1568: Spook Head

In the morning!

Not sure if this is useful information but I had to take a covid test and saw they're re-dating them with updated expiration dates instead of making new tests. (I'm assuming because they're not selling like they were hoping)

This one added 7 months to the expiration. I'm not sure about rules and regulations but if food can't be re-dated it seems wrong they can re-date these tests. I wonder if they're going to give false results.

Thanks!

Caitlin

Hey AC! I’m an anesthetist. The first time I heard of Semaglutide many months ago I looked it up. I knew the stories were too good to be true. The product statement about the drug causing thyroid tumors in rodents has been there since at least that time, although I must say that now has a more prominent location on the package insert. How this drug ever got approved without this being further tested I don’t know. JK, we know why. Cheers brother!

https://www.novo-pi.com/ozempic.pdf#guide

Some people who sought jobs at billionaire Bill Gates’s private office described going through an extensive screening process that included being questioned by a security firm about their sexual histories, past drug use and other parts of their private lives that might indicate they were vulnerable to blackmail.

Some female job candidates were asked whether they ever had extramarital affairs, what kind of pornography they preferred or if they had nude photographs of themselves on their phones, according to the candidates and people familiar with the hiring process. While it couldn’t be determined whether any men were asked such questions, none who spoke to The Wall Street Journal said they had.

Female candidates sometimes were asked whether they had ever “danced for dollars,” some of the people said. One of the candidates was asked whether she had ever contracted a sexually transmitted disease, according to the candidate.

Link

“ Foetal Bovine Serum or Foetal Calf Serum, unbeknown to most is made as follows (I think you'll like this John); In an abattoir/slaughter house, when pregnant cows are slaughtered, they cut out the dead foetus or calf, drain all of its blood, spin it down in a big centrifuge and you’re left with the solids and the serum (liquid part). We filter and bottle the serum and it's used

First,

The Judgement blocking the Arkansas law 626.

The M5M report was most definitely garbage, but sort-of-kind-of got the jist of the Order correct.

The Order is pretty terrible because it is 60+ pages of Facts and then like 12 pages of law. The first 10-15 pages are actually a pretty interesting background on the "science" of gender affirming care, but should be a concern for anyone with a mind.

Nonetheless the law is straight forward. Current precedent states that laws are presumed constitutional if they are facially neutral (meaning they do not discriminate), and are rationally related to legitimate government functions. This standard of review almost always allows laws to pass constitutional muster.

When the law becomes discriminatory towards a protected class (gender, race, ethnicity, etc.) The law is scrutinized more. The judge found that Act 626 is not facially neutral and then applies heightened review of it's constitutionality. ("Act 626 discriminates

on the basis of sex because a minor's sex at birth determines whether the minor can

receive certain types of medical care under the law.") This argument makes sense. Girls can get cis-gender affirming care (liposuction and boob jobs), but not transgender affirming care. More controversial is this paragraph:

"The Act also discriminates against transgender people. The law prohibits medical

care that only transgender people choose to undergo, i.e, medical or surgical procedures

related to gender transition.12 “[T]ransgender people constitute at least a quasi-suspect

class.” Grimm v. Gloucester Cty. Sch. Bd., 972 F.3d 586, 607 (4th Cir. 2020); accord

Bostock v. Clayton County, 140 S. Ct. 1731, 1741 (2020) (discrimination for being

transgender is discrimination “on the basis of sex”). Transgender people satisfy all indicia

of a suspect class: (1) they have historically been subject to discrimination; (2) they have

a defining characteristic that bears no relation to their ability to contribute to society; (3)

they may be defined as a discrete group by obvious, immutable, or distinguishing

characteristics; and (4) they are a minority group lacking political power. See Grimm, 972

F.3d at 610-613."

The court then states that the law oversteps the Parent's fundamental rights.

"The liberty interest at issue in this case—the

interest of parents in the care, custody, and control of their children—is perhaps the

oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by this Court. (Citing Troxel v. Granville) Parents’ substantive due process right to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children includes the right to direct their children’s medical care. Parents are presumed to be acting in the

best interest of their children. (Citing Parham v. J.R.)."

The court then states that the law oversteps the Doctor's first amendment rights. This argument is nuanced but probably a good idea, in that it protects the Doctors right to refer a patient to secondary or other treatment, and that such recommendation shouldn't be regulated by the legislature merely for expressing an opinion. However I think the legislature could still regulate this from either the doctor using it's position of authority to advertise or to require that the doctor distinguish when they are just expressing an opinion and Not giving medical advice.

Second,

The other thing that got mentioned briefly is abortion.

John's contention that abortion is not explicitly in the constitution is a red herring. The problem with the Court's decision in Dobbs is that it ignores the expansive reading of the Privileges and Immunities Clause that some of the 14th amendment "framers" had in mind. It also ignores the unenumerated rights protected by the 9th amendment, which this "conservative" court has ignored for many years (mostly as s response to what they say is judicial activism).

This case was a backlash response to Warren and Burger Court activists that shoe-horned in rights under due process clause rather than their rightful place (9th amendment and privileges and immunities clauses of Article 4 and the 14th amendment). I'm not saying the Court would necessarily find a right to abortion in these clauses but there is an argument to be made from an originalist position. See Randy Barnett et Al for more on that.

I hope that helps and sorry for the length of the note.

Best,

Bill Talty (constitutional lawyer)

With RESPECT! 😁

Did I hear you say that parents can do whatever they want to their own kids?

Pardon me, but you can't actually believe that. You don’t think it’s okay for parents to have sex with their children or otherwise pimp them out. You don’t believe it should be legal for parents to lock their children in a room for 18 hours a day, forcing them to assemble small parts. I could go on and on listing things there’s no parental rights for and mutilating the genitals and cutting the tits off is surely among them!

I hope you’ll think this through and recant your position. It’s absurd.

Janssen

The proposed legislation, HB 4474, would amend the state’s Ethnic Intimidation Act of 1988 in order to consider it a hate crime if a person is accused of causing “severe mental anguish” to another individual by means of perceived verbal intimidation or harassment.

The amendment defines the words intimidate or harass as a “willful course of conduct, involving repeated or continuing harassment of another individual that would cause a reasonable individual to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested…”

Link

Charlesworth's report makes eight recommendations, including enhancing legislative protections for 2STNBGD children and youth and ensuring that Ministry of Children and Family Development staff can provide gender-affirming care to 2STNBGD children and their families.

According to the report, gender-affirming care can take the form of social, emotional, legal and cultural support, as well as access to gender-knowledgeable physicians, chest binders, puberty blockers or hormone treatments.

Charlesworth cited the rise of hate speech and anti-trans legislative efforts and sentiments in the U.S. and Canada as factors worsening the conditions for 2STNBGD children and youth.

Link

Hi Adam, FedNow begins July 1 I “do” believe. I work in the semiconductor industry and many of the other distributors I sell to have COD terms with us for payment. FedEx just announced it will no longer have COD Shipments within the United States, but will continue to be available in Canada. I now wonder how long before UPS follows suit. This forces us as a company to either grant net payment terms or accept credit cards/bank wire but for how long? The walls are closing in. I am assuming this is all to ease us into our “cashless” society.

After three years of an insane level of business and sales of chips, it’s as if someone flicked a switch and the market is now dead. My guess is that they had them all directed towards their war machine for the last few years and are sufficiently plump now. I have been doing this job for over 25 years and I have never seen every single manufacturer of chips, resistors, diodes, connectors etc…all go on allocation and long lead times at once. We are in such times of f*ckery. I work for an independent distributor so we aren’t privy to a lot of the inside scandals and happenings.

FACTS: Remember carefully, focus please. Just moments, literally 3 minutes before two representatives issued a vote for motions to suspend the certification, the House members were “informed” by capitol police and other “agents” that a protest was about to breach the chambers. It was at this time that key people: Pence, Pelosi, Schumer, Mcconnell can be seen being walked out and escorted from the chamber. This effectively halted the Entire Chamber Process.

FACTS: The two motions were completely legal and constitutional under at least two constitutionally recognized procedures… procedures that would REQUIRE the house to pause the certification and then vote to determine whether the motions of suspend could move forward.

Link

Adam,

On my site we have followed the latest airline in the delay hopper...United. JetBlue is struggling too, but United being a bigger airline is more noticeable. It started on Saturday and Sunday with FAA flow control mentioned in the United internal letter in this post with thunderstorms and an FAA equipment fire. Now it is snowballing each day as we get to the end of the crew month (not even a 30 day month!). United offered flight attendants 300% overtime pay so you know it is a crew month issue now. We also think that United had a crew scheduling software outage on Sunday similar to Southwest, although it seems like it was only a few hours. They just used up all their reserve crews in the weekend meltdown and can't get back ahead of the problem.

Link

Ukraine’s partners have agreed to provide a further $60 billion to meet the recovery and reconstruction needs of Ukraine. The EU announced a new multi-year facility of up to €50 billion for recovery, reconstruction and modernisation. The US announced $1.3 billion in additional aid to Ukraine, including $675 million to modernise Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. The UK announced a further $3 billion guarantees to support additional World Bank lending up to 2027, and £240 million of support for immediate needs. Switzerland announced a further CHF1.5 billion of support to 2027. The Multi-Agency Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine will continue to support the alignment of donor commitments to early recovery priorities and reform.

Nearly 500 global businesses from 42 countries worth more than $5.2 trillion and 21 sectors have already signed the Ukraine Business Compact, pledging to support Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction.

The Government of Ukraine and its partners are responding to business demand to extend commercial insurance coverage in Ukraine. The Conference launched the London Conference War Risk Insurance Framework. Partners announced support for the World Bank Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency’s (MIGA) Support for Ukraine Reconstruction and Economy Trust Fund, with the UK announcing a contribution of up to £20 million, on top of Japan’s existing $23 million contribution. MIGA announced the signing of an extended MOU with ProCredit, bringing the total guarantee to €40.85 million.

The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) announced its intention to develop a pilot war risk insurance scheme. The Government of Ukraine committed to increase information sharing with the insurance industry.

Link

Link to Article

Archived Version

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 17:10

American media conglomerate (1861''2019)

"Tribune Company" redirects here. For the news and print publishing company spun off from this company, see

Tribune Publishing.

Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 television stations across the United States and operating three additional stations through local marketing agreements. It owned national basic cable channel/superstation WGN America, regional cable news channel Chicagoland Television (CLTV) and Chicago radio station WGN. Investment interests include the Food Network, in which the company had a 31% share.

Prior to the August 2014 spin-off of the company's publishing division into Tribune Publishing, Tribune Media was the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher behind the Gannett Company, with ten daily newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel, Sun-Sentinel and The Baltimore Sun, and several commuter tabloids.

In 2007, investors bought the company, taking on substantial debt. The subsequent 2008 bankruptcy of Tribune Company was the largest bankruptcy in the history of the American media industry.[2] In December 2012 the Tribune Co. emerged from bankruptcy.[3] Tribune announced its sale to Hunt Valley, Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group on May 8, 2017, but on August 9, 2018, Tribune cancelled the sale and sued Sinclair for breach of contract. On December 3, 2018, Nexstar Media Group announced that it would merge with Tribune Media for $4.1 billion. Within Nexstar, Tribune Media remains the license holder for all of the former Tribune stations retained directly by Nexstar after the Nexstar acquisition.[4] The largest broadcast merger in U.S. history was approved in 2019.[5]

History [ edit ] Print pioneer [ edit ] The Tribune Company was founded on June 10, 1847 when the eponymous Chicago Daily Tribune published its first edition[6] in a one-room plant located at LaSalle and Lake Streets in downtown Chicago. The original press run consisted of 400 copies printed on a hand press. The Tribune constructed its first building, a four-story structure at Dearborn and Madison Streets, in 1869.[citation needed ] The building was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871, along with most of the city. The Tribune resumed printing two days later with an editorial declaring "Chicago Shall Rise Again." Joseph Medill, a native Ohioan who acquired an interest in the Tribune in 1855, gained full control of the newspaper in 1874 and ran it until his death in 1899.[6]

Medill's two grandsons, cousins Robert R. McCormick and Joseph Medill Patterson, assumed leadership in 1911.[6] That same year, the Chicago Tribune ' s first newsprint mill opened[6] in Thorold, Ontario, Canada. The mill marked the beginnings of the Canadian newsprint producer later known as QUNO, in which Tribune held an investment interest until 1995.

Patterson established the company's second newspaper, the New York News in 1919.[6] Tribune's ownership of the New York City tabloid[6] was considered "interlocking" due to an agreement between McCormick and Patterson.

The paper launched a European edition during World War I.[6] To compete with the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's in 1924, the Tribune Company launched a weekly national magazine, Liberty, run by a subsidiary, McCormick-Patterson.[6]

Move into broadcasting [ edit ] The company entered broadcasting in 1924 by leasing WDAP, one of Chicago's first radio stations. Tribune later changed the station's call letters to WGN, reflecting the Tribune ' s nickname, "World's Greatest Newspaper." WGN was purchased by the company in 1926 and went on to become prominent in the radio industry.[6]

In 1925, the company completed its new headquarters, the Tribune Tower. That same year, the company decided to fund the future Joseph Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.[6]

Liberty magazine eventually exceeded Collier's circulation, but lacked sufficient advertising and was sold in 1931. The Tribune's European edition was also cut. However, Tribune launched the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate content syndication service in 1933.[6]

With the death of Joe Patterson's sister and owner of the Washington Times-Herald, Eleanor (Cissy) Patterson, in 1948, the Tribune Company purchased the paper and operated it until 1954, when the Times-Herald was absorbed by The Washington Post. Expecting a printer's strike in November 1948, the Tribune printed their paper early, mistakenly proclaiming "Dewey Defeats Truman" in the 1948 presidential election. Tribune entered the television industry then in its infancy, in 1948, with the establishment of WGN-TV in Chicago in April and WPIX in New York City in June of that year. In 1956, the Tribune Company purchased the Chicago American from William Randolph Hearst.[6]

In the 1960s, the company entered the booming Florida market, acquiring the Fort Lauderdale-based Gore Newspapers Company, owner of the Pompano-based Sun-Sentinel and Fort Lauderdale News in 1963 and the Sentinel-Star Company, owners of the Orlando Sentinel, in 1965. Also in 1963, the company purchased part of the defunct New York Mirror. The company increased its broadcast holdings with the acquisition of radio station WQCD-FM in New York City in 1964 and independent television station KWGN-TV in Denver in 1965. In 1967, the company began printing a tabloid serving suburban areas of Chicago, The Suburban Trib.[6]

The corporation was reorganized in 1968 by reincorporating under Delaware's General Corporation Law, ending its Illinois incorporation, splitting its stock by four for one and forming a separate subsidiary of the Chicago Tribune.[6]

The 1970s brought another decade of acquisitions for the company including the purchase of a Los Angeles shopper in 1973, which became the Los Angeles Daily News.[6] In 1973, the company began sharing stories among 25 subscribers via the newly formed news service, the Knight News Wire. By 1990, this service was known as KRT (Knight-Ridder/Tribune) and provided graphics, photo and news content to its member newspapers. When The McClatchy Company purchased Knight-Ridder Inc. in 2006,[7] KRT became MCT (McClatchy-Tribune Information Services), which was jointly owned by the Tribune Company and McClatchy.

The company stopped publishing the tabloid Chicago Today in 1974; the Tribune also began publishing all-day editions. An approval of changes to the Tribune bylaws in 1974 triggered a lawsuit by shareholders who saw this as a move towards taking the company public. The lawsuit by Josephine Albright '' Joseph Patterson's daughter '' and her son, Joseph Albright, was dismissed in 1979.[6]

The Tribune Company entered first-run television syndication in 1975 with the debut of the U.S. Farm Report. The Times-Advocate in Escondido, California was purchased by the company in 1977. In October 1978, United Video Satellite Group uplinked WGN-TV's signal to satellite, becoming a national "superstation", joining the ranks of WTCG (later WTBS, now WPCH-TV) in Atlanta and WWOR-TV in New York City. During 1978, the New York Daily News saw multiple employee strikes.[6]

In 1980, the Daily News added an afternoon edition to go head-to-head with the New York Post; this expansion failed, with the newspaper reverting to once-daily editions with the end of the afternoon edition in 1981. Also that year, the Independent Network News, an evening newscast intended for independent stations, was launched as the company's second syndicated television program, originating from WPIX. The New York Daily News was put up for sale in 1981, but a proposed deal fell through by 1982. In August of that year, Tribune purchased the Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball team from William Wrigley III.[6]

In 1981, all of Tribune's television stations, which were previously under the WGN Continental Broadcasting unit, were placed under the company's subsidiary Tribune Broadcasting Company. The following year, Tribune formed the Tribune Entertainment Company as a production subsidiary to produce the company's existing syndicated programs including the U.S. Farm Report, as well as newer shows.[6]

Public corporation [ edit ] In 1983, The Suburban Trib was replaced by zone editions of the Chicago Tribune. That October, the Tribune Company became a public firm, with the sale of 7.7 million shares at $26.75 a share. In 1985, Tribune Broadcasting acquired Los Angeles independent station KTLA from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts for a record $510 million. Because of the Federal Communications Commission's media cross-ownership regulations, which prohibit the ownership of a television station and newspaper in the same market, Tribune was forced to sell the Los Angeles Daily News. With the purchase of KTLA, Tribune became the fourth largest television station owner in the United States, behind the three major broadcast networks. The company acquired Newport News, Virginia newspaper, the Daily Press in 1986, but sold off the newspaper's co-owned cable television operations.

To counteract a possible hostile corporate takeover in 1987, the Tribune Company developed a plan that allowed shareholders the right to purchase additional preferred shares from a new series of stock in the event that a buyer acquired 10% of the company's common stock or a tender offer for the company. Shareholders also ratified a two-for-one stock split. Tribune Entertainment experienced success in 1987 with the launch of the syndicated daytime talk show Geraldo. In 1988, Tribune purchased five weekly papers based in Santa Clara County, California.[6] In the wake of a dispute with some of its labor unions, Tribune sold the Daily News to British businessman Robert Maxwell in 1991.[6]

With changes in the media industry due to greater public access to the internet in the 1990s, Tribune Publishing began to sell off some of its newspaper properties. Tribune Broadcasting steadily acquired additional stations during the decade, while Tribune itself launched two new divisions, Tribune Ventures and Tribune Education. In 1993, Tribune Broadcasting launched Chicagoland Television (CLTV), a 24-hour local cable news channel for the Chicago area.

Online editions of Tribune's newspapers were developed starting in 1995, with the Chicago Tribune ' s digital edition launching in 1996. Also in 1996, Tribune (holding a 20% interest) created a joint venture with American Online (which held an 80% interest) called Digital City, Inc. to set up a series of Digital City websites to provide interactive local news and information services. By 1997, Tribune Publishing had only four daily newspapers remaining in its portfolio: the Chicago Tribune, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, the Orlando Sentinel and the Daily Press. Tribune also set up its Tribune Ventures division to acquire stakes in newer media businesses. During the middle of that year, Tribune Ventures purchased interests in companies such as AOL (owning 4%), electronic payment specialist CheckFree Corporation (owning 5%), search engine company Excite, Inc. (owning 7%), Mercury Mail, Inc. (owning 13%), Open Market, Inc. (owning 6%), and Peapod LP (owning 13%). Also that year, the Orlando Sentinel and Time Warner Cable joined together to create the Orlando-based local cable news channel, Central Florida News 13. Tribune also purchased a 31% stake in the Food Network.[6]

The company began the 1990s with six television stations, but changes to federal radio and television ownership regulations allowed Tribune to expand its television station holdings over the next decade. Tribune Broadcasting purchased ten additional stations by 1997, six of them acquired through that year's purchase of Renaissance Broadcasting for $1.1 billion in cash.[8] Tribune purchased a 12.5% stake in The WB Television Network in August 1995; the company had ten of its 16 stations affiliated with the network (including five that were signed as charter affiliates through The WB's initial 1993 affiliation deal with Tribune). Tribune invested $21 million in The WB in March 1997, which increased its equity interest in the network to 21.9%.[6]

In November 1994, Tribune Broadcasting formed a partnership with several minority partners, including Quincy Jones, to form Qwest Broadcasting. Qwest operated as a separate company from Tribune (which owned stations in a few markets where Tribune had already owned stations, including WATL in Atlanta, which was operated alongside Tribune-owned WGNX);[9]

Tribune entered into a new business sector when it formed Tribune Education in 1993. The sector grew and provided high profit margins. Through 1996, Tribune used $400 million to purchase several publishers of education material: Contemporary Books, Inc., The Wright Group, Everyday Learning Corporation, Jamestown Publishers, Inc., Educational Publishing Corporation, NTC Publishing Group and Janson Publications. In 1996, this group was the number one publisher of supplemental education materials. Tribune Education acquired an 80.5% stake in mass market children's book publisher Landoll in 1997.[6]

In June 1998, Tribune entered into a trade with Emmis Communications to swap WQCD-FM to the latter company, in exchange for acquiring two Emmis-owned television stations (WXMI in Grand Rapids, Michigan and KTZZ in Seattle, Washington). It later traded WGNX in Atlanta to the Meredith Corporation in exchange for KCPQ-TV in Seattle in March 1999. Later that year, the station purchased WEWB in Albany, New York and WBDC in Washington, D.C. Tribune Interactive, Inc. was incorporated to handle all the various websites for its publishing, television and radio, and newspaper properties. During the 1999 fiscal year, Tribune racked up $1.47 billion in profits on total revenues of $2.92 billion, in part from gains made on the sale of some of its internet investments. In February 2000, Tribune acquired the remaining 67% interest in Qwest Broadcasting for $107 million, effectively adding two more stations to its roster, increasing its reach 27% of the country.[6]

In June 2000, Tribune acquired the Los Angeles''based Times Mirror Company in a US$8.3 billion merger transaction, the largest acquisition in the history of the newspaper industry, effectively doubling the size of Tribune's newspaper holdings.[10] The Times Mirror merger added seven daily newspapers to Tribune's existing publishing properties, including the Los Angeles Times, the Long Island-based Newsday, The Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant.[6] Through the deal, Tribune became the only media company that owned both newspapers and television stations in the three largest media markets of New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago,[6] as a result of cross-ownership waivers that were approved by the FCC.

Among other advantages from the merger, including various economies of scale, Tribune's newspapers could now effectively compete for national advertising, as it has grown to become the third largest newspaper group in the country. Tribune Media Net, the national advertising sales organization of Tribune Publishing, was established in 2000 to take advantage of the company's expanded scale and scope. By 2001, revenues had grown to $5.25 billion.[6] However, Tribune needed to pay down some of the debt that it accrued through the Times Mirror purchase; as a result, Tribune moved to sell various non-newspaper holdings operated by Times Mirror. Flight information provider Jeppesen Sanderson was sold to Boeing for $1.5 billion in October 2000. Also in October, the Institute for International Research purchased AchieveGlobal, a consulting and training firm for $100 million. Times Mirror Magazines was sold to Time, Inc. in November of that year for $475 million. Tribune divested its Tribune Education division to The McGraw-Hill Companies for $686 million in September 2000. After all these sales, Tribune still had $4 billion in long-term debt. Tribune started a joint venture with Knight-Ridder, CareerBuilder, that same year.[6]

After the 2001 September 11 attacks, the media sector suffered a greater decrease in advertising revenue. This forced a 10% reduction in staff companywide and a $151.9 million restructuring charge.[6]

In 2002 and 2003, Tribune Broadcasting bought four additional television stations, increasing its total television holdings to 26 stations, some of which were acquired via trades of the company's radio stations; this left its one-time radio flagship WGN (AM) in Chicago as the company's sole remaining radio station. Tribune Publishing purchased the monthly lifestyle publication Chicago from Primedia, Inc. in August 2002. Hoy, a Spanish language newspaper owned by the company, expanded with the launch of local editions in Chicago (in September 2003) and Los Angeles (in March 2004).[6]

Tribune also launched daily newspapers targeting younger urban commuters, including the Chicago Tribune ' s RedEye edition in 2003, followed by an investment in AM New York.[6] That same year, Tribune pushed for the FCC to loosen its regulations barring cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast outlets (television and/or radio) in a single market. Tribune would have to sell either a newspaper or television station in Los Angeles, New York City and Hartford while its combination of the Sun-Sentinel and WBZL-TV in Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Florida was given a temporary waiver. The FCC granted waivers for the other newspaper-television combinations in June 2003.[6]

In 2006, Tribune acquired the minority equity interest in AM New York, giving it full ownership of the newspaper. The company sold both Newsday and AM New York to Cablevision Systems Corporation in 2008.

Tribune's partnership in The WB ended in 2006, when the network was shut down '' along with CBS Corporation-owned UPN '' to create The CW Television Network, which was a joint venture between CBS and Warner Bros. and affiliated with several Tribune-owned stations;[11] Tribune did not maintain an ownership interest in the network.

Zell ownership [ edit ] On April 2, 2007, Chicago-based investor Sam Zell announced plans to buy out the Tribune Company for $34.00 a share, totalling $8.2 billion,[2] with the intent to take the company private. The deal was approved by 97% of the company's shareholders on August 21, 2007.[12] Privatization of the Tribune Company occurred on December 20, 2007 with termination of trading in Tribune stock at the close of the trading day.[13]

On December 21, 2007, Tribune and Oak Hill Capital Partners-controlled Local TV, LLC announced plans to collaborate in the formation of a "broadcast management company" (later named The Other Company).[14] On January 31, 2008, Tribune Company announced it would purchase real estate leased from TMCT, LLC, which included properties used by the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant. The company received an option to purchase the real estate for $175 million through the 2006 restructuring of TMCT, LLC.

In addition, Tribune announced the sale of Tribune Studios and related real estate in Los Angeles to private equity firm Hudson Capital, LLC, for $125 million. The parties also agreed to a five-year lease allowing its television station in the city, KTLA, to continue operating at the location through 2012.[15]

On April 28, 2008, Tribune completed an acquisition of real estate from TMCT Partnership.[16] On July 29, 2008, Cablevision Systems Corporation completed its purchase of Newsday from Tribune.[17]

On September 8, 2008, United Airlines lost (and almost regained) $1 billion in market value when an archived Chicago Tribune article from 2002 about United filing for bankruptcy appeared in the "most viewed" category on the South Florida Sun-Sentinel ' s website. Google News index's next pass found the link as new news. Income Security Advisors found the Google result to be new news, which was passed along to Bloomberg News where it became a headline (Tribune, which owns both papers, noted that one click on a story in non-peak hours could flag an article as "most viewed"[18]).

Bankruptcy reorganization [ edit ] On December 8, 2008, faced with a high debt load related to the company's privatization and a sharp downturn in newspaper advertising revenue, Tribune filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[19] Company plans originally called for it to emerge from bankruptcy by May 31, 2010,[20] but the company would end up in protracted bankruptcy proceedings for another four years. With the company's overall debt totaling $13 billion, it was the largest bankruptcy in the history of the American media industry.[2]

On October 27, 2009, Thomas S. Ricketts purchased a majority ownership (95%) of the Chicago Cubs. The sale also included Wrigley Field and a 25% ownership stake in Comcast SportsNet Chicago, as part of a deal designed to help Tribune restructure.[21] In October 2010, Randy Michaels, who was appointed CEO after Zell's purchase of the company, was removed and replaced by an executive council. The New York Times had reported earlier in the month about his "outlandish, often sexual behavior" that he also exercised in his previous job at Clear Channel Communications.[22][23]

Public corporation second time [ edit ] On July 13, 2012, the Tribune Company received approval of a reorganization plan to allow the company to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Delaware bankruptcy court. Oaktree Capital Management, JPMorgan Chase and Angelo, Gordon & Co., which were the company's senior debt holders, assumed control of Tribune's properties upon the company's exit from bankruptcy on December 31, 2012.[24][25] Coincident with emergence from bankruptcy, company stock began trading as an over-the-counter security under the symbol TRBAA.[26] In December 2014, over-the-counter trading ended and the company's stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TRCO.[26]

On February 26, 2013, it was reported that Tribune hired investment firms Evercore Partners and J.P. Morgan to oversee the sale of its newspapers.[27] On July 1, 2013, Tribune announced that it would purchase the 19 television stations owned by Local TV, LLC outright for $2.75 billion.[28] The FCC approved the acquisition on December 20,[29] and the sale was completed one week later on December 27.[30]

Tribune later announced its return to television production on March 19, 2013, with the relaunch of the production and distribution division as Tribune Studios (not to be confused with the former name of Los Angeles studio facility Sunset Bronson Studios).[31]

Split and subsequent transactions [ edit ] On July 10, 2013, Tribune announced that it would split into two companies, spinning off the newspapers that were part of its publishing division into a separate company. Its broadcasting, digital media and other assets (including Tribune Media Services, which among others, provides news and features content for Tribune's newspapers) would remain with the Tribune Company.[32] The split came in the footsteps of similar spin-outs by News Corporation and Time Warner, which sought to improve the profitability of their properties by separating them from the struggling print industry.[33] On November 20, 2013, Tribune announced it would cut 700 jobs in its newspaper operations, citing falling advertising revenue.[34]

The split was finalized on August 4, 2014, with the publishing arm being spun out as Tribune Publishing, and the remainder of the company renamed Tribune Media.[33][35][36]

Aborted acquisition by Sinclair Broadcast Group [ edit ] On February 29, 2016, Tribune Media announced that it would review various "strategic alternatives" to increase the company's value to shareholders, which include a possible sale of the entire company and/or select assets, or the formation of programming alliances or strategic partnerships with other companies, due to the decrease in its stock price since the Tribune Publishing spin-off and a $385 million revenue write-down for the 2015 fiscal year, partly due to original scripted programming expenditures for WGN America since it converted the cable network from a superstation in 2014.[37][38][39][40] In 2016, Tribune Media sold off real estate properties to net $409 million while authorizing $400 million in share repurchasing. In December 2016, Tribune Media sold Gracenote to Nielsen Holdings for $560 million;[41] Tribune planned to use the sale to pay down a debt of $3.5 billion. Cash on hand was expected to pay out $500 million in dividends in the first quarter of 2017.[41] In January 2017, Tribune Media announced that Peter Liguori would step down as President and CEO in March.[42]

On April 20, 2017, Bloomberg reported that Sinclair Broadcast Group was considering acquiring Tribune Media, contingent on plans by the FCC's new chairman, Ajit Pai, to reinstate the "UHF discount" (a policy which makes UHF stations only count half of their total audience towards the FCC's 39% market share cap), which had been removed by Tom Wheeler during the final months of the Obama administration. The stocks of both companies rose in value in the wake of these rumors. As was expected, the FCC reinstated the UHF discount; under adjusted calculations, the two companies only had a combined market share of 42%, meaning that the combined company would be required to divest stations in order to stay below the cap. However, there was only an 11% market overlap between Tribune and Sinclair's stations.[43][44]

On April 30, 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported that there were competing bids for Tribune from a partnership between 21st Century Fox and private equity firm Blackstone Group (under which Fox would contribute its existing station group into a joint venture with Blackstone), and Nexstar Media Group.[45][46][47][48] The Fox/Blackstone deal was being proposed as a defensive measure, due to concerns by 21st Century Fox over the number of Fox-affiliated stations Sinclair would control if it acquired Tribune Media.[49] However, The New York Times reported that Fox had not actually made a formal bid for Tribune Media.[49][50][51][52]

On May 8, 2017, Sinclair Broadcast Group officially announced its intent to acquire Tribune Media in a cash-and-stock deal valuing the company at $3.9 billion, plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in debt held by Tribune.[53]

The proposed sale resulted in concerns from various groups over the effects of the UHF discount on U.S. media; the Institute for Public Representation coalition filed a request for an emergency motion to stay the reinstatement of the UHF discount order pending a court challenge, echoing Wheeler's opinion that it was outdated and intended to trigger media consolidation.[54][55][56] On June 1, 2017, a federal appeals court issued a temporary administrative stay whilst evaluating the request,[57] and rejected it on June 15.[58][59]

On July 13, 2017, a Tribune Media shareholder, identified as Sean McEntire, filed a class-action lawsuit, seeking to halt Tribune's sale to Sinclair,[60][61] while former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) attorney Willie Briscoe has begun investigating Tribune's sale to Sinclair.[62] On that same date, another Tribune Media shareholder, identified in legal paperwork as Robert Berg, also filed a class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit accuses Sinclair and Tribune of withholding the details of the two companies' financial projections and the processes used in valuation analyses performed by their financial advisors. Additionally, the registration statement allegedly omits information about potential conflicts of interest concerning Tribune's board of directors and one of its financial advisors. Berg further claims that stockholders are entitled to "an accurate description" of the background of the deal, including processes used by the board to arrive at their decision to recommend the merger. Without this information, Berg argues, stockholders cannot determine whether they support the deal.[63] On July 18, 2017, a third Tribune Media shareholder, identified in legal paperwork as David Pill, also filed a class-action lawsuit which seeks to halt Sinclair's acquisition of Tribune.[64] On July 27, 2017, the law firm of Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Tribune Media shareholders who have been harmed by Tribune's and its board of directors' alleged violations of Sections 14(a) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in connection with the proposed merger of the Company with Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.[65]

On October 19, 2017, the sale was approved by Tribune Media shareholders.[66][67][68][69][70]

On July 16, 2018, FCC chairman Ajit Pai was reported to have "serious concerns" about the merger and proposed a hearing before an administrative law judge.[71][72][73][74]

On August 9, 2018, Tribune decided to back out on the merger, and decided to sue Sinclair, alleging breach of contract.[75]

Acquisition by Nexstar Media Group [ edit ] In November 2018, sale rumors intensified again, with Byron Allen (founder of Entertainment Studios),[76][77] Ion Media (in partnership with Cerberus Capital Management and Hicks Equity Partners) having reported interest [78][79] and Nexstar Media Group reported as being a leading bidder.[80]

On December 3, 2018, Nexstar Media Group announced its intent to merge with Tribune Media for $6.4 billion and it will still be known as "Nexstar Media Group". The sale would give the company 216 stations in 118 markets, placing it just below the FCC's market cap of 39% of TV households. The sale price reflects a 45% increase in valuation over Sinclair's offer. Nexstar plans to divest some stations and "non-core" assets as part of the acquisition.[81][82][83]

On January 21, 2019, it was reported that Nexstar Media Group has agreed to merge with Tribune Media for about $4.1 billion in cash, making it the largest regional U.S. TV station operator and will take the Nexstar name.[84]

On August 1 of that year, the United States Department of Justice approved the deal.[85][5]

The sale was approved by the FCC on September 16,[86][87] and completed on September 19.[88][89][90]

