October 11th, 2020 • 3h 17m
Shownotes
Every new episode of No Agenda is accompanied by a comprehensive list of shownotes curated by Adam while preparing for the show. Clips played by the hosts during the show can also be found here.
2020
Twitter Slows Down Retweets Ahead of U.S. Election - WSJ
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 12:51
Twitter Inc. will make it harder for posts to go viral ahead of the U.S. election, including by putting limits on how users can retweet.
The moves unveiled Friday, which also include pointing users viewing certain tweets to credible content, are among the boldest yet for the social-media platform and are designed to slow the spread of misinformation.
Where users previously hit a button to reshare, or ''retweet,'' items, they will now be directed to a screen that will encourage adding commentary before resharing posts. If users don't write anything, their post will still appear as a traditional retweet'--but the change ''adds some extra friction'' in the process, according to a company blog post.
Twitter will start experimenting with this change for some users later on Friday and will roll it out to all users Oct. 20. The change will last at least through the end of the week of the U.S. election.
''We hope it will encourage everyone to not only consider why they are amplifying a tweet, but also increase the likelihood that people add their own thoughts,'' Twitter's legal, policy, trust and safety head Vijaya Gadde and product lead Kayvon Beykpour wrote in a blog post Friday.
Social-media companies have been scrambling to clamp down on potential confusion and ways their platforms can be abused to undermine the integrity of the political process in the U.S.
Facebook Inc. has said it would suspend all political advertising after the polls close Nov. 3, something that other platforms including Twitter and TikTok have already implemented, and many platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, have taken steps to ban QAnon, the fast-growing conspiracy movement.
Twitter has conducted prior experiments to encourage users to read articles before sharing them on the site.
Additionally, Twitter plans to display a new prompt that provides credible information when users attempt to retweet a post that Twitter has identified as containing misleading information. This change starts next week.
Twitter currently labels tweets that contain misleading information about Covid-19 and U.S. elections, among other items. Tweets that receive these labels are de-amplified in Twitter's algorithm, and the company, in some cases, will remove these tweets.
Twitter said Friday a subset of the tweets that receive misinformation labels will be made harder for users to share and feature a suggestion that users add their own context before reposting them. These new warnings will apply to tweets that are labeled as containing misinformation and posted by users who have outsized influence on the platform, such as U.S. political figures and U.S.-based users with more than 100,000 followers.
In a bid to slow the spread of tweets, the company is tweaking its algorithm to stop tweets from appearing in feeds simply based on the amount of likes they receive. Currently, the tweets that users see are arranged via an algorithm that includes content from accounts they follow as well as tweets that other users like.
Other changes are designed to add more context rather than slow the spread of content. Twitter said it will only surface topics in its personalized trending topics tab for users in the U.S. if they include an explanation. This change will require Twitter's curators to review the trending topics more closely'--and add descriptions of links to articles for the items that are included.
Twitter's list of trending topics has come under scrutiny for promoting content at times stemming from misinformation campaigns intended to make certain ideas appear more popular than they really are.
Twitter also said the company plans to label any tweets that falsely claim a win for any candidate and remove tweets that encourage violence or call for people to interfere with polling places or election results. To determine the results of an election in the U.S., the company said it will require either an announcement from state election officials or a public projection from at least two authoritative, national news outlets that make independent election calls.
Write to Georgia Wells at Georgia.Wells@wsj.com
Plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer: Read the FBI complaint
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 21:45
The FBI says six members of a militia group plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Here is the criminal complaint on file in U.S. District Court that details the FBI's investigation, how they learned about the group, and what led to criminal charges against six people.
Gov. Whitmer denounces hate groups, says President Donald Trump is 'complicit' Wolverine Watchmen members plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer: Here's what we know Feds: Domestic terrorists who plotted to kidnap Whitmer wanted to incite civil war Expert: Michigan 'a hotbed for militia activity,' with growing potential for violence Militia group plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, feds sayWARNING: Explicit language. Viewer discretion advised.
Read more: Security upgrades underway at governor's Lansing residence before kidnapping threat
Michigan Speaker of the House writes letter to Governor Whitmer regarding kidnapping plot
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 11:02
LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Today, Michigan Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield wrote a letter to Governor Gretchen Whitmer criticizing her response to the recent plot to kidnap her on Thursday, October 8.
Many were shocked to hear about the plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced on Thursday, October 8.
Since that day, politicians have gone back and forth on the matter, including the Governor herself, going as far as to blame President Donald Trump.
Just two days after the announcement, Michigan Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield wrote a letter to the Governor regarding the plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer.
The letter reads as follows:
"Governor Whitmer,
We need to cooperate more. A better message needs to be sent. And now that a couple days have gone by since the plot to attack us both has passed, there are several points that I believe need to be made and questions that need to be asked.
Why weren't we in the Legislature warned of the plot to take hostages at the Capitol? The plot by these terrorists was against us, too. Why weren't House sergeants warned? You knew, and we weren't even given a warning. We had people working in the building every day doing essential work, and their lives matter, too.
I am also alarmed the Lieutenant Governor recently blamed Michigan Republicans for the evil plans of these unstable men. That accusation is inflammatory and untrue, and it does nothing to solve this problem. You chose to blame President Trump instead. The truth is, I started getting death threats to my family at my home the day you said my legislative actions would kill people. Please realize that.
But you should also know that others in the Legislature have been threatened, too. They've received threats, letters and calls to their homes. These threats have been to both Republicans and Democrats, but they aren't given security. They don't have the state resources to build million dollar fences at their homes. And we were also targeted in these evil plots. That's why to overcome this, it will take a unified message and not political talking points or partisan finger pointing. It will take leadership.
Now, I've been critical of many of your decisions this year during COVID-19. I'll admit that. I've agreed with some decisions, too. It's important we have these debates. It makes us stronger. It ensures all voices in our state are heard. It's how our process was designed to work. But we need to do it the right way. Blanket, partisan blame is wrong. It simply further divides us and causes more political strife.
Hatred and violence are wrong, and that's why I've continually denounced it. And I agree, it's time to tone down the partisan rhetoric and turn ''the heat down'' as you've said. Will you do the same for President Trump? You've arguably been his biggest critic this year in the country. You even fundraised this week off this plot, now making it political, which is sad.
Will the Lieutenant Governor turn it down with the entire Republican Party, millions of whom are his constituents? This wasn't standing tall. It was cheap. We can do this, but we have to make this decision together. Let's back up our words with actions.
Please know that I am praying for the good health and constant safety of you and your family. I hope you are of mine too. And I hope you will truly and finally allow us to work together to protect the lives and livelihoods of everyone who calls Michigan home. I'm ready. I hope you are, too."
Copyright 2020 WILX. All rights reserved.
Henrik Palmgren ð¸ðª ð ðºð¸ on Twitter: "It's comical but 4 out of these 6 men are FBI agents / informants. (see clip below). The majority of the men involved in the "foiled" FBI operation to grab Whitmer were feds. Sting operations is FBI's sp
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 12:41
Henrik Palmgren ð¸ðª ð ðºð¸ : It's comical but 4 out of these 6 men are FBI agents / informants. (see clip below). The majority of the men involv'... https://t.co/IrAGGB8ENv
Sun Oct 11 03:55:16 +0000 2020
Highbrow Gentleman : @Henrik_Palmgren I called it right out of the gate. The ADL, I mean, FBI is a joke
Sun Oct 11 11:48:14 +0000 2020
Einhander14 : @Henrik_Palmgren CoIntelPro, they've done this to every side of the political spectrum.
Sun Oct 11 11:37:42 +0000 2020
CEO of BZHophilia 145 IQð : @Henrik_Palmgren @MaybeAmes https://t.co/wbPkYxC31Q
Sun Oct 11 10:41:55 +0000 2020
AdamC : @Henrik_Palmgren @Yuriwasright Ear disc piercings... on the one.
Sun Oct 11 07:06:27 +0000 2020
LAIA ðºð¸ : @Henrik_Palmgren Luv the red ice
Sun Oct 11 06:31:48 +0000 2020
TruAmerican : @Henrik_Palmgren Do you have stock in tin foil?
Sun Oct 11 05:20:05 +0000 2020
ÆÆ...ÆƧƤƲƧ ÆƬƬƲÆÆƧ ÆÆÆ : @Henrik_Palmgren This smells rather Juicy Smolletish. Quite the coincidence. https://t.co/aIn5sKQdjD
Sun Oct 11 05:12:25 +0000 2020
winston smith : @Henrik_Palmgren When we had a healthy Christian culture we had many gov't officials who served the average America'... https://t.co/N0WSgfSsP9
Sun Oct 11 05:07:06 +0000 2020
Nosferkoptu : @Henrik_Palmgren Any info on the ethnicity of these people? One is named Adam Fox, which predictably an Ice Hockey'... https://t.co/KCV3q6YhHM
Sun Oct 11 04:39:05 +0000 2020
billy daniel : @Henrik_Palmgren Yes they do
Sun Oct 11 04:30:31 +0000 2020
Nathan_Groves : @Henrik_Palmgren @ramzpaul Isn't it entrapment if they are actively stoking the fire from within?
Sun Oct 11 04:25:31 +0000 2020
fercargut : @Henrik_Palmgren @ramzpaul They have to appear like they work right?
Sun Oct 11 04:19:47 +0000 2020
The Man who Never Smiles : @Henrik_Palmgren It's a bloody joke but everyone knows it. So the jokes on them.
Sun Oct 11 04:19:27 +0000 2020
(ã£'--''--)㣠Jason : @Henrik_Palmgren FBI literally preying on mentally ill people to get them to commit multiple felonies. Is this the'... https://t.co/KGPKQzi41n
Sun Oct 11 04:12:13 +0000 2020
REVEALED: Anti-Trump New England Journal Of Medicine Is Partnered With A Chinese Communist Publishing House
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 12:09
The New England Journal of Medicine, which recently encouraged voters to oust President Trump over his China virus response, boasts extensive links to the Chinese Communist Party.The medical journal had never involved itself in U.S. presidential elections before, but recently published an op-ed entitled, ''Dying in a Leadership Vacuum,'' which implored American voters to remove President Trump office.
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), therefore, shares the same election preference as the Chinese Communist Party: a victory for Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden.
NEJM and the Chinese government, however, have considerably more in common.
CCP RUNNING DOGS. NEJM launched a Chinese publication, app, and website in late 2016.
NEJM also partnered with Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House, a subsidiary of government-approved Shanghai Century Publishing Co.
Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House boasts on its mission page how it belongs to ''the first batch of ''National Excellent Publishing Houses named'' by the Chinese Communist Party's Central Propaganda Department and has received a host of awards from the government.
Furthermore, the group describes itself as ''under the guidance of the party and the government's publishing policies.''
The publishing house routinely holds meetings to entrench employees' adherence to the goals of the Chinese Communist Party, including trips to Chinese government buildings, meetings with high-level Chinese Communist Party officials, study sessions on Xi Jinping's speeches, and taking the Chinese Communist Party oath.
THE SPIRIT OF COMMUNISM.
The group held group-wide seminars on ''learning the spirit'' of the Chinese Communist Party, with high-level government officials attending alongside the group's Editor-in-Chief:
''Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House earnestly studied and implemented the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It held the first concentrated discussion and study on October 23, studying the original text of the work report made by Comrade Xi Jinping, talking freely and looking forward to future development. Secretary of the Party Committee and President Wen Zeyuan, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee Yu Ying, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Editor-in-Chief Wei Xiaofeng, and Vice President Hou Peidong took the lead in reading and studying the first four parts of the original text of Comrade Xi Jinping's report.''
The group also pledges to ''Use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era, arm the mind, guide practice, and promote work'' and has hosted meetings to determine how to best ''use Marxism'' as ''a sharp ideological weapon.''
Publishing group on field trip to Shanghai Municipal People's Government.And these diktats don't just guide employees' personal lives; they're also applicable to the group's publishing efforts:
''In political life and practical work, we must be loyal and honest to the party, ask the organization for instructions and report major issues in accordance with relevant regulations, oppose two-faced people and two-faced people; Reputation, any behavior or phenomenon that affects the image of the party. We must strengthen our ideals and convictions, regard our belief in Marxism, and our belief in socialism and communism as our lifelong pursuit, and stick to the spiritual homeland of communists.''
In meetings, employees have even taken the Chinese Communist Party oath, with the group's website describing those in attendance as ''full of emotions, clamor[ing] and utter[ing] loudly'':
''In the first item of the conference, all party members reviewed the oath of joining the party. Wei Xiaofeng, deputy secretary of the party committee and editor-in-chief, took the oath, and the party members stood upright, raised their right hand facing the party flag, and solemnly swore. At the oath-taking scene, the party members were full of emotions, clamored and uttered loudly. Every party member received a spiritual baptism, which enhanced the party members' sense of pride and honor.''
Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House group meeting, taking an oath to a Communist flagThe compromised relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and the NEJM parallels the regime's infiltration and coercion of the World Health Organization. Serving as a testament to the extent of China's infiltration in the U.S., the relationship also obscures the American medical community's ability to get tough on China and demand the genetic sequence of the virus be released.
While the left insists we ought to ''trust the experts,'' it's increasingly apparent that the so-called experts are henchmen for the Chinese Communist Party.
The New England Journal of Politics, Part II - WSJ
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 13:44
The medical editors prefer China's virus management.
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) his week published an editorial denouncing ''dangerously incompetent'' leadership in Washington on the pandemic and all but endorsing Joe Biden for President. This will go down well in all the right precincts. But then please don't complain if half of America suspects that science is increasingly politicized.
The editorial recites the government's well-known failures in managing the coronavirus, such as the initial struggles to roll out testing and hand out enough protective equipment....
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) his week published an editorial denouncing ''dangerously incompetent'' leadership in Washington on the pandemic and all but endorsing Joe Biden for President. This will go down well in all the right precincts. But then please don't complain if half of America suspects that science is increasingly politicized.
The editorial recites the government's well-known failures in managing the coronavirus, such as the initial struggles to roll out testing and hand out enough protective equipment. We can't disagree with that, but the editors go on to extol China's virus management, conveniently ignoring its early cover-up and manipulation of the World Health Organization. Why are American elites so enamored of authoritarian command and control? The editors then hit the U.S. for late and inconsistent quarantines, without taking into account the public-health and economic costs of lockdowns.
You might say ''the New England Journal is joining the ranks of academic publications risking their reputations as non-partisan arbiters of good science in order to rumble in the political tarpits.'' That's a line from our 2006 editorial ''New England Journal of Politics'' describing how the NEJM had waded into a legal dispute over Merck's painkiller Vioxx. The NEJM also appeared in these pages in 2007 for working to tank a diabetes drug and help Democrats in Congress to regulate treatment approvals more tightly.
Our contributor Scott Gottlieb noted at the time that medical journals have ''historically played a special role in helping to define medical practice standards. Even decisions they make on how prominently to place a study, let alone how they editorialize about it, are seen as strong signals to clinicians on how doctors should weigh the evidence. So when editors pursue a political agenda, it's public health that pays a price.''
Another prominent medical journal, The Lancet, has its own history of political incursions, such as a study on Iraq war casualties funded by anti-George W. Bush partisans. The NEJM's latest editorial laments that ''current leaders'' have ''undercut trust in science.'' The irony is that much of the public distrust of expertise derives from years of scientists behaving like politicians.
Next Trump-Biden debates uncertain, though Oct. 22 is likely
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 11:46
WASHINGTON (AP) '-- The campaign's final debates between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden were thrown into uncertainty Thursday as the rival camps offered dueling proposals for the remaining faceoffs that have been upended by the president's coronavirus infection.
The chair of the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates told The Associated Press that the final debate, scheduled for Oct. 22, was still slated to go on with both candidates present as planned. But next Thursday's debate seemed to be gone, after the Trump team objected to the commission's format change.
The whipsaw day began with an announcement from the commission that the town hall-style affair set for Oct. 15 in Miami would be held virtually. The commission cited health concerns following Trump's infection as the reason for the change.
Trump, who is eager to return to the campaign trail despite uncertainty about his health, said he wouldn't participate if the debate wasn't in person. Biden's campaign then suggested the event be delayed a week until Oct. 22, which is when the third and final debate was already scheduled.
Next, Trump countered again, agreeing to a debate on Oct. 22 '-- but only if face to face '-- and asking that a third contest be added on Oct. 29, just before the election. But Biden's advisers rejected squaring off that late in the campaign.
After the release late Thursday of a letter from Trump doctor Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley that the president had ''completed his course of therapy'' and could resume campaigning this weekend, the Trump campaign called on the commission to hold next week's debate in person as originally scheduled.
''There is therefore no medical reason why the Commission on Presidential Debates should shift the debate to a virtual setting, postpone it, or otherwise alter it in any way,'' said Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien.
But commission chair Frank Fahrenkopf said late Thursday that the decision to hold the debate virtually, guided by its medical advisers at the Cleveland Clinic, was not going to be reversed.
The commission said it made the announcement in order to ''protect the health and safety of all involved,'' including the everyday citizens invited to ask questions of the candidates.
The debate commission, which has the unenviable task of finding common ground between the competing campaigns, already came under scrutiny after the first debate between Trump and Biden deteriorated, with the president frequently interrupting his opponent and the moderator unable to take control.
The Oct. 22 debate in Nashville, Tennessee, is scheduled to feature a format similar to the first. Biden's campaign has suggested that it be modified to the ''town meeting'' format, though the Trump campaign has not weighed in.
Founded after the 1984 presidential election, the commission has organized every general election debate since 1988 '-- and typically selects the dates, moderators, formats and locations without input from the candidates.
Biden moved quickly to make sure he would still appear in front of a television audience next week. Instead of debating Trump on Thursday, he will take part in a town hall sponsored by ABC News. As he campaigned in Arizona, Biden said he would indeed attend the Oct. 22 debate.
''We agreed to three debates back in the summer,'' Biden said. ''I'm showing up. I'll be there. And if, in fact, he shows up, fine. If he doesn't, fine.''
For Trump, who is recovering from COVID-19 at the White House after spending three days in the hospital, the health-induced changes are an unwelcome disruption to his effort to shift focus away from a virus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans this year.
In an interview with Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo shortly after the commission's announcement, Trump insisted he was in ''great shape'' and called the idea of a virtual debate a ''joke.''
''I'm not going to do a virtual debate,'' he declared.
Stepien said Trump would stage a rally rather than debate next Thursday, though it's not yet clear if he will be well enough to do that.
With less than four weeks until Election Day and with millions of voters casting early ballots, pressure is building on Trump to turn around a campaign that is trailing Biden in polls nationally and in most battlegrounds, where the margin is narrower. A debate before an audience of tens of millions of television viewers could provide that reset.
But another debate could also expose Trump to political risks. GOP strategists say the party's support began eroding after his seething performance against Biden last week when he didn't clearly denounce a white supremacist group.
Trump's apparent unwillingness to change his style to win back voters he needs '-- particularly women '-- was on display again Thursday during his Fox Business interview when he referred to Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris as a ''monster.''
Campaigning with Harris in Arizona, Biden called Trump's characterization of the first Black woman on a major party's presidential ticket ''despicable'' and added that it was ''so beneath the office of the presidency.''
This would not be the first time Trump has skipped a debate. During the 2016 Republican primary, he boycotted the last debate before Iowa's first-in-the nation caucuses, holding a fundraiser for veterans instead '-- a move he later speculated may have contributed to his loss in the state.
Full Coverage: Election 2020Trump fell ill with the virus on Oct. 1, just 48 hours after sharing a stage with Biden in person during the first presidential debate in Cleveland. While the two candidates remained a dozen feet apart, Trump's infection sparked health concerns for Biden and sent him to undergo multiple COVID-19 tests before returning to the campaign trail. His campaign announced Thursday that Biden had undergone his fifth such test and was found to be negative.
Trump was still contagious with the virus when he was discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday, but his doctor said Thursday he had ''completed his course of therapy'' and could resume campaigning this weekend. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, those with mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19 can be contagious for as many as '-- and should isolate for at least '-- 10 days.
___
Associated Press writers Bill Barrow in Phoenix and Alexandra Jaffe and Jill Colvin in Washington contributed to this report.
Greta Thunberg on Twitter: "I never engage in party politics. But the upcoming US elections is above and beyond all that. From a climate perspective it's very far from enough and many of you of course supported other candidates. But, I mean'...you know'
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 11:49
Greta Thunberg : I never engage in party politics. But the upcoming US elections is above and beyond all that.From a climate perspe'... https://t.co/eoXSbUVDGY
Sat Oct 10 12:07:09 +0000 2020
TheFairChinese : @GretaThunberg Thank you for helping Trump to win. I think more people knows for sure what a puppet you are than ab'... https://t.co/3SFtvoRDnQ
Sun Oct 11 11:47:48 +0000 2020
Gray : @GretaThunberg You make my ass twitch.
Sun Oct 11 11:47:23 +0000 2020
hot rods and customs : @GretaThunberg ðððððð¤
Sun Oct 11 11:46:36 +0000 2020
sbrozzi : @GretaThunberg Please feel free to give us your opinion on politics in China...
Sun Oct 11 11:46:21 +0000 2020
@HM£T : @GretaThunberg ððððð'(C)ð'(C)ð'(C)ð'(C)
Sun Oct 11 11:45:28 +0000 2020
Ð--миÑÑий Donskoy : @GretaThunberg У ÑÐµÐ±Ñ ÑиÑÑки еÑÑ Ð½Ðµ вÑÑоÑÐ>>и, ÑÑо б ÑказÑваÑÑ Ð·Ð° коÐ"о нам Ð"оÐ>>оÑоваÑÑ. Ðди в ÑкоÐ>>Ñ!
Sun Oct 11 11:44:46 +0000 2020
Acridend0127 : @GretaThunberg The internet did this to us. Little did we know the information age was going to tear us apart before we become enlightened
Sun Oct 11 11:44:17 +0000 2020
å¼µè¯æ(C) : @GretaThunberg å(C)å¼ä¹èæ¨æä¸å'人æ¬ç¼è²å§¼è´è²¬ä¸å
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Sun Oct 11 11:43:05 +0000 2020
T..C.. : @GretaThunberg Your not even old enough to vote ,Nor are you from this country,Your opinion on American politics do'... https://t.co/8rlPhFjgKu
Sun Oct 11 11:42:28 +0000 2020
Opinion | America May Need International Intervention - The New York Times
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 12:10
Even Democrats may find it hard to imagine, but the ''leader of the free world'' would benefit from United Nations oversight.
By Peter Beinart
Contributing Opinion Writer
Oct. 6, 2020President Trump at the United Nations in 2017. If Mr. Trump refused to accept the election results, Joe Biden may need to appeal to international watchdogs. Credit... Chang W. Lee/The New York Times The rightful president of Belarus, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, appeared via video last month before the United Nations Human Rights Council. Her country's August election, she declared, had been ''stolen.''
Despite objections from a representative of the Belarusian government, who said she had no right to address the body, Ms. Tikhanovskaya implored the United Nations to act. ''Standing up for democratic principles and human rights is not interfering in internal affairs,'' she insisted, ''it is a universal question of human dignity.''
No one knows how Donald Trump's Covid-19 diagnosis will affect his presidential campaign, but before falling ill, he repeatedly suggested that he won't accept the results of the election, should he lose. In that case, Joe Biden should follow Ms. Tikhanovskaya's example and appeal to the world for help.
For many Americans '-- raised to see the United States as the natural leader of the ''free world'' '-- it may be hard to imagine requesting foreign intervention against tyranny in our own land. But as historians like Gerald Horne and Carol Anderson have detailed, there's a long history of Black Americans doing exactly that.
From 1845 to 1847, Frederick Douglass delivered more than 180 speeches imploring British audiences to intervene against American slavery. After World War I, when President Woodrow Wilson unveiled the Fourteen Points that he hoped would structure the postwar world, the National Equal Rights League, led by William Trotter and Ida Wells-Barnett, asked the Paris Peace Conference to adopt a 15th: The ''elimination of civil, political and judicial distinctions based on race or color in all nations.''
After World War II, the sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois edited a 94-page pamphlet that the N.A.A.C.P. presented to every ambassador to the new United Nations. ''Peoples of the world,'' it declared, ''we American Negroes appeal to you; our treatment in America is not merely an internal question of the United States. It is a basic problem of humanity; of democracy.''
In 1951, the entertainer-activist Paul Robeson handed U.N. officials a 200-page document alleging that America's treatment of its Black citizens violated the organization's convention against genocide. In 1964, Malcolm X beseeched Africa's newly independent governments to ''recommend an immediate investigation'' into American racism by the U.N. Human Rights Council.
This June, relatives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile and Michael Brown endorsed a letter calling on the council ''to urgently convene a special session on the situation of human rights in the United States.''
Joe Biden is not W.E.B. Du Bois, let alone Malcolm X. But the party he leads now faces chronic racist disenfranchisement. The more the Democratic Party becomes a vehicle for Black political empowerment, the less its votes count.
Democrats must now win the popular vote by three, four or even five percentage points to be assured of winning the Electoral College. They must achieve that margin in the face of a strenuous Republican effort to ensure that many Democratic ballots are not counted. And even if they overcome both of those obstacles, Mr. Trump may still not concede.
That's why Du Bois's appeal to the world remains so relevant. By impeding Black voters, the United States still violates the democratic principles it has helped enshrine into international law. After observing America's 2018 midterm elections, a team from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe cataloged a long list of undemocratic practices, from the disenfranchisement of former prisoners to the District of Columbia's lack of congressional representation to discriminatory voter identification laws, and concluded that, in critical ways, American elections ''contravene O.S.C.E. commitments and international standards with regard to universal and equal suffrage.''
What Mr. Trump is doing this year, the election-monitoring expert Judith Kelley, the dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, recently told The Boston Globe, is the kind of activity that international election observers ''would go to countries and write up huge reports about and say, 'Red flag! Red flag!'''
Democrats should spend the coming weeks working to ensure that this year's O.S.C.E. observer mission '-- despite being banned from many states, especially in the Deep South '-- can do exactly that. Then, if Mr. Trump and his allies halt the counting of ballots, or disregard them altogether, Democrats should use the O.S.C.E's report as evidence in an appeal to the same body where Ms. Tikhanovskaya made hers: the U.N. Human Rights Council.
They should also lodge a complaint with the Organization of American States, a regional organization that has pledged ''to respond rapidly and collectively in defense of democracy,'' and which in 2009 used that mandate to suspend Honduras after its government carried out a coup.
To professed political realists, this may sound laughably na¯ve. In practice, international do-gooders at the United Nations and Organization of American States are virtually powerless against the most powerful government on earth.
But that's not the point. While appealing to international bodies may not change the election's result, it could change the Democratic Party itself. Today, many prominent Democrats remain enthralled by the very myths about American exceptionalism that Black activists have long challenged.
