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###CLAIM: bernstein said the administration must take a hard hit to finally put the `` m ` pandemic '' and its economic pain in the rearview mirror.
###DOCS: America has badly fumbled the response to the pandemic so far, and its hard to imagine the country is on the brink of severely overshooting it. Still, some economists are starting to raise concerns that its possible to overshoot the response. President Joe Bidens $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief plan is getting new scrutiny. Larry Summers, who served as treasury secretary under Bill Clinton and as National Economic Council director under Barack Obama, wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post published on February 4. In it, he argues that Bidens proposal, in its ambition, its rejection of austerity orthodoxy, and its commitment to reducing economic inequality are all admirable.Still, he wonders if Biden might be overdoing it. Summers, of course, played an important role in shaping the federal governments response to the Great Recession in 2009 a response that most Democrats, including Summers himself, now agree wasnt ambitious enough. We must make sure that it is enacted in a way that neither threatens future inflation and financial stability nor our ability to build back better through public investment, he wrote this week. In other words, hes worried about the risk of overheating the economy, and that once Congress passes one Covid-19 bill especially one the size of Bidens proposal theres going to be a reduced appetite for others. To be clear, many economists have been saying Bidens original pitch is much more in line with what is necessary to steer the country forward, and multiple economists, including from Obamaworld, have pushed against Summerss assertions. Biden himself has been quite clear that he wants to take big swings on the economy and do some deficit spending with such low interest rates. Many Democrats are on board with that plan, too. Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, Biden recalled how hard it was to get the recovery bill passed under Obama, and he appears determined not to repeat that mistake. One thing we learned is, you know, we cant do too much here, the president said. We can do too little. We can do too little and sputter.He also laid out the stakes: Its not just the macroeconomic impact on the economy and our ability to compete internationally; its peoples lives. Real, live people are hurting, and we can fix it.Its not clear how much sway Summers has over the White House Politico reported that his op-ed is being circulated in the West Wing, but presumably, if Summers had a significant amount of private access to Biden, he might not need to be voicing his opinions quite so publicly. Its also unclear whether this might spook some Democrats, especially moderate Senate Democrats the caucus has to keep on board to get legislation passed. In the background is a continuing stark economic situation in the US: After shedding 140,000 jobs in December, the economy added back just 50,000 jobs in January. The country is still short 10 million jobs from where it was pre-pandemic, and some 4 million workers have dropped out of the workforce. In that context, its hard to gauge just how much to worry about overshooting it on the response. Jared Bernstein, a longtime economic adviser to Biden, made that argument during a press briefing on Friday. This mornings employment report revealed a stall in the American job creation machine and underscores how precarious of a situation our economy is in, he said. Lack of job growth is a result of our failure to act appropriately in response to this immense dual crisis, and our economy and our families cant afford for us to fail to act once again.The risks of going too big on the economy are real, but the risks of going too small are worse. The risk of too much stimulus, briefly explainedSummerss argument is part math, part economics, and part politics. He acknowledges a consensus among economists that the economy would have been better off had the Obama administration gone bigger on fiscal stimulus in 2009. But he uses that acknowledgment to make an argument against going too big now, using estimates from the Congressional Budget Office on the hole that needs filling in the economy (the estimates of which can be off). His contention: Bidens proposal would be three times the size of whats needed, and that is something bad. The first plank of Summerss argument in terms of what going too big means is that it would set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation. Inflation has been quite low for years now, and if it were to appear, the Federal Reserve could always combat it with interest rate hikes. Bidens team says its not oblivious to the inflationary risk; it just isnt as worried about it as other risks. Its a sentiment recently echoed by Fed Chair Jerome Powell at a recent press conference. Im much more worried about falling short of a complete recovery and losing peoples careers and lives that they built because they dont get back to work in time, Powell said. Im more concerned about that and the damage that will do, not just to their lives but to the United States economy.The second and perhaps more interesting part of Summerss case is that doing too big of a stimulus now will diminish the likelihood of follow-up legislation later. Biden has laid out a two-part plan for the economy: first rescue (this $1.9 trillion plan) and then recovery, a set of broader proposals to make the economy work better and even out the recovery across income status. It would likely entail issues like infrastructure and green energy. After resolving the coronavirus crisis, how will political and economic space be found for the public investments that should be the nations highest priority? Summers wrote. Is the thinking that deficits can prudently be expanded longer and further? Or that new revenue will be raised? If so, will this be politically feasible?He reiterated his concerns in an interview with Vox on Friday afternoon. I certainly subscribe to the principle that the dangers of doing too little are greater than the dangers of doing too much, and one should err on the side of doing enough. But that argument doesnt justify any level of stimulus.Some economists have echoed Summerss concerns. In a series of tweets over the weekend, former International Monetary Fund economist Olivier Blanchard said he believes Bidens proposal is too much. We should spend what we need to save people from poverty and fund the needed response to the pandemic, he wrote. I think we do not need to spend $1.9 trillion for that, and we should have a smaller program.Figuring out what to do on the economy is all about weighing risksAt the White House press briefing on Friday, Bernstein responded to Summerss concerns that the Biden administration risks going too big. I disagree with that contention, he said. This is risk management, this is balancing risks, and in our view, the risks of doing too little are far greater than the risks of doing too much.Bernstein said the administration has to hit back hard to finally put the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic pain its caused in the rearview mirror. Its impossible to know what exactly the correct number for economic relief and recovery is. As Greg Daco, chief US economist at Oxford Economics, recently put it in an interview with Vox, the country needs a bridge to get to a post-Covid world, but we dont know how long or how strong of a bridge we need, because we dont know when well get to the other side. Over the weekend, Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman compared fighting the pandemic to fighting a war. You spend what you need to spend to win the war, he wrote in a Times op-ed. The Brookings Institution recently released a report looking at the implications of Bidens $1.9 trillion proposal and estimating it would boost economic activity by about 4 percent at the end of this year. The economists behind the report, Wendy Edelberg and Louise Sheiner, estimated that without fiscal support, the economy would remain below pre-pandemic levels for several years. They did nod at the risk Summers has sounded the alarm about. A risk worth noting is that the return of GDP back to its maximum sustainable level may create a difficult economic period after 2021. While our estimates show a soft landing, with a temporary and shallow decline in GDP after the fourth quarter of 2021, the slowdown could be more abrupt and painful than our projections suggest, they wrote. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moodys Analytics, said that Summerss arithmetic adds up. If it were up to him, Biden would do a $1 trillion rescue package and then a $1 trillion deficit-financed support package to get back to full employment. The economy needs about $2 trillion of additional deficit financed fiscal support to get back to full employment in, say, a couple years, a reasonable amount of time, he said. Zandi, who has released his own estimates that the Biden proposal will boost the economy, said he shares concerns that theres a risk of overdoing it. It becomes a question of sustainability, he said. You want a strong economy, low unemployment thats sustainable. But a bit of inflation? Hes not so concerned: If that really becomes an issue, then interest rates rise sooner and faster than people are expecting.Again, the Biden administration is aware of these worries but its all a balancing act of risks and priorities. What are the costs of going conservative now, not only for the topline economic numbers but also in ordinary peoples lives? The stimulus passed so far has helped in terms of keeping families fed, the unemployed afloat, and businesses alive as the country fights the pandemic. Indeed, how well its worked has emboldened some policymakers and economists to go bigger and replicate some of its bottom-up approach to really help those most in need. For decades, weve essentially been running an economy significantly below capacity. Theres a growing consensus its had tremendous costs to the well-being of the American people, said Mark Paul, a political economist at the New College of Florida and a Roosevelt Institute fellow. Paul is one of the authors of a paper commissioned by the progressive economic group the Groundwork Collaborative arguing the economy needs at least a $3 trillion injection. His take: The US has spent so much time worrying about the economy becoming too hot, but given the effects of running it cold for so long, why not try it? We know that a cold economy results in stagnant wages and unemployment, particularly unemployment that falls on Black and brown communities and those least able to deal with economic hardship, he said. Its worth noting that Summers does not speak for Obamaworld. On February 3, the day before Summerss op-ed, Austan Goolsbee, another Obama economic alum, published an op-ed in the New York Times warning that the country risks a double-dip recession. He wrote that a wait and see approach on a relief program has been proved to be deeply wrong since the pandemic began, and noted that the virus has caused people to withdraw from the economy. Much damage has already been done and it is evident not only in lost jobs but in lost income and lost companies, he wrote. This harm could have been prevented. I welcome that the White House shares those concerns, as I expect, being responsible policymakers, that they would.On inflation, he noted the Fed has sent strong signals that it doesnt plan to hike interest rates anytime soon, and if it did, that could harm the economy. Some of the possible concerns have probably not gotten sufficient airing in the debate, he said. Its been a long time since we learned the lesson, but if we set off a significant acceleration of inflation and it then forces a response by the Fed, the process is unlikely to be controllable, and recession is very likely along with big increases in mortgage rates. Many of those who will be most threatened will be middle-class families.It is a real risk for inflation to happen, but as Krugman wrote, its not certain that it will. And to the extent that inflation is a risk, thats an argument for seeking ways to limit that risk, not for skimping on Covid relief, he wrote. The question of how big to go to try to help people goes beyond the economy ultimately, it entails an attempt to just do whats right, especially in such an unequal society. Growth where a relatively small portion of the population reaps all the gains from that growth, thats not the idea of a healthy, fair, or just society, said Darrick Hamilton, now a professor of economics and urban policy at the New School, in a 2019 interview with Vox. Growth in and of itself says nothing about morality, common humanity, or sustainability.Theres the economics of the stimulus, and then theres the politics of the stimulusBeyond the economic argument about how much stimulus is needed, theres also the question of the politics of the situation. And thats, well, complicated. The White House appears to at least want to try to get its $1.9 trillion proposal, or some sort of a sizable bipartisan proposal, passed through regular order, meaning 60 votes. Getting 10 Republicans on board might be tough. A group of 10 Senate Republicans has put forth a counteroffer of $600 billion in stimulus. The Biden administration appears willing to hear out the GOP, but its not likely to go for a proposal thats a third of the size of its own. At the same time, Democrats have gotten the ball rolling on budget reconciliation a process that exempts from the filibuster threshold legislation that primarily deals with taxes and spending. Under that scenario, legislation could pass with 50 Senate Democratic votes plus Vice President Kamala Harris as a tiebreaker. Democrats have the votes for that assuming all of them go along. That means keeping moderate Democrats, such as Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, on board. While Summerss op-ed and warnings that stimulus should be smaller may not make too much of a difference in how the White House is thinking, there is concern that in moderates, those arguments could find a more receptive audience. As my colleague Ella Nilsen recently outlined, Manchins red line appears to be less about fiscal responsibility and more about having bipartisan input on the process, and he seems to be okay with the $1.9 trillion on Bidens plan or something close. However, he probably wouldnt be mad if it were smaller, at the very least. How closely are senators following the Washington Posts opinion section? Its hard to say, especially on the Friday after an overnight vote-a-rama to get the budget process moving. When I reached out to one Democratic office to ask for a take on the Summers op-ed, a staffer first asked what I was talking about. I dont think our members will take this seriously. He even says the criticisms of what was done in 2009 were correct. If thats the case, youre admitting you got it wrong. So why should we listen to you now, a Democratic aide said in an email. More broadly, I think the broad consensus in the caucus is there is much greater risk in going too small than too big. I mean look at the process we need to go through to pass this one bill. We were all up until 5 am! You wouldnt be able to do that again if it turns out you need a lot more relief.Ella Nilsen contributed reporting. | 0 |
###CLAIM: as state and federal investigators continued their look into the event, harrelson 's rural disappearance in montezuma, iowa, days before his 11th birthday vanished from a trailer park there.
###DOCS: 1 of 3 This undated photo provided by the Iowa Department of Public Safety shows Xavior Harrelson. Harrelson, who vanished from a rural Iowa trailer park in Montezuma, Iowa, days before his 11th birthday, is still missing a week later, as state and federal investigators continue to look into what happened to him. (Iowa Department of Public Safety via AP)1 of 3 This undated photo provided by the Iowa Department of Public Safety shows Xavior Harrelson. Harrelson, who vanished from a rural Iowa trailer park in Montezuma, Iowa, days before his 11th birthday, is still missing a week later, as state and federal investigators continue to look into what happened to him. (Iowa Department of Public Safety via AP)IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) A boy who vanished from a rural Iowa trailer park days before his 11th birthday is still missing a week later, as state and federal investigators continued Thursday to look into what happened to him. Detectives are considering several possibilities in the disappearance of Xavior Harrelson, including that he was abducted, that he suffered some kind of accident or that he ran away, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation assistant director Mitch Mortvedt said. Every moment that goes by, its obviously more and more suspicious, and concerning, he said. Its so, so sad. Its heart-wrenching.Police are confident that they have searched and cleared the areas where the boy could have gone on his own, including a large nearby county park with woods and a lake, Mortvedt said. They have asked homeowners or businesses with surveillance footage from the day he disappeared to come forward, along with any tips or information that might be of assistance. ADVERTISEMENTThe FBI said earlier this week that it has joined the investigation and offered every resource available to state and county departments leading the case. Harrelson lived with his mother in the Spruce Village trailer park in Montezuma, Iowa, a town of 1,300 people that is 70 miles east of Des Moines. He disappeared after leaving home around 11 a.m. on May 27. A friends mother later called authorities to report the boy missing after speaking with Xaviors worried mother. The disappearance came during closing arguments of a murder trial of the farmhand charged with killing 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts, who vanished about 15 miles away in the same county in 2018 while out for a run in her hometown of Brooklyn. Several Poweshiek County officers who were at the trial left before last weeks guilty verdict to go look for Xavior, Mortvedt said, and have since employed similar search techniques as they did in searching for Tibbetts. In that case, police used surveillance video to develop a suspect, who eventually showed investigators where to find Tibbetts body in a cornfield a month after her disappearance. Among those helping blanket the area with missing person buttons and flyers featuring Xaviors face has been Mollies Movement, an organization that does community service in Tibbetts name and pledged to move mountains to find him. Xavior completed his fourth grade year at Montezuma Elementary School on May 21 and was off for summer break. He was known for riding his bike around the trailer park. Xavior is a happy kid who gets along well with his peers and wants to please his teachers, said one of his teachers, Marie Boulton. Hes always willing to help you out, engage in a conversation, and offers a smile to everyone he sees.His 11th birthday arrived on Sunday, as hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials fanned out to search the nearby Diamond Lake County Park and other areas for any sign of him. Hundreds attended a vigil for him outside the county courthouse Monday, praying for his safe return. Mortvedt said that Xaviors family, including his mother and his father who lives in another Iowa city, have been cooperative. He said police do not have any suspects or persons of interest. | 0 |
###CLAIM: after experiments with electroshock therapy on rabbits, it was discovered that giving them histamine doses could help pole and schizophrenic patients.
###DOCS: On the morning of July 5, 1975, a deeply troubled Robert Mortimer Sackler somehow made his way from his apartment on East 64th Street to his mothers home on East 86th Street. Bobby, as he was known to his family, had just turned 24 years old and was one of the heirs to the Sackler drug empire, a private, family-run business that was then on its way to becoming a multibillion dollar concern with its focus on developing and marketing powerful painkillers. His father, Mortimer, a medical doctor from Brooklyn, had bought the small Manhattan company known for its laxatives and ear wax-remover in 1952. Mortimers younger brother Raymond and eldest brother Arthur also held an interest in the firm that would become known as the drug giant Purdue Pharma. Bobby grew up with older sisters Kathe and Ilene at a sprawling home in Great Neck, Long Island, but moved with his mother to the Upper East Side when he was 15 and his parents divorced. But long before the split from his wife, Mortimer was already establishing a pattern as an absentee dad, preferring to spend much of his time poolside in the South of France, playing tennis and sipping cocktails. He had started an affair with a much younger woman while his wife Muriel raised their children on Long Island. 11 East 86th Street where Bobby Sackler committed suicide in 1975. J.C.RiceBy the time he was in his early 20s, Bobby had already been in and out of psychiatric facilities, and was a full-blown drug addict, using heroin and PCP or angel dust on a daily basis, according to Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, by Patrick Radden Keefe. He was a little cuckoo, said Ceferino Perez, a longtime doorman in the white-glove postwar building on 11 East 86th Street where Muriel lived in a two-bedroom on the ninth floor. He was the kind of guy that nobody was going to hire.Unemployed, Bobby lived alone with his pet cats in a one-bedroom on East 64th Street in a luxury building owned by his father. When he was away for frequent stays at rehab facilities, a housekeeper that Muriel employed for three decades took care of his cats, according to Radden Keefe. He was crazy, said a family friend, describing how Bobby had once been found wandering nude in Central Park. Totally out of control.When he arrived in the lobby of his mothers building on that humid Saturday morning, Bobby fought with the elevator operator, according to Radden Keefe. He barged into his mothers apartment where he could be heard arguing and demanding money. Moments later, he broke a window and plunged to his death. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler DynastyBobby Sacklers tragic story has been buried for more than 40 years. There are no accounts of his suicide in newspapers and no public photographs of the young heir. His drug-addled life was an inconvenient truth and a huge embarrassment for a family who sold drugs. The Sacklers were forging an empire built on highly-addictive pain killers and wanted to be known for their generous philanthropy to the arts and to universities around the world, writes Radden Keefe, who managed to track down some of the witnesses to the 1975 suicide and tells Bobbys story for the first time in his book, which will be released April 13. The Sacklers came under fire two years ago for their role in the opioid crisis, which has killed more than 450,000 people in the US alone. Purdue Pharma began marketing the powerful painkiller OxyContin in 1996, misleading the public about the dangers of the highly addictive narcotic, according to court papers. Last year the company pled guilty to criminal charges related to its marketing of OxyContin and the family agreed to pay $225 million in civil fines. Purdue Pharma faced penalties of $8.3 billion to settle some of the myriad lawsuits against them, although its unlikely to pay anywhere near that amount since the company filed for bankruptcy protection. Since the revelation of the OxyContin scourge, museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Louvre in Paris, the Tate Modern and the National Portrait Gallery in London, have distanced themselves from the Sackler dynasty, whose philanthropy and position in high society was being carefully molded in the 1950s and 1960s while Bobby was struggling with his issues. Raymond Sackler and his wife Beverly Sackler on Aug. 27, 2004. Hollandse-Hoogte/ZumaYet the three Brooklyn-born brothers who founded the Sackler empire were in a perfect position to help Bobby when he was in the throes of his illness. From the time they were children, the brothers were encouraged by their father, Isaac Sackler, a Jewish immigrant grocer, to become doctors. Arthur Sackler led the way, graduating from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and financing his studies at New York University by working for a drug-marketing company that helped launch tranquilizers such as Librium and Valium. Arthur encouraged his younger brothers Mortimer and Raymond to follow in his footsteps and go to medical school and even brought them in to the infamous Creedmoor State Hospital in Queens, a psychiatric facility, where he began a residency in psychiatry in 1944. At the time, the hospital was described as a six thousand bed jail where patients were regularly subjected to brutal electroshock treatments and lobotomies. The Sackler Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Alamy Stock PhotoAmong them, the brothers conducted the [electroshock] procedure thousands of times, an experience they came to find demoralizing, writes Radden Keefe. The brothers decided to work on alternative methods to help patients, and after experimenting with electroshock therapy on a rabbit, discovered that they could help bi-polar and schizophrenic patients by giving them doses of histamine. The drug treatments were so successful that doctors at Creedmoor were able to move away from the more invasive procedures of the past. Guided by Arthur, who had become wealthy through drug marketing and running scientific journals, the brothers took over tiny Purdue Frederick in the early 1950s. By 1983, the Sacklers moved the company, now named Purdue Pharma and producing an arthritis medication, to Norwalk, Conn. It expanded again and moved its corporate headquarters in Stamford in 2001. Arthur Sackler Smithsonian's Freer and SacklerAs the three brothers amassed their fortunes, they began devoting time to their philanthropy. Arthur, who had started collecting art while still at NYU, was instrumental in helping the Metropolitan Museum obtain the Temple of Dendur from Egypt in 1967 by offering, along with his brothers, to finance the $3.5 million construction of a special wing of the museum to house the circa-15 B.C. sandstone structures. Arthur had developed a close relationship to Met directors over the years, and even managed to secure a private enclave at the museum where he stored some of his vast collection of Chinese antiquities. The plans for construction on the Sackler wing at the Met would begin around the same time that Mortimer turned 50 and was launching what he called his new life, which coincided with the downward spiral of his first-born son, who lived mostly with his mother in New York City although he would sometimes travel to France to vacation with his father. The Cote DAzur this year is not as mobbed, wrote Mortimer to a friend in the summer of 1966. There has been, as usual, a change in the places that are in and those not in. There has been a new crop of bikini girls, and the leftovers of the last few crops.A pharmacist holds a bottle OxyContin made by Purdue Pharma at a pharmacy in Provo, Utah on May 9, 2019. REUTERSAmong the new crop was Gertraud Geri Wimmer, a statuesque Austrian who was 20 years old, the same age as his eldest daughter Ilene. After his divorce from Muriel, Mortimer married Wimmer in 1969. He renounced his US citizenship, for tax reasons, and the couple lived among homes in Paris, New York, the Swiss Alps and a sprawling seaside villa in the Cap dAntibes. The couple had two children Samantha and Mortimer David before divorcing a decade later. In 1980, Mortimer married his third wife, Theresa Rowling, an English Catholic school teacher who was 31 years old. Mortimer was then 64, but went on to have three more children Marissa, Sophie and Michael with Theresa. Both Mortimer and Theresa would later be recognized by the Queen for their philanthropy in England. Kathe Sackler, former Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of Purdue Pharma, is sworn in to testify by video link during an entirely virtual hearing of the U.S. House Oversight Committee on The Role of Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family in the Opioid Epidemic, on Dec. 17, 2020. REUTERSMortimer died in 2010, after making billions on OxyContin but well before the onslaught of lawsuits and probes that would leave the Sacklers reputation in tatters around the world. In the end, it was his widow Theresa and daughters Kathe and Ilene, along with five other members of the Sackler clan who served on the Purdue Pharma board, who were forced into a reckoning of the companys decision to market a drug they knew to be highly addictive. Kathe was herself a medical doctor, although she never practiced medicine. According to internal family emails included in court filings, Kathe, now 72, took credit for the familys decision to introduce OxyContin. Kathe and Ilene probably understood the dangers of addiction better than any surviving members of the Sackler clan after the terrible death of their brother Bobby. During a 2019 deposition in a New York City boardroom, Kathe seemed to recall that faraway day in July 1975 when she made what might have seemed an offhand remark about the heroin crisis of the 1970s: I have friends. Relatives I mean. I know people, individual people who have suffered. It touches everyones life. Its horrible.Bobbys death was certainly horrible. He died instantly upon hitting the pavement. Perez, the doorman, heard the sound of breaking glass. Then a much louder, closer sound as something heavy landed on the sidewalk. The impact was so intense that it sounded like a car crash, writes Radden Keefe. But when Perez looked over, he saw that there was a body on the sidewalk. It was Bobby Sackler. He had fallen nine stories. His head had cracked open on the pavement.A distraught Muriel Sackler called down to the front desk. My son jumped out the window, she said. He broke the window with a chair. Do you think hes dead?A shocked Perez confirmed that Bobby was indeed dead. Mortimers New York family was distraught by Bobbys death. But their grief seemed to turn quickly to embarrassment. The tiny funeral announcement in the New York Times on July 9 said only that he had died suddenly in the 24th year of life. A service was held at the Riverside Chapel with donations suggested for a performance arts space on 11th Street in Manhattan. While Mortimer was said to be broken up about his sons death, he did almost nothing to preserve his memory. The family eventually established the Robert Sackler scholarship at Tel Aviv University but there was never any explanation with this endowment of who Robert Sackler had been in life, writes Radden Keefe. It was a strange paradox: the Sackler family had put their name everywhere. But when a member of the family died young, they did not commemorate him in any public fashion.The Tel Aviv University Sackler Faculty of Medicine, where the Sacklers have established a scholarship for Bobby. Alamy Stock PhotoThe Sackler brothers who had once prided themselves on pioneering health care for psychiatric patients like Bobby, had simply erased one of their own from history. | 0 |
###CLAIM: at 1490 hudson ave. , police spokesman frank umbrino said department officers responded to a parking lot outside a walmart supercenter after shots rang out in the crowd around 12:50 a. m. and four people were driven to rochester general and hospital in separate vehicles.
###DOCS: One person was killed and three others, including a 15-year-old girl, were injured when shots rang out after midnight Monday in a crowded Walmart parking lot in upstate New York that police say was crowded with hundreds of people. Rochester Police Capt. Frank Umbrino said officers from his department responded to the parking lot outside the Walmart SuperCenter located at 1490 Hudson Ave. after shots rang out in a crowd around 12:50 a.m. Four people were driven to Rochester General Hospital in separate vehicles. An 18-year-old man was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital. His death marked the 35th homicide in Rochester this year and the 12th in June, according to the Democrat & Chronicle. A 43-year-old man suffered serious injuries, Umbrino said. And two others, a 23-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl, both suffered non-life-threatening injuries. "It's terrible," Umbrino told reporters following another shooting in the area, according to WHAM. "It's another tragedy that we're facing. Unfortunately we've had way too many of them...At what point in a child's life do they learn that it's OK to shoot somebody or to harm somebody?" BOSTON-AREA MAN PLOWS STOLEN TRUCK INTO HOUSE, GUNS DOWN TWO PEOPLE BEFORE BEING SHOT DEAD BY POLICEUmbrino said several hundred people and vehicles were in the parking lot at the time a fight broke out. About 20 shots rang out from multiple weapons, WHEC reported. Its unclear whether the fight was related to the shooting or if the gunfire came from another area in the crowd. "There was at least one fight that broke out," Umbrino said. "Simultaneous to that fight breaking out, there were multiple gunshots fired from multiple different weapons. It's unknown if those gunshots were the result of the initial fight or if there was another altercation." The Walmart store was closed at the time of the shooting. The incident remains under investigation. No arrests were immediately made, and anyone with information or cel phone video of the incident is asked to call 911, the Major Crimes Unit at (585) 428-7157, Crime Stoppers at (585) 423-9300, or email [email protected]. Umbrino said it was too early to release information about potential suspects at this time. He also addressed parents after the shooting amid an uptick in violence. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP"Know where your kids are. Their life may depend on it. Be a parent, be a role model, set a good example," he said. "We have to teach these children that this behavior isn't okay and wherever they're seeing this behavior, that's where the root cause of all this violence that we're having is. Where are they learning this behavior is okay? Because it's not." The most recent shooting comes days after Interim Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan announced that she was working with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Buffalo on ways to combat rising gun violence. She said her goal was to ensure those arrested for violent, gun-related incidents remain in jail. One man is dead and three others, including a 15-year-old, were injured after multiple gunshots rang outside a Walmart store in Rochester, New York, police said. The incident occurred at about 12:50 a.m. on Monday outside of the store. Large crowds of people were gathered in the front parking lot. A fight ensued, and multiple weapons fired about 20 shots, authorities said. Four victims were taken in private vehicles to a nearby medical facility where one of them, identified as an 18-year-old man, died from his injuries. A second man, 43, was being treated for critical injuries. A 23-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl were also shot but are expected to survive. UNIONS AND HOSPITALS HEADED FOR SHOWDOWN OVER VACCINE MANDATESHudson Ave between Ridge Rd & the 104 on ramp is closed as officers investigate. Shooting happened just before 1 a.m. Police say at the time several hundred people were on scene, a fight broke out and around 20 shots were fired from multiple weapons. @news10nbc pic.twitter.com/wg06uoiGLk Raven Tiara Brown (@WHEC_RBrown) June 28, 2021The Rochester Police Department is investigating whether there is a connection between the shooting and the fight. A witness said he heard multiple shots and saw people gathered in the parking lot with ATVs. It is not immediately clear why large groups were congregating outside the closed Walmart store. "It's terrible," Capt. Frank Umbrino said during a briefing early Monday morning. Umbrino said it was too early to release information regarding suspects but gave a message to local parents, noting the 15-year-old who was hurt and the 18-year-old who died. "Know where your kids are. Their life may depend on it. Be a parent. Be a role model. Set a good example," Umbrino said. "We have to teach these children that this behavior isn't OK, and wherever they're seeing this behavior, that's where the root cause of all this violence that we're having is. Where are they learning this behavior is OK? Because it's not." Monday's shooting comes days after interim chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan said on June 24 that she has been coordinating with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Buffalo to find ways to prosecute acts of violence involving guns in federal court. "The goal here for me is simple," Herriott-Sullivan said during a news conference Thursday, "that when people are arrested for violent gun-type incidents, I want them to stay in jail." CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINERThe Washington Examiner contacted the Rochester Police Department but did not immediately receive a response. | 2 |
###CLAIM: if we have to choose between having more people come here and reducing that number in the next three months, making it less likely to be locked, it 's a very difficult choice, '' said andrews.
###DOCS: Daniel Andrews has suggested that the cap on international arrivals be halved for the next three months to reduce the risk of further lockdowns and give the Australian government more time to increase vaccination rates. The Victorian premier said further reducing the travel cap was not a difficult decision when compared with the pain and hardship that would be caused by extended lockdowns. In his first radio interview after a four-month absence following a broken back, Andrews told the ABCs Virginia Trioli that he had raised the issue at the national cabinet meeting on Monday night, and that the merits of a temporary reduction in arrival numbers would be debated at the next meeting. If we have to make a choice between more people coming here or reducing those numbers for the next three months, which will make lockdowns less likely I dont think thats a very difficult choice to make, Andrews said. The maths of that, the logic of that the pain ratio, a lockdown of a whole city will hurt many more people, many much more profoundly than saying, OK, were going to halve the number of people who can come home for a three-month period.Its not an easy ... no one will enjoy it. But I dont want more lockdowns, I want to do everything we can to avoid that.The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, also pushed for a discussion about hotel quarantine. Its based on the argument that the virus, and particularly the highly infectious Delta variant, is spreading out of hotel quarantine. A Delta variant cluster in West Melbourne last month was linked back to a traveller who stayed in the Holiday Inn health hotel in Melbournes city centre, although authorities are still not clear how it got out. The Delta outbreak in Sydney, which has spread to Brisbane, Darwin and Perth, has been linked to a driver who ferried flight crews to and from the airport, but who was not vaccinated and did not wear a mask. Andrews told Trioli that a reduction in international arrivals should be in place until a critical mass of Australians had been vaccinated. Less than 5% of the population is now fully vaccinated. He said any reduction in the travel cap wouldnt be forever, it would be until we got a critical mass of Victorians and Australians, through the commonwealth governments vaccine program, and we got to whatever the magic number would be, 70 or 80%. And then we could look at it again, he said. But you compare a lockdown of a whole city or whole state, and the pain of that versus halving or reducing by 75% or 80%, whatever the number is the number of people who are coming back through hotel quarantine. In my judgment, theres no comparison.Australias health experts have not said definitively what percentage of the population would count as a critical mass, or even when that would be possible, given supply limitations on the Pfizer vaccine and health advice recommending against administering any more first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to people under the age of 60. Its also unclear whether the decision of national cabinet on Monday to allow people under the age of 40 to get the AstraZeneca shot from their general practitioner, after a discussion of the risks, will markedly increase vaccine uptake. Andrews said he thought the vast majority of Melburnians and Victorians were more concerned with the prospect of further lockdowns than with reducing the travel cap. If its a choice for me between less people coming back and yes there would be pain with that or locking the whole place down, thats not a difficult decision, he said. Premiers have demanded the Morrison government slow the pace of arrivals from overseas, and have queried a decision to allow people under 40 to have AstraZeneca jabs, as the emergence of the highly infectious Delta variant triggered lockdowns in Sydney, parts of Queensland, Perth and the Northern Territory. After flagging a review of Australias stretched hotel quarantine system during Monday nights national cabinet meeting, Daniel Andrews and Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday publicly urged the Morrison government to lower the cap on international arrivals for the next three months. The premiers said restrictions on arrivals would likely prevent further lockdowns while the national Covid vaccination rollout gathers pace. Palaszczuk and the Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, also queried the signal from Scott Morrison on Monday night after an emergency national cabinet meeting that people under 40 could now have access to AstraZeneca jabs through GPs indemnified by the commonwealth. The Queensland premier who raised concerns about giving AstraZeneca to people under 60 during a national cabinet discussion in April told reporters on Tuesday governments should follow advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (Atagi). Queenslands chief health officer, Jeannette Young, said the clinical advice from Atagi is that people under the age of 60 should preferentially get Pfizer. Foley said on Tuesday opening eligibility for AstraZeneca jabs to people under 40 was not a decision of national cabinet. If it means more people can get access to more vaccines thats a good thing but what we need to do is just clarify precisely what it is that the prime minister has announced and make sure that we put it into operation as quickly and as seamlessly as we can both in our GP clinics and our state vaccination clinics, Foley said. The Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, told reporters Monday nights shift was not a national cabinet decision, it was a decision of the Morrison government. The commonwealth makes these decisions, and we were advised [on Monday night], McGowan said. With the number of Covid infections continuing to rise in several states, the Queensland government on Tuesday imposed a snap lockdown covering south-east Queensland, Townsville, Palm Island and Magnetic Island. Sydney remains locked down after recording 19 new locally acquired coronavirus cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday night. Darwin and the surrounding areas have been put into lockdown until 1pm on Friday, with concerns Covid could enter remote Indigenous communities where vaccination rates are low. In Western Australia, the Perth and Peel regions are also in lockdown. With Australia now battling a significant third wave of the pandemic, state premiers are increasingly inclined to air their frustrations about the slow pace of the national vaccination rollout publicly. The New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian, who has made it very clear the states are not in control of the rollout, said on Tuesday until at least 80% of our adult population is vaccinated, we cant have a conversation about what Covid normal looks like. NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPPalaszczuk said: We have a large proportion of our state unvaccinated. The federal government is in charge of supply of that vaccination and we know that its all coming in the last quarter [of 2021]. Until that time, there is a real risk, and until that time that the large proportion of the Queensland public are vaccinated, we should massively reduce the number of returning Australians, she said. After months of arguing states should not rush to close their borders to manage Covid outbreaks, the Morrison government recently imposed a controversial travel ban on people returning from Covid-ravaged India, using biosecurity regulations to criminalise the return to Australia. Responding to calls from the two premiers to slow the pace of international arrivals to prevent further lockdowns while Australians were vaccinated, the federal health minister Greg Hunt told reporters we have arguably the strongest, or one of the strongest systems in the world. Hunt said Australia had an obligation to bring people home, as so many want to do, and rightly so. As well as ensuring Australians werent locked out of the country during the international border closure, the government also had to make sure that we have the critical medical or engineering or other workers that are uniquely qualified for some circumstances. Asked about the public pushback from Queensland about broadening eligibility of the AstraZeneca jabs to people under 40, Hunt told reporters there was no change to the Atagi advice. Weve set out the medical advice, but we recognise that there are individuals who are seeking, through the informed consent process, to have ... access [to AstraZeneca vaccinations]. There is no change to the medical advice, Hunt said. Federal health minister Greg Hunt speaks to the media on Tuesday, saying there is no change to the medical advice on AstraZeneca. Photograph: James Ross/AAPHunt was asked on Tuesday why the Morrison government which regularly emphasises the importance of following expert health advice was now suggesting Australians could explore alternatives to the Atagi recommendation. The health minister was also asked whether Monday nights shift reflected a shortage of Pfizer doses. Hunt said: The medical advice has not changed. Theres simply a recognition that the access for those who wish to make an informed consent decision can be broadened, consistent with the supply, he said. | 2 |
###CLAIM: started his career as research director at britain 's granada television, where the idea for the first `` up '' documentary was born.
###DOCS: Jan 8 (Reuters) - British filmmaker Michael Apted, the man behind the "Up" documentaries that chronicled the lives of a group of British children for more than 50 years, has died at the age of 79, his U.S. agent said on Friday. Apted also directed Hollywood movies ranging from the 1999 James Bond blockbuster "The World is Not Enough" to the Loretta Lynn country singer biography "Coal Miner's Daughter" and dozens of TV shows, including episodes of British soap "Coronation Street" in the 1967. Apted died on Thursday at his Los Angeles home, Roy Ashton, his agent in the United States, said. Details of his death were not available. Apted's most notable project was the "Up" series. It began in 1964 as a television documentary about the hopes and dreams of 14 7 year-old children from diverse backgrounds who Apted revisited every seven years to see how their lives had changed. The series, which won multiple awards over the years, was inspired by the saying "Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man." The most recent, "63 Up," was released in 2019. The Academy of Motion Pictures said on Friday that Apted "will always be remembered for the groundbreaking documentary "Up" series. Apted was born in Britain, attended Cambridge University and started his career as a researcher at Britain's Granada Television, where the idea for the first "Up" documentary was born. In later life, he moved to Los Angeles and directed dozens of movies, including "Gorillas in the Mist," thriller "Gorky Park," "Thunder Heart" and "Enigma." He served as president of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) from 2003-2009. DGA president Thomas Schlamme on Friday called him a friend and a "fearless visionary as a director." Reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by Grant McCoolOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | 0 |
###CLAIM: other features include restrictions on direct messages, live stream hosting for accounts 16 and over and enabling parents and caretakers to enable tiktok accounts to be set on guard with family and pairing features.
###DOCS: TikTok is introducing a raft of updates to improve the privacy and safeguarding of children on the platform. Users under the age of 16 will now have their accounts set to private by default, which means the only people who can view their content are approved followers. Strangers will also be prevented from commenting on videos made by under-16s, meaning minors will have just two options - allowing comments from friends only, or turning of comments entirely. Children's charity NSPCC has praised the package of updates, which are designed to protect young and vulnerable users on the app. The changes will be enforced today to all of TikTok's users around the world. Scroll down for videoUsers under the age of 16 have their accounts set to private by default and this setting means the only people who can view their content are pre-approved followers (stock)In further updates, TikTok said it was making changes to the 'duet' and 'stitch' function on the app for under-16s. These TikTok features allow users to take videos which are already on the site and incorporate them into their own content. Stitch weaves a five-second clip into the start of a new video and duet plays both the old and new video side-by-side. But as part of the new package of changes, the wider TikTok community will be unable to duet or stitch videos from under-16s. Users aged 16 and 17 will also see a change to their stitch and duet functions, as the default setting will be changed from everyone to just friends. TikTok is also removing the ability for users to download the videos of under-16s. Alexandra Evans, TikTok's head of child safety in Europe, said the changes were 'groundbreaking'. 'They build on previous changes we've made to promote minor safety, including restricting direct messaging and hosting live streams to accounts 16 and over and enabling parents and caregivers to set guardrails for their teen's TikTok account through our Family Pairing feature,' she said. 'We know there is no finish line when it comes to minor safety, and that is why we are continuously evolving our policies and investing in our technology and human moderation teams so that TikTok remains a safe place for all our users to express their creativity.' The video app has become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly among younger mobile users, but TikTok has come under pressure to improve its security settings and processes around young people. The comments section of videos made by under-16s is also receiving a privacy-focused update which will prevent strangers from commenting, with the only available options being allowing comments from friends, or from no one (stock)TikTok received a $5.7 million fine from US authorities in 2019 to settle charges that it illegally collected personal information from children. The Federal Trade Commission said at the time the penalty by the social network was the largest ever in a children's privacy investigation. TikTok's updates also come ahead of the anticipated introduction of Online Harms legislation, which is expected to be brought before Parliament this year. This will place greater emphasis on social media firms to comply with a duty of care to their users. Online safety groups have praised the social media site for its actions. Andy Burrows, head of child safety online policy at the NSPCC, said: 'This is a bold package of measures by TikTok and a hugely welcome step that will reduce opportunities for groomers to contact children. 'It comes as abusers are taking advantage of the pandemic to target children spending more time online and we urge other platforms to be similarly proactive rather than wait for regulation to come into effect. 'The full benefits of these changes will be felt when age assurance measures are put in place in September when the Age Appropriate Design Code comes into force.' | 0 |
###CLAIM: in 1996, then senator joe biden gushed that his support for a sharp cut in cash payments to single mothers would soon be a vote for him.
###DOCS: W HAT A DIFFERENCE 25 years can make. In 1996, then-Senator Joe Biden was gushing about the vote he would soon cast in support of sharp reductions in cash payments for single mothers. The culture of welfare must be replaced with the culture of work, he said on the floor of the Senate. The culture of dependence must be replaced with the culture of self-sufficiency and personal responsibility.Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android Your browser does not support the element. Listen to this story Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitask OKThese days, President Joe Biden is proposing an ambitious reweaving of the American safety-net, which the White House estimates will cost $1.8trn. The American Families Plan contains components of a European welfare state that have long been missing in the country: a child allowance, paid family leave, universal pre-school, subsidised child care and free community college. It contains no reference to work requirements. Now that Mr Biden is president, his analysis of the problem has changed. Theres millions of women out of work today not because theyre not qualified for the jobs they have, but they cant take care of their children and do their job, he has said. The presidents opinions have followed those of his party: where the party goes, the man follows. So how did Democrats go from Clintonismwhich implicitly conceded the Reaganite idea that too much government assistance is a very bad thingto its present-day relish for deficit-financed expansions of the safety-net? Many factors are at work. They include general worries about inequality; a changed academic consensus among economists; a leftward shift reflected in the Democratic presidential primaries; the Republican Partys abandonment of fiscal responsibility under Donald Trump; and the recent spending bonanza prompted by covid-19. Data for Progress, a polling outfit, finds that the vast majority of Democratic voters endorse deficit spending on universal pre-school, clean-energy research, a health-insurance public option and a child allowance. More surprising is their finding that majorities of Republican voters support the same suite of policies (except for health insurance, on which they are exactly split). However it happened, the break in philosophy, epitomised in the presidents own transformation, is here. According to this approach, reducing poverty is no longer just about aid targeted at the poor, which remains only tepidly popular. Poverty reduction is a side-benefit of programmes that aim to help middle-class Americans as well. This would bring America more in line with the rest of the developed world. Average government spending on benefits such as child allowances, family leave and early education is 2.1% of GDP in the OECD club of mostly rich countries. In America, it is just 0.6%. The recommendations of the Biden plan could do a lot of good for American families, particularly if its excesses were curtailed. Start with the most important bits. At present, one in six American children live in poverty by the governments own measure. International comparisons, using a measure called relative poverty, suggest that the American rate is among the highest in the rich world. It is caused by flimsy support for the youngest (the elderly, meanwhile, receive Social Security and Medicare). A generous child allowance is the main anti-poverty tool in most rich countriesand one America lacks. One such scheme was created this year as part of the covid-19 relief bill that the president signed in March. It will pay most families $3,000 per year per child ($3,600 for young children) and is expected to halve the poverty rate soon after its payments begin in July. A simultaneous boost to the earned-income tax credit, which tops up the wages of low-paid workers, would also reduce poverty among childless adults (while reducing disincentives to work). Under the terms of the law, the child-allowance payments will last for only one year. The presidents plan proposes to extend these payments until 2025. Some Democrats think they should simply be made permanent rather than risking difficult concessions in a future when Republicans hold one chamber of Congress or the White House. Thats the real downside risk: the possibility that we could end up having to agree to a bunch of regressive tax policies in order to extend what is a very progressive and popular tax policy, says Michael Bennet, a Democratic senator from Colorado who has championed proposals of this sort since 2017. If the payments lapsed, child-poverty rates would probably shoot up again. The administrations decision to set an expiry date for the most important portion of its families package illustrates a quirk of Bidenism. The president wants to pursue a progressive wish-list while also nodding towards fiscal moderation. His team is already stretching the maths to suggest that its plans in this area could all be paid for by taxes on corporations and the wealthy. Recent number-crunching by the Penn Wharton Budget Model thinks the administration would still be several hundred billion dollars short. Making the child-allowance permanent would have been even harder to match with tax increases, particularly if they applied only to the rich. The families plan resembles policy platforms of Mr Bidens Democratic challengers, cobbled together and funded at a fraction of their originally proposed cost. Among this set of rival ideas are Mr Bennets child-benefits plan, Kirsten Gillibrands paid family-leave proposal and Elizabeth Warrens massive subsidies for child-care centres. Republicans claim that all this is evidence of a Trojan-horse presidency of creeping socialism. But it is worth noting that Mr Bidens proposed spending, grand as it seems, is approximately one-tenth of that laid out by Ms Warren in her primary campaign. A half-strength cocktail can still induce a buzz. In pretty much every respect, it really is just catching us up to what our peer countries have done for quite some time. On paid family leave, that dates back to Bismarck in Germany, says Jane Waldfogel, an influential scholar on child wellbeing at Columbia University. Only America and Papua New Guinea lack a paid maternity-leave programme, notes Ms Waldfogel. Mr Biden aims to rectify that by setting up a federal scheme that would guarantee 12 weeks of leave. The federal compensation for time taken off would cost $225bn over the coming decade. States that have implemented paid family leave on their own initiative, like California, suggest that what works in the rest of the developed world would take well in America, too. Infant health, maternal health and rates of breastfeeding all increase with the implementation of such a programme, says Maya Rossin-Slater, an economist at Stanford University. Ms Rossin-Slaters own studies of the Californian example have shown a positive effect on new mothers taking up jobs, though other studies have found a reduction in employment. I like to say that paid family leave is not a silver bullet for solving gender-equity issues, Ms Rossin-Slater points out. A kinder kindergartenA similar amount, about $200bn, is proposed to create universal pre-school for children aged three and four. This was a policy goal of Democrats even before Barack Obama pitched it, unsuccessfully, in his second term (at a more modest cost of $75bn). Advocates often cite the impressive long-run results from two experiments conducted 50 years ago, the Perry Preschool Project and the Abecedarian Early Intervention Project, which brought remarkable improvements to education levels, employment and family lives. The question, however, is whether high-quality pre-school can be scaled up. States such as Oklahoma, which implemented universal pre-school programmes decades ago, provide more up-to-date evidence. These, too, register positive effects on middle-school performance years later. Poorer pupils benefit the most from these programmes, scholars agree, but the results depend on the quality of the schooling. Other components are shakier. Take the generous subsidies proposed for child-care centres, under which families in rich states could receive tens of thousands of dollars in federal payments. According to the proposal, the cost of care at such centres would be capped at 7% of household income, for families making as much as 150% of the median household income in a given state. The paradox of child care in America is that it is ruinously expensive, almost $15,000 for an infant looked after in a centre, while child-care workers make $12.24 per hour. Mr Biden thinks that this market failure can be rectified by an enormous infusion of cash. But it seems more likely that, if the federal government is paying for much of it, such child care would become even more expensive. Discussion of efficient spending may now be seen as gauche in Democratic circles, but the question of quality matters as well. Done poorly, child care can have long-run negative effects rather than positive ones. The province of Quebec implemented a heavily subsidised universal child-care programme. A review of the results by three economists found that children had worse behaviour and social skills as a result; their parents, though they worked more, were less caring and reported worse health. Reviewing the evidence 11 years later, the same trio found that the negative effects had persisted and that cohorts with increased child-care access had worse health, lower life satisfaction, and higher crime rates later in life. This ought not to be fatal to the aspiration of universal child care in America. A brief experiment with the idea during the second world war seemed to benefit children later, for instance. But it is a cautionary tale about the quality of public services that Democrats seem reluctant to grapple with. For all the expense of formal child care in America, only one in ten providers are considered high quality. A similar problem may confront Mr Bidens proposal to make community college free for two years. Generous subsidies and loan provision with little attention to quality resulted in the growth of shoddy for-profit colleges (remember Trump University?). The Obama administration spent years drafting regulations to rectify that problem. With a newly advertised $109bn pot of money, ensuring that students actually enroll in degree programmes that provide gainful employment will be all the more important. Mr Bidens approach is at least admirably restrained in comparison with the ideas coming from the partys left wing, which endorses a highly regressive programme of universal student-debt cancellation and heavy subsidies for four-year colleges favoured by the rich. If Mr Biden does manage to create a durable new welfare policy, one characterised more by its benefits for the middle class than by aggressive means-testing, he could create a better safety-net. Beyond the political challenge of actually getting it passed in Congress, however, lies the need to prove that the new approach is economically sound. If employment drops, opponents will fret, as Paul Ryan, a former Republican speaker of the House, once did, that the net has become a hammock that lulls able-bodied people into complacency and dependency. Already, Republicans are arguing that too-generous unemployment benefits are stalling the recovery. If inflation spikes, Mr Biden will be attacked for spending too much and overheating the economy. Meanwhile, progressives in his party will forever think he did not go far enough. Nonetheless, they may also step back and consider their luck. After half a century in Washington, the final role Mr Biden wants to play is as the author of the biggest experiment in social policy since the 1960s.For more coverage of Joe Bidens presidency, visit our dedicated hubA version of this article was published online on May 17th, 2021 There is really nothing the federal government gets its nose into that it does not make worse. The latest example is extending unemployment benefits, which incentivizes people not to work but rather just to sit in their basements collecting a government check. But you cannot fault Biden too much on this. Sitting in his basement and doing nothing won him the presidency. If you ask any business owners, they are frustrated that workers will not show up to work. The workers are sitting at home collecting a check which pays them more than working. For that check, all they have to do is vote for Democrats once or twice every election. Unfortunately for the economy, restaurants cant fully serve customers and untold numbers of small businesses are hurting. There is nothing noble about what the Congress did with this government handout in the form of checks for money they did not have, and which massively increased the deficit. It would be like someone stealing your credit card and buying you dinner, then expecting to be thanked. Companies now have to raise wages in order to get workers, and that cost is passed on to the consumer. Wendys, Subway and Burger King said they would have to increase wages to fight the work slowdown caused by government intervention and disincentives. Last year, under Trump, we paid tribute to frontline health care workers. This year under Biden we honor McDonalds employees who just show up to work. Under Biden, the only place in the USA that you can get gas for under two dollars is Taco Bell. When we perhaps needed it during the depths of the COVID outbreak, Pelosi, Schumer and the political hacks in the media support apparatus would not pass the legislation for fear it would help Trump. They delayed it to the point where Trump got a vaccine out with Operation Warp Speed and allowed the economy to get going again, but now the government incentive for workers to sit at home has stalled that recovery. Congress and government workers never needed to worry about being paid during the pandemic. Their work is so bad that no one notices when they dont show up. In fact, it is preferred. Their pay is protected under the Americans With No Abilities Act. Even with those self-checkout machines at Walmart, trying to find a worker to help you find your size of socks in their tube sock 12-pack is impossible. I went into Walmart last week all scruffy trying to buy some coffee, and they made me a greeter on the spot. The only effect of all these checks going out to layabouts in blue cities like Atlanta is that robbers have really upgraded their shoplifting and looting target areas to include Buckhead. I do not fault workers who sit at home being paid more than they would make at work. Economics are the underpinnings of all incentives and disincentives. According to The Cato Institute, 37% of workers currently make more unemployed than work.And the only folks who cannot work if they want to are home robbers and bank robbers. Everyone is at home, so burglars cant work. Bank robbers are the real victims of this pandemic. When they come into the bank, no one takes them seriously any more. In extra-stupid blue states like Massachusetts, a low-income worker previously earning $535 a week would have received $257 a week in pre-pandemic unemployment benefits. That same worker now makes 104% of his or her working salary, $557 a week, just sitting at home watching Judge Judy.The only people who are showing up to work are those allowed to call us on our cell phones to sell us car warranties. Even many of the national parks were closed and had a hard time reopening. It seems the bears were making more money sitting in their caves than coming out to work. In very short order, the Biden/Harris socialist agenda has us facing gas lines, inflation, citizens paid to sit at home, children held hostage by the teachers unions and civil unrest in big cities. The Capitol is surrounded with barbed wire barricades to keep protestors out. Is it just me, or is America growing disenchanted with this 3-month free trial of communism? Ron Hart, a libertarian syndicated op-ed humorist, worked at Goldman Sachs and is an award-winning author and TV/radio commentator. He can be reached at [email protected], or visit www.RonaldHart.com. | 2 |
###CLAIM: she revealed that the meal's preparation was also the meal's cooking, which makes a huge difference because you know exactly what the ingredients are in the food being prepared.
###DOCS: Last Saturday, Dame Jane Seymour flaunted her impressively fit 5ft3in figure in a post celebrating National Day of Encouragement, which is dedicated to uplifting people and making a positive impact. The British mother-of-four - who doesn't retouch any of her photos - easily defied her 69 years in a black sports bra and matching leggings while posing on the steps of her Malibu home garden. 'In case nobody has told you recently, I am proud of you!' Seymour wrote to her 602K Instagram/Facebook followers. Dedicated to uplifting people: Last Saturday, Dame Jane Seymour flaunted her impressively fit 5ft3in figure in a post celebrating National Day of Encouragement'We are collectively experiencing these difficult times but you are overcoming obstacles day by day. Share some encouragement with the people in your life and tag them below!' On Sunday, Jane (born Joyce Frankenberg) she shared a video of herself perching at the top of the waterfall flowing into her coy pond, and reminded her fans of the importance of self-care. 'From taking a relaxing bath to cooking your favorite meal, self-care means something different for everyone,' The Kominsky Method actress explained. 'I truly enjoy the comforting sounds of waves and running water. Take a moment to think of small things you can do to nurture your soul. What are some ways you practice self-care?' 'You are overcoming obstacles day by day!' The British mother-of-four - who doesn't retouch any of her photos - easily defied her 69 years in a black sports bra and matching leggings while posing on the steps of her Malibu home garden'I truly enjoy the comforting sounds of waves and running water!' On Sunday, Seymour shared a video of herself perching at the top of the waterfall flowing into her coy pond, and reminded her fans of the importance of self-careJane explained: 'From taking a relaxing bath to cooking your favorite meal, self-care means something different for everyone'Seymour exercises twice a week for 20 minutes by practicing Pilates, Gyrotonics, and something called The Perfect Workout. 'It's very, very slow weightlifting,' Jane described to Closer Weekly on February 16. 'I notice a huge difference when I do it. Each exercise you do, you do it to fatigue so your whole body starts shaking...I do my best, but I'm not trying to be younger than who I am. I'm just trying to be the best I can be at the age I'm at.' 'I notice a huge difference when I do it': The Kominsky Method actress exercises twice a week for 20 minutes by practicing Pilates, Gyrotonics, and something called The Perfect Workout (pictured May 17)'Mostly I eat chicken, a lot of vegetables': As for diet, Seymour believes in 'everything in moderation' which 'of course, is the hardest thing' (pictured August 22)As for diet, the two-time Golden Globe winner believes in 'everything in moderation' which 'of course, is the hardest thing.' 'Me telling myself I'm on a diet never works. Me saying, "Okay, I'm going to have a bite of this cake but I don't need the whole cake" - that's how it works,' Seymour stated. 'I don't eat too much starch, I try not to. Mostly I eat chicken, a lot of vegetables. We grow a lot of vegetables in the garden, organically.' Dodgeball with DeNiro and Walken! Jane will next play Fry's Electronics employee Diane in Tim Hill's long-delayed comedy The War with Grandpa, which will be released 'only in theaters' on October 9 in the US and October 16 in the UKJane has four adult children - daughter Katherine, 38; son Sean, 35; and twin sons John & Kristopher, 24 - from her past marriages to James Keach and David Flynn. The former Bond Girl will next play Fry's Electronics employee Diane in Tim Hill's long-delayed comedy The War with Grandpa, which will be released 'only in theaters' on October 9 in the US and October 16 in the UK. The funny family flick - filmed way back in 2017 - also features Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Uma Thurman, Rob Riggle, and Cheech Marin. She declared 2020 as her 'year of health', and has been flaunting her epic weight loss every since. And Friday was no different for Rebel Wilson, as she showed off her sensational physique in a pair of faux leather trousers. The 40-year-old actress slipped her slender frame into the skintight leggings for a cheeky mirror video, where she placed her hand on her hip and confidently danced for the camera. Looking good! On Friday, actress Rebel Wilson (pictured) showed off her epic 18kg weight loss on Instagram in a pair of slinky leather trousersShe teamed her slinky trousers with a gorgeous blouse, and showed off her freshly dyed blonde locks as she gazed at her own reflection. In the USA this week, Rebel opened up about her weight loss in discussion with actress Drew Barrymore. She explained: 'Drew, for the last few years I've been theme-ing my years. Speaking out: In the USA this week, Rebel opened up about her weight loss in discussion with actress Drew Barrymore'So I had the Year Of Fun, last year I had the Year Of Love and this year Im like, "Its going to be the Year Of Health," because I turned 40 this year in March and I never really focused on my health - which was probably obvious.' Rebel - who found love with Anheuser-Busch brewing heir Jacob Busch earlier this year - said she began 'emotional eating' due to the stress of becoming famous internationally, adding: 'I guess my way of dealing with it was just like eating donuts.' She added: 'So I lost Drew, I think its like 40 pounds this year so far and I want to lose a few more.' Blue beauty! Back in January, Rebel declared 2020 her 'year of health', and has so far lost at least 18kg (40lbs or 2.8 stone). Last month, she showed off her slimmed-down physique in a tight blue wrap dress on Instagram (left). Pictured right in May 2019New love: Weight loss is not the only change Rebel has undergone recently, as it was revealed last month that she's dating Anheuser-Busch brewing heir Jacob Busch (right)According to People magazine, her remarkable transformation is partially down to following the Mayr Method diet plan. 'It's an approach that eliminates food intolerances, reduces sugar, encourages eating whole foods slowly, boosts the immune system and reduces inflammation,' a source said. 'She exercises with a personal trainer up to six times a week, goes on walks and is trying to up her protein intake nutritionally.' Meanwhile, Rebel recently announced she would be starring alongside SAS Australia star Ant Middleton in a new show, titled Ant Middleton & Rebel Wilson: Straight Talking that's set to air in the UK early next year. | 2 |
###CLAIM: the chief executive provides recommendations on reinforcing this responsibility for company leaders.
###DOCS: Executives Recognize Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs as a strategic imperative in 2021. gettyChief financial officers and their teams have identified the creation of a more inclusive workplace as a priority for 2021 and beyond. But this challenge is different from others they have faced, and they are looking for guidance to make Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) a profitable investment for their organizations. I recently spoke with CB Bowman, a thought-leader in the field of DEI, who has helped dozens of organizations create more inclusive workplaces. Our conversation is below. Jack McCullough: CB, DEI is clearly an imperative for CFOs in todays climate. You have expertise in the area, so Id like to talk to you about a pragmatic approach to not only launching a DEI program, but making sure its successful in the long-term. CB Bowman: There is always excitement in launching a new program especially one that has as its foundation social injustice in the workplace. The question becomes how to sustain the excitement and commitment, especially if the excitement and commitment was driven by pressure and fear. We need to focus on creating change focused on a sense of belonging, trust, and our empathetic network. McCullough: If fear is the motivator, that usually subsides. How do leaders keep the momentum going? Bowman: How do you refresh and reset? The first thing that happens when fear sets in, we automatically go to solution. And the solution is fast-paced, not well thought out, and temporary. Its like putting a Band-aid on a cut, right? That is very much the wrong approach, and that usually comes from the top of the organization. Let me fix this fast so it will go away, it will heal, and then I can move on to my real job. That is absolutely the wrong approach to take in crisis mode. Crisis and fear are tied together as crisis provides fuel for fear. For each situation, a leader must understand how and why they are linked together for each situation they are trying to solve i.e., fear of Covid presents differently from race discrimination. The next critical stage is for leaders to create an environment of trust. If you dont have this trust circle there is no margin of error. If you have developed trust, and consistency in your messages, it will be easier for you to develop followers to champion your cause...creating an impactful DEI programWith this comes a layer of protection should a leader misstep on their way to create a solution. Some leaders want to skip developing trust assuming it is there already. But if an executive makes a mistake and employees dont feel that theres been a bonding or trust, thats the end of the relationship. Its cancel culture time and work done to find a solution is stalled or destroyed. You can create trust by starting with small things and being consistent. Dont try to eat the whole elephant with one bite, but instead start with manageable steps. McCullough: It sounds like some executives are almost too ambitious at the start. They want to solve all the worlds problems day one, which is counter-productive. CB Bowman emphasizes the importance of establishing trust throughout the company before implementing ... [+] a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion program. CB BowmanBowman: And if they start off ambitious for the wrong reason, thats even worse. If you are creating a DEI program just to say you have one, your team will see through it and it will result in increased damage. People dont have to say, I dont believe you, but it goes into their memory bank. So, thats the first part of starting a DEI program that will work. It must be for the correct reasons. The next part is getting the proper input in designing your strategy. I was coaching a CEO shortly after George Floyds murder, his employees felt that he and the company had not done enough to respond to the killing or to responding to the Black Lives Matter movement. And he said to me, One of the things Ive thought to do is to make the awards that we give every year to small businesses available to black owned businesses. That sounds like a good solution. McCullough: Yes, that sounds like a prudent first step. Bowman: It does. On the surface. But then I asked a few basic questions. Whats the application fee? How are you defining small businesses? Is it based on net revenue and if yes what was it? To his credit, he had thought of this. Then I asked, How many organizations that are led by people of color can afford the application fee and have a net revenue that high? The was absolute silence. If he had shared his unedited plan with his company to increase minority visibility for the award, he wouldnt have been able to follow through on his commitment, and his credibility would had been lost. McCullough: Should a C-level executive should seek out more junior employees? Bowman: Yes, people that you have developed a relationship with who you can trust with information you share, and who will share accurate, unbiased information when needed to other employees. That is powerful, as long as the Information unfiltered by their beliefs. They could be powerful allies. Allies can also serve as eyes and ears in the organization. What are they hearing is the upset in the organization? How is the leadership in the organization perceived? Leadership can also talk to all level of employees throughout the organization to find solutions. One of the things I am not in favor of is when an organization in a challenging situation due to external forces hires a management consulting firm at the onset. It is important to develop a strong bond with employees, one that moves towards a solution. A management consulting firm will not have the unique cultural experience that your employees have experienced. A management consulting firm might be able to present a schematic for obtaining data, but it is up to the organization to identify a solution. This will offer the employee a sense of pride and ownership leading to commitment for ongoing success. McCullough: Why not bring in a management consulting firm? They can be a source of unbiased advice. Bowman: Aside from the fact that they are not part of the culture of your organization. Their solutions can be canned with a different packaging. Whats good for company A is not necessarily good for company B. And whats good for company B may not be good for employees at all levels of the company. Theres an expression in Zambia that, when somebody greets you, translated in English it says, I see you. I see you, meaning, I see beyond your skin color, beyond your education... I see your heart in where youre going; I see your values in where youre going, I see you from the inside out. My company, WEE (Workplace Equity & Equality), sees you and your company and then creates a program based upon what they see, based upon your organizations unique cultural dynamics. The approach should touch the hearts of people, the empathic nerves, the values of people. Once you touch the hearts and values of people, your ability to sustain the program increases dramatically. McCullough: Right. If they think, this is real, they understand the benefits, they think its real. Bowman: Exactly. I believe that theres no problem that cant be solved, because youre listening to each other through your heart, right? The minute that stops and you go into shutdown mode, a blockage is created which can result in a permanent shutdown. McCullough: So, youve done the work, you think youve made progress... how do you know if youre ever successful? CFOs like to measure things. A successful DEI program will empower employees, increasing risk-taking and innovation. gettyBowman: I would generally say when youre successful, the productivity of your company increases measurably. I could also say that employees will have a sense of belonging and commitment. Its important before you start anything that you conduct an assessment that is designed to evaluate your current culture. And not just a survey that asks, How are you feeling about diversity in this company? Thats not going to tell you anything, nor would a question like, Do you think the company has a good DEI program?You have to go in through the side door to find your answers. You might ask a question like, Did you feel like you were able to contribute substantially to... XYZ project? Questions like this can help you to determine if theres a sense of belonging. And a sense of belonging is a strong part of the success of a DEI program. Even though you have measurable results, you have to be very careful about how you interpret the data. Big data can lead you down a rabbit hole. For example, to meet DEI requirements a company has hired a large number of diversity candidates. Now they make a statement such as We increased our hiring rate for people of color from twenty percent to sixty percent over the last four years, and we have 99% retention.Not so fast. Where are these positions? Are there any executives? The company increased the number of people of color they hired, but what are they contributing to the organization? Data can be a slippery slope. McCullough: Quality and quantity both matter, right? Bowman: Exactly. Then add retention, positions, responsibilities and such. The first question is, What level were they when they were hired? The next question is What level are they now? And are they major contributors? Additional questions might include how are you measuring contribution? Now youre starting to consider equity and equality. Do they feel a sense of belonging? Have they been heard? Have they been seen? McCullough: Understood. Now the last question I have... are there companies that my members of CFOs can turn to as role models for implementing and maintaining successful DEI programs? Bowman: Bank of America is the first one that comes to mind as a reference point. Apple and Costco both seem to be excellent as well. The main take-aways from my conversation with CB is that the entire organizationfrom CEO to entry levelshould be involved in DEI, and a bond of trust needs to be formed organization-wide. Once this is established, a successful DEI program can be transformative for employees and the entire organization. CB is chairing the WEE Collaboration, a virtual conference focused on helping organizations develop an outline for a successful DEI program. | 0 |
###CLAIM: the school board voted at the last minute to admit students through the same ranking lottery process used for other high schools in the coming years.
###DOCS: Comment on this story Comment Gift Article ShareIn the ongoing battle for racial justice, members of the San Francisco school board have cast themselves as chief warriors, acting with stunning speed to diversify the citys top high school and wading deep into a pool of racially sensitive matters. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Changing the admissions process for the elite Lowell High School eliminating grades and test scores and admitting students by a ranked-choice lottery is among the most contentious moves the school board has taken, but far from the only one. To some, it was a refreshing and overdue move to address long-standing inequities. In the eyes of critics, it was a hasty decision that drew attention away from a more urgent problem: how to reopen city schools that were and for most San Francisco students, still are closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. AdvertisementEither way, it was a sign of how the San Francisco school board has been operating of late: a heavy focus on controversial, difficult racial issues, and slow progress on school reopening. As a result, a recall campaign is working to oust three members of the seven-person board. The board faces a lawsuit over the procedures used to change Lowell admissions. The city sued its own school district to try to force open buildings. And the superintendent quit and was persuaded to come back only after board members agreed, in writing, to focus on reopening schools. This is not just about the school reopening, said Siva Raj, who is leading the recall effort with his partner, Autumn Looijen. This is about the broader dysfunction on the school board. He said the amount of time spent on extraneous issues including Lowell is totally out of sync with what parents wanted.Yet for Shavonne Hines-Foster, a graduating senior who is president of the Black Student Union at Lowell, it was a relief that the board was trying to level the playing field for Black and Latino applicants. The system is flawed, she said. Those who are qualified often can get left out.AdvertisementThis academic year has been difficult for school districts nationwide that have been forced to balance the health risks of in-person schooling against the academic and psychological costs of staying home. Multiple districts have fought disputes about reopening in court. Many have battled publicly with teachers unions. At the same time, school leaders have struggled to manage inequities in their systems that have been amplified by the pandemic. But no city has experienced the level of discord as that in San Francisco, both around reopening and around questions of race. In January, the school board voted to rename 44 schools, after a committee found that the people the schools were named for had connections to slavery, oppression and racism even if the alleged ties were thin or, in some cases, historically questionable or inaccurate. AdvertisementLast month, the school board reversed that decision, backtracking in the face of a lawsuit and criticism that its priorities were misguided. In March, anti-Asian tweets posted in 2016 by school board Vice President Alison Collins surfaced. Written before she was on the school board, the tweets accused Asian Americans of benefiting from the model minority BS and using white supremacist thinking to assimilate and get ahead. She also suggested that they were not standing up to President Donald Trump, using a racial slur to describe them. Prominent city leaders called for her resignation, and the school board voted to strip her of her vice president title. In response, Collins sued the board for $87 million. San Francisco Mayor London Breed says she believes the rhetoric from the former administration helped fuel the recent attacks on Asian Americans in the Bay Area. The discrimination and xenophobia against our Asian community since the beginning of this pandemic has been horrific. (Video: Washington Post Live)Through all this, the citys school buildings remained closed, even as private schools in the area and public schools elsewhere in the region operated in person. In-person classes did not begin until mid-April, and only for the youngest children. Even now, only 19,000 of the districts 56,000 students have an in-person option. AdvertisementLook, I believe in equity, San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) said in a statement last fall. She added: But the fact that our kids arent in school is whats driving inequity in our City. Not the name of a school.In March, Superintendent Vincent Matthews said he was retiring at the end of this school year. Then, after a plea from the board president, he said in April that he would stay for another year, but only if the board agreed to focus on school reopening and desist from debating other subjects until schools are open. In his new contract, board members also agreed to govern in a dignified and professional manner, treating everyone with civility and respect.Board President Gabriela Lopez declined by email to answer questions about any topic, saying she was focused on trying to reopen schools. AdvertisementIt was in the middle of all this that the school board decided to change the way students are admitted to Lowell High School. Like selective magnet schools in Boston, New York and elsewhere, Lowells student body is disproportionately made up of Asian American and White students, with Black and Hispanic students underrepresented. The hope is that diversity will increase with a lottery in which students rank their choices but do not win an advantage based on academics. But the change means that students with the best grades and scores may not be admitted. I support changing the policy, said the Rev. Amos C. Brown, a longtime civil rights leader in San Francisco. You know why? Nobody owns the school.Lowell High School was founded in 1856 and touts itself as the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi. Its reputation grew over time as an elite and challenging academic school, with Nobel laureates and a Supreme Court justice among the accomplished graduates. But the racial makeup of Lowells student body has been an issue for decades. In 1983, a lawsuit filed by the NAACP led to racial quotas at the school that prohibited any one racial or ethnic group from exceeding 40 percent of the student body. A decade later, that policy was challenged by three Chinese American families that argued that it was unfair that their children had to score much higher on admissions exams than others to be admitted. The quotas were modified in 1999 and eliminated a few years later. By the time Shavonne Hines-Foster was applying to Lowell, the student body was majority Asian American, and the school had developed a reputation for anti-Black racism. In 2016, the Black Student Union staged a walkout after an offensive sign was posted in the library during Black History Month. AdvertisementHines-Foster said she decided to apply nonetheless. After she was accepted, she encountered racism almost immediately, she says. An Asian American student sang a song with the n-word in it in front of her, she said, and when she asked him why he was doing that, he replied, No one cares and called her the n-word. Black students, she said, are sometimes asked, Why are you at Lowell? and the implication is that they dont belong there. Black students and Brown students are not seen as smart, she said. The demographics of our school reinforce that idea.Hines-Foster would recommend that younger Black students apply to Lowell and was frustrated to see students she believed to be qualified rejected. Nonetheless, changes to Lowell admissions were not part of her campaign when she was elected in a citywide vote last year to become a student delegate to the school board. No one was talking about that then, she said. AdvertisementThe pandemic made it impossible for the district to fairly administer an exam that had been central to admissions decisions. At the last minute, in October, the school board voted to admit students for the coming year via ranked-choice lottery, the same process used for other high schools. The new policy affected only the coming school year, but members made clear that they were interested in longer-term changes. Then, on Jan. 20, students at Lowell were participating in an anti-racism session online. They were asked to share their thoughts on a platform called Padlet, and the reactions automatically popped onto the screen for everyone to see. Somebody the perpetrator has yet to be identified posted violently racist and antisemitic comments and pornographic photos. Three weeks later, the school board voted to permanently change Lowell admissions to the lottery system and to conduct an equity audit.AdvertisementMatthews, the schools superintendent, said issues at Lowell go back to when he was entering high school. His mother wanted him to attend Lowell, but he said he feared that he would be one of the only African American students and decided against it. The board for some time has known that some type of change has been needed to take place at Lowell, he said in an interview. It appears as though the lottery system is creating a more diverse ninth-grade class for the coming year. Black students make up 4.8 percent of those admitted for the fall, up from 1.9 percent last year. Hispanic students are about 23 percent, nearly double the 12.5 percent last year. The portion of Chinese students is 25.3 percent, and the share of White students, 18.5 percent, are both lower than their numbers last year. The decision has come under heavy criticism from many parents and graduates, who argue that the removal of academic standards will water down the school and destroy what makes it special. Dennis Wu, who is Chinese American, said his son, Dennis Casey Wu, a junior at Lowell, felt bullied in middle school but has thrived at Lowell. He is a member of the Dragon Boat team, a traditionally Chinese watercraft competition. Lowell has always been a school where you had to do well academically, the elder Wu said. Darya Mean, who is White and has one son who graduated from Lowell and another there now, said: My concern is that the lottery may increase the diverse numbers somewhat, but whats going to happen to the school? She said she put her children into private school for their elementary and middle years because the public schools available through the lottery were unacceptable. Lowell needs to remain academically elite for students who will thrive in that environment, she said. Christine Linnenbach, a 1989 Lowell graduate, filed a lawsuit in April on behalf of the Lowell Alumni Association, the Friends of Lowell Foundation and the Asian American Legal Foundation, alleging that the school board did not follow proper procedures in making the decision. She thinks that Lowell is special in part because of its competitive admissions but hopes the board can try again, using a more inclusive process. My hope is to call a timeout, get people to the table, she said. Even some graduates who oppose the change say the issue is complicated. Terry Abad, executive director of the Lowell Alumni Association, said students who do not want to work hard probably will not rank Lowell as their top choice, because of its reputation for rigor. He added that the Lowell community knew its demographics were out of whack and that alumni should have tried to work on the problem before it came to a head, such as making contact in Black and Latino neighborhoods to introduce the school and help with applications. We should have been doing a lot more over the years, he said. We havent, so were caught flat-footed and its our fault.GiftOutline Gift Article | 0 |
###CLAIM: let me go training, let me go training, let me go training -- once upon a time i was here in the pfl!
###DOCS: Just as one Usman has staked his claim as perhaps the pound-for-pound best fighter today, another Usman is about to make his first move on a bigger MMA stage. Mohammed Usman, young brother to UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, is a rising prospect in the sport. He will make his Professional Fighters League debut Thursday at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J., in the first leg of the PFL regular season, when hell face Brandon Sayles as part of the ESPN-aired main card. But dont think of the younger Usman (7-1, five finishes) as the little brother. Hes a bona fide heavyweight who tipped the scales at 239 pounds on Wednesday. And dont go in thinking hes the type of heavyweight whose cardio falls off a cliff after a few minutes, if a finish doesnt materialize. They call me The Motor for a reason, Usman told The Post via Zoom on Tuesday. ... My coaches always say to me that I move like a welterweight, a middleweight, and Im walking around at 240, 245 [pounds].Relative to his highly accomplished brother, who last month punctuated his fourth title defense with an explosive knockout of Jorge Masvidal, 32-year-old Mohammed Usman still is early in a fighting career that comes after the end of his first professional athletic pursuit: football. In fact, the younger Usman did not even begin to train until more than a year after Kamaru won the 21st season of The Ultimate Fighter, kickstarting an unbeaten 14-fight-and-counting tenure competing in the UFC. Kamaru Usman told The Post before the win over Masvidal on April 24 that hes always both more excited and more nervous for Mohammeds fights than his own. He also loves the fact that the heavyweight has found a home at the Colorado-based Elevation Fight Team, training alongside some of the top big men in the sport. His improvements have been outstanding, Kamaru Usman said. Im watching him spar, and Im like, Wow! He shocks me every time I watch him spar. Being about to train with guys like Alistair Overeem, Curtis Blaydes and some of the guys at his gym, its incredible.Mohammed Usman, who like his brother was born in Nigeria but largely grew up in Texas, played defensive end at the NCAA FBS level, first at Houston and, after a stop at Navarro College in Texas, finishing up at Arizona. As a senior with the Wildcats in 2011, he saw action in 11 games, tallying 19 total tackles, one sack and one forced fumble. While he harbored NFL dreams, those did not work out for him. He wound up playing professionally in Sweden for a time before moving on from the sport. But he appreciates the role football played in [setting] me up on this journey in MMA. When that door closed [on football], and I saw that my brother was having a lot of success [in MMA], and I looked at my body and Im like, I can run and jump, so why waste this perfectly beautiful body God blessed me with by sitting around or trying to get a desk job? Usman says with a laugh. I said, Let me go train, and let me go at it. And look where were at now: Were here [in PFL].Usman, an accomplished high school wrestler in Texas once upon a time, began training toward a professional MMA career near the end of 2016, roughly around the time his brother picked up his third UFC victory after winning TUF. With just about five months of training in the sport, he jumped directly into the professional ranks with a first-round submission win in May 2017. Wow, you didnt do any amateur fights? Usman recalls being asked at the time. Im already a professional football player. Why downgrade myself to being an amateur fighter? he responded. ... Were gonna get hit, amateurs or pro. So if Im gonna get hit, Im gonna get hit with a pro record.At first, everything in the cage felt as if moving at warp speed for Usman, drawing a comparison to when starting out playing football, the sport he knew for so long. My eyes couldnt calm down fast enough, Usman said. Like, youre seeing someone in front of you, but youre not really seeing them. You know what I mean? Your eyes cant focus on the guy in front of you to be able to land what you want. So I feel like, over time, Ive finally evolved my game to where I can actually see this opponent in front of me, move around, see my punches landing on him. So its just really being able to control that anxiety that you get in the cage. And thats where Ive gotten so much better at.With the early regional phase of his career over, Usman begins his run in a major promotion against the 40-year-old Sayles (5-1, four finishes), a U.S. Army Combatives instructor who has not competed in more than three years. Usman downplays his opponents more advanced age as a factor, instead praising the mental fortitude of Sayles. Not that it matters to Usman, who believes his fighting style thats predicated on advancing and being aggressive makes him different from Sayles previous opponents. I come forward. A lot of guys that hes fought run and circle around. Thats not me, Usman says. As soon as we start that fight, Im going straight into his chest. And either hes gonna back up, or were gonna be in the middle slugging.While Mohammed Usman has a long way to go to catch up to his brothers accolades, bank on the heavyweight Usman aiming to one-up him eventually. He describes all of his siblings (including brother Kashetu, a former collegiate soccer player, and sister Ashlynn, who played Division I volleyball) as competitors always looking to outdo one another. And he doesnt mind at all pointing out one way he topped Kamaru athletically years back. Well go into the wrestling room in our high school, and he got, what, third in state. I went and got second in state. So youll see his name, and then youll see my name ahead of his, Usman says with a proud grin. We battle each other, and it brings out the best in me. Just the competitive nature of us and our family and just how we are, its the driving force behind everything we do, which is so competitive that we dont want to lose or fail in anything. Some might look at Rory MacDonalds most recent cage fights, all part of the 2019 Bellator Welterweight World Grand Prix, and think theres some passing familiarity with the structure of his new mixed martial arts home, Professional Fighters League. Not quite, says MacDonald (21-6, 14 finishes), who will make his debut with the organization on Thursday night as the ESPN2-aired headliner for the second event of this PFL season at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J., facing fellow UFC and Bellator veteran Curtis Millender. The former Bellator 170-pound champion said his experience with his former promotion and its tournament wasnt the greatest.For PFL, I get to know my schedule ahead of time, MacDonald told The Post over Zoom on Tuesday. With Bellator, I didnt. They kind of sprung it on me, and they pressured me into taking fights early and things like that. It was a lot different.With PFL, MacDonald says its so far, so good. And although Ray Cooper III also will compete Thursday as he looks to repeat as PFL welterweight champion he won the most recent season in 2019 its hard to consider anyone but MacDonald as the favorite. It seems to be, when I hear from the fighters, they all want a piece of me, said MacDonald matter-of-factly of the other nine welterweights in the field. So in my opinion, thats a good thing, its a compliment that Ive done well and they want to compete against me.Although just 31, MacDonald has been a pro for 16 years. He was 5-0 in MMA before turning 18. By 20, he scored his first UFC victory and went on to a 9-4 run with the promotion that included nearly becoming the champion, before succumbing via fifth-round TKO to champ Robbie Lawler in July 2015 in whats considered one of the sports most legendary wars of attrition. By 2017, MacDonald jumped to Bellator as a free agent, claiming their welterweight crown from Douglas Lima the following year. Following a failed bid to claim a second title at middleweight, he made his first title defense as part of the grand prix. That fight against Jon Fitch ended in a draw, followed by a decision win over Neiman Gracie at Madison Square Garden in the semifinals. But the final in October 2019 saw the Canadian drop a decision and his crown to Lima in their tournament final rematch, closing out his obligations to Bellator. PFL inked MacDonald to a contract definitely the best contract of my career which could lead to him earning the $1 million prize as the season champion with the intent of him competing in the planned 2020 season. The coronavirus pandemic postponed the season a year, meaning MacDonald will have been sidelined for 18 months when he faces Millender (18-6, six finishes), an alternate who replaced original opponent David Michaud when a career-ending heart ailment was discovered. MacDonald maintains the opponent switch, which happened earlier this month, doesnt faze him. I think hes a good kickboxer, but I think Im just as good as him at that, if not better, MacDonald said. And I think Im more skilled in the other departments of mixed martial arts too.Rory McDonald in his fight against Douglas Lima at Bellator 192 Getty ImagesMacDonald said long layoffs are unfortunately nothing new to him, although this one is notably longer than anything from 2015 through 2017, when he competed only once each year. Still, he used the time away from competition to work on some weaknesses in my training, in my lifestyle, in my mental approach to fighting.The mental aspect was especially key for MacDonald, who in the cage after his draw with Fitch candidly said, I dont have that killer inside. I dont know. Its really hard to explain, but I hesitate a little bit now.Thats one of the things I addressed in my time off last year is just understanding why Im doing this sport, MacDonald told The Post, refocusing, understanding why Im doing this, and I was able to do that. And I feel like Im back better than ever, mentally and physically. Just realizing that the Lord had blessed me in this skill set, in this sport, and that this was my destiny to go and claim that No. 1 spot as the top welterweight in the world, continued MacDonald, who often speaks of his Christian faith. I was a little confused at that point in my career with Jon, when I was fighting Neiman and Douglas for a second time; I was really passionate about this sport, but I think I was just confused with all the changes in my life and getting comfortable with the lifestyle I was living and losing kind of a passion for this sport.If indeed MacDonalds killer instinct in the cage has returned, perhaps the PFL field is right to keep him directly in their crosshairs. | 3 |
###CLAIM: fun driving in a dodge challenger with a bunch of white students (12 of whom said they had experienced aggressive or misogynistic or predatory ways towards women first hand).