Assets [ edit ] Tribune Broadcasting, broadcast media holdingsAntenna TVThis TVTribune StudiosWGN AmericaChicagoland Television, regional cable news channel[6]Tribune (FN) Cable Ventures Inc.[6]Television Food Network, G.P. (31%, with Discovery, Inc.)Food NetworkCooking Channel[91]Tribune Publishing, print media holdingsZap2itTV by the NumbersCareerBuilder, an online employment website with The McClatchy Company and Gannett CompanyMetromix, an entertainment website with Gannett CompanyTopixTribune News Service, a publication put out by Tribune Content AgencyThe WB, a former television network in joint venture with Warner Bros.See also [ edit ] List of assets owned by Tribune MediaList of professional sports team ownersLists of corporate assetsReferences [ edit ] ^ 2018 Proxy Statement ^ a b c Carr, David (October 5, 2010). "At Sam Zell's Tribune, Tales of a Bankrupt Culture". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved January 26, 2019 . Less than a year after Mr. Zell bought the company, it tipped into bankruptcy, listing $7.6 billion in assets against a debt of $13 billion, making it the largest bankruptcy in the history of the American media industry. ^ Brennan, Morgan (September 18, 2013). "The Investment Zen Of Sam Zell: Inside The Grave Dancer's $4 Billion Business Empire". Forbes . Retrieved September 18, 2013 . ^ Littleton, Cynthia (December 2, 2018). "Tribune Media to Be Acquired by Nexstar Media Group". Variety . Retrieved December 15, 2018 . ^ a b Channick, Robert (August 1, 2019). "Tribune Media - Nexstar merger one step closer after DOJ approval". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved August 2, 2019 . ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai "Tribune Company". Answers.com (International Directory of Company Histories). The Gale Group, Inc. 2006 . Retrieved August 22, 2013 . ^ Seelye, Katharine Q.; Sorkin, Andrew Ross (March 13, 2006). "Newspaper Chain Agrees to a Sale for $4.5 Billion". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved January 26, 2019 . ^ Tribune Co. Looks to Boost Role in TV with Offer for Six Stations, Los Angeles Daily News, July 2, 1996. Retrieved September 2, 2014 from HighBeam Research. ^ Tribune, minority group on TV station Qwest; new company's first buys are WATL-TV Atlanta and WNOL-TV New Orleans, Broadcasting & Cable, November 21, 1994. Retrieved July 20, 2013 from HighBeam Research. ^ "Tribune called on to sell L.A. Times". CNNMoney. Time Warner. September 18, 2006 . Retrieved July 20, 2012 . ^ Carter, Bill (January 24, 2006). "UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved January 26, 2019 . ^ Hanford, Desiree J. (August 22, 2007). "Tribune Shareholders Back Zell's Takeover". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved January 26, 2019 . At a special shareholder meeting held in the building that The Chicago Tribune calls home, the deal won support from 97 percent of votes cast... ^ Carpenter, Dave (December 21, 2007). "Tribune buyout, at $8.2 billion, closes in Chicago". The News Journal. Wilmington, Delaware. Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 23, 2007 . Retrieved December 21, 2007 . Tribune Co.'s $8.2 billion buyout closed Thursday [December 20, 2007] after an 8½-month wait to secure final approval and financing, taking the ailing newspaper and TV company private under the control of real estate billionaire Sam Zell. At closing, former Clear Channel CEO Randy Michaels was named CEO of Interactive and Broadcasting. Michaels also oversees most of the Tribune papers. ^ "Tribune and Local TV to Form Broadcast Management Company" (Press release). Tribune Company. December 20, 2007 . Retrieved December 21, 2007 . Tribune Company and Local TV have entered into a letter of intent to create a third-party broadcast management company which will provide shared services to all of the stations Local TV and Tribune Company own, respectively. ^ "Tribune to Acquire Real Estate from TMCT Partnership" (Press release). Tribune Company. January 31, 2008 . Retrieved December 21, 2007 . Tribune Company today announced it will purchase real estate leased from TMCT, LLC, which includes properties used by the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant. The company received an option to purchase the real estate for $175 million through the 2006 restructuring of TMCT, LLC. ^ "Tribune Completes Acquisition of Real Estate from TMCT Partnership" (Press release). Tribune Company. April 28, 2008 . Retrieved December 21, 2007 . Tribune Completes Acquisition of Real Estate from TMCT Partnership. ^ "Cablevision Completes Newsday Buy from Tribune". Broadcasting & Cable (Press release). April 28, 2008 . Retrieved December 21, 2007 . Tribune Completes Acquisition of Real Estate from TMCT Partnership. ^ Helft, Miguel (September 14, 2008). "How a Series of Mistakes Hurt Shares of United". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved January 27, 2019 . ^ Tribune files for bankruptcy Chicago Breaking News. Retrieved December 8, 2008. ^ Johnsson, Julie; Oneal, Michael (November 14, 2009). "Tribune asks court for extension : The Times' owner wants four additional months to plan its exit from bankruptcy without interference". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved February 23, 2014 . ^ "Cubs sale to Ricketts is complete". Chicagobreakingsports.com. October 27, 2009 . Retrieved January 8, 2012 . ^ Carr, David; Arango, Tim (October 22, 2010). "Tribune Company Ousts Randy Michaels as Chief". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved January 26, 2019 . ^ Foege, Alec (2008). Right Of The Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel And the Fall of Commercial Radio (1st ed.). New York: Faber and Faber. ISBN 9780571211067. OCLC 181079179. ^ Chase, Randall (July 13, 2012). "Bankruptcy-Exit Plan Gets OK". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media . Retrieved May 21, 2017 . ^ Channick, Robert (December 30, 2012). "Tribune Co. to emerge from bankruptcy Monday". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing . Retrieved December 31, 2012 . ^ a b Lazare, Lewis (December 2, 2014). "Tribune Media to trade its common stock on New York Stock Exchange". Chicago Business Journal. American City Business Journals. ^ Meehan, Sarah (February 26, 2013). "Baltimore Sun owner Tribune to begin selling newspaper assets, report says". Baltimore Business Journal . Retrieved February 26, 2013 . ^ "Acquisition to make Tribune Co. largest U.S. TV station operator". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on July 4, 2013 . Retrieved July 1, 2013 . ^ FCC OKs Tribune Co.'s agreement to buy Local TV Holdings, Crain's Chicago Business, December 20, 2013. ^ Company Completes Final Steps of Transaction Announced in July Archived December 28, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Tribune Company, December 27, 2013 ^ Tribune Re-Launching Studio With Matt Cherniss at Helm, Broadcasting & Cable, March 19, 2013. ^ Haughney, Christine; Carr, David (July 10, 2013). "To Cut Taxes, Tribune Is to Split Into Broadcasting and Publishing Units". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved January 26, 2019 . ^ a b "Tribune Co. completes split of print, broadcasting businesses, following trend". Milwaukee Business Journal. American City Business Journals . Retrieved August 16, 2014 . ^ "Tribune Co. Cutting 700 Newspaper Jobs Amid Dropping Advertising Revenues". Forbes. Forbes, LLC . Retrieved November 20, 2013 . ^ Channick, Robert. "Tribune Publishing targets Aug. 4 for spinoff". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing . Retrieved June 23, 2014 . ^ Marek, Lynne. "Revealed: Tribune Co.'s new name". Crain's Chicago Business . Retrieved July 9, 2014 . ^ Steinberg, Brian (February 29, 2016). "Tribune Media To Explore Sale Of Company Or Assets". Variety. Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved March 1, 2016 . ^ Lieberman, David (February 29, 2016). "Tribune Media Hangs Up "For Sale" Sign With Hiring Of Financial Advisers". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved March 5, 2016 . ^ Jessell, Harry (March 4, 2016). "Is This The End Of Tribune Broadcasting?". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media . Retrieved March 5, 2016 . ^ Lieberman, David (March 4, 2016). "Tribune Media's Cash Search Shouldn't Affect CW Negotiations, Analysts Say". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved March 5, 2016 . ^ a b Lieberman, David (December 20, 2016). "Tribune Media Agrees To Sell Gracenote Data Services To Nielsen For $560M". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved December 20, 2016 . ^ Channick, Robert (January 26, 2017). "Tribune Media CEO Liguori stepping down". Chicago Tribune. Tronc . Retrieved January 26, 2017 . ^ Sherman, Alex (April 19, 2017). "Sinclair Said Aiming to Buy Tribune for High $30s a Share". Bloomberg . Retrieved May 3, 2017 . ^ Jessell, Harry (April 21, 2017). "Sinclair Buying Bonten Stations For $240M". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media . Retrieved April 21, 2017 . ^ Flint, Joe (May 1, 2017). "Possible Bidding War Emerges for Tribune Media". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660 . Retrieved January 27, 2019 . ^ Saba, Jennifer (May 1, 2017). "In Fox Bid for Tribune, a Return to Erratic Murdoch Deal Making". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved January 26, 2019 . ^ de la Merced, Michael J.; Steel, Emily (April 30, 2017). "21st Century Fox and Blackstone Said to Be Interested in Buying Tribune Media". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved January 27, 2019 . ^ "Reports: Fox News owner joins race to buy Tribune Media". Chicago Tribune. Tronc. May 1, 2017 . Retrieved May 1, 2017 . ^ a b de la Merced, Michael J. (May 7, 2017). "Sinclair Is Said to Be Near a Deal for Tribune Media". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved January 27, 2019 . ^ Flint, Joe (May 7, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast Near Deal to Buy Tribune Media for About $4 Billion". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660 . Retrieved January 27, 2019 . ^ Baker, Liana; Toonkel, Jessica (May 7, 2017). "Exclusive: Sinclair Broadcast nears deals for Tribune Media". Reuters . Retrieved May 7, 2017 . ^ Stedman, Alex; Littleton, Cynthia (May 7, 2017). "Sinclair Reportedly Near Deal to Buy Tribune Media". Variety . Retrieved May 7, 2017 . ^ Littleton, Cynthia (May 8, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast Group Sets $3.9 Billion Deal to Acquire Tribune Media". Variety. Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved May 8, 2017 . ^ Ted Johnson (June 1, 2017). "Sinclair-Tribune Merger Faces Roadblock as Court Puts Hold on FCC Station Ownership Rule". Variety. Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved June 6, 2017 . ^ John Eggerton (May 28, 2017). "Free Press Seeks Emergency Stay of UHF Discount Return". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media . Retrieved June 6, 2017 . ^ John Eggerton (June 1, 2017). "Federal Court Stays FCC UHF Discount Decision, for Now". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media . Retrieved June 6, 2017 . ^ Johnson, Ted (June 1, 2017). "Sinclair-Tribune Merger Faces Roadblock as Court Puts Hold on FCC Station Ownership Rule". Variety. Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved June 3, 2017 . ^ Littleton, Cynthia (June 15, 2017). "Appeals Court Removes FCC Roadblock to Sinclair-Tribune Merger". Variety. Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved June 15, 2017 . ^ Eggerton, John (June 15, 2017). "Court Won't Block FCC's UHF Discount Return". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media . Retrieved June 15, 2017 . ^ Zumbach, Lauren. "Shareholder files lawsuit to block Tribune Media's sale to Sinclair". Chicago Tribune. Tronc . Retrieved July 13, 2017 . ^ Seidel, John. "Shareholder lawsuit aims to halt Tribune Media purchase by Sinclair". Chicago Sun-Times. Sun-Times Media Group . Retrieved July 13, 2017 . ^ "TRIBUNE MEDIA COMPANY SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Former SEC Attorney Willie Briscoe Investigates Sale to Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc". www.businesswire.com . Retrieved May 10, 2017 . ^ Gilmore, Erin (July 18, 2017). "Tribune Media, Sinclair Broadcast Group Hit with Lawsuit Over Merger Proposal". ClassAction.org . Retrieved August 12, 2017 . ^ Gilmore, Erin (July 18, 2017). "Tribune Media, Sinclair Broadcast Group Face Another Securities Lawsuit". ClassAction.org . Retrieved August 12, 2017 . ^ Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (July 27, 2017). "Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Announces Filing of a Class Action Lawsuit Against Tribune Media Company". PR Newswire . Retrieved August 12, 2017 . ^ Hipes, Patrick; Hayes, Dade (October 19, 2017). "Tribune Shareholders OK Sinclair Deal As Regulators Stop Clock On Review Process". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved October 19, 2017 . ^ "Tribune Media shareholders OK Sinclair takeover". Chicago Sun Times. Sun-Times Media Group. October 19, 2017 . Retrieved October 19, 2017 . ^ "Tribune Media Company: Tribune Media Company Stockholders Approve Sinclair Merger". TWST.com. October 19, 2017 . Retrieved October 19, 2017 . ^ Channick, Robert (October 19, 2017). "Tribune Media shareholders vote in favor of Sinclair merger". Chicago Tribune. Tronc . Retrieved October 19, 2017 . ^ Feder, Robert (October 20, 2017). "Robservations: Tribune Media deal with Sinclair in FCC's hands". RobertFeder.com . Retrieved October 20, 2017 . ^ Shields, Todd (July 16, 2018). "Sinclair and Tribune Fall as FCC Slams TV Station Sale Plan". Bloomberg . Retrieved July 16, 2018 . ^ Neidig, Harper (July 16, 2018). "FCC chair rejects Sinclair-Tribune merger". The Hill . Retrieved July 16, 2018 . ^ Feder, Robert (July 16, 2018). "FCC throws Sinclair/Tribune deal in doubt". RobertFeder.com . Retrieved July 16, 2018 . ^ Hart, Benjamin (July 16, 2018). "FCC Throws Wrench Into Sinclair Media Megadeal". New York Magazine . Retrieved July 16, 2018 . ^ Gold, Hadas; Riley, Charles (August 9, 2018). "Tribune calls off $3.9 billion Sinclair media deal". CNN . Retrieved August 25, 2018 . ^ Kelly, Keith J. (November 9, 2018). "Byron Allen seriously interested in buying Tribune Media". New York Post . Retrieved January 29, 2019 . ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (November 9, 2018). "Byron Allen Interested In Buying Tribune Media: Report". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved November 9, 2018 . ^ Kelly, Keith; Kosman, Josh (November 13, 2018). "ION Media joins Cerberus and Hicks in bid for Tribune Media". New York Post . Retrieved November 15, 2018 . ^ "Bidding War for Tribune Media Taking Shape". TV Week. November 14, 2018 . Retrieved November 15, 2018 . ^ Kosman, Josh; Kelly, Keith (November 30, 2018). "Nexstar is leading bidder for TV-station giant Tribune Media". New York Post . Retrieved November 30, 2018 . ^ Lafayette, John (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar Announces Deal To Buy Tribune for $6.4B". Broadcasting & Cable . Retrieved December 3, 2018 . ^ "Nexstar to buy Tribune Media, becoming the largest US TV station operator". CNBC. December 3, 2018 . Retrieved December 3, 2018 . ^ White, Peter; Hayes, Dade (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar Confirms $4.1B Tribune Media Acquisition To Become Leading Local TV Station Owner". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved December 3, 2018 . ^ "Nexstar to buy Tribune Media, becoming the largest U.S. TV station operator". Parker City News. January 21, 2019 . Retrieved January 22, 2019 . ^ Feder, Robert (August 1, 2019). "Justice Department approves Nexstar deal for Tribune Media". RobertFeder.com . Retrieved August 2, 2019 . ^ Channick, Robert (September 16, 2019). "Tribune Media sale to Nexstar approved by FCC; WGN-Ch. 9 no longer Chicago's very own". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved September 17, 2019 . ^ Feder, Robert (September 16, 2019). "FCC approves Tribune Media sale: What's next for WGN?". RobertFeder.com . Retrieved September 17, 2019 . ^ "Nexstar Media Group Completes Tribune Media Acquisition Creating The Nation's Largest Local Television Broadcaster", Nexstar Media Group, 19 September 2019, Retrieved 3 October 2019. ^ Channick, Robert (September 19, 2019). "Nexstar completes purchase of WGN owner Tribune Media". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved September 19, 2019 . ^ Littleton, Cynthia (September 19, 2019). "Nexstar Completes Tribune Acquisition, Sean Compton to Head Programming". Variety . Retrieved September 19, 2019 . ^ Brickley, Peg (February 14, 2011). "Tribune Seeks to Keep Food Network Stake". WSJ . Retrieved January 27, 2019 . Further reading [ edit ] Auletta, Ken (May 1998). "Synergy City". American Journalism Review. College Park, Maryland: University of Maryland Foundation . Retrieved January 1, 2014 . External links [ edit ] Official website Nieman Journalism Lab. "Tribune Company". Encyclo: an encyclopedia of the future of news . Retrieved April 1, 2012 .

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American subscription television network

Television channel

NewsNation is an American subscription television network owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and is the company's only wholly-owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel runs a straight-news format for 24 hours on weekdays and eight hours on weekends, as well as entertainment programming (consisting of comedy and drama series, and theatrical feature films) taking up almost the entire weekend schedule.[3] Known for most of its history as Superstation WGN before becoming WGN America in 2008, it relaunched on March 1, 2021 as a cable news network named after its flagship news program. The channel's relaunch came as part of a planned expansion of its news programming.[4]

In September 2018, the channel, then WGN America, was received by approximately 80 million households that subscribed to a pay television service throughout the United States (or 62.7% of households with at least one television set).[5]

History [ edit ] As a superstation [ edit ] WGN America was originally established on November 9, 1978, when United Video Inc. began redistributing the signal of WGN-TV (channel 9) in Chicago to cable and satellite subscribers throughout the United States. This expanded the prominent independent station into America's second satellite-distributed national "superstation", after Atlanta-based WTBS became TBS.[6][7]

As the national feed of WGN-TV, the channel broadcast a variety of programming seen on the Chicago signal, including sports (mainly Chicago Cubs and White Sox baseball, as well as Chicago Bulls basketball games); locally originated news, children's, religious and public affairs programs; movies; and syndicated series. The WGN local and national feeds originally maintained nearly identical program schedules, aside from some sporting events that were restricted to the Chicago-area signal under league policy restrictions. In the years following the January 1990 re-imposition of federal syndication exclusivity regulations, programming between the two feeds increasingly deviated as the WGN national feed incorporated alternative syndicated programming to replace shows on the WGN-TV schedule that were subjected to market exclusivity claims by individual television stations, and some local programs that the national feed chose not to clear; particularly from the late 2000s onward, as the WGN Chicago signal began expanding its local news programming and added lifestyle programs to its schedule.

On December 13, 2014, WGN America was converted by Tribune into a conventional basic cable network, at which time it started to be offered on cable providers within the Chicago market alongside its existing local carriage on satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network. Simulcasts of WGN-TV's Chicago-originated local newscasts, news specials and public affairs programs, special events and sports telecasts '' with the exception of a one-hour simulcast of WGN-TV's morning news program that was carried early weekday mornings during the transitional period '' immediately ceased being shown on a national basis the day prior, while WGN-TV itself maintained a separate schedule of local and syndicated programs exclusively catering to the Chicago market. The channel began to focus squarely on acquired programming, including shows held over from its superstation era, and by 2015, began to incorporate a limited schedule of original drama and reality series.[8][9]

Conversion to cable news channel [ edit ] WGN America's logo used from January 2014 until it was renamed as NewsNation in March 2021

On September 1, 2020, WGN America launched a three-hour-long prime time newscast, NewsNation, which began development in October 2019, when Nexstar management commissioned research from television subscribers that determined a share of survey participants were dissatisfied with opinion-based programming on cable news channels such as CNN (which had previously offered straight news programming within its evening lineup, before shifting further into liberal-leaning personality-based programming in the mid-2010s), MSNBC (which gravitated toward liberal opinion/talk programs beginning in 2008), and Fox News (developed in 1996 with a conservative-leaning format).[10][11] The program draws partly from the broadcast and digital resources of Nexstar's television stations (including those acquired by Tribune Media, in addition to WGN America, several months prior).

During December 2020 and January 2021, Nexstar reached carriage agreements that added WGN America to virtual multichannel television providers YouTube TV (reached on December 1),[12] FuboTV (reached on December 11),[13] Hulu (reached on December 18),[14] Sling TV (reached on December 24, through a broader agreement with Sling parent Dish Network which ended a three-week impasse in which the satellite provider lost access to Nexstar's broadcast stations)[15] and Vidgo (reached on January 14)[16] to expand the channel beyond its existing wireline and satellite distribution footprint, and increase exposure for NewsNation. (AT&T TV had already carried the channel since October 2019).[17]

On January 25, 2021, Nexstar Media Group announced it would relaunch WGN America under the NewsNation brand on March 1, cutting all ties with the WGN brand after forty-three years.[4] The name change will coincide with a gradual expansion of its news programming: initially expanding to nine hours per day (from six), the revised news schedule will be fronted by a splintered expansion of the flagship NewsNation broadcast (adding an hour-long early evening edition, alongside the existing and now reduced two-hour NewsNation Prime) and two host-centered news and interview programs anchored respectively by Joe Donlon and Ashleigh Banfield. NewsNation will maintain a reduced schedule of entertainment programs acquired by the channel under the WGN America moniker in daytime and select overnight slots initially; beginning with the launch of a morning news program in 2021, the acquired entertainment shows will be replaced with additional news content once syndication contracts expire.[18][19]

NewsNation was developed under the management of Sean Compton, who was promoted to executive vice president of WGN America upon completion of the Nexstar purchase, and former WGN-TV news director Jennifer Lyons, who was reassigned by Nexstar to serve as WGN America's vice president of news.[20] However, since its launch, NewsNation was accused of having a rightward tilt due to its guests and for hiring former Fox News Channel chief and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bill Shine as a consultant. The news director and managing editor quit following disclosure of Shine's role.[21] Lyons announced her resignation in March amid the controversy as well as continued low ratings.[22] Amid dissension from NewsNation staffers, Nexstar's CEO affirmed the schedule to convert NewsNation into an "all-news, talk, and opinion" channel by 2023.[23]

In May 2021, to replace Lyons Nexstar hired Michael Corn, the senior executive producer of Good Morning America, as its news director.[24] Corn then named Fox News vice president Cherie Grzech as managing editor.[25] Later that year, NewsNation premiered more opinion programming hosted by cable news veterans Leland Vittert and Dan Abrams, as well as a morning show hosted by former ABC News presenter Adrienne Bankert.[26]

On October 3, 2022, former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who was terminated for advising his brother New York Governor Andrew Cuomo about how to deal with various scandals, joined the network with an evening program called Cuomo to replace NewsNation Prime, thus fully converting evening programming to personality-driven opinion and analysis shows.[27]

Programming [ edit ] Daytime programming [ edit ] Live programming begins at 6 a.m. ET with Early Morning with Mitch Carr, followed one hour later by Morning in America hosted by Bankert, a three-hour newscast.[28] At 10 a.m. ET, NewsNation Live, a three-hour straight newscast, airs with Marni Hughes, the only remaining original NewsNation anchor from its 2020 launch,[29] followed by the four-hour news program NewsNation Now at 1 p.m. ET. On weekends, the channel shifts towards general entertainment, with marathon airings of crime drama Blue Bloods and the sitcom Last Man Standing.

Evening news programming [ edit ] On January 15, 2020, NewsNation's predecessor, WGN America, announced it would launch a three-hour-long, nightly prime time newscast titled NewsNation, which premiered on September 1, 2020. The program, which is produced from the WGN-TV facility in Chicago, offers non-partisan coverage that is based upon the traditional, straight news style of local television newscasts; it primarily uses the journalistic resources of Nexstar Media Group's 110 television news operations, augmenting an in-house staff of anchors, correspondents and meteorologists (almost all of whom exclusively have backgrounds in local television news).

On March 1, 2021, coinciding with its relaunch under the NewsNation brand, the channel expanded its news programming to include the additions of three programs: NewsNation Early Edition (an hour-long early-evening newscast), The Donlon Report (an hour-long prime-access newscast anchored by Joe Donlon, who was reassigned from the weeknight NewsNation broadcasts) and Banfield (an hour-long weeknight news/interview program hosted by Ashleigh Banfield). The flagship evening newscast was retitled NewsNation Prime, and reduced from three hours to two.[18][19] News programming began at 6 pm ET and the three programs repeat immediately following the end of Banfield at 11 pm. NewsNation's weekend news programming consists of two hours of NewsNation Prime and a rebroadcast of an episode of Banfield from the previous week.

On July 19, 2021, NewsNation rebranded NewsNation Early Edition to Rush Hour (while keeping the same fast-paced straight news format) and introduced an opinion show, On Balance, hosted by former Fox News correspondent Leland Vittert to replace the first hour of NewsNation Prime. It also announced on that date that on September 27, Dan Abrams would host a prime time news analysis show and that former ABC News correspondent Adrienne Bankert would host a morning show titled Morning in America.

In July 2022, NewsNation announced that Chris Cuomo would host a prime time news analysis show titled Cuomo replacing NewsNation Prime. Rush Hour was moved to 5 p.m. ET and expanded to two hours, essentially replacing NewsNation Prime as the evening newscast of record. Cuomo, Dan Abrams Live, and Banfield repeat at 11 pm.

Availability [ edit ] NewsNation is available on most multichannel television providers (including cable, satellite, IPTV and fiber-optic-based services) within the United States. However, the channel continues to have somewhat scattershot coverage (outside of satellite distribution) in portions of the Western United States and much of the New England region. Moreover, some multichannel providers in various markets where Tribune Broadcasting had owned a television station prior to the closure of the group's purchase by Nexstar do not carry NewsNation. In the Chicago metropolitan area, NewsNation is carried by the three major cable television providers serving the immediate area (Comcast Xfinity, RCN and WOW!) and streaming providers, in addition to the WGN-TV broadcast signal.

Streaming [ edit ] NewsNation streams on YouTube TV,[30] Sling TV,[31] Hulu,[32] DirecTV Stream, and FuboTV.[33]

Radio [ edit ] On September 1, 2020, at the same time NewsNation was launched, the NewsNation brand expanded to radio by broadcasting its 2-minute top-of-the-hour news headlines on WGN 720 AM. These audio newscasts are also available to listen nationally on the radio section of the network's website and app.[34]

References [ edit ] ^ "Cable Briefs". Broadcasting. December 18, 1978. p. 74. ^ "WGN America profile" (PDF) . TheCab.tv. 2012. ^ "WGN America Announces Anchor Teams and Correspondents for Prime-Time National Newscast "news Nation" Launching September 1" (PDF) . WGN America (Press release). Nexstar Media Group. June 2, 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 25, 2020 . Retrieved September 1, 2020 . ^ a b "WGN America will change its name to NewsNation, moving to compete with CNN, Fox, MSNBC". Los Angeles Times. January 25, 2021 . Retrieved January 25, 2021 . ^ Andrew Bucholtz (September 10, 2018). "Nielsen coverage estimates for September see gains at ESPN networks, NBCSN, and NBA TV, drops at MLBN and NFLN (Cable Network Coverage Area Household Universe Estimates: September 2018)". Awful Announcing. NESN Digital . Retrieved September 20, 2018 . ^ "Superstation breakthrough". Broadcasting. October 30, 1976. p. 25-26. ^ "SSS tangles with RCA over transponder for WGN-TV". Broadcasting. November 6, 1978. p. 30. ^ Robert Feder (December 15, 2014). "WGN America comes home to Chicago". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved January 11, 2015 . ^ Kent Gibbons (December 16, 2014). "WGN America Converts to Cable in Five Markets". Broadcasting & Cable . Retrieved January 11, 2015 . ^ "The Making of NewsNation | NewsNation Now '' YouTube". www.youtube.com . Retrieved August 31, 2020 . ^ "Which Way Does Your News Lean? '' Media Bias". College of the Mainland. Texas City, Texas. December 2, 2020 . Retrieved January 3, 2021 . ^ Jon Lafayette (December 1, 2020). "Nexstar's WGN America Gets YouTube TV Carriage". Broadcasting & Cable. Future US, Inc . Retrieved January 28, 2021 . ^ "Nexstar's Cable Network, WGN America, Reaches First-Ever Carriage Agreement With fuboTV" (Press release). Nexstar Media Group. December 11, 2020 . Retrieved January 28, 2021 '' via BusinessWire. ^ Dade Hayes (December 18, 2020). "Hulu And Top Station Group Nexstar Set Carriage Deal For ABC Affiliates, Cable Network WGN America". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved January 28, 2021 . ^ Dade Hayes (December 24, 2020). "Dish Network And Nexstar Resolve Carriage Impasse, Restoring Local Stations And WGN America". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved January 28, 2021 . ^ Jon Lafayette (January 14, 2021). "Nexstar Reaches WGNA Carriage Deal with Vidgo". Broadcasting & Cable. Future US Inc . Retrieved January 28, 2021 . ^ Dade Hayes (September 20, 2019). "WGN America Path, Food Network Stake Enter Spotlight After Nexstar-Tribune Deal". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved January 28, 2021 . ^ a b Robert Channick (January 25, 2021). "Chicago cable network WGN America changing its name to NewsNation, going all-in on news". Chicago Tribune. ^ a b Dade Hayes (January 25, 2021). "WGN America To Rebrand As NewsNation, Expanding Nightly Programming". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. ^ Cynthia Littleton (January 15, 2020). "Nexstar to Launch National Primetime Newscast on WGN America". Variety . Retrieved January 16, 2020 . ^ Robertson, Katie (March 7, 2021). "Journalists Rebel at NewsNation, a Newcomer in Cable News". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved March 9, 2021 . ^ Channick, Robert. "Jennifer Lyons, VP of news at NewsNation, quits struggling Chicago-based cable news network". chicagotribune.com . Retrieved March 14, 2021 . ^ Littleton, Cynthia (March 10, 2021). "Nexstar's NewsNation Faces Turmoil, Staff Departures Amid Conservative Bias Concerns". Variety . Retrieved March 16, 2021 . ^ "Nexstar hires former ABC News exec Michael Corn to run NewsNation '' Robert Feder". www.robertfeder.com . Retrieved July 21, 2021 . ^ "Veteran news executive Cherie Grzech joins NewsNation as VP of news, managing editor". NewsNation Now. June 21, 2021 . Retrieved July 21, 2021 . ^ "NewsNation expands with Dan Abrams talk show and 'Morning in America' '' Robert Feder". www.robertfeder.com . Retrieved July 21, 2021 . ^ Steigrad, Alexandra (July 28, 2022). "Chris Cuomo's upcoming TV show gets time slot, start date". New York Post . Retrieved August 22, 2022 . ^ Neuman, Jennifer (June 14, 2022). "NewsNation Expands Morning News Programming to Four Hours Each Weekday Beginning Monday, June 27". Nexstar Media Group, Inc . Retrieved November 8, 2022 . ^ Jacobson, Adam (September 6, 2022). "NewsNation Readies New Morning News Block | Radio & Television Business Report" . Retrieved November 8, 2022 . ^ "NewsNation, WGN America coming to YouTube TV in January 2021". NewsNation Now. December 1, 2020 . Retrieved December 30, 2020 . ^ "NewsNation, WGN America joins Sling TV in 2021 as Nexstar Media Group and Dish Network reach multi-year deal". NewsNation Now. December 25, 2020 . Retrieved December 30, 2020 . ^ "NewsNation, WGN America joins Hulu in 2021". NewsNation Now. December 18, 2020 . Retrieved December 30, 2020 . ^ "NewsNation, WGN America coming to fuboTV in January 2021". NewsNation Now. December 11, 2020 . Retrieved December 30, 2020 . ^ Radio updates from WGN Radio on NewsNation (accessed August 14, 2021) External links [ edit ] Official website Interview with WGN America

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Thu, 29 Jun 2023 16:21

Female job candidates say extreme vetting process by a security firm sometimes included questions about pornography and sexual histories; Gates's office says such questioning would be unacceptable

Some people who sought jobs at billionaire Bill Gates's private office described going through an extensive screening process that included being questioned by a security firm about their sexual histories, past drug use and other parts of their private lives that might indicate they were vulnerable to blackmail.

Some female job candidates were asked whether they ever had extramarital affairs, what kind of pornography they preferred or if they had nude photographs of themselves on their phones, according to the candidates...

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Some people who sought jobs at billionaire Bill Gates's private office described going through an extensive screening process that included being questioned by a security firm about their sexual histories, past drug use and other parts of their private lives that might indicate they were vulnerable to blackmail.

Some female job candidates were asked whether they ever had extramarital affairs, what kind of pornography they preferred or if they had nude photographs of themselves on their phones, according to the candidates and people familiar with the hiring process. While it couldn't be determined whether any men were asked such questions, none who spoke to The Wall Street Journal said they had.

Female candidates sometimes were asked whether they had ever ''danced for dollars,'' some of the people said. One of the candidates was asked whether she had ever contracted a sexually transmitted disease, according to the candidate.

A spokeswoman for Gates said his private office, Gates Ventures, hasn't heard about such questions being asked during background checks done by third-party contractors. ''This line of questioning would be unacceptable and a violation of Gates Ventures' agreement with the contractor'' who must comply with pre-employment screening laws, she said.

The people said the screenings were conducted in recent years by a security consulting firm called Concentric Advisors, and the interviewers were ultimately trying to find any information that had the potential to be used to compromise or blackmail individuals who would be working closely with one of the world's richest men.

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Concentric said its protocols comply with applicable laws.

Gates himself also has had multiple extramarital affairs and had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, the Journal has reported. Gates has said it was a mistake to associate with Epstein.

Employment lawyers and security consultants said the process these people described could run afoul of state and federal employment discrimination laws. For certain high-security government roles, such questions may be more acceptable, they said.

Carol Miaskoff, legal counsel of the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said any questions about a candidate's health or psychiatric history before a job offer ''is just flat out prohibited by the federal Americans With Disabilities Act'' regardless of who does the questioning during the application process.

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Questions related to past illegal drug use could violate the same law since they may reveal an addiction, which is considered a disability, she said. Instead, Miaskoff said an employer can ask if a candidate is currently using drugs illegally or get consent for a drug test.

''There's not a black letter law prohibition on asking questions related to sex,'' Miaskoff said, but ''getting the information and taking some adverse action with that information'' such as rejecting the candidate could lay the basis for a legal challenge.

The Gates spokeswoman said Gates Ventures, which was previously known as bgC3, follows careful due diligence when hiring staff and that it works with contractors to perform industry-standard pre-employment screenings for men and women. She said it requires all vendors to operate in compliance with state and federal laws and regulations.

''We have never received information from any vendor or interviewee in our 15+ year history that inappropriate questions were asked during the screening process,'' she said in a statement. ''We can confirm, that after a comprehensive review of our records, no employment offer has ever been rescinded based on information of this nature.''

Concentric CEO

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Mike LeFever said that the company provides industry-standard background checks for hundreds of companies and its pre-employment interview protocol, which is identical for men and women, is compliant with laws in each state and nation where it provides services.

Asked how questions about sexual or medical histories comply with laws, a spokesman for Concentric denied it initiated such questions and said such information can be volunteered by job candidates when asked about public records. The Concentric spokesman said the company doesn't provide hiring recommendations as part of its security-screening business.

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The security screening involves ''assessing a candidate's truthfulness and vulnerability to blackmail, which often starts with voluntary statements by the candidate with follow-up questions by company interviewers,'' the spokesman said. Not all information discussed in a Concentric security screening is included in the reports it provides to clients, he said.

Job candidates disputed Concentric's characterization, saying they were asked about sensitive information and didn't volunteer it. They also said they were informed that their job offers were conditional on passing the assessments. Documents also are at odds with the contention that the screening process wasn't for employment purposes.

A consent form, reviewed by the Journal, said a behavioral assessment by a Concentric professional would be used to ''assess suitability for employment'' by Gates's private office and would include drug and alcohol history as well as past medical and psychiatric history as it relates to the job.

The form, requiring a signature from the job candidate, gave permission to disclose the results from the assessment to Gates's private office, including ''highly sensitive information,'' and ''does not allow for the re-disclosure of sexually transmitted diseases,'' the document shows.

Some people who worked for Gates's private office said they didn't undergo such questioning.

Gates himself was investigated in 2019 by Microsoft board members over allegations of a past sexual relationship with a Microsoft employee. Epstein appeared to attempt to blackmail Gates in 2017 over a different affair with a Russian bridge player, the Journal has reported. Gates's spokespeople have said that he had a consensual relationship with the Microsoft employee about two decades ago, and that Epstein tried unsuccessfully to leverage the past relationship with the Russian woman.

The Microsoft co-founder has hundreds of people who work for several entities he controls, including Gates Ventures, private aircraft, horse stables and a company that oversees household staff and security. These workers are hired directly for these entities and they aren't employees of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation or Microsoft.

Concentric describes itself as a risk-management firm that has several former Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation officials on its staff. It has worked with private family offices for almost two decades, providing pre-employment checks and mitigating risks posed by individuals with ''potentially nefarious motives,'' according to its website.

Concentric's headquarters are in the same lakefront office park in Kirkland, Wash., as Gates Ventures.

Informally, Gates employees would warn job candidates that a ''former CIA agent'' would be drilling into medical information, past drug use and relationships, including former sexual partners, some people said.

Employment lawyers said questions about a job candidate's medical or psychiatric history are illegal, even if part of a security screening for a private office. If a job candidate signs a consent form, it doesn't make the questions legal, they said.

Questions about a candidate's sexual history or preferences are ''deeply offensive and it has nothing I can conceive of whether a person can do a job,'' said Lindsay Halm, a Seattle-based employment lawyer. ''I suppose if you're working at a sex toy store or an adult film store where you might conceivably have a job-related question about that.''

A typical pre-employment background investigation includes an examination of public records and databases, confirmation of resume content and reference checks in addition to an interview confirming job qualification details, the applicant's background and whether the candidate would be a good fit for the company, said Daniel Karson, a security industry veteran and former executive for business investigations firm Kroll Associates.

''I have never encountered that kind of questioning in a pre-employment background investigation in the private sector,'' he said, referring to the questions related to sexual or medical history.

Write to Khadeeja Safdar at khadeeja.safdar@wsj.com and Emily Glazer at Emily.Glazer@wsj.com

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Archived Version

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 16:12

The former US President announced his intention to create a new social media platform after he was banned from Facebook and Twitter last year.

Leon Neal | Getty Images

WASHINGTON '-- Three Florida men were charged Thursday in criminal and civil complaints with insider trading of a shell company's stock before it announced plans to merge with a social media firm launched by former President Donald Trump.

The men, Michael Shvartsman, Gerald Shvartsman, and Bruce Garelick, allegedly netted more than $22 million in illicit profits from trading in shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp .

All three were arrested Thursday morning, said the Justice Department.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a civil complaint against Garelick, the Shvartsmans, who are brothers, and Rocket One Capital LLC, a venture capital firm owned by Michael Shvartsman.

The charges do not allege wrongdoing by Trump or any of his family members.

A spokesman for TMTG did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the allegations.

The DOJ announced the charges related to the Trump Media proposed merger as part of a string of allegations of illegal trading. They included accusations that two Pfizer employees traded on non-public information about trial results for its Covid treatment Paxlovid.

Digital World Acquisition Corp . is a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that announced plans to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group in October 2021. The SPAC merger aimed to help TMTG go public without the lengthy process of a formal IPO.

But as of Thursday, the merger announced more than 18 months ago had not happened yet. Instead, DWAC has struggled to raise money from investors amid multiple federal investigations into its practices and its funding.

The company first revealed that it was under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission in a June 2022 filing. A week later, Trump's media company was subpoenaed by a grand jury in relation to the DWAC probe.

TMTG includes Truth Social, the social media platform Trump launched after Twitter banned him for his tweets on Jan. 6, 2021, when hundreds of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

DWAC shares closed at $12.66 on Wednesday. The stock has been on a downward slide since it hit an end of day high of $94 on October 22, 2021, after the planned merger with Trump's media group was announced.

This is a developing story, please check back for updates.

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Thu, 29 Jun 2023 15:54

Aedes aegypti can carry several diseases, including yellow fever, dengue and Zika virus. Joao Paulo Burini via Getty ImagesThe Environmental Protection Agency has cleared the release of 2.4 billion genetically-modified mosquitoes in California and Florida. The mosquitoes, created by biotech firm Oxitec, will be non-biting Aedes aegypti males engineered to only produce viable male offspring, per the company. Oxitec says the plan will reduce numbers of the invasive Aedes aegypti, which can carry diseases like Zika, yellow fever and dengue.

Female mosquitoes will die, while males will reproduce and spread the self-limiting gene to the next generation, eventually leading to population declines. While these diseases aren't yet spreading in California, the invasive insect has been flagged as a growing risk as their numbers increase across the state, reports the Guardian's Gabrielle Canon.

''Given the growing health threat this mosquito poses across the U.S., we're working to make this technology available and accessible,'' Oxitec CEO Grey Frandsen says in a statement. ''These pilot programs, wherein we can demonstrate the technology's effectiveness in different climate settings, will play an important role in doing so.''

The mosquitoes will also contain a genetic marker so that scientists can easily identify them from wild populations, per Oxitec.

The experiment is an extension of a pilot project that the EPA approved in 2020, the company says. In 2021, Oxitec released 144,000 genetically-modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. It also released mosquitoes in Brazil, claiming that after 13 weeks, the technology suppressed 95 percent of Aedes aegypti.

''It's ingenious,'' Mustapha Debboun, a medical and veterinary entomologist and general manager of the Delta Mosquito and Vector Control District, tells Mashable's Mark Kaufman. ''Instead of using a human being to apply a pesticide to kill these mosquitoes, we're using male mosquitoes to do the job for us'...It's nature against nature.''

But critics aren't convinced the mosquitoes will be entirely safe.

''There's no such thing as 100 percent effective in science,'' Dana Perls, the food and technology program manager with Friends of the Earth, tells the Guardian. ''Yet the public is being asked to trust that Oxitec's experiment will work and no [genetically-engineered] female mosquitoes will survive. But how do we know that?''

The Guardian reports opponents are concerned about the mosquitoes coming in contact with Tetracycline, an antibiotic used in agriculture, that the publication says would allow female mosquitoes to survive.

Supporters say the mosquitoes rarely travel more than 500 feet from where they're born, reports Lisa M. Krieger for Mercury News. EPA regulations require that the mosquitoes cannot be released within ''500 meters of wastewater treatment facilities, commercial citrus, apple, pear, nectarine, peach growing areas, or commercial cattle, poultry and pig livestock producers,'' per The Guardian.

Still, critics say more tests should take place in controlled environments.

''Once released into the environment, genetically engineered mosquitoes cannot be recalled,'' Dr. Robert Gould, president of San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility, tells Mercury News. ''Rather than forge ahead with an unregulated, open-air genetic experiment, we need precautionary action, transparent data and appropriate risk assessments.''

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Filed Under: California, Disease, Genetics, Insects

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Archived Version

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 14:33

The forum will take place August 29''31

The USDA will host the 3rd North American African Swine Fever Forum from August 29 to 31 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The first day of the forum will have in-person and virtual sessions and include participants from the United States, Canada and Mexico as well as representatives from the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, and international organizations.

Days 2 and 3 of the forum will be a trilateral discussion amongst government and industry participants from the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Key discussions for this year's forum include:

Process and factors considered in regionalization evaluationUnited States Protection ZonePreparedness for depopulation and disposalSurveillance and laboratory capacity preparednessTraceability and information management during an outbreakFeral swine response and challenges in face of ASF outbreakProducer led preparedness initiatives

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Archived Version

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 14:15

Real-life Back to the Future? $300,000 flying car that drives on roads and takes off to avoid traffic jams like the 1980s film's DeLorean gets FAA approvalCA-based Alef said its 100% electric flying car holds its own on public roadsThe two-seat Model A would be able to execute vertical take-off from anywhereREAD MORE: Inside Hyundai's flying car concept that could hit the skies by 2028By Matthew Phelan For Dailymail.Com

Updated: 16:27 EDT, 28 June 2023

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given the legal go-ahead to the makers of a quirky car that can transition seamlessly from highway to air, just like Doc Brown's retrofitted DeLorean in the Back to the Future series.

California-based Alef Aeronautics claims that its Model A will have customers sailing over traffic and hopping over accidents, all for a suggested retail price of $298,520.

Alef announced that its all-electric, two-seater Model A received a limited Special Airworthiness Certification from the FAA this Tuesday.

The company '-- which reports that it has been testing a full-sized prototype of the Model A since 2019 '-- called the news 'one small step for planes, one giant step for cars.'

The Federal Aviation Administration has given the go-ahead to Alef to test its quirky flying car, the Model A, which they said can execute vertical takeoffs seamlessly from highway to air

Alef unveiled its full-sized sports car model, along with two fully functional, full-size technology demonstrator cars at a Draper University press conference last October

Alef has said that its flying car is 100 percent electric and capable of holding its own on public roads.

The vehicle has been designed for vertical takeoff and landing capabilities and could carry one-to-two occupants.

'The FAA is actively working on its policies for electrical vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles,' a spokesperson for Alef said in a statement, 'as well as governing interactions between eVTOLs and ground infrastructure.'

Given this new regulatory frontier, Alef noted that its special certificate from the FAA currently 'limits the locations and purpose for which Alef is permitted to fly' as testing of the Model A continues.

At a Draper University press conference held last October in San Mateo, California, Alef unveiled its full-sized sports car model and two fully functional, full-size technology demonstrator cars.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given the legal go-ahead to the makers of a quirky car that can transition seamlessly from highway to air, just like Doc Brown's retrofitted DeLorean in the Back to the Future series that took Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) through tiume

California-based Alef Aeronautics claims that its Model A will have customers sailing over traffic and hopping over accidents, all for a suggested retail price of $298,520

Alef's Model A is designed for vertical takeoff and landing and can carry one-to-two occupants

According to the firm, pre-orders for the Model A have been strong for individuals and companies ever since.

