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New AI heart scanner will cut NHS backlog in half by delivering results in minutes
Machine can detect signs of heart disease as accurately as four doctors using the standard technology
By Henry Bodkin,
HEALTH AND SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT
7 August 2021 • 4:00pm
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/07/new-ai-heart-scanner-will-cut-nhs-backlog-half-delivering-results/
An artificial intelligence heart scanner promises to cut the NHS backlog in half by delivering results within 15 minutes, scientists have found.
Created at the University of Oxford, the machine taught itself automatically to diagnose heart disease from images that would normally have been pored over by a team of doctors.
Crucially, the new system does not require the injection of a contrast dye.
Patients currently have to lie in an MRI scanner for 20 minutes during which images are taken, then come out to be injected with the dye, and then go back in for another 20 minutes.
The procedure is expensive and precludes some patients who cannot tolerate the dye, which is detectable by the MRI, or who are afraid of needles.
Known as Virtual Native Enhancement (VNE), patients using the new system enter the scanner for a maximum of 15 minutes and the results are then computed immediately.
In a recent trial, VNE was found to detect signs of heart disease as accurately as four doctors using the standard technology.
Its creators said it could be deployed for a wide variety of cardiac conditions, from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is inherited and mostly seen in children and young people, to common heart failure, where the organ loses the strength to pump blood around the body properly.
NHS figures show that as of May there were 255,641 MRI scans waiting to take place, although not all will have been heart-related.
The Covid backlog saw 242,181 people waiting for invasive heart procedures by the end of that month, the highest number for May on record.
Last month Sajid Javid, the new Health Secretary, vowed to bear down on the NHS backlog, describing the size of the waiting list as “shocking”.
Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, the associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, the charity who funded the development, said: “This research could have huge medical benefits as the same heart diagnosis could be made faster and without an injection, giving heart patients an easier experience.
“AI technologies like these could slash the time taken to perform heart investigations.
“This means more people could reach the front of the queue for these vital heart tests sooner.”
The VNE system was built using a “deep learning” model that taught itself to recognise heart disease by studying more than 4,000 real-life images.
The next stage will be to set up a large-scale clinical trial involving patients across multiple hospitals.
The Oxford team believe the benefits will be so obvious to NHS chiefs that the technology will be rolled out within two years.
Dr Qiang Zhang, who led the development, said: “The new technology provides the same level of accuracy as the current practice but it’s quicker, cleaner and more pleasant for the patient.
“It cuts the time taken by more than half.
“We think it’s hugely significant and can be applied to most of the main heart conditions.”
The number of patients on hospital waiting lists could rise to 13 million within months as a result of Covid, Mr Javid has warned.
More than 5.3 are currently thought to be on waiting lists.
Officials are worried that some seven million people who would have been expected in normal times to seek medical treatment did not come forward during the pandemic.
These include people who have missed out on cancer checks as well as for heart disease.
Mr Javid has promised to be “creative” in attempting to clear the backlog, but has warned the task would take “considerable time”.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/07/new-ai-heart-scanner-will-cut-nhs-backlog-half-delivering-results/
Ted Lieu @tedlieu I simply note that Texas mandates vaccines such as the polio vaccine if a child wants to go to childcare or school. Because we all want freedom from polio. #ChooseFreedom
Chip Roy
@chiproytx
· Aug 6
I will not comply with a vaccine mandate, vaccine passport, or other vaccine coercion. #ChooseFreedom #HealthcareFreedom
8:47 AM · Aug 7, 2021·Twitter for iPhone
THREAD
I simply note that Texas mandates vaccines such as the polio vaccine if a child wants to go to childcare or school. Because we all want freedom from polio. #ChooseFreedom https://t.co/v5PK8ArJJi
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) August 7, 2021
The Wall Street Journal @WSJ·52m Every highly vaccinated state has below average Covid-19 hospitalizations, while hospitalizations and deaths are rising more in places with weaker vaccination rates, a WSJ analysis found
Highly Vaccinated States Keep Worst Covid-19 Outcomes in Check as Delta Spreads, WSJ Analysis Shows
Variant has driven up U.S. cases, but hospitalizations and deaths have risen more slowly in areas with more vaccinations
https://www.wsj.com/articles/highly-vaccinated-states-keep-worst-covid-19-outcomes-in-check-as-delta-spreads-wsj-analysis-shows-11628328602?mod=e2tw
5:45 PM · Aug 7, 2021·SocialFlow
THREAD
Every highly vaccinated state has below average Covid-19 hospitalizations, while hospitalizations and deaths are rising more in places with weaker vaccination rates, a WSJ analysis found https://t.co/0xuxaQ7QwG
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) August 7, 2021
These Shameless Republicans Desperate to Outlast Trump Know Better, but They Don’t Care
David R. Lurie
Sat, 7 August 2021, 4:51 am·11-min read
https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/shameless-republicans-desperate-outlast-trump-035120472.html
What do you call people who are more attracted to power than to principles, and who are willing to bow before a bad man if that’s what it takes for them to have power?
Trump Republicans—who, at this point, are almost the only Republicans left. Yet, as the recent political fortunes of Florida’s Ron DeSantis demonstrate, their cynicism could well end up having the better of them.
You can see that cynicism, and the lack of shame, in the likes of JD Vance, a Trump critic now running for Senate as a loyal MAGA man, and first-term Rep. Nancy Mace, two of the party’s smartest and most shameless young politicians, willing to abandon their own stated positions and embrace morally repugnant ones if that’s what it takes to be a member in good standing of the Republican Party. The pandering of Mace and Vance reflects the fact that the Republican Party remains under Trump’s sway, even after he decisively lost the popular vote in 2016, then cost his party control of the House in 2018 and then the White House and Senate in 2020.
It turns out that Joe Biden was right to predict that Trump’s defeat would induce an “epiphany” in the Republican Party—but terribly wrong about what that epiphany would be. A party that’s lashed itself to a proven loser and his most devoted supporters is rapidly becoming ever more enthusiastic in its appeals to racism, nativism, conspiracy theories and frontal attacks on democracy itself.
It’s an approach that is as politically nonsensical as it is morally abhorrent, a descent into overt fascism that is the product of two complementary dynamics: Trump’s fear of losing the support of the extremists and bigots he invited into the party and its seats of power and the fear of the party’s “leaders” of losing the support of Trump himself.
GOP governors planning potential presidential campaigns are publicly touting their opposition to public health measures as their constituents fill up ICUs. Florida’s Ron DeSantis is selling koozies bearing the tagline How the hell am I going to drink a beer with a mask on? and touting a rule barring unvaccinated school children from being required to wear masks, as the Delta variant-fueled virus is, once again, tearing through his state. His aggressive advocacy for viral transmission is likely motivated by the fact that one rival presidential aspirant, South Dakota’s Kristi Noem, touted her even more reckless response to the pandemic to a cheering crowd at CPAC, and mocked DeSantis for implementing some public health measures.
This is madness, yet there is absolutely no reason to expect the party to change course. The madness starts with Trump, terrified of losing the fealty of his supporters, and extends to the Republicans hoping to replace him but afraid to oppose him.
Trump’s fear of alienating the wackos he invited under the GOP tent he slapped his logo on manifested itself in ways that are sometimes comical, but always dangerous. He reportedly scaled back plans to regulate electronic cigarette flavors for fear of alienating his vaping base; and Trump declined to denounce the QAnon conspiracy, saying he didn’t know much about them except that “I do know they are very much against pedophilia. They fight it very hard.”
Trump’s palpable fear of alienating any part of his base, no matter how violent or racist, was evident in his talk of the “very fine people” at the lethal white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Likewise, when Trump talks about the “loving” mob on Jan. 6 that stormed the Capitol Building in hopes of lynching his vice president, it not only amounts to an endorsement of the insurrection, but also evinces his desperate obeisance to his followers, no matter how repugnant they might be.
Trump’s fear of his own base has, if anything, increased since he fled Washington before Biden’s inauguration. Trump–who had bragged about his purported role in “coming up” with the vaccines–nonetheless got vaccinated in secret for fear of offending the anti-vaxxers in his base. With the Delta variant running wild now, he has emphasized the “freedom” of Americans to refuse the jab.
Just as Trump has prostrated himself before the extremists, bigots and conspiracists he welcomed into the Republican Party, the GOP’s leadership has turned the party more fully into an appendage of Trump, even in the wake of his electoral defeat. As the exile of Liz Cheney from party leadership—with House Minority “Leader” Kevin McCathy dismissing her as a “Pelosi Republican” and others members calling on her to be removed from her committees, something they resisted in the case of Holocaust demeaner and outright buffoon Marjorie Taylor Greene—has demonstrated, fealty to Trump is the only value left in his Republican Party.
Other Trump-supporting Republicans in good standing include Matt Gaez, who is reportedly being investigated for obstruction of justice in connection with an investigation of his alleged participation in a sex trafficking ring, and Paul Gosar, who has made a point of appearing in public beside avowed white supremacists.
Vance, whose 2016 book Hillbilly Elegy was widely praised at the time as a guide to understanding people with Appalachian roots who felt left behind and in many cases were drawn to Trump, initially distinguished himself as a Republican critic of Trump. He was born to a mother who struggled with opioid addiction, only to become a Marine, Yale-trained lawyer, successful author, and Silicon Valley money man. But now Vance has decided to remake himself as a Trump worshipper in preparation for a run at a Senate seat in Ohio.
Vance systematically purged Twitter of his past criticisms of Trump, and embarked on a cynical and transparently consultant-driven attempt to reinvent himself as a mouthpiece for every resentment or conspiracy theory that is prevalent among Trump supporters in the moment. Among his now constant preoccupations are the hordes of undocumented immigrants allegedly on the march from Mexico to take the jobs and attack the citizenry of Ohio, as well as the critical-race-theorizing teachers who are allegedly scheming to cause the white children of the state to recoil at the color of their own skin. When Vance is not feigning fear at the prospect of walking the streets of New York, which he “jokes” are like the set of The Walking Dead, he is on Fox News criticizing Simone Biles for her supposed weakness.
Vance utters this bile with an ever-present tone of self-parody, and while frequently wearing a smirk, as if to signal his friends, I am just doing this to get elected.
Vance, however, is almost outdone by Mace, a first-term GOP member of Congress from a swing district in South Carolina who based her political career on a book in which she recounted her endurance of vicious misogynistic attacks as a cadet at the Citadel military academy (which her father once commanded). In the wake of the insurrection, Mace declared that, “Everything that we’ve accomplished in the last four years is wiped out in the violence that happened. We have to start over. We need to rebuild our nation. We need to rebuild our party.” But soon afterward, Mace recognized that she had misjudged the prevailing winds in her party and decided to make herself into one of the most visibly Trumpish members of her caucus in apparent preparation for the upcoming primary season.
Mace began strategically picking Twitter battles with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in which she contended that her Democratic colleague was exaggerating the dangers of Jan. 6 that Mace herself had so recently decried. Mace also repeatedly appeared on Fox News, where she declared that she was packing heat to use against potential antifa attacks. Then Mace called the press to report that her house had been vandalized by lawless leftists, and voted to boot Liz Cheney from the GOP leadership for saying the same things Mace herself had said about Trump. Most recently, Mace posted a video of herself on Twitter daring Speaker Pelosi—whom she labeled “insane”—to “come and get me” for going maskless, even as her home state is suffering from a deadly resurgence of the pandemic.
Vance and Mace have each transformed themselves, in short order, into images of the very evils they’d previously decried, in transparent efforts to pander to Trump, or at least avoid his wrath. In that regard, these cynical careerists are themselves mirror images of Trump himself, operating in palpable fear of alienating a fanatical conspiracist, at the cost not only of placing them morally at sea, but also of rendering themselves as repugnant to those voters who are not conspiracizing racists as Trump has become.
But it may be DeSantis who best exemplifies the GOP’s complete surrender to nihilism. In an increasingly desperate effort to maintain his status as the leading advocate for COVID—and with it his viability as Trumpish presidential aspirant—DeSantis has engaged in increasingly mendacious, and even homicidal, measures.
DeSantis has relentlessly attacked the press for questioning his fairytale account of the pandemic. His administration also fired and smeared a whistleblower, with his allies in law enforcement sending gun-wielding officers to raid her house. Most recently, DeSantis’s health department recently simply stopped providing timely reporting on COVID statistics, leaving it to his Democratic rival, Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried, to inform Floridians about the progress of a pandemic that is, again, raging in the state.
DeSantis’s pandemic health “policies” have also become increasingly irrational, and outright dangerous.
DeSantis recently challenged a CDC order requiring cruise ships leaving from Florida to obtain proof of vaccination from passengers. DeSantis likely was counting on the courts to void his order, but an appeals court panel recently refused to do so, which may well lead many cruise operators —who do not want to be forced to (once again) turn their ships into floating superspreader events—to flee the state, at great cost to the Florida economy.
Florida children—including those too young to be vaccinated—are now being stricken with serious COVID cases in unprecedented numbers. DeSantis’s response to this development, which is frightening parents across the state, was to bar school boards from requiring mask wearing when they reopen in the fall. Last week, DeSantis, appearing at an indoor gathering of largely unmasked supporters, joked that children would not be able to wear masks properly anyway, and said he preferred seeing kids smile to having them take the only measure available to limit their risks of hospitalization, or even death.
DeSantis’ cavalier treatment of the life and health of Florida voters, and that of their children, is entirely irrational for a politician who will soon be facing those some voters in a bid for re-election. It is irrational, that is, until one considers that DeSantis is far more concerned with an audience other than that of the voters he serves: that of Donald Trump and the extremists he panders to. Indeed, the anti-vaxers Trump has been cultivating lately recently criticized DeSantis as a “sellout” simply because he encouraged people to get vaccinated. Former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said that, by acknowledging that the vaccines work, DeSantis was letting political correctness get in the way of health choices.
After President Biden expressed dismay at the refusal of DeSantis and other red state governors to implement mitigation measures in the face of the newly raging virus, DeSantis—whose poll numbers are rapidly falling—declared that he does not “want to hear a blip about COVID” from the president. In a bizarre echo of George Wallace’s famous stand in the schoolhouse door in an attempt to prevent integration, DeSantis repeatedly declared that he will “stand in [the] way” of purported federal public health measures on Florida schoolchildren.
But it is, in fact, the governor who has been seeking to prevent Florida school districts from choosing to follow CDC guidance in the midst of the pandemic. And DeSantis is suddenly finding that appealing to Trumpish COVID denialists at the expense of children’s lives may have a political cost. After initially knuckling under to DeSantis’ threats, several Florida school districts have implemented (or re-implemented) mask mandates at the behest of concerned parents. And polling is starting to indicate that the governor, who was until recently considered a lock for reelection, has a race on his hands.
As DeSantis’ apparent change of political fortune demonstrates, GOP leaders are not only nihilistic, but politically oblivious if they think that appealing to literally homicidal extremism is a path of political success. Simply put, suburban parents do not favor political parties that promote the sickness and death of their children.
Even in the wake of Trump’s loss, the GOP and its leaders chose to throw in their lot with the most odious and marginal political faction to have gained power in the nation since the Civil War. They may win some elections in the near term, but that will not change an inescapable fact: The GOP has chosen to place itself at direct odds with the majority of the citizens of its own country. That is how political parties ultimately die.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/shameless-republicans-desperate-outlast-trump-035120472.html
As Covid Surges in Florida, DeSantis Refuses to Change Course
A virus spike connected to the Delta variant has led to a record number of Covid-19 hospitalizations in Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis has not altered his approach, for better or worse.
By Patricia Mazzei
Published Aug. 6, 2021
Updated Aug. 7, 2021, 9:15 a.m. ET
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/us/ron-desantis-florida-covid.html?smid=tw-share
MIAMI — Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida snapped this week at a reporter who asked if masks might help keep children safe in a state that now has more Covid-19 hospitalizations, including for pediatric patients, than anywhere else in the nation.
He blamed President Biden’s purported failure to control the spread of the virus across the border after the president suggested that governors like Mr. DeSantis should either “help” fight the coronavirus or “get out of the way.”
And he touted a new state rule, adopted on Friday, that will counter local school mask mandates by allowing parents to request private school vouchers if they feel that the requirements amount to “harassment.”
Kindergarten Exodus
More than 1 million children did not enroll in local schools as the pandemic wreaked havoc. Many of them were the most vulnerable: 5-year-olds in low-income neighborhoods.
Mr. DeSantis has been unyielding in his approach to the pandemic, refusing to change course or impose restrictions despite uncontrolled spread and spiking hospitalizations — an approach that forced him to undertake the biggest risk of his rising political career.
The governor reopened his state’s economy last spring and kept it that way, defying coronavirus surges that filled hospitals, and then celebrated as a statewide vaccination campaign took hold and life in Florida began to look normal.
Now Mr. DeSantis is gambling again. A new virus spike has led to a record number of Covid-19 hospitalizations that have undone some of Florida’s economic and public health gains and again raised the stakes for Mr. DeSantis.
If the latest surge overwhelms hospitals, leaving doctors and nurses unable to properly care for the younger, almost entirely unvaccinated people packing emergency rooms and intensive care units, Mr. DeSantis’s perch as a Republican Party front-runner with higher aspirations could be in serious trouble.
If, however, Florida comes through another virus peak with both its hospital system and economy intact, Mr. DeSantis’s game of chicken with the deadly pandemic could become a model for how to coexist with a virus that is unlikely to ever fully vanish.
Mr. DeSantis successfully sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over its requirement that cruise ship passengers be vaccinated, though some of the cruise lines were keeping the mandate anyway. He opposes mandating vaccines for hospital workers, saying that would result in worsening staff shortages.
“We can either have a free society, or we can have a biomedical security state,” Mr. DeSantis said this week in Panama City, Fla. “And I can tell you: Florida, we’re a free state. People are going to be free to choose to make their own decisions.”
Florida has the country’s highest hospitalization rate and second-highest rate of recent cases, next to Louisiana. Infection levels have been rising in every state, with especially alarming rates in the South. Many of those governors have also been reluctant to impose new restrictions or require masks.
Nationally, hospitalizations and deaths remain well below past peaks, in part because 80 percent of Americans age 65 and older are fully vaccinated. Deaths in Florida have so far remained much lower than past peaks, but mortality data can lag cases and hospitalizations by weeks.
“Nobody knows where this is going to end,” said Dr. Marissa J. Levine, the director of the Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice at the University of South Florida. “The approach has almost been one of denial that this is a big deal.”
Mr. DeSantis has argued that prioritizing vaccinations for older people, as his administration did, has reduced the death toll. So has the availability of treatments for some patients, like monoclonal antibodies, which Mr. DeSantis spent part of this week promoting. The governor has consistently urged Floridians to get vaccinated, though he no longer holds public events at vaccination sites as he did earlier this year.
About 49 percent of Florida residents are fully vaccinated and about 59 percent have received at least one dose, rates that are roughly in line with the national average and far better than most other Southern states.
Florida never instituted a statewide mask mandate. Mayors imposed local ones a year ago; a new state law prohibits them now, but some municipalities have reinstated mask rules in government buildings and mandated vaccines for their employees. The state of emergency that Mr. DeSantis initially declared to deal with the pandemic expired in late June, and he has declined calls to bring it back, though doing so could make it easier for hospitals to hire more doctors and nurses.
