tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24292740885331437922024-03-27T23:52:51.858+00:00ANONYMOUS - OUR VOICEYour Anonymous Daily News Deliver. The most shocking news from around the world without any censorship!Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.comBlogger11208125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-34350621433265770402022-05-02T00:26:00.001+01:002022-05-02T00:26:57.309+01:00Was Russia’s decision to cut off natural gas exports a mistake?<p>Last week Russia announced it would cut off natural gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria after both countries refused to comply with its request to perform export payments in rubles, Russia’s national currency. It is the latest maneuver off the battlefield to hit back against Western efforts to weaken the country even as its armed forces <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/world/2022/04/30/russian-troops-slowed-down-ukrainian-defense-donbas-region/9598036002/">continue to be slowed</a> by Ukrainian troops in the embattled eastern territory of Donbas.</p>
<p>Russia has largely been able to maintain diplomatic relationships in the Asia-Pacific region with China and India, its biggest allies, despite Western sanctions. But Its decision to cut off energy exports has strengthened Europe’s alliance with the US, particularly as Europe continues deliberations over added sanctions against Russia.</p>
<p>The Kremlin <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/28/1095113387/what-russia-cutting-off-energy-to-poland-and-bulgaria-means-for-the-world">defended</a> the move as a necessary measure to protect Russia’s financial reserves following heavy sanctions.</p>
<p>“They blocked our accounts, or — to put in Russian — they ‘stole’ a significant portion of our reserves,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the media during a press call.</p>
<p>Europe imports a third of its oil and gas from Russia but that has not deterred it from using sanctions as a tool to stop the country’s aggression in Ukraine. The European Union has already put out five rounds of economic sanctions against Russia and is expected to introduce more penalties in the upcoming weeks.</p>
<p>Russia’s decision to cut off gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria — the latter of which had remained undecided in its stance regarding Russia up until the recent ban — is a risky move meant to act as a warning to other European countries. But some experts have written off the move as a miscalculation.</p>
<p>According to Yoshiko Herrera, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison specializing in Eurasian politics, it may have the opposite intended effect.</p>
<p>“One of the key arguments for people who are for the additional energy sanctions is to say, Russia is an untrustworthy partner, that they’re using energy as a political tool,” said Herrera. “So by cutting off gas to Poland and Bulgaria, they’re kind of making the case that they are an unreliable partner.”</p>
<p>Although no formal proposals have been put forth, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-30/eu-to-propose-phasing-out-russian-oil-by-the-end-of-the-year">reports</a> the EU will likely introduce a ban on Russian oil by the end of the year, gradually limiting its imports until then.</p>
<p>“Full European energy sanctions would really hurt [Russia’s] economy and hurt their ability to wage war because they will run out of money. So that, I think, is something Russia has to be worried about,” Herrera said. “Their continued bad behavior in Ukraine, the atrocities are what is I think pushing Europe to quite radically change positions on things, on energy.”</p>
<h3>Russia has maintained allies since its invasion of Ukraine</h3>
<figure class="e-image"><span class="e-image__inner"><span class="e-image__image" data-original="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1651440247_4604_920931" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23430957,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/FVo4EUmAaKHDbpnUYGODOD-hRR0=/0x0:6000x4000/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ihseCJW0zaPJyBRNiFBI7bEDB94=/0x0:6000x4000/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/r06oJq8OlsrDAR0m0Vh_ymVOC9A=/0x0:6000x4000/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/XPoduGoSWZrc1j-k7ppneO6o6No=/0x0:6000x4000/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9uZTtmC44u8Yvm4m61_ZLVHqrPg=/0x0:6000x4000/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/H4Jn03cMUBFjBRwtsEgFaufNl0w=/0x0:6000x4000/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/El7i1PKN9BPrzQhIegjefwsq3Y4=/0x0:6000x4000/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BPVx0MpcNMlAkrJYzO5cOCDJmoQ=/0x0:6000x4000/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9mEK-RJVi7M41h3B5_C9bVToXSo=/0x0:6000x4000/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hzv4PTe4RYc_7cPxstNITKqCWf8=/0x0:6000x4000/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mhNiGIJ4anjZAqfGRYUgGXQlcQ0=/0x0:6000x4000/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vxbfqbHEgo8H8lgM7dTr122h8WA=/0x0:6000x4000/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6y8rHjimauUyaXAJ_FbmYz0-C60=/0x0:6000x4000/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CO2gPOwZM2x-EQGq7TeCLauk3Qo=/0x0:6000x4000/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/XiP0-zfZAYXx8euDINH2TQ90JqI=/0x0:6000x4000/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cozEdWecbSGM6W-NnZzogkg0VKY=/0x0:6000x4000/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/X5cl8GOPiDNgs-R9X_tnVb-5T3A=/0x0:6000x4000/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/z3SDiIH-iU5zUhBuvlFrMVXOLM0=/0x0:6000x4000/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" alt="Large black screens hovering above crowds show white text with the UN vote to remove Russia from Human Rights Council." data-upload-width="6000" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/G7sWHX1cg2ASXRI7tP8gDQ3a3wg=/0x0:6000x4000/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23430957/1239809346.jpg" /></picture></span></span>
<figcaption><span class="e-image__meta">Screens show passage of the UN’s resolution to remove Russia from the UN Human Rights Council following a vote by the General Assembly on April 7, 2022.</span></figcaption>
<span class="e-image__meta"><cite>Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images</cite></span></figure>
<p>Despite Western powers’ broad condemnation of and efforts to isolate Russia, the country has managed to maintain allies. In April, the UN General Assembly voted on a resolution to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council over its invasion of Ukraine. The resolution succeeded after it <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/04/1115782">received</a> a two-thirds majority of votes from member states with 93 nations voting in favor of Russia’s suspension from the body. But 24 of the body’s members voted against the action while 58 members abstained from the vote altogether.</p>
<p>Results of the UN vote signify the complexities of real-world diplomacy even in the face of war. Countries in Africa, South America, and Asia have increasingly sought to resist taking sides as the Russia-Ukraine war threatens to shape the world into political factions. But the West’s waning influence in other parts of the globe, combined with economic and political interests at stake, has resulted in many nations <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/24/world/asia/cold-war-ukraine.html">opting to maintain their independence</a> when it comes to relations with Russia.</p>
<p>In Asia, where growing vigilance over China’s increasing influence is shared across borders, nations in the southeast and the south of the continent have <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ukraine-response-asia-us-russia-china-rcna17976">expressed</a> their intentions to remain on good terms with Russia in spite of the situation with Ukraine. Among Russia’s most loyal allies is India, with whom it has maintained a strong alliance since the Soviet Union’s backing of India during the 1971 war with Pakistan.</p>
<p>Another factor behind their continued friendship is India’s <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/6c52b083-d38a-40c9-9e23-2747c913065f">reliance</a> on Russia as a military arms supplier — from the 1950s to now the country has received <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/6c52b083-d38a-40c9-9e23-2747c913065f">an estimated 65 percent</a> of firearms exports from the Soviet Union or Russia, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. India’s border disputes in the Himalayas with China, which triggered a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/18/world/asia/china-india-border-conflict.html">bloody clash</a> in 2020, is another motivating factor for India as Russia has functioned as an important mediator in the conflict with China.</p>
<p>The close ties between India and Russia pose challenges for Western powers since India is viewed as a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/01/russia-and-the-west-battle-to-get-china-and-india-on-side-in-the-war.html">vital partner</a> in restricting Russian influence in the region.</p>
<p>China, another key Russian ally, has refrained from condemning Russia outright, instead asking for the warring countries to reach a peaceful resolution. In a March virtual meeting with France and Germany, President Xi Jinping <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/9/chinas-xi-beijing-supports-peace-talks-between-russia-ukraine">called</a> for “maximum restraint” on the issue and expressed concerns over the broader impact of sanctions on Russia. But some, like Herrera, doubt how far China will continue to toe the line if the situation worsens.</p>
<p>“China has not said they would not abide by the sanctions and they are so far going along with the sanctions against Russia,” Herrera said. A potential turning point, she said, could be Europe’s next sanctions, particularly any secondary sanctions it puts out, which will be “a big crossroads for China to decide whether to participate with those.”</p>
<p>But its ties with Russia could still end up serving China economically. President Vladimir Putin has <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/60571253">stated</a> Russia will “redirect” its energy exports to “rapidly growing markets” elsewhere to help buttress against sanctions, perhaps an effort to maintain support from its key ally.</p>
<h3>Russian forces continue to face military hurdles in Ukraine</h3>
<p>After two months of conflict, tensions on the war front between Russia and Ukraine have shown no signs of de-escalating. Russian armed forces have shifted focus in recent weeks to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-kyiv-police-find-bound-men-in-bucha-as-russia-continues-eastern-assault-as-it-happened/a-61643081">take control of eastern Ukraine</a>, referred to as the Donbas territory, where fighting between Ukraine troops and Russia-backed separatists had been ongoing since 2014.</p>
<p>Russia has also continued its advance on Kyiv, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/29/russia-carries-out-airstrike-on-kyiv-during-un-chief-visit-ukraine-antonio-guterres">launching an airstrike</a> on the capital city last week during a diplomatic visit by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The attack drew wide condemnation as an unnecessary act of aggression by Russian forces.</p>
<p>Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who met with Guterres during his capital visit, accused Russia of deliberately trying to humiliate the UN.</p>
<p>“It says a lot about Russia’s true attitude to global institutions, about the efforts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the UN and everything that the organization represents. It requires a strong response,” Zelenskyy <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/29/russia-carries-out-airstrike-on-kyiv-during-un-chief-visit-ukraine-antonio-guterres">stated</a> in a public address following the airstrike.</p>
<p>Former UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch-Brown said the international community “will recognize they cannot have their UN secretary-general treated in this disrespectful, casual and frankly, dangerous way, by Putin.”</p>
<p>As the conflict shows no signs of relenting, last week US President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/28/politics/biden-ukraine-congress/index.html">asked</a> Congress to send another $33 billion in military aid to support Ukraine’s military defenses. Biden’s proposal, which includes strategies to potentially use seized funds from Russian oligarchs to fund Ukraine’s military operations, is more than twice as much as the $13.6 billion worth of military and humanitarian aid already approved by Congress last month.</p>
<p>Herrera believes that extra boost could be extremely helpful to Ukraine, both strategically and physically, even this far into the war. Combined with energy sanctions by Europe, she said Russia could be looking at significant roadblocks to achieving its objectives since “that would make a big difference in Russia’s ability to fight the war.”</p>
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source <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/5/1/23051868/russias-natural-gas-exports-india-china-ukraine">https://www.vox.com/2022/5/1/23051868/russias-natural-gas-exports-india-china-ukraine</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-34944161231171145712022-05-01T23:27:00.001+01:002022-05-01T23:27:01.664+01:00What happens when The Real World turns you into an “Angry Black Woman”<p>“I just want you to know that I don’t like you. We’re not friends, because I find you to be very dishonest,” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/melissabeckrwno/">Melissa Beck</a> (née Howard) said to Julie Stoffer the last time the two were on TV together on MTV’s <em>Battle of the Sexes</em> in 2003. “You got your smug little smile and think it’s all cute — you’re a backstabber and you’re a liar.”</p>
<p>Then, in a separate confessional, Melissa uttered a phrase that’s become a part of MTV canon: “You go messing with my money, you go messing with my emotions.”</p>
<p>Melissa and Julie had left their season of <em>The Real World: New Orleans</em> as best friends. Two years later, they were onscreen enemies, and Melissa was pigeonholed as “The Angry Black Woman.”</p>
<p><em>The Real World</em> will go down as one of the more progressive shows in television history for documenting the lives of gay people, people of color, and other underrepresented groups. But in its 33-season run, it could also lean on stereotypes — like the Angry Black Woman — to tell those stories. <em>Real World: Homecoming,</em> a new weekly Paramount+ series starring Melissa and the rest of her <em>New Orleans</em> housemates, is trying to right those wrongs and allow the cast to reassess their experiences.</p>
<p>“Listen, there were abs and there was comedy — it’s iconic,” <a href="https://melissabeck.merchdirect.com/categories/accessories">Melissa</a>, now a 44-year-old mom of three living on Long Island, told Vox in a recent interview. Reflecting on her fight with Julie, she said, “My arm is so thin. My stomach is so flat. I had a great tan. And I was cussing somebody out. I have no apologies about that.”</p>
<p>Being able to laugh at yourself is a gift, but getting to this point wasn’t easy for Melissa. Looking back, it’s clear how <em>The Real World</em> failed Melissa and other Black women: Kameelah Phillips, who was on the show’s Boston edition, Arissa Hill on <em>Las Vegas</em>, Coral Smith on <em>Back to</em> <em>New York</em>. All were portrayed as versions of <a href="https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/antiblack/sapphire.htm">the Angry Black Woman,</a> a stereotype rooted in the false and racist idea that anger is ingrained within a Black woman’s nature rather than a normal human response to a frustrating situation.</p>
<p>It’s not that <em>The Real World</em> and other reality programs can’t show Black women and women of color having angry moments. The problem is how that anger is so often presented.</p>
<p>Going back on the show is an opportunity for Melissa to tell her story and make sure viewers know she was more than the Black woman who cussed out the white girl.</p>
<p>“I also figured,” she said, “what’s the worst that could happen?”</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" />
<p><strong>In Melissa’s original season</strong>, she and her housemates took a swamp boat tour during which the white guide called one of the bird species by a name that included the n-word. Melissa was disturbed by the guide’s casual use of the word and upset with her castmate Jamie’s reaction. He made excuses for the guide, saying that he wasn’t purposely using the word in a hurtful way. Melissa tried in vain to explain that there is no way for white people to use that word and not have it be malicious.</p>
<p>She knew she had the right to be angry, but the editing questioned that and in turn emboldened fans. After the show aired, she was hounded by viewers. Social media didn’t exist at the time, but people sent their attacks by email.</p>
<p>“For months, I was called racist, that I’m race-obsessed, that I’m race-baiting,” she said. “Every racist thing that could be hurled toward me was, and I don’t think that as a cast — because we hadn’t kept in touch with each other over the years — they understood that perspective or the impact that had on my life.”</p>
<p>After the season aired, Melissa and some <a href="https://pagesix.com/2022/04/20/real-world-star-danny-roberts-on-julies-alleged-homophobic-letter/">former</a> <em>Real World</em> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/MtvChallenge/comments/7rl8ef/reality_bytes_coral_smith_podcast_havent_seen/">castmates</a> alleged that Julie stole their opportunities on the lucrative (at the time) college speaker circuit. They claimed Julie would offer to speak at the schools for a smaller fee than her castmates, and the colleges — looking to save money — would book Julie instead. Because <em>Battle of the Sexes</em> producers didn’t offer viewers this context, the Melissa/Julie fight appeared to come out of left field.</p>
<p>“It’s the first time viewers had seen Melissa and Julie from <em>The Real World</em>, who left the show frolicking through a bed of roses. They came back, and now Melissa is screaming her head off,” Melissa said. “Instead of it being like, ‘Melissa was genuinely hurt by a friend who went behind her back and fucked with her money,’ it was, ‘Wow, Melissa’s really petty, I can’t believe she voted her off — Melissa’s a terrible person.’”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="e-image__meta">Melissa Beck and Danny Roberts on The Real World Homecoming: New Orleans</span></figcaption>
<span class="e-image__meta"><cite>Paramount+</cite></span></figure>
<p>Because she was seen as inherently rage-filled — an Angry Black Woman — anything she criticized became easy to dismiss, whether it was a situation that’s plainly racist like the one on the boat or her business dispute with Julie.</p>
<p>Critics and <a href="https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/antiblack/sapphire.htm">scholars</a> note that while the Angry Black Woman caricature has roots in minstrel shows of the early 1900s, the radio show <em>Amos ’n’ Andy</em> — which debuted in 1928 — is what led to its <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299859537_Sapphire_Exploring_The_Power_Of_A_Popular_Stereotype">popularization</a>. <em>Amos ’n’ Andy</em>, a show about Black characters that was created and voiced by two white men, features <a href="https://vawnet.org/events/unpacking-sapphire-stereotype-protect-black-girls">Sapphire</a>, an aggressive scold; “the Sapphire,” in fact, became shorthand for the Angry Black Woman caricature. The stereotype began to appear as an <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/popular-and-pervasive-stereotypes-african-americans">onscreen trope</a> as the film industry took hold in the <a href="https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/antiblack/sapphire.htm">1930s</a> and carried over into the television age (<em>Amos ’n’ Andy</em> itself became a TV show in 1951).</p>
<p>Sustained, harmful pop culture portrayals like these generate <a href="https://scholars.org/contribution/how-racial-stereotypes-popular-media-affect-people-and-what-hollywood-can-do-become">real-world bias</a> with real-world effects. Studies have shown that the Angry Black Woman stereotype has led to Black women receiving <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33793257/">negative performance evaluations at work</a>, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24188294/">less effective mental health treatment</a>, and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31112918/">discrimination during maternity care</a>.</p>
<p><em>The Real World</em> premiered in 1992, more than 60 years after the premiere of <em>Amos ’n’ Andy</em>. It was an era when tabloid talk shows like <em>The Jerry Springer Show</em>, <em>The Maury Povich Show</em>, and <em>The Jenny Jones Show</em> were wildly popular — and heavily reliant on the Angry Black Woman and <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2018/08/the-racial-dynamics-in-maury-make-my-stomach-churn.html">other</a> <a href="https://www.complex.com/music/2019/11/chuck-d-accuses-maury-povich-jerry-springer-exploiting-black-people">racist tropes</a>.</p>
<p><em>The Real World</em> purported to be more thoughtful. It promised to show real-life young people dealing with real-life issues like sexuality, religion, and gender — and for some of its audience, the show was the first time they would get to “know” people that they might not encounter in their own lives.</p>
<p>It’s that last part that bothers some of the show’s Black female alums who spoke to Vox: In many ways, <em>The Real World</em> was progressive, educational, and <a href="https://www.theringer.com/tv/2020/4/29/21240341/the-real-world-cultural-influence-chappelles-show-parodies">highly influential</a>, but it still relied on tropes and dynamics that privileged white people’s point of view at the expense of others.</p>
<p>First-season cast member Julie Gentry’s storyline was that she was a sheltered, small-town white girl from Alabama. In the final stretch of the season, Julie accused her Black roommate Kevin Powell of threatening her after she interrupted one of his personal phone calls. He refuted her telling of the story and explained to her and the other castmates that accusing a Black person of violence is a serious matter, citing the Rodney King trial (which coincided with the taping of the show). Julie called Kevin <a href="https://www.mtv.com/video-clips/erba2g/the-real-world-kevin-and-julie-argue-over-cultural-differences">racist, psychotic, and capable of violence</a> and said she didn’t want to be alone in the house with him. The roommates largely took her side. Julie and Kevin reconciled on their season of <a href="https://www.avclub.com/the-real-worlds-kevin-julie-and-andre-on-racism-and-t-1846411168"><em>Homecoming</em></a>, and Julie has talked in <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-03-08/julie-oliver-gentry-the-real-world-new-york-reunion">interviews</a> about how her views on race have changed since her experience on the show.</p>
<p>“If we look at the storytelling of the original <em>The Real World</em>,” Melissa said, “the viewpoint that has always been the most important perspective was the doe-eyed white girl that walks into the house.”</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" />
<p><strong>Three seasons prior to</strong> <em><strong>New Orleans</strong></em>, on <em>The Real World: Boston</em>, Kameelah Phillips experienced something similar to Melissa. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/drkameelahsays/?hl=en">Kameelah</a>, 44, <a href="https://www.callawomenshealth.com/">is now an obstetrician</a> based in New York City.</p>
<p>On the show, Kameelah was 19, taking a break from Stanford. She clashed with Sean Duffy, then 25, who went on to serve as a Republican Congress member from 2011 through 2019. In one of their final fights on the show, Kameelah told him that she was exhausted from having to teach him about Blackness and Black culture. In response, Sean compared her to Hitler.</p>
<p>“I definitely think I got a bit of the Angry Black Woman stereotype,” Kameelah said.</p>
<p>She theorized that because she butted heads with a white man whose storyline was about how he was sheltered and conservative, she came off as mad and aggressive. She says she was also portrayed at times as the <a href="https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/mcnairsymposium/2020/presentations/12/">“lonely” and “bitter” Black woman</a>, as the show implied that she was hostile to her fellow Black castmate Syrus Yarbrough because he dated white women.</p>
