everyone enjoyed spending that excess money in the economy.

The money creation of bank loans caused the economy to boom, but this was only a secondary effect so debt rose faster than GDP.

There was lots of new money going into the economy, but the inflation was only seen in asset prices, not consumer prices.

The problems were developing in private debt and asset price inflation.

Policymakers looked at public debt and consumer price inflation, and so didn't see the problems developing.

The claims on future spending power were building up in the financial system out of sight and out of mind.

The economy was over-heating and so the BoJ raised interest rates.

Real estate prices were no longer sustainable with higher interest rates.

The real estate ''wealth'' evaporated, but the debt was left.

After the financial crisis, they saved the banks, but left the claims on future spending power in place.

They avoided a Great Depression, but the Japanese economy would flat line for the next thirty years as they made the repayments on the debt they had built up in the 1980s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YTyJzmiHGk

This is the cause of Japanification.

Early success had come at the expense of an impoverished future.

They had just been moving future spending power into today with unproductive bank lending, which they used to blow up a massive real estate bubble.

The real estate ''wealth'' evaporated and the claims on future spending power were left to remind them of their folly.

This is why the real estate boom is so good for the economy; it allows future spending power to be brought into today with bank credit.

Bank credit effectively brings future spending power into today.

Banks '' What is the idea?

The idea is that banks lend into business and industry to increase the productive capacity of the economy.

Business and industry don't have to wait until they have the money to expand. They can borrow the money and use it to expand today, and then pay that money back in the future.

The economy can then grow more rapidly than it would without banks.

Debt grows with GDP and there are no problems

The banks create money and use it to create real wealth

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2014/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy.pdf

When you have a firm grip on what money and wealth really are; and know how banks work, it all falls into place.

This is how you should use bank credit.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 14:24