###DOCS: Ex-classmates of Rep. Madison Cawthorn have claimed he sexually harassed women at a Christian college and that they were warned not to go on so-called 'fun drives' with him in his white Dodge Challenger 'because bad things happened'. Cawthorn, who was paralyzed from the waist down in a 2014 car crash, allegedly gained a reputation around the campus for making unwanted sexual advances toward women when he briefly attended Patrick Henry College in northern Virginia for a semester aged 21, in 2016. One woman described sensing a 'danger warning' when she went out for a drive with Cawthorn and he started 'taking me out to the middle of nowhere' while asking questions about her purity ring. Two resident assistants at the conservative religious college said they would warn young women to stay away from him and female students said they told each other not to end up alone with him. The allegations surfaced in a Buzzfeed investigation, with more than 30 people including 20 former students, their friends and relatives alleging they witnessed, experienced or knew of sexual harassment and misconduct by the congressman around the college campus, at his nearby house and in his car. The bombshell claims come after more than 160 members of the Patrick Henry College community signed an open letter in October describing the former student's 'reputation of predatory behavior.' Cawthorn, an avid Trump supporter, has denied ever acting in a sexually inappropriate way. The North Carolina Republican came under fire last month over his part in the January 6 MAGA mob riot on the US Capitol that left five dead, after he spoke at the Trump rally moments before the violent insurrection. He has also faced accusations of lying about his past, after claims he was training for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games were disputed by athletes and claims his car crash ruined his chances of attending the Naval Academy were debunked after a watchdog reported he was rejected from the academy prior to the accident. Ex-classmates of Rep. Madison Cawthorn (pictured at CPAC this week) have claimed he sexually harassed women at the Christian college and that they were warned not to go on so-called 'fun drives' with him in his white Dodge Challenger 'because bad things happened'More than two dozen students spoke out about Cawthorn's alleged mistreatment of women on the campus including four women who said they experienced first hand his alleged aggressive, misogynistic, or predatory way toward women. Cawthorn joined the school in fall 2016 at the age of 21 after his 2014 car accident and subsequent recovery delayed his college attendance, making him three years older than the strict Christian, conservative first-year women also attending. Cawthorn soon became known for inviting women for a drive in his white Dodge Challenger and would brag about them as 'conquests' to his peers, according to the report. Ex-classmates said he would boast about touching women, getting women to sit in his lap, and bragged about one incident at a party where he pulled a woman onto his lap and put his finger between her legs, reported Buzzfeed. Caitlin Coulter, who was a senior at the time and had just split from her boyfriend, told Buzzfeed she agreed to go on a drive with him one evening. She said he started taking her along the back roads while asking her invasive questions. 'I realized he was taking me out to the middle of nowhere, Virginia,' she said. Coulter said the energy changed and she became 'uncomfortable and nervous' and felt she was in 'danger'. 'We were on these small, like, one- [or] two-lane back roads, and I just felt so uncomfortable and nervous and not even something I think at the time I could put a finger on, but just, like, danger warning,' she said. Coulter told Buzzfeed he was making 'insinuations' and kept asking about her purity ring on her finger. When she refused to answer his invasive questions for about 20 minutes, he allegedly snapped and turned the car around, driving them back to the campus dangerously. 'It was really scary. And just I remember just being very happy to make it back home safely,' she said. Cawthorn, who was paralyzed from the waist down in a 2014 car crash, allegedly gained a reputation around the campus for making unwanted sexual advances toward women when he briefly attended Patrick Henry College in northern Virginia (above) for a semester in 2016Giovanna Lastra, a former resident assistant at the campus, told Buzzfeed she remembered Coulter returning to the dorm that night 'shaken up.' 'She felt unsafe and nervous and said, "He didn't do anything to me, but I was afraid he was going to",' she said. Lastra said she warned the female students not to get in Cawthorn's car with him saying it was 'dangerous'. Lastra was one of two resident advisors who told Buzzfeed they started warning women in their dorms to avoid Cawthorn and not to get in his cat with him. 'I got info from other RAs to warn the female student body not to go on joy rides with him because bad things happened on those joy rides,' said Lastra. 'Our school was filled with girls from a Christian background, and there was a high level of naivety.' Leah Petree, now a Republican intern on Capitol Hill and former student at the college, said Cawthorn would often ask to take her for a drive - a request she repeatedly denied saying she had a boyfriend. But she said his persistence soon became uncomfortable as he allegedly started waiting outside her dorm building for her to leave. Petree also recalled an occasion where he called her a 'little blonde slutty American girl' in the dining hall when he was asking people about how many people they had kissed or had physical relationships with, and the races of them. The new claims come after one woman, Katrina Krulikas (above), told World Magazine in August Cawthorn had forcibly kissed her in 2014 when he was 19 and she was 17'And all of a sudden, he snaps at me in a tone and with a degree of anger that no man has ever spoken to me since or before then. He snaps at me that I was just a "little blonde slutty American girl" and yells this to me across the table, at a table of our peers - our Christian, conservative peers - all over a comment in response to an inappropriate, just astounding conversation that he's initiated,' she said. Another former student Becca Webb said she remembers female students warning each other to stay away from Cawthorn and recalled one of many times he was misogynistic shouting 'shut up woman' at her. Several former students told Buzzfeed Cawthorn had a bad temper and would often make rude, derogatory and misogynistic comments to and about women including one occasion where he allegedly asked other male students: 'Which race of girls gives the best blowjobs?' The new claims come after one woman, Katrina Krulikas, told World Magazine in August Cawthorn had forcibly kissed her in 2014 when he was 19 and she was 17. Krulikas, who did not attend the Christian college, claimed they were on a drive together when Cawthorn started asking if she was a virgin. She said he pressured her to sit on his lap, tried to kiss her and when she dismissed his advances tried again by holding her face. Cawthorn denied the allegation in September but allegedly texted Krulikas last February apologizing that he was 'over the line'. Micah Bock, a spokesman for Cawthorn, referred DailyMail.com's request for comment to previous denials made by the congressman. Two resident assistants at the conservative religious college said they would warn young women to stay away from him'On September 4th, 2020 Rep. Cawthorn responded to the questions you are asking, saying: "I have never done anything sexually inappropriate in my life,' he said. 'On September 4th, 2020 Rep. Cawthorn said: If I have a daughter, I want her to grow up in a world where people know to explicitly ask before touching her. If I had a son, I want him to be able to grow up in a world where he would not be called a sexual predator for trying to kiss someone.'Bock added: 'These questions were repeatedly asked and answered during the course of the campaign. The voters of Western North Carolina responded to these allegations by giving Madison Cawthorn a 12-point victory over his opponent. 'Rep. Cawthorn is now busy doing the work he was elected to do including helping our economy recover from the pandemic, creating jobs and opportunity, making health care more affordable, protecting our natural environment and defending life and our Second Amendment rights.' Bock, who also attended Patrick Henry College where he befriended Cawthorn going on to become his communications director, was also accused of inappropriately touching a woman in the Buzzfeed report. Petree said Bock pressed his genitals against her when she was asleep at a house after a pool party in 2016. She woke up and 'could feel, like, hard genitalia,' Petree told Buzzfeed. 'It was that level of, like, I could feel him pressed into me and just being like, no.' When she confronted him the next day she said Bock told her 'you wanted it.' 'He says to me, 'You definitely weren't really asleep. You wanted it,' she recalled. Petree's boyfriend, friend and mother Rebecca Powell told Buzzfeed Petree had told them about the incident at the time, with Powell recalling confronting Bock about 'sexually harass[ing] my daughter when she visited the school later. Bock denies the incident telling DailyMail.com: 'The allegation is completely untrue.' In the open letter in October, more than 160 members of the Patrick Henry community accused Cawthorn of 'gross misconduct towards our female peers, public misrepresentation of his past, disorderly conduct that was against the school's student honor code, and self-admitted academic failings.' The North Carolina lawmaker took to the stage of Trump's rally on January 6 and pushed unfounded claims the election had been stolen from MAGA supporters (above)The new allegations come after Cawthorn last month faced calls to resign and be investigated by the House Office of Congressional Ethics over his part in the Capitol riot. The North Carolina lawmaker took to the stage of Trump's rally on January 6 and pushed unfounded claims the election had been stolen from MAGA supporters. 'My friends, the Democrats with all the fraud that they have done in this election, the Republicans hiding and not fighting, they are trying to silence your voice,' he said. 'Make no mistake about it, they do not want you to be heard, but my friends when I look into this crowd I can confidently say this crowd has the voice of lions.' This came one month after a speech in December where he encouraged Trump supporters to 'lightly threaten' members of Congress. 'And feel free, you can lightly threaten them, and say, "You know what? If you don't start supporting election integrity, I'm coming after you, Madison Cawthorn is coming after you. Everybody's is coming after you,"' he said. Cawthorn was a vocal supporter of Trump's unfounded claims of widespread election fraud - claims that were debunked in the courts and by Trump's own administration. When lawmakers returned to the Capitol after the riot to certify the election, Cawthorn voted to uphold objections to Arizona and Pennsylvania's votes. Five people died in the storming of the Capitol including a Capitol cop. Cawthorn said he doesn't take back his comments but called the rioters 'despicable.' Cawthorn, 25, became the youngest member of Congress in November after he defeated Democratic rival Moe Davis for North Carolina's 11th Congressional District seat. Representative Madison Cawthorn seen as rising star of far right, despite past allegations of misconduct Representative Madison Cawthorn is currently the youngest member of Congress. He easily won his congressional district, despite having very little political and job experience. He has also faced allegations of sexual misconduct and misrepresenting his past. Michael Kranish, a national political investigative reporter for The Washington Post, discusses his recent article diving into Cawthorn's past and rise to prominence. Republican North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple former college classmates, Buzzfeed News reported Friday. Four women who attended Patrick Henry College, a small Christian liberal arts school in Virginia, with Cawthorn allege that the freshman congressman made sexually-charged comments and touched them inappropriately, according to the article in Buzzfeed News. He previously denied other allegations to the Daily Caller, comparing the allegations against him to those against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. (RELATED: Madison Cawthorn Claims His Call To Lightly Threaten Elected Officials Was Not A Threat Of Violence)NEW: College classmates of Madison Cawthorn say he harassed women students. BuzzFeed News spoke with more than 30 people, who described and corroborated instances of sexual harassment and misconduct by the nowmember of Congress. https://t.co/Kc7xIsNiBF BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) February 26, 2021Leah Petree, a Capitol Hill intern for a Republican member of Congress, told Buzzfeed News that Cawthorn harassed her to go for a ride in his car, even though she rebuffed him repeatedly. She said he eventually took to parking his car outside her dormitory in an attempt to get her into his car. Cawthorn later called Petree a little blonde slutty American girl, she said, according to Buzzfeed, after he demanded that she tell him the types of men that she liked and did not like to date. Petrees story was corroborated by another Patrick Henry College student, who told Buzzfeed News that Cawthorn bragged to him about forcing girls to sit in his lap and touching them between their legs. Petree also accused Micah Bock, Cawthorns communications director, of rubbing his erect penis up against her while she slept, Buzzfeed reported. These questions were repeatedly asked and answered during the course of the campaign. The voters of Western North Carolina responded to these allegations by giving Madison Cawthorn a 12-point victory over his opponent. Rep. Cawthorn is now busy doing the work he was elected to do including helping our economy recover from the pandemic, creating jobs and opportunity, making health care more affordable, protecting our natural environment and defending life and our Second Amendment rights, Bock told the Daily Caller in response to a question about the Cawthorn allegations. Bock told the Daily Caller that the allegations against him were completely untrue.Another accuser, Caitlin Coulter, claimed that Cawthorn asked her questions about a chastity ring she wore while he drove her in his car, Buzzfeed reported. Uncomfortable with his attempts to get her to talk about sex, she refused to answer his questions. Cawthorn eventually became angry, she said, and recklessly drove her back to campus, according to Buzzfeed. I remember just being very happy to make it back home safely, she told Buzzfeed News. Coulter was one of ten former Patrick Henry College students to sign an open letter denouncing Cawthorn, which she posted on Twitter in October 2020. I personally experienced Cawthorns predatory behavior and sexual harassment, which is why I signed this letter with other alum. Lets elect candidates who are respectable and conscientious, unlike Madison Cawthorn. NC District 11 can do better. #RejectCawthorn #StandForConsent pic.twitter.com/Xi08Ml6TvI Caitlin Brooke (@PureWater95) October 18, 2020Cawthorn defeated retired Army Col. Morris Davis, a Guantanamo Bay prosecutor, to win the seat formerly held by Mark Meadows. A staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, he spoke at the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal rally, which immediately preceded the Capitol riot. Bradley Ledford, a former close friend of Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), says that Cawthorn lied about the 2014 car wreck that left him partially paralyzed. In 2017 remarks at Patrick Henry College, Cawthorn said that Ledford crashed the vehicle in which Cawthorn was a passenger and fled, leaving him to die in a "fiery tomb." Cawthorn was left wheelchair-bound and with limited use of his legs as a result of the horrific accident, which took place when he was just 18 years old. What are the details? In his first public remarks on the wreck, Ledford told the Washington Post that he never left his friend's side, and, in fact, pulled him from the wreckage as soon as he was able to free himself. The outlet reported, "The two were traveling [from attending Spring break in Florida] back to North Carolina when Ledford nodded off while driving on Interstate 4 in Florida and crashed into a concrete construction barrier, Ledford said in a deposition. Ledford said Cawthorn, while wearing a seat belt harness, had been sleeping in a 'laid back position' in a manner that the harness did not touch Cawthorn's body, and with 'his feet being on the dash[board].'" "Ledford said in his deposition that when the van crashed, he saw Cawthorn was unconscious," the outlet continued. "The doors were jammed, and the vehicle began to be enveloped in flames. Ledford said he exited through a window, 'unbuckled Madison and proceeded to pull him out while a bystander came in and helped me.'" "It hurt very badly that [Cawthorn] would say something as false as that," Ledford told the outlet of the remarks. "That is not at all what happened. I pulled him out of the car the second that I was able to get out of the car." Cawthorn, now 25 years old, also previously said that he was "declared dead" following the wreck, but the outlet pointed out that Cawthorn was "incapacitated," and not dead. In Cawthorn's 2017 remarks on the accident, he said, "[Ledford] was my brother, my best friend. And he leaves me in a car to die in a fiery tomb. He runs to safety deep in the woods and just leaves me in a burning car as the flames start to lick my legs and curl up and burn my left side. Fortunately, there was several bystanders who come by and they break the window open that they pulled me out to safety and they sat me down. The paramedics arrive and decided that I'm gone and I have no pulse, I have no breath. And I was, I was declared dead on the scene. For whatever reason, may it be adrenaline or divine intervention, I definitely believe it's the latter, I had a deep inhale of breath." The outlet also reported that during his deposition regarding the accident, Cawthorn did not say that Ledford left him for dead. "Instead, he said, 'I have no memory from the accident,'" the Post noted. "An accident report and other records from the Florida Highway Patrol say Cawthorn was incapacitated and in critical condition, not that he was declared dead." The Post reported that Cawthorn declined an interview request when reached for comment. Huff Post, which also reported on the allegations, also noted that Cawthorn did not respond to a request for comment. | 3 |
###CLAIM: forrest of bokeh and capital said the attraction of stores such as urban outfitters and inc. is that they are classified as real world jew merchants who successfully lure customers with strong impulse buying and have the potential to translate that buying into online sales.
###DOCS: NEW YORK, Dec 18 (Reuters) - As holiday shopping season wraps up, U.S. equity investors are gauging whether long-languishing shares of brick-and-mortar retailers can sustain their recent rebound in anticipation of a full economic reopening in 2021. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT.P), which tracks a broad group of retailers such as department and specialty stores, is up nearly 40% this year. Its gain reflects a rally that has lifted shares of companies in sectors particularly sensitive to the economic cycle, such as industrials and energy, in the wake of recent breakthroughs in COVID-19 vaccines. Those numbers pale in comparison with the massive gains online companies such as Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Etsy Inc (ETSY.O) and Wayfair Inc (W.N) have notched this year, after the pandemic accelerated a shift toward internet shopping. Some investors, however, believe that more traditional retailers may be able to narrow that gap in the coming year. Their view dovetails with a broader bet that vaccines against the coronavirus will spur widespread economic reopenings across the United States, helping the industries that have suffered most from the effects of COVID-19. "There's anticipation of people shopping," said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners. "Wall Street is looking forward to a time when we are not locked down." Investors next week will have an eye on the University of Michigan's widely followed consumer sentiment index, which remains below pre-pandemic levels but has recently ticked higher. read moreOne source of consumer spending could come from additional stimulus checks to individuals included in a $900 billion coronavirus aid package that Congress has moved closer to approving, said Alex Ely, chief investment officer of Macquarie Investment Management's small and mid-cap growth equity team. read moreAt the same time, brick-and-mortar stores that have withstood the economic onslaught from the pandemic may have more solid footing next year as competitors have faltered, said Eric Marshall, portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management. J.C. Penney, J. Crew, Pier 1 Imports and Neiman Marcus are among the retailers that declared bankruptcy this year. "On the back side of this... there could come a period of prosperity," Marshall said. Retail shares likely will not advance in unison, as the pandemic has only magnified long-standing trends that will separate winners from losers, investors said. Jason Hans, portfolio manager at BMO Global Asset Management, expects department stores to resume their underperformance. At the same time, certain specialty retailers could catch up once in-store shopping recovers, he said. He has added to his position in children's clothing company Carter's Inc (CRI.N). Traditional retailers' online presence may also play an important role in determining their fate. Hodges Capital's Marshall, for instance, owns shares of American Eagle Outfitters (AEO.N), which has substantially increased its online sales. Bokeh Capital's Forrest said she has gravitated to retailers such as Urban Outfitters Inc (URBN.O), which she classifies as "good real-world merchandisers" - those that successfully lure customers into impulse buys and have potential to translate that strength into online sales. The retail recovery, however, may face some hitches. U.S. retail sales fell more than expected in November, likely weighed down by raging new COVID-19 infections and decreasing household income. Further delays in additional fiscal stimulus could place more near-term strain on economic indicators. read moreBut some investors are willing to look past that momentary weakness. "The fundamentals are going to be much better in the second half of 2021 and 2022," Macquarie's Ely said. "But you want to buy six to nine months ahead of when things are great. Now is the time." Reporting by April Joyner; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Dan GreblerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | 1 |
###CLAIM: according to the lawsuit, the controllers said the contact radars and communications had been short-circuit but that the contact had not been lost.
###DOCS: Safety investigators said on Tuesday a pilot flew through clouds last year in an apparent violation of federal standards and likely became disoriented just before the helicopter crashed, killing the basketball star Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others. Pilot Ara Zobayan was flying under visual flight rules, which meant he needed to be able to see where he was going, Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said during a hearing to specify the likely cause or causes of the crash. Zobayan piloted the aircraft to climb sharply and had nearly broken through the clouds when the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter banked abruptly and plunged into the southern California hills, killing all aboard. The helicopter did not have so-called black box recording devices, which were not required. Bryants widow had blamed the pilot. She and relatives of the other victims also faulted the companies that owned and operated the helicopter. The brother of the pilot didnt blame Bryant but said he knew about the risks of flying. The helicopter companies have said foggy weather was an act of God and blamed air traffic controllers. The NTSB hearing focused on the long-awaited probable cause or causes of the tragedy that unleashed worldwide grief for the retired basketball star, launched several lawsuits and prompted state and federal legislation. I think the whole world is watching because its Kobe, said Ed Coleman, an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University professor and aircraft safety science expert. Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and six other passengers were flying from Orange County to a youth basketball tournament at his Mamba Sports Academy in Ventura County on 26 January 2020 when the helicopter encountered thick fog in the San Fernando Valley, north of Los Angeles. The Sikorsky S-76 helicopter banked abruptly and plunged into hills below, killing all nine aboard instantly before flames engulfed the wreckage. There was no sign of mechanical failure and the crash was believed to be an accident, the NTSB said previously. The NTSB is an independent federal agency that investigates transportation-related crashes but has no enforcement powers. It submits suggestions to agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration or the US coast guard, which have repeatedly rejected safety recommendations after other disasters. Over the past year, experts have speculated that the crash could lead to requiring Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems, devices that signal when aircraft are in danger of crashing, on helicopters. The helicopter that Bryant was flying in did not have the system, which the NTSB has recommended as mandatory. The FAA requires it only for air ambulances. NTSB investigator-in-charge Bill English said on Tuesday that the system, known as Taws, would likely not have been helpful in the scenario in which Bryants helicopter crashed. The hilly terrain, combined with the pilots spatial disorientation in the clouds, would have been a confusing factor, English said. The pilot doesnt know which way is up, English said. Federal investigators said Zobayan, an experienced pilot who often flew Bryant, may have misperceived the angles at which he was descending and banking, which can occur when pilots become disoriented in low visibility, according to NTSB documents. Investigators on Tuesday also faulted Zobayan for banking to the left instead of ascending straight up while trying to climb out of the bad weather. The others killed in the crash were Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and their daughter Alyssa; Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach his daughters basketball team; and Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton. Alyssa and Payton were Giannas teammates. The crash has generated lawsuits and countersuits. On the day a massive memorial service was held at the Staples Center, where Bryant played most of his career, Vanessa Bryant sued Zobayan and the companies that owned and operated the helicopter for alleged negligence and the wrongful deaths of her husband and daughter. Families of other victims sued the helicopter companies but not the pilot. Zobayans brother, Berge Zobayan, has said Bryants survivors arent entitled to damages from the pilots estate. Island Express Helicopters denied responsibility and said the crash was an act of God. The company also countersued two FAA air traffic controllers, saying the crash was caused by their series of erroneous acts and/or omissions. The countersuit claims one controller improperly denied Zobayans request for flight following or radar assistance, as he proceeded in the fog. Officials have said the controller terminated service because radar could not be maintained at the altitude the aircraft was flying. According to the lawsuit, the controller said he was going to lose radar and communications shortly, but radar contact was not lost. When a second controller took over, the lawsuit said, the first controller failed to brief him about the helicopter, and because the radar services were not terminated correctly, the pilot believed he was being tracked. Vanessa Bryant also sued the Los Angeles county sheriffs department, accusing deputies of sharing unauthorized photos of the crash site. California now has a state law prohibiting such conduct. | 0 |
###CLAIM: then in 2019, snyder and james tried to imitate the walshs by imitating their brogue to mock a refusal to take a bet on the outcome of an nfl playoff game against new orleans or new england.
###DOCS: How we (accidentally) broke the White House Covid protocols Presented by United Indian Nations of Oklahoma and 141 Tribes Standing for Tribal SovereigntyWith help from Allie BiceWelcome to POLITICOs 2021 Transition Playbook, your guide to the first 100 days of the Biden administration. The White House feels a bit sad these days. The rooms where Biden press aides work are barren except for hooks on the wall. There are empty iced coffee cups strewn about alongside the Lysol bottles and cleaning wipes. Aides meet over video chat even though they are sometimes just a few rooms over. In the briefing room, lime green signs are attached to chairs declaring that this seat is to remain unoccupied for the duration of the coronavirus emergency. A large placard warns that if you have symptoms like diarrhea or nausea to please call the White House Medical Unit. Many Biden aides are wearing not just one mask, but two. There are signs everywhere: Do not congregate in the briefing room.They make an exception to that rule for the actual press briefing, when 14 reporters two per row and a smattering of photographers gather. In the week since President JOE BIDENs inauguration, his administration has been laboring to bring an air of business-as-usual to the White House, after a singularly unusual four years under DONALD TRUMP. That includes the press briefing. Instead of the unpredictable, often head-spinning briefings of the Trump years, the Biden briefings now back on a regular, daily schedule are seemingly designed to make as little news as possible. There is obfuscation, but only up to a point. While there is still a long way to go in their quest for normalcy, the Biden press team has succeeded on one front: making White House briefings boring again. An ominous two minute warning bell precedes the entrance of White House Press Secretary JEN PSAKI, who walks to the podium with her briefing book. Last week, the book came in at about 200 pages, but aides have cut it down to about 120 for today. A lot of the material carries over day to day but about 50 new pages of information were added today. Psaki often looks down at the briefing book while talking to double check her language, and make sure she isnt diverging from the agreed upon talking points. She says shes learned from others that when shes unsure about the answer, the best approach is not to say anything, even if she feels the need to fill the silence. The questions from foreign outlets or trade publications are the ones the press aides dread the most theyre much harder to anticipate than those from, say, Fox News. .Every day, the White House is trying to make a new, if small, announcement on something theyve been getting questions about. Today that topic is the administrations Hill outreach on the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.RON KLAIN and ANITA DUNN engaged with members directly on Tuesday, Psaki announced, but STEVE RICCHETTI and LOUISA TERRELL are the ones quarterbacking the teams broader legislative outreach that has included conversations with dozens of members. On other topics, like the recent Gamestop market volatility, she merely says they are monitoring the situation. Afterward, I followed the reporters out of the briefing room. I wasnt sure where we were headed until I saw Biden walking into a room to sign executive orders. On my first day at the White House, it seems I unwittingly broke the new administrations Covid protocols. I got off with a stern warning. Future infractions, the White House said, may result in suspension of your hard pass/access to the White House campus.Do you work in the Biden administration? Are you on the White House senior staffs morning call? Are you ERIC LANDER? We want to hear from you and well keep you anonymous: [email protected]. You can also reach Alex, Theo, Megan, Alice, Tyler and Daniel individually if you prefer. Did someone forward this to you? Subscribe here! A message from United Indian Nations of Oklahoma and 141 Tribes Standing for Tribal Sovereignty: 141 federally recognized tribes from across America are warning Congress that H.R. 2758 and S. 3443 endanger the culture and identity of every tribe in the nation. Federal acknowledgment of tribes should be based on verified and authentic historical records, not on politics and backroom horse-trading. Click to watch the video and learn more: https://www.uinoklahoma.com/advocacyWhere's JoeIn the State Dining Room, where he proclaimed today climate day at the White House and signed three executive orders. Where's KamalaIn her office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where she swore in TONY BLINKEN as secretary of State with EVAN RYAN, the White House cabinet secretary and Blinkens wife, looking on. She later joined Biden for his climate remarks. Presidential TriviaWith the Center for Presidential TransitionWhich senator now has Bidens old desk: CHRIS COONS (D-Del. ), TOM CARPER(D-Del. ), TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-Ill.) or RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-Ga.)? Pro ExclusiveFormer Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-Mich.) testifies before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. | Graeme Jennings/Pool via AP PhotoWATER UNDER THE BRIDGE When former Michigan Gov. JENNIFER GRANHOLM was floated as a potential Cabinet pick in 2013, she remarked that Senate Republicans might not be eager to confirm her after her stint hosting The War Room, a talk show that once aired on AL GOREs Current TV. But eight years later, Republicans dont seem to care. Not a single Republican senator brought up the talk show during her confirmation hearing today before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, ERIC WOLFF tells us. The remaining articles and infographics in this section are exclusively available to POLITICO Pro subscribers. Pro is a smart, personalized policy intelligence platform from POLITICO. If you are interested in learning more about how POLITICO Pro can support your team through the 2020 transition and beyond, visit this webpage. A message from United Indian Nations of Oklahoma and 141 Tribes Standing for Tribal Sovereignty:Advise and ConsentBIDENS U.N. PICK GETS THE CRUZ TREATMENT Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee questioned whether LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, Bidens nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is tough enough on China, raising concerns about a speech she gave linked to a Chinese-funded organization, NAHAL TOOSI reports. Sen. TED CRUZ (R-Texas) was the most critical of Thomas-Greenfield, alleging the 2019 speech at Savannah State University contained no criticism of China and even sounded admiring. But Thomas-Greenfield insisted that she will take a hard line on China at the United Nations, calling it her highest priority.MORE DISCLOSURES: CECILIA ROUSE, Bidens nominee to chair the Council of Economic Advisers, has filed her financial disclosure, which doesnt include any surprises. Rouse earned about $523,000 last year in her role as a Princeton dean and another $340,000 serving on the board of T. Rowe Price. FILLING THE RANKSPROXY BATTLE ROB MALLEY, a cerebral, mild-mannered former Obama official whom Biden is considering naming his Iran envoy, has been thrust into the center of a political fight over the new administrations policy toward Iran the first of what are likely to be many battles over Bidens dealings in the Middle East, NATASHA BERTRAND reports. Republicans have accused Malley of being too soft on the Iranian regime and too critical of Israel. And while progressives such as Rep. RO KHANNA (D-Calif.) and current and former colleagues have rallied to his defense, some Democrats have expressed private worries about some of Malleys public comments. Malley wouldnt require Senate confirmation. MORE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT MOVES: JEAN KING will take over on Sunday as acting director of the Justice Departments Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the countrys immigration courts, JOSH GERSTEIN and SABRINA RODRIGUEZ report. King will replace JAMES McHENRY, a close ally of former Attorney General JEFF SESSIONS. The move comes after complaints from immigration advocates who were troubled to see McHenrys name on the agency-wide list the Justice Department released last week of those holding top posts on an acting or continuing basis for the first weeks of Bidens presidency. Agenda SettingSUPREME COURT COMMISSION UPDATE Biden is moving forward with the creation of a bipartisan commission to study reforms to the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary that he pledged to set up in the final weeks of the campaign, TYLER PAGER reports. BOB BAUER, Bidens campaign lawyer and a former White House counsel, will co-chair the commission and has been helping to fill out the rest of its members. Among those already selected: CRISTINA RODRIGUEZ, a professor at Yale Law School and a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Obama administration, who will co-chair the commission with Bauer; CAROLINE FREDRICKSON, the former president of the American Constitution Society; and JACK GOLDSMITH, a Harvard Law School professor and a former assistant attorney general in President GEORGE W. BUSHs administration. MORE ALLIES, MORE PROBLEMS: Biden has a lot more allies as he pushes to tackle climate change than President BARACK OBAMA did 12 years ago, ZACK COLMAN and BEN LEFEBVRE. His coalition includes labor unions, anti-fracking activists, racial justice advocates, leaders of Wall Street, the auto industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. But Biden also faces a challenge: holding together this teeming coalition of labor unions, activists, Wall Street financiers, the auto industry and others long enough to break the logjam in Congress that doomed Obamas climate legislation. What We're ReadingBiden freezes arms sales to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (The Wall Street Journal)White House sign language interpreter also interpreted for right-wing groups (Time)Biden cybersecurity advisers foundation gave more than $500,000 to AIPAC (Mother Jones)The Oppo BookToday was a big day for Boston in the briefing room, Jen Psaki told reporters as she introduced Boston natives JOHN KERRY, Bidens climate envoy, and GINA McCARTHY, his domestic climate adviser. (Its a big day for Boston every day, McCarthy quipped.) But it wont be a big day for Boston accents until Psaki trots out MARTY WALSH. While McCarthys accent shone through when she praised Biden for getting stahted on tackling the climate crisis, Bidens Labor secretary nominee boasts what many believe to be the strongest Boston dialect in the citys mayoral history, as The Boston Globe put it in 2013. Its easy to make fun of Walshs accent Time magazine once called it ragged but its tough to copy. In 2019, then-Kansas City Mayor SLY JAMES tried to imitate Walshs brogue to mock him for refusing to bet on the outcome of the Kansas City Chiefs NFL playoff game against the New England Patriots. James failed miserably. (And the Patriots won.) He has the variability in his speech that is authentic, MARJORIE WHITTAKER, a corporate speech trainer whos worked with Boston natives trying to lose their accents, told the Globe. He can say utha and then the next minute say other. It changes from sentence to sentence. Thats why actors attempting the Boston accent often sound so terrible. Every word is utha, mutha. It sounds like a caricature. People with an actual Boston accent wouldnt say I pahked my cah in the Hahvid Yahd because its not so consistent.Walsh has criticized at least one of those actors himself. Asked by Boston magazine to name the worst Boston accent in a movie, Walsh singled out MARTIN SHEEN in The Departed.Hes a great actor, but I didnt think that was a good accent, he said. TRIVIA ANSWERIts Coons, of course. Biden got an old Russell Senate Office Building desk when he came to the Senate in 1973 and brought it with him once he became vice president, according to ADAM BRAMWELL, a former Coons chief of staff. Coons office confirmed the desk is now in his office another sign of the close relationship Coons has with the president. A message from United Indian Nations of Oklahoma and 141 Tribes Standing for Tribal Sovereignty: One hundred forty-one federally recognized tribes across America are standing up and warning Congress that H.R. 2758 and S. 3443 will undercut their sovereignty and lead to mass cultural appropriation. As Congress considers including these bills in year-end legislative packages, tribes are escalating their opposition. The United Indian Nations of Oklahoma has released a mini-documentary featuring a geographically and culturally diverse group of leaders explaining their opposition to recognizing groups like the Lumbee and MOWA without examination of their cultural claims. Titled Why We Stand, the video highlights how politicizing federal recognition and creating a path for false groups threatens the sovereignty, culture, and identity of every tribal nation in the country. Tribal leaders say culture and proven history should define tribes, not backroom deals and political horse-trading. Click to watch the video and learn more: https://www.uinoklahoma.com/advocacyFollow us on Twitter Alex Thompson @AlexThompEli Stokols @EliStokolsAllie Bice @alliebice | 0 |
###CLAIM: the photo shoot came after pia 's reunion with her 55-year-old multi-millionaire agent boyfriend patrick whitesell, who stunned all eyes when she posed in the sand wearing a long flowy beige dress.
###DOCS: Former Home and Away actress Pia Miller looked glamorous as she posed for a lavish photo shoot on Sydney's Palm Beach on Wednesday. The brunette beauty, 36, flaunted her incredible physique in a series of outfits as she posed up a storm on the shore. During the photo shoot, Pia showed off her tiny waist in a dark brown dress while she wore a necklace from jewellery brand Paspaley. Glamorous! Pia Miller showed off her figure as she posed for a lavish photo shoot on the beach in Sydney on WednesdayHer long hair was styled straight and she appeared to be wearing a neutral palette of makeup for the shoot. The actress had all eyes on her as she posed for a series of photos on the sand, while holding onto her long dress. After posing for several photographs, Pia changed into a glamorous beige coloured flowy dress. Stunning: Pia had all eyes on her as she posed for a series of photos in a long beige flowy dress on the sandThe photo shoot comes after Pia reunited with her multi-millionaire agent boyfriend Patrick Whitesell, 55. The former Home and Away actress spent a week with her beau, before Patrick flew back to the US on a private jet, last week. Pia was first linked to the Hollywood power agent in August last year, following her split with her longtime fiance, Tyson Mullane, 32, in April. Beauty: Her long hair was styled straight and she appeared to be wearing a neutral palette of makeup for the shootThe couple made their public debut at a Halloween party in Los Angeles in October, amid reports they'd started dating back in May. She made their relationship Instagram official on Christmas Eve, sharing a loved-up photo with him outside of the Louvre in Paris, and captioning it 'P2'. The couple made their red carpet debut when they attended the Oscars together in February this year in Los Angeles. She's known for her flowing blonde locks. And Laura Anderson showcased an altogether different look on Wednesday as she revealed her new chocolate tresses. The former Love Island star, 31, displayed her stunning transformation in a neon orange bikini as she relaxed in Dubai on her sun-soaked getaway. New look! She's known for her flowing blonde locks and Laura Anderson showcased an altogether different look on Wednesday as she revealed her new chocolate tressesThe Scottish TV personality sent temperatures soaring in a ribbed asymmetric top and matching thong bottom which exposed her unusual tattoos. Laura decided to go make-up free as she showcased her svelte physique in the selfie video before heading out to the beach. The beauty styled her fresh brunette locks in a loose wave after documenting her revamp from the salon on Tuesday. Taking to her Instagram stories, Laura told her fans 'this is the reality of my hair' as she revealed her natural and extension-free locks. Bronzed beauty: The former Love Island star, 31, displayed her stunning transformation in a neon orange bikini as she relaxed in Dubai on her sun-soaked getawayShe then told her followers that she was planning on going darker and shorter, ahead of her big transformation. Laura then shared a clip of her newly-dyed brunette hair ahead of her extensions, with the Scottish beauty adding: 'This little mullet situation is what happens when you bleach your hair your whole life.' The reality star later revealed her longer tresses and ran her hands through her luxurious extensions as she displayed the finished result. Laura's new hair comes after she was forced to speak out earlier this month after she sparked controversy with her 'changing face'. Inked up: The Scottish TV personality sent temperatures soaring in a ribbed asymmetric top and matching thong bottom which exposed her unusual tattoosTa-da: The beauty styled her fresh brunette locks in a loose wave after documenting her revamp from the salon on TuesdayHonest: Taking to her Instagram stories, Laura told her fans 'this is the reality of my hair' as she revealed her natural and extension-free locksLaura had been filming Love Island spin-off Where Are They Now? with Jack Fincham and Dr Alex George when a photo shared by her co-stars saw fans branding her unrecognisable. Hitting back at hurtful comments with a make-up free selfie a day later, Laura said: 'I've purposefully put no filter on this. 'Yesterday I had such a good day filming with Jack and Alex and then Jack put up a picture of the three of us, which obviously is like, cute, but I got so much abuse. 'Like, "Laura doesn't look like Laura any more". It's really nice to read all those comments and I just think people need to get over the fact that a picture is just a picture. 'I wanted to come on here with no makeup on and I think I look fine, so thanks for the abuse. Anyway, positive love.' Getting there: Laura then later shared a clip of her newly-dyed brunette hair ahead of her extensions, with the Scottish beauty adding: 'This little mullet situation is what happens when you bleach your hair your whole life'New look: The reality star then revealed her longer tresses and ran her hands through her luxurious extensions as she displayed the finished resultLaura hit back after social media users highlighted the blonde's dramatically 'different' appearance. One wrote: 'OMG is that Laura !!!!!! I did not realise that was Laura!!!!! Another typed: 'That's not Laura!!! I didn't even recognise her!,' while a third chimed: 'wow laura doesn't even look like laura... is that even Laura....' (sic)Another follower referenced the reality star's cosmetic procedures as they added: 'I don't even recognise Laura since her surgery. Shame she was so pretty and didn't need to change her appearance at all.' (sic)The media personality has made no secret of having Botox and lip fillers in the past - treatments she claimed she planned before entering the villa in 2018. It's been a tough time for Laura who revealed earlier this month that she had split from her fitness coach boyfriend Tom just days after moving back to Scotland. Despite initially intending for Tom to join her in Glasgow six months into her move, it now seems their romance is off. Stirling born Laura told fans on an Instagram story: 'Thankyou for all the DMs asking about Tom and I since I moved up north. Abuse: Laura had been filming Love Island spin-off Where Are They Now? with Jack Fincham and Dr Alex George when a photo shared by her co-stars saw fans branding her recognisable'Unfortunately it hasn't worked out between us. In respect of Tom's privacy I won't be discussing this further. All my love to him and you all for continued support.' Although the pair never revealed exactly when they met, the couple went public with their romance in May and spent lockdown together at Laura's London flat. Laura, who moved to the swanky Park Circus area of Glasgow earlier in the month, said she had fully hoped Tom would join her in her new home. She had gushed that she'd never met anyone like him before adding: 'I'm still going to move to Scotland and Tom is looking to follow me up in the next six months. He's the cherry on top of the cake.' | 3 |
###CLAIM: remember how we thought hackers got into the so called development environment somehow?
###DOCS: SYLVIE DOUGLIS, BYLINE: This is PLANET MONEY from NPR. (SOUNDBITE OF COIN SPINNING)JACOB GOLDSTEIN, HOST:In December of last year, somebody at a cybersecurity company, a company called FireEye, noticed something just a tiny bit out of the ordinary. Somebody was logging in to the company's system using an employee's username and login, but they were using a different phone number than the employee had used before. DINA TEMPLE-RASTON, HOST:So people get new phone numbers. That's not the big deal. This particular company, though - FireEye - is in the computer security business. So they take this kind of thing really seriously. KEVIN MANDIA: So one of our staff members called the person, you know, whose account was used and said, hey, did you register a second phone? TEMPLE-RASTON: That's Kevin Mandia, the CEO of FireEye. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)MANDIA: And the gentleman said, no, I did not register that phone. So who did? GOLDSTEIN: Who indeed? TEMPLE-RASTON: Yeah. Well, so Mandia and his team at FireEye, they start trying to figure out exactly that. You know, how did some random person get into their network and end up registering a new phone? And the more they learned, the more worried Mandia got. MANDIA: It just felt like the breach that I was always worried about. We didn't know a lot at the time. It just felt like it was time to brace for impact. (SOUNDBITE OF ARNAUD RIGNON AND SEBASTIEN LANGOLFF'S "DARK WOOD")GOLDSTEIN: Hello, and welcome to PLANET MONEY. I'm Jacob Goldstein. TEMPLE-RASTON: And I'm Dina Temple-Raston. Today on the show, the story of a single hack that got inside some of the biggest corporations in the world and even deep inside the United States government itself. GOLDSTEIN: It was a particular style of hack that seems to be becoming more common. In fact, just today, Friday, May 28, as this show is about to go out, there is news of another, similar kind of hack. And I think our vulnerability to this particular kind of hack really tells us something not just about software and cybersecurity, but about the way business works today and about how it might need to change. (SOUNDBITE OF ARNAUD RIGNON AND SEBASTIEN LANGOLFF'S "DARK WOOD")GOLDSTEIN: Dina, you are on the breaking news investigative team here at NPR, and you have spent months working on this story, so why don't you just pick up where we left off with Kevin Mandia, the CEO of FireEye? TEMPLE-RASTON: Right. He's realized there's somebody who's not an employee who's inside their network, and that's a problem. MANDIA: So we had several weeks where I'm sitting here going, boy, I wonder how they broke in. And it is a terrible nag, Dina, when you're responding to a breach anywhere, whether it's your own house or someone else's house, and you don't know how they broke in. TEMPLE-RASTON: So FireEye is in the business of trying to figure out exactly that kind of thing. And that's what other companies typically pay them to do. And what they do is they try to think back to what the earliest evidence of compromise could be, you know, like where they might have seen some sort of stranger in their network or where that stranger could've come in. And they traced this back literally for weeks. And they think it all started with some software from a company called SolarWinds. MANDIA: So at that point, the only logical conclusion that I drew was something's wrong with the SolarWinds server. GOLDSTEIN: So SolarWinds - we know now that's what this big hack that this whole story is about came to be called, the SolarWinds hack. And I want to be honest with you. I've been sort of following that story, but I don't think I have ever really understood, like, what is SolarWinds? What is it? TEMPLE-RASTON: SolarWinds is a software company. And they make a bunch of different kinds of software, but the one that's at the center of this story is a software they make to manage computer networks. GOLDSTEIN: OK, so nothing to do with either the sun or the wind. If I'm thinking alternative energy, I'm entirely in the wrong universe. TEMPLE-RASTON: Entirely in the wrong - I have no idea what kind of - how they came up with the name. GOLDSTEIN: OK.TEMPLE-RASTON: What I can tell you is that it's what's called network management software. This is what IT people use basically so they can keep sort of an eye on the entire network. So, for example, you know, if you have that printer on the fifth floor that's always breaking down, they can see that on one screen. If there's a router that goes down, they can see all that on the same screen. So think of it as actually something that touches everything in a network. And the reason it's kind of genius to actually hack into something like network management software is because it touches everything. And it means if you're inside of it, then you can touch everything, too. GOLDSTEIN: So it's like if you're inside this, you can get inside of everything at a company, at an organization. Can you give me just, like, a list of companies and government agencies that were using SolarWinds when this happened? TEMPLE-RASTON: So one, obviously, is FireEye. GOLDSTEIN: That's the company we talked about at the beginning of the show that was running SolarWinds software and figured out that something was wrong. TEMPLE-RASTON: Right. But in addition to that, I mean, some really big companies were running the software - Microsoft, Intel, Cisco. Then if you look at the federal government, the Department of Homeland Security was running it. The Treasury was running it. Even parts of the Pentagon were. GOLDSTEIN: Wow. TEMPLE-RASTON: So this was something that was really widespread. And again, you'd never heard of it. I'd never heard of it. But the people who knew about this were the people who were in the back room of your IT department. And for those people, SolarWinds was everywhere. GOLDSTEIN: And we know that FireEye figures out that the SolarWinds server was hacked. And then Kevin Mandia, the CEO of FireEye, he tells SolarWinds, you know, you've got a problem here. TEMPLE-RASTON: And then SolarWinds does this incredibly surprising thing. It goes and tells the world. In fact, their CEO, Sudhakar Ramakrishna, was so focused on getting the whole story out, he even talked to us. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)SUDHAKAR RAMAKRISHNA: You forget about competition and competitors. And in that context, you - the right thing to do is to report. The right thing to do is to give them the ability to fix those issues and protect their customers. TEMPLE-RASTON: What he doesn't say is that everyone was probably going to find out anyway. GOLDSTEIN: Right, right. So now they have to figure out, you know, who hacked us, and how did they hack us. TEMPLE-RASTON: And in order to answer those questions, they need to call in an expert. And the expert they called was a guy named Adam Meyers. ADAM MEYERS: And so the first call we took, I'm sitting outside of my in-laws' house in the driver's seat of my vehicle. I'm sitting in the driver's seat, and I'm outside while everybody's inside, having this phone call with the lawyers. And we're kind of getting our arms around what was going on. TEMPLE-RASTON: Adam Meyers is a genius at reverse engineering. And what that means is he looks at the hack, and he looks at all the code, and he just sort of teases it out to try and figure out what each piece of code does, how it works, what its job is. And then once he figures that out, he just keeps digging deeper and deeper and deeper until he can essentially figure out the whole hack. GOLDSTEIN: So as best as he has figured it out, what is the story of this hack? TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, the first thing they realize is that this wasn't a regular hack, that actually it started in a place they hadn't expected. And the place where it started was in what they call their development environment. What it is is it's this - think of it as a clean room in a factory where you actually write the software, you write the patch, and then you actually seal it up before you send it to someone else, before you put it out for people to use the patch. GOLDSTEIN: And what happened in this sort of factory clean room where they're making the software patch? TEMPLE-RASTON: It seems that bad guys appeared to have snuck in. SolarWinds didn't have a clean environment. What they had was a development environment that was connected to a network that was connected to the internet. So that meant at the very last second - and this is what Meyers figured out. At that very last second, instead of having SolarWinds send out their own patch, the bad guys swapped it with their own. Meyers explained it with this metaphor. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)MEYERS: Let's go with Halloween candy, right? Like, when I was growing up, you used to have to check your Halloween candy 'cause somebody might have put a razor blade in your Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, right? GOLDSTEIN: So, OK, stay with this metaphor, right? In a typical hack, the hackers open the candy wrapper and stick the razor blade in. But, you know, now the wrapper is open. This is pretty easy to detect. But in this instance, in the SolarWinds hack, they did something much more clever and much more insidious. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)MEYERS: Imagine those Reese's Peanut Butter Cups going into the package, and just before the machine comes down and seals the package, some other thing comes in and slides a razor blade into your Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, right? So that is - you know, and then the package gets sealed and it goes out the door to the store. TEMPLE-RASTON: And that's why this hack was so effective, because when the software patch from SolarWinds goes out to all these big companies and government agencies, it looks like it's sealed software. But in fact, there's a razor blade - malware code, essentially - that's hiding inside. GOLDSTEIN: So there's this phrase, Dina, that I've seen in some of your reporting on this that as a sort of econ nerd interested in the cybersecurity stuff I got pretty excited about. And that phrase is supply chain hack, right? This has been called a supply chain hack. And so supply chain there refers to the idea - like in the same way we might think of, say, a car company having a supply chain, right? Like whatever - Ford buys parts from literally thousands of different companies. Software works kind of the same way, right? Like, the Department of Defense and Microsoft and Cisco - these companies don't just write their own software. They have a software supply chain - right? - all these little things like this software they're getting from SolarWinds. And so if you can hack into the supply chain, you can get everywhere with one hack. TEMPLE-RASTON: It's much more efficient. GOLDSTEIN: Yeah, it's much more efficient. It's a really good way to hack everybody all at once. TEMPLE-RASTON: Exactly. Instead of trying to break into the Treasury or the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security, just find a software that's ubiquitous, and break into that. And this is why people like Adam Meyers have been so worried about supply chain hacks. MEYERS: The reason that software supply chain keeps me up at night - you know, think about all the apps on your mobile device, on your tablet, on your computer. You're only as secure as the development environment that those were built in, and you're only as secure as the weakest link in that chain. TEMPLE-RASTON: And for a bunch of giant companies and federal agencies, the weakest link was SolarWinds. GOLDSTEIN: After the break, what the bad guys got, who the bad guys are and what the United States is doing to try to prevent this from happening again. (SOUNDBITE OF CESAR GIMENO LAVIN AND SIMON JOSEPH ALEXANDER JAMES' "THE DEVIL LIVES NEAR")GOLDSTEIN: The story so far - the bad guys got their razor blades into thousands of packages of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Those Reese's Peanut Butter Cups got sent to the Department of Defense and Microsoft and Cisco and everybody else. I get that it's big. I get that it's big. And, you know, there is one other, like, admission I have about this hack - is I don't really know what happened or what the implications are. What was the bad thing that happened because of this hack? TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, so there were two big things. The first is this was clearly an espionage operation. They were taking information out of networks. We don't know what it was, and nobody has really talked specifically about that. But we do know that, for example, they were reading emails from government officials, officials at DHS, officials at the Treasury. And the reason why that's important is because there's a lot of information that can be in an email. It could be an attachment or something like that. GOLDSTEIN: Sure, sure. TEMPLE-RASTON: The second thing that's worth...GOLDSTEIN: So just spying. So this is like straight-up very successful spy operation. TEMPLE-RASTON: We think so, right? GOLDSTEIN: Yeah. TEMPLE-RASTON: And that seems to be what the motivation was here. But the other thing that people aren't talking about quite as much - something called a backdoor. GOLDSTEIN: OK.TEMPLE-RASTON: And a backdoor is malicious code that you plant in a network for use later. What a backdoor allows you to do is, say, for example, steal emails later when everybody's relaxed. Or a backdoor could allow you to plant ransomware. Think about the Colonial Pipeline. That actually wasn't a hack. That was a ransomware attack. And their system was frozen until they paid a certain amount of money to some criminals. And the same thing could happen with SolarWinds. I mean, we don't know about it because this little piece of ransomware could be hidden in code that they haven't discovered yet. GOLDSTEIN: So we know the bad guys got in. We are pretty sure they were spying. And maybe they also planted some things that will allow them to do bad things in the future, we just don't know that part yet. TEMPLE-RASTON: Exactly. Exactly. GOLDSTEIN: So do we know who the bad guys are? TEMPLE-RASTON: We think we know. Russian intelligence, a group called the SVR, is thought to be behind this. And there are a couple of reasons for that. One, this was an incredibly sophisticated hack. Not only did they get into where they were actually building the software, but Adam Meyers told us they were super careful about covering their tracks so that there wouldn't be little clues that they might be able to find to tell them who was behind it. And that's the sort of thing that you see a nation-state do. And because of that...GOLDSTEIN: Like, it's just - like, a criminal wouldn't care that much. TEMPLE-RASTON: They don't care. GOLDSTEIN: Yeah, right. TEMPLE-RASTON: A criminal just wants their money, right? GOLDSTEIN: (Laughter) Right. TEMPLE-RASTON: But this was artful. This was artful. GOLDSTEIN: And so this new hack that we mentioned earlier in the show, this hack that we are just learning about today as the show is going out, it seems similar in some key ways to the SolarWinds hack. For one, it appears to have been done by the Russians. For another, it looks like it was another supply chain hack. And it is also targeting, ultimately, the U.S. government. In this case, the hackers apparently hacked an email service software that is used by lots of people, including government agencies. And then they used that hack to send malicious emails out into the world that looked like they were from this U.S. government agency. TEMPLE-RASTON: Exactly. GOLDSTEIN: So this is, like, kind of Cold War-ish, right? It's definitely country versus country. Like, this is Russia at some level - well, attacking is too strong a word, but Russia coming at the United States. TEMPLE-RASTON: Yeah, this is "Spy Vs. Spy" stuff. GOLDSTEIN: So what's the U.S. going to do about it? Is the U.S. going to hack back? Is that the way this works? Like you hacked us, we'll hack you? Did we already hack them and we don't know it? TEMPLE-RASTON: Possibly, although I suspect that, you know, everybody's sort of watching for it. But there's an entire military command, Cyber Command, and the National Security Agency, and their job is to do exactly that. And, you know, we were talking before about backdoors. Backdoors are put in in case you need them later, right? So a lot of people believe that after the Sony hack, once they had determined that North Korea was behind it, that the U.S. retaliated by turning off the internet in North Korea for a couple of days just to let them know, hey, we're in your systems, and you should be careful. We're watching you. Of course, the U.S. has never admitted that publicly. I mean, this is one of the reasons they call cyber the perfect weapon, because it's short of war and it's hard to attribute it. So you can do a lot of the same things you would do with what they call metal on steel, you know, kinetic things. You can do that just by using computer code. GOLDSTEIN: So one last thing in terms of, you know, what's coming next, what are we going to do about this - you, Dina, have reported on this executive order that President Biden just issued that's going to set standards. It's going to set rules, basically, for companies that sell software to the federal government. And the idea is that forcing companies to follow these rules should make supply chain hacks like SolarWinds less likely in the future. And I know you've described two of these rules that seem especially key, especially relevant here. What are they? TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, one is something they call provenance. And provenance basically means you have to tell us where all the code you're using comes from. And this is a big deal because it's cheaper to actually have software written in other countries because coders in a lot of other countries make a lot less money than coders in, say, Silicon Valley or coders in the United States more generally. GOLDSTEIN: OK.TEMPLE-RASTON: For example, some of SolarWinds' code was written in Eastern Europe. And apparently, the government didn't know that. GOLDSTEIN: OK.TEMPLE-RASTON: Now, nobody has connected that to the hack, but it's emblematic of a larger problem, which is that people don't know where the code in their software actually comes from. GOLDSTEIN: And so to be clear, it's OK to have your code - some of your code come from overseas or whatever, but you just have to be able to document for all of the code where each chunk came from. TEMPLE-RASTON: Yes, and whether or not - for example, the federal government may decide to go with a different company because they like where their code was built better, right? This...GOLDSTEIN: Right, right. TEMPLE-RASTON: ...Would be another consideration. Before, it was all about price, or it was largely about price - maybe reputation, but...GOLDSTEIN: Yeah. TEMPLE-RASTON: ...Largely about price. Now it's going to be much more about whether or not you can set up a defense in terms of knowing where your code is coming from, knowing how your code is made, knowing how you developed your software. Those are all really important things. GOLDSTEIN: So, OK, provenance - know where your code comes from. That is one of the new standards. What's the other one that's also important? TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, the other one really goes directly to the SolarWinds hack. Remember, we think hackers somehow got into the so-called development environment - right? - that digital place where engineers at SolarWinds actually write the code, build the software or build a patch. So this new standard will require that the development environment be essentially cut off from the internet. They call it air gapped. And so that would make it a lot more like a clean room in a factory. And to go back to the earlier Reese's Peanut Butter Cup metaphor, this should make it harder for hackers to sneak inside and slip those razor blades inside the sealed wrapper. GOLDSTEIN: So these kinds of changes - you know, requiring the place where the coders are writing software to be separated from the internet and requiring companies to know where all of the code comes from - these will make software safer and probably more expensive, right? It's making it less efficient in the name of safety. That's, like, a trade-off. The government is saying, let's make this trade-off at this point. TEMPLE-RASTON: Right, although hacks cost a lot of money, right? GOLDSTEIN: Yes. No, I agree. I agree. Yes. TEMPLE-RASTON: So it's unclear where the trade-off will be. GOLDSTEIN: So more expensive upfront but maybe cheaper in the long run. TEMPLE-RASTON: Right. GOLDSTEIN: And I do feel like it's interesting to think about this story in relation to the economy more generally - right? - because...TEMPLE-RASTON: Right. GOLDSTEIN: ...It seems like one of the big economic lessons of the pandemic is that what seemed optimally efficient in lots of industries - you know, automaking or whatever, this idea of, like, don't hold extra inventory, lean manufacturing - it turned out to be not very resilient. Once things started getting weird in the world, suddenly there are shortages of cars, shortages of everything. TEMPLE-RASTON: Right. GOLDSTEIN: And so this relentless pursuit of efficiency left us, left the economy vulnerable - surprisingly vulnerable. And it feels analogous to this SolarWinds story, where software is this incredibly efficient industry, and doing things like having programmers be networked and using code from all these different sources - these are very efficient practices that let people build really powerful software really cheaply. But what we're learning now with this hack is that, as you say, like, maybe that's not really most efficient in the long run even if it superficially seems so. TEMPLE-RASTON: Yeah, I'm not sure we learned that from this hack...GOLDSTEIN: (Laughter) Fair. TEMPLE-RASTON: ...'Cause I think that we've known for some time that this was a vulnerability. And there was never...GOLDSTEIN: Yeah. TEMPLE-RASTON: ...Really the impetus to have people say, let's not do it this way. They were chasing, you know, who could do it the most cheaply and not necessarily the most safely. And I think that what has happened as we've seen these hacks grow more and more sophisticated, I think there's a realization that the way we used to do things, we can't do them that way anymore and that we have to have defense much more in mind than we did in the past. (SOUNDBITE OF BERNARD BERNIE RUBINSTEIN AND JOHN MARK CACAVAS JR.'S "WIGGIN' ALONG")GOLDSTEIN: What other stories about spying should we do? Let us know. You can email us at [email protected]. You can also find us on many of the social media. We are @planetmoney. I'll note that we just hit our one-year anniversary on TikTok. If you haven't checked out PLANET MONEY TikTok yet, you should. It's strange and smart and great. Today's show was produced by Maria Paz Gutierrez with engineering help from Gilly Moon. Bryant Urstadt edited the show. Alex Goldmark is our supervising producer. I'm Jacob Goldstein. This is NPR. Thanks for listening. (SOUNDBITE OF BERNARD BERNIE RUBINSTEIN AND JOHN MARK CACAVAS JR.'S "WIGGIN' ALONG")Copyright 2021 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. | 1 |
###CLAIM: jane, krakowski, randy and jackson began to point their fingers in the air in an attempt to get across the incredibly tense atmosphere of the luxury sydney hotel as an angry gesture at a sit-down during a heated discussion outside.
###DOCS: Iconic US game show Name That Tune is currently being filmed in Australia for a reboot in 2021, hosted by Jane Krakowski and Randy Jackson. But on Wednesday, the show's popular presenters looked very tense during a heated discussion at their luxurious hotel in Sydney, as they dramatically gestured while sitting down to chat with a mystery pal. Actress Jane, 52 - who has previously appeared in 30 Rock and Ally McBeal - appeared to softly scowl at her co-host Randy while raising her hand in the air. Trouble on set? On Wednesday, Jane Krakowski and Randy Jackson looked incredibly tense during a heated discussion outside their luxury hotel in Sydney, as they angrily gestured while sitting down to chat with a mystery palShe appeared fuming at one stage, and began pointing her finger in the air in an attempt to get her point across. Meanwhile, Randy made a very animated display by lifting his hands into the air, while a bored Jane stared off into the distance beside him. The pair donned casual ensembles for the occasion, with Jane opting for a denim jacket and floral dress, while Randy, 64, wore a casual navy T-shirt. Although the live audience will be Australian, the contestants used in the show will all be Americans currently living Down Under. The show is being filmed at the Sydney Convention Centre in Darling Harbour. New project: While it's not know what the duo were discussing, they're currently very far away from home Down Under to film the show's reboot amid the COVID-19 pandemicFury: Jane appeared fuming at one stage, and began pointing her finger in the air in an attempt to get her point acrossComing soon: The pair's new show, which is being helmed by Australian company Eureka, is set to premiere on Fox on January 6 in the U.S. Fame: Music-industry executive and former American Idol judge Randy Jackson will be bandleader in the new showName That Tune originally ran from 1953 to 1959, and was then revived in the 1970s and 1980s. The 2020 version will feature an 'assortment of challenging musical games' toward a $100,000 grand prize. The show, which is being helmed by Australian company Eureka, is set to premiere on Fox on January 6 in the U.S. | 1 |
###CLAIM: vail and resorts, which owns resorts in the united states and canada and 34 percent of resort operations, went a step further in requiring reservations.
###DOCS: FILE - In this Nov. 25, 2020, file photo, skiers enjoy freshly-made snow on Aspen Mountain's opening day of the ski season in Aspen, Colo. Ski areas across the United States experienced a strong rebound this winter season despite public health restrictions put in place amid the coronavirus pandemic. Skier visits to U.S. resorts totaled 59 million this winter season, the fifth best on record, according to the Colorado-based National Ski Areas Association. A visit is considered the use of a lift ticket for any part of the day. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times via AP, File)FILE - In this Nov. 25, 2020, file photo, skiers enjoy freshly-made snow on Aspen Mountain's opening day of the ski season in Aspen, Colo. Ski areas across the United States experienced a strong rebound this winter season despite public health restrictions put in place amid the coronavirus pandemic. Skier visits to U.S. resorts totaled 59 million this winter season, the fifth best on record, according to the Colorado-based National Ski Areas Association. A visit is considered the use of a lift ticket for any part of the day. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times via AP, File)DENVER (AP) Ski areas across the United States experienced a strong rebound this winter despite public health restrictions put in place amid the coronavirus pandemic. Skier visits to U.S. resorts totaled 59 million for the season, the fifth best on record, according to the Colorado-based National Ski Areas Association. What a year it has been, said Kelly Pawlak, association president and CEO. From utter uncertainty to a top-10 season in terms of participation, it shows the wide spectrum that our industry bridged this year.Resorts across the country were forced to close in spring 2020, and many mountain communities were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 early in the pandemic. The U.S. ski industry lost at least $2 billion that winter, and skier visits fell 14% compared with the 2018-2019 season. U.S. ski areas tallied about 51.1 million visits in the shortened season. A visit is considered the use of a lift ticket for any part of the day. ADVERTISEMENTBut about seven months later, chairlifts started turning again, and guests embraced a new normal while skiing and snowboarding. They wore masks, rode lifts only with their groups, and stood 6 feet (1.8 meters) apart in lines, or about the length of a typical ski. There was no dine-in service and no large gatherings for apres-ski drinks. Vail Resorts, which owns 34 resorts in the United States and Canada, went a step further by requiring reservations. But even with the restrictions, skiers and snowboarders werent deterred, and 78% of ski area operators said this season exceeded their expectations, according to a National Ski Areas Association survey. Americans yearned for safe outdoor recreation, and ski areas across the country delivered, Pawlak said. Katherine Fuller, a spokeswoman for Colorados Arapahoe Basin ski area, said the season was definitely a hard one for all of us.But people wanted to ski and ride, and it felt kind of at times like one of the few things you could do because it was all outside, she said. We just kind of just sort of rolled with it, and it worked out. It was far better than we expected. I think people really enjoyed themselves.The ski area near the Continental Divide restricted the number of skiers and snowboarders allowed on the mountain each day based on terrain, the number of lifts running and public health orders at the time. It closed out its winter season Sunday. The average U.S. ski area was open for 112 days this past season, up from 99 days in the shortened 2019-20 season, according to the association. Most ski areas remained open as long as they had initially planned. Meanwhile, small and medium-sized ski areas, which are defined by lift capacity, performed well because more guests chose to stay close to home for ski trips. Capacity restrictions, remote work opportunities and school flexibility also meant more skiers and riders hit the slopes on weekdays, easing some of the congestion typical of weekends and holidays. People had to change their habits during the pandemic, and ski areas were no different, Pawlak said. We tried new things and quickly learned that not only did they function as planned, but many of these work-arounds improved the experience for our guests and staff members.The National Ski Areas Association is a trade group for ski area owners and operators and represents more than 300 alpine resorts that account for more than 90% of skier and snowboarder visits nationwide. The organization has been tracking ski area visitation since 1978. | 0 |
###CLAIM: across the sector, hospitality and leisure, industries which suffered trade losses in the first months of the virus lockdown, had the most worrying figures.
###DOCS: Online shopping giants are celebrating a boom in profits today as the High Street gets set to see yet more tumbling sales in the face of another lockdown. While Britain's High Streets may have suffered irreparable losses in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, online stores have seen a surge in orders with fashion giants Asos and Boohoo leading the way. Asos has seen its profits more than quadruple, buoyed by higher demand as customers are forced to shop on the internet and return fewer items amid the crisis. The firm reported pre-tax profits of 142.1 million for the year to August 31, up 329% from 33.1 million a year earlier, as sales jumped 19% including 18% growth in the UK. Online takeaway platform Just Eat today revealed that hungry households in the UK ordered 46.4 million takeaways in the three months to the end of September. The number of orders it received leapt from 103.6m to 151.4m from July to September - sending shares surging to a record high of 9410p, making it worth almost 14bn. Supermarkets also recorded their busiest week since March as families prepared for new lockdown restrictions, according to the latest industry figures. Web sales grew by 76% year-on-year with a fifth of all households ordering food online. Britons spent an extra 261m on alcohol as the 10pm curfew for bars, pubs and restaurants came into force on September 24 and the Eat Out to Help Out scheme ended. But while online outlets see profits soar, the future of the high street is hanging in the balance as a second lockdown looms. A fifth of business bosses in the UK have warned they will need to axe up to 10 per cent of their workforce by the end of the year, a new survey has revealed. Asos has seen its profits more than quadruple as customers are forced to shop online and return fewer items amid the crisisJust Eat's market value has soared skywardsStamp duty holiday leads to mini-boom in the housing market And Housebuilder Barratt Developments has notched up a 24% hike in sales since July as homebuyer demand remains strong since the coronavirus lockdown. Altough Profits slumped by 46 per cent to 492million in the year to the end of June, Barratt said it agreed sales on 4,032 homes between July 1 and October 11, up from 3,252 a year earlier. It expects to see a rise in completions to between 14,500 and 15,000 this financial year, with another 650 from joint ventures. Barratt chief executive David Thomas hailed 'continuing strong customer demand' as the UK property market enjoys a mini-boom since lockdown, boosted by a stamp duty holiday on houses worth up to 500,000. House prices enjoyed their biggest annual rise for more than four years in September, according to the latest Halifax index. The data last week showed prices jumped 7.3% annually in September to 249,870 and rose 1.6% month-on-month. But experts have warned that the boom may fizzle out as unemployment picks up and the stamp duty break ends next spring. Barratt gave a bullish outlook for new homes, confirming a total forward book of 3.65 billion, up nearly a fifth on a year earlier. It said high loan-to-value mortgage deals had dried up for homebuyers amid the pandemic, meaning many first-time purchasers are reliant on the Government's Help to Buy scheme. More than half - 51% - of all private sales reservations used Help to Buy since July 1, of which 74% were first-time buyers, according to the group. But Help to Buy is due to come to an end on March 31 next year, when the stamp duty holiday also comes to a close. Barratt said it had ramped up building work to offset the impact of temporary site closures during lockdown, with 33 new developments launched since July. It is working towards a target of building 20,000 homes homes annually within the next few years. AdvertisementA raft of popular high street stores including Oasis, Laura Ashley, Debenhams and Warehouse shut up shop after being forced into administration when the UK went into lockdown. Asos shrugged off soaring costs due to the pandemic by making savings across the group, while a trend for customers to buy more carefully and return less also offset plunging demand for 'going-out' items. This helped deliver a profit tailwind of around 45 million, according to the group. It said it had made a 'solid start' to the new year and expects an ongoing increase in underlying profits. But it cautioned over the outlook for consumer demand as it said 'economic prospects and lifestyles of 20-somethings remain disrupted' due to the coronavirus crisis. Nick Beighton, chief executive of Asos, said: 'Life for our 20-something customers is unlikely to return to normal for quite some time.' But he said in the face of the pandemic, Asos had 'met this challenge head on'. The group upped its full-year profit outlook in August as it said customers were being more careful about what they buy to avoid sending clothes back during the crisis. It said shoppers were returning fewer items because they have changed what they buy on the site, switching from formalwear to products such as activewear and mascara, which are less likely to be sent back in normal times. Asos said UK customer numbers rose 11% over the year to 7 million. Meanwhile the pandemic has helped online food giants, with more families opting to eat in as restrictions increase in the face of a second wave. Just Eat Takeaway.com said the growth helped the business accelerate away from its competitors, aided by signing up McDonald's and Greggs to the platform. Globally, the Dutch-based business Just Eat saw orders of 151.4 million in the third quarter of 2020, bringing the total to 408.3 million in the first nine months of the year. The boost came despite the Eat Out to Help Out scheme launched by the Government during the period, which Just Eat said failed to dent orders. Just Eat Takeaway.com has been on a buying spree of rivals in recent years to cement its position as the world's biggest online takeaway platform - with a takeover of Grubhub approved on October 7. The UK saw strong growth in orders with 123.2 million placed in the first nine months of the year - up 27% on the first nine months of 2019. The speed of growth increased significantly during the third quarter - up 43% on a year-on-year basis - although the company's fastest-growing region was Australia with increases of more than 100%. The seven days from September 21 to 27 were the busiest for supermarkets since March, with 107m trips recorded, although this was still well below the 175m weekly trips seen prior to the first national lockdown. Sales grew by 10.6% in the four weeks to October 4, up from 8pc in the previous month, Kantar said. Sales of toilet roll and flour rose 64pc and by 73pc respectively during the week - but beyond this there was little evidence of panic buying, the report said. Online-only grocer Ocado, which started a new partnership with Marks & Spencer on September 1, remained the fastest growing supermarket overall, recording 41.9pc growth in the 12 weeks to October 4. A swashbuckling new wave of stock market winners has emerged during the pandemic, cashing in on the changing habits brought about by lockdown and social distancingOnline profits at Asos, Boohoo and Ocado soar - as High Street shops slump ASOS For the year to 31 August, the group saw its pre-tax profits rise 329 per cent to 142.1million, up from 33.1million the year before. BOOHOO In the six months to 31 August, Boohoo saw its profits to 68.1million, up from 45.2million a year ago. BARRATT HOMES Profits slumped by 46 per cent to 492million in the year to the end of June. OCADO Huge rise in sales during the 13 weeks to September 1: quarterly revenue surged by 52 per cent to 587million compared with the same period of last year. Management expects full-year cash profits for the overall company of at least 40m significantly higher than the median consensus forecast of 26m. TESCO Pre-tax profit for the 26 weeks to 29 August was 551m, 28.7% up on 2019. AMAZON Amazon's world sales jumped by 40 per cent to $88.9billion in the second quarter of 2020 compared to $66.3billion over the same period in 2019. AdvertisementSupermarket sales surge as customers turn to indoor drinking amid 10pm curfew Ocado: The online-only grocer, which started a new partnership with Marks & Spencer on September 1, remained the fastest growing supermarket overall, recording 41.9pc growth in the 12 weeks to October 4. Waitrose: The upmarket supermarket's online business grew even faster, thanks to rapid expansion in its own delivery slots following the end of its deal with Ocado. Morrisons: Continued to be the best performer among the big four with 11.5pc sales growth. Tesco: Tesco held fast to its 26.9pc market share with 9.2pc sales growth, after its new boss Ken Murphy said it had gained customers from the German discounters. Sainsburys and Asda: The giants, which were bought this month by the Issa brothers, lost share with relatively lacklustre revenue growth of just 6.8pc and 5.4pc respectively. Aldi and Lidl: The pandemic has halted the march of the discounters, with Aldi and Lidl unable to make gains due to the fact they do not have online businesses. Iceland: Grew 17.3pc, taking its market share to 2.3pc. AdvertisementIt was the only retailer to increase the number of shoppers using its service, adding 22,000 customers, according to Kantar, and its share of the market rose from 1.4pc to 1.8pc. However, Waitroses online business grew even faster, thanks to rapid expansion in its own delivery slots following the end of its deal with Ocado. Once its stores are taken into account, sales were up 8.9pc, enough to maintain its 5pc market share. Morrisons continued to be the best performer among the big four with 11.5pc sales growth. Tesco held fast to its 26.9pc market share with 9.2pc sales growth, after its new boss Ken Murphy said it had gained customers from the German discounters. Sainsburys and Asda, which was bought this month by the Issa brothers, lost share with relatively lacklustre revenue growth of just 6.8pc and 5.4pc respectively. The pandemic has halted the march of the discounters, with Aldi and Lidl unable to make gains due to the fact they do not have online businesses. Iceland, which will mark its 50th birthday next month, grew 17.3pc, taking its market share to 2.3pc. Fraser McKevitt, head of retail at Kantar, said: Shoppers are moving a greater proportion of their eating and drinking back into the home. White collar jobs carnage at Christmas: FIFTH of UK bosses expect to axe up to 10% of workers by end of year - with office staff in legal and health among hardest hitBy James Robinson for MailOnlineA fifth of business bosses in the UK believe they will need to axe up to 10 per cent of their workforce by the end of the year, amid fears hundreds of thousands more people are set to become victims of the coronavirus jobs bloodbath, a new survey has revealed. Bosses of large (more than 250 employees) and medium (50-249 staff) businesses, firms in the hospitality sector and those in Scotland and Wales were most likely to make the biggest cuts, with some warning of cuts of up to 60 per cent of their workforce, the YouGov figures reveal. The data reveals nearly a fifth (18 per cent) of education-based businesses could also make cuts of between 20 and 29 per cent of their workforce by the New Year, while a third of bosses at legal firms across the UK believe they will have to cut up to 10 per cent of their staff. Almost a quarter of bosses involved in white collar industries such as media and marketing, medical and health services and finance and accounting also believe they will have to make 10 per cent cuts to their workforce by the end of 2020, the survey results show. But the outlook was better for microbusinesses (between one and ten employees), where 70 per cent said they did not plan cuts, while the retail industry, hit by months of loss of trade during lockdown, also led the way in terms of bosses not planning cuts. It comes as figures yesterday revealed how hundreds of thousands of people had already lost their jobs following the coronavirus outbreak, with the number of UK redundancies now rising at its fastest rate since the 2008 financial crisis, as unemployment surged to 1.5million. Guide to the graphs on the right: Each bar represents a type of industry or business type. Each colour represents the size of the cut - from none to 90-100 per cent and those who don't know. The larger the size of the bar, the more bosses in that sector or type of business plan to make that level of cut. For example, almost 70 per cent of micro-businesses believe they won't make cuts, represented by a large green bar. Covid-hit hospitality industry is set for a hammering, according to new YouGov poll Business across all of the UK's major sectors are set to make job cuts by the end of the year, according to a new YouGov poll. Firms in all major sectors are planning cuts of 10 per cent or more of their workforce, the survey, which polled more than 1,000 bosses at GB companies at the end of last month, revealed. More than 30 per cent of bosses at legal firms admitted they could make cuts by Christmas, while other white collar roles in finance (23 per cent) and real estate (26 per cent) were also at risk. Behind that were blue collar roles including in transportation and distribution (26 per cent), construction (22 per cent) and manufacturing (19 per cent). But while these industries led the way in terms of potential small cuts, it was hospitality sector bosses that warned of larger cuts. Two per cent of hospitality business owners said they could lose 90 to 100 per cent of their workforce by Christmas, while seven per cent said they could cut half or more (50-59 per cent) of their workforce by Christmas. The nearest industries to that were retail, finance and accounting, media and advertising, as well as transportation, all of which three per cent of businesses bosses said they could cut half of more of their workforce by the end of the year. Around 15 per cent of hospitality business owners said they could slash around a quarter of their workforce in the coming months. AdvertisementThe figure was even higher among bosses at large businesses (more than 250 people), 26 per cent of whom said they believed they would have to cut around 10 per cent of their workforce by the end of December. Five percent said they would have to axe a third (between 30-39 per cent) of their workforce by the end of 2020, while one per cent suggested that the whole business could go altogether. Within medium businesses (50-249 employees), four per cent of bosses said they would have to lay off at least 50 per cent of employees - matching the response by micro-business owners (less than 10 employees) and double the 2 per cent of small business owners (10 to 49 employees). Across sectors, hospitality and leisure, an industry which suffered months of lost trade during the first coronavirus lockdown, has the most worrying figures. Two per cent of hospitality business owners said they could lose 90 to 100 per cent of their workforce by Christmas, while seven per cent said they could cut half or more (50-59 per cent) of their workforce by Christmas. The nearest industries to that were retail, finance and accounting, media and advertising, as well as transportation, all of which three per cent of businesses bosses said they could cut half of more of their workforce by the end of the year. Around 15 per cent of hospitality business owners said they could slash around a quarter of their workforce in the coming months. But it was in the legal industry where most small cuts could be made, with 32 per cent of bosses saying they could axe between one and nine per cent of their workforce by the end of December. Others planning small cuts (between one and per cent) include in the medical and health industry (25 per cent), transportation and distribution (26 per cent) and real estate (26 per cent). In terms of regions, it was Wales and Scotland who both face the risk of the biggest cuts, according to the survey. Four per cent of business chiefs in Wales warned they could cut between 70-79 per cent of their workforce by the end of the year, matched only be the North East (also 4 per cent), while five per cent said they could cut between 50-59 per cent - followed by Scotland (four per cent) and the West Midlands (four per cent). In terms of small cuts (between one and nine per cent), the highest was in the West Midlands, where 27 per cent of business chiefs said they could make the cuts by the end of 2020, followed Yorkshire and Humberside (22 per cent) and the coronavirus-hit North West (20 per cent). The East of England was the region highest for business bosses warning they could axe all of their employees, while it was in the East and West Midlands where most business bosses warned they could make cuts of between 30 and 49 per cent. However London was far from immune, with 14 per cent of businesses saying they could make cuts of between one and nine per cent in the lead up to Christmas, while 10 per cent said they could cut between 10 and 19 per cent. More than 20 per cent of key decision makers who took part in the YouGov survey, of 1,108 of business chiefs in the last week of September, believe they will have to cut around 10 per cent of their workforce ahead of the New Year. The figure was even higher among bosses at large businesses (more than 250 people), 26 per cent of whom said they believed they would have to cut around 10 per cent of their workforce by the end of December. After the total death toll from the pandemic climbed above a million victims, the Washington-based watchdog yesterday spelled out the devastating global impact of the virus on the economy. In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF predicted the crisis would leave financial scars for years while the recovery would be 'long, uneven and uncertain'. It also forecast the total loss in output triggered by the pandemic will hit $28trillion (21trillion) by the middle of the decade. This is a dent worth more than the size of the US economy, the largest in the world. Gita Gopinath, chief economist at the IMF, said this 'represents a severe setback to the improvement in average living standards across all country groups'. She added: 'This crisis will likely leave scars well into the medium term as labour markets take time to heal, investment is held back by uncertainty and balance sheet problems and lost schooling impairs human capital. 'All countries are now facing what I would call The Long Ascent a difficult climb that will be long, uneven, and uncertain. And prone to setbacks. 'The path ahead is clouded with extraordinary uncertainty. Faster progress on health measures, such as vaccines and therapies, could speed up the ascent. But it could also get worse, especially if there is a significant increase in severe outbreaks.' Despite all this, the IMF has become marginally more optimistic since the summer, predicting the global economy will shrink 4.4 per cent this year. AdvertisementCompanies aged between five and 10 years old and those with histories longer than 25 years were most likely to make cuts, according to the survey. Using data from the pll, hospitality jobs in established businesses in Wales or Scotland are most of risk of large cuts, while legal firms in the West Midlands, London or the South east were most likely to make small cuts (between one to nine per cent of the workforce). Other areas raised in the survey include the thoughts of business chiefs over the government's support of firms. Around half (48 per cent) believe the government has done enough to support firms through the pandemic, but 42 per cent believed it was not enough. Of those, the largest group were small businesses bosses (45 per cent), followed by micro-businesses, 44 per cent of which say the support they have received from the government hasn't been enough. Meanwhile, a quarter of bosses from small businesses surveyed warned it could take up to two years to recover from the impact of the pandemic. The figure was around 20 per cent for medium and large businesses. The results of the survey came as yesterday it was revealed that the number of UK redundancies has risen at its fastest rate since the 2008 financial crisis, as unemployment surged to 1.5million. Figures by the Office of National Statistics show 156,000 were made redundant in the three months to July - an increase of 48,000 from the three months to the end of May, and the sharpest quarterly rise since 2009 - when Britain was in the grip of the global financial crisis. In the three months to August, the number of jobless people rose by 138,000 quarter on quarter to 1.52million in the three months to August - the highest since 2017. The unemployment rate rose to 4.5 per cent, from 4.1 per cent in the prior three months. The Office for National Statistics added that the number of UK workers on company payrolls fell by 673,000 between March and September, despite edging up by 20,000 last month. The FTSE 100 index of Britain's leading companies was down 0.6 per cent or 35 points to 5,967 yesterday following the news, which added to concerns about the economic impact of new coronavirus-led business restrictions. ONS deputy national statistician Jonathan Athow said: 'Since the start of the pandemic there has been a sharp increase in those out of work and job-hunting but more people telling us they are not actively looking for work. 'There has also been a stark rise in the number of people who have recently been made redundant.' The scheme will come to an end on October 31. But there was a small dose of cheer as the data showed a sign of recovery in vacancies, which surged by a record 144,000 to 488,000 between July and September. Despite this, vacancies still remain below pre-coronavirus levels and 40.5 per cent lower than a year earlier. The ONS also said regular pay, excluding bonuses, grew by 0.8 per cent in the three months to August, although average total pay, including bonuses, was unchanged. Chancellor Rishi Sunak insisted the Government's Plan for Jobs would help protect employment and 'ensure nobody is left without hope'. "With venues forced to close at 10pm and the Christmas party season cancelled, profits from party wear will be thin. Job prospects are uncertain for its core group of customers in their 20s and so the company will have to be very choosy about the ranges and prices it offers." | 2 |
###CLAIM: how dare the great patriots strip a sacred landslide election victory from them unceasingly and viciously.