On the road, according to Alef's website, the Model A will be categorized as a Low-Speed Vehicle (LSV), a designation from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and local state agencies which means that the car will come with legal limitations in most states.

'The assumption is that, if a driver needs a faster route, they will use Alef's flight capabilities,' as explained on the pre-order page for the Model A.

During and after the flying car's vertical takeoff maneuvers, the driver, passenger and surrounding cabin remain stabilized by Alef's specially engineered, rotating gimbaled cabin design.

'We're excited to receive this certification from the FAA,' Alef's CEO Jim Dukhovny said in a statement.

'It allows us to move closer to bringing people an environmentally friendly and faster commute,' Dukhovny said, 'saving individuals and companies hours each week.'

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Thu, 29 Jun 2023 14:05

(Bloomberg) -- The European Union will join an international effort to assess whether large-scale interventions such as deflecting the sun's rays or changing the Earth's weather patterns are viable options for fighting climate change.

The bloc will announce a framework Wednesday for assessing the security implications of a rapidly warming planet, such as the potential for scarce water or food to trigger conflict and migration, according to a draft document seen by Bloomberg. Part of that assessment includes studying the potential dangers of re-engineering the atmosphere.

''These technologies introduce new risks to people and ecosystems, while they could also increase power imbalances between nations, spark conflicts and raises a myriad of ethical, legal, governance and political issues,'' according to the document, which is subject to change.

Embarking on this research pushes the EU into the debate over whether so-called climate geoengineering is good science or just a science-fiction distraction with potentially dangerous implications for the planet and its atmosphere. The bloc would like to see international discussions on creating rules for the fledgling sector.

''The EU will support international efforts to assess comprehensively the risks and uncertainties of climate interventions, including solar radiation modification,'' according to the document.

Such large-scale interventions have emerged alongside scientific advances and growing concern that nations will overshoot their target to limit global warming to 1.5C (2.7F). The potential options include stratospheric aerosol injection, which involves increasing the concentration of particles in the atmosphere to reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface.

Critics say such efforts, at best, distract attention from addressing the primary trigger of global warming: rising emissions. At worst, these massive interventions may have unforeseen side effects, such as altering vital rain patterns, they warn.

Some scientists have called for an international non-use agreement on such solutions.

(C)2023 Bloomberg L.P.

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Thu, 29 Jun 2023 13:45

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - One of the world's most common artificial sweeteners is set to be declared a possible carcinogen next month by a leading global health body, according to two sources with knowledge of the process, pitting it against the food industry and regulators.

Aspartame, used in products from Coca-Cola diet sodas to Mars' Extra chewing gum and some Snapple drinks, will be listed in July as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" for the first time by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organization's (WHO) cancer research arm, the sources said.

The IARC ruling, finalised earlier this month after a meeting of the group's external experts, is intended to assess whether something is a potential hazard or not, based on all the published evidence.

It does not take into account how much of a product a person can safely consume. This advice for individuals comes from a separate WHO expert committee on food additives, known as JECFA (the Joint WHO and Food and Agriculture Organization's Expert Committee on Food Additives), alongside determinations from national regulators.

However, similar IARC rulings in the past for different substances have raised concerns among consumers about their use, led to lawsuits, and pressured manufacturers to recreate recipes and swap to alternatives. That has led to criticism that the IARC's assessments can be confusing to the public.

JECFA, the WHO committee on additives, is also reviewing aspartame use this year. Its meeting began at the end of June and it is due to announce its findings on the same day that the IARC makes public its decision '' on July 14.

Since 1981, JECFA has said aspartame is safe to consume within accepted daily limits. For example, an adult weighing 60 kg (132 pounds) would have to drink between 12 and 36 cans of diet soda '' depending on the amount of aspartame in the beverage '' every day to be at risk. Its view has been widely shared by national regulators, including in the United States and Europe.

An IARC spokesperson said both the IARC and JECFA committees' findings were confidential until July, but added they were "complementary", with IARC's conclusion representing "the first fundamental step to understand carcinogenicity". The additives committee "conducts risk assessment, which determines the probability of a specific type of harm (e.g., cancer) to occur under certain conditions and levels of exposure."

However, industry and regulators fear that holding both processes at around the same time could be confusing, according to letters from U.S. and Japanese regulators seen by Reuters.

"We kindly ask both bodies to coordinate their efforts in reviewing aspartame to avoid any confusion or concerns among the public," Nozomi Tomita, an official from Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, wrote in a letter dated March 27 to WHO's deputy director general, Zsuzsanna Jakab.

The letter also called for the conclusions of both bodies to be released on the same day, as is now happening. The Japanese mission in Geneva, where the WHO is based, did not respond to a request for comment.

DEBATEThe IARC's rulings can have huge impact. In 2015, its committee concluded that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic". Years later, even as other bodies like the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) contested this, companies were still feeling the effects of the decision. Germany's Bayer in 2021 lost its third appeal against U.S. court verdicts that awarded damages to customers blaming their cancers on use of its glyphosate-based weedkillers.

The IARC's decisions have also faced criticism for sparking needless alarm over hard to avoid substances or situations. It has previously put working overnight and consuming red meat into its "probably cancer-causing" class, and using mobile phones as "possibly cancer-causing", similar to aspartame.

"IARC is not a food safety body and their review of aspartame is not scientifically comprehensive and is based heavily on widely discredited research," Frances Hunt-Wood, the secretary general of the International Sweeteners Association (ISA), said.

The body, whose members include Mars Wrigley, a Coca-Cola unit and Cargill, said it had "serious concerns with the IARC review, which may mislead consumers".

The International Council of Beverages Associations' executive director Kate Loatman said public health authorities should be "deeply concerned" by the "leaked opinion", and also warned it "could needlessly mislead consumers into consuming more sugar rather than choosing safe no-and low-sugar options."

Aspartame has been extensively studied for years. Last year, an observational study in France among 100,000 adults showed that people who consumed larger amounts of artificial sweeteners '' including aspartame '' had a slightly higher cancer risk.

It followed a study from the Ramazzini Institute in Italy in the early 2000s, which reported that some cancers in mice and rats were linked to aspartame.

However, the first study could not prove that aspartame caused the increased cancer risk, and questions have been raised about the methodology of the second study, including by EFSA, which assessed it.

Aspartame is authorised for use globally by regulators who have reviewed all the available evidence, and major food and beverage makers have for decades defended their use of the ingredient. The IARC said it had assessed 1,300 studies in its June review.

Recent recipe tweaks by soft drinks giant Pepsico demonstrate the struggle the industry has when it comes to balancing taste preferences with health concerns. Pepsico removed aspartame from sodas in 2015, bringing it back a year later, only to remove it again in 2020.

Listing aspartame as a possible carcinogen is intended to motivate more research, said the sources close to the IARC, which will help agencies, consumers and manufacturers draw firmer conclusions.

But it will also likely ignite debate once again over the IARC's role, as well as the safety of sweeteners more generally.

Last month, the WHO published guidelines advising consumers not to use non-sugar sweeteners for weight control. The guidelines caused a furore in the food industry, which argues they can be helpful for consumers wanting to reduce the amount of sugar in their diet.

Reporting by Jennifer Rigby and Richa NaiduEditing by Michele Gershberg and Mark Potter

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Jennifer RigbyThomson Reuters

Jen reports on health issues affecting people around the world, from malaria to malnutrition. Part of the Health & Pharma team, recent notable pieces include an investigation into healthcare for young transgender people in the UK as well as stories on the rise in measles after COVID hit routine vaccination, as well as efforts to prevent the next pandemic. She previously worked at the Telegraph newspaper and Channel 4 News in the UK, as well as freelance in Myanmar and the Czech Republic.

Richa NaiduThomson Reuters

London-based reporter covering retail and consumer goods, analysing trends including coverage of supply chains, advertising strategies, corporate governance, sustainability, politics and regulation. Previously wrote about U.S. based retailers, major financial institutions and covered the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

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Archived Version

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 13:43

Over the weekend, a short video circulated widely on social media of an unidentified person at a New York City march during Pride festivities saying, ''We're coming for your children.''

In the 21-second clip, circulated by a right-wing web streamer channel, dozens of people march in the streets and are clearly heard chanting, ''We're here, we're queer, we're not going shopping.'' But one voice that is louder than the crowd '-- it's not clear whose, or whether the speaker was a member of the LGBTQ community '-- is heard saying at least twice, ''We're here, we're queer, we're coming for your children.''

To conservative pundits, activists and lawmakers, the video confirmed the allegations they've levied in recent years that the LGBTQ community is ''grooming'' children.

But to Brian Griffin, the original organizer of the NYC Drag March, if that's the worst they heard, it's only because he wasn't there this year.

Griffin said he chanted obscene things in the past, like ''Kill, kill, kill, we're coming to kill the mayor,'' and joked about pubic hair and sex toys during marches. People at the Drag March regularly sing ''God is a lesbian.''

''It's all just words,'' Griffin said. ''It's all presented to fulfill their worst stereotypes of us.''

The ''coming for your children'' chant has been used for years at Pride events, according to longtime march attendees and gay rights activists, who said it's one of many provocative expressions used to regain control of slurs against LGBTQ people. And in this case, they said, right-wing activists are jumping on a single video to weaponize an out-of-context remark to further stigmatize the queer community.

Conservative politicians and pundits have increasingly referred to advocates for LGBTQ rights as ''groomers,'' associating people who oppose laws that restrict drag performances or classroom discussions of gender identity with pedophiles. The charge is an echo of a decades-old trope anti-gay activists have used to paint the community as a threat to the country's youths, an allegation that some advocates say endangers LGBTQ people. And the intense reaction to the video has scared some attendees, who insist the quip has been taken out of context.

''It's really scary to us,'' said Fussy Lo Mein, a drag performer and activist who was at this year's march and declined to give their real name because of safety concerns. ''It doesn't represent everybody '-- it represents that individual. I thought it was a dumb idea, and I started chanting on top of it with alternate verses.''

The video elicited outrage from right-wing pundits, who called the marchers ''demonic'' and ''evil.'' GOP members of Congress tweeted that it showed legislation to outlaw gender-affirming care is warranted, and the Florida Republican Party claimed, ''This is what the @FlaDems want in Florida.''

An organizer for this year's Drag March known as Hucklefaery Ken, who also performs in drag as Sister-Lotti Da, declined an interview request, similarly citing fears for his safety in light of the backlash over the video clip. But he said in an email that the ''coming for your children'' chant was a ''bad joke that is being used to serve the interests of parasitic, predatory political propaganda and policy.''

''We won't tolerate harm towards any child and advocate for the protection and encouragement of every child to be able to live their true, authentic lives free from fear and persecution,'' Hucklefaery Ken said.

The NYC Drag March, which starts in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan and ends at the Stonewall Inn in the West Village, is a smaller and more provocative demonstration that is separate from the larger, televised NYC Pride Parade that took place Sunday.

Griffin, an activist who performs as Harmonie Moore, organized the first NYC Drag March in 1994 in response to organizers of the Stonewall 25 demonstration, who asked people not to show up in drag or leather to make their event more palatable to certain communities. The Drag March is intended to push against the notion that the LGBTQ community needs to assimilate into heterosexual standards and is less serious than other Pride events.

''It's fun. It's about performance,'' Griffin said.

A leaderless group of activists with the Radical Faeries, a loose-knit LGBTQ collective, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a charity and protest group, have helped organize the march in more recent years, according to HuffPost. There are no sponsorships by companies at the Drag March.

''We're here, we're queer, we're not going shopping'' is a chant that has long been used by LGBTQ activists. At a 1990 march organized by ACT-UP, a group that demanded more government resources to address the AIDS crisis, protesters chanted it as they walked around a downtown San Francisco shopping mall. The chant was also used by AIDS activists in Chicago demonstrations in the 1990s.

According to multiple Drag March regulars, the ''coming for your children'' variation has been used before. Last year, Gothamist reported, people at the Drag March chanted, ''Ten percent is not enough: Groom! Groom! Groom!''

Karla Jay, the first female chair of New York's Gay Liberation Front and a professor emerita at Pace University, said it's a strategy to ''take the sting out'' of accusations lobbied against the LGBTQ community.

''I grew up in the time where it was considered really bad to be called 'gay' or 'lesbian' or anything like that, and what we did is we reclaimed words,'' she said. ''Think of the Dyke March '-- these were words that could not be printed.''

Chants at Pride marches, Jay said, are usually meant more for the compatriots in the crowd, not for people watching later on video.

''The person who said this in a march isn't the person who came up with this idea '-- the person in the march is saying, 'Go ahead, call me this; why do I care?''' she continued. ''The person is trying to destigmatize this and claim their own power. You can't blame the victims here, and that's what the right wing is doing.''

Photos of this year's march show on social media people with signs reading ''Groom Cisies'' and ''Trans, Your greatest fear, your biggest fantasy.''

''These are the words that they've used all our lives to manipulate and control us,'' Griffin said, ''and we can now own them and see them for the falsehoods that they are.''

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Archived Version

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 13:43

Democrats are being exposed for their connections to the Chinese Communist Party, as a post from June 25 shows, calling Democrat John Kerry out for his massive investments in Chinese energy, which sounds a whole lot like what we hear about the Biden Crime Family lately and what we know about the families of the Clintons and the Peosi's.

But it is not just Democrats who betrayed the American people in these ways by giving access to foreign groups. And the money was not just being made on energy.

''The flow of capital and profit was going towards weapons and making people nervous, (in 2018). There were investigations into how the CCP used Wall Street, which were shut down. Three investigations were happening in parallel at the same time, and Mike Turner shut those down. Sequoia never had to answer the iniquiry from the committee, and then Sequoia became Kevin McCarthy's top donor,'' Brian Costello told Steve Bannon, host of the War Room, on Wednesday.

Bannon, who says that America has become a tributary state for the CCP because of the greed of too many American politicians, talked about that 2018 era committee and recalled that US Rep. Devin Nunes was head of the House Inteli public select committee on China at the time. He deputized two people to investigate the CCP actions, and that the FEC, DOJ, and FBI all looked away.

and nothing ever came from any of it.

US Rep Mike Turner (R-OH) had joined the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 2015 and was appointed Chairman on January 23, 2023.

''They actually stopped going to the government and started going to Wall Street because they know that the the people running the country are the ones who are stuffing the politician's pockets,'' Costello, who identified Bannon that he was the source for that intelligence committee investigation into Sequoia in 2018, because he knew who was taking the money.

Costello says he warned McCarthy not to take funds from Sequoia and that it was an ''Open Secret'' in DC about who was funding him, even in the Speaker race.

The discussion between Bannon and Costello was in reaction to an explosive Wednesday Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article about a CCP-linked Venture Capital Fund called Sequoia, which is getting mainstream interest this week because it threatens to reveal who in the US and India was profiting along with them.

Costello is pulling no punches on the topic of the CCP's actions. He exposed a lot of government corruption to Bannon's War Room audience. Costello does appear to have a firm grasp on the financial dealings of many people.

For example- Costello called out another firm. Two of the top funders are Sequoia Capital vs. Hillhouse: which the media calls ''China's Fiercest Investor Rivalry''.

Costello pointed out that American politicians are involved with both groups and slammed Kerry for his conflict of interest, as Kerry was trying to entice Americans to invest in foreign energy companies for Hillhouse- but remember, it is not just Kerry he is ripping:

So say's the Climate Czar, with a $1m stake in Hillhouse, China, who makes alternative energy investments. Gross conflict. What's the ROI on your private equity investment (Hillhouse) undermining US energy to favor China @JohnKerry. Do you expect $20, $30, or $50 million back? https://t.co/jh8UqU1Bok

'-- Brian Costello (@bpcostello) June 25, 2023Costello also has much more to say about who was involved with Sequoia and named people who are acting weird- this week- in public as they tried to denounce President Donald J. Trump.

Paul Ryan (R-WI) and embattled Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) both publicly commented about their negative feelings about Trump's chances for the Presidency in 2024 and then tried to backtrack on what they said.

The denunciation appeared to be a show of obedience to foreign money sources who want Trump to lose.

And that makes sense because the CCP loves their denunciation rallies- or their struggle sessions.

In other words, it appears the American public is seeing the ouster of Republicans secretly married to the CCP and Chinese investment groups. They are the Republicans who are going to say they do not like Trump after pretending to support him in the past.

On Wednesday, Ryan, the former speaker of the house, appeared on the show- Squak Box- to slam Trump and marginalize Trump's supporters:

And McCarthy did the same thing. Just The News reported about McCarthy's comments to the same Squawk Box on Tuesday, as he appeared to dis Trump:

''House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has run afoul of Donald Trump and his allies after seeming to cast doubt on the former president's status as the strongest Republican candidate to challenge President Joe Biden.''

During a CNBC appearance this week, McCarthy suggested Trump could indeed beat Biden but said that other candidates could also challenge him while also acknowledging Biden might win.

''The question is, is he the strongest to win the election? I don't know that answer,'' he said. ''Yeah, anybody can beat Biden. Can Biden beat other people? Yes, Biden can beat them.''

The California Republican's non-committal word salad drew immediate backlash from Trump's allies, prompting the speaker to quickly pivot and run a fundraising email asserting that ''Trump is the STRONGEST opponent to Biden!'' Politico reported.

In attempting to return his comments, however, McCarthy may have dug into a deeper hole with the former president. He crucially neglected to secure Trump's permission before running the fundraiser, prompting the Trump camp to demand he takes it down.

McCarthy has not endorsed Trump in the 2024 Republican primary, which has generated considerable speculation about the future of the pair's political relationship. Trump, for his part, backed McCarthy to help him claim the speaker's gavel during a tense leadership struggle earlier this year.

McCarthy is already in hot water over his leadership of the US House over the budget, as he appeared to bend backward to assist Biden in screwing over Americans.

McCarthy drew the ire of War Room host Steve Bannon who slammed McCarthy and said that DC is like pigs in a feeding pin in an epic rant about the motivations of the DC elite:

These denunciation rallies of Trump and his supporters unfold this week; at the same time, a Wall Street Journal article appears about Sequoia Capital, which seems to expose the ''open secret'' ties between the financial firm and McCarthy and other politicians.

And the nervous and strange behavior by Ran and McCarthy could be happening as the funding group makes some significant changes:

''Sequoia Made a Fortune Investing in the U.S. and China. Then It Had to Pick One.Scrutiny from Washington aggravated tensions within the venture-capital firm, fueling its decision to break up,'' the WSJ headline read. And that almost sounds like a threat to people who do not want their names outed as being connected to the group. That is how how Communists play.

Sequoia is definitely connected to the Chinese Communist Party, according to media reports.

According to the Economist:

Neil Shen has god-like status in the Chinese private equity industry. The lead dealmaker at Sequoia China placed big, early bets on some of the country's most successful technology companies, such as Meituan, a delivery super-app, and Pinduoduo, an e-commerce giant. Now Mr Shen's investment firm plans to go alone, dropping the Sequoia name and eventually severing all connections with its Silicon Valley parent.

On June 6th, Sequoia Capital, a 51-year-old stalwart of the venture-capital industry, announced it would split into separate American, Chinese, and Indian businesses. Sequoia China has operated with a high degree of autonomy for a while, with Mr. Shen calling most of the shots. So has Sequoia's Indian and South-East Asian business, led by Shailendra Singh.

By March 2024, the entities will no longer share investors or returns, as they have done for years. The Chinese branch will be known as HongShan, the Mandarin word for redwood. Sequoia says the split is part of a ''local-first'' approach designed for a world where it has become ''increasingly complex to run a decentralised global investment business.''

So who was getting these shared returns before now?

Here is the connection, according to Costello, who earlier slammed Kerry for making money on foreign companies- and who named McCarthy and then Mike Turner:

Costello sounded off about the same Sequoia Caitial situation that the WSJ wrote about and brought in Turner and hinted at a cover-up that would hide who else in DC is getting paid off by the CCP through something called the ''Chinese Victory Fund.''

He dropped more names of Democrats who were aligned with covering up Sequoia's activity '' and added that they were also the same people who were behind numerous schemes to get Trump out of the White House:

Notice a pattern? President Biden, Deputy AG Lisa Monaco, NSC Advisor Jake Sullivan, and SEC Chair Gary Gensler: all linked to Russia Hoax, Trump Attacks, Sequoia China Cover-up. Interesting how they've all held positions that would know about Biden corruption.ðŸ¤-- Only thing'... pic.twitter.com/NU4JX4OhuO

'-- Brian Costello (@bpcostello) June 28, 2023During an appearance on Wednesday, Costello dropped enough bombastic information about the situation that Bannon suggested that Costello get ''bodyguards'' for protection.

Watch here as the two talks about Sequoia China and a cover-up:

New information today on the Sequoia China cover-up. The SEC, Sequoia/TikTok, NSC and Jake Sullivan. What's the GOP house doing? https://t.co/12mh5sBorM

'-- Brian Costello (@bpcostello) June 29, 2023Here is what is out there about the CCP-linked firm:

No U.S. venture capital firm has produced more investment gains from China or navigated Beijing's difficult political landscape better than Sequoia Capital. But as tensions rise between the two countries and the U.S. increasingly restricts cross-border investments, Sequoia Capital's close ties to the Chinese government may become a liability, according to The Information.com, who added that Sequoia Capital China had influence with Beijing, because the firm employed Wang Xisha, who is the daughter of Wang Yang.

Yang is one of seven members of the Communist Party's powerful Politburo Standing Committee and is believed to be a future premier of the country.

So China has their own Father-Child 'pay for play' scheme like the Bidens do in the US.

In early June, just as the US was getting bombarded with facts about Biden's bribes from the CCP, financial news outlets, like pionline.com, reported that the venture capital firm was facing some major changes:

Sequoia Capital is splitting its investment business into three parts, including a stand-alone China unit, amid the complexities associated with running ''a decentralized global investment business.''

The venture capital firm said in a news release posted Tuesday on Twitter that it will ''fully embrace our local-first approach,'' and will move to ''completely independent partnerships'' in China, India, and the U.S. and Europe by March 31, 2024. Each will have a distinct brand.

That is a very interesting announcement for Globalists. Something is definitely happening with this story. Stay tuned for more.

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Archived Version

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 13:10

As a preteen and teen, when you asked for something ill-advised because everyone else was doing it, you likely heard a parent admonish, ''What if all of your friends were jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge? Would you do it too?''

It's wise and timeless counsel about protecting yourself from peer pressure and staying out of trouble.

But it seems a number of activists today never heeded that warning.

It's these adults, now fancying themselves experts in gender medicine and mental health, who are wreaking havoc on an entire generation, encouraging them to follow their feelings, and follow the crowd, even when they're at risk of permanent and irreparable harm by doing so.

According to a new study about youth gender dysphoria, there are more teens than ever claiming that their biological sex does not meet their ''gender identity'' and that they are coming to this conclusion earlier and earlier.

A new study found that the average age of people diagnosed with gender dysphoria dropped from 31.49 in 2017 to 26.27 in 2021. Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty ImagesThe study author, Dr. Ching-Fang Sun, is a resident at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke, and her results, published Monday in the journal General Psychiatry, are shocking:

Studying the health records of 42 million people between the ages of 4 to 65, a total of 66,078 had received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.A recent study found that girls are seeking help for gender dysphoria at younger ages than boys. AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File 80% of those were from the US.People assigned female at birth seek professional help at about age 11 on average (!), while those assigned male at birth seek help at about age 13, the study reported.In 2017, the average age for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria was 31.49. By 2021, that age had dropped to 26.27.Researchers reported a ''significantly increased'' number of people diagnosed between 2017 and 2021.Well why do you suppose that is? Could it be that this is a fad, driven by social media, that tells young people '-- particularly girls '-- that transgenderism is cool, far more common that it really is, and changing your gender is a snap?

''Our study demonstrated a climbing prevalence of gender dysphoria especially in those assigned female at birth,'' Sun told UPI.

''Assigned female at birth.'' We used to call them girls.

Unfortunately, researchers spend more time discussing how we can help young people ''affirm'' their gender '-- through surgery and drugs '-- than whether these children will regret these decisions.

For instance, the Virginia Tech researchers suggest we're seeing more girls than boys looking to change gender because young females who display tendencies traditionally seen as masculine are ''more likely to be accepted by peers, even categorized as the leader of their class.''

''By comparison, gender non-congruent [males] are more likely to face bullying and rejection, which suggests effeminate characteristics are less tolerable in [males] than masculine characteristics'' are in females.

So do more girls want to change because it's more socially acceptable, or because they're conflating how society treats them with gender dysphoria?

Advocates argue that we're seeing more transgender people because a social stigma has lifted.

Kayla Lovdahl is suing Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and four individual doctors after she was allegedly prescribed puberty blockers and testosterone at age 12 and given a double mastectomy at age 13. Courtesy of Kayla LovdahlBut how many confused teens or pre-teens who are gay or simply depressed now get caught up in the transgender marketing that blankets discussion boards and even beer commercials.

It's telling that the Virginia Tech study estimated that for every 100,000 people, there are 155 who identify as transgender '-- with is much, much lower than the 600 out of 100,000 reported in a 2019 study.

I would posit that it's even lower than that. There are people who legitimately deal with gender dysphoria, but the ''sharp rise'' in the past few years has more to do a societal fad rather than finding a vast group that was misdiagnosed in the past.

And the main reason is that we're relying on the feelings of children, who are not fully mature nor able to rationally decide what they are.

The rest of the world is waking up to the dangers of lifelong medicalization of patients with ''treatments'' like surgery or hormones that inflicts irreversible damage to preteens and teens.

In England, Tavistock, the world's largest pediatric gender clinic, was closed in the spring. The Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) explained, ''An independent review condemned the clinic as 'not a safe or viable long-term option' because its interventions are based on poor evidence and its model of care leaves young people 'at considerable risk' of poor mental health.''

Lovdahl claimed the treatment caused ''deep physical and emotional wounds and severe regret.'' @ChloeCole/YouTubeThe UK isn't alone in reversing course on pediatric gender care; Sweden and Finland are also revisiting the gender affirmation treatment plan for gender dysphoric youth.

Bu the US, we're left with so-called experts who lack the critical thinking skills necessary to discern that the uptick is fueled by what is clearly a social contagion.

Individual cases like that of Kayla Lovdahl highlight the risks of early gender-affirming care.

By age 12, Lovdahl was allegedly prescribed puberty blockers and testosterone, and at 13, she had her breasts removed in a double mastectomy.

She is now suing Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and four individual doctors, seeking unspecified damages for causing ''deep physical and emotional wounds and severe regret.''

From those in academia to mental health practitioners on the ground, there is a strong disincentive from questioning if this massive spike in ''transgender youth'' is due to peer influences and social media.

Radical activists have positioned themselves as the ultimate authorities on pediatric gender dysphoria and have ensured that anything less than affirmation is portrayed as malpractice and fueled by hate.

In March, these activists were able to force a retraction on technical grounds of a paper on gender dysphoria by one of the world's largest academic publishers, Springer Nature, which publishes Nature magazine and Scientific American.

The paper found a large number of parents of gender dysphoric children said that their children suffered from long standing preexisting mental health issues.

The study also reported a large number of parents surveyed thought their children's gender dysphoria resulted from social contagion.

The ''gender affirming care'' that dysphoric youth are being subjected to is cruelly marketed as compassion.

The so-called experts scare their parents, and claim that a refusal to accept and embrace their child's dysphoria will lead to suicide.

As a result, there is no adult in the room, not in their personal lives or in healthcare policy, telling a growing number of kids that medicalizing their gender dysphoria is akin to waltzing off the Brooklyn Bridge.

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Archived Version

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 12:54

''True allies do not profit from anti-LGBTQ hate.''View the press release here. June 27, 2023

To: Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Platforms, Inc. Neal Mohan, YouTube/Alphabet Inc. Shou Zi Chew, TikTok/ ByteDance Ltd. Linda Yaccarino and Elon Musk, Twitter, Inc./X Corp

As celebrities, influencers, and prominent public figures with significant followings on social media, we the undersigned are calling on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter to fulfill the promises you've made to transgender, nonbinary, gender non-conforming and all LGBTQ users in your terms of service. There has been a massive systemic failure to prohibit hate, harassment, and malicious anti-LGBTQ disinformation on your platforms and it must be addressed.

Dangerous posts (both content and ads) created and circulated by high-follower anti-LGBTQ hate accounts targeting transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people are thriving across your platforms, directly resulting in terrifying real-life1 harm2 including bomb threats3 targeting children's hospitals that offer healthcare for trans youth, and death threats4 targeting care providers.5 Such false and hate-driven widely circulated content on your platforms is even being cited by lawmakers advancing discriminatory legislation against trans people.6 Targeted misgendering and deadnaming of trans and nonbinary people is a widespread mode of hate speech7 across all platforms, utilized to bully and harass prominent public figures while simultaneously expressing hatred and contempt for trans and non-binary people in general.8

This disinformation and hate, inadequately moderated on your platforms, plays an outsized role in the sharp increase in real-world anti-transgender targeting and violence.9 As documented by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in 2022,10 this is particularly the case when it comes to the online extremists leading proactive coordinated campaigns of hate and lies about gender affirming healthcare for trans youth.11 Despite the fact that every leading medical and psychological association affirms the safety and necessity of gender affirming healthcare for trans people, including youth, inflammatory disinformation falsely asserting that this healthcare is dangerous is allowed to fester on your platforms because it drives clicks and profit. Trans youth and their families and care providers are being endangered by your negligence, causing many families to flee their homes.12

Your policies and corresponding enforcement are inadequate when it comes to mitigating harmful and dangerous anti-LGBTQ content. You must urgently take action to protect trans and LGBTQ users on your platforms (including protecting us from over -enforcement and censorship).

We call for you to meet with community leaders and creators to hear about these real world harms that result from anti-trans content on your platforms '-- and to create and share plans for how you will address:

Content that spreads malicious lies and disinformation about medically necessary healthcare for transgender youth. As described above, such harmful content from high-follower hate-based accounts has resulted in extraordinary real-world harms.13 Specific mitigations on such disinformation must be developed (for instance akin to election and COVID-19 mitigations and rules). Accounts and postings that perpetuate anti-LGBTQ extremist hate14 and disinformation,15 in violation of platform policies, and which target trans and LGBTQ people, including baseless and malicious disinformation of LGBTQ people being threats to children (e.g. the anti-LGBTQ ''groomer'' conspiracy theory16 ). Such harmful and dangerous lies must be more effectively moderated and mitigated. Dehumanizing, hateful attacks on prominent transgender public figures and influencers. Online attacks against LGBTQ organizations and individuals are on the rise.17 A recent report from GLAAD, UltraViolet, Kairos, and the Women's March shows that 60% of LGBTQ people feel harmed not only from direct harassment and hate, but from witnessing harassment against other LGBTQ community members such as celebrities and public figures.18 Directing hate against LGBTQ public figures is a common vehicle for expressing general anti-LGBTQ bigotry. When your companies maintain policy loopholes that allow such hate, this perpetuates harm against entire communities. Anti-transgender hate speech, including targeted misgendering, deadnaming, and hate-driven tropes.19 For example, Media Matters, GLAAD and others have identified multiple YouTube videos '-- which have accumulated millions of views '-- that bully, harass, and misgender trans people. In each video, prominent anti-trans pundits use YouTube to demean, target, and misgender young people, their parents, and public figures20 in videos saturated with blatant anti-trans rhetoric. These videos remain active despite these violations having been reported by Media Matters, GLAAD, and other organizations to YouTube. We know that leading national organizations, including GLAAD, HRC, Media Matters for America, PFLAG, The Trevor Project, ADL, and others, share research and guidance with your companies and escalate violative content. And yet your mitigations remain woefully inadequate. The very content you profit from is in violation of your own terms of service, which assert that you do not allow hate speech.21

True allies do not profit from anti-LGBTQ hate.

We speak together with one voice to demand that your companies create and enforce stronger content and ad policies to directly confront the content that is causing online and offline harm to transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people.

Sincerely,

Abby WambachAdam EliAitch AlbertoAJ ShivelyAlan CummingAlejandra CaraballoAlejandra GhersiAlex ClarkAlexandra GutierrezAlisa RamirezAllie LeonardAllison GoldfrappALOK Vaid-MenonAlyssa May GoldAlyssa MilanoAmber RuffinAmber TamblynAmy SchumerAmy LandeckerAndrew PolkAngelica RossAnnaleigh AshfordAntoni PorowskiAparna BrielleArden MyrinAriana GrandeArisce WanzerAvan JogiaBarbie FerreiraBebe RexhaBella RamseyBen BarnesBenito SkinnerBenj PasekBethany CosentinoBethany LeavelBilly EichnerBilly PorterBob the Drag QueenBobby BerkBonnie MilliganBrad OscarBradley WhitfordBrandon MatthewsBrendan HinesBretman RockBrian SmithBrigette Lundy-PaineBrittany TomlinsonBusy PhilippsCaesar SamoyaCamila CabelloCamille A BrownCara DelevingneChani NicholasChella ManChelsea HandlerCheyenne JacksonChris PerfettiChrista MillerCleo WadeColton HaynesCorey JantzenCynthia ErivoCynthia McWilliamsCynthia NixonCyrus VeyssiD'Arcy CardenDakota FanningDan LevyDarren CrissDavid ShatrawDavid OultonDebra MessingDeepica MutyalaDemi LovatoDes McAnuffDevery JacobsDiana Maria RivaDiane GuerreroDylan MulvaneyEd DrosteEddie NdopuEJ MarcusElegance BrattonEliot RahalElle FanningElliot PageEmily HampshireEmily V. GordonEmma HuntonErin ReedEstefania PessoaFLETCHERFreddy ThomasGabrielle Union-WadeGigi GorgeousGlennon DoyleGottmikGrace KuhlenschmidtGriffin DunneHaley Baldwin BieberHannah GadsbyHarry LambertHayley KiyokoHilary MontezIlana GlazerIndya MooreIsaac MizrahiJackie BazanJacob TierneyJai RodriguezJameela JamilJames BlakeJames ScullyJaymes VaughanJamie Lee CurtisJanaya KhanJanelle MoneJanet HubertJazz JenningsJenna LyonsJennifer KerrJeremy FallJessica BettsJillian MercadoJinkx MonsoonJoe DiPietroJonathan Van NessJonathan BennettJonny PierceJordan StenmarkJordan FirstmanJordan RothJP SaxeJudd ApatowJustin BaldoniJustin TranterKal PennKamar de los ReyesKaramo BrownKate ReindersKatherine LaNasaKathryn GrodyKellie OverbeyKelly DevineKendrick SampsonKevin HarringtonKevin CahoonKi GriffinKimber Elayne SprawlKimberly DrewKristin ChenowethLachlan WatsonLaith De La CruzLaura TerrusoLauren JaureguiLaverne CoxLena DunhamLena WaitheLena HallLilly SinghLily RabeLiv HewsonLiza KoshyLola TungLorin LatarroLovell Adams-GrayLucky BromheadMae MartinMae WhitmanMaggie BoccellaMaitreyi RamakrishnanMandy PatinkinMarc JacobsMarc KudischMarieme DiopMartha PlimptonMatt BernsteinMatt McGorryMatt WaltonMedalion RahimiMeena HarrisMegan CrabbeMichael D. CohenMichaela Ja(C) RodriguezMichelle ButeauMidori FrancisMiriam SilvermanMoj MahdaraMona ChalabiMontego GloverMunroe BergdorfNate WonderNats GettyNeila KarassikNicholas FerroniNico CarneyNico SantosNico TortorellaNicole MainesNiecy Nash-BettsNik DodaniOcean VuongOlly AlexanderOur Lady JPadma LakshmiPatrick StewartPatti LuPonePeppermintPhillip PicardiPhoebe RobinsonPoorna JagannathanRachel CargleRafael SilvaRamy YoussefRandy ShulmanRaquel WillisRicha MoorjaniRob HolyszRobert HornRory DahlRosario DawsonRupi KaurSam SmithSander JenningsSandy RustinSara BareillesSara RamirezSarah RamosSasha VelourScott Turner SchofieldShawn MendesShea Coule(C)Shea DiamondSherri SaumSinead BurkeSolomon HughesStephen KunkenSusie ParkT. Oliver ReidTaika WaititiTan FranceTatiana MaslanyTess HollidayTiffany NamtuTommy DorfmanTracee Ellis RossTravis AlabanzaTunde AdebimpeVivek ShrayaWanda SykesWarren CarlyleWayne CilentoWilson CruzYves Mathieu EastZo ChaoZooey Deschanel

_____

[1] 'Frightening' online transphobia has real-life consequences, advocates say

[2] Doxxed Doctors, Library Bomb Threats, and Attacks on Pride Centers: A Week in Escalating Anti-LGBTQ Violence | The New Republic

[3] FBI charges Massachusetts woman with Boston Children's Hospital bomb threat

[4] Far-Right Extremists Are Threatening to 'Execute' Doctors at a Children's Hospital

[5] The Far Right Is Calling for the Execution of Teachers and Doctors

[6] Colorado Springs: Far-Right Influencers Made LGBTQ People Into Targets | Southern Poverty Law Center

[7] The Relentless Misgendering of Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania Health Secretary, Is Violence

[8] Understanding Targeted Misgendering and Deadnaming as Hate Speech

[9] Colorado Springs Shooting Follows Rise in Anti-LGBTQ Violence '' Bloomberg

[10] Online Harassment, Offline Violence '' Human Rights Campaign Foundation

[11] Everyone deserves quality medical care delivered without bias

[12] Young Texas transgender activist leaving state because it's 'not safe for trans kids' | kvue.com

[13] Report details online harassment of trans health care providers

[14] Progressive Texas Activist Exposes Terrifying Right-Wing TikTok Videos

[15] DIGITAL HATE

[16] Transphobic Influencers Are Driving a Violent Groomer Conspiracy | Decade of Hate

[17] New Research: Hateful and Abusive Speech Towards LGBTQ+ Community Surging on Twitter Under Elon Musk

[18] From URL to IRL: The Impact of social Media on People of Color, Women, and LGBTQ+ Communities '' We Are UltraViolet

[19] Will it take another death to stop the spread of anti-trans hate online

[20] Zaya Wade female transformation Hodgetwins react; Kid Rock's Incredible Response to Bud Light; LOL: Trans DUDE Breaks Women's JEOPARDY Record

[21] Facebook is making millions off Matt Walsh's transphobic documentary

Link to Article

Archived Version

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 21:54

Netherlands programs have euthanized otherwise healthy individuals with autism and intellectual handicaps in recent years, researchers have found.

Five individuals under the age of 30, who cited autism as a factor in their decision to seek legal euthanasia, are among the cases reviewed by specialists at the U.K.'s Kingston University.

"Factors directly associated with intellectual disability and/or ASD were the sole cause of suffering described in 21% of cases and a major contributing factor in a further 42% of cases," Kingston University's report on the issue found.

NETHERLANDS EXPANDS EUTHANASIA LAWS TO INCLUDE TERMINALLY ILL CHILDREN AS YOUNG AS 1 YEAR OLD

Protesters pray outside Dutch government buildings in The Hague, Netherlands, as the Upper House of Parliament began debating registration that will legalize euthanasia under strict guidelines. The slogan on the table reads, "Human considers, God decides." (AP Photo/Serge Ligtenberg)

The study noted that in many cases, doctors determined there was "no prospect of improvement" for intellectually challenged individuals because there is no treatment for their handicap.

"Reasons for the EAS [euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide] request included social isolation and loneliness (77%), lack of resilience or coping strategies (56%), lack of flexibility (rigid thinking or difficulty adapting to change) (44%) and oversensitivity to stimuli (26%). In one-third of cases, physicians noted there was 'no prospect of improvement' as ASD and intellectual disability are not treatable," the study reads.

CANADIAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS SPEAK OUT AS COUNTRY SET TO ALLOW EUTHANASIA FOR MENTAL ILLNESS

The Parliament building in The Hague, Netherlands. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

Palliative care specialist Irene Tuffrey-Wijne '-- one of the lead authors of the Kingston University report '-- found Dutch doctors were legally killing patients who sought their own euthanasia because their intellectual disability or mental condition prevented them from leading a normal life, according to The Associated Press.