It was not too many years ago when we celebrated the 200th anniversary of Edward Jenner's first smallpox vaccination in 1796. The development of vaccines continued at a fairly slow rate until the last several decades when new scientific discoveries and technologies led to rapid advances in virology, molecular biology, and vaccinology. The chart which follows displays many of the vaccine- and immunization-related events that have occurred since Jenner's critical discovery. This list is by no means exhaustive. If you know of an event that you would like us to add, contact us at admin@immunize.org. Date Event and related notes September 16, 2022 ACIP recommends use of PCV15 as an option for pneumococcal vaccination for children under 19 years of age, using currently PCV13 dosing and schedules September 13, 2022 US joins list of 30 countries that meet WHO criteria for circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) September 1, 2022 CDC recommends the first updated bivalent COVID-19 booster August 31, 2022 FDA amended EUAs of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines to authorize bivalent formulations for use as a single booster dose at least 2 months following primary or booster vaccination August 26, 2022 CDC released ACIP recommendations on use of influenza vaccines for the 2022–23 influenza season August 22, 2022 CDC recommends Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for use in adolescents 12 years through 17 years as a primary series option. August 19, 2022 FDA expands age indication of Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, adjuvanted EUA to include use in individuals 12 years of age and older August 9, 2022 FDA issues EUA of JYNNEOS (Bavarian Nordic A/S) allows subcutaneous administration to under 18 years of age and intradermal administration of vaccine to 18 years and older to increase vaccine supply August 5, 2022 FDA issues EUA for Novavax (Novavax, Inc), COVID-19 vaccine adjuvanted to provide a two-dose primary series to individuals 18 years of age and older. July 13, 2022 ACIP interim recommendation for use of Novavax COVID-19 vaccine in adults 18 years and older July 8, 2022 FDA expands age indication of Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine to include adolescents 12 years through 15 years of age for a two dose primary series (The EUA remains in effect for additional doses for immunocompromised for 12 years of age and older and for booster doses). June 28, 2022 ACIP published interim recommendations for use of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines in children aged 6 months–5 years. June 24, 2022 CDC endorsed ACIP recommendation of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for those 6 through 17 years of age, in addition to its already recommended use in children 6 months through 5 years and adults 18 years and older. June 18, 2022 CDC endorsed the ACIP recommendation that all children 6 months through 5 years of age should receive a Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. All children, including children who have already had COVID-19, should get vaccinated. June 17, 2022 FDA amends Moderna COVID-19 EUA to include use of the vaccine in individuals 6 months through 17 years of age. June 17, 2022 FDA amends Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 EUA to include use of the vaccine in individuals 6 months through 4 years of age. June 17, 2022 FDA approves expanded age recommendation for Vaxneuvance (PCV15, Merck) to individuals 6 weeks and older. June 3, 2022 FDA approves Priorix (GSK) (Measles, Mumps and Rubella Vaccine, Live) vaccine for the prevention of measles, mumps and rubella in individuals 12 months of age and older. May 27, 2022 ACIP published recommendations for use of Jynneos (smallpox and monkeypox vaccine, live, nonreplicating) for preexposure vaccination of persons at risk for occupational exposure to orthopoxviruses. May 19, 2022 CDC recommends that children ages 5 through 11 years should receive a booster shot 5 months after their initial Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination series, strengthens its recommendation that those 12 and older who are immunocompromised and those 50 and older should receive a second booster dose at least 4 months after their first. May 17, 2022 FDA amends EUA and expands eligibility for Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine booster dose to children 5 through 11 Years. May 6, 2022 ACIP updates rabies recommendations: use of modified preexposure prophylaxis vaccination schedule to prevent human rabies. April 1, 2022 ACIP recommends universal HepB vaccination in adults aged 19-59 years. March 29, 2022 FDA authorizes and CDC recommends second boosters for certain individuals. March 29, 2022 FDA amends EUA, authorizes additional presentation of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for booster vaccination doses, (dark blue caps with purple border labels.) March 18, 2022 ACIP recommends use of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in adults aged 18 years and older, considerations for extended intervals for primary series doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. February 22, 2022 ACIP recommends two additional groups for use of Ebola vaccine. February 18, 2022 CDC released the 2022 recommended immunization schedules for children and adolescents, as well as for adults on its website. January 31, 2022 FDA approves COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax (Moderna) for individuals 18 years and older. (The EUA remains in effect for third primary series dose and booster dose.) January 28, 2022 CDC published ACIP updated recommendations for adults on use PCV15 and PCV20. January 21, 2022 CDC published ACIP Recommendations for use of recombinant zoster vaccine in immunocompromised adults. January 21, 2022 CDC published ACIP updated interim recommendations for use of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 vaccine. January 7, 2022 FDA shortens interval to booster dose of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to 5 months. January 5, 2022 CDC endorses ACIP recommendation to expand eligibility of booster doses to those 12 to 15 years old. CDC recommends that all adolescents 12 to 17 years old should receive a booster shot 5 months after their initial Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination series. January 4, 2022 CDC recommends Pfizer-BioNTech booster 5 months after completing primary series. CDC recommends moderately or severely immunocompromised 5–11-year-olds receive an additional primary dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine 28 days after their second shot. January 3, 2022 FDA amends EUA Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine - expands use of a single booster dose to include 12 through 15 years of age, shortens time to booster dose to at least 5 months, and allows for third primary dose for certain immunocompromised children 5 through 11 years of age. December 17, 2021 CDC published ACIP recommendations on the use of dengue vaccine December 14, 2021 FDA revises Janssen Fact Sheets to include contraindication and risks of TTS December 9, 2021 FDA and CDC expand Pfizer-BioNTech booster recommendations to 16 and 17 years of age November 30, 2021 FDA approves PreHevbrio (VBI Vaccines) for adults 18 years and older November 29, 2021 CDC recommends all 18 years and older get a COVID-19 booster November 19, 2021 FDA amends EUAs for COVID-19 mRNA vaccines for use of booster dose for 18 years and older November 5, 2021 CDC published ACIP Interim Recommendations for use of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in children aged 5-11 years October 29, 2021 FDA authorizes EUA for Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children 5-11 years October 29, 2021 CDC published ACIP Recommendations for COVID-19 additional primary and booster doses October 20, 2021 FDA amends EUAs of all COVID-19 vaccines, allows for booster doses, and mix and match of doses in eligible individuals October 14, 2021 FDA approves expanded age indication for Flucelvax Quad (Seqirus), licensed for 6 months and older September 22, 2021 FDA authorizes booster dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for aged 65 years and older, aged 18 through 64 at high risk of severe COVID-19, aged 18 through 64 who have institutional or occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 August 27, 2021 CDC released ACIP recommendations on use of influenza vaccines for the 2021–22 influenza season August 23, 2021 FDA approves first COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech) for individuals 16 and older. (The EUA remains in effect for individuals 12 years of age and older and for third dose for immunocompromised individuals 12 years of age and older). August 13, 2021 FDA approves Ticovac (Pfizer) a vaccine to prevent tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) vaccine in individuals 1 year of age and older. August 12, 2021 FDA amends the emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to allow for use of additional dose in certain immunocompromised individuals. July 23, 2021 FDA expands indication of Shingrix vaccine to include adults aged 18 years and older who are or will be at increased risk of zoster due to immunodeficiency or immunosuppression caused by known disease or therapy. July 16, 2021 FDA approves Vaxneuvance (Merck & Co, Inc.) pneumococcal 15-valent conjugate vaccine for adults 18 years or older. July 8, 2021 FDA revises fact sheets for Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine (Johnson & Johnson), adding Guillain-Barr(C) syndrome (GBS) warning and revising thrombocytopenia warning. July 6, 2021 Update from ACIP: Use of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine After Reports of Myocarditis Among Vaccine Recipients. June 25, 2021 FDA revised EUA mRNA (Pfizer and Moderna) patient and provider fact sheets regarding the suggested increased risks of myocarditis and pericarditis following vaccination. June 9, 2021 FDA approves Prevnar 20 (Pfizer) pneumococcal 20-valent conjugate vaccine for adults 18 years or older May 14, 2021 ACIP Interim Recommendations for use of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine in Adolescents Aged 12–15 years. May 10, 2021 FDA expands the emergency use authorization of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to include adolescents 12–15 years of age. April 27, 2021 Updated Recommendation from ACIP for Use of Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 Vaccine After Reports of Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Among Vaccine Recipients April 23, 2021 CDC and FDA lift recommended pause of use of Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 Vaccine in the U.S. after a review by ACIP. Use of vaccine should resume. EUA fact sheets for Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 Vaccine revised. April 13, 2021 CDC and FDA recommended a pause in use of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 vaccine in the United States out of an abundance of caution. A CDC Health Alert Network (HAN) was issued with recommendations. March 2, 2021 CDC published ACIP interim recommendations for the use of Janssen (Johnson and Johnson) COVID-19 vaccine. February 27, 2021 FDA issues Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Janssen (Johnson and Johnson) COVID-19 vaccine. February 12, 2021 CDC released the 2021 recommended immunization schedules for children and adolescents, as well as for adults on its website. January 8, 2021 CDC published ACIP recommendation on the use of Ebola vaccine. December 20, 2020 CDC published ACIP interim recommendations for the use of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. December 18, 2020 FDA issues Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. December 13, 2020 CDC published ACIP interim recommendations for the use of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. December 11, 2020 FDA issues Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. September 25, 2020 CDC published ACIP recommendations on the use meningococcal vaccines. August 21, 2020 CDC released ACIP recommendations on the use of influenza vaccines for the 2020-2021 influenza season. July 3, 2020 CDC published updated ACIP recommendations on the use of hepatitis A vaccine. June 24, 2020 FDA expands license for Gardasil 9 to include preventing oropharyngeal and other head-and-neck cancers caused by relevant HPV types. April 23, 2020 FDA approves MenQuadfi (MenACWY) conjugate vaccine for prevention of invasive meningococcal disease caused by serogroups A, C, W, and Y in individuals 2 years of age and older. February 21, 2020 FDA approved Fluad Quadrivalent (influenza vaccine, adjuvanted; Seqirus) for adults 65 years and older. February 3, 2020 CDC released the 2020 recommended immunization schedules for children and adolescents, as well as for adults on its website. February 1, 2020 CDC (January 30, 2020) and WHO (February 1, 2020) declared public health emergencies regarding 2019 novel coronavirus. January 24, 2020 CDC published updated ACIP recommendations on the use of Td and Tdap vaccines. December 19, 2019 FDA approved Ervebo (Ebola Zaire vaccine, live; Merck) first U.S.-licensed vaccine for prevention of Ebola virus disease. December 13, 2019 CDC published ACIP recommendations on the use of BioThrax (anthrax vaccine, adsorbed; Emergent BioSolutions). November 22, 2019 CDC published updated ACIP recommendations for the use of PCV13 and PPSV23 pneumococcal vaccines for adults age 65 and older. November 4, 2019 FDA approved Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent (Sanofi Pasteur) for adults 65+ years of age—will be available for 2020–21 flu season. August 28, 2019 CDC released ACIP recommendations on the use of influenza vaccines for the 2019–20 influenza season. August 16, 2019 CDC published updated ACIP recommendations for human papillomavirus vaccination of adults. August 1, 2019 AAFP, AAP, ACHA, ACOG, APhA, SAHM, and IAC released "Dear Colleague" letter stressing importance of 16-year-old immunization visit. July 19, 2019 CDC published ACIP recommendations on use of Japanese encephalitis vaccine. February 15, 2019 CDC published ACIP recommendations for use of hepatitis A vaccine for persons experiencing homelessness. February 5, 2019 CDC released the 2019 U.S. recommended immunization schedules for children/adolescents as well as for adults on its website. January 23, 2019 FDA approved use of the 0.5 mL dose of Sanofi's Fluzone Quadrivalent influenza vaccine to include children age 6 through 35 months. January 14, 2019 FDA approved expanded use of Sanofi's Adacel Tdap vaccine for a second dose in people ages 10 through 64 years of age. December 21, 2018 FDA approved Vaxelis (MCM Vaccine Co), a new combination DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB vaccine for use in children 6 wks–4 yrs of age. November 7, 2018 ACIP published updated recommendations on use of hepatitis A vaccine for pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis for international travel. October 25, 2018 The American Dental Association adopted a policy to support the use and administration of HPV vaccine for the prevention of oral HPV infection. October 8, 2018 FDA approved expanded age indication for Seqirus's Afluria influenza vaccine to include children age 6 months through 59 months. October 5, 2018 FDA announced approval of expanded use of Merck's Gardasil 9 (HPV9, Human papillomavirus) vaccine to include adults 27 through 45 years old. August 24, 2018 CDC published ACIP's 2018–19 influenza vaccination recommendations. June 8, 2018 CDC published ACIP's recommendations for the use of quadrivalent live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV4) in the 2018–19 influenza season. June 2018 The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a committee opinion on maternal immunization. May 16, 2018 CDC released information about a new rapid rabies test that could save lives and lead to fewer unnecessary rabies shots. April 27, 2018 CDC published a comprehensive summary of previously published ACIP recommendations for prevention of tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis in the U.S. April 20, 2018 CDC published ACIP recommendations for use of hepatitis B vaccine with a novel adjuvant [Heplisav-B]. April 2018 The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released a committee opinion on influenza vaccination in pregnancy. February 6, 2018 CDC published the 2018 U.S. recommended immunization schedule for 0 through 18 years. February 6, 2018 CDC published the 2018 U.S. recommended adult immunization schedule. January 26, 2018 CDC published ACIP recommendations for use of herpes zoster vaccines. January 12, 2018 CDC published updated ACIP recommendations for prevention of hepatitis B virus infection. January 12, 2018 CDC published ACIP recommendations on use of a third dose of MMR during a mumps outbreak. January 11, 2018 FDA approved expanded pediatric age indication for Fluarix Quadrivalent influenza vaccine. November 9, 2017 FDA licensed Heplisav-B, the new hepatitis B vaccine from Dynavax, for use in adults age 18 and older. October 20, 2017 FDA licensed Shingrix, the new shingles vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline, for use in adults age 50 and older. September 15, 2017 CDC published updated dosing instructions for hepatitis A prophylaxis with immune globulin. August 31, 2017 FDA expanded licensure of Afluria quadrivalent (Seqirus) to include people age 5 years and older. August 25, 2017 CDC published ACIP 2017–18 influenza vaccination recommendations. August 2017 AAP issued policy stating that newborns should routinely receive hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth. July 6, 2017 CDC published a Vaccine Information Statement for cholera. June 30, 2017 CDC and FDA announced new Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting website and reporting form. May 19, 2017 CDC published ACIP's updated recommendations on use of Trumenba meningococcal serogroup B vaccine. May 12, 2017 CDC published ACIP recommendations for use of cholera vaccine. April 20, 2017 CDC published ACIP recommendations titled "General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization" to replace the 2011 "General Recommendations on Immunization." February 7, 2017 CDC published the 2017 U.S. recommended immunization schedules for 0 through 18 years; includes new '16-year-old vaccination" column. February 7, 2017 CDC published the 2017 U.S. recommended adult immunization schedule. December 16, 2016 CDC published ACIP's recommendations on 2-dose HPV vaccine series for younger adolescents. November 18, 2016 FDA approved extending the age range for use of FluLaval Quadrivalent to include children 6 to 35 months of age. November 4, 2016 CDC published ACIP recommendations for use of meningococcal conjugate vaccines in HIV-infected persons. September 27, 2016 PAHO/WHO announced measles elimination in the Americas. August 26, 2016 CDC published 2016–17 influenza vaccination recommendations. August 2016 AAP released new policy statement that urges states to eliminate all non-medical exemptions to vaccine requirements. July 11, 2016 FDA extended the age indication for PCV13 (Prevnar 13) to include adults age 18 through 49 years. June 22, 2016 ACIP voted that live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) should not be used during the 2016–2017 flu season. June 15, 2016 FDA approved revisions in the package insert for YF-Vax to reflect changes to International Health Regulations and WHO/ACIP recommendations. June 10, 2016 FDA approved Vaxchora for the prevention of cholera. April 14, 2016 FDA approved changes to vaccine administration schedule for Trumenba vaccine. February 5, 2016 National Vaccine Program Office released an National Adult Immunization Plan. February 1, 2016 2016 U.S. recommended immunization schedules for 0 through 18 years and "catch up" published in MMWR. January 14, 2016 FDA approved Hiberix for full Hib vaccine series. December 14, 2015 FDA expanded Gardasil 9 licensure to include males age 16–26 years. November 24, 2015 FDA approved new injectable influenza vaccine, Fluad, for use in people age 65 years and older October 23, 2015 ACIP published recommendations for the use of serogroup B meningococcal vaccines in adolescents and young adults. September 4, 2015 CDC published updated ACIP recommendations regarding the intervals between PCV13 and PPSV23 vaccines for use in immunocompetent adults age 65 years and older August 14, 2015 WHO published "Recommendations on Vaccine Hesitancy" in special issue of the journal Vaccine. June 19, 2015 ACIP published recommendations for yellow fever booster doses. June 12, 2015 ACIP published recommendations for use of serogroup B meningococcal vaccines in people age ten years and older at increased risk for serogroup B meningococcal disease. June 8, 2015 American Medical Association adopted a new policy that supports ending non-medical vaccine exemptions, including those for healthcare professionals. April 29, 2015 The Pan American Health Organization declared rubella eliminated in the Americas. March 27, 2015 CDC published ACIP recommendations for use of 9-valent HPV vaccine. March 27, 2015 CDC published new ACIP recommendations for typhoid vaccination. March 24, 2015 FDA approved Quadracel, a new combination DTaP+IPV vaccine for use in children age 4–6 years. January 23, 2015 CDC's Health Alert Network issued a health advisory about a multi-state outbreak of measles linked to Disneyland. January 23, 2015 FDA approved the use of Bexsero, the second vaccine licensed in the U.S. to prevent serogroup B meningococcal disease. December 19, 2014 FDA approved Rapivab to treat influenza infection. December 11, 2014 FDA approved quadrivalent formulation of Fluzone Intradermal inactivated influenza vaccine. December 10, 2014 FDA approved the use of Gardasil 9 (Merck) 9-valent HPV vaccine in the U.S. October 29, 2014 FDA approved the use of Trumenba in the U.S. to prevent serogroup B meningococcal disease. September 19, 2014 CDC published ACIP recommendations for use of PCV13 and PPSV23 vaccines in adults age 65 and older. June 20, 2014 CDC published ACIP's recommendations for use of MenACWY-CRM vaccine in children age 2–23 months at increased risk for meningococcal disease. May 5, 2014 WHO Director-General declared the international spread of wild poliovirus in 2014 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. April 25, 2014 CDC report showed 20-year U.S. immunization program spares millions of children from diseases. March 24, 2014 FDA lowered age of licensure for Adacel vaccine administration from age 11 years to 10 years. February 28, 2014 CDC published ACIP recommendations for prevention and control of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) disease. December 20, 2013 CDC published guidance for HBV protection and postexposure management of healthcare personnel. November 15, 2013 CDC published new recommendations for use of Japanese encephalitisvaccine in children. September 10, 2013 National Vaccine Advisory Committee released revised "Standards for Adult Immunization Practice." August 16, 2013 FDA extended FluLaval IIV (GlaxoSmithKline) age range to include children and teens age 3–17 years; licenses quadrivalent FluLaval product. August 1, 2013 FDA expanded age indication for Menveo (Novartis) to include infants and toddlers age 2 through 23 months. July 19, 2013 CDC issued updated recommendations for use of VariZIG immune globulin for varicella postexposure prophylaxis. June 28, 2013 CDC issued recommendations for PCV and PPSV vaccination of children with immunocompromising conditions. June 20, 2013 ACIP voted to recommend FluBlok influenza vaccine for people age 18 through 49 with egg allergy. June 14, 2013 CDC published recommendations for preventing measles, rubella, congenital rubella syndrome, and mumps. June 7, 2013 FDA approved Fluzone (Sanofi Pasteur) as the third quadrivalent influenza vaccine licensed for U.S. use. May 17, 2013 Booster dose of yellow fever vaccine not needed, according to WHO. A single dose of vaccine is effective in providing long-term protection from yellow fever. February 22, 2013 ACIP recommended a dose of Tdap vaccine during each pregnancy. February 8, 2013 UNICEF and WHO condemned attacks on polio vaccination workers in Nigeria. January 25, 2013 FDA approved use of Prevnar 13 vaccine in older children and teens (6-17 years). December 18, 2012 Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) launched new Vaccine Error Reporting Program. December 12, 2012 FDA approved quadrivalent formulation of Fluarix (inactivated influenza vaccine; GlaxoSmithKline). November 20, 2012 FDA approved first seasonal influenza vaccine manufactured using cell culture technology (Flucelvax, Novartis). October 24, 2012 ACIP voted to recommend use of HibMenCY (Menhibrix, GlaxoSmithKline), a new combination (meningococcal and Hib) vaccine, in infants at increased risk for meningococcal disease. October 24, 2012 ACIP voted to recommend that pregnant women receive a dose of Tdap during each pregnancy irrespective of the patient's prior history of receiving Tdap. June 24, 2012 FDA approved HibMenCY (Menhibrix, GlaxoSmithKline), a new combination (meningococcal and Hib) vaccine for infants. June 7, 2012 FDA expanded licensure of PCV13 to include adults ages 50 years and older. June 5, 2012 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report titled "Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program: Vulnerabilities in Vaccine Management." April 1, 2012 United Nations Foundation launched Shot@Life campaign. December 30, 2011 FDA expanded use of Prevnar 13 (PCV13, Pfizer) vaccine to include people ages 50 and older. October 25, 2011 ACIP recommended all 11 to 12 year-old males get vaccinated against HPV. October 21, 2011 Addition of history of intussusception as a contraindication for rotavirus vaccination. August 25, 2011 National survey indicated HPV vaccine rates trail other teen vaccines. August 25, 2011 Institute of Medicine issued the report titled "Review of Adverse Effects of Vaccines." Overall, the committee concludes that few health problems are caused by or clearly associated with vaccines. July 8, 2011 FDA approved Boostrix (Tdap, GlaxoSmithKline) to prevent tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis in older people. May 19, 2011 CDC hailed vaccinations as one of 10 public health achievements of first decade of 21st century in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). April 22, 2011 FDA approved the first vaccine (Menactra, meningococcal conjugate vaccine, Sanofi Pasteur) to prevent meningococcal disease in infants and toddlers. February 15, 2011 HHS releases U.S. National Vaccine Plan, covers activities, goals, and priorities for 2010-2015. December 22, 2010 FDA approved Gardasil HPV vaccine to include the indication for the prevention of anal cancer. August 11, 2010 WHO declared end to 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. July 10, 2010 First smallpox vaccine for certain immune-compromised populations delivered under Project BioShield. March 19, 2010 ACIP recommended use of a reduced (4-dose) vaccine schedule for PEP to prevent human rabies. February 24, 2010 FDA approved licensure of Pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine (PCV13), which offers broader protections against Steptococcus pneumoniae infections. February 19, 2010 FDA approved licensure of Menveo (Novartis), meningococcal conjugate vaccine for people ages 11 through 55 years. January 29, 2010 WHO hailed new Gates Foundation support ($10 billion) as the "Decade of Vaccines." February 24, 2010 ACIP recommended universal Influenza vaccination for those 6 months of age and older. February 24, 2010 FDA approved pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine (Prevnar 13), which offers broader protection against Streptococcus pneumoniae. December 23, 2009 FDA approved high-dose inactivated influenza vaccine (Fluzone High-Dose) for people ages 65 years and older. November 16, 2009 CDC issued Health Advisory 2009 H1N1 Pandemic Update: Pneumococcal vaccination recommended to help prevent secondary infections. October 21, 2009 Merck issued announcement that the company will not resume production of monovalent measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines. October 16, 2009 FDA approved new vaccine (Cervarix, GlaxoSmithKline) for the prevention of cervical cancer. October 16, 2009 FDA approved new indication for gardasil to prevent genital warts in men and boys. September 15, 2009 FDA approved four vaccines against the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. July 1, 2009 WHO and ACIP issued recommendations on the use of H1N1 influenza vaccines. June 23, 2009 HHS announced advanced development contract for new way to make flu vaccine. June 11, 2009 Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General WHO, declared world now at the start of 2009 influenza pandemic. May 22, 2009 HHS directed $1 billion toward development of vaccine for novel influenza A (H1N1). March 16, 2009 ACIP voted to recommend hepatitis A vaccination for close contacts of international adoptees from countries with high and intermediate endemicity. February 12, 2009 Vaccine Court ruled that MMR vaccine, when administered with thimerosal-containing vaccines, does not cause autism. January 15, 2009 HHS awarded a $487 million contract to Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc to build a facility to manufacture cell-based influenza vaccine. December 11, 2008 FDA approved changes in the schedule for administering anthrax vaccine (BioThrax, manufactured by Emergent BioSolutions) and in the route of administration. December 4, 2008 FDA approved expanded indication for use of Boostrix Tdap vaccine in people ages 10-64 years. October 27, 2008 National Quality Forum included the hepatitis B birth dose among its consensus standards for improving health care for mothers and newborns. June 24, 2008 FDA approved new DTaP-IPV vaccine (Kinrix) for use in children ages 4-6 years. June 20, 2008 FDA approved Pentacel (Sanofi Pasteur), a new combination DTaP-IPV-Hib vaccine for use in children 6 wks–4 yrs of age. June 5, 2008 FDA approved the use of Sanofi Pasteur's Tenivac tetanus and diphtheria toxoids adsorbed for adults age 60 years and older. In the original licensure, the age indication was for persons ages 7-59 years. April 3, 2008 FDA approved new rotavirus vaccine (Rotarix) for use in U.S. Rotarix is a liquid and given in a two-dose series to infants from 6 to 24 weeks of age. April 2, 2008 CDC issued Health Advisory in response to widespread measles outbreaks in U.S. March 14, 2008 CDC updated its recommendations for administering combination MMRV vaccine. February 29, 2008 CDC announced it had begun distribution of a new-generation smallpox vaccine, ACAM2000 (Acambis, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts), to civilian laboratory personnel, the military, and state public health preparedness programs. February 27, 2008 ACIP voted to expand influenza recommendation to include vaccination for children ages 6 months-18 years. December 7, 2007 CDC published updated recommendation for meningococcal vaccination of at-risk children age 2-10 years in MMWR. October 26, 2007 ACIP voted to recommend the use of FluMist, the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV; nasal-spray formulation) to include children age 2-5 years. October 19, 2007 CDC published updated recommendations for prevention of hepatitis A virus infection after exposure and before international travel in MMWR. October 18, 2007 FDA approved use of Menactra, a bacterial meningitis vaccine, in children age 2-10 years. September 28, 2007 FDA approved Afluria, a new inactivated influenza vaccine for use in people age 18 years and older. September 19, 2007 FDA approved use of FluMist nasal-spray influenza vaccine in children age 2-5 years. August 10, 2007 CDC notified MMWR readers of revised recommendations to vaccinate all persons ages 11-18 with MCV4 at earliest opportunity. July 20, 2007 MMWR notified readers that revised International Health Regulations have gone into effect for the United States. July 17, 2007 HHS announced a plan to provide $175 million to assist states in pandemic influenza preparedness efforts. June 27-28, 2007 ACIP voted to recommend routine use of meningococcal conjugate vaccine in adolescents ages 11-18 years. June 15, 2007 HHS awarded $132.5 million to Sanofi Pasteur and MedImmune over five years to retrofit existing domestic vaccine manufacturing facilities on a cost-sharing basis and to provide warm-base operations for manufacturing pandemic influenza vaccines. March 28, 2007 FDA approved an accelerated dosing schedule for Twinrix (hepatitis A and B vaccine). The schedule consists of three doses given within three weeks followed by a booster dose at 12 months (0, 7, 21–30 days, 12 months). April 17, 2007 FDA approves first U.S. vaccine for humans against the avian influenza virus H5N1. January 7, 2007 FDA licensed the refrigerator formulation of FluMist. June 29, 2006 ACIP recommends second dose of varicella vaccine for children. June 8, 2006 FDA licensed the first vaccine developed to prevent cervical cancer (Gardasil by Merck & Co., Inc.), precancerous genital lesions, and genital warts due to human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6, 11, 16, and 18. May 25, 2006 FDA licensed a new vaccine to reduce the risk of shingles (herpes zoster) in the elderly. The vaccine (Zostavax by Merck & Co., Inc.) is approved for use in people aged 60 years of age and older. Feb 24, 2006 VariZIG, a new immune globulin product for postexposure prophylaxis of varicella, is available under an Investigational New Drug Application Expanded Access Protocol. Feb 3, 2006 Rotavirus vaccine, live, oral, pentavalent (RotaTeq by Merck) was licensed for use in infants ages 6 to 32 weeks. Dec 19, 2005 A final order on the anthrax vaccine was issued by FDA, stating that the licensed anthrax vaccine is safe and effective for the prevention of anthrax disease, regardless of the route of exposure. Oct 18, 2005 FDA approved lowering the age limit to 12 mos for the remaining U.S.-licensed hepatitis A vaccine in the U.S. (Havrix by GlaxoSmithKline). Oct 7, 2005 A new Federal Medicare rule became effective that required all long-term care facilities to offer annual vaccination for influenza and one-time vaccination for pneumococcal disease to all residents as a condition of participation in Medicare. Sept 6, 2005 A vaccine that combined the measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella antigens (Proquad by Merck) was licensed. The vaccine was indicated for use in children 12 months to 12 years. Aug 31, 2005 An inactivated, injectable influenza vaccine (Fluarix by GlaxoSmithKline) was licensed. The vaccine was indicated for adults 18 years of age and older. Aug 11, 2005 FDA approved lowering the age limit to 12 mos for one of the two licensed hepatitis A vaccine (Vaqta by Merck). June 10, 2005 FDA licensed a 2nd Tdap vaccine (Adacel by Sanofi Pasteur) for use in persons ages 11-64 years. May 3, 2005 An acellular pertussis vaccine combined with the adult formulation of tetanus and diphtheria (Tdap: Boostrix by GSK) was licensed for use as an active booster in persons 10-18 years of age. This product became the first licensed acellular pertussis-containing vaccine with an indication for adolescents. April 3, 2005 DHHS awarded a contract for $97 million to Sanofi Pasteur to develop cell culture-based influenza vaccines for the U.S. March 21, 2005 CDC announced that rubella was no longer endemic in the U.S. Jan 14, 2005 The first meningococcal polysaccharide (Serogroups A, C, Y and W-135) diphtheria toxoid conjugate vaccine (Menactra by Sanofi Pasteur) was licensed. This marked the first meningococcal vaccine that was immunogenic and indicated for children younger than 2 years of age. Aug - Oct, 2004 A significant shortage of influenza vaccine occurred in the U.S. (History: On August 25, 2004, as a result of routine testing required by FDA, Chiron Corporation, located in the U.K. and one of two suppliers of inactivated influenza vaccine for the U.S., identified bacterial contamination in a limited number of lots (approx 4.5 million doses) of its influenza vaccine. Chiron was expected to produce between 46 and 48 million doses of vaccine for the U.S. as part of a total vaccine supply of about 100 million doses. On Oct 4, 2004, authorities in the U.K. suspended the company's license for 3 months. On Oct 16, 2004, FDA announced that none of the influenza vaccine manufactured by Chiron for the U.S. market was safe for use. U.S. authorities recommended allocation of vaccine to those at highest risk of complications from influenza.) May 4, 2004 The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institute of Health (NIH), awarded a new license agreement for RotaShield, an oral rotavirus vaccine, created by NIAID scientists in the 1980s. The licensed was awarded to BIOVIRx, Inc., of Minneapolis, MN, which planned global commercialization of RotaShield. May 2004 Contracts were awarded to Aventis Pasteur and to Chiron to develop vaccine against the H5N1 avian influenza virus. 2004 The 8th and final report of the Immunization Safety Review Committee was issued by the Institute of Medicine. The report concluded that the body of epidemiological evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between the MMR vaccine (and thimerosal-containing vaccines) and autism. March 24, 2004 Tetanus and diphtheria toxoids adsorbed for adult use (Decavac by Aventis Pasteur), preservative-free, was licensed. Oct. 15, 2003 ACIP voted to recommend that children 6 to 23 months of age be vaccinated annually against influenza, with implementation scheduled for the fall of 2004. 2003 $81 million was awarded by NIAID through four new contracts to support development of candidate HIV vaccines. The awards were part of NIAID's HIV Vaccine Design and Development Teams program, a public-private partnership that seeks to accelerate HIV vaccine development. The contract recipients were AlphaVAx Human Vaccines, Inc. (Durham, NC), Epimmune, Inc. (San Diego, CA), Novavax, Inc. (Columbia , MD), and Progenics Pharmaceuticals (Tarrytown, NY). 2003 Project Bioshield Act of 2003 was enacted. It authorized more than $5 billion over 10 years to pay for development of vaccines, drugs, and other biomedical countermeasures for biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological weapons. The Act also empowered the Secretary of Health and Human Services to authorize the use of drugs and vaccines not licensed by the FDA in the event of an act of bioterrorism or other public health emergencies. June 17, 2003 The first nasally administered influenza vaccine (FluMist by MedImmune) was licensed. This live influenza A and B virus vaccine was indicated for healthy, non-pregnant persons ages 5-49 years. Dec 13, 2002 A vaccine that combined the diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis, inactivated polio, and hepatitis B antigens (Pediarix by GlaxoSmithKline) was licensed. June 21, 2002 The European Region of the world was certified as polio-free. May 14, 2002 Diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine (Daptacel by Aventis Pasteur) was licensed. Feb 25, 2002 GlaxoSmithKline announced that the company would no longer manufacture or distribute its Lyme disease vaccine, LYMErix, because of insufficient sales of the vaccine. Dec 13, 2002 President Bush announced a major smallpox vaccination program to protect the nation against the threat of potential biological warfare. The first phase of the program was targeted to 450,000 public health and healthcare personnel, however, the program stalled, with fewer than 40,000 health care workers and emergency responders vaccinated. 2001 The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation earmarked $70 million to develop and produce meningitis vaccines tailored for children and adults living in Africa. 2001 Following the events of September 11, 2001, IOM again called for creation of a national vaccine authority ""to advance the development, production, and procurement of new and improved vaccines of limited commercial potential but of global public health need."" May 11, 2001 A combined hepatitis A inactivated and hepatitis B (recombinant) vaccine (Twinrix by SmithKline Beecham) was licensed. Feb 17, 2000 A 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (Prevnar by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals) was licensed for use in infants at 2, 4, 6 and 12-15 months of age to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease 2000 Measles was declared no longer endemic in the U.S. following eradication campaigns that began in 1967. 2000 The Western Pacific Region of the world was certified as polio-free. Dec 9, 1999 Diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine (Tripedia by Connaught) was licensed. Oct 22, 1999 ACIP voted to withdraw their recommendation for rotavirus vaccine after investigating reports of intussusception (a type of bowel obstruction that occurs when one part of the intestine folds into an immediately adjoining part) in infants within the first two weeks of receipt of the vaccine. Intussusception was found to occur at a rate of approximately 1 case for every 5,000 children vaccinated. Oct 16, 1999 Wyeth Lederle Vaccines voluntarily withdrew Rotashield from the market. Fall 1999 A meningococcal group C conjugate vaccine was introduced into the routine schedule in the U.K. for infants, adolescents (15-17 yrs), and college entrants. A second phase was planned to begin in January 2000, subject to availability of vaccine. Sept 1999 FDA approved a 2-dose schedule of hepatitis B vaccination for adolescents 11-15 years of age using Recombivax HB (Merck) with the 10 µg (adult) dose at 0 and 4-6 months later. June 17, 1999 ACIP recommended exclusive use of inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) for infants and children 1999 The Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center (VRC) was established at the National Institutes of Health to facilitate research in vaccine development. The primary focus of VRC research was to be the development of vaccines for AIDS. 1998 ACIP recommended DTaP vaccines for all five doses in the vaccination schedule, because local reactions, fever, and other systemic events were found to occur substantially less often after DTaP administration than after administration of whole cell DTP. Aug 26, 1998 The Children's Vaccine Program was established at WHO's Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) with a $125 million gift from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The program's goal was to provide vaccines to children in the developing world and to accelerate research and development of new vaccines. The first vaccines purchased were Hib, hepatitis B, rotavirus, and pneumococcal, which were not commonly used in the developing world. Dec 21, 1998 Lyme Disease Vaccine (Recombinant OspA), (LYMErix by SmithKline Beecham) was licensed for use in persons ages 15 to 70 years. ACIP recommended that decisions on the use of the vaccine be made on the basis of assessment of individual risk, which included the extent of both person-tick contact and geographic risk. Just 3+ years later, on February 25, 2002, GlaxoSmithKline announced that the company would no longer manufacture or distribute LYMErix because of insufficient sales of the vaccine. Aug 31, 1998 Rotavirus vaccine, live, oral, tetravalent (RotaShield by Wyeth) was licensed for use in infants at 2, 4, and 6 months of age. July 29, 1998 Diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine adsorbed (Certiva by North American Vaccine) was licensed for primary and booster immunization of infants and children (except as a 5th dose in children who have previously received 4 doses of DTaP). 1998 The first vaccine for the prevention of HIV/AIDS (Aidsvax) entered Phase III trial, the first large-scale human trial of an HIV vaccine. The trial involved more than 5,400 volunteers from the U.S., Canada, and the Netherlands, the majority of whom were men who have sex with men. Preliminary results from the trial AIDS VAX (VaxGen) vaccine were reported in early 2003. The HIV vaccine appeared to show a protective effect among non-Caucasian populations, especially African Americans, although sample sizes were small. However, for the majority of the participants, who were Caucasians, the effect of the vaccine was minimal. Nov 21, 1997 The FDA Modernization Act (FDAMA) was signed into law, amending the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and the Public Health Service Act to modernize the regulation of food, medical products, and cosmetics. FDAMA initiatives included measures to modernize the regulation of biological products. Specifically, changes included eliminating the need for establishment license applications, streamlining the approval processes for manufacturing changes, and reducing the need for environmental assessment as part of a product application. 1997 ACIP recommended booster doses of pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine after 5 years for persons at highest risk of disease. Oct 20, 1997 Rabies vaccine (RabAvert by Chiron Behring) was licensed. Jan 29, 1997 Diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine adsorbed (Infanrix by SmithKline Beecham) was licensed for the first four doses of the series. Jan 1997 ACIP recommended adoption of a sequential series of two doses of IPV followed by two doses of OPV for all infants and children to decrease the rare occurrences of Vaccine Associated Paralytic Polio (VAPP) that were noted following the administration of live oral poliovirus vaccine. Dec 30, 1996 Diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine (Acel-Imune by Lederle) was licensed for use as the first through fifth doses in the series. Sept 27, 1996 Combination DTaP and Hib vaccine (TriHIBit by Aventis Pasteur) was licensed for the fourth dose in the DTaP and Hib series. July 31, 1996 Diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine adsorbed (Tripedia by Aventis Pasteur) was licensed for primary and booster immunization of infants. 1996 The Interational AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) was launched, calling for the speedy development of a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) vaccine for use worldwide. The Initiative created the Scientific Blueprint for AIDS Vaccine Development. Since 1996, IAVI invested nearly $20 million in the research and development of HIV vaccines by companies and research institutes worldwide. IAVI received major financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; the World Bank; the Rockefeller, Sloan and Starr foundations; Becton, Dickinson & Co.; and eight national governments, among other donors. IAVI is a Collaborating Centre of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Oct 2, 1996 A combined Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate and hepatitis B vaccine (Comvax by Merck) was licensed. Mar 29, 1996 A second inactivated hepatitis A vaccine (Vaqta by Merck) was licensed. Feb 22, 1995 The first inactivated hepatitis A vaccine (Havrix by SmithKline Beecham) was licensed. Mar 17, 1995 Varicella virus vaccine, live (Varivax by Merck) was licensed for the active immunization of persons 12 months of age and older. 1995 The ACIP, American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Association of Family Physicians issued the first "harmonized" childhood immunization schedule, combining recommendations of all three national groups. Nov 28, 1994 Typhoid Vi polysaccharide inactivated injectable polysaccharide vaccine (Typhim Vi by Aventis Pasteur) was licensed. 1994 The Global Programme for Vaccines and Immunization was created, merging two WHO programs -- the Expanded Programme for Immunization and the former Programme for Vaccine Development, and adding a new unit for Vaccine Supply and Quality. 1994 The entire Western Hemisphere was certified as "polio-free" by the International Commission for the Certification of Polio Eradication, WHO. 1993 The Institute of Medicine published "The Children's Vaccine Initiative: Achieving the Vision." Later, following the events of September 11, 2001, the Institute of Medicine again called for creation of a national vaccine authority ""to advance the development, production, and procurement of new and improved vaccines of limited commercial potential but of global public health need."" 1993 The National Immunization Program (NIP) was created as a separate program reporting directly to the Office of the Director at CDC. NIP was established to provide federal leadership and services to all local and state public health departments involved in immunization activities (e.g., disease surveillance for vaccine-preventable diseases, development of vaccine information management systems). May 1, 1993 The costs of influenza vaccine and its administration became a covered benefit under Medicare Part B. March 1993 Conjugated Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccines (ActHIB by Connaught/M(C)rieux and OmniHib by SmithKline Beecham) were licensed. March 1993 A combined Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine and whole cell DTP vaccine (Tetramune by Lederle/Praxis) was licensed. 1993 The development of immunization registries was promoted at the national level. A national health goal for 2010 was subsequently established to increase the participation in population-based immunization registries to 95%. 1993 The Vaccines for Children Program was established after passage of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. Federally-purchased vaccines under this program were made available to children from birth through 18 years of age who met one of the following requirements: Medicaid-enrolled, without health insurance, and American Indian or Alaskan native. Also, children with health insurance that did not cover the costs of immunization were eligible to receive vaccines at a federally-qualified health center or a rural health clinic. All ACIP recommended vaccines received funding, which included new vaccines, new vaccine combinations, and revised recommendations for vaccine use. Dec 10, 1992 Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus vaccine inactivated (JE-Vax by Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University [BIKEN]) was licensed. JE is the leading cause of viral encephalitis in Asia. WHO acts as a facilitator for the development of new JE vaccines that are safer, require fewer doses, and are more suitable for public health use, in particular, in disease-endemic developing countries. Sept 20, 1992 Diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine (Tripedia by Connaught) was licensed for use as the fourth and fifth doses in the series. Dec 17, 1991 Diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine (Acel-Imune by Lederle) was licensed for use as the fourth and fifth doses in the series. Nov 22, 1991 ACIP recommendations for routine hepatitis B vaccination for all infants were published in MMWR. August 1991 The last case of indigenous polio in the Western Hemisphere occurred in a 5-year-old boy, Luis Fermin Tenorio, in Pichanaqui, Peru. Jan 11, 1991 Recommendations of ACIP for routine Hib vaccination for infants beginning at 2 months of age were published in MMWR. Dec 21, 1990 An enhanced-potency inactivated poliovirus vaccine (Ipol by Pasteur M(C)(C)rieux Vaccins et Serums) was licensed. April 13, 1990 ACIP recommendations for use of any of the three licensed Hib conjugate vaccines (ProHIBIT, HibTITER, and PedvaxHIB) for children as young as 15 months of age were published in MMWR. Dec 20, 1989 Conjugated Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine (PedvaxHIB by Merck) was licensed. Dec 15, 1989 A live, oral typhoid vaccine (Ty21a, Vivotif Berna by Swiss Serum Institute) was licensed. Aug 28, 1989 Recombinant hepatitis B vaccine (Engerix-B by SmithKline Beecham) was licensed. 1989 Recommendations for routine 2nd doses of measles-containing vaccine were issued by both ACIP and the AAP. During the mid- to late-1980s, a high proportion of reported measles cases were in school-aged children (5-19 years) who had been appropriately vaccinated. These vaccine failures led to national recommendations for a second dose of measles-containing vaccine. Dec 21, 1988 Conjugated Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine (HibTITER by Wyeth-Lederle) was licensed. 1988 The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) was created within the FDA to regulate biological products, including blood, vaccines, tissue, allergenics, and biological therapeutics. 1988 The World Health Assembly (the ministers of health of all member states of the WHO) passed a resolution to eradicate polio by the year 2000. 1988 The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) was established to provide compensation following a vaccine-related adverse event that resulted in injury or death. NVICP was intended to serve as an alternative to civil litigation. The law established a Vaccine Injury Table that provided a list of compensable vaccination events and, for each, an associated time period requirement. Jan 22, 1988 ACIP recommendations to administer Hib conjugate vaccine to all children at 18 months of age were published in MMWR. Dec 22, 1987 Protein-conjugated Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine (PRP-D, ProHibit by Connaught) was licensed. July 23, 1986 Recombinant hepatitis B vaccine (Recombivax HB by Merck) was licensed. Using recombinant DNA technology, Merck scientists developed a hepatitis B surface antigen subunit vaccine. 1986 Congress created the National Vaccine Program (NVP) to coordinate the vaccine research and development programs of AID, NIH, CDC, the Department of Defense, and FDA. 1986 The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 was enacted by Congress. The Department of Health and Human Services established the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), co-administered by FDA and CDC, to accept all reports of suspected adverse events, in all age groups, after the administration of any U.S.-licensed vaccine. The Act required healthcare providers and vaccine manufacturers to report to the Department of Health and Human Services specific adverse events following the administration of measles, mumps, rubella, polio, pertussis, diphtheria, and tetanus vaccine and any combinations thereof. Apr 12, 1985 Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) polysaccharide vaccines (b-CAPSA 1 by Praxis Biologics, Hib-VAX by Connaught, and Hib-IMUNE by Lederle) were licensed. The vaccine was recommended routinely for children at 24 months of age and for children at 15 months of age enrolled in child care facilities. The vaccine was not consistently immunogenic in children <18 months of age. Sept 1, 1984 The costs of hepatitis B vaccine and its administration became a covered benefit under Medicare Part B. July 1983 Two enhanced pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines were licensed (Pneumovax 23 by Merck on July 11 and Pnu-Imune 23 by Lederle on July 21). These vaccines included 23 purified capsular polysaccharide antigens of Streptococcus pneumoniae and replaced the 14-valent polysaccharide vaccine licensed in 1977. 1981 The first hepatitis B viral vaccines, developed by Merck and also by the Pasteur Institute, were licensed. Both had independently developed plasma-based hepatitis B viral vaccines. Nov 23, 1981 Quadrivalent groups A, C, Y, and W-135 (Menomune A/C/Y/W-135 by Connaught) meningococcal vaccine was licensed. Because this and other polysaccharide meningococcal vaccines were found to induce a relatively poor immune response in children younger than two years and not able to elicit long-term immunologic memory, their use was limited to persons 2 years of age and older. July 1, 1981 The costs of pneumococcal vaccine and its administration became a covered benefit under Medicare Part B. May 8, 1980 The World Health Assembly certified the world free of naturally-occurring smallpox. 1980 Rabies human diploid-cell vaccine (Imovax Rabies by M(C)rieux and Wyvac by Wyeth) were licensed. 1979 The RA 27/3 (human diploid fibroblast) strain of rubella vaccine (Meruvax II by Merck) was licensed; all other strains were discontinued. 1979 The last cases of wild type 1 poliovirus occurred in the U.S. among unvaccinated Amish persons and members of other religious groups who did not accept vaccination. The source of the outbreak was determined to have been brought over to the U.S. from the Netherlands by members of an unvaccinated religious group. Jan 3, 1978 Yellow fever vaccine (YF-Vax by Connaught) was licensed in the U.S. Jan 3, 1978 Monovalent group A (Menomune-A by Connaught), group C (Menomune-C by Connaught) meningococcal vaccines, and a bivalent vaccine for both groups A and C (Menomune-A/C by Connaught) were licensed. Nov 21, 1977 The first pneumococcal vaccine was licensed, containing 14 serotypes (of the 83 known serological groups) that comprised 80% of all bacteremic pneumococcal infections in the U.S. Oct 26, 1977 The last case of naturally-acquired smallpox occurred in the Merca District of Somalia. 1977 Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Secretary of the Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare (later Health and Human Services) launched the National Childhood Immunization Initiative with a goal of achieving 90% vaccination levels among all children. 1976 The age for routine vaccination with MMR vaccine was changed from 12 months to 15 months. Apr 2, 1974 The first monovalent (group C) meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine (Merck) was licensed. 1974 The Expanded Programme on Immunization was created within WHO, in response to poor immunization levels in developing countries (less than 5% of children in 1974). The following vaccines are used by the Expanded Programme on Immunization: BCG, polio, DTP, measles (often MMR), yellow fever (in endemic countries), and hepatitis B. July 18, 1973 Measles and mumps virus vaccine, live (M-M-Vax by Merck) was licensed. 1972 The Division of Biologics Standards was transferred from NIH to FDA and renamed the Bureau of Biologics. It was responsible for the regulation of all biologics, including serums, vaccines, and blood products. Apr 22, 1971 Combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR by Merck) as well as combined measles and rubella vaccine (M-R-Vax by Merck) were licensed; the vaccine was developed by Maurice Hilleman and colleagues at Merck. 1971 CDC recommended discontinuation of routine vaccination for smallpox in the U.S. following a greatly reduced risk of disease. 1969 Three rubella virus strains were licensed in the U.S.: HPV-77 strain grown in dog-kidney culture (Rubelogen by Parke-Davis); HPV-77 grown in duck-embryo culture (Meruvax by Merck); and Cendehill strain grown in rabbit-kidney culture (Cendevax by RIT-SKF, and Lirubel and Lirutrin by Dow). 1968 - 1969 The "Hong Kong" influenza pandemic, caused by an H3N2 influenza virus, resulted in roughly 34,000 deaths in the U.S. 1968 A second live, further attenuated measles virus vaccine (Attenuvax by Merck, based on the Moraten strain, derived from the Edmonston strain) was licensed. 1967 The Global Smallpox Eradication Program was launched by WHO. During the first year of the program, 44 countries, 31 of which had endemic smallpox, reported 217,218 cases. Dec 28, 1967 Mumps virus vaccine live (MumpsVax by Merck) was licensed. The vaccine was developed by Maurice Hilleman who isolated a wild type virus from his daughter, Jeryl Lynn, who was recovering from mumps. It became known as the Jeryl Lynn strain of mumps virus. 1966 The World Health Assembly called for global smallpox eradication. 1966 CDC announced the first national measles eradication campaign. Within 2 years, measles incidence had decreased by more than 90% compared with prevaccine-era levels. 1966 The rubella virus was attenuated by Paul Parkman and Harry Meyer, Jr. 1965 Bifurcated needle for smallpox vaccine introduced 1965 Live, further attenuated measles virus vaccine (Lirugen by Pitman Moore-Dow based on the Schwarz strain, derived from the Edmonston strain) was licensed in the U.S. The recommended age for routine administration was changed from 9 to 12 months of age. 1964 A rubella epidemic swept the U.S. resulting in 12.5 million cases of rubella infection, an estimated 20,000 newborns with congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), and excess fetal and neonatal deaths in the thousands. 1964 The Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP) to the U.S. Public Health Service was formed to review the recommended childhood immunization schedule and note changes in manufacturers' vaccine formulations, revise recommendations for the use of licensed vaccines, and make recommendations for newly licensed vaccines. June 25, 1963 Trivalent oral polio vaccine was licensed. The vaccine development began in 1957 by Albert Sabin to improve upon the killed Salk vaccine. 1963 The Federal Immunization Grant Program was established. The grants, authorized under section 317 of the Public Health Service Act, were made to states to provide funds to purchase vaccines and to support basic functions of an immunization program. The only vaccines available at the time were DTP, polio, and smallpox. Mar 21, 1963 The first live virus measles vaccine (Rubeovax by Merck) was licensed. Other live virus measles vaccines were eventually licensed (M-Vac by Lederle, Pfizer-vax Measles-L by Pfizer, and generic vaccines by Lilly, Parke Davis, and Philips Roxane). 1963 Inactivated measles vaccine (Pfizer-vax Measles-K by Pfizer and a generic vaccine by Lilly) were licensed in the U.S. These vaccines were eventually withdrawn from the U.S. market in 1967. 1962 President John F. Kennedy signed the the Vaccination Assistance Act into law. It allowed the CDC to support mass immunization campaigns and to initiate maintenance programs. Mar 27, 1962 Oral polio vaccine type 3 was licensed in the U.S., as well as the trivalent product. 1961 Oral polio vaccine types 1 and 2, developed by Dr. Albert Sabin and grown in monkey kidney cell culture, were licensed for use in the U.S. 1957 - 1958 The "Asian" influenza pandemic, caused by an H2N2 influenza virus, resulted in an estimated 70,000 deaths in the U.S. alone. 1955 The Polio Vaccination Assistance Act was enacted by Congress, the first federal involvement in immunization activities. It allowed Congress to appropriate funds to the Communicable Disease Center (later the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) to help states and local communities acquire and administer vaccine. 1955 The Cutter polio vaccine incident began on April 25, 1955, when polio was reported in a vaccine recipient. One day later, five more cases were reported. All cases had received vaccine produced by Cutter Laboratories. Polio was reported in 94 vaccinees and in 166 close contacts of vaccinees. On April 27, the Laboratory of Biologics Control requested that Cutter Laboratories recall all vaccine and the company did so immediately. On May 7, the Surgeon General recommended that all polio vaccinations be suspended pending inspection of each manufacturing facility and thorough review of the procedures for testing vaccine safety. The investigation found that live polio virus had survived in two batches of vaccine produced by Cutter Laboratories. In 1955, as a result of the Cutter Incident, the Laboratory of Biologics Control was raised to division status within NIH, to strengthen and expand its biologics control function. Large-scale polio vaccinations resumed in the fall of 1955. Apr 12, 1955 The first polio vaccine was licensed -- an inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) pioneered by Dr. Jonas Salk. 1954 The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to John Enders, Thomas Weller, and Fredrick Robbins for their discovery of the ability of poliomyelitis viruses to grow in tissue cultures. 1954 John Enders and Thomas Peebles isolated the measles virus in cell culture. 1953 Tetanus and diphtheria toxoids (adult formulation) was first licensed in the U.S., after the concentration of diphtheria toxoid was reduced. May 22, 1953 Yellow fever vaccine (Merrell National Labs) was first licensed in the U.S. July 16, 1952 Heat-phenol inactivated typhoid vaccine by Wyeth was licensed. 1952 The worst recorded polio epidemic in U.S. history occurred with 57,628 reported cases 1949 Diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis (DTP) was licensed. 1949 The last case of smallpox in the U.S. was reported; however, it took another two decades before the disease was eradicated globally. 1947 Combination diphtheria and tetanus toxoids for pediatric use was first licensed in the U.S. 1945 Inactivated influenza vaccine was first licensed in the U.S. 1945 K Habel and John Enders isolated the mumps virus. 1944 The Public Health Services Act of 1944 was enacted, consolidating all legislation affecting the functions of the Public Health Service. 1943 Penicillin first became mass-produced. This medical miracle, rediscovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, was capable of attacking many types of disease-causing bacteria. It played a vital role in treating infected wounds during World War II. 1942 Influenza A/B vaccine was introduced to the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board. The influenza vaccine was licensed in 1945 and, following the war, was also used for civilians. 1942 Hepatitis A and B viruses were first differentiated. 1938 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a victim of polio, founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later known as the March of Dimes. 1937 An adsorbed form of tetanus toxoid was first licensed in the U.S. 1937 The Division of Biologics Control was formed within the National Institute of Health. Much later, in 1972, the Division was transferred to the FDA. 1935 A live yellow fever vaccine (17D) was first licensed. The development of the chorioallantoic membrane for culturing viruses had led to its development. 1930 The Hygienic Laboratory changed its name to the National Institute (singular) of Health and authorized the establishment of fellowships for biological and medical research. 1930 Cell culture was developed and shown to be able to grow virus, thus paving the way for the subsequent production of viral vaccines. 1928 The first iron lung was used to preserve breathing function in patients with acute polio. 1927 Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine was first used in newborns, having been developed by Albert Calmette and Camille Gu(C)(C)rin in 1921. BCG (live-attenuated Mycobacterium bovis BCG) represented the only vaccine against tuberculosis. It has become the most widely administered of all vaccines in the WHO Expanded Programme for Immunization, but has been estimated to prevent only 5% of all potentially vaccine-preventable deaths due to tuberculosis. 1923 Diphtheria toxoid was licensed; prepared from the inactivated bacterial toxin that has lost its toxicity but retains its antitoxin producing properties. In 1924, Gaston Ramon discovered diphtheria toxoid. Along with the discovery of antitoxins, Ramon uncovered the role of adjuvant substances of immunity. 1918 The "Spanish flu" influenza pandemic was responsible for at least 50 million deaths worldwide, with about 675,000 deaths in the U.S. This virus was unusual because it spread so quickly, was so deadly, and exacted its worse toll among the young and healthy. About one-third of the world's population (~500 million people) were infected. 1915 Pertussis vaccine, a suspension of inactivated Bordetella pertussis cells, was licensed. Inactivated vaccines were prepared with a microorganism or virus that had been killed, usually with a chemical such as formaldehyde. 1914 Typhoid vaccine was first licensed in the U.S. 1914 Rabies vaccine was first licensed in the U.S. 1914 Tetanus toxoid was introduced following the development of an effective therapeutic serum against tetanus by Emil Von Behring and Shibasaburo Kitasato. 1908 The first county health departments in the U.S. were formed. 1906 The Pure Food and Drugs Act was formed, prohibiting interstate commerce in misbranded and adulterated foods, drinks, and drugs. April 5, 1902 The Biologics Control Act was formed. It included the regulation of vaccine and antitoxin producers and required both licensing and inspections of manufacturers. The standards imposed by the 1902 Act resulted in bankruptcy for one-third of the companies manufacturing antitoxins and vaccines while benefiting the manufacturers already in compliance. Ten firms held licenses with the Laboratory of Hygiene following the 1902 Act. 1901 In St. Louis, 13 children died of tetanus-contaminated diphtheria antitoxin. In the autumn of 1901, nine children in Camden, New Jersey, died from tainted smallpox vaccine. Efforts to ensure the purity of biological treatments by government oversight followed with the Biologics Control Act of 1902. 1901 The first Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine was awarded to Emil von Behring for his work on the development of a diphtheria antitoxin (later known as antiserum). 1897 Plague vaccine was introduced, following the preparation of anti-plague horse serum at the Pasteur Institute by Alexandre Yersin. After demonstrating protection from disease in immunized animals, Yersin went to China with the vaccine to protect humans during a plague epidemic. 1896 Cholera and typhoid vaccines were first developed. 1893 City and state public health departments began mass production of diphtheria antitoxin, following its introduction in European laboratories. 1888 The Pasteur Institute was established as a rabies treatment center as well as an infectious diseases research and training institute. 1888 The diphtheria toxin was discovered by Emile Roux. Passive serum therapies were developed through the scientific contributions of many, including Emil Von Behring who developed the first effective therapeutic serum against diphtheria and Paul Ehrlich who developed enrichment and standardization protocol, which allowed for an exact determination of quality of the diphtheria antitoxins. 1887 Joseph Kinyoun established one of the country's first bacteriological laboratories in the Marine Health Service Hospital on Staten Island, NY. He was director of the Laboratory of Hygiene, which moved to Washington, D.C., in 1891. Kinyoun brought the latest techniques such as the procedure for preparing diphtheria antitoxin back from his visits to Europe. 1885 Louis Pasteur first used rabies vaccine in humans. 1884 The first live attenuated viral vaccine (rabies) was developed by Louis Pasteur, using dessicated brain tissue inactivated with formaldehyde. 1882 Robert Koch identified the tubercle bacillus as the cause of tuberculosis, subsequently called Koch's bacillus. 1881 Louis Pasteur and George Miller Sternberg almost simultaneously isolated and grew the pneumococcus organism. 1879 Louis Pasteur created the first live attenuated bacterial vaccine (chicken cholera) 1877 Louis Pasteur proposed The Germ Theory of Disease. 1798 Edward Jenner published his work on the development of a vaccination that would protect against smallpox. Two years earlier, in 1796, he had first speculated that protection from smallpox disease could be obtained through inoculation with a related virus, vaccinia or cowpox. He tested his theory by inoculating eight-year-old James Phipps with cowpox pustule liquid recovered from the hand of a milkmaid, Sarah Nelmes. 1798 The Marine Health Service was established in 1798 as the nation's first public health agency. It provided hospital care for merchant seamen and protected port cities against diseases such as smallpox, cholera, and yellow fever. 1721 Variolation was introduced to Great Britain. 1100s The variolation technique was developed, involving the inoculation of children and adults with dried scab material recovered from smallpox patients. Variations of variolation have been noted in Turkey, Africa, China, and Europe. 400 BC Hippocrates described mumps, diphtheria, epidemic jaundice, and other conditions This page was updated on September 26, 2022. This page was reviewed on August 9, 2021. History of Medicine NLM collects, preserves, makes available, and interprets for diverse audiences one of the world's richest collections of historical material related to human health and disease. - Guide to immunize.org - Immunize.org ' 2136 Ford Parkway ' Suite 5011 ' Saint Paul, Minnesota ' 55116

