September 15th, 2019 • 2h 51m

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A Drone Again

Saudi Drone report - Anonymous Arab

Gents,

Hope this makes it in in time for the "Cahn-vers-

shun" today.

Information beyond the news is still kind of sorting itself

out, but looking at the drone attack on ARAMCO sites, I chatted with some local

colleagues and have a little more context.

Both sites are in the eastern region of the Kingdom. Khurais

is about 100km east of Riyadh, and Abqaiq is closer to the coast.

One of my friends here (a local) showed me a video he found

on YouTube ostensibly uploaded by a guy in Kuwait. The clip shows a night scene

and what sounds like a jet flying over. He claims it is one of the drones that

was launched from inside Iraq and headed for Saudi Arabia. Sounds like there

were 4 that he heard, and I'm assuming those would be part of the apparently 10

drones sent out (reported by the news).

If it was a jet, it may have been a cruise missile vice

drone, since Iran has transferred/sold Shabab cruise missiles to Yemen/Houthis.

I'm not an unmanned aerial vehicle expert though and could be wrong.

Sure the truth is out there. Will keep poking around. I know

our clients have been busy out east working to secure pipelines, etc.

Two Major Saudi Oil Installations Hit by Drone Strike, and U.S. Blames Iran - The New York Times

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Archived Version

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 00:11

Drone attacks claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels struck two key oil installations inside Saudi Arabia on Saturday, damaging facilities that process the vast majority of the country's crude output and raising the risk of a disruption in world oil supplies.

The attacks immediately escalated tensions in the Persian Gulf amid a standoff between the United States and Iran, even as key questions remained unanswered '-- where the drones were launched from, and how the Houthis managed to hit facilities deep in Saudi territory, some 500 miles from Yemeni soil.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of being behind what he called ''an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply'' and asserted that there was ''no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.'' He did not, however, specify an alternative launch site, and the Saudis themselves refrained from pointing the finger directly at Iran.

President Trump condemned the attack in a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and offered support for ''Saudi Arabia's self defense,'' the White House said in a statement, adding that the United States ''remains committed to ensuring global oil markets are stable and well supplied.''

The Houthis said they had launched the aerial attacks with 10 drones, which would amount to their most audacious strike on Saudi Arabia since the kingdom intervened in Yemen's war more than four years ago. The Saudi-led bombing campaign has devastated the impoverished country and exacerbated the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The Houthis are part of a regional network of militant groups aligned with and backed by Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival. American and Saudi officials suspect that Iran has dispatched technicians to Yemen to train the Houthis on drone and missile technology.

United Nations investigators have written that the Houthis have acquired advanced drones that could have a range of up to 930 miles. That leaves open the possibility that the drones used Saturday had flown from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. But they may also have been launched from another country, such as Iraq, or from inside Saudi Arabia itself.

The Houthis have attacked Saudi infrastructure before, primarily with less accurate ballistic missiles.

The targeted oil facilities can process 8.45 million barrels of crude oil a day between them, the bulk of production in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter. Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil giant, said production of 5.7 million barrels a day '-- well over half of the nation's overall daily output '-- was suspended.

Image A still image from a video obtained from social media showing smoke billowing at an Aramco facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, one of two oil processing centers struck by drones on Saturday. It was not clear how badly damaged the facilities were, but such strikes have the potential to disrupt world oil supplies. Credit via Reuters It was not immediately clear how badly the facilities were damaged, but shutting them down for more than a few days would affect the global oil supply. Analysts who closely follow the Saudi oil industry said they were hearing that the impact would not be severe '-- perhaps only a few days' outage, which the Saudis could cover.

''Crude prices will still rise a bit, but apparently the world economy dodged a bullet,'' said Robert McNally, the president of Rapidan Energy Group, a Washington-based market research firm.

The attacks not only exposed a Saudi vulnerability in the war against the Houthis, but also demonstrated how relatively cheap it has become to stage such high-profile strikes. The drones used may have cost $15,000 or less to build, said Wim Zwijnenburg, a senior researcher on drones at PAX, a Dutch peace organization.

The strikes illustrate how David-and-Goliath tactics using cheap drones are adding a new layer of volatility to the Middle East. Such attacks not only damage vital economic infrastructure, but can also increase security costs, disrupt markets and spread fear.

While the Houthis do not have significant financial resources, drones give them a way to hurt Saudi Arabia, which was the world's third-highest spender on military equipment in 2018, investing an estimated $67.6 billion.

''This has given the Saudis a challenge they can't confront, no matter what their financial, military or intelligence capabilities are,'' said Farea Al-Muslimi, co-founder of the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, which focuses on Yemen.

The attacks hit deeper into Saudi territory than most previous Houthi strikes and set off blazes whose smoke could be seen from space.

The war in Yemen began in 2014, when the Houthi rebels seized control of the capital and most of Yemen's northwest, sending the government into exile. A coalition of Arab nations led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with some support from the United States, began bombing Yemen in 2015, hoping to push the Houthis back and restore the government.

Instead, the war has settled into a stalemate, and the Houthis have developed increasingly sophisticated ways of striking back at Saudi Arabia, most notably with drones. The first indications of the Houthis using drones emerged last year, and their capabilities have improved since.

Mr. Zwijnenburg, the researcher, said the drones gave the Houthis an edge because they were cheap to produce, hard to detect and shoot down, and able to cause damage and disruption hugely disproportionate to their cost. While the Houthis' exact capabilities are not known, they have developed over time.

The Houthis' alliance with Iran also raises the possibility that their successes could be shared with other Iran-aligned militant groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, he added.

The strike on one of the oil installations, in Abqaiq, was particularly worrying because it processes crude from several key Saudi oil fields, said Helima Croft, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, an investment bank.

''This is the mother lode for an attack on Saudi infrastructure,'' she said. ''We have always been concerned about an attack on Abqaiq.''

Amy Myers Jaffe, a Middle East energy analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the attacker was ''knowledgeable, picking the maximum place for impact and damage.''

Rapidan Energy Group called Abqaiq by far the most important oil facility in the world.

''A successful attack on Abqaiq is about the worst thing energy security planners think about,'' because the specialized equipment there would be difficult to quickly replace, said Mr. McNally, Rapidan's president and a former White House energy adviser under President George W. Bush.

The firm estimated the Saudis have 188 million barrels of oil on hand, or enough to cover a disruption of five million barrels per day for 37 days. Mr. McNally predicted that oil traders would quickly ''start doing the math,'' potentially sending prices upward.

Mr. Pompeo has led the Trump administration's ''maximum pressure'' campaign against Iran, trying to isolate Tehran's cleric-run government with a rolling series of sanctions that have lashed its economy.

At the same time, Mr. Trump has said he is open to meeting with Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani '-- potentially on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly this month '-- as a first step toward striking a new nuclear accord that would also stop its ballistic missiles program and support for extremist groups.

Image An undated image of the Saudi Aramco Abqaiq oil facility in eastern Saudi Arabia. Credit Saudi Aramco Mr. Rouhani repeated this week that he will not negotiate until the United States eases its sanctions.

Mr. McNally said these attacks are ''likely to put on ice'' talk of easing sanctions on Iran, with the consequences depending on how closely Tehran can be linked to them.

''Forget about easing sanctions,'' he said. ''We are talking about a step up on geopolitical risks.''

While there were no reports of casualties, the attacks struck at the core of the Saudi economy. They came just as Aramco accelerated plans for what could be the largest initial public offering of stock in the world, an event closely watched by investors around the world.

The Saudi Interior Ministry reported fires at the two processing centers '-- in Abqaiq and also in Khurais '-- before dawn on Saturday, and later said they had been attacked with drones. The ministry said both fires had been ''controlled and contained,'' the Saudi-owned news network Al Arabiya reported without any further details.

A Houthi spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Sare'e, said that the group's forces ''carried out a massive offensive operation of 10 drones targeting Abqaiq and Khurais refineries.'' He did not specifically say that they launched the drones from Yemen.

The conflict in Yemen has killed thousands of civilians, many of them in Saudi airstrikes using American-made weapons. It has also created an enormous humanitarian crisis with millions at risk of starvation and millions of others homeless.

In a report presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva last week, a panel of experts said both sides in the conflict were committing horrific human rights abuses, including arbitrary killings, rape and torture, with impunity. The atrocities underscored the collective failure of the international community, the panel said.

After a period of relative calm, following a cease-fire brokered late last year, tensions have escalated in recent months. Houthi forces attacked Saudi pipelines and other oil infrastructure in May, temporarily halting the flow of crude oil, and in June they struck an airport in Saudi Arabia, wounding dozens of people.

In July, in a major blow to the Saudi-led coalition, the United Arab Emirates, which had been providing arms, money and, crucially, ground troops in Yemen, announced a rapid pullout from a conflict that had become too costly. The move left diplomats and analysts wondering whether Saudi Arabia would continue the war on its own.

Although the Trump administration has been a vocal supporter of Saudi efforts to deter Iran and its allies in the region, congressional opposition to the sale of arms and the deployment of extra troops in Saudi Arabia has limited the scope of support from the United States.

Reporting was contributed by Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Lebanon, Lara Jakes from Washington, and Clifford Krauss from Houston.

A version of this article appears in print on

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of the New York edition

with the headline:

Saudi Oil Centers Ablaze in Strike By Rebel Drones

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Massive heart attack for oil market? Attack on Saudi facilities could take toll on crude prices '-- RT Business News

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 12:03

The drone strike on major Saudi Arabian oil sites, including the world's largest oil processing facility, could add a significant risk premium to the price of crude oil, as the attack cut the kingdom's output in half.

Armed drones targeted a refinery in the city of Abqaiq, the crown jewel of the Saudi oil infrastructure, which is crucial for global energy supplies, and a refinery at the vast Khurais oil field. The attack, claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels, seriously damaged the kingdom's production capacity, affecting more than 5 million barrels of crude processing per day.

Also on rt.com Pompeo blames Iran for drone attack on Saudi oil facilities, Senator Graham urges US to strike it Despite assurances from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that the global oil markets are ''well supplied,'' and oil giant Saudi Aramco saying it can restore production, this major disruption in the world's leading oil exporting state is poised to send oil prices soaring when trading reopens late Sunday, analysts believe.

The gloomiest scenario includes crude prices in triple digits. If the shortage persists for a long time, oil is feared to rise to $100, according to Forbes and some industry experts. Moreover, the already slow global growth may suffer even more.

GAMES OF DRONES attacks on key Saudi oil assets will spike oil prices and add a new geopolitical risk. How long do oil infrastructure and tanker attacks continue without Saudi response? pic.twitter.com/Nq5Q2n9sOw

'-- Joe McMonigleð (@JoeMcMonigle) September 14, 2019Attacks in Saudi Arabia are a recipe for $100 Oil & global recession. Saudi's production is from single entity: Saudi Aramco. They move and transport a large fraction of the production through relatively small areas. Makes it extremely vulnerable to attack https://t.co/9WWbiHbYxXpic.twitter.com/XTpBFyalxo

'-- Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) September 15, 2019The attack on the Saudi oil facilities is ''akin to a massive heart attack for the oil market and global economy,'' according to former top energy and economic adviser to President George W. Bush, Bob McNally. His concerns were echoed by a veteran OPEC watcher at consultant IHS Markit, Roger Diwan.

''Abqaiq is the heart of the system and they just had a heart attack,'' Diwan told Bloomberg.

Also on rt.com The US briefly overtook Saudi Arabia in gross oil exports While many agree that the oil market cannot ignore the attack in Abqaiq, how much the price of oil will spike is still a big question. Andrew Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates expects that oil will jump in the range of $5 to $10 per barrel, adding up to 25 cents per gallon for gasoline, according to CNBC.

Washington says it is ready to step in and offset any possible disruptions. On Saturday, the Department of Energy said the US can deploy resources from the Strategic Petroleum Oil Reserve, which holds nearly 645 million barrels of oil.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section

Pompeo: Iran behind attack on Saudi oil facilities that will reduce kingdom's output | World news | The Guardian

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 12:09

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has accused Iran of being responsible for attacks on Saudi oil plants that could lead to the temporary loss of more than 5% of global oil supply.

Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility for Saturday's drone attack. But Pompeo, Donald Trump's top diplomat, blamed the attacks squarely on Iran writing on Twitter that there was ''no evidence the attacks came from Yemen''.

''Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply,'' Pompeo said.

''Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while [President Hassan] Rouhani and [foreign minister Javad] Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy,'' he said.

According to a statement from the state-run oil producer Saudi Aramco, the attacks on the Abqaiq facility will cut the kingdom's production by about 5.7m barrels per day, more than half of Saudi Arabia's output. Saudi is the world's largest exporter of crude oil.

map of attack on saudi oil processing plantThe US Energy Department said on Saturday it was ready to release oil from its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) if needed.

''Oil prices will jump on this attack, and if the disruption to Saudi production is prolonged, an SPR release ... seems likely and sensible,'' said Jason Bordoff, founding director of the Centre on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University in New York.

It is too early to know the extent of the damage to the processing plants and the Saudi supply chain that brings crude from oil fields to export facilities. The chief executive of Saudi Aramco, Amin Nasser, said in a statement that the company would have more information within 48 hours, as it works to bring back the lost output.

On Saturday, before Pompeo's tweet, the White House said Trump had spoken to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, ''to offer his support for Saudi Arabia's self-defense''.

The attack comes as tensions have been rising between the Washington and Tehran, after Trump withdrew the US from a nuclear deal between world powers and the Islamic Republic.

Iran has restarted some uranium enrichment in violation of the 2015 nuclear accord and the US has imposed sanctions. But Trump has recently held the door open for nuclear talks to begin, perhaps on the sidelines of the United National General Assembly in New York later this month. Pompeo said such talks could take place without any preconditions.

Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply

Saudi Arabia, a US ally, backs the Yemeni government in a brutal civil war which began in 2015. Iran backs the Houthis, who hold the capital, Sanaa, and other territory in the Arab world's poorest country.

Responding to Pompeo's tweet on Saturday, the Democratic senator Chris Murphy, a member of the foreign relations committee, wrote: ''This is such irresponsible simplification and it's how we get into dumb wars of choice.

''The Saudis and Houthis are at war. The Saudis attack the Houthis and the Houthis attack back. Iran is backing the Houthis and has been a bad actor, but it's just not as simple as Houthis = Iran.''

The Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a leading Trump ally, disagreed.

''It is now time for the US to put on the table an attack on Iranian oil refineries if they continue their provocations or increase nuclear enrichment,'' the South Carolina senator said on Twitter.

It remained unclear if anyone was injured at the Abqaiq oil processing facility and the Khurais oil field, operated by Saudi Aramco. The attack early on Saturday sparked a huge fire, the kingdom's interior ministry said.

The US embassy in Riyadh said it was unaware of any injuries to Americans. Saudi Aramco employs a number of US citizens, some of whom live in guarded compounds near the site.

A military spokesman for the Houthi rebels claimed responsibility, saying 10 drones had been deployed. The attack came after weeks of similar drone assaults on Saudi oil infrastructure, but none of the earlier strikes appeared to have caused such damage.

This is such irresponsible simplification and it's how we get into dumb wars of choice

The war in Yemen has become the world's worst humanitarian crisis, pushing the country to the brink of famine and killing more than 90,000 people, according to the US-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, or Acled.

Since the start of the war, Houthi rebels have been using drones in combat. The first appeared to be hobby-kit-style. Later, versions nearly identical to Iranian models turned up. Iran denies supplying the Houthis with weapons, although the United Nations, the West and Gulf Arab nations say it does so.

Rebels have flown drones into the radar arrays of Saudi Arabia's Patriot missile batteries, according to Conflict Armament Research, disabling them and allowing the Houthis to fire ballistic missiles into the kingdom unchallenged.

The Houthis launched drone attacks targeting Saudi Arabia's crucial East-West Pipeline in May. In August, Houthi drones struck Saudi Arabia's Shaybah oil field.

Saudi oil fire is a winner for the US and its plans for war with Iran '' Kim Dotcom '-- RT World News

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 12:21

The biggest beneficiary of the Saudi oil facility drone attack is the US, Kim Dotcom has said, claiming that the incident will have a number of positives for President Donald Trump's administration.

Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the drone attack on the Kingdom's Aramco oil processing facilities and oil field on Saturday, which caused a large fire and has slowed oil production. According to the Megaupload founder, the incident will trigger a number of convenient events that will help the US.

Who's the biggest beneficiary of Saudi oil facilities burning?US ðºð¸

1. Saudi will have to increase security supplied by the US

2. Oil prices will rise and the US is now a large exporter of Oil

3. US can blame Iran, go to war, take control of Iran's oil which pays for the war

'-- Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) September 14, 2019The US already briefly overtook Saudi Arabia as the world's largest crude exporter, and has a significant spare oil capacity. The only other countries with similar capacity are Iran and Venezuela, both of which have experienced vastly reduced exports as a result of US sanctions.

Despite the Houthi claims of responsibility, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged late Saturday that Tehran is responsible for the ''unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply,'' saying there is ''no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.''

Also on rt.com The US briefly overtook Saudi Arabia in gross oil exports According to Dotcom, the US blaming Iran will allow it to then ''go to war, take control of Iran's oil which pays for the war.''

Tensions between the US and Iran are already high, and members of the Trump administration, including Pompeo, appear eager to escalate things further. The US pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal last year, despite Tehran adhering to its conditions, and it continues to impose new sanctions on the country.

It has also accused Iran of working with Al-Qaeda, and of being behind two attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman in May and June. In June, Trump reportedly pulled back from a planned military strike on Iran at the last minute after it shot down a US drone.

Also on rt.com Pompeo blames Iran for drone attack on Saudi oil facilities, Senator Graham urges US to strike it Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

Two Major Saudi Oil Installations Hit by Drone Strike, and U.S. Blames Iran - The New York Times

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 12:11

Video Drone strikes set fire to a Saudi Aramco plant in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, early Saturday. The location was one of two Saudi Aramco facilities targeted, and Yemen's Houthi rebel faction has claimed responsibility for the strikes. Credit Credit Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters Drone attacks claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels struck two key oil installations inside Saudi Arabia on Saturday, damaging facilities that process the vast majority of the country's crude output and raising the risk of a disruption in world oil supplies.

Image A still image from a video obtained from social media showing smoke billowing at an Aramco facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, one of two oil processing centers struck by drones on Saturday. It was not clear how badly damaged the facilities were, but such strikes have the potential to disrupt world oil supplies. Credit via Reuters Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has been training its militia proxies in the region, from Lebanon to Yemen, in more sophisticated warfare using drones, according to two people in Iran with knowledge of the programs.

In Yemen, for example, after Houthi missiles targeting Saudi Arabia were intercepted, Iran moved to train Houthis in drone technology, taking groups to Iran to master assembling, managing and repairing drones, said the people familiar with the programs.

The Houthis have attacked Saudi infrastructure before, primarily with less accurate ballistic missiles.

It was not immediately clear how badly the facilities were damaged, but shutting them down for more than a few days would affect the global oil supply. Analysts who closely follow the Saudi oil industry said they were hearing that the impact would not be severe '-- perhaps only a few days' outage, which the Saudis could cover.

''Crude prices will still rise a bit, but apparently the world economy dodged a bullet,'' said Robert McNally, the president of Rapidan Energy Group, a Washington-based market research firm.

The Energy Department said that, if needed, the United States was ready to use its strategic oil reserves to offset any disruption in supply.

The attacks hit deeper into Saudi territory than most previous Houthi strikes and set off blazes whose smoke could be seen from space.

The Houthis' alliance with Iran also raises the possibility that their successes could be shared with other Iran-aligned militant groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, he added.

''This is the mother lode for an attack on Saudi infrastructure,'' she said. ''We have always been concerned about an attack on Abqaiq.''

Amy Myers Jaffe, a Middle East energy analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the attacker was ''knowledgeable, picking the maximum place for impact and damage.''

Rapidan Energy Group called Abqaiq by far the most important oil facility in the world.

Mr. Rouhani repeated this week that he will not negotiate until the United States eases its sanctions.

Image An undated image of the Saudi Aramco Abqaiq oil facility in eastern Saudi Arabia. Credit Saudi Aramco Mr. McNally said these attacks are ''likely to put on ice'' talk of easing sanctions on Iran, with the consequences depending on how closely Tehran can be linked to them.

''Forget about easing sanctions,'' he said. ''We are talking about a step up on geopolitical risks.''

Reporting was contributed by Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Lebanon, Lara Jakes from Washington, Clifford Krauss from Houston, and Farnaz Fassihi from New York.

A version of this article appears in print on

, Section

, Page

of the New York edition

with the headline:

Saudi Oil Supply Is Put In Danger By Drone Strikes

. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

Saudi oil sites hit by drone strikes: U.S. blames Iran - Axios

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Archived Version

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 12:10

Iran denied Sunday U.S. accusations that it was behind drone attacks targeting the world's largest oil processing facility at Abqaiq and a major oilfield at Khurais in Saudi Arabia the previous day.

The latest: Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the early Saturday strikes, AP reports. But U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iran, saying "there is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen." Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in a statement the U.S. accusations were "blind, incomprehensible and meaningless."

Why it matters: The attacks cut crude oil output by 5.7m barrels a day, the state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco said. Saudi Arabia estimates that's about half of the country's oil production '-- roughly 5% of the world's daily crude oil output, per the Wall Street Journal.

Where it stands: The strikes were the largest attacks on "Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure in more than a decade," Bloomberg reports. The energy minister said Saudi Aramco is "working to recover the lost quantities." Saudi Aramco executives held an emergency meeting to determine the damage, per Bloomberg.

The plant, which burst into flames, is "crucial to global energy supplies," per AP. The New York Times notes it's unclear where the drones were launched from, and how the Houthis managed to hit facilities deep in Saudi territory, some 500 miles from Yemeni soil.Our thought bubble, per Axios' Ben Geman: The attack is likely to push oil prices upward, perhaps significantly so, owing to concern about geopolitical risk '-- even if, as the Wall Street Journal reports, production is quickly restored and overall Saudi supplies to global markets aren't disrupted.

What they're saying: President Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke on the phone Saturday, with Trump offering "his support for Saudi Arabia's self-defense," according to Deputy White House Press Secretary Judd Deere.

Saudi media reports that the crown prince told Trump, "The Kingdom is willing and able to confront and deal with this terrorist aggression."Deere said Trump declared, "Violent actions against civilian areas and infrastructure vital to the global economy only deepen conflict and mistrust." The U.S. "remains committed to ensuring global oil markets are stable and well supplied," he added.The big picture: With tensions heightened between the U.S. and Iran, and across the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Iran '--there's a potential "risk to global oil supply," Bloomberg writes.

The Houthi rebels have been fighting the Saudi-backed central government for years in a war that's led to the one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.In January, United Nations investigators wrote that the Houthis had acquired advanced drones that could have a range of up to 930 miles, the NYT reports.Saudi Aramco was reviving preparations for a massive IPO when the attacks happened.Go deeper: Saudi Aramco replaces chairman as oil giant prepares for massive IPO

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

Epstein

Joi Ito - Wikipedia

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Thu, 12 Sep 2019 19:16

Joichi "Joi" Ito (ä¼è¤ ç(C)°ä¸ , ItÅ JÅichi, born June 19, 1966) is a Japanese activist, entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is the former director of the MIT Media Lab, and a former professor of the practice of media arts and sciences at MIT. He is a former visiting professor of practice at the Harvard Law School.[1][2]

Ito has received recognition for his role as an entrepreneur focused on Internet and technology companies and has founded, among other companies, PSINet Japan, Digital Garage and Infoseek Japan. Ito is a strategic advisor to Sony Corporation[3] and general partner of Neoteny Labs.[4] Ito writes a monthly column in the Ideas section of Wired.[5]

Ito resigned from his roles at MIT, Harvard, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Knight Foundation, PureTech Health and the The New York Times Company on September 7, 2019, following allegations of financial ties to sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.[2][6][7]

Early life and education [ edit ] Ito was born in Kyoto, Japan. His family moved to Canada and then to the United States, when Ito was about three, to a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, where his father became a research scientist[8] and his mother a secretary for Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., now Ovonics. The founder of his mother's company, Stanford R. Ovshinsky, was impressed with young Ito, whom he thought of almost as his son. Ovshinsky mentored the boy's interests in technology and social movements, and when Ito was 13, gave him work with scientists, saying, "He was not a child in the conventional sense."[9]

He and his sister Mizuko Ito, called Mimi, spent summers in Japan with their grandmother, who taught them about traditional Japanese culture.[10] At 14, he returned to Japan, when his mother was promoted to president of Energy Conversion Devices Japan. He studied at the Nishimachi International School[11] and, for high school, the American School in Japan in Tokyo.[12] In that phase of his life, Ito also learned "street language, street smarts, and computers." One of the few Japanese using modems before networking deregulation reached Japan, in 1985, Ito had found The Source and the original MUD by his teens (and by 26, was working on his own MUD).[10]

Ito returned to the United States to attend Tufts University as a computer science major, where he met, among others, Pierre Omidyar, later founder of eBay.[13] Deeming his course work too rigid and believing that learning computer science in school was "stupid," [13] Ito dropped out of Tufts to work briefly for Ovonics. Ovshinsky encouraged him to return to school. He enrolled at the University of Chicago in physics but dropped out when he determined that the program seemed more oriented towards producing practical engineers than teaching an intuitive understanding of physics.[9] In the fall of 1985, Ito became the first student to register for a pioneering program of online courses, offered by Connected Education, Inc., for undergraduate credit from The New School for Social Research.

From Keio University, Ito earned a PhD in Media and Governance in 2018.[14] His dissertation, The Practice of Change, is available online.[15]

Ito is one of Timothy Leary's godsons'--a close, nontraditional familial relationship that Leary reportedly developed for a few of his friends' children.[16][17] Ito's sister, Mizuko Ito, is a cultural anthropologist, studying media technology use, and the musician Cornelius is his second cousin. Ito currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his wife Mizuka Ito (n(C)e Kurogane). Joi and Mizuka's daughter, Kio (è¼'ç--), was born on May 11, 2017.

Career [ edit ] Ito became a disc jockey working in nightclubs in Chicago such as the Limelight and Smart Bar, also working with Metasystems Design Group to start a virtual community in Tokyo.[10] Later, Ito ran a nightclub in Roppongi, Japan, called XY Relax, with help from Joe Shanahan of Metro Chicago/Smart Bar. He helped bring industrial music from Chicago (Wax Trax) and later the rave scene, managing a DJ team and visual artists, including importing Anarchic Adjustment to Japan.

Ito was the Chairman of Creative Commons from December 2006 until 2012. He is on the board of Digital Garage,[18] Culture Convenience Club (CCC),[19]Tucows,[20] and EPIC,[21] and is on the advisory boards of Creative Commons and WITNESS. He is the founder and CEO of the venture capital firm Neoteny Co., Ltd. In October 2004, he was named to the board of ICANN for a three-year term starting December 2004. In August 2005, he joined the board of the Mozilla Foundation[22] and served until April 2016. He served on the board of the Open Source Initiative (OSI) from March 2005 until April 2007. He currently serves as a Board Emeritus for OSI.[13] He was a founding board member of Expression College for Digital Arts[23] as well as the Zero One Art and Technology Network.[24] In 1999, he served as the Associate to Mr. Mount (the executive producer) on the film The Indian Runner.[25] Ito also served as a board member of Energy Conversion Devices from 1995 to 2000.

Ito is a venture capitalist and angel investor and was an early stage investor in Kickstarter,[26]Twitter,[27]Six Apart, Technorati, Flickr, Wikia,[28]SocialText, Dopplr, Last.fm, Rupture, Kongregate, Fotopedia, Diffbot, Formlabs, 3Dsolve and other Internet companies.[29][30] A vocal advocate of emergent democracy and the sharing economy, Ito is a doctoral candidate in Business Administration focusing on the sharing economy at the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, Hitotsubashi University. He is the author of Emergent Democracy.[31] Ito is Senior Visiting Researcher of Keio Research Institute at SFC.[32] In May 2011, it was announced that Ito's company, Digital Garage, will provide PR, marketing, product marketing research and market research for LinkedIn Japan.[33]

Ito is a PADI IDC Staff Instructor, an Emergency First Responder Instructor Trainer, and a Divers Alert Network (DAN) Instructor Trainer.[34]

In recent years, Ito has become critical of what he sees as Japan's inward focus. He stated in a 2011 interview that he thinks Japan needs to look internationally if it is to continue to be "relevant".[35]

Journalism [ edit ] Ito has written opinion editorials for the Asian Wall Street Journal[36] and The New York Times[37][38] and has published articles in numerous other magazines[39] and newspapers. He has written regular columns in The Daily Yomiuri, Mac World Japan, Asahi Pasocom, Asahi Doors, and other media sources. His photographs have been used in The New York Times Online,[40]BusinessWeek,[41]American Heritage,[42]Wired News,[43]Forbes,[44] and BBC News.[45] He was on the early editorial mastheads of Wired and Mondo 2000. He has authored and co-authored a number of books including Dialog '' Ryu Murakami X Joichi Ito with Ryu Murakami, and "Freesouls: Captured and Released" with Christopher Adams, a book of Ito's photographs that includes essays by several prominent figures in the free culture movement.[46] He has hosted televisions shows including The New Breed and SimTV shows on NHK.