One record includes the case of a Dutch woman in her 30s with autism and borderline personality disorder. Doctors determined her afflictions prevented her from maintaining relationships and made forming connections with others "too difficult."

TOP MASSACHUSETTS COURT RULES AGAINST OVERTURNING LAW PROHIBITING PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE

Dutch designer Alexander Bannink, right, explains how the "Sarco" euthanasia pod works as a woman experiences sitting in the device by wearing virtual reality glasses at the Amsterdam Funeral Expo. (JAN HENNOP/AFP via Getty Images)

"There's no doubt in my mind these people were suffering," Tuffrey-Wijne said. "But is society really OK with sending this message, that there's no other way to help them, and it's just better to be dead?"

Dutch psychologist Dr. Bram Sizoo expressed horror at the trend of autistic youths seeking assisted suicide and euthanasia's expanding acceptance.

A photo shows a view of the plenary room during the first session of questions after the summer recess in the temporary Parliament building in The Hague, Netherlands. (BART MAAT/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

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"Some of them are almost excited at the prospect of death," Sizoo said. "They think this will be the end of their problems and the end of their family's problems."

The Royal Dutch Medical Association has left the decision of who qualifies for assisted suicide up to medical professionals with few hard guidelines or rules.

Timothy Nerozzi is a writer for Fox News Digital. You can follow him on Twitter @timothynerozzi and can email him at timothy.nerozzi@fox.com

Link to Article

Archived Version

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 18:45

This is Hot Pod, The Verge's newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.

Hope everyone is gearing up for the dog days of summer. Today's issue includes a Q&A I did with Chris Morrow, the newly hired head of audio at Plan B '-- the production company founded by Brad Pitt that has produced films like Women Talking, Blonde, The Big Short, and many others.

The now over 20-year-old Hollywood production powerhouse has undergone a few recent changes. Last year, Pitt sold 60 percent of Plan B to French media conglomerate Mediawan in a deal that is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions. The acquisition is a part of Mediawan's strategy to expand to English-speaking markets and acquire more IP, of which audio is expected to play a role. Pitt is still involved in Plan B's leadership, and Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner have continued as co-presidents of the production company.

In January, Plan B and Audible announced a multi-project development deal, where the former will create a series of Audible Originals. Morrow has worked in the audio industry for many years '-- he's been an editor on a number of Gimlet Media shows, as well as the co-creator of its scripted series Mogul. Morrow shared with Hot Pod some insights on Hollywood's evolving relationship with the audio world and what to expect from Plan B's audio division in the months to follow.

Also in today's issue: I cover some news about SiriusXM's plans to sunset Stitcher and New York Public Radio's struggles to cut costs.

Plan B thinks there's still potential for audio in Hollywood

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Can you talk a little bit about what prompted Plan B to invest in the audio space?

So, as you know, Plan B has entered into a really strong partnership with Audible. It's an exclusive multi-product development deal to make Audible Originals. I think this coincided with Plan B's acquisition by Mediawan. The goal was to expand the scope of what Plan B produces and to take that unique, kind of risky, out-of-the-box storytelling that you've seen them do in the film space for a lot of years and start to explore how to make similar things in audio.

As far as ''risky, out-of-the-box'' storytelling in audio fiction, what does the current space look like? What potential is there for the medium to evolve?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, one of the things that's really exciting about Plan B is that a lot of people in this space are very focused on specific genres. My marching orders from the beginning have been to go out, find projects I'm passionate about, and just make them. I think as a content creator and a person who's kind of ushering projects into this space, that's the best thing you can hear.

What seems to really move the needle at Plan B is passion around projects '-- as opposed to let's go out and find rom coms or let's go out and find a thriller or a true crime podcast. I think they're open to all those possibilities, but what's been their hallmark over the years is just really finding ways to support creators who have a particular vision and feel strongly about it. And even if it's a little out of the box or seems a little different from what's popular at the moment, they've shown that these projects, in the end, can be incredibly successful and impactful.

Can you shed more light on what kind of projects and stories you're planning on taking on? Will it be restricted to just audio dramas or scripted fiction podcasts? Is there interest in investing in other kinds of podcasts?

I think there's going to be a lot of movement in the near future. The first project is going to be a fiction project called A Summer Love Thing by a really amazing cinematographer named Bradford Young, who worked on Selma and When They See Us and a lot of other stuff.

I think it'll have a really unique approach in terms of the format and the storytelling, and I think it'll fall very much in line with some of the other types of projects '-- maybe not in terms of subject matter, but at least in terms of approach and format that you've seen for Plan B.

We've seen podcasts and audiobooks become a popular source of material or IP for Hollywood over the past several years. Since Plan B is a production company, how '-- or even does it '-- plan on playing a part in the kind of the audio-to-TV or audio-to-film pipeline?

Well, I think you just nailed it. The goal is to acquire a lot of really strong and innovative IP and find ways to use audio to help launch IP, and then ultimately find new life for it as scripted features or scripted documentaries. Plan B's goal is to expand in all these areas over the coming years.

I think Plan B sees this as a very fundamental part of what the business and the strategy is going to look like moving forward '-- which was very exciting for me to hear when we were initially talking about working together.

The writers strike has put much of the production work in this town on hold. How has it impacted your work? Is there more interest in audio now, given the strike?

I mean, obviously, the strike has affected the overall industry tremendously. Plan B as a company is respectful of that and supporting the whole process with that. For me, as head of audio, it hasn't had quite the same impact. My focus, coming out of the gate, hasn't been on TV or movies. Really, what I'm looking to do right now is kind of take advantage of the fact that there are a lot of super-talented audio people that are available right now and trying to find ways to build projects and collaborate with them.

I think one of the '-- and I wouldn't call this a mistake '-- but I think sometimes Hollywood doesn't understand just how specific of a genre that audio is. I wouldn't say that Hollywood thinks audio is easy to do, but it does think that if you've had success in other formats that you can easily plug in audio. As someone who's been a creator in the space and has worn different hats, I really understand that there's a unique skill set that [audio professionals] have developed.

It's been a rough year for the audio industry. We've seen several layoffs in the industry, ranging from companies like Spotify to major news publishers and other companies that invested heavily in audio during the pandemic. What are your thoughts about Plan B getting into audio during a time when many companies are moving away from it?

Well, I think it's a bold move. In talking with Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner, who run Plan B, they see there's a ton of opportunity [in audio] right now. They see this as a moment where you can make a lot of projects that people are shying away from. You can acquire IP that otherwise might not be available.

I don't want to be lighthearted about it because I know, on a very personal level, this downturn has impacted a lot of talented people who have lost their jobs or seen their work slow down. But I think that Plan B, because of the Mediawan acquisition, is in a really special place where we can keep going at a moment where a lot of people are pulling back significantly.

SiriusXM is shutting down Stitcher in August to pave the way for new flagship app

SiriusXM is bidding adieu to the podcast app Stitcher on August 29th, with the goal of moving current users over to its much-hyped, updated SXM app '-- which will roll out this fall. The news arrived via an internal memo, which was first reported by Bloomberg and also seen by Hot Pod. SiriusXM acquired the popular podcast app in 2020, along with the podcast network Earwolf and Midroll Media.

While Stitcher's user base is smaller than that of the SXM app '-- it's still nothing to sneeze at. According to app analytics firm data.ai, the Stitcher app has been downloaded approximately 14 million times across both the App Store and Google Play stores, while the SiriusXM app has been downloaded about 55 million times.

''The scale and reach of our widely-distributed podcasts has been and remains a crucial accelerant for our advertising sales business while incorporating podcasts more holistically into our flagship SiriusXM subscription service will help to drive further growth. As a result, we have made the decision to sunset our standalone podcast listening app as we increase our focus on these priorities,'' noted the memo's authors, SiriusXM's chief product and tech officer Joe Inzerillo, its chief ad revenue officer John Trimble, and SiriusXM Radio's chief content officer Scott Greenstein.

The biggest change that devoted Stitcher fans will notice in the SXM app is that there's no way to escape ads '-- Stitcher's premium plan included ad-free podcasts. But even those who pay for the SXM app's $11 per month platinum tier (of which current Stitcher premium members will receive a free six-month trial) will have to listen to ads. SiriusXM isn't the only platform that's gotten rid of ad-free podcast ads. Spotify Premium members can listen to ad-free music but still have to listen to dynamically inserted podcast ads and host-read ads. It seems that during a time when podcasts are struggling to monetize, the added revenue from ads is hard to give up.

SiriusXM also owns the ad tech platform AdsWizz and has a unified ad sales group known as SXM Media that sells ads across Pandora, SiriusXM, and Stitcher. The ad network exclusively for podcast ads, known as the SiriusXM Podcast Network, will serve the new flagship SXM app.

SiriusXM's decision to sunset Stitcher seems like a win-win situation for both parts of the business. As The Hollywood Reporter noted, Stitcher's existing team will remain, and no shows have been canceled. Stitcher's programming will also be exposed to a much larger audience. For SiriusXM, keeping all of its podcast programming on its flagship app means one fewer platform to support '-- and more resources to put behind this upcoming relaunch.

NYPR eliminates senior leadership bonuses and suspends intern program

New York Public Radio has had a rough year, and the public media giant is taking extreme steps to cut costs as it deals with an $8 million deficit for the fiscal year that ends this week. According to an internal NYPR memo shared by Skye Pillsbury, senior leadership at NYPR won't receive bonuses, as is customary at the end of a fiscal year. The company's summer intern class will be its last for the foreseeable future '-- it's suspending its intern program for the time being.

But a few more tough decisions are coming down the pike. NYPR '-- along with its board '-- plans on undergoing a ''financial planning process'' this summer that will no doubt lead to more cost cutting measures in the fall. NYPR, to date, has already frozen hiring, cut down on overtime, suspended work travel, and a number of other steps to cut down on expenses.

Unfortunately, the savings won't be enough for NYPR to weather the storm. ''But to be clear, on their own, they aren't enough to stave off wider implications of the deficit,'' wrote NYPR CEO LaFontaine Oliver in the memo.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 15:58

Repost Due to Current Media Cycle News

The Ring of Truth '' ''I am too well accustomed to the taking of evidence not to detect the ring of truth.'' 1908, Edith Wharton

Much has been made of the events of January 6, 2021, and with the latest broadcast of CCTV video from inside the Capitol Hill complex, more questions have been raised.

Within the questions: the FBI and government apparatus had advanced knowledge of the scale of the J6 mall assembly yet doing nothing? Why were the Capitol Hill police never informed of the FBI concerns? Why didn't House Speaker Nancy Pelosi secure the Capitol Hill complex, and why did she deny the request by President Trump to call up the national guard for security support? Why did the FBI have agent provocateurs in the crowd, seemingly stimulating rage within a peaceful crowd to enter the Capitol building? There have always been these nagging questions around 'why'?

Long time CTH reader ''Regitiger'' has spent a great deal of time reviewing the entire process, looking at the granular timeline and then overlaying the bigger picture of the constitutional and parliamentary process itself. What follows below is a brilliant analysis of the federal government motive to create a J6 crisis that permitted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to trigger an emergency session and avoid the 2020 election certification challenges.

Those congressional floor challenges, known and anticipated well in advance of the morning of January 6, 2021, would have formed a legal and constitutional basis for 'standing' in judicial challenges that would have eventually reached the Supreme Court. The certification during ''emergency session'' eliminated the problem for Washington DC.

Regitiger explains below, only edited by me for clarity and context:

I think most, not all, but a large number of people, are totally missing what happened; and why this happened on Jan 6th. I am going to try my best to outline the events that day, blast past the commonly held assumptions and get right down to the core corruption.

I will present this as a series of questions and answers.

'... Q1: How do you prevent congress from delaying the certification of state electoral votes?

A: It requires a crisis. A crisis that creates an ''emergency'' '...An ''emergency'' that invokes special house rules.

FACTS: Remember carefully, focus please. Just moments, literally 3 minutes before two representatives issued a vote for motions to suspend the certification, the House members were ''informed'' by capitol police and other ''agents'' that a protest was about to breach the chambers. It was at this time that key people: Pence, Pelosi, Schumer, Mcconnell can be seen being walked out and escorted from the chamber. This effectively halted the Entire Chamber Process.

'... Q2: Why was it necessary to halt the chamber process?

A: The crisis was created to eliminate the motion challenges to halt the certification and to begin voting to look into voting irregularities and fraud

FACTS: The two motions were completely legal and constitutional under at least two constitutionally recognized procedures'... procedures that would REQUIRE the house to pause the certification and then vote to determine whether the motions of suspend could move forward.

'... Q3: What was so important to refuse this motion and the subsequent votes to suspend the electoral certification?

A: It was important to remove that process entirely and continue the fraud and certify the fraud with no detractors on record. This effectively gives no standing for a SCOTUS ruling appeal! Understand this. If those two motions, even just one had successfully been voted EVEN IF THE MOTIONS were DENIED IN VOTE, this gives those who presented them with STANDING FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL LEGAL ARGUMENT BEFORE SCOTUS.

'... Q4: Could this have been done some other way other than creating a crisis/protest?

A: Unlikely. In order to prevent those two motions, requires that speaker of the house, minority leaders, and the president of the congress (vice president of the United States: Pence), to NOT BE PRESENT IN THE CHAMBERS.

Once the capitol police and other ''law enforcements agents'' informed the speaker and these three other individuals, Pelosi UNILATERALLY UNDER EMERGENCY RULES, suspended the business of the congress. This protest was necessary. The crisis was created because there is no other way to suspend the business of certification UNILATERALLY. By creating a crisis invokes emergency procedures. No other circumstances other than war or mass simultaneous explosive diarrhea can create such unilateral speaker delivered suspension of the certification.

'... Q5: Why did the motions, once that the speaker RECONVENED congress, move forward back again to the floor for votes? Why were members disallowed to even consider putting forward ANY motions to the floor in when the chamber business was reopened?

A: The Speaker initiated the NEW sessions under special emergency rules. These rules abandon and make it clear that the ONLY purpose of the new session was to EXPEDITE the certification and dismiss all prior regular session procedural rules. This is why those two motions to table votes to consider a debate and pause to the certifications of state vote electors never happened later that evening when the house business was reconvened!

'... Q6: Other than new rules, emergency rules, what other peculiar things occurred when the speaker reconvened?

A: Members were allowed to ''vote'' in proxy, remotely, not being present. You can use your imagination about what conditions were placed on ALL members during this time to prevent anyone from ''getting out of line''.

Also clearly, it was at THIS NEW SESSION that VP Pence, President of Congress, would also have no ability to even consider pausing the electoral certification, because there were no motions of disagreements on the matter. So, in a technical legal claim, he is correct that he had no constitutional authority to address any issues of fraud or doubts about electoral irregularities. But this completely dismisses the FACT that congress created rules in this crisis/emergency that never allowed them to be floored!

Understand what happened in Jan 6, 2021. Don't get hung up on Viking impostors, stolen Pelosi computers, podium heists, and complicit capitol police. Understand the process and what happened and what WAS NOT ALLOWED TO HAPPEN.

This was a coup'....it was a very organized and carefully planned coup. VP Pence without a doubt as well as most members of the house were quite aware of how the certification was going to be MANAGED. It would require new rules to prevent the debate clause from occurring! New rules that ONLY AN EMERGENCY CRISIS COULD CREATE! So, they created an emergency.

'NOTED: I understand why many people have great interest in debunking the j6 event. I get that. I think it is important to dissect and examine the events of that day but please, step back and understand WHY these things happened. Examine the chain of events in congress. Why those two motions that would have at least paused the certification THAT WOULD GIVE VP PENCE THE CONSTITUTIONALLY RECOGNIZED POWER TO MOVE TO SUSPEND THE ELECTORAL CERTIFICATION AND THEN EXAMINE THE IRREGULARITIES AND CLAIMS OF FRAUD!

At the very center of this coup stands Mike Pence, the same individual who also spoiled President Trump's first opportunities in the earlies hours of his Presidency just 4 years prior, when he created and facilitated the removal of Lt General Michael Flynn. I will not spend much time on this thread explaining why Lt Gen Flynn was so important to President Trump and why the IC was so afraid he would have advisory power to the President. That I will leave for another day, another time. But understand this clearly: MIKE PENCE WAS AND IS WORKING FOR THE MOST CORRUPT CRIMINAL TREASONOUS PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT.

'PRO TIP: If you really want to get a true understanding of this matter videos of protesters walking in the capitol is not going to address them. Actual video and timeline records of events and the specific actions taken by the speaker just moments before TWO MAJOR ELECTORAL ALTERING MOTIONS WERE ABOUT TO BE FLOORED.

This crisis was developed just in time with a precise coordination to prevent those two motions to be entered into the chamber record. The two motions do not exist. The emergency powers established in the new session made sure they never could be entered. The emergency powers could never happen without a crisis.

God Bless America!''

[link]

NOTE: ''Under this scenario, the J6 pipe bombs were the insurance policy, in the event the feds couldn't get the crowd to comply with the FBI provocations. If no one stormed the Capitol, the finding of the two pipe bombs would have then been the emergency needed to stop the process.'' Which explains why the FBI has no interest in the DC pipe bomb suspects. ~ Sundance

Note from Author: ''I started this effort years ago. To date, no one and I mean no one has replied. It's as if everyone that can expose it that has a larger platform is either disinterested, or suspiciously withdrawn from the issue. I made several comments about this over the years right here at CTH, on article threads that are relevant to the topic.

I was watching the certification live that day. I recorded it ALL on every channel. I was doing this because no matter what happened that day, I KNEW IT WOULD BE A PROFOUND AND SIGNIFICANT EVENT TO REMEMBER. I never in my wildest imagination (and I have a pretty vivid imagination, always have), expected to see the unmistakable perfectly timed ''coincidences'' that occurred.

One member raises a motion (with another in waiting for his turn) those two motions were well known and advertised. These were motions to vote for a pause in the certification to examine electoral vote fraud and irregularities. I can't speak to the veracity and substance of those motions. They were never allowed to even be floored. it was at that exact moment that the house chambers were suspended and 4 of the key members, Pence, Pelosi, Schumer and McConnell were escorted OUT right after initiating the end of the session.

Effectively, this resulted in that motion never being floored at all. Then, when reconvened under special emergency rules, inexplicably those two motions (and perhaps more '' we will never know '' or will we?) were not even attempted to be motioned. That was not just peculiar to me.

It all started to make more sense when I did some study on constitutional law AND THE HISTORY of specific special authorities given to president of the congress, Pence in this case. Not only did he have the authority and power to suspend the certification, but the duty to address the motion in the same sense that it becomes vital to the debate clause.

There really is no higher significance of weight given to the debate clause than the certification of the votes. This was more than odd to me the way that the media and pence framed their narrative: Pence would not have the constitutional power to suspend certification. Then it hit me, like the obvious clue that was there all the time. He was right. But the reason he is right, is because there WAS NO MOTION ON THE FLOOR TO CAUSE HIM TO SUSPEND!

Understanding this, happened for me about 4 or 5 months after this Jan 6 day. I took me this long to examine the facts, look at the video again, compare it to the arguments made by several leading constitutional academics, and again, inexplicably even some that I respect seemed to dodge that central reality. The motions were never allowed to be floored in the re-convened house rules later that evening. Most would not even venture to address the exotically coincidence that the moment those two members would stand to place the motion before the house, that the House Speaker Pelosi AND Pence ended the session, effectively blocking the motions from being heard in normal house rules.

It's been a journey for me. A journey that was initiated because I am just a simple but curious person. Perhaps even to a point where I get obsessive in those efforts. Many days and nights combing over the details. praying and trying to make sense of what makes little sense. With over 6 states having serious well known and obvious defects in the voting process, some more credible to believe '' some less, but one would not expect the house would be so deliberate in marching past the motions that were definitely going to be present to slow this process down and take the time to get it right. Even IF the claims never reached an intersection that would change the outcome.

There are two possibilities: Millions of people, against all the odds, hitting all-time records even past Obama and Clinton, voted for a naval gazing ambulatory pathological racist moron. And chose Joe Malarkey as their leader. Or this was a coup, a conspiracy, and a treasonous manipulation regime change because President Trump could not be controlled by the deep state and globalists who OWN AND OPERATE WASHINGTON DC.

BOTH POSSIBILITIES ARE TERRIFYING.

The only way for THE PEOPLE to gain power in this country is to force the transfer of it. If truth isn't the fuel and vehicle, we will just be replacing deck chairs and hitting the next series of expected ice bergs.

Knowing the truth is not enough; however, it is truth that makes it a righteous cause.

God Bless America!''

~ Regitiger

Sundance provides an addendum in support:

Julie Kelly '' ['...] Just as the first wave of protesters breached the building shortly after 2 p.m., congressional Republicans were poised to present evidence of rampant voting fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Ten incumbent and four newly-elected Republican senators planned to work with their House colleagues to demand the formation of an audit commission to investigate election ''irregularities'' in the 2020 election. Absent an audit, the group of senators, including Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) pledged to reject the Electoral College results from the disputed states.

The Hail Mary effort was doomed to fail; yet the American people would have heard hours of debate related to provable election fraud over the course of the day.

And no one opposed the effort more than ex-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

During a conference call on December 31, 2020, McConnell urged his Republican Senate colleagues to abandon plans to object to the certification, insisting his vote to certify the 2020 election results would be ''the most consequential I have ever cast'' in his 36-year Senate career.

From the Senate floor on the afternoon of January 6, McConnell gave a dramatic speech warning of the dire consequences to the country should Republicans succeed in delaying the vote. He downplayed examples of voting fraud and even mocked the fact that Trump-appointed judges rejected election lawsuits.

''The voters, the courts, and the States have all spoken,'' McConnell insisted. ''If we overrule them, it would damage our Republic forever. If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral.''

Roughly six hours later, McConnell got his way. Cowed by the crowd of largely peaceful Americans allowed into the building by Capitol police, most Republican senators backed off the audit proposal. McConnell, echoing hyperbolic talking points about an ''insurrection'' seeded earlier in the day by Democratic lawmakers and the news media, gloated. ''They tried to disrupt our democracy,'' he declared on the Senate floor after Congress reconvened around 8 p.m. ''This failed attempt to obstruct Congress, this failed insurrection, only underscores how crucial the task before us is for our Republic.''

Congress officially certified the Electoral College results early the next day. (read more)

[ Support CTH Mission Here ]The J6 pipe bombs were the insurance policy, in the event they couldn't get the crowd to comply with the FBI provocations. If no one stormed the Capitol, the finding of the pipe bombs would have been the emergency needed to stop the process. https://t.co/JqVcGROAPN

'-- TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) March 12, 2023

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Archived Version

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 15:05

Mamma Mia!

Historic Big Apple pizza joints could be forced to dish out mounds of dough under a proposed city edict targeting pollutant-spewing coal-and-wood-fired ovens, The Post has learned.

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection has drafted new rules that would order eateries using the decades-old baking method to slice carbon emissions by up to 75%.

''All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air and wood and coal-fired stoves are among the largest contributors of harmful pollutants in neighborhoods with poor air quality,'' DEP spokesman Ted Timbers said in a statement Sunday. ''This common-sense rule, developed with restaurant and environmental justice groups, requires a professional review of whether installing emission controls is feasible.''

The rule could require pizzerias with such ovens installed prior to May 2016 to buy pricey emission-control devices '-- with the owner of one Brooklyn joint saying he's already tossed $20,000 on an air filter system in anticipation of the new mandate.

''Oh yeah, it's a big expense!'' said Paul Giannone, the owner of Paulie Gee's in Greenpoint. ''It's not just the expense of having it installed, it's the maintenance. I got to pay somebody to do it, to go up there every couple of weeks and hose it down and you know do the maintenance.''

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection has drafted new rules that would order eateries using the decades-old baking method to slice carbon emissions by up to 75%. Gregory P. MangoGiannone added that while the air filter is ''expensive and it's a huge hassle,'' it also has some upsides.

''My neighbors are much happier. I had a guy coming in for years complaining that the smoke was, you know, going right into his apartment and I haven't seen him since I got the scrubber installed.''

Other iconic pizza joints facing the heat include Lombardi's in Little Italy, Arturo's in Soho, John's of Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, Patsy's in Turtle Bay and the Upper West Side and Grimaldi's near the Brooklyn Bridge '-- that pride themselves on having their pies baked in coal-and-wood-fired ovens.

A city official said that under 100 restaurants total would be impacted.

One pizza restaurateur, who requested anonymity, told The Post that sensitive negotiations are currently taking place with DEP officials on whether to grandfather in or exempt the dozens of coal-and-wood-oven-fired pizza joints from the mandate.

He said politicians and bureaucrats should stop messing with their crust.

''This is an unfunded mandate and it's going to cost us a fortune not to mention ruining the taste of the pizza totally destroying the product,'' the restaurateur, who has a coal-fired oven, fumed.

The rule could require pizzerias with such ovens installed prior to May 2016 to buy pricey emission-control devices. Gregory P. Mango''If you f'--k around with the temperature in the oven you change the taste. That pipe, that chimney, it's that size to create the perfect updraft, keeps the temp perfect, it's an art as much as a science. You take away the char, the thing that makes the pizza taste great, you kill it,'' he claimed.

''And for what? You really think that you're changing the environment with these eight or nine pizza ovens?!'' the restaurateur added.

Keep up with today's most important newsStay up on the very latest with Evening Update.

Some crusty customers also told city officials not to tamper with their slice.

''I'm all for responsible environmental practice but tell Al Gore to take one less private jet or something. Give me a break!'' said Brooklyn Heights resident Saavi Sharma, 32, a financier who brought her parents and cousin visiting from India for their first slice at Grimaldi's, referring to the former vice president and climate change activist.

''I've been bragging about this pizza to my family for like five years,'' Sharma said Sunday. Don't mess with this!''

Giannone of Paulie Gee's, said that despite assertions to the contrary, the air scrubbers will not affect the quality of the taste or texture of the pies.

''If someone is trying to say that putting the scrubber in changes the flavor of the pizza they're just trying to save themselves $20,000. No, it doesn't affect what's going on inside the oven,'' he said.

''No, it hasn't changed the taste. It hasn't changed the pizza. It hasn't changed our product at all.''

A city official said that under 100 restaurants total would be impacted. Gregory P. MangoUnder the mandate, restaurants with coal-and-wood-fired ovens must hire an engineer or architect to assess the feasibility of installing emission controls devices to achieve a 75% reduction in particulate emissions.

If this report concludes that a reduction of 75% or more cannot be achieved, or that no emissions controls can be installed, it must identify any emission controls that could provide a reduction of at least 25% or an explanation for why no emission controls can be installed.

The restaurant will be allowed to apply for a variance or waiver, but must providence evidence to prove a hardship.

The new DEP rules comply with Local 38 of 2015 approved by former Mayor Bill de Blasio '-- who was widely mocked after he was pictured eating a slice with a fork and knife '-- and the City Council.

DEP officials said the difficulty in drafting practical rules without negatively impacting restaurants '-- plus the COVID-19 pandemic '-- delayed action until now.

The department said it consulted with an advisory committee consisting of restaurateurs to come up with the rule.

''The advisory committee and DEP were unable to finalize a rule in that time frame due to the difficulty of crafting a rule to manage technical and cost concerns that are attendant to the installation of emission control devices,'' department officials explained.

''For example, costs for controls for existing cook stoves can be difficult to manage as the spaces in which these cook stoves operate are often aging structures that were not designed to accommodate emission control devices,'' the officials said. ''In addition, many of the locations where existing cook stoves are used are not owned by the operators of the cook stoves, and changes required to install such devices require obtaining the landlord's permission.''

The restaurant will be allowed to apply for a variance or waiver, but must providence evidence to prove a hardship. Gregory P. MangoThe first pizza joints in New York and the US used coal-fired ovens, which was cheaper than wood.

But they take more oxygen to burn, requiring more space and typically built into the foundation of a building.

Stainless steel pizza ovens entered the picture in the 1940s thanks to the emergence of natural gas, and very few new restaurants used coal or wood ovens.

Other city pizzeria using such ovens include Fornino's in Williamsburg and Motorino, which also has a location in the Brooklyn neighborhood, as well as in the East Village and the Upper West Side.

Lombardi's, which opened in 1905 and claims to be America's first pizzeria in America, boasts on its website about its ''beautiful, smoky-crusted coal oven baked pizza.''

John's of Bleecker Street has been in business over a century, including since 1929 at its current location, and states on its website that its ''hallmarks'... are the coal fired brick ovens that churn out hundreds of crispy pizza's daily.'' A rep at the eatery confirmed that its coal-fired oven was installed before 2016.

Meanwhile, ''Mancini's Wood-Fired Pizza'' in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, also may be forced to put in a device to curb fumes. It has an old wood-fired oven, an employee said.

One young customer, 8-year-old Alexander Dumas, loved his first wood-fired pizza Sunday at Fornino's.

''This is the second best pizza I've ever had! I've had Domino's and Papa Johns before and this is better. I think this is good like this,'' said Dumas, oblivious to the controversy.

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Wed, 28 Jun 2023 15:01

WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) - The United States will provide Kyiv with a new military package worth up to $500 million, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, in a show of support for Ukraine's fight against Russia as Moscow deals with the aftermath of a mutiny by mercenary fighters.

The package will include ground vehicles including Bradley fighting vehicles and Stryker armored personnel carriers, and munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, according to a statement from the Pentagon.

The package "includes key capabilities to support Ukraine's counteroffensive operations, strengthen its air defenses ... and other equipment to help Ukraine push back on Russia's war of aggression," the Pentagon said.

"I am sincerely grateful," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Twitter post "for another $500 million defense assistance package. Additional Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles, ammunition for HIMARS, Patriots and Stingers will add even more power."

Russia's embassy in the U.S. said on its Telegram messaging app that with the aid, "Washington only confirms the obsession with the idea of inflicting a strategic defeat on the Russian Federation."

The package is being funded using Presidential Drawdown Authority, or PDA, which authorizes the president to transfer articles and services from U.S. stocks without congressional approval during an emergency. The material will come from U.S. excess inventory.

The security assistance package is the 41st approved by the United States for Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022, for a total of more than $40 billion.

Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Additional reporting by Paul Grant, Rami Ayyub, Ronald Popeski, Lidia Kelly and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Alistair Bell and Stephen Coates

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:30

WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) - Over $200 billion from the U.S. government's COVID-19 relief programs were potentially stolen, a federal watchdog said on Tuesday, adding that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) had weakened its controls in a rush to disburse the funds.

At least 17% of all funds related to the government's coronavirus Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) schemes were disbursed to potentially fraudulent actors, according to a report released Tuesday by the SBA's office of inspector general.

Over the course of the pandemic, the SBA disbursed about $1.2 trillion of EIDL and PPP funds.

The SBA disputed the more than $200 billion figure put forward by the watchdog and said the inspector general's approach had significantly overestimated fraud.

The agency said its experts put the potential fraud estimate at $36 billion and added that over 86% of that likely fraud took place in 2020, when the administration for former President Donald Trump was in office. President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.

The fraud estimate put forward by the inspector general for the EIDL program stood at more than $136 billion while the PPP fraud estimate was $64 billion.

The United States is probing many fraud cases pegged to U.S. government assistance programs. In May 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland launched a COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force.

Last year, the U.S. Justice Department tapped federal prosecutor Kevin Chambers to lead its efforts to investigate alleged fraud schemes intending to bilk government pandemic assistance programs.

In September 2022, the inspector general for the U.S. Labor Department said fraudsters likely stole $45.6 billion from the United States' unemployment insurance program during the coronavirus outbreak by applying tactics like using Social Security numbers of deceased individuals.

Also in September, federal prosecutors charged dozens of defendants, who were accused of stealing $250 million from a government aid program that was supposed to feed children in need during the pandemic.

Earlier this year, a separate watchdog report said the U.S. government likely awarded about $5.4 billion in COVID-19 aid to people with questionable Social Security numbers.

(This story has been corrected to reflect agency's assessment of potential, not likely, fraud in the headline and paragraphs 1 and 5)

Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Aurora Ellis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Kanishka SinghThomson Reuters

Kanishka Singh is a breaking news reporter for Reuters in Washington DC, who primarily covers US politics and national affairs in his current role. His past breaking news coverage has spanned across a range of topics like the Black Lives Matter movement; the US elections; the 2021 Capitol riots and their follow up probes; the Brexit deal; US-China trade tensions; the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan; the COVID-19 pandemic; and a 2019 Supreme Court verdict on a religious dispute site in his native India.

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Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:17

We have come together today '' governments, financial institutions, international organisations, businesses, and civil society '' with a shared belief in Ukraine's future.

Russia's unjustified and unprovoked invasion has caused untold misery. Thousands of Ukrainians have been killed. Millions have been displaced, including children. Schools, hospitals and critical infrastructure have suffered damage in Russia's indiscriminate air strikes. The world's poorest have been hit hardest by higher food and energy costs. The invasion is a gross violation of the UN Charter, international law, and our shared values.

Ukraine must and will succeed '' as a free, independent, sovereign and democratic state within its internationally recognised borders. This is essential, for the people of Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic region, and global peace and prosperity. We remain committed to a just and lasting peace based on respect for the UN Charter and Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and commend the principles of the Ukrainian Peace Formula outlined by President Zelenskyy.

Ministers, businesses, and other representatives from 59 countries have come to London today to support Ukraine's recovery and long-term economic future '' one that is modern, open, green, and resilient. By helping Ukraine's recovery and reform, we will unlock the potential of the country and its people, help defeat Russia's aggression, and benefit global security, prosperity and the rule of law.

This year's conference has built on the commitments agreed last year at Lugano, and the work of the Multi-Agency Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine.

Private sector led recoveryUkraine's partners have agreed to provide a further $60 billion to meet the recovery and reconstruction needs of Ukraine. The EU announced a new multi-year facility of up to '‚¬50 billion for recovery, reconstruction and modernisation. The US announced $1.3 billion in additional aid to Ukraine, including $675 million to modernise Ukraine's critical infrastructure. The UK announced a further $3 billion guarantees to support additional World Bank lending up to 2027, and £240 million of support for immediate needs. Switzerland announced a further CHF1.5 billion of support to 2027. The Multi-Agency Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine will continue to support the alignment of donor commitments to early recovery priorities and reform.

Nearly 500 global businesses from 42 countries worth more than $5.2 trillion and 21 sectors have already signed the Ukraine Business Compact, pledging to support Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction.

Businesses from across the world have agreed to work with Ukraine to help realise its huge potential, in priority sectors including energy, tech, infrastructure, and finance, and to apply their expertise in the development of Ukraine's private sector.

The UK and Ukraine have launched a new digital business matching platform. International partners will work between now and the URC24 in Germany to launch new business to business initiatives to build and grow private sector partnerships with Ukraine.

Enablers for private investmentThe Government of Ukraine and its partners are responding to business demand to extend commercial insurance coverage in Ukraine. The Conference launched the London Conference War Risk Insurance Framework. Partners announced support for the World Bank Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency's (MIGA) Support for Ukraine Reconstruction and Economy Trust Fund, with the UK announcing a contribution of up to £20 million, on top of Japan's existing $23 million contribution. MIGA announced the signing of an extended MOU with ProCredit, bringing the total guarantee to '‚¬40.85 million.

The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) announced its intention to develop a pilot war risk insurance scheme. The Government of Ukraine committed to increase information sharing with the insurance industry.

Ukraine's partners agreed to continue supporting the country's budgetary needs, contributing to the International Monetary Fund's $15.6 billion 4-year programme, to deliver medium-term macro-stability, strengthen Ukrainian institutions, and promote growth.

Following the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) Annual Meetings in Samarkand, the EBRD reiterated its intention to raise '‚¬3 to 5 billion of new capital from shareholders, as directed by its Governors. If agreed, the increase in capital could be leveraged by at least a factor of 4 to bolster the Bank's capacity to support lending in Ukraine in wartime and in reconstruction.

G7 and European Development Finance Institutions launched a new Ukraine Investment Platform, in partnership with the EBRD, that will promote co-investments to maximise the impact of their support. The International Finance Corporation, the US International Development Finance Corporation (USDFC), and British Investment International, signed a landmark deal to support the IFC's Global Trade Finance Program to help keep cross border trade lines open. USDFC also announced a further $20 million loan guarantee to Bank Lviv to support SMEs.

Ukraine's partners reaffirmed that Russia must pay for the long-term reconstruction of Ukraine, and welcomed the establishment of the Council of Europe's 'Registry of Damages Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation Against Ukraine' and the European Council's Ad Hoc Working Party on the use of frozen and immobilised assets to support Ukraine's reconstruction. G7 and European partners continue to explore all lawful routes to ensure that sanctioned Russian assets are made available in support of Ukraine's reconstruction, in line with international law.

Building back betterThe Government of Ukraine is determined to build back a more modern, innovative, green economy, closer to the EU Single Market.

G7+ governments committed to develop a new Clean Energy Partnership with Ukraine to accelerate the transition to a green energy system, that is secure, sustainable resilient and integrated with Europe. The US announced $520 million to help overhaul Ukraine's energy grid. Ukraine's partners announced new investments in the International Finance Cooperation's Economic Resilience Action Programme. The Conference launched the InnovateUkraine Green Energy Challenge Fund, to accelerate low-carbon, affordable energy innovation. The Conference launched the Ukraine Energy Initiative to accelerate the recovery of Ukraine's energy sector.

Ukraine's partners announced new tech partnerships to help realise the amazing potential of Ukraine's burgeoning tech ecosystem, including a TechBridge between the UK and Ukraine to facilitate investment and support talent. Ukraine showcased its leadership in e-governance, driving digital transformation and delivering effective public services for the future.

President von der Leyen noted that ''Ukraine has accelerated its reform agenda with impressive speed and resolve''. The Conference welcomed the Commission's oral update on Ukraine's implementation of the 7 recommendations of its EU candidate status. The Conference welcomed the development of the OECD Ukraine's country programme. The Government of Ukraine reaffirmed its commitment to strengthen the capacity and operational independence of key anti-corruption institutions, including the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. The Government of Ukraine has implemented legislation in the field of justice, media, protection of national communities, as well as countering vested interests and money laundering. The Government of Ukraine reiterated its commitment to reform and its aspiration to start EU accession negotiations this year.

The Government of Ukraine reaffirmed its commitment to deliver IMF Programme conditions, including adopting reforms to enable fair and open competition, reduce barriers to entry to markets, and ensure fair judicial and regulatory procedures. The Government of Ukraine will complete the roll-out of the Digital Restoration Ecosystem for Accountable Management and further develop the national e-procurement system to deliver a transparent recovery.

The Conference recognised the centrality of Ukraine's human capital to the country's recovery process. Participants committed to supporting Ukraine in rebuilding and developing its workforce, education system and social services.

Further coordinationThe Government of Ukraine is committed to work in partnership with Ukrainian and international businesses, local government, civil society and the international community to deliver long-term inclusive and sustainable recovery and development. The Multi-Agency Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine, whose Steering Committee met in London, will continue to support the delivery of prioritised, coordinated recovery and reform efforts.

The Conference welcomed Germany's commitment to host the Ukraine Recovery Conference in 2024, building on the outcomes of Lugano and London.

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Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:02

[1/2]Test tubes are seen in front of a displayed Biontech logo in this illustration taken, May 21, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

BERLIN, Dec 23 (Reuters) - BioNTech (22UAy.DE) on Friday initiated an early-stage study to evaluate its experimental malaria vaccine in humans, the German drugmaker said.

The Phase 1 trial is expected to enrol 60 volunteers in the United States with no history of malaria to assess the vaccine candidate at three-dose levels.

Known as BNT165b1, it is the first vaccine candidate from BioNTech's malaria project, which will also establish vaccine production in Africa.

The effort is one of several focused on addressing the mosquito-borne disease that kills over 600,000 each year, most of them children in Africa. The complicated structure and lifecycle of the malaria parasite has long stymied efforts to develop vaccines.

After decades of work, the only approved malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, made by British drugmaker GSK (GSK.L), was this year endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO), but a lack of funding and commercial potential has thwarted GSK's capacity to produce as many doses as needed.

