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Malaysia Airlines is facing dire economic straits after being involved in the two worst air tragedies of the year. Based on some recent photos taken by its few remaining passengers, some flights are operating nearly empty.
In March, Flight 370, scheduled to travel from from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, disappeared with 12 crew and 227 passengers on board — which remains a mystery.
Then, last month, tragedy struck again when Flight 17 was shot down while in Ukrainian airspace. All 283 passengers and 15 crew aboard were killed.
Blame for the second tragedy cannot be placed squarely on Malaysia Airlines, as many major carriers routinely fly over conflict zones. But the loss of lives was inextricably linked to the airline by people around the world.
The carrier, which was operating in the red for about five years before either of this year's tragedies, has continued operating despite the major damage to its reputation.
"The southeast Asia air carrier burns its cash reserves at nearly $2.16 million each day," wrote Howard University professor Oliver McGee. "Operations are losing about $1.6 million a day."
According to Australia's news.com.au, the airline has doubled the commission it offers to Australian travel agents, from 6% to 11%, for booking travelers on the carrier. It is also offering deep discounts compared to other carriers: A sample fare search on Malaysia Airlines showed a round trip flight between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing for $238, while a similar flight on other carriers was listed for more than $500.
But these efforts have not been enough to prevent nearly empty flights.
At Penang Airport, flying to Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysia Airlines check-in line is empty as a Richard Marx concert — malkovichmusic.com (@malkovichmusic) July 25, 2014
Earlier this month, Malaysia's state investment company Khazanah Nasional announced a complete overhaul of the tarnished carrier, announcing it would offer a buyout for the 31% of the airline stock it did not already own.
Details of the overhaul have not been explicit, but a name change, rebranding and labor restructuring are possible. But even if extreme measures are taken, it is difficult to imagine how the airline can overcome the shadow cast by the disastrous MH370 and MH17.
The importance of brand trust & values. Malaysia Airlines queue for check in empty 1.5hrs before the flight to KL pic.twitter.com/9MStJ66YeW — Ruslan Kogan (@ruslankogan) March 10, 2014
My flight back using Malaysia Airlines - pic.twitter.com/WT4YmO28YG — 9GAG Tweets (@9GAGTweets) August 6, 2014
Can confirm my mother arrived in KL in one piece after flying Malaysia Airlines. But plane so empty she had three seats to herself in A380 — Julia Macfarlane (@juliamacfarlane) April 25, 2014
Picture sent to me of a Malaysia Airlines flight out of Australia today to Asia | pic.twitter.com/3nrsdKIBmg — Ricardo Goncalves (@BUSINESSricardo) August 15, 2014
UPDATE: Mashable has asked Malaysia Airlines for additional information and will post an update when it is provided.
Correction: An Instagram photo taken by Ping Coombes was previously included in this article. Coombes later posted that the flight she was on was full. ||||| Malaysia Airlines is likely to cut staff by a quarter and stop flying to some cities in China and Europe. Mohshin Aziz, aviation analyst at Maybank, discusses with the WSJ's Miguel Gonzalez whether the steps will be enough to turn the company around.
Malaysia Airlines is likely to cut a quarter of its staff and stop flying to some cities in China and Europe as a part of the embattled carrier's revival plan that may be disclosed this week, according to people familiar with the matter.
Malaysia's state investor, Khazanah Nasional Bhd., which is seeking to take the unprofitable carrier private, has prepared a restructuring plan after the loss of two aircraft in less than five months this year, killing 537 people. Khazanah currently owns about 70% of the airline's parent firm, Malaysian Airline System Bhd.
Any plan likely would need government approval. Prime Minister Najib Razak likely would allow Khazanah and Malaysia Airlines to work out the details, according to analysts. Government support is widely expected, following comments by Mr. Najib saying that major restructuring would be necessary at the carrier.
"We believe our national carrier must be renewed. This means wholesale change, to deliver a wholly different outcome," Mr. Najib said this month. The airline's overhaul "will involve painful steps and sacrifices from all parties," he said, adding, "Only through a complete overhaul of the company can we deliver a genuinely strong and sustainable national carrier…. Piecemeal changes will not work."
Malaysia's state investor, which is seeking to take Malaysia Airlines private, has prepared a restructuring plan for the embattled carrier. Reuters
Under the plan, Malaysia Airlines would stop flying to some unprofitable routes in China and other places such as Frankfurt, according to the people. Later, Khazanah may seek to relist the airline, one of the people said, and proposals under consideration didn't rule out introducing a strategic partner, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.
The revival plan to be announced this week will "probably be only the first step," said Mohshin Aziz, analyst at brokerage firm Maybank Kim Eng Securities. MBKET.TH +0.45% Maybank Kim Eng Securities (Thailand) PCL Thailand: Bangkok THB22.40 +0.10 +0.45% Volume (Delayed 30m) : 76,600 P/E Ratio 14.64 Market Cap THB12.73 Billion Dividend Yield 6.70% Rev. per Employee N/A 08/26/14 Malaysia Airlines Plans Reviva... 06/23/14 Investors Prepare for Volatili... More quote details and news » MBKET.TH in Your Value Your Change Short position "There needs to be more steps. These alone won't be sufficient" to revive the airline, he said.
Mr. Mohshin said Malaysia Airlines should consider reducing flights to Australia, where it faces stiff competition from Asia's emerging budget long-haul airlines including AirAsia 5099.KU +0.42% AirAsia Bhd Malaysia RM2.41 +0.01 +0.42% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 13.65M P/E Ratio 9.49 Market Cap RM6.68 Billion Dividend Yield 1.66% Rev. per Employee N/A 08/26/14 Malaysia Airlines Plans Reviva... 08/20/14 AirAsia Net Profit Rises on Fo... 08/19/14 Skymark: A Troubled Airline Wi... More quote details and news » 5099.KU in Your Value Your Change Short position X Bhd., an associate of Southeast Asia's biggest discount carrier, AirAsia Bhd.
The airline also is poorly placed to compete on the Dubai route, which is dominated by Emirates Airline, he said. Emirates flies four times daily to Kuala Lumpur from Dubai, while Malaysia Airlines has just one flight.
Malaysia Airlines has been losing business in China after Flight 370 disappeared on March 8 while on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. No trace has yet been found of the Boeing Co. BA -0.42% Boeing Co. U.S.: NYSE $126.58 -0.54 -0.42% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 1.56M P/E Ratio 18.85 Market Cap $91.60 Billion Dividend Yield 2.31% Rev. per Employee $525,220 08/29/14 Good News: Bad Lawyers Pay 08/27/14 Ryanair to Make Nonbinding Cyp... 08/26/14 Durable Goods Orders Surge 22.... More quote details and news » BA in Your Value Your Change Short position 777 jet or the 239 passengers and crew on board.
The carrier received another jolt on July 17, when Flight 17 crashed in eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people. The plane, also a Boeing 777, is believed to have been downed by a surface-to-air missile while on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia Airlines also would lay off staff, though it is yet to complete details, the people familiar with the revival plan said. One of them said that about a quarter of the company's nearly 20,000 staff may be asked to go, a proposal that will likely need the backing of the airline's powerful employees' union.
Senior union officials told The Wall Street Journal that they will support the airline's new leadership in its revival efforts. However, they said the company should be "fair" while laying off employees. The union had long demanded the resignation of Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, as it considers the former power- and media-industry executive an outsider who knows little about the business of running an airline.
"We hope the new managing director will be someone who understands the airline industry," said Alias Aziz, the president of the Malaysian Airline System Employees Union. "If they must retrench people, then I hope they won't force employees to resign but offer [a] voluntary separation scheme" to those affected, he said.
A committee will be formed to find a successor to Mr. Ahmad Jauhari, whose term runs out in September, one of the people aware of the plans said.
Under Mr. Ahmad Jauhari's leadership, Malaysia Airlines has reported a net loss in each of the past three years, stung by competition from low-cost rivals such as AirAsia in its home market and highly aggressive Gulf carriers Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways that have taken away long-distance passengers flying between Asia and Europe or the U.S.
Most Asian flag carriers, including Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Thai Airways International PCL, have faced similar problems, pushing many of the region's airlines into losses.
Malaysia Airlines reported that its loss widened to 443 million ringgit (US$140 million) in the first quarter of the year from 279 million ringgit a year earlier. It will report its second-quarter results Thursday, which may be its last before the company goes private. Analysts predict another quarter of deep losses.
Write to Gaurav Raghuvanshi at [email protected], P.R. Venkat at [email protected] and Jason Ng at [email protected]
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– In a year that's seen one plane disappear and another get shot down, Malaysia Airlines is feeling the financial pain. "The southeast Asia air carrier burns its cash reserves at nearly $2.16 million each day," said Howard University professor Oliver McGee, as per Mashable. "Operations are losing about $1.6 million a day." Customers are posting pictures of rows of empty seats, even as the company is reportedly offering commission hikes to travel agents and huge discounts to customers. On many carriers, a flight between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing can cost more than $500; on Malaysia Airlines, it's recently been less than half that, Mashable notes. What's an airline to do? Well, it's poised to cut about 25% of its staff, the Wall Street Journal reports. It also looks ready to get rid of some of its routes, including unprofitable journeys to some areas of China and flights to Frankfurt. A name change could also be on the table, Mashable notes. The possible changes are driven by state investor Khazanah Nasional Bhd, which owns some 70% of the carrier's parent company and is hoping to take the airline private, the Journal notes. "Only through a complete overhaul of the company can we deliver a genuinely strong and sustainable national carrier," says Prime Minister Najib Razak. "Piecemeal changes will not work."
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At first blush, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer seemed to be defying the federal government once again on Wednesday night.
The Republican governor signed an executive order saying Arizona had no plans to give government benefits, including drivers licenses, to the tens of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants in that state who would be getting work permits and immunity from deportation under President Obama’s new immigration policy.
But while the order sounded harsh, at least one high-ranking Democrat in Arizona quickly threw cold water on it, saying Brewer’s declaration appears to be little more than hot air.
“It doesn’t seem to really do anything,” state Senate Democratic Leader David Schapira told TPM. “I see it as her once again trying to grandstand on the issue of immigration.”
The order came the same week that the Obama administration began rolling out a program to bring undocumented young people out of the shadows and give them the ability to work and do things like pay taxes. Known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the program had youths lining up throughout the nation to find out how to apply for it.
Brewer, who signed Arizona’s harsh immigration law known as SB 1070 and who has butted heads with Obama on immigration multiple times, said her executive order was a direct response to the president’s program. But whether that response actually changes the way Arizona will deal with the program is another matter.
Schapira pointed out that Arizona already had a number of strict immigration laws in place, including one that barred illegal immigrants from getting drivers licenses or state issued identification cards. The law may have already been interpreted to bar any newly immune immigrants from getting those state IDs, Schapira said. That means Brewer’s order effectively carried no weight at all.
Even the governor admitted at a news conference late in the day that nothing really changed because of her order. “It actually is no different than what was already in place,” Brewer said.
She also struggled to describe her action on a conservative talk radio show in Phoenix, saying it was only meant to guide state workers on how to handle the situation.
“It was an order to clarify where Arizona stands on this position so there would be no confusion for the directors of my agencies,” the governor said in the phone interview with KFYI’s Mike Broomhead.
Later in the same conversation, she stumbled when describing what role the state would play under the president’s new program. “We will issue an employment authorization card to these people,” Brewer said, then paused as if listening to somebody in the background. “The feds will, yeah, the feds will.”
After the order was issued, Alessandra Soler, the Arizona director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the whole thing made it look as if Brewer didn’t really understand the law in the first place.
“This is yet another reason why Arizona has no business trying to regulate immigration matters,” Soler said in a written statement.
Yet she also added that the ACLU believes neither Brewer’s order nor the current Arizona laws will bar the newly documented young immigrants from getting state issued IDs. “This order conflicts with state and federal law because people who are granted deferred action will, in fact, have authorized presence in the United States and under Arizona law people who have authorized presence are eligible to apply for Arizona state identification,” Soler said.
Regardless, other immigration activists and people involved in politics told TPM it was too soon to know for sure whether Brewer’s order would change anything. They said immigration attorneys would be looking at the language in the coming days to figure out what, if anything, comes next.
Listen to Brewer’s appearance on KFYI in Phoenix. ||||| Bloomberg News
Young immigrants authorized to work in the U.S. under a new federal program won’t be able to get driver’s licenses in Arizona.
Republican Governor Jan Brewer issued an executive order saying state law bars benefits or state-issued identification for those in the country illegally -- including those who qualify for the deferred-enforcement program announced by President Barack Obama in June, which kicked off yesterday. She directed agencies to block access for an estimated 80,000 immigrants in Arizona who may qualify.
Brewer’s order came as thousands of young illegal immigrants lined up around the U.S. seeking information about work permits and a possible two-year deferment of deportation, including 11,000 who came to Navy Pier in Chicago to meet with volunteer lawyers, the Chicago Tribune reported. The program is open to those who were brought to the U.S. before age 16, have been in the country at least five years and who graduate from high school or serve in the military, among other criteria.
The policy may benefit as many as 1.7 million people age 30 and under, according to estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center. The report said that 950,000 people would be eligible immediately and another 770,000 people in the future as they meet the criteria set by the president.
Defend Arizona
Obama’s policy bypassed Congress, where legislation known as the Dream Act designed to give a path to legal status for younger illegal immigrants has been stalled. It also pushed the issue back into Obama’s campaign with presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who has opposed the measure. Romney has said he would “put in place my own long-term solution.”
In her executive order, Brewer said federal documents issued under the new program won’t prove lawful status and permitting state-issued identification or benefits to recipients would “have significant and lasting impacts on the Arizona budget.”
The governor’s spokesman, Matthew Benson, said Brewer is seeking to defend her state.
“The governor can’t undo what the president has done, but she can take a stand for state law,” Benson said. “By no definition are these individuals lawfully present or lawfully authorized to be in the United States. All they have received is a deferral from being prosecuted or deported.”
Into Court
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona disagrees with the governor, said Executive Director Alessandra Soler. State law allows driver’s licenses for others authorized by the federal government to be in the U.S., including people here on political asylum, she said.
“The definitive action on this will be decided in a courtroom,” Senate Democratic Leader David Schapira said at a press briefing.
In other states, officials are evaluating whether young people admitted under the program qualify for driver’s licenses or identification.
Michigan will accept the federal documentation, said Fred Woodhams, spokesman for the secretary of state. California will treat those in the new program as “temporary legal residents” and issue licenses, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Driver’s licenses aren’t the only issue. In Florida, students in the program will pay out-of-state tuition, Florida State University System spokeswoman Diane McCain said. Benson, Brewer’s spokesman, said Arizona law prohibits in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants, including those in this program.
Waiting to Drive
At Arizona’s Capitol, a few dozen young immigrants and supporters today held signs such as “Brewer, why the hate?”
Carla Chavarria, a 19-year-old illegal immigrant from Scottsdale, remembers feeling left out in high school when friends started getting driver’s licenses. She was hoping to get one if she is admitted to the new program.
“They don’t let us have a victory,” said Chavarria, who runs an advertising and graphics design business and was brought to the country at age 7. She said that Brewer was “like a bully -- you got up from the playground and I am going to push you down again.”
The program’s inception has created a flurry of action in immigrant communities.
Amanda Bergson-Shilcock, director of outreach and program evaluation at the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, a Philadelphia-based organization, said immigrant groups have been holding information sessions for two months.
“There’s a lot of trepidation,” she said. People wonder, “How do I get this exactly right so I don’t lose my once in a lifetime chance?”
Answering Questions
In Florida, a two-hour phone bank answering questions yesterday received about 500 calls, said Natalia Jaramillo, spokeswoman for Miami-based Florida Immigration Coalition.
The Ohio chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association is setting up a free clinic in Cleveland on Aug. 18, said David Leopold, an immigration attorney.
“People are saying, ‘I can stand up and be somebody in this society now,’” Leopold said in a telephone interview. “It’s just wonderful to see such hope.”
Eduardo Resendez said he was 16 when he, his mother and younger sister left their home in Mexico City, crossed the Texas border and made their way to the Bronx in New York City, where his father was already living. Resendez, now 22, is on a path to get working papers, he said in a telephone interview today.
Already in the midst of getting a bachelor’s degree in music from the City University of New York, being allowed to work legally would mean fulfilling his dream of being a high- school music teacher.
“Before this, I knew I wouldn’t be able to teach in the U.S., so my plan was to go back to Mexico when I graduated,” Resendez said. “Now, that plan has changed. I’ll be able to stay with my family. That’s one of the greatest things that will happen.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Amanda J. Crawford in Phoenix at [email protected]; Mark Niquette in Columbus at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jeffrey Taylor at [email protected]
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– As young illegal immigrants lined up to apply for President Obama's deferred-deportation program yesterday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer made it clear where she stands on the issue. Brewer yesterday issued an executive order stating that young immigrants granted work permits under the program would not be able to receive any public benefits, including driver's licenses or other state-issued ID, BusinessWeek reports. The governor, who has repeatedly clashed with the federal government over immigration, said the new program's documents do not prove lawful status in the US. Brewer said the order was a direct response to the president's move, although critics noted that it was merely restating existing law. "It doesn’t seem to really do anything," state Senate Democratic Leader David Schapira tells Talking Points Memo. "I see it as her once again trying to grandstand on the issue of immigration." Brewer herself admitted that the order "actually is no different than what was already in place." Asked what role the state would play in the new program, she said, "We will issue an employment authorization card to these people," then paused and said, "The feds will."
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Bill Cosby was dead silent this weekend when Weekend Edition host Scott Simon asked him about those pesky rape allegations, but he hasn't always been—in fact, he jokes about drugging women's drinks an early stand-up routine that loosely corresponds to his accusers' stories.
The Village Voice's Alan Scherstuhl tracked down the 1969 routine, where Cosby discusses "Spanish fly," a secret substance boys start hearing about "on the corner." [According to legend, it acts as an aphrodisiac when slipped into a woman's drink at a frat party. In reality it's an irritant that's sometimes deadly.]
It always happens when you're 13, only when you're 13 on up 'til when you get married. Guys standing around and talking about Spanish fly. "You know anything about Spanish fly?" "No, tell me about it." "Well there's this girl Crazy Mary, you put some in her drink man, she, 'Haaaaaaaaaaaaah.'" "Oh yeah, that's really groovy man, Spanish fly is groovy, yeah." From then on, any time you see a girl: "Wish I had some Spanish fly." Go to a party see five girls standing alone: "Boy if I had a whole jug of Spanish fly, I'd light that corner up over there. HAAAAAAH."
Cosby intimates his interest in date rape as a 13-year-old continued into adulthood, explaining his excitement when he found out his 1960's TV show I Spy was filming in Spain.
A childhood dream come true... I said, "Hey Bob, you know what I'm going to pick up in Spain? He said, "Spanish fly."
If Cosby's slip it in her drink routine sounds vaguely familiar, it's because most of his accusers say he slipped something in their drink:
In his bungalow he made me a redeye, and I began to tell him about the earthquake Los Angeles had just had and the sound it made. He liked my ideas for an earthquake bit. The next thing I remember was coming to on his couch while being undressed.
He sent a limo to pick me up and I was dropped off at the Sherry Netherland Hotel and went up to his suite. I remember noticing that his leather shaving kit was filled with bottles of pills, and thinking that this seemed odd. He was, of course, very friendly and I, of course, was very uncomfortable. He made me a redeye, and I, being nervous and dealing at the time with an alcohol problem (I've been in recovery since 1988), drank it. In the car I had something else to drink, but was already beginning to feel a bit stoned.
He invited me to his New York brownstone for dinner. Staff was there. We ate in the kitchen. I had one glass of red wine with dinner. My next recollection is me, coming to, slumped over the toilet bowl, throwing up. I was wearing a man's white t-shirt and my panties.
[h/t Uproxx] ||||| Time was, this country responded to rape accusations against America's Sweater Dad, Bill Cosby, the same way Cosby's Noah did to God's command that he put two of each animal onto a boat: by saying, "Riiiiiiiiiiigghhhht" and then moving on.
Today, though, the testimonials against Cosby keep coming, and the man himself is canceling public appearances, stonewalling a clearly shaken Scott Simon of NPR, and finally responding with a public statement (sent through his lawyer) that has right on its surface one immediately verifiable lie: "At age 77, he is doing his best work."
Cosby's dozen-plus accusers tell similar stories: that, after having a drink with Cosby, they felt drugged and confused as he had his way with them. Curiously, Cosby himself once made such scenarios the center of a stand-up routine: Witness "Spanish Fly," a cut from his now-unfortunately titled 1969 LP It's True! It's True!.
In it, Cosby describes being a kid and hearing about a wonder drug -- "Spanish Fly" -- that would make a girl go crazy once it was put into her drink. He presents this as a horny/goofy lark of an idea, a myth that kids buy into all over the world. More disturbingly, Cosby then describes his adult interest in such a drug, especially on a trip he took to Spain with Robert Culp of I Spy -- both Culp and Cosby, he claims, were desperate to get their hands on some Spanish Fly.
Even when I heard this bit as a kid, I wondered: Why would famous TV stars need a drug to get women interested in them? Why is sex something to lie and cheat and scheme to get, rather than something to share? Hearing it now, it's positively chilling, especially the crowd's easy laughter, which suggests that Cosby was able to put over his fantasy of women stripped of their ability to say no as something near universal. Boys will be boys, hahaha, and then refuse ever to speak of it once they become rich and powerful men.
See also:
Here's What the Daily News Robin Williams Cover Should Have Looked Like
Here's How Unbiased GamerGate Crusaders Would 'Review' Citizen Kane
--
Hey, you could do worse than following @studiesincrap on the Twitter thing.
Sponsor Content
|
– As the sexual assault accusations against Bill Cosby continue to mount, Alan Scherstuhl at the Village Voice makes an interesting observation: Cosby's accusers all have a similar story, that of feeling drugged after having drinks with the comedian, then getting assaulted. "Curiously, Cosby himself once made such scenarios the center of a stand-up routine," Scherstuhl writes. He's talking about "Spanish Fly," from Cosby's 1969 LP, It's True! It's True!. The bit features Cosby recalling how, at 13, he heard about "Spanish fly," a drug that "would make a girl go crazy once it was put into her drink," Scherstuhl writes. Then, "more disturbingly, Cosby ... describes his adult interest in such a drug." (At Gawker, Gabrielle Bluestone notes that Spanish fly is actually "an irritant that's sometimes deadly.") The comedy routine includes the lines, "Any time you see a girl: 'Wish I had some Spanish fly.' Go to a party, see five girls standing alone: 'Boy, if I had a whole jug of Spanish fly, I'd light that corner up over there.'"
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Image copyright Getty Images
McDonald's and the International Olympics Committee (IOC) are ending their long-running sponsorship deal three years early.
The fast food chain said it was "reconsidering all aspects of its International Olympics Committee business" as part of a plan to re-invigorate its business.
The IOC said it understood "that McDonald's is looking to focus on different business priorities".
The partnership began in 1976.
"For these reasons, we have mutually agreed with McDonald's to part ways," said the IOC.
The next Olympics will take place in Japan during 2020.
McDonald's had extended its sponsorship agreement with the Olympics in 2012 for a further eight years.
As a "Top Partner", it paid a reported $100m for each two-game deal covering the summer and winter Olympic Games up to and including 2020.
McDonald's partnership with the IOC will end immediately, but it will continue to be a sponsor of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
The IOC said on Friday: "The financial terms of the separation was agreed by all parties, details of which are confidential."
A number of companies have ended partnerships with the Olympics recently, including AB InBev's Budweiser, the hotels group Hilton and US telecoms giant AT&T.
'Priorities'
McDonald's has been restructuring its business to arrest a decline in sales. Steve Easterbrook was appointed as chief executive in 2015 when he said he would "not shy away from the urgent need to reset this business".
Commenting on the "mutual" decision to part ways with the IOC, Silvia Lagnado, global chief marketing officer at McDonald's, said: "As part of our global growth plan, we are reconsidering all aspects of our business and have made this decision in cooperation with the IOC to focus on different priorities."
The IOC said it has no immediate plans to appoint a direct replacement in the "retail food operations sponsorship category" which will be reviewed. ||||| The Olympic Games are one of the most effective international marketing platforms in the world, reaching billions of people in over 200 countries and territories throughout the world.
Support from the business community is crucial to the staging of the Games and the operations of every organisation within the Olympic Movement.
Revenue generated by commercial partnerships accounts for more than 40% of Olympic revenues and partners provide vital technical services and product support to the whole of the Olympic Family.
Each level of sponsorship entitles companies to different marketing rights in various regions, category exclusivity and the use of designated Olympic images and marks.
TOP: The Olympic Partners The Olympic Partners (TOP) Programme is the worldwide sponsorship Programme managed by the IOC. The IOC created the TOP Programme in 1985 in order to develop a diversified revenue base for the Olympic Games and to establish long-term corporate partnerships that would benefit the Olympic Movement as a whole. The TOP Programme operates on a four-year term – the Olympic quadrennium. The TOP Programme supports the Organising Committees of the Olympic Games and Olympic Winter Games, the NOCs and the IOC. The TOP Programme provides each Worldwide Olympic Partner with exclusive global marketing rights and opportunities within a designated product or service category. The global marketing rights include partnerships with the IOC, all active NOCs and their Olympic teams, and the two OCOGs and the Games of each quadrennium. The TOP Partners may exercise these rights worldwide and may activate marketing initiatives with all the members of the Olympic Movement that participate in the TOP Programme. ||||| Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE After 41 years, McDonald's is leaving its sponsorship deal with the International Olympic Committee behind. Video provided by Newsy Newslook
McDonald's is no longer an Olympics sponsor. (Photo: Joe Raedle, Getty Images)
McDonald's has halted its Olympics sponsorship after 41 years supporting the worldwide sporting event.
In a joint announcement with the International Olympic Committee, the fast-food chain explained that it's part of an overall reevaluation of itself.
“As part of our global growth plan, we are reconsidering all aspects of our business and have made this decision in cooperation with the IOC to focus on different priorities,” said McDonald’s global chief marketing officer Silvia Lagnado.
The end is effective immediately and McDonald's is no longer listed on the IOC Web site as a sponsor.
In 1968, McDonald's airlifted hamburgers to homesick athletes at the Grenoble Winter Olympics, though the company didn't become a sponsor until the 1976 Montreal Summer Games, according to McDonald's Web site. Eight years later, the chain and franchisees built the McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium for the Los Angeles Summer Games.
"We have mutually agreed with McDonald’s to part ways. I would like to thank our friends at McDonald’s on behalf of the IOC for the commitment the company has shown to the Olympic Movement over many decades," said Timo Lumme, managing director of IOC's television and marketing service.
Follow USA TODAY reporter Zlati Meyer on Twitter: @ZlatiMeyer
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2sx7wbE ||||| IOC and McDonald's mutually agree to end Worldwide TOP Partnership
The IOC and McDonald's have announced that they have mutually agreed to bring their Worldwide TOP Partnership to an end.
Timo Lumme, Managing Director of IOC Television and Marketing Services, said: “The IOC’s sponsorship strategy is aimed at delivering long-term partnerships that help the Olympic Movement achieve the objectives set out in Olympic Agenda 2020, our strategic roadmap for the future. This strategy is exemplified by the recent announcement of long-term, ground-breaking agreements with new and existing global Partners. In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, we understand that McDonald’s is looking to focus on different business priorities. For these reasons, we have mutually agreed with McDonald’s to part ways. I would like to thank our friends at McDonald’s on behalf of the IOC for the commitment the company has shown to the Olympic Movement over many decades.”
“As part of our global growth plan, we are reconsidering all aspects of our business and have made this decision in cooperation with the IOC to focus on different priorities,” said McDonald’s Global Chief Marketing Officer Silvia Lagnado. “We have been proud to support the Olympic Movement, and we thank our customers and staff, the spectators, athletes and officials, as well as the IOC and local Olympics Games organizing committees, for all of their support over the years.”
The financial terms of the separation was agreed by all parties, details of which are confidential.
McDonald’s Worldwide TOP Partnership will end with immediate effect, however McDonald’s will continue to be a sponsor of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 with domestic marketing rights in the Republic of Korea only. The company will deliver its Games-time operations, including restaurants in the Olympic Park and the Olympic Village.
The IOC has no immediate plans to appoint a direct replacement in the retail food operations sponsorship category, and will review the category in the broader context of existing Olympic marketing programmes.
The International Olympic Committee is a not-for-profit independent international organisation that redistributes more than 90 per cent of its income to the wider sporting movement, which means that every day the equivalent of USD 3.25 million goes to help athletes and sports organisations at all levels around the world.
The IOC has long-term commercial partnerships in place; has delivered record financial contributions to the Olympic Movement in the last Olympiad (2013-2016); and is on course to deliver record contributions in the current cycle (2017-2020). All current Worldwide TOP Partners have agreements through to 2020, with Bridgestone, Panasonic and Toyota through to 2024, Alibaba through to 2028, and Omega through to 2032.
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For more information, please contact the IOC Media Relations Team:
Tel: +41 21 621 6000, email: [email protected], or visit our web site at www.olympic.org. ||||| The International Olympic Committee (IOC) shook up the rules for advertising for Rio 2016 when it announced changes that opened the door for more brands to benefit from their ties to the games, even if they aren't official Olympic sponsors. While the new rules come with restrictions, they've helped non-official sponsors get a sliver of the marketing pie and changed the sponsorship landscape for the games overall.
In past Olympics, under the IOC's Rule 40, official sponsors like McDonald's, Procter & Gamble and Visa had a lock on advertising during the games. Athletes were barred from tweeting about non-official sponsors, and non-sponsors were not allowed to feature Olympic athletes that they had sponsorship deals with in ads. In February 2015, the IOC announced changes to the rule, which were adopted by the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) in June 2015. Those changes allow athletes to appear in generic advertising that does not explicitly mention the games or use any Olympic intellectual property (the Olympic rings, and terms such as "Olympics" "2016" "Rio," "games" and "gold" are off limits). Athletes also are now allowed to tweet about non-official sponsors provided they don't use such Olympic IP.
To take advantage of these changes, however, U.S. athletes and non-sponsor brands had to submit waivers to the USOC by January 27, 2016, including plans for advertising and social media campaigns, and ads must have been in-market by March 27.
Under Armour, which is not an official Olympic sponsor but sponsors 250 Olympic athletes, including Michael Phelps, has been one of the most notable beneficiaries of the relaxed Rule 40. The brand's "Rule Yourself" campaign includes an emotional spot with the U.S. women's gymnastics team and a Cannes award-winning spot with Phelps that shows the most decorated athlete in Olympic history as he trains for his last games. Both ads comply with Rule 40: They launched before the March deadline, and neither contains any Olympics IP.
Under Armour submitted an application to both the USOC and IOC for a waiver to feature its Olympic athletes in the brand's marketing per the Rule 40 guidelines, and the brands' social media initiatives during the games will fall in line with the guidelines, as well, said Peter Murray, vp of global sports marketing at Under Armour.
"The USOC and IOC accepted our plans, and the process was very streamlined," Murray said. "The changes to Rule 40 allow us to fulfill our No. 1 objective, which is to support the Olympic athletes and hopefuls tied to the Under Armour brand during the games."
While Under Armour has successfully capitalized on the Rule 40 changes, Sally Bergesen, founder and CEO of Oiselle, an athletic apparel company that sponsors 15 Olympic hopefuls, feels the rule is still too restrictive.
"The relaxed Rule 40 is a joke. You had to have submitted your campaign in January, before anybody's qualified for anything. Then, you need to start running your campaign in March, so you don't get any timing benefit with the Olympics. For small businesses, running an ad campaign from March through August is really expensive," she said.
Oiselle is considering ways to talk about the Olympics on social media that don't use Olympics IP, like creating alternative terms for the games, such as #TheBigEvent, or using its 400 individual brand ambassadors (non-Olympic hopefuls) to post about the Olympics on social media, which is allowed. "We'll get creative and find a way to recognize our athletes," Bergesen said.
Analysts think that smaller businesses and non-sponsor brands should see the relaxed Rule 40 as an opportunity. "It's still going to be hard for a small business to get a big-name athlete. It's a large investment. But there are hundreds of other Olympians that don't require that investment, and you, as a small business, can use them in any of your marketing campaigns now," said Zaileen Janmohamed, svp of client services at GMR Marketing.
The wider playing field actually could diminish the value of official Olympic sponsorships, she added. "As a non-sponsor, you still can't use the Olympic rings or Olympic intellectual property, and that's what the IOC will hold on to, but if I'm an everyday person watching a commercial or social media post, I probably don't understand the difference. If I see an Under Armour ad with Michael Phelps, a premier Olympian, I probably think they're an Olympic sponsor, too. My gut tells me that, post-Rio, the value of official Olympic partnership is going to go down, because that exclusivity goes away."
Matt Powell, sports industry analyst at NPD Group, agrees. "It wouldn't surprise me if some of these brands decided they weren't getting their money's worth. If their competitors can still run ads with Olympic athletes in them during the Olympics, that devalues the rights they pay a lot of money for."
A spokesperson for official Olympic sponsor Procter & Gamble, which will continue its successful Thank You, Mom Olympics campaign in Rio, said, "We trust the IOC and USOC will continue to protect the rights of P&G and other top sponsors."
Other top sponsors McDonald's and Visa did not return Adweek's requests for comment, but the USOC, for its part, hasn't fielded any complaints from official sponsors about how the Rule 40 changes have impacted the value of their sponsorships. "It's a new waiver process but one we are confident in—and a process that we will evaluate post games if needed," said Jon Mason, the USOC's associate director of communications.
The rule changes force all brands—official sponsor or not—to step up their Olympics marketing game, said Dom Curran, U.S. CEO of sports marketing and sponsorship agency Synergy. "Even if you're official, you should think like a non-official," he said. "Think about all of the potential angles you could take, because your official status should really just make that better. Your campaign should be powerful either way."
Adds Janmohamed: "Now, everyone's on an even playing field, so the importance will be on great marketing campaigns, a great social campaign, a great TV spot. That Under Armour spot with Michael Phelps is great. This will force brands to come up with great concepts, and use Olympic athletes or IP in the best way possible to really capture consumers' attention." ||||| LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Fast-food chain McDonald's has ended its Olympic sponsorship deal three years early.
The International Olympic Committee says confidential financial terms of the immediate separation were agreed to.
IOC marketing director Timo Lumme says "we understand that McDonald's is looking to focus on different business priorities."
McDonald's was among 13 top-tier sponsors signed through the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Games.
An Olympic sponsor since 1976, McDonald's had signed an eight-year extension to run through 2020.
McDonald's had exclusive rights in the "retail food services" sponsor category.
The IOC says it will review the sales categories rather than sign a direct replacement.
McDonald's remains a national sponsor of the 2018 Olympics with domestic marketing rights in South Korea. ||||| NEW YORK/BERLIN (Reuters) - McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N) ended its 41-year-old sponsorship of the Olympic Games three years early, the International Olympic Committee said on Friday, reflecting the U.S. fast-food giant’s focus on its core business as well as rising Olympics sponsorship costs and declining TV ratings.
McDonald’s deal would have run through the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, and bowing out will likely to save it hundreds of million of dollars if it had continued into the next four-year Olympics cycle and beyond.
McDonald’s has been trying to hold down costs as it invests in improving food quality, restaurant service and online ordering to woo back U.S. diners. Intense competition has gnawed away at sales.
“We are reconsidering all aspects of our business and have made this decision in cooperation with the IOC to focus on different priorities,” said McDonald’s Global Chief Marketing Officer Silvia Lagnado.
The company, first involved with the games in 1968 and a sponsor since 1976, was the Olympics’ food retail sponsor. Despite pulling out with immediate effect, McDonald’s will continue at next year’s Pyeongchang winter Olympics as a domestic sponsor.
The company’s move may also reflect a rising view among consumer brands that exclusive Olympics sponsorship deals do not offer the marketing impact they once did. Some companies find it is much cheaper to work directly with athletes or specific countries than the IOC.
Moreover, in a trend that began after the Beijing games in 2008, shrinking television audiences for the games could be diminishing the value of sponsors’ ads. With the Rio de Janeiro games in 2016, many viewers turned to social media alternatives like Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) and Facebook Inc (FB.O).
In the United States, Comcast Corp’s (CMCSA.O) NBCUniversal
said it had attracted 8.6 percent fewer eyeballs for Rio than it
did for London in 2012.
FILE PHOTO - Athletes line up at a McDonald's inside the Olympic village in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 1, 2016. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo
The fast food chain has been part of the IOC’s top sponsors program that contributes more than $1 billion in each four-year cycle for the games.
While terms of Olympic sponsorship are not disclosed, a source who negotiated previous IOC sponsorship deals said that top global sponsors like McDonald’s spend about $25 million a year or about $100 million for a four-year period that includes a summer and winter games.
Reuters previously reported that the IOC had wanted to roughly double fees to $200 million per four year period starting in 2021.
While it is unusual for an Olympic sponsor to leave early, sponsors change regularly within the IOC’s top program. The most recent addition was China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N), which signed a deal in January for a partnership through 2028.
The next three Olympics take place in Asia, and this could turn off U.S. sponsors trying to reach a U.S. audience. The U.S. Olympic Committee also has lost recent sponsors such as AT&T; (T.N) and Citigroup (C.N) ahead of the 2018 winter games in South Korea.
The IOC said it was not planning a direct replacement for McDonald’s, but it is expected to announce a new global deal with Intel Corp (INTC.O) next week, according a source familiar with the matter.
Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Companies with a deep focus on technology are barging in while others migrate out,” said Peter Land, who works with Olympics and Paralympics sponsors for communications firm Finsbury.
The IOC has faced criticism from public health campaigners for allowing sponsors such as Coca-Cola (KO.N) and McDonald’s to use the games to market their products, which are perceived to be unhealthy.
John Lewicki, who oversees global Olympic sponsorship deals for McDonald’s, said last year the company would reevaluate its Olympic relationship after changes to a rule that ended a marketing blackout for companies that sponsor athletes rather than the event itself.
Shares of McDonald’s rose $1.06, or about 0.7 percent on Friday.
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– The year 2018 will mark the first time since 1976 that you won't see the McDonald's logo plastered across Olympic venues, reports USA Today. That's because McDonald's has negotiated an early end to its corporate sponsorship agreement with the International Olympic Committee, which was scheduled to run through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Effective immediately, McDonald's is no longer one of the IOC's top sponsors, though it signed an eight-year sponsorship extension in 2012, per the AP. The company is believed to have paid about $25 million per year to call itself the Olympics food retail sponsor, reports Reuters. It's not cutting ties completely, however. Under the change announced Friday, McDonald's will keep domestic marketing rights in South Korea for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, per a release. It will also keep restaurants in the Olympic Park and Olympic Village in 2018. Last year, McDonald's announced it would review its Olympic sponsorship deal, citing a new advertising rule that allowed non-official sponsors to benefit. In a statement, the company says it will "focus on different priorities … as part of our global growth plan." The BBC notes Budweiser, Hilton, and AT&T have also ended Olympic partnerships recently.
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Trayvon Martin's family says EMS recordings prove George Zimmerman wasn’t hurt Recordings show second ambulance called for Zimmerman was cancelled
Slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin’s family has intensified calls for George Zimmerman's arrest, saying newly released emergency responder records prove Zimmerman wasn’t hurt the night he shot the 17-year-old, as he has claimed.
Last week, The Daily News obtained EMS documents from the night of the fatal encounter that showed a second ambulance called to ferry Zimmerman to the hospital after the shooting was canceled.
On an audiotape obtained by The News, rescue workers could be heard discussing Zimmerman’s condition.
“Do they have a second patient?” a man asks.
“That’s affirmative. There is a second patient,” a woman replies.
LISTEN TO EMS AUDIO BELOW
Moments later, a man says, “You can cancel the second rescue,” adding that Zimmerman had not been shot.
TRAYVON'S PARENTS WANT FEDS TO INVESTIGATE STATE PROSECUTOR
An unidentified spokesman for the family told local station WKMG that there was “not a chance” the ambulance would have been canceled if Martin had beaten Zimmerman in a life-or-death struggle, as Zimmerman’s camp has claimed.
Zimmerman’s family said Martin repeatedly bashed Zimmerman’s head against the ground and broke his nose.
The spokesman told WKMG that it was “embarrassing” that Zimmerman had not been arrested.
The Daily News shared the EMS recordings with WKMG.
BILL CLINTON: NEED TO RETHINK 'STAND YOUR GROUND'
The EMS communications were the latest pieces of evidence to call into question Zimmerman’s self-defense claim.
Last week, the funeral director who examined Martin's body said he found no signs of a violent brawl, one day after police station footage showed Zimmerman without any apparent injuries or bloodstains.
On Sunday, two forensic voice identification experts told the Orlando Sentinel that it was not Zimmerman who was heard crying for help on recordings of 911 calls made by neighbors. ||||| Enhanced video footage of George Zimmerman about 30 minutes after he shot Florida teenager Trayvon Martin shows little evidence of a broken nose, the president of the Florida College of Emergency Physicians said today.
But the video does show what could be an injury to the back of Zimmerman's head.
The never-before-seen evidence of an injury to Zimmerman, in this case a gash or mark to his head, would appear to back his claim that he was in an altercation with Martin on the night of Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman says he shot the teen in self defense after he was attacked.
Zimmerman, 28, claims Martin, 17, punched him in the nose, knocked him down and repeatedly slammed his head into the ground.
The police surveillance video, first obtained exclusively by ABC News last month and clarified by Forensic Protection, Inc., shows Zimmerman exiting the police cruiser with his hands cuffed behind his back. Zimmerman is frisked and then led down a series of hallways, still cuffed. At one point, one of the officers stops to look briefly at the back of Zimmerman's head.
There was no obvious sign of any injury to Zimmerman's head or face on the video until it was enhanced.
But Dr. Vidor Friedman, president of the Florida College of Emergency Physicians, remains unconvinced.
"If somebody had been beating his head against concrete I'd think we'd see more obvious scrapes," Friedman said. He also said he would expect to see bandages on Zimmerman's head.
More significantly for Friedman was the condition of Zimmerman's nose.
"All of the ridges in his nose are clearly defined. You would expect significant swelling in the hour or two after a break. There appears to be none. It doesn't look like his nose was broken or badly broken," Friedman said.
Police Video Surveillance of George Zimmerman
The initial police report noted that Zimmerman was bleeding from the back of the head and nose, and his lawyer later claimed that Zimmeran suffered a broken nose. After receiving medical attention at the scene of the shooting, it was decided that he was in good enough condition to travel in a police cruiser to the Sanford, Fla., police station for questioning. He did not check into the emergency room following the police questioning.
The surveillance tape of Zimmerman, later released by the Sanford Police Department, could be used as evidence if Zimmerman is brought up on charges, sources tell ABC News.
Zimmerman's lawyer, Craig Sonner, has said his client felt "one of them was going to die that night," when he pulled the trigger.
The case has gained national prominence with rallies across the country demanding that Zimmerman be arrested and charged with murder.
Lawyers for Martin's family sent a letter to the Justice Department today asking that the federal probe into the killing look into the fact that Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee met with State Attorney Norm Wolfinger on the night of shooting. Lawyer Benjamin Crump also claims in the letter that members of Zimmerman's family were also present in the police station that night.
The lead homicide investigator, Chris Serino, wrote in an affidavit that he recommended manslaughter charges be brougth against Zimmerman but was advised by the prosecutor not to file charges because there was not enough evidence for a conviction, sources have told ABC News.
"We look forward to your thorough and comprehensive review of the suspicious circumstances surrounding this meeting," Crump wrote.
A Justice Department spokesman said the agency will review the Martin family letter.
State prosecutors are expected to go before a Seminole County grand jury on April 10 to determine what, if any, files should be charged.
An analysis of a 911 call done over the weekend by the Orlando Sentinel determined that screams for help overhead on a 911 came from Martin, although Zimmerman's family insist they recognize his voice in the screams.
Two evidence experts consulted by the Sentinel found the voice heard in a 911 call placed by a woman in a home near where the shooting occurred was only a 48 percent match to Zimmerman's voice. One of the experts, Tom Owen, told the Sentinel to reach a positive match he would expect higher than 90 percent.
"As a result of that, you can say with reasonable scientific certainty that it's not Zimmerman," Owen told the paper.
Owen,the chair emeritus at the American Board of Record Evidence, was not able to determine if the voice was that of Martin, the Sentinel reports, because he did not have audio of the teen's voice to compare to the shouts for help in the 911 call.
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– The battle continues over what injuries killer George Zimmerman may or may not have suffered in a confrontation with 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. New information reveals that an ambulance ready to be dispatched to treat Zimmerman the night of the killing was canceled, raising doubts that Zimmerman was badly beaten by Martin, as he has said. The latest information follows the appearance of possible wounds on Zimmerman's head in enhanced scenes of a video taken at a police station the night of the killing. ABC had reported earlier that there were no signs of injury. A new expert, however, is saying there is no indication that Zimmerman's nose was broken, even though he said Trayvon punched him in the face—and slammed his head into concrete. Any injuries were apparently not severe enough for a paramedic to check out, notes CBS. One ambulance on the scene was dealing with Martin. In recordings of conversation between police and an ambulance dispatcher, one person is heard asking: "Do they have a second patient?" Another answers: "That's affirmative, there's a second patient." But a rescue worker responds: "You can cancel the second rescue." Zimmerman's injuries could be critical to his defense that he killed Trayvon because he thought his life was in danger. Trayvon's family said injuries suffered in such a confrontation would require medical help.
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By Josh Peterson, editor
Coffee County Central High School and Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency officials are investigating to find out who killed a bobcat and hung the body from the goalposts of the Tullahoma High School practice football field Tuesday.
A photo began circulating rapidly on social media website Tuesday morning showing a dead bobcat suspended in the air above the Tullahoma practice football field. Tullahoma City Schools have since confirmed that a dead bobcat was found on campus.
Coffee County Central’s Red Raiders and the Tullahoma High School Wildcats are scheduled to play in the 89th annual Coffee Pot Rivalry football game at 7 p.m. Friday in Tullahoma.
“This isn’t what a rivalry is about and this is not what our school and our community are about,” said CHS principal Dr. Joey Vaughn Wednesday morning. “This isn’t rivalry. This is mean. This is wrong and hateful. This does not represent our student body as a whole. We have great kids at our school and Tullahoma has great kids at its school.”
The dead bobcat was found by students at THS Tuesday morning who reported it to their teacher, according to Tullahoma Director of Schools Dr. Dan Lawson. He stated in an email release that Tullahoma Police Department and Tullahoma Animal Control were notified and removed the deceased animal.
Vaughn said interviews were ongoing as of noon Thursday with no suspect in mind. He said the CHS administration is working closely with TWRA officials.
“We are working with TWRA and they are interviewing people and following up on leads and [school administration] is doing that as well,” said Vaughn. “We are being very diligent with this but at this point we still do not know who is to blame and what their affiliation might be. We don’t know if it was a student or an adult.”
Vaughn released a written statement Wednesday condemning the act and calling it “callous.”
“The rivalry between Coffee County Central High School and Tullahoma High School has a storied tradition with mutual respect from both sides,” Vaughn’s statement reads. “There have been various events throughout these years, but this week someone took a high school rivalry and took it too far. The actions of a few do not represent this community as a whole. At this time we do not know who committed this callous act or what their involvement with the rivalry is, but there is no place in our community or this world for these types of actions. The rivalry will continue on the football field this Friday night and we ask that our community remember that we have outstanding young people representing both great high schools. ”
Lawson also issued a statement through email, which reads:
“Local authorities and officials with Coffee County High School and Tullahoma High School are investigating this issue,” Lawson’s statement reads. “This despicable act does not represent the leadership, citizenry or the vast majority of students at Coffee County High School and Tullahoma High School. We are friends, neighbors, relatives and at time fierce competitors, but that fierce competition leaves no room for cruelty to animals. Nearly every student in Tullahoma and Manchester is disgusted that any innocent animal is used as an object lesson and all are hopeful that our competition is safe, fair and fun.”
According to the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency website, there is a season for hunting bobcats but that season does not open until Nov. 21. School officials haven’t been able to answer further questions as to how the bobcat was actually killed.
According to Doug Markham with TWRA, killing the animal out of season would be a misdemeanor.
“If we found out who it was and he or she killed it out of season they could be charged with hunting in closed season and they could face fines and court costs. They could lose their hunting license,” explained Markham.
“That is not a good way to treat a critter for a prank, that’s for sure,” added Markham.
Coffee County Director of Schools Dr. LaDonna McFall echoed Vaughn’s stance.
“Rivalries are good but this isn’t healthy,” said McFall. “We can behave better than this. We will behave better than this.” ||||| Dead bobcat found hanging on field goal post at Tullahoma HS Posted: Wednesday, October 29, 2014 1:57 PM EDT Updated: Wednesday, November 12, 2014 1:57 PM EST
School officials have confirmed a dead bobcat was found hanging from a goalpost on the football field at Tullahoma High School on Tuesday.
According to a statement from Tullahoma City Schools, students found the bobcat and reported it to their teacher.
The animal has since been removed by animal control officials. The incident was reported to police.
"This despicable act does not represent the leadership, citizenry or the vast majority of students at Coffee County High School and Tullahoma High School. We are friends, neighbors, relatives and at time fierce competitors, but that fierce competition leaves no room for cruelty to animals," read a statement from Tullahoma school officials. "Nearly every student in Tullahoma and Manchester is disgusted that any innocent animal is used as an object lesson and all are hopeful that our competition is safe, fair and fun."
"At no time is hate acceptable, and that's what this is," said Dr. Joey Vaughn, principal at Coffee County High School.
Coffee County High School and Tullahoma High School are scheduled to play each other in football on Friday night in a rivalry game known as the "Coffee Pot."
"Whoever this is, they have embarrassed this community," Vaughn said.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is handling the case.
Copyright 2014 WSMV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.