He is currently the host of a TV show called "Super-Presentation" airing weekly in Japan on NHK.[47]

Recognition and honors [ edit ] Ito was listed by Time magazine as a member of the "Cyber-Elite" in 1997. He was also named one of the 50 "Stars of Asia" in the "Entrepreneurs and Dealmakers" category by BusinessWeek[48] and commended by the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications for supporting the advancement of IT in 2000.[49] He was selected by the World Economic Forum in 2001 as one of the "Global Leaders for Tomorrow"[50] and chosen by Newsweek as a member of the "Leaders of The Pack (high technology industry)" in 2005,[51] and listed by Vanity Fair as a member of "The Next Establishment" in the October Issue, 2007[52] and 2011.[53] Ito was named by BusinessWeek as one of the 25 Most Influential People on the Web in 2008.[54] On July 22, 2011 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his role as one of the world's leading advocates of Internet freedom from the University of Oxford Internet Institute.[55] In 2011, with Ethan Zuckerman, he was named by Foreign Policy magazine to its list of top global thinkers, in which he stated the Best idea is "Users controlling their own data".[56] Ito received the degree of Doctor of Literature, honoris causa, from The New School in 2013.[57] On March 11, 2014, Ito was inducted into the SXSW Interactive Festival Hall of Fame.[58] He was a TED speaker at the March 21, TED2014.[59] In 2014, Ito was awarded the Golden Plate Award by the Academy of Achievement.[60] On May 17, 2015 Ito received a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from Tufts University.[61] Ito was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in April 2017. [62]On May 11, 2017 Ito was awarded the IRI Medal.[63]

MIT Media Lab (2011-19) [ edit ] In April 2011, Ito was named the director of the MIT Media Lab; he began in this role on September 1, 2011.[64][65] His appointment was called an "unusual choice" since Ito studied at two colleges, but did not finish his degrees. "The choice is radical, but brilliant," said Larry Smarr, director of Calit2.[66] He was professor of the practice of media arts and sciences at MIT beginning in 2016.[67]

Nicholas Negroponte, Media Lab's co-founder and chairman emeritus, described the choice as bringing the media to "Joi's world".[68] In an interview with Asian Scientist Magazine, Ito discussed his vision for the MIT Media Lab, and how he liked the word ''learning'' better than the word ''education''.[69]

As part of his work at the Media Lab, Ito was a part of the emerging dialogue around the ethics and governance of Artificial Intelligence, teaching a course on the topic with professor Jonathan Zittrain and co-founding the Council on Extended Intelligence with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). [70]

Ties to Jeffrey Epstein [ edit ] In 2019, revelations of Ito's connections with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, shed light on the extent of monetary gifts from Epstein to the Media Lab and Ito's startups outside of MIT. Ito has written an apology for the same,[71] which was followed by announcements of departures of several prominent Media Lab members, including Ethan Zuckerman,[72] director of the MIT's Center for Civic Media, and Media Lab visiting scholar J. Nathan Matias. Calls for Ito to resign were followed by a website (wesupportjoi.org) and letter in support of Ito which appeared in late August signed by more than 100 people including Lawrence Lessig, Stewart Brand, Nicholas Negroponte, Jonathan Zittrain, and George M. Church, however the website has since closed.[73][74] Ito admitted to taking $525,000 in funding from Epstein for the lab, and permitting Epstein to invest $1.2 million in Ito's investment funds.[75][76]

Further revelations and leaked emails [ edit ] On September 6, 2019, an article by Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker alleged that the lab led by Ito had "a deeper fund-raising relationship with Epstein" than it had acknowledged, and that the lab attempted to conceal the extent of its contacts with him.[77] The article, based on leaked emails between Epstein, Ito and others alleged that "Ito and other lab employees took numerous steps to keep Epstein's name from being associated with the donations he made or solicited", that Ito specifically solicited individual donations from Epstein.[77] The article further claimed that Epstein "appeared to serve as an intermediary between the lab and other wealthy donors, soliciting millions of dollars in donations from individuals and organizations" and that "Epstein was credited with securing at least $7.5 million in donations for the lab."[77] Ito, in an email to The New York Times, said The New Yorker report was ''full of factual errors.''[78]

The president of MIT launched an "immediate, thorough and independent" investigation into the "extremely serious" and "deeply disturbing allegations about the engagement between individuals at the Media Lab and Jeffrey Epstein".[77][79]

Resignations [ edit ] Ito resigned as director of the Media Lab and as an MIT professor shortly after The New Yorker article.[80]The New York Times reported that Ito resigned from Harvard.[2]

Ito also resigned from a number of his other roles on September 7 amid the controversy:

as member of the board of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.[81] The MacArthur Foundation wrote, "the recent reports of Ito's behavior in The New Yorker, if true, would not be in keeping with the values of MacArthur. Most importantly, our hearts go out to the girls and women who survived the abuse of Jeffrey Epstein."[82]as a member of the board of the The New York Times Company[83] following the Epstein revelations. The New York Times said "Our newsroom will continue its aggressive reporting on Mr. Epstein, investigating both the individuals and the broader systems of power that enabled him for so many years."[84][85]as a member of the board of trustees of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, who wrote, "Jeffrey Epstein's crimes continue to reverberate, most painfully with the girls and women who were his victims. We extend our deepest sympathies to them."[6]as the chairman of PureTech Health. The company said that ''given circumstances related to the MIT Media Lab, we agreed that Joi's resignation from PureTech was appropriate.''[7]Bibliography [ edit ] Ito, Joi; Howe, Jeff (2016). Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-1455544592. Ito, Joi (2008). FREESOULS: Captured and Released. Freesouls.cc. ISBN 978-0982029121. See also [ edit ] History of the Japanese in Metro DetroitReferences [ edit ] ^ "Visiting Professors of Law". hls.harvard.edu. The President and Fellows of Harvard College . Retrieved September 7, 2019 . ^ a b c Tracy, Marc. "Director of M.I.T.'s Media Lab Resigns After Outcry Over Jeffrey Epstein Ties". The New York Times. ^ "Press Release: Selection of Board Member Candidates". April 28, 2017 . Retrieved 2013-06-21 . ^ "Team '' Neoteny Labs". Archived from the original on April 11, 2010 . Retrieved 2010-04-29 . ^ "Joi Ito". Wired . Retrieved 2018-05-11 . ^ a b @knightfdn (September 7, 2019). "Joi Ito resigned this afternoon from the Knight Foundation board of trustees" (Tweet) '' via Twitter. ^ a b "PureTech Announces Board Change". www.businesswire.com. 2019-09-07 . Retrieved 2019-09-08 . ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTbjfVdg9vE ^ a b Fisher, Lawrence M. (August 2006). "The Ambassador from the Next Economy". strategy+business. Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. via Internet Archive. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008 . Retrieved 2012-02-25 . ^ a b c Kelly, Kevin; Rheingold, Howard (July''August 1993). "The Dragon Ate My Homework". Wired, the Cond(C) Nast Publications Inc. (1.03) . Retrieved 2007-09-28 . ^ Rheingold, Howard (2000-11-01). The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. The MIT Press. p. 227. ISBN 0-262-68121-8. ^ Interview (2004-08-24). "The World Wide Blog". Ubiquity, Association for Computing Machinery. 5 (25). ^ a b c Elaina Hamilton. "Joichi Ito Education" . Retrieved 2016-03-16 . ^ "æ¶æç¾(C)å¾å¤§å...å...è'æå ±ãªã'ã¸ããª¼KOARA¼". koara.lib.keio.ac.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on December 4, 2018 . Retrieved 2018-12-04 . ^ Ito, Joichi. "Practice of Change". Practice of Change . Retrieved 2018-12-04 . ^ "leary.com". Archived from the original on 2007-10-11 . Retrieved 2007-10-04 . ^ "timothylearyarchives.org". Timothy Leary Archives Blog . Retrieved 2009-03-04 . ^ "Digital Garage Corporate Information" . Retrieved 2010-04-29 . ^ "CCC Board of Directors". Archived from the original on 2010-05-21 . Retrieved 2010-04-29 . ^ "Tucows Board of Directors" . Retrieved 2010-04-29 . ^ "EPIC Advisory Board". Electronic Privacy Information Center . Retrieved 2008-11-29 . ^ "About the Mozilla Foundation" . Retrieved 2010-04-29 . ^ "People at Expression:Joi Ito". Expression College for Digital Arts. Archived from the original on 2007-10-08 . Retrieved 2007-09-28 . ^ "ZERO1 Board". ZERO1 . Retrieved 2007-09-28 . ^ "The Indian Runner (1999) Full Cast and Crew". IMDB . Retrieved 2007-09-27 . ^ "Kickstarter Fesses Up: The Crowd-Sourced Funding Startup Has Funding Too". ^ "Twitter in Japan" . Retrieved 2010-04-29 . ^ Joi Ito, "Wikia," JoiIto.com, March 29, 2006. ^ "Joi Ito". Joi Ito's Wiki. Archived from the original on 2006-08-19 . Retrieved 2007-09-27 . ^ Joi Ito Crunchbase http://www.crunchbase.com/person/joi-ito ^ Ito, Joichi (June 28, 2003). "Emergent Democracy (Version 1.32)". Socialtext. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012 . Retrieved May 4, 2010 . and Lebkowsky, Jon; Ratcliffe, Mitch (2005). Extreme Democracy. Lulu.com. pp. 13''39. ISBN 1-4116-3139-0 . Retrieved May 4, 2010 . ^ "Program: Electronic Media '' Challenges and Opportunities" (PDF) . Higher Colleges of Technology. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-30 . Retrieved 2009-11-19 . ^ "LinkedIn Has Value Preposition to Succeed in Japan, Digital Garage to Help | Penn Olson". penn-olson.com. 2011 . Retrieved 2 June 2011 . Joi ^ "Joichi Ito LinkedIn Profile". LinkedIn . Retrieved 2011-09-10 . ^ Wilks, Jon (May 31, 2011). "Joi Ito: The Interview". Time Out Tokyo. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011 . Retrieved 8 July 2011 . ^ "Japan Reform and Recovery". Joi Ito's Web (blog). April 7, 2002 . Retrieved 2007-09-29 . ^ Ito, Joichi (August 7, 2005). "An Anniversary to Forget". The New York Times . Retrieved 2007-09-27 . ^ Ito, Joichi (September 18, 2007). "In Japan, Stagnation Wins Again". The New York Times . Retrieved 2007-09-27 . ^ "World of Warcrack". Wired. June 2006 . Retrieved 2007-09-27 . ^ Markoff, John (May 31, 2007). "For Jobs and Gates, a Night to Reminisce". New York Times . Retrieved 2007-09-27 . ^ "Entrepreneurs for the Ages". BusinessWeek . Retrieved 2007-09-27 . ^ "The Birth of EBay". AmericanHeritage.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-06 . Retrieved 2007-09-27 . ^ Schiffman, Betsy (November 6, 2008). "Twitter CEO on How the Company Will Make Money: Ummm". Wired News. Cond(C)Net . Retrieved November 6, 2008 . ^ Griffiths, Daniel Nye (January 16, 2012). "It Takes Tweets to Tango '' Murdoch, Kutcher, the ur-Jack and the dangers of Twitter". Forbes.com . Retrieved January 16, 2012 . ^ Waters, Darren (April 24, 2008). "Stark warning for internet's future". BBC News . Retrieved 2008-04-28 . ^ Freesouls ^ "ã¹ã¼ãã¼ãã¬ã¼ã"ãã¼ã·ã§ã"½'Eãã¬ NHKãªã"ã(C)ã¤ã"" . Retrieved 2014-03-12 . ^ "The Stars of Asia (int'l edition)". BusinessWeek. July 3, 2000 . Retrieved 2007-09-16 . ^ "The Markets Are Stupid. The Current Internet Valuations Have Very Little to Do With the Actual Value of the Companies". Joi Ito's Web . Retrieved 2007-09-27 . ^ "Economic Forum Entrepreneurs '' Japanese put on list of world's 100 young leaders". Kyodo World News Service. February 3, 2002 . Retrieved 2007-09-27 . [dead link ] ^ "Leaders of The Pack (high technology industry)". Newsweek International. April 25, 2005 . Retrieved 2007-09-27 . ^ "Vanity Fair (Re) Discovers Tech". Vanity Fair. October 2007 . Retrieved 2007-09-27 . ^ "Vanity Fair Next Establishment 2011". October 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-09-23 . Retrieved 2012-09-22 . ^ "The 25 Most Influential People on the Web: The Adviser: Joi Ito". BusinessWeek. September 29, 2008 . Retrieved 2008-10-11 . ^ "Director of MIT Media Lab Joi Ito Receives Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oxford Internet Institute". July 22, 2011 . Retrieved 2011-08-09 . ^ "The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers". November 28, 2011 . Retrieved May 13, 2016 . ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients". 2013-05-24. Archived from the original on 2013-03-24 . Retrieved 2013-05-25 . ^ "SXSW Interactive Festival Hall of Fame Honors Top Industry Trendsetters: 2014 Inductee is Joi Ito" . Retrieved 2014-03-12 . ^ Instead of futurists, let's be now-ists: Joi Ito at TED2014 ^ "2009 '' 2014 Golden Plate Recipients". Academy of Achievement. Archived from the original on 2014-10-14 . Retrieved 2014-10-09 . ^ "Commencement 2015: Biographies '' Joichi "Joi" Ito". May 17, 2015 . Retrieved 2015-05-17 . ^ http://news.mit.edu/2017/eleven-from-mit-elected-american-academy-arts-and-sciences-0412 ^ "Joi Ito, MIT Media Lab Director, Awarded the IRI Medal" . Retrieved 2017-05-26 . ^ "I'm finally "officially" the Director of the MIT @medialab and here's my first blog post on the new Media Lab blog:". Joi Ito's Twitter Stream. September 1, 2011. ^ Kirsner, Scott (April 26, 2011). "MIT picks Joichi Ito, Japanese venture capitalist and entrepreneur, as new leader of the Media Lab". Boston.com (The Boston Globe). The New York Times Company . Retrieved April 26, 2011 . ^ Markoff, John (April 25, 2011). "M.I.T. Media Lab Names a New Director". The New York Times . Retrieved April 25, 2011 . ^ "Media Lab Director Joi Ito Appointed Professor of the Practice of Media Arts and Sciences". June 2016 . Retrieved 2016-06-13 . ^ "Joichi Ito named director of MIT Media Lab". MIT News. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. April 25, 2011 . Retrieved April 25, 2011 . ^ Chan, Juliana (May 2, 2011). "Newly Appointed MIT Media Lab Director, Joichi Ito, Talks To Asian Scientist". AsianScientist.com . Retrieved May 14, 2011 . ^ "CXI - Council on Extended Intelligence | IEEE-SA & MIT Media Lab". IEEE CXI . Retrieved 2019-01-14 . ^ "Joi Ito apology regarding Jeffrey Epstein". media.mit.edu. Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture + Planning . Retrieved September 8, 2019 . ^ Zuckerman, Ethan (August 20, 2019). "On me, and the Media Lab". medium.com . Retrieved September 8, 2019 . ^ Griggs, Mary Beth (August 27, 2019). "Professors rally behind MIT Media Lab director after Epstein funding scandal". The Verge. Vox Media . Retrieved September 8, 2019 . ^ Fernandes, Deirdre; Levenson, Michael (August 23, 2019). "Head of MIT Media Lab faces crisis that tears at lab he helped elevate". Boston Globe. Boston Globe Media Partners . Retrieved September 8, 2019 . ^ "My apology regarding Jeffrey Epstein". ^ Sullivan, Margaret (September 6, 2019). "Joi Ito should be fired from MIT's Media Lab after taking funding from felon Jeffrey Epstein". The Washington Post . Retrieved September 7, 2019 . ^ a b c d Farrow, Ronan (September 6, 2019). "How an lite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein". The New Yorker . Retrieved September 8, 2019 . ^ Tracy, Marc. "Director of M.I.T.'s Media Lab Resigns After Outcry Over Jeffrey Epstein Ties". The New York Times. ^ "MIT Media Lab director resigns after criticism for financial ties to Jeffrey Epstein". NBC News . Retrieved 2019-09-07 . ^ Tracy, Marc; Hsu, Tiffany (2019-09-07). "Director of M.I.T.'s Media Lab Resigns After Outcry Over Jeffrey Epstein Ties". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-09-07 . ^ "MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito to Serve on MacArthur Board". ^ Foundation, MacArthur (2019-09-07). "The recent reports of Ito's behavior in The New Yorker, if true, would not be in keeping with the values of MacArthur. Most importantly, our hearts go out to the girls and women who survived the abuse of Jeffrey Epstein". @macfound . Retrieved 2019-09-07 . ^ "Joichi Ito and Brian McAndrews Join The New York Times Company Board of Directors". ^ Lacey, Marc (2019-09-07). "From the staff note: "Our newsroom will continue its aggressive reporting on Mr. Epstein, investigating both the individuals and the broader systems of power that enabled him for so many years. " ". @marclacey . Retrieved 2019-09-07 . ^ Lacey, Marc (2019-09-07). "From the NYT publisher and CEO: "We're writing to let you know that Mr. Ito has resigned from the company's board, effective immediately. " ". @marclacey . Retrieved 2019-09-07 . External links [ edit ] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joi Ito.Official webpageOfficial webpage (in Japanese) Book announcement for "Whiplash"J´ichi It´ on IMDbJoi Ito at TED Appearances on C-SPANJoichi Ito Interview VideoJoichi Ito on the MikeyPod Podcast

Schumer got thousands in donations from Jeffrey Epstein

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Archived Version

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 20:18

July 10, 2019 | 11:51am | Updated July 10, 2019 | 1:02pm

Sen. Chuck Schumer '-- who called on Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to resign and said President Trump should ''answer'' for his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein '-- accepted thousands of dollars in donations from the alleged pedophile throughout the 1990s, The Post has learned.

Federal Election Commission records show that Schumer received seven $1,000 donations from Epstein between 1992 and 1997, first as a US congressman from New York and then when he was vying to be the state's senator in 1998, an election he won.

Epstein '-- who was arrested Saturday and charged with sex trafficking and a related conspiracy count for allegedly sexually abusing a vast network of underage girls '-- also gave $10,000 to Victory in New York, a joint fundraising committee established by Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Epstein gave an additional $5,000 to Win New York, a Schumer-associated joint committee that benefited the Liberal Party of New York state.

Both of Epstein's donations to the committees came in October 1998 '-- and look to have primarily benefited the DSCC and the Liberal Party of New York, as Epstein would have already met the $2,000 limit on donating individually to Schumer.

At the time, donors could give $1,000 to a candidate per election '-- once in the primary and again in the general.

That means Schumer and Schumer-linked entities received a combined $22,000.

Schumer spokesman Angelo Roefaro responded, ''While these campaign accounts closed about 20 years ago, and even then the campaign never controlled the two political action committees (PACs), Senator Schumer is donating an equal sum to anti-sex trafficking and anti-violence against women groups.''

The top Senate Democrat previously donated $14,200 '-- the amount donated to his campaigns by accused sexual predator Harvey Weinstein '-- to several charities supporting women.

On the Senate floor Tuesday, Schumer made three Epstein-related demands.

He first called on Acosta to resign.

Acosta, the former US attorney in Miami, was responsible for inking a plea deal with Epstein that victims weren't informed of, according to an expose in the Miami Herald.

While Epstein was accused of molesting dozens of teenage girls at his Palm Beach estate, he served just 13 months in prison, much of it out on work release.

''Instead of prosecuting a predator and serial sex trafficker of children, Acosta chose to let him off easy,'' Schumer said on the floor. ''This is not acceptable. We cannot have, as one of the leading appointed officials in America, someone who has done this.''

Schumer also asked that the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility make public its review of Acosta's handling of the case.

Finally, Schumer said Trump should paint a fuller picture of what he meant when he called Epstein a ''terrific guy'' in a 2002 article for New York Magazine.

Epstein was arrested this week and charged with trafficking dozens of minors between 2002 and 2005 in New York and Florida.

An April 2011 court filing shows that Trump eventually barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago ''because Epstein sexually assaulted a girl at the club,'' the documents allege.

Trump didn't officially launch a political career until June 2015. No FEC records show that Epstein was ever a Trump donor.

Remove Richard Stallman - Selam G. - Medium

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Archived Version

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 01:28

And everyone else horrible in tech.

I'm writing this because I'm too angry to work.

I'm writing this because at 11AM on Wednesday, September 11th 2019, my friend sent me an email that was sent to an MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) mailing list.

This email came from Richard Stallman, a prominent computer scientist.

In it, he's responding to a female student's email about this Facebook event, which calls for a protest by MIT students and affiliates regarding Jeffrey Epstein's donation.

The announcement of the Friday event does an injustice to MarvinMinsky:

''deceased AI 'pioneer' Marvin Minsky (who is accused of assaulting one of Epstein's victims [2])''

The injustice is in the word ''assaulting''. The term ''sexual assault''is so vague and slippery that it facilitates accusation inflation:taking claims that someone did X and leading people to think of it asY, which is much worse than X.

The accusation quoted is a clear example of inflation. The referencereports the claim that Minsky had sex with one of Epstein's harem.(See https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/9/20798900/marvin-minsky-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-island-court-records-unsealed.)Let's presume that was true (I see no reason to disbelieve it).

The word ''assaulting'' presumes that he applied force or violence, insome unspecified way, but the article itself says no such thing.Only that they had sex.

We can imagine many scenarios, but the most plausible scenario is thatshe presented herself to him as entirely willing. Assuming she wasbeing coerced by Epstein, he would have had every reason to tell herto conceal that from most of his associates.

I've concluded from various examples of accusation inflation that itis absolutely wrong to use the term ''sexual assault'' in an accusation.

Whatever conduct you want to criticize, you should describe it with aspecific term that avoids moral vagueness about the nature of thecriticism.

There are so many things wrong with what Richard Stallman said I hardly know where to begin. First, he didn't even give the typical, whiney, 'he's accused but not convicted' defense. No, Stallman went much further than that. Instead, Stallman said ''Let's assume that Marvin Minsky had sex with an underage girl who was a victim of child sex trafficking'''...

The reference reports the claim that Minsky had sex with one of Epstein's harem'...Let's presume that was true (I see no reason to disbelieve it).

'...and then he says that an enslaved child could, somehow, be ''entirely willing''. Let's also note that he called a group of child sex trafficking victims a 'harem', a terrible word choice.

We can imagine many scenarios, but the most plausible scenario is thatshe presented herself to him as entirely willing.

This is someone who is respected far and wide by the technology community.

This is someone who is a Visiting Scientist at MIT.

MIT claims it never wanted to elevate Epstein's reputation by allowing him to donate. But, here they are, not only elevating but funding and endorsing a person like Richard Stallman as a visiting scientist.

What's more, somehow Richard Stallman decided it was appropriate to email his opinion to an almost department-wide mailing list (''csail-related'') which had undergraduate students on it. In an email further down the thread, he also said,

''I think it is morally absurd to define ''rape'' in a way that depends on minor details such as which country it was in or whether the victim was 18 years old or 17.''

in response to a student who said ''Giuffre [the victim who testified] was 17 at the time, this makes it __rape__ [sic] in the virgin islands'' .

Again, this mailing list has undergraduate students on it. It is likely some of them are ''18 years old or 17''.

I was shocked. I continued talking to my friend, a female graduate student in CSAIL, about everything, trying to get the full email thread (I wasn't on the mailing list). I even started emailing reporters '-- local and national, news sites, newspapers, radio stations. I couldn't stop thinking about it. During my 45-minute drive home, when I normally listen to podcasts or music, I just sat in complete silence.

The only reporter who responded quickly was one from WBUR, and they didn't seem to be in a rush to publish this information. So, I told my friends that I would just write a story myself. I'd planned to do it after work today; instead, because I can't possibly focus, I'm working on it now.

MIT does not deserve its women.

The world does not deserve them either. I thought back to every person who has ever asked me how to ''fix'' the gender problems in STEM, how to ''get more girls'' to join STEM programs. I thought about every time that someone has suggested ''men are better at spacial thinking'' and that ''testosterone is linked to better performance in math''.

In my mind I look at all these people, a crowd that is gathered. And in my mind, I stand up and I scream at them. I would put my hands around their shoulders and shake sense into all of them, individually, if I had enough time and enough hands

The problems are so obvious.

There is nothing wrong with women. There is nothing wrong with girls in STEM. There are many women and many girls who, in spite of everything, love STEM-related disciplines. Some of them even go through 4-year bachelors degrees at MIT, maybe even 7 years of a PhD, and then begin questioning whether they should continue in these fields, because they are filled to the brim with so, so many shitty men.

Jeffrey Epstein. Marvin Minsky.

Richard Stallman.

Travis Kalanick. James Damore. The laundry list of men in tech and academia who have continued this pattern of harassment, misogyny, and discrimination.

Richard Stallman was known to be problematic long before this. This is the door to his office:

A relatively less serious or even funny gaffe, but I'm told he's sent incendiary emails to the CSAIL list before. One friend joked that they have an email filter explicitly for Stallman's emails, to always remove them from their inbox.

Why do we tolerate this?

Why do we allow the jokes and the comments and everything small to just 'slide'?

Why do we wait until it becomes bad and public and unbearable and people like me have to write posts like this?

Why do we ponder the low enrollment of female and minority graduate students at MIT with one hand and endorse shitty men in science with the other? Not only endorse them '-- we invite them to our campus where they will brush shoulders with those same female and minority students.

Why do we excuse people simply because they are ''geniuses''?

As Michelle Obama says, ''they are not that smart''. Even in STEM fields, I have to agree.

There is nothing I have seen a man in tech do that a woman could not. What's more, the woman would probably be less egotistical and more team-oriented about it.

There is no single person that is so deserving of praise their comments deprecating others should be allowed to slide. Particularly when those comments are excuses about rape, assault, and child sex trafficking.

Child.

Sex.

Trafficking.

This reminds me of Sandy Hook. We knew, then, that if America would do nothing in response to the deaths of children, we would do nothing, ever.

I know, now, that if prominent technology institutions won't start firing their problematic men left right and center, we will do nothing. Ever.

I don't care anymore that the Epstein issue is airing the dirty laundry within our community, even though Harvard has certainly taken far more Epstein funding and stayed far more silent about the matter. I understand, now, that powerful institutions will not remove their problematic members until we make it messy and public and awful. I am ready, now, to join others in calling for burning everything to the ground.

I have a great love for my home institution. It's where I wanted to go to college since I was 7 years old. When asked, I still say that my happiest memory so far in life, or the accomplishment I'm most proud of, is that day on 12/14/13 at 12:14 PM when I received my letter of acceptance. I write this with the fervent wish that it changes for the better, along with all other institutions in tech and in STEM, along with all other institutions in the country and the world.

This behavior cannot go unchecked, simply because someone is seen as a ''genius''. Simply because they are powerful, influential, or have friends in high places.

Those are the same forces that allowed Jeffrey Epstein to rape and traffick children for so long.

At least Richard Stallman is not accused of raping anyone. But is that our highest standard? The standard that this prestigious institution holds itself to?If this is what MIT wants to defend; if this is what MIT wants to stand for, then, yes, burn it to the ground.

Or remove them. Remove men like Richard Stallman and, I'm sure, the many others that are now hiding. #MeToo showed us that they are not safe, not as isolated as we thought in their towers of power and prestige.

Remove everyone, if we must, and let something much better be built from the ashes.

Epstein had dental chairs on Island compund

Link to Article

Archived Version

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 20:20

A scandal an order of magnitude bigger than Watergate a generation ago, and it strikes at the center of both political parties, and even reaches as high as the royal family in England '-- with Prince Andrew having been in Epstein's company, years after his first conviction '-- so it's important not to miss any key points along the way.

Just In: Bill Gates Reportedly Was "Directed" To Make Donations At Epstein's Request

Especially as law enforcement friendly Gabe Podesta seems to not understand Pedogate, an extraordinary almost three years after his father's disturbing WikiLeaks surfaced, he should make sure his contacts in law enforcement quiz his dad, John Podesta, on why he was using ''pizza'' and other terms used by child pornographers and child abusers, as veteran law enforcement sources have stated. They can also ask him why he was invited to a party where a six, nine, and eleven year old were being Ubered as ''entertainment'' for the attendees.

Gabe Podesta, John Podesta's son and purported online image expert. Image taken from John Podesta's public, confirmed Twitter account.

As we and others had reported, it is already known that Bill Gates flew on convicted pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's private jet '-- dubbed the Lolita Express '-- years after Epstein was convicted the first time around.

''Bill Gates flew with Jeffrey Epstein on the Lolita Express in 2013, with the man whose charity aims to empower young girls joining the serial pedophile four years after he left prison,'' the Daily Mail succinctly put it.

But now the story gets even weirder '-- Business Insider and others are reporting that Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates made donations to MIT's media lab through Jeffrey Epstein, almost as if repaying a debt of some kind or paying for'... something? Emails show he was ''directed'' by the now deceased pedo Epstein to make a $2 million donation on or around 2014.

What sway did Epstein possibly have with one of the richest men in the world, to tell him where to make his donations?

Separately, FULCRUM Research believes Gabe Podesta '-- adult son of sicko John Podesta, at the center of the Podesta Emails released by WikiLeaks in late 2016 '-- may be directing disinformation and deplatforming attacks against researchers who have covered the Podesta Emails, which are real emails, and which demand criminal investigation.

Gabe Podesta with his father, John Podesta. Image posted publicly earlier in the year by John Podesta's confirmed Twitter account.

This is unacceptable if true. Certainly, even the first half of today's article should tell you this growing scandal is not a ''child abuse hoax'' '-- as the paid sockpuppet accounts researchers believe are linked to the Podesta family keep claiming.

The Podestas should ask their old employers, the Clintons, if this scandal is real: why was Bill Clinton a passenger on the Lolita Express, the same problematic child trafficking jet which now ensnares Bill Gates? Why was Bill Clinton a passenger on that plane 20+ times? What legitimate business does a former President have with a serial child trafficker and convicted pedophile like Epstein?

Also, in light of the direct connections researchers have made between John Podesta, his strange friend James Alefantis, and that despicable ''Pedo Island'' in the USVI run by Epstein '-- the Podestas should not be crowdstalking, deplatforming, or harassing anybody at all.

They should be asking the public for forgiveness, cooperating with authorities, and doing their best to replatform and make whole again the truthtellers they have maliciously attacked in the three years since the surprise loss of Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump.

They should be answering, in-depth, very legitimate questions the public has about the use of ''walnut saucing,'' ''pizza,'' and other strange terms found '-- repeatedly and in the context of being code words of some kind '-- in the Podesta WikiLeaks.

And then, Gabe Podesta should look his father in the eyes and ask why John Podesta '-- a 70 year old '-- was invited to a place where a six year old and her friends, aged nine and eleven, were delivered by a suspected child trafficker. To a pool, for the stated purpose of ''entertainment.'' (He should also ask why his father receives personal spiritcooking invitations, another curiosity from the Podesta WikiLeaks. THESE PEOPLE ARE SICK.)

This wretched person Luzzatto, described by some researchers as a ''shittier version'' of Epstein's alleged accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, was recently spotted at Martha's Vineyard taking Instagram pics with members of the Kennedy family. What business do a family as wealthy and (once) charismatic as the Kennedys have with a monstrous suspected trafficker of the young and innocent?

Pre-Epstein's death and all the info about Ghislaine Maxwell's alleged child procuring activities coming out, many people didn't believe all this stuff was possible. It has been alleged Epstein was seeking out victims as young as 8 years old, and it was reported that Clinton/Podesta pal Epstein had 12 year olds delivered as a birthday gift, and that he molested them before returning them to France.

Now that we see it's par for the course '-- and that these people certainly do exist '-- what business do the Kennedys or the Podestas or anyone have with someone like Luzzatto? Here's one of her emails in the WikiLeaks:

Continue reading: The Direct Link Between James Alefantis, John Podesta, and Jeffrey Epstein's Island

Stay in the know: get our newsletter and please KEEP SHARING. The public is finally waking up on these sick Podestas. No more harassment of us, Gabe! No more deplatforming! No more calling the biggest scandal of all time a ''child abuse hoax,'' because that's offensive to us, and it's offensive to our many readers, and it's'--most of all'--offensive to the victims of these creep families. We want answers. We want justice. And we want it now.

Even by the low moral standards Prince Andrew has set for himself, this is shocking.

Now under royal scrutiny: A genuine picture of Prince Andrew grinning with his arm around one of Jeffrey Epstein's primary legal accusers, who was a child at the time Epstein flew her around the world and offered her ''services'' to some of the convicted billionaire pedo's social circle, court papers assert.

Ghislaine Maxwell, as yet remarkably still un-indicted, looms in the background of the photo.

So, we see, those supposedly so compassionate toward the victims of child sex trafficking have a weird penchant for shutting down investigations, intimidating investigators, and gaslighting away public awareness from the headlines that would cause the public to make this a top law enforcement priority. Odd!

Do they really want to go here? What about the photo, or Virginia Giuffre's disturbing claims about Jeffrey Epstein and his nearly 1,000 ''elite'' wealthy friends, is not genuine? Constant gaslighting is not remorse, it's pathetic.

Why did so many in the media refuse to cover the allegations against Epstein and his friends in a timely fashion? Why did some leading names in the broadcast media actually attend a celebration dinner hosted by Epstein at his house, after his release from prison the first time around? Why so much weirdness around the details of Epstein's alleged suicide while in one of the most monitored correctional facilities in the world?

Why do the wealthy elite in America and Europe seem singularly obsessed with hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein in awkward public encounters, and child sex predation? What possible legitimate reason could there be for flying on Epstein's infamously named Lolita Express 20+ times, as former President Clinton has? Why does Clinton-linked Daily Beast continue to appear on the homepage of MSN and Yahoo! in the States? (when its presentation of the news'--and especially its analysis of the truthful Pizzagate scandal'--appears to be materially biased agitprop, set out at the behest of the Clintons, and not public interest journalism.

Why has Google-owned YouTube refused to restore service to FULCRUM News, David Seaman, Infowars and other truthful purveyors of Pedogate/Pizzagate information, and instead reversed course from its earlier surprising public stance of allowing ''opposing views'' back onto their ''open'' platform? Why all the top-down Big Tech censorship of an underage sex scandal that implicates billionaires, and Big Tech executives?

Why has a former John Podesta employee launched a lobbying firm here in DC, remarkably calling it FULCRUM DC and trying to bury us in search results so that his firm can rank for that term, when we've gone by FULCRUM DC publicly on our timestamped social media and have been based in the D.C. area for some time now'... when we questioned him about this, he blocked our FULCRUM DC Twitter account from further contact.

What is all this nonsense? Continue reading:

Researchers have directly linked Jeffrey Epstein socially to John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's 2016 Campaign Manager, and to James Alefantis '-- a shadowy restaurant proprietor and close friend of Barack Obama's who visited the Obama-era White House at least five times, according to public records.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates reportedly flew on Epstein's infamous private jet, dubbed the Lolita Express by the media, years after Epstein was convicted of soliciting sex from minors.

Yuck! Is no part of our culture not infiltrated by the Podesta/Epstein pedophilic filth arm of the deepstate? Breitbart is reporting that one of the primary Jeffrey Epstein accusers is now claiming she was forced to give a foot massage to Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, while aboard Epstein's private jet'--dubbed the ''Lolita Express'' by the public due to the fact it was used to traffick children for sexual purposes.

She said rendering the massage was difficult, due to his ''crusty toes.''

Continue reading: Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, and his weird pizza shop owner friend in D.C., are now both directly tied to Epstein's child rape island.

WHERE ARE ARRESTS? WE ARE TRYING TO BE OBJECTIVE, PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS HERE (FORMER BUSINESS INSIDER / AOL / HUFFPOST MEN IN OUR RANKS) AND THIS LACK OF JUSTICE MAKES OUR BLOOD BOIL. WHERE ARE THE FUCKING ARRESTS? WHAT IS WRONG WITH BARR? ARE THEY ALL WOLVES?

God help us!

Et tu, Matt? Is nothing sacred any more?

If Prince Andrew was so ''appalled'' by Jeffrey Epstein being a serial pedophile, it is curious that he was recorded leaving Epstein's Manhattan townhome years after the billionaire was first convicted of being a pedophile.

The same can be said of American tech titan Bill Gates. The Microsoft Corp. co-founder reportedly flew on Epstein's ''Lolita Express'' and fraternized with the perverted billionaire years after the world discovered what Epstein was, via his first conviction.

And the European newspapers haven't even gotten to the sad finale here. We will spoil the ending for you: why do the vast majority of children flown to ''the Island'' never return, according to pilots' flight logs? Do they swim back to their home countries? Do they enter a magical mystery Stargate to another dimension? WHERE DO THEY GO?

You'll figure it out soon enough.

Today's Sun frontpage, circulated throughout the UK and other parts of Europe'--

European media is shattering these ''elites'' over their pedo billionaire ties: where is the American media's voice in this round of condemnation? Relatively silent, aside from us, Breitbart, and a select few others.

European media, including the Irish Sun and British Daily Mail, are now reporting that Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a high profile Epstein accuser, ''described the sadistic birthday present in unsealed court documents from a 2015 lawsuit.''

The documents, finally made public, will change the world.

PizzaGate was the claim, based on WikiLeaks emails of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta leaked weeks before the 2016 election, that elites traffick in '-- and sometimes gift each other '-- underage girls, referred to as ''pizza'' by the traffickers, and that these girls are molested, tortured, and in some cases even killed.

As depicted in Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick's last film, the ''elite'' aren't at all like the rest of us. They're monsters.

Researchers believe the victims are often tortured physically to the point of what is known as psychological dissociation, making it harder for authorities to accurately gain information from the victims later on, and making the victims less likely to come forward in the first place.

The Sun is reporting ''Jeffrey [Epstein] bragged afterwards after he met them that they were 12-year-olds and flown over from France because they're really poor over there.''

It's important to note that child victims are often sought out for their low socioeconomic status, rather than nationality. The girls allegedly ''procured'' by Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, for instance, were often targeted due to their economic neediness.

This story is still developing, and more information will be published as it becomes available.

Whatever Jeffrey Epstein was, he certainly was not remorseful after his release from jail the first time around. The convicted pedophile Democrat billionaire reportedly wore bizarre high-end velvet slippers to a billionaires' ball just four years ago, in 2015, with ''Screw U'' emblazoned on them.

Epstein's black Spanish cotton-velvet slippers had a message for the world.

A message for the world at large, or a message for his underage victims in particular? We'll never know, I suppose, now that his neck has weirdly shattered, ending his life.

In the past several days, FULCRUM has seen unprecedented web site traffic and Facebook growth, as the public is coming to realize we are one of the few US-based media outlets competently publishing new information on this bizarre scandal. Be sure to review our recent coverage below to get brought up to speed on Epstein and his alleged accomplices, and also get our newsletter (as thousands already do) so you don't miss the latest research & intelligence from the nation's capitol!

That weekly newsletter issue hits hard. What you need to know about the Epstein scandal:

His alleged accomplice and child ''procurer'' Ghislaine Maxwell is apparently not yet indicted or arrested, and was recently spotted at an In-N-Out Burger in Los Angeles, California. Really.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates reportedly flew on Epstein's infamous private jet, dubbed the Lolita Express by the media, years after Epstein was convicted of soliciting sex from minors.