Another keenly-watched effort is a malaria vaccine from Oxford University. Mid-stage trial data was published in September.

No direct comparisons have been made, but some scientists suggest the Oxford shot is a step forward from Mosquirix and provides longer immunity.

BioNTech's malaria vaccine effort is based on its mRNA technology, which was employed during the pandemic to quickly develop COVID-19 vaccines, by prompting the human body to make a protein that is part of the pathogen, triggering an immune response.

Writing by Natalie Grover and Miranda Murray, Editing by Louise Heavens and Barbara Lewis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Wed, 28 Jun 2023 13:50

CNN '--

A ground worker who was ''ingested'' into a plane's engine at San Antonio International Airport Friday died by suicide, according to the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office.

The cause of death is listed as blunt and sharp force injuries. The manner of death is listed as suicide, an office assistant for the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office told CNN in a phone call.

Delta Flight 1111 had arrived at San Antonio from Los Angeles Friday and was taxiing to a gate using one engine ''when a worker was ingested into that engine at about 10:25 p.m.,'' the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement to CNN on Sunday evening.

The safety board is continuing to gather information about what happened, it said. San Antonio International is working with authorities on the investigation, a spokesperson said.

''An accident occurred on the ground at San Antonio International Airport (SAT) Friday night that resulted in the fatality of an airline ground crew member,'' airport spokesperson Erin Rodriguez said in a statement.

''We are deeply saddened by this incident and are working with authorities as they begin their investigation. We will share more information as details become available.''

Delta Air Lines said it was ''grieving'' the loss.

''We are heartbroken and grieving the loss of an aviation family member's life in San Antonio. Our hearts and full support are with their family, friends and loved ones during this difficult time,'' a Delta spokesperson told CNN in an email.

Unifi Aviation provides aviation services at San Antonio International Airport and employed the worker who died.

''Our hearts go out to the family of the deceased, and we remain focused on supporting our employees on the ground and ensuring they are being taken care of during this time,'' the company said in a statement to CNN. ''From our initial investigation, this incident was unrelated to Unifi's operational processes, safety procedures and policies. Out of respect for the deceased, we will not be sharing any additional information. While police and other officials continue to investigate this incident, we defer to them on providing further details.''

An airport worker who died in an accident at the Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama last New Year's Eve also was ingested into the engine of an aircraft, the NTSB said in a January statement.

That aircraft, an Embraer 170 operated by regional carrier Envoy Air, was ''parked at the gate with the parking brake set when a ground support personnel was ingested,'' said the agency.

''We are saddened to hear about the tragic loss of a team member of the AA/Piedmont Airlines,'' the airport's executive director, Wade Davis, said at the time. ''Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time.''

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Wed, 28 Jun 2023 13:25

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Wed, 28 Jun 2023 00:42

The Google logo is seen with the rainbow flag as a symbol of LGBTQ+ pride and social movements in New York City, June 7, 2022.

Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

Google is distancing itself from a drag performance it planned as the closing event for Pride month after a group of employees circulated an internal petition opposing it, claiming religious discrimination.

Each year, Google sponsors a series of Pride events in San Francisco and other locations for employees and the public. This year, the closing event was a "Pride and Drag Show" featuring popular performer "Peaches Christ," who was scheduled to perform Tuesday at LGBTQ+ bar Beaux in San Francisco to "wrap up this amazing month," according to a now-removed internal description of the event viewed by CNBC.

However, employees noticed the company removed the show from the internal company events page at around the same time a petition began circulating opposing the event, according to internal discussions viewed by CNBC.

A few hundred employees signed the petition opposing the drag performance, claiming it sexualizes and disrespects Christian co-workers, and accused Google of religious discrimination, according to the petition viewed by CNBC. "Their provocative and inflammatory artistry is considered a direct affront to the religion beliefs and sensitivities of Christians," the petition stated, referring to the drag performer.

Google confirmed to CNBC that it no longer categorized the performance as a Google-recognized diversity, equity and inclusion event. The company set up a separate social gathering at Google offices that it is now encouraging employees to attend instead.

An internal team planned the closing drag event "without going through our standard events process," said spokesperson Chris Pappas in a statement to CNBC. "While the event organizers have shifted the official team event onsite, the performance will go on at the planned venue '-- and it's open to the public, so employees can still attend."

Pappas added, "We've long been very proud to celebrate and support the LGBTQ+ community. Our Pride celebrations have regularly featured drag artists for many years, including several this year."

The company did not address whether the employee petition played a part in the decision to change its closing event.

The petition states that organizers complained to People Operations, Google's human resources department, and claimed the venue violates one of Google's event guidelines, which bans sexuality explicit activity. The petition also demands an apology from organizers and promoters of the event.

Some employees criticized the petition, saying the complaints were subjective and feed into political culture wars, according to internal discussions viewed by CNBC. Drag shows have been a target of religious and conservative organizations and politicians leading up to the 2024 presidential election. That includes a flurry of legislative proposals backed by GOP governors taking aim at drag events.

Employees also criticized Google leadership for what they viewed as the quiet removal of the event from the internal website and a buckling to petitioners' pressure. A company spokesperson said changes to the event were communicated to a team employee resource group last week.

San Francisco venues host Pride events every June, which is recognized as Pride month, and those events commonly include drag shows of various stage acts. Google is one of many corporate sponsors of various Pride events that also include fireside chats with influential figures and community documentary screenings for the public and employees.

The company's Pride website features several affirmations supporting the LGBTQ+ community with statements such as "A Space to Belong," writing that "a global shutdown reaffirmed our universal need for the inclusive spaces that bring us together and celebrate belonging."

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 22:18

The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions aimed at disrupting gold mining activities that fund the Wagner Group in Africa, vowing to hold the mercenaries accountable for abuses days after they staged a mutiny in Russia.

The measures against the Wagner Group had been previously planned but were briefly put on hold as US officials sought to avoid appearing to favor a side in a power struggle between the mercenaries' chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Treasury Department announced sanctions against Midas Resources, which operates mines in the Central African Republic, and Diamville, a gold and diamond purchasing company in the country '-- and said both were controlled by Prigozhin.

The sanctions '-- which will block any US assets and criminalize transactions with the companies '-- also targeted a Dubai-based company, Industrial Resources General Trading, that was accused of handling finances for Prigozhin's dealings in Diamville.

''The Wagner Group funds its brutal operations in part by exploiting natural resources in countries like the Central African Republic and Mali,'' Treasury sanctions official Brian Nelson said in a statement.

''The United States will continue to target the Wagner Group's revenue streams to degrade its expansion and violence in Africa, Ukraine and anywhere else.''

The Wagner Group has been contracted by military regimes in Africa and played an increasingly violent role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with Prigozhin urging Putin to use even greater force.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, previewing the sanctions earlier Tuesday, renewed his criticism of the Wagner mercenaries, who have been accused of wide abuses in Africa.

''We believe that everywhere that Wagner goes, they bring death and destruction in their wake. They hurt local populations, they extract minerals and extract money from the communities where they operate,'' Miller told reporters.

''And so we would continue to urge governments in Africa and elsewhere to cease any cooperation with Wagner,'' he said.

The UN human rights body last month reported that foreign forces '-- identified by the United States as Wagner '-- were involved in a massacre of at least 500 people in the central Malian town of Moura in March 2022.

Prigozhin, as part of a deal with the Kremlin, was allowed to travel to Belarus, the Russian ally's strongman Alexander Lukashenko confirmed on Tuesday.

Lukashenko's decision to welcome Prigozhin marks ''another example of him choosing the interests of Vladimir Putin and choosing the interests of the Kremlin over the interests of the Belarusian people,'' Miller said.

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 22:12

Beloved readers, I've been silent for some time, and I feel I owe you an explanation. Last Monday I suffered, in ways I won't trouble you by describing, and our wonderful friend and the gifted healer Dr Henry Ealy advised me to check in to the local ER.

I was found to have a ruptured appendix, and in the morning I sustained an appendectomy. An acute infection was involved somewhere along the way, for which I am still in the hospital, being treated.

That may be TMI already, but I tell you everything that I think is germane - as any nonfiction writer should do, I believe, or at least those in my genre of transparency.

I have some ideas about how to share earlier unpublished work with you that I think you will enjoy, while I heal, so you are still hearing from me.

Meanwhile, some thoughts:

It is truly a 19th century kind of recovery'...while everyone in this hospital has been absolutely delightful to me and the nurses could not be kinder, my surgeon is wonderful, and the level of care is incredibly attentive, I am having a profound experience of how modern hospitals, even the very best of them, over time, simply by the nature of their inexorable systems, are like a vortex that makes it hard for a longtime patient in acute care not to be tempted to simply give up and die.

Infections - which I am battling - were a major part of the fight against disease in pre-antibiotic England and America in the 19th c. I am absurdly grateful for the antibiotics with which my system is continually being flushed here via IV, of course. But other aspects of how older medical practices helped to support patients' immune systems in fighting recovery, have been lost to time, unavailable now not just to this but to all or to most modern hospitals, and, being that I am a patient still in acute distress, I miss them.

As my immune system fights on, now for a week, I keep fantasizing having access to aspects of 19th century healing that are no longer available to anyone.

Did you know, for instance, that hospitals - which were (since the Middle Ages) originally in the West founded by the Church, and often by branches of nunneries '-- always had a 'hospital garden', integrated right into the architecture, whether in courtyards or as the exterior grounds? This did not just provide herbs for medicaments. It also allowed recovering patients to sit in the healing sun, and to walk at their own paces in an ever-varying landscape. Perhaps even to greet one another. Given the lifesaving role of Vitamin D, and of fresh air, as pre-modern healers as late as Florence Nightingale argued, this feature of almost all hospitals (and sanitaria, and mental institutions) before the 20th century, had measurable value that cannot be overstated, not just, as Nightingale put it, for the mind, but also for the body.

Think of how a sick dog or cat lies in the sun.

I long to sit or walk in the sun with the longing of an animal. But hospital policy - not just here but probably everywhere - forbids that. There is a beautiful exterior deck with views of green hills. I long for it like the Promised Land. It was locked six years ago. I know that hospitals have real concerns about patients stepping outside, even onto a balcony - liability, escape, suicidality - but knowing what I know now from my friend Dr Simon Goddek and my interviewee Dr Vatsal Thakkar about the role in healing of Vitamin D, not to mention the positive effect on immunities of socialization versus isolation, I hope hospitals can find a safe way to again give patients access to walk in 'healing gardens.' Sanatoria used to have airing balconies where patients took sun and chatted, and even slept while wrapped in fur sleeping bags (see The Magic Mountain) because fresh air could support their healing.

I'll never forget the owner of a small chain of elder care homes in Nevada, who tweeted to me early in the pandemic that, at a time when age home inmates were entirely isolated, and dying in droves, they in their facilities had experimented with bringing their elderly patients out into the area outside for an hour a day for sun and socialization. He told me proudly that the elders all looked forward to it - that it was the high point of their days now - and that he had lost not one elder in his care to COVID.

Our immune systems need sun and air. They even need contact with the earth - the mycelium in the earth are healing. Our immunities are boosted by socialization.

Part of my task every day, indeed every hour, is to circle the hallways twice. Moving is important. I do this, in my doubled gown (one over the back for modesty), like a zombie. Seeing people even more ill than I am - as many doors are open - makes this a very sad and painful journey. The nurses are all cheery, but the suffering of all around me is debilitating to witness, hour upon hour, day after day. Stress lowers immunities. One gets detached from one's former life, isolated, institutionalized. All the kind texts pouring in feel lovely but hypothetical as, except for visits from loved ones and nurses, I've been cut off from anything but my room and this hallways for a week now. Does the outside world really exist? Is it worth fighting for? A garden'...a library'...a balcony'...anything to remind us that there can be life again for us some day, would help our immunities as well as our sense of connectedness, without which it is almost impossible to sustain life.

19th century treatment for patients trying to recover from infections and fevers included uninterrupted sleep, as well easy-to-digest but highly nutritious foods. I know that I must be awakened four times a night and I am sure there are good reasons - ie measuring my vital signs - but I also think of that classic Victorian literary scene in which the patient has slept deeply, a 'crisis' has arrived '-- I was never sure what that meant, but it seemed as if the fever reached an organic high point '-- then the fever had broken and was gone. Everyone rejoiced.

I don't mean to second guess the importance of checking vitals throughout the night, especially in an acute case such as mine. At the same time, I'd like to understand better why the Victorians so valued the deep sleep of invalids, and why a hospital now is a place where a patient cannot sleep through the night. This is a major change in the culture of healing. Has enough research been done so that we are sure that 'checking the patients' vitals' is a benefit that outweighs 'giving the patient a full night's sleep'? I have no idea, but knowing that zero profit can be generated by finding out if it's better to 'just let that patient sleep', I feel less confident in this than I'd like to.

Invalids also need nutritious food. Victorian invalids (the ones who could afford good medical care) were sustained by such delicacies as cows' foot jelly, aspics, tisanes, sago and tapiocas. These were gentle on invalids' digestive systems but delivered protein and energy.

No disrespect to my lovely nutritionist here, and I do know that industrial kitchens have their own challenges. The food is much better here than in many hospitals. But I am struggling to recover even while ingesting many more preservatives, stabilizers, artificial colors and sugars than I usually eat. And while I gaze helplessly at the giant hunks of beef and chicken on my plate, while experiencing always the ripped-up nature of my insides, this does send me sadly back into those fantasies of the Victorian bedroom with the invalid's tray with its gentle protein jellies and tapiocas.

My carers are doing a heroic job with modern medicine keeping me alive (to date) and I thank them.

But right now I am fighting to recover, by virtue of my immune system.

I do wonder from this experience if the race toward modern medicine and systematized treatment, has closed off many sources of knowledge, some hundreds and thousands of years old, about all the things - organic, aesthetic, emotional, nutritious, sun-derived, earth-derived '-- that human bodies do require in order to heal - and specifically, that just because we have the miracle of antibiotics, it does not mean that infected bodies can necessarily do well without these many other ancient forms of support.

I don't want to go back to the 19th century, to be very clear. I don't want to live in a pre-antibiotic, pre-painkiller world. I know how ugly and painful and brutal that was, from these same histories and novels.

I don't wish to return to a time when my vitals were impossible to access in the detail we have now.

But I do wonder if in the rush to modern, systematized medicine, we have abandoned unnecessarily some simple forms of knowledge about human recovery that would, by reclaiming them, make even the best modern hospital a less existentially difficult place - a more truly healing one - not only for patients, but for the nursing staff (who work unbelievably long hours) and the physicians' staff as well.

On another note: I have a lot of people to thank for the to-date solid performance of my immune system, upon which my recovery depends. Never have I understood or appreciated it more.

I am very grateful to my wonderful current surgeon, of course, and to my equally wonderful nurses.

I am grateful to you, my readers, for your love (dare I say it) and patience. I invite your prayers. I can use them.

But having survived - I think - the worst of this battle, I also want to thank my network of brave dissident Drs: Dr McCullough, Dr Alexander, Dr Risch, Dr Goddek, Dr Thakkar, and others, all of whom educated me about the immune system - that Voldemort of the body, the entity supporting it all which Pharma would like us all never to mention, let alone to understand.

Thank you to Dr Henry Ealy, the gifted healer, who diagnosed me from Arizona, who has been ever-present to Brian as needed by phone, who has kept me as safe as possible with supplements and probiotics, and who will oversee my recovery at home.

All of you 'dissident doctors' taught me for two years what my immune system was and why it mattered, and the fact that I alone was responsible for its strength by virtue of actions I took every day. You taught me what I had to do to keep it strong, and that it was never wise to hand over that personal responsibility to a pill, a vaccine, or even to a physician.

I think without that instruction and training '-- without having gone into this with a robust immune system - I may have done much worse in this fight to date. The ones who die in this condition, sadly, are either elderly or suffer from poor immunities.

The fact that I feel every day how my immunities are trying to save me from a nefarious invader '-- I literally feel the battlefield inside my own body - makes any intervention that damages anyone's immune system into even more of a crime than I'd already realized that it was.

Words can't express my gratitude to my husband Brian O'Shea, daughter and son, stepdaughter and stepson, all of whom did so much, from their various locations to help and care for me. Without family, how easy it is to just yield.

Of course, as my Aunt Judith, a Rabbi, would say, in that casual, intimate, slightly Yiddish-inflected way she has '-- 'Thanks God.'

Above all I am grateful to my immune system - my best friend in my one life on this planet - a system which has been (and still is) in the fight of its life; and so grateful to all those who taught me to love it as myself; since that is indeed, as it turns out, what it really is.

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 20:24

TOKYO, June 25 (Reuters) - Japan's military is testing Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service with an eye to adopting the technology next fiscal year, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Sunday, citing unnamed government sources.

The Ministry of Defense already has access to communication satellites in geostationary orbit, but use of Starlink technology, operated by Musk's SpaceX, would add a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit, the Yomiuri said.

Countries around the world are seeking to build resilience against the risk of jamming of communications or attacks on satellites in the event of conflict.

Japan's Self-Defense Forces have been testing Starlink since March with the system deployed in about 10 locations and in training, the newspaper said.

Defence ministry spokespeople could not immediately be reached for comment on the report outside business hours.

Starlink technology is being deployed by Ukraine on the battlefield, and Russia is attempting to block its use in the region. Musk said in October SpaceX could not afford to indefinitely fund Starlink's use in Ukraine.

The U.S. Defense Department said this month it had contracted to provide Starlink services there.

Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by William Mallard

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Archived Version

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 19:25

New Jersey enrollment figures reveal a 4,000% jump in gender-non-conforming children since 2019

The number of students in New Jersey public schools who openly identify as ''non-binary'' has gone up by a staggering 4,000% in the past four years, according to enrollment data published by the state's Department of Education.

The report, which sets out the number of pre-kindergarten to kindergarten and 12th grade students, indicates that there were a total of 675 students who identified as gender-non-conforming in the 2022-2023 school year. In the year of 2019-2020, by comparison, that number was just 16. It's also noted that of all the 'non-binary' students in New Jersey this year, 41 were still in elementary school.

Meanwhile, New Jersey's democratic leaders have been arguing that schools should not be obligated to inform parents about their children's sexual or gender identity.

Last month, a local school board passed a policy requiring staff to inform parents about anything that could have ''a material impact on a student's physical and/or mental health.'' In response, however, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin sued the district, arguing that the policy ''discriminates'' against LGBTQ students and forces teachers to ''out'' students to their parents without the child's consent. The state's Governor Phil Murphy endorsed the lawsuit.

A survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in April found that approximately one in four high-school students now consider themselves to be LGBTQ. At the same time, a Pew Research Center survey last year also found that some 5.1% of adults under 30 identified as trans or nonbinary. By comparison, a similar survey conducted by the Williams Institute in 2016 put that number at around 0.6% '' a figure that already doubled estimates made ten years prior.

A number of American politicians have since raised the alarm over the issue, with Vivek Ramaswamy, a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, stating that the rising number of LGBTQ-identifying children and adults is ''not visibility,'' but ''a social contagion of a mental health epidemic.''

Last week, the Daily Mail also reported that a group of teachers from the American Midwest had allegedly admitted during an online conference that they were intentionally keeping parents in the dark about their children's sexual and gender identities despite a state-level ban on underage sex changes.

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 19:16

In late May, Sarasota County, Florida, health officials confirmed they had identified a case of locally transmitted malaria. In mid-June, they confirmed the second. On June 26, after an additional two cases were confirmed, Florida health officials issued a statewide mosquito-borne illness advisory.

Meanwhile, Texas joined in: On June 23, its state health department announced it had confirmed a case of local malaria transmission in Cameron County.

That's a total of five cases in the past month. This is all highly unusual: Until now, the US hadn't documented a locally acquired malaria case in 20 years. On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a nationwide advisory to alert health care providers and public health authorities about the possibility of locally acquired malaria in people with fevers of unclear origin.

Although about 2,000 people infected with malaria turn up in the US health care system every year, those cases are all linked to travel outside the US. Neither those involved in the Florida cases nor the Texas case had traveled. That means in both states, the infection was acquired within US borders.

Experts say the cases shouldn't warrant panic about widespread malaria transmission in the US. But it does warrant asking some questions, and being wary of the threat of more local transmission. Mosquitoes can infect multiple people before a full-on outbreak is even identified '-- so more cases could be out there.

Even if this turns out not to be widespread, it's a good reminder: Malaria could make a comeback in the US, and we '-- and our public health infrastructure '-- ought to be prepared. This is especially true as a changing climate and shifting weather patterns increasingly drive mosquito migration into new places worldwide, allowing malaria to settle in where it hasn't before.

These cases are not the worst form of the disease '-- but they're not benignMalaria comes in a variety of flavors, all in the genus Plasmodium, and all parasites that infect and kill red blood cells. The anemia that results is the major cause of most of the bodily havoc that follows.

The species that has been identified in both Florida and Texas is P. vivax. It's not the worst of the malaria species: P. falciparum, the most severe form of malaria, is 10 times more deadly than vivax, according to a study of Americans diagnosed between 1985 and 2011. But vivax is no cakewalk. People with this infection can develop life-threatening brain swelling, lung congestion, and kidney failure.

The infection causes fevers that come and go, along with a wide range of symptoms that can be mistaken for flu, a stomach bug, or liver disease.

Vivax malaria is sneakier than some of its counterparts: The parasite can hang out dormant in the liver for years after the initial infection, rearing its head long after an exposure. (Worldwide, most vivax malaria infections occur in East Africa, South Asia, and the northern parts of South America.)

Malaria was a huge problem in the US until it was eliminated in the 1950s, largely by spraying the insecticide DDT in homes and environmental areas to kill the mosquitoes that spread it. (All forms of malaria are spread by mosquitoes in the Anopheles genus, and the US still has lots of them.)

Also keeping malaria at bay: The mosquitoes that transmit the disease like to bite at night '-- and as American homes have increasingly incorporated window screens and air conditioning, the people inside them have been better protected from being food for this particular genus.

So malaria is not something you'd expect to catch in the US anymore. But when things line up just right, all the ingredients are there for malaria transmission to happen in the US.

What does it take for malaria transmission to happen in the US?One big unanswered question right now is: Why are two geographically distant parts of the US seeing local transmission of malaria right now '-- especially after so many years without it?

Although both states see many travel-related malaria cases each year, those cases don't usually lead to local spread. Is something different this year? Or is this just a coincidence?

To think through the possibilities, it's helpful to understand how malaria spreads.

Malaria gets transmitted when a female Anopheles mosquito bites an infected person and then, a week later, bites an uninfected person. In between bites, the mosquito does mosquito business in warm, stagnant water '-- but it's fussy about the water it prefers. These malaria-spreading mosquitoes generally like to breed in bodies of water with vegetation growth along the banks, wrote Wade Brennan, a Sarasota County mosquito manager, in an email. In other words, it prefers the forest to puddles of water near human habitation, like the ones you might find in an empty bucket or garbage can outside your house.

To kick off local transmission, a person who's acquired P. vivax malaria overseas needs to get close enough to an Anopheline mosquito's habitat to get bitten. For the next few days, the vivax infection brews in the mosquito's gut. About a week later, it's ready to infect another person. When the mosquito bites its next victim, particles in its saliva mix with the person's blood '-- and before the mosquito lets go, some of those particles get injected into the person.

A few weeks later, that second person gets sick. Meanwhile, the mosquito still has a few weeks to live '-- and in that time, it's still feeding on other people, potentially infecting them, too. But even if it dies, its friends might be biting this newly infected person and transmitting the infection onward.

So: The basic elements of malaria transmission are a source (the infected returned traveler), a vector (the mosquito), an uninfected target (the newly identified cases), and an environment that allows them to come in contact. Increasing any of these elements could make local transmission more likely.

A robust public health system helps understand the causes in cases like this and is critical to the responseIt's not yet clear whether any changes in mosquito populations or in human behavior are the reason for this current spate of locally acquired cases. But public health investigations in both states have already identified risk factors for the people who've been infected '-- and environmental reservoirs of the infection.

In an interview on June 23, Michael Drennon, a Sarasota County health department epidemiologist, couldn't share demographic or location information about the two locally infected people who had been identified at that time. However, he noted both were adults who spend a significant amount of time outside at night, and they hadn't traveled anywhere outside the US. A representative of the Texas Department of State Health Services said the case identified in that state was an adult who worked outdoors.

Brennan said his Sarasota County mosquito management team had found malaria-infected mosquitoes in an area swamp and had focused prevention efforts there, applying insecticides that kill both adult and juvenile forms of the mosquito. ''We have been able to make sure the mosquito population in that area is extremely low,'' he wrote.

It's unclear whether more Anopheline mosquitoes than usual are circulating in either state. More mosquitoes would increase the chances that an infected person's parasites could spread to an uninfected person '-- and would make the disease harder to eradicate.

Overall, the environment of the US is growing more conducive to growing populations of mosquitoes, which may raise the risk of malaria transmission. Climate change is ''definitely playing a role in vector-borne disease'' broadly throughout the United States, said Estelle Martin, an entomologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville who researches mosquito-borne diseases. Over the last two decades, increasing temperatures and extreme weather have favored mosquito replication '-- and they also favor the replication of malaria parasites. But it's not clear exactly what role that dynamic is playing in these three cases.

Colin Carlson, a global change biologist at Georgetown University's Center for Global Health Science and Security who has led research on the rapidly expanding reach of malaria-spreading mosquitoes in Africa, tweeted about the cases over the weekend. Climate change may contribute to malaria risk by increasing the size of mosquito populations, he noted '-- however, ''we know very little, climate evidence is weak, and epidemiological impacts would be tricky to guess.''

A CDC spokesperson wrote in an email to Vox on Friday, ''Though we know in general that climate can be one of many factors that can impact vector-borne diseases, in this situation, there is no compelling reason to think so.'' More likely at play, said the agency, were the forces of migration: ''Today, global travel and trade allow vector-borne diseases to be moved around the world and transmitted by local mosquitoes or ticks, especially in places where those diseases may have once been common.''

It's not time to panic, but it is time to protect yourselfEven if several people have been infected and there are some mosquitoes out there with the parasite in their bellies, it doesn't mean the US is headed for an explosive malaria outbreak. ''It's always worrisome that you have local transmission in an area,'' said Martin, but added that there's no need to panic. And there's a lot people can do to protect themselves.

It's important for people to do their best to avoid mosquito bites, said Drennon. He advises people to wear long sleeves and cover their legs '-- which he acknowledges is challenging in the Florida heat '-- and to use mosquito repellent.

Eliminating mosquito hangout spots is also very important: Although Anopheline mosquitoes typically don't congregate near houses, he advises people to drain any standing water and eliminate places where water can accumulate, as other mosquitoes that spread other infections can breed there. ''It's not uncommon to see dengue here,'' he said; during the Zika outbreak in 2016-17, the state was also one of two US locations where that virus was transmitted locally.

It's also important for local health care providers to be aware of the local risk for malaria. Mosquitoes can infect multiple people before the outbreak is even identified. So once one case is found, public health officials need to snap into action, alerting health care workers, educating the public on prevention, and coordinating mosquito seek-and-destroy missions.

Sarasota County's first case was initially diagnosed while the patient was being evaluated for a fever; blood test abnormalities prompted further testing, said Drennon. Area health care providers were alerted to the case, and the second case was reported not long after.

Even if these outbreaks prove to be a blip, the threat of malaria taking a stronger hold in the US remains. ''We know that we have individuals who travel all over the world who can wind up here with malaria,'' Drennon said. ''And we know that we have the vector species here that can transmit it.'' It's critical for the public ''to take precautions to prevent not only malaria but other mosquito-borne diseases that we have in Florida.''

Update, June 27, 11:40 am ET: This story was originally published on June 23 and has been updated multiple times, most recently to include newly identified cases and the CDC advisory.

Will you support Vox's explanatory journalism?

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 18:58

Professional Dominican basketball player 'scar Cabrera Adames died this week after an apparent heart attack while he was possibly undergoing a stress test.

According to a social media post from Dominican sports commentator H(C)ctor G"mez, the 28-year-old's stress test was being performed at a health center in Santo Domingo.

Cabrera Adames is believed to have suffered from myocarditis.

The disease can weaken the heart and its electrical system, which decreases the heart's ability to pump blood, according to the American Heart Association.

Following his death, social media posts surfaced in which Cabrera Adames suggested he developed the rare heart disease after he received two doses of a COVID vaccine.

''I got a damn Myocarditis from taking a f'--ing vaccine. (I got 2 doses of Pfizer) And I knew it! Many people warned me,'' Cabrera Adames wrote on social media.

He also said the vaccine was a work requirement.

Cabrera Adames is believed to have suffered from myocarditis as the disease can weaken the heart and its electrical system, which decreases the heart's ability to pump blood. Twitter/@TexasLindsay_''But guess what? It was compulsory or I couldn't work. I am an international professional athlete and I am playing in Spain. I have no health problem, nothing, not hereditary, no asthma, NOTHING! I suddenly collapsed to the ground in the middle of a match and almost died. I'm still recovering and I've had 11 different cardiology tests done and guess? They find nothing.''

Cabrera Adames's collapse happened during a 2021 Spanish Amateur Basketball League game. He fainted during the game and was later transported to a hospital on a stretcher.

According to the Mayo Clinic, a stress test is designed to show how the heart functions during physical activity. Medical personnel usually attach electrodes to the patient's chest during the test. A machine then records the electrical activity of the heart.

Cabrera Adames suggested he may have developed the rare heart disease after he received two doses of a COVID vaccine. Twitter/@TexasLindsay_It remains unclear if the stress test was the direct cause of Cabrera Adames' heart attack.

Cabrera Adames was the nephew of Hugo Cabrera, a Dominican Sports Hall of Famer.

Cabrera Adames played basketball at Daytona State College in Florida.

In 2016, he was one of 12 men arrested by St. Johns County Sheriff's deputies for allegedly attempting to have sex with a minor.

The undercover sting was formed to catch individuals who intended to use the internet as a tool to find children to sexually exploit, law enforcement said at the time.

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 17:46

There's a surge of common sense in Sweden that's horribly lacking in the US. Congrats to Sweden for voting in favor of nuclear energy and scrapping a 100% renewable goal.

NetZero image from Tweet below.Reuters reports Swedish parliament passes new energy target, easing way for new nuclear power.

Sweden's parliament on Tuesday adopted a new energy target, giving the right-wing government the green light to push forward with plans to build new nuclear plants in a country that voted 40 years ago to phase out atomic power.

Changing the target to ''100% fossil-free'' electricity, from ''100% renewable'' is key to the government's plan to meet an expected doubling of electricity demand to around 300 TwH by 2040 and reach net zero emissions by 2045.

The coalition plans to cut the bio-fuel mix in petrol and diesel, leading to bigger CO2 emissions, a move that could mean Sweden missing 2030 emissions goals.

Proposals by Sweden to allow countries to prolong subsidies for standby coal power plants have also been met concern in the EU, while Stockholm also wanted Brussels to water-down a landmark law to restore deteriorating natural habitats.

Those are all common sense measures. Here is a set of Tweets on the subject.

Sweden ditching wind, going nuclear.Great time to be invest(ed) in uranium and small nuke reactors.

Rest of West has to following: renewables were a $5 trillion malinvestment. All politicians involved in the destruction of our standards of living over this nonsense must go. https://t.co/6UxX8wtvrB

'-- Mark Hubbard (@MarkHubbard33) June 25, 2023Trump Takes Aim at EVs

The Ever Growing Trillions of Dollars Per Year Demands to Fight Climate Change

On June 23, I commented on The Ever Growing Trillions of Dollars Per Year Demands to Fight Climate Change.

The Cost of Solidarity

An expert group under the auspice of the UN estimates that investments have to reach the order of $1 trillion per year until 2030 to respond to the climate and biodiversity crisis.Oxfam estimated that $3.9 trillion per year will be needed over the same time period to fight poverty, inequality and climate change.The World bank estimated that it takes $4 trillion per year to build the infrastructure for this.The cost of this ''easy to make'' vision is $1 trillion per year for the biodiversity crisis, plus $3.9 trillion per year to fight poverty and inequality, plus $4 trillion per year for the infrastructure. That's a mere $8.9 million per per year until 2030, a 7-year cost of $62.3 trillion.

Energy Policy Madness

In the US, Biden's Energy Policy Mandates Cause Severe Shortage of Electrical Steel and Transformers

In California, California Utilities Seek to Charge People Based On Income, Not Energy Usage

Also in California, Oakland Teachers Strike in 5th Day Over Climate Justice, Homeless Housing, Reparations

Finally please consider Ford Gets a $9.2 Billion Cheap Government Loan With Inflationary Strings Attached

In response, a friend just pinged me with this comment: ''This is colossally, stupid public policy. The government should not get involved in determining what is the best approach to electric vehicles. It should set standards and let the free enterprise system work it out.''

Unfortunately, it appears Biden pledged 0.7 percent of US wealth for global inequities.

Fortunately, the money isn't flowing. But it would have if Democrats held the House, Senate, and White House.

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Archived Version

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 17:37

When the spring lockdown in Kyiv restricted public transport to a small fraction of people, demand for bike and electric scooter rentals has gone through the roof.

Unlike taxis, bikes and scooters are environmentally friendly, relatively cheap and aren't hindered by heavy traffic, which only intensified from the recent restrictions.

With increased demand, the number of transport sharing services has grown as well. Hundreds of bikes and scooters are now scattered across Kyiv downtown, available to grab.

The Kyiv Post put together the services providing alternative vehicles in the Ukrainian capital.

Scooters

Estonian taxi and food delivery service Bolt was the first company to launch scooter sharing in Kyiv, and it still remains among the leaders. With some of the lowest rates, Bolt's green-hued scooters are light, fast and easy to drive. The service also covers the biggest area, in which vehicles can be used, including central Kyiv and parts of districts as remote as Holosiivskyi, Obolonskyi, Sviatoshynskyi and even Darnytskyi on the left bank of the Dnipro River.

To rent the company's scooter, a user needs to update the Bolt app to the latest version, switch to the scooter mode, find an available vehicle on the map, scan a QR code on a scooter and pay with a card through the app. The cost of unlocking a scooter is Hr 9 ($0.32), and the rate is Hr 1.9 ($0.07) per minute. Renting a vehicle for a whole day costs Hr 490 ($15).

A woman passes by electric scooters of the Scroll service in central Kyiv on Oct. 26, 2020. Scroll is one of several scooter sharing services that offer alternative transport to Kyiv citizens. (Volodymyr Petrov)No less light and convenient are electric scooters from Scroll, a rental service from Georgia that says it cooperates with the international scooter rental company Bird headquartered in California. The service covers the central Kyiv area including Shevchenkivskyi, Pecherskyi and Podilskyi districts. To find available Scroll vehicles, a user needs to install the Bird app and check the map. From there, the procedure is the same, involving QR codes and card payment.

Scroll charges Hr 10 ($0.36) to unlock a vehicle and Hr 4 ($0.14) per minute after that. The required minimum tariff, however, is Hr 50 ($2), meaning that the users will be charged Hr 50 even if they accrue less.

Another popular sharing service is Kiwi. Though heavier and a bit harder to navigate, Kiwi scooters have the cheapest rates in the city. The company charges Hr 8 ($0.29) to unlock a vehicle and Hr 1.9 ($0.07) per minute. However, Kiwi requires topping up the app wallet with at least Hr 200 ($7) to start. The service covers downtown Kyiv and requires a Kiwi app to use.

Bikes

Bikenow put 2,000 new bicycles all around the capital this spring. The service works through the Bikenow mobile app with parking vehicles available in all the districts across the city. After registration, a user finds a nearby bike using the map and starts the trip by scanning a QR code on the bike. The vehicles have to be returned to one of the required locations on the map. A 30-minute trip costs Hr 20 ($0.7). There are also attractive subscription offers: The monthly one costs Hr 399 ($14) and the seasonal, three-month one is Hr 1,499 ($54). Both subscriptions make the first 30 minutes of each trip free and charge Hr 20 for every next 30 minutes.

A woman walks by a rack of Bikenow bicycles on Khreshchatyk Street in downtown Kyiv on April 14, 2021. The sharing service Bikenow has put out 2,000 bicycles on the Kyiv streets this spring. (Volodymyr Petrov)Ukrainian service Veliki.ua offers both bicycles and electric scooters. Its range includes bikes suitable for children or teenagers, mountain bikes and city bikes in different sizes. Veliki has seven bicycle stations in Kyiv at the VDNH exhibition center, Pyrohiv outdoor museum, Pozniaky and Beresteiska metro stations and elsewhere. The company also offers vehicles at the Mezhyhirya national park outside of Kyiv. The price depends on the type of bike and starts at Hr 100 ($4) per hour. A customer also has to leave a deposit of at least Hr 6,000 ($214) or Hr 250''500 and an ID. Veliki's price for electric scooter rental starts at Hr 100 ($4) for 15 minutes. Check details at Veliki's website.

Another bike rental, Velokratia, aside from regular bicycles, offers bikes built for two and four people. Their price starts at Hr 100 ($4) per hour and Hr 400 ($14) per day. Mountain and city bikes are available for rent for five days for Hr 550 ($20). Velokratia has six rental locations in Kyiv, all near the popular spots for outdoor recreation. They are VDNH, Livoberezhna and Druzhby Narodiv metro stations, Mezhyhirya, Feofaniya Park and Pyrohiv museum. Renting vehicles requires customers to leave a deposit of at least Hr 500 ($18), as well as an identity document. Electric scooters are also available and cost Hr 250 ($9) per hour. Check details at Velokratia's website.

Those who want to cycle across the picturesque 120-hectare Holosiivskyi Park should check Bikemotive. The company offers various bikes, charging Hr 100 ($4) for the first hour of rental. Every next hour is Hr 50 ($2), while a whole day is Hr 350 ($13). Customers will have to leave a deposit of at least Hr 5,000 ($179) or Hr 1,000''2,000 ($36''71) and an ID. Check details at Bikemotive's website.

The Katay service rents bikes right in the center of Kyiv, at 12 Pushkinska St., for those who want to cycle across the city's historic area. The price for a bicycle rental is Hr 70''90 ($3) per hour, Hr 200''350 ($7''12) per day and Hr 1,000''1,300 ($36''46) per week. Call to arrange a rental by +38067'Š781 6137, +38063'Š639 9377. Check details at Katay's website.

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 15:49

RYAN CASSATA'S ITUNES CHARTING, NEW ALBUM, MAGIC MIRACLE MILE AVAILABLE ON ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS!

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 15:44

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

United States law

The Hatch Act of 1939, An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities, is a United States federal law. Its main provision prohibits civil-service employees in the executive branch of the federal government,[3] except the president and vice president,[4] from engaging in some forms of political activity. It became law on August 2, 1939. The law was named for Senator Carl Hatch of New Mexico.[5] It was most recently amended in 2012.