In short, Mr. DeSantis said, life will go on even as the pandemic does, too.
“We knew this is something that you’re going to have to live with,” Mr. DeSantis said on Friday, articulating a sentiment that many public officials are beginning to express, publicly and privately, as the pandemic powers through its second summer.
Mr. DeSantis’s resistance to new mandates, even for children returning to school who are too young to get vaccinated, prompted a testy back and forth this week with Mr. Biden. The governor accused the president of “helping facilitate” the virus spread by not securing the U.S. border with Mexico. “Until you do that, I don’t want to hear a blip about Covid from you,” Mr. DeSantis said.
Asked about Mr. DeSantis again, Mr. Biden quipped: “Governor who?”
“I’m not surprised that Biden doesn’t remember me,” Mr. DeSantis responded on Friday. “The question is, what else has he forgotten?”
Democrats have assailed the governor, calling him irresponsible and accusing him of trying to shift blame over the handling of the pandemic. Last summer’s surge hurt Mr. DeSantis in public opinion polls, though his approval rating mostly rebounded afterward.
Mr. DeSantis, who faces re-election next year, has used the tit for tat with the president in campaign fund-raising pitches. (He fund-raised in Michigan on Monday, The Detroit News reported.) Later, he decried “media hysteria” over the rising Covid case numbers and downplayed the dire situation in hospitals — even as the Florida Hospital Association warned about overcrowding as a result of the virus.
“Hospitals are eliminating right now any procedure services that can be scheduled and postponed that are not emergent,” said Mary Mayhew, the association’s president and chief executive. She previously worked as a member of Mr. DeSantis’s administration overseeing nursing homes. “They’re doing that in order to redeploy staff” to Covid-19 cases, she said.
Of particular concern has been the Memorial Healthcare System in Broward County, north of Miami. This week, it had more than 1,600 patients, a record, nearly 600 of them with Covid-19. The hospital system usually does not care for more than 1,400 patients at a time.
The crush of sick people forced Memorial hospitals to make room for beds in a cafeteria, a conference center and an auditorium, Dr. Marc L. Napp, the chief medical officer, said in a news conference. “So far, I’m happy to say that we’ve been able to provide that care, but it’s not without a stress on the system,” he said.
Four conventions have already canceled their plans to meet in Orlando, Mayor Jerry Demings of Orange County said, an economic impact of nearly $44 million.
The reports about overwhelmed hospitals and the more contagious Delta variant have at least moved more people to get vaccinated, according to state and local officials. In Jacksonville, the region hit hardest by the latest surge, Berlinda Gatlin, 55, got her first dose on Thursday, worried that one of her three children could bring the virus home once they start school next week.
“I’m not happy with the governor,” she said about Mr. DeSantis’s opposition to masks in schools.
Gabriel Molina, 30, said he waited for others in his family to get vaccinated first. Once he saw they experienced no side effects, he got the shot himself, so that he would lower the risk of getting his young son sick.
“I have a 3-year-old boy I’m concerned about,” he said.
He was also concerned by other people’s growing antipathy toward masks and fears now that the virus is not going away.
“I think this is going to be a new normal,” he said.
Andrew Pantazi and Mitch Smith contributed reporting.
Patricia Mazzei is the Miami bureau chief, covering Florida and Puerto Rico. Before joining The Times, she was the political writer for The Miami Herald. She was born and raised in Venezuela, and is bilingual in Spanish. @PatriciaMazzei • Facebook
A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 7, 2021, Section A, Page 13 of the New York edition with the headline: DeSantis Remains Defiant as Coronavirus Cases Surge in Florida. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/us/ron-desantis-florida-covid.html?smid=tw-share
Canada wants immigrants but the pandemic is in the way. So it’s looking to keep people already there.
By Amannda Coletta
Today at 6:00 a.m. EDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/07/canada-immigration-pandemic/
TORONTO — Arjan van Dam came to Canada in 2017 on a work permit with his wife and children to help his Dutch employer, a purveyor of agricultural equipment, set up shop.
He liked the country. In four years, the 33-year-old’s family grew — from two children to five, including twins born this year.
But Canada’s immigration system was not weighed in his favor. His age, lack of postsecondary education and average English-language skills meant that qualifying for permanent residency was a challenge, said his Toronto-based lawyer, Barbara Jo Caruso.
Until now.
Canada wants more immigrants — 401,000 this year, to be exact — and is not letting pandemic border controls get in the way. That means some new programs, including ones granting residency status to people already in the country and in jobs that might not have previously qualified.
Canada has long been a destination for economic immigration. But the retooling of its policies reflects wider shifts globally as countries reel with the fallout of a global pandemic that has deeply disrupted movement and migration.
From Chinese students who dreamed of studying in the United States to migrant workers in the Persian Gulf, pandemic border closures, flight bans and the scaling back of visa services have wrought unparalleled upheaval to the flow of workers, students and regular and irregular migrants across borders.
“Immigration fits very prominently into the plans that we have to accelerate our economic recovery,” Marco Mendicino, Canada’s immigration minister, told The Washington Post, “as well as continuing to strengthen Canada’s long-term prosperity.”
The overarching aim of these new initiatives and Canada’s increased immigration targets have been generally well received. Some analysts, however, have raised concerns, including about whether they could have been better designed, exclude too many vulnerable people or are feasible given processing times and backlogs.
Before the pandemic, Canada’s population was growing at a rate not seen in decades, outpacing the other Group of Seven industrialized nations. International migration was the main reason, said Statistics Canada, accounting for 86 percent of population growth in 2019. That year, Canada accepted 341,175 permanent residents, up from 271,840 in 2015.
Then came the virus. In 2020, the number of permanent residents plunged by almost half to 184,595, far short of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s target of 341,000 and a potential headache for a country that has long relied on immigration to offset the impacts of low birthrates and an aging population on its labor force and public finances.
Population growth in the United States in the decade to 2020 slowed to the lowest rate since the Great Depression, according to data released in April by the U.S. Census Bureau, tied in part to decreased fertility rates and slowing immigration.
The United States — with nearly 10 times the population of Canada — granted permanent resident status to 707,362 people in 2020, down 31 percent from 1,031,765 in 2019, according to U.S. government data.
Since 2010, immigration has declined, driven by the economic crisis early in the decade and government restrictions under the Trump administration.
“Immigration is increasingly becoming the primary, if not the only, source of labor force growth” in Canada as the baby boomers retire, said Andrew Agopsowicz, a senior economist at the Royal Bank of Canada.
To make up the shortfall in 2020, the Canadian government in October announced even loftier immigration targets. It hopes to welcome 401,000 permanent residents in 2021, up from a previous goal of 351,000. That target would increase by 10,000 in 2022 and again in 2023.
Marian Campbell Jarvis, an assistant deputy minister of immigration, told a parliamentary committee in May that the government expected border restrictions would soon ease, allowing the country to admit permanent residents from abroad. But the pandemic’s grip tightened. So Canada had to get “creative,” Jarvis said.
Canada had already invited more than 27,000 people to apply for permanent residency under one stream of its “express entry” program for skilled economic immigrants with recent work experience in Canada — more than five times the previous record.
The program uses a points system to score applicants based on criteria such as age, education and work experience. In recent years, the minimum score needed to qualify for an invitation was well more than 400 points, according to government data. For that particular round, in February, 75 points cleared the bar.
“It’s definitely unprecedented,” said Andrew Carvajal, a Toronto-based immigration lawyer. “The number of invitations that we’ve seen this year, how low the scores have gone … are very interesting and very different.”
Then, in May, the government opened a new program: a temporary pathway to permanent residency for 90,000 people already in Canada with temporary status. They include 40,000 recent international student graduates, 20,000 health-care workers and 30,000 people in other “essential” jobs such as cashiers, janitors and butchers.
“I think it’s great,” said the Dutch agriculture-products executive van Dam, who has not yet heard whether his application has been successful. “Everything is easier if you have a permanent resident card.”
Canada is turning asylum seekers away at the border. In the U.S., they face deportation.
These efforts have not been without critics.
Analysts at the C.D. Howe Institute, a nonprofit research group, said lowering scores under the points system amid the economic recovery would mean “admitting immigrants who will experience more significant integration challenges.” Advocates took aim at the exclusion of asylum seekers and undocumented people in “essential” jobs from the temporary pathway program that opened in May.
Other analysts supported the initiatives, but found flaws in their design and rollout.
“I think it’s both important and necessary and the right thing to do to turn to people who are already in the country who wish to stay and facilitate their transition to permanent residency,” said Anna Triandafyllidou, the Canada excellence research chair in migration and integration at Ryerson University in Toronto.
She said that the pandemic has forced Canadians to rethink what work is “essential” — not just highly-skilled engineers, for instance, but also caregivers on the front lines of the pandemic.
In June, other analysts at Ryerson University wrote that while “the justification for the program is sound, the implementation process does not promote equitable access for all eligible occupations.”
“Some workers, especially in lower-skilled occupations, may effectively be excluded by the complex application process which involves a proliferation of lengthy forms to complete; tests to take; documents to obtain, translate and upload; technology to utilize; and fees to pay,” they wrote.
Caruso and a law clerk sat with van Dam as he completed his application, walking him through it.
“There’s no way he could have done it on his own,” she said.
It took three months for the immigration department to acknowledge receipt of his application.
The international students category was fully subscribed within days. The stream for “essential” workers took longer to fill up. But just 3,295 health-care workers have applied for 20,000 spots, according to government data. The program closes in November.
From January to the end of July, Canada admitted 184,215 permanent residents, according to data from Canada’s immigration department. Mendicino, who champions these initiatives as “cutting edge” immigration policy, said he’s confident the country will meet its target.
In a December speech before the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem cited Canada’s “well-educated and diverse workforce” as its “biggest asset.” But he also pointed to a potential wrinkle: renewed competition with the United States for global talent under the Biden administration once the pandemic eases.
“For the past four years, the policies and attitudes of the U.S. administration helped make Canada look more attractive to students and workers, giving us an advantage,” he said. “With the incoming U.S. administration, Canadian schools and companies may have to fight harder to attract and retain talent. But being a welcoming country remains an important advantage, and immigration creates economic capacity.”
By Amanda Coletta
Amanda Coletta is a reporter based in Toronto who covers Canada for The Washington Post. She previously worked in London, first at the Economist and then the Wall Street Journal. Twitter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/07/canada-immigration-pandemic/
Capitol riot defendants Scott Fairlamb and Devlyn Thompson become first to plead guilty to assaulting officers
BY CASSIDY MCDONALD, CLARE HYMES
AUGUST 6, 2021 / 4:29 PM / CBS NEWS
Contains IMAGES
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/scott-fairlamb-devlyn-thompson-guilty-plea-january-6-capitol-riot/
Prosecutors have secured their first two guilty pleas for assaults on officers during the January 6 Capitol attack. Scott Fairlamb, who was filmed punching an officer in the head, and Devlyn Thompson, who admitted to using a baton to assault a Metropolitan Police sergeant, both entered guilty pleas Friday.
Fairlamb, 44, pleaded guilty to two crimes — obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers. In exchange for his plea, he faces a recommended sentence of 41 to 51 months in prison, or around three to four years. He also agreed to cooperate with the FBI through an interview and pay $2,000 in restitution.
Shortly after Fairlamb entered his guilty plea Friday, Thompson pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon — in his case, a baton. According to the Department of Justice, the 28-year-old used the metal baton in an apparent attempt to knock a can of pepper spray from an officer's hand. He was also part of a group that "threw objects and projectiles at the officers, including flag poles" and stole riot shields to prevent police from being able to defend themselves, the DOJ said.
Prosecutors did not specify a recommended sentence for Thompson during Friday's hearing, but said his defense attorney indicated the sentencing guidelines level was 23. That level typically corresponds to 46 to 57 months, although ultimately the decision rests with the judge, who will determine any sentence after considering the guidelines and other statutory factors.
Fairlamb and Thompson's guilty pleas are among the first that involve violent assaults during the Capitol attack. Although more than 30 Capitol riot defendants have pleaded guilty, Fairlamb and Thompson are among only eight to have pleaded guilty to felonies, and they are the first to plead guilty to charges of assaulting officers.
CBS News has found that 150 officers were injured during the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, and prosecutors have so far charged at least 170 defendants with felony assault on a police officer. The FBI has said they're still looking for hundreds of suspects accused of assaulting police.
Thompson's lawyer said Friday his client has been cooperating with the government, noting that he met with the U.S. Attorney's office and the FBI during multiple proffer sessions and has given the government access to his social media accounts. Thompson's lawyers also said he planned to provide the U.S. Attorney's Office with an apology letter to the sergeant he assaulted.
Thompson had been released on bail while he was cooperating with the government, but after he entered his guilty plea Friday, a federal judge ordered him detained as he awaits sentencing in September.
Fairlamb — who, according to court documents, is a gym owner, bar bouncer and security guard — was ordered detained after his January arrest, after prosecutors cited the gravity of his alleged offense and his lengthy criminal history, which includes at least two prior assault convictions.
Fairlamb had previously been indicted on 12 counts — which included civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding and engaging in physical violence in a restricted area.
Authorities built their case against Fairlamb with the help of at least four tipsters, who shared videos, some taken by Fairlamb himself, that painted a picture of his conduct throughout the day January 6 as he climbed scaffolding, shouted at officers and entered the Capitol building.
In one video, prosecutors said, Fairlamb can be seen shoving and punching an officer on the West Front of the Capitol. In the video, Fairlamb can be seen taunting a line of officers who prosecutors said were trying to make their way through the heavy crowd outside the Capitol building.
A media coalition, including CBS News, later received access to police body-worn video from the incident that was played in court as evidence. In the footage, Fairlamb can be seen approaching the officers and screaming: "Are you an American? Act like a f***ing one! … You guys have no idea what the f*** you're doing. Not one single f***ing idea."
Prosecutors said one officer, attempting to catch up with his colleagues, placed his hand on Fairlamb to move him out of the way. Fairlamb could be heard on video saying, "Don't touch me, bro," before shoving the officer so hard that he fell into others in the crowd, prosecutors said.
The officer can then be seen putting his arm up defensively as Fairlamb punches him on the front of his helmet.
In a filing arguing against his release, prosecutors wrote that "His actions show a capacity and wanton willingness to violate the law, to engage in acts of disorder and violence, and to harm others, including uniformed law enforcement."
Prosecutors said Fairlamb also breached the Capitol building on January 6 and came within seconds of encountering fleeing senators, entering the building just eight seconds after Officer Eugene Goodman ushered Senator Mitt Romney away from the nearby crowd.
According to prosecutors' court filings, Fairlamb could be seen earlier in the day climbing scaffolding outside the building and screaming, "We ain't f****n' leaving either."
Later, he was filmed picking up a collapsible baton near the skirmish line with police on the Capitol West Terrace. In one video posted to his own Facebook account, prosecutors said Fairlamb could be seen carrying the baton and saying, "What Patriots do? We f****n' disarm them and then we storm f****n' the Capitol."
Shortly after, prosecutors said, Fairlamb entered the Capitol building with a baton in hand and left the building coughing after chemical agents were set off inside.
On January 6, prosecutors say Fairlamb posted to Facebook: "How far are you willing to go to defend our Constitution? Made the trip solo, looking to meet my fellow Patriots who share the same beliefs. Put up or shut up."
When arguing against his pretrial release in March, prosecutors said Fairlamb had "violent impulses" and had competed as a mixed martial arts fighter. They also argued he had demonstrated a disregard for the law, noting that he opened his gym in May 2020 in defiance of the New Jersey governor's stay-at-home orders.
His social media accounts also show that he subscribed to the QAnon conspiracy theory, prosecutors said, and a tipster shared a post from Fairlamb's Instagram account that included threats against Congresswoman Cori Bush.
In his post, prosecutors said Fairlamb wrote, "@coribush You're full of s***, shoulda lit your a** up," and includes images of other violent posts, including, "I wish someone would put a knee on your neck for spreading lies," and "When they defund they [sic] police you shoot back."
In a recent interview with CBSN, Bush explained her position on "defunding the police" while also defending her spending on private security, saying that she frequently receives death threats.
Fairlamb's defense counsel said that his brother is a federal law enforcement agent with the United States Secret Service. Fairlamb's lawyer said in April that Fairlamb had not been in contact with his brother, in an effort to ensure the integrity of all parties and "ameliorate any pressure of uneasiness his arrest has caused his brother."
First published on August 6, 2021 / 2:28 PM
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/scott-fairlamb-devlyn-thompson-guilty-plea-january-6-capitol-riot/
Covid news – live: Pandemic potentially shrinking in England as R rate drops below 1 for first time since May
Follow the latest updates here
Andy Gregory, Maroosha Muzaffar,Matt Mathers @MattEm90,Celine Wadhera
16 minutes ago
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/covid-vaccine-live-uk-test-cases-b1898111.html
The First Website: How the Web Looked 30 Years Ago
BENJ EDWARDS @benjedwards
AUG 6, 2021, 7:00 AM EDT | 5 MIN READ
Thirty years ago today—on August 6, 1991—Tim Berners-Lee posted about his World Wide Web project on the alt.hypertext newsgroup, inviting the public to take a look at the world’s first website. The invitation eventually launched a billion websites. Let’s look back at the web’s genesis.
...
MUCH MORE
https://www.howtogeek.com/744795/the-first-website-how-the-web-looked-30-years-ago/
MyPillow Guy Loses It as CNN Reporter Tells Him: You Have ‘Proof of Nothing’
‘I’VE SPENT MILLIONS!’
Jamie Ross
News Correspondent
Published Aug. 06, 2021 5:00AM ET
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-lindell-loses-it-after-hes-told-he-has-proof-of-nothing?via=newsletter&source=CSAMedition
For a man who claims to have uncovered watertight evidence that the 2020 election was rigged, Mike Lindell sure gets defensive when his theories comes under any kind of questioning. In his latest embarrassing TV appearance in front of the nation, the MyPillow CEO—who has relentlessly pushed the lie that Donald Trump didn’t lose the election—made a fool of himself trying to defend his theories to CNN’s Drew Griffin. Lindell presented some meaningless screenshots that he wrongly claimed showed that Chinese hackers switched Trump votes to Biden, but his “evidence” was ridiculed when CNN asked experts to take a look. “We sent this to our own experts,” said Griffin. “He said it doesn’t show any specific actions of any kind, election-related or not, and he said it’s proof of nothing.” Lindell snapped back: “Oh, so he said it’s nothing, huh? Well he’s wrong, you didn’t hire a cyber expert.” Later in the interview, Lindell lost his temper, shouting at Griffin: “You’re lying!... I’m not wrong! I’ve checked it out! I’ve spent millions! You need to trust me!”