tel 651-647-9009 ' fax 651-647-9131

This website is supported in part by a cooperative agreement from the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (Grant No. 1NH23IP922654) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA. The website content is the sole responsibility of IAC and does not necessarily represent the official views of CDC.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 14:15

Sam Harris deleted his Twitter account on Thanksgiving Day, 2022.

He will probably come back. Twitter accounts can be re-activated within a 30-day window, and if he doesn't reactivate, on Christmas Day his handle will be available for anyone to grab. He could avoid that by logging in for a bit, then deleting again, but to do this every thirty days, forever, without ever tweeting, will get tiresome. He has the opportunity to direct public conversation anytime he chooses, and Trump is running again. Something, probably Trump-related, will occur that will strike him as too important to not tweet about, and he'll be back.

This is entirely predictable, so why write a requiem now ?

Deleting his Twitter account is signing his name, too large and with an attention-grabbing flourish, in the corner of a painting he's spent the last six years toiling over.

It is a moment for reflection.

So let's reflect.

For a long time, I loved Sam Harris.

My therapist and I had to agree on a definition for ''love'' to use in his office, because it was never clear'--not to him, and usually not to me'--what I meant when I talked about my fears around love.

We settled on: ''Love is a commitment to another's well-being; further, a commitment so strong that it includes a willingness to sacrifice.''

There was a long period of my life when I absolutely loved Sam Harris by this definition.

There was a long time, when, if Sam Harris needed a kidney, I would have donated mine without hesitating. It is hard to imagine what else I could have sacrificed to help someone who has been wealthy and privileged since childhood, but if any opportunity had been presented to me, I would have taken it.

Where did this come from? How did Sam Harris earn my loyalty?

I grew up in a Christian church and school that was far outside the Christian mainstream in some respects'--far enough that the word ''cult'' isn't unreasonable'--though it was fairly typical in others. If you've seen the documentary ''Jesus Camp,'' you know a great deal about what my childhood influences believed and the way they taught me to think and react to the world.

Sam Harris's book, Letter to A Christian Nation , set me free. He took every doubt, question, and logical inconsistency that I had ever been paddled, reprimanded, or shamed for voicing, laid them all out clearly, and explained why they were legitimate things to notice. He gave me permission to recognize and live in reality. In a very literal sense, he set me free.

Then he wrote Lying , a book that was a game-changer for me. Growing up in an abusive home, children learn to keep secrets and tell lies to survive. He flipped my perspective on its head and made me re-think almost everything.

Once again, he took part of my dark and tragic backstory that had me in chains, and set me free.

I felt as much love and loyalty as almost everyone would feel for someone who entered a prison, wherein they were suffering terribly, and set them free.

Twice.

Sam Harris has been diagnosed with Trump Derangement Syndrome many times and in many ways, and I think it's warranted.

Trump was a monstrously unfit choice for the Presidency, and I still think that he is characterologically unfit despite his having done a significantly better job than I thought he would. At the beginning, I absolutely had TDS myself. I cried when Trump won, and it took me most of a year to fully accept that it had happened. I remember taking final exams in May of 2017, calculating that he would still be President when I graduated, and being gobsmacked.

This couldn't be possible'...could it? Could Donald Trump really be President of the United States?

Over time, I learned to accept reality, and then to stop reacting to everything he said as if it were part of a psychological experiment to raise my blood pressure.

When I learned about narcissistic hyperbole, much of Trump's rhetoric made much more sense to me, and I slowly developed a model for how to understand him.

Sam never seemed to adjust to reality. He simply kept existing in a universe where this thing had happened that was just so wrong, so intolerably wrong, so beyond the pale, that it vexed every moment, tainted every pleasure, was nearly the only thing worth being angry about'--and it was always worth being angry about.

I got really good hearing technology not long before I started college in 2016, and the new joy of listening to podcasts meant that I listened to many of them dozens of times, including most of Sam's.

I thought many times, listening to his podcasts in 2017-2018, about his wife and children, and hoped he wasn't as hard to live with as those podcasts made it seem like he might be.

Even though I agreed with him about Trump, it grew very tiresome. It seemed there was no topic he couldn't turn back to Trump, and how manifestly awful it was that this orange liar was in the White House, and how unfair and wrong and just plain awful!

Sam gained a lot of attention on Twitter and elsewhere for some of his more hyperbolic statements, among them that Hitler was more virtuous than Trump, but eventually it settled into a case of ''my hero isn't perfect; he has this one big blind spot,'' and it became easier for those of us who still appreciated him to enjoy the rest of what he had to say.

Then came COVID.

In Making Sense episode #256, with Eric Topol, Sam made a confession that is jaw-dropping, though it seemingly escaped most people's notice, focused as they all were on the drama of his savaging someone about whom he says ''I consider him a friend,'' Bret Weinstein.

He says: ''So this is a bit of a stretch psychologically to build a bridge between where we are and where the unvaccinated, the resolutely unvaccinated are. Right. So, I mean, you know, I'm living in a world where I and all of my friends were'...early, impatient to get vaccinated. And many of us were going to vaccine centers early on and lining up for hours, you know, even whole days, hoping to get some overflow of vaccine.''

My best efforts to determine what ''overflow'' means in this context turned up that if vaccination centers had doses that were set to expire, they would vaccinate anyone present, eligible or not. (At the beginning of the rollout, vaccinations were based on age, health, or race related eligibility metrics.) I assume that is what he meant'--that he went to vaccination centers before he was eligible, hoping for an end-of-day, otherwise-would-get-tossed-out dose, though it's conceivable he meant something else. In the context of ''lining up for hours, you know, even whole days,'' I think my guess is reasonable.

Unless he has some health problem that he's never disclosed, this behavior indicates an absolutely life-consuming terror of death.

COVID is not the bubonic plague, and we have known this from the very beginning. Sam Harris was 52, not 82, when COVID began spreading.

While some fear of death is certainly a core part of the human condition, it's quite startling to find terror of death in someone who has made spiritual awakening a primary focus and who is behind a popular meditation and mindfulness app.

We are mortal beings, and learning to live in peace'--without terror, and without becoming deranged in light of the inescapable fact that each and every one of us is going to die'--is a primary objective of any spiritual path.

Luke 4:23 (''Physician, heal thyself'') comes to mind.

It was July 2021, seven months after vaccines starting rolling out, when he released Making Sense episode #256, with Eric Topol. It was devoted to going after people he deemed purveyors of vaccine ''misinformation,'' primarily Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying. He starts this off with a lie in the introduction, asserting that people have been misinformed, by his friends and fellow podcasters, into being ''really worried about the COVID vaccines and not all that worried about COVID.''

Anyone who paid even minimal attention to the DarkHorse podcast would know that Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying were not COVID minimizers. They advocated masks well before the CDC did, sanitized their doorknobs, left packages outside, and otherwise took much more extreme precautions than most people did during the beginning of the pandemic. When we knew very little, they started off far more cautious than most people. (As we learned more, particularly about how ineffective masks are, they changed their stances publicly, but they started off applying a precautionary principle much more intensely than most people.)

I have the privilege of counting both Bret and Heather among my personal friends, but nobody needs to know them personally to know that this was a flat-out lie. Even a cursory perusal of their podcast during 2020 would show how hardcore they were on COVID precautions.

But since I do have the ''actually I know these people'' privilege, I will tell you that when I got COVID the first time, they were very concerned for me. Neither of them even once said ''Oh, it's no big deal, you'll be fine.'' They checked in with me regularly about how I was doing'--and in my case, as my first round of COVID caused a re-activation of my high school mononucleosis and left me bedridden for months, this was not a quick and easy thing. Their concern was consistent and total, and it was based on their scientific thinking: they knew that nobody knew what the long-term ramifications of COVID might be, and they took that very seriously.

When I got it the second time'--I fell on ice and broke my wrist on Christmas Day of 2021, and spent six hours in urgent care waiting to get x-rayed, during which at least a hundred people came in and out, coughing'--it was thirty hours of a mild runny nose and that was all, but they were still concerned. A full week after I recovered, Bret was asking me how I was doing, if I had any symptoms, if I was sure I was fully over it.

If they are COVID minimizers who need to take it more seriously, then Jordan Peterson is disassociated from his emotions and needs to learn to let himself cry.

When Sam Harris answered questions about this episode later, he compared Bret to Alex Jones in answer to why he wouldn't have Bret on his show to debate.

Comparing Alex Jones to Bret Weinstein is like comparing the Joan Rivers QVC Collection to the Hope Diamond.

This episode, starting as it did with a laughably false dichotomy, showed that Sam Harris was so devoted to his perspective that he fully lost, well, if not his mind, his theory of mind . He simply could not imagine anyone disagreeing with him whose position held nuance of any sort.

Indeed, in that podcast, his reasoning for why well-qualified doctors disagreed with him and agreed with Bret and Heather was that ''we have a background level of schizophrenia in any human population of 1%.''

A theory-of-mind failure so total is usually only found in the deeply religious, and even then, usually just in how someone could possibly deserve the eternal torment of hell'--they really knew the truth.

He also made a peanut butter analogy , on which he doubled down repeatedly, that's chilling.

In that episode, he and Topol also laugh at the possibility of vaccine passports and how all that will be necessary is making life ''unpalatable'' for the unvaccinated for a couple of weeks and they'll capitulate.

In Sam's December 2021 podcast, #270, with Dr. Nicholas Christakis:

He once again lied about Bret and Heather, mischaracterizing them as crazy: ''Many, several friends and colleagues who have prominent podcasts'...Have fallen into this paranoid picture of what's going on. And, you know, there're extreme end points of this paranoia. There's the idea that Bill Gates is putting tracking devices into us with the vaccines. Right. I mean, so there's the crazy end of crazy. But it seems to me that this basic picture, even without the craziest flourishes on it, is more or less insane.''

Both Sam Harris and Nicholas Christakis are smarter than I am, which is how I know that they knew they were lying when they asserted that healthy young people should get the vaccine, even if it carries risk , because the vaccine reduces their risk of death.

They knew that when a probability is infinitesimally small, changing it'--even by a lot, which I will concede for the sake of this comparison, though I don't believe it to be true'--isn't worth taking on more risk .

Think of it this way: would you risk something important to you, like taking on an unknown health risk'--in order to get your hands on a lottery ticket that is twice as likely, or even 10 times more likely, to win the jackpot than any other ticket?

Of course not. Because odds of 2 or even 10 in 258,900,000 (today's Mega Millions jackpot odds) are still not going to result in you winning.

In that episode, they also went so far as to pretend that vaccine immunity is superior to natural immunity.

Sam Harris's mother, Susan, created the hugely popular TV series, ''The Golden Girls.'' He grew up as part of one of the most highly privileged classes of people imaginable'--the children of Hollywood big-shots.

He spent his twenties traveling the world in a way that only the wealthy ever get to do before returning, and then wasn't even finished with school when the ''Four Horsemen of New Atheists'' stuff started. If there's any evidence that he's ever had even one moment of economic insecurity in his life, I haven't been able to locate it. That is a kind of distortion lens around real life that very few people could surmount.

Since becoming a best-selling author and podcaster, he's even more wealthy and privileged. Further, his fans (including me, back in the day, yes) are of a sycophantic variety that is more than a little startling. (Check out the Sam Harris subreddit if you doubt me on this.)

When a person becomes famous for reasons of their intellect and perceived character traits, they are in a far more precarious position than someone who gets famous for their looks, their ability to play sports or music, or to act. The distortion lens that happens around anyone in that position is massive, and it is nearly total.

As surely as starry-eyed fans who will rarely if ever critique are bound to rise up, so bad-faith critics will make a habit of jerking off hate boners and others will pile on just for the fun of it. The lure of using the latter to insulate oneself against any criticism at all is powerful.

To retain one's epistemic humility requires the wisdom of self-awareness. Sam boasted of this in the Triggernometry interview that went viral over the summer'--that the primary difference between him and others is that he runs an algorithm of ''intellectual honesty'' that others don't. I no longer believe his operating system runs this algorithm at all.

You have to know that reasonable people with well-thought-out criticism are in fact going to hesitate to disagree with you. Either because they appreciate the intellect and character that you brought you to their attention in the first place, or because they don't want to somehow be lumped in with all the bad-faith criticism that such figures inevitably receive. You have to know that you're going to mess up, and you have to be willing to hear about it when you do. This means you need smart people around you who will love you enough to tell you the truth, even if the truth is sometimes not so fun to hear.

The primary subject of Sam's attack, Bret Weinstein, is actually really good at this. When I've told Bret I disagree with him, which can happen, he asks questions, as many as it takes to be sure he is fully seeing the world through my eyes, and then he genuinely, sincerely, and honestly thinks about it. When warranted, he changes his mind.

If you had to guess, how many friends of Sam Harris'--particularly friends who are his intellectual and social inferiors'--do you think have a story about ''the time I thought Sam really screwed up when he said X, so I took a deep breath, called him, talked to him about it, and it went so well that I loved him more, and our relationship was actually stronger, when we hung up?''

The only way a person could have led Sam's life without falling prey to these dangers is if they deliberately and consciously tried to guard against their own hubris, fairly early on in their trajectory as a celebrity. It's a trap that would ensnare almost anyone.

But if you are powerful and influential, there comes a time when you have to be willing to look in the mirror.

The time for looking in the mirror comes for all of us. Particularly if you have the profound responsibility of real influence, that time should come well before you end up where Sam ended up in the Triggernometry interview. In that interview, the author of a book about how lying is almost never morally acceptable asserts that the moral line for when honest journalism is required, regardless of whether or not it helps Trump, lies beyond the corpses of children. This video clip is courtesy of Alexandros Marinos, who has several threads on Sam Harris that I recommend to you.

In August 2022, Sam gave the aforementioned interview to Triggernometry that went viral and, as far as I can tell, marked the end for those of us who held onto our faith in him despite the TDS.

He applauded the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story because it hurt Trump's chances in re-election. ''That's a left-wing conspiracy to deny the presidency to Donald Trump. Absolutely it was. Absolutely, but I think it was warranted.''

His Triggernometry episode, about which I wrote at the time, and again in response to his Twitter thread defending what he said, was the end of anyone except his most ardent sycophants being able to respect him.

As my friend, Dr. Roller Gator, pointed out , Sam took on an astonishingly Trump-like persona in that interview.

He then doubled down, tripled down, and has never apologized for anything he got wrong during COVID, even after conceding that the CDC has been politicized in a recent interview with Bill Maher.

Sam deleted his Twitter account on Thanksgiving Day, 2022.

Elon Musk is working to provide something much closer to a level playing field than has ever happened before, and this is utterly intolerable to the cultural elites.

The Parler play, to get Twitter banned from the app stores, is being pursued by those who cannot tolerate a genuine free speech platform, and it might work. Gator explains this strategy here . (He was referring to pre-Musk Twitter, but they are trying it now with Twitter under Musk, for the same reason: they no longer have control.)

Sam Harris is, and perhaps has always been, a crypto-Woke, one who can see and decry the excesses of Wokism while simultaneously using his considerable platform and every scrap of his influence to beg, persuade, and implore people to vote for the politicians guaranteed to bring us more of it.

Whether he comes back or not, in doing so, he has aligned with the celebrities, academics, and journalists moving to Mastodon, or simply leaving Twitter, in declaring Twitter an unfit place, tainted by the hoi polloi.

Sam Harris's transformation from the man who said this:

"All we have between us and the total breakdown of civilization is a series of successful conversations. If we can't reason with one other, there is no path forward other than violence. Conversation or violence."

and this (emphasis added):

''The intent to communicate honestly is the measure of truthfulness. And most of us do not require a degree in philosophy to distinguish this attitude from its counterfeits'.....Whatever our purpose in telling them, lies can be gross or subtle. Some entail elaborate ruses or forged documents. Others consist merely of euphemisms or tactical silences '....The moment we consider our dishonesty from the perspective of those we lie to, we recognize that we would feel betrayed if the roles were reversed'....''

to the man who said this:

''That doesn't answer the people who say that it's still completely unfair to not have looked at [Hunter Biden's] laptop in a timely way and to have shut down the New York Post's twitter account. That's just a left-wing conspiracy to deny the Presidency to Donald Trump. Absolutely it was. Absolutely. But I think it was warranted.''

is fully complete.

I am, and will always be, grateful to the person who wrote Letter to a Christian Nation and Lying. But that person is dead.

Trump broke his brain.

Some combination of his own ego and fear of his own mortality broke his soul.

If I believed in any gods, I would pray for his resurrection.

But there are no gods, and nobody with access to him loves Sam Harris enough to help him see what he's become.

All that remains, for the rest of us, is to try not to follow in his footsteps.

Housekeeping: comments are open for paid subscribers. If you can't afford a paid subscription, email hollymathnerd at gmail dot com for a freebie. Links are automatically tweeted when I publish, and I've scheduled some tweets to re-up old posts, but I'm still not actively reading or responding on Twitter. Thank you!

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 14:15

''The best way to predict the future is to create it''

-Abraham LincolnWhile much propaganda has gone into convincing the world that eugenics disappeared with the defeat of Hitler in 1945, the reality, as I discussed in my previous article The Revenge of the Malthusians and the Science of Limits, is far removed from this popular fantasy.

In that piece, I reviewed the origins of cybernetics as a new ''science of control'' created during World War II by a nest of followers of Lord Bertrand Russell who had one mission in mind. This mission was to shape the thinking of both the public as well as a new managerial elite class who would serve as instruments for a power they were incapable of understanding. 1

We also explored the science of limits that was infused into the scientific community at the turn of the 20th century with the imposition of the assumption that humanity, the biosphere, and even the universe itself were closed systems, defined by the second law of thermodynamics (aka: entropy) and thus governed by the tendency towards decay, heat death and ever-decreasing potential for creative change. The field of cybernetics would also become the instrument used to advance a new global eugenics movement that later gave rise to transhumanism, an ideology which today sits at the heart of the 4thindustrial revolution as well as the ''Great Reset.''