They routinely exempt American behavior from the international standards to which they demand other countries comply. If, for example, China regularly sent drones into other countries to conduct extrajudicial killings not just of suspected terrorists but also of government officials, Democrats would denounce it as a grave violation of the ''rules-based international order'' they extol.
But when the Trump administration assassinated Qassim Suleimani, one of Iran's most powerful officials, in January, Mr. Biden said he ''deserved to be brought to justice'' and worried merely about the killing's practical effects. The 2020 Democratic platform mentions international law just once.
Americans are not so inherently virtuous that they can safely disregard the moral discipline that international oversight provides. Wells-Barnett, Du Bois and Robeson understood that from brutal, firsthand experience. Now that Mr. Biden and other white Democrats are tasting disenfranchisement themselves, they need to learn that lesson, too.
Peter Beinart (@PeterBeinart), a professor of journalism and political science at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, is the editor at large of Jewish Currents and a fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace.
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Pelosi embraces bill on presidential succession, raises questions about Trump's health - The Washington Post
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 03:32
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday backed the creation of a congressionally appointed commission that would determine whether a president is capable of performing his duties, insisting that it wasn't specifically about President Trump while suggesting that his recent diagnosis was the motivation for it.
Pelosi said Trump's coronavirus infection has raised questions about presidential succession, which is governed by the 25th Amendment to the Constitution. Trump spent last weekend at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, setting off a flurry of inquiries about whether Vice President Pence would assume authority, even temporarily.
''This is not about President Trump. He will face the judgment of the voters, but he shows the need for us to create a process for future presidents,'' Pelosi told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) appears at a Capitol Hill news conference alongside text from Section 4 of the 25th Amendment. (Sarah Silbiger/For The Washington Post)
She later added: ''This legislation applies to future presidents, but we are reminded of the necessity of action by the health of the current president.''
Pelosi's comments and her embrace of the legislation come against the backdrop of Trump's dismissiveness about the threat of the coronavirus and his erratic response to negotiations on a federal relief package.
After abandoning the talks earlier this week, Trump said Friday that he wants a major deal with Pelosi and Congress.
''I would like to see a bigger stimulus package, frankly, than either the Democrats or the Republicans are offering. I'm going in the exact opposite now, okay?'' he said in an interview with syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh.
In the same wide-ranging interview, the president referenced Pelosi's efforts on the legislation to create the commission, saying: ''She's gone crazy. She's a nut job.''
Pelosi declined to comment on the status of the relief talks at the Friday morning news conference.
Trump readies $1.8 trillion economic relief offer, but many Republicans appear cool to a last-minute spending deal
The 25th Amendment formalizes that the vice president takes over the duties of the presidency in the event of a president's death, inability to perform his duties or resignation from office. It also lays out a process by which a sitting president's powers may be removed. Congress's role, however, is limited.
Pelosi endorsed legislation by Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.) that would create a bipartisan Commission on Presidential Capacity to Discharge the Powers and Duties of Office to ''help ensure effective and uninterrupted leadership'' in the presidency. The commission would be composed of medical professionals and former high-ranking executives selected equally by Republicans and Democrats.
The commission would work in concert with the vice president to determine if a president were unfit to serve.
While Pelosi declined to say if Trump had reached such a state, she argued that medications he has taken could impair his judgment. Earlier in the week, she specifically called out his use of steroids that she said may be having an effect on his mental capabilities.
''Clearly [Trump] is under medication. Any of us who are under medication of that seriousness .'.'. is in an altered state,'' the speaker said. ''And again, there are articles by medical professionals saying this could, as I said earlier, could have an impact on judgment.''
Pelosi has been known to try to goad the president, aware that his blusterous reactions can repel voters. In the past, she has accused Trump of engaging in a coverup, implored his family to have an intervention over his behavior and said she prays for his health '-- the latter of which infuriated the president.
Some Democrats view her full-throated endorsement of the Raskin proposal as a bid to do the same.
Citing 25th Amendment, Pelosi, Raskin move to create panel that could rule on president's fitness for office
The Raskin legislation has no chance of becoming law as long as Republicans control the Senate. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters in Kentucky on Friday that the idea was ''absurd, absolutely absurd.''
''Again, right here, in this last three weeks before the election, I think those kinds of wild comments should be largely discounted,'' McConnell said.
Trump, in a tweet, suggested that Pelosi's purpose in pushing the commission was to make the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), president if Joe Biden is elected.
Trump associates have accused Pelosi of wanting to invoke the 25th Amendment to oust the president after she led the effort to impeach him a year ago. The Republican-led Senate acquitted him on two impeachment charges.
Pelosi, however, said that the matter is not about Trump '-- or for her to determine if he is healthy enough to serve.
''That's not for us to decide,'' she said, adding: ''People want to know. We have to give some comfort to people that there is a way to do this, very respectful of not making a judgment on the basis of a comment or behavior that we don't like, but based on a medical decision, again, with the full involvement of the vice president of the United States.''
Raskin said that, in the midst of a pandemic that has killed at least 212,000 Americans while many at the White House have been infected, the legislation is critical.
''What happens if a president, any president, ends up in a coma or on a ventilator and has made no provisions for the temporary transfer of power?'' he asked.
Build Back Better
Build Back Better timeline
I've done the work here, so I hope you read this one. I think I just connected "build back better" to Haiti, Dr. Bill, and COVID for technology tracking. I highlighted and attached articles.
Article 1 attached - Build Back Better - first use on Lexis Nexis April 22, 1990 by tourism association in Caribbean related to Hurricane Hugo (appears not important; this is just the first use I could find as FYI)
Article 2 attached - Began frequent use in US in 2008 related to Haiti, how hurricanes caused a doctor shortage
Article 3 attached - Then in 2010 used frequently again related to Haiti and that year's Earthquake - Jill Biden used the phrase at an event in Haiti with Michelle Obama
Article 4 attached - US and Haiti find a partner for reconstruction. VP Biden article referencing a "deep partnership with the government and people and institutions of Haiti" to "build back better" phrase said by then USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah
Rajiv Shah - (per Wikipedia he is a "former American government official, physician, and health economist") (there is also a Rajiv Shah under the Trump Administration which is a different person)
President of Rockefeller Foundation; Joined the Gates Foundation in 2001, prior Board Member Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and US Global Development Lab
Wikipedia - "Shah was also responsible for developing the International Finance Facility for Immunizationwhich raised more than $5 billion for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). IFFI has been recognized as an example of the power of innovative financing for global development"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajiv_Shah
US Global Development Lab Website - Front Page, "Improving measurable development and humanitarian assistance outcomes through the responsible use of digital technology."
https://www.usaid.gov/GlobalDevLab/
Their COVID-19 and Digital Development - https://www.usaid.gov/digital-development/covid-19
I stopped there.
I've surprised myself here. I just wanted to know about the phrase "build back better." This all seems a little odd....
Ohio Jeff
Building Back Better - Wikipedia
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 11:52
Building Back Better (BBB) is a program that was first officially used in the United Nations' Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction document, which was agreed on at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held on March 14''18, 2015, in Sendai, Japan. The UN General Assembly adopted this document on June 3, 2015.
During the negotiation period for the Sendai Framework, the concept of "Build Back Better" was proposed by the Japanese delegation as a holistic concept which states: "The principle of 'Build Back Better' is generally understood to use the disaster as a trigger to create more resilient nations and societies than before. This was through the implementation of well-balanced disaster risk reduction measures, including physical restoration of infrastructure, revitalization of livelihood and economy/industry, and the restoration of local culture and environment". The concept was fully agreed as one of the most important concepts among each state's delegates and embedded into the Sendai Framework.
BBB is an approach to post-disaster recovery aimed at increasing the resilience of nations and communities to future disasters and shocks.[1] The BBB approach integrates disaster risk reduction measures into the restoration of physical infrastructure, social systems and shelter, and the revitalization of livelihoods, economies and the environment.[2] It was adopted by UN member states as one of four priorities in the Sendai Framework for disaster recovery, risk reduction and sustainable development.[3]
Introduction of the concept to the UN Edit At the opening speech of the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, stated: "The word of "Build Back Better" sounds like a new concept, but this is common sense to the Japanese people, coming from our historical experiences in recovering from disaster and preparing for the future, and it has become an important part of the culture of Japan."[4]
This concept was included in chapter 7 of the book Disaster Risk Reduction for Economic Growth and Livelihood, Investing in Resilience and Development: "Recovery and reconstruction: An opportunity for sustainable growth through 'build back better'". An abstract explanation was delivered to the UN Sendai meeting, and the concept was proposed for the UN document by the Japanese government delegation. BBB had been used by people involved in the recovery process from natural disasters, but had not been clearly described as a holistic concept before this book.
Concept Edit BBB has its roots in the improvement of land use, spatial planning and construction standards through the recovery process. The concept has expanded to represent a broader opportunity by building greater resilience in recovery by systematically addressing the root causes of vulnerability.[5] The term first caught international attention in 2006 during the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami relief effort, where the UN Special Envoy Report offered ten key propositions for BBB:[6]
Governments, donors, and aid agencies must recognize that families and communities drive their own recovery.Recovery must promote fairness and equity.Governments must enhance preparedness for future disasters.Local governments must be empowered to manage recovery efforts, and donors must devote greater resources to strengthening government recovery institutions, especially at the local level.Good recovery planning and effective coordination depend on good information.The UN, World Bank, and other multilateral agencies must clarify their roles and relationships, especially in addressing the early stage of a recovery process.The expanding role of NGOs and the Red Cross/ Red Crescent Movement carries greater responsibilities for quality in recovery efforts.From the start of recovery operations, governments and aid agencies must create the conditions for entrepreneurs to flourish.Beneficiaries deserve the kind of agency partnerships that move beyond rivalry and unhealthy competition.Good recovery must leave communities safer by reducing risks and building resilience.The recently researched book by Mannakkara, Wilkinson and Potangaroa called Resilient Post Disaster Recovery through Building Back Better developed a sound framework for BBB, including indicators that have been tested in numerous countries.[7] In the book, the authors argue for a holistic approach incorporating disaster risk reduction activities with community engagement, effective monitoring and implementation.
Although it did not explicitly use the term "Building Back Better", the reconstruction from the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake embodies this concept through the Phoenix Plan,which implemented twelve key actions:
Developing safe, secure urban communities.Creating a "symbiotic society".Making further progress in administrative decentralization and reconstruction spearheading by local organizations.Promoting active participation and cooperation of ordinary citizens.Establishing effective risk management systems.Improving emergency aid systems and support mechanisms for rebuilding lives and homes.Response with respect to the elderly and other vulnerable social elements.Fostering revitalization and prosperity in the region.Using local culture, local cityscapes, and local scenery to create distinctive urban communities.Inter-regional coordination and interaction.Promoting international cooperation in disaster reduction.Passing on and disseminating information on the experience gained and lessons learned from the earthquake.Applications Edit During the reconstruction from the earthquake of Central Java in March 2006, the Japan International Cooperation Agency Reconstruction team used this concept to rebuild houses. They used earthquake-resistant technology and constructed more than 100,000 strengthened houses within 2 years under the leadership of Java Special Province.[8]
After the major disaster in Java, international donors collaborated on a report: the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA). In the PDNA for Tropical Storm Ondoy and Typhoon Pepeng in the Philippines, PDNA team member Takeya Kimio from the Asian Development Bank strongly recommended BBB in disaster recovery. They [clarification needed ] wanted to make sure that BBB was first used in the Philippines government reconstruction policy document. BBB was also clearly written as a catchphrase on the first page of the document titled "Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda".[9]
After the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction was finalised, the performance indicators were defined as: "The use of the recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction phases after a disaster to increase the resilience of nations and communities through integrating disaster risk reduction measures into the restoration of physical infrastructure and societal systems, and into the revitalization of livelihoods, economies and the environment. Annotation: The term ''societal'' will not be interpreted as a political system of any country."[10]
Benefits Edit Preventing losses Edit In India, super-cyclone BOB06 killed more than 10,000 people in 1999. During recovery, the state government established the Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA) to help facilitate BBB through programs such as adding over 1,500 km of new evacuation roads, 30 bridges to better connect vulnerable communities and improvements to 200 km of existing coastal embankments. Additionally, the OSDMA invested in advanced early warning systems. When Odisha was hit by Cyclone Phailin in 2013, 50 people were killed'--less than 1% of BOB06's casualties.
Local economy stimulation Edit In Madagascar, farmers benefited as much as 4.5 times their income after the risk of flooding was reduced through watershed protection in Mantadia National Park.[11] In India, following the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) set up learning centres for local women to facilitate recovery which included tools, techniques and information about government schemes. These centres sustained the economic activities of women and have served as focal points during flood recovery since the earthquake.[12]
Other benefits Edit The benefits of BBB extend beyond risk reduction. In Malaysia, the government did not only save an estimated cost of USD300,000/km by maintaining the mangrove swamps intact for storm protection and flood control, but also lowered the temperature in the area.[13]
Edit In 2015, the Sendai Framework explicitly identified Building Back Better in recovery, reconstruction, and rehabilitation.[3]
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has issued a volume of its Words into Action guidelines for BBB. While there can be no standardized blueprint for building back better, the guidelines offer step-by-step guidance on developing disaster recovery frameworks, pre-disaster recovery planning and post-disaster needs assessment.[14]
References Edit ^ "Building Back Better in Post-Disaster Recovery" (PDF) . World Bank/GFDRR . Retrieved 19 January 2020 . ^ UNISDR. "Report of the open-ended intergovernmental expert working group on indicators and terminology relating to disaster risk reduction" . Retrieved 19 January 2020 . ^ a b UNISDR (United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction) (2015). endai framework for disaster risk reduction 2015''2030. UNISDR . Retrieved 19 January 2020 . ^ "Third UN Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction opens with welcome news for the Pacific islands | Pacific Environment". www.sprep.org . Retrieved 2020-07-28 . ^ Hallegatte, Stephane; Rentschler, Jun; Walsh, Brian. "Building Back Better: Achieving resilience through stronger, faster, and more inclusive post-disaster reconstruction" (PDF) . World Bank/GFDRR . Retrieved 19 January 2020 . ^ Clinton, William J. "Lesson Learned from Tsunami Recovery:Ten Key Propositions for Building Back Better" (PDF) . Retrieved 19 January 2020 . ^ Mannakkara S, Wilkinson, S, Potangaroa, R, Resilient Post-Disaster Recovery Through Building Back Better, Routledge, 2019 ^ JICA (2012). The Great East Japan Earth quake <sic> - Assistance from around the world (PDF) (Report) . Retrieved 2020-08-29 . ^ Government of the Philippines (2013). "Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda (RAY)" . Retrieved 2020-08-29 . ^ United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (2017). Build Back Better in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction. Consultative version (PDF) (Report) . Retrieved 2020-08-29 . ^ Kramer, Randall; Richter, Daniel D.; Pattanayak, Subhrendu; Sharna, Narendra P. (March 1997). "Ecological and Economic Analysis of Watershed Protection in Eastern Madagascar". Journal of Environmental Management. 49 (3): 277''295. doi:10.1006/jema.1995.0085. ^ Price, Gareth; Bhatt, Mihir. "The role of the affected state in humanitarian action: A case study on India" (PDF) . Overseas Development Institute . Retrieved 19 January 2020 . ^ "Guidance Notes on Recovery: Environment" (PDF) . International Recovery Platform . Retrieved 19 January 2020 . ^ UNISDR. "Words into Action guidelines: Build back better in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction". UNISDR . Retrieved 19 January 2020 .
Brexit
UK ICO (Information Commissioner Office) report - re Cambridge Analytica / Brexit
I still think Brexit is a bad idea - but a new report has been released to an MP - showing how CA appears to be mostly hot air (has per that hyperbolic Netflix documentary)
https://telecoms.com/506834/uk-information-commissioner-confirms-cambridge-analytica-was-a-storm-in-a-teacup/
"...we concluded that SCL/CA [SCL Elections and its subsidiary Cambridge Analytica] were purchasing significant volumes of commercially available personal data (at one estimate over 130 billion data points), in the main about millions of US voters, to combine it with the Facebook derived insight information they had obtained from an academic at Cambridge University, Dr Aleksandr Kogan, and elsewhere," wrote UK Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham.
"In the main their models were also built from 'off the shelf' analytical tools and there was evidence that their own staff were concerned about some of the public statements the leadership of the company were making about their impact and influence."
In other words, the data was commercially available and concerned US voters. The only 'special sauce' in CA's model was the hyperbole of its sales people. The Brexit angle turned out to be a complete red herring. "From my review of the materials recovered by the investigation I have found no further evidence to change my earlier view that SCL/CA were not involved in the EU referendum campaign in the UK," wrote Denham
https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-taken/2618383/20201002_ico-o-ed-l-rtl-0181_to-julian-knight-mp.pdf
ITM,
UK Information Commissioner confirms Cambridge Analytica was a storm in a teacup '' Telecoms.com
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 11:55
The supposed scandal around the data analytics supplied to campaign groups by Cambridge Analytica was manufactured by people with a political agenda.
When the story broke in March 2018 it seemed, on the surface, to be a big deal. The campaigns for both the UK leaving the EU and for Donald Trump in the US general election, both of which were victorious in 2016, only succeeded by cheating. They allegedly used illegally obtained data on the UK and US populations to target the gullible electorate with their underhand propaganda.
Almost immediately, however, it became clear to any objective observer that the whole thing was overblown, with the core allegation of electoral fraud consisting of nothing more than the kind of targeted advertising endemic to the internet era. The only claim of substance was that Facebook had insufficiently safeguarded its user data in allowing access to third-party apps.
Now the UK Information Commissioner's Office has published the findings of its three-year investigation (predating the scandal) into the matter, which concluded there was no illegal electoral interference whatsoever.
'''...we concluded that SCL/CA [SCL Elections and its subsidiary Cambridge Analytica] were purchasing significant volumes of commercially available personal data (at one estimate over 130 billion data points), in the main about millions of US voters, to combine it with the Facebook derived insight information they had obtained from an academic at Cambridge University, Dr Aleksandr Kogan, and elsewhere,'' wrote UK Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham.
''In the main their models were also built from 'off the shelf' analytical tools and there was evidence that their own staff were concerned about some of the public statements the leadership of the company were making about their impact and influence.''
In other words, the data was commercially available and concerned US voters. The only 'special sauce' in CA's model was the hyperbole of its sales people. The Brexit angle turned out to be a complete red herring. ''From my review of the materials recovered by the investigation I have found no further evidence to change my earlier view that SCL/CA were not involved in the EU referendum campaign in the UK,'' wrote Denham
Apart from a cursory shrug about the Russian conspiracy theories that have been so popular among opponents of Brexit and Trump, and a bit of tutting about Kogan's attitudes towards data security, that's it. Cambridge Analytica, it turns out, was guilty of nothing more than exaggerating its own significance and being in the wrong place at the wrong time when sore losers were clutching at straws.
Even the fines handed out by the ICO had little to do with the 'scandal'. Yes, Facebook was fined for its sloppy data protection, but Vote Leave was punished for sending unsolicited text messages and, similarly, Leave.EU was fined for sending unsolicited emails. Hilariously the only political party found to have its hands dirty was the Labour Party, which bought the illegally collected private data of over a million people.
So an exhaustive investigation has concluded the Leave and Trump campaigns did absolutely nothing wrong. Whether CA's data had any affect on the outcomes of the Brexit referendum of the US general election is irrelevant as it's just fine to use legally obtained data in marketing campaigns. In fact, you'd be stupid not to.
The supposed whisteblower, on which reports of the non-scandal were entirely reliant, was strangely muted at time of writing. The same can't be said of activist journalist Carole Cadwalladr, whose professional fortunes were massively boosted by her reporting on the matter. She seems to be sticking with the standard anti-democratic playbook of seeking to invalidate the whole process when you're unhappy with the outcome. Stay classy Carole.
Tonight, like so many other nights, the data bros & ageing BBC presenters are jizzing over a Cambridge Analytica headline. That spectacularly misses point: a huge investigation has collapsed. Dozens of qs remain unanswered. Inc: why UK govt refused to co-operate with US intel?
'-- Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) October 7, 2020
Vaccines and such
COVID treatment Trump touted as a "cure" was developed using cells derived from aborted fetal tissue - CBS News
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 22:20
The antibody cocktail that President Trump received for his COVID-19 infection and touted on Wednesday evening as a "cure" for the deadly virus was developed using cells derived from aborted fetal tissue, a practice the White House and anti-abortion rights groups oppose.
Last week, Mr. Trump received Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' cocktail of monoclonal antibodies , an experimental therapeutic for coronavirus that is still undergoing testing and is not FDA approved. In a nearly five-minute video posted to Twitter on Wednesday, the president lauded its effects, calling it "the key."
"I think this was a blessing from God that I caught [the virus], I think it was a blessing in disguise," Mr. Trump said in the video. "I caught it, I heard about this drug, I said, 'Let me take it' '... and it was incredible the way it worked."
But the way in which the antibody cocktail was developed is at odds with the Trump administration's position on research using fetal cells. According to a Regeneron spokesperson, the drug's potency was tested in a lab using HEK 293T cells. That cell line was originally derived from the kidney tissue of a fetus aborted in the Netherlands in the 1970s. The cells "were used in testing the antibody candidates' ability to neutralize the virus" and helped researchers "determine the 'best' two antibodies, which now make up the REGN-COV2 cocktail," the spokesperson said.
There is no fetal tissue present in the final product.
Remdesivir, an antiviral drug Mr. Trump received, also was tested using the HEK 293T cells.
Last year, the Trump administration said it would no longer support long-standing funding for medical research by government scientists using human fetal tissue, a move that countered advice from physicians and researchers. The decision was seen as a major victory for anti-abortion rights groups.
Because the fetal cells used in developing Regeneron's antibody cocktail were originally derived from an abortion prior to the funding ban, a White House official told CBS News on Thursday that the therapeutic wasn't in violation of the administration's new policy.
"The Administration's policy on the use of human fetal tissue from elective abortions in research specifically excluded 'already-established (as of June 5, 2019) human fetal cell lines," the official said. "Thus, a product made using extant cell lines that existed before June 5, 2019 would not implicate the Administration's policy."
Anti-abortion groups, which generally oppose the use of fetal tissue in pharmaceutical research, did not raise issue with the therapeutics used and promoted by the president.
"The president was not given any medicines to treat COVID-19 that involved the destruction of human life," wrote David Prentice, Ph.D., and Tara Sander Lee, Ph.D., of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of the anti-abortion rights political group the Susan B. Anthony List, in a statement emailed to CBS News Wednesday afternoon. "No human embryonic stem cells or human fetal tissue were used to produce the treatments President Trump received '' period."
The researchers did not address the fact that fetal cells were used for testing earlier in the drug's development process. A spokesperson for the SBA List did not respond to follow up questions.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Lila Rose, the co-founder and president of Live Action, an anti-abortion group, rejected that the therapeutic was developed using fetal tissue, writing in an email to CBS News, "To our knowledge, Regeneron was not created using aborted baby tissue."
Rose acknowledged that other Regeneron products use fetal tissue in their development, which her group "absolutely condemn[s]." Rose did not respond to follow up questions.
Regeneron applied to the Food and Drug Administration for an Emergency Use Authorization on Wednesday night, which would allow patients access to the drug more quickly than the standard approval process. The Phase 3 clinical trial is still underway, but the company says early results show the treatment reduces viral load and helps improve symptoms in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
"For me, I walked in, I didn't feel good. A short 24 hours later I was feeling great," Mr. Trump said in the video posted to Twitter on Wednesday evening. "And that's what I want for everybody."
Despite the president's enthusiasm, medical experts say none of the current treatments amount to a cure for COVID-19, which has killed more than 212,000 Americans to date.
"It's absolutely irresponsible for the president to be calling it a cure," Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University, told CBSN. "We can't tell about a drug's efficacy based on its performance in one patient."
Arden Farhi contributed to this report
Gates' Globalist Vaccine Agenda: A Win-Win for Pharma and Mandatory Vaccination ' Children's Health Defense
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 16:14
April 09, 2020
By Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Chairman, Children's Health Defense
Vaccines, for Bill Gates, are a strategic philanthropy that feed his many vaccine-related businesses (including Microsoft's ambition to control a global vaccination ID enterprise) and give him dictatorial control of global health policy.
Gates' obsession with vaccines seems to be fueled by a conviction to save the world with technology.
Promising his share of $450 million of $1.2 billion to eradicate polio, Gates took control of India's National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), which mandated up to 50 doses (Table 1) of polio vaccines through overlapping immunization programs to children before the age of five. Indian doctors blame the Gates campaign for a devastating non-polio acute flaccid paralysis (NPAFP) epidemic that paralyzed 490,000 children beyond expected rates between 2000 and 2017. In 2017, the Indian government dialed back Gates' vaccine regimen and asked Gates and his vaccine policies to leave India. NPAFP rates dropped precipitously.
The most frightening [polio] epidemics in Congo, Afghanistan, and the Philippines are all linked to vaccines.
In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) reluctantly admitted that the global explosion in polio is predominantly vaccine strain. The most frightening epidemics in Congo, Afghanistan, and the Philippines, are all linked to vaccines. In fact, by 2018, 70% of global polio cases were vaccine strain.
In 2009, the Gates Foundation funded tests of experimental HPV vaccines, developed by Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) and Merck, on 23,000 young girls in remote Indian provinces. Approximately 1,200 suffered severe side effects, including autoimmune and fertility disorders. Seven died. Indian government investigations charged that Gates-funded researchers committed pervasive ethical violations: pressuring vulnerable village girls into the trial, bullying parents, forging consent forms, and refusing medical care to the injured girls. The case is now in the country's Supreme Court.
South African newspapers complained, 'We are guinea pigs for the drug makers.'
In 2010, the Gates Foundation funded a phase 3 trial of GSK's experimental malaria vaccine, killing 151 African infants and causing serious adverse effects, including paralysis, seizure, and febrile convulsions, to 1,048 of the 5,949 children.
During Gates' 2002 MenAfriVac campaign in Sub-Saharan Africa, Gates' operatives forcibly vaccinated thousands of African children against meningitis. In the village of Gouro, located in northern Chad, approximately 50 of the 500 children vaccinated developed paralysis. South African newspapers complained, ''We are guinea pigs for the drug makers.'' Nelson Mandela's former senior economist, Professor Patrick Bond, describes Gates' philanthropic practices as ''ruthless and immoral.''
