1628: Bad Rap

- Texas sues Biden over razor wire, asks for TRO (temporary restraining order, used to stop a harmful activity while the case is handled)

- District court grants TRO, so razor wire destruction stops

- District court ultimately rules for Biden, meaning TRO is not converted into full injunction and is no longer valid

- Texas appeals to Circuit Court

- Circuit Court grants "Injunction Pending Appeal" to stop razor wire destruction while the appeal is considered

- Biden appeals this "Injunction Pending Appeal" to SCOTUS, and SCOTUS vacates, meaning Biden can continue destroying razor wire while the appeal is being considered

The underlying case is set for oral argument in front of the fifth circuit in February. The only thing that SCOTUS has done is vacate the "Injunction Pending Appeal"; the actual case hasn't even been decided in the circuit court.

A great balanced summary can be read here: https://cis.org/Arthur/SCOTUS-Rules-Biden-Admin-Texas-Border-Wire-Case

Adam,

Responding while listening to the show so apologies if you're going to go on and say all of this as soon as I press play again.

I'm listening to the bit from Sunday about AfD in Germany and the "secret meeting they had to discuss mass deportations". I read a blog by a German person who has been writing about this and, at least to hear him say it, the entire story is a lie.

You can read the relevant blog post here https://www.eugyppius.com/p/how-german-taxpayer-funded-fact-checkers

Tim

This is a tribal war. One tribe has just won the war, and now we are entering a phase of slaughtering the opposing tribe. There can be no mercy when one is bringing back democracy! That said, most Poles want peace. They didn't like the previous government, but I don't think anyone (except the core electorate/followers of Tusk and his gang) was voting for THAT. In fact, the reason Tusk's coalition won is that, at the last minute (late afternoon), many people went and voted for the 'Third Way' - a coalition of two other parties - which, for some, looked like an alternative.

What is even more astonishing is the tacit consent of the EU for such actions. Some Polish commentators are putting forward the thesis that Poland acts as a testing ground for how far governments can go before people say "enough." You can observe what is happening all over Europe (and beyond 😉).

A few quotes: “We will obey the law in the way we understand it (the law).” - Donald Tusk after forming the government. “We are looking for some legal basis.” - Adam Bodnar (The Justice Minister) when asked about the legality of taking over public television.

There is more… 😉 I have a more general thought. It looks like the cycle of history is repeating itself, where elites don’t “deliver” anymore, and people are starting to revolt. The difference I can point out is the current technology and how the system is built around it. Feel free to ask more specific questions. Many things seem obvious to me, but they might not be so for someone not familiar with the Polish political swamp. I'll try to write a bit more later this week. There are plenty of amusing yet depressing events to reveal ;)

Take care. BK

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Archived Version

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 17:41

New hurdles and opposition to diversity programs have pushed some business leaders to approach their D.E.I. initiatives ''in a less in your face way,'' while others are doubling down.

Supporters of affirmative action protest outside the Supreme Court building last year on the day the court struck down race-conscious college admissions. Credit... Kenny Holston/The New York Times Over the past two years, as Ishan Bhabha and his colleagues at the law firm Jenner & Block prepared briefs for the affirmative action case the Supreme Court ruled on last year, Mr. Bhabha had a realization: If higher education institutions like Harvard were the first target of litigation about diversity, equity and inclusion, America's corporate boardrooms were probably next.

Mr. Bhabha began working with dozens of Fortune 500 companies to evaluate their diversity programs and ensure that they were on solid legal ground if they were sued.

Proponents of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, commonly called D.E.I., argue that they are important to hiring and retaining people of color. Critics now argue that some such programs can exclude white and Asian people unfairly from hiring processes.

In recent months, hundreds of companies have been re-examining those initiatives after a series of challenges to diversity programs: the threat of litigation in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision striking down race-conscious college admissions, criticism of D.E.I. initiatives from some high-profile business leaders and a wave of layoffs in the tech industry that heavily affected D.E.I. teams.

This pushback '-- which has come as more than 20 states weighed or passed new laws last year targeting D.E.I. initiatives '-- has had a chilling effect on some corporate D.E.I. offices, according to diversity advisers.

''When the economy is booming and when the politics are amenable, we see a lot of growth in diversity programming,'' said Frank Dobbin, an expert on D.E.I. at Harvard and author of the 2022 book ''Getting to Diversity.'' ''When there's either a change in the political winds '-- which is what's happening now '-- or a recession, we've seen cutbacks.''

The backlash, Dr. Dobbin said, has pushed some human resource professionals to keep their D.E.I. efforts ''under the radar.'' At recent conferences he has attended, Dr. Dobbin added, corporate leaders have discussed how to approach D.E.I. ''in a less in-your-face way.''

Some have explored moving away from initiatives that attract a lot of public attention, like mandatory anti-bias trainings, and instead focusing on lower-profile D.E.I. strategies, like diversity task forces that bring together leaders from different corporate departments.

''If companies lighten up on things that are ineffective, that could be a good outcome,'' Dr. Dobbin said, noting that mandatory anti-bias trainings have been shown to sometimes even worsen bias. ''But I do worry that the baby will go out with the bathwater.''

So far, few companies seem to have cut back their programs because of the Supreme Court's ruling. Three-quarters of employers polled by Littler Mendelson, the employment law firm, said they had not changed their approach to D.E.I. because of the ruling last year, and only 1 percent reported a significant decrease in their efforts, according to a survey released this month.

And some executives say they are doubling down, like Crystal Castille-Cromedy, who leads D.E.I. strategy for Hines, one of the world's largest real estate companies. Ms. Castille-Cromedy joined the firm in June 2020, days after George Floyd's murder, and has overseen a number of diversity efforts, including the creation of a mentoring program for underrepresented groups in real estate.

Mr. Bhabha, a partner at Jenner & Block and a chairman of the firm's D.E.I. Protection Task Force, said he had ''some clients that say, 'Look, if I was sued over this and I have to become the face of defending D.E.I. against a conservative backlash, I'd be happy to.''' But, he said: ''There are the vast majority of my clients not in that bucket. They think, 'We'd like to keep our heads under the parapet.'''

The American Alliance for Equal Rights, a conservative nonprofit organization devoted to challenging race-based policies, sued a handful of law firms last year over their diversity fellowship programs, arguing that these programs discriminate against white and Asian applicants.

The American Alliance's founder, Edward Blum, also established Students for Fair Admissions, the group that sued Harvard over its affirmative action policies and won.

''These lawsuits have sent a powerful message to corporate America: The law firms upon which you turn to for legal advice concerning D.E.I. are themselves violating the law,'' Mr. Blum said.

Image Edward Blum is the founder of Students for Fair Admissions, the group that sued Harvard over its affirmative action policies. Credit... Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press American Alliance filed lawsuits against the law firms Perkins Coie, Morrison Foerster and Winston & Strawn. Those firms have all since opened their diversity fellowships to applicants of all races and backgrounds, and Mr. Blum's group dropped the suits.

''Following the Supreme Court's landmark decision striking down race-conscious affirmative action in college admissions, we undertook a thorough review of our programs,'' Winston & Strawn said in a statement. Perkins Coie said in its statement that the program's revised criteria would continue to ''ensure'' that the firm hired lawyers ''with a diversity of backgrounds and experiences.''

Morrison Foerster said it had been in the process of opening up the fellowship even before the lawsuit.

On top of the threat of litigation, some prominent business leaders have recently criticized diversity programs. The billionaire financier Bill Ackman wrote an essay this month in The Free Press, after the resignation of Claudine Gay as president of Harvard, faulting what he said was ''the penetration of D.E.I. ideology into the corporation board room.'' Elon Musk, posting on X, wrote, ''Discrimination on the basis of race, which D.E.I. does, is literally the definition of racism.'' (The billionaire investor Mark Cuban, meanwhile, wrote on X that ''the loss of DEI-Phobic companies is my gain.'')

Leaders who have been critical of specific types of diversity programs from within the industry argue that broad-brush criticisms of D.E.I. can be counterproductive, distracting from meaningful efforts to reform corporate diversity initiatives.

''I've critiqued things like our relative lack of metrics, the relative lack of accountability, the fact that leaders can release a D.E.I. statement and otherwise not do anything,'' said Lily Zheng, a D.E.I. strategist and author of ''Reconstructing D.E.I.'' Mx. Zheng views critiques of racial quotas as focusing on ''a straw man of D.E.I.''

In 2020, after a wave of protests for racial justice in the wake of the killing of Mr. Floyd, corporate D.E.I. programs saw a rush of support, and hundreds of employers came forward to announce new diversity initiatives. In that year alone, companies spent an estimated $7.5 billion on D.E.I.-related efforts. But some D.E.I. leaders say that attention and investment since then have not been sustained.

''It's a sugar rush phenomenon,'' said John Amaechi, a retired basketball player who now works with companies on D.E.I. strategy. ''It creates a huge amount of energy followed by a withdrawal.''

In some cases, D.E.I. programs have been hard hit by job cuts. RevelioLabs, a work force database, published a study last year that looked at 600 companies that had laid off workers since 2020 and found that the attrition rate for people working in D.E.I. was nearly twice that of employees in non-D.E.I. roles.

Many executives still argue that their efforts to recruit diverse employees contribute to company performance. For instance, Armughan Ahmad, the chief executive of Appen, an artificial intelligence company, says a diverse talent pool allows the company to build products that are trained on diverse users, helping to prevent racial bias in A.I. algorithms.

Image Armughan Ahmad says that having a more diverse work force helps his artificial intelligence company Appen build products that are trained on diverse users. Credit... Business Wire Plenty of corporate leaders share that view.

''Even in places where there's legislation that is anti-D.E.I. being passed, it's not about companies being relieved somehow they don't have to do this work,'' said Jensen Harris, co-founder of Textio, an A.I. human-resources platform used by more than 1,000 companies. ''It's them figuring out, 'OK, D.E.I. work is still really important, so how do we work around this legislation?'''

The Supreme Court's recent decision on race-conscious admissions policies does not directly apply to most employers. The decision was focused largely on Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which covers institutions receiving federal funding and doesn't apply to most private companies. But many employers worry that their D.E.I. initiatives could be challenged legally under Title VII, which deals with employment relationships, or Section 1981 of the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which covers contracts.

Kenji Yoshino, the director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at NYU School of Law, has been advising managers at Fortune 500 companies to code their D.E.I. programs as either green, yellow or red. A red program indicates an initiative that has a high risk for potential litigation, such as a hiring process that provides an advantage to candidates of color; on the other hand, a program that offers mentorship widely to anyone at the company may be categorized as green.

Mr. Yoshino noted that some D.E.I. critics had a limited view of what the programs consisted of. Many corporate diversity programs extend beyond hiring processes to touch on mentoring, training and career development.

''The pessimists say, 'This is a terrible moment for D.E.I., D.E.I. is over, the sky is falling,''' Mr. Yoshino said. ''I want to ask people what they think D.E.I. actually is.''

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Archived Version

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 17:34

Valerie Macon | Afp | Getty Images

"Oppenheimer," Christopher Nolan's portrait of the father of the atomic bomb, dominated the list of nominees for the 96th Academy Awards announced early Tuesday, picking up 13 nods, including best picture.

The nine other films vying for the top prize are Cord Jefferson's "American Fiction," Justine Triet's "Anatomy of a Fall," Greta Gerwig's "Barbie," Alexander Payne's "The Holdovers," Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon," Bradley Cooper's "Maestro," Celine Song's "Past Lives," Yorgos Lanthimos' "Poor Things" and Jonathan Glazer's "The Zone of Interest."

Triet, Scorsese, Nolan, Lanthimos and Glazer were also recognized in the best director category.

'‹"Barbie" turned in a strong showing, securing eight nominations, including nods for supporting actor Ryan Gosling and supporting actress America Ferrera. Surprisingly, though, "Barbie" star Margot Robbie was locked out of the best actress race and Gerwig did not make the cut in the best director category.

"Poor Things," a feminist spin on the Frankenstein story, nabbed 11 nominations; "Killers of the Flower Moon," a chronicle of the Osage murders of the 1920s, earned 10.

The nominees for best actor are Bradley Cooper ("Maestro"), Colman Domingo ("Rustin"), Paul Giamatti ("The Holdovers"), Cillian Murphy ("Oppenheimer") and Jeffrey Wright ("American Fiction").

In the best actress race, the nominees are Annette Bening ("Nyad"), Lily Gladstone ("Killers of the Flower Moon"), Sandra H¼ller ("Anatomy of a Fall"), Carey Mulligan ("Maestro") and Emma Stone ("Poor Things").

No performer may be more of a lock for an Oscar than Da'Vine Joy Randolph for her supporting turn in "The Holdovers" as a cafeteria manager mourning the death of her son in Vietnam. Randolph previously triumphed at the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics' Choice Awards.

The list of contenders was announced by Zazie Beetz ("Joker") and Jack Quaid ("Oppenheimer"). Jimmy Kimmel is lined up to host the awards show March 10 '-- his fourth time as the emcee.

The recognition of box-office champions "Barbie" ($1.4 billion worldwide) and "Oppenheimer" ($952 million worldwide) might help attract viewers to this year's telecast. Last year's ceremony got a bump in the ratings thanks in part to "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Avatar: The Way of Water."

Here's a full list of the nominees:Best picture"American Fiction""Anatomy of a Fall""Barbie""The Holdovers""Killers of the Flower Moon""Maestro""Oppenheimer""Past Lives""Poor Things""The Zone of Interest"Best directorJustine Triet, "Anatomy of a Fall"Martin Scorsese, "Killers of the Flower Moon"Christopher Nolan, "Oppenheimer"Yorgos Lanthimos, "Poor Things"Jonathan Glazer, "The Zone of Interest"Best actressAnnette Bening, "Nyad"Lily Gladstone, "Killers of the Flower Moon"Sandra H¼ller, "Anatomy of a Fall"Carey Mulligan, "Maestro"Emma Stone, "Poor Things"Best actorBradley Cooper, "Maestro"Colman Domingo, "Rustin"Paul Giamatti, "The Holdovers"Cillian Murphy, "Oppenheimer"Jeffrey Wright, "American Fiction"Best supporting actressEmily Blunt, "Oppenheimer"Danielle Brooks, "The Color Purple"America Ferrera, "Barbie"Jodie Foster, "Nyad"Da'Vine Joy Randolph, "The Holdovers"Best supporting actorSterling K. Brown, "American Fiction"Robert De Niro, "Killers of the Flower Moon"Robert Downey Jr., "Oppenheimer"Ryan Gosling, "Barbie"Mark Ruffalo, "Poor Things"Best adapted screenplay"American Fiction""Barbie""Oppenheimer""Poor Things""The Zone of Interest"Best original screenplay"Anatomy of a Fall""The Holdovers""Maestro""May December""Past Lives"Best costume design"Barbie""Killers of the Flower Moon""Napoleon""Oppenheimer""Poor Things"Best makeup and hairstyling"Golda""Maestro""Oppenheimer""Poor Things""Society of the Snow"Best live-action short film"The After""Invincible""Night of Fortune""Red, White and Blue""The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar"Best animated short film"Letter to a Pig""Ninety-Five Senses""Our Uniform""Pachyderme""War Is Over!"Best original song"The Fire Insider" from "Flamin' Hot""I'm Just Ken" from "Barbie""Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)" from "Killers of the Flower Moon""It Never Went Away" from "American Symphony""What Was I Made For?" from "Barbie"Best original score"American Fiction""Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny""Killers of the Flower Moon""Oppenheimer""Poor Things"Best documentary"Bobi Wine: The People's President""The Eternal Memory""Four Daughters""To Kill a Tiger""20 Days in Mariupol"Best documentary, short"The ABCs of Book Banning""The Barber of Little Rock""Island in Between""The Last Repair Shop""Nǎi Nai and W i P""Best international feature"Io Capitano""Perfect Days""Society of the Snow""The Teachers' Lounge""The Zone of Interest"Best animated feature"The Boy and the Heron""Elemental""Nimona""Robot Dreams""Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"Best production design"Barbie""Killers of the Flower Moon""Napoleon""Oppenheimer""Poor Things"Best film editing"Anatomy of a Fall""The Holdovers""Killers of the Flower Moon""Oppenheimer""Poor Things"Best sound"The Creator""Maestro""Mission: Impossible '-- Dead Reckoning Part One""Oppenheimer""The Zone of Interest"Best visual effects"The Creator""Godzilla Minus One""Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3""Mission: Impossible '-- Dead Reckoning Part One""Napoleon"Best cinematography"El Conde""Killers of the Flower Moon""Maestro""Oppenheimer""Poor Things"

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Archived Version

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 17:33

A Virgin Atlantic flight from Manchester, England, to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York was canceled after a passenger reportedly noticed four missing fasteners on the top of the Airbus A330's wing.

The passenger alerted a crew member during the safety briefing just moments before flight VS127 was about to depart on Jan 15, according to the Manchester Evening News.

The crew tried reassuring the passenger there were no safety concerns despite the missing fasteners, but he said he felt extra nervous after the Alaska Airlines incident in which a piece of fuselage blew out mid-flight, leaving a gaping hole in the plane. The Jan. 8 event prompted a grounding order from the Federal Aviation Administration of Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes.

Engineers were called to inspect the plane, and the flight ''was cancelled to provide time for precautionary additional engineering maintenance checks, which allowed our team the maximum time to complete their inspections,'' a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson told USA TODAY.

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''The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority and this was not compromised at any point,'' the airline continued. ''We always work well above industry safety standards and the aircraft is now back in service. We'd like to apologise to our customers for the delay to their journeys.''

According to Airbus UK's Chief Wing Engineer Neil Firth, the missing fasteners had ''no impact to the structural integrity or load capability of the wing, and the aircraft was safe to operate.''

The panel in question is part of a secondary structure dedicated to enhancing the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft. Each panel has 119 fasteners.

''As a precautionary measure, the aircraft underwent an additional maintenance check, and the fasteners were replaced,'' Firth continued.

Kathleen Wong is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Hawaii. You can reach her at kwong@usatoday.com.

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Archived Version

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 17:24

The Associated Press (AP) called the New Hampshire primary for former President Donald Trump 27 minutes faster than it called the Iowa caucuses.

The reduced time between the two calls shows the establishment media's recognition of Trump's dominance in the Republican primary process.

On Tuesday night, the AP called the race for Trump just four minutes after the polls closed:

BREAKING: Donald Trump has won New Hampshire's GOP primary, delivering a setback to rival Nikki Haley, who is running out of time to establish herself as a viable alternative to him. https://t.co/aSXWN4EH0K pic.twitter.com/jBcY0LMoOU

'-- The Associated Press (@AP) January 24, 2024

Last week in Iowa, the AP called the race 31 minutes after the caucus closed.

Trump appears to be the de facto Republican nominee. ''Nikki Haley said she's running to stop the re-election of Harris-Biden,'' said Taylor Budowich, CEO of Make America Great Again Inc., about Trump's win. ''Yet, without a viable path to victory, every day she stays in this race is another day she delivers to the Harris-Biden campaign. It's time for unity, it's time to take the fight to the Democrats, and for Nikki Haley: it's time to drop out.''