Background [ edit ] Widespread allegations that local Democratic Party politicians used employees of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the congressional elections of 1938 provided the immediate impetus for the passage of the Hatch Act. Criticism centered on swing states such as Kentucky,[6] Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. In Pennsylvania, Republicans and dissident Democrats publicized evidence that Democratic politicians were consulted on the appointment of WPA administrators and case workers and that they used WPA jobs to gain unfair political advantage.[7] In 1938, a series of newspaper articles exposed WPA patronage, and political contributions in return for employment, prompting an investigation by the Senate Campaign Expenditures Committee, headed by Sen. Morris Sheppard, a Texas Democrat.[8]

Despite that investigation's inconclusive findings, many in both parties determined to take action against the growing power of the WPA and its chief administrator, Harry Hopkins, an intimate of President Franklin Roosevelt. The Act was sponsored by Senator Carl Hatch, a Democrat from New Mexico. At the time, Roosevelt was struggling to purge the Democratic party of its more conservative members, who were increasingly aligned with the administration's Republican opponents. The president considered vetoing the legislation or allowing it to become law without his signature, but instead signed it on the last day he could do so. His signing message welcomed the legislation as if he had called for it, and emphasized the protection his administration would provide for political expression on the part of public employees.[9]

Provisions [ edit ] The 1939 Act forbids the intimidation or bribery of voters and restricts political campaign activities by federal employees. It prohibits using any public funds designated for relief or public works for electoral purposes. It forbids officials paid with federal funds from using promises of jobs, promotion, financial assistance, contracts, or any other benefit to coerce campaign contributions or political support. It provides that persons below the policy-making level in the executive branch of the federal government must not only refrain from political practices that would be illegal for any citizen, but must abstain from "any active part" in political campaigns, using this language to specify those who are exempt:[10]

(i) an employee paid from an appropriation for the Executive Office of the President; or(ii) an employee appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, whose position is located within the United States, who determines policies to be pursued by the United States in the nationwide administration of Federal laws.The act also precludes federal employees from membership in "any political organization which advocates the overthrow of our constitutional form of government",[11] a provision meant to prohibit membership in organizations on the far left and far right, such as the Communist Party USA and the German-American Bund.[12]

An amendment on July 19, 1940, extended the Act to certain employees of state and local governments whose positions are primarily paid for by federal funds. It has been interpreted to bar political activity on the part of employees of state agencies administering federal unemployment insurance programs and appointed local law enforcement agency officials with oversight of federal grant funds. The Hatch Act bars state and local government employees from running for public office if any federal funds support the position, even if the position is funded almost entirely with local funds.[13]

The Merit Systems Protection Board and the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) are responsible for enforcement of the Hatch Act.[14] During the Trump administration, watchdog group CREW claimed the White House or the OSC overlooked apparent Hatch Act violations until groups like CREW or government whistleblowers filed official complaints.[15][16]

Supreme Court challenges [ edit ] The Supreme Court has several times declined to hear challenges to the act and has twice upheld its constitutionality. In a 1947 case brought by the CIO, a divided court found that Congress had properly exercised its authority as long as it had not affected voting rights. Justice William O. Douglas objected to the assertion that "clean politics" required the act's restrictions: "it would hardly seem to be imperative to muzzle millions of citizens because some of them, if left to their constitutional freedoms, might corrupt the political process."[17] In 1973, in a case brought by the National Association of Letter Carriers, a 6 to 3 decision found the act neither too broad nor unclear. The court's three most liberal justices, Douglas, William J. Brennan, and Thurgood Marshall, dissented. Douglas wrote: "It is no concern of government what an employee does in his or her spare time, whether religion, recreation, social work or politics is his hobby, unless what he or she does impairs efficiency or other facets of the merits of his job."[18]

Amendments [ edit ] In 1975, the House passed legislation allowing federal employees to participate in partisan elections and run for office, but the Senate took no action.[19] In 1976, Democrats who controlled Congress had sought to win support by adding protections against the coercion of employees by their superiors and federal employee unions had supported the legislation. It passed the House on a vote of 241 to 164 and the Senate on a vote of 54 to 36. President Ford vetoed the legislation on April 12. He noted that coercion could be too subtle for the law to eliminate and that the Supreme Court had said in 1973 that the Hatch Act had achieved "a delicate balance between fair and effective government and the First Amendment rights of individual employees."[20] President Carter proposed similar legislation in 1977.[21]

A proposed amendment to permit federal workers to participate in political campaigns passed the House on a 305 to 112 vote in 1987.[22] In 1990, a similar bill passed the House on a vote of 334 to 87 and the Senate on a vote of 67 to 30. President George H. W. Bush vetoed the legislation,[23] which the House voted to override 327 to 93 and the Senate sustained on a vote of 65 to 35, with 55 Democrats and 10 Republicans voting to override and 35 Republicans supporting the president's veto.[24]

In 1993 the advocates for removing or modifying restrictions on the political activities of federal employees succeeded in enacting the Hatch Act Reform Amendments of 1993 (107 Stat. 1001) that removed the prohibition on participation in "political management or political campaigns." Federal employees are still forbidden to use their authority to affect the results of an election. They are also forbidden to run for office in a partisan election, to solicit or receive political contributions, and to engage in political activities while on duty or on federal property.[25]

President Barack Obama signed the Hatch Act Modernization Act of 2012 on December 28, 2012. It modified penalties under the Hatch Act to allow for disciplinary actions in addition to removal for federal employees; clarified the applicability to the District of Columbia of provisions that cover state and local governments; limited the prohibition on state and local employees running for elective office to employees whose salary is paid completely by federal loans or grants.[26][27]

Applicability to U.S. uniformed service personnel [ edit ] The Hatch Act does not apply to military members of the uniformed services of the United States, although it does apply to Department of Defense civil servants, as well as Department of Homeland Security civil servants in direct support of the United States Coast Guard. Members of the U.S. Armed Forces are subject to Department of Defense Directive 1344.10 (DoDD 1344.10), Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces, and the spirit and intent of that directive is effectively the same as that of the Hatch Act for Federal civil servants. By agreement between the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security, DoDD 1344.10 also applies to uniformed personnel of the Coast Guard at all times, whether it is operating as a service in the Department of Homeland Security or as part of the Navy under the Department of Defense. As a directive, DoDD 1344.10 is considered to be in the same category as an order or regulation, and military personnel violating its provisions can be considered in violation of Article 92 (Failure to obey order or regulation) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.[28][29][30]

Members of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps are subject to specific Health and Human Service regulations found in Title 44, Code of Federal Regulations Part 73 Subpart F.[31] Hatch Act guidelines for NOAA Corps Officers are provided by United States Department of Commerce, Office of the General Counsel, Ethics Law and Program Division.[32] Career members of the Senior Executive Service, administrative law judges, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corps officers are all subject to Hatch Act restrictions and have additional limitations on their off-duty political activities.[33]

Recent Hatch Act incidents [ edit ] Bush Administration [ edit ] In 2006, the Utah Democratic Party challenged the candidacy of Ogden City Police Chief Jon Greiner for State Senate. The challenge was upheld by the U.S. OSC because the year prior the Ogden City Police Department received a federal grant to help pay for bulletproof vests. Jon Greiner appealed the decision, remained on the ballot, won the election and served one term (2006''2010) as Utah State Senator while the results of the appeal were unknown.[34]In January 2007, the OSC announced the results of investigations into whether certain events during the election campaigns of 2004 and 2006 violated the Hatch Act.[35]It found no violation when Kennedy Space Center officials allowed Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign to use a NASA facility for a 2004 campaign event, because no government employees worked at the facility in question. It found streaming the event to NASA employees and contractors violated the Hatch Act.It reviewed a 2006 speech by NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin in which he appeared to endorse Representative Tom DeLay for re-election. It determined that he "should have exercised better judgment" and took no further action.In June 2007, the OSC found that Lurita Alexis Doan, Administrator of the General Services Administration, violated the Hatch Act when she took part in a video conference with Karl Rove and other White House officials, and sent letters asking how to help Republican politicians get elected.[36]In December 2007, Vigo County Superior Court Judge David Bolk ruled that the mayor-elect of Terre Haute (Indiana) Duke Bennett was covered by the Hatch Act when he was candidate for mayor because he had been director of operations for the Hamilton Center (a medical facility)[37] when he ran for mayor, and the Hamilton Center was receiving federal funding for its Head Start program. Nevertheless Bennett was allowed to take office, because Judge Bolk ruled that the legal challenge had been brought too late to prevent this. In November 2008 "Indiana Court of Appeals in a 2''1 decision found that the Hatch Act did apply to Bennett and called for a special election to fill the office of Terre Haute mayor."[38] In June 2009, Indiana Supreme Court ruled that Bennett could remain in office because the challenge had been brought by Bennett's opponent after the election, and therefore Bennett was no longer a candidate, but mayor-elect at the time and was no longer in violation of the act.[39]On May 6, 2008, FBI agents raided OSC offices and the home office of its director, Scott Bloch. The raids related to an investigation into allegations that Bloch's office had attempted to obstruct justice by hiring an outside company to delete computer files beyond recovery in order to prevent authorities from proving Bloch had violated the Hatch Act by retaliating against whistle-blowers in his office, an independent U.S. government agency "charged with protecting the rights of government whistle-blowers".[40][41]Obama Administration [ edit ] On September 13, 2012, the OSC charged Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius with violating the Hatch Act by making a political speech during an official government event. Sebelius later said she had made a mistake and that the error was "technical" in nature.[42]On July 18, 2016, the OSC concluded that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro violated the Hatch Act during an interview with Katie Couric. Castro admitted the violation, but denied any intent to violate the act.[43]On October 30, 2016, U.S. Senate Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid stated that FBI Director James Comey may have violated the Hatch Act by sending a letter to the Congress on October 28, 2016, which stated that the FBI would be reopening its investigation of the Hillary Clinton email controversy.[44][45] Also on October 30, Richard Painter, a chief White House ethics lawyer for the George W. Bush administration, published an op-ed saying that he had filed a complaint against the FBI with the OSC and with the Office of Government Ethics about the same matter.[46]In November 2016, two San Francisco Bay Area federal employees who were elected to school boards were told that they would have to resign their federal positions in order to serve on the boards, as their running for a non-partisan seat that had party political involvement contravened the Hatch Act. Both Jerrold Parsons, President of the John Swett Unified School District, and Ana Galindo-Marrone, Vice Mayor of Pacifica, chose not to serve in order to retain their federal jobs.[47]Trump Administration [ edit ] In June 2017, the OSC issued a warning to White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Dan Scavino Jr. for an April 2017 tweet that Scavino sent advocating for a primary challenge against U.S. Representative Justin Amash.[48]In October 2017, the OSC issued a warning to United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley over a June 2017 tweet that she retweeted from President Donald Trump endorsing Republican Congressional candidate Ralph Norman.[49]In November 2017, former Office of Government Ethics head Walter Shaub filed a complaint against White House counselor Kellyanne Conway charging that her opposition to Roy Moore opponent Doug Jones during a segment on Fox and Friends violated the Hatch Act.[50] In March 2018, the OSC announced that Conway violated the Hatch Act on that occasion and one other.[51]In February 2018, FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly, in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, "advocated for the reelection of President Trump in his official capacity as FCC Commissioner".[52][53]In September 2018, the OSC issued a warning letter to Stephanie Grisham, the Press Secretary and Communications Director for the First Lady of the United States, for violating the act by including Trump's campaign slogan in a post on her government Twitter account.[54][55]In November 2018, the OSC ruled that six Trump administration officials violated the Hatch Act in posts to their government Twitter accounts, but declined to take disciplinary action. The OSC warned the officials'--Raj Shah, deputy press secretary; Jessica Ditto, deputy director of communications; Madeleine Westerhout, executive assistant to the president; Helen Aguirre Ferr(C), former director of media affairs; Alyssa Farah, press secretary for the vice president; and Jacob Wood, deputy communications director of the Office of Management and Budget'--that future infractions would be interpreted as willful violations subject to further action.[56]In June 2019, the OSC sent a letter to President Trump recommending that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway be removed from federal service for repeatedly violating the Hatch Act.[57] This report follows the March 2018 OSC finding that Conway was a "repeat offender" for disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while in her official capacity during televised interviews and on social media.[58][59] President Trump, when asked at a press conference, stated he thought the provision violated her free speech rights.[58]In August 2020, Department of Agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue supported the president's re-election while promoting the Farmers to Families Food Box Program; Perdue was fined for violating the Hatch Act.[60][61][62]In August 2020, President Trump announced that, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, and the move of the 2020 Republican National Convention to a largely online format, he would make his speech accepting the Republican Party nomination for the presidential election from the South Lawn of the White House. In response, the OSC sent a letter to President Trump indicating that, while both the President and Vice-President are not covered by the terms of the Hatch Act, White House staffers are, and would therefore not be able to assist with such an address. Moreover, other portions of the Convention included clips recorded at the White House (e.g. an interview with freed hostages, and a naturalization ceremony [63]). While Republicans argued that the South Lawn forms part of the President's residence, and therefore should not be classed as part of a federal building, legal experts point out that "[i]t's still illegal under the Hatch Act for any White House staffer to participate in executing a campaign photo op/video segment in the White House".[64] This could also lead to investigations for staffers that may have aided Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (but not Pompeo himself) in his convention activities as he delivered a speech while on official business in Jerusalem.[65]As of mid-October 2020, 14 members of the Trump administration had been accused by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington of Hatch Act violations to promote the incumbent's re-election.[66] By the beginning of November it was up to 16.[67] Senator Elizabeth Warren's staff released a report in which they "counted more than 54 violations of the Hatch Act by 14 administration officials dating back to 2017, as well as nearly 100 additional pending investigations for alleged violations by 22 officials."[68]On November 5, 2020, the United States Office of Special Counsel opened an investigation into the campaign's use of the White House for campaign purposes.[69] In January 2021, emails from before the election were reported to feature a "top" Interior department official instructing staff to reference the president's account in each post on social media.[70]Biden Administration [ edit ] In March 2021, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge violated the Hatch Act by signaling support for Democratic candidates for the upcoming 2022 Ohio Senate election. Secretary Fudge received a warning from the Office of Special Counsel for the comments, which said, "If in the future she engages in prohibited political activity we will consider such activity to be a willful and knowing violation of the law that could result in further action."[71][72]In October 2021, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was alleged to have violated the Hatch Act by the watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington after she indicated that President Joe Biden supported the candidacy of Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election. The watchdog had previously warned, in a letter to the Biden Administration, that Psaki's statement of support in February 2021 for California Governor Gavin Newsom in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election, while not a Hatch Act violation since the election was not yet certain to occur, was "closer than necessary to the situations the Hatch Act does contemplate".[73][74][75]In March 2022, President Biden fired Herschel Walker and Mehmet Oz from their positions on the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition due to the two being active Republican United States Senate candidates. The terminations were a result of potential Hatch Act violations, as well as a Biden administration policy against allowing federal candidates to serve on presidential boards.[76][77][78]In November 2022, by mentioning ''mega MAGA Republicans'' as midterm election campaigns were ongoing, Karine Jean-Pierre broke a law that prohibits federal employees from using their position to influence elections, according to federal investigators. In the June 7 letter, the agency laid out its findings. "Because Ms. Jean'Pierre made the statements while acting in her official capacity, she violated the Hatch Act prohibition against using her official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election," Ana Galindo'Marrone, who leads the agency's Hatch Act Unit, wrote in the letter, according to NBC.[79] Agencies and employees prohibited from engaging in partisan political activity [ edit ] Employees of the following agencies (or agency components), or in the following categories, are subject to more extensive restrictions on their political activities than employees in other departments and agencies.

Administrative law judges (positions described at 5 U.S.C. § 5372)Central Intelligence AgencyContract Appeals Boards (positions described at 5 U.S.C. § 5372a)Criminal Division (Department of Justice)Defense Intelligence AgencyFederal Bureau of InvestigationFederal Election CommissionMerit Systems Protection BoardNational Geospatial-Intelligence AgencyNational Security AgencyNational Security CouncilOffice of Criminal Investigation (Internal Revenue Service)Office of Investigative Programs (Customs Service)Office of Law Enforcement (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives)United States Office of Special CounselSecret ServiceSenior Executive ServiceEmployees identified at 5 U.S.C. § 7323(b)(2)(B)-(3)Additionally, one of the early consequences of the act, were disparate court rulings in union busting cases which forbade the use of voter information from initiative and recall petitions for any purposes outside the intended elections.

Current restrictions [ edit ] Permitted and prohibited activities for Federal EmployeesActivityRegular Federal Employees[80]Restricted Federal Employees[81]Active in partisan political managementPermittedProhibitedAssist in voter registration drivesPermittedNon-partisan onlyAttend political rallies, meetings, and fundraisersPermittedBe candidates in non-partisan electionsPermittedBe candidates in partisan elections[a]ProhibitedCampaign for or against candidatesPermittedProhibitedCampaign for or against referendum questions, constitutional amendments, or municipal ordinancesPermittedCirculate nominating petitionsPermittedProhibitedContribute money to partisan groups and candidates in partisan electionsPermittedDistribute campaign literature to include via email or social mediaPermittedProhibitedEngage in political activity while on dutyProhibitedExpress opinions about partisan groups and candidates in partisan elections while not at work or using official authorityPermittedExpress opinions about political issuesPermittedInvite subordinate employees to political events or otherwise suggest that they engage in political activityProhibitedJoin partisan groupsPermittedMake campaign speeches for candidates in partisan electionsPermittedProhibitedParticipate in campaignsPermittedOnly if candidates do not represent a political partyRegister and vote as they choosePermittedSign nominating petitionsPermittedSolicit or discourage the political activity of any person with business before the agency[b]ProhibitedSolicit, accept, or receive political contributions (including hosting or inviting others to political fundraisers)ProhibitedUse official authority to interfere with an election or while engaged in political activityProhibitedNotes: ^ Federal employees are allowed to be independent candidates in partisan elections for offices of certain localities where most voters are federal employees. Most of these localities are in the Washington metropolitan area.[82] ^ Allowed if both persons are members of the same federal labor or employee organization, the person solicited is not a subordinate employee, the solicitation is for a contribution to the organization's political action committee, and the solicitation does not occur while on duty or in the workplace Permitted candidacies [ edit ] Federal employees are allowed to be candidates in non-partisan elections, meaning where no candidates are identified by political party.[82] This type of election is used by most municipalities and school boards in the United States.[83]

They are also allowed to be independent candidates in partisan elections for offices of certain localities where most voters are federal employees, as designated by the Office of Personnel Management:[82]

District of ColumbiaIn Maryland: Anne Arundel, Calvert, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's and St. Mary's counties; and municipalities of Annapolis, Berwyn Heights, Bethesda,[a] Bladensburg, Bowie, Brentwood, Capitol Heights, Cheverly, Chevy Chase,[b] Chevy Chase Section Three, Chevy Chase View, Chevy Chase Village, College Park, Cottage City, District Heights, Edmonston, Fairmount Heights,[c] Forest Heights, Garrett Park, Glen Echo, Glenarden, Greenbelt, Hyattsville, Kensington, Landover Hills, Martin's Additions, Morningside, Mount Rainier, New Carrollton, North Beach, North Brentwood, North Chevy Chase, Northwest Park,[a] Riverdale Park,[d] Rockville, Seat Pleasant, Somerset, Takoma Park, University Park and Washington GroveIn Virginia: Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, King George, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties; cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, Manassas Park and Portsmouth; and towns of Clifton, Herndon and ViennaOther municipalities: Anchorage, Alaska; Huachuca City and Sierra Vista, Arizona; Benicia, California; Centerville and Warner Robins, Georgia; Crane, Indiana; New Johnsonville and Norris, Tennessee; Elmer City, Bremerton and Port Orchard, Washington ^ a b Unincorporated area, no elected offices of its own. ^ Listed as "Chevy Chase, section 4", its former name. ^ Listed as "Fairmont Heights". ^ Listed as "Riverdale", its former name. See also [ edit ] Office of Personnel ManagementSmith ActHouse Un-American Activities CommitteeReferences [ edit ] ^ "Political Activities". oge.gov. U.S. Office of Government Ethics . Retrieved August 8, 2020 . ^ "To Pass S. 1871, A Bill to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities (The Hatch Act)". govtrack.us. GovTrack . Retrieved August 12, 2020 . ^ Brown, Cynthia; Maskell, Jack (April 13, 2016). "Hatch Act Restrictions on Federal Employees' Political Activities in the Digital Age" (PDF) . Congressional Research Service. p. 4 . Retrieved November 3, 2016 . ^ "Federal Employee Hatch Act Information". osc.gov. U.S. Office of Special Counsel . Retrieved August 8, 2020 . ^ "Hatch Act". Encyclopedia Britannica. 20 July 1998 . Retrieved 13 June 2017 . ^ Robert J. Leupold (1975). "The Kentucky WPA: Relief and Politics, May''November, 1935". Filson Club History Quarterly. 49 (2): 152''168. Archived from the original on 2012-03-28. ^ Priscilla F. Clement (1971). "The Works Progress Administration In Pennsylvania: 1935''1940". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 95 (2): 244''260. JSTOR 20090543. ^ Tindall, George B. (1967). The Emergence of the New South, 1913''1945 . Louisiana State University Press. pp. 629''20. ISBN 978-0807100202. ^ Smith, Jason Scott (2006). Building New Deal Liberalism: The Political Economy of Public Works, 1933''1956. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 184''186. ISBN 978-0521828055. ^ "Envoys Declared Outside Hatch Act" (PDF) . The New York Times. 24 October 1940 . Retrieved 6 September 2012 . (subscription required) ^ Moynihan, Daniel Patrick (1998). Secrecy: The American Experience . Yale University Press. pp. 159. ISBN 0300080794. ^ Stone, Geoffrey R. (2004). Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism . W.W. Norton. pp. 342. ISBN 978-0393058802. ^ Jason C. Miller, The Unwise and Unconstitutional Hatch Act: Why State and Local Government Employees Should be Free to Run for Public Office, 34 S. Ill. U. L.J.___ (forthcoming 2010) ^ William V. Luneburg. Hatch Act (1939). enotes.com ^ Solender, Andrew (2020-08-26). "Here's Why Trump Officials Rarely Face Penalties For Hatch Act Violations". Forbes . Retrieved 2020-10-27 . ^ "Congress must stop White House officials from illegally trying to influence the election". CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington . Retrieved 2020-10-27 . ^ Walz, Jay (February 11, 1947). "CIO Fails in Highest Court to Void 'Clean Politics' Act" (PDF) . The New York Times . Retrieved June 12, 2013 . ^ "Supreme Court Upholds Hatch Act, 6''3; Says Curbs on Political Activity Are Fair" (PDF) . The New York Times. June 26, 1973 . Retrieved June 12, 2013 . ^ Madden, Richard (December 21, 1975). "Congressional Session Marked by Clashes with Ford on Energy and Tax Cut" (PDF) . The New York Times . Retrieved June 13, 2013 . ^ Naughton, James M. (April 13, 1976). "Ford Vetoes Bill to Ease Hatch Act" (PDF) . The New York Times . Retrieved June 13, 2013 . ^ Weaver, Jr., Warren (March 23, 1977). "Carter Proposes End of Electoral College in Presidential Votes" (PDF) . The New York Times . Retrieved 13 June 2013 . ^ Pear, Robert (November 18, 1987). "House Approves Bill to Lift Curbs On Federal Employees in Politics". The New York Times . Retrieved June 13, 2013 . ^ Dowd, Maureen (June 16, 1990). "President Vetoes a Bill and Makes a Threat on Second". The New York Times . Retrieved June 13, 2013 . ^ Berke, Richard L. (June 22, 1990). "Senate Upholds Veto of Bill On U.S. Workers in Politics". The New York Times . Retrieved June 13, 2013 . ^ Public Law 103-94 '' Oct. 6, 1993 and Congressional Research Service (Cynthia Brown and Jack Marshall) "Hatch Act Restrictions on Federal Employees' Political Activities in the Digital Age". April 13, 2016, p. 4. ^ "Statement by the Press Secretary..." whitehouse.gov. 28 December 2012 . Retrieved February 9, 2013 '' via National Archives. ^ Ambrose, Eileen (January 27, 2013). "Campaign rules for federal employees get an update". Baltimore Sun . Retrieved August 31, 2020 . ^ Directive 1344.10. Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces Archived 2009-08-25 at the Wayback Machine. Department of Defense (2008-02-19). ^ Cpl. R. Drew Hendricks, "DoD policy limits political practices in the workplace". Marine Forces Pacific. marines.mil (2008-01-31). ^ Christopher Garcia. Political Activities. Office of Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness. ^ "45 CFR Part 73, Subpart F '' Political Activity". Legal Information Institute. Cornell Law School . Retrieved 31 May 2018 . ^ "Ethics Law and Programs Division". Office of the General Counsel. February 28, 2014. ^ "Political Activities". Office of the General Counsel. March 5, 2014. ^ Loftin, Josh (November 1, 2006). "Police chief plans to stay in Senate race". Deseret Morning News . Retrieved July 8, 2012 . ^ "OSC: High Level NASA Hatch Investigations Present Cautionary Tale". OSC.gov (Press release). January 29, 2007. Archived from the original on February 5, 2007 . Retrieved June 16, 2019 . ^ "Doan's fate up to president; Hatch Act violation could prompt firing," Federal Times, May 28, 2007 ^ "Home", Hamilton Center Inc , retrieved 23 August 2020 ^ Foulkes, Arthur E. (19 November 2008). "Mayor maintains he did not violate Little Hatch Act in seeking office". Tribune-Star. ^ "Indiana Supreme Court rules Terre Haute mayor can keep office". News and Tribune. 17 June 2009. "Kevin D. Burke v. Duke Bennett" (PDF) , Indiana Supreme Court, 16 June 2009 ^ Rood, Justin (May 6, 2008). "FBI Raids Bush Official's Office". ABC News . Retrieved February 10, 2012 . ^ Shenon, Philip (May 7, 2008). "F.B.I. Raids Office of Special Counsel". The New York Times . Retrieved February 12, 2013 . ^ "White House indicates Sebelius won't be punished over Hatch Act violation". Fox News. September 13, 2012 . Retrieved September 17, 2012 . ^ Korte, Gregory (July 18, 2016). "Investigation: HUD Secretary Julian Castro broke law by endorsing Clinton". USA Today . Retrieved July 20, 2016 . ^ "Harry Reid says FBI Director James Comey 'may have broken' federal law". Fox News. October 30, 2016 . Retrieved June 16, 2019 . ^ "Letter to Congress From F.B.I. Director on Clinton Email Case". The New York Times. October 28, 2016 . Retrieved October 28, 2016 . ^ Painter, Richard W. (October 30, 2016). "On Clinton Emails, Did the F.B.I. Director Abuse His Power?". The New York Times . Retrieved June 16, 2019 . ^ "Hatch Act torpedoes Bay Area officials' re-election bids". East Bay Times. 5 November 2016 . Retrieved 5 November 2016 . ^ Lipton, Eric (June 9, 2017). "White House Official's Political Tweet Was Illegal, Agency Says". The New York Times . Retrieved June 20, 2017 . ^ Cohen, Zachary (October 3, 2017). "UN ambassador Nikki Haley warned over Trump retweet". CNN . Retrieved October 4, 2017 . ^ Gerstein, Josh (November 22, 2017). "Legal complaint filed over Kellyanne Conway's comments on Roy Moore race". Politico . Retrieved November 23, 2017 . ^ Lee, MJ (March 6, 2018). "Office of Special Counsel: Conway violated Hatch Act". CNN . Retrieved March 6, 2018 . ^ Kumar, Anita (2019-05-15). "Complaints grow that Trump staffers are campaigning for their boss". Politico . Retrieved 2020-10-27 . ^ Neidig, Harper (2018-05-01). "Watchdog finds FCC commissioner violated Hatch Act during CPAC appearance". The Hill . Retrieved 2020-10-27 . ^ Bennett, Kate (September 21, 2018). "Melania Trump's spokeswoman reprimanded for Hatch Act violation". CNN . Retrieved December 9, 2018 . ^ Kwong, Jessica (2019-06-28). "The Trump administration has a major Hatch Act problem. Here's every official accused of breaking the federal law". Newsweek . Retrieved 2020-10-26 . ^ Kaufman, Ellie (December 3, 2018). "6 White House officials found in violation of the Hatch Act". CNN . Retrieved December 9, 2018 . ^ "Violations of the Hatch Act Under the Trump Administration". House Committee on Oversight and Reform. 2019-06-26 . Retrieved 2020-10-26 . ^ a b Gallu, Joshua; Allison, Bill (June 13, 2019). "Kellyanne Conway Should Be Removed From White House Job, U.S. Agency Says". Bloomberg . Retrieved June 16, 2019 . ^ Kerner, Henry J. (13 June 2019), "Covering letter and Report of Prohibited Political Activity Under the Hatch Act (OSC File Nos. HA-19-0631 & HA-19-3395 (Kellyanne Conway)" (PDF) , U.S. Office of Special Counsel, archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2019 ^ "USDA chief violated Hatch Act by advocating for Trump re-election, gov't watchdog says". NBC News . Retrieved 2020-10-26 . ^ Beitsch, Rebecca (2020-10-08). "USDA's Perdue fined for violating Hatch Act while promoting food boxes". The Hill . Retrieved 2020-10-26 . ^ Mccrimmon, Ryan (2020-10-08). "Perdue rebuked for violating ethics law by boosting Trump's reelection". Politico . Retrieved 2020-10-26 . ^ Kanno-Youngs, Zolan; Shear, Michael D. (August 26, 2020). "Trump Takes Night Off From Anti-Immigrant Talk to Swear In U.S. Citizens". The New York Times. ^ Behrmann, Savannah (26 August 2020). "RNC: Trump criticized for using White House as a backdrop for the convention". USA Today . Retrieved 26 August 2020 . ^ "Feds Can Be Prosecuted for Hatch Act Violations, Though Pompeo and Wolf Are Likely in the Clear". Government Executive. ^ "Top Trump administration figures flout law banning partisan campaigning". The Guardian. October 15, 2020. ^ "Sixteen Trump administration officials violated the law to boost Trump campaign in October". CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. ^ "Elizabeth Warren's office compiled a report on the Trump administration's Hatch Act violations. They counted more than 50". www.boston.com. ^ Samuels, Brett (November 6, 2020). "Office of Special Counsel investigating use of White House for Trump campaign 'war room' ". The Hill. ^ "POLITICO Pro". ^ "Biden's HUD secretary violated Hatch Act with election talk: watchdog". May 14, 2021. ^ "HUD Secretary Fudge violated the Hatch Act, Office of Special Counsel concludes". CNN. ^ "White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki accused of violating Hatch Act". USA Today. ^ "CREW sends Biden administration letter on Hatch Act". CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. March 22, 2021. ^ https://www.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-3-22-Remus-Hatch-Act.pdf[bare URL PDF ] ^ Bowden, John (March 24, 2022). "Controversial GOP candidate Mehmet Oz fired after refusing to quit president's council on sports". The Independent . Retrieved July 14, 2022 . ^ Passy, Charles (March 25, 2022). "Biden brings onboard chef Jos(C) Andr(C)s after cutting Mehmet Oz and Herschel Walker from presidential fitness council". MarketWatch . Retrieved July 14, 2022 . ^ Yang, Maya (March 24, 2022). "White House tells Dr Oz and Herschel Walker to resign from fitness council". The Guardian . Retrieved July 14, 2022 . ^ "White House press secretary violated Hatch Act, watchdog agency says". Yahoo News. 2023-06-12 . Retrieved 2023-06-13 . ^ "Permitted and Prohibited Activities for Most Federal Employees" (PDF) . osc.gov. U.S. Office of Special Counsel. September 2017 . Retrieved August 5, 2020 . ^ "Permitted and Prohibited Activities for Federal Employees Subject to Further Restrictions" (PDF) . osc.gov. U.S. Office of Special Counsel. September 2017 . Retrieved August 5, 2020 . ^ a b c 5 CFR 733, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, October 1, 2020. ^ Why nonpartisan '' versus partisan '' school board elections do not tell the whole story, Scholars Strategy Network, April 12, 2017. Further reading [ edit ] Brown, Cynthia; Maskell, Jack (April 13, 2016). "Hatch Act Restrictions on Federal Employees' Political Activities in the Digital Age" (PDF) . Congressional Research Service. Fowler, Dorothy Ganfield (1960). "Precursors of the Hatch Act". Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 47 (2): 247''262. doi:10.2307/1891709. JSTOR 1891709. External links [ edit ] Discussion of Hatch Act on federal, state, and local government employees by the U. S. Office of Special CounselHatch Act: Candidacy for Office by Federal Employees in the Executive Branch Congressional Research ServiceHatch Act Text

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 15:34

A new Eli Lilly experimental drug has helped patients lose 24 percent of their weight, according to new mid-stage clinical trial results.

The results, released Monday, followed 338 adults, nearly 52 percent of whom were men, who were obese or overweight and had either received Eli Lilly's retatrutide injection or a placebo treatment.

Retatrutide is a weekly injection that changes the way patients eat, mimicking certain hormones in the gut and leading to the patient having a decreased appetite, according to CNBC.

Retatrutide is comparable to Eli Lilly's other obesity drug, Mounjaro.

Mounjaro, which can also be used for Type 2 diabetes treatment, helped patients lose 21 percent of their body weight in a clinical trial, CNBC reported.

The phase two trial saw patients who took a 12-milligram dose of retatrutide lose 17.5 percent of their weight after 24 weeks, compared with patients who lost 1.6 percent of their body weight in the placebo group.

After 48 weeks, patients using retatrutide lost 24.2 percent of their body fat, and those who took a placebo lost 2.1 percent of their body weight.

Jailers' 'negligence and misconduct' blamed in Jeffrey Epstein suicide: DOJ watchdogFive teens killed when car lands in Florida retention pondIn their conclusion, the trial researchers said that retatrutide treatment resulted in substantial reductions in body weight for those who took the medication.

Retatrutide has three different hunger-regulating hormones: GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon. These hormones help with the drug being more potent in curbing a person's appetite and satisfaction with food.

Eli Lilly is currently recruiting patients for a phase three trial, CNBC reported.

Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 15:33

Elon Musk's mother is worried for her son's safety and told people, 'don't encourage this match' when asked about the possibility of the Tesla founder facing Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg.

However, Maye Musk, 75, is very much against the idea of her son getting hurt in the ring.

She took to Twitter to share her opposition to the matchup and told people not to encourage it and said she 'canceled the fight.'

Musk issued the challenge last week as there was a discussion on Facebook parent company META creating a Twitter rival. Twitter owner Musk then challenged Zuckerberg to a cage fight.

Zuckerberg responded on Instagram, saying 'send me location' and it looked like the fight might actually happen. While both men have trained in different forms of fighting, there has yet to be confirmation the spectacle has been scheduled.

Elon Musk's mother is worried for her son's safety and told people 'don't encourage this match' between him and Mark Zuckerberg before joking that it was canceled

Musk, pictured sumo wrestling, challenged the Meta CEO to a cage fight on June 20 and he responded the next day asking him to 'send me location'

Musk, 51, is by far the richer of the two and is both heavier and taller than Zuckerberg, 39, but he poses a serious threat, due to his keen passion for Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Pictured: Zuckerberg competing in a tournament in Redwood City, California on May 6

'Don't encourage this match!', Maye wrote in response to podcaster Lex Fridman who seemed to take joy in the proposed fight between the two billionaires last Thursday.

In another tweet, she wrote: 'Actually, I canceled the fight. I haven't told them yet. But I will continue to say the fight is canceled, just in case'...'

The following day, Maye suggested an alternative to the physical bout, a proposal that only involved words.

'A verbal fight only,' she suggested. 'Three questions each. The funniest answers win. Who agrees?'

Musk, 51, is by far the richer of the two and is both heavier and taller than Zuckerberg, 39, but the META founder poses a serious threat, due to his keen passion for Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Musk suggested the fight with Zuckerberg on June 20 in a tweet and said: 'I'm up for a cage match if he is lol.'

The Facebook founder, who has enjoyed recent success in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, seemed to agree the following day.

He shared an Instagram story with a screenshot of Musk's tweet and wrote 'Send Me Location' which is a catchphrase associated with MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov.

In response to an article about the proposed fight between the two tech giants, Musk responded to the location by tweeting: 'Vegas Octagon'.

The Octagon is the official competition mat and fenced-in design for Mixed Martial Arts cage fights.

Zuckerberg impressed martial arts fans and showcased his skills during his first-ever Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament in Redwood City, California, on May 6.

He proved he has grappling skills as he won gold and silver medals but Zuckerberg was left frustrated in one fight after he was pinned down and the referee ended the match early and gave the win to his opponent.

The official later said he intervened because he started to snore, which is a sign he was unconscious.

Musk's mother Maye Musk, 75, (right) is very much against the idea of her son getting hurt in the ring

She took to Twitter to share her opposition to the matchup and told people not to encourage it and said she 'canceled the fight'

But Meta, Zuckerberg and his coach have denied the report and claimed he was just grunting.

Ultimate Fighting Championship chief Dana White claimed both men are 'dead serious' about the extraordinary bout and hoped to raise money for charity through the match.

White insisted the fight is 'one of the biggest of all time' and is hoping to play host to the event.

He even went as far as to suggest he would be open to staging the clash inside the UFC Octagon - much to the dismay of supporters.

Many critics slammed the UFC president for the hypocrisy in his past comments about the promotion 'not doing gimmick fights.'

But White asserted Musk vs Zuckerberg shouldn't be classed as one.

Zuckerberg impressed martial arts fans and showcased his skills during his first ever Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament in Redwood City, California on May 6

He proved he has serious grappling skills as picked up gold and silver medals but was left frustrated in one fight after he was pinned down and the referee ended the match early

'This isn't a gimmick fight. Gimmick is MMA guys going to boxing and getting beat. We have seen it already and know how it ends.

'This is a fight between two of the most powerful richest guys in the world.

'Who will win? Who has seen this before? NOBODY.' Despite the MMA community making it clear they don't want to see the fight, White remains confident that there is an audience for it.

The 53-year-old, said: 'It's also a crossover fight that literally EVERYONE will watch.'

In response to another fan, he added: 'Don't argue with someone like this dude.

'I love doing MASSIVE fights that everyone wanna see. This is the biggest one of all time. Fun s**t.'

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Mon, 26 Jun 2023 16:31

In the 1997 Disney animated musical fantasy film, Hercules , there is a particularly catchy number, Zero to Hero , which describes the rise of the star of the film from a clumsy boy into a strong and capable man. In the span of less than 24 hours, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the public face of the Wagner Group, a Russian private military contractor with shadowy ties to Russian military intelligence, has flipped the script of this ashes to diamonds tale, transforming an organization that had, through virtue of its impressive battlefield performance, become a legendary symbol of Russian patriotism and strength, into a discredited band of disgruntled traitors seeking the violent overthrow of the constitutional government of Russian on behalf of nations who seek the strategic defeat and ultimate destruction of Russia.

If Disney were to write a song about Prigozhin and Wagner today, it would be called Hero to Zero.

Let there be no doubt in anyone's mind'--Yevgeny Prigozhin has become a witting agent of Ukraine and the intelligence services of the collective West. And while there may be those within Wagner who have been unwittingly drawn into this act of high treason through deception and subterfuge, in the aftermath of Russian President Vladimir Putin's address to the Russian nation on June 24, and Yevgeny Prigozhin's impolitic reply, there can be no doubt that there are only two sides in this struggle'--the side of constitutional legitimacy, and the side of unconstitutional treason and sedition. Anyone who continues to participate in Prigozhin's coup has aligned themselves on the wrong side of the law and have themselves become outlaws.

Having taken Wagner down this unfortunate path, one needs to examine the motivations'--stated and otherwise'--that could prompt such a dangerous course of action. First and foremost, Prigozhin's gambit must be looked at for what it is'--an act of desperation. For all its military prowess, Wagner as a fighting force is unsustainable for any period without the logistical support of the Russian Ministry of Defense. The fuel that powers Wagner's vehicles, the ammunition that gives its weapons their lethality, the food that nourishes its fighters'--all comes from the very organization that Prigozhin has set his sights on usurping. This reality means that to succeed, Prigozhin would need to rally sufficient support behind his cause capable of not only sustaining his gambit but offsetting the considerable power of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian Federation which, if left intact, would be able to readily defeat the forces of Wagner in any large-scale combat.

In short, Prigozhin is looking to create a so-called ''Moscow Maidan'' designed to replicate the success of the events of early 2014 in Kiev, where the constitutionally elected government of President Victor Yanukovych was toppled from power through violence and force of will that was orchestrated by Ukrainian nationalists supported by the US and Europe. The fantasy of a ''Moscow Maidan'' has been at the center of the strategy of the collective West and their Ukrainian proxy from the very start. Premised on the notion of a weak Russian president propped up by a thoroughly corrupt oligarch class, the idea of creating the conditions for the rise of sufficient domestic unrest capable of bringing down the Putin government like a proverbial house of cards was the primary objective of the sanctions regime imposed by the West after the initiation of the Special Military Operation (SMO) on February 24, 2022. The failure of the sanctions to generate such a result compelled the collective West to double-down on the notion of collapsing the Russian government, this time using a military solution. The British Prime Minister pressured his Ukrainian counterpart to forgo a negotiated settlement to the conflict that was ready to be signed in Istanbul on April 1, 2022, and instead engage in a protracted war with Russia fueled by tens of billions of dollars' worth of military and financial assistance designed to inflict military losses on Russia sufficient to trigger domestic unrest'--the elusive ''Moscow Maidan.''