In 2010, when Gates committed $10 billion to the WHO, he said ''We must make this the decade of vaccines.'' A month later, Gates said in a TED Talk that new vaccines ''could reduce population.'' And, four years later, in 2014, Kenya's Catholic Doctors Association accused the WHO of chemically sterilizing millions of unwilling Kenyan women with a ''tetanus'' vaccine campaign. Independent labs found a sterility formula in every vaccine tested. After denying the charges, WHO finally admitted it had been developing the sterility vaccines for over a decade. Similar accusations came from Tanzania, Nicaragua, Mexico, and the Philippines.
A 2017 study (Morgenson et. al. 2017) showed that WHO's popular DTP vaccine is killing more African children than the diseases it prevents. DTP-vaccinated girls suffered 10x the death rate of children who had not yet received the vaccine. WHO has refused to recall the lethal vaccine, which it forces upon tens of millions of African children annually.
[Global public health officials] say he has diverted agency resources to serve his personal philosophy that good health only comes in a syringe.
Global public health advocates around the world accuse Gates of steering WHO's agenda away from the projects that are proven to curb infectious diseases: clean water, hygiene, nutrition, and economic development. The Gates Foundation spends only about $650 million of its $5 billion dollar budget on these areas. They say he has diverted agency resources to serve his personal philosophy that good health only comes in a syringe.
In addition to using his philanthropy to control WHO, UNICEF, GAVI, and PATH, Gates funds a private pharmaceutical company that manufactures vaccines and is donating $50 million to 12 pharmaceutical companies to speed up development of a coronavirus vaccine. In his recent media appearances, Gates appears confident that the Covid-19 crisis will now give him the opportunity to force his dictatorial vaccine programs on all American children '' and adults.
Sign up for free news and updates from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Children's Health Defense. CHD is planning many strategies, including legal, in an effort to defend the health of our children and obtain justice for those already injured. Your support is essential to CHD's successful mission.
Afgeschreven 'wonderpil' heeft mogelijk t"ch gunstig effect op coronapatinten | Zwolle | AD.nl
Home-Made Vaccine for Covid-19: Does It Work and Is It Safe Against Coronavirus? - Bloomberg
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 11:03
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A Vaccine That Protects Against COVID-19 May Be Right Under Our Noses : Shots - Health News : NPR
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 12:24
The nasal spray version of the flu vaccine contains live but weakened form of the virus. Researchers think there's a good chance this could help boost the body's immunity and improve its ability to fight off pathogens such as the coronavirus. Tim Sloan/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
toggle caption Tim Sloan/AFP via Getty Images The nasal spray version of the flu vaccine contains live but weakened form of the virus. Researchers think there's a good chance this could help boost the body's immunity and improve its ability to fight off pathogens such as the coronavirus.
Tim Sloan/AFP via Getty Images In case you were still procrastinating getting a flu shot this year, here's another reason to make it a priority.
There's a chance the vaccine could offer some protection against COVID-19 itself, says virologist Robert Gallo, who directs the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and is chairman of the Global Virus Network.
The key is getting the right flu vaccine, says Gallo, who was one of the main scientists credited with discovering HIV. "The vaccine has to have a live virus in it. The virus is attenuated so it doesn't cause disease, but otherwise the virus is alive."
A live virus may sound a bit terrifying, but it's a standard way to make safe and effective vaccines. In fact, you've probably already had a few "live, attenuated" vaccines in your lifetime, such as the measles vaccine or oral polio vaccine.
Now scientists are just beginning to learn that these vaccines may offer some unexpected advantages to the immune system.
When developing a vaccine, scientists have a few strategies to try. They can take a piece or component of the bacteria and use that to trigger an immune response in a person. They can kill the pathogen and use its corpse as the vaccine. Or they can take a live pathogen and weaken it in the lab.
The latter are called "live, attenuated vaccines," and over the past century, scientists have noticed something peculiar about these vaccines: They seem to offer some protection, not just from the targeted disease, but also against many different diseases, including respiratory infections.
"There's plenty of evidence for it," Gallo says. "The weakness is we don't really know the longevity [of the protection]. It will probably work only for months, but we can't say for sure."
Take for instance, the vaccine for tuberculosis. It's called bacille Calmette-Guerin, or BCG, and it contains a live, but weakened, strain of TB from cows.
When doctors in Sweden first started using BCG back in the 1920s, they noticed not only that the vaccine reduced a child's risk from dying of TB, but also that children who got it had a mortality rate from all causes that was almost three times lower than unvaccinated children. Since the 1970s, scientists in West Africa have documented a similar pattern with both the BCG vaccine and the live measles vaccine. In other words, the vaccines were doing something to boost the immune system's response to many kinds of pathogens.
Recently, doctors in the Netherlands directly tested the BCG vaccine against a placebo, to see if it could help volunteers fight off a weakened form of yellow fever. The conclusion? People who received the BCG vaccine mounted a stronger immune response against the virus and cleared out the virus more effectively than those who received the placebo, the study reported.
It's not just BCG that seems to have this effect. There's growing evidence that any live vaccines can offer some broad, nonspecific protection, including the oral polio vaccine, measles and the live flu vaccine.
Scientists have had a hard time believing the evidence because the idea goes against the way they thought vaccines work, says immunologist Zhou Xing at McMasters University in Ontario. "It's a new concept that has emerged in the field of immunology over the past five to 10 years or so."
In general, vaccines work by tricking the body to produce antibodies. These molecules are very specific. They typically target and neutralize only one type of infection.
Live vaccines also work through antibodies, but they likely do something else, as well. They supercharge our body's front-line defenders '-- the cells that first recognize an invader and try to clear it out before the infection gets out of control, Zhou says. Specifically, scientists think live vaccines epigenetically reprogram immune cells in the bone marrow, called myeloid cells.
Unlike antibodies, myeloid cells are nonspecific '-- they work on many types of invaders. And they work quickly when the virus first enters a person's body.
Now the big question is: Will live vaccines help a person clear out the coronavirus from their body before they get sick or before the infection becomes severe?
To figure that out, scientists around the world are currently running more than a dozen clinical trials with both BCG and the live polio vaccine to see whether they offer some protection against the virus that causes COVID-19.
No one believes the protection will be as strong '-- or as long-lived '-- as that provided by a specific COVID-19 vaccine, says Dr. Moshe Arditi, who leads one of the trials at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles.
But, he says, the BCG vaccine has several advantages to a specific vaccine. It's cheap. A dose only costs a few dollars. And we already know it's safe. "More than 130 million kids every year '-- every year '-- receive the BCG vaccine so the safety profile has been very strong," Arditi says.
So the BCG vaccine could be approved '-- and available '-- by early next year, he says. "It could be a bridge until we have a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine."
In the meantime, virologist Robert Gallo says, why not go get the live flu vaccine, if you can?
This year, the flu vaccine comes in two major forms: a shot or a nasal spray. The shot, which is approved for all people above age 6 months who don't have contraindications, contains an inactivated virus or components of the virus. The nasal spray (FluMist), which is approved for people ages 2 to 49, contains live, attenuated flu viruses.
"You watch," Gallo says. "People who get the live flu vaccine will also be protected against the COVID-19. That's the hypothesis."
However, even if you get a vaccine, you should still exercise all the same cautious you would otherwise: Wear a mask, keep your distance, wash your hands and avoid large indoor gatherings.
Let us out!
Create a coronavirus NHS QR code for your venue - GOV.UK
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 11:17
Use this service to create a QR code for display in your venue. Get visitors to scan the QR code when they arrive, using the NHS COVID-19 app. This is to help trace and stop the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).
If you have more than one venue, you need to create a separate QR code for each location. You can add multiple locations in the service.
This service is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).
This service is only available to venues in England and Wales.
Start now
Before you startCheck the NHS website to see if you need to display an NHS QR code poster in England or display an NHS QR code poster in Wales.
You will need:
your email address the address of your business, place of worship, community organisation or eventIf you have more than one venue, you will also need:
the address of each location an email address for the manager (or point of contact) for each location a phone number for the manager (or point of contact) for each locationGetting your QR codeYou'll receive your QR code poster by email soon after you have submitted your information. If you have more than one location, the manager (or point of contact) for each location will also receive a unique QR code poster by email.
What to do when you receive your QR codeWhen you receive your QR code poster you should:
print the poster display the poster somewhere visitors can see it and scan it when they arrive, for example next to the entrance ask visitors to scan the QR code when they arrive, using their NHS COVID-19 app display as many posters as you need to, to avoid queues formingIf you do not have a printer, you can show the QR code on a display screen, such as a TV or tablet. Make sure it's within reach so visitors can scan it with their mobile phones.
Help and supportIf you need more information on creating a QR code poster for your business, check the NHS commonly asked questions website.
If you have any other questions about using the online service, you can call the QR code support service.
QR code supportTelephone: 0800 540 4900Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pmFind out about call charges
COVID Deadliness
Adam,
There are 56.9 million deaths worldwide per year. There are 1.064 million Covid deaths pretty much all from this year. At the current rate of growth it will be 1.5m for 2020. That would make it 2.6% of deaths in 2020. OR if you die this year it's 38x more likely you will die from something else.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death
Joe
Testing = Cases
Podfather,
Right on cue following the deployment of 80,000 new rapid test kits Oregon sees a surge!
This article from 3 days ago:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/oregon-to-receive-upward-of-80000-rapid-covid-19-tests-per-week-from-federal-government/ar-BB19MuN7
Now this announcement from Gov Kate Brown just today:
http://kval.com/news/local/over-900-new-covid-19-infections-in-just-days-in-oregon
And this
https://twitter.com/oregongovbrown/status/1314658627433758721?s=21
I'm giving it 14 days before my city, Portland, in Multnomah County is under a new lockdown.
Stay Safe!
In The Morning, sir
Mask up! In the rain
SCOTUS Term limits
You should have gotten several emails by now but just in case I'll go ahead and send this information. As almost you are very last sentence on the previous podcast you threw away the comment that supreme Court justices terms of service was "for life."
Well actually... (Pushes taped glasses up nose) The Constitution says their term is for "good behavior.". By definition is the easiest "impeachment" requirement of any of the branches it's just that nobody has the balls to do it!
Krissann Hall, an ACTUAL constitutional scholar, has gone on about this several times in the last month and any particular one of her recent podcast should help solidify that in your mind. Also she was a government lawyer in Florida so as a good perspective on ACB'S philosophy.
Since the supreme Court has gone from so pitifully weak that the original supreme Court chief Justicewalked off the job as soon as possible to Bean considered the MOST, I don't see anyone taking advantage of it anytime soon.
Sir Dave Night
Knight of the Nightwatch
Total Annual Deaths in USA historically
TOTAL U.S. DEATHS [ALL CAUSES]:
2017 Total Deaths US: 2,813,503 (234,000/month)
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db328.htm
2018 Total Deaths US: 2,839,205 (237,000/month)
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db355.htm
2019 Total Deaths US: 2,855,000 (238,000/month)
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/provisional-tables.htm
2020 Total Deaths US (jan - week 9/26): 2,130,000 (236,000/month)
https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Weekly-Counts-of-Deaths-by-State-and-Select-Causes/muzy-jte6
2,130,000 + (236,000/month x 3) [Oct, Nov, Dec] = 2,838,000 [assumption based on monthly avg]
2020: 2,838,000 [3-month assumption insert]
2019: 2,855,000
2018: 2,839,000
2017: 2,814,000
Amazon Warehouse covid from Chrissy
Dear Adam,
Picked up a temporary job as an Amazon Delivery driver and wanted to share some of the dystopian shit they're doing when I took a brief tour of the local warehouse. Cameras everywhere, with several monitors showing the camera feed. On the monitor, there are illustrations of a 6 foot green circle around your feet. If the circle crosses into the territory of someone elses circle, the circles turn red and a buzzer goes off, prompting people to grab megaphones and shout "SIX FEET!" I am told that the video gets sent to higher up management when this happens. All that's missing is the often-referenced net that should drop from the ceiling. There are a ton of people who seem like they have no other job but to line aisleways with little hand-held signs with messages about social distancing.
Break room:
Several tables all spaced out with ridiculous distance and a 6 foot square drawn around them. More cameras and monitors that trigger warnings if someone steps into the square. Orwellian-style contradictory slogans that hang above cork-boards. One notable one read: "Let's keep our distance so we can stay closer together". There went my lunch in a wave of projectile vomit. I am thankful to have your show to keep my sanity while on the road.
BLM
Tides Center Takes Control of Black Lives Matter Global Network - Capital Research Center
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 11:48
New public documents reveal that the Black Lives Global Network Foundation, the national overseer of 17 local chapters of the most prominent organization in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, has become a project of the Tides Center. This puts Black Lives Global Network Foundation squarely in the middle of a massive political network, with total revenues that exceeded $636 million in 2018 alone.
According to documents filed with the California Justice Department on July 10, 2020, Thousand Currents transferred control of BLM Global Network Foundation and all its assets to the Tides Center.
A Thousand Currents Project
CRC's Robert Stilson was the first to report that the BLM Global Network Foundation is not a standalone nonprofit, but a fiscally sponsored project of Thousand Currents, a California-based organization.
Donations to the BLM Global Network Foundation end up in Thousand Currents' coffers, which administers the group's finances internally. As a Thousand Currents project, the group doesn't file regular Form 990 reports with the IRS, and it does not disclose comprehensive financial data in the same way a tax-exempt nonprofit must.
While in many cases donors cannot be identified, six- and seven-figure grant totals to Thousand Currents earmarked for the BLM Global Network Foundation have been traced to a number of liberal foundations, including the NoVo Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Borealis Philanthropy.
CRC also revealed that Thousand Currents' board of directors included Susan Rosenberg, a former member of the communist Weather Underground'--which planted bombs across the United States'--and convicted domestic terrorist who served a 16-year sentence in federal prison for possession of 740 pounds of unstable dynamite stolen from a Texas construction firm in 1980.
Rosenberg was described as a ''human and prisoner rights advocate'' on Thousand Currents' website. Thousand Currents removed the webpage (archived) for its board shortly after CRC published Rosenberg's connections to armed violence and terrorism.
The Tides Connection
The Tides Center specializes in ''incubation,'' using its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status as a shield sheltering countless activist groups while they wait to receive their own tax-exempt statuses from the IRS. One Tides spinoff is People for the American Way, infamous for its 1987 smear campaign that blocked the confirmation of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court and for protesting the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
The Tides Center itself is a branch of the larger Tides Foundation, a leading pass-through funder and pillar of the modern activist Left. Tides was conceived in the mid-1970s as an innovative pass-through'--effectively a middleman for liberal donors angling to anonymously support left-wing causes. Donors cut checks to Tides, which manages their finances in individual ''savings accounts'' (called donor-advised funds) until the donors indicate a final recipient for the funds. Their funds are then paid out as Tides grants, masking the original benefactors' identities from public scrutiny.
In 2018 alone, the Tides Foundation raked in nearly $420 million and paid out $291 million in grants, nearly all to activist groups and liberal think tanks.
And Tides' biggest donors are foundations, including George Soros's Open Society Foundations, the Hewlett Foundation (exposed for funding infiltrators in the conservative movement), the Ford Foundation, and others. Critics have dubbed the scheme ''charitable money-laundering.''
A Left-Wing Creature
By formally joining the vast Tides nexus, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation plants itself squarely in the professional activist camp. Far from an organic movement of concerned grassroots volunteers, it's clearer than ever that BLM Global Network Foundation is just another creature of left-wing politics.
New Consumer Alert on Yelp Takes Firm Stance Against Racism - Yelp
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 02:50
At Yelp, we value diversity, inclusion and belonging, both internally and on our platform, which means we have a zero tolerance policy to racism. We know these values are important to our users and now more than ever, consumers are increasingly conscious of the types of businesses they patronize and support. In fact, we've seen that reviews mentioning Black-owned businesses were up more than 617% this summer compared to last summer. Support for women-owned businesses has also increased, with review mentions up 114% for the same time period.
Over the summer, Yelp rolled out a number of initiatives to help users find and support Black-owned businesses. We partnered with My Black Receipt on the launch of a Black-owned business attribute and joined the 15 Percent Pledge to further amplify Black-owned businesses. While searches for Black-owned businesses surged on Yelp, so did the volume of reviews warning users of racist behavior at businesses. Today, in response to this, we will now place a distinct Consumer Alert on business pages to caution people about businesses that may be associated with overtly racist actions.
A New Consumer Alert to Stand Against Racism Communities have always turned to Yelp in reaction to current events at the local level. As the nation reckons with issues of systemic racism, we've seen in the last few months that there is a clear need to warn consumers about businesses associated with egregious, racially-charged actions to help people make more informed spending decisions. Yelp's User Operations team already places alerts on business pages when we notice an unusual uptick in reviews that are based on what someone may have seen in the news or on social media, rather than on a first-hand experience with the business. Now, when a business gains public attention for reports of racist conduct, such as using racist language or symbols, Yelp will place a new Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert on their Yelp page to inform users, along with a link to a news article where they can learn more about the incident.
Yelp's top priority is to ensure the trust and safety of our users and provide them with reliable content to inform their spending decisions, including decisions about whether they'll be welcome and safe at a particular business. We advocate for personal expression and provide a platform that encourages people to share their experience online, but at the same time it's always been Yelp's policy that all reviews must be based on actual first-hand consumer experiences with the business. This policy is critical to mitigating fake reviews and maintaining the integrity of content on our platform. We don't allow people to leave reviews based on media reports because it can artificially inflate or deflate a business's star rating.
How Yelp Manages Media-fueled Reviews The new Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert is an extension of our Public Attention Alert that we introduced in response to a rise in social activism surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement. If someone associated with a business is accused of, or the target of, racist behavior, we will place a Public Attention Alert on the business page to warn consumers that the business may be receiving an influx of reviews as a result of increased attention. For businesses accused of overtly racist actions, where we can link to a news article, we will escalate our warning with the Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert.
So far in 2020, we've seen a 133% increase in the number of media-fueled incidences on Yelp compared to the same time last year. Between May 26 and September 30, we placed more than 450 alerts on business pages that were either accused of, or the target of, racist behavior related to the Black Lives Matter movement. We have maintained around-the-clock support over the last few months to ensure that we're maintaining the trust and safety of our users and business owners.
Resources for Small Businesses Wanting to Create Inclusive Environments Many local businesses want to create a more inclusive environment for employees and customers alike, but they often don't have the resources that larger companies do to access training materials, educate employees, and develop language to share with their customers and employees. That's why Yelp and Open to All® have partnered to bring local businesses a new toolkit that allows them to take the next step in creating an inclusive community. The toolkit includes a 60-minute unlearning bias training video for employees, outreach language for customers and employees, social media assets, and more. With more than half a million businesses indicating themselves as Open to All on their Yelp business page, Open to All has created resources for small and medium-sized businesses to uplevel their diversity and inclusion practices. Learn more about these new resources here .
Increasingly, consumers across the U.S. are voting with their dollars by supporting businesses that align with their values. As always, we continue to evaluate how we can best use our platform to build a better, more equitable and inclusive environment where consumers and businesses can interact safely and fully informed.
Open to All | Resources for Businesses
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 13:18
FAQS(click a question to reveal the answer)WHAT IS OPEN TO ALL®?Open to All® is a national nondiscrimination campaign that believes everyone should be welcome regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, immigration status, religion, or disability. We believe we all have something to contribute. We believe we can all learn from one another. We believe that when we work together, when we value our employees, when we care for our customers and one another, we all thrive.
HOW CAN MY BUSINESS SUPPORT OPEN TO ALL®?Now that you've signed the Open to All® business pledge, check out our Resources for Businesses page and find resources to support your employees and communicate to your customers that you are Open to All®.
HOW DO I GET AN OPEN TO ALL® WINDOW CLING?If you're a business committed to diversity and inclusion, sign the Open to All® business pledge and join our national campaign. When you sign up, you will have access to Open to All® resources including window clings you can display to show your support publicly for a tax-deductible fee of $10 per window cling. Click here to order additional window clings. Open to All® is a nonprofit, and the $10 donation is to help offset the cost of printing, mailing, and our Open to All® staff time.
WHAT'S THE ''OPEN TO ALL'' ATTRIBUTE FIELD ON YELP?Yelp offers an ''Open to All®'' attribute to its business page listings. This is a check box on the ''More Business Info'' section of each business's page (alongside other check boxes such as ''Accepts Credit Cards,'' ''Takes Reservations,'' and ''Gender Neutral Bathrooms''). Checking the box allows businesses to designate their business as ''Open to All®.''If your business wants to indicate it is ''Open to All®'' on Yelp, click here for a visual tutorial on activating the new attribute.
WHAT IF AN INCIDENT HAPPENS WITH ONE OF MY CUSTOMERS OR WITH ONE OF MY EMPLOYEES?We know that being Open to All® can involve an ongoing dialogue. Why? Because even the best-intentioned businesses or employees sometimes might not understand that certain interactions with customers, clients, vendors, and employees could potentially create an environment that is not welcoming to all.When businesses declare that they are Open to All®, that's an important first step in starting that dialogue. If someone has an experience that suggests your business isn't Open to All®, engage in a conversation. Open to All® also encourages customers to engage in dialogue with businesses to help them understand what a particular interaction felt like, why it felt welcoming or unwelcoming, what the business is doing well now, and how they hope a business can do better in the future.
If your business has taken the time to designate yourself as Open to All®, welcome that feedback and encourage that discussion. It's important for both parties to assume best intentions and look for constructive solutions.
Questions you may get from your customers and community:SHOULDN'T BUSINESSES GET TO CHOOSE WHO THEY SERVE? CAN'T CUSTOMERS JUST GO TO BUSINESSES THAT WELCOME THEM?Many people very rarely have to worry about whether a business will accept people like them. But imagine how you would feel if every time you walked into a restaurant, flower shop, hair salon, or bakery, you could be kicked out simply because the owner didn't want to serve ''people like you.'' And imagine that there was no way to know which businesses would or would not be welcoming. The only way to protect countless Americans and their families from that kind of humiliation and abuse is to ensure that our nondiscrimination laws apply to all businesses that are open to the public, and that businesses commit to being Open to All® so that customers can see that the business welcomes them and their loved ones.
WHY SHOULD OUR LAWS REQUIRE BUSINESSES THAT SERVE THE PUBLIC TO TREAT EVERYONE FAIRLY?As a nation, we decided a long time ago that when a business opens its doors to the public, it should serve everyone on the same terms. Most businesses want to do the right thing, but there are some that will only do what's right when the law requires it. We are all entitled to our beliefs. But that shouldn't give businesses a license to discriminate. Nobody should be turned away from a business simply because of who they are.
WERE YOU NOT OPEN TO ALL® BEFORE THIS PLEDGE?Your business may always have supported the values of Open to All® and you joined to express those values publicly to your employees, customers, community, and vendors. Or perhaps your company is on a journey to being more welcoming and this is the first step. Either way, the pledge would align with company values and policies to create a space where all can thrive.
Questions you may get from your employees:WHAT IS THE OPEN TO ALL® BUSINESS PLEDGE?Open to All® is a national nondiscrimination campaign that believes we can build a stronger country where everyone feels safe, respected, and accepted as they live, shop, and work. The pledge states that your business is committed to maintaining a welcoming and safe environment for all people (including customers, employees, visitors, vendors, and clients) regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, immigration status, religion, or disability'--and that you do not discriminate or deny people goods or services based on any of these characteristics.*
WHY DID OUR BUSINESS SIGN THE PLEDGE?Your employees will want your company to answer this in an authentic way that rings true for you. Most companies join Open to All® because the pledge aligns with company values and policies to create a space where all can thrive. Click here for a sample email to employees sharing why a company became Open to All®.
HOW CAN INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEES SUPPORT THIS EFFORT?Encourage and allow discussion and dialogue from customers about our values when they see the pledge.Be open to hearing different views and feedback.Commit to sharing the pledge with all new employees.HOW CAN EMPLOYEES EXPLAIN TO CUSTOMERS WHAT THE PLEDGE MEANS?If asked what the pledge means, explain how the pledge aligns with our core values that celebrate individuality, inclusion, and treating all people with respect, dignity, and fairness to ensure our workplaces and stores are welcoming spaces for everyone. Signing the pledge is an opportunity to stand alongside other businesses to work toward greater equality and a sense of belonging for everyone.
HOW DO SHOULD EMPLOYEES RESPOND IF SOMEONE HAS AN INCIDENT OR AN ISSUE WITH OUR BUSINESS?When businesses declare that they are Open to All®, that's an important first step in engaging in that dialogue. If a customer has an experience that suggests your business isn't Open to All®, employees should call a manager or someone who has the skills to engage the customer in a conversation. Open to All® encourages customers to engage in dialogue with businesses to help them understand what a particular interaction felt like, why it felt welcoming or unwelcoming, what the business does well, and how they hope a business can do better in the future.If your business has taken the time to designate yourself as Open to All®, welcome that feedback and encourage that discussion. It's important for both parties to assume best intentions and look for constructive solutions.
WHY SHOULD EMPLOYEES WATCH AN ANTI-BIAS VIDEO, ESPECIALLY IF THEY ALREADY SUPPORT TREATING EVERYONE FAIRLY?This is the start of a conversation'--not the end of one'--and educating employees on how to tackle bias is important. We don't expect that stores or any business that signs this pledge or any employees that takes this training will be perfect. But your business is committed to this mission and you are inviting employees to join you on this journey. If employees have questions, concerns, feedback or ideas, encourage them to come to you directly. Emphasize that you have an open-door policy, and encourage this important discussion.
Parcast Union on Twitter: "We are pleased to announce that @Spotify has chosen to voluntarily recognize @ParcastUnion with @WGAEast. We're excited to get to the bargaining table and fight for diversity and inclusion, reasonable workloads, transparency and
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 12:44
Parcast Union : We are pleased to announce that @Spotify has chosen to voluntarily recognize @ParcastUnion with @WGAEast. We're exc'... https://t.co/KlBrmrsMKw
Tue Oct 06 19:04:03 +0000 2020
jess : @ParcastUnion @Spotify @WGAEast Congratulations! ð
Tue Oct 06 19:56:33 +0000 2020
Eric Mennel : @ParcastUnion @mmegdriscoll @WGAEast Hey congrats!
Tue Oct 06 19:51:03 +0000 2020
University Of Kentucky Segregated Residential Assistance Training By Race, Sent White People To 'White Accountability Space' | The Daily Wire
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 11:19
Whites and non-whites training to be Residential Assistants at the University of Kentucky were segregated according to their race and put through different presentations.
The separate trainings were provided to Young America's Foundation through the organization's Campus Bias Tip Line, which included emails and documents about the training. White RAs were sent to a ''White Accountability Space'' where they were given a document that listed 41 ''common racist behaviors and attitudes of white people.''