In the past, Epstein had 550 pound dental chairs delivered to his private island in the Caribbean, and more recently was shipping industrial shredders and tile extractor equipment to the island. What were the chairs used for? We don't yet know.

Investigators seized upon a nearly 15 year old note which suggested Epstein and his accomplices had, at one point, worked to ''procure'' girls as young as 8 years old for sexual abuse or trips to the island, significantly younger than the victims the media has identified thus far.

Wherever this strange story leads, trust FULCRUM!

We will continue to analyze and break the latest information as it becomes available from authorities, and from other investigators in the media. Thank you for your support.

Have to say, the American media '-- including Microsoft-owned MSN.com '-- is doing a woefully incomplete job of covering the biggest political scandal of all time. Most of the coverage is coming from newspapers and media outlets in Europe, India, and elsewhere outside of the US.

Could this be why?

Billionaire convicted pedo Jeffrey Epstein ensnared some of America's biggest tech elites including, it appears, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates.

Not good.

''Epstein had just been released from prison four years prior after pleading guilty to two counts of soliciting a minor under the age of 18 for sex,'' according to the British Daily Mail, and others.

So far, reps for the Microsoft co-founder have refused comment on this issue.

Continue reading: why did Jeffrey Epstein have 550 pound dental chairs and industrial shredders delivered to his private island?

And please remember to get our popular newsletter so you don't miss any breaking news or research on this '-- and other crucial topics from the nation's capitol. Our research is unrivaled, and the newsletter offers a 60 day 100 percent money back guarantee.

Purported ''rape survivor'' and Bill Clinton victim Juanita Broaddrick, followed by nearly 140,000 people on Twitter, tweeted the following just hours ago '-- ''I ask again. Why is Ghislaine Maxwell running free. Vanity Fair, 8-12-19, quoted her as saying about the victims..... 'They're nothing, these girls. They are trash'. I repeat. Why is she not in jail?''

Broaddrick, like many others around the world, is wondering why Epstein's accomplice is apparently still completely free.

At some level, her tweet is channeling the anger and growing confusion many in the world are experiencing. Billionaire convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who was presumed to be America's most valuable prisoner and suspect, was found dead in his cell with breaks to his neck bones '-- consistent, forensic experts say, with either strangulation or suicide by hanging.

The fractures Epstein exhibited are more commonly found with strangulation victims than with suicide by hanging, but that fact hasn't stopped some of the ''blue checkmark'' verified journalists on Twitter from trying to throw cold water on the weirdness of this all.

Some of them are vocally asserting that this was a suicide, not a murder, and that these things simply happen in America's overburdened, racially prejudiced prison system.

Um, alright. We are not disputing either of those claims, it's just that we don't see how either of those things pertain here: Epstein, a wealthy white man who included President Bill Clinton and Lynn Rothschild among his close friends, had already been transferred to a supposed ''suicide watch'' wing due to previously being found unconscious and injured in his prior cell.

What, exactly, did Epstein hang himself with in his new suicide watch cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center '-- heavily guarded & monitored 24/7 '-- and a cell designed to deter even the most deranged, committed of criminals from ending their lives prematurely.

Waiting for a burger at In-N-Out, Ghislaine Maxwell is just like the rest of us when she's not ''procuring'' children for billionaires to rape and torture. Allegedly.

Aside from the ongoing mystery of Epstein's death, as Broaddrick pointed out, his alleged chief accomplice is still free. Almost impossibly, The New York Post and others have reported she was spotted at an In-N-Out Burger in Los Angeles, a coast away from her friend's legal woes in New York.

Why don't prosecutors have her in custody already?

After Attorney General Barr's comments about the unacceptable unanswered questions surrounding Epstein's death, how is this even remotely acceptable?

To be fair, In-N-Out does have very good burgers, affordable and fresh.

In all seriousness, though, if you want to pierce the veil here and understand what may indeed be going on, it will take a brief suspension of disbelief. The world simply is not as we were taught it is back in high school or college or wherever '-- it's not a meritocracy, where the best are rewarded, and where the wicked are promptly punished by authorities, and so on.

Instead, the world (at least here in the West) is more akin to the strange stratified world of secrecy, and secret sex acts, revealed in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, which incidentally was his last film project before his death.

The film, part of which was actually filmed in a historical Rothschild-owned mansion, shows a young doctor played by Tom Cruise who stumbles into a secret society that engages in late-night strange mass orgies. The members of this society, much to his character's surprise, include some prominent members of society.

When the secret society realizes Cruise's character has attempted to infiltrate them, the response is swift, severe, and increasingly bizarre. His beautiful wife is played by Nicole Kidman, who later relayed to the public that the film's director, Kubrick, told her that pedophiles run the world.

''Stanley told me the world is run by pedophiles,'' was the exact quote she gave during an interview promoting a HBO project some time later. ''He [Stanley Kubrick] studied secret societies his whole life, he was fascinated by them, and he said the elite, the top secret societies, they are full of men with a certain predilection. They are tied together, sort of bonded, by pedophilia,'' she told the interviewer.

''They all know each other's dark secrets. There is no way out for any of them. It's a lifetime bond. Even if one of them wanted to go straight, repent, so to speak, he can't. His peers will bring him down. They are in it until death, driving the world to ruin. That's kind of how Stanley explained it but it was all very complex. I'm probably not doing it justice.''

She's doing it more justice than most, I'm afraid, and an A-list actress like her worth millions probably knows more about the subject than most as well.

So, to answer Juanita Broaddrick's question posed on Twitter, Maxwell is a member of some very powerful secret clubs '-- and prosecutors, FBI agents, and anyone else under the sun will tread carefully in taking her down, if they do at all.

Are the people who know our past leaders' dark secrets, fantasies, and (maybe) violent crimes more powerful than anyone else?

I think you already know the answer.

Continue reading: a direct link found between Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, bizarre elite DC pizza shop owner James Alefantis, and Epstein's Pedo Island.

Oh wow. If not for all the censorship and orchestrated harassment against us (which will end as soon as John Podesta is arrested by authorities), I'd have to call this a golden era of journalism '-- Watergate pales in comparison to the depth of depravity, public corruption, and pure evil revealed by Jeffrey Epstein's arrest, and subsequent presumed murder while locked up in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.

Jeffrey Epstein's island is the opened ''can of worms'' for the political elite '-- hidden in the shadows and protected by the media no more!

Epstein was awaiting trial, expected to start sometime around June 2020. Instead, he's dead, and his secrets gone with him '-- or at least some of them.

What we know now is a lot more than what we knew in late 2016, when the child abuse and underage sex trafficking scandal known as PizzaGate first broke. At the time, the scandal appeared to implicate the Clintons and their 2016 Campaign Manager, John Podesta '-- yet some details didn't quite add up.

Now they do.

At the height of PizzaGate interest, researchers on the Internet combed through the disturbing Instagram posts of James Alefantis, proprietor of the infamous Comet Pizza & Ping Pong in Washington, D.C. '-- and a close friend of President Barack Obama's. (White House records show that Alefantis visited the Obama-era White House at least five times.)

Our now viral 8 minute documentary video guiding viewers through some of the disturbing Alefantis Instagram posts contained some things that researchers, at the time, simply did not understand. In one photo, a friend of Alefantis' labeled an image of a stark looking steel room with the hashtag murder, and in another photo the hashtag carisjames was used. The repeat use of #carisjames confused researchers, and many theories emerged '-- none of which felt valid.

We now believe carisjames may be a contraction of Caribbean Island of Little St. James, which is the formal name of the property in the US Virgin Islands owned by Jeffrey Epstein. Certainly, within the context established by researchers, this makes sense: Alefantis and his peers appear to use #carisjames to tag images of young girls and children that they feel would be suitable for a visit to the Island.

And what's done to them, once they arrive?

Investigative reporters at The Intercept seized upon the maritime freight logs of items shipped to Epstein's island, and they're bizarre: dental chairs weighing 550 pounds, and more recently, industrial shredders as well as floor tile extractor equipment. Was Epstein running an unlicensed children's dental practice from his private Caribbean island? Certainly possible, but unlikely '-- this rabbit hole goes deep, and gets dark fast.

James Alefantis appears in the Podesta Emails released by WikiLeaks in late 2016, Podesta had hosted a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton at his pizza restaurant '-- and James Alefantis posted to his Instagram a personal signed letter from Hillary, thanking him for the event and for his generosity as a host.

Separately, in April 2017, John Podesta publicly thanked Alefantis for the ''pizza'' in a curious tweet.

Gaslight fail, I guess. Millions now know the truth.

They've killed good people to slow down this scandal's crescendo, which is now at hand. This ''fallen world'' will be made accountable and whole again, that much is certain.

And the FULCRUM community is owed much of the credit for furthering the facts, when many others were too afraid to tread in deep water.

Continue reading: the list of Podesta's private media allies is shocking, and explains why ''PizzaGate'' has been mocked by the corporate media over the past two years, instead of properly investigated.

Get our newsletter. It keeps our ad-free investigative journalism running, and you'll get a lot out of it personally '-- we often share breaking research discoveries with our large newsletter audience hours or days before it makes it here to FULCRUM's homepage.

And stay safe if you choose to share this information. Many in law enforcement '-- just like in the media '-- are compromised by John Podesta and the Clintons. Until Podesta is arrested and detained, none of us are safe.

The same 'mainstream' media that spent two years telling us allegations of underage sex trafficking connected to the Clintons were categorically false sludge are now all knotted up trying to figure out how to maintain that position, while shifting 180 degrees to the, ''Oh, it's actually quite real!'' overture that Daily Beast and The New York Times have already begun to make.

Jeffrey Epstein's deep ties to the Clintons are fact, and now researchers suspect Epstein was targeting girls even younger than the teens we already know about.

With new allegations surfacing '-- technically, new old allegations, more on that in a moment '-- that Jeffrey Epstein or his friend were in the process of ''procuring two 8-year-olds,'' it is being reported.

So far, British and Indian media outlets on Google News have done the lion's share of reporting on jailed Democrat pedophile billionaire Epstein, and it's truly remarkable how little of the coverage is coming from American media outlets '-- no American outlets aside from us seem to be covering the claim that Epstein or his friend wanted two 8-year-olds ''procured,'' even though Indian MEAWW and England's Daily Mail (among others) are reporting on it with apparent ease.

What's infuriating here is that authorities have apparently known about Epstein and the note since 2005, yet are only discussing it again now: ''A message pad belonging to Jeffrey Epstein was first obtained by police during their search of his mansion at Palm Beach on October 2005,'' MEAWW reported.

''One of the messages appears to reference underage girls, while another notes how an 18-year-old 'loves Jeffrey,''' the article claims.

Incredible that they are only giving this the time of day now, some nearly 15 years later.

Cat got your tongue, George Stephanopoulos, and all you other fucking weirdos who reportedly partied with Jeffrey Epstein after he got out of jail the first time around?

Where's the proper US media coverage of this absolutely massive, now vindicated scandal?

PizzaGate was the late 2016 name for the very truthful claim that ''elite'' individuals in the Clintons' circle are involved in underage sex trafficking; former President Bill Clinton rode on Epstein's private jet 20 or more times at a known minimum. Bill Clinton's former White House chief of staff and Hillary Clinton's campaign manager in 2016, John Podesta, had his emails leaked and published on WikiLeaks just weeks before the 2016 national election.

Podesta WikiLeaks emails - ''pizza'' and ''walnut sauce'' references baffled researchers in 2016.

In the emails, ''pizza'' was a prevalent conversation topic, and the overwhelming majority of researchers '-- to this day '-- believe that pizza was a code word for a young girl or child in some of the coded exchanges.

Also established by the Podesta WikiLeaks was that Podesta and his lobbying firm were not mere awkward orbiters here in D.C. '-- they were high fliers and helped enact the progressive sounding policies of the transnational banking elite who still fund much of our politics, and legacy media.

In this exchange from December 5, 2007, for instance, FULCRUM researchers learned that Podesta attended a private policy dinner in New York attended by only five others, including George Soros and Lynn Forester de Rothschild, head of the historical Rothschild banking family.

The Podesta WikiLeaks gave a rare glimpse into the social hierarchy of global politics.

Here's a review of what we know about Jeffrey Epstein's nearly $80 million private island, which features a ''bizarre blue-striped building,'' as NBC News put it, or temple of some kind.

''Conspiracy theory'' no more '-- NBC News is covering the Epstein ''temple'' in-depth

As more news about the Democrat pedophile billionaire comes to light, FULCRUM will be among the first to report and analyze it. The longtime friend of the Clintons '-- and many others in politics '-- remains in lock-up in New York City on underage sex trafficking charges, with a trial date expected around June 2020.

What we know already:

The striped building, one of the few above ground architectural features of the island, does not match submitted plans for a building Epstein wanted to construct. Some online have speculated the building may be an entrance to an underground facility of some kind, or even an elevator shaft leading to dwelling space of some kind beneath the island's surface.

Epstein was having dental chairs and industrial shredders, as well as tile extractor equipment, sent to the island. What he and his guests needed these bulky items for, however, is less clear. (Enterprising journalists at The Intercept came across a maritime freight log of some kind, which revealed Epstein's bizarre shipments.)

Jeffrey Epstein maintained a purported ''blackmail safe'' out of his Manhattan luxury townhome, containing CD-ROMs with guests names written on them. Authorities have opened the safe and are investigating its contents fully, it is believed.

Shortly after his lock-up at the MCC in New York City, Epstein was reportedly injured, and was found in the fetal position with evident wounds or bruises to his neck.

Finally, a whopping 14 victims have stepped forward so far, willing to testify against Jeffrey Epstein.

Jeffrey Epstein found in the ''fetal position'' in his cell.

What you need to know this Thursday'... As we reported on Facebook earlier, billionaire Democrat pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was found in his Manhattan jail cell unconscious in a ''fetal position,'' with apparent injuries to his neck. He was transported to a local hospital for medical treatment.

Have the Clintons already tried to get to him? Oh, sorry, that's a ''conspiracy theory'' '-- except it's not at all. Seth Rich was the most likely source for the sick Satanic pedophile emails released just days before the 2016 election, humiliating Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta and the rest of her campaign. Rich was shot to death here in D.C., in what authorities had hastily deemed a ''botched robbery,'' without his possessions or money in his wallet having been stolen'... Weird. Almost not a robbery at all, but a hit in retaliation for ruining Podesta's secrecy around his sick spiritcooking and pizza obsession?

Millions of us have read those emails, and we will never be silent until the people in the emails '-- namely, the Podestas '-- see their day in court. These are not elites; they are degenerates in a sad alleged child abuse ring.

In other news, Bitcoin lunged back above US $10,000, currently trading around $10,017 per coin, according to coincap.io. Ethereum saw gains over the last 24 hours also, with Ether trading around $221.15 each.

Why might Ethereum be significant? This short 1 min, 28 second video does a great job of showing the eventual scale of blockchain technology, as Ethereum envisions it anyway '--

How deep does the rabbit hole go? Who is in the Jeffrey Epstein blackmail safe, which was recently opened up by authorities? How can the public be sure that top level insiders don't remove any files from the safe, and how can the anxious public also ensure all parties incriminated by the files are promptly prosecuted? No one's above the law. Not now.

If it is true, as some researchers assert, that billionaire Jeffrey Epstein was financed and greenlit by none other than the Rothschild banking clan to gather compromising content on politicians throughout the West, then we have a genuine national security concern to consider '-- how long have European, occult shadow banking families worth trillions been in secret command of our past leaders' darkest, most perverse pleasures?

After all, at day's end, there's little normal about Jeffrey Epstein's life story '-- the billionaire financier with only one known client and no known real large deals, the friend of President Clinton's who flew on the same jet with the former President 20 or 30 times at a minimum, if not far more. The man who owns his very own weird 70-plus acre island in the Virgin Islands, an island with a glistening owl and other occult symbolism adorning a bizarre palm tree encircled temple.

So little to this story adds up so far. If Epstein's crimes occurred in 2002-2005, as authorities in New York have asserted, why did we have an essentially non-functional justice system from 2005-2019? Why was Epstein flying back and forth from Paris, other cities, and his island as recently as earlier this year, and last year?

Who are these people?

And, in the wake of what journalists at The Intercept cleverly uncovered '-- an inventory of items shipped to and from Epstein's island '-- what were these people doing with their victims?

How did Jeffrey Epstein get away with it'... for all these years? How many in media knew?

Follow FULCRUM on Facebook and Twitter for more news on Jeffrey Epstein as it is uncovered.

Truth: it's stranger than fiction. Welcome to 2019.

Make no mistake, Epstein and Podesta ran in the same circles, with the Clintons at the epicenter of both. This is PizzaGate, and we are now massively vindicated. Yet, it's only Wednesday, and many surprises are in store.

Epstein and Podesta will be infamous.

Watch today's show, where I talk about rapidly rising mainstream media interest in the Podesta / Epstein super-scandal known as Pedogate, or ''PizzaGate,'' originally when it broke back in late 2016 around the use of ''pizza'' in John Podesta's WikiLeaks.

Today's FULCRUM multistream:

Renowned MIT Computer Scientist Richard Stallman Defends Epstein: Victims Were 'Entirely Willing'

Link to Article

Archived Version

Sat, 14 Sep 2019 23:58

While MIT engages in damage control following revelations the university's Media Lab accepted millions of dollars in funding from Jeffrey Epstein, a renowned computer scientist at the university has fanned the flames by apparently going out of his way to defend the accused sex trafficker'--and child pornography in general.

Richard Stallman has been hailed as one of the most influential computer scientists around today and honored with a slew of awards and honorary doctorates, but his eminence in the academic computer science community came into question Friday afternoon when purportedly leaked email excerpts showed him suggesting one of Epstein's alleged victims was ''entirely willing.''

An MIT engineering alumna, Selam Jie Gano, published a blog post calling for Stallman's removal from the university in light of his comments, along with excerpts from the email in which Stallman appeared to defend both Epstein and Marvin Minsky, a lauded cognitive scientist and founder of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab who was accused of assaulting Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre has alleged that sex offender and financier Epstein trafficked her to powerful men for sex, including Minsky, who died in 2016. She's alleged that Epstein and his alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell recruited her at Mar-a-Lago when she was 16 years old.

Stallman wrote that ''the most plausible scenario'' for Giuffre's accusations was that she was, in actuality, ''entirely willing.'' Vice's Motherboard later reprinted the emails in full. Gano did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Stallman also wrote in the email exchange that ''it is morally absurd to define 'rape' in a way that depends on minor details such as which country it was in or whether the victim was 18 years old or 17.''

A deep dive into his writings shows this isn't the first time Stallman has expressed such questionable views, however. He has written dozens of posts on his personal website in favor of legalizing pedophilia and child pornography for more than 15 years.

''This 'child pornography' might be a photo of yourself or your lover that the two of you shared. It might be an image of a sexually mature teenager that any normal adult would find attractive. What's heinous about having such a photo?'' Stallman wrote in 2011 on his personal site, stallman.org, in an argument in favor of Congress limiting laptop searches at the U.S. border.

Stallman currently works as a visiting scientist at MIT, according to the website of the university's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL), and as the president of the Free Software Foundation, which he founded in 1985. Stallman has been seen as a pioneering computer scientist for decades, especially in his creation of and advocacy for new kinds of freely available software. Much of his work underpins modern computer science. He's worked at MIT on and off since the 1980s, and he spoke at a Microsoft computer science research center just last week. The Free Software Foundation, Microsoft, and MIT did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Stallman's remarks.

Stallman also did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.

Stallman commented on the news of Epstein at length on his personal site. In April of this year, the programmer wrote of one story, ''I disagree with some of what the article says about Epstein. Epstein is not, apparently, a pedophile, since the people he raped seem to have all been postpuberal.'' He preferred to call Epstein a ''serial rapist.''

Chafing at the idea of a legal age of consent was a favorite theme of his, per his earlier blog posts. In 2003, he said, ''I think that everyone age 14 or above ought to take part in sex, though not indiscriminately. (Some people are ready earlier.)''

Alan Dershowitz, one of the lawyers who helped broker Epstein's 2008 sweetheart plea deal, has also argued against age of consent laws, calling statutory rape an ''outdated concept'' in a 1997 op-ed and suggesting on Twitter in July that a 16-year-old should have the ''constitutional right'' to consensual sex.

Stallman was apparently also quite open about his ideas not only on age of consent laws, but also pedophilia. In 2006, he wrote, ''I am skeptical of the claim that voluntarily pedophilia harms children. The arguments that it causes harm seem to be based on cases which aren't voluntary, which are then stretched by parents who are horrified by the idea that their little baby is maturing.'' The law does not allow for ''voluntary'' pedophilia.

In 2006, he said it wouldn't so bad for an adult man who worked for the Department of Homeland Security to have sex with a 14-year-old, as one government employee had allegedly propositioned: ''Supposing she had voluntarily had sex with him, presuming that they used a condom and suitable contraception, it would have done no harm to either of them.''

He reiterated his point in 2013: ''There is little evidence to justify the widespread assumption that willing participation in pedophilia hurts children.''

People within the tech industry knew of Stallman's remarks, chattering about his controversial claims in social networking sites and forums at least since last year, but his remarks about Epstein's victims reignited the debate Friday. The digital trail of Stallman's remarks and the whisper network surrounding them raise the question of whether MIT and the Free Software Foundation knew of his controversial statements.

Stallman's permissive streak extended to all varieties of illegal sexual behavior. In 2003, he wrote a post about a judge who argued that repealing an Alabama anti-sodomy law would lead to the legalization of "prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography, and even incest and pedophilia.'' The computer scientist responded, ''All of these acts should be legal as long as no one is coerced. They are illegal only because of prejudice and narrowmindedness.''

Stallman extended his argument to say that internet censorship is worse than child pornography: ''The term 'child pornography' is dishonest. The censorship of it puts young lovers in direct danger of prosecution. Many published works are disgusting, but censorship is more so.''

And in 2011: ''Even when it is uncontroversial to call the subject depicted a 'child,' that is no excuse for censorship. Having a photo or drawing does not hurt anyone, so and [sic] if you or I think it is disgusting, that is no excuse for censorship.''

MIT has been rocked in recent weeks by scandals arising from its connections to Epstein. The director of the vaunted MIT Media Lab, Joichi Ito, resigned after the New Yorker reported he accepted more money from Epstein than he disclosed and that he had concealed the donations from both the university and the public. The president of MIT, L. Rafael Reif, ordered an independent investigation, which revealed that he, too, had taken part in hiding Epstein's donations. Reif is facing calls to step down after acknowledging that the Media Lab accepted funds from Epstein long after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution, with Reif's own signature found on a 2012 note thanking Epstein for his generosity to the university.

Stallman Under Fire for Views on Epstein | Tux Machines

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A Setback for FOSS in the Public (War) Sector, CONNECT Interoperability Project Shifting to the Private SectorGAO: DoD Not Fully Implementing Open-Source MandatesThe Department of Defense has not fully implemented mandates from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to increase its use of open-source software and release code, according to a September 10 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.The report notes that the 2018 NDAA mandated DoD establish a pilot program on open source and a report on the program's implementation. It also says that OMB's M-16-21 memorandum requires all agencies to release at least 20 percent of custom-developed code as open-source, with a metric for calculating program performance.However, DoD has released less than 10 percent of its custom code, and had not developed a measure to calculate the performance of the pilot program. In comments to GAO, the DoD CIO's office said there has been difficulty inventorying all of its custom source code across the department, and disagreement on how to assess the success for a performance measure. While the department worked to partially implement OMB's policy, the department had not yet issued a policy.

Pentagon moves slowly on open-source software mandate amid security concernsThe Defense Department has been slow to meet a government-wide mandate to release more open-source software code, as DOD officials have concerns about cybersecurity risks and are struggling to implement such a program across the department, according to a new audit.

DOD struggles to implement open source software pilotsThe Department of Defense's congressionally mandated efforts to create an open source software program aren't going so well.DOD must release at least 20 percent of its custom software as open source through a pilot required by a 2016 Office of Management and Budget directive and the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. Open source software, OMB says, can encourage collaboration, ''reduce costs, streamline development, apply uniform standards, and ensure consistency in creating and delivering information.''

DOD drags feet with open-source software program due to security, implementation concernsThe Defense Department has been slow to meet a government-wide mandate to release more open-source software code, as DOD officials have concerns about cybersecurity risks and are struggling to implement such a program across the department, according to a new audit. Since 2016, DOD has been required by law to implement an open-source software pilot program in accordance with policy established by the Office of Management and Budget.

DOD pushes back on open sourceDOD pushes back on open sourceCONNECT Interoperability Project Shifting to the Private SectorThe CONNECT project, an open source project that aims to increase interoperability among organizations, is transitioning from federal stewardship to the private sector and will soon be available to everyone.Developed ten years ago by a group of federal agencies in the Federal Health Architecture (FHA), CONNECT was a response to ONC's original approach to a health information network. The agencies decided to build a joint health interoperability solution instead of having each agency develop its own custom solution, and they chose to make the project open source.

Android LeftoversYou need to delete these 24 malware-infested Android apps right now5 Android apps you shouldn't miss this week! - Android Apps Weekly[Update: Back in stable] Spotify will officially bring back its Android widgetSamsung Galaxy Note10 Review: Switching From Apple iOS To AndroidiOS 13 vs. Android 10: Where Apple and Google are nowSamsung Galaxy S10+ vs. iPhone 11 Pro: Which should you buy?Chromecast support now available for Apple Music beta on AndroidColor OS vs MIUI: Which Android Skin Is Better for YouHow to fix Chrome OS 76 bug that blocks Android apps from internet accessAndroid 9 Pie lands on Verizon LG V30Verizon's LG V30 starts receiving Android Pie updateSamsung Galaxy S8 Active gets Android 9 Pie on T-MobileHow Nokia smartphones keep getting better with pure AndroidLexus brings Android Auto to its cars, following Toyota's footstepsTwitter's darker Dark mode for Android is delayedHuawei Nova 5T hands-on: Android flagship for less (Yes, Android)1500 days of OxygenOS: Talking to OnePlus about custom ROMs, Open Ears, Android 10, and more Linux VR Headset

Since most VR Headsets support Windows platforms today, there are very few options for Linux users. Despite its support, many people have faced troubles setting up and running their Headsets on Linux. However, not anymore. The VR gaming experience is now getting better!The all-new Xrdesktop is an open-source development that lets you work with various desktop environments like GNOME and KDE. Since this project is under progress right now, we can hope for more features like Steam, Valve and other platforms for gaming and Virtual Reality experience.In addition, the Xrdesktop will also offer integration with Windows as well. Once completed, it will be a great step towards traditional Linux desktop environments. The program is available for installation in both packages for Ubuntu Linux and Arch Linux.

An Easy Fix for a Stupid Mistake

I waited a long time for Mageia 7 and for OpenMandriva Lx 4. When both distros arrived, I was very happy.But new distros bring changes, and sometimes it is not easy to adapt. Mageia 7 has been rock-solid: it is doing a great job in my laptop and both in my daughter's desktop and in mine. There is one thing, though. I have been avoiding a strange mesa update that wants to remove Steam.OpenMandriva is also fantastic, but this new release provided options like rock, release, and rolling. When I first installed the distro, I chose rock because I was shying away from the rolling flavor. Eventually, I had to move to rolling because that was the only way in which I could manage to install Steam in both my laptop and desktop machines.

SJW

Amsterdam Museum doet term 'Gouden Eeuw' in de ban - AT5

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Het Amsterdam Museum zal de periode uit de 17e eeuw van de Nederlandse geschiedenis voortaan niet meer omschrijven als de Gouden Eeuw. De term dekt volgens het museum de lading van de periode niet.

De term Gouden Eeuw wordt gebruikt voor de periode waarin Nederland een wereldmacht was en waarin kunst en handel een bloeiperiode kenden. Maar aan die handel zat een schaduwkant, die van dwangarbeid en mensenhandel.

'Dekt de lading niet''In de westerse geschiedschrijving neemt de Gouden Eeuw een belangrijke plek in die sterk gekoppeld is aan nationale trots, maar positieve associaties met de term zoals voorspoed, vrede, weelde en onschuld dekken de lading van de historische werkelijkheid in deze periode niet', zegt een conservator van het museum.

Lees ook: Wie zijn de verzetshelden achter de straatnamen van het nieuwe Centrumeiland?

Met het afstand nemen van de term Gouden Eeuw wil het Amsterdam Museum 'meerstemmig en inclusief' worden. 'Het museum wil een plek zijn die voor iedereen relevant is en waar alle mensen zich welkom voelen. Daarom geeft het Amsterdam Museum ruimte aan mensen en verhalen die nog niet of onvoldoende gehoord worden', schrijft de instelling op haar site.

Bezoekers van kleurOp 29 september organiseert het museum een symposium over welke verhalen uit de 17e eeuw vertelt zouden moeten worden en op welke manier dat moet gebeuren. Ook opent dan de tentoonstelling Hollandse Meesters Her-Zien, waarin portretten getoond worden van Amsterdamse 'bewoners en bezoekers van kleur' uit de 17e en 18e eeuw.

Directeur van het Amsterdam Museum, Judikje Kiers: 'Dit zijn belangrijke stappen in een lang proces. Maar we zijn er nog niet. Samen met mensen in de stad zullen we blijven werken om onderbelichte verhalen en perspectieven van onze gedeelde geschiedenis aan het licht brengen.'

Opinion | The Obscenity of Curves - The New York Times

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Oversexualizing female athletes is dangerous.

By Amanda MacLean

Ms. MacLean is a writer.

Sept. 14, 2019 Image A swimming pool in Arles, France, 1991. Credit Credit Jean Gaumy/Magnum Photos Last week, a 17-year-old champion swimmer in Anchorage was disqualified at a swim meet because of how her team swimsuit fit her body. After successfully beating her opponent in a race, Breckyn Willis of Dimond High School was stripped of her victory because her suit was deemed to have violated code: Her buttocks were exposed.

Although her win was later reinstated, the story gained national attention for the discriminatory treatment the teenager received because of her body type. The suit was the very same as the swimsuits her teammates were wearing. However, Ms. Willis was singled out because of the way it fit her body specifically. As a young woman endowed with curves, the suit simply hung differently on her frame. Instead of being evaluated and praised for her athletic merit after the win, her body was unfairly judged as transforming an ordinary swimsuit into something obscene.

While this story elicited justifiable outrage, many of us curvier women received it with empathy and a complete lack of surprise. When you have a curvier body type, you quickly become accustomed to being judged and oversexualized based solely on your appearance and the way things fit. It doesn't matter if you are 10 years old and blooming early, 40 years old and wearing something that appears ''inappropriate for your age,'' or 17 years old and filling out your swimsuit in a way that's being seen as a threat to modesty '-- you will carry the burden of anxiety when it comes to your body and the way it is perceived by others. The added responsibility of trying to moderate those perceptions becomes your cross to bear.

My own puberty struck early, bringing with it the crippling awareness of the way those emergent curves shaped the way I was perceived. Although our society holds a standard that romanticizes the hourglass figure, the truth is less romantic than it is salacious. You learn quickly that you will receive attention that you don't want, haven't invited and are little equipped to handle emotionally. Assumptions will be made about your character '-- and when you're young, the truth has very little merit when it comes to schoolyard gossip. The worst part is that the other kids are not the only ones who make these judgments. Adults will also burden you with their gaze and all of the unspoken judgment it contains. I began to hate my body from an early age, and would desperately wish away those pieces of me that were ''too much.''

Developing into adulthood under these circumstances, it was easy to learn a paranoia about the male gaze, and the threats that could come along with ''inviting'' attention. Similarly, I became keenly aware that this same attention could attract the ire of women. As my curves grew, I became uncomfortably familiar with the look in people's eyes as they mentally stripped me down and deemed me a sexual object. I recognize that look from being a 12-year-old getting leered at by grown men, and I'm familiar with it from being given the cold shoulder by other women, deemed a lurid distraction to their boyfriends or their sons.

In my youth and still somewhat to this date, I learned to view my body as a threat, both to myself and to others. Taking care to cover those bits that act as a sexual signal felt like a necessary step to de-weaponize my body.

Although the issue of clothing may seem like a mundane one, in reality it can become a daily anxiety. You are free to dress as you like, sure, but never distant in your mind is the fact that how those clothes hug your body can be tantamount to a scarlet letter. Just as heavier women are assumed to be ''unhealthy,'' and skinny women are evaluated as ''needing a sandwich,'' you are cast as a harlot; a man-eater. A simple T-shirt over an ample bosom is rendered obscene, and you mustn't be too tempting. Dressing becomes an exercise in people pleasing, and trying to attract the least amount of attention. Clothing simply doesn't look the same on you.

Although I am now 36, this caution never left me, and it is as much a part of my daily routine as brushing my teeth or tying my shoes. It is with me when I go shopping and lean over in front of the fitting room mirror to ensure my chest won't be exposed. It is with me when I wear a dress, and put shorts on underneath. It is with me when I wear loose cardigans in the summer because I feel as if there is an extra layer between my body and the eyes of those who may decide to hypersexualize me based only on my hip to waist ratio.

Ultimately, the virality of Breckyn Willis's story led to a reversal of the decision to disqualify her. Even so, she is a teenager who was discriminated against for her shape. Her body, and whether it fit ''acceptably'' into a sports uniform, has made national headlines. The damage has been done. This wasn't the first time she was objectified by adults on the basis of her figure. The sad reality is that it probably won't be the last.

One can only hope that the attention this story is getting is serving the purpose of amplifying just how pervasive the stigma toward the female body can be. At the very least, the institutions that are set up to serve young women should be a safe space that protects their dignity and self-esteem. This means that schools and sports teams should be mindful that they aren't ostracizing girls based on arbitrary modesty codes that have the effect of penalizing certain body types. When they do this, they are not only participating in the oversexualization of these girls, but they give power to the negative attitudes toward curvier body types by turning them into policy.

NZ man brings 'emotional support CLOWN' to layoff meeting '-- RT World News

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Losing a job might be sad and tough, but it rarely gets this weird: a Kiwi adman has turned to the professionals for support during his redundancy meeting, hiring a clown to brighten up the event.

Proof of the bizarre incident was obtained by the NZ Herald, which published a photo on Friday from an internal meeting at the FCB advertising company showing two individuals, facing the soon to be fired staffer and his ''support person'' '' a clown.