This effort likewise failed.

Failing to create the conditions conducive for the collapse of domestic support for Putin and the Ukrainian conflict by pressuring Russia from without, the collective West began working to create the conditions for bringing down Russia by sowing internal seeds of dissention. This strategy hinged on a very sophistical information warfare scheme which simultaneously sought to suppress and discredit narratives which sustained the official position of the Russian government, while building up covert agents of influence within social media outlets deemed to be influential amongst the Russian public. Using these channels, the pro-Ukrainian practitioners of information war began promulgating narratives intended to highlight the failings of the Russian government and, more specifically, persons close to President Putin who were affiliated with the SMO. By focusing their angst on what these channels were highlighting as the ''failures'' of the SMO, the information warfare practitioners were able to wrap themselves in the mantle of ''patriotism,'' claiming only to be looking out for the best interests of ''Mother Russia,'' all the while denigrating the character of the constitutional government.

There were several compelling narratives that were used by these information warfare specialists to serve as the foundation of their attack on Putin's Russia. One of the more popular was grounded in the mythology of ''2014'' and the early resistance to the Ukrainian nationalists who sought to impose their policies of cultural and linguistic genocide on the ethnic Russian population of the Donbas. Let there be no doubt'--the fighting that took place in the initial months and years of the Donbas conflict was difficult and bloody, and those who rallied to the cause of the ethnic Russians of the Donbas deserve tremendous credit for their courage and resilience in the face of a dangerous enemy. But this resistance also served to foster a sense of entitlement among the early leaders and participants of this resistance which often transformed into resentment against Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, for abandoning the citizens of the Donbas to their own fate. The combination of resentful entitlement turned into hostility after the initiation of the SMO, when these ''originals'' took umbrage at whet they deemed to be the inadequate intervention on the part of the Russian government and the perceived incompetence of the Russian military. Characters such as Igor Girkin (perhaps better known by his nom de guerre , Strelkov) and Russell ''Texas'' Bentley perfected the art of ''patriotic'' criticism which, intentionally or not, was used by Russia's enemies to further the notion of a weak and ineffective Russian government vulnerable to intervention by ''real'' Russian patriots who were concerned about ''corruption'' and ''inefficiency'' in the Putin regime. The pro-Ukrainian information warfare outlets were able to help magnify these ''patriotic'' voices of dissent by disseminating their message using Telegram and YouTube channels.

An expansion on the theme of ''betrayed patriot'' involves the Wagner Group itself and is pertinent to the present matter. The origins of the private military contract company, Wagner, are murky, but appear to be linked to the events of 2014 in the Donbas and the need for the Russian government to create a vehicle for the provision of relevant military expertise and material to the ethnic Russian resistance in the Donbas that would not conflict with Russian constitutional prohibitions against the deployment of regular Russian Army personnel on foreign soil. From its inception, Wagner was an adjunct of Russian Military Intelligence (GRU), and responsive to the commands of the Russian General Staff. This placed Wagner in the shadowy space between being an official agent of government policy and an independently-funded private military contractor.

Following the initiation of the SMO, the role played by Wagner in the Donbas conflict expanded, transitioning from an advisory capacity to major combatant by expanding the scope and scale of the Wagner presence. Wagner grew into a Corps-sized formation equipped with heavy weapons, including armor and artillery, as well as fixed-wing fighter aircraft, and was assigned responsibility for a section of the frontlines which included the twin-salt mining towns of Soledar and Bakhmut, both of which had been heavily fortified by the Ukrainian military. The bloody fighting for the Soledar-Bakhmut complex, which became known by the sobriquet ''the meatgrinder,'' helped transform Wagner into a legendary combat force in the minds of most Russians, and elevated Prigozhin's profile considerably.

Wagner achieved its well-deserved martial reputation largely because it was able to operate independent of the suffocating bureaucracy of the Russian military. Thus liberated, Wagner was able to best exploit the experience and skill of its veteran fighters, streamlining command and control and tactical decision-making to enable Wagner to seize and maintain operational initiative, allowing Wagner to dominate the battlefield. While Wagner had operational independence, it received its operational tasking from the Russian General Staff, which also provided Wagner with the weapons, ammunition, fuel, and other logistical sustainment necessary to carry out its assigned mission.

The legal status of Wagner was secure so long as the territory it operated on was not Russian. This changed, however, in the aftermath of the September 2022 referendum which saw the Donbas transition from being an independent entity to being part of Russia. Wagner was able to maintain its unique status during the political transition of the Donbas to full Russian constitutional control, but once this transition was completed, sometime in early 2023, reality came home to roost. Logistical requisitions, which used to be treated as special requests approved as part of the general support provided by Russia to the Donbas, were not treated as part of the routine logistical establishment of the Russian ministry of Defense. From a practical standpoint, this meant that the quantities of ammunition, especially in terms of artillery shells, was cut back to reflect the ''norm'' used to support military formations of a similar size. Wagner tactics, however, were contingent upon the ability to support their operations with overwhelming fire support. Denied the quantities of ammunition they were used to receiving, Wagner's assault detachment began to take heavy casualties, prompting Prigozhin to initiate a public feud with both Shoigu and Gerasimov, whom he accused of incompetence and corruption.

Prigozhin's antics, which were played out in intimate detail on social media, caught the attention of pro-Ukrainian information warfare specialists, who began promoting the narrative of Prigozhin'--a former convict with zero political experience'--assuming a leadership position in Russia. Prigozhin himself seemed to feed off this notion. While publicly denying any such ambition, Prigozhin continued his public trolling of Shoigu and Gerasimov. The vitriol became so intense that Putin was compelled to summon both men to the Kremlin, where they were read the riot act by an irate Russian President and told in no uncertain terms to cease and desist or pay the consequences. Putin also at this time had Shoigu step back from being the overseer of Wagner logistical support, instead turning that task over to General Sergey Surovikin, a senior military commander overseeing the air component of the SMO.

In retrospect, this was a mistake, as it only reinforced the notion in Prigozhin's mind that if he made a big enough scene, Putin would yield to his desires.

At some point in time, Prigozhin appears to have gone off the rails completely. Even after the presidential intervention, Prigozhin continued his public feud with both Shoigu and Gerasimov, at one point threatening to pull Wagner out of Bakhmut before that battle was concluded. Prigozhin went out of his way to promote himself as a frontline commander, appearing in videos he published on Telegram visiting the Wagner fighters on the frontline, often under fire, and then contrasting this with what Prigozhin articulated as the timid behavior of Shoigu and Gerasimov, whom Prigozhin mocked for managing the SMO from the safety of bunkers far from the zone of conflict.

At some point in time Prigozhin's antics caught the attention of Ukrainian intelligence, and their British and US counterparts. The narcissistic need for attention, coupled with grandiose notions of self-importance, made Prigozhin an ideal candidate for recruitment by a hostile foreign intelligence service. A financial component'--basic greed'--can be added to this behavioral model as well. In addition to seeking to bring Wagner under the operational control of the Ministry of Defense through the rationing of ammunition, Defense Minister Shoigu announced that Wagner fighters would have to sign legally binding contracts with the Russian Minister of Defense to allow them to continue to serve in their capacity as a combat unit. The reason for this was the constitutional ban on private military companies operating on Russian soil. The Russian government was willing to turn a blind eye to this legality while the battle for Bakhmut raged, but once the ''meatgrinder'' shut down, and Wagner was withdrawn from the front for a period of well-deserved rest and refitting, the Ministry of Defense announced that before Wagner could resume its combat operations (Prigozhin indicated that Wagner would return to fighting around August 5), its fighters and commanders would have to sign contracts. The deadline for signing contracts was set for July 1.

According to Prigozhin, the military council of commanders'--the real leaders of Wagner'--refused to allow these contracts to be signed. Wagner and Shoigu were heading for a confrontation. Wagner was, during this time, building upon the good will of the Russian people that had been earned in the bloody fighting for Bakhmut. Wagner was engaged in an unprecedented public relations campaign designed to imprint on the Russian people the heroic status its fighters enjoyed, all the while seeking to recruit new fighters into it ranks. The success of this public relations campaign only reinforced in the mindset of Prigozhin the notion that he and Wagner were more popular amongst the Russian people than were Shoigu, Gerasimov, and the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The collusion between Prigozhin and the Ukrainians, while unproven at this juncture, appears obvious in retrospect. One of the key indicators is the decision by the Ukrainians to send so-called ''anti-Putin'' Russian forces across the border into the Belgorod region of Russia, helping create the impression of Russian impotence and incompetence, notions Prigozhin was only too happy to magnify on his own Telegram channels. This message was then further disseminated by Ukrainian-controlled Telegram channels, including those which operated under the guise of serving ''Russian patriots.''

Soon both Prigozhin and the ostensible ''pro-Russian'' social media accounts were highlighting the potential of a Russian Civil War and the collapse of the Putin regime in a repeat of the collapse experienced in the Russian Army in 1917, leading to the downfall of Tsarist rule and the Romanov dynasty. Indeed, informed observers have stated that many of the Wagner fighters who accompanied Prigozhin into Russia as part of the ongoing armed insurrection apparently believed that they were being dispatched to reinforce the border region to guard against future incursions into Russia by forces loyal to Ukraine.

If the goal of Prigozhin was to achieve the collapse of the Putin regime, it appears to have failed miserably. No political leaders, no military leaders of units, no oligarchs have rallied to Prigozhin's cause. Russia appears to be firmly behind President Putin, and supportive of his stated goal of bringing this insurrection to an end using all means necessary. While Prigozhin claimed to have assembled a force of some 25,000 men for his march of Moscow, the reality is the total number of Wagner soldiers involved is no more than half that number.

Unless Wagner receives substantial assistance, this invasion force will soon run into sustainability issues'--gas, ammunition, and food supplies will become problematic. Moreover, as Russian forces begin to physically confront Wagner, it will become crystal clear to the actual fighters that far from defending Russia from a corrupt and inept regime, Wagner has become a pariah, forever linked in the minds of Russia as traitors who sought to stick a knife in Russia's back at a time of great peril to the survival of the nation'--in short, Wagner will have transitioned from Hero to Zero.

What Prigozhin and his supporters, both in the command and rank and file of Wagner, and those collaborators in the social media universe, have done in attacking the constitutional government of Russia is nothing short of treason. Unless something extreme happens in the next day or two, it is inevitable that Wagner will be defeated. The history books will always punctuate its existence as an organization with perfidy of having betrayed Russia to its enemies. But the critical point here isn't Wagner's treasonous behavior, but rather the fact that Russia's enemies'--in particular the British and American intelligence services'--saw fit to facilitate a substantive armed insurrection designed to remove from power the government of a nuclear armed power. Imagine, for a moment, the righteous ire that would be on display in the halls of Congress and within the walls of the White House if Russian intelligence had actively conspired to have an entity like Blackwater march on Washington, DC with the goal of removing President Biden from power.

It would, some might say, constitute an act of war.

Russian nuclear doctrine allows for Russia to use nuclear weapons when faced with an existential threat to the survival of the Russian state.

If the CIA and MI-6 were involved in the recruitment of Prigozhin with an eye toward facilitating Wagner's march of Moscow, then they would have been directly engaged in an action that constituted an existential threat to Russia.

Russia would, under its doctrine, have every right to use nuclear weapons in response.

For everyone cheering Prigozhin along this morning, think on that long and hard as you chew on your breakfast.

Because if Prigozhin were to succeed, there may be no tomorrow.

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Mon, 26 Jun 2023 15:28

As the COVID-19 pandemic threat seemingly fades into the annals of history, scientists are attempting to identify which pathogen will pose the next large-scale threat to humanity.

Instead of a resurgence of COVID or an avian flu, it just may be the little-known yet formidable Langya virus, which shares similarities with COVID, according to a new article published this month in the journal Nature Communications.

As with COVID initially, the virus causes fever and severe respiratory symptoms, and can lead to fatal pneumonia. Also like COVID, it was first identified among humans in China'--last year, when it infected 35 farmers and other residents, likely due to contact with shews.

It wasn't the first time a Henipavirus'--the family Langya belongs to'--has jumped to people, and it won't be the last, researchers warn.

Dr. Ariel Isaacs'--a researcher at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Queensland in Australia'--said humanity is at an ''important juncture'' with the genus of viruses and can ''expect more spill-over events from animals to people.''

''It's important we understand the inner workings of these emerging viruses,'' he said in a news release about the research.

Here's what we know about the relatively new (to humans) virus with the potential to cause a global health emergency'--and with eerie similarities to the latest human coronavirus.

What are Henipaviruses?Henipaviruses are the most lethal of paramyxoviruses, killing around 70% of those who contract them. The first two Henipaviruses identified in humans were the Nipah virus, first seen in pigs in Malaysia and Singapore in the late 1980s, and the Hendra virus, first noted in race horses and humans in Australia in 1994.

Pigs, fruit bats, cats, dogs, horses, and humans are natural carriers of Henipaviruses, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health.

So far, cases of Hendra virus have been limited to Australia. Nipah, however, has posed a greater problem. Additional outbreaks in Bangladesh and India in the early 2000s'--caused by a different strain of the virus than the one seen initially'--were thought to have occurred due to consumption of fruits or fruit products like raw date palm juice ''contaminated with urine or saliva from infected fruit bats,'' according to the World Health Organization. Outbreaks occur almost annually in Bangladesh, according to the new paper's authors.

More concerningly, transmission of Nipah among humans has been reported, in family members and caregivers of those sickened, the authors wrote. (Avian flu has so far failed to become a global health problem because of its inability to effectively transmit between humans.)

Both Hendra and Nipah viruses can present with respiratory illness and severe flu-like symptoms, and may progress to encephalitis'--inflammation of the brain'--along with other neurologic symptoms and death.

What's more, new Henipaviruses are routinely being discovered in animals, including the Cedar virus in fruit bats in Australia, the Ghana virus in bats in Africa, the Gamak & Daeryong viruses in shrews in Korea, and the M²jiāng virus in rats in China. It's suspected that the Ghana virus can spill over to humans, as is the case with Nipah, Hendra, and Langya viruses, according to the authors. The M²jiāng virus has also reportedly infected people.

The ability of Henipaviruses to ''infect a wide range of hosts and to produce a disease that causes significant mortality in humans has made them a public health concern,'' according to a brief published by the WHO in 2016.

How does Langya virus compare to other Henipaviruses?Langya is most closely related to the M²jiāng virus, which presents with symptoms startlingly similar to those of the initial COVID-19, according to the authors. Like COVID initially did, Langya and M²jiāng are known to cause severe pneumonia. And M²jiāng tends to cause ground-glass opacities on lung X-ray in those infected, as well as the often-fatal severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)'--two more similarities with the initial COVID-19, according to a 2020 article in Frontiers in Public Health.

The M²jiāng virus was discovered in 2012, when it reportedly sickened six miners and killed three who had contact with bats in the Tongguan mineshaft in M²jiāng, China. A coronavirus closely related to COVID-19 was found in the same mineshaft, the authors of the 2020 article noted, raising more questions than answers, given the similar presentation of the two viruses.

Is there a vaccine or treatment for Langya virus or other Henipaviruses?Not at the moment. The group of viruses is on WHO's list of diseases for which it's prioritizing research in vaccines and therapeutics. That's partially because of the high case fatality rate of the viruses, as well as the fact that fruit bats that harbor them migrate globally, facilitating wide spread.

A vaccine against Hendra virus is currently available for animals, and trials of a similar vaccine are underway in humans, according to the authors. A vaccine for Hendra virus is not likely to work on Langya, the authors noted. It's also unlikely to work against M²jiāng, which is more similar to Langya than Hendra, they added.

Isaacs and his team plan to continue their work on developing broad-spectrum vaccines that can ward off Henipaviruses in humans.

''These are viruses that can cause severe disease and have the potential to get out of control if we're not properly prepared,'' Dr. Daniel Watterson, another researcher at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Queensland and an author on the paper, said in the news release.

''We saw with COVID-19 how unprepared the world was for a widespread viral outbreak, and we want to be better equipped for the next outbreak.''

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Mon, 26 Jun 2023 15:18

The Department of Homeland Security's controversial social media censorship effort during the 2020 election was propped up by a partisan billionaire.

Newly obtained documents, acquired through a public records request, confirm that Pierre Omidyar, the billionaire founder of eBay, financed a specialized portal maintained by the Center for Internet Security (CIS). This portal was used to facilitate the swift removal of predominantly conservative messages on Twitter and Facebook during the previous presidential election. Omidyar, previously identified as one of the largest donors to campaign groups supporting Joe Biden's presidential bid, donated $45 million to the "Sixteen Thirty Fund" in 2020. This dark money group mobilized Democratic voters and financed pro-Biden Super PACs. However, Omidyar's direct involvement in the DHS partnership, which is now facing increased scrutiny , remained undisclosed until now.

The funding provided by Omidyar to CIS was used to establish a Misinformation Reporting Portal (MiRP). A team from CIS continuously monitored this portal 24/7 from September 28 to November 6, 2020, as revealed in a post-election report , ''Election Infrastructure Misinformation Reporting.'' The Democracy Fund, Omidyar's foundation, supported the creation of the MiRP through a direct grant, according to the report.

The misinformation reporting portal served to rapidly identify and remove instances of alleged misinformation. CIS's report acknowledged that the flagged content ranged from ''intentional misinformation to honest mistakes.'' Of the content reported by CIS, 61% ''resulted in positive action,'' which the group defined as content takedowns or labeling.

This MiRP system was used by a coalition of liberal-leaning research groups and overseen by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), a sub-agency of the DHS that has led the government's push to censor social media. Despite government backing for the project, the effort was partisan '' the Democratic National Committee was part of the consortium, but not the Republican National Committee, indicating a partisan bias. "In addition to sharing all reports with CISA, some reports were shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation," the CIS report noted. The effort focused on ''election narratives'' deemed conspiratorial or inaccurate. Tax records appear to confirm the Omidyar funding. The Democracy Fund's 990 disclosure shows that it donated $130,000 to CIS in 2020. The grant, however, is listed as support for ''election security best practices,'' a vague description that belied the true function of the MiRP portal. CIS did not respond to a request for comment. The Omidyar Network discussed this inquiry with me but stopped responding before publication. Evidence of this MiRP system first emerged in emails I obtained from a visit to Twitter's San Francisco headquarters in December. In an email thread dated October 1, 2020, Twitter attorney Stacia Cardille mentioned receiving outreach from DHS, forwarding a censorship demand from CISA, CIS official Aaron Wilson, and a representative from the Election Integrity Partnership, a coalition monitoring misinformation.

The alleged misinformation mentioned in the October 1 thread revolved around conservative warnings regarding potential risks associated with mail-in voting'--a concern voiced by partisans from both sides. Twitter, however, took action against conservative accounts but did not similarly act against Democrats who warned against mail-in ballots, as I've previously reported . For instance, former D.N.C. chairman Howard Dean tweeted during the election: ''Do not vote by mail. Ok to vote now early and drop your ballot off in person at the proper office. Too late to trust trumps postmaster thug.''

The Dean tweet was noted by Twitter's content moderation team but no action was taken, while similar messages warning against mail-in voting from conservative accounts were censored. The CIS report provides a comprehensive explanation of the public-private apparatus employed to influence content on social media. In doing so, the report also debunks recent myths. In April, MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan made a false claim that journalist Matt Taibbi deliberately misrepresented his case under oath during his congressional testimony on CISA's role in shaping social media decisions. Hasan suggested that Taibbi had willfully conflated CISA with CIS during his testimony. This claim led Representative Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I) to accuse Taibbi of perjury in a letter . The CIS report I obtained contradicts Hasan and Plaskett, clarifying that ''CIS and CISA worked together to ensure the reports were sent to the social media platform within an hour of their receipt.'' CIS also played a pivotal role in triaging the material while maintaining the government partnership with disinformation research think tanks.

In essence, CIS and CISA worked in close collaboration to exert pressure on platforms like Twitter, aiming to remove conservative political expression deemed untrustworthy. The project was a public-private venture, overseen by government agencies, and supported by a system financed entirely by a Democratic donor. The report makes recommendations for future elections. It notes that misinformation reporting may require dedicated government funding, with a "transition to the operational side of CIS" under the CISA umbrella, as well as better operational support from social media platforms. The CIS report is part of a batch of documents recently received from Kate Starbird, an advisory board member of CISA at the University of Washington, via a records request. As I reported on Tuesday, the Justice Department intervened last year to impede the release of records from Starbird's team. Starbird has also accused journalists seeking these records of "harassment," likening it to a cyber attack.

Nevertheless, these inquiries are part of a broader public examination of government-backed censorship. As previously reported , Starbird's advisory panel advocated for an expanded role for CISA, calling for an extension of its monitoring to include various platforms such as social media, mainstream media, cable news, hyper-partisan media, talk radio, and other online resources. To support their argument for such a broad mandate, CISA advisors highlighted the detrimental effects of alleged misinformation on key democratic institutions like the courts, as well as other sectors such as the financial system and public health measures, suggesting that virtually any major public interest concern may be used as justification for broad censorship. Image: Pierre Omidyar speaks during the panel session Democracy and Voice: Technology For Citizen Empowerment and Human Rights during the annual Clinton Global Initiative on September 23, 2010 in New York City. Photo by Brian Harkin/Getty Images.

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Mon, 26 Jun 2023 14:42

Let's play a game this Saturday night. Can you figure out what's different about the latest White House talking point as it relates to President Joe Biden and his latchkey son's business dealings?

On Friday, White House spokesman Ian Sams issued a statement on behalf of the president in response to questions about the release of the IRS Whistleblower's transcripts alleging that Hunter threatened a Chinese Communist official while his father was in the room. That claim was the least scandalous of all '-- believe it or not '-- but it did cast further doubt on Joe's defense that he never had anything to do with his son's seemingly improbable career.

''As we have said many times before, the president was not in business with his son. As we have also said many times before, the Justice Department makes decisions in its criminal investigations independently, and in this case, the White House has not been involved,'' Sams said. ''As the president has said, he loves his son and is proud of him accepting responsibility for his actions and is proud of what he is doing to rebuild his life.''

Except, that isn't quite what Biden has said before. The president's defense used to be that he has never spoken with Hunter about his overseas business dealings. That is different from ''the president was not in business with his son.''

Today, the Biden admin says, ''The President was not in business with his son.''

Biden used to say, ''I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings''

Fun change. pic.twitter.com/mTsD5XItMI

'-- Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) June 23, 2023

Why the change?

Well, it might be true on paper that the president was never in official business with Hunter. But that doesn't mean he has never spoken with his son. It also does not mean that Joe did not benefit financially from his son's and other family members' alleged business of selling access to U.S. government officials '-- including Joe as vice president. Furthermore, Sams and the Biden apparatus must forget that emails from Hunter's laptop show that his father was ''office mates'' with Hunter and an employee of the CCP-linked company in question.

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"They weren't in business together, they just happened to both share an office with the CCP-linked business in question." '' @IanSams46, essentially. pic.twitter.com/0yG17baTrs

'-- Tim Meads (@TimMeadsUSA) June 23, 2023

Biden, when confronted about allegations that he accepted illicit funding in connection to his son, has either ''joked'' about the topic or become very angry with whomever is asking the question. Here he is just a few weeks ago yukking it up and taunting the American people, saying, ''Where's the money?''

''Where's the money?''

'-- President Biden responds to congressional Republicans accusing him of bribery, calling it a ''bunch of malarkey'' pic.twitter.com/nS7cdKrtTY

'-- The Recount (@therecount) June 8, 2023

And here he is in 2019 insulting some poor Iowa voter's intelligence and challenging him to a push-up contest after that voter asked about how Hunter received a job in Ukraine despite being, well, not the brightest.

WATCH: A tense exchange with a voter at '...@JoeBiden'(C)'s event in New Hampton, IA this morning, where a voter started out by telling Biden he had two problems with him: he was too old, and his son's work in Ukraine pic.twitter.com/ok7m0ShFPd

'-- Molly Nagle (@MollyNagle3) December 5, 2019

Needless to say, the president has not had a good explanation or defense of how the Bidens made so much money despite not producing anything of value.

As pointed out by The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway, ''The Biden family could take care of all of this so easily if they would just explain why every single member of the family, except for the unacknowledged granddaughter, was receiving millions of dollars in their bank accounts from oligarchs all over the world.''

''Literally just explain what the money was for and why was it running through shell corporations,'' she said. ''This should be so easy.''

Literally just explain what the money was for and why was it running through shell corporations. This should be so easy.

'-- Mollie (@MZHemingway) June 23, 2023

Instead, we are given glib responses, changing talking points, and arrogance on display from the entire Biden family as they go scot-free.

The views expressed in this piece are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

RELATED: Hunter Schmoozes It Up At White House State Dinner Hours After IRS Whistleblower Report

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Mon, 26 Jun 2023 14:41

US intelligence officials knew well in advance that Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin was planning to mount an armed rebellion against the Russian military's top commanders.

Congressional leaders were even briefed days prior to Saturday's events, after US intelligence reportedly observed the mercenary firm mustering forces and amassing weapons in preparation for possibly making a move against the defense ministry.

Wagner members standing guard outside military HQ in Rostov-on-Don Saturday, via AP.Describing the Congressional briefings, The New York Times reported late Saturday that "U.S. spy agencies had indications days earlier that Mr. Prigozhin was planning something and worked to refine that material into a finished assessment, officials said."

"The information shows that the United States was aware of impending events in Russia, similar to how intelligence agencies had warned in late 2021 that Vladimir V. Putin was planning to invade Ukraine."

But unlike in the case of those prior invasion warnings of February 2022, the US administration stayed silent ahead of the dramatic Wagner events, likely hoping that it would create destabilization in the Russian state, and negatively impact military operations in Ukraine. So far, there's been little evidence to suggest the whole short-lived mutiny by Wagner led to significant Ukrainian gains along the frontlines.

The Times explains the rationale of its intel sources as follows:

U.S. officials felt that if they said anything, Mr. Putin could accuse them of orchestrating a coup. And they clearly had little interest in helping Mr. Putin avoid a major, embarrassing fracturing of his support.

While it is not clear exactly when the United States first learned of the plot, intelligence officials conducted briefings on Wednesday with administration and defense officials. On Thursday, as additional confirmation of the plot came in, intelligence officials informed a narrow group of congressional leaders, according to officials familiar with the briefings who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Whenever a show is over, claim to deserve a place in the credits. https://t.co/gNcN6HPMN8

'-- Moon of Alabama (@MoonofA) June 25, 2023While over the past months Prigozhin has made his personal hatred for Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and top general Valery Gerasimov well known, the intelligence that Washington supposedly had seems very specific and appears to have accurately predicted events, a mere few days before they unfolded.

While the Kremlin has thus far refrained from blaming the tumultuous events on US or NATO countries, it has indirectly hinted and warned that the West could exploit the situation.

"The attempted armed mutiny in our country has aroused strong disapproval in Russian society, which firmly supports President Vladimir Putin," a Foreign Ministry statement said Saturday. "We warn the Western countries against the slightest attempts to use the internal situation in Russia for achieving their Russophobic aims. Such attempts are futile and evoke no support either in Russia or among soberly-minded political forces abroad."

But soon after, Secretary of State Blinken did just that, in Sunday news shows pushing the talking point that the Wagner mutiny exposed "real cracks" in Putin's government:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said the short-lived rebellion from Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin ''shows real cracks'' within Russia as it wages its war on Ukraine.

''Prigozhin himself, in this entire incident, has raised profound questions about the very premises for Russian aggression against Ukraine in the first place, saying that Ukraine or NATO did not pose a threat to Russia, which is part of Putin's narrative. And it was a direct challenge to Putin's authority. So this raises profound questions. It shows real cracks,'' Blinken said on CBS News's ''Face the Nation,'' referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian MFA released a rather peculiar statement right as the Wagner hysteria was coming to a close.Russia called out US-led/sponsored wars, and brought up past failed CIA black ops such as the Bay of Pigs.

Are the Russian government hinting they just foiled another CIA stunt? https://t.co/rmlSf2Dou7

'-- Clandestine (@WarClandestine) June 24, 2023A beefed up military presence in major cities and in the south of Russia has remained throughout the weekend. Moscow's iconic Red Square has stayed closed throughout Sunday, with extra security measures still in place.

Sky News and others have meanwhile commented on Putin not being willing to forgive "betrayal":

Dmitry Kiselyov, in his Russian state TV programme, has claimed the swift resolution of the Wagner Group's mutiny shows Russia is a united nation. Part of his show has been tweeted by Francis Scarr from BBC Monitoring. Mr Kiselyov also played an archive clip of Vladimir Putin saying he is able to forgive many things, but not "betrayal".

There is considerable speculation about how Mr Putin will react to the mutiny. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said it could take weeks or months to play out.

On Saturday in Putin's televised remarks to the nation which addressed the crisis as it was unfolding, the Russian president called the mutineers' actions "a knife in the back of our people."

They knew it all the time of course. After seeing 12 hours of propaganda insinuating the FSB was defecting, Putin was flying away, in a bunker. Moscow was about to be taken. Multiple helicopters taken out. Yeah. Terrible psy-op. Cost $6.2 billion

'-- Rambling Infantryman (@Veteran4Amer1ca) June 25, 2023Meanwhile, with Prigozhin headed into 'exile' in neighboring Belarus as part of the Lukashenko-mediated ceasefire deal, speculation still abounds over the confusing situation, and several dominant theories have emerged.

What's clear is that President Putin took the matter very seriously. "Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he keeps the situation of the special operation under control around the clock," a statement in TASS said. The president "has been staying up quite late lately," the statement said.

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Mon, 26 Jun 2023 14:22

Novo Nordisk said that it was cutting the supply of some doses of its popular obesity drug in the U.S. as it struggles to keep up with surging demand.

Liselotte Sabroe | Afp | Getty Images

Novo Nordisk 's high-dose experimental obesity pill helped overweight or obese adults lose around 15% of their body weight, according to new late-stage clinical trial results.

The Danish company presented the data at a diabetes conference on Sunday. Novo Nordisk told Reuters it plans to file for Food and Drug Administration approval of the drug later this year.

Novo Nordisk is fighting to maintain its dominant position in the booming weight loss drug market as new competitors like Eli Lilly and Pfizer develop their own effective treatments.

Novo Nordisk's pill is an oral version of semaglutide, the active ingredient in the company's blockbuster weight loss injections Ozempic and Wegovy. Semaglutide mimics a hormone produced in the gut called GLP-1, which signals to the brain when a person is full.

Novo Nordisk already has an FDA-approved oral semaglutide, which is marketed under the brand name Rybelsus for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. But the highest dose of Rybelsus is 14 milligrams, while the company's experimental obesity pill has a far larger dose of 50 milligrams.

The phase three trial followed 667 obese and overweight adults who did not have type 2 diabetes.

Patients who took 50 milligrams of the pill once a day for 68 weeks saw an average weight loss of 15.1%, when they used it alongside diet and physical activity, according to Novo Nordisk. That's compared with 2.4% for patients who took a placebo.

Around 85% of patients who took the pill lost at least 5% of their body weight, while only 26% of those who received the placebo did.

The weight loss also led to "improvements in physical functioning, allowing participants to have an improved quality of life for everyday activities," Dr. Filip Knop, an endocrinology professor at the University of Copenhagen who worked on the study, said in a statement.

The new data suggests that the high-dose pill may be as effective as Novo Nordisk's weekly Wegovy injection, which also resulted in roughly 15% weight loss after 68 weeks.

But a pill would serve as a far more convenient way to treat obesity.

Knop said offering the pill to the public would "allow people who struggle to lose weight with diet and physical activity alone to take this effective medication in a way that best suits them."

Other companies are also developing oral weight loss treatments to appeal to those who don't want weekly injections.

Overweight or obese patients who took Eli Lilly's experimental pill orforglipron lost 14.7% of their body weight after 36 weeks, according to mid-stage clinical trial results the company released Friday.

Pfizer is also developing its own weight loss pill called danuglipron, which patients take twice a day.

But the pharmaceutical giant on Monday said it would stop developing its other experimental oral drug, lotiglipron, due to elevated liver enzymes in patients.

Companies started focusing more on the weight loss industry after Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy catapulted to the national spotlight in recent years.

Social media influencers, Hollywood celebrities and even billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk have reportedly used the popular injections to get rid of unwanted weight.

That popularity sparked widespread shortages and an increase in cheaper knockoffs of the drugs.

Shortages and other factors like high out-of-pocket costs without insurance or unpleasant side effects have forced some people to stop taking Ozempic or Wegovy. Many users have complained of a rebound in weight that's difficult to control.

More than two in five adults have obesity, according to the National Institutes of Health. About one in 11 adults have severe obesity.

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Thu, 29 Jun 2023 14:39

Authored by Peter Barry Chowka via AmericanThinker.com,

NewsNation's 90-minute town hall broadcast live from Chicago Wednesday with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was an intellectually stimulating and emotionally moving event. Despite the hour of mostly put downs that preceded it (hosted by Chris Cuomo with featured guest Bill O'Reilly) and the half hour of analysis that followed it (Chris Cuomo again with a panel that included Former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker '' the most fair and objective), Kennedy more than met the challenging questions presented to him by town hall host Elizabeth Vargas and a number of pre-selected Democrat and Independent voters in Chicago, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

Elizabeth Vargas and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on stage at the NewsNation Town Hall June 28, 2023, Photo courtesy NewsNation

By the end of the ninety minutes of town hall, I kept thinking of this statement attributed to Ronald Reagan: ''The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally '' not a 20 percent traitor.''

I found myself agreeing with Kennedy at least 80% of the time.

[ZH: Early on he addressed the small elephant in the room - explaining how he came to have a raspy voice, noting a neurological disease in his 40s.]

Even when, near the end, Kennedy countered a particularly obnoxious and challenging gay voter from South Carolina who attempted to get him off stride and sandbag him with a snide accusation, Kennedy pledged his lifelong support of LGBTQ rights (which he described as ''LGBQT'') I could sympathize with what Kennedy was trying to do '' in essence, to reach out in the darkness. Too bad that he wasn't asked about his feelings about the current move to give special rights to transgender people, as in allowing them to participate in sporting events with people of the opposite biological sex.

The issues at hand were much larger and more significant as the hour-and-a-half provided Kennedy with time to expand on the points that he's made in his half dozen live interviews on FOX News since he declared for president two months ago. Thus far, to my knowledge, he has not been invited to appear on CNN or MSNBC.

As in the FOX interviews, Kennedy revealed himself to be a thoughtful, sincere, and passionate man of significant achievement '' who himself, as he confided, had endured a 14-year long addiction which he overcame four decades ago. His accomplishments since then have been hardly insubstantial.

After the debate, a complete transcript was not available '' only selected excerpts provided to journalists by NewsNation. An article at the channel's Web site (one of a number) reported the highlights.

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would not pledge to support his party's nominee, stood by his claims about vaccines and announced that ''I want my party back'' in his first national town hall presented by NewsNation on Wednesday.

''I'm running because I feel like my party has lost its way,'' Kennedy told NewsNation's Elizabeth Vargas.

Kennedy '-- an environmental lawyer and nephew of President John F. Kennedy '-- has positioned himself as a populist set on returning to the ''exact values that would have been promoted by my father and uncle.''

Despite never holding elective office, Kennedy's campaign has generated attention within the party. Among Democrats, Kennedy is polling at 15%, according to a recent Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll. Still, Biden is well ahead at 62%.

In order to win the nomination, Kennedy will have to do something no primary challenger has done in modern U.S. history '-- unseat an incumbent president for their party's nomination.

Right out of the gate, Kennedy declined to take the bait and attack his potential opponents.

Vargas asked Kennedy what he thought of Donald Trump after the former president praised him as a ''common sense guy'' in a recent interview.

The Democratic hopeful said he's focused on unity, not division.

''I'm not going to attack other people personally,'' he said. ''What I'm trying to do in this race is bring people together.''

Kennedy had the same attitude toward the current president.

''You won't hear me saying bad things about President Biden,'' Kennedy said. ''I'm not going to attack him as a man.''

Instead, Kennedy said he is focused on policy disagreements, such as his differing views on war, censorship and COVID lockdowns.

[ZH: Additionally, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says sealing the border is ''not that hard.'' He discusses his immigration plan.]

Kennedy's comments and particularly his answers to questions seemed incredibly honest and thoughtful '' which took some getting used to since this is hardly the domain of almost all major politicians today. For example:

When asked whether he would support the Democratic nominee no matter what, Kennedy declined.

''Of course, I'm not gonna do that,'' he said.

Kennedy said he'll wait to see if the person who emerges from his party is ''living up to Democratic values.''

Those values, as he described them, include fighting for the middle class, protecting civil liberties and embracing debate.

''We need to figure out a way to start talking to each other and start healing each other,'' Kennedy said.

''This polarization is more dangerous'' than at any time since the Civil War, he added.

And that was my major takeaway from the Kennedy town hall '' a pledge on the candidate's part to truly try to unify this sickly divided country. Of course, talk is easy '' but Kennedy indicated his interest in reaching out to a wide variety of voters with his startling positions (for a Democrat) on, among others, the border, the war in Ukraine, guns (he's more interested in solving the problem of why people want to kill), and the medical-industrial complex and its propaganda stranglehold on modern medicine and public policy.

[ZH: RFK Jr expanded on his vaccine stance, saying that the FDA can't be trusted when it gives regulatory approval, noting that "saying I'm anti-vaccine is a way of silencing me". ]

It's these and other positions of his that have caught the attention of many conservatives including Tucker Carlson and suggested that there is potential support for RFK, Jr. across a broad spectrum of Americans, and not just the left

[ZH: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. struck a personal tone, talking about his battles with addiction. He said he would decriminalize marijuana, tax consequent income federally and ''use that money to build these healing centers in rural areas'' for those struggling with addiction.]

In watching and listening to Kennedy, I felt like he was channeling the best energy of and the inspiration represented by his father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated in the prime of life.

It has often been said that if either man were alive today, he'd be unwelcome in the current Democrat party and would likely be a Republican.

While Kennedy insisted that he is a lifelong Democrat, he cited his research and writings about his family and his commitment to their ideals. Think JFK's ''Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,'' and his father's stand in 1968, unpopular among most 1960s Establishment Democrats, against the continuation of the Vietnam War '' at a time when the Pentagon Papers (published in June 1971 after being leaked by the late Anthony J. Russo, Jr. and Daniel Ellsberg, who died earlier this month) confirmed that the powers that be had determined that the war was lost.

Kennedy:

''I'm running because I feel like my party has lost its way [emphasis in NewsNation transcript] '' that the values, my uncle represented, my father represented when they were Democrats have been neglected, let's say. And I want to try to bring the Democratic Party back to those values, the values that were you know, in favor of a focus on on the middle class in this country focused on, on on labor on racial on you know, on the well-being of minorities in this country, focused on the environment, particularly on civil liberties and freedom of speech which the party has, seems to have forgotten about.''

Regarding Ukraine (again, almost channeling his late father in 1968 during the height of the Vietnam War), Kennedy said (to paraphrase) that in ten years history will show that our country's course in encouraging the prolongation of the war in Ukraine would be seen as a failure.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. from his campaign Web site kennedy24.com

I have been following national politics for a long time '' and for many years early on, reporting from the campaign trail. My first political hero was Arizona Republican conservative Sen. Barry Goldwater, who ran against President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and lost in a landslide. In March 1968, as a student, and a student journalist, in Washington, D.C., I attended a nighttime rally in a black ghetto in the nation's capital featuring Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who had declared his candidacy for the presidency the week before. A friend and I were among the handful of white people in attendance '' and the vibe, as they say, was good. Sen. Kennedy had that rare ability, by his very presence and his words, to unify and unite '' as he did a week or so later when he addressed a mostly black crowd at a campaign speech in Indianapolis, Indiana and announced the news that Rev. Martin Luther King had just been assassinated. His spontaneous remarks were later made into a documentary film, A Ripple of Hope. That city was one of the few that was not burned during the riots that followed the death of Rev. King. From the Wikipedia entry about that speech:

William Crawford, a member of the Black Radical Action Project who had stood about 20 feet from Kennedy, credited Kennedy's speech for not resulting in riots. Crawford claimed to the Indianapolis Star in 2015 ''Look at all those other cities'' and ''I believe it would have gone that way (in Indianapolis) had not Bobby Kennedy given those remarks.''