Republican presidential contenders spent over $167 million in losing efforts to defeat Trump in New Hampshire and Iowa, with plans to spend millions more in future primaries.

''Campaign officials are concerned that if Haley does not drop out after New Hampshire, it would force them to spend resources against her in South Carolina for the next three weeks instead of turning to states where Trump is politically vulnerable,'' CNN reported.

Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality . Follow Wendell on ''X'' @WendellHuseb¸ or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.

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Archived Version

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:52

In a historic move, the United States has officially expanded its geographical territory by one million square kilometers '-- an area nearly 60 percent the size of Alaska. The catalyst for this territory expansion lies in the redefinition of the U.S. continental shelf boundaries.

By invoking international law, the State Department has outlined new areas under the sea where the continental shelf, a seabed area surrounding large landmasses with relatively shallow waters, extends further than previously recognized.

This monumental addition is spread across seven distinct ocean regions, with over half of the new territory located in the Arctic.

Extended Continental Shelf (ECS)The concept of the Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) is pivotal in understanding this expansion.

Under international law, coastal nations can claim these extended shelves, along with the right to manage and exploit their resources.

With this territory expansion move, the U.S. joins over 75 countries that have defined their ECS limits, which extend beyond 200 nautical miles from their coasts.

The journey to this announcement began in 2003, involving a multi-agency collaboration led by the U.S. State Department, NOAA, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

The mission was to gather comprehensive geological data to determine the outer limits of the U.S. continental shelf.

This extensive effort ended on December 19, 2023, with the State Department revealing the new geographic coordinates that mark the U.S. ECS.

U.S. territory expansion and marine resources The areas encompassed in this claim include the Arctic, the east coast Atlantic, the Bering Sea, the west coast Pacific, the Mariana Islands, and two regions in the Gulf of Mexico.

The addition of this vast territory, equivalent in size to double the state of California, significantly strengthens the nation's control over marine resources.

''America is larger than it was yesterday,'' said Mead Treadwell, a former Alaska lieutenant governor and former chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission.

''It's not quite the Louisiana Purchase. It's not quite the purchase of Alaska, but the new area of land and subsurface resources under the land controlled by the United States is two Californias larger.''

State Department project director Brian Van Pay said it took multi-agency fieldwork spanning 20 years for scientists to gather data about the shape of the seafloor and measuring sediment layers.

''Forty missions at sea, going to areas that we've never explored before, finding entire seamounts we didn't even know existed,'' said Van Pay.

''And, if you add up all the time that our scientists spent at sea, it's over three years of data collection.''

Strong scientific foundationThis claim, although unratified by the U.S. Senate, adheres to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Despite the lack of formal ratification, the U.S. government proceeded to announce its continental shelf limits.

Treadwell asserted confidence in the scientific foundation of this unilateral move.

''If somebody came back and said, 'Your science is bad,' I think the United States would listen. But I don't think science is bad. I think we've had very good science,'' said Treadwell.

The State Department's Arctic claim notably aligns with a 1990 maritime boundary agreement with Russia, ensuring no encroachment on Russian territory.

''None of the fixed points delineating the outer limits of the continental shelf of the United States are located west of the agreed boundary with the Russian Federation,'' said the State Department.

However, potential overlap with Canada's claims was acknowledged by Van Pay, indicating future diplomatic negotiations.

Mining and research rights of U.S. territory expansionCrucially, this declaration does not extend U.S. jurisdiction over the water column or fishing rights beyond 200 miles off its coast.

Instead, it focuses on control over the seabed and its resources, including mining and research rights, as well as pipeline activities.

The extended continental shelf areas include portions of the Atlantic, Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mariana Islands.

The largest section lies north of Alaska, coupled with a smaller segment in the Bering Sea, collectively nearing the size of Texas.

More about the Extended Continental ShelfAs discussed above, the concept of the Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) is pivotal in the realm of international maritime law and geopolitics.

It represents an area of the seabed and subsoil that stretches beyond a nation's 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Legal framework for U.S. territory expansionThe United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) serves as the cornerstone for the legal definition and governance of the ECS.

Under this framework, coastal states can claim an ECS up to 350 nautical miles from their baseline or 100 nautical miles from the 2,500-meter isobath, which is a line connecting depths of 2,500 meters.

Key ProvisionsArticle 76 of UNCLOS: This article provides the legal basis for the extension of the continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical miles. It outlines specific criteria and methods for determining the outer limits of the continental shelf.Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS): Established under UNCLOS, this body evaluates the submissions made by coastal states regarding the outer limits of their continental shelf.Process of claiming ECSClaiming an ECS is a meticulous and scientific process. Coastal states must submit detailed geological and hydrographic data supporting their claim to the CLCS.

Data Collection: States conduct extensive seabed surveys to collect geophysical and hydrographic data.Preparation of Submission: The collected data is then used to prepare a submission that delineates the outer limits of the continental shelf.Evaluation by CLCS: The CLCS reviews the submission and makes recommendations. These are not binding but carry significant legal weight.Significance of the ECSResource Management: The ECS is rich in resources like oil, gas, and minerals. Sovereign rights over these resources are vital for economic development.Environmental Protection: Jurisdiction over the ECS enables states to enforce environmental regulations, safeguarding marine ecosystems.Geopolitical Relevance: The ECS can have strategic importance, affecting maritime boundaries and regional stability.Challenges and controversiesOverlapping Claims: In regions where the continental shelves of neighboring countries overlap, there is potential for disputes.Technical and Financial Constraints: The process of delineating the ECS is resource-intensive, posing challenges for smaller or less developed countries.Environmental Concerns: Exploitation of resources in the ECS must balance economic interests with environmental protection.In summary, the Extended Continental Shelf is a complex yet crucial aspect of maritime law and geopolitics. It presents opportunities and challenges for coastal states.

As nations navigate these waters, it is imperative that they adhere to the principles of international law, promote cooperation, and balance economic aspirations with environmental stewardship.

The stewardship of the ECS is not just a matter of national interest but a global responsibility, requiring concerted efforts to maintain the delicate balance between resource utilization and ocean conservation.

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Archived Version

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:48

The the manual for Tesla's newly unveiled Cybertruck advises that owners to remove bird poop, tree sap and dead insects from the futuristic vehicle in order to prevent damage to its stainless steel body.

''To prevent damage to the exterior, immediately remove corrosive substances (such as grease, oil, bird droppings, tree resin, dead insects, tar spots, road salt, industrial fallout, etc.),'' the owner's manual of the new Cybertruck reads:

The manual also urges Cybertruck owners not to wait for a complete wash.

''If necessary, use denatured alcohol to remove tar spots and stubborn grease stains, then immediately wash the area with water and a mild, non-detergent soap to remove the alcohol,'' the manual states.

A Cybertruck owner posted the text of the manual onto his X social media page.

The post was reported by MotorBiscuit.

The stainless steel exterior of Tesla's newly unveiled Cybertruck means that the owners will have to remove bird poop, tree sap and dead insects from the futuristic vehicle in order to prevent damage. AP Cybertruck exterior will corrode and Tesla readily admits this in the manual. It's what I've been saying all along. Once that oxide barrier is compromised '' corrosion begins.".. immediately remove corrosive substances'... Do not wait until Cybertruck is due for a complete wash." pic.twitter.com/soKbxYfJsM

'-- Beer Muncher (@solarbrewer) January 14, 2024During wintertime, cars are exposed to road salt. In the summer, it is usually bird droppings and tree sap.

Vehicles are also forced to weather year-round problems such as tar and grease from the roads.

All of these substances are considered corrosive and thus require immediately care, according to the manual.

''Wait, what? '...Immediately wash off bird poop, dead insects and tree resin? Is this a badass Cybertruck or a f''king cream puff?'' one X user wrote.

A view of the Tesla Cybertruck seen in the Tesla Showroom in the Meatpacking district in New York City. Nancy Kaszerman/ZUMA / SplashNews.comOthers noted that the owner's manual for other Tesla vehicles including for the Model 3 say the same thing.

''True for every car,'' wrote another X user. ''Move on.''

Tesla made the controversial decision to not paint the Cybertruck and offer it with just its stainless steel exterior, which company CEO Elon Musk wanted so as to project an image of a ''tough'' vehicle.

In late November, Tesla delivered its first batch of Cybertrucks two years behind the original schedule.

Musk has said the Cybertruck's body is made of a stainless steel alloy developed by Tesla.

The body panels had to be angular because they can't be stamped by a conventional press, he said.

Stainless steel, he said, has no corrosion and doesn't need paint, but can still be mass produced.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has acknowledged that the company has experienced delays in getting the car to customers. AFP via Getty ImagesWhen Musk unveiled the truck four years ago, he said production would start in 2021.

But on the company's earnings conference call in October, Musk lamented how hard it has been to produce the innovative truck with a body made of hard-to-bend stainless steel.

''We dug our own grave with Cybertruck,'' said Musk, who added that he didn't think the company would reach its production target of 250,000 per year until 2025.

The initial rollout has come with kinks.

Earlier his month, a YouTuber took Tesla's Cybertruck on a ride to see if it can actually hit its advertised 320-mile range, only to find out that its could only reach 79% of the target.

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Archived Version

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:35

Small-cap stocks outperformSmaller stocks saw outsized gains on Thursday, bucking the trend seen so far in the new year.

The small-cap focused Russell 2000 advanced 0.7% in late morning trading. Meanwhile, the broad S&P 500 added just 0.4%,

That marks a reprieve from the story seen in 2024 so far. While the S&P 500 has climbed more than 2% since the trading year began, the Russell 2000 has dropped more than 2%.

Stock Chart IconStock chart iconRussell 2000 vs. S&P 500, 1-day

'-- Alex Harring

Deutsche Bank cuts Humana to hold as company slashes forecast and warns of skyrocketing medical costsHumana sounded a warning last week ahead of the release its fourth-quarter results, saying medical costs are soaring, but even the most pessimistic view failed to capture just how bad things were, Deutsche Bank analyst George Hill said, in a note downgrading the stock to hold from buy.

After seeing Humana's results, the analyst is calling 2024 a "lost year." He slashed his price target by 40% to $360. Humana shares are down 10% in trading Thursday, bringing its losses this month to 22%.

Stock Chart IconStock chart iconHumana shares over the past year.

The bigger question, according to Hill, is whether this issue is isolated to Humana or if it will hurt other providers of Medicare Advantage. Investors seem to think it's a bigger problem, with shares of UnitedHealth , CVS Health and Centene all falling in sympathy.

'--Christina Cheddar Berk

GDP data is what Fed wants to see, Harris Financial managing partner saysThursday's gross domestic product data bodes well for those hoping to see the Federal Reserve cut interest rates in 2024, according to Jamie Cox, managing partner for Harris Financial.

"The headline data are the perfect mix of strong consumption and dropping inflation," Cox said. "This is exactly what you want to see if you are running the Fed and want to move rates lower this year."

Cox said it's also a positive indicator that the central bank has brought down inflation without tipping the economy into a recession: "Soft landing: runway acquired," he said.

'-- Alex Harring

Stocks open higherThe three major indexes were up as Thursday's trading day kicked off.

The Dow rose 0.2% shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite added 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively.

'-- Alex Harring

'Time looks to be running out on the laggards,' BTIG saysInvestors looking for a broadening of the rally are running out of time, according to BTIG.

While mega-cap tech stocks have continued to surge higher this year, the majority of the market has continued to fall behind, according to BTIG's Jonathan Krinsky in a Wednesday note. Krinsky said a failure by the laggards this week to make a sustainable bounce could mean the recent stock rally is also near its top.

Broadly speaking, mega-cap tech stocks are all higher this year. Nvidia , for example, has already surged 23% in January. Even Apple, which contended with several notable downgrades this month, is up by 1%.

Compare that with the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF , which is down 0.3% this year, or the Ark Innovation ETF , which is off by 11%, Krinsky noted. The VanEck Oil Services ETF is down by 3%, and the iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF is lower by nearly 5%. The small-cap Russell 2000 is off by 3%.

"Whenever markets have divergences, they resolve in one of two ways. Either the reason for the divergence (i.e. the laggards) play catch-up, or the leaders succumb down to the laggards," Krinsky wrote.

"Time looks to be running out on the laggards here, and if the average stock starts to roll over when the super extended leadership names decide to reverse, that's when things get a bit dicey for the broad indices," Krinsky continued. "We think we are nearing that point here."

'-- Sarah Min

U.S. GDP grows at much faster-than-expected paceThe U.S. economy expanded by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, easily surpassing expectations. Economists polled by Dow Jones had forecast the economy grew by 2% in the fourth quarter.

The report also included encouraging data on the inflation front. The price index for personal consumption expenditures rose 2.7% on an annualized basis, down from 5.9% a year prior. Core PCE increased by 3.2%, down from 5.1%.

The report comes as investors look ahead to possible Federal Reserve rate cuts later this year.

'-- Fred Imbert

Stocks making the biggest moves before the bell: IBM, Tesla and moreSouthwest gains on earnings beatSouthwest added more than 1% before the bell following a better-than-expected financial report for the fourth quarter.

The value-focused airline earned 37 cents per share, excluding items, and $6.82-billion in revenue. Analysts expected just 12 cents per share and $6.75 billion, according to LSEG.

Southwest said it has taken the Boeing 737 Max 7 out of its fleet plans amid regulatory delays.

Shares have jumped almost 8% in 2024, making up some ground after slipping for the prior four years.

'-- Alex Harring

American advances as earnings positively surpriseAmerican Airlines popped more than 4% in Thursday premarket trading on the heels of a strong quarterly print.

The Texas-based airline said it earned 29 cents per share excluding items on revenue of $13.06 billion in the fourth quarter. That's ahead of Wall Street forecasts, with analysts anticipating 10 cents per share and $13.02 billion in revenue, per LSEG.

American has risen more than 1% this year, adding to 2023's gain of 8%.

'-- Alex Harring

Blackstone rises on back of earnings reportBlackstone advanced more than 3% in Thursday's premarket after per-share earnings came in better than expected in the fourth quarter.

The investment company posted $1.11 per share, exceeding the consensus estimate of 95 cents from analysts polled by LSEG. But revenue slightly missed the Street's prediction, coming in at $2.54 billion while analysts forecasted $2.57 billion.

Blackstone has dropped nearly 8% so far in the new year, relinquishing some gains after climbing 76.5% in 2023.

'-- Alex Harring

Humana tumbles on weak guidanceHumana slid more than 14% before the bell on Thursday after the health insurance provider offered weak expectations for full-year earnings.

The company told investors to anticipate approximately $16, excluding items, earned per share in the full 2024 year. That's well below the consensus estimate of $29.10 from analysts surveyed by LSEG.

Humana's guidance overshadowed fourth-quarter revenue, which exceeded the Street's expectations.

Shares have slipped more than 12% in 2024, deepening losses after dropping more than 10% in 2023.

'-- Alex Harring

Alaska Air rises after earningsShares of Alaska Air rose about 1% in the premarket after the airline posted its fourth-quarter results.

The company earned 30 cents per share, excluding items. That exceeded an LSEG estimate of 18 cents per share. Revenue came in line with expectations at $2.55 billion.

This is Alaska Air's first quarterly report since a door plug blew out during an Alaska flight. The company said the grounding of 737 Max 9 jets from Boeing will cost the company $150 million.

'-- Fred Imbert

Shares of Tesla suppliers and EVs in Asia drop after Tesla's earnings missShares of electric vehicle makers and Tesla suppliers in Asia tumbled after Tesla missed fourth-quarter revenue and profit estimates on Thursday.

EV makers Nio , Xpeng and Li Auto were among the largest losers on the Hang Seng index, with Nio plunging over 7%. Shares of Xpeng and Li Auto lost 6.05% and 4.47% in early trading.

Separately, Tesla suppliers also fell after the automaker's results, with South Korean display manufacturer LG Display slipping over 4%. LG Display is known to supply the car displays for Tesla's Model 3.

Companies along Tesla's battery supply chain registered slightly smaller losses, with LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and Panasonic Holdings all down about 2%.

'-- Lim Hui Jie

South Korea economy grows 1.4% in 2023, Q4 beats estimates Samsung Electronics Co. 8GB Double-Data-Rate (DDR) 4 memory modules.

SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images

South Korea's economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the last quarter of 2023, according to an advance estimate from the Bank of Korea.

Gross domestic product grew 2.2% in the fourth quarter compared with a year ago, more than a Reuters poll estimate of 2.1%.

During the year, data showed South Korea's GDP rose 1.4%.

Data showed exports grew 2.6% in the fourth quarter from the previous three-month period, as shipments of semiconductors increased.

The main Kospi index has lost about 7% since the beginning of the year.

'-- Shreyashi Sanyal

Market hypothetical: If Boeing was unchanged in 2024, the Dow Industrials would be 308 points higherThe Dow Jones Industrial Average would stand 308 points higher than its current level around 37,806 if shares in Boeing were only unchanged in 2024 rather than down more than 17% in the wake of safety issues surrounding the 737 Max 9.

That's because the Dow is weighted according to share price rather than a company's market value '-- as is the S&P 500. Boeing closed out 2023 at $260.66 and ended Wednesday at about $214 a share. Every $1 change in the price of any stock in the Dow is worth about 6.6 points.

Similarly, if UnitedHealth Group were unchanged in January, the Dow Industrials would be another 87 points higher. UNH earnings earlier this month showed higher medical costs, which RBC Capital said were above what management had previously forecast due to the popularity of RSV vaccines.

The effect of UNH and Boeing combined, and all other prices being equal, would leave the Dow trading today at more than 38,200.

'-- Scott Schnipper

Boeing shares fall after FAA halts 737 Max production expansionShares of Boeing slid nearly 4% after the Federal Aviation Administration paused the company's 737 Max production expansion, but cleared a path to bring Boeing's Max 9 back into service.

On Wednesday, the FAA said it approved inspection instructions for the Max 9. The regulatory agency grounded the airplanes after a panel blew out of an aircraft on Jan. 5.

Boeing shares have had a rocky start to the year, off nearly 18% in January.

Read more about the FAA's announcement here.

'-- Leslie Josephs, Darla Mercado

West Texas crude touches 4-week high, gains almost 5% in 2024West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for delivery in March gained about 1% Wednesday to $75.09 a barrel, the highest since Dec. 26, 2023, and bringing the year-to-date gain to 4.8%.

Stock Chart IconStock chart iconMarch WTI futures in past month.

February gasoline futures were little changed at $2.2095 a gallon after rising as high as $2.2457, the most since Nov. 30, 2023, and are similarly higher this year by 4.9%.

Other notable commodity price moves pushed the price of March lumber futures to their highest since July 19, 2023, and tin contracts on the London Metal Exchange to their highest since Aug. 11, 2023.

'-- Scott Schnipper, Gina Francolla

Dow futures rise, boosted by IBM earnings

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Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:33

Guest Jon Stewart on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on June 17, 2019.