<p>“That was a storyline I felt was created to run that narrative of Black women being alone and or being just so grumpy that they can’t get along, when that wasn’t the case at all,” Kameelah said. Like Melissa, she received a stream of racist abuse when the show aired.</p>
<p>“I remember checking DOS or some basic email and I had hate mail there. I was like, <em>‘</em>Why? What is going on?’ I definitely experienced a negative backlash from strangers,” she said. “People called me horrible names, so I got to a point where I had very negative emotions about this show.”</p>
<p>Arissa Hill, who was on <em>The Real World: Las Vegas</em>, hasn’t watched her run on the show, which aired in 2002. Still, she’s heard plenty about how fans believe her season ruined the franchise. While <a href="https://ew.com/recap/reunited-real-world-vegas-grown-pains/"><em>Las Vegas</em> was a ratings monster</a>, producers were criticized by <a href="https://stopbeingpolite.com/2018/12/18/game-changers-the-real-world-las-vegas/">viewers</a> and <a href="https://www.theringer.com/tv/2020/4/29/21240376/the-real-world-mtv-best-25-seasons">critics</a> for turning the show into something overly argumentative and overtly sexual rather than the more introspective seasons of prior <em>Real World</em>s.</p>
<p>What strikes Arissa most about how her season was edited is that she and her roommates spent a lot of time having fun together and lovingly teasing each other. Most of that good-natured ribbing was left on the cutting room floor. “I believe we were fucking hilarious,” she said.</p>
<p>That the cast’s lighter moments didn’t make the cut didn’t necessarily surprise her, since she quickly understood the narrative producers were attempting to create. The season that made it to air featured love triangles, a pregnancy scare, and plenty of shouting and scolding. Arissa was often at the center of the confrontations, frequently fighting with her white castmate Frank Roessler, whom MTV described as “wide-eyed” and someone who “makes friends easily.”</p>
<p>Their dynamic wasn’t unlike that of Kameelah and Sean, or Melissa and Julie. The Angry Black Woman and Wide-Eyed Young White Person are stereotypes that simultaneously shortchange both of the people they supposedly portray, but it’s inherently more damaging to be portrayed as angry — which is seen as a permanent character flaw — than being sheltered, which one will presumably grow out of.</p>
<p>“Do we have the Angry Black Woman or somebody who is just trying to assert themselves or assert a boundary that has been crossed?” Arissa asked.</p>
<p>Arissa is working on a docuseries that’s inspired by her experience after <em>The Real World</em> stopped filming. Like Melissa, Arissa didn’t know how to navigate her image post-show. Every single time her season re-aired during a marathon or in syndication, there was a new round of people who knew Arissa only as that person — the villain, the scold, the fight-starter — on <em>Las Vegas</em>.</p>
<p>“I want the opportunity to reclaim my likeness and rebrand myself, and tell stories the way that I’d like to tell them,” she said. “I am not the only person that feels this way. There’s a space for a story like this, and it’s been a long time coming.”</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" />
<p><strong>After deciding to reenter</strong> <em>The Real World</em> fold, Melissa stressed to producers that she was concerned that the emotional labor of explaining and teaching people about race was going to fall on her shoulders yet again. She was also worried that the show wouldn’t explore the other aspects of her life. “I wanted to be able to be a whole and full person outside of who I am as my race,” she said.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="e-image__meta">Melissa Beck from <em>The Real World: New Orleans.</em></span></figcaption>
<span class="e-image__meta"><cite>MTV Entertainment</cite></span></figure>
<p><em>Homecoming</em> executive producer and showrunner James Knox said he fully understood Melissa’s worries. Knox didn’t work on the original season, and he has no qualms discussing how the 2000 series and <em>Battle of the Sexes</em> fell short. Knox, a queer Black man, noted that Julie was the main character, with Melissa and Danny (Danny came out on the show as gay) used as accessories to her story.</p>
<p>“That season was all through Julie’s perspective,” he said of <em>Real World: New Orleans.</em> “I needed to allow for Melissa and Danny to lead their own stories independent of Julie being naive.”</p>
<p>The centering of the white experience and the use of the Angry Black Woman trope was, and continues to be, a problem in reality television. Following <em>The Real World</em>, it was perpetuated in series from <em>Survivor</em> to <em>The Apprentice</em> to the various <em>Real Housewives</em> franchises. What’s changed over the last decade or so is that we’re less inclined to buy into them. Audiences, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/interactive/2021/black-women-reality-tv/">reality show participants themselves</a>, and even the people who make reality television now, are all more aware and ready to call out these lazy portrayals.</p>
<p>“Back then, we didn’t have the language to describe what was going on. We didn’t have ‘diversity and inclusion.’ We didn’t use the word ‘equity.,” Kameelah said. “We’ve, in the past 20 years, developed the tools to call things out when we see injustices — not just on TV.”</p>
<p>Knox told Melissa that <em>Homecoming</em> wasn’t about any kind of redemption narrative for her; this also wouldn’t be a sympathy edit to make up for what happened in 2000. What he and his team wanted to do is tell the story of seven strangers picked to live in a house — and how their lives had changed once the cameras moved on.</p>
<p>Part of what convinced Melissa to sign on was the fact that, in addition to Knox, there were many people of color involved in making <em>Homecoming.</em> With a more diverse crew and an audience that’s fluent in topics of identity like race and class, Knox said, there’s now a way to tell fuller stories that — while not perfect — do not have the same blind spots as the show did before.</p>
<p>The first episode of <em>Homecoming</em> revisits the Melissa and Julie fight. This time around, Melissa was given space to talk about the situation and the hurt it caused. The episode also included a moment in which Melissa’s castmates discussed the damage that can be done when a white person calls a person of color a liar.</p>
<p>“Melissa has had to have this conversation a lot, and that’s tiring — that’s a burden and it shouldn’t be her burden,” Melissa’s castmate Kelley Wolf told Vox. Kelley said that living with Melissa again, and reliving those moments, made Kelley more empathetic to Melissa and brought the two closer than when the show first aired.</p>
<p>Melissa said that, in her first run on MTV, she didn’t have the language to easily express what she knew to be true about race, identity, and the way her castmates were treating her back in 2000.</p>
<p>“I was a messy, vulnerable 22-year-old girl from the South, who was awkward, biracial, with bad teeth, who had a lot of feelings, and who was coming into her own in terms of identity,” Melissa said. She has unapologetic affection for that version of herself, someone who approached the experiment earnestly, if naively. Melissa kept all that in mind as she filmed this reunion.</p>
<p>“Did it hinder the process of me being able to be real? I don’t think so.”</p>
<br />
<br />
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/23047340/real-world-new-orleans-homecoming-melissa-beck">https://www.vox.com/23047340/real-world-new-orleans-homecoming-melissa-beck</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-62661120928776757532022-05-01T05:35:00.003+01:002022-05-01T05:35:16.557+01:00Video: Angelina Jolie Visits Ukraine With No Body Armor To Sign Autographs<div><img src="https://api-assets.infowars.com/2022/04/jolie9274t81269166000000.jpg" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
<p><strong>Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie paid a visit to Ukraine for a photo-op without wearing combat gear, suggesting the war in Ukraine is not all it’s portrayed to be by the corporate media.</strong></p>
<p>Jolie, who serves as an envoy for the United Nation’s Refugee Agency (UNHCR), was seen in a cafe in Lviv on Saturday waving at onlookers and signing autographs — notably without wearing body armor despite <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/18293791/russian-missile-strike-lviv-barbaric/" target="_blank">regular reports of shelling in the area</a>.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" readability="4.9655172413793">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Angelina Jolie is in Ukraine. She is the second Hollywood celebrity after Sean Penn to visit the country since the start of the Russian military operation. <a href="https://t.co/8du80FtBBi">pic.twitter.com/8du80FtBBi</a></p>
— Wittgenstein (@backtolife_2022) <a href="https://twitter.com/backtolife_2022/status/1520406331831824389?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2022</a></blockquote>
<p>“Ms Jolie was in the country to meet the children affected by the war and visited hospitals and local organisations helping the injured and displaced,” the BBC <a href="http://ms%20jolie%20was%20in%20the%20country%20to%20meet%20the%20children%20affected%20by%20the%20war%20and%20visited%20hospitals%20and%20local%20organisations%20helping%20the%20injured%20and%20displaced./" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.</p>
<p>The 46-year-old actress is frequently deployed to war-torn areas to advocate for refugees displaced by conflict, such as her <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/angelina-jolie-united-nations-yemen_n_622501f5e4b012a2628c45db" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recent visit</a> to Yemen.</p>
<p>But given the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/russian-strikes-kill-at-least-7-in-lviv-ukraine-mayor-says" target="_blank">reporting</a> of increased military shelling and engagements in the area, some on social media questioned the legitimacy of that reporting given Jolie’s casual visit.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" readability="3.955223880597">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">What a dangerous war this is…</p>
— Novum (@NovNovum) <a href="https://twitter.com/NovNovum/status/1520411546052141058?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2022</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Such a brutal war</p>
— Derek Mulcahy (@DerekMul) <a href="https://twitter.com/DerekMul/status/1520415297215344642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2022</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" readability="6.4494382022472">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Lol. Bit the country is in war<br />
You would think it is a hollywood war with all these stars doing PR, starting with the president 🙄😒</p>
— Elliot (@Elliot88052525) <a href="https://twitter.com/Elliot88052525/status/1520408233848025089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2022</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" readability="4.4488188976378">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Kinda interesting that Sean Penn just happened to be there at start of war…filming🤔</p>
— JuJu (@Judy57926923) <a href="https://twitter.com/Judy57926923/status/1520419597886889986?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2022</a></blockquote>
<p>Jolie is the second Hollywood celebrity to pay a visit to Ukraine after Sean Penn, who <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://outsider.com/entertainment/sean-penn-meeting-ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelensky-born-for-this/" target="_blank">met</a> with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month and called for nuclear retaliation against Russia.</p>
<p>“Even countries that have nuclear weapons can remain intimidated to use them, and we are seeing that now with our own country. And I fear what that legacy is going to be,” Penn opined on “Hannity” earlier this month.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" readability="8.5585585585586">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Actor <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanPenn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SeanPenn</a> suggests America is too circumspect about deploying its nuclear arsenal:</p>
<p>“Even countries that have nuclear weapons can remain intimidated to use them, and we are seeing that now with our own country. And I fear what that legacy is going to be." <a href="https://t.co/jL3Zk0m9Rh">pic.twitter.com/jL3Zk0m9Rh</a></p>
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1511660488068767755?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2022</a></blockquote>
<p>At least Penn had the presence of mind to don <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10218437/Sean-Penn-dons-combat-gear-arrives-Ukraine-film-documentary-Russian-aggression.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">combat gear</a> while filming his documentary to appear as if his life was in danger.</p>
<p>Ukraine is becoming a hot go-to destination for the Hollywood elite! Who knew?</p>
<hr class="wp-block-separator" />
<p><em><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://battleplan.news/watch?id=626b1bba2ec5023f2e844779" target="_blank">NATO and the US are Officially at War with Russia</a></em></p>
<hr class="wp-block-separator" />
<br />
<br />
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/video-angelina-jolie-visits-ukraine-with-no-body-armor-to-sign-autographs">https://www.infowars.com/posts/video-angelina-jolie-visits-ukraine-with-no-body-armor-to-sign-autographs</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-64463675298417245502022-05-01T05:35:00.001+01:002022-05-01T05:35:16.078+01:001984 IS HERE: Ministry of Truth Has Launched!<div><img src="https://api-assets.infowars.com/2022/04/1984here28476567890.jpg" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
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DHS creates new "Disinformation Governance Board" helmed by a far-left lunatic who peddles actual fake news.</div>
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source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/1984-is-here-ministry-of-truth-has-launched">https://www.infowars.com/posts/1984-is-here-ministry-of-truth-has-launched</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-52736391386350299882022-05-01T03:18:00.001+01:002022-05-01T03:18:41.475+01:00Ukrainian Soldiers Kidnap Two Female Doctors And Shove Sticks Into Their Vaginas. They Then Fill The Women’s Vaginas With Plaster And Brutally Murder ...<div><img src="https://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/10932487536849374803453453453.jpeg" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
<p>The horrors of the war that has been ongoing for years in Ukraine continue to build up. Shoebat.com spoke with Elena Yefereva, a journalist who has been investigating the conflict in Donbas for the past eight years. She told us of some details on the political and ideological roots of the tensions between Russians and Ukrainian nationalists. She also told us of a recent event that was absolutely gruesome: Ukrainian soldiers — members of the Azov Battalion — kidnapped two female doctors, raped them with sticks, and filled every orifice of their bodies with plaster, brutally murdering them:</p>
<p>[embedded content]</p>
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<br />
source <a href="https://shoebat.com/2022/04/30/ukrainian-soldiers-kidnap-two-female-doctors-and-shove-sticks-into-their-vaginas-they-then-fill-the-womens-vaginas-with-plaster-and-brutally-murder-them/">https://shoebat.com/2022/04/30/ukrainian-soldiers-kidnap-two-female-doctors-and-shove-sticks-into-their-vaginas-they-then-fill-the-womens-vaginas-with-plaster-and-brutally-murder-them/</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-65039956340572885482022-05-01T02:19:00.001+01:002022-05-01T02:19:09.691+01:00The West’s Support For Ukraine Is A Demonstration Of How So Many People Supported Hitler<div><img src="https://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/nazis-in-ukraine.jpg" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
<p>People wonder, How could have so many people supported Hitler? Look no further than the West’s support for Ukraine to find your answer:</p>
<p>[embedded content]</p>
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source <a href="https://shoebat.com/2022/04/30/the-wests-support-for-ukraine-is-a-demonstration-of-how-so-many-people-supported-hitler/">https://shoebat.com/2022/04/30/the-wests-support-for-ukraine-is-a-demonstration-of-how-so-many-people-supported-hitler/</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-4757860704720772312022-05-01T00:26:00.003+01:002022-05-01T00:26:11.752+01:00Can Sri Lanka dig itself out of a $50 billion debt?<div><img src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5k72yudGUgPRF6-BYHZqEVfZ9po=/0x408:5699x3392/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23429121/1240346996.jpg" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
<p>After a month of intense civilian-led protests over Sri Lanka’s deteriorating economy, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa agreed to appoint a new council on Friday to lead the formation of an interim government. The resolution would create a coalition made up of all parties in Parliament and would remove the grip of the Rajapaksa family dynasty currently ruling the country. At issue is the country’s economic future which is in shambles after defaulting on payments on its mountain of foreign loans — estimated to be worth $50 billion — <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-international-monetary-fund-sri-lanka-foreign-debt-f48b3cfb388c3a11af5d2d8a3d1a4391">for the first time</a> since the country gained independence from the British in 1948.</p>
<p>Signs of Sri Lanka’s impending economic crisis became increasingly apparent over the last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/world/asia/sri-lanka-economic-crisis.html">food prices soared and power blackouts</a> increased in frequency. Sri Lanka currently has about $7 billion in total debt due this year.</p>
<p>Many attribute Sri Lanka’s economic crisis to the mishandling of its finances by successive governments through mounting foreign debt and continued infrastructure investments. The Rajapaksa administration also implemented <a href="https://apnews.com/article/b6b96849ebe74c8dbeac461ff8418c28">sweeping tax cuts in 2019</a>, slashing the value added tax (VAT) rate — the tax applied to imports and domestic supplies — from 15 percent to eight percent which contributed to a decrease in the country’s revenue.</p>
<p>The president’s older brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, is expected to be removed as prime minister as part of an agreement brokered by former President Maithripala Sirisena, who defected with dozens of other members of the incumbent president’s governing party in April in protest of the Rajapaksas’ poor governing.</p>
<p>But the country’s power struggle may have sown discord between the two brothers which could exacerbate its political impasse. On Friday, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-biden-cabinet-sri-lanka-maithripala-sirisena-bc8ed130537eb090b9bc648b1b470d76">reported</a> a spokesperson for the prime minister did not immediately confirm the elder Rajapaksa’s removal, saying that any such decisions would be announced by the prime minister in due time.</p>
<h3>The country continued to mount foreign debt without sufficient revenue</h3>
<p>A big part of Sri Lanka’s economic woes is its ballooning foreign debt, namely to fund its aggressive turn to infrastructure development under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the elder Rajapaksa sibling and two-time prime minister. With its finances already bleeding, Sri Lanka took out major investment loans from state-owned Chinese banks to fund its infrastructure projects including a controversial port development in the Hambantota district.</p>
<p>The Sri Lankan government justified the Hambantota project as a way to grow its economy as a bustling trade hub comparable to Singapore. However, the project was riddled with corruption and stalled, and Sri Lanka eventually <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/world/asia/china-sri-lanka-port.html">handed over the port’s control</a> to China as collateral after it was unable to pay back its loans.</p>
<p>Over the last decade, Sri Lanka amassed <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/world/asia/china-sri-lanka-port.html">a debt of $5 billion to China</a> alone, making up a large portion of its overall foreign debt, according to the BBC. Sri Lanka’s bloated debt to China and the Hambantota project failure are often held up as an example of the “debtbook diplomacy” that China has pursued in the last couple of decades.</p>
<p>Some believe China has expanded that monetary diplomacy approach through its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global infrastructure project involving Chinese investment in infrastructure developments in parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe that is later repaid, as part of China’s bid to increase global influence as a growing economic power. About 139 out of 146 of the world’s countries, including Sri Lanka, have signed on to China’s BRI project. While an infrastructure project on such a global scale may provide some economic benefits to the participating countries, the BRI has inevitably become a strategic way for China to gain political leverage with economically vulnerable countries across the Asia-Pacific region. At least 16 countries involved in the BRI project have been saddled with billions of dollars of debt which China then has leveraged, according to an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/15/warning-sounded-over-chinas-debtbook-diplomacy">independent analysis</a> by Harvard’s Kennedy School for the US State Department.</p>
<p>About <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/01/india-tries-to-pry-sri-lanka-loose-from-chinas-embrace.html">22 percent of Sri Lanka’s debt</a> is owed to bilateral creditors — institutional investors from foreign governments — according to CNBC. Neighboring India has sought to grow its bilateral cooperation with Sri Lanka partly as an attempt to secure its influence in South Asia over China. India recently gave Sri Lanka a $1.5 billion credit line to tide over the country’s fuel crisis in addition to another $2.4 billion through a currency swap and loan deferment since January.</p>
<p>As the country amassed foreign debt, its tourism sector — previously <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/sri-lanka-tourism-plummets-after-bombings/4904347.html">a $44 billion industry</a> and a primary revenue source for the island — took successive hits. In 2019, tourism suffered after <a href="https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/04/world/sri-lanka-attacks/">a series of church bombings</a> that killed nearly 300 people, including some foreign nationals.</p>
<p>The next year, the Covid-19 pandemic halted tourism and other major sectors, spurring a global economic downturn. Although Sri Lanka saw some increase in its number of foreign visitors last year, the ongoing pandemic combined with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — both nations <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/6/crisis-hit-sri-lanka-is-hosting-thousands-of-stranded-ukrainians">leading sources of tourism</a> for Sri Lanka before the conflict — continued to slow the industry’s recovery.</p>
<h3>A worsening crisis triggered mass protests</h3>
<p>The country’s issues escalated in March when the Sri Lankan government <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220330-10-hour-power-cuts-in-sri-lanka-as-crisis-worsens">announced</a> a 13-hour daily power cut as a way to save energy amid the ongoing crisis. Without sufficient power, many were unable to do their jobs as the economic crisis continued, prompting mass unrest. Thousands of Sri Lankans took to the streets in the weeks following the power cut to protest the country’s growing crisis.</p>