And last night, as I heard a genuine echo of the energy, the hope, and the optimism of America a half century ago, these were the closing comments by RFK, Jr. at the end of the NewsNation town hall:

Our country is going to start healing when the government tells the truth.

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Thu, 29 Jun 2023 13:38

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Thu, 29 Jun 2023 13:30

Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani claimed that the key whistleblower in the House Oversight Committee's investigation into President Joe Biden and his son's alleged bribery has died.

Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, claimed to have seen an FBI document that indicated Biden accepted a bribe and participated in a money laundering scheme with his family. The file, an FD-1023 form that allows the public to submit tips to the government about possible crimes, according to the lawmakers, allegedly also suggests that there are audio recordings of the incident. But neither Comer nor Grassley, nor the FBI or Rudy Giuliani have the tapes, and several Republicans this week told the press that they don't know if the recordings even exist.

Newsmax has repeatedly questioned Comer, Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., about the purported audio files, and Johnson recently told the outlet that Grassley never actually said that the recordings exist.

In a Saturday interview with Newsmax, Giuliani claimed that the whistleblower that informed him of the Bidens' alleged scheme had died.

"I did tell them three years ago, and they followed up on none of the evidence I gave them," Giuliani said.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr, however, rebutted that claim in The Federalist last week, saying that the inquiry was "sent to Delaware for further investigation."

Barr's autobiography suggests that Giuliani could be the person who submitted the FBI form. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., called the report an example of "secondhand hearsay." and explained that its claims only "surfaced after Rudy Giuliani was making particular allegations" about the Bidens and Ukraine in early 2020.

"They were hoping that the people would just disappear or die," Giuliani alleged. "It's extraordinary. I gave them one witness that any investigator would jump through hoops to get to. Gave them a witness who was a woman, she was the chief accountant at this crooked company Burisma. She was the wife of the former owner, who died under suspicious circumstances. And she was willing to give up all of the off-shore bank accounts. Including the Bidens."

The person Giuliani may be referring to is the wife of Mykola Lisin, a co-founder of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, according to Raw Story. Lisin died in 2011, which predated Giuliani's trip to Ukraine to search for information on the president as well as Biden's first visit to Ukraine and Hunter's ascension to the company's board. The "suspicious circumstances" Giuliani alleged were a car accident.

Only right-wing outlets have reported the wife's death though none of them appear to know her name, Raw Story noted, and no report has details of the so-called mysterious circumstances Giuliani said surrounds her death either.

Grassley said during a Monday committee hearing that the purported whistleblower kept the alleged "tapes" as "insurance."

"According to the 1023, the foreign national possesses fifteen audio recordings of phone calls between him and Hunter Biden. According to the 1023, the foreign national possesses two audio recordings of phone calls between him and then-Vice President Joe Biden. These recordings were allegedly kept as a sort of insurance policy for the foreign national in case he got into a tight spot. The 1023 also indicates that then-Vice President Joe Biden may have been involved in Burisma employing Hunter Biden," Grassley claimed.

"...Special Counsel Jack Smith has used a recording against former President Trump. Well, what's U.S. Attorney Weiss doing with respect to these alleged Joe and Hunter Biden recordings that are apparently relevant to a high-stakes bribery scheme?" he continued.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Comer also told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday that a source in the investigation into the Bidens' alleged money laundering scheme was missing, which follows last month's reports that a different source in the probe had also disappeared, according to Mediaite.

"And you estimate that nine Biden family members were beneficiaries '' including grandchildren were being funneled money through these shell corporations, fake LLCs," Hannity said to the conservative lawmaker, before referencing the purported audio recordings. "You say about between 20 and $30 million from foreign nationals. Is that true? And what do we know about the 17 tapes? Do we have them? Do you know who has them?"

"Well, with the money, first of all, we've already tracked down a little over $10 million," Comer responded. "We're pretty confident, from other sources that that number will grow to beyond 20 million and it could be more if you factor in the president's brother, who dealt mainly in the Middle East."

"With respect to the tapes, look, it mentioned in the FBI form that the oligarch had 17 tapes of Biden '' two with Joe Biden accepting the bribe, that he used that as an insurance policy," he added.

When Hannity asked if Comer had been in contact with the "high-ranking member or owner of Burisma," Comer replied that he hadn't.

"Unfortunately, nobody's had any contact with him for the last three years," Comer said. "You know, the MSNBC makes fun of me when I said that there are a lot of people that were involved in the Biden shenanigans that are currently missing. But with respect to this oligarch, we think we know where he is. He just hasn't been seen in public in a long time, but we're following the money."

Despite the host of accusations levied against Biden and his family, no tangible evidence has surfaced.

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Thu, 29 Jun 2023 13:27

New York CNN '--

Soon, Americans are going to be able to try chicken that comes directly from chicken cells rather than, well, a chicken.

On Wednesday, the USDA gave Upside Foods and Good Meat the green light to start producing and selling their lab-grown, or cultivated, chicken products in the United States.

Don't run to the supermarket just yet, though. It's going to be a while before you can buy cell-based meat in stores, though you should be able to get a taste at a restaurant sooner.

Here's everything you need to know about lab-grown meat.

In a nutshell, lab-grown meat '-- or cultivated or cell-based meat '-- is meat that is developed from animal cells and grown, with the help of nutrients like amino acids, in massive bioreactors.

This happens in a production facility that looks a lot like a brewery: When you picture it, don't think of people in white coats and hairnets peering through microscopes into petri dishes, but instead people in white coats and hairnets wandering between giant vats.

When the meat is ready, companies collect it from the bioreactors and move it along the processing line.

Good Meat's protein ''looks a lot like a minced chicken,'' when extracted, said Andrew Noyes, head of global communications and public affairs at Good Meat parent company Eat Just.

For one thing, growing meat from cells means that people can eat meat without having to slaughter animals.

Upside Foods explains that cells it gathers from a fertilized chicken egg are stored in its cell bank and can be used for at least ten years. Animal cells can come from animal biopsies or even feathers, among other sources, Noyes said.

There are environmental considerations, as well. Agriculture, particularly animal agriculture, is responsible for a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change. Overhauling that system could ease the burden on the planet.

To make cultivated meat, ''energy use needs are high,'' said Bruce Friedrich, president and founder of the Good Food Institute, a nonprofit group that promotes alternative proteins. Still, those energy needs will be offset by the reduction in land and water use and other benefits, he said, adding that ''renewable energy is how we reap the maximum climate benefit.''

If cultured meat is produced at scale, it could also offer a solution to feeding the world's growing population.

No. Unlike plant-based meats like the products made by Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat (BYND), cultivated meat uses animal cells and so is not considered vegetarian.

Because cultivated meat comes from cells, rather than animals with intestines, they're not exposed to the type of contaminants that can plague traditionally harvested meat, noted Friedrich. That means that cultivated meat should be free of E. coli and salmonella, he said.

Meat eaters who are concerned about those types of risks might prefer cultivated meat. But diners who are trying to reduce meat consumption altogether won't find a solution here.

Basically, yes.

That's according to former CNN reporter Julia Horowitz, who tried a cell-based meatball made by Ivy Farm Technologies, a British company.

In her words, the meatball was ''a bit dense and on the smaller side '-- not exactly the classic version you imagine melting in your mouth at an Italian restaurant.'' But, she noted, it tasted like traditional meat, and the flavor was ''full and savory.''

A CNET reporter who tried Upside Foods' cultivated chicken said ''this actually does'' taste like chicken. Others who have tried Good Meat's cultivated chicken, which was approved for sale in Singapore in 2020, had a similar reaction.

On Wednesday, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service approved Upside Foods' and Good Meat's applications for a ''grant of inspection.'' Those types of applications ''are approved following a rigorous process, which includes assessing a firm's food safety system,'' according to an FSIS spokesperson.

The nascent cultivated meat industry is regulated by both the USDA and the FDA.

Over the past several months, the agencies have been approving the products step-by-step: In November, the FDA issued a ''no questions'' letter to Upside Foods, essentially saying that it had no further questions about the safety of the product, and so considers it safe for consumption. Good Meat got a similar letter in March. Then, in June, both companies got USDA approval for their labels.

That doesn't mean the floodgates are necessarily opened for all types of cultivated meat.

''We would need to go through another regulatory process for beef, pork, [or] any other kind of animal protein,'' Noyes said, noting that Good Meat is in the early stages of developing cultivated beef.

Soon! Well, soon-ish, and only if you're in certain areas.

Neither Upside Foods nor Good Meat have given a date for when their products will be available, but they each have a plan in place to get products out to the public, and Good Meat said Wednesday that production started immediately.

Good Meat previously announced a partnership with chef and restaurateur Jos(C) Andr(C)s to bring the item to a Washington, DC, restaurant, and is working with his team on a launch at China Chilcano. As production ramps up, Good Meat may consider partnering with other restaurants or launching in retail. But a supermarket launch is way down the line, Noyes said.

Upside Foods is planning to introduce its product at Bar Crenn, a San Francisco restaurant, but did not share a launch date yet. Selling at Bar Crenn should help Upside Foods learn more about how chefs and diners feel about the product, a representative said. Eventually, the company plans to work with other restaurants and make its products available in supermarkets.

For now, Upside Foods is holding a contest to allow curious customers to be among the first to try the product in the US.

A lot.

It cost over $300,000 to develop the first lab-grown burger, which was served a decade ago. The British company Ivy Farm said last year that it could produce a similar product for less than $50, CNN previously reported. That's a radical improvement, but it's still way more than a traditional burger costs (and imagine the markup!).

Noyes didn't share specific numbers, but noted that ''getting to price parity for us, from a cost of goods standpoint and cost of production standpoint, is a major challenge.'' He added that the company has a ''path to get there.''

It will be expensive to build out the facilities that will allow for economies of scale, noted Matthew Walker, managing director for food and agriculture at S2G Ventures, a mission-driven private capital group.

''The challenge is really about showing not only, can you produce product at a certain price per pound that will be palatable to a certain portion of the consumer base '... but can you demonstrate the appropriate return profile on assets?'' said Walker.

Companies will also have to prove that they ''have a scalable, repeatable model,'' he noted.

Unclear '-- but it seems like this first offering won't be all that expensive, despite the high costs of production.

Good Meat's cultivated chicken will be priced at a slight premium or comparable to other chicken items at a Jos(C) Andr(C)s restaurant, Noyes said.

''To be clear, our company is not making money on these sales, we're taking a loss,'' Noyes said. ''At this stage '... we want to get it out there. We want people to taste it, we want people to experience it, we want people to tell their friends and family about it.''

Ultimately, Good Meat and Upside Foods both want to sell products to consumers for the same price as traditional chicken, or cheaper. Upside Foods said that it is not disclosing its cost of production, but noted that its product will be sold at a premium compared to traditional chicken.

'-- CNN's Kristen Rogers contributed to this report.

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Thu, 29 Jun 2023 13:26

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A new Justice Department Inspector General report details the failures that occurred beginning one month before Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide while in custody of the Bureau of Prisons. The report also makes clear that foul play was not possible.

When officers discovered Epstein unresponsive in his cell on Aug. 10, 2019, Officer Michael Thomas, who was charged criminally in the case, said, "Breathe, Epstein, Breathe," according to the new report issued Tuesday.

When Thomas saw Epstein dangling from the bed, he said, "We're going to be in a lot of trouble," according to the report.

Jeffrey Epstein is pictured in Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 8, 2004.

Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty Images, FILE

Epstein died by hanging at New York City's Metropolitan Correctional Center while he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

The disgraced financier hanged himself in his jail cell with an orange noose he fashioned from "a sheet or a shirt," the report said.

When Epstein's room was searched after his death, investigators found extra bedsheets, another mattress and a noose, according to the report.

A photo of Jeffrey Epstein's prison cell after his death, Aug. 10, 2019, released by the Department of Justice.

Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, City of New York via DOJ

On Aug. 10, the Inspector General said Epstein was in his cell at 8 p.m. Officials said he made an unrecorded call on a landline that was not monitored by prison communications. Epstein told the officers he was calling his mother, according to the report, but she had died before that date. The report said staffers should have been monitoring this call made by Epstein.

After 10:40 p.m., Epstein was not checked on nor was he monitored until officers discovered him hanging from his cell, according to the report.

Epstein first attempted suicide in custody on July 23, 2019, and the Inspector General report said Bureau of Prisons employees should have been put on alert then.

On July 30, the Inspector General said an email was sent to 70 staffers of the prison physiological unit instructing that Epstein was to be housed with a cellmate. But the Inspector General said that warning went unheeded by Bureau of Prisons staff so that when his cellmate was moved on Aug. 8, another inmate was not placed there.

The Inspector General makes clear that Epstein's death was in fact a suicide.

A piece of orange cloth hangs from the bed of Jeffrey Epstein's prison cell after his death, Aug. 10, 2019, in a photo released by the Department of Justice.

Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, City of New York via DOJ

"The Medical Examiner who performed the autopsy detailed for the OIG [Office of Inspector General] why Epstein's injuries were more consistent with, and indicative of, a suicide by hanging rather than a homicide by strangulation," the report said. "The Medical Examiner also told the OIG that the ligature furrow was too broad to have been caused by the electrical cord of the medical device in Epstein's cell and that blood toxicology tests revealed no medications or illegal substances were in Epstein's system. The Medical Examiner also noted the absence of debris under Epstein's fingernails, marks on his hands, contusions to his knuckles, or bruises on his body that would have indicated Epstein had been a struggle, which would be expected if Epstein's death had been a homicide by strangulation."

The Inspector General report also found the camera system was defunct and the prison had severe understaffing and structural issues.

Members of the staff also allegedly repeatedly mislead the Inspector General, including one supervisor who allegedly said she didn't know Epstein was supposed to have a roommate, even though she was on the email sent in July 2019 stating he should have one.

Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry, March 28, 2017.

New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services via Reuters, FILE

"We further found that multiple BOP employees submitted false documents claiming that they had performed the required counts and rounds and that several MCC New York staff members lacked candor when questioned by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) about their actions," the report said.

The report is coupled with nearly 4,000 pages of documents obtained by reporters earlier this month under a Freedom of Information Act request.

The documents show that toward the end of his life, Epstein sat alone in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, repeatedly calling himself a coward out loud.

Thomas and his partner were charged with doctoring the log books to make it seem like they completed their rounds when they had not, according to officials. Both pleaded guilty.

Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of Epstein, was convicted in December 2021 of conspiring with Epstein to recruit, groom and abuse minors and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. She has appealed the verdict.

If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises, please call or text the new three digit code at 988. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org.

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Thu, 29 Jun 2023 13:19

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Wed, 28 Jun 2023 18:54

All young and middle-age adults should be screened regularly for anxiety and depression, even if they don't have symptoms, an influential public health group said Tuesday.

While the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended doctors assess patients for depression since 2002, it is the first time the group has advocated for routine screening of anxiety in adults. Pregnant women and those who gave birth within the past year were highlighted as people who should be screened.

"This is a call to action," Dr. Wanda Nicholson, vice chair of the task force and a professor of prevention and community health at the George Washington Milken Institute of Public Health in Washington, D.C., said in an interview.

Aleli Dezmen / Getty ImagesThe guidance comes as emotional stress has skyrocketed in recent years, increasing demands on the limited number of counselors and therapists nationwide.

"We recognize that there can be limitations in terms of access to mental health providers within the health care system," Nicholson said.

There was not enough evidence to back screening for adults 65 and older, the task force said.

The Preventive Services Task Force is made up of independent health experts who volunteer their time to analyze all of the scientific data on a particular subject, and who then make recommendations based on that set of data.

The guidance may influence insurance company reimbursements, but doctors are not required to follow the group's recommendations, which were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The recommendations are considered final, and mirror draft guidance on the topic was released last fall.

"This is a positive step forward," said Dr. Gary Maslow, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Duke University who was not involved with the new guidance.

The task force previously recommended that children as young as 8 be screened for anxiety disorder.

What is the test for anxiety?Screening for anxiety is usually done through questionnaires during a doctor's office visit. Doctors want to know how often within the past two weeks a patient has been easily annoyed or irritable, bothered by uncontrollable worries or feeling so restless that it's difficult to sit still.

Depending on the results, a doctor could prescribe medication or refer the patient to a specialist who treats anxiety disorders.

Chivonna Childs, a staff psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said screening is important because anxiety or depression symptoms may not be obvious during regular doctor visits.

"Not everybody's going to come in your office in a ball of nerves, shaking, having panic attacks," Childs said. "Most people don't have any of that."

The screening tools are not diagnostic, Maslow stressed.

"When you screen someone you say, 'OK, you have some of the symptoms that are consistent with anxiety. Let's talk about that more in detail and see if you meet the criteria for this condition,'" he said.

The task force's recommendations specifically referred to pregnant and postpartum women. "In many ways, they are a different population," Nicholson said.

Previous surveys have found that mental health issues and stress among pregnant women have tripled in recent years.

There was also not enough evidence to suggest screening would be effective for assessing the risk of suicide in adults.

"We are urgently calling for more research to determine the effectiveness of screening all adults for suicide risk," Dr. Gbenga Ogedegbe, a task force member and professor of population health and medicine at New York University, said in a statement.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

Follow NBC HEALTH on Twitter & Facebook.

Erika Edwards Erika Edwards is a health and medical news writer and reporter for NBC News and "TODAY."

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Wed, 28 Jun 2023 18:48

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Wed, 28 Jun 2023 18:17

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Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:28

Veteran biology professor who teaches scientific fact that sex is determined by chromosomes X and Y is FIRED after four students walked out of his reproductive class - accusing him of 'religious preaching'Dr. Johnson Varkey claimed he was let go from his teaching position at St. Philip's College in San Antonio after he was accused of 'religious preaching' He was discussing the human reproductive system on November 28, 2022, when four students stormed out of the lectureVarkey was then accused of 'discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric, and misogynistic banter'By Kamal Sultan For Dailymail.Com

Published: 02:10 EDT, 27 June 2023 | Updated: 14:28 EDT, 27 June 2023

A veteran biology professor in Texas who has been teaching that sex is determined by X and Y chromosomes for over 20 years was allegedly fired after four students walked out of his classroom.

Dr. Johnson Varkey has claimed he was let go from his teaching position at St. Philip's College in San Antonio after he was accused of 'religious preaching'.

He was discussing the human reproductive system on November 28, 2022, when four students stormed out of the lecture.

Varkey was then accused of 'discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric, and misogynistic banter'.

The professor said he received an email from the Alamo Colleges District Human Resources department in January, which said his credentials would be revoked pending an investigation. He was later fired.

Veteran biology professor Dr. Johnson Varkey, who has been teaching that sex is determined by X and Y chromosomes for over 20 years, was allegedly fired after four students walked out of classroom

He has claimed he was let go from his teaching position at St. Philip's College in San Antonio, Texas after he was accused of 'religious preaching'

Lawyers from the First Liberty Institute representing Varkey sent a letter to St. Philip's College last week to demand he be reinstated.

'In January 2023, St. Philip's College fired Dr. Varkey for teaching human biology just as he did in his previous twenty-year career as a professor,' it read.

'His statements are not only supported by his extensive education and experience, but they also reflect his sincerely held religious beliefs.'

The law firm argued the firing of Varkey, who taught Human Anatomy and Physiology at the college for 22 years, was against federal and state law and it targeted his First Amendment rights.

Varkey is also an associate pastor at a local church and a devout Christian who follows the religion's teachings on sexuality and abortion.

But his attorney's added he has not expressed any of those beliefs in the classroom.

'As his stellar performance reviews suggest, Dr. Varkey gladly taught students of all beliefs and backgrounds,' the letter continued.

'Throughout his employment, he never discussed with any student his personal views '-- religious or otherwise '-- on human gender or sexuality.'

Varkey was accused of 'discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric, and misogynistic banter'

Lawyers representing him, from the First Liberty Institute, sent a letter to St. Philip's College to demand he is reinstated. Pictured: Varkey delivering sermon at International Bible Church in February

In January, Varkey was informed that he was not scheduled to teach in the spring and that he wouldn't have any further teaching opportunities at St. Philip's College

'On November 28, 2022, four of Dr. Varkey's students walked out of his class when he stated, consistent with his study of human biology and his religious beliefs, that sex was determined by chromosomes X and Y.'

The lawyers argued Varkey taught from school-approved and science-based curriculum, but the college claimed his teaching was religious.

'While some of the subject matter may be connected to class content, it was very clear, from the complaints, that you pushed beyond the bounds of academic freedom with your personal opinions that were offensive to many individuals in the classroom,' school officials told him in a letter.

Varkey was informed that he was not scheduled to teach in the spring and that he wouldn't have any further teaching opportunities at St. Philip's College.

St. Philip's has not responded to the letter publicly.

The community college has received complaints from conservative-leaning professors before with political science professor Will Moravits claiming last month that his contract was terminated because of his beliefs due to student complaints.

A lawyer representing Moravits said he tried to get them 'to engage all sides of controversial issues, such as police brutality and gender ideology. Many of his engagements with students in class discussions came in direct response to their questions.'

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Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:13

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Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:11

by: Gracie Terrall

Posted: Jun 27, 2023 / 06:20 PM CDT

Updated: Jun 27, 2023 / 08:37 PM CDT

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) '' A member of South Dakota's House of Representatives District 1 went on a podcast recently and claimed that Mount Rushmore is a ''freemason shrine'' and a portal for demonic entities to enter and spread communism throughout the country.

A clip from a Now Is The Time podcast episode with Joe Donnell, from Sisseton, went viral on Twitter recently. As of Tuesday, June 27, the tweet reached 558,8000 people and had over 500 comments, 968 retweets and 1,378 likes.

''What the Lord has revealed to me is that Mount Rushmore has a direct ley line to Washington, DC.,'' Donnell said in the podcast clip that was tweeted. ''In order to understand the spiritual realm of what we're facing, we have to realize that in order for the enemy to do anything, it needs the agreement of human beings. In order to be empowered to do more damage he needs the agreement of human beings and oftentimes that comes in the form of an altar that acts as a portal for other demonic things. What we're really dealing with in that portal is communism.That witchcraft, altar, those things that are happening in the Black Hills, what we're dealing with is communism. It's the ideology and all the demonic entities and spirits behind that.''

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial said it would not respond to Donnell's comments.

Donnell is also a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate tribe. The land that Mount Rushmore was built on is considered sacred to Native Americans.

The podcast, titled ''State Representative Joe Donnell From South Dakota Sharing Vital Info About Heavens Opening'' was published to promote a religious event called ''Open the Heavens: Let God Arise'' in Rapid City. Donnell was listed as a guest speaker for the event.

The organizer of the conference, Meri Crouley, is also the host of Now Is The Time podcast and interviewed with Donnell. Crouley's podcast covers theories like the deep state, COVID-19 vaccines and former President Donald Trump's indictment.

An executive proclamation was signed by Gov. Kristi Noem that proclaimed June 3, 2023 as ''Open the Heavens Day.''

KELOLAND News reached out to Donnell for a comment and will update the story once we receive one.

The South Dakota Democratic Party Chair Jennifer Slaight-Hansen sent a letter asking Gov. Noem to renounce the statements by Donnell.

''I have two questions: 1) is Governor Noem in agreement with Rep. Donnell's statement that Mt. Rushmore is a portal that is spreading communism throughout America, and 2) if not, will she publicly repudiate him?,'' Slaight-Hansen said in the letter.

Donnell was elected during the general election in November 2022. He also ran for the District 1 Senate seat and lost in the Republican primary. The South Dakota Republican Party chose Donnell to replace Logan Manhart on the 2022 general election ballot for District 1 House after Manhart withdrew from the race.

Donnell's comments come to life after the National Park Services denied Gov. Noem's request for fireworks at the memorial for a third year in a row due to objections from Native Americans who recognize the land as sacred to the Lakota Sioux tribe.

Lakota people refer to the area in the Black Hills as ''Paha Sapa,'' or ''the heart of everything that is.''

In 2022, The chairman of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Association, Harold Frazier spoke with KELOLAND News about tribal councils' objections to fireworks at Mount Rushmore and mentioned the importance of the land.

''It shouldn't be disturbed in any way, you know, we love the peace and the tranquility of the Hills,'' Frazier said. ''I mean, many times we go out there for our prayers and for our medicines and things like that,'' Frazier said.

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Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:07

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ðŸ'²

Text the word 'Florida' to (813) 733-5278 to receive more updates straight to your phone on whats going on in the Sunshine State.

WASHINGTON, D.C. '-- In a revealing interview with Fox News' Bret Baier, former President Donald Trump made a number of curious claims regarding Operation Warp Speed and the COVID-19 vaccines.

Donald Trump has a hard time hiding his pride in having pushed out the COVID-19 vaccines in ''record time'' '' admitting that he is the one who pressured the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to significantly reduce the time it normally takes to safely bring a vaccine to market.

Read More: Confronted Over Vaccine Deaths, Trump Doubles Down on COVID Jabs at Iowa Town Hall

''I got them done in nine months when it's supposed to take between five and twelve years,'' Trump told Baier. ''I broke their ass,'' he added.

TRUMP: ''For some reason'' people don't like the mRNA COVID shots.Trump once again refuses to acknowledge any of the adverse effects. pic.twitter.com/6Vbd6vAsHh

'-- DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) June 20, 2023However, the Florida Standard has previously reported that mRNA vaccines were in development by the U.S. Department of Defense since at least 2012. In addition, it seems unlikely that the extremely coordinated global vaccine rollout and ensuing propaganda campaigns were the fruits of one man's '' Donald Trump's '' labor. It rather indicates a long and complex planning and resourcing process; not ad-hoc cowboy-style decision making, as the former president claims.

Read More: Sick From the Jab, A Young Actress Chose To End Her Own Life

In the interview, Trump then referred to a ''Democrat friend'' who allegedly had told the former president that he may have ''saved 100 million people in the world'' but that he never talks about it since it's a sensitive issue with Republicans.

Trump goes on to say..."You have a lot of people that LOVE the vaccines. I mean you do. They happen to be more Democrat than they are Republican ... There are people that say I saved 100 million lives." pic.twitter.com/E33klSAQKW

'-- DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) June 20, 2023The former commander-in-chief asserted that ''people love the vaccines and people hate the vaccines'' '' alluding to the fact that it's mostly the Republican base that have expressed skepticism against having largely untested medical products '' backed by multi-billion dollar government propaganda campaigns '' pushed into their veins.

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 20:55

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 20:29

U.S. Postal Service sends warning to not send checks through the mail

U.S. Postal Service sends warning to not send checks through the mail 02:55 A surge in crimes targeting the U.S. Postal Service has some experts warning Americans against sending their checks through the mail.

The USPS last month cautioned that it has seen an increase in attacks on letter carriers and mail fraud incidents, with 305 mail carriers robbed in the first half of fiscal year 2023, on pace to exceed the previous year's 412 robberies. At the same time, fraudsters are targeting mailboxes, either stealing letters directly from residents' homes or from the blue USPS collection boxes, the postal service said.

The rise in crime targeting postal carriers and mailboxes heightens the risk that mailed checks could be stolen, as has been documented in incidents across the nation. For instance, a rash of thefts from blue collection boxes in Milwaukee led to the break up last month of a criminal ring. The suspects allegedly used stolen "arrow keys," or a universal USPS key that opens mail collection boxes, to pilfer mail, including more than 900 stolen checks, according to a criminal complaint.

The theft issues have prompted the USPS to advise that Americans avoid depositing mail in blue collection boxes or leaving it in their own mailboxes for a carrier to pick up. Instead, the agency is now recommending that patrons come inside their local post office to securely send mail.

Experts concur with the advisory to only mail checks at the post office.

"If you are choosing to mail a check, it is always recommended that you use a secure mail drop such as inside a post office versus an unsecured public-facing mailbox," Caitlin Driscoll of the Better Business Bureau told CBS Pittsburgh .

Why is mail theft on the rise?In an email to CBS MoneyWatch, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said mail theft is increasing as part of a broader national trend of "increased crime patterns."

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service reported roughly 300,000 complaints about mail theft in 2021, more than double the prior year's total. In some cases, criminals are attacking mail carriers and stealing their deliveries. In others, fraudsters are using arrow keys to gain access to postal boxes to take letters, checks and other valuables.

A 2020 report from the postal service's Office of Inspector General found that the agency didn't know how many arrow keys were in circulation or how many had been stolen, raising concerns about the security of collection boxes.

What is the USPS recommending?The U.S. Postal Service said that people should avoid allowing either incoming or outgoing mail from sitting in their mailboxes for too long.

"You can significantly reduce the chance of being victimized by simply removing your mail from your mailbox every day," the agency said in a statement.

The agency also recommends that people post mail inside their local post office or at their workplace; alternatively, they can hand their mail directly to a mail carrier. However, the USPS itself hasn't issued any specific guidance on mailing checks, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service told CBS MoneyWatch.

"Our recommendations are provided as an extra precaution for those who feel more comfortable taking their mail to the Postal Office," the agency said.

What could happen if my check is stolen?Thieves use a technique called "check washing" to scam you out of your money. That involves using chemicals that erase your writing on the check, such as the name of the recipient and the amount of the check. Once the payment is blank, they can fill in new information, including the amount.

In one case, a man mailed a $42 check to pay a phone bill and was shocked when it was cashed for $7,000, paid out to someone he'd never heard of. In another case, nearly 60 individuals last year were arrested in Southern California on charges of committing more than $5 million in check fraud against 750 people.

How many people still use checks?It's true that check usage is declining, but Americans still wrote 3.4 billion checks in 2022. That's down from 19 billion checks in 1990, but it still gives criminals plenty of opportunity for fraud.

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 20:25

TOKYO, Jun 26 (

interestingengineering.com) - Reuters reported on Sunday that Japan's military is testing Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service according to the Yomiuri newspaper that cited unnamed government sources.

If all goes well, the organization may adopt the technology next fiscal year.

Japan's Ministry of Defense already has access to communication satellites in geostationary orbit but lacks access to the devices in low Earth orbit which Starlink would provide, the Yomiuri said. ...continue reading

Japan to reinstate South Korea as preferred trade nation usnews.com - Jun 27Japan announced a decision Tuesday to reinstate South Korea as a preferred nation with fast-track trade status starting July 21, virtually ending a four-year economic row that was further strained during their bitter historic disputes.

Japan announces plans to host meeting on Ukraine's reconstruction CNA - Jun 23Leaders from more than 60 countries are attending the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London. Japan's foreign ministry said its meeting could be held at the end of this year. It aims to renew Tokyo's commitment to rebuilding Ukraine, which is still at war with Russia.

Public opposition grows over My Number and health insurance merger Japan Times - Jun 21As errors and privacy breaches involving the linkage of My Number and health insurance cards continue to surface, public opposition is growing over the government's decision to halt the use of current health insurance cards in the fall of 2024.

U.S. military drag show ban reverberates far away in Japan Japan Times - Jun 19The LGBTQ community at U.S. military bases located throughout Japan has been rocked by the ban on drag shows at military bases implemented by the U.S. government at the start of Pride month, on June 1, with the decision coming as a disappointment to those who were gearing up for celebrations this month.

Japan searches for a new grand strategy East Asia Forum - Jun 19Last week Japan adopted its first ever space security blueprint aimed at better using space for defensive purposes. This builds on the three new security documents released by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's administration in December 2022, in which it committed to doubling defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP by 2027 and investing in Tomahawk missiles to develop missile counter-strike capabilities.

Japan emperor to meet with President Widodo on June 19 Antara - Jun 18The Emperor of Japan, Hironomiya Naruhito, and Empress Masako Owada will meet President Joko Widodo on Monday at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, during their inaugural visit to Indonesia.

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 20:19

Home Celebrity Roseanne Barr Antisemitic Rant: ''Nobody died in the Holocaust, that's the truth.... Roseanne Barr is a sick woman, a known racist who lost her TV show for that reason.

Now in a podcast she goes on antisemitic rant: ''Nobody died in the Holocaust, that's the truth. Six million Jews should die right now 'cause they cause all the problems in the world.'' She adds, twice, ''It never happened.''

The entire interview is antisemitic. The interviewer points out that Barr is fully Jewish, but it doesn't matter. She's one of the sickest people out there.

So that's it, she was already out of show business. But now she must be ostracized from civilization. There's no apology, no excuse. She's deeply demented and deserves to be a social leper.

These comments begin at 2:00 but the whole interview is grotesque. People will says ''off her meds'' or something, but there is no excuse for these statements.

PS In another video she called Donald Trump ''the first woman president of the United States.''

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 18:53

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 18:52

Union workers at Starbucks stores across the country are participating in a strike.

They say the company has changed its policy over Pride Month decorations and they're demanding that Starbucks negotiate a fair contract with union stores.

Union strikers at the Starbucks location off of McCoy and Broadway in Santa Maria protested what they say are unfair labor practices. As a result, the Starbucks location was closed to customers on Monday.

The Santa Maria location joined the Starbucks Workers United Organization on a 14-4 vote and has been unionized for 10 months.

''Once a new union is formed, the union and the corporation must meet together and make the contract," explained Jaylee Moore, Starbucks shift supervisor and lead union organizer. "So far, no store that is unionized has made any progress."

According to the Starbucks Workers Union, the organization is fighting for fair wages based on cost of living with baristas earning at least $20 an hour and shift supervisors at least $25.40 an hour.

"I want higher wages for my baristas," Moore added. "More say on health and safety conditions."

In addition, the union claims Starbucks changed its policy over Pride Month decorations and some stores have removed them.

"Our store has been fairly open to that, and that's why we're able to have Pride decorations such as the ones we have in the store today. It just makes me extremely proud as a queer worker to kind of see my people represented in the workplace," said Arrow Rubalcava, Santa Maria Starbucks barista.

Management at the McCoy location as well as Starbucks' corporate office did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

However, last week, Starbucks released a statement denying it made any changes to its Pride decoration policy, saying, "Here at Starbucks, we are dedicated to creating experiences where everyone is welcome and respected, with the belief that we are at our best when we create safe, inclusive environments for people to connect over coffee. Recognizing Pride Month every June is a longstanding tradition Starbucks is proud to be a part of. There has been no change to any guidance related to how our stores across the United States celebrate this moment."

Several other local union representatives made appearances in support of the strike in Santa Maria. Union workers say they are also pushing for more consistent schedules, affordable health coverage, and the reinstatement of transgender benefits coverage.

''That's why unions like Starbucks or the teachers or the UPS Teamsters, that's why they go on strike so that they can negotiate a better contract and put it on paper so that their employers will promise them to give them what they want and what they need to survive here in the Central Coast," said Leo Decasaus, Mobilization Coordinator with the Central Coast Labor Council.

"We want Starbucks to meet with us in good faith so we can finally get that first contract, so we can work together and flourish," Moore said.

The Starbucks location on McCoy and Broadway is expected to be open as usual on Tuesday.

Copyright 2023 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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CBS News medical contributor Dr. Celine Gounder joins "CBS Mornings" to discuss new research on daily weight loss drugs that are currently in development.

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 16:04

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CNN '--

CNN has exclusively obtained the audio recording of the 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, where President Donald Trump discusses holding secret documents he did not declassify.

Hear the conversation

Listen to audio exclusively obtained by CNN of a July 2021 conversation during which former President Donald Trump acknowledges he held on to a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran.

The recording, which first aired on CNN's ''Anderson Cooper 360,'' includes new details from the conversation that is a critical piece of evidence in special counsel Jack Smith's indictment of Trump over the mishandling of classified information, including a moment when Trump seems to indicate he was holding a secret Pentagon document with plans to attack Iran.

''These are the papers,'' Trump says in the audio recording, while he's discussing the Pentagon attack plans, a quote that was not included in the indictment.

In the two-minute audio recording, Trump and his aides also joke about Hillary Clinton's emails after the former president says that the document was ''secret information.''

''Hillary would print that out all the time, you know. Her private emails,'' Trump's staffer said.

''No, she'd send it to Anthony Weiner,'' Trump responded, referring to the former Democratic congressman, prompting laughter in the room.

Trump's statements on the audio recording, saying ''these are the papers'' and referring to something he calls ''highly confidential'' and seems to be showing others in the room, could undercut the former president's claims in an interview last week with Fox News' Bret Baier that he did not have any documents with him.

''There was no document. That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things,'' Trump said on Fox. ''And it may have been held up or may not, but that was not a document. I didn't have a document, per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.''

Trump pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 37 counts related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

The audio recording comes from a July 2021 interview Trump gave at his Bedminster resort for people working on the memoir of Mark Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff. The special counsel's indictment alleges that those in attendance '' a writer, publisher and two of Trump's staff members '' were shown classified information about the plan of attack on Iran.

The episode is one of two referenced in the indictment where prosecutors allege that Trump showed classified information to others who did not have security clearances.

CNN has previously reported that Trump at the time was furious over a New Yorker article about Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley that said Milley argued against striking Iran and was concerned Trump would set in motion a full-scale conflict.

The special counsel's office declined to comment.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in statement that ''the audio tape provides context proving, once again, that President Trump did nothing wrong at all.''

This is the 'single most important' piece of evidence in Trump indictment, according to CNN legal analyst

The recording obtained by CNN begins with Trump claiming ''these are bad sick people,'' while his staffer claims there had been a ''coup'' against Trump.

''Like when Milley is talking about, 'Oh you're going to try to do a coup.' No, they were trying to do that before you even were sworn in,'' the staffer says, according to the audio.

The next part of the conversation is mostly included in the indictment, though the audio makes clear there are papers shuffling as Trump tells those in attendance he has an example to show.

''He said that I wanted to attack Iran, Isn't it amazing?'' Trump says as the sound of papers shuffling can be heard. ''I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this '' this is off the record but '' they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.''

The indictment includes ellipses where the recording obtained by CNN shows where Trump and his aide begin talking about Clinton's emails and Weiner, whose laptop caused the FBI to briefly re-open its investigation into her handling of classified information in the days before the 2016 election she lost to Trump.

Trump then returns to the Iran document, according to the audio recording and indictment transcript.

''I was just thinking, because we were talking about it. And you know, he said, 'He wanted to attack Iran, and what'...,' '' Trump says.

''These are the papers,'' Trump continues, according to the audio file.

Trump offers new reason for not giving classified material to investigators

''This was done by the military and given to me,'' Trump continues, before noting that the document remained classified.

''See as president I could have declassified it,'' Trump says. ''Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret.''

''Now we have a problem,'' his staffer responds.

''Isn't that interesting,'' Trump says.

While that's the last line included in the indictment, the audio recording obtained by CNN includes several additional lines from the conversation:

Trump: ''It's so cool. I mean, it's so, look, her and I, and you probably almost didn't believe me, but now you believe me.''

Writer: ''No, I believed you.''

Trump: ''It's incredible, right?''

Writer: ''No, they never met a war they didn't want.''

Trump: ''Hey, bring some, uh, bring some Cokes in please.''

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Tue, 27 Jun 2023 15:20

June 23, 2023 2023-06-23T12:36:06-04:00 https://ximage.c-spanvideo.org/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJwaWN0dXJlcy5jLXNwYW52aWRlby5vcmciLCJrZXkiOiJGaWxlc1wvYjBkXC8wMTNcLzE2ODc1MzgyMzhfMDEzLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciIsImhlaWdodCI6NTA2fX19 President Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the CEOs of American and Indian technology companies in the White House's East Room. Both leaders stressed the importance the two countries' relations and of their roles in safe innovation and advancing technologies for the future.President Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the CEOs of American and Indian technology companies in the White House's'... read more

President Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the CEOs of American and Indian technology companies in the White House's East Room. Both leaders stressed the importance the two countries' relations and of their roles in safe innovation and advancing technologies for the future. close

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*This text was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.

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