###DOCS: Comment on this story Comment Gift Article SharePresident Trump broke any number of laws and norms during his ruinous four-year reign. He just added one more on the way out: treason. He lost the House in 2018. He lost the presidency in November. He lost the Senate on Tuesday. And on Wednesday, with nothing left to lose, he rallied a violent mob to attack the U.S. Capitol in hopes of pressuring lawmakers to toss out the election results, ignore the will of the people, and install him as president for another term. Trump fomented a deadly insurrection against the U.S. Congress to prevent a duly-elected president from taking office. Treason is not a word to be used lightly, but that is its textbook definition. We will not take it anymore, and thats what this is all about, he told a sea of MAGA fans and Proud Boys on the Ellipse outside the White House at noon. From behind bulletproof glass, he told them: If you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore.AdvertisementEarlier, Trump ally Rudy Giuliani had proposed, to the same crowd, a trial by combat to resolve Trumps election complaints. And Donald Trump Jr. delivered a political threat to lawmakers who dont vote to reject the election results: Were coming for you.Republicans repeatedly made false claims about the election and encouraged unrest ahead of violent scenes in the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 6. (Video: The Washington Post)The elder Trump worked the crowd into a frenzy with his claim that victory had been stolen from him by explosions of bullshit.Bullshit! Bullshit! the mob chanted. Follow Dana Milbank 's opinions Follow AddTrump instructed his supporters to march to the Capitol and Ill be there with you to demand that Congress do the right thing and not count the electoral votes of swing states he lost. Youll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong, he admonished them, with CYA instructions to make themselves heard peacefully and patriotically.AdvertisementWink, wink. Were going to the Capitol, he told the mob. With that, Trump snuck back into the safety of the White House fortress. But his supporters, thus riled, marched to the Capitol and breached the barricades. They overpowered Capitol Police, climbed scaffolding, scaled walls, shattered glass, busted into the Senate chamber and stood at the presiding officers desk, and broke into Speaker Nancy Pelosis hastily abandoned office. They marauded about the Rotunda and Statuary Hall wearing MAGA hats, carrying Confederate flags, posing for souvenir photos and scribbling graffiti (Murder the Media). Police rushed legislative leaders to safety. They barricaded doors to the House chamber and drew guns to protect lawmakers sheltering inside. They fired tear gas at the attackers. Shots were fired inside the Capitol; a bloodied woman who was wheeled out later died. The District of Columbia declared a curfew. And even then it took Trump nearly three hours before he released a video telling those ransacking the Capitol to go home even as he glorified the violence by saying these are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots.AdvertisementBefore he lost the election, Trump refused to commit to the peaceful transfer of power. During the campaign, he defended militia violence and told his violent white nationalist supporters to stand by part of a well-documented pattern of encouraging violence since he launched his first campaign in 2015. Yet, somehow, the men in the Capitol who enabled Trump for all those years were shocked that he would unleash a mob against Congress. What is unfolding is unacceptable and un-American, declared House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who just hours earlier had announced he would support Trumps effort to annul the electoral college count. Violence is always unacceptable, tut-tutted Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who along with Josh Hawley of Missouri was leading the effort in the Senate to nullify the election results. Just moments before the MAGA mob burst into the chamber, Cruz gave a speech saying democracy is in crisis because many Americans think the election was rigged in large part because Cruz et al. kept telling them so. AdvertisementAs Trumps goons began taking over the Capitol, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who had called the attempt to set aside the electoral college tally an egregious ploy, yelled at Cruz and his co-conspirators: This is what youve gotten, guys. Romney later issued a statement saying: What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the president of the United States. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 House GOP leader, told Fox News: The president formed the mob. The president incited the mob. The president addressed the mob. He lit the flame.Trumps inept legal challenges amounted to a clownish coup attempt. The Cruz-Hawley scheme amounted to a bloodless coup attempt. And now, Trump has induced his MAGA mob to a violent coup attempt. As it happens, moments before the barbarians busted into the Senate chamber, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, long among the most faithful Trump enablers, had denounced the effort to overturn the election. AdvertisementThe voters, the courts and the states have all spoken, an emotional McConnell said, in perhaps the finest speech of his long career. If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral.Or maybe the spiral has already begun. Most Americans never imagined they would see such banana-republic images of violence from the seat of American democracy. But Wednesdays mayhem and violence form a predictable coda to a presidency that has brought us far too much of both. Republicans must now decide whether they are going to return to being the party of small government, individual liberties and national strength, or to continue being the Trump and Cruz party of violence, racism and authoritarianism. Are they small-d democrats or are they fascists? After Wednesdays terrible scene, they must choose. AdvertisementSign up to receive my columns in your inbox as soon as theyre published. Read more:GiftOutline Gift Article | 0 |
###CLAIM: while reports say the patriots have been quiet thus far, plenty of speculation has been swirling about stephon and gilmore, the golden state cornerback.
###DOCS: Bill Belichick has never been afraid to dive into the trade market, but the Patriots could be sellers this deadline instead of buyers. In their first season without Tom Brady, and heading into Sundays AFC East showdown against the Bills with a 2-4 record, the Patriots have told teams theyd listen on almost anyone, according to MMQB.com. While the report said the Patriots have been quiet thus far, theres plenty of speculation swirling around All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore. The reigning AP Defensive Player of the Year, who recently came back from a case of COVID-19, has one year left on his contract at a $17 million cap hit. The Patriots previously shopped Gilmore before the 2020 NFL Draft and later during training camp, MMQB reported, but the rumors were stoked Thursday when the 30-year-olds home went on the market. The listing for the house, which belongs to Gilmores wife according to NBC Sports Boston, included the line: All offers if any due on Tuesday, November 3rd @ 5PM. The NFL trade deadline just happens to be Nov. 3 at 4 p.m.Yeah, I dont know anything about those, Belichick said Thursday when asked about the Gilmore trade rumors. Steph works hard and is always ready to go, Belichick added. Weve changed up what hes done. Hes a very flexible player that understands what were trying to do and how it all fits together and works hard to do his job at it.Gilmores status is in question after he left Thursdays practice with a knee injury, putting his availability for Sundays game in question. NFL Network reported the injury was considered minor.Friday, Belichick said the result of Sundays game against the Bills wouldnt determine the Patriots trade deadline, according to the Boston Globe. I dont think so, Belichick told reporters. Ultimately whatever decision we make would be to do whats in the best interests of the team. | 0 |
###CLAIM: joey and wendle tied the game at 3-3 with run-scoring singles and choi finished with three rbis.
###DOCS: EditorsNote: Adds career high note on the four hits in first graphSlideshow ( 28 images )Ji-Man Choi had a career-high four hits with two RBIs as the host Tampa Bay Rays routed the Los Angeles Angels, 13-3, on Saturday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Rays totaled 15 hits including home runs by Manuel Margot and Mike Zunino, and won their fourth in a row. Tampa Bay will aim for a three-game sweep on Sunday as the Angels dropped their fifth consecutive game. Choi broke an 0-for-14 stretch with his single in the fourth inning, which contributed to a four-run frame for the Rays in which they took the lead for good. Trailing 3-2, Joey Wendle tied the game with an RBI single and Brett Phillips, who finished with three RBI, hit a two-run triple that scored Choi and Wendle. Tampa Bay scored 11 consecutive runs. Randy Arozarena went 3-for-4 with an RBI while Phillips and Austin Meadows each had two hits. Rookie Shane McClanahan (3-2) pitched a career-high six innings for the second consecutive start, and allowed three runs on four hits while striking out seven and walking two on 87 pitches. Margots two-run home run in the bottom of the second gave the Rays an early 2-0 lead. The Angels answered in the top of the third hitting three doubles off McClanahan, which led to three runs. Shohei Ohtanis RBI double scored Juan Lagares, and a two-run double, two batters later, by Anthony Rendon put Los Angeles in front 3-2. After his triple, Phillips scored on a wild pitch by Angels starter Alex Cobb (5-3), who exited after four innings. Cobb gave up six runs on six hits, walked one and struck out three on 79 pitches. Cobb, a former starting pitcher for the Rays from 2011-2017, has still never beaten his former team, and fell to 0-6 in eight career starts against them. The Rays broke the game open with five more runs in the seventh inning as Phillips drove in two, Choi and Arozarena drove in one, and rookie Wander Franco drew a walk with the bases loaded. --Field Level Media | 1 |
###CLAIM: `` we usually prepare elaborate meals the night before, but this was an early one, '' said a young woman making fresh food items.
###DOCS: A home cook has been hailed the 'best girlfriend ever' for creating gourmet breakfasts and lunches including sushi rolls, grilled chicken wraps and homemade dumplings for her tradie boyfriend. The woman, from New Zealand, has gained a huge following TikTok for documenting the elaborate meals she prepares for her partner every day. She said her boyfriend works long hours so she ensures his bag is always packed to the brim with breakfast, lunch and snack items. For one of his daily meals, she made a McDonald's inspired bacon and eggs McMuffins with crispy hash browns, homemade teriyaki chicken wing nibbles with sesame seeds and bao buns with sticky char siu pork. Scroll down for videoA home cook has been hailed the 'best girlfriend ever' for creating gourmet breakfasts and lunches including McDonald's-inspired bacon and egg McMuffins with hash browns (left) and sticky pork bao buns (right)'I cooked the pork slowly in the oven, adding the sauce every so often so the flavour goes all throughout the meal,' she explained. On another day, she made a gourmet bacon and egg sandwich with tomatoes and lettuce, topped with Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise for his breakfast. For lunch, she prepared a Japanese-inspired donburi bowl with fried karaage chicken, rice, lettuce and shredded carrots with Kewpie mayonnaise. She also steamed up homemade dumplings and made two different dipping sauces. On another day, she made a gourmet bacon and egg sandwich with tomatoes and lettuce, topped with Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise for his breakfast. For lunch, she prepared a Japanese-inspired donburi bowl with fried karaage chicken, rice, lettuce and shredded carrots with Kewpie mayonnaiseFor one of her boyfriend's lunches, she made homemade chicken and avocado sushi rollsIn a third video, she whipped up mini pancakes, a grilled garlic and herb chicken wrap with a fresh salad and Kewpie mayonnaise and heaps of snacks. 'He works long hours so snacks, snacks and more snacks to keep him going,' she explained, showing a clip of cashew nuts, green pea crisps, cookies and chocolate. In her latest video, she made a gourmet bacon and egg muffins with lettuce and tomato, homemade banana bread, and chicken with avocado sushi. The young woman said she usually prepares the elaborate meals the night before but she's usually up early to make the fresh food items. 'I go to work as well. I usually get up around 5.30am to 6am depending on how much I've prepped the night before or not,' she said. She whipped up mini pancakes, a grilled garlic and herb chicken wrap with a fresh salad and Kewpie mayonnaise and heaps of snacksAnd while she prepares plenty of options for her boyfriend to eat, she said 'somedays he doesn't eat it all, and somedays he does - depends how hungry he is.' Her videos have since been viewed collectively more than 570,000 times, with many calling her a 'keeper' while others begged her to make their lunches. 'He's so lucky to have you,' one wrote, while another woman joked: 'Yum, can you be my wife? I hope my husband doesn't see this.' While one said: 'I've never been more jealous in my life.' Others asked her whether her boyfriend returns the favour, to which she replied: 'He helps me out in other ways that makes life easier but he always shows his appreciation and love.' | 0 |
###CLAIM: just 4 months after the testosterone started, the mastectomy was approved, which we were told was traumatic.
###DOCS: Ten years ago, gender dysphoria was a fairly short entry in abnormal psychology textbooks. It was a condition so obscure, that most people had never heard of it. Thats changed. Now, if youve got children in school, you know how common that disorder has become. In some places, a third of the girls in a given class identify as a gender other than the one on their birth certificates. Most of them dont mean it. Five years from now, theyll have moved on. Theyre going through what we used to call "a phase." But for an increasingly large number of children, that phase will not end. Therapists will steer those kids to doctors, who will almost immediately give them powerful sex hormones, whose long-term effects we cant know. In some cases, those kids will then be referred to surgeons, who will mutilate or remove their sex organs permanently. That is happening across the country. We rarely talk about the details of any of it. Its all good, were told. Its all part of a vital, long-overdue process of personal liberation, and if you stand in the way or ask too many questions, youre evil. OK.CAITLYN JENNER REJECTED BY TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY: THE FIGUREHEAD WE DONT WANT'But before we accept that version of the story, its fair to ask: what are the details of the process, exactly? And what are the consequences of it? This weekend, to its great credit, the news show 60 Minutes asked those questions, in a surprisingly unflinching way. Anchor Leslie Stahl interviewed patients whod suffered from gender dysphoria and asked them a simple question: what they went through next. A woman called Grace Lindinisky-Smith explained what happened when she went to the doctor for her disorder:GRACE LIDINSKY-SMITH: She didn't really go into what my gender dysphoria might've been stemming from. We only did a few sessions...They asked me, "So, why do you wanna go on testosterone?" And I said, "Well, being a woman just isn't working for me anymore." And they said, "Okay." LESLEY STAHL: So, that was that. You got your prescription for testosterone? GRACE LIDINSKY-SMITH: Uh-huh. Yup. "Being a woman just isnt working for me anymore." OK. Here are some life-altering drugs. Thats all it took. And it kept going. Within just four months, Grace Lidinsky-Smith was in the operating room, having a double mastectomy:LESLEY STAHL: Just four months after she started testosterone, she says she was approved for a mastectomy, what's called top surgery, that she told us was traumatic. GRACE LIDINSKY-SMITH: I started to have a really disturbing sense that like a part of my body was missing, almost a ghost limb feeling about being like, there's something that should be there. And the feeling really surprised me but it was really hard to deny. LESLEY STAHL: And so she detransitioned by going off testosterone and then went back to the clinic and, she says, complained to the doctor that the process didn't follow the WPATH guidelines. GRACE LIDINSKY-SMITH: I can't believe that I transitioned and detransitioned, including hormones and surgery, in the course of, like, less than one year. It's completely crazy. "Its completely crazy." Yes, it is. It is completely crazy. It is also reckless and cruel and totally unethical. Yet, in the newly-politicized atmosphere of American medicine, is it routine. CRITICAL RACE THEORY IS WEAPONIZING OF YOUNG PEOPLE AGAINST AMERICA, MINNESOTA ACTIVIST SAYSAnother person who spoke to "60 Minutes," a man identified as Garrett, told Stahl that doctors rushed him into a sex-change operation. After just three months of taking female hormones, they castrated him. LESLEY STAHL: Garrett from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, went from taking hormones to getting his testicles removed, he says in just three months, whereas the current guidelines call for continuous use for a year. GARRETT: I had never really been suicidal before until I had my breast augmentation. And about a week afterward, I wanted to, like, actually kill myself. Like, I had a plan and I was gonna do it but I just kept thinking about, like, my family to stop myself. It kind of felt like how am I ever going to feel normal again, like other guys now? Three months to castration. And then, a week after the surgery, he was suicidal. Now, that makes sense, and yet it is the precise opposite of what activists claim. The opposite of the justification for these procedures in the first place. GEORGIA MAN CLAIMS SCHOOL TRYING TO PREVENT USE OF DEFUNCT FACILITY FOR CHARTER SCHOOL DUE TO COMPETITIONIf you ask questions about the wisdom of gender reassignment surgery, youll be accused immediately of pushing the vulnerable toward self-harm. In fact, theres quite a bit of evidence of the opposite. Gender reassignment surgery and chemical castration cause depression and exacerbate mental illness. This is known. Just five years ago, a study by the Obama administration found no positive health benefits from this kind of so-called treatment. In a 2016 document called the "Proposed Decision Memo for Gender Dysphoria and Gender Reassignment Surgery," Obama officials concluded that,"Based on a thorough review of the clinical evidence available at this time, there is not enough evidence to determine whether gender reassignment surgery improves health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries with gender dysphoria." Why wasnt there enough evidence? The Obama administration found that many sex change patients were quote, "lost to follow-up." Why is that? Many of those patients had likely killed themselves. TUCKER CARLSON: EQUITY IS RACISM, BIGOTRY, PREJUDICE, AND HATREDResearchers in Sweden found the same thing. After ten years of study, the Swedes concluded that people who underwent sex reassignment surgery were 19% more likely to commit suicide. Their risk of psychiatric hospitalization was nearly three times greater. In other words, it was an utter disaster. Yet strikingly, most Americans are not aware of these numbers. Theyve never seen this research. Theyre not allowed to see it. Instead, they see a daily barrage of propaganda, most of it online, made possible by Google and Facebook. That propaganda has a very specific effect, as intended. LESLEY STAHL: How many of you feel that you were blindly affirmed? (all four raise their hands)GARRETT: I didn't get enough pushback on transitioning. I went for two appointments and after the second one, I had, like, my letter to go get on cross-sex hormones. LESLEY STAHL: Two visits? That's it? GARRETT: Uh-huh. Lesley Stahl: All four tell us they learned about transitioning on the internet where there are transformation videos on YouTube, trans influencers and forums. We dont say a lot of complimentary things about Leslie Stahl, but Sunday nights piece was a remarkably brave piece of journalism. Stahl certainly didnt need to do it. She did it anyway. Good for her. Shes being punished for it now. Within minutes of the "60 Minutes'" broadcast, the usual liars accused Stahl, and the people she interviewed, of committing an act of violence. Their crime: telling the truth. Those kinds of attacks have a chilling effect on the rest of the population, which of course is the point of them. One psychologist described how many in medicine are too afraid to care for patients:LESLEY STAHL: Do you have conversations with your colleagues about this whole area of accepting what young people are saying too readily? DR. LAURA EDWARDS-LEEPER: Yes. Everyone is very scared to speak up because we're afraid of not being seen as being affirming or being supportive of these young people or doing something to hurt the Trans community. But even some of the providers are Trans themselves and share these concerns. Were afraid to speak up because we dont want to be seen as not affirming young people in their decision to have these surgeries and to take these life-altering drugs. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPHow "young" are we talking about? At what age do we have to respect their decision to undergo chemical castration? Last year Joe Biden answered that question. He suggested that children as young as eight can change their sex. JOE BIDEN: The idea that an eight-year-old child or a 10-year-old child decides, "You know, I decided I want to be transgender. That's what I think I'd like to be. It would make my life a lot easier." There should be zero discrimination. Things are moving fast, and most people have no idea what the details are. This article is adapted from Tucker Carlson's opening commentary on the May 25, 2021, edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight." | 0 |
###CLAIM: it enjoyed high ratings, hitting a 40-year network record in november and beating competitors in coverage of the capitol siege.
###DOCS: CNN president Jeff Zucker has defended the network's anchors for voicing their opinions and showing emotions as 'authentic' and 'real'. The long-time boss, 56, told The Washington Post: 'One of the things that I've tried to encourage is authenticity and being real. 'If we pretend not to be human, it's not real.' That came after hosts cried on air, called Donald Trump 'another crackpot on the Internet' and described the first presidential debate of 2020 a 's*** show'. Former CNN anchor Carol Costello said Dana Bash, the anchor who used the expletive, may well have faced disciplinary action for those words in the past. She told The Washington Post: 'I can't imagine that being accepted in 2001.' But she added: 'It was what anybody was thinking, so it wasn't wrong to say that.' And for Zucker those kinds of emotions give the network a 'dynamic feel'. He says he even called to reassure Sara Sidner after she said sorry to viewers for becoming emotional covering COVID-19 deaths. Brianna Keilar also cried on air while discussing the pandemic. Zucker added: 'What I told her [Sidner] was, 'Don't ever apologize like that again. She was just being real. She's a human being. She was expressing an emotion that probably many people in the audience were feeling. 'And I'm totally comfortable with that happening on television. What people react to is authenticity and reality.' He added: 'Thats the role of the coach. The coach is supposed to encourage you and then bring you back. 'I dont want everybody doing the same thing all day long. Yes, youre going to have folks who are more comfortable, folks who are more traditional, and I think thats what gives it a dynamic feel.' Dana Bash described the first presidential debate of 2020 a 's*** show'Former CNN anchor Carol Costello said Bash may well have faced disciplinary action in her dayIt is not known what examples Zucker is referring to but Anderson Cooper was forced to apologize after comparing Trump to 'an obese turtle on his back, flailing in the hot sun, realizing his time is over'. And Chris Cuomo is now prohibited from speaking with his New York governor brother Andrew on air after the latter was accused of sexual harassment and a cover up of COVID deaths in nursing homes. Zucker told staff in February: 'I'm going to stay and finish my current contract, which, as I said, will keep me here until the end of this year. Former CNN anchor Carol Costello'At that point, I do expect to move on.' He added: 'The truth is, back in November and December I had basically decided that it was time to move on.' His decision, first reported by The New York Times, came amid rumors of a rift with his new boss, CEO of parent company WarnerMedia Jason Kilar over the direction of the network in the wake of the end of the Trump presidency. Zucker had initially courted the former president, telling his disgraced attorney Michael Cohen in March 2016 that he could offer Trump a weekly show on CNN. But he later turned on the Republican and thought he had given too much exposure to his campaign events with the network's left leaning coverage leading to calls of 'fake news' from Trump and his supporters. Zucker started his career as a researcher for the 1988 Olympics for NBC before becoming executive producer of the Today show aged just 26. He then became president of NBC Entertainment; it was Zucker who in 2004 aired The Apprentice, making Trump a household name. After replacing and then reinstating Jay Leno, Zucker lost his job with the network and he joined CNN in 2013. Chris Cuomo, left, is now prohibited from speaking with his New York governor brother Andrew, right, after the latter was accused of sexual harassment and a cover up of COVID deaths in nursing homesAnderson Cooper, pictured right with Zucker, was forced to apologize after comparing Trump to 'an obese turtle on his back, flailing in the hot sun, realizing his time is over'As I've been saying, the producers of news need to not only debunk, but actively #decenterTrump. Last night, Anderson Cooper did a monologue about this very subject. It got surprisingly emotional. Watch: pic.twitter.com/eYHAdu1OQ0 Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) November 14, 2020Wolf Blitzer joined the network in 1990; Zucker said: ''I dont want everybody doing the same thing all day long. Yes, youre going to have folks who are more comfortable, folks who are more traditional, and I think thats what gives it a dynamic feel'Since then it has enjoyed high ratings, hitting a 40-year network record in November and beating competitors with their coverage of the Capitol siege. The former president repeatedly called the network 'fake news' and it was accused of harboring a liberal and anti-Trump bias. Zucker said: 'We gave the anchors, reporters and producers of our shows the freedom to tell the truth, even if the truth came off as tough sometimes.' CNN anchor Jake Tapper said: 'He's the best boss I ever had, and it's not even close. I'm grateful that we get him for another year.' Zucker is understood to still lead the daily editorial calls himself. | 0 |
###CLAIM: for communications, gant said, `` anything like sending an alert, designing a work plan and organizing a flow of people is possible. ''
###DOCS: As we confront each dynamic challenge in a post-pandemic world, intelligent technology is safely getting people back to work, eating out, going shopping, attending sporting events and concerts, and other in-person activities. Already in Europe, organizations have turned to Proximity Monitor, a cloud-based service that monitors human interactions by collecting and analyzing peoples location-based data every few seconds. Real-time data is giving organizations the confidence to safely bring people back to social events, offices, schools, and other in-person activities. gettyCOVID-19 has been a digital catalyst, and the world wont be the same even when it recedes. We are starting to look at the workplace and social environments through an entirely new lens, said Chris Gant, EY Global Leader for Proximity Monitor. Whether its in the workplace, at a sporting event, or at a concert, organizations can help promote safety with visibility into peoples behavior in the controlled space in which they operate.Anonymized, real-time data for safetyTo share their location data wirelessly, people can turn on the Proximity Monitor phone app or use other devices such as a lanyard or wristband. The solution uses SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP HANA cloud running on EY Client Technology platform to capture real-time data as people interact in any environment, summarizing risk levels on a digital dashboard. Besides measuring the distance between individuals, the solution analyzes the length of time people are near each other and at what time of day, as well as where they are gathering. Companies can configure risk parameters and resultant actions based on low, medium, and high designations. Theres also an option to add Qualtrics Experience Management assessments. Best of all, the data is completely anonymized. None of the data we capture in the solution is personally identifiable by individuals, said Gant. Even if an alert was sent to warn a person that they were nearby someone who tested positive for COVID-19, it would not contain any personal data about them or the name of the person they were near.Data fuels business resilient decisionsThe development of Proximity Monitor unfolded as quickly as the pandemic itself during the past year. After initially focusing on contact tracing and social distancing, the solution has morphed into a fast-evolving tool for short and long-term planning of spaceClients can take action based on dashboard insights. It could be anything from sending alerts and strengthening communication, to redesigning workspaces and organizing people flow, said Gant. In a world that's adjusted to COVID-19, the design of workspace is going to change. Organizations need to re-establish how workspaces will be used, which you can do in near real-time with Proximity Monitor.Gant added that typical go-lives take about a couple of weeks and can be scaled easily for any number of people. Trusted data says when its safe to mingleProximity Monitor thrives on uncertainty, analyzing in the moment data to reduce risk as people go about their day at work or leisure. In the workplace, data can help leaders and employees feel more confident about location decisions. The same applies to attendees at in-person events. For example, a recent major Sporting event organizer piloted Proximity Monitor to help meet the groups stringent COVID-19 protocols. They used the solution to help protect people running and participating in the event, distinguishing between those kept inside a protective bubble and those operating on the outside of the bubble, said Gant. They could make sure that different groups of people were not mingling too closely with others or going to locations they shouldnt have been.Universities are starting to use EY Proximity Monitor to plan for social distancing reinforcement as they ready for in-person learning. They want to make sure students and faculty understand, and can physically follow protocols across various spaces, whether in the classroom, library, dorms, or other campus locations. A massive European cultural event is also using Proximity Monitor to help monitor the health and safety of its artists, production team and guests. Global future for industry safetyFresh from having won a prestigious SAP Innovation Award this year, Gant said EY teams were exploring emerging use cases like wayfinding to reduce risk as people navigate unfamiliar surroundings such as complex conference venues and large events. Organizations need to regulate the flow of people across locations, preventing crowds and queues from forming, he said. They can make better space management decisions based on the concentration of people in that building cumulatively at any time.Gant saw tremendous potential for Proximity Monitor in the global market, including North America. The wow factor comes alive for clients when they see the fantastic data insights on the dashboard and realize how they can use it to solve their unique challenges, he said. Organizers of live music and cultural events are excited about it as a way of giving confidence that it is safe to return. Were also collaborating with several UK government clients around using Proximity Monitor for workspace management and redesign.Customer feedback to date has been overwhelmingly positive according to Gant, and its no wonder. Informed, anonymized data is pitch perfect for organizations navigating through these uncertain times. | 0 |
###CLAIM: the post shares a different perspective on the day of the wedding in 1941 with the image of the grandparents next to seven siblings and a mom and dad.
###DOCS: Model Paloma Elsesser has been blasted for wading into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, telling her legion of followers on Instagram not to post about anti-Semitism as it 'delegitimizes the Palestinian struggle'. The plus-sized model, who appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine in January, made the comments as violence flared again between Israelis and Palestinians, and waves of protests around the world sparked angry scenes. Elsesser, 29, posted a statement written by Anna Rajagopal which called on people to think twice before posting about anti-Semitism. The comment said: 'No one is saying you have to be silent on anti-Semitism, but before you post about anti-Semitism during this time ask yourself... will people be able to use this to delegitimize the Palestinian struggle'. Elsesser was slammed on Instagram for the post. 'You know nothing about Israel about Palestinians or about Jews. Stay out of our affairs if you aren't going to educate yourself,' wrote one user. 'You're the biggest anti-Semite', wrote another. 'Get it through your head, anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. You use your platform to divide. It's disgusting, you should be ashamed.' Another called on Elsesser to 'stop spreading lies'. 'We don't tell you what racism is. Don't tell us what anti-Semitism is.' It comes days after supermodel sisters Bella and Gigi Hadid sparked a firestorm over an Instagram post that said Israel was not a country, but rather a land settled by colonizers. Her sister Gigi then liked the post, amplifying the cartoons riddled with historic inaccuracies and anti-Semitic tropes to her 66.2 million followers. Israel's official social media channels hit back at the superstar sisters. 'When celebrities like @BellaHadid advocate for throwing Jews into the sea, they are advocating for the elimination of the Jewish State,' the State of Israel's official Twitter account wrote Sunday. 'This shouldn't be an Israeli-Palestinian issue. This should be a human issue. Shame on you,' along with the hashtag Israel Under Attack. Meena Harris, the niece of vice president Kamala Harris, has also been an outspoken supporter of Palestine. 'If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the oppressor,' she wrote on Instagram. The 'Rally to Defend Palestine' on Saturday afternoon in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Queens was organized by the New York group Within Our Lifetime (WOL). In Queens, one car displayed a poster branding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 'the biggest terrorist in the world!' Marchers were pictured holding various flags, including one that appears to show a red target over Israel's flag - though the meaning of the flag was not entirely clear. Another man held a sign that called to 'Abolish Israel' while another protester held a sign that reads 'End the Ongoing Nekba', a reference to the day Israel became a nation. Meanwhile, anti-Semitic attacks are surging across the United States. The Anti-Defamation League reported almost 200 attacks on American Jews in the seven days from May 10 - the date that Hamas first fired rockets at Israel. That number represents an almost 40 percent increase on the 131 anti-Semitic incidents that were clocked in the US the week before. 'As the violence between Israel and Hamas continues to escalate, we are witnessing a dangerous and drastic surge in anti-Jewish hate right here at home,' ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said Thursday. It came after a wave of violence against Jewish people across the United States. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIAThe LAPD are investigating a link between two anti-Semitic attacks that took place on consecutive nights in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Beverly Grove. On Monday evening, two cars bearing Palestinian flags chased down a 'terrified' Orthodox Jew before he ran to the safety of a nearby synagogue. Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles said the father-of-six - who is too scared to be publicly identified - 'literally had to run for his life'. The protesters pounced after allegedly asking the patrons if they were Jewish. 'We do believe that these two incidents are related, by some evidence that's available,' Dominic Choi, a deputy chief in the Los Angeles Police Department, said Thursday. He added said investigators have reached a 'critical point' in the cases. The FBI is also involved in the probe. MIAMI, FLORIDAPolice in Miami have launched an investigation after a Jewish family were pelted with garbage and subjected to vile slurs as they left a synagogue. Eric Orgen was walking with his wife and daughter on Monday when a group of men slowed down their car and began yelling 'Free Palestine', 'Die Jew' and 'I'm gonna rape your wife'. The harassers only stopped when a stranger in another car intervened, brandishing a gun to scare them off. 'I mean he was almost there as our guardian angel just protecting us. I think once they saw him they just took off,' Orgen told CBS12 News. It comes after a van was seen cruising through Miami earlier this week sporting Palestinian flags and the words 'HITLER WAS RIGHT' written across a side window. A number of vehicles carrying people waving Palestinian flags and shouting racial slurs were captured on videos, driving through Manhattan's Diamond District, home to many Jewish-owned businesses. The NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force said it was investigating the assault of a Jewish man in Times Square, with video posted to social media purporting to show him being kicked as he lay on the street. He was taken to hospital with minor injuries. More than two dozen people were arrested in the skirmish. One Big Apple resident told Fox News: 'My eyes are swollen from crying. This is not the New York City I recognize'. Another told the network:' Stop telling me this is about Israel and Gaza. My people are being targeted across the United States in broad daylight. This is textbook anti-Semitism, and we will continue to live in danger until the public starts to recognize it for what it is.' Meanwhile, Jewish man Joseph Borgen, 29, was hospitalized after being set upon by a group of pro-Palestinian protesters during the dueling demonstrations . Video shared to social media shows him being pushed to ground before he was kicked by multiple people. 'They were punching me, kicking me all over my body. I have bruises on my ribs, my back, all over... I got a slight concussion,' Borgen told FOX 5 following his release from hospital. NEW YORK, THURSDAY MAY 20: Jewish man Joseph Borgen, 29, was hospitalized after being set upon by a group of pro-Palestinian protesters during the dueling demonstrationsNEW YORK, THURSDAY MAY 20: Borgen is seen in the hospital after the attack on ThursdayNEW YORK, THURSDAY MAY 20: Pro Palestinian protesters burn the Israeli flag during a demonstration in Times SquareSKOKIE, ILLINOISIt is not just big cities where Jews have been subjected to the abhorrent attacks. On Sunday, one synagogue in Skokie, Illinois - a heavily Jewish town north of Chicago - had its windows smashed in. A man brandishing a Palestinian flag was caught on buildings security camera also leaving a pro-Palestine sign outside. The same day, a group of demonstrators chanted 'Intifada!' (a cry for violence) across the street from Temple Beth Israel. One resident told Fox News that she is 'scared' to be visibly Jewish in the town - a particularly sad fact given that Skokie has long been a safe haven for Jewish. In the mid-1960s, more than half of its 65,000 residents were Jewish, and many were Holocaust survivors. SKOKIE, SUNDAY MAY 16: On Sunday, one synagogue in Skokie, Illinois - a heavily Jewish town north of Chicago - had its windows smashed in. A man brandishing a Palestinian flag was caught on buildings security camera also leaving a pro-Palestine sign outsideTUCSON, ARIZONAIn Tucson, Arizona, a rock was thrown through a window of a synagogue on Tuesday morning. No one was injured, and the offender or offenders have not yet been found. It prompted an outcry from Democrat Rep. Alma Hernandez, who is Jewish. 'I'm a complete mess in tears as I write this. I just got off the phone with my Rabbi and our synagogue was vandalized. Someone through a rock at our glass door. This was NOT and accident! I feel numb,' she posted on Twitter. Hernandez believes the attack was designed to 'intimidate' members of the congregation. Jews only make up a small number of Tucson residents. TUCSON, TUESDAY MAY 18: A rock was thrown through a window of a synagogue in a targeted attackSALT LAKE CITY, UTAHA synagogue in Salt Lake City was vandalized with a swastika on Sunday morning, prompting outrage from the local community. Rabbi Avremi Zippel told local reporters: 'A swastika is not a political statement. A swastika is an image of hate. A swastika represents one thing and one thing only and that is death to the Jews'. Zippel said politicians have not been vocal enough in condemning the surge in anti-Semitic attacks. 'The silence surrounding the cheapening of Jewish blood is deafening and downright sad,' he told Fox News. Rabbi Cooper in Los Angeles even blamed some US politicians for inciting attacks on Jews with their anti-Israel rhetoric. 'Political leaders like 'The Squad' and those who agree with them including influencers and entertainers and the media are giving a moral equivalency and parroting talking points of Hamas, a terrorist organization,' he stated. Anti-Semitic attacks in the United States were at near historic highs even before the recent eruption of violence in the Middle East. Last year, the ADL reported 2,023 anti-Semitic instances - the third-highest on record since they began tracking data back in 1979. But as the attacks now increase in both their frequency and brazenness, many Jewish Americans fear a dark new chapter is not only on the rise, but has already arrived. Paloma Elsesser has been slammed on social media for asking people to not post about anti-Semitism amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On Saturday, the Vogue cover girl posted a statement on Instagram Stories written by Anna Rajagopal, which calls on people to think twice before posting about anti-Semitism. "No one is saying you have to be silent on antisemitism, but before you post about antisemitism during this time ask yourself: Am I linking this to Palestinian liberation as a whole? Will people be able to use this to delegitimize the Palestinian struggle?" read the statement, as quoted by U.K.s DailyMail. "Why am I posting this right now?" the post continued. "Palestinian liberation leaders, advocates and activists have made it clear that antisemitism is never welcome in the movement for freedom for Palestine," the post added. According to the outlet, users quickly slammed the star. ISRAEL BLASTS BELLA HADID FOR JOINING PRO-PALESTINIAN MARCH"You know nothing about Israel about Palestinians or about Jews," wrote one user, as quoted by the outlet. "Stay out of our affairs if you arent going to educate yourself." "Get it through your head, anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism," chimed another. "You use your platform to divide. Its disgusting, you should be ashamed." The outlet also reported that one user told the model to "stop spreading lies." "We dont tell you what racism is," read one comment, as quoted by the outlet. "Dont tell us what anti-Semitism is." A rep for the 29-year-old did not return Fox News request for comment. Earlier this month, Bella Hadid joined a protest in New York City in support of Palestinians. BELLA HADID ACCUSED OF SHARING ANTI-SEMITIC RHETORIC OVER ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CLASHThe supermodel took to Instagram and shared a collection of photos and videos showing her walking down the streets of Bay Ridge in Brooklyn with demonstrators while holding a Palestinian flag. "The way my heart feels ... To be around this many beautiful, smart, respectful, loving, kind and generous Palestinians all in one place ... it feels whole! We are a rare breed!!" the model, whose father, Mohamed Hadid, is of Palestinian descent, captioned the post. "Its free Palestine til Palestine is free!!!" the 24-year-old added. Her presence at the demonstration came hours after she shared a different post on Instagram of her grandparents on their wedding day in 1941, along with an image of her father as a child next to his seven siblings and their mom. The star noted that the siblings were "taken out of their homes in Palestine in 1948, becoming refugees in Syria, then Lebanon, then Tunisia." "I love my family, I love my Heritage, I love Palestine," she wrote. CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APPThe dual posts also came hours after another post Hadid shared drew accusations of anti-Semitism. That post was highly critical of Israel, calling it a land settled by colonizers that practice "ethnic cleansing, military occupation and apartheid over the Palestinian people." Many Instagram users pointed out inaccuracies in Hadid's posts, with some accusing her of perpetuating anti-Semitic tropes. Representatives for Hadid did not respond to Fox News' request for comment. Previously, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas launched a barrage of rockets into Israel, targeting Jerusalem, southern Israel and Tel Aviv. Israel responded with a series of airstrikes, killing a top Hamas commander and several other senior Hamas militants. Fox News' Tyler McCarthy and The Associated Press contributed to this report. | 2 |
###CLAIM: only a few titles (destiny, warframe, borderlands) have ridden the storm in the land of the struggling looters, who first started it all by stealing from diablo.
###DOCS: Borderlands 3 GearboxTake Two was all smiles in their earnings call this past week, led in part by a flagship title from the past fiscal year, Borderlands 3, which has continued to sell well as 2Ks fastest-selling game at 13 million copies moved so far. Its pretty apparent at this point that Gearbox is working on Borderlands 4, but one surprising bit of news from the call was that Gearbox is also supposed to be releasing a new game within the next fiscal year, so by the end of March 2022. Take Two says it will release 21 games this fiscal year, including four immersive core games which are in the vein of GTA, Red Dead, Borderlands, aka big AAA games, though not necessarily installments from those exact series. But two of the four core games will be from existing series, and two will be from new ones. Given that Gearbox has mainly found success through the Borderlands franchise, while some are speculating that their new game could be another side-project like Battleborn, Id wager a guess that given how Battleborn went, we might be staying in the Borderlands universe. Borderlands 3 GearboxIf Borderlands 4 is still a few years away, it could be time for another Pre-Sequel-like spin-off for Borderlands. Maybe not something as big as a new game, but something that would sell well and please Borderlands fans all the same. Releasing that within the year seems like a bit of a tall order, given how much work has continued to be done on Borderlands 3 with post-launch content, but perhaps its been in the works for a while. And if its coming out before next March, Id expect to start hearing about it in the next few months, possibly with an E3 reveal. Generally fans liked the Pre-Sequel, minus a few of its more irritating gimmicks, but it grew the universe and importantly, added a bunch of new Vault Hunters to play with. Borderlands 3 has strangely decided to forego adding any new post-launch Vault Hunters at all, and they could be saving new concepts for Borderlands 4. Or I suppose, a spin-off. Regardless, the takeaway here is that in a land of struggling looter shooters, only a few titles are riding the storm, and those are the OGs of the genre, Destiny, Warframe and Borderlands, the looter shooter who started it all...by stealing from Diablo first. I would much rather see a new Borderlands spin-off rather than something akin to Battleborn, as I dont think some weird multiplayer experiment would be a good use of Gearboxs skill set. With BL3 being huge, BL4 on the way and a movie in the works, the franchise is healthier than its ever been, and Ill look forward to seeing what they do with it next. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to my free weekly content round-up newsletter, God Rolls. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series, and The Earthborn Trilogy, which is also on audiobook. | 1 |
###CLAIM: kwana and jackson, whose books have left real life behind even in fiction, say the book is no more than a deserted island.
###DOCS: Romance Meets The Real World In 'Real Men Knit'This week on the Code Switch podcast, we tried to settle a months-long debate we've been having on the team: Which kind of books are best to read during the pandemic? Ones that help you escape our current reality? Or ones that connect you to it on a deeper level? In doing so, we got a chance to catch up with the authors of some of our favorite pandemic reads. We'll be sharing interviews with those authors throughout the week. Today, in our final installment, we have a conversation with Kwana Jackson, author of Real Men Knit. Enlarge this image toggle caption kmjackson.com kmjackson.comFor a romance novel, Real Men Knit is full of some not-so-romantic issues: gentrification, rapidly changing demographics, the sudden death of a family member. But author Kwana Jackson says that her books don't take place on deserted islands so even in her fiction, she never leaves real life behind. Despite all the seeming heaviness, though, Real Men Knit is a true love story yes, in the romantic love sense. But it's also a story about love for family and community. It takes place in Jackson's native Harlem, and is full of inspiration and references from her childhood. And for anyone wondering, it does have the calling card of a true romance: the mandatory Happily Ever After. I spoke to Kwana Jackson about the romance industry, her characters, and how Harlem shows up in the book. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. Without giving anything away of coursewhat is Real Men Knit about? Real Men Knit is the story of four brothers fighting to keep their family's knitting shop open after their adoptive mother suddenly passes away. And it's also the love story of Jesse, who is the youngest brother, and Kerry, who is a part time shopkeeper. It's their story of the two of them coming together. Unbeknownst to Jesse, Kerry has had a long-time crush on him for forever. Tell us a bit more about Mama Joy, the mother of these four boys. I chose Mama Joy as their adoptive mother because growing up, a native Harlemite, born and raised in New York, I saw lots of women, lots of Black women taking care of not just their own kids, but kids in the neighborhood. It was sort of an it takes a village situation. There are a lot of real life issues in this book. How did you think about folding that heaviness into a genre that's typically perceived as more lighthearted? I'm not writing in a setting set on a deserted island, you know, so I can't write in for another person's novel. Maybe it wouldn't be in there. But for me, as a black writer who was born and raised in Harlem, I mean, the fictional Strong Knits shop that I've written is pretty much around the corner, in my head, from where I grew up. And I don't even know if I've ever said this in an interview, but when my grandmother passed away, she had on her dresser notices from the housing department wanting her to move out of her longtime home of over 40 years. So that's something I can't escape. Though I am a fiction writer, I cannot escape. Reality in my fiction is just, you know, it might not be romantic, but it's real. In the non-romance world, a lot of people refer to romance novels as "bodice-rippers," a term you find offensive and misogynist. Why? I think that's a way to put down an industry run by women, and put down women and just sort of squash it aside. That's not something I can get behind. I have been a romance fan since I was 11 or 12 years old, and I've learned so much from back-in-the-day romance about what I want to take away and what I would expect and demand in relationships. Though they say "bodice rippers" and "escapism" and "guilty pleasure," there are no guilty pleasureswhat's your pleasure is your pleasure. So maybe we're doing ourselves a favor, putting aside the COVID news for a bit, and reading a romance or two? I have been tweeting and shouting, Romance Is Self-Care! And whatever you need for your emotional and mental self-care right now is absolutely fine, and there is absolutely no guilt about any of it. You've written a number of romances, and your heroines, to date anyway, have all been Black. Is that because there weren't a lot of Black romance heroines years ago, when you were beginning to read them? I won't say that was the reason I wanted to write romances featuring people of color. I just wanted to write romance! And the reason I feature people of color is because I'm a Black woman. So I couldn't imagine my heroines being anything but Black women. But that's not saying that I won't write romances in the future that don't have a Black woman. I write a lot of series romances, and there may be another character who is a different color and if that character is calling for a story, I may write that. You have been very active on social media in the romance community about the need for more diversity in the genre. There is some, but as the big blowup earlier this year in RWARomance Writers of Americaover diversity proved, the industry as a whole has a way to go, in terms of equity in promotion of diverse books, in payment of its authors, and other things. Is it making progress? I think it's coming to terms [with the need to be more racially aware, more equitable]. I think everyone is coming to termsromance, entertainment, etc., and I'm happy to see that they're coming to terms with it and that they're learning from it. In the romance industry, they're starting to value not only the feelings of the readers and the authors, but understand that our dollars have equal value, and that readers will take their dollars elsewhere if they see the inequality and the readers are starting to see the inequality that they didn't see before. That could be critical, right? Isn't romance the most profitable sector of the publishing industry? Exactly! That's what I understand. So if all those female writers packed up their laptops and went away, what would happen to the industry? Readers, we want to hear from you! What books are you turning to right now? Are you team #EscapistReads or team #PandemicReads? Email us at [email protected] and tell us your thoughts. And if you missed yesterday's conversation, click here to read our interview with Elisabeth Thomas, author of Catherine House. The Surreally Diverse World Of 'Catherine House'This week on the Code Switch podcast, we tried to settle a months-long debate we've been having on the team: Which kind of books are best to read during the pandemic? Ones that help you escape our current reality? Or ones that connect you to it on a deeper level? In doing so, we got a chance to catch up with the authors of some of our favorite pandemic reads. We'll be sharing interviews with those authors throughout the week. Today, we have a conversation with Elisabeth Thomas, author of Catherine House. Enlarge this image toggle caption Harper Collins Harper CollinsWhen Elisabeth Thomas wrote Catherine House, she wasn't expecting it to feel quite so relevant to our current circumstances. The novel takes place at a school deep in the woods of Pennsylvania, where students are forbidden from leaving campus for three straight years. And while it becomes clear quite quickly that something sinister is going on in the background, students still find ways to build lives and friendships, develop their passions, and even fall in love with their surroundings. The mood she was going for, she said, was "dread mixed with nostalgia." That mood, contradictory as it might seem, felt familiar. Reading this book during a pandemic, when many people are confined to a smaller physical space than they're used to (while something sinister is happening all around us) certainly hit home. But with its lush descriptions of nature, Catherine House convinced me there could be something enjoyable about paying closer attention to your surroundings, rather than constantly imagining an escape. As long as, you know, you don't get sucked in forever. I spoke to Elisabeth about her real-life inspiration for the school, how to write about race in a fantasy world, and what her characters mean to her. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. Can you tell me about the main character? What is she like? The main character Ines is this very rebellious, very fearless young woman who ends up in this college. She starts off at the school, and you have the feeling that there are some dark things happening beneath the school's surface. A lot of us would maybe just let that go and not go down the dark corridors, as it were. But she's very adventurous, very brave, and it's really fun to write someone who's so fearless and just so doesn't care what other people think of her. In an interview for The Nerd Daily, you said you wanted to "play with the idea of creating a fictional environment that's diverse but surreally frictionless in its diversity. At Catherine, students of all different races sit together at the same table in the cafeteria. I don't think that's realistic, or at least that hasn't necessarily been my experience in life. But that's part of the Catherine dream world." Why was that of interest to you? I think as a Black writer, or as a Black anyone creating any type of something creative, you are tasked with, how are you going to handle race? And it's unfair, really like everything about race is unfair because it's like, you know, a white writer doesn't have to think about how they're going to handle race. Or they think that they don't have to think about how they're going to handle race. And I have always thought, you know, I'm obviously going to write books that have people who look like me and who look like my family, who look like my friends. And I have a wide variety of friends. But I also thought, I'm writing a story that for me, so much of the story is about nostalgia. It's about our past. It's about longing. It's about all of these things that aren't necessarily tied to, let's say, the experience of being a Black woman in America. I'm not a race scholar. That's not what I'm writing about. toggle caption Nina SubinI'm not going to write a book that's not diverse, but I thought part of what would be interesting is I'm going to almost have the diversity add into this surreal place that I'm crafting. I'm making this kind of cult-like school, this kind of surreal environment. And I thought it would be fun and interesting to almost pretend like I don't have to answer that race question, because I think that, honestly, in some ways you can't get out of answering that race question. In the real world, if you go to a school and you're a Black woman, you have to deal with the fact that you're a Black woman. Whether you want to or not. But it's a fantastical thing to do to be like, let me just pretend that none of these characters have a moment of strife with any of their friends where they're like, you know, you shouldn't have said that to me. They all just get along perfectly. I don't think that's realistic. But I thought, you know, I'm creating this world. And one of the great privileges of being a writer is that it's your world. You get to do what you want. And so that's going to be one of the things that makes it fantastical. As a reader, you really feel how students can get sucked into this world and feel like it is everything, like there is no outside. But a young Black student named Yaya is one of the few characters that seems to have a consistent tether to the outside. She remembers that there is something good or important about not being in that house. And I wonder if her race has anything to do with that? Yes, I think so. I knew that I wanted it to be a diverse set of characters, but I thought very distinctly about what I wanted each of the races to be. And of the close friends, I knew that I wanted a fair number of them to be Black. It's funny, a lot of people read Ines to be Black, and I had not intended for her to be Black. Which is fine. But it's very important for me for Yaya to be read as Black, and it's very important to me for Theo, another character, to be read as Black. And it was important to me that those two characters it's someone who completely buys into Catherine House like goes hook, line and sinker with the whole Catherine House ideology. And then Yaya is the person who's the opposite of that. She comes in from the very beginning, and she says to the main character, like, You can't get sucked in here. We have to come in here, graduate, go get our grades and get out of here. And I think that is a very realistic impulse for a Black student I mean, that's how I felt about my college experience, honestly. But I think that I saw other Black students who had almost the exact opposite reaction. There were other students who were kind of like, oh, my God, here we are at this magical place that has this amazing history. So I thought it would be really interesting to show those two viewpoints with people who are the same race. So Theo is another part of this main friend group. He and Ines wind up dating. He's also Black. And as you said, he's kind of the opposite of Yaya he completely buys into the school and falls in love with it. What's his story? One of the things that I wanted to capture is that both Theo and Ines, both of these characters are very unhappy. They're depressed, I would say, and feel very disconnected from the world and I think that's something that they really bond on. Theo says at some point, that "they have great doctors here. I'm feeling a lot better." And in my mind, Theo connects his feeling emotionally better and having a happier life with this institution. I think a lot of people do that, but I think it's dangerous. Theo was not doing well before. He was not eating so well before. His family wasn't so great. We don't know that much about his past, but from what we know, it seems like it was not so hot. And then he comes to this institution that's so rich, that has all this wild, amazing food, all of his friends are down the hall. He's all of a sudden feeling better. He's the academic star of the school. And I think that he kind of thinks of the school as this thing that has done all this amazing work for him. It's something that he almost falls in love with. But I think a lot of us have this problem where we kind of get entangled and think that an institution that has helped us cares about us. But that doesn't necessarily mean that's what happened. They maybe just assisted us for their own benefit. You talked earlier about not imagining Ines as Black. But many readers assumed she was. Can you say more about that? In my mind, when I was creating this world that was kind of surreally diverse, I kind of thought that the only way that that would work is actually if the person who was our entry point into it was actually White. I think a Black person starting at this college, or someone who was another race that's not White I think there would have been more of an, OK, what's going on here? feeling. I think only a white person could go into an environment that's surreal in that way and not have it a huge thing to comment on. I think that only a White person could have thought things were off, but just a little bit off. So that's why I had the main character be White. Readers, we want to hear from you! What books are you turning to right now? Are you team #EscapistReads or team #PandemicReads? Email us at [email protected] and tell us your thoughts. Stay tuned tomorrow, for another Q&A with one of our favorite authors. And if you missed yesterday's, click here to read our interview with Talia Hibbert, author of Take a Hint, Dani Brown! | 2 |
###CLAIM: mangori initially lied to police, telling them the flat was empty and that lorraine had been taken back.
###DOCS: Azam Mangori, 24, is on trial accused of murdering 32-year-old Lorraine Cox and cutting up her body into seven piecesA failed asylum seeker who chopped up a woman he met and had sex with, told police he was gay as he tried to put them off the scent, a court heard today. Azam Mangori was ruthless in the way he tried to cover his tracks after he had lured drunken Lorraine Cox back to his room above a kebab shop in Exeter city centre last August Bank Holiday Monday, jurors were told. Lorraine Cox, 32, disappeared after the night out with friends and her whereabouts were a mystery prompting a missing persons inquiry by police. Officers launched a murder investigation after her remains were discovered a week later. As part of their investigation into Mangori, police found a website he visited on 'how to dig a grave by hand', the jury was told today. Prosecutor Simon Laws QC continued to outline the case against the 24-year-old Iraqi Kurd who denies murdering the 32-year-old. Exeter Crown Court heard Mangori had gone out around 2am that morning and spotted Lorraine as she walked home alone. The court heard he had sex with her in an alleyway - something he recorded on his phone - and then took her to his room where he killed her. Mr Laws said Mangori then went about covering his tracks and used her sim card to make out that she was still alive as worried friends and family wondered where she was. He said it was possible that she had been smothered or strangled. He told Exeter Crown Court: 'He kept the body out of view for long enough, it is not possible for the pathologist to take this topic very far. 'The prosecution do not have to prove how Lorraine died, only that he killed her.' Mr Laws said Lorraine had been naked and her T shirt had been pushed in to her mouth. He asked: 'What possible reason could there be for him to have pushed her T shirt into her mouth in that way if not to kill her ?' He said she had been dismembered after her death. And Mr Laws said he had cut out a tattoo off Lorraine and questioned whether this was to make it more difficult for her to be identified, as well as mutilating her back. AdvertisementThat sim card was later found under a drain cover near the kebab shop - and in an alleyway next to the shop police later found taped black bins containing her arms and legs. Mr Laws said Mangori was caught on camera going into local shops and buying black bin bags, tape, a heater to dry a blood stained carpet, air purifier to hide the smell of her decomposing body in his room, sheeting to stop blood splashing on walls and a suitcase. The prosecutor said he also bought cleaning materials and searched websites in a bid to help him get away with his crime. Mr Laws told jurors that after looking at the website about 'how to dig a grave by hand' Mangori was seen on CCTV buying a trowel. The court heard ten days before he killed he had bought a large kitchen knife he would later use to cut up her body. In Lorraine's backpack she had a piece of paper with her passwords on it - and Mangori took a picture of it so he could use it in his cover up, the court heard. Lorraine had been to the kebab house on the night of her death and ate a kebab on a bench nearby. But when police looked more closely at CCTV, Mr Laws said, it showed Mangori leaving the building at 2.03am and Lorraine and a man kissing and returning at 2.45am. Police spoke to Mangori 'who still thought he had got away with his crime', said Mr Laws, adding: 'He was play acting right from the beginning.' He said he was Christopher Mayer and produced an asylum card in that name - but he had been refused asylum in the UK in December 2018 and he was liable to deportation. Police searching countryside and woodland near Newton St Cyres, five miles from Exeter'Killer took taxi to dump the body', jury told The alleged killer spent several days dismembering, mutilating and disposing of the body while at the same time using Lorraine's phone to pretend to her family and friends that she was still alive. Police launched a murder investigation when body parts were discovered in bins at the back of the kebab shop. The prosecutor said: 'What happened was that police found evidence of a taxi journey Mangori had made on the same day he had been arrested - September 8. This only came to light after his arrest.' Mangori told the taxi driver to take him to Tinpit Hill, a remote wooded hamlet near Newton St Cyres. Prosecutor Mr Laws said body parts were in the bag and that CCTV showed him leaving his flat and getting into the taxi. Five days later the body parts were discovered under a pile of wood at Tinpot Hill. AdvertisementPolice showed him the image of him with Lorraine but he said he was not sure it was him, said the Crown and didn't think it was. Mr Laws said: 'He was even clearer about that part. He said he had never brought a woman back to his flat. He underlined that emphasis by saying he was not interested in women. 'He said he was gay. That was not the whole truth as he had contact with female escorts. 'He was saying 'I am gay why would I bring a woman back to my room? I have never seen this lady'.' The court had previously been told that Mangori had attempted to contact both male and female escorts that night before leaving his flat and encountering Ms Cox. Mr Laws added that this was the same man who had sought her out, taken advantage of her drunken state to have sex with her, taken her back to his room and was the last person to see her alive. Mr Laws said he told police 'I hope she is okay' as he sat in the room where he had kept her body for a week and cut it up before disposing of it. 'It showed he was a fluent and determined liar,' said Mr Laws who said Mangori tried to come across as a helpful, likeable young man who was concerned for the missing woman. But police spotted a phone on his bed and the serial number was checked and it showed Lorraine's sim card had been used in it - and that was a breakthrough in the case, the court heard. Pictured: Police put up a forensic tent in Mary Arches, Street, Exeter as they launched a murder investigation when Ms Cox's remains were found in bin bags hidden in an alleyway'It was clear Mangori was involved in some way,' said Mr Laws who said Mangori was arrested on suspicion of kidnap but tried to distract the police by asking why the other men in the kebab shop building were not suspects. Mr Laws then said a search of the area by police found Lorraine's arms, thighs and right lower leg in bags as well as smaller body parts in the alleyway next to the building. Her torso and head were later found under a pile of wood in woodland several miles away after Mangori had taken a sports holdall in a taxi to Newton St Cyres near Exeter. Mangori admits preventing the lawful burial of Lorraine but denies her murder and his trial continues. | 0 |
###CLAIM: this court needs to determine whether the officer's order infringed the defendant's right to speak even in fraudulent circumstances.
###DOCS: Maryland Rule 8-131(c)From State v. McGagh, decided unanimously Friday by the Maryland high court (always a good excuse for showing The Court Of The Red Robe, see above):... Karen McGagh was tried ... for falsely accusing Glenn Trebay [a Verizon store employee] of sexually assaulting her while patronizing a Verizon store. McGagh stated to a police officer and in a sworn criminal complaint that Trebay cupped her breast and touched her inner thigh. During a bench trial, the State admitted a surveillance video from the Verizon store that did not show Trebay touching McGagh as she claimed {though it showed Trebay briefly touching McGagh at various points throughout the encounter}. The trial court convicted McGagh of perjury and making a false statement to police officer. McGagh received a sentence of ten years' incarceration for the perjury conviction, all but eight years suspended, with five years' supervised probation. McGagh also received a consecutive sentence of six months for the false report conviction.... The trial court found no evidence to support McGagh's accusations. The trial court convicted McGagh of perjury and giving a false statement to police: "I find beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. McGagh perjured herself and that she gave a false statement to Officer Heims. I find that she intentionally lied. And not about everything, that is a many page statement of charges. Many of the things in the statement are true, but the essential, critical facts are untrue. It is completely and totally untrue that Mr. Trebay cupped Ms. McGagh's breast. It, it's not even a close call. He didn't cup her breast, he didn't brush her breast, he did not touch her breast or her chest in any way. He never got close to her upper inner thigh. I can't say, having looked at two plus hours of video, that I know where his hands were all the time, but my, I feel like they were, he's a, as he said, a garrulous guy, he talks with his hands and I saw his hands in the air a lot but, "I'll tell you this, he wasn't in a position to reach across from where he was and rub her or touch her upper inner thigh on the left hand side, which is what Ms. McGagh told Officer Heims happened. I saw it as she showed him on the video, the body camera, I guess is what I mean to say. And I don't believe that she was confused about what happened. It's far more likely that she wanted Mr. Trebay fired and the story started and was sort of like that proverbial snowball going down the hill, it just got more ingrained and more elaborate, but it was false. And so, that's my decision." ... The trial court based the sentence on an examination of the evidence, McGagh's behavior before and during proceedings, and a pattern of disregarding the law: "I don't think any one of us has ever seen a case like this before and I'm sure [defense counsel] will agree, we've never, as [the prosecutor] mentioned, never seen a pre-sentence investigation like this or a psyche evaluation like this. I obviously need to consider, in my decision making, rehabilitation, punishment and public safety.... "[T]his would include her history of deceitfulness, consistent irresponsibility to honor financial obligations and lack of remorse. ... During this investigation, she continued to make statements minimizing her own actions and instead, blaming the victim, the Judge and her own attorney. ... [T]he pre-sentence investigation, again, ... indicates that it's been suspected that Ms. McGagh continues to drive on a suspended license. I was shocked by the number of just traffic violations, just a, just a consistent unrelenting inability or disregard [ ] for the law. As though it just does not apply to her ... Ms. McGagh has been involved in criminal and traffic proceedings in which she has benefited from lenient dispositions.8 Regardless of these privileges, she has continued to avoid hearings by numerous failing to appears and not fulfilling her financial obligations in paying fines and costs, as well as financial liens against her. {In October 2015, McGagh was convicted for theft after the court found her "to be not telling the truth." Before this proceeding, McGagh was on probation and had an outstanding restitution balance of $13,000.} The trial court found that falsehoods reflected in McGagh's background followed "a lifelong pattern of deceitfulness, manipulative behavior and a narration of depicting herself as the victim." The trial court highlighted a revealing moment of intentional deceit when McGagh told Dr. Kohn, the doctor assigned to her pre-sentence psychiatric evaluation, that "she knows how to play the game and what to say." The court explained that Mr. Trebay was not the only victim in this case:"I believe that the police officer who was pulled away from his work and summonsed to the home and lied to, he was very sympathetic to what Ms. McGagh was telling him. And offered her options. ... [w]ouldn't he think the next time he's called to someone's house and there's the complaint of a sexual assault, won't he remember Ms. McGagh. ... The next person who actually makes a complaint to the police, they're victims and I will tell you the justice system is a victim. We only, this delicate, fragile system only works because we depend on people to have their word mean something. ... I have no doubt that had there not been video, Mr. Trebay would be in jail because a jury would say why would she lie about this? ... So, I think, not only Mr. Trebay, not only the Commissioner, not only the police officer ... but the entire system brought to its knees because we, as a system, may have failed Mr. Trebay if there wasn't that video." The trial court justified why its eight years and six months sentence exceeded the sentencing guidelines: "Those [sentencing] guidelines do not take into account these facts and all of these victims and all of these lies and this history of dishonest and manipulative [ ] actions that show a complete and total disregard for the other humans that are walking this path.... I think this is one of the most serious and truly despicable crimes that I have witnessed, when you consider the ripples of the damage that [has] been caused." {In the sentencing hearing, the State informed the court that Trebay would have faced up to eleven years' imprisonment for a second degree and fourth degree sexual assault.} [Sufficiency of the evidence:] The two-witness rule [recognized under Maryland law] describes the minimum evidence needed to establish the falsity of a statement.... "The rule that testimony of a single witness is not sufficient to negative the alleged false oath is not merely technical, but is founded on substantial justice. There must either be two witnesses to prove such falsity, or one witness with material and independently established corroborative facts." ... The two-witness rule applies only to the falsity element. {The rule no longer requires two, actual witnesses.... "... It is enough that there is testimony of one witness and other independent corroborative evidence[.]" Independent corroborative evidence comes in the form of documents, video footage, or other circumstantial evidence.} Here, and similar to Hourie, we "clearly" have sufficient evidence from Trebay's testimony, the Verizon surveillance video, and McGagh's admission in court for "any rational trier of fact" to find the falsity of McGagh's statements beyond a reasonable doubt. Trebay testified that he did not "recall" putting his hand on McGagh's breast or inner thigh. The Verizon surveillance video corroborated his testimony by also showing that the contact alleged by McGagh did not occur. McGagh also conceded during her colloquy with the trial court that the alleged touching did not occur [though she did not concede that she had deliberately lied about it].... The Verizon surveillance video in this case also satisfies the purpose of the two-witness rule articulated in Brown. The two-witness rule prevents "oath against oath" by allowing the fact finder to observe and judge the credibility of witnesses offering competing recollections of events, while comparing the witness statements against independent, circumstantial evidence. The trial court here had the opportunity to judge and observe McGagh's and Trebay's testimony. The Verizon surveillance video provided independent corroboration of the pertinent factual dispute: whether Trebay cupped McGagh's breast and touched her inner thigh. The Court of Special Appeals found that the surveillance video's lack of sound created too much ambiguity to prove the falsity of McGagh's claims, thereby adopting a too stringent reading of the two-witness rule. Evidence always contains some ambiguity, but the two-witness rule does not require circumstantial evidence to be perfect. "The test" for whether evidence satisfies the two-witness rule is "whether the evidence is of a quality to assure that a guilty verdict is solidly founded." If other evidence is of "equal weight" to testimony by a witness, it can satisfy the two-witness rule.... The State [also] provided sufficient evidence to satisfy the mens rea elements of McGagh's perjury and false statement convictions.... "[T]he false [statement] must be deliberate and not the result of surprise, confusion or bona fide mistake[.]" Here, the trial court found that McGagh exhibited ... deliberate behavior ...: "I don't believe that [McGagh] was confused about what happened. It's far more likely that she wanted Mr. Trebay fired and the story started and was sort of like that proverbial snowball going down the hill, it just got more ingrained and more elaborate, but it was false." The trial court rejected the possibility that McGagh alleged sexual assault by mistake: "[I]t's not even a close call. He didn't cup her breast, he didn't brush her breast, he did not touch her breast or her chest in any way.... Which is, frankly, not an easy thing to do when one is wearing, a very downy fleece or down vest, which just, you know, it's thick and straight across your chest." The trial court further observed that "[Trebay] never got close to her upper inner thigh." The trial court reasonably found that McGagh willfully and knowingly made a false statement when she alleged that Trebay sexually assaulted her by touching her breast and inner thigh. The court also held that perjury convictions need not be reviewed de novo:Maryland Rule 8-131(c) provides the standard for appellate review of bench trials: "When an action has been tried without a jury, the appellate court will review the case on both the law and the evidence. It will not set aside the judgment of the trial court on the evidence unless clearly erroneous, and will give due regard to the opportunity of the trial court to judge the credibility of the witnesses." ... Maryland appellate courts accordingly adopt a deferential standard when reviewing sufficiency of evidence that asks whether "any rational trier of fact could have found the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." ... Maryland courts have always used the sufficiency of evidence standard to review perjury convictions. Perjury and false report convictions heavily depend on the fact finder's determination of credibility. The fact finder must intimately evaluate each party's story to assess who is telling the truth. The deferential standard of review recognizes trial courts' better position in making this determination. ... "Having lived with the case, the trial judge views the situation in three dimension, up close and personal, not from a cold record; thus, having closely observed the entire trial, he or she is able to appreciate nuances, inflections and impressions never to be gained from a cold record." ... In some cases, this Court has supplemented the Jackson standard with a de novo review when a constitutional right is at issue. The independent examination ensures this Court's protection of fundamental rights. Our case law demonstrates the proper application of de novo review when the State, through action or statute, seeks to regulate or control protected speech [for instance, in disorderly conduct or obscenity cases].... In Polk, the State charged the defendant with disobeying a lawful order after the defendant responded with a series of profanities to an officer's instruction to be quiet and leave the hospital. The case turned on whether the order attempted to control the content of her speech or her aggressive behavior at a hospital.... This Court conducted a de novo review to determine to what extent, if any, the officer's order violated the defendant's First Amendment right to free speech.... [But p]erjurious speech does not receive First Amendment protection. The Supreme Court explained in United States v. Alvarez: "It is not simply because perjured statements are false that they lack First Amendment protection. Perjured testimony 'is at war with justice' because it can cause a court to render a 'judgment not resting on truth.' Perjury undermines the function and province of the law and threatens the integrity of judgments that are the basis of the legal system." Unprotected speech renders unnecessary an independent review of the record for First Amendment violations. Here, McGagh's First Amendment rights were not implicated in this case, let alone violated. McGagh did not challenge the constitutionality of the perjury statute on its face or as applied to her. The Court of Special Appeals only suggested that the facts of the case "arguably" triggered a de novo review to evaluate First Amendment interests. The court reads too much of a First Amendment interest into the case. The case turns on whether the State presented sufficient evidence to prove the elements of perjury and false report; it does not turn on whether the State infringed upon her protected speech. Unlike in Polk v. State (Md. 2003), where this Court needed to determine whether an officer's order infringed on the defendant's right to speak (albeit vulgarly), McGagh does not claim the perjury and false report statutes infringed upon her right to petition the government for redress. It would similarly be unnecessary for us to conduct a constitutional analysis here as this Court did in Polk. Respondent never voiced any deterred ability to make a criminal complaint by threat of perjury. Even if McGagh had raised such concerns, the perjurious content of McGagh's speech also means it lacks First Amendment protection.... Our holding in no way departs from this Court's previously acknowledged important public policy objective of encouraging women, and all victims of sexual assault, to bring their truthful sexual assault allegations to light. It also does not abridge an individual's First Amendment right to truthfully and in good faith report a sexual assault without punishment or intimidation, even if the allegation is later shown to be mistaken, confused, or erroneous. I don't think this appellate review analysis is quite spot on: It's true that perjury is unprotected speech, obscenity, libel, fighting words, and the like are unprotected speech, too. But decisions whether certain speech qualifies as obscenity, libel, or fighting words are generally reviewed independently by appellate courts (see PDF pp. 5-9 of this article), precisely to make sure that only unprotected speech gets punished. Nonetheless, I think that the court may have gotten the result right as to the proper standard of appellate review. First Amendment independent appellate review generally applies to judgments whether certain facts satisfy the constitutional standard (e.g., whether a particular film lacks serious artistic value, what sort of subjective knowledge qualifies as reckless disregard of the truth, or whether certain words qualify as the sort of face-to-face insults that are likely to start a fight). It generally doesn't apply to witness credibility determinations, where the question is what actually happened, what was actually said, or whether the speaker knew it was false:In determining whether the constitutional standard has been satisfied, the reviewing court must consider the factual record in full. Although credibility determinations are reviewed under the clearly-erroneous standard because the trier of fact has had the "opportunity to observe the demeanor of the witnesses," the reviewing court must "'examine for [itself] the statements in issue and the circumstances under which they were made to see ... whether they are of a character which the principles of the First Amendment ... protect.'" So deferring to the trial judge's judgment about the defendant's credibility might have been correct after all, though I'm open to being persuaded otherwise. On April 24, 2017, Karen McGagh entered a Verizon store in Towson, Maryland, to repair her broken cell phone. Verizon store employee Glenn Trebay assisted McGagh by taking her to his desk to look over her account, where he discovered she had an outstanding balance preventing him from replacing her phone. For two hours Trebay worked with McGagh to resolve the issue by reaching out to different departments and trying to get things handled. Eventually, McGagh purchased a new phone and left the store. McGagh left the store and called Verizon to complain about her interactions with Trebay before calling the police and tell them that she found Trebays behavior disturbing, according to court documents. Verizon responded to her complaint by telling Trebay not to come into work the next day. He was eventually fired. McGagh also claimed that Trebay attempted to sell her non-Verizon items, including a Fitbit, a watch, and a cashmere sweater, and that he allegedly stored these unsanctioned items in his car. She also testified that he smelled like he had been drinking and at one point held her SIM card and said jokingly, Ive got your life in my hands now.McGagh further alleged that during the encounter, Trebay cupped her breast and touched her inner thigh. She claimed she tried to get the attention of another store employee, who she alleged told her that Trebay was usually worse around young women. Trebay, on the other hand, said that McGagh was initially distraught and became more agitated by the fact that he couldnt repair her phone or quickly replace it. Trebay testified that there was a distance between us... the entire time.Surveillance video from the store showed the truth. While Trebay did spend a lot of the two-hour encounter sitting next to McGagh so that she could view his work tablet, and that at various points he touched her shoulder, elbow, and the back of her arm, along with a final handshake when she left, the video otherwise corroborated Trebays story and not McGaghs. McGagh would go on to file a sworn Application for Statement of Charges against Trebay for allegedly sexually assaulting her, court documents show. In this statement, she also claimed Trebay called her at home and that she was worried he would assault her again. She signed the document, which stated that under the penalties of perjury that the contents of this Application are true to the best of my knowledge, information and belief.Trebay was arrested based on McGaghs claims. During the bench trial, prosecutors provided surveillance video from the Verizon store that showed Trebay did not touch McGagh like she claimed. When asked about the discrepancy, McGagh claimed she used the wrong words to describe the touch. I was trying to, I was, I used the wrong word. I was confused, I used the wrong word, you know, is, you could, is it a cup, is it a feel, is it a brush, is it a touch, its that sort of, you know, you know its different than an elderly man, you know its different, you know you feel violated, you know you feel, you know that its not okay. You know that there is a power, hes got my phone, hes got pictures of my nieces, hes got pictures of my... she said before was interrupted by the judge. The judge asked McGagh to show where on the surveillance any sort of touching brushing or otherwise to her breast occurred and where Trebay touched her thigh. The judge also asked about discrepancies in what McGagh told Verizon about Trebays behavior and what she told police. McGagh was then convicted of perjury and giving a false statement to police. . . indicates that its been suspected that Ms. McGagh continues to drive on a suspended license. I was shocked by the number of just traffic violations, just a, just a consistent unrelenting inability or disregard [] for the law. As though it just does not apply to her . . . Ms. McGagh has been involved in criminal and traffic proceedings in which she has benefited from lenient dispositions. Regardless of these privileges, she has continued to avoid hearings by numerous failing to appears and not fulfilling her financial obligations in paying fines and costs, as well as financial liens against her. McGagh was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the perjury charge (with eight of those years suspended) and five years supervised probation. For the false police statement charge, she received six months in prison. Marylands high court upheld that conviction on Friday. | 3 |
###CLAIM: the prime rate you get is usually as variable as the margin of fluctuation that lenders set based on your credit profile.
###DOCS: Editorial Independence We want to help you make more informed decisions. Some links on this page clearly marked may take you to a partner website and may result in us earning a referral commission. For more information, see How We Make Money. Home equity borrowing is hot right now. This years red hot housing market is gifting homeowners an average $64,000 of home equity in the first quarter of 2022, according to the most recent Homeowner Equity Insights report by housing data firm CoreLogic. If you have established equity, its like a savings account youve established, Vicki Ide, vice president and residential lending manager at Tompkins VIST Bank, previously told NextAdvisor. Nows as good a time as ever to tap into that equity if it can help you reach your financial goals. Two popular ways to do so are a home equity loan or home equity line of credit (HELOC). Both can be used to fund large expenses, from home renovations that improve the value of your home, to debt consolidation, to medical expenses. And both are secured, or guaranteed, by the same asset your home. However, there are some key differences between the two when it comes to how you get the money, how you pay it back, and how the interest is calculated. Heres everything you need to know about home equity loans vs. HELOCs, and how to choose the best option for your financing needs. What Is a Home Equity Loan? A home equity loan is a loan against the value of your home, paid to you in a lump sum. That makes it an attractive option for large, one-time expenses, such as getting a new roof or funding a large-scale home renovation. A homeowner can borrow money from a bank, and the equity in their home serves as collateral to the loan, Elliott Pepper, a Certified Financial Planner and co-founder of Northbrook Financial, told NextAdvisor. Home equity is the current value of your house minus what you still owe on your mortgage. If your house is valued at $400,000 and you have $100,000 left on your mortgage, you have $300,000 in home equity. The more equity you have in your home, the more youll be able to borrow, typically up to 85% of that equity. The total amount will be influenced by other factors as well, including your credit score and how much other debt you have. Home equity loans are commonly known as second mortgages because they act as a second loan thats secured by your house, on top of your primary mortgage. This means that if you default on a home equity loan, the lender can foreclose on your home. How Does a Home Equity Loan Work? A home equity loan works like a mortgage, personal loan, or any other installment loan. Youll take out a lump sum when you apply for the loan, then pay it back with fixed monthly payments over a predetermined period of time. Most home equity loans have five- to 30-year terms and fixed interest rates. The average interest rate on a home equity loan is currently around 6%, according to Bankrate, which shares an owner with NextAdvisor. Be sure, however, to base your calculations on the annual percentage rate (APR), which factors in fees and the interest rate, rather than the interest rate alone. Although the money from a home equity loan can be used for almost anything, home equity loans are commonly used to finance home improvement projects. Interest on home equity loans, and on HELOCs as well, is tax-deductible if the funds are used to substantially improve your home and total debt related to the house including all other mortgages and home equity loans does not exceed $750,000. Home Equity Loans and HELOCs ComparedWhile home equity loans and home equity lines of credit are somewhat similar in that they both borrow against the equity in your home, there are key differences. The two biggest differences are how you access and pay back the funds, and whether the interest rate is fixed or variable. With a home equity loan, you choose a set loan amount when you apply for the loan and receive the entire sum at once (minus any origination fees) when the loan is approved and the loan proceeds are disbursed. You then pay it back in fixed monthly installments that include both principal and interest, calculated according to a standard amortization schedule. With a HELOC, youre granted a credit line up to a predetermined amount, and you can withdraw money as often as you like, as much as you like (up to the credit limit). Youll only pay interest on the amount you actually use, not the entire credit line. Many HELOCs allow for interest-only payments during the draw period, meaning that youre only required to make minimum payments that cover the accrued interest, not the principal. Then, when the repayment period arrives, youll begin making payments toward both the interest and principal. This can cause your monthly payment to increase significantly if you havent been paying down the principal during the draw period. The other major difference is that home equity loans have a fixed interest rate, while HELOCs typically have a variable interest rate that fluctuates with the prime rate. This means that a rising interest rate environment like were in now can cause your HELOC rate and by extension, monthly payment to increase unexpectedly. Some lenders offer rate-lock options on HELOCs, but this additional stability typically comes with an increased interest rate or additional fees. During the draw period, you may only need to pay the accrued interest. During the repayment period, youll make payments toward both interest and principalHome Equity and HELOC Rates Are on the Rise The highest inflation in 40 years has yet to wane. The Consumer Price Index showed prices up 8.2% year-over-year in September, barely an improvement from Augusts 8.3%. That has implications for the Federal Reserves efforts to bring price growth down, but it also means a lot for consumers, especially those looking to borrow money. The Fed will likely continue to raise its benchmark interest rate the federal funds rate in its ongoing bid to stem demand and lower inflation. But that rate affects the cost to borrow money across the economy, particularly home equity lines of credit or HELOCs. HELOCs often have variable interest rates that are directly tied to an index the prime rate that moves in lockstep with the federal funds rate. When the Fed raises rates, it means HELOC borrowers pay more. Home equity loans with fixed rates arent as directly affected, but those rates are set based on the lenders cost of funds, which also rises as rates go up. The economic situation means home equity rates are likely nowhere near done rising, experts say. I dont expect [rates] to rise at the rate they have been over the last nine to 12 months. But I think they will go up, Kevin Williams, a CFP and founder of Full Life Financial Planning, told us. A HELOC is a revolving line of credit secured against the value of the equity in your home, says Lindsay Martinez, a Certified Financial Planner at financial planning firm Xennial Planning. Like a home equity loan, a HELOC is also considered a type of second mortgage. With a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, you are given credit up to a predefined maximum amount, similar to how a credit card works. You can tap into that credit line for expenses such as home renovations, or to consolidate higher-interest debt. Because the credit line remains available for a long time a typical draw period is 10 years its a good way to fund ongoing projects. It can also be a source of funding for future needs as they may arise. HELOC interest rates are usually much lower than on credit cards, making them an option for people who have high credit card debt and are looking for ways to save on interest payments. Balance transfer credit cards and debt consolidation personal loans are two other popular options for consolidating debt. HELOCs typically have longer repayment periods than balance transfer credit cards and lower interest rates than debt consolidation loans. How Does a HELOC Work? As a revolving line of credit, you can tap into a HELOC for what you need at a given moment, similar to a credit card. And, just like with a credit card, you cannot go above the credit limit. You also do not have to use all of it, and you can pay off the balance you owe at any time before the HELOC term ends. The size of the line of credit will also be limited by the amount of equity in your home; the more equity you have, the bigger the line of credit can be. Your credit score and employment situation also come into consideration. HELOC terms are also divided into two periods: a draw period and a repayment period. For example, a line of credit might have a draw period of five to 10 years and a repayment period of 10 to 20 years, for a total length of 15 to 30 years. The draw period is the time during which you can tap into the credit line. Most HELOCs are interest-only HELOCs, which means that during the draw period, youll only need to make payments to cover the interest on your balance and not the principal. After the draw period ends, the repayment period begins, and you will be paying back principal plus interest. However, you can still make payments towards the principal during the draw period even if youre not required to. Doing so could make it easier to transition to the repayment period when the time comes. Most HELOCs have variable interest rates, meaning that your interest rate could change throughout the life of your HELOC. Typically, HELOC interest rates are determined by adding a certain margin decided by the lender and based on your creditworthiness to the prime rate, which fluctuates based on the market. Some lenders may offer fixed-rate HELOCs, but theyre less common. When the draw period concludes, the debt outstanding is amortized subject to the terms of the loan, says Yusuf Abugideiri, a senior financial planner at Yeske Buie. Amortization simply means that, as a loan ages, more of your payment goes toward the principal and less toward interest. You can also make extra payments toward reducing the principal during the draw period. Like a home equity loan or mortgage, youll likely need to pay some upfront fees. Similar to any home-related loan, there will typically be fees incurred when the HELOC is opened, says Pepper. These fees can include origination fees, notary fees, title fees, recording fees to the local government, and appraisal fees. There may also be ongoing annual maintenance fees to keep your account open. Pros and Cons of a HELOCPros If used for home improvements, could be tax deductibleHELOC interest rates are lower than a home equity loan, but variableYou may have the option to lock in, or fix, your rateNo restrictions on use of fundsOnly pay interest for what you spend Cons Possible closing costs and feesVariable rate subject to market conditionsRisk of losing your house if you defaultBorrowing process takes longer than credit card or personal loanHow Do You Get a HELOC or Home Equity Loan? If you want to get a HELOC or home equity loan, start by comparing rates from multiple lenders. Some lenders will let you pre-qualify or check your rate online, while others may require you to call or visit a branch for more information. The rate you get will depend on your credit score, income, and loan-to-value ratio, and may differ from a lenders lowest advertised rate. Be sure to ask about any fees or closing costs as well, so you can compare the true cost of borrowing. If youre an existing customer of a specific bank or credit union, it may be worth checking to see if your bank offers HELOCs or home equity loans. Working with a bank where youre an account holder could get you a lower rate. But you should still shop around with a few different lenders before you lock in one option. After youve decided on a lender, youll need to fill out an application. This can usually be done online, but your lender may have its own requirements. Most lenders require an appraisal of your house in order to qualify for a HELOC or home equity loan, as your home will act as collateral for your loan. Once youve submitted your information, your lender will decide whether to approve your application based on factors such as your requested loan term and amount, your credit score, income, debt-to-income ratio, and loan-to-value ratio. Once youve been approved, youll receive a lump sum payment (for home equity loans) or be able to start drawing from your credit line (for HELOCs). Alternatives to a Home Equity Loan or HELOCWhile a home equity loan or HELOC can be a great way to use your home equity to fund large expenses, other financing methods may be a better fit for certain situations. Some alternatives you might want to consider include:Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) | 0 |
###CLAIM: ms o'brien and andrew price, 47, had dated for the past year and a half when they put together a picture together linking the murder of mr lovisonhow to that of mr brown and guillerme, but the much younger pair fitted the frame and the circumstances of the puzzling murder made it very much up in the air.