In this article, we will evaluate how this sleight of hand occurred and how the minds of the population and governing class alike have been induced to participate in our own annihilation. Hopefully, in the course of this exercise, we will better appreciate what modes of thinking can still be revived in order to ensure a better future more becoming of a species of dignity.

Neil Ferguson's Sleight of HandIn May 2020, Imperial College's Neil Ferguson was forced to resign from his post as the head of the UK's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). The public reason given was Neil's sexual escapades with a married woman during a draconian lockdown in the UK at the height of the first wave of hysterics. Neil should have also been removed from all his positions at the UN, WHO and Imperial College (most of which he continues to hold) and probably jailed for his role in knowingly committing fraud for two decades.

After all, Neil was not only personally responsible for the lockdowns that were imposed onto the people of the UK, Canada, much of Europe and the USA2, but as the world's most celebrated mathematical modeller, he had been the innovator of models used to justify crisis management and pandemic forecasting since at least December 2000.

It was at this time that Neil joined Imperial College after spending years at Oxford. He soon found himself advising the UK government on the new ''foot and mouth'' outbreak of 2001.

Neil went to work producing statistical models extrapolating linear trend lines into the future and came to the conclusion that over 150,000 people would be dead by the disease unless 11 million sheep and cattle were killed. Farms were promptly decimated by government decree and Neil was awarded an Order of the British Empire for his service to the cause by creating scarcity through a manufactured health crisis.

In 2002, Neil used his mathematical models to predict that 50,000 people would die of Mad Cow Disease which ended up seeing a total of only 177 deaths.

In 2005, Neil again aimed for the sky and predicted 150 million people would die of Bird Flu. His computer models missed the mark by 149,999,718 deaths when only 282 people died of the disease between 2003-2008.

In 2009, Neil's models were used again by the UK government to predict 65,000 deaths due to Swine flu, which ended up killing about 457 people.

Despite his track record of embarrassing failures, Neil continued to find his star rising ever further into the stratosphere of science stardom. He soon became the Vice Dean of Imperial College's Faculty of Medicine and a global expert of infectious diseases.

In 2019, he was assigned to head the World Health Organization's Collaboration Center for Infectious Disease Modelling, a position he continues to hold to this day. It was at this time that his outdated models were used to ''predict'' 500,000 COVID deaths in the UK and two million deaths in the USA unless total lockdowns were imposed in short order. Under the thin veneer of ''science'', his word became law and much of the world fell into lockstep chanting ''two weeks to flatten the curve.''

Predictive model taken from the March 16 paper authored by Imperial College London's COVID-19 Response Team, led by Neil M. Ferguson, ''Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID-19 mortality and healthcare demand''When Neil was pressed to make the code used to generate his models available to the public for scrutiny in late 2020 (after it was discovered that the code was over 13 years old), he refused to budge, eventually releasing a heavily redacted version which was all but useless for analysis.

A Google software engineer with 30 years experience writing (under a pseudonym) for The Daily Skeptic analyzed the redacted code and had this to say:

''It isn't the code Ferguson ran to produce his famous Report 9. What's been released on GitHub is a heavily modified derivative of it, after having been upgraded for over a month by a team from Microsoft and others. This revised codebase is split into multiple files for legibility and written in C++, whereas the original program was ''a single 15,000 line file that had been worked on for a decade'' (this is considered extremely poor practice). A request for the original code was made 8 days ago but ignored, and it will probably take some kind of legal compulsion to make them release it. Clearly, Imperial are too embarrassed by the state of it ever to release it of their own free will, which is unacceptable given that it was paid for by the taxpayer and belongs to them.''

Besides tax-payers, the author should have also included Bill Gates, as his foundation donated millions of dollars to Imperial College and Neil directly over the course of two decades, but we'll forgive her for leaving that one out.

Monte Carlo Methods: How the Universe Became a CasinoThe Daily Skeptic author went further to strike at the heart of Neil's fraud when she nailed the underlying stochastic function at the heart of Neil's predictive models. She writes:

'''Stochastic' is just a scientific-sounding word for 'random.' That's not a problem if the randomness is intentional pseudo-randomness, i.e. the randomness is derived from a starting 'seed' which is iterated to produce the random numbers. Such randomness is often used in Monte Carlo techniques. It's safe because the seed can be recorded and the same (pseudo-)random numbers produced from it in future.''

The author is right to identify the stochastic (aka; random) probability function at the heart of Neil's models, and also correctly zeroes in on the blatant fudging of data and code to generate widely irrational outcomes that have zero connection to reality. However, being a Google programmer who had herself been processed in an ''information theory'' environment, which presumes randomness to be at the heart of all reality, the author makes a blundering error by presuming that Monte Carlo techniques would somehow be useful in making predictions of future crises. As we will soon see, Monte Carlo techniques are a core problem across all aspects of human thought and policy making.

The Monte Carlo technique itself got its name from Information Theorist John von Neumann and his colleague Stanlislaw Ulam who saw in the chance rolling of dice at casino roulette tables the key to analyze literally every non-linear system in existence- from atomic decay, to economic behavior, neuroscience, climatology, biology, and even theories of galaxy-formation. The Monte Carlo Casino in Morocco was the role model selected by von Neumann and Ulam to be used as the ideal blueprint that was assumed to shape all creation.

According to the official website for The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences(INFORM), it didn't take long for Monte Carlo Methods to be adopted by the RAND Corporation and the U.S. Air force. The INFORM site states:

''Although not invented at RAND, the powerful mathematical technique known as the Monte Carlo method received much of its early development at RAND in the course of research on a variety of Air Force and atomic weapon problems. RAND's main contributions to Monte Carlo lie in the early development of two tools: generating random numbers, and the systematic development of variance-reduction techniques.''

As discussed in my previous segment, RAND Corporation was the driving force for the adoption of Cybernetics as the science of control within US foreign policy circles during the Cold War.

The person assigned to impose cybernetics and its associated ''systems'' planning into political practice was Lord President of the British Empire's Scientific Secretariat Alexander King- acting here as Director General of Scientific Affairs of the Organization for Economic Coordination and Development (OECD) and advisor to NATO. His post 1968 role as co-founder of the Club of Rome will be discussed shortly.

Whereas selling end-times scenarios to a gullible populace took the form of such Gates-funded stochastic models utilizing Monte Carlo techniques like those deployed by Neil Ferguson, the selling of end-times scenarios in the form of global warming have also used the exact same techniques, albeit for a slightly longer time frame. As Dr. Tim Ball proved in his successful lawsuits against the IPCC's Michael Mann of ''Hockey Stick'' fame, those end-times global warming models have also used stochastic formulas (aka randomness functions) along with Monte Carlo techniques to consistently generate irrationally high heating curves in all climate models.

Michael Mann's 1998 ''hockey stick'' temperature model, debunked several times over for using fraudulent techniques and selective data, but used by the IPCC to this very day. Source.In an October 2004 article on Technology Review, author Richard Muller described how two Canadian scientists proved that this fraud underlies Mann's Hockey Stick model, writing:

''Canadian scientists Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick have uncovered a fundamental mathematical flaw in the computer program that was used to produce the hockey stick'... This method of generating random data is called Monte Carlo analysis, after the famous casino, and it is widely used in statistical analysis to test procedures. When McIntyre and McKitrick fed these random data into the Mann procedure, out popped a hockey stick shape!''

Not coincidentally, these same stochastic models utilizing Monte Carlo techniques were also used in crafting economic models justifying the high-frequency trading ridden casino economy of the post-1971 era of myopic consumerism and deregulation.3

The Club of Rome and World ProblematiqueThe age of ''predictive doomsday models'' was given its most powerful appearance of ''scientific respectability'' through the efforts of an innocuous sounding organization called The Club of Rome.

Historian F. William Engdahl wrote of the Club's origins:

''In 1968 David Rockefeller founded a neo-Malthusian think tank, The Club of Rome, along with Aurelio Pecceiand Alexander King. Aurelio Peccei, was a senior manager of the Fiat car company, owned by the powerful Italian Agnelli family. Fiat's Gianni Agnelli was an intimate friend of David Rockefeller and a member of the International Advisory Committee of Rockefeller's Chase Manhattan Bank. Agnelli and David Rockefeller had been close friends since 1957. Agnelli became a founding member of David Rockefeller's Trilateral Commission in 1973. Alexander King, head of the OECD Science Program was also a consultant to NATO.''

The think tank was founded by two self-professed Malthusians named Aurelio Peccei and OECD Director General for Scientific Affairs Sir Alexander King who promulgated a new gospel to the world: The age of scientific progress and industrial growth must stop in order for the world to reset its values under a new paradigm of zero-technological growth.

Both Peccei and King were also advocates of a new pseudoscience dubbed ''World Problematique,'' which was developed in the early 1960s and can simply described as ''the science of global problems.'' Unlike other branches of science, solving problems facing humanity was not the concern for followers of Problematique. Its adherents asserted that the future could be known by first analyzing the infinite array of ''problems'' which humanity creates in modifying the environment.

To illustrate an example: Thinking people desire to mitigate flood damage in a given area, so they build a dam. But then damage is done to the biodiversity of that region. Problem.

Another example: Thinking people wish to have better forms of energy and discover the structure of the atom, leading to nuclear power. Then, new problems arise like atomic bombs and nuclear waste. Problem.

A final example: A cure for malaria is discovered for a poor nation. Mortality rates drop but now population levels rise, putting stress on the environment.

This list can go on literally forever.

An adherent to Problematique would fixate on every ''problem'' caused by humans naively attempting to solve problems. They would note that every human intervention leads to dis-equilibrium, and thus unpredictability. The Problematique-oriented mind would conclude that if the ''problem that causes all problems'' were eliminated, then a clean, pre-determined world of perfect stasis, and thus predictability, would ensue. Reporting on the growth of the Club of Rome's World Problematique agenda in 1972, OECD Vice Chair, and Club of Rome member Hugo Thiemann told Europhysics News:

''In the past, research had been aimed at 'understanding' in the belief that it would help mankind. After a period of technological evolution based on this assumption, that belief was clearly not borne out by experience. Now, there was a serious conflict developing between planetary dimensions and population, so that physicists should change to consider future needs. Science policy should be guided by preservation of the biosphere.''

On page 118 of an autobiographical account of the Club of Rome entitled 'The First Global Revolution' published in 1991, Sir Alexander King echoed this philosophy most candidly when he wrote:

''In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill'....All these dangers are caused by human intervention, and it is only through changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome. The real enemy then, is humanity itself.''

The Club of Rome quickly set up branches across the Western world with members ranging from select ideologues in the political, business, and scientific community who all agreed that society's best form of governance was a scientific dictatorship. The Canadian branch of the organization was co-founded by the hyperactive Maurice Strong himself in 1970 alongside a nest of Fabians and Rhodes Scholars including Club of Rome devotee Pierre Trudeau. More on this will be said below.

One particularly interesting 1973 propaganda film was produced by ABC News and showcases the Club of Rome-MIT ''innovation'' on computer modelling. Describing the new modelling technology unveiled by MIT and the Club of Rome, the video's narrator states:

''What it does for the first time in man's history on the planet is to look at the world as one system. It shows that Earth cannot sustain present population and industrial growth for much more than a few decades.''

The 1001 Nature TrustIn order to finance this paradigm shift, the 1001 Nature Trust was founded in 1970 by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.

Bernhard (card carrying Nazi and founder of the Bilderberg Group in 1954) had worked alongside his close misanthropic associates Prince Philip Mountbatten, and Sir Julian Huxley to create the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 1961. The WWF was itself created to raise funds for the previously created International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which was founded by Sir Julian Huxley in 1947. Huxley had been a busy bee, having established UNESCO the year prior with a mandate to revive eugenics and promote world government under new names. When he co-founded the WWF, Huxley was also acting President of the British Eugenics Society.

The plan was simple: each of the 1001 founding members simply put $10,000 into the trust which was then directed towards the green paradigm shift that sought to replace the old paradigm of ''saving humanity from empire'' towards the new paradigm of ''saving nature from humanity'' as outlined by Sir King above.

Prominent 1001 Nature Trust members included international royalty, billionaires, and technocratic sociopaths who wanted nothing more than to manage this promised Brave New World as part of the ''alpha'' caste.

Many of these figures were simultaneously founding members of the Club of Rome, including Canada's Maurice Strong, who later became Vice President of the WWF under Prince Philip's presidency.

When Strong became WWF Vice President in 1978, the man he replaced was Maj. Gen. Louis Mortimer Bloomfield. Bloomfield was another 1001 Club founding member whom New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison discovered to be implicated in the Montreal-based assassination of the anti-Malthusian President John F. Kennedy in 1963 via his involvement with Permindex. This same Swiss-based organization served as a cover for various Gladio-connected assassinations including several efforts to kill JFK ally Charles de Gaulle, resulting in that organization's expulsion from France soon thereafter.

A Word on Maurice StrongOne of Prince Bernhard and Prince Philip's most powerful lackeys was a man named Maurice Strong, a 1001 Trust founding member who also happened to co-found the World Economic Forum and served as WWF vice-president under Philip from 1976-78. In a 1990 interview with West Magazine, Strong let the cat out of the bag, asking rhetorically:

''What if a small group of world leaders were to conclude that the principal risk to the Earth comes from the actions of the rich countries? And if the world is to survive, those rich countries would have to sign an agreement reducing their impact on the environment. Will they do it? The group's conclusion is 'no'. The rich countries won't do it. They won't change. So, in order to save the planet, the group decides: Isn't the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn't it our responsibility to bring that about?''

It is important to recall that Maurice Strong's remarks took place in the context of a ''fictional book'' he wished to write that would take place at the World Economic Forum- a group he and Kissinger led in co-founding 20 years earlier using a German cardboard cut out named Klaus Schwab. In 2015, Klaus eulogized Strong by calling him ''my mentor.''

Maurice Strong '' Source: Canada Press/APWhile some apologists dismiss the sociopath's remarks as simple musings over a work of fiction, it is worth considering what Maurice himself announced at the keynote address to the 1992 UN Conference on Population and the Environment in Rio De Janeiro. Strong had been tapped to head this second Earth Summit (the first having been the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment which he also chaired). At this 1992 summit, Strong said:

''Industrialized countries have developed and benefited from the unsustainable patterns of production and consumption which have produced our present dilemma. It is clear that current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class, involving high meat intake, consumption of large amounts of frozen and convenience foods, use of fossil fuels, appliances, home and work-place air-conditioning, and suburban housing- are not sustainable. A shift is necessary toward lifestyles less geared to environmentally damaging consumption patterns.''

The Rio Summit had established a new era in the consolidation of NGOs and corporations under the ''green'' agenda. This doctrine was formalized with Agenda 21 (later renamed Agenda 2030) and the Earth Charter, co-authored by Mikhail Gorbachev, Jim MacNeill and Strong between 1996-2000. The International Earth Charter drafting Committee was chaired by none-other than transhumanist billionaire Steven Rockefeller.

Caption: Maurice Strong and Mikhail Gorbachev at the Rio Summit in 1992 Source: J. PEREIRA/APStrong's career as a Malthusian mercenary took a hit when it was discovered that he had endorsed a $988,885 check given to him by a South Korean businessman (and intelligence asset tied to sex blackmail operations in Washington DC) Tongsun Park in 2005 and which Strong had cashed in a Jordanian bank. The funds were part of the UN Oil for Food program and were intended to provide humanitarian relief to Iraq. That didn't bother Strong, who was more than happy to line his own pockets with funds that never purchased any food for millions of starving Iraqis. After escaping arrest by fleeing from the USA to Canada, Strong then made his way to China where he spent the last decade of his life pushing decarbonization and global warming climate modelling into Asia. Strong was probably not the happiest oligarch in the world when China and India sabotaged the COP14 program for a green global government in 2009.

According to the World Economic Forum's own website, Prince Bernhard was the primary patron of the infamous 1973 WEF Summit that announced the Davos Manifesto for the first time, laying the groundwork for the theory of technocratic feudalism with a loose capitalist veneer known as ''Stakeholder Capitalism.'' It was also at this 1973 Summit, that the Club of Rome was first introduced to the world scene in order to present a new program for population control.

Limits to GrowthThe document which became the bible and blueprint of this new anti-humanist movement that birthed today's Green New Deal agenda was titled Limits to Growth (1972) and today holds the record as the most widely read book on ecology, having sold 30 million copies published into 32 languages.

A recent article celebrating the book's 40-year anniversary stated ''it helped launch modern environmental computer modeling and began our current globally focused environmental debate. After Limits [To Growth], environmentalists, scientists and policy-makers increasingly thought of ecological problems in planetary terms and as dynamically interconnected'... It is worth revisiting Limits today because, more than any other book, it introduced the concept of anthropocentric climate change to a mass audience.''

The book itself was the culmination of a two-year study undertaken by a team of MIT statisticians under the nominal heading of Jay Forrester and Dennis Meadows.

Here's a February 2022 video of Dennis Meadows musing over his hopes that the coming inevitable genocide of 80% of the world population could be accomplished peacefully under a ''benevolent'' dictatorship.

The MIT study itself did not even begin in the USA, but rather in Montebello Quebec in 1971, when Club of Rome-backer Pierre Trudeau allocated tax payer money to initiate the project. A network of Rhodes Scholars and Privy Councillors centered around Alexander King, Maurice Strong, Maurice Lamontagne (founder of Environment Canada), Marc Lalonde (Rhodes Scholar, Trudeau advisor and head of the Prime Ministers Office), Michael Pitfield (Privy Council Clerk and founder of Canada's CSIS) and Rhodes Scholar Governor General Roland Michener, among others, had presided over that meeting. When the Canadian funds had served their role, the project continued to receive its funding from the Aurelio Peccei's Volkswagen Foundation, whose Nazi-supporting past should have made some of the MIT statisticians uncomfortable.

Caption: Sir Alexander King (left) and the model produced by the Club of Rome's Limits to Growth predicting an apocalyptic end of the world by 2000 (right)The Chaining of PrometheusA long time, London-trained asset and close collaborator of Canada's Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was Maurice Lamontagne, a Club of Rome member and former President of Canada's Privy Council from 1964-65.

Of all of the Club of Rome's members, Lamontagne was the most candid in identifying the Earth's greatest enemy to be human creativity itself. Writing in his Senate Committee Reports of 1968-1972 which reformed science policy funding and planning, Lamontagne wrote:

''Nature imposes definite constraints on technology itself and if man persists in ignoring them the net effect of his action in the long run can be to reduce rather than to increase nature's potential as a provider of resources and habitable space'... But then, an obvious question arises: How can we stop man's creativeness?''

Correctly recognizing that the yearning to discover the unknown is built into the human condition, Lamontagne answers his own question, writing:

''How can we proclaim a moratorium on technology? It is impossible to destroy existing knowledge; impossible to paralyze man's inborn desire to learn, to invent and to innovate'... In the final analysis we find that technology is merely a tool created by man in pursuit of his infinite aspirations and is not the significant element invading the natural environment. It is material growth itself that is the source of conflict between man and nature.''

Thus, creativity and its fruits of technological progress are acceptable only IF they reduce the assumed conflict between man and nature posited by Lamontagne. ''Bad'' technology in Lamontagne's formulation, has the effect of increasing humanity's material growth (i.e.: powers of productivity). If, on the other hand, we promote technologies of a low energy flux density form, such as windmills, solar panels and biofuels, which reduce the energy available and thus the amount of economic activity in which man can engage, then technology can be defined as a ''good'' thing'' according to this twisted logic.

This concept was echoed by another Club of Rome member and collaborator with Lamontagne on his Senate Report named Omond Solandt. Solandt made his career as the science advisor to Lord Louis Mountbatten (Prince Philip's pedophile mentor) during WWII and headed Canada's Defense Research Board until 1957, where he collaborated on MK Ultra alongside the infamous Ewan Cameron at McGill University. Testifying to the Lamontagne Senate Commission in 1970 Solandt said: ''There is no longer any need to advance science. The need is rather to understand, guide and use science effectively for the welfare of mankind.''

What defines ''the welfare of mankind'' in the mind of an MK Ultra proponent should give one chills.

In preparation for the ''post-industrial order'' that was unleashed with the 1971 floating of the US dollar and the destruction of the Bretton Woods monetary system, Lamontagne prescribed that the ''new wisdom'' should no longer aim at discoveries in atomic, medical and space sciences, in order to focus on more ''practical'' engineering endeavors. He also proposed that funding to advanced science be diminished by widening the definition of ''science'' itself to embrace the humanities, monetary economics and social sciences. Those programs then began absorbing the funding that had formerly been directed to research on pure science. Lamontagne stated this in volume one of his report:

''The new wisdom prescribes that the additional R&D effort be devoted to the life sciences and social sciences rather than the physical sciences'... to economic and social objectives rather than curiosity and discovery.''

In Defense of PrometheusOne leading Canadian scientist took an early stand against this Club of Rome-driven transformation. Ronald Hayes, professor of environmental science at Dalhousie University and Canadian civil servant wrote his 1973 book ''The Chaining of Prometheus: The Evolution of a Power Structure for Canadian Science'', where he identified Lamontagne as a minion of the god Zeus as portrayed in Aeschylus' famous drama Prometheus Bound. The ancient Greek drama told the story of the demi-god Prometheus who was punished for 10,000 years for the defiant act of teaching humanity how to use the Fire which Zeus had monopolized for himself.

Attacking the call to deconstruct the entire 1938-1971 science funding structure and rebuild it under a new technocratic regime, Professor Hayes called out the concerted attack on the National Research Council of Canada which had been the driving force of technological progress since WWII saying:

''Lamontagne wants to destroy the National Research Council, the body that has nurtured and launched much of the government research and got the graduate programs going in our universities. It is a fault of the Trudeau administration which Lamontagne echoes.''

Hayes attacked the newly-formed powers of the Treasury Board which were now given exceptional control of science policy under a new scientific dictatorship when he said:

''The most subtle exercise of power, which obviates the necessity of close control, is infiltration by reliable people- the creation of a ruling elite'...These Englishmen became known the world over as the rulers of the British Empire'... With somewhat similar aims, the Public Service Commission is grooming future Canadian government managers to follow the general policies and precepts of the Treasury Board.''

Predictive Models Take Over Actual ThinkingAlthough Professor Hayes was right to attack the terrible fraud that was being committed under the helm of Senator Lamontagne's reform of Canadian science funding in 1973, he neglected the global changes which the Club of Rome's predictive modelling revolution had set into motion.

The Club of Rome's 1972 Limits to Growth was the first of its kind to fuse together global temperature with economic variables like population growth, resource loss, and the under-defined category of ''pollution''. By utilizing linear equations to extrapolate trends into the future, the Club of Rome had set the stage for two major fallacies:

Fallacy #1 '' The fabric of physical space time shaping the discoverable universe is intrinsically non-linear and thus not expressible by any form of linear equations regardless of the computing power involved. Human creative mentation is most explicitly non-linear as it is tied to non-formalizable states of existence like inspiration, love of truth, dignity, and beauty which no binary system can approximate. The Club of Rome programmers ignored these facts and assumed the universe was as binary as their software.

Fallacy #2 '' The data sets themselves could easily be skewed and re-framed according to the controllers of the computer programmers who aspired to shape government policy. We have already seen how this technique was used to drive fallacious results of future scenarios under the hand of Imperial College's Neil Ferguson and the same technique has been applied in ecological modelling as well.

This use of skewed, under-defined statistics, projected into the future in order to ''act preventatively on future crises'' became a hegemonic practice for the next 40 years and has been used by neo-Malthusians ever since to justify the increased rates of war, poverty and disease across the world.

With the Limits to Growth computer models, a scientific veneer was given to the cultish efforts of fringe neo-Malthusians like Stanford University's Paul Ehrlich, whose 1968 book The Population Bomb tried to forecast an inevitable global planetary crisis where oil would dry up, arable lands would dry away and resources would disappear by the year 2000. Ehrlich's cynical thesis won over a cult following but due to its airy generalizations, it didn't win many converts among policy making or scientific circles. The club of Rome changed all of that, making Ehrlich's book a best seller by 1972.

To get a sense of the roots of Ehrlich's Malthusian outlook, it is worth appreciating his hateful concept of human nature as little more than thoughtless cancer cells growing at geometric rates and slowly killing its host. In his 1968 book, he wrote:

''A cancer is an uncontrolled multiplication of cells; the population explosion is an uncontrolled multiplication of people'... We must shift our efforts from the treatment of the symptoms to the cutting out of the cancer. The operation will demand many apparently brutal and heartless decisions.''

Ehrlich's prot(C)g(C) John Holdren, who helped lead the shutdown of NASAs manned space systems and slashed what little remained of an American fusion program as Obama's science Czar from 2009-2017, added his voice to this new Malthusian priesthood in his 1977 book Ecoscience (co-authored with Ehrlich).

On pg. 942 we find a clear blueprint for a system of green global governance which the duo saw as the only solution to the oncoming population bomb:

''Perhaps those agencies, combined with UNEP and the United Nations population agencies, might eventually be developed into a Planetary Regime- sort of an international superagency for population, resources, and environment. Such a comprehensive Planetary Regime could control the development, administration, conservation, and distribution of all natural resources, renewable or nonrenewable, at least insofar as international implications exist. Thus the Regime could have the power to control pollution not only in the atmosphere and oceans, but also in such freshwater bodies as rivers and lakes that cross international boundaries or that discharge into the oceans. The Regime might also be a logical central agency for regulating all international trade, perhaps including assistance from DCs to LDCs, and including all food on the international market. The Planetary Regime might be given responsibility for determining the optimum population for the world and for each region and for arbitrating various countries' shares within their regional limits. Control of population size might remain the responsibility of each government, but the Regime would have some power to enforce the agreed limits.''

Caption: Barack Obama and his science czar John Holdren in 2010. Source: REUTERS/Jim YoungUnder this heartless logic, nation states simply had to be converted into tools for imposing depopulation programs rather than naively endeavoring to end colonialism, poverty and war as John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Charles de Gaulle, Daniel Johnson, Enrico Mattei or Martin Luther King had once attempted.

The Problem of DiscoveriesOf course, if one did not wish to accept the ''solutions'' proposed by the neo-Malthusians then an alternative path would need to be adopted. This healthier outlook was contingent upon the cultivation and application of new pioneering discoveries without killing ''useless eaters'' but it would also increase the ''unpredictability factor'' which mathematical control freaks could never tolerate.

In the pro-growth cultural dynamic of the 1960s and 1970s, the master key to this new age of abundance was understood to be found in the domain of fusion energy. The processes of fusing atoms like helium and hydrogen isotopes in order to generate vast amounts of energy had been harnessed after WWII, but sadly the application of this technology had only known destructive ends via thermonuclear weapons. However, there was no reason to think that peaceful uses of this immense power could not be made available if moral national policies could encourage it. The heat and energy densities of atomic fusion were incredible with a spoonful of ocean water yielding greater energy availability than thousands of barrels of oil.