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– There is a long history of rivalry between Coffee County Central and Tullahoma High School in central Tennessee—pranks in years past have included a toilet placed in the middle of a football field—but authorities say things have gone way too far. A dead bobcat was found hanged from a goal post at a Tullahoma football field Tuesday morning, just days before the school's Wildcats were to play in their 89th annual "Coffee Pot" game against Coffee County's Red Raiders, the Manchester Times reports. Tullahoma school officials say police are investigating the "despicable act," which they say doesn't represent the "leadership, citizenry, or the vast majority of students" at both high schools, WSMV reports. "We are friends, neighbors, relatives, and at [times] fierce competitors, but that fierce competition leaves no room for cruelty to animals," say officials at Tullahoma, where the game will go ahead tonight. It's not clear how the animal was killed, but the state's bobcat-hunting season doesn't start until late November, and a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency spokesman tells the Times that killing the animal out of season could result in fines and the loss of the culprit's hunting license. "That is not a good way to treat a critter for a prank, that's for sure," he says. (A dark football story is developing in New Jersey, too.)
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NORRISTOWN, Pa. (Reuters) - The jurors in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial concluded their fourth day of deliberation on Thursday, unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the three charges against the entertainer.
Judge Steven O’Neill in Norristown, Pennsylvania, sent the jurors, many of whom looked exhausted, back to their hotel a few minutes after 9 p.m. on Thursday after praising them for their efforts.
The jury has completed about 40 hours of deliberations, including three consecutive 12-hour days, without reaching an unanimous verdict and will return on Friday.
O’Neill had instructed the jurors to continue trying to deliver a verdict around 11:30 a.m., following a note in which they said they could not agree on a verdict on three counts of aggravated indecent assault.
Cosby, 79, once beloved for his brand of family-friendly comedy, is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, then 31, at his home near Philadelphia in 2004.
Constand and other accusers say Cosby, the star of the 1980s hit TV comedy “The Cosby Show,” often plied them with pills and alcohol before assaulting them in a series of incidents over four decades.
Constand’s allegations are the only ones to result in criminal charges, with many of the others too old to allow for prosecution. Cosby has denied every claim, saying his encounters with Constand and others were consensual.
A hung jury would represent a clear victory for Cosby, who would avoid what could have been years in prison. Prosecutors would have the option of seeking a retrial if the jury cannot reach a verdict.
Following the jury’s morning note, one of Cosby’s accusers, Jewel Allison, began crying. Soon after, Cosby protesters and supporters faced off in verbal confrontations outside the courthouse.
O’Neill rejected a motion from Cosby’s lawyers for a mistrial on Thursday morning. The judge and the lawyers met in private just before 9 p.m. outside the presence of reporters gathered in the courtroom, so it was unclear whether defense lawyers renewed their request.
The jurors have spent days wrestling with which version of the night in question was accurate: Constand’s or Cosby’s. They have spent days asking to have testimony read back, including Constand’s trial testimony as well as the first report she made to police in 2005.
The jury also revisited Cosby’s description of the night from sworn depositions he gave in 2005 and 2006 during a civil lawsuit by Constand and a police interview he conducted in 2005. Cosby did not testify.
Slideshow (19 Images)
Defense lawyers during the trial emphasized discrepancies in Constand’s statements to police in 2005 in an effort to undermine her credibility.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, used her testimony as well as the words of a second accuser, Kelly Johnson, to portray Cosby as a serial predator. Johnson told jurors Cosby sexually assaulted her in strikingly similar fashion in 1996.
In his decade-old depositions, Cosby said he gave Constand Benadryl, a common allergy drug whose side effects can include drowsiness. He called the pills her “friends” without telling her what they were, and admitted to giving other young women Quaaludes, a sedative, in the 1970s. ||||| Bill Cosby arrives at the Montgomery County Courthouse during his sexual assault trial, Thursday, June 15, 2017, in Norristown, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) (Associated Press)
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Jurors in Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial told a judge Thursday they're deadlocked on charges the comedian drugged and molested a woman in 2004, but the judge told them to keep trying to reach a unanimous decision.
The panel deliberated about 30 hours over four days before telling Judge Steven O'Neill they couldn't reach a verdict on any of the three counts against the 79-year-old comedian.
The judge sent them back to the jury room to keep talking.
As deliberations dragged into a fourth day, some jurors have appeared angry and frustrated.
The sequestered jury has been working late into the night since getting the case Monday, pausing a half-dozen times to revisit key evidence, including Cosby's decade-old admissions that he fondled Andrea Constand after giving her pills.
O'Neill has seemed vexed at times as the court staff struggled to answer the jury's requests during deliberations. One batch of requested testimony hadn't even been transcribed yet.
But when jurors asked to stop for the day Wednesday night, O'Neill was effusive with praise — encouraging their diligence as they weigh charges that could put Cosby in prison for the rest of his life.
"This is an incredible jury that has just acted with incredible dignity and fidelity," O'Neill said. "I don't have any higher praise. You have taken your task so seriously."
Cosby is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault. Each carries a maximum 10-year prison term, though the counts could be merged at sentencing if he is convicted.
The case has already helped demolish his nice-guy reputation as America's Dad.
Cosby has wavered between stoic and smiling as he awaits his fate, but gave a brief thumbs-up as jurors listened to a court reporter reread his January 2005 police interview.
In it, he claimed Constand showed no ill effects from the 1 1/2 Benadryl pills he gave her to help her relax, and that she never objected to his behavior during the 2004 encounter at his suburban Philadelphia home.
Constand testified last week that she was paralyzed by the pills and unable to fight Cosby off. Her mother, Gianna Constand, pulled a cloth from her pocket to wipe away tears Wednesday as she listened to the testimony.
Cosby's lawyers maintain Constand was a willing sexual partner.
Some jurors closed their eyes and tilted their heads down as they listened to the police interview. One slunk down in his seat, looking angry.
"Can you find 12 people who will agree? That's the question," said criminal lawyer Alan J. Tauber, who wasn't involved in the case.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.
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For more on Cosby, including trial updates, historical photos, videos and an audio series exploring the case, visit http://www.apnews.com/tag/CosbyonTrial.
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– The jury in Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial is deadlocked, the AP reports. After 30 hours of deliberation over four days, jurors told Judge Steven O'Neill they could not reach a unanimous verdict on any of the three counts of aggravated indecent assault. O'Neill instructed them to keep trying and sent them back to the jury room, where they have been working late into the night while sequestered. Reuters reports they worked 12-hour days Tuesday and Wednesday since getting the case late Monday. Upon hearing the jury's note to the judge, Cosby's lawyers requested a mistrial, but O'Neill said that request was premature. Jurors have requested to revisit key evidence multiple times, which at times has seemed to "vex" O'Neill, per the AP (one batch of testimony jurors wanted to review had not been transcribed yet, for example), but on Wednesday he praised the jury for having "taken your task so seriously." The jurors, too, have seemed "angry and frustrated" at times over the course of deliberations, per the AP. According to BuzzFeed, Cosby "grinned" as the judge read the jury's note and announced jurors were deadlocked. At least one of Cosby's other accusers cried after the note was read.
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Bizarre Twist in Puppy Case: MCC Instructor Fabricated 'Woodstock' Tale, Police Say
By Stephanie Price | 12:30 p.m. April 29, 2016
A McHenry County College adjunct psychology instructor has been charged with a felony in a bizarre twist in the case of Wo odstock, the “abandoned” 3-week-old puppy previously reported found along Route 14.
Hope A. Sanchez, 38, of the 400 block of Woodbine Lane, Fox River Grove, was charged April 28 with disorderly conduct – filing or causing the filing of a false police report, a Class 3 felony, according to Woodstock Police. Her bond was set at $10,000 and she is scheduled to appear in court at 9 a.m. May 12.
After a week-long investigation, Woodstock Police now say Sanchez received the small puppy as a gift from a Woodstock couple. Sanchez then took the puppy to MCC in Crystal Lake, where she teaches a human development class. She told her students she found the puppy sealed in a pillowcase along the roadside, a story police now say was fabricated.
“ The initial report of the dog being found alongside Route 14 in Woodstock has been determined to be unfounded resulting in the ... criminal charge,” Chief Robert Lowen said.
MCC student Natalie Kawell, of Woodstock, volunteered to take the pup to Hoof Woof & Meow Animal Rescue, 129 E. Higgins Road, Gilberts. Kawell did not know the story was allegedly false.
The police investigation revealed a Woodstock couple owns the dog who delivered 10 puppies in the family's apartment. Per the couple's consent, police visited the apartment April 27 and saw the nine remaining puppies, which were similar in appearance and age to the puppy found last week, and determined Woodstock was from the same litter.
After interviewing the couple, police detectives said they learned the couple gave the three-week-old pup to Dr. Sanchez, a therapist, who provides service to one of their family members.
In the meantime, the Woodstock couple allowed McHenry County Animal Control to take custody of the remaining nine puppies, which were then delivered to the care of Hoof Woof & Meow Animal Rescue, where little Woodstock is receiving care in a foster home. The mother of the litter, who purportedly serves as a therapeutic service dog for one of the household members, was not removed from the home.
“ The mother of the puppies was subsequently left at the apartment, as no immediate danger was evident,” Lowen said.
Kawell, the student who took the puppy to Hoof Woof & Animal Rescue, said she was very "taken aback" by the allegation her instructor made up the tale of finding Woodstock along the road. Kawell spoke to Sanchez April 28, before the charges were publicly announced, and the instructor "acknowledged what she had done was wrong," Kawell said.
"I just don't know why she said that," Kawell said.
MCC Interim Vice President Christina Haggerty said college administrators are aware of developments in the case and are addressing the matter.
"Upon learning of this development, we have immediately initiated college procedures related to this personnel issue," Haggerty said. "Please be assured that we are addressing this issue in the most appropriate and timely manner, and we are taking every measure to ensure that there will be no impact on our students, or in the classroom."
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The response from the public has been tremendous since the original, now known-false story broke last week that little Woodstock was placed into a pillowcase, sealed with duct tape and abandoned along Route 14.
To date, Hoof Woof & Meow Animal Rescue has received 40 applications from people wanting to adopt the puppy, according to Kellie Reed, intake and foster coordinator and cofounder of the agency. With arrival of the rest of the litter, which includes six males and four females, Reed is hopeful she will find good homes for the dogs.
Woodstock's mother is a beagle/ Boston Terrier mix and his father is a beagle/ Boston Terrier mix. The puppies will be available for adoption at the end of May.
In addition to Woodstock's litter, the agency has 22 other puppies that will soon be available for adoption. Six puppies are a mix of beagle, pug and Catahoula Leopard dog. Three are Australian Shepherd mix and six are Labrador Retriever mix. Another two orphaned puppies, their breed unknown, will arrive from Memphis, Tenn., this weekend, Reed said.
Anyone interested in adopting a puppy should visit the agency's website www.hoofwoofmeow.org . ||||| A McHenry County College instructor who told her students she found a puppy inside a duct-taped pillowcase along a highway has now been charged by Woodstock police, who say she fabricated the story.
Hope A. Sanchez, 38, of Fox River Grove, was charged Thursday with felony disorderly conduct / filing a false police report, about eight days after she brought the puppy to show her students at MCC, where she is an adjunct psychology professor.
Sanchez, police say, told the class she was riding her motorcycle on U.S. Route 14, east of Illinois Route 47, when she found the puppy, believed to be a boxer or mixed breed, inside a pillowcase sealed with duct tape. A student reported the incident to an animal shelter, which contacted Woodstock police. They investigated the incident and determined that the dog actually had been given to Sanchez and that she was seeking to find a new home for it, police said.
"It was her living arrangements – she has a partner that doesn't want any part of a dog, so she couldn't keep it," Police Chief Robert Lowen said Friday. "Why she chose to concoct a story, I don't know."
Woodstock Police Department Hope A. Sanchez Hope A. Sanchez (Woodstock Police Department)
MCC issued a statement Friday afternoon saying it was initiating college personnel procedures in the case.
"Please be advised we are addressing this issue in the most appropriate and timely manner, and we are taking every measure to ensure that there will no impact on our students or in the classroom," chief communications officer Christina Haggerty said.
Lowen said public interest in the case led to a tip and on Wednesday his officers visited a Woodstock apartment and met with two individuals. Inside, police say they found nine puppies along with the mother, and that the puppies were similar in appearance and age, about five weeks, as to Sanchez's puppy.
Police determined that Sanchez provides services for a family member at the residence, and that she was given the puppy.
Police have brought all 10 puppies to the Hoof, Woof and Meow Animal Rescue at 129 E. Higgins Road in Gilberts, and all are reported to be doing well. The shelter is accepting applications for adoption.
Sanchez is due to appear in court May 12 at the McHenry County Government Center.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter. ||||| CHICAGO (CBS) — A community college instructor has been charged with felony disorderly conduct, after she told her class she found an abandoned puppy inside a duct-taped pillowcase, but it turned out she made up the story.
Woodstock Police began investigating after one of Dr. Hope Sanchez’s students informed police of her story.
Police said Sanchez, an adjunct instructor at a McHenry County College, had told her class she found the puppy in the pillowcase while riding her bike on U.S. Route 14 in Woodstock. She brought the puppy to class, and her students called Hoof Woof and Meow Animal Rescue in Gilberts, which took in the puppy.
After learning about the puppy’s rescue on the news and social media, two people at a Woodstock apartment complex called police and told them the puppy was part of a litter their dog had given birth to in March.
Woodstock Police Chief Bob Lowen said the couple gave one of the puppies to Sanchez, who is a therapist and doctor of psychology, because she was working with their child.
Police were able to confirm the puppy Sanchez claimed to have found was from the couple’s litter, and after questioning Sanchez, prosecutors authorized an arrest warrant for one count of felony disorderly conduct for causing the filing of a false police report.
WBBM 780’s Steve Miller WBBM 780/105.9FM playpause
Lowen said Sanchez admitted making up the story after learning she couldn’t keep the puppy at her home, and she thought her story would convince someone else to adopt him.
“She was completely embarrassed by it, and remorseful to put everybody through all of this stuff,” Lowen said.
Sanchez, of Fox River Grove, turned herself in and posted bail, police said. She was due back in court in McHenry County on May 12.
WBBM’s attempts to reach her have not been successful.
A McHenry County College spokesperson says Sanchez is finishing her third semester as an adjunct professor.
“Upon learning of this development, we immediately initiated college procedures related to this personnel issue. Please be assured that we are addressing this issue in the most appropriate and timely manner, and we are taking every measure to ensure that there will be no impact on our students, or in the classroom,” the college said in a prepared statement.
Hoof Woof and Meow Animal Rescue has since taken in all 10 puppies from the litter, including Woodstock, the puppy that had been given to Sanchez. The puppies will be available for adoption by the end of May. ||||| WOODSTOCK – Police said a story about a puppy, since dubbed Woodstock, being found on the side of the road after being abandoned turned out to be just that – a story.
An animal cruelty investigation by the Woodstock Police Department has found that Woodstock was not abandoned in a pillow case that was duct-taped shut, but rather given to a woman who then concocted the whole story, Police Chief Robert Lowen said.
Hope A. Sanchez, 38, of 407 Woodbine Lane in Fox River Grove, now faces a felonious disorderly conduct charge for allegedly filing or causing the filing of a false police report, police said.
The investigation, which began after the abandonment incident was reported last week, took police to a Woodstock apartment where nine other puppies were found, along with the puppies' mother, according to a department news release.
The two people at the apartment told police one of the 10 puppies was given to a family counselor, Sanchez, who also teaches as an adjunct professor at McHenry County College.
Police said Sanchez apparently took the puppy to an MCC class and told students the made-up story.
"So [it is believed] Sanchez takes it home and for one reason or another can't keep the puppy at her house," Lowen said. "So she takes the puppy to the class she teaches and concocts this story that while she was riding her motorcycle, she saw a pillowcase moving and rescued a puppy."
A student in Sanchez's class called Hoof, Woof, and Meow Animal Rescue, where all 10 puppies are being kept, and then called the Woodstock Police Department. The puppies were relocated to the shelter while the mother, said to be a "therapeutic service dog" for one of the residents of the apartment, was left at the residence. Police said there was no evidence she was in immediate danger.
After police spoke to Sanchez on Wednesday and conferred with the McHenry County State's Attorney's Office on charges, Sanchez on Friday turned herself into Woodstock detectives.
Sanchez posted the $1,000 bond and a court date was scheduled for 9 a.m. May 12.
All 10 puppies are reported to be doing well at the rescue shelter, which is now accepting applications for adoption.
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– In a bizarre turn of events, an Illinois community college adjunct professor who claimed to have found a puppy inside a pillowcase along the highway is now being charged with a felony, the Chicago Tribune reports. Earlier this month, 38-year-old Hope Sanchez brought the 3-week-old puppy to show her psychology class at McHenry County College. She allegedly told her students she found it in a pillowcase sealed with duct tape while riding her motorcycle on US Route 14 in Woodstock. According to CBS Chicago, a student contacted an animal shelter, which took the puppy. A police report regarding what was believed to be a case of animal abuse was filed; reports conflict as to whether the student or the shelter filed the report. The puppy's rescue made the local news, which apparently caught the eye of two Woodstock residents—who informed police they gave the puppy to Sanchez as a gift. Police confronted Sanchez, who allegedly admitted to making up the story in the hope that someone would adopt the puppy. "It was her living arrangements—she has a partner that doesn't want any part of a dog, so she couldn't keep it," Woodstock Police Chief Robert Lowen said Friday. She's now been charged with felony disorderly conduct in connection with the filing of a false police report. Confused? So is Natalie Kawell, the aforementioned student. "I just don't know why she said that," she tells the Woodstock Independent. Sanchez has a May 12 court date, and the college says it has "initiated college procedures related to this personnel issue." (And speaking of dogs, you may not want to hug yours.)
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One sip of a vodka tonic landed a 35-year-old woman in the emergency room, and seven years later, she's still dealing with the damage caused by the drink, according to a new report of her case.
The woman had a rare condition called "quinine-induced thrombotic microangiopathy," which caused a body-wide reaction to quinine, a chemical found in tonic water, the doctors who treated her wrote in the case report, published today (Jan. 4) in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The illness "hit like lightning," said Dr. James George, a hematologist at the University of Oklahoma and the lead author of the report. [Here's a Giant List of the Strangest Medical Cases We've Covered]
At the time of the incident in 2009, the woman told doctors that she had suddenly become ill when driving home from an office party. She developed chills, muscle aches, nausea and abdominal cramps, the doctors wrote.
That night, she ran a fever of 102 degrees Fahrenheit (38.9 degrees Celcius), and her stomach problems persisted. But by the time she went to the emergency room the next morning, her symptoms had improved. At the time, the ER doctors suspected that the woman had viral gastroenteritis — the stomach flu.
But the woman returned to the ER two days later; she still had back pain and had not urinated since she got sick, according to the case report. This time, she was admitted to the hospital, where tests showed that she had experienced kidney damage, according to the report.
The doctors suspected that the woman had thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA), which occurs when blood clots form in the tiny vessels in the body and can be caused by a range of factors, George said.
In her case, however, the cause of TMA wasn't one that doctors often see, such as problems with blood-clotting mechanisms or a particular type of E. coli infection, George said.
Quinine, the chemical found in tonic water, can also cause TMA, but George said the woman told him that she didn't take quinine pills or drink gin and tonics. (The Food and Drug Administration banned quinine pills in 2007 because of severe reactions linked to them.)
It was only then that the woman recalled having a sip of a vodka tonic at her office holiday party the night she got sick, George said.
In addition, she also realized that she had a similar reaction 16 months earlier, when she drank a vodka tonic at a wedding and also had to go to the hospital, according to the report. That time, however, her major symptom was a severe headache, the doctors wrote.
When a person has quinine-induced TMA, he or she has a particular type of "auto-antibody" in the blood, George told Live Science. Auto-antibodies, which are found in people with autoimmune disease, attack the body as if it were a "foreign" invader.
Normally, these particular auto-antibodies are not very active in the body, George said.
But when the person ingests quinine, the chemical binds to these auto-antibodies and causes them to change their shape, George said. In their new shape, they're able to attack cells in the body aggressively, inflicting serious damage, he said. Once the quinine is cleared from the body, the auto-antibodies return to their harmless state, he added; only the damage to the body is left. [The 16 Strangest Medical Cases of 2016]
"It's like a tornado going through town, and then you spend a month cleaning up," George said.
Indeed, George noted that it was likely that by the time the woman had gone to the emergency room, the quinine had already left her body. However, the auto-antibodies had enough time to do severe damage to her kidneys, in particular, he said. The kidneys are particularly vulnerable to damage from TMA because they have an abundance of very small and delicate blood vessels, he added.
The woman was the 19th patient that George had seen with quinine-induced TMA over a 15-year period, he said. For someone to have a reaction this severe to the concentration of quinine in tonic water, he or she would have to be extremely sensitive to the chemical, he said.
Currently, there is no specific treatment for quinine-induced TMA, George said. The woman did spend about a week in the hospital, but during this time, she was not acutely ill, he said. Because of the damage to her kidneys, she had to undergo dialysis for two months, according to the report.
At a recent follow-up visit seven years later, the woman told doctors that she was doing well and was able to fulfill her responsibilities with her family and her career. She is taking medications for her kidneys, and she often has trouble thinking of "particular words during conversations and [had] to stop in the middle of her sentences to 'wait for [her] brain to catch up,'" she said, according to the report. The damage from the auto-antibodies also might have affected some of the small blood vessels in her brain, George noted.
Originally published on Live Science. ||||| Abstract
Case presentation: A 35 year old white female was in excellent health until the sudden onset of fever, chills, headache, myalgias, abdominal and flank pain, nausea and vomiting while driving home from a banquet. She went to an ER the following day; her hematocrit was 39% and platelet count 132,000/µL. She was given IV fluids, antiemetics, and sent home. Two days later, she returned to the ER as her symptoms persisted and she had not urinated since they began; her hematocrit was 32%, platelet count 54,000/µL, creatinine 9.3 mg/dL, AST 350, ALT 274, LDH 2402. Due to anemia, thrombocytopenia, and acute kidney injury (AKI), plasma exchange (PEX) was begun because of suspicion of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura; Shiga toxin-induced hemolytic uremic syndrome was also considered. Hemodialysis was begun as her creatinine rose to 10.5 mg/dL and anuria persisted. We saw her the following day; drug-induced TMA was considered to be the most likely etiology because of the very sudden, severe onset with anuric AKI. However her only medicine was Singulair for asthma, which she had taken daily for several years. She had never taken quinine tablets or drunk gin and tonic; then she asked us, "What about vodka and tonic?". She had had "a sip" of vodka and tonic at the banquet; it was a favorite drink. Her previous vodka and tonic was 16 months previously; she had then developed sudden severe headache, neck pain, fever and chills causing suspicion of meningitis. Head CT scan and spinal fluid were normal; blood counts remained normal; creatinine increased transiently to 1.7; an association with vodka and tonic was not suspected. This history confirmed the quinine etiology of her TMA. Subsequently she was demonstrated to have quinine-dependent antibodies reactive with platelets and neutrophils (BloodCenter of Wisconsin). Genetic sequencing (U of Iowa) revealed no mutations associated with complement-mediated TMA. PEX was continued until her platelet count was normal (12 days); hemodialysis was required for 2 months. Five years after TMA, she continues to have hypertension, fatigue and arthralgias. Her creatinine clearance is 54 ml/min/1.73m2, indicating Stage 3A chronic kidney disease.
Systematic literature review: A search of 12 databases for reports of adverse reactions to quinine identified 118 patients with definite or probable evidence for a causal association of quinine with idiosyncratic adverse reactions. Most quinine reactions were related to ingestion of tablets, but 24 patients had adverse reactions caused by quinine-containing beverages. Three patients had TMA, similar to our patient; 2 of these 3 patients also had disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC); one also had liver function abnormalities. Seven patients had isolated severe thrombocytopenia, 1 patient had granulomatous hepatitis, 1 patient had retina toxicity with vision loss; 1 patient had anaphylaxis, and 11 patients had cutaneous reactions (Table). Many patients had multiple recurrent episodes before the quinine etiology was discovered. All patients recovered, but no reports described long-term follow-up.
Conclusion: Our patient's experience and our review published reports highlight the potential for severe, systemic adverse reactions caused by quinine-containing beverages. The reactions may involve multiple organ systems. Long-term outcomes are not described in published reports, but our patient has chronic kidney disease 5 years following her acute TMA. The small amounts of quinine in beverages (typically 80 mg/l) are sufficient to cause severe immunologic adverse reactions. Quinine is also added to cocktails to create fluorescence, then described as "Shocktails". A thorough history for exposure to quinine is critical.
24 previously published patients with acute quinine-induced reactions
Patients Adverse Events 1 TMA (3 episodes), also DIC 1 TMA (6 episodes), also fever, chills, neutropenia, DIC, liver function abnormalities 1 TMA (1 episode) 7 Thrombocytopenia (3 patients, multiple episodes), nadir platelet count (median) 2000/µL 1 Granulomatous hepatitis, neutropenia (multiple episodes) 1 Retinal toxicity, vision loss 1 Anaphylactic shock (2 episodes) 11 Dermatologic disorders: fixed drug eruptions (7), toxic epidermal necrolysis (1), urticaria (1), photosensitivity, erythematous lesions (1), erythematosus rash (1) Table. ||||| While driving home from a party, a 35-year-old previously healthy woman had a sudden onset of chills, myalgias, nausea, and abdominal cramping. That night fever, explosive nonbloody diarrhea, frequent vomiting, and abdominal and low back pain developed.
Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at NEJM.org.
Dr. Nester reports receiving fees for consulting and serving on an advisory board from Achillion Pharmaceuticals. No other potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported. ||||| We've ingested many hard-to-pronounce ingredients in our lives, and quinine is definitely one of them. Pronounced kwahy-nahyn, this bitter alkaloid isn't one of those suspicious, scary ingredients lurking in your favorite gummy candies -- actually, we have quinine to thank for our favorite cocktail, the gin and tonic (among other things).
Quinine was originally used as a malaria treatment during the days of colonial India. Naturally found in the bark of the cinchona tree found in the Peruvian Andes, one legend of its discovery claims that a South American Indian suffering from malaria took a drink from a pool of water contaminated with cinchona tree and it cured his fever. Regardless of exactly how it was discovered, the first documentation of its use as malaria is recorded in 1630 in Peru. It continued to be used for its antimalarial properties until the 1920s, when other drugs with fewer side effects took its place, like chloroquine. That's almost 300 years of use. And somewhere along the way, quinine found its way into our cocktails.
We spoke to Jordan Silbert -- founder of the fancy soda and tonic company, Q Drinks -- and here's how he recounts quinine's transition from treatment to cocktail:
In 1825 clever -- or drunk, depending on how you look at it -- British officers in the Indian Army improved this bitter medicine by mixing it with soda water, sugar, and gin. Instead of drinking the medicine with their troops at dawn, the officers figured out how to enjoy it at cocktail hour. The original gin and tonic was born, and it soon became the quintessential drink of the British Empire.
Today, quinine is rarely used for medicinal purposes. The FDA recently banned its use as a cure for leg cramps due to the negative side effects that can result from ingesting large amounts, such as headaches and fever. Some bad reactions to quinine have even been fatal.
Scary, we know. But don't let that deter you from ordering a gin and tonic next time you're at the bar, because tonic water contains very low levels of quinine. A glass of tonic water holds roughly 20 mg of quinine, whereas a dose for the treatment of leg cramps would be in the 200 to 300 mg range.
What you should do instead is find a bar near you that has a black light and order yourself a tonic cocktail to revel in its beautiful, iridescent blue glow thanks to its fluorescence quantum yield. (You'll have to look that one up.) That's right folks, not only does quinine treat malaria, but it knows how to party, too.
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– This wasn't your usual hangover. A single sip of a vodka tonic at an office party led to seven years (and counting) of kidney problems for one woman. The cocktail sent the 35-year-old to the emergency room with a mysterious affliction. It would be days before doctors realized the source of her illness was quinine-induced thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) caused by the tonic water in her drink. Dr. James George, the lead author of a case report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, tells Live Science the doctors were initially baffled by the affliction, which "hit like lighting." After the 2009 party, the woman suffered cramps, chills, nausea, and a fever. After three days of being unable to urinate, tests showed kidney damage and it appeared TMA was the cause. But the usual sources of TMA, which happens when blood clots form in one's capillaries, were not there. Then the woman remembered the cocktail, and falling ill 16 months prior after sipping a vodka tonic. Quinine-induced TMA is rare: A 2015 report on her case in Blood explained a search for patients sickened by quinine turned up just 118. In these infrequent cases, quinine triggers an auto-antibody in the blood that attacks the body. Even after the quinine is gone, the damage remains. George says his patient underwent kidney dialysis for two months, and the Blood report described her as experiencing hypertension, fatigue, joint pain, and Stage 3A chronic kidney disease five years later. She continues to take kidney meds. (Quinine made this list of 11 anti-aphrodisiac foods.)
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These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| The offline job market is terrible, but it's reassuring to know that anyone with a cool dog and lots of stylish clothes can ride social media fandom all the way to successful Internet entrepreneurship. Menswear Dog, a Shiba Inu who wears suits for humans, is fetching upward of $15,000 a month for his owners by playing doggie dress-up.
Yes, you read that right. Yena Kim and David Fung are pulling down a barking-mad six-figure income all because they’ve made clothing their 5-year-old doge, Bodhi, a professional pursuit. “When we first dressed him up for fun [in spring 2013], he started posing for us, and doing, like, Blue Steel and Magnum,” Fung says. From there, the graphic designer and his fashion designer girlfriend posted the images to Tumblr, and Bodhi’s alter ego, Menswear Dog, was born.
Loading #latergram of the MWD family at @clubmonaco's flagship reopening. They know how to throw one helluva party #cm5thave View on Instagram
While the blog began as a pet project, photos of the bespoke Shiba soon gained so much notoriety online that big-name brands came knocking. Partnerships with Coach, American Apparel, Brooks Brothers, Salvatore Ferragamo, and Purina—and the checks that followed—allowed the couple to quit their jobs in April 2013. Fast Company profiled the finer earnings of the canine corporation and proved that owning a dog the Internet loves can be an astoundingly profitable venture.
Between the photo contracts, guest appearances, and sponsored posts on Tumblr and Instagram, a good month for Menswear Dog earns the couple somewhere in the ballpark of $15,000. When I asked what a bad month looks like, Fung and Kim say they haven’t seen less than $10,000 in "quite some time."
For now, the couple is enjoying the “financial cushion of a (mildly) famous pet,” even though they acknowledge this type of millennial career isn’t one that will last forever. Perhaps after Bodhi’s popularity has run its course, the two can teach workshops about how to exploit your pet’s cuteness for digital fame and fortune.
If that doesn't work, they can try to earn six figures twerking on Vine.
H/T Gawker | Photo via tamaiyuya/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
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– One New York couple has a pet project that's simultaneously ridiculous and ridiculously lucrative: Former designers Yena Kim and David Fung are raking in between $10,000 and $15,000 a month dressing up and photographing their 5-year-old Shiba Inu—raking in cash to the point that the Daily Dot reports that the couple have quit their day jobs to photograph their pup full time. Bodhi—named after Patrick Swayze's surfer character in Point Break, Fast Company reports—happens to be able to sit still, wear (mostly Fung's) clothes and even glasses, and apparently look ridiculously cute doing it. Kim and Fung first started photographing Bodhi in the spring of 2013, more as a "gag" than anything else, Fung says, but their photos touched a nerve on social media. Bodhi, operating under the online name Menswear Dog, boasts roughly 150,000 followers on Instagram and 224,000 on Tumblr, and 91,000 likes on Facebook. He brings in the big bucks thanks to ad campaigns for the likes of Coach, American Apparel, Brooks Brothers, Purina (with whom they have a monthly contract), and others. He has also graced the pages of GQ, Nylon, Time, Esquire, and more. The Menswear Dog book—because of course there is one—is due out next month. (One man recently gave his dog mouth-to-snout CPR.)
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These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| A Comcast executive said he expects the company will roll out "usage-based billing"—what most people call "data caps"—to all of its customers within five years.
Speaking with investors today (transcript), Comcast Executive VP David Cohen said, "I would predict that in five years Comcast at least would have a usage-based billing model rolled out across its footprint."
Comcast, which has about 20 million broadband customers, has rolled out caps to some of the areas that it serves, including Huntsville and Mobile, Alabama; Atlanta, Augusta, and Savannah, Georgia; Central Kentucky; Maine; Jackson, Mississippi; Knoxville and Memphis, Tenessee; and Charleston, South Carolina. Customers generally get 300GB of data per month, with $10 charges for each extra 50GB. (During the trial period, customers can exceed the cap for three months out of any 12-month period without incurring extra fees.)
Comcast told Ars last November that "98 percent of our customers nationally don’t use 300GB/month." Cohen today said that Comcast will raise the limit over time so that the large majority of users won't go over it, suggesting that 500GB is a possible monthly limit five years from now.
"I would also predict that the vast majority of our customers would never be caught in the buying the additional buckets of usage, that we will always want to say the basic level of usage at a sufficiently high level that the vast majority of our customers are not implicated by the usage-based billing plan," Cohen said. "And that number may be 350—that may be 350 gig a month today, it might be 500 gig a month in five years."
When asked if customers will get a "reasonably large number of usage plans" to choose from, Cohen said he doesn't want a situation where "80 percent of our customers are implicated by usage-based billing and are all buying different packets of usage. I don't think that's the model that we are heading toward, but five years ago I don't know that I would have heard of something called an iPad. So very difficult to make predictions."
Comcast has offered a few different data package options during its trial period. Some trials varied the caps from 300GB to 600GB depending on which speed tier customers paid for. "We don't want to chase our customers away, so we are rolling out different models, different approaches," Cohen said. "We are surveying our customers.
Comcast is attempting to purchase Time Warner Cable, which has rolled out 30GB plans in exchange for $5 off the monthly bill. Those plans are optional, though, and most TWC customers have stuck with their unlimited data packages.
The government could conceivably require Comcast to maintain unlimited plans in Time Warner Cable territory, but Cohen doesn't think it will. "I doubt it [will be a factor] in the merger review because it really has nothing to do with our transaction. It's a generic industry-related issue," he said.
However, Cohen said he "wouldn't be stunned" if the FCC considers data caps in its deliberations on net neutrality rules "because people have tried to make this an open Internet issue." ||||| Comcast is considering imposing monthly usage limits for all of its Internet customers.
David Cohen, executive vice president of America's largest cable company, predicted at a conference Wednesday that in five years' time, the company will have "a usage-based billing model rolled out across its footprint."
That means Comcast (CMCSA) customers could only consume a certain amount of data before facing extra charges for going over their limits.
Cohen said the company would aim to set the limit at a level where "the vast majority of our customers" wouldn't be affected. He speculated that the limit might be set at 350 gigabytes or 500 gigabytes per month. A cap of that size would allow you to download or stream between 70 and 125 HD movies, which typically run about four or five gigabytes in size.
Related: 4 ways a fast lane could change your Internet service
Cohen said he doesn't think Comcast will ever have a system in which "80% of customers" are impacted by data limits and are forced to pay for additional usage, though he added that it's "very difficult to make predictions."
"I don't think that's the model that we are heading toward, but five years ago, I don't know that I would have heard of something called an iPad," he said.
Comcast is currently experimenting with 300 GB data limits in some markets, charging those customers $10 for each additional block of 50 GB. There's also a 5 GB "flexible data" option for light users. Those plans were introduced after the company scrapped its hard 250 GB monthly cap back in 2012.
The move could also affect current Time Warner Cable (TWC) customers should the companies' pending merger be approved by regulators. If the deal is approved, the combined group will be the country's dominant provider of television channels and Internet connections, reaching roughly one in three American homes.
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– Comcast is reviving the idea of Internet data caps, and intends to roll them out to all of its customers in the coming years. At a conference yesterday, Executive VP David Cohen said he envisioned implementing "a usage-based billing model" for everyone within five years. Customers would have to pay a fee if they used too much bandwidth in a month—though Cohen said the cap might be as high as 350 gigabytes or even 500 gigabytes, CNN reports. Cohen added that Comcast would likely keep increasing that cap over time. "We will always want to say the basic level of usage at a sufficiently high level that the vast majority of our customers are not implicated," he said. Comcast is already experimenting with 300-gigabyte caps in some markets, which it once told Ars Technica affect only 2% of users. Basically the move is a shot across the bow at cord cutters, observes Amadou Diallo at Forbes. Comcast "could essentially say, 'Want to drop our TV service? Go ahead. But it’s going to cost you.'"
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Etsy, the online marketplace for buying and selling all things quirky and handmade, is also home to a vibrant witch community.
Those witches are fuming over Etsy’s new policy of rigorously enforcing its existing ban on sales of “metaphysical services,” which is to say spells and hexes. As The Daily Dot reported, previously witches and other purveyors of the supernatural got away with selling such services as long as they didn’t guarantee results and also offered the buyer a tangible product. You could sell a spell offering (but not guaranteeing) better sex, for instance, if you included actual photos of the spell being cast as part of the purchase. Evidently that’s no longer the case.
Etsy Where will shoppers turn for their next priapic wand?
“Any metaphysical service that promises or suggests it will effect a physical change (e.g., weight loss) or other outcome (e.g., love, revenge) is not allowed, even if it delivers a tangible item,” Etsy’s policy reads.
In response, a small group of witches—no, not a coven—has taken up an online petition to stop what it views as a new ban on its merchants.
Etsy tells Quartz its policy has always prohibited selling services and that it didn’t change the rules; it just clarified them.
While the public may chuckle, there is actually a very small, but apparently growing, Pagan and Wiccan population in the US that may or may not identify as witches. In the absence of a local witch outfitter, Etsy offers this group a way to buy and sell their wares to each other and the general public.
The Etsy petition claims the ban is religious discrimination.
“This is discrimination against Pagan and Wiccan faiths, as this ban will target certain sellers and items,” it states. “Many stores have already been closed!”
Comments left on the petition echoed the sentiment. “I think it’s awful that you are discriminating against the Wiccan, Pagan, and all Metaphysical communities,” wrote one petitioner from California. “Are you going to ban Kabbalah items next?”
A spokesperson for Etsy, which went public in April, says the reasons for the “clarification” of its policy are twofold: It wants to reiterate that it doesn’t allow services, and it’s trying to ”protect our community from business practices that prey upon vulnerable and desperate shoppers—such as those seeking a treatment for cancer or infertility, or those with self-esteem issues who are seeking a spell for weight loss or beauty enhancement (think penis or breast enlargement).”
“At Etsy, we believe in freedom of thought, expression and religion,” the spokesperson said. “When we make policy decisions, we strive to strike the right balance between creative freedom, Etsy’s values, and establishing a safe marketplace for members.”
Etsy isn’t the only marketplace to ban metaphysical goods and services.
Previously many witches congregated on eBay, until it banned spells, potions, and other products back in 2012.
But whither to witches, and seekers of their remedies if they can’t sell on Etsy?
Amazon has been so eager to snap up Etsy merchants that it has dispatched emails inviting them to sell on its new “Handmade” marketplace. In the very least, it would offer more convenience: Your next love potion could delivered to you by drone in thirty minutes or less. ||||| Etsy, the online marketplace for handcrafted goods, has long hosted a thriving community of witches, tarot readers, and other spiritual and supernatural vendors. After eBay banned the sale of spells and the like in 2012, it became one of the most popular places for these types of vendors to make a living.
But many who sell supernatural goods on the site are claiming Etsy has been on something of a witch hunt (sorry), changing its rules about the sale of metaphysical services and shutting down stores without warning.
“Swathes of us have now had our sales and shop views tank, and there is great distress in the metaphysical community,” one vendor, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Daily Dot in an email.
The witch explained that under Etsy’s previous rules, spells and hexes were allowed to be sold, as long as they fit two criteria: They didn’t guarantee results, and they produced something tangible. So you could sell a tarot reading as long as it came with, say, a digital download, or a candle that could be used for casting spells, as long as you didn't guarantee that the spell would actually work. Earlier this year, for instance, I bought a sex spell off Etsy , which came with both photographs of the spell being cast, and a disclaimer that no spell is guaranteed to work.
Recently, however, Etsy quietly adopted new guidelines that prohibit the sale of spells and hexes. According to its new rules, “any metaphysical service that promises or suggests it will effect a physical change (e.g., weight loss) or other outcome (e.g., love, revenge) is not allowed, even if it delivers a tangible item.”
Etsy didn't include a date with its new guidelines, so it's unclear when, exactly, the policy change took place. Yet the Daily Dot's source says that Etsy was still enforcing the old rules at the beginning of the month. “Up until June, many sellers had been contacted by Etsy warning them their listings would be deleted and/or shop suspended unless they updated these kinds of things to include something tangible," she wrote.
Even if the witches had a disclaimer saying these services were “for entertainment purposes only,” or that a spell was not guaranteed to work, listing something as a “love spell” vaguely suggests that you could find love by casting it.
But instead of warning vendors about the upcoming change, Etsy seems to have pulled the plug overnight. Many vendors say stores began to be shut down last week, and on June 9 our source was sent an email by “Etsy Marketplace Integrity” implying a change had been made.
“We’ve recently clarified our spells-related policies in a way that impacts your shop,” the email read. “Because of this, your shop has been suspended.”
When asked for comment, Etsy spokesperson Sara Cohen said in an email that the website “recently” updated its policies, though she declined to give an exact date.
“When we make policy decisions, we strive to strike the right balance between creative freedom, Etsy's values, and establishing a safe marketplace for members," she wrote.
Cohen also insisted that Etsy has been contacting affected sellers “to help them make sure items they sell comply with our guidelines." She said the website is shutting down only the shops that violate these new policies.
An Etsy forum on the subject has over 850 responses. Some witches are annoyed that Etsy had given no warning that the site's policies on witchcraft were about to change. Others were frustrated at Etsy for ditching the community that had previously been welcomed on the site with open arms.
“Etsy has definitely made a lot of money off the sale of these ‘spelled’ items, so they have had to know they were being sold. They even had a category for Spell listings which would prove that point,” wrote one vendor.
Screengrab via Jaya Saxena
Screengrab via Jaya Saxena
Within Etsy’s witch and metaphysical community, there are a few theories as to why Etsy would have adopted the change. One has to do with Etsy having gone public in April. Additionally, while the site focuses on selling handmade, unique goods, it has always been an easy place for resellers and counterfeiters to set up. Etsy is now facing a lawsuit from investors over items that possibly violate trademarks, and it’s possibly that the website has become more strict about just what can be sold.
While these theories are all sound, many metaphysical sellers believe that Etsy has a cultural bias against their goods. One forum user compared the sale of crystals that could be used in meditative rituals to the sale of a rosary or a cross. Both items represent spirituality, but neither make the claim that they will heal your ills or help you speak to God.
“Etsy seems to be only targeting those items of a pagan/occult nature while allowing items of certain faiths traditionally used for protection like St. Christopher medals, to still be marketed,” said another vendor in an email. “Personally I think it's probably unintended ignorance and failure to consider and think through what banning all spiritual, energetic and magickal claims will really mean.”
“Etsy seems to be only targeting those items of a pagan/occult nature while allowing items of certain faiths traditionally used for protection, like St. Christopher medals, to still be marketed.”
Admins in the forums insist that the sales of things like oils, incense, crystals and candles for use in spells are still okay, as long as they don’t claim any magical properties. For many witches, however, that’s not good enough.
“The entire point of buying stones/herbs/oils is for their metaphysical effects in my community!,” wrote one vendor. “If I can't list these correspondences, then why would any witch/pagan buy them from my shop? Witches and Pagans want to buy stones from people with knowledge about their magickal properties.”
There is already a petition to get Etsy to reopen these shops, with many sellers accusing the website of religious discrimination.
“I give the example of the seller who just this week was told to change the title of her listing from 'Archangel Protection Spell Kit' to ‘Archangel Protection PRAYER Kit’ by an Etsy rep,” claimed one vendor. “A spell and a prayer are basically the same thing, putting an intention out into the Universe.”
Discrimination or not, if you’re looking to hex your ex-girlfriend, you’ll have to start looking elsewhere. Or alternatively, you could always band together with these witches and cast a spell on Etsy.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons/Examination of a Witch (1853) by T. H. Matteson | Remix by Jason Reed
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– Back in 2012, when eBay banned the sale of spells, potions, and other metaphysical goods, many witches and pagans set up shop with Etsy instead. But they're going to have to shuffle their goods and services yet again, now that Etsy—which went public in April—has quietly banned the sale of these items, reports the Daily Dot. It used to be that such items were allowed so long as they were tangible goods and did not promise efficacy. But now that's not even enough, according to the new guidelines: "Any metaphysical service that promises or suggests it will effect a physical change (e.g., weight loss) or other outcome (e.g., love, revenge) is not allowed, even if it delivers a tangible item." The pagan and Wiccan community is claiming cultural and even religious bias, pointing to the continued sale of more-traditional prayer items such as rosaries and crosses on Etsy. "I give the example of the seller who just this week was told to change the title of her listing from 'Archangel Protection Spell Kit' to 'Archangel Protection PRAYER Kit' by an Etsy rep," one vendor says. "A spell and a prayer are basically the same thing, putting an intention out into the Universe." Etsy, meanwhile, responds that it simply wishes to clarify that it's not in the business of selling services, and wants to "protect our community from business practices that prey upon vulnerable and desperate shoppers—such as those seeking a treatment for cancer or infertility." Amazon, meanwhile, is more than happy to take the new merchants, reports Quartz. (This witch says the TSA fired her for her religious beliefs.)
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Bernie Sanders's latest campaign ad shows just how differently he and Hillary Clinton see political change happening.
Federal jobs for felons: Why 'ban the box' could soon be a thing of the past
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont (center) is joined by his wife, Jane (right), and grandchildren, Dylan, 4, and Ella, 7, onstage after speaking at a town hall meeting at the Orpheum Theater in Sioux City, Iowa, Jan. 19, 2016.
Bernie Sanders has just released a sweeping, lump-in-your-throat campaign ad that he hopes will push him over the top to victory in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Whether that happens remains to be seen, of course. But one thing about the new spot seems certain: It shows how Senator Sanders and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton have fundamentally different visions of the nature of the American political system.
More specifically, it shows where Sanders and Mrs. Clinton disagree about how political change happens, and the president’s role in that process.
OK, that’s a lot to hang on a one-minute video that features virtually no words, so let’s back up and start from the beginning. The Sanders spot is a closer. In other words, it’s the sort of political ad that campaigns issue when voting is only a short time away. It’s meant to solidify inchoate feelings into a positive candidate image, pushing supporters to the polls.
Music is maybe the spot's most distinctive feature. It is set to the unmistakable strains of the Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel song “America,” from the opening lyric, “Let us be lovers/We’ll marry our fortunes together.”
Distinctly American scenes – small towns, tugboats, skylines, and farms – flash by, changing with each beat of the song.
Then scenes of Sanders rallies begin appearing. Suddenly, it cuts to a flashing montage of people who have sent their photo to the Sanders campaign as a sign of support. Hundreds of them.
“Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike/They’ve all come to look for America,” goes the song.
Then it’s all Bernie, with footage from his raucous rallies over the “All come to look for America” chorus.
Message: It’s all about the people, the people who will power the political revolution, the political revolution that will result in free college and Medicare for all in America. Among other things.
As other pundits have noted, Sanders is positioning himself as this election cycle’s Barack Obama, someone who’s promising inspiration and hope and change, without talking a lot about that change’s viability.
“Bernie Sanders is increasingly sounding an optimistic, inspirational message that promises a bright, progressive future that can, and will, be secured through mobilizing the masses, particularly younger voters, a vision that Clinton surely sees (just as she saw Barack Obama’s vision) as vague, airy, and naive,” writes left-leaning Greg Sargent Thursday in his "Plum Line" blog at The Washington Post.
Comparing Sanders’s “America” ad to Clinton’s latest spot is instructive in this context. “Airy” is not a word you’d use to describe the latter. It’s called “This House,” and it’s mostly about the burdens and responsibilities of the person who calls 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue home.
“The person who lives here has to solve problems as big as the world,” it begins. Then it cuts to a shot of Navy fighter aircraft launching from a carrier.
The ad wants to make sure you know that Clinton believes she is up to this job. It’s more traditional, in the sense that it ticks through her biography, reminding viewers that she’s been first lady, a senator, and secretary of State. (Has anyone forgotten this?)
It mentions existing programs, such as Medicare, and says Clinton will prevent them from being “privatized.” It’s not about mobilizing the power of the people; it’s about day-by-day political trench warfare as it is actually lived in D.C.
“She’ll stop the Republicans from ripping all of our progress away,” it concludes.
That’s the choice. Sanders is pushing inspiration, and what he terms a political revolution that would eventually produce a swerve in the political direction of the country. Clinton is talking in more practical terms, about how she’s already prepared to do the job of president as she sees it. ||||| The new television ad that was released by Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersOvernight Health Care: States fight Trump on non-ObamaCare plans | Analysis looks into surprise medical bills | Left hits industry group working against single payer Overnight Energy: Trump Cabinet officials head west | Zinke says California fires are not 'a debate about climate change' | Perry tours North Dakota coal mine | EPA chief meets industry leaders in Iowa to discuss ethanol mandate Sen. Sanders blasts Zinke: Wildfires 'have everything to do with climate change' MORE's (I-Vt.) campaign, based on Simon and Garfunkel's song "America," is the most brilliant and appropriate campaign ad of the year so far, and may be the most important campaign ad since President Reagan's "Morning in America" ad.
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The ad perfectly captures the vision and spirit of the Sanders campaign and the mood of an America today that is the stuff of diverse people yearning to come together for common dreams and aspirations, at a time when many voters are hurting and hungering for a better life. The ad brings together music and video behind the Sanders message in a way that is fun to watch and memorable in substance and tone.