###DOCS: The simple name of the country town of Moe instantly brings back chilling memories for any Victorian old enough to remember little Jaidyn Leskie. For locals, the arrest of barista Samantha Grace Guillerme over the murder of Jarrad Lovison on Tuesday has rekindled haunting memories of those dark days in 1997. Jaidyn was just a baby when he vanished from his mum's home on Narracan Drive, Newborough, just outside of Moe, late on June 14, 1997. Jaidyn Leskie was just one when he vanished from his home just outside of Moe in 1997. He was found dead six months laterGreg Domaszewicz was charged with the little boy's murder, but was found not guilty. The case has haunted Moe ever sinceGuillerme was arrested after police searched a property in Moe and was remanded in custody to return to court on January 7His body was found in nearby Blue Rock Dam six months later. It quickly turned into a murder mystery and until this day remains murky. A pig's head had been thrown at the house and other vandalism on the evening of the toddler's disappearance. His mum's then boyfriend, Greg Domaszewicz, was charged with murder, but was found not guilty by a jury in December 1998. A coronial inquest in 2006 found that he had contributed to the toddler's death and had likely disposed of the boy's body. While the differences between the two cases are obvious, the similarities have had tongues wagging since Mr Lovison vanished from the face of the earth on April 16. The next day, Guillerme shared a photo on her social media page of her dog at the Lyrebird Forest Walk about 60km to the south of Moondarra. Alongside the photo from April 17, she wrote the caption 'today's adventure'. Police on Wednesday afternoon charged three more men over the alleged murder of Mr Lovison. Their alleged connection to the petite blonde arrested a day earlier for now remains unknown. As do the reasons they found themselves to be charged alongside her with murder. Mr Lovison grew up in the very same suburb of Moe, Newborough, as Jaidyn, who was just one when he disappeared. His body was found on May 23 in bushland in Moondarra - about 125km east of Melbourne and north of Moe. Her alleged accomplices - a 28-year-old man, a 47-year-old Moe man and a 44-year-old Trafalgar woman. Guillerme had worked at a cafe just around the corner in Trafalgar before she was put out of a job by the COVID-19 pandemic. On Wednesday, the Eat Live Fresh cafe was busy serving customers in the 'almost' free lands of regional Victoria. Too busy to answer questions when approached by Daily Mail Australia. Guillerme had been by other accounts, a good employee who had been let go with regret. Trafalgar is a textbook country town, with a short main street with just a few shops still open. The pub on the corner was locked-up tight like many of the old country pubs across the Latrobe Valley. Locals were understandably shocked when they heard that the friendly barista from the nearby cafe had been charged with murder. In Trafalgar, the town folk are friendly and say hello to strangers as they come across them on the street. Guillerme had been just as friendly and was known to get about town with her little black dog. She was never in a rush and always had time for a chinwag with anyone who ventured into the cafe's doors. 'We couldn't believe it when we heard that,' a man from a neighbouring shop said. 'She was only a little thing. We can only imagine she was getting around with the wrong crowd ... it has that whole feeling of the Jaidyn Leskie thing all over again.' The man was not alone in that sentiment, with several locals mentioning the tragic unsolved case. Word had already got around that three other men had been picked-up by police over the alleged murder of Mr Lovison. 'We all know their names, but we'll just let the police do their thing,' another local said. Mr Lovison, or 'Lovo' as he was known around town, had been living in and about Moe his whole life. Sleepy Hollow: The town of Trafalgar where Samantha Grace Guillerme worked at the local cafe before COVID claimed her jobMr Lovison was riding his bike (pictured) the night he mysteriously disappeared. Police are investigating a report the bike was seen resting against a tree in Tanjil South, north of Moe, on April 18Mr Lovison was last spotted in Moe, Latrobe Valley. A close friend of his said the arrest was 'a long time coming'By most accounts, he was well liked in the area despite his rough and rugged appearance. Like the tragic Leskie case,speculation has been rife about what, why and how the lovable larrikan met his grim demise. Such has been the intrigue that the mystery had spawned its own podcast, that has been a cause for controversy across the area. A Facebook page dedicated to at first finding Mr Lovison and then providing his family with justice has also kept locals in the loop. The page has almost 3000 followers, with each update earning dozens of comments. While those who knew Guillerme in Trafalgar remember her fondly, there are more than a few about Moe that have expressed serious concerns about her character. 'I knew in my gut from day one it was her involved,' one person wrote. 'Nothing added up ... Justice for the gentle giant.' Mr Lovison's family is said to be relieved that police have finally made some charges over the death of their son. But in a town like Moe, they know better than anyone that not everyone found responsible for murder goes to jail. How a seven-foot-tall dog lover died and how he knew those accused of murdering him is still shrouded in mystery six months after he vanished. Jarrad Lovison, 28, went missing while riding his bike near Moe in country Victoria on April 16 and his body was found in bushland on May 23. After months of anguish for his family and friends, barista Samantha Grace Guillerme, 24, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with murder. The next day Jake William Brown, 28, and Andrew James Price, 47, were also charged with murdering Mr Lovison in Moondarra. Even with his accused killers behind bars, the case still has far more questions than answers, even after six months of investigation. Jarrad Lovison, 28, (left) was found dead in May after disappearing a month earlier. Three people were charged with his murder this week, and his ex-girlfriend Ange O'Brien, 44, (right) was released without chargeAfter months of anguish for his family and friends, barista Samantha Grace Guillerme, 24, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with murderA third person arrested, but later released without charge, was Mr Lovison's ex-girlfriend Ange O'Brien, 44, whom he dated on and off for three years. But Ms O'Brien had been dating Price for at least the past year - including the six months between Mr Lovison's death and his arrest. Ms O'Brien has for the past year been dating Andrew Price, 47, (pictured together) who is accused of murdering Mr LovisonHow the much-younger Brown and Guillerme fit into the frame and the circumstances of the puzzling murder are very much up in their air. Friends believed after Guillerme was arrested that she couldn't have single-handedly killed Mr Lovison, as police allege, as he stood at more than seven feet tall with a muscular build. One theory police are investigating, which friends and locals have also speculated about, is that Mr Lovison was given a 'hot shot' of drugs that triggered an overdose. More mysterious events were associated with the case, such as a report of Mr Lovison's green mountain bike being found propped up against a tree. The bike was reported seen two days after he body was found on Becks Bridge Rd, Tanjil South, just north of Adam View Court where one of the arrests was made. Police said it was then supposedly whisked away by a white wagon two hours later. Guillerme also shared a photo on Instagram the day after he disappeared of her dog at the Lyrebird Forest Walk about 60km to the south of Moondarra. Alongside the photo, she wrote the caption 'today's adventure'. Jake William Brown, 28, was arrested on the same day as Price and both were charged with murderHow the much-younger Brown (pictured) and Guillerme fit into the frame and the circumstances of the puzzling murder are very much up in their airGuillerme's alleged involvement is puzzling by itself, as friends said she came from a good family and had 'a bright future'. Shocked former high school classmates also described her in glowing terms on social media. Ms O'Brien remained close to her ex and frantically searched for him after his disappearance, posting increasingly desperate Facebook pleas. She was concerned he had met with foul play as Mr Lovison wouldn't have abandoned his beloved dog Slade. 'No one has heard from him at all from nearly 9 days and he left his best friend at home... something isn't right!' she wrote on April 24. The court heard Brown (pictured) was an alcoholic who would be going through withdrawal in custody, and also needed to see a psychologistMs O'Brien remained close to her ex and frantically searched for him after his disappearance, posting increasingly desperate Facebook pleas'I hate to say it but it's time to really start to worry. So out of character for him and to leave Slade! He messaged me Thursday night and I haven't heard from him since and that's strange. I'm so worried... so damn worried. 'He was being a grump [in the message] but that's him sometimes... but put it this way it definitely wasn't something I was worried about.' Two days later she described the lengths she and Mr Lovison's parents, who described him as a 'fun-loving giant', had gone to in the search. Ms O'Brien also eerily described how Price was supporting her through it all - at a point after he had allegedly murdered him. Ms O'Brien was concerned he had met with foul play as he wouldn't have abandoned his beloved dog SladeOn May 27 she thought, for reasons that were never explained online, that evidence indicated Mr Lovison was alive - but it turned out to be false hope'I've done everything I can think of, called hospitals so has John and Di... called and messaged heaps of people,' she said. 'Had the [police] here talking with them, doing anything they suggest to do. Pricey has been amazing with it all too.' On May 27 she thought, for reasons that were never explained online, that evidence indicated Mr Lovison was alive - but it turned out to be false hope. 'Well the good news is, he's alive, the bad news is no one has spoken to him as yet so massive relief that he's OK,' she wrote. 'I have known this since last night, sorry I didn't let you all know but I had to wait to speak to other people first and spent last night and today looking for him. The last known image of Mr Lovison going shopping in Moe, the day before his disappearanceOn theory police are investigating, which friends and locals have also speculated about, is that Mr Lovison was given a 'hot shot' of drugs that triggered an overdose'I really don't have many answers yet but as soon as I know something will let you all know.' Ms O'Brien has faced harsh criticism in the past two days after it emerged that Price had been charged with murder. But she faced her critics head-on in a post on Tuesday and vowed to never give up looking for answers about Mr Lovison's death. 'I'm quite amazed with what I have heard I have done over the past 6 months. I knew if we never gave up we would finally get answers,' she wrote. 'I know JJay would never ever have given up on me, so that's what I did for him! I'll never be OK with what has happened, I don't think any of us will be. 'He's never coming back though, is he. None of us will ever get to have his arms around us or feel his love ever again.' Samantha Grace Guillerme (pictured), 24, was charged with the murder of Mr Lovison on TuesdayMr Lovison was riding his bike (pictured) the night he mysteriously disappeared. Police are investigating a report the bike was seen resting against a tree in Tanjil South, north of MoePrice and Brown were refused bail by Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, as was Guillerme on Tuesday. They appear again on January 7. Brown's lawyer Elise Anselma told the court her client was an alcoholic who would be going through withdrawal in custody. She also said he needed to see a psychologist and was on anti-biotics for a bite on his leg. Victoria Police executed search warrants at six properties in Willow Grove, Newborough, Tanjil South, Moe and two in Trafalgar. Guillerme was arrested on Tuesday when detectives searched a property on Coalville Rd, Moe - where a white Toyota was seized as part of the ongoing investigation. | 2 |
###CLAIM: according to reports published in the medical journal nature, other immune cells, called t cells, learned from the attack and recognized the virus.
###DOCS: June 2 (Reuters) - The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. Coronavirus does not threaten U.S. blood supplyCurrent guidelines for screening U.S. blood donors for symptoms of COVID-19 and for a history of recent infections are effectively protecting the blood supply from contamination with the new coronavirus, researchers say. In a study conducted for the National Institutes of Health, researchers tested nearly 18,000 "minipools" of blood samples that is, blood samples pooled from total of roughly 258,000 donors from across the country. Only three minipools contained genetic material from the virus, according to a report published in the journal Transfusion. In all three, the viral levels were low. In the one minipool that could be tested for infectivity, the virus material was noninfectious, the researchers said. "Other studies have shown that in rare cases where a blood sample tested positive, transmission by blood transfusion has not occurred," coauthor Sonia Bakkour of the University of California, San Francisco, said in a statement. "Therefore, it appears safe to receive blood as a transfusion recipient and to keep donating blood, without fear of transmitting COVID-19 as long as current screenings are used." (https://bit.ly/3iblpG9)High vitamin D levels do not protect against COVID-19Low levels of vitamin D have been tied to higher risks for COVID-19 and more severe illness, although no studies have proved that vitamin D deficiency is actually to blame. A study published on Tuesday in PLoS Medicine suggests that boosting vitamin D levels with supplements would not help. Researchers studied more than 1.2 million people of European ancestry from 11 countries, some of whom had genetic variants that result in naturally higher levels of vitamin D. People with these variants did not have a lower risk for coronavirus infection, hospitalization, or severe COVID-19, the researchers reported. Their results suggest that boosting vitamin D levels in deficient people probably would not help combat the coronavirus, and they do not believe randomized trials testing vitamin D supplementation would be worthwhile. Other experts, however, would still like to see such trials, especially in people of African and other non-European ancestries. (https://bit.ly/3g62hqA)Immune system workaround helps blood cancer patients with COVID-19In blood cancer patients who lack antibody-producing cells, other immune cells can compensate to help fight the coronavirus, new research shows. People with blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma - often lack antibody-making immune cells called B cells, particularly after treatment with certain medications. Without enough B cells and antibodies, they are at risk for severe COVID-19. But other immune cells, called T cells, learn to recognize and attack the virus, according to a report published in Nature Medicine. Blood cancer patients in the study were more likely to die from COVID-19 than patients with solid tumors or without cancer. But among the blood cancer patients, those with higher levels of CD8 T cells were more than three times more likely to survive than those with lower levels of CD8 T cells. The authors speculate that CD8 T cell responses to COVID-19 vaccines might protect blood cancer patients even if they do not have typical antibody responses. "This work can help us advise patients while we wait for more vaccine specific studies," said co-author Dr. Erin Bange of the University of Pennsylvania in a statement. While patients' vaccine response "likely will not be as robust as their friends/family who don't have blood cancers, it is still ... potentially lifesaving," Bange added. (https://go.nature.com/2STOVWf)In some long COVID cases, air gets trapped in lungsSome COVID-19 survivors with persistent breathing symptoms have a condition called "air trapping," in which inhaled air gets stuck in the small airways of the lung and cannot be exhaled. Researchers studied 100 COVID-19 survivors who were still having respiratory problems, like coughs and shortness of breath, an average of more than two months after their diagnosis. Overall, 33 had been hospitalized, including 16 who had needed intensive care. The amount of lung area showing so-called ground-glass opacities on imaging studies a typical sign of lung damage from COVID-19 was higher in the hospitalized group than in those with milder disease, and it was even higher in patients who had required intensive care. COVID-19 severity made little difference in the average percentage of lung affected by air trapping, however. It was 25.4% in patients not hospitalized, 34.5% in those who were hospitalized without intensive care, and 27.2% in patients who had been critically ill. By comparison, that proportion was 7.3% in a group of healthy volunteers. The air trapping was largely confined to patients' narrowest airway passages, according to a report posted on Saturday on medRxiv ahead of peer review. "The long-term consequences" of these patients' small airways disease "are not known," the authors said. (https://bit.ly/3pcekXo)Open https://tmsnrt.rs/3c7R3Bl in an external browser for a Reuters graphic on vaccines in development. Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Bill BerkrotOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Blood donations are safe during the pandemic and do not carry a risk of COVID-19 infection risk, a new study suggests. Earlier in the crisis, scientists worried that blood donors who were unwittingly infected with the virus may transfer the disease to patients. But researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) tested blood samples from more than 250,000 donors and found only 0.001 percent included trace coronavirus DNA. Even in rare cases where small amounts of coronavirus were present in a blood sample, the virus was not transferred to a new patient. This is 'good news for thousands of patients who may need a blood transfusion,' says one of the doctors involved with the research. A new NIH study found that only 0.001% of blood samples from donors to recipients contained trace coronavirus DNA (file image)An estimated 6.8 million Americans give blood every year, according to the American Red Cross, with someone in the U.S. needing blood or platelets every two seconds. A patient might require a blood transfusion for surgery, cancer treatment, chronic illness, and other injuries. One condition, sickle cell disease, impacts 90,000 to 100,000 people in the U.S. - patients suffering from this disease require transfusions throughout their lives. In spring 2020, the healthcare system shifted focus to COVID - while limited testing meant that many Americans worried they might have become infected with the coronavirus, but weren't able to find out for sure. This worry was especially concerning for blood donation clinics and patients waiting on transfusions. If a donor gave blood - without knowing they were infected - could they transfer the coronavirus to a patient? Some spring 2020 studies showed low concentrations of coronavirus RNA in blood samples taken from hospitalized COVID patients, providing additional reason for concern. To investigate the issue, scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) set out to study blood safety at the national level. They wanted to find how often the coronavirus was actually present in blood donations - and whether it could be transferred to patients. The NIH team looked at blood samples collected between March and September, 2020. Samples came from six major metropolitan areas: San Francisco, Boston, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, New York City, and Seattle. Seattle was the first COVID epicenter in the U.S., and both New York City and Los Angeles would become hotspots during the collection period - meaning unidentified COVID infections were common in these cities. To test samples more efficiently, the researchers used a technique called 'pooling.' They combined blood samples from multiple people and tested them together. Pool testing allows scientists to test samples more efficiently, analyzing many samples at once. The NIH researchers found only three COVID-positive pools out of almost 18,000If a pool tests negative, every sample included in the pool is assumed to be negative. If a pool tests positive, scientists then re-test smaller groups of samples included in the pool in order to find the positive one. In total, the NIH researchers tested about 18,000 pools, including blood donations from 258,000 people. Only three out of those 18,000 pools included any coronavirus. That's a rate of one in 100,000, or 0.001 percent risk of coronavirus presence. When the researchers looked more closely at the COVID-positive samples, they found that very low levels of coronavirus DNA were present. Antibodies associated with an immune system fighting COVID weren't present, either. These findings mean that, even in the blood donations where trace coronavirus was present, a transfusion would be unlikely to transfer COVID to a patient. No case of a patient getting COVID through a blood transfusion has ever been reported, the researchers note in a summary of these findings (published Tuesday in the journal Transfusion). This new study adds additional evidence to support the safety of blood transfusions. 'This finding is good news for thousands of patients who may need a blood transfusion because of surgery or a disease that causes anemia, such as a rare blood-related condition or leukemia,' said Dr Simone Glynn, chief of the Blood Epidemiology and Clinical Therapeutics Branch at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which conducted the study along with another NIH agency. Still, the researchers recommend that possible blood donors refrain from going to a donation clinic if they have COVID symptoms or have come into contact with anyone who recently tested positive. 'It appears safe to receive blood as a transfusion recipient and to keep donating blood, without fear of transmitting COVID-19 as long as current screenings are used,' said Dr Sonia Bakkour, a scientist on the study's research team. | 3 |
###CLAIM: we talked in particular about all the important details of electric and compact vehicles and charging and range and all the issues you think are important for viewers and consumers.
###DOCS: Comment on this story Comment Gift Article ShareUnlock This article is free to access. Why? The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service. Follow this story and more by signing up for national breaking news email alerts. MR. IGNATIUS: Welcome to Washington Post Live. Im David Ignatius, a columnist for the Post. Today in our series, The Path Forward, we're going to be taking a closer look at electric vehicles, and our guest today is Mark Reuss, who is the president of General Motors, who is leading their efforts to become a significant player in the electric vehicle market. We're going to be talking about all the particular details that are important as we think about EVs, charging, their range, all of the issues that you as viewers and consumers are going to be thinking about. But, first, I just want to say, Mark, thank you for joining us. MR. REUSS: David, I'm honored and humbled to be part of this today. So, thank you very much for having me. I'm very excited. MR. IGNATIUS: Great. So, let's jump right in. You've plugged GM's future into electric vehicles, if I can say that, in a serious way. You've said that you want to sell a million of these vehicles by 2025. You've said that GM will roll out its new Chevy Bolt electrical vehicle, I believe, this summer for a price, $34,000 or less, which would underprice some of your competition in the market. AdvertisementMy question for starters is that's an enormous change for GM. How are you going to pull this off? How are you going to make what's in effect a quite different company over this next four years? MR. REUSS: That's a great question. I mean, if you look at our EV history, it does all the way back to, well, let's just say a long time ago, but the first real commercial vehicle that we went to market with was the EV1 in the '90s, and we did the Volt and then the Bolt and then now we've got the Bolt EUV. So, we've had--and the ELR for Cadillac, actually, along the way. But those were a lot of learning entries that we did around batteries and vehicle integration, and we've learned a ton, both from our consumers that are buying those but also what we want to do and how we want to do it to get scale, and frankly, part of what we're doing here is to get everybody into an EV, and to be able to do that, as you might know, there's friction points--there has been in the market--around price, around infrastructure, and frankly scale. General Motors, if no one else, has an incredibly broad portfolio with all of our brands globally and different price points. So, we decided a couple years ago that we weren't going to get into a large hybrid or plug-in hybrid play but rather go right to pure battery electric vehicles based on all the learnings we've had and do it in a way that gets scale for people, both on the battery cost, the vehicle cost, but also build excitement into those vehicles for all the different tastes in customers that we have today. AdvertisementSo, we decided to vertically integrate many of the big aspects of getting scale around cost, including the cell itself, the battery cell itself, a pack, and then finally the vehicle, which we've got pretty big manufacturing scale worldwide as well. So, leveraging all that and our R&D capability, we decided to go all in. So that was the beginning of it. MR. IGNATIUS: Let me ask you about a particular part of this technology, and that's your battery, the "Ultium battery," I think you call it. With electric vehicles, the battery obviously is critical in terms of how far you can drive a vehicle, its usefulness to the consumer. Tell us about this battery technology, what's different about it, how quickly you think it's coming on, and what the implications are in terms of how we think about electric vehicles. AdvertisementMR. REUSS: Sure. If you look at the scale piece of this, the Ultium platform, which we first really told the world about it on EV Day but then followed it up in the pandemic with our CES presentation that we gave here not too long ago, and really, it's a modular cell construction. Whether it be prismatic or cylindrical, we can adapt the Ultium platform to handle either one of those cell physicalities, which is very important as we go global because there are parts in the world that simply don't have one or the other. So, when you look at that and you look at what we're doing internally, we can actually manufacture our own cell itself and develop chemistries very rapidly on-site in our Tech Center in Warren, Michigan. The reason why that's important is as we develop the chemistries for that, we can go back and forth and validate the vehicle life and the battery use in the validation piece of that laboratory as well. So, the lithium-ion piece of it is the first gen of Ultium packs that you'll see going into the Hummer EV that will launch this fall and then the Lyriq, and then we have a lot of vehicles behind that, obviously, to be able to do a million vehicles in that time frame. AdvertisementBut also, we're converting a lot of our plants. We're in a joint manufacturing venture with LG, which we're finishing up the factory in Lordstown, Ohio, which will add about 1,100 jobs to that area, and it's converting, frankly, Voltage Valley. So that's a very exciting piece of it. We're also looking at big factory conversions like the $2.2 billion factory in Hamtramck, in the city of Detroit, which is really good, and so those big investments are really important to get scale. So, the chemistry itself is actually backward compatible, which is extremely important, because when we start with the first gen of Ultium, we really can update those chemistries and also back-feed those into the products as they begin to roll out. So, it's not a static development piece of it, and it's extremely important as we look forward to the future chemistries, which will come rapidly after Ultium 1. AdvertisementMR. IGNATIUS: So, let me ask you how that would work. If I buy a new Bolt this summer or next year and it's got your current first generation of this battery technology--and as you say, there will be improvements--let's imagine a couple years from now, there's a significantly more efficient battery that would let my car run much longer on a charge. Can I sub out the battery that I had and get a new one? Do you have provisions for that? MR. REUSS: Well, we do, and the Bolt EUV will be the last battery pack off of our previous gen chemistry, David. So, the next gen with the Ultium platform starts with Hummer and then continues onward. So, everything past Hummer will be the Ultium platform, and that's entirely possible. In fact, today I'd like to announce that we're going to enter into a joint development agreement with a company called SolidEnergy Systems, which that is a very exciting program for us because it's the development of solid-state batteries, or "lithium metal batteries," as they're called commonly. So that's a big breakthrough. AdvertisementSo, for something that we're going to actually prototype, build a prototype factory in Massachusetts, in Woburn, Massachusetts, we'll actually build those prototypes, and then when we go into production for the next gen of Ultium, which will be shortly after that, hopefully, we'll build a back-feed and be backward compatible to all the platforms that carry Ultium. So that's a big announcement for us. It's very exciting. I'm announcing that today in this forum, and we couldn't be prouder to get into that joint development agreement with SES. MR. IGNATIUS: So, Mark, that sounds like a significant announcement, and I want to ask you to say a little bit more about it. First, explain what that solid-state battery would be like. Tell us a little bit about your partner that you're going into the joint venture with, and tell us, if you can, how you think this may change the economics, the value proposition of your broad effort with EVs. AdvertisementMR. REUSS: Sure. If you look at where we're going to launch Ultium with Hummer and Lyriq in the first gen of that, we're looking for solid state and the battery chemistry developed for that to cut--to be about 60 percent of the cost of our batteries today, and with double--most importantly double the energy density. And with that doubling of the energy density at 60 percent of the cost, we can offer and put, again, the availability and the accessibility of electric vehicles to the very lowest end of the market from a cost standpoint and value standpoint for the customer. So, when we talk about that and looking to build that prototype factory with SES in '23, that's a year after we launch the Ultium 1 first-gen platform. So, this is very rapid. AdvertisementIn fact, we've tested and developed that chemistry with SES as an investor since 2015. So, we've been doing this for a little while. We've got 150,000 simulated miles on the lithium metal cell in our Tech Center facility in R&D, and so this is happening very, very fast. It's incredibly exciting. It can change--it really can change the whole calculus of adoption, accessibility, and having people actually have electric vehicles as their primary vehicle in terms of range, cost, and being able to do that. So, it's a breakthrough that we're very excited about, and we're very hopeful for the future, the very near future of that. MR. IGNATIUS: Let me ask if you could give our viewers some simple handle on that. When I go shopping for electric vehicle, I see some models, plug-ins, that say that they can go 34 miles on a charge. That's one that sticks in my memory. MR. REUSS: Sure. MR. IGNATIUS: There's some that go longer than that. For your new battery technology that you've been describing with us that you're going to be working on with your new partner, how much greater distance can we expect, taking the current batteries that are available just as X? I won't say 34 miles, but just the X. Are you going to come up with 2X, 1.5X? What difference will it make to the consumer? MR. REUSS: I'll give you some range numbers. Oh, that's a great question because it's a bit confusing when you look at plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and you can plug a vehicle in and get 34 miles, which that's what you're speaking of right there. Those actually carry both batteries and internal combustion engines on them, and so what we're talking about now is going to a complete battery electric vehicle. So, if you look at the Bolt that we're--the Bolt EUV and the Bolt that we're launching out of our Orion, Michigan, plant right now--and I'm driving one right now--we can get almost 260 miles of range on that chemistry, which is a previous gen chemistry, which is pretty, relatively difficult for a relatively small vehicle at a very competitive price point. If you look at what we're going to do with Hummer in the first Ultium platforms, we're approaching 450-plus miles on those battery packs, which is pretty close to internal combustion engine fuel ranges, and then if you look at what a solid-state lithium metal cell chemistry can do, we're talking about 500 to 600 miles of range in those battery packs. So, these are big leaps, but of course, you have to decide as a customer and a maker what level of range you really want and what you're willing to pay for. For people that don't drive very many miles or drive to and from work as their primary vehicle, those ranges on Bolt, Bolt EUV are very good. You tap it off at night. Over 70 percent of our customers that drive Bolts don't really need a charging station. They charge at home, and they use a charging station at home. And for that car, we're giving away the charging stations at home, for home installation, with a purchase of those Bolts. So, we're removing those friction points, but that gives you sort of the stepping of range, and of course, if you wanted to build a low-roof sports car, the Ultium platform can give you that type of a roofline when we turn on the modular cells on their side and get the car down. And we may decide that we want to use that power and that capability not only on range, but also for fun, for performance. So, you got all that flexibility that you can use, and it really just depends on the segment, the price, and the customer on how you use it. MR. IGNATIUS: Those are pretty startling range numbers, and I just want to ask, since you mentioned it, what improvements in performance you might be able to get applying this new battery technology. Are there any estimates you could give us about some metric of--MR. REUSS: Sure. MR. IGNATIUS: --improved performance that might be possible? MR. REUSS: Well, we came out when we launched and showed the Hummer for the first time, we said about 1,000 horsepower and zero to 60 at three seconds or under. I don't think the power is limited when we get into these type of battery packs that can delivery that. What becomes the limiting factor is how much can you really get to the ground, and so how you architect the car, how you put that power to the road is extremely important. And because you don't have torque converters or a sequential shift, those are very different direct-drive instant torque. That feeling of an electric car is like no other, and everything happens with a lot of satisfaction for the driver, a lot of fun in most cases. And we have something called "one-pedal driving" on the Bolt, which you really don't have to use the brake pedal unless you're in an emergency situation, but you can drive the car all the time in regen, using the regen of the electric drive unit to actually slow the car and stop the car and use the gas pedal just to accelerate or off the gas pedal you decelerate and activate that regen, which in fact charges the battery. So, there's all kinds of really fun things on EVs that you frankly can't get on an internal combustion engine car. So, it's a whole new experience. MR. IGNATIUS: I like your focus on the fun factor as opposed to the "Eat your broccoli" factor because I have a feeling that's going to be crucial in the marketplace. Let me, speaking of fun factors, ask you about your ad during the Super Bowl for electric vehicles, which had Will Ferrell, a comedian well known to us, who was all spun up about the competition with Norway and talking how we're going to crush those lugers, the luge being a sled that Will Ferrell imagines is a big deal in Norway. But there is a serious issue here, which is Norway's commitment to electric vehicles is so significant that 54 percent-plus of new vehicles registered in Norway last year were electric, according to statistics that they gather. That's compared to 2 percent of the market share in the U.S. So, I want to ask, realistically, how are we going to compete with those "lugers" who are at levels of electric vehicle purchase that are just so far from where we are? MR. REUSS: That's a great question, and the actual spot was meant to provoke a lot of those questions and thought. It was very un-GM. We used that opportunity to introduce our new logo. We took some chances there, which we're going to do, and we actually had a great relationship with Norway around that whole spot too. We had a lot of back-and-forth. So, it was a lot of fun. The serious piece of that is a big question because we've got a huge car park of used vehicles that are internal combustion engine-based, but we also have all the friction points that I touched on a little bit, which was sort of the range anxiety piece of that. "Can I have an electric vehicle for my only car? Can I drive from Detroit to Cedar Point or SeaWorld, and can I charge my car along the way?" There's a lot of great things that we're doing, including an app that lays out the whole charging station infrastructure. It actually tells you the most efficient route to drive with your EV. Those are big enablers for people to get past those pain points, but I've got to say the public policy piece of this, which is very encouraging with the new administration, around the infrastructure of charging stations is crucial. So, they're well aware of that, and they're working very hard on that. And we have a massive gasoline, petroleum infrastructure. There's no reason why companies like Shell and some of the other oil companies can't participate in the infrastructure with EVs. I also talked to some of the CEOs at the Edison Group the other day around some of the announcements they made, which was a commitment to build out and help build out infrastructure of charging stations too, and so you've got that. You've got our commitment to EVgo, which is tripling the number of DC fast chargers across the United States. That's happening. There's a lot of things happening here that will help that. The other piece I mentioned was value and getting everybody into EVs from an accessibility, from a utility standpoint has to be different answers in the cars themselves for carrying families and still providing what the automobile has always done, which is freedom. Freedom and passion as a reflection of who you are and what your values are in any segment of the automobile industry is so important. So, we want to make sure the vehicles we deliver are beautiful, they are still a very passionate decision to purchase, and they provide all the freedom and utility that we know our customers want. So, when we get into those things and we start reducing those friction points and solving them for our customers, which we are, really magical things happen on adoption. So, it's a big country. It's got a lot of different customers. There's rural customers. There's urban customers. There's different congestion in some of our bigger urban cities, and the infrastructure is widely varying. So, we have to have those kind of things, and when we talk about trucks, trucks are sort of the workhorse and so popular right now and will be for a long time. We have to solve the equation for duty cycle and the whole way trucks are used and the versatility of that. So that's what we're doing. MR. IGNATIUS: Let me ask you about the culture change that's implicit here. You're a car guy. Looking at your bio, I note that you were a test car driver. You told me before we started, you still get out on the test track. You were responsible for GM's racing program at one point in your career, I think. The love affair that Americans have with their--put in parentheses--gas-powered cars and trucks, it is a part of our culture, and the attempt-to-change aspects of that could easily run into resistance, and I'm curious about how you are planning your marketing strategy so that your EVs aren't seen as, again, the "Eat your broccoli. This is good for you. We're going to save the environment." Those are crucial goals for all of us, but you could run into cultural resistance. How are you going to deal with that problem? MR. REUSS: Well, I don't think, David, that this happens overnight, number one. So, we're not going to throw a switch and have everybody driving EVs next year. So, there will be--and there's fleets involved here too. There's not just retail customers, but there's big fleets, corporate fleets, so we're working very hard on things like BrightDrop, which we just talked about at CES for the first time, which solves the retail customer's big pain points of delivering packages and goods into highly congested areas and doing it with an EV but doing it with a connected set of final delivery, last-mile creative solutions. So, there's that piece of it. There's also most people haven't actually driven an EV. So, if we can get people into vehicles and drive them--and we've got great dealer partners. We've got a great network of dealers that are ready and really great thoughts around how we do that, and a lot of that changes as we look at this. A connected customer is extremely important for us. In fact, we've got a whole great team of people working on the connected customer delivering things that people haven't even thought about or know they want along with their car experience. So, we've been in OnStar for 20 years or so, and so that's been a great source of safety, connectivity. We deliver things like The Washington Post or The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times. Any of that content, we deliver into the car so people can listen to it. All those breakthroughs not only help people with the desirability of EVs and that connected customer, but also provides all that information along with the freedom that an automobile has always provided. So, I think it's a big change. The industry is really changing. In fact, this could be the real tipping point of when we get scale, value, and accessibility for everybody, which hasn't been true. So, I think the people like our Bolt customers are the most loyal Chevrolet customers we have, and there's a reason for that. They absolutely love the vehicle. They love what it delivers. So that's the opportunity. So, we look at it as a huge opportunity. I'm not sure going out and talking to customers about what the pain points are, taking that back, solving the pain points, and then looking at the desirability of some of the future models that we're going to introduce in a clinic environment has told us that people are ready to do this. So, there's a lot of data behind this. MR. IGNATIUS: And, Mark, have you gotten any pushback from your dealers, and will these new electric vehicles be sold through your existing dealer networks? Or will you have dealers that specialize in EVs and try to make that a market niche in their areas? MR. REUSS: Well, David, I think a couple of publications have covered this fairly well, and the dealers look at this as a growth opportunity in addition to internal combustion engines they sell today. So, the dealers that are participating in our transformation to an electric vehicle future realize that growth potential and are very excited about it and are very excited about the models that we're going to do, which is the Cadillacs. You've seen some of the Cadillacs we're doing. You've seen the Hummer, the GMC Hummer. You're going to see more Chevrolets here shortly. So, you're going to see all those fill out the brands, and again, this is a growth opportunity for General Motors, our dealer body, but it's going to change the way people buy vehicles, and they're, frankly, a big voice in how that needs to change along with the voice of the customer, obviously. So, we're taking those voices and greatly simplifying how people buy cars, and our dealers are great partners in that. So, it's an exciting time, I really got to say. MR. IGNATIUS: So, we have just a couple minutes left. I want to close with a fundamental question, but it's one that comes through every answer you've given today. Is it fair to say that you and your CEO are essentially betting GM's future on the success of electric vehicles for your company? MR. REUSS: I think it's a bet. It's a well-calculated bet, but we always bet our future on our company. I mean, this is a long lead capital business with--you know, you really have to have your intelligence and then know the market better than anybody else to be successful. We've cut our development times from 50 months down to about 26. We're going to be very agile. We are going to be very market-driven, and so we've got that agility both with the portfolio we have today and also the portfolio that's coming. So, we will be able to flex those portfolios to what the market tells us, but we definitely bet the future on battery electric vehicles, not plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that carry, frankly, two propulsion systems. We haven't put money into that part of what people are saying is some sort of in-between road. We're going all the way. We're going there as fast as we can. So that's the bet we have, but we've done it in a very agile way where we have flexibility that's based on our customers and our market, and hopefully, that helps. MR. IGNATIUS: Mark Reuss, thank you for an absolutely fascinating conversation about part of the future that most of us are just beginning to think about. Thanks for explaining it in such detail. We hope you'll come back as this experiment rolls forward. MR. REUSS: I'd be honored to. David, thank you so much for having me today. It's a rare opportunity for me. So, I really appreciate you giving me that opportunity to tell people and yourself with some great questions, by the way, of what we're up to. MR. IGNATIUS: Great. We'll see you in the future. MR. REUSS: Thank you. MR. IGNATIUS: Tomorrow--at 1:00 on Washington Post Live, we'll have an important look at the past year that we've been living through, "Coronavirus: One Year Later" with Dr. Scott Gottlieb and Leana Wen, who has written often on this subject, also a doctor. And join me on Friday with Nobel Laureate for Chemistry, Jennifer Doudna, and Walter Isaacson, who's captured the extraordinary story of Doudna's work on gene-editing technology known as CRISPR in Walter Isaacson's latest best-selling biography. That's on Friday. Thanks for watching today, and we'll look forward to seeing you the rest of the week. [End recorded session.] GiftOutline Gift Article | 0 |
###CLAIM: i survived my children's death because of their shit, and feeling the stress of stacking dirty dishes is mine.
###DOCS: I know what I have: this beautiful girl whom, four years ago, I never could have imagined. I didnt look at the developmental milestones chart when Ronan was alive because I knew hed never meet them; with Charlie, who is smart, beautiful, healthy, funny, kind, and curious, I dont look at the charts because I know I dont have to worry about it. She loves books, has full conversations (and heated arguments) with us, and is, as her teacher reported during her school conference, a really good friend. Shes the child I always wanted (of course, so is everybodys child), but it doesnt mean I wanted Ronan less, even after his diagnosis, or that I miss him less, even though Charlie would not exist if Ronan had been healthy, if he had lived, or if hed had the single enzyme programmed into his tangle of DNA that would have saved his life. Two halves of one life, the C-section incision out of which both children were lifted, two bodies from a body cut at its center. The two mothers. Ronan was, in fact, the one who led me to Kent, the father of this girl who wouldnt exist if her brother were not lost to me. A journalist, Kent had read a piece Id written about Ronan while he was still living, but already blind and entering a period of drastic decline, and his father and I had been split for some time. Kent asked me to lunch. I hadnt realized we were Facebook friends. Look at all that hair! my friend Lisa said when I told her Kent and I had a kind-of date. And hes right in your age bracket!We met at a Santa Fe cafe famous for blue cornmeal pancakes and strong, sweet coffee. Kent was wearing his sunglasses on a string around his neck, and he did have fantastic salt-and-pepper hair, tons of it. He was tall and solid and wore cowboy boots with his initials (KB) stitched on the back of each. The first thing he said to me was I just had a dream where all of my teeth fell out. What do you think it means? I laughed, really laughed, for the first time in two years, a feeling so unfamiliar it made me blush. Youre anxious? I responded, feeling this new and strange lightness. Oh, totally, he said. Who isnt?A few weeks later, on our first night date (That makes it definitely a date-date, Lisa mused), Kent asked me how my family had supported me, and I told him that my parents had been amazing, but others had withdrawn, finding it too hard, or not knowing what to say. Kent considered for a moment over his drink (which he insisted later was watered down), looked up at me with bright, clear blue eyes, and said, That must feel like a betrayal. Thats really hard. Exactly. We had dinner (he forgot his glasses so I had to read the menu and the bill aloud to him), and I learned that he was twenty years older than I (fifty-eight, not forty-eight, and far out of what I considered to be my acceptable dating age bracket) and was getting ready to leave Santa Fe (he owned a hundred-year-old church he had grown weary of endlessly renovating). He was an excellent listener, even when I was so nervous, talking so fast. When we walked back to his car parked in front of the Hotel Saint Francis, we noticed it had a dent in the side. A hit and run. What do you think it means? he asked. Worlds collide! I offered. He laughed. I was smitten, for sure, but it was when I introduced Kent to Ronan that I understood I was falling in love against reason and all the odds. Kent walked right up to Ronan, who was immobile then, sitting propped up in his high chair, where he spent a great deal of time. Kent knelt down, touched Ronans feet and then his hands, and said, Oh, hey there, buddy. Youre a big guy, arent you? and then he kissed his face. It was a fathers voice, from a man who had always wanted to have children. Just as trauma and grief unmake the world, love remakes it. This family lifeKents, Charlottes, and mineso traditional, seemingly so effortless for otherswas everything I thought Id never have only three short years ago, so how can I possibly become so undone and unnerved by a temper tantrum, a lost balloon, or a ruined carton of eggs? Who cares? This is trivial business compared to my other parenting experience: seizure meds in small syringes, the liquid parceled out in millimeters; dread like a wall to climb over every morning; and hospice nurses and oxygen and suction machines and hours spent watching my child wither and fade from Tay-Sachs disease. I survived the death of my child and now Im losing my shit over normal toddler behavior and feeling stressed out by a stack of dirty dishes? Sure, an annoying day, but not an unbearable one, which certainly described some of the toughest days with Ronan, including the day of his death, and yet I had borne them because there had been no other choice. Ronan taught me that life is about being present with each moment, that the future is a mystery, the past is unfixable, and that its in the present where we truly live and thrive. Everything else is unreal, ephemeral, and more often than not, a lie. Ronan was my teacher, my guru, my first baby, my boy. I feel ungrateful, unaware, ridiculous, guilty. Have I so quickly unlearned all the lessons that being his mother taught me? When Ronan was alive, I would have given anything for a day like this. My response to any parent who told a story similar to the one Ive just described would have been anger and desperation (and, I must admit, delivered smugly, and meant to land like a wound): You should be so lucky to be irritated by a tantrum. At least your kid isnt dying. This was a highly effective way to stop the conversation, which was precisely the point. I couldnt bear the mundane stories about peoples normal struggles on the planet of parenthood from which I had been, I believed, permanently exiled. | 0 |
###CLAIM: actually, that online feedback calculation tool was changed just a couple of weeks ago to a version that uses the same criteria.
###DOCS: The NFL recently agreed to end the practice of race norming, which was used as part of its calculations to determine who was eligible to tap into a $1 billion settlement for former players with traumatic brain injuries. The practice meant that some Black players claims were denied because the NFLs equation assumed that those players started with a lower cognitive function. As the league reverses this discriminatory practice, its easy to pick out a villain: the NFL. AdvertisementBut race norming isnt just used by the league. Its used throughout medicine in a number of tests and equations to help doctors tell how sick you are. A physician takes some measurements, inputs them into a computer, and then punches in some other information: your gender, your ageand, a lot of times, your race. On Mondays episode of What Next, I talked with Darshali Vyas, a resident physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, about why what looks like a victory for football players might be part of something much bigger: a reassessment of how all of us are seen when we go to the doctor. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDarshali Vyas: More and more, as our technology improves and increases, there is a movement to move toward an online calculator, or an algorithm, or a risk score, that helps doctors make difficult decisions. There are some decisions that are clear-cut and some decisions that are more in a gray area. And when were trying to make decisions like thatit could be when to start a patient on a certain kind of medication or how to counsel a patient toward or away from a procedure or when to seek additional testing or imagingit can be helpful to have a tool that helps us individualize a patients risk factors and guide decision-making. And in some ways, its helpful to have that because it helps doctors be more objective. AdvertisementAdvertisementMary Harris: Youre not just going on your gut. Right. It can be helpful to standardize decision-making in that way, especially when there is a gray area. But when race is a factor, how do you decide whether to plug that data in or leave it out? Especially when there isnt a clear answer on what the patients race is. There are no clear guidelines on how to answer that question. And theres a lot of room for error in judgment to go into that decision. These tools that ask for race, typically theyll ask for very constrained categories of race. Theyll say Black, white, Asian. The patients I take care of, their racial identities dont fall neatly into those categories. So clinicians often will have to make an assumption based on skin color, what you think theyre identified as, or if the patients in front of you, you can ask them what race they identify as. But again, theyre very strict categories. And one problem that these tools dont comment on at all is what to do if a patient is multiracial or identifies with multiple ethnic backgrounds. Do you pick one? Do you say other? And how does that affect what output you get from the tool? AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAnd these tools are based on previous information, right? Like outcomes of patients who have come before. I think about race norming as this closed loop of information, where its both documenting a reality, but then theres this question of whether by documenting the reality, you are then creating a reality because youve given this score, which now is going to affect how you treat the patient. And so youve sort of used a stereotype to capture someone in a way. So youre using a current snapshot of a disparity and using it for a predictive tool to almost continue that disparity into the future. Yeah, it becomes this warped circle of logic. Im a little curious what race norming looks like in this NFL situation in particular. Like, if I was a player looking for compensation for a brain injury, what kind of tests would I get and how would they be corrected for race? AdvertisementAdvertisementBasically, to decide about the settlements, you need to assess what the damage done is to the cognition and to the brain function. And so these players undergo tests where the way theyre interpreted differs based on race. And the way they differ is the tests assume that Black players have lower cognitive function at baseline. And so to qualify for the settlement, they have to show a larger decrement in cognitive function. AdvertisementAdvertisementHmm. The NFL has defended the practice in the past saying this was based on long-established tests and widely accepted scoring methodologies, but theres no scientific evidence to show that Black patients have lower cognitive function, of course. And its at odds with all of our genetic understanding of race to begin with. AdvertisementRace is often factored in to these tools the same way a biological characteristic mightlike blood pressure or cholesterol. The problem is race is a social construct, not a biological condition, right? AdvertisementJust because something correlates with an outcome doesnt mean its causation. Its not something about being Black that makes people more or less likely to have an outcome of interest. Its the experience of being Black. And in some cases its easier for us to recognize a social factor that doesnt end up in the model. Like, for a lot of these analyses, people will find that insurance type also correlates with the outcome of interest. Insurance type doesnt end up in the final tool because we can recognize that insurance status is a social determinant of health. AdvertisementBut when race ends up with a signal, it often ends up in the final model. And that does kind of imply that were using it in a biological or genetic way. AdvertisementIts interesting because Im sure the argument that someone coming up with one of these tools might use is Well, the signal is so loud that we have to include it. And I wonder if you might see that differently. Like, yeah, thats a clanging bell for the racism in medicine, not some kind of indication that we need to be sorting people in this way. When you see the signal for race, that should be a call to action, that these racial disparities are really stark and that they need to be addressed at their root cause, not that we should correct for them and just adjust our models around the disparity. AdvertisementWhich means, in a way, kind of accepting the disparity. And in the worst-case scenario, perpetuating the disparity forward if were just correcting our tools around them. Youve really dug into how race norming is all over medicine. If you had to tick off the kinds of tests that are race normed, could you do it? AdvertisementAdvertisementIt started with just a few examples that stood out to me and to my classmates. But our work has shown that its ubiquitous across all fields of medicine. Its surgery, its obstetrics, its general medicine. Its a really common practice throughout medicine. AdvertisementAdvertisementYou first got interested in how race affects the health care patients receive back in medical school, when you learned that genetic variation is greater within racial groups than between them. But when did you see race used to determine what treatment patients should receive? AdvertisementWhen I was on my obstetrics rotation, there was an example of race correction right in front of me through the vaginal birth after caesarean section tool, or the VBAC tool, that also corrects by race. This VBAC tool is another one of those calculators for doctors. For women who have given birth once by C-section but want to try for a vaginal birth next timea VBACthis tool lets you plug in all kinds of information, and then you get a score that tells you how successful a vaginal birth is likely to be. The thing is telling the tool you were Black or Hispanic lowered your score. Anecdotally, we heard from practitioners who would use the tool and have a cutoff in their mind. Like, if this calculator gives me a percentage thats less than 50 percent, Im not going to offer a VBAC. AdvertisementAnd that could mean a more dangerous birth for a Black or Hispanic mom. A successful VBAC has far fewer complications than a repeat C-section, but the tool wasnt able to factor that in. AdvertisementThe equity concern there is that it may be directing clinicians to steer women of color toward repeat caesarean sections. I actually remember using the tool in preparing to see a patient with one of the obstetricians I was working with. And we pulled it up before we went in to see the patient and entered the patients characteristics into the tool. And then that day at our noon conference teaching session, someone had put up the equation for a VBAC on the screen in front of the whole room, and it had these subtraction factors for African American race and Hispanic race. It was just projected onto the screens, like, oh, this is another example of the same logic. AdvertisementAdvertisementWhat was the logic, and why didnt it make sense? Basically, there was a group of researchers who wanted to create a tool to help clinicians decide whos a good candidate for a VBAC. They looked at huge data sets and found a bunch of factors that correlated with having a successful VBAC. A lot of those factors ended up in the tool, like BMI, prior labor historythings that have a clear, mechanistic connection to a vaginal birth. They also found, interestingly, other factors that they also saw correlated that they did not include in the tool. They found marital status correlated with successful vaginal birth. They found insurance type correlated, and they found race correlated. They didnt end up using marital status or insurance type, but they did include race. And to me, that points to our ability to identify some factors as socially mediated, but we cant make that connection to race for some reason. We assume race is still biologically relevant. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSo you and a couple colleagues wrote a paper urging your peers to reconsider the use of race in this tool. And youve seen some progress recently, right? Just a couple of weeks ago, actually, that feedback calculator online is officially changed to a version of the same tool that does not use race. And whats really interesting and exciting is that the same group that validated the original VBAC calculator revalidated the tool removing race. Why is that meaningful for you? The VBAC calculator has officially become the first instance of race correction in a clinical algorithm thats been systematically reconsidered, revalidated, and abandoned with an explicit concern for equity. But also, its a powerful demonstration that equity work can look like: this willingness to respond and incorporate critique and to reconsider old practices. The same developers who made the first calculator have now made a new one without race and ethnicity that they also feel is a confident predictor of risk for these women. And so the development of this new model exemplifies that, yes, our clinical tools can still be scientifically rigorous and clinically useful without race correcting. And its powerful to see a group rethink a decision they made years and years ago, and respond to an equity concern that was raised, and do it in a scientifically rigorous way. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSomething that struck me is that even though the NFL is not using these race-corrected scores for cognitive function, doctors can still use those scores, and that means if youre a patient, do you even know if youre being race-normed at the moment? In general, patients often dont know when theyre being race-normed. Some of the tools are ones that maybe a doctor will do in front of the patient. But other calculations happen at the lab. So there are a lot of examples of race norming that patients wouldnt be aware of. And even the VBAC calculator, sometimes clinicians will maybe pull up the calculator and do it with the patient in front of them, but often its done before the visit even starts. And so there is an element of this thats patient advocacy and empowering patients to ask about scores that are being used to help guide decisions about their care. AdvertisementHow do you deal with that as a physician? If you have a patient in front of you and youre clicking in their electronic medical record and trying to figure out their risk of whatever, do you find yourself making decisions in the moment, like Im going to leave race off of this one or maybe Ill put race in this one because I do think its important? AdvertisementAdvertisementIts really tough. What makes it tough is that the decisions that were making about whether to include race or not in a tool are also based on these faulty ideas about how to identify race to begin with. Anecdotally, we hear physicians do all sorts of things to try to make this decision more fair until these tools are revised. And that can mean entering a patient in a tool as white, or not selecting race and then also selecting race and showing the range of values that that means. I think what it often ends up looking like is talking about how race is being used in the tool with the patient directly, and so what it can do is open up a conversation around talking about race correction with the patient themself and having the discussion around what are your actual risk factors for disease. Forget about this category the tools making me assign, but lets just talk to the patient in front of us. | 0 |
###CLAIM: enthusians of impeachment incite acquittals and throwouts at 1600 pennsylvania ave. , forever banished to the dustbin of history.
###DOCS: Trump supporters participate in a rally Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington. As Congress prepared to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his baseless claims of election fraud. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)Trump supporters participate in a rally Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington. As Congress prepared to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his baseless claims of election fraud. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)WASHINGTON (AP) Democrats momentum for a fresh drive to quickly impeach outgoing President Donald Trump gained support Saturday, and a top Republican said the presidents role in the deadly riot at the Capitol by a violent mob of Trump supporters was worthy of rebuke. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said he believed Trump had committed impeachable offenses. But he did not explicitly say whether he would vote to remove the president from office at the conclusion of a Senate trial if the House sent over articles of impeachment. I dont know what they are going to send over and one of the things that Im concerned about, frankly, is whether the House would completely politicize something, Toomey said Saturday on Fox News Channel, speaking of the Democratic-controlled House. ADVERTISEMENTI do think the president committed impeachable offenses, but I dont know what is going to land on the Senate floor, if anything, Toomey said. Late Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to her Democratic colleagues reiterating that Trump must be held accountable but stopped short of committing to an impeachment vote. Still, she told her caucus, I urge you to be prepared to return to Washington this week.It is absolutely essential that those who perpetrated the assault on our democracy be held accountable, Pelosi wrote. There must be a recognition that this desecration was instigated by the President.Pelosi said House Democrats will be proceeding with meetings with Members and Constitutional experts and others.The new Democratic effort to stamp Trumps presidential record for the second time and days before his term ends with the indelible mark of impeachment gained more supporters Saturday. Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I, a leader of the House effort to draft impeachment articles or charges accusing Trump of inciting insurrection, said his group had grown to include 185 co-sponsors. Lawmakers plan to formally introduce the proposal on Monday in the House, where articles of impeachment must originate. If Democrats decide to move forward, a vote could be possible by Wednesday exactly one week before Democrat Joe Biden becomes president at noon on Jan. 20. The articles, if passed by the House, could then be transmitted to the Senate for a trial, with senators acting as jurors who would ultimately vote on whether to acquit or convict Trump. If convicted, Trump would be removed from office and succeeded by the vice president. Earlier Saturday, Pelosi told her San Francisco constituents during an online video conference that it is a decision that we have to make.Potentially complicating that decision is what it means for Biden and the beginning of his presidency. While reiterating that he has long viewed Trump as unfit for office, Biden on Friday sidestepped a question about impeachment, saying what Congress does is for them to decide.If the House decided to impeach, the soonest the Senate could begin an impeachment trial under the current calendar would be Jan. 20, Inauguration Day. A violent and largely white mob of Trump supporters overpowered police, broke through security lines and rampaged through the Capitol on Wednesday, forcing lawmakers to scatter as they were putting the final, formal touches on Bidens victory over Trump in the Electoral College. The crowd surged to the domed symbol of American democracy following a rally near the White House, where Trump repeated his bogus claims that the election was stolen from him and urged his supporters to march in force toward the Capitol. ADVERTISEMENTFive people, including a Capitol police officer, died as a result of the siege. It has been an epiphany for the world to see that there are people in our country led by this president, for the moment, who have chosen their whiteness over democracy, Pelosi said of the attack. She added: This cannot be exaggerated. The complicity, not only the complicity, the instigation of the president of United States, must and will be addressed.No. 4 House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York reiterated support for moving against what he deemed an act of sedition that was incited and encouraged by Donald Trump.Speaking of Trump, Jeffries said Saturday: He should be impeached, convicted and thrown out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and forever banished to the dustbin of history.Outrage over the attack and Trumps role in egging it on capped a divisive, chaotic presidency like few others in the nations history. There are less than two weeks until Trump is out of office but Democrats have made clear they dont want to wait that long. Trump, meanwhile, has few fellow Republicans speaking out in his defense. Hes become increasingly isolated, holed up in the White House as he has been abandoned in the aftermath of the riot by many aides, leading Republicans and, so far, two Cabinet members both women. After spending many weeks refusing to concede defeat in the November election, Trump promised after the Capitol riot to oversee a smooth transfer of power to Biden. He called for reconciliation and healing, but then announced he will not attend the inauguration the first such presidential snub since just after the Civil War. ___Superville reported from Wilmington, Delaware. Associated Press writers Alexandra Jaffe, Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick and Zeke Miller contributed to this report. | 0 |
###CLAIM: teachers who teach explicitly about new learning and support independent students are required to maintain this balance.
###DOCS: An inquiry has been launched into a new state school which allowed students to make anti-police posters that called officers 'pigs'. Students in Years 5 and 6 at Lindfield Learning Village on Sydney's north shore made placards with the words 'stop killer cops' and 'pigs out of the country', slogans which have featured in the Black Lives Matter movement in the US. Other alarming posters read: 'white lives matter too much' and 'you can't silence the speechless'. Lindfield Learning Village (pictured) on Sydney's north shore has no uniformLindfield Learning Village, which opened in January 2019, accepts children from kindergarten to year 12This was one of the posters made by the students at Lindfield Learning Village in Sydney's northEducation Minister Sarah Mitchell launched a review into how the incident happened and warned her department was considering 'disciplinary action'. 'The comments on the poster are in no way endorsed by the department or represent the department's view of police, who do an indispensable job of keeping the community safe and secure,' NSW Education said. 'The school has been reminded of the controversial issues in schools policy.' Lindfield Learning Village, which opened in January 2019, is an alternative state school that has no uniform and accepts children from kindergarten to year 12. It follows a 'human-centred learning' method which 'enables the student to direct their own learning journey.' Teachers are required to maintain 'a balance between the explicit teaching of new learning and supporting students as independent learners,' the school's website reads. NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham slammed the school as a 'sinkhole for leftist ideological teaching'. 'I'm told the school has three types of toilets for five-year-olds: a boys toilet, a girls toilet, and a gender-neutral toilet,' he told Ray Hadley on radio 2GB. Earlier NSW police minister David Elliot called for the teacher involved to be stood down for demonising police officers. Teachers at the school (pictured) are required to maintain ' a balance between the explicit teaching of new learning and supporting students as independent learners'One of the offensive posters made by the students read 'stop killer cops''The headmistress should be fronting the media today to explain why taxpayers' dollars are being spent to educate children in this manner,' he told 2GB radio on Wednesday morning. 'They have completely let their student body down by indoctrinating and brainwashing them. 'We are supposed to be telling our kids that if you wear a uniform you're a hero and teaching these kids the history of Australia is one of tolerance and sacrifice and courage and then we get this crap stuck to us. 'If my kid was at this school I'd want my money back and I'd be getting my kid out of there.' Mr Elliot apologised to the parents of police officers. 'We don't think that your children are pigs, we think your children are fantastic,' he said. 'Police haven't done anything wrong, they are the pillar of our society. This sort of mentality has no place in Australia.' Host Ben Fordham said the teacher should be sacked and Mr Elliot said: 'That's right.' NSW police minister David Elliot called for the teacher involved to be stood down for demonising police officers. Pictured: The schoolRadio host Ben Fordham said the teacher should be sacked and Police Minister David Elliot said: 'That's right'. Pictured: One of the postersMr Elliot later spoke about the incident on Nine's Today show where he slammed 'ideologues that work in the education department'. 'Children don't need the police built up as some sort of bogey man which is what we're seeing with this indoctrination,' he said. Images of the posters were shared on social media and featured in the Daily Telegraph. Black Lives Matter is a movement founded in the US in 2013 to protest about some high-profile incidents of black men being killed by police. It came back to prominence after George Floyd was killed by a police officer who in Minneapolis, Minnesota last year. That officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty on Wednesday morning Australian time of murdering Mr Floyd by leaning on his neck for nine and a half minutes on May 25. The BLM movement spread to Australia where Indigenous rights activists held marches in major cities last winter. One Nation's NSW Legislative Council MP Mark Latham backed calls for the teacher to be sacked, and said the principal should also be dismissed. 'For a student to be saying 'white lives matter too much' and for the teacher to display it in the classroom is appalling,' Mr Latham said. 'It is not education it is indoctrination, they're polluting the minds of little kids. It is not humanity, it is not compassion, it is a warped mutant ideology shoved down the throats of little kids.' Derek Chauvin was handcuffed and led away on Tuesday to be held in jail before sentencingChauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for nine and a half minutes on May 25 outside Cup FoodsLindfield Learning Village was established in 2019, with children not required to wear uniforms, and with no structured lessons or classrooms but instead using open-learning spaces. The Learning Village said its education model was based on 'three archetypal learning spaces the campfire, cave, and watering hole that schools can use as physical spaces and virtual spaces for student learning. 'Our approach is designed to create independent, resilient learners who possess the learning dispositions required for success in their life within and beyond school.' The school's stated 'Code of Collaboration' vows to 'listen actively and challenge each other's ideas to help them grow'. 'We will notice what is not being said and enable all voices,' the code reads. The controversy came just a month after the school held Harmony Day 2021 in which students and staff were encouraged to wear orange or 'cultural dress' and to make donations to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre's Feast for Freedom. A primary school in Sydney's west had been forced to close on Friday when a number of its teachers were ordered to self-isolate after visiting locations identified as NSW Covid hotspots. Yates Avenue Public School at Dundas Valley was closed as a precautionary measure, it's website informing families the school is currently 'non-operational'. 'Yates Avenue Public School will be closed for onsite teaching and learning today after a number of staff were advised by NSW Health to self-isolate and get Covid tested,' a NSW Education Department spokesperson said. Yates Avenue Public School at Dundas Valley in Sydney's West was forced to close on Friday after some staff members were identified as having visited Covid-19 hotspots'The closure is precautionary as a result of staff having visited locations associated with a confirmed case of Covid-19. Those staff who are self-isolating and are well, will be working from home. 'We are continuing to work closely with NSW Health to maintain educational continuity and will be updating parents based on this advice.' 'We would like to confirm that the school has no confirmed cases of Covid-19 and there is no action that any of our families need to do in relation to this,' wrote Principal David McSporran on the school's Facebook page. The closure follows news New South Wales had recorded one new case of Covid-19 on Friday - a man in his 50s who visited a Myer at Bondi Junction in the city's eastern suburbs at the same time as an infected airport worker. The case was added to the four other already notified in NSW, including a limousine driver who transported an international flight crew, his wife, another woman who attended an exposure site and a man who lives in Baulkham Hills, in the citys north west. In response, Premier Gladys Berejiklian made masks mandatory on public transport for the next five days. Around two dozen exposure sites had now been identified in the Sydney area, including locations at Bondi Junction, Redfern, Castle Hill and Zetland. | 2 |
###CLAIM: prime minister mario draghi announced this evening that the use of the astra vaccine will restart tomorrow afternoon.
###DOCS: AdvertisementBritain is planning to boost Covid vaccine production at home to avoid other countries slowing down its progress with export bans and delivery delays, ministers say. The UK's jab rollout was thrown into chaos this week after the EU threatened to stop Pfizer exporting jabs from its factory in Belgium. Number 10 is also in a standoff with the India over 5million missing AstraZeneca doses, with the Government today confirming it was in talks with New Delhi about getting the jabs roll-out back on track. Now Downing Street is looking at ways to make the country reliant on domestic jab production in preparation for future booster shots the British public are expected to need this autumn and in future winters, cabinet sources told The Times. Most of AstraZeneca's 100million doses are being made in Britain across factories in Oxford, Keele and Wrexham. Fatty molecules used in Pfizer's vaccine are also produced in the UK but the final jab is put together in Belgium, before being transported back over. Ministers could look to pay drug companies in the UK to make it. A mammoth 200million vaccine-making facility is due to open later this year in Oxfordshire, which will go some way to achieve the ambition. The revelation that plans are in motion behind the scenes came as ministers scrambled to defuse the standoff with India over the missing AstraZeneca doses, with No10 holding secret talks with New Delhi to get the roll-out back on track. Matt Hancock yesterday admitted a delayed shipment from the Serum Institute of India was a key factor in shortages that will slow the campaign down next month, meaning millions of over-40s will have to wait until May to get their first dose. But in front of the entire nation last night, Boris Johnson who is due to travel to India in the coming months to secure a lucrative post-Brexit trade deal claimed Narenda Modis government had not stopped any exports. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden today waded into the confusion and repeated the claims of the Prime Minister, saying India was not withholding vaccines and that the SII had some supply issues. Asked if Mr Modis administration was blocking exports, Mr Dowden told LBC: No. India is not withholding vaccines, and I pay tribute to the work of the Serum Institute. They have had some supply issues with 5million doses.But the boss of the SII yesterday said no further doses would be sent to Britain until the Indian Government gave the go ahead. He also said there was no shortage and claimed it had never made a deal to supply the full 10million doses within any given time frame. Whitehall sources said there was a constructive dialogue under way to work through issues with counterparts in New Delhi. No10 did not deny it was in secret talks with Indian government officials when asked about the matter today, only saying 'we are in constant contact with all manufacturers'. But the roll-out isnt just being hampered by supply issues from India which ministers seemingly hoped would allow for the vaccine drive to carry on while dishing out millions of second doses. Another 1.7million doses have been delayed because of the need to re-test a large batch already in the UK. And ministers have suggested that moving all vaccine manufacturing to the UK will be 'key' in future, so that the country is not so reliant on other nations honouring their contracts. Despite concerns that the roll-out could be held up in the face of shortages with Tory MPs accusing No10 of over-promising, Government insiders havent ruled out moving onto people in their forties in the coming weeks. The UK deal with Serum in India was announced on March 2 but Mr Poonawalla had warned ten days earlier that supplies were not running smoothly. Pictured: A map of vaccine manufacturing sites across Europe and India'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson (left), an Imperial College London epidemiologist whose grim modelling spooked ministers into the first blanket shutdown last March, dismissed fears that the hold-up could threaten plans to ease lockdown. The big vaccine supply moves come as one of the Governments top scientific advisers insisted today that Britains vaccine in shortage in April wont hamper the UKs inoculation drive. Professor Lockdown Neil Ferguson, an Imperial College London epidemiologist whose grim modelling spooked ministers into the first blanket shutdown last March, dismissed fears that the hold-up could threaten plans to ease lockdown. He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: 'I don't think the delay will have an enormous effect. Europe folds over AstraZeneca jab Germany, France and Italy are among ten European countries to have announced the resumption of AstraZeneca Covid vaccines in a humiliating u-turn after medical chiefs ruled the jab was not dangerous. EU leaders were forced to make the humiliating climbdown after the European Medicines Agency said in a press conference that the AstraZeneca jab is not linked to blood clots. After the EMA's announcement a raft of European countries said they would soon resume vaccinations, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia and Bulgaria. However, despite the report, both Sweden and Norway have decided to keep a ban on the jab in place for a few more days. Despite the widespread u-turn, Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said the decision to pause use of the Oxford jab in some European countries was likely to 'translate into many, many lives lost due to Covid'. He told Times Radio: 'Because of this delay, and because of the uncertainty now of the vaccine in some people's minds...I think it will probably run to thousands of lives that have been lost.' In Italy, there are fears the AstraZeneca row could strengthen opposition to the campaign in a country where so-called anti-vaxxer sentiment was already widespread. A survey published Wednesday asked respondents if the affair had damaged their confidence in vaccines, to which 49 percent answered yes. Government sources also revealed that the suspension of the AstraZeneca jabs meant around 200,000 fewer vaccinations this week. Italy became the first nation to announce a humiliating u-turn following the EMA's report, with Prime Minister Mario Draghi announcing this evening that it will be restarting the use AstraZeneca vaccines tomorrow afternoon. Draghi said in a statement today: 'The administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine will resume tomorrow. The government's priority remains to carry out as many vaccinations as possible in the shortest possible time.' However, Sweden and Norway will keep the ban for the time being despite the report. John Carlson, of the Swedish Public Health Agency, said: 'The Public Health Agency needs a few days to analyse the situation and how the AstraZeneca vaccine can be used in Sweden. Next week we will say the position we are taking on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.' The Norwegian Institute of Public Health said it 'took note' of the EMA's ruling, but it was 'premature' to draw conclusions and it would announce its own opinion by the end of next week. Emer Cooke, the chief of the EMA, told a press conference on Thursday: 'This is a safe and effective vaccine. When you vaccinate millions of people, it's inevitable that rare or serious instances of illnesses will occur in the time immediately following the vaccination.' Advertisement'We'll still have enough vaccine to largely continue with the programme.' He said of bigger concern was the South African variant of Covid-19, adding: 'Overall, I'm optimistic with this one caveat that we do need to keep these variants of concern at bay. 'Until we can update the vaccine, rolled out the vaccine and really hopefully the whole adult population which will be this summer, at that point we'll be in a much safer position.' Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said the road map out of lockdown was not affected by supply issues, but added there was still not a 'full picture' of data on schools returning. 'The road map is not affected, so at the moment, we remain on course for the next easing on (March) 29,' he told LBC. 'It is worth bearing in mind though, we still need to fully analyse the effect of schools returning. We don't see any problems at the moment but we won't get a full picture for a while. 'If there is concerns around that, obviously we would have to review the dates.' He said that India was not 'withholding vaccines' from the UK following issues with supply. Asked if India's government was withholding vaccine exports, he said: 'No, India is not withholding vaccines, and I pay tribute to the work of the Serum Institute. 'They have had some supply issues with five million doses, as the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary outlined yesterday. 'But we always knew that there would be ups and downs and that is part of our planning assumptions, that's why we have been relatively cautious, for example with the road map for getting out of lockdown.' And another professor leading Covid-19 vaccine research at Imperial College London said the supply difficulties are 'manageable', but that the rollout of second doses will cause further delays. Robin Shattock told Sky News that current supply difficulties will have an impact over the next 'few weeks'. He said: 'What's going to have much more of an impact on rollout is that now people are due their second dose... everybody who's had their single dose will require their second dose. 'It's unrealistic to imagine the first dose rollout will be as fast because we'll have to catch up with the second doses.' Professor Shattock added: 'There are always going to be delays and bumps in the road and the reality is we are moving faster than most countries in the world and we're using vaccines as soon as it's coming off the production line. 'So there is a vulnerability there but that is the reality we're working in, and if there's a hold up at any point, there will be some delay, but it is manageable.' The delays have led ministers to conclude that as the country begins planning how to scale up manufacturing for booster Covid shots that are expected to be needed over the next two years at least, moving all production to British shores will prevent the country relying on other nations to honour their contracts. A cabinet minister told The Times: 'Domestic production is key.' Matt Hancock insisted the shortfall would not hit the Government's target to vaccinate all adults by the end of July and would also not delay the lifting of the lockdown. But Downing Street did not deny a suggestion from the head of the Serum Institute of India (SII) that the Indian government was temporarily blocking exports of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab. Its chief executive Adar Poonawalla said no further doses would be sent to Britain until the Indian government gave the go-ahead. 'There is no vaccine shortage,' he added. 'There was never a commitment to supplying doses to the UK in any stipulated time. We just said we will offer our help. 'India has allowed five million doses to go to the UK. The balance will be decided to be given to the UK at an appropriate time by the Indian government, while balancing India and all its needs.' The countries in green have already reinstated the AstraZeneca vaccine while those in red have yet to make an announcement or say that they will not immediately restart the jabs. Those in orange banned a particular batch of doses, while the countries in grey - including the UK - remained unmoved by the blood clot fears all alongThe Serum Institute's chief executive Adar Poonawalla (right) said no further doses would be sent to Britain until the Indian government gave the go-aheadAs many as 25.7million people in England have been vaccinated against the virus as the jabs roll-out steams ahead. Almost 470,000 first doses were dished out today, alongside more than 100,000 second doses'Thousands of lives' needlessly lost to EU's petty politics: Experts condemn deaths caused by AstraZeneca jab ban Europe's rush to ban the AstraZeneca vaccine over sporadic reports of blood clots may have cost 'thousands' of lives, experts have said, as EU regulators gave their definitive verdict that the jab is safe and effective. A series of countries including Germany, France and Italy have already U-turned and said they will resume AstraZeneca shots after EU safety experts said there was no increased risk of blood clots. But Peter Openshaw, a professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said the temporary stoppage in more than a dozen EU countries was likely to 'translate into many, many lives lost due to Covid'. 'Because of this delay, and because of the uncertainty now of the vaccine in some people's minds...I think it will probably run to thousands of lives that have been lost,' he told Times Radio. Italy has already had to scrap 200,000 injections because of the AstraZeneca delay, while a survey published this week found that 49 per cent of Italians had their confidence in vaccines shaken by the furore. German immunologist Carsten Watzl warned of more deaths after tens of thousands of appointments were missed - urging people to take AstraZeneca's jab rather than wait for the Pfizer/BioNTech one co-developed in Germany. And the delays will continue in Norway, Denmark and Sweden where authorities have said they will continue their own investigations despite the EU, WHO, UK and AstraZeneca's findings that the jab is safe. Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia and Bulgaria have all said they will resume vaccinations, as a third wave of infections gathers momentum on much of the continent. France announced new lockdown measures for Paris last night while the Czech Republic has extended its own shutdown until Easter as vaccines come too slowly to keep the EU's 447million people safe. AdvertisementAsked when the UK would get its remaining doses, he added: 'It is solely dependent on India and it has nothing to do with the SII. It is to do with the Indian government allowing more doses to the UK.' The UK deal with Serum was announced on March 2 but Mr Poonawalla had warned ten days earlier that supplies were not running smoothly. On February 21, he wrote on Twitter: 'Dear countries & governments, as you await COVISHIELD supplies [the Indian name for the Oxford/AZ jab], I humbly request you to please be patient. 'Serum has been directed to prioritise the huge needs of India and along with that balance the needs of the rest of the world. We are trying our best.' Yesterday, Mr Hancock heaped praise on the SII, which has already delivered five million doses to the UK, saying he wanted to 'put on record my gratitude to the Serum Institute of India for the incredible work that they're doing producing vaccines not just for us in the UK, but for the whole world'. Covid cases also fell seven per cent in a week. There were a further 6,303 cases identified today. For comparison, 6,753 were registered at the same time last weekDepartment of Health data showed the number of Covid deaths recorded has halved in a week, as the second wave of the pandemic remained in retreat. There were 95 recorded today compared to 181 last ThursdayMore proof jabs work: Israel reports deaths and cases continuing to fall Israel reports that coronavirus deaths and cases are continuing to fall even after restrictions were eased as the country unlocks following its world-leading vaccination drive. Around 60% of Israel's adult population has had their first Covid jab and the country's R rate is now at 0.68, below the 0.8 threshold which signifies the pandemic is in decline. Health minister Yuli Edelstein hailed the news on Thursday as the nation prepared for the easing of more restrictions on Friday. He said: 'With all caution, I am starting to believe that we are not going back. In the past, to get such data, we needed a strict lockdown. 'Now, everything is open and all the indices are falling. I am beginning to believe that the difficult times are behind us.' AdvertisementBoris Johnson, who is due to travel to India in the coming months, also played down the issue, saying the Indian government had 'not stopped any exports'. He told a No 10 briefing yesterday: 'There is a delay, but this is by no means the end of the story of the UK's relationship with SII. We hope to make further progress over the weeks and months ahead.' However, British officials are understood to have opened diplomatic talks with prime minister Narendra Modi's government about lifting restrictions on exports to the UK. A Whitehall source said there was a 'constructive dialogue under way to work through issues' with counterparts in New Delhi. Asked if the Government is in talks with India, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'We're in constant contact with other governments around the world.' The tightening of restrictions on exports from India is thought to have been prompted by a spike in cases on the subcontinent. Mr Hancock said next month's supplies had also been hit by the need to re-test a batch of 1.7 million doses of the vaccine. 'Events like this are to be expected in a manufacturing endeavour of this complexity and this shows the rigour of our safety checks,' he said. The Health Secretary said second doses for people would be prioritised in April, and there would also be some first doses, but he did not make clear for which groups. 'There will be no weeks in April with no first doses,' he said. 'There will be no cancelled appointments as a result of supply issues second doses will go ahead as planned.' Meet India's 'Prince of Vaccines' behind the drugs supply behemothKnown as the 'Prince of Vaccines', Adar Poonawalla is so rich that his personal office is a converted Airbus A320. His Mumbai home has featured in the pages of Vogue, his art collection includes works by Van Gogh and Picasso, and he converted a Mercedes into a Batmobile for his son's sixth birthday. The 40-year-old chief executive of the Serum Institute of India can boast that his company is the biggest vaccine manufacturer in the world by number of doses produced and sold. An estimated two-thirds of children worldwide have received a jab from the company, including the polio vaccine, MMR and BCG injections. Mr Poonawalla (left), pictured with his wife Natasha Poonawalla last year, is the chief executive of the world's largest vaccine manufacturer - India's Serum InstituteBut Serum began as a simple idea dreamed up by his father, Cyrus. The racehorse breeder realised his horses could provide life-saving products. When retired animals were injected with a small amount of venom or bacteria, their serum the fluid part of the blood produced anti-venom for snake bites and tetanus antitoxin, which Indians desperately needed. The Serum Institute, established in 1966, moved on to tetanus vaccines and other jabs that were scarce and had to be imported at high prices. Cyrus Poonawalla is now reportedly India's sixth richest man, worth more than 9billion. Such has been the firm's success that the firm aims to produce more than a billion doses of coronavirus vaccine a year. Poonawalla's Mumbai home has featured in the pages of Vogue, his art collection includes works by Van Gogh and Picasso, and he converted a Mercedes into a Batmobile (pictured) for his son's sixth birthdayPrime minister Narendra Modi boasts that India is now 'pharmacy to the world'. Adar, who is married to businesswoman, philanthropist and fashionista Natasha, attended the University of Westminster in London. He told the BBC this week: 'The pressure on Serum Institute is unprecedented. 'We're being tugged at by different governments in the world, we need to support AstraZeneca for the countries that they need to supply vaccines to, and we're being literally forced to supply as much product to the Indian government as well.' What else can we expect from a leader so vain he named a vast stadium after himself, writes MARK ALMOND of Narendra ModiAs if the spat between Britain and the EU over Brussels' erratic attempts to control vaccine supplies wasn't bad enough, India has now dealt a body blow to the idea that we should all be cooperating in the global fight against the virus. The decision to block vaccine exports by the Indian government led by the vain Narendra Modi, who seems increasingly bent on becoming prime minister for life is an act of blatant populism. And it has placed Boris Johnson in a very difficult position. Only on Tuesday in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister was talking up Anglo-Indian relations. 'I am delighted to announce that I will visit India next month to strengthen our friendship with the world's biggest democracy,' he told MPs. Mr Modi's display of vaccine nationalism the country is the largest vaccine producer in the world is a strange way of repaying that friendship. The decision to block vaccine exports by the Indian government led by the vain Narendra Modi, who seems increasingly bent on becoming prime minister for life is an act of blatant populismAfter all, it drives a coach and horses through a legally binding contract between AstraZeneca and the British government on the supply of vaccines, and can only foster mistrust in future negotiations. Earlier this month, Mr Modi's India spearheaded an attempt to persuade the World Trade Organisation to lift patents on vaccines, so that poorer countries could manufacture them at cost without paying premiums to big Western pharmaceutical brands. The idea was rebuffed, and it seems India has now blocked exports in response. Never mind that AstraZeneca, unlike other drug companies, was selling its vaccine at cost price anyway. Mr Modi, pictured, was already annoyed with Britain after Labour, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National Party MPs criticised his government over its treatment of Indian farmers protesting against agricultural reforms in the country. Only on Tuesday in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister was talking up Anglo-Indian relations. Mr Johnson (pictured with Narendra Modi at 2019's G7 summit) is set to travel to India next monthAfter all, it drives a coach and horses through a legally binding contract between AstraZeneca and the British government on the supply of vaccines, and can only foster mistrust in future negotiationsThe protests have dominated headlines and social media in India. The government's response has been to shut down internet sites concerning the protests, to arrest protesters and sympathisers as well as journalists and to use tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds. The fact that so many of the protesting farmers are from the Sikh and Muslim minorities also shows the sinister sectarian side of Mr Modi's political agenda. He appeals to Hindu nationalists and his policies seem bent on subordinating the non-Hindu minorities who make up a large proportion of the population. Heavy-handed tactics like those meted out against the protesters and their supporters have come to be hallmarks of Mr Modi's style of governance, where state power is used to intimidate and stifle critics. Ever since he was elected in 2014, the vast Indian sub-continent has increasingly become a political one-man show. Cricket-lovers will have noted that some of the recent India v England games were played in Ahmedabad's newly renamed, 110,000-capacity Modi Stadium. Only North Korea's capital has a bigger arena and even that is not named after a living leader! And while Donald Trump may have plastered his name over his hotels and golf courses, that was before he became US president. Thousands of spectators were allowed to watch the early games against England at the Modi stadium. But the remaining matches are being played behind closed doors following a spike in Covid cases which doubtless encouraged the government to block vaccine exports. Yet the fact is that Modi is democratically elected. And that is what places Mr Johnson in such an invidious situation. Because Britain sees an alliance with democratic India as crucial in curbing the belligerence of the other gigantic state in the Indo-Pacific region China, a one-party dictatorship run by an unabashed dictator. This is a major factor behind our PM's planned visit. Along with the US, Japan and Australia, Britain wants India to rein in China although it would, of course, pose an immediate security threat to India along the Himalayan border it shares with the country. There is also India's possible role as an alternative supply chain for vital products instead of China. Last year's hugely expensive fiasco of relying on China for PPE for health and care workers should have taught us the importance of finding alternative sources for such goods. In any choice between India and China there is no doubt the British people's instinctive sympathy will be with India. The trouble is that Mr Modi's vaccine nationalism will sour attitudes. If he seems too erratic a leader to rely on for vital supplies to our health service, doubts about his dependability as an ally will grow. A rapidly developing and securely democratic India should be welcomed by everyone. But its rumbustious multi-party traditions along with the country's staggering global potential are in jeopardy from a high-handed prime minister contemptuous not only of opposition but friends at home and abroad. Mark Almond is director of the Crisis Research Institute, Oxford | 0 |
###CLAIM: almost two hundred art pieces and books have been returned to heirs of victims of nazi persecution without legal action.