During the meeting, the clown blew up balloons and folded them into animals, including a unicorn and a poodle. He also mimed crying as the man received his paperwork.

As the story promptly went viral, the cheeky adman took to Facebook in to explain the bizarre stunt. He decided to seek emotional support after receiving an email from his now-ex-bosses seeking to ''discuss'' his role, admitting that the pick was a ''touch unusual.''

''I thought it's either a promotion or worse. I thought it's best to bring in a professional and so I paid $200 and hired a clown,'' the adman, who identified himself as Josh Thompson, told MediaWorks. ''I mean I did get fired, but apart from that it was all smooth running.''

The presence of the clown '' said to be one of the best in Auckland '' did not jeopardize the meeting, Thompson insisted, though the balloons folding proved to be quite squeaky. The man revealed he has since returned to his home country of Australia and has already got a new job in advertising.

Also on rt.com 'Emotional support squirrel' on plane drives passengers nuts The ''emotional support clown'' would have been just a one-off stunt were it not for the growing prevalence of ''emotional support animals.'' Using ''emotional support'' certification to circumvent pet restrictions has become so widespread, many airlines have recently been forced to draw the line, after realizing that literally anything that moves can be classified as such. Last year, American Airlines banned emotional support snakes, goats, ferrets, and spiders from its planes. Horses, however, can still fly '' one was spotted on a flight earlier this month. The Auckland episode shows that emotional support people are now a thing, too.

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Unhoused

Austin TX city council using tax payer money to support GENOCIDE by FIAT | Politics, Religion, and Family

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There was no vote regarding using tax payer money to support abortion by providing the logistical avenues to killing the unborn child they carry.

There was NO legislation to promote adoption or support for KEEPING the child alive. There is NO money that the city is designating for reproductive rights of those who WANT to keep the child, but have no logistical means of affording her this choice.

The only LOGISTICS provided are for genocide, the execution of poor babies. Race, color, creed don't matter as long as they are POOR.

AUSTIN, Texas (

ChurchMilitant.com) '' A Texas city is taking a direct aim at a pro-life initiative to fill the state with abortion-free ''sanctuary cities.''

In a move directly opposing Texas' new law, SB 22, that prohibits government funding for abortions, the Austin, Texas, city council announced a budget amendment on Monday to provide grants to organizations that help women gain access to abortion services.

Church Militant spoke with Kimberlyn Schwartz, director of media and communication for Texas Right to Life (TRTL), who said, ''For years, the Austin City Council has made a point of mocking pro-life Texans; this is yet another example.''

Greg Casar, Austin city councilmember and co-sponsor of the budget amendment,

'--'--'--''ME

CASAR '' MARCHES WITH COMMUNISTS AND ANTIFA -AUSTIN

'--''

said, ''The state has passed laws trying to make it more difficult for people to access abortion and more difficult for the city to support. In some ways, this is the city fighting back.''

There are at least four abortion mills in Austin '-- two are Planned Parenthood facilities and one is owned by Amy Hagstrom Miller,

'--'--'--'--''ME

'--'--'--'---

a noted abortion activist who founded Whole Woman's Health.The budget amendment would provide up to $150,000 in grants to abortion assistance groups that provide counseling, rides to abortion mills and childcare for women getting abortions.

Schwartz explained that this proposal maneuvers around SB 22's intent to ban public funding of abortion ''by providing taxpayer funding for organizations that abet the abortion industry.''

One of those organization active in Texas is the National Network of Abortion Funds Lilith Fund that provides ''direct financial assistance to empower people seeking to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.''

In 2017, Lilith Fund provided over $213,000 to assist 1,475 Texas women abort their babies.

Austin's move also opens up taxpayer funding for abortion support groups that, aside from providing help for adult women, provide legal assistance for teens in crisis pregnancies. Some of these help teens to get an abortion without parental consent and even pay for their abortions.

Schwartz said this is something to be concerned about because ''organizations like Planned Parenthood do not always report sexual abuse and trafficking when pregnant minors come to their facilities for abortions.''

It undermines the spirit of SB 22, forcing pro-life residents of Austin to continue subsidizing abortion through their tax dollars.

Tweet Texas Right to Life was instrumental in getting SB 22 enacted and even suggested stronger wording for the legislation. In a press release about Austin's move, TRTL claimed ''the majority of Texans do not want their tax dollars being used in any way, shape or form to support killing innocent human beings.''

TRTL continued, ''No public funds at the state or local level should be directed toward an industry that literally rips human beings limb from limb in their most vulnerable stages.''

''Through this budget proposal, Austin is positioning itself as a sanctuary for the abortion industry,'' Schwartz said.

''It also undermines the spirit of SB 22 in protecting pro-life Texans from having to support the killing of innocent human life through their tax dollars, forcing pro-life residents of Austin to continue subsidizing abortion through their tax dollars,'' she continued.

She said the ''silver lining'' to Austin's move is that they are serving as a ''catalyst'' for other Texas cities to declare their community as a ''Mother and Unborn Child Sanctuary City.''

Senate Bill 22 also allows cities to ban abortion within their jurisdiction, and TRTL has initiated a program to help Texans introduce ordinances to declare ''abortion to be murder'' and prohibit all abortion providers from establishing practices within city limits.

Schwartz said five new cities have come forward this week looking to ban abortion at the local level.

''There is no 'need' for abortion,'' Schwartz explained. ''Pro-abortion politicians and organizations seek to exploit and disempower women who find themselves in unexpected pregnancies, telling them they 'need' to kill their preborn children to be happy.''

Vape Wars

Europe's missing 'vaping sickness' '' POLITICO

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 11:40

Europe does not appear to be experiencing an outbreak of the ''vaping sickness'' gripping the U.S.

It's not clear anyone would know if it was.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday moved to finalize a ban on flavored e-cigarettes in light of the country's outbreak of a vaping-related illness that's made 450 people sick and resulted in at least six deaths. With the U.S. Food and Drug Administration urging people to avoid buying unregulated vape products, other U.S. experts say people should avoid all e-cigarettes until the cause is clear.

In European countries like the U.K. and France, which have voluntary reporting systems, there's not much evidence of this problem, and experts cite tighter e-cigarette regulations in Europe than the U.S.

''We have not seen anything like what we've seen in the U.S. recently in Europe, to my knowledge as a scientist, and I'm pretty aware of the field,'' said Constantine Vardavas, the European Respiratory Society's scientific relations director with the EU.

''You're terrifying people who are benefiting from vaping by not smoking.'' '-- Clive Bates, former chief of the U.K. charity Action on Smoking and Health

But while several EU and national agencies said they are monitoring the U.S. situation, they weren't always able to say who's keeping track on this side of the Atlantic. An EU-wide reporting system is still in the works, and a broad analysis of e-cigarette safety is only due in the fall of 2020.

Some EU experts say there's no reason to think this side of the Atlantic will be immune.

Though the cases are currently limited to the U.S., the Portuguese Society of Pulmonology said in a statement Wednesday that ''they are likely to arise in other countries, including Portugal,'' given the widespread availability of e-cigarettes.

''The use of electronic cigarettes is dangerous and not recommended,'' the society said.

The lesser evilThis debate has extra resonance in the U.K., where the government has embraced e-cigarettes as a way to wean people off tobacco.

There, officials say the worst thing people could do is go back to regular cigarettes out of fears that vapes could land them in the hospital with a major lung malfunction.

''You're terrifying people who are benefiting from vaping by not smoking,'' said Clive Bates, a former chief of the U.K. charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and a strong defender of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool.

Bates argued that authorities should be delivering more targeted warnings about unregulated products. Instead, he said the U.S. medical establishment is creating one of the ''darkest episodes in American public health ... They have lost all their moorings with evidence and good practice.''

The U.K. has the world's third-highest uptake of e-cigarettes, and government health officials promote vapes as a way to wean people off more harmful tobacco. Over the past year, according to the country's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), only 12 incidents of health problems with nicotine-containing e-cigarettes have been reported to the regulator's voluntary system.

Among those, seven involved respiratory problems, and none of the cases were considered serious or required hospitalization. (Even in these cases, it's not known if the e-cigarette was the cause of the reported problems.)

But there are some major caveats that leave room for concern. The U.K. has seen at least one case that has key similarities with the U.S. ''vaping sickness,'' which is essentially lipoid pneumonia '-- the accumulation of fat particles in the lungs. Doctors suspected the patient's vaping liquid was to blame.

The case, discussed in the BMJ, does not appear to have been logged with the U.K. regulator. A separate system to report problems with illicit drugs is still in a pilot phase.

EU regulations also put the burden on manufacturers and importers to look out for health problems and address them.

Meanwhile, the cases in the U.S. increasingly appear to involve vape liquid containing THC, which is still illegal in the majority of EU countries (as well as most U.S. states). That may mean reporting systems aren't taking all the products people actually use into account. The MHRA's system accounts only for nicotine-based vapes.

Martin Dockrell, head of tobacco control at Public Health England, was quick to offer reassurances about the safety of legal vapes. ''What little we know of recent reports from the U.S. is that the devices used appear to be linked to 'home brews' of illicit drugs and not legitimate vaping products,'' he said. ''Unlike the U.K., which has strict regulation ... on e-cigarette safety, the U.S. has no regulation.''

Only in America?U.S. regulators inspect some vape manufacturing sites and bar some ingredients from e-cigarette liquids. But that oversight is considerably less comprehensive than the EU's Tobacco Products Directive, which restricts ingredients and limits the level of nicotine in products.

EU regulations also put the burden on manufacturers and importers to look out for health problems and address them.

Manufacturers have to notify in advance the contents of e-liquids '-- meaning officials at least know which legal products contain oils that could collect in the lungs, making them easier to recall if necessary.

Yet when it comes to home brews, ''that of course is difficult to regulate,'' said Vardavas.

Around the EU, poison control centers seem to be the most regular go-to outlet for documenting safety concerns. A 2017 analysis of 10 countries found that kids ingesting the vape liquid is the most commonly reported problem.

''People are dying from vaping , so we're looking at it very closely.'' '-- Donald Trump

In France, ''investigations are underway'' to determine whether there are any cases similar to the U.S., a spokesperson for the ministry of health said. So far, there've been no reports. Professional societies have been asked to trace cases, the spokesperson said in an email.

The EU is gearing up for a more coordinated approach. Vardavas is involved in an EU-funded project to help countries enforce the Tobacco Products Directive, and among their goals is to create a common reporting sheet for adverse events, he said.

The European Commission said it has asked a panel of outside scientific advisers to issue an opinion about the health risks of e-cigarettes to feed into a report due in May 2021 '-- making that the earliest date at which data is likely to be available.

In announcing his plans Wednesday, Trump said, ''We can't allow people to get sick and we can't have our youth be so affected.''

''People are dying from vaping , so we're looking at it very closely,'' he said during an Oval Office appearance with senior U.S. health officials.

Deborah Arnott, ASH's chief executive, noted that 480,000 people die in the U.S. each year from tobacco-related conditions.

While Public Health England wouldn't comment directly on U.S. recommendations, John Newton, its director of health improvement, stressed: ''There is no situation where it would be better for your health to continue smoking rather than switching completely to vaping.''

Europe Says Thank You for Vaping as Trump Urges Stopping - Bloomberg

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US3200819A - Smokeless non-tobacco cigarette - Google Patents

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Smokeless non-tobacco cigarette Download PDF Info Publication number US3200819A US3200819A US273624A US27362463A US3200819A US 3200819 A US3200819 A US 3200819A US 273624 A US273624 A US 273624A US 27362463 A US27362463 A US 27362463A US 3200819 A US3200819 A US 3200819A Authority US United States Prior art keywords tube mouthpiece air outer end cartridge Prior art date 1963-04-17 Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.) Expired - Lifetime Application number US273624A Inventor Herbert A Gilbert Original Assignee Herbert A Gilbert Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.) 1963-04-17 Filing date 1963-04-17 Publication date 1965-08-17 1963-04-17Application filed by Herbert A Gilbert filed Critical Herbert A Gilbert 1963-04-17Priority to US273624A priority Critical patent/US3200819A/en 1965-08-17Application granted granted Critical 1965-08-17Publication of US3200819A publication Critical patent/US3200819A/en 1982-08-17Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical 2019-09-15Application status is Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Links USPTO USPTO Assignment Espacenet Global Dossier Discuss 235000019504 cigarettes Nutrition 0 Claims Description Title 23 241000208125 Nicotiana Species 0 Description Title 13 235000002637 Nicotiana tabacum Nutrition 0 Description Title 13 210000000214 Mouth Anatomy 0 Claims Description 6 239000003570 air Substances 0 Claims Description 29 239000000796 flavoring agent Substances 0 Claims Description 13 235000019634 flavors Nutrition 0 Claims Description 13 238000004089 heat treatment Methods 0 Claims Description 23 NOOLISFMXDJSKH-KXUCPTDWSA-N (-)-(1R,3R,4S)-menthol Chemical compound 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CC(C)[C@@H]1CC[C@@H](C)C[C@H]1O NOOLISFMXDJSKH-KXUCPTDWSA-N 0 Description 1 241000239290 Araneae Species 0 Description 2 235000002918 Fraxinus excelsior Nutrition 0 Description 1 210000004072 Lung Anatomy 0 Description 5 239000002250 absorbent Substances 0 Description 1 230000002745 absorbent Effects 0 Description 1 239000002956 ash Substances 0 Description 1 230000003935 attention Effects 0 Description 1 230000015572 biosynthetic process Effects 0 Description 1 239000011797 cavity materials Substances 0 Description 5 239000000460 chlorine Substances 0 Description 1 150000001875 compounds Chemical class 0 Description 2 238000010276 construction Methods 0 Description 1 230000000875 corresponding Effects 0 Description 1 239000003814 drug Substances 0 Description 2 230000000694 effects Effects 0 Description 1 239000011152 fibreglass Substances 0 Description 1 238000005755 formation Methods 0 Description 1 238000005470 impregnation Methods 0 Description 1 230000000266 injurious Effects 0 Description 1 239000011810 insulating materials Substances 0 Description 2 239000007788 liquids Substances 0 Description 1 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0 Description 1 239000000463 materials Substances 0 Description 6 238000002483 medication Methods 0 Description 2 239000000203 mixtures Substances 0 Description 1 239000004033 plastic Substances 0 Description 2 229920003023 plastics Polymers 0 Description 2 230000000241 respiratory Effects 0 Description 2 210000002345 respiratory system Anatomy 0 Description 1 235000020092 scotch whiskey Nutrition 0 Description 1 230000035807 sensation Effects 0 Description 1 235000019615 sensations Nutrition 0 Description 1 230000014860 sensory perception of taste Effects 0 Description 2 238000004088 simulation Methods 0 Description 1 239000000779 smoke Substances 0 Description 3 230000000391 smoking Effects 0 Description 3 238000009936 smoking Methods 0 Description 3 239000000126 substances Substances 0 Description 5 238000003786 synthesis Methods 0 Description 1 230000035917 taste Effects 0 Description 2 235000019640 taste Nutrition 0 Description 2 Images Classifications A '--HUMAN NECESSITIES A61 '--MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE A61M '--DEVICES FOR INTRODUCING MEDIA INTO, OR ONTO, THE BODY; DEVICES FOR TRANSDUCING BODY MEDIA OR FOR TAKING MEDIA FROM THE BODY; DEVICES FOR PRODUCING OR ENDING SLEEP OR STUPOR A61M15/00 '--Inhalators A61M15/06 '--Inhaling appliances shaped like cigars, cigarettes or pipes A '--HUMAN NECESSITIES A24 '--TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES A24F '--SMOKERS' REQUISITES; MATCH BOXES A24F47/00 '--Smokers' requisites not provided for elsewhere, e.g. devices to assist in stopping or limiting smoking A24F47/002 '--Simulated smoking devices, e.g. imitation cigarettes A24F47/004 '--Simulated smoking devices, e.g. imitation cigarettes with heating means, e.g. carbon fuel A24F47/008 '--Simulated smoking devices, e.g. imitation cigarettes with heating means, e.g. carbon fuel with electrical heating means DescriptionAug. 17, 1965 H. A. GILBERT SMOKELESS NON-TOBACCO CIGARETTE Filed April 17, 1965 INVENTOR Herbert A. Gilbert Q t!( M ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3 209,819 SMOKELESS NON TOIBACCO CIGARETTE Herbert A. Gilbert, 278 McKinley Road, Beaver Falls, Pa. Filed Apr. 17, 1963, Ser. No. 273,624 10 Claims. (Cl. 128208) The present invention relates to a smokeless nontobacco cigarette and has for an object to provide a safe and harmless means for and method of smoking by replacing burning tobacco and paper with heated, moist, flavored air; or by inhaling warm medication into the lungs in case of a respiratory ailment under direction of a physician. Another object of the invention is to provide an article of manufacture resembling a cigarette by which air may be drawn through a porous substance of a cartridge which has been moistened with a chemically harmless flavoring preparation, combining moisture and taste following which the moist and flavored air passes through a section of the device heated by a suitable heating element so that warm, moist and flavored air is drawn into the mouth and if desired into the lungs of the user.

A further object of the invention is to provide a smokeless non-tobacco cigarette in which provision is made for circulating the fluid around the heating element in a turbulent manner to suitably raise the temperature of the inhalent mixture, with the purpose that the temperature of the flavored air may approximate that of cigarette smoke.

A further object is to insulate the heat source so that the cigarette may be held in the fingers without discomfort to the users hand.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, the invention will be more fully described hereinafter, and will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to like or corresponding parts throughout the several views:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of the completed article constructed in accordance with the invention in simulation of a cigarette.

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal section taken through the same with all interior parts assembled.

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 3-3 in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of a form of flavor cartridge employed.

FIGURE 5 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 5-5 in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 6 is a similar View taken on the line 66 in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of a form of outer tube.

FIGURE 8 is a similar view of a form of insulating liner.

FIGURE 9 is a longitudinal sectional view of a form of mouthpiece that may be employed.

FIGURE 10 is a side elevational view of a form of heating element or vacuum tube or bulb that may be employed.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, designates an external tube made preferably the size, color and form of a cigarette, such tube having an outer end portion 16 and an inner end portion 17.

subdividing the interior space of the external tube is an internal shoulder 18 which is preferably closer to the outer end portion 16 than to the opposite inner end portion 17, thus dividing the tube into relatively short and substantially longer chambers.

The tube 15 is supplied at the inner end portion 17 3,290,819 Patented Aug. 17, 1965 with internal threads 19 or some other means of connection for a mouthpiece as later described.

In the outer end portion 16 is detachably fitted a flavor cartridge 26 of some suitable absorbent material, preferably having longitudinal spaced passages 21 therethrough of a small diameter. The cartridge 20 is abutted against the outer edge of the internal shoulder 18 and is of an external diameter to fit snugly into the outer end portion 16 so that it will be held therein by friction or other suitable means.

Within the more forward chamber of the outer tube 15 is received a tubular liner 22 preferably of insulating material and having an internal wall 23 of a form and character to tumble the air or create turbulence therein. This internal Wall may be spiralled or rifled as indicated.

A mouthpiece 24 is aflixed to the inner end portion 17 of the tube .15 in any appropriate manner, preferably detachably as by external threads 25 on the hollow shank 25 of the mouthpiece which mate with the internal threads 19 in the inner end portion of the outer tube 15.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the free outer end of the hollow shank 25, when fitted home in the outer tube, will encounter and push the insert 22 against the inner wall of the internal shoulder 18 thus holding the insert 22 immovably in place.

The hollow shank 25 will preferably have an outstanding shoulder 27 forwardly of the threads 26 to engage the inner end of the tube 15 in the completely assembled position of the mouthpiece 24 relatively to the outer tube 15.

As best seen in FIGURE 6 showing a cross-section through the hollow shank portion 25 of the mouthpiece, a spider formation is shown providing air draft spaces 28 bet-Ween the hollow shank 25 and an inner ring 29 spaced inwardly from the hollow shank 25 and connected therewith by radial arms 39. The air draft spaces 23 communicate with the suction orifice 40 of the mouthpiece at the inner end and at the outer end with the space circumscribed by the inner wall 23 of the tubular insert 22.

Within the inner ring 2-9 is a threaded electric socket 3b and forwardly thereof a battery cavity 31 for detachably receiving a battery 3-2 having an inner contact 33 and an outer contact 34 with a contact strip 35 between the inner contact 33 and the socket 30.

The heating element is preferably a vacuum tube or bulb 36 having a screw plug 37 for detachable engagement with the socket 30. The screw plug 3-7 has an end contact 38 adapted to close against the outer battery contact 3d. The bulb or tube 36, similar to a light bulb, is preferably elongated and of a diameter to fit within the lnsert 22 in such manner heating passage throughout the length of the bulb and around the complete circumference of the bulb 36.

in assembly, the flavor cartridge 2'0 can be introduced and removed without regard to the other units of the device.

Before the mouthpiece 24 is assembled to the external tube 15, the liner 22 is slid through the open inner end portion of the tube until the outer end of the liner 22 encounters the internal shoulder 18. The bulb 36 will be mounted to the socket 30 while the mouthpiece 24 is detached from the tube 15 whereupon the bulb 36 may be introduced into the insert 22 as the mouthpiece 24 is put into place and rotated to effect attachment of the mouthpiece to the outer tube 15. The final home position of the parts is indicated in FIGURE 2 in which the hollow shank 25 engages the inner end of the insert 22 while the outer end of the insert is abutted against the internal shoulder 13.

When the bulb 36 is assembled to the socket 30 its tip end 33 will engage the inner battery contact 3 3 and com plete the circuit through the filament of the bulb 36 by the contact strip 35. Thus the bulb 3d will be illuminated or energized before assembly to the external tube 15.

4 The battery 32 is removable so that when exhausted, a fresh dry battery may be substituted, access to the same being had by first unscrewing the mouthpiece Z4 and withdrawing the bulb 36 and subsequently removing the bulb 36 from its socket 30.

The insert 22 is preferably of a ceramic material. By the act of inhalation through the mouthpiece 24, air from the ambient atmosphere is drawn in through the passages 21 of the cartridge 20 which has been impregnated with suitable flavoring material which is picked up by the inhaled air and such air then passes into the heating chamber and is caused to flow around the heating bulb 36, the heated and flavored air finally passing through the mouth piece 24 into the mouth and also, if desired, into the lungs.

The tumbling of the air around the heat source provides for uniformity of heat transfer while the insert 22 also serves to insulate the basic tube 15 so that it does not become hot to the hand of the user.

The cartridge 2@ may be composed of a porous, moisture-holding substance such as felt or plastic sponge although there are many other materials which will serve the purpose.

The impregnation will be by a harmless flavored chemical compound. As suggested, such compounds may be solutions ranging from slightly mentholated water to a solution which would simulate artificially the flavor of Scotch whisky. Many other solutions and flavors may be employed.

The outer tube may be of plastic, fiber glass or any other appropriate material.

The member 24 as shown in the drawings is shaped in the fashion of a mouthpiece but it is not necessary that it be so shaped. The tubular shape of the outer tube 15 may be continued to the right hand end of the mouthpiece if desired to further the illusion of a cigarette.

Some of the advantages of the invention are:

(at) There is no open flame or fire and fire hazard is therefore eliminated.

(b) Nothing is consumed so that there is no smoke,

ashes or dirt.

(c) Since the air which enters the lungs of the user comes into contact with only inert materials, there is nothing of an injurious nature being placed into the respiratory system of the user.

(d) Heated medication for respiratory ailments may be induced into the lungs of a user of this invention should a physician feel the same desirable.

(e) Persons who wish to smoke but have been advised against such a practice by their doctor may use this invention to maintain the satisfaction of smoking without any of its disadvantages.

(f) By changing the liquid employed to moisten the cartridge 20, a variety of tastes may be imparted to the warm moist air which serves to duplicate the smoking sensation.

(g) The size and shape of the device according to this invention may approximate the size and shape of a cigarette; therefore its use will not call undue attention to the user. A white coloration of the basic tube 15 and mouthpiece will further add to this illusion.

It is to be understood that various details of the exemplary structures chosen to illustrate the invention are capable of being modified and in some cases omitted without departing from the broad principles of the invention as defined by the more broadly worded of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A smokeless non-tobacco cigarette comprising .(a) an external tube having inner and outer end portions,

(b) a flavor cartridge in the outer end portion,

(d) a tubular liner also in the tube at least partially surrounding and spaced from the heating means and having (e) an internal wall shaped to produce turbulence in the air stream drawn through the space between the heating means and tubular liner,

(f) a mouthpiece on the inner end portion of the tube for drawing atmosphere air by inhaling through the outer end portion of the tube including the cartridge and through the space between the heating means and liner and into the mouth of the user, and said cartridge having air passages therethrough communicating at the outer end of the tube with the atmosphere and at the inner end of the tube with said space and ultimately with the mouthpiece for permitting air to be drawn past the flavor cartridge for inhalation by the user at the mouthpiece.

2. A smokeless non-tobacco cigarette as claimed in claim 1 in which the internal wall (e) of the tubular liner is rifled to produce the turbulent eifect recited.

3. A smokeless non-tobacco cigarette as claimed in claim l in which the tubular liner (d) is of heat insulating material and in which the internal wall (e) is spirally grooved to tumble the air around the heating means.

4. A smokeless non-tobacco cigarette as claimed in claim 1 in which the flavor cartridge (b) comprises (h) a porous substance moistened with (i) a chemically harmless flavoring material.

5. A smokeless non-tobacco cigarette as claimed in 1cjlairn 4 in which the porous substance (h) is traversed (j) air passages running lengthwise of the tube opening at the outer end to atmosphere and at the inner lend to'the space between the heating means'and the men 6. A smokeless non-tobacco cigarette as claimed in claim 1 in which the tube has (h) an inwardly projecting division shoulder constituting a stop against the rear edge of which the flavor cartridge is abutted and against the forward edge of which the rear end of the liner is abutted.

7. A- smokeless non-tobacco cigarette as claimed in claim 1 in which the mouthpiece (f) includes (h) a hollow shank detachably interlocked with the external tube andv abutted against the inner end portion of the liner.

8. A smokeless non-tobacco cigarette comprising (a) on external tube having inner and outer end portions,

(b) a flavor cartridge in the outer end portion,

(0) heating means in the tube,

(d) a tubular liner also in the tube at least partially surrounding and spaced from the heating means and having (e) an internal wall shaped to produce the air stream drawn through the space between the heating means and tubular liner,

(f) a mouthpiece on the inner end portion of the tube for drawing atmospheric air by inhaling through the outer end portion of the tube including the cartridge and through the space between the heating means and liner and into the mouth of the user,

(g) said cartridge having air passages therethrough communicating at the outer end of the tube with the atmosphere and at the inner end of the tube with said space and ultimately with the mouthpiece for permitting air to be drawn past the flavor cartridge for inhalation by the user at the mouthpiece,

(h) an electric socket in the mouthpiece, said heating means being an electric bulb having (i) a plug enteredinto the socket, and V (j) a battery also in the mouthpiece having electric turbulence in 5 6 connection to the socket and exposed in the socket (in) a battery cavity in the inner ring inwardly of to the plug for energizing the electric bulb. the socket, 9. A smokeless non-tobacco cigarette as claimed in (n) a battery in the cavity electrically connected to claim 8 further comprising the socket, said heating means having a screw plug (k) a battery receiving cavity in the mouthpiece in- 5 adapted to be entered into the socket and elec- Wardly of the socket, trically connected to the battery. (1) a battery rernovably mounted through the socket into the cavity and having References Cited by the Examiner (In) inner and outer contacts, said plug having UNITED STATES PATENTS (11) an inner end contact for closing against said 10 726,037 4/03 Perm 128 20O outer contact, and

962,617 6/10 Bucceri 128201 (0) a contact strip connecting the inner battery con- 2,204,312 6/40 Huxter 128-192 tact with the socket.

. 2,696,382 12/54 Gelardin. 19. A smokeless non-tobacco cigarette as claimed 1n 2,702,033 2/55 Pardernan 128201 clalm 1 in which said mouthpiece (f) comprises 15 2721551 10/55 Lobl 128 208 (h) a spider internal construction having 28606q8 11/58 gf 128-201 (i) spaced internal and external concentric rings J mes having FOREIGN PATENTS (j) air draft spaces therebetween, 5 47 4 53 Belgium (k) radiating angularly spaced arms connecting the 20 960,469 10/49 F rings,

(1) a threaded socket in the inner ring, RICHARD GAUDET, Primary E

Claims (1 )1. A SMOKELESS NON-TOBACCO CIGARETTE COMPRISING (A) AN EXTERNAL TUBE HAVING INNER AND OUTER END PORTIONS, (B) A FLAVOR CARTRIDGE IN THE OUTER END PORTION, (C) HEATING MEANS IN THE TUBE, (D) A TUBULAR LINER ALSO IN THE TUBE AT LEAST PARTIALLY SURROUNDING AND SPACED FROM THE HEATING MEANS AND HAVING (E) AN INTERNAL WALL SHAPED TO PRODUCE TURBULENCE IN THE AIR STREAM DRAWN THROUGH THE SPACE BETWEEN THE HEATING MEANS AND TUBULAR LINER, (F) A MOUTHPIECE ON THE INNER END PORTIONS OF THE TUBE FOR DRAWING ATMOSPHERE AIR BY INHALING THROUGH THE OUTER END PORTION OF THE TUBE INCLUDING THE CARTRIDGE AND THROUGH THE SPACE BETWEEN THE HEATING MEANS AND LINER AND INTO THE MOUTH OF THE USER, AND SAID CARTRIDGE HAVING AIR PASSAGES THERETHROUGH COMMUNICATING AT THE OUTER END OF THE TUBE WITH THE ATMOSPHERE AND AT THE INNER END OF THE TUBE WITH SAID SPACE AND ULTIMATELY WITH THE MOUTHPIECE FOR PERMITTING AIR TO BE DRAWN PAST THE FLAVOR CARTRIDGE FOR INHALATION BY THE USER AT THE MOUTHPIECE.

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A Billion Lives '' A billion people projected to die'...you'll be surprised who's keeping it that way.

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Archived Version

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 14:05

"A Billion Lives makes a compelling case"- Kimber Myers, LA Times

"It's a Wake Up Call" - Ryan Jay, Premiere Radio Networks, NBC-TV

"A compelling, infuriating case study in big business dirty tricks."- Simon Foster, Screen-Space

"I got an #ABillionLives tattoo!"- Shannon @anImaginaryEcho

DIRECTED BY lorem vestibulum

WRITTEN BY Fusce pulvina & Nam cursus

FILMSTUDIONAME PRESENTSAN Fusce suscipit PRODUCTIONA laoreet a PICTURE lobortis neque CASTINGBY risus vulputate COSTUMESBY enim leo PRODUCTIONDESIGNER libero tortor DIRECTOROFPHOTOGRAPHY gravida tellus MUSICBY endrerit sagittis EDITEDBY Maecenas dictum EXECUTIVEPRODUCER tincidunt lobortis PRODUCEDBY Cras pellente STORYBY vitae pelle SCREENPLAYBY Duis accumsan WRITERDIRECTEDBY Nam purus

Saudi doctor warns of e-cigarette risks after US ban over vaping-related deaths

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 13:08

Attacks on oil facilities in Kingdom threaten world economy: Saudi energy minister

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's energy minister said drones that attacked Saudi Aramco installations had caused an interruption of an estimated 5.7 million barrels in crude supplies and threaten the world economy.

The Arab Coalition spokesman Col. Turki Al-Maliki said in a statement that investigations are ongoing to identify the perpetrators.

And Al-Maliki said Arab coalition forces would continue to implement necessary measures to deal with the terrorist threats.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said as a result of the terrorist acts, oil production in Abqaiq and Khurais was knocked out temporarily and that estimates show that 50 percent of the company's production had been interrupted.

Part of the decrease will be compensated to clients through reserves, Prince Abdulaziz said in a statement carried on the Saudi Press Agency.

The newly appointed minister confirmed there were no injuries to staff at the locations targeted, adding that the company is still assessing the resulting damage.

The attacks not only target the Kingdom's vital installations, but also target the international oil supply and threaten its security, he said, and are a threat to the world economy.

The blasts took place at 3:31am and 3:42am at the two locations, both in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, causing fires that were brought under control by emergency services.

The drone attacks, at the world's largest oil processing plant at Abqaiq and at an oilfield in Khurais, highlight the importance of the international community to protect energy supply against ''all terrorist sides that carry out, support and finance such cowardly disruptive acts,'' the statement said.

He said that these blasts also knocked out the production of 2bn cubic feet of associated gas daily, used to produce 700,000 barrels of natural gas liquids, which will lead to an approximate 50 percent decrease of Ethane and natural gas liquids supply.

The statement said the company is currently working on restoring the lost quantities, and will present updated information within the next 48 hours.

World leaders condemned the attacks on Saudi Arabia on Saturday and those behind the terrorist acts.

Donald Trump called Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to reassert his country's ''readiness to cooperate with the Kingdom, by all means conducive to maintain its security and stability.''

The Crown Prince "underscored the Kingdom's willingness and strength to thwart such a terrorist aggression and deal with its consequences,'' SPA reported on Saturday.

The UAE said it ''condemns this act of terrorism and sabotage and considers it as a new evidence of the terrorist groups' attempts to undermine the security and stability of the region as a whole.''

''The Houthis must stop undermining Saudi Arabia's security by threatening civilian areas and commercial infrastructure,'' said the British government.

''The US strongly condemns today's drone attacks. These attacks against critical infrastructure endanger civilians, are unacceptable, and sooner or later will result in innocent lives being lost,'' said the US envoy in Riyadh John Abizaid.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was emphatic about the need to condemn Iranian aggression, specifically on Saudi Arabia, and the need to ensure the security of world energy supplies.

''Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while Rouhani and Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy. Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply. There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen,'' he tweeted, ''We call on all nations to publicly and unequivocally condemn Iran's attacks. The United States will work with our partners and allies to ensure that energy markets remain well supplied and Iran is held accountable for its aggression."

The Council of Ministers of Lebanon have also condemned the targeting of Saudi's Aramco facilities.

The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, said they had carried out the attacks and that 10 drones had been used.

Secondhand vaping: The latest vaping health risk - CNET

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 13:32

E-cigarettes can emit a huge cloud of vapor that can affect an entire crowd of people.