<p>On April 1, President Rajapaksa declared an emergency as growing unrest saw protesters clash with police. The entire Sri Lankan government Cabinet <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/04/1090753152/sri-lanka-offers-resignations-as-public-anger-grows-over-economic-crisis">resigned in protest</a> not long after the emergency law was implemented, causing Rajapaksa to revoke the law. Among those who resigned was Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa, another member of the Rajapaksa family and the president’s nephew.</p>
<p>With growing political unrest and no resolution in sight, Rajapaksa’s rivals began calls for a no-confidence vote against his administration.</p>
<p>“We are confident we have the numbers and we will bring the motion at the appropriate time,” opposition lawmaker Harsha de Silva <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/18/sri-lankan-opposition-to-table-no-confidence-vote-against-government-.html">told</a> CNBC. Hoping to placate critics, President Rajapaksa sought to form a new unity coalition under his leadership but failed to gain support. In April, the government also announced it would temporarily suspend foreign debt payments, marking the first time Sri Lanka had defaulted on foreign loans since its independence.</p>
<p>Experts had been warning of a potential dire situation around the country’s finances for some time. When the country defaulted, the government had been <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61145854">negotiating a bailout plan</a> with the International Monetary Fund, which had assessed its accumulated debt as unsustainable.</p>
<p>“The government intends to pursue its discussions with the IMF as expeditiously as possible with a view to formulating and presenting to the country’s creditors a comprehensive plan for restoring Sri Lanka’s external public debt to a fully sustainable position,” the Finance Ministry said in a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-international-monetary-fund-sri-lanka-foreign-debt-f48b3cfb388c3a11af5d2d8a3d1a4391">statement</a>.</p>
<p>In a meeting with Cabinet officials a week later, President Rajapaksa <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-biden-cabinet-sri-lanka-mahinda-rajapaksa-c85718a88d4ff03d2a72f969eb595afa">acknowledged</a> his government’s role in the country’s declining economy. Specifically, the president said the government should have approached the IMF earlier for support in tackling its unruly foreign debt and that they should have avoided the ban on imported chemical fertilizers which was meant to preserve Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange holdings but instead hurt its agricultural production.</p>
<p>“During the last two and a half years we have had vast challenges. The Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the debt burden, and some mistakes on our part,” Rajapaksa said.</p>
<p>Now, Sri Lanka’s future rests on whether the president’s proposed government changes will placate his growing opposition long enough for a solution to come through from the IMF. The Sri Lankan head of finance, Nandalal Weerasinghe, has stated that such a hoped-for deal could <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220429-crisis-hit-sri-lanka-says-imf-bailout-three-months-away">still be months away</a>, however.</p>
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source <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/4/30/23050242/sri-lanka-50-billion-debt-protests-loan-default-china-india-imf">https://www.vox.com/2022/4/30/23050242/sri-lanka-50-billion-debt-protests-loan-default-china-india-imf</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-90764147783057084802022-05-01T00:26:00.001+01:002022-05-01T00:26:10.932+01:00The Great Resignation is becoming a “great midlife crisis”<div><img src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/k2zr8f4_s3A9Kv9rneFkZ8eFSNY=/0x242:2119x1351/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23425385/GettyImages_1350030499.jpg" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
<p>With prices soaring and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/26/economy/inflation-recession-economy-deutsche-bank/index.html">analysts predicting</a> a recession on the horizon, it might not seem like the best time to quit your job. But that’s not keeping American workers, especially older, more tenured ones, from doing so.</p>
<p>Higher-paid workers are increasingly quitting their jobs, as the Great Resignation — also known as the Great Reshuffle — enters its second year. Earlier in the pandemic, the trend was led by younger, less-tenured workers in low-paying industries like retail, food service, and health care. Now, the main growth in quit rates is coming from older, more tenured workers in higher-paid industries like finance, tech, and other knowledge worker fields, according to data from two separate human resources and analytics companies. These workers say they are searching for less tangible benefits like meaning and flexibility.</p>
<p>That changing composition of who is quitting paints an increasingly complicated picture of the state of work in America and suggests that while quit rates have decreased slightly from their highs last year, the phenomenon is not going away just yet.</p>
<p>“The Great Resignation is almost like a train, where it’s built all this momentum and it’s hard to slow down, but certain workers are getting off the train and new workers are coming on,” said Luke Pardue, an economist at <a href="https://gusto.com/">Gusto</a>, which provides payroll, benefits, and human resource management software to small- and medium-sized businesses.</p>
<p>Rates of quits are always highest among younger workers — those who tend to be less invested in their jobs and whose lives are less stable. This was true during the early stages of the pandemic when these workers quit their jobs amid heightened demand to eke out better wages and conditions elsewhere (though those gains are <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22977654/future-of-work-restaurants-retail-hospitality">unlikely to be permanent</a>). But those quit rates have been declining. Data from Gusto, which typically works with companies that have around 25 employees, shows that the average tenure of people who quit has grown in every age group and in nearly every industry. In other words, older people who’ve worked at a job longer are also quitting.</p>
<p>A similar change is happening at bigger companies, according to data from people analytics provider <a href="https://www.visier.com/">Visier</a>.</p>
<p>Between the first quarter of 2021 and 2022, the greatest growth in resignations was among people aged 40 to 60 and those with a tenure of more than 10 years, a Visier dataset from companies with over 1,000 employees shows. Older and more tenured people are especially likely to be quitting in knowledge worker industries like finance and tech.</p>
<p>Their reasons are myriad.</p>
<p>“Don’t look for one thing that’s driving the Great Resignation,” Ian Cook, Visier’s vice president of people analytics, told Recode. “It’s actually made up from a combination of different patterns and will continue to change as the labor market changes and as the economic recovery changes.”</p>
<p>Among the more financially stable set, quits are being driven by everything from a desire to continue working remotely to a greater search for meaning to simply having the means to do so.</p>
<p>Columbia Business School professor Adam Galinsky calls this iteration of the Great Resignation the “great midlife crisis.”</p>
<p>“At the midpoint of life, we become aware of our own mortality, and it allows us to reflect on what really matters to us,” said Galinsky. The pandemic has amplified that effect. “A global pandemic obviously makes people reflect on their own mortality in terms of being afraid of dying themselves or having a loved one or family and colleagues pass away.”</p>
<p>Importantly, the people who quit to hold out for the jobs they want or forgo work entirely are usually the ones with the financial means to do so.</p>
<p>Galinsky, who is currently on sabbatical in Hawaii, says he’s seen it among his peers and among other high-earning knowledge workers now working from his island getaway. He mentioned a Bloomberg employee who quit after the finance publication called workers back to the office and who now works on a pasta truck.</p>
<p>Such workers, either due to savings or a spouse’s income, have the freedom to look for other work, including <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22651953/americans-gig-independent-workers-benefits-vacation-health-care-inequality">gig work</a> or <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22884040/more-americans-starting-own-business-entrepreneur">starting their own business</a>. A Gusto survey of new businesses shows that they’ve shifted from e-commerce startups earlier in the pandemic to more professional services, like, say, an accountant starting her own firm rather than working for someone else.</p>
<p>Many of these workers, especially those who are older and more stable in their careers, now have the perspective to consider what they really want out of their lives and work.</p>
<p>After more than two years of successfully working from home, many knowledge workers are loath to come back to the office, and some are jumping ship if they feel they have to do so. That makes sense. Data from Slack’s <a href="https://futureforum.com/">ongoing survey</a> of 10,000 knowledge workers <a href="https://futureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Future-Forum-Pulse-Report-April-2022.pdf">just found</a> that with a third of them now back in the office five days a week, their work-related stress and anxiety has reached its highest level since the survey began in 2020.</p>
<p>Growth in knowledge worker quits also might just simply be a case of people copying one another.</p>
<p>“Workers who have this experience, that switched a job, that became more flexible, talk about it and how they had a great experience, and that leads their neighbor or their friend to do the same,” Pardue said.</p>
<p>They’re also quitting because there are a lot of jobs out there for them. The number of business and professional services job openings is at a record high, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. According to job site Indeed, the number of high-paid job postings has not cooled as much as postings for low-paid jobs (postings for both remain above pre-pandemic levels).</p>
<p>So while the future might look grim, the present looks just fine for these workers, who are confident in the current tight job market. As Galinsky put it, “People believe less in global warming on days it snows.”</p>
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<br />
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23042785/the-great-resignation-older-tenured-higher-paid">https://www.vox.com/recode/23042785/the-great-resignation-older-tenured-higher-paid</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-83804035893930124342022-04-30T01:13:00.001+01:002022-04-30T01:13:51.953+01:00Senator Demands Biden Scrap Creepy ‘Disinformation’ Unit; “Dissolve This Monstrosity Immediately”<p><strong>Following news that The Department of Homeland Security’s new <a href="https://summit.news/2022/04/28/dhs-disinformation-unit-headed-by-woman-who-said-hunter-biden-laptop-story-was-disinformation/">‘disinformation governance board’</a> will be headed by a woman who says free speech makes her ‘shudder’ and who falsely labeled the Hunter Biden laptop story disinformation, Republicans called for the body to be scrapped, labelling it a ‘monstrosity’.</strong></p>
<p>Heading the opposition to what has been compared to the Ministry of Truth in Orwell’s 1984, Senator Josh Hawley wrote to DHS Secretary Mayorkas noting “I confess, I at first thought this announcement was satire.”</p>
<p>“Surely no American Administration would ever use the power of Government to sit in judgement on the First Amendment speech of its own citizens,” Hawley continued.</p>
<p>“Sadly,” he added, “I was mistaken. Rather than protecting our border or the American homeland, you have chosen to make policing Americans’ speech your priority. This new board is almost certainly unconstitutional and should be dissolved immediately.”</p>
<p>“It can only be assumed that the sole purpose of this new Disinformation Governance Board will be to marshal the power of the federal government to censor conservative and dissenting speech,” the Senator concluded, urging “This is dangerous and un-American.”</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter">
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">The Administration that activated the FBI against parents at school board meetings now has created a government Disinformation Board to monitor all Americans’ speech. It’s a disgrace. Joe Biden & Secretary Mayorkas: dissolve this monstrosity immediately <a href="https://t.co/hSnMpREizI">pic.twitter.com/hSnMpREizI</a></p>
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1519645712635645953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>
</figure>
<p>House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also responded to the development, describing it as “Orwellian.”</p>
<p>“Leave it to Democrats to think free speech is the problem and more government is the solution,” McCarthy told <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gop-leader-kevin-mccarthy-torches-biden-over-admins-new-orwellian-disinformation-governance-board">The Daily Wire</a>.</p>
<p>“The notion that the same party that spent four years promoting the Russia collusion hoax, suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story, and equated parents to domestic terrorists believes it has the credibility to tell Americans what is true is laughable,” he added.</p>
<p>Referring to Nina Jankowicz, the Congressman added that “it is telling that the person who would run Biden’s Orwellian Disinformation Governance Board is a political activist who has a long history of falling for and spreading disinformation.”</p>
<p>“It is easy to imagine this person abusing the term ‘disinformation’ to suppress facts and spin away inconvenient truths about the administration’s many failures, including their failures to secure the border,” McCarthy further urged, adding “The idea that the federal government should control speech sounds uncomfortably close to the Thought Police. Biden must immediately abandon his plan to create a modern-day Ministry of Truth.”</p>
<p>Representative Jim Jordan also hit out at the move, telling Mayorkas “You put out a bulletin two months ago, a big fancy bulletin here, red, white and blue. You said that misleading narratives, mis-, dis-, and mal-information, MDM, as you call it, misleading narratives undermine the trust in government. I was just wondering, when the head of the CDC, Miss Walensky, said that the vaccinated can’t get the virus, did that undermine trust in government?”</p>
<p>Jordan continued, “When the highest paid official in our government, the smartest man on the planet, Dr. Fauci, when he said the virus didn’t come from a lab, did that undermine trust in government? And will that be something that this governing board will look at?”</p>
<p>“How about when 51 former intel officials told us that the Hunter Biden story was–had all the earmarks of Russian misinformation? Will that be something that this governance board that you just formed, will you be looking into that?” Jordan also asked:</p>
<figure>[embedded content]</figure>
<p>Soon to be Twitter owner Elon Musk also responded to the creation of the disinformation unit, labelling the move “discomforting.”</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"></figure>
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/04/29/senator-demands-biden-scrap-creepy-disinformation-unit-dissolve-this-monstrosity-immediately/">https://summit.news/2022/04/29/senator-demands-biden-scrap-creepy-disinformation-unit-dissolve-this-monstrosity-immediately/</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-42295866299912745122022-04-30T00:26:00.001+01:002022-04-30T00:26:29.754+01:00The Offer is a TV show about how great movies are<p>Midway through the pilot episode of <em>The Offer</em>, future <em>Godfather</em> producer Albert S. Ruddy (Miles Teller) is sitting in a movie theater with his girlfriend, gaping at the audience around him, who are gasping at the famously shocking concluding moments of <em>Planet of the Apes</em>. It’s 1968, and Ruddy is fresh off <em>Hogan’s Heroes</em>, the TV show he co-created. But TV bores him. He wants more. He wants the big screen.</p>
<p>“It’s not just about the ending, it’s about the experience of it,” he tells his girlfriend. Waxing enthusiastic about the collective emotion of movie theaters, he concludes that you “can’t get that experience in television. You’re just sitting in your living room, looking at a fucking box.”</p>
<p>Now, of course, to actually watch this scene, you have to look at that same effing box, or maybe your laptop or your phone, all visible at that moment through a thick scrim of irony. But <em>The Offer</em>, a show that’s less about how one of the greatest big-screen films in history was made than how it almost wasn’t made, seems comfortable with the contradiction. Throughout its 10-episode runtime — available, with even more irony, only on the Paramount+ streaming service — various characters trot onscreen to extol daring cinema and denigrate television and brainless movies. Legendary Paramount head of production Robert Evans (played in an absolutely virtuosic turn by Matthew Goode) gives a couple of lengthy speeches about the magic of cinema. Ruddy tells a group of FBI agents that “TV’s too limiting. You can’t do real stories on TV.”</p>
<figure class="e-image"><span class="e-image__inner"><span class="e-image__image" data-original="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1651266366_7763_94259" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23423618,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bjNpQcPaKuv5x96e_fDXedjqPmY=/0x0:1200x675/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IZcRLGv9XT7fK5jVFLKdWeWuBdY=/0x0:1200x675/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/J1LSEfuhmrP92HEk-Ahnjbs2w8w=/0x0:1200x675/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zfc68pWnk6tdGi-z3xlvkBm8Llc=/0x0:1200x675/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CUVJPO2ANCJ0YIIlzA1X4at-EAE=/0x0:1200x675/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zX-urqtUSJmQMUhXHgBABpS9Vzs=/0x0:1200x675/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/O9GiqKIjqcB3dIau1oTf97vGsNY=/0x0:1200x675/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-n1r9SAk76HGpKFVw0xu_N1lVOA=/0x0:1200x675/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LuqfAVSzjPHR9NOxbasGzc0j7gg=/0x0:1200x675/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xtsB7xdhE56lkTBI2kpE-EWrv5w=/0x0:1200x675/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/h4cogu4MqqdYeUHUEA61Imrtgb4=/0x0:1200x675/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VKRuLGydFqdThL8B3LugJTUqZP0=/0x0:1200x675/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OtErcr3lzxEYG0InZMjtuj-A2ZQ=/0x0:1200x675/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OK5z8wm9yL6DTRnhq_7ztb2ZWrQ=/0x0:1200x675/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bjdDsoWnu9qSm_TMZFxG2_vfTOc=/0x0:1200x675/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HF7oplx33Y7iB_ZZFJAGlKHR3H4=/0x0:1200x675/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_ce_W-GRtdxBW2XYDerS90L3kCY=/0x0:1200x675/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/x15mfewaUOD-VkUKppwXTmW4fvw=/0x0:1200x675/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" alt="" data-upload-width="1200" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jdapvC6XhqvgiBGGW2Gnsg1kBVE=/0x0:1200x675/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1200x675):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423618/offer_envportrait_robert_0243_v2_fnl.jpg" /></picture></span></span>
<figcaption><span class="e-image__meta">Matthew Goode as Paramount head of production Robert Evans in <em>The Offer.</em></span></figcaption>
<span class="e-image__meta"><cite>Paramount</cite></span></figure>
<p>Which means it’s almost as interesting as an artifact of <em>our</em> time, when movies and TV are in flux, as it is as a story about 1970s Hollywood. I can’t imagine anyone who isn’t fascinated by Hollywood minutiae really watching <em>The Offer,</em> which isn’t to say they shouldn’t try. It’s uneven, but a handful of solid performances anchor it — Juno Temple (as Ruddy’s plucky assistant Bettye McCartt), and Dan Fogler (who makes a surprisingly good Francis Ford Coppola), and the go-for-broke Goode — with a fine showing by Teller, as Ruddy is the ostensible center of the show.</p>
<p>In fact, the title credits declare that the show is based on Ruddy’s memories of making <em>The Godfather</em>, which is an uncommon credit to see. Most writing on the movie’s legendary production, from newspaper profiles to books like <em>Easy Riders, Raging Bulls</em>, has focused on Coppola’s role in driving the project forward. But while Coppola gets plenty of screen time here, it’s Ruddy who’s our main character. The pilot (perhaps the weakest of the episodes) cruises through several years inside of an hour, apparently in an attempt to explain why Ruddy got involved in the Paramount circus to begin with.</p>
<p>The net effect can at times tip over into listening to an old Hollywood hand tell mildly unbelievable war stories for 10 hours, though much of what appears in <em>The Offer</em> sticks, in broad outlines, to the tales others have told. Ruddy got pulled into making <em>The Godfather</em> as a low-budget specialist at Paramount, even though his most recent picture, the 1970 Robert Redford biker flick <em>Little Fauss and Big Halsy</em>, was a bit of a flop. Paramount had acquired rights before publication to Mario Puzo’s novel <em>The Godfather</em>, but didn’t really want to make it, fearing that it would fail like so many other recent mobster films; once the book became a runaway bestseller, Evans realized they’d better do it.</p>
<p>But the experience for everyone seems to have been somewhere between herding cats and cosplaying Sisyphus. Everything was a debacle. Casting Marlon Brando (considered both a legend and a has-been) and Al Pacino (considered an absolute nobody) seemed impossible. Wrangling locations — not to mention Coppola himself — was a headache. Tangling with executives at Paramount parent company Gulf and Western, irate crew members fed up with their no-name director, and the literal mafia were enough to test the patience of a saint, let alone a movie producer.</p>
<figure class="e-image"><span class="e-image__inner"><span class="e-image__image" data-original="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1651266366_4095_94260" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23423612,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9aRm5RXSaF6Lf8bzdvICuAflgpY=/0x0:1296x730/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Gose2jDvRY4rIEMJ0wJdzd7VTp0=/0x0:1296x730/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/W3-0yAsDren8KkFzqLoJBTTZTiA=/0x0:1296x730/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ghgv-Qkcj7zxpMDy9T8kWzfhflU=/0x0:1296x730/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YM5Ck-Qgu6uBTrSe-ruXe8q-SWw=/0x0:1296x730/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gNPnYYlgrFE8Ob9ARlne5gC53l8=/0x0:1296x730/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IqfdB2CuVda_BJbl-L7GUkqjKuY=/0x0:1296x730/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/luENqy1I18_od3atx98NtRwJVhQ=/0x0:1296x730/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fgzl9wh8pOZ7l4X7FsN71AkBfLM=/0x0:1296x730/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cBgqshkE8SG8sZPCDggNJg1Wxhg=/0x0:1296x730/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TpVvSrjlmUO7lVW1N4YjP0GhsbQ=/0x0:1296x730/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WdhYZCupTfCBkiybEyXHX-bcwqg=/0x0:1296x730/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6U5QOiuInoe7xo_8LeJOQuz1Ptc=/0x0:1296x730/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-4DtT48yBN6fFnx8Y6MiXIAVkqU=/0x0:1296x730/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Tki9wMr7lomco-7Fqce7JOZiRAo=/0x0:1296x730/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xv9titFs3sUI922Up6exp5UdYuY=/0x0:1296x730/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QslHPA2zuHG0oAOi8eTzogj7msg=/0x0:1296x730/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OpaB1_foBs1aIJB-auiUt1o3BN4=/0x0:1296x730/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" alt="" data-upload-width="1296" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4IOTfH9Dw3w7vDF50x_8lOYkD2Y=/0x0:1296x730/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1296x730):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423612/The_Offer_Miles_Teller_Paramount_Publicity_H_2022.jpg" /></picture></span></span>