In his ad, Sanders, like Simon and Garfunkel in their song, paints a portrait of a people seeking a better and nobler and more hopeful nation. There is a poetry and romance to the ad, as there is a poetry and romance to politics at its best — something we see far too rarely in our politics of negativity, insults and attacks. There is no romance or passion to Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonHillicon Valley: FBI fires Strzok after anti-Trump tweets | Trump signs defense bill with cyber war policy | Google under scrutiny over location data | Sinclair's troubles may just be beginning | Tech to ease health data access | Netflix CFO to step down Signs grow that Mueller is zeroing in on Roger Stone Omarosa claims president called Trump Jr. a 'f--- up' for releasing Trump Tower emails MORE, Sanders's rival for the Democratic nomination, attacking Sanders for supporting single-payer healthcare, which most Democrats support, and becoming the candidate of ObamaCare. There is nothing uplifting when Republican front-runner Donald Trump Donald John TrumpAl Gore: Trump has had 'less of an impact on environment so far than I feared' Trump claims tapes of him saying the 'n-word' don't exist Trump wanted to require staffers to get permission before writing books: report MORE campaigns by insulting disabled people and calling women names such as "slobs" and "bimbos." There is a romance, passion, poetry and music to Sanders offering a long list of ways he wants to lift up America and change our politics, bringing it all together in a 60-second ad based on an iconic song with a video that shows Americans looking for America together.
The "America" ad is one that voters will want to see many times, unlike most political campaign ads, and it projects a message that is positive, uplifting and unifying, which embodies the spirit that we Americans want in our politics and our country.
When you watch the ad, think about it. I bet you will watch it more than once, as I did, and while they will not admit it, the campaigns of other candidates will wish they had thought of it themselves.
Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Chief Deputy Majority Whip Bill Alexander (D-Ark.). He holds an LL.M. degree in international financial law from the London School of Economics. Contact him at [email protected]. ||||| The campaign of Bernie Sanders debuted an inspirational ad on Thursday that features Simon & Garfunkel’s 1968 song “America” as its soundtrack, but a spokesman for the candidate said it was not meant as an endorsement from the duo.
The spot has drawn strong reviews from ad makers, but also was the source of a fracas between the Sanders campaign and one of Hillary Clinton’s most prominent supporters.
Michael Briggs, a spokesman for Sanders, said that the music was properly licensed. A representative for Garfunkel said that singer gave his approval, while a rep for Simon, who also wrote the song, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The one-minute ad features scenes from Sanders’ campaign rallies, along with images of everyday Americans at work in offices and on farms. The skyline of Des Moines is shown in one glimpse.
The campaign introduced the spot in a press release early on Thursday. “‘They’ve all come to look for America,’ sing Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel in their classic folk rock anthem as faces flash on the screen of people backing Bernie’s insurgent campaign for president.
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“In Iowa alone, Sanders has spoken to more than 40,000 people at rallies and town halls since his campaign began last spring.”
The spot will run in Iowa and New Hampshire beginning on Friday.
The ad already has stirred up tensions between Sanders supporters and backers of Clinton’s.
David Brock, who founded the pro-Clinton PAC Correct the Record, told the Associated Press that the spot was a “slight” to the Democratic base, suggesting that it features too few people of color.
“From this ad it seems black lives don’t matter much to Bernie Sanders,” Brock was quoted as saying.
That drew a rebuke from the Sanders campaign, which issued a statement calling Brock a “mudslinger.”
Briggs said that Sanders “doesn’t need lectures on civil rights and racial issues from David Brock, the head of a Hillary Clinton super PAC. Twenty-five years ago it was Brock – a mud-slinging, right-wing extremist – who tried to destroy Anita Hill, a distinguished African-American law professor. He later was forced to apologize for his lies about her. Today, he is lying about Sen. Sanders. It’s bad enough that Hillary Clinton is raising millions in special-interest money in her super PACS. It is worse that she would hire a mudslinger like David Brock. She should be ashamed of her association with Brock.”
Campaigns have been anxious to adopt classic American rock and folk songs at rallies and in ad spots. Republicans in particular have run into trouble from artists who claim that they did not give campaigns their approval to use their works, often with the worry that it would make it seem that they were giving their endorsement. Donald Trump, for instance, ran Neil Young’s “Rockin in the Free World” at his announcement speech in June. Young, however, said he never gave the campaign his approval and instead supports Sanders.
Supporters of Clinton and Sanders are planning a series of events in the next week before the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses.
On Monday, Chelsea Clinton is scheduled to visit Los Angeles for a series of fundraisers, including an event at the offices of Frank Gehry, with tickets starting at $250 per person.
On Tuesday, Sarah Silverman, Kevin Nealon, George Lopez and Paul Rodriguez are headlining a fundraiser at Jamie Masada’s Laugh Factory in Hollywood. Sanders will not be there, but each of the comics is expected to perform. ||||| The media is raving (“Perfect“; “Magnificent“)about the new ad by Democratic Party presidential candidate Bernie Sanders that features a song from a half-century ago by Sixties folk-rock icons Simon and Garfunkel called, “America.” The ad is reportedly targeted at voters in the first-in the-nation states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
The studiously crafted one minute ad has no voice over–just edits from ‘America’ over staged scenes and shots from Sanders campaign events.
The Simon and Garfunkel song is an ancient classic. Its use by Sanders is a revealing choice by the aging (74 years old) Sixties radical who is trying to appeal to voters who are focused on their future in the 21st Century.
More revealing is the choice of people featured and not featured in the one-minute ad.
There are no Americans in uniform featured in the Sanders ad; no military, no police and no firefighters. The war on terror and those serving on the frontlines including servicemen and women and first responders don’t matter in Bernie Sanders’ America. (Note: two police officers can be briefly glimpsed behind Sanders in one scene.)
The people in the Sanders ad, whether in tight staged shots or crowd shots, are overwhelmingly white with just a handful of token minorities featured in mostly tight shots.
The first twenty seconds of the ad features only white people. There are nine staged ‘day in the life’ scenes that open the ad–all featuring white men, women and children–including five scenes of white families. Then four campaign crowd scenes are shown with white people.
It is not until the eighteenth scene in the Sanders ad that the first minority is seen with a quick shot of a minority female campaign volunteer working a crowd.
It takes another twenty seconds for other minorities to be prominently seen in the Sanders ad. Then in a span of seven seconds five scenes with minorities are shown interspersed with a shot of Sanders walking in a parade with his white family: A lone Black person at a Sanders rope line surrounded by white people; Sanders hugging a Black woman; Sanders standing with a minority woman; a tight Sanders rally crowd scene featuring four minority men and women and finally a tight shot of a minority man holding his child.
The rest of the ad is crowd shots of Sanders rallies that are filled with white people, including the closing scene of a smiling Sanders on stage with a crowd of white people (with one minority) behind him.
The ad would fit right in the Sixties of Sanders’ radical youth when minorities were used as tokens by grandstanding white liberals.
Sanders has had a race problem from the beginning of his campaign that he has being trying to fix, as CNN reported in a July 3, 2015 report entitled, Bernie Sanders adds race, civil rights to his stump speech.
“Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator currently rising in polls against Hillary Clinton as they vie for the Democratic presidential nomination, responded to critics who say he hasn’t done enough to appeal to non-white voters during his raucous rally in Madison, Wisconsin, on Wednesday…”
One month later on August 8 in Seattle, Sanders infamously let Black Lives Matter activists charge the stage and take over his rally while he meekly stood by.
Oh and by the way: There are no Muslims in Bernie Sanders’ ‘America.’ ||||| Folk rock is at the front and center of Bernie Sanders’ latest television advertisement.
As warm scenes of spinning windmills, tugboats, parents and children, farmers and cows and tossed hay bales play across the screen, Simon & Garfunkel sing “America,” a popular song from their 1968 album Bookends. The mood of the ad, set to air in Iowa and New Hampshire, is hopeful: a Des Moines skyline, dancing at a campaign rally and plenty of shots of a grinning Mr. Sanders, the Democratic presidential candidate.
“They’ve all come to look for America,” the folk rock duo sings as the sign-waving masses cheer for Mr. Sanders, a Vermont senator electrifying liberals across the country.
The irony, though, is that “America” is probably not the song Mr. Sanders’ operatives think it is. Like Ronald Reagan, the Republican president who mistook Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A” for a cheerful patriotic anthem when it was really an indictment of the Vietnam War, the ambience of this spot doesn’t match the meaning of the lyrics in full.
Mr. Sanders, who has an interest in folk music, may know this himself. The crescendo of “America” is not about crowds of ecstatic people coming together in the name of American glory and community. Written by Paul Simon, who like Mr. Sanders is a 74-year-old native New Yorker, the protest song is at best bittersweet, describing the journey of a man leaving Saginaw, Mich. to find his fortunes elsewhere.
The Sanders camp was probably smart to omit the second to last verse of “America” from the ad. In the verse, the true meaning of the song emerges, that of an illusory nation failing to deliver on its lofty promise.
“So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine; and the moon rose over an open field,” the duo sings. ” ‘Kathy, I’m lost,’ I said, though I know she was sleeping. ‘I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why.’ ”
The song climaxes with the verse most prominently featured in the ad: “Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, they’ve all come to look for America.” But the listener is not left with the sense of hope fulfilled in the new America. Rather, the image lingers of the young couple riding a bus toward an uncertain destination, anxious and disillusioned. The traffic streams by on a loveless turnpike. They are still looking for America.
Of course, “America” may be a fitting song for Mr. Sanders. On the stump, the self-professed democratic socialist has perfected a fire-and-brimstone delivery that uplifts as much as it depresses, describing a country succumbing to environmental degradation and the greed of oligarchs. The Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, is not so dire, and she has been attacked by Mr. Sanders for being in bed with the wealthy interests causing so much destruction.
Maybe the choice of song isn’t so ironic after all. ||||| Often, the worst part of political ads is having to listen to them. Between the ominous muckraking about an opponent's past and the stilted rhetoric of sound bites from the stump, it quickly becomes an auditory annoyance throughout election season.
So regardless of your politics, you have to admire Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders' choice to forego any audio in his new campaign ad except for the rising swell of Simon & Garfunkel's 1968 single "America."
Of course, it's a decision that carries its own risks. Sanders' populist politics are already a bit of a throwback to the 1960s and '70s, and some might see the song as indicative of his campaign lacking a certain modernism. And obviously he could be using this ad time to share policy stances that separate him from his primary opponent, Hillary Clinton.
But on the other hand, it shows yet again that he's not fettered by politics as usual—and that his campaign's Spotify playlist is probably sweet as hell. ||||| Published on Jan 21, 2016
"They’ve all come to look for America..."
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★ Join the political revolution at www.berniesanders.com
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★ About Bernie:
Bernie Sanders is a Democratic candidate for President of the United States. He is serving his second term in the U.S. Senate after winning re-election in 2012 with 71 percent of the vote. Sanders previously served as mayor of Vermont’s largest city for eight years before defeating an incumbent Republican to be the sole congressperson for the state in the U.S. House of Representatives. He lives in Burlington, Vermont with his wife Jane and has four children and seven grandchildren.
Bernard “Bernie” Sanders was born in Brooklyn, New York, to immigrant parents and grew up in a small, rent-controlled apartment. His father came to the United States from Poland at the age of 17 without much money or a formal education. While attending the University of Chicago, a 20-year-old Sanders led students in a multi-week sit-in to oppose segregation in off-campus housing owned by the university as a Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) officer. In August of 1963, Sanders took an overnight bus as an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to hear Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech firsthand at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
After graduation, Bernie moved to Vermont where he worked as a carpenter and documentary filmmaker. In 1981, he was elected as mayor of Burlington as an Independent by a mere 10 votes, shocking the city’s political establishment by defeating a six-term, local machine mayor. In 1983, Bernie was re-elected by a 21 point margin with a record amount of voter turnout. Under his administration, the city made major strides in affordable housing, progressive taxation, environmental protection, child care, women’s rights, youth programs and the arts. In 1990, Sanders was elected to the House of Representatives as the first Independent in 40 years and joined the Democratic caucus. He was re-elected for eight terms, during which he voted against the deregulation of Wall Street, the Patriot Act, and the invasion of Iraq.
In 2006, Sanders defeated the richest man in Vermont to win a seat in the U.S. Senate as an Independent. Known as a “practical and successful legislator,” Sanders served as chairman of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs where he authored and passed the most significant veteran health care reform bill in recent history. While in the Senate, Sanders has fought tirelessly for working class Americans against the influence of big money in politics. In 2010, he gave an eight-and-a-half hour filibuster-like speech on the Senate floor in opposition to extending Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthy. In 2015, the Democratic leadership tapped Bernie to serve as the caucus’ ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.
Known for his consistency on the issues, Senator Sanders has supported the working class, women, communities of color, and the LGBT community throughout his career. He is an advocate for the environment, unions, and immigrants. He voted against Keystone XL, opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, wants to expand the Voting Rights Act, and pass the Equal Rights Amendment.
To learn more about Bernie on the issues, click here: https://berniesanders.com/issues/ ||||| Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images
Above is Bernie Sanders’ new 60-second TV commercial, a version of which will begin running Friday in Iowa and New Hampshire. The Sanders camp has suggested they may have one more ad to unveil before voters in the two states kick off the presidential nominating contests, but with 11 days to go until the Iowa Caucus and 19 days to go until the New Hampshire primary, the commercial serves as something of a nontraditional closing statement in the two states for Bernie. Its simplicity stands in stark contrast to the more detailed and traditional spot Hillary Clinton is currently running in the two early voting states.
It’s pretty great! As an Iowa resident, I’ve been forced to watch an untold number of political ads over the past several months, and this one represents a welcome break from the usual campaign promises and stale warnings that usually interrupt my evenings on the couch.
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– The Bernie Sanders campaign has launched the most talked-about ad of the 2016 election season to date—"America," set to the tune of Simon and Garfunkel's song of the same name. A roundup of coverage: Is it really "the most important campaign ad since President Reagan's 'Morning in America' ad?" This blogger makes the case for the spot at the Hill because of its mixture of "romance" and substance. The Observer suggests that the real meaning of this "bittersweet" protest tune might not be what the Sanders campaign thinks it is. The spot illustrates a contrast in campaigns: Sanders is "pushing inspiration," while Hillary Clinton is "talking in more practical terms." The Christian Science Monitor digs in. This blogger at Gateway Pundit hates it: The first glimpse of a minority comes in the 18th scene. Clinton ally David Brock picks up on that theme, as reported in this AP story. "It seems black lives don't matter much to Bernie Sanders." AdWeek is a fan, especially because of the ad's lack of words, but wonders whether the 1968 song might date the 74-year-old Sanders. As an Iowa resident deluged with ads, Josh Voorhees at Slate is pretty happy with this one, "a welcome break from the usual campaign promises and stale warnings." What do Simon and Garfunkel think? The latter gave his approval, while Simon hasn't commented, reports Variety. The Sanders campaign says the song's use—all properly legal—isn't meant to signal an endorsement from the pair.
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Image copyright EPA Image caption Sara Danius is the latest member of the Swedish Academy to step down
The head of the Swedish Academy - the prestigious body that awards the Nobel Prize in Literature - has stepped down in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal.
The organisation has been criticised for its handling of a probe into the alleged sexual misconduct of a man married to one of its members.
"It has already affected the Nobel Prize quite severely and that is quite a big problem," said Professor Sara Danius, as she stood down.
The accused denies all the allegations.
"It was the wish of the Academy that I should leave my role as Permanent Secretary," Ms Danius told reporters on Thursday. "I have made this decision with immediate effect."
Last November, inspired by the #MeToo campaign, 18 women made allegations of sexual assault and harassment against Jean-Claude Arnault, the husband of Academy member Katarina Frostenson.
After the Academy voted against removing Ms Frostenson last week, three of its members Klas Ostergren, Kjell Espmark and Peter Englund withdrew from the 18-person committee in protest, Swedish media reported.
While they cannot technically resign from their positions, which are for life, they can stop participating in the Academy's activities.
The Nobel body had cut all ties and funding to Mr Arnault, who runs a cultural club in Stockholm, shortly after the allegations came to light.
The Swedish Academy said at the time that it had potentially broken its own rules regulating conflict of interest and appointed a legal firm to investigate its committee members' links with Mr Arnault.
His lawyer told Reuters that he rejected all the claims against him.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mr Arnault - a cultural figure in Sweden - did not attend last year's Nobel Prize banquet following the allegations against him
"Jean-Claude Arnault rejects all claims of criminal activity and he rejects other allegations that have been made against him," Bjorn Hurtig said in an email.
None of the sexual misconduct allegations had been reported to the police when the scandal broke last year, but state prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into the incidents.
Last month, they said some parts of their probe had been shelved due to a lack of evidence and because the statute of limitations had passed for some of the allegations.
However, the investigation related to some incidents was continuing, prosecutors confirmed. ||||| PREMIUM: How the Swedish Academy rapidly descended into farce
"It is the Academy's wish that I leave my post as permanent secretary," Danius said after an emergency meeting of academy members in Stockholm.
"I would have liked to have continued, but there are other things to do in life," she told reporters.
Also stepping down is Academy member Katarina Frostenson, a Swedish writer and the wife of the man at the centre of the scandal, Jean-Claude Arnault, a high-profile figure on Sweden's cultural scene.
The resignations come after the daily Dagens Nyheter in November published statements from 18 women, alleging they had been subject to harassment and physical abuse by Arnault.
He denies the accusations and police investigations into the allegations have been dropped.
He has also been accused of leaking the names of several Nobel Prize winners before the official announcements. Concerns have also been raised of a conflict of interest after it emerged that his wife is a part-owner of his culture venue, which has received financial support from the academy.
The academy has since severed all ties with him and cut grants made to him.
It also launched an internal investigation and enlisted the services of a law firm, which recommended that the academy file a police report. However, it did not take such action.
The academy, which is under the direct patronage of the Swedish king, is traditionally very discreet and has been deeply shaken by the scandal.
The head of the Nobel Foundation, Lars Heikensten, has publicly expressed concern about what he termed a "serious and difficult situation".
Three academics resigned last week in protest after the institution had expressed renewed confidence in Frostenson, who finally announced her resignation on Thursday.
According to Peter Englund, one of the three who resigned, the case has deeply divided the institution.
He believes that Sara Danius, who succeeded him in 2015, is the target of "unwarranted" internal criticism.
Another member , Horace Engdahl, said that there was "a problem of leadership".
"A radical gesture was needed to create the conditions for a new beginning," he told Swedish public television SVT.
A professor of literature at Stockholm University, Danius was the first woman to hold the position.
She had been credited with trying to open up the closed institution to the public and bring it into the modern era, but her style of leadership has proved divisive.
Most of the Swedish culture and literature world appeared to come out in defence of Danius on Friday. Many people, including former academy head Englund, vowed to wear a pussy cat bow blouse, Danius' signature fashion choice. The Swedish word for such a blouse #knytblus was trending on Twitter on Friday morning.
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– A male accused of sexual assault and leaks of secret information; a woman who takes the fall. What sounds like the plot of novel is instead the true story of a scandal that's riling the literary world. Sara Danius, who has since 2015 served as the first female permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy—essentially making her the public face of the body that doles out the Nobel Prize in Literature—is out, and Jean-Claude Arnault is the reason why. The New York Times reports he's a cultural bigwig in Sweden and married to one of the academy's members. But his academy connection runs deeper than that and involves funding, and so a newspaper's November expose on Arnault and the 18 women who had accused him of sexual harassment and assault hit hard. The newspaper alleged incidents took place at academy-owned and -funded properties over two decades and accused Arnault of leaking info on the prize winner on seven occasions. The academy cut him off and investigated via an outside law firm, but that didn't calm the internal consternation of what the Local describes as a historically "discreet" organization: Three members quit last week as an act of protest after the board voted not to boot Arnault's wife, Katarina Frostenson, reports the BBC; she resigned Thursday, the same day Danius was ousted. The scandal "has already affected the Nobel Prize quite severely and that is quite a big problem," said Danius. "It was the wish of the Academy that I should leave my role as Permanent Secretary." Arnault has denied the allegations.
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Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier closes in on approval
A rendering shows how the proposed suicide barrier, a net 20 feet beneath the east side of the span, would look. A net would also be placed under the bridge's western, ocean-facing side. A rendering shows how the proposed suicide barrier, a net 20 feet beneath the east side of the span, would look. A net would also be placed under the bridge's western, ocean-facing side. Photo: Golden Gate Bridge District, Courtesy To The Chronicle Photo: Golden Gate Bridge District, Courtesy To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier closes in on approval 1 / 10 Back to Gallery
Golden Gate Bridge directors, in an effort to end the world-famous span's allure as a suicide destination, are expected Friday to approve spending $20 million to hang a net beneath the landmark structure.
It's part of a $76 million funding plan for what the district calls "a physical suicide deterrent system" that also includes money from the state and federal governments.
Bridge officials, who had vowed not to spend toll money on the steel-cable net, are nonetheless expected to vote for contributing $20 million in reserves and approving the funding package. Their action would allow the district to proceed with building and installing the net on both sides of the bridge, a project expected to take about three years.
It's been 77 years since the bridge opened, and during that time an estimated 1,600 people have jumped to their deaths. Last year, 46 people committed suicide at the bridge, and 100 were stopped by bridge workers or police.
"By approving this, we are putting a stop to 77 years of needless death and family devastation," Kevin Hines said at the bridge Thursday. Hines survived a suicide attempt at the bridge in 2001 at age 19 and has since worked to get a barrier installed.
There have been intermittent calls for some kind of suicide barrier for decades, usually from mental health agencies and the families of jumpers. In 1954, the first plan suggested installation of a barbed-wire fence along the bridge's rails. In recent years, support for a suicide barrier has gained support.
Several funding sources
In 2008, the bridge board voted to hang a net to deter possible jumpers, or catch those who do jump. It chose that design over others that proposed erecting 10- to 12-foot barriers at the bridge's edges. Two years later, directors approved environmental studies on the net, and in 2011, they contracted for the net's design. Since then, they've tried to find funding for the net without using toll revenues.
A little less than two years ago, the district began to piece together the financial puzzle. Federal law changed to allow transportation funds to be used for safety projects, including nets and barriers. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission agreed to contribute $27 million in federal money, and Caltrans added $22 million in highway funds.
Since federal funding requires a local contribution, bridge officials proposed contributing $20 million from the district's reserves. Denis Mulligan,the district's general manager, said that in addition to attracting federal funds and saving lives, the district will reduce the financial and emotional costs of having bridge workers deal with jumpers.
The final $7 million was included in the recently adopted state budget. State Sen. Mark Leno, a former bridge district director, said that after he learned the funding package was coming together, he asked State Sen. President ProTem Darrell Steinberg to help obtain state money from Prop. 63, which taxed millionaires to fund mental-health programs. Steinbergagreed.
'Let's make the net real'
Steinberg, Leno, Hines, bridge officials and other barrier supporters gathered Thursday at the south end of the bridge, near a statue of Joseph Strauss, the structure's chief engineer, to explain and praise the news that funding has finally been pieced together.
"This bridge is a symbol of beauty and grace and should no longer be associated with suicide, should no longer be associated with untimely death," Steinberg said.
Hines, who said he felt regret the moment his fingers let go of the bridge railing, dismissed the argument that suicidal people will merely find another place or way to take their lives. So did Dr. David Pating, psychiatrist and vice chairman of the state's Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission.
"Suicide is an attempt to cope with unbearable pain, usually emotional in nature," he said. "This pain is cyclical and time-limited. ... We know that if the person can be prevented from dying, the pain can be treated or will recede on its own."
While the funding plan appears headed for approval, Hines urged to board to move forward.
"I am hopeful that the decision made here tomorrow will not only make history but will mean that not one more soul will be lost to that bridge, and not another family will be left with a dark abyss of eternal pain," he said. "Let's make the net real." ||||| Story highlights Board of directors approves plan to erect suicide barrier on Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge is the most-used suicide spot in the United States
Last year, 46 people died jumping off the bridge
There is a dark duality about the Golden Gate Bridge. Majestic and macabre, the bridge is an architectural wonder that also happens to be a magnet for suicides.
It is the most-used suicide spot in the United States, second in the world.
"People come from all over the world to go onto this bridge," said Sergeant Kevin Briggs, a retired police officer who used to patrol the Golden Gate. "Not just to sight-see, but also to take their life."
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On Friday, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge Board of Directors unanimously approved $76 million in funding to erect a 20-foot-wide steel net -- extending out from each side of the 1.7-mile span -- to deter would-be jumpers. The federal government will cover $50 million of the cost; the rest will come from state and local sources.
Last year, 46 people died after jumping off the Golden Gate, according to the Bridge Rail Foundation , an organization dedicated to stopping suicides from the bridge. The organization estimates that more than 1,600 people have leapt to their deaths since the bridge opened in 1937.
"Where nets have been erected as suicide barriers they've proven to be 100% effective thus far," said Denis Mulligan, CEO and general manager of the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District, which presented the proposal to the board. "Suicidal people have stopped jumping at those locations."
Those locations include the Clifton Suspension Bridge in England and the Duke Ellington Bridge in Washington, where, after barriers were installed, suicide rates went down dramatically.
"Apparently, suicidal individuals don't want to hurt themselves, they want to die," said Mulligan. "So where nets have been erected, people stop jumping."
The decision to move forward with the Golden Gate plan punctuates a contentious fight that has simmered here for decades.
On one side of the debate were those who believe a suicide barrier will detract from the bridge's beauty. On the other side were mental health and other advocates, some of whom bore an intimate sense of the potential benefits of such a barrier.
One of the barrier proponents is Kevin Berthia. He stood on the precipice of the Golden Gate Bridge on a cold afternoon in March 2005. He was unemployed, drowning in a sea of medical bills, and distraught.
"I was hurting a lot," said Berthia. "I was dealing with a lot of issues, and I felt like I was dealing with them by myself."
Almost as soon as he hopped over the 4-foot barrier (which many argued makes jumping too easy) to the bridge's outer railing, he was approached by Sergeant Briggs.
Briggs had been there before. During his 23-year career, he coaxed more than 200 people back from that same railing. Two people he wasn't able to save.
An artist's rendering from the proposal shows the orange barrier extending from the structure below deck.
"When someone goes over on the other side of that rail, it's like having a gun to their head, their finger on the trigger, and the hammer pulled back," said Briggs, founder of Pivotal Points , a crisis management and suicide prevention organization.
"They're ready to go. The pain is great -- they see no hope."
For more than 90 minutes, Briggs listened while Berthia talked, the biting wind swirling around them. As the minutes passed, Berthia says the burdens he was carrying slowly lifted.
Eventually he decided to come back over the barrier.
"I knew things would get 10 times worse when I came back over, but I wanted to give it another shot," said Berthia, who says it took another eight years to get help for his mental health problems.
Opposition faded
A few years ago, the transportation district invited public comment about installing a suicide barrier, said Mulligan, the transportation district head, and opinion was deeply divided.
"Leave the bridge alone," one commenter posted. "It's not the bridge's fault people choose to commit suicide there."
Another commenter echoed a common perception about how effective a barrier could be: "Sadly, desperate people do commit suicide and they will find another means to do it if the GG bridge is not available to them."
An artist's rendering from the proposal shows a horizontal barrier that extends from the deck, beneath the roadway, and doesn't clash with the bridge's unique International Orange hue.
Berthia said a suicide net certainly would have discouraged him from considering jumping, that his attraction to the bridge was the ease with which he could perish.
Very rarely do people who are stopped from jumping go on to commit suicide, according to a study published in 1978 by Richard Seiden, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.
More than 90% of would-be jumpers who were stopped, according to the oft-cited study, were still alive decades later.
Berthia and Briggs say the decision to fund a barrier is overdue.
"It should have been there a long time ago," said Berthia. "A lot of lives could have been saved."
Briggs says that the father of a young man who died after jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge summed it up potently for him.
"A view or a life? A view or a life?" said Briggs, paraphrasing the father. Those few words were what he says convinced him that something needed to be done.
When asked about advocates' argument that lives have been lost needlessly during the years the transportation group assembled its plan, Mulligan said, "With the passage of time I think society's values and understanding of suicide has evolved, and so has our board's."
It will be several years before the net is built, said Mulligan. Still, a plan in motion -- even if it takes some time -- is of great solace to advocates.
"(It has been) 77 years of needless deaths and survivor family devastation," Kevin Hines, one of the rare people who survived a suicide attempt from the bridge, said before the board's vote.
He said the move toward a safety barrier means the community at last is "placing higher value and worth on people's lives over a piece of bright red iron." ||||| Golden Gate Bridge officials have approved a plan for a suicide barrier on the iconic bridge. Mark Matthews reports. (Published Friday, June 27, 2014)
Golden Gate Bridge officials have approved a plan for a suicide barrier on the iconic bridge.
The 19-member board unanimously voted to approve funding for the project Friday morning.
In an emotion-filled board meeting, the directors approved spending $20 million for the $76 million project. The rest of the money will be covered by the state and federal government.
Construction on the proposed steel cable net system would is expected to be completed by 2018, with bidding on the job expected to begin next year.
Golden Gate Bridge Suicide Barrier Approved
Golden Gate Bridge officials have approved a plan for a suicide barrier on the iconic bridge. Peggy Bunker reports. (Published Friday, June 27, 2014)
Some people oppose the barrier, saying it will be unsightly, but officials say the barrier will not mar the landmark bridge's appearance.
District general manager Denis Mulligan said the bridge district staff's opinion is that "construction of the suicide deterrent simply is the right thing to do at this time."
$76M Suicide Barrier OK'd for Golden Gate
Golden Gate Bridge officials have approved a plan for a suicide barrier on the iconic bridge. Mark Matthews reports. (Published Friday, June 27, 2014)
The motion for Friday's vote came from board member and former bridge district director John Moylan, whose grandson, Sean Moylan, jumped off the bridge to his death earlier this month.
A tearful Dan Barks of Napa, who lost his son, Donovan, to suicide on the bridge in 2008, said after the vote that he was almost speechless. ``A lot of people have done so much incredible work to get this accomplished,'' he said.
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After the vote, he rose from his knees and shared a tearful embrace with Sue Story of Rocklin, whose son Jacob jumped off the bridge in 2010.
``We did it, Dan! We did it! It's no longer the Bridge of Death anymore,'' she said.
More than a dozen family members of those who have taken their lives on the bridge spoke at the meeting, all with the same plea.
“My main thing for being here is to prevent future deaths, prevent future families from going through what we’re going through,” said Manuel Gamboa, whose son Kyle jumped to his death from the bridge last year.
At least some of the money still requires additional approval. The bridge's board, however, has now taken its final step in adopting the net.
The Golden Gate Bridge, with its sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, has long been a destination for people seeking to end their lives. Since it opened in 1937, more than 1,400 people have plunged to their deaths, including a record 46 suicides last year, officials said.
The bridge's board voted in 2008 to install a stainless steel net, rejecting other options, including raising the 4-foot-high railings and leaving the iconic span unchanged. Two years later, they certified the final environmental impact report for the net, which would stretch about 20 feet wide on each side of the span.
The funding plan includes $22 million of federal Local Highway Bridge Program money programmed by Caltrans, $27 million from federal Surface Transportation Program funds programmed by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, $7 million from California Mental Health Service Act funds and $20 million from the district's reserves.
The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.
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– Golden Gate Bridge directors today took a big step toward eliminating the span's unwanted distinction as the most popular spot in the nation for suicides, reports CNN. The board approved a $76 million project to install a steel safety net that will jut out from both sides of the bridge. It's expected to be in place in 2018, despite criticism that it will detract from the span's beauty, reports NBC Bay Area. Directors, though, have got about 1,600 arguments in their favor—the number of suicides since the bridge opened in 1937, including a record 46 last year. "By approving this, we are putting a stop to 77 years of needless death and family devastation," a jumper who survived his suicide attempt in 2001 tells the San Francisco Chronicle. One of this year's suicides was the grandson of a public official who has led the push for the safety net.
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A Union Army inventory from Feb. 17, 1865, of the ordnance captured in Columbia lists, among other things:
— That confounded Union general whose name still draws hisses in South Carolina 150 years after he laid waste to the Capital City is causing yet another ruckus in Columbia.
On their way out of town, Union troops led by William T. Sherman dumped loads of captured Confederate ordnance – from cannonballs to ball cartridges, rammers, sabers, bayonet scabbards and knapsacks – into the Congaree River.
The artifacts have long been part of local lore, and the few pieces retrieved over the years indicated there might be more.
Now, through the science of sonar and metal detection, historians and researchers have better evidence of precisely where the munitions were dumped near the Gervais Street bridge in downtown Columbia. Excavators are planning how best to retrieve the artifacts.
“It’s really going to help us interpret what was a defining point for Columbia’s history, and, really, South Carolina’s history,” Joe Long, curator of the S.C. Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, said of the impending finds.
The state of South Carolina will own whatever is pulled from the water. James Spirek, the state’s underwater archeologist, said the ordnance likely will be housed at the Relic Room, which is located in the same building as the State Museum, right at the Gervais Street bridge.
In 1865, Sherman’s troops kept what they wanted of confiscated rebel ordnance, then threw the rest into the river to keep it away from the Confederates. Better armed, Sherman then headed for North Carolina on his destructive march.
Getting the suspected weapons cache out of the water safely could be an issue.
No one’s certain what’s there or how dangerous it is. Explosives experts will be on hand to supervise. A high-end condominium complex, the State Museum and EdVenture children’s museum are nearby.
“Hopefully, none of it is going to blow up,” Long said of the weaponry, with a chuckle.
Complicating the process is the fact that the munitions lie beneath a 2-foot thick layer of tar that oozed from a long-closed gas-making plant located near what today is the Governor’s Mansion and lodged in that part of the river.
Consultants hired by the SCANA Corp. as part of the S.C.-based utility’s complex, $18.5 million clean up of the river found evidence of the artifacts. They would be removed along with the tar as the tar is hauled away over three years. SCANA announced in 2010 that the tar had been discovered and would be removed, but it did not say anything about the ordnance.
A draft of a September report to SCANA from Tidewater Atlantic Research and obtained by The State newspaper, states, “It has been confirmed that in 1865, during the Civil War, live munitions and other articles of war produced by the Confederacy were dumped into the Congaree River near the Gervais Street bridge by Union forces.”
Using sonar and magnetic metal detectors lowered from barges, researchers located 570 sites in the area of the river they tested and reported 218 as “exhibiting signature characteristics that could be associated with ordnance.” A total of 425 sites were reported as “potentially being ordnance.”
PART OF CITY’S LORE
Kayakers and river tour guides for years have talked about Union troops dumping ordnance.
“That’s what I told people when I was a river guide,” said Bill Stangler, now the Congaree’s Riverkeeper, who has been involved with permit negotiations for the dredging project.
Columbia was a manufacturing center for the Confederacy. It produced uniforms, weapons, powder and food for Robert E. Lee’s Army in Virginia. Several gunpowder plants lined the Columbia Canal and the river through what is now Guignard family property.
The city’s railroads and central location made it a hub for moving munitions, many made in Augusta, Long said. Columbia also was home to the Palmetto Armory, where some weaponry was made, he said. The armory is near what is now the Governor’s Mansion, on Arsenal Hill. The state arsenal, which doubled as a preparatory academy for Citadel students, housed Confederate munitions for shipping to rebel soldiers.
Accounts from J.F. Williams, author of a 1929 book on the burning of Columbia, show that for years after the war, Columbians would dive into the river to reclaim cannon balls and shells, according to the Tidewater report.
In the 1930s, political leaders in New Brookland – now known as West Columbia – organized a recovery project after two fishermen found ammunition. The organized dig through mud and silt turned up six 10-inch cannon balls, 1,010 rounds of rifle balls, 767 pointed rifle balls, some cast-iron cannon shells, time-fused bombs and an artillery ax, among other munitions, according to a 1930 article in The State newspaper.
“The 1930s recovery accounts for only a fraction of what may be present,” Tidewater consultants wrote.
Private salvage projects in the 1970s and ’80s turned up more material.
“Historic documentation clearly indicates that disposal of the ordnance was a significant event associated with the capture and burning of Columbia,” the consultants wrote. They said the tar cover, which stretches some 1,800 feet along the Columbia side of the river, includes artifacts that meet the criteria for a National Register of Historic Places site.
WHAT MIGHT BE THERE
A formal archeological study of the site has not been done, so precisely what will be uncovered during dredging remains a mystery.
But a Feb. 17, 1865, inventory of the ordnance and ordnance stores captured in Columbia lists 1.2 million ball cartridges, 100,000 percussion caps, 26,150 pounds of gun powder, 4,000 bayonet scabbards, 3,100 sabers, 1,100 knapsacks, 58 tents and 20 blacksmith vices, among much more equipment.
As Sherman’s army roared in from the west, three divisions and a Union cavalry unit camped Feb. 16, 1865, on the west bank of the Congaree directly across from the Capital City.
After a short battle at Congaree Creek near what is now Cayce, one of three corps of Sherman’s army spread out and began shelling Columbia, from among other places, the West Columbia shoreline.
Rebel troops burned the then-wooden Gervais Street bridge to slow Sherman’s advance, the Tidewater report states.
“Columbia citizens were trying to evacuate the city, and bales of cotton were dragged into the street to be carried off and burned to keep them from falling into enemy hands,” wrote the consultants, who studied the area’s history dating to the Paleoindian period between 10,000 to 12,500 years ago.
“Wade Hampton, hastily promoted to lieutenant general, was left to defend the city with General Joseph Wheeler’s cavalry,” the historical account continues. “Sensing the futility of the defense, Wheeler’s men began looting the city, ostensibly to prevent capture by the Union army.
“On the night of the 16th, Hampton announced that he planned to evacuate on the following morning, leaving behind the cotton which he was unable to transport. That evening, fueled by spirits dispensed without restriction, Union troops created more mischief through the city. When the cotton in the streets caught fire, they were unable or unwilling to contain the blazes.
“The result was the near complete destruction of Columbia,” the consultants’ report states. “Having the run of the countryside for several days, Union troops burned many homes and farms in the region.”
According to records from Union Gen. John E. Smith, it took 1,200 men and 50 wagons from 1 p.m. Feb. 18 to 6 p.m. the next day to destroy machinery, ordnance, ordnance stores and ammunition.
As the Capital City prepares to commemorate the anniversary of Sherman’s attack, current-day Columbians might soon see some of the weaponry that for decades has been shielded by black goo from a 20th century plant that produced “town gas” used for heating, cooking and lighting.
BELOW: An interactive map follows the path of Sherman’s troops through Columbia in February 1865. Mobile users, click here: ||||| — Imagine a temporary dam reaching deep into the Congaree River in the Vista, with walls that protrude some 14 feet above the water, as part of a three-year environmental cleanup that also is likely to uncover Civil War munitions.
SCANA Corp.’s $18.5 million project to remove about 40,000 tons of black tar discharges from a power plant that closed six decades ago should look something close to that.
Tar was discovered in the water near the Gervais Street bridge several years ago. SCANA in 2010 told the public it would have to come out. But only now is anyone beyond a select few finding out the scope of the project and the fact that studies have shown that buried beneath the tar are objects that are likely captured Confederate ordnance dumped by Union troops 150 years ago.
The stone cofferdam under consideration by state and federal environmental regulators calls for it be 171/2-feet tall, to have a 60-foot base and to snake as much as 3,990 feet around the edges of the dam, between the Gervais and Blossom street bridges. Behind the dam, about 15 acres of river bottom will be exposed in stages and scraped clean to the bedrock.
The project will be surrounded by 2,100 feet of fencing, 210 warning signs, security guards and include construction of a debris-processing shed, a paved truck-hauling road and a prefabricated bridge to protect a city sewer line.
From May to December each year, river water would be diverted to the West Columbia side while workers remove tar described as being solid to taffy-like and averaging 2-feet thick.
The cap over natural sediment is up to 150 feet wide and 1,800 feet in length. The target area extends plume-like from the Columbia side of the riverbank to nearly 200 feet into the scenic river that measures about 800 feet wide at that point. The tar emits a distinctive oil-like odor and health officials say it poses a risk to humans only by direct contact.
Those descriptions are taken from the utility company’s formal proposal to regulators who have yet to approve required permits because they have many questions about the project, first proposed in 2002.
SCANA’s director of environmental services, Tom Effinger, would not discuss details of the project, citing the ongoing permitting process. Neither he nor a SCANA spokeswoman would acknowledge the likelihood of military ordnance under the tar cap.
“We don’t have any direct knowledge of ordnance,” Effinger said. “We don’t know if it’s hubcaps or what is there.”
Yet Effinger did not dispute data from a survey it commissioned from a Columbia research company. A September 2014 draft report by Tidewater Atlantic Research obtained by The State newspaper, states that a list of “potential unexploded ordnance” locations were found. More than 400 samples were found as “potentially being ordnance.” That includes 67 that demonstrate “signature characteristics” of what could be ordnance.
Congaree Riverkeeper Bill Stangler said he’s been working with the utility on the project for about 21/2 years as an advocate for the river. “I don’t know how much we’re supposed to say about that,” Stangler said.
Effinger said SCANA’s message is one of reassurance.
“Whatever we do in the river, we’re going to do it right and we’re going to do it safe,” the utility executive said. “We’re going to make sure we do this thing the best way possible.”
Project being changed, shrunken
SCANA, its subsidiary, South Carolina Electric & Gas Co., and the regulators decided Wednesday that the utility will submit a revised proposal that would scale back the size of the coffer dam and possibly to use material other than stone, Jim Beasley, a spokesman for the state’s environmental regulatory agency, said last week.
The size could be reduced “perhaps greatly,” the Department of Health and Environmental Control spokesman said.
Beasley would not specify the proposed changes, other than to say, “The design is going through substantial revision. The overall effect of the revised design will be to reduce in scale the size of the coffer dam, and, possibly, to use different materials.”
DHEC and the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers, the lead federal agency on the project, have raised a number of questions about it.
Brice McKoy, supervisor of the Corps’ Columbia office, said its list of concerns range from water topping the temporary dam when the river is flush to backwater effects and clean up procedures.
He declined to itemize the issues his agency has but said they amount to about 21/2 pages. That’s not an unusually large number of concerns for a cleanup of this magnitude, McKoy said.
“This is a very complex project,” he said. “Imagine damming up half the Congaree River. We want to make sure that this thing is done absolutely correctly. We’re talking public safety, so we don’t want to rush (SCANA).
“The corps does have concerns about the project and those concerns are currently being addressed by the applicant,” McKoy said.
SCANA officials would not discuss the talks, which have gone on throughout the permitting process. Public discussions will occur once permits are finalized, they said.
Effinger declined to detail the issues raised by regulators. But he said the dam’s height is one of the key matters in question.
None of the parties to the dredging project would say when permits might be approved.
The budget of $18.5 million – all paid by the utility – will not result in rate increases for SCE&G customers, Effinger said. SCANA has a fund set aside for environmental cleanups, among them the Congaree River project, which is one of the largest, he said.
Some 22,000 truckloads of debris will have to be removed from the site, according to a source long familiar with the project.
The truck access route to the project is to be moved from SCANA’s first proposal in the Vista southward, near the University of South Carolina baseball stadium, said Dixon Lee, an attorney who lives in City Club on Gervais Street, the closest residential site to the dig. Owners in the high-end complex of 38 condos overlooking the river opposed the original route, which would have taken trucks along Gervais, Huger, I-126 and I-20 to a Richland County landfill.
Lee said he and other City Club owners have held numerous meetings with SCANA officials for 18 months.
“Our chief concern was that it would create a traffic nightmare,” Lee said. “You can imagine six months for three years of huge trucks going in and out. We got a huge accommodation when they agreed to go the other way.”
Effinger would not talk about the new route. He said the state Department of Transportation and the city of Columbia must first finalize it.
Rebel munitions
On Feb. 17, 1865, Gen. William T. Sherman’s Union army stormed and burned Columbia after shelling it from afar as they headed north after taking Savannah.
An inventory of the rebel ordnance and ordnance stores captured that day lists:
• 1.2 million ball cartridges
• 100,000 percussion caps
• 6,000 unfinished arms
• 4,000 bayonet scabbards
• 3,100 sabers
Some of those weapons have long been believed to be at the bottom of the river. Through the years, fishermen and swimmers have found some munitions. And in the 1930s, a large cache was salvaged from the sandy bottom.
But how much history is buried under the tar and its condition remain mysteries.
James Spirek, the state’s underwater archeologist, said he’s not persuaded that lots of Civil War armaments will be found. “I’m sure there will be some interesting items. I don’t anticipate huge volumes.”
But historians and Civil War enthusiasts are excited about what treasures the dredging will unearth.
The pollution
Instructor Bill Thomas discovered the tar during a lesson in May 2010 while teaching inexperienced kayakers how to do “Eskimo rolls” so they could right themselves after tipping over.
“I waded into the water,” Thomas said. “First I noticed the smell. When I got out of the water there was a gooey, black gunk ... all over my feet. It smelled strongly of petroleum.”
He reported what he saw to DHEC, which began looking into the complaint.
Downstream water quality effects from the tar are negligible, according to documents reviewed by the newspaper in regulatory files. The Congaree is one of the city’s sources of drinking water as well as being popular for fishing, walking and recreation.
The coal tar came from a gas-making plant once located on Huger Street between Hampton and Williams streets. It was completed in 1906 and closed in 1954 before there were national pollution standards.
The plant produced flammable “town gas,” which was used for heating, cooking and lighting before the city had natural gas pipelines. A series of purchases of the company that owned the plant ended when SCE&G was listed as its owner by 1950, according to documents filed as part of the environmental permitting process.
Records SCANA has sent to regulators show more than a dozen different chemicals were found in river sediments at levels of concern.
Those include benzene, which can cause cancer, and related compounds. In some cases, the levels were higher than levels typically considered safe in soil.
Benzene was discovered in an alluvial fan and sand bar of the Congaree, as well as some other areas. They are at concentrations that exceed residential screening values, according to the Interstate Technology Regulatory Council.
Concentrations of pollutants above screening values often require further investigation. But there are no national criteria or standards for chemical concentrations in sediment – only guidelines, SCANA’s project manager of the cleanup, Bob Apple, wrote in a Jan. 15, 2013, report to DHEC.
A risk assessment of the project site found “the cumulative ... cancer risk was exceeded for the recreational user. Therefore, it may be concluded that the cumulative ... cancer risk would be exceeded for the Congaree River sediment containing (the tar),” Apple’s report to DHEC states.
Environmental challenges
Apple’s report also noted the project area contains a diverse ecology, including flora.
The short-nosed sturgeon is on the federal and state endangered species list while the Rafinesque big-eared bat is listed as endangered only by federal officials. The Gervais Street bridge is a roosting area for the bats. Several species of mussels and the Rocky Shoals spider lily also inhabit the area. That lily is a “species of concern” under federal standards.
Apple cited a 2007 short-nose sturgeon study done as part of relicensing a hydroelectric plant found no captures of the fish or its eggs.
Attorney and City Club resident Lee said he did Internet searches that showed that a short-nosed sturgeon has not been sighted in rivers immediately around Columbia since the 1920s.
Lee has dubbed the fish “the hypothetical short-nosed sturgeon.”
Yet the prospect of the fish being in area rivers has forced SCANA to drop plans to do year-round work on the project, Lee said, citing that he and his neighbors received their most recent update from Apple in December.
And the utility company has offered to shorten work on the project by a year, the attorney said. SCANA is proposing two stages of dredging instead of three to ease any impact on the sturgeon, Lee said.
Effinger would not discuss proposals that have not been formalized in a permit.
Apple told Stangler, the riverkeeper, in a July 31, 2014, letter that the shore, including the site of a processing facility for the debris before it is trucked away, will be disturbed minimally and will be repaired after the project ends.
City Club homeowner’s association president, Rebecca McMillan, said she supports the cleanup despite the inconveniences.
“Our (City Club) community – which this is not something that we coveted – feels we’ll be much better off for not having that tar in the river.”
Fellow resident Mary Langston sees a broader advantage. “In the long run, it’s going to be a benefit for all of Columbia.”
Staff writers Sammy Fretwell and Matt Walsh contributed. Reach LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664.
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– In 1954, a gas-producing plant closed near the Congaree River in Columbia, SC. But its presence lingers, in the form of roughly 40,000 tons of "taffy-like" black tar that need to be removed from the river. The State reports on a most unusual side effect of damming the river to do so: the possible recovery of Confederate munitions seized and then dumped by Gen. William T. Sherman's Union army a century and a half ago. The State includes a list of what Union troops logged as having captured from their Confederate counterparts in taking the city on Feb. 17, 1865: 1.2 million ball cartridges, 100,000 percussion caps, 4,000 bayonet scabbards, 3,100 sabers, 1,100 knapsacks, and more. Whatever they didn't bring with them as they marched toward North Carolina they dumped in the Congaree to keep it out of Confederate hands. The energy company SCANA Corp. will facilitate the Congaree cleanup, which involves exposing about 15 acres of riverbed and removing a tar cap that's, on average, 2 feet thick—along with any Civil War artifacts, which a separate State article notes would belong to the state. While the company's director of environmental services says "we don't have any direct knowledge of ordnance," the State points out he also didn't deny the findings of a September draft report SCANA commissioned that involved the use of sonar and metal detectors. That report identified 218 sites as "exhibiting signature characteristics that could be associated with ordnance." Though items have been documented as being salvaged in the 1930s, 1970s, and 1980s, the state's underwater archaeologist isn't expecting a mass cache to surface this time around. "I'm sure there will be some interesting items. I don't anticipate huge volumes," he says. (An "underwater Pompeii" was recently discovered off Greece.)
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Add a location to your Tweets
When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more ||||| Khloe Kardashian was a guest on the Tonight Show on Wednesday, and dished on her new book, her upcoming talk show, Kocktails with Khloe, and even brother-in-law Kanye West’s new album, Swish!
“I love his music, his album’s gonna be so insane,” the reality star gushed. “He’s ahead of his time.”
WATCH: Khloe Kardashian Thinks Lamar Odom Might Be a Sex Addict, Claims He Cheated During 'Majority' of Their Marriage
She might love his music, but Khloe had a hard time guessing one of Kanye’s songs when she joined It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Danny DeVito to play a round of charades. Jimmy couldn’t help but tease her when she almost didn’t guess “Gold Digger” as DeVito frantically acted out the clue.