CBS Photo Archive | CBS | Getty Images

Jon Stewart is returning to "The Daily Show" '-- but only on Mondays.

The comedian helmed the Comedy Central talk show between 1999 and 2015, before passing the torch to South African comedian Trevor Noah. Noah departed the show in late 2022, and the program has cycled through a slew of guest hosts over the past year, but never settled on a single replacement.

Stewart will serve as "The Daily Show" host on Mondays starting Feb. 12, and appear at least through the 2024 election cycle. The rest of the week will feature a rotating cast of show regulars.

Stewart's return comes as Paramount , Comedy Central's owner, seeks to keep the signature series afloat at the network, especially during an election year, as Stewart's political commentary has often thrived in the past.

The economics of late-night TV have weakened in recent years, as advertisers flee the linear space. Audiences, too, have gravitated toward streaming video and often watch these programs online via YouTube the day after they run.

"Jon Stewart is the voice of our generation, and we are honored to have him return to Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show' to help us all make sense of the insanity and division roiling the country as we enter the election season," Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios, said in a statement Wednesday. "In our age of staggering hypocrisy and performative politics, Jon is the perfect person to puncture the empty rhetoric and provide much-needed clarity with his brilliant wit."

Since his 2015 exit from "The Daily Show," Stewart has kept busy as the executive producer of CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and weekly spots on Apple's streaming service via his show "The Problem with Jon Stewart," which was recently canceled.

Stewart is also an avid philanthropist and has lobbied for health-care benefits for veterans and 9/11 first responders.Don't miss these stories from CNBC PRO:

The S&P 500 is officially in a bull market now. Here's how long they typically lastThe early winner in the bitcoin ETF race has raked in $1 billionGoldman Sachs names its top stocks for 2024, including this solar companyCD rates are coming down. Here's where you can lock in yields of nearly 5% for 2 yearsBuy the dip in these bitcoin mining stocks over the next two months, Bernstein says

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Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:18

There has been an alarming amount of cardiovascular-related deaths '-- reversing a 10-year downward trend '-- in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Northwestern University.

''We were concerned about the emerging evidence that chronic disease outcomes worsened during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic,'' Rebecca C. Woodruff of the CDC said.

''This was unfortunately the case with heart disease and stroke, which had been improving before the pandemic.''

Researchers observed that the span of cardiovascular (CVD) deaths between 2020 and 2022 had increased trend expectations by 228,000 across all demographics.

That two-year period saw a 9.3% increase, a stark contrast from the 8.9% decline from 2010 to 2019.

Woodruff and her organization blamed ''the magnitude of the setbacks'' brought on by COVID as the culprit.

Doctors fear the pandemic has triggered a concerning uptick in cardiovascular related deaths. Getty Images The CDC is reporting a rise in cardiovascular deaths that peaked during the pandemic. Getty ImagesWoodruff said that COVID-19 also acted as a disruptor of healthcare access for many, which delayed addressing chronic or acute heart issues.

COVID-19 also made it more challenging for many to eat and sleep well, be active and manage health facets like blood pressure and blood sugar.

And worst of all, new evidence is pointing to a connection between contracting COVID-19 and developing an increased risk for heart disease, according to the CDC.

Experts blame many factors from the pandemic as a culprit for the rise. Stefan Jeremiah for NY Post''Research to understand the drivers of these increases in CVD mortality rates can help guide clinical and public health approaches to prevent, detect, and treat CVD,'' added Woodruff.

''Reprioritizing prevention and management of CVD is an essential first step.''

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Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:14

Calls for Texas to declare independence from the United States are growing in the Lone Star State after the Supreme Court's decision on Monday siding with the Biden administration over a border barrier dispute.

In a 5 to 4 vote, a majority of the Supreme Court justices allowed federal officials to cut or remove parts of a razor-wire barrier that Texas had erected along the border with Mexico to keep migrants from crossing into its territory. Conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.

The top court's decision has sparked anger among Texans who support the measures taken by Republican Governor Greg Abbott to fight illegal immigration in the state, which has seen an influx of people crossing the border from Mexico.

Hundreds of posts have appeared since Monday on X, formerly Twitter, under the hashtag "Texit," which refers to Texas' secession from the United States.

National Guard soldiers stand on the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas on January 12, 2024. Calls for Texas secession are growing in the state. National Guard soldiers stand on the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas on January 12, 2024. Calls for Texas secession are growing in the state. Brandon Bell/Getty ImagesNewsweek reached out to the White House and Abbott's office for comment by email on Tuesday morning.

"As a Texan, I wholeheartedly believe that Texas' only viable option moving forward is to vote on #TEXIT," wrote an X user who calls herself a 9th-generation Texian.

"The federal government has all but declared war on Texas. We will not continue to tolerate this blatant usurpation of Texas' sovereignty and Constitutional right to defense," she continued, adding that the state should invoke its right to "alter, abolish, or reform our government as we may feel expedient, as guaranteed in Article 1 Section 2 of the Texas Constitution."

Another X user and resident of the state posted: "Texas has state rights to protect ourselves, its citizens, and our borders when a treasonous federal government tries to use treason to override that. The #TEXIT movement is probably stronger than ever now."

The Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) issued a statement condemning the Supreme Court's ruling, saying it believes "that the federal government has, once again, failed Texas." The movement is now urging Abbott to "call an immediate special session to explore Texas independence."

Republican Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana also condemned the Supreme Court's ruling, saying that the "Feds are staging a Civil War" and that "Texas should hold its ground."

Other social media users on X decried the U.S. judicial system and said it was now time for "Texit," adding that they had lost hope in the federal government.

"It's time for Texas to secede and make its own laws. The rest of the red states will join," wrote an account called "state secession."

This, in part, reflects what the Texas governor has been saying for the past few years since the launch of "Operation Lone Star" in 2021, a security effort led by the state that added thousands of Texas state troopers and National Guard soldiers along the border with Mexico.

According to Abbott, who has repeatedly clashed with the Biden administration over the measures he has promoted to stop migrants from crossing into Texas'--including the installation of a floating barrier in the Rio Grande'--the state's government is stepping in to fill the gap left by the inaction of the federal government.

Despite rising calls for "Texit," the state cannot legally secede from the U.S., as it was established following the Civil War, which saw the victories of the union and Texas rejoining the nation. In the 1869 case Texas v. White, it was decided that individual states could not unilaterally decide to leave the union.

The Supreme Court's decision on Monday followed the latest spat between the federal government and Texas after the state sued the Biden administration in October for what it called the intentional destruction of parts of its border barrier with Mexico by federal officials.

The Biden administration brought the case up to the Supreme Court, which ultimately sided with the federal government, saying that federal agents have the right to cut through the state-erected barrier in Texas if they deem it necessary.

"This is not over. Texas' razor wire is an effective deterrent to the illegal crossings Biden encourages," Abbott wrote on X on Monday. "I will continue to defend Texas' constitutional authority to secure the border and prevent the Biden Admin from destroying our property."

In a statement to Newsweek, Abbott's spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris said: "The Biden Administration has repeatedly cut wire that Texas installed to stop illegal crossings, opening the floodgates to illegal immigrants. The absence of razor wire and other deterrence strategies encourages migrants to make unsafe and illegal crossings between ports of entry, while making the job of Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers more dangerous and difficult. This case is ongoing, and Governor Abbott will continue fighting to defend Texas' property and its constitutional authority to secure the border."

Mahaleris did not comment on the calls for Texas' independence.

Update 01/23/24, 10:56 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Abbott's spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris.

Uncommon KnowledgeNewsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:01

Includes 'demisexual panromantic'

Every year, Portland State University releases a list of its LGBTQ community members and supporters.

This year's list, obtained by Young America's Foundation, includes more than 20 genders and sexual orientations, including one called ''SaulChad.''

The list is a project of the public university's ''Queer Resource Center.''

''Each year we ask our trans and queer community to join us in celebration to sign our annual OUT list to help us destigmatize being out in school and at work,'' the center states on its website. ''All PSU students, staff, faculty, alum, community members, and allies are invited to sign the list, we post it every year at the end of October on our website.''

The ''OUT List'' asks for both ''gender identity'' and ''sexual orientation/identity.''

Listed gender identities include: ''genderqueer,'' ''trans person/non-binary,'' ''Non-Binary Transmasculine,'' ''Genderfluid, Transfluid, Genderqueer,'' ''All, none, just me,'' and ''Queer- SaulChad.''

Accounting Professor Madelyn Parsons called herself a ''Cis Woman'' but, possibly wary of not being up to date on the latest terms, wrote ''Please replace with the most appropriate terminology.'' She is a lesbian, according to her ''sexual orientation/identity answer.''

Parsons is on the university's ''Open for Business'' committee, according to her LinkedIn. The group ''is a forum for Portland's LGBTQIA+ business community.''

''Our mission is to serve and support LGBTQIA+ leaders, professionals and community members,'' Parson's LinkedIn states. ''We create spaces to manifest the social, environmental and economic business solutions central to the Portland community and beyond.''

Other listed orientations include ''Lesbian/Sapphic,'' ''lesbian!'' ''bambisexual & demisexual,'' and ''demisexual panromantic.''

Young America's Foundation commented:

Among students, there is a noticeable trend '' instead of identifying as the opposite sex, the vast majority of students on this list have adopted ''neo-genders'' and ''non-binary'' status. Only twelve students fall into the simple ''male/female swap'' category, while 50 claim to be ''non-binary,'' and the rest are ''fluid,'' ''questioning,'' ''genderflux,'' or otherwise'...

'...It's very concerning that such a large number of young people (and the individuals tasked with training them for the ''real world'') at a single school have bought into this insanity.

Some colleges have seen high rates of LGBT identification. For example, 40 percent of Brown University students say they are LGBT according to a survey from the Ivy League university's student newspaper.

Women's colleges, including Wellesley College and Smith College, exceed 60 percent LGBT identification, as previously reported by The College Fix.

''The trend toward LGBT identification among young people, which has seen a threefold expansion since 2008, encompasses both university and non-university young people, white as well as minority,'' political scientist Erick Kaufmann, who compiled a report on identification, previously told The Fix.

The high LGBT identification rate among women's colleges needs some context, Kaufmann told The Fix.

''These are high numbers. However it's important to remember that much of this lies in female bisexuality, and that over 60 percent of female bisexuals report only male sexual partners in the past five years. So much of what is going on concerns people with intermittent same-sex attraction self-labelling as LGBT.''

MORE: UF criticizes own professor for 'policing pronouns'

IMAGE: Inkdrop/Canva

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Thu, 25 Jan 2024 15:11

Just like the great debate over which way the toilet paper roll goes, there is a similar spat over flushing: lid open or closed?

Scientists have weighed in with their own, woeful, conclusion: Neither is a solution to stopping the spread of dangerous germs.

Microbiologist Charles Gerba and his research team at the University of Arizona determined there's little difference whether you leave it up or down. Closing the lid on a residential toilet does not prevent the spread of viral particles from the powerful whoosh of a flushed toilet.

In a study published Thursday in the American Journal of Infection Control, researchers concluded microscopic viral particles spread to the floor and nearby restroom surfaces when a person flushes the toilet, regardless of whether the lid is up or down. The only meaningful way to reduce the spread of viral pathogens such as norovirus is to disinfect the toilet, toilet water and nearby surfaces, the study found.

"A lot of people said all you have to do is close the lid and the problem is solved," said Gerba, who has been studying toilet germs for nearly a half-century. "All that air when you flush goes somewhere, and it carries the viruses that are in the toilet bowl out of it."

Earlier studies have concluded a closed lid reduces the exposure of bacteria contamination on nearby surfaces, and researchers have sought to raise awareness about how lidless toilets can eject a germ-laced plume in public restrooms. But Gerba's team studied whether the same was true for smaller viral particles in residential restrooms and found it made little difference.

Past studies linked aerosolized plumes from toilet flushes to norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships and flights and at schools. On one cruise ship with a bad outbreak, testing revealed half of the toilets had norovirus particles, Gerba said.

"You really have to make sure you always clean the toilet seat and other areas in the restroom," Gerba said.

How was the study performed?Gerba's team studied toilets at an office building's public restroom and a residential home. The public toilet was tankless, contained within a stall and flushed with a pressurized water line. The home toilet had a tank located in a small restroom.

The research team included researchers from Reckitt Benckiser, the England-based conglomerate that sells consumer goods, including Lysol.

Study organizers added viral particles to the toilets, flushed and measured contamination one minute later on the toilet and nearby restroom surfaces.

Researchers only measured data on lid closures from the household toilet because public toilets usually don't have lids. The study found no difference in overall viral contamination if the residential toilet lid was open or closed before flushing, but noted a closed lid may have changed the "trajectory of the the aerosol plume contamination."

When the lid was closed before flushing, researchers measured slightly higher contamination to the left and in front of the toilet but slightly lower contamination to the right of the toilet.

Toilet bowls cleaned with a brush and a disinfectant, hydrochloric acid, had less contamination than those cleaned with just a brush. Cleaning the bowl with a disinfectant also reduced contamination of nearby surfaces such as the restroom floor and the toilet brush caddy, the study said.

According to the study, the results "demonstrate that closing the toilet lid prior to flushing does not mitigate (the) risk of contaminating bathroom surfaces and that disinfection of all restroom surfaces may be necessary after flushing or after toilet brush use" to reduce the spread of germs.

In other words, you need to clean the toilet with germ-killing chemicals and a brush every time. Then wash your hands.

Hospital patients vulnerable to restroom germsOther researchers have found there's little doubt particles can be forcefully ejected from a toilet bowl after a flush.

Matthew Nonnenmann, a University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health professor, sees value in keeping the lid closed when one is available.

"This is kind of a personal question: have you ever sat on the toilet and flushed it before?" Nonnenmann said. "You feel the impact of particles on your skin."

Nonnenmann's team has studied particles and bioaerosols from flushing a hospital toilet during routine patient care. His study found such contaminants can linger in a restroom 30 minutes after flushing.

Healthy people with strong immune systems may be able to repel such pathogens. But immunocompromised patients in a hospital could be susceptible to a bacterial infection such as Clostridioides difficile, also known as C. diff.

Closing the lid '' along with routine use of disinfectants and hand washing '' can help keep things sanitary.

"If you close the lid, you reduce some of the bigger particles that come flying out of the toilet," Nonnenmann said.

What steps can I take to reduce bathroom germs?While the UA-Reckitt Benckiser study does not recommend how often toilets should be cleaned, Gerba said homeowners should regularly sanitize toilets and nearby surfaces.

He recommends keeping a disinfectant near the toilet as well as disinfectant wipes to clean the toilet handle after use. People should always thoroughly wash their hands and use hand sanitizer, especially if someone in the household is infected with a virus, Gerba said.

If a household member has diarrhea '' indicating possible exposure to norovirus or salmonella '' Gerba recommends disinfecting the toilet seats, flushers and other high-touch bathroom surfaces twice a day.

Of course, users have less control over how often a public restroom is cleaned, but people can still protect themselves with hand washing and hand sanitizer.

In addition to handwashing and cleaning a bathroom regularly with disinfectant, Nonnenmann recommends putting away your toothbrush and cosmetics applied to your face. People also should avoid handling their phones while using the restroom.

Phones in the bathroom? There's a debate that's ripe for a new generation.

Ken Alltucker is on X, formerly Twitter, at @kalltucker, or can be emailed at alltuck@usatoday.com.

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Thu, 25 Jan 2024 14:57

Angle down icon An icon in the shape of an angle pointing down. Eric Schmidt was the CEO of Google until 2011. John Lamparski/Getty Images Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt has reportedly been building a startup called White Stork.New details emerged after Forbes previously reported on the project's existence earlier this month.Schmidt previously told Wired that AI has the potential to revolutionize US military equipment.Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is building a military startup called White Stork, which plans to produce AI attack drones, Forbes reported.New details have emerged about the project, such as its name, since Forbes first reported on it earlier this month. White Stork wants to mass-produce drones that can use AI to identify targets, the new report said.

The latest Forbes story also details how Schmidt has used an intricate business structure through several Limited Liability Companies.

White Stork was an LLC called Swift Beat Holdings but changed its name to White Stork Group last September. Swift Beat is owned by holding company Volya Robotics O', where Schmidt has been the sole beneficial owner since last September, company filings show.

Schmidt was the CEO of Google until 2011 and remained its chairman until 2015. A year later he became the chairman of the Department of Defense's Innovation Board, a position he held for four years, his website shows.

His involvement in AI-powered combat drones may come as no surprise, though, as he also chaired the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence for several years.

Schmidt previously told Wired last February that the US military had been slow to adopt new tech.

The former Google chief told Wired that occasionally, a new weapon comes to market that "changes things" and that AI could help revolutionize the Department of Defense's equipment.

He said in the Wired interview, "Einstein wrote a letter to Roosevelt in the 1930s saying that there is this new technology '-- nuclear weapons '-- that could change war, which it clearly did. I would argue that [AI-powered] autonomy and decentralized, distributed systems are that powerful."Representatives for Schmidt declined to comment.

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Thu, 25 Jan 2024 14:45

January 24, 2024 | Austin, Texas | Press Release

Governor Greg Abbott today issued a statement on Texas' constitutional right to defend and protect itself as President Joe Biden continues to attack Texas and refuse to perform his duties to secure the border.

"The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including immigration laws on the books right now," reads the statement. "President Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants. The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense. For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas's constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary."

Read the Governor's full statement here.

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Thu, 25 Jan 2024 04:55

Katherine Roberts Maher (;[1] born April 18, 1983)[2] is the incoming chief executive and president of NPR. She will begin her tenure in March 2024, succeeding John Lansing.[3] Prior to accepting the position at NPR she served as chief executive officer of Web Summit and chair of the board of directors at the Signal Foundation. She will continue as Web Summit's CEO until March, then will remain with the group as their non-executive chairperson.[4][5] She is a former chief executive officer and executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation.[6][7][8]

Maher talking about Wikidata in 2017A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Maher worked for UNICEF, the National Democratic Institute, the World Bank and Access Now before joining the Wikimedia Foundation. She subsequently joined the Atlantic Council and currently serves on the US Department of State's Foreign Affairs Policy Board.