Read it at CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/05/politics/mike-lindell-mypillow-ceo-election-claims-invs/index.html
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-lindell-loses-it-after-hes-told-he-has-proof-of-nothing?via=newsletter&source=CSAMedition
Scott MacFarlane @MacFarlaneNews ·Aug 4 Flagging this: US Justice Dept warns court of apparent "sudden windfall" of money for alleged Proud Boy & accused Jan 6 conspirator Ethan Nordean
Feds say Nordean has offered a $980,000 bond to get released from jail, and it's "raised questions" about his "power and clout"
1:11 PM · Aug 4, 2021·TweetDeck
THREAD
Flagging this:
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) August 4, 2021
US Justice Dept warns court of apparent "sudden windfall" of money for alleged Proud Boy & accused Jan 6 conspirator Ethan Nordean
Feds say Nordean has offered a $980,000 bond to get released from jail, and it's "raised questions" about his "power and clout" pic.twitter.com/mClkSmM5Zv
S.V. Dáte @svdate NEW -- Tech giant Salesforce took $2.7 million from a Trump committee THE DAY AFTER he incited a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol ? and a few days before it claimed it would not permit its services to be used “in any way that could lead to violence.”
Tech Giant Took $2.7 Million From Trump The Day After Jan. 6 To Send More Of His Emails
Salesforce.com later denounced the violent attack on the Capitol. But it's once again helping Trump raise money as he ramps up his lies about a "stolen" election.
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/trump-salesforce-emails_n_610c3d0de4b041dfbaa71051?ri18n=true
1:39 AM · Aug 6, 2021·Twitter Web App
THREAD
NEW -- Tech giant Salesforce took $2.7 million from a Trump committee THE DAY AFTER he incited a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol ― and a few days before it claimed it would not permit its services to be used “in any way that could lead to violence.”https://t.co/CwYo0tGEHy
— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) August 6, 2021
Timeline: What Georgia prosecutors are looking at as they investigate Trump’s efforts to overturn the election
By Marshall Cohen, Jason Morris and Christopher Hickey, CNN
Published August 5, 2021
https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2021/08/politics/trump-georgia-2020-election/
Washington (CNN) – Prosecutors in Georgia are still investigating whether former President Donald Trump broke any laws when he tried to overturn his 2020 defeat in the hotly contested state. The probe ramped up earlier this year, with a grand jury convening in Atlanta.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said the criminal investigation includes potential “solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration.”
Months after the election, new information is still coming to light about Trump’s potentially unlawful effort to overturn the results. Recent reports indicate that he considered installing a loyalist as acting attorney general at the Justice Department — someone who agreed with Trump’s false claims about voter fraud and was prepared to pressure election officials in Georgia to overturn the results.
Trump has claimed he didn’t do anything wrong and that the state investigation is politically motivated. Willis, who is a Democrat, was elected to her post last year.
Here’s a breakdown of what Georgia prosecutors will likely scrutinize as they piece together the timeline of Trump’s public pressure campaign, his private calls to state officials overseeing the election, related litigation and more.
Table of Contents
...
MUCH MORE
https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2021/08/politics/trump-georgia-2020-election/
DOJ probe fails to tie Giuliani’s claims to FBI, or find sources of leaks about Hillary Clinton
By Devlin Barrett
Reporter focusing on national security and law enforcement
Today at 12:19 p.m. EDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/fbi-leaks-giuliani/2021/08/05/8b9cfec8-f5fa-11eb-a49b-d96f2dac0942_story.html
By
Devlin Barrett
Today at 12:19 p.m. EDT
A four-year probe by the Justice Department Inspector General could not determine who in the FBI spoke to reporters about sensitive subjects during the 2016 election, or find evidence that Rudolph W. Giuliani had inside information about an investigation into Hillary Clinton that upended the race in its final days.
The report issued Thursday by Inspector General Michael Horowitz said there were “substantial media contacts” with numerous FBI employees, but the evidence could not “determine whether these media contacts resulted in the disclosure of nonpublic information.”
Horowitz faulted what he called “a cultural attitude at the FBI that was far too permissive of unauthorized media contacts in 2016.”
The 10-page report is the long-awaited summary of an issue that consumed the FBI and Justice Department during the presidential contest between Clinton and Donald Trump. The FBI director at the time, James B. Comey, told the inspector general that he was determined to find out who was leaking to reporters, particularly after articles about internal disputes between the Justice Department and the FBI over how to handle a faltering probe of the Clinton Foundation.
While those stories were being reported in late October of 2016, Comey announced publicly that he was reopening an investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server that contained classified information, based on copies of her emails that had been found in a separate case. That announcement came two weeks before Election Day.
A 2018 inspector general report about the Clinton case was highly critical of Comey and his former boss, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. But Horowitz’s office spent three more years working on the leak-hunting portion of the investigation, and came up largely empty.
Horowitz said there were simply too many contacts between reporters and the FBI to determine who might have told journalists about sensitive details of cases. His office did find misconduct by three senior FBI officials who accepted things of value from reporters, like tickets to a baseball game, or a seat at a dinner function.
The bureau has since taken steps “to improve the FBI’s cultural attitude regarding unauthorized contacts with the media, including by improving training and aligning its disciplinary penalties so that they are sufficient to deter unauthorized contact with the media,” Horowitz’s report said. “We believe it is important for the FBI to remain vigilant in these efforts.”
The findings on Giuliani’s pre-election claims are emblematic of a long-running leak investigation that ultimately led nowhere.
Two days before Comey’s announcement, Giuliani — a former U.S. Attorney in New York who had become an outspoken Trump supporter — said on Fox News that the GOP nominee had “a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next few days. I mean, I’m talking about some pretty big surprises.”
After Comey’s announcement, suspicions intensified that Giuliani had inside information about the Clinton case. At first, he suggested in an interview that he did. But he quickly backtracked, saying he had been talking about a surprise involving some of the women who had previously accused former president Bill Clinton — Hillary Clinton’s husband — of sexual misconduct.
When he was interviewed by investigators, Giuliani said he had not talked to any active FBI agents, and Comey’s statements “were a shock to me. I had no foreknowledge of any of them.”
The inspector general said the FBI gave his office bad leads when it came to the Giuliani investigation — the names of four agents who, the FBI said, had telephone records indicating contact with Giuliani in the relevant time period.
Those four agents were all questioned and denied being in touch with Giuliani then , leading the inspector general to take a closer look at the FBI’s evidence.
The phone numbers, it turned out, involved two that were general lines for the New York office of a law firm where Giuliani was a partner, and two other numbers for businesses at which Giuliani had not been affiliated “since at least before 2007. The telephone numbers attributed by the FBI to Giuliani were not, therefore, specific to Giuliani. Accordingly the purported investigative leads provided by the FBI based on alleged employee contacts with Giuliani were inaccurate.”
A lawyer for Giuliani did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a letter responding to the findings, FBI Assistant Director Douglas Leff said the bureau “will continue to be vigilant with its enforcement of the media policy.” Leff’s letter did not address the Giuliani portion of the investigation.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
By Devlin Barrett
Devlin Barrett writes about the FBI and the Justice Department, and is the author of "October Surprise: How the FBI Tried to Save Itself and Crashed an Election." He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for National Reporting, for coverage of Russian interference in the U.S. election. Twitter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/fbi-leaks-giuliani/2021/08/05/8b9cfec8-f5fa-11eb-a49b-d96f2dac0942_story.html
Bubonic plague in chipmunks forces closure of top Lake Tahoe sites
Disease can be spread by fleas that move between animals and humans but it is preventable and treatable
Erin McCormick in San Francisco
Tue 3 Aug 2021 15.58 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/03/lake-tahoe-chipmunks-bubonic-plague
Surrounded by fires, parched by drought, and shut down by the pandemic – residents of California’s scenic South Lake Tahoe thought they’d endured everything.
That was until this week, when the US Forest Service announced it was closing several popular sites after discovering bubonic plague in the chipmunk population.
The federal agency announced this week that “based on positive plague tests” in the rodent population around hiking areas, it would close the well-trafficked Taylor Creek Visitor Center and nearby Kiva Beach through Friday.
The closure includes some of the region’s most spectacular hiking spots, which meander through forested glades speckled with wildflowers and along a creek that leads to Lake Tahoe’s shore.
According to the forest service, plague can be spread by “squirrels, chipmunks and other wild rodents”, specifically by fleas that come in contact with infected animals and go on to bite humans.
As frightening as it sounds, plague in rodents at higher elevations is apparently not that rare, and a spokeswoman for the US Forest Service said spread to humans was easily preventable with a few precautions.
“Bubonic plague is naturally occurring in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and this region,” said Lisa Herron, a public affairs specialist for the agency’s Lake Tahoe basin management unit, which runs the closed facilities.
“It’s something that visitors need to take precautions about, but it’s not something that they need to worry about.”
She said keeping pets at home, or at least on leash and away from rodent burrows, was one important strategy. But visitors should also stay away from chipmunks and squirrels and report any that are acting strange or lethargic to rangers.
The federal agency’s announcement on Facebook said “vector control” workers would complete “eradication treatments” in the area on Thursday in hopes of reopening the sites and the surrounding hiking areas by Friday.
Herron said this week’s abatement efforts would not target the chipmunk populations themselves – but instead would try to wipe out their fleas.
Herron said the real danger of getting bubonic plague comes from the fleas that carry the disease. Regional authorities conduct regular tests, in which they trap the rodents, anesthetize them, comb them for fleas and then test the fleas for plague, she said. Once plague is detected, vector control workers will give the area the forest equivalent of a flea bath.
“What happens next is that the El Dorado county vector control will be dusting the burrows with a powder,” she said.
Then there will be another round of trapping and testing and hopefully the visitor sites, which can draw several thousand visitors a day during the busy summer season, can be opened by this weekend, she said.
But plague in humans has been extremely rare in the area. Last year an avid walker from the South Lake Tahoe region tested positive, becoming the first case in five years, according to a story in the Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Herron said if caught in time, plague in humans was now actually very treatable. Symptoms to watch for include sudden fever and chills, headache and muscle aches.
Local readers of the announcement seemed to take the closures in stride.
“Drought, plague, fires, and earthquakes. Just another week in California,” said one poster, responding to the forest service’s announcement on Facebook.
Others mused that it seems ironic that, at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic seems destined to run on for two years, the bubonic plague can now be wiped out in four days.
“Chipmunks and squirrels have had the plague for decades around the lake, nothing new,” said another Facebook user, responding to the latest story in the Tahoe Daily Tribune. “Just tell them to stay home and wear a mask.”
This article was amended on 4 August 2021. An earlier version referred to animal control workers rather than vector control workers.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/03/lake-tahoe-chipmunks-bubonic-plague
Lawyers are trying to convince a judge to allow the Scottish government to investigate the Trump Organization under a 'McMafia' order, citing the New York criminal case
Jacob Shamsian and Thomas Colson Aug 4, 2021, 4:07 PM
https://www.businessinsider.com/scottish-lawmakers-may-investigate-trump-organization-mcmafia-order-2021-8?amp
* Lawmakers in Scotland are exploring whether to investigate the Trump Organization's finances.
* Lawyers cited NYC prosecutors' investigation of the company and its CFO as a reason to move forward.
* A judge is weighing whether lawmakers can use a "McMafia" order to open an investigation.
As prosecutors in Manhattan continue their investigation into the Trump Organization's finances, attorneys in Scotland are citing its progress to advocate for opening a parallel investigation into how the former US president's company financed golf courses in the country.
At a virtual court hearing in Scotland Thursday, the attorney Kay Springham asked a judge to allow the government to issue an "unexplained wealth order" (UWO), also known as a "McMafia order," The Scotsman reported. The order would force the Trump Organization to open up its books and explain how it financed the acquisition of its two Scottish resorts.
In trying to persuade the judge, Springham pointed to the criminal proceedings in New York, where the Manhattan District Attorney's Office has filed tax-fraud charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.
Weisselberg played roles in operating the company's two golf courses in Scotland. Insider first reported several days after the New York indictments were filed that Weisselberg was terminated from his role as director of Trump International Golf Club Scotland, the holding company that owns Trump's Aberdeenshire golf resort, the Trump International Golf Links.
Springham said the charges against Weisselberg illustrated why the Scottish government should be concerned about whether the Trump Organization concealed the sources of its wealth.
She suggested a UWO may extend to Weisselberg, as well as to former President Donald Trump.
"It's evident from the matters set out in the petition that there are real and substantial concerns about financial arrangements of the Trump Organization, of which Mr. Trump is the sole or principal owner," Springham said, according to The Scotsman.
She added: "Since the petition has been lodged, there have been further developments … the charges laid against the Trump Organization's chief financial officer [Allen] Weisselberg."
Representatives for the Trump Organization didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
In January, Patrick Harvie, the Green Party cofounder and a member of the Scottish Parliament, called for a UWO investigation into how the Trump Organization financed its all-cash purchase of the golf courses.
But Nicola Sturgeon, who leads the Scottish government, said the Scottish Parliament didn't have that power and only law officers — or independent prosecutors — could issue such an order.
Harvie and Avaaz, a nonprofit group, are challenging Sturgeon's claim. Avaaz hired Springham to convince a judge that Sturgeon was wrong about her interpretation of the law and that Scotland's elected ministers could invoke its powers.
The UWO is a relatively new legal instrument — the UK introduced it in 2018 as a way to help investigate money laundering and other financial crimes.
Both of Trump's Scottish golf resorts have posted losses continuously since Trump has run them and owe millions of pounds to creditors. Harvie in February questioned how Trump was able to purchase both resorts between 2006 and 2014. Avaaz said Trump purchased both as part of a $400 million spending spree, which raised questions about how he had financed the deals.
In July, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office brought a 15-count indictment against Weisselberg and the Trump Organization, accusing the chief financial officer of dodging taxes on $1.7 million worth of income. Weisselberg and attorneys for the company pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Lord Sandison, who is ruling on Avaaz's appeal, said he would decide on the case shortly.
If the high court rules the Scottish government misinterpreted the law, Scottish lawmakers will have a chance to decide whether to initiate a UWO investigation into the Trump Organization.
https://www.businessinsider.com/scottish-lawmakers-may-investigate-trump-organization-mcmafia-order-2021-8?amp
TerraCycle and brands sued over recycling claims
Published: July 27, 2021 Updated: July 27, 2021
by Colin Staub
https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2021/07/27/terracycle-and-brands-sued-over-recycling-claims/
A nonprofit environmental organization is suing TerraCycle and several major brands, saying the companies are misleading consumers about the recyclability of their products through mail-in collection programs. TerraCycle’s CEO discussed the company’s labeling in an interview.
The Last Beach Cleanup on March 4 filed the civil complaint in the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda. It centers on recyclability claims in product labeling. Resource Recycling learned of the suit last week.
The filing names as defendants specialty products recycling company TerraCycle and consumer goods companies CSC Brands, Gerber Products Company, Late July Snacks, L’Oreal USA, Materne North America, The Coca-Cola Company, The Clorox Company, The Procter & Gamble Company, and Tom’s of Maine.
TerraCycle operates mail-in recycling programs for various hard-to-recycle products, particularly household goods and packaging. All of the brand owners named in the suit participate in TerraCycle’s recycling service, advertising mail-in collection availability to consumers.
The lawsuit says the on-label claims are “deceptive to a reasonable consumer.”
In an interview with Resource Recycling, TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky spoke about the company’s labeling practices and recycling process, although he declined to speak in detail about the lawsuit specifically.
“We disagree with any and all of the claims that are made,” Szaky said.
Key question of access
The legal action is the latest in a string of lawsuits targeting companies’ recyclability claims. Greenpeace in December 2020 sued Walmart over the company’s recycling labels for packaging made from plastics Nos. 3-7. Keurig in 2018 was sued in a class action complaint over the recyclability labeling on its coffee pods.
The law firm in those two case as well as the TerraCycle action is Lexington Law Group, based in San Francisco and focused on public-interest litigation, according to its website.
California’s Business and Professions Code contains particularly expansive regulations protecting consumers from misleading business communications.
The latest action focuses primarily on the labels TerraCycle brand partners place on their packaging.
“TerraCycle, Inc. prides itself on working with companies to offer free programs for consumers to recycle products that established municipal recycling programs are not capable of recycling,” the complaint states. “However, there is an undisclosed catch: Defendants have strict participation limits that prohibit most consumers from participating in their recycling programs.”
According to The Last Beach Cleanup, consumers purchase the products believing they’ll be recyclable, free of charge, at end of life. But they often “find out after purchasing the products that participation in Defendants’ free recycling programs are closed,” the lawsuit states.
Instead, consumers are offered options that come with a cost, and many consumers ultimately throw away the packaging, according to the lawsuit.
“Worse yet, some consumers instead discard the packaging into their curbside recycling bins, thereby contaminating legitimate recycling streams with unrecyclable materials and increasing costs for municipalities,” the lawsuit stated.
The suit adds that TerraCycle and its brand owner customers “are reaping the rewards of portraying themselves as environmentally friendly without providing any meaningful benefit to the environment or to consumers concerned about sustainability.”
The lawsuit alleges the labels constitute multiple violations of California Business & Professions Code based on “unfair acts and practices,” and it asks the court to prohibit the defendants from using such labels.
The defendants have not yet responded to the suit in court, although many of them have been served with notice of the case in the months since it was filed.
Labels do not guarantee free recycling
Szaky, TerraCycle’s CEO, discussed the company’s labeling and mail-in collection program access in a July 26 interview.
He described the process TerraCycle and its customers employ to set up collection programs. Customers set a budget limit, and based on that budget TerraCycle develops that product’s collection program to be a certain size, with a certain number of “collection points.”
Sometimes a free collection option will reach its budget cap, and consumers looking to recycle a product will be directed to alternative programs, Szaky noted. These caps “only last for a little period of time anyway,” he said.
There are frequently free alternative programs available, he added, contrary to the lawsuit’s claim. As an example, Szaky pointed to the TerraCycle program for recycling food pouches. There are nine participating collection options for these products, at least four of which are free.
If all nine programs for food pouches became capped, a remaining option would be TerraCycle’s “Zero Waste Box,” which consumers pay for.
“There’s always at least a choice available if the free program has hit a temporary limit,” Szaky said.
Also of note, the TerraCycle labels do not guarantee free recycling availability. On a Gerber package mentioned in the suit, for example, the label states, “Recycle through Terracycle,” with the TerraCycle logo. Labels on other products include, “Collect, send, recycle,” or similar language.
TerraCycle’s recycling programs and labels are not likely to lead consumers into believing the products are curbside recyclable, Szaky added.
“I do not believe the TerraCycle program is confusing to municipal recycling,” Szaky said, adding that he feels the plastic resin identification code is more confusing to individuals trying to determine what is recyclable in a local program.
The Sponsored Waste Programs are, by far, the biggest money maker for TerraCycle US. Financial filings show that brand owners paid TerraCycle US $10.5 million in 2020 through the Sponsored Waste Programs, and TerraCycle’s income before taxes within that division was $3.3 million.
The Zero Waste Box program was the second-biggest money maker, bringing in $7.5 million in net sales and $1.8 in income before taxes in 2020.
Process and recycling assurance
The lawsuit also casts doubt over how TerraCycle products are recycled once they are sent in through the collection program. The lawsuit says “it is unclear whether the products are actually recycled,” and it asserts TerraCycle is “at best recycling only a few thousand products per year.”
Noting he was not responding specifically to the lawsuit, Szaky described the company’s process and verification that the products are recycled.
Waste products sent in through TerraCycle’s collection programs go to a TerraCycle facility either operated by the company or a third-party operator. The material comes in and is checked in and weighed, baled, and shipped to third-party processors. TerraCycle pays these processors to toll-process the material, and TerraCycle then sells the resulting commodities.