Have you seen the movie Twins?!?! With Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito?! I'm Arnold.... Danny plays himself. #JimmyFallon A photo posted by Khloé (@khloekardashian) on Jan 13, 2016 at 6:04pm PST
“Your brother-in-law’s gonna be mad at you!” the late-night host exclaimed when Khloe came back out for her interview.
“I don’t work well under pressure apparently,” she answered with a laugh.
NEWS: Khloe Kardashian Gets Candid About Caitlyn Jenner's Transition: 'We Felt Betrayed'
As far as new music goes, however, Khloe couldn’t help but gush about Swish, and several tracks -- like “Real Friends” and “No More Parties in L.A.” -- that Kanye has already released since the beginning of the year.
“He has so many dope songs that he’s just shelling them out for free all of a sudden,” she said with a laugh.
In fact, the famous reality family even gets input on the rapper’s new material. According to Khloe, Kanye takes “all of our criticism or compliments seriously.”
“He has a studio in his house, and we all live about five minutes away from each other,” Khloe said of the rapper. “He really wants our opinions and I love that. We hear it all.”
WATCH: Khloe Kardashian on How She and James Harden Make Their Relationship Work: 'It's a Lot of Juggling' ||||| Add a location to your Tweets
When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more ||||| The seed for this crawl was a list of every host in the Wayback Machine
This crawl was run at a level 1 (URLs including their embeds, plus the URLs of all outbound links including their embeds)
The WARC files associated with this crawl are not currently available to the general public.
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– Kanye West is working on a new album, but he's apparently having a hard time committing to a title. As BuzzFeed reports, he's changed the name three times: from So Help Me God (2014) to Swish (2015) to Waves (also 2015), and now, most recently, to T.L.O.P. The rapper tweeted Tuesday that "anybody who can figure out the title gets tickets to Season 3 and free Yeezys," and the Twitterverse has certainly been trying (The Love of Prayer? Trump Lost Our Puppy? The Last Open Pringles?), but so far no word from 'Ye on whether anyone has guessed correctly. (Kanye's sister-in-law sorta forgot one of the rapper's biggest songs recently.)
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Donald Trump, a master showman, surprised the "Dr. Oz Show" studio audience on Wednesday by revealing the results of a recent physical exam.
The "Oz" episode, taped on Wednesday morning, will air on Thursday. During it, Trump handed Dr. Mehmet Oz a one-page summary of the exam, which was conducted by Dr. Harold N. Bornstein last week. Bornstein is the same hyperbolic doctor who previously said Trump would, if elected, be the healthiest president in history.
The campaign plans to share the information from Bornstein on Thursday. But it began to leak out after the "Oz" taping.
Trump told Oz that he wants to lose about 15 pounds, according to audience members, who also said Oz sounded generally impressed by Trump's health.
Hillary Clinton's recent health travails only briefly came up during the hour-long taping. Trump repeated what he has said in recent interviews: That he hopes she gets well soon.
The TV appearance gives the appearance of transparency, but the summary by Bornstein will fall far short of experts' calls for detailed information about Trump's health and medical history.
Trump's presentation of the one-page summary was a surprise because Trump campaign aides had said earlier in the day that the exam results would not be shared during the show taping.
Oz told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta that he, too, was surprised.
"Not knowing if we would see Mr. Trump's medical records, I planned to do a full review of systems with Mr. Trump," meaning the GOP nominee's nervous system, cardiovascular health, family medical history, and other aspects of his health.
"I did that as planned when he sat down with me. He answered all my questions," Oz told Gupta in a text message. "We then discussed the need for transparency around both candidates' medical records, at which point he produced a summary letter from his physician based on last week's tests."
A brief clip of Trump's appearance released by the "Dr. Oz Show" Wednesday afternoon shows Oz asking Trump, "If your health is as strong as it seems from your systems, why not share your medical records?"
"Well, I really have no problem in doing it, I have it right here," Trump says. And then, in a classic showman's stroke, he turns to the audience and says, "Should I do it? I don't care, should I do it?" The audience applauds, and Trump hands Oz what he says are two letters regarding the physical.
During the hour-long taping, Trump also talked with Oz about his dietary habits and broader health-related issues.
Multiple audience members told CNN that Trump said he does not exercise regularly. But one of them -- Kelly Platt, a pharmacist intern who said she is a Trump supporter -- said Trump told Oz that he is so good at golf he could join the PGA Tour.
According to Platt, Oz said his interpretation of the letter from Bornstein is that Trump has no health issues. Platt said that, according to Oz, Trump's cholesterol has come down to a good level after he was prescribed a Statin drug to lower it -- Oz remarked that only a young person would have a cholesterol level that good, Platt said.
Trump and Oz also discussed political topics that are of interest to the "Dr. Oz Show" audience, like efforts to fight the Zika virus and Trump's new child care policies.
Trump's daughter Ivanka joined him for part of the taping. And Trump took questions from the studio audience.
Trump's daytime TV chat about health and wellness seemed like a savvy political stunt.
The New York Times called it a "match made on TV," describing Oz as a "kindred spirit — a physician who is not only Republican, but also has spent the last decade attracting an enormous following on television."
Indeed, Trump, a former reality TV star, is at home in a setting like "The Dr. Oz Show."
The back-and-forth about whether the candidate would share the physical exam results added to the drama.
Norm Ornstein, a longtime scholar with the conservative American Enterprise Institute and writer who opposes Trump, tweeted on Wednesday afternoon that Trump "is playing you guys" in the media "like a Stradivarius." He called it "pathetic" that the exam results were getting so much attention instead of other Trump-related stories.
The "Oz" appearance was also partly a pitch to female voters. (Daytime TV shows like "Dr. Oz" skew female.)
Trump was booked on the program more than a week ago, which means the plans pre-dated Clinton's recent health scare.
Clinton is taking several days off from campaigning as she recovers from a bout of pneumonia.
Trump has repeatedly called out Clinton's "stamina" in recent months, alluding to long-held questions in conservative media circles about Clinton's health.
But since she stumbled leaving a 9/11 commemoration ceremony on Sunday morning, Trump has been careful not to question Clinton's health directly.
Oz told Kilmeade that he wanted to keep the TV segment focused on Trump and Trump's policies -- "we're not going to be talking about Secretary Clinton, for sure," he said. ||||| Ivanka Trump remarked on her father's "strength" and "stamina" on the trail. | AP Photo Ivanka Trump: Father's health is 'unbelievable'
Donald Trump's health is "unbelievable," Ivanka Trump declared Wednesday, ahead of the Republican nominee's taping of an episode of "The Dr. Oz Show," during which he is expected to discuss his medical status amid more calls for the presidential candidates' transparency.
Ivanka Trump, who will appear alongside her father in the appearance set to air Thursday, remarked on his "strength" and "stamina" on the trail. The Trump Organization executive made a rare campaign appearance with him Tuesday night in Pennsylvania, where they unveiled child care-related proposals.
Story Continued Below
While declining to provide any information as to what Donald Trump might reveal to Mehmet Oz, Ivanka Trump mused, "I was out on the campaign trail with him for one day yesterday and I need this coffee in the morning, so he does this every day."
Asked whether there would be anything "surprising" in Trump's medical history, she responded: "His health is unbelievable. So I should be so lucky to keep his schedule these days.” ||||| After a whiplash-inducing morning of mixed messages, Donald J. Trump on Wednesday opened a small window into some of the results from his most recent physical examination, revealing that he is overweight and takes a statin, a type of drug that lowers cholesterol.
Mr. Trump gave the quick synopsis on Dr. Mehmet Oz’s television show after the Republican presidential nominee’s aides had said that he would, then that he would not, broach the topic with the doctor on the show.
A news release from the “Dr. Oz Show” said that Dr. Oz, “as all physicians do when seeing a patient for the first time,” took the candidate “through a full review of systems including the following: nervous system; head and neck; hormone levels; cardiovascular health and related medications; respiratory health; gastrointestinal health; bladder or prostate health; dermatological health; history of cancer.”
The release also said they reviewed “family medical history — occurrence of Alzheimer’s or dementia, heart disease, cancer in relatives.”
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– As rival Hillary Clinton takes flak for being too secretive about her health records, Donald Trump has backed off a plan to reveal the results of his physical on national TV. Instead, daughter Ivanka Trump called her father's health "unbelievable," notes Politico, saying that "I was out on the campaign trail with him for one day yesterday and I need this coffee in the morning, so he does this every day." The Trump camp previously said the Republican candidate would reveal his physical results on an episode of The Dr. Oz Show, airing Thursday. However, aides now say Trump will discuss only general health issues with Mehmet Oz, reports the Hill. "I'm not going to ask him questions he doesn't want to have answered," Oz says in an interview with Fox News Radio, per the New York Times. "It's his decision." A campaign rep tells CNNMoney that the plan to discuss Trump's exam results was "considered, given the timing and platform," but "never finalized." Trump's camp says his results will still be released to the public later this week.
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Steven Spielberg directs Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in The Post, a thrilling drama about the unlikely partnership between The Washington Post's Katharine Graham (Streep), the first female publisher of a major American newspaper, and editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks), as they race to catch up with The New York Times to expose a massive cover-up of government secrets that spanned three decades and four U.S. Presidents. The two must overcome their differences as they risk their careers - and their very freedom - to help bring long-buried truths to light. The Post marks the first time Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have collaborated on a project. In addition to directing, Spielberg produces along with Amy Pascal and Kristie Macosko Krieger. The script was written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer, and the film features an acclaimed ensemble cast including Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Jesse Plemons, Matthew Rhys, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bradley Whitford and Zach Woods. ||||| "The Post " is kind of like the Yankees of movies. A Steven Spielberg directed film about the Pentagon Papers starring Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep and a murderer's row of all your favorite television character actors (Jesse Plemons! Bob Odenkirk! Carrie Coon! Sarah Paulson!)? It doesn't even seem fair. Is there any way it wouldn't be great or least very good?
That Spielberg shot and is releasing it in under a year was perhaps the only potential handicap. Would it feel rushed? Unfinished? Eastwood-ian? The astonishing thing is that while there are a few clunkers (as if a parody, the film actually opens in Vietnam to the sound of helicopters and Creedence Clearwater Revival), on the whole "The Post" is meat and potatoes Spielberg in the best possible way.
He is directing off of a script from first time screenwriter Liz Hannah and Josh Singer, who also wrote the investigative journalism drama "Spotlight." Instead of a deep dive into the reporting that led to the Pentagon Papers being exposed, "The Post" focuses in on the Washington Post executives who risked everything to make it happen. The reporting here is the side story.
Streep plays Katharine Graham, the new publisher of The Washington Post, who is taking her family's paper public in an effort to save it. Hanks is the editor Ben Bradlee, who is trying to elevate it from hometown rag to national necessity on par with The New York Times. We meet them both at an interesting moment, when the most pressing matter is that they've been banned from covering Tricia Nixon's wedding and that the style coverage is perhaps a little too snarky for the sensibilities of D.C. society ladies. Then The New York Times comes out with their first story about the damning Vietnam report and, well, everything changes.
The film actually begins on Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys) in Vietnam, and the moment he decides that he can't handle the lies of Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood), who in private says that things are devolving in the war, but then boasts to the press that things are improving. Spielberg takes us along as Ellsberg steals the reports and starts the long and tedious process of copying them (somehow Spielberg is able to make even a copy machine seem thrilling). Indeed, while "The Post" is not much more than people talking, Spielberg infuses every scene with tension and life and the grandeur of the ordinary that he's always been so good at conveying.
And while there is an interesting tick tock of will-they-won't-they publish the papers that propels the film forward, at the heart of the story is Graham, an obviously smart and capable woman who is full of doubt, and is doubted by nearly everyone around her. Her father had given the paper to her husband and when he died, she took control. As she tells her daughter (Alison Brie) midway through the film, when she took control, she was a middle-aged woman who had never held a job. Streep plays her with daring reserve, as she finds herself unable to speak in key meetings, or stand up for herself as her board of directors is disrespecting her in earshot.
Hanks, meanwhile is having a ball as Bradlee, a charming and crass cad with a mission and an army of capable and doting reporters around him trying their best to get the story. Bradlee and Graham clash as editors and publishers do, but there is a foundation of respect there too and it is a joy to watch Hanks and Streep share the screen.
Hannah and Singer's script is always interesting, and delves into fascinating topics including the casual sexism of the time, and the often too close relationships between D.C. journalists and the subjects they're supposed to cover. That we get to see Streep and Hanks delivering the lines is almost just an added bonus.
"The Post," a 20th Century Fox release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for "for language and brief war violence.: Running time: 115 minutes. Three stars out of four.
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MPAA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr ||||| Steven Spielberg’s “The Post” throttles along in a pleasurably bustling, down-to-the-timely-minute way. It’s a heady, jam-packed docudrama that, with confidence and great filmmaking verve (though not what you’d call an excess of nuance), tells a vital American story of history, journalism, politics, and the way those things came together over a couple of fateful weeks in the summer of 1971. That’s when The New York Times, followed by The Washington Post, published extensive excerpts from the Pentagon Papers: the top-secret government history of the Vietnam War that revealed, for the first time, the lies told to the American people about U.S. involvement in Indochina dating back to 1945. (Most destructive lie: the hiding of the fact that U.S. leaders knew the war was a losing battle.)
The heart of the movie is set at the Post, where the paper’s executive editor, Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks), with his urbane rasp, aristocrat-in-shirt-sleeves mystique, and a bite more forceful than his bark, and Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep), the paper’s wily socialite patrician publisher, square off like a couple of sparring partners who won’t let the fact that they’re on the same side stop them from taking a punch. Both of them want a great newspaper, one that will shake off its image as a “local paper” and do more than make headlines; they want it to make history. But they disagree on how to get there. The rascally Bradlee is like the prim and proper Graham’s id: She hired him, but can’t decide whether to encourage or repress him. Their contentious camaraderie is highly entertaining, and so is the whole movie, which pulses ahead like a detective yarn for news junkies, one that crackles with present-day parallels.
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In 1971, following the public revelation of the Pentagon Papers, both the Times and the Post stood tall against an injunction, filed by the Nixon White House, to cease publication of the classified documents — an attempt at legal clampdown that could well have snuffed the Fourth Estate as we know it. “The Post” offers not so much a message as a warning: that freedom of the press is a fight that never stops, and that the force that keeps it going is the absolute die-hard belief in that freedom. When the press begins to accept restrictions, however grudgingly, it’s all but inviting itself to be muzzled.
That’s a lesson that has rarely needed to be heard as much as it does today. “The Post” is a movie of galvanizing relevance, one that’s all but certain to connect with an inspiringly wide audience (I predict a $100 million gross) and with the currents of awards season. That said, it’s a potently watchable movie that isn’t quite a work of art. Two of Spielberg’s recent history films were also made in a messianic spirit of topical fervor: “Munich,” a dread-inflected thriller that addressed the post-9/11 world, and “Lincoln,” a kind of dramatized time machine that commented on our own increasingly fractious and divided political arena. Yet both those films had a depth and mystery and power that transcended the moment; you could watch them 20 years from now and they would still echo. “The Post,” written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer in a mode that’s bounding and busy and a little too expository, is a more pointedly utilitarian, less imaginative movie — it’s high-carb docudrama prose rather than poetry. You can be stirred by what it’s saying and still feel that when it’s over, the film declares more than it reverberates.
The gold standard for this sort of true-life journalistic muckraker is, of course, “All the President’s Men,” a movie that took place in the ’70s, was made in the ’70s, and tapped the alternating current of corruption and idealism that helped define the ’70s. “The Post,” by contrast, seems to be set in some fetishistic museum-piece re-creation of the ’70s, with every drag on a cigarette calling too much attention to itself (yes, a lot of people smoked — but where’s the smoky air hanging in the rooms?), too many “casually” signposted references to dinner-party mainstays like “Scotty” Reston and Lawrence Durrell, and too many actors wearing wigs that are visibly wigs (prime culprit: Michael Stuhlbarg, in a way too shiny mop, as the New York Times executive editor Abe Rosenthal). And why does Bruce Greenwood, generally an actor of supreme subtlety, blare his lines and pop his eyes as Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, the secretly doubting hawk who commissioned the Pentagon study and then made the strategic mistake of letting someone like Daniel Ellsberg read it?
The film opens with Ellsberg, played by Matthew Rhys with a fine, forlorn rabbinical iciness, typing notes in the Vietnam combat field, then listening to McNamara on the plane ride back explain that the war is going terribly — only to watch him turn around and play the war’s booster at an airport press conference. Ellsberg is disgusted by the two faces of American policy. A research associate at the Rand Corporation, he has access to all 7,000 pages of the study, which he has spent months smuggling out, photocopying, and slipping to reporter Neil Sheehan of the Times.
Ben Bradlee can smell something is up — he’s noticed that Sheehan hasn’t had a by-line in three months — and the film hooks you with Bradlee’s cussed old-school fervor, which takes the form of his brazen desire to compete with the Times. When he and two of his reporters first see the Pentagon Papers story on a newsstand, learning about it along with everyone else, Bradlee knows how historically vital it is — but he also knows that he’s been scooped. Hanks doesn’t quite have the bone-dry gin-martini brittleness that Jason Robards summoned so memorably in “All the President’s Men,” and Hanks’ regional inflections come and go (the actor lends a Boston vowel to every 10th line or so). But he nails Bradlee’s wry and jaded WASP-renegade charisma — the star editor’s nose for truth that emerges from his acceptance of how scuzzy the world is, and how badly it needs to have the light shined on it. Despite a White House ban, Bradlee refuses to take the acerbic Judith Martin (Jessie Mueller) off the Tricia Nixon wedding, and that minor decision reflects his core values. He’s a player who’s not going to play ball.
“The Post” has some good tense scenes set in the analog era of reporting, notably when Ben Bagdikian (Bob Odenkirk), the harried Post reporter with a long-time connection to Ellsberg, hunts him down using multiple pay phones, then flies to Washington with the boxed papers in their own special seat. The shoe-leather dimension of reporting has always been more dramatic than contemporary scenes of investigators staring into their computer terminals.
At the same time, part of what rescues the movie from any vestige of preachiness is that it’s framed as a business drama. Streep’s Graham, who inherited the publisher’s mantle after her husband’s suicide, is about to take the family newspaper public, and much is made of the share price: Will it will be $24.50 or $27? That could make a difference of $3 million, which would pay for 25 reporters’ jobs. In its wonky way, “The Post” touches the first moment when people realized that American newspapers were not necessarily a growth industry. Graham’s belief — idealistic but also prophetic — is that it will be the quality of newspapers, their influence, that allows them to flourish. Streep, speaking in an imperious nasal singsong, makes Graham irresistibly knowing yet, beneath the tea-party bluster, secretly unsure of herself: the only woman in a boardroom of men, and therefore an executive who has to fly solo to find her own way.
Complicating matters is the fact that she’s close friends with Robert McNamara. Once the Pentagon Papers story breaks, will the Post go easy on him? Or will Graham follow through on Bradlee’s request and exploit the friendship to get their own copy of the papers? The answers are: No and no. But these conversations are riveting, because they transport us back to an exotic age when editors and politicians didn’t regard themselves as adversaries; they were all on the side of America. “The Post” is about how and why that era had to end. Bradlee, a former pal of JFK’s, also played the game of rubbing elbows with power. But now, disgusted by the lies revealed in the Pentagon Papers, he enunciates the new credo. “We have to be a check on their power,” he says. “If we don’t, who will?”
The movie becomes a multi-stranded tale of journalistic triumph, with Graham movingly arriving at the realization that she’s not just the caretaker of her late husband’s company; it’s her company. The decision to publish the Papers becomes nothing less than an assertion of democracy, made all the more potent when newspapers across the land publish in solidarity. The press — the media — becomes greater than the sum of its parts. But that’s because it always was. The Pentagon Papers marked an iconic moment in American history: the press claiming its own freedom to call out the excesses of power. “The Post” celebrates what that means, tapping into an enlightened nostalgia for the glory days of newspapers, but the film also takes you back to a time when the outcome was precarious, and the freedoms we thought we took for granted hung in the balance. Just as they do today. ||||| If you were a kid in the 1960s or ‘70s, perhaps even as late as the ‘90s, and your parents took a newspaper, you probably saw that paper as a grown-up thing. This was where adults went to get important and trustworthy information about the world. Therefore, newspapers would always be there—for them to die was unimaginable.
The unimaginable has nearly happened, and we’ve all heard the reason: The old model of advertising is unsustainable in the age of the Internet, or some variation thereof. But none of that explains away the need for what reporters do. The Post, Steven Spielberg’s account of the Washington Post’s risky decision to publish the Pentagon Papers, is set in 1971, yet it’s an example of old-school filmmaking that’s modern at its core. It’s a reflection of all we stand to lose if news reporting and the outlets that support it should vanish, especially in the face of a President who strives daily to crush it. It’s the story of a woman, Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham—played here in a striking performance by Meryl Streep—who had to fight for respect at a paper she actually owned. And even if its goals are lofty, the movie is so fleet and entertaining that you never feel you’re being lectured to. This is a superhero movie for real grownups.
When Daniel Ellsberg, at the time a Defense Department analyst, leaked classified information pertaining to the Vietnam War to the New York Times, the Nixon White House was so enraged that it sought, and secured, a temporary court order barring the Times from publishing further excerpts from the documents. The Post, written by first-time screenwriter Liz Hannah and Josh Singer (Spotlight), details the role of the Washington Post as that story began to expand and explode—which happened to coincide with the paper’s stressful preparations for an IPO, endangering the institution’s very survival.
At the center of this swirl were Katharine Graham, who had been managing the company since her husband, Philip Graham, had committed suicide eight years earlier, and Post editor Ben Bradlee (here played by a marvelous, growly Tom Hanks), whom Graham had hired in 1968, a longtime newsman who either fit the profile of the cantankerous, visionary newspaper editor or helped shape it, depending on your perspective. In an early scene, when the two meet for one of their customary breakfast meetings, the air around the table vibrates with their affable contentiousness. “Katharine, keep your finger out of my eye,” Bradlee blurts out when he thinks Graham has pushed an editorial suggestion too hard. She backs down with a girlishly innocent glance that indicates she hasn’t backed down at all. This is a woman who has worked hard at finding ways to get men to listen to her. She understands the value of a cagy, temporary retreat.
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The high drama of The Post begins with Bradlee’s fuming resentment of the New York Times after it drops Ellsberg’s bombshell, though at that time, of course, no one knew that Ellsberg (played here, with muted, matter-of-fact intensity, by Matthew Rhys) was the source of the leak. “Anyone else tired of reading the news instead of reporting it?” Bradlee says, addressing no one in particular in his newsroom, but knowing full well that every one in it already feels that mix of shame, envy, and ambition common to all newspeople. The one who seems least flashy of all, Ben Bagdikian (Bob Odenkirk, in a superb performance that’s as offhandedly rumpled as the nondescript shirts he wears) will be the one to reel in the Post’s big scoop, by obtaining the Pentagon Papers themselves from Ellsberg. Some of the movie’s most dramatic, and funniest, moments take place at an outdoor bank of payphones, where Bagdikian juggles loose change, dangling receivers and semi-memorized phone numbers as he works that quotidian magic known as great journalism.
Spielberg and ace cinematographer Janusz Kaminski get the visual details of the era just right: A faint scrim of cigarette smoke hangs around a group of journalists as they pull off a Herculean eight-hour feat. Graham’s outfits, by veteran costume designer Ann Roth, evoke a sense of prim clout—her ladylike suits both command respect and render her almost transparent, as if they were the components of a subconscious stealth mission. In the early 1970s, this was how a woman dressed when she needed to get things done.
In The Post, everything Graham does is in response to a man, or, more specifically, to something a man is trying to make her do. In real life, Graham was a rich girl, the daughter of the Post’s owner, Eugene Meyer. When Meyer died, he left the paper to his son-in-law, Philip Graham, rather than to his daughter. That move wasn’t, and wasn’t considered, a slap in the face to his own offspring. It was simply the way things were done.
In The Post, we see Graham’s vulnerability, the way she needs to be coached by her friend and adviser Fritz Beebe (Tracy Letts), the Post’s chairman, in preparation for the company’s IPO, and the way her composure crumbles when she’s called upon to explain the paper’s mission and strategy in an important meeting—a roomful of men, naturally. We see how her close friend Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood) tries to subtly manipulate her as she wrestles with the decision to publish the Papers—the revelations they contain will permanently tarnish him. And although Nixon appears in the movie only as a shadowy profile, he too seeks to intimidate Graham. This was business as usual. At every turn, there was a man ready to undermine her authority.
Streep is revered for her great-lady acting, but she’s always freshest, and most alive, in comedy. Her performance here is terrific because it’s a whirlwind eddy of both. You never know when she’s going to make an authoritative declaration or crack a sly, witty joke. When Graham takes a crucial phone call—while wearing a milky-white eveningwear caftan, having just been called away from the party she’s hosting—there’s a moment of hesitancy, as if she isn’t completely sure she’s about to do the right thing. In deciding to publish the Pentagon Papers, Graham put her paper at risk and defied a bullying president. She also exposed the ways in which the United States government, through the course of several administrations, had lied to its own people.
When Streep’s Graham renders her decision during that phone call, her voice is somehow feathery and flinty at once, but there’s no mistaking its conviction. It’s as if, in that moment, Graham was at first only seeing a future, until she realized she could instead shape one. The Post is the story of a legacy, but it’s also a rallying cry. Graham couldn’t, not even in her superhero caftan, ensure the survival of all newspapers, but she knew what journalism meant to democracy. In print or in pixels, today it still means the same.
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– Steven Spielberg signed on to The Post in March. Just nine months later, the film chronicling the Washington Post's publishing of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 is hitting theaters at what some critics argue is the perfect time. It has a solid 85% "fresh" rating from critics at Rotten Tomatoes, vs. 69% from audiences. Samples: "The Post is the rare Hollywood movie made not to fulfill marketing imperatives but because the filmmakers felt the subject matter had real and immediate relevance to the crisis both society and print journalism find themselves in right now," writes Kenneth Turan at the Los Angeles Times. "It's a risky venture that succeeds across the board," he adds, applauding Meryl Streep for the "remarkable" way she conveys the essence of Post owner Katharine Graham. Stephanie Zacharek says Streep is "terrific" in "a superhero movie for real grownups." It's "a reflection of all we stand to lose if news reporting and the outlets that support it should vanish, especially in the face of a President who strives daily to crush it," yet "the movie is so fleet and entertaining that you never feel you're being lectured to." At Time, Zacharek also commends visuals fitting of the 1970s. Owen Gleiberman at Variety thinks the visuals supply only "some fetishistic museum-piece re-creation of the '70s." And though the film's "warning" about restrictions on the press "has rarely needed to be heard as much as it does today," he finds it "declares more than it reverberates." Still, The Post is a "potently watchable" and "highly entertaining" movie that benefits from the "contentious camaraderie" of Graham and editor Ben Bradlee, played by Tom Hanks. Watching Streep and Hanks interact is a "joy," but The Post is "meat and potatoes Spielberg in the best possible way," writes Lindsey Bahr at the AP. The director "infuses every scene with tension and life" so he's "able to make even a copy machine seem thrilling," she writes. Bahr also gives kudos to screenwriters Liz Hannah and Josh Singer for an "always interesting" script that "delves into fascinating topics including the casual sexism of the time."
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Lorde does not mess around when it comes to her pal Taylor Swift .
The "Royals" singer was interviewed on The Kyle & Jackie Show on Australia's KIIS 1065 radio station today and got defensive when asked about her growing friendship with the country crooner.
The shock jock did his best to crack a joke (albeit a really bad one) about the fact that the two stars have been inseparable lately—and Lorde just wasn't having it.
"Are you bringing your new bestie, Taylor Swift?" Kyle Sandilands asked about her upcoming New York City concert.
"I see your guys' pictures everywhere. Are you guys, like, uh, are you together now?"
There was an awkward pause before Sandilands continued, "Not together as in lesbians…I'm not talking about 'Ellen together.' I'm talking about, like, you guys are friendly, right?" ||||| Monday, March 10, 2014
The stars are coming out to play at Kyle & Jackie O on this Monday! Aussie superstar Naomi Watts gave the guys a call to chat about those 'Diana' reviews and how she goes about deciding what to wear for red carpet events.
Grammy winner Lorde and Aussie boyband 5 Seconds Of Summer had a chat with Kyle & Jackie O about their latest news! Plus Home & Away's Steve Peacock stopped in and we sent Intern Pete out to the airport on a 'Killer Koala' hunt!
Happy listening!
To subscribe to Kyle & Jackie O's podcast on iTunes, click here!
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– Listen up, radio show hosts: Lorde is not interested in your lesbian jokes, mmkay? The teen singer went on Australia's KIIS 1065 yesterday, and Kyle & Jackie Show host Kyle Sandilands asked her about her burgeoning friendship with Taylor Swift, E! reports: "Are you bringing your new bestie, Taylor Swift?" Sandilands asked, referring to Lorde's upcoming New York City concert. "I see your guys' pictures everywhere. Are you guys, like, uh, are you together now?" When Lorde did not respond, Sandilands continued, "Not together as in lesbians … I'm not talking about 'Ellen together.' I'm talking about, like, you guys are friendly, right?" "What do you mean you're not talking about 'Ellen together?'" Lorde replied. "Is there something wrong with lesbians? Is that what you're trying to say?" "Oh my god, no, I would love that," said Sandilands. "Are you going to confirm now that you're in a lesbian relationship with her?" "Don't ever try it. It's not working," said an irritated Lorde. At that point things got awkward, with Sandilands trying to dig himself out of the hole by gushing about Swift before finally joking, "Don't get too overboard with explaining the friendship, though. We haven't got all day." Her snappy reply: "I won't, believe me."
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Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists have acknowledged the death of Jihadi John for the first time, claiming that he "pretended to be unintelligent to trick MI5 officers".
Isil paid homage in a "eulogising profile" to the British jihadi, who became the organisation's face of terror , appearing in a series of videos showing him beheading British and American hostages.
The group's Dubiq online magazine confirmed Western intelligence reports that the terrorist was killed in an American drone strike in the Syrian city of Raqqa on November 12.
It refers to Jihadi John, whose real name is Mohammed Emwazi, by his nom de guerre, Abū Muhārib al-Muhājir.
The article describes an attempt by Emwazi to travel from Britain to Kuwait when he was stopped and questioned by security services.
"During the interrogation, Abū Muhārib would present himself as unintelligent, as was his method when dealing with intelligence agencies. The Prophet said, 'War is deception'," Dabiq claimed.
Emwazi would later claim to the London-based campaign group Cage that while trying to return to Kuwait from Britain, in July 2010, the British authorities blocked him from travelling and put him on a terror watch list.
He later made one final attempt to enter Kuwait in early 2013. After being barred from entry he disappeared.
British police told his family they believe it was at this stage that he travelled to Syria to join Isil.
The Dabiq article claims Emwazi was able to trick MI5: "Right under the nose of the much-overrated MI5 British intelligence agency, Abū Muhārib together with his companion in hijrah carefully and secretly made their departure, utilising every means available to them."
Dabiq claims that Emwazi and a companion made their way overland "trekking the mountain ranges of Europe and its marshy farmlands, sneaking across borders, and being detained by the authorities of various nations on at least two occasions" before joining up with the terrorist organisation in Syria.
The article contradicts Cage's assertion that Emwazi was radicalised as a result of his treatment by the British authorities.
It refers to Emwazi's childhood emigration with his family to London, describing it as a place he grew to hate along with its "kāfir (non-believing) people, whose customs were far-removed from the praiseworthy values he was much accustomed to".
It says he began to "embark on the path of hijrah and jihād" at around the time of the 7 July 2005 terrorist attacks on London's transport system, which it praises as 'blessed'".
The article lists Emwazi's participation in various Isil military conquests - including the takeover of Taftanāz airbase near Idlib and the 17th Division base near Raqqa - before appearing to obliquely heap praise on the acts which gained him worldwide infamy, the videoed beheadings of British, American and Japanese captives.
"His harshness towards the kāfir was manifested through deeds that enraged all the nations, religions, and factions of kāfir, the entire world bearing witness to this," the author writes.
The publication also claims that Emwazi was known for his "mercy, kindness, and generosity towards the believers, his protective jealousy for Islam and its people, and his affection towards the orphans".
"Of the deeds that attest to his kindness and generosity is that after receiving a sabiyyah (concubine) as a gift he did not hesitate to give her away – likewise as a gift – to an unmarried injured brother," it claimed.
Emwazi, dressed in black with a balaclava covering all but his eyes, came to the world's attention when he appeared in an Isil video brutally murdering the American journalist James Foley.
He later appeared in videos of the beheadings of US journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, and in November 2014, that of American aid worker Peter Kassig.
Western hostages who were released later told how Emwazi delighted in torturing them.
Sotloff's mother, Shirley Sotloff, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she had not heard about the Isil announcement but assumed Emwazi was dead.
"It's good," she said. "I'm glad that he's gone, but it doesn't bring back my son."
Jodi Perras, a spokeswoman for the Kassig family in Indianapolis, said they had no comment on the news about Jihadi John.
He was killed in an air strike in Raqqa on November 12, 2015.
Intelligence sources had been tracking Emwazi "for some time," Baghdad-based military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said at the time.
"This guy was a human animal, and killing him probably makes the world a little bit better place," he added.
Dabiq also claimed that two of the jihadists behind the Paris attacks on November 13 were Iraqi.
The last page of the issue, which was distributed via online jihadist forums, is a photo montage headlined "Just Terror".
It shows the photographs of nine men in fatigues, set in typically stylised fashion against a landscape picture of Paris in black and white.
Two of them are identified as Iraqi.
Among the men pictured is Abdelhamid Abaaoud, identified by his nom de guerre Abu Umar al-Baljiki, or Abu Umar the Belgian. Prosecutors have named him as an alleged planner of the November 13 attacks that killed 130 people and sent shockwaves across the world.
Abaaoud was killed in a shootout with French police days after the bloodiest attacks to hit Europe since the Madrid train bombings in 2004.
The two men identified in Dabiq as Iraqis are named only as Ukashah al-Iraqi and Ali al-Iraqi.
Their full names remain unknown and no other information has been revealed. ||||| Story highlights Jihadi John is also known as Mohammed Emwazi and Abu Muharib al-Muhajir
He was featured in a series of hostage beheading videos
The confirmation in Dabiq magazine was the first time ISIS addressed the militant's death
(CNN) ISIS has confirmed the death of "Jihadi John" -- aka Mohammed Emwazi, aka Abu Muharib al-Muhajir -- in the latest issue of its Dabiq magazine.
U.S. officials said in November that they were reasonably certain the English-speaking voice of the terror group had been killed in a targeted drone strike in Raqqa, Syria, ISIS' de facto capital.
The confirmation in Dabiq was the first time ISIS addressed the militant's death. The magazine told the story of his journey into ISIS in a two-page article and reported that he was killed instantly by the drone strike.
As the masked face of ISIS, Jihadi John was featured in a series of hostage videos, dressed head-to-toe in black -- his eyes and voice his lone revealing features -- and holding a knife.
Earlier this month, a British-sounding militant appeared in a chilling propaganda video from ISIS. The speaker's accent and dress brought to mind Jihadi John, and the latter's absence lent credence to Western intelligence agencies' belief that he was indeed dead.
Read More ||||| Image caption "Jihadi John" - whose real name was Mohammed Emwazi - regularly featured in IS propaganda
The Islamic State group's propaganda magazine has confirmed the British militant known as Jihadi John died in a drone strike in November.
The group published an obituary for the jihadist, whose real name was Mohammed Emwazi, in its online magazine Dabiq.
In November the US military said it was "reasonably certain" it had killed him in the IS-stronghold of Raqqa.
Emwazi appeared in beheading videos of victims including UK aid worker David Haines and taxi driver Alan Henning.
Who was Mohammed Emwazi?
In the eulogy, Kuwaiti-born Emwazi is referred to as Abu Muharib al-Muhajir, his nickname in the group and the details of his death confirm the US version of events.
The jihadist group said Emwazi was killed on 12 November "as the car he was in was targeted in a strike by an unmanned drone in the city of Raqqa, destroying the car and killing him instantly".
A smiling picture of the militant, who appears unmasked looking towards the ground, accompanies the text, which is written in tribute form to a man they describe as an "honourable brother".
Image caption Clockwise from top left: Abdul-Rahman Kassig, Steven Sotloff, James Foley, Kenji Goto, David Haines, Alan Henning
Emwazi first emerged in August 2014 when he appeared masked in a video in which US journalist James Foley was apparently murdered.
Dubbed Jihadi John by the media, in February 2015 he was identified as Emwazi, a computer programming graduate who grew up in London.
He also appeared in videos of the beheadings of US journalist Steven Sotloff, Mr Haines, Mr Henning, as well as American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter, and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.
He became a top target for US and British intelligence agencies, even though he is thought to have played no military role within IS.
At the time of his reported death in November, Prime Minister David Cameron said targeting Emwazi had been "the right thing to do".
He said the UK had been working with its US allies "literally around the clock" to track Emwazi down.
Three drones - one British and two American - were involved in the strike. One of the American drones hit the car, and it is believed there was one other person in the vehicle.
Mohammed Emwazi
1988 : Born in Kuwait, moves to UK in 1994 aged six
: Born in Kuwait, moves to UK in 1994 aged six Educated at the Quintin Kynaston Community Academy in St John's Wood, north London
Fluent in Arabic and English and a British citizen
2009 : Completes computing degree at University of Westminster, travels to Tanzania, Amsterdam and Kuwait
: Completes computing degree at University of Westminster, travels to Tanzania, Amsterdam and Kuwait 2013: Tries to travel to Kuwait but is stopped. Disappears. Parents report him missing. Police tell family four months later he has entered Syria
Source: Cage, London-based campaign group
Civil war erupted in Syria in 2011, and now President Bashar al-Assad's government, IS, an array of Syrian rebels and Kurdish fighters all hold territory. Millions have been displaced and more than 250,000 people killed as a result of the fighting.
More than 750 people from the UK are thought to have travelled to support or fight for jihadist organisations in Syria and Iraq, and approximately half of those have returned, Home Secretary Theresa May said in November.
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– The Islamic State has finally confirmed the death of the man known as Jihadi John, something tentatively announced by US officials following an airstrike back in November, CNN reports. The confirmation comes via an obituary published by ISIS' Dabiq magazine. The obituary provides details about Jihadi John—real name Mohammed Emwazi—as well as a photo of him without his trademark balaclava. Among the claims the article makes about Emwazi is that he "pretended to be unintelligent to trick MI5 officers," according to the Telegraph. The article states he pretended to be dumb when stopped by authorities while attempting to travel from Britain to Kuwait. Later it claims he was able to travel to Syria to join ISIS "right under the nose of the much-overrated MI5 British intelligence agency." Emwazi first came to international attention in August 2014 in an ISIS execution video, the BBC reports. He would go on to appear in multiple execution videos and was given the nickname Jihadi John. Emwazi moved to Britain at age 6, became a citizen, and would go on to get a degree in computer programming. According to the Telegraph, the Dabiq article appears to praise him for his part in the beheading videos. "His harshness towards the kafir (non-believers) was manifested through deeds that enraged all the nations, religions, and factions of kafir, the entire world bearing witness to this," the article states. It also praises him for his "mercy, kindness, and generosity towards the believers," exemplified by the time he gave a concubine to another man as a gift.
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On July 7th, fire chief Chris Kocher at the Worland, Wyoming volunteer fire department received a phone call alerting him of a “blue glow” in a rural area off Highway 20 North. As soon as he arrived onsite and looked at the blazing area through binoculars, “I saw we had a sulfur fire,” Kocher tells The Verge.
The fire looked like a carpet of sparkling blue blaze. In a video posted by the fire department on Facebook — which has been viewed almost 2 million times — you can see flames moving quickly across the surface, sometimes raising up into the air. It’s mesmerizingly beautiful — and also really dangerous. If you breathe the smoke, it can harm your lungs and even kill you.
like a carpet of sparkling blue blaze
When sulfur burns, it produces sulfur dioxide, a harmful gas that forms sulfurous acid when it comes in contact with water, including the moisture in your lungs. Sulfurous acid is related to acid rain, which can kill trees and fish. To keep safe, the firefighters at the scene were wearing a self-contained breathing apparatus, which is why in the video you can hear a Darth Vader-ish breathing noise (as The Washington Post points out).
Putting down a sulfur fire isn’t the same as dealing with a regular fire: in fact, the crew used only a small amount of water from the fire truck plus firefighting foam. That way, the temperature of the sulfur could be cooled down below 309 degrees Fahrenheit — when it’s in a molten stage — so that a crust formed at the surface. “And then the fire’s out,” Kocher says. The whole thing took about 20 minutes.
accidentally ignited by the exhaust of a motorcycle
The sulfur mound is leftover from the Texas Gulf Sulfur Plant, which operated north of Worland in the 1950s. The sulfur is mixed heavily with soil, the Facebook post says. It’s not 100 percent sulfur concentrate, but it’s still highly flammable. The 10,000-square-foot area that went ablaze Friday night was accidentally ignited by the exhaust of a motorcycle, Kocher says. The area hadn’t seen a sulfur fire in about 12 years, but the crew was prepared because there are a lot of oil fields around Worland, so the firefighters know how to deal with sulfur dioxide.
As for the viral video, Kocher says he was surprised to see all the media attention. You don’t see a bluish blazing field every day, and that’s probably what got people hooked. “It’s interesting to see how far the video has traveled,” he says. ||||| WORLAND, Wyo. (AP) — If you ever wondered what a burning pile of sulfur looks like, the answer is like a UFO crash site or maybe a scene on another planet.
Firefighters in Worland, Wyoming, say it wasn't a UFO but the hot exhaust of an off-road motorcycle that ignited an old pile of sulfur Friday night.
As seen in this video , the sulfur burned with bizarre effects: A blue carpet of flame topped by twisting orange columns of fire. The fire gave off sulfur dioxide gas and firefighters wore breathing equipment to stay safe.
It happened at the former site of a sulfur plant. Worland Volunteer Fire Department Chief Chris Kocher says nobody was hurt or cited for causing the fire.
Kocher says crews got the fire under control within 20 minutes.
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– It's not often you hear firefighters describe a blaze as "beautiful," but that's exactly what happened following a fire in Worland, Wyo. In a Facebook post accompanying a video that has since gone viral, the Worland Volunteer Fire Department explains it was called to "an unknown type of fire" on Friday and was met with stunning blue and orange flames. But though beautiful, the blaze covering a 10,000-square-foot area resembling "a UFO crash site" was also highly dangerous, per the AP: A sulfur mound left over from a former sulfur plant had been ignited by the exhaust of a motorcycle, sending sulfur dioxide into the air. While water is usually a firefighter's primary line of defense, water combined with sulfur dioxide creates sulfurous acid. Fortunately, "the fire was burning in a 'bowl'-shaped area, allowing all runoff to be collected in the fire area. A minimal amount of water was used to cool the surface of the sulfur and reduce the temperature below the molten stage," the department says. A crust then formed on the surface of the sulfur, extinguishing the fire, reports the Verge. Firefighters, equipped with special breathing equipment, had the blaze under control in just 20 minutes. The fire chief adds no one was injured.
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John Schindler got a lot of attention over the weekend for his Observer article, “The Spy Revolt Against Trump Begins.” Here’s the bit that raised the most eyebrows:
A new report by CNN indicates that important parts of the infamous spy dossier that professed to shed light on President Trump’s shady Moscow ties have been corroborated by communications intercepts….SIGINT confirms that some of the non-salacious parts of what Steele reported, in particular how senior Russian officials conspired to assist Trump in last year’s election, are substantially based in fact.
….Our spies have had enough of these shady Russian connections—and they are starting to push back….In light of this, and out of worries about the White House’s ability to keep secrets, some of our spy agencies have begun withholding intelligence from the Oval Office. Why risk your most sensitive information if the president may ignore it anyway? A senior National Security Agency official explained that NSA was systematically holding back some of the “good stuff” from the White House, in an unprecedented move.
….What’s going on was explained lucidly by a senior Pentagon intelligence official, who stated that “since January 20, we’ve assumed that the Kremlin has ears inside the SITROOM,” meaning the White House Situation Room, the 5,500 square-foot conference room in the West Wing where the president and his top staffers get intelligence briefings. “There’s not much the Russians don’t know at this point,” the official added in wry frustration. ||||| Shocking Report Indicates Spy Agencies Withholding Information
A report from the Wall Street Journal indicates that U.S. intelligence officials are withholding information from President Trump because they claim that they’re worried about the information becoming compromised or getting leaked according to officials.
From The WSJ:
In some of these cases of withheld information, officials have decided not to show Mr. Trump the sources and methods that the intelligence agencies use to collect information, the current and former officials said. Those sources and methods could include, for instance, the means that an agency uses to spy on a foreign government. A White House official said: “There is nothing that leads us to believe that this is an accurate account of what is actually happening.”… …It wasn’t clear Wednesday how many times officials have held back information from Mr. Trump. The officials emphasized that they know of no instance in which crucial information about security threats or potential plotting has been omitted. Still, the misgivings that have emerged among intelligence officials point to the fissures spreading between the White House and the U.S. spy agencies.
The Wall Street Journal is usually a premium source for quality information but this article seemed to be more bias than usual. The article highlighted the apparent mistrust between the intelligence community and President Trump but seemed to make an attempt at making President Trump look incompetent. There was absolutely no mention of how President Obama expanded the powers of the NSA right before he left office and there was little written about how someone is committing Treason by illegally leaking sensitive information.
The intelligence community works for President Trump. President Trump does not work for the intelligence community. If the intelligence community is hiding sensitive information from President Trump then they need to be released from their positions immediately and an investigation needs to take place to see if any charges need to be pressed.
The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by “intelligence” like candy. Very un-American! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
Follow Ryan Saavedra On Twitter @NewsRevoltRyan ||||| Looking for news you can trust?
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Late Wednesday night, the Wall Street Journal published a big story alleging that, according to “current and former [intelligence] officials,” US spies have been withholding sensitive intelligence from President Donald Trump.
In some of these cases of withheld information, officials have decided not to show Mr. Trump the sources and methods that the intelligence agencies use to collect information, the current and former officials said. Those sources and methods could include, for instance, the means that an agency uses to spy on a foreign government. A White House official said: “There is nothing that leads us to believe that this is an accurate account of what is actually happening.” … The officials emphasized that they know of no instance in which crucial information about security threats or potential plotting has been omitted. Still, the misgivings that have emerged among intelligence officials point to the fissures spreading between the White House and the U.S. spy agencies.
This follows a previous report this week in the New York Observer that conveyed similar murmurs from within the intelligence community.
It’s worth keeping in mind that what Kevin Drum said about that earlier report is still true: ||||| The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by "intelligence" like candy. Very un-American!
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– "Information is illegally given out by 'intelligence' like candy," tweeted President Trump Wednesday. A new report from the Wall Street Journal alleges some of that candy is being withheld from the president himself. Some of what's allegedly being kept from Trump by US intelligence officials are the means by which intelligence was gathered. That's not entirely new: Past presidents have been kept in the dark about sources and methods. The new flavor here, per the unnamed current and former officials the Journal spoke with, is that those instances weren't "motivated by a concern about a president’s trustworthiness or discretion" as they allegedly are now. Though there was friction between Trump and the intelligence community before he took office, it's the president's warm regards for Vladimir Putin and the nature of his team's interactions with Russia that have caused the misgivings, the sources say. The fear: that information could be "leaked or compromised." The report was quickly rebutted by both sides, with a rep for the Office of Director of National Intelligence plainly calling it "not true." How others are responding: The conservative Gateway Pundit writes "the intelligence community works for President Trump. President Trump does not work for the intelligence community. If the intelligence community is hiding sensitive information from President Trump then they need to be released from their positions immediately and an investigation needs to take place." On the left, Mother Jones has this from its own Kevin Drum: "'Inside' reporting about the intelligence community is notoriously unreliable ... but just the fact that stuff like this is getting a respectful public hearing is damning all by itself."
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The third — and most entertaining — debate of the 2012 Republican presidential race is over.
We watched — and live-blogged! — the whole thing. Below is our first cut at who won and who lost during the 105 minutes (or so) of debating at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.
Agree or disagree with our picks? The comments section awaits.
WINNERS
* Mitt Romney: Slow and steady won the debate for the former Massachusetts governor. He started off a bit shaky and seemed slightly off his game when Texas Gov. Rick Perry went on the attack right from the start. But, Romney showed his experience and steadied himself as the proceedings wore on — repeatedly giving answers that sounded reasonable and, dare we say it, presidential. Romney continues to execute his strategy: focus on President Obama and the economy while avoiding too much back and forth with his Republican rivals. It worked (again) tonight.
* Jon Huntsman: After a nonexistent performance in the August Iowa debate, the former Utah governor was much more part of the conversation this time around — delivering jabs to Romney and Perry as he tried to contrast his record in the Beehive State with theirs. Huntsman also looked like he belonged on the stage tonight — a major change from his August showing. His biggest problem remains that his tonal approach to the race — sensible moderation — still doesn’t seem to fit the Republican primary electorate. But, for tonight, Huntsman did himself proud.
* First 45 minutes Rick Perry: With all eyes on him, the Texas governor started out strong — delivering a solid answer on jobs and showing a willingness to mix it up with Romney. He was confident without being brash and seemed well versed — or at least well rehearsed — on the issues of the day. If the debate ended after 45 minutes, we might be talking about how Perry had dispelled all doubts about his readiness for the national glare of a presidential race and all it entails.
* NBC/Politico: In politics, it’s just as important to be lucky as it is to be good. NBC and Politico were both with a well-timed debate that gave America a chance to take an extended look at Perry, and a series of quality questions that forced the candidates to sometimes go beyond their talking points. The first 45 minutes of the debate were, without question, the highlight of the race so far. Kudos.
* Rick Santorum: The focus on Bachmann during the June New Hampshire debate and the August Iowa tilt overshadowed two solid performances by the former Pennsylvania Senator. Santorum isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but for social conservatives looking for someone who is with them on every issue, he might well be the guy. Santorum came across as knowledgeable and credible — two adjectives that any candidate would like to have describe a debate performance.