Number one on the list states that white people ''believe they have 'earned' what they have, rather than acknowledge the extensive white privilege and unearned advantages they receive'' and ''believe that if people of color just worked harder'...'' The list also includes claims that white people don't ''notice the daily indignities that people of color experience; deny them and rationalize them away with PLEs (perfectly logical explanations),'' ''resent taking direction from a person of color,'' and tend to ask ''people of color to repeat what they have said.''
Brandon Colbert from UK's Bias Incident Support Services, offered a presentation for the trainings, allegedly talking about ''microaggressions and microinvalidations in the workplace and the harm that they cause.''
As YAF's Kara Zupkus reported, Colbert's previous tweets have ''denounced the American Flag, National Anthem, and Independence Day all as being the stuff that makes [America] racist.''
The person who alerted YAF to the segregation wished to remain anonymous and said that white students were required to have the document on their computers and then discuss with which behaviors they were familiar.
''We talked about how we could best support our minority colleagues and be more mindful of the microaggressions we commit against them every day by being white,'' the student told YAF. ''They wanted us to acknowledge our 'extensive white privilege.'''
UK did not defend or explain the training session when responding to YAF.
''Our RAs trained by zoom together and also in break-out sessions around particular topics of interest,'' said university spokesman Jay Blaton. ''Further, a number of our students '' and others in our campus community '' have approached our counseling center about resources that can be provided to help on issues related to racial reconciliation.''
YA's UK chapter president Parker Bowman gave a statement to Zupkus as well.
''This action by the university to segregate RA training is abhorrent,'' Bowman said. ''For a campus that prides itself on diversity, this is taking a step in the wrong direction. We should be talking to each other, not separating ourselves based on immutable characteristics.''
Further, as Zupkus reported, UK previously tried to block students from starting a YAF chapter on campus.
YAF's Spencer Brown reported in August 2019 that students attempted six times to secure official recognition for a YAF chapter at UK. Internal communications between UK staff revealed a personal bias against conservative ideas and YAF. At times, they mocked the students who were trying to find out why their organization was denied official recognition. ''i didnt do it intetionally promise hehe,'' wrote UK's Caitlyn Walsh.
The Daily Wire is one of America's fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.
QFS
DoubleLine: The Pandora's Box Of Fed's Digital Currency Will Ignite An "Inflationary Conflagration" | Zero Hedge
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 03:13
We most recently described the Fed's stealthy plan to deposit digital dollars to "each American" during the next crisis as a unprecedented monetary overhaul, but more importantly, a truly stealthy one: to be sure, there has barely been any media coverage of what may soon be a money transfer by the Fed - a direct stimulus to any and all Americans - in an attempt to spark inflation after years of losing the war with deflation.
That's why we were happy to read that none other than Jeff Gundlach's DoubleLine, one of the highest profile asset managers today, published a paper authored by fixed income portolio manager Bill Campbell exposing what it called "The Pandora's Box of Central Bank Digital Currencies", in which it echoed our claims, writing that "such a mechanism could open veritable floodgates of liquidity into the consumer economy and accelerate the rate of inflation. While central banks have been trying without success to increase inflation for the past decade, the temptation to put CBDCs into effect might be very strong among policymakers. However, CBDCs would not only inject liquidity into the economy but also could accelerate the velocity of money. That one-two punch could bring about far more inflation than central bankers bargain for."
It then proceeds to blast this new development:
The temptations of CBDCs are not limited to excesses in monetary policy. CBDCs also appear to be an effective mechanism for bypassing the taxation, debt issuance and spending prerogatives of government to implement a quasi-fiscal policy. Imagine, for example, the ease of enacting Modern Monetary Theory via CBDCs. With CBDCs, the central banks would possess the necessary plumbing to directly deliver a digital currency to individuals' bank accounts, ready to be spent via debit cards.
Which, of course, is precisely the intention and not only the beginning of the end of fiat and paper currencies but also the catalyst that will send alternative assets and especially gold soaring.
While the full note is below and we urge all readers to go over it, we will skip right to the end of Campbell's paper in which he quotes from the former Philadelphia Fed president Charles Plosser who in 2012 warned of precisely this outcome:
''Once a central bank ventures into fiscal policy, it is likely to find itself under increasing pressure from the private sector, financial markets, or the government to use its balance sheet to substitute for other fiscal decisions.''
As Campbell correctly concludes, "with a flick of the digital switch, CBDCs can enable policymakers to meet, or cave in to, those demands '' at the risk of igniting an inflation conflagration, abandoning what little still survives of sovereign fiscal discipline and who knows what else. I hope the leaders of the world's central banks will approach this new financial technology with extreme caution, guarding against its overuse or outright abuse."
We hope so too, but we know better: once it becomes available, it's pretty much game over. The DoubleLine strategist shares that sentiment:
It's hard to be optimistic. Soon our monetary Pandoras will possess their own box full of new powers, perhaps too enticing to resist."
Translation: buy gold. Lots of it.
* * *
The full DoubleLine paper is below (pdf link):
The Pandora's Box ofCentral Bank Digital Currencies
Over the past decade, central banks have added to their policy toolkit such practices as quantitative easing (QE) and, in Europe and Japan, negative interest rates. Formerly viewed as unconventional, these tools are now seen as necessary, even conventional, methods of monetary policy in a developed world struggling to produce inflation. For their next step into the unknown, central banks are readying a technology that could shatter what remains of the wall between sovereign government fiscal policy and central banking. This innovation is central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). These have the potential to become an inflation game changer, but the world's central bankers should proceed with great caution. Implementation of CBDCs might open a Pandora's box of unintended consequences, fiscal as well as monetary, overwhelming our would-be masters of money.
Disinflation: Bªte Noire of the Central Banks
Inflation so far has not materialized in many developed markets, defying years of extraordinary policy efforts to stoke it. The European Central Bank (ECB) has failed to generate durable inflation at the targeted 2% level despite engaging in QE since March 2015 and implementing negative interest rate policy since June 2014. The Bank of Japan has failed to do so despite engaging in QE since March 2001 and negative rate policy since January 2016. Even the U.S. Federal Reserve has been unable to bring about stable inflation at 2% for a decent period of time despite engaging in QE since December 2008.
According to the quantity theory of money, large increases in money supplies should push inflation higher. Thus at the time QE was introduced in the U.K., Europe and the U.S., policymakers understandably were hopeful of achieving their inflation targets. Some observers in fact worried that QE might exceed those targets and trigger runaway inflation. Both those hopes and fears have proved premature. Instead, developed economies remain stuck in a disinflationary environment.
Observers have pointed to various causes of the conundrum of persistent disinflation. Demographics, technology and the growing stock of debt rank high among the troublemakers, but monetary levers have virtually no influence over the first two of these variables, and the third lies in the hands of sovereign government, not central banking. So I believe that central bankers are focusing on other disinflation culprits '' namely, the entrapment of liquidity inside the banking system and the decline in the velocity of money. Their ''solution'' is the creation of CBDCs.
Velocity of Money and Liquidity Traps
The velocity of money is the rate at which money is exchanged in an economy through transactions between lenders and borrowers, buyers and sellers. If the number of transactions increases relative to the quantity of goods and services, prices should rise because the total amount of money in circulation has gone up. Conversely, if the number of transactions falls relative to the quantity of goods and services, sellers will reduce prices to try to make sales, pushing inflation down.
At its outset in the U.S. in December 2008, QE was expected to unleash an enormous amount of liquidity into the broader economy, raising the velocity of money and thus generating inflation. In fact, the opposite has happened. The liquidity produced by QE has become stuck inside the financial system, and the velocity of money has plummeted. The evidence from the monetary metrics could not be starker. As measured by the Federal Reserve's M2 monetary aggregate, the U.S. money supply has soared to all-time highs. The velocity of M2, however, has declined and then plunged to all-time lows as GDP growth for years remained lackluster and then nosedived amid the COVID-19 lockdowns. (Figure 1)
To understand lackluster growth amid massive QE, it is important to remember that QE has expanded liquidity in the banking sector but not to the broader economy. At its heart, QE is a process whereby the central bank will ''purchase'' a bond from a bank and pay for that bond by crediting the bank's excess reserve account. Excess reserves stay within the banking sector until used by banks for lending or market-making activity. Unfortunately, banks have grown more cautious in their lending practices. They have focused the majority of their credit extension to larger corporations, ignoring to a large extent smaller businesses, which employ most of the working population, and consumers.1 Fewer loans to such customers means less money in circulation in the economy.
Thus, much of the liquidity produced by QE has not found its way into the broader economy. Instead, this liquidity has served merely to drive up the value of stocks, bonds or other financial assets. Moreover, because central banks resort to QE during economically challenging times, when disinflationary or outright deflationary forces are at their greatest, the funneling of large excesses of liquidity into the banking system comes at the exact moment such banks are least likely to accelerate loan growth.
This dynamic adversely impacts the lower-income segments of the population, which have a much higher tendency to consume (usually out of necessity), in contrast to the wealthier segments that are characterized by much higher savings rates. (Figure 2) In a prior paper, I highlighted one method to address this issue by focusing more on lending to small and midsized enterprises.2 However, central banks are up to something new and different if not radical. If implemented, CBDCs have the potential to expand central banking beyond the scope of its traditional monetary province into fiscal policy.
Central Bank Digital Currencies
CBDCs have thus far been confined to the realm of research, but this is about to change. In a little-noticed press release on Sept. 9, Mastercard announced progress on a platform that will allow central banks to evaluate use cases for CBDCs. ''The platform,'' the release states, ''enables simulation of issuance, distribution and exchange of CBDCs between banks, financial service providers and consumers.''3 If the central bank can distribute a digital currency into the consumer banking infrastructure to directly reach consumers, consumers can purchase goods and services with that currency via their Mastercard debit cards. In effect, CBDCs would circumvent the problem of rising risk aversion on the part of bankers. Not only would CBDCs represent a powerful new monetary tool, they are so unconventional as to be quasi-fiscal in nature.
The lines between fiscal and monetary policy have become ever more blurred by the need to use both instruments to help deal with the challenges of a growth shock, weak inflation, a weak jobs market and income inequality. Governments across the globe are dealing with rising deficits and debt stocks in the face of these demands, which can lead to authorities overreaching in the use of these powers. In 2012, Charles I. Plosser, then president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, warned of this mission creep. ''In a world of fiat currency,'' Mr. Plosser wrote, ''central banks are generally assigned the responsibility for establishing and maintaining the value or purchasing power of the nation's monetary unit of account. Yet, that task can be undermined or completely subverted if fiscal authorities independently set their budgets in a manner that ultimately requires the central bank to finance government expenditures with significant amounts of seigniorage in lieu of tax revenues or debt.''4
Eight years later, Mr. Plosser's cautionary counsel seems d(C)mod(C) in policy circles. CBDCs had moved well beyond a handful of policy research departments even before the epiphenomena of the COVID-19 pandemic and population lockdowns. In a survey published in January, the Bank of International Settlements reported that 80% of the world's 66 central banks were engaged in some sort of work on digital currencies.5
Although its Governing Council has not decided on whether to move forward with a CBDC, the ECB appears to be laying its groundwork. In an Oct. 2 news release, the ECB announced the publication of a ''comprehensive report on the possible issuance of a digital euro'' by the Eurosystem High-Level Task Force on central bank digital currency, a unit comprising representatives of the ECB and the 19 central banks in the euro area. A public consultation on the digital euro will begin Oct. 12. ''A digital euro,'' according to the news release, ''would be an electronic form of central bank money accessible to all citizens and firms '' like banknotes, but in a digital form '' to make their daily payments in a fast, easy and secure way. It would complement cash, not replace it.''6
In the U.S., Cleveland Fed President Loretta J. Mester stated in a Sept. 23 speech, ''Legislation has proposed that each American have an account at the Fed in which digital dollars could be deposited, as liabilities of the Federal Reserve Banks, which could be used for emergency payments.''7
It is not a big leap from this statement to envision how one could extend such emergency payments to all sorts of policy goals or even political considerations, such as the growing consternation around wealth and income inequality. Historically, it has been up to recognized fiscal authorities to distribute money, or redistribute wealth, in this fashion. Given the persistence of the COVID-19 crisis and the potential for a fall resurgence in cases, concomitant curbs in economic activity (i.e., further lockdowns) could unleash a deflationary shock to the economy. Indeed, a demand shock puts significant downward pressure on inflation as producers lose pricing power when consumers stop purchasing because they've lost their jobs or cannot go out and spend money in any case. The past several decades provided ample evidence of the negative impact of falling economic activity on prices. (Figure 3)
Yet the policy implications are what we must keep an eye on as new digital policy tools become available to central bankers. Central banks and other financial institutions appear to be well along in the process of developing CBDCs. In the event of a new demand and disinflation shock, it is likely central banks will use them.
Floodgates (Monetary, Fiscal and Political)
With QE, central banks have printed excess reserves that have benefited only the very wealthy and large institutions. The innovation of a digital currency system as described by Mastercard could deliver stimulus directly to consumers. Such a mechanism could open veritable floodgates of liquidity into the consumer economy and accelerate the rate of inflation. While central banks have been trying without success to increase inflation for the past decade, the temptation to put CBDCs into effect might be very strong among policymakers. However, CBDCs would not only inject liquidity into the economy but also could accelerate the velocity of money. That one-two punch could bring about far more inflation than central bankers bargain for.
When first implementing QE, central banks promised that this measure would be temporary and would be unwound after the crisis ended, a pledge that I have doubted for a while.8 Central banks as we know have perpetuated QE as part of their updated toolbox of monetary policies. The first use of digital currencies in monetary policy might start small as policymakers, out of caution, seek to calibrate this experiment in quasi-fiscal stimulus. However, such initial restraint could give way to growing complacency and greater use of the tool '' just as we saw with QE. The temptations of CBDCs are not limited to excesses in monetary policy. CBDCs also appear to be an effective mechanism for bypassing the taxation, debt issuance and spending prerogatives of government to implement a quasi-fiscal policy. Imagine, for example, the ease of enacting Modern Monetary Theory via CBDCs. With CBDCs, the central banks would possess the necessary plumbing to directly deliver a digital currency to individuals' bank accounts, ready to be spent via debit cards.
Let me quote again from Charles I. Plosser's warning in 2012: ''Once a central bank ventures into fiscal policy, it is likely to find itself under increasing pressure from the private sector, financial markets, or the government to use its balance sheet to substitute for other fiscal decisions.'' With a flick of the digital switch, CBDCs can enable policymakers to meet, or cave in to, those demands '' at the risk of igniting an inflation conflagration, abandoning what little still survives of sovereign fiscal discipline and who knows what else. I hope the leaders of the world's central banks will approach this new financial technology with extreme caution, guarding against its overuse or outright abuse. It's hard to be optimistic. Soon our monetary Pandoras will possess their own box full of new powers, perhaps too enticing to resist.
Citations:
1 Bill Campbell, ''Large Firms Reap Benefits From Central Bank Ease,'' RealClearMarkets.com, August 18, 2020. https://www.realclearmarkets.com/2020/08/18/large_firms_reap_benefits_f'...2 Ibid.3 ''Mastercard Launches Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) Testing Platform, Enabling Central Banks to Assess and Explore National Digital Currencies,'' Mastercard news release, Sept. 9, 2020 https://mastercardcontentexchange.com/newsroom/press-releases/2020/sept'...4 ''Fiscal Policy and Monetary Policy: Restoring the Boundaries,'' 2012 Annual Report, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia https://www.philadelphiafed.org/publications/annual-report/2012/restori'...5 ''Impending arrival '' a sequel to the survey on central bank digital currency,'' Bank of International Settlements, January 2020 https://www.bis.org/publ/bppdf/bispap107.pdf6 ''ECB intensifies its work on a digital euro,'' European Central Bank news release, October 2, 2020. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2020/html/ecb.pr201002~f90bfc94'...7 ''Payments and the Pandemic,'' Sept. 23, 2020 https://www.clevelandfed.org/en/newsroom-and-events/speeches/sp-2020092'...8 Bill Campbell, ''Quantitative Easing: Welcome to the Hotel California,'' DoubleLine.com, Dec. 28, 2018. https://doubleline.com/dl/wp-content/uploads/Campbell_HotelCalifornia.p'...
Press release: Central banks and BIS publish first central bank digital currency (CBDC) report laying out key requirements
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 12:41
Seven central banks and the BIS release a report assessing the feasibility of publicly available CBDCs in helping central banks deliver their public policy objectives. Report outlines foundational principles and core features of a CBDC, but does not give an opinion on whether to issue. Central banks to continue investigating CBDC feasibility without committing to issuance. A group of seven central banks together with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) today published a report identifying the foundational principles necessary for any publicly available CBDCs to help central banks meet their public policy objectives.
The report, Central bank digital currencies: foundational principles and core features, was compiled by the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, Sveriges Riksbank, the Swiss National Bank and the BIS, and highlights three key principles for a CBDC:
Coexistence with cash and other types of money in a flexible and innovative payment system. Any introduction should support wider policy objectives and do no harm to monetary and financial stability. Features should promote innovation and efficiency. The group of central banks will continue to work together on CBDCs, without prejudging any decision on whether or not to introduce CBDCs in their jurisdictions.
This report is a real step forward for this group of central banks in agreeing the common principles and identifying the key features we believe would be needed for a workable CBDC system. As well as helping central banks to meet their public policy objectives, the report provides a useful framework for how central banks provide money and support payment systems in an ever-evolving digital world. This group of central banks has built a strong international consensus which will help light the way as we each explore the case and design for CBDCs in our own jurisdictions.
Sir Jon Cunliffe, working group co-chair, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England and Chair of the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures
Based on these principles, the group has identified the core features of any future CBDC system, which must be:
Resilient and secure to maintain operational integrity. Convenient and available at very low or no cost to end users. Underpinned by appropriate standards and a clear legal framework. Have an appropriate role for the private sector, as well as promoting competition and innovation. A design that delivers these features can promote more resilient, efficient, inclusive and innovative payments. Although there will be no 'one size fits all' CBDC due to national priorities and circumstances, our report provides a springboard for further development of workable CBDCs.
Beno®t CÅ'ur(C), working group co-chair and Head of the BIS Innovation Hub
Further development of CBDCs requires a commitment to practical policy analysis and applied technical experimentation. While this has already started, the speed of innovation in payments and money-related technologies requires the prioritisation of collaborative experimentation.
While technology is changing the way we pay, central banks have a duty to safeguard people's trust in our money. Central banks must complement their domestic efforts with close cooperation to guide the exploration of central bank digital currencies to identify reliable principles and encourage innovation. The present report is a convincing proof of this international cooperation.
Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, chair of the group of central bank governors responsible for the report
Future activities will include exploring other open questions around CBDCs and the challenges of cross-border payments, as well as continuing outreach domestically and with other central banks to foster informed dialogue on key issues. Work by the BIS Innovation Hub, which serves the broader central banking community, will contribute to this objective.
The Circle Is Complete: BOJ Joins Fed And ECB In Preparing Rollout Of Digital Currency | Zero Hedge
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 12:44
First it was the Fed, then the ECB, and now the BOJ: the world's central banks are quietly preparing to unleash digital currencies on an unsuspecting population in one final last-ditch attempt to spark inflation and do away with the current monetary orthodoxy which has failed to push living conditions for the masses higher (but most importantly, has failed to inflate away a growing mountain of insurmountable global debt).
On Friday, the Bank of Japan joined the Fed and ECB when it said it would begin experimenting on how to operate its own digital currency, rather than confining itself to conceptual research as it has to date.
Digitalization has advanced in various areas at home and abroad on the back of rapid development of information communication technology. There is a possibility of a surge in public demand for central bank digital currency (CBDC) going forward, considering the rapid development of technological innovation. While the Bank of Japan currently has no plan to issue CBDC, from the viewpoint of ensuring the stability and efficiency of the overall payment and settlement systems, the Bank considers it important to prepare thoroughly to respond to changes in circumstances in an appropriate manner.
The bank explained that it might provide general purpose CBDC if cash in circulation drops "significantly" and private digital money is not sufficient to substitute the functions of cash, while promising to supply physical cash as long as there is public demand for it
The move, as Reuters reports, came in tandem with an announcement by a group of seven major central banks, including the BOJ, on what they see as core features of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) such as resilience and a clear legal framework. It also falls in line with new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's focus on promoting digitalization and administrative reform to boost the country's competitiveness.
In a report laying out its approach on CBDC, the BOJ said it will conduct a first phase of experiments on basic functions core to CBDCs, such as issuance and distribution, early in the fiscal year beginning in April 2021. The experiments will be part of the BOJ's efforts to look more closely into how it can issue general-purpose CBDCs, intended to be used widely among the general public including companies and households.
Naturally, to avoid sparking a panic that paper money is on its way out - and thus prompt the population to hoard it - the BOJ said that CBDCs "will complement, not replace, cash and focus on making payment and settlement systems more convenient." However, how exactly it is "more convenient" for the central bank to be able to remotely extinguish any amount of money in one's digital wallet without notice, remains a mystery.
Unlike the Fed, the BOJ plans to have financial institutions and other private entities serve as intermediaries between the central bank and end users, rather than have companies and households hold deposits directly with the BOJ.
''While the BOJ currently has no plan to issue CBDC ... it's important to prepare thoroughly to respond to changes in circumstances,'' the report said.
In the second phase of experiments, the BOJ will look at the potential design of CBDCs such as whether it should set a limit on the amount issued and pay a remuneration on deposits.
In the final step before issuance, the BOJ will launch a pilot program involving private firms and households, it said.
The BOJ added it would be desirable for the CBDC to be used not only for domestic but cross-border payments, in short don't worry, this is just an experiment... but once operational it will take over the entire existing monetary system.
To be sure, having complete control over the entire monetary transmission mechanism, all the way to each quantum of currency in circulation has been a central banker dream. A key reasons for negative rates was for banks to force consumers to pull their money out of the bank and spend it, thus lifting the velocity of money. Alas, as we showed previously, the lowest interest rates in history merely prompted even more savings and less spending, resulting in catastrophic consequences for the financial sectors wherever negative rates were adopted, such as Japan and Europe.
Until now, Japan had been cautious about moving too quickly on digital currencies given the social disruptions it could cause in a country that has the world's most cash-loving population. But China's steady progress toward issuing digital currency has prompted the government to reconsider, especially if China takes the lead in sparking a new reflationary tide once it converts its entire population to digital currency, and pledged in this year's policy platform to look more closely at the idea.
Of course, the real reason behind central bank urgency to implement digital currencies is simple and has nothing to do with serving the population, increasing facility of transfers, or enhancing stability and efficiency of payment and settlement systems. It has everything to do with having discrete control over inflation, and enabling worldwide "helicopter money." This is how DoubleLine fixed income portolio manager Bill Campbell described it in his latest must-read note "The Pandora's Box of Central Bank Digital Currencies."
With QE, central banks have printed excess reserves that have benefited only the very wealthy and large institutions. The innovation of a digital currency system as described by Mastercard could deliver stimulus directly to consumers. Such a mechanism could open veritable floodgates of liquidity into the consumer economy and accelerate the rate of inflation. While central banks have been trying without success to increase inflation for the past decade, the temptation to put CBDCs into effect might be very strong among policymakers. However, CBDCs would not only inject liquidity into the economy but also could accelerate the velocity of money. That one-two punch could bring about far more inflation than central bankers bargain for.
When first implementing QE, central banks promised that this measure would be temporary and would be unwound after the crisis ended, a pledge that I have doubted for a while. Central banks as we know have perpetuated QE as part of their updated toolbox of monetary policies. The first use of digital currencies in monetary policy might start small as policymakers, out of caution, seek to calibrate this experiment in quasi-fiscal stimulus. However, such initial restraint could give way to growing complacency and greater use of the tool '' just as we saw with QE. The temptations of CBDCs are not limited to excesses in monetary policy. CBDCs also appear to be an effective mechanism for bypassing the taxation, debt issuance and spending prerogatives of government to implement a quasi-fiscal policy. Imagine, for example, the ease of enacting Modern Monetary Theory via CBDCs. With CBDCs, the central banks would possess the necessary plumbing to directly deliver a digital currency to individuals' bank accounts, ready to be spent via debit cards.
Let me quote again from Charles I. Plosser's warning in 2012: ''Once a central bank ventures into fiscal policy, it is likely to find itself under increasing pressure from the private sector, financial markets, or the government to use its balance sheet to substitute for other fiscal decisions.'' With a flick of the digital switch, CBDCs can enable policymakers to meet, or cave in to, those demands '' at the risk of igniting an inflation conflagration, abandoning what little still survives of sovereign fiscal discipline and who knows what else. I hope the leaders of the world's central banks will approach this new financial technology with extreme caution, guarding against its overuse or outright abuse. It's hard to be optimistic. Soon our monetary Pandoras will possess their own box full of new powers, perhaps too enticing to resist.
Here is another reason why it is hard to be optimistic: without virtually any public discourse or debate, central banks are now so far down along in the process that they are just steps away from rolling out a private-sector venture with one of the largest digital payments processors in the world. Below is a press release that virtually nobody noticed in early September from none other than electronic payment giant MasterCard, in which it revealed that it had launched "Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) Testing Platform, Enabling Central Banks to Assess and Explore National Digital Currencies"
With the global economy racing to embrace digital payments, central banks also are looking to the future and investigating how to support innovation while maintaining monetary policy and financial stability as they issue and distribute currency. In fact, 80 percent of central banks surveyed are engaging in some form of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) work, and about 40 percent of central banks have progressed from conceptual research to experimenting with concept and design, according to a recent survey by the Bank for International Settlements.
Today, Mastercard announced a proprietary virtual testing environment for central banks to evaluate CBDC use cases. The platform enables the simulation of issuance, distribution and exchange of CBDCs between banks, financial service providers and consumers. Central banks, commercial banks, and tech and advisory firms are invited to partner with Mastercard to assess CBDC tech designs, validate use cases and evaluate interoperability with existing payment rails available for consumers and businesses today.
Mastercard is a leader in operating multiple payment rails and convening partners to ensure a level playing field for everyone '' from banks to businesses to mobile network operators '' in order to bring the most people possible into the digital economy. Mastercard wants to harness its expertise to enable the practical, safe and secure development of digital currencies.
''Central banks have accelerated their exploration of digital currencies with a variety of objectives, from fostering financial inclusion to modernizing the payments ecosystem," said Raj Dhamodharan, Executive Vice President, Digital Asset and Blockchain Products and Partnerships, Mastercard. ''Mastercard is driving innovation with the public sector, banks, fintechs, and advisory firms in the exploration of CBDCs, working with partners that are aligned to our core values and principles. This new platform supports central banks as they make decisions now and in the future about the path forward for local and regional economies,'' Dhamodharan added.