“Sometimes we find the end markets for the material, if they can’t, and in some cases the processor finds the end market,” Szaky said. The processor contractually agrees that everything it receives from TerraCycle is recycled.
TerraCycle US’s financial filings show recovered commodity sales (mostly plastics) generated $1.4 million for the company in 2020. That recovered commodity sales program lost money last year, however, with income before taxes of negative $1.1 million. The reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission do not indicate the weight of material recycled each year.
Szaky described the verification process the company uses to ensure materials are ultimately recycled.
“First and foremost, it’s our entire reputation, all of our clients who are the biggest companies in the world, they are contracting with us to carry out a promise,” he said. Such major customers hold TerraCycle accountable, he said.
“We legally guarantee, in all of our contracts, recycling,” Szaky explained. The company provides certification of recycling documentation to all of its customers, he said. He compared TerraCycle’s guarantee to the assurance a municipal recycling program can provide that all collected materials are recycled. A MRF can’t necessarily guarantee how much paper will be fully recycled at the paper mill or which plastics from a 3-7 bale will be recovered at a reclaimer.
“That’s not to put down municipal MRFs,” Szaky said. “It’s just to say, ‘Let’s compare ourselves to what else is out there, and what are the standards.'”
https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2021/07/27/terracycle-and-brands-sued-over-recycling-claims/
This company claims to help the world’s biggest corporations recycle.
Activists say it’s greenwashing.
TerraCycle recycles everything from Solo cups to Febreze canisters, but are they doing more harm than good?
By Alden Wicker Aug 4, 2021, 8:30am EDT
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22598748/terracycle-greenwashing-recycling-lawsuit
Two years ago, Leticia Socal’s cognitive dissonance became too much. She needed to face what her career was doing to the planet.
Socal, who has a PhD in material science, had worked in the plastics industry for 15 years. She quit, started a sustainability blog, and began mentoring startups and students on how to reduce plastic waste. More than one part of her plan involved TerraCycle.
TerraCycle calls itself a “social enterprise Eliminating the Idea of Waste®.” But it might be best understood as the company that will recycle the packaging and products created by large corporations. Specifically, the stuff that you can’t put in your curbside bin. It recycles wrappers for everything from Swedish Fish to Entenmann’s Little Bites, plus a grab bag of other plastic products.
Socal tried signing up for some of the free, brand-specific recycling programs by TerraCycle, but they were full. “There is this huge waitlist. For some of them, I have been waiting for more than one year,” she says.
Socal also bought a $218 TerraCycle box for food wrappers, encouraged her daughters’ schoolmates to fill it with their Halloween candy trash, and sent it in. She never heard more about what happened to it, and couldn’t find much information on TerraCycle’s site.
Then she spoke to the woman who owns her local recycling center. “She was like, ‘I tried to work with them. It’s really hard. They’re not telling you what they are doing with your waste,’” Socal says. The recycling center has searched high and low for a facility that can process wrappers and hasn’t found one.
Unlike a plastic water bottle or milk jug, a typical chip bag or candy wrapper is a very complicated thing, involving different types of laminated plastic. “You have several layers that you need to pull apart,” Socal explains. “This is super labor-intensive. It’s crazy to try.”
Meanwhile, everything Socal’s local recycling center won’t accept has been piling up in her garage while she waits for TerraCycle’s programs to open back up … or for plastic recycling technology to catch up with plastic packaging technology.
A new lawsuit filed against TerraCycle in March 2020 alleges that it and its biggest corporate partners — including Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Late July Snacks, Gerber, L’Oreal, Tom’s of Maine, and Clorox — are not telling the whole truth when they say their packaging is recyclable. It says the recycling programs are not accessible or transparent, and the vast majority of packaging still winds up in the landfill or ocean despite conscious consumers’ best efforts. TerraCycle helps these conglomerates “reap the rewards of portraying their products as recyclable while offering no corresponding benefit to the environment or to consumers concerned about sustainability,” according to the suit. The suit also says that TerraCycle has provided no hard proof that it is recycling what it says it is. (The brands named in the suit declined to comment, citing pending litigation, except Gerber, which said it “stands behind all of our claims around recyclability.”)
Environmental advocates believe TerraCycle’s core business is actually just providing greenwashing services to corporations that want to look like they are doing something about plastic waste. In fact, they believe these corporations are making and selling ever more disposable plastic products — and then making it your problem instead of theirs.
TerraCycle will take your old cigarette butts. It will take your used Barilla Ready Pasta packets. It’ll take your Bausch + Lomb contact lens cases, beer-scented Solo cups, and L.O.L. Surprise! doll accessories.
It says that it can recycle them all, and it will do it for free.
TerraCycle claims to make the unrecyclable recyclable, and businesses (and consumers) love the company for it. It was included in Time’s 2021 list of the world’s 100 most influential companies. During the pandemic, the boxes it sells to consumers saw double-digit sales growth.
TerraCycle’s Hungarian-born founder Tom Szaky looks like your typical hippie entrepreneur, with shaggy brown hair and a beard. We spoke over Zoom, him beaming in from a large office space lined with curtains made of empty plastic water bottles. He founded TerraCycle in 2001 while a first-year student at Princeton. At first, he collected food waste and sold the compost to local businesses. Later he pivoted to processing packaging, and in 2007 got his first brand partners — Honest Tea, Stonyfield Farm, and Clif Bar — which paid TerraCycle to set up collection points for their packaging. Since then, TerraCycle has expanded globally and has partnered with more than 500 brands for all sorts of stuff, including Teva for its sandals and both Hasbro and Mattel for their toys.
The business world is ready for a solution to plastic waste. With factoids like “By 2050, our oceans will have more plastic than fish,” videos of marine life being strangled, and news stories about dead whales full of plastic zinging around the internet, companies have been under increasing pressure from consumers and governments to do something about the global plastic pollution problem.
Szaky’s pitch is that our recycling system is broken. Because it’s increasingly labor intensive to recycle our complicated modern packaging, and because China stopped accepting most waste from the US in 2018, it has become less and less profitable to collect and recycle disposable products. Many municipalities are finding they can’t afford to do anything but throw it all in the landfill or incinerate it.
Szaky’s solution is to get corporations and consumers to pay for it.
Here’s how it works: Once corporations partner with TerraCycle and pay a fee (the cost of which neither TerraCycle nor its partners have revealed), they can tell consumers on their websites and on their packaging that it is recyclable through TerraCycle. Consumers, schools, and businesses are encouraged to sign up for each free recycling program separately at TerraCycle’s website. For each program they are approved for, they receive a shipping label or collection container. They fill it with the specified waste from the sponsoring brand and send it in for recycling. Some brands send a few cents per item to charity as an incentive.
TerraCycle then pays plastic manufacturers in the US to recycle these products. Szaky says the wrappers, for example, are melted down and extruded into a copolymer that TerraCycle then sells to American manufacturers of products like garbage cans, Frisbees, benches, and shipping pallets — bulky things that don’t need precision-molded, high-quality virgin plastic. (Though many would consider this downcycling, not recycling.) It was in the negative by $1.1 million in 2020 on this part of its business.
Participating in a TerraCycle recycling program is not that easy, though. To recycle your used Honest Kids drink pouches or K-Y Jelly tubes for free, you have to either find a local drop-off site (which might be too far away) or sign up to receive mailing materials at TerraCycle’s website (an option that often involves a months-long waitlist).
If you can get a shipping label, you then need to save up, clean, and separate your spent packaging and take it to UPS to be shipped off to the company’s warehouse in New Jersey. TerraCycle encourages you to wait until you have a certain weight of trash to send off, to keep the emissions of shipping down. So, you need to either go through a lot of K-Y Jelly, for example, or find other people passionate enough about plastic waste to save their tubes and give them all to you.
Szaky defends TerraCycle’s limits by saying that it gives access to recycling to all consumers who want to recycle items and make the effort to do so. But for some programs, like Gillette razor blades, there aren’t even public drop-off locations in Brooklyn, one of the most dense (and self-consciously sustainable) areas in the US — everything is registered at apartment addresses. Szaky says the lack of locations is because Gillette’s program is only a year old and that not enough people have signed up to set up collection points yet. But that again puts the onus on consumers instead of Gillette to set up and run collection points on their own time. Gillette’s program is really only “free” if you consider everyone’s time and labor worthless.
If TerraCycle’s free, corporate-sponsored program isn’t available for a given product, TerraCycle will sell you a container that you can fill according to the box’s theme — toys, hair salon waste, and kitchen waste are a few of the dozens of categories — and ship to TerraCycle. If you want to keep going, you then need to buy another box. These boxes are not cheap. The bestselling small all-in-one box, which will take pretty much anything and measures 11 x 11 x 20 inches, costs $199 — prohibitively expensive for all but the most privileged and committed consumers.
And yet, consumer boxes count for a not-insignificant part of TerraCycle’s revenue. In 2020, according to TerraCycle’s financial filing in preparation for a potential IPO, its US division generated $25 million in net sales, $7.5 million of which came from its boxes. $10.5 million came from the more than 45 partnering brands listed on TerraCycle’s site, which means each company is spending what amounts to less than a rounding error of their operations.
TerraCycle has a similarly itsy-bitsy recycling volume. Szaky told Vox that TerraCycle, on average, collects 217 tons of waste per month through its mail-in program from the entire continental United States. The small town of Mamaroneck, New York, recycles more than that in a year. New York City alone produces 12,000 tons of waste per day.
Even for specific categories, the waste collected is so vanishingly small as to be almost negligible. Szaky says TerraCycle has recycled 370,000 Bic pens this year. That’s a big number, but it amounts to recycling just 0.02 percent of the estimated 1.6 billion ballpoint pens thrown out in the US every year. Two-hundredths of a percent is not technically nothing. But it is close.
This minuscule investment by corporations seems to be more of a marketing ploy than pointing to an actual shift in their operations. In other words, corporations seem to be paying TerraCycle to help them greenwash, whether Szaky knows it or not. A 2020 report by the Changing Markets Foundation claimed the largest conglomerates in the world, including Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and Colgate-Palmolive, make voluntary pledges and support small take-back schemes as a tactic to take the air out of anti-plastic movements.
TerraCycle is frequently mentioned in the report as the tool corporations use to make it look like they’re moving toward reusable and recyclable containers, while at the same time they aggressively lobby against anti-plastic legislation. For example, the report says Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé, and Tetra Pak spent between €300,000 and €1.2 million in 2018 lobbying against the European Union’s Single-Use Plastic Directive. (This lobbying effort failed; the SUP Directive became EU law just a few weeks ago.)
Szaky has aligned himself with the interests of these big businesses. “It’s much better to focus on and empathize with their goals — whether you agree with them or not, frankly,” Szaky said in an interview this past May. “Even if it’s as uninspired as ‘I want to sell more stuff.’”
He also has said that, because companies pay for TerraCycle’s recycling programs, they are “even more motivated” to improve the design so they can cut the cost of TerraCycle’s recycling program, and that TerraCycle often provides consulting services to brands that want to make their packaging more frequently recyclable. Gerber, with the help of TerraCycle’s feedback, made its squeeze pouches easier and less expensive for TerraCycle to process. These squeeze packs are not yet, however, curbside recyclable.
The question remains: If corporations can set a low cut-off point for how much they will pay for each recycling program (the largest programs are in the seven figures, which is hilariously small for a global behemoth like Nestlé, which made $13.49 billion in profit in 2020, how are they incentivized to do anything more than the bare minimum?
TerraCycle’s own employees have trouble with this business model. “Most people joining our company have to be trained ... because people are so mission-driven,” Szaky has said. “It’s almost like, ‘F**k you, you should be responsible’ — that emotion comes out.”
Environmental advocates are fed up. “I am a very dedicated recycler. I have never mailed TerraCycle anything. And I don’t plan to,” says Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics at Bennington College in Vermont and former EPA regional administrator under Obama. “On one hand, I want to say it’s well intentioned. But on the other hand, I think it gives excuses for large corporations to keep using plastics.”
Let’s zoom out from the small impact of TerraCycle’s recycling programs and look at the question of whether recycling should even be the goal here.
“Pretty much anything is technically recyclable if you throw enough money, hours, and energy at it,” says John Hocevar, Greenpeace USA’s oceans campaign director. He has been working with corporations to get them to phase out single-use plastics, and increasingly sees them turn to TerraCycle instead. “That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea or that it makes sense from an economic or environmental perspective.”
A chemical engineer with more than 35 years of experience, Jan Dell has sat on the US Federal Climate Committee and consulted for companies like Nike, Gap, and Mattel on supply chain projects around water and labor. For those issues, she says corporations had been willing to make real and beneficial changes. But when she tried to talk to them about plastic waste, “they’d say recycling is the solution,” she says. “And I’d be like, no, that’s not possible. As a chemical engineer, I know. It defies the second law of thermodynamics. It’s greenwashing.”
Plastic degrades every time you process it into another plastic product; it can’t be recycled back through the system endlessly. It’s always downcycled, or turned into a material that is less valuable, until that too ends up in the landfill. Or, it’s incinerated, which can pollute local communities with toxic emissions and release greenhouse gases. Some chemical companies are promoting a new type of recycling called chemical recycling, where plastic is broken down into its chemical components to be used as energy or reformed into new plastic, but environmental groups say this process is just as polluting and energy-intensive, if it is even scalable.
For now, new plastic always has to be made, and old plastic will always end up in the environment. The only way to reduce the amount of plastic going into the oceans is to make less of it. Way less of it. But the opposite is happening. Oil companies, seeing the writing on the wall for cars, are moving into plastics.
Three years ago, the company Dell worked for acquired another that specialized in building plastic manufacturing plants, and she was told her job, formerly focused on clean energy, was going to expand to include helping ExxonMobil build new polyethylene cracker plants. So she quit and founded a small nonprofit in California called The Last Beach Cleanup. Her goal was to stop plastic pollution.
“To do that,” she says, “I had to expose that plastic recycling doesn’t work.”
She started looking at the issue of what qualifies as “recyclable.” The Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guide says that to put an unqualified “recyclable” label on something, at least 60 percent of people in locations where it is sold need to have access to a place to recycle it. If not, the manufacturer has to clearly emphasize to consumers the limited availability of recycling.
Dell partnered with Greenpeace to survey all of the country’s 367 materials recovery facilities (MRFs) that sort incoming waste to see what they accept. The study found that in the US, only #1 plastic (clear PET bottles) and #2 plastic (high-density polyethylene milk and detergent jugs) are reliably recycled. The rest of the plastic is landfilled or burned, or shipped abroad to less-developed countries, where it is also piled in landfills or burned.
Take polypropylene (labeled as #5 and used in things like yogurt containers and coffee lids). There are only enough facilities in the US to process 5 percent of what is sold, yet polypropylene products are sold in California with a recycling symbol on them. The closest facility that can recycle these products is in Alabama, 2,000 miles away.
Because of the industry’s expansive use of the chasing arrows symbol, as well as peppy recycling marketing campaigns, confused consumers now throw any and all plastic in their recycling bins. A 2020 report showed that some communities on the West Coast have plastics contamination rates of up to 46 percent. When recyclable plastic is contaminated by unrecyclable plastic, MRFs often have to throw the whole batch away. Only 30 percent of the most recyclable type of plastic, PET water bottles, are ultimately recycled (and are now the subject of a lawsuit from Sierra Club over the “recyclable” label).
“It’s going to take laws and lawsuits to actually fix this because unfortunately, the FTC hasn’t ever enforced the Green Guides,” Dell says.
While she was working on that project, Dell noticed TerraCycle labels popping up on store shelves, and she saw that the company claimed that it recycles 97 percent of the qualified materials sent in to them. She found that claim absurd.
Dell tried to sign up for the Late July chip bag program (a company owned by Campbell’s), but it was closed to new participants, as were more than a dozen other corporate-sponsored recycling programs managed by TerraCycle.
Szaky confirmed that the companies that partner with TerraCycle put a cap on the amount of money they are willing to spend on recycling. When enough people or locations sign up, the new participants are put on the waiting list until the brands decide whether or not they want to allocate more money.
If she didn’t want to wait for the free program, Dell had the option of buying an $86 11 x 11 x 20-inch snack waste box from TerraCycle for her used chip bags. Dell filled a small box the size of the TerraCycle box with plastic packaging, and the contents weighed 3.5 pounds. That means its customers are paying more than $24 per pound ($48,000 per ton) to recycle food packaging waste. Recycling household waste costs the government up to $278 per ton, or just under 28 cents per pound. It’s a bum deal (even with the 10 percent discount TerraCycle sent out last month in honor of Amazon Prime Day).
Dell waited nine months for the Late July program to open back up. “The FTC guidelines are all based on a ‘reasonable’ test. It’s not reasonable to expect that people are going to keep plastic trash all separated in their garage or whatever,” Dell says.
The participation limits were the smoking gun Dell needed to go after TerraCycle. If TerraCycle and corporations are saying their packaging and products are recyclable through a free program in order to incentivize consumers to buy their stuff, but in practice only allow a few thousand (according to the location counters on TerraCycle’s website) to participate in their high-effort programs before encouraging them to plunk down their own cash, in her view, the label “recyclable through TerraCycle” is a lie.
Luckily, Dell lives in California, where organizations can file “organizational harm” lawsuits. “Here I am, putting energy and resources into trying to fix these labels, spending my own money, instead of working on other stuff. And this group over there is doing the opposite, harming my efforts to be an environmental NGO,” she explains. California consumers can also ask for proof that a company is actually recycling what they say they are.
In December, the public interest firm Lexington Law sent a letter to TerraCycle on behalf of The Last Beach Cleanup asking for receipts proving they were recycling. Szaky says that TerraCycle does recycle everything sent in that is qualified, minus a few percentage points for the little bits of labels and similar stuff burned away in recycling. The only thing TerraCycle incinerates, he claims, are noncompliant materials that people send in that they can’t find a way to recycle. He said they are updating the website to provide more information on how things are recycled.
He has not, however, provided documentation. To several of Vox’s questions concerning overall numbers — like how much of each kind of material TerraCycle receives and processes, or what the average waitlist time is — he said that the data exists, but his team hasn’t calculated those numbers.
Unsatisfied with TerraCycle’s response, the law firm filed the lawsuit in March in California. It seeks to force TerraCycle and its partners to stop using the TerraCycle recyclable symbol on products that it hasn’t proven are easily recyclable by at least 60 percent of consumers. If successful, the lawsuit could render the more profitable half of TerraCycle’s business model — getting paid by corporations to tell consumers that they can recycle pretty much anything — a fineable offense. That would leave only the part where TerraCycle charges consumers an exorbitant amount of money to process packaging that corporations created and sold to them.
There was no press release, and the suit got little press coverage. Dell says she’s not doing it for publicity or money. “My greater goal is really to help companies truly make their products reusable, recyclable, and compostable,” she says. “The brands themselves know they could make simple changes to improve design.”
Colgate, for one, has started switching all its tubes to curbside-recyclable #2 HDPE and is open-sourcing its packaging technology with other companies. But the overall trend has gone in the opposite direction. Where we used to buy simple glass and metal containers, now we get mixed plastic-and-paper Tetra Pak cartons, squeezy tubes and drink pouches, beer cans shrink-wrapped in plastic labels, single-use sachets, and coffee cans topped with plastic.