<figcaption><span class="e-image__meta">Miles Teller and Juno Temple in <em>The Offer.</em></span></figcaption>
<span class="e-image__meta"><cite>Paramount</cite></span></figure>
<p>Furthermore, <em>The Offer</em> paints production of <em>The</em> <em>Godfather</em> as a trying time that ultimately created a band of brothers — not without interpersonal friction, but in that everybody came to respect one another and be proud of the work they did. The reality is a bit messier. For instance, Evans and Coppola were so profoundly angry at one another by the end of the post-production process that Coppola initially tried to get them to hire Martin Scorsese to direct <em>The Godfather: Part II</em>. Years later, he was still brooding, sending a letter to Evans in the early ’80s about how angry he was that Evans had taken credit for the film’s final form. (Evans framed the letter and hung it in his bathroom.)</p>
<p>Other examples like this abound, if you dig into <em>Godfather</em> history, and even a quick look at Ruddy’s own public work history shows how much personal myth-making is involved. (The show portrays him as just a computer programmer for a defense contractor who kind of stumbled into show business, but he in fact worked for Warner Bros. before he became a programmer; he left when Marlon Brando’s father hired him to produce <em>Wild Seed</em>, not when he landed <em>Hogan’s Heroes</em>, as the show suggests.)</p>
<p>But, artistic license is hard to fault, especially when it’s the nitpicking details of the producer’s career. The overarching sense you get from <em>The Offer</em> is that it is remarkable that any movie is ever successful or good or, indeed, even gets made. If you see a movie that’s good, you’re watching a miracle.</p>
<p>Which might be why <em>The Offer</em>’s greatest service is to remind us that <em>The Godfather</em> is, really, that good. (And so is at least one of its sequels; judge for yourself, as all three are also streaming on Paramount+.) It pushed boundaries artistically, narratively, and technically, and viewers responded, making it the biggest movie in history upon its release. Something about its story, which shifted from Puzo’s juicy potboiler to something far more insightful and allegorical about America, resonates deeply. Get lucky enough to catch it on a big screen, and it feels as exciting as it must have at the film’s premiere.</p>
<p>The show knows, and doesn’t get in the way. It does that, in part, by not trying to be nearly as good as its predecessor, with its daring lighting and cinematography, its uniformly outstanding performances, and its sense of epic scale. When it does pay self-conscious homage to Coppola’s film, it’s in winking references (you’ll get a line about a cannoli in the first couple of minutes). There are several different sequences that cut violence scenes together with more domestic ones, in tribute to the famous assassination-and-baptism scene in the film. But you don’t feel the episodes’ directors stretching beyond the somewhat goofy limits of the show, and that’s probably to its credit.</p>
<figure class="e-image"><span class="e-image__inner"><span class="e-image__image" data-original="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1651266366_5334_94261" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23423621,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/v1g17zZdfhaH2j2eGvQ1_oG8Ctk=/0x0:2000x1333/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4RsTg7u2sL6vhsKJNYNjakbSHZQ=/0x0:2000x1333/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OMlHPo6-tQxV5635pZuSUImC7p0=/0x0:2000x1333/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tsJBNhy5NlbRiG42SDx5UpZ_4kc=/0x0:2000x1333/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/oKGdR1U7lbVzZdYgDdPfVZSES4g=/0x0:2000x1333/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dMu09qim_03otIpLO0-zsLQ-jMI=/0x0:2000x1333/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/k_TW6NH5Ntwz0IETMN5K5Y6tBlg=/0x0:2000x1333/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9uHQRuhRUSaky-cu2Y4GdMhgZHU=/0x0:2000x1333/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ogVorRLmsAn6gfQO_deAnsQD6xM=/0x0:2000x1333/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5EJqOYLcVbVqJurmSt1fScEPLHs=/0x0:2000x1333/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Nsry_IlCZr6rSKyjxxeinTe3WsE=/0x0:2000x1333/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-UWXV1lJqaZhI-AjwpdviUMAuu0=/0x0:2000x1333/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IOV9hgrXZmp5Qt9SLwOph3Id0-Y=/0x0:2000x1333/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zpYQPTvy7wRGrb9tvEoxAZuci1k=/0x0:2000x1333/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/k0hH0j6VpcFK65wLW29Ms06v0PM=/0x0:2000x1333/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1nQpuJZSU2LKo9TopdNMJFqsXVc=/0x0:2000x1333/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WRrjoblcG1rGeLUrm7vRXLIr_so=/0x0:2000x1333/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/UM-QJps-mkoHCdeco35h7BMCpzc=/0x0:2000x1333/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" alt="A huge film crew in 70s garb." data-upload-width="2000" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4SPtcjKK1tWLGDNC1zRhFR109nU=/0x0:2000x1333/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:2000x1333):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423621/The_Offer_First_Look_07.jpg" /></picture></span></span>
<figcaption><span class="e-image__meta">On the set of <em>The Godfather</em> ... in <em>The Offer.</em></span></figcaption>
<span class="e-image__meta"><cite>Paramount</cite></span></figure>
<p>Yet it does seem oddly self-aware that it’s a TV show bent on promoting cinema (and, in particular, this instance of cinema). All that aforementioned ragging on TV and effusing about the magic of the movies seems purposeful, and reaches levels we usually only hear on stage at the Oscars.</p>
<p>Of course, the 1970s were a different time for both film and TV. Hollywood was riding a strange fault line, existing in a brief and often-valorized pocket of time in which visionaries like Coppola and Scorsese and Peter Bogdanovich and Robert Altman and Warren Beatty and Paul Schrader and a host of others were running the show, making the most exciting movies. There was a lot wrong with that time — only certain sorts of white guys got to talk executives into making their films — but there was something right, too, with exciting and daring movies showing eager audiences what movies could do. “We can’t chase after what the audience wants to see,” Evans says in one triumphant scene late in the show. “We need to show it what it <em>needs</em> to see.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, TV was still largely working within formulas; storytelling innovations that we now take for granted were far off. That’s not to say it wasn’t great in its own way, or that incredible artists weren’t working in the medium. But the barrier between film and TV talents was much higher and more rigid.</p>
<p>Yet we’re in a totally different media landscape now, and Paramount itself is, like every major entertainment company, trying to figure out what it is going to be. Just two months ago, the movie studio’s parent company, created in 2019 when Viacom merged with CBS, rebranded itself as Paramount Global, after its most prestigious property. Paramount+ itself was first launched in 2014 as CBS All Access and renamed in March 2021. And like every company, they’re trying to figure out the right balance between traditional TV, streaming shows, and big-screen movies that eventually migrate back over to the streaming service. Nobody knows how this will all shake out, but the jitters in Hollywood right now are at a high that rivals the jitters back in Robert Evans’s day.</p>
<figure class="e-image"><span class="e-image__inner"><span class="e-image__image" data-original="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1651266366_9121_94262" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23423623,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1i6JQ8oHmrm3x4su6hvaDVTMv2A=/0x0:3000x1876/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MIT4CQOuFsqOhWMxTGm0hpc8fEI=/0x0:3000x1876/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DGUj26K7FOpTCkQr0_FrS7aygMI=/0x0:3000x1876/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TIiWCZ7wH3j2UN7F25ZE5vRcWqw=/0x0:3000x1876/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Hs82w9HdjA0Coo1kqZff_srRkUc=/0x0:3000x1876/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LnLHnq72OJFh9UoKIyuqWll0cAA=/0x0:3000x1876/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eC2Q2z2bhYBPoHkvQBlqF-AYgh0=/0x0:3000x1876/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yLJ4vkzQ7W0ZYLn2eqyF2DQfh_A=/0x0:3000x1876/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/J82TlIN2Ch4XbNWX1JvW0E5Syjo=/0x0:3000x1876/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wzHV1PCLxkKEdEe7YyUMdvmioWY=/0x0:3000x1876/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PFRUQgqn8wWCMLiO7x404FtMPu4=/0x0:3000x1876/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/q8-ODndG3f_wn-1Vya0xeiWGKK0=/0x0:3000x1876/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xbkVSiKLf_3dG7no6qsOFWqREzI=/0x0:3000x1876/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IRCzv3HoAuDTF0iGHNzIbI8S01g=/0x0:3000x1876/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6Iv9q3qXzFwoU8l28kZnMTnYVhY=/0x0:3000x1876/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jCUw80QrplI7cvrwaKl7fSD-CSA=/0x0:3000x1876/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/EOhkH_UzLPzIeefXNhCoc81dM1I=/0x0:3000x1876/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gxjJ3O4thQkoiHKsXgB2D6f2u3U=/0x0:3000x1876/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" alt="" data-upload-width="3000" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/R7wrjbBQNAdQms8kc6_2pS1I6AQ=/0x0:3000x1876/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1876):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423623/theoffer_103_nw_2012_rt2_1643833833.jpg" /></picture></span></span>
<figcaption><span class="e-image__meta">Matthew Goode and Miles Teller as Robert Evans and Al Ruddy in <em>The Offer</em>.</span></figcaption>
<span class="e-image__meta"><cite>Paramount</cite></span></figure>
<p>Which is why diving back into its history to reinforce the brand probably makes sense. As the movie rewrites and refines bits of <em>Godfather</em> history, it spins and smooths out its film’s legend, declaring by the end that the film is widely considered “the best” movie in history. That’s debatable (if you’re speaking of Hollywood, at least, then <em>Citizen Kane</em> would like a word), though there’s no doubt it’s one of them. But as Charlie Bluhdorn (Burn Gorman), president of Gulf and Western and gadfly presence on the set, confides to Evans late in the show, he loves historical movies because they allow you to rewrite history. “Maybe that’s how we can deal with the horror,” he suggests, and while it’s not exactly horror <em>The Offer</em> rewrites, you can kind of see the point. The legend you put on screen is, eventually, more important to the average person than whatever the history books say — both a useful observation and, depending on your perspective, a terrifying one.</p>
<p>And that could be why <em>The Offer</em>’s villains aren’t really the various mobsters and entertainers (cough cough Frank Sinatra) who tried to block <em>The Godfather</em>’s production a half-century ago. They’re the executives who are more interested in chasing what they already know the audience wants than taking a chance on a movie like, well, <em>The Godfather</em>.</p>
<p><em>The Offer</em> serves up a legend, too. It’s the story of a time in America when movies were king, when the big screen was something to yearn for, when risk might bring reward, when the collective experience was worth breaking your budget and your heart over. That Paramount has chosen to retell that story with a little bit of finessing and artistic license in a time when big-screen movies are hurting badly, when studios are chasing what they think the audience wants to see whether they need to see it or not, feels like a poke in someone’s eye. By the end, I kind of wondered whether it was their own.</p>
<p><em>The first three episodes of</em> The Offer <em>began streaming on Paramount+ on April 28. The remaining episodes will release on successive Thursdays through June 16.</em></p>
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<br />
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/23047143/offer-godfather-paramount-review">https://www.vox.com/23047143/offer-godfather-paramount-review</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-62061863084717132242022-04-30T00:12:00.001+01:002022-04-30T00:12:54.866+01:00Arctic Sea Ice is Now Just 3% Below Its 30 Year Average<p><strong>A group of environmental economists in Germany is demanding that huge taxes be imposed on meat products to fight climate change, with calls for beef to be 56 per cent more expensive.</strong></p>
<p>Asserting that livestock is responsible for 13 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, researchers from TU Berlin’s Chair of Sustainable Use of Natural Resources are demanding limitations on meat consumption in order to “attain greenhouse gas neutrality.”</p>
<p>“Livestock farming is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, soil and water pollution, and precious forests are being cleared for pastures and food crops,” said the leader of the group, Professor Linus Mattauch.</p>
<p>“Evidence suggests the environmental impacts are so large that the world can’t meet climate goals and keep vital ecosystems intact without reducing the consumption of meat – at least in Western high-income countries,” he added.</p>
<p>Mattauch wants governments to “start thinking about also taxing meat to reduce its consumption,” asserting that this is the “most efficient path to preventing further strain on our planet.”</p>
<p>“According to the group’s model calculations, the direct cost of livestock farming in relation to climate change is as high as $9.21 per kilogram of beef,” reports <a href="https://rmx.news/egyeb/meat-tax-up-to-56-on-beef-promoted-by-left-wing-economists-to-save-the-climate/">ReMix News</a>. “Applying this cost to the price of beef could result in beef products being as much as 56 percent more expensive. Similarly, poultry would cost 25 percent more, and lamb and pork would rise by 19 percent.”</p>
<p>Such taxes will of course primarily impact the poor, who in many western countries are already suffering due to rampant food inflation.</p>
<p>No doubt the solution to that will be amplifying efforts to encourage everyone to start eating bugs as an alternative and “sustainable” source of protein.</p>
<p>As we previously <a href="https://summit.news/2020/12/02/world-economic-forum-encourages-plebs-to-eat-weeds-drink-sewage/">highlighted</a>, the World Economic Forum published two articles on its website which explored how people could be conditioned to get used to the idea of eating weeds, bugs and drinking sewage water in order to reduce CO2 emissions.</p>
<p>In January last year, the EU officially <a href="https://summit.news/2021/01/14/eu-gives-go-ahead-for-eating-worms/">approved</a> the sale of worms as food to be consumed by humans.</p>
<p>Last month, Vanderbilt University Professor Amanda Little <a href="https://summit.news/2021/12/30/vanderbilt-university-professor-argues-that-we-all-need-to-eat-bugs/">argued</a> that everyone in the world needs to start dining on insects and that the EU’s approval of them conferred a form of “dignity” to their consumption.</p>
<p>One group of people who won’t be eating bugs is technocrat globalists.</p>
<p>Despite insisting that everyone else reduce their living standards and ration their meat eating to save the planet, during last year’s Cop 26 summit, attendees enjoyed a menu full of animal-based dishes that were at least double the carbon footprint of the average UK meal.</p>
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<br />
source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/04/29/arctic-sea-ice-is-now-just-3-below-its-30-year-average/">https://summit.news/2022/04/29/arctic-sea-ice-is-now-just-3-below-its-30-year-average/</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-47282352698854867102022-04-29T23:27:00.001+01:002022-04-29T23:27:05.408+01:00The long-shot campaign to get big banks out of fossil fuels<div><img src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Vci6vt8hGm9pNDvaxwzaEDSjjl4=/0x0:3000x1571/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23423705/GettyImages_79159068.jpg" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
<p>This week, shareholders at Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs voted on resolutions recommending the companies stop any additional financing for fossil fuel projects.</p>
<p>All the resolutions failed, pretty spectacularly, garnering just over 10 percent of the vote. Despite that failure, the votes were notable examples of a strategy climate activists are implementing with increasing boldness: pressuring institutions from the inside to make meaningful reforms on climate change.</p>
<p>It’s one that showed some signs of success at the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22455347/exxon-board-shell-oil-news-chevron-engine-no-one">shareholder meetings of energy companies</a> last year, and is also one advocates like Kate Monahan — director of shareholder advocacy at <a href="https://www.trilliuminvest.com/">Trillium Asset Management</a>, a fund that sponsored the climate resolution at Bank of America on Tuesday — believe will eventually bear fruit more broadly.</p>
<p>“I’m optimistic that we can build the vote over time,” she said. “This is a totally new type of proposal. So 11 percent, I think, is a really good base on which to build for next year.”</p>
<p>The incremental approach this strategy entails can seem frustrating, considering the scientific consensus that <a href="https://www.vox.com/23009894/un-ipcc-climate-mitigation-report-ar6-summary">the world needs to stop financing</a> new fossil fuel development today. But there is reason to believe it could ultimately have an impact.</p>
<p>The current shareholder push has its roots in the divestment movement, which saw climate activists building a case to a conservative audience of financial institutions, universities, and state pension funds that they should divest their investments from fossil fuel companies. After a decade and a litany of failures, powerful players relented — including <a href="https://www.vox.com/22256192/norway-oil-gas-investments-fossil-fuel">Norway’s sovereign wealth fund</a>, <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/9/10/divest-declares-victory/">Harvard University</a>, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/nyregion/new-york-pension-fossil-fuels.html">New York state’s pension fund</a>.</p>
<p>Now, the global fossil fuel divestment movement has come to represent about <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/opinion/climate-change-divestment-fossil-fuels.html">$40 trillion</a> in assets. Other firms, like the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock, have made <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/blackrock-promises-big-jump-in-climate-commitments-within-its-holdings-whats-different-this-time-11649947380">public commitments</a> to align their funds with climate targets.</p>
<p>It’s that success that has <a href="https://www.iccr.org/sites/default/files/page_attachments/co-filers_on_bank_proposals12.17.21.pdf">led the groups</a> behind <a href="https://www.iccr.org/2022-climate-finance-resolutions-going-vote">this week’s resolutions</a>, like the Sierra Club Foundation and asset mangers Harrington Investments and Trillium, to apply daring pressure campaigns at annual shareholder meetings.</p>
<p>The largest institutional shareholders at big banks are still clearly skeptical of this latest ask to stop new fossil fuel finance immediately. In part, that’s because the campaign hasn’t reached the same heights as the divestment movement — just yet.</p>
<h3>The long road to changing the conversation around banks’ role in financing a climate crisis</h3>
<p>All the banks with meetings this week (and <a href="https://www.iccr.org/sites/default/files/page_attachments/jp_morgan_chase_2022_sierra_club_foundation_.pdf">JPMorgan Chase</a> and <a href="https://www.iccr.org/sites/default/files/page_attachments/morgan_stanley_2022_sierra_club_foundation.pdf">Morgan Stanley</a>, which have shareholder votes next month), <a href="https://www.unepfi.org/net-zero-banking/">joined a coalition</a> at last fall’s climate conference in Glasgow aligning their financing with reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Despite that pledge, the same banks all still fund fossil fuel development that ensures they are not aligned with these longer-term targets.</p>
<p>“Now we need to see the policies that will actually make that happen,” Loren Blackford, the investor committee chair of the Sierra Club Foundation’s board of directors, said.</p>
<p>To that end, SCF’s proposal (similar to the others from this week) <a href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/investor-relations/financials/proxy-statements/2022/2022-proxy-statement-pdf.pdf">requested Goldman Sachs</a> commit to “proactive measures to ensure that the firm’s lending and underwritten activities do not contribute to new fossil fuel development.”</p>
<p>It argued there were two problems: that Goldman Sachs’s “prominence in asserting climate leadership flies in the face of its actions, creating reputation risk from accusations of greenwashing” and that the bank is putting its long-term stability and gains at risk by pouring money into a dying industry — “knowingly loading potentially stranded assets onto its clients’ balance sheets, creating litigation risk.”</p>
<p>Big banks are indeed continuing to fund fossil fuel expansion: Last year alone, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America spent a combined $137 billion on fossil fuel projects, according to a report from a coalition of environmental advocacy groups, <a href="https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org//wp-content/themes/bocc-2021/inc/bcc-data-2022/BOCC_2022_vSPREAD.pdf">Banking on Climate Chaos</a>. (JPMorgan Chase by itself spent over $61 billion in 2021 on fossil fuels.)</p>
<p>There are a few reasons for this.</p>
<p>One is that banks are deeply intertwined with fossil fuel companies even though their rhetoric suggests the opposite. The Banking on Climate Chaos <a href="https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org//wp-content/themes/bocc-2021/inc/bcc-data-2022/BOCC_2022_vSPREAD.pdf">report</a> found that the 60 biggest banks spent about $4.6 trillion on fossil fuel investments since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, and about $742 billion last year alone. The pandemic illustrated just how exposed banks are to volatility in the oil market. When global demand for oil plummeted in 2020, big banks like <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/04/jpmorgan-secretly-emailed-the-trump-administration-about-bailing-out-the-oil-industry/">JPMorgan</a> advocated on behalf of oil companies for federal stimulus.</p>
<p>Climate advocates argue the only way to avoid similar fallout again is by limiting further investment in the sector. Bank boards disagree, so much so that they went to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to block this week’s votes. When the SEC didn’t intervene, the boards campaigned against the proposals. Goldman’s board finally said that it’s committed to the climate goals set out six years ago in Paris; however, they said, “We do not believe that placing limits on financing to producers will result in either reduction in emissions or demand for fossil fuels.”</p>
<p>Another factor is current turmoil in the oil market, caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine. That made any climate proposal a harder sell to major asset managers who are worried about their bottom line.</p>
<p>The importance of swaying the wealthiest companies owning stock at any given meeting — particularly firms like BlackRock and Vanguard — can’t be understated either. These two asset managers backed the climate proposals at energy companies last year, ensuring their victory. And although BlackRock and Vanguard have not yet disclosed their votes from this week, it’s expected, given the final results, they didn’t support the 2022 initiatives. Getting BlackRock on board, along with pension funds and other major asset managers, will be crucial to raise the stakes for financial institutions.</p>
<h3>Changing banks’ approach to fossil fuels is difficult, not necessarily impossible</h3>