Sheila Warren, Head of Blockchain, Digital Assets and Data Policy at the World Economic Forum, said: ''Collaborations between the public and private sectors in the exploration of Central Bank Digital Currencies can help central banks better understand the range of technology possibilities and capabilities available with respect to CBDCs. Central banks can benefit from support in exploring the option set available to them with respect to CBDCs, as well as gaining insight into what opportunities may be forthcoming.''
Finally, why are central banks using blockchain as the backbone for all digital currency efforts? It has nothing to do with their fascination with bitcoin, or their fear that cryptocurrencies can become dominant (although there certainly is an element of that). The real reason is that blockchain allows every single discrete currency unit, whether it is the digital dollar, digital euro, digital yen or digital yuan, to be tracked from its digital inception, through every single transaction, and to which wallet it can be found in at any given moment. In short, blockchain-based digital currencies will allow central banks to have a real-time map of absolutely every monetary unit in circulation, and every single economic transaction, something they can't do with trillions in anonymous paper money still sloshing around (the inverse process was launched by the ECB when it did away with the notorious '¬500 banknote which allowed European to easily circumvent Europe's negative interest rates). And, of course, when push comes to shove, central banks will also be able to "warn" the public the digital money in their digital wallets may soon expire, sparking an inflationary flood of spending with the flick of a switch.
OTG
Fight the algos!
Adam,
I can't thank you enough for encouraging producers to get our own hosted mastodon instance. It took less than 10 minutes to set up and now I have sent invites to all of my family for access to our very own social instance.
Worth the $10 per month being able to allow my kids and their grandparents a Facebag-free way to share and keep in touch. I convinced my parents to delete their FB accounts. They have been enjoying an inner peace recently that they have been missing for a decade of being force-fed the garbage and made-up drama induced there minute by minute.
It really is true, open will win.
Grateful for your wisdom,
(Sir Haymoose)
Google is giving data to police based on search keywords, court docs show - CNET
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 12:35
Google is providing information to police based on what people are searching for, including data like IP addresses.
Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images There are few things as revealing as a person's search history, and police typically need a warrant on a known suspect to demand that sensitive information. But a recently unsealed court document found that investigators can request such data in reverse order by asking Google to disclose everyone who searched a keyword rather than for information on a known suspect.
In August, police arrested Michael Williams, an associate of singer and accused sex offender R. Kelly, for allegedly setting fire to a witness' car in Florida. Investigators linked Williams to the arson, as well as witness tampering, after sending a search warrant to Google that requested information on "users who had searched the address of the residence close in time to the arson."
The July court filing was unsealed on Tuesday. Detroit News reporter Robert Snell tweeted about the filing after it was unsealed.
Court documents showed that Google provided the IP addresses of people who searched for the arson victim's address, which investigators tied to a phone number belonging to Williams. Police then used the phone number records to pinpoint the location of Williams' device near the arson, according to court documents.
The original warrant sent to Google is still sealed, but the report provides another example of a growing trend of data requests to the search engine giant in which investigators demand data on a large group of users rather than a specific request on a single suspect.
"This 'keyword warrant' evades the Fourth Amendment checks on police surveillance," said Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. "When a court authorizes a data dump of every person who searched for a specific term or address, it's likely unconstitutional."
Video: How to delete your Google history right now
The keyword warrants are similar to geofence warrants, in which police make requests to Google for data on all devices logged in at a specific area and time. Google received 15 times more geofence warrant requests in 2018 compared with 2017, and five times more in 2019 than 2018. The rise in reverse requests from police have troubled Google staffers, according to internal emails.
Google said Thursday that it works to protect the privacy of its users while also supporting law enforcement.
"We require a warrant and push to narrow the scope of these particular demands when overly broad, including by objecting in court when appropriate," Google's director of law enforcement and information security, Richard Salgado, said in a statement. "These data demands represent less than 1% of total warrants and a small fraction of the overall legal demands for user data that we currently receive."
The company declined to disclose how many keyword warrants it's received in the last three years.
Worries about search warrantsReverse search warrants like geofence warrants are being challenged across the US for violating civil rights. Lawmakers in New York have proposed legislation to make these searches illegal, while in Illinois, a federal judge found that the practice violated the Fourth Amendment
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Keyword warrants aren't new. In 2017, Minnesota police sent a keyword warrant to Google for information including name, address, telephone number, Social Security numbers and IP addresses related to people who searched for a "Douglas [REDACTED]" in a fraud investigation.
Todd Spodek, the attorney representing Williams, said he plans to challenge the legality of the keyword warrant issued in June. He hasn't seen the document yet but said he intends to argue that it violated Williams' rights.
Spodek said he's seen more of these types of warrants being issued in criminal investigations and worries it could lead to wrongful accusations in the future.
"Think of the ramifications in the future if everyone who searched something in the privacy of their own home was subject to interviews by federal agents," Spodek said. "Someone could be interested in how people die a certain way or how drug deals are done, and it could be misconstrued or used improperly."
Typically, probable cause is needed for search warrants, which are associated with a suspect or address. The demands for information are narrowly tailored to a specific individual. Keyword warrants go against that concept by giving up data on a large group of people associated with searching for certain phrases.
After investigators linked Williams to the arson through the keyword warrant, they sent Google another warrant specifically for his account, finding that he looked up phrases like "where can i buy a .50 custom machine gun," "witness intimidation" and "countries that don't have extradition with the United States."
This detail was discovered after executing a warrant on Williams, rather than the other way around, in which investigators looked for everyone who searched those phrases.
Google is also facing criticism for complying with broad data requests such as geofence and keyword searches.
"If Google stored data in a way that was truly de-identified, then they also couldn't give it to the government," the Electronic Frontier Foundation's surveillance litigation director Jennifer Lynch said. "Google's not setting up their system or changing their practices in a way that could prevent these kinds of searches."
Because of how keyword warrants work, there's concern that innocent people's online activities will be swept up in the requests. People have been arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time because of geofence warrants, and attorneys are now worried it could happen for searching on Google.
Both Lynch and Spodek said reverse search warrants are being used more and more frequently by police departments, and call the practice unconstitutional.
"A lot of people could be searching for various terms," Spodek said. "That alone should not be enough."
First published on Oct. 8, 2020 at 5:00 a.m. PT.
Spotlight effect - Wikipedia
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 12:12
The spotlight effect is the phenomenon in which people tend to believe they are being noticed more than they really are. Being that one is constantly in the center of one's own world, an accurate evaluation of how much one is noticed by others is uncommon. The reason for the spotlight effect is the innate tendency to forget that although one is the center of one's own world, one is not the center of everyone else's. This tendency is especially prominent when one does something atypical.[1]
Research has empirically shown that such drastic over-estimation of one's effect on others is widely common. Many professionals in social psychology encourage people to be conscious of the spotlight effect and to allow this phenomenon to moderate the extent to which one believes one is in a social spotlight.[2]
History Edit The term "spotlight effect" was coined by Thomas Gilovich and Kenneth Savitsky.[3] The phenomenon made its first appearance in the world of psychology in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science in 1999. Although this was the first time the effect was termed, it was not the first time it had been described. There were other studies done before 1999 that had looked at phenomena similar to the spotlight effect that Gilovich and Savitsky described. Thomas Gilovich had been studying this phenomenon for many years and wrote other research papers in the years leading up to his work with Savitsky. In his study with Savitsky, he combined the different effects he had observed previously to describe the spotlight.[3] Gilovich was not the only one who had noticed this occurrence of the spotlight effect. David Kenny and Bella DePaulo conducted a study that looked at whether or not people knew how others view them. Kenny and DePaulo thought that individuals would base what others thought of them using their own self-perceptions rather than other feedback given to them. The study found that individuals' views of what others think of them is variable compared to what is actually thought of them.[4]
Ties to other psychological concepts Edit The spotlight effect is an extension of several psychological phenomena. Among these is the phenomenon known as anchoring and adjustment, which suggests that individuals will use their own internal feelings of anxiety and the accompanying self-representation as an anchor, then insufficiently correct for the fact that others are less privy to those feelings than they are themselves. Consequently, they overestimate the extent to which their anxiety is obvious to onlookers. In fact, Clark and Wells (1995) suggest that socially phobic people enter social situations in a heightened self-focused state, namely, from a raised emotional anchor. This self-focused state makes it difficult for individuals to set aside public and private self-knowledge to focus on the task.[5]
Another related phenomenon is called the false-consensus effect. The false-consensus effect occurs when individuals overestimate the extent to which other people share their opinions, attitudes, and behavior. This leads to a false conclusion which will increase someone's self-esteem. The false-consensus effect is the opposing theory to the false uniqueness effect, which is the tendency of one to underestimate the extent to which others share the same positive attitudes and behavior. Either of these effects can be applied to the spotlight effect.[5]
The self-as-target bias is another closely linked phenomenon with the spotlight effect. This concept describes when someone believes that events are disproportionately directed towards him or herself. For example, if a student had an assignment due in class and did not prepare as well as they should have, the student may start to panic and think that simply because they did not prepare well, the teacher will know and call on them for answers.[6]
Also relevant to the spotlight effect is the illusion of transparency (sometimes called the observer's illusion of transparency), which is people's tendency to overestimate the degree to which their personal mental state is known by others. Another manifestation of the illusion of transparency is a tendency for people to overestimate how well they understand others' personal mental states. This cognitive bias is similar to the illusion of asymmetric insight, in which people perceive their knowledge of others to surpass other people's knowledge of themselves.[5]
Other related concepts are egocentric bias, self-referential encoding, self-reference effect and Ideas of reference and delusions of reference.
Research Edit The spotlight effect plays a significant role in many different aspects of psychology and society. Primarily, research on this phenomenon has been pioneered by four individuals: Thomas Gilovich, Kenneth Savitsky, Victoria Medvec, and Thomas Kruger. The main focuses of their research center around social judgments, salience of individual contributions, actions of individuals, and how individuals believe others perceive them.
Social judgment and salience Edit In social judgment, embarrassment plays a considerable role in the degree to which the spotlight effect is manifested. Research by Gilovich, Kruger, and Medvec indicated that certain situations in which perceivably embarrassing items are factors, such as an embarrassing t-shirt, increase the extent to which the spotlight effect is experienced by an individual. The timing of the exposure during a perceivably embarrassing situation also plays a role in the severity of the spotlight effect. If the exposure is immediate, the spotlight effect significantly increases in decision making scenarios. Delayed exposure, however, decreases spotlight effect intensity.[3]
Salience of ideas and important contributions within a group are additional aspects of social judgment that are affected by the spotlight effect. Individuals tend to overestimate the extent to which their contributions make an impact on those around them. In a group setting, those contributions are thought of by the individual as being more significant than the contributions of their group members and that the other members believe the same about that individual's contributions.[3]
Actions and perceptions Edit Actions of individuals and how they believe others perceive their performance also plays an important part of spotlight effect research. Gilovich, Medvec, and Savitsky further explored this idea. In situations that involve large, interacting groups, a common detail identifies the reason attention of others is not solely focused on the individual. In these settings, like a class lecture or athletic competition, attention is divided between focusing on the individual and on the actions of the group. The inability to identify the split attention leads individuals to overestimate the likelihood that their peers will perceive them poorly.[7]
Similarly, Gilovich, Medvec, and Savitsky further elaborated upon their research and concluded that in situations involving an audience member whose sole purpose is to observe, the severity of the spotlight effect is not overestimated because the focus of an audience's attention is centered upon the individual performing.[7]
See also Edit Self-consciousnessReferences Edit ^ Denton-Mendoza, R. (2012-06-05). "The Spotlight Effect". Psychology Today . Retrieved 2020-01-15 . ^ Gordon, A. M. (2013-11-21). "Have You Fallen Prey to the "Spotlight Effect? " ". Psychology Today . Retrieved 2020-01-15 . ^ a b c d Gilovich, T.; Medvec, V. H.; Savitsky, K. (2000). "The spotlight effect in social judgment: An egocentric bias in estimates of the salience of one's own actions and appearance" (PDF) . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 78 (2): 211''222. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.78.2.211. PMID 10707330. ^ Kenny, D. A.; Depaulo, B. M. (1993). "Do people know how others view them? An empirical and theoretical account". Psychological Bulletin. 114 (1): 145''161. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.114.1.145. PMID 8346325. ^ a b c Sanderson, Catherine A. (2010). Social Psychology. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470595213. ^ McConnell, A. (2009-06-25). "Did everyone see me do that?". Psychology Today . Retrieved 2020-01-15 . ^ a b Gilovich, Thomas; Kruger, Justin; Medvec, Victoria Husted (2002). "The Spotlight Effect Revisited: Overestimating the Manifest Variability of Our Actions and Appearance" (PDF) . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 38: 93''99. doi:10.1006/jesp.2001.1490. Further reading Edit Gilovich, Thomas; Savitsky, Kenneth (1999). "The Spotlight Effect and the Illusion of Transparency: Egocentric Assessments of How We Are Seen by Others". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 8 (6): 165''168. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00039. JSTOR 20182597. Brown, M. A.; Stopa, L. (2007). "The spotlight effect and the illusion of transparency in social anxiety" (PDF) . Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 21 (6): 804''819. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2006.11.006. PMID 17166695.
China
China's Xinjiang abuses: How global demand for hair products is linked to forced labor
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 13:30
For the past decade, Mikayla Lowe Davis has been braiding and styling hair for her customers.
''The first thing people see a lot of times is our hair,'' she says. ''We have to represent our crown and be confident with wearing it.''
The 29-year-old stylist, who owns Mikki Styles Salon, is braiding in synthetic hair to the head of a customer in Arlington, Texas, a process which takes several hours and costs upwards of $115.
''It helps them to become more empowered,'' Lowe Davis says of her customers. ''It gives them confidence when they can see how beautiful they are, how beautiful their hair is.''
Mikayla Lowe Davis says manufacturers need to give more information to sellers and consumers on the origin of the hair. Credit: Ashley Killough, CNN
Lowe Davis has a degree in biology, but the creative side of the hair industry drew her in. She sources products at beauty supply stores -- a fixture of many African American communities.
''Black women spend so much money on hair care products,'' says Frankesha Watkins, an MBA-educated entrepreneur who owns the BPolished Beauty Supply store in Arlington. ''I learned that from this pandemic, no matter what's going on, people want their hair to be nice.''
In fact, the business of hair extensions is booming, according to Tiffany Gill, associate professor of history at Rutgers University and author of the book ''Beauty Shop Politics.'' The Black hair care market in the United States was estimated to be worth more than $2.5 billion in 2018 by research company Mintel, and globally, the commodity of human hair is known as ''black gold'' -- due to the continued rise in its value. The majority of hair products come from Asia, mostly China.
Now, some of the Chinese factories supplying thousands of kilograms of hair to the American market are under scrutiny by the United States government, which is alleging the use of forced labor in the country's far western region of Xinjiang -- where rights groups say up to 2 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been detained in internment camps since 2016. Beijing has called the camps ''vocational training centers'' and says the expansion of factory jobs campaigners have linked to the camps is part of a ''poverty alleviation'' program.
Hair products are being exported from Xinjiang around the world Source: Chinese export data 2017-2019
In September, US Customs and Border Protection announced a Withhold Release Order (WRO) on any incoming shipments of hair from the Lop County Hair Product Industrial Park in southern Xinjiang. That followed two earlier WROs on companies registered within the same area, including the June seizure of 13 tons of human hair worth $800,000 from Lop County Meixin Hair Products -- which is now subject to a criminal investigation by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) -- and a previous order in May blocking imports from Hetian Haolin Hair Accessories.
The two companies did not respond to CNN's request for comment, but the Information Office of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region faxed a response to CNN regarding the earlier WROs, expressing ''severe condemnation'' about the ''barbaric act'' against ''private enterprises'' that ''provide opportunities for local ethnic minority people to achieve employment and help people get rid of poverty.''
Until earlier this year, Hetian Haolin had been a major supplier of synthetic hair products to a Texas-based company called I&I Hair. Its main product, EZBraid, is the top-selling hair braid at BPolished.
''When I found out about the forced labor, honestly I was shocked,'' Watkins says. ''I don't want to participate or support anything that goes against what I personally believe in.''
I&I Hair stopped shipping from Hetian Haolin in early 2020, when the company learned about the allegations of forced labor.
''I don't think a lot of us even spent time looking into these issues of internment camps,'' William Choe, digital marketing manager for I&I Hair told CNN. ''We were oblivious to it, (so) I believe that a lot of other people in the industry are as well.''
I&I cancelled all orders from the factory, and later cut ties with their agency, KCA Global in South Korea, which I&I said managed their supply chain.
''I do think that they've done their due diligence to make things right,'' Watkins says, referring to I&I.
OS Hair, another hair company based in Duluth, Georgia, which makes a product called Spetra Braid, was also receiving large shipments of hair products from Hetian Haolin until April this year.
OS Hair has also now changed its supplier, and said a South Korean company, Selim Fiber, arranged the deal with the Xinjiang factories. A company executive from Selim Fiber, who did not want to be named, said it knew nothing about forced labor allegations, and only shipped the raw materials to the factory under a contract with KCA Global -- the same agency that had worked with I&I Hair.
''We were initially shocked to find out about forced child labor and prison internment camps regarding our products.'' OS Hair, also known as Optimum Solution Group
Han Hyun-jung, CEO of KCA Global, told CNN it was shocking to hear of the forced labor allegations at Hetian Haolin. He said the company regrets what happened and no longer works with the manufacturer. Han said KCA Global had signed a contract with a factory in Xuchang, eastern China, which later moved some production to Xinjiang without them realizing. He added that the manufacturer also told KCA Global that ''they were acting properly according to the poverty alleviation project.''
Both I&I Hair and OS Hair denied news reports published in July saying their orders were part of the 13-ton seizure, saying they never ordered from Lop County Meixin Hair Products, and had already canceled their orders from Xinjiang months earlier.
Shipping records obtained by CNN show that two other US-based companies, Sky Trading in New Jersey, and Global Morado in Los Angeles, received shipments this year from Lop County Meixin. Neither company responded to CNN's request for comment.
As companies attempt to clean up their supply chains, stylist Mikayla Lowe Davis says she hopes the seizures will create a wake-up call for the industry, and push manufacturers to be more transparent about the origin of hair products entering the US.
''A lot of times it's not made clear on the packaging on where exactly it came from,'' she says. ''I definitely don't want it to come from slave labor.''
Associate Professor Tiffany Gill says she finds it particularly sad that the accusations of forced labor are associated with products used primarily by the African American community given ''the long, painful history and legacy of forced labor that was a part of American chattel slavery.''
But the blame has to lie with the manufacturers, she says.
''We have to be careful not to put the entire onus for ending these exploitative practices on consumers,'' she added. ''So much of it is shrouded in secrecy, that we don't know the means of production, that we don't know who is producing what we wear on our hair.''
Putting the burden of responsibility onto manufacturers and importers to prove the absence of forced labor in their supply chains is the goal of a new US bill -- the 'Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act' -- which passed with rare bipartisan support in the House of Representatives on September 22, by a margin of 406-3. Wang Wenbin, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said ''China is strongly indignant and opposed'' to the bill which ''maliciously smears the human rights situation in Xinjiang.''
'Everyone's hair was cut short'The US accusations of forced labor in Xinjiang are part of a wider pattern of alleged human rights violations by the Chinese government in the region.
Despite being the largest of China's regions and provinces, Xinjiang has a comparatively small population of just 22 million. It is home to a variety of minority groups, of which the predominantly Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uyghurs are the largest. Uyghurs, alongside other Turkic groups including Kazakh and Kyrgyz people, are culturally and linguistically distinct from Han Chinese, the country's dominant ethnic group.
After a series of deadly attacks in recent years, authorities have taken an increasingly tough approach in combating what they claim is a violent separatist movement among minority groups in Xinjiang.
This view has been used to justify strict curbs on religious freedoms alongside sweeping surveillance measures, including the installation of security checkpoints across the region.
The US says this policy has culminated in the creation of a network of shadowy mass internment camps, intended to subdue and assimilate Xinjiang's Muslim minorities through coercive political indoctrination, claims China vehemently denies.
The US State Department estimates that as many as 2 million people could have passed through the camps system since 2017.
CNN has documented multiple testimonies of people who escaped from the camps, including women who say they were tortured, sexually assaulted, and forced to undergo sterilization procedures '' all accusations which China has denied.
Leaked Chinese documents seen by CNN show that people can be sent to a camp for perceived infractions which range from wearing a headscarf or a long beard, holding a passport, or having too many children.
Former Xinjiang resident Yerzhan Kurman had moved to Kazakhstan with his family in 2015. He returned to visit his mother in 2018, but was then swiftly taken into a ''political educational school.''
''They came in the middle of the night and took me to the camp,'' says the 42-year-old. ''They handcuffed us, put a bag over our head.''
Kurman, who is ethnically Kazakh, says he was placed in a cell with nine other men, with whom he shared a bucket as a toilet. They were monitored continuously by cameras, weren't allowed to talk to each other, and had to ask permission to use the bucket. If they disobeyed, they were punished by being made to stand upright all night, or denied food, he says.
They also got in trouble if they refused to sing the Chinese national anthem up to seven times a day, he says. If they failed Chinese language tests, their detention could be extended.
Gulzira Auelkhan, a 41-year-old ethnic Kazakh, says she was being forced to work in a factory in Xinjiang after spending 15 months in internment camps. Credit: Dinara Saliyeva for CNN
Another former Xinjiang resident, Gulzira Auelkhan, says she was also thrown in a camp when she returned to the region from Kazakhstan to visit her family in 2017.
''Cameras monitored us everywhere,'' says Auelkhan, who is also ethnically Kazakh. ''If we cried they would handcuff us, if we moved they would also handcuff us.''
''They would allow us to go to the toilet for two minutes only.'' Auelkhan says. ''If anyone exceeded that time, they would hit us with electric sticks.''
Auelkhan says the authorities told her she ''came from a terrorist country,'' and then they ''cut my hair. Took my blood samples.''
Several other women have previously told CNN they had their hair forcibly removed during internment.
''They cut our hair off, made us bald,'' says Gulbakhar Jalilova, an ethnic Uyghur from Kazakhstan now living in Istanbul after escaping the camp system. ''Everything was gone. Nothing. I had long hair.''
Zumrat Dawut, an ethnic Uyghur who is now living in Washington, DC, after fleeing Xinjiang, says she endured a similar experience.
Zumrat Dawut, a Uyghur exile now living in Washington DC, says her hair was cut off in an internment camp in Xinjiang. Credit: Zumrat Dawut
''I had long hair, all the way to my hips,'' Dawut says. ''On the second day, they took me to a separate office, where they had a tray with a machine and scissors, and they cut my hair.''
Zumrat says ''everyone's hair was cut short,'' which made the female inmates ''sad and stressed.'' She doesn't know what happened to the hair, but says her ''heart aches'' if she sees hair products from China in American stores.
''I look at them and wonder if it is my hair or the hair of my sisters. I am wondering when people wear it, do they ever think about where it is coming from.'' Zumrat Dawut
The systematic nature of the hair removal has also been confirmed by Qelbinur Sidik, an ethnic Uzbek who is married to a Uyghur. Sidik used to live in Xinjiang and is now exiled in the Netherlands. She told CNN that she was forced to teach Chinese in one of the internment camps in 2017, and that everyone entering the camp had their hair shorn off. She was told her role was to teach ''illiterates'' and that the assignment at the camp was ''highly secret.''
''After about 10 days, all of them were completely shaven, hair and beards,'' Sidik says. ''Women also were shaven.''
During a months-long investigation, CNN was unable to verify what happened to the hair allegedly taken from the women in the camps. Industry experts tell CNN that the high value of human hair means it is unlikely to be discarded, but point out that it would only make up a small part of the hair that would be needed for a stable supply chain. China also imports hair from India, Malaysia and several other countries.
'Xinjiang human hair' is advertised on a Chinese hair company website. CNN purchased some of the hair samples, which are still available to buy online. Credit: Emeda Hair, Rebecca Wright/CNN
CNN was able to purchase several hair samples advertised as ''Xinjiang human hair,'' along with hair labeled as Chinese and Russian, from a Chinese company called Emeda Hair -- which has not responded to request for comment. DNA testing of hair samples is not possible without the root, and drug testing on the hair samples purchased proved inconclusive.
The Xinjiang authorities did not respond to request for comment on the accusations that hair is removed from detainees, or the allegations that the hair is being sold. But in September, China's state-run tabloid newspaper The Global Times published a report quoting a hair product company manager as saying the ''sensational accusation'' that hair forcibly taken from ethnic minority women was being used in their supply chain was a lie that was ''crazy and ignorant of the industry.''
'Black gold'When US Customs seized hair products worth an estimated $800,000 this summer, it highlighted that human hair is a valuable commodity that is traded across international borders.
''People in the industry do call it 'black gold,' and the reason why is because the value in the last 10 years has increased almost 12 fold,'' says Krishan Jhalani, CEO of US-based Indique Hair, which sells premium Remy human hair donated to temples in India. ''The demand has gone through the roof.''
20102011201220132014201520162017201820192020High security internment campHetian Haolin HairAccessories Co.Lop County MeixinHair Product Co.Lop County No. 4 Vocational SkillsEducation and Training CenterCredit: Google Earth Pro, Planet Labs
This area in Lop County, in southern Xinjiang's Hotan prefecture, was largely empty a decade ago. Rapid construction over the past few years has created an industrial park with several hair factories alongside suspected internment camps.
China is the biggest manufacturer of human hair wigs and extensions in the world, and the main supplier of hair products to the US, with nearly $1 billion of exports entering the US in 2019, US Customs and Border Protection says. The scale of production, price point and online accessibility have all helped China to dominate the market.
''The US absolutely is one of the growth drivers in the industry,'' Jhalani added.
And despite pressure from the US government regarding the use of alleged forced labor, the US is still Xinjiang's fastest growing overall export market, with exports increasing 250% to $26.6 million from April 2019 to April 2020, a study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) shows. After chemical and mineral products, hair is the biggest export product from Xinjiang to the US in terms of order volume.
Data from US shipping data company Import Genius shows that shipments of hair products direct from Xinjiang to the US only appeared in 2017 and increased rapidly after that.
''The US absolutely is one of the growth drivers in the industry.'' Krishan Jhalani, CEO of US-based Indique Hair
''It was fairly late in 2017 and then enter 2018, a lot more volume, when we're talking hundreds of thousands of pounds of hair,'' Michael Kanko, CEO of Import Genius told CNN. The regular large exports of hair continued into 2019 and 2020, he added.
The export records mostly originated from one location in Hotan, southern Xinjiang -- the Lop County Hair Product Industrial Park, part of the Beijing Industrial Park. Kanko believes that pattern is due to China's expansion of the camps in the area.
''The source is clearly Uyghur labor camp internment, slaves basically,'' Kanko says. ''I've seen a lot of sketchy and sad things in trade data, but this is the new low for me.''