Getty Images When vaping first gained popularity, it was marketed as a healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes. However, a recent surge in illnesses, hospitalizations -- and even deaths -- has shown that there may be much scarier health risks associated with e-cigarettes than we thought. Products like Juul are wildly addictive and popular among teens, leading to what some are calling an epidemic of nicotine use.

Lately, researchers have been discovering that it's not only those who use vaping products themselves who are harmed -- other people in the vicinity can be breathing in "secondhand" fumes, a phenomenon now dubbed "secondhand vaping."

What is secondhand vaping?Secondhand vaping is exactly what it sounds like: if you're near a person breathing out vapor from an e-cigarette, you generally breathe in the same air that they're exhaling and can inhale the same vapor.

When you breathe the same air as someone using an e-cigarette, you're "secondhand vaping."

Getty Images And you don't have to be in super confined quarters with the vaper to still experience the negative side effects. A study from 2014 showed that indoor air quality was impaired when people in a ventilated room used e-cigarettes. Ultrafine particles can find their way from the vapor into the lungs of other people in the same space.

Another study from 2018 found that the vapor not only contains nicotine, but also heavy metals, aldehyde and glycerin, even though vaporizer companies try to paint these products as healthier in every way.

These chemicals contribute to the health risk posed by secondhand vaping. Both of these studies concluded that the pollutants emitted by vapor and the chemicals it contains can harm passive bystanders, including increased frequency of asthmatic reactions in bystanders. The vapor can also harm bystanders' lungs and contribute to lasting damage and disease.

Who is most at risk? E-cigarettes are becoming more and more of a teenage phenomenon.

Getty Images With more teens than ever now vaping, it seems like the younger folks who are more at risk. A third of high-schoolers and middle-schoolers reported that they were exposed to vaping aerosol in 2018. The Surgeon General reported last year that e-cigarette use among young people qualifies as an epidemic. Plus, Phillip Morris and Juul are now being sued for deceptive marketing tactics designed to promote their products to minors.

Teenagers are typically much more impressionable to peer pressure than their older counterparts, so it's harder for many of them to remove themselves from social situations that pose a health risk. Personally, I was already so embarrassed by just being in middle school that I can't imagine speaking up if I saw someone using an e-cigarette.

Those with pre-existing lung or breathing conditions are also at a greater risk: If you have asthma or a related condition, the effects of secondhand vaping may be heightened. The aerosol in vapor can cause throat and respiratory irritation, so if you're already feeling a little sick or have a sore throat, you could feel much worse.

How to avoid itFine, I'll be the buzzkill here. If you really want to avoid the negative health effects of secondhand vaping, you may just want to not hang out with your friends while they're using e-cigarettes. Or, if you're reading this and you are an e-cigarette user who's not ready to give it up yet, at least don't vape around other people (especially kids).

Stepping away from your friends while they vape can be hard, but doing so will protect your lungs.

Getty Images Besides avoiding vapers while they partake, you can set ground rules for your own personal spaces. Tell people you would rather they not vape in your car, home or anywhere else that you have some sway.

If someone close to you, like a parent, caretaker or coworker, uses e-cigarettes, you can kindly ask them to stop while you're around. Frame it as a way to protect both your health and theirs, and hopefully they'll respect your wishes.

Correction, September 13, 2:18 p.m. PT: This article misrepresented metal levels in e-cigarettes. The incorrect statement has been deleted.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

Tobacco Bonds Feel Heat From E-Cigarettes - WSJ

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Sat, 14 Sep 2019 17:08

John Miller isn't quitting tobacco bonds, but the growth of electronic cigarettes means he might get burned.

Mr. Miller, co-head of fixed income at Nuveen Asset Management LLC, which oversees about $90 billion in municipal bonds, is among those buying even as a steeper-than-forecast drop in smoking and the increased popularity of e-cigarettes threaten the revenue that backs the securities. In 1998, tobacco companies agreed to settle lawsuits by paying states to offset the health-care costs of smoking, with the payments based on shipments of cigarettes.

Some states and municipalities from New Jersey to California sold tax-exempt bonds backed by that money, including many zero-coupon bonds that don't pay interest until maturity. The settlement was reached long before the existence of e-cigarettes, which aren't included in any payments.

Mr. Miller still sees the debt as a bargain, saying borrowers will have plenty of cash to make scheduled interest payments even if smoking continues its decline. He has spent about $50 million to add California tobacco bonds to the Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond Fund this year. Mr. Miller likes the fact that the bonds are easily tradable even though declines in smoking mean he risks not being paid back on schedule.

"Estimates of the average lives of the bonds and final maturities can lengthen and shorten depending on a variety of events, e-cigs being just one, but are very likely to be repaid eventually given enough time," he said.

He isn't alone. Bill Gross's Total Return Fund, the largest bond fund in the world with $229 billion in assets, holds about $301 million of tax-exempt debt from Ohio's Buckeye Tobacco Settlement Financing Authority, as well as tobacco bonds from California and West Virginia. The Pacific Investment Management Co. fund increased its exposure to tobacco bonds in 2013, according to Morningstar Inc. data. A high-yield fund at BlackRock Inc. increased its exposure to tobacco bonds in the first four months of this year, according to Morningstar.

"Tobacco bonds can provide yield in a low-rate environment, and the sector offers some liquidity at a time when supply is scarce," said Timothy Milway, a director and credit analyst at BlackRock. Pimco didn't respond to a request for comment.

The interest in the junk-rated securities underscores the risk some investors are taking in a bid to boost income at a time of low interest rates and uneven economic growth. High-yield debt backed by tobacco companies' settlement payments is the best performing sector in the $3.7 trillion municipal-bond market. It has returned 16.5% this year, which includes price appreciation and interest payments, compared with 9.3% for all below-investment-grade municipal bonds, according to Barclays PLC.

Still, the $87 billion tobacco-bond market has been hit in recent years by faster-than-expected declines in smoking, which has reduced payments. Now, some analysts said the rise of electronic cigarettes could lead to further shortfalls and eventual defaults by tobacco-bond issuers.

The prospectus for a 40-year tobacco bond issued by Ohio in 2007 was among those that cited a study estimating a 1.8% annual decrease in cigarette use. Instead, consumption has declined at an annual average of 3.3% since 2000, according to Moody's Investors Service , which said in 2012 that about three-quarters of the tobacco bonds it rates may default if smoking continues to decline at 3% or 4% a year.

In a report last month, Moody's said that the rapid growth of electronic cigarettes and other smokeless tobacco products could further reduce cigarette shipments. The market for electronic cigarettes and other vaporizing devices is expected to reach $2.5 billion this year, up from $1.8 billion in 2013, according to Wells Fargo & Co. The market could surpass the projected $78 billion in sales this year of traditional cigarettes within a decade, according to Wells. That has got tobacco makers, including Altria Group Inc., Reynolds American Inc. and Lorillard Inc., moving into the market.

"Over the years, we've witnessed demand for combustible cigarettes drop steadily year in and year out, and that's prior to the introduction of what can be considered a competing product," said Robert Amodeo, head of municipal debt at Western Asset Management Co., which manages about $30 billion in state and municipal debt and doesn't hold tobacco bonds.

Others said the price of the securities already accounts for the growth of electronic-cigarette alternatives. "The amount of stress, both from the decline in consumption as well as the prospects of the competition of e-cigarettes, is priced into the marketplace in our view," said Hector Negroni, co-founder of hedge fund Fundamental Credit Opportunities in New York. He declined to discuss the fund's tobacco holdings.

Credit-rating firms in 2003 downgraded a variety of tobacco-settlement bonds, leading investors to sell the bonds and states to delay issuing new debt. States have since adjusted expectations for smoking declines when selling bonds or refinanced debt to account for drops in traditional cigarette sales. In March 2012, Alabama sold about $93 million in tobacco debt, maturing from one to nine years, that will default only if sales fall more than 25% each year. Minnesota and Illinois have also sold bonds that can withstand declines of about 9% a year.

Bill Newton, acting director of finance for the state of Alabama, said the bonds refinanced existing tobacco debt at lower interest rates after data predicted continuing declines in smoking. Electronic cigarettes weren't considered, he said.

Not all observers believe that usage of e-cigarettes will continue to increase. Morgan Stanley said in an April report that electronic cigarettes "are clearly not a disruptive technology."

Meanwhile, lawmakers in states including New Jersey and Minnesota are taking measures to tax electronic cigarettes like traditional tobacco products, which could reduce growth.

"Something that might slow this down is if more legislation gets implemented to tax or ban e-cigarettes, which would be beneficial to the sale of combustible cigarettes," said BlackRock's Mr. Milway.

OTG

Verizon blocking older iPhone activations, only supporting iPhone 6 and later - 9to5Mac

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 13:59

Verizon is making a controversial change to its activation process, according to a new report from CNET. Going forward and effective immediately, the carrier says it will no longer activate phones that do not operate on the 4G network with VoLTE capabilities'...

Ecobee HomeKit ThermostatIn a statement, Verizon explains that this move is part of its efforts to transition away from its older 3G CDMA network and focus more on 4G LTE and the its future 5G technology. The carrier says that its 3G CDMA network will remain active through the end of 2019, but that ''virtually all'' of its current network traffic is on its 4G LTE network.

The issue centers around Voice over LTE technology, with Verizon saying that to help ''facilitate a smooth transition to 4G LTE capable products and services'' it won't allow activations of devices that are not 4G LTE capable and VoLTE capable.

For iPhone users, this means that Verizon will no longer activate devices older than the iPhone 6, which was the first model to feature VoLTE. Note that while the iPhone 5 was the first model to feature LTE, it does not support Voice over LTE according to Apple.

Here is the carrier's statement in full:

''For several years we've been publicly saying that our 3G CDMA network will remain available through the end of 2019. Virtually all traffic on our network is on our 4G LTE network.

''To facilitate a smooth transition to 4G LTE capable products and services, we are no longer allowing devices that are not 4G LTE capable with VoLTE to be activated on our network.''

This move by Verizon will obviously not affect users with the latest iPhone models, but it does throw a wrench in the plans of those who purchase older iPhone models as first-time devices for kids or those looking to buy on a budget. This is further complicated by the fact that the iPhone 5s '-- still a supported device by Apple '-- runs the current iOS 11 software and will run iOS 12 when it is released later this year.

Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

About the AuthorChance Miller @ChanceHMiller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

Tips, questions, typos to chance@9to5mac.com

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Credit card privacy matters: Apple Card vs. Chase Amazon Prime Rewards Visa - The Washington Post

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Sat, 14 Sep 2019 16:41

In a privacy experiment, we bought one banana with the new Apple Card '-- and another with the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa from Chase. Here's who tracked, mined and shared our data. A single swipe of your credit card hands over data to at least a half-dozen kinds of companies. {Matt Chinworth for The Washington Post) I recently used my credit card to buy a banana. Then I tried to figure out how my credit card let companies buy me.

You might think my 29-cent swipe at Target would be just between me and my bank. Heavens, no. My banana generated data that's probably worth more than the banana itself. It ended up with marketers, Target, Amazon, Google and hedge funds, to name a few.

Oh, the places a banana will go in the sprawling card-data economy. Despite a federal privacy law covering cards, I found that six types of businesses could mine and share elements of my purchase, multiplied untold times by other companies they might have passed it to. Credit cards are a spy in your wallet '-- and it's time that we add privacy, alongside rewards and rates, to how we evaluate them.

Tech columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler tracked the same purchase at Target with two kinds of credit cards: the Chase Amazon Prime Rewards Visa and the Apple Card. (James Pace-Cornsilk/The Washington Post)Apple, branching out from gadgets, just began offering a needed alternative. The new Apple Card's best attribute is privacy (though the fashion faux pas of its white titanium has gotten more attention). Apple restrains bank partner Goldman Sachs from selling or sharing your data with marketers. But the Apple Card, which runs on the Mastercard network, doesn't introduce much new technology to protect you from a lot of other hands grabbing at the till.

[Listen on Post Reports: Tech columnist Geoffrey Fowler on all the entities with access to your credit card data. 'The devil's in the defaults.']

With my banana test '-- two bananas, one purchased with the popular Chase Amazon Prime Rewards Visa and the other with Apple's Mastercard '-- I hoped to uncover the secret life of my credit card data. But in this murky industry, I was only partly successful. Unlike my other recent technology experiments, such as watching what my iPhone does while I sleep, I couldn't hack into my cards to follow the data.

Instead, I asked insiders and privacy advocates to help identify the types of companies that had given themselves access to my swipe for purposes unrelated to payment and preventing fraud. ''Where does it end? Nobody really knows,'' says Ted Rossman, an analyst at comparison site CreditCards.com.

I pored over these companies' privacy policies. Then I asked more than two dozen to get specific about what they actually do with our transactions. What data are they sharing and with whom?

Some didn't answer. Others sent me to a Bermuda Triangle of legalese where few straight answers escaped alive. In 2019, it's hard to trust companies that don't think they owe us clarity about data.

[Help Desk: Ask our tech columnist a question]

What I learned: The card data business is booming for advertisers, for aiding investors and for helping retailers and banks encourage more spending. And there are many ways a card swipe can be exploited that don't always require a transaction being ''sold'' or ''shared'' in a way that fully identifies you. Data can be aggregated, anonymized, hashed or pseudonymized (given a new name), or used to target you without ever technically changing hands.

What's the harm? We're legally protected from fraudulent charges and unfair lending practices. But spending patterns can reveal lots '-- possibly enough to blackmail you. Anytime data passes to new hands, there's another chance it could get stolen. (Witness: Equifax.)

And card data surely helps businesses but can put consumers at a relative disadvantage. ''The more they know they know about you, the more opportunities there are for manipulation,'' says Chris Hoofnagle, a law and information professor at the University of California at Berkeley. Data can be used to model behaviors, such as figuring out exactly how many price hikes or awful experiences customers will put up with before bolting.

People can have different views on whether it's worth exchanging data for airline miles or cash back. But how are we supposed to make informed decisions when we don't know where our data is going?

So who all can track, mine or share your transactions? Where does the Apple Card help? Let's unravel the six kinds of companies that sold me out. It's bananas.

For our privacy experiment, we bought two bananas at Target. (James Pace-Cornsilk/The Washington Post) 1) The bankWhen I swiped my cards, of course my banks received data. What's surprising is who they can share it with. My data helped identify me to Chase's marketing partners, who send me junk mail. Some data even got fed to retail giant Amazon because it co-branded my card.

Banks have long been required to report suspicious transactions to the government. But the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act also allows banks to share personally identifiable data with companies. They just have to send a privacy notice and give you the right to opt out. (More on opting out below.)

When I used my Visa, Chase's privacy statement reserves the right to share my data for seven different kinds of reasons. The most appalling category is: ''For nonaffiliates to market to you.'' Who are ''nonaffiliates?'' Whoever the bank darned well wants. The term just means a company not owned by Chase.

Chase would not tell me the specific data it shared from my card or the companies it shared it with. Instead, spokeswoman Patricia Wexler listed kinds of data Chase doesn't share '-- including ''personalized transaction level data.'' But that leaves room for lots of uses. Chase, for example, opts us in to receiving offers from partner companies based on our spending habits.

Most banks format privacy statements on a page they mail you labeled ''FACTS.'' A chart lists many kinds of organizations the bank might potentially share your data with '-- and where you have the ability to opt out. (James Pace-Cornsilk/The Washington Post)This is where the Apple Card is different. In the Goldman Sachs privacy statement, its answer to most kinds of sharing is ''no.'' Goldman still shares information with credit agencies about whether you pay your bills. But it says it doesn't feed transactions to marketers or a sister company that mines card data.

Co-branded card partners get a piece of the action, too. Of course Amazon receives data when you buy products on Amazon with its card. What about other purchases? Chase says it shares information with co-brand partners ''at a high level only '-- not specific details around which merchant, and not specific items purchased,'' but Wexler declined to be specific. Amazon also wouldn't say exactly what it receives. (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

As a co-branded partner, Apple says it can't access data about your transactions outside Apple. The details of your purchases, visible in the Wallet app, are encrypted so Apple can't see them.

2) The card networkThis is where Apple's advantage starts to fade. Once my banana purchase passed to card networks run by Visa and Mastercard, either might have shared them '-- in an anonymized form '-- with businesses including tourism bureaus, Google and more.

The networks, whose main business is connecting banks, have side gigs in aggregating purchases and selling them as ''data insights.'' Visa said it allows clients to see data on populations as small as 50 people, often tied to groups in Zip codes. Mastercard wouldn't disclose its minimum group size.

[An Equifax hack settlement promises a $125 payout. The truth is more complicated.]

One Mastercard program particularly irks privacy advocates. Bloomberg has reported that data from millions of Mastercards '-- now likely including Apple Cards '-- ends up helping Google track retail sales. Data goes into a double-blind system that lets the Web giant link ads people have seen back to purchases they've made in the real world. A person familiar with the matter, who wasn't authorized to speak about it, confirmed the deal to me.

The firms wouldn't acknowledge the specific program but emphasize Mastercard scrubs identifiable information. Mastercard spokesman Jim Issokson said, ''Mastercard is not sharing any data or insights for ad measurement purposes to any of the tech giants.'' Google spokeswoman Anaik von der Weid said, ''We have developed advanced, privacy protective technology in this area, precisely to avoid the sharing of personal information.''

The Apple Card doesn't provide much more protection from retailer data gathering and sharing than other credit cards. (James Pace-Cornsilk/The Washington Post) 3) The storeTo Target, my credit card acted as a kind of ID '-- each swipe helps build a ''guest profile'' about me. That's useful for learning my habits, targeting me with ads on Facebook and sharing information about me with others. It made no difference whether I paid with the Chase Visa or Apple Card.

Target says it does not ''sell'' our data. But its privacy policy grants it the right to ''share your personal information with other companies'' who ''may use the information we share to provide special offers and opportunities to you.''

Who are these companies: Marketers? Data brokers? Other retailers? Target spokeswoman Jenna Reck wouldn't say.

What specifically does Target share? That ''varies,'' Reck said but added, ''We provide aggregated, de-identified information whenever possible.''

4) Point-of-sale systems and retailer banksThe tech that helps stores track us often comes from card-swipe machines and the merchant banks that process transactions for them. Those firms gain access to your name, card number and other details and often reserve rights to share data in some form. What are they doing with it?

This is where my data trail gets particularly murky. Target wouldn't say who its so-called acquiring bank is or what restrictions it places on it.

Target also wouldn't say what data restrictions it puts on the company that makes its swipe terminals, Verifone. That company didn't answer my emails.

An experience you might have had at a coffee shop shows what's possible. Ever swipe your card and the terminal already knows the phone number or email to send a receipt? That's because the system has linked your card to a profile '-- and you've volunteered those details before.

Square, one maker of those systems, says it does not ''sell'' that data. But it does pass an email or phone number we enter for receipts back to the merchant. And it shares aggregated data about purchases with organizations including trade groups.

5) Mobile walletsI paid for my bananas with physical cards, but smartphone-payment systems introduce even more hands on transactions. Apps can access and store not only what you buy but also where you go.

Google Pay for Android stores transactions in your Google account. Google says it doesn't allow advertisers to target you based on that data. But Google Pay's default privacy settings, which you can adjust, grant it rights to use your personal information to allow Google companies to market to you.

The Samsung Pay app has details from your past 20 transactions, though the company says the information isn't stored on its servers. The app also delivers location-based promotions.

Apple says it doesn't retain transaction information ''that can be tied back to you'' when you use Apple Pay.

6) Financial appsMany free financial services are after your data. Intuit's Mint, which lets you track all your accounts in one place, uses your data to market to you in its app. Financial software maker Yodlee sells de-identified data from customers to market research firms, retailers and investors.

Your email might also be a mole. Anytime you receive a receipt in Gmail, Google adds to it to a purchases database. Google says it doesn't use the contents of Gmail to target ads, but that leaves open other uses.

The Apple Card helped protect our banana purchase from some snooping but not all of it. (James Pace-Cornsilk/The Washington Post) Opting outIf you care about privacy, there are steps you can take to better protect your life as a consumer '-- but it's patchwork.

Perhaps it goes without saying, but you could pay with cash. That won't help if you swipe a loyalty card ... or once businesses start using facial recognition.

I plan to continue using the Apple Card, even though its rewards aren't as good as other cards. Its contracts with Goldman protect you from some bank surveillance capitalism. Apple Card also doesn't work with nosy apps like Mint '-- you have to access your account details through the app on your iPhone.

But I'm disappointed Apple didn't build new kinds of privacy technology to help counteract all the other categories of companies using each swipe. For example, the card offered by a start-up called Privacy uses a different number for each (online only) transaction so you can't be as easily tracked.

[Help Desk: How to fight the spies in your Chrome browser]

By law, credit card companies give us ways to opt out of some of their data sharing, though sharing with other financial institutions and joint-marketing partners is usually exempt. Chase and American Express have online forms you can fill out. To opt out with Citibank you have to call 888-214-0017; for Discover call 800-225-5202.

Through online forms, you can also opt out of the data-sharing programs with Visa and Mastercard. (Anyone with an Apple Card will need to do this to bolster their privacy.)

Even some stores offer an out. Target says customers can call 800-440-0680 and ask to be removed from having personal information shared for marketing.

Many of these companies say giving us these ''choices'' is sufficient. That's nonsense. With data, the devil is in the defaults '-- companies know a vanishingly small number of people will ever adjust settings. And how can we exercise a choice if we don't even know what's happening with our data?

The recent headlines about Facebook and Equifax opened a lot more eyes to how privacy affects our lives in unforeseen ways. Other businesses should take that as a warning: Data is the new corporate social responsibility.

If a company wants our trust, it's no longer good enough to say, ''We care about your privacy,'' and point to some legalese. It's time to come clean.

Dig Deeper: Personal tech + Privacy

Want to learn about how to keep your personal information private? Check out our curated list of stories below.

Get smart about stopping spam calls

Americans receive more than 5.2 billion automated calls in a month. But there are new apps to help stem the deluge.

Understanding what your phone tracks for marketers

As tech columnist Geoffrey Fowler slept, a dozen marketing companies used his iPhone to learn his number, email, location and IP address.

Say no to your default privacy settings

Changing privacy default settings means you'll get less personalization from some services, but it can slow down the number of eerie on-the-nose ads driven by data siphoned by major companies.

Read more from our Secret Life of Your Data series

Alexa has been eavesdropping on you this whole time

It's the middle of the night. Do you know who your iPhone is talking to?

Don't smile for surveillance: Why airport face scans are a privacy trap

Goodbye, Chrome: Google's Web browser has become spy software

I found your data. It's for sale.

MyLife - Wikipedia

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 14:50

For other uses of "My Life", see

My Life.

MyLife (or MyLife.com) is an American information brokerage founded by Jeffrey Tinsley in 2002 as Reunion.com. In addition to that name, it previously conducted business as Wink.com.

MyLife gathers personal information through public records and other sources to automatically generate a "MyLife Public Page" for each person.[1] A MyLife public page can list a wide variety of personal information, including an individual's age, past and current home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, employers, education, photographs, relatives, political affiliations, a mini biography, and a personal review section which encourages other MyLife members to rate each other. MyLife claims to provides public background data on over 325 million identities.[2] Public pages can be edited or removed if users register and pay for its paid service.[1] The site also allows people to search for any person in the United States, read their auto-generated public page, and review them.[3]

History [ edit ] In 2007, MyLife.com received $25 million in venture funding from Oak Investment Partners.[4] The company changed its name from Reunion.com to MyLife.com after merging with the search engine company, Wink, in the fall of 2008.[3][5] According to Tinsley, the company's 2008 revenue was estimated at 52 million dollars[5] with 90% of the firm's revenue coming from paid subscriptions. As of 2009, the company had acquired several smaller companies including: Planet Alumni, GoodContacts, HighSchoolAlumni, and MyAddressBook.com.[5] That year, Ancestry.com reported it had begun a data sharing partnership with MyLife.[7]

In August 2007, MyLife described its website as the sixth most popular social networking site with 28 million users,[8] while a 2008 article in the Los Angeles Times criticized the company's "aggressive marketing approach."[9] In February 2009 ComScore reported the company's website as having 18.2 million unique visitors that month,[5] and Tech Crunch characterized it as the fourth largest social networking website for January 2009.[5]

Legal issues [ edit ] In 2008, classmates.com was involved in a class-action lawsuit for sending spam emails to people claiming there was "someone looking for them" and then charging a fee to view the information, only to discover there was nobody searching for them; a subsequent 2011 lawsuit against MyLife stated that the company was engaging in the same practices and was simply a rebranded classmates.com.[10][11] The suit also accused the company of false solicitation by offering monthly memberships and then charging member's credit cards at the annual rate.[12] The class action also accused MyLife of spamming contacts improperly gathered from the address books of those visiting the site.[10] U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled to consolidate the 2011 class-action lawsuit with two other fraud class actions against MyLife. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed when classmates.com agreed to pay a more than $9.5 million settlement.[13]

The Washington State Attorney General's Office also began an investigation in 2011 stemming from concerns that the company's TV advertisements may have violated the state's Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive practice.[14] According to State officials the company resolved the issue by making an "assurance of discontinuance" and paid $28,000 in attorneys' costs and fees.[15]

In 2015, after a joint investigation by the Santa Monica City Attorney's Office and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, the company was again sued, this time for allegedly violating California Anti-Spam law.[13] Investigators found that MyLife was tricking consumers into giving the company their personal identifying information, and later their money, through false and misleading ads. MyLife agreed to a court judgment under which it would pay $800,000 in penalties, plus $250,000 in refunds to customers, a ruling referred to as "the first major prosecution of an online business for violations of California's automatic renewal law".[16] The company also is subject to a permanent injunction that prohibits false advertising and unauthorized credit card charges.[17]

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) rates MyLife as B'' with no accreditation.[18] Formerly, the BBB revoked MyLife's accreditation, initially giving MyLife a rating of D,[19] and later an F.[20]

References [ edit ] ^ a b James, Christina (March 14, 2019). "How does Mylife work?". Medium . Retrieved August 26, 2019 . ^ "MyLife Launches Online Homeservice Marketplaces "Reputation Score" Profile Rating Solution to Enhance Safety and Trust". Accesswire. February 28, 2019 . Retrieved August 26, 2019 . ^ a b Cawley, Christian (March 2011). "What is "My Life" - MyLife.Com?". Bright Hub . Retrieved August 26, 2019 . ^ Buley, Taylor (September 30, 2009). "Recognize That Cute Picture Online?". Forbes . Retrieved August 26, 2019 . ^ a b c d e "Reunion.com and Wink Morph Into MyLife.com". TechCrunch . Retrieved October 31, 2013 . ^ "Huge new content addition for more recent years". Ancestry.com . Retrieved October 31, 2013 . ^ "Reunion.com Receives $25M Funding From Oak Investment Partners". Business Wire. April 16, 2007. ^ "Too much contact at this Reunion". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved October 31, 2013 . ^ a b Pierce, Sarah (August 23, 2011). "MyLife.com Scam Class Action Lawsuit Moves Ahead". Top Class Actions . Retrieved 5 December 2017 . ^ "Web Scam Reborn as MyLife.com, Class Says". Courthouse News Service . Retrieved October 31, 2013 . ^ "MyLife.com: People-Searching Website Sued as 'Scam ' ". ABC News. August 19, 2011. ^ a b Hudson, Subrina (January 25, 2017). "Reunion.com founder seeks buyer for $7.5M Bel Air estate". The Real Deal: Los Angeles Real Estate News . Retrieved 5 December 2017 . ^ "Mylife.com agrees to tell consumers about charges, automatic renewal". Seattle Post-Intelligencer . Retrieved October 31, 2013 . ^ "Washington State Challenges MyLife.com Ads". Consumeraffairs.com. October 12, 2012. ^ Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP (May 1, 2015). "Rough life: MyLife.com to pay $1m and face injunction". Lexology . Retrieved 5 December 2017 . ^ "MyLife.com to Pay Over $1 Million In Fines and Refunds". Santa Monica, Calif.: City of Santa Monica . Retrieved 2015-07-04 . ^ "BBB Business Review". Better Business Bureau Los Angeles, Calif . Retrieved May 17, 2019 . ^ "Mylife.com, Inc. Business Review". Better Business Bureau Los Angeles, Calif. Archived from the original on March 29, 2016 . Retrieved May 17, 2019 . ^ "Mylife.com, Inc. Business Review". Better Business Bureau Los Angeles, Calif. Archived from the original on October 26, 2016 . Retrieved May 17, 2019 .

The iPhone 11 lineup has a U1 location chip, but what about Apple Tags? | iMore

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 15:29

Apple announced its next round of iPhones, with iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max now all a reality. It's also updated its website with all kinds of interesting bits of information, including an explainer about the new U1 chip inside those iPhones.

Before the media event we heard about a new coprocessor that was expected to be part of the new iPhones. Codenamed R1 and Rose, that coprocessor was believed to be designed for improved location awareness. And sure enough, that's what the new U1 chip is for, too.

If the U1 chip is indeed the aforementioned R1/Rose coprocessor, we're still missing part of the equation. Where are the Apple Tags?

They might not have been announced during the event, but they are surely still coming. And soon, too. References to them have been found in iOS 13 updates and the existence of the U1 chip in the iPhone 11 lineup further strengthens the belief that some from of tracking tag is on the horizon.

With Apple still expected to announce new iPad Pro models as well as the rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro, the smart money is on another media event. Likely in October. If that's the case, wouldn't that be a good time to announce Apple Tags? Especially if the U1 chip is built into everything Apple announced on-stage.

We think that it would. Absolutely.

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Why I'm super excited for Apple Tags (AirTags) | iMore

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 15:31

Apple's got a whole new Find My app shipping with iOS 13 and macOS Catalina. And, rumor has it, a whole new Find My accessory to go with it, maybe as soon as Apple's iPhone 11 Event this coming Tuesday in Cupertino, California.

I've mentioned this a couple of times already but I really want to stress it again: The upcoming iPhone 11 really seems like it's shaping up to be a next-generation iPhone 7. Even up to and including the event.

Similar overall phone shape but with new silicon on the inside, some new finishes on the outside, an extra camera for even better photos and video, and a breakthrough new accessory with super slick integration.

For the iPhone 7, that was the A10 Fusion, shiny Jet Black aluminum, a second, telephoto camera with optical zoom in and computational portrait mode, and'... AirPods.

For the iPhone 11, it'll be the A13 Bionic-er, matte frosted glass, a third, ultra wide-angle camera with optical zoom out and computational smart framing, and'... AirTags?

Baking better beaconsRumors of the new accessory first broke back in April, alongside rumors of the new Find My app, with Gui Rambo of 9to5Mac.

He described it as a tag that could be attached to any item, similar to existing products like Tile. Linked to your iCloud account, you'd be able to attach them to any common item, like your keys, your wallet, your backpack, your bike, maybe even your pets, I'll let you figure out the ethics of your kids or parents '-- at least for now!

Then, you could see where Finders? Keepers? are using the Find My app, just like you can your iPhone or iPad or Apple Watch, and with macOS Catalina, you're Mac.

But, more, they could alert you if you walked away and accidentally left them behind, unless you whitelisted a location like your home or office where you might want to leave something like your keys or bag behind.

You could also share access to them, for example, if everyone in the office wanted to know where the prototype had gotten to, or everyone in the family wanted to keep tabs on the new puppy.

You could also put them in lost mode, just like an iPhone or other device, and anyone who finds them would be able to contact you and let you know, in addition to you getting alerted if and when they were detected. Privately and securely.

And, it's that part that's really interesting. That's not a rumor but already a reality.

Find My... EverythingCraig Federighi, Apple's senior Vice President of software engineering, talked all about it when he announced the new FindMy app at WWDC 2019 back in June.

And it's clever. Really clever. Especially for devices that don't have always-on internet connections thanks to cellular networking, like the Mac'... or, like these rumored tags.

So, you put one on your keys and then, a month or so later, you accidentally leave them behind at a coffee shop you ducked into while running errands. You could retrace your steps, but it was one of a dozen places you went, and you don't have time, so it would be so great if you could just figure out where they are and now.

That's exactly where the new Find My network would kick in.

Basically, any Apple device with offline finding enabled will use Bluetooth low-energy to detect any other potentially lost Apple device within range. Including, we gotta assume, these new tags.

It's a super energy- and data-efficient process. Apple uses things like network coalescence to piggyback off of other activity so any and all extra usage is kept to the barest minimum.

So, for example, when a notification comes in or when someone texts, the location support will fire off at the same time, so the processor and radio aren't being woken up any more than they would be otherwise.

If it detects something, in this case, your keys, it'll use Wi-Fi mapping and cellular triangulation, if available, to anonymously report an approximate location back to Apple.

Both their device and your tags are anonymized, and the report is end-to-end encrypted, so you'll never have any idea who owns the device that pinged your tags, and they'll never know who owns the tags they pinged '-- or even that they pinged tags if they don't happen to physically see or notice it at the time.

(If they do find them physically, that's where the aforementioned lost mode would come in.)

Then, when you launch the Find My app on any of your devices, you'll see that location report, or the aggregate of as many location reports that have been collected by that time.

Which, thanks to the popularity of Apple devices, should be a good amount. Or a staggering amount in any major metropolitan area.

Crowdsourcing networks like this aren't new, of course. But the privacy and security protections sure are.

Keep them secret, keep them safeJust last month, Ivan Krstic, Apple's head of security engineering and architecture, returned to Black Hat, in part to detail how the new system was so private and secure.

I'm not even going to try to paraphrase. Here's the abstract:

It's so cool I can't tell if Apple thought up tags as a product and then set about figuring out how to implement it with this level of privacy and security, or if they set about figuring out how to implement Find My for Macs and it turned out so cool they realized there was an opportunity for an entirely new product line, tags, as well.

AirTags... or Apple Tags?Right after WWDC, when Apple pushed out the first beta of iOS 13, developer Steve Moser found a reference to Tag1,1.

For those not familiar with Apple's naming conventions, iPhone1,1 was the original iPhone. iPad1,1 was the original iPad. 2,1. That's how it goes.

The reference and a glyph depicting what a tag might look like was discovered in an asset package, the kind used for the pairing interfaces already used for AirPods and HomePods, which is how you'd connect the tags to your iCloud account.