Early life and education edit Maher grew up in Wilton, Connecticut,[2] and attended Wilton High School.[9] After high school, Maher graduated from the Arabic Language Institute's Arabic Language Intensive Program of The American University in Cairo in 2003, which she recalled as a formative experience that instilled a deep love for the Middle East.[10] Maher subsequently studied at the Institut fran§ais d'(C)tudes arabes de Damas in Syria and spent time in Lebanon and Tunisia.[2][11][12]

In 2005, Maher received a bachelor's degree from New York University in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies.[13] [14]

Maher originally intended to be an academic and work for human rights and international development organizations.[12]

Career edit Katherine Maher with giddha dancers at WikiConference India 2016.After internships at the Council on Foreign Relations[when? ] and Eurasia Group, in 2005, Maher began working at HSBC in London, Germany, and Canada as part of their international manager development program.[2][better source needed ]

In 2007, Maher returned to New York City where from 2007 to 2010 she worked at UNICEF as an innovation and communication officer. She worked to promote the use of technology to improve people's lives and traveled extensively to work on issues related to maternal health, HIV/AIDS prevention, and youth participation in technology.[2] One of her first projects at UNICEF involved testing MediaWiki extensions related to accessibility in Ethiopia.[15] Another project received USAid Development 2.0 Challenge grant funding to work on the use of mobile phones to monitor nutrition in children in Malawi.[citation needed ]

From 2010 to 2011, Maher worked at the National Democratic Institute as an ICT Program Officer.[16] From 2011 to 2013, Maher worked at the World Bank as an ICT innovation specialist and consulted on technology for international development and democratization, working on ICT for accountability and governance with a focus on the role of mobile phones and other technologies in facilitating civil society and institutional reform, particularly in the Middle East and Africa. She co-authored a chapter on "Making Government Mobile" of a World Bank publication titled Information and Communications for Development 2012: Maximizing Mobile.[18] In 2012, Maher's Twitter feed on issues related to the Middle East was noted for its coverage of the Arab Spring.[19][20]

From 2013 to 2014, Maher was advocacy director at the Washington, D.C.-based Access Now.[21][22] As part of this work, she focused on the impact on people of laws about cyber security, morality, and defamation of the state that increase state censorship and reduce dissent.[23] Access was a signatory of the Declaration of Internet Freedom.

Maher and Jimmy Wales at Wikimania 2017Maher was chief communications officer of the Wikimedia Foundation from April 2014 to March 2016.[21][24][25] She was interviewed by The Washington Post on United States copyright law.[26]

Maher became interim executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation in March 2016 following the resignation of executive director Lila Tretikov[22][27] and was appointed executive director on June 23, 2016.[6][21]

In 2019, Maher became CEO of Wikimedia.[7][failed verification ] She stepped down from her positions as CEO and executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation on April 15, 2021.[7][8] Maryana Iskander was appointed as her successor.

Maher states that she focuses on global digital inclusion as a way to improve and protect the rights of people to information through technology.[2][28][29]

In 2022, Maher joined the US State Department's Foreign Affairs Policy Board, an expert panel established in 2011 by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to advise US officials.[30][31] As of 2023, she chairs the board of directors of the Signal Foundation.[5] She is also the board chair of nonprofit organization, Adventure Scientists as of January 2023.[32] In October that year, Web Summit appointed Maher as its new chief executive, to replace Paddy Cosgrave.[33]

In January 2024, Maher was named CEO of NPR.[3]

Personal life edit Maher married lawyer Ashutosh Upreti in July 2023.[5]

Honors edit In 2013, The Diplomatic Courier named her as one of 99 leading foreign policy professionals under age 33.[10][34] Affiliations edit American University of Beirut, Member of the Board[35]Council on Foreign Relations, Member[35]Sunlight Foundation, Member of the Board[35]2011: Youth for Technology Foundation, Member of the Board[36]2013: Truman National Security Project, Policy Fellow, National Security Fellow, and Research Fellow, Democracy & Human Rights Initiative[37][38]2013: Open Technology Fund, Advisory Committee Member[39]2016: World Economic Forum, Member, Global Network Council on the Future of Human Rights[40][41]2018: Oxford Union, on Technology and Empire[42]2019: World Economic Forum Young Global Leader[43]2021: Atlantic Council Democracy & Tech Initiative, Senior Fellow[44]2022: US State Department, member of the Foreign Affairs Policy Board[30][31]2023 Adventure Scientists, Board Chair [45] Works and publications edit Maher, Katherine (December 2010). "Food Fights'--Nick Cullather's The Hungry World: America's Cold War Battle Against Poverty in Asia". Bookforum. Maher, Katherine (March 21, 2011). "SXSW festival takes on board use of technology for social impact". The Guardian. Maher, Katherine (August 17, 2012). "Did the Bounds of Cyber War Just Expand to Banks and Neutral States?". The Atlantic. Raja, Siddhartha; Melhem, Samia; Cruse, Matthew; Goldstein, Joshua; Maher, Katherine; Minges, Michael; Surya, Priya (August 2012). "Chapter 6: Making Government Mobile" (PDF) . Information and Communications for Development 2012: Maximizing Mobile. Washington, DC: World Bank. pp. 87''101. doi:10.1596/9780821389911_ch06. ISBN 978-0-8213-8991-1. OCLC 895048866. Maher, Katherine; York, Jillian C. (2013). "Origins of the Tunisian Internet". In Hussain, Muzammil M.; Howard, Philip N. (eds.). State Power 2.0: Authoritarian Entrenchment and Political Engagement Worldwide. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4094-5469-4. OCLC 940726016. Maher, Katherine (February 25, 2013). "The New Westphalian Web: The future of the Internet may lie in the past. And that's not a good thing". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on March 5, 2015. Maher, Katherine (March 19, 2014). "No, the U.S. Isn't 'Giving Up Control' of the Internet". Politico. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020 . Retrieved March 19, 2016 . Maher, Katherine (December 5, 2016). "The Sum of All Knowledge" (Video) . Google Talks. Maher, Katherine (October 4, 2017). "How Wikipedia Changed The Exchange Of Knowledge (And Where It's Going Next)". Forbes. Maher, Katherine (October 17, 2017). "Will Wikipedia Exist in 20 Years?" (Video) . Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Maher, Katherine (March 12, 2019). "Without Humans, A.I. Can Wreak Havoc". The New York Times. See also edit List of Wikipedia people References edit ^ Maher, Katherine (January 10, 2020). "Maher rhymes with car, and is not a cognate of a female horse, a town leader, or a military leader. You'd think the Brits would know this after decades of colonial theory and praxis". @krmaher. Archived from the original on January 14, 2020 . Retrieved January 10, 2020 . ^ a b c d e f Boix, Montserrat; Sefidari, Mar­a (September 3, 2016). "Maher: "La Fundaci"n necesita reflejar la cultura que queremos ver en la comunidad" " (Video) . Wikimujeres. Wikiman­a Esino Lario 2016. Archived from the original on September 2, 2019 . Retrieved January 7, 2017 . {{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link) ^ a b Folkenflik, David (January 24, 2024). "NPR names tech executive Katherine Maher to lead in turbulent era". NPR . Retrieved January 24, 2024 . ^ Web Summit CEO Katherine Maher to step down for new job in US radio ^ a b c Radomsky, Rosalie R. (August 4, 2023). "Was It a Job Interview or a Date? She Soon Found Out". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 14, 2023 . Retrieved August 15, 2023 . ^ a b Lorente, Patricio; Henner, Christophe (June 24, 2016). "Foundation Board appoints Katherine Maher as Executive Director". Wikimedia Blog. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016 . Retrieved June 24, 2016 . ^ a b c "Wikimedia Foundation CEO Katherine Maher to Step Down in April 2021". Wikimedia Foundation. February 4, 2021. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021 . Retrieved February 6, 2021 . ^ a b "[Wikimedia-l] Thanks for all the fish! / Stepping down April 15". wikimedia-l mailing list. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021 . Retrieved February 4, 2021 . ^ "More than half of Wilton High makes honor roll" (PDF) . Wilton Bulletin. May 10, 2001. pp. 3D. ^ a b "AUCians Recognized Among Top 99 Foreign Policy Leaders Under 33". The American University in Cairo. October 8, 2013. Archived from the original on October 16, 2019 . Retrieved January 8, 2017 . ^ Rooney, Ben (June 28, 2012). "Web Can Foment Openness as Corrupt Regimes Fall". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on September 4, 2012. ^ a b "Katherine Maher, CEO and Executive Director of Wikimedia Foundation". Ability Magazine. October 13, 2020. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020 . Retrieved October 19, 2020 . ^ "2000s" (PDF) . NYU Alumni Magazine. No. 22. Spring 2014. p. 59. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 30, 2018 . Retrieved March 19, 2016 . ^ Maher, Katherine. "Katherine Maher | Speaker | TED". www.ted.com . Retrieved November 14, 2023 . ^ Maher, Katherine (June 26, 2016). "Wikimania 2016 '' Q&A with the ED of Wikimedia Foundation Katherine Maher". Wikimania 2016. Wikiman­a Esino Lario 2016. Archived from the original (Video) on May 23, 2021 . Retrieved January 8, 2017 . {{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link) ^ "Tech in the Egyptian Revolution" (Video) . frogdesign Design Mind. March 12, 2011. Archived from the original on January 8, 2017 . Retrieved January 8, 2017 . ^ Raja, Siddhartha; Melhem, Samia; Cruse, Matthew; Goldstein, Joshua; Maher, Katherine; Minges, Michael; Surya, Priya (August 2012). "Chapter 6: Making Government Mobile". Information and Communications for Development 2012: Maximizing Mobile. Washington, DC: World Bank. pp. 87''101. doi:10.1596/9780821389911_ch06. ISBN 978-0-8213-8991-1. OCLC 895048866. [permanent dead link ] ^ York, Jillian (April 3, 2012). "A Seat at the Table: A Twitter-ful list of women crucial to foreign policy". Levo League. Archived from the original on September 26, 2018 . Retrieved January 8, 2017 . ^ York, Jillian C. (June 20, 2012). "Introducing the FPwomerati: Why didn't Foreign Policy include more women in its Twitterati list? Here's a list of 100 female tweeters around the world that everyone should follow". Foreign Policy. ^ a b c Gardner, Sue (April 15, 2014). "Katherine Maher joins the Wikimedia Foundation as Chief Communications Officer". Wikimedia Blog. Archived from the original on June 4, 2016 . Retrieved January 8, 2017 . ^ a b Lorente, Patricio (March 16, 2016). "Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees welcomes Katherine Maher as interim Executive Director". Wikimedia Blog. Archived from the original on December 18, 2019 . Retrieved March 17, 2016 . ^ Fletcher, Lisa (August 8, 2012). "Predicting crime online and offline". The Stream. Al Jazeera English. Archived from the original (TV show) on September 26, 2018 . Retrieved January 8, 2017 . ^ Fitzsimmons, Michelle (January 16, 2016). "Wikipedia is still disrupting after 15 years". TechRadar. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020 . Retrieved March 11, 2016 . ^ Bradley, Diana (May 15, 2014). "Wikimedia hires Maher to fill chief comms role". PRWeek. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020 . Retrieved March 12, 2016 . ^ Phillip, Abby (August 6, 2014). "If a monkey takes a selfie in the forest, who owns the copyright? No one, says Wikimedia". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 23, 2020 . Retrieved July 18, 2016 . ^ Tretikov, Lila (February 25, 2016). "[Wikimedia-l] Thank you for our time together" (Mailing list post) . Wikimedia-l. Wikimedia Foundation. Archived from the original on February 25, 2016 . Retrieved March 11, 2016 . ^ Maher, Katherine (October 29, 2016). "MozFest Speaker Series: Privacy and Harassment on the Internet". Mozfest 2016. Archived from the original (Video) on August 1, 2019. ^ "El d­a que Wikipedia se apag" y decidi" dar una batalla pol­tica". LA NACION (in Spanish). October 16, 2018. Archived from the original on June 23, 2021 . Retrieved March 5, 2021 . ^ a b Toosi, Nahal; Forgey, Quint (June 17, 2022). "Biden's known unknowns". POLITICO . Retrieved September 27, 2022 . ^ a b "Katherine Maher". Atlantic Council. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022 . Retrieved September 27, 2022 . ^ "Board of Directors". Adventurescientists.org . Retrieved January 20, 2024 . ^ Goodbody, Will (October 30, 2023). "Web Summit announces new CEO to replace Paddy Cosgrave". RT‰ News . Retrieved October 30, 2023 . ^ "Innovators: Katherine Maher". The Diplomatic Courier. September 10, 2013. [permanent dead link ] ^ a b c "Katherine Maher". Barnard College, Columbia University. Archived from the original on April 17, 2021 . Retrieved April 17, 2021 . ^ "People: Katherine Maher". Youth for Technology Foundation. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016 . Retrieved March 12, 2016 . ^ "Team: Katherine Maher". Truman National Security Project. Archived from the original on September 26, 2018 . Retrieved January 8, 2017 . ^ "Politico Magazine: No, the U.S. Isn't 'Giving Up Control' of the Internet". Truman National Security Project. March 2014. Archived from the original on April 15, 2020 . Retrieved January 8, 2017 . ^ "Advisory Council: Katherine Maher". Open Technology Fund. Archived from the original on October 13, 2017 . Retrieved January 8, 2017 . ^ "People: Katherine Maher". World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on January 8, 2017 . Retrieved January 8, 2017 . ^ "The Future of Human Rights". World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on April 3, 2020 . Retrieved January 8, 2017 . ^ OxfordUnion (February 28, 2018). "Katherine Maher - Technology Empires Debate - Proposition (5/6)". Archived from the original on November 18, 2021 '' via YouTube. ^ "Meet the 2019 Class of Young Global Leaders". World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019 . Retrieved August 21, 2019 . ^ dmalloy (June 22, 2021). "Former Wikipedia chief on fighting censorship and potentially paying contributors to address diversity gaps". Atlantic Council. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022 . Retrieved September 27, 2022 . ^ Cite error: The named reference :23 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). Further reading edit Cooper, Chet (October 13, 2020). "Katherine Maher, CEO and Executive Director of Wikimedia Foundation". Ability . Retrieved October 13, 2020 . External links edit Katherine Maher's Wikipedia user pageKatherine (WMF) on MetaKatherine Maher on Twitter Appearances on C-SPAN

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Thu, 25 Jan 2024 04:22

The Supreme Court's decision this week to order Texas not to protect its border with Mexico will go down in history as one of the court's most cowardly decisions that could doom our nation '-- if it is allowed to stand.

That decision was not just about razor wire. It was about the role of states in our federal system and the betrayal of the nation '-- first by a president, and now by two Republican-appointed justices.

I ask you to invest the time to stay with me through this article, as we need to spend some time together to think through the background of the crisis that is now upon us '-- for it could be a truly existential threat to the nation.

Biden and the WallWithin hours of President Joe Biden being sworn into office, he signed a proclamation that ordered an end to construction of President Donald Trump's southern border wall. His stated reason was that the wall was ''a waste of money that diverts attention from genuine threats to our homeland security.''

This statement was so absurd that we knew at once that this man who had somehow assumed the presidency was not on our side. Biden had just sworn the president's constitutionally prescribed oath to ''preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,'' and within hours he had flung open the nation's borders to all comers.

Biden was announcing that he was the second act in the Obama administration's mission to ''fundamentally transform'' the United States. He was declaring that the Trump years were over, and the revolutionaries were back in charge.

Was the Trump wall really a ''waste of money''?

The establishment media had attacked Trump for spending $11 billion to put barriers up along 50 miles of our southern border. But the corrupt media thought nothing of spending more than 10 times that to defend Ukraine and its border. And the House GOP now estimates the annual cost of the Biden open border will be $451 billion in caring for illegal aliens.

Biden opened the door, and over 3.8 million people walked through. That number of illegals is greater than the population of 22 states and is on the verge of destroying the nation in every way by causing crime, drug deaths, child trafficking, terrorism, deficit spending and more. He could not have done any more damage to the nation if he had tried.

Should Texas go to war to end the border invasion?

Yes: 98% (42 Votes)

No: 2% (1 Votes)

Did the wall really ''divert attention from genuine threats to our homeland security''?

Under Biden, military-age men are pouring over the border from countries that despise our nation. Migrants on the terrorism watch list keep walking through, with only some being identified.

Biden's claims about the wall were so patently false, so in your face, that we got his thuggish message '-- we have the power and we know how to use it.

Where Were the Congressional Republicans?Americans have been waiting for a very long time for Republicans to bring an end to the chaos.

We held our breath and waited during Biden's first two years, when Democrats enjoyed a majority in the House and a tie in the Senate, which the vice president could break in Biden's favor. For the last year, since January 2023, when Republicans took control of the House, we have waited for our party to do whatever is necessary to stop this existential threat to the nation.

Remember that no money can be spent from the U.S. Treasury without approval by the House. Republicans could have stopped the assault on our borders, but they didn't. For whatever reason '-- loyalty to the billionaire donor class, fear of the negative press, whatever '-- they caved, afraid they would be blamed for a government shutdown.

Meanwhile, the message from rank-and-file Republicans '-- but not outliers like Nikki Haley '-- has been simple: CLOSE THE BORDER.

While we waited for Republicans to act, the border crisis got so bad that some congressional Democrats '-- including five senators '-- began to break with Biden.

It's time for House Republicans to close ranks and do whatever is necessary to support Texas in its defense of a border that Biden will not defend.

States Defending the NationWe Republicans looked to the states to rise up and take real action to defend our borders.

We knew Gavin Newsom in California was a lost cause. Arizona's Doug Ducey was a McCain clone '-- shown to be uninterested in election fraud '-- who would do nothing to protect his constituents. Then, in January 2023, Katie Hobbs took over Arizona and the Republican legislature had little stomach to fight her.

But finally, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, no doubt pushed by solid conservative Attorney General Ken Paxton, started to take action.

He installed razor wire along a 30-mile stretch of the Rio Grande and set up a floating barrier, and he deserves enormous credit and our support for trying to save not only Texas '-- but the nation.

The Cowardice of CourtsPredictably, Biden's Department of Homeland Security, headed by Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, challenged Texas' razor wire fence in federal court. While Abbott prevailed in the relatively conservative Fifth Circuit, the Supreme Court sided with Biden and against the American people.

The high court voted 5-4 to give the Biden administration exclusive control over the U.S.-Mexico border. In little more than a sentence, the court vacated the Fifth Circuit's injunction against the removal of razor wire that had been installed on the border at Abbott's direction.

Although the Supreme Court decision is not a ruling on merit, it leaves the nation's southern border wide open until the courts get around to ruling on Biden's pending challenge against Abbott. That litigation could take until Biden's term ends next January.

But this is not just a ruling against Abbott '-- it is a ruling against the American people.

We have come to expect Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and now Ketanji Brown Jackson to embrace the Democratic vision of open borders, but yesterday they were joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

These justices simply could not have believed the official reason given by the Biden administration for its application to undo the injunction '-- to protect the illegal aliens crossing into the U.S. The real reason was to reopen the border to facilitate the invasion of the nation.

This is not the only case in which Texas' efforts to protect its borders have been thwarted by federal courts.

Last month, the Fifth Circuit heard a challenge to Texas' floating barrier in the Rio Grande, and in that case, the court of appeals sided with the Biden administration and ordered the removal of the barrier.

The Constitutional QuestionsIn normal times, there might be time to wait for the judicial process to play out and see if the Supreme Court reverses its position. But these are not normal times.

America is being overrun by people from all over the world. Making the matter even more serious, in an increasingly dangerous world, the immigrants could constitute a fifth column.

In allowing this invasion, Biden has not just been inept '-- he is deeply corrupt. As I said, he is carrying out Obama's plan to ''fundamentally transform'' America '-- for the worse.

What can be done? We need Texans to rally behind Abbott. We need other states to rally behind Texas. And this just may be a time when the people need to find a way around an obviously unconstitutional Supreme Court ruling.