But for followers of ''World Problematique'' emerging into dominant positions of government within the Trilateral Commission and World Economic Forum, this ''solution'' was only the gateway to more problems.

In 1975, Ehrlich stated that in his view,humanity's acquisition of fusion energy was ''like giving an idiot child a machine gun.'' In 1989, faced with the prospect of Cold fusion's realization, John Holdren ruminated that developing fusion energy was undesirable because it would only enflame mankind's '''pave the planet and paint it green' mentality.''

At that same time, Jeremy Rifkind, Third Industrial Revolution author and fringe activist-turned-international climate advisor to the UN, stated ''the prospect of cheap fusion energy is the worst thing that could happen to the planet.''

In true Pygmalion fashion, the oligarchy was able to ''scientifically justify'' their misanthropic view of global governance by first breaking humanity's kneecaps and then arguing that we were never meant to run.

Take, for instance, the fact that the slashing of fusion power research begun under the Trilateral Commission-controlled Presidency of Jimmy Carter, which has continued unabated until the present day.

Not only did actual funding fall far below the minimum requirements to build and activate prototypes of new designs, but starting in 1977 the funding was increasingly redirected towards ''zero-technological growth'' forms of energy like windmill and photovoltaic cell technology. Even conventional domains of nuclear energy research like the closing of the fuel cycle using fast breeder reactors which the USA once championed were killed by Executive Order and buried under moratoria during the 1970s. One of the key figures in this attack on fusion was a RAND Corp alum and former CIA director, James Schlesinger, then serving as Secretary of Energy under Carter. Schlesinger amplified regulatory laws and cut funding in fusion despite milestones being reached in Los Alamos and Princeton in 1976. Schlesinger's worldview as a priest of doom was defined in a 1960 book where he said:

''Economics is the science of choice in a world of limited resources'.... We have gone around the world spreading the 'gospel of plenty' raising the level of expectations '... [but] in the nature of things, these rising expectations can never be satisfied'.... We must in our strategic policy return to the days before the Industrial Revolution '... [and] prepare to fight limited wars.''

Henry Kissinger's National Security Study Memorandum 200 (1974) outlined this new objective for American foreign policy stating: ''Assistance for population moderation should give emphasis to the largest and fastest growing developing countries where there is a special US and strategic interest.'' Among those developing nations targeted for population reduction, NSSM-200 listed birth control and the withholding of food as primary tools. Kissinger cynically wrote: ''is the US prepared to accept food rationing to help people who can't/won't control their population growth?''

Throughout the 1970s, the Trilateral Commission/Council on Foreign Relations cabal under the direction of Kissinger, David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski completely took over American foreign policy and launched a new economic program which Trilateral Commission member Paul Volcker called ''the controlled disintegration of the economy.''

Upon attaining chairmanship of the Federal Reserve in 1979, Volcker put this policy to work by raising interest rates to 20% and keeping them there for another two years- destroying America's small and medium agro-industries while only leaving a cartel of corporate behemoths capable of surviving such draconian rates. Real growth plummeted, long term planning was forgotten and deregulation ushered in vast speculation, which replaced the formerly dirigistic (nationally directed) forms of capitalism that made the west viable in previous ages.

The collapse of US manufacturing as the nation was induced to slide ever more deeply into a new ''services economy'' paradigm of speculation and consumerism.The global transformation unleashed with Nixon-Schultz 1971 destruction of the gold reserve was always driven by an intention to replace national systems of economic planning with a new anti-nation state system driven by myopic speculation.

In this new system, being a good citizen meant only being a good consumer where the worship of short-term gains blinded corrupt fools to the reality that a hive of oligarchs were taking control of mainstream media, science, academia, corporate governance and the civil service of governments across the Trans Atlantic. Under this post 1971 paradigm, concepts like ''growth'' were increasingly defined by purely quantitative-monetaristic parameters and premised upon increased rates of debt and speculative activities.

All investments into authentic forms of scientific and technological progress of the sort that overcame humanity's ''carrying capacities'' were increasingly shut down, while new categories of technological progress were created. ''Technologies'' and ''innovations'' that diminished humanity's power to overcome its limits to growth were encouraged in the form of ''appropriate technologies'' like windmills and ''biotechnology.'' Information systems technologies were transformed from supportive components of productive economic activity, into the dominant forces of economic considerations as better computers were brought online. Under this new Malthusian ethos, ''technology'' would become merely a tool to enslave the masses, and would lose its traditional spirit of creative emancipation of humanity.

As already stated, fusion energy research was systematically destroyed. Investments into space exploration was slashed as NASA's Apollo Program was officially cancelled in 1973, and NASA's funding collapsed from 4% GDP in 1965 to less than 1% by 1975 (see graph). Infrastructure investments dried up and America's age of nuclear power construction was shut down.

The sabotage of space exploration is exemplified by the collapse of NASA funding as a percentage of GDP which peaked in 1965 at nearly 4.5%. As the Malthusians took control of the US government, priorities of long term planning also saw a transformation from the ethos of ''overcoming limits to growth by encouraging frontier discoveries in science'' towards ''adapting to scarcity''. Source: HuffpostKeeping the world addicted to oilLast but not least, the new rules of the ''Great Game'' unleashed by Kissinger and the Trilateral Commission was vectored around an oil-driven economic order.

As researcher William Engdahl demonstrated in his 1992 Century of Oil, then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had more of a role in manufacturing this crisis from scratch by keeping hundreds of tankers replete with petrol from being unloaded in the USA and facilitating the 400% increase with the assistance of several high level oil ministers in the Middle East beholden to Kissinger. In recent years, Saudi Arabia's former OPEC minister at the time corroborated Engdahl's research, stating:

''I am 100 per cent sure that the Americans were behind the increase in the price of oil. The oil companies were in real trouble at that time, they had borrowed a lot of money and they needed a high oil price to save them.''

With this 1973 sleight of hand, the stage was set for a new takeover of the world as a new lie was launched that asserted that all ideas of ''the future'' could only be accessed by linear equations extrapolated into the future. Predictive computer modelling measuring the diminishing rates of oil, coal and natural gas as well as arable land for food production, a new age of scarcity could be imagined that involved a closed world of diminishing returns.

Predictive Modelling as Social ControlIn today's language, this practice of 'predictive modelling' is reflected in the central banking high priest (and UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance) Mark Carney's calls for a new financial system to promote a decarbonized society by 2050. Carney's professed urgency is based on ''predictive models'' that state that the world will heat 1.5 degrees according to a presumed connection to carbon dioxide emissions. Per Carney and his associates, this can only be corrected if we monetize carbon and make it profitable to shut down human industrial activity.

As it turns out, when compared to the real data, not only does one quickly find that the post 1977 warming trend ended in 1999, but the actual temperature falls well below all computer projections produced by the IPCC (which is to environmental policy what the WHO is to health policy).

This hysterical prediction is also seen in Prince (now King) Charles' obsessive warnings that the world has 18 months to save itself before ''predictive modelling'' says that global warming becomes unstoppable and the earth burns in a dystopic inferno!

Charles, who inaugurated the Great Reset in June 2020 and acts as President of England's World Wild Life Fund, is the son of the same late Prince Philip Montbatten who infamously revealed his wish to be reincarnated as a deadly virus ''in order to solve overpopulation''. In a 1988 interview with Deutsche Press Agentur, Prince Philip said:

''The more people there are, the more resources they'll consume, the more pollution they'll create, the more fighting they will do. We have no option. If it isn't controlled voluntarily, it will be controlled involuntarily by an increase in disease, starvation and war. '...In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, in order to contribute something to solve overpopulation.''

One should not make the mistake of separating Philip's misanthropic statements with his active role in co-founding the controlled opposition global ''ecology'' movement alongside Bilderberg group founder Prince Bernhardt of the Netherlands.

The Great Reset: An Oligarch's Wet DreamWhen one reviews the nature of those reforms on the World Economic Forum's websites which are intended to replace the policies of the pre-COVID era, it becomes crystal clear that this Great Reset (which combines full spectrum remedies to the dual crises of COVID and Global Warming), is merely another attempt to steer humanity into a techno-feudal, depopulated cage under a system of global governance managed by social engineers and their oligarchical patrons.4

Just as the deadly remedies proposed to solve those fake crises of pandemics have always been the objective of Imperial College's fraud, so too has the remedy of ''decarbonization'' of industrial civilization been the deadly goal behind the war on global warming which computer models have convinced the world is the primary existential threat to humanity since 1972. Just like the WHO's demands that national sovereignty be cancelled in order for ''the greater good'' to be defended by a supranational medical regime, the same argument for a world government has been championed by supporters of the man-made global warming thesis for over 50 years. For those unfamiliar with the facts of the computer generated chimera of ''man-made global warming'', I refer you to my recent essay In Defense of CO2: Astro-Climatology, Climategate and Common Sense Revisited.

Today, those ''solutions'' take the form of Agenda 2030, which pushes for the deconstruction of industrial civilization, the shutdown of agriculture, fossil fuels and the shackling of nations to inefficient forms of energy like windmills, solar panels and biofuels in order to ostensibly save nature from humanity.

In spite of all of the evidence to demonstrate that neither covid-19 nor man-made global warming have any existence beyond the predictive computer models programmed to scare us into believing they do, it is worth asking: How have so many seemingly educated people become persuaded that COVID-19 or climate change are so existentially dangerous that we must shut down the world economy to somehow save ourselves from their supposedly apocalyptic effects?

Endnotes

1 The ideological blueprint for this applied science of control was outlined decades earlier in the three volume piece co-written by Russell and his fellow Cambridge Apostle Sir Alfred North Whitehead dubbed ''The Principia Mathematica'' (in honor of Sir Isaac Newton's plagiarism published three centuries earlier). Both Principias set the stage for systems of political economy that would be used by the British Empire to attempt to control their victims, with Newton's concepts of mass, forces, attraction and empty space sitting at the heart of the political economic theories of Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo and John Maynard Keynes while Russell's concepts created the ideological foundation for the cybernetics, information theory, systems analysis and the cult of Artificial Intelligence during the last century.

2 A March 25, 2020 edition of Business Insider described Neil's role in shaping US COVID policy writing: ''Dr Deborah Birx, coronavirus response coordinator to the Trump administration, told journalists at a March 16 press briefing that the Imperial paper [Ferguson's computer projection] prompted the CDC's new advice to work from home and avoid gatherings of 10 or more.''

3 One particularly notable example is the Merton-Scholes Formula for pricing oil stock prices and derivative contracts after 1973, which won its programmers Nobel Prizes in the 1990s. This ''forecasting code'' was great at demonstrating nearly infinite rates of monetary growth but was incompetent at identifying the real-world boundary conditions, which ultimately caused their predictions to fail every single occasion they were applied.

4 I say ''merely another attempt'' because this is not the first time a post-nation state transhuman world order has been attempted over the past century, and studying the REASONS for the failures of the previous three attempts would be a valuable exercise for anyone wishing to survive the current storm.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 14:03

The EU has accused the US of profiteering from the Ukraine war by selling guns and gas at ramped up prices.

Several high-ranking officials within the Bloc accused Joe Biden of capitalizing on the brutal Russian invasion by marking up the cost to import the vital products.

One senior official told Politico they believe America was standing to gain the most from the continuation of the fighting, nine months after soldiers first invaded.

'The fact is, if you look at it soberly, the country that is most profiting from this war is the U.S. because they are selling more gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons,' the official said.

In recent months, Europeans have weaned off Russian energy and gas with the countries forced to look to the US for their oil.

EU countries however pay roughly four-times as much for gas as it costs in America, with cheaper energy becoming hugely competitive in the states.

Businesses are looking to pump cash into the US fuel market with new investments - as some even relocate their firms to the other side of the Atlantic.

It has sent some world leaders in Europe into a frenzy, with French President Emmanuel Macron recently saying it was not friendly of the US to treat allies as it is.

Meanwhile European countries are suffering an arms shortage due to huge shipments that have been sent to Ukraine - with them racing to replenish supplies over the winter.

Yet the Americans continue to send more, with the cost of supplying Ukraine to the US now at over $19billion as another $400million was added earlier this week.

It comes at an already tumultuous moment between the Americans and several nations as Europe grapples with the fallout from Biden's green subsidies.

'The Inflation Reduction Act has changed everything,' one EU official said. 'Is Washington still our ally or not?'

Tensions came to a boil on Friday as EU trade ministers met and branded the act 'discriminatory', ahead of it coming into force in just over a month.

High gas prices and the Inflation Reduction Act's green subsidies are leaving many Europeans to wonder whether or not the U.S. is still an ally

Europeans have become reliant on U.S. for gas as they leaned away from relying on Russian energy after the start of the Ukraine war, which is still being fought today

As of June 2022, nearly two thirds of gas from the U.S. was going to Europe

The nearly $400 billion subsidy 'scheme' introduced in the Inflation Reduction Act incentivizes Americans into buying products that are both U.S. made and energy efficient.

The IRA provides tax credits for businesses and individuals who purchase 'green' products, including wind turbines and elective vehicles.

The credits are mostly available, however, for products made in the United States.

The IRA reportedly sent Brussels into 'full-blown panic mode,' with country officials concerned over the subsidies taking away from EU products and threatening European businesses.

The country recently set up a task force to look into the impact of the IRA on European nations in the coming months and years.

European trade ministers also gathered in Brussels Friday to discuss the IRA, but no concrete solution was found.

Jozef Sikela, the minister for the Czech Republic, recently said he hopes to have a solution before the EU trade ministers meet in early December.

'What is important for us is that the US is aware of our concerns and the task force has to work out a solution which will be acceptable for both parties,' Sikela recently told the Financial Times.

The price of gas coming from the U.S. is nearly four times what Americans are paying

U.S. officials have repeatedly shrugged off the concerns from the European leaders.

At the G20 summit in Bali, EU officials reportedly asked Biden about the high gas prices, to which the American President 'seemed unaware of the issue,' according to the official who spoke with Politico.

'The rise in gas prices in Europe is caused by Putin's invasion of Ukraine and Putin's energy war against Europe, period,' a spokesperson for Biden's National Security Council told the outlet.

The spokesperson also said that the high gas prices impacting the wallets of Europeans is not to be blamed on the U.S. government, but on 'private market decisions.'

'U.S. companies have been transparent and reliable suppliers of natural gas to Europe,' the official said.

Exporting capacity of gasoline has also been capped thanks to a June accident that shut down a facility involved in the trade.

An official who works for Biden's National Security Council blames liquefied natural gas buyers in Europe for marking up the price of gas

The NSC official also claimed its liquefied natural gas exporters within the EU that are to blame for the high gas prices for Europeans.

'The increase in global LNG supplies, led by the United States, helped European allies and partners get storage levels to an encouraging place ahead of this winter, and we will continue to work with the EU, its members, and other European countries to ensure sufficient supplies will be available for winter and beyond,' the NSC spokesperson said.

It's a line that some European officials say they are not buying, though.

'The United States sells us its gas with a multiplier effect of four when it crosses the Atlantic,' European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton recently said.

The nations are also concerned that the U.S. is using its quick and cheap energy practices to seduce businesses into moving from Europe into America.

Solvay, a major chemical multinational corporation, said this week it would move to the U.S. for new investments, an announcement that shocked many.

French President Emmanuel Macron recently said that it's not friendly of the U.S. to treat allies as it currently is

The Russian war with Ukraine has also disrupted many industries across Europe

A Bloomberg article published in June said that for the first time ever, the U.S. was sending the majority of its gas to European nations.

Nearly three-quarters of liquefied gas from the U.S. was sent to Europe in the first four months of the year, energy officials said at the time. They also said that shipments to the continent had tripled from the same time last year.

The Biden Administration vowed earlier this year to send over more gas as the European nations looked to lean away from the reliance on Russian oil.

That vow, however, came with Americans suppliers who had 'contract flexibility' and were able to deliver more fuel to Europe which then was marked up by European businesses, according to the NSC official.

Some EU officials have claimed that the US has the most to gain from the continuation of the war between Russia and Ukraine

European nations, now dependent upon the U.S. and its gas supply, say they are fretting over the impacts of the $369 billion green subsidies and what it will look like for them after already being squeezed on gas prices.

'The Inflation Reduction Act is very worrying,' Dutch Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher said. 'The potential impact on the European economy is very big.'

'The Europeans are discernibly frustrated about the lack of prior information and consultation,' said David Kleimann with the Bruegel think tank in Brussels.

One transatlantic trade expert also claimed that the policies outright 'discriminate' against friends and allies across the pond.

'The U.S. is following a domestic agenda, which is regrettably protectionist and discriminates against U.S. allies,' said Tonino Picula, who serves as a member of the European Parliament for Croatia.

In spite of their frustrations with each other, the nations all agreed that Russian President was hoping to sew discord between Europe and its allies, including the U.S.

The nations have called upon the U.S. to consider its allies before letting the policy continue and potentially damage their own industries and economies.

'Americans '-- our friends '-- take decisions which have an economic impact on us,' said EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell.

Borrell, a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, has in the past caught the attention of major media outlets around the world over some of his 'colorful' statements and controversial actions.

Just last month, the diplomat came under fire for calling the world 'a jungle' and Europe a 'garden' that needed to be protected. Many took the man's comments to be both racist and xenophobic.

In 2018, Borrell was fined 30,000 Euros for insider trading and in 2020, he received harsh criticism after he snapped at whistleblowers who leaked a report about COVID-19 misinformation from the EU.

The diplomat also once said that China is a responsible and reliable partner, unlike the U.S.

While many others have not echoed his exact sentiments, his claims have now been heightened by the ongoing gas dilemma between the U.S. and Europe.

'Americans '-- our friends '-- take decisions which have an economic impact on us,' said diplomat Josep Borrell

'America needs to realize that public opinion is shifting in many EU countries,' the one EU officials said regarding the trade relationship with the U.S., as well as the continued war between Ukraine and Russia.

'We are really at a historic juncture,' they continued.

President Biden, through an NSC spokesperson, refuted the claims and pleas from the ally nations in a statement, saying: 'While we understand that some trading partners have concerns with how the [electric vehicle] tax credit provisions in the IRA will operate in practice with respect to their producers, we are committed to continuing to work with them to better understand and do what we can to address their concerns.'

'This is not a zero-sum game. The IRA will grow the pie for clean energy investments, not split it,' the spokesperson said.

The U.S. is hoping that the IRA will help reduce the country's carbon footprint

As the U.S. attempts to move away from traditional fuels and gases, Europeans have become dependent on the export from the Americans

According to Politico, many across the Atlantic are also growing frustrated over the U.S. and its ability to provide weapons and military aid to Ukraine, totaling more than $15 billion alone. That number is nearly double the '‚¬8 billion in aid the EU has sent.

The war has depleted some supplies and it could take years to restock.

This worries the other countries who are concerned the U.S. could seize the opportunity to sell more weapons.

The Pentagon has already announced they are working to develop a plan to speed up sales for military equipment and weapons.

The war between Ukraine and Russia began after Russia invaded the country in February

The battle continues to this day, with the U.S. contributing more than $15 billion in military aid and weapons

The EU, by comparison, has given just '‚¬8 billion, combined

An EU official said that the U.S. is being greedy by making money on both weapons and gas and that tensions may simmer if gas prices were negotiated down.

'It's not good, in terms of optics, to give the impression that your best ally is actually making huge profits out of your troubles,' the EU official said.

The back and forth over gas prices, the green subsidy, and the war itself is exactly what Russian President Vladmir Putin wants, the nations all agreed, however.

In spite of that agreement, many of the European nations are still facing high inflation rates, recession, and possible blackouts heading into winter.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 14:00

Buried deep in the 121-year tradition of the annual Big Game between the Stanford Cardinal and the Cal Berkeley Golden Bears is an obscure tragedy that took the lives of nearly two dozen spectators and injured many more. But as Sam Scott writes in a 2015 article for Stanford magazine, the catastrophe remains the deadliest sporting disaster in the United States, yet one that is forgotten in the histories of Berkeley and Stanford.

After the stadium filled up, hundreds of spectators crowded onto a rickety rooftop to view the Big Game in 1900 in San Francisco. (Image credit: John E. Hare/San Francisco Examiner)

On Thanksgiving Day, November, 29, 1900, the rivals met at a field at 16th and Folsom streets in San Francisco's Mission District for the tradition's ninth matchup. Next door, looming over the field's north side, was the industrial site of the San Francisco and Pacific Glass Works, which housed a massive brick furnace. ''Inside its white-hot walls, 15 tons of molten glass seethed, tended by a skeleton crew,'' writes Scott.

Back at the field, fans from across the region began to fill the stands at around 10:30 a.m. But Scott explains that for those unwilling or unable to pay $1 for a ticket, ''the rush was on to find another way to see the spectacle.''

Swarms of fans, mostly boys and young men, rushed to the flimsy roof of the glassworks building next door, anxious to see the kickoff at 2:30 p.m. Soon, the rooftop was filled with spectators '' about 400 according to one estimate '' who had a view from one end of the field to the other.

Scott writes:

''Twenty minutes after kickoff, the crowd was tense as Cal made its first foray deep into Stanford territory. Then a crash from the field's north side brought play to a halt. The roof of the glassworks had collapsed like a gallows' trap. Necks craned. Players stood out. No one could see exactly what had happened. Then, by one account, a Berkeley fan, fearing a Stanford diversion, yelled, 'It's a job,' and all eyes returned to the ball. The game continued as if nothing had happened, the bands and cheers overwhelming the screams next door.''

Scott writes that a worker inside the factory had been raking the furnace fire '' estimated to be 500 degrees '' when bodies began raining down from 50 feet above. ''It was a horrible experience standing there beside a hellpot and seeing human beings roast to death,'' one factory worker was later quoted.

A ticket from the ninth annual Big Game in 1900. (Image credit: Stanford University Archives)

Scott continues:

''Some were lucky to grasp rafters, holding on for life as death massed below. 'Bodies were falling like hail,' one man said. 'As I clung there I saw the poor fellow who had been chatting with me strike the furnace. He curled up like a worm in that heat.'''

The chaos had little impact on the game. Due to noise, information about what was happening next door was slow to spread to the fans and players inside the stadium. Stanford would go on to win 5-0.

The tragedy claimed the lives of 23 people and injured many more. Those who perished lived within walking distance of the stadium, including the youngest, 9-year-old Lawrence Miel. News of the catastrophe dominated local media and even made the front page of the New York Times. But the coverage was ''bizarrely bifurcated'' by today's standards as front pages reported the horrific scene while sports sections reported typical game stories without any quote from coaches or players about what had happened.

Scott writes:

''The student newspapers took an even stranger tack. Writing about the game for the following Monday because of the holiday weekend, the Stanford Daily featured a 1,500-word front-page story about the victory without so much as a word about the disaster 200 feet away. (The Cal paper reacted in similar fashion.) Indeed, the only reference to the tragedy was a brief item a week later about rumors of a Christmas Day rematch to raise money for affected families, a game that never happened.''

Read Scott's full article in Stanford magazine.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 13:51

President Joe Biden demanded Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stop the 'freedom convoy' that protested at the US-Canada border against vaccine mandates, right before Trudeau invoked emergency powers to end it.

Trudeau is set to testify in Ottawa on Friday regarding his decision to clear out the convoy as part of the Canadian government's investigation into the PM using those powers.

The trucker protest grew until it closed vital trade routes along the Canada-U.S. border and shut down key parts of the capital for more than three weeks. But all border blockades were ended on February 14.

It has been revealed that Biden pressed on his Canadian counterpart to stop the convoy, with Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland saying that Washington was 'very, very, very worried.'

The minister emailed staff on February 10 saying that the US government feared 'all of their northeastern car plants will shut down' if the convoy was not stopped within 12 hours.

Freeland had been speaking that same day to Biden's top economic advisor, Brian Deese, who was himself worried about the blockades and said they could cost around $2.9billion in trade.

President Joe Biden demanded the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stop the 'freedom convoy' that protested at the US-Canada border against vaccine mandates, right before Trudeau invoked emergency powers to end it

Trudeau is set to testify in Ottawa on Friday regarding his decision to clear out the convoy as part of the Canadian government's investigation into the PM using those powers

It has been revealed that Biden pressed on his Canadian counterpart to stop the convoy

Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has testified that Washington was 'very, very, very worried' about the convoy

Trudeau spoke to Biden regarding America's influence on the convoy, as Fox News' Tucker Carlson regularly promoted the blockade and railed against the prime minister

Freeland has told the inquiry that she worried her country was 'in the process of doing long-term and possibly irreparable harm to our trading relationship with the United States.'

The next day, Deese and Trudeau chief of staff Brian Clow set up a call between the Biden and the prime minister, with Trudeau being given a plan to end the convoy, according to POLITICO.

Trudeau, according to texts between Clow and Freeland, talked to Biden about 'money, people and political/media support' with the likes of Fox News' Tucker Carlson influencing the blockades with nightly coverage.

Biden allegedly spoke about the rumors of a separate convoy that was going to blockade Washington and the Super Bowl in Inglewood, California, just outside Los Angeles.

According to Freeland, Biden had described the blockades as a 'shared problem.'

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke to his Canadian counterpart, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra to try and come up with 'a plan to resolve' the blockades.

At one point, Freeland was critical of both Democrats and Republicans in the US, saying they would 'love any excuse to impose more protectionist measures on us.'

Freeland also met with some of the top bankers in Canada on February 13, and was told by the CEO of one of the country's largest steel companies that the blockade was 'really impacting us badly.'

Alan Kestenbaum of Stelco said: 'I fear that even worse, the long term consequences of shutting down auto plants because of lack of Canadian parts, will only convince the auto companies to 'on shore' even more and relocate supplies (and our customers) to the USA.'

Freeland responded by saying that Canada was 'determined to bring this to an end quickly.'

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke to his Canadian counterpart, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra to try and come up with 'a plan to resolve' the blockades

Alghabra spoke about his contact with Buttigieg while testifying in Ottawa regarding Trudeau's use of the Emergencies Act

Freeland said that Canada was 'determined to bring this to an end quickly.'

The next day, and three days after Biden pressed him, Trudeau invoked Canada's Emergencies Act - which had rarely ever been used - to end the protests.

The law was used to freeze bank accounts, ban travel to the protests and compelled tow trucks to remove vehicles from the blockade.

The Emergencies Act requires an investigation to figure out if Trudeau and his Liberal Party government were right to use the act.

It's unclear that Trudeau's use of the emergency powers had any effect on the convoy, with documents suggesting law enforcement didn't need their invocation to open the border.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association said the government had not met the standard for invoking the Emergencies Act, which is intended to deal with threats to 'sovereignty, security and territorial integrity,' the group said.

The 'Freedom Convoy' protests, which started by Canadian truckers opposing a COVID-19 vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers, have drawn thousands of people opposed to Trudeau's policies.