Not long after the lawsuit was filed, around Earth Day this year, Taco Bell announced it was partnering with TerraCycle to recycle all its used hot sauce packets. Dell calculated that if 6.6 billion (60 percent) of Taco Bell’s hot sauce packets were sent to TerraCycle, it would produce 104,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, roughly equal to the annual carbon emissions of 23,000 cars. Of course, the idea of that many Taco Bell customers saving and sending back hot sauce packets boggles the mind. “It just is non-viable,” she says. “It’s not serious.”
Szaky sent Vox a lifecycle analysis that showed that TerraCycle’s collection and recycling of multilayer wrappers have a lower carbon footprint than landfilling them and manufacturing new wrappers from virgin plastic. (Though, experts say that lifecycle analyses have been manipulated by corporations and the plastics industry to make plastic look more sustainable than it really is.)
Greenpeace’s Hocevar put out a press release asking why Taco Bell doesn’t just allow customers to specify they want hot sauce on their tacos or have bulk hot sauce pumps available. “These companies are looking for ways to make it appear that they are doing something about plastic without taking the actions that are really needed to address this,” he says. “You can’t keep making and handing out billions of hot sauce packets and convince people that it’s okay.”
In a statement emailed to Vox, Taco Bell said, “Taco Bell is still collaborating with TerraCycle to determine collection mechanics, which will initially roll out as a pilot program. Taco Bell’s upcoming partnership with TerraCycle is an important step, but not the final step, in identifying viable solutions quickly and efficiently.”
If TerraCycle isn’t the solution, what is?
“I’m a strong supporter of deposits,” Beyond Plastics’ Enck says. Container deposit laws tack on a fee of a few cents on each bottle or can. If you bring the empty container to a collection point, you get that fee back. Deposits are pretty much the opposite of those pricey TerraCycle boxes, because corporations have to administer and pay for the collection points. And then consumers get paid when they turn bottles and cans back in. (In the states that have deposit laws, collecting these containers is the way some low-income people make ends meet.) More importantly, deposit legislation is effective — states with bottle bills have the highest recycling rates in the country.
But brands, unsurprisingly, hate deposits.
Szaky says it costs 4 cents to recycle each Gerber squeeze pouch, so why not just do a deposit system of 4 cents per pack?
“Many people, big NGOs, organizations have been trying that and failed, so no, I couldn’t just do that,” he said. “That’s an absurd idea. I’m not the president of the country. Could you just go pass a bottle bill right now?”
I started to explain that Maine had just passed an expanded deposit bill, but he cut me off.
“What state are you in right now?”
I tell him New York.
“Okay, go pass a deposit law on pens tomorrow. Why don’t you just do that?” (We had been discussing those Bic pens.)
I ask him if he’s suggesting that the only thing I can do as a US citizen to address plastic pollution is to buy a TerraCycle-labeled product.
“No, no, I didn’t say that. Sorry. Not at all. I think, as a citizen, you should first buy less stuff. If you do choose to buy things that have been designed into local recyclability, you’re not benefiting me at all. I think those are way better answers. Then buy a reusable pen. Still has nothing to do with me.” (Side note: Zebra’s 100 percent metal refillable pen comes packaged in plastic.) “Then, if you have a voice and you’re willing to go do it, knock on your lawmaker’s door and ask them to pass taxes and all sorts of legislation to do exactly what you described.”
As Szaky correctly pointed out, until last week, the United States was one of the only developed countries without an Extended Producer Responsibility law. Maine just passed America’s first EPR law last week, which will impose fees on consumer product companies based on the cost of collecting and recycling their products and packaging. (The industry group Ameripen, which counts Nestlé, Campbell’s, PepsiCo, and Tetra Pak among its members, came out against it, saying it gives the government too much authority.) Oregon is considering similar legislation.
TerraCycle’s claims that they can and do recycle almost anything could stymie these efforts to rein in packaging. New York City’s 2015 ban on polystyrene products was delayed for four years because a judge accepted the chemical industry’s promise that it would create a viable recycling system for polystyrene. It was only when a team of experts produced a report showing that there was close to no polystyrene recycling in all of the US that a second judge let the ban go forward in 2019.
“I’m not aware of any case where a company has used us to do such a form of lobbying,” Szaky said in response. “When we are asked or have the opportunity, we always say that EPR legislation is a wonderful thing, and deposit laws are a wonderful thing.”
When asked why he would support legislation that would undercut his business, especially when he has been considering an IPO, he said, “There are many investors who rally behind that, who say, ‘Hey, here’s an investment. We really hope you achieve your mission. And if we make some money, great, and if we don’t, and the mission was achieved, that’s awesome.’”
“I wish we didn’t have to exist,” he went on. “I have a friend who runs a great nonprofit that focuses on battered women in Mexico. Do you think he wants to be in business?”
“Don’t you ever worry you’re being used?” I asked him.
“Yeah, I absolutely think about that,” he says. “And then I’m thinking, they could spend a bunch of money on TV commercials that made you love their products. And if they’re going to use me to do the same effect as a commercial, I think it’s still better for the planet. And that’s fine.”
It’s clear that Szaky believes TerraCycle is helping, in a small way, address global plastic pollution. But his belief that corporations will fulfill their pledges to go plastic-free feels like a holdover from the 2010s, when entrepreneurs thought they could do an end run around the government and disrupt their way into environmental responsibility.
It would be better, however, if he wasn’t having consumers pay for this delusion.
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22598748/terracycle-greenwashing-recycling-lawsuit
Reuters Report Raises More Doubts About Viability of Advanced Recycling
The article underscores the failure of many advanced recycling companies to fulfill their promise of solving the plastic waste challenge.
Clare Goldsberry | Aug 04, 2021
https://www.plasticstoday.com/advanced-recycling/reuters-report-raises-more-doubts-about-viability-advanced-recycling?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=18251&elq_cid=8654516
For nearly two years, PlasticsToday has followed the trials and tribulations of advanced recycling technologies — the good (what little there is), the bad, and the ugly. On July 29, Reuters released a report on this same topic that doesn’t contain much that is new; rather, it covers the ongoing problem of companies that have been making promises to solve the plastic waste challenges for the past decade (or longer), and noting their failure to fulfill those promises.
The report begins by calling out Renewlogy, founded by Priyanka Bakaya, who has made several attempts to find a solution to plastic waste through her pyrolysis process. The Salt Lake City facility contracted with Boise, ID, to take hard-to-recycle plastic waste through Dow’s orange Hefty Energy Bag program and turn it into fuel. It didn’t turn out that way. The Salt Lake facility never got up and running, and Boise found itself renting warehouse space to store the collected orange bags until the city finally began sending the orange bags to a cement kiln to burn for energy.
Reuters reached out to Bakaya and she emailed them a response claiming that the program didn’t work because the plastic recyclate was “contaminated with other garbage at 10 times the level it was told to expect.”
Dirty recyclate is a major problem with advanced recycling. Like mechanical recycling, advanced recycling needs clean recyclate free of contamination in order to produce the quality of product that customers of these fuels and base chemicals need for their processes and products.
To produce its report, Reuters said it examined 30 projects by two-dozen advanced recycling companies across three continents and interviewed more than 40 people with direct knowledge of this industry. What Reuters found was not surprising: “Most of those endeavors are agreements between small advanced recycling firms and big oil and chemicals companies or consumer brands, including ExxonMobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and Procter & Gamble Co (P&G). All are still operating on a modest scale or have closed down, and more than half are years behind schedule on previously announced commercial plans,” said Reuters.
Loop Industries closes South Korean deal
I can add one more to the list. Loop Industries, which PlasticsToday has followed for several years, announced on Aug. 2, 2021, that it has closed on the $56.5 million deal with SK Global Chemical Co. Ltd. The South Korean firm will purchase treasury common shares of Loop Industries at $12 per share. SKGC now owns 10% of Loop’s common shares. The agreement, first announced on June 23, intends to accelerate the commercialization of Loop’s technology throughout Asia to supply global CPG brand companies with virgin-quality PET resin and polyester fiber made from 100% recycled material, starting with a first facility in Ulsan, South Korea. Preparation is expected to begin in 2022 to build a minimum of four facilities by 2030. Combined, these facilities are expected to process approximately 400,000 tons of PET and polyester fiber waste annually.
I’ve heard similar promises from a number of these advanced recycling startups over the past five years. We’ll be watching, but not holding our breath.
By the way, Renewlogy also built a plant in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in collaboration with Halifax Sustane. The PK Clean plastics-to-fuel plant was announced in the publication Canadian Plastics on May 9, 2017, and in Waste 360 on July 18, 2017, touting that the facility would be capable of producing 832,142 gallons of synthetic fuel annually. The facility was to be completed by December 2017 with the first fuel production output in early 2018. My last inquiries to Sustane as to whether the plant has been built and is operational went unanswered.
Bakaya also took a stab at getting Phoenix on board with Renewlogy’s technology. So far that hasn’t been realized, despite several announcements over the past two years.
“Pyrolysis has been tried before on plastic,” noted Reuters. “British oil giant BP Plc, German chemical maker BASF SE, and US oil company Texaco Inc. — now owned by Chevron Corp. — all separately dropped plans to scale up waste-to-fuel pyrolysis technologies more than 20 years ago due to technical and commercial problems.”
"Polluter-pays" laws don't punish the real polluters
Reuters’ report concludes that the driver for these advanced recycling technologies is the pressure brought to bear on big companies and the passage of “polluter-pays” laws “that would shift the cost of waste collection from taxpayers to the companies that make the plastic we use.” It’s obvious that Reuters has it a bit wrong. If these laws were really about the polluter paying, then consumers, the people who run waste management companies, and municipalities that do not have good infrastructure in place should pay. They are the ones polluting, after all.
Producer-pays laws aren’t effective because the producers of plastic materials and the manufacturers that use plastics in the production of their goods are not responsible for what consumers do with the plastic packaging and products after the useful end of life.
PureCycle is also mentioned in the Reuters report, which notes that the company is one of three that it examined that has gone public. PureCycle went public through a special purchase acquisition company (SPAC), and “ended its first day of trading on March 18 with shares up 13% to $33, giving it a market capitalization of around $3.8 billion.”
It’s difficult to imagine a company having a market cap of nearly $4 billion with no product to sell, only promises of technology licensed from P&G capable of recycling polypropylene. P&G obviously didn’t want to carry this process forward itself; instead, it recently partnered with Eastman to use its molecular recycling technology to achieve its sustainability goals. It still claims that PureCycle offers another alternative to advanced recycling. P&G didn’t provide comment to the Reuters report.
Enerkem, which PlasticsToday has covered in the recent past, announced a joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell Plc in March 2019 with promises to produce bio-methanol fuel. A news announcement in December 2020 said that Shell Canada was buying a 40% interest in Enerkem to construct a C$875 million commercial-scale facility in Varennes, Quebec. Enerkem has been in this business since 2000 — more than two decades — and so far all the company has produced are promises.
According to Reuters, two sources “directly involved with the project” said that it was canceled late last year due to “uncertainly about the plants’ availability to secure a reliable waste supply and to turn a profit.” Enerkem, however, told Reuters that the “project was never canceled, rather ‘repurposed’ to focus on making jet fuel.” Shell told Reuters it will make a decision on further investment in this venture in 2022.
Like so many of these advanced technology companies, the one thing they seem to forget is that in spite of the “green” altruism they spout, the ultimate goal is to create profits.
Did you say "potentially"?
Many in the plastics industry push advanced recycling laws that some 14 US states have adopted to promote projects that promise to add jobs. Unfortunately, many never become a reality, nor will they ever be a viable solution to the plastic waste problem. Reuters notes that “at least four high-profile projects have been dropped or indefinitely delayed over the last two years because they weren’t commercially viable.”
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) is urging lawmakers to “ease regulations on and provide incentives to advanced recycling companies,” reported Reuters. That would be all well and good, if these projects were actually viable. Reuters reports that the ACC says “these technologies are game-changers because they could potentially process all types of plastic, eliminating expensive sorting and cleaning.” ACC Vice President of the plastics division Joshua Baca told Reuters: “The potential is enormous,” adding that the organization called on Congress to “develop a national strategy to reduce plastic waste, including ‘rapid scaling’ of advanced recycling.”
Those all sound like great ideas but there are those catch-words — potentially and potential — and therein lies the problem. In the advanced recycling business there’s no such thing as “rapid scaling” — many of these companies have been in the development phase of these technologies for nearly two decades and have yet to produce a gallon of anything. That doesn’t exactly warm the cockles of investors’ hearts, but it doesn’t seem to deter them, either.
https://www.plasticstoday.com/advanced-recycling/reuters-report-raises-more-doubts-about-viability-advanced-recycling?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=18251&elq_cid=8654516
Top Republicans move to protect Trump from Capitol attack fallout
Some party leaders blamed the former president in the charged moments after the insurrection – but are now embarking on a campaign of revisionism
Hugo Lowell in Washington
Thu 5 Aug 2021 02.00 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/05/us-capitol-attack-republicans-trump-fallout
Top Republicans in Congress are embarking on a new campaign of revisionism seven months after the attack on the Capitol, absolving Donald Trump of responsibility and blaming the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, for the 6 January insurrection perpetrated by a mob of Trump supporters.
Some House and Senate Republican leaders stated in the charged moments immediately following the attack that Trump was squarely to blame, and amid blood and shattered glass at the US Capitol, some even considered his removal.
“The president bears responsibility,” the House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, said of Trump at the time, demanding that he “accept his share of responsibility”.
But after nearly 200 House Republicans voted to clear Trump in his unprecedented second impeachment and Senate Republicans scuttled a 9/11-style commission to investigate the events of 6 January, the Republican party made a call to shift all blame away from Trump.
The move to protect Trump from the fallout of the Capitol attack, at any cost, reflects the party leaders loyalty to a defeated former president, as well as the political self-interest of Republicans desperate to distance themselves from an insurrection they helped stoke with lies of a stolen election.
The Republicans’ journey into a universe of alternate facts became virtually complete last week after House Republican leadership, days after the harrowing testimony of police officers deployed to tackle the rioters shocked Congress once more, spun a new lie about the deadly attack.
No longer satisfied to simply pardon Trump for inciting his supporters to unlawfully stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election win, the No 3 House Republican, Elise Stefanik, blamed Pelosi – a target of the mob – for the violence on 6 January.
“The American people deserve to know the truth: that Nancy Pelosi bears responsibility, as speaker of the House, for the tragedy that occurred on January 6,” Stefanik said falsely from the steps of the Capitol.
Pelosi is not responsible for security – a duty that lies with US Capitol police – but the baseless claim promulgated by Stefanik amounted to the party leadership’s latest disinformation campaign they hope will give them political cover as the 2022 midterm elections near.
There remains a deep fear among Republicans that any scrutiny into 6 January could expose their role in amplifying Trump’s lies about fraud in the 2020 election – the root cause of the insurrection – which could be used as a cudgel by Democrats at the ballot box.
Some congressional Republicans privately acknowledge the fallacious logic of blaming Pelosi for the Capitol attack, but not the Republican minority leader, Mitch McConnell, her then opposite number in the Senate.
But in a sign of the ambition and self-preservation guiding Republican revisionism over the Capitol attack, they also suggest that they are willing for McCarthy to indulge Trump’s claims should it help Republicans capture the House. And with Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, vowing to subpoena anyone who spoke with Trump on 6 January, they note a counter-narrative takes on the added effect of undercutting the politically bruising inquiry.
The revisionism over the Capitol attack heralds what some experts see as a dangerous new era in American politics: even with Trump out of the White House, Republicans advancing demonstrably false narratives to safeguard their political survival.
“The GOP is thinking enough time has passed to somehow rewrite the history of events,” said Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former top White House Russia expert who testified at Trump’s first impeachment inquiry.
“They’re hoping that it gets into the record, even if it’s pointed out that it doesn’t correlate with the facts, because once their version is out there in the media, then that’s sufficient for it to become the raw material for shaping how history recounts things later on,” Hill said.
In the days after the attack, McCarthy, joined Democrats in condemning Trump and urging Congress to establish a fact-finding commission, having already called the former president and demanded he call off his rioters.
McCarthy at one stage even fact-checked the former president. “Some say the riots were caused by Antifa. There is absolutely no evidence of that,” he said on the House floor. “Conservatives should be the first to say so.”
But that initial resolve was quickly replaced with a renewed fealty to Trump, who demanded that Pelosi “investigate herself”, as he again falsely suggested that it was Antifa, rather than his own supporters, who perpetrated the Capitol attack.
Republicans have seized on that messaging, but none more so than McCarthy, who has repeated Trump’s debunked claims and taken trips to Mar-a-Lago to ingratiate himself with Trump, whose support he considers essential for his ambitions to become Speaker in 2022.
Such endeavors to placate Trump took on heightened significance last week for McCarthy, after he pulled all five of his picks for the House select committee in a moment of frustration and inadvertently left Trump without defenders on the panel.
And as two US Capitol police and two DC Metropolitan police officers for hours testified to the select committee how Trump, described as a “hit man”, sent his supporters to attack the Capitol, an alarmed McCarthy moved to shift the pressure from Trump to Pelosi.
“If there is a responsibility for this Capitol, on this side, it rests with the Speaker,” McCarthy said.
Stefanik, who replaced Liz Cheney as Republican conference chair after her ouster in May for taking aim at Trump’s conduct and rhetoric once too often, went further, and proclaimed that the House speaker was in fact to blame for the insurrection.
The political calculus of the House Republican leadership extended for the first time last week to McConnell – once fiercely critical of Trump for his role in inciting the insurrection, but now content to avoid the topic he considers a political loser.
Hill told the Guardian that Republican revisionism revisionism mirrors the playbook adopted by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and an array of other autocratic leaders needing to sanitize their roles in politically embarrassing events.
“You can see this over and over again in pretty much every authoritarian setting,” Hill said. “It’s fundamentally not about politics. It’s nothing more than a massive con job, a scam, concocted to keep their own personal and collective power. There’s no end other than that.
It is a disinformation effort also co-opted by rank and file Republicans, who have increasingly tried to rewrite the reality of what transpired on 6 January, from claiming no rioter was armed (at least one was), to comparing the attack to a “normal tourist visit”.
Standing outside the justice department last week, a group of Trump’s most vociferous defenders on Capitol Hill denounced the indictments brought against nearly 600 Capitol rioters and accused prosecutors of holding them as political prisoners.
Urged on by Trump, the lawmakers falsely characterized Ashli Babbitt, an insurrectionist who was shot and killed as she tried to breach a secure area of the Capitol adjacent to the House chamber, as a patriotic martyr whose death was planned by Democrats.
The fiction pushed by Stefanik drew a rebuke from at least one Republican. “All Donald Trump needs to see is that you’re making a defense, no matter how nonsensical that defense is,” Congressman Adam Kinzinger said on ABC, but not before members of his own party called for his expulsion.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/05/us-capitol-attack-republicans-trump-fallout
Georgia ex-deputy sentenced to prison for unregistered gun
August 3, 2021
https://apnews.com/article/business-georgia-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-e7f029f6acb7acf536c613b56311a421
MACON, Ga. (AP) — A former Georgia sheriff’s deputy, who was arrested during an investigation into a violent extremist group, has been sentenced to serve more than three years in federal prison for possessing unregistered guns, prosecutors said.