A photo published by Xinjiang's Department of Justice on a Chinese government WeChat account in April 2017 shows lines of male detainees in blue overalls inside the Lop County #4 Vocational Skills Education and Training Center. Credit: WeChat/Xinjiang Department of Justice
Chinese local officials were offering hair industry executives tours to Xinjiang around 2015 or 2016, promising cheap labor and favorable tax policies, a person familiar with the matter who did not want to be named told CNN. For years, the hair industry in China has been squeezed by rising wage costs and increasing competition from other parts of Asia, experts say.
In its June 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report, the US Department of State concluded that the Xinjiang authorities ''offer subsidies incentivizing Chinese companies to open factories in close proximity to the internment camps, and local governments receive additional funds for each inmate forced to work in these sites at a fraction of minimum wage or without any compensation.''
Chinese state media reported in July that there are 32 hair companies in the Lop County industrial park, employing 7,000 people described as ''rural surplus labor,'' adding that there are plans to expand further. In March, there were 21 companies and 4,000 workers in the park.
Satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs and Google Earth Pro shows the rapid expansion of the Lop County Hair Product Industrial Park over the past few months. This image shows an internment camp -- or what the Chinese government calls the 'vocational training center' -- that was built in tandem with factories in the industrial park.
At least 26 new structures are visible from satellite imagery shot March to September 2020. The structures are at different levels of completion, some are still under construction while others have been finished.
At least seven new buildings are visible in this block, while several other structures appear to still be under construction.
A new blue cluster of buildings, possibly a storage facility, given they are a bit smaller than the factory buildings. This area was previously a parking lot.
In September, the US Department of Homeland Security also identified Lop County No. 4 Vocational Skills Education and Training Center as a possible source of forced labor and has banned any products made with labor from the camp from entering the US.
The expansion of the camp infrastructure is happening across Xinjiang, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a think tank partly funded by the Australian and US governments. In a new ASPI report, researchers used satellite imagery to identify 380 suspected detention facilities in Xinjiang, some of which have expanded recently.
''The evidence in this database shows that despite Chinese officials' claims about detainees graduating from the camps, significant investment in the construction of new detention facilities has continued,'' ASPI researcher Nathan Ruser says.
This photo of the Lop County #4 camp was taken in July 2018 by journalists from Bitter Winter magazine, which is funded by an Italian religious freedom group. It shows high fences lined with barbed wire, guards and surveillance cameras. A sign on the gate reads ''Lop County Vocational Skills Education and Training Center.'' Credit: Bitter Winter
Poverty alleviation''This is the sample exhibition hall of Lop County Hair Product Industrial Park,'' Li Feng, a Chinese news reporter says into a hand-held microphone, pointing out rows of completed wigs displayed behind her on mannequins.
Li walks through to the factory floor, adding that thousands of ''surplus rural laborers'' have been ''absorbed'' to work at the factory. The video shows long rows of uniformed ethnic minority workers, along with Han Chinese managers.
''My goal now is to make one more wig every day,'' says a worker in the video called Mutailip Iminiyazi, a Uyghur name.
The whole industrial park is now subject to an import ban from the US government.
This drone video taken by the state-run Xinhua news agency shows rows of factories on Jing Luo Avenue, where several hair factories are located. In July, US Customs and Border Protection issued a Withhold Release Order on products from the Lop County Meixin Hair Product Co. located on Jing Luo Avenue, due to the suspected use of forced labor.
Credit: Xinhua News
The drone video also shows two multi-story buildings under construction.
Satellite imagery shows that construction on these factories began in late 2018 and was finished by late 2019.
The pink residential-style buildings and open courtyard visible in the drone video are part of an internment camp -- also known as a vocational and training center. The camp is located less than 100 meters (328 feet) from the rows of factories shown in the drone video.
''The production lines around me are making every effort to complete a batch of overseas orders,'' the reporter says. ''They are increasing the speed of working, and they are more motivated to get rid of poverty.''
The factory manager tells the reporter that they are implementing the ''poverty alleviation'' scheme under the ''important instruction'' of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The year 2020 has been marked by Xi with a pledge to help end extreme poverty. Xinjiang, one of the poorest and least urbanized regions in China, was one of the target areas for this program.
The scheme is presented by state media as a noble, benevolent effort by the ruling Communist Party to help predominantly poor rural workers gain access to the material benefits enjoyed by China's urban residents -- they are offered free training and stable jobs to enable them to support their families and achieve a better life.
But to many Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, the term ''poverty alleviation'' has a more sinister meaning.
That includes the two ethnic Kazakh Chinese nationals, Yerzhan Kurman and Gulzira Auelkhan, who both worked at the same glove factory in Xinjiang in late 2018.
''They forced us to work. There was no freedom.'' Yerzhan Kurman
Kurman, who was a farmer in Xinjiang before he left, says he received an ultimatum to take a factory job soon after his release from the internment camp.
''After having spent nine months in the camp, I had five days rest at home. On day six they told me that I would have to work,'' Kurman says. ''They said that I couldn't refuse, as they could take me to the camp again. So on day six I went to the textile factory.''
Yerzhan Kurman, an ethnic Kazakh with three children, says he was taken into a camp for nine months, then forced to work in a factory. Credit: Dinara Saliyeva for CNN
He says he was forced to make gloves in the factory alongside thousands of others for two months.
''We couldn't do anything without permission,'' he says. ''We would iron, fold and accurately put into boxes all 250 gloves. If we didn't, they would punish us.''
They were warned they would not be paid anything if they didn't complete 250 gloves each day, he adds.
Kurman says he repeatedly told the factory officials he wanted to get back to his wife and three children in Kazakhstan. He says he had to live on site at the factory, and was taken to see his mother once a week.
''While making those gloves, I was always thinking about my children,'' he says. ''Were they well, sick or dead, as we didn't have any information from them. They didn't let us communicate. All I needed was my family. I told them that, but they didn't care.''
He says he was told his salary would be 600 yuan ($88) per month, but after two months' work, he had received nothing. They eventually gave him 300 yuan ($44), and he returned to Kazakhstan.
''Nobody working in the factory was happy with the job,'' says Gulzira Auelkhan. ''None of them worked of their own free will.''
''I told them that I had already been in education and I didn't want to work,'' she says. ''But they say that if I refuse, that means my ideology was still wrong and I would go back to the camp.''
Auelkhan says she was even spotted by her husband in a separate state media video of the factory that appeared on YouTube, working at a sewing machine during a tour by local officials. Credit: Chinese state media
Ahmat Yusan, 62, a former Xinjiang resident and ethnic Uyghur exiled in Turkey with his wife, told CNN that his daughter, a law graduate, is currently being forced to work in a factory in Aksu, Xinjiang. She is occasionally able to make contact. They were a well-off family, he added, and his daughter had never had a job before.
Yusan's wife said her stepdaughter ''cried so hard'' when talking about the forced labor, saying she "lived through hell" and that she would have considered suicide if it was permissible.
Testimonies like these shatter the illusion of a voluntary job creation program in Xinjiang, experts say.
Several major reports have concluded that the poverty alleviation scheme provides a cloak for forced labor, including analyses from ASPI, as well as the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS) in the US, and academic and China expert Adrian Zenz.
The reports also highlight the mass transfer of Uyghur and ethnic minority labor from Xinjiang to factories in other parts of the province and across China -- known officially as a ''mutual pairing assistance program.'' ASPI says at least 80,000 Uyghurs have been transferred to 27 factories across China since 2017.
ASPI's 'Uyghurs for Sale' report even identified advertisements in online forums offering to arrange large numbers of Xinjiang workers. CNN has verified that several of the adverts are still online, including one with phrases like ''absolutely obedient,'' ''can endure hardships'' and ''won't cause trouble.''
Online adverts include one showing a man and women in traditional Uyghur dress -- images used routinely on Chinese state media when promoting the idea of ethnic unity. Another offers "Xinjiang people" who can "endure hardships." Credit: Qingdao Human Resources Website, Baidu Tieba
The Uyghur population in China has long been subject to racist stereotypes, including the trope that they are lazy and poorly skilled, and they have faced discriminatory hiring practices.
A Chinese government white paper titled 'Employment and Labor Rights in Xinjiang,' published in September, details the goal of the ''three-year program'' on poverty alleviation which was ''vigorously implemented'' to ''improve the quality of the workforce, and change people's outdated mindset.''
The program was focused on the ''impoverished'' southern Xinjiang area because ''terrorists'' and those with ''outdated ideas'' had urged people to ''resist learning'' Chinese, and ''refuse to improve their vocational skills.''
Between 2014 and 2019, the number of employed people in Xinjiang rose by nearly 2 million, and an average of 1.29 million workers received ''training'' every year -- the ''vast majority'' of whom obtained vocational skills, the white paper says.
''In 2019, Hotan prefecture alone provided vocational training for 103,300 farmers and herders, of whom 98,300 found work,'' it added.
Accusations of forced labor are based upon ''fabricated facts'' which deny the rights of the people to ''move out of poverty and backwardness,'' the paper says.
Credit: NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images
During a two-day work conference on Xinjiang in September, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the Communist Party's policies in the region were ''completely correct'' and ''must be adhered to in the long term.''
Xi said that the policies had brought ''unprecedented achievements'' in economic growth, social development, and improvement in peoples' livelihoods. He added that ''the sense of gain, happiness, and security'' among all ethnic groups had increased.
''The whole party must treat the implementation of the Xinjiang strategy as a political task, and work hard to implement it completely and accurately to ensure that the Xinjiang work always maintains in the correct political direction,'' Xi added.
Laura Murphy, a professor of human rights and contemporary slavery at Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom, who is currently based in New Orleans, says she doesn't ''have a lot of patience'' for the Chinese government's idea of poverty alleviation.
''Millions of people are being sent to concentration camps, so people have been cut off from any chance of getting jobs, advancing their careers, studying, taking care of their families,'' Murphy says. ''Instead, they are being sent to glove factories and hair factories.''
''They should close down these factories,'' says former detainee Gulzira Auelkhan. ''Those are made by using slavery. So many people were crying while making those products.''
'As consumers, we need to know'US companies are already shifting their supply chain away from Xinjiang.
Multiple auditors have also suspended operations in the region, including the Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP), which said ''normal social compliance audits cannot be conducted in the XUAR due to restrictions on the movement of third-party auditors.'' The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) has suspended working in Xinjiang because ''the operating environment prevents credible assurance and licensing from being executed.''
Data from Import Genius shows that no hair shipments have arrived direct from Xinjiang to the US by sea since the US seizure at the end of June. But the opaque nature of the hair supply chain means that products can pass through multiple places on their way into the US market, a route which can conceal their origin.
''Manufacturers need to be more aware on where the hair products are coming from. As consumers, we need to know.'' Mikayla Lowe Davis
Focusing only on Xinjiang also does not take into account the reality that goods, and labor, are being transferred back and forth within China.
''Three years ago, a lot of hair factories started outsourcing part of their production to Xinjiang,'' said a person familiar with the matter. The source said some hair products are being sent to Xinjiang for the labor-intensive parts of the process, before being sent back to other parts of China where they are packaged, labeled and shipped out.
The system of Chinese hair factories outsourcing the heavy-duty production to save on labor costs is already established, industry insiders say. One of the main beneficiaries of this has been North Korea.
Hair products are exempt from UN sanctions on North Korea introduced in 2017, and the country has ramped up production since then, with $22.4 million of hair exports to China in 2018, data from Trading Economics shows. Chinese export data from 2017-2019, obtained by CNN, also shows regular shipments of incomplete hair products going to North Korea, most of it driven across the border.
But since the North Korea-China border closed in January to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the trade flow has dried up, and prices have soared.
Some of ''the largest hair importers in the States'' are now complaining of an ''emergency'' in supply of popular products such as lace closures and lace front wigs, says a US hair industry insider, who does not want to be named. ''There's a massive shortage.''
The importers say some companies are moving production from North Korea to Xinjiang, but ''that will take six months to get going,'' the source says.
Lace closures and lace front wigs take an experienced worker a day or two to make, as they need to hand-knot individual strands of human hair into a piece of lace. The state media video from the Lop Country Hair Product Industrial Park shows what the reporter calls ''surplus rural laborers'' making these products, experts say.
The other issue -- the transfer of Uyghur labor internally in China -- has already been flagged by the apparel industry, which has come under much more scrutiny from policymakers and campaigners in the US -- partly because of the big international brands involved, and because Xinjiang produces 20% of the world's cotton.
Steve Lamer, president and CEO of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, told a US congressional hearing in September that their members ''ensure'' that their manufacturers across China ''do not employ Uyghurs or other ethnicities who have been recruited via labor agents or vocational schools connected to the Chinese government,'' in order to adhere to the industry's ''zero tolerance prohibition against forced labor.''
Wigs and hair extensions are some of the biggest-selling items at US beauty supply stores like BPolished in Arlington, Texas. Credit: Ashley Killough, CNN
But currently, the hair industry is not subject to the same sort of international examination.
''There are no regulations in the US, there's no regulatory authority,'' Krishan Jhalani from Indique Hair says.
Professor Laura Murphy says the priority is for US hair companies to investigate their supply chain and take action like I&I Hair did. ''But we need bigger companies to step up and do the same thing,'' she added.
''It really just came down to us, not knowing, and that's the most frustrating part,'' William Choe from I&I Hair says. ''We probably should get together and stand up and stand against these atrocities.''
Since 2017, the exports of hair products from Xinjiang to the US grew rapidlySolidarity on this issue is also needed from hair importers in other major markets, US Customs and Border Protection said. Chinese export data shows tens of thousands of shipments of hair products mainly going to Europe, Africa and Brazil.
There should also be a ''groundswell on social media through social media influencers and through celebrities and pop culture folks who wear hair extensions or use them to raise awareness of this issue,'' says Tiffany Gill from Rutgers University.
Gill says it could create an opportunity to shift some production back to the US -- particularly into the hands of African American owners who have struggled to get a foothold in the industry due to the dominance of Korean-American companies. Price point would be an issue, though, she adds.
The beauty industry is shifting in the US, as more Black entrepreneurs take over ownership of beauty supply stores, a fixture of African American communities. Credit: Ashley Killough, CNN
Already, the industry is changing. Black entrepreneurs ''- mostly women -- have been opening three or four stores a week on average over the past six months, Sam Ennon, the president of the Black Owned Beauty Supply Association (BOBSA) told CNN. The pandemic actually helped the business, he says, because rental prices in the retail sector have lowered.
The supply chain issue in China is something the ''Black hair industry would like to be on the forefront of,'' Ennon says.
''I think that if more information did come out about the conditions under which people are laboring to bring this hair to African Americans, that there might be an increased sensitivity just based on the legacy of slavery and forced labor in African American communities,'' Gill says.
''It needs to have more light shed upon it,'' stylist Lowe Davis says. ''A lot of people just don't know where to start.''
REVEALED: Anti-Trump New England Journal Of Medicine Is Partnered With A Chinese Communist Publishing House
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 12:09
The New England Journal of Medicine, which recently encouraged voters to oust President Trump over his China virus response, boasts extensive links to the Chinese Communist Party.The medical journal had never involved itself in U.S. presidential elections before, but recently published an op-ed entitled, ''Dying in a Leadership Vacuum,'' which implored American voters to remove President Trump office.
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), therefore, shares the same election preference as the Chinese Communist Party: a victory for Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden.
NEJM and the Chinese government, however, have considerably more in common.
CCP RUNNING DOGS. NEJM launched a Chinese publication, app, and website in late 2016.
NEJM also partnered with Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House, a subsidiary of government-approved Shanghai Century Publishing Co.
Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House boasts on its mission page how it belongs to ''the first batch of ''National Excellent Publishing Houses named'' by the Chinese Communist Party's Central Propaganda Department and has received a host of awards from the government.
Furthermore, the group describes itself as ''under the guidance of the party and the government's publishing policies.''
The publishing house routinely holds meetings to entrench employees' adherence to the goals of the Chinese Communist Party, including trips to Chinese government buildings, meetings with high-level Chinese Communist Party officials, study sessions on Xi Jinping's speeches, and taking the Chinese Communist Party oath.
THE SPIRIT OF COMMUNISM.
The group held group-wide seminars on ''learning the spirit'' of the Chinese Communist Party, with high-level government officials attending alongside the group's Editor-in-Chief:
''Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House earnestly studied and implemented the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It held the first concentrated discussion and study on October 23, studying the original text of the work report made by Comrade Xi Jinping, talking freely and looking forward to future development. Secretary of the Party Committee and President Wen Zeyuan, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee Yu Ying, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Editor-in-Chief Wei Xiaofeng, and Vice President Hou Peidong took the lead in reading and studying the first four parts of the original text of Comrade Xi Jinping's report.''
The group also pledges to ''Use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era, arm the mind, guide practice, and promote work'' and has hosted meetings to determine how to best ''use Marxism'' as ''a sharp ideological weapon.''
Publishing group on field trip to Shanghai Municipal People's Government.And these diktats don't just guide employees' personal lives; they're also applicable to the group's publishing efforts:
''In political life and practical work, we must be loyal and honest to the party, ask the organization for instructions and report major issues in accordance with relevant regulations, oppose two-faced people and two-faced people; Reputation, any behavior or phenomenon that affects the image of the party. We must strengthen our ideals and convictions, regard our belief in Marxism, and our belief in socialism and communism as our lifelong pursuit, and stick to the spiritual homeland of communists.''
In meetings, employees have even taken the Chinese Communist Party oath, with the group's website describing those in attendance as ''full of emotions, clamor[ing] and utter[ing] loudly'':
''In the first item of the conference, all party members reviewed the oath of joining the party. Wei Xiaofeng, deputy secretary of the party committee and editor-in-chief, took the oath, and the party members stood upright, raised their right hand facing the party flag, and solemnly swore. At the oath-taking scene, the party members were full of emotions, clamored and uttered loudly. Every party member received a spiritual baptism, which enhanced the party members' sense of pride and honor.''
Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House group meeting, taking an oath to a Communist flagThe compromised relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and the NEJM parallels the regime's infiltration and coercion of the World Health Organization. Serving as a testament to the extent of China's infiltration in the U.S., the relationship also obscures the American medical community's ability to get tough on China and demand the genetic sequence of the virus be released.
While the left insists we ought to ''trust the experts,'' it's increasingly apparent that the so-called experts are henchmen for the Chinese Communist Party.
The New England Journal of Politics, Part II - WSJ
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 13:44
The medical editors prefer China's virus management.
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) his week published an editorial denouncing ''dangerously incompetent'' leadership in Washington on the pandemic and all but endorsing Joe Biden for President. This will go down well in all the right precincts. But then please don't complain if half of America suspects that science is increasingly politicized.
The editorial recites the government's well-known failures in managing the coronavirus, such as the initial struggles to roll out testing and hand out enough protective equipment....
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) his week published an editorial denouncing ''dangerously incompetent'' leadership in Washington on the pandemic and all but endorsing Joe Biden for President. This will go down well in all the right precincts. But then please don't complain if half of America suspects that science is increasingly politicized.
The editorial recites the government's well-known failures in managing the coronavirus, such as the initial struggles to roll out testing and hand out enough protective equipment. We can't disagree with that, but the editors go on to extol China's virus management, conveniently ignoring its early cover-up and manipulation of the World Health Organization. Why are American elites so enamored of authoritarian command and control? The editors then hit the U.S. for late and inconsistent quarantines, without taking into account the public-health and economic costs of lockdowns.
You might say ''the New England Journal is joining the ranks of academic publications risking their reputations as non-partisan arbiters of good science in order to rumble in the political tarpits.'' That's a line from our 2006 editorial ''New England Journal of Politics'' describing how the NEJM had waded into a legal dispute over Merck's painkiller Vioxx. The NEJM also appeared in these pages in 2007 for working to tank a diabetes drug and help Democrats in Congress to regulate treatment approvals more tightly.
Our contributor Scott Gottlieb noted at the time that medical journals have ''historically played a special role in helping to define medical practice standards. Even decisions they make on how prominently to place a study, let alone how they editorialize about it, are seen as strong signals to clinicians on how doctors should weigh the evidence. So when editors pursue a political agenda, it's public health that pays a price.''
Another prominent medical journal, The Lancet, has its own history of political incursions, such as a study on Iraq war casualties funded by anti-George W. Bush partisans. The NEJM's latest editorial laments that ''current leaders'' have ''undercut trust in science.'' The irony is that much of the public distrust of expertise derives from years of scientists behaving like politicians.
Obama Gate
Pelosis Take a Big Stake in CrowdStrike, Democrat-Connected Linchpin of Russia Probe | RealClearInvestigations
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 11:24
The cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike rose to global prominence in mid-June 2016 when it publicly accused Russia of hacking the Democratic National Committee and stealing its data. The previously unknown company's explosive allegation set off a seismic chain of events that engulfs U.S. national politics to this day. The Hillary Clinton campaign seized on CrowdStrike's claim by accusing Russia of meddling in the election to help Donald Trump. U.S. intelligence officials would soon also endorse CrowdStrike's allegation and pursue what amounted to a multi-year, all-consuming investigation of Russian interference and Trump's potential complicity.
With the next presidential election now in its final weeks, the Democrats' national leader, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and her husband, Paul Pelosi, are endorsing the publicly traded firm in a different way. Recent financial disclosure filings show the couple have invested up to $1 million in CrowdStrike Holdings. The Pelosis purchased the stock at a share price of $129.25 on Sept. 3. At the time of this article's publication, the price has risen to $142.97.
Drew Hammill, spokesman for Pelosi, said: ''Speaker Pelosi is not involved in her husband's investments and was not aware of the investment until the required filing was made. Mr. Pelosi is a private investor and has investments in a number of publicly traded companies. The Speaker fully complies with House Rules and the relevant statutory requirements.''
The Pelosis' sizeable investment in CrowdStrike could revive scrutiny of the company's involvement in the Trump-Russia saga since the Democrats' 2016 election loss.
Dmitri Alperovitch: The CrowdStrike co-founder reportedly was thanked by a senior U.S. official "for pushing the government along" in its DNC hacking probe.
CrowdStrike.com
After generating the hacking allegation against Russia in 2016, CrowdStrike played a critical role in the FBI's ensuing investigation of the DNC data theft. CrowdStrike executives shared intelligence with the FBI on a consistent basis, making dozens of contacts in the investigation's early months. According to Esquire, when U.S. intelligence officials first accused Russia of conducting malicious cyber activity in October 2016, a senior U.S. government official personally alerted CrowdStrike co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch and thanked him "for pushing the government along." The final reports of both Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the Senate Intelligence Committee cite CrowdStrike's forensics. The firm's centrality to Russiagate has drawn the ire of President Trump. During the fateful July 2019 phone call that would later trigger impeachment proceedings, Trump asked Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky to scrutinize CrowdStrike's role in the DNC server breach, suggesting that the company may have been involved in hiding the real perpetrators.
Pelosi's recent investment in CrowdStrike also adds a new partisan entanglement for a company with significant connections to Democratic Party and intelligence officials that drove Russiagate.
DNC law firm Perkins Coie hired CrowdStrike to investigate the breach in late April 2016. At the outset, Perkins Coie attorney Michael Sussmann personally informed CrowdStrike officials that Russia was suspected of breaching the server. By the time CrowdStrike went public with the Russian hacking allegation less than two months later, Perkins Coie had recently hired Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that produced discredited Steele dossier alleging a longstanding conspiracy between Trump and Russia.
Shawn Henry: Behind closed doors, the CrowdStrike president admitted under oath in December 2017 that his firm "did not have concrete evidence" that Russian hackers actually stole any emails or other data from the DNC servers. "There's circumstantial evidence, but no evidence that they were actually exfiltrated."
CrowdStrike.com
CrowdStrike President Shawn Henry, who led the team that remediated the DNC breach and blamed Russia for the hacking, previously served as assistant director at the FBI under Robert Mueller. Since June 2015, Henry has also worked as an analyst at MSNBC, the cable network that has promoted debunked Trump-Russia innuendo perhaps more than any other outlet. Alperovitch, the co-founder and former chief technology officer, is a former nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, the Washington organization that actively lobbies for a hawkish posture toward Russia.
Campaign disclosures also show that CrowdStrike contributed $100,000 to the Democratic Governors Association in 2016 and 2017.
The firm's multiple conflicts of interest in the Russia investigation coincide with a series of embarrassing disclosures that call into question its technical reliability.
In early 2017, CrowdStrike was forced to retract its allegation that Russia had hacked Ukrainian military equipment with the same malware the firm claimed to have discovered inside the DNC server.
During the FBI's investigation of the DNC breach, CrowdStrike never provided direct access to the pilfered servers, rebuffing multiple requests that came from officials all the way up to then-Director James Comey. The FBI had to rely on CrowdStrike's own images of the servers, as well as reports that Justice Department officials later acknowledged were delivered in incomplete, redacted form. James Trainor, who served as assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, complained to the Senate Intelligence Committee that the DNC's cooperation with the FBI's 2016 hack investigation was "slow and laborious in many respects" and that CrowdStrike's information was "scrubbed" before it was handed over. Alperovitch, the former CTO, has claimed that CrowdStrike installed its Falcon software to protect the DNC server on May 5, 2016. Yet the Democratic Party emails were stolen from the server three weeks later, from May 25 to June 1.
Yet the most damaging revelation calling into question CrowdStrike's Russian hacking allegations came with an admission early in the Russia probe that was only made public this year. Unsealed testimony from the House Intelligence Committee shows that Henry admitted under oath behind closed doors in December 2017 that the firm "did not have concrete evidence" that Russian hackers actually stole any emails or other data from the DNC servers. "There's circumstantial evidence, but no evidence that they were actually exfiltrated," Henry said. "There are times when we can see data exfiltrated, and we can say conclusively. But in this case it appears it was set up to be exfiltrated, but we just don't have the evidence that says it actually left."
The Henry testimony was among a trove of damning transcripts released by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff only after pressure from the then-acting Director of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Richard Grenell.
As RealClearInvestigations reported last month, Henry's House testimony also conflicts with his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee two months prior, in October 2017. According to the Senate report, Henry claimed that CrowdStrike was "able to see some exfiltration and the types of files that had been touched," but not the files' content. Yet two months later, Henry told the House that "we didn't see the data leave, but we believe it left, based on what we saw."
Notably, Henry's acknowledgment to the House that CrowdStrike did not have evidence of exfiltration came only after he was interrupted and prodded by his attorneys to correct an initial answer. Right before that intervention from CrowdStrike counsel, Henry had falsely asserted that he knew when Russian hackers had exfiltrated the stolen information:
Adam Schiff: CrowdStrike testimony was released by the House Intelligence Committee chairman only after pressure from the then-acting Director of National Intelligence, Richard Grenell.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Adam Schiff: Do you know the date in which the Russians exfiltrated the data from the DNC?