More recently, MacRumors got a hold of an internal build of iOS that showed a more realistic rendering of what the tags might look like as well as the new Items tab in the Find My app that they'd show up in.

Find My was already unifying the previous Find My Friends and Find My iPhone apps, so this just takes that to its logical conclusion.

MacRumors also found strings suggesting the batteries will be replaceable, and that there could be a really fun slash useful augmented reality interface for tracking down your items.

Apple is investing huge in ARKit and it's practical applications like this that make those kinds of investments really pay off.

Obviously, the name is still a question, but AirTags or Apple Tags doesn't seem too far off. So is the price. How many will we be able to get and at what cost? Existing products like this are expensive but not too expensive, though a lot will depend on exactly the types of electronics Apple includes in the casing.

Like, with AirPods, the price was never about sound. It was about those dual W1, now H1 chips, the accelerometer, and the rest of the tech inside.

Now, some people are already poo-poo-ing the whole idea of Apple Tags. Preemptively not-a-Nomad laming them, so to speak.

But, I mean, they did the same thing with the iPhone, the iPad, the Apple Watch, even AirPods. And now look who's lame.

This is exactly the kind of accessory, like AirPods, that when done right, with tight integration, and an awesome experience, don't just help make Apple's existing ecosystem more valuable '-- and sure, they can use all the post iPhone dollars they can get '-- but help push the technology forward.

AirPods weren't the first Bluetooth earbuds, not by a long shot, not by decades, but look and how many companies are pairing them with their headphone-jack-free phones now, and replicating the entire set up and user experience as best they can.

Apple Tags may or may not end up being as memorable '-- or meme-able '-- as AirPods, but I think they have huge potential.

And, either way, I think they'll be an important part of the very iPhone 7-like story we get from Apple about the iPhone 11 next Tuesday.

Baltimore Governor's Three Year Plan To Use Surveillance Planes To Monitor The Public | MassPrivateI

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 00:07

Should apps share details of women's menstruation and sex lives with Facebook and other sites? Some already do

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 12:24

Back in January, Privacy News Online wrote about some important research from Privacy International. It found that 61% of the Android apps it investigated automatically transfer data to Facebook the moment a user opens them. This happens whether or not people have a Facebook account, and regardless of whether they are logged into Facebook or not. In March, Privacy International re-tested the most popular apps to see whether companies had improved their data protection: ''Two thirds of all apps we retested, including Spotify, Skyscanner and KAYAK, have updated their apps so that they no longer contact Facebook when you open the app.'' By implication, the other third were still sending data to Facebook whether you wanted that or not.

As a follow-up to this work, the organization looked at a class of apps where privacy is particularly important because they handle some of the most personal and intimate data: period tracker apps. These are typically used by women who wish to maximize the chance of conceiving a child. Once again, a key problem is that some apps pass data to Facebook even before the user gives permission to do so:

Our traffic analysis reveals, first of all, that Maya informs Facebook when you open the app. There is already a lot of information Facebook can assume from that simple notification: that you are probably a woman, probably menstruating, possibly trying to have (or trying to avoid having) a baby. Moreover, even though you are asked to agree to their privacy policy, Maya starts sharing data with Facebook before you get to agree to anything.

The Maya app also shares this information with a site called wzrkt.com. Wzrkt stands for ''Wizard Rocket'', the former name of a company now known as CleverTap. In their response to Privacy International's report, CleverTap describes itself as ''a customer retention platform that helps consumer brands maximize user lifetime value, optimize key conversion metrics, and boost retention rates.'' Similarly, another menstruation app, MIA, shares everything you enter with both Facebook and AppsFlyer '' ''a service that enables app owners to analyse and interpret the performance of their marketing efforts.'' With Maya:

it is not just your mood, medical data, sexual intercourse and personal notes that gets shared with Facebook. In fact, it is every single interaction between you and the app. When you open the app, how you navigate through the app, the dates of your menstruation cycle, and so on.

The researchers point out why this kind of highly-personal information is so sought-after by marketing companies:

understanding when a person is in a vulnerable state of mind means you can strategically target them. Knowing when a teenager is feeling low means an advertiser might try and sell them a food supplement that is supposed to make them feel strong and focused. Understanding people's mood is an entry point for manipulating them.

Advertisers like to claim that they need this kind of fine-grained information about people in order to offer them appropriate advertising. But passing on details about what we like and who we are also allows us to be nudged into clicking on ads and buying products by exploiting our weak points. Moreover, the Cambridge Analytica scandal showed that it is not just companies selling products and services who want to know how people are feeling at a particular moment. When there are upcoming elections, political parties may want to know if potential voters feel anxious, stressed or excited, so that they can adapt their narratives accordingly '' exactly as Cambridge Analytica did in both the US and UK, and probably elsewhere too.

Aside from the high level of intrusion this kind of tracking represents, there's another worrying aspect. Judging by the 187,000 reviews of Maya on Google Play, almost nobody is aware of how their most personal information is being passed around. That's not a surprise: Privacy International had to use some fairly sophisticated software tools in order to study the data flows from these period tracking apps. Few general users would be able to do that, even if it occurred to them to try. But the more sensitive the personal data that is being collected, the stronger should be the protections to keep it safe at all times, and the greater should be the transparency about how it used.

Many might feel that legislation is required to prevent the abuse of particularly intimate information. The EU has had the far-reaching GDPR legislation in place for over a year now, designed to rein in precisely these practices. But the Maya app discussed above shows why passing laws, no matter how strong and well intentioned, may not help much. Maya comes from a company called Plackal, which is based in Bangalore, India. Enforcing those EU rules in India is hard.

The central problem is not legal, but economic. Advertisers are demanding too much information about people because they view micro-targeted advertising as the best way to make money. Internet giants like Facebook and Google are currently happy to provide that level of detail because their users are either unaware of how their privacy is being undermined, or feel powerless to do anything about it.

As this blog has pointed out before, the solution is to move away from micro-targeted ads towards contextual marketing. It's an approach that has been used by traditional media with great success for over a century. Ads are chosen based on the surrounding editorial, and have no need for intimate details about the person viewing them. The fact that someone is reading a particular post, article or Web page means they are likely to be interested in the topics it discusses, and that provides enough information for targeted marketing. In this situation, there is no justification for apps to send any personal information to Facebook or anyone else, much less intimate details about people's sex lives.

Featured image by Cheryl Holt.

About Glyn MoodyGlyn Moody is a freelance journalist who writes and speaks about privacy, surveillance, digital rights, open source, copyright, patents and general policy issues involving digital technology. He started covering the business use of the Internet in 1994, and wrote the first mainstream feature about Linux, which appeared in Wired in August 1997. His book, "Rebel Code," is the first and only detailed history of the rise of open source, while his subsequent work, "The Digital Code of Life," explores bioinformatics - the intersection of computing with genomics.

Google Maps just got a brand new feature that goes way beyond navigation '' BGR

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Archived Version

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 14:26

Google has been adding plenty of new features to Google Maps over the year, most of them meant to improve navigation and commute experiences. The latest feature, however, is a lot more helpful than just providing directions to a new destination. Google Maps will now show users drug addiction recovery resources on the map '-- and yes, provide navigation data if needed.

Google Maps will display more the location of more than 83,000 recovery meetings, including Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, CNET reports.

Moreover, Google Maps will also display the nearest location where people could find non-prescriptions drugs including Naloxone or Narcan that can treat overdoses. All you have to do is search for ''Naloxone near me'' or ''Narcan near me'' in the search bar of the app.

Google is also launching a new Recover Together website, The Verge said that will deliver the same addiction recovery resources, Google Maps-based search included.

The company has partnered with Recovery Resource Hub to vet the maps, and the help page won't feature any ads.

Google said that more than 23 million Americans are in recovery, with the company having witnessed an ''all-time high'' of people search for recovery treatment.

The company built the tools for the 30th annual National Recovery Month, an initiative launched by the US Department of Health and Human Services

Image Source: Photo by Valentin Wolf/imageBROKER/Shutterstock

#MeToo

Brett Kavanaugh Fit In With the Privileged Kids. She Did Not. - The New York Times

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 11:41

news analysis

Deborah Ramirez's Yale experience says much about the college's efforts to diversify its student body in the 1980s.

Image Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh during the announcement of his nomination to the Supreme Court on July, 9, 2018. Credit Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times By Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly

Ms. Pogrebin and Ms. Kelly are reporters with The Times and authors of the forthcoming book, ''The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation.''

Sept. 14, 2019Deborah Ramirez had the grades to go to Yale in 1983. But she wasn't prepared for what she'd find there.

A top student in southwestern Connecticut, she studied hard but socialized little. She was raised Catholic and had a sheltered upbringing. In the summers, she worked at Carvel dishing ice cream, commuting in the $500 car she'd bought with babysitting earnings.

At Yale, she encountered students from more worldly backgrounds. Many were affluent and had attended elite private high schools. They also had experience with drinking and sexual behavior that Ms. Ramirez '-- who had not intended to be intimate with a man until her wedding night '-- lacked.

During the winter of her freshman year, a drunken dormitory party unsettled her deeply. She and some classmates had been drinking heavily when, she says, a freshman named Brett Kavanaugh pulled down his pants and thrust his penis at her, prompting her to swat it away and inadvertently touch it. Some of the onlookers, who had been passing around a fake penis earlier in the evening, laughed.

To Ms. Ramirez it wasn't funny at all. It was the nadir of her first year, when she often felt insufficiently rich, experienced or savvy to mingle with her more privileged classmates.

Image The yearbook photo of Deborah Ramirez in The Yale Banner in 1987.''I had gone through high school, I'm the good girl, and now, in one evening, it was all ripped away,'' she said in an interview earlier this year at her Boulder, Colo., home. By preying upon her in this way, she added, Mr. Kavanaugh and his friends ''make it clear I'm not smart.''

Mr. Kavanaugh, now a justice on the Supreme Court, has adamantly denied her claims. Those claims became a flash point during his confirmation process last year, when he was also fighting other sexual misconduct allegations from Christine Blasey Ford, who had attended a Washington-area high school near his.

Ms. Ramirez's story would seem far less damaging to Mr. Kavanaugh's reputation than those of Dr. Ford, who claimed that he pinned her to a bed, groped her and tried to remove her clothes while covering her mouth.

But while we found Dr. Ford's allegations credible during a 10-month investigation, Ms. Ramirez's story could be more fully corroborated. During his Senate testimony, Mr. Kavanaugh said that if the incident Ms. Ramirez described had occurred, it would have been ''the talk of campus.'' Our reporting suggests that it was.

At least seven people, including Ms. Ramirez's mother, heard about the Yale incident long before Mr. Kavanaugh was a federal judge. Two of those people were classmates who learned of it just days after the party occurred, suggesting that it was discussed among students at the time.

We also uncovered a previously unreported story about Mr. Kavanaugh in his freshman year that echoes Ms. Ramirez's allegation. A classmate, Max Stier, saw Mr. Kavanaugh with his pants down at a different drunken dorm party, where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student. Mr. Stier, who runs a nonprofit organization in Washington, notified senators and the F.B.I. about this account, but the F.B.I. did not investigate and Mr. Stier has declined to discuss it publicly. (We corroborated the story with two officials who have communicated with Mr. Stier.)

Mr. Kavanaugh did not speak to us because we could not agree on terms for an interview. But he has denied Dr. Ford's and Ms. Ramirez's allegations, and declined to answer our questions about Mr. Stier's account.

Yale in the 1980s was in the early stages of integrating more minority students into its historically privileged white male population. The college had admitted its first black student in the 1850s, but by Ms. Ramirez's time there, people of color comprised less than a fifth of the student body. Women, who had been admitted for the first time in 1969, were still relative newcomers.

Mr. Kavanaugh fit the more traditional Yale mold. His father was a trade association executive, his mother a prosecutor and later a judge. They lived in tony Bethesda, Md., and owned a second home on Maryland's Eastern Shore. As a student at a prominent Jesuit all-boys school, Georgetown Prep, Mr. Kavanaugh was surrounded by the sons of powerful Washington professionals and politicians. He was an avid sports fan and known to attend an annual teenage bacchanal called ''Beach Week,'' where the hookups and drinking were more important than the sand and swimming.

Ms. Ramirez grew up in a split-level ranch house in working-class Shelton, Conn., perhaps best known for producing the Wiffle ball, and didn't drink before college. Her father, who is Puerto Rican, rose through the Southern New England Telephone Company, having started as a cable splicer. Her mother, who is French, was a medical technician.

Before coming to Yale, Ms. Ramirez took pride in her parents' work ethic and enjoyed simple pleasures like swimming in their aboveground pool, taking camping trips and riding behind her father on his snowmobile. She was studious, making valedictorian at her Catholic elementary school and excelling at her Catholic high school, St. Joseph.

She and her parents took out loans to pay for Yale, and she got work-study jobs on campus, serving food in the dining halls and cleaning dorm rooms before class reunions.

She tried to adapt to Yale socially, joining the cheerleading squad her freshman year, sometimes positioned at the pinnacle of the pyramid. But Ms. Ramirez learned quickly that although cheerleading was cool in high school, it didn't carry the same cachet at Yale. People called her Debbie Cheerleader or Debbie Dining Hall or would start to say ''Debbie does '... '' playing on the 1978 porn movie ''Debbie Does Dallas.'' But Ms. Ramirez didn't understand the reference.

''She was very innocent coming into college,'' Liz Swisher, who roomed with Ms. Ramirez for three years at Yale and is now a physician in Seattle, later recalled. ''I felt an obligation early in freshman year to protect her.''

There were many more unhappy memories of college. Fellow students made fun of the way she dropped consonants when she spoke, but also ribbed her for not being fluent in Spanish. They mocked her knockoff black-and-red Air Jordans. They even questioned her admission on the merits. ''Is it because you're Puerto Rican?'' someone once asked her.

''My mom would have preferred me to go to a smaller college '-- looking back at it, she was right,'' Ms. Ramirez said. At Yale, ''they invite you to the game, but they never show you the rules or where the equipment is.''

It wasn't until she got a call from a reporter and saw her account of Mr. Kavanaugh described as ''sexual misconduct'' in The New Yorker that Ms. Ramirez understood it as anything more than one of many painful encounters at Yale.

Ms. Ramirez also did not see herself as a victim of ethnic discrimination. The college campuses of the 1980s had yet to be galvanized by the identity and sexual politics that course through today's cultural debates.

Years after graduating, however, she started volunteering with a nonprofit organization that assists victims of domestic violence '-- the Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence, or SPAN. She became a staff member for a time and continues to serve on its board. Gradually she embraced her Puerto Rican roots.

This awakening caused Ms. Ramirez to distance herself from the past. She fell out of touch with one Yale friend '-- who had asked Ms. Ramirez to be her daughter's godmother '-- after the friend's husband made fun of a book she was reading on racial identity. The husband, a Yale classmate, was one of the students she remembered being at the dorm party that difficult night.

''If I felt like a person in my life wasn't going to embrace my journey or would somehow question it,'' she said, ''I just let them go.''

Mr. Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings were wrenching, as he strained to defend his character after Dr. Ford's searing testimony. Thousands of miles away, Ms. Ramirez, who was never asked to testify, also found the hearings distressing. Her efforts to backstop her recollections with friends would later be cited as evidence that her memory was unreliable or that she was trying to construct a story rather than confirm one.

Ms. Ramirez's legal team gave the F.B.I. a list of at least 25 individuals who may have had corroborating evidence. But the bureau '-- in its supplemental background investigation '-- interviewed none of them, though we learned many of these potential witnesses tried in vain to reach the F.B.I. on their own.

Two F.B.I. agents interviewed Ms. Ramirez, telling her that they found her ''credible.'' But the Republican-controlled Senate had imposed strict limits on the investigation. '''We have to wait to get authorization to do anything else,''' Bill Pittard, one of Ms. Ramirez's lawyers, recalled the agents saying. ''It was almost a little apologetic.''

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island and member of the Judiciary Committee, later said, ''I would view the Ramirez allegations as not having been even remotely investigated.'' Other Democrats agreed.

Ultimately, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, concluded, ''There is no corroboration of the allegations made by Dr. Ford or Ms. Ramirez.'' Mr. Kavanaugh was confirmed on Oct. 6, 2018, by a vote of 50-48, the closest vote for a Supreme Court justice in more than 130 years.

Still, Ms. Ramirez came to feel supported by the very Yale community from which she had once felt so alienated. More than 3,000 Yale women signed an open letter commending her ''courage in coming forward.'' More than 1,500 Yale men issued a similar letter two days later.

She also received a deluge of letters, emails and texts from strangers containing messages like, ''We're with you, we believe you, you are changing the world,'' and ''Your courage and strength has inspired me. The bravery has been contagious.''

College students wrote about how Ms. Ramirez had helped them find the words to express their own experiences. Medical students wrote about how they were now going to listen differently to victims of sexual violence. Parents wrote about having conversations with their children about how bad behavior can follow them through life. One father told Ms. Ramirez he was talking to his two sons about how their generation is obligated to be better.

Ms. Ramirez saved all of these notes in a decorative box that she keeps in her house, turning to them even now for sustenance. One person sent a poem titled ''What Is Justice'' that has resonated deeply with her.

''You can't look at justice as just the confirmation vote,'' she said. ''There is so much good that came out of it. There is so much more good to come.''

This essay is adapted from the forthcoming book ''The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation.''

Robin Pogrebin is a reporter on the Culture Desk, where she covers cultural institutions, the art world, architecture and other subjects. She is also the author with Kate Kelly of "The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation." @ rpogrebin ' Facebook

Kate Kelly covers Wall Street, its political influence and inner workings. She previously worked at The Wall Street Journal and as an on-air reporter at CNBC. She is the author of the best-selling book ''Street Fighters.'' @ katekelly

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Green New Deal

Climate change: Electrical industry's 'dirty secret' boosts warming - BBC News

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 14:34

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The expansion of electrical grid connections has increased use of SF6 It's the most powerful greenhouse gas known to humanity, and emissions have risen rapidly in recent years, the BBC has learned.

Sulphur hexafluoride, or SF6, is widely used in the electrical industry to prevent short circuits and accidents.

But leaks of the little-known gas in the UK and the rest of the EU in 2017 were the equivalent of putting an extra 1.3 million cars on the road.

Levels are rising as an unintended consequence of the green energy boom.

Cheap and non-flammable, SF6 is a colourless, odourless, synthetic gas. It makes a hugely effective insulating material for medium and high-voltage electrical installations.

It is widely used across the industry, from large power stations to wind turbines to electrical sub-stations in towns and cities. It prevents electrical accidents and fires.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media caption Technicians display the importance of preventing electrical overloadsHowever, the significant downside to using the gas is that it has the highest global warming potential of any known substance. It is 23,500 times more warming than carbon dioxide (CO2).

Just one kilogram of SF6 warms the Earth to the same extent as 24 people flying London to New York return.

It also persists in the atmosphere for a long time, warming the Earth for at least 1,000 years.

So why are we using more of this powerful warming gas?The way we make electricity around the world is changing rapidly.

Where once large coal-fired power stations brought energy to millions, the drive to combat climate change means they are now being replaced by mixed sources of power including wind, solar and gas.

This has resulted in many more connections to the electricity grid, and a rise in the number of electrical switches and circuit breakers that are needed to prevent serious accidents.

Collectively, these safety devices are called switchgear. The vast majority use SF6 gas to quench arcs and stop short circuits.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Gas-insulated, high-voltage switchgear almost always uses SF6 "As renewable projects are getting bigger and bigger, we have had to use it within wind turbines specifically," said Costa Pirgousis, an engineer with Scottish Power Renewables on its new East Anglia wind farm, which doesn't use SF6 in turbines.

"As we are putting in more and more turbines, we need more and more switchgear and, as a result, more SF6 is being introduced into big turbines off shore.

"It's been proven for years and we know how it works, and as a result it is very reliable and very low maintenance for us offshore."

How do we know that SF6 is increasing?Across the entire UK network of power lines and substations, there are around one million kilograms of SF6 installed.

A study from the University of Cardiff found that across all transmission and distribution networks, the amount used was increasing by 30-40 tonnes per year.

This rise was also reflected across Europe with total emissions from the 28 member states in 2017 equivalent to 6.73 million tonnes of CO2. That's the same as the emissions from 1.3 million extra cars on the road for a year.

Researchers at the University of Bristol who monitor concentrations of warming gases in the atmosphere say they have seen significant rises in the last 20 years.

"We make measurements of SF6 in the background atmosphere," said Dr Matt Rigby, reader in atmospheric chemistry at Bristol.

"What we've seen is that the levels have increased substantially, and we've seen almost a doubling of the atmospheric concentration in the last two decades."

How does SF6 get into the atmosphere?The most important means by which SF6 gets into the atmosphere is from leaks in the electricity industry.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Electrical switchgear the world over often uses SF6 to prevent fires Electrical company Eaton, which manufactures switchgear without SF6, says its research indicates that for the full life-cycle of the product, leaks could be as high as 15% - much higher than many other estimates.

Louis Shaffer, electrical business manager at Eaton, said: "The newer gear has very low leak rates but the key question is do you have newer gear?

"We looked at all equipment and looked at the average of all those leak rates, and we didn't see people taking into account the filling of the gas. Plus, we looked at how you recycle it and return it and also included the catastrophic leaks."

How damaging to the climate is this gas?Concentrations in the atmosphere are very small right now, just a fraction of the amount of CO2 in the air.

However, the global installed base of SF6 is expected to grow by 75% by 2030.

Another concern is that SF6 is a synthetic gas and isn't absorbed or destroyed naturally. It will all have to be replaced and destroyed to limit the impact on the climate.

Developed countries are expected to report every year to the UN on how much SF6 they use, but developing countries do not face any restrictions on use.

Right now, scientists are detecting concentrations in the atmosphere that are 10 times the amount declared by countries in their reports. Scientists say this is not all coming from countries like India, China and South Korea.

One study found that the methods used to calculate emissions in richer countries "severely under-reported" emissions over the past two decades.

Why hasn't this been banned?SF6 comes under a group of human-produced substances known as F-gases. The European Commission tried to prohibit a number of these environmentally harmful substances, including gases in refrigeration and air conditioning, back in 2014.

But they faced strong opposition from industries across Europe.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media caption Farmer Adam Twine is concerned about SF6"In the end, the electrical industry lobby was too strong and we had to give in to them," said Dutch Green MEP Bas Eickhout, who was responsible for the attempt to regulate F-gases.

"The electric sector was very strong in arguing that if you want an energy transition, and you have to shift more to electricity, you will need more electric devices. And then you also will need more SF6.

"They used the argument that otherwise the energy transition would be slowed down."

What do regulator and electrical companies say about the gas?Everyone is trying to reduce their dependence on the gas, as it is universally recognised as harmful to the climate.

In the UK, energy regulator Ofgem says it is working with utilities to try to limit leaks of the gas.

"We are using a range of tools to make sure that companies limit their use of SF6, a potent greenhouse gas, where this is in the interest of energy consumers," an Ofgem spokesperson told BBC News.

"This includes funding innovation trials and rewarding companies to research and find alternatives, setting emissions targets, rewarding companies that beat those targets, and penalising those that miss them."

Are there alternatives - and are they very expensive?The question of alternatives to SF6 has been contentious over recent years.

For high-voltage applications, experts say there are very few solutions that have been rigorously tested.

"There is no real alternative that is proven," said Prof Manu Haddad from the school of engineering at Cardiff University.

"There are some that are being proposed now but to prove their operation over a long period of time is a risk that many companies don't want to take."

However, for medium voltage operations there are several tried-and-tested materials. Some in the industry say that the conservative nature of the electrical industry is the key reason that few want to change to a less harmful alternative.

"I will tell you, everyone in this industry knows you can do this; there is not a technical reason not to do it," said Louis Shaffer from Eaton.

"It's not really economic; it's more a question that change takes effort and if you don't have to, you won't do it."

Some companies are feeling the winds of changeSitting in the North Sea some 43km from the Suffolk coast, Scottish Power Renewables has installed one of world's biggest wind farms where the turbines will be free of SF6 gas.

East Anglia One will see 102 of these towering generators erected, with the capacity to produce up to 714MW (megawatts) of power by 2020, enough to supply half a million homes.

Image copyright ALAN O'NEILL Image caption The turbines at East Anglia One are taller than the Elizabeth Tower at the Houses of Parliament which houses Big Ben Previously, an installation like this would have used switchgear supplied with SF6, to prevent the electrical accidents that can lead to fires.

Each turbine would normally have contained around 5kg of SF6, which, if it leaked into the atmosphere, would add the equivalent of around 117 tonnes of carbon dioxide. This is roughly the same as the annual emissions from 25 cars.

"In this case we are using a combination of clean air and vacuum technology within the turbine. It allows us to still have a very efficient, reliable, high-voltage network but to also be environmentally friendly," said Costa Pirgousis from Scottish Power Renewables.

"Once there are viable alternatives on the market, there is no reason not to use them. In this case, we've got a viable alternative and that's why we are using it."

But even for companies that are trying to limit the use of SF6, there are still limitations. At the heart of East Anglia One sits a giant offshore substation to which all 102 turbines will connect. It still uses significant quantities of the highly warming gas.

What happens next ?The EU will review the use of SF6 next year and will examine whether alternatives are available. However, even the most optimistic experts don't think that any ban is likely to be put in place before 2025.

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathBBC.

OBL

Osama bin Laden's son killed in US operation, Donald Trump says | US News | Sky News

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 13:14

The son of Osama bin Laden has been killed in a US counter-terrorism operation, President Donald Trump has confirmed.

A statement from the White House said: "Hamza bin Laden, the high-ranking al Qaeda member and son of Osama bin Laden, was killed in a United States counter-terrorism operation in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region.

"The loss of Hamza bin Laden not only deprives al Qaeda of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father, but undermines important operational activities of the group.

"Hamza bin Laden was responsible for planning and dealing with various terrorist groups."

The high-ranking al Qaeda figure was rumoured to have been killed in August.

The New York Times reported at the time that it had spoken to two officials who confirmed the death and said the US had played a role in the operation "but it was not clear how".

When asked about the claims back then, President Trump declined to comment.

Hamza is believed to be about 30 and is the 15th of Osama bin Laden's 56 children.

Former al Qaeda leader Osama was killed in a US special forces raid in 2011.

Osama bin Laden's son shown in CIA footageHis son Hamza became an increasingly prominent figure in the organisation and a US state department says he has "threatened attacks against the United States and allies".

He has released tapes and video messages calling for attacks, urging followers to: "Be perfect in your choice of targets, so that you may damage your enemies more."

Earlier this year, the US offered a $1m (£755,000) reward for help locating the al Qaeda member.

His whereabouts were unknown but it was believed he was hiding in either Afghanistan or Pakistan.

Letters exchanged between Hamza and his father suggest the pair had a close relationship and that Hamza was being groomed to become leader.

Experts believe he was at his father's side in Afghanistan before the 9/11 attacks, which were masterminded by the then-al Qaeda leader.

Image: Hamza bin Laden was said to have threatened attacks against the US and its alliesSky News defence and security correspondent Alistair Bunkall says news of Hamza's death "marks the end of the bin Laden dynasty", as he is the last of Osama's sons who could have taken over leadership of the terrorist organisation.

He added that it is "a hugely symbolic kill" for the US but its significance in terms of what it means for al Qaeda practically should not be overplayed.

The group, which is currently lead by Ayman al Zawahiri, has been relatively quiet in recent years as Islamic State gained prominence.

Gig Economy

Amazon's Whole Foods is cutting health care benefits for part-timers - Chicago Tribune

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Archived Version

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 11:48

By Joseph Pisani

Associated Press |

Sep 13, 2019 | 1:41 PM

| New York

The Whole Foods Market at West 63rd and South Halsted streets in Chicago is seen in 2016. Whole Foods is cutting health care benefits for its part-time workers. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Whole Foods, the grocery chain owned by Amazon, is cutting health care benefits for its part-time workers, a move that could leave about 1,900 of its employees without medical coverage.

Starting next year, Whole Foods employees have to work at least 30 hours a week to qualify for its health care benefits, up from the 20 hours a week it currently requires.

The grocer, which has about 95,000 workers, says it's making the change "to better meet the needs of our business and create a more equitable and efficient scheduling model."

News of the benefits change was first reported by Business Insider.

Most Read

EuroLand

Europe's full-blown Stockholm Syndrome in face of US bullying '-- RT Op-ed

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Archived Version

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 17:40

Finian Cunningham is an award-winning journalist who has written extensively on international affairs.

The psychological condition known as Stockholm Syndrome, in which hostages irrationally sympathize with their captors, could well be applied to European leaders when it comes to US bullying.

The US has always been the dominant ''and domineering'' party in the transatlantic relationship. But past administrations in Washington have been careful to indulge European states as ''partners'' in a seemingly mutual alliance.

Under President Donald Trump, the Europeans are pushed around and hectored in a way that shows their true status as mere vassals to Washington.

Take the Nord Stream 2 project. The 1,220-kilometer-long undersea pipeline, which will significantly increase delivery of gas to Europe, is due to be completed by year's end. The new supply stands to benefit the European Union's economy, in particular Germany's, by providing cheaper energy fuel to drive businesses and heat homes.

Yet last week, US Senator Ted Cruz threatened that his country ''has the ability to halt'' the entire project being completed. Cruz is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which in July passed a bill that will impose sanctions on companies involved in the construction of the pipeline. Germany, Austria, France and Britain are part of the building consortium, along with Russia's Gazprom.

Also on rt.com US Senate committee green-lights sanctions against Nord Stream 2 pipeline project Ironically, the Senate bill is called 'Protecting Europe's Energy Security'. It's a curious form of 'protection' when US-threatened sanctions will deprive European businesses and consumers of affordable gas. Cruz, as with President Trump, has accused Russia of trying to tighten its economic grip on Europe. Closer to the truth, and more cynically, Washington wants Europe to buy its more expensive liquefied natural gas. Texas, the biggest source of US gas, is Cruz's home state. Maybe his bill should be renamed 'Protecting American Energy Exports.'

Related to that is the wider imposition of sanctions by Washington and Europe against Russia since 2014. Several reasons are cited for the punitive measures on Moscow, including alleged destabilization of Ukraine and the 'annexation' of Crimea, alleged interference in elections, and the dubious Skripal poisoning affair. The sanctions policy has largely been promoted by Washington, with Europe dutifully following.

Last week, EU ambassadors voted to extend sanctions for another six months, in spite of the fact that they have been substantially more harmful to Europe's economy than America's, and in spite of the fact that German businesses in particular are opposed to the futile economic hostility towards Moscow.

The lack of any European pushback to such blatant American interference in its supposed sovereignty and independence on matters of vital interest is simply astounding.

Also on rt.com India begins sending Russia money for S-400s despite pressure from US Another glaring example is the way the Trump administration is insisting that European states abandon major investment plans with the Chinese telecoms firm Huawei to modernize mobile phone and internet infrastructures. Washington has threatened reprisal sanctions if Europe goes ahead in partnering with Huawei. The US has also warned that it may withhold ''intelligence sharing'' from European ''allies'' on security and terror risks. How's that for a 'friend'?

Again, there is the same pattern of mealymouthed acquiescence from European leaders, instead of a robust censure to the US to mind its own business.

The international JCPOA nuclear accord with Iran is another crowning demonstration of the fundamentally abusive relationship Washington has with Europe. This week, the Trump administration poured cold water on a French proposal to extend a $15 billion credit line to Tehran. The French move was meant to ease economic pressure on Iran and to keep it onboard the faltering nuclear accord.

Also on rt.com 'Piracy, bribery & blackmail': Iran slams US sanctions as economic terrorism against civilians Washington declared that ''it will sanction anyone buying Iranian crude oil exports''. There will be no waivers or exceptions to American sanctions. That pretty much tells the European Union to forget about its hesitant efforts to save the Iran nuclear deal, to which it is a signatory, along with Russia and China.

So, because Trump crashed out of the accord, that means the Europeans have to as well, in his domineering view. Evidently, the EU has no freedom to act independently from American diktat. Wrecking relations between Europe and Iran will jeopardize economic interests and security concerns over conflict and non-proliferation of weapons in the region. Are European concerns so irrelevant to Washington?

Now steel yourself for the following stupendous double-think. US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper last week lectured European ''friends'' to be more vigilant in fending off alleged Russian and Chinese malignancy.

Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London, it was billed as a showpiece address, Esper's first major speech since becoming Pentagon chief in July.

''It is increasingly clear that Russia and China want to disrupt the international order by gaining a veto over other nations' economic, diplomatic, and security decisions,'' he said.

''To put it simply, Russia's foreign policy continues to disregard international norms,'' added the former lobbyist for Raytheon and other American weapons manufacturers, without a hint of shame.

Europe's response? Did European leaders and media laugh uncontrollably at such patent absurdity, hypocrisy and vice-projection? Were there stern official statements or editorials telling the American representative for the military-industrial complex to not insult ordinary intelligence?

Also on rt.com Macron knows for Europeans the 'problem' country is not Russia but US (by George Galloway) Europe's tolerance for abuse by its American 'partner' really does invoke a Stockholm Syndrome problem. Sure, sometimes the European leaders like Merkel or Macron snivel about the need to be more independent from Washington, but when the chips are down, they all show a contemptible toadying to American policy even when it is actually damaging to their own national interests.

When Trump recommended that Russia be admitted to the Group of Seven economic powers at last month's summit in France, the rest of the group reacted in horror, demanding Moscow's exclusion. How twisted is that? The pathetic European leaders want to stay in a club with their biggest tormentor '' Washington '' while shutting out a country which is a neighbor and a potentially important strategic partner. How irrational can you get?

Psychologists explain Stockholm Syndrome as a ''coping mechanism'' to deal with trauma. It is observed among hostages, prisoners of war, survivors of concentration camps, slaves and prostitutes. Irrational sympathy with a party that actually inflicts hardship and injury is a way to minimize trauma by seeming to adopt the same values.

Apparently, the syndrome can be treated for recovery. Victims have to gradually be introduced to the objective truth of their situation. Europe needs to wake up from delusions about its American 'ally.'