This ruling deserves as much respect as its Dred Scott decision that no African-American could be a citizen, or its Korematsu decision that approved locking up Japanese-Americans during World War II, or its Roe v. Wade decision that led to the death of well over 40 million babies. The Supreme Court can be wrong, and often is.

This decision is as wrong as it can be.

We will see how far Abbott and Paxton are willing to push this, but I plan to stand with them. This is not a close call. But we must not act rashly. We need to be certain that we are on the right side of the law and the Constitution.

The Roberts-Barrett capitulation to the Biden administration raises two constitutional questions '-- both of enormous consequence.

First, what authority does Texas have to defend its own border? Stated the other way, what authority does the federal government have to stop Texas from defending its own border?

Second, who decides whether the Biden administration or Abbott is right? Can the states trust federal courts '-- part of the federal government '-- to decide these state-federal power disputes fairly? If not, who decides?

Today, I want to focus on the first issue.

Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution states, ''The United States shall '... protect each [state] against Invasion.'' Biden has not just failed in that duty miserably '-- he chose not to honor that duty.

In such cases, the Constitution allows states to use force, up to and including war, to repel invasions.

''No State shall, without the Consent of Congress '... engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay'' (Article I, Section 10, emphasis added).

An Actual InvasionA majority of Americans, including a plurality of Democrats, now believe that there is an invasion at the southern border. Fifty-one Texas counties have declared that an invasion exists. Under the Biden administration, Texas alone has dealt with a flood of almost 2 million illegals.

It is clearly an invasion.

''Demographically, socially and culturally, the reconquista of the Southwest United States by Mexico is well under way,'' Harvard professor Samuel P. Huntington said in 2004. ''No other immigrant group in U.S. history has asserted or could assert a historical claim to U.S. territory. Mexicans and Mexican-Americans can and do make that claim.''

The proof is in the history since those 2004 comments.

An estimated 2.2 million illegal aliens live in Texas alone, at a total cost of over $13 billion per year to Texas taxpayers. The fiscal nightmare alone is unsustainable.

The nationwide numbers are still more staggering than the Texas numbers.

''At the federal, state, and local levels, taxpayers shell out approximately $182 billion to cover the costs incurred from the presence of more than 15.5 million illegal aliens, and about 5.4 million citizen children of illegal aliens,'' according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

''That amounts to a cost burden of approximately $8,776 per illegal alien/citizen child. The burden of illegal immigration on U.S. taxpayers is both staggering and crippling, with the gross cost per taxpayer at $1,156 every year.''

Americans have also paid a steep price in criminal activity by illegal aliens.

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, between 2011 and 2023, ''297,000 illegal aliens were charged with more than 509,000 criminal offenses.''

Those included ''940 homicide charges; 64,127 assault charges; 9,246 burglary charges; 59,936 drug charges; 1128 kidnapping charges; 25,441 theft charges; 39,694 obstructing police charges; 2,912 robbery charges; 6,422 sexual assault charges; 7,410 sexual offense charges; and 6,193 weapon charges.''

According to The Heritage Foundation, ''In 2022 alone, U.S Customs and Border Protection arrested 1,142 illegal aliens who were convicted of assault, battery, or domestic violence; 1,614 who were convicted of driving under the influence; and 2,239 who were convicted of drug possession and trafficking. Additionally, CBP arrested 62 illegal aliens convicted of homicide or manslaughter and 365 convicted of sexual offenses.''

In fiscal year 2023, CBP ''arrested 35,433 aliens with criminal convictions or outstanding warrants nationwide, including 598 known gang members, 178 of those being MS-13 members,'' according to the House Homeland Security Committee. CBP also ''seized 27,293 pounds of fentanyl, coming across the Southwest border '-- enough to kill more than 6 billion people.''

If this is not an invasion, what would an invasion look like?

State Action Without Federal ApprovalThis may be surprising in a world where the federal government wins most every battle with the states, but having been invaded, Texas now has constitutional warrant to respond '-- even without federal approval.

Remember, the states pre-existed the federal government; the federal government did not create the states.

The federal government treats the states as if they were administrative subdivisions of the federal government, but they are both sovereign entities. The states have all the power and authority they had before the ratification of the Constitution, unless they yielded that power to the federal government.

No matter what Roberts or Barrett (who increasingly seems to vote however Roberts tells her to) may think, states did not yield the power to repel invasions to the national government.

During the Virginia debates over ratification of the Constitution, future Chief Justice John Marshall argued forcefully that the states retained concurrent power with the federal government to use military force to repel invasions or meet imminent danger:

''To me it appears '... unquestionable that the state governments can call forth the militia, in case the Constitution should be adopted, in the same manner as they could have done before its adoption.''

Early in our nation's history, in Houston v. Moore (1820), the Supreme Court acknowledged the right of states to use military force without consulting Congress. The court's opinion stated, ''It is obvious that there are two ways by which the militia may be called into service; the one is under state authority, the other under authority of the United States.''

Even in dissent, Justice Joseph Story agreed that when Congress stands by, ''the states [may] sufficiently provide for their own safety against '... the sudden invasion of a foreign enemy.''

In Luther v. Borden (1849), the Supreme Court again acknowledged the right of a state to use military force in its own defense:

''Unquestionably, a State may use its military power to put down an armed insurrection, too strong to be controlled by the civil authority. The power is essential to the existence of every government, essential to the preservation of order and free institutions, and is as necessary to the States of this Union as to any other government'' (emphasis added).

Numerous state courts have agreed, particularly in approving state military action to resist attacks by Confederate forces during the Civil War.

West Virginia is one example: ''The right to engage in war without the consent of Congress, is reserved to the States respectively, if actually invaded or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay'' (Beirne v. Brown [1870], emphasis added).

Kentucky's courts are in agreement: ''The sovereign right and power to protect their own government and people against invasion and domestic violence, so far from being either delegated or prohibited, is expressly recognized by the United States Constitution'' (Price v. Poynter [1866]).

Pennsylvania courts have also approved state military action in defense against invasion: ''I find no clause in the constitution by which the right of self-protection is taken away from the states, in all respects. On the contrary, I find that in time of war, or when actually invaded, or in imminent danger not admitting of delay, the right of the state to keep troops or ships of war is reserved by express exception'' (Speer v. School Directors [1865], emphasis added).

A Call to Self-ExaminationIn a future article, I will address whether a decision of the Supreme Court really is the functional equivalent of the words of the Constitution and whether its decision truly ends every dispute.

But for today, I will just say that despite all the historical and legal authorities that support Texas, our illustrious Supreme Court has, at least temporarily, stripped from Texas '-- and every state '-- the power to repel invasion. Remember, this is a power that the states possess, regardless of what a modern federal judge may think.

If this were a matter of less import, I would be among the people who continue to suffer evils while evils are sufferable. The question for Texas, the other states and the people is '-- can we stand by and watch for another year until we have the chance to restore order through the electoral process?

Sometimes I think that Biden's handlers have decided to speed up the process of destroying the nation during what may be the final year of his presidency. But even at the current rate of illegal immigration, at what point will the Biden policies do terminal damage to our country? And, if we sit back and watch him until Jan. 20, 2025, what kind of a nation will we have in a year?

In closing, I ask you to think deeply about these matters.

The authority of a sovereign state to repel an invasion, which was reinforced by the framers of our Constitution, has become central to the preservation of our nation. Nevertheless, two unelected lawyers wearing robes disrespected our federal structure to rule for Biden over Texas and all other states.

These are serious matters that the American people must now wrestle with and pray through '-- with great urgency.

May the public conversation over these issues begin anew so that appropriate action may be taken by those in authority '-- before it's too late.

The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.

SummaryRecent Posts ContactRetired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn served as the national security advisor to President Donald J. Trump. He also served in the U.S. military for over 33 years, holds three master's degrees and has been awarded numerous civilian, military, intelligence and law enforcement awards and honors. He is the co-author of two national best-selling books, ''The Field of Fight'' and ''The Citizen's Guide to Fifth Generation Warfare.'' He is currently serving as chairman of America's Future 501c3, one of America's oldest non-profits. To learn more about Gen. Flynn and America's Future, you can visit https://www.generalflynn.com.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2004 American film by Jessy Terrero

This article

is missing information about the film's production.

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( June 2020 ) Soul Plane is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Jessy Terrero (in his feature film directorial debut). The film stars Tom Arnold, Kevin Hart, Method Man and Snoop Dogg. Supporting actors include Mo'Nique, Loni Love, K.D. Aubert, D.L. Hughley, Godfrey and Sofia Vergara. The film revolves around multiple characters in different scenarios on board an airplane. Soul Plane received negative reviews from critics and grossed $14 million worldwide, falling short of its $16 million budget.

Plot [ edit ] Nashawn Wade claims that he has loved planes since he was a child, but he has a horrible experience with a typical airline: his dog Dre is classified as a checked baggage instead of a carry-on, he eats a horrible airline meal, his buttocks get stuck in the toilet while he has diarrhea, caused by his meal, during turbulence, and Dre is fatally sucked through a jet engine after a stewardess accidentally opens the cargo door.

In response to the terrible experience he endured, Nashawn sues the airline and is awarded $100,000,000 by the jury. He decides to use the money to start his own airline, called N.W.A. (Nashawn Wade Airlines), whose acronym and logo are a pop culture reference to rap group N.W.A. The airline specifically caters to African Americans and hip hop culture. The terminal at the airport is called the Malcolm X terminal, where two non-working TSA Agents, Jamiqua and Shaniece, are goofing off instead of checking belongings. The plane is a heavily modified Boeing 747SP, customized with low-rider hydraulics, spinners, and a dance club. The safety video is also a parody of the Destiny's Child song "Survivor".

After taking off from Los Angeles International Airport, Nashawn must deal with a multitude of problems, starting with his acrophobic captain, Captain Mack. At a cruising altitude of Flight Level 330, it is revealed that he has never left the ground because he learned to fly on computer simulators in prison. Meanwhile, his cousin Muggsey sets up a miniature casino and strip joint in one of the areas of the plane (as seen in the workprint and unrated versions of the film), and Nashawn's ex-girlfriend, Giselle is on board and less than happy to see him. Meanwhile, the Hunkee family, the only Caucasian passengers on board, must also deal with their own problems; Elvis' daughter Heather is turning 18 and plans to use her newfound freedom by drinking and having sex, his son has transformed from an exact duplicate of him to a stereotypical wigger, and his wife is suddenly addicted to black men after viewing pictures in a pornographic magazine.

Captain Mack seemingly dies after eating mushrooms that the co-pilot, First Officer Gaemon, uses to soothe his genital crabs. Nashawn attempts to contact Gaemon, who is incapacitated after slipping near a hot tub, forcing Nashawn to attempt to land the plane himself. Nashawn lands the plane safely, using the airplane stewardess Blanca's flight knowledge which she learned while having sex in the cockpit with the pilot on another plane. The plane lands in the middle of Central Park instead of John F. Kennedy International Airport, and the spinners are stolen from the plane. Nashawn reconciles with Giselle after earlier revealing to her that he only broke up with her so she would not give up her college opportunities for him.

The movie ends with Nashawn telling the audience the fate of his crew. He claims that he and his ex-girlfriend are back together and are taking their relationship slow this time around, his cousin Muggsey has started a strip club and gambling casino located in another airplane similar to the club in Nashawn's plane, Elvis has begun a sexual relationship with Jamiqua, and his son Billy has become a major music video director but has disappeared shortly after filming a Michael Jackson video. Captain Mack later wakes up to find his chain and clothing stolen.

Cast [ edit ] Release [ edit ] Box office [ edit ] Soul Plane opened on May 28, 2004, in 1,566 theaters. In its opening weekend, the film made $5,648,486 in the domestic box office, ranking number five behind Shrek 2, The Day After Tomorrow, Troy, and Raising Helen.[4] At the end of its run, the film grossed $14,190,750 domestically and $631,596 overseas for a worldwide total of $14,822,346.[3]

In an interview on the podcast WTF with Marc Maron, Hart said that the poor box office turnout was partly due to bootlegging, which had apparently begun three months before the film was released in theaters. He explained, "on the street, [Soul Plane] made 40 million dollars". Hart told Marc Maron that during a premiere, fans were coming up to him asking him to sign copies of the bootleg. Hart does, however, credit Soul Plane for making him popular enough to start touring around the country.[5]

Critical reception [ edit ] Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 18% of 101 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The website's critics consensus called it: "A raunchy sendup of Airplane! that never really takes off."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 33 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.[8]

Stephen Holden of The New York Times says in his review: "This hectic farce, which pushes every envelope, is so broad and relentlessly raunchy that it makes a spoof like Airplane seem as demure as a vintage drawing-room comedy."[9] The A.V. Club ' s Nathan Rabin criticized the film for having stereotypical characters and humor made up of "desperate half-gags further botched by clumsy camera work and atrocious timing."[10] Scott Brown of Entertainment Weekly rated the film a "C''" grade, noting the similarities to Airplane saying, "[T]he makers of Soul Plane figured they'd simply reverse the racial polarity and pack a whole movie full of similar material '-- just not as funny." He concluded that, "If you're looking for comic insights beyond the well-documented ass differential between whites and blacks, well, golly, you ought to try another carrier."[11] Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe gave the film credit for delivering a couple funny gags but was offset by "embarrassing bathroom jokes and witless raunch".[12] Despite giving credit to Hart, Hughley and Snoop for their performances, Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle felt that the rest of the film's sophomoric gags "only serves to make the rest of the production that much more humorless in contrast."[13]

In late 2014, the film appeared on Empire magazine's users-voted list of "The 50 Worst Movies Ever", ranking number 47. Its given reason for being listed states: "This was billed as an 'urban' take on Airplane! That's a bad idea to begin with: like Scary Movie, parodies of a parody are on to a loser from the start. But with the addition of crude racial stereotyping (of all races) and a fatal lack of funny, this goes from bad to worst. If more voters had seen it, this would be in the top ten."[14]

References [ edit ] ^ "Soul Plane (35mm)". Australian Classification Board . Retrieved July 20, 2021 . ^ "SOUL PLANE (18)". British Board of Film Classification. July 22, 2004 . Retrieved March 3, 2015 . ^ a b c "Soul Plane (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. August 6, 2004 . Retrieved March 3, 2015 . ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for May 28-30, 2004". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. May 29, 2004 . Retrieved March 3, 2015 . ^ "WTF with Marc Maron Podcast: Episode 272 - Kevin Hart". Wtfpod.libsyn.com. April 19, 2012 . Retrieved June 2, 2013 . ^ "Soul Plane". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on March 14, 2021 . Retrieved September 22, 2018 . ^ "Soul Plane". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on August 23, 2021 . Retrieved March 4, 2015 . ^ "Find CinemaScore" (Type "Soul Plane" in the search box) . CinemaScore . Retrieved March 26, 2021 . ^ Holden, Stephen (May 28, 2004). "Movie Review - Soul Plane" . The New York Times . Retrieved March 3, 2015 . ^ Rabin, Nathan (June 1, 2004). "Soul Plane". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020 . Retrieved April 1, 2020 . ^ Brown, Scott (May 26, 2004). "Soul Plane". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Archived from the original on April 22, 2021 . Retrieved June 19, 2020 . ^ Morris, Wesley (May 28, 2004). "Sad 'Soul Plane' strays way off course". The Boston Globe. Boston.com. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020 . Retrieved June 19, 2020 . ^ Savlov, Marc (May 28, 2004). "Soul Plane - Movie Review". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020 . Retrieved April 1, 2020 . ^ "The 50 Worst Movies Ever - 47. Soul Plane". Empire. Bauer. December 11, 2014 . Retrieved March 3, 2015 . External links [ edit ]

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Drug combination prescribed for weight loss; later withdrawn from market

The drug combination fenfluramine/phentermine, usually called fen-phen, was an anti-obesity treatment in the early 1990s that utilized two anorectics. Fenfluramine was marketed by American Home Products (later known as Wyeth) as Pondimin, but was shown to cause potentially fatal pulmonary hypertension and heart valve problems, which eventually led to its withdrawal in 1997 and legal damages of over $13 billion.[1] Phentermine was not shown to have harmful effects.[1]

Fenfluramine acts as a serotonin releasing agent,[2] phentermine as primarily a norepinephrine releasing agent. Phentermine also induces the release of serotonin and dopamine, although to a far lesser extent than it induces the release of norepinephrine.[3]

History [ edit ] Fenfluramine as a single drug was first introduced in the 1970s, but was not popular because it only temporarily reduced weight.[1] A 1984 study found a weight loss of 7.5 kg on average in 24 weeks, as compared to 4.4 kg under placebo.[4] It sold modestly until the 1990s, when it was combined with phentermine and heavily marketed.[1]

Testing on children in New York City [ edit ] The State Psychiatric Institute, associated with Columbia University, the Research Foundation of the City University of New York, and Mount Sinai Medical Center tested fenfluramine intravenously on more than 100 Black and Hispanic boys between the ages of 6 and 10, with delinquent older brothers, to test the theory that delinquent behavior could be predicted by serotonin levels. These studies were conducted before the drug was pulled from the market in September 1997. In 1998, CNN reported that these organizations were under "evaluation" by the Office for Protection from Research Risks, an arm of the National Institutes of Health.[5] An article in Nature reports that these tests were published as a study in Archives of General Psychiatry in 1997 and that "The New York trial, funded largely by the Lowenstein Foundation, with some support from the National Institute of Mental Health, was halted in 1995, two years before the drug was withdrawn."[6] In 1999 the New York Times reported that the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the Research Foundation of the City University of New York were officially faulted by Federal research-ethics officials for conducting these tests. The article reports that the yearlong investigation found no misconduct by New York State Psychiatric Institute for these tests. This article reports the number of children involved in the study as 150, and states that none were harmed.[7]

Harm and litigation [ edit ] A similar drug, aminorex, had caused severe lung damage and "provided reason to worry that similar drugs ... could increase the risk of a rare but often fatal lung disease, pulmonary hypertension."[1] In 1994, Wyeth official Fred Wilson expressed concerns about fenfluramine's labeling containing only four cases of pulmonary hypertension when a total of 41 had been observed, but no action was taken until 1996.[1] In 1995, Wyeth introduced dexfenfluramine (the dextro isomer, marketed as Redux), which it hoped would cause fewer adverse effects. However, the medical officer of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Leo Lutwak, insisted upon a black box warning of pulmonary hypertension risks. After Lutwak refused to approve the drug, the FDA management had James Milton Bilstad, FDA Senior Drug Evaluator, sign it and approved the drug with no black box warning for marketing in 1996.[1] European regulators required a major warning of pulmonary hypertension risks.[1]

In 1996, a 30-year-old woman developed heart problems after a month of using fenfluramine/phentermine; when she died in February 1997, the Boston Herald devoted a front-page article to her.[8] In August 1997 a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) from the Mayo Clinic discussed clinical findings in 24 people who had taken fen-phen. The authors noted that their findings suggested a possible correlation between mitral valve dysfunction and the use of these anorectic agents.[9] The FDA alerted medical practitioners that it had received nine additional reports of the same type, and requested all health care professionals to report any such cases to the agency's MedWatch program, or to their respective pharmaceutical manufacturers. The FDA subsequently received over a hundred additional reports of valvular heart disease in people taking fen-phen, fenfluramine alone or dexfenfluramine alone.[10] The FDA requested that the manufacturers of fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine stress the potential risk to the heart in the drugs' labeling and in package inserts.[11] The FDA continued to receive reports in 1997 of valvular heart disease in people who had taken these drugs. This disease typically involves the aortic and mitral valves.