###DOCS: It was no ordinary art deal. The sale of a precious medieval collection by a group of tradesmen to the Prussian government in 1935 was notable not only for its treasured contents, but also for its participants. The sellers were Jewish, a fact that defined their fate in Nazi Germany and hangs over the transaction to this day. They know they're under the gun, Marc Masurovsky, a historian who specializes in plundered art during the Holocaust, said from his home in Washington. The average position of Jews in Germany as of 1933 is nothing short of dangerous, perilous, fragile and precarious.Though historical consensus is clear that state-sponsored Jewish persecution took place from the start of Adolf Hitlers rule, today three heirs of those very art dealers are struggling to prove just that. And experts fear a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling could prove a bitter blow not only to those heirs, but also to hundreds of Jewish families seeking restitution from Germany as it struggles to atone for its past. The Guelph Treasure, or "Welfenschatz," includes dozens of elaborate containers used to store Christian relics, many of them decorated with gems. For centuries the collection was owned by German royalty. Tobias Schwarz / AFP - Getty Images filePressured by agents sent by Hermann Goering, the second-most-powerful man in the Third Reich, the dealers sold half of the golden Guelph Treasure to the state for what the heirs say was a third of its value. After a decadelong fight that saw a German commission on Nazi-looted art reject their claims that the treasures were forcibly sold, the heirs took their case across the pond. But earlier this month Americas highest court unanimously ruled it had no jurisdiction in the case, as the Germans had argued. Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politicsThe Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which runs Berlins state museums, has fought to keep the collection in the citys Museum of Decorative Arts. It attributed the low sale price to tough negotiations in a damaged art market reeling from Europes financial crash, rather than Nazi persecution. The foundation's president, Hermann Parzinger, said in a statement that it has a deep commitment to provenance research and has returned without legal action almost 2,000 pieces of art and books to heirs of victims of Nazi persecution. A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers called the claim that pre-1939 conditions for Jews in Germany were not persecutory deeply concerning in a letter to the countrys ambassador in Washington in October. Hearing your grandparents being accused of simply being dissatisfied with whether they made enough profit in 1935 in Nazi Germany is pretty brutal, said Nicholas ODonnell, the heirs lawyer. By the time my clients came to me they felt very ill-treated by the German government. | 0 |
###CLAIM: the impressionist artists have been accused of a kind of lazy drawing exhibition to general criticism of a lack of discipline and technique.
###DOCS: About one third of the way into She-Oak and Sunlight, there is a room off to one side filled with images so vibrant, so unexpected, it throws me completely. All of the pictures in it are small theyre referred to as the 9 by 5s due to the size, in inches, of the panels theyre painted on many of them on the lids of cigar boxes. This is as close as any of us will ever come to attending the original 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition in 1889, with over 50 of those 182 works brought back together by NGV Australia and displayed almost as they were when they first were shown to the public. Theres the picture that gives the exhibition its name: a soft, surreal-yet-familiar rendering of trees on a golden landscape. A dark-haired girl hunched over a book. A man in a long jacket, mid-step, who looks like hes been caught off-guard. There are dreamy images of both country and city. Trees draped over lonely figures. Statues. A baby dressed in bright blue. Moments captured in paint. I expected an exhibition of Australian Impressionism to be predominantly pictures of men sitting on logs, landscapes upon landscapes, and there are plenty of both but She-Oak and Sunlight puts these in a larger context. No matter what they depict, whether its two boys playing violin or a country field in peaceful twilight, the images are imbued with emotion. These are fleeting moments that we feel lucky now to see. Clara Southerns An old bee farm, Warrandyte c.1900. Photograph: NGV AustraliaIts about capturing an experience of being in a place, says Angela Hesson, NGVs curator of Australian painting, sculpture and decorative arts to 1980. The exact definition of Australian Impressionism can be difficult to nail down, she clarifies the work produced during the period between 1883 and 1895 was diverse, and often deviated from the loose rules the artists set themselves but NGV Australias new exhibition attempts to represent the breadth of that diversity. Hesson quotes the catalogue put out by the artists of the 9 by 5 exhibition: An effect is only momentary; so an impressionist tries to find his place. She pauses, then repeats back a word. His ... curious, but anyway.Its difficult, over 100 years later, to think of such familiar images as revolutionary or rebellious, but thats exactly what Australian Impressionism was. Impressionism generally was criticised for what was perceived as a lack of discipline and a lack of technique Impressionist artists were accused of kind of lazily exhibiting sketches, says Hesson. And women were particularly subject to those kinds of criticisms.The main tale of She-Oak and Sunlight is of four leading figures of the movement in Australia: Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin and Charles Conder. It starts off with a wall of pictures of artists as illustrated either by themselves or by fellow artists, and draws out connections from there: letters they wrote to each other; influences. One wall shows the same scene painted years apart from two different artists perspectives. Two violent seascapes, one by Claude Monet and one by John Russell, are placed side by side, each distinct and yet almost mirrored, showing how the friendship between the two men influenced each others work. Installation view of She-Oak and Sunlight: Australian Impressionism at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne. Photograph: Tom Ross/NGV AustraliaWhile their stories are interesting in both how they evolve and intertwine, NGV has also newly acquired works by artists Iso Rae, May Vale, Jane Price and Ina Gregory and its the lesser-known works by the women who painted alongside the now-famous men that allow the exhibition to tell a fuller story. This isnt specific to Impressionism, Hesson explains. This is a much broader art history problem ... women are underrepresented in our collection, and in most collections and so we have been looking wherever possible to rectify that.Impressionist artists were accused of lazily exhibiting sketches and women were particularly subject to those criticisms Angela HessonDespite many women painters being involved in Impressionism at the time, none of the original 9 by 5 works were by women. The lack of representation is multifactorial. There was a strong network of mutual support among all the artists, so I think it was really a mark of much broader gender politics of the period, says Hesson. Women were held to different standards from their male counterparts. The first solo exhibition of Ina Gregorys work, for example, was compared to a shopkeepers window, Hesson explains. The reviewer said that [Gregory] didnt know how to edit her work so theres this idea that a lack of discipline is potentially gendered.There was also the pressure to marry, and the idea that for women especially, art should be a hobby, not a living. Even the fact that, for example, women couldnt stay overnight at artists camps, completely changes their capacity to immerse themselves in those kinds of landscapes, says Hesson. Women are underrepresented in our collection, and in most collections, says curator Angela Hesson. Photograph: Tom Ross/NGV AustraliaDespite the challenges, the quality of the womens work is clear; hung alongside the paintings of their male counterparts they easily hold their own though there are some key and consistent differences. One of the rooms features two images of women artists at work, side by side one painted by a male artist and one by a female artist. Both are candid and intimate; they feel like photographs taken without the subjects knowledge. The quality of the work is the same but the difference in their size is striking. In E Phillips Foxs painting, the figures are almost life-size. Ina Gregorys, by comparison, is tiny; the entirety of her painting is about the same size as the paint palette depicted in her male counterparts work. A lot of the women from this period are painting on a smaller scale, says Hesson. For female Impressionists we see very few large-scale works, in part because they often didnt have the commercial success of their male counterparts, and artists materials were expensive.Even though they often sold their work for 10% of what their male counterparts received, even though their works are often literally smaller, they kept creating and now those works are being appreciated and included. This fuller picture of Australian Impressionism will feed directly into the NGVs Winter Masterpieces exhibition, which focuses on French Impressionism. She-Oak and Sunlight is all about relationships, both local and international. Its easy to think of eras that have passed out of living memory as static, even stuffy, but She-Oak and Sunlight challenges the legacy of Impressionist exhibitions that have come before by both filling in the gaps and providing deeper context. On its most simple level, it offers a warm, candid and colourful glimpse into a time that we often think of in black and white. | 1 |
###CLAIM: a new poll released tuesday by politico/morning consult says a plurality of voters say that president trump should concede the presidential race to joe or biden.
###DOCS: A plurality of voters say President Trump should concede the presidential race to President-elect Joe Biden, according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll released Tuesday. Forty-six percent of registered voters surveyed said Trump should concede right away, while another 32 percent said he should concede if he is unable to back up his claims of widespread fraud. Just 12 percent said the president should not concede no matter what, and 9 percent didnt know or had no opinion. The results of the poll are sharply split along partisan lines, with 72 percent of Democrats saying Trump should concede right away compared to just 17 percent of Republicans. Nearly half (45 percent) of Republicans said Trump should only concede if he cant back up his voter fraud claims, and a full quarter of registered GOP voters say Trump should not concede no matter what. The results of the survey come two weeks after the Nov. 3 election. Trump has refused to concede that he lost the race, and he and the Republican Party have flooded battleground states with lawsuits looking to overturn the election results, though the vast majority of those suits have been rebuffed by state and federal courts, and congressional Republicans have begun to show signs of recognizing that Biden will begin his term in January. GOP officials in a number of the states being contested by Trump are among those who have have defended the processes in their states. It Georgia, thats led to battles among Republican office-holders. Biden is projected to win 306 Electoral College votes to Trumps 232 electoral votes. He has a more than 5 million-vote lead in the popular vote. Trump would likely need to flip at least three states to change the outcome. He is behind by tens of thousands of votes in the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The Politico/Morning Consult poll surveyed 1,994 registered voters from Nov. 13-16 and has a margin of error of 2 points. This story was updated at 12:19 p.m. | 1 |
###CLAIM: the man went for a pursuit in a bustling street full of cast members, crew and ad fans on the perimeter of the set.
###DOCS: Tom Holland has been hard at work filming Marvel's untitled Spider-Man 3 in Atlanta since late October 2020. And on Saturday, some two-and-a-half months later, the British-born actor was caught in action, both in and out of the iconic red and blue superhero suit. For one scene, Holland's Spider-Man comes swooping down as he goes after a man who's being pursued on the bustling streets full of cast, crew and adoring fans on the perimeter of the set. On set: Tom Holland, 24, was back on the set shooting a scene for the untitled Spider-Man 3 in Atlanta, Georgia on SaturdayAs the scene moved on, Spider-Man lands on top of a parked car, while taking stock of the area. At one point Peter Parker's alter-ego is seen standing next to a -- no parking except for commercial vehicles sign -- that line the streets, amid the many people making their way along the sidewalks. The young star then leaped from car to car as the cameras rolled. Tom's younger, Harry Holland, was also seen on the set, which was commonplace during the shooting of the previous film in the MCU franchise -- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), which was the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). Holland's Spider-Man has also appeared in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Jamie Foxx and Alfred Molina are also reprising their respective roles as Electro and Doctor Octopus, from the previous two Spider-Man films in the most recent reboot. There's also growing speculation that former Spider-Man stars Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Kirsten Dunst will be making appearances in the Spider-Man 3. Presently, Spider-Man 3 is slated to be released on December 17, 2021. On Thursday, Zendaya and Tom Holland were spotted filming on the snowy Atlanta set of the upcoming Spider-Man 3 film. The 24-year-old actor was first seen taking a stroll through a winter landscape while carrying a letter in his hands. Holland later entered a pastry shop in order to talk to his 24-year-old costar, who initially appeared to be happy to see him before casting a stern expression. Hard at work: On Thursday, Tom Holland and Zendaya were seen filming on the snowy set of the upcoming Spider-Man movieThe Spies in Disguise actor was costumed in a multicolored jacket in order to keep out the wintertime chill. He also wore a plaid shirt underneath a blue sweater, which he contrasted with a set of loose-fitting brown jeans and a pair of Vans Old Skools. His castmate could be seen in a pastel green-and-pink button-up shirt on top of a long-sleeve white t-shirt. The Euphoria star appeared to have her gorgeous brown hair tied back during the film shoot. Series director Jon Watts is helming the production of the third film. During the development stage of the first sequel, a conflict ensued between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios regarding the film rights to the character; an agreement was eventually reached that stipulated that both parties would be allowed to produce their own Spider-Man pictures. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige reportedly negotiated an agreement where the character would be integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe while Sony would be allowed to produce their own Spider-Man films. Known for it: Zendaya is also reprising her role as MJ from the past three films in the new Spider-Man film seriesFamiliar faces: Jamie Foxx and Alfred Molina will be reprising their parts as Electro and Doctor Octopus from the older Spider-Man filmsIn addition to Holland and Zendaya reprising their roles as Peter Parker and MJ, the upcoming film will also see the return of both Marisa Tomei and Jacob Batalon, who portray Aunt May and Ned Leeds. Jamie Foxx will appear as Electro, whom he played in The Amazing Spider-Man 2; the film was originally released in 2014. In another throwback casting choice, Alfred Molina is set to take up the mantle of Doctor Octopus, whom he first portrayed in the 2004 picture Spider-Man 2. Benedict Cumberbatch will also appear in the upcoming feature as Doctor Strange; the British actor has been a mainstay in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2016. Staying in the universe: Benedict Cumberbatch will appear as Doctor Strange in the upcoming superhero movieSticking around: The future release is being directed by Jon Watts, who also helmed the previous two Spider-Man live action filmsFilming originally began in mid-October with the production crew being spotted at various locations in New York City; shooting then moved to Atlanta in the latter days of that month, where it has remained since. Principal photography on the upcoming feature is expected to last until March. The film was first set to be released this coming July, but due to the impact of COVID-19 on the motion picture industry, the premiere date was pushed back to December 17th. A fourth film in the franchise is reportedly in development. | 2 |
###CLAIM: 7. 7 million people in the united states are infected, some at the highest levels reached by the federal government.
###DOCS: Covid-19 has proved itself an unpredictable and ever-changing threat. As President Trump and some of his allies and associates test positive for the coronavirus, the number of new cases reported each day across the United States has been slowly rising. The nations response has been uneven and inconsistent. Here is where the country is now. The U.S. is at a key moment in the pandemic. Spread of the virus could worsen significantly through the autumn, experts fear, as colder weather forces people indoors. Winter, paired with a new flu season, could make the precarious situation of today even worse. Every day, some 43,000 new cases are being reported far fewer than were being identified during the surge in the summer, but still an uncomfortably large number. From the hospital where Mr. Trump is being treated, he wrote on Twitter on Saturday, Tremendous progress has been made over the last 6 months in fighting this PLAGUE.But the pace has been ticking upward slowly since the middle of September as the virus reached parts of the country that hadnt been hit hard before. By this weekend, 7.3 million people in the United States some of them at the highest reaches of the federal government were known to have been infected. More than 208,000 people have died. (Reuters) - Nine U.S. states have reported record increases in COVID-19 cases over the last seven days, mostly in the upper Midwest and West where chilly weather is forcing more activities indoors. On Saturday alone, four states - Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin - saw record increases in new cases and nationally nearly 49,000 new infections were reported, the highest for a Saturday in seven weeks, according to a Reuters analysis. Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Wyoming also set new records for cases last week. New York is one of only 18 states where cases have not risen greatly over the past two weeks, according to a Reuters analysis. However, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Sunday he is moving to shut non-essential businesses as well as schools in nine neighborhoods, starting on Wednesday. The lockdown would require the governors approval. Health experts have long warned that colder temperatures driving people inside could promote the spread of the virus. Daytime highs in the upper Midwest are now in the 50s Fahrenheit (10 Celsius). Montana has reported record numbers of new cases for three out of the last four days and also has a record number of COVID-19 patients in its hospitals. Wisconsin has set records for new cases two out of the last three days and also reported record hospitalizations on Saturday. On average 22% of tests are coming back positive, one of the highest rates in the country. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/33rkCcw)Wisconsins Democratic governor mandated masks on Aug. 1 but Republican lawmakers are backing a lawsuit challenging the requirement. North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin have the highest new cases per capita in the country. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/33rIFI5)(GRAPHIC: U.S. states with the biggest COVID-19 outbreaks, )Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is one of several prominent Republicans who have tested positive for coronavirus since President Donald Trump announced he had contracted the virus. Because of the surge in cases in the Midwest, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities operated by Aspirus in northern Wisconsin and Michigan are barring most visitors as they did earlier this year. Bellin Health, which runs a hospital in Green Bay, Wisconsin, said last week its emergency department has been past capacity at times and doctors had to place patients in beds in the hallways. The United States is reporting 42,600 new cases and 700 deaths on average each day, compared with 35,000 cases and 800 deaths in mid-September. Deaths are a lagging indicator and tend to rise several weeks after cases increase. Kentucky is the first Southern state to report a record increase in cases in several weeks. Governor Andy Beshear said last week was the highest number of cases the state has seen since the pandemic started. State health experts have not pinpointed the reason for the rise but point to fatigue with COVID-19 precautions and students returning to schools and colleges. Over the last two weeks, Kentucky has reported nearly 11,000 new cases and has seen hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients rise by 20%. | 3 |
###CLAIM: a church group leader said in an email that the revelations, which also allege lentz was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with other women in the megachurch 's green room, spoke with confidence.
###DOCS: Disgraced celebrity pastor Carl Lentz was accused of sexual misconduct as far back as 2017 and Hillsong church leaders knew about it, leaked emails obtained by DailyMail.com reveal. Lentz, who baptized Justin Bieber, was fired last month after admitting to cheating on his wife of 17 years Laura. The couple have since moved with their three children to LA, selling off their $1.5 million home in Montclair, New Jersey and renting a beach hideaway for $16k a month. The 42-year-old, who is attempting to rebuild his marriage, isn't laying low in the wake of the scandal, instead he's been spotted all around town - most recently on Thursday. He was photographed stripping off his shirt to tan on the beach while his wife and kids waited to pick up their Japanese takeout order. Lentz's firing became public when church founder Brian Houston wrote to members acknowledging 'a recent revelation of moral failures' by the pastor, and claimed he fired Lentz as soon as he found out about his infidelity. But sources have revealed senior church members were warned of Lentz's 'inappropriate sexual behavior' over three years ago. According to one insider, in July 2017 a Hillsong member wrote to one of the church's directors on email with allegations that some Hillsong leaders were texting nude photos to female volunteers, and that Lentz had been accused of making one volunteer 'extremely uncomfortable' after he 'acted inappropriately', was 'extremely flirtatious', and 'has been involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with different women.' Disgraced celebrity pastor Carl Lentz was accused of sexual misconduct as far back as 2017 and Hillsong church leaders knew about it, leaked emails obtained by DailyMail.com revealThe 42-year-old, who is attempting to rebuild his marriage, isn't laying low in the wake of the scandal, instead he's been spotted all around town - most recently on Thursday. His email said a former Hillsong volunteer had come forward to him claiming Lentz 'acted inappropriately' with her, was 'extremely flirtatious' and made her her feel 'extremely uncomfortable.' The church group leader said in the email that the whistleblower had spoken in confidence to him, alleging that Lentz had also been involved in 'inappropriate sexual behavior' with other women in the megachurch's backstage area called the Green Room. According to the source, who has close links with Hillsong top brass, the email said that when the whistleblower had previously approached church leadership about the alleged sexual misconduct, nothing was done. A month later a senior member of Hillsong New York wrote a terse email in response, claiming the allegations were all false. The source claims the email said the New York branch had conducted an 'internal review' and found no evidence supporting the claims against Lentz. The email, according to the source, accused the community group leader of causing 'more harm than good' and fostering a 'false narrative'. DailyMail.com has been able to verify the content of the emails. The disgraced pastor has since sold his house in Montclair, New Jersey for $1.5 million and relocated his wife Laura and their three children to Los Angeles, where he's been spotted working out shirtless on the beachHis email said a former Hillsong volunteer had come forward to him claiming Lentz 'acted inappropriately' with her, was 'extremely flirtatious' and made her her feel 'extremely uncomfortable.' Pictured: Lentz's wife Laura on ThursdayOther Hillsong members, who asked to remain anonymous, claimed Lentz used women he met backstage at church for affairs. Pictured: Lentz's wife Laura picking up to-go foodThe community group leader later claimed on social media that his group was shut down after he came forward with the allegations. Another church member, Jessica Inyere, publicly accused Hillsong of interrogating and threatening members who spoke up about sexual misconduct. 'What Carl Lentz got fired over has been happening for years and those of us that knew were interrogated, threatened, monitored, and eventually silenced,' Inyere tweeted after Houston's announcement. '@Hillsong @BrianCHouston I'm proud and happy that you took a stand but I urge you to look into the other pastors as well who tried to cover up back in 2017.' She also posted on Instagram: 'You know what's crazy??? My friends and I got kicked out of being CG [Connect Group] leaders because of a scandal related to this! We were interrogated and threatened and later silenced! But you see God, He has a way of handling things!' A spokesman for the church told DailyMail.com: 'At the time, our team in cooperation with legal counsel spent five weeks investigating the claims and could find no corroborating evidence for any of the allegations made. 'For this reason it was not escalated to Pastor Brian at that time. However, our independent investigator is revisiting these allegations, and we await their findings.' This week DailyMail.com revealed an audio recording of a meeting of church executives and top donors held around November 19, in which Houston revealed allegations that Lentz had 'more than one affair' but claimed he knew nothing about it until days before the scandal emerged. 'It was more than one affair, they were significant. And at least some bad moral behavior had gone back historically, but not necessarily those affairs,' Houston said in the recording. 'I can honestly say before God the first time I heard any moral complaint against Carl was when [Hillsong East Coast Chief Operating Officer Tolu Badders] contacted me.' 'When it all came to light, the church received emails from at least three other women besides Ranin telling their story,' the Hillsong worshipper claimedThe church founder revealed the affairs were discovered when a staffer found 'compromising' texts on Lentz's computer. 'Tolu had a conversation with one of the staff members, and that staff member had found a very compromising chain of text messages on Carl's laptop or computer. And so that person went straight to Tolu,' Houston said. 'And Tolu, to her credit, the first thing she did was call me.' Houston accused his former pastor of 'general narcissistic behavior, manipulating, mistreating people, I think sometimes other hurtful things, the breaches of trust... constantly lying.' The Hillsong founder said Lentz was 'a difficult man to have any kind of direct conversation with, because it was always defensive, it would always be put back on the other person, as though they're the ones with the problem.' The comments were less varnished than Houston's statement to all church members in the wake of the scandal, in which he merely referred to 'leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures' by the celebrity pastor. Last month 34-year-old New York City designer Ranin Karim went public claiming she was one of Lentz's mistresses, and that they had a serious but secret relationship during which he told her he was an unmarried sports agent. Eventually, Ranin found out who Lentz was, after she 'had a feeling something was up'. 'He didn't tell me that he was married at first, he doesn't wear a ring,' Ranin said, adding that she asked him if he was married after a few dates and he confessed to her about his wife of 17 years. Despite being exposed, they continued their affair until early November. 'I volunteered at the Green Room (Backstage) at Hillsong NYC for several years before leaving,' one church member said. 'Carl Lentz has been sleeping with women outside of his marriage for at least 7 years. 'I was removed from my Green Room duties after seeing Carl with Kevin Durant and Draymond Green at 1OAK Nightclub the night before. 'Their table was right next to my promoter's and he left shortly after noticing me around 2am. Carl was very touchy with someone who was clearly NOT his wife. 'The next day, when i got to the church I was pulled aside and told I was no longer needed because they have enough people.' Another member, close to Hillsong Green Room staff, told DailyMail.com: 'I know that he was sleeping around for a long while, and not just in New York. LA, Seattle, pretty much anywhere he could go out, he was sleeping around.' A third member claimed Lentz 'cheated the last five to six years with multiple women.' When it all came to light, the church received emails from at least three other women besides Ranin telling their story,' the Hillsong worshipper claimed. | 0 |
###CLAIM: some see in the area the potential to reduce the gun 's polarisation, increasing the public health focus of national conversation.
###DOCS: PORTLAND, Ore. Brianne Smith was overjoyed to get an e-mail telling her to schedule a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Hours later, her relief was replaced by dread: a phone alert another mass public shooting. Before the pandemic, she would scan for the nearest exit in public places and routinely practiced active shooter drills at the company where she works. But after a year at home in the pandemic, those anxieties had faded. Until now. I havent been living in fear with COVID because Im able to make educated decisions to keep myself safe, says Smith, 21, who lives in St. Louis, Missouri. But theres no way I can make an educated decision about what to do to avoid a mass shooting. Ive been at home for a year and Im not as practiced at coping with that fear as I used to be.After a year of pandemic lockdowns, public mass shootings are back. For many, the fear of contracting an invisible virus is suddenly compounded by the forgotten yet more familiar fear of getting caught in a random act of violence. People wait in line to enter a gun store in Culver City, Calif. APA database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University that tracks mass killings defined as four or more dead, not including the shooter showed just two public mass shootings in 2020. Since Jan. 1, there have been at least 11. Yet while mass shootings dropped out of the headlines, the guns never went away. Instead, even as the U.S. inches toward a post-pandemic future, guns and gun violence feel more embedded in the American psyche than ever before. The fear and isolation of the past year have worked their way into every aspect of the U.S. conversation on firearms, from gun ownership to inner-city violence to the erosion of faith in common institutions meant to keep us safe. More gun owners, and differentMore than 21 million people completed a background check to buy a gun last year, shattering all previous records, and a survey found that 40% identified as new gun owners many of whom belong to demographics not normally associated with firearms, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearm industry trade association. Purchases of guns by Black Americans increased 58% over 2019 and sales to Hispanics went up 46%, the group says. Gun advocates tie this increase to pandemic anxiety and a loss of faith in the ability of police officers and government institutions at all levels to keep the public safe amid what at first was a little-understood, invisible menace. The eruption of sustained racial injustice protests after the police killing of George Floyd and calls to reduce police funding also contributed to more interest in firearms. Charles Blain, a new gun owner, poses with his holstered 9mm Glock 43 handgun, Monday, May 3, 2021, on the parking garage of his apartment complex in Houston. APOne of those buyers was Charles Blain, a 31-year-old Black man in Houston who purchased a Glock 43 handgun and a shotgun for the first time last year. Blain, who describes himself as a conservative, says pandemic-related unemployment crime and repeated calls over the past year to release hundreds of jail inmates because of soaring COVID-19 infections pushed him to buy. I was always gun-friendly, but never really felt the need to own one myself, says Blain, who founded Urban Reform, which helps underserved communities get involved in policy decisions that impact them. The dramatic rise in firearms ownership represents a tectonic shift in the conversation on guns, says Mark Oliva, the foundations director of public affairs. For these people, gun ownership and gun control was until now a rhetorical debate. It was something you could discuss at a cocktail hour, but they had no skin the game and then they bought guns, he says. Its hard to put todays gun owner into a box, Oliva added. Gun rights advocates feel good about what this could mean for gun policy, with a broader swath of society seeing themselves when they hear about gun control efforts. At the same time, gun-related homicides in midsized and big cities in America have skyrocketed during coronavirus, and criminologists believe the pandemic and the socioeconomic loss in many communities are factors driving that trend. A study by the Council on Criminal Justice tracked a 30% increase in homicides overall in a sample of 34 U.S. cities in 2020 as well as an 8% increase in gun assaults. Weve been trying to sound the alarm, but the No. 1 priority is COVID because nothing happens until COVID is fixed, says Alex Piquero, a criminologist and professor at the University of Miami who conducted research for the Council on Criminal Justices COVID-19 commission. This is the long-term symptom of the disease and ... the long-term mental health effects of this are going to be staggering.Guns are displayed in the showroom of Maxon Shooters Supplies and Indoor Range, Friday, April 30, 2021, in Des Plaines, Ill. APPortland, Oregon, a city of just over 650,000 people, is a stark example. Last year, there were more homicides than in any of the previous 26 years. This year, the city had tallied more than 340 shootings by late April an average of about three a day and was on track to blow past last years homicide record. The shootings are mostly impacting the citys historically Black neighborhoods and lower-income areas where coronavirus has taken a heavy toll. In one instance, a Black pastor involved in a coalition to address the violence had to hurry off a Zoom meeting about the crisis because gunfire erupted nearby. In March, a 14-year-old boy was seriously wounded by gunfire while he stood with friends near a soccer field. Its the way that we all feel as people who have careers and homes and jobs and how emotionally unstable weve felt over this past year. Now imagine all that in people who are in hopeless situations, says Sam Thompson, a Black resident who started a neighborhood group last summer to try to find solutions. After a year of isolation, loss and stress, the nation is akin to a patient in an acute mental health crisis and there is a growing chasm of opinion on whether guns are part of the remedy, or a symptom of the disease. In conservative America, mask mandates and economic shutdowns have been lumped together with gun control legislation as examples of vast government overreach. Liberal legislatures, meanwhile, have moved to lessen gun access and tighten rules to prevent more mass shootings as a more heavily armed nation opens up. When youre getting told, Look, the cops just cant be there because theyve all got COVID or, depending on the state, you may not be able to buy a gun because the licensing departments are getting overwhelmed all those things came into play, Kopel says. You now have state (gun) laws that are directly pandemic-related.In North Carolina, for example, lawmakers are considering a bill to remove a century-old requirement for a local sheriffs permit to buy a pistol, a policy that came under scrutiny when one sheriff briefly stopped handling the paperwork because of COVID-19. In other conservative states, lawmakers have passed or are debating pandemic-inspired laws that do everything from strengthen a ban on using the governments emergency powers to confiscate firearms to allowing gun owners to carry a concealed firearm without a permit. Maxon Shooters Supplies and Indoor Range owner Dan Eldridge is reflected on a glass door as he watches the shooters at the pistol range, Friday, April 30, 2021, in Des Plaines, Ill. APIn Oregon, armed protesters angry that the state Capitol was closed to the public due to COVID-19 tried to storm the building late last year in a foreshadowing of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. In response, Democrats are using their supermajority to advance a bill that would mandate safe storage for firearms and make it illegal to bring a gun into the state Capitol. In Colorado, a gun storage bill was recently signed into law and in Massachusetts, lawmakers are considering a ban on the manufacture of assault weapons in that state a bill introduced after the recent spate of mass shootings. If recent months are any indication, for years to come the debate about guns will hold the echoes of our shared pandemic trauma and the seismic shifts it brought to our notions of safety, freedom and well-being. Yet in one area, some see the potential to reduce the polarization around guns: the increasing focus of public health in the national conversation. The idea that gun violence is a public health threat just like the coronavirus and the pandemic it caused could transform the way Americans talk about guns. How can we learn to live with the guns, whereas right now were dying with them? says David Hemenway, a professor of health policy at Harvard University. The public health approach in a one-sentence description is, Lets make it really easy to be healthy and really difficult to get sick and injured. We have to agree we have a big problem and its a societal problem. Then, there are so many things we can talk about. | 0 |
###CLAIM: the situation of total acceptance is branded "unacceptable" by care home leaders who warn that only worse will happen because the results of the tests will not come back quickly enough.
###DOCS: The Health Secretary claimed that it was 'critical for everybody to understand the best way to keep cancer services running is to suppress the disease', suggesting that hundreds of thousands of patients may face delays to planned surgery and chemotherapy, if the outbreak continues to spiral. Vital operations were cancelled and patients missed out on potentially life-saving therapy in the spring because tackling Covid-19 became the sole focus of the health service, instead of cancer and other cruel diseases. Almost 2.5million people missed out on cancer screening, referrals or treatment at the height of lockdown, even though the NHS was never overwhelmed despite fears it would be crippled by the pandemic. Experts now fear the number of people dying as a result of delays triggered by the treatment of coronavirus patients could even end up being responsible for as many deaths as the pandemic itself. Surgeons have worriedly called for hospital beds to be 'ring-fenced' for planned operations during the pandemic, to avoid the upheaval of spring where patients faced a 'tsunami of cancellations' as the health service focused on battling coronavirus. But in a bruising appearance in the House of Commons today, Mr Hancock warned Covid-19 could once again disrupt cancer treatment and told MPs that controlling the virus would allow the NHS to 'recover the treatment that we need to for cancer and other killer diseases'. He said: 'It's critical for everybody to understand that the best way to keep cancer services running is to suppress the disease, and the more the disease is under control the more we can both recover and continue with cancer treatments. Labour also viciously tore into Mr Hancock's latest blunder, which saw officials miss 16,000 positive test results because of a cataclysmic Excel error. Around 50,000 of their contacts are estimated to have gone un-traced. Firing on all cylinders after the his counterpart failed to answer exactly many of them have now been traced, Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: 'So, essentially there are thousands of people who have been exposed to the virus who are probably wandering around not knowing they've been exposed and could be infecting people, and he cannot even tell us if they've been traced.' No 10 admitted this afternoon that just 63 per cent of the 'missing' 16,000 Covid-19 cases have been contacted by NHS Test and Trace. Most contacts are tracked and told to self-isolate within 48 hours, but ongoing delays with the system mean many continue to circulate through the community after being exposed to the virus. Experts have warned the system will only be effective if the vast majority of cases are tracked quickly. Britain recorded 76 coronavirus deaths today, with ten in Wales, as the number of new cases identified spiked to 14,542 across the country. It is thought this is far from the height of the pandemic when an estimated 100,000 new infections occurred every day. Government data shows that the North West and North East and Yorkshire are the only regions to have seen a sustained and sharp increase in people being admitted to hospital (line graphs show daily hospital admissions between April and October). All regions saw a rise in cases, hospitalisations and deaths in September as people returned to offices and schools after the summer, but across most of the country these have since come under control. A survey for the Royal College of Surgeons of England found most surgeons thought the NHS could not meet its targets to get surgery back to pre-pandemic levels. Sir Simon Stevens, the head of the NHS in England, wrote to NHS trusts in July saying that, in September, they should hit at least 80 per cent of their last year's activity for both overnight planned procedures and for outpatient or day case procedures. In October, this figure should rise to 90 per cent, the letter said. But the Royal College of Surgeons said its analysis showed trusts were not hitting the target, with issues including surgeons being forced to wait for coronavirus test results and a lack of access to operating theatre space. AdvertisementThe Government's beleaguered Test and Trace system is under renewed scrutiny after it emerged 16,000 positive cases had been missed due to an Excel Spreadsheet error where cases were cut off after a certain number of rows was reached. After they were identified, Public Health England officials said the cases were transferred to NHS Test and Trace 'immediately' and thanked contact tracers for their 'additional efforts' over the weekend to clear the backlog. The disastrous oversight, which officials are keen to blame on the soon-to-be-defunct Public Health England, meant the missing cases were not contacted and traced, despite testing positive for the virus, meaning it may have continued to spread in the local community. But Mr Hancock who heads up the Department of Health only faced one question on the blunder today, from Mr Ashworth. Firing a broadside at the beleaguered Health Secretary this morning, Mr Ashworth demanded: 'Given the ONS has said today that deaths have increased for three weeks in a row and given rising prevalence of the virus, can he understand the upset and the anger over the Excel spreadsheet blunder? 'And can he tell us today what he couldn't tell us yesterday? Of the 14,000 contacts - not the index cases, the contacts - how many have been traced and how many are now isolating?' Admitting Test and Trace had still failed to reach all those whose results were not reported, Mr Hancock replied: 'Well, we have obviously been continuing to contact both the index cases and the contacts. Of course the total number of contacts depends on how many contacts each index case has. So that information will of course be made available in the normal way when it has been completed. 'But you can't know in advance how many contacts there are because you have to do the intervening interviews with the index cases first.' Tearing into his counterparts ever-growing litany of failures, Mr Ashworth summarised: 'So, essentially there are thousands of people who have been exposed to the virus who are probably wandering around not knowing they've been exposed and could be infecting people, and he cannot even tell us if they've been traced.' He also savaged the Government's cack-handed admission yesterday that the vaccine will be administered to less than half the country - rather than the whole population as had been previously suggested. 'I listened carefully to what he said about a vaccine yesterday in light of the news that the Government is aiming to vaccinate around 30million people - that is just under 50 per cent of the population,' he said. 'Can I put it to him that there has been an expectation that the whole of the population would be vaccinated, not least because he said at the Downing Street press conference that 'I would hope given the scale of the crisis we would have a vaccine and everybody would have the vaccine' - they're his words. 'So can he tell us for the 50 per cent of people who will not be vaccinated how soon will it take to return to normal for them?' Nicola Sturgeon could plunge Scotland into two-week 'circuit-breaker' lockdown on Friday Scotland could be plunged into a new 'circuit breaker' lockdown within days despite Nicola Sturgeon being warned it will be a disaster for the economy. There are claims hospitals have been told to brace for the two-week squeeze to start at 7pm Friday amid mounting alarm at the surge in coronavirus cases. The dramatic move is on the table despite the First Minister being warned that 'switching the lights on and off' would take the economy in Scotland 'back to square one'. Meanwhile, the situation is looking increasingly perilous south of the border, with cities including Sheffield, Oxford and Nottingham seemingly at risk of harsher restrictions as Boris Johnson tries to get a grip on local flare-ups. Neil Ferguson - known as 'Professor Lockdown' warned this morning that pubs could have to shut altogether in parts of England to keep schools open. An NHS source revealed last night to the The Sun they had been told another Scottish lockdown was coming. They added: 'We've been told to expect it from 7pm on Friday.' Figures published for the first time yesterday show 43 per cent of all cases across Scotland last week were in only two council areas - Glasgow and Edinburgh. It sparked renewed calls for Ms Sturgeon to avoid imposing draconian restrictions on parts of the country with low virus rates. But a recent Government report warned there could be another 100,000 job losses by the end of the year. AdvertisementThe Health Secretary claimed: 'As he well knows, decisions on the distribution of any vaccine have not been taken. The Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations are the body that advises the Government on the appropriate clinical prioritisation of vaccines. They have published an interim guide and that sets out the order of priority as an interim but we await the data on the, from the clinical trials of the vaccine before we'll come to a, err, to a clinically validated full roll out plan. 'We're putting in place a logistical plan now. But the decisions as to the clinical order priority is one on which we'll take the evidence from the committee.' Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner laid into the Health Secretary this morning and called for him to stand down from his position over his 'disgraceful' handling of the crisis. She described Mr Hancock as a 'total disaster for the country' in an interview on Good Morning Britain, and said the latest swabbing errors had made the UK a 'laughing stock' around the world. Most of the questions Mr Hancock faced related to the government's handling of other parts of the Covid-19 pandemic, including cancer treatment. Telling the Commons operations for cancer patients may be rolled back in the face of spiralling coronavirus infections, he said: 'It's critical for everybody to understand that the best way to keep cancer services running is to suppress the disease, and the more the disease is under control the more we can both recover and continue with cancer treatments. 'It's beholden on all of us to make the case that controlling this virus not only reduces the number of deaths directly from coronavirus but also enables us as best as possible to recover the treatment that we need to for cancer and other killer diseases.' He said cancer referrals had reached more than 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in July, while 95 per cent of all cases received treatment within 31 days. To maintain these levels and avoid future cancellations the Government is planning to make wards in private hospitals hired by the NHS 'Covid-19 free' so that it can continue treating cancer and other diseases, while battling a surge in hospitalisations due to the virus. Coronavirus hospital admissions are still rising - but remain far below the peak seen in the spring. In the South, it is just six per cent of the levels seen in April while in the North this figure is at 30 per cent. Royal Stoke University Hospital, which transferred its cancer treatment to Nuffield Health in Newcastle-under-Lyme at the start of the pandemic, was held up as an example of what others should look to achieve. Mr Hancock said: 'Because (private hospitals) very rarely have the pressures of emergency attendance that means that we can ensure that they are part of the 'green' part of the health service. '(This means) that they are as free as is feasibly possible from coronavirus and therefore able to carry out all sorts of cancer treatments.' He added: 'These referrals are leading to the action that's necessary and it's very important that the message goes out that the NHS is open and that anybody with a concern over cancer should come forward and that we can save lives.' Almost 2.5million people missed out on cancer tests and treatments during the first wave of the pandemic, according to Cancer Research UK. They said more than 2.1million are still waiting for crucial screenings for breast, cervical and bowel cancer. Another 290,000 have missed out on urgent referrals to confirm or rule out tumours. More than a million women missed checks for breast cancer at the height of the pandemic, Breast Cancer Now has said. If these extra procedures had been allowed to go ahead, some would have saved lives or extended them, granting extra invaluable time to families. Sara Bainbridge, Head of Policy at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: 'We, and likely thousands of people living with cancer, are deeply concerned by the Health Secretary's suggestion earlier today that the recovery of cancer services could be under threat if the virus is not controlled. 'It is critical that the Government and NHS learns from the consequences of the first wave of the coronavirus - which are still being felt eight months on - and does not disrupt vital services that take a long time to recover, while people with cancer are left waiting. 'It must not be underestimated just now serious the implications of postponing or cancelling cancer treatment and tests would be for patients' physical and mental health - and for the already significant backlog the NHS faces.' Jonathan Ashworth, Shadow Health Secretary, savaged Matt Hancock's ever-growing list of failures in the pandemicBritain records 63 Covid-19 deaths in early count with ten in Wales The UK has recorded another 63 coronavirus deaths in the preliminary count, as official figures show the number of number of people falling victim to the virus has risen by 55 per cent in a week. Fifty of today's deaths were recorded in hospitals in England, while two were in Scotland and Northern Ireland posted one. Wales reported 10 new deaths - the first time this figure has risen to double figures since June. The preliminary total is calculated by adding up deaths posted by NHS England and the health boards in the three other home countries. The Department of Health will announce the true tally later today. Health bosses in Wales are actively considering forcing visitors from hotspots around the UK to quarantine when they arrive in the country in a bid to curtail the spiralling crisis there. New restrictions in Scotland are to be announced tomorrow, with Nicola Sturgeon refusing to rule out local travel restrictions or the closure of pubs and restaurants in areas with higher rates of the virus. Tighter rules in England are also expected to be announced this week. It came as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) - a Government-run agency - revealed that Covid-19 deaths had jumped by 55 per cent in a week. The virus was mentioned on 215 death certificates in the week that ended September 25, up from 139 deaths recorded the previous week and more than double the 99 posted a fortnight ago. Although clearly trending the wrong way, Covid-19 deaths only accounted for 2 per cent of the 9,600-plus deaths registered in the week ending September 25 in England and Wales. AdvertisementAs he responded to questions in the Commons this morning, the Health Secretary was told to show respect for local authorities by supporting public health teams to run test and trace systems. Labour's Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) told the Commons: 'Yesterday the Health Secretary told me 'we have been putting that money into councils. What money is that? 7 million he announced, split between nine councils. That is against a 12 billion for Serco. That's not putting that extra money into councils, is it? 'So can I ask him to show respect for members of this House, and more importantly for our constituents, and answer the question: when is he going to stop relying on the outsourcing giants and support local public health teams with the funds they need - because that is how he and this country is going to fix Test, Trace and Isolate.' Mr Hancock replied: 'We have an open dialogue with councils and with local mayors about what needs to be done. But I would just urge him, that on behalf of all of his constituents in Sefton, that I think it is better to support the whole effort to control this virus, not just part of it.' Mr Hancock was also challenged by former Health Secretary and Conservative party leadership contender Jeremy Hunt. who asked whether any action was being taken to assist patients suffering from long Covid. 'My right honourable friend knows that for every person who dies of coronavirus at least one another person has long term symptoms for more than three months - meaning breathlessness, chronic fatigue, and often they can't go back to work normally,' he said, before asking whether clinics for them would become available. Mr Hancock said the Department of Health is working to get these clinics ready, and is 'in the process' of setting them up. He added that long Covid is something he 'deeply understands'. The Health Secretary also faced a barrage of challenging questions from other MPs hailing from all parties in the Commons. Judith Cummins, Labour MP for Bradford South, demanded to know at what infection rate local lockdown restrictions are brought into force, and at what level they can be relaxed. Mr Hancock replied that the 'specific local circumstances' determine the length of the lockdown. He argued it was not possible to put a 'specific number' on the point where restrictions are imposed because this is a judgement made by local authorities. A Public Health England spokesman previously explained to MailOnline that the point at which restrictions are imposed varies for each local area - and depends on a range of factors including deprivation, population age, population size, and rate of infection. Owen Thompson, SNP MP for Midlothian, asked the Health Secretary at what point restrictions would be re-imposed in London. Hancock replied that this is a matter which is discussed 'regularly' between himself, the Mayor of London and local officials as they remain vigilant on Covid-19 transmission across the country. Jo Churchill, Conservative MP for Bury St Edmunds, challenged Hancock on whether local lockdowns are effective - as Manchester and Leicester remain under restrictions months after they were first imposed. 'We've seen local actions in some parts of the country bring the case rate right down,' he replied. 'We need to make sure we are constantly vigilant to the needs of what needs to happen to suppress the virus.' How the UK's testing fiasco unfolded in the last week Care homes are having to wait up to three weeks to get coronavirus test results (stock) Testing fiasco I: Care homes must wait days for test results and staff are sent for second coronavirus swab before receiving diagnosis from their first Care homes are waiting up to three weeks to get their coronavirus test results, it was claimed today as the UK's swabbing fiasco continues. The Government had promised to get carers swabbed every week, and residents every 28 days, so new cases could be detected quickly and isolated. But the 'world-leading' testing system is failing to turn around samples on time as it battles to get through an ever-growing backlog of samples. Care home leaders have branded the situation 'totally unacceptable', and warned it is only going to 'get worse, not better' because 'test results are not coming back quickly enough'. The chairman of the National Care Association, Nadra Ahmed, who represents care homes across the country, told MailOnline many are having to wait four to six days to get test results. 'We're having cases of people who sent their first test on Friday and received result on Thursday evening, which is just in time for the second lot of tests to go off again,' she said. 'There are some people who are telling us that the second lot of tests are not being collected in a timely fashion.' She branded the shambles 'totally unacceptable' and said it is heightening anxiety among both staff and residents who have 'lived through quite a challenging period already'. Testing fiasco II: Only 63 per cent of 'missing' 16,000 cases have been traced as contacts wait up to eight days Only 63 per cent of the 16,000 'missing' coronavirus cases have been contacted by NHS Test and Trace almost two days after the fiasco was first revealed. Number 10 admitted the slow start in catching up on the cases today - meaning many may still be circulating in the community after being exposed to the virus. It will take 48 hours for most of their contacts to receive a message telling them to self-isolate. As each person has on average three contacts, that means there may be around 17,000 people moving through communities - including in virus hotspots - after being exposed to the virus. Experts say getting test results fast and carrying out contact tracing immediately is vital to stopping the spread of coronavirus because there is only a short window to alert people that they are at risk of infecting others without yet knowing they're ill. Sir Paul, whose lab at the Crick has been turning around tests for the local University College London Hospitals Trust and other hospitals since the start of the pandemic, said a localised approach was the only way out of the mess. He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: 'I think it has to be a different approach from the centralised labs, not substituting for them but additional to them. 'The big Lighthouse Labs do have capacity, but they have a long line of communication, they don't always work optimally and they can be too slow and get plagued by false positives and false negatives and the like. 'So, what I suggested early on, and I still in fact do, is that we need to look at more local solutions, just as Jeremy Hunt has said, because we have hospitals and care homes which have vulnerable people, and we need to protect them in the coming winter because it's them who are going to die. 'Of course we need the large labs, particularly for community testing. But small labs ramped up could provide up to 100,000 tests with a much more efficient turnaround but they need to be encouraged, they need to get support.' He asked the Government to roll out tests to smaller labs back in April, but his plea appears to have fallen on deaf ears. AdvertisementThe truth about England's second wave of Covid-19: Hospitalisations are 6% of peak levels in the South but 30% in the North and deaths have flattened in all but the North West, North East and the MidlandsBy Sam Blanchard, Senior Health Reporter for MailOnlineThe numbers of people being admitted to hospital with Covid-19 have levelled off in huge areas of England as data suggests the country is being dragged into panic by an out-of-control outbreak in the north. In London, the South East and the South West home to around half of the country's population of 55million daily admissions appear to be plateauing after rising in line with cases during September from a low point over the summer. However, admissions are still accelerating in the North West, North East and Yorkshire, where new local lockdowns are springing up every week and positive tests are spiralling to record numbers. But as talk grows of a second national lockdown when winter hits, figures suggests the south faces being lumped under rules it doesn't need. The picture is more complex in the Midlands and the East of England in the Midlands hospitalisations rose dramatically during September but there are signs they have peaked now, while admissions appear to still be rising slowly in the East, although at significantly lower levels than in the northern regions. Numbers of people in hospital in the worst affected areas have hit almost a third of what they were during the peak of the crisis in April, while in the south of the country they are still much lower at around six per cent. In the North West there are now an average of 107 people admitted to hospital with coronavirus every day, along with 94 per day in the North East. Both figures are the highest seen since May and do not show signs of slowing. For comparison, the rates at their peak for each region were around 2,900 and 2,600 per day, respectively. On the other hand in London, where officials are reportedly discussing tougher measures, there are just 34 admissions per day down from an average 39 on September 25 and just 4.5 per cent of the level seen at the peak of the crisis in April. And in the South West, which has been least badly hit throughout the pandemic, just eight people are sent into hospital each day six per cent of the peak number. The same picture is true of the numbers of people dying of Covid-19. 171 of the 219 deaths recorded in the third week of September (78 per cent) all came from the three worst-hit regions the North East, North West and the Midlands. Statistics have shown that coronavirus cases appear to rise in most areas that get put under local lockdown measures, raising questions about how well they work at containing smaller outbreaks. But Professor Neil Ferguson, whose work influenced the Government to start the first UK-wide lockdown in March, said today that the situation in Britain would 'probably be worse' if officials were not taking the whack-a-mole approach. He said there is still a risk that the NHS could become overwhelmed if cases aren't stopped even if infections have started to come under control it can still take weeks for people to get sick enough to need hospital treatment. The Department of Health yesterday announced a huge 12,594 new cases of Covid-19 after a weekend that saw Public Health England admit it had messed up a spreadsheet that meant 16,000 positive tests weren't counted last week. Officials have warned the public that coronavirus is now spreading faster than it was in summer in every region of England, estimating that around one in 400 people have the disease, falling to one in 200 in hard-hit areas. But Public Health England data shows the rate of cases in the North West and North East are around eight times higher than they are in the South West, South East and East of England. Professor Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, said the situation in the UK would 'probably be worse' if local lockdowns weren't in placeThe region with the highest rate is the North West, where there are 136.1 cases for every 100,000 people, compared to the lowest rate in the South East where there are just 16.1 cases per 100,000. Professor Neil Ferguson, an Imperial College London expert, said on BBC Radio 4 this morning: 'We think that infections are probably increasing, doubling every two weeks or so in some areas faster than that, maybe every seven days and in other areas slower.' He said scientists 'always expected' cases to rise once lockdown was lifted and that now was a time for trial and error of local lockdown rules to see how well the virus can be controlled while schools and work return to normal. 'We're about 10 times lower in infection levels than we were just before the original lockdown,' he said, but he stressed keeping new infections under wraps is crucial. 'The death rate probably has gone down [since spring], we know how to treat cases better, hospitals are less stressed, we have new drugs,' Professor Ferguson said. 'But admissions to hospitals, hospital beds occupied with Covid patients, and deaths, are all tracking cases. They're at a lower level but they're basically doubling every two weeks and we just cannot have that continue indefinitely. WHAT IS THE HOSPITAL SITUATION RIGHT NOW? It's being driven by hospitals gradually becoming overwhelmed. Over half of ICU beds [there] are now Covid patients and their death numbers are again creeping up inexorably.' Department of Health data shows that three quarters of all hospital patients who have Covid-19 (76.8 per cent) are in the North West, North East and Midlands regions. A third are in the North West alone. Meanwhile, in the East, South East, South West and London home to at least 30million people there were just 318 patients with coronavirus yesterday, October 3. While the rates of people being admitted to hospital are clearing soaring in the northern regions, they appear flat or even declining in other ares. Every region experienced a surge in the numbers of people getting sent to hospital in September as cases rose in line with loosened lockdown rules, cooler weather and the return of schools and offices after summer holidays. But in four out of the six regions of the country this increase started to slow down and tail off towards the end of the month while it continued rising in the north. In the week leading up to October 3, the most recent data, the average daily admissions in the Midlands rose only from 52 to 57 after spiking into the 50s from below 10 a day at the end of August. In the same week, however, admissions in the North West continued surging and went from 79 to 107. In London and the South East admissions fell from 37 to 34, based on a seven-day average, while they stayed flat in the South West, increasing from seven to eight. They kept spiralling in the North East and Yorkshire from 70 to 94, while also rising in the East of England from 10 to 15, suggesting the situation may be worsening in the East, too. Comparing the numbers to peak levels from the spring outbreak shows that most of the country is nowhere near those levels. Closest is the North West, where the number of people in hospital right now is about a third as high as it was on April 13 889 compared to 2,890. In the North East the number of patients is at 656 compared to 2,567 on April 9 25.5 per cent as high. In other regions that are nowhere near as badly affected, however, hospital patients are hitting only six per cent of the levels they did at the height of the outbreak. In London there are just 312 compared to 4,813 on April 8 six per cent as many and in the South East just 115 compared to 2,073 on April 7. Deaths, which are also significantly lower than they were at the peak but are the last figure to rise in an outbreak, also vary dramatically across the country and are only rising in some regions. Coronavirus fatalities surged in September, rising from 41 in the week ending September 3 to 219 in the week ending September 28. The latter is the most recent week that NHS data is reliable because it can take weeks for death reports to be filed, meaning the number of victims placed on each day continues to rise for days and weeks after the date passes. Most of the rise came from hospitals in the North East, North West and the Midlands, the Health Service Journal reported, with all but 48 of the 219 happening in those regions. NHS trusts in Greater Manchester, Cumbria, Lancashire and Cheshire and Merseyside accounted for half of all the deaths in that last week of September, according to the specialist news website. But other regions have not seen a rise in deaths following the warnings of a national resurgence of Covid-19. Just one person died in the South West during that entire week and fatalities remain flat and low in London, the South East, South West and the East. In a speech in the House of Commons yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock acknowledged that the northern regions, Scotland and Wales were driving Britain's second wave. He told MPs: 'Here in the UK the number of hospital admissions is now at the highest it has been since mid-June. 'Last week the ONS [Office for National Statistics] said that while the rate of increase may be falling, the number of cases is still rising. Yesterday [Sunday] there were 12,594 new positive cases. 'The rise is more localised than the first time round, with cases rising particularly sharply in the North East and North West of England, and parts of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 'Now, more than ever with winter ahead we must all remain vigilant and get this virus under control.' Yesterday's official update added another 12,594 coronavirus cases to the rolling total, which was one of the highest one day rises on recordA further 33 deaths were announced on Monday. The average number confirmed each day has risen to 53 from just seven per day a month agoData for Scotland and Wales show they are proportionately worse affected than much of England, with the number of patients in hospital in Wales at 24 per cent of the levels seen in the peak in April. Numbers are much smaller in Scotland and Wales, however, and combined they only have 393 patients in hospital fewer than the Midlands, North East or North West of England. Scotland's hospital admissions are at approximately 12 per cent of peak levels. | 0 |
###CLAIM: the focus will be on controlling costs to ensure that taxpayers deliver the wealth of benefits of this ambitious new railway to them in terms of monetary value.
###DOCS: Ecologists have warned chopping down ancient woodland and moving it to a nearby fields to make way for HS2 is a fundamentally flawed idea without any strong evidence. Owners of ancient woodland in Cubbington, Warwickshire are up in arms over the loss of 3.7acres of trees, warning the area means 'everything,' to the community, with the land often used to scatter people's ashes. Earlier this week one of Britain's oldest pear trees was cut to make way for the project. Bosses at the railway line, which will link London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, say they woodland are not being destroyed, because its soil is translocated to other spots, including a neighbouring field. Sam Whittall, an ecologist on the HS2 project, told the BBC: 'We are aiming to create the same habitat... the idea is to move that habitat from A to B.' But the project accepts there is a lack of long term research to support how effective the method is. 'The last option': What is translocation? The Wildlife Trusts says translocation is the 'best attempt,' at mitigating the impact of removing ancient woodland. The process involved moving plants, soils, stumps that can regrow, like hazel and elm trees, along with dead wood, to a nearby location, typically another wood or nearby field. The uprooted plants and trees are then replanted, in the hope they can regrow, with supporting equipment installed to encourage local wildlife to move to the new woods. The Wildlife Trusts has raised concerns with the scheme. Its website reads: 'It is impossible to re-create ancient woodland, as it is the soil structure and ecosystems that have built up over hundreds of years that make them so unique. 'Therefore generally, The Wildlife Trusts view translocation as the absolute last option.' Woodland translocated as part of the Channel Tunnel development in Folkestone is said to have kept around 70 per cent of its ancient woodland species, particularly ground flora. A study carried out 25 years after the move said the woodland's 'new community was significantly different from the original, principally because soil conditions were drier at the receptor site.' AdvertisementDavid Coomes, professor of forest ecology and conservation at the University of Cambridge, said the use of translocation 'is like tearing up a Turner masterpiece and tossing little bits of it in to a new art installation and hoping people don't notice the difference'. He added: 'There are complicated networks and they take a long time to come together - hundreds of years - particularly the three-dimensional structure of the forest, the trees which have hollows for bats, the homes for lots of different fungi and lots of different insects.' Experts Dr Mark Everard, and biologist Merlin Sheldrake, also warned it could disrupt local wildlife. Just 2.5 per cent of UK land is covered by ancient woodland - which have to date back to at least 1600 to achieve the title. More than 40 designated areas of ancient woodland will be impacted by the development of HS2, according to the BBC. A statement on Woodland Trust's website reads: 'While we are in favour of green transport and not against high speed rail projects in principle, we are strongly opposed to the HS2 route. 'We consider that the impact of the HS2 route on ancient woods and trees across the UK landscape is wholly unacceptable. 'Any transport system that destroys irreplaceable habitats such as ancient woodland can never be called "green".' Wildlife Trusts raises similar concerns, describing translocation as the 'absolute last option,' adding that it is 'impossible,' to recreate ancient woodland, 'as it is the soil structure and ecosystems that have built up over hundreds of years that make them so unique'. A statement on its website reads: 'The success or otherwise of woodland that has been translocated is still not well understood, as many translocations in the past have not been monitored well, or the results published.' The pear tree that was felled had stood for 250 years. While bosses support translocation, they accept there is little evidence to prove it is effective long termThe HS2 route would initially link London and Birmingham with the second phase of the project then heading north to Manchester and LeedsLast week ministers were told Phase One of the controversial railway line could cost 800million more than planned. It comes just six months after a budget increase saw total predicted costs for the first stage of the high-speed line soar by 20.6billion to 43billion. In a written statement to Parliament, HS2 Minister Andrew Stephenson said half of this figure is due to preparation of the route for construction involving 'more significant challenges than anticipated'. HS2 would allow trains to travel at speeds of up to 250mph. That would mean much faster journeys between key UK cities. The graphic shows times for HS2 passengers (in red) verses the current times (in blue)Campaigners against HS2 were in Denham on October 9 to protest the line earlier this month. The Woodland Trust has voiced its own opposition to the high speed train serviceWhat is HS2 and how much will it cost HS2 (High Speed 2) is a plan to construct a a new high-speed rail linking London, West Midlands, Leeds and Manchester. The line is to be built in a 'Y' configuration. London will be on the bottom of the 'Y', Birmingham at the centre, Leeds at the top right and Manchester at the top left. Work on Phase One began in 2017 and the government plans envisage the line being operational by 2026. The HS2 project is being developed by High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd. The project 's costs have risen sharply from an initial 32.7billion in 2010 to a projected cost of 56billion last year. A review recently estimated that the cost could hit 106billion, with some extreme projections suggesting it could hit 150billion. However, the government's forecast is between 72billion and 98billion. AdvertisementThis includes the need to remove more asbestos than expected. Another 'significant cost pressure' worth 400 million has also been identified during the development of designs for Euston station. Mr Stephenson warned that further investigation is being carried out which 'could identify further pressure'. In November 2013, the estimated cost for the first stage of HS2 stood at 19.4billion, according to figures calculated in a parliamentary session. In April, a full business case was approved which saw a target cost of 40billion in 2019 prices - a rise of 20.6billion. A spokesman for the Department for Transport said HS2 Ltd is still expected to deliver Phase One at the 'target cost' of 40.3 billion. The project as a whole has seen spiralling costs - from the projected 36billion in 2012 to an estimated 106billion now. The 'funding envelope' for Phase One is 44.6 billion, which includes a contingency of 4.3 billion retained by the Government. The DfT spokesman added: 'As construction continues, this Government remains relentlessly focused on controlling costs, to ensure this ambitious new railway delivers its wealth of benefits at value for money for the taxpayer.' | 0 |
###CLAIM: wajahat and ali, a contributor to the new york times, said : `` you can heal or reform the gop now that it is an extremist party.
###DOCS: Former Vice President Joe Biden delivered a victory speech Saturday night calling for national unity, insisting the country to move past partisan divides to new heights. With the campaign over, its time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation, Biden said celebrating his media-declared victory. Its time for Americans to unite. And to heal.True to form, however, Biden cast no blame on the loudest voices within his own party or the Trump-deranged media vilifying the president and his supporters as white supremacist enemies of the state at every turn. In truth, Democrats want Trump-supporting Republicans to heel, not heal, while punishing those billed as complicit in the presidents supposedly authoritarian regime cutting taxes and opposing Democrats draconian lockdowns. You cant heal or reform the GOP who are now an extremist party, wrote New York Times writer Wajahat Ali, the same columnist who mocked Trump supporters as ignorant rubes on CNN earlier this year. They have to be broken, burned down and rebuilt. When Biden is in power, treat them like the active threats to democracy they are. If those who committed crimes arent punished, then they will be more emboldened.You can't heal or reform the GOP who are now an extremist party. They have to be broken, burned down and rebuilt. When Biden is in power treat them like the active threats to democracy they are. If those who committed crimes aren't punished then they will be more emboldened. Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) November 10, 2020The usual culprits concurred, offering their own remedies to rooting out Trumpism, which was supported by more than 71 million Americans at the ballot box this year. New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was one of the first to promote the idea of creating Soviet-style dissident lists to harass heretic Trump supporters. Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future? Ocasio-Cortez pondered on Twitter. Lol at the party of personal responsibility being upset at the idea of being responsible for their behavior over last four years Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 6, 2020The socialist congresswoman proceeded to mock the response from those she wished to punish. Lol a the party of personal responsibility being upset at the idea of being responsible for their behavior over last four years, she wrote. Moments later, former Pete Buttigieg staffer Hari Sevugan responded to the congresswomans request touting the launch of the Trump Accountability Project, creating the lists in question to make sure anyone who took a paycheck to help Trump undermine America is held responsible for what they did.You better believe it. We just launched the Trump Accountability Project to make sure anyone who took a paycheck to help Trump undermine America is held responsible for what they did. https://t.co/clRu6WSfvL https://t.co/J78dgyHJpG Hari Sevugan (@HariSevugan) November 6, 2020Sevugan has since threatened potential future publishers and employers of ex-administration officials who dare make contracts with those who supported the president. Warning to publishers considering signing someone who led a campaign to get Americans to hate each other you will face a massive boycott led by the Trump Accountability Project. Not just of this book but your whole library.https://t.co/7z4tDKsSQb@mbsimon @emabrams https://t.co/YyKTQQonWl Hari Sevugan (@HariSevugan) November 6, 2020. @kaitlancollins just reported WH staff are starting to look for jobs. Employers considering them should know there are consequences for hiring anyone who helped Trump attack American values. Find out how at the Trump Accountability Project.https://t.co/7z4tDKsSQb Hari Sevugan (@HariSevugan) November 6, 2020CNNs Jake Tapper and the Washington Posts Jennifer Rubin joined the chorus, demanding retribution against those demanding Trump have his day in court and every vote be counted before certifying the results of the election. Any R now promoting rejection of an election or calling to not to follow the will of voters or making baseless allegations of fraud should never serve in office, join a corporate board, find a faculty position or be accepted into "polite" society. We have a list. Jennifer 'pro-voting' Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) November 6, 2020I truly sympathize with those dealing with losing its not easy but at a certain point one has to think not only about whats best for the nation (peaceful transfer of power) but how any future employers might see your character defined during adversity. Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 9, 2020Labor Secretary Robert Reich had already recommended creating a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to put Trump backers on trial in October. The calls for punishment of Trump supporters comprise just the latest episode in the nations downward spiral after the left and their allies in the corporate media spent years liberalizing definitions of white supremacy, racism, sexism, and homophobia to cast their opponents as contemptuous villains in the way of their utopian empire featuring actual racism. Biden has been no exception by calling Trump Americas first racist president, and neither has his running mate California Sen. Kamala Harris, who ushered donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund bailing out Minneapolis rioters who burned down the city in the name of social justice. The former vice president is not serious about national unity. If he were, he would have forcefully condemned calls within his own party to prosecute supporters of his November opponent. Biden cannot unify a country while still ignoring the loudest voices in it calling to punish political opponents for differences of political opinion. Meanwhile, nothing about this president suggests hes a white supremacist operating as a covert Klansmen in the Oval Office for the sole purpose of oppressing minorities. By the end of his first and potentially only term in the White House, Trump has probably condemned white supremacy more than any other president in front of a hostile media repeating this same question over and over. Whenever the media ask Trump to denounce white supremacy, its never a question, and its never presented in good faith. Its always an accusation, an exhausting one at that. A look at the exit polls, on the other hand, shows the medias purported white supremacist president made considerable gains among Asian, black, and Hispanic voters while losing major ground among whites. That means theres only one party that got more white this election, and it wasnt the Republican Party. White supremacist loses support among whites with gains among black, Asian, and Hispanic voters. Only one party got more white this election, and it wasnt the Republican Party. https://t.co/q0Gjr8CosI Tristan Justice (@JusticeTristan) November 9, 2020In a concrete bid to unify, Bidens transition team has floated the possibility of appointing Republicans to cabinet-level posts. Among the names touted, however, include Republicans who publicly engaged in the same attacks by the radical left on Trump and his supporters. Elevating this kind of Republican is just as divisive, such as John Kasich who, while on a crusade for partisan unity has underhandedly fomented the very divisions the former governor claims to despise by endorsing impeachment and warning that Trump was rotting Americas soul. If Biden were serious about forming a bipartisan cabinet, then the media-declared president-elect would opt to include actual Republicans who espouse conservative ideas rather than token GOPers to claim unity. Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at [email protected]. | 0 |
###CLAIM: following the presidential election, conspiracy theorists harassed members of the family as part of a backlash against the ridiculousness that faced after the refusal to back up the outlandish claim that joe and biden lost the presidential election because of widespread voter fraud.
###DOCS: ToplineGeorgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) said Thursday that his family is now being harassed by conspiracy theorists on social media as part of the ridiculous backlash Kemp has faced following the presidential election, after he refused to back President Donald Trumps outlandish claims that widespread voter fraud caused him to lose the state to President-elect Joe Biden. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) removes his face covering before speaking to reporters during a Covid-19 ... [+] update in the Georgia's capitol, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) ASSOCIATED PRESSKey FactsKemp did not directly blame Trump for the vitriol while speaking to reporters during a Covid vaccine event Thursday afternoon, even though Trump has encouraged a Republican primary challenge for Kemp should he run for reelection, and recently retweeted a call to throw Kemp in jail. Kemp said conspiracy theorists have specifically targeted his daughter Lucy, whose boyfriend, Harrison Deal, was killed earlier this month in a car crash after his vehicle collided with a truck on Interstate 16. Deal, 20, also worked as a campaign staffer for U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), a fact conspiracy theorists have latched onto to promote baseless claims surrounding his death. Kemp said that death threats have also come since the election, a fact that has been echoed by other top officials in the state. Crucial QuoteWe have the no crying in politics rule in the Kemp house. But this is stuff that, if I said it, I would be taken to the woodshed and would never see the light of day, Kemp said. What To Watch ForOn the potential for a 2022 primary challenge, Kemp said that hes ready for any kind of fight. Trump has said hes now ashamed of endorsing Kemp for governor in 2018. Key BackgroundKemp has been under attack by Trump and his supporters since the presidential election, which saw Trump become the first Republican nominee to lose the state of Georgia since 1992. Trump has claimed Kemp and other top Republicans in the state had it within their power to overturn the election results, even though he lost Georgia to Biden by around 12,000 votes. But Kemp has pushed back against Trumps baseless conspiracy claims, which have also not held up in court. Two recounts of the states election results, one of which was requested by the Trump campaign, also confirmed Bidens victory. On Monday, all of the states electoral college votes officially went to Biden. President Trump on Tuesday shared a tweet that declared Georgias Republican governor and secretary of state would end up in jail for declining to subvert the states election results in Trumps favor. The president retweeted Lin Wood, a Georgia-based attorney who has pushed unproven allegations of voter fraud in recent weeks, who targeted Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R). President Trump @realDonaldTrump is a genuinely good man. He does not really like to fire people. I bet he dislikes putting people in jail, especially Republicans, Wood tweeted. He gave @BrianKempGA & @GaSecofState every chance to get it right. They refused. They will soon be going to jail.Wood doctored pictures of both officials to include face coverings bearing the Chinese flag. President Trump @realDonaldTrump is a genuinely good man. He does not really like to fire people. I bet he dislikes putting people in jail, especially Republicans. He gave @BrianKempGA & @GaSecofState every chance to get it right. They refused. They will soon be going to jail. pic.twitter.com/7PMBLc8L2N Lin Wood (@LLinWood) December 15, 2020The retweet is the latest personal attack Trump has levied against Kemp and Raffensperger, despite the latter warning that the presidents rhetoric has led to threats against his family and other election workers. Raffensperger has repeatedly disputed Trumps false claims that there was widespread fraud in the state that led to President-elect Joe Bidens victory there. Bidens win in the Peach State was validated by multiple recounts, and the states Electoral College on Monday certified the former vice presidents victory. Kemp signed off on the states certification last month, and he has drawn Trumps ire ever since. The president has blasted Kemp as a fool and a clown.Trump retweeted Wood even as some Republicans have tried to distance themselves from the attorney. At a rally earlier this month, Wood suggested Republican voters should sit out the upcoming Senate runoff elections that will determine control of the upper chamber because of distrust in the system. | 2 |
###CLAIM: mark and patenaude, long-time smith college janitors who even worked in the cafeteria at the time, and jackie and blair, cafeteria workers who called security for an actual no-show, face accusations of racism and cowardice.
###DOCS: Americans are talking more and more about racism and inequality, and that should be a good thing. Its not just policing and incarceration black Americans suffer disproportionately from every aspect of our unjust social system. Theyre more likely than white Americans to deal with poverty, housing insecurity, joblessness, go without health insurance, or face regular bouts of hunger. After years of embracing the post-racial rhetoric of figures like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, mainstream Democrats are coming around to acknowledging how much the 1960s civil rights revolution left unfinished. And yet, years into a great awokening that has drawn attention to these issues, its worth asking whether anything is changing. Indeed, we should ask: are liberal anti-racists advancing the cause of equality? Could they even be setting it back? Unlike mid-century movements for justice, much of todays advocacy around racial justice places the onus on individual actors and the private-sector to address problems that are really best fixed through collective action and social legislation. Biases and interpersonal hostility, of course, still negatively impact the lives of people of color. A Harvard Business Review survey found that since 1990, white applicants received, on average, 36% more callbacks than black applicants and 24% more callbacks than Latino applicants with identical resumes. Thats a strong case that even if we equalize opportunities for advancement, there will be a need for affirmative action policies, however inadequate they might be. However, even affirmative action wasnt brought about through the proliferation of White Fragility reading groups and self-contemplation about ones own privilege. Rather, it was a demand that emerged from a labor-backed political coalition. As the scholar Toure F Reed reminds us, the phrase affirmative action first appeared in the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 the single-most important piece of labor legislation passed in the United States. The extension of affirmative action to issues of racial discrimination was initially part of a social democratic coalition that saw a government role in bringing about greater equality. Thats a far cry from todays emphasis on private sector activity not mandated by the state through anti-racist trainings at workplaces and the like to foster diversity and inclusion. For starters, diversity and inclusion arent synonymous with equality and justice and trainings themselves dont appear to be effective, even on their own terms. But even if they did work, the best we could expect from them is a more sensitive working environment for minorities lucky enough to be employed or for those customers who patronize them. If you dont have a job, or dont have any money, youre out of luck. Why is there so much emphasis on these trainings, then? Part of the story is the budding industry emerging around them expert guidance through honest and raw discussions of white supremacy and implicit bias and an analysis of racial hegemony doesnt come cheap, and is a job creation program of its own. But there are other reasons why even seemingly apolitical brands like Gushers and Fruit by the Foot, who make delicious varieties of candy, are jumping on the liberal anti-racism bandwagon. First, it might satisfy younger staffers who want to feel like theyre working for companies that are stalwarts of anti-racism. Second, some consumers might like such anti-racist gesturing. Third, showing a commitment to diversity and arranging for a diversity consultant to come in is cheaper than dealing with an anti-discrimination lawsuit, having to deal with a Twitter-led consumer boycott for a misstep, or paying black and brown workers more. Better to have Kendall Jenner in a BLM-themed Pepsi ad than paying more in taxes to help working-class peopleYet even if corporations arent driving the race-conscious awakening, theyre willing to adapt to the new environment because the political demands flowing from activists are increasingly compatible with corporate profit-making and governance. Corporations are also more than happy to monetize the new social justice interest. Just think of Hollywood which once blacklisted socialist actors and directors in the cold war rushing to make films with watered-down accounts of Black Panther leaders like Fred Hampton (who was a Marxist) or the Chicago Seven (all of whom were radical anti-capitalists at the time). Similarly, companies like Apple, where workers in the secretive Chinese complex that manufactures iPhones attracted global concern after a spate of suicides, just brought out a special edition $429 Black Unity Apple Watch that was marketed for Black History Month. Apple says: The Black Unity Sport Band is inspired by the pan-African flag and made from soft, high-performance fluoroelastomer with a pin-and-tuck closure laser-etched with Truth. Power. Solidarity. Where is the power or solidarity for the workers toiling in factories in China, one might wonder? Or for child workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo who toil and die in mines extracting raw materials like cobalt that are used in iPhones. One doesnt hear anything about that kind of material injustice affecting the working class from the global south when corporations make their self-congratulatory PR statements around inclusion. They would rather focus on symbolism and racial-justice-themed commodities and products than contend with more expansive state oversight of private employment decisions, like an affirmative action program. Better to have Kendall Jenner appearing in a schmaltzy BLM-themed Pepsi ad than paying more in taxes to help working-class people in the form of an expanded welfare state and cash transfers. *It must come as a relief to the most class-conscious of executives that popular ire and media scrutiny has often fallen upon individual people rather than the system and corporations responsible for unprecedented inequality. Its convenient for the enemy to be a white worker committing a microaggression on the job while earning $12 an hour and voting for Donald Trump than a chief executive spouting platitudes about diversity while earning $12 a second and donating to Republican Super Pacs. Nowhere is the new anti-racism embraced with more zeal than at elite universities. Smith College, where a liberal arts education will cost you around $78,000 a year, has become the most famous example lately. In the summer holidays of 2018, a black student at the school was eating lunch in a building that was meant to be closed when she was questioned by a campus security officer about what she was doing there. She saw this as an act of racial animus and went to social media with her concerns. The incident came to the attention of Smiths president, Kathleen McCartney, who offered an immediate apology and reportedly suspended a janitor without even speaking to the workers involved. The student allegedly wasnt satisfied, and posted photographs, names and email addresses of Mark Patenaude, a long-time Smith College janitor who wasnt even working at the time, and Jackie Blair, a cafeteria worker who wasnt actually the one who called security, on Facebook, accusing them of racist and cowardly acts. Blair, an older worker who has lupus, said her condition flared up as a result of the stress, and had to go to hospital. She got death threats, had her car vandalized, and had threatening notes placed in her mailbox saying things like You dont deserve to live and RACIST. Patenaude told the New York Timess Michael Powell: We used to joke: dont let a rich student report you, because if you do, youre gone.Theres nothing special here: a boss throws a worker under the bus to satisfy the angry customers (in this case wealthy students and donors) that keep her employed. The only unusual part is that instead of demanding due process for the workers and an investigation, grassroots sentiment at a progressive institution called for even more sweeping actions. Student groups staged walkouts, while a pressured administration shifted more and more attention to beleaguered employees, calling upon Blair to go into meditation with the student, what McCartney called restorative justice. Months later, a 35-page report was issued on the incident, which cleared all workers of wrongdoing, yet those affected were issued no public apology from McCartney or anyone else at Smith. In fact, an even greater scrutiny was placed on their thoughts and behavior. As McCartney put it: It is impossible to rule out the potential role of implicit racial bias. As such, cafeteria workers and other staff were subjected to intrusive and humiliating educational sessions led by outside consultants, where they were forced to speak about their childhoods, their racial backgrounds, and their political and social beliefs. Its a high price to pay to serve rich kids food. There was far less outcry months later, when Smith University furloughed Blair and hundreds of other workers during the pandemic. *The 2018 incident has gotten a lot of extra attention since the February 2021 resignation of Jodi Shaw, a former employee. Shaw detailed the ways in which the racial bias trainings at Smith, along with the workplace culture, meant that white employees could not bring grievances to the college about the nature of those trainings without being accused of white supremacy. But her own rhetoric and route to redress is a profoundly private one. Shaw, a white woman, is likely to sue the school for being a racially hostile workplace, and shes been soliciting funds through GoFundMe. Shaw, whatever the merits of her case, is seeking justice via newfound internet celebrity, claims of racial discrimination, and the courts, rather than through collective action. Now, an aggrieved individual might have no other viable option in this environment. But her case offers a neat parallel to what the university administration and some students are doing: trying to usher about anti-racism through psychological training rather than material redistribution. But there is another way outside of the existing culture war the union option. Smith workers arent completely without protections, because they are largely unionized: housekeeping workers are organized in SEIU Local 211 and other support staff are members of SEIU Local 263. Both unions, however, only have about 100 members, and assets roughly equaling what the average student pays for a year of tuition. Theyre simply not in a position to do battle with the administration or a hostile campus to assert their rights as workers. The recent furlough of 230 employees will only weaken their bargaining power. Thats a shame, because unlike diversity trainings and white accountability Zoom sessions, unions have been shown to increase pay and job security for working people and decrease disparities between women and men and between people of color and white workers. They foster an environment where those of all backgrounds can find their common interests and realize through struggle that they are more powerful united. The wage scales cemented in collective bargaining agreements erode the racialized stratifications often created when individual employees bargain with their bosses. A year of privatized solutions and bitter polemics in the media have yielded nothingWhats more, the shared struggle for improved conditions can foster new forms of solidarity. A 2020 paper, not surprisingly, finds that white workers are less likely to hold racist views if theyre in a union, and that white union members also tend to have greater support for not only universal social goods, but for policies like affirmative action. Mainstream unions werent always bastions of racial justice. In 1919, the socialist A Philip Randolph could call the American Federation of Labor the most wicked machine for the propagation of race prejudice in the country. But through years of political struggle, they transformed themselves into powerful vehicles for the advancement of black and brown workers and a linchpin of a New Deal coalition that took the power of organized labor at the firm level and began to guarantee important economic rights at the federal level. Its not just that todays emphasis on privilege, and the rush to condemn working people as racists, are distractions from the politics that can actually help change the United States. Its that they run the risk of alienating potential allies and creating a subculture out of activism. Where does this leave the rest of us, those likely on the outside of even an expanded labor movement? A working-class politics isnt a way to ignore struggles against oppression, but it creates space for social movements to grow and an environment where anti-racist demands naturally shift from cultural representation to material redistribution. We might not all be able to join unions, but we will all be able to take part in those fights and support candidates who will improve the lives of black and brown workers through state action. Campuses, even at elite colleges like Smith, can take part in such a transformation too. In 2016, hundreds of Smith students marched not to call for the disciplining of cafeteria workers but in solidarity with them. They showed the campus administration that they were going to morph whatever privilege and power they had to help others fight back. A year of privatized solutions and bitter polemics in the media have yielded nothing. Neither anti-woke commentators like Bari Weiss or the Robin DiAngelos of the world have a plan to change the conditions that produce racism and inequality. But the combination of union representation in the workplace and universal, social goods guaranteed by the state gives us a way to actually do that. Dont let either side of the culture war from the liberal anti-racists who would have us all confess our thought crimes in front of our bosses, or the conservative anti-anti-racists who would just have us shut up about discrimination obscure how another path exists: one that is tried and tested. | 1 |
###CLAIM: when the weakness and vulnerability of anne and boleyn were examined, they became more deeply engrossing in their immense strength and weakness.