<p>There are a few reasons for hope though.</p>
<p>One is that the play to get a giant corporation’s attention at the general shareholder meetings is not particularly new, and success doesn’t always entirely depend on getting to a majority. In 2019, for instance, environmental campaigners attempted to get Goldman Sachs to stop financing Arctic oil exploration. The company <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/16/goldman-sachs-to-stop-financing-new-drilling-for-oil-in-the-arctic">responded</a> by making an initial pledge commitment not to fund drilling in the Arctic.</p>
<p>Another is climate activists’ successes in <a href="https://www.vox.com/22455347/exxon-board-shell-oil-news-chevron-engine-no-one">last year’s oil company meetings</a>. Shareholders at Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Phillips 66 voted for more disclosure on climate preparation. And ExxonMobil lost three board seats to climate activist-backed candidates. In these cases, shareholders actually overrode the board’s recommendations against taking climate action.</p>
<p>Finally, there has been growing momentum for more climate disclosure and commitment from companies. Corporate governance analysts at the research group The Conference Board <a href="https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2021/02/11/2021-proxy-season-preview-and-shareholder-voting-trends-2017-2020/">tracked</a> how the average vote for climate-related proposals grew from 24 percent in 2019 up to 32 percent in 2020 (the investor-focused nonprofit Ceres counted another 10-point jump to <a href="https://www.climateaction100.org/news/as-climate-risks-skyrocket-largest-asset-managers-vote-for-more-climate-related-shareholder-proposals-tipping-support-to-record-levels-in-2021/">41 percent</a> in 2021).</p>
<p>Every year that passes is another year that the world comes up short on its climate commitments. The <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050">International Energy Agency</a> and the United Nations’ <a href="https://www.vox.com/23009894/un-ipcc-climate-mitigation-report-ar6-summary">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> have all asserted that averting the worst of climate change requires the world to stop investing in new fossil fuels, immediately. So rather than play it safe, activists are going bigger and bolder with their resolutions.</p>
<p>Some end in failure. But they’re also banking that someday soon, they might not.</p>
<p>“It may not be a quick process,” Monahan said. “But we believe it’s important for us to try.”</p>
<p><em><strong>Correction, 11 am:</strong></em> <em>A previous version of this article erroneously referred to the Sierra Club rather than the Sierra Club Foundation, the independent fiscal sponsor of the Sierra Club. It also misstated Loren Blackford’s title; she is the investor committee chair of the Sierra Club Foundation’s board of directors.</em></p>
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source <a href="https://www.vox.com/23046282/banks-climate-shareholder-votes-fossil-fuels">https://www.vox.com/23046282/banks-climate-shareholder-votes-fossil-fuels</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-3572677214930978582022-04-29T23:12:00.001+01:002022-04-29T23:12:29.804+01:00Rand Paul: Fauci “Is A Man That Is Against Everything That America Stands For”<p><strong>A new study published in the Royal Society Open Science journal found that lockdowns in the UK caused around 60,000 children to suffer clinical depression.</strong></p>
<p>Researchers detected a 27.1 per cent prevalence of depression amongst their sample, a number significantly higher than would have occurred without lockdowns.</p>
<p>According to a report by <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/25/hepatitis-surge-leaves-one-child-dead-17-needing-liver-transplants/">the Telegraph</a>, the percentage equates to about 60,000 extra kids who suffered clinical depression thanks to COVID-19 restrictions.</p>
<p>“After controlling for baseline scores and several school and pupil-level characteristics, depressive symptoms were higher in the COVID-19 group,” the study found.</p>
<p>“These findings demonstrate that the COVID-19 pandemic increased adolescent depressive symptoms beyond what would have likely occurred under non-pandemic circumstances.”</p>
<p>Figures show that 400,000 British children were referred to mental health specialists last year for things like eating disorders and self-harm.</p>
<p>Once again, the study underscores how those who vehemently promoted lockdowns, while demanding voices of dissent be silenced, were on the wrong side of history.</p>
<p>As we previously <a href="https://summit.news/2022/04/26/outbreak-of-hepatitis-in-children-caused-by-lockdowns-that-weakened-immunity/">highlighted</a>, a shocking outbreak of hepatitis cases in children was likely caused by lockdowns and social distancing, which served to weaken immune systems, according to health experts.</p>
<p>Many infants are also suffering from cognitive developmental and speech disorders due to adults wearing face coverings during the pandemic.</p>
<p>According to speech therapists, mask wearing has caused a 364% increase in patient referrals of babies and toddlers.</p>
<p>A major study by Johns Hopkins University <a href="https://summit.news/2022/02/02/new-johns-hopkins-study-lockdowns-have-had-little-to-no-public-health-effects-and-imposed-enormous-economic-and-social-costs/">concluded</a> that global lockdowns have had a much more detrimental impact on society than they have produced any benefit, with researchers urging that they “are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="13.932307692308">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">A speech therapist says her clinic has seen a "364% increase in patient referrals of babies and toddlers".</p>
<p>"It's very important kids do see your face to learn, so they're watching your mouth."</p>
<p>What the hell have we done?!</p>
<p>End this cruel insanity. <a href="https://t.co/DN6J4yQfju">pic.twitter.com/DN6J4yQfju</a></p>
<p>— Darren Grimes (@darrengrimes_) <a href="https://twitter.com/darrengrimes_/status/1486348600393220102?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2022</a></p>
</blockquote>
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/04/29/rand-paul-fauci-is-a-man-that-is-against-everything-that-america-stands-for/">https://summit.news/2022/04/29/rand-paul-fauci-is-a-man-that-is-against-everything-that-america-stands-for/</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-56925743308607019552022-04-29T00:29:00.001+01:002022-04-29T00:29:36.514+01:00An expert on why wars start, and how to prevent them<div><img src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tX9ZxCDOyxsqf4HffdVp6Um1erY=/0x0:5442x2849/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23420063/1240098294.jpg" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
<p>War is a stupid idea.</p>
<p>Fighting is a bad way to resolve disagreements. If two countries want the same land, it is almost always less costly to each side to split it than to fight. The same is true if they are arguing over a shared natural resource, like oil. Fighting costs lives and money, with an incredibly uncertain payoff when the dust settles.</p>
<p>And yet wars persist, both within nations and, as appallingly demonstrated by Russia’s devastation of Ukraine, between them. Why? Why do governments and private armed groups still resort to violence when it’s so often mutually destructive?</p>
<p>That’s the question Chris Blattman’s new book, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/636263/why-we-fight-by-christopher-blattman/"><em>Why We Fight</em></a>, seeks to answer. Blattman is an economist and political scientist at the University of Chicago, and he has studied the roots of violence in many different contexts. In academic work, Blattman and his coauthors have examined the roots of <a href="https://chrisblattman.com/documents/research/2010.Consequences.RESTAT.pdf">child soldiering</a> in Uganda, the potential of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/04/15/jobs-and-jail-might-not-keep-young-men-out-of-crime-but-how-about-therapy/">cognitive behavioral therapy to prevent violence</a> in post-war Liberia, and the policy choices of <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/5nyqs/">drug gangs who govern neighborhoods</a> in Medellín, Colombia.</p>
<p><em>Why We Fight</em> is an effort to summarize what he and other social scientists have learned about violent conflict, both between and within states: where it comes from; if it can be prevented; and how to stop it once it’s begun.</p>
<p>Blattman and I spoke for this week’s episode of the Vox podcast <em>The Weeds</em>. A transcript, edited for length and clarity, follows. Note that our conversation occurred on April 7, so we didn’t cover the past couple weeks of developments in Ukraine. As always, there’s much more in the full podcast, so listen and follow <em>The Weeds</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-weeds/id1042433083">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vdGhld2VlZHM">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1vSUO6Bg4abtjRF7fnGpT1">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/show/voxs-the-weeds">Stitcher</a>, or wherever you listen to podcasts.</p>
<h3>Dylan Matthews</h3>
<p>You start from a standpoint that is kind of surprising for a book about war, which is that war usually is a bad idea, it usually isn’t in anybody’s best interests, and most conflicts are resolved peaceably. Can you explain that organizing framework and why you think that’s important?</p>
<h3>Chris Blattman</h3>
<p>It is kind of amazing how much attention we pay to violence. We want doctors to pay a lot of attention to sick people, but then we don’t want them to forget that most people are healthy.</p>
<p>For example, two weeks into Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/12/world/asia/india-pakistan-missile.html">India accidentally lobbed a cruise missile at Pakistan</a> and nothing came of it, and we shouldn’t be surprised at that. Likewise, schoolchildren will learn about the US invasion of Afghanistan for decades, [but] very few kids will be taught about the <a href="https://time.com/5682135/haiti-military-anniversary/">US invasion of Haiti in 1994</a>, which ended before it began. Colin Powell went to the coup leader [Raoul Cédras] who ousted a democratically elected president, showed him a video of US troops loading into planes and taking off and said, “This isn’t live. This happened two hours ago,” and he sort of surrendered right there.</p>
<p>All of these things are happening all the time. And they’re happening for a pretty simple reason. If you’re Pakistan [after India’s missile launch], it’s just going to be ruinous if you go to war over this, even if you think it might not have been an accident. And this military leader in Haiti … It wasn’t just that the US was strong and Haiti was weak. That was part of it, but we know that weak parties can mount insurgencies. I think he just looked at [the situation] and he said, this isn’t going to be worth it, because I can basically use whatever bargaining power I have to get some kind of deal. [The US government wound up <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-10-14-mn-50281-story.html">giving the coup leader over $1 million</a> to leave.]</p>
<p>That’s just the normal everyday business of what happens, precisely because war is so costly. Peace has this gravitational pull, from all the costs of war. So war only happens because some other force yanked it out of that orbit, which is actually pretty hard to do.</p>
<h3>Dylan Matthews</h3>
<p>You list five explanations for war, which are all explanations of how bargaining breaks down and why people can’t reach agreements peaceably. Could you walk through those five?</p>
<h3>Chris Blattman</h3>
<p>I call them:</p>
<ol>
<li>Unchecked leaders</li>
<li>Intangible incentives</li>
<li>Misperceptions</li>
<li>Uncertainty, and</li>
<li>Commitment problems</li>
</ol>
<p>Three of them are more strategic in nature, and then two are more psychological.</p>
<p>Let me just start with a couple examples that I think are the most intuitive. We live in a world with a lot of autocrats, and even if they’re not autocrats, we live in a world where leaders are not totally constrained by their people, which means they don’t have to do the thing that’s in the interest of their group. This especially matters for someone who is completely unaccountable, like a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2017/03/23/the-rise-of-personalist-rule/">personalized dictator</a>, which Vladimir Putin has increasingly become.</p>
<p>If you’re a personalized dictator, you don’t have to consider all these costs of war. You consider some of them, but you consider a much narrower range, so you’re much more ready to use violence. Sometimes leaders, particularly dictators, have a special incentive to invade or attack that their group doesn’t share. In Liberia, maybe the warlord Charles Taylor thinks he’s going to get more diamond profits by keeping the war going. Or maybe Putin thinks that too — to keep his regime of control the war needs to keep going. That’s one example of a very powerful thing that can yank us out of that peaceful orbit.</p>
<p>Another, which is related, I call intangible incentives. What if the group or a leader — or in particular the dictatorial, personalized ruler — is seeking some ethereal benefits, something they value? That gives them a strong incentive to go to war. It’s not a material incentive like diamonds or something strategic, like “I need to gain this territory in Ukraine or exterminate democracy there because it’s going to threaten me.” Rather, it’s this nationalist ideal of a unified Russia. Or, in Charles Taylor’s case, a nationalist ideal of a unified West African Republic that, by the way, he would rule. It could be personal glory, like wanting to be the next Catherine the Great. It could be the desire to exterminate a heretic, or in service of some kind of religious or ethnic ideal. If you value this thing that only war can bring you, it’s going to yank you out of the peaceful orbit.</p>
<p>“Misperceptions” includes all the ways war happens by mistake. Uncertainty is about times when we don’t know the strength of our opponent, we don’t know their resolve, so it seems like the optimal choice to fight. Commitment problems are mostly cases where there’s some way we can avert our opponent from being strong in the future. It actually pays to invade now to lock in our advantage forever. That can overcome the costs of war.</p>
<h3>Dylan Matthews</h3>
<p>We’re having this conversation as a war in Ukraine rages. Just before the war broke out, you wrote a <a href="https://chrisblattman.com/blog/2022/02/15/when-we-focus-on-russian-aggression-and-motives-are-we-asking-the-wrong-questions/">short post</a> asking the question of why diplomacy didn’t work, why the countries hadn’t been able to come to a deal. Looking back, how do you think about that question? How do you apply some of the lessons in this book to that context?</p>
<h3>Chris Blattman</h3>
<p>I know exactly how to apply each of the lessons in the book. What I don’t know is which ones are correct.</p>
<p>What it comes down to is you either think Putin and his cabal are being strategic, or they’re not. I always lean on this side of [strategy]; fundamentally they’re not bonkers. Certainly in week four, they’ve woken up and they’re becoming strategic.</p>
<p>But at many lunch hours, I knock on the door of my colleague <a href="https://harris.uchicago.edu/directory/konstantin-sonin">Konstantin Sonin</a>, who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/opinion/masha-gessen-putin-and-his-new-years-resolutions.html">used to be the provost</a> of one of the most major universities in Moscow. He’s a game theorist, so he’s the kind of person who’s biased to think that everything is strategic, and he thinks it’s completely non-strategic. He thinks [Putin’s] inner circle has basically gone downhill in quality of thought and quality of individuals and experience, and that they’re both mass-deluded and ideological. He puts in the misperceptions and the intangible incentives, and that’s enough for him.</p>
<p>I lean more towards the strategic camp. We can all understand Konstantin’s point of view because it’s what we read in the paper every day. I’m always suspicious of it because it gives those people very little agency. It denigrates them. It makes us feel superior.</p>
<p>I think it comes down to Putin’s unchecked-ness: the fact that he is not responsible for the costs [of the war], and he has some private incentives, in terms of the preservation of his regime, to exterminate democracy in Ukraine. There’s uncertainty; he got bad draws and Ukraine got good draws. There’s maybe a little bit of a commitment problem, where he could see a point where [Ukraine] is more democratic, closer to the West, maybe even armed with long-range missiles by the West and thus impossible to invade, and so the window of opportunity is closing.</p>
<p>I think those are really important to understanding the war. But for the record, Konstantin totally disagrees with me.</p>
<h3>Dylan Matthews</h3>
<p>The US is still processing <a href="https://www.vox.com/22217039/capitol-attack-trump-rally-election-biden-explained">what happened on January 6th</a> last year. On the extreme end, your colleague Barbara Walter has a <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/624156/how-civil-wars-start-by-barbara-f-walter/">book</a> raising the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22814025/democracy-trump-january-6-capitol-riot-election-violence">possibility of widespread political violence</a> in the US. Even if not a Liberia-style civil war, then widespread terrorism and street violence. I’m curious how you think about that question, especially because I left your book oddly hopeful about our odds of finding peace.</p>
<h3>Chris Blattman</h3>
<p>Barbara’s not the extreme end — there’s people who think there <em>could</em> be full-scale civil war. Barbara’s more like, “At worst this is probably going to look like the Irish troubles, and that’s not assured.” She’s definitely more pessimistic than I am. I agree with a lot of what she says. We just have very different probabilities. We can all look at the same evidence and disagree.</p>
<p>Again, it comes down to these costs [of war]. These costs are very high and we have a lot of institutions that have not been politicized and are very good at internalizing these costs, and therefore will work very hard to avoid them. The thing that would push me to be as pessimistic as Barbara is if those institutions, like our military and our Supreme Court and police forces, were more split, or more unaccountable, and thus were not internalizing these costs of violence. But I actually have found those institutions to be amazingly resilient in a polarized age. I draw some optimism from that.</p>
<br />
<br />
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/4/28/23041726/chris-blattman-why-we-fight-war-peace">https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/4/28/23041726/chris-blattman-why-we-fight-war-peace</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-34952047621528227732022-04-29T00:17:00.005+01:002022-04-29T00:17:31.212+01:00PJW Live: Twitter Staffers Digitally Burning Documents?<p><strong>A Russian-Australian man was told to leave a television studio after he asked a ‘rogue’ question and pointed out that there is an alternative narrative to be considered surrounding the conflict in Ukraine.</strong></p>
<p>The audience member Sasha Gillies-Lekakis was speaking on a live Australian debate show when he expressed support for Russia’s actions in Ukraine, angering other audience members and surprising the host of the show, Stan Grant.</p>
<p>“As someone who comes from the Russian community here in Australia, I’ve been pretty outraged by the narrative depicted by our media, with Ukraine as the good guy and Russia as the bad guy,” Gillies-Lekakis said.</p>
<p>“Believe it or not, there are a lot of Russians here and around the world that support what Putin’s doing in Ukraine, myself included,” he added before claiming that Ukraine has previously “besieged” the Russian populations in Donetsk and Luhansk, killing thousands of people.</p>
<p>Other audience members heckled him and yelled ‘propaganda’ and ‘lies’, while the host Grant moved the program on.</p>
<p>Around twenty minutes later Grant returned to Gillies-Lekakis and said he had ‘thought about it’ and wasn’t comfortable allowing him to stay in the studio.</p>
<p>“Something has been bothering me,” Grant said, adding “people here have been talking about family who are suffering and people who are dying. Can I just say – I’m just not comfortable with you being here. Could you please leave?”</p>
<p>“You can ask a question, but we cannot advocate violence. I should have asked you to leave then. It‘s been playing on my mind and, I’m sorry, but I have to ask you to leave,” the host added.</p>
<p>Watch:</p>
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<p>Here is the question with the panel of guests reacting, before Grant asked Gillies-Lekakis to leave:</p>
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<p>Grant later stated “we can’t have anyone who is sanctioning, supporting, violence and killing of people. So I‘m sorry for the disruption. It was not a vetted question. It was a rogue question. It’s not good.”</p>
<p>In a now removed Facebook post, Gillies-Lekakis explained that he “supports Putin’s grievances regarding the breaking of the Minsk Peace Agreement by Ukraine and the ensuing loss of life, particularly in the Russian-populated areas of the Donbas”.</p>
<p>He added, “My question, furthermore, sought to question why these Russian deaths were seemingly less important compared to Ukrainian casualties in our media coverage, and whether the panellists thought there was any hypocrisy in their positions as a result.”</p>
<p>“This is reflected in my question as published on the Q+A website. Unfortunately, I was unable to fully finish asking my question nor clarify myself despite trying, and so believe that my words were misrepresented and incomplete,” he further wrote.</p>
<p>Gillies-Lekakis further noted that his question was not ‘rogue’ and was submitted to the show’s producers beforehand, adding that he wasn’t able to ask it in full before being interrupted.</p>
<p>“The only addition I made to my question when actually delivering it was my reference to the Azhov Battalion (7-8 words roughly), and some sentences were left out towards the end as I was interrupted,” he said.</p>
<p>He added, “If this small change to my question amounts to it being ‘rogue’, as was claimed, once again I apologise. However, I find this difficult to reconcile with the fact that other guests were given the chance to speak at length, off-script, on the Russia-Ukraine situation.”</p>
<p>He said the Q+A host was “disappointing and unprofessional” and accused the network ABC of “questionable conduct” during the night.</p>
<p>“I am genuinely sorry that things took the turn they did … if my question was not appropriate for the show after being vetted and edited, I wonder why I was invited at all,” he noted, adding “I would like to say that I had no intention whatsoever of offending anyone, and so would like to sincerely apologise for any distress my comments may have caused.”</p>
<p>The incident has unsurprisingly caused division on social media, with some arguing these questions and opinions must be debated, while others proclaimed to do so is to support the bombardment and murder of innocent people:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">I don’t agree with kicking him out. It goes against freedom of speech if it doesn’t suit your narrative. I’m fully behind <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ukraine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Ukraine</a> but having these conversations is a necessity.</p>
— Kristie Soto (@KristieSoto80) <a href="https://twitter.com/KristieSoto80/status/1499348989229297666?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">I don’t support war in any form. This was a low in QandA’s history. Opinions offered on QandA, have been varied over time. Some offensive. None have resulted in eviction until tonight.<br />
He was asked to comment. You didn’t like it.<br />
Shouldn’t he get to have his say in a democracy?</p>
— LouiseTaylor (@LouiseTay48) <a href="https://twitter.com/LouiseTay48/status/1499341568175910914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">should have let this guy finish his question in full without cutting him off. Thought the idea of a QandA was to here different points of view even if you disagree with them.</p>