LOSERS
* Michele Bachmann: The Minnesota Congresswoman was a total nonentity in the debate. At one point, she didn’t say a single word for more than 20 minutes. Bachmann supporters will almost certainly blame the moderators for freezing her out but she needed to find ways to inject herself into the various fights between the likes of Perry, Romney and Huntsman. Bachmann seemed to get the message towards the end of the debate but it was already too late. It felt like she was irrelevant to the conversation tonight — and that’s a bad place for her to be.
* Last Hour Rick Perry: After a strong start, Perry seemed to lose focus — meandering on his answer on Social Security and badly fumbling on climate change. Some of Perry’s struggles in the middle portion of the debate had to do with the fact that he was getting tough questions and having to weather a steady attack from his opponents — he joked at one point that he had become a “pinata” — but that’s what you get when you’re the frontrunner. Perry salvaged the second half of the debate with a very strong answer on the death penalty. But his uneven performance will likely keep the conversation about whether he is a clear frontrunner alive, which is not what the Perry forces wanted.
* Newt Gingrich: Bashing the media for trying to get Republicans to disagree with one another is a sure applause line in front of a GOP crowd. But, in a debate the whole point is for the candidates to, well, debate their positions on issues. Elections are about choices so the best way to inform people about their options is to probe the candidates on where they differ with one another. Right?
* Raise your hand questions: Only one “by a show of hands” query made it into the debate. The Fix is a sucker for lightning round-type questions but they were a major loser tonight.
More on PostPolitics
Debate Live-Blog by The Fix
Perry, Romney spar in debate
Perry on Ponzi schemes
Debate highlights
Obama’s Big Speech ||||| The most intellectually interesting portion of tonight's Republican presidential debate occurred in its opening moments, when Rick Perry and Mitt Romney sparred over their states’ record of job creation. Perry cited his states record of creating jobs. Romney replied that his state inherited a worse situation, and wound up with a lower level of unemployment, while of course ignoring that Perry has governed during a recession. Perry responded that Romney created jobs at a lower rate than Michael Dukakis.
The whole exchange seemed to demonstrate conclusively that the method of evaluating a governor’s record by its job creation, by any measure, borders on useless. The effect of state policy, compared to the broader environment or other factors beyond a governor’s control, is simply too miniscule. Of course, this realization kicks the slats out from beneath Perry’s entire general election economic message.
Yet Perry, stylistically, ruled the roost. The media seems to consider Romney the winner. Pardon the condescension, but they’re not thinking like Republican base voters. Romney approaches every question as if he is in an actual debate, trying to provide the most intellectually compelling answer available, within the bounds of political expediency. Perry treats questions as interruptions. What scientists do you trust on climate change? I don’t want to risk the economy. Are you taking a radical position on social security? We can have reasons or we can have results. His total liberation from the constraints of reason give Perry a chance to represent the Republican id in a way Romney simply cannot match.
In this way Perry eerily apes the style of George W. Bush, who was also mocked for his intellectually vapid debating style, but who succeeded in rallying Republicans behind him. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I suspect the Bush-Perry debating style broadcasts a subliminal message of strong leadership. Romney feels compelled to bind himself to the parameters of the question before him. Perry ignores them. It is, in a sense, an alpha male move. I am not going to lower myself to your premise about scientists. I am going to declare my principles.
In my view, Perry established his alpha male style, and that impression will matter more than any position or statement he’s made.
Update: I removed the photo above, which I thought was a real photograph, but turns out to be photoshopped.
share this article on facebook or twitter print this article ||||| Rick Perry and Mitt Romney eclipsed the Republican presidential field Wednesday night by brawling over their jobs records and trading practiced barbs in a high-stakes debate that further distanced the two front-runners from the beleaguered pack.
But at what price?
The testy exchanges allowed Perry to cast himself as a conservative truth-teller and Romney to bill himself as the most electable GOP candidate. In doing so, both men exposed each others’ political vulnerabilities and risked alienating independent voters who are looking for more civility in politics.
Oh, and they ticked off their rivals – the also-rans, no doubt jealous of all the attention.
From National Journal:
PICTURES: The Many Cars of Joe Biden
Debates Will Sharpen Differences Among the GOP's 2012 Field
Obama to Propose $300B to Jump-Start Jobs
VIDEO: Challenges Still to Come in the Fight Against Terrorism
Four Ways the Postal Service Might Stay Solvent
“There are eight of us up here,” complained Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, after being ignored during the debate’s opening minutes.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich bristled at Politico’s John Harris for asking a pointed but fair question. “I’m frankly not interested in your efforts to get Republicans fighting each other,” Gingrich said. “Whoever the nominee is, we’re all for defeating Barack Obama.”
Sure, but first, one of them has to beat the rest.
If national polls are to be believed (and that is always a dubious assumption), Perry is best positioned to win the GOP nomination. Which is why it was a curious – if not risky – strategy to come out swinging against Romney. Indeed, the Texas governor can’t seem to pass up a fight; he attacked Paul, as well as a Republican who wasn’t even on the stage: former Bush adviser Karl Rove.
And yet Perry played the martyr. “I kind of feel,” he said, “like the piñata here at the party.”
With good reason. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, started the fight with an early and subtle dig at Perry’s long career in government. Romney’s campaign quickly followed up with a press release calling Perry a “career politician.” In case anybody missed the point, the press release included photos of Perry aging in office.
Perry praised Romney for creating jobs as a private businessman, but said his record as governor “did not match that.”
Romney accused Perry of taking credit for creating jobs in Texas that were the result of conditions outside of Perry’s control. To claim credit, Romney said, would be “like Al Gore saying he created the Internet.”
Ouch. It’s a low blow in GOP politics to compare a rival to Gore, especially when that rival is Perry – a former Democrat who once supported Gore.
Perry hit lower. “Mike Dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, Mitt,” he said.
“As a matter of fact,” Romney replied, George W. Bush and his predecessors “created jobs faster than you did.”
Same to you and more of it.
“It’s nice to see everyone came prepared for tonight’s debate,” cracked NBC’s Brian Williams, co-moderator of the debate.
Indeed, candidates not named Perry and Romney also had good nights. Jon Huntsman stood out as a reasonable and moderate candidate who could go toe-to-toe with the first tier (“I have to say, Mitt, now is not the time … to start a trade war.”). Rep. Michele Bachmann took the steadiest aim at President Obama, underscoring her impressive discipline and polish (“Obamaare is killing jobs”). And Paul, after a slow start, finally got the attention he craves, even though it came with Perry questioning his loyalty to the GOP.
But it was the Texas cowboy and Massachusetts businessman who stole the show and stuck to their talking points. “Maybe it’s time to have some provocative language in this country,” Perry said, delivering all that and more.
He refused to back down from calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme, saying "it is a monstrous lie" to suggest to young Americans that Social Security will be available for them as it stands. Reminded that Rove has called such language "toxic," Perry snapped: "You know, Karl has been over the top for a long time in some of his remarks. So I am not responsible for Karl anymore."
Nope, but Perry is responsible for every outside-the-mainstream policy he backed and every over-the-top statement he made in his 11 years as governor. Evolution. Texas secession. And more, much more, if Romney has his way.
Want to stay ahead of the curve? Sign up for National Journal’s AM & PM Must Reads. News and analysis to ensure you don’t miss a thing. ||||| 9.57 pm. My take-away? Perry has proved himself an extreme, inarticulate, incurious W clone. He doubled down on the vicious attacks on social security; and his rhetoric was off-key. Huntsman emerged as an actual candidate; Romney kicked ass. Bachmann is wearing thinner and thinner. Paul is Paul. Santorum is a Vatican crank. Gingrich is an angry old man. Cain has no business being up there. Perry's poor performance gives Palin an opening. And an actual argument that people can understand about economic policy did not emerge.
Stay tuned for the Dish's trademarked summary of reaction from around the web.
9.52 pm. I still have no clear idea of what any of these candidates would do to turn the economy around. I'd support major tax reform, but all they have been offering is warmed over Reaganism. But Reagan is relevant for the 1980s, not the 20-teens. An entire generation has grown up and moved on. Tax receipts are at their lowest in fifty years; infrastructure is obviously vital; job growth was pathetic after the Bush tax cuts. Of course we all agree that only the private sector can truly spur economic growth, but, really: that's it?
9.51 pm. A reader writes:
So let me make sure I have this straight … Huntsman is the Superego, Perry is the Id and Romney is the Ego, right?
9.48 pm. A spontaneous round of applause for executing people! And Perry shows no remorse, not even a tiny smidgen of reflection, especially when we know for certain that he signed the death warrant for an innocent man. Here's why I find it impossible to be a Republican: any crowd that instantly cheers the execution of 234 individuals is a crowd I want to flee, not join. This is the crowd that believes in torture and executions. Can you imagine the torture that Perry would authorize? Thank God he's doing so poorly tonight.
9.47 pm. A shout-out to my colleagues' live-chat on the debate here.
9.44 pm. Does the president have the right to fire the Fed chairman tomorrow? Gingrich's belligerence is truly off the charts. Why is he up there? Listening to this debate, it seems as if American conservatism is now actively contemptuous of any environmental protection. Green conservatism is dead in this country.
9.40 pm. Huntsman walks the walk on evolution and climate science - in terms of electability. He's riding a wave tonight. Perry flails - associating climate science denial with Galileo! Then he seems robbed of speech in opposing any measures for green technology. An awful response. Then Bachmann wants to drain the Everglades. We're really reduced to this? And Bachmann thinks she is the defender of science in all this!
9.38 pm. Santorum seems to think that the end of the Soviet empire should mean any shift in American foreign policy. And then his assertion that the UN forced the US to invade Libya, when the US was lobbying the UN furiously, is nuts.
9.32 pm. Romney offers no digestible plans to get the economy moving. Perry insists that Keynes is finished, and argues that the stimulus created or saved zero jobs. And his inability to criticize Bush and Cheney's war in Iraq is somewhat pathetic - but very Republican. Bachmann, meanwhile, sounds more and more extreme. Her Christianist belief in Greater Israel for ever is striking. And then there is her inability to deal with argumentative logic. I agree with her on Libya, but she could at least concede, as I have, that the departure of Qaddafi is a good thing and a credit to Obama's strategy.
9.28 pm. The anti-tax extremism is really endemic. And the idea that Ronald Reagan would not raise taxes, when he did many times! And I love Huntsman's anti-pledge pledge. So why did he put his hand up last time? Then he wants to nation-build at home and withdraw troops from Afghanistan! Yes, this is a Republican.
9.25 pm. Some reader reaction: yes, Romney did make the Al Gore "lockbox" argument on social security; yes, Bachmann's hair looks like a flying nun attached to an electric socket; and yes, having this crew on Reagan's stage is not doing them any favors.
9.14 pm. You cannot really appreciate the difference between Reagan's GOP and this one until you look at immigration. Again, Perry is just off-key again: Obama as a possible "abject liar"? Please. Nice to hear Gingrich expressing some sympathy for long-time illegal immigrants who have worked and lived here for years. Bachmann has no answer to the question of mass deportation. Even when given two opportunities. She really is capable of staring past any actual question that might involve any difficulty. It's wide-eyed evasion.
Huntsman wins this, though, by embracing Reagan, advocating skills-based immigration and reforming the system of legal immigration, which is onerous, byzantine and hurting the US economy.
9.12 pm. I might be hallucinating but I think Gingrich just said something positive about Obama's education policy.
9.10 pm. It sounds to me like Perry is blaming Texas's appalling record in high school education on Mexicans!
9.08 pm. I loved Huntsman's line about the fortress mentality that is not American. I've been waiting a long time for a credible candidate to say that. He's having a much much better debate than last time around. He and Romney are winning this. Perry is losing this.
9.04 pm. Even when I think he's a little nuts, I still love Ron Paul. The federal government set the stage for 9/11! Wow. And then the moral hazard issue with FEMA. Gotta love it. Then removing the air conditioning from the Green Zone in Baghdad! Awesome.
8.57 pm. Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann both oppose mandatory vaccination. I have to say that public health vaccination seems to me to be a completely legitimate role for government. But then Perry boasts of spending billions to tackle cancer. That is a government role but basic health insurance mandates aren't? Perry really is becoming a Pinata. So far, this debate is helping Romney, it seems to me. Perry's appeal wears pretty thin pretty quickly. And Romney's condescending embrace of Perry was superb. As is his formula that Obama is a "nice guy" but doesn't have a clue how to run an economy. I disagree. But it's far, far smarter than the demonization of a president of character and decency.
8.53 pm. Social security is a "massive lie" and a "Ponzi scheme", according to Perry - and he disses Rove and Cheney as he does so. But the argument about the need to reform it somewhat to help make it viable is a legitimate one - and Romney deftly picks it up. Perry's rhetoric really is an electoral killer. And he is flailing badly.
8.51 pm. Scanning the audience, I see not a single brown or black face.
8.42 pm. "Medicare is a mandate." Then we have a defense of the silver dime! I love Ron Paul. Just for pointing out that Reagan initiated the deficits of our time.
8.37 pm. Perry completely ducks the question of economic inequality, by insisting that all that matters is a booming economy. But the economy, even when booming, has increased inequality to historic levels. It's not clear that Perry sees this looming reality. And it's odd that the question of poverty is addressed by Santorum and others by referring to the welfare rform of the 1990s. A decade and a half ago.
8.30 pm. Another lie from Bachmann: the notion that government has taken over all of healthcare in this country. But she's right that repealing universal health insurance will be a little more difficult than Romney suggests. Gingrich is also angry, nasty and testy, specifically attacking the media (again). I don't think personal attacks on this president are as effective as Gingrich thinks they are. And his concern for parliamentary procedure, considering his record, is a real piece of chutzpah.
8.26 pm. Finally, someone points out that in terms of health insurance, Texas is fiftieth of fifty states. And he gets a little tetchy when challenged on it, doesn't he? Huntsman again separates himself from the pack, in tems of polish, substance and clarity. No nerves tonight unlike last time.
8.24 pm. Perry jumps in to trash the individual mandate for health insurance. Romney makes the obvious case that emergency room care is a horribly inefficient way to have universal healthcare.
8.20 pm. Ron Paul believes we should never have bailed out the banks or the auto-companies. And then a weid diatribe against drug company lobbyists. And isn't the car industry an actual - and rare - industrial success right now?
8.19 pm. How big is Michele Bachmann's American flag brooch?
8.17 pm. A great Huntsman riposte to Romney's proposal of a trade war with China. A very strong start - especially the association with Reagan and the possibility of addressing the Chinese people in Mandarin. That would indeed be something. Totally different from his previous poor performance.
8.15 pm. So far, the only policies that have been mentioned are tax cuts or tax reform. It's as if government has been forbidden to do anything but lower taxes.
8.14 pm. Something tells me that Rick Santorum is not the best person to reach out to the Democrats in the Senate.
8.11 pm. Romney's off to a very polished stance. A nice demurral on "career politicians." And a swift response to Perry's tweak on job creation in Texas versus Massachusetts.
(Photo: David McNew/Getty.)
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– A consensus is taking shape from last night's GOP debate, and Mitt Romney should be pleased. He won or at least held his own in the eyes of most (but certainly not all). Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post pronounces him the winner for his "slow and steady" performance after a somewhat "shaky" start. Rick Perry came out aggressive but "seemed to lose focus" in the second half, while "Romney showed his experience and steadied himself as the proceedings wore on—repeatedly giving answers that sounded reasonable and, dare we say it, presidential." As for Michele Bachmann, she was a "non-entity," which puts her into the "loser" camp," writes Cillizza. It's similar to Andrew Sullivan's assessment at his Daily Beast blog, in which he says Romney "kicked ass," while Perry "proved himself an extreme, inarticulate, incurious W clone" whose "rhetoric was off-key," especially on Social Security. Both Sullivan and Cillizza praise Jon Huntsman's performance: He finally looked like he belonged out there. At the National Journal, Ron Fournier names Romney and Perry as the winners, but wonders about the price. "The testy exchanges allowed Perry to cast himself as a conservative truth-teller and Romney to bill himself as the most electable GOP candidate," he writes. "In doing so, both men exposed each others’ political vulnerabilities and risked alienating independent voters who are looking for more civility in politics." Jonathan Chait at the New Republic is in the minority camp, naming Perry as the sole winner. He "established his alpha male style, and that impression will matter more than any position or statement he’s made."
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We’re going to admit something here, before the New York Times Magazine news article about Washington webzine sweatshop “The Politico” changes the very nature of Time/Space: We do not read Mike Allen’s daily email, and we don’t look at the Politico unless we absolutely have to — like, say, when a hundred readers keep sending the same link every two minutes, which is an Important Bat Signal for certain editors who lack the masochistic streak necessary for actually looking at political blogs.
So when we glanced at this hysterical single-paragraph excerpt from the NYT last night, we wondered, “Is this the same dumb collection of wire story ledes and birthday announcements and inconsequential chatter we saw, those few times we opened the Mike Allen email?”
Before he goes to sleep, between 11 and midnight, Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, typically checks in by e-mail with the same reporter: Mike Allen of Politico, who is also the first reporter Pfeiffer corresponds with after he wakes up at 4:20. A hyperactive former Eagle Scout, Allen will have been up for hours, if he ever went to bed. Whether or not he did is one of the many little mysteries that surround him. The abiding certainty about Allen is that sometime between 5:30 and 8:30 a.m., seven days a week, he hits ‘send’ on a mass e-mail newsletter that some of America’s most influential people will read before they say a word to their spouses.
So we dug up yesterday’s Politico email from the gmail trash, deleted unread like so many mass-mailed things that clog the Wonkette tips box, and we opened it.
The items, in order from top to bottom:
A cut-and-paste paragraph from a Reuters bulletin about Goldman Sachs’ earnings, which the bank announced in a press release.
A cut-and-paste paragraph from a Chicago Tribune story summarizing Rahm Emanuel’s appearance on a nationally broadcast interview program from the night before.
story summarizing Rahm Emanuel’s appearance on a nationally broadcast interview program from the night before. An idiotic, unfunny joke about the SEC made by Joe Scarborough, the television host, on his cable news program, also available to anyone with basic cable.
Cut-and-pasted text from and a link to Politico’s article from the previous day, already widely reported at this point, about former Obama Administration counsel Gregory Craig advising Goldman Sachs.
A one-line addendum noting that the Politico reporter who wrote the article saw Gregory Craig at the Capitol, presumably working for clients.
Mention/link of a Bloomberg article about states continuing to issue muni bonds through Goldman Sachs.
Mention/link to New York tabloids, both of which have dull stories about Obama and his relations with Wall Street and Mayor Bloomberg.
A cut-and-paste paragraph from a Politico op-ed by someone who works for Al Gore’s climate-change group.
A text ad from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opposing climate-change legislation.
Six more pasted Rahm Emanuel quotes, from the Charlie Rose Show transcript.
transcript. A link to a chart in the Los Angeles Times .
. Quote from a USA Today article.
article. Names and ages of three people in Washington with a birthday, along with thanks to emailers for sending these birthday announcements to the Politico.
A quote from an article about insurance oversight.
Cut-and-pasted bits about President Obama’s fund-raising trip to California, from Bloomberg, AP, Reuters, the LA Times and the pool report.
and the pool report. A link without explanation to an image of the USA Today newspaper.
newspaper. Quotes from a Bloomberg article about Goldman Sachs, an AP story about some Republicans voted out of Congress in 2006, and something from the Politico about Eric Cantor.
Another text ad from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opposing climate-change legislation.
There is nothing in this banal pile of links and quoted text that wasn’t all over the Internet before Mike Allen so bravely “hit send.” The Gregory Craig story counts (in Washington) as a “scoop,” in which an expected thing happens, involving the expected people — but that was floating around both the Politico’s website and the political blogs for twelve hours before it made it to Mike Allen’s famous email forward.
Even lazy-ass Jim Newell, who writes comedy for Wonkette, posted his version of the Gregory Craig/Goldman story a whole 10 hours before the magic Playbook email went out to a loathsome group of Beltway people who so hate their spouses that they need to scan Mike Allen’s Best of the Web links before saying “Good morning” or “Let’s get a divorce.”
There is much to dislike about the Politico and its newsroom culture of pointless trivia and breathtaking lack of perspective, but pretending Mike Allen’s dumb email is anything more than links to the same shit everybody’s already reading is just bizarre. Why is the White House communications director talking to Mike Allen in the night? Is his wifi broken? Is he just lonely?
A Little Preview on NYT’s Piece on Politico’s Allen: ‘The Insider’s Insider’ [Fishbowl DC]
Actual News Article About Politico [New York Times] ||||| POLITICO Playbook: Republicans try to address fundraising woes, and a new Pelosi book
President Donald Trump speaks at the RNC winter meeting on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo
DRIVING THE DAY
SIREN … ALEX ISENSTADT: “Exclusive: GOP reaches landmark agreement to juice small-dollar fundraising: ‘Patriot Pass’ is the Republican Party’s answer to ActBlue, Democrats’ online money behemoth”: “With the deal, Republicans hope to create a rival to ActBlue, the Democratic online fundraising behemoth that plowed over $700 million in small-dollar donations into Democratic coffers in the 2018 campaign. …
“The accord, revealed for the first time to POLITICO by officials at the center of the effort, has received the explicit blessing of party leaders. Under the arrangement, Data Trust, the RNC’s designated clearinghouse of voter information, will form a joint venture with Revv, a donation processor used by the Trump campaign. The two entities will form the nucleus of Patriot Pass.” POLITICO
-- MEANWHILE … MAGGIE SEVERNS and ALEX THOMPSON: “Tech billionaire, Democrats clash over campaign tactics and data”
SHUTDOWN … DAY 32: THIS WASHINGTON POST headline tells you all you need to know about the state of affairs in D.C.: “Congress to pursue divergent paths to reopening government, but stalemate no closer to resolution”
-- GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES are set to miss yet another paycheck this week. Will that pain be enough to spur action? Right now, it doesn’t seem likely. The White House is standing by its latest volley. And Senate Republicans are pushing forward with their massive package to reopen the government and fund PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S border wall that includes a few goodies to try and pick off moderate Democrats. Democrats remain unified against the gambit.
THE IMPACT …
-- WSJ’S GABRIEL RUBIN: “Shutdown Hits Industries Nationwide”: “The partial closure of the Securities and Exchange Commission is delaying the ability of companies to open the IPO market. … The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has dramatically curtailed inspections of domestic facilities at food-processing companies during the shutdown, though unpaid inspectors have resumed work inspecting higher-risk products such as fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, seafood and dairy products. …
“At the Internal Revenue Service, the shutdown has created delays in getting some employer identification numbers, holding up some routine business deals. … The Small Business Administration has stopped approving routine loans that the agency backs to ensure entrepreneurs have access to funds, halting their plans for expansion and repairs and forcing some owners to consider costlier sources of cash. …
“The shutdown has spread into space. Lockheed Martin warned in a regulatory filing that furloughs threaten the launch of a commercial satellite for a Saudi Arabian customer, as well as some other SpaceX launches.” WSJ
-- “Shutdown’s Pain Cuts Deep for the Homeless and Other Vulnerable Americans,” by NYT’s Glenn Thrush: “One month after the government shutdown began, its effects have begun to hurt some of the most vulnerable Americans: not just homeless people, but also those who are one crisis away from the streets. And nonprofit groups dedicated to helping low-income renters are already scrambling to survive without the lifeblood payments from HUD that began being cut off on Jan. 1.” NYT
-- ON THE TRAVEL FRONT … CNN’S ELI WATKINS: “10% of TSA employees called out Sunday as shutdown continues” … WSJ’S ANDY PASZTOR and ALISON SIDER: “Air Travel Remains Safe During Shutdown, Data Show”
Good Tuesday morning. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- SUSAN PAGE, Washington bureau chief of USA Today, has signed a book deal to write a biography of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It is tentatively titled “Madame Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Arc of Power.” Twelve, which is publishing Page’s biography about Barbara Bush this April, will also publish the Pelosi book. It will cover her rise to power, return to the speakership and relationship with Trump. The deal was negotiated by Javelin.
Page told us: “She is the highest ranking woman in the history of American politics, and the most effective House Speaker since Sam Rayburn. Yet she is fundamentally misunderstood by many in the public. Her rise reflects the transitional generation for women in the United States. And for the next two years, she will be the Democratic point person for the investigative and legislative showdowns with President Trump.”
JUST POSTED … ABC’S MATTHEW MOSK, KATHERINE FAULDERS and JOHN SANTUCCI: “U.S. banker with ties to Putin’s inner circle sought access to Trump transition: Sources”: “Nine days after Donald Trump won the presidency, as scores of supporters clamored for meetings with his transition team, the Hollywood producer of ‘The Apprentice,’ Mark Burnett, reached out to one of Trump’s closest advisers to see if he would sit down with a banker who has long held ties to Russia.
“The banker, Robert Foresman, never got the role he was seeking with the fledgling Trump administration. But he has recently attracted the attention of congressional investigators as one more name on an expanding list of Americans with established ties inside the Kremlin who appears to have been seeking access to the newly elected president’s inner circle, according to three sources familiar with the matter.” ABC
AH, GOT IT … NYT’S MAGGIE HABERMAN: “Giuliani Says His Moscow Trump Tower Comments Were ‘Hypothetical’”: “President Trump’s personal lawyer on Monday walked back the timeline he had offered a day earlier on when negotiations ended with Russian officials about a proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow, calling his comments “hypothetical” and not intended to convey facts.
“The latest statement from the lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, was described as a clarification of remarks he made to The New York Times in an interview on Sunday, as well as other remarks he made in interviews on Sunday television news shows.
“Mr. Giuliani originally quoted Mr. Trump as telling him the negotiations over a Moscow skyscraper continued through ‘the day I won.’ He also said that the president recalled ‘fleeting conversations’ about the deal after the Trump Organization signed a letter of intent to pursue it.” NYT
ANOTHER GEM FROM THE PRESIDENT'S LAWYER ... NEW YORKER'S ISAAC CHOTINER interviews Rudy: "Because I have been through all the tapes, I have been through all the texts, I have been through all the e-mails, and I knew none existed. And then, basically, when the special counsel said that, just in case there are any others I might not know about, they probably went through others and found the same thing.
"Wait, what tapes have you gone through? I shouldn’t have said tapes. They alleged there were texts and e-mails that corroborated that Cohen was saying the President told him to lie. There were no texts, there were no e-mails, and the President never told him to lie.
"So, there were no tapes you listened to, though? No tapes. Well, I have listened to tapes, but none of them concern this." New Yorker
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NYT’S KEN VOGEL: “Russian Oligarch and Allies Could Benefit From Sanctions Deal, Document Shows”: “When the Trump administration announced last month that it was lifting sanctions against a trio of companies controlled by an influential Russian oligarch, it cast the move as tough on Russia and on the oligarch, arguing that he had to make painful concessions to get the sanctions lifted.
“But a binding confidential document signed by both sides suggests that the agreement the administration negotiated with the companies controlled by the oligarch, Oleg V. Deripaska, may have been less punitive than advertised. The deal contains provisions that free him from hundreds of millions of dollars in debt while leaving him and his allies with majority ownership of his most important company, the document shows.” NYT
COHEN WATCH -- “Cohen Threatened CNBC That Trump Would Sue After 2014 Poll Disappointment,” by WSJ’s Joe Palazzolo, Michael Siconolfi and Michael Rothfeld: “Donald Trump and his then-attorney Michael Cohen pressured CNBC in 2014 to place the real-estate tycoon higher in its list of the country’s top business leaders after Mr. Cohen failed to manipulate the rankings in Mr. Trump’s favor, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Cohen called CNBC and threatened that Mr. Trump would sue over his poor standing in the ranking, arguing that the news channel was ‘ignoring the will of the people,’ the people familiar with the matter said.
“CNBC didn’t respond to the threat, and Mr. Trump didn’t sue. Mr. Cohen didn’t respond to requests for comment. Mr. Trump also called network executives to complain, the people familiar with the matter said, in addition to griping publicly on Twitter about it. Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, said, ‘The president stands by his tweets.’” WSJ
2020 WATCH -- NATASHA KORECKI: ‘WE HAVE TO PREPARE LIKE IT’S ARMAGEDDON’ … “Democrats are planning major changes to the 2020 Iowa caucuses, including the possibility of a tele-caucus”: “Bracing for record turnout and fearful of a repeat of the chaos that marred the 2016 caucuses, Iowa Democrats are racing to implement some of the most significant changes in the history of the first-in-the-nation event.
“The party is shopping for larger facilities to fit expected overflow crowds, investing in new technology to stave off check-in and head counting snafus and pushing individual 2020 campaigns to create their own voter registration programs. And to abide by new rules set out by the national party, Iowa Democrats are even studying the possibility of what once would have been unthinkable: ‘Tele-caucusing,’ which would allow absentee voting by phone or possibly online for any Democrat who couldn’t make it on caucus day.
“It’s all an attempt to prepare for what’s expected to be the mother of all caucuses – a historic turnout next year in the Feb. 3 presidential caucuses, powered by a sprawling field of candidates and boiling hot anti-Trump sentiment.” POLITICO
KAMALA HARRIS’ TEAM … Campaign manager: Juan Rodriguez … Chair: Maya Harris … General counsel: Marc Elias … Senior adviser: David Huynh … National finance director: Angelique Cannon … Advisers: Ace Smith, Sean Clegg and Laphonza Butler …
… Communications director: Lily Adams … National press secretary: Ian Sams … Deputy national press secretary and director of African-American media: Kirsten Allen.
TRUMP’S TUESDAY -- He will have lunch with VP Mike Pence in the private dining room.
PLAYBOOK READS
PHOTO DU JOUR: Vice President Mike Pence, President Donald Trump and acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on Monday. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo
FOR YOUR RADAR -- “U.S. and North Korean Spies Have Held Secret Talks for a Decade,” by WSJ’s Michael Gordon and Warren Strobel: “U.S. intelligence officials have met with North Korean counterparts secretly for a decade, a covert channel that allowed communications during tense times, aided in the release of detainees and helped pave the way for President Trump’s historic summit last year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“The secret channel between the Central Intelligence Agency and spies from America’s bitter adversary included two missions to Pyongyang in 2012 during the Obama administration by Michael Morell, then deputy CIA director, and at least one by his successor, Avril Haines, say current and former U.S. officials.
“The channel appears to have gone dormant late in the Obama administration. Mike Pompeo re-energized it while CIA director, sending an agency officer to meet with North Korean counterparts in Singapore in August 2017.” WSJ
WAR REPORT -- “After Deadly Assault on Afghan Base, Taliban Sit for Talks With U.S. Diplomats,” by NYT’s Mujib Mashal, Fahim Abed and Fatima Faizi in Kabul: “The Taliban infiltrated an Afghan intelligence base on Monday, killing dozens of people in what Afghan officials said was one of the deadliest attacks against the intelligence service in the 17-year war with the Taliban. ...
“The attack, early Monday morning, came hours before the Taliban announced they had resumed peace talks with American officials. It was a sign, analysts said, of how violence is likely to grow deadlier even as the sides of the long war have indicated a willingness to seek a negotiated settlement.” NYT
-- “Exclusive: Iraqi scientist says he helped ISIS make chemical weapons,” by WaPo’s Joby Warrick in Irbil
AP’S LISA MARIE PANE: “Political shifts, sales slump cast shadow over gun industry”: “When gunmakers and dealers gather this week in Las Vegas for the industry’s largest annual conference, they will be grappling with slumping sales and a shift in politics that many didn’t envision two years ago when gun-friendly Donald Trump and a GOP-controlled Congress took office.
“Some of the top priorities for the industry — expanding the reach of concealed carry permits and easing restrictions on so-called ‘silencers’ — remain in limbo, and prospects for expanding gun rights are nil for the foreseeable future.” AP
VALLEY TALK -- “Google Fined $57 Million in Biggest Penalty Yet Under New European Law,” by WSJ’s Sam Schechner: “A French regulator fined Alphabet Inc.’s Google 50 million euros ($56.8 million)—the biggest penalty so far under a new European privacy law—alleging the search-engine giant didn’t go far enough getting valid user consent to gather data for targeted advertising.
“The fine represents one of the highest profile regulatory actions so far stemming from GDPR, the European Union-wide ‘General Data Protection Regulation,’ which went into effect last year. The law requires companies to abide by strict data-protection and privacy rules protecting EU residents.” WSJ
MEDIAWATCH -- Katy McKegney, advertising director of The Hill for the past four years, has been named publisher of the Washington City Paper.
PLAYBOOKERS
GRIDIRON SPEAKER … SUSAN PAGE (@susanpage): “#Breaking: The Democratic speaker at the 134th annual Gridiron Dinner in March will be @amyklobuchar, Gridiron President @GeraldFSeib announces. She is not only a presidential aspirant but also the daughter of a journalist--speaking at the oldest association of journalists in DC.”
SPOTTED at National Action Network’s annual MLK Breakfast on Monday: Al Sharpton, Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Martin Luther King III, Sherrilyn Ifill, Tony West, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Hill Harper, Michelle Ebanks, Vanita Gupta, Rev. Everett Kelly, Rev. Yolanda Pierce, Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) and Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), Scott Stringer and Nate Tinbite.
TRANSITIONS -- Pam Bondi will lead Ballard Partners’ new corporate regulatory compliance practice. She previously was Florida’s attorney general. (hat tip: Florida Playbook) ... Zach Hunter will be VP of American Action Network and Congressional Leadership Fund and also manage all communications efforts. He previously was comms director for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Emma Nelson, former NRCC finance director, will be director of development.
BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Marisa Renee Lee, co-founder of Supportal and former managing director of My Brother’s Keeper Alliance ... Oliver Griswold, director of brand strategy at GMMB (h/ts Melanie Fonder Kaye)
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Rob Collins, a partner at S-3 Public Affairs and former NRSC executive director. What he’s been reading recently: “Not new, but one that I think should be required reading for all incoming congressional freshmen is ‘How American Politics Went Insane,’ by Jonathan Rauch in The Atlantic. Why: The Framers worried about demagogic excess and populist caprice, so they created buffers and gatekeepers between voters and the government.” Playbook Plus Q&A
BIRTHDAYS: Josh Earnest, chief comms officer and SVP at United Airlines, is 44 ... Kendra Barkoff Lamy (hubby tip: Jonathan) ... Jack St. John of GSA ... Rebecca Wasserstein of the WH travel office ... Dave Schnittger, principal at Squire Patton Boggs, is 48 ... Jim Oliphant, national politics correspondent at Reuters ... former Sen. Birch Bayh (D-Ind.) is 91 ... POLITICO’s Zach Warmbrodt, Brianna Ehley and Jesse Shapiro ... Dan Scandling, senior director at APCO Worldwide (h/t Brianna Puccini) ... Gregg Pitts (h/t Tim Burger) ... Ado Machida is 55 ... Chris Lowe ... Elizabeth Ashford ... Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) is 66 ... Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) is 53 (h/ts Tim Griffin) ... Patrick Mendoza ... Josh Riley, partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner ... CNN’s Kevin Bohn (h/t Ed Meagher) ... Kian Hudson, Indiana deputy solicitor general (h/t wife Lexi Hudson and Trey Herr) ...
... Ken Gross, Skadden’s political practice chair ... Netflix’s Sarah Ryan ... Francie Harris of EMILY’s List ... Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is 45 ... Bram Weinstein is 46 … Heather Kennedy, VP of gov’t relations at the Home Depot ... AHIP’s Adam Beck is 31 … Alexander Wells ... Ashley Codianni, executive producer of social and emerging media at CNN (h/t Josiah Ryan) … Elise Flick ... Chris Lavery … Derek Dye ... WaPo’s Julie Zauzmer (h/t Sarah Gadsden) ... Andrea Mucasey ... Ginny Simmons ... Mark Solomons is 58 ... Charlie Meyerson ... Nicholas Monck ... Carla Jacobs ... Laura Allen ... Cara Baldari ... Seema Ibrahim ... Anna Sperling McAlvanah ... Mike Simmons ... Jason Forrester ... Paul Roales ... David Sanders ... Chase Burgess ... Carol McDonald (h/t Teresa Vilmain)
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– The New York Times' breathlessly awaited cover story on Politico's Mike Allen, who's breathlessly called the most important journalist in Washington, to the chagrin of the Times and other major news organizations, is online today—all 8,100 words of it. But the much quicker and more amusing take on the story is Mike Allen's own, here, where he grabs, in his signature staccato manner, all the most flattering bits about himself. Like the fact that Allen's early morning Playbook post has "become the cheat sheet of record for a time-starved city in which the power-and-information hierarchy has been upended." And David Axelrod saying he reads it on the way to the White House. Even the writer, Mark Liebovich, confesses: "I read Playbook every morning on my BlackBerry, usually while my copies of the New York Times and the Washington Post are in plastic bags." For an antidote to this panegyric, see Wonkette's effort to keep Allen's head from swelling any more here.
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CHARLESTON, S.C. – So much for the frontrunner playing it safe.
Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch took the fight to embattled Republican Mark Sanford in a raucous debate here Monday night, at one point tagging the former governor as a hypocrite for preaching lower spending when he used taxpayer dollars to fly to Argentina to visit his mistress.
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reset Colbert Busch hits Sanford affair
Sanford called Colbert Busch, a Clemson University administrator and the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, a tool of Nancy Pelosi and labor unions who’s a misfit for the conservative-leaning 1st District.
(QUIZ: How well do you know Mark Sanford?)
And so it went on one issue after another — from jobs and spending to Obamacare and gun control — in a 75-minute slugfest ahead of next week’s battle for a vacant South Carolina congressional seat.
It was their sole one-on-one encounter of the general election — and Colbert Busch, who is leading in polls, was so aggressive that Sanford at times looked like he didn’t know what hit him.
Sanford spoke repeatedly about his extensive efforts as governor and House member to cut wasteful spending. Colbert Busch then turned to Sanford and delivered this zinger:
“When we talk about fiscal spending and we talk about protecting the taxpayers, it doesn’t mean you take the money we saved and leave the country for a personal purpose.”
(QUIZ: How well do you know Elizabeth Colbert Busch?)
That was a reference to Sanford’s use of state funds to fly to Argentina to visit his mistress and now fiancé, an affair that derailed his political career four years ago.
“She went there, Governor Sanford,” one of the debate’s moderators responded.
With much of the crowd hooting and hollering, Sanford seemed shaken.
“I couldn’t hear what she said… repeat it, I didn’t hear,” he said.
“Answer the question,” Colbert Busch interjected.
“What was the question?” Sanford said, appearing stunned.“Ok, but anyway, ah ah, on the sequester, I’ll go back to the sequester…”
(PHOTOS: Mark Sanford’s career)
The debate was perhaps Sanford’s last, best opportunity to make a dent in Colbert Busch’s lead. After allegations surfaced this month that he trespassed at his ex-wife’s house, the former governor finds himself as the underdog in a contest he was widely expected to win. A survey by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling released last week showed Colbert Busch opening up a 9-point lead over the former governor.
National Republicans have abandoned the former governor, leaving him to fend for himself as a team of deep-pocketed Democratic groups hammer him on South Carolina’s TV airwaves. Through the end of last week, three organizations – the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Majority PAC, and Vote Vets Action Fund, had combined to spend nearly $1 million against Sanford.
Sanford spent much of the debate on the attack, too. He laced into Colbert Busch for accepting contributions and endorsements from labor unions – which are unpopular in conservative South Carolina – and pointed out that in 2001 she donated $500 to one of his gubernatorial campaigns.
And he repeatedly tried to connect Colbert Busch to Pelosi pointing out that groups closely associated with the House minority leader had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars running TV ads on her behalf. The line of attack is one that Sanford has used on the campaign trail. Last week, he debated a cardboard cut-out of Pelosi. ||||| The special election on May 7 in the First Congressional District is the first time in several decades that a Democrat stands a strong chance of taking the seat in a district made up largely of moderate conservatives, many of whom are more moderate than the rest of the state.
For South Carolinians, more than 500 of whom packed an auditorium at the Citadel on Monday night, the debate was the first opportunity they had to watch the candidates faces off in what has thus far been a race big on drama and light on actual issues.
The drama, of course, centers on Mr. Sanford. His campaign began with several public apologies for mistakes he made in his personal life and a plea for redemption. He quickly shifted into making the race about his experience and strong fiscal conservatism, but in mid-April court documents surfaced that once again threw his personal life into the center of the ring.
Mr. Sanford’s ex-wife claimed that he had slipped into her house to watch the Super Bowl with their 14-year-old son in violation of court orders. She found him leaving the property, using his cellphone as a flashlight, and complained to the courts that he had violated their divorce agreement. The two are scheduled to appear in court on May 9, two days after the election, to resolve the issue.
That made any questions Monday night that hinted at his marital difficulties particularly of interest.
Mr. Sanford, who faced impeachment and went through a divorce after he lied about hiking the Appalachian Trail when he went to visit an Argentine woman who is now his fiancée, used that experience in the debate to explain how he would reach across the aisle to improve Congressional relations. “You don’t go through the experience I had back in 2009 without a greater level of humility,” he said.
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Mr. Sanford, who held the seat before he was governor and voted to impeach President Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, was asked if he would cast the same vote again. He did not answer directly, but said, “Do you think that President Clinton should be condemned for the rest of his life based on a mistake he made in his life?”
Mrs. Colbert Busch, who began the evening debating with much less political polish than Mr. Sanford, promised by the end of the evening to take a 10 percent pay cut if she was elected to Congress.
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She called Mr. Sanford “Henny Penny” for his dire predictions on the nation’s fiscal health, and took a more optimistic stance. “Our best days are ahead of us,” she said.
She cited former Vice President Dick Cheney’s words when she was asked her position on gay marriage and the Defense of Marriage Act, both of which are in front of the Supreme Court. “Freedom means freedom for everyone,” she said.
Mr. Sanford, citing his deep belief in federalism, said marriage was an issue that traditionally had been left to the states and should remain so. “Isn’t that really the way it’s supposed to work in the country?” he asked.
Mr. Sanford stayed close to his advocacy for limited federal spending that made him a hero among the fiscal hawks. Mrs. Colbert Busch stressed her own fiscal abilities honed as an executive in the maritime industry.
Mr. Sanford also hammered Mrs. Colbert Busch over what will probably be more than a million dollars in support from national Democratic groups, including the House Majority PAC, which is backed by the minority leader Nancy Pelosi.
Mr. Sanford used Mrs. Pelosi’s name with such frequency that several people following the debate on Twitter suggested someone start a drinking game. His point, which he made repeatedly, was that Mrs. Colbert Busch, the sister of the comedian Stephen Colbert, would be controlled by special interests, including labor unions, once she got to Washington.
“Nobody tells me what to do,” she snapped back at one point, “except the people of South Carolina’s First District.” ||||| Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch slapped Mark Sanford over his affair when he was governor in last night’s tense, and only, debate in the special election in South Carolina’s 1st District–and now the House Majority PAC is doing the same thing.
Obtained exclusively by The Daily Rundown, the Democratic super PAC’s latest television ad against Sanford features a female GOP voter from the district slamming the former governor for his disappearance from the state while in office and the disclosure that he was having an affair with an Argentinian woman.
“I used to be for Mark Sanford–but not anymore,” says Jennifer Stark of Mount Pleasant, S.C. “He skipped town to be with his mistress on Father’s Day. Sanford even asked his wife for permission to have the affair, and wasted our taxpayer dollars on himself.”
“I’m a Republican. But Mark Sanford just doesn’t share our values,” says Stark.
While other Democratic ads have heavily alluded to Sanford’s affair with the woman he’s now engaged to, House Majority PAC’s is the most direct yet. And it plays exactly to the demographic that Democrats know they must win over to be victorious–female Republican voters.
The ad shows footage from Sanford’s teary press conference when he returned from Argentina, after he had told his staff he would be hiking the Appalachian Trail.
The more recent bad headlines for Sanford flash across the screen, too–earlier this month, an AP report revealed his now ex-wife, Jenny, had accused him of trespassing,
National Republicans were blindsided by the accusations and they pulled funding from the race, dealing a serious blow to Sanford’s comeback bid.
Left to defend himself, Sanford’s gone on the attack against Colbert Busch for Democrats groups that have come to her side–including the House Majority PAC. Combined, Democratic groups have spent over $1 million on the race.
Sanford has criticized HMP specifically, and after they put his personal cell phone number in a fundraising pitch–he had printed it himself in a full-page apology ad in the local paper–he released out of state cell phone numbers that had called his phone.
The GOP nominee continued pointing fingers at Democratic outside groups backing Colbert Busch during their Monday evening debate. From NBC Politics:
Sanford’s fallback, time and again, during Monday’s debate was to tie Colbert Busch to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. When his Democratic opponent only agreed to one face-to-face encounter, Sanford took to debating a cardboard cutout of the former House Speaker on the streets last week. “It’s not believable to me that someone gives you a million dollars and not expect something in return,” said Sanford, arguing his Democratic opponent would be a reliable vote for Pelosi.
But Colbert Busch fought back, and wasn’t afraid to bring up the governor’s past personal failings.
During a question on the sequester and how to slash federal spending Monday, Colbert Busch saw her chance to pounce. “When we’re looking at fiscal responsibility,” said Colbert Busch, “it doesn’t mean you take the money we saved and leave the country for a personal purpose.” Sanford said he didn’t hear Colbert Busch’s rebuttal and turned the question back to the sequester.
The special election takes place on May 7 for the chance to succeed now-Sen. Tim Scott. While an automated survey from the Democratic-aligned Public Policy Polling last week showed Colbert Busch up nine points, both sides believe the race is much closer than that and likely within the margin of error.
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– Mark Sanford clashed with Elizabeth Colbert Busch last night in the pair's only debate in their race for a South Carolina congressional seat—and any hope the former governor may have had that his "Appalachian Trail" affair wouldn't be mentioned vanished 25 minutes into the slugfest. "When we talk about fiscal spending and we talk about protecting the taxpayers, it doesn’t mean you take the money we saved and leave the country for a personal purpose," Colbert Busch told the Republican, referring to his use of state funds to visit his mistress in Argentina, Politico reports. "You voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and to impeach President Clinton for an extramarital affair," a moderator later asked him. "Would you vote those ways again?” “I would reverse the question to you," Sanford replied. "Do you think that President Clinton should be condemned for the rest of his life based on a mistake that he made in his life?" Colbert Busch, who has a healthy lead in the polls, spent the debate on the attack, the New York Times reports, but Sanford hit back often, repeatedly trying to link his opponent to Nancy Pelosi—though he didn't bring his cardboard Pelosi debating partner. "Nobody tells me what to do except the people of South Carolina’s 1st District," Colbert Busch responded after one attack. A super PAC is also taking Sanford to task over the affair in a new attack ad.
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Gloria bill, AB 1151, to Make It Illegal to Possess or Sell Seafood Caught in Gillnets, a Fishing Method Destructive to World’s Smallest Porpoise
SACRAMENTO, CA – California State Assemblymember Todd Gloria (D-San Diego) announced today the introduction of his new bill that would help save the last 30 vaquita porpoises in the world. The bill, AB 1151, would make it illegal to possess or sell fish or fish products from the northern Gulf of California caught with any kind of gillnet.
Gillnets, which are used to catch shrimp and fish, are the greatest threat to the vaquita species, the world’s smallest and most endangered porpoise. Like the seafood targeted by these nets, vaquita become entangled in the nets and then drown.
“California can send a clear message of solidarity to the Mexican and international scientists, communities, and conservationists trying to save the vaquita from dying in gillnets,” said Assemblymember Todd Gloria. “This bill helps ensure that Californians are not contributing to the vaquita’s extinction.”
The vaquita population has declined by a stunning 95 percent since 1990. In 1990, there were more than 700. The vaquita’s steep decline is solely attributable to the use of gillnets in their habitat, a 2,000 km² area in the northwest corner of the Gulf of California – an area roughly equal in size to Orange County, California.
“As one of the nearest neighbors and purchasers of fish products from the northern Gulf of California, it’s critical that California take a stand for vaquita,” said Zak Smith, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Marine Mammal Protection Project. “There’s no time left for half-hearted efforts to save the ‘pandas of the sea.’ It is imperative that we remove all gillnets from vaquita habitat to halt the extinction of this beautiful, unique porpoise.”
“California will not stand idly by while harmful fishing practices push the world’s rarest dolphin to extinction. We can protect the vaquita by stopping the possession of fish products that threaten it,” said Kim Delfino, California program director for Defenders of Wildlife. “California banned the use and importation of shark fins to halt the decline in sharks years ago, and if Assemblymember Gloria’s bill becomes law, California will once again lead the way on protecting our ocean’s rare marine life.”
Mexico has temporarily banned the use of gillnets for the shrimp fishery and other fisheries in an effort to protect the vaquita. However, there is an exception to the ban that allows for the use of gillnets for the corvina fishery.
Unfortunately, an illegal fishery for a croaker fish called the totoaba (also endangered and also found only in the northern Gulf of California) uses the corvina fishery exception to the ban to continue to kill the exceptionally rare vaquita. Fishermen continue to flood the vaquita’s habitat with gillnets to catch totoaba in response to Asian demand for totoaba swim bladders, which are smuggled to Southeast Asia for use in traditional medicinal soups.
Assemblymember Gloria represents the 78th Assembly District of California and serves as an Assistant Majority Whip. Assemblymember Gloria’s official, high-resolution photo can be downloaded here.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 2 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.
Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With more than 1.2 million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to come. For more information, visit www.defenders.org and follow us on Twitter @DefendersNews. ||||| Sea Shepherd’s campaign in defense of the highly endangered vaquita porpoise
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s Operation Milagro III (Operation Miracle) continues our conservation efforts for the endangered vaquita porpoise, a species on the brink of extinction.
Our ships, the M/V Sam Simon and M/V Farley Mowat will be patrolling and protecting the vaquita refuge to save this critically endangered marine mammal. ||||| A vaquita porpoise - a critically endangered species of porpoise - was found dead in the waters off Baja California on Sunday, according to Sea Shepherd
A vaquita porpoise - a critically endangered species of porpoise - was found dead in the waters off Baja California on Sunday, according to Sea Shepherd, the organization known for battling illegal fishing and poaching in the oceans.