After reports of valvular heart disease and pulmonary hypertension, primarily in women who had been undergoing treatment with fen-phen or (dex)fenfluramine, the FDA requested its withdrawal from the market in September 1997.[10][12] The action was based on findings from doctors who had evaluated people taking these two drugs with echocardiograms, a procedure that can test the functioning of heart valves. The findings indicated that approximately 30 percent of people who had taken the combination for up to 24 months had abnormal echocardiograms, even though they had no symptoms. This percentage of abnormal test results was much higher than would be expected from a sample of the population who had not been exposed to either fenfluramine or dexfenfluramine.[9][13] Follow-up studies showed that for people who took the combination for 3 months or less, the rate of heart valve complications was less than 3%.[13]

Aftermath [ edit ] Upon the release of the information regarding fen-phen's cardiac risks, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America formed a large trial lawyer group to seek damages from American Home Products, the distributor of fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine.[14]

Fen-phen is no longer widely available. In April 2005, American Lawyer magazine ran a cover story on the wave of fen-phen litigation, reporting that more than 50,000 product liability lawsuits had been filed by alleged fen-phen victims. Total liability was estimated to be as high as $14 billion. Wyeth was still in negotiations with injured parties in February 2005, offering settlements of $5,000 to $200,000 to some of those who had sued, and stating they might offer more to those who were most seriously injured.[15] One plaintiff's attorney said that "the payments [were] not going to be large enough to cover medical expenses."[16] Thousands of injured persons rejected these offers.[15] At the time, Wyeth announced it had set aside $21.1 billion (U.S.) to cover the cost of the lawsuits.[15]

Possible uses [ edit ] Obesity [ edit ] In 1984, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center reported that they had performed a double-blind, controlled clinical trial comparing phentermine alone, fenfluramine alone, a combination of phentermine and fenfluramine, and placebo, for weight loss in humans. Weight loss in those receiving the fen-phen combination was significantly greater (8.4±1.1 kg) than in those receiving placebo (4.4±0.9 kg) and equivalent to that of those receiving fenfluramine (7.5±1.2 kg) or phentermine alone (10.0±1.2 kg). This amounts to an additional weight loss of 4±2 kg over the course of 24 weeks. Adverse effects were less frequent with the combination regimen than with the other active (non-placebo) treatments. The authors felt that combining fenfluramine and phentermine capitalized on their pharmacodynamic differences, resulting in equivalent weight loss, fewer adverse effects, and better appetite control.[4]

Addiction remission [ edit ] The term fen-phen was defined/termed/labeled in 1994 when Pietr Hitzig and Richard B. Rothman reported that this combination could presumptively remit alcohol and cocaine craving. The authors suggested that other combined dopamine and serotonin agonists or precursors might share this therapeutic potential.[17][18] Subsequent experiments in rats supported these preliminary reports.[19][20] In 2006 it was confirmed that the combination of phentermine and the serotonin precursor 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), in place of fenfluramine, significantly decreased alcohol withdrawal seizures in rats.[21]

Intramural National Institutes of Health (NIH) double-blind protocols to demonstrate the efficacy of fen-phen in alcohol and cocaine addiction were designed,[22] but never performed.

Adverse effects of serotonin [ edit ] The findings on fen-phen, specifically fenfluramine, causing valvular heart disease and pulmonary hypertension prompted a renewed interest in the deleterious effects of systemic serotonin. It had already been known for decades that two of the major side-effects of the carcinoid syndrome, in which excessive serotonin is produced endogenously, are valvular disease and pulmonary hypertension. Several centers were able to note a relationship to an excessive activation of the serotonin receptor subtype 5-HT2B.[23][24]

See also [ edit ] Semaglutide, another weight-loss drug that gained mass popularityReferences [ edit ] ^ a b c d e f g h Avorn J. (2004). Powerful Medicines, pp. 71-84. Alfred A. Knopf. ^ Nestler, Eric J. "Molecular Neuropharmacology: A Foundation for Clinical Neuroscience" McGraw-Hill, 2001. ^ Rothman RB, Baumann MH, Dersch CM, Romero DV, Rice KC, Carroll FI, Partilla JS (January 2001). "Amphetamine-type central nervous system stimulants release norepinephrine more potently than they release dopamine and serotonin". Synapse. 39 (1): 32''41. doi:10.1002/1098-2396(20010101)39:1<32::AID-SYN5>3.0.CO;2-3. PMID 11071707. S2CID 15573624. ^ a b Weintraub M, Hasday JD, Mushlin AI, Lockwood DH (June 1984). "A double-blind clinical trial in weight control. Use of fenfluramine and phentermine alone and in combination". Archives of Internal Medicine. 144 (6): 1143''8. doi:10.1001/archinte.144.6.1143. PMID 6375610. ^ "Groups say children subjected to unethical medical tests". CNN. April 14, 1998 . Retrieved September 23, 2023 . ^ Wadman, Meredith (April 1, 1998). "Row erupts over child aggression study". Nature . Retrieved September 23, 2023 . ^ Bernstein, Nina (June 12, 1999). "2 Institutions Faulted for Tests on Children". The New York Times. p. 21 . Retrieved September 23, 2023 . ^ Hayward E (6 May 1997). "Diet to Death". Boston Herald. p. 1. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011 . Retrieved 3 September 2009 . ^ a b Connolly HM, Crary JL, McGoon MD, Hensrud DD, Edwards BS, Edwards WD, Schaff HV (August 1997). "Valvular heart disease associated with fenfluramine-phentermine". The New England Journal of Medicine. 337 (9): 581''8. doi:10.1056/NEJM199708283370901 . PMID 9271479. ^ a b Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC) (November 1997). "Cardiac valvulopathy associated with exposure to fenfluramine or dexfenfluramine: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services interim public health recommendations, November 1997". MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 46 (45): 1061''6. PMID 9385873. ^ " "Fen-Phen" Update (Fenfluramine, Phentermine, Dexfenfluramine)". Food and Drug Administration. 2009-11-04. Archived from the original on 2009-11-04 . Retrieved 2019-04-19 . ^ "Press release: FDA Announces Withdrawal Fenfluramine and Dexfenfluramine (Fen-Phen)". FDA. September 15, 1997. Archived from the original on 4 November 2009. ^ a b Weigle DS (June 2003). "Pharmacological therapy of obesity: past, present, and future". The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 88 (6): 2462''9. doi:10.1210/jc.2003-030151 . PMID 12788841. ^ "After Fen-Phen", Karen Springen and Geoffrey Cowley, Newsweek, September 29, 1997 ^ a b c New York Times: Fen-Phen Case Lawyers Say They'll Reject Wyeth Offer, Feb. 17, 2005. ^ Morrow DJ (8 October 1999). "Fen-Phen Maker to Pay Billions In Settlement of Diet-Injury Cases". The New York Times. ^ Hitzig P (1994). "Combined serotonin and dopamine indirect agonists correct alcohol craving and alcohol-associated neuroses" (PDF) . Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. 11 (5): 489''90. doi:10.1016/0740-5472(94)90103-1. PMID 7869471. ^ Rothman RB, Gendron T, Hitzig P (1994). "Hypothesis that mesolimbic dopamine (DA) plays a key role in mediating the reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse as well as the rewarding effects of ingestive behaviors". Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. 11 (3): 273''5. doi:10.1016/0740-5472(94)90086-8 . PMID 8072057. ^ Yu YL, Fisher H, Sekowski A, Wagner GC (1997). "Amphetamine and fenfluramine suppress ethanol intake in ethanol-dependent rats". Alcohol. 14 (1): 45''8. doi:10.1016/s0741-8329(96)00110-3. PMID 9014023. ^ Glatz AC, Ehrlich M, Bae RS, Clarke MJ, Quinlan PA, Brown EC, et al. (2002). "Inhibition of cocaine self-administration by fluoxetine or D-fenfluramine combined with phentermine". Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior. 71 (1''2): 197''204. doi:10.1016/S0091-3057(01)00657-8. PMID 11812523. S2CID 188983. ^ Halladay AK, Wagner GC, Sekowski A, Rothman RB, Baumann MH, Fisher H (April 2006). "Alterations in alcohol consumption, withdrawal seizures, and monoamine transmission in rats treated with phentermine and 5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan". Synapse. 59 (5): 277''89. doi:10.1002/syn.20239. PMID 16416445. S2CID 30453212. ^ "Google Sites: Sign-in". accounts.google.com . Retrieved 20 August 2023 . ^ Rothman RB, Baumann MH, Savage JE, Rauser L, McBride A, Hufeisen SJ, Roth BL (December 2000). "Evidence for possible involvement of 5-HT(2B) receptors in the cardiac valvulopathy associated with fenfluramine and other serotonergic medications". Circulation. 102 (23): 2836''41. doi:10.1161/01.CIR.102.23.2836 . PMID 11104741. ^ Hutcheson JD, Setola V, Roth BL, Merryman WD (November 2011). "Serotonin receptors and heart valve disease--it was meant 2B". Pharmacology & Therapeutics. 132 (2): 146''57. doi:10.1016/j.pharmthera.2011.03.008. PMC 3179857 . PMID 21440001. External links [ edit ] Frontline: Dangerous prescriptions '' Interview with Leo Lutwak, in which he discusses the side effects of fenfluramine (Pondimin), its successor dexfenfluramine (Redux), and the fen-phen combination.U.S. FDA fen-phen informationTellier P (November 2001). "Fenfluramines, idiopathic pulmonary primary hypertension and cardiac valve disorders: facts and artifacts". Annales de M(C)decine Interne. 152 (7): 429''36. PMID 11965083.

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Milwaukee, WI - The U.S. Marshals of the Eastern District of Wisconsin worked in partnership with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners during a two-month targeted enforcement operation to remove violent criminals from communities in Milwaukee.

"Noticing an increase in violent crime, we conducted Operation Triple Beam Honey Badger," said U.S. Marshal Anna Ruzinski. "This enforcement operation, which was conducted from May 22, 2022 through July 31, was conducted for the sole purpose of arresting violent offenders and removing illegal guns and drugs from our communities."

The statistics below represent the accomplishments of Operation Triple Beam Honey Badger:

Total Arrests: 268 (86 confirmed gang/organized group members or associates)

Total Warrants/Charges Cleared: 860

Homicide: 47Recklessly Endangering Safety (non-fatal shootings): 81Narcotics: 220Robbery: 17Sex Crimes / Offenders: 60Firearms Offenses: 122Other Violent Offenses: 42Other Non-Violent Offenses: 271Narcotics Seizures:

Cocaine/Cocaine Base, Heroin, Fentanyl, Marijuana, Methamphetamine, Ecstasy, Oxycodone, and other various pills totaling 55.69 kilos

Street value between $750,000 and $1,110,000 depending on current prices

Property Seizures:

Firearms: 84Facsimile Firearms: 8Suppressor: 1Ammunition: 3,305 roundsU.S. Currency: $284,016Cellphones: 35Vehicles: 2The enforcement activity was focused on the Milwaukee/Waukesha Metropolitan area, Racine, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Green Bay, Oshkosh, and Appleton. Aside from warrants being cleared, 180 new summary charges were referred to the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) or the local District Attorney's Office where the arrests were made.

"This type of success could not have happened without the assistance of our local, state, and federal task force officers," said Ruzinski. "Operation Honey Badger was very effective, and I'm proud to say not one law enforcement officer, offender, or citizen was injured during the execution of this operation. I am proud of our Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Jeremy Loesch and his team."

Ruzinski would like to thank the following departments for their participation in Operation Honey Badger and the Eastern District of Wisconsin looks forward to continued collaboration with these departments and agencies to continue the mission.

Police DepartmentsCounty Sheriff OfficesWI State AgencyAppletonGreen BayMilwaukeeOshkoshRacineSheboyganWauwatosaBrownManitowocMilwaukeeOutagamieWaukeshaDepartment of CorrectionsFederal Agencies:

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & FirearmsDepartment of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations

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[SPECIAL JANUARY PROMOTION: Spend $50+ In The FPM Store And Receive A Free Copy Of ''Final Battle'' By David Horowitz.]

Secretary of State Antony Blinken's first order of business was taking the Houthis off the list of foreign terrorist organizations. That 2021 decision helped lead to the Red Sea crisis today.

Only four days after being confirmed, the State Department announced that ''undertaking an expeditious review'', Blinken had decided that it should be legal to fund the Islamic terror group.

The State Department claimed that it was lifting the terror ban on the Houthis, despite ''their reprehensible conduct, including attacks against civilians and the kidnapping of American citizens'' because of ''the humanitarian consequences'' that would take place in Yemen.

Now, even in the midst of the Red Sea crisis, the Biden administration has refused to put the Houthis fully back on the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, instead it listed them under the much weaker Specially Designated Global Terrorist category which does not ban providing material support to them and has delayed imposing even these sanctions for 30 days. .

During this 30-day-period, the Biden administration will listen to complaints and demands from aid groups ''crucial to facilitating humanitarian assistance and the commercial import of critical commodities in Yemen.'' Special licenses, similar to those allowing USAID and its partners to do business with the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Hamas in Afghanistan and Gaza, will be issued to aid groups working with the Houthis. And extra loopholes will be introduced to aid the Houthis.

Even if the sanctions finally take effect on Feb 16, they will protect not only ''food, medicine, and fuel'' but also ''personal remittances, telecommunications and mail, and port and airport operations.'' Meanwhile the Houthis will be cutting off traffic and shipping through the Red Sea.

How are a group of terrorists able to keep attacking ships and not be listed as terrorists?

During the Trump administration, Iran and its leftist allies initiated a disinformation campaign claiming that the Saudis and the United States were guilty of causing a famine in Yemen.

This lie was picked up and promoted by pro-terrorist and simply clueless politicians.

In December 2021, fifteen senators demanded that the Biden administration force an end to the Saudi campaign against the Houthis. The signatories included Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Pat Leahy, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Patty Murray, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and a number of others. They insisted that the Houthis receive fuel, claimed that 230,000 Yemenis had died during the war and warned that Yemen was facing a famine.

The same lies that had been used to save the Houthis and enable them to blockade the Red Sea would be used by many of the same politicians to protect Hamas from Israel's campaign.

The truth was that the Houthis, much like Hamas, had manufactured the famine by seizing food.

Nearly three years before Sen. Warren and others were spreading these lies, an AP investigation had already revealed that the Houthis were taking and reselling UN food aid.

In one Yemeni province, 65% of residents faced food shortages even though the UN had sent enough food to feed a million people. The Houthis imposed ''taxes'' on aid workers and then used the food to feed their own terrorists or resell it to finance their operations.

The more food aid was sent, the richer the terrorists got and the worse the famine became.

The Houthis understood that the best way to profit and end the attacks against them was by causing a famine. And that, with the complicity of politicians like Sen. Warren, is what they did.

Hamas had been doing the same thing even longer, seizing food and medicines, and then blaming Israel for shortages of both. No amount of ''humanitarian aid'' sent into Gaza was ever enough because it was pilfered, resold or repurposed for its terrorist operations.

After the Oct 7 massacres, Hamas allies used the same playbook that had worked in Yemen to force Israel to end the siege of Gaza and allow in massive amounts of foreign aid. The Biden administration had assured Israelis that the aid would not go to Hamas and yet numerous videos show that the terrorist group continues to seize the incoming aid at gunpoint.

Even back in 2021, the State Department had asked for exemptions in Gaza because, in their own words, ''we assess there is a high risk Hamas could potentially derive indirect, unintentional benefit from U.S. assistance to Gaza.''

In Afghanistan, the Taliban and even Al Qaeda are continuing to benefit from our foreign aid.

The Biden administration has bragged about sending over $2 billion to Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover to help with their ''humanitarian crisis'' including a ''famine''. Providing humanitarian aid has required the administration to seize money from 9/11 victims, print money for the Taliban, and issue licenses allowing transactions with the Taliban and the Haqqani Network which has been closely interlinked with Al Qaeda.

Our food aid goes through the Taliban. And the Taliban use aid to pay salaries and those Afghans who want a share of the food aid have to register and work for the Jihadist group.

USAID is aware that the aid we send is being seized by the Taliban because it commissioned a report which warned of ''the Taliban's growing tendency to attempt to increasingly control delivery'' and that ''the Taliban appear to view the UN system as yet another revenue stream, one which their movement will seek to monopolize and centralize control over.''

But Afghanistan under the Taliban was always facing famine. During the summer of 2001, the UN and international agencies were warning that Afghanistan needed more international aid or five million people faced starvation. The problem went away once the Taliban were defeated and came back when they returned to power. The famine problem is really a terrorist problem.

Terrorist sympathizers claim that fighting Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan, Gaza or Yemen causes famine. The truth is that Islamic terrorists cause famines when they seize power.

Anyone who truly cares about famines in these places wants the terrorists to be defeated.

But most politicians who cry about the famines that terrorists strategically manufacture to extract money and political support from civilized nations don't care about hungry people. Much as Hamas, the Houthis and the Taliban exploit hungry people, so do politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren who use the famines to prop up Islamic terrorists.

The lies that they tell finance the terrorists who cause the famines and then engage in terrorism.

Foreign aid to Afghanistan before 9/11 helped finance international terrorism. Foreign aid to Gaza before Oct 7 helped build up the Hamas war machine that killed over 1,000 people. The relief and aid provided to Yemen allowed the Houthis to launch their Red Sea blockade. And now the Houthi blockade is preventing actual humanitarian aid from passing through.

Fighting terrorism doesn't cause famines, letting them remain in power does. Famines end when terrorists are defeated while humanitarian aid to terrorists actually causes famines.

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Archived Version

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 15:30

IR-2023-249, Dec. 22, 2023

WASHINGTON '-- The Internal Revenue Service announced today that qualifying businesses, tax-exempt organizations or entities such as state, local and Indian tribal governments can register using the new IRA/CHIPS Pre-filing Registration Tool, available free from the IRS so they can take advantage of the elective payment or transfer of credits.

The Inflation Reduction Act and the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors Act, known as CHIPS, allows taxpayers to take advantage of certain manufacturing investment, clean energy investment and production tax credits through elective pay or transfer.

Elective payment and the transfer election create alternative ways for applicable entities and eligible taxpayers who have earned one of the IRA clean energy or the CHIPS credits to get the benefit of the credit even if the taxpayer cannot use the credit to offset their tax liability.

Taxpayers who intend to make an elective payment or credit transfer election must earn the credit, which means they must make a tax credit investment or undertake tax credit production activities to earn a credit that qualifies for the elective payment election or can be transferred.