— Byron (@Peyote_TheForce) <a href="https://twitter.com/Peyote_TheForce/status/1499330060654096385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Well done Stan for telling him to leave. He was supporting the murder of civilians and children</p>
— Karen Monk (@KM12094068) <a href="https://twitter.com/KM12094068/status/1499335543192125444?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Get absolutely f*d with this clickbait garbage. Putin invaded a peaceful Democratic neighbour that posed no threat to Russia. His forces have murdered civilians, including children. There are not 2 sides to this story. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/auspol?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#auspol</a></p>
— Brian Mitchell MP (@BrianMitchellMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianMitchellMP/status/1499345886517751809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IStandWithUkraine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IStandWithUkraine</a> & despise that Putin has manipulated the narrative. However, we need to allow ppl to engage in conversation so that facts can be discussed & fiction proved nonsense. To silence opposing views can be dangerous, as those ppl can use this to support their claims.</p>
— kayd (@jckmac7) <a href="https://twitter.com/jckmac7/status/1499376818864140290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">When one side of the debate controls the narrative by kicking out anyone with a different opinion, then claims the other side of the debate is all just propaganda, you know there is more to the story.</p>
— Lita Gillies (@LitaGillies) <a href="https://twitter.com/LitaGillies/status/1499382943629774849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">What “right” are you talking about? Australia doesn’t have a “freedom of speech” right in out constitution. This isn’t America. Plus what he was saying was extremely false. He was stating stuff as if it was fact, not just “his opinion”.</p>
— Luke (@goldstein85) <a href="https://twitter.com/goldstein85/status/1499351040436891651?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">I am 100% against what Russia is doing and I am 100% against the way qanda responded to this person’s opinion and ejected him.</p>
— Rod Barnett (@salientrod) <a href="https://twitter.com/salientrod/status/1499332152798105600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Stan Grant advocated for MORE war, then kicked out a Russian-Aust saying the guy advocated for violence</p>
<p>All I see is that it's Stan & Olga are the ONLY people on the Panel advocating for violence</p>
<p>Olga:"we don't negotiate with Russia,it's a terrorist state". Non-milit solution?</p>
— Rudolphreindeer (@Rudolphreinde19) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rudolphreinde19/status/1499336302906720256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/04/28/pjw-live-twitter-staffers-digitally-burning-documents/">https://summit.news/2022/04/28/pjw-live-twitter-staffers-digitally-burning-documents/</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-53567085643772529962022-04-29T00:17:00.003+01:002022-04-29T00:17:30.185+01:00Leftist Leader Admits Multiculturalism Has Failed<p><strong>In the absence of any action by the Biden Administration, Twenty six states have formed an alliance to create a ‘border strike force’ to secure the southern border.</strong></p>
<p>The move was announced Tuesday in a <a href="https://azgovernor.gov/governor/news/2022/04/governor-ducey-25-governors-commit-coordinated-effort-secure-united-states">press release</a> and <a href="https://azgovernor.gov/sites/default/files/american_governors_border_strike_force_brief.pdf">document</a> from the office of Arizona governor Doug Ducey, who is heading up the alliance along with Texas governor Greg Abbott.</p>
<p>The pledge has been signed on to by the governors of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.</p>
<p>Ducey commented “What we’re doing in Arizona works, but this is not just an Arizona issue, it’s a national issue. If our entire southern border isn’t secure, our nation isn’t secure.”</p>
<p>The governor added that “As dangerous transnational criminal organizations continue to profit from holes in the border and fill our communities with drugs, it’s no coincidence that we’re seeing historic levels of opioid-related deaths. The American Governors’ Border Strike Force will serve as a force multiplier in the fight against criminal activity directly tied to our border.”</p>
<p>The release also notes “With record breaking migration leading to an overwhelming amount of apprehensions at the southern border, law enforcement is stretched too thin to effectively combat the cartels. This leads to more drugs entering the country, more dangerous individuals avoiding arrest, and more victims of human trafficking.”</p>
<p>Last month, former Obama Homeland Security head Jeh Johnson warned that unmanageable numbers of illegal immigrants will pour across the southern border when the Biden Administration lifts the Title 42 public health authority.</p>
<p>The measure, which Biden <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/04/01/cdc-phase-out-border-restrictions-increase-crossings-expected/">intends to scrap in May</a>, has effectively served as border control, allowing federal immigration officials to swiftly return around two million illegal immigrants to their home countries over the past two years.</p>
<p>Without it, it is conservatively estimated that numbers of migrants reaching the border will increase three fold to 18,000 per day.</p>
<figure>[embedded content]</figure>
<p>The DHS estimates that 221,000 crossed in March, and noted that there are hundreds of thousands more just waiting for restrictions to ease.</p>
<p>Hidalgo County, Texas Sheriff Eddie Guerra, interviewed during a recent NBC news report said that he has been warned to expect that the border could be overrun.</p>
<p>Describing how he and his deputies are preparing, Guerra said “We’re talking about deputies dressed in their riot gear with their shields and their helmets and batons to keep the crowd at bay.”</p>
<p>“We’re asking them to reconsider, you know, lifting the Title 42,” Guerra further stated.</p>
<p>Watch:</p>
<p>Arizona GOP Rep. Andy Biggs has also warned that numbers will be even higher than estimated, suggesting that 20,000 to 30,000 could surge the border every day.</p>
<p>“Right now, the [Department of Homeland Security] number is about 8,000 people a day, illegally entering our country,” Biggs said during a podcast, adding “DHS’s number, they say it’s going to be 18,000 a day … I personally think it’s going to be 20,000 to 30,000 a day.”</p>
<p>He explained, “Cartels are already advertising to put together caravans to come across … our communities are going to be overrun … last year, 800,000 people illegally snuck into the country, they were not apprehended, they were the got-aways, we don’t know who they are, where they are from, what their intentions are.”</p>
<p>Regarding lifting Title 42, Biggs said “I think the rationale here is, they’re trying to get this open and bring in as many people as they can before they lose the majority … [in] the House and Senate.” </p>
<p>“I think this is a political ploy, it’s meant to happen. They campaigned on an open border,” Biggs continued, warning“If you think it’s bad now, the tsunami that’s coming is going to be overwhelming.”</p>
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/04/28/leftist-leader-admits-multiculturalism-has-failed/">https://summit.news/2022/04/28/leftist-leader-admits-multiculturalism-has-failed/</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-17535943862345418762022-04-29T00:17:00.001+01:002022-04-29T00:17:29.348+01:00Too Many White Men Flying Planes!<p><strong>Former world number one tennis star Novak Djokovic has described Wimbledon’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players as “crazy,” saying politics shouldn’t interfere in sport.</strong></p>
<p>As we <a href="https://summit.news/2022/04/20/wimbledon-bans-russian-players-from-competing-in-tournament/">highlighted</a> yesterday, Wimbledon organizers confirmed that players from both countries would be barred from competing in the tournament even if they have vocally opposed the war in Ukraine.</p>
<p>Players had initially been expected to be given an opportunity to perform an act of ideological subservience by denouncing Russia in order to be able to take part, but now even this won’t be enough.</p>
<p>Serbian star Djokovic, who was deported earlier this year after attempting to take part in the Australian Open without having been vaccinated, condemned the announcement.</p>
<p>“I will always condemn war, I will never support war being myself a child of war,” he asserted, adding, “I know how much emotional trauma it leaves. In Serbia we all know what happened in 1999. In the Balkans we have had many wars in recent history.”</p>
<p>“However, I cannot support the decision of Wimbledon, I think it is crazy. When politics interferes with sport, the result is not good,” said Djokovic.</p>
<p>Wimbledon organizers All England Lawn Tennis Club attempted to justify the ban by saying it would be “unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players with The Championships.”</p>
<p>However, both the ATP and the WTA slammed Wimbledon over the decision.</p>
<p>Men’s tour organizers ATP said it was “unfair and has the potential to set a damaging precedent for the game.”</p>
<p>The WTA said the ban was “neither fair nor justified.”</p>
<p>The ban opens up future possibilities for players to be banned from tournaments if they don’t express political support for whatever ‘current thing’ cause is popular at the time.</p>
<p>As we previously <a href="https://summit.news/2022/03/22/russian-chess-player-banned-from-competing-for-expressing-wrong-political-opinion/">highlighted</a>, Russian chess prodigy Sergey Karjakin was banned from competing internationally by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) because he expressed the wrong political opinion about Ukraine.</p>
<p>Ukrainian sisters and chess grandmasters Maria & Anna Muzychuk were then banned by the Lviv Chess Federation for refusing to sign an open letter demanding that all Russians and Belarusians be banned.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="8.8629737609329">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Ukrainian sisters and chess grandmasters Maria & Anna Muzychuk will be suspended and excluded from competition by Lviv Chess Federation for refusing to sign an open letter calling for the International Chess Federation (FIDE) to ban Russian & Belarusian athletes. <a href="https://t.co/VRkCvG3ntT">pic.twitter.com/VRkCvG3ntT</a></p>
<p>— Danny Armstrong (@DannyWArmstrong) <a href="https://twitter.com/DannyWArmstrong/status/1512335862155120646?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2022</a></p>
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/04/28/too-many-white-men-flying-planes/">https://summit.news/2022/04/28/too-many-white-men-flying-planes/</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-86065494062540330732022-04-28T23:32:00.001+01:002022-04-28T23:32:02.841+01:00Time is running out for Biden’s EPA to act on climate<div><img src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zJSKZRyYib-elfza4vWcS6rUx4s=/0x0:3519x1842/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23421273/GettyImages_181753803.jpg" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
<p>So far, President Biden’s legacy on climate change is pretty insubstantial. There’s time to change that if he can quickly make much better use of his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).</p>
<p>The president put nearly all his hopes for climate action into passing his Build Back Better legislation through Congress. That bill would have spent <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/10/28/22748554/biden-budget-build-back-better-democrats-child-care-taxes">$550 billion</a> on clean energy and electrified transit. It failed to garner a majority in the Senate, and due to continuing reticence about the measure on the part of more conservative <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/26/greens-push-climate-compromise-manchin-00027511">Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)</a>, it appears unlikely any slimmed-down replacement will pass.</p>
<p>In an ideal world, congressional and EPA action would complement each other. Laws are more durable than EPA policy alone, while the EPA can maneuver around legislative gridlock. Congressional spending on clean energy tax incentives helps bring down implementation costs for businesses, making it easier for the EPA to implement stricter rules.</p>
<p>But even without Congress, the EPA has many regulatory powers it can unilaterally use to fight climate change. The agency can rein in climate emissions from the country’s biggest polluters in the power sector, transportation, industry, and oil and gas by upgrading efficiency standards and monitoring. Biden’s EPA needs to act soon if it wants to make these rules and make them last. Every significant rules change must go through a mandatory multistep process that can take up to two years — roughly the amount of time Biden has left in his first term.</p>
<p>That process requires sifting through tens of thousands of public comments and amassing enough scientific evidence to justify the regulation. The Obama EPA showed what happens when an administration gets around to finalizing these rules too late in a term; the climate rules finalized in his last two years were reversed by Trump and the courts because they were either still in draft form or not yet implemented.</p>
<p>All this becomes much easier if Biden gets a second term, but given his <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating/">polling numbers</a>, there’s no guarantees. Addressing climate change can’t wait out another decade of policy reversals by presidents from opposing parties. So Biden’s got to get as much done as permanently as he can while Democrats still hold power.</p>
<p>That’s why, 15 months into the Biden administration, the EPA is at an extremely important turning point — especially if Biden is serious about his goal of <a href="https://www.vox.com/22397364/earth-day-us-climate-change-summit-biden-john-kerry-commitment-2030-zero-emissions">halving US pollution</a> from peak levels in the next eight years. The agency needs to finalize as much as possible by the end of 2022, and needs to do so carefully, allowing it to mount the strongest defense possible in conservative-tilting courts.</p>
<p>If it fails to do so, the Biden administration will have squandered valuable time in the fight against climate change. In a matter of years, the world is likely to pass <a href="https://www.vox.com/23009894/un-ipcc-climate-mitigation-report-ar6-summary">1.5 degrees Celsius of warming</a>, and be well on its way to catastrophically higher levels, if steep cuts aren’t made by 2025. Even if Biden gets a second term, every moment counts — and with congressional action off the table, he needs to start making far better use of the EPA.</p>
<h3>Why Biden’s climate policy has gotten off to a slow start</h3>
<p>In the first hours of his presidency, Biden promised a “whole of government” approach to climate change, signing executive orders that prompted agencies to change the way they operated during the Trump era.</p>
<p>After that, the White House placed most of its bets on Congress passing a massive infrastructure package along with historic climate spending. Congress did pass a historic infrastructure law, but it’s one that may wind up increasing emissions because of its investment in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/10/climate/highways-climate-change-traffic.html">highway expansion</a>. The climate legislation — with <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/1/21/22892382/joe-manchin-climate-change-biden-negotiations-bbb">$550 billion</a> in tax credits for clean energy and electrification — is unlikely to ever happen.</p>
<p>The executive branch is on its own. Thanks to the broad powers granted by the Clean Air Act, however, Biden has a tool for combating climate change in the EPA.</p>
<p>Asked about the agency’s accomplishments, deputy assistant administrator Joe Goffman of the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation told Vox by email, “We’ve set the strongest climate pollution standards for cars in history by model year 2026.”</p>
<p>The EPA has also finalized its initial phase-out of <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/biden-harris-administration-and-epa-continue-progress-cutting-super-pollutants-barring">hydrofluorocarbons</a> used in refrigerants. And it managed to meet all the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/documents/2-epa_allocations_workshop_mdis_final_3-11-21.pdf">congressionally required</a> deadlines imposed by the 2020 law the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act.</p>
<p>Those are important successes. But the current list of finalized rules is pretty short compared to the list left to tackle. As David Doniger, senior strategic director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s climate program, put it: “We’re way in overtime with dealing with many of these problems.”</p>
<p>At a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs419yYyz8k&ab_channel=SenatorSheldonWhitehouse">budget hearing</a> in early April, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), the Senate’s most vocal lawmaker on climate change, rattled off the number of rules the EPA has yet to finalize on climate change. They include new regulations targeting coal in the power sector, methane from oil and gas, industrial operations, and cars. He was dissatisfied with the pace of progress. “How long do you think you have?” he asked.</p>
<p>Biden’s EPA administrator Michael Regan responded that the EPA had a slow start because he inherited a mess of an agency.</p>
<p>“I think we have to be honest about the state the EPA found itself in when President Biden was elected,” Regan said, claiming he has “staff working nights and weekends” to play catch-up. He added, “I am damn proud of what the agency has done over the past year with the resources it has.”</p>
<p>It’s true that the Trump administration rolled back more than <a href="https://grist.org/project/accountability/trump-rollbacks-biden-climate-tracker/">200 environmental regulations</a>, and EPA morale was at <a href="https://peer.org/epa-scientist-survey-yields-horrific-results/">record lows</a> in the Trump era. Over his term, the 15,000-person workforce dwindled by over a thousand. That’s equal to 1988 levels, and the agency’s workload has increased a lot since then, in part because it has been given a mandate by Congress and through Supreme Court rulings to regulate toxic chemicals and greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<p>Staffing is certainly a big piece of the problem, according to Doniger, who says a diminished workforce means the EPA is forced to pick and choose what gets done on deadline. At its current levels, getting one rule done by a certain deadline means borrowing staff from other programs and leaving other priorities understaffed. Moving people around was how the EPA was able to accomplish the things it has so far, Doniger said.</p>
<p>The other big issue the EPA is facing is money. While the Biden administration is working down the ranks to fill political slots (some of which depend on a painfully slow Senate confirmation process), it is constrained to a limited budget for filling out the rest of the EPA’s ranks. That has made the process of filling vacancies slower than ideal.</p>
<h3>Most of the EPA’s biggest rules are still works in progress</h3>
<p>With fewer staff and a smaller budget than it needs (Biden’s 2023 budget request asked for a <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/epa-would-see-highest-funding-level-ever-under-biden-budget-plan">29 percent increase</a>), the EPA still promises ambitious action is on the way.</p>
<p>Those promises include regulating the main sources of climate pollution, including coal-fired power plants, and burning off methane leaks in a practice called flaring from existing oil and gas producers. Many of these haven’t been officially proposed yet, meaning there’s a long road ahead for them.</p>
<p>Other rules are still in draft stages, meaning they’re still months (or years) away from being finalized, and don’t go as far as climate advocates feel is needed. The EPA’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/07/climate/trucks-pollution-rules-epa.html">proposal for trucks</a> is expected to slash 90 percent of the air pollutant nitrogen dioxide by 2031, but does far less for carbon emissions from the tailpipe; the change will likely increase the electric truck fleet to just 1.5 percent by 2027.</p>
<p>Should they be implemented, all of these would be considered landmark policy. But at this stage in the climate crisis, they’re also the minimum of what’s expected from a Democratic administration to tackle the main sources of US climate pollution.</p>
<p>And there’s more the EPA could and should do. Notably, it hasn’t written a methane proposal that addresses smaller oil and gas wells — lower-producing sites that <a href="https://www.edf.org/media/new-study-low-producing-oil-and-gas-wells-drive-roughly-half-well-site-methane-pollution">make up 80 percent of the nation’s wells</a>, and are responsible for making areas like New Mexico and Texas’s Permian Basin one of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/17/22933671/climate-change-methane-emissions-satellites-permian-basin">biggest sources of methane emissions</a> in the world.</p>
<p>Then there’s the power sector: The most important step for tackling climate pollution includes closing the last of the nation’s 200 coal-fired power plants. But the EPA hasn’t proposed any rule yet for existing plants.</p>
<p>Regan promised in the April hearing the EPA would be ready to go with a new power plant rule soon after the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/23/22937517/supreme-court-epa-west-virginia-clean-power-plan-climate-change">issues a decision</a> in June expected to limit its tools for cleaning up electricity. Depending on the decision, the EPA’s ability to mandate more renewables on the grid over the next decade could be severely restricted.</p>
<p>The huge amount of unfinished business that remains adds up to a bleak picture. Essentially, the Biden administration could be more talk than action if it doesn’t really accelerate work on these issues and follow through with tougher EPA policy through 2022.</p>
<h3>Biden’s EPA needs to balance limited time with durability</h3>
<p>In making new policy, the EPA needs to exercise a lot of caution: It’s important that the agency checks all its boxes in putting forward new regulations to ensure they aren’t just overturned by the next Republican president.</p>
<p>“The Trump administration had this huge loss rate in court for its rollbacks in part because it skipped a lot of those steps and did a lot of terrible analysis,” NYU Law’s regulatory policy director Jack Lienke said.</p>
<p>The Biden administration is working more thoroughly, and has endeavored to ensure science supports its policy changes. Even thorough work, however, doesn’t guarantee long-lasting climate regulation.</p>
<p>From the conservative-dominated Supreme Court down to the lower courts, judges are more skeptical than ever of deferring to agency expertise, a precedent that is affecting the Biden administration’s social cost of carbon and <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2022/04/25/biden-administration-resumes-oil-and-gas-leases-on-public-lands-but-significantly-cuts-back-where-that-can-happen-in-colorado/">public lands’ leasing policy</a>: In February, a Louisiana federal judge (and Trump appointee) <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/02/21/social-cost-of-carbon-biden/">banned</a> the administration from reinstating an Obama-era calculation of the social and economic costs from carbon emissions, an important metric used throughout government policymaking. The inevitable threat of lawsuits has slowed everything down even more.</p>
<p>“An agency can’t seem to be doing anything too ambitious or novel,” Lienke explained. “Agencies have to do even more in terms of building up an incredibly detailed record, cataloging exactly why they have authority to do this, and why the benefits of doing it outweigh the costs. They’re up against a more hostile judiciary.”</p>
<p>That leaves the Biden administration with two imperfect options: Move quickly and risk a greater chance of an upset in courts, or move slowly and leave rules more vulnerable to a possible Republican successor.</p>