###DOCS: Jodie Turner-Smith has been spotted as Anne Boleyn for the first time while filming a Channel 5 drama that its producers say seeks to 'challenge conventions' and shine a 'feminist light' on her story. Turner-Smith, a black actress born in Britain, is portraying Anne who was the second wife of English King Henry VIII, whom he famously had beheaded in 1536. Boleyn, who was the white daughter of English nobility, is also one of the key causes of the English Reformation and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. She was executed by Henry for high treason after failing to produce a male heir. Her beheading in the Tower of London followed the miscarriage of a male child, and increasing clashes with Thomas Cromwell who is blamed for orchestrating the charges against her after engineering the break from the Catholic Church. Court rumours also suggested that Boleyn's forthright manner and intelligence angered courtiers. She was politically astute and allied with Protestant reformers of the church, including Cromwell before he turned on her. And her execution immediately followed the death of Henry VIII's first wife Catherine of Aragon. That event legally freed Henry to pursue marriage with Boleyn's lady-in-waiting Jane Seymour, if his current wife were to die. Turner, 34, was pictured wearing a coat over a period costume while filming for the new series. Producers Fable Pictures say the drama 'challenges all the conventions of who we think Anne Boleyn was and shines a feminist light on her story. 'We're absolutely thrilled to have the magnetic Jodie Turner-Smith on board to encapsulate Anne's determination to be an equal among men and to pave a path for her daughter. Jodie Turner- Smith as been cast as Tudor queen Anne Boleyn in a new period dramaTurner-Smith, a black actress born in Britain, is portraying Anne Boleyn in the upcoming drama. Anne Boleyn Born the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard, in 1501, she first came into the eye-sight of Henry VIII in 1522 when she secured a post at court as maid of honour to the king's first Catherine of Aragon. It was not until 1526 that Henry began his pursuit of Anne - a pursuit which was initially resisted. Her refusal to be a mistress sparked Henry to approach the then-Pope to have his marriage annulled. When it became clear this would not be allowed, Henry began his drive to break the power of the Catholic Church in England - what later became known as the English Reformation. Henry and Anne formally married in January 1533 - a move which resulted in the Pope excommunicating Henry and him consequently taking control of the Church of England. But it was ultimately not a happy marriage after Boleyn failed to produce a male heir. In order to marry again he needed a reason to end his marriage to Anne and she was investigated for high treason and sent to the Tower of London. Her beheading in the tower of London followed the miscarriage of a male child, and increasing clashes with Thomas Cromwell who is blamed for orchestrating the charges against her after engineering the break from the Catholic Church. Court rumours also suggested that Boleyn's forthright manner and intelligence angered courtiers. She was politically astute and allied with Protestant reformers of the church, including Cromwell before he turned on her. And her execution immediately followed the death of Henry VIII's first wife Catherine of Aragon. That event legally freed Henry to pursue marriage with Boleyn's lady-in-waiting Jane Seymour, if his current wife were to die. She was convicted on 15 May 1536 and beheaded four days later. Henry began courting Jane Seymour in 1536. Anne did leave one more mark on English history though, her daughter, Elizabeth, who was crowned as queen in 1558. During her daughter's reign, Anne became venerated as a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation. Advertisement'We feel that history has side-lined the voice of this ambitious Queen in favour of the men who brought her down, and that Lynsey Miller's beautiful, intimate vision will put Anne's gaze at the heart of the piece.' Ben Frow, director of programs at ViacomCBS, said: 'This project re-frames her story as a propulsive psychological thriller, told from a new perspective, with top talent like Jodie Turner-Smith attached. It was simply too irresistible to say no to and I'm very excited to see the finished product.' It is the second time a BAME actress has played the role of Anne Boleyn on screen, after Merle Oberon, an Anglo-Indian actress who played the royal in Alexander Korda's 1933 film The Private Life of Henry VIII. Though she claimed she was Australian, in order to avoid prejudice at the time, Oberon was born in India to a British army officer father and Indian mother. She was nicknamed 'Queenie' in honour of Queen Mary and King George V's visit to India in 1911. Alongside Turner-Smith, who has previously earned praise for her roles in the likes of Queen And Slim, Jett and Nightflyers, the series features Normal People's Aoife Hinds and Hamlet star Paapa Essiedu. White House Farm's Amanda Burton and Des actor Barry Ward are also among the people taking part in the series. Historian Dan Jones is serving as executive producer. The mini-series, written by Eve Hedderwick Turner, is being produced by Fable Pictures (who created Stan & Ollie) and will air on Channel 5 in due course. Turner-Smith described Queen Anne Boleyn as 'formidable and fierce' as she spoke about her decision to take on the role. Anne, mother of Elizabeth I, was executed in 1536 at the Tower of London after falling out of favour with the Tudor king and losing a battle at court with enemies such as Thomas Cromwell. Speaking about taking on the role, Jodie said: 'Delving deeper into Anne Boleyn's immense strengths while examining her fatal weaknesses and vulnerabilities, Eve's scripts immediately captured my imagination. 'In the hands of Lynsey Miller, the legend of this formidable queen and fierce mother will be seen as a deeply human story that is still so relevant for today. 'I look forward to bringing my heart and spirit into this daring retelling of the fall of this iconic woman.' In a statement, Channel 5 said: 'The drama will explore the final months of Anne Boleyn's life from the eponymous queen's perspective. 'The psychological drama follows her as she struggles to survive, to secure a future for her daughter, and to challenge the powerful patriarchy closing in around her.' Henry VIII's love for Anne changed the course of English history: he split with the Catholic Church in 1533 to marry her after divorcing Catherine of Aragon. The move resulted in the Pope excommunicating Henry and him consequently taking control of the Church of England. But it was ultimately not a happy marriage. Henry began courting Jane Seymour in 1536. In order to marry again he needed a reason to end his marriage to Anne and she was investigated for high treason and sent to the Tower of London. She was convicted on 15 May 1536 and beheaded four days later. The day after Anne's beheading, Henry married Jane Seymour. News of Jodie's new role comes after months after she welcomed her daughter, Janie, with Fringe actor husband Joshua Jackson, 42. In the October issue of Vogue, the British model and actress confirmed child's name for the first time in print, and reflected on what it's been like to parent a newborn in the midst of the pandemic. A feminist insight: Jodie described Queen Anne Boleyn as 'formidable and fierce' as she spoke about her decision to take on the roleNew mum: News of Jodie's new role comes after five months after she welcomed her daughter, Janie, with Fringe actor husband Joshua Jackson, 42 (pictured November 2019)'I had to learn how to breastfeed and how to be a mumit really worked out for my baby,' Turner-Smith said of the past few months during lockdown with her baby and husband. The article reported that after giving birth in April, Jodie's mother Hilda came to stay with them for three months amid the pandemic, and while protests began erupting around the world in the fight of social justice and racial equality. The Queen & Slim star reflected that it was a 'comfort' to have both her mother and husband with her and the baby during that time, without the outside pressures of work and amid a time of change and upheaval. | 1 |
###CLAIM: anders and tegnell were wrong about predictions that the herd 's immunity to summer build-up would protect the country come winter.
###DOCS: Sweden now has a higher Covid-19 infection rate than both France and Britain after shunning lockdowns in favour of a 'herd immunity' approach to the pandemic. Hospital admissions for coronavirus patients have almost doubled each week in Sweden, with the country recording 208,295 cases and 6,406 deaths since the outbreak began. Though this is far fewer than in Britain, Spain and France, the per capita infection rate in Sweden has now far surpassed all three nations. Today, Sweden reported 393 cases of Covid-19 per million people, while Britain and France confirmed 337 and 324 respectively. Sweden also has much higher infection rates than Norway, with daily case totals doubling in a fortnight and hospitals filling up faster than any country in Europe. Pictured: How Sweden's daily Covid-19 cases per million compare to the UK, France and SpainSweden now has a higher Covid-19 infection rate than both France and Britain after shunning lockdowns in favour of a 'herd immunity' approach to the pandemic. Pictured: People in Stockholm, Sweden todayThe number of Swedes in intensive care with coronavirus is doubling each week, The Sun reported, and is far higher than in Austria and Slovakia. Here, hospital admissions for Covid-19 patients are doubling every nine days. Goran Hansson, the head of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, has warned the situation in Sweden is 'serious' with the number of cases increasing at an 'accelerating speed.' He added: 'Intensive care units are not yet at maximum capacity but these wards may become full soon if the current trend is not broken.' However, health authorities in Sweden have insisted: 'We don't see that we are at a point where we might recommend general use of face masks on public transport.' Deaths in Sweden are now beginning to climb sharply (pictured) despite the country's virus expert predicting that it would fare better than others during winterSweden was left unprepared for a second wave of coronavirus due to 'wishful thinking' by its top virus expert, his predecessor has said (pictured, seven-day average infections in Sweden)Karin Tegmark Wisell, head of the Public Health Agency in Stockholm, added: 'Face masks shouldn't be used as an excuse not to keep a distance.' On Monday, Sweden's former state epidemiologist warned the country has been left unprepared for a second wave of coronavirus because of 'wishful thinking' by its top virus expert. Annika Linde said Anders Tegnell got it wrong when he predicted that 'herd immunity' built up over the summer would protect the country when winter came. This approach has seen cases and deaths soar, and on Monday forced Prime Minister Stefan Lofven to announce that gatherings would be limited to a maximum of eight people. Mr Lofven said Swedes should also avoid going to gyms and libraries, and cancel any dinner parties they had planned. 'This is the new norm for the entire society,' he said. 'It's going to get worse. Do your duty and take responsibility for stopping the spread of the virus.' Hospital admissions for coronavirus patients have almost doubled each week in Sweden, with the country recording 208,295 cases and 6,406 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Pictured: Stockholm todayToday, Sweden reported 393 cases of Covid-19 per million people, while Britain and France confirmed 337 and 324 respectively. Pictured: Stockholm todayThe new limit on gatherings, until now set between 50 and 300 people depending on the event, will come into force on November 24. It does not affect gatherings in private homes - because the government does not have the authority to ban those - but ministers have advised against socialising with anyone from outside your household. Speaking about the situation in Sweden before the announcement, Linde told The Telegraph: 'Wishful thinking - when you don't believe in the worst scenario - has been guiding Swedish decisions too much. 'The Swedish authorities have been slow all the time. Instead of being proactive, they've run after the virus, and the virus has been able to spread too much before they take action.' Tegnell had boasted over the summer that Sweden's lockdown-free virus strategy was seeing cases fall because people were developing natural immunity. He predicted that the country would therefore be better protected in winter than countries such as Norway, which had imposed lockdowns. But last week he was forced into a humiliating climbdown, admitting that 'the development has been different from what we believed in the summer.' Linde said the government should have begun preparing for the second wave in late summer, by cracking down on large gatherings and insisting on mask wearing. This would have reduced the number of 'seeder' cases among the population as autumn arrived, when respiratory infections typically circulate much faster. Instead, it took until October 20 before Tegnell issued the first set of local restrictions, a move that Linde said left the government on the back foot. Those restrictions have now been applied across much of the country, with a nationwide ban on alcohol sales due to come into force on Wednesday. Tegnell has already raised the prospect that measures will have to go further, suggesting that travel bans could be in place over Christmas. | 0 |
###CLAIM: duran said thursday that the bottlenecking was so well-oiled that it seemed to have been caused by something else.
###DOCS: Comment on this story Comment Gift Article ShareArlington Public Schools will bring all students who choose it back for five days of in-person learning every week starting in the fall, Superintendent Francisco Duran told the school board Thursday. He emphasized that any families in the Northern Virginia district of 23,000 who want to stay virtual-only will be able to do so, and noted that staffers have already begun to plot out what the remote option will look like. Duran said his inbox and phone have been flooded with anxious messages from parents who prefer virtual, and he sought to reassure them: We will continue to support those families, he said. But for those parents eager to see kids back in classrooms, Duran said, the fall should be a season of joy and triumph. He said that Arlington will follow public health metrics, Virginia law, and state and federal safety guidance throughout the reopening process. AdvertisementI am committed to, hopefully, be in the fall as close to normal as we can be, Duran said. I will do everything we can to make sure we do that.Still, the meeting was not totally optimistic. Duran also reviewed troubling grade data for the second quarter of the 2020-2021 school year that showed students are continuing to fail their classes at higher rates than in years past. He said Arlington is developing a plan for summer school to help combat this trend, and said he would share more details soon. The superintendents Thursday vow to reopen fully next fall follows similar promises made elsewhere in the Washington region this week. On Tuesday, officials with nearby Loudoun County Public Schools said they would offer five days of in-person learning next fall; and on Thursday, leaders for Montgomery County Public Schools, Marylands largest district, said the same. AdvertisementArlington, like most of its neighboring systems, has been largely shuttered for almost a year. It is in the process of returning students to classrooms for a hybrid model of learning that grants children several days a week of face-to-face instruction; by the end of next week, all students who chose it will have begun learning under that model. Duran said Thursday that the transition is going well so well that it seems to be causing something of a bottleneck. Earlier in the year, when the superintendent asked Arlington parents to choose between hybrid and virtual instruction, roughly 65 percent selected hybrid and 35 percent opted to keep their children home full-time, he said. But now, Duran said, some families who previously indicated a preference for online-only learning are trying to switch to hybrid schooling, apparently impressed by Arlingtons rollout of the model. Some schools have waitlists filled with these families, Duran said, and Arlington officials are working to accommodate requests as quickly as they can while complying with federal and Virginia public health guidelines. AdvertisementHe sought to quiet concerns that virtual-only students could be left behind as their in-person peers head back inside classrooms. We remain equally focused on all of our students, he said, regardless of what model they have chosen.And there is an urgent need to reach all students, Duran said, because the percentage of Es earned by students at every grade level are up compared to this time last year. The percentage earned by middle-schoolers increased by 2 percent, Duran said, while the percentage earned by high-schoolers rose by 3 percent. Continuing a pattern that has held steady throughout the pandemic, the spikes were steepest for the most vulnerable children: students with disabilities and those whose first language is not English. Es earned by students in the latter category, known as English learners, jumped by 10 percent, Duran said. AdvertisementAnd we do have a very large number of English learners who have chosen to remain virtual, so we do have to think about that, the superintendent said. We recognize there are a lot of limitations to what support we can offer in virtual . . . we are working on that.In the meantime, Duran said, the school system is continuing targeted intervention efforts for failing students that officials launched earlier this academic year. That includes holding special office hours, asking counselors to reach out to struggling students, extending deadlines and fitting periods of academic support into the school day. Duran said Arlington is offering a broad credit recovery program, which gives students who failed their classes a chance to make up missed work. Teachers then grade the assignments and recalculate the kids marks which means those students can pass the class, he said. There was at least one bright spot. Duran noted that the percentage of As appears to have increased as well this year, as compared to last rising 6 percent overall at the high school level. GiftOutline Gift Article CENTERVILLE, Ohio Like many public school districts around the country, Centerville City Schools near Dayton started the year off remotely for the 8,000 kids it serves. Based on recommendations from local public health officials, the district didn't resume in-person classes until mid-October. It didn't last. By late October, Superintendent Tom Henderson said the district was scrambling every day to find teachers for 90 to 115 classrooms, competing with other districts for substitutes. At one point, Henderson and his team were filling in teacher gaps hour by hour when substitutes and full-time teachers had planning periods. Crucial support staff members were also tough to find. Some days, they didn't have enough school bus drivers. Too many people had either caught Covid-19 or had recently come into contact with someone who had it. "Most of the exposure has come from outside of school," Henderson said. "The quarantines are just really hard to deal with." The week before Thanksgiving, Henderson pulled the plug. Faced with rising case counts in the community and expecting positive case counts and associated quarantines to spike after the holiday, he shifted the district to remote learning until Jan. 19 more than two weeks after New Year's Day. Henderson said the local public health commissioner has acknowledged that schools are doing a good job preventing the spread of Covid-19 inside their buildings. But there's nothing they can do about the broader outbreak. As the pandemic raged across the United States, experts warned that keeping schools open for in-person learning would become increasingly difficult if community spread went unchecked. Centerville's experience is an object lesson in that dynamic. Several other school districts announced similar shifts to remote learning over the holiday period. Keeping schools open has emerged as a flashpoint over how states and municipalities are handling the pandemic. As in many other places in the U.S., restaurants in Ohio remain open with indoor dining, which epidemiologists have pointed to as a major source of community spread. Centerville's schools also illustrate a broader challenge for communities with rising case rates quarantines that end up sidelining people for multiple cycles. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends that people who are exposed to Covid-19 quarantine for 10 days if no symptoms are reported and for seven days if they have negative test results and no symptoms. That is down from previous guidance, which recommended 14 days of quarantine regardless of symptoms or test results. New quarantines are required for every positive exposure. Within a family, exposures can stack, with the quarantine clock resetting upon each new contact with an infected person. Under the original guidance, a person who tested positive needed to isolate for 10 days, but a caregiver or a sibling had to quarantine for 14 days, starting at the end of the infected person's contagious period. Although the CDC has revised its quarantine guidance, the same dynamic still occurs, albeit for a shorter time. "Twenty-four days is a long time for a staff or a student," Henderson said. In-person school is vital on a number of levels. At a minimum, it functions as child care for working parents and provides food and a safe place to go for children who are food insecure or homeless. Remote school is less effective for younger children, which is why some states have prioritized reopening elementary schools and kept high schools online. But keeping schools open has proven difficult in areas where community spread of Covid-19 has surged. Montgomery County, where Centerville is located, was recently updated to a Level 4 Public Emergency by the state's Public Health Advisory System, a designation that indicates "severe exposure and spread." Health officials recommend that residents leave home only for essential supplies and services. There have been 4,285 cases in the county in the past two weeks, a number that is almost certainly an undercount because of delays in test processing created by the Thanksgiving holiday. The county's intensive care units are nearly 86 percent full as of Dec. 3. Overall, nearly a third of ICU patients across the state have Covid-19, according to the most recent release from the state Health Department. Dr. Nora Colburn, associate medical director for clinical epidemiology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, said in a press release that non-Covid patients are increasingly being crowded out of the healthcare system. A healthcare professional preprares to enter a Covid-19 patient's room in the ICU at Van Wert County Hospital in Van Wert, Ohio on Nov. 20, 2020. Megan Jelinger / AFP - Getty Images"We are in crisis," Colburn said. "Hospitals across Ohio are running out of beds, healthcare workers are burned out and stretched thin, and our hospitals are stressed to the extreme." Gov. Mike DeWine instituted a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. for three weeks beginning Nov. 17, which experts say is likely to have little effect on the spread of the coronavirus. Other states have also instituted coronavirus mitigation measures, which schools have tried to adapt to as they push to return to classrooms. Private and parochial schools, which have been operating in person since late August, are starting to feel the crunch, as well. Archbishop Alter High School, a Catholic high school in Kettering, shifted the entire school to remote learning the Thursday before Thanksgiving after dozens of students were out because of quarantines and positive cases. Principal Lourdes Lambert said the goal was to keep all students on the same footing and resume in-person classes after the holiday. The decisions made outside school walls will continue to affect the sustainability of in-person learning, even more so as cold weather forces people indoors, which Lambert said she believes was behind her school's increase in cases. "More people are inside," Lambert said. "I think that's why we're seeing an uptick in cases." Henderson, Centerville's superintendent, said he hopes to resume in-person learning next month but acknowledges that he worries about what conditions will be like then. "Will things be much different in January? Our goal is to come back" he said, but that's not entirely up to him or his staff, who have been following every safety protocol that's been recommended. "This is hard," Henderson said. "It's just this invisible thing that's out there." Comment on this story Comment Gift Article ShareVirginias largest school district will return the vast majority of its 180,000 students to five days a week of in-person learning this fall, Schools Superintendent Scott Brabrand told the school board Tuesday. Fast, informative and written just for locals. Get The 7 DMV newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. ArrowRight Brabrand said virtual offerings will be limited in Fairfax County Public Schools at the start of next academic year and probably restricted to students who must remain online-only for medical reasons. Pressed by a board member, Brabrand said, I think health concerns are going to be part of the conversation for virtual. Beyond that I am not at liberty to say.The superintendent also noted that his Northern Virginia school system is preparing to maintain less than six feet of distance between students and teachers come fall. Brabrand said he assumes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will soon release updated guidelines recommending three feet of separation as the ideal distance inside schools and that Fairfax has already begun sketching out what schools would look like under that requirement. AdvertisementEven at three feet, Brabrand said, it will be difficult to send every Fairfax student back inside school buildings. But, he added, he is determined to make it work. Brabrand pointed to the fact that the countys most vulnerable students low-income children, children whose first language is not English and children with disabilities have struggled the most in the era of online learning. We have an equity imperative to have all of our students back in person in the 21-22 school year, Brabrand said with emotion, his voice growing loud. Its time to return normal to Fairfax County Public Schools, or as near normal as we can.He also released a flood of announcements about the end of the school year, declaring that Fairfax will significantly soften its fourth-quarter grading policies and will host a massively expanded, in-person summer school program for children who are failing their classes. Fairfax is also hoping to hold in-person graduation for this years high school seniors, Brabrand said. AdvertisementAnd he gave an update on Fairfaxs efforts to transition about 109,000 students and teachers to a few days a week of in-person learning over the past month. That phasing-in program is wrapping up this week, as Fairfax sends roughly 27,500 third- through sixth-graders back into classrooms, where they are joining peers of all ages. About 90 percent of Fairfaxs 15,000 teachers have returned to teach in person, according to spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell. Brabrand said Tuesday that an overwhelming majority of staffers who requested the vaccine have received it, although he did not give specific numbers. Overall, Brabrand called the return effort a major success: He and his staff noted that in-school transmission of the virus, as well as levels of infection among students and teachers, have remained negligible since Fairfax began sending children back inside buildings. AdvertisementBetween Jan. 26 and March 15, Fairfax saw 0.2 percent of returned staff and students who reported contracting the coronavirus. A total of 19 cases of transmission took place inside schools during that time period, staffers told the school board Tuesday, affecting 0.02 percent of the in-person children and teachers. The superintendent attributed those low levels of infection to the districts safety protocols, including mask-wearing, distancing and frequent cleaning and disinfecting of school spaces. Our mitigation measures are working, Brabrand said. I want all of you to know in this community that Fairfax County Public Schools are safe.Grades improve for many, but challenges remainIn another bright spot, Brabrand said, students academic performance is looking up. Fairfax drew national headlines late last year after the school system revealed that the percentage of middle and high school students earning Fs had jumped by 83 percent since schools shut down last March, when the coronavirus began spreading across the country. The spike in poor marks was steepest among students with disabilities, those for whom English is a second language and for students of color, especially Hispanic children as has been the case nationwide. AdvertisementBut in Fairfaxs second academic quarter, middle and high school marks improved across the board: The percentage of As and Bs rose, while the percentage of Ds and Fs decreased. That increase was consistent across all racial groups. Overall, roughly 22 percent of Fairfax children saw their grades improve, while 15 percent saw a decline. There was only one group for whom little progress was observed: those whose first language is not English, a cohort known as English learners. Their grades did not improve as much as was hoped and needed, Fairfax staffers said Tuesday. In a bid to reach these students and others who continue to struggle the school system plans increased in-person learning later this semester and educational opportunities this summer. Fairfax is working to identify children who are not passing their classes or who are experiencing significant social or emotional distress, said Chief Academic Officer Sloan Presidio. After spring break, these students could begin learning in person more often than their peers, coming to campus three to four times a week. AdvertisementFairfax teachers have also been given new translation software that allows them to message families in their native languages and translates parents replies into English, Presidio said. Moreover, come summer, every school will offer some form of in-person summer learning, Presidio said. Elementary and middle schools will host programs focusing on math and literacy in July, while high schools will offer credit recovery effectively allowing students to retake classes they failed in June, July and August. Officials will contact families whose students are eligible in coming weeks, Presidio said. And Fairfax is taking more immediate steps to boost students academic performance: This year, final exam scores will be counted only if they raise students grades. Students will be allowed to choose a pass option, rather than a letter grade, in up to two classes. And, for high school credit-bearing courses, any students who earn an F will see their grade transformed to NM, which stands for no mark.AdvertisementA board member asked Brabrand to respond to charges that these policies coupled with grading relaxations Fairfax adopted last year are facilitating grade inflation. The superintendent argued that the changes are actually helping repair long-standing academic inequities. Weve given out zeros for years at our high schools that were inequitable, disproportionate, that buried kids alive, Brabrand said. This pandemic finally brought their voices out, as they were crying in the wilderness for help.'We need them back five days'One of the biggest obstacles Fairfax faces is persuading families to return, Brabrand said especially families of color. As of March, 53 percent of the entire student body is remaining virtual. And hesitancy is steepest for Asian families: Just 27 percent picked in-person class. Rates are also low for Black families, 37 percent of whom chose in-person schooling. By contrast, 57 percent of White families and 52 percent of Hispanic families selected in-person education. AdvertisementThere are also those who registered for in-person learning this spring but have yet to actually show up. Fairfax officials estimate that roughly 2 percent of students who registered for in-person learning have so far failed to show up, although they are still in the process of contacting families to understand why. Brabrand said families of color may be less trusting of Fairfaxs safety protocols because their communities have been hit hardest by the coronavirus. He said it is the school systems job to help begin to repair that trauma and change their minds. We need them back five days, he said. Not all the lingering effects of the virus are negative, however. Brabrand said Tuesday that the switch to online learning has left Fairfax with some tools, tactics and technologies that could prove useful after the pandemic. AdvertisementIn particular, he would like to keep some form of concurrent teaching, which asks educators to simultaneously reach in-person and remote students. Weve given out vanilla, chocolate and strawberry for 45 years, and now its about really looking at what are the other options, the other flavors we can give kids that will keep them really engaged, he said. The superintendent closed his speech to the board with a plea to the families who left Fairfax for other school systems amid the pandemic. Fairfax shrank by more than 8,700 students between last year and this one, losing about 4.6 percent of its student body. Some went in search of in-person learning. I want to say to those families who left . . . a simple yet sincere message, Brabrand said. It is time to come home to Fairfax County Public Schools.GiftOutline Gift Article | 3 |
###CLAIM: the proud parisian announced that day that the utah senate and judiciary committee had unanimously passed bill 127 calling for greater regulation of treatment centers.
###DOCS: Demi Moore has finally spoken out about her now-infamous turn on the Fendi runway last week - however the 58-year-old failed to discuss the viral reaction to her 'unrecognizable' appearance, or speculation that she had undergone plastic surgery ahead of the show. The actress and mother-of-three stunned spectators when she stepped onto the catwalk at Haute Couture Fashion Week in Paris, where she showed off a dramatic transformation that left many questioning whether she'd had cosmetic work to alter her face. In the days since the show, Demi has remained silent about the fierce speculation - and she remained mum about the plastic surgery rumors and her 'unrecognizable' face during a new interview with supermodel Naomi Campbell, although she did briefly address her appearance, describing it as 'special' and 'very magical'. 'I took a moment where I thought, "Oh my God, I literally just walked a runway show with some of the biggest models ever." For me, I literally felt like a little kid.' The Striptease star, who sat down in-person with fellow Fendi model Naomi in Paris shortly after the show, went on to gush about the 'very special' catwalk event, which was hosted without an audience and saw its stars walking down the runway before posing in acrylic boxes. 'It was a very special show,' she continued. 'Even though there was no audience, it felt like there was an audience to me, there was no difference to me. I think also because of the way the set was built, everyone having their own individual boxes, you wont have seen the audience anyway. 'It felt special for me because it felt less that it was entirely about the clothes but it was more about the full story. It felt very magical.' While the catwalk show was clearly a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Demi, the actress's appearance on the runway struck a chord with spectators for a very reason. 'Historic': Naomi, 50, celebrated Demi's achievement, with the actress admitting that walking in the show was 'an honor'Memorable: 'It felt special for me because it felt less that it was entirely about the clothes but it was more about the full story. Several cosmetic experts agreed with the claims, with board certified dermatologist Dr. Corey L Hartman, founder of Skin Wellness Dermatology in Birmingham, Alabama, telling DailyMail.com that it appeared as though Demi had undergone more than one procedure to alter her face. Noting that he 'did not treat Demi personally', Dr. Hartman disagreed with suggestions that the actress's drastic transformation was done with makeup alone, stating: 'While a lot of this look may be attributed to makeup and lighting, it also appears that perhaps she has had too much fat removed from her buccal fat pads. 'This appears to have caused dermal filler in the cheek to appear too augmented resulting in this dramatically different appearance.' Four other doctors told OK Magazine that Demi's appearance could have been down to her having 'gone overboard with injectable fillers.' Plastic surgeon Ryan Neinstein, who doesn't treat Demi said: Moore was sucking in her cheeks. 'Many young women seek high cheekbones, hollow cheeks and a cross-cheek shadow, which is a popular look on social media and often duplicated with makeup. In the wake of the uproar over her catwalk appearance, Demi shared several behind-the-scenes snaps from before and after the show on Instagram; in one she seemed to suggest that her taut complexion on the catwalk was given a boost by a rigorous skincare regimen. During her flight to Paris, Demi and her daughter Scout, posed for a photo while doing a face mask - the $1356 Bio Cellulose Facial Treatment Mask from 111SKIN, which promises to 'stimulate collagen production'. Following the fashion show, the Ghost star also shared a photo of herself posing alongside Fendi designer Kim Jones, as well as models Christy Turlington and Kate Moss, both of whom appeared on the catwalk. In the snap, looked much more like her usual self, showing off more natural look, complete with flawless complexion and plump cheeks. As well as discussing her Fendi appearance with Naomi, Demi - who is mother to daughters Rumer, 32, Scout, 29 and Tallulah, 26 - spoke about what it was like to travel to Paris amid the pandemic, revealing how she ensured she was safe. Unconventional: While the show was all glamour, Demi has spent much of lockdown with her daughters and ex-husband Bruce Willis, 65, which raised a few eyebrows. Demi said: 'In fact it was my daughter Scout and the only other person in the cabin we were in was Cara Delevingne. It was literally like a slumber party... we were all COVID safe!' While it was Demi's first couture show, she was in good company with the likes of Kate Moss, 47, and her daughter Lila, 18, also gracing the runway. While the show was all glamour, Demi has spent much of lockdown with her daughters and ex-husband Bruce Willis, 65, which raised a few eyebrows. But she said: 'I was really grateful for things slowing down and the time that we had. It worked out that Bruce came and spent time with us... it was really a blessing.' She also discussed being the highest paid actress in Hollywood and changing the landscape for women's pay despite having to deal with negativity and backlash. 'I took a lot of heat for it but I'm OK with that because if it made a change for everyone,' she said. 'In this case knowing it made a difference and knowing it made people take a different look at women's value.' | 0 |
###CLAIM: in 2019, the state utility regulator, the california public and utilities commission, will certify the west's plan with a community choice analysis for implementation.
###DOCS: A public power authority formed by several Southern California cities has filed for bankruptcy protection after about a year in operation, saying it will need about $40 million in funding to weather a fiscal crisis. Western Community Energy sought protection from creditors on Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside, Calif., under chapter 9, which covers municipal borrowers. The power authority said it faced disastrous events in its first year of operation, blaming its financial troubles on soaring energy usage during the Covid-19 lockdowns, trouble collecting past-due bills and $12 million in extra costs from a heatwave last summer. WCE said the bankruptcy will allow it to work with creditors and regulators to adjust its debt and operations The authority began providing electricity in April and May 2020 to residents and businesses in Perris, Norco, Wildomar, Eastvale, Hemet and Jurupa Valleycities in Riverside County near Los Angeles. A spokeswoman said Wednesday that WCE needs about $40 million to fund its operations through the summer and during the bankruptcy. WCE is exploring all opportunities, including legislative or regulatory options it has related to its eligibility for Covid-19 relief funds, the spokeswoman said. The bankruptcy process is estimated to take about six months, WCE said. It was formed in 2018 under Californias community choice aggregation program, which allows municipalities to jointly negotiate to purchase energy in bulk, competing with rates provided by private utility Southern California Edison. WCE staff said in a memo to its board on Monday that without an immediate injection of working capital, the authority wont be able to pay its bills as they come due. The board is composed of city council members from the communities it serves. The authority last year explored taking out more financing from its primary lender, Barclays PLC, to cover losses stemming from the pandemic. But in February, the lender indicated it wouldnt let WCE continue drawing on its credit line until it increased its rates. A Barclays spokesman declined to comment. The WCE board moved earlier this year to raise rates. Customers will see their summer billing increase $10 to $15 a month on average, the spokeswoman said. The bankruptcy filing illustrates how the electricity crisis that hit Texas in February has reverberated in other states. WCE said the spike in energy prices and volatility in Texas had created uncertainty about Californias power prices in the event of extreme weather over the summer. The California Independent System Operator, which oversees the states power market, has fueled those concerns by raising the real time market cap on energy prices to $2,000 from $1,000. WCE said it determined before filing for bankruptcy that it needed to hire staff so that it could stop relying on recommendation from consultants. Its reliance on consultants appeared to be a significant problem, WCE said, noting it didnt purchase sufficient energy for this summer. California is one of seven states that have authorized community choice aggregation programs. Joint power authorities created under these programs use a local utility to deliver electricity, while changing the source of their electricity and the prices paid by consumers, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Other electricity providers in California that have been operating for years had the financial reserves needed to withstand the challenges that arose in 2020. WCE, as a newcomer to the market, said it didnt have the same cushion built up. The California Public Utilities Commission, the states utility regulator, certified WCEs community choice aggregation implementation plan in 2019. WCEs board authorized the chapter 9 filing on Monday. A CPUC spokesman said Wednesday that WCE has confirmed it will continue to serve its customers while in bankruptcy. WCE has retained law firm Weiland Golden Goodrich LLP. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Scott Yun has been assigned to the case, number 21-12821. Write to Jonathan Randles at [email protected] | 1 |
###CLAIM: a day before the assassination in 1968, the civil rights icon had marched in support of the labor rights of memphis sanitation workers.
###DOCS: New York CNN An estimated 1,000 fast food workers across the United States went on strike Friday over low wages, staging protests in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. ahead of the federal holiday next week. The demonstrations were set to take place in more than 15 cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis and Los Angeles. The strike was organized by supporters of Fight for $15 and a Union, the labor advocacy group that has been pushing to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour and grant collective bargaining rights to fast food employees, who are disproportionately Black and Brown. Fight for $15 organizing director Allynn Umel said her organizations cause is one King would have championed, noting that the civil rights icon marched in support of labor rights for Memphis sanitation workers the day before he was assassinated in 1968. There are workers in the South still continuing to carry on that legacy to fight for racial and economic justice because they know those fights are intertwined, Umel told CNN Business on Friday. Nearly 20% of the estimated 3.9 million fast food workers in America are Black, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, though Black Americans make up just 13% of the US population. Umel said fast food companies that support Kings legacy and want to continue his fight against institutional racism can start by increasing their workers pay and letting them unionize. Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour is among the most powerful tools to lift up Black and Brown workers, she said. Fight for $15 and a Union protest in Memphis, TN, on January 15, 2021. Fight for $15 and a UnionThe striking protesters work at many of the countrys most popular chains, including McDonalds (MCD), Taco Bell and Burger King. McDonalds cook Rita Blalock, 54, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was one of dozens of fast food employees participating in a car caravan protest outside a McDonalds restaurant in the nearby city of Durham on Friday. Blalock said her employer cut her hours back in March when Covid-19-related lockdowns caused many fast food chains to lose business. Since then, Blalock, who says she makes $10 an hour, has been struggling to pay her bills. She said McDonalds could improve her situation by raising their minimum wage nationally and granting workers like her guaranteed benefits, including medical insurance and paid sick leave. I couldnt pay rent, couldnt eat a lot of times, she told CNN Business. If you cant go to work but so many hours, you dont have enough to cover what you need to cover in the first place.Rita Blalock striking with workers in Durham, NC on January 15, 2021. Fight for $15 and a UnionMcDonalds said it unequivocally supports the need for racial equality and social justice and that Fridays strike doesnt reflect how it has protected and provided employment to more than 800,000 people during the pandemic. The company stopped lobbying against increases to the federal minimum wage in 2019, and says elected officials have a responsibility to debate, change and set the standards. We strive to ensure that everyone who works under the Arches shows up each day to a safe and inclusive workplace that provides access to continuous opportunities, McDonalds spokesperson Jesse Lewin said via email. Wanda Lavender works as a manager at a Popeyes in Milwaukee. The 39-year-old single mother of six participated in a car caravan protest outside a McDonalds in Milwaukee Friday afternoon. She said she makes $12 an hour and works more than 50 hours a week at Popeyes. Lavender says she hasnt been getting paid for sick leave or vacation days since 2019. These are the things we were fighting for over 50 years ago and were fighting for those same things now, she said. Popeyes didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Umar Benson, a worker striking with Fight for $15 and a Union in Durham, NC on January 15, 2021. Fight for $15 and a UnionA turning pointUmel said the Fight for $15 movement reached a milestone in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic forced many Americans to take a hard look at the plight of the largely Black and Brown working poor. Fast food employees make up a large chunk of the essential workers who have continued to go into work while many other Americans worked from home. In the beginning, many struggled to find personal protective equipment to wear on the job as their employers scrambled to provide them with masks, gloves and cleaning supplies. The saga played out on the news all year long, in front of a largely captive audience of remote workers and the unemployed. It resulted in 20 states agreeing to raise their minimum wage and President-elect Joe Biden advocating for raising the federal minimum to $15 an hour as part of his proposed $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package. This moment really comes down to a change and a realization of the value of work, Umel said. It is a recognition that it is well beyond time to make sure this happens. | 0 |
###CLAIM: the 12 positive tests are also said to have made the chancellor alvarez and blank want to arm themselves with getting around this getting out of hand and now controlling the fuck and virus.
###DOCS: Comment on this story Comment Gift Article ShareThe Big Ten, which joined college football on the field this past weekend, joined it off the field Wednesday in the burgeoning category of scheduling derailments. Wisconsin canceled its game Saturday at Nebraska because it reached a troubling number of positive tests for the novel coronavirus six players and six coaches, including Coach Paul Chryst in the days after it opened the season Friday in an empty home stadium with a 45-7 win against Illinois. In a video call with reporters Wednesday afternoon, Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez said he and Chancellor Rebecca Blank reached the decision autonomously without having to weigh Big Ten protocol, which mandates a seven-day stoppage of practice and competition for any team with a positive test rate of 5 percent or higher. This decision fell into the category where the chancellor and I had the prerogative to make the decision, said Alvarez, who also said the 12 positive tests made Alvarez and Blank want to get our arms around this and control the covid and the virus now before it got out of hand.AdvertisementThe cancellation made it 37 postponed or canceled games since the outset of the college football season, with three this week, including Marshall at Florida International and North Texas at Texas El Paso. Two strands of coronavirus protocol could threaten Wisconsins ensuing game, at home Nov. 7 against Purdue: the seven-day halt of football operations and the Big Ten guideline of 10 days of isolation for coaches who test positive (alongside 21 for players). Chryst learned of his own positive test around midday Tuesday. As he followed Alvarez on the video call, he expressed repeated uncertainty of what would happen from here but said: Weve got to make use of this pause. Weve got to flatten out what was happening.They will aim to do so within a hotspot state that a health official called a nightmare scenario yet upon a populous, 45,000-strong campus that had succeeded against the virus in recent weeks. Positive cases among students and employees on campus went from 290 on Sept. 9 alone to 123 across the seven days running up to Tuesday. In a relative ghost town during the game Friday night, some Wisconsin students expressed pride in their schools adherence to safety procedures. Even as the number of on-campus positive results did rise from just two positive tests campuswide on Monday to 40 on Tuesday, the outbreak within the island of football baffled Alvarez and Chryst. AdvertisementThe first month of testing and practice, we had one positive, Wednesday prior to the game, said Alvarez, the Wisconsin institution who coached the team from 1990 to 2005 and again as an interim briefly in 2012 and 2014. Soon thereafter he said, We felt after the first month we had a pretty good grasp on it and were confident in it. As to what might have happened, he called it hard to answer, why. I dont have an answer for that.We dont know, like, did we have one superspreader, I dont know that, Chryst said. Youre absolutely going to always look at, How can we get better? and What do we need to do? He wondered aloud about the football team dinner at the hotel the night before the home game, a long-held ritual among big-time college football programs seeking cohesion and focus. The eight-game, conference-only schedule runs without off weeks from Oct. 24 to Dec. 12, with the Big Ten championship game planned for Dec. 19. That prevented a postponement along the lines of the five SEC games that have moved, including LSU-Florida from Oct. 17 to Dec. 12 after an outbreak at Florida, and answered the hovering question about whether some Big Ten teams would wind up playing fewer games than others. As the week began, both the Wisconsin State Journal of Madison and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the top two active Wisconsin quarterbacks, Graham Mertz and Chase Wolf, tested positive for the virus. That meant that, upon a second positive test, those players would have to sit out 21 days, a hiatus a week or more longer than in the other four Power Five conferences. The ineligibility of Mertz, the redshirt freshman who filled in for the injured Jack Coan and excelled with 20-for-21 passing against Illinois, and Wolf, could have left Wisconsin playing a fourth-string quarterback, Danny Vanden Boom. Already the Big Ten had seen another pandemic phenomenon, that of a head coach testing positive and watching a game from home. That happened Saturday when Purdue beat Iowa, 24-20, in West Lafayette, Ind., while Purdue Coach Jeff Brohm felt the excruciation of absence from the sideline. And yes, I did have a dog. There were a few times when I yelled. . . . So I felt bad. I scared the dog a few times. I think for the most part I was somewhat calm and collected, he said. The three-fourths poodle, one-fourth Saint Bernard named Coco, whom Brohms wife, Jennifer, and daughter, Brooke, seem to have welcomed to the family without the coachs blessing during the pandemic, seems to have become one of those pets who transcends such reluctance, all while turning up in a snapshot of the moment of college football history. They keep you occupied, Brohm said, and they give you something to do, and during this isolation that Ive had, actually walking the dog around the neighborhood is about the only thing I can do where I feel like I accomplish anything.GiftOutline Gift Article | 0 |
###CLAIM: stiffen political opportunism and manipulation in the process of drawing state legislative and congressional districts.
###DOCS: Comment on this story Comment Gift Article ShareVIRGINIANS WHO cast a ballot this fall face what may be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to dampen political opportunism and manipulation in the process by which their state legislative and congressional districts are drawn. They should seize it by voting yes on Constitutional Amendment 1. The amendment would not remove politics from redistricting. But as a tough compromise struck between Democrats and Republicans in Richmond, it would form a thoroughly bipartisan commission that would forge voting districts not in hidden backrooms, as has been the practice for decades, but in public, for all to see. To imagine that rejecting the amendment, and leaving redistricting in the hands of the legislature, would produce fairer and more balanced maps is to believe in leprechauns and forest sprites. Yet that is precisely what many elected Democrats are asking Virginia voters to believe now that they have taken exclusive control of both houses of the state legislature for the first time in a generation. AdvertisementThe Democrats piously argued for redistricting reform for years when they were in the legislative minority, suffering as Republicans rammed through maps that enabled GOP politicians to choose their voters in what amounted to an incumbent-protection racket for many lawmakers. Then, when Democrats regained control of the state Senate and House of Delegates a year ago, suddenly many of them had a better idea namely, they could do unto the GOP what the GOP had done unto them. Even the new House speaker, Del. Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax), who supported the amendment last year, embraced the hypocrisy and opposed it this year. In fact, the arguments against the amendment amount to an attack on the good in the name of the perfect. Democrats say Republicans on the redistricting commission might try to cause a deadlock, thereby shifting the drafting process to an expert named by the state Supreme Court, a majority of whose judges are conservatives picked by the former GOP-dominated legislature. But it is highly unlikely that a map drawn under the courts auspices would be as partisan as those produced by the legislature. The judges are well aware that a nakedly slanted map would be rejected by federal courts, much as the U.S. Supreme Court twice rejected the GOP-drawn map after the 2010 Census. A dozen or so states have adopted some form of redistricting reform in recent years; Virginias is as good or better than most. It allows bright sunshine into a procedure that has been shielded from scrutiny and promotes balance in place of blatant power politics. AdvertisementIf the constitutional amendment is approved by Virginia voters, they would be the likely winners, and baldfaced partisan gerrymandering in Richmond would sustain a mortal blow. Read more:GiftOutline Gift Article | 0 |
###CLAIM: marrazzo said the gay, pride and parades events in milan and rome on saturday sent a clear message from the streets and defended the laicity of the state.
###DOCS: FILE - In this Friday, May 7, 2021 filer, Italian lawmaker Alessandro Zan paints a bench in the colors of the rainbow, in Milan, Italy. The Vatican has formally opposed proposed Italian legislation that seeks expand anti-discrimination protections to people who are gay and transgender, along with women and people with disabilities, the leading Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported on Tuesday. Activists immediately denounced Vatican meddling in the Italian legislative process as unprecedented. Italian politicians and activist groups reacted strongly to what they see as an attempt to derail the so-called Zan Law, named for a Democratic Party lawmaker and gay rights activist Alessandro Zan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)FILE - In this Friday, May 7, 2021 filer, Italian lawmaker Alessandro Zan paints a bench in the colors of the rainbow, in Milan, Italy. The Vatican has formally opposed proposed Italian legislation that seeks expand anti-discrimination protections to people who are gay and transgender, along with women and people with disabilities, the leading Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported on Tuesday. Activists immediately denounced Vatican meddling in the Italian legislative process as unprecedented. Italian politicians and activist groups reacted strongly to what they see as an attempt to derail the so-called Zan Law, named for a Democratic Party lawmaker and gay rights activist Alessandro Zan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)MILAN (AP) The Vatican has formally opposed a proposed Italian law expanding anti-discrimination protections to the LGBT community, a leading Italian newspaper reported Tuesday. Activists immediately denounced the move as unprecedented Vatican meddling in Italys legislative process. The Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, sent a letter last week to the Italian ambassador to the Holy See saying the proposed law violates Italys diplomatic agreement with the Vatican and seeking changes, the Milan-based daily Corriere della Sera reported. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed that a diplomatic communication had been sent on June 17 but did not elaborate. According to Corriere, the Vaticans objections include parts of the law that would require schools as well as Catholic schools to organize activities on a day designated nationally to fight homophobia and transphobia. ADVERTISEMENTItalian politicians and advocacy groups reacted strongly to what they saw as an attempt to derail the Zan Law, named for the Democratic Party lawmaker and gay rights activist Alessandro Zan. In the past, the Vatican has objected to Italian laws legalizing abortion and divorce and backed unsuccessful referendums after the fact to try to repeal them. The proposed law adds women and people who are gay, transgender or have disabilities to the classes of those protected under a law banning discrimination and punishing hate crimes. It was approved by the lower house last November, but remains stalled in a Senate commission by objections from Italys right wing. We support the Zan law, and naturally we are open to dialogue, on any legal issues, Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta told RAI state radio Tuesday. But he said his party wants to see the law enacted, calling it a law of civilization.An atheist group in Italy protested the Vaticans actions, saying they violated the independence and the sovereignty of the Republic.The government has the political and moral obligation to not only just resist pressure but to unilaterally denounce this unprecedented interference in state affairs, the secretary of the Union of Atheists and Agnostic Rationalists, Roberto Grendene, said in a statement. A gay-rights group, Gay Party for LGBT+ Rights, called on Premier Mario Draghis government to reject the Vaticans interference and improve the law so that it truly has, at its heart, the fight against homophobia and transphobia.We find worrying the Vatican meddling in the law against homophobia, said the groups spokesman, Fabrizio Marrazzo. Marrazzo said Gay Pride Parades in Milan and Rome on Saturday would send a clear message from the streets on the topic and defend the laicity of the state. | 0 |
###CLAIM: `` too many people in places where it should not happen use them to buy young people and we need to stop that, '' he added.
###DOCS: A police and Crime Commissioner has called for the controversial trial schemes of e-scooters to be halted 'before more people are hurt'. Matthew Scott, Kent's PCC, says the government needs to stop the expansion of e-scooter trials, before it loses control of the issue. Electric scooter trials are currently being rolled out in towns and cities across the country, including Canterbury and London. The 12-month rental scheme will begin in the capital on June 7. But Mr Scott says they should be halted and reviewed before more people are hurt. A police and Crime Commissioner has called for the controversial trial schemes of e-scooters to be halted 'before more people are hurt' (file image)His comments come after a study by Transport for London (TfL) found that e-scooters could be 100 times more dangerous than bicycles. And in July 2019, TV presenter and YouTube influencer Emily Hartridge was killed while riding her e-scooter in Battersea, London. Mr Scott said: 'Inconsiderate riders are becoming a menace on our roads and pavements, ignoring the law and causing dangers for other road users. 'We urgently need decisive action now on their future, as we're in danger of losing control of the issue and placing additional burdens on policing.' He added: 'Too many people are using them in places they shouldn't and we need to stop them being bought for young people. 'There should be no more roll outs until work is done with retailers, manufacturers and the public to make sure they are safe and people understand the law.' In July 2019, TV presenter and YouTube influencer Emily Hartridge was killed while riding her e-scooter in Battersea, LondonE scooters are becoming more popular and there are currently about 50 government-backed trials running in towns and cities across the UK. The trials will begin in London next month - despite TfL chiefs admitting that e-scooters could be far more dangerous than bicycles. A study by TfL, based on US data, found riders needed hospital treatments after accidents every 3.1 years on average, with many suffering head of neck injuries. TfL admitted that comparisons with the US are difficult, but the number of cyclists killed or seriously hurt in London was 2.7 per one million journeys 'or roughly 100 times fewer injuries than expected in US e-scooter studies'. 'Cycling in London would be considerably less risky than e-scooters if these figures were replicated here,' the study added. There are more than 7500 rental scooters in use but more than 800 incidents have been reported to local authorities and 122 users have been banned from using them as part of trials in the future. According to figures obtained by ITV, there have been more than 200 injuries and over 1000 complaints since the pilots began. According to figures obtained by ITV, there have been more than 200 injuries and over 1000 complaints since the pilots began (file photo)E-scooters are now used in more than 100 cities worldwide, but many have suffered serious injuries while using them and others have died. Police data released last month also showed they've been used in hundreds of offences, including assaults, burglaries and anti-social behaviour. On April 17, a three-year-old boy suffered serious injuries when he was hit from behind by an e-scooter while walking on a pavement with his grandmother in Feltham, west London. In the UK, three people are now known to have died using them, while in America the number of e-scooter accidents that leave people needing hospital treatment has risen by more than 222 per cent in four years. Emily Hartridge is believed to be the first person to die in the UK in an accident involving an e-scooter. She was later ruled to be riding too fast with an under-inflated tyre when she was tragically killed in a crash with a lorry. Emily Hartridge (pictured) was killed in an accident in 2019, when she was thrown from her e-scooter on a London roundabout in what is thought to be UK's first fatality involving one of the vehiclesIn January 2020, a man on an e-scooter was spotted speeding along a busy dual carriageway and weaving through traffic at 50 miles per hour. The shocking video footage even showed him doing wheelies and standing on one leg as he approached a roundabout during rush hour on the A972 Kingsway dual carriageway to the north of Dundee in Scotland. London's scheme will initially be restricted to six boroughs and areas Canary Wharf, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Richmond, City of London and Kensington and Chelsea although users will also be allowed to ride through Tower Hamlets. The trial will use geo-fencing technology in a bid to stop e-scooters being used outside the set boundaries. Under the trial, e-scooters will only be permitted on London's roads and cycle paths not on footways and riders will be required to take an online safety course before their first hire. To assuage safety concerns, TfL said the safety standards during the London scheme 'will go further than those set out at a national level'. For example, e-scooters will have a maximum speed of 12.5 miles per hour as part of the trial, which is below the 15.5 miles per hour limit set by the Department for Transport. As well as this, rear lights will have to always be on throughout a rental, and an audible warning system will be available to the rider without having to adjust their grip on the handlebar. Outside of these schemes it is still illegal to use them on the roads or pavements. It's also an offence to use them at all if you're under 18. But despite this, sales have grown and they're being regularly used by children and adults alike. A trial of rental electric scooters will be launched in London on June 7, Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed, despite safety concerns. TfL and London Councils, which represents the city's local authorities, have selected operators Dott, Lime and Tier to carry out the 12-month pilot scheme. This is despite Lime e-scooters being temporarily taken off the streets in Auckland, New Zealand, because of a problem with the front wheel causing accidents. It will be the first time e-scooters will legally be allowed on the capital's roads, although private e-scooters continue to be illegal in public areas in the UK. London's scheme will initially be restricted to six boroughs and areas Canary Wharf, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Richmond, City of London and Kensington and Chelsea although users will also be allowed to ride through Tower Hamlets. The trial will use geo-fencing technology in a bid to stop e-scooters being used outside the set boundaries. The government hopes e-scooters will offer Londoners an accessible and environmentally-friendly method of travel, without emitting greenhouse gases like petrol and diesel vehicles. But evidence is mounting over their safety record, with critics suggesting they make it easier for criminals to whip people's phones from their hands on the street and make a fast getaway. And in July 2019, TV presenter and YouTube influencer Emily Hartridge was killed while riding her e-scooter in Battersea, London. Scroll down for videoTransport for London and London Councils have announced Dott, Lime and Tier Mobility as the winners of its prized e-scooter pilot. Similar trials have been held in urban areas across Britain since July last year. 'The rental e-scooter trial has the potential to support our city-wide response to the coronavirus pandemic and boost London's green recovery,' said Mayor Philip Glanville, chair of London Councils' Transport and Environment Committee. 'It will be important to see how this new service impacts London's existing transport network and carbon emissions and how inclusive it is of the travel needs of all Londoners especially those on lower incomes.' Unregulated privately-owned e-scooters remain illegal to use on public roads and have not been designed for safe use on the capital's streets, Glanville stressed. To assuage safety concerns, TfL said the safety standards during the London scheme 'will go further than those set out at a national level'. For example, e-scooters will have a maximum speed of 12.5 miles per hour as part of the trial, which is below the 15.5 miles per hour limit set by the Department for Transport. As well as this, rear lights will have to always be on throughout a rental, and an audible warning system will be available to the rider without having to adjust their grip on the handlebar. Prices have not been announced, but rides in other cities typically cost 1 to unlock an e-scooter plus a fee of 14p-20p per minute. The three operators Dott, Lime and Tier will be obliged to ensure that their rental prices 'take into account the needs of people on lower incomes' and offer discounts 'to certain groups where appropriate', including key workers. Dott electric scooters, as seen in a promo image in London. Last year, the government legalised e-scooter rental trials by local authorities, although private e-scooter riding is still illegalA rider on a Tier e-scooter in front of Tower Bridge. The pilot, which will run for up to 12 months, will begin June 7 in some of London's boroughs, including Canary Wharf and the City of LondonE-SCOOTERS ARE 'BOYS TOYS', RESEARCH SUGGESTS They've been hailed as a key part of the green transport revolution, but e-scooters are used mainly by young men for fun. Recent research was based on the e-scooter hire scheme in Paris, which began in June 2018 and has now grown to a fleet of 20,000 machines. The study found that they were used mainly by highly educated men aged 18 to 29. Sixty-four per cent said they never used one to commute, while 63 per cent said they did not use it to shop. By contrast, 72 per cent said they used an e-scooter for leisure while the same percentage had shifted from walking or public transport. Just six per cent said they were replacing a journey that would otherwise have been made by a taxi, and only four per cent said they had chosen to use an e-scooter, which has a top speed of 15.5mph, over a car. The findings may raise suspicions that the scooters are little more than 'boys' toys' and reignite concerns over their links to street crime and accidents involving pedestrians. AdvertisementE-scooters aren't without their safety concerns police data released last month showed they've been used in hundreds of offences, including assaults, burglaries and anti-social behaviour. On April 17, a three-year-old boy suffered serious injuries when he was hit from behind by an e-scooter while walking on a pavement with his grandmother in Feltham, west London. Charity Guide Dogs has called for the sale of e-scooters to be banned, describing their use as 'a serious safety issue for many people with sight loss'. Sarah Leadbetter, a campaigner at the National Federation of the Blind, has also said e-scooters made walking down the street 'a terrifying ordeal' for the visually impaired. 'Rentable e-scooters are taking people away from being active and using public transport, while creating chaos and unsafe situations for pedestrians,' she said. One of the firms involved in the UK government's upcoming trial, Lime, had its e-scooters temporarily removed from Auckland's streets in February 2019. Stuff NZ reported that this was due to a firmware problem, which caused the wheels to lock up, 'sending people flying over the handlebars'. At the time, Craig Hobbs, Auckland Council's director for regulatory services, said Lime 'didn't come up to the standard' required for e-scooter operators. In a statement, Lime told MailOnline that this was a different scooter model to the one being launched in London. 'This was an isolated incident that occurred more than two years ago,' said Ilona Lartigue, head of communications for EMEA at Lime. 'We've advanced through multiple generations of hardware since and have not encountered similar issues. 'To date, Lime has safely delivered over 3 million bike and scooter rides in the UK.' Shot from Lime's promo video. In response to safety concerns, Lime said it has safely delivered over 3 million bike and scooter rides in the UK to dateThe Lime model being launched in London, called Gen4, has a braking distance half that of the nearest competitor and nine high-visibility reflectors and lights onboard, according to the company. MailOnline also contacted Dott and Tier for comment. Dotts UK general manager, Duncan Robertson, replied: 'Safety is non-negotiable for riders and non-riders alike and Dott has been dedicated to a responsible transport approach from the very beginning. 'Rider onboarding information is included for every Dott rider and a dedicated street patrol will be visible and on-hand to educate consumers face-to-face. 'Were also championing a scooter safety training course in partnership with the AA DriveTech, showing new riders the rules of the road. 'By actively encouraging our riders to take responsibility for the safe use of our vehicles, were creating an environment of shared initiative and promoting responsible behaviour whenever riding with Dott.' Meanwhile, Fred Jones, VP and regional general manager for Northern Europe at Tier, said the e-scooters that we see on the streets are typically being used illegally. 'They are unregistered and unlicensed and theres nothing linking a specific scooter with its owner (unlike, say, a car or a moped),' he said. 'To use a Tier e-scooter, on the other hand, you have to have a provisional or full driving licence and register through the app with your real name and address.' The electric-powered scooters are also being used instead of walking or cycling rather than as an alternative to driving polluting carsIn July 2020 the UK government introduced legislation trialling the use of e-scooters, through local authorities, for a period of 12 months via approved rental companies. Elsewhere, private use remains illegal and they cannot be used in public spaces. For the trial, users must be over 16, have a driving licence and the scooters must be limited to a top speed of 15.5 miles per hour. But there have since been reports of riders ditching their helmets, riding on pavements and collisions, or near-collisions, with pedestrians. E-scooters are now used in more than 100 cities worldwide, but many have suffered serious injuries while using them and others have died. In the UK, three people are now known to have died using them, while in America the number of e-scooter accidents that leave people needing hospital treatment has risen by more than 222 per cent in four years. Emily Hartridge (pictured) was killed in an accident in 2019, when she was thrown from her e-scooter on a London roundabout in what is thought to be UK's first fatality involving one of the vehiclesEmily Hartridge is believed to be the first person to die in the UK in an accident involving an e-scooter. She was later ruled to be riding too fast with an under-inflated tyre when she was tragically killed in a crash with a lorry. In January 2020, a man on an e-scooter was spotted speeding along a busy dual carriageway and weaving through traffic at 50 miles per hour. The shocking video footage even showed him doing wheelies and standing on one leg as he approached a roundabout during rush hour on the A972 Kingsway dual carriageway to the north of Dundee in Scotland. | 2 |
###CLAIM: four residents in the capital who reached by telephone monday said some but not all of the mosques appeared to have become somewhat more quiet.
###DOCS: DUBAI, May 31 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Islamic Affairs minister on Monday defended an order to lower the volume on mosque loudspeakers, saying families had been complaining that competing speakers were keeping their children awake. In a circular last week, the Islamic Affairs Ministry said loudspeakers on mosques should not be set higher than a third of their maximum volume. Speakers that are used to broadcast the call to prayer and the signal for prayers to start should then be switched off, rather than continue to broadcast full prayers and sermons. The changes come at a time of wider reform to the role religion plays in public life under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, who has eased some strict social restrictions while allowing no political dissent. It was too early to say for certain how much of an impact the new directive was having on the soundscape in the kingdom. Four residents of the capital Riyadh reached by Reuters on Monday said some, but not all, mosques appeared to have become somewhat quieter. At least one mosque appeared to be broadcasting full-length prayers, as loudly as before. In a video released by state broadcaster Al Ekhbariyah, Islamic Affairs Minister Abdullatif al-Sheikh said the changes were a response to complaints from the public over excessive volume, including from the elderly and parents whose children's sleep was being disrupted. "Those who want to pray don't need to wait for ... the imam's voice. They should be at the mosque beforehand," he said, adding that there were also several television channels broadcasting prayers. Some Saudi Twitter users welcomed a reduction in noise in their areas, though others said they missed being soothed by prayers. One Saudi user, identified as Mohammad al-Yahya, tweeted: "As long as the reading of the Holy Koran through loudspeakers has been muted on the excuse that it disturbs a few people, we hope that attention is given to a large segment bothered by loud music in restaurants and markets." Al-Sheikh said some criticism of the policy was being spread by "haters" to cause trouble. "Enemies of the kingdom want to stir public opinion, cast doubt on the state's decisions and dismantle national cohesion through their messages," al-Sheikh said. Reporting by Dubai newsroom Writing by Raya Jalabi Editing by Ghaida Ghantous and Peter GraffOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. PARISPresident Emmanuel Macron is redrawing the line that separates religion and state, in a battle to force Islamic organizations into the mold of French secularism. In recent months, his administration has ousted the leadership of a mosque after temporarily closing it and poring over its finances. Another mosque gave up millions in subsidies after the government pressured local officials over the funding. A dozen other mosques have faced orders to close temporarily for safety or fire-code violations. | 2 |
###CLAIM: the viet and cong were directing the offensive against the allied south vietnamese and north vietnamese people 's army ( army of the republic of vietnam ) and us forces.
###DOCS: A retired US Marine has shared the extraordinary story of how he travelled from New York to Vietnam during the Vietnam War to deliver beers to friends serving in the US Army. John 'Chick' Donohue, now 79, set off by boat on his 8,000-mile, four-month journey in November 1967. At the time he was 26 years old and had already served four years in the US Marine Corps. Writing in his book, The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Crazy Adventure In a Crazy War, Donohue explains he had wanted to bring cheer to US soldiers serving in Vietnam, particularly in light of the growing strength of the anti-war movement. Donohue tells how his journey led him to be caught in the middle of one of the Vietnam War's fiercest campaigns, the Tet Offensive, and how he was held at gunpoint by US troops suspicious of his presence in Vietnam. The book is set to be adapted into a movie, starring Dylan O'Brien of Teen Wolf fame. He made the decision not to tell his mother about his destination. 'I didn't dare mention Vietnam. I had made last-minute dockside calls to her before, but this was different: for the first time, I was scared,' he writes. 'When I had been to Vietnam before as a mariner, I hadn't ventured much out of port and into the interior. This time, I would, and I didn't know what I would find.' The journey was made all the more difficult because Donohue had only a vague idea of where the 12 friends he wanted to find were based. Donohue, pictured, recounted his adventure in his memoirs The Greatest Beer Run EverHe encountered high-ranking Army officers who were suspicious of him and believed he was a CIA agent sent to infiltrate local Vietnamese communities and turn them against the communists. Meanwhile troops were confused as to why he would volunteer to travel to such a notoriously dangerous war zone. However Donohue did not escape the action completely. He recounts being caught in the middle of an overnight ambush attempt by the Viet Cong while he was with his friend Rick - one of the recipients of the beers. 'The NVA [North Vietnam Army] started firing machine guns. Our guys returned fire. I kept really low in that hootch and I was getting ready to tun across that field. The firefight went on and on,' he writes. After the night went quiet again, Donohue shared his thoughts: 'I have to admit, I was shaken. 'Everybody was up and on alert for the rest of the night, no doubt, praying for daybreak. Finally, dawn came and Rick and his squad headed out with rifles drawn on the jungle. 'After a few minutes, they returned and picked me up. I don't know what they saw out there, but we ambled back inside the base perimeter in silence.' Donohue (right) with his friend Ricky Duggan (left) and other soldiers after he delivered beer to them in Quang Tri Province in 1968Two US soldiers stationed in Vietnam during the war, which lasted from 1955 to 1975 and saw an estimated 365,000 South Vietnamese civilians dieLater, moments before he was due to leave Vietnam, Donohue became caught up in the Tet Offensive. The offensive took place in the early hours of Vietnamese New Years Day on January 30 1968. It started with a series of surprise attacks by the North Vietnamese guerilla, who tried to overtake several US outposts in South Vietnam, including the US embassy. What happened during the 1968 Tet Offensive? The Tet Offensive is the name given to a series of Vietnamese attacks against the US starting from January 30 to September 1968 during the Vietnam War. It was seen as a major escalation of the Vietnam War and one of the largest campaigns of the conflict. The offensive was directed by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam against the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam, the US forces and their allies. In a string of surprise attacks, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces tried to overrun several outposts in South Vietnam, including the newly fortified US Embassy. North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh had hoped the attacks would lead to a popular arising in South Vietnam but it didn't happen. The US and South Vietnamese forces were stunned by the attacks, but quickly recovered and struck back. It is estimated that 14,000 civilians were killed, and 24,000 wounded during the offensive. AdvertisementThe Offensive, named Tet after the Vietnam word for New Year's, lasted from January 30 to SeptemberDonohue, who still considered a civilian was in Saigon at the time where he hoped to visit the Embassy, he had a front row seat to the attacks. In the aftermaths of the first series of attacks, he reflected on what the Viet Cong had been trying to achieve. 'I looked at the bodies lying on the ground and wondered how could they have thought for a second that they would succeed in overtaking and holding the US embassy. And, of course, they didn't. They had to know they were going to be killed,' he writes. 'There was no way they could stay there; the next day, the whole place would be exactly as it was before. But they would be dead. It was dumb dedication, I thought. 'But if, to them, success was getting in there and sounding a wakeup call back in the States, well, they had succeeded. 'The American public was shocked that our new, fortified embassy and all of Saigon - the capital of South Vietnam - had been overrun by the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong during the Tet offensive.' Donohue was conspicuous in the middle of the action and at one point found himself being held at gunpoint by US Marines at an Air Force base. 'Truthfully, I wasn't sure he wouldn't shoot me,' he writes. 'After all, he was a marine. His orders were to stop any civilians trying to enter the airfield. and he was taking those orders literally. 'He ordered the other marine, a private,to follow me with his M16 pointed at me all the way to the tent, as if I were a prisoner.' In the spring of 1968, Donohue returned to New York. The journey had changed the way he saw the war - and the anti-war movement. Donohue's friend Ricky Duggan, left, and one of his fellow soldiers during the Vietnam War. Both men could not believe Donohue had traveled all this way to deliver them beerDonohue during his time serving in the army, before he made the trip to Vietnam in 1967'Gradually, I began to see that the protesters, however disrespectfully, were at least trying to stop this madness,' he wrote. 'They weren't acknowledging that so many young men were doing that they truly believed was their duty, to their country, their family, their neighborhood. 'They weren't acknowledging that the soldiers were patriots, that they were heroes. We, in turn, didn't see at the time that the protesters loved our country, too. 'What they didn't like was our leadership. They were trying to stop more boys from being killed for somebody else's legacy. After what I'd witnessed on my journey, I could definitely agree with that. ' The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Crazy Adventure in a Crazy War by John Donohue published by Monoray, is out for purchase. | 0 |
###CLAIM: `` hospital operations must be closed down until every doctor and nurse is vaccinated and every worker is on the front line because of their risks and society recognizes that work is essential. ''
###DOCS: Comment on this story Comment Gift Article ShareBoth sides of the school reopening debate have it wrong. We shouldnt be debating whether schools are safe to reopen. Instead, we should ask whether in-person schooling is essential. If it is as many Americans, including President Biden, insist then we should treat schools as we do hospitals. That means doing everything possible to them make safer, starting with vaccinating teachers. The Biden administration has said that teachers should get priority for vaccinations, but leaves the decision up to the states. This is a mistake. If Bidens 100-day goal is to get most K-8 schools open five days a week, he must make protecting teachers his top priority. Lets face it: There wont be a consensus on whether schools can be safe from the coronavirus. Reports of low in-school transmission can be countered with arguments that schools lack testing and tracing to account for cases. Also, the same data can lead to different conclusions. After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its strategy for reopening schools, public health experts wrote competing op-eds, some arguing that the CDC guidelines are too strict and will unnecessarily keep students out of school, and others saying the opposite. As one of the public participants in the debate, I have come to see the conundrum and the error of both positions. Our dispute was not over the science, but the interpretation of it, because people have differing tolerance of risk. Some might say that if the risk of contracting the coronavirus in school is no greater than getting it from the community, thats safe enough. Others would argue that because people can safely isolate at home, no amount of risk is acceptable. Any attempt to compromise and define whats safe would result in a goalpost that changes any time theres even one case of suspected in-school transmission. AdvertisementTo move forward, I believe we need a complete reframing. Stop asking whether schools are safe. Instead, acknowledge that in-person instruction is essential; then apply the principles we learned from other essential services to keep schools open. There are children for whom in-person instruction has been essential throughout the pandemic, who depend on school for food; who have special needs that can be met only in school; and who lack technology to engage in distance learning. Many other children are facing significant consequences from not being in school, including increasing behavioral and cognitive deficits and mental health challenges. The need for parents to work is also a factor. For millions of families, the theoretical risk of contracting the coronavirus is already far outweighed by the real benefit of returning to school. Parents are choosing in-person school not because they think its safe, but in spite of possible risks, because of how essential schooling is. AdvertisementSimilarly, hospitals had to keep operating during the pandemic not because they were safe, but because they were essential. So they made every effort to limit transmission there. They banned visitors, strictly enforced mask-wearing and implemented many infection control measures. And because health-care workers bore the disproportionate burden of virus risk, they were prioritized to receive vaccines. No one said that hospital operations had to close down until every doctor and nurse got vaccinated, but they were at the front of the line because of their occupational risk and the societal recognition that their work was essential. We should be viewing school staff members the same way. Many are already teaching in person, including in schools where mask-wearing, social distancing and other mitigation measures arent fully in place. The federal government can play a decisive role to give them the additional protection they need. It can force the hand of the more than 20 states that havent made teachers eligible for vaccinations as a specific group by sending vaccines directly to school districts. They can deploy the National Guard as vaccinators. Theres sufficient supply that, within a month, all teachers who want to be vaccinated can be. AdvertisementIn return, teachers need to accept, as other essential workers have, that returning to school will entail some risk. The covid-19 vaccines provide nearly 100 percent protection against severe disease. There is growing evidence that they also reduce transmission of disease. The privilege of jumping the line means returning to in-person work when the risk of infection is not and might never be zero. As we plan for the next academic year, the framework of understanding schools as essential will be even more important. Case counts might not drop low enough to guarantee schools will be free from the coronavirus. But just because we dont meet everyones criteria for safety doesnt mean that schools should never reopen. We should set the expectation that its essential to have every school back to in-person instruction by the fall, and do our best to reduce risk especially by providing school staff members and, soon, all adult Americans the extraordinary protection of the coronavirus vaccine. Read more:AdvertisementGiftOutline Gift Article | 1 |
###CLAIM: following a stroke in the middle of the night in 2013, mr marr, then 53, was admitted to charing cross hospital.
###DOCS: BBC news presenter Andrew Marr today revealed he contracted Covid-19 last week despite having been fully jabbed. The 61-year-old journalist made the stunning admission this morning on his eponymous television programme, saying he believes he contracted it while covering the G7 in Cornwall. He said that he had symptoms akin to 'a summer cold' and said it had been 'really, really quite unpleasant'. He filmed his Sunday morning programme live from Cornwall on June 13 while the G7 was going on. But he was not inside the closed off area at Carbis Bay, instead filming from the Tate St Ives gallery. His illness caused him to miss the programme last week, which was presented by Today host Nick Robinson. At the start of an interview today with Professor Sir Peter Horby, the chairman of virus advisory group Nervtag, he said: 'I hope it is not self indulgent Sir Peter to ask you about me, because I got coronavirus last week. The host made the admission this morning on his eponymous television programme and suggested he may have contracted it while covering the G7 summit in Cornwall earlier this month. At the start of an interview with Professor Sir Peter Horby, the chairman of virus advisory group Nervtag, he said: 'I hope it is not self indulgent Sir Peter to ask you about me, because I got coronavirus last week'He filmed his Sunday morning programme live from the Tate St Ives in Cornwall on June 13, a fortnight ago. Mr Marr missed the programme last week, which was presented by Today host Nick RobinsonWhat are the chances of catching Covid after two jabs? Having two vaccinations slashes the chances of getting Covid to just one in 22,500. A study released earlier this month suggested those who are fully vaccinated are three times less likely than those who have had only had one dose of the jab, according to a study. The risk of catching Covid rises to one in 2,908 in those who are unvaccinated. The study, based on data gathered from more than a million users of the ZOE Covid Symptom Study app, is yet more evidence that vaccines have broken the link between cases, hospitalisations and deaths. Officials estimate some 14,000 lives have already been saved and 42,000 hospitalisations prevented by the vaccine programme. Advertisement'I'd been double jabbed earlier in the spring and felt, if not king of the world, at least almost entirely immune. And yet I got it, was I just unlucky?' Sir Peter replied: 'I think you were. What we know with the vaccines is that they are actually remarkably effective at preventing hospitalisations and deaths. They are less effective at preventing infection. So although you were sick you were not hospitalised and there wasn't' any fatality and that is probably because of the vaccination.' Later, interviewing London mayor Sadiq Khan about the Indian variant, he added: 'It's spreading quite fast. I've been a victim, though I think I got mine at the G7 in Cornwall.' Mr Marr, then 53, nearly died following a stroke in 2013 and was admitted to Charing Cross Hospital in the middle of the night. So he is likely to have been vaccinated among the first wave as someone who is clinically vulnerable. He added today: 'I'm pretty clear that by being vaccinated I did not end up in hospital and that is a great thing. 'But we use slightly glibly occasionally this phrase ''mild and moderate infections''. For me it was really, really quite unpleasant.' Last week Health chiefs in Cornwall denied the G7 was not to blame for spiralling Covid cases locally. Rachel Wigglesworth, its director of public health, argued infections were already increasing before the three-day summit took place because of May's easing of restrictions. Leaders of the UK, US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy descended on the region between June 11 and 13, along with their teams, security staff, journalists and protesters. Afterwards, coronavirus cases in Cornwall skyrocketed ten-fold in a week, raising fears about the viability of the region's vital tourism industry. The Indian variant is now dominant in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, where infections increased overall to 59.8 per 100,000 in the seven days to June 11 up from 5.6 the week before. St Ives, which hosted the summit, had a case rate of 517.5 per 100,000 in the week to June 11 one of the highest in the country. In Falmouth, where much G7 activity took place, cases rose sharply to 382.1 per 100,000. The summit itself ran from June 11 to 13. But No10 has consistently denied that the major international political event, which included US president Joe Biden's first UK visit, was behind the surge in cases. It pointed to regular testing for all those attending. Yesterday, Britain's daily Covid cases were shown to have jumped by nearly 80 per cent in one week - but the number of hospitalisations remains below 250 a day, fuelling hope the outbreak is slowing. No10 has consistently denied that the G7, which included US president Joe Biden's first UK visit, was behind the surge in cases in CornwallA further 18,270 people tested positive today marking a 77 per cent rise on the 10,321 cases recorded last Saturday. It also marks the highest daily rise since February 5. And death figures are creeping up too, with today's 23 fatalities 64 per cent higher than the 14 recorded on this day last week. But, in a sign that the vaccine is working to keep the number of hospitalisations down, just 227 people were admitted on Saturday - bringing the total number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals to 1,505. The figure has barely changed from the 211 admitted last Saturday. Britain's case total is being driven up by a record number of people testing positive in Scotland, where daily cases have surpassed the peak of the second wave in January. Nearly 3,000 people tested positive north of the border on Wednesday and Thursday, beating the previous record of about 2,650 on January 7. While they came down to a more stable 1,700 on Friday, yesterday's figures soared again to 2,836. | 0 |
###CLAIM: at a certain point, those who are going to deal with the loss will be sympathetic to the truth, but one has to think about what is best for the nation (peaceful transfer of power) and how any future employer can see your character in adversity.
###DOCS: Former Vice President Joe Biden delivered a victory speech Saturday night calling for national unity, insisting the country to move past partisan divides to new heights. With the campaign over, its time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation, Biden said celebrating his media-declared victory. Its time for Americans to unite. And to heal.True to form, however, Biden cast no blame on the loudest voices within his own party or the Trump-deranged media vilifying the president and his supporters as white supremacist enemies of the state at every turn. In truth, Democrats want Trump-supporting Republicans to heel, not heal, while punishing those billed as complicit in the presidents supposedly authoritarian regime cutting taxes and opposing Democrats draconian lockdowns. You cant heal or reform the GOP who are now an extremist party, wrote New York Times writer Wajahat Ali, the same columnist who mocked Trump supporters as ignorant rubes on CNN earlier this year. They have to be broken, burned down and rebuilt. When Biden is in power, treat them like the active threats to democracy they are. If those who committed crimes arent punished, then they will be more emboldened.You can't heal or reform the GOP who are now an extremist party. They have to be broken, burned down and rebuilt. When Biden is in power treat them like the active threats to democracy they are. If those who committed crimes aren't punished then they will be more emboldened. Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) November 10, 2020The usual culprits concurred, offering their own remedies to rooting out Trumpism, which was supported by more than 71 million Americans at the ballot box this year. New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was one of the first to promote the idea of creating Soviet-style dissident lists to harass heretic Trump supporters. Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future? Ocasio-Cortez pondered on Twitter. Lol at the party of personal responsibility being upset at the idea of being responsible for their behavior over last four years Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 6, 2020The socialist congresswoman proceeded to mock the response from those she wished to punish. Lol a the party of personal responsibility being upset at the idea of being responsible for their behavior over last four years, she wrote. Moments later, former Pete Buttigieg staffer Hari Sevugan responded to the congresswomans request touting the launch of the Trump Accountability Project, creating the lists in question to make sure anyone who took a paycheck to help Trump undermine America is held responsible for what they did.You better believe it. We just launched the Trump Accountability Project to make sure anyone who took a paycheck to help Trump undermine America is held responsible for what they did. https://t.co/clRu6WSfvL https://t.co/J78dgyHJpG Hari Sevugan (@HariSevugan) November 6, 2020Sevugan has since threatened potential future publishers and employers of ex-administration officials who dare make contracts with those who supported the president. Warning to publishers considering signing someone who led a campaign to get Americans to hate each other you will face a massive boycott led by the Trump Accountability Project. Not just of this book but your whole library.https://t.co/7z4tDKsSQb@mbsimon @emabrams https://t.co/YyKTQQonWl Hari Sevugan (@HariSevugan) November 6, 2020. @kaitlancollins just reported WH staff are starting to look for jobs. Employers considering them should know there are consequences for hiring anyone who helped Trump attack American values. Find out how at the Trump Accountability Project.https://t.co/7z4tDKsSQb Hari Sevugan (@HariSevugan) November 6, 2020CNNs Jake Tapper and the Washington Posts Jennifer Rubin joined the chorus, demanding retribution against those demanding Trump have his day in court and every vote be counted before certifying the results of the election. Any R now promoting rejection of an election or calling to not to follow the will of voters or making baseless allegations of fraud should never serve in office, join a corporate board, find a faculty position or be accepted into "polite" society. We have a list. Jennifer 'pro-voting' Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) November 6, 2020I truly sympathize with those dealing with losing its not easy but at a certain point one has to think not only about whats best for the nation (peaceful transfer of power) but how any future employers might see your character defined during adversity. Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 9, 2020Labor Secretary Robert Reich had already recommended creating a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to put Trump backers on trial in October. The calls for punishment of Trump supporters comprise just the latest episode in the nations downward spiral after the left and their allies in the corporate media spent years liberalizing definitions of white supremacy, racism, sexism, and homophobia to cast their opponents as contemptuous villains in the way of their utopian empire featuring actual racism. Biden has been no exception by calling Trump Americas first racist president, and neither has his running mate California Sen. Kamala Harris, who ushered donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund bailing out Minneapolis rioters who burned down the city in the name of social justice. The former vice president is not serious about national unity. If he were, he would have forcefully condemned calls within his own party to prosecute supporters of his November opponent. Biden cannot unify a country while still ignoring the loudest voices in it calling to punish political opponents for differences of political opinion. Meanwhile, nothing about this president suggests hes a white supremacist operating as a covert Klansmen in the Oval Office for the sole purpose of oppressing minorities. By the end of his first and potentially only term in the White House, Trump has probably condemned white supremacy more than any other president in front of a hostile media repeating this same question over and over. Whenever the media ask Trump to denounce white supremacy, its never a question, and its never presented in good faith. Its always an accusation, an exhausting one at that. A look at the exit polls, on the other hand, shows the medias purported white supremacist president made considerable gains among Asian, black, and Hispanic voters while losing major ground among whites. That means theres only one party that got more white this election, and it wasnt the Republican Party. White supremacist loses support among whites with gains among black, Asian, and Hispanic voters. Only one party got more white this election, and it wasnt the Republican Party. https://t.co/q0Gjr8CosI Tristan Justice (@JusticeTristan) November 9, 2020In a concrete bid to unify, Bidens transition team has floated the possibility of appointing Republicans to cabinet-level posts. Among the names touted, however, include Republicans who publicly engaged in the same attacks by the radical left on Trump and his supporters. Elevating this kind of Republican is just as divisive, such as John Kasich who, while on a crusade for partisan unity has underhandedly fomented the very divisions the former governor claims to despise by endorsing impeachment and warning that Trump was rotting Americas soul. If Biden were serious about forming a bipartisan cabinet, then the media-declared president-elect would opt to include actual Republicans who espouse conservative ideas rather than token GOPers to claim unity. Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at [email protected]. President-elect Joe Biden made a pitch to President Trump's supporters in his victory speech on Saturday night. "I understand the disappointment tonight," Biden said. "But now let's give each other a chance. It's time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature." Biden added: "And to make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as our enemies. They are not our enemies. They're Americans." The message of unity in the president-elect's address was consistent with much of the rhetoric of his presidential campaign. It was also in line with how Biden comported himself during his many years in the Senate -- he was a dealmaking moderate, not a rancorous partisan. But some members of the party Biden is now set to lead for the next four years do not appear to be getting his memo, as they lob angry rhetoric at those who have worked with and for, and even those who simply support, Trump. AOC, OTHERS PUSHING FOR APPARENT BLACKLIST OF PEOPLE WHO WORKED WITH TRUMP"Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future?" Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said in a tweet. "I foresee decent probability of many deleted Tweets, writings, photos in the future." "You can't heal or reform the GOP who are now an extremist party," Wajahat Ali, a contributing writer for the New York Times, said. "They have to be broken, burned down and rebuilt. When Biden is in power treat them like the active threats to democracy they are. If those who committed crimes aren't punished then they will be more emboldened." BIDEN PREACHES UNITY, PROMISES TO ADDRESS CORONAVIRUS CRISIS IN FIRST SPEECH AS PRESIDENT-ELECTSome have advocated for a "truth and reconciliation commission" to go after those who have worked for the president. In fact, a group to catalog those individuals already exists, called the "Trump Accountability Project." Michael Simon, who previously worked on the 2008 Obama campaign and in the former president's administration, pledged the project would provide a "record of every staffer, appointee, donor, [endorses] and enabler." But some on the left attacked not only political types who might have worked with or for Trump and the Trump GOP, but also the president's rank-and-file supporters. Billionaire Mark Cuban appeared to attempt to extend an olive branch to Trump supporters on Twitter, saying that "The overwhelming majority of Trump voters are NOT stupid, not racist, not anti-science... Mocking, gloating and holding grudges divides us further. We need to start talking again and come together as Americans." BIDEN WINS PRESIDENCY, TRUMP DENIED SECOND TERM IN WHITE HOUSE, FOX NEWS PROJECTS"Whether Trump supporters are hostile or misled makes no difference to victims of gun violence, an uncontrolled pandemic and heartless immigration policies -- all of which are choices," Brandon Friedman, a former member of the Obama administration and columnist for the New York Daily News, said. "We should reach out to *those* families long before attempting to reconcile with deplorables." "I wont empathize with, support, forgive, understand, make amends for, reconcile with Trump supporters. Not a single one," tweeted Preston Mitchum, a liberal community organizer in Washington, D.C. "He was a proud white nationalist who proudly raised up many white supremacists. Thats who supported him. And I make no apologies for saying this." The disconnect between Biden's unity message and the anger toward Trump supporters from some in his party is a microcosm of the Democratic Party heading into 2021. When filling his administration and setting priorities, Biden will have to balance his moderate campaign rhetoric and predilection for bipartisanship with a vocal left-wing of his party that wants to bring about "the most progressive agenda our country has ever seen," in the words of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who is rumored to be seeking the treasury secretary post in Biden's administration, echoed a similar sentiment in a statement last week. "A band-aid approach wont get the job done. We have a mandate for action on bold plans to meet these twin health and economic crises," she said. "Thats what Americans deserveand thats what Ill be pushing for every single day." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPBiden, however, seemed during the campaign to say that he would control the party's agenda, not the liberal "Squad" in the House or Senate progressives like Warren or Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt."My party is me," Biden said during the first presidential debate, as Trump accused him of being at the helm of a party that wants to eliminate private health insurance, a position held by many who lost to Biden in the Democratic primary. "I am the Democratic Party right now," Biden added. | 2 |
###CLAIM: you had the fun of keeping the story going through september, keeping the daytime company with whom you saw a few hours later.