Protesters camped in front of the Canadian Parliament, some of whom want the prime minister to meet with them, said the latest steps were excessive.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was accused of bringing 'martial law' to Canada as he invoked the rarely-used Emergencies Act on Monday to bolster police presence across the country to crack down on Freedom Convoy protesters

Under the Emergencies Act, the government introduced measures intended to cut off protesters' funding and took steps to reinforce provincial and local law enforcement with federal police

At one of the blockades in Alberta, Canadian Mounties on Monday arrested 11 people and seized a cache of guns, body armor, high-capacity magazines and a machete in connection to what they said was a plot to use force against police if they attempted to disperse the protest

The government also used the Emergencies Act to go after those who financially support illegal protests, Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland said at the news conference.

Canada's Emergencies Act would grant Trudeau broad powers Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is reportedly planning to invoke the rarely used 1988 Emergencies Act, which would allow the federal government to override the provinces and restrict the movement of people and goods.

The Emergencies Act would allow the federal government to impose special temporary measures to ensure security during national emergencies anywhere in the country.

The legislation essentially grants Ottawa carte blanche to do anything it deems necessary to respond to an emergency.

The powers it grants include the ability to restrict travel, seize property, prohibit public assembly, and assume control of public services such as police forces.

The law defines a national emergency as a temporary 'urgent and critical situation' that 'seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it.'

The legislation, previously known as the War Measures Act, has been used only three times in Canadian history: during the two world wars and in 1970 by Trudeau's father, the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, after militant Quebec separatists kidnapped a British diplomat and a provincial Cabinet minister.

Freeland said financial institutions are being given the power to suspend or freeze personal or corporate accounts that are suspected of funding illegal protests.

'We are making these changes because we know that these (crowdfunding) platforms are being used to support illegal blockades and illegal activity which is damaging the Canadian economy,' Freeland said.

Canadian authorities have said about half of the funding for the protests has come from U.S. supporters. Toronto-Dominion Bank last week froze two personal bank accounts that received C$1.4 million ($1.1 million) for the protests.

Trudeau told protesters at the time that they need to 'go home now' - but he's held back deploying the military under the Act, which grants powers that have been used only once before in peacetime, and will now be used to tackle protests over COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions.

Trudeau said that invoking the Act would strengthen the police's ability to impose fines and even imprisonment for protesters who blockade borders.

It also granted them the power to tow vehicles, and banks will be given the power to freeze funds associated with protesters if they are used in relation to Freedom Convoy demonstrations.

'We will not and cannot allow these illegal and dangerous activities to continue. There are other ways to express yourselves without engaging in illegal and dangerous activities,' he said.

'We are not using the Emergencies Act to call in the military. We are not limiting freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and people's right to protest freely.'

The provincial premiers of Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, and Saskatchewan spoke out opposing Trudeau's extraordinary plan.

Protesters kicked off the Ambassador Bridge blockade were upset by the move, they told DailyMail.com

'It is a little upsetting because we did work really hard to secure Huron Church,' one protester, Tristan Emond, 22, said, his voice hoarse.

'It's pretty sad how the government can shut down the economy for two years and small businesses completely lose their livelihoods, but the second we start affecting the government and the big businesses and big corporations is when they put their foot down and when they start having issues.

'It's freezing out here, but we got to deal with it if we want any change.

'This is not over. This will not be over till we get our rights and our freedom back here,' the Windsor local added.

In Ontario, which saw the fiercest protests, both in Ottawa and at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Premier Doug Ford said that he was in favor of using the Emergencies Act.

'I support the federal government and any proposal they have to bring law and order back to our province, to make sure we stabilize our business and trade around the world,' he said before meeting with Trudeau on Monday.

Trudeau said that invoking the Act would strengthen the police's ability to impose fines and even imprisonment for protesters who blockade borders

The provincial premiers of Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, and Saskatchewan spoke out opposing Trudeau's extraordinary plan

Protesters kicked off the Ambassador Bridge blockade were upset by the move, they told DailyMail.com

The 1988 Emergencies Act allows the federal government to override the provinces and authorize special temporary measures to ensure security during national emergencies anywhere in the country.

The legislation, previously known as the War Measures Act, has been used only three times in Canadian history: during the two world wars and in 1970 by Trudeau's father, the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, after militant Quebec separatists kidnapped a British diplomat and a provincial Cabinet minister.

The Ambassador Bridge, North America's busiest trade link, reopened for traffic on the 13th, ending a six-day blockade, Canada Border Services Agency said, after Canadian police cleared the protesters fighting to end COVID-19 restrictions.

The crossing normally carries 25 percent of all trade between the two countries, and the blockade on the Canadian side had disrupted business in both countries, with automakers forced to shut down several assembly plants.

A steady stream of trucks as far as the eye could see were making their way across the Ambassador Bridge at dawn after it reopened, their lights shining bright on the dark morning hours after the reopening.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 13:47

Yevhenia Podvoiska and Tatiana Kuznetsova, from left, both policewomen, steer and navigate a drone during class in Kyiv on Oct. 27. Students must learn to work in pairs: a pilot and a navigator. Julian Hayda/NPR hide caption

toggle caption Julian Hayda/NPR Yevhenia Podvoiska and Tatiana Kuznetsova, from left, both policewomen, steer and navigate a drone during class in Kyiv on Oct. 27. Students must learn to work in pairs: a pilot and a navigator.

Julian Hayda/NPR KYIV, Ukraine '-- Ukrainian women have played a crucial part in their country's resistance to Russia's full-scale invasion. Now, a new school is training women to play a vital new role.

The Female Pilots of Ukraine is the country's first school dedicated to solely teaching women '-- both civilians as well as those serving in Ukraine's security forces '-- how to fly drones.

Both the Ukrainian and Russian militaries have been using drones in the war in Ukraine, for reconnaissance and fighting. Ukraine has many women in the military but they rarely work as drone pilots, according to the school's administrators.

The school, which started in Kyiv in August and is privately run, aims to change that.

"We all realize that this is a war of the 21st century," Tatyana Kuznetsova, one of the school's first enrollees, tells NPR during a class in Kyiv's giant Pyrohiv Park.

The seven-year police veteran says she decided to enroll in the free classes to learn new skills "just in case."

It helps to have a good mental compassDuring their instruction, Kuznetsova and four other classmates work in pairs '-- a pilot and a navigator '-- to practice flying the drones.

They run through a checklist of steps like turning on the controller and checking the batteries. Then the small machines, each only about a foot across and weighing just around 2.5 pounds, have liftoff and zip away gaining altitude.

The drones are soon lost in the big, open gray sky but the pilot and navigator are always keeping a watchful eye on them via the controller screen.

Mykyta Kosov, right, an instructor in the drone school, shows Tatiana Nikolaienko, left, and Yevhenia Podvoiska, center, how to plan a course for their drone to gather reconnaissance and evade detection in Kyivon Oct. 27. Julian Hayda/NPR hide caption

toggle caption Julian Hayda/NPR Mykyta Kosov, right, an instructor in the drone school, shows Tatiana Nikolaienko, left, and Yevhenia Podvoiska, center, how to plan a course for their drone to gather reconnaissance and evade detection in Kyivon Oct. 27.

Julian Hayda/NPR The drones they use can fly at a speed of up to 45 miles per hour and at an altitude of around a half mile, says instructor Mykyta Kosov.

"A good drone pilot must be a virtuoso in working with maps," he says, adding they have to have a compass in their head.

They want to go to the front lineKosov has been piloting drones for a year and a half '-- eight months of that with Ukraine's armed forces after he was called up to serve following Russia's invasion. He says this is important training for today's conflict.

"Using drones, we get intelligence data and can watch the situation on the front lines more effectively," he says.

Kosov is one of the many instructors who teach classes at the school. Each class is a combination of in-classroom and field training that lasts three to four weeks depending on the level.

School founder Valeriy Borovyk says students can take their new skills into the Ukrainian military, if they want. "I was very surprised that 80% of our students want to go to [the front line]," he says.

Borovyk is the head of Alliance "New Energy of Ukraine," a nonprofit working on energy effectiveness, but has been serving in counterintelligence for Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion. He says he recognized the need for more women drone pilots months ago after struggling to help a friend who was looking to get in contact with a female drone pilot for a feminist organization in the United Kingdom.

Valerii Borovyk, the founder of the Female Pilots of Ukraine drone school, works in his office in Kyiv on Oct. 27. He believes that western feminist organizations should rally to support more women's involvement in the Ukrainian armed forces. Julian Hayda/NPR hide caption

toggle caption Julian Hayda/NPR Valerii Borovyk, the founder of the Female Pilots of Ukraine drone school, works in his office in Kyiv on Oct. 27. He believes that western feminist organizations should rally to support more women's involvement in the Ukrainian armed forces.

Julian Hayda/NPR Women from all walks of life are signing up for classes, Borovyk says '-- models, journalists, artists, marketing professionals.

The school, which has already graduated 10 students, has 40 applications pending for the next course cycle, he says.

But the school costs more than $3,000 a month to operate, Borovyk says, and because it is not supported by the government and does not have any big donors, they could use more money for instructors, drones and other equipment. The budget is currently coming out of Borovyk's own pocket and supplemented by donations from students, and their friends and families.

"Our military sector needs many, many pilots. We need it now," he says. "I hope we will win next year, but we must be prepared for many years."

Iryna Solodchuk reaches to catch a drone mid-air as it's steered by one of her classmates in Kyiv on Oct. 27. Julian Hayda/NPR hide caption

toggle caption Julian Hayda/NPR Iryna Solodchuk reaches to catch a drone mid-air as it's steered by one of her classmates in Kyiv on Oct. 27.

Julian Hayda/NPR

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 13:42

The White House on Nov. 22 announced ''new enforcement guidance'' on COVID-19 vaccine mandates for nursing home residents and staff.

It announced ''new enforcement guidance to ensure nursing homes are offering updated COVID-19 vaccines and timely treatment to their residents and staff,'' according to a White House fact sheet released on Nov. 22. It stated that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) still requires ''nursing homes to educate their residents'' on COVID-19 vaccines and offer vaccines to residents.

''CMS will issue guidance today reminding health care providers of this requirement,'' the fact sheet reads. ''In its guidance, CMS will make clear that nursing homes with low vaccination rates will be referred to state survey agencies for close scrutiny, and that facilities that do not comply with the requirement to offer and educate on the benefit of lifesaving COVID-19 vaccinations will face enforcement actions, including the need to submit corrective action plans to achieve compliance.''

The White House didn't elaborate on what ''enforcement actions'' it would implement. However, in the fall of 2021, President Joe Biden's administration announced vaccine mandates for facilities that receive Medicaid or Medicare funding'--along with a now-scrapped rule that would force workers at companies with 100 or more employees to get the vaccine.

CMS officials didn't respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment by press time regarding what penalties health care providers may encounter.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will ask ''governors for their assistance and partnership in increasing COVID vaccination rates for long-term care residents and highlight for them how their states are performing against their peers,'' according to the White House.

Corporate and government COVID-19 vaccine mandates have largely fallen out of favor in recent months amid falling COVID-19 numbers. Tyson Foods, the largest meat company by sales in the United States, confirmed last week that it dropped its mandate, while a New York judge tossed New York's mandate for city employees in October.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated in 2021 that the requirement covers 10.4 million health care workers at 76,000 facilities.

MandateThe vaccine requirement for Medicare and Medicaid providers was one of several mandates Biden's administration imposed upon private-sector employers to try to drive up vaccination rates. The rule impacted doctors, nurses, aides, technicians, and even volunteers at hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient surgery centers, home-health providers, and other medical facilities that get Medicaid or Medicare funding.

The Supreme Court blocked a rule requiring employers with more than 100 workers to be vaccinated or tested weekly for COVID-19. A lower court also blocked a requirement for employees of federal contractors to be vaccinated.

A hospital corpsman administers a COVID-19 vaccine to a fellow corpsman at Naval Health Clinic Hawaii on Dec. 16, 2020. (Naval Health Clinic Hawaii)Over the months, Biden's various vaccine orders were challenged in court by Republican-led states, conservative groups, and some businesses. The lawsuits argued in part that the mandates exceeded federal executive powers and infringed on states' rights to regulate public health matters.

About two dozen states recently asked (pdf) HHS and CMS to end its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers. Led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, 22 state attorneys general argued that the current policy is outdated and noted that vaccines don't protect against COVID-19 infections.

''The mandate has limited many patients' access to needed medical care and imposed substantial costs on patients and health care workers without any corresponding benefits. The Biden administration should have never imposed this mandate, and CMS should now throw it in the trash bin where it belongs,'' Knudsen, a Republican, said in a statement.

Further, the states asserted that the CMS mandate led to widespread staffing shortages at health care facilities and limited patients' access to medical care. CMS and HHS officials didn't respond to a request for comment on the letter.

Earlier this year, CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said vaccine mandates hadn't led to significant shortages, although she didn't provide evidence.

''We have seen that healthcare systems that implement vaccine requirements are not experiencing dramatic staff losses,'' Brooks-LaSure said in a letter (pdf) in February to health care facilities. ''Vaccinated staff are instead more available to work since they are less likely to get sick.''

On Nov. 11, a spokesperson for HHS said the Biden administration will keep its COVID-19 emergency intact when the current emergency expires in January 2023 after a 60-day deadline passed. The spokesperson said the emergency ''remains in effect and as HHS committed to earlier, we will provide a 60-day notice to states before any possible termination or expiration.''

A number of individual states, including ones run by Democrats, have dropped their respective states of emergency and some mandates in recent days. For example, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, announced that his state's public health emergency ended on Oct. 31.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter at The Epoch Times based in New York.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 13:34

Hospital and State Leaders Call on Rhode Islanders to Seek Medical Care in the Right Place

New healthcare staffing regulation aimed at supporting hospitals and other facilities

With behavioral health issues being added to flu, COVID and RSV, the ''tridemic'' is now seen as a ''quademic'' in Rhode Island. With several respiratory viruses currently circulating in Rhode Island and with the holidays coming, State health officials and hospital leaders again urge the public to only go to emergency departments for issues that require emergency care. Hospital emergency departments in Rhode Island are experiencing significant crowding and prolonged waiting times.

Health issues can often be treated quickly and effectively by a primary care provider, in an urgent care facility, or at a health center are less severe cases of the flu, back pain, minor cuts, sore throats, low-grade fevers, and most cases of norovirus (the ''stomach flu'').

Outpatient settings are also currently seeing a very significant number of patients, but seeking care for less serious health issues in non-hospital settings is important to make sure the emergency departments will be accessible for those in most need.

One issue that may be increasing the flow to emergency departments is the overwhelming of the standard healthcare settings '' the primary care providers, clinics, etc. Situations where an office can not accommodate an urgent request to be seen, or use telemedicine systems, often result in a referral to ''go to the emergency room''. RIDOH is including ''Messaging to the primary care provider community about measures that can be taken in that setting to lessen emergency department overcrowding. Examples include making more same-day sick appointments available for patients and offering expanded and/or non-traditional office hours; and seeing patients who have non-urgent symptoms in the office or by telemedicine, instead of referring them to the emergency department.''

It was also announced that emergency medical services (EMS) workers will be allowed to work under the supervision of ''on-site healthcare providers in a hospital or other licensed healthcare facility in Rhode Island'', under a new, temporary health regulation to help alleviate staffing shortages in emergency departments.

''Similar to last fall and winter, we are seeing longer waits at local emergency rooms. While COVID-19 and influenza are circulating again, there are also additional challenges at hospitals throughout the country this year due to RSV, behavioral health needs, and healthcare worker shortages,'' said Ana Novais, Acting Secretary of the Executive Office of Health & Human Services.

Cases of RSV usually peak in Rhode Island in early January. Flu is starting to circulate in Rhode Island as well, and hospitals are still treating patients with COVID-19. The ongoing behavioral health crisis and the national healthcare workers shortage are creating additional challenges for the hospitals in Rhode Island, in addition to the circulation of these respiratory viruses.

''Emergency departments are perfect for'¯emergency situations. If someone is experiencing a serious health issue, they should absolutely call 911 or go to an emergency department right away. However, emergency departments treat patients with the most serious health issues first, which means that people with less severe conditions will experience long waits,'' said Interim Director of Health Utpala Bandy, MD, MPH.

''Some simple prevention measures can help you stay healthy. Regular hand washing and staying home from school or work when sick are two other steps that everyone should be taking, especially kids and people who are in regular contact with school-age children, older adults, and people with underlying health conditions.''

State leaders highlighted health.ri.gov/rightplace which has links to lists of primary care providers, urgent care centers, and health centers in Rhode Island, and guidance on when and when not to go to the emergency department. The site also has resources for those without insurance, as some free-standing urgent care centers do not accept Medicaid or those without insurance who cannot private pay.

''These past months we have experienced a steady increase in young patients needing hospitalization due largely to the early peak of the respiratory viral season. This, combined with a national staffing shortage during an ongoing severe children's behavioral health crisis, has created an unprecedented 'perfect storm' for children's hospitals nationwide.

For those patients using the ED, please understand there have been long wait times for non-urgent conditions and we know this can be frustrating. We ask for patience as limited staff triage the most critical patients while we devise alternative ways to improve emergency care access. Our valued staff are working tirelessly to provide the best care possible and ensure all patients receive the treatment they need,'' said Frank Overly, MD, medical director, Hasbro Children's Hospital emergency department.

''Emergency Department overcrowding is a serious threat to patients and staff and has intensified through the pandemic,'' said Laura Forman, MD, Chief of Emergency Medicine, Kent Hospital. ''Hospital staff across the state are working to ensure that all patients have access to timely care during this crisis.''

When to seek emergency care

If someone is showing any of these signs, seek emergency medical care immediately:

Choking Stopped breathing or turning blue Head injury with passing out, throwing up, or not behaving normally Injury to neck or spine Seizure that lasted 3 to 5 minutes Bleeding that cannot be stopped Severe allergic reaction New weakness in an arm, leg, or face New difficulty speaking or confusion Inability to wake or stay awake Suddenly not able to speak, see, walk, or move This is not a complete list of health issues that require emergency medical attention. For more information, see health.ri.gov/rightplace.

Measures being taken at the State level

An interagency team across the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) is working toward the development and implementation of strategies to address the challenges hospitals are facing. They include:

Promulgating an emergency regulation allowing emergency medical services (EMS) professionals to work in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Launching a broad public education campaign on seeking the right care in the right setting. Messaging is happening through social media, traditional media, schools, and other channels. Messaging to the primary care provider community about measures that can be taken in that setting to lessen emergency department overcrowding. Examples include making more same-day sick appointments available for patients and offering expanded and/or non-traditional office hours; and seeing patients who have non-urgent symptoms in the office or by telemedicine, instead of referring them to the emergency department. Expediting the licensure process to ensure that all new healthcare workers are able to join the workforce in Rhode Island as quickly as possible. DCYF is focusing on expediting discharges from Hasbro and Bradley Hospital, especially for children who can go home if supportive services can be made available. Daily, weekday meetings with BHDDH and all hospitals, BH Link and three Community Mental Health Centers with stabilization units to identify openings to place clients. Throughout this year, we are building the infrastructure for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, which we expect to come online in FY24. RIDOH's PediPRN Program is available to pediatric providers to help diagnose, assess, and manage mild to moderate behavioral health issues in children Sharing a Family Behavioral Health Crisis Plan that is available multiple languages, to help all families plan for behavioral health emergencies. Launching Mobile Response Stabilization Services, which is a mobile crisis service that can help prevent youth from having to go to or stay at the Emergency Department. Steps people should take to help stay healthy and out of the hospital

Non-behavioral health

Get your flu shot. Everyone older than six months of age should be vaccinated every year. For information on where to get a flu shot, see health.ri.gov/flu. Be up to date on your COVID-19 vaccinations. For many people, that means getting a booster. For information on how to get vaccinated against COVID-19, see C19vaccineRI.org.'¯'¯ Cough or sneeze into your elbow.'¯ Wash your hands often with soap and water.'¯ Consistent with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people who are at high risk for getting sick should wear masks when COVID-19 levels are ''medium,'' and everyone should consider wearing masks in crowded indoor settings when COVID-19 levels are ''high.'' (COVID-19 levels by county are posted here.) Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces at home, work, and school.'¯ Stay home if you are sick. Keep children home from daycare or school who have fever, especially with a'¯cough,'¯difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, congestion, runny nose, or sore throat, until they are fever-free for 24 hours without medications that reduce fever. Contact your pediatrician or healthcare provider if you believe your child needs medical care. Your provider can offer advice on whether your child needs to be evaluated in person, tested for COVID or flu, and the best location (doctor's office, urgent care, emergency room) for care.Behavioral health

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide or is experiencing a non-life-threatening mental health or substance use crisis, call 988. Contact Kids' Link RI if it is needed. Kids' Link RI is a behavioral health triage service and referral network. A program offered in collaboration with Gateway Healthcare, Lifespan, Hasbro Children's Hospital and Bradley Hospital, Kids' Link RI is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help triage children and youth in need of mental health services and refer them to treatment providers. To contact Kids' Link RI, call 1-855-543-5465. Contact BH Link if it is needed. BH Link's mission is to ensure all Rhode Islanders, 18 and over, experiencing mental health and substance use crises receive the appropriate services they need as quickly as possible in an environment that supports their recovery. To contact BH Link, call 401-414-LINK (5465)

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 13:32

A controversial bill prohibiting Big Apple landlords from performing criminal background checks on prospective tenants '' even those convicted of murder and other heinous crimes '' is on a fast track to becoming law.

At least 30 of the City Council's 51 members have agreed to back the ''Fair Chance for Housing Act,'' which is set to go before the Council's Committee on Civil Rights for its first public hearing on Dec. 8, records show.

Unlike an earlier version of the bill that died in another Council committee at the end of the last year following outcry from landlord advocacy groups and others, the new bill introduced in August by Councilman Keith Powers (D-Manhattan) is gaining steam because of support from newly elected pols. Its co-sponsors include Speaker Adrienne Adams.

And Mayor Eric Adams appears more than willing to sign it into law should the bill reach his desk.

If the bill reaches Mayor Eric Adam's desk, he will make sure the bill ''has the maximum intended impact.'' Getty Images for Lincoln Center''No one should be denied housing because they were once engaged with the criminal justice system, plain and simple,'' Adams spokesman Charles Lutvack told The Post.

''We will work closely with our partners in the City Council to ensure this bill has maximum intended impact.''

Backers and opponents are gearing up to have their voices heard at the Council hearing, but some said the stakes are too high '-- and dangerous '-- to wait.

Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R-Brooklyn) dropped an 85-second video on Twitter Wednesday night calling on New Yorkers to contact their local Council members and demand they reject the bill because ''the safety of your families '... is at stake.''

Councilman Keith Powers introduced the bill in August and is gaining support from newly elected politicians. @FairHousing_NYC/Twitter''What's on the menu this Thanksgiving?'' she said in a post accompanying the video. ''A bill which would prohibit landlords from conducting criminal background checks of potential tenants.

''Murdered someone? Beat up your girlfriend? Robbed? Stabbed your neighbor? No problem. Come live among us! Tell the @NYCCouncil to vote NO!''

Powers later fired back at Vernikov on Twitter, saying Thanksgiving ''is supposed to be a day of gratitude, not attacking. We don't believe in second chances anymore?''

The bill doesn't affect New York City Housing Authority complexes, as they would still be required to conduct background checks for prospective tenants since they're guided by federal law. It also doesn't apply to two-family homes or homeowners renting out single rooms.

The new bill will also prohibit landlords to perform criminal background checks on those convicted of murder and other crimes. Getty Images/iStockphotoThe legislation also doesn't prohibit landlords from checking New York's sex offender registry to weed out pervs as prospective tenants. But the bill's current language leaves landlords vulnerable to renting to people who committed sex crimes in other states because out-of-state sex offender registries are not addressed.

Vito Signorile, a spokesman for the Rent Stabilization Association, said many of the 25,000 landlords his advocacy group represents are irate that the ex-con-friendly proposal is back on the table after they helped defeat the earlier 2020 legislation drafted by then-Councilman Stephen Levin (D-Brooklyn).

He also said members are getting an earful from existing tenants who want no part of sharing buildings with violent or career ex-cons.

Councilman Keith Powers, alongside other politicians, lead a Fair Chance Housing rally. @fairhousing_nyc/Instagram''We are proponents of second chances when it comes to low-level crimes like drug use but renting to people convicted more serious crimes like '... arson and murder [and repeat offenders] is a whole other thing,'' said Signorile.

Powers said he's ''very practical about the [city's] public safety challenges and want[s] people to feel safe wherever they live,'' but ''it's also important that people who've rehabilitated themselves have an opportunity to be able to stabilize their lives,''

He also said the bill could be tweaked to address concerns raised by opponents before any final version is voted on.

Andre Ward, an associate vice president at the Fortune Society, a nonprofit that helps formerly incarcerated people integrate back into society, said the bill is long overdue because ''about half'' of people leaving city jails these days wind up homeless and in shelters.

''We think this legislation is critical to supporting people upon their release so they can live a life of contribution,'' said Ward.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 13:28

A makeshift hospital being built Tuesday for COVID patients in China's southwestern megacity of Chongqing. Photo: CNS/AFP via Getty Images

A new COVID calamity is hammering China, with a surge in infections prompting a return of lockdowns, including in some manufacturing areas that supply the West.

China reported a record number of infections this week, amid lockdowns and mass testing that are fueling unrest and darkening the country's economic outlook. Schools in Beijing returned to online teaching.Why it matters: In addition to the human misery for the world's most populous country, the effects will be felt around the globe, Axios China author Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian reports from Taipei.

Supply chains are likely to be disrupted, causing prices to rise in an already rocky global economy.Rare protests broke out today in China's far western Xinjiang region. Crowds shouted at hazmat-suited guards after a deadly fire triggered anger by prolonged COVID lockdowns, Reuters reports.

"End the lockdown!" shouted protesters in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi, where an apartment fire killed 10.What's happening: The moment of truth for China's zero-COVID policy has finally come.

Either party leaders will need to plunge much of the country into draconian lockdowns, as we saw at the beginning of the pandemic '-- or they'll decide it's time to learn to live with COVID.Epidemic-control workers drive on a nearly empty street in Beijing's central business district on Wednesday. Photo: Kevin Frayer/Getty ImagesReality check: China's doctors have warned Xi Jinping that the healthcare system isn't prepared for the huge outbreak likely to follow the easing of strict anti-COVID measures, the Financial Times reports.

Chinese-made vaccines, which don't use the mRNA technology employed by many produced by the West, aren't as effective compared to those made in the U.S. And China has worrisomely low vaccination rates among older people.But the number of cases in China is actually still very low for anywhere but China.The big picture: "Zero COVID" restrictions have damaged the economy and undermined people's trust in government.

That's a stark about-face from the height of the pandemic. Then, many Chinese people felt the tight central control had protected them better than any other governance model in the world.But it's that very model that has plunged China into its current predicament. Xi tied his reputation, and the party's legitimacy, to the success of "zero COVID."Between the lines: Chinese leaders made a huge, politically motivated mistake. They resisted the import of Western-made mRNA vaccines (including Pfizer and Moderna) for its citizens. These vaccines were only recently made available to foreigners.