<p>So far, the EPA has proceeded cautiously, choosing between priorities. To tackle climate change, it needs to find ways to move not just with caution but with speed. How much forward momentum it can muster will become apparent in the next few months, but the more it can do, the better off the US will be as it attempts to make serious progress toward its climate goals.</p>
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source <a href="https://www.vox.com/23036107/biden-climate-epa-regulation-power-plants-coal">https://www.vox.com/23036107/biden-climate-epa-regulation-power-plants-coal</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-56910543493469204712022-04-28T23:18:00.003+01:002022-04-28T23:18:48.318+01:00Creepy: Biden Goes “Off Script” To Tell Teachers That Kids Are “Yours When You’re In The Classroom”<p><strong>During a hearing Wednesday, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley told a Biden Judicial nominee that he couldn’t believe she was a candidate owing to previous extensive work done with the extreme leftist censorship group The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).</strong></p>
<p>Hawley addressed Nancy Abudu, Biden’s pick for the Eleventh Circuit, who is also the strategic litigation <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/about/staff/nancy-abudu">director</a> at SPLC.</p>
<p>Hawley noted that “2019 was the year the SPLC paid $3.4 million in response to defamation lawsuits. 2019 was the year Charity Watch gave your organization an ‘F’ rating. The SPLC has been labelled by the left-wing policy journal Current Affairs as an outright fraud that uses willful deception designed to scare liberals into writing checks.”</p>
<p>Hawley continued, “The progressive journalist Alexander Cockburn said this about SPLC: ‘I regard it, the southern poverty law center, collectively as one of the greatest frauds in American life.’”</p>
<p>The Senator also noted that “Liberal death penalty abolitionist Stephen Bright refused to accept an award named after the founder of the SPLC, saying in his words ‘the SPLC has long been run by a conman and a fraud.’ Also in 2019, SPLC employees told the press, ‘We were part of a con and we knew it.’”</p>
<p>Hawley asked Abudu if she was concerned about any of the characterisations of the group, and the fact that it has stated its goal is to ‘completely destroy’ its political opponents.</p>
<p>Abudu responded, “my work with the Southern Poverty Law Center has been to uphold the constitutional rights of individuals who without pro bono counsel would not be even able to have access to justice.” </p>
<p>Hawley told Abudu “I have to tell you, I find your answers absolutely extraordinary.”</p>
<p>“Absolutely extraordinary,” he repeated, adding “I can’t believe you’ve been nominated for this position. I can’t believe that the president of the United States would nominate someone from this organization with this record, and I can’t believe that you would sit here today and refuse to condemn this hateful, frankly, violent rhetoric.”</p>
<p>Watch:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper" readability="6.4159292035398">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="6.8436578171091">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">"I can't believe you've been nominated for this position. I can't believe that the President of the United States would nominate someone from [the Southern Poverty Law Center] with this record," says <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HawleyMO</a> to Biden's latest far-left judicial nominee <a href="https://t.co/JBI9z4YaXP">pic.twitter.com/JBI9z4YaXP</a></p>
— Abigail Marone 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) <a href="https://twitter.com/abigailmarone/status/1519350220424888320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>
</figure>
<p>The Southern Poverty Law Center has been exposed as a far left political entity masquerading as a bipartisan organisation with the express goal of silencing anyone who does not adhere to their warped outlook.</p>
<p>The organisation condemns as ‘terroristic’ and ‘hateful’ anyone who’s political opinion it does not agree with, while <a href="https://summit.news/2019/12/30/southern-poverty-law-center-silent-on-domestic-terror-attack-against-jews/">completely ignoring</a> actual hate crimes and <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/baptist-church-targeted-as-hate-group-by-splc-bombed-in-los-angeles-county/">terrorist attacks</a>.</p>
<p>Yet the Biden Administration is seeking to <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/pentagon-aims-to-partner-with-adl-and-splc-spy-on-military-members-for-extremism/">actively work with the group</a>, in addition to others including the ADL, to <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/biden-administration-wants-to-use-third-party-extremism-researchers-to-spy-on-americans-media/">identify and eliminate ‘extremists’</a>, by which they demonstratively mean their political opponents.</p>
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Follow on Twitter:
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/04/28/creepy-biden-goes-off-script-to-tell-teachers-kids-are-yours-when-youre-in-the-classroom/">https://summit.news/2022/04/28/creepy-biden-goes-off-script-to-tell-teachers-kids-are-yours-when-youre-in-the-classroom/</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-16769701982427224202022-04-28T23:18:00.001+01:002022-04-28T23:18:47.410+01:00Video: Senator Tells Biden Court Pick “I Can’t Believe You’ve Been Nominated” Due To SPLC Affiliation<p><strong>During a hearing Wednesday, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley told a Biden Judicial nominee that he couldn’t believe she was a candidate owing to previous extensive work done with the extreme leftist censorship group The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).</strong></p>
<p>Hawley addressed Nancy Abudu, Biden’s pick for the Eleventh Circuit, who is also the strategic litigation <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/about/staff/nancy-abudu">director</a> at SPLC.</p>
<p>Hawley noted that “2019 was the year the SPLC paid $3.4 million in response to defamation lawsuits. 2019 was the year Charity Watch gave your organization an ‘F’ rating. The SPLC has been labelled by the left-wing policy journal Current Affairs as an outright fraud that uses willful deception designed to scare liberals into writing checks.”</p>
<p>Hawley continued, “The progressive journalist Alexander Cockburn said this about SPLC: ‘I regard it, the southern poverty law center, collectively as one of the greatest frauds in American life.’”</p>
<p>The Senator also noted that “Liberal death penalty abolitionist Stephen Bright refused to accept an award named after the founder of the SPLC, saying in his words ‘the SPLC has long been run by a conman and a fraud.’ Also in 2019, SPLC employees told the press, ‘We were part of a con and we knew it.’”</p>
<p>Hawley asked Abudu if she was concerned about any of the characterisations of the group, and the fact that it has stated its goal is to ‘completely destroy’ its political opponents.</p>
<p>Abudu responded, “my work with the Southern Poverty Law Center has been to uphold the constitutional rights of individuals who without pro bono counsel would not be even able to have access to justice.” </p>
<p>Hawley told Abudu “I have to tell you, I find your answers absolutely extraordinary.”</p>
<p>“Absolutely extraordinary,” he repeated, adding “I can’t believe you’ve been nominated for this position. I can’t believe that the president of the United States would nominate someone from this organization with this record, and I can’t believe that you would sit here today and refuse to condemn this hateful, frankly, violent rhetoric.”</p>
<p>Watch:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper" readability="6.4159292035398">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="6.8436578171091">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">"I can't believe you've been nominated for this position. I can't believe that the President of the United States would nominate someone from [the Southern Poverty Law Center] with this record," says <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HawleyMO</a> to Biden's latest far-left judicial nominee <a href="https://t.co/JBI9z4YaXP">pic.twitter.com/JBI9z4YaXP</a></p>
— Abigail Marone 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) <a href="https://twitter.com/abigailmarone/status/1519350220424888320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>
</figure>
<p>The Southern Poverty Law Center has been exposed as a far left political entity masquerading as a bipartisan organisation with the express goal of silencing anyone who does not adhere to their warped outlook.</p>
<p>The organisation condemns as ‘terroristic’ and ‘hateful’ anyone who’s political opinion it does not agree with, while <a href="https://summit.news/2019/12/30/southern-poverty-law-center-silent-on-domestic-terror-attack-against-jews/">completely ignoring</a> actual hate crimes and <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/baptist-church-targeted-as-hate-group-by-splc-bombed-in-los-angeles-county/">terrorist attacks</a>.</p>
<p>Yet the Biden Administration is seeking to <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/pentagon-aims-to-partner-with-adl-and-splc-spy-on-military-members-for-extremism/">actively work with the group</a>, in addition to others including the ADL, to <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/biden-administration-wants-to-use-third-party-extremism-researchers-to-spy-on-americans-media/">identify and eliminate ‘extremists’</a>, by which they demonstratively mean their political opponents.</p>
<p><strong>SUBSCRIBE on YouTube:</strong></p>
Follow on Twitter:
<p>———————————————————————————————————————<br />
Brand <strong>new merch</strong> now available! Get it at <a href="https://www.pjwshop.com/"><strong>https://www.pjwshop.com/</strong></a> <a href="https://www.pjwshop.com/"><img border="0" alt="PJW Shop" src="https://cdn.summit.news/2021/07/merch.jpg" width="348" height="600" /></a></p>
<p><strong>ALERT!</strong> In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch.</p>
<p>We need you to sign up for our free newsletter <a href="https://summit.news/newsletter">here</a>.</p>
<p>Support our sponsor – <a href="https://bit.ly/TURBOFORCE">Turbo Force</a> – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown.</p>
<p>Also, we urgently need your financial support <a href="https://www.subscribestar.com/paul-joseph-watson">here</a>. ———————————————————————————————————————</p>
<br />
<br />
source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/04/28/video-senator-tells-biden-court-pick-i-cant-believe-youve-been-nominated-due-to-splc-affiliation/">https://summit.news/2022/04/28/video-senator-tells-biden-court-pick-i-cant-believe-youve-been-nominated-due-to-splc-affiliation/</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-5933509202948977542022-04-28T00:27:00.001+01:002022-04-28T00:27:24.536+01:00How to use Apple’s new repair program<p>With Apple’s blessing, you can finally fix your iPhone from the comfort of your own home. On Wednesday, the company announced <a href="https://www.selfservicerepair.com/order">a new section of its website</a> where you can buy tools and replacement parts, including new display screens, batteries, and speakers. The online store seems easy enough to use, and Apple is even offering <a href="https://www.selfservicerepair.com/tool-kit-rental">customer repair kits</a> — which weigh around 79 pounds — that you can rent for $49 a week.</p>
<p>This new program is a major shift for Apple. Historically, the company has typically only offered repair tools and replacement parts to its 5,000 Apple-authorized service providers and another 3,000-plus independent repair shops that have <a href="https://support.apple.com/irp-program">Apple-certified technicians</a>. Apple has long faced criticism from right-to-repair advocates, who want manufacturers to give customers the ability to fix their own devices, for this policy as well as for <a href="https://gizmodo.com/apples-war-on-upgrades-continues-with-the-new-touch-bar-1789002979">its practice of designing hardware that can’t be easily upgraded</a> or incorporating certain components that <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/ifixit-ceo-names-and-shames-tech-giants-for-right-to-repair-obstruction/">only Apple has access to</a>.</p>
<p>The new repair program looks simple enough. Apple has made repair manuals available for certain device lineups, including the iPhone 12, the iPhone 13, and the third-generation iPhone SE. After you’ve studied the repair manual for your particular phone, you can go to the company’s <a href="https://www.selfservicerepair.com/home">Self Service Repair Store</a>, which allows you to search from <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/04/apples-self-service-repair-now-available/">more than 200 parts</a> based on the iPhone model you own. The site also offers tools you can use to complete your repair, including a $99 torque driver and a $216 press for display screens.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to buy an expensive tool that you’ll have to own forever, you can also rent a customized kit that includes all the gadgets you might need. These kits, which come in either one or two boxes, are extremely heavy, so Apple also <a href="https://selfservicerepair.com/tool-kit-rental">recommends several strategies</a> for lifting them, including “Think before your lift” and “Take your time.” Once you’ve decided what you need, Apple will ship all the supplies you’ve ordered to your home. When you’re done with the repair, you can even send some of your old parts back for recycling in exchange for an Apple store credit.</p>
<figure class="e-image"><span class="e-image__inner"><span class="e-image__image" data-original="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1651092335_2759_20137" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23419994,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/NyqUTTFB1Ba1qj637kExdf_iOjY=/0x0:1960x1102/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YerYbFgqf41ralFR5_TNjKpSAqU=/0x0:1960x1102/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/J4VlUrS7VhN419vVX18Gdx9pF9E=/0x0:1960x1102/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/T17SWJxZcHoMVnSkTLy3OIktzxs=/0x0:1960x1102/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/s1YzHNYyajlXQhw2w9JoEWb-f7E=/0x0:1960x1102/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yw72SGPPMqm-s-cDNAifUIZizVQ=/0x0:1960x1102/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uNlfzha7FETnfaUfMH1caj3GWuc=/0x0:1960x1102/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wf_jLldHVUamXl3NVOFBeOnMIwc=/0x0:1960x1102/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZYT48DuppO0rLtmMUfUNd8QPcAY=/0x0:1960x1102/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ehn59fmNYTm77UC6AdS_jkpA1hU=/0x0:1960x1102/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aGkMwfLyVZ5kvgIZeLwKpOfvncs=/0x0:1960x1102/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/l_re7cysGBJ9QtoKlfGEbSaKiHw=/0x0:1960x1102/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/NHpG-OZKOy3RXPPuIQ1tKavAda4=/0x0:1960x1102/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/N_YsLsX1ZCXzDz1zaaF6xYFvoG4=/0x0:1960x1102/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CnZ7_OPG5EYk-pHHTKjyYqwY-Is=/0x0:1960x1102/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Y5X5R8u_upHpT1DmSoJA8sUzZRI=/0x0:1960x1102/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_m-64WynjTXMff0_pRQHXorWmbM=/0x0:1960x1102/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LkKzRN_qN7MusNWC-uYPa0JvUNg=/0x0:1960x1102/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" alt="" data-upload-width="1960" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Fijb7kct-OvJbBQ62INMBGk1td8=/0x0:1960x1102/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1960x1102):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419994/Apple_Right_to_repair_Hero.jpg" /></picture></span></span>
<figcaption><span class="e-image__meta">Customers can finally buy replacement parts for their iPhones directly from Apple.</span></figcaption>
<span class="e-image__meta"><cite>Apple</cite></span></figure>
<p>Right now the program is limited to iPhones and is only available in the US. But later this year, the store will expand to include some Mac computers, and will become available in other countries, starting in Europe.</p>
<p>Getting Apple devices repaired has long been an expensive and annoying process, so the company’s new store is certainly welcome progress. But at the same time, it’s not clear that Apple is doing all that it could to make it easier to repair its products, especially since the program is still limited to just a few iPhone models. After all, dozens of states <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-20/microsoft-and-apple-wage-war-on-gadget-right-to-repair-laws?sref=Wg6QzS2e">have proposed right-to-repair legislation</a> in recent years, bills that Apple has fought. For instance, the company <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/1/18525542/apple-right-to-repair-bill-california-lobbyist-comptia">successfully convinced California lawmakers</a> in 2019 that customers might set off a fire if they accidentally damage the lithium-ion batteries in iPhones while trying to repair them. Apple has also suggested that the security and privacy of its devices could be <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/30/21348240/apple-right-to-repair-legislation-antitrust-investigation-policy">compromised</a> by <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2021/03/30/apple-lobbies-against-right-to-repair-bill/">non-authorized repairs</a>.</p>
<p>Despite Apple’s best efforts, this right-to-repair movement has recently won support in the White House. In July, President Joe Biden passed an <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22569969/biden-antitrust-executive-order-prices">executive order</a> that, among other things, directs the Federal Trade Commission to create new right-to-repair regulations. Later that month, the agency also declared that it would ramp up enforcement against “<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/07/ftc-ramp-law-enforcement-against-illegal-repair-restrictions">illegal</a>” restrictions on repairs, after <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/05/ftc-report-congress-examines-anti-competitive-repair-restrictions">an investigation</a> documented different strategies technology makers used to make products harder to fix. Apple’s decision was announced in November on the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/17/22787336/apple-right-to-repair-self-service-diy-reason-microsoft">same day as a key deadline</a> related to a right-to-repair resolution filed by activist Apple shareholders <a href="https://www.greencentury.com/green-century-shareholder-proposal-presses-apple-to-expand-access-to-repair/">back in September</a>, a connection first reported by The Verge.</p>
<p>Green Century — the sustainability-focused mutual fund that led that effort — has since rescinded its resolution, which would have <a href="https://www.greencentury.com/green-century-shareholder-proposal-presses-apple-to-expand-access-to-repair/">pushed</a> Apple to study the environmental impact of its strict repair policies.</p>
<p>“We felt it was a big enough step forward,” Annalisa Tarizzo, a shareholder advocate at Green Century, told Recode in November. “We hope to continue engaging companies that we invest in on this topic because we think it is really important and there are real risks to investors related to this issue.”</p>
<p>New guidance from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may have influenced Apple’s timing, Tarizzo added. Two weeks before Apple’s announcement, the agency rescinded a Trump-era rule that had made it <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/sec-eases-path-for-shareholder-proposals-on-environmental-social-issues-11635979349">easier for companies to dismiss socially conscious shareholder resolutions</a>. Wednesday was also Green Century’s deadline to defend its proposal to the SEC, which Apple had requested the agency to block.</p>
<p>So Apple’s concessions to some demands from right-to-repair activists seem to be an attempt to preempt new regulations with its repair program. But the company‘s steps forward have some limitations. It isn’t exactly encouraging all users to start rooting around in their iPhones and MacBooks. In <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/11/apple-announces-self-service-repair/">the press release</a> announcing the Self Service Repair, Apple said the program is intended “for individual technicians with the knowledge and experience to repair electronic devices” and that the “vast majority of customers” should visit an authorized repair shop. Meanwhile, customers who decide to repair their devices themselves under the new program will still need to buy parts directly from Apple, which also sets the price of those components.</p>
<p>“This isn’t the open source repair revolution we’ve sought through our fight for the right to repair,” Elizabeth Chamberlain, the director of sustainability at iFixit, said in <a href="https://www.ifixit.com/News/55370/apple-diy-repair-program-parts-tools-guides-software">a November blog post</a>. “If there’s now an ‘official’ way to avoid warning messages and a loss of features when you need to replace a <a href="https://www.ifixit.com/News/32343/apple-is-locking-batteries-to-iphones-now">battery</a>, <a href="https://www.ifixit.com/News/45921/is-this-the-end-of-the-repairable-iphone">camera</a>, or <a href="https://www.ifixit.com/News/33147/apple-is-discouraging-screen-repair-with-an-iphone-11-genuine-warning">display</a>, there’s less incentive for Apple to help those using third-party parts, or even those salvaged from other iPhones. By controlling the parts marketplace, Apple can also decide when devices go obsolete.”</p>
<p>This is not the first time Apple has adjusted its strategy to get ahead of potential regulations or legal action. In a proposed settlement with a class-action lawsuit representing software developers last summer, Apple said it would let companies <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/8/27/22644616/apple-app-store-changes-antitrust-spotify-epic-fortnite">tell iPhone and iPad users about ways to pay for purchases like subscriptions</a> outside of the App Store ecosystem. In September, the company also <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-11/apple-loosens-app-store-rules-that-hurt-streaming-games-classes?sref=Wg6QzS2e">tweaked its rules for in-app purchases</a> while the company was locked in a contentious lawsuit with Epic Games. Neither of these app-related updates involved Apple changing its policy of charging sizable fees to third parties operating in Apple’s ecosystem, while Apple’s own apps get a free ride.</p>
<p>Apple seems to be taking a similar approach with its new repair system. But even though the company’s new program comes with plenty of caveats, the move is still a big win for customers who don’t want to send their devices to Apple or hunt down an authorized repair shop.</p>
<p><em><strong>Update, April 27, 11:30 am ET:</strong></em> <em>This story has been updated to note that Apple’s repair store is now available.</em></p>
<br />
<br />
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22787724/apple-self-service-right-to-repair">https://www.vox.com/recode/22787724/apple-self-service-right-to-repair</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-68733936051772412702022-04-28T00:12:00.001+01:002022-04-28T00:12:33.039+01:00UK Streaming Platform Censors “Homophobic” Line in 2002 Spiderman Movie<p><strong>The Twitter lawyer who broke down crying during a meeting about the ramifications of Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media company was previously instrumental in banning President Trump as well as censoring information about the COVID lab leak theory.</strong></p>
<p>Yesterday, it was revealed that Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, was reduced to tears during a virtual meeting with the company’s policy and legal teams following Musk’s successful purchase of the platform.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/26/twitters-top-lawyer-reassures-staff-cries-during-meeting-about-musk-takeover-00027931">Politico</a>, “Gadde cried during the meeting as she expressed concerns about how the company could change,” and “acknowledged that there are significant uncertainties about what the company will look like under Musk’s leadership.”</p>
<p>Gadde was presumably upset by the fact that her power to censor individuals and content may now be restricted under Musk’s leadership.</p>