The taxpayer must complete the pre-file registration process to receive a registration number. The registration number must be included on the taxpayer's annual return as part of making a valid election. To facilitate this, the IRS has created the IRA/CHIPS Pre-filing Registration Tool.

Interested taxpayers should complete and submit the pre-filing registration request no earlier than the beginning of the tax year in which the taxpayer they will earn the credit it wishes to monetize with an elective payment election or transfer election.

Even though registration is not possible prior to the beginning of the tax year in which the credit will be earned, the IRS recommends that taxpayers register as soon as reasonably practicable during the tax year. The current recommendation is to submit the pre-filing registration at least 120 days prior to when the organization or entity plans to file its tax return on which it will make its election. This should allow time for IRS review, and for the taxpayer to respond if the IRS requires additional information before issuing the registration numbers.

If the elective payment amount, together with other tax payments and refundable credits, exceeds the taxpayer's income tax liability, it will be treated as an overpayment of tax, which can be refunded or credited to estimated tax for the next tax year.

Functionality allowing additional authorized users and expansion of the entity type drop down menu will be available soon.

ResourcesPublication 5884, Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and CHIPS Act of 2022 (CHIPS) Pre-Filing Registration Tool User GuidePDF Elective pay and transferability frequently asked questions: Elective pay IRS: Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS Act of 2022 Pre-filing Registration Tool how-to videoCredits and deductions under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022Elective pay and transferabilityAbout Form 3800, General Business Credit

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Archived Version

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 15:13

Summary: The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) contained a range of climate and energy provisions that PWBM previously estimated to cost $384.9 billion over 10 years (FY2022 '' 2031). Since that estimate, newer implementation details have emerged, and the fiscal year calendar has moved to start at FY2023. Our updated estimate for over 10 years (FY2023 '' 2032) for just the climate and energy provisions is now $1,045 billion. Table 1 decomposes these costs by specific area of climate and energy provisions.

In preparing these updated estimates, PWBM consulted with private sector experts to understand the likely growth in utilization by climate and energy provision. We are especially grateful to the energy team at Goldman Sachs who helped break down each area and further aided our efforts to produce a budget score against the pre-IRA baseline. See Table 1 footnote for references.

Table 1: 10-Year Budget Estimate of Climate and Energy Provisions in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act

Billions of Dollars, Change from Current-Law Baseline

Provision Description Budget Change (2023 - 2032) Clean electricity/energy Solar generation, onshore wind generation, offshore wind investment, battery storage investment -263 Clean hydrogen Green & blue hydrogen -49 CCUS CO2 captured -23 Advanced Manufacturing Solar, wind, and battery plants -183 Clean vehicles Electric vehicles (EV & PHEV), medium trucks, heavy trucks, and buses -393 Biofuels Biodiesel/RD, SAF -43 Energy efficiency Heat pumps, commerical buildings footage with energy efficiency improvement, residential homes investment in energy efficiency improvements -28 Agriculture, forestry Grants, loans and projects -3 Energy grants, loans Grants, loans and projects -37 Air pollution Grants, loans and projects -22 Total -1,045 This table was prepared with the help of energy experts at Goldman Sachs based on their report, Della Vigna, Michele; Bocharnikova, Yulia; Lee, Brian; Mehta, Neil; Singer, Brian; Chinello, Enrico, et al. (2023). ''Carbonomics: The Third American Energy Revolution.'' Goldman Sachs. PWBM thanks Michele Della Vigna and Brian Singer for additional calculations and detailed discussions.

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Wed, 24 Jan 2024 04:45

Boeing Whistleblower: Production Line Has ''Enormous Volume Of Defects'' Bolts On MAX 9 Weren't Installed by Gary Leff on January 22, 2024

A reader at respected airline industry site Leeham News offered a comment that suggests they have access to Boeing's internal quality control systems, and shares details of what they saw regarding the Boeing 737 MAX 9 flown by Alaska Airlines that had a door plug detach inflight, causing rapid decompression of the aircraft.

The takeaway appears to be that outsourced plane components have so many problems when they show up at the production line that Boeing's quality control staff can't keep up with them all.

Current Boeing employee here '' I will save you waiting two years for the NTSB report to come out and give it to you for free: the reason the door blew off is stated in black and white in Boeings own records. It is also very, very stupid and speaks volumes about the quality culture at certain portions of the business.

'...With that out of the way'... why did the left hand (LH) mid-exit door plug blow off of the 737-9 registered as N704AL? Simple- as has been covered in a number of articles and videos across aviation channels, there are 4 bolts that prevent the mid-exit door plug from sliding up off of the door stop fittings that take the actual pressurization loads in flight, and these 4 bolts were not installed when Boeing delivered the airplane, our own records reflect this.

'...As a result, this check job that should find minimal defects has in the past 365 calendar days recorded 392 nonconforming findings on 737 mid fuselage door installations (so both actual doors for the high density configs, and plugs like the one that blew out). That is a hideously high and very alarming number, and if our quality system on 737 was healthy, it would have stopped the line and driven the issue back to supplier after the first few instances.

'...Now, on the incident aircraft this check job was completed on 31 August 2023, and did turn up discrepancies, but on the RH side door, not the LH that actually failed. I could blame the team for missing certain details, but given the enormous volume of defects they were already finding and fixing, it was inevitable something would slip through- and on the incident aircraft something did. I know what you are thinking at this point, but grab some popcorn because there is a plot twist coming up.

The next day on 1 September 2023 a different team (remember 737s flow through the factory quite quickly, 24 hours completely changes who is working on the plane) wrote up a finding for damaged and improperly installed rivets on the LH mid-exit door of the incident aircraft.

'...Because there are so many problems with the Spirit build in the 737, Spirit has teams on site in Renton performing warranty work for all of their shoddy quality, and this SAT promptly gets shunted into their queue as a warranty item. Lots of bickering ensues in the SAT messages, and it takes a bit for Spirit to get to the work package. Once they have finished, they send it back to a Boeing QA for final acceptance, but then Malicious Stupid Happens! The Boeing QA writes another record in CMES (again, the correct venue) stating (with pictures) that Spirit has not actually reworked the discrepant rivets, they *just painted over the defects*. In Boeing production speak, this is a ''process failure''. For an A&P mechanic at an airline, this would be called ''federal crime''.

'...finally we get to the damning entry which reads something along the lines of ''coordinating with the doors team to determine if the door will have to be removed entirely, or just opened. If it is removed then a Removal will have to be written.'' Note: a Removal is a type of record in CMES that requires formal sign off from QA that the airplane been restored to drawing requirements.

If you have been paying attention to this situation closely, you may be able to spot the critical error: regardless of whether the door is simply opened or removed entirely, the 4 retaining bolts that keep it from sliding off of the door stops have to be pulled out. A removal should be written in either case for QA to verify install, but as it turns out, someone (exactly who will be a fun question for investigators) decides that the door only needs to be opened, and no formal Removal is generated in CMES (the reason for which is unclear, and a major process failure). Therefore, in the official build records of the airplane, a pressure seal that cannot be accessed without opening the door (and thereby removing retaining bolts) is documented as being replaced, but the door is never officially opened and thus no QA inspection is required.

The commenter concludes, ''Where are the bolts? Probably sitting forgotten and unlabeled (because there is no formal record number to label them with) on a work-in-progress bench, unless someone already tossed them in the scrap bin to tidy up.''

The information was first flagged by aviation watchdog JonNYC.

..unvetted (every other synonym for that as well,) commenter here:https://t.co/R3KdqDHION

And now I'm seeing a couple other usually credible, usually careful folks positing same idea.

As always'' more so than usual'' no idea myself.

'-- JonNYC (@xJonNYC) January 22, 2024

Boeing outsources a lot of the production of components for its aircraft because it's cheaper as part of an overall shift in strategy that dates to CEO Harry Stonecipher who had been CEO of McDonnell Douglas,

When people say I changed the culture of Boeing, that was the intent, so that it's run like a business rather than a great engineering firm.

One of the major suppliers is Spirit AeroSystems, which used to be part of Boeing and was spun out and sold to private equity in 2005. That's whose work is at issue here.

This story suggests a one-off mistake with this particular part on this particular aircraft, though also that production issues are common. That doesn't square with a theory that bolts could have come loose from flying a poorly-designed aircraft, or that Boeing 737-900ERs are being inspected too. Those have the same door plug because the MAX 9 is built on the same airframe. It may or may not square with finding loose door plugs on other Boeing 737 MAX 9s.

So this story is far from 'official' but it seems knowledgeable from someone who suggests they're a whistleblower inside of Boeing. A story in Politico this morning suggests that Boeing's new team of lobbyists has their work cut out for them. It certainly appears so, but perhaps work needs to start at the board and C-suite level.

More From View from the Wing

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Archived Version

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 20:14

Rumors are making the rounds in Kiev that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will fire the head of his armed forces, General Valerii Zaluzhny.

Zelensky and Zaluzhny have been at odds for some time. The excuse is likely to be losses in and around Avdeevka, which is a Ukrainian military stronghold just north of Donetsk. The rumor says that Kyrylo Budanov, head of military intelligence, will replace Zaluzhny.

Field reports show that the Russians have advanced in the southern part of the town, knocking out numerous trenches and fortifications, with the Russian operation gaining momentum and strength as new troops are poured into the fight.

There is little doubt that Russia will be successful. While the Ukrainian army may be able to delay the Russians, it lacks any ability to stop them cold. If Ukraine tries to bring in extra forces to bolster its chances, it will open itself up to Russian threats elsewhere along the line of contact.

Avdeevka, no matter its importance, is just an excuse for Zelensky. He needs loyal people around him as his situation becomes more precarious. His European and American allies, who still say they want to give him what he wants in arms and financial aid, understand that Ukraine can't stand up to Russian military pressure.

That is why Europe is now in a panic and Washington is searching for a new policy. Europe believes that if Russia wins in Ukraine, as now seems likely, then Europe will be threatened by Russia, for which it is not prepared.

NATO's chiefs, as well as politicians in Germany, Sweden, Holland, Estonia, Poland and elsewhere, are clamoring for strengthening NATO's defenses.

NATO's Steadfast Defender may or may not be taken seriously in Moscow. Image: NATOThe nearly five-month-long NATO exercise, starting in late January, is an effort to demonstrate to Russia that NATO will stand and fight. But the exercise may also show the Russians just what they need to do if a conflict does come.

NATO's alleged 90,000-soldier exercise has been given the lofty name Steadfast Defender and is supposed to reinforce the notion of NATO reliability. The Russians, meanwhile, have canceled their big military exercise, known as Zapad (West), a message understood by Europe. Russia says it must focus on training its new soldiers, sailors and airmen.

Europe has little to fall back on, as its security is acutely dependent on the United States. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and perhaps well before, the Europeans have focused on social spending and have invested little in defense programs.

Worse still, many of them have sent their strategic reserve war materials to Ukraine, leaving them with empty shelves and warehouses.

In Germany, which was supposed to rebuild its armed forces under the slogan Zeitenwende (Turning Point), the government has been raiding the US$108 billion fund to give money and arms to Ukraine.

While Russia appears to have ordered its defense manufacturing companies to work additional shifts to produce armaments, little has been done in Europe or the United States to substantially move forward production.

Instead, there are labor shortages, supply chain issues and slow procurement orders. Meanwhile, the US has unloaded most of its critical war-fighting supplies on Ukraine, leaving great uncertainty if America could rescue Europe, even if it wanted to do so.

Putting aside the credibility, or lack thereof, of any imminent Russian threat to Europe, the US is changing its policy and is recognizing that it cannot win a conventional war against Russia. (Which also means that it can't win a conventional war against China, maybe not even Iran or the minuscule Houthis.)

All of this is clearly visible in Iraq where US bases and installations are regularly bombed by Iranian militias, following orders from Tehran. Their goal is for US troops to leave Iraq and Syria and, accomplishing that, demonstrate that the US is unreliable and unfit to depend upon.

The new Ukraine policy has been emerging over recent months. If understood correctly, the policy is designed to deal with the new reality that Ukraine will lose the war and Ukraine's government may need to evacuate Kiev. Putting Budanov in effective control, including for the relocation of Ukraine's capital, probably to Lviv, is the bedrock of the policy.

Major General Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's military intelligence chief attends a commemorative event on the occasion of the Russia-Ukraine war one year anniversary in Kiev, Ukraine, on February 24, 2023.Operationally, the policy will likely be to use special operations, assassinations, bombings and any other means, including possibly blowing up a nuclear reactor, to punish the Russians and keep them off balance.

Zelensky is already setting the stage by saying Russia will blow up a nuclear reactor. The Russians are no doubt keenly aware that the target will be a reactor in western Russia and it will be Ukrainian saboteurs who undertake the mission.

For Washington, there are three imperatives. The first is to be able to keep the war going and to keep demanding money from Congress. This is a hard act because if Ukraine is collapsing it will be hard to get buy-in for a losing proposition.

The reality is likely to be that the Biden administration does not expect that Congress will fork over more billions, especially if it is all but certain to go down a rat hole. What they want to do is blame Congress and the Republicans for the loss of Ukraine.

The second imperative is to keep a pro-Western Ukrainian government functioning, even if it has to abandon Kiev. It also means that the current government has to survive politically: if a coup d'etat happens, then all bets are off.

So Washington needs to prevent a political breakdown. This is a tall order because Ukrainians are understandably unhappy, in fact miserable, as young and old men are forced to fight a losing war and many of them don't come home.

The third imperative is to keep Russia out of Europe, meaning to keep European countries from cutting their own deals with Moscow. As Kiev goes, so goes Europe and NATO.

If the Russians can put a pro-Russian government in Kiev, the Europeans will need to find a practical solution to living with Moscow. The key actor is Germany and the current German government won't talk to Russia, at least not now. But that may change in the near future.

If Ukraine falls, Germany will need to change its policy. The easiest way for its government to change direction is to blame the United States for something, such as the Nord Stream pipeline's destruction. That would open the door to a conversation with Putin.

Stephen Bryen, who served as staff director of the Near East Subcommittee of theUS Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as deputy undersecretary of defensefor policy, currently is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy and Yorktown Institute.

This article was originally published on his Weapons and Security Substack and is republished with kind permission.

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Tue, 23 Jan 2024 17:26

Weeks after Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned amid a plagiarism scandal, the university's teaching hospital is set to retract or correct dozens of papers authored by four of their top researchers, following claims of data falsification.

Dana''Farber Cancer Institute CEO Laurie Glimcher, one of several people whose work is under fire.Six papers have already been selected for retraction, and 31 others are in the process of being corrected by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, according to the Harvard Crimson, citing the hospital's research integrity officer, Dr. Barrett Rollins.

The corrections come amid claims of data manipulation against DFCI President and CEO Laurie H. Glimcher '72, Executive Vice President and COO William C. Hahn '87, Senior Vice President for Experimental Medicine Irene M. Ghobrial, and Harvard Medical School professor Kenneth C. Anderson. The allegations of misconduct were first compiled and publicized in a Jan. 2 blog post by data sleuth Sholto David.

In the statement, Rollins wrote that David contacted DFCI with allegations of data manipulation in 57 manuscripts. According to Rollins, 38 were articles in which DFCI researchers ''have primary responsibility for the potential data errors.''

Four of the researchers at the Dana-Faber center have faculty appointments with the Harvard Medical School.

The data manipulation claims came to light after investigator Sholto David published a blog post several weeks ago alleging irregularities among 57 papers. He had previously alleged "data forgery" - which included discrepancies in images consisting of duplications of blots, bands and plots, according to the report.

David, who holds a doctoral degree in biology from Newcastle University, alleged that three papers authored by Glimcher, 12 by Hahn, 10 by Ghobrial, and 16 by Anderson contained ''data forgery,'' including five co-authored by both Anderson and Ghobrial. As is typical for scientific research, all of the papers referenced by David have several co-authors, though his post focused on the four DFCI researchers.

The papers, published between 1999 and 2017, most commonly have duplications of blots, bands, and plots within images, David alleged. In a Saturday interview, David said he used a combination of artificial intelligence image analysis software ImageTwin and manual detection to look for errors in the papers. -Harvard Crimson.

In short, AI is going to absolutely wreck a lot of ivory tower copycats...

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Tue, 23 Jan 2024 17:25

Ukraine will put in place new measures to safeguard the "national identity of Ukrainians" living in Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, hitting at the heart of Moscow and Kyiv's competing claims on identity and territory.

The Ukrainian leader said on Monday that he had signed a decree, "On the Territories of the Russian Federation Historically Inhabited by Ukrainians," which he said would see the "restoration of truth about the historical past" of Ukraine.

The decree lists several regions of Russia as "historically inhabited by Ukrainians," including the border regions of Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod, and Russia's southern Krasnodar region, from which Moscow has launched attacks on Ukraine and which is linked to the annexed Crimean peninsula via the key Kerch Bridge.

"We must take steps not only to strengthen the unity of Ukraine and our people, but also to act for the unity of rights and freedoms, the truth about Ukrainians, the truth about us, and the truth about our history," Zelensky said in an address.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seen on January 11, 2024, in Riga, Latvia. Ukraine will put in place new measures to safeguard the "national identity of Ukrainians" living in Russia, Zelensky said on Monday. Gints Ivuskans/AFP via Getty ImagesUkrainian officials will develop a "plan for preserving the national identity of Ukrainians in the Russian Federation, including in lands historically inhabited by them," Zelensky said.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment via email.

Former Russian President and current head of the country's security council, Dmitry Medvedev, said on Monday that there was "nothing to comment on" about Zelensky's decree, adding: "Ukrainians are Russians, and Little Russia is part of Russia."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the Kremlin views Ukraine as a historically Russian territory.

Medvedev called Ukraine "an independent state on the historical Russian territories" in a statement posted to social media earlier this month, adding that conflicting claims would be a constant source of conflict.

Russia has backed separatist movements sympathetic to Moscow in eastern Ukraine for more than a decade, and declared in September 2022 that it was officially annexing the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions covering chunks of southern and eastern Ukraine. Russia also annexed the Crimean peninsula, internationally recognized as part of Ukraine, in 2014.

Cultural identity has long been a weapon Russia has used against Ukraine. For example, experts told Newsweek in March 2023 that Moscow has maintained a strong cultural presence on the Crimean Peninsula, engaging in ethnic cleansing for centuries to cement its claim to the territory through "Russification."

"Russia has sought for centuries to sideline and extinguish the Ukrainian language and culture, and since Putin's rise to power, it has targeted Ukrainian communities within Russia systematically," Rory Finnin, an associate professor of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge in the U.K. told Newsweek. "Anywhere between 3 to 6 million Ukrainians live in today's Russian Federation."

Zelensky's announcement, coinciding with Ukraine's Day of Unity, is "about calling attention to the past and present of Moscow's chauvinistic and punitive treatment of Ukrainians who wish to preserve their culture and language in Russia," particularly in areas where Ukrainians have historically made up a significant part of the population, he argued.

Zelensky said on Monday that the new "plan" will include collecting testimonies about crimes committed against ethnic Ukrainians, political repression, deportation, and "forced Russification."