That's likely because of Beijing's big vaccine diplomacy push: Chinese officials touted their own vaccines as the best and safest.It was politically unpalatable to admit "defeat," and allow Chinese people to get more effective '-- but Western-made '-- jabs.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 13:22

[Originally published August 13, 2008]

It's been 75 years since the federal government, on the spurious grounds of fighting the Great Depression, ordered the confiscation of all monetary gold from Americans, permitting trivial amounts for ornamental or industrial use. This happens to be one of the episodes Kevin Gutzman and I describe in detail in our new book, Who Killed the Constitution? The Fate of American Liberty from World War I to George W. Bush. From the point of view of the typical American classroom, on the other hand, the incident may as well not have occurred.

A key piece of legislation in this story is the Emergency Banking Act of 1933, which Congress passed on March 9 without having read it and after only the most trivial debate. House Minority Leader Bertrand H. Snell (R-NY) generously conceded that it was "entirely out of the ordinary" to pass legislation that "is not even in print at the time it is offered." He urged his colleagues to pass it all the same: "The house is burning down, and the President of the United States says this is the way to put out the fire. [Applause.] And to me at this time there is only one answer to this question, and that is to give the President what he demands and says is necessary to meet the situation."

Among other things, the act retroactively approved the president's closing of private banks throughout the country for several days the previous week, an act for which he had not bothered to provide a legal justification. It gave the secretary of the Treasury the power to require all individuals and corporations to hand over all their gold coin, gold bullion, or gold certificates if in his judgment "such action is necessary to protect the currency system of the United States."

The Emergency Banking Act reached back in time to amend the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, which had originally been intended to criminalize economic intercourse between American citizens and declared enemies of the United States. One provision of the act granted the president the power to regulate and even prohibit "under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe '... any transactions in foreign exchange, export or earmarkings of gold or silver coin or bullion or currency '... by any person within the United States." In 1918, the act was amended to extend its provisions two years beyond the conclusion of hostilities, and to allow the president to "investigate, regulate, or prohibit" even the "hoarding" of gold by an American.

After those two years elapsed, people generally assumed that the Trading with the Enemy Act had passed into desuetude. But the Supreme Court later explained that the act's provisions were not limited merely to World War I and the two years that followed '-- it "stood ready to meet additional wars and additional enemies" and could be called into service once again under those circumstances. (Little did anyone suspect in 1917 that these "additional enemies" would turn out to be the American people themselves.) As amended by the Emergency Banking Act of 1933, the Trading with the Enemy Act no longer said that simply "during time of war" could the president prohibit the export of gold or take action against "hoarding" (i.e., holding on to one's money). Now these actions could be taken during time of war or "during any other period of national emergency declared by the President."

A month later, claiming authority from the Emergency Banking Act and its amendment to the Trading with the Enemy Act, the president ordered all individuals and corporations in America to hand over their gold holdings to the federal government in exchange for an equivalent amount of paper currency. The paper currency they were receiving in exchange for the gold had always been redeemable in gold in the past, so few saw anything amiss in this coerced transaction, and most trusted the government's assurances that this was somehow necessary in order to combat the Depression. Only later would they discover that they weren't getting that gold back, and that the paper dollars they were being given in exchange would be devalued. Soon only foreign governments and central banks would be able to convert dollars into gold '-- and even that link to gold would be severed in 1971.

On June 5, 1933, at the behest of the president, Congress took the next step, passing a joint resolution making it illegal to "require payment in gold or a particular kind of coin or currency, or in an amount in money of the United States measured thereby." Any provision in a private or public contract promising payment in gold was thereby nullified. Payment could be made in whatever the government declared to be legal tender, and gold could not be used even as a yardstick for determining how much paper money would be owed.

For the next six months President Roosevelt pursued an erratic monetary course. Every day a new gold price was declared, on a basis no one could figure out. Private lending in effect came to a halt, with the value of the dollar in constant flux amid the prospect of ongoing devaluation. As Senator Carter Glass (D-VA) put it, "No man outside of a lunatic asylum will loan his money today on a farm mortgage." And thus the government could triumphantly announce that since the private sector was cruelly depriving Americans of credit, it would have to step in and provide relief.

Meanwhile, Senator William Borah was assuring his countrymen that when it came to the nation's monetary system, "there is no limitation upon the power of Congress. It is not circumscribed in any respect whatever. It is given full and plenary power to deal with that subject; and therefore it is the same as if there were no Constitution whatever." Borah also tried to argue that "when an individual takes an obligation payable in gold" he does so "with the full understanding that the Government may change its monetary policy at any time and that he must accept whatever the Congress says at a particular time shall constitute money."

The general rule (to which there are occasional exceptions) that no senator should ever be listened to on anything holds here: the power of Congress over money is in fact very limited. It has the power to "coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures."

Coining money simply refers to the process of taking a precious metal, converting it into coins, and stamping those coins with an indication of their metal content. The power to regulate the value of money does not involve a power to dilute the value of money by inflation, an absurd and self-serving rendering. Regulation of the value of money is a power of declaration and comparison, whereby some monetary standard is compared to other coins in circulation and an exchange rate for these various kinds of currency established according to the amounts of precious metals (with due allowance for the distinct values of different precious metals) in each. In other words, if Congress were to declare by statute what the prevailing market exchange rate between gold and silver was, and thus to "regulate" gold and silver coins vis- -vis one another '-- or, more precisely, vis- -vis the Spanish silver dollar that constituted the American monetary standard '-- then it would be properly exercising its constitutional power, which consists of nothing more than this.

That is why this power appears in the same clause with the power to "fix the Standard of Weights and Measures," which involves the measurement of fixed standards in order to assure uniformity throughout the nation. That power does not give Congress the power to declare that one-tenth of a pound shall now be declared a pound, but to take an already-existing standard and codify it. Every single monetary statute enacted from the ratification of the Constitution until the 1930s understood the congressional power to regulate the "value" of money not in the sense of declaring money to possess some arbitrary value that suits the whims of politicians or central bankers, but in the sense of establishing the relative values of gold and silver coins in terms of the ever-shifting relative values of those metals on the free market. (Needless to say, the market is perfectly capable of doing this on its own.)

Moreover, the "dollar" was not an arbitrary term at the time the Constitution was drafted. In the late 18th century, everyone knew what the "dollar" referred to: the silver Spanish milled dollar, which was in widespread use in the United States. The Constitution twice refers to the dollar '-- in Article I, Section 9, Clause 1 (a clause that everyone understood to involve a tax on the import of slaves), and in the Seventh Amendment (which protected the right to a jury trial in civil cases involving at least twenty dollars). If the dollar had been something that Congress could manipulate at will, or if "dollar" had been merely a generic term to refer to whatever Congress should arbitrarily choose to recognize as currency, the South would never have accepted that clause '-- or the Constitution itself. Congress might have manipulated the dollar so as to make the tax on slave imports prohibitively expensive. It could also have effectively abolished trial by jury in civil cases by making twenty "dollars" an astronomically high amount of money.

The Court never pronounced upon the constitutionality of the gold seizure (for reasons we speculate on in our book), the legality of which it simply took for granted. The cases it chose to hear involved the cancellation of gold clauses in public and private contracts. Known as the Gold Clause Cases, Norman v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co., Nortz v. United States, and Perry v. United States were argued in January 1935 and decided the following month. In each case Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes wrote the opinion for the Court; Justice McReynolds composed a single dissent that he applied to all three.

The Court declared in the first two cases that the federal government had been entitled to cancel all private contracts in gold. The perpetuation of gold clauses would have amounted to the "attempted frustration" of "the constitutional power of the Congress over the monetary system of the country'.... [T]hese clauses interfere with the exertion of the power granted to the Congress." Not a stitch of evidence existed for any aspect of this argument.

Perry, the third case, involved a man who had purchased in gold a US bond that was payable in gold, and was seeking payment either in gold or in the equivalent in paper currency. Since the government intended to pay in depreciated dollars, he believed he was receiving far less than he was entitled to under the terms of the bond. The bond's face value was $10,000 in gold. In the inflated dollars of post-gold-standard America, it would have taken nearly $17,000 in paper currency in order to satisfy what the government had contracted to pay him.

The Court declared that the plaintiff was indeed entitled to his gold, since the government had an obligation to live up to its promises. But in not paying him his gold, the government wasn't really wronging him, since gold was now illegal to hold. In other words, if the government paid him in gold, it would then have to confiscate that gold from him anyway since holding gold was against the law.

Speaking for the minority, Justice McReynolds declared:

Just men regard repudiation and spoliation of citizens by their sovereign with abhorrence; but we are asked to affirm that the Constitution has granted power to accomplish both. No definite delegation of such a power exists; and we cannot believe that the farseeing framers, who labored with hope of establishing justice and securing the blessings of liberty, intended that the expected government should have authority to annihilate its own obligations and destroy the very rights which they were endeavoring to protect. Not only is there no permission for such actions; they are inhibited. And no plenitude of words can conform them to our charter.

To the argument that the bondholder had suffered no damage in being denied payment in gold since it was now illegal for people to own gold, the dissent replied: "Obligations cannot be legally avoided by prohibiting the creditor from receiving the thing promised'.... There would be no serious difficulty in estimating the value of 25.8 grains of gold in the currency now in circulation." The contract to pay in gold having been broken, the holder was at least morally entitled to receive in currency not just the nominal amount of the bond but an amount in paper dollars equivalent to what he would have earned if the payment could have been made in gold. "For the government to say, we have violated our contract but have escaped the consequences through our own statute, would be monstrous. In matters of contractual obligation the government cannot legislate so as to excuse itself." Suppose a private individual tried to do the same thing, "secreting or manipulating his assets with the intent to place them beyond the reach of creditors." Any such attempt "would be denounced as fraudulent, wholly ineffective."

"Loss of reputation for honorable dealing," the dissent concluded, "will bring us unending humiliation; the impending legal and moral chaos is appalling."

By the 1970s the federal government had once again permitted Americans to hold gold coins. But when it came time to actually mint them again, it made sure that gold coins could never circulate and displace the constantly depreciating paper currency printed by the US government: the law required that such coins could circulate with a face value only a tiny fraction of their market value.

The full story of the gold confiscation is actually much worse than this, and we tell it in Who Killed the Constitution? What this episode teaches us is not so much that we need to "return to the Constitution," though that would be an improvement over what we have now, but rather that pieces of paper that governments themselves interpret cannot be expected to prevent governments from doing what they think they can get away with.

Lysander Spooner once said that he believed "that by false interpretations, and naked usurpations, the government has been made in practice a very widely, and almost wholly, different thing from what the Constitution itself purports to authorize." At the same time, he could not exonerate the Constitution, for it "has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist." It is hard to argue with that.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 13:19

In his March 21 press briefing, State Department spokesman Ned Price told the gathered reporters that ''President Zelenskyy has also made it very clear that he is open to a diplomatic solution that does not compromise the core principles at the heart of the Kremlin's war against Ukraine.'' A reporter asked Price, ''What are you saying about your support for a negotiated settlement la Zelenskyy, but on whose principles?'' In what still may be the most remarkable statement of the war, Price responded, ''this is a war that is in many ways bigger than Russia, it's bigger than Ukraine.''

Price, who a month earlier had discouraged talks between Russia and Ukraine, rejected Kiev negotiating an end to the war with Ukraine's interests addressed because US core interests had not been addressed. The war was not about Ukraine's interests: it was bigger than Ukraine.

A month later, in April, when a settlement seemed to be within reach at the Istanbul talks, the US and UK again pressured Ukraine not to pursue their own goals and sign an agreement that could have ended the war. They again pressured Ukraine to continue to fight in pursuit of the larger goals of the US and its allies. Then British prime minister Boris Johnson scolded Zelensky that Putin "should be pressured, not negotiated with." He added that, even if Ukraine was ready to sign some agreements with Russia, the West was not.''

Once again, the war was not about Ukraine's interests: it was bigger than Ukraine.

At every opportunity, Biden and his highest ranking officials have insisted ''that it's up to Ukraine to decide how and when or if they negotiate with the Russians'' and that the US won't dictate terms: ''nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.'' But that has never been true. The US wouldn't allow Ukraine to negotiate on their terms when they wanted to. The US stopped Ukraine from negotiating in March and April when they wanted to; they pushed them to negotiate in November when they did not want to.

The war in Ukraine has always been about larger US goals. It has always been about the American ambition to maintain a unipolar world in which they were the sole polar power at the center and top of the world.

Ukraine became the focus of that ambition in 2014 when Russia for the first time stood up to American hegemony. Alexander Lukin, who is Head of Department of International Relations at National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow and an authority on Russian politics and international relations, says that since the end of the Cold War Russia had been considered a subordinate partner of the West. In all disagreements between Russia and the US up to then, Russia had compromised, and the disagreements were resolved rather quickly.

But when, in 2014, the US set up and supported a coup in Ukraine that was intended to pull Ukraine closer into the NATO and European security sphere Russia responded by annexing Crimea, Russia broke out of its post Cold War policy of compliance and pushed back against US hegemony. The 2014 ''crisis in Ukraine and Russia's reaction to it have fundamentally changed this consensus," Lukin says. "Russia refused to play by the rules."

Events in Ukraine in 2014 marked the end of the unipolar world of American hegemony. Russia drew the line and asserted itself as a new pole in a multipolar world order. That is why the war is ''bigger than Ukraine,'' in the words of the State Department. It is bigger than Ukraine because, in the eyes of Washington, it is the battle for US hegemony.

That is why US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on November 13 that some of the sanctions on Russia could remain in place even after any eventual peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. The war has never just been about Ukraine: it is about US foreign policy aspirations that are bigger than Ukraine. Yellen said, ''I suppose in the context of some peace agreement, adjustment of sanctions is possible and could be appropriate.'' Sanctions could be adjusted when negotiations end the war, but, Yellen added, ''We would probably feel, given what's happened, that probably some sanctions should stay in place.''

That is also why the US announced a new army headquarters in Germany ''to carry out what is expected to be a long-term mission'' while it simultaneous began pushing Ukraine toward peace talks. The military pressure on Russia and support for Ukraine will survive the war.

It is also why on June 29, the US announced the establishment of a permanent headquarters for US forces in Poland that Biden boasted would be ''the first permanent U.S. forces on NATO's eastern flank."

It is again why, on November 9, the State Department approved the sale of nearly half a billion dollars' worth of High Mobility Artillery Rocket System to Lithuania. They are not to be used by NATO in the Ukraine war. But they will, according to the State Department, ''support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to improve the military capability of a NATO Ally that is an important force for ensuring political stability and economic progress within Eastern Europe.'' At the same time, the State Department approved the potential sale of guided multiple launch rocket systems to Finland to bolster ''the land and air defense capabilities in Europe's northern flank.''

Presumably, the delivery of upgraded B61-12 air-dropped gravity nuclear bombs to NATO bases in Europe is also not in the service of current US goals in Ukraine.

Though to the US, the war in Ukraine is ''bigger than Ukraine,'' it is also ''in many ways bigger than Russia.'' Although the recently released 2022 National Defense Strategy identifies Russia as the current ''acute threat,'' it ''focuses on the PRC,'' or the People's Republic of China. The Strategy consistently identifies China as the ''pacing challenge.'' The long-term focus is on, not Russia, but China.

The National Defense Strategy clearly states that ''The most comprehensive and serious challenge to U.S. national security is the PRC's coercive and increasingly aggressive endeavor to refashion the Indo-Pacific region and the international system to suit its interests and authoritarian preferences.''

If Ukraine is about Russia, Russia is about China. The ''Russia Problem'' has always been that it is impossible to confront China if China has Russia: it is not desirable to fight both superpowers at once. So, if the long-term goal is to prevent a challenge to the US led unipolar world from China, Russia first needs to be weakened.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently said that "China will firmly support the Russian side, with the leadership of President Putin . . . to further reinforce the status of Russia as a major power."

According to Lyle Goldstein, a visiting professor at Brown University and author of Meeting China Halfway: How to Defuse the Emerging US-China Rivalry, an analysis of the war in Ukraine published in a Chinese academic journal concludes that ''In order to maintain its hegemonic position, the US supports Ukraine to wage hybrid warfare against Russia'...The purpose is to hit Russia, contain Europe, kidnap 'allies,' and threaten China.''

The war in Ukraine has never been just about Ukraine. It has always been ''bigger than Ukraine'' and about US principles that are bigger than Ukraine and ''in many ways bigger than Russia.'' Ukraine is where Russia drew the line on the US led unipolar world and where the US chose to fight the battle for hegemony. That battle is acutely about Russia but, in the long-term, it is about China, ''the most comprehensive and serious challenge'' to US hegemony.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 13:18

President Biden announced on Wednesday the creation of a permanent headquarters for U.S. forces stationed in Poland, as well as new deployments of troops and weapons to Europe amid Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

Driving the news: The number of U.S. troops deployed in Europe soared to 100,000 in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, with 10,500 U.S. service members stationed in Poland.

The big picture: The new base will be home to the first permanent U.S. forces on NATO's eastern flank, Biden announced while speaking at the first day of a NATO summit in Madrid.

Additional troops will also be deployed to Romania on a rotating basis and enhancements made to the troop deployments stationed in the Baltic states.The U.S. will also send two F-35 squadrons to the U.K., bolster defense capabilities in Germany and Italy, and improve naval operations in Spain.The administration signaled ahead of the NATO summit that an announcement of troop changes could be imminent, according to NBC News, which first reported the news.What they're saying: "Today I'm announcing the United States will enhance our force posture in Europe to respond to the changed security environment, as well as strengthening our collective security," Biden said.

"Together our allies, we're gonna make sure that NATO is ready to meet threats from all directions, across every domain '-- land, air and the sea," he added. At the summit, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance is "in the midst of the most serious security crisis we have faced since the Second World War."Flashback: Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said last week that the current security crisis illustrated that Europe couldn't defend itself without the U.S.

For Poland, U.S. engagement in European security is a "fundamental condition of peace in Europe," he added.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 13:18

Ukrainian artillerymen fire the M109 self-propelled howitzer during training at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, May 12, 2022. A new command located at Wiesbaden's Clay Kaserne is planned to function as the administrative hub for training and equipping Ukrainian troops as they defend their country from Russia. (Spencer Rhodes/U.S. Army)

STUTTGART, Germany '-- A new command at the Army's headquarters in Germany will be established to coordinate how the U.S. trains and equips Ukrainian troops, giving formal structure to an on-the-fly mission conceived in the wake of Russia's full-scale war on the country.

U.S. European Command's Gen. Christopher Cavoli presented the plan to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for a command based in Wiesbaden, The New York Times reported Thursday. A final decision on the details is expected within weeks.

The Times, citing unnamed U.S. military and administration officials, said the plan involved the set-up of a headquarters with about 300 personnel, led by a high-ranking general who would oversee training efforts.

The 529th Military Police Company Honor Guard welcomes the secretary of the Army to U.S. Army Europe and Africa headquarters, Sept. 20, 2022, on Clay Kaserne in Wiesbaden, Germany. Army leaders plan to establish a new command at the base to coordinate training and weapons support for Ukrainian troops. (Theodosius Santalov/U.S. Army)

Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, head of U.S. European Command, addresses the Adriatic Charter Chiefs of Defense Conference, Sept. 22, 2022, in Budva, Montenegro. This week, Cavoli presented a plan to establish a new command at the Army's headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Government of Montenegro)

While the Wiesbaden headquarters would function as the administrative hub, much of the training is likely to be conducted elsewhere in places where the Army maintains large ranges. U.S. Army Europe and Africa's training center in Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels likely would play a large role, as well as the service's garrison in Baumholder.

Thousands of U.S. soldiers also are positioned at training areas in Poland and Romania, which could factor into the plans.

Training Ukraine's military is nothing new for the U.S., which had rotated conventional and special operations troops into Ukraine for years as part of an effort to modernize the country's military. But all U.S. forces were withdrawn from Ukraine ahead of Russia's invasion in late February.

Since then, the U.S. and other allied troops have trained Ukrainian personnel in Germany and elsewhere.

A focal point has been getting Ukrainian soldiers skilled at using the wide range of weaponry that the West has sent to Ukraine, such as the mobile rocket system known as HIMARS.

Some steps already have been taken to make the Army's post in Wiesbaden a centerpiece of the train- and-equip mission.

A weapons logistics cell moved on Aug. 6 from EUCOM headquarters in Stuttgart to Wiesbaden, the command said Friday. That cell, which includes representatives from dozens of nations, arranges the logistics of getting everything from Stinger missiles and howitzers to drones and long range-artillery to secret locations within Ukraine.

''The co-location with the U.S. Army Europe and Africa headquarters, as well as XVIII Airborne Corps increases the ability of the organization to rapidly support Ukraine operations,'' EUCOM said in a statement.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 13:04

Anyone who has tuned into specific YouTube content creators within the contemporary commentary space over the past year have likely seen videos sponsored by a company called Established Titles, which bills itself as giving consumers the opportunity to be dubbed as Lords or Ladies via purchasing a square foot plot of land in Scotland.

However, content creators are beginning to distance themselves away from sponsorship deals with Established Titles after damaging reports began circulating that accuse the company of basically being a scam.

Go Ad-Free, Get Exclusive Shows and Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

For those unfamiliar with the company Established Titles, for the price of $49.95, Established Titles offer what they call a ''Lordship or Ladyship Title Pack with dedicated land in Scotland,'' which they market as being a unique means of obtaining the title of Lord, Laird, or Lady through purchasing a square foot plot of land in Scotland.

''Our Title Packs are based on a historic Scottish land ownership custom, where landowners have been long referred to as 'Lairds', the Scottish term for 'Lord', with the female equivalent being 'Lady.'''

MORE NEWS: Dazed & Confused Joe Biden Can't Remember Answer He Was Just Given Less Than A Minute Ago

On top of the Lordship aspect, Established Titles further claims that every purchase of their title packs ''contributes to the preservation and protection of woodland areas in Scotland'' through donations to ''One Tree Planted and Trees for the future,'' as well as ''planting at least one tree for every order placed.''

Established Titles has managed to conjure up dozens of partnerships with popular YouTube content creators to promote this gift set that comes complete with a certificate denoting a ''proclamation'' that the bearer is an official land owner in Scotland and thus has earned the privilege of the Lord/Lady title '' which these YouTubers lean heavily into this title gimmick of the gift set.

Beat Big Tech With High-Speed, Secure & Anonymous VPN Service - 30 Day Free Trial

But when taking a closer look into Established Title's website, there's a small asterisk about the purchasing of the land, one which is seemingly never audibly mentioned throughout their sponsorship deals with various YouTubers.

''*This is a purchase for a personal dedication for a souvenir plot of land. You may choose to title yourself with the title of Lord, Laird or Lady.''

The mentioning of a ''souvenir plot of land'' is critical because, according to Scottish law, no one can really own '' in any practical sense '' a souvenir plot that they purchased. Furthermore, Established Titles isn't exactly doing anything novel with this novelty ploy.

The gimmick of selling these square-foot souvenir plots is nothing new, with Highland Titles being one of the first companies to garner mainstream attention with this Lordship stunt back in 2006.

Apparently after other companies started copying the business model, the souvenir plot business caught the attention of the Keeper of Registers of Scotland in 2012, who then issued a ''caution to souvenir hunters'' looking to nab a plot of land to score ''a particular title.''

MORE NEWS: Jim Breuer: Hilarious TV Character Became Real Life, 'Manufactured' At Starbucks?

The Keeper noted that Scotland's Land Registration Act of 1979 defines souvenir plots as ''a piece of land which, being of inconsiderable size or no practical utility, is unlikely to be wanted in isolation except for the sake of mere ownership or for sentimental reasons or commemorative purposes,'' and that the Keepers are obligated to automatically reject souvenir plots for registration within Scotland's Land Register.

According to the Keeper, this means folks who are buying these souvenir plots don't actually own the land they've been led to believe that they purchased.

''The Keeper is required to reject an application for registration in the Land Register, if the land to which it relates meets the description of 'souvenir plot'. However, the fact that the Keeper is obliged to reject registration does not necessarily mean that 'ownership' can be obtained by some other means.

A real right of ownership in land (in the sense of a right that is enforceable against third parties) can only be obtained by registration in the Land Register or by recording a deed in the Register of Sasines as appropriate.''

Which then leads to the Lord/Lady title aspect of the souvenir plot deal, which the Court of the Lord Lyon also addressed in the 2012 press release as being as bogus as the purported land ownership.

''Ownership of a souvenir plot of land does not bring with it the right to any description such as 'laird', 'lord' or 'lady'. 'Laird' is not a title but a description applied by those living on and around the estate, many of whom will derive their living from it, to the principal landowner of a long-named area of land. It will, therefore, be seen that it is not a description which is appropriate for the owner of a normal residential property.

It cannot properly be used to describe a person who owns a small part of a larger piece of land. The term 'laird' is not one recognisable by attachment to a personal name and thus there is no official recognition of 'XY, Laird of Z'

The words 'lord' and 'lady' apply to those on whom a peerage has been confirmed and do not relate to the ownership of land. Ownership of a souvenir plot of land is not sufficient to bring a person otherwise ineligible within the jurisdiction of the Lord Lyon for seeking a coat of arms.''

In short, folks who purchase a Lordship title pack from Established Titles aren't genuinely becoming landowners in Scotland, nor are they legitimately endowed with and Lord/Lady title in the process. Additionally, the company behind Established Titles that is pulling all the strings and shelling out the marketing dollars (ironically called Fail Ventures) isn't even based in Scotland but is actually based out of Hong Kong and is linked to the extremely controversial company DealDash.

In light of many people catching on to the ruse with Established Titles, YouTubers like Mutahar Anas, better known online as ''SomeOrdinaryGamers,'' and Jeremy Hambly, known online as ''The Quartering,'' have decided to parts ways with the company so as not to mislead their viewers.

Saw a video regarding a recent sponsor we had. Cutting ties after investigating. Never thought much of it other than a gag gift.

Haven't checked any contracts but we're investigating it here. Sorry for that. Trust is a lot more important and we should have done better.

'-- Mutahar (@OrdinaryGamers) November 24, 2022

MORE NEWS: ''Clinton-Underworld Democrat Machine'' Tied To FTX ''Money Laundering Operation'' '' Darren Beattie

Cutting Ties With Established Titleshttps://t.co/D0LponCKGp

'-- TheQuartering (@TheQuartering) November 24, 2022

So, at the end of the day, what are people getting for their $50 with Established Titles? Basically, they're getting a promise that a tree will be planted and a novelty piece of paper asserting Lordship that has about as much validity as those gag ''Bikini Inspector'' badges. In a sense, it's all just a repurposed iteration of that 'buy & name a star' nonsense started back in the late 70s.

And yes, chances are many folks already viewed Established Titles as nothing more than a joke gift that one buys for a friend or themselves rather than any legitimate right to a Scottish title or land '' but at $50 a pop, it seems like the joke is on the purchaser.

Quick - Do This Before Biden ''Fixes'' Your Retirement Plan Next'...