The carcass was found by one of the Sea Shepherd's anti-poaching ships, the Farley Mowat, in the Gulf of California. The crew then notified Mexican authorities to retrieve the body.
The frozen carcass is in San Felipe, where it will be examined to determine its cause of death.
The discovery comes a week after the organization found another vaquita dead in the Bay. The body of the vaquita, believed to be a newborn, was found floating in the Gulf of California just south of San Felipe on Sunday, March 12.
More than half of the population has been lost in the last three years, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Now, with only 30 vaquita porpoises left in the world, Rep. Todd Gloria (D-78th District) has introduced a bill in California to help save the rare sea mammal from extinction. The bill would make it illegal to possess or sell fish products caught in the northern Gulf of California with a gillnet.
More often than not, vaquitas get entangled in nets meant for a fish known as the totoaba, which inhabits the same territory. The vaquitas are unable to surface to breathe and drown as a result.
The gillnets have led to a 90 percent decline in the vaquitas' numbers over the last five years, according a study by an international committee of experts.
In 2016, 31 illegal fishing nets for the totoaba were pulled from the Gulf of California.
Mexico has temporarily banned the use of gillnets for fishing of shrimp and other sea creatures in an effort to protect the vaquita.
However, there is a loophole that allows for the use of gillnets for fishing of Gulf corvina, a practice used to capture the totoaba fish.
Considered "aquatic cocaine," the fishing for totoaba is highly lucrative. Sea Shepherd estimates the fish is worth $20,000 per kilo. ||||| “This breaks my heart. Wildlife conservation can be a tough job. What's so devastating about the vaquita is that it could go extinct with the majority of the world having no idea this beautiful animal even existed. But I refuse to give up hope. We'll fight on. ”
There is grim news for the world’s most endangered porpoise. A survey conducted last summer and just released last week estimates vaquita numbers are as low as 30 individuals. That’s half of what the vaquita population was just last year. And less than a third of its population in 2014.
Why are their numbers at an all-time low? Human activities, specifically bycatch - fishing nets that inadvertently catch and drown the porpoise. Vaquitas share waters with the much sought-after totoaba fish. The totoaba’s bladder is a highly prized delicacy in Asia and is illegally traded en route to China from Mexico and through the US.
The only way to save the vaquita from extinction is if the Mexican government bans all fisheries within vaquita habitat. Such a ban must be fully carried out by law enforcement. And economic alternatives must be found for fishing communities so they may have more sustainable livelihoods.
Other governments must also do their part. The US needs to immediately stop transborder shipments of totoaba products. China should end to the illegal transport and sale of totoaba products.
All three governments must take action immediately.
WWF is committed to working with the Mexican government and the international community to ensure a future of the vaquita as well as sustainable livelihoods for local communities. We are working to stop gillnet fishing and “ghost nets” within vaquita habitat in addition to finding new vaquita-safe fishing techniques.
Just a decade ago, the Chinese river dolphin was driven to extinction. Today we are on the brink of losing a second cetacean species. We cannot allow this to happen. ||||| Scientists warned in February there are only 30 remaining vaquita marina, the world's smallest porpoise, and they face extinction by 2022 Environmentalists said they have found the body of a baby vaquita marina porpoise, one of the last of its kind, washed up dead in northern Mexico.
The newborn was found with its umbilical cord still attached on a beach in the Gulf of California by US environmental group Sea Shepherd, which said it is working with Mexican authorities to determine what killed the animal.
Scientists warned in February that there are only 30 remaining vaquita, the world's smallest porpoise. They warned it faced extinction by 2022.
Mexico's environmental protection authority said the baby vaquita's corpse would be sent to a lab in San Francisco to be tested for toxic substances, viruses and bacteria.
Sea Shepherd said the most common cause of death for the vaquita is getting caught in illegal gillnets meant to catch another endangered species, a large fish called the totoaba.
Smugglers ship the totoaba's dried swim bladder to China, where it fetches tens of thousands of dollars and is eaten in soup.
"Under the stress of fighting for its life, a mother could have discharged the calf," said Sea Shepherd activist Oona Layolle in a statement.
A female vaquita gives birth to a calf approximately once every two years, the group said.
Explore further: Mexico scrambles to save world's smallest porpoise (Update) ||||| Chinese Taste For Fish Bladder Threatens Rare Porpoise In Mexico
Enlarge this image toggle caption Richard Herrmann/Minden Pictu via Corbis Richard Herrmann/Minden Pictu via Corbis
The international trade in exotic animal parts includes rhino horn, seahorses and bear gallbladders. But perhaps none is as strange as the swim bladder from a giant Mexican fish called the totoaba.
The totoaba can grow to the size of a football player. It lives only in the Gulf of California in Mexico, along with the world's rarest marine mammal — an endangered porpoise called the vaquita.
Now the new and lucrative bladder trade threatens to wipe out both animals.
"People in Asian cultures use the swim bladder in a soup called fish maw," explains Erin Dean at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. It's also reputed to have some medicinal value — it's thought to boost fertility.
Dean says no one knows why the demand for it has skyrocketed recently. It could be that when a Chinese fish called a yellow croaker, which once supplied bladders, started dying out, people started turning to the Mexican totoaba to meet the demand for bladders.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Elliot Spagat/AP Elliot Spagat/AP
And the totoaba has one big bladder, which it inflates and deflates to control its flotation. When dried, it's about the size of a laptop computer — and it sells for big bucks.
"When one totoaba fish bladder goes for $10,000 in the Chinese market," says Dean, "law enforcement agencies kind of raise up their eyebrows and take note of this trade going on."
What investigators found is that Mexican fishermen are using huge nets, called gill nets, to catch totoaba. And those nets also accidentally snare and kill the vaquita porpoises. Their corpses get thrown away, while the totoaba bladders go to China. The whole business is a violation of both Mexican and international law, since the totoaba and the vaquita are listed by international treaty as endangered, so they're legally protected.
Fish and Wildlife Service agents are finding that the bladders often make their way to China via California. They found their first illegal bladder in a car coming across the Mexican border in 2013 — an astute agent had heard of the trade and recognized the bladder.
Later that year, agents seized another fish bladder from under the floor mats of another car at the border. They let the driver go but followed him. Dean says when agents raided his house, the scene inside was crazy. No furniture — just bladders. Everywhere.
"There were totoaba swim bladders placed all throughout the house," Dean says. "Giant fans blowing to dry out the bladders." Altogether, the 214 bladders that agents found in that house were worth $3.6 million.
Federal agents fear that with that kind of money at stake, the trade will get even bigger. "We absolutely have heard that cartels are involved in this trade," says Dean. "We've yet to nail that down."
Seven people have been prosecuted so far, she says. But fines and jail sentences issued so far have been relatively light.
Meanwhile, as more totoaba die for soup, more of the vaquita die with them. There are now only about 100 of these porpoises left on Earth, according Leigh Henry, a conservation policy adviser at the World Wildlife Fund. "It's the most endangered marine mammal," she says. "They are beautiful animals. They look like they have lipstick on and mascara."
The only place they're found is in the Gulf of California. Years ago, Mexico tried to protect the vaquita by putting large parts of its range off limits to fishing with gill nets. And the vaquita's numbers rebounded. Things were looking hopeful — until the totoaba trade took off.
Last month, this became an international issue. Government officials from the U.S., Mexico and China met in Geneva to talk about wildlife trade. It was the first time a lot of people had heard much about this new trade, says Laura Noguchi from the Fish and Wildlife Service, who was there. Mexican officials said China had a responsibility to track down bladder buyers. China said Mexico should crack down harder on illegal fishing.
Noguchi says the Chinese do appear to be taking the trade more seriously now. "They have looked at some of their dried seafood markets in Hong Kong," she says. "That's a hub apparently for the sale of this swim bladder."
But Chinese officials say they've yet to see much of a totoaba market in China. They also noted in a letter to officials who monitor wildlife trade under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species that it's hard to tell what's totoaba bladder and what might come from other, non-endangered fish.
Historically, fighting international wildlife trade takes a long time. And Leigh Henry of the WWF says that's especially true when it involves an animal that most people don't know about. "I want my kids to live in a world where vaquita continue to exist," she says. "My girls are 9 and 6. And they're probably two of the only people in the United States who know what a vaquita is. And they're concerned."
So is she. She says without an end to the trade, the vaquita could disappear by 2020.
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– Not even military dolphins could save this vaquita. The carcass of one of the endangered porpoises, whose Spanish name translates to "little cow," was discovered floating near the Baja California shoreline Sunday in the latest blow to a rapidly diminishing population, NBC Los Angeles reports. The vaquita was found by the Farley Mowat ship, part of the Sea Shepherd group's conservation campaign for the marine creature. Mexican officials were called to pull the dead animal from the Gulf of California, and it's now frozen and awaiting a necropsy to figure out what caused its demise. Just last week, a newborn vaquita was found washed up on a beach in northern Mexico, per Phys.org. While finding two of any type of animal dead within a week may not seem significant, it is when there are so few left in existence: The World Wildlife Fund—which calls the "critically endangered" vaquita the "world's most rare marine mammal"—points to a 2017 survey that says about 30 are left, about half the number in 2016. The vaquita often die when they get caught up and drown in fishing nets meant for the totoaba, a highly coveted fish in China that shares the same exclusive living space in the Gulf of California. Rep. Tom Gloria is spearheading efforts in the Golden State to save the vaquita, recently introducing a bill to criminalize possessing or selling fish trapped in those waters using the special gill nets. (On the flipside, here's some positive animal news.)
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Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders started the MSNBC debate in Durham, N.H. sparring over foreign policy and campaign finance reform, but ended the night on a friendly note. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders squared off in the fifth Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire on Thursday night. I watched, and picked some of the best and worst of the night.
Winners
* Hillary Clinton: This was not a debate in which Clinton scored a knockout blow. It was one, however, that she won on points. Clinton came out super aggressive in the debate's first 30 minutes, pushing Sanders back on his heels on, well, everything: guns, experience, the tenor of the campaign, what it means to be progressive and plenty of other things.
There are those who will see Clinton's tone in those first 30 minutes as over the top and, therefore, ineffective, but it seemed to me that she set up lots and lots of attacks that she can follow through on beyond New Hampshire. (Clinton made clear — at least to my eyes — that she understands the New Hampshire primary is a lost cause. More on that below.)
When the subject moved to foreign policy in the debate's second hour, Clinton was clearly more at ease than Sanders and effectively made the case that now isn't the time to put someone in the Oval Office who needs to learn on the job.
It was far from a perfect debate for Clinton. She struggled, again, to explain the speaking fees she took as a private citizen and pointedly refused the opportunity to release the transcripts of those speeches. Her response (or lack thereof) ensures the issue will linger.
* Two-person debates: There's a reason that networks try to limit the number of people on stage during these debates. This debate — the first one-on-one showdown of the 2016 primary season — proved that less is more in debates. The first hour was the best hour of any debate of this election: substantive, confrontational and entertaining. Both candidates had plenty of time to make their cases to voters and, more importantly, voters had a chance to get a deep look at what these two people believe and where they differ.
* Split screens: I am on the record as wanting a channel — online would be fine — that runs a split screen the entire time when the candidates are talking. If the NFL can have 20 different camera angles to watch every play, why can't I have this one little thing? I mean, if we could have more of this, why wouldn't you want it?
* Chuck Todd/Rachel Maddow: Moderating a debate for state Senate is hard. Moderating a presidential debate is really tough. Todd and Maddow did the thing that is both hardest and best for moderators at this level: They let the candidates actually debate. There is nothing that drives me crazier than when a moderator steps into the middle of a genuine conversation/disagreement between two (or more) candidates in order to move on to some other topic. The whole point of a debate is to figure out where the differences are and how each candidate explains those differences, not to try to see who can ask the most questions. Todd and Maddow got out of the way of the candidates tonight, which is exactly what good moderators should do.
Also, kudos to the duo for asking thoughtful questions that haven't been asked of the candidates a thousand times before; Todd's question to Sanders about why he wasn't taking public financing for the primary campaign was an A+.
Losers
* Bernie Sanders: I hesitate to put the Vermont socialist in the "loser" category because he did very little in the debate that will slow his momentum heading into a near-certain New Hampshire win. But I also hate when analysts and reporters take the easy way out when picking winners and losers. It was a two-person debate; if Clinton won then Sanders, by definition, didn't win. (This is the problem with using the binary choice of "winner" and "loser" to grade debates. But I digress.)
I thought Sanders was forceful and effective, as always, when talking about economic inequality and campaign finance reform. I thought he may have allowed himself to be put in a box as a single- or double-issue candidate down the line by Clinton, however.
Sanders also continued to struggle when the debate moved off of domestic issues and onto matters of foreign policy. On a question about what the right next steps were regarding American troops in Afghanistan, Sanders's answer was rambling and generally nonsensical.
* New Hampshire: Clinton pledged repeatedly to fight for every vote in New Hampshire. But if you read between the lines of some of her statements, it was clear that she understands that the Granite State primary is probably already over. Her first big attack on Sanders was on his alleged lack of commitment to gun control, including votes against the Brady Bill. That attack won't play well in New Hampshire, a Second Amendment-friendly state, and Clinton knows it. But she also knows that among Democrats nationally, being the candidate regarded as more liberal on gun control is a good place to be.
Clinton's decision to travel to Flint, Mich. — announced just before the debate — just 48 hours before the New Hampshire vote is another signal that she has her eye beyond the Granite State already. New Hampshire, which fashions itself the picker of presidents (or at least presidential nominees), almost certainly won't get the attention it has in past primary fights.
* Democratic National Committee: Remind me again why (a) there weren't more debates on the primary calendar initially and (b) those that were scheduled were put at times when no one would watch them?
* Time: I initially had the 90-minute debate length in the "winners" column because that felt like plenty of time for the two candidates to hash out their differences and for us all to go to bed at a reasonable hour. I moved it to the "losers" column when the debate went beyond its scheduled 10:30 p.m. Eastern end time. Then past 10:45 p.m. Then past 11 p.m. Come on man. What we doing out there, man? ||||| Story highlights Tim Stanley: On style, command of foreign policy, Hillary Clinton won debate, but Sanders won on the substance of his one really good issue: money in politics
He says Clinton left impression on issue of hefty speakers fees that she's too tied to Wall Street-- a weakness that plays to Sanders' strength
Timothy Stanley, a conservative, is a historian and columnist for Britain's Daily Telegraph. He is the author of "Citizen Hollywood: How the Collaboration Between L.A. and D.C. Revolutionized American Politics." The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) What a great debate. Bernie Sanders vs. Hillary Clinton is turning into a genuine philosophical contest -- between the senator's populist radicalism and the Secretary of State's gradualist reformism. The policy difference is narrow but the approach to politics is hugely different.
On style, many viewers will judge that Clinton won the faceoff in Durham, New Hampshire. She was certainly, to borrow a Trumpism, "high energy." She artfully shot down Sanders' attacks on her progressivism and quite convincingly displayed her knowledge of foreign policy.
Timothy Stanley
On the latter subject, Sanders suddenly seemed parochial and out of his depth. He should've dismissed a silly invitation to rank various regimes in order of evilness. Instead he gave a halting description of North Korea that suggested he was trying to visualize it on a map. At times, it sounded like he only has one issue. Happily for him, it's a darn good issue.
An undecided voter who watched the debate had to come away with the impression that Clinton is the handmaiden of Wall Street. Sanders hit the subject of money in politics so hard and so convincingly that even this conservative viewer was punching the air with a clenched fist.
We know that liberal legislation gets killed because of Wall Street lobbying. We know that Clinton takes a lot of money from Wall Street -- she was paid $675,000 from Goldman Sachs just for delivering three speeches. So it's reasonable to infer that Clinton is at the epicenter of the economic forces stopping social change.
Read More ||||| The fifth 2016 Democratic presidential primary debate marked the first time Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton faced each other one on one.
The February 4 debate was also the first one after the Iowa caucuses, which saw Sanders and Clinton fight to a draw, and the last before the New Hampshire primary, where Sanders is expected to beat Clinton handily. It finds Clinton at perhaps her weakest moment in the campaign so far, with no clear victories to date, defeat imminent, and a growing and impassioned movement backing her opponent.
It'll take a few days for poll results to trickle in, which will provide the closest thing to an objective answer of who actually won the debate. But in the meantime, here are the candidates who ended the night better off than they started it — and the ones who slipped.
Winner: Bernie Sanders
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images I gotta tell ya, the Koch brothers, they're bad eggs.
No one is more on message than Bernie Sanders. No matter the context, no matter the topic under discussion, Sanders is uncannily good at changing the conversation to his preferred topics: inequality, the political power of banks, and the corrosive effect of corporate money on politics.
At times that can make him sound like he's missing the point. But when those are the actual topics under discussion, it makes him an incredibly disciplined, well-prepared debaters. And for at least the first half of the debate, the topics were all ones he was designed to do well on.
A huge chunk of the debate was devoted to discussing Wall Street reform, which gave Sanders a great opportunity not just to showcase his support for very ostentatiously tough anti–Wall Street regulations — like separating commercial and investment banking — but to bring up Clinton's longstanding ties to the financial industry, and especially her acceptance of $675,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs.
He was also given an extended platform to trumpet his single-payer health care plan, which, whatever problems it may have, is a more inspiring talking point than Clinton's "let's just not do health care again" position. The very nature of the discussion on domestic policy forced Clinton to acknowledge, without Sanders's help, that she's offering voters less.
"I also believe in affordable college," she said. "But I don't believe in free college because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs." That may be a sensible assessment of the policy problem, but it doesn't fare well next to Sanders's promises that we can too dramatically expand access to higher education.
Sanders also got multiple chances to disavow interest in non-substantive procedural controversies involving the Clinton campaign. He doesn't care about her emails, he reiterated, but he also pooh-poohed concerns about irregularities in the Iowa caucuses, which many online Sanders supporters have argued gave Clinton an unfair, narrow victory there.
Sanders sensibly pointed out that he only got a couple fewer delegates out of Iowa, and that who actually got first largely doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. It bolstered his image as a different kind of politician, without patience for cable news mini controversies and an unerring focus on the actual big problems: inequality, stagnant wages, and the rich's domination of the political process.
Winner: Hillary Clinton
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Okay, I know this sounds dumb, but hear me out. On some level, the Democratic primary process is now zero-sum, with any gains to Sanders hurting Clinton and vice versa. And that's true in a narrow sense. But both candidates gave very strong performances that emphasized their respective strengths. Regardless of who won in relative terms, both clearly succeeded in making the most compelling case for their respective candidacies.
For Clinton, that meant giving her strongest performance to date on foreign policy. She's still well to the right of the Democratic Party as a whole on these questions. But she also is actually well-versed in them, whereas Sanders's comments on foreign policy appear limited to a) praising the foreign policy achievements of the Obama administration, and b) hammering Clinton for her vote for the Iraq War.
The latter remains Clinton's biggest weakness. It's unclear why she can't simply say, "It was a huge mistake, I've rethought my views on the use of force and learned from my mistake," but in lieu of that kind of fully honest reckoning, her burn at Sanders — "A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat ISIS" — was rhetorically effective if not particularly reassuring to more dovish Democrats. It turned the conversation from being about her positions on the issue toward Sanders's near-total ignorance of it.
Reasonable people can differ on how important Sanders's disinterest in the issue is, but insofar as it matters, the fact that he appeared clearly out of his element wasn't particularly helpful. When Chuck Todd asked him why he hadn't laid out his foreign policy philosophy, Sanders didn't reply, "Because that's an empty campaign season ritual that doesn't actually matter." He claimed a mostly unrelated speech about socialism counted.
That's really weak sauce when trying to defend your credentials against a former secretary of state, who, for better or worse was pretty clear about what she'd do about ISIS: "I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces and the air campaign." Sanders failed to lay out any way in which his ISIS policy would differ from hers, and his comments on Iran were mostly devoted to insisting they didn't disagree on how to deal with the country.
Sanders clearly won on domestic policy. Clinton clearly won on foreign policy. And both gave excellent performances that offered compelling substantive grounds for supporting them. It feels perverse to label either a loser.
Loser: Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Andrew Burton/Getty Images DWS.
Tonight's debate wasn't even supposed to happen. It was not on the original list of six approved by the Democratic National Committee and its chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. But then NBC and the Union Leader — New Hampshire's biggest newspaper — agreed to hold one even without the DNC's go-ahead, Clinton signed on, and Sanders signed on and got Clinton to commit to three additional debates. And so it was that a Democratic debate was scheduled for 9 o'clock on a Thursday night ahead of the earliest primary, perhaps the best possible time for maximum viewership.
That was definitely not the strategy behind the DNC's pre-approved debate schedule. Recall that the last debate was held on the Sunday night before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. While Wasserman Schultz insisted that it was timed to "maximize the opportunity for voters to see our candidates," basically no one believed her. Networks generally don't save their most promising shows for the night before a federal holiday. The intention was clearly to decrease viewership and — to be a bit cynical about it — limit Sanders's opportunities to damage Clinton.
Tonight's debate was evidence that failed. The demand for more debates was too high, and eventually both candidates gave in to it, making the DNC appear utterly feckless, with not even Clinton there to back it up. The party leadership has lost control of the debate process entirely, which is a loss both for the organization and for Wasserman Schultz's odds of continuing to lead it in the medium run.
Loser: Wall Street
Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images Wall Street finally lost something for once.
There was a time, not so long ago, in which left parties — not just the Democrats but the British Labour Party as well — made conscious alliances with the financial sector. Banks were singled out from the rest of "big business" and provided a durable base of party funds, while Bill Clinton and Tony Blair in turn adopted remarkably finance-friendly deregulatory agendas.
It wasn't a straightforward quid pro quo (many Democrats thought banks were just less insidious than other companies on the merits), but it definitely resulted in a broad, bipartisan pro-bank consensus on both sides of the pond.
Those alliances were threatened by the 2008 financial crisis, and especially following the passage of Dodd-Frank in 2010, the financial sector has become more consciously right-wing, and the tilt of its donations has turned toward the Republicans. Partially because of a Democratic reorientation toward donations from the tech sector and Hollywood, and partially because of enduring outrage from the crisis, the Democratic Party has in turn become more stridently anti–Wall Street.
The financial sector's best hope of stopping this process was nominating Hillary Clinton. She literally represented Wall Street during her time as the senator from New York, and her core of economic advisers is centered on Robert Rubin, the former Treasury secretary and Goldman Sachs/Citigroup chairman. As recently as November, she was defending her pro–Wall Street votes by invoking 9/11.
But tonight, her defense was different. It wasn't, "Actually banks are good." It was, "Sure, I take their money, but I will still gut them like fish":
I called to end the loopholes that hedge fund managers enjoy. I called for a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau before it was created. I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people, at least know, where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. … We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. By the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president.
Whether or not you buy her explanation for Republicans attempting to help Sanders — I think it's less that they're scared of her views and more that they think Sanders is hopeless in the general election — the message here is clear. To paraphrase Jesse Unruh, she can take Wall Street's money and still tell them to fuck themselves. And her comprehensive Wall Street reform plan suggests she has some credibility here.
If you were a financial executive watching tonight, you'd still leave less scared of Clinton than of Sanders. But you'd leave convinced that another Democratic administration will entail a world of hurt for Wall Street.
Loser: Doves
Shutterstock Doves, in happier times.
It's curious that Bernie Sanders is so completely apathetic about foreign policy, since it's arguably the issue where Clinton is most vulnerable. Sure, she's more experienced, and sure, she will all come across as more knowledgable, but she's also genuinely to the right of the Democratic Party as a whole when it comes to matters of war and peace.
There's space for a challenger to make the argument that Barack Obama made in 2008: She's too quick to go to war. The Libya intervention in 2011 was a mistake. So were her calls to intervene early against Bashar al-Assad in Syria. So was her hawkish rhetoric toward Iran, which arguably made life worse for Americans held there. She has clearly not learned the right lesson from Iraq, and she'd repeat her 2002 mistake by launching yet more ill-advised wars as commander in chief.
Sanders is not making this case. He's invoking the war vote, sure, but more as a thumb in Clinton's eye than as a pivot to explaining why a Sanders presidency would be different and less bellicose. That's largely because it probably wouldn't be that much less bellicose. Sanders's plans for ISIS and Afghanistan are basically identical to Clinton's. He supports the drone war.
If Wall Street was left without allies in the Democratic field tonight, then so were genuine doves. Lincoln Chafee, the only Democratic candidate to make a straightforwardly antiwar case, was treated as a punchline and dropped out early. And with two candidates left, doves are completely without a champion. ||||| Photo
Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont debated one-on-one for the first time Thursday night, and the consensus among commentators and critics was that it was the most feisty, yet substantive, encounter to date. Most agreed that Mr. Sanders and Mrs. Clinton each won out on their respective strengths — Wall Street reform and foreign policy — with views divided on a true victor.
“The candidate that will gain from this zero-sum debate — the winner — will turn on something of an x-factor: did the undecided Democrats watching prefer Hillary Clinton’s direct, aggressive attacks on Bernie Sanders, most of them early in the night? Or did they prefer Sanders’ refusal to engage in any direct attacks? I thought Clinton was unfair.” — Conor Friedersdorf, writer for The Atlantic
“Powerful ending by Sanders. There’s an undeniable decency to him that you don’t often see at this level of American politics.” — Ezra Klein, founder of Vox.com
“Crucial distinction between Bernie and Hillary on Flint: She suggests solutions, he demands punishments.” — Charlotte Alter, writer for Time
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“A weird advantage Sanders has in things like this: The naturalness in his interactions accentuates how Clinton struggles to seem at ease.” — Philip Bump, writer for The Washington Post’s blog “The Fix”
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– Martin O'Malley may have been a more calming influence than he knew: Thursday night's Democratic debate was the first with just Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on the stage, and analysts agree that it was the fiercest debate yet, with heated exchanges over issues like the meaning of "progressive." There's no clear consensus on who won, but here's what the analysts have to say: Clinton started off aggressively and "won on points," Chris Cillizza writes at the Washington Post. When it came to foreign policy, she "effectively made the case that now isn't the time to put someone in the Oval Office who needs to learn on the job," he writes, and while Sanders was "forceful and effective" on issues like economic inequality, Clinton may now be able to portray him "as a single or double issue candidate." Bernie Sanders was the winner, according to Dylan Matthews at Vox, who says the senator's relentless focus on "inequality, the political power of banks, and the corrosive effect of corporate money on politics" made him an incredible debater when those subjects came up. But Matthews says Clinton was also the winner, thanks to "her strongest performance to date on foreign policy." Clinton was "high energy" and "artfully shot down Sanders' attacks on her progressivism," but Sanders "hit the subject of money in politics so hard and so convincingly that even this conservative viewer was punching the air with a clenched fist," writes Timothy Stanley at CNN, concluding that Clinton "probably won the debate on style—but Sanders won on substance." Many commentators decided that each candidate had won on their own strength, with Clinton prevailing on foreign policy and Sanders ahead on issues like Wall Street reform, the New York Times notes. "Now if they could just split the gig—Bernie would cover domestic, Hillary on foreign policy," tweeted Mia Farrow. Click for some of the debate's biggest lines.
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PRO TIPS How to Be a White Person on Halloween (Hint: Skip the Blackface) By Rembert Browne on October 28, 2013 4:30 PM ET
DEVONE BYRD/PACIFICCOASTNEWS
I've never been a white person for Halloween. Because I have no interest in ever being white, even for a costume party. And for me, there is a never-ending, exponentially growing supply of amazing black people to impersonate.
Last year, I was Madea. For an entire weekend, I proudly walked around New York City dressed as a gun-toting, "Hallelujer"-ing woman in a muumuu. And I'd do it 10 more times before it would ever occur to me that "maybe this is the year to be Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs."
Because it's just not happening.
There are some amazing white people, though. White people who, at times, I'm a little bummed I'll never portray for Halloween. I've been studying the Independence Day Jeff Goldblum "We just saved Earth, watch me stunt with this cigar until my girl jumps into my arms" strut for years. It'd be kind of nice to be him for Halloween. But then I think, why not let my boy Matt, a wonderfully Jewish fellow with similarly amazing dark hair, be Goldblum? I'm more than happy being Jaden's dad.
So I can understand why you, a white person, might want to be someone black for Halloween. I know what you're thinking: The only thing more fun and carefree than being black is being temporarily black.
I get it. And no one has the right to tell you that you can't be a temporary black for Halloween. Do you.
But, in "doing you," understand that there are risks. For instance, just a few days ago, actress Julianne Hough "did her," and gave the world grounds to describe her actions as racist, by darkening her face to portray Uzo Aduba's character from Orange Is the New Black. "Doing Julianne" backfired on Julianne, because blackface always backfires on the person whose face was temporarily blackened.
Chances are, if someone tells you they were hurt by Julianne Hough's Halloween outfit, they are exaggerating. But what is felt is merely a continuation of a long-held face-in-palm reaction, less "how dare they" and more "they'll never learn." "They" being white people, you see.
But is it fair for Julianne to receive such a swift, damning judgment of her costume choice? Who cares? Is it fair that white people get to be white? No. Similarly, is it fair that I get to be black and white people don't? Also no. Nothing's fair.
One time, I did consider being George Washington for Halloween. But not for a second did I consider painting my face pale. My plan was to walk up to people with a white wig on, dressed in all of the late-1700s gear, with my brown-ass face, telling people "Yes, I am the first president of the United States of America, George Washington." And it would have been awesome.
Does my face look like George Washington's? Thank the heavens on high, no, but if I were to go all out as George Washington, you'd know I was George Washington. There's no need to alabasterize my face to hammer that point home, trust me.
So, white person, I'm not saying that you can't be a black person for Halloween. But why not just be a white person? That's what I do with black people, which is why my Halloween greatest-hits lineup (Cliff Huxtable, Diddy, Frederick Douglass, and Prince) has been so successful.
And I didn't lighten my skin for Prince, either. I just wore six blouses, scored a triple-double in a pickup game, and then served everybody pancakes.
And everyone still knew I was Prince. ||||| Every Halloween, people take the opportunity to step out of their lives and into a playful realm where they can dress up as anything they can imagine: make-believe for adults. Halloween is the one time of year largely free from judgment. Women can go as a sexy [insert object or occupation]. Men can dress in drag. Couples can indulge in the saccharine sweetness of matching costumes.
But then there are the people who choose to spend Halloween as someone of a different race. They use blackface, brown face, yellow face or red face to bring just the right amount of authenticity to their look.
Actress Julianne Hough stepped out in blackface over the weekend. She was attending a Halloween party as Crazy Eyes from “Orange Is the New Black.” That’s fine. The show is hot this year and Crazy Eyes is a popular character. Hough wore the prison oranges, had her hair done up in what charitably could be considered Bantu knots and wore a name tag that said “Crazy Eyes.” That should have been enough — the necessary cues were there.
Hough took her costume one step further, though, dousing herself in bronzer to darken her skin so she might better resemble Uzo Aduba, the actress who plays Crazy Eyes. The blackface did nothing of the sort. It never does. Instead, Hough looked like she spent way too much time out in the Los Angeles sun before stepping out that evening. Once the images of Hough in her ill-informed costume were released, the Internet went crazy.
Here we were, yet again, having this bewildering conversation about why blackface, given its historical uses and the ongoing sensitivity around issues of race, will never be an appropriate costume choice. The apology parade began, and Hough said: “I am a huge fan of the show ‘Orange is the New Black,’ actress Uzo Aduba and the character she has created. It certainly was never my intention to be disrespectful or demeaning to anyone in any way. I realize my costume hurt and offended people, and I truly apologize.”
We know this dance. Public figure makes misstep. Public figure apologizes. That apology is then dissected endlessly, and we’re left wondering if the public figure even knows what they’re apologizing for.
Hough wasn’t alone in donning blackface for Halloween. Her costume was, in fact, the least offensive. As Gawker reports, two young men in Massachusetts spent Halloween as George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin. The man dressed as Martin smeared his face with black makeup and wore a “bloody” sweatshirt. In the most widely circulated image, the Zimmerman wannabe holds his fingers, cocked as a pistol, against the other fellow’s head. The image is chilling, repulsive, but mostly pathetic. On Instagram, there’s a picture of an unidentified white man also posing as Trayvon Martin — the blackface, the bloody sweatshirt — but he steps up his game, so to speak, by also holding a pack of Skittles and an iced tea. I’m not sure what’s worse — that this was a viable costume idea or that the same absurd idea occurred to more than one person.
There’s always pushback when people say “Blackface is wrong.” It’s “just jokes,” an excuse that belies a complete misunderstanding of humor. There’s a lot of nonsense about the freedom of speech. Sad individuals might remind us of the 2004 movie “White Chicks,” in a crowning moment of false equivalence. I choose to believe these people are simply entitled and ignorant about history. I choose to believe they don’t know how blackface was used to create offensive, degrading caricatures of black people — the exaggerated features, the buffoonery, the shuck and jive. The imagery from the 20th century was emblazoned across advertising and children’s toys. Time and again, black people in this country were told: “This is how we see you. This is what we think of you.” Very little has changed.
Racist Halloween costumes are nothing new. Each year, people try to push the envelope. They think they’re being funny, but really, they’re using the freedom of Halloween, the pass we all get to indulge our secret selves, to say, to people of color: “This is how we see you. This is how we think of you.”
Though it is infuriating that we still need to have this conversation about why blackface is unacceptable, there may be some comfort in the knowledge that when people put on the mask of blackface, they reveal who they truly are.
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Roxane Gay is a frequent contributor to Salon and has two books, "An Untamed State" and "Bad Feminist" forthcoming in 2014. Follow her on Twitter @rgay
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– Another Halloween, another white person dons blackface with predictable results. This time, it's actress Julianne Hough getting most of the heat, though there's apparently plenty of Travyon Martin impersonators out there, too, writes Roxane Gay at the Los Angeles Times. We're still taking about this? She discounts the "nonsense" defenses that involve free speech or the plea to lighten up because, hey, it's just a joke. People are apparently ignorant of the horrible history of blackface and its use in degrading African Americans, she writes. "They think they’re being funny, but really, they’re using the freedom of Halloween, the pass we all get to indulge our secret selves, to say, to people of color: 'This is how we see you. This is how we think of you.'" At Grantland, Rembert Browne takes more of a deadpan approach in advising white people to skip the blackface. "Chances are, if someone tells you they were hurt by Julianne Hough's Halloween outfit, they are exaggerating," he writes. "But what is felt is merely a continuation of a long-held face-in-palm reaction, less 'how dare they' and more 'they'll never learn.' 'They' being white people, you see." Hough may be getting demonized unfairly, he adds. Then again, "is it fair that white people get to be white? No. Similarly, is it fair that I get to be black and white people don't? Also no. Nothing's fair." Click for his full column. Or for Gay's full column.
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“It’s much tougher than the original,” said Marion Nestle, a professor in the department of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University . “I’m amazed. It never occurred to me that alcohol would make it in.”
The new rules will take effect a year from now, and seem likely to face legal and political challenges from some parts of the food industry, including grocery and convenience stores that sell prepared foods for takeout.
Menu labeling became law in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act, and the F.D.A. issued a proposal for how it should be put into effect the following year. But the final rules were delayed for three years, in part because of fierce opposition from pizza and movie theater chains.
The release of the rules just weeks after the midterm elections prompted some advocates to suggest that politics might help explain the rules’ timing and toughness. The administration backed away from covering movie theaters in 2011, the year before the last presidential election, when the Obama administration was keen to avoid giving Republicans ammunition for the charge that it was too quick to impose unnecessary and costly regulations.
The rules apply to prepared foods sold in groceries and convenience stores that are intended to feed one person, such as a sandwich or a salad, but not to items like loaves of bread or a rotisserie chicken.
The rules were published in the Federal Register, a government journal, on Tuesday morning, and companies and advocates began poring over their details.
Trade associations like the National Automatic Merchandising Association, which represents vending machine operators, said they could not comment on the new rules without seeing them. The National Grocers Association said: “Grocery stores are not chain restaurants, which is why Congress did not initially include them in the law. We are disappointed that the F.D.A.'s final rules will capture grocery stores, and impose such a large and costly regulatory burden on our members.”
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Daren Bakst, a research fellow in agricultural policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation , said the rule amounted to “a shocking power grab that ignored the plain language of the law.” He said the F.D.A. interpreted the law too broadly, arguing that it was supposed to apply only to restaurants and similar establishments.
“If Congress wanted to cover any establishment that sells prepared foods, they would have said that,” he said. “No reasonable person is about to confuse a grocery store, convenience store or movie theater with a restaurant.”
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But Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa who helped create the labeling requirement in the law, said in a statement on Tuesday morning that the rule “closely mirrors congressional intent.”
He added: “This rule is consistent with our bipartisan agreement and will help to protect and strengthen access to healthy, nutritious foods for families around the country.”
Both the House and the Senate have bills pending that would ease the requirements of the new rules for some places selling meals, and their sponsors have vowed to fight on. “The Obama administration’s one-size-fits-all approach will hurt job growth and impose unnecessary costs for many businesses that are already providing nutritional information for the majority of foods they sell,” said Senator Roy Blunt, a Republican from Missouri who is one of the sponsors of the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act.
New York became a kind of natural experiment when it began requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts on menus in 2006. Many other cities, counties and states followed with their own rules, prompting the National Restaurant Association to throw its lot in with the consumer health advocates in an attempt to get a federal standard instead of contending with a patchwork. According to Ms. Wootan, about 18 states and cities have menu-labeling regulations in effect.
Advocates praised the rules as a strong public education tool, but whether menu labeling has any effect on obesity and health is still an open question. Some studies have shown no effect, while others found one. A 2008 study of 100 million cash register transactions at Starbucks found a 6 percent decrease in average calories purchased after calorie posting.
“You’ll need more time out there in the real world with this to see if it works,” said Kelly Brownell, a professor of public policy at Duke University .
Dawn Sweeney, the National Restaurant Association’s chief executive, said it had joined forces with more than 70 public health groups to “advocate for a federal nutrition standard so that anyone dining out can have clear, easy-to-use nutrition information at the point of ordering — information that is presented in the same way, no matter what part of the country.”
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A handful of restaurants, most prominently Panera, McDonald’s and Au Bon Pain, already list calorie counts on their menu boards nationally. But segments of the food industry have continued to fight the regulations. The big pizza chains, for example, wanted the right to determine a serving size of pizza themselves and to list calories by the slice — and they got it.
Determining the rules on calorie counts for pizza was apparently one of the thorniest issues the F.D.A. faced. Advocates worried that if pizza restaurants were allowed to provide calories per slice, they would divide pizzas into more slices, and pizza companies stewed over how they could calculate calories for a food that is often customized by consumers.
Vending machine owners lobbied to be excluded from the regulations, as did the convenience and grocery store associations. The F.D.A. is giving vending machine owners an extra year to comply with the labeling regulations. The agency is requiring that vending machine operators provide calorie counts on stickers or placards near the specific food being sold or the selection button for it.
The world’s largest convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, found itself in the middle of two competing trade groups. It belongs to the National Restaurant Association, which praised the new rules, and to the National Association of Convenience Stores, which has promised to challenge them.
The company, which has worked hard over the last several years to make more foods offering better nutrition available to its customers, decided to side with its restaurant brethren. “While these regulations will add a lot of complexity at our stores, we believe our customers want to know the information menu-labeling provides, and we will comply,” 7-Eleven said in a statement on Tuesday. ||||| Getty POLITICO Pro Margaritas, grocers caught up in FDA menu rule
Restaurant chains will soon have to post calories for every dish of chicken Alfredo, every cheeseburger combo, every margarita and most every other item on the menu thanks to new rules from the FDA expected Tuesday.
The two long-delayed and far-reaching regulations will cover foods served at chain restaurants, grocery stores, vending machines and even movie theaters.
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But this piece of President Barack Obama’s legacy on food policy won’t take effect without a fight.
Big chain restaurants are on board: They pushed for a national standard to override a patchwork of state and local menu labeling rules. McDonald’s adopted its own nationwide labeling in 2012. But grocery store and convenience store chains, the likes of Whole Foods, Sheetz and 7-Eleven, are expected to put up a fight about slapping calories next to their kale salad, nachos and Big Gulps. Movie theaters and the alcohol industry are also expected to fiercely protest being included in the mandate.
A year from now, the calorie counts will have to be posted on menus right next to food items, including at the drive-thru, and businesses will have to provide more complete nutrition information upon request. The rules apply to chains if they have more than 20 locations.
“This is a landmark public health policy,” said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at Center for Science and the Public Interest. She’s pushed for menu labeling for more than a decade. “The Republicans should be all for this. This is not nanny state run amok — this is ensuring that people have the information to make their own choices.”
Industry groups are not weighing in until they see the full text of the rule, which is expected to be posted before 9 a.m. EST.
The “final rule appears to go beyond what Congress intended,” said Rob Rosado, director of government relations for the Food Marketing Institute, which represents large national grocery chains like Walmart and Kroger. Rosado said FMI was denied early access to details of the rule.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the duo credited for inserting the menu labeling language into the Affordable Care Act, had urged the administration to go big with the rule. Both lawmakers lauded the Food and Drug Administration for covering such a broad swath of establishments and for putting movie theaters and alcohol into the rule — a bold move as neither were in the original proposal.
Getting alcohol in the rule was a big win for health advocates, as booze is the fifth-largest source of calories for adults. A Squeezarita at Don Pablo’s, for example, has 359 calories, which would be listed next to it on the menu.
“The overwhelming majority of the comments [the agency received] were very supportive of including alcohol on public health grounds,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, on a call with reporters Monday.
Grocery and convenience store chains that want nothing to do with labeling have allies in Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Angus King (I-Maine) and Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.). They introduced a bill last year aimed at keeping the regulations narrowly focused on chain restaurants, with a special provision to let pizza chains post calories online instead of on their menu boards.
Blunt, a member of the Senate GOP leadership, remains opposed to menu labeling and “will continue to fight against it,” an aide recently told POLITICO.
The White House fully expects the rules to spark backlash on Capitol Hill, but the administration is betting that food companies will only go so far to publicly stand against calorie disclosures that it believes American consumers want — especially as they consume one-third of their calories outside of the home.
Health advocates are thrilled because the final regulations are as strong, if not stronger, than the rules that have taken effect in New York City, California, Philadelphia and elsewhere. In some cases, menu labeling has led companies to reformulate their products to contain fewer calories so they appear healthier on menu boards — it’s exactly what nutrition proponents hope will happen nationwide.
The menu labeling rule is expected to cost the food industry some $315 million to implement — about $1,000 per establishment — and about $44 million per year after that, FDA’s original cost-benefit analysis shows.
A separate rule mandating calorie counts be posted for products in vending machines — if a company owns more than 20 machines — is expected to apply to the vast majority of vending outlets in the United States, costing the industry about $24 million annually. That comes out to less than $10 per machine each year, according to FDA. Vending companies covered under the regulations have two years to comply.
The agency could not tally the economic benefit of the two rules, citing a lack of data on what impact calorie counts might have on consumer purchases, but if less than 1 percent of obese Americans shaved 100 calories per week off their diet, the costs of each rule could break even with the economic benefit, FDA’s analysis says.
Food fight
It’s been more than three years since FDA issued its proposed rules in April 2011 — a long delay that most blamed on politics and intense lobbying from retail giants and the pizza industry.
But implementing the obscure Affordable Care Act provision also proved more difficult than the agency had anticipated, FDA’s Hamburg said Monday.
“It was much more complicated than we had initially thought it would be in terms of really defining restaurant-type establishments,” she said.
Defining what types of establishments should be covered has been at the heart of a bitter, years-long fight between the restaurant industry, which pushed for a broad rule, and basically everyone else. The National Grocers Association, which represents independent grocers, the American Pizza Community, FMI and others formed a coalition to try to keep the supermarkets out and give more flexibility to pizza chains that didn’t want to post the calories for a whole pizza on menu boards.
FDA ended up working in more flexibility to the rule, allowing pizza companies to post calories per slice as long as they also list how many slices per pie. It’s not clear whether the move will ameliorate the industry’s concerns. The agency also narrowed what types of foods would need to be labeled in grocery stores, carving out exemptions for loaves of bread and sliced deli meat, but still covering hot food bars and other prepared foods.
Still, it’s a safe bet that the grocery industry will push for regulatory relief from Congress.
“There’s bipartisan interest in addressing these issues,” Rosado said before the final rules were issued. “What we’ve been proposing is not radical.”
Restaurants argue that since supermarkets increasingly compete with their sector by offering various prepared foods, they should have to post calories the same way.
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– Whether you're headed to Chili's or the movies, you'll soon be seeing a lot more calorie counts posted. The FDA is today announcing what a nutrition expert calls "one of the most important public health nutrition policies ever to be passed nationally," the New York Times reports: Starting in a year, food-serving establishments with at least 20 locations will have to label their menus with calorie information. The Times characterizes the rules as "far broader than expected": Even movie popcorn, vending machine snacks, and restaurant beer will be included. The goal is to cut down on the US obesity problem, though studies have offered mixed results as to whether that effect will actually take hold. ObamaCare required such labeling; the FDA's 2011 proposal exempted movie theaters and didn't include booze. These final rules are meeting with mixed reaction. "I'm amazed. It never occurred to me that alcohol would make it in," says a nutritionist. (Alcoholic drinks listed in a menu or on a menu board are those affected.) But a conservative policy researcher calls it "a shocking power grab that ignored the plain language of the law," which he says was only meant for businesses like restaurants. Indeed, grocery and convenience store chains like Whole Foods and 7-Eleven, which must follow the rules for single-serving prepared meals, are likely to fight the move, Politico reports. Lawmakers who introduced legislation last year to limit the rule to chain restaurants are also expected to put up a fight. But the Obama administration believes companies won't want to make a show of opposing health rules that—at least according to officials' thinking—the public supports.
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There's a sweet personal exchange near the end of "Michael Jackson's This Is It," the new concert film assembled from footage of the rehearsals for the London performances nullified by his death in June. Jackson is working out a dance sequence with Kenny Ortega, the director of the ill-fated concerts and of this documentary. Ortega lovingly mimics Jackson, overplaying his signature big hand gestures, and the superstar laughs."I love how the stewardesses do it," he says. "I love it!"It's a moment that illuminates not just the way Jackson danced or sang, but how he thought -- viewing the world in terms of movement, human semaphore."This Is It" offers only a few such insights into Jackson's artistic process, though enough surface to make this a useful document, as well as a beautiful one. Mostly it's a tribute to the power of Jackson's body and voice, which the film presents as surprisingly intact despite his age, 50 at the time of his death, and the various ailments that reportedly had plagued him in the preceding decades.Differing greatly from the rough, casual mood of many behind-the-scenes pop docs, this one is instead of a piece with Jackson's body of work: dazzling and strange, blurring the line between fantasy and reality.As a tragic teaser for the shows that might have been, "This Is It" hurts. If Jackson had been able to perform as he frequently does during these scenes, he would have accomplished the comeback for which he was so hungry.Though occasionally ragged, his voice is strong -- lush on such ballads as "Human Nature" and cutting in rockers like "Black or White" and "Beat It." And his dancing is utterly assured. It's tough to believe he was 50, he seems so feather-light and vigorous.The special effects and short films made for the O2 shows also delight. "Thriller" gets an update that takes the legendary video's graveyard scene into the Tim Burton era. "Smooth Criminal" inserts Jackson into the classic Hollywood films he loved -- from "Gilda" to "In a Lonely Place." There are aerialists, "pole dancing specialists," arcs of fire and one adorable little girl.Ortega has assembled this film to bewitch the senses rather than to expose the inevitably tough realities of a rehearsal process. The film's prologue states that this footage was meant for Jackson's personal library, yet it's hardly raw. It's lighted and edited like a real concert film, and the sound is almost too good to believe.Jackson does very occasionally slip up. The gaffes and vulnerable moments are welcome. Complaining about the newfangled ear monitors he's forced to wear, or chiding his dancers and band for encouraging him to sing in full voice when he should be conserving his instrument -- "I shouldn't be singing out, I am trying to warm up my voice to this moment, why are you doing this to me?" he exclaims, seeming truly abashed.The great artist is just a man, slightly anxious about this momentous and risky return.But such intimate views, so common in such music films as "Gimme Shelter" or Metallica's "Some Kind of Monster," are not the point of "This Is It." Ortega made this film to honor not just the memory of Jackson but the hard work of a big cast and crew that never made it to opening night.The film opens with emotional interviews with the dancers, apparently done while Jackson was still alive, about how excited they are to work with him; at times it threatens to veer off into "Fame" territory, celebrating the starry-eyed kids whose efforts lifted up their hero.Ortega is obviously aware, however, that the overwhelming draw is the footage of Jackson himself performing. "This Is It" always returns to those sequences, which don't exactly surprise -- Jackson had his moves, and he stuck with them -- but always impress.Here's the King of Pop throwing himself on the floor during "Beat It," reenacting the impish courtship dance of "The Way You Make Me Feel," doing the Soviet stomp in "They Don't Care About Us."His solo dance during "Billie Jean," complete with slow-motion crotch thrusts, is breathtaking. "At least we get a feel for it," Jackson murmurs afterward.These sequences are driven by Jackson's anomalous grace. They sometimes feel enhanced; his gauntness is downplayed; split screens make the dancing more magical; a careful sound mix hides most of the roughness for which any middle-aged singer must compensate.Jackson's total lack of engagement with the cameras adds to the unreal mood. He's always performing, but for the imagined masses, not for the filmgoer.Not reaching those masses was the final tragedy of Jackson's life. Occasionally, he's shown offering creative direction to his collaborators, and the steel in his voice reveals how much the world he was creating onstage meant to him. Everything, really: enough to push himself to the edge of human endurance."This Is It" doesn't entirely acknowledge that reality, and that's a little odd. But Jackson probably would have wanted it that way. ||||| This Is It: The IMAX Experience 2009 112 minutes Rated PG
There is no getting around the obvious exploitation factor at play. Regardless of how tasteful and respectful this film is, at the end of the day, Sony paid $60 million for the rights to this otherwise private footage because they wanted to cash in on the sudden and shocking death of its star. But if you can dissociate the material from the motive for its production, Kenny Ortega's This Is It works as a low-key farewell to a generational icon. As a Michael Jackson fan in the 80s and early 90s, I had always hoped that he could get his musical act together and go out with a dash of style (truth be told, he hadn't released a truly good album in nearly twenty-years). The underlying tragedy of this documentary is the realization of how close Jackson may have been to getting the comeback that his fans were yearning for.