###DOCS: Last year I became a staunch Radio 1 listener again for the first time since my teens. I needed the ceaselessly refreshing joy of pop music during the pandemic, but also the pastoral bump on the shoulder from its presenters looking out for audiences considerably younger than me: the pure, giddy fun of phone-ins and running jokes, the gentle mood-guardrails and circumspect parcelling out of the days events on Newsbeat. It frequently made me sentimental, and still does: just this week I had a moment at a sunny roundabout as Greg James played the new Wolf Alice song. Its entire presenter cohort deserves to join the national role call of pandemic heroes and in particular Annie Mac, who yesterday announced that she was leaving the station after 17 years. With no commute to divide work from home and no evening activity bar a couple of hours watching The Sopranos, the architecture of Macs show held millions of us up. She has been the perfect accompaniment to these weird times: tender but never saccharine during the calming Power Down playlist, and forever invigorated by that days Hottest Record in the World, as she provided an antidote to Covid with brilliant new music. During Fridays nights surrogate club night, Dance Anthems, she was as pumped as any human has ever been. Just a drop of energy transmuting from her to you via the radio perched behind your kitchen sink could take the tragedy and tedium out of an evening spent at home eating reheated spaghetti. Mac, of course, has been great since long before last March. She joined Radio 1 in 2004, and took over from Zane Lowe on the evening show in 2015. Matthew Bannisters reinvention of the station in the early 90s is well-remembered clearing out the dead wood to affirm its youth focus but it has undergone subtler shifts in the years since. There was the uneasy contrast of shock jocks and kids TV exiles in the early 2000s; the sense of eavesdropping on an exclusive club in the early 2010s, whether it was Nick Grimshaw broadcasting through a hangover or Zane Lowe gatekeeping with aplomb in the evening. Halfway through that decade, Mac, Clara Amfo and James quietly dismantled those exclusionary barriers and pointed the focus towards listeners and the artists making the music that gives the station its purpose. Once Mac took over from Lowe, 7pm was no longer a personality-led indie ghetto, but an all-comers haven. Her stamp quickly became apparent: playful enthusiasm; heavy knowledge about music handled lightly; uncynical wonder at musics magic undimmed, while mercifully never drippy or breathless. Every show she did added new songs to my running best tracks playlist. Mac was also a great listener: unlike some name DJs, her interviews werent cod therapy sessions that were really all about them, but about trying to understand an artists intentions and make sense of them to the listener. You heard her break deep personal ground with the likes of Robyn and Christine and the Queens; cut through the cryptic miasma surrounding the last Arctic Monkeys album to get straight answers from Alex Turner; show admirable equanimity during a freewheeling conversation with Lana Del Rey in January, avoiding the easy route of agreeing with the singers controversial statements about politics and her own victimisation, but not rising to them either. Despite the BBCs strict impartiality rules, Mac knew when to take a stand. She never let up on lazy festival bookers promoting male-heavy line-ups, and aired the double standards facing women working in music production. In 2019, she and James rebuked white listeners who took offence at UK rapper Daves song Black. Its a real issue that a song so intelligent, so thought-provoking, so excellently put together can actually offend you, she tweeted at the time. Her own events outside of the BBC, festivals and conferences under the Annie Mac Presents umbrella, are principled correctives to those flaws in the music industry. When I interviewed her for the Observer Magazine last year, Mac shrugged off any idea that she was influential, and said that any power she represented belonged to her radio show and that it would go to whoever would present it next. I think shes wrong, at least about the former. Her compassion and zeal have shaped a generation of pop fans and stoked mutual appreciation among a vast array of musicians. Foals, Disclosure and AJ Tracey were among those paying tribute yesterday to one of the greats of British broadcasting. Mac has said she is leaving Radio 1 to spend more time with her kids and focus on other creative pursuits. Her excellent debut novel, Mother Mother, is out in May (unsurprisingly for such a great listener, she has a real sense of voice as an author), and her podcast, Changes, is a cut above the usual celeb interview vehicle fare. Radio 1 couldnt have chosen a better successor to her show than candid, cool Clara Amfo. But I hope its not the last time we get to enjoy Annie Mac throwing her arms around pop, and pulling us closer to listen for whatever salvation or wonder might lie therein. A great pop song is self-evident. But a catalyst like her can make it transcendent. | 1 |
###CLAIM: embryos are known as china, an organism or species with a different genetic make-up (such as a long-haired macaque and a human) whose cells come from two or more individuals.
###DOCS: Monkey embryos containing human cells have been produced in a laboratory, a study has confirmed, spurring fresh debate into the ethics of such experiments. The embryos are known as chimeras, organisms whose cells come from two or more individuals, and in this case, different species: a long-tailed macaque and a human. In recent years researchers have produced pig embryos and sheep embryos that contain human cells research they say is important as it could one day allow them to grow human organs inside other animals, increasing the number of organs available for transplant. Now scientists have confirmed they have produced macaque embryos that contain human cells, revealing the cells could survive and even multiply. In addition, the researchers, led by Prof Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte from the Salk Institute in the US, said the results offer new insight into communications pathways between cells of different species: work that could help them with their efforts to make chimeras with species that are less closely related to our own. These results may help to better understand early human development and primate evolution and develop effective strategies to improve human chimerism in evolutionarily distant species, the authors wrote. The study confirms rumours reported in the Spanish newspaper El Pais in 2019 that a team of researchers led by Belmonte had produced monkey-human chimeras. The word chimera comes from a beast in Greek mythology that was said to be part lion, part goat and part snake. The study, published in the journal Cell, reveals how the scientists took specific human foetal cells called fibroblasts and reprogrammed them to become stem cells. These were then introduced into 132 embryos of long-tailed macaques, six days after fertilisation. Twenty-five human cells were injected and on average we observed around 4% of human cells in the monkey epiblast, said Dr Jun Wu, a co-author of the research now at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. The embryos were allowed to develop in petri dishes and were terminated 19 days after the stem cells were injected. In order to check whether the embryos contained human cells, the team engineered the human stem cells to produce a fluorescent protein. Among other findings, the results reveal all 132 embryos contained human cells on day seven after fertilisation, although as they developed, the proportion containing human cells fell over time. We demonstrated that the human stem cells survived and generated additional cells, as would happen normally as primate embryos develop and form the layers of cells that eventually lead to all of an animals organs, Belmonte said. The team also reported that they found some differences in cell-cell interactions between human and monkey cells within chimeric embryos, compared with embryos of the monkeys without human cells. Wu said they hoped the research would help develop transplantable human tissues and organs in pigs to help overcome the shortages of donor organs worldwide. Prof Robin Lovell-Badge, a developmental biologist from the Francis Crick Institute in London, said at the time of the El Pais report he was not concerned about the ethics of the experiment, noting the team had only produced a ball of cells. But he noted conundrums could arise in the future should the embryos be allowed to develop further. While not the first attempt at making human-monkey chimeras another group reported such experiments last year the new study has reignited such concerns. Prof Julian Savulescu, the director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and co-director of the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities at the University of Oxford, said the research had opened a Pandoras box to human-nonhuman chimeras. These embryos were destroyed at 20 days of development but it is only a matter of time before human-nonhuman chimeras are successfully developed, perhaps as a source of organs for humans, he said, adding that a key ethical question is over the moral status of such creatures. Before any experiments are performed on live-born chimeras, or their organs extracted, it is essential that their mental capacities and lives are properly assessed. What looks like a nonhuman animal may mentally be close to a human, he said. We will need new ways to understand animals, their mental lives and relationships before they are used for human benefit.Others raised concerns about the quality of the study. Dr Alfonso Martinez Arias, an affiliated lecturer in the department of genetics at the University of Cambridge, said: I do not think that the conclusions are backed up by solid data. The results, in so far as they can be interpreted, show that these chimeras do not work and that all experimental animals are very sick. Importantly, there are many systems based on human embryonic stem cells to study human development that are ethically acceptable and in the end, we shall use this rather than chimeras of the kind suggested here. | 0 |
###CLAIM: according to a study by german lending company helaba, however, the steady increase in banking jobs is likely to end with the coronavirus pandemic.
###DOCS: FILE PHOTO: A sign is displayed on the Morgan Stanley building in New York U.S., July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas JacksonFRANKFURT (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley is planning to shift around 100 billion euros ($121 billion) in assets to Frankfurt from Britain next year as a consequence of Brexit, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. Frankfurts banking scene has been one of the primary beneficiaries of Britains exit from the European Union as many big global banks chose Germanys financial capital to house staff and assets. Dozens of financial institutions have applied for licenses in Germany. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning, said that the volume of assets slated for transfer was a rough estimate and would likely be moved in the first quarter of next year. Britain and the European Union are currently in discussions to hammer out a post-Brexit trade deal. Banks that have increased their presence in Frankfurt include Citigroup , JPMorgan , Standard Chartered and Goldman Sachs . Frankfurt has been dubbed Bankfurt or Mainhattan, after the river Main that the city straddles. A steady increase in banking jobs has however likely come to an end because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study by German lender Helaba. Bloomberg first reported Morgan Stanleys plans. ($1 = 0.8243 euros) Business leaders were sweating last night as the prospects of a No Deal Brexit increased dramatically. Top bosses urged ministers to leave no stone unturned in search of a deal. It came as bank Morgan Stanley dealt another blow to Britains post-Brexit prospects, becoming the latest Wall Street lender to shift chunks of its assets out of London. The banking titan is planning to move about 90bn of its assets to Frankfurt, according to Bloomberg, to ensure it has enough money on the continent to keep trading with European institutions. Josh Hardie, deputy director-general at influential business group the Confederation of British Industry, said: Shifting deadlines are already costing companies. So getting a deal is vital to protect businesses, jobs and living standards across Europe already under strain from the pandemic. It was revealed by Bloomberg that banking titan Morgan Stanley is planning to move about 90bn of its assets to Frankfurt to ensure it has enough money to continue trading with European institutions (file photo)But progress relies on political leadership, which is needed now more than ever to avoid a costly, damaging and divisive No Deal scenario.Mr Hardie added: While talks continue, practical planning must intensify to minimise disruption... much more needs to be done. For goods, this means committing to a grace period for rules of origin, re-labelling products and phasing [in] border checks.He said that for the services sector, agreements to accept data protection rules as well as banking regulation standards must materialise. Mr Hardie said: A deal is both essential and possible.Allie Renison, of lobby group the Institute of Directors, said leaders must leave no stone unturned in search of a deal, and must not walk away from an agreement that is almost there. The longer these talks drag on, the less room there is for business to adjust. The confidence shock of No Deal would cast a shadow over UK plc just as we can see light at the end of the pandemics tunnel. Company directors want to crack on, not be mired in the disruption and uncertainty that No Deal would likely bring.The warning from business leaders came after Mr Johnson and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen met for an evening of animated dinner-table talks in Brussels on Wednesday, during which they agreed that Sunday would be the final day to set out a future path for Brexit talks. But business leaders, who are still hanging in limbo waiting for a conclusion to the Brexit saga, were disappointed at the lack of further progress. Firms across a range of industries fear that a No Deal Brexit, combined with disruption from the pandemic, will irreparably damage their operations. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) said the EU is a key commercial partner, as more than 60 per cent of food and drink exports from the UK head to the continent. And while officials in the UK and the EU are making progress on Ireland, agreeing that no checks will take place on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland which remains in the EU, they have yet to agree a deal which will prevent tariffs being imposed. Graham Hutcheon, chair of the Food and Drink Sector Council Exports Working Group, said: With the end of the transition period now just days away, food and drink businesses are facing another massive export challenge. More specialist support is urgently needed to ensure our industry comes through these challenges. There was still some hope among certain business leaders. Mike Hawes, chief executive of automotive industry body the SMMT, said: Even at this eleventh hour, we remain hopeful that a trade deal will be struck between the UK and EU. Leaving the single market and customs union means we will incur significant additional costs, but a No Deal scenario would be far more damaging. The resulting tariffs would put our manufacturers at a disadvantage in export markets, raise prices for consumers and make the UK uncompetitive, both as a market and producer. Businesses were panicked last night as the prospects of a No Deal Brexit increased dramatically. Credit ratings agency Moodys, which assesses how able companies are to repay their debts, said there will be risks to the sector as the UK leaves the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and regulatory powers shift to the domestic Civil Aviation Authority. The UK and the EU have been trying to thrash out a safety agreement which will allow for mutual recognition - where each side recognises and accepts the others rules, helping to minimise disruption. Moodys senior vice president Martin Hallmark said: A trade deal and bilateral aviation safety agreement would remove many risks to the aerospace industry related to the end of the transition period. This could include a broad regime of mutual recognition and cooperation and transitional arrangements to smooth the handover of responsibilities. While the UKs dominant financial sector has largely been knuckling down to make its own preparations for Brexit, Morgan Stanleys shift to Frankfurt will add to fears that Londons standing as an international financial centre may be eroded as it becomes more isolated. JP Morgan, another US banking titan, has already moved around 180bn and 200 staff onto the continent from the UK, in what it called the first wave of changes. | 2 |
###CLAIM: he has received pushback for his comments from fans who crave college basketball, even if playing a game that represents a useful thing like a normal one in a sports-facility that serves as a cavernous sound stage is empty.
###DOCS: Many colleges are fully or partially remote and clubs at all levels are cancelled, as are more and more athletic programs. So why are major indoor college sports like basketball still being played during a pandemic? Follow the money. In the context of basketball, Covid-19 already caused the cancellation last season of the lucrative postseason tournament known as March Madness and a significant loss of income for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which oversees college sports. The NCAA wants to make absolutely certain the mens and womens tournaments are played in 2021. CBS and Turner Sports will pay the NCAA around $770 million a year through 2024 to televise the mens tournament; the rights fee will jump to $1.1 billion a year through 2032. ESPN pays the NCAA $500 million through 2024 for the rights to televise championships for 24 sports, including womens basketball. Many colleges are fully or partially remote. So why are major indoor college sports like basketball still being played during a pandemic? With so much money on the line, the NCAA seems determined to finish the 2020-21 season by any means necessary, no matter the stakes. To that end, the NCAA has already announced that March Madness this year will take place in a bubble. But that bubble isnt doing much to protect teams now and pausing the season until infection rates go down feels like the logical way to both salvage the season and protect players. After Duke University, a perennial power, travels to Notre Dame for a nationally televised game Wednesday night, Mike Krzyzewski, the Blue Devils legendary coach, will give his team two weeks off. Krzyzewski has canceled three games against schools outside of Dukes Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) during the Christmas break to allow his players to be with their families. And if Krzyzewski, also known as Coach K, had his way, the sport itself would shut down while Covid-19 continues to ravage the U.S.I dont think it feels right to anybody, said Krzyzewski, major college basketballs all-time leader in career victories with 1,159. The NCAA decided to start the 2020-2021 season on Nov. 25. But individual conferences like the ACC, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Big Ten have the latitude to make their own rules within the sport. That has led to widespread cancellations and postponements of games because of the coronavirus and to thoughtful coaches like Krzyzewski asking for an extended pause. I think I would just like, just for the safety, the mental health and the physical health of our players and staff to assess where were at, Krzyzewski said last week after Duke (2-2) lost a non-conference game at home to Illinois as part of the made-for-television ACC/Big Ten Challenge. That sounds perfectly reasonable. And with a Hall of Fame resume, Coach K is a thought leader in a sport that is essentially leaderless. And yet, he received pushback for his comments, not just from fans who crave college basketball even if the games are played in empty arenas that serve as cavernous sound stages for TV productions but also from other coaches who think the games represent an useful semblance of normalcy. Coach K is a thought leader in a sport that is essentially leaderless. And yet, he received pushback for his comments. I think wed have a whole lot more problems if we werent playing games we 100 percent should be playing basketball, Alabama coach Nate Oats said last week before taking a swipe at Krzyzewski. Do you think he would have said that if he hadnt just lost two non-conference games at home?In fact, Krzyzewski had expressed similar reservations before the season began. So did Hall of Famer Rick Pitino, who now coaches at New Yorks Iona College. Youre going to come back, youre going to have a bad product, Pitino said in mid-November. College basketball has been a really bad product so far. Highly ranked Baylor University officially paused its season last weekend because of a Covid-19 outbreak. The Bears have played only one of their first seven scheduled games. The DePaul University men cancelled or postponed their first seven games. The Blue Demons now hope to play their season opener this Friday against Xavier. The DePaul women have been playing, but only because theyve been wearing masks on the court on the advice of DePauls medical staff. Neither the NCAA nor any conference requires players to wear masks on court. Such a scattershot approach to scheduling and playing games is bolstering Coach Ks call to put the season on hold. Yet some of his peers still object. Humans arent made to sit alone in isolation for weeks and weeks on end, Alabama coach Oats said last week. A huge part of life for all these guys Im coaching is being in the gym playing basketball. I think their mental health is in a much better spot playing basketball.But Oatss players are in college. There should be enough coursework to keep them occupied while basketball takes a break at least until enough student-athletes receive their vaccines. Since Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the U.S. hopes to vaccinate 50 million people by the end of January, it would be prudent to postpone college basketball until, say, February. As is often the case in basketball matters, the statistics support Duke. For the past week, there have been approximately 3,000 deaths from Covid-19 in the U.S. every day, according to The Covid Tracking Project. And hospitalizations from Covid-19 hit a record high on Dec. 13 for the seventh consecutive day. It is a coincidence that Dukes dominant color is blue and Alabamas is crimson, a deep shade of red. But politics is certainly a factor here. The Ivy League, a conference located in liberal blue states, was quick to cancel indoor sports such as basketball. But SEC schools like Alabama are in mostly conservative red states, where there seems to be more support for continuing sports during a pandemic. At the highest level of college basketball, Division I, 53.6 percent of male players and 43 percent of female players are Black, according to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. Medical evidence shows that Covid-19 is affecting Blacks disproportionately because of factors like preexisting medical conditions, stress and immunity, and often-crowded living conditions. And to dispel the myth that strong young athletes need not worry about the virus, consider Larry Fitzgerald, one of the finest receivers in National Football League history, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Nov. 26. The Arizona Cardinals star spoke with ESPN reporter Kimberley A. Martin, who tweeted this on Dec. 10:Larry Fitzgerald said he feels a lot better now since, but still cant taste or smell anything due to COVID. Added: There were a couple days I didnt feel great.He dropped about 9lbs, and with all the free time he had, he re-did his will pic.twitter.com/mfQuOqJZBE Kimberley A. Martin (@ByKimberleyA) December 10, 2020Fitzgerald, who makes $11.5 million this year, played this past Sunday against the New York Giants. College basketball players are not being paid. Theyre putting their health at risk to help their schools, conferences and the NCAA get richer. March Madness will be played at some point in 2021, even if its in May or June; and the NCAA plans to put the teams in bubbles Indianapolis for the men, San Antonio for the women. The bubbles will also allow the NCAA to reduce costs since games will be played in only two venues. America will likely be healthier by then. So should college basketball. But its time now to put health first and call a timeout. | 1 |
###CLAIM: the 36-year-old, whose posts on the site hint at her content, leaves little to the imagination in a very racy ensemble.
###DOCS: She joined the X-rated subscription service in September with a $17 monthly subscription, on top of tips and other pay-per-view content. And Amber Rose was her own best advert on Friday as she took to Instagram to promote her OnlyFans account with a very racy snap. The 36-year-old teased the content she will post on the site as she left little to the imagination in a very racy ensemble. Racy! Amber Rose was her own best advert on Friday as she took to Instagram to promote her OnlyFans account with a very racy snap in a black sheer bodysuit with matching stockingsAmber displayed her toned curves in a tiny black sheer plunging bodysuit with a pair of matching thigh-high stockings. The LA SlutWalk founder exuded confidence as she smouldered to the camera and wore a slick of bold red lipstick. Amber captioned the photo with: 'Head over to my Onlyfans Lemme show you something [flirty emojis] Link in Bio.' The influencer has been selling content on the website since September 29, with a $17 monthly subscription, on top of tips and other pay-per-view content. Promotion: The 36-year-old teased the content she will post on the site as she left little to the imagination in a very racy ensembleGoodness! The influencer has been selling content on the website since September 29, with a $17 monthly subscription, on top of tips and other pay-per-view contentOnlyFans: Amber - a former stripper - offers fans content like 'a**, b***s, bouncing b***s, strip tease, sexy voice notes, and twerking'Amber - a former stripper - offers fans content like 'a**, b***s, bouncing b***s, strip tease, sexy voice notes, and twerking.' Recently, the influencer has been promoting her page with more suggestive videos and snaps to her 20m Instagram followers. Stars from Bella Thorne to Blac Chyna and Tyler Posey have created profiles on the X-rated subscription service. Bella came under fire recently, after she made $1m in just 24 hours, and $2m in one week, after joining OnlyFans, and causing changes to the site. Drama: Bella Thorne came under fire recently, after she made $1m in just 24 hours, and $2m in one week, after joining OnlyFans, and causing changes to the siteThe actress is reportedly the first content creator on the platform to earn $1million in their first 24 hours, after briefly crashing the site. In the romance department, Amber is loved up with her Alexander 'A.E.' Edwards and they are regularly seen stepping out together. The couple knew each other for five years before embarking on their romance in September 2018. In October, Amber and A.E. celebrated their son Slash Electric's first birthday. Amber also has son Sebastian, seven, with ex-husband Wiz Khalifa. Smitten: In the romance department, Amber is loved up with her Alexander 'A.E.' Edwards and they share son Slash Electric, 14 months She singed up to the X-rated subscription service in September with a $17 monthly subscription, on top of tips and other pay-per-view content. And Amber Rose was certainly proving to be a fantastic advert for her OnlyFans as she took to Instagram to share a duo of sizzling snaps on Thursday. The model, 37, looked nothing short of sensational as she reclined on a bed with just her hands covering her assets while sporting racy black lace stockings. Cheeky! Amber Rose was certainly proving to be a fantastic advert for her OnlyFans as she took to Instagram to share a duo of sizzling snaps on ThursdayAmber wowed in the sizzling snaps in which she showed off her famous curves in her alluring poses, no doubt netting new followers in the process. The influencer has been selling content on the website since September 29, with a $17 monthly subscription, on top of tips and other pay-per-view content. Amber - a former stripper - offers fans content like 'a**, b***s, bouncing b***s, strip tease, sexy voice notes, and twerking.' Recently, the influencer has been promoting her page with more suggestive videos and snaps to her 20m Instagram followers. Steamy: The model, 37, looked nothing short of sensational as she reclined on a bed with just her hands covering her assets while sporting racy black lace stockingsStars from Bella Thorne to Blac Chyna and Tyler Posey have created profiles on the X-rated subscription service. Bella came under fire recently, after she made $1m in just 24 hours, and $2m in one week, after joining OnlyFans, and causing changes to the site. The actress is reportedly the first content creator on the platform to earn $1million in their first 24 hours, after briefly crashing the site. Goodness! The influencer has been selling content on the website since September 29, with a $17 monthly subscription, on top of tips and other pay-per-view contentIn the romance department, Amber is loved up with her Alexander 'A.E.' Edwards and they are regularly seen stepping out together. The couple knew each other for five years before embarking on their romance in September 2018. In October, Amber and A.E. celebrated their son Slash Electric's first birthday. Amber also has son Sebastian, seven, with ex-husband Wiz Khalifa. | 3 |
###CLAIM: according to refinitiv and eikon data, one cargo of natural gas loaded at the freeport lng facility on wednesday has been slated for a sailing to mexico.
###DOCS: HOUSTON (Reuters) - Texas oil producers and refiners remained shut for a fifth day on Wednesday after several days of blistering cold, and the governor ordered a ban on natural gas exports from the state to try to speed the restoration of power. Alvin Williams, 66, checks on his smartphone while taking a shelter at Gallery Furniture store which opened its door and transformed into a warming station after winter weather caused electricity blackouts in Houston, Texas, U.S. February 17, 2021. REUTERS/Go NakamuraThe cold snap, which has killed at least 21 people and knocked out power to more than 4 million people in Texas, is not expected to let up until this weekend. Governor Greg Abbott directed Texas natural gas providers not to ship outside the state until Sunday and asked the state energy regulator to enforce his export ban. That will also increase the power thats going to be produced and sent to homes here in Texas, Abbott said at a news conference Wednesday. The ban prompted a response from officials in Mexico, which relies on imports via pipeline from Texas. More than 40% of U.S. natural gas exports come from Texas. Texas produces more natural gas and oil than any other U.S. state, and its operators, unlike those in North Dakota or Alaska, are not used to dealing with frigid temperatures. The state accounts for roughly one-quarter of U.S. natural gas production, about 27.8 billion cubic feet per day, but it consumes only part of that, shipping the rest to other states or via pipeline to Mexico, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Texas energy sector has been hit hard by the cold, with about 4 million barrels per day (bpd) of daily refining capacity shuttered and at least 1 million bpd of oil production out as well. Natural gas output also slumped. At this time a week ago, Texas was producing about 7.9 billion cubic feet per day, but that fell to 1.9 billion on Wednesday, according to preliminary data from Refinitiv Eikon. Natural gas accounts for half of Texas power generation. Christi Craddick, chair of the Texas Railroad Commission, the states oil and gas regulator, said late Wednesday the agency had received the governors request and was reviewing it. The request set up a game of political football, according to a person familiar with the matter, between groups that do not have the authority to interfere with interstate commerce. Slideshow ( 2 images )U.S. gas pipeline exports to Mexico dropped to 3.8 billion cubic feet (bcf) per day on Wednesday, down from an average over the past 30 days of 5.7 bcf, according to data from Refinitiv, about three-quarters of which comes from Texas. Mexicos economy minister, Tatiana Clouthier, said Wednesday she had contacted the U.S. governments representative in Mexico, seeking to guarantee supplies of natural gas for Mexico during the cold snap. By not acting together, the results could be more complicated, she said on Twitter. One cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) loaded at Freeport LNG in Texas on Wednesday had been slated to sail to Mexico, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. The tanker remained off the coast of Texas. A Freeport LNG spokeswoman declined to comment. Operations at Cheniere Energys Corpus Christi plant, the states largest LNG producer, were halted by weather disruptions this week. A spokesman declined to comment on the governors order. Overall, daily U.S. natural gas production is down by roughly 19% from the end of last week to 71.9 bcf per day on Wednesday, according to preliminary Eikon data. With more snow expected in key oil-and-gas production areas like the Permian and northern Louisiana, production is expected to stay offline through Friday, said Anna Lenzmeier, energy analyst at BTU Analytics. The second half of this week is shaping up to be just as tumultuous as the long weekend, and natural gas prices could continue to top triple digits before the weekend, she said. Several Texas ports, including Houston, Galveston and key LNG exporting sites at Freeport and Sabine Pass were closed due to weather, according to U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Jonathan Lally. One bcf of gas can supply about 5 million U.S. homes per day. Producers in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. oilfield, said electrical outages were the main issue, and that until power was restored, restarting any frozen equipment would be challenging. Roughly 1 million bpd of crude production has been halted, according to Wood Mackenzie analysts, and it could be weeks before it is fully restored. The supply disruptions drove further increases in oil prices, which ended the session up more than 1.5%. U.S. natural gas climbed to a more than three-month high after rising more than 10% on Tuesday. The freeze has also sent Canadian natural gas exports to the United States soaring to levels last seen in 2010, said IHS Markit analyst Ian Archer. Net Canadian exports have jumped above 7.5 bcf a day for the last couple of days and Archer estimated they were close to 8 bcf per day on Wednesday. We are seeing just absolutely huge withdrawals and exports to the U.S., Archer said. (Graphic: U.S. natural gas production slumps, ) | 0 |
###CLAIM: wray angered both trump and his inner circle during the 2020 presidential race by refuting false voter fraud claims and reiterating russian interference in the contest to try to hurt then-candidate biden.
###DOCS: Biden To Keep Wray On As FBI DirectorEnlarge this image toggle caption Jim Watson/Pool/Getty Images Jim Watson/Pool/Getty ImagesChristopher Wray is staying at the helm of the FBI. Less than 24 hours after President Biden's press secretary, Jen Psaki, generated speculation about Wray's future after giving a noncommittal response when asked whether Biden had confidence in the FBI director, Psaki made clear that Wray will remain at his post. "I caused an unintentional ripple yesterday so [I] wanted to state very clearly President Biden intends to keep FBI Director Wray on in his role and he has confidence in the job he is doing," Psaki wrote on Twitter on Thursday. Wray, a low-key lawyer and former Justice Department official, is less than four years into his 10-year term atop the FBI. He was hand-picked by former President Donald Trump to lead the bureau after Trump fired James Comey. But Wray quickly fell out of favor with Trump, who considered him disloyal and frequently speculated about firing him. Trump and his allies attacked Wray for what they perceived as his unwillingness to root out alleged bad actors within the FBI. Wray also infuriated Trump and his inner circle during the 2020 presidential race for refuting Trump's false claims about voter fraud, and for reiterating that Russia was interfering in the contest to try to hurt then-candidate Biden. Since he took over the bureau in August 2017, Wray has tried to remove the FBI from Washington's bruising political fights. In public statements and congressional testimony, he defended the integrity of the bureau and its employees. If mistakes were made, he said, they would be addressed and corrected. He also defended the special counsel's Russia investigation, repeatedly saying it was not a "witch hunt," as Trump called it. Internally, he reminded FBI personnel to "keep calm and tackle hard," and stressed that the bureau and its 35,000 employees must do everything by the book. That earned Wray the respect and support of those who work for the bureau. The FBI Agents Association, which represents more than 14,000 active and retired special agents, released letters the week before the election to both Trump and Biden, urging them to let Wray finish his 10-year term as director. "Director Wray operates independently from partisan activities, and his nomination and acceptance of the position were predicated on that fact," the association's president, Brian O'Hare, wrote. "He has not led the Bureau in a political manner, and politics should not determine his fate as director." White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified on Thursday that President Joe Biden has confidence in FBI directory Chris Wray and will keep him on the job. Psaki took to Twitter to clear up the administration's position on Wray after she caused doubt about it when she refused to say the president had confidence in the director during her first press briefing. Her mea culpa was notable considering her predecessors in the role under former President Donald Trump had an antagonistic relationship with most of the White House press corps, often attacking reporters from their spot at the podium. 'I caused an unintentional ripple yesterday so wanted to state very clearly President Biden intends to keep FBI Director Wray on in his role and he has confidence in the job he is doing,' Psaki tweeted on Thursday. White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified that President Joe Biden has confidence in FBI directory Chris Wray - taking to twitter to clean up a 'ripple' she caused at her first press briefingDoubts about Wray's standing with Biden came after Wednesday's briefing when she was asked if Biden had confidence in the director and Psaki gave a noncommittal response, saying she'd check with the president. 'I have not spoken with him about specifically FBI Director Wray in recent days,' Psaki said. Wray was named as FBI director 2017 by former President Trump, who tapped him to the top job after he fired James Comey. Biden had hinted he would keep Wray on but questions had reemerged about whether he would stay on after the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol. The FBI's role - and that of other law enforcement agencies - in the matter is under scrutiny in the MAGA attack that left hundreds injured, five dead and a wake of destruction throughout the Capitol. The Justice Department inspector general and other watchdog offices are now investigating. Wray didn't appear in public for more than a week after it happened. There were reports he was laying low in the final days of Trump's terms as there were rumors the then-president planned to fire Wray as he did his predecessor. President Joe Biden had hinted he would keep Chris Wray as FBI directorFBI director Chris Wray has six years left in his 10-year term as FBI directorWray said last week the FBI has already made 100 arrests of MAGA rioters and they have 100 more suspects identified. Despite a strong start to his relationship with Trump, Wray later became a frequent target of his attacks. He publicly broke with Trump on issues such as antifa, voter fraud and Russian election interference. FBI directors are given 10-year terms, meaning leadership of the bureau is generally unaffected by changes in presidential administrations. The director's term was designed that way to keep the job nonpolitical. Wray has six years left in his term. | 3 |
###CLAIM: relating to the seven-year-old daughter of the host, the bloomberg report said the incident involved the involvement of a safety team and a reported finding of a guest naked in a bed.
###DOCS: Airbnb has a secretive team to keep disaster stays out of the press and gives staff blank checks to help rape victims and pay to clean up dismembered human remains, according to a report. The short-term property rental company, which went public in December, has spent an estimated $50 million every year on payouts to hosts and guests when things go wrong, according to Bloomberg Businessweek which interviewed several former members of the secretive safety team. The team - known as the 'black box' inside the firm - is made up of around 100 agents across cities including Dublin, Montreal and Singapore, several of whom have backgrounds in the military or emergency services. Team members have the power to spend any amount tackling the worst crises at their rentals including sexual assaults, murders and deaths - providing support to guests and hosts and also working to keep the incidents out of the public eye, Bloomberg reported. In one incident, a rape victim received a $7 million payout in exchange for agreeing not to 'imply responsibility or liability' on Airbnb or the host after a 'career criminal' used a duplicate key to enter a New York City rental and attacked her at knifepoint, according to the report. The revelation of the team's existence - and its power to keep the worst incidents out of the press - raises questions about the scale of shocking incidents taking place at Airbnb properties and the company's ability to ensure safety for its guests and hosts. Airbnb has a secret team to keep disaster stays out of the press and gives staff blank checks to help rape victims and pay to clean up dismembered human remains, it has been revealedSeveral former Airbnb safety agents described the extent of their tasks, preventing PR disasters for the firm and providing support to both guests and hosts who fell victim to horrific crimes inside the walls of the rentals. Some said they had to arrange for contractors to cover bullet holes in the walls of properties or hire body-fluid crews to clean blood off the floors, the report said. In extreme cases, they had to deal with hosts who discover dismembered human remains inside their homes. Others said they had to provide support to guests who had been assaulted by guests and had resorted to hiding in wardrobes or running from secluded cabins from the perpetrators. The team has covered costs including for counseling, new accommodation, flights, and sexually transmitted disease tests and health costs for rape survivors among other things, according to the report. Airbnb hired high profile political crises experts to work on the team, including Nick Shapiro, former National Security Council advisoe to Barack Obama and deputy chief of staff at the Central Intelligence Agency, who was brought on as its crisis manager. Shapiro, who has since left the role, told Bloomberg the crises facing the company reminded him of the White House situation room. 'I remember thinking I was right back in the thick of it,' he said. 'This brought me back to feelings of confronting truly horrific matters at Langley and in the Situation Room at the White House.' Langley is the home of the CIA. Airbnb hired high profile political crises experts to work on the team, including Nick Shapiro (pictured), former National Security Council adviser to Barack Obama and deputy chief of staff at the Central Intelligence Agency, who was brought on as its crisis managerHe was two weeks into the job when the New York City rape happened on New Years' Day in 2016. The unidentified Australian woman, who was 29 at the time, and a group of friends had rented a first-floor apartment on West 37th Street, close to Times Square. The group had picked up the keys for the apartment from a bodega close by without having to show any identification, Bloomberg reported. They went to a party together, but the 29-year-old returned back to the property alone - ahead of her friends. The suspect, 24-year-old Junior Lee, was allegedly already inside the apartment hiding in the bathroom when she returned. In one incident, a rape victim received a $7 million payout in exchange for agreeing not to 'imply responsibility or liability' on Airbnb or the host after a 'career criminal' used a duplicate key to enter a New York City rental (above) and attacked her at knifepointHe raped her at knifepoint. Lee then returned later that night when police were there and was arrested and charged with predatory sexual assault. Police said he had a set of keys to the apartment on his person at the time. The incident has remained under wraps until now. Chris Lehane, a former political operative for President Bill Clinton who was brought on as head of global policy and communications a few months before the incident, was concerned the incident would be used to help push Airbnb out of New York, according to Bloomberg. It came at a time when the company was banned in New York but that many short-term rentals still featured on Airbnb's platform. The safety team sprung into action right away, paying to fly the victim's mother over from Australia, housed them in hotels before flying them back home again and offered to pay for health and counseling costs, according to the report. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. The short-term property rental company, which went public in December, has spent an estimated $50 million every year on payouts to hosts and guests when things go wrong, according to Bloomberg BusinessweekTwo years later, Airbnb reportedly paid the victim $7 million in an agreement that she would not blame or sue Airbnb or the host. It is not clear how the alleged rapist had keys to the property but, under Airbnb rules, hosts are not required to disclose to guests who has a copy of the key or change codes on keypad locks in between guests. Airbnb directed DailyMail.com to the company's pages on trust and safety when asked to comment on the safety team and the 2016 incident. A spokesman said the company talks about its safety team all the time. Florida woman Carla Stefaniak (above) was murdered by a security guard at the apartment complex where she was renting an Airbnb in Costa RicaOther incidents involving the safety team include one where a guest was found reportedly found naked in bed with the host's seven-year-old daughter, according to the Bloomberg report. In another previously reported incident, a Florida woman Carla Stefaniak was murdered by a security guard at the apartment complex where she was renting an Airbnb in Costa Rica in 2018. Her partially-buried body was found half-naked and covered in plastic bags by sniffer dogs 200 feet away from her Airbnb. She suffered a blunt force wound to the head and stab wounds. Stefaniak had told friends that she thought the accommodation was 'sketchy' and that there was heavy rain and no power. She said in a FaceTime call that she might ask a security guard at the Airbnb to buy her water because of the storm. Bismark Espinoza Martinez, 33, was sentenced last year to 16 years for her murder. Stefaniak's family filed a suit against Airbnb claiming it failed to perform a background check on the security guard, who it transpired was working in the country illegally. The case was settled for an undisclosed sum. Stefaniak's body was found half-naked and covered in plastic bags near the San Jose vacation rental she was staying in (above)Traces of blood were found left behind in the Airbnb, which she described as 'sketchy'One year after Stefaniak's murder, five people were shot dead at a Halloween mansion party at an Airbnb in Orinda, California. More than 100 people had gathered for the unauthorized party when the shooting unfolded. Members of rival gangs from San Francisco and Marin City were among those at the party, authorities said. Tiyon Farley, 22, of Antioch; Omar Taylor, 24, of Pittsburg; Raymon Hill Jr., 23, of San Francisco and Oakland; Javlin County, 29, of Sausalito and Richmond; and Oshiana Tompkins, 19, of Vallejo and Hercules, all died. Airbnb said it would pay for the funerals of the victims. But Jesse Danoff, the attorney for Hill's mother Cynthia Taylor, told Bloomberg the company did not reach out to the family for more than a week and claimed it pushed back against some of the funeral expenses. Danoff claimed the company only cared about 'the threat or potential threat of bad PR or a nightmare in the press' and is still negotiating a settlement. Airbnb told Bloomberg it paid the funeral bills. One year after Stefaniak's murder, five people were shot dead at a Halloween mansion party at an Airbnb in Orinda, California. Law enforcement on the scene of the shootingRaymon Hill Jr. - one of the victims of the shooting. Jesse Danoff, the attorney for Hill's mother Cynthia Taylor, told Bloomberg the company did not reach out to the family for more than a week and claimed it pushed back against some of the funeral expensesDespite the critical role the team plays in supporting guests and hosts and helping to evade PR disasters, 25 of its most experienced agents were laid off last year amid the pandemic. CEO Brian Chesky had announced in May 2020 that around half of all staff were being laid off, according to Bloomberg. Safety agents slammed the move, arguing they had already sacrificed their mental health to the role. Chesky later partly walked back the decision, rehiring 15 of the workers on time-and-a-half pay. | 0 |
###CLAIM: the secret, which never came to the surface on the soap when rob and mallard 's uncle daniel found out about adam, was kept secret.
###DOCS: Coronation Street favourites Sally and Tim Metacafe are set to finally tie the knot next week, however, their plans could be scuppered by Tim's bitter dad Geoff. After evil Geoff (Ian Bartholomew) was exposed over his horrendous treatment of long-suffering wife Yasmeen, Tim (Joe Duttine) and Sally (Sally Dynevor) have both washed their hands of him. But the couple's plan to secretly get married without inviting Geoff looks set to be ruined as the police show up during their big day. Wedding drama: Coronation Street favourites Sally and Tim Metacafe are set to finally tie the knot next week, however, their plans could be scuppered by Tim's bitter dad GeoffThe much-loved couple were originally set to become man and wife five years ago, but the marriage was declared null void after it turned out that Tim was still married to his first wife Charlie. Then their attempt to tie the knot again went pear-shaped recently after Sally discovered the money that Geoff had given them for the wedding actually stolen from his now imprisoned wife Yasmeen (Shelley King). But with Geoff's despicable behaviour now out in the open, Tim and Sally quietly make plans to hold a small ceremony without him - but Geoff soon gets wind of their idea. After Tim's daughter Faye (Ellie Leach) accidentally lets the cat out the bag, Geoff begs his son to let him attend his big day, but a determined Tim rejects him. Interrupted: The couple's plan to secretly get married without inviting Geoff looks set to be ruined as the police show up during their big dayTim later reassures Sally that Geoff won't ruin their wedding day, but has he underestimated his twisted father? With Geoff continuing to pester his son about the wedding, Tim confides in pal Abi (Sally Carmen) as he worries about his dad's intentions. On the big day, as the small wedding party head to the cars, Abi takes it upon herself to deal with Geoff in her own way - but has she made a huge mistake? After Sally and Tim successfully get married at the register office, they return to the street ready to celebrate at The Bistro. Cunning plan? Tim later reassures Sally that Geoff won't ruin their wedding day, but has he underestimated his twisted father? Trying to help: On the big day, as the small wedding party head to the cars, Abi takes it upon herself to deal with Geoff in her own way - but has she made a huge mistake? Married at last: After Sally and Tim successfully get married at the register office, they return to the street ready to celebrate at The Bistro - But before they can do so, a police officer arrivesBut before they can do so, a police officer arrives and approaches the wedding party with some questions. Has Geoff managed to ruin the couple' happiness? Or will his latest twisted plot be thwarted? Speaking to Inside Soap, actor Joe Duttine discussed his alter ego Tim's big day, he said: 'They really want to try and keep the wedding a secret from Geoff, and Faye feels terrible that she has let slip to Geoff about the wedding. The last thing Tim wants is his dad ruining something else. Drama: 'This is too important a day for Tim. He knows that Geoff hates Sally and he does almost manage to spoil it, but there are too many people willing to step in and help Sally and Tim''This is too important a day for Tim. He knows that Geoff hates Sally and he does almost manage to spoil it, but there are too many people willing to step in and help Sally and Tim.' He added: 'He messed up before and even though it wasn't deliberate on his part, he has to make it up to Sally. The spectre of Geoff is wanting to be at the feast and he is the last person anyone wants there.' Coronation Street air these scenes on Monday 5th October and Wednesday 7th October at 7.30pm and 8.30pm on ITV. | 0 |
###CLAIM: the claim was incited by such things as textbooks that describe terrorists as martyrs for killing 38 passengers including 13 children on an israeli bus in 1978 as giving to a fifth kid.
###DOCS: Republicans are pushing back against the Biden administrations moves to fund a controversial U.N. Palestinian refugee agency which has been dogged with accusations of anti-Israel bias -- and one that the Trump administration stopped funding. 21 Republicans, led by Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week expressing concern about the Biden administrations decision to resume funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that deals with Palestinian refugees -- and has faced accusations it teaches hate against Jews and Israelis in its schools. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION EYES SLASHING FUNDS TO CONTROVERSIAL UN PALESTINIAN AGENCY"We are concerned that this administrations decision to resume U.S. assistance to UNRWA was made in haste, without any actionable attempt to secure much-needed and meaningful reforms of the agency," the lawmakers wrote. "Beyond its inflated and duplicative structure, there are serious concerns about the impartiality of UNRWA. Over the years the agency has employed individuals affiliated with Hamas, a U.S. designated terrorist organization. UNRWA schools have been used to store Hamas weapons," the senators continued. "Additionally, there have been numerous cases of UNRWA textbooks including material that is anti-Semitic, such as encouraging the destruction of the state of Israel and supporting martyrdom and/or violent jihad." AMID CLAIMS OF INCITEMENT AND ANTISEMITISM BIDEN ADMINSTRATION SIGNALS IT WILL REFUND CONTROVERSIAL UN AGENCYEarlier this month Blinken announced the U.S. would restore aid to UNRWA, which was halted by the Trump administration, in the amount of $150 million as part of a broader effort to restore Palestinian aid. "U.S. foreign assistance for the Palestinian people serves important U.S. interests and values," he said in a statement. "It provides critical relief to those in great need, fosters economic development, and supports Israeli-Palestinian understanding, security coordination and stability. It also aligns with the values and interests of our allies and partners." UNRWA was set up in the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war to deal with displaced Palestinians, but is a frequent target of Israel, which rejects a so-called "right of return" for the descendants of those who were displaced in the conflict. UNRWA, meanwhile, has said it does not promote a "right of return." UNRWA is estimated to provide education, health care, financial assistance and food to 5 million people in the Middle East. According to UNRWA, its education system serves over a half a million students in some 711 elementary and preparatory schools. Critics also acccuse UNRWA of using too broad of a definition for refugees, covering the descendants of Palestinian refugees, as well as people who have become residents in other countries and are no longer displaced. They also object that Palestinian refugees are the only refugees with their own refugee agency, with all other refugees coming under the remit of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Much of the controversy has focused on the textbooks that UNRWA uses in schools. The Bedein Center for Near East Policy Research, which reports on UNRWAs curriculum, recently cited several examples showing what they claimed was anti-Semitic and religious incitement, such as a textbook given to fifth graders describing a terrorist as a martyr for killing 38 passengers, including 13 children, on an Israeli bus in 1978. The Trump administration cut funding altogether, one of a number it moves it took to pull out of or defund agencies that it saw as anti-Israel or anti-American. The letter to Blinken was praised by former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who was a key voice in halting funding during the Trump administration, and said this week the U.S. should not give UNRWA "a dime" until it "Stops employing terrorists -Stops promoting anti-Semitic textbooks -Releases the true number of "refugees." The Biden administration drew further controversy this week when Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield met with the head of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini, but the readout only hinted at the long-standing concerns. "The two discussed U.S. re-engagement with UNRWA, including the recent announcement of the resumption of U.S. assistance to the agency," the readout said. "Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield underscored the critical role that UNRWA plays in providing vital services to a vulnerable population and reiterated Secretary Blinkens pledge of partnership with the agency." The statement concluded, "Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield also committed to working together with UNRWA to achieve important reforms to strengthen the agencys effectiveness and efficiencies, as well as to promote shared UN principles of equality, neutrality, tolerance, and anti-discrimination." A source familiar with the conversation, who could not speak on the record about a private diplomatic meeting, later told Fox News that "Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield extensively discussed with Lazzarini the issue of inflammatory material in textbooks, a zero-tolerance policy, and the urgent need for reforms." But the criticism of the Biden administrations moves toward sending taxpayer money to UNRWA is likely to continue. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPRep. Lee Zeldin, R-NY, also hit out at the Biden administration, saying it is "is willing to look the other way while the U.N. actively perpetuates anti-Semitism." "The Biden administration's eagerness to bury its head in the sand is a continued betrayal of Americas greatest ally Israel," he said. The Biden administrations intention to grow closer to the U.N. has also included an attempt to rejoin the U.N. Human Council, which the Trump administration left in 2018 due to its anti-Israel bias and ongoing concerns about its membership. The Human Rights Council currently includes members like China, Russia, Cuba and Venezuela. | 1 |
###CLAIM: a dispute over party-drawn districts forced the court to step in to choose districts in three of the last four redistributions.
###DOCS: FILEMotorists face a heavy traffic backup in this file photograph taken late Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, in Denver. After booming population growth over the past decade, Colorado will gain an eighth U.S. House seat following the release of new U.S. Census Bureau date on Monday, April 26, 2021. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)FILEMotorists face a heavy traffic backup in this file photograph taken late Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, in Denver. After booming population growth over the past decade, Colorado will gain an eighth U.S. House seat following the release of new U.S. Census Bureau date on Monday, April 26, 2021. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)DENVER (AP) After booming population growth over the past decade, Colorado will gain an eighth U.S. House seat after the release Monday of new U.S. Census Bureau data. The bulk of the growth occurred in the Denver metropolitan area, fueled by college-educated transplants who have helped Colorado move toward a Democratic shade of blue. Colorados population rose by 14.8% over the past decade, according to the Census data, or from 5 million in 2010 to nearly 5.8 million in 2020, entitling the state to its first new congressional district in 20 years. Across the 50 U.S. states, total population reached 331.4 million in 2020, a 7.4% increase from 2010. Colorados major political parties welcomed the news. GOP state party chair Kristi Burton Brown predicted that Coloradans will send another strong, conservative leader to D.C. to fight for our state. State Democratic chair Morgan Carroll took a less partisan line, declaring that Colorados Washington delegation has continuously punched above our weight at the national level.Democrats currently hold a 4-3 edge over Republicans in the states congressional delegation. They also hold both chambers and the governors office at the state Capitol as well as the states two U.S. Senate seats. ADVERTISEMENTDrafting a new map for all eight congressional districts in Colorado will be done by a citizens redistricting commission that was established after voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2018. The measure removed the task from lawmakers, political parties and the governor with the hope of making it less partisan. The new commission consists of four Democrats, four Republicans and four unaffiliated citizens none of them current or recent officeholders. Any final plan would require eight yes votes, including two from the independents, before it is submitted to the state Supreme Court. A similar panel is charged with redistricting state legislative seats. The process begins with nonpartisan legislative staff drawing preliminary boundaries based on the Census data released Monday. Colorado is one of six states to gain additional U.S. House seats along with Texas, Montana, Florida, North Carolina and Oregon. Texas gained two seats while the other states each got one. Colorado last gained seats after the release of Census data in 1980 and 2000. Disputes over party-drawn maps forced the courts to step in to choose district maps in three of the last four redistricting cycles. The 2018 initiative amended the Colorado Constitution to explicitly prohibit gerrymandering while seeking to keep intact communities of interest, such as racial or ethnic groups, agricultural and other regions, as well as cities and counties. The commission also must maximize the number of politically competitive districts. Thats a hard task on the congressional level. Only one district suburban Denvers 6th has swung in recent years, given Colorados stark urban-rural divide. Its held by two-term Democratic Rep. Jason Crow. The rural areas of Colorado are going to be Republican and the Denver-Boulder-Fort Collins axis is going to be Democrat, said Bernie Buescher, an attorney and former Democratic state representative and secretary of state who helped write the constitutional amendment. You cant make every seat competitive. But that language is now in the Constitution and you want to force the commission to make them as competitive as you can, he said. That means involving unaffiliated voters, now the states largest voting bloc. Uncertainty over new boundaries for all districts hasnt stopped several Democrats from challenging controversial first-term GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert in Colorados largely rural 3rd District. Among them is state Sen. Kerry Donovan, considered a rising star among the states Democrats. Donovan entered the 2022 race against Boebert, an outspoken gun rights advocate who voted against certifying Joe Bidens presidential election, despite not knowing if her Vail-area residence will remain in the district. The just-seated redistricting commission must contend with the delay in community-level U.S. Census reapportionment data until late August or early fall. Current deadlines require the panel to submit maps by Sept. 1. Deputy Secretary of State Chris Beall warned commissioners on April 7 that the delay could have a cascading effect that, among other things, would force a postponement of the June 2022 congressional primaries by a month and jeopardize statutory dates for caucuses and state assemblies. Colorados 64 counties also would be squeezed. By law, they must draw precinct maps within new congressional and legislative districts by Jan. 31, 2022. It would be an absolute miracle if counties can draw precinct maps by that deadline, said Weld County Clerk and Recorder Carly Koppes. Beall urged the commission to use the preliminary data as much as it can and ensure the courts sign off on any changes. A bill moving through the Legislature is designed to allow the panel and the courts to do that. Bealls warning came after the commissions first chair was removed from that role over social media posts first reported by KUSA-TV in which he made unfounded claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election and referred to the coronavirus as the Chinese virus. Republican Danny Moore remains on the panel. | 0 |
###CLAIM: site map showing the election, in which the latest results show joseph ( r. ) biden jr. winning 306 votes to 232 for the president, despite his decisive 306-vote win in the electoral college.
###DOCS: A prominent electoral map on the website of Everylegalvote.com, a self-described fraud-buster, conveyed an alternate reality on Monday. Despite the latest election results showing Joseph R. Biden Jr. winning a decisive 306 votes in the Electoral College compared with 232 for President Trump, the sites map showed Mr. Trump as the winner of the election. Mr. Trump had received 232 votes compared with 214 for Mr. Biden, according to the sites map, which was flecked with orange to connote states where it claimed that voter fraud had been detected. Click on a tab saying without voter fraud, and Mr. Trumps vote suddenly leapt to 318 against Mr. Bidens 220. As President Trump refuses to concede the election, a lot of internet traffic is being directed to this slickly produced website channeling the presidents mix of falsehoods, conspiracy theories and baseless accusations of voter fraud. The website has promoted the false narrative that mail-in ballots were used to steal the election from Mr. Trump. It has posited that thousands of dead people voted in Michigan when they did not. It has also posted content from a source with links to QAnon, the elaborate conspiracy movement that falsely claims the existence of a Satan-worshipping pedophile cabal run by senior Democrats, who are plotting against Mr. Trump. QAnon believers had predicted that Mr. Trump would easily win the election. They are attempting to install Joe Biden as president without due process of law and order, the site says, citing the media, certain elected officials and people in positions of power, both in the United States and in other countries. A review of Everylegalvote.com shows an attempt to delegitimize the election under a veneer of empiricism by drawing on murky and debunked theories. The site did not respond to a request for comment. Everylegalvote.com lists its sponsors and financial backers as a coalition of right-wing groups including Allied Security Operations Group, the Economic War Room, and Liberty Center for God and Country. An office manager at Allied Security Operations Group, who declined to give her name, said by phone that the group was a private Dallas-based cybersecurity firm. She said the issue of voter fraud was an area of specialty of the companys chief financial officer, Russell Ramsland, a businessman who ran for Congress in Texas as a Republican in 2016 and was defeated in the primary. According to Mr. Ramslands LinkedIn profile, he has an M.B.A. from Harvard. The Economic War Room listed on Everylegalvote.coms website appears to refer to the Economic War Room With Kevin Freeman, a weekly television financial news show. Mr. Freeman was not immediately available for comment. Mr. Freeman is described on Economic War Rooms website as one of the worlds leading experts on the issues of economic warfare and financial terrorism. He is also listed as a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy, a Washington-based think tank that has been designated as a hate group with anti-Muslim ideology by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Last year, Mar-a-Lago, President Trumps private club in Palm Beach, Fla., came under criticism after agreeing to host an event by the group. In a broadcast in the days after the election, which was posted on Economic War Rooms website, Mr. Freeman called the election one of the most contested elections in history. The left is out for blood and total victory, he said. He predicted a violent insurrection by the far left and said it wanted to tear down God and family and install a nanny state. As evidence, he cited attempts in states like California to curtail family gatherings during Thanksgiving and make people wear masks in between bites of turkey. Liberty Center for God and Country, the sites other backer, said it aimed to promote and protect our God-given, unalienable Constitutional rights and liberties and to support legal efforts that protect these liberties. It recently posted on its website a request by President Trump for every registered voter to send him a handwritten letter, demanding a full election audit of all 50 states. The group was not immediately available for comment. Everylegalvote.com has not shied away from promoting misinformation from dubious sources. After President Trump made baseless claims that Dominion Voting Systems, which makes software that local governments use to help run their elections, had software glitches that changed voting tallies in key states, the site posted a Twitter thread on the software maker by Ron Watkins, who has been part of QAnons inner circle. In his thread, Mr. Watkins posited that local information technology guys could have hacked into the system to alter election results. A group of federal, state and local election officials have said there is no evidence any voting systems were compromised. | 0 |
###CLAIM: the russian marathon runners, liliya and shobukhova, were involved in secret payments of 150, 000 dollars to senior figures in the international association of athletics federations to hide drug violations.
###DOCS: The unmasking of Lamine Diack as one of the great sinners in the history of sport began with a police raid on All Saints Day in 2015. At this point Diack, the head of global athletics for 16 years and a distinguished figure at the International Olympic Committee, had yet to be implicated in a growing scandal involving the Russian marathon runner Liliya Shobukhova, who had secretly paid 450,000 to senior figures at the International Association of Athletics Federations to hide a doping violation. But everything changed on that unseasonably warm November day. When police arrested Diack in his room at the Sheraton hotel at Pariss Charles de Gaulle airport, they also uncovered his computer, which housed a treasure trove of secrets. And nearly five years later it has finally led to Diack along with five other former senior figures at athletics governing body being convicted of corruption. Among the crucial police discoveries that day was a strictly confidential email from his son Papa Massata Diack sent in 2013, warning him that some at the IAAF were questioning why several Russians were competing at the world championships in Moscow despite having failed doping tests. At the time the Diacks were able to keep a lid on their scheme following what Papa Massata euphemistically called lobbying and explanation work with IAAF staff. That work included paying head of communications, Nick Davies, 25,000 and then 5,000 in cash in envelopes partly to assuage his wife, Jane Boultier-Davies, who worked in the anti-doping department and was raising awkward questions. Davies and his wife were found not guilty of corruption by the IAAF ethics board. Eventually, though, the story would blow spectacularly open leading to Davies losing his job and Lamine moving into the firing line. The more French investigators began to dig, the more they realised that Shobukhova was far from a lone case. In fact under a scheme devised by Diack Sr, dubbed full protection, 22 other Russian athletes paid between 100,000 and 600,000 in exchange for having their doping bans hushed up so they could compete at the London 2012 Olympics and in Moscow a year later. Diack Sr had known all along. Another email uncovered by investigators detailed the price lists for each Russian, which were provided by Diack Jr. In total, 3.2m was made, of which 600,000 came back to Diack Srs lawyer, Habib Cisse, as legal aid while the IAAFs head of anti-doping, Gabriel Dolle, was also paid by the Diacks to look the other way. After sentencing Diack Sr to four years in prison two of which are suspended and fining him 500,000, the judge, Rose-Marie Hunault, told the court in Paris: The 3.2m was paid in exchange for a program of full protection, adding the scheme allowed athletes who should have been suspended purely and simply to escape sanctions. You violated the rules of the game.Diack Sr, who was convicted of active and passive corruption and breach of trust, has said he will appeal. Diack Jr, who was tried in absentia on charges of money laundering and breach of trust because Senegal refuses to extradite him, was sentenced to five years in prison and fined 1m. In sentencing Diack Jr, the judge said $15m had been funnelled to his companies while his father was in charge at the IAAF. The judge added that the Diacks had worked together in diverting funds, telling Diack Sr that there was an understanding between you and your son. Incredibly, investigators also found evidence Diack Sr had agreed the full protection agreement with senior Russian politicians in exchange for funding to help his friend Macky Sall win the 2012 Senegalese presidential election. In the French prosecutors files, it is alleged that the full protection deal was done around the time of a lunch at the Ritz Carlton in Moscow in November 2011, just after Diack Sr was awarded the Friendship medal by the then president, Dmitry Medvedev. Those present included the then Russian sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, along with Lamine Diack, Papa Massata Diack, Cisse, and the former IAAF treasurer Valentin Balachnikev. The respected former IAAF senior counsel Huw Roberts also told French investigators that Lamine and Vladimir Putin had also held discussions. Diack told me that he had gone to Russia with his Senegalese football team and that he had met Putin for the first time on this occasion, he said. At the end of this monologue Diack told me that Putin helped with the elections in Senegal, without explaining how he helped him.In Paris on Wednesday Cisse was also sent to prison for three years and fined 100,000, while Dolle was handed a two-year suspended sentence and a 144,000 fine. Balakhnichev and Alexei Melnikov, the former head distance coach of the Russian national team, were also found guilty and given jail terms. The Paris criminal court also awarded what is now World Athletics 16m for embezzled funds and for reputational damage suffered as a direct consequence of these crimes and the resulting media coverage. In a statement World Athletics said it would do everything we can to recover the monies awarded, and return them to the organisation for the development of athletics globally. The governing body surely will try, although few hold out much hope it will succeed. It is highly unlikely that we have heard that last of the Diacks, given they are also being investigated on suspicions of corruption in the awarding of the 2016 Olympic Games to Rio de Janeiro and the 2020 Games to Tokyo. Whatever happens in the future, though, the notoriety of both men is surely assured. PARIS (Reuters) - Lamine Diack, once one of the most powerful people in athletics, was convicted in France on Wednesday of running a clique that covered up Russian doping in return for bribes worth millions of dollars and sentenced to spend at least two years in jail. The 87-year-old former head of world athletics governing body was found guilty of taking kickbacks from athletes in return for concealing positive drug tests, which enabled them to continue competing, including at the 2012 London Olympics. The court had heard how Diack solicited bribes totalling 3.45 million euros ($4.1 million) and paid off other officials at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to aid with the cover up. He was also guilty of accepting Russian money to help finance Macky Salls 2012 presidential campaign in Senegal, Diacks home country, the court ruled. The former long-jumpers actions had undermined the values of athletics and the fight against doping, the presiding judge said. The court handed Diack a four-year prison sentence, two years of which are suspended and a fine of 500,000 euros. It also ordered him to pay 5 million euros in damages to World Athletics (formerly IAAF) together with his son and co-accused, Papa Massata Diack. Lamine Diacks lawyers said he was a scapegoat sacrificed in the name of political correctness, adding they would appeal the judgment which was unfair and inhumane. Slideshow ( 3 images )He will remain under house arrest pending the appeal, which could last months. WIDENING GRAFT PROBEDiack led the IAAF from 1999 to 2015. In his testimony, he acknowledged slowing the handling of Russian doping cases between 2011-2013 to save a sponsorship deal with a Russian bank and avoid public scandal. But he denied the corruption allegations. At the heart of the corruption scam alongside Diack was his son, Papa Massata. Papa Massata, who fled France to Senegal after the French investigation began and was tried in absentia, was sentenced to five years in jail and hit with a 1 million euro fine. Papa Massatas lawyers in Senegal said he was denied a fair trial and would appeal. Slideshow ( 3 images )At the outset of the trial, his Senegal-based lawyers asked that it be postponed on the grounds that COVID-19 restrictions meant they could not travel, yet the request was refused by the French judges. French Investigators say Papa Massata is at the centre of years-long corruption probe that now spans Europe, Asia and the Americas, and includes the awarding of the 2020 Olympic Games to Tokyo and the 2016 Games to Rio de Janeiro. In 2017, Papa Massata branded the accusation that he was part of a large corruption racket as the biggest lie in the history of world sport.Four other defendants were charged in the case: Habib Cisse, Diacks former lawyer at the IAAF; Gabriel Dolle, who oversaw doping tests at the IAAF; former head of Russian athletics Valentin Balakhnichev, and former Russian athletics head coach Alexei Melnikov. All four were found guilty of corruption offences. Balakhnichev, who also did not attend the hearing, told Reuters he too would appeal. I dont live in France, he said. We have our own laws in Russia that protect Russian citizens.($1 = 0.8425 euros) | 2 |
###CLAIM: for the class, parents who are so out of whack with "thinking" are so out of whack with "women".
###DOCS: Labeled 'Mother' When Not A Mother At All: On Being A Non-Binary Gestational ParentEnlarge this image toggle caption Counterpoint CounterpointThe language we use to talk about the act of giving birth to a child is highly gendered. We speak of pregnant women, we speak of mothers, we speak of motherhood. In the crowded genre of memoir about mothering, Krys Malcolm Belc's debut, The Natural Mother of the Child, asks: What do we do with someone who is parenting the child they gave birth to, but is not a mother at all? Where do transgender and non-binary parents fit, especially in a world that is determined to force them into a box labeled "mother?" It is the necessary and long overdue transmasculine account of carrying and birthing a child. Belc's family structure often confounds the people around him. Anna carried their eldest and youngest children, while Belc carried the couple's middle child, all three conceived using the same donor. Belc carried his pregnancy before his medical transition he knew he was not a woman, but the world often read him that way and credits the pregnancy and birth of his son, Samson, with helping him realize that he needed to go on testosterone. "Without him," Belc writes of his son, "I never could have believed in myself enough to say yes. Yes to hormones, yes to finding out how to live." Belc's gender often occupies an in-between space that defies categorization, both for himself but also for the world around him. People do not know how to make sense of a child who was "made by their dad." There are no models of other transmasculine parents that Belc can turn to for support, or to show his children that they are not alone in the world. "[Samson] asks when we can meet other families like ours and I say, honestly, that I do not know," he writes. Even an interaction Belc has with Anna, a nurse who is seeking lactation support certification, shows how much of an outlier gestational parents who are not women are thought to be: Belc suggests Anna change the word "mother" to "parent" on worksheets she is creating for a class; she brushes him off, telling him not to "take everything so seriously." The book is not linear in structure, and skews literary and lyrical, told as a collection of fragmented essays. Belc seamlessly weaves in primary source documents with historical references, including the history of ultrasound machines, and of mastectomies to treat breast cancer ("The problem with reading about the science of pregnancy is that I cannot help being angry at the words mother and maternal," Belc writes). He explores anger, a common trope associated with transmasculine people who begin testosterone, turning it on its head by explaining that he has gotten less angry since starting T, not more; the anger he felt before was a result of not being able to live as himself. He struggles with feeling conflicted watching his son have the childhood he felt he should have gotten, to be raised as a boy, while also leaving space for his children to discover their own gender identities: "In this family, there is always a chance to redefine how you see yourself." The book switches between first and second person, which can sometimes be confusing for the reader. Belc writes from the trans perspective and it is clear that he is unconcerned with overexplaining his experience to a cisgender audience. His experience is far from universal, but nearly everyone can relate to the transformative experience of falling in love with a person, with a child and the ways that love can shape our identities. And for readers like me, who can relate to the experience of being a non-binary gestational parent, who are so used to being erased and invisible from conversations around families and parenting, the book looks us dead in the eye and says, unflinchingly: I see you. I am you. Britni de la Cretaz is a freelance writer whose work has also appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, The Washington Post, Bleacher Report, The Ringer, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, and other media. | 0 |
###CLAIM: the riding boot's family must have been put aside for at least a day while john and legend prepared for the performance at the inauguration of joe biden and kamala harris.
###DOCS: Chrissy Teigen was recently took up horseback riding under the advice of her therapist. The 35-year-old cookbook author decided to make the new hobby a family affair and spent the day at the horse paddock with her husband John Legend, 42, and their two children Luna, four, and Miles, two. Naturals on horseback, the Legend clan was pictured trotting around together in Malibu under the careful watch of instructors on Sunday. Giddy up: Chrissy Teigen made her new horseback riding hobby a family affair and spent the day at the paddock with her husband John Legend, 42, and their two children Luna, four, and Miles, twoAlways dressed for the occasion, Chrissy fit in perfectly around the equines in denim on denim with her jeans tucked into brand new riding boots and a trendy chambray button-up. The doting mom walked alongside daughter Luna as she learned to ride a small grey speckled horse. The pre-schooler was perched on the saddle in her own riding boots, a facemask and protective helmet. Roles were reversed for John and Miles, with the EGOT winner on the back of a sleek seal brown horse while the toddled walked alongside the trainer. 'My therapist says I need something that I do for just me, as I have absolutely nothing currently lol. Today begins my journey into the horse world,' she penned on social media. 'I hope this dude likes me hes so handsome and appears lazy, I love.' It was not easy going at first, for the cover girl, whose biggest issue was getting into her rigid leather riding boots. Equestrian: John Legend was seen riding a sleek, powerful looking horse while son Miles walked alongsideEGOT: The award winner looked perfectly at home seated on the saddle while an instructor walked him around the paddockGang's all here: While Chrissy was advised to take up horseback riding herself, she was seen watching her family get in on the funAs social media's darling, Chrissy made sure she documented the entire ordeal for her 33.7 million Instagram followers. Struggling to get the boots zipped up she penned: 'Not even at the horse part yet LOL! What the f*** who can fit in these?' 'Holy s***. Horse people: the boots! I always thought breaking in boots meant the foot part but does it mean the calf part because I'm dying over here,' Chrissy continued while trying to stretch them out. Change of pace: On Wednesday, John will perform during the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala HarrisCoping: The hobby was suggested to Teigen as a way to cope with the loss of her and John's baby Jack, who was still born'My therapist says I need something that I do for just me, as I have absolutely nothing currently lol. Today begins my journey into the horse world,' Teigen had penned on social media, showing off the horse John ended up ridingHer mom Pepper ended up coming over to help loosen up the leather with a massage gun and a hair dryer. Eventually the boots were on - and Chrissy could move - so she posed for a snap with Luna who'd donned her very first pair of jeans. 'First ride AND first jeans for Luna. she had an epic jean meltdown, really beautiful acting 10/10,' Teigen joked. Luna! The doting mom walked alongside daughter Luna as she learned to ride a small grey speckled horsePandemic: Legend will perform remotely for Biden's inauguration due to the coronavirusStruggle! It was not easy going at first, for the cover girl, whose biggest issue was getting into her rigid leather riding bootsThe Sports Illustrated swimsuit alum took some flack from haters on social media for her post about becoming an equestrian but Teigen didn't let the troll slide. A Twitter user wrote that the celeb's post appeared to be tone-deaf amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis, which has left many out of work and lacking resources. 'A lot of people are unemployed and struggling to feed their family in the midst of a pandemic,' the user wrote. 'Maybe now isn't a great time to say you 'have nothing' so you bought a horse to entertain yourself.' Struggling to get her new riding boots zipped up she penned: 'Not even at the horse part yet LOL! What the f*** who can fit in these?' Teigen wasted no time putting that person in their place and defended herself, explaining that she's taking horseback riding lessons to cope with the grief of losing baby son Jack in September, as the child was stillborn as result of a partial placental abruption. 'A lot of u really misinterpreted this tweet, and I guess that's on me.' She explained,' I didn't say I have nothing, I said I have nothing I do for just me.' The Lip Sync Battle personality said that the horseback riding stemmed from 'a convo with a therapist' who suggested 'a hobby ... cause [she] lost a baby' and she's figuring [herself] out.' Teigen also noted that she did not actually buy the horse but shrugged off the accusation writing: 'but oh my god, what if I did?' Clap back: The Sports Illustrated swimsuit alum took some flack from haters on social media for her post about becoming an equestrian but Teigen didn't let the troll slideThe family will have to put their riding boots aside for at least a day as John Legend gears up to perform at Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' inauguration. Lady Gaga is set to sing the national anthem for the swearing-in ceremony that will take place on the West front of the US Capitol on Wednesday. John Legend will perform as well, in addition to Kerry Washington, Eva Longoria, Garth Brooks, Foo Fighters, Bruce Springsteen who will will be on hand for the inauguration. John, Bruce and The Foo Fighters will be giving remote performances. | 0 |
###CLAIM: senate majority leader mitch mcconnell on monday dropped a demand that the new senate majority promise to preserve the ability of republicans to filibuster an end to the impasse that has prevented democrats from assuming full power until the british president has won an election on the agenda.
###DOCS: The Senate got one step closer to actually functioning Monday evening when Minority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to abandon his ultimatum that Democrats commit to preserving the legislative filibuster, which allows the minority party to compel a 60-vote supermajority to pass certain types of legislation. McConnell, despite losing control of the Senate earlier this month, dragged his feet on a power-sharing agreement that would allow the body to reapportion its committees and begin its work of the new Congress. The need for an operating agreement in the Senatedetermining the size and composition of committees, as well as the ratio of Democrats and Republicans on eachis particularly thorny this time around because the chamber is split 50-50 between the two parties, a deadlock broken by the vice president, the first time the body has been evenly divided in two decades. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMcConnell had withheld his final approval for a negotiated agreement based on the rules used in the last evenly split Senate in 2001, meaning that the Senate has been unable to officially reorganize its committees, technically leaving Republicans in the chair of the committees despite being in the minority. McConnells ability to stall on the filibuster, in a fitting tautological touch, was powered by the threat of the filibuster itself. The structure of Senate operations is laid out in a resolution that is subject to the filibuster itself, the Washington Post notes, which gave McConnell leverage to make his demands. Under the 2001 rules, committee memership was split evenly, the party of the vice president assumed committee chairs, and tied votes in committee were moved to the full chamber. AdvertisementAdvertisementSubscribe to the Slatest newsletter A daily email update of the stories you need to read right now. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. Democrats, particularly activists on the left, have been calling for sweeping legislative reform based on the removal of the filibuster rule that makes such decisive legislative action nearly impossible. It seemed unlikely that President Joe Biden wanted to pick such a divisive fight so early in his presidency, but McConnell was intent on making it an issue, presumably as a means to keep the GOP base sufficiently enraged. The Democratic leadership refused to provide McConnell the guarantee he was looking for, so, on Monday, he took two Democratic senatorsArizonas Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin of West Virginiacomments opposing undoing the filibuster as confirmation of the partys commitment to maintaining the rule and agreed to move on to Step One of the governing process. Not exactly rousing endorsement for bipartisan common cause in the post-Trump era. Senator Mitch McConnell on Monday dropped his demand that the new Democratic Senate majority promise to preserve the filibuster which Republicans could use to obstruct President Bidens agenda ending an impasse that had prevented Democrats from assuming full power even after their election wins. But as in past fights over the filibuster, the outcome is likely to be only a temporary solution. As they press forward on Mr. Bidens agenda, Democrats will come under mounting pressure from activists to jettison the rule, which effectively requires 60 votes to advance any measure, should Republicans use it regularly to stall or stop the administrations priorities. In his negotiations with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the new majority leader, Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, had refused to agree to a plan for organizing the chamber without a pledge from Democrats to protect the filibuster, a condition that Mr. Schumer had rejected. But late Monday, as the stalemate persisted, Mr. McConnell found a way out by pointing to statements by two centrist Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, that said they opposed getting rid of the procedural tool a position they had held for months as enough of a guarantee to move forward without a formal promise from Mr. Schumer. | 3 |
###CLAIM: the royal mail newspaper raised the price of first class stamps by nine pence to 85 pence because of the inflation bust.
###DOCS: Royal Mail has brought forward an inflation-busting increase in the price of stamps, blaming Covid-19 and a fall in the number of letters. A first-class stamp will go up by 9p to 85p an increase of nearly 12 per cent from January 1. However, the price of second-class stamps will rise by only 1p to 66p. Normally, Royal Mail does not increase the price of stamps until the end of March, but bosses said the early rises were necessary to help ensure the sustainability of the universal service. Royal Mail confirmed a first-class stamp will go up by 9p to 85p an increase of nearly 12 per cent from January 1. However, the price of second-class stamps will rise by only 1p to 66pThe announcement came amid rumours that deliveries on Saturdays may be abandoned to cut costs. Royal Mail said letter volumes had fallen 28 per cent in the six months to September 27 year on year, and the pandemic had cost it 85 million in PPE, absences, overtime and agency staff. A spokesman said: 'The reduction in letter volumes has had a significant impact on the finances of the universal service which lost 180 million in the first half of the year. 'This demonstrates the need for change in the universal service. We are working tirelessly to deliver the most comprehensive service we can in difficult circumstances as the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact our operation.' Royal Mail said letter volumes had fallen 28 per cent in the six months to September 27 year on year, and the pandemic had cost it 85 million in PPE, absences, overtime and agency staffDefending the price rises, the company added that the Covid-19 pandemic had cost it 85 million during the period on protective equipment, covering absences, overtime and agency staff. Nick Landon, chief commercial officer at Royal Mail, said: 'Like other companies, 2020 has been a challenging year for Royal Mail. 'Our people have worked tirelessly to keep the UK connected throughout the pandemic and associated restrictions. 'These price increases will help us continue to deliver and sustain the Universal Service in challenging circumstances.' Royal Mail is raising the price of a first-class stamp by an inflation-busting 9p to 85p. That means prices will have jumped by 21% since March. As a result, a first-class stamp will cost more than double what it did in 2010. The increase will take effect on 1 January, when the price of a second-class stamp will increase by 1p to 66p. Prices for parcels, signed-for letters and other items will also go up. Royal Mail said despite the rise, its stamp prices were among the best value in Europe. The company put much of the blame for the increase on the Covid-19 pandemic, which it said had triggered a sharp fall in letter volumes. This in turn has had a significant impact on the finances of Royal Mails so-called universal service, which lost 180m in the first half of the year. This requires the company to be able to deliver to 31m homes and businesses across the UK. Prices previously increased on 23 March, when the cost of a first-class stamp rose by 6p to 76p and the cost of second-class was climbed by 4p to 65p. In 2010, first- and second-class stamps cost 41p and 32p respectively. In 2000, it was 27p and 19p. Mike Cherry, the national chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, said when the cost of doing business was already rising across the board, this latest rise in stamp costs for letters and for parcels is just another expense that small businesses will be forced to carry, affecting small firms that rely on Royal Mail as a major part of their business. He added: Price hikes like this only prevent small firms from being able to grow and succeed, and we should be doing all we can to support this and not hinder it.However, Royal Mail said: We have considered any pricing changes very carefully and in doing so have sought to minimise any impact on our customers. These changes are necessary to help ensure the sustainability of the one-price-goes-anywhere universal service.The latest increases come days after the postal regulator, Ofcom, called on Royal Mail to become more efficient so it could sustain the universal service and keep up with the changing needs of the public. Royal Mail did, however, move a step closer to scrapping Saturday letter deliveries after Ofcom research found there would be no significant impact on consumers. Sign up to the daily Business Today email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDeskOfcom, which estimates the move could save Royal Mail 225m a year, said cutting Saturday deliveries would still allow the company to meet the needs of nearly all people and businesses. The regulator acknowledged that the postal market had changed dramatically in recent years, with the number of letters people send and receive falling by about 5% each year since 2015. But it said that while the pandemic had made 2020 a particularly challenging year, the issues facing the company due to the changing market and consumer behaviour were apparent before the pandemic started to have an impact. The company pointed out that it had racked up significant extra costs totalling 85m in six months as a result of the coronavirus crisis. | 2 |
###CLAIM: foreign, police and palmer are usually audience members of superiors in the chinese government and it doesn't matter if the post is good or bad.