Shawn Henry: I do. I have to just think about it. I don't know. I mean, it's in our report that I think the Committee has.
Schiff: And, to the best of your recollection, when would that have been?
Henry: Counsel just reminded me that, as it relates to the DNC, we have indicators that data was exfiltrated. We do not have concrete evidence that data was exfiltrated from the DNC, but we have indicators that it was exfiltrated.
Henry then improbably argued that, in the absence of evidence showing the emails leaving the DNC server, Russian hackers could have taken individual screenshots of each of the 44,053 emails and 17,761 attachments that were ultimately put out by WikiLeaks.
Keeping Henry's admission under wraps for nearly four years was highly consequential. The allegation of Russian hacking was elevated to a dire national security issue, and anyone who dared to question it '' including President Trump '' was accused of doing the Kremlin's bidding. The hacking allegation also helped plunge U.S.-Russia relations to new lows. Under persistent bipartisan pressure over allegations of Russian meddling, Trump has approved a series of punitive measures and aggressive policies toward Moscow, shunning his own campaign vow to seek cooperation.
Wikipedia/CrowdStrike.com
Meanwhile, during the several years that CrowdStrike's own uncertainty about its hacking allegation was kept from the public, the firm has enjoyed a stratospheric rise on Wall Street. In 2017, one year after lodging its Russia hacking allegations, CrowdStrike had a valuation of $1 billion. Three years later, after going public in 2019, the firm's valuation was set at $6.7 billion, and soon hit $11.4 billion. Just over a year later, its market cap was $31.37 billion. CrowdStrike has more than doubled its revenue on average every year, going from $52.75 million in 2017 to $481.41 million in 2020.
CrowdStrike and Fusion GPS, which spread Trump-Russia collusion allegations via the Steele dossier, are not the only private companies to play a critical and lucrative role in the Trump-Russia saga.
The firm New Knowledge, staffed by several former Democratic Party operatives and intelligence officials, authored a disputed report for the Senate Intelligence Committee that accused a Russian troll farm of a sophisticated social media interference campaign that duped millions of vulnerable Americans. Ironically, the company itself took part in a social media disinformation operation in the 2017 Alabama Senate race to help elect the ultimate victor, Democratic candidate Doug Jones. Just as the Democratic Party's impeachment proceedings were in full swing a year ago, another cybersecurity firm with Democratic Party ties, Area One, accused the Russian spy agency GRU of hacking into the Ukrainian company Burisma with the aim of uncovering dirt on Joe Biden. Graphika, a firm with extensive ties to the Atlantic Council and the Pentagon, has recently put out reports accusing Russians of impersonating left-wing and right-wing websites to fool hyper-partisan American audiences.
Having generated the seminal Russian hacking allegation, CrowdStrike sits at the top of what has become a booming cottage industry of firms and organizations to help shape the multi-year barrage of Russia fear-mongering and innuendo. And with her new investment in CrowdStrike, Nancy Pelosi -- the highest-ranking elected official of a party that has promoted Russiagate above all else -- is already profiting from its success.
Go Podcasting!
How Spotify is Killing the Open Podcast Ecosystem - Kay's Blog
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 12:26
Earlier this year, when Spotify announced that ''The Joe Rogan Experience'' would stream exclusively on Spotify, it sent shockwaves throughout the podcast ecosystem. This deal '' reportedly worth over $100 million '' is one of the most lucrative podcast deals. The presence of this deal, let alone the magnitude, is rare for the podcast ecosystem, which is built on open principles i.e. all podcasts are available everywhere. Therefore, the concept of exclusivity does not exist in the vocabulary of podcast listeners nor podcast creators. For Spotify to spend a considerable sum of money on a medium that is not its core business (i.e. music) represents a significant shift in strategy. In this blog, I explore why Spotify is embarking on this journey, and the value Spotify can deliver in this space.
To understand this sudden shift in strategy, we need to understand the current state of the podcast industry. According to Statista,
Back in 2006, only 22 percent of the adult population in the United States was aware of podcasting. By 2020, this figure had risen to 75 percent. Podcasting is an increasingly popular pastime in the US, and there were an estimated 88 million podcast listeners in the country in 2019. Forecasts suggest that the number of podcast listeners will surpass 160 million in 2023 after increases of around 20 million each year.
When consumers are not in Spotify's app listening to music, they are listening to podcasts in a different app. This represents a threat to Spotify's ad-supported free product and a loss of ad-revenue from its free users (Spotify's premium product is not affected by this because the subscription cost per user is fixed regardless of listening time). To serve relevant ads and, in return, increase its CPM for advertisers, Spotify needs to know its users intimately. This means that Spotify needs its users to spend as much of their digital lives as possible in its walled garden. The quickest way for Spotify to enable this is to build a podcast streaming capability and stream all available podcasts through its music app. This is precisely what Spotify started doing in 2018. Since then, Spotify has quickly ramped up the number of podcast titles available on its platform with increasing engagement every quarter.
It is important to understand the open podcast ecosystem before moving forward. Podcasts are delivered through a technology called RSS (Rich Site Summary). If you've seen this icon on the internet before, then you have come across an RSS feed.
RSS Icon
An RSS feed acts as a content-distribution tool and is often used by websites to distribute web content such as new articles, blogs, and podcasts. It is an XML file that holds metadata and location of the podcast content, which in most cases, is the audio file.
The publisher sets up a public RSS feed URL which is used by the listener in a podcast player to subscribe to the podcast i.e. the podcast player downloads new episodes as they are published. Of course, in modern times, any capable podcast app indexes the most popular podcasts and provides users with search functionality to discover the podcasts rather than inputting podcast URLs. Notice the beauty of this ecosystem because both sides of this publisher-listener transaction are open. On the publisher side, the podcast feed URL is available publicly without any authentication to be consumed by anybody who understands the XML structure of the feed. On the listener side, the listener is free to use their favorite podcast player (there are many out there'...maybe too many ð). The downside to this open nature of the ecosystem is that it creates challenges for measurement and monetization as we'll see in the rest of this article.
Spotify made it possible for anyone to pay $10 a month and have access to almost any song ever released! By doing so, Spotify might have single-handedly solved the piracy problem for the music industry and proved a business model exists where consumers will pay for music. Buoyed by Spotify's success, major giants like Apple, Amazon & Microsoft, and many others have tried to replicate Spotify's strategy '' albeit to varying degrees of success.
Source: https://www.statista.com/chart/20826/music-streaming-services-with-most-subscribers-global-fipp/)
Spotify has built an impressive business model in a crowded market despite being a late entrant in the music streaming business. Pandora, which once was the darling of the industry, has been continually losing users to Spotify. Pandora, which rose to prominence by helping users discover new music through its recommendation algorithm, was always marred by two fundamental limitations '' limited catalog and a limited number of song skips due to licensing restrictions. In comparison, Spotify offered unlimited song skips and a bigger catalog in its free tier and was able to get many users to switch from Pandora. These free users would later go on to become Spotify's paying users as Spotify delivered better value in its premium product and added restrictions on its free plan (restricted song skips on mobile apps etc.) The chart below is evidence of what happened next. Pandora has been consistently losing users, while Spotify now almost has three times the number of Monthly-Active-Users (MAUs) as Pandora.
Today, Spotify is seeing increased growth quarter-over-quarter in both its ad-free and premium products with most of its revenue coming from its premium product.
2019 was a year that really set the foundations for Spotify's podcast strategy. Spotify spent nearly $500 million in acquiring '' Anchor, Gimlet Media, and Parcast/Cutler Media. Anchor, which bills itself as ''The easiest way to make a podcast'', supplies tools that make it easy for podcasters to create, distribute and monetize podcasts. Gimlet and Parcast, on the other hand, produce some of the most popular podcasts out there, such as StartUp, Reply All, Homecoming, Mogul, Serial Killers, Unsolved Murders, Cults and Conspiracy Theories and many more.
With these acquisitions, Spotify is pivoting into an ''Audio'' company '' and no longer a music-only company. Here is what Spotify CEO Daniel Ek had to say about these acquisitions in his essay titled ''Audio-First'':
That's why we announced today the strategic acquisitions of two podcasting companies, Gimlet and Anchor. These companies serve two different, distinct roles in the industry. Gimlet is one of the best content creators in the world, with unique, celebrated podcast shows like Homecoming, which was recently adapted into a critically acclaimed show on Amazon Prime, and the internet culture hit Reply All. And Anchor has completely reimagined the path to audio creation, enabling creation for the next generation of podcasters worldwide '' 15 billion hours of content on the platform during Q4. These companies are best-in-class, and together we will offer differentiated and original content. Gimlet and Anchor will position us to become the leading platform for podcast creators around the world and the leading producer of podcasts.
These acquisitions play in different parts of the podcast ecosystem but help Spotify cater to both sides of the podcast ecosystem '' producers and listeners. Spotify believes it can extract value from the podcast ecosystem in a way no one has been able to do until now. An indicator of the importance of the podcast strategy to Spotify's business can be judged by the number of mentions of the word ''podcast'' in its recent quarterly earnings releases.
So far, 2020 is turning out to be another podcast investment year for Spotify. There's a good reason why Spotify has spent close to a billion dollars on signing exclusive deals and buying podcast studios. From the Q4 2019 quarterly report:
We continue to see exponential growth in podcast hours streamed (up approximately 200% Y/Y) and are now seeing clear indications that podcast usage is driving increased overall engagement and retention. We have seen early indications that our investments in podcasts are having a **positive impact on conversion of free to paid users.
And from the Q3 2019 quarterly report:
For music listeners who do engage in podcasts, we are seeing increased engagement and increased conversion from Ad-Supported to Premium. Some of the increases are extraordinary, almost too good to be true. We're working to clean up the data to prove causality, not just correlation. **Still, our intuition is the data is more right than wrong, and that we're onto something special.
With these investments, Spotify is aiming to add value, not just for the user but to its bottom-line as well. And it is clear that Spotify is having success that even it did not predict so soon.
Spotify's podcast strategy hinges on becoming an ''Aggregator'' of podcasts, as described in Ben Thompson's Aggregation Theory. Ben writes,
The value chain for any given consumer market is divided into three parts: suppliers, distributors, and consumers/users. The best way to make outsize profits in any of these markets is to either gain a horizontal monopoly in one of the three parts or to integrate two of the parts such that you have a competitive advantage in delivering a vertical solution.
Today, Spotify acts as the distributor of the audio content from suppliers i.e. the music labels (Warner Music Group, Universal Music, Sony Music etc.) and podcast producers (NPR, iHeartRadio, PRX, Wondery etc.). There are other distributors as well who are distributing the same content.
With the 2019 and 2020 investments, Spotify is beginning to differentiate itself from being just a podcast app and positioning itself as a supplier of podcasts.
Spotify will now be able to offer exclusive content on its platform. If this sounds like something you've heard before, then it is ð This is exactly what's happening in the video streaming market with everyone looking to build their library of original content. I expect podcasts to be the next platform where platforms will compete on original content.
Besides offering exclusive content, Spotify's building a platform where current podcasts that are published in the open model might become exclusive to Spotify for better monetization opportunities. These are what I call Spotify's ''Killer Features'' and the topic of discussion in the next topic.
The inertia of entrenched workflows is such that they are tough to change. Most users simply do not abandon an existing app to try out a shiny new app. I am often surprised at how many people do not take the time to explore all the knobs and dials in the settings of an app they use every day. Therefore, to get a user to adopt a new app, you need to offer significantly more value, and more importantly, that value needs to be observable with the default settings.
Ben's Aggregation Theory again,
This has fundamentally changed the plane of competition: no longer do distributors compete based upon exclusive supplier relationships, with consumers/users an afterthought. Instead, suppliers can be commoditized leaving consumers/users as a first order priority. By extension, this means that the most important factor determining success is the user experience: the best distributors/aggregators/market-makers win by providing the best experience, which earns them the most consumers/users, which attracts the most suppliers, which enhances the user experience in a virtuous cycle.
This essentially means that Spotify needs to offer both Suppliers and Consumers a much better user experience for Spotify to become the platform of choice. Otherwise, users will continue to listen in their existing podcast apps. On the other hand, publishers have no incentive to publish exclusively on Spotify's platform. At a high-level Spotify's will provide the following benefits to both suppliers and consumers:
Algorithmic DiscoveryAnalytics & MeasurementTargeted Advertising & MonetizationOriginal & Exclusive Content1. Algorithmic DiscoveryToday, a user discovers the podcast title on their own through the internet, friends, family, etc. This model is remarkably like how consumers used to discover music. This model worked fine when there were few good podcasts, but with the explosion of new material on the podcast scene, finding enjoyable content is becoming akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
Today, new music discovery is primarily done through algorithmic recommendations that are based on demographics, genre, mood, similarity, etc. Spotify is no stranger to this model, having transformed music discovery with playlists like Discover Weekly and Daily Mix. Now, Spotify introducing a similar model to podcast consumption and discovery.
First, Spotify recently introduced podcast playlists such as Daily Podcasts, Editorial playlists '' Best Podcasts of the Week, Crime Scene, and Brain Snacks and to help with the pandemic blues '' Daily Wellness. Here's an example from Spotify of how Daily Podcasts playlist makes podcast discovery easier:
Spotify's algorithms analyze your podcast behavior '' like recent streams and follows.
Then, based on your listening history and the podcast type, we'll recommend the next best episodes for you.
That might be the next sequential episode in a podcast you're already listening to (think Dog Tales and How's Work with Esther Perel), a recent stand-alone evergreen episode in another show (maybe Amy Schumer Presents: 3 Girls 1 Keith or Certified Buckets), or a timely episode from a daily updating podcast (like Horoscope Today or The Journal).
Don't worry '' no spoilers here! If you've never listened to a story-driven sequential show we think you'd like, you'll get the trailer or pilot episode first '' to see if it catches your eye (er, ear).
The importance of these editorial playlists cannot be understated. As Steve Benjamins's experience proves that being included in the ''Discover Weekly'' playlist is the primary reason for his $800 per month income. Steve writes:
Every Monday my music gets a spike in streams on Spotify. You could set a watch to it '' it's that consistent.
What makes Monday so special?
Well every Monday Spotify sends out a new Discover Weekly playlist. Discover Weekly is an algorithmic playlist '' which means its personalized with songs Spotify thinks the user would like.
No other promotional tactic in music comes close to Discover Weekly in delivering new listeners in such a low-effort, high volume way.
Back in 2013 I would spend hours cold-emailing bloggers. I would be lucky if I got a hit and got 1,000 plays on one of my songs. It was labor intensive.
Now algorithmic playlists like Discover Weekly send 1,000 new listeners every week without any work on my part. This is amazing. Cold outreach sucks. It sucks for the artist and it sucks for the bloggers. Spotify deserves a lot of credit for here.
Second, Spotify is borrowing a leaf out of Netflix's recommendations strategy. Like Netflix Prize before it, which aimed at making Netflix's recommendation engine more accurate, Spotify announced the ''Spotify Podcast Dataset and TREC Challenge''. This dataset holds raw audio and transcripts of 100,000 episodes from thousands of different shows on Spotify. With this research challenge, Spotify is trying to understand the content of podcasts (e.g. what exactly is being covered, by whom, and how?) and, and how to use this information to connect users to shows that align with their interests. This data will help answers questions such as:
How to identify podcasts that interview Barack Obama, as opposed to those that talk about him?
What are the most important parts of a 45-minute episode?
Which podcasts are ''high quality'' or ''informative'' or ''interesting''?
With these answers, Spotify will be able to recommend better not just shows but a segment within a specific episode that might align with your interests. These recommendations have the potential to change podcast consumption forever and build a moat for Spotify, which will be hard to overcome or replicate.
Spotify recommendation engine can suggest podcasts or even episodes that might be related to your existing subscriptions
2. Analytics & MeasurementReporting and measurement of listener demographics are not easy due to the decentralized podcast distribution model through RSS feeds. The podcast feed publishing system acts as a dumb 1-way delivery pipe to the user's podcast player of choice. This has made publishers produce creative strategies such as audience surveys, coupon codes, vanity URLs, etc. to derive proxy metrics for ad impressions, audience segments, etc.
To solve this problem, Spotify launched the ''Spotify for Podcasters'' dashboard. Here is an excerpt from the launch blog post:
At its core, Spotify for Podcasters is a discovery and analytics dashboard. One where you can both submit your show to Spotify and dive deep into engagement and demographic data for your podcast, tracking things like average listening times, episode streams, and total listeners. With so many podcasts out there, it's more important than ever that you have the data you need to help you understand and grow your audience. That's exactly what your dashboard is designed to provide.
Spotify has already done the hard work of building the tools for tracking music engagement. Therefore, it is only natural that those same tools can be extended to podcast publishers. ''Spotify for Podcasters'' dashboard is designed to provide these analytics and engagement tracking tools for publishers to track what kind of content resonates with their listeners and adjust.
3. Targeted Advertising & MonetizationWhile other digital mediums such as online retail and social media have figured out advertising models, podcast monetization remains a tough challenge for publishers. To sell ad spots, a publisher needs to build relationships with brands and provide podcast consumption metrics and listener demographics. In the podcast ecosystem, these metrics and listener demographics are not easily discoverable as I described in the last section and how Spotify will add value in this area. Spotify compares the current state of advertising in the podcast ecosystem to that in the print medium.
'''...the podcast industry measures audience, reach, and impact much like you would a full-page ad in a magazine. Advertisers generally have a sense for who they're reaching, based on survey data and the magazine's target audience. Total circulation measures the number of doorsteps that the issue hits, but there's no precise data on how many readers actually opened the magazine, let alone reached or acted on the ad.''
Spotify is in a unique position to solve these challenges because it has more personalized data on its users than any of the podcast apps. More importantly, it has already built this kind of targeted ad technology to monetize its free music users. Spotify has launched two key features to enable podcast monetization.
First, Spotify launched Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI) technology to dynamically insert ads into user's podcast streams based on what it knows about the user, like where they are located, type of device they use, age, etc. Spotify posits that SAI can "offer intimacy and quality of traditional podcast ads with the precision and transparency of modern-day digital marketing." So instead of your favorite podcast host talking through the benefits of a product that might be irrelevant to you, you might hear a more personalized ad based on your listening habits and interests, which might be good or bad depending on your take on advertisements.
Spotify's podcast streaming model also helps as the ads can be inserted dynamically into the podcast stream instead of being pre-baked into the downloaded audio file. With SAI, Spotify offers the easiest way to monetize podcasts for creators '' very YouTube-like. Theoretically, in the future, a publisher could just tick a checkbox saying they want to opt their podcast into ads, and Spotify would take care of everything '' ad bidding, ad insertions, etc. It's conceivable that the Spotify could even allow publishers to replace the generic ads with more targeted ones and receive a higher payout compared to advertising on other platforms. In the end, you'd have the same podcast stream with generic ads in the podcast apps that download the podcast and targeted ads in the Spotify stream.
Second, Spotify is launching In-App Offers. Podcast listening usually happens in parallel with another activity like running, workout, cooking, etc. Therefore, it's easy to miss the in-podcast advertising offers. To combat this, podcast show hosts repeat these offer codes and unique URLs multiple times to make sure the listener doesn't miss the offer. In-App Offers is designed to reduce this friction and make it easy to connect users with advertiser offers. Listeners can redeem deals when they open the Spotify app and navigate to the podcast page. Spotify elucidates that this will lead to one fewer 'w-w-w-dot' spelling lesson from our favorite podcast creators.
4. Original and Exclusive ContentFor every song that is streamed on Spotify's platform, it pays a royalty fee to the music labels who own the rights to the song. As Spotify's userbase grows, the fixed costs also grow. The only way for Spotify to increase its margins is to negotiate better deals with the music labels, which is easier said than done. At some point, the ROI on such negotiations is not going to be worth it, and Spotify needs to come up with a better way to increase its gross margin. To combat this, Spotify is taking a leaf out of Netflix's original content strategy. Netflix's gross margin has seen a significant uptick since it started investing in original content in 2013.
The 2019 acquisitions (Gimlet, Anchor & Parcast) were the first manifestations of this strategy. Since then, Spotify has acquired Bill Simmons' The Ringer, struck deals with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company '' Higher Ground for an exclusive podcast, Joe Rogan for the 'The Joe Rogan Experience', Warner Bros for DC Super Heroes and Super Villains exclusive podcast, Kim Kardashian West for a criminal-justice podcast. If every major media company creating their streaming service in the streaming wars proves anything, it's that having a strong lineup of original content is the best way to retain and attract users. Spotify is just getting started, but the volume of original content released every quarter is increasing.
Spotify is in a prime position to solve a lot of creator challenges and gain the first-mover advantage into what I'm calling the Podcast 2.0 era. Spotify's latest quarterly earnings prove that Spotify is seeing success with its Podcast strategy. Because of this success, I expect others to follow just as they did in streaming music. Amazon has already embarked on a similar strategy by adding podcasts to its Prime Music offering. Early reports indicate competition is coming down the line from Apple as well. Rumors suggest Apple is currently negotiating deals for original podcasts on its platform. Apple, which would represent significant competition for Spotify because the Apple Podcasts app (previously iTunes) has historically been the top used app for podcast listening, has never capitalized on its podcast popularity so it remains to be seen how potent they can be against Spotify and now Amazon.
Podcast ecosystem is going to be an exciting space to watch as it evolves over the next few years. There are three key trends to watch as this evolution plays out:
Our music apps are going to be streaming podcasts and, in the process, more targeted ads.An avenue to monetization is about to be opened for the podcast creators. If you have interesting content, this might be the best time to be a podcaster! On the flip side, it might not be the best time for the open podcast ecosystem and podcast apps not named Spotify, Amazon Music or Apple Podcasts.We are about to see balkanization of the podcast ecosystem which will resemble the video streaming ecosystem. Until now, every podcast title has been available on every podcast very reminiscent of the early days of Netflix streaming. Now a days, every media conglomerate is focusing on creating a streaming offering around the content they own instead of licensing it out to the established streamers like Netflix, Hulu etc.
PJ Vogt on Twitter: "@lippemfg @replyall Since Spotify acquired Gimlet, we do not have any say in rejecting advertisers. That's why we don't voice them anymore." / Twitter
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 12:53
PJ Vogt : @lippemfg @replyall Since Spotify acquired Gimlet, we do not have any say in rejecting advertisers. That's why we don't voice them anymore.
Sun Oct 04 16:31:01 +0000 2020
GitHub - Podcastindex-org/podcastindex-namespace: A wholistic rss namespace for podcasting
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 17:28
A wholistic rss namespace for podcasting that is meant to synthesize the fragmented world of podcast namespaces. The broad goal is to create one namespaceto rule them all, that is easily extensible, community controlled/authored and addresses the needs of the indie podcast industry now and in the future.The large podcast platforms have shown virtually no interest in extending their namespaces for new functionality in many years. Our hope is that this namespacewill become the framework that the indie podcast community needs to deliver new functionality to apps and aggregators.
Goal #1 - Eliminate RedundancyThere is significant overlap amongst the many existing podcast namespaces. Each platform and publisher has created their own namespace to give their respectivesystem and audience the metadata they need in the way they want it delivered.
Goal #2 - Avoid AttributesAttributes in xml elements should be used only where absolutely needed. The preference is to create a new element type, rather than reuse the same element withdifferent attributes. For example, instead of using <podcastindex:image type="Large">, we would use <podcastindex:imageLarge>. This makes the correspondingaggregator code easier and more linear.
Goal #3 - Use RSS Native ElementsThe RSSv2.0 specification already has a robust set of defined elements. We should aim to use those instead of creating new ones. Instead of creating a <podcastindex:owner>element, we can use the already existing <managingEditor> element that contains both name and email address. In situations like item-level images, where the RSSspec never defined that element, it is appropriate to define new ones.
Goal #4 - Keep Exisiting ConventionsReinventing the wheel helps nobody. When at all possible, existing conventions should be maintained. For example, it would make sense to turn <podcastindex:explicit> intoa unary element, where it's existence is taken as a "yes" and it's absence as a "no". But, that has never been the standard. And, given as how this namespace will probablysit alongside at least one other namespace, it makes sense to keep existing conventions in place.
Goal #5 - Be GeneralThere is no way to address every possible metadata point that each platform would want. That is not the aim. Instead we focus on defining the elements that would be usefulto the broadest set of apps, publishers, platforms and aggregators. Individual parties can keep their respective supplemental namespaces small and targeted as an adjunct tothis larger namespace.
Element List (current)<podcastindex:imageLarge>[url to a large image file]</podcastindex:imageLarge> - This is assumed to point to an image that is 1000px or larger in size<podcastindex:imageMedium>[url to a medium image file]</podcastindex:imageMedium> - This is assumed to point to an image that is 300px to 999px in size<podcastindex:imageSmall>[url to a small image file]</podcastindex:imageSmall> - This is assumed to point to an image that is 299px or less in size<podcastindex:category>[Category Name]</podcastindex:category> - This is a channel-level element. See "Categories" in this document for an explanation. There can be up to a total of 9 categories defined.<podcastindex:location>[CountryCode|Locality]</podcastindex:location> - The country code and locality name given with a pipe as a separator<podcastindex:locked>[yes|no]</podcastindex:locked> - This is a channel-level element. This tells other podcast platforms whether they are allowed to import this feed. A value of "yes" means that any attempt to importthis feed into a new platform should be rejected. It is expected that podcast hosting providers will enable a toggle in their GUI to allow their users to turnfeed transfer lock on or off.<podcastindex:email>[email address]</podcastindex:email> - This is a channel-level element. An email address that can be used to verify ownership of this feed during move and import operations. This could be a public email or avirtual email address at the hosting provider that redirects to the owner's true email address.<podcastindex:previousUrl>[url this feed was imported from]</podcastindex:previousUrl> - This is a channel-level element. Lists the previous url of this feed before it was imported. Any time a feed is moved, an additional <podcastindex:previousUrl> elementshould be added to the channel, to create a paper trail of all the previous urls this feed has lived at. This way, aggregators can easily deduplicate their feed lists.<podcastindex:newFeedUrl>[url this feed was imported from]</podcastindex:newFeedUrl> - This is a channel-level element. If the feed moved, or was imported to a different hosting platform, this element can specify the new location.<podcastindex:id platform="[host slug]">[the id string]</podcastindex:id> - This is a channel-level element. See "ID's" in this document for an explanation.Element List (proposed)<podcastindex:captions> - This is an item-level element to contain information about closed captions within the episode.<podcastindex:transcripts> - This is an item-level element to contain a transcript of an episode.<podcastindex:alternateEnclosure type="[mime type]" length="[(int)]" bitrate="[(float)]" [live]>[uri of media asset]</podcastindex:alternateEnclosure> - This is an item-level element that is meant to provide alternate versions of an enclosure, such as low orhigh bitrate, or alternate formats or alternate uri schemes, like IPFS or live streaming.CategoriesThere can be a maximum of 9 category elements defined in a feed. Any number greater than that should be discarded.