A token amount of plot - the feature basically spans the last couple months of Jackson's life, detailing the rehearsal sessions for his upcoming 50-concert comeback tour that was to be his probable farewell to live performing. We see about a dozen songs, performed in clips from a few different rehearsals, with token tidbits of behind the scenes footage and previews of what would eventually be the multimedia supplements for each song (ie - 3D zombie movies for "Thriller", a mini-movie with Rita Hayworth and Humphrey Bogart for "Smooth Criminal"). What is most impressive is how strictly the film adheres to its business at hand. There are no side-stories, only a few brief testimonials, and nary a hint of the ultimate fate of this concert that everyone was so proud to be a part of. The vast majority of the running time is all about the production and rehearsals that went into the would-be tour itself. The only sentiment comes from Michael Jackson himself, as he occasionally opines about the state of the environment.
However interesting this stuff is as a time-capsule, the fact still remains that this is rehearsal footage, and thus you're not seeing Jackson at his peak, or even giving it his all in any given performance. He mentions several times that he's trying not to tax his voice prior to the actual performances, and his dancing is often half-hearted at best. Intentional or not, there is a disturbing undertone at play, as we wonder whether the forgotten song lyrics, physical hesitations, and sometimes underwhelming performance was merely the product of the rehearsal process, or an accidental glimpse of a 50-year old musician struggling to perform like the 25-year old who changed the world half a lifetime ago.
Still, if the King of Pop is no longer the young man who first moon-walked at the Motown 25th Anniversary Celebration in 1983, he is certainly willing to cede the occasional spotlight to those around him. Some of the best footage involves the back-up singers and musicians who got to live out their dream of performing with their idol. In fact, since much of the footage is the standard video quality, the core appeal of the IMAX format is getting a chance to really listen to the actual music that inspired a generation of young artists ("Beat It" has a killer guitar solo that's up there with "Johnny Be Good" or "Purple Haze"). And Jackson certainly seems grateful to the talent that he has at his fingertips, and his few attempts to be a stern taskmaster come off as genuinely comical.
Whether or not the motives behind this picture are pure (director Kenny Ortega seems genuinely interested in honoring his friend), This Is It remains an interesting curiosity that avoids both tawdry sensationalism and lionization (no mention is made of either his personal life or his untimely death). But there is also a clear lack of any kind of illumination to who Jackson really was. Even during private rehearsals, he still seems 'on', so don't expect any kind of unguarded moments or epiphanies about this deeply private man. Whether or not This Is It needs to be seen in theaters is an open question, but it's certainly a must-own DVD for the most devoted Michael Jackson fans. Me? I'll stick with my CDs of Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad, preferring to remember him during the period when he was truly the king of pop.
Grade: B- ||||| How ironic. Michael Jackson is dead. But in “This Is It,” the filmed chronicle of rehearsals for shows that never happened, he finally gets his greatest wish granted: He’s a movie star (here’s THR’s review from Kirk Honeycutt).
“This Is It” is quite extraordinary. If there was any doubt that Michael was in control of the shows or his decisions, those fears are allayed here. Maybe he was sleeping 15 hours a day. But during these rehearsals, he couldn’t have been more focused or hardworking. It is truly amazing considering the last 16 years of total lunacy to see him so capable.
Director Kenny Ortega was smart in his edits. You see Michael almost from the beginning, dancing up a storm, singing without assistance vibrantly. True, he is very thin. But you also see that it’s a result of working out like crazy. Yes, he could have been five pounds heavier. But I dare anyone who sees this movie to try one of Michael’s moves.
“This Is It” is also notable for its emotional moments. At the end of a rehearsal of the Jackson 5 hit “I’ll Be There,” he calls out all of his brothers for a thank-you, as well as both parents. It’s a three-hanky moment. Some of his family will be embarrassed now about the way they’ve behaved.
One thing’s for sure: AEG spent a lot of money on this show. The production numbers are spectacular and sumptuous. “Smooth Criminal” is one of the standouts. The making of the “Thriller” number in 3D is remarkable.
And just wait ’til you see and hear him sing “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” and “The Way You Make Me Feel” as Michael sings the blues and teaches the musicians how to play his charts. “It needs more booty,” he tells a keyboard player trying to get the right sexiness.
Will “This Is It,” dedicated to Michael’s kids, be a hit? Let’s put it this way: I already want to see it again. The fans will see it five times. Expect Sony to extend this release. “This Is It” is the “Thriller” of the year.
As Michael himself says, it’s a great adventure.
For another take on the “This Is It” premiere on the West Coast, check out THR’s Risky Business blog. Read the film review by THR chief film critic Kirk Honeycutt here.
THE STARS COME OUT IN NYC
Spike Lee was the first boldfaced name we saw wander into Theater 9 at the Regal E Walk tonight for “This Is It.” He had his kids with him. The rest of the A-list gang followed: Gayle King, Russell Simmons, Sherri Shepherd. Famed director Lasse Hallstrom brought his 14-year-old daughter. “Law & Order: SVU” star Tamara Tunie arrived with buddy Marva Hicks. Bob and Lynne Balaban took corner seats. Clive Davis snuck in with two lady friends at the last minute. Elsewhere in the room, DJ Cassidy – a wild Michael Jackson fan– was already thinking about queueing up for the midnight show. There were rare appearances by Ed and Annie Pressman, Johnny Pigozzi and Ken Sunshine. And these were just the people Peggy Siegal stocked Theatre 9 with — Bryan Bantry had his own gang in No. 8.
It was a far cry from the shallow nuttiness we watched on the screen from Hollywood. Leanza Cornett, once a Miss America, is no Katie Couric, that’s for sure. She looked at a loss as a gaggle of ferociously unimportant people filed by her: Jennifer Love Hewitt and her boyfriend, Jamie Kennedy; American Idols Adam Lambert and David Cook; a bewildered Paula Abdul. Nia Long. Will Smith was smart and didn’t go near her. Also seen on the red carpet: fake Jackson kid Omer Bhatti and his mom, Pia Bhatti, still looking for some spotlight. And then the Jackson brothers Marlon, Tito, and Jackie -- nice guys. They almost got to speak, but then Jermaine –resplendent in a blue magic carpet of a coat that looked like it was made by Persian Bob’s Cut Rate Carpets — horned in and started answering questions. The other brothers barely looked at him. In the background was a guy known only as Raffles, a Joe Jackson lackey with a sketchy history who skipped his usual yellow jacket full of black question marks. The whole thing was summed up in its total lack of importance by Cornett interviewing Mary Hart. All they were missing was Bubbles the Chimp…
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– Michael Jackson didn't live long enough to take the final bow he had planned in London, but critics agree This Is It is a fitting swan song, proof that the King of Pop really did have a comeback in him: "This Is It is quite extraordinary. If there was any doubt that Michael was in control of the shows or his decisions, those fears are allayed here," writes Roger Friedman for the Hollywood Reporter. "It is truly amazing, considering the last 16 years of total lunacy, to see him so capable." "Differing greatly from the rough, casual mood of many behind-the-scenes pop docs, this one is instead of a piece with Jackson's body of work: dazzling and strange, blurring the line between fantasy and reality," writes Ann Powers for the Los Angeles Times. "Had Michael Jackson’s series of concerts at London’s O2 Arena gone off as planned earlier this summer, it would have almost certainly signaled one of the most dramatic comebacks in pop music history," writes Andrew Barker in Variety. "The rehearsal footage on display in Michael Jackson’s This Is It is evidence enough to draw that conclusion." "There is a clear lack of any kind of illumination to who Jackson really was," writes Scott Mendelson on the Huffington Post. "Even during private rehearsals, he still seems 'on', so don't expect any kind of unguarded moments or epiphanies about this deeply private man."
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When the chips are down, having a strong personality may be the difference between thriving and failing
When the chips are down, having a strong personality may be the difference between thriving and failing, according to new research which studied how aphids reacted when faced with predatory ladybirds.
The study, conducted by the University of Exeter and the University of Osnabrueck, is published in the Journal of Animal Ecology and suggests that committing to a consistent behavioural type in times of crisis results in the best overall outcome in terms of fitness and reproductive success.
The researchers conducted experiments with red and green pea aphids in tanks, where they monitored differences in escape response upon a ladybird attack. When faced with a predator, the aphids either employ a risk-averse strategy of dropping from the plant and running away, or a risk-prone strategy of hunkering down and staying put.
These simulated attacks - in which the ladybirds were ultimately prevented from eating the aphids - were repeated to see if the aphids changed their behaviour or were committed to a chosen lifestyle. They found that those aphids which displayed consistent behaviour (either always dropping or never dropping) did better than those which did a bit of both.
Author Sasha Dall from the Centre for Ecology & Conservation at the University of Exeter said: "When faced with a predator, some aphids are consistently brave, some are not and some don't display any personality. We found that when the consequences are dire it is important for the aphid to commit to a lifestyle, whether it is to run away or to stay put. When life is easier, however, it matters less whether the aphids have strong personalities or not."
The researchers found that because red aphids are more conspicuous than green, life is harsher and so the consequences of dropping vs not dropping are more extreme.
Lead author Wiebke Schuett, now at the University of Hamburg, explained: "For red aphids it was particularly important to either commit to a 'live fast die young' lifestyle ignoring the increased threat from predators, or to always run away when threatened in order to forage more and live longer. Both decisions resulted in strong pay offs, but only if the aphids remained consistent."
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"Life-history trade-offs mediate 'personality' variation in two colour morphs of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum" by Wiebke Schuett, Sasha Dall, Michaela Kloesener, Jana Baeumer, Felix Beinlich and Till Eggers is published in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
This work was funded by a Research Grant to Wiebke Schuett, Sasha Dall and Till Eggers from The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (UK).
For more information contact:
University of Exeter Press Office
+44 (0)1392 722405 or 722062
[email protected]
About the University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a Russell Group university and in the top one percent of institutions globally. It combines world-class research with very high levels of student satisfaction. Exeter has over 19,000 students and is ranked 7th in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide league table, 10th in The Complete University Guide and 12th in the Guardian University Guide 2014. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), the University ranked 16th nationally, with 98% of its research rated as being of international quality. Exeter was The Sunday Times University of the Year 2012-13.
The University has four campuses. The Streatham and St Luke's campuses are in Exeter and there are two campuses in Cornwall, Penryn and Truro. The 2014-2015 academic year marks the 10-year anniversary of the two Cornwall campuses. In a pioneering arrangement in the UK, the Penryn Campus is owned and jointly managed with Falmouth University. At the campus, University of Exeter students can study programmes in the following areas: Animal Behaviour, Conservation Biology and Ecology, English, Environmental Science, Evolutionary Biology, Geography, Geology, History, Human Sciences, Mining and Minerals Engineering, Politics and International Relations, Renewable Energy and Zoology.
The University has invested strategically to deliver more than £350 million worth of new facilities across its campuses in the past few years; including landmark new student services centres - the Forum in Exeter and The Exchange at Penryn - together with world-class new facilities for Biosciences, the Business School and the Environment and Sustainability Institute. There are plans for another £330 million of investment between now and 2016. ||||| This collaborative project is an extension of the 2016 End of Term project, intended to document the federal government's web presence by archiving government websites and data. As part of this preservation effort, URLs supplied from partner institutions, as well as nominated by the public, will be crawled regularly to provide an on-going view of federal agencies' web and social media presence. Key partners on this effort are the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative and the Data Refuge project. This collection is a continuation of the 2016 End of Term web archiving and, as such, is deduplicated against that collection. It allows for the ongoing archiving of publicly nominated websites beyond the "official" end of the End of Term project.
Interested members of the public, particularly government information specialists, are invited to submit selected web sites to be included in the collection using the public nomination tool.
For more information on partner institutions, web crawling and past End of Term projects, please visit the End of Term Archive.
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– If a new study of the natural world is any indicator, it may be OK to flee at the sight of danger—just make sure you do it every time. Researchers investigated the reactions of aphids when they were approached by ladybug predators, evaluating the results in terms of "fitness and reproductive success," a press release reports. Some consistently dropped from the plants where they had been perched; others consistently decided to stick around and tough it out. Both of those groups fared better than the aphids that performed a mix of the two behaviors. "We found that when the consequences are dire, it is important for the aphid to commit to a lifestyle, whether it is to run away or to stay put," says study author Sasha Dall. The study also points to what the researchers call "personality variation" in the aphids. Perhaps it's not surprising that aphids may have personalities; it seems cockroaches do, too.
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A former Northwestern professor and an Oxford University employee lured a 26-year-old man into a Near North Side high rise and stabbed him dozens of times to fulfill an elaborate, violent sexual fantasy, prosecutors said Sunday.
Wyndham Lathem, a former associate professor of microbiology, and Andrew Warren, a British national, were held without bail Sunday after prosecutors made the gruesome allegations public for the first time.
The two men had chatted online for months about their shared fantasy of killing other people and themselves, said Assistant State's Attorney Natosha Toller.
In late July, they took the first steps toward carrying out that fantasy: Lathem paid for Warren to fly to Chicago, prosecutors said, and the two came up with a plan.
The two planned to slay victims of Lathem's choosing, prosecutors said, and then the two men would kill each other simultaneously — Warren shooting Lathem while Lathem stabbed Warren.
And Lathem had decided on their first victim, prosecutors said: his boyfriend, 26-year-old Trenton Cornell-Duranleau.
On July 26, Lathem "lured" Cornell-Duranleau to his apartment in the 500 block of North State Street while texting Warren that they would kill him that night, according to Toller.
Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and Detective Cmdr. Brendan Deenihan describe the events that led to the arrests of Wyndham Lathem, 43, and Andrew Warren, 56, during a news conference at Chicago Police Department headquarters Aug. 20, 2017. Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and Detective Cmdr. Brendan Deenihan describe the events that led to the arrests of Wyndham Lathem, 43, and Andrew Warren, 56, during a news conference at Chicago Police Department headquarters Aug. 20, 2017. SEE MORE VIDEOS
Warren came over about 4:30 a.m. the next day, after Cornell-Duranleau had fallen asleep in Lathem's apartment, prosecutors said. Lathem showed Warren a six-inch drywall knife saw and gave him a cellphone, with instructions to record video of Lathem stabbing Cornell-Duranleau to death, according to prosecutors.
As Warren stood in the doorway to the bedroom, cellphone in hand, Lathem stabbed the sleeping Cornell-Duranleau "over and over in the neck and chest area," Toller said.
Cornell-Duranleau woke up and began to scream and fight back, prosecutors said.
Lathem cried to Warren for help, Toller said, so Warren walked in and put his hands on the victim's mouth, then hit him in the head with a heavy metal lamp.
Warren left to get two kitchen knives, prosecutors said, and both men then leaned over Cornell-Duranleau and stabbed him again and again, prosecutors said. Warren was stabbing with such force that he broke the blade of one of the knives he used, prosecutors said.
The attack left Cornell-Duranleau nearly decapitated, prosecutors said. He had sustained dozens of stab wounds, at least two of which would have been fatal on their own, according to Toller.
His last words, prosecutors said, were "Wyndham, what are you doing?"
As Cornell-Duranleau bled out in the bedroom, his attackers showered, then tried to clean up the scene, prosecutors said.
They left Lathem's apartment in the early morning hours and fled — sparking a nationwide manhunt that ended when they surrendered to authorities in California nine days later, prosecutors said.
While they were on the lam, the men made two charitable donations in Cornell-Duranleau's name, prosecutors said: $5,610 to the Howard Brown Health Center, an LGBT health and social services provider, and $1,000 to a public library in Lake Geneva, Wis.
Chicago Police Department Suspects Andrew Warren, left, and Wyndham Lathem have been formally charged with first-degree murder in the July 26 stabbing homicide at 540 N. State St. Suspects Andrew Warren, left, and Wyndham Lathem have been formally charged with first-degree murder in the July 26 stabbing homicide at 540 N. State St. (Chicago Police Department) (Chicago Police Department)
At the library, Lathem called the front desk of his apartment building and left an anonymous tip: Someone should check the apartment, because a crime had been committed in that room.
Both men have admitted to the slaying, prosecutors said. Warren spoke to police, and Lathem sent a video to his family and friends admitting that he killed Cornell-Duranleau, according to prosecutors.
In the video, Lathem "elaborated that he is not the person people thought he was," prosecutors said, and admitted Cornell-Duranleau "trusted him completely and felt safe with him but he betrayed that trust," Toller said.
Warren spoke to detectives in San Francisco, police said Sunday. Prosecutors said he admitted to planning and carrying out Cornell-Duranleau's murder, though he said he did not take video of the slaying as Lathem had requested.
"Defendant Warren told the police that the victim had no idea what was coming," Toller said Sunday.
And, ominously, Warren admitted that the two had planned to kill at least one other person — but Warren didn't know if that person had ever shown up to Lathem's apartment after the two men fled, prosecutors said.
At the bond hearing Sunday, Lathem's attorney Barry Sheppard gave Judge Adam D. Bourgeois Jr. copies of dozens of letters from Lathem's friends and colleagues, attesting to his character and academic accomplishments — a highly unusual move.
"The court has read his professional and academic achievements," Bourgeois said from the bench after looking through the material. "Some of the finest in the world, right? It has nothing to do with this, though."
Sheppard also told the judge that prosecutors "cherry-picked" statements from the video Lathem sent his family and noted that in the video the word "mistake" is used.
Sheppard, as well as Warren's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Courtney Smallwood, asked Bourgeois to set a bond for the two men — a request the judge denied.
"The heinous facts speak for themselves," he said, ordering both men held without bail.
After the hearing, Sheppard warned against a rush to judgment, telling reporters that Lathem "has led a life of outstanding, unblemished citizenship."
"We simply ask the public to patiently allow the legal system to work," he said.
Lathem was fired from Northwestern after fleeing the state, and Warren has been suspended from his job as a financial officer at Somerville College, part of the Oxford system.
Chicago Tribune's Matthew Walberg contributed.
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[email protected] ||||| Detective Commander Brendan Deenihan speaks about the charges against Andrew Warren and Wyndham Lathem during a news conference at the Chicago Police Department headquarters on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2017.... (Associated Press)
CHICAGO (AP) — The fatal stabbing of a hairstylist in Chicago was part of a sexual fantasy hatched in an online chatroom between a Northwestern University professor and an Oxford University employee, whose plan included killing someone and then themselves, prosecutors told a Cook County judge Sunday at a bond hearing for the men.
An Illinois prosecutor shared disturbing new details about the July 27 slaying, describing to the court how Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau, the 26-year-old boyfriend of since-fired microbiology professor Wyndham Lathem, was stabbed 70 times at Lathem's Chicago condo and with such brutality that he was nearly decapitated. His throat was slit and pulmonary artery torn.
Lathem, 46, had communicated for months before with Andrew Warren, 56, about "carrying out their sexual fantasies of killing others and then themselves," Natosha Toller, an assistant Cook County state's Attorney, told the court. While the prosecutor used the plural in talking about the alleged fantasy to kill, she did not say there were other victims.
Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. at one point shook his head in apparent disgust as he listened to the prosecutor offer a chilling narrative of the slaying. He later deemed both men potentially dangerous and flight risks, ordering them to remain in jail pending trial on first-degree murder charges.
"The heinous facts speak for themselves," he said.
Lathem and Warren — a British citizen employed as a financial official at the Oxford, England, university — were dressed in their own clothes Sunday at their first court appearance in Chicago. They stood calmly, their hands behind their backs, as the prosecutor and judge spoke.
Lathem paid for Warren's ticket to travel to the United States and he picked Warren up at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport a few days before the killing, the prosecutor said. On July 26, one day before the killing, Lathem booked a room for Warren near the condo, Toller said.
Cornell-Duranleau, a Michigan native, had been asleep in Lathem's high-rise Chicago condo when Lathem let Warren into the 10th-floor unit around 4:30 a.m. on July 27 — treading carefully so as not to wake the victim. As Warren stood in a doorway, Lathem crept up to Cornell-Duranleau and began plunging a 6-inch drywall saw knife into his chest and neck, Toller said.
Lathem had told Warren to take video of the killing using his cellphone, but Warren did not end up recording it, the prosecutor said.
When Cornell-Duranleau awoke, he began screaming and fought back; Lathem yelled at Warren, asking him to help subdue Cornell-Duranleau, the prosecutor said.
Warren ran over to cover the victim's mouth, then struck him in the head with a heavy lamp in an attempt to silence him, Toller said. As Lathem continued to stab the victim, Warren left the room and returned with two kitchen knives, she said.
Warren bent over Cornell-Duranleau and joined Lathem in stabbing him, the prosecutor said. At one point, the victim bit Warren's hand as he struggled to fight off the attack.
She said the victim's last words were to Lathem: "Wyndham, what are you doing?"
While prosecutors said Lathem and Warren had concocted a plan to kill themselves after the stabbing, Toller did not say why they never followed through with it.
After showering, Lathem and Warren left the apartment an hour after the stabbing began, the prosecutor said. They surrendered to California authorities on Aug. 4 after an eight-day manhunt and were recently returned to Illinois.
The stab wounds to Cornell-Duranleau included 21 to the chest and abdomen, and 26 in the back, as well as multiple cuts on his hands. Cornell-Duranleau's lungs were also both punctured, and there were wounds to his colon, spleen and liver.
After leaving the apartment and renting a car, Lathem on the same day left an anonymous $5,610 donation — in cash — at the Howard Brown Health Center in Chicago in the name 'Cornell-Duranleau.' They then drove to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and, 13 hours after the first payment, Lathem went to its public library and wrote a $1,000 check as a donation, also in the victim's name, the prosecutor said.
Toller said Lathem, while on the run, sent a video message to his parents and friends, admitting to the killing and telling them "he is not the person people thought he was."
Lathem's lawyer, Barry Sheppard, said in a brief statement to reporters after the hearing that people shouldn't "engage in a rush to judgment." He said his client had led "a life of unblemished ... citizenship," which included academic work on the bubonic-plague virus.
Warren spoke briefly when the judge asked if he wanted a British diplomatic office to be in contact. "No," Warren said. For the bond hearing, Warren relied on a public defender, who did not comment later.
The judge set a Tuesday hearing for the men, when another judge will be assigned to oversee the criminal case. Both would have a chance to enter pleas at a later arraignment.
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Follow Michael Tarm on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mtarm .
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– Two men from the academic world joined forces to live out their twisted murder fantasy, prosecutors said at a hearing for Wyndham Lathem and Andrew Warren in Chicago Sunday. Prosecutors said Lathem, a microbiology professor at Northwestern University, and Warren, a treasurer at Oxford University, communicated for months in an online chat room about their "sexual fantasies of killing others and then themselves," the Chicago Tribune reports. Prosecutors said the men decided to kill other people before killing each other simultaneously. Lathem allegedly decided that their first victim would be Trenton Cornell-Duranleau, his 26-year-old boyfriend. Prosecutors said that on July 27, days after Lathem paid for Warren to travel to the US to carry out their fantasies, they attacked Cornell-Duranleau while he was asleep in Lathem's apartment, the AP reports. The medical examiner testified that the attack left him with 70 stab wounds, some of which almost decapitated him. The two men then went on the run instead of carrying out their plan to kill each other, prosecutors say. After eight days, they surrendered to authorities in California. Lathem's lawyer told the court that his client, a plague expert who has since been fired by Northwestern, is a "distinguished microbiologist," but the judge denied bail for both men. "The heinous facts speak for themselves," he said.
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Even the most useless males in the animal world contribute to the long-term evolutionary fitness of a species, researchers report, by weeding out the genetic flaws that would otherwise doom the females to extinction.
A study on the subject, published online Monday by the journal Nature, provides an experimentally supported answer to the age-old question, "Why do males exist?"
The question isn't as frivolous, or as man-hating, as it sounds: For decades, evolutionary biologists have puzzled over the pluses and minuses of sexual reproduction. The arrangement comes at a heavy cost: Only half of the species is capable of producing offspring.
"We wanted to understand how Darwinian selection can allow this widespread and seemingly wasteful reproductive system to persist, when a system where all individuals produce offspring without sex — as in all-female asexual reproduction — would be a far more effective route to reproduce greater numbers of offspring," Matt Gage, a biologist at the University of East Anglia in Britain, said in a news release about the study.
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Several explanations have been put forward over the years: For example, when environmental conditions turn stressful, mixing up male and female genes can lead to new combinations of traits that are better-suited to cope with the change.
Another argument goes all the way back to Charles Darwin, the biologist who pioneered evolutionary theory. He proposed that sexual selection — in which males compete for the favors of females — played a role alongside other forms of natural selection in ensuring the survival of the fittest.
"The theory is well-developed, but it's very difficult to test it," Ricardo Azevedo, a biologist at the University of Houston who has studied the issue, told NBC News.
Meet the beetles
Gage and his colleagues tested Darwin's hypothesis over the course of 10 years, by fiddling with the sex lives of Tribolium flour beetles. The bugs are pests that feed off wheat and other grains, including the food in your pantry. If you've ever come across mealworms in a bag of flour that's gone bad, you know how much of a pain the beetles can be.
The beetles are also notable for their sex roles: The males contribute nothing to the upbringing of offspring, other than their genes. That makes them well-suited for an experiment aimed at figuring out why the females are better off even if they have to deal with useless males.
The research team bred several groups of beetles under different conditions — ranging from a scenario where 90 males competed to mate with just 10 females, to a scenario where the females were assigned their mates with no choice in the matter.
The beetles were bred under these conditions for seven years, representing about 50 generations' worth of bugs. Then each community of bugs was inbred, to reveal whether or not harmful mutations had built up in the beetles' genomes.
Some of the beetle populations that had been involved in lusty competition were still going strong even after 20 generations of brother-sister pairings. In contrast, all of the populations that experienced little or no sexual selection to begin with went extinct within eight generations of inbreeding.
Out with the bad genes
The results suggest that when females aren't allowed to choose fitter mates, the "mutation load" gradually builds up in the genomes of a given population — with disastrous results when the population is put under stress. Gage told NBC News that sexual selection "helps to purge out 'bad genes' from a population."
Azevedo said the experiment is "very exciting, because it's a very nice demonstration of what other researchers had predicted."
Gage said it's valid to generalize from beetles to other species, but he stressed that most males are good for more than their genes.
"The main exception to our model system is in making comparisons with species where males provide important direct benefits to offspring production, such as through care or feeding," he said in an email. "Trends towards monogamy are necessary for ecology to drive those mating patterns to persist (otherwise males will be investing in the offspring that they are not the father of)."
Thus, it's not quite right to say the study fully explains why men exist. Rather, it shows why even good-for-nothing males exist. One would hope there's a difference.
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Could super-intelligent females find a way to do without males? Gage noted that such a scenario was outlined in a 1915 novel titled "Herland." The book describes a utopia where women reproduce through parthenogenesis, or "virgin birth." Parthenogenesis occurs in species ranging from sharks to snakes to Komodo dragons, but it has not been documented among mammals in the wild.
The newly published study shows why it's probably better that way, Gage said.
"Our findings show that, while populations like 'Herland' get short-term benefits from asexual reproduction and an absence of sexual conflict, they are vulnerable to ... mutation accumulation over evolutionary timescales," he wrote. "Without sexual selection, mutations are less effectively purged from the population, putting it at higher eventual risk of extinction."
In addition to Gage, the authors of "Sexual Selection Protects Against Extinction" include Alyson Lumley, Łukasz Michalczyk, James Kitson, Lewis Spurgin, Catriona Morrison, Joanne Godwin, Matthew Dickinson, Oliver Martin, Brent Emerson and Tracey Chapman. ||||| A shop worker rests in the shade along the beach in Recife June 10, 2014.
LONDON Since in many species, sperm is males' only contribution to reproduction, biologists have long puzzled about why evolutionary selection, known for its ruthless efficiency, allows them to exist.
Now British scientists have an explanation: Males are required for a process known as "sexual selection" which helps species to ward off disease and avoid extinction.
A system where all offspring are produced without sex -- as in all-female asexual populations -- would be far more efficient at reproducing greater numbers of offspring, the scientists said.
But in research published in the journal Nature on Monday, they found that sexual selection, in which males compete to be chose by females for reproduction, improves the gene pool and boosts population health, helping explain why males are important.
An absence of selection -- when there is no sex, or no need to compete for it -- leaves populations weaker genetically, making them more vulnerable to dying out.
"Competition among males for reproduction provides a really important benefit, because it improves the genetic health of populations," said professor Matt Gage, who led the work at Britain's University of East Anglia.
"Sexual selection achieves this by acting as a filter to remove harmful genetic mutations, helping populations to flourish and avoid extinction in the long-term."
Almost all multi-cellular species reproduce using sex, but its existence is not easy to explain biologically, Gage said, because sex has big downsides -- including that only half of the offspring, the daughters, will produce offspring themselves.
"Why should any species waste all that effort on sons?" he said.
In their study, Gage's team evolved Tribolium flour beetles over 10 years under controlled laboratory conditions, where the only difference between populations was the intensity of sexual selection during each adult reproductive stage.
The strength of sexual selection ranged from intense competition -- where 90 males competed for only 10 females -- through to the complete absence of sexual selection, with monogamous pairings in which females had no choice and males no competition.
After seven years of reproduction, representing about 50 generations, the scientists found that populations where there had been strong sexual selection were fitter and more resilient to extinction in the face of inbreeding.
But populations with weak or non-existent sexual selection showed more rapid declines in health under inbreeding, and all went extinct by the tenth generation.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; editing by Andrew Roche)
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– Scientists have long wondered why men exist. Sex between males and females is simply not nearly as efficient as asexual reproduction. But now a group out of the UK is reporting in the journal Nature that, after looking at several years of lab-controlled procreation of the Tribolium flour beetle, they've found that sexual selection—the process by which males compete for females—helps species become fitter and more resilient to disease. "Competition among males for reproduction provides a really important benefit, because it improves the genetic health of populations," the lead researcher at the University of East Anglia says in a press release. "Sexual selection achieves this by acting as a filter to remove harmful genetic mutations, helping populations to flourish." Such a question can be tested on this particular beetle (a pest in many a flour bag) because aside from their genes, the males don't help raise offspring, reports NBC News. In the lab, the scientists controlled the beetle's environments such that the only difference between populations was the strength of sexual selection, which ranged from intense—with 90 males competing for 10 females—to no sexual selection at all, where females were limited to one monogamous partner and thus males didn't have to compete. Seven years (and 50 generations) later, the beetles that resulted from the strongest sexual selection were in the best health and were the least likely to go extinct when inbred, Reuters reports. (Speaking of evolution, a third of Americans don't believe it exists.)
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The UBS trader being questioned on suspicion of unauthorised trading which lost the bank $2bn (£1.3bn) alerted his employers himself, the BBC has learnt.
The BBC's business editor, Robert Peston, says UBS's internal controls did not pick up the huge loss allegedly generated by its trader Kweku Adoboli.
He says Mr Adoboli told UBS that he had engaged in unauthorised trades.
The Financial Services Authority, the City regulator, is investigating why UBS did not identify the transactions.
After being alerted, UBS then examined Mr Adoboli's trading positions and informed the Financial Services Authority and the police.
Our correspondent says: "The disclosure that it was Mr Adoboli's decision to inform his colleagues of his actions that set alarm bells ringing at UBS, rather than its own monitoring system, will add to concerns that investment banks simply aren't capable of controlling the huge risks that their traders take."
Kweku Adoboli, who was believed to work in the European equities division at UBS, was still being held for questioning on Friday, having been arrested by City of London police at 3:30 on Thursday morning.
'Out of control'
Chris Roebuck, visiting professor at the Cass Business School said: "Why did the systems not spot this before it got totally out of control? This is a key question the risk systems managers must answer - but he must have found a way round the systems to get this far into debt."
UBS would not comment on the matter.
If Mr Adoboli had not revealed his activities on Wednesday, in theory the final bill for UBS could have been even bigger. Read Robert's full entry
Mr Adoboli has taken on the law firm Kingsley Napley, which also represented Nick Leeson, the rogue trader who brought down Barings Bank.
It has also emerged that UBS has come under pressure from the Swiss government to either close its investment banking operations or separate them from its retail bank.
"Even separation would have profound ramifications, in that a separated investment bank would be deemed by creditors and investors as much riskier than the current integrated, universal-banking form of UBS," Robert Peston says.
Job losses?
The credit rating agency Moody's says it is reviewing UBS's rating, focusing on "ongoing weaknesses" in the Swiss bank's risk management.
Another agency, Standard & Poor's, suggested it was considering lowering the bank's A+ rating.
UBS lost £35bn in the 2007-8 banking crisis and had to be bailed out by Swiss taxpayers.
Moody's said that although UBS was strong enough financially to absorb the loss, it had concerns about its risk controls.
"We have continued to express concerns with regards to the ability of management to develop a robust risk culture and effective control framework," the agency said.
Last month the bank announced 3,500 jobs cuts. Of the 65,000 staff worldwide about 6,000 are in the UK, with the bulk of UBS's investment banking operations based in London and New York.
It has been reported that the fresh losses from the investment bank will lead to a major restructuring of the business, involving thousands more job losses, which will be announced in November.
"We believe that yesterday's event could have personnel consequences on senior management level, which in turn could lead to adjustments to UBS' business portfolio," said Teresa Nielsen, an analyst at the Swiss bank Vontobel.
"The exit from non-core businesses inside the investment bank could be accelerated," she added. ||||| LONDON—An alleged trading scheme at UBS AG went undetected for three years before it was finally discovered, triggering a $2 billion loss, U.K. authorities indicated Friday as they charged a 31-year-old trader at the Swiss bank with fraud.
Flanked by a newly hired lawyer from a top London firm, Kweku Adoboli briefly gaped at reporters at his court hearing and said little beyond providing his birth date and address. Mr. Adoboli, who didn't enter a plea, dabbed his eyes with a tissue during a roughly 30-minute hearing at the City of London Magistrates' Court in London's financial district.
UBS Trader Charged With Fraud 4:19 UBS trader Kweku Adoboli didn't enter a plea in a London court as prosecutors began to outline alleged wrongdoing that stretches back as far as October 2008. Adoboli faces charges of fraud and false accounting. Paul Sonne has details on Lunch Break.
The charges came as an early picture began to emerge of lapses inside one of the world's largest banks that allegedly allowed a young trader on a small stock desk to cause huge losses over three years, a much longer period than initially suspected.
The alleged scheme dated to 2008, according to people familiar with the situation and court filings.
Alarm bells at the bank went off on Wednesday, when risk-management officials discovered unauthorized trades allegedly made by Mr. Adoboli on a desk that specialized in a hybrid of mutual funds. During a meeting with Mr. Abodoli, risk officials quizzed the trader, who then departed for home, according to a person familiar with the matter. He was arrested at 3:30 a.m. Thursday.
In court Friday, Mr. Adoboli was charged on two counts of false accounting and one of fraud by abuse of position.
According to the court filings, the first and second charges allege that Mr. Adoboli falsified transactions involving exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, between October 2008 and as recently as this month. A third count alleges he committed fraud between January and September of this year.
ETFs are securities that resemble mutual funds but trade like stocks, and are commonly designed to replicate the movement of an index.
A London law firm representing Mr. Adoboli, Kingsley Napley, declined to comment. Years earlier, the firm represented Nicholas W. Leeson, whose trading in derivatives led to the collapse of 223-year-old Barings PLC in 1995. Mr. Leeson later served time in prison.
Bad Bets, Big Losses A look at traders known for bad bets, including Nick Leeson. View Interactive Mike Clarke/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Much remains unknown about Mr. Adoboli, his trading activities and how unauthorized trades could have steered under or around UBS's risk controls, which the bank has sought to bolster after suffering massive losses on mortgages during the financial crisis.
Over the weekend, UBS may paint a fuller picture of how its risk controls failed to prevent the big loss. The bank has directed longtime outside legal counsel Herbert Smith LLP to investigate the matter.
Bank officials are expected to face tough questions as to how there could have been such a scheme dating as far back as 2008. The global financial system went on red alert that year after French bank Société Générale SA said trader Jérôme Kerviel had caused a $7.2 billion trading loss.
Regulators in the U.K. and Switzerland have launched a joint investigation of the losses at UBS.
In court, the round-cheeked trader, flanked by guards in a glassed-in defendants' area, wore a light-blue V-neck sweater over a white-collared shirt, and shifted between looking at the gallery of journalists and the magistrate.
In Ghana, where Mr. Adoboli's family lives, shocked relatives were trying to find a way for his father, a retired United Nations personnel officer, to fly to London. In an interview, John Adoboli said he first heard of the arrest Thursday when his son's girlfriend phoned. He said his son had described the job as "stressful" but one he enjoyed.
Is UBS's $2 Billion Just the Beginning? 3:19 Is UBS's $2 billion loss the tip of the iceberg? MarketWatch's David Weidner discusses the arrest of Kweku Adoboli in connection to losses at the Swiss bank. (Photo: AFP / Getty Images.)
"Sometimes I would call before I went to bed and he would say, 'Daddy, I'm still at work,"' the father said.
Mr. Adoboli, according to people familiar with the situation, worked on a small trading desk called Delta One, its name referring to a measure of trading risk and sensitivity to changes in values. The term "delta" originally was used to measure risk in options to buy or sell stocks,
His desk specialized in ETFs. But the alleged scheme centered not on the trading of those relatively plain-vanilla securities but on the hedging of risk, people familiar with the matter said. The problems ultimately snowballed into an uncontrollable situation, they said. Traders also have speculated that losses were tied to recent sharp movements in the Swiss franc.
ETFs have soared in popularity by enabling investors to bet on wide swaths of the world, including some where it can be hard to invest, with an instrument often cheaper than regular mutual funds. For instance, investors wanting to bet that population growth will lift demand for farm equipment can invest in an ETF that provides exposure to tractor and fertilizer makers.
The popularity of ETFs has drawn scrutiny, however.
In a report in June, the Bank of England said global banks are exposed to risk in the ETF market because they serve as trading partners in a market "characterized by increasing complexity, opacity and interconnectedness."
Near the Bank of England on Friday, Mr. Adoboli's hearing lasted about half an hour. He was remanded into custody and is scheduled to make his next court appearance Sept 22.
—Peter Wonacott, Sara Schaefer Munoz and Cassell Bryan-Low contributed to this article.
Write to Deborah Ball at [email protected]
Corrections & Amplifications
Former Société Générale SA trader Jérôme Kerviel was sentenced to several years in prison. He remains free pending an appeal. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said he served several years in prison.
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– So who was the crack financial sleuth who caught rogue UBS trader Kweku Adoboli? Um, that’d be Kweku Adoboli. UBS’ internal systems didn’t blink at Adoboli’s $2 billion screw-up; it only came to light because he brought it to his bosses’ attention, the BBC reports. The revelation is likely to undermine confidence in UBS’ ability to manage risks. (Adoboli remains in police custody and was charged today with fraud and false accounting, notes the Wall Street Journal.) “Why did the systems not spot this before it got out of control?” asks one business professor. “He must have found a way round the system to get this far into debt.” The UK’s Financial Services Authority is investigating why UBS didn’t spot the trades itself, and Swiss authorities are now pressuring the bank to either close its investment operations or spin them off into a business separate from its retail banking unit.
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In the northern part of the Biosphere Reserve of Calakmul, Campeche, archaeologists discovered what appear to be two ancient Mayan cities: Lagunita, which remained covered by lush vegetation for decades; and another unregistered urban center called Tamchén (“Deep Well”), named after the large number of “chultunes” (wells, or water holes) found in the area, some up to 13 meters deep.
These two inaccessible sites, hidden in the jungle, were found by an expedition led by Ivan Sprajc, of the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC Sazu).
According to information provided by the Academy, the most striking feature of Lagunita is a zoomorphic monument depicting the gaping maw of a Mayan earth monster, which was associated with the underworld, water and fertility. There are also several monumental buildings, a Maya ball game court and a pyramid temple nearly 20 meters high, along with 10 trails that connect the various buildings and the three altars.
In Tamchén archaeologists found a concentration of chultunes throughout the civic and ceremonial center, some of which were reported as unusually deep. A pyramidal temple with a stela and an altar at the base supports substantial portions of the upper sanctuary.
Financing
The expedition, which was supported by the National Institute of Anthropology and History, was also supported by funding from the following persons and organizations: KJJ Charitable Foundation, Ken and Julie Jones (USA); Villas Firms (Austria); Ars Longa and Adria Kombi (Slovenia); Hotel Rio Bec Dreams (Mexico), and Martin and Aleš Obreza Hobel.
Working the ruins are Atasta archaeologists Octavio Esparza Flores Esquivel Olguin, architect Arianna Campiani, PhD students of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and Aleš Marsetic, surveyor of ZRC Sazu.
The facade of Lagunita is in good condition and can be compared with those at Chicanná, Hormiguero, and Hochob, as well as other archaeological sites in Campeche. Some of the monuments are well preserved and show hieroglyphic inscriptions. According to the preliminary reading of specialist Octavio Esparza, inscriptions on Lagunita’s Stela number 2 notes that the monument was erected in 711 AD by the ruler known as “Lord Katunes 4th”.
Discovery
http://www.theyucatantimes.com/2014/06/ancient-mayan-city-chactun-was-discovered-one-year-ago-in-campeche/), which extends over three thousand square miles between Rio Bec and Chenes, in the eastern part of the state of Campeche. Like Chactún, the Mayan city recently discovered by the same team of researchers (See the article published by the Yucatan Times on June 5th, 2014:Tamchén and Lagunita are located at the southern end of a large territory “unknown” from an archaeological point of view,
Its regional significance is determined by its architectural features and sculpted monuments, as well as by the large concentration of dwellings in the area.
According to the data gathered by the researchers, Tamchén and Lagunita had their heyday in the Late and Terminal Classic period (600-1000 AD).
Background
The site of Lagunita was visited in 1970 by American archaeologist Eric von Euw, but the results of his work were never published. In the Peabody Museum at Harvard University, sketches of zoomorphic sculpture, facade and some monuments were preserved, but the site location was unknown.
Atasta Archaeologists examined aerial photographs of the area and were able to identify Lagunita, comparing the monuments with Von Euw drawings that were provided by the Austrian researcher Karl Herbert Mayer.
Like Chactún, which was discovered last year, Lagunita and Tamchén have several “unusual” features that make them unique, and, in the opinion of researchers, this represents a challenge for future exploration in eastern Campeche.
Corpofaciales
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comments ||||| The ancient city of Lagunita, deep in the Yucatan jungle. (Courtesy of Ivan Sprajc)
In the 1970s, an American explorer named Eric Von Euw ventured into unexplored forest at the base of the Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula near the border of Guatemala. Called the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, it’s a sweeping expanse of trees and river that extends 2,800 square miles. What Von Euw returned with was remarkable. He had drawn images of an “extraordinary facade with an entrance representing open jaws of the earth monster,” as would later be written of it.
Von Euw would never publish the drawings. And despite several attempts to once again locate the “open jaws of the earth monster,” no one ever could. The site and the city that held it — which came to be known as “Lagunita” — was lost. It would become, according to Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, “a mystery.”
Now, four decades later, another explorer has ventured into the Yucatan jungle to find Lagunita. After a two-month expedition, archaeologist Ivan Sprajc of the Slovenian Academy emerged from the jungle with more than drawings. He had pictures. Along with another previously unknown city he named Tamchen, Sprajc had rediscovered Lagunita. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to have been “the seat of a relatively powerful polity,” a researcher said.
Why had it remained hidden for so long? “The information about Lagunita were vague and totally useless,” he told Discovery News. “In the jungle you can be as little as 600 feet from a large site and do not even suspect it might be there. Small mounds are all over the place, but they give you no idea about where an urban center might be.”
Though his expedition trudged into the forests with machetes, trucks and tortillas, a bird’s eye view is what discovered Lagunita. “We found the site with the aid of aerial photographs,” he explained in a statement, “but were able to identify it with Lagunita only after we saw the facade and the monuments and compared them with Von Euw’s drawings.”
Researchers: “Note the stylized eye of the earth monster and fangs along the doorway jamb.” (Courtesy of Ivan Sprajc)
The discoveries make for Sprajc’s second recent find in the region, which is still virtually unexplored and extremely difficult to traverse. Wearing what appears to be an adventure hat, the Slovenian explorer landed upon the ancient Mayan city of Chactun in 2013. Before that discovery, almost nothing was known about the archaeological treasures contained in the forests between the Rio Bec and Chenes regions, which boast architecture dating back to 600 A.D.
Aspects of Lagunita and the other ancient city of Tamchén — which means “deep well” in Yucatan Mayan — reflect the same architectural designs of the broader region, Sprajc said. Both appear to have been abandoned around 1000 A.D., and the most miraculous find was the “profusely decorated facade with a monster-mouth doorway,” the Slovenia Academy of Sciences and Arts said in a statement. They represent “the gaping maws of the earth and fertility deity.”
That sounds fairly profound. But what does it mean? “It represents a Maya earth deity related with fertility,” Sprajc explained in his interview with Discovery News. “These doorways symbolize the entrance to a cave and, in general, to the watery underworld, place of mythologized origin of maize and abode of ancestors.”
The abode of ancestors. Yes, that.
Just six kilometers away from Lagunita lay Tamchen. It’s home to several plazas rimmed by “voluminous buildings,” an “acropolis” and a pyramid-type temple. Some of the findings there signify that the city was first inhabited as long ago as 300 B.C., researchers contend. There were also more than 30 chultuns — chambers as deep as 43 feet that collected rainwater.
The archaeologists said both ancient cities are ripe for further research — as is the greater forest.
“Only future research in the extensive archaeologically unsurveyed region to the north may reveal whether such characteristics, which at the moment appear to be rather unique, were in fact common in a wider area,” the Slovenian Academy said. ||||| Like in Laguinita, plazas were surrounded by large buildings. These include the remains of an acropolis supporting a courtyard with three temples on its sides, and a pyramid temple with a well preserved sanctuary on top and a stela (pictured above). An altar at its base was also unearthed. Ancient Maya Buried Relatives, Artifacts Under Homes
More than 30 chultuns were found at the site. These are bottle-shaped underground chambers, largely intended for collecting rainwater. "Several chultuns were unusually deep, going down as far as 13 meters (43 feet)," Sprajc said.
Similarly imposing was the other city unearthed by Sprajc. The previously unknown city was named Tamchen, which means "deep well" in Yucatec Maya. Ancient Mayan Theater Was Political Tool
An inscription on one of these stelae reveals the stone was engraved on Nov. 29, 711 A.D. by a "lord of 4 k'atuns (20-year periods)." Unfortunately, the remaining text, which included the name of the ruler and possibly of his wife, is heavily eroded.
The archaeologists also found 10 stelae (tall sculpted stone shafts) and three altars (low circular stones) which featured well-preserved reliefs and hieroglyphic inscriptions. Unearthed Mayan Tablet Tells of Power Struggle
Sprajc and his team also found the remains of a temple pyramid almost 65 feet high, a ball court and several massive palace-like buildings arranged around four major plazas. Giant Mayan Frieze Tells Ancient Guatemala Story
One of the cities featured an extraordinary facade with an entrance representing the open jaws of an earth monster. "It represents a Maya earth deity related with fertility. These doorways symbolize the entrance to a cave and, in general, to the watery underworld, place of mythological origin of maize and abode of ancestors," expedition leader Ivan Sprajc, of the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU), told Discovery News.
Archaeologists have discovered two ancient Maya cities in the tropical forest of central Yucatan. The team unearthed stone monuments, inscriptions, temple pyramids and the remains of massive structures. Photos: Mayan City Remains Found in Forest
The monster mouth doorway at Lagunita. Note the stylized eye of the earth monster and fangs along the doorway jamb.
A monster mouth doorway, ruined pyramid temples and palace remains emerged from the Mexican jungle as archaeologists unearthed two ancient Mayan cities.
Found in the southeastern part of the Mexican state of Campeche, in the heart of the Yucatan peninsula, the cities were hidden in thick vegetation and hardly accessible.
"Aerial photographs helped us in locating the sites," expedition leader Ivan Sprajc, of the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU), said.
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Sprajc and his team found the massive remains as they further explored the area around Chactun, a large Maya city discovered by the Slovenian archaeologist in 2013.
No other site has so far been located in this area, which extends over some 1800 square miles, between the so-called Rio Bec and Chenes regions, both known for their characteristic architectural styles fashioned during the Late and Terminal Classic periods, around 600 - 1000 A.D.
One of the cities featured an extraordinary facade with an entrance representing the open jaws of an earth monster.
The site was actually visited in the 1970s by the American archaeologist Eric Von Euw, who documented the facade and other stone monuments with yet unpublished drawings.
However, the exact location of the city, referred to as Lagunita by Von Euw, remained lost. All the attempts at relocating it failed.
"The information about Lagunita were vague and totally useless," Sprajc told Discovery News.
"In the jungle you can be as little as 600 feet from a large site and do not even suspect it might be there; small mounds are all over the place, but they give you no idea about where an urban center might be," he added.
Laguinita was identified only after the archaeologists compared the newly found facade and monuments with Von Euw's drawings.
The monster-mouth facade turned to be one of the best preserved examples of this type of doorways, which are common in the Late-Terminal Classic Rio Bec architectural style, in the nearby region to the south.
"It represents a Maya earth deity related with fertility. These doorways symbolize the entrance to a cave and, in general, to the watery underworld, place of mythological origin of maize and abode of ancestors," Sprajc said.
He also found remains of a number of massive palace-like buildings arranged around four major plazas. A ball court and a temple pyramid almost 65 ft high also stood in the city, while 10 stelae (tall sculpted stone shafts) and three altars (low circular stones) featured well-preserved reliefs and hieroglyphic inscriptions.
According to preliminary reading by epigrapher Octavio Esparza Olguin from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, one of the stelae was engraved on November 29, A.D. 711 by a "lord of 4 k'atuns (20-year periods)."