Cody Richard Griggers, 28, was sentenced Tuesday to serve three years and eight months in prison followed by a year of supervised release. He had pleaded guilty in April.
“Law enforcement officers should be above reproach, and the vast majority of them are,” Acting U.S. Attorney Peter Leary said in a news release. “Cody Griggers disgraced that trust by espousing violent extremism and possessing a cache of unregistered weapons while on duty, including a machine gun with a silencer and obliterated serial number.”
Griggers worked for the Wilkinson County Sheriff’s Office in central Georgia. During a California investigation into a man making violent political statements on social media, FBI agents discovered a group text that included Griggers.
Griggers, who is white, used racial slurs, slurs against gay people and made frequent positive references to the Holocaust, prosecutors said. He also said in the group text that he was manufacturing and acquiring illegal firearms, explosives and suppressors.
Agents searched his home and his patrol vehicle on Nov. 19. They found multiple firearms, including a machine gun with an erased serial number, according to authorities. The machine gun was not issued to him, and he wasn’t allowed to have it in his duty vehicle, authorities said.
Investigators found a total of 11 illegal runs, including an unregistered short barrel shotgun in his home, prosecutors said.
Wilkinson Sheriff Richard Chatman has said that Griggers worked for his agency for just over a year and was fired in November.
https://apnews.com/article/business-georgia-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-e7f029f6acb7acf536c613b56311a421
Former deputy chairman of the European Research Group, Steve Baker has declared Brexit as a “fiasco” and people can’t honestly believe it.
Sinead Butler
1 hour ago Politics
https://www.indy100.com/politics/tory-mp-steve-baker-brexit-fiasco-b1897266
Looks like the self-proclaimed “hard man of Brexit” will have to find a new nickname for himself after taking a complete U-turn to soften up his view on the subject.
Five years after the 2016 EU referendum and with endless negotiations finally leading to an agreement earlier this year, some could say Baker is a little late to the party.
In a tweet, the Tory MP for Wycombe begins by taking aim at Labour leader Keir Starmer for his net-zero policy, describing him as “part of the policymaking elite.”
He then goes on to say how “Politicians need to level with the public about the scale of change needed in our lives so we don’t have another political fiasco like Brexit.”
Perhaps, Baker is forgetting his year-long tenure as Brexit minister from June 2017 – July 2018...
No doubt Twitter was there to remind Baker of his active role in the Brexit “fiasco” and how his nickname (which he is probably regretting right now) hasn’t aged well.
LBC radio presenter, James O’Brien tried to come up with an answer to Baker’s dramatic U-turn but to no avail.
Political fiasco made flesh/self-styled 'Brexit hardman' Steve Baker now thinks Brexit is a 'political fiasco'.
— James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) August 4, 2021
I've tried but I've got nothing... https://t.co/c7nsOdLyrh
Steve, I bring terrible news. It’s your Brexit. It’s your ‘fiasco’. You were at the epicentre of the policy-making elite who pushed it through, without scrutiny, in the harshest terms possible.
— Sue Perkins 💙 (@sueperkins) August 4, 2021
As for poorer and colder, you have consistently voted against welfare increases… https://t.co/poUYeKhRfE
Top DOJ official drafted resignation email amid Trump election pressure
The never-sent email, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO, highlights the pressures at the department as the former president tried to overturn his loss.
By BETSY WOODRUFF SWAN and NICHOLAS WU
08/04/2021 01:41 PM EDT Updated: 08/04/2021 03:25 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/04/doj-official-resignation-trump-election-pressure-502413
In early January 2021, one top Justice Department official was so concerned that then-President Donald Trump might fire his acting attorney general that he drafted an email announcing he and a second top official would resign in response.
The official, Patrick Hovakimian, prepared the email announcing his own resignation and that of the department's second-in-command, Richard Donoghue, as Trump considered axing acting attorney general Jeff Rosen. At the time, Hovakimian was an associate deputy attorney general and a senior adviser to Rosen.
But Trump didn’t fire Rosen, and Hovakimian's draft email — a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO — remained unsent. The fact that Trump-era DOJ officials went that far highlights the serious pressures they faced in the waning days of the administration as the former president tried to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.
“This evening, after Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen over the course of the last week repeatedly refused the President’s direct instructions to utilize the Department of Justice’s law enforcement powers for improper ends, the President removed Jeff from the Department,” Hovakimian wrote in his never-sent email. “PADAG Rich Donoghue and I resign from the Department, effective immediately.”
Hovakimian then wrote that preserving DOJ’s institutional integrity was Rosen’s top concern.
“The decision of whether and when to resign and whether the ends of justice are best served by resigning is a highly individual question, informed by personal and family circumstances,” he continued. “Jeff asked me to pass on to each of you that whatever your own decision, he knows you will adhere always to the highest standards of justice and act always – and only – in the interests of the United States.”
Hovakimian drafted the email on Jan. 3 from the Justice Department’s headquarters after Rosen and Donoghue departed for a meeting with then-President Trump at the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter.
His draft email has not previously been published. Raphael Prober, a partner at Akin Gump and lawyer for Hovakimian, declined to comment.
The officials’ threat to resign was first reported by the New York Times, which said the group of Justice Department officials had taken part in a conference call organized by Donoghue. The officials had agreed on the call to resign together if Trump sacked Rosen.
The Hovakimian letter’s disclosure comes as the House Oversight Committee steps up its investigation into the tumultuous final weeks of the Trump administration and Trump’s attempts to pressure the Department of Justice to intervene in the 2020 election. Hovakimian sat for a closed-door, transcribed interview before the committee’s staff on Tuesday morning, and a Department of Justice memo cleared the way for others to testify as well.
The House Oversight committee has obtained a copy of the draft email. A spokesperson for the panel did not immediately provide comment.
Trump, for his part, has signaled he will not immediately try to block the officials from testifying. On Monday, his lawyer Doug Collins sent a letter saying the former president would not immediately sue to try to block former DOJ officials’ participation in the multiple probes scrutinizing Trump’s last weeks in office.
But Collins, a former House GOP lawmaker, appeared to walk back the letter in a Tuesday interview with Fox News where he seemed to suggest former DOJ officials should refuse to answer some congressional inquiries.
Collins “railed against the DOJ waiver as ‘political’ and said he hopes the former officials will withhold any information from Congress that would fall under executive privilege,” wrote Fox News reporter Tyler Olson.
“The former president still believes those are privileged communications that are covered under executive privilege,” Collins said, according to the Fox News article.
It is unclear what exactly Trump wants from the former DOJ officials and why he refuses to take legal action to protect communications that he believes should be covered by executive privilege. Collins did not immediately respond to a request for comment from POLITICO.
And his team doesn’t have much time to get their messaging straight. Hovakimian answered questions from congressional investigators the morning after Collins’ letter went out. Two other former DOJ officials are also scheduled to sit for interviews with House Oversight in the next two weeks, according to two people familiar with the committee’s plans.
CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this report misstated the year Patrick Hovakimian drafted the email.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/04/doj-official-resignation-trump-election-pressure-502413
A newly released letter tells us more about Trump’s last-ditch push to steal the election
The insurrection before the insurrection
By Philip Bump
National correspondent
Yesterday at 10:59 a.m. EDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/08/04/newly-released-letter-tells-us-more-about-trumps-last-ditch-push-steal-election/
Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election by 7 million actual votes and 74 electoral votes, a fate that was cemented in early November after states finished counting ballots. But to Trump, that was simply the starting point of the second phase of the battle to steal Joe Biden’s victory by any means possible.
Trump had spent months — years, really — laying the groundwork. He’d repeatedly sowed doubt about the security of elections, without evidence, leveraging long-standing Republican rhetoric about election fraud as a personal defense mechanism. The advent of the coronavirus pandemic allowed Trump to apply a new sheen to the old claims, focusing on an increase in mail-in ballots as a conduit for what he insisted would be an avalanche of fraudulent voting. It allowed him to falsely suggest that anything counted after, say, midnight on Election Day was suspect — which he did, over and over.
Many Americans justifiably see the riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6 as the apex of the effort to keep Trump in office. It was certainly the most dangerous moment and the most striking, but even it was nearly matched a few hours later when a majority of the House Republican caucus voted to block the counting of electoral votes from two states, precisely the outcome that the rioters hoped to effect. In recent months, though, we’ve learned that Trump’s most direct effort to steal the election unfolded about a week prior, over the last few days of 2020.
On Tuesday, ABC News published a letter circulated by the then-acting head of the Justice Department’s civil division, a man named Jeffrey Clark. Addressed to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and state legislative leaders, the draft letter dated Dec. 28 claimed that the department was “investigating various irregularities” in the presidential contest and that it had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election.” The stated recommendation was that the legislature “convene in special session so that its legislators are in a position to take additional testimony, receive new evidence, and deliberate on the matter” — something that the letter describes as “consistent with its duties under the U.S. Constitution” as it pertains to the selection of presidential electors.
The letter went on to suggest that an alternative slate of electors — that is, electors for Trump — might be accepted on Jan. 6 should the legislature demand that happen. Understanding that Kemp had already risen to the defense of the results in the state, Clark claimed in the letter that the legislature could simply call itself into session to make that determination.
It was, in other words, a road map to overthrowing the will of voters. The amount of detail given to the mechanism for handing the electors to Trump was matched by the dearth of specificity about the alleged “irregularities” in the state.
The acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, and acting deputy attorney general, Richard Donoghue, rejected the letter out of hand — a well-founded decision that nonetheless prevented a dicey situation from getting worse. Donoghue’s lengthy response, one probably written with an eye toward it eventually being read by external eyes, made all of the points you might expect. The purported “irregularities” amounted to nothing more than a few ticky-tack questions about individual votes, concerns “that are of such a small scale that they simply would not impact the outcome of the Presidential Election,” Donoghue wrote. Nothing he knew of, he added, would amount to “significant concerns” elsewhere that would similarly call the results into question.
“More importantly,” he added, “I do not think the Department’s role should include making recommendations to a State legislature about how they should meet their Constitutional obligation to appoint Electors.” In other words: It is not the Justice Department’s place to tell states how to overturn election results.
Sending the letter, he concluded, was “not even within the realm of possibility.”
By itself, this back-and-forth is probably without precedent. But slotted into the other events we know were occurring at the same time, we see just how desperately Trump was scrambling to gain a toehold in his efforts to upend a Biden presidency.
Remember, this was after every state had already certified its results (something that Trump and his allies tried desperately to prevent, coming close in Michigan). It was after the electors had met Dec. 14 and finalized their formal votes to be transmitted to D.C. (That Georgia Republicans held their own invalid vote on Trump’s behalf was an element of Clark’s proposal.) In other words, there was no real way for the results to shift, barring something exceptional. So Trump and his allies tried to gin up something exceptional, with a particular focus on Georgia.
The attorney general who served Trump so loyally in the second half of his administration, William P. Barr, left the administration on Dec. 23, elevating Rosen to that position. Barr had already publicly rejected the idea that rampant fraud had occurred, earning Trump’s ire. Barr’s departure was announced Dec. 14 — and Trump’s team wasted no time in pressuring Rosen on their fraud claims. Trump’s assistant sent Rosen a document that afternoon purporting to show fraud in Michigan. On Dec. 15, the president called Rosen into the Oval Office to insist that he file legal arguments claiming that the election was stolen. Rosen refused.
On Dec. 27, with Rosen now running the Justice Department, Trump called the acting attorney general. Notes from the call taken by Donoghue that were released last week show the thrust of the conversation.
Trump suggested that Rosen's team “may not be following the internet the way I do,” which was certainly true, given that Trump was busily elevating many obviously unreliable online claims to his millions of followers on social media. Trump needed to “understand that the DOJ can’t + won’t snap its fingers + change the outcome of the election, doesn’t work that way,” Rosen replied, according to Donoghue's notes.
“[I] don’t expect you to do that,” Trump said in response, “just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen.”
That latter assurance was probably centered on Trump’s looking forward to lawmakers challenging the vote on Jan. 6, as they in fact did. (Trump had also already begun encouraging his supporters to come to D.C. that day, promising in a tweet on Dec. 19 that the day “will be wild!”) But Trump clearly felt that the lawmakers would need something more substantive in hand before the day arrived. On Dec. 29, for example, Trump’s assistant sent Rosen and Donoghue a draft lawsuit the president hoped would be filed with the Supreme Court. It mirrored a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas that the court had already declined to hear.
The day after the “just say the election was corrupt” call, Clark circulated his letter that just said exactly that. But Clark’s letter was almost certainly not something that occurred independently of Trump. Clark was introduced to Trump by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), and he began talking with Trump directly. (Perry at another point also forwarded Donoghue a document detailing debunked claims about fraud in his state.) Trump began speculating about tossing Rosen in favor of the more acquiescent Clark, something Clark obviously favored. On Dec. 31, Rosen and Donoghue met with Clark to tell him to back off his false claims about the election, unaware that he had Trump’s ear.
On Jan. 2, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and said members of his team just “need more time” to uncover “the big numbers” of fraudulent ballots, a search that remains unrequited. He accused Raffensperger of violating the law by not taking steps to acknowledge Trump’s imaginary fraudulent ballots.
“All I want to do is this,” Trump said. “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.”
Then just leave the rest to him.
The next day, Clark told Rosen that he was going to be made acting attorney general by Trump. That led to a contentious meeting in the Oval Office involving all three men in which Trump weighed making such a switch to advance his fraud claims. A number of senior Justice Department officials had promised to resign should it happen, which the New York Times credits with helping preserve Rosen’s job. But that outcome was by no means certain. Replacing Rosen would probably have meant a quick issuance of Clark’s letter and a public rationalization for Georgia’s Republican-led legislature to act in support of Trump’s effort to snatch away the state’s electoral votes.
With Jan. 6 approaching, Trump continued to try to shake free Georgia’s electoral votes. The U.S. attorney for Georgia, a Trump appointee, resigned on Jan. 4 after receiving a call spurred by the White House complaining about his failure to launch investigations of alleged fraud. (The president of Ukraine can empathize.) But it was soon too late to redirect the vote-counting on Jan. 6, save for the efforts of the pro-Trump rioters.
That does not mean the effort has stopped. Trump continues to try to gin up doubt about the election results, despite the lack of a mechanism for being reinstated as president. Even now, his approach is the same as it was seven months ago: Just get someone, somewhere to say that something untoward happened, and leave the rest to him.
CORRECTION
This article originally misspelled Jeffrey Clark's first name as Jeffery. The article has been corrected.
By Philip Bump
Philip Bump is a correspondent for The Washington Post based in New York. Before joining The Post in 2014, he led politics coverage for the Atlantic Wire. Twitter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/08/04/newly-released-letter-tells-us-more-about-trumps-last-ditch-push-steal-election/
Man arrested in mistaken identity case locked in Hawaii mental health hospital for two years
Joshua Spriestersbach was released after being locked up for two years and eight months and forced to take psychiatric drugs
Maya Yang
Wed 4 Aug 2021 10.46 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/04/hawaii-man-mistaken-identity-case-mental-hospital-two-years
A homeless man wrongly arrested for a crime committed by someone else and locked up in a mental health hospital for nearly three years was quietly released, recent court documents in Hawaii show.
In a court petition filed on Monday night, the Hawaii Innocence Project asked a judge to rescind Joshua Spriestersbach’s arrest and correct his records. The court filings detail Spriestersbach’s plight, which started when he fell asleep on a sidewalk while waiting for food outside a Honolulu shelter in 2017.
When a police officer woke him up, Spriestersbach thought he was being arrested for the city’s ban on sitting or lying down on public sidewalks. In reality, the officer mistook him for a man named Thomas Castleberry, who had an outstanding warrant from a 2006 arrest for drug crimes.
According to the Hawaii Innocence Project, Spriestersbach and Castleberry had never met and Spriestersbach had never claimed to be Castleberry.
Spriestersbach’s lawyers argue that the mixup could have been avoided if police had simply compared the two men’s fingerprints and photographs. Instead, Hawaii officials locked Spriestersbach in the Hawaii State Hospital for nearly three years and forced him to take psychiatric drugs. In January 2020, officials realized their mistake and quietly released him, with 50 cents to his name.
“The more Mr. Spriestersbach vocalized his innocence by asserting that he is not Mr Castleberry, the more he was declared delusional and psychotic by the HSH staff and doctors and heavily medicated,” the petition said. “No one would believe him or take any meaningful steps to verify his identity and determine that Mr. Spriestersbach was telling the truth – he was not Mr Castleberry,” it added.
For two years and eight months, hospital staff and Spriestersbach’s own public defenders refused to believe him, until a hospital psychiatrist finally listened. According to the court document, all it took were a few Google searches and phone calls to confirm that he was on another island when Castleberry was initially arrested.
The real Castleberry has been incarcerated in an Alaska prison since 2016.
The Hawaii Innocence Project criticized the police, state public defender’s office, state attorney general and the state hospital, stating that all parties “share in the blame for this gross miscarriage of justice”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/04/hawaii-man-mistaken-identity-case-mental-hospital-two-years
Judge to Capitol riot defendant: 'Patriotism is loyalty to country, loyalty to the Constitution'
By Hannah Rabinowitz and Joe Beare
Updated 1733 GMT (0133 HKT) August 4, 2021
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/04/politics/amy-berman-jackson-capitol-riot-defendant-patriotism/index.html
(CNN) A federal judge rejected the argument that US Capitol rioters held in jail are being prosecuted for their political views and disavowed attempts to downplay the magnitude of the deadly insurrection during a sentencing on Wednesday.
"You called yourself and everyone else patriots, but that's not patriotism," Judge Amy Berman Jackson said of defendant Karl Dresch. "Patriotism is loyalty to country, loyalty to the Constitution, not loyalty to a head of state. That is the tyranny we rejected on July 4."
Jackson, known for her sharp criticism of the Trump administration's moves, called Dresch an "enthusiastic participant" in the effort "to subvert democracy, to stop the will of the people and replace it with the will of the mob."
The federal court in Washington, DC, has repeatedly acted as a referee about the severity of the January 6 attack, with several judges expressing their disgust with defendants' actions and the shocking violence and details being made public as Capitol riot cases move through the courts and prosecutors reveal evidence they've gathered.
Dresch, 41, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of illegally demonstrating in the Capitol building, which has become a typical plea deal that the Justice Department has offered to nonviolent rioters who did not go far into the building. Jackson sentenced Dresch to six months in jail. He will be released Wednesday because he has been in jail since mid-January and will receive credit for time already served.
During the hour-long hearing, Jackson pointed to Dresch's posts on social media, before and after the riot, which liken January 6 to a revolution, call the day a "total victory" and say that "traitors" in Congress now "know who's really in charge," as evidence of how many people continue to reject the results of the election and how self-described revolutionaries could be pushed to act again.
"The defendant did not spend six months in jail because he is a political prisoner. He was not prosecuted for his political views," Jackson said. "The defendant came to the Capitol because he placed his trust in someone who repaid that trust by lying to him."