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 18:49

From weight gain to nausea, breast tenderness, and menstrual cycle changes, the Pill has a long list of side effects.

But a number of women have spoken out about what is probably the most unlikely side effect yet '-- they say the oral contraceptives turned them gay.

While it may sound outlandish, there is some evidence the combined and progestin-only oral contraceptives can alter how women perceive attractiveness.

The medication works by suppressing the body's natural production of sex hormones and replaces them with synthetic versions.

These altered hormones may re-wire brain circuits related to love and sex, according to Dr Sarah Hill, a psychologist who specializes in women's health at Texas Christian University.

Dr Hill told DailyMail.com: 'The way that our hormones affect our brain is by nudging our preferences or behavior this way or that way. Sometimes it might nudge you into a direction that wouldn't necessarily agree with what your brain would do outside of that.

'But these nudges aren't generally so big they're going to lead you to be an absolutely different person and desire an absolutely different type of mate.'

Women have anonymously shared their experiences on Reddit threads, claiming that starting or stopping birth control woke up a part of their sexuality that had 'been asleep for years'.

Scientists have also picked up on anecdotal accounts and have launched several studies into the claim.

Researchers from the University of Stirling in the UK looked at whether women might choose different more or less masculine-looking partners when they are on the pill than they would have chosen off of it.

The 2013 study recruited 55 straight women and used a computer program in a lab that allowed them to manipulate human features in photographs of different men and women.

Texas Christian University-based research psychologist Dr Sarah E Hill told DailyMail.com that while it's no secret that sex hormones play an important role in sexual attraction and mate preferences, how specifically oral contraceptives change a woman's sexual preferences is mixed

Shown above [left] is an example of the way computer programs used in the 2013 study can make a person's facial features appear more masculine or feminine. The graph on the right shows that the experimental group (the 18 women who took birth control) were more inclined to favor less masculine male faces than the women who were not on the pill.

In a large June 2018 study University of Glasgow researchers found that women's preferences for more masculine or feminine faces (manipulated on the computer) were not impacted by their hormonal status, meaning that women on the pill were not more or less likely than the control group to prefer less masculine facial features

WHAT DO THE STUDIES SAY? Researchers from the University of Stirling in the UK looked at whether women might choose different more or less masculine-looking partners when they are on the pill than they would have chosen off of it.

The 2013 study recruited 55 straight women and used a computer program in a lab that allowed them to manipulate human features in photographs of different men and women.

They could adjust a myriad of facial features such as jawlines and cheekbone prominence to make people in the photos look more masculine or feminine.

After that first session, 18 women were given a prescription for a daily birth control pill while the rest were not. Both groups returned three months later to run a similar attractiveness test.

When the researchers compared the two sets of images created by the non pill-takers at each test session, they found no differences between the faces they created.

But they found that women who had gone on the pill preferred images of males with less masculine features than their non pill-taking counterparts.

A 2011 study of around 2,000 women, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, explored sexual satisfaction and partner attraction among women who met their partners when they were on the pill versus those who only started using birth control after starting the relationship.

Results showed women who met their partners when they were on the pill scored lower in both measures. They also rated their partner's body and sexual adventurousness lower than the control group.

However, another study published in 2018 by University of Glasgow researchers found that women's preferences for masculine faces were generally stable regardless of whether they took the pill or were ovulating.

Over 500 heterosexual women were recruited by the UK researchers to look at 10 pairs of randomly selected male faces at the same time and were told to pick which one they were more attracted to.

They also were told to rate each photo's level of attractiveness. Saliva samples were taken at each testing session over a span of roughly two years to measure the women's hormone levels.

The facial features of the men in the images were slightly manipulated to look more feminine or masculine such as by sharpening the cheekbones. Testing sessions asked women to consider which type of partner they would prefer for short-term as well as long-term relationships.

The UK team found no evidence that women's face preferences tracked changes in hormone levels or changes in their use of oral contraceptives. In fact, they found that women generally preferred masculine men regardless of their own hormonal status.

They could adjust a myriad of facial features such as jawlines and cheekbone prominence to make people in the photos look more masculine or feminine.

After that first session, 18 women were given a prescription for a daily birth control pill while the rest were not. Both groups returned three months later to run a similar attractiveness test.

When the researchers compared the two sets of images created by the non pill-takers at each test session, they found no differences between the faces they created.

But they found that women who had gone on the pill preferred images of males with less masculine features than their non pill-taking counterparts.

A 2011 study of around 2,000 women, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, explored sexual satisfaction and partner attraction among women who met their partners when they were on the pill versus those who only started using birth control after starting the relationship.

Results showed women who met their partners when they were on the pill scored lower in both measures. They also rated their partner's body and sexual adventurousness lower than the control group.

However, another study published in 2018 by University of Glasgow researchers found that women's preferences for masculine faces were generally stable regardless of whether they took the pill or were ovulating.

Over 500 heterosexual women were recruited by the UK researchers to look at 10 pairs of randomly selected male faces at the same time and were told to pick which one they were more attracted to.

They also were told to rate each photo's level of attractiveness. Saliva samples were taken at each testing session over a span of roughly two years to measure the women's hormone levels.

The facial features of the men in the images were slightly manipulated to look more feminine or masculine such as by sharpening the cheekbones. Testing sessions asked women to consider which type of partner they would prefer for short-term as well as long-term relationships.

The UK team found no evidence that women's face preferences tracked changes in hormone levels or changes in their use of oral contraceptives. In fact, they found that women generally preferred masculine men regardless of their own hormonal status.

'The jury is still out' on whether the pill can cause significant shifts in sexuality, Dr Hill said.

'My hot take on the preponderance of the evidence that I've seen is that the answer to that question is, it can [have an effect] but I don't think that it's going to happen all the time.'

There are two main types of birth control pills for women - combined oral contraceptives, also called 'the Pill', and a progestin-only pill. Both are prescribed by a doctor and taken at the same time each day, with women advised to take a week's break each month.

The combined pill contains artificial version of the female hormones estrogen and progestin, which are produced naturally in the ovaries.

It works by preventing the ovaries from releasing an egg each month and thickening the mucus in the neck of the womb, so it is harder for sperm to penetrate the womb and reach an egg.

The progestin-only pill - sometimes called the mini-pill - only has one synthetic hormone, progestin, and works in a similar way. Estrogen has been linked to some health conditions so women at risk may be recommended this pill.

Experts in the field of evolutionary psychology have long held that changes in women's sex hormones play an important role in partner attraction and what a woman looks for in a mate.

Within a month of coming off the contraceptive pill last year, Tess Bona (pictured left) noticed she wasn't attracted to men anymore. The 30-year-old told FEMAIL she now feels like a 'different person in the best way possible' since making the change. Tessa shared her experience in a TikTok video alongside girlfriend Phoebe Chakar (right)

How does the Pill work? There are two main types of birth control pills for women - combined oral contraceptives, also called 'the Pill', and a progestin-only pill.

Both are prescribed by a doctor and taken at the same time each day, with women advised to take a week's break each month.

The combined pill contains artificial version of the female hormones estrogen and progestin, which are produced naturally in the ovaries.

It works by preventing the ovaries from releasing an egg each month and thickening the mucus in the neck of the womb, so it is harder for sperm to penetrate the womb and reach an egg.

The progestin-only pill - sometimes called the mini-pill - only has one synthetic hormone, progestin, and works in a similar way. Estrogen has been linked to some health conditions so women at risk may be recommended this pill.

Experts in the field of evolutionary psychology have long held that changes in women's sex hormones play an important role in partner attraction and what a woman looks for in a mate.

Hormones flip billions of switches on and off in cells throughout your body, influencing how a person interacts with the world. But scientists are still untangling how these influence women's behavior, and how much a person's sexuality can be swayed by these changes.

Hormones flip billions of switches on and off in cells throughout your body, influencing how a person interacts with the world. But scientists are still untangling how these influence women's behavior, and how much a person's sexuality can be swayed by these changes.

Dr Hill told DailyMail.com: 'There's certainly some evidence that goes in both directions with some research finding that there's no relationship between birth control pill use, and then later changes in partner attraction after you discontinue the pill.

'So that's probably been the thing that there's been the most sort of back and forth evidence on.'

About 14 per cent of American women ages 15 to 49 are on a hormonal birth control pill. Millions of women rely on it for its effectiveness not only at preventing pregnancy, but also for mood and physical symptom regulation that comes with a monthly menstrual cycle.

A 30-year-old Australian woman who had been taking an oral contraceptive for 15 years was shocked to find when she stopped taking it that she was no longer attracted to men.

Tessa Bona told Daily Mail Australia that after going off the pill she 'genuinely feels like a different person in the best way possible'.

She said: 'While on the pill I had only been dating men, so in my opinion the hormone changes definitely had an impact on that.

'I can appreciate that men are attractive, but I'm not sexually drawn to them currently like I was when I was on it.

'I also think it absolutely changed who and what I was attracted to, within a month of being off it, I was a lot more curious and drawn to women.'

One Reddit user who has been in a committed romantic relationship with a man for three years stopped taking her birth control pills and about eight months later.

She described the aftermath of being off the pill and said she has 'been really into girls again.'

The user added: 'It feels like part of me has been asleep for years and it's now woken up with a great hunger and lots of energy. I was into girls while on the pill, but not enough to act on it or pursue anyone or even acknowledge it, really. Now I'm more into girls than I am into guys - sexually and romantically.'

Another user said: 'That happened to me. 9 years on birth control, and stopped due to Covid and running out. Within a few months my interest in women took off- I don't even feel attraction to men anymore.'

And another reported that she stopped taking the pill after 11 years on it. She has been in a heterosexual relationship for more than seven years and had long considered herself equally attracted to men and women.

She said: 'Now I seem to be fluctuating more so during the [course] of one month. Nearing ovulation, very much attracted to men. Rest of the month its about 80:20 women:men. I don't generally like using ratios but it feels helpful here.'

The evidence that points to any effect the pill has on what attracts women to a mate are generally smaller with fewer people studied. Still, their findings are consistent with the anecdotal evidence.

In a follow-up to the 2013 study, the researchers considered the participating women's actual male romantic partners and wanted to determine their previous findings' application in the real world.

They convened a sample of men that women on and off the pill matched up with and found that women on the pill not only preferred less masculine facial features, they were also more likely to choose such men as partners.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 14:13

''It isn't fair to ask tens of millions of borrowers eligible for relief to resume their student debt payments while the courts consider the lawsuit,'' Biden said in a video announcing the decision.

Biden said the extension of the payment pause was designed to give the Supreme Court an opportunity to hear cases on the legality of his debt relief plan during its current term.

The Justice Department last week asked the Supreme Court to immediately reverse a lower court ruling and revive the debt relief program. The DOJ asked the court to take up the case if it rejects the emergency request for immediate intervention.

''Republican special interests and elected officials sued to deny this relief, even to their own constituents,'' Biden said. ''But I'm completely confident my plan is legal.

The White House had been under pressure from some Democrats and progressives to swiftly lift the cloud of uncertainty over whether payments would be resuming for borrowers in the coming weeks '-- especially ahead of the Georgia Senate runoff election.

''The impact this extension will have in the lives of those who have been targeted by predatory student loans cannot be overstated,'' NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement praising the administration's decision.

''Borrowers are drowning under student loan debt and the Biden administration is throwing them a lifeline as we fight MAGA Republicans in court,'' Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. ''President Biden's action gives millions of borrowers the breathing room they need.''

Republicans, who have fought to stop Biden's debt cancellation plan, blasted the latest extension. Rep. Virginia Foxx, the top Republican on the House education committee, called the move ''fiscal insanity'' and accused the administration of using borrowers as ''political pawns.''

''Since taking office, this administration has done everything in its power to run the federal student loan program into the ground,'' Foxx said in a statement. ''This may appease radical members of his party and left-wing advocacy groups on Twitter, but this disgraceful inaction by our commander in chief will have real, harmful repercussions for Americans.''

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which also opposes the debt relief plan, estimated that extending the payment pause until the end of August 2023 could cost an additional $40 billion.

Monthly payments and interest on most federal student loans have been frozen since Congress passed the CARES Act in March 2020. The Trump administration and then the Biden administration extended the payment pause a total of seven times.

The eighth and latest reprieve is somewhat more complicated because it's tied not to a specific date but rather a set of possible scenarios that could play out over the coming months.

The Education Department said that the ''payment pause'' would end whenever the litigation over debt relief is resolved, debt relief is implemented, or it reaches June 30 '-- whichever happens first. Borrowers will then have 60 days after the ''payment pause'' ends until interest again begins accruing on their loans and they'll have to make monthly payments, according to an Education Department official.

Because borrowers' monthly payment dates vary, the 60-day period ''is the minimum time period before which a payment would be due,'' a department spokesperson said. ''There could be a range of due dates following the end of the 60-day period.''

Biden first announced in August his plan to cancel up to $20,000 of federal student debt for individuals earning below $125,000 or couples earning below $250,000.

Tens of millions of Americans filled out the application after it opened in October, and the Education Department has approved some 16 million borrowers for relief with an additional 10 million more in line for consideration.

But, after some early legal victories for the administration, two court rulings against the debt relief program over the past several weeks have cast significant uncertainty over its future.

A federal judge in Texas ruled that Biden's plan was illegal and struck it down. The Biden administration has asked the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to stop that decision.

In a separate case, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction blocking the administration from implementing its debt relief program while it weighs a lawsuit from the Republican-led states. The Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to dissolve that injunction.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who oversees emergency matters from the 8th Circuit, is weighing the administration's request. He has asked the GOP states to respond by Wednesday at noon.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Fri, 25 Nov 2022 18:50

Hello, friends,

Twitter has been my second home for more than a decade. It's where I post articles, read articles by other journalists, and keep tabs on researchers and newsmakers. Long ago, Twitter replaced the newswires'--AP, Reuters, etc.'--that I used to keep open in a tab on my computer desktop.

But Twitter is in crisis. Elon Musk bought it, fired a huge portion of the staff, changed the rules so many times that I'm not even sure what the rules are anymore, and has warned that the company will likely have to file for bankruptcy soon. He launched a pay-for-a-blue-checkmark program that caused Twitter to be filled with imposter accounts that look official. And hundreds of key employees quit this week after Musk demanded that they commit to working ''hardcore'' long hours.

All the chaos has scared away advertisers and users , who are leaving the platform in droves. I have not yet left, but I downloaded my archive of tweets and earlier this month joined an alternative social network called Mastodon. I was not alone: On Nov. 12, Mastodon founder Eugen Gagron posted that ''[t]here are 1M more people using #Mastodon today than there were on October 27.''

Mastodon is a different kind of social network. Unlike Twitter, it doesn't have a central gatekeeper that can decide who gets to use the platform and what type of content is allowed. Instead, Mastodon is an array of different communities that have all agreed to share a single communication standard.

What that means in practice is that to join Mastodon, you have to join a Mastodon ''instance'''--essentially a community that hosts a Mastodon server. Each instance has its own vibe, standards for admission, and content rules. Each server can block communications from other servers if they don't appreciate their style.

As a journalist, I was attracted to a community designed for reporters'-- journa.host '--initially set up by my longtime friend Adam Davidson. I'm @julia@journa.host . The Markup newsroom can be found on a different server: @themarkup@newsie.social .

Adam and I have been friends since high school and went to college together at the University of Chicago. Although he declined to work with me at the college newspaper ( The Chicago Maroon ), he went on to an illustrious journalism career, co-founding NPR's ''Planet Money'' and writing for The New York Times and The New Yorker.

Of course, moving into a new town is always fraught with culture clashes. Mastodon users are not uniformly happy about this band of Twitter journalists arriving on their doorstep with different cultural norms. So this week I spoke with Adam about his experience, what he's learned, and what we can all learn from this different type of social networking experience.

Our conversation, edited for brevity and clarity, is below.

Adam Davidson Angwin: What has your experience been like as a user on Mastodon, and how does it compare to Twitter?

Davidson: I first joined four years ago and basically peeked at it and then ran away. There's no question, it's nowhere near as user-friendly as Twitter, which is both good and bad. Clearly, a lot of people get hung up when they are just signing up in the beginning. The first question is so confusing: You have to pick an instance'--what does that mean? On the other hand, the reason it's confusing is because there aren't buildings full of UX designers spending hundreds of millions of dollars figuring out how to make every step of your experience on this for-profit platform smoother so that you can be monetized.

I think a social network is only as good as who you follow, who follows you, and what conversations you're part of. My coming to Mastodon was not me thinking, ''I love everything about Twitter and I want to find a place that's exactly the same.'' My coming to Mastodon was also not just, ''Oh, Elon went crazy last week.'' I've really been critiquing my Twitter usage for several years and have been looking for an alternative.

Angwin: Can you talk more about how the platforms differ?

Davidson: I think the interface on Mastodon makes me behave differently. If I have a funny joke or a really powerful statement and I want lots of people to hear it, then Twitter's way better for that right now. However, if something really provokes a big conversation, it's actually fairly challenging to keep up with the conversation on Twitter. I find that when something gets hundreds of thousands of replies, it's functionally impossible to even read all of them, let alone respond to all of them. My Twitter personality, like a lot of people's, is more shouting.

Whereas on Mastodon, it's actually much harder to go viral. There's no algorithm promoting tweets. It's just the people you follow. This is the order in which they come. It's not really set up for that kind of, ''Oh my god, everybody's talking about this one post.'' It is set up to foster conversation. I have something like 150,000 followers on Twitter, and I have something like 2,500 on Mastodon, but I have way more substantive conversations on Mastodon even though it's a smaller audience. I think there's both design choices that lead to this and also just the vibe of the place where even pointed disagreements are somehow more thoughtful and more respectful on Mastodon.

Angwin: You set up a server on Mastodon for journalists. Can you talk about how this came to be?

Davidson: There were a lot of conversations among journalists about setting up a journalist server. The Twitter blue check, for all the hate I have given Twitter over the years, is a public good. It is good, in my view, that when you read a news article or view a post, you can know with confidence it's the journalist at that institution. It doesn't mean they're 100 percent right or 100 percent ethical, but it does mean that's a person who is in some way constrained by journalism ethics.

In a very short period of time, a bunch of us accepted that a) the existence of that blue check is good, b) it's gone'--whatever happens with Twitter, we're never going to be able to fully trust it'--and c) a realization that we in journalism had just outsourced that whole process, that whole decision-making, to whoever happened to work at Twitter. As a profession, we didn't think, or at least I wasn't part of any larger conversations, about the verification process. We just trusted that there was some office at Twitter that was making the right calls.

We realized there's a need for some kind of verification of journalists and that if we could control it, that would be really cool. I was part of these conversations about setting up a journalism server, and it was going on and on. People were listing more and more reasons to be worried and more and more things that had to happen before we set up a journalism server. I can be impulsive, and I was just like, screw it, I'm just gonna do it and then we'll face all the problems. So I did it, and then we did face all the problems.

Angwin: Can you talk about some of the problems?

Davidson: Many servers are set up so anyone can sign up, while others you have to apply, and some you can be invited by an administrator. I set it up that you had to apply, and in the beginning, I just sent a few messages out. I didn't think that many people knew about it, so I was just approving everyone without really looking at it. Then, I made a really big mistake because I didn't understand how the invitations worked. I thought the invitations were just saying, ''Apply and then I'll see if you're worth it,'' but instead the invitations transferred you directly into the server.

A bad actor figured this out because I tweeted out an invite, and they said basically, this idiot Jew reporter has opened the door for all of us. Then we had roughly 150 deeply disgusting posts. I've never seen stuff like this in my life. Photos of dead people, violent photos, and just deeply racist, antisemitic, homophobic, anti-trans content. There's one picture '... I don't even want to describe it, but I will never get it out of my head.

It actually ended up being a relatively easy fix because there are lists of servers that are known bad actors, and you can easily block them. At first, I was like, ''Oh, we're journalists; maybe we shouldn't block anything,'' but once I saw the first five or 10 photos, I was like, ''Oh, no, we're blocking these people.'' So those servers now have no access to our server, they can't post, and they can't read us.

Angwin: How do you decide who is a journalist and can join the server?

Davidson: The first thing I would say is that it's not just me. I put a call out asking if anyone wanted to help moderate, and right away nine other people stepped up, and they're amazing. So now it is this group of 10 that's moderating and administrating.

Everyone who goes through the exercise of ''what is journalism?'' quickly learns there are no obvious, uncontroversial answers. We had a conversation this morning about somebody who has a blog about beer. We said, well, this person does reporting, they actually interview people, they look at statistics, they're not just sharing their opinion on beer. And it felt like, yeah, that's journalism.

Now, would we make that decision a month from now? I don't know. I don't think it's appropriate for me to get into specifics, but we've had some tricky edge cases. Inherently, it's tricky.

Angwin: Can you talk about the debate over content warnings? This is something that was really surprising to me, the idea that everything we write about basically needs a content warning.

Davidson: Among journalists, this is the single most controversial and misunderstood issue. We're not mandating content warnings.

I think I've kind of had every single opinion that one can have about this. My first response, which I think is most journalists' first response, was, ''Who are these precious snowflakes?'' Then a bunch of people said, ''No, that's not how to think about it; it's really just the subject line of an email,'' and if I had the right to send you an email where you had to see the whole thing, that'd be kind of annoying.

But then a lot of people in the BIPOC community said, ''The way this is being used on Mastodon is often to shield White people from racism and homophobia and other issues.'' And so I'm very sympathetic to that as well. I think the solution Eugen came up with is the right solution: It's a tool, and you can use it if you want to.

Angwin: What would you say your biggest takeaway from this experience has been so far?

Davidson: I would say the screaming headline for me is, ''Wow, this was awesome. This was amazing.'' The Mastodon community was amazing. The journalism community was amazing. It's really one of the best professional experiences of my life. I just love it.

What I'm finding most satisfying about Mastodon, and I'm seeing a lot of other journalists feel this, is that it actually forces you to ask and confront some of these questions and to make active choices. Even if Mastodon were to remain Twitter's very tiny stepbrother, I would still like to be part of a Mastodon journalist community because I think we got lazy as a field, and we let Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and, god help us, Elon Musk and their staff decide all these major journalistic questions. I don't know for how many people that's a good siren call to join Mastodon, but for me that's been pretty exciting.

As always, thanks for reading.

Best, Julia Angwin The Markup

(Additional Hello World research by Eve Zelickson.)

P.S. There will be no Hello World next week over the Thanksgiving break. I'll be back in your inboxes on Dec. 3.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:41

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:30

Who the hell do these moron globalists world-wide think they are to decide on anything for anyone.

WEF Founder, Klaus Schwab looks to China as a "role model for many countries" and on communist state tv, proposes a systematic transformation of the world. https://t.co/RPFfbxmEf5 pic.twitter.com/JkJDlcryap

'-- Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) November 23, 2022

Klaus Schwab aka Claws Annal Swab's father '' Eugen (Eugenic) Schwab 👇 https://t.co/krIKgEzGan

'-- remembering who you are (@existzombieland) November 19, 2022

Klaus Schwab: ''Change is not just happening, it is shaped by us'' so, to create change, what do you do'...? you create crisis'...

You use that ''crisis'' to introduce things people otherwise would not agree to'... Pandemics'... War'... and now Climate Crisis.

ðŸ--Šsound '...🧐#WEF #KlausSchwab pic.twitter.com/haYAbVDn4V

'-- Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) November 23, 2022

In case you didn't know why the system hates Trump'... He went into the lions den of globalists & called out the WEF straight to their faces.

No other US leader would have the guts to do this.

MAGA is what will save us from the WEF. #Trump2024

pic.twitter.com/N8qkyqGRAm pic.twitter.com/FqoWWwYhs0

'-- Alex Bruesewitz 🇺🇸 (@alexbruesewitz) November 19, 2022

WEF Klaus Schwab '' China is a ''role model for many countries''

How things are going in China..👇ðŸ>> pic.twitter.com/yDSE6I0DM2

'-- Wake Awake (@WakeAwake1) November 23, 2022

Dr. Malone on the WEF and more in a fast clipDr. Malone video thread 1 of 12Bioethics discarded resulting in tremendous damage to public health. He also discusses the compiled list of WEF leaders and their propensity to be authoritarians. Corporate media have discredited themselves. ''… pic.twitter.com/6HJgk5oQFi

'-- 🇺🇸 ʟᴇÒ'ᴛ á´á´á´Ëᴛ á´ á´ÉÊá´É´á´› 🇺🇸 (@Baklava_in_CA) November 20, 2022

Resist the great reset. We will no longer tolerate the WEF and their puppet Trudeau pic.twitter.com/VUpy0oDPHa

'-- CKG (@CurtisGlidden) November 22, 2022

WEF '' Chief advisor Yuval Harari

Surveillance is key to control & Covid was crucial. He has never deviated from this philospphy and neither have they.

You will be happier, more equal and ultimately more controllable if governments all do as they say.

pic.twitter.com/2goMkNskX9

'-- Bernie's Tweets (@BernieSpofforth) November 22, 2022

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:27

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:25

Dan Crenshaw : RT @RepDanCrenshaw: Your free rein at the border is over. We will use every tool to hunt you down and punish you. https://t.co/q5P9xdHebE

Wed Nov 23 02:56:36 +0000 2022

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:23

Lara Logan : Wow. Everyone should watch this - we are all pawns in a bigger game. Theatre. https://t.co/AdZTyWCQEv

Fri Nov 25 17:40:20 +0000 2022

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:20

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:17

Rob Primo : BREAKING:Brandon Miller gets the truth out of Chrystia Freeland. The purpose for the mandate was to coerce Cana'... https://t.co/aIBKsqjne9

Thu Nov 24 17:25:56 +0000 2022

BarbieNineJobs : @therobprimo1 @notsry4thestory Yes'... and?

Sun Nov 27 13:30:12 +0000 2022

Darren Hoff : @therobprimo1 @estherschmeer #FreelandLied

Sun Nov 27 04:14:27 +0000 2022

tim kaput : @therobprimo1 Fire her

Sat Nov 26 21:07:44 +0000 2022

DaddyCrab : @therobprimo1 @RamonaFleury That's not the whole story. It's more than just the vax.

Sat Nov 26 20:13:30 +0000 2022

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:12

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:10

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:06

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 16:41

Bernie's Tweets : WORLD HEALTH SUMMIT- The global Agenda.This is the Mayo Clonic - ''we're hoping to gather the medical records of'... https://t.co/vG7TW7l3Qc

Sat Nov 26 10:39:09 +0000 2022

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 20:19

Justin Baragona : "Simon, I'm done! Simon, I'm done. Simon, I'm done with you right now!" https://t.co/kRpO1sNcQX

Tue Nov 22 17:23:24 +0000 2022

Texas Wreck : @justinbaragona She needs to get a job equivalent to her skills and intelligence. Number 26, your table is ready.

Fri Nov 25 23:41:10 +0000 2022

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 14:13

President Biden : I'm confident that our student debt relief plan is legal. But it's on hold because Republican officials want to blo'... https://t.co/54SYYL7weQ

Tue Nov 22 20:19:47 +0000 2022