###DOCS: A butchered Aesops fable from the Twitter account of Chinas embassy in Ireland has drawn mirth from observers and highlighted the growing sensitivity of Chinese diplomats to international criticism. As China engages in international disputes ranging from fist fights with Taiwanese officials to trade sanctions and threats of conflict, the belligerent and aggressive style of communication of some of its foreign officials has earned the nickname wolf warrior diplomacy. Thursdays tweet pushed back on such accusations but appeared to lose something in translation as the author navigated English allegories and the need to maintain an image of Chinese strength. Riffing on the fable of the Wolf and the Lamb, a story of tyrannical injustice in which the lamb is falsely accused and killed, Thursdays post queried: Who is the wolf?It continued: Some people accused China for so-called wolf-warrior diplomacy. In his well-known fable, Aesop described how the Wolf accused the Lamb of committing offences. The wolf is the wolf, not the lamb ... BTW, China is not a lamb.The confused analogy prompted attempts to unpack its meaning. [H]e leaps in with the fable of the wolf and the lamb ... but as he gets to the end, he realises hes left himself open. China cant be portrayed as a weak lamb that will be eaten up. China is strong, powerful! So he adds the BTW, said Foreign Policys deputy editor, James Palmer, in a breakdown of the likely context behind the tweet. I honestly dont think the embassy staff meant to say that China is the wolf in this fable but I scratch my head about what they meant to say through this fable, said Victor Shih, a University of California San Diego academic on China. [If] its something like China is innocent like the lamb in the fable except China is a wolf then dont use the fable!So, to be clear, the West is the Wolf. But China is not a lamb! The west thinks China is a lamb. But China is actually a larger wolf that looks like...a lamb? Shit. That doesn't work. Give us a minute. https://t.co/TlhfUVVTra The Relevant Organs (@relevantorgans) April 1, 2021While Thursdays post sparked ridicule, it also illustrated the growing enthusiasm of Chinese diplomats to show toughness, regardless of whether it is done well. Theres always been this performative aspect of being an official in the party structure, said Margaret Lewis, a law professor and China specialist at Seton Hall University, New Jersey. But were hearing it louder now.In the online age, wolf-warrior posts are usually made on western social media platforms such as Twitter (banned in China) and push back at international reactions to Beijings human rights abuses, pandemic failings and obfuscations, and regional aggression, by targeting other nations or figures. Some have landed a hit: an illustration and post about findings of suspected war crimes by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan prompted an angry press conference by Australias prime minister. But Foreign Policys Palmer said their intended audience was usually Chinese government superiors, and it didnt necessarily matter if the post was any good. It counts as success if your boss, or your bosses boss, sees it and thinks it reflects the right political line, said Palmer. Theres maybe some small bonus in a dumb post that gets mocked a lot because if youre getting measured for impact at all, it takes no account of the qualitative impact only the quantifiable one.But there are significant implications. Lewis said wolf-warrior diplomacy was geared towards domestic politics but if Beijing turns the temperature up too high it could facilitate US desires to strengthen alliances and coordinate response to China, or push more conciliatory EU partners towards harder measures like sanctions. Palmer said that as Chinas autocratic system tightens, it is the people who are happy to toe any party line who get ahead, while those who have views in opposition to the prevailing political mood in this case Xi-ist xenophobia and ethnonationalism are pushed to the margins. I think its done wonders in alienating foreigners from China and helping probably doom [the comprehensive agreement on investment with the EU], but the people who realise how self-defeating the wolf-warrior stuff is are very much pushed to the margins of the system at the moment, he said. Who is his audience with this tweet? First of all, it's his bosses. He needs to show he's working, and he needs to fit the very clearly signaled from the top mood of sarcastic aggression in defense of China this week. James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) March 31, 2021International pressure on Beijing is growing, and the focus on abuses of Uighur and other ethnic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang appears to be causing the most anger. In return, Beijings wolf warriors have ratcheted up their rhetoric, and there has been an apparent rise in domestic propaganda and orchestrated social media campaigns most recently against international retailers moving away from using Xinjiang cotton. Recent news reports have described state medias use of foreigners inside China to write or blog stories that counter western smears, and this week CGTN published one such account supposedly by a French journalist who had lived in Xinjiangs capital, Urumqi, for seven years. In the article, which remains online, Laurene Beaumond, described as a freelance journalist who had worked for several Paris titles, said: I do not recognise Xinjiang which is described to me [by western media] in the one I know.On Thursday the French publication Le Monde revealed that Beaumond did not exist. The outlet said there was no record of a journalist of that name having worked in France. | 1 |
###CLAIM: nfl stars jason and bell have meanwhile enlisted the daughter 's skills of nadine and coyle, their young mothers.
###DOCS: AdvertisementThey may have had their ballroom debut delayed for several weeks thanks to COVID-19. But the class of Strictly Come Dancing 2020 are ready to rhumba as they show off their sparkling makeovers in the first official portraits ahead of the start of the new series on October 17. Radio 1 star Clara Amfo and EastEnders actress Maisie Smith both look incredible in their tasselled mini dresses and Olympian Nicola Adams suits up in a sequin blazer, but there's no sign of YouTube star HRVY in the newly-released images, following his positive test for COVID-19 last week. Keep dancing! The launch show will see each celebrity paired with their professional partner by hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman before the cast take part in a group performance. The live shows kick off one week later on October 24. 11 out of the 12 celebrities appear in the first official photos, but there's no snap of YouTube star HRVY (real name Harvey Leigh Cantwell). Last week the 21-year-old revealed he was isolating for 10 days after testing positive for coronavirus. HRVY tested positive just days after mixing with his co-stars on the BBC show and must remain in isolation until next Thursday. But if HRVY is not well when he finishes his isolation period next week, he will be axed from the competition. A spokesman for the show insisted all celebrities on the show are 'tested regularly' and claimed that the positive test has had 'minimal impact on production'. Meanwhile it will be Made In Chelsea star Jamie's second launch show as he was originally part of the 2019 cast before being forced to pull out before the first live show after injuring his leg. Jamie has admitted that if he gets injured again this year then the infamous Strictly curse is about his foot. Back on screens: Men Behaving Badly and Jonathan Creek star Caroline Quentin looks incredible in her sparkly blue numberHere come the boys: The Wanted singer Max George, Made In Chelsea star Jamie Laing and pundit and ex NFL player Jason Bell are suited and booted and ready to hit the floor'If I get injured again it would look like I bottled it!' he pointed out. 'So I really have to be careful. I'm not worried, I feel like I'm pretty fit and healthy. If something happens then the Strictly curse isn't about me sleeping with someone else, it's definitely about my foot!' Another major change in the 2020 series is the first same-sex partnership, with boxer Nicole Adams set to be paired with a female professional. Nicola, 37, has said that being paired with another woman, rumoured to be Katya Jones, is a 'brilliant step in the right direction, especially on the diversity side of things'. 'And women actually dance with women all the time in the professional circuit so I guess it's just showing people that it can be done'. Revealing she approached Strictly with the idea for a same-sex pairing, Nicola explained: 'I asked the show about it. 'They wanted to know if I wanted to be on the show and I said "yeah I'll do it but I want to dance with another female dance partner.'" Action man: Former Royal Marine and Invictus Games medallist JJ Chalmers scrubs up in a purple suit for his dancefloor debutOn Tuesday Nicola and professional Katya were pictured leaving filming together, all but confirming they have been paired together. It was revealed in August that producers decide the celebrity and professional pairings based on height. Katya measures at 5ft 5ins while former professional boxer Nicola stands at 5ft 4ins. Earlier this year, Katya told the Sunday Mirror: 'I would love to dance with a woman on the show. I think creatively it would be really interesting and I love coming up with new ideas for stuff.' Following the news about Nicola appearing on the show in a female partnership, the BBC defended having a same-sex pairing after more than 100 people complained. In a statement the corporation said the competition is an 'inclusive show' and they are 'proud' to have had same-sex numbers in previous series. 'Ive been lucky that Ed Balls has talked to me and give me some advice. I'm not sure that I would ever be able to match his Gangnam Style,' the politician quipped. Meanwhile NFL star Jason Bell has enlisted the skills of his ex Nadine Coyle, who is the mother of his young daughter. Admitting the Girls Aloud star was the first person he told about Strictly, the athlete explained of her reaction: 'She just kind of looked at me for a minute. Shes not very quick to tell you her opinion, she listens to all the facts.' 'So when I told her, she just was like, are you sure your back can do it? I talk to her all the time about preparing for dance routines and stuff like that, and how long does it take and what do you need to do. Shes an expert, so I'm lucky because of that.' Hunks of the ballroom: Max George will be hoping to emulate bandmate Jay McGuinness' success on the show while NFL star Jason Bell will be swapping the football field for the Strictly ballroomBack for more! it will be Made In Chelsea star Jamie's second launch show as he was originally part of the 2019 cast before being forced to pull out before the first live show after injuring his legAnd actress Caroline Quentin has revealed an unlikely Stictly superfan in the form of her friend Elizabeth Hurley. Explaining the best reactions she's had to her new venture, Caroline revealed: 'Until you're in the eye of the storm you don't really know how much people love something.' 'I've been working with Elizabeth Hurley and shes more excited about it than anyone Ive ever met. She has told me so much information about the programme that I didn't know, past years and winners, what's happened and how to go about it.' 'She and her son Damien have been extraordinarily supportive. In my local grocer, I got a round of applause when I went to buy some fruit!' Learning their moves: The launch show on October 17 will see Ranvir, Caroline and co paired up with their professional partners ahead of the first live show a week laterIn a recent industry Q&A, executive producer Sarah James detailed the new Covid-friendly format, which also includes a socially distanced judging panel and contestant 'bubbles', with one party being required to live alone. Sarah also shed light on the show's contingency plans in light of the pandemic and insisted she's 'confident' the competition series will go ahead even if the current coronavirus restrictions change from October 17. This year's series will be a pared down nine-week run with a very different look. The 12 partnerships three less than usual will be unveiled via video link rather than in the studio and the annual trip to the Blackpool Tower ballroom is also off the cards. With limited studio crew, big sets may not be built so producers will use augmented reality, which adds computer-generated elements. And to ensure the contestants can work closely with their partners, they will get tested regularly and 'bubble up'. In isolation: 11 out of the 12 celebrities appear in the first official photos, but there's no snap of YouTube star HRVY (real name Harvey Leigh Cantwell) (pictured in 2019)Only three judges - Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse - will be in the studio with separate rostrums, and the dancers will sit in the audience rather than go upstairs to get their scores. Veteran judge Bruno Tonioli has said he will be 'involved remotely' and hopes to return full-time towards the end of the series as he is filming the US version of the show in Los Angeles. As well as the absence of Bruno, it was confirmed last week that professionals Nadiya Bychkova, Neil Jones, Graziano Di Prima and Nancy Xu are without celebrity partners for this year's series. The BBC show's executive producer confirmed the quartet have not been assigned a celeb contestant for the main show this year, as there are only 12 pairings rather than 15 and nine live shows instead of the usual 12. Dancing queen: Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly will be back on hosting duties alongside judges Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Craig Revel-HorwoodThis year's series will also have a much-reduced live audience, with people applying for tickets also being instructed that they will have to wear face coverings, preferably black ones, throughout the recording and while on site at the studios in Elstree. According to guidance on the BBC's Shows and Tours website, tickets this year are limited and they will also seat family groups of 'four people from the same household/social bubble at cabaret tables and in balcony seating'. The website says the corporation will also be supporting the NHS Test and Trace Scheme, and urges people to not attend recordings if they 'begin to develop any of the symptoms of coronavirus or if you have come into close contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus'. Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One for the launch show on October 17. | 1 |
###CLAIM: staggs said : `` the terrifying thing about the side is that they are nervous and let down by sticking with them and taking difficult news well.
###DOCS: NRL star Kotoni Staggs has spoken candidly about the 'embarrassing' sex tape scandal that the rocked the 21-year-old's career earlier this season. The Brisbane Broncos speedster opened up about the harrowing chapter in his life for the first time in a newspaper article on Wednesday, admitting the ordeal left him 'shattered'. He revealed the hardest part was telling his tight-knit family. NRL star Kotoni Staggs (pictured) has spoken candidly about the 'embarrassing' sex tape scandalMcKenzie Lorraine Robinson, 18, (pictured) is accused of leaking the intimate video without his consent and is expected to plead guilty'I was embarrassed it came out. I didn't want my family to see it, that was the one thing that I was worried about,' he told the Courier Mail. Although he was nervous and terrified of letting them down, Staggs said they stuck by his side and took the difficult news well. 'They had my back through it all. I was surprised by how well they took it and that made me feel a bit better,' he said. The code was rocked in August when a sex tape circulated online involving Staggs and a woman. But a subsequent investigation by the NRL Integrity Unit and Queensland Police found that Staggs had done nothing wrong and was not the one who leaked the raunchy video. 'It wasn't my fault but I was still involved... there's always ups and downs. You learn from your mistakes,' he said. Despite the embarrassment for the up-and-coming Bronco, Staggs (pictured) was cleared of any wrongdoing by the NRL's integrity unit after the video was releasedRobinson (pictured) appeared in will appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on October 16 over the matterMcKenzie Lorraine Robinson will appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on October 16 and has indicated she will plead guilty to one count of distributing a prohibited video recording. Who Kotoni Staggs? Staggs made his NRL debut for the Broncos in 2018 and is already considered to be one of the games most exciting players. The star centre has scored 26 tries in just 46 games and is known for his blistering speed. After representing Tonga and the Indigenous All Stars in 2019, many tipped him to debut for the NSW Blues this year at the age of just 21. But a devastating ACL injury in the Broncos' last-round loss to North Queensland will making him ineligible for State of Origin and see him in recovery for around six to nine months. During the Broncos year from hell - that saw their coach Anthony Seibold sacked and the club handed their first wooden spoon - Staggs stellar form was among the few highlights for the struggling club. AdvertisementIt has been alleged she leaked the video without Stagg's consent after the rugby league star turned down her request for a threesome. Defence lawyer Jason Jacobson previously insisted the teenager never meant for the video to circulate on social media. 'It was not Ms Robinson that made this private video go public,' he told reporters outside court in September. 'That was never intended by her and she very much regrets that it did and she very much regrets the impact that it caused for Mr Staggs. 'There is an explanation as to how this happened and that will be put to the court at a later date.' Ms Robinson, who has been the target of extensive trolling since video circulated, allegedly messaged the star footballer on Instagram and instigated the relationship. Shortly after they began speaking online, the duo met up and slept together, and Robinson allegedly asked if she could film the sexual encounter. Staggs alleges Robinson, who describes herself as a 'holistic wellness coach,' repeatedly called and messaged him following their rendezvous. As time went on she allegedly asked the NRL star if he would have a threesome with her and a friend, according to the publication. Fed up with the alleged constant messages, Staggs reportedly asked the teen to stop contacting him just weeks before the video was released to the public. Robinson (pictured) has so far refused to publicly comment on the allegations over the sex tape scandalFed up with the alleged constant messaging, Staggs (pictured) reportedly asked the teen to stop contacting him just weeks before the video was released to the publicStaggs was at the centre of another bizarre this years after a host of victims came forward to police complaining they had been 'catfished' by someone impersonating the footballer on social media. Police once again cleared Staggs of any wrongdoing. Robinson describes herself as a 'holistic wellness coach'It was a horror season for the Broncos who finished last for the first time in their history. Coach Anthony Seibold was sacked toward the end of the year after managing just three wins all season. To make matters worse for the club, emerging star forward David Fafita announced he would leave Brisbane in 2021 for cross-town rivals the Gold Coast Titans. Fed up with the a perceived lack of on-field effort from players, their own fans even booed the six-time premiership-winning club off the field on several occasions during the season. But while the 2020 season will go down as one to forget, Staggs stellar performances were one of few highlights for the Broncos. He was so good in a losing side that pundits widely tipped the young centre to make his State of Origin debut for the Blues at the end of the coronavirus-interrupted season in November. But a devastating ACL injury in the Broncos' last-round loss to North Queensland will making him ineligible and see him in recovery for around six to nine months. Pictured: McKenzie RobinsonRaunchy text messages between NRL star Kotoni Staggs and the teenager who shared 'first person' footage of their intimate sex acts have been revealed. McKenzie Lorraine Robinson, 18, bombarded the Brisbane Broncos centre with up to 40 messages when he ignored her, Brisbane Magistrates Court heard on Friday. In a series of increasingly eager text messages, many of which are too graphic to be shown, Ms Robinson begs the star for sex. One text exchange on June 15 began when Ms Robinson asked: 'Do you wanna come for dinner and have me for dessert? She followed with a drool and wink emoji. Staggs replied by texting: 'I've already got dinner out but I will still have you for dessert' and also adds a drool and wink emoji. Later that night Ms Robinson replied: 'Message me when you're home my p***y is throbbing.' But in the afternoon Staggs said that he is 'so tired' and avoids meeting up with his eager squeeze. Still keen for the hook up, Ms Robinson replied by insisting she 'can do all the work' and discusses sex positions, according to text messages seen by the Courier Mail. Despite the embarrassment for the up-and-coming Bronco, Staggs was cleared of any wrongdoing by the NRL's integrity unit after the video was releasedRobinson texts Staggs that it's illegal 'to be that cute'Two weeks later Robinson offered the footballer to participate in group sex with her and a friend. 'You can come over and have a three some with me and one of the girls later if you want,' she sent along with an explicit photo. 'I mean why not,' Staggs replied. 'Did you want to put me on a spit or what.' But as discussions over their potential sex partner continued the relationship quickly began to sour. After viewing a picture sent by Robinson, Stags asks 'Is that her? ', referring to the offer of a threesome. 'No that's Ruby you've met her I live with her,' Robinson replied. 'Tell her I want her,' Staggs said. 'Aha what about me?' Robinson replied. 'My mate will go you,' Staggs said. 'No thanks lol,' Robinson replied. 'Ask her if she will f**k me,' Staggs said. 'She said big ass no,' Robinson replied. 'Why not?' Staggs said. 'Why do you think?' Robinson said, followed by 'yuck so off you now'. 'Don't want a bar, neither of us do.' Staggs tells Robinson he has training tomorrowRobinson was fined $600 - the maximum penalty for the crime being a term of three years imprisonment. Magistrate Tina Privatera took into account an early guilty plea and Ms Robinson escaped conviction. Staggs had spent several hours at Robinson's home and he agreed to be filmed engaging in consensual sex after Ms Robinson promised not to share the footage with anyone else. Ms Robinson denies it was her idea to film their encounter, but accepted that she did make the recording and that it was on her phone. The pair never met again, but Staggs later told police Ms Robinson bombarded him with between 30 and 40 messages over the following six weeks. She arrived at court early on Friday morning wearing a bright floral mini dress and dark black sunglasses, flanked by her legal teamStaggs alleges Robinson, who describes herself as a 'holistic wellness coach,' repeatedly called and messaged him following their rendezvousIn one message she included a snippet from the video that was filmed on the night. Defence lawyer Jason Jacobson agreed that she messaged him over seven separate days to initiate conversation again and to invite him back to her home. He told the court Ms Robinson had only arrived in Queensland ten days prior to meeting Staggs after moving from New South Wales. He said she came to Queensland to 'escape a difficult situation in New South Wales' which had resulted in a diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder. The court heard that Ms Robinson sent the vision to one person, who was not named but is at least double her own age, and that person then distributed the video further. The person who received the footage was somebody that Ms Robinson had 'trusted', the magistrate heard. The court heard that Ms Robinson sent the vision to one person, who was not named but is at least double her own age, and that person then distributed the video furtherMcKenzie Lorraine Robinson, 18, appeared in Brisbane Magistrate's Court on Wednesday charged with distributing the illegal visionBy August 4, it had been distributed to other sport clubs and across several social media platforms, the court heard. While handing down her sentence, the magistrate said she hoped the ordeal had been a lesson for the teenager. 'This kind of behaviour on social media, that it is highly destructive,' Ms Privatera said. 'This recording is derogatory of more than just the victim. Do you understand what I'm saying?' she asked. Ms Robinson replied: 'Yes your honour.' The magistrate also agreed there is no evidence that proved Ms Robinson knew Staggs was a high profile footballer when she first initiated a conversation with him. 'There is no evidence of intentional or spiteful behaviour on your part to cause the victim the damage that has been caused by the distribution of the recording,' she added. 'That was never intended by her and she very much regrets that it did and she very much regrets the impact that it caused for Mr Staggs. 'There is an explanation as to how this happened and that will be put to the court at a later date.' Staggs recently opened up about the harrowing experience of learning the tape had been released, and said telling his tight-knit family about what had happened was his worst nightmare. The 21-year-old said he was 'shattered' that his private life had been thrust into public domain. 'I was embarrassed it came out. I didn't want my family to see it, that was the one thing that I was worried about,' he told The Courier Mail. 'They had my back through it all. I was surprised by how well they took it and that made me feel a bit better.' Despite the embarrassment for the up-and-coming Bronco, Staggs was cleared of any wrongdoing by the NRL's integrity unit after the video was released. 'It wasn't my fault but I was still involved... there's always ups and downs. You learn from your mistakes,' he said. Fed up with the alleged constant messaging, Staggs reportedly asked the teen to stop contacting him just weeks before the video was released to the public | 2 |
###CLAIM: abraham said the interview was made deliberately to avoid the more flamboyant aspects of the hit city and ballet hit which will be available through april 22 on the company's website and youtube channel.
###DOCS: Not just snow falling, but snow falling on a silent sea. In its first moments, When We Fell, Kyle Abrahams new dance film for New York City Ballet, establishes its tone: muted, attuned to melting subtleties. In interviews, Abraham has said that for this film available through April 22 on the companys website and YouTube channel he deliberately avoided the more flamboyant aspects of The Runaway, his 2018 hit for City Ballet. He has said that he was influenced instead by the environment in which the new work was made: during a February bubble residency in the Hudson Valley, where the quiet of quarantine was compounded by snow. This is all apparent in the 16-minute work, set to spare piano pieces by Morton Feldman and Nico Muhly, sandwiching a raucous one by Jason Moran. But because this dance had to be a film, Abrahams most crucial decision may have been his choice of a co-director, the cinematographer Ryan Marie Helfant. When We Fell, shot in 16 mm black-and-white, is among the most beautiful dance films of the pandemic. After the snow and sea, it positions the dancers on the promenade of City Ballets home theater at Lincoln Center, taking full advantage of the sites clarity and elegance, the geometric floor designs and balcony ironwork. Unlike many recent dance films, this one establishes and maintains bodies in relation to the space around them. When it cuts to a different point of view, the editing is calm, musical, coherent. Even shifts as ostentatious and potentially disorienting as toggles between side and overhead views are subsumed into the films tranquil rhythms. | 0 |
###CLAIM: the 40-year-old comedian and model-turned-actor has adopted an adorable terrier pooch from his girlfriend who introduced him to love.
###DOCS: Andy Lee and his girlfriend Rebecca Harding have welcomed a new addition to their family. The comedian, 40, and his model girlfriend adopted an adorable terrier puppy and they introduced her to fans on Monday. Andy shared a sweet video to Instagram of himself holding the pooch and surprising Rebecca: 'When Bec met Henri. We've been waiting for this pup for a long, long time. I've known it was arriving today for about 4 months. Rapt to have kept the secret.' 'We've been waiting for this for a long time': Andy Lee (right) has welcomed an adorable puppy to his family with girlfriend Rebecca Harding (left)'So pleased Rebecca was delighted to meet Henrietta rather than saying 'what did you get that for? I'm into cats now!' Welcome the Welshy (aka Tall Terrier). Our newest family member,' he said. Andy then shared a photo of the couple holding their new dog while smiling for the camera. Rebecca also posted an adorable picture of her new puppy posing for the camera. New addition: The comedian, 40, and his model girlfriend adopted an adorable terrier pooch and they introduced her to fans on MondayThe couple have been together since 2014, but didn't go public with their romance until January the following year. For years, the rumour mill has been spinning with speculation about the pair getting secretly engaged. In October 2019, radio host Fifi Box questioned the duo's marital status after the station received an email from a publicist referring to the couple as 'Andy and his fiancee Bec'. History: The couple have been together since 2014, but didn't go public with their romance until January the following yearA month earlier, Today show host Georgie Gardner had also tried to get a definitive answer on where the couple were in their personal life. 'Gosh, Andy. She is wife material. Just saying, she is wife material,' she told Andy while he was a guest on the program. The comedian replied: 'Has my mum been texting you? What the hell is going on?' Engagement rumours were sparked again last year when Andy posted a photo of Rebecca hiding her left hand while celebrating her 30th birthday. 'Is there a ring she's hiding with her left sleeve?' one eagle-eyed follower wrote, keen to see if the pair were about to share exciting news. They have been dating for around seven years. And comedian Andy Lee and his long-time girlfriend Rebecca Harding have finally added to their family. The couple were spotted with their new adorable terrier puppy Henrietta during a stroll in Melbourne on Monday. Baby makes three! Andy Lee and long-term girlfriend Rebecca Harding were spotted taking a stroll with their new 12-week-old puppy Henrietta in Melbourne on MondayStunning model Rebecca cradled the tiny pooch in the crook of her arm as the pair went shopping and ran errands around town. The brunette beauty looked stunning completely makeup free, and showed off her slender figure in a pair of tight black leggings, a beige sweater and a matching coloured puffer jacket. Meanwhile, Andy carried the couple's shopping while wearing a black face mask. So cute! Stunning model Rebecca cradled the tiny pooch in the crook of her arm as the pair went shopping and ran errands around townModel figure: Rebecca showed off her slender figure in a pair of tight black leggings, a beige sweater and a matching coloured puffer jacketHe also dressed casually in a pair of beige chinos, a black T-shirt and a checked shirt. The loved-up pair introduced the little Henri to their fans earlier in the day. Andy shared a sweet video to Instagram of himself holding the pooch and surprising Rebecca: 'When Bec met Henri. We've been waiting for this pup for a long, long time. I've known it was arriving today for about 4 months. Rapt to have kept the secret.' 'We've been waiting for this for a long time': The loved-up pair introduced the tiny pup to their fans on the same day'So pleased Rebecca was delighted to meet Henrietta rather than saying 'what did you get that for? I'm into cats now!' Welcome the Welshy (aka Tall Terrier). Our newest family member,' he said. Andy then shared a photo of the couple holding their new dog while smiling for the camera. Rebecca also posted an adorable picture of her new puppy posing for the camera. New addition: The comedian, 40, and his model girlfriend adopted an adorable terrier pooch and they introduced her to fans on MondayThe couple have been together since 2014, but didn't go public with their romance until January the following year. For years, the rumour mill has been spinning with speculation about the pair getting secretly engaged. In October 2019, radio host Fifi Box questioned the duo's marital status after the station received an email from a publicist referring to the couple as 'Andy and his fiancee Bec'. History: The couple have been together since 2014, but didn't go public with their romance until January the following yearA month earlier, Today show host Georgie Gardner had also tried to get a definitive answer on where the couple were in their personal life. 'Gosh, Andy. She is wife material. Just saying, she is wife material,' she told Andy while he was a guest on the program. The comedian replied: 'Has my mum been texting you? What the hell is going on?' Engagement rumours were sparked again last year when Andy posted a photo of Rebecca hiding her left hand while celebrating her 30th birthday. 'Is there a ring she's hiding with her left sleeve?' one eagle-eyed follower wrote, keen to see if the pair were about to share exciting news. | 2 |
###CLAIM: sergio and agueros touch upon sian and society in a way like bernardo and silvas tweet a joke to benjamin and mendy.
###DOCS: Pep Guardiola has defended Sergio Agueros touching of Sian Massey-Ellis by stating the action has been misconstrued in a similar way to how Bernardo Silvas joke tweet to Benjamin Mendy was. During Citys 1-0 win over Arsenal last Saturday Aguero placed a hand on the assistant referees shoulder after disputing a throw-in Massey-Ellis awarded. Despite criticism on social media and from pundits including Ian Wright and Alan Shearer on Match of the Day, Aguero did not apologise. Guardiola dismissed the episode after the game. The manager was asked on Friday whether on reflection Aguero should have said sorry. I know perfectly [about this] its like Bernardo and what he had with Mendy, he said. They are brothers and he was suspended. All the people looking from outside judge. I know the intention from Sergio. Sergio put his hands in a normal way like he does many times to me, on or off the pitch or when I hug him, when there is a substitution or when sometimes he touches the referee as well or an opponent. The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email. If Id seen some aggression, maybe [he should have said sorry]. I think it was normal as I know him perfectly. Hes been a huge star in the world but hes humble, one of the nicest people Ive met. What is important is his intention and his intention was normal, to talk to her in a normal way; it was not a bad word, it was just normal. I didnt speak to Sergio about this but Im pretty sure if [he thought] she felt bad he would apologise without a problem. It is the same as what happened with Bernardo, I know him perfectly well and it was a joke and this was a normal [not wrong] situation.Last September Silva apologised for any unintentional hurt caused after he posted a picture of a cartoon character used to promote a Spanish chocolate brand alongside one of Mendy as a child with the caption Guess who? and two smileys. Silva deleted the tweet but was found guilty by the Football Association of an aggravated breach of its rules on social media behaviour because it appeared to reference the left-backs race. He was fined 50,000, banned for one match and ordered to undergo education. Guardiolas contract expires next summer and he stated there were currently no discussions about an extension. He denied it may affect players mentality if they knew he was staying. Absolutely not they want to play good every single minute, they are professional, he said. | 1 |
###CLAIM: planning and taking into account the need to develop a go-to-market strategy, business development professionals sell the plan.
###DOCS: Business development professionals always have to be aware of the markets latest trends and developments. The market ebbs and flows, but shows off specific trends. Business development professionals can leverage these trends to create an effective go-to market strategy. The key is ensuring that this strategy is adaptable and able to pivot at a moment's notice. With the volatility of individual markets, locking yourself into one rigid, inflexible approach can have dire consequences. A business needs to have a go-to system that works, but can take new information into account and adjust accordingly. To help, 13 experts from Forbes Business Development Council offer their insight into the key steps someone in the business development industry should take when creating a go-to-market strategy. Members of Forbes Business Development Council share advice on crafting an effective go-to-market strategy. Photos courtesy of the individual members. 1. Prioritize The Needs Of The BuyerAny go-to-market strategy should prioritize the needs of the buyer. Todays buyers expect near-instant responsiveness. As a result, remove friction to ensure immediate and contextual responses to your buyers needs. Meeting expectations early and often builds trust and is the foundation of any successful partnership. - Howard Brown, RingDNA | Inside sales & enterprise sales acceleration software2. Thoroughly Understand The MarketA key step business development professionals must take when developing a go-to-market strategy is thoroughly understanding the market they plan on selling to. The more deeply you understand your customers, the more successful you will ultimately be. Consume all forms of research you can, including primary research. There is no substitute for talking to people. - Adam Mendler, The Veloz GroupForbes Business Development Council is an invitation-only community for sales and biz dev executives. Do I qualify? 3. Have A Thoughtful And Measurable PlanThe key is to have a, thoughtful, measurable and well-laid-out plan that accounts for challenges along the way and how to always get back on course if any do arise. A disciplined approach to rolling out your plan will be critical as undoubtedly there will be hurdles along the way. Clearly list out your value proposition, area of specialization and differentiators from your competition. - Charina Amunategui, MUFG Investor Services4. Get Honest Feedback And Act On ItGet honest feedback from potential customers and weave it into your planning and fine-tuning. In the education space, for instance, service and product providers can save themselves a lot of troubleand gain brilliant ideasby presenting offerings that are still being developed to public school superintendents and technology officers and asking for their no-holds-barred advice. - Joseph Wise, Education Research and Development Institute (ERDI)5. Start By Building Brand EquityBuilding brand equity is what I'd say is the most important step in creating that trust and loyalty between your target audience. Brand equity is a combination of audience perception and brand values. When your marketing efforts are bridging that gap with building brand equity, you have a great go-to-market strategy. - Yogesh Shah, iResearch Services6. Identify Your Brand StandardsWhen developing a go-to market strategy it is extremely important to have your brand standards identified. This includes everything from your mission statement, messaging, goals and even down to your font standards. - Karolina Hobson, Radd Interactive7. Aim For The Path Of Least ResistanceGo for the path of least resistance. Look for product markets that address the mission-critical needs of the customer and impact their pain points in a positive way. This might mean you need to collaborate with your product and service teams to tweak your offer. Sharpen your ax before you get your wood by knowing what your ideal customers need to save time on to increase efficiency. - Christian Valiulis, Automatic Payroll Systems8. Identify Target Buyer PersonasAs a company brings new products and services to market, the go-to-market strategy typically includes a business plan, marketing plan and sales strategy. A key step for business development professionals is to work in tandem with the marketing team to identify target buyer personas, their objectives and their issues and problems. For each persona, map out how you can create and deliver value. - Julie Thomas, ValueSelling Associates9. Align On Markets And Buyer ProfilesGo-to-market strategies can involve multiple teams and many moving parts. One of the most critical steps in developing an effective strategy is spending time aligning on well-defined target markets and buyer profiles. Buyers arent looking for generalists; defining your markets clearly allows teams to focus on content creation that will resonate with your target audience and improve close rates. - Suhaib Zaheer, Bluehost10. Identify All Possible Entry PointsOne big aspect of a go-to-market strategy is identifying all of the possible entry points in different markets. Where can you be a corporate sponsor? Where is one influencer overly impactful? What brands are least resistant to the competition? Understanding and assessing all the different ways you can enter a market is a key component to successfully bringing a new product to that market. - Alexander Divinsky, RMG Media11. Focus On Forging Authentic ConnectionsMore than ever before, customers are looking for authentic connections and searching for companies that understand them rather than those that push for the customer to simply buy into the company's perspectives. Business development professionals have to be certain they are taking time to go deeper than the average avatar discussion, truly understanding their customers and designing go-to market strategies around them. - Melanie Hicks, MGT of America12. Identify Your Competitive AdvantageA key step in developing your go-to-market strategy is to clearly identify your competitive advantage and decide how to best exploit that advantage. Will you compete on cost? Will you compete on technical superiority? Where is the gap in the market that you can fill? Decide how to fill that gap and integrate that into your strategy. - Michael Fritsch, Confoe13. Think All The Way To The EndThink all the way to the end. Too often, when people say "go-to-market," they only think about messaging, branding and the like. Consider support, retention, upsell, long-term value and the relationship with the customer. This perspective will force you to ignore short-term ease and instead focus on the full buyer journey. Even if you have to make tactical moves to start, understand the bigger picture. - Kit Merker, Nobl9 | 0 |
###CLAIM: the twins, knox and vivienne, testified as their 16-year-old children pax, a movie star-turned-lawyer, zahara, 14 and shiloh, 12.
###DOCS: Brad Pitt and German model Nicole Poturalski have split, according to a source. The couple, who were first spotted together in August, are totally over, an insider said. It was never all that serious as it was cracked up to be, the source added, noting the breakup happened "a while back." Page Six confirmed the pair were dating back in August, when the 56-year-old actor was seen heading with the married 27-year-old brunette to the French chateau Pitt shares with his estranged-wife, Angelina Jolie. They were believed to have met in Germany at the trendy restaurant, Borchard, owned by Poturalskis husband Roland Mary. Poturalski and Mary pictured together in Berlin this week have an open marriage, a source had told us, leaving Mary to be philosophical about his young wifes dalliance with the actor once named People magazines sexiest man alive, sources said. While Pitt is a father of six kids with ex-wife Jolie Maddox, 19, Pax, 16, Zahara, 15, Shiloh, 14, and 12-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne Poturalski is also has a 7-year-old son, Emil. Pitt is currently at home in Los Angeles and just voiced a campaign ad for Joe Biden. Hes still in the midst of a custody battle with Jolie, who as Page Six confirmed on Wednesday, has parted ways with another of her lawyers, Priya Sopori. The Daily Mail first reported that Jolie had split with Sopori, a Los Angeles-based former federal prosecutor who has been working with Jolies lead lawyer, Samantha DeJean. Jolie is fighting Pitt, who wants 50/50 share of their children. Reps for Pitt had no comment. She is thought to have recently split from boyfriend Brad Pitt. And following their break-up, Nicole Poturalski appeared keen to switch up her look as she showcased a new head of blonde wavy locks on Instagram on Wednesday. The German model, 27, donned what seemed to be a golden wig as she posed for a series of snaps in a mirror, while flashing her abs in a nude two-piece. Blondes do it better! Nicole Poturalski appeared keen to switch up her look as she showcased a new head of blonde wavy locks on Instagram on WednesdayNicole showcased her svelte frame in the skimpy crop top, which was paired with some matching figure-hugging trousers. She displayed her natural beauty by going make-up free for the snap, while flaunting her manicured nails in a clip of herself posing. The married brunette, who was first spotted on a date with actor Brad, 56, in August, recently took to Instagram to share a series of sultry snaps with the simple yet mysterious caption reading: 'Hang in there just for a little bit longer.' Wow: The German model, 27, donned what seemed to be a golden wig as she posed for a series of snaps in a mirror, while flashing her abs in a nude two-pieceThe post comes just days after it was claimed that their fling is now 'totally over', with a source claiming to Page Six the separation happened a 'while back'. The insider said: 'It was never all that serious as it was cracked up to be.' Insiders added to People: 'Brad hasnt seen Nicole since August. It was never a relationship. They saw each other a few times and thats it. You cant call it a split, because they were never together in the first place. It was a casual fling'The model is in an 'open marriage' with multi-millionaire Berlin-based businessman and restaurant owner Roland Mary, 68, with whom she shares a son Emil, seven. MailOnline have contacted Brad's and Nicole's representatives for comment. Sizzling: Nicole showcased her svelte frame in the skimpy crop top, which was paired with some matching figure-hugging trousersRadiant: She displayed her natural beauty by going make-up free for the snap, while flaunting her manicured nails in a clip of herself posingAt the start of the month, Nicole posted a video to her Instagram, questioning why she receives so much online hate after news of their romance came to light. The brunette said: 'I have been wondering since forever why people leave hateful comments? Why? What is your benefit? Just in general I want to understand the train of thoughts. Because I dont get it. Its just so rude and sad for those commenting.' Brad sparked rumours of a romance with Angelina Jolie lookalike Nicole when he was spotted with her at France's Le Castellet Airport in August. An insider revealed to US Weekly at the time that Brad remained 'realistic about the relationship' since she 'lives in Germany' and he 'has a very complicated family situation that he is trying to get sorted out. It is believed they met at the upmarket restaurant, Borchard, in Berlin, owned by Nicole's husband Roland Mary, whom she has an 'open marriage' with. In August, it was revealed Nicole was married and claimed that Roland is reportedly 'not interested' in being 'jealous' about her extra-marital dalliance with the actor. | 2 |
###CLAIM: gillian discovered the truth when her husband 's door was knocked by a foreign office official and whisky was poured, then news broke of his treason.
###DOCS: Notorious British traitor George Blake has been buried in Moscow with full military honours following his death at the age of 98. The MI6 double agent, feared to have sent 600 spies to their deaths by betraying them to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, died on Boxing Day and was laid to rest today at Troyekurovskoye cemetery alongside other KGB icons. Blake - officially a retired colonel in Russian foreign intelligence - was given a military salute before his coffin was laid in the ground. A huge wreath of hundreds of red roses from Vladimir Putin dominated Blakes grave, with a ribbon which made clear it had been sent by the President of the Russian Federation. The funeral was attended by many serving and retired spies led by Russia's top spy Sergei Naryshkin, the head of the SVR - the successor to the Soviet-era KGB. 'He chose the path of a decisive and uncompromising fight for the highest humanistic values, for a just and free world. 'His memory will remain in our hearts.' State media did not specify if Blake's British sons - Anthony, James and Patrick - had attended the funeral which was supervised by the Russian secret services. Patrick is an Anglican priest, who had worked as a missionary in South America. Blake also had a Russian son, Mikhail, a university teacher. As well as Putin's wreath, other floral tributes came in from family members, ex-colleagues, and evidently the foreign intelligence service. Putin - himself a former KGB agent - had earlier sent a telegram to Blake's relatives and friends offering his condolences. State media did not specify if Blake's British sons - Anthony, James and Patrick - had attended the funeral which was supervised by the Russian secret services. The 98-year-old Dutch-born spy had been living in Moscow since he escaped from Wormwood Scrubs in 1966. A turncoat MI6 officer, he had been serving a record 42-year sentence for handing over secrets to Soviet intelligence. After joining MI6 in 1944, he became a committed Communist after reading the works of Karl Marx during a spell in a North Korean prison. Following his release, he returned to British intelligence but passed secrets to the Soviets while deployed by MI6 in Cold War Berlin. Blake was eventually exposed by a Polish defector and brought home to the UK, where he was sentenced and jailed. Britain says he exposed the identities of hundreds of Western agents across Eastern Europe in the 1950s, some of whom were executed as a result of his treason. After his escape, he spent the rest of his life in the Soviet Union and then Russia, where he was feted as a hero. Britain says Blake (pictured in 2001) exposed the identities of hundreds of Western agents across Eastern Europe in the 1950s, some of whom were executed as a result of his treason. Reflecting on his life in an interview in Moscow in 1991, Blake said he had believed the world was on the eve of Communism. 'It was an ideal which, if it could have been achieved, would have been well worth it,' he said. After Blake's death, the Kremlin published a message in which Vladimir Putin paid tribute to an 'outstanding professional of special courage'. 'Throughout the years of his hard and strenuous efforts he made a truly invaluable contribution to ensuring the strategic parity and the preservation of peace on the planet,' Putin said. 'Our hearts will always cherish the warm memory of this legendary man.' The SVR earlier announced: 'The bitter news has come - the legendary George Blake is gone.... He died of old age, his heart stopped.' The ashes of two other Cold War British spies who died in Moscow - Guy Burgess, in 1963, and Donald McLean, in 1983 - were returned to Britain. Kim Philby, who died 1988, was buried at Kuntsevo Cemetery in Moscow. Slurping tea to the end in a rent-free dacha, the traitor who hankered for 'little slices of England': George Blake dead at 98By the end, the old traitor had lived in Russia longer than he lived in the West. George Blake, the former British spy who died aged 98, had once hankered after what he called little slices of England. Above all, Christmas pudding and whipped cream. Following Communisms collapse these luxuries became less elusive, but there was one thing that his ever-grateful Russian spymasters could never conjure: the family he left behind more than half a century ago. True, there was one occasion when his three sons saw him in Moscow, but it only accentuated his loss. One of the most notorious double agents in the history of British espionage, Blake later sought permission from then Prime Minister Tony Blair to return to the UK to meet his grandchildren for the first time. Try it, he was warned, and youll be arrested on sight. Few doubt that it was a deservedly harsh edict. For Blakes brand of treachery could never be assuaged by the passage of time; it was simply too great. George Blake at the age of 90, by which time he was a venerated Cold War hero in RussiaThis was a man with blood on his hands. Unforgivably, he passed the KGB the names of British agents operating behind Warsaw Pact lines, some of whom were executed as a result of his treason, though such was his arrogance that he never accepted blame. According to the SVR foreign intelligence agency, formerly the KGB, Blakes heart simply stopped. President Vladimir Putins eulogy yesterday was predictably lavish, but beyond Russia, where he was still a hero to the old guard and where sources say he will receive a significant funeral, few will mourn his passing. His last days were spent at his rent-free dacha in the countryside some 30 miles from Moscow where he drank tea by the gallon and relied on the BBC World Service for news of home. Occasionally his neighbours spotted him pottering outside, most recently in a pair of electric-blue clogs. It was a reminder that of his generation of Cold War spies, Blake born in Holland was the outsider. Unlike the spy ring recruited at Cambridge Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and Anthony Blunt it was Blake who approached the Russians, not the other way round. The son of a Protestant Dutch mother and a naturalised British father, he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve where he was asked, because of his background, if he would like to work in intelligence. When the war ended, he was posted to Germany where he spied on the Soviet forces occupying what was then East Germany. He was later transferred to South Korea just before the outbreak of war between the western-backed South and Soviet-backed North. When the North captured the city of Seoul, Blake found himself interned along with a number of diplomats and missionaries. It was the continual bombing of small villages by American planes, he later said, that made him feel ashamed of the actions of the West. In the end, Blake simply wrote a note to the Soviet embassy offering his services. It resulted in an interview with a KGB officer and, by the time he arrived back in England after his release in 1953 he was a fully-fledged Soviet agent. In 1955 he was sent to Berlin where he was given the task of recruiting Soviet officers as double agents. It gave him the ideal cover for his illicit activities: he passed British intelligence to his Soviet handlers while pretending the flow was the other way. When a Polish secret service officer, Michael Goleniewski, defected to the West, he revealed there was a Soviet mole in British intelligence. The game was up for Blake and he was recalled to London. At his 1961 Old Bailey trial he pleaded guilty to five counts of passing information to the Soviet Union. To his shock, having expected a 14-year jail term based on sentences given to other spies arrested at the time, he got 42 years. What happened to his fellow traitors? KIM PHILBY Senior MI6 officer who caused the deaths of British agents. Boarded a Russian freighter in Beirut in 1963 and defected to Russia. Drank heavily and suffered loneliness and depression, attempting suicide by slashing his wrists sometime in the 1960s. Died from heart failure in Moscow in 1988, aged 76. DONALD MACLEAN Openly proclaimed his Left-wing views at Cambridge but gained entry to the Civil Service by claiming to have forsworn Marxism. Served as diplomat in Paris and Washington, from where he passed secrets that helped the Soviets boost their nuclear arsenal. Defected in 1951 and died in Moscow in 1983, at 69. GUY BURGESS Defected at same time as Maclean. After leaving Cambridge, he worked for the BBC, then MI6 before joining the Foreign Office in 1944. His whereabouts were unknown in the West until 1956, when he appeared with Maclean in Moscow, claiming he wanted to improve Soviet-West relations. He died, aged 52, in 1963. ANTHONY BLUNT Worked for MI5 during the war and afterwards as an art historian, becoming Surveyor of the Queens Pictures. He was unmasked as a spy in 1963, but was secretly offered immunity in return for information. In 1979 the story leaked and he lost his knighthood. Died in London in 1983, aged 75. AdvertisementHe later recalled: As a result, I found a lot of people who were willing to help me for the reason they thought it was inhuman.Climbing over the wall using a 20-rung rope ladder strengthened with knitting needles, his escape from Wormwood Scrubs in 1966 sent shockwaves through the intelligence services and humiliated the British Establishment. Police found a pot of fresh pink chrysanthemums placed below and outside the prison wall, a marker set down by accomplices. Speaking at the time, spy author John Le Carre, who died earlier this month, said: There is enormous propaganda value for the Russians in his escape. It highlights the inefficiency of Britains prisons in that, after the full weight of British justice had been massed to sentence him for 42 years, he could only be kept inside for five. But, more importantly, it further discredits the Western secret service agencies in Western eyes. It must give the Russians great pleasure.Indeed it did. Over the years, Colonel Georgiy Ivanovich Bleyk, as he is known in Russia, was garlanded with honours and received personal birthday greetings from Putin. Back in England his ex-wife Gillian Butler did her best to forget him. She last saw him when he was behind bars at Wormwood Scrubs and they were discussing the impact their divorce would have on their three sons. At the time of his arrest she was heavily pregnant with their youngest, Patrick, later to become a curate. After he fled to Russia, Gillian married a man called Michael Butler, who gave the boys his name and raised them as his own. They learned about their biological fathers identity only when they were teenagers. My first wife always spoke well of me before the children, Blake once said. He said that he explained the whole situation his reasons for betraying his country to his middle son when he visited him in the 1970s. He went back and must have given a favourable account, and then the others came out.Of his wifes second husband, Blake added: He turned out to be a very good father to my boys and they speak of him very affectionately. He died unfortunately at a young age and I, the sinner, continue to live.In a one-off article she wrote for a Sunday newspaper after her husband was jailed in 1961, Gillian recalled how he was charming, considerate and easy to work for and described the nervous habit he had of twisting his sleeve buttons while he was talking. In the summer of 1954, when Blake was approached about a posting to Berlin, Gillian agreed to marry him, unaware that he had already begun passing confidential information to the Soviets. Later, Blake would say he agonised over the marriage, knowing that he was dragging Gillian into his dark, treacherous world. Gillian herself recalled how he tried to put her off: He knew he should never get married. I think he felt that very strongly. It is only now, with the hindsight of experience, that I can fit it all together. But when you are 21 and in love, every drawback acts only as a spur.Although Gillian was aware of the kind of intelligence work her husband was undertaking for the British Secret Intelligence Service, she had no idea he was also filtering secrets to the Russians. Rushing off to odd places to meet odd people didnt seem strange, she said. There was no reason to suspect anything out of the ordinary.Gillian, an Army officers daughter, discovered the truth from a Foreign Office official who knocked on her door, poured himself a whisky and then broke the news that her husband was a traitor. In an interview in Moscow in 1991, Blake said he had believed Communism was an ideal which, if it could have been achieved, would have been well worth it. I thought it could be, and I did what I could to help it, to build such a society. It has not proved possible. But I think it is a noble idea and I think humanity will return to it. After Gillian divorced him, Blake married a Soviet woman, Ida, with whom he had another son, and later worked at a foreign affairs institute before retiring to his dacha. In a 2012 interview marking his 90th birthday, he said his eyesight was failing and he was virtually blind. He did not voice regret about his past, claiming that he was happy and lucky, adding: Looking back on my life, everything seems logical and natural.In 1995, Blakes escape from Wormwood Scrubs became the focus of a play, Cell Mates, starring Stephen Fry and Rik Mayall. And in 2015, the BBC documentary Masterspy Of Moscow followed what it called the strange life of an enigmatic traitor. Earlier this year the SVR insisted Blake was safe from coronavirus, saying he walks a lot in the fresh air, listens to his favourite classical music, regularly communicates with relatives and friends on the phone, and consults his physicians remotely. The SVR is in constant remote contact with him and his relatives, and provides health monitoring for this honoured person. Yesterday, President Putin hailed Blake as a brilliant professional, a man of particular grit and courage who made a truly invaluable contribution to ensuring strategic parity and preserving peace on the planet. We shall forever cherish the memory of this legendary man in our hearts. | 0 |
###CLAIM: bryce and lockett were called to a gold coast petrol station on december 5 with a head that popped out of a bin and experienced snake-bites.
###DOCS: An experienced snake catcher has showed off a massive python he pulled from a fuel pump bin. Bryce Lockett, from Snake Catchers Brisbane and Gold Cost, was called out to the Gold Coast petrol station by terrified staff on December 5. Staff members spotted the coastal carpet python slithering around on the ground before popping his head out of the bin and terrifying customers. 'I got a call from a woman working at the petrol station who said she noticed the snake earlier in the evening,' Mr Lockett explained. Experienced snake catcher Bryce Lockett was called to a Gold Coast petrol station on December 5 to pull a massive carpet python (pictured) from a bin near the fuel pumpMr Lockett (pictured with the python) said petrol station staff members had noticed the python slithering around before popping his head out of the bin and terrifying customers'She had some snake knowledge and knew it was a python. She closed off the pump and called her manager, who then called us for help.' Mr Lockett said the python 'was poking his head out and looking around'. 'I found it quite funny, but there is nothing I haven't seen before,' he explained. 'Luckily he was quite relaxed so he came out of the bin without any issues. Mr Lockett posed with the monster snake before releasing him 'into nearby bushland.' The heart-stopping snaps have since gone viral on social media, racking up thousands of likes, shares and comments from people around the world. Mr Lockett posed with the monster snake before releasing him 'to nearby bushland'Social media users were shocked by the 'bowser snake' and observed 'the snakes come out of anywhere in Australia'. 'Never using the bin at a servo again,' one frightened commenter said. 'I don't need fuel anymore, all of a sudden the tank is full,' another added. 'Glad to see they're finally implementing bowser attendants again,' one user joked. Carpet pythons can grow up to 3.6 metres long and live almost everywhere in Australia except Tasmania. However sightings have become more frequent in the warmer months. While they are non-venomous to humans, a bite can still cause damage such as deep puncture wounds. | 1 |
###CLAIM: did the daily mail (australia) suggest that nadia was involved or even aware of her ex-husband trolling for new girlfriends?
###DOCS: Lauren Mand has hit back at rumours she's split from former AFL player Jimmy Bartel. In a telling move, the 31-year-old Melbourne socialite recently changed her profile picture on Instagram to a photo of herself and Jimmy. The photo was taken on December 25 as the couple spent Christmas together with Jimmy's sons, Aston, five, and Henley, two. Proof of life: Lauren Mand (right) has hit back at rumours she's split from former AFL player Jimmy Bartel (left). In a telling move, the 31-year-old Melbourne socialite recently changed her Instagram profile picture to this photo of herself and Jimmy on Christmas DayThe former Geelong star was dressed in white shorts and a khaki shirt, which he paired with grey Birkenstock sandals. Meanwhile, office worker Lauren looked sensational in a white dress and heels. The notoriously private couple rarely post photos together these days, and Lauren's Instagram account is private with only 54 followers. Low-key couple: The notoriously private couple rarely post photos together these days, and Lauren's Instagram account is private with only 54 followers. Pictured: Lauren's accountHer boys: Lauren's profile picture was taken on December 25 as the couple spent Christmas together with Jimmy's sons, Aston and Henley. Jimmy also shared this photo to his own account of himself with his children, but didn't post a picture of Lauren and the boys togetherThey had been the subject of break-up rumours in December after fans noticed it'd been months since Jimmy had shared a photo with his girlfriend on social media. The couple's last photo together on Jimmy's account was taken in March last year, during their holiday in Japan. Jimmy's romance with Lauren first made headlines in 2019, following his very public split from his ex-wife, fashion designer Nadia Bartel. Last sighting: They'd been the subject of break-up rumours in December after fans noticed it'd been months since Jimmy had shared a photo with his girlfriend online. The couple's last photo together on Jimmy's account was taken in March last year, during their holiday in JapanThe footy star's main Instagram feed now focuses solely on the two children he shares with Nadia, sons Aston and Henley. Meanwhile, Lauren deleted her own Instagram account in October and created a private one with just a sprinkling of followers. She may have made the transition to a private account after being bullied by trolls who believe they are supporting Nadia. (Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Nadia is involved in, or even aware of, the trolling against her ex-husband's new girlfriend.) In August, she was targeted by an anonymous 'hate account' online, which uploaded several cruel posts about her and her relationship with Jimmy. Despite the vitriol, she has maintained a dignified silence, declining interviews and refusing to comment on social media. Former AFL power couple Nadia and Jimmy Bartel announced their split in August 2019, after five years of marriage. And fashion designer Nadia, 35, seemed to have heartbreak on her mind on Thursday when she shared a cryptic quote about moving on from 'past chapters'. She posted a meme on Instagram which read: 'Once you officially decide to leave old situations behind, your mind will settle down, your heart will automatically feel at ease, and your soul will forever be grateful for the relief you provided.' Poetic inspiration: Fashion designer Nadia Bartel seemed to have heartbreak on her mind on Thursday when she shared a cryptic quote about moving on from 'past chapters'The post continued: 'There's no need to bring forth expired energy form past chapters into your new one. Wipe the slate clean and reignite your spirit with fresh, healthy vibes. 'Remind your ego who's in charge; you've come too far and worked too hard to let old habits reappear at this point of your journey. 'You don't have to see the amount of magic the universe has put aside for you to know that it's there; simply trust that your divine process will lead you straight to it. 'Something amazing is about to fill all the spaces in your life you've managed to clear. Get ready. Pretty soon you'll be walking straight into the chapter of your dreams.' Reflective: The quote's themes of leaving behind 'old situations' and 'wiping the slate clean' no doubt resonated with Nadia, whose life was upended when her marriage fell apart in 2019End of the road: Former AFL power couple Nadia and Jimmy Bartel announced their split in August 2019, after five years of marriage. Pictured on February 16, 2017, in MelbourneThe themes of leaving behind 'old situations' and 'wiping the slate clean' no doubt resonated with Nadia, whose life was upended when her marriage fell apart in 2019. She has found love again since the break-up, and is now dating personal trailer Nathan Brodie. The former WAG is also focusing on her clothing label Henne. Shortly after her split from Jimmy, Nadia took a thinly veined swipe at the retired Geelong Cats star while attending a female empowerment event in Melbourne. 'Women can do it all': Shortly after her split from Jimmy in 2019, Nadia took a thinly veined swipe at the retired Geelong star while attending a female empowerment event in MelbourneDon't need no man: The mother of two posted on Instagram at the time, 'Women can do it all!' The mother of two posted on Instagram at the time: 'Thank you Mercedes-Benz for having me at your Women Driving Change event. It was great to be a part of it. The energy in the room. Women can do it all!' Nadia's latest cryptic post comes just days after Jimmy's new girlfriend Lauren Mand hit back at rumours she'd split from the Brownlow Medal winner. The 31-year-old Melbourne socialite changed her profile picture on Instagram to a photo of herself and Jimmy - sending a clear message to her detractors. The photo was taken on December 25 as the couple spent Christmas together with Jimmy's sons, Aston, five, and Henley, two. Co-parents: The Bartels share custody of two children, sons Aston, five, and Henley, twoProof of life: Nadia's cryptic post comes just days after Jimmy's new girlfriend Lauren Mand (right) hit back at rumours they'd split. The 31-year-old socialite changed her profile picture on Instagram to this photo of herself and Jimmy - sending a clear message to her detractorsHer boys: Lauren's profile picture was taken on December 25 as the couple spent Christmas together with Jimmy's sons, Aston and Henley. Jimmy also shared this photo to his own account of himself with his children, but didn't post a picture of Lauren and the boys togetherThe pair had been the subject of break-up rumours in December after fans noticed it'd been months since Jimmy had shared a photo with his girlfriend online. In fact, their last photo together on Jimmy's account was taken in March last year, during their holiday in Japan. The notoriously private couple rarely post photos together these days, and Lauren's Instagram account is private with only 54 followers. | 3 |
###CLAIM: the house is expected to vote as soon as monday on the bill, which the senate is said to have passed friday or saturday.
###DOCS: GOP Senators plan 'infinity' vote-a-rama for Covid bill Presented byWith Melanie Zanona, Sarah Ferris and Burgess Everett. $1.9T TIL INFINITY: Senate Democrats are on the verge of passing President Joe Bidens $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, with GOP leaders urging their members to unanimously oppose it. But Republicans are still debating how painful to make things for Democrats. The Senate GOP is discussing whether to drag out the vote-a-rama of unlimited amendments overnight, likely on Thursday. Im hoping for infinity. There are people talking about trying to set up a schedule and having it go on and on, said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). He said some in his party want to go all night overnight and keep adding amendments, while he has suggested to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to spread the pain over two days. Of course his preference is that the debate literally never ends: I dont really want it to pass, so infinity would be a good answer.WELCOME TO SPLITSVILLE: If Senate Republicans are from Mars, then House Republicans are from Venus. Okay, not really, but the post-Trump GOP has no doubt illuminated a growing divide among Republicans who hail from opposite ends of the Capitol. In the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has cut off communication with Trump, Republicans are standing behind their incumbents at all costs, and the GOP is even open to a bipartisan deal on the minimum wage. It's important that we not be a personality-based party, said Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.). But in the House, its still all about loyalty to Trump. Mar-a-Lago trips have become a rite of passage among GOP leaders, incumbents are left to fend for themselves, and theres little appetite for increasing the hourly minimum wage at the federal level. Our more liberal, establishment brethren in the Senate have not been faring very well, said Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), who is mulling a Senate run in Alabama and led challenges to the election on Jan. 6. Those were the only ones that lost in 2020.Much more on the House-Senate GOP split screen, from Burgess and Mel: http://politi.co/30ltBtzHERE COMES A HURDLE: Senate Democrats have a key policy disagreement to resolve with moderates making a last-minute push to cut a weekly federal unemployment bonus from $400 to $300 (and extending the money for a longer period of time). Privately, other Democratic senators are indicating this effort will fail. Biden in a private phone call on Tuesday impressed upon Senate Dems to put aside their disagreements and pass his Covid relief bill quickly in its current form, which they are aiming to pass this week. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) And from 2017 to 2020, there has been a 118.66 percent increase in total threats and directions of interests, with the overwhelming majority of suspects residing outside of the [National Capitol Region], she will also tell lawmakers, according to her prepared opening remarks. During the hearing centered on the USCPs fiscal year budget, Pittman will make the case that a significant focus of the departments 2022 fiscal year funding will center on boosting the resources of providing security to members outside the National Capitol Region (NCR). The number of agents required to provide an appropriate level of analysis, protection and enforcement necessitates a significant increase in personnel based on the threats trends year-over-year. Learn more about the agreement that charts a better, stronger future for our employees and industry, and the economy. HAPPY WEDNESDAY! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill on this March 3, where Dolly Parton is working 9 to 5 retooling Jolene to Vaccine to encourage the public to get vaccinated. TUESDAYS MOST CLICKED: BuzzFeeds story on how CrossFit is ditching Marjorie Taylor Greene was the big winner. TAN-DONE: The writing was on the wall ... in big, red, block-lettered spray paint. Biden announced in a statement that he was withdrawing Neera Tandens nomination to be his OMB director. The opposition from at least one Dem, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and the struggle to have any Republican step forward and support her nomination meant Tanden was standing on cracking ice. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was the one possible holdout, but she was saved from making the difficult choice after the White House yanked her nomination. As our Playbook friends report, Murkowski was looking to use Tandens nomination as leverage to push back on some Biden administration policies in her state that she opposed, including pausing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and stopping all new federal leases for oil and gas drilling. It wasnt exactly a secret. There are some policies the administrations taken already with respect to energy that are very harmful to Alaska, said Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican. She obviously wants to get their attention on some things that are important to her state.Spoiler alert: The idea that the White House may trade energy or environmental policy to push Tandens nomination through didnt go over well with progressives. Our Sam Stein has more: http://politi.co/30kwxql | And Burgess dives into how Tandens withdrawal absolves Murkowski of difficult decision: http://politi.co/3uRnuecMeanwhile: Shalanda Youngs confirmation hearing on Tuesday to be Bidens OMB deputy director turned into a potential dress rehearsal for her to lead the budget office. Shortly before the White House pulled Tandens nomination, GOP lawmakers touted Young as an alternative to Tanden. You may be more than deputy, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told Young. I dont expect you to comment on that.Young, the former clerk and staff director for the House Appropriations Committee, has also had top Democratic leaders and the Congressional Black Caucus behind her prior to Tandens nomination. Other possible picks: Ann OLeary, who served as California Gov. Gavin Newsoms chief of staff, and Sarah Bianchi, a longtime Biden policy aide. as part of the growing group of Democrats pushing to end the Senate filibuster. In two separate press appearances, the Maryland Democrat lamented that the 60-vote threshold is holding back the Democratic agenda. I personally believe the filibuster is an undemocratic aspect of the United States Senate. At some point in time, the majority ought to be able to rule, Hoyer said. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn who was already in favor of nixing the filibuster also delivered a powerful argument against the procedural tactic. Clyburn (R-S.C.) recalled that 60 years ago to the day on Tuesday, he had been arrested, alongside hundreds, at a sit-in protest in his home state of South Carolina. "Nobody thought that day that one of those little 20 year olds arrested on that day would be standing here today. We are not going to give up on this, Clyburn said of the partys priorities. "Were not going to just give in to these arcane methods of denying progress.Meanwhile, Hoyer is confident that the House would pass the coronavirus relief package when it comes back across the Capitol early next week, telling reporters: It's going to pass.I cannot believe that the people who voted to send it to the Senate will not also vote to pass it and send it to the President for his signature, Hoyer said. If the minimum wage provision is stripped out, Hoyer said the House would vote on a standalone version of that wage hike in the near future and keep pushing. On timing: Hoyer said he expects the House to vote as soon as Monday on the bill, which he says the Senate will pass Friday or Saturday. PROXY PROBLEMZ: A lively debate over proxy voting unfolded during yesterdays House GOP conference meeting, multiple sources told Mel and your Huddle host. It all started when Texas Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) called out fellow Republicans for using the voting mechanism in order to skip floor votes and attend CPAC in Orlando last week. He argued that the House GOP which is actively challenging proxy voting in court needs to practice what it preaches. And House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also sided with Roy on this one, were told. But, but, but ... Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb. ), while he is opposed to the idea of proxy voting, argued during the meeting that Republicans are putting themselves at a disadvantage if they dont use the system, especially with such a slim Democratic majority in the House and a floor schedule that often changes during the pandemic. Youve got to use it to your advantage, he said afterwards. Were getting rolled.And more broadly, it looks like the GOPs desire to fight proxy voting is significantly waning. Now, there are just 21 Republicans left on the lawsuit down from 160 GOP plaintiffs when it was initially filed last May. (Twenty-seven of those members have since left Congress.) The latest on the proxy drama: http://politi.co/3rogsMdRelated: Ambitious Republicans dance: Embrace Trump, but dont try to be him, by NYTs Elaina Plott: http://nyti.ms/380Kw8TA message from the Association of American Railroads:STILL WAITING: The Biden administration still hasn't briefed top senators on its Syria strike. But earlier Tuesday, the White House briefed Senate aides on Bidens rationale and legal justification for launching retaliatory strikes on Iranian-backed military installations. As Andrew reports: Administration officials have yet to brief senators directly, so Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) sat in on the staff-level session so that he could hear from the Biden team himself. CABINET CORNER:Today:The Senate Finance Committee will consider the nominations of Xavier Becerra to lead HHS, Katherine Tai to lead USTR and Adewale Adeyemo to be Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. Updates:Moving Up: The Senate Intelligence Committee unanimously approved William Burns nomination to be Bidens next CIA chief. Next up? A full floor vote where he is expected to win confirmation. Confirmed: In a 95-4 vote, the Senate confirmed Cecilia Rouse to lead the White House Council of Economic Advisers. She is the first Black person to serve in this role since its creation 74 years ago. Confirmed: The Senate also confirmed Gina Raimondo as Bidens secretary of Commerce in a 84-15 vote. TRANSITIONSRick VanMeter has launched Prevail Communications. He previously was comms director for Senate Commerce Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss. ), and is an Andy Barr, Adrian Smith and Geoff Davis alum. Alexandra Menardy is leaving the personal staff of Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), where shes worked on aviation and energy policy for the last four years, and joining the professional staff of the aviation subcommittee he chairs. TODAY IN CONGRESSThe House will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business. First votes predicted between noon and 1:30 p.m. and the last votes predicted between 6 p.m.-8:15 p.m. The Senate convenes at noon. AROUND THE HILL9 a.m.: Join Playbook co-authors Rachael Bade and Eugene Daniels for a conversation with Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), NRCC chairman, to discuss his strategy for the 2022 midterm elections, Trump's role in the party and continued fallout from the Jan. 6 insurrection. Register to watch live here . 10 a.m.: The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Legislative Branch will have a hearing on the U.S. Capitol Police FY 2022 Budget featuring Acting U.S. Capitol Police chief Yogananda Pittman. 10 a.m.: The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Senate Rules and Administration Committee are having a joint hearing to examine the Capitol attack featuring officials from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Department of Defense and the National Guard. 1 p.m.: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. John Sarbanes (R-Md. ), Democracy Reform Task Force Chair, and House Democrats will hold a press event on H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2021 on the House East Front Steps. 3:30 p.m.: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Ct.) and economist Heather Boushey will hold a virtual press event on the American Rescue Plan. 5 p.m.: Biden will speak to House Democrats during their issues conference. TRIVIATUESDAYS WINNER: Havard Haskjold was the first person to correctly guess that Alexander Hamilton was the Constitutional framer who argued that Senators should have lifetime terms. TODAYS QUESTION: From Havard: In what year did the Senate first invoke cloture and what was the subject it was invoked on? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answer to [email protected] . GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each morning. Follow Olivia on Twitter: @Olivia_BeaversA message from the Association of American Railroads: Today, the average unionized freight rail employee earns $126,000 per year in total compensation that includes best-in-class healthcare coverage and substantial sickness benefits. On top of providing pay and benefits that rank in the top 10% of all U.S. industries, railroads remain committed to being a leader in union jobs. The tentative labor agreements will boost our already excellent wages by a total of 24%, bringing average annual compensation up to a projected $160,000, and will provide employees an average payout of $16,000 once ratified. The negotiated contracts have now been ratified by a majority of railroad unions. See how the agreements reward workers for the vital role they play in Americas supply chain and build on railroads proud tradition of providing stronger compensation packages than comparable industries. | 1 |
###CLAIM: but if the federal government grants a contract to a pharmaceutical company that requests an intermediary company (advanced, technology and international).
###DOCS: How Operation Warp Speed's Big Vaccine Contracts Could Stay SecretEnlarge this image toggle caption Drew Angerer/Getty Images Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesThe Trump administration has compared Operation Warp Speed's crash program to develop a COVID-19 vaccine to the Manhattan Project. And like the notoriously secretive government project to make the first atomic bomb, the details of Operation Warp Speed's work may take a long time to unravel. One reason is that Operation Warp Speed is issuing billions of dollars' worth of coronavirus vaccine contracts to companies through a nongovernment intermediary, bypassing the regulatory oversight and transparency of traditional federal contracting mechanisms, NPR has learned. Instead of entering into contracts directly with vaccine makers, more than $6 billion in Operation Warp Speed funding has been routed through a defense contract management firm called Advanced Technologies International, Inc. ATI then awarded contracts to companies working on COVID-19 vaccines. As a result, the contracts between the pharmaceutical companies and ATI may not be available through public records requests, and additional documents are exempt from public disclosure for five years. Vaccine contracts awarded this way include $1.6 billion for Novavax, $1.95 billion for Pfizer, $1.79 billion for Sanofi and $1 billion for Johnson & Johnson. NPR first looked into Operation Warp Speed's approach when our request for one of the contracts under the federal Freedom of Information Act came up empty. A senior administration official tells NPR the government chose to use the intermediary for Operation Warp Speed contracts "to take advantage of certain acquisition authorities provided by Congress that are available to address situations like the coronavirus pandemic." Generally, these kinds of agreements allow the government to be more nimble. Simplifying government bureaucracy during a crisis isn't necessarily a bad thing, says Robin Feldman, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, who focuses on the pharmaceutical industry and drug policy. But there's a tradeoff when it comes to accountability. "We have to be careful about what we throw out in that process," she says. Throwing out the contracting bibleMost government contracts are governed by a set of rules called the Federal Acquisition Regulation, or FAR. "It's really a bible that the government and contractors are supposed to follow with respect to a given acquisition," says attorney Franklin Turner, a partner at McCarter and English, who has been involved with thousands of government contracts in his career. "It is supposed to establish the process from soup to nuts, right from the beginning to the very end of a procurement." The acquisition regulations contain everything Congress stipulates should "govern the expenditure of taxpayer dollars," from anti-human-trafficking clauses to ethics and company conduct requirements, Turner says. But the resulting process can be time-consuming. Sometimes, it can stretch for years, especially if competitive bidding is involved or a losing company challenges an award through a formal protest process. So, in special cases, the government has been turning to an alternative mechanism, called an Other Transaction Agreement, or OTA. These agreements got their start in the late 1950s, when NASA was created. The goal was to streamline the contracting process and attract newer, smaller companies and inventors to work with the government that otherwise might not have the resources or willingness to do so. "I don't think that they operate to relieve liability," Turner says. "They operate, if anything, to streamline the process for a variety of reasons, depending on the acquisition at issue." But there can be a downside to these agreements. "A number of analysts warn that along with the potential benefits come significant risks, including potentially diminished oversight and exemption from laws and regulations designed to protect government and taxpayer interests," the Congressional Research Service wrote in a 2019 report about the rising use of OTAs by the Department of Defense. The report also noted that it was unclear whether OTAs are faster than traditional government contracts, because the Department of Defense hasn't tracked that information. Kathryn Ardizzone, a lawyer at Knowledge Ecology International, examined a handful of early Operation Warp Speed research and development contracts obtained through public records requests to HHS that didn't go through an intermediary. KEI is a nonprofit group that focuses on intellectual property policy. Many were OTAs that weakened or excluded Bayh-Dole clauses, which, among other things, allow the government to "march in" and take control of a drug or vaccine if a manufacturer that received federal funding engages in price gouging, for example. Ardizzone and NPR have both, separately, tried to get copies of the later (and larger) procurement contracts through public records requests and so far have been unsuccessful. We requested contracts between the federal government and the pharmaceutical companies not the intermediary, Advanced Technology International. In response to NPR's request, HHS said it had "no records" for the $1.6 billion contract with Novavax, indicating that the department leading the way on Operation Warp Speed doesn't have a copy of the contract. NPR has since made the same request of the Department of Defense and is awaiting the response. "It's not clear that using the Freedom of Information Act, we can access agreements that are maintained by a private entity," Ardizzone says. In that case, we don't know what taxpayer protections the contracts may have left out. "The stakes are as high as you could ever imagine," Ardizzone says. If the government doesn't have a copy of these records, something she called "shocking but not impossible," it would "add a layer of complexity" to whether the contracts can be disclosed under a public records request. Repurposing a Defense Department consortiumAdvance Technology International manages contracts and facilitates dealings with the government for several consortia of academics, companies and more, using OTAs. In March and early April, the Department of Defense talked with ATI about a consortium of academics and companies that it manages called the Medical CBRN Defense Consortium, which is tasked with developing medical countermeasures to threats against the military. The Department of Defense, a partner in Operation Warp Speed, already had an overarching OTA with ATI concerning this group. To expand it for the COVID-19 response was a matter of adding more money and issuing a request for proposals concerning coronavirus vaccines and other COVID-19 items. "The federal government came to me and said, you know, you already have all the members ... all the industrial organizations that we would want to complete this work with," ATI former Chief Operating Officer Robert Tuohy tells NPR. He stayed on as a consultant since stepping down as COO in 2019. (The Medical CBRN Defense Consortium added Pfizer and Novavax to its membership, according to an August notice in the Federal Register.) In a bureaucratic twist, ATI was never explicitly told it was helping with Operation Warp Speed, Tuohy says, calling that fact "invisible" to the nonprofit. "So the government then asks us to actually run a competition very similar to what the government would run within the membership of the consortia," he says, adding that it saves the government time and resources. ATI's job is to put out a request for proposals, collect the essential information (which is typically less than what's required in FAR-based contracts), make sure they're all in the same format and send them to the federal government for evaluation. Once the federal government makes its decision, ATI issues its own OTAs to the chosen members. "Then they hand us the money and ask us to award essentially a sub-OTA to the team that they have selected within the membership of the consortium," says Tuohy. The Medical CBRN Defense Consortium was set up about four years ago to do contract work concerning chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense "as related to enhancing the mission effectiveness of military personnel." As a result, Ardizzone wonders if it's operating too far outside its original scope. This, she says, could be a sign the intermediary arrangement is "to just avoid the procedures and regulations that protect the American public in the government contracting process." Tuohy says the consortium was established with a flexible mission, adding that OTAs often get a bad rap, but they don't deserve it. Even if the contracts don't include things like the Bayh-Dole protections, he says they often have similar replacement language. When asked about whether these contracts could be disclosed to the public under public records requests, he said it was up to the government. ATI couldn't point to an example of one of its contracts to consortium members being disclosed this way, but this may have happened without it being made aware. Reporters asked Operation Warp Speed officials about when the contracts would be released to the public during a press briefing on Sept. 16. "With respect to the contracts, the contracts are between ourselves, the United States government and private entities, and they are releasable to an extent. Obviously everything cannot be released, but they are releasable to an extent and they will be made available at some point in time," said Lt. Gen. Paul Ostrowski, who directs Operation Warp Speed's efforts on supply, production and distribution. "And I will tell you that they entail information that allows us to all know that we paid a fair and reasonable price for each one of these vaccines as we went forward." Feldman, of UC Hastings, says the administration's comparison of Operation Warp Speed to the Manhattan Project is troubling. "I think that's completely the wrong image," she says. "The right analogy, I think, for Operation Warp Speed is the penicillin effort in World War II. So there, the nation mobilized to create the entire penicillin industry. It changed how we treat disease. It ushered in the era of mass-produced pharmaceuticals. That's what I think as the best you could do here. But it's a completely different image than Manhattan Project." She says the penicillin effort is proof that public-private partnerships can produce great work. "We can do a lot of good together, but we have to make sure pharma companies aren't taking advantage of the crisis," she says. "And we know from history that some will try. We know from history current and past that some will try." You can contact NPR pharmaceuticals correspondent Sydney Lupkin at [email protected]. | 1 |
###CLAIM: the shrinking majority is under pressure from democrats to stay with steny and hoyer as majority leaders in order to preserve it.
###DOCS: Democratic leadership is discouraging House members from joining Joe Biden's incoming administration as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi looks to steer clear of further reducing her party's majority in the lower chamber. House leaders are concerned that any special elections, especially in contested districts, could result in Republicans seizing seats left vacant by Democrats, insiders told The New York Post on Sunday. 'Nancy is telling House members, 'Now is not the time to leave,'' a Democratic Party official who's been briefed by congressional reps told The Post. Democrats already slimmed their majority earlier this month by losing several incumbencies and vacancies to Republicans on November 3 a shock to the party as they expected to gain seats. Some lawmakers, like upstate New York's Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi, have already been on calls with Biden's transition team, according to a source close to the deliberations. The former vice president has a list of 30 Democrats in the House and Senate he could tap for his administrationBrindisi is trailing former GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney in his reelection bid meaning his seat could already flip without him jumping ship first. Less than 30,000 ballots are yet to be counted and he's trailing by only 16,720. It appears as of Monday morning that House Democrats will have under 225 congressmen and women on their side of the aisle come January, meaning if Biden plucks any for his administration, the Party would have to focus efforts on holding onto those seats. Sources are accusing Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of pressuring Democrats to stay with the House to preserve their shrinking majority. A House insider said Hoyer has warned Biden's transition team not to poach any representatives. The speaker's office denied that she is pressuring Democrats from resigning to work for the incoming administration. 'This is completely false,' Pelosi's spokesman Drew Hammill said. 'The Speaker wants the full contribution of House Democrats to the Biden-Harris mandate and to the future represented in the Administration.' Earlier reports revealed Biden's team in looking at those in Congress known for working across the aisle to work in key administration roles the list has amounted to 30 members of Congress, 20 in the House and 10 in the Senate. Apparently, an insider revealed, Biden is looking more closely at tapping House members for posts with the administration as Democrats still hold a majority in the lower chamber. All 30 on the transition team's list, according to The Post, have received the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Jefferson-Hamilton 2020 award for bipartisanship. Democrats so far have won 219 seats while Republicans are projected winners in 203 seats. There are still 13 races yet to be called. It could be detrimental to Democrats if swing district Democrats left their seats to join Biden, including Rep. Cheri Bustos, who represents Illinois' 17th Districts and serves as chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. House Democrats will shrink their majority margin over Republicans from its current 233 to 201 as they are projected to lose about a dozen seats once tabulation is completed. The fate of the majority of the Senate, where Biden is likely to also poach some Democrat senators for his administration, is still up for grabs. Both Republican Georgia Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue were up for reelection in November, and both are being forced into a runoff in January, the outcome of which will ultimately decide whether Democrats or Republicans control the Senate. A divided government is not good for a Biden administration, as the former vice president would have little room to get any sort of legislative action passed. He would also face vast opposition to Cabinet appointments and judgeships that the GOP does not agree with. If lawmakers were to step down, Democrats are worried they could be taken by Republicans in special elections. Rep. Cheri Bustos' (pictured) seat, for example, could easily flip red if she were to vacate for an administration postThe topic of Democrats leaving Congress came up during a House Democratic caucus meeting last week. 'It's not helpful to talk about that,' a member of Democratic leadership reportedly said on the call. A Democratic insider familiar with the call said: 'The feeling is: don't make rash decisions about going to the administration without first considering consequences to the caucus.' As the House and Senate reconvene Monday, the House will hold elections for its leadership. Democrats have become further divided with their House elections not going as planned, and it's expected many progressives could vote against Pelosi's continued leadership although it's unlikely she's going anywhere despite some opposition. The California representative still holds a firm grip on the Democratic caucus, but at 80 there is positioning within the Party for a post-Pelosi world. Confronted with a shrunken majority, House leaders are discouraging fellow Democrats from taking jobs with the incoming Biden administration out of concern that Republicans could nab any vacated seats, sources told The Post on Sunday. Insiders variously accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., of urging Dems to stay put to preserve their fragile majority. Nancy is telling House members, Now is not the time to leave,' a Democratic Party official whos been briefed by Democratic congressional reps said. But another House insider said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., is urging Democratic congressional reps to stay put, and told the Biden transition team not to poach its members because of the partys slim majority following the Nov. 3 elections. The sensitive topics of jumping ship to work for Biden amid the loss of House seats came up at a House Democratic caucus meeting last week. Its not helpful to talk about that, a member of Democratic leadership reportedly said on the call regarding House Dems wanting to relinquish their seats and work for Biden. The feeling is: dont make rash decisions about going to the administration without first considering consequences to the caucus, a Democratic insider familiar with the call said. The zeitgeist of the Democratic House leadership is that their majority is razor thin, the source said. Pelosis office denied that the speaker is pressuring House Democrats from resigning to work for Biden. This is completely false. The Speaker wants the full contribution of House Democrats to the Biden-Harris mandate and to the future represented in the Administration, said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill. Last week, The Post revealed that Biden was eyeing a bipartisan list of 30 members of Congress known for working across the aisle for key administration posts. The Biden transition team is looking at 20 lawmakers serving in the House of Representatives and 10 in the Senate who received the US Chamber of Commerces Jefferson-Hamilton 2020 award for bipartisanship. HOUSE DEMS' BACKSLIDE 'UPSETTING' FOR AOC, WHILE PELOSI CLAIMS' CREDIT' FOR KEEPING MAJORITYAn insider said that the Biden team is looking more closely at the House where Democrats are in the majority rather than the Senate, the fate of which is up for grabs depending on two special elections in Georgia in January. Ballots are still being counted, but its clear that the House Democratic majority will shrink from its current 233 to 201 margin over Republicans. The Democrats are projected to lose about a dozen seats. As of Friday evening, Democrats have won 219 seats while Republicans are the projected winners in 203 seats. There are 13 races which are yet to be called. The results which came despite Biden besting President Trump at the the top of the ticket by 5 million votes has led to open warfare between the left wing and the moderate and establishments wings of the party. The finger-pointing has centered on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and left wingers promoting defunding the police and Pelosi posing with a refrigerator full of pricey ice cream. If a House Dem were to join the administration, his or her seat would then be filled during a special election open to Democrats and Republicans. The timing of such elections varies state to state. Historically, the party of the president in power also loses congressional seats during mid-term elections. The House flipped under both Presidents Obama and Trump. House leaders are especially worried about proven vote-getting moderate Democrats in swing districts flying the coop giving Republicans a shot at winning those seats. Lawmakers like upstate Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi have already been on calls with the Biden transition team, a source close to the deliberations said. Brindisi trails former GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney in the machine count in their rematch election. But he had narrowed the gap substantially by winning 75 percent of the first batch of thousands of absentee ballots counted last week. He still trails by 16,720 votes with 29,000 mail-in ballots yet to be counted. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPOther New York Democrats representing potential swing districts include Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney in the Hudson Valley and Long Island Reps. Kathleen Rice and Tom Suozzi. Hoyers office and the Biden transition team had no comment. To read more from The New York Post, click here. | 3 |
Subsets and Splits