Jackson has handled some of the most politically significant court cases of the Trump era and its aftermath, and has been outspoken in her criticism of lying, threats and criminal actors connected to former President Donald Trump and his administration.
In May, Jackson wrote that Trump "continues to propagate the lie that inspired the attack on a near daily basis," and that "the anger surrounding the false accusation continues to be stoked by multiple media outlets as well as the state and federal party leaders who are intent on censuring those who dare to challenge the former President's version of events."
Dresch was given the maximum sentence for the misdemeanor because of his criminal history -- including a 2013 incident where he fled from police, resulting in a high-speed car chase across state lines. He is the third Capitol riot defendant who has received jail time following a guilty plea, and many of the more than 550 Capitol riot criminal cases still aren't resolved. It's unlikely that other rioters who plead guilty to the same charge will receive the full six-month maximum sentence.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/04/politics/amy-berman-jackson-capitol-riot-defendant-patriotism/index.html
Pesticide threat to bees likely 'underestimated': study
by Kelly MacNamara
AUGUST 4, 2021
https://phys.org/news/2021-08-pesticide-threat-bees-underestimated.html
Exposure to a cocktail of agrochemicals significantly increases bee mortality, according to research Wednesday that said regulators may be underestimating the dangers of pesticides in combination.
Bees and other pollinators are crucial for crops and wild habitats and evidence of steep drops in insect populations worldwide has prompted fears of dire consequences for food security and natural ecosystems.
A new meta-analysis of dozens of published studies over the last 20 years looked at the interaction between agrochemicals, parasites and malnutrition on bee behaviours—such as foraging, memory, colony reproduction—and health.
Researchers found that when these different stressors interacted they had a negative effect on bees, greatly increasing the likelihood of death.
The study published in Nature also found that pesticide interaction was likely to be "synergistic", meaning that their combined impact was greater than the sum of their individual effects.
These "interactions between multiple agrochemicals significantly increase bee mortality," said co-author Harry Siviter, of the University of Texas at Austin.
The study concluded that risk assessments that fail to allow for this outcome "may underestimate the interactive effect of anthropogenic stressors on bee mortality".
Researchers said their results "demonstrate that the regulatory process in its current form does not protect bees from the unwanted consequences of complex agrochemical exposure.
"A failure to address this and to continue to expose bees to multiple anthropogenic stressors within agriculture will result in the continued decline in bees and their pollination services, to the detriment of human and ecosystem health," the study concluded.
In a commentary also published in Nature, Adam Vanbergen of France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment said that pollinating insects face threats from intensive agriculture, including chemicals like fungicides and pesticides, as well as a reduction of pollen and nectar from wild flowers.
The industrial-scale use of managed honey bees also increases pollinator exposure to parasites and diseases.
While previous individual studies have looked at how these stressors interplay, the new meta-analysis "confirms that the cocktail of agrochemicals that bees encounter in an intensively farmed environment can create a risk to bee populations".
He said there had been a general focus on impacts on honey bees, but added there is a need for more research on other pollinators, which might react differently to these stressors.
Some 75 percent of the world's crops producing fruits and seeds for human consumption rely on pollinators, including cocoa, coffee, almonds and cherries, according to the UN.
In 2019 scientists concluded that nearly half of all insect species worldwide are in decline and a third could disappear altogether by century's end.
One in six species of bees have gone regionally extinct somewhere in the world.
The main drivers of pollinator extinction are thought to be habitat loss and pesticide use.
https://phys.org/news/2021-08-pesticide-threat-bees-underestimated.html
The heart of Mo Brooks' argument is that, when he spoke at Trump's rally on Jan. 6, he was acting within the scope of his employment and therefore has immunity from Swalwell's lawsuit.
You may recall DOJ has taken an opposite view.
Link: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.228356/gov.uscourts.dcd.228356.38.0_2.pdf
Jan Wolfe @JanNWolfe
·1h Replying to
@JanNWolfe
THREAD
https://twitter.com/JanNWolfe/status/1422962033281089540
Jan Wolfe @JanNWolfe·59m Representing himself, Rep. Mo Brooks asked to be dismissed from Rep. Eric Swalwell's lawsuit alleging a conspiracy to incite the Jan 6 riot.
In an unusual opening, Brooks says he's always been faithful to his wife, never used tobacco, and that none of his kids are divorced.
5:46 PM · Aug 4, 2021·Twitter Web App
THREAD
https://twitter.com/JanNWolfe/status/1422962033281089540
Republican Brooks seeks immunity for Jan. 6 speech, says he was not campaigning
Sarah N. Lynch
August 4, 2021 5:45 PM BST
Last Updated an hour ago
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republican-brooks-seeks-immunity-jan-6-speech-says-he-was-not-campaigning-2021-08-04/
WASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Representative Mo Brooks asked a federal judge on Wednesday to grant him immunity from a civil lawsuit alleging a speech he delivered to then-President Donald Trump's supporters on Jan. 6 helped incite the attack on the Capitol.
In a series of court filings, Brooks addressed a decision by the Justice Department issued last week, which determined it could not defend the Alabama congressman because he was not acting within his scope of employment as a member of Congress when he spoke at the rally.
Brooks is a co-defendant with Trump and several others in a lawsuit brought by Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell in the U.S District Court for the District of Columbia, before Judge Amit Mehta.
After the Jan. 6 rally, where Trump and others repeated the false claim that the election was marred by widespread fraud, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.
Brooks had previously asked the Justice Department to declare he was covered by the Westfall Act, which protects federal employees from being sued for actions taken as part of their jobs.
The department declined, saying his speech was a campaign activity not covered by the Westfall Act, adding that inciting an attack on Congress "is not within the scope of employment of a Representative - or any federal employee."
Brooks, who is representing himself in the lawsuit, rejected those findings on Wednesday.
"Brooks was asked on Jan. 5, 2021 by a person who identified himself as a White House employee to give a speech," he wrote about himself in the third person.
He added the event was not considered a campaign rally, he was not paid out of Trump's campaign and was speaking to the crowd in part about his duties as a U.S. congressman to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Chris Reese
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republican-brooks-seeks-immunity-jan-6-speech-says-he-was-not-campaigning-2021-08-04/
Lucrative fundraising points to small but strong Republican anti-Trump resistance
David Smith in Washington
@smithinamerica
Wed 4 Aug 2021 05.00 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/04/republican-anti-trump-resistance-lucrative-fundraising
Cashflow suggests while Trump retains an iron grip on party, there is still significant money behind efforts to wrest it free
Taking a stand against Donald Trump is guaranteed to bring Republicans online abuse, primary election challengers and barbs from the former US president himself. But it is also proving lucrative as donors scramble to breathe life into the anti-Trump resistance.
Liz Cheney, a Republican congresswoman from Wyoming and leading Trump critic, enjoyed her second consecutive record fundraising quarter with $1.88m from April to June, according to financial reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. She had raised $1.54m in the first three months of the year.
Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois congressman who defied party leaders by joining Cheney on the House of Representatives select committee investigating the 6 January insurrection, raised almost $2m in the second quarter, while his political action committee (Pac) took in $1.5m-plus.
And Americans Keeping Country First, which describes itself as the “only Super Pac dedicated solely to defending the members of Congress who took votes of conscience to impeach or convict President Trump” after the US Capitol riot, reported $525,000 in income through the end of June.
The hefty fundraising numbers suggest that, while Trump retains an iron grip on the Republican party, there is still significant money behind efforts to wrest it free from the man who was twice impeached and lost the House, Senate and White House.
“That is a bright sign for the Republican dissidents to be able to raise that kind of money,” said Charlie Sykes, a journalist and author of How the Right Lost Its Mind. “It’s unfortunate that it doesn’t change the dynamic that the Republican base is what it is.
“But it’s a reminder that there is a constituency for Republicans who are willing to break with Trump. It’s a signal that other Republicans can see that if in fact they do the right thing, they are not going to be completely abandoned, that there is potentially some support there.”
Breaking from Trump carries a political price. Cheney – daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney – has already been censured by the Wyoming Republican party and ousted as the House Republican conference chair.
She, Kinzinger and other Republicans who voted to impeach Trump are set to face primary challenges from candidates endorsed by the former president ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
But the healthy cashflow suggests that the mavericks will not go down without a fight. Cheney out-raised her most prominent opponent, Wyoming state senator Anthony Bouchard, who took in a more modest $550,000 up to the end of June. Kinzinger challenger Catalina Lauf raised a little more than $350,000.
Americans Keeping Country First’s haul “puts it on or above the fundraising pace of independent political groups going after the few remaining Republican Trump critics in Congress”, Axios reported.
The figures come after a rough week for Trump. Susan Wright, whom he endorsed,, lost to fellow Republican Jake Ellzey in a primary in Texas – albeit one where Democrats were able to cast protest votes – and Senate Republicans defied his urgings to reject a bipartisan infrastructure deal.
Sykes added: “There are some green shoots. Those elements are all indications of possible vulnerability. Losing that primary where he had gone all in is significant but it’s a long way to go. It’s going to be a drip, drip, drip. There will be a lot of opportunities for other Republicans to find off-ramps if they’re looking for it.”
Declaring an end to Trump’s dominance of the party, however, usually proves wishful thinking. He raised more than $100m in the first half of 2021, far more than any other Republican and a remarkable sum for a former president. Many senior party figures still promote his false claim of a stolen election – at least in public.
Tim Miller, writer-at-large for the Bulwark website and former political director of Republican Voters Against Trump, said: “There are plenty of Republican donors that didn’t support the insurrection but are just going along to get along with Donald Trump. These are not profiles in courage but I could see them wanting to assuage their guilt by rewarding Cheney and Kinzinger.
“There are people that maybe don’t want to speak out and earn the ire of Donald Trump but want to be supportive; I know people like that. I’m not surprised that with the combination, from your quiet anti-Trump Republicans to your ‘Never Trumpers’, to some good-natured Democrats, you can pull together money. The question is whether that translates into popular support.”
Electoral strategy may also play a part. Some Republicans, and their financial backers, apparently regard Trump as a toxic figure in many suburban districts crucial to midterm success. Some of his anointed candidates, such as Herschel Walker for senator in Georgia, might soar in a primary but flame out in a general election. Money is therefore flowing to some more moderate rivals.
Wendy Schiller, a political science professor at Brown University said: “Whatever the polls say, whatever the voting base is, who is actually fueling the Republicans in terms of campaign contributions? You’re seeing a distinct split. You’re seeing some portion of the party – and that encompasses corporations and the Chamber of Commerce, which really likes stability – keeping the anti-Trump faction in pretty good shape at least with Kinzinger and Cheney.
“If you’re the Republicans and you desperately need to keep the suburbs you won back in 2020, you have to do something about the Trump surge because suburban voters are not going back to Trump. So if you have a GOP person in 2020 who took back a competitive suburban seat in that election, that person is going to have a hard time keeping the seat if they are too closely aligned with Trump.
“That’s where the Cheney-Kinzinger wing of the party has got to be able to raise enough money to keep those suburban GOPers in contention in a primary against a Trump supported opponent… finding a way to keep those people in the game in the primary from January to August.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/04/republican-anti-trump-resistance-lucrative-fundraising
China seals city as its worst virus outbreak in a year grows
59 minutes ago
https://apnews.com/article/business-health-china-coronavirus-pandemic-46fd21e9be94b2b3f4ebeb59ec4fa77c
BEIJING (AP) — China’s worst coronavirus outbreak since the start of the pandemic a year and a half ago escalated Wednesday with dozens more cases around the country, the sealing-off of one city and the punishment of its local leaders.
Since that initial outbreak was tamed last year, China’s people had lived virtually free of the virus, with extremely strict border controls and local distancing and quarantine measures stamping out scattered, small flareups when they occurred.
Now, the country is on high alert as an outbreak of cases connected to the international airport in the eastern city of Nanjing touched at least 17 provinces. China reported 71 new cases of COVID-19 from local transmission Wednesday, more than half of them in coastal Jiangsu province, of which Nanjing is the capital.
In Wuhan, the central city where the first cases of COVID-19 were identified in late 2019, mass testing has shown some of its newly reported cases have a high degree of similarity to cases discovered in Jiangsu province. Those cases have been identified as being caused by the highly transmissible delta variant that first was identified in India.
Meanwhile, another COVID-19 hotspot was emerging in the city of Zhangjiajie, near a scenic area famous for sandstone cliffs, caves, forests and waterfalls that inspired the on-screen landscape in the “Avatar” films.
The city ordered residential communities sealed Sunday, preventing people from leaving their homes. In a subsequent order on Tuesday, officials said no one, whether tourist or resident, could leave the city.
The city government’s Communist Party disciplinary committee on Wednesday issued a list of local officials who “had a negative impact” on pandemic prevention and control work who would be punished.
The city itself has only recorded 19 cases since last week, three of which were people with no symptoms, which are counted separately. However, individual cases linked to Zhangjiajie’s outbreak have spread to at least five provinces, according to the Shanghai government-owned newspaper the Paper.
Far higher numbers were reported in Yangzhou, a city next to Nanjing, which has recorded 126 cases as of Tuesday.
After announcing last week that they were suspending issuance of passports for travelers except for those with an urgent need, officials at the National Immigration Administration reiterated the message again on Wednesday at a press briefing.
As of Tuesday, China has given more than 1.71 billion vaccine doses to its population of 1.4 billion. It’s not clear how many of those are first or both doses, but at least 40% of the population is fully protected, according to earlier announcements.
Chinese companies have not publicly shared real-world data on how effective their vaccines are against the delta variant, though officials have said the vaccines prevent severe disease and hospitalization.
In addition to the 71 cases of local transmission, 25 travelers from overseas have COVID-19 and have entered quarantine, making the total for Wednesday 96 new cases. The National Health Commission also said 15 people tested positive for the virus but have no symptoms.
China has reported 4,636 deaths and 93,289 cases of COVID-19 overall, most of them from the original outbreak in Wuhan that peaked early last year.
https://apnews.com/article/business-health-china-coronavirus-pandemic-46fd21e9be94b2b3f4ebeb59ec4fa77c
Analysis: Delta variant upends politicians’ COVID calculus
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and ZEKE MILLER
today
https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-joe-biden-health-coronavirus-pandemic-ae53b5887b5f1ba83b05cf36373d0b2a
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration drew up a strategy to contain one coronavirus strain, then another showed up that’s much more contagious.
This week — a month late — Biden met his goal of 70% of U.S. adults having received at least one COVID-19 shot. Originally conceived as an affirmation of American resiliency to coincide with Independence Day, the belated milestone offered little to celebrate. Driven by the delta variant, new cases are averaging more than 70,000 a day, above the peak last summer when no vaccines were available. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is drawing criticism from experts in the medical and scientific community for its off-and-on masking recommendations.
But the delta variant makes no distinctions when it comes to politics. If Biden’s pandemic response is found wanting, Republican governors opposed to pandemic mandates also face an accounting. They, too, were counting on a backdrop of declining cases. Instead unvaccinated patients are crowding their hospitals.
The Biden administration’s process-driven approach succeeded in delivering more than enough vaccine to protect the country, sufficient to ship 110 million doses overseas. When the president first set his 70% vaccination target on May 4, the U.S. was dispensing around 965,000 first doses per day, a rate more than twice as fast as needed to reach the July 4 goal.
Then things started to happen.
While the White House was aware of public surveys showing swaths of the population unwilling or unmotivated to get a shot, officials didn’t anticipate that nearly 90 million Americans would continue to spurn lifesaving vaccines that offer a pathway back to normalcy. The spread of misinformation about the vaccines enabled a festering fog of doubt that has clung close to the ground in many communities, particularly in Republican-led states.
Yet on May 13, when the CDC largely lifted its mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated adults indoors, topline indicators were still flashing green. The agency said unvaccinated people should keep wearing masks — and get their shots soon. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris celebrated by doffing their masks and strolling in the Rose Garden of the White House. Around the country, an everyday celebration spread to coffee shops, supermarkets, beer gardens and restaurants. People planned weddings and music festivals.
Drowned out in the applause were expert warnings that there was no way to tell who was and who wasn’t vaccinated, and a country restless for an end to the pandemic was essentially being placed on the honor system.
“The single biggest mistake of the Biden presidency when it comes to COVID 19 was the CDC’s precipitous and chaotic change in masking guidance back in May,” said Dr. Leana Wen, a former Baltimore health commissioner and commentator. “It had the direct result of giving people the impression the pandemic was over. It allowed unvaccinated people to have free rein and behave as if they were vaccinated, and therefore we have the surge of the delta variant.”
“I think they were naive,” Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said of the CDC. “They saw it as a carrot, as a gift.”
Meanwhile, the delta variant had arrived, and in a matter of weeks would become the dominant strain in circulation.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky recently confirmed just how much more contagious delta is. “If you get sick with the alpha variant, you could infect about two other unvaccinated people,” she said. “If you get sick with the delta variant, we estimate that you could infect about five other unvaccinated people — more than twice as many as the original strain.”
Last week, the CDC reversed course on masks, recommending that even vaccinated people again mask up indoors in areas where the virus is on the march, now most of the country.
MORE ON THE PANDEMIC
– DeSantis won't move on masks as Florida COVID wards swell
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– As COVID-19 surges in Tunisia, oxygen is in short supply
The immediate reason was a report by disease detectives of a recent outbreak in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The delta variant was to blame and a majority of those infected had been vaccinated. Although very few vaccinated people got sick enough to be hospitalized, the initial findings showed vaccinated people with breakthrough infections were carrying about as much virus as unvaccinated people.
The report fed vaccine doubts in some quarters. Wen, the former health commissioner, said the CDC should have put the Provincetown report in a fuller context that showed vaccines do keep protecting. CDC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Back on July 4 Biden proclaimed that the nation was declaring its independence from the virus. In recent weeks, he seemed to have moved on from the pandemic. The president was focused on securing a bipartisan deal on infrastructure and on selling the separate Democrats-only legislation to carry out his ambitious domestic agenda. The number of White House COVID-19 briefings dwindled.
“We celebrated prematurely,” said Ali Mokdad, an infectious disease expert with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle. Biden’s 70% goal was a solid step, said Mokdad, but about half the population is not yet fully vaccinated.
Now vaccinations are again edging upward, but the data don’t show a dramatic increase.
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Republicans dismissive of mask requirements, are staring at surges in their states. Together, Florida and Texas accounted for about one-third of new cases nationally in the past week. DeSantis doubled down on defiance Tuesday, blaming “media hysteria” and people spending more time indoors in the sweltering summer.
“Even among a lot of positive tests, you are seeing much less mortality that you did year-over-year,” he said at a Miami-area news conference. “Would I rather have 5,000 cases among 20-year-olds or 500 cases among seniors? I would rather have the younger.”
Offit, the Philadelphia vaccines expert, says “it’s hard to watch” DeSantis say he won’t abide mask mandates. “Why not?” asked Offit. “That is why his state leads the league in cases.”
___
EDITOR’S NOTE — Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar covers health care policy for the Washington bureau of The Associated Press. Zeke Miller covers the White House with a focus on the Biden administration’s coronavirus response.
https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-joe-biden-health-coronavirus-pandemic-ae53b5887b5f1ba83b05cf36373d0b2a
Palmer Report @PalmerReport Congratulations to Democrat Shontel Brown for winning today’s U.S. House special election in OH-11.