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

One Step Closer to Nationwide 5G: T-Mobile, Qualcomm and Ericsson take Massive Step Toward Delivering Broad 5G on Low-Band Spectrum | T-Mobile Newsroom

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 13:37

'' Companies Complete World's First Low-Band Data Session on a Commercial 5G Modem '' Low-Band FDD Spectrum to Enable Wider Coverage and Deeper Signal Penetration for Accelerated 5G Network Deployments Around the Globe Bellevue, Washington '' July 11, 2019 '' T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS), Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), and Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) today announced they've achieved the world's first low-band 5G data session on a commercial 5G modem. The data session was conducted in T-Mobile's lab in Bellevue, Washington on 600 MHz '' the same spectrum T-Mobile is using to roll out broad, nationwide 5G in the U.S. '' marking a major milestone in delivering 5G across America beyond urban areas.

The data session was completed on a mobile test device powered by the second-generation Qualcomm® Snapdragon' X55 5G modem, RF transceiver and RF Front-End (RFFE) solution, as well as commercial 5G radios from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio. The demonstration is an important step toward the launch of the first commercial 5G network using low-band spectrum.

''This is a key step toward achieving our vision of 5G for All,'' said Neville Ray, Chief Technology Officer at T-Mobile. ''This modem will power devices that tap into the 600 MHz low-band spectrum we'll use to blanket the country with 5G. And we're not stopping there. If regulators approve our merger with Sprint, we'll have the crucial mid-band spectrum and resources needed to supercharge our network and deliver broad AND deep, transformational 5G across the U.S.''

T-Mobile's 600 MHz low-band spectrum will offer several unique advantages as the foundation for its 5G network, including wider coverage area and deeper signal penetration in buildings than millimeter wave spectrum. T-Mobile's low-band deployment strategy will enable the rapid expansion of its 5G network by allowing the Un-carrier to easily leverage existing 4G LTE assets and infrastructure.

Similarly, along with bringing low-band support to mobile devices, the Snapdragon X55 5G modem offers advanced multi-mode support for virtually any combination of spectrum bands and modes, including mmWave, sub-6 GHz, standalone and non-standalone, and more '' ensuring mobile devices powered by the Snapdragon X55 5G modem and RFFE solutions are compatible with current and future multi-mode 5G networks rolling out around the globe.

''Today's data call marks a significant milestone in 5G's ongoing rollout across the United States, paving the way for the launch of commercial networks and devices on low-band FDD spectrum,'' said Cristiano Amon, president, Qualcomm Incorporated. ''This call demonstrates the ability to dramatically increase 5G's global footprint and we look forward to continuing our work with industry leaders like Ericsson and T-Mobile to unlock the full potential of 5G for consumers and new industries around the world.''

''Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies have successfully tested and commercialized 5G globally across different spectrum bands, and together with T-Mobile we have now reached another major milestone as we are enabling 5G on low bands,'' said Fredrik Jejdling, executive vice president and head of business area networks, Ericsson. ''This shows that our industry is now ready for building wider 5G coverage that will enhance end user experience.''

About T-Mobile US, Inc.

As America's Un-carrier, T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services through leading product and service innovation. Our advanced nationwide 4G LTE network delivers outstanding wireless experiences to 81.3 million customers who are unwilling to compromise on quality and value. Based in Bellevue, Washington, T-Mobile US provides services through its subsidiaries and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile. For more information, please visit http://www.t-mobile.com.About QualcommQualcomm invents breakthrough technologies that transform how the world connects, computes and communicates. When we connected the phone to the Internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our inventions are the foundation for life-changing products, experiences, and industries. As we lead the world to 5G, we envision this next big change in cellular technology spurring a new era of intelligent, connected devices and enabling new opportunities in connected cars, remote delivery of health care services, and the IoT '-- including smart cities, smart homes, and wearables. Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including the QCT semiconductor business. For more information, visit Qualcomm's website, OnQ blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.

Qualcomm Contacts: Pete Lancia, Corporate Communications

Phone: 1-858-845-5959 Email: corpcomm@qualcomm.com Mauricio Lopez-Hodoyan, Investor Relations

Phone: 1-858-658-4813 Email: ir@qualcomm.comAbout EricssonEricsson enables communications service providers to capture the full value of connectivity. The company's portfolio spans Networks, Digital Services, Managed Services, and Emerging Business and is designed to help our customers go digital, increase efficiency and find new revenue streams. Ericsson's investments in innovation have delivered the benefits of telephony and mobile broadband to billions of people around the world. The Ericsson stock is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and on Nasdaq New York. www.ericsson.com

Ericsson Contacts: Jannie Tong, External Communications

Phone: 1-214-415-0815 Email: jannie.tong@ericsson.comQualcomm and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. Qualcomm Snapdragon is a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

Important Additional InformationU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the ''SEC'') on October 29, 2018, and which contains a joint consent solicitation statement of T-Mobile and Sprint Corporation (''Sprint''), that also constitutes a prospectus of T-Mobile (the ''joint consent solicitation statement/prospectus''), and each party will file other documents regarding the proposed transaction with the SEC. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE JOINT CONSENT SOLICITATION STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. The documents filed by T-Mobile may be obtained free of charge at T-Mobile's website, at www.t-mobile.com, or at the SEC's website, at www.sec.gov, or from T-Mobile by requesting them by mail at T-Mobile US, Inc., Investor Relations, 1 Park Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10016, or by telephone at 212-358-3210. The documents filed by Sprint may be obtained free of charge at Sprint's website, at www.sprint.com, or at the SEC's website, at www.sec.gov, or from Sprint by requesting them by mail at Sprint Corporation, Shareholder Relations, 6200 Sprint Parkway, Mailstop KSOPHF0302-3B679, Overland Park, Kansas 66251, or by telephone at 913-794-1091.

No Offer or SolicitationThis communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking StatementsThis communication contains certain forward-looking statements concerning T-Mobile, Sprint and the proposed transaction between T-Mobile and Sprint. All statements other than statements of fact, including information concerning future results, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words ''anticipate,'' ''believe,'' ''estimate,'' ''expect,'' ''intend,'' ''may,'' ''could'' or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the benefits of the proposed transaction, including anticipated future financial and operating results, synergies, accretion and growth rates, T-Mobile's, Sprint's and the combined company's plans, objectives, expectations and intentions, and the expected timing of completion of the proposed transaction. There are several factors which could cause actual plans and results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the failure to obtain, or delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals, and the risk that such approvals may result in the imposition of conditions that could adversely affect the combined company or the expected benefits of the proposed transaction, or the failure to satisfy any of the other conditions to the proposed transaction on a timely basis or at all; the occurrence of events that may give rise to a right of one or both of the parties to terminate the business combination agreement; adverse effects on the market price of T-Mobile's or Sprint's common stock and on T-Mobile's or Sprint's operating results because of a failure to complete the proposed transaction in the anticipated timeframe or at all; inability to obtain the financing contemplated to be obtained in connection with the proposed transaction on the expected terms or timing or at all; the ability of T-Mobile, Sprint and the combined company to make payments on debt or to repay existing or future indebtedness when due or to comply with the covenants contained therein; adverse changes in the ratings of T-Mobile's or Sprint's debt securities or adverse conditions in the credit markets; negative effects of the announcement, pendency or consummation of the transaction on the market price of T-Mobile's or Sprint's common stock and on T-Mobile's or Sprint's operating results, including as a result of changes in key customer, supplier, employee or other business relationships; significant transaction costs, including financing costs, and unknown liabilities; failure to realize the expected benefits and synergies of the proposed transaction in the expected timeframes or at all; costs or difficulties related to the integration of Sprint's network and operations into T-Mobile; the risk of litigation or regulatory actions; the inability of T-Mobile, Sprint or the combined company to retain and hire key personnel; the risk that certain contractual restrictions contained in the business combination agreement during the pendency of the proposed transaction could adversely affect T-Mobile's or Sprint's ability to pursue business opportunities or strategic transactions; effects of changes in the regulatory environment in which T-Mobile and Sprint operate; changes in global, political, economic, business, competitive and market conditions; changes in tax and other laws and regulations; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the Form S-4, as well as in T-Mobile's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 and in its subsequent reports on Form 10-Q, including in the sections thereof captioned ''Risk Factors'' and ''Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,'' as well as in its subsequent reports on Form 8-K, all of which are filed with the SEC and available at www.sec.gov and www.t-mobile.com. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, persons reading this communication are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. T-Mobile assumes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this communication (whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise), except as required by applicable law.

Huawei CEO Reportedly Offers To License 5G Technology To American Companies In Peace Offer To Trump

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 15:09

Huawei's CEO extended an olive branch to the Trump administration, offering to license his company's 5G technology to U.S. companies, so America can build up its 5G industry. (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL)

GettyCorrection: This post has been updated to clarify CEO Zhengfei Ren's comments reported in the New York Times.

Zhengfei Ren, the CEO and founder of Huawei offered an olive branch to the Trump administration: License the Chinese telecommunications giant's 5G technology to American companies, with the caveat that the U.S. government " ''the U.S. side has to accept us at some level for that to happen.'' Currently, the use of Huawei equipment is banned from U.S. networks over concerns that it could be used by the Chinese government as a method to spy or disrupt telecom systems.

The offer, which was reported earlier this week by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, would essentially allow the U.S. to finally get in the race for 5G supremacy which is now dominated by Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE, Ericsson of Sweden and Nokia from Finland. Note: Whether

"Huawei is open to sharing our 5G technologies and techniques with U.S. companies, so that they can build up their own 5G industry. That would create a balanced situation between China, the U.S. and Europe,'' told Ren to the newspaper.

I reached out to Huawei's communications team who confirmed Ren's offer.

Moreover, Ren added that the U.S. companies would be allowed to modify as they see fit the software code used to run any of Huawei's 5G equipment or even change it and use their own. Though this does not guarantee security against back doors, the implication is that this should allay fears that the Chinese company might be able to access these licensed American made 5G telecommunications gears to spy for the Chinese government. Further, the Chinese government would have to approve the deal.

Ren added that the American licensees will be able to sell their 5G equipment based on Huawei's intellectual property anywhere in the world, except in China.

Atherton Research Insights

The CEO's offer of licensing Huawei's crown jewels'--5G will be the core technology used in all of the world's telecommunications infrastructure for at least the next decade'--came as a shock, both outside but also inside the world's largest maker of 5G networking equipment.

Our sources close to the firm confirmed to us that Ren's announcement was news to the entire company, headquartered in Shenzhen, China.

On the technology side'--although there are many political ramifications to this, including the fact that the Chinese government might not like to see the most valuable assets of its most valuable tech company land in U.S. hands, my goal here is to discuss the impact this olive branch will have on the technology sector'-- this could be the one-time opportunity to make the U.S. a telecommunications powerhouse again and get back and win the 5G race.

Today, there is no American 5G equipment maker.

Lucent, which used to be part of A&T, was the last U.S. manufacturer of telecommunications equipment and is now part of Nokia, after the Finnish company completed the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent three years ago, on November 2016.

And Qualcomm is only making 5G modems and antennas for smartphones and is not building any telecommunications equipment.

Although a company like Cisco'--which already competes with Huawei in the enterprise and service provider networking market'--would be a great candidate for this deal, smaller equipment makers including Arista, Juniper or a Silicon Valley startup could grab this opportunity to build the next U.S. telecommunications giant that could compete and win against Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei!

An offer definitely worth considering.

China

China to lift punitive tariffs on U.S. soybeans, pork - MarketWatch

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Fri, 13 Sep 2019 14:14

BEIJING (AP) '-- China will lift punitive tariffs imposed on U.S. soybeans and pork in a trade war with Washington, a state news agency said Friday, in a possible goodwill gesture ahead of negotiations.

The Xinhua News Agency, citing unidentified official sources, said soybeans, pork and some other farm goods will be exempt from tariff hikes. It gave no indication whether or when purchases might resume.

Phone calls to the commerce and finance ministries weren't answered on Friday, a national holiday in China.

Beijing imposed tariffs of 25% on American farm goods and ordered importers to stop buying soybeans, the biggest U.S. export to China, in response to President Donald Trump's tariff hikes on Chinese goods.

A Commerce Ministry spokesman said Thursday that importers were asking American suppliers for prices of soybeans and pork. The spokesman did not say if they were planning to place orders.

Tech Tyranny

House Committee Requests Tech Executives' Emails in Antitrust Probe - WSJ

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Archived Version

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 15:17

Congress opened a new front in the government's antitrust probe of giant technology firms, with House lawmakers on Friday demanding emails and other records from some of the industry's top chief executives as they look for evidence of anticompetitive behavior.

The requests from House Judiciary Committee leaders from both parties to Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc., Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc., owner of Google, set up potential conflicts between tech leaders protective of their business tactics and lawmakers who want to scour their corporate records.

Among other requests, the committee asked the firms to provide by Oct. 14 reams of documents, including executive communications and financial statements as well as information about competitors, market share, mergers and key business decisions.

The dozens of executives named in the requests include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google's early leaders Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt.

The companies are likely to resist such carte blanche access, which could set in motion negotiations with the House committee over the scope of materials provided, said William Kovacic, former chair of the Federal Trade Commission.

''If you want everything, everything will take a long time,'' said Mr. Kovacic, who is now a George Washington University professor. The next step will be ''intense negotiations between the companies and the committee about what will be produced,'' he said.

The House committee isn't subpoenaing the records, though it has the authority to do so'--a fact that gives lawmakers a stick they can use in negotiations over access.

Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said the requests will aid an investigation, begun on June 3, into ''growing evidence that a handful of corporations have come to capture an outsized share of online commerce and communications.''

''This information is key in helping determine whether anticompetitive behavior is occurring,'' said Rep. Doug Collins (R., Ga.), the panel's top Republican. The letters were also signed by Reps. David Cicilline (D., R.I.) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R., Wis.), the two senior members of the panel's subcommittee on antitrust issues.

The companies didn't comment Friday. All four firms have previously said they provide significant benefits to consumers and face significant competition. They have expressed willingness to work with authorities.

The congressional probe adds to scrutiny of the tech giants, which already face a broad antitrust review by the Justice Department that could lead to formal investigations. The department has asked Google for information about previous antitrust probes by other agencies.

The Federal Trade Commission, the other top U.S. antitrust enforcer, has opened an investigation of Facebook, with an early focus on its key acquisitions, and is questioning third-party sellers who use Amazon's marketplace. FTC Chair Joseph Simons declined to comment Friday on the House letters.

State attorneys general from both parties recently launched probes of Google, with an early focus on its advertising business, and Facebook. Authorities in other countries are also investigating. Officials have said they would work together on the overlapping probes, although the extent of that cooperation isn't known.

U.S. sanctions against the companies, if they come at all, are likely to be years away and imposed by federal or state enforcers rather than Congress. Lawmakers can find facts and change laws, but not bring enforcement actions.

The House probe represents a threat to the firms, even if it doesn't result in changes to antitrust laws. Documents released to lawmakers could become public and serve as justification to summon top executives to high-profile hearings. That would create risks to the companies' reputations and could fuel political pressure for a regulatory crackdown.

The House panel's detailed information requests also provide hints as to how authorities could try to build an antitrust case against the firms:

'--The request to Alphabet targets 24 products and services, from advertising technology to YouTube and the Waze navigation app, seeking executives' communications regarding acquisitions and how other businesses interact with Google's own services.

'--The lawmakers asked Amazon to provide executive communications related to product searches on Amazon.com and the pricing of Amazon Prime as well as fees charged to sellers.

'--Apple was asked for executives' emails about search rankings in its App Store, whether Apple has discussed copying some third-party apps and the company's policy on requiring that apps use Apple's payment systems for purchases, an issue raised by Spotify Technology SA in an antitrust complaint in Europe. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Apple routinely lists apps ahead of competitors though the company's apps skirt its own rules for rankings.

Apple, which takes a 30% cut from most apps it sells, has said the App Store encourages competition and that its cut is justified by the work its staff does reviewing apps to protect consumers from malware or other threats. Its apps account for a small fraction of those available on the store, and it collects money from only 16% of the 2 million apps available.

'--Facebook received questions about its executives' discussions around the acquisitions of WhatsApp, Instagram, and the data-security app Onavo, as well as decisions related to which third-party apps access its social-media platform.

Big tech companies have ramped up spending to influence the new antitrust discourse, as well as other policy debates, none more so than Google. It is a funder of at least 33 nonprofit groups that are active in the antitrust debate across the political spectrum, according to its public policy transparency reports.

Google is also a financial supporter of minority lawmaker groups such as the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. It has given substantial sums to state attorneys general groups over the last decade or so, including more than $450,000 to the Democratic Attorneys General Association and more than $250,000 to the Republican Attorneys General Association, according to data gathered by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Its Google NetPAC contributed about $1.9 million to federal candidates and committees in the 2017-2018 election cycle, according to federal data, compared with about $1.8 million for Amazon's PAC and about $721,000 for Facebook's. Amazon leads the group in spending for the 2020 election to date. Apple doesn't have a PAC.

Amazon in 2017 gave $12,500 each to the Democratic and Republican attorneys general associations. For 2018 it bumped that up to $50,000 each

Staffers on the Judiciary Committee are simultaneously dealing with other time-consuming issues, most notably potential impeachment proceedings. That said, the bipartisan nature of Friday's letters reflects broad support for the probe.

''Bipartisan consensus sends a clear statement to regulators that this isn't just one side's sour grapes,'' said Paul Gallant, an analyst at Cowen Inc.

Mr. Gallant noted that internal emails discussing stifling competition at Microsoft Corp. became an issue during that firm's time under the antitrust microscope two decades ago.

''This is Congress' backstage pass. They will be able to see what company management said privately about the way they designed their business and about whether that was actually anti-competitive,'' Mr. Gallant said.

Congress has a history of going after emails, although those from top-level executives tend to be less revelatory because cautious higher-ranking people typically send few such online communications, investigators have found. In 2010, Senate investigators released an email from then-Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein in which he appeared to acknowledge that the firm dodged a bullet in the financial crisis by betting on a market decline through taking ''short'' positions.

But generally, emails from lower-level employees have led to more criticism. A 2010 probe of the BP PLC oil spill made headlines when a lower-level employee said in an email ''who cares'' about a shortage of parts on a drilling rig before it exploded. In the General Motors Co. ignition-switch crisis, the company pinned the blame largely on a single engineer who received emails warning him of problems.

This isn't the first time that Congress has probed whether large tech companies are stifling competition. In 2011, the Senate Judiciary Committee hauled Mr. Schmidt, former Google Inc. executive chairman, for questioning related to whether the company was abusing its dominance of online searches by steering users toward its own services at the expense of rivals. But he emerged largely unscathed, and amid a weak recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression, Congress had little appetite to pursue a probe into a driver of the U.S. economy.

Write to Ryan Tracy at ryan.tracy@wsj.com

StemExpress CEO Cate Dyer admits in San Francisco court to selling 'beating baby hearts and fetal heads' | The Global Dispatch | The Global Dispatch

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Archived Version

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 16:48

The preliminary hearing of David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of the Center for Medical Progress already brought to light shocking realities at StemExpress as CEO Cate Dyer admitted in court Thursday that the company supplies beating fetal hearts and intact fetal heads to medical researchers.

Cate Dyer

''That is an especially gruesome admission, but it begs the question: how did they get these fully intact human children?'' says Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society, which is representing Daleiden at the hearing.

''If you have a fetus with an intact head and an intact body, and intact extremities, that is something that would indicate that child was born alive, and then had their organs cut out of them, or that that child was the victim of an illegal partial-birth abortion,'' he told LifeSiteNews.

''Both of these are gruesome and violent acts.''

CMP's Daleiden and Merritt are charged with 15 felony counts of illegal taping of confidential information in connection with undercover videos they released in 2015 after a three-year covert investigation into the illegal buying and selling of baby body parts.

On Thursday, the court viewed video clips of the StemExpress CEO, Dyer, identified as Doe 12, meeting in May 2015 with Daleiden and Merritt, who were posing as owners of a biotech company.

Doe 12 says in the video there's a great demand for ''raw fetal tissue,'' and that the ''insanely fragile'' neural or brain tissue is best shipped in a ''whole calvarium,'' or head, whereupon Daleiden says, ''Just make sure the eyes are closed.''

''Yeah,'' laughs Doe 12, ''Tell the lab techs its coming'...it's almost like they don't want to know what it is.''

Doe 12 was far less forthcoming in her testimony Thursday, as Breen noted.

''One thing we've observed throughout these proceedings is that these witnesses were much more candid when they spoke to David and Susan on the undercover video than they are on the stand,'' he told LifeSiteNews.

''However, we have been able to establish certain facts that are important through their testimony, and when they deviate from the video, we've been able to use the video to show that they're not telling the truth on the stand,'' Breen said.

''That's important to show that the attorney general is using witnesses who are willing to stretch the truth, and our side is exposing that truth.''

Breen told the court that StemExpress was mentioned in connection with Stanford University studies where Langendorff perfusion was used, a technique that ''requires a beating heart.''

''Does StemExpress supply fetal hearts to Stanford?'' he asked Doe 12.

She hesitated to answer because, she said, ''there's so much targeting of researchers.''

However, Judge Christopher Hite told her the question was relevant.

''Yes, we have provided heart tissue to Stanford,'' Doe 12 said.

Dyer admitted that CMP photos are accurate and that sometimes a baby's intact calvarium is attached to the baby's body and sometimes it is not.

Daleiden had said in a statement: ''Planned Parenthood abortion providers appeared under oath in court today and admitted supplying the body parts of children in the womb to for-profit brokers like StemExpress.''

In a CMP video featuring StemExpress ex-procurement technician Holly O'Donnell,

O'Donnell spoke about her time working at the Planned Parenthood Mar Monte's Alameda clinic in San Jose, CA and confirmed that babies were born alive in order to procure fresh organs. On one occasion, she was told to harvest the brain from an aborted child whose

heart began beating.

Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act passes House, Planned Parenthood calls it 'unnecessary', 'full of inflammatory language'

Canada's late-term abortion data is evil as nearly 800 babies born alive and 'left to die'

HRC

Hillary Clinton leafs through her emails at Italian art exhibit

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Archived Version

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 20:03

Hillary Clinton visited an art exhibition in Venice, Italy where 62,000 pages of her emails were displayed. USA TODAY

WASHINGTON-- Hillary Clinton, former secretary of State and the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, spent time Tuesday leafing through her emails that were on display at an art exhibit in Italy.

Clinton, whose 2016 campaign was shadowed by lingering questions after an FBI investigation into her use of a private email server while leading the State Department, sat at a replica of the Oval Office Resolute Desk and thumbed through thousands of emails during a visit to an art exhibit in Venice titled "HILLARY: The Hillary Clinton Emails."

According to the description from exhibit co-organizer Zuecca Projects, the exhibit makes public ''for the first time in printed format'' some 60,000 pages of Clinton's emails which, according to WikiLeaks, ''were sent from the domain clintonemail.com between 2009 and 2013.''

"Hillary Clinton spent an hour yesterday reading her emails at my exhibition of all 62,000 pages of them in Venice," Artist Kenneth Goldsmith tweeted.

Hillary Clinton spent an hour yesterday reading her emails at my exhibition of all 62,000 pages of them in Venice. She is pictured here at a replica of the Oval Office Resolute Desk, stacked with her emails. pic.twitter.com/V8T27klycr

'-- Kenneth Goldsmith (@kg_ubu) September 11, 2019The former Democratic presidential candidate and first lady was ''guided on a closed-door visit'' of the exhibition, the curators say in a statement.

"I think the scene was so extraordinary that many customers believed that she was just a lookalike at first," the show's curator, Francesco Urbano Ragazzi, told the Huffington Post.

Answering reporters questions outside the exhibit, Clinton told Italian news outlet TGR Veneto, "It was and is still one of the strangest, most absurd events in American political history."

"And anyone can go in and look at them -- there's nothing there," Clinton says. "It's an artistic way of making the same point that I made in the book I wrote, 'What Happened,' and that is, there was nothing wrong, there was nothing that should have been so controversial."

On Twitter on Thursday morning, she said: "Found my emails at the Venice Biennale. Someone alert the House GOP."

Found my emails at the Venice Biennale. Someone alert the House GOP. pic.twitter.com/eeXaKhy9Dz

'-- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 12, 2019During the 2016 White House race, then-candidate Donald Trump highlighted the long-simmering controversy surrounding Clinton's usage of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of State, and chants of ''lock her up'' would often break out at his campaign rallies.

Then-FBI Director James Comey penned a letter to lawmakers after the investigation that stated the FBI stood by its original findings, made in July of 2016, that Clinton should not be prosecuted for her handling of classified information over email while secretary of State.

The often-derided refrain of "but her emails" was heard on the trail and on social media during the 2016 campaign to justify support for Donald Trump over Clinton. The remark was often attributed to Clinton opposers who were searching for a way to offset the latest negative news about Trump.

Clinton was reportedly already in Italy to attend an economic forum.

In a statement provided to the Hill, the curatorial team said ''The exhibition is a way to allude to an alternative world that will never exist. We are happy that the real Hillary Clinton has been part of this image full of possibilities.

"The exhibition is indeed the portrait of a powerful woman, but also the portrait of a historical change in our understanding of notions such as transparency, propaganda, public and private space,'' they also said.

Contributing: William Cummings, USA TODAY

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/09/11/hillary-clinton-leafs-through-her-emails-italian-art-exhibit/2295637001/

BTC

Russia plans to tackle US sanctions with Bitcoin investment, says Kremlin economist

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 13:17

R ussia is preparing an investment in Bitcoin to replace the US dollar as a reserve currency in a bid to tackle US sanctions, according to a Russian economist with close ties to the Kremlin.

Vladislav Ginko, an economist at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, a state-funded institution, said the government is taking steps to minimise the impact of US sanctions that have hit the Russian rouble by replacing some of its US dollar reserves with the world's most popular cryptocurrency.

US sanctions on Russia over the past year have come after the poisoning of former Russian military officer Sergei Skripal. Mr Ginko believes Russia's de-dollarisation decision is fundamentally a move to ''protect its national interests'' due to a possible interruption of ''US nominated payments flows for Russian oil and gas'' and claims investment could be as much as $10bn (£7.8bn).

Cryptocurrencies have seen a surge of interest in Russia, with President Vladimir Putin expressing interest in the digital assets in recent months. Mr Ginko believes Bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency industry now account for 8pc of Russia's GDP, and investment to bolster the country's reserves with Bitcoin could start as soon as February.

''[The] Russian government is about to make a step to start diversifying financial reserves into Bitcoin since Russia [is] forced by US sanctions to dump US Treasury bonds and [take] back US dollars,'' Mr Ginko said.

''These sanctions and the will to adopt modern financial technologies lead Russia to the way of investing its reserves into Bitcoin.''

The Central Bank of Russia is yet to publish official plans, but said in a statement to The Daily Telegraph that it "publishes information on the foreign assets management with a six-month lag". The country has shown signs of de-dollarisation by boosting its holdings of the euro, Chinese renminbi and Japanese yen.

M ati Greenspan, senior market analyst at trading platform eToro, understands that there is ''definitely an interest from the [Russian] government to do this''.

Bitcoin saw a drastic sell-off in 2018 that saw its market capitalisation slip from around $230.9bn in January to $66.6bn by the end of December.

The alleged Russian plans to invest in the digital asset would see the state purchase almost a sixth of the world's Bitcoin, though Mr Greenspan believes the buy order could push the price and valuation up, reducing Russia's share following a potential investment.

The Russian government would be unable to open an account with an exchange to buy cryptocurrencies, so investment plans could involve the setup of an ''intermediary cryptocurrency'' that can then be exchanged for Bitcoin.

The new cryptocurrency would have to be offered by a broker such as Sberbank, a state-owned bank, and would act as what's known as a utility token.

''The proposal that I understand is on the desk of the finance minister at the moment is to create some sort of intermediary cryptocurrency,'' Mr Greenspan said.

In 2017 Mr Putin met with Vitalik Buterin, the 24-year-old Russian founder of cryptocurrency Ethereum to discuss possibilities in the sector, and has met personally with the Ethereum head in recent months.

''We know that Vladimir Putin is a big advocate of blockchain technology,'' said Mr Greenspan.

''Obviously he doesn't like the sanctions that have been placed on him and he's already said that these types of sanctions are going to lead to de-dollarisation. This is more or less the direction the Russian government is going.''

Vaccines

The children of Donor H898 - The Washington Post

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Archived Version

Sat, 14 Sep 2019 23:57

Danielle Rizzo poses for a portrait with her boys, 6 and 7 years old, outside of their group therapy appointment. (Taylor Glascock/For The Washington Post) BARTLETT, Ill. '-- Danielle Rizzo's son is screaming. He is planted in the middle of the lobby of his elementary school, clinging to rainbow-colored blocks as she gently explains that she is here '-- off schedule, in the middle of the day '-- to take him to a doctor's appointment. But the first-grader is not listening.

''Happy Meal,'' he repeats over and over again. ''Happy Meal!''

His little brother, who is also going to the appointment, is nearby, not moving. Rizzo is relieved that the two of them are not melting down at the same time, which happens all too often, and firmly guides them out the door.

Rizzo's children, ages 7 and 6, were at the center of one of the most ethically complex legal cases in the modern-day fertility industry. Three years ago, while researching treatment options for her sons, Rizzo says she made an extraordinary discovery: The boys are part of an autism cluster involving at least a dozen children scattered across the United States, Canada and Europe, all conceived with sperm from the same donor. Many of the children have secondary diagnoses of ADHD, dyslexia, mood disorders, epilepsy and other developmental and learning disabilities.

The phenomenon is believed to be unprecedented and has attracted the attention of some of the world's foremost experts in the genetics of autism, who have been gathering blood and spit samples from the families.

Autism, which affects an estimated 1 of 59 children in the United States, is a ''spectrum disorder'' characterized by difficulties navigating social situations and restricted or repetitive behavior. Some people who have it never speak and need daily care, while others, like actress Daryl Hannah and Pok(C)mon creator Satoshi Tajiri, are highly successful in their fields. In recent years a growing movement has been challenging the notion that autism is a disorder at all. Rather, advocates argue, it's a difference that should be celebrated as adding diversity to human communities.

Rizzo hopes her children will cope better as they grow older, but for now, she knows they are suffering.

When she first found out about their many half-siblings, she consulted a genetic counselor, who she says told her the odds of so many blood-related children with autism occurring spontaneously was akin to all the mothers ''opening up a dictionary and pointing to the same letter of the same word on the same page at the same time.''

''It was the donor,'' Rizzo remembered thinking. ''It had to be.''

A quick online search for the donor's profile showed that sperm from a man matching his description was still being sold by at least four companies. She called them all, asking for information about his medical history '-- and to inform them of the autism cluster '-- but she says the representatives she reached told her she didn't have any ''evidence'' that his sperm was responsible for the autism cases.

She turned to health-care regulators in New York and California, where the sperm banks were based. The response, Rizzo said, was that cases like hers are not part of their responsibility. (A spokeswoman for New York State said her department had no record of Rizzo's complaint but urged her ''to reach out.'' A California spokesperson said the state would consider investigating her case as an ''adverse event'' related to a sperm bank.)

The Food and Drug Administration told her its oversight of the sperm-donor industry is limited to screening for sexually transmitted diseases.

So, after a year of fruitless phone calls and letters, she sued.

Rizzo watches her sons look for their lost frog in their backyard. (Taylor Glascock/For The Washington Post) MotherhoodRizzo turned to a sperm bank when she was 27 years old and a business banker at a JPMorgan Chase branch. She and her partner, who asked that her name not be used to protect her privacy, had been together for eight years. They met while Rizzo was attending community college on a softball scholarship. Rizzo was the team's pitcher; her partner was an assistant coach. In June 2011, when Illinois began issuing civil union licenses to same-sex couples, they were the first in line at the Kane County courthouse.

Rizzo says they were eager to start their family and decided that Rizzo, younger by two years, would carry the baby. For months, the couple scoured online profiles to find just the right sperm donor.

Donor H898 from Idant Laboratories looked like a winner.

He was blond and blue-eyed, 6-foot-1, 240 pounds, and appeared to be smart and accomplished. His profile said he had a master's degree and was working as a medical photographer. His hobbies included long-distance running, reading and art.

And most important, Rizzo says, he had a clean bill of health, according to his profile '-- having scribbled ''NA'' and a strikethrough line on all but one of the more than 100 medical questions, including mental health ones, posed by sperm banks. (His paternal grandfather had had prostate cancer at age 85.)

Over the next few months, Rizzo purchased several vials of sperm. The bill came to about $500.

Rizzo's first son, conceived via in vitro fertilization, was born in September 2011, and the first year of his life was bliss. He hit all his milestones on time '-- sitting up, rolling over, crawling and waving, saying ''hi'' and ''bye.'' Rizzo was ''mama,'' and her partner ''mommy.''

''He was the happiest baby,'' she recalled. ''We knew we wanted one more kid.''

Doctors transferred another embryo, and their second boy was born about 14 months after the first.

It was around that time that Rizzo says they started noticing unusual behaviors in their first son. He had stopped looking his mothers in the eye. He no longer responded to his name. He wouldn't interact with other children, and when he played with toys he would line things up or turn cars upside down and just spin the wheels, over and over again. She was devastated when her second child, at around age 2, began to exhibit the same behaviors.

Rizzo sought help from the state's early-intervention services and a developmental pediatrician, and both boys were diagnosed with autism. She soon found herself thrown into the frenzied world of special-needs parenting.

She and her partner took turns running the boys to therapies. But the more months that passed, the more help the boys seemed to need. Instead of one day off, she started taking two, then three.

''The screaming, the hitting, the yelling, the pinching, the punching, the pulling my hair when I'm driving,'' she said, describing her days. After three nannies quit, Rizzo left her job, and her relationship collapsed.

Rizzo received primary custody, and with two preschoolers with severe needs, she says she was financially strapped. Her ex had been fulfilling her obligation to pay child support, but Rizzo says it wasn't enough to cover the mortgage. The house went into foreclosure. Rizzo went on Medicaid, and in July 2018 she and the two boys moved into her parents' basement.

Rizzo's sons walk in their backyard. (Taylor Glascock/For The Washington Post) The lawsuitSperm donors tend to be taller, better looking and better educated than the general population. But they have the same chance of carrying a gene for an inherited condition as anyone else.

And because of their unusual role in modern reproduction, the effect of those mutations can be amplified. Popular donors can father 10, 20, 100 or even more progeny '-- each potentially carrying the same genetic risk factors.