Kyiv will "conduct events aimed at debunking Russian myths about Ukraine," and schools will teach the "true history of ethnic Ukrainians in the lands historically inhabited by them within the borders of the Russian Federation," he said.

The Ukrainian leader also announced draft legislation proposing that "all ethnic Ukrainians and their descendants from around the world" would have access to dual Ukrainian citizenship, apart from those with Russian citizenship.

Earlier this year, Putin signed a decree speeding up the process of granting Russian citizenship to foreign nationals and stateless people. Moscow also made it easier for authorities to confer Russian citizenship on Ukrainian children, something Ukraine denounced as illegal.

In mid-November, an investigation found that Ukrainians in Russian-controlled territories were obliged to take up Russian citizenship in exchange for access to basic services.

"Pensions are not provided without Russian passports, food is not provided without Russian passports, and medical services are out of the question," one Ukrainian refugee, named as Larysa, told the European Broadcasting Union.

In an extensive essay published before the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin said "Ukrainization was often imposed on those who did not see themselves as Ukrainians" throughout the early part of the 20th century.

Update 1/23/2024, 5:30 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Rory Finnin.

Uncommon KnowledgeNewsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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Tue, 23 Jan 2024 17:16

A censorship-free way to inform people in your community is by distributing flyers and posters. Print as many as you want, on your own printer, or through an online printing service like VistaPrint. Do you want to order a large number of flyers from us? Send us an email.

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DOWNLOAD THESE FLYERS

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''--¸Ž Contact your local newspaper and check options for adding it to the local newspaper distribution as a commercial attachment. A small investment with massive impact! Then everyone in your city will get it!

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Share the flyers all over social media. If you are being censored on current platforms, then open an account on TruthSocial, Telegram, Parler, MeWe, Gab, etc. Post the flyers in groups and pages, and as a comment on large accounts of celebrities and politicians. Use them strategically to open the eyes of the people.

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Tue, 23 Jan 2024 17:05

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - A Duke Energy spokesperson confirmed that the Charlotte-based utility company will be laying off employees as part of a ''clean energy transition.''

The company did not specify how many employees will be laid off, or which states or locations the layoffs will occur.

Duke Energy released the following statement regarding the decision:

''Duke Energy is entering the next phase of its clean energy transition, which calls for a transformative expansion and modernization of our energy generation and grid. In preparation, we are reorganizing for greater efficiency and cost effectiveness to deliver smarter energy solutions that are affordable, reliable and cleaner for our customers and communities. As a result, we expect limited workforce impacts across our service territories.''

The company said it did not have any further details to share.

Related: Duke Energy to roll out EV-charging subscription service in North Carolina

Watch continuous news coverage here:

Copyright 2023 WBTV. All rights reserved.

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Tue, 23 Jan 2024 04:24

ANKARA

In an effort to secure claims to rich seabed resources through next-generation technologies, the US has expanded its continental shelf to an area twice the size of California.

This move, announced by the State Department last week, sets new geographic coordinates to define the extended continental shelf boundaries, covering approximately one million square kilometers (10.8 million square feet) spread across seven regions.

The US claims its right, under international law, to protect and manage resources and vital habitats above and beneath its extended continental shelf.

The delineation of geographical coordinates for areas located 200 nautical miles from the coast reflects adherence to the relevant provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and international customary law, as outlined in the Scientific and Technical Guidelines of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

This expansion has the potential to transform the Arctic, including the Arctic Circle region and the Bering Sea between Russian East Siberia and the US state of Alaska, into a new arena for tension and conflict, akin to China's claims in the South China Sea.

Mead Treadwell, former lieutenant governor of Alaska and ex-chair of the US Arctic Research Commission, stressed that decades of scientific research, numerous icebreaker missions, and detailed seafloor mapping helped substantiate the US claims.

Treadwell underscored the vastness of the newly controlled area, comparing it to "two Californias," adding: "America is now larger than it was yesterday."

- US claims stir discomfort in Russia, potential for territorial dispute looms

The US assertion of an extended continental shelf has unsettled Russia, raising the possibility of a territorial dispute between the two states. While Moscow has not issued an official statement on the matter, there is concern that this move may escalate into a land dispute between the nations.

Grigory Karasin, from the Foreign Affairs Committee of Russia's Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, told Sputnik that the US' unilateral expansion of the continental shelf was "unacceptable.''

Asked whether the US claims pose a threat to Russia, he responded: "We have taken and will continue to take all necessary measures for our national interests in this geographical area."

Karasin said Moscow's Arctic claims are evaluated based on evidence gathered by a subcommittee of the UN, while the US has not even ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

President Vladimir Putin has highlighted the strategic importance of the Arctic for Russia.

He stressed the vast economic opportunities in the region, linking the strengthening of the country's energy potential, the expansion of logistical capabilities, and the assurance of national security and defense to Arctic development.

Russia is rapidly increasing the importance of the Northern Sea Route while developing alternative routes in international trade due to sanctions.

The Northern Sea Route, called Russia's alternative to the Suez Canal, stands out as the most prioritized route among the alternatives by the Russian government.

Cargo transported via the Northern Sea Route rose from 4 million tons in 2014 to 34 million tons this year. The Russian government aims to surpass 100 million tons of cargo transported via the Northern Sea Route by 2030.

A container ship traveling from Tokyo to Hamburg needs approximately 48 days through the Suez Canal. In contrast, the same ship's travel time via the Northern Sea Route would be about 35 days.

- China in the Arctic

China, looking to position itself early in the transportation and competitive environment that will arise from the melting of ice in the near future, plans to build the necessary infrastructure in the region and is increasing its activities accordingly.

Seeking a larger role in the Arctic, China describes itself as a "state near the North Pole" and views the North Pole as a common environment for all nations.

Anadolu Agency website contains only a portion of the news stories offered to subscribers in the AA News Broadcasting System (HAS), and in summarized form. Please contact us for subscription options.

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Multiple studies have found that people are testing positive for HIV after being vaccinated with Covid mRNA shots, a leading expert has warned.

Renowned cardiologist and epidemiologist Dr. Peter McCullough has begun raising the alarm about the findings.

During a recent interview, McCullough warned that nine studies so far have also concluded that Covid injections are triggering a spike in positive HIV tests.

McCullough clarified that the shots are not giving people HIV or AIDS, indicating a false positive.

However, he explained that the positive tests after receiving the mRNA injections are triggered because people are suffering from immunodeficiency.

He noted that the shots are actually triggering a spike in vaccine-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (VAIDS).

In turn, this is causing people to provide positive tests for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

During his interview, Dr. McCullough cited a 2022 study from the Cleveland Clinic.

The study showed that people who took at least three Covid mRNA injections were up to three times more likely to have recurrent COVID-19 infections than unvaccinated individuals.

The authors of the study stated:

''The association of increased risk of COVID-19 with higher numbers of prior vaccine doses in our study was unexpected.''

McCullough also expressed concerns that Covid vaccines actually worsen immunity, rather than boost it:

''I've become pretty convinced that Covid itself worsens someone's immunity [as well as] the vaccine.

''Most people who took the vaccine got Covid and took the vaccine since the vaccines don't work.

''They [the vaccinated + prior infection] are even more deep in a hole on immunodeficiency.''

As Slay News reported in December, a bombshell study conducted by top scientists at the world-renowned Cambridge University in England concluded that 25 percent of all people vaccinated with Covid mRNA shots now have VAIDS.

According to the study, one in four people who received a Covid mRNA injection suffered an ''unintended immune response.''

However, the scientists note in their paper that the ''unintended immune response'' was ''created by a glitch.''

While the Cambridge scientists and corporate media outlets attribute the damage to the immune systems as a ''glitch'' or ''unintended'' response, experts have been raising the alarm for some time about the effects on individuals' immune systems.

''Cambridge scientists found such vaccines were not perfect and sometimes led to nonsense proteins being made instead of the desired Covid 'spike', which mimics infection and leads to antibody production,'' the UK Telegraph reports.

''It was thought the minor tweak to uridine caused no problems in cells, but a team of researchers at the University of Cambridge's Medical Research Council (MRC) Toxicology Unit have now found when this partially synthetic code is read, the protein-making machine in the body sometimes struggles with the uridine analogs.''

''These findings were shared with medicines regulator MHRA around a year ago, the scientists say, and updated vaccines that use the improved form of mRNA are in the works for cancer jabs, and other therapeutics,'' the report adds.

🚨 NEW '-- Cambridge Scientists Find 'More Than a Quarter of People Injected w/ mRNA COVID Jabs Suffered an Unintended Immune Response Created by a Glitch'

''Cambridge scientists found such vaccines were not perfect and sometimes led to nonsense proteins being made instead of the'... pic.twitter.com/qxkNQF5D8J

'-- Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) December 7, 2023

Slay News has long been reporting on such findings.

For example, political commentator Megyn Kelly developed an autoimmune issue after her Covid shot.

The former Fox News star revealed in September that she has been diagnosed with VAIDS.

Kelly asserts that her immune system was damaged by her Covid shot.

She issued a statement about the diagnosis and said she regrets taking the Big Pharma vaccine.

''I regret getting the vaccine even though I am a 52-year-old woman because I don't think I needed it,'' Kelly said in a recorded statement.

''I think I would have been fine.

''I've gotten COVID many times and it was well past when the vaccine was doing what it was supposed to be doing.''

''For the first time, I tested positive for an autoimmune issue at my annual physical,'' Kelly added.

''And I went to the best Rheumatologist in New York, and I asked her, 'do you think this could have to do with the fact that got the damn booster and then got COVID within three weeks?'

''And she said. 'yes. Yes.'

''I wasn't the only one she'd seen that with.''

Many others have also suffered AIDS-like symptoms following their injections.

Calls have been mounting around the world for a thorough investigation into the shots.

However, they are still widely available in most Western nations.

Unfortunately, it is already too late for millions of people across the globe who already died or have already been permanently damaged by the experimental mRNA technology.

READ MORE '' Whistleblower: 20% of New Zealand's Vaxxed Population Have Died

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PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5/AP) -- The Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party has resigned amid a growing number of calls to step down after a British tabloid released clips of him reportedly trying to ''bribe'' former gubernatorial candidate and television news anchor Kari Lake to not run for Senate.

The verified audio recording obtained by the Daily Mail reveals party chair Jeff DeWit asking Lake to ''Just say, is there a number at which,'' that appears to signify Lake to essentially ''name her price.'' Lake is heard in the audio tape taking offense to the remark, stating, ''I can be bought? That's what it's about.'' The clip continues with DeWit saying: ''You can take a pause for a couple of years. You can go right back to what you're doing.'' To which Lake replies, ''This is not about money, it's about our country.''

At the time of the recording last March, Lake was waging an unsuccessful court fight challenging her loss in the 2022 race for Arizona governor and gearing up for a U.S. Senate campaign. Meanwhile, Republicans in Washington, bruised by a disappointing showing in the midterms, were talking openly about plans to seek GOP Senate nominees who would be more viable in general elections.

DeWit said in a statement announcing his exit that the tape was ''selectively edited'' and used in a ''deceptive'' way. He claims that despite the conversation appearing against Lake, she was actually employed by him in DeWit's private company. DeWit claims since that conversation, that Lake has been on a ''mission to destroy'' him.

''I said things I regret, but I realize when hearing Lake's recording that I was set up. I believe she orchestrated this entire situation to have control over the state party,'' the statement read in part. The decision to step down on Wednesday was part of an ''ultimatum,'' DeWit said, adding that the Lake campaign threatened the release of a ''more damaging'' recording. ''I am truly unsure of its contents, but considering our numerous past open conversations as friends, I have decided not to take the risk,'' DeWit said.

''I am resigning as Lake requested, in the hope that she will honor her commitment to cease her attacks, allowing me to return to the business sector-'--a field I find much more logical and prefer over politics,'' DeWit continued in the letter, explaining his decision and his plans for the future.

He said he didn't intend to bribe Lake but was offering candid advice for her to sit out the Senate race and run again for governor in 2028. He was employing Lake at his private company at the time, he said, and they'd had ''many conversations where I was looking out for her financial interests.''

''Our relationship was based on friendship, and the conversation that is now being scrutinized was an open, unguarded exchange between friends in the living room of her house,'' DeWit said. ''I genuinely believed I was offering a helpful perspective to someone I considered a friend.''

About an hour later, the Lake campaign fired back, saying in part that the ''tape speaks for itself.''

''No one from the Kari Lake campaign threatened or blackmailed DeWit. It is unfortunate that Dewit hasn't recognized how unethical his behavior was and still hasn't apologized to Arizona Republicans,'' the joint statement from senior advisors Caroline Wren and Garrett Ventry said. ''DeWit's false claims are just par for the course. The Arizona GOP must be relieved to have his resignation. Now we can focus on getting ethical leadership and win big in 2024.''

Lake, a former Phoenix television news anchor, has a penchant for weaponizing recordings of her confrontations. She routinely wears a small microphone during her public appearances while her husband, a former news photographer, records her interactions with supporters, critics, the press and anyone else she encounters. She sometimes posts videos of confrontational encounters on social media.

An ''X'' account associated with Lake's campaign published a video of her attorney talking on speakerphone with a lawyer for Maricopa County as Lake claimed the county stole the 2022 race for Arizona governor from her. Courts have repeatedly rejected her claims of fraud.

Yet even as Lake delivered campaign-style talking points for an audience, not in the room, DeWit did not seem to catch on that he was being recorded.

The recording, first published by the Daily Mail, was leaked days before former President Donald Trump is scheduled to appear at a fundraiser for the Arizona GOP, which is in desperate need of cash, and the party's annual state committee meeting.

Without naming her visitor, Lake has repeatedly described the meeting in her public appearances, using it to bolster her image as an outsider shaking up a corrupt establishment.

DeWit went down swinging, blasting Lake's ''disturbing tendency to to exploit private interactions for personal gain,'' which he said is concerning given the amount of time Lake spends with Trump.

''I question how effective a United States Senator can be when they cannot be trusted to engage in private and confidential conversations,'' DeWit said.

DeWit previously served as state treasurer after succeeding Doug Ducey in 2015. He was chief operating officer for Trump's 2016 and 2020 campaigns and was the chief financial officer of NASA during the Trump presidency. He was selected to serve as the head of the Arizona Republican Party in 2023 after firebrand Trump ally Kelli Ward. Ward, a former state senator, was best known for helping the former president in his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and was a vocal proponent of the claim that the election results were fraudulent. DeWit was seen as a trusted and experienced operative who could bridge the bitter divide between Trump loyalists and old-guard Republicans in Arizona, many of whom were brought into the party by the late Sen. John McCain.

Jeff DeWit, the new chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, joins political editor Dennis Welch to discus what he would like to see in future candidates.He is the second state GOP chair to leave abruptly this month after Florida Republicans ousted Chairman Christian Ziegler as police investigate a rape allegation against him.

Full statement from Jeff DeWitIn light of the recent revelation that Kari Lake has released a selectively edited audio recording of our private conversation. I must clearly address this deceptive tactic. The recording, from over ten months ago, is not only taken out of context but also undermines the integrity of private discussions critical for party leadership.

As Chairman, my primary duty is to strengthen our party, which often involves challenging dialogues and strategic decisions. These conversations are meant to assess and enhance the viability of our candidates. The truth is, when I took the helm, our party was in disarray - financially unstable, organizationally weak, and lacking in momentum. Today, we have made significant improvements in acquiring a new office headquarters, legal victories for election integrity, and historic fundraising achievements.

Contrary to the notion of me being an enemy of Lake's, this conversation was recorded while I was actually employing Lake in my private company. In fact, for over a year and a half we had many conversations where I was looking out for her financial interests. The ethical breach in her recording of our conversation, while Lake was my employee, raises serious legal and moral concerns. This act of recording was not just a betrayal of trust but also a violation of the fiduciary responsibilities of an employee. Contrary to accusations of bribery, my discussions were transparent and intended to offer perspective, not coercion. Our relationship was based on friendship, and the conversation that is now being scrutinized was an open, unguarded exchange between friends in the living room of her house. I genuinely believed I was offering a helpful perspective to someone I considered a friend.

Lake has a massive megaphone that I cannot compete with. I am just a business and financial guy that got recruited into this unpaid role that demands the amount of time of roughly two full time jobs - nights, weekends, holidays, and more are all workdays. My motivation for accepting this position was that I wanted to contribute positively, with the primary focus being the betterment of Arizona and our nation through the election of competent individuals. While there is much more that I could express, I must refrain from defending myself, as it could potentially undermine this objective.

Since our conversation where I advised Lake to postpone her campaign and aim for the Governor's position in two years, she has been on a mission to destroy me. It was a suggestion made in good faith, believing it could benefit both her future prospects and the party's overall strategy. The release of our conversation by Lake confirms a disturbing tendency to exploit private interactions for personal gain and increases concerns about her habit of secretly recording personal and private conversations. This is obviously a concern given how much interaction she has with high profile people including President Trump. I question how effective a United States Senator can be when they cannot be trusted to engage in private and confidential conversations.

I said things I regret, but I realize when hearing Lake's recording that I was set up. I believe she orchestrated this entire situation to have control over the state party, and it is obvious from the recording that she crafted her performance responses with the knowledge that she was recording it, intending to use this recording later to portray herself as a hero in her own story.

This morning, I was determined to fight for my position. However, a few hours ago, I received an ultimatum from Lake's team: resign today or face the release of a new, more damaging recording. I am truly unsure of its contents, but considering our numerous past open conversations as friends, I have decided not to take the risk. I am resigning as Lake requested, in the hope that she will honor her commitment to cease her attacks, allowing me to return to the business sector'--a field I find much more logical and prefer over politics.

I am a proud supporter of President Trump, having worked diligently as the COO & CFO of his 2016 campaign, served in his Administration for two years, and returned as the COO of the 2020 campaign. Like many Republicans, I am eager to see him return to the White House, bringing back low inflation, a secure border, and economic growth. President Trump is not only a successful businessman but also a passionate Patriot. We have both faced the challenge of dealing with unauthorized recordings, a situation no one should endure. While I have occasionally critiqued some of his endorsements, my admiration for his character has never faltered. My dedication remains with Arizona Republicans, our commendable elected officials, and candidates who are champions of freedom, as well as my friends in the Trump campaign, united in our goal to reclaim the White House.

Our party's focus should be unity, integrity, and the selection of candidates who can truly lead and represent our values. We are weakened by internal strife, underhanded tactics, and the erosion of trust. As someone who has dedicated countless unpaid hours to this cause, I hope that every future party Chairman is as committed to steering our party towards a future that embodies our core principles of unity, respect, and professionalism.

In closing, my actions will always reflect what's best for Arizona Republicans, our commendable elected officials, and our mission to reclaim the White House. This is all such a distraction to that mission that I am doing as Ms. Lake wishes and am stepping down as Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party.

correction: We've updated our headline, removing potential ownership of the audio recording. While a social media profile connected to Lake's campaign released the full audio on their feed, it's not yet known who recorded or released the audio.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2024 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.

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