She defeated the toxically divisive Nina Turner, who helped give Trump a first term and tried to give Trump a second term.
This is a good day for democracy.
2:37 AM · Aug 4, 2021·Twitter for iPhone
THREAD
Congratulations to Democrat Shontel Brown for winning today’s U.S. House special election in OH-11.
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) August 4, 2021
She defeated the toxically divisive Nina Turner, who helped give Trump a first term and tried to give Trump a second term.
This is a good day for democracy.
Terrorism expert Sara Kamali on Jan. 6, white nationalism and the rise of "Vanilla ISIS"
The author of "Homegrown Hate" on the nightmarish fantasies shared by white nationalists and Islamic extremists
By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
PUBLISHED AUGUST 2, 2021 6:00AM (EDT)
https://www.salon.com/2021/08/02/terrorism-expert-sara-kamali-on-jan-6-white-nationalism-and-the-rise-of-vanilla-isis/
Tennessee won’t incentivize COVID shots but pays to vax cows
By TRAVIS LOLLER
today
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-tennessee-724fb0c79615b533c9e861104a0d459c
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee has sent nearly half a million dollars to farmers who have vaccinated their cattle against respiratory diseases and other maladies over the past two years.
But Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who grew up on his family’s ranch and refers to himself as a cattle farmer in his Twitter profile, has been far less enthusiastic about incentivizing herd immunity among humans.
Even though Tennessee has among the lowest vaccination rates in the country, Lee has refused to follow the lead of other states that have offered enticements for people to get the potentially life-saving COVID-19 vaccine.
Lee hasn’t always been against incentivizing vaccinations.
Tennessee’s Herd Health program began in 2019 under Lee, whose family business, Triple L Ranch, breeds Polled Hereford cattle. The state currently reimburses participating farmers up to $1,500 for vaccinating their herds, handing out $492,561 over the past two fiscal years, according to documents from the Tennessee Agriculture Department.
Lee, who so far has avoided drawing a serious Republican primary challenge in his 2022 reelection bid, has been accused of complacency in the face of the deadly pandemic. Tennessee’s vaccination rates for COVID-19 hover at 39% of its total population, versus over 49% nationally for the fully vaccinated. The state’s COVID hospitalizations have more than tripled over the past three weeks and infections have increased more than five-fold.
Speaking at the Tennessee Cattlemen’s Association annual conference on Friday, Lee said he did not think incentives were very effective, WBIR-TV reported. “I don’t think that’s the role of government,” he added. “The role of government is to make it available and then to encourage folks to get a vaccine.”
In an emailed reply to a question about the contrast to incentivizing vaccination for cattle, spokesperson Casey Black wrote, “Tennesseans have every incentive to get the COVID-19 vaccine – it’s free and available in every corner of the state with virtually no wait. While a veterinarian can weigh in on safely raising cattle for consumption, the state will continue to provide human Tennesseans with COVID-19 vaccine information and access.”
After Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine announced the state’s Vax-a-Million lottery on May 12, with prizes that included $1 million and full college scholarships, many other states around the country followed suit with their own incentives. They include custom outfitted trucks in West Virginia, annual passes to the state parks in New Jersey, and gift certificates for hunting and fishing licenses in Arkansas. Last week, President Joe Biden joined the call for incentives, encouraging state and local governments to use federal funds to pay people $100 to vaccinate.
But Lee has avoided employing any of those tactics and has maintained throughout the pandemic that the decision to vaccinate against COVID-19 is a personal choice.
“We want to encourage Tennesseans to talk to their doctor, to talk to their clergy, to talk to their family members, the trusted voices in their life, in order for them to make a personal decision about whether or not to pursue getting the vaccine,” he told reporters recently, “but we encourage that because it is the tool that will most effectively allow us to manage this virus.”
Lee was vaccinated against COVID-19 but didn’t publicize it, as he did when he received his flu shot.
More recently, Lee’s administration has been under fire after the state’s vaccination chief was terminated in what she has called an attempt to appease GOP legislators who were outraged over COVID-19 vaccination outreach to minors. At a hearing in June, one Republican lawmaker called an ad promoting vaccination for teenagers “reprehensible” and some went so far as to suggest they might pull the Health Department’s funding.
Dr. Michelle Fiscus has been vocal about what she thinks are the political motives for her firing, sharing her positive performance reviews with the press. Fiscus also called out the Health Department for halting outreach for all childhood vaccinations, not just COVID-19. The department has since restarted outreach, but says it is only targeting parents.
Lee was initially silent on the controversy. Then, at a recent news conference, Lee said he supports Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey and her decisions, although he said he doesn’t have a direct hand in them.
Dr. Jason Martin, who has been treating COVID-19 patients in Sumner County since the beginning of the pandemic, has been so disappointed in the state’s response that he is exploring running for governor himself. The Democrat wishes Lee would be “excited about incentivizing Tennesseans to take a safe, effective, live-saving vaccine,” he said. “It would help us beat COVID, keep our businesses open and thriving, get our kids back to school safely.”
Black, Lee’s spokesperson, would not answer a question about whether the governor’s family farm received money from the Herd Health program, but records from the Agriculture Department do not show anyone with the last name Lee as a recipient.
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-tennessee-724fb0c79615b533c9e861104a0d459c
US hits 70% vaccination rate -- a month late, amid a surge
By MIKE CATALINI
today
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-health-coronavirus-pandemic-e33cc7e3eb782ceffdc9107a7cac25ab
The U.S. on Monday finally reached President Joe Biden’s goal of getting at least one COVID-19 shot into 70% of American adults -- a month late and amid a fierce surge by the delta variant that is swamping hospitals and leading to new mask rules and mandatory vaccinations around the country.
In a major retreat in the Deep South, Louisiana ordered nearly everyone, vaccinated or not, to wear masks again in all indoor public settings, including schools and colleges. And other cities and states likewise moved to reinstate precautions to counter a crisis blamed on the fast-spreading variant and stubborn resistance to getting the vaccine.
“As quickly as we can discharge them they’re coming in and they’re coming in very sick. We started seeing entire families come down,” lamented Dr. Sergio Segarra, chief medical officer of Baptist Hospital Miami. The Florida medical-center chain reported an increase of over 140% in the past two weeks in the number of people now hospitalized with the virus.
Biden had set a vaccination goal of 70% by the Fourth of July. That figure was the low end of initial government estimates for what would be necessary to achieve herd immunity in the U.S. But that has been rendered insufficient by the highly contagious delta variant, which has enabled the virus to come storming back.
There was was no celebration at the White House on Monday, nor a setting of a new target, as the administration instead struggles to overcome skepticism and outright hostility to the vaccine, especially in the South and other rural and conservative areas.
The U.S. still has not hit the administration’s other goal of fully vaccinating 165 million American adults by July 4. It is about 8.5 million short.
New cases per day in the U.S. have increased sixfold over the past month to an average of nearly 80,000, a level not seen since mid-February. And deaths per day have climbed over the past two weeks from an average of 259 to 360.
Those are still well below the 3,400 deaths and a quarter-million cases per day seen during the worst of the outbreak, in January. But some places around the country are watching caseloads reach their highest levels since the pandemic began. And nearly all deaths and serious illnesses now are in unvaccinated people.
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The surge has led states and cities across the U.S. to beat a retreat, just weeks after it looked as if the country was going to see a close-to-normal summer.
Health officials in San Francisco and six other Bay Area counties announced Monday they are reinstating a requirement that everyone — vaccinated or not — wear masks in public indoor spaces.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York City airport and transit workers will have to get vaccinated or face weekly testing. He stopped short of mandating either masks or inoculations for the general public, saying he lacks legal authority to do so.
Denver’s mayor said the city will require police officers, firefighters and certain other municipal employees to get vaccinated, along with workers at schools, nursing homes, hospitals and jails.
Minnesota’s public colleges and universities will require masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. New Jersey said workers at state-run nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals and other such institutions must get the shot or face regular testing.
North Carolina’s governor ordered state employees in the agencies under his control to cover up indoors if they are not fully vaccinated.
And McDonald’s said it will require employees and customers to resume wearing masks inside some U.S. restaurants regardless of vaccination status in areas with high or substantial coronavirus transmission. The company didn’t say how many restaurants would be affected by the new mask mandate.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said a nationwide vaccination requirement “is not on the table,” but noted that employers have the right to take such a step.
The U.S. Senate saw its first disclosed breakthrough case of the virus, with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina saying he has mild symptoms.
In Florida, it took two months last summer for the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 to jump from 2,000 to 10,000. It took only 27 days this summer for Florida hospitals to see that same increase, said Florida Hospital Association President Mary Mayhew.
She noted also that this time, 96% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated and they are far younger, many of them in their 20s and 30s.
Amid the surge, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis doubled down on his anti-mask, anti-lockdown stance, warning in a fundraising email over the weekend: “They’re coming for your freedom again.”
While setting a national vaccination goal may have been useful for trying to drum up enthusiasm for the shots, 70% of Americans getting one shot was never going to be enough to prevent surges among unvaccinated groups. And when he announced the goal, Biden acknowledged it was just a first step.
It’s the level of vaccinations in a community — not a broad national average — that can slow an outbreak or allow it to flourish.
Vaccination rates in some Southern states are far lower than they are New England. Vermont has fully inoculated nearly 78% of its adult population. Alabama has just cracked 43%.
___
Associated Press writers Kelli Kennedy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Michelle Liu in Columbia, South Carolina, and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-health-coronavirus-pandemic-e33cc7e3eb782ceffdc9107a7cac25ab
Alexander Vindman on Trump’s Ukraine call — and the unexpected consequences
By Julian Zelizer
Julian Zelizer is a political historian at Princeton University. He is author of "Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, the Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party."
Yesterday at 1:46 p.m. EDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/alexander-vindman-on-trumps-ukraine-call--and-the-unexpected-consequences/2021/08/02/7f830b6e-e416-11eb-a41e-c8442c213fa8_story.html
On June 25, 1973, former White House counsel John Dean shocked the nation at the Senate Watergate Committee hearings when he revealed the wrongdoing in President Richard Nixon’s White House, ranging from money laundering to coverups. “I began by telling the president,” Dean recounted, “that there was a cancer growing on the presidency, and if the cancer was not removed, the president himself would be killed by it.” His testimony accelerated the search for corruption, culminating in Nixon’s resignation.
Would a John Dean even matter in 2021?
This thought ran through my head as I read Alexander Vindman’s “Here, Right Matters: An American Story.” Vindman, a decorated war veteran who served in South Korea, Germany and Iraq (receiving a Purple Heart after being injured by a roadside bomb there), and worked as a foreign area officer specializing in Eurasia and as a specialist for the Joint Chiefs of Staff before joining the National Security Council in 2018, was one of the most compelling figures in the first impeachment of President Donald Trump in 2019 and 2020. In congressional hearings, Vindman testified about a phone call he observed between Trump and the recently elected Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, that took place on July 25, 2019. Vindman, who prepared the talking points for the president, thought the conversation would reset relations with Ukraine by smoothing over the fact that $400 million in U.S. aid, vital in its war against Russia, had been mysteriously delayed for weeks.
Once the call started, though, Vindman sat in disbelief. The president departed from the script. Just a few days after Joe Biden announced that he was running for president, Trump pressured Zelensky to investigate several allegations, including a discredited story about Hunter Biden and his role in the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma. If Ukraine wanted improved relations, Trump made clear, Zelensky had to search for dirt. Trump “demanding an investigation on a call with a foreign head of state,” Vindman writes, “was crossing the brightest of bright lines.”
In this memoir, Vindman comes across as a patriot. He is a son of a Jewish widower named Semyon from Ukraine who left a good job to emigrate from the Soviet Union in 1979. Vindman grew up in Brooklyn along with his twin and older brothers. He graduated from SUNY-Binghamton and worked his way up through the military. Vindman gained a strong appreciation for robust democratic institutions through his father, who had left Eastern Europe “to escape an arbitrary, tyrannical government with a pervasive culture of corruption, reprisal, and falsehood.”
Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin started a war to gain control of Ukraine in 2014, Vindman understood the dangers this incursion posed to NATO. Despite the stories in the press, however, he wasn’t worried that Trump would fundamentally disrupt relations between the United States and Ukraine. Indeed, he recalls being pleased about joining the National Security Council under Trump, not expressing the kinds of reservations some veteran officials felt about working for this unconventional president. Notably, Vindman’s father was and remained a devout Trump supporter.
But as soon as Vindman listened to the July 25 phone call, he instantly perceived the impeachable nature of the president’s actions. As he immediately told his twin, Eugene, who was the top ethics official for the National Security Council, “If what I just heard becomes public, the president will be impeached.”
His fears about the possible repercussions for his family didn’t stop him from doing something. Vindman believed that it was his duty to report on the call. He also remained confident that higher-ups would respond appropriately once they learned what Trump had done. Certainly, others would be outraged. Vindman was wrong.
“Here, Right Matters” is not an especially riveting narrative. Vindman moves too quickly through some of the most intriguing parts of his biography and the ways in which service shaped his character. The early chapters focus too much on traditional military stories along with italicized axioms, often drained of the personal elements that made him so compelling when he appeared on the public stage.
There are, however, notable contributions to understanding the scandal. More than most other works, Vindman’s book explains with clarity how far the president departed from U.S. policies toward Russia, including his own administration’s. Vindman’s regional knowledge allows him to unpack the reasons that so many Democrats thought Trump’s phone conversation should be the basis of the nation’s third presidential impeachment. In meticulous fashion, he details the stunning number of high-ranking officials — such as Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union — who were in on the game. As Vindman navigated the world of Trump, he found himself guided by a saying he had learned in combat: “Be alert to both the absence of the normal and the presence of the abnormal.” Contrary to Vindman’s expectations, his internal warnings were greeted by aggressive efforts to marginalize him.
“Here, Right Matters” contains nuggets about the impeachment process that weren’t apparent at the time. We learn why Vindman decided to speak before Congress about his father’s opposition to his testifying. He recounts his efforts to work around attempts by Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Tex.), the future director of national intelligence, to maneuver him into admitting that he was running a rogue policy operation. Lest anyone underestimate how fierce the Trump administration could be toward internal critics, readers learn how figures in the Pentagon, the National Security Council and the military did nothing as Vindman came under attack as a traitor. “The army’s staying silent in my case,” Vindman laments, “was only a prelude to its being used as a prop during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in D.C.” His unyielding confidence that most legislators would want to know the facts crashed on the shores of a Republican Party that would do anything to protect the president. “Truth was their enemy, so my conveying the truth made me their enemy, too,” he recalls.
In the end, Trump survived; Vindman’s career was destroyed. Most of the public moved on to other issues, only to see Trump engage in the same excesses of presidential power even during the coronavirus pandemic, and still finish his term with strong Republican support.
While Vindman reminds us of what genuine patriotism can look like, his fate doesn’t inspire much confidence in the state of our democracy. Perhaps the lesson is that John Dean didn’t become the template for investigations of presidential wrongdoing. Rather, the most pertinent model is Oliver North, a staffer on President Ronald Reagan’s National Security Council. When he appeared before a select congressional committee investigating the Reagan administration’s secret assistance to the Nicaraguan contras, despite a legislative ban on such aid, North offered a bold defense of what the president’s team — with him in the center of the operation — had done. Instead of expressing contrition, denial or accountability, North defiantly rallied the political base and turned attention toward what he said was an incompetent Congress rather than a corrupt president. North’s testimony helped bolster support for Reagan.
If the “here” in Vindman’s title is the author, then the memoir shows that “right” still exists. If the “here” is Washington, then his story suggests that there isn’t much “right” to be found anymore. And that is a big problem for all of us. The nation can’t afford for Vindman’s “here” to be such a lonely place.
Here, Right Matters
An American Story
By Alexander Vindman
Harper. 245 pp. $26.99
Image without a caption
By Julian Zelizer
Julian Zelizer is a political historian at Princeton University. He is author of "Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, the Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party." Twitter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/alexander-vindman-on-trumps-ukraine-call--and-the-unexpected-consequences/2021/08/02/7f830b6e-e416-11eb-a41e-c8442c213fa8_story.html
Dominion subpoenas Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Mike Lindell in its $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News
Grace Dean Jul 2, 2021, 1:24 PM
https://www.businessinsider.com/dominion-voting-systems-fox-news-lawsuit-subpoena-giuliani-powell-lindell-2021-7?r=US&IR=T
* Dominion subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Mike Lindell in its lawsuit against Fox News.
* It sued Fox in March, saying it had helped spread conspiracy theories about its voting machines.
* Giuliani, Powell, and Lindell now have to submit documents related to their involvement with Fox.
The voting-machine company Dominion Voting Systems subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell in its $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News.
They now have to hand over documents related to their involvement with the news network, Bloomberg first reported on Thursday.
Dominion had sued the three for $1.3 billion each over their roles in spreading the debunked conspiracy theory that its voting machines "flipped" votes from President Donald Trump to Joe Biden during the 2020 election.
Dominion filed the lawsuit against Fox News on March 26, alleging that the network had given prominence to the election-fraud conspiracy theory to revive its ratings. Fox News has consistently denied this claim and said it is "proud of our 2020 election coverage."
As part of that lawsuit, Dominion subpoenaed Giuliani, Powell, and Lindell on Monday, a filing in state court in Delaware showed.
The subpoena asked Giuliani, a former New York mayor who served as Trump's personal lawyer, to hand over all documents related to his appearances on Fox since 2016 and all communications with the network related to both the 2020 presidential election and Dominion, Bloomberg reported.
The subpoena also asked for Giuliani to provide documents about the nature of his relationship with the network, "whether formal or informal, compensated or uncompensated," the report said.
Dominion sent similar subpoenas to Lindell and Powell, a pro-Trump attorney. They have until July 25 to comply, Bloomberg reported, citing the filing.
Fox News, Giuliani, Powell, and Lindell did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Dominion's lawsuit against Fox News is its biggest yet
Dominion filed $1.3 billion defamation lawsuits against Powell and Giuliani in January and against Lindell in February.
In its lawsuits against Powell and Giuliani, Dominion included numerous examples of them making their election-fraud claims in right-wing media, including Fox News, without pushback from hosts.
The $1.6 billion suit it filed against Fox News in March is its biggest yet.
Dominion said the network "sold a false story of election fraud in order to serve its own commercial purposes, severely injuring Dominion in the process."
In a statement in March, Fox News said: "Fox News Media is proud of our 2020 election coverage, which stands in the highest tradition of American journalism." It said it would defend itself against the lawsuits in court.
The voting-machine company Smartmatic also filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox News in February.
A Fox News representative told Insider in February that the network had run several "fact-check" segments "prior to any lawsuit chatter."
Fox News, Giuliani, Powell, and Lindell have asked for the lawsuits to be dismissed.
https://www.businessinsider.com/dominion-voting-systems-fox-news-lawsuit-subpoena-giuliani-powell-lindell-2021-7?r=US&IR=T
Aaron Blake @AaronBlake Rudy Giuliani just liked a tweet saying Trump and affiliated GOP groups are leaving loyalists like Giuliani "to the slaughter."
5:36 PM · Aug 2, 2021·TweetDeck
THREAD
https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/1422234941094567938