<p>As head of Trust and Safety, Gadde was hugely influential in defining the company’s view of “hate speech” and was also instrumental in crafting the “healthy conversations” narrative that Twitter has used an excuse to censor blatantly factual information, such as the assertion that ‘trans women’ are not biological men.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="4.390243902439">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">she seemed so tough then:<a href="https://t.co/3HXyJkeGnY">https://t.co/3HXyJkeGnY</a></p>
<p>— 01 (@seancpdx) <a href="https://twitter.com/seancpdx/status/1519054764687962115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2022</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>She also spearheaded the banning of President Trump after the January 6 riot, despite the fact that Trump had no role whatsoever in inciting the riot. Twitter claimed they banned Trump in order to stop “further incitement of violence,” despite Trump literally telling his supporters via Twitter, “Go home with love & in peace.”</p>
<p>According to Politico, Gadde’s role in banning Trump “earned her devoted fans within Twitter.” She also would have undoubtedly been a crucial figure in Twitter’s decision to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story and the New York Post, despite the story being completely verified.</p>
<p>The Indian immigrant was also reportedly involved in the decision to temporarily ban Zero Hedge from Twitter for its reporting on the lab leak origin theory of COVID-19, despite this subsequently becoming a widely plausible explanation for the origin of the virus.</p>
<p>“Gadde is crying because her new boss is a ‘free speech absolutist,’ while she wants to silence divergent opinions from her own,” <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/political/twitters-top-lawyer-breaks-down-tears-during-musk-takeover-meeting">reported</a> the popular news outlet.</p>
<p>“Gadde is likely the exec who signed off on ZeroHedge’s February 2020 ban for speculating that Covid-19 may have emerged from a Wuhan Lab, and President Trump’s January 2021 ban in connection with the capitol riot.”</p>
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<br />
source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/04/27/uk-streaming-platform-censors-homophobic-line-in-2002-spiderman-movie/">https://summit.news/2022/04/27/uk-streaming-platform-censors-homophobic-line-in-2002-spiderman-movie/</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-62433919518452478992022-04-27T23:27:00.001+01:002022-04-27T23:27:04.115+01:00One-fifth of all crocodiles, snakes, and other reptiles are threatened with extinction<p>They aren’t fluffy, and some of them bite, but reptiles are an incredibly important feature of our planet. These cold-blooded creatures, such as crocodiles and snakes, help keep ecosystems healthy, they’ve inspired <a href="https://www.vox.com/22553793/gila-monster-lizard-venom-inspired-obesity-drug-semaglutide">medical</a> and <a href="https://geckskin.umass.edu/">engineering</a> advances, and they can even be <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dsuMqClh38M">cute</a>. (I swear!)</p>
<p>But like other animals, charismatic or not, many reptiles are at risk of disappearing. More than a fifth of all reptilian species — over 1,800 — are threatened with extinction, and 31 species have permanently vanished already, according to a new study in the journal <em>Nature.</em></p>
<p>Turtles and crocodiles face the greatest risks, the analysis shows. There are also hundreds of reptiles that scientists haven’t yet assessed — and many more they’ve yet to discover, said Timothy Colston, a reptile researcher at the University of Puerto Rico, who was not involved with the study. Researchers describe <a href="http://www.reptile-database.org/db-info/SpeciesStat.html">more than 100</a> new reptile species each year, which means some reptiles could go extinct before we even know they exist.</p>
<p>Then again, many people don’t know much about the reptiles that scientists <em>have</em> documented <em>—</em> the pancake-like softshell turtles, the fearsome thorny lizards, and so many more. Each species is unique and part of a delicate ecosystem that other life (including humans) depends on. So, perhaps let’s start there, with the wondrous realm of reptiles, and why it’s smart to keep them on Earth.</p>
<h3>Reptiles, explained</h3>
<p>Reptiles are not amphibians, i.e., a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/5/26/22451394/poison-frogs-deforestation-toxins">frog</a> is not a reptile. There are a few key differences: Amphibians typically have smooth and moist skin that’s porous, whereas reptiles have dry scales. Amphibians also tend to have a closer association with water, although there are a number of water-loving reptiles (such as the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/facts/marine-iguana">marine iguana</a> in the Galapagos Islands, aquatic turtles, and watersnakes).</p>
<p>Some of the world’s most interesting creatures are reptiles, such as the color-changing chameleons and the oldest living land animal on Earth, Jonathan the tortoise (he’s around <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/01/31/oldest-animal-tortoise-jonathan-/">190</a> years old). Reptiles are also a diverse bunch. Our planet has nearly 30 species of crocodilians alone, ranging from the massive “true crocodiles” to <a href="https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/gharial">gharials</a>, which have very long and narrow snouts.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="e-image__meta">Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise, was likely born in the 1830s, and is considered the oldest living land animal on Earth.</span></figcaption>
<span class="e-image__meta"><cite>Gianluigi Guercia/AFP via Getty Images</cite></span></figure>
<p>Reptiles display a number of evolutionary marvels. Viper snakes, for example, can detect infrared radiation, allowing them to find warm-bodied prey. Crocodiles, meanwhile, have scales with built-in motion sensors, which help them find and capture fish in complete darkness, according to Phoebe Griffith, a doctoral researcher who studies crocodiles at the University of Oxford.</p>
<p>Gharials also make incredible parents, said Griffith, who was not involved in the new study. They nest in communities, and one male or female gharial becomes the “primary guardian” for the babies. If there’s a threat nearby, hundreds of baby crocs will jump on a guardian’s back as it floats in the water like a safety raft, Griffith said. Tell me <a href="https://www.livescience.com/gharial-crocodile-papa-photo.html">this isn’t cute</a>.</p>
<p>Reptiles are a massively understudied group, but scientists know that they play an important role in the environment. For example, gopher tortoises found in the southeastern US dig deep burrows, Colston said, that more than <a href="https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/gopher-tortoise/">350 species</a> rely on. Some reptiles, like snakes and crocodiles, are predators and keep populations of fish, small mammals, and even human pests in check (which is one perk of having insect-loving geckos visit your home).</p>
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<figcaption><span class="e-image__meta">A golden eyelash pit viper on a branch near Corcovado National Park, on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica.</span></figcaption>
<span class="e-image__meta"><cite>Dave Kempe Photography/Getty Images</cite></span></figure>
<p>Although they’ve got a rotten reputation, snakes are important, too. Beyond their role in bringing balance to an ecosystem, they often eat things that are — unlike themselves — a major risk to humans, such as rodents that carry ticks with Lyme disease. Scientists have also used snake venom to develop <a href="https://www.bbcearth.com/news/how-venoms-are-shaping-medical-advances">life-saving</a> drugs.</p>
<h3>The great reptile decline</h3>
<p>Researchers have largely overlooked reptiles, the authors of the new paper write, which is one reason why their study is so important. Risk assessments like theirs help scientists prioritize a limited amount of funding for conservation.</p>
<p>With input from nearly 1,000 herpetologists, the authors reviewed the threats facing roughly 10,200 species. They found that just over 21 percent of them are vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered, according to standards set by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Animals in these categories are “threatened with global extinction,” the nonprofit <a href="https://www.iucn.org/resources/conservation-tools/iucn-red-list-threatened-species">says</a>.</p>
<p>That number is large even compared to other animal groups. There are more reptile species threatened by extinction than species of birds or mammals facing similar threats. (More amphibian species are threatened than reptiles, and both amphibians and mammals have a greater overall percentage of species at risk of disappearing.)</p>
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<figcaption><span class="e-image__meta">A Florida softshell turtle.</span></figcaption>
<span class="e-image__meta"><cite>Nancy C. Ross/Getty Images</cite></span></figure>
<p>Humans have caused these steep reptile declines by destroying or polluting many of their habitats, especially freshwater ecosystems, Griffith said.</p>
<p>The streams and wetlands of South and Southeast Asia are home to a large number of aquatic species, in addition to dense human populations, which pollute and exploit the environment. One issue in rivers, Griffith said, is the plundering of sand, the <a href="https://graphics.reuters.com/GLOBAL-ENVIRONMENT/SAND/ygdpzekyavw/">most mined</a> material on Earth. Humans use sand to make products like cement, glass, and tarmac, but many turtles and crocodiles need it to nest.</p>
<p>Half or more of all turtle and crocodile species face extinction, the study revealed. Not only are these animals losing habitat but, for decades, humans have also exploited them for their skin and meat, or caught them accidentally in fishing nets. People also kill crocodiles out of fear or for retaliation. “People don’t like to live near reptiles that can be dangerous,” Neil Cox, a study co-author who manages a project run by IUCN and the nonprofit Conservation International to document threatened species, said on a call with reporters.</p>
<p>Climate change also poses a problem, threatening around 10 percent of all reptiles directly, the authors said. Oddly, global warming may also alter the gender ratio of many reptiles. For certain species, such as sea turtles, the temperature in the environment <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/in-depth-how-will-climate-change-affect-animal-sex-ratios">determines</a> their babies’ sex — warmer temperatures could mean turtle clutches <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/sea-turtle-sex-ratio-crisis-from-climate-change-has-hope">will have more females</a> than males. If warming skews those ratios too much, it could make it hard for reptiles to reproduce.</p>
<h3>Saving reptiles is easier than we thought</h3>
<p>The study’s headline figures are alarming, but the paper revealed something hopeful: Efforts to protect mammals, birds, and amphibians, such as setting up protected areas, seem to benefit reptiles, too. So, even though conservationists may have been ignoring these creatures, reptiles are still somewhat protected.</p>
<p>“If you set out to protect the places where many threatened birds, mammals, and amphibians live together, then you will simultaneously protect many more threatened reptiles than you would expect by chance,” Bruce Young, a study co-author, said on a call with reporters Tuesday. “The situation is less dire than it could be,” said Young, the chief zoologist and senior conservation scientist at the nonprofit group NatureServe.</p>
<figure class="e-image"><span class="e-image__inner"><span class="e-image__image" data-original="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1651092571_9793_5196" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23419153,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dK6uO52brxgI70XyOS-rGTe0OYQ=/0x0:4928x3280/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/A3DGpPC3eT-w2GmSm4sNc1tfZX4=/0x0:4928x3280/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3S1elIi6ESnsRZm7qGZx98YJmZs=/0x0:4928x3280/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DZ91PDs8sKNkfgXfxQphVe7ZACU=/0x0:4928x3280/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9LdNriAXNYtBmdgc5MKdTatN4VA=/0x0:4928x3280/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pFrObaqbYbKDMM9lnGa3UGF0fiI=/0x0:4928x3280/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1Rf13Ur0DVMtUi8LFyFXi19Pmq4=/0x0:4928x3280/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tAF3Y5M7OMpHx6scca6H2uE2jmc=/0x0:4928x3280/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MUk7tdgR5I1cHTJa20aMNtCYJug=/0x0:4928x3280/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gy5U4sPaL6DyOWkUxUkK3TqLWhU=/0x0:4928x3280/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wFh_U5Q23b99NlyoAAXRyKLilI0=/0x0:4928x3280/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/90Ga5V5j1KEBCiz1VjXFH5mlbgQ=/0x0:4928x3280/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wKQW_Ne2hG9amgxJs7Hdtylv-R4=/0x0:4928x3280/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/X5M0D6_94Mzzh_mUOTzSLCg33m4=/0x0:4928x3280/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HYC_A_FvOoZMvQxSfFZFVoZctuM=/0x0:4928x3280/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/m_-FZrCEc-fdfGp68oHJSSfyO7s=/0x0:4928x3280/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1HVAVUxWjiUN28K7f3DA-U4tbg8=/0x0:4928x3280/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ibXA2hA_EjpdzOjBbSUu-lGsSxw=/0x0:4928x3280/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" alt="" data-upload-width="4928" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fK15rPwEW2ZTiqNqp2QXPNxInG0=/0x0:4928x3280/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:4928x3280):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23419153/GettyImages_544517430.jpg" /></picture></span></span>
<figcaption><span class="e-image__meta">American Alligators at the Everglades Alligator Farm in Homestead, Florida.</span></figcaption>
<span class="e-image__meta"><cite>Rhona Wise/AFP via Getty Images</cite></span></figure>
<p>Environmental advocates have also shown that humans can reverse the damage they’ve caused. Half a century ago, hunters <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/06/17/we-saved-the-alligators-from-extinction-then-moved-into-their-territory/">nearly wiped out</a> the American alligator from the southeastern states, but in 1967, the US government granted them protection and outlawed hunting. Now they’re so abundant that some states have <a href="https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/alligator/snap/">nuisance alligator</a> programs. Decades of conservation efforts have also <a href="https://phys.org/news/2015-03-green-sea-turtles-recover-florida.html">restored</a> many populations of sea turtles.</p>
<p>Public opinion may be shifting, too, Griffith said. She’s seen more and more people become excited about reptiles in Nepal, where she works, and elsewhere. And there’s a growing community of “herpers” — people who go out, typically at night, in search of reptiles and amphibians. There’s a certain thrill that comes from tracking down loud spring peeper frogs or looking under logs for salamanders. It’s hard not to fall in love with reptiles when you’re immersed in their world.</p>
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<br />
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/4/27/23040966/snakes-turtles-lizards-reptiles-extinction">https://www.vox.com/2022/4/27/23040966/snakes-turtles-lizards-reptiles-extinction</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-87860218676458530532022-04-27T23:12:00.001+01:002022-04-27T23:12:59.445+01:00Report: Google Turns Off ‘Newspeak’ Correction Tool (For Now)<p><strong>The Twitter lawyer who broke down crying during a meeting about the ramifications of Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media company was previously instrumental in banning President Trump as well as censoring information about the COVID lab leak theory.</strong></p>
<p>Yesterday, it was revealed that Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, was reduced to tears during a virtual meeting with the company’s policy and legal teams following Musk’s successful purchase of the platform.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/26/twitters-top-lawyer-reassures-staff-cries-during-meeting-about-musk-takeover-00027931">Politico</a>, “Gadde cried during the meeting as she expressed concerns about how the company could change,” and “acknowledged that there are significant uncertainties about what the company will look like under Musk’s leadership.”</p>
<p>Gadde was presumably upset by the fact that her power to censor individuals and content may now be restricted under Musk’s leadership.</p>
<p>As head of Trust and Safety, Gadde was hugely influential in defining the company’s view of “hate speech” and was also instrumental in crafting the “healthy conversations” narrative that Twitter has used an excuse to censor blatantly factual information, such as the assertion that ‘trans women’ are not biological men.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="4.390243902439">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">she seemed so tough then:<a href="https://t.co/3HXyJkeGnY">https://t.co/3HXyJkeGnY</a></p>
<p>— 01 (@seancpdx) <a href="https://twitter.com/seancpdx/status/1519054764687962115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2022</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>She also spearheaded the banning of President Trump after the January 6 riot, despite the fact that Trump had no role whatsoever in inciting the riot. Twitter claimed they banned Trump in order to stop “further incitement of violence,” despite Trump literally telling his supporters via Twitter, “Go home with love & in peace.”</p>
<p>According to Politico, Gadde’s role in banning Trump “earned her devoted fans within Twitter.” She also would have undoubtedly been a crucial figure in Twitter’s decision to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story and the New York Post, despite the story being completely verified.</p>
<p>The Indian immigrant was also reportedly involved in the decision to temporarily ban Zero Hedge from Twitter for its reporting on the lab leak origin theory of COVID-19, despite this subsequently becoming a widely plausible explanation for the origin of the virus.</p>
<p>“Gadde is crying because her new boss is a ‘free speech absolutist,’ while she wants to silence divergent opinions from her own,” <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/political/twitters-top-lawyer-breaks-down-tears-during-musk-takeover-meeting">reported</a> the popular news outlet.</p>
<p>“Gadde is likely the exec who signed off on ZeroHedge’s February 2020 ban for speculating that Covid-19 may have emerged from a Wuhan Lab, and President Trump’s January 2021 ban in connection with the capitol riot.”</p>
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<br />
source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/04/27/report-google-turns-off-newspeak-correction-tool-for-now/">https://summit.news/2022/04/27/report-google-turns-off-newspeak-correction-tool-for-now/</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429274088533143792.post-20996863404076042132022-04-27T06:35:00.007+01:002022-04-27T06:35:43.258+01:00Chuck Schumer: ‘Only Way’ To Reduce Inflation Is To ‘Raise Taxes’ & Undo Trump Tax Cuts<p><strong>The “only way” to tackle rampant inflation in America is to raise taxes on the middle class and eliminate tax cuts enacted by former President Donald Trump, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D).</strong></p>
<p>“If you wanna get rid of inflation, the only way to do it is to undo a lot of the <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2017/12/20/historic-congress-passes-tax-cuts-jobs-act-sends-president-trump-sign/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Trump Tax Cuts</a> and raise rates,” Schumer said during a press conference at the Capitol building on Tuesday.</p>
[embedded content]
<p>“No Republican is ever going to do that, so the only way to get rid of inflation is through reconciliation,” he added, referring to a procedure whereby Democrats would force through legislation with their narrow simple majority in the Senate.</p>
<p>Schumer’s explanation is ignorant at best and dishonest at worst, as there are several ways to reduce inflation.</p>
<p>Schumer conveniently omitted that reducing the federal government’s excessive entitlement spending facilitated by the Federal Reserve’s money-printing policy known as “quantitative easing” would more efficiently reduce inflation.</p>
<p>In fact, just raising taxes on Americans would not actually tackle the inflation problem at all due to the sheer size of the national debt and its accompanying interest.</p>
<p>As economist Milton Friedman noted: “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.”</p>
<p>The Federal Reserve could raise borrowing interest rates to the current official inflation rate – <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/12/us-inflation-rate-march-2022" target="_blank">8.5% as of March</a> – to encourage savings and reduce economic demand, but that would likely push the economy into a recession.</p>
<div class="hh7CjYwb"><a href="https://www.infowarsstore.com/survival-shield-x-2-nascent-iodine?ims=oadrd&utm_campaign=x2isbackhero&utm_source=Infowars+Hero&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=x2isbackhero" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.directus.libertycdn.com/uploads/_/originals/X-2-hero-385.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>The Fed could also shrink its balance sheet – a process known as quantitative tightening – to reduce the money supply, which would ease inflationary pressure.</p>
<p>“There’s one source of inflation. The actual definition of inflation is an expansion of the money supply,” economist and EuroPacific Capital CEO Peter Schiff told Fox News host Tucker Carlson last month, adding that inflation is effectively a hidden tax imposed upon the American people because the dollar’s spending power is diminished over time.</p>
<p>“It’s the Federal Reserve that’s been expanding the money supply,” Schiff continued. “They’ve called it ‘quantitative easing’, but they keep creating dollars, and it’s the U.S. government that spends those dollars into circulation. And as it does that, the value of each dollar goes down. And so the price of everything you buy with dollars goes up.”</p>
[embedded content]
<p>“The middle class is going to feel the inflation tax the hardest. Their wages are not going to go up nearly as much as the cost of living,” he added.</p>
<p>So Schumer’s proposal is to add on even more economic pain upon the middle class by hiking their taxes even more in an inflationary environment while doing nothing to address the out-of-control government spending that caused the inflation to begin with.</p>
<p><strong>Watch the full Democrat press conference:</strong></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" readability="4.4444444444444">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">HAPPENING NOW: <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSchumer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenSchumer</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/SenStabenow?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenStabenow</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorCantwell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenatorCantwell</a> are speaking live from the Capitol. <a href="https://t.co/yjnoITOzg9">https://t.co/yjnoITOzg9</a></p>
— Senate Democrats (@SenateDems) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenateDems/status/1519017294189539332?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p><em><a href="https://battleplan.news/watch?id=62603065d905881a86263c39" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Households Cancel Streaming Subscriptions in Record Numbers as Inflation Forces Cutbacks</a></em></p>
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source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/chuck-schumer-only-way-to-reduce-inflation-is-to-raise-taxes-undo-trump-tax-cuts">https://www.infowars.com/posts/chuck-schumer-only-way-to-reduce-inflation-is-to-raise-taxes-undo-trump-tax-cuts</a>
Izmir Smakajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06470011102531540124noreply@blogger.com0