Category names are defined in the accompanying "categories.json" filein this repository. They should be referenced in the element by their textual name. The characters can be in any case. This list of categories aims to replicate the currentstandard but also eliminate as much as possible compound, heirarchical naming and the use of ampersands. Thus, "Health & Fitness" becomes "Health" and "Fitness" as two distinct categories.And, "Religion & Spirituality" becomes two separate categories. Again, they are different things that don't always go together. Splitting them allows for more flexible combinations. And,avoiding ampersands makes xml encoding errors less likely.
Verification, importing and movingIf the "locked" element is present and set to "yes", podcasting hosts and platforms should not allow importing of this feed until the <podcastindex:email> or other defined feed owner (such as <managingEditor>) iscontacted and subsequently sets the "locked" element to "no" or removes it from the feed.
The <podcastindex:previousUrl> element acts like a relay header in an email envelope. Each time a feed is imported, an additional <podcastindex:previousUrl> should be added, and all previous ones preserved.
Once a successful import has taken place, the <podcastindex:newFeedUrl> element can be put in the old feed as a pointer to the new location.
ID'sTheir can be multiple <podcastindex:id> elements to indicate a listing on multiple platforms, directories, hosts, apps and services. If no "platform" attribute is given, the id string in the element isconsidered to be the registered Podcastindex.org ID. If the "platform" attribute is present, the element's value is taken as the ID of this podcast on that respective platform. The following slugscan be used:
blubrrycaptivatefiresidetransistorlibsynitunesgooglespotifyanchorMore should be added over time by the community as needed. This is just a starter list.
Example feedThere is an example feed in this repository showing the podcastindex namespace side by side with the Apple itunes namespace.
Clips
VIDEO-President's physician: Trump no longer a coronavirus transmission risk - YouTube
VIDEO-Children Speak Out About Donald Trump - YouTube
VIDEO-New Video Released Shows Brad Parscale Cried During Arrest, Told Officers His Wife Won't Have Sex With Him - Breaking911
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 12:13
President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale had made suicidal comments last week, his wife told police after calling 911 fearing he was going to harm himself.
Parscale was taken into custody under the Baker Act on Sunday. Fort Lauderdale police released body-worn camera footage of the incident.
Facebook Comments
VIDEO-"Quarantine (is Not Quite Over)" - Billie Jean Parody - YouTube
VIDEO-President trump llive with Rush Limbaugh - YouTube
VIDEO-War Room: Pandemic Ep 431 - America Confronts CCP Bioweapon Virus (w/ Dr. Li Meng Yan) - YouTube
VIDEO-6% DONNA WARREN '¸ð'¸ Parler: @DonnaWarrenUSA on Twitter: "ð'¥ ð'¥ ð'¥ THERE. IT. IS. This is EXPLOSIVE on so many levels ... and the mainstream media never reported any of it. Meet Mr. Sinclair. TRUMP CARD by @DineshDSouza is out on A
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 11:50
6% DONNA WARREN '¸ð'¸ Parler: @DonnaWarrenUSA : ð'¥ ð'¥ ð'¥ THERE. IT. IS.This is EXPLOSIVE on so many levels ... and the mainstream media never reported any of it.'... https://t.co/E8tgAnBZ3H
Sat Oct 10 12:00:10 +0000 2020
VIDEO-Keith Olberman wants Trump and his supporters 'prosecuted and removed from society' - YouTube
VIDEO-CNN reporter presses far-right rally leader in Portland - YouTube
VIDEO-Coronavirus: WHO joins the Great Barrington Declaration by condemning lockdowns
Sun, 11 Oct 2020 11:11
The World Health Organisation has backflipped on its original COVID-19 stance after calling for world leaders to stop locking down their countries and economies.
Dr. David Nabarro from the WHO appealed to world leaders yesterday, telling them to stop ''using lockdowns as your primary control method'' of the coronavirus.
He also claimed that the only thing lockdowns achieved was poverty '' with no mention of the potential lives saved.
''Lockdowns just have one consequence that you must never ever belittle, and that is making poor people an awful lot poorer,'' he said.
RELATED: WHO's chilling coronavirus warning
RELATED: WHO reveals who should receive vaccine first
''We in the World Health Organisation do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus,'' Dr Nabarro told The Spectator.
''The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to buy you time to reorganise, regroup, rebalance your resources, protect your health workers who are exhausted, but by and large, we'd rather not do it.''
Dr Nabarro's main criticism of lockdowns involved the global impact, explaining how poorer economies that had been indirectly affected.
''Just look at what's happened to the tourism industry in the Caribbean, for example, or in the Pacific because people aren't taking their holidays,'' he said.
''Look what's happened to smallholder farmers all over the world. '... Look what's happening to poverty levels. It seems that we may well have a doubling of world poverty by next year. We may well have at least a doubling of child malnutrition.''
Melbourne's lockdown has been hailed as one of the strictest and longest in the world. In Spain's lockdown in March, people weren't allowed to leave the house unless it was to walk their pet. In China, authorities welded doors shut to stop people from leaving their homes. The WHO thinks these steps were largely unnecessary.
Instead, Dr Nabarro is advocating for a new approach to containing the virus.
''And so, we really do appeal to all world leaders: stop using lockdown as your primary control method. Develop better systems for doing it. Work together and learn from each other.''
His message is timely. In a world first, a number of health experts from all over the world came together calling for an end to coronavirus lockdowns earlier this week.
They created a petition, called the Great Barrington Declaration, which said that lockdowns were doing ''irreparable damage.''
''As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists, we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection,'' read the petition.
''Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.''
The petition has had 12,000 signatures so far.
It was authored by Sunetra Gupta of the University of Oxford, Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University, and Martin Kulldorff of Harvard University.
When asked about the petition, Dr Nabarro had only good things to say. ''Really important point by Professor Gupta,'' he said.
VIDEO-Trump War Room - Text TRUMP to 88022 on Twitter: "ð Joe Biden tells a reporter American voters ''don't deserve'' to know his position on packing the Supreme Court. https://t.co/rEmv2Q08JT" / Twitter
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 19:50
Trump War Room - Text TRUMP to 88022 : ð Joe Biden tells a reporter American voters ''don't deserve'' to know his position on packing the Supreme Court. https://t.co/rEmv2Q08JT
Sat Oct 10 15:03:21 +0000 2020
VIDEO-Bill Barr Gives China Joe a Kiss: AG Tells GOP Leaders DOJ Investigation into Obamagate Scandal Won't Be Released Until AFTER Election
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 13:41
Maria Bartiromo opened up her Sunday Morning Futures program in late September with the breaking news that US Attorney John Durham will NOT release his report before the 2020 election.
According to Bartiromo, a debate had begun within the Department of Justice as US Attorney John Durham's criminal investigation is concluding. Sources said it was now too close to the election for the release and it could be viewed as politically motivated.
Upon hearing the news Senator Ron Johnson erupted saying NOT releasing the report on Obama spying on the Trump campaign and the attempted coup of President Trump is a politically motivated decision.
Senator Johnson is right!
TRENDING: OMG! NO ONE Is Showing Up to Biden-Harris Events and NO ONE Is Watching Online - Biden-Harris Have Only 3% of President Trump's Online Viewership
''What's Political is if He DOESN'T REPORT '' Ratcliffe Has to Declassify this Information!'' '' Sen. Ron Johnson GOES OFF after News that Durham Report Delayed til After Election! (VIDEO)
Now it's official.
Via Alayna Treene at Axios:
Attorney General Bill Barr has begun telling top Republicans that the Justice Department's sweeping review into the origins of the Russia investigation will not be released before the election, a senior White House official and a congressional aide briefed on the conversations tell Axios.
Why it matters: Republicans had long hoped the report, led by U.S. Attorney John Durham, would be a bombshell containing revelations about what they allege were serious abuses by the Obama administration and intelligence community probing for connections between President Trump and Russia.
''This is the nightmare scenario. Essentially, the year and a half of arguably the number one issue for the Republican base is virtually meaningless if this doesn't happen before the election,'' a GOP congressional aide told Axios.Barr has made clear that they should not expect any further indictments or a comprehensive report before Nov. 3, our sources say.The Justice Department declined to comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.What we're hearing: Barr is communicating that Durham is taking his investigation extremely seriously and is focused on winning prosecutions.
According to one of the sources briefed on the conversations Barr said Durham is working in a deliberate and calculated fashion, and they need to be patient.The general sense of the talks, the source says, is that Durham is not preoccupied with completing his probe by a certain deadline for political purposes.Behind the scenes: Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Barr and the Justice Department for not moving more quickly on the investigation.
Read the rest here.
Scoop: Barr tells Republicans Durham report won't be ready by election https://t.co/R9kp1V5IwO
'-- Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) October 9, 2020
VIDEO-Dan Crenshaw on Twitter: "Let's debunk the myth of ''failed negotiations.'' The truth? Pelosi and House Dems believe ''nothing is better than something.'' There is plenty of COVID relief bills they could put on the floor for a vote that would
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 13:38
Dan Crenshaw : Let's debunk the myth of ''failed negotiations.'' The truth? Pelosi and House Dems believe ''nothing is better than so'... https://t.co/U2JvGPPGsG
Fri Oct 09 14:29:28 +0000 2020
reallybz : @DanCrenshawTX https://t.co/2DGdacXgqq
Sat Oct 10 13:34:46 +0000 2020
Lisa Mckean : @DanCrenshawTX Hey Dan, you know Trump said no one wants to see disabled vets. Oh, and which describes you, a sucke'... https://t.co/hrfapLGtrW
Sat Oct 10 13:32:08 +0000 2020
Gwyn : @DanCrenshawTX @JohnCornyn Vote for @SimaforTX
Sat Oct 10 13:27:21 +0000 2020
Liteblu78 : @DanCrenshawTX @JohnCornyn Something is better than nothing but the people don't just need crumbs either.
Sat Oct 10 13:22:16 +0000 2020
BopBop : @DanCrenshawTX If they let Rep's bypass $ for gov's now they will never get back to it. Seems to me @JohnCornyn YO'... https://t.co/C7NzEYl6Q9
Sat Oct 10 13:09:07 +0000 2020
VIDEO-America's ''Battle Force 2045'' to Counter China - YouTube
VIDEO-Concerned Mothers And Activists At School Board Meeting - YouTube
VIDEO-Acyn Torabi on Twitter: "Pompeo responds to Trump's criticism: We've got the emails, we're getting them out https://t.co/USAKecg79A" / Twitter
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 13:30
Acyn Torabi : Pompeo responds to Trump's criticism: We've got the emails, we're getting them out https://t.co/USAKecg79A
Fri Oct 09 18:21:15 +0000 2020
VIDEO-Nunes: 'Everybody Within the Obama Orbit Knew' Clinton Was Running a Spy Operation in 2016
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 13:28
Friday on Fox Business Network's ''Mornings with Maria,'' Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) sounded off on Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe recently declassifying documents that show former CIA Director John Brennan briefed former President Barack Obama on 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's ''plan'' to distract the American public from her email scandal by alleging Russian collusion ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Nunes said that ''everybody within the Obama orbit knew'' Clinton was ''running an operation'' to dig up dirt on then-candidate Donald Trump.
''I think these documents only appeared in the last few months, and these were major bombshells that have been buried by debates and the president coming down with COVID, but the reality is that we now have the smoking guns of the fact that '... everybody within the Obama orbit knew that Clinton was running an operation,'' Nunes told host Maria Bartiromo. ''And secondly, the Crossfire Hurricane team, the team that was doing the spying, doing the investigation into the Trump campaign and the Republican Party, they also knew that there was a Hillary Clinton operation.''
''[T]he only remaining issue that's out there that I don't have clarity on and that we need [John] Durham to get to the bottom of is at what point did the FBI and Department of Justice back in 2016, possibly late 2015, begin working hand in glove with the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to run this investigation into the Trump campaign,'' he continued. ''That's really the only thing we don't have now.''
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
VIDEO-Narrative Fail: Turns Out the Folks Behind the Whitmer Plot Aren't Who Dems and Media Are Painting Them As
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 12:55
FILE '-- In this March 18, 2019, file photo, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer listens to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., in Clawson, Mich. Whitmer has ordered a review of Michigan auto insurers' use of non-driving factors to set premiums and their pricing of policies that coordinate medical coverage with drivers' health insurance. The Democrat's move Wednesday comes as Republican lawmakers prepare to soon unveil legislation designed to reduce what on average are the country's highest car insurance rates. Whitmer says the state must take a ''hard look'' at how insurers set rates to ensure their practices are lawful. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)As we reported previously, the FBI busted up a plot against Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, to allegedly overthrow or kidnap her by an ''extremist militia group.''
The FBI did a good job taking down the group and it sounded like a serious danger to Whitmer if they did what they are alleged to have done, so it's good they got them.
But when Whitmer sounded off about the plot, she immediately tried to falsely link the president and the Proud Boys to the event, neither of which had anything to do with it. According to Whitmer, Trump had sent a ''rallying cry'' to ''action.''
Of course there were several problems with her assertions. The Proud Boys are a different group, Trump has nothing to do with them and they aren't ''white supremacists.''
Further, turns out in checking out the folks behind the alleged plot, one of the alleged members, Brandon Caserta, would appear to be an anarchist. Not only that, he's anti-Trump. Check the flag in the background.
This is a video of Brandon Caserta, one of the ringleaders of the group of men arrested for a plot where the group planned to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Caserta has an anarchist flag behind him and in YouTube videos trashes police. He's not a Republican, he's an anarchist. pic.twitter.com/J1vE2qGYL7
'-- Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) October 8, 2020
Why did it take me to pull all these videos to give people access to the truth about the ideology these guys have? It says a lot about the state of journalism that a director/producer had to dig these clips up because we all know we can't trust mainstream news to do their job.
'-- Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) October 8, 2020
Caserta called Trump a ''tyrant'' and an ''enemy.'' Doesn't sound at all like a Trump supporter or someone who is in any way operating based on Trump.
From Townhall:
''Trump is not your friend, dude,'' Caserta says. ''And it amazes me that people actually believe that when he's shown over and over and over again that he's a tyrant. Every single person that works for government is your enemy, dude.''
But somehow this is missing from a lot of the reporting.
The Detroit News implied a connection to the Boogaloo Boys because Caserta was wearing a Hawaiian shirt in a video but they apparently missed or failed to mention the anarchist flag he was displaying in video. Nor do they explain that Boogaloos includes leftists, anarchists and are very anti-government and anti-police, having far more in common ideologically with BLM/antifa than any conservative or ''right'' group. There's a basic failure to understand that dimension of the Boogaloo Boys.
It doesn't take much to find the Caserta video with the anarchist flag or to track down that Boogaloo Boys include leftist anarchists. It's still evolving what all the political leanings in this matter are. But many doesn't seem to be something that most media wants to point out because it would blow the narrative.
VIDEO-NowThis on Twitter: "Pelosi: 'This is not about Pres. Trump. He will face the judgment of the voters. But he shows the need to create a process for future presidents '... a president's fitness for office must be determined by science and facts'
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 12:31
NowThis : Pelosi: 'This is not about Pres. Trump. He will face the judgment of the voters. But he shows the need to create a'... https://t.co/KPtxrmv3gk
Fri Oct 09 14:22:35 +0000 2020
VIDEO-Maher slams California's 'super-high taxes,' cites Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro as part of state's 'exodus' | Fox News
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 12:26
Published October 09, 2020
Last Update 7 hrs ago
'I feel like I'm living in Italy in the 70s or something,' Maher tells Rep. Adam Schiff"Real Time" host Bill Maher took a moment on his show Friday night to slam his Democrat-controlled home state of California and sound the alarm over the "exodus" that is taking place.
During an interview with Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Maher acknowledged that local issues were not in the congressman's "domain" but said he still felt the need to "b---- a little bit."
"There is an exodus," Maher said before reading from his notecard.
"California businesses are leaving the state in droves. In just 2018 and 19, which were economic boom years, 765 commercial facilities left, 13,000 between 2009 and 2016."
He continued, "Look, I came out here in 1983. I found paradise. I love California. I do. I don't want to leave, but I feel like I'm living in Italy in the 70s or something. Super high taxes, potholes in the road, fires. I don't know what I'm getting for my super-high taxes."
MAHER RIPS TRUMP'S SCOTUS PICK AMY CONEY BARRETT: 'SHE'S A F---ING NUT!'
The HBO star circled back to the idea of the "exodus," telling Schiff, "People talk about this a lot now and people are leaving. Like in my industry, Joe Rogan left, Ben Shapiro ... Elon Musk talks about leaving."
"What do you say about that as a California representative?" Maher asked.
"Well, I think we have to make every effort to make this a more business-friendly state," Schiff responded. "And I don't think that there's anything incompatible with being progressive and also wanting to make sure that this is a place that businesses can survive and thrive."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Rogan, host of the popular podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience," left the Golden State in August and relocated to Austin, Texas.
Last month, the host of "The Ben Shapiro Show" packed his bags from Los Angeles and moved to Nashville, Tenn.
VIDEO-New details emerge about plot to kidnap Michigan governor - YouTube
VIDEO-Daily Caller on Twitter: "OLBERMANN: ''Terrorist Trump must be defeated.... and his enablers, and his supporters... and the Mike Lees, and the William Barrs... and the Kyle Rittenhouses and the Amy Coney Barrett's must be prosecuted and convicted
Sat, 10 Oct 2020 02:37
Daily Caller : OLBERMANN: ''Terrorist Trump must be defeated.... and his enablers, and his supporters... and the Mike Lees, and the'... https://t.co/9K671eYt2y
Fri Oct 09 20:15:08 +0000 2020
Rocco P. Coltrane : @DailyCaller https://t.co/iNA7do2R0h
Sat Oct 10 02:37:43 +0000 2020
6% teresa : @DailyCaller https://t.co/X3EPlyhCGC
Sat Oct 10 02:37:39 +0000 2020
BurlKeating : @DailyCaller Olbernann has to say something crazy to be noticed. I have friends that worked in Bristol with this tool. They ALL hated him.
Sat Oct 10 02:37:39 +0000 2020
Stephanie : @DailyCaller This crazy man needs to take medication
Sat Oct 10 02:37:37 +0000 2020
truthcanbe painful : @DailyCaller Planned parenthood botched
Sat Oct 10 02:37:37 +0000 2020
Michael M. : @DailyCaller @BridgetPhetasy Take a look at this lunatic. Essentially, anyone with a different viewpoint than him s'... https://t.co/9Z1HIzQqPN
Sat Oct 10 02:37:36 +0000 2020
truthcanbe painful : @DailyCaller Crertin
Sat Oct 10 02:37:09 +0000 2020
Dryden : @DailyCaller Another angry guy with an empty life
Sat Oct 10 02:37:07 +0000 2020
Tim Towner : @DailyCaller He went to Dartmouth Agricultural College.
Sat Oct 10 02:37:01 +0000 2020
Steven : @DailyCaller What in the world. ''Trump and the maggots''. ''removed from society''. So you can what, murder babies and'... https://t.co/em4w3Iv5XH
Sat Oct 10 02:36:58 +0000 2020
truthcanbe painful : @DailyCaller Imbecile
Sat Oct 10 02:36:47 +0000 2020
Clarence Worley : @DailyCaller He must've had like a parking cone or something shoved in his ass in high school by somebody Trump reminds him of.
Sat Oct 10 02:36:40 +0000 2020
John Case : @DailyCaller ..you are a dangerous human, Keith Olbermann!
Sat Oct 10 02:36:36 +0000 2020
truthcanbe painful : @DailyCaller Idiot
Sat Oct 10 02:36:34 +0000 2020
StayFrosty&BeVigilant : @DailyCaller So anyone with an opinion different that KO is a maggot? Check. Roughly more than half our country? Go'... https://t.co/xMWD3OsOPM
Sat Oct 10 02:36:34 +0000 2020
VIDEO-Ryan Fournier on Twitter: "This is who is teaching our kids. Patrick Casey, a teacher at @OxnardUnion H.S. in California told his class that Trump Supporters were ''racists'' and ''sexists.'' Why hasn't he been fired yet? ð¤-- RT! https://t.co
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 22:32
Ryan Fournier : This is who is teaching our kids.Patrick Casey, a teacher at @OxnardUnion H.S. in California told his class that'... https://t.co/lO7LIW1rqW
Fri Oct 09 19:01:37 +0000 2020
VIDEO - Aaron FOX 17 on Twitter: "A man charged in the plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer, shared the stage with a West Michigan sheriff at a rally back in May. We asked the sheriff about it last night on @FOX17 Full Story: https://t.co/MZjVTRz6av https://t.co/T
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 18:58
Aaron FOX 17 : A man charged in the plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer, shared the stage with a West Michigan sheriff at a rally back in'... https://t.co/LbaBjNBdyl
Fri Oct 09 14:16:13 +0000 2020
VIDEO - (41) ENoCH on Twitter: "Trump drops the F bomb. Fuck around and find out. https://t.co/Lob4gHZRC5" / Twitter
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 18:58
ENoCH : Trump drops the F bomb.Fuck around and find out. https://t.co/Lob4gHZRC5
Fri Oct 09 18:14:50 +0000 2020
ðºð¸WolffPatriotðºð¸ : @elenochle Ok, I have loved our President since 2015. Now, I'm totally enamored!!! An ''F'' bomb for emphasis is my motto too!!
Fri Oct 09 18:57:51 +0000 2020
Pierie Delecto-Spartacus-Carlos Danger-Corn Pop : @elenochle I like @realDonaldTrump more and more every day!
Fri Oct 09 18:57:40 +0000 2020
Ashley Schaeffer : @elenochle @itsCHUBS @klavinnfries ð
Fri Oct 09 18:57:35 +0000 2020
Nicki : @elenochle I love it!
Fri Oct 09 18:57:23 +0000 2020
TheThrizzzle : @elenochle Wooooppsss....
Fri Oct 09 18:57:11 +0000 2020
Camille Byrne : @elenochle @DixieleeO Profanity is never those with manners say. But our world is full of profanity like it is a Ro'... https://t.co/A4B1a9yZqs
Fri Oct 09 18:55:47 +0000 2020
Red Rellek : @elenochle It tickles me all the way to the tippy top
Fri Oct 09 18:55:30 +0000 2020
VIDEO-President Trump Full Interview With Maria Bartiromo'... | The Last Refuge
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 13:02
''to the efforts to get the intelligence community to declassify documents related to his three-years of targeting by deep state officials.''
NUMBER:1514AUTHOR:Harry S. Truman (1884''1972)QUOTATION:When contemplating General Eisenhower winning the Presidential election, Truman said, ''He'll sit here, and he'll say, 'Do this! Do that!' And nothing will happen. Poor Ike'--it won't be a bit like the Army [or in Trump's case, like in private business Trump Enterprise]. He'll find it very frustrating.''ATTRIBUTION:HARRY S. TRUMAN.'--Richard E. Neustadt, Presidential Power, the Politics of Leadership, p. 9 (1960).SUBJECTS:Presidency
From Zerohedge (2017-03-09) Said the CIA Was a ''Government All Its Own'' Which Was Destroying Democracy''
President Truman created the CIA. But in the 1970s, he told his biographer, Merle Miller:
I think [creation of the CIA/(''Intelligence Community)] was a mistake. And if I'd known what was going to happen, I never would have done it.
Why, they've got an organization over there in Virginia now that is practically the equal of the Pentagon in many ways. And I think I've told you, one Pentagon is one too many.
Now, as nearly as I can make out, those fellows in the CIA don't just report on wars and the like, they go out and make their own, and there's nobody to keep track of what they're up to. They spend billions of dollars on stirring up trouble so they'll have something to report on. They [CIA/(''Intelligence Community)] have become '... it's become a government all of its own and all secret. They don't have to account to anybody.
That's a very dangerous thing in a democratic society, and it's got to be put a stop to. The people have got a right to know what those birds are up to. And if I was back in the White House, people would know.
Like Liked by 5 people
VIDEO-Vic Berger IV on Twitter: "FYI: The Iraq War-loving neocons at the Lincoln Project hired these ghouls to run their social media, which is why so much of what they do is outright theft of other people's work and ideas. Stop giving your money to @Proj
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 02:50
Vic Berger IV : FYI: The Iraq War-loving neocons at the Lincoln Project hired these ghouls to run their social media, which is why'... https://t.co/3oZetG3ZI8
Thu Oct 08 22:16:33 +0000 2020
Who R. You : @VicBergerIV @ProjectLincoln I just saw the Lincoln video. Did you not do that?!? It's total Vic Berger.
Fri Oct 09 02:43:40 +0000 2020
Dark 02 : @VicBergerIV @certezamente @ProjectLincoln @h3h3productions check this out
Fri Oct 09 02:33:56 +0000 2020
POST ''OP'' : @VicBergerIV @ProjectLincoln Wait seriously!?? Lmaoooo
Fri Oct 09 02:31:12 +0000 2020
JHanrahan : @VicBergerIV @ProjectLincoln I do t know who did the LP Regeneron video, but that shit was hilarious.Get pissed at'... https://t.co/pKGppHqWx1
Fri Oct 09 02:06:06 +0000 2020
shine a light : @VicBergerIV @ProjectLincoln Thank you for sharing this. I despise these guys.
Fri Oct 09 01:57:44 +0000 2020
alex ð§ ð
: @VicBergerIV @ProjectLincoln https://t.co/M397WX0fWj
Fri Oct 09 01:55:25 +0000 2020
TheMetroidPrime : @VicBergerIV @VitoGesualdi @ProjectLincoln I picture the inception of @ProjectLincoln of just being Rick Wilson fuc'... https://t.co/NrUvBrPQPJ
Fri Oct 09 01:39:39 +0000 2020
Sit_n_Spinster : @VicBergerIV @ProjectLincoln I came here because I was sure you made their spot.
Fri Oct 09 01:17:41 +0000 2020
Infectedstatesofmerica : @VicBergerIV @ProjectLincoln Dude... @ProjectLincoln is dismantling team Trump in a way no one has seen yet. Maybe'... https://t.co/6yWETABM9v
Fri Oct 09 01:15:30 +0000 2020
VIDEO-2min22secs-Biden Proposes Creating $50 an Hour Clean Energy Technology Jobs | MRCTV
Thu, 08 Oct 2020 20:28
Former Vice President Joe Biden said Monday that as president he will ensure that every new infrastructure project is ''a green infrastructure,'' creating jobs that pay $50 an hour. Read Full Story
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