Rizzo has never had contact with the donor, who is now in his early 40s and from the New York area. But two other mothers who have met him said in interviews that he is clean-cut and polite. One described him as ''hot.'' Another said her first impression of the donor, who showed up wearing khakis and a nice shirt, was that he is ''brave'' and ''generous.'' The parents had happily connected on Facebook and Yahoo groups for ''donor siblings'' '-- and then were shocked to discover that many of their children seemed to have the same types of developmental challenges and diagnoses.

Donor H898's sperm was offered through multiple sources. According to the mothers, court documents and genetic testing through 23andMe and Ancestry.com, he sold anonymously to at least four sperm banks (which typically pay about $100 per visit), donated to a high-end agency that matches parents with donors they can meet face-to-face, and offered his sperm for a low fee or even free on sites such as KnownDonorRegistry.com or privately.

His profile stood out in many ways, women who used his sperm said, citing the thoughtful answers in his essays and audio interview. ''I dislike dishonest and wasteful people,'' he wrote in one statement. ''I have my own garden and go to the Met when I can.''

Rizzo filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in July 2017. In her complaint, she alleged that his online profile was a lie and that he was not an ''appropriate candidate for sperm donation.'' She sued Idant and Daxor, Idant's former parent company, under the state's consumer fraud and deceptive practices act.

She says in the complaint that research, based on public documents and calls to his relatives, showed that the donor had no college degrees, had been diagnosed with ADHD, and ''went to a school for children with learning and emotional disabilities.'' (Idant, and other sperm banks, generally do not verify their donors' medical and educational backgrounds.) Moreover, her attorneys wrote in the filing, ''Donor H898 is a prolific sperm donor who has fathered at least 12 children through sperm donation, and that each of those children has either been diagnosed with Autism, or suffers from signs and symptoms associated with Autism.'' In court documents, other mothers corroborated the story.

Guidelines from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, which represents fertility clinics in the United States, call for mandatory genetic testing for only one disease: cystic fibrosis. But most clinics say they test for several hundred. There is no test for autism.

Idant was one of the nation's oldest sperm banks until it shut down around 2015 . In 2009, it was sued by a woman whose child had Fragile X Syndrome, a developmental disorder that is among the conditions typically detected in genetic tests. The suit was dismissed because the plaintiffs could not define a ''legally-cognizable injury.'' In 2004, state inspectors found that Idant had ignored the requirement that sperm donors be tested for genetic and sexually transmitted diseases. It was temporarily closed by New York state regulators in 1995 for failing to pass along information about ''high-risk social and sexual behavior. And in the 1990s, Idant settled a lawsuit from a white mother who said it gave her the wrong sperm, from a black donor.

Officials from Daxor, Idant's former parent company, said in a statement that Rizzo's lawsuit was ''meritless.'' In court filings, Idant attorneys called the accusations by Rizzo ''inflammatory, specious and dangerous,'' and said her claims did not establish that the company ''knew any of the alleged representations to be false.''

Citing privacy concerns, the sperm banks declined to contact the donor regarding a request for an interview, and he did not respond to messages left on an online profile.

Rochester Cryobank, which also sold sperm from the same donor, has gone out of business. Manhattan Cryobank, now part of California Cryobank, said that the donor had over a dozen successful births with zero reports of any children affected by autism. It confirmed that it had refunded the payment made by a woman who had purchased the donor's sperm but had not yet used it; she heard about Rizzo's lawsuit and asked for her money back. But the company said the donor's sperm was not removed from its inventory because it did not have enough information to further investigate the autism link.

As of August, Repro Lab was still selling vials, priced at $450-$525, from the donor. A Repro Lab official said they received a report from an anonymous caller regarding an increased risk of autism, but the report was ''unsubstantiated,'' as the donor ''did not report any history of autism in his family.''

''We would deny participation to a donor in our program if he or any first-degree relative had a history of autism,'' the company said.

Danielle Rizzo holds hands with her younger son. Rizzo's boys are part of an autism cluster involving at least a dozen children conceived with sperm from the same donor. (Taylor Glascock/For The Washington Post) The scientistDesperate for help, Rizzo Googled ''world renowned geneticist'' and ''autism'' and came up with the University of Toronto's Stephen Scherer's name on several research papers and a YouTube video.

''I have two boys ages 3 & 4 that have been diagnosed and live with autism,'' she emailed. ''I have connected with other moms from the same sperm donor. We have found that 7 or 8 children have been diagnosed with autism. .'.'. This was a shock and devastation to say the least.''

Scherer was so intrigued that he replied at 4:36 a.m. He had never heard of such a large cluster in one generation of a biological family. ''It was the perfect kind of genetic experiment,'' he said in a recent interview.

For more than 20 years, Scherer's lab, based at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, has been collecting, cataloguing and trying to find patterns in the DNA of families affected by autism. It has more than 20,000 samples. A similar project, called SPARK and funded by the Simons Foundation in New York, has amassed 85,000.

Scientists know of more than 100 genes that appear to be associated with autism. Some are inherited, while others occur as new mutations. (Other factors have been linked to autism, including an older father or complications during pregnancy. A proposed link to vaccines was based on fraudulent research and has been disproved.)

Most mutations associated with autism do not definitively cause the condition; they only increase someone's risk. But, Scherer says, an intriguing subset of ''high impact'' genes '-- estimated to be involved in 5 to 20 percent of all autism cases '-- appears to directly result in autism.

''We call autism one thing, but it's different in every person. In some it's all about the genes. Some it's a combination of genes and the environment. Some people, it's unknown,'' said Wendy Chung, a professor of pediatric medicine at Columbia University and principal investigator of SPARK.

When researchers tested Rizzo's older son's blood, Rizzo says they found two gene mutations linked to autism '-- MBD1 and SHANK1. Her younger son has the MBD1 variant. Rizzo said all seven of the half-siblings whose parents had them tested have at least one of these mutations.

Neither was inherited from Rizzo, according to the tests, she said. While the research is still preliminary and the donor could have numerous other biological children who are not on the autism spectrum, Scherer says, ''our hypothesis is that it's something in his DNA.''

Rizzo's sons cover their ears as a loud vehicle drives by. Noise sensitivity is a common challenge for people with autism spectrum disorders. (Taylor Glascock/For The Washington Post) The childrenDoctors diagnose autism based on behaviors '-- rigidity, repetitive habits, difficulty with seeing things from someone else's perspective.

Rizzo's sons can speak, and the older is starting to read and write. Doctors have told her they are somewhere in the middle of the autism spectrum.

Both are still in diapers, throw their hands over their ears when there is a loud sound, and have not made friends at school. The elder's huge blue eyes light up when he's spinning and flapping his arms. The younger gets very upset if someone stands close to him, and has trouble engaging in conversations about anything other than Super Mario Bros. The boys, who attend an intensive autism therapy program at school, have daily meltdowns.

As for the other children Rizzo discovered, one half brother around their age who lives on the East Coast is mainstreamed in school and a gentle and happy child, his mother said in an interview. But he is several years behind in school. Another half brother is very high functioning, his mother says, but is in full-time special education because of difficulties with speech and dyslexia.

Rizzo loves her children, and said she believes God gave them to her for a reason. She finds a lot of joy in simple moments such as taking them to water parks, sharing slushies and piling into one bed reading ''Captain Underpants'' and ''Dog Man.'' But she wishes things could be easier for them, and she worries for their future.

''If I knew then what I know now, I don't know if I would have ever used a sperm bank,'' she said.

On March 14, she agreed to end the lawsuit by accepting an offer of $250,000 from the company.

After the lawyers took their share, her ex '-- who takes care of the children one day a week and every other weekend '-- was awarded half of the rest. Rizzo said she desperately needed the money to pay for behavioral and social-skills therapies not covered by public assistance, to create a trust for the boys' long-term care, and so that the family could get their own apartment.

She hopes her case will push government regulators to impose greater oversight of the sperm bank industry. ''I did not sue because my children are autistic. I was suing to right a wrong.''

In late June, Rizzo heard of another mom with a boy '-- 1 ½ years old '-- who had used the same sperm donor. After agonizing, Rizzo contacted the woman and told her she had some ''heavy information'' about the donor and his offspring. The woman declined to hear it.

Rizzo's sons were part of a legal case that has been settled. (Taylor Glascock/For The Washington Post) Alice Crites contributed to this report.

Brigitte Adams became the poster child for freezing your eggs. But things didn't quite work out how she imagined.

44 siblings and counting

Gifts from God: How religion is coming to terms with modern fertility methods

Assange

Julian Assange to remain in jail pending extradition to US | Media | The Guardian

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Archived Version

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 13:57

WikiLeaks founder's custody will be extended after current prison terms comes to end

Julian Assange gestures from the window of a prison van on his way to court in June.Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty ImagesJulian Assange will stay in prison after the custody period on his current jail term ends because of his ''history of absconding''.

As home secretary, Sajid Javid signed an order in June allowing Assange's extradition to the US over hacking allegations. A 50-week jail term was imposed in the UK after he had jumped previous bail by going into hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

The WikiLeaks founder would have been released from HMP Belmarsh on 22 September, Westminster magistrates court heard on Friday, but he was told he would be kept in jail because of ''substantial grounds'' for believing he would abscond again.

Assange, 48, who is an Australian citizen, appeared by video-link wearing a loose-fitting T-shirt.

District judge Vanessa Baraitser told him: ''You have been produced today because your sentence of imprisonment is about to come to an end. When that happens your remand status changes from a serving prisoner to a person facing extradition.

''Therefore I have given your lawyer an opportunity to make an application for bail on your behalf and she has declined to do so, perhaps not surprisingly in light of your history of absconding in these proceedings.

''In my view I have substantial ground for believing if I release you, you will abscond again.''

Assange was asked if he understood what was happening. He replied: ''Not really. I'm sure the lawyers will explain it.''

Another administrative hearing will take place on 11 October and a case management hearing on 21 October, the court heard. The final extradition hearing is expected in February.

Assange entered the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted in connection with sexual offence allegations.He spent nearly seven years living in the building until police dragged him out in April after Ecuador revoked his political asylum.

Julian Assange to stay in prison over absconding fears - BBC News

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Archived Version

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 14:27

Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption Julian Assange was due to have been released on 22 September from Belmarsh Prison Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange is to remain in prison when his jail term ends because of his "history of absconding", a judge has ruled.

He was due to be released on 22 September after serving his sentence for breaching bail conditions.

But Westminster Magistrates' Court heard there were "substantial grounds" for believing he would abscond again.

The Australian, 48, is fighting extradition to the US over allegations of leaking government secrets.

He will face a full extradition hearing next year, starting on 25 February, after an extradition request was signed by the then home secretary Sajid Javid in June.

Assange received a 50-week sentence in Belmarsh Prison, south-east London, after being found guilty of breaching the Bail Act in April.

He was arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he took refuge in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations - which he has denied.

District judge Vanessa Baraitser on Friday told Assange, who appeared by video-link: "You have been produced today because your sentence of imprisonment is about to come to an end.

"When that happens your remand status changes from a serving prisoner to a person facing extradition."

She said that his lawyer had declined to make an application for bail on his behalf, adding "perhaps not surprisingly in light of your history of absconding in these proceedings".

"In my view I have substantial ground for believing if I release you, you will abscond again."

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Media caption He's been in an embassy for seven years - but why was Julian Assange there in the first place?He faces 18 charges in the US, including computer misuse and the unauthorised disclosure of national defence information.

He is accused of working with former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in "unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to the national defence", according to the US Justice Department.

He spent seven years inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London before being handed over to British authorities by Ecuador in April.

In May, Swedish prosecutors reopened their investigation into an allegation of rape against Assange.

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CASE Act Ready for Full Vote in Congress; Law Would Ease Financial Burden of Fighting Copyright Theft | Billboard

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 14:44

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The United States Capitol Building in Washington, DC.

The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee passed the CASE Act [Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act] last night, which means that with the Senate version already passed out of the Senate Judiciary committee since July 19, the law is ready for a full vote by both chambers.

Industry sources say they are hopeful it will come to a full vote in both legislative arms before the October recess.

The legislation would create the Copyright Claims Board at the U.S. Copyright office, who would hear and rule on small claims cases of copyright infringement where damages would be capped at $15,000 per claim and $30,000 in total, which means that smaller independents can file claims without taking on the added expense of an attorney.

"The CASE Act is commonsense legislation that provides small creators, who have been victims of copyright theft, with affordable legal recourse," Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. "I appreciate the'...bipartisan support it has received from members across the Judiciary Committee. If the CASE Act is signed into law, it will create a more streamlined and significantly less costly means for photographers, songwriters and graphic designers to fight property theft and protect their livelihoods. I would encourage all of my colleagues in both the House and the Senate to support and pass the CASE Act."

Litigation in Federal Court can cost upwards of tens or hundreds of thousand of dollars, which, in effect, means that only big hit songwriters backed by large publishers have legal recourse. Consequently, this legislation was introduced to protect the rights of all songwriters and copyright creators, industry sources say.

"The establishment of the Copyright Claims Board is critical for the creative middle class who deserve to benefit from the fruits of their labor," said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. "Copyright enforcement is essential to ensure that these artists, writers, musicians and other creators are able to commercialize their creative work in order to earn a livelihood. The CASE Act will enable creators to enforce copyright protected content in a fair, timely and affordable manner. This legislation is a strong step in the right direction."

Under the bill, cases are to be decided by a three-judge panel of subject matter experts within the Copyright Office, who would adjudicate only straightforward cases of alleged copyright infringement. Moreover, the Copyright Office would monitor the process to ensure that it isn't being used as a harassment tool, according to a House press release on the legislation.

"One of the key attributes of the CASE Act is that it forces both parties to carefully evaluate the merits of their claims and defenses and make a good faith determination of the reasonableness of their arguments," Collins continued in a statement. "Parties are very likely to reach a mutually agreeable resolution of the case because it will be heard by an impartial third-party who determines whether the claim has merit. If one side feels there is too much at stake, either party can simply opt out and seek relief in district court. Similarly, those falsely accused of infringement can simply opt out of the small claims proceeding. Participation would be completely optional."

Daryl P. Friedman, the Recording Academy's chief industry government and member relations officer, acknowledged in a statement that the House Judiciary Committee's passage brings music creators "one step closer to having a simpler and more cost-effective way to defend their original works against infringement. I urge both chambers to pass this legislation to eliminate the unfair advantage against creators that currently exists in copyright law and protect the viability of the music industry."

In addition, the "Recording Academy is pleased to see that as creators across the U.S. prepare for District Advocate day on October 2nd, lawmakers are working to ensure the viability of their profession by passing this important piece of legislation," the organization added in a statement.

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VIDEO - Andrew Yang, Elizabeth Warren, and the Democrat Debate - YouTube

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VIDEO - Bill Maher and Michael Moore Clash Over Dem 2020 Strategy

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Bill Maher got heated with Michael Moore tonight over what the Democrats' strategy needs to be in 2020 in order to defeat Donald Trump, even going back to 2008 to rehash Barack Obama's election.

Moore acknowledged Maher's concerns about Democratic promising too much to voters, going back to years and years of policies Maher himself has pushed for and is now seeing blossom across the country.

''Why pull back now, Bill?'' Moore asked.

''The country isn't there,'' Maher shot back. ''You're lumping a lot of vague shit together. The country is for raising the minimum wage, of course. The country is not for Medicare for All.''

Moore briefly went off on Trump's ''evil genius'' and said Democrats need to be fighting for progressive beliefs.

Maher skeptically asked why Moore wants ''the Squad'' to be front and center for Democrats, when that's something Trump would like too.

''People love them,'' Moore said. ''People of color love them, women of color love them!''

''Of the entire electorate,'' Maher said, ''not one of them has an approval rating above 25 percent. So you're making this up. They're not beloved, these people.''

Maher also went off on Moore for ''romanticizing'' young people and telling him that people become less idealistic as they grow older.

Moore argued that Bernie Sanders won states in the Democratic primary that Hillary Clinton didn't even visit.

Maher shot back that the last Democrat who won big was Obama and ''he was a centrist.''

Moore disputed that and said Obama ran as a populist. Maher insisted Obama was a centrist, and Moore countered, ''I went in the voting booth, and on the ballot it said Barack Hussein Obama!'... If you're playing it safe, you don't put fucking Hussein on the ballot!''

''It may not have been up to him!'' Maher fired back as they kept going on this. Maher even offered to make a bet with Moore on the issue.

You can watch above, via HBO.

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VIDEO - Bama tracking students to check 4-quarter stays

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 14:04

Sep 13, 2019 Alex Scarborough ESPN Staff Writer

CloseCovers the SEC.Joined ESPN in 2012.Graduate of Auburn University.The University of Alabama is offering an incentive for students to stay inside Bryant-Denny Stadium for the entire game by utilizing location tracking through a new phone application.

The app monitors when students enter the stadium for Crimson Tide games -- and when they leave.

Students receive 100 Tide Loyalty Points for attending a home football game and 250 points per game for staying all four quarters. Those points can then be used toward priority access to student football tickets.

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne told the New York Times that privacy concerns have rarely been brought to his attention regarding the Tide Loyalty Points application's utilization of tracking services. Besides, he said, students can either close the app or delete it altogether to avoid being tracked.

"If anybody has a phone, unless you're in airplane mode or have it off, the cellular companies know where you are," Byrne told the paper.

After earlier chiding students for leaving the stadium too early during last Saturday's home game against New Mexico State, Alabama coach Nick Saban later changed his tune.

During his weekly radio call-in show Thursday, Saban once again thanked fans for braving the 90-plus-degree heat last Saturday.

"If I asked that whole student section, 'Do you want to be No. 1?' Nobody would hold their hand up and say, 'I want to be No. 4.' They would all say No. 1," Saban said Saturday in his postgame remarks. "But are they willing to do everything to be No. 1? That's another question."

On Thursday night, Saban acknowledged the difficulty in dealing with such high temperatures.

"I want the stadium to be full," Saban said. "I want everybody to stay. I want everybody to be there. But I also know that it's not very comfortable when we play in certain circumstances. From a player's standpoint, I don't want to hear any of that. Whenever we play, we play."

Alabama, which goes on the road to play South Carolina on Saturday, will once again deal with a hot game day on Sept. 21 when it hosts Southern Mississippi at 11 a.m. CT.

Upset with yet another day game, Byrne and university president Stuart Bell released a joint statement earlier this week expressing their displeasure.

"We are disappointed that our game against Southern Miss has been selected as a daytime kickoff at home," the statement said. "We realize we've played more non-conference day games at home in September than any other SEC team since 2014. There have been a number of conversations with our conference office, and they also recognize the challenges these kick times present for our student-athletes and fans."

VIDEO - Austin council members, Adler propose homeless camping bans in West Campus, downtown | kvue.com

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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 13:21

POLITICS The council members said the proposed resolution came after conversations since the vote in June that eased homeless camping laws in Austin.

AUSTIN, Texas '-- Austin City Council members Ann Kitchen and Kathie Tovo have proposed amendments to the city's camping, sit and lie ordinances that would ban homeless camping in West Campus and a large portion of downtown.

Later on Tuesday, Mayor Steve Adler and council member Greg Casar proposed an alternate plan, which, under Adler's portion, would ban camping in downtown areas where cycling on sidewalks is prohibited, according to a 2010 city map.

"The city has identified sidewalks that have so much traffic on them that they shouldn't have bicycles on them. For the same reason, we shouldn't have people camping, sitting or lying. It's not safe for them, it's not safe for everyone else," Adler told KVUE on Wednesday.

Kitchen and Tovo did not rely on the city map because they believe it's outdated.

"Things have changed over the time since the map was created. And some of the streets that may not have generated lots of pedestrian activity when the map was created now do," Tovo said.

Casar's portion would instead clarify that sitting, lying or camping is banned when sidewalks are blocked by not maintaining a 4-foot clearance.

In a post to the City of Austin Council Message Board on Tuesday, Kitchen and Tovo said their proposed resolution came after conversations since the vote in June that eased homeless camping laws in Austin.

"The linked resolution and ordinance reflects those conversations with our colleagues Mayor Adler and council member Casar and, in some cases, even includes elements and actual language they brought forward," Kitchen and Tovo said. "While the four of us agreed on many '' perhaps even most '' provisions, we are not in complete alignment about each one and have agreed to bring forward separate proposals for our full council to consider at the special called meeting."

Their proposal would ban camping downtown on Congress Avenue, Red River Street, Second Street, Sixth Street and Fifth Street west of Guadalupe Street, as well as in West Campus on Rio Grande Avenue, San Antonio Avenue, San Gabriel Street, Nueces Street, Guadalupe Street and West 24th Street in the area between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 29th Street.

In Central East Austin, the ban would affect East 11th Street, East 12th Street and Manor Road.

In a post to the same message board on Tuesday, Adler said his preferred ordinance diverged from what Kitchen and Tovo proposed.

"We believe our ordinance better strikes a balance of protecting public health and safety, protecting public spaces, and not infringing on the civil rights of individuals in our city," said Adler.

Even within the Adler-Casar proposal, there are different options offered between the mayor and Casar.

Under Adler proposal, there would be bans on:

the 100 to 1100 blocks of Congress Avenuethe 1900 to 2500 blocks of Guadalupe Streetthe 100 to 1100 blocks of Brazos Streetthe 200 to 1100 blocks of Colorado Streetthe 200 block of Second Street West to the 300 block of Second Street Eastthe 900 block of Fifth Street West to the 800 block of Fifth Street Eastthe 700 block of Sixth Street East to the 1000 block of Sixth Street Westthe 100 block of Eighth Street West to the 200 block of Eighth Street Eastthe 100 block of Ninth Street West to the 200 block of Ninth Street Eastthe 200 block of 11th Street West to the 200 block of 11th Street East andthe 200 block of 15th Street West to the 200 block of 15th Street East.Casar said he was opposed to going backwards on the changes to the homeless ordinances, saying he "cannot support a final ordinance unless it is non-discriminatory and won't re-criminalize basic acts of survival by our neighbors experiencing homelessness."

Council Member Kitchen told KVUE the main goal of her joint plan with Tovo is to ensure safety for everyone.

"Saying that it is OK to camp or sit and lie in areas that are not safe is not good for anyone, and I don't consider that discriminatory," she said.

The Kitchen-Tovo ordinance would also ban camping "on the sloped area under a highway and at the top of a retaining wall under or alongside a highway overpass."

But the Adler-Casar proposal would only propose those bans "where the slope is unsafe."

Kitchen-Tovo's proposal says underpasses with large flat areas are generally safe and not subject to the ban.

Adler told KVUE the proposed changes to the homelessness ordinances aren't reversing the changes the council voted on in June. Instead, they're setting out to do exactly what they said they would do.

"We said in June no one should camp, sit or lie where it's not safe, where there's a public health hazard, and now we're fleshing that out, to better identify where the risks and hazards are found," he said.

The City held another forum on homelessness on Tuesday evening, moderated by KVUE Senior Reporter Tony Plohetski.

More than 100 people showed up. Many of them had questions, but others just wanted to vent about the controversial issue.

Adler said at the forum he saw limiting camping in certain areas of the city as a path forward toward his goal of eliminating homelessness. He passed out his proposal to forum attendees.

One issue that people asked about was panhandling. Adler explained the City rolled back that ordinance because the City legally can't patrol speech.

The city council will consider these new proposals later this month.

WATCH: City leaders unveil homeless camping restriction plans

VIDEO - Overtime: Michael Moore, Bari Weiss, Krystal Ball, Michael Steele, Fernand Amandi - YouTube

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VIDEO - (16) John Lennon & Yoko Ono Interview with Marshall McLuhan part 1 - YouTube

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VIDEO - Breckynn Willis @LiveShow.Today | For Dummies

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VIDEO - Victory for Breckynn Willis, as ASAA reinstates her win

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Sat, 14 Sep 2019 17:39

By Jill Burke & Lex Treinen &nbsp|&nbsp

Posted: Tue 5:29 PM, Sep 10, 2019 &nbsp|&nbsp

Updated: Wed 5:53 PM, Sep 11, 2019

ANCHORAGE (KTUU) On Tuesday, Sept. 10, the Alaska School Activities Association reversed the disqualification of a Dimond High School swimmer who had won her race. A referee disqualified her over a swimsuit violation, alleging the suit's fit was against the sport's so-called modesty rules.

Breckynn Willis and her sister, Dreamer Kowatch (Photo courtesy of Dewayne Ingram)The move came less than an hour after the Anchorage School District announced its formal appeal on behalf of senior Breckynn Willis and her team. Through a prepared statement, ASD said it had concluded the disqualification was "heavy-handed and unnecessary" and that "our swimmer was targeted based solely on how a standard, school-issued uniform happened to fit the shape of her body."

ASD also seeks decertification of swimming official Jill Blackstone. ASAA Executive Director said the district believes Blackstone has targeted Willis and her sister, a fellow teammate, in a pattern unfair enforcement over the past year.

Willis' disqualification over a swimsuit issue is a first for Alaska, and the result, governing officials have said, of a nationwide attempt to curtail the intentional mis-wearing of suits, something that has not been an issue here, Strickland said.

ASAA would not make a determination on whether the enforcement of the modesty rules was improperly focused on the sisters. Instead, overturning the decision is allowable because the official did not notify the coach about a problem prior to Willis' race.

ASAA says that all team and individual points will be restored.

"ASAA has determined, the disqualification was the result of the misapplication of the rule and as a result is being overturned," the association wrote in a statement.

ASAA also said that after consulting with the National Federation of State High School Associations, it sent out a letter to all swim and dive officials reminding them that rules require that they must consider whether a swimmer is intentionally rolling up their swimsuit in order to expose their buttock before they issue any disqualifications.

It also reminded officials that they must notify an athlete's coach before the heat if they observe inappropriate attire.

The case attracted national attention after a high school coach posted about it on Medium.com.

In addition to reversing the disqualification, the Anchorage School District said it will seek to "suspend, with the intent to revise" the rule from the National Federation of High School Sports that defines appropriate swimwear.

Sandy Searcy, director of Sports for NFHS, told KTUU Tuesday the intent of the rule was never meant to berate athletes. She called challenges over-regulating how suits are worn and fit "a national cross-sport issue."

VIDEO - (15) Whistleblowing - Best Buy Poughkeepsie, NY Employee "We record non Best Buy Staff". - YouTube

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Sat, 14 Sep 2019 17:16

VIDEO - Local vape shop owners urge statement from lab behind test showing illegal drugs in vaping juice

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Sat, 14 Sep 2019 16:39

DRAPER (ABC4 News) '' Local vape shop owners called for a statement from BeechTree Diagnostics Lab, the day after Representative Paul Ray cited their test results in his press conference regarding e-cigarettes and vaping.

''At the beginning of the 2019 legislative session, it was being brought to my attention that there were illegal drugs in vaping products,'' said Rep. Ray in a Wednesday press conference at the Utah State Capitol.

He said one of those instances involved an individual under Adult Probation and Parole who was clean but tested positive for opioids. He claimed the substance ended up being Kratom in the vape juice the individual was using.

Rep. Ray then said that prompted him to ask an independent lab, BeechTree Diagnostics to purchase 12 different brands of vape juice at stores throughout Salt Lake County for testing. 10 of the substances, he said, came back positive for barbiturates, opioids, PCP, and THC.

''We don't know how much and to what extent or even if there were false positives. The state would have to step up and spend the money to re-tool these testing machines for the oil cause they normally test water-based things,'' he added in the press conference. ''We'd have to spend some money, but that's something I'm willing to do.''

When asked via telephone Thursday why he decided to present the results despite the discrepancies, Rep. Ray told ABC4 News' Rosie Nguyen, ''People are dying. We just think it was important to get this preliminary information out to the public, so they know that potentially what they're buying isn't what they're buying. I think that as a government when we get this information, we don't sit on it. We at least put it out there.''

The District 13 representative emphasized the main point of the press conference was to address the state administrative rule about FDA-approved open cartridge vape products.

''What the press is missing was the fact that as of August 8th, the only vaping liquid allowed to be sold in the State of Utah is FDA-approved and there are none,'' he said during the phone interview. ''Vape stores shouldn't be selling any e-liquids that are not in a closed container or cartridge, because of that rule that gave the FDA until August 2019 to get those approved.''

Tom Hudachko with the Utah Department of Health explained the rule was originally put in place in 2015 with the expectation that the FDA would have a list of approved products by August 2019.

''But that hasn't happened, so if you put two and two together, there's technically not any products that these retailers can be selling,'' he said. ''But the rule allows the state and local health departments the authority to enforce the rule.''

He said the UDOH doesn't plan on enforcing the rule at this time, but will work with the governor and legislature to decide how they will move forward.

Nonetheless, iVape owner Grant Hiller said Rep. Ray's decision to use the results from this test caused unwarranted hysteria and concern among e-cigarette and vape users.

''The fact that they were done with a ready-strip tests shows me that there was a different agenda than transparency and public health yesterday at Representative Ray's press conference,'' said Hiller. ''At the end of the day, they scared the public and in doing so, they negatively impacted public health and that's what we are here today to rectify.''

Hiller said vaping is an alternative form that many former smokers turn to because of how much less harmful it is.

''This is about saving 480,000 lives across the country, who use combustible tobacco a year. That's how many deaths there are,'' he said.

Hiller, along with Peak Vape owner Austin Leary approached the lab Thursday morning to ask them to test their vape juice products. Instead, BeechTree Diagnostics owners Mike Murano and Jason Emerson along with their attorney, David Condie invited them inside for a meeting.

ABC4 News' Rosie Nguyen was allowed inside, but was asked to turn her camera off.

In the meeting, officials with BeechTree Diagnostics acknowledged that the test used was meant for urine samples, not oil-based liquids and results only had a 40 percent accuracy reading.

Murano and Emerson said their lab does not endorse the test results Rep. Ray cited and were unaware that he would be presenting them in his press conference.

The owners told Hiller, Leary, and ABC4 News at the end of the meeting that a formal statement would be released through BeechTree Diagnostics' Facebook page and e-mail later in the day.

''I was very satisfied with the outcome of the meeting. I think we reached a common ground. We both agreed these tests never should have been released as factual or with any type of factual basis,'' said Hiller.

But shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday, Emerson told ABC4 News BeechTree Diagnostics would no longer be issuing a statement.

''At the end of the day, we've determined not to respond in a formal way regarding the comments made by Representative Ray Wednesday afternoon. BeechTree has no position either for or against vaping. If you're concerned about this issue, please contact the representative to share your concerns,'' Emerson wrote in a text message.

Hiller issued a statement to ABC4 News following that notification:

''We are extremely disappointed in BeechTree Diagnostics's decision not to release a public statement on this matter. Over the course of a two-hour meeting, the owners of BeechTree and their legal counsel emphatically stated that their position on the evidentiary value of these e-liquid test results differed from the information Representative Ray detailed in yesterday's press conference. BeechTree Diagnostics is a urine analysis facility without the ability to test any type of e-liquid whatsoever. We also learned of other serious errors in the testing procedure. Our industry takes these false accusations very seriously and we looking forward to showing the public that Representative Ray's reckless allegations have no merit.''

Hiller said he and several other local vape shop owners plan on suing Rep. Ray for defamation and slander. Lonnie Bozeman, owner of Saveur Vape (one of the products used in the test) said he will be filing a separate lawsuit.

VIDEO - Democratic debate: Biden raises eyebrows with 'record player' comment - nj.com

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Fri, 13 Sep 2019 17:29

News Updated Sep 12, 11:45 PM; Posted Sep 12, 11:37 PM

Win McNamee | Getty Images

Former Vice President Joe Biden at the Democratic debate on Thursday in Houston.

By Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

*Record scratch*

*Freeze frame*

Yup, that's former Vice President Joe Biden. You're probably wondering how he ended up in this situation.

Biden caused a fair bit of head-scratching during the Democratic debate in Houston on Thursday after he endorsed ... record players ... as part of a long, winding response to a question that seemingly had little to do with his comments.

At the ABC debate, Biden was reminded about a statement he made 40 years ago about slavery in which he said he shouldn't be responsible for what happened 300 years ago.

''But as you stand here tonight, what responsibility do you think that Americans need to to take to repair the legacy of slavery in our country?'' asked ABC News correspondent Linsey Davis.

''Look, there's institutional segregation in this country,'' Biden began. ''And from the time I got involved I started dealing with that ... redlining, banks, making sure that we were in a position where ... look, you talk about education. I propose that what we take is those very poor schools, the Title I schools, triple the amount of money we spend, from $15 to $45 billion a year. Give every single teacher a raise ... the $60,000 level.''

''No. 2, make sure that we bring in, to help the teachers deal with the problems that come from home ... we have one school psychologist for every 1,500 kids in America today. It's crazy. I'm married to a teacher ... my deceased wife is a teacher. They have every problem coming to them.''

The record player moment arrived as Biden talked about bringing social workers in to help parents ''deal with how to raise their children.''

''Play the radio, make sure the television ... the excuse me ... make sure you have the record player on at night ... the ... the phone ..." Biden said (see video clip below). ''Make sure the kids hear words," he said. "A kid coming from a very poor school '-- a very poor background '-- will hear four million words fewer spoken by the time they get there.''

First, there was the issue of record players not exactly being something that people have in every household in 2019. Second, viewers wondered why the candidate's mind turned to record players at all.

Biden, 76, seemed to be making some kind of link between the record player and children's education, but the explanation wasn't all that clear, along with how any of that was supposed to repair the legacy of slavery.

At the previous Democratic debate in July, Biden also created some confusion when he signed off by telling people to ''go to Joe 30330 and help me in this fight." (He was supposed to tell everyone to text ''Joe'' to ''30330.'")

Of course, in no time at all, social media made a meme of Biden's insistence on record players.

Was Biden just a big fan of vinyl, angling for the hipster vote? Was he really hankering to say phonograph? Speculation abounded.

for those confused right now Joe Biden said 'record player' but I'm pretty sure he meant 'phonograph' #Demdebate

'-- Matt Oswalt (@MattOswaltVA) September 13, 2019Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.

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VIDEO - ð'ð'Extremely Stable Genius Nationalist Laareð'ð' on Twitter: "THANK YOU @Jim_Jordan for telling it like it is! ''After 32 months of investigations YOU HAVE NOTHING!'' In 48 hours @RepJerryNadler has voted to take away your 2A rights &am

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1173: Vinyl Vote

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