Unfortunately, the remaining text, which included the name of the ruler and possibly of his wife, is heavily eroded.
"To judge by both architectural volumes and monuments with inscriptions, Lagunita must have been the seat of a relatively powerful polity, though the nature of its relationship with the larger Chactun, lying some 10 km to the north, remains unclear," Esparza Olguin said.
Similar imposing was the other city unearthed by Sprajc. Previously unknown, the city was named Tamchen, which means "deep well" in Yucatec Maya.
Indeed, more than 30 chultuns were found at the site. These are bottle-shaped underground chambers, largely intended for collecting rainwater.
"Several chultuns were unusually deep, going down as far as 13 meters," Sprajc said.
Like in Laguinita, plazas were surrounded by large buildings. These include the remains of an acropolis supporting a courtyard with three temples on its sides. A pyramid temple with a rather well preserved sanctuary on top and a stela and an altar at its base was also unearthed.
Tamchen appears to have been contemporaneous with Lagunita, although there is evidence for its settlement history going back to the Late Preclassic, between300 B.C. and 250 A.D.
"Both cities open new questions about the diversity of Maya culture, the role of that largely unexplored area in the lowland Maya history, and its relations with other polities," Sprajc said.
The work is a follow-up to the study of Archaeological Reconnaissance in Southeastern Campeche, Mexico. Directed by Sprajc since 1996, the 2014 campaign was supported by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), Mexico. Lead funding was provided by Ken and Julie Jones from their KJJ Charitable Foundation (USA); additional financial support was granted by private companies Villas (Austria), Hotel Río Bec Dreams (Mexico) and Ars longa and Adria Kombi (Slovenia), as well as by Martin Hobel and Aleš Obreza.
In June 2014, the southern part of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, where Sprajc discovered most of the currently known archaeological sites, was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list as a mixed natural and cultural property. ||||| *** A well-preserved monster-mouth façade and a number of stone monuments with hieroglyphic inscriptions were found at the site of Lagunita, rediscovered after having been lost for four decades.
*** The two ancient cities, each with various plazas surrounded by ruined pyramid temples and massive palaces, reached their climax during the Late and Terminal Classic periods (c. AD 600 – 1000).
*** Unusual features pose a challenge for future research.
In the tropical forest of central Yucatan peninsula, two large Maya sites have been discovered by an archaeological expedition led by Ivan Šprajc, of the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU). While not very far from the modern towns of Xpujil and Zoh Laguna, in the southeastern part of the Mexican state of Campeche, the two sites are located in the northern zone of the depopulated and hardly accessible Calakmul Biosphere Reserve.
One of the two sites had been visited in the 1970s by the American archaeologist Eric Von Euw, who documented several stone monuments and an extraordinary façade with an entrance representing open jaws of the earth monster, but the results of his work have never been published. His drawings, kept in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, USA, have been known to some specialists, but the exact location of the site, referred to as Lagunita by Von Euw, was a mystery. In spite of several attempts at relocating it, Lagunita remained lost until a few weeks ago, when rediscovered by Dr. Šprajc and his team.
“We found the site with the aid of aerial photographs,” Šprajc explains, “but were able to identify it with Lagunita only after we saw the façade and the monuments and compared them with Von Euw’s drawings, which the renowned Maya expert Karl Herbert Mayer made available for me.”
The other site located during the recently accomplished fieldwork had never before been reported. The archaeologists baptized it with the name Tamchén, which means “deep well” in Yucatec Maya, in allusion to the presence of more than 30 chultuns (bottle-shaped underground chambers, largely intended for collecting rainwater), some of them as deep as 13 m.
During the two-month field season, Šprajc was assisted by geodesist Aleš Marsetič, researcher at ZRC SAZU, archaeologists Atasta Flores Esquivel and Octavio Esparza Olguín, and architect Arianna Campiani, Ph. D. students at the Mexican National Autonomous University (UNAM), as well as several local workers.
Lagunita and Tamchén are situated in the southern portion of a vast, archaeologically unexplored territory in central Yucatan lowlands. Except for Chactún, the large Maya city discovered by Šprajc’s team in 2013, no other site has so far been located in this area, which extends over some 3000 sq. km, between the so-called Río Bec and Chenes regions, both known for their characteristic architectural styles in vogue during the Late and Terminal Classic periods (c. A.D. 600 – 1000).
Aside from a ball court and a temple pyramid almost 20 m high, the core area of Lagunita has a number of massive palace-like buildings arranged around four major plazas. The most spectacular feature is a profusely decorated façade with a monster-mouth doorway. Representing the gaping maws of the earth and fertility deity, these zoomorphic portals characterize both Chenes and Río Bec architectural styles, most prominent examples being those at Chicanná, Hormiguero, Hochob and Tabasqueño. “The Lagunita façade is very well preserved, and we accurately documented all the details using 3D photo scanning technique,” Arianna Campiani commented.
Also found at Lagunita were 10 stelae and three altars, some of them with well-preserved reliefs, including hieroglyphic inscriptions. “The date on Stela 2 corresponds to A.D. 711, suggesting that Lagunita flourished contemporarily with the nearby Chactún, where we also found monuments with dates falling in the eighth century,” says project epigrapher Octavio Esparza. “To judge by both architectural volumes and monuments with inscriptions, Lagunita must have been the seat of a relatively powerful polity, though the nature of its relationship with the larger Chactún, lying some 10 km to the north, remains unclear.” The importance of Lagunita is further attested by the great density of residential mounds, terraces, albarradas (low dry walls) and other settlement remains in the surrounding area.
Similarly imposing is the site of Tamchén, located about 6 km northeast of Lagunita: there are several plazas surrounded by voluminous buildings, including a pyramid temple with a rather well preserved sanctuary on top and a stela and an altar at its base, as well as an acropolis supporting a courtyard with three temples on its sides. While Tamchén seems to have been largely contemporaneous with Lagunita, both the triadic compound and surface ceramics indicate its settlement history goes back to the Late Preclassic (c. 300 B.C. – A.D. 250).
Just like Chactún, Lagunita and Tamchén have a number of aspects that make them very promising for future research. The zoomorphic façade at Lagunita does not come as a surprise, considering that Becán, the largest site in the Río Bec zone, is only 15 km away. What has not been expected, however, is the presence of so many pyramid temples and monuments with inscriptions, which are rare in the Río Bec región. Both Tamchén and Lagunita appear to have been largely abandoned around A.D. 1000, sharing the fate of other lowland Maya polities, but a few stelae were modified some time after they had been originally erected, and Postclassic offerings were found at others. These facts obviously reflect continuities and ruptures in cultural traditions, but their significance for understanding political geography and history of the region is yet to be explained.
Particularly interesting are various elements that have not been known elsewhere in the Maya area. Two altars of Lagunita have a curious nail-head shape. The third one is rectangular and has a series of Ajaw glyphs on its sides, with coefficients evidently referring to successive k’atun (20-year period) endings; such records are common in codices, but not on stone monuments. Whereas hieroglyphic texts normally appear in an even number of columns, the inscription on Stela 2 of Lagunita has three, and the Long Count date is incomplete. At Tamchén, dozens of chultuns are scattered in two plazas; some are partially collapsed or filled-in with material accumulating through centuries, but others are even nowadays 10 or more meters deep. Whereas chultuns are common at Maya sites, their depths and high concentration within the civic and ceremonial center of the ancient settlement represent a peculiarity of Tamchén. Only future research in the extensive archaeologically unsurveyed region to the north may reveal whether such characteristics, which at the moment appear to be rather unique, were in fact common in a wider area.
Representing a follow-up of the project of Archaeological Reconnaissance in Southeastern Campeche, Mexico, directed by Ivan Šprajc since 1996, the 2014 field season was approved and supported by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), Mexico. Lead funding was provided by Ken and Julie Jones from their KJJ Charitable Foundation (USA); additional financial support was granted by private companies Villas (Austria), Hotel Río Bec Dreams (Mexico) and Ars longa and Adria Kombi (Slovenia), as well as by Martin Hobel and Aleš Obreza.
In June 2014, the southern part of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, where most of the currently known archaeological sites were discovered in field surveys headed by Šprajc in recent years, was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list as a mixed natural and cultural property.
Preliminary 3D model of Tamchén, looking north (by Aleš Marsetič)
Tamchén, Structure 1, north side
Tamchén, Structure 1, remains of upper sanctuary
Tamchén, Stela 1
Tamchén, chultún
Camp near Tamchén
Preliminary 3D model of Lagunita, looking northeast (by Aleš Marsetič)
Lagunita, zoomorphic portal, left side, looking east. Note the stylized eye of the earth monster and fangs along the doorway jamb
Lagunita, zoomorphic portal, right side, looking southeast
Lagunita, zoomorphic portal, looking northeast. A wooden lintel is partially preserved above the monster's eye
Lagunita, Stela 1, front
Lagunita, Stela 2, front
Lagunita, Stela 4, lower fragment, front
Lagunita, Stela 4, gornji fragment, leva stran
Lagunita, Stela 4, upper fragment, left side
Lagunita, Altar 1, west face with glyphs 4 Ajaw and 2 Ajaw
Lagunita, Structure 1, north side
Field vehicle upon finishing fieldwork
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– Archaeologists have long known of a "lost" Mayan city boasting an incredible "earth monster" facade—and now someone has found it. Slovenian explorer Ivan Sprajc came out of the Yucatan jungle in Mexico with photos of the city, Lagunita, and a second, previously unknown city he's calling Tamchen, the Washington Post reports. Both were apparently abandoned around 1,000 AD along with other cities in the area. But only Lagunita has the "profusely decorated facade with a monster-mouth doorway," as the Slovenia Academy of Sciences and Arts puts it. The facade depicts "the gaping maws of the earth and fertility diety." Which diety is that, again? "A Maya earth deity related with fertility," Sprajc tells Discovery News. "These doorways symbolize the entrance to a cave and, in general, to the watery underworld, place of mythologized origin of maize and abode of ancestors." An American explorer spotted the city (and its famous mouth) in the 1970s, but no one had been able to retrace his steps in the dense jungle. Now we have Lagunita, with its "monumental buildings," game court for Maya ball, and roughly 65-foot-high pyramid, the Yucatan Times reports. Judging by its buildings and inscriptions on monuments, "Lagunita must have been the seat of a relatively powerful polity," says an expert on the project. (A monster mouth, sure, but there's no sign this time of the evil eye.)
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Atlanta (CNN) To raise awareness for ALS, Chris Kennedy poured a bucket of ice water over his head. A year ago Wednesday, he posted the video to his social network.
Quite possibly, you even drenched yourself.
More than 17 million people participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge to support ALS and other causes.
Nationally, 2.5 million people donated $115 million to the ALS Association. The organization says the event was probably the single largest episode of giving outside of a disaster or emergency.
So, whatever happened to all that money?
Bucket #1: $77 million for 'research'
Of the total money raised, 67% goes in the bucket marked "research" to find a treatment -- or even a cure -- for ALS.
Currently, there's no cure and only one drug that "modestly extends survival," according to the ALS Association. As nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord die, a patient's muscles, which are no longer connected to living nerves, start to waste away. On average, within two to five years after an ALS diagnosis, patients lose their ability to breathe and they die.
The ALS Association is spreading the $77 million to many different research projects.
For example, $10.5 million is going to a group that's testing whether a medication used to stabilize heart rhythms in cardiac patients can also stabilize nerve cells in ALS patients. It's also testing whether a drug can reduce inflamed nerve tissues, and is using MRI scans to study inflammation in the brains of sick patients.
Another initiative: $5 million is going to the Neurocollaborative , which is creating stem cell lines from ALS patients that will mimic their own nerve cells.
"We can start seeing why they're dying. We can start putting drugs on them to start seeing if we can slow them down," said Clive Svendsen of the Neurocollaborative. "It's a bit like having an avatar of yourself in the petri dish."
The ALS Association is also budgeting $1 million to Project MinE and $2.5 million to the New York Genome Center to map the genetic code of ALS patients.
"Right now we have very few things that we can do for these patients to keep them alive longer," said Dr. Jonathan Glass of Project MinE. "If we can take a disease that kills you in three years and make it a chronic disease that you live with for 10 or 15 years, I think we've done something very big."
Blood, brain and spinal fluids from ALS patients may also contain clues. Altered proteins, for example, could allow doctors to create a new fluid test to diagnose ALS, which could get patients enrolled in clinical trials earlier and possibly lead to better treatments.
To hunt for these "biomarkers," the ALS Association is budgeting $1.4 million to the Barrow Neurological Institute, Iron Horse Diagnostics, and the CreATe consortium to collect and study these types of fluids.
Another $1.5 million is going to drug maker Cytokinetics to collect blood from ALS patients over time. The fluid's being collected as part of an advanced clinical trial investigating whether a drug can help patients breathe, but it may yield other discoveries when independent researchers also get a chance to study it.
"People will just be able to apply and use the information in the fluids," said Dr. Jeremy Shefner, the trial's lead investigator. "That is a first for large companies -- to actually, as part of their trial, include a component that is publicly available and is a resource for a disease-based community."
Tuesday, the ALS Association announced 58 winners of smaller grants. These researchers from the U.S. and abroad will each receive between $40,000 and $500,000.
Bucket #2: $23 million for 'patient and community services'
The ALS Association is budgeting $8.5 million to its 39 local ALS chapters . The initiatives vary, from providing iPads and head-mounted laser pointers to help patients communicate, to supplying canes, wheelchairs and ramps to help them get around.
With this money, one chapter in St. Louis has doubled the IV nutrition it supplies to patients who can't swallow. Another chapter , in western Pennsylvania, is providing in-home training on caring for sick family members and grief counseling when patients pass away.
The ALS Association is also budgeting $2.7 million for 48 ALS treatment centers it's certified as the best in the field.
Bucket #3: $10 million for 'public and professional education'
This money goes toward a variety of initiatives to educate the public about ALS and help doctors and researchers learn more about how best to fight for ALS patients.
Among the projects announced so far, the ALS Association is budgeting $500,000 to create guidance for companies developing ALS drugs on how to remove uncertainty and risk associated with the Food and Drug Administration's approval process.
Bucket #4: $3 million for 'fund-raising'
The ALS Association says it will spend $3 million on things like data analysis and communication initiatives to maintain the support of donors it picked up during the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Bucket #5: $2 million for 'external processing fees'
It's cost the ALS Association $2 million just to pay for things like running all those credit and debit card donations. It also got zapped with website overage charges since so many people visited.
Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy , says the organization's transparency should be applauded.
"I had kind of feared at the time that there would be a lot of pressure on them to spend the money quickly," said Buchanan. "But that can actually lead to money that's not well spent."
So, will everybody get wet and cold again?
"Let's keep it up this August and every August until there's a cure," proclaims a new promo on its website
That's because while $115 million may sound like a lot of money, it may in fact not be.
"By some estimates it takes about a billion dollars to make a new therapy," said Dr. Steven Finkbeiner of the Neurocollaborative.
Buchanan said this summer will determine whether the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was a novelty or a repeatable tradition.
"There are all kinds of sort of bizarre traditions in societies, and this strikes me as, potentially, a more useful one than many others if it can raise that kind of money," he said.
His only worry: that donors will pay attention only to diseases with the cleverest social media marketing campaigns.
"Obviously there are a lot of other diseases that devastate peoples' lives," he said. "My hope would be that they get the resources they need for research as well." ||||| ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Commitments
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was a tremendous event in our Association’s history, raising $115 million in the summer of 2014. Not only did it bring awareness to this devastating disease, it importantly spurred a huge increase in our research budget. Since the IBC, we have committed over $96.4 million toward our mission, including over $84 million in research projects.
The ALS Association is committed to transparency in how donor dollars are helping to fuel efforts to find treatments and a cure for the disease. Below, you will find links and dollar figures associated with all of the projects and initiatives announced by The ALS Association that we have committed to fund using money raised during the 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
Along with receiving tremendous help from volunteers, we are committed to maximizing all donations from the Ice Bucket Challenge and beyond by partnering with other organizations to fund the most promising ALS research all over the world.
These figures will be updated periodically as new commitments are added in the future. For questions, please contact [email protected].
For more information about our premier global research program, check out our research toolkit here.
August 2014 to Present Spending
Patient and Community Services
Grants to Treatment Centers - $3,315,000
Community and Support Grants - $8,500,000
Public and Professional Education
Regulatory Guidance to Speed Drug Development - $500,000
Research
Biogen, The ALS Association and Columbia University Medical Center Collaborate to Drive Understanding of Genetic Influence in ALS - $3.5 million
ALS Association and Target ALS to Expand Tissue Core for ALS Research - $1,392,668
ALS Association and Target ALS to Bring Whole Genome Sequencing to Postmortem Tissue Analysis - $2,500,000
The ALS Association and CReATe Consortium Announce Biomarker Discovery and Validation Projects - $500,000 and $50,000
Assistive Technology Challenge to Improve Communication for People with ALS - $500,000
The ALS Association Funds $1.3 Million in New Grants to Advance ALS Research - $1.3 million
Neuro Collaborative Partner Gladstone Institutes Forms New Collaboration with Biogen In ALS Research - $5 million
Grants in Clinical Care Management and Data Collection - $655,855 and $100,000
Grand Challenge to Develop a TDP43 Biomarker - $1 million
$2.5 Million for New Proposals to the TREAT ALS™ Drug Development Contract Grant Program - $2.5 million
TREAT ALS™ Drug Development Contract grant and ALS Association-Initiated grants - $1.9 million
The ALS Association Awards Origent Data Sciences a Grant to Enable a Research Partnership with Cytokinetics - $497,433
Professor Ammar Al-Chalabi Receives the 2016 Sheila Essey Award for ALS Research - $50,000
miRagen Therapeutics Receives ALS Association Grant to Advance the Development of MRG-107 - $424,725
NeuroLINCS Program - $2.5 million
ALS ACT - $10,500,000
New York Genome Center - $2,500,000
Neurocollaborative - $5,000,000
Project Mine - $1,000,000
Clinical Management Grant - $50,000
Clinical Research Training Fellow - $86,667
Biomarker Discovery and Validation Projects - $1,199,841
Biomarker Research Collaboration in Conjunction with Cytokinetics, Inc. Phase 3 Trial - $1,500,000
2015 Annual Research Awards - $11,621,638
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals - $734,350
TREAT ALS™ NEALS Clinical Trial Network - $2,621,821
Expand NeuroBANK - $1,679,091
ALS Association 2016 Multi-Year Investigator Initiated Grant Awards - $2,934,017
ALS Association 2016 Starter Grant Awards - $425,000
ALS ONE Massachusetts ALS Partnership (MAP) - $2 million
The ALS Association Funds Additional Grants in fall 2016 - $735,000
RNS60 Trial with Biomarkers - $500,000
Assistive Technology Challenge - $400,000
Additional Funding to Project MinE U.S. - $671,385
New Lawrence and Isabel Barnett Drug Development Program Awards - $998,500
New Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellows – Class of 2016 - $600,000
Biomarker Grand Challenge Award Winner - $499,966
2017 Sheila Essey Award winner - $50,000
2017 Clinical Research Fellowships - $370,000
ALS Online Genetics Database (ALSoD) Update - $150,000
Additional Funding to the Neuro Collaborative - $2,000,000
ALS Association 2017 Multi-Year Investigator-Initiated Grant Awards - $3,850,000
ALS Association 2017 Starter Grant Awards - $500,000
New Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellows: Class of 2017 - $500,000
2017 Clinical Management Grants - $534,392
2017 Lawrence and Isabel Barnett Drug Development Program Awards - $1,100,000
2017 Strategic Initiatives - $2,713,512
Grants to Treatment Centers - $3,315,000
The ALS Association and its network of chapters currently partner with 58 ALS Association Certified Treatment Centers of Excellence across the United States. Multiple studies have shown the value to a person living with ALS of attending a multidisciplinary clinic, including longer survival, increased quality of life, and improved access to potential therapies. One of the requirements in achieving certification through The ALS Association is for the institution to be actively involved in ALS-related research and to provide information to people living with the disease on research outside of their institution. Participation in clinical trials is imperative to the research process to find treatments for the disease. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge donations have enabled the Association to increase the number of centers and the size of its annual grants to the centers from the previously budgeted $12,500 to $25,000 per center. The ALS Association was also able to begin providing $5,000 annual grants to a number of its Recognized Treatment Centers of Excellence.
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Community Support Grants - $8,500,000
The ALS Association has 39 chapters in communities across the country that are providing care and support to people living with ALS. The ALS Association gave $8.5 million in funding to chapters to augment local programs and services to people living with ALS. Chapters have been able to accomplish the following: restock and expand equipment loan closets; expand services into Idaho and Utah; launch a telemedicine program to help home-bound patients; and increase patient access to care. Other stories of how chapters are making a difference can be found here.
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Regulatory Guidance to Speed Drug Development - $500,000
Organizations involved in two other neurological diseases (Alzheimer’s and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy) have seen great benefits in working to develop guidance for companies to help them navigate the regulatory pathway for approval of effective therapies. As announced in the press release in October 2014, the enactment of the patient-focused drug development elements of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA) presents a unique opportunity for The ALS Association to help expedite drug development by developing similar guidance for ALS. No such guidance exists today for ALS, which creates uncertainty and risk for what is already a difficult and costly process. By developing this guidance, The ALS Association will be able to build on and strengthen its engagement with the FDA, industry and people with ALS about drug development as a regulatory process, which will reduce obstacles that can slow and limit innovation and access to effective treatments.
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Biogen, The ALS Association and Columbia University Medical Center Collaborate to Drive Understanding of Genetic Influence in ALS - $3.5 million
In August 2015, The ALS Association and Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) announced a collaboration to better understand the differences and commonalities in the ALS disease process and how genes influence the clinical features of the disease. The project, “Genomic Translation for ALS Clinical care” (GTAC), involves a combination of next generation genetic sequencing and detailed clinical phenotyping in 1500 people with ALS. The goal of the project is to provide a basis for the development of precision medicine, or more individually tailored therapies for ALS
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ALS Association and Target ALS to Expand Tissue Core for ALS Research - $1,392,668
In September 2015, The ALS Association and Target ALS announced the launch of a new collaborative effort to expand the collection of biofluids from people with ALS, to be used for research to better understand the disease and ultimately develop new treatments. The ALS Association is investing $1,392,668 over 38 months. Funding from The ALS Association will allow pre-mortem biofluids (serum, plasma, and cerebrospinal fluid) to be collected and stored at the sites that comprise the Target ALS Postmortem Tissue Core at Barrow Neurological Institute/Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix, Columbia University in New York, Georgetown University in Washington D.C., Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and University of California at San Diego. Detailed genetic analysis will be performed on all these cases at The New York Genome Center, all the data will be linked, and all of the samples and data will be made available for researchers around the world.
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ALS Association and Target ALS to Bring Whole Genome Sequencing to Postmortem Tissue Analysis - $2,500,000
The ALS Association is pleased to announce the launch of a new collaborative effort with TARGET ALS to perform whole genome sequencing from people who have died from ALS, to be used for research to better understand the disease and ultimately develop new treatments. Funding from The ALS Association and the Tow Foundation will be used by The New York Genome Center to determine the entire genetic sequence of people with ALS who have elected to donate their tissues after death to the Target ALS Postmortem Tissue Core at Barrow Neurological Institute/Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix, Columbia University in New York, Georgetown University in Washington D.C., Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and University of California at San Diego.
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The ALS Association and CReATe Consortium Announce Biomarker Discovery and Validation Projects - $500,000 and $50,000
In September 2015, The ALS Association and the CReATe Consortium announced the selection for funding of two new projects that will advance the discovery and validation of biomarkers relevant to ALS therapy development.
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Assistive Technology Challenge to Improve Communication for People with ALS - $500,000
In October 2015, The ALS Association, in partnership with Prize4Life, announced The ALS Assistive Technology Challenge to revolutionize communication technology solutions for people living with ALS.
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The ALS Association Funds $1.3 Million in New Grants to Advance ALS Research - $1.3 million
In December 2015, The ALS Association awarded $1.3 million in ALS Association-Initiated grants, Investigator-Initiated grants, and Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowships grants.
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Neuro Collaborative Partner Gladstone Institutes Forms New Collaboration with Biogen in ALS Research - $5 million
In January 2016, The ALS Association announced a new collaboration between the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, which is a member of The Association-funded Neuro Collaborative and the biotechnology company Biogen in Cambridge, Mass., to discover novel drug targets for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
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Grants in Clinical Care Management and Data Collection - $655,855 and $100,000
In February 2016, The ALS Association announced its support for four new clinical management grants that will address the gaps in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) clinical care whose funding collectively totals to $655,855; and one new ALS Association-Initiated grant awardee whose project is to streamline data collection at ALS clinics for funding of $100,000.
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Grand Challenge to Develop a TDP43 Biomarker - $1 million
In February 2016, The ALS Association, in partnership with ALS Finding a Cure, announced the Grand Challenge to generate a biomarker to track TDP43 aggregation. The successful team(s) with the most developed plan will receive up to a $1 million investment.
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TREAT ALS™ Drug Development Contract Grants - $2.5 million
In February 2016, The ALS Association announced the Translational Research Advancing Therapy for ALS (TREAT ALS™) Drug Development Contract grant program to fund milestone-driven research to develop new treatments for ALS. This program supports research from early target identification to preclinical research and early pilot clinical trials. The successful grants with the most developed plan will receive up to a $500,000 investment over a maximum two-year period.
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TREAT ALS™ Drug Development Contract grant and ALS Association-Initiated grants - $1.9 million
In March 2016, The ALS Association announced five new Translational Research Advancing Therapy for ALS (TREAT ALS™) grant recipients to fund milestone driven research. These awards include a TREAT ALS™ Drug Development Contract grant and ALS Association-Initiated grants.
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Origent Data Sciences Grant to Enable a Research Partnership with Cytokinetics -$497,433
The ALS Association announced the awarding of an ALS Association-Initiated Grant to David Ennist, Ph.D., M.B.A, Chief Scientific Officer of Origent Data Sciences, Inc. based in Vienna, Virginia, for $497,433 over 34 months that will enable a research partnership with Cytokinetics Inc. (Nasdaq: CYTK) to improve clinical trial design. This collaboration will refine and prospectively validate an Origent computer model to predict the course of ALS disease progression leveraging data from Cytokinetics’ clinical trials of tirasemtiv, the first of its kind in a clinical trial setting.
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2016 Sheila Essey Award for ALS Research - $50,000
In April 2016, The Association and the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) awarded Professor Ammar Al-Chalabi with the 2016 Sheila Essey Award at the American Academy of Neurology’s 68th Annual Meeting in Vancouver, Canada.
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miRagen Therapeutics Receives ALS Association Grant to Advance the Development of MRG - $424,725
In June 2016, miRagen Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative microRNA-based therapeutics and The ALS Association announced that miRagen has received the first installment of a Translational Research Advancing Therapy for ALS (TREAT ALS™) grant to advance the development of MRG-107, a synthetic microRNA antagonist (LNA antimiR®) of microRNA-155 that is effective in pre-clinical models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
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NeuroLINCS Program - $2.5 million
The ALS Association is pleased to work in partnership with the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to support NeuroLINCS, a collaborative effort among multiple research groups with expertise in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, disease modeling, OMICs and computational biology that is focused on gaining a deeper understanding of neurons and the causes of neurological diseases. The ALS Association contribution to NeuroLINCS is a $2.5 million commitment in partnership with the Greater Philadelphia Chapter over a five-year period to extend the current activities NeuroLINCS, which is one of six National Institute of Health (NIH) Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signature (LINCS) centers.
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ALS ACT - $10,500,000
In October 2014, The ALS Association committed a total of $10 million to ALS ACT, a novel academic-foundation-industry partnership to accelerate treatments for people living with ALS. (The Association put in an additional $500,000 after this initial commitment was made in order to fund one additional clinical trial.) In partnership with the recently formed The ALS Finding a Cure Team, composed of researchers from General Electric (GE) Healthcare and four academic Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS) sites, ALS ACT will enact a multi-pronged approach to expediting clinical trials in ALS. The ALS Association’s funds are being matched by The ALS Finding a Cure Foundation, for a total of $20 million. The projects below have been peer reviewed and approved, and represent commitments from both organizations:
Alex Sherman, Merit Cudkowicz, M.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, $650,000
NeuroBANK as an Accelerated Clinical Research Environment: Development, Deployment and Services to ALS Research Community
Successful implementation of NeuroBANK™ will allow for a standardized patient-centric approach to clinical research in ALS with information linked across studies, locations and modalities. Standard Common Data Elements, standard operating procedures and GUID technology will lead to accelerated studies' review, approval, deployment and patient enrollment
Clive Svendsen, Ph.D., Cedars-Sinai, $1,913,025
Inflammatory Biomarkers, Stem Cells and DNA in people with ALS
The goal of this project is to identify biomarkers of ALS that will gives us clues to disease mechanisms and help us identify targets for ALS therapy development. Specifically, we are planning to collect blood samples and skin biopsies from 50 people with ALS and 50 healthy volunteers. We will then use the blood samples to identify inflammatory markers of ALS and perform detailed DNA analysis. The skin biopsies will be used to generate stem cells from people with ALS and compare them to the stem cells from healthy volunteers. At the end of this project, we will identify inflammatory signatures of ALS and new targets and tools for drug development.
Clive Svendsen, Ph.D., Cedars-Sinai (in partnership with General Electric), $268,384
Application of MultiOmyx to iPSC Models of ALS
Induced pluripotent stem cell technology (iPSC) holds great promise for accelerating our understanding of the molecular mechanisms and pathways leading to motor neuron degeneration in ALS. In vitro cellular model systems generated from patient-derived iPSC lines can recapitulate many aspects of in vivo cellular pathology, and beyond basic disease research may serve as a powerful test bed to screen potential therapies. Therapeutic screening on iPSC-derived models will likely be complimentary to, and in some aspects superior to, other approaches including animal models in terms of human-predictivity and speed.
GE has developed a unique technology platform allowing the in vitro analysis of cells and tissues to an extent not previously possible (MultiOmyx, or “MO”). An iterative labeling process allows repeated immunocytochemical visualization of 60 or more protein markers in a single sample, as well as RNA and DNA. Precision hardware and custom software for imaging and analytics enables extensive characterization of single cell structure and function as well as relationships with neighboring cells and environment. Application of this technology to ALS iPSC systems is likely to advance the utility of these models and provide new insights into neurodegenerative pathways and mechanisms.
Clive Svendsen, Ph.D., Cedars-Sinai (in partnership with General Electric), $389,643
Using Novel Imaging Agents as a Biomarker for ALS
Assessing the progression of ALS in both animal models and the human condition would provide the ideal biomarker for testing novel compounds rapidly and efficiently. However, while MRI and other imaging modalities exist they have not been fine tuned for this neurological condition. Our rational is that through better imaging of disease progression in ALS within individual patients, drug therapy throughput and success will be increased.
We have just completed an extensive study mapping the exact progression of disease in the G93A rat model of familial ALS (fALS). Remarkably, this animal model of ALS reproduces many aspects of the disease including stochastic loss of motor neurons that could start in either cervical (20%) or lumbar (80%) regions of the spinal cord - mirroring the situation in patients.
GE Global Research has developed a novel superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticle for MR imaging of neuroinflammation. The agent was shown to be efficacious in brain and spinal cord imaging of acute neuroinflammation in an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model in the rat, with MR signal correlated with macrophages present within the CNS.
James Berry, M.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, $1,000,000
Infrastructure Improvement and Biofluid Collection Protocols for the Expansion of the NEALS Biorepository
The exact cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis remains unknown, and there are no tests to diagnose the disease or follow its progression. Such tests, known as biomarkers, would be invaluable to speed the development of novel therapies for ALS. In recent years, ALS scientists have begun to identify promising potential biomarkers in the blood and spinal fluid of people with the disease. The next step to build on these discoveries, in many cases, is to test larger numbers of biofluid samples to confirm the findings.
The Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS) biorepository is a collection of biological samples, including blood and spinal fluid obtained from people with ALS that was created to be a resource for scientists conducting research in ALS. This project will allow us to upgrade the NEALS biorepository infrastructure, including updating the computer systems, expanding the number of sample freezers, and revising the standard operating procedures for the repository. The project also supports two efforts to expand the biorepository by collecting new blood and spinal fluid samples from people with ALS. This will ensure the NEALS biorepository remains a vital resource to the ALS scientific community.
Robert Brown, University of Massachusetts, $2,500,000
Development of AAV-Mediated SOD1 Gene Silencing Therapy in ALS
About 10 percent of ALS cases are familial. Most of the known genetic defects in familial ALS act by triggering one or more toxic processes that impair the viability of motor neurons, leading to motor neuron death. This project will use viruses to introduce reagents into the brain and spinal cord that block the mutant genes from triggering toxicity. This is accomplished by turning off the activity of those genes using new technologies for so-called “gene silencing.” The viruses are used to penetrate the blood-brain barrier to deliver the gene silencing reagents, which then inactivate the genes in question. This technology will be tested first in cases of ALS arising from mutations in well-defined ALS genes (e.g. SOD1 and C9orf72). This project is intended to take the gene silencing all the way to a pilot human trial. We are hopeful that in the long term these studies will lead to a general platform or method for treating other types of familial ALS and potentially also some cases of non-familial ALS.
Nazem Atassi, M.D., Massachusetts General Hospital (in partnership with General Electric), $3,929,181
TRACK ALS
This is collaborative project between industry, academia, the Leandro P Rizzuto (ALS Finding a Cure (ALSFAC)) Foundation and The ALS Association. The overall goal of this project is to identify imaging markers of ALS that can be used to accelerate ALS diagnostic timelines and the pace of ALS drug discovery. This project will focus on studying the role of brain inflammation in people with ALS.
In this project we plan to use innovative MRI and positron emission tomography (PET) tracer (contrast) that will show us the location and degree of nerve damage and brain inflammation in people with ALS. We plan to compare MRI signals between 50 people with ALS and 50 healthy volunteers and to study these MRI signals over time in relationship with ALS clinical presentation and disease progression. In a subgroup of patients, we plan to compare brain inflammation between 20 people with ALS and 20 healthy volunteers and to study brain inflammation over time in relationship with ALS clinical presentation and disease progression.
At the end of this project, we will identify the imaging inflammatory signature of ALS as a potential tool for early diagnosis and quick read out of drug efficacy in people with ALS.
Stan Appel, M.D., Methodist Neurological Institute, $2,270,585
Pilot Trial of the Safety and Tolerability of Expanded Autologous Regulatory T Cells Administered by Intravenous Infusion in People with ALS
The purpose of this study is to isolate T regulatory (Treg) cells from the blood using leukapheresis and expand Treg cells in the laboratory in twelve people with ALS. Leukapheresis is a laboratory procedure in which white blood cells are separated from a sample of blood. Once separated, the remainder of the blood is returned to the circulation. The subject’s Treg cells will be grown (manufactured) in a specialized GMP laboratory facility, tested and purified. The subject’s own expanded Treg cells will then be injected into the skin with or without the addition of IL-2 (Interleukin-2).This study may lead to Treg cell therapy for symptom management or potential slowing of disease progression in ALS and related disorders.
Two Clinical Phase II Trials, $3,000,000
As discussed in the July 2014 press release, The ALS Association announced $3 million of funding of two Phase II clinical trials as part of ALS ACT. These include the following:
Robert Miller, M.D., California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, CA
A Phase 2 Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multicenter Study of NP001 in Subjects with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
In collaboration with NEALS and Neuraltus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Robert Miller, M.D. of the California Pacific Medical Center will lead a placebo-controlled, six-month treatment study to confirm a signal observed in a previous study of NP001, an immune system regulator. Inflammation is thought to be a contributing factor to ALS disease progression and existing NP001 data suggest that it may have an effect on inflammation in the immune system.
Michael Weiss, M.D., of the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle
Effects of mexiletine on cortical hyperexcitability in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
In collaboration with NEALS, Michael Weiss, M.D., of the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, will lead an eight-week study comparing the effect of several dosages of mexiletine on markers of hyperexcitability. A prior study showed that mexiletine was safe to use in ALS.
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New York Genome Center - $2,500,000
Per the October 2, 2014 announcement, The ALS Association is funding the New York Genome Center’s Consortium for Genomics of Neurodegenerative Disease (NYGC CGND). The New York Genome Center is a state-of-the-art consortium, possesses the capability of generating and analyzing thousands of ALS patient DNA sequences. NYGC brings a wealth of knowledge combining the latest technology with esteemed Institutional Founding Members, Associate Members, a Founding Technology Member and internal faculty with joint appointments at the member institutions. The mission of the NYGC-CGND is to harness state-of-the-art genetic, genomic and bioinformatics tools to gain insights into motor neuron disease mechanisms and to use this knowledge to identify new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to these devastating diseases.
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Neurocollaborative - $5,000,000
As discussed in the October 2, 2014 announcement, The Neuro Collaborative will combine the efforts of three leading California laboratories focused on ALS: The Svendsen lab at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, the Cleveland lab at the University of California San Diego, and the Finkbeiner lab at the Gladstone Institutes, which is affiliated with UCSF.
The project is made possible by the unprecedented outpouring of support from the Ice Bucket Challenge. The Neuro Collaborative is one of four major new initiatives by The Association as a direct result of that support. The goal of the Neuro Collaborative is to discover and develop potential new therapies for ALS, which can be delivered to pharmaceutical companies for further development in clinical trials. Early development of potential therapeutics is a major bottleneck in ALS therapy development and represents a significant opportunity for accelerating new treatments.
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Project Mine - $1,000,000
As discussed in the October 2, 2014 announcement, The ALS Association has committed $1 million to Project MinE, an international effort to sequence the genomes of at least 15,000 people with ALS. The funding will be used to bring this effort to the United States, under the direction of researchers at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Mass., and Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.
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Clinical management Grant - $50,000
Melinda Kavanaugh, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Social Welfare at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, $50,000
On May 12, 2015 The ALS Association announced funding of a study of young people who care for someone with ALS to better understand the needs of youth caregivers and to design support services to address those needs. While the proportion of families with a teen or child caring for a person with ALS is unknown, it is clear that many ALS families include youth who may assume caregiver roles. The new study will collect data on ALS families nationwide and conduct interviews with youth caregivers to better understand their experiences.
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Clinical Research Training Fellow - $86,667
The ALS Association and the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) announced that Hristelina Ilieva, M.D., Ph.D., of the Department of Neurology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md., is this year’s recipient for the Clinical Research Training Fellowship. The purpose of the award is to recruit talented and promising young clinicians who propose innovative clinical research and to foster their development to make significant contributions to ALS clinical research.
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Biomarker Discovery and Validation Projects - $1,199,841
On June 3, The ALS Association announced the awarding of $1.2 million of new funding to advance the discovery of biomarkers that correlate with important clinical and pathological aspects of ALS disease progression. This funding will be paired with a $539,000 match donation intended for research. The awards will fund three projects, each of which focuses on the discovery of biomarkers in ALS:
Jeremey Shefner, M.D., Ph.D., Robert Bowser, Ph.D., and Shafeeq Lahda, M.D., of Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, $539,841
Expansion of NEALS Biorepository at Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix Ariz. and Deep Phenotyping
This project will carry out a longitudinal collection of blood and Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 150 people with ALS over the course of their disease. At the same time, detailed clinical measurements will be made of respiratory function, cognitive function, muscle strength, and other aspects of the disease. The fluids and clinical data will be stored in the NEALS biorepository and be made available for biomarker discovery research. The NEALS biorepository is a major site for storage, curation, and research on ALS biosamples. This project will be led by Jeremey Shefner, M.D., Ph.D., Robert Bowser, Ph.D., and Shafeeq Lahda, M.D., of Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. This research project is also supported by a generous matching gift from Mary Lou and Ira Fulton.
Andreas Jeromin, Ph.D., and Robert Bowser, Ph.D., of Iron Horse Diagnostics of Scottsdale, Ariz., co-funded by the National Institutes of Health, $200,000
Biomarker Validation Study
This study will attempt to provide a validation of a proteomic signature of ALS in the CSF of 300 people with the disease. The validation study will build on previous results showing that the ratio provides 92 percent sensitivity and 94 percent specificity for presence of ALS. Iron Horse will further validate these tests and perform both a prospective clinical study and assay qualification within a commercially certified (CLIA) laboratory to commercialize the diagnostic tests. Validation of the biomarker would allow further development and, ultimately, the first commercially available clinical test for presence of ALS.
National Institute of Health Rare Diseases Clinical Research Consortium, the Clinical Research in ALS and Related Disorders for Therapeutic Development Consortium (CReATe), $460,000
Biosample Collection for CReATe
This collection will support the growth and expansion of a biorepository for a newly funded National Institute of Health Rare Diseases Clinical Research Consortium, the Clinical Research in ALS and Related Disorders for Therapeutic Development Consortium. CReATe will bring together biochemists, geneticists, clinicians, Pharma, and partner groups involved in patient education and advocacy including The ALS Association, Muscular Dystrophy Association, ALS Recovery Fund, Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, Spastic Paraplegia Foundation, PatientsLikeMe, and the National ALS Registry. The successful completion of the CReATe Consortium objectives will lay the necessary foundation for future trials in genetically homogeneous patient populations (including, for example, people with C9orf72 repeat expansions), thereby advancing science towards development of effective therapies for patients afflicted with these devastating degenerative disorders. As part of this initiative The ALS Association will support the enhancement of a repository of biosamples collected longitudinally with deep phenotyping of approximately 700 people with ALS. This effort, led by Michael Benatar, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Miami, will combine detailed clinical data with biosample analysis to search for biomarkers that correlate with clinical characteristics, including patterns of disease spread and the rate of disease progression. Funding by The ALS Association will allow more extensive samples to be collected, stored, and shared with the ALS research community.
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Biomarker Research Collaboration in Conjunction with Cytokinetics, Inc. Phase 3 Trial - $1,500,000
In July 2015, The ALS Association announced $1,500,000 in funding to Cytokinetics, Inc. to support the collection of clinical data and plasma samples to advance the discovery of biomarkers in ALS in VITALITY-ALS, a Phase 3 clinical trial of tirasemtiv in patients with ALS. For the first time, this unique collaboration between Cytokinetics, The ALS Association, and the Barrow Neurological Institute will enable plasma samples collected from patients enrolled in a Phase 3 clinical trial to be added to The Northeastern ALS Consortium (NEALS) Repository, a resource for the academic research community to identify biomarkers that may help to assess disease progression and underlying disease mechanisms in ALS.
2015 Annual Research Awards - $11,621,638
In July 2015, The ALS Association announced its support of 58 new research grants totaling $11,621,638 million to find treatments and a cure for ALS. These awards include investigator-initiated grants, drug development contracts, Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowships and support of the NEALS/TREAT ALS™ Clinical Trials Network. Descriptions and dollar amounts for each grant can be found here.
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Amylyx Pharmaceuticals: $734,350
July 20, 2016
Partnership with ALS Finding a Cure as a part of ALS ACT for total of $2.96 million
Dr. Joshua Cohen, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: $734,350 for AMX0035 clinical trial. More information here.
Press release
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Support of the TREAT ALS™ NEALS Clinical Trial Network: $2,621,821 total
July 2016
Dr. Merit Cudkowicz, University of Massachusetts Medical School: 1,663,811. More information here.
Dr. Jeremy Shefner, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center: $958,010. More information here.
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Expand NeuroBANK: $1,679,091
August 4, 2016
Partnership with ALS Finding a Cure as part of ALS ACT for total $3.6 million
Press Release
Dr. Alex Sherman, Massachusetts General Hospital: $1,679,091 for NeuroBANK. More information here.
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ALS Association 2016 Multi-Year Investigator Initiated Grant Awards: $2,934,017 total
August 2016
Bradley Foerster, M.D., Ph.D., University of Michigan in Ann Arbor: $294,017 to use multi-modal advanced imaging to capture the temporal phases of neuroinflammation in ALS. More information here.
Jeffrey Macklis, Ph.D., Harvard University: $300,000 to study potential abnormalities of corticospinal-specific growth cone proteomes, RNA and precise circuit wiring in ALS mice. More information here.
Jada Lewis, Ph.D., University of Florida: $300,000 to study new mouse models to dissect out the function of the ALS-associated protein Matrin. More information here.
Brian Black, Ph.D., University of California San Francisco: $300,000 to study the role of Zfp106 in RNA metabolism and ALS. More information here.
Mervyn Monteiro, Ph.D., the University of Maryland: $300,000 to perform gene profiling to determine the initiator mechanisms involved in disease in a UBQLN2 mouse model of ALS-FTD. More information here.
Jeffrey Rothstein, M.D., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University: $300,000 to study how the C9orf72 nucleotide repeat expansion disrupts nucleocytoplasmic transport. More information here.
Thomas Maniatis, Ph.D., Columbia University: $300,000 to perform single-cell studies of ALS disease progression. More information here.
Wilfried Rossoll, Ph.D., Emory University in Atlanta: $300,000 to study molecular mechanisms of PABPN1-mediated suppression of TDP-43 toxicity. More information here.
Gene Yeo, Ph.D., University of California San Diego: $300,000 to study stress granule components in models of ALS. More information here.
Thomas Lloyd, M.D., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University: $300,000 to study mechanisms of cytoplasmic protein aggregation and neurodegeneration in Drosophila (fly) models of C9orf72 ALS. More information here.
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ALS Association 2016 Starter Grant Awards: $425,000
August 2016
Peter Todd, M.D., Ph.D., University of Michigan: $25,000 to study the involvement of the C-terminal fragment in C9ALS/FTD RAN-translated dipeptide repeat toxicity. More information here.
Carlos A. Castañeda, Ph.D., Syracuse University: $50,000 to study the effects of ubiquilin-2 ALS mutations on structure, dynamics and interactions with other ALS-associated proteins. More information here.
Marco Peviani, Ph.D., Dana Farber Cancer Institute: $50,000 to develop microglia-targeted MRI/PET traceable nanovectors as an innovative therapeutic platform for investigating and shaping microglia reactivity to improve ALS therapy. More information here.
Sandra Almeida, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Medical School: $50,000 to study methods for reducing repeat toxicity as a therapeutic approach in C9orf72 ALS/FTD. More information here.
Mai ElMallah, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Medical School: $50,000 to develop gene therapy for upper airway dysfunction and respiratory insufficiency in an ALS mouse model. More information here.
Kausiki Datta, Ph.D., University of Florida: $50,000 to develop a high-throughput screening assay to identify small molecules that decrease transcription of the C9orf72 expansion. More information here.
Chunlai Wu, Ph.D., Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center: $50,000 to study enhancing the activity of a gene called Mask as a therapeutic approach for treating ALS due to mutations in the FUS gene. More information here.
Nadine Bakkar, Ph.D., St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center: $50,000 to study disruption of the integrity of the barrier between blood and cerebrospinal fluid in ALS. More information here.
Nicolas Fawzi, Ph.D., Brown University: $50,000 to study disruption of TDP-43 granule assembly by ALS mutations.
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ALS ONE Massachusetts ALS Partnership (MAP): $2 million ALS Association commitment
November 4, 2016
Partnership with ALS Finding a Cure and ALS ONE
Press Release
Dr. Steven Perrin, ALS Therapy Development Institute: $650,000 to therapies targeting the inflammatory pathway. More information here.
Dr. Nazem Atassi, Massachusetts General Hospital: $675,000 to build a regional clinical trial network.
Dr. Robert Brown, University of Massachusetts Medical School: $675,000 to develop strategies to silence the production of toxic RNA and proteins from the mutant gene C9orf72.
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The ALS Association Funds Additional Grants in fall 2016: $735,000
November 2016
Dr. Jiou Wang, Johns Hopkins University: $400,000 to project “Targeting proteotoxicity as the common denominator in ALS.”
Dr. Andrea Malaspina, Queen Mary University of London: $60,000 to project “Going Dry: empowering neurofilament-based biomarkers studies for disease monitoring in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.”
Dr. Albert Ascherio, Harvard University: $275,000 to project “Nutrition and Disease Prevention: Examining polyunsaturated fats and risk of ALS.”
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RNS60 Trial with Biomarkers: $500,000 ALS Association commitment
December 2, 2016
Partnership with ALS Finding a Cure and NEALS for $1,000,000 total
Press Release
Dr. Ettore Beghi, IRCCS Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Italy: $500,000 to project “The effects of RNS60 on ALS biomarkers.”
Top
Assistive Technology Challenge: $400,000
December 7, 2016
Partnership with Prize4Life
Press Release
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Additional Funding to Project MinE U.S.: $671,385 total
January 2017
Dr. John Landers, University of Massachusetts Medical School: $568,896
Dr. Jonathan Glass, Emory University: $102,489
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New Lawrence and Isabel Barnett Drug Development Program Awards: $998,500 total
February 9, 2017 Press Release
Dr. Thomas Lloyd, Johns Hopkins University: Preclinical development of KPT-350 for C9-ALS: $500,000 over 2 years. More information here.
Dr. Richard Keenan, Optikira LLC: Validating inhibition of IRE1alpha kinase/RNase as a therapeutic approach to ALS: $498,000 over 2 years. More information here.
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New Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellows – Class of 2016: $600,000 total
March 2, 2017
Press Release
Vicente Valenzuela, Ph.D., University of Chile: $100,000. More information on his project here.
Bruno Miguel da Cruz Godinho, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Medical School: $100,000. More information on his project here.
Sergey Stavisky, Ph.D., Stanford University in Stanford: $100,000. More information on his project here.
Tiffany Todd, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville: $100,000. More information on her project here.
Jeanne McKeon, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Medical School: $100,000. More information on her project here.
Amanda Gleixner, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh: $100,000. More information on her project here.
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Biomarker Grand Challenge Award Winner: $499,966 ALS Association commitment
March 13, 2017
In partnership with ALS Finding a Cure
Dr. Timothy Miller and team, Washington University in St. Louis: Developing a TDP-43 PET Tracer: $1,000,000 total prize
Press Release
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2017 Sheila Essey Award winner: $50,000
March 15, 2017
In partnership with the Essey family
Dr. John Ravits, University of California San Diego
Press Release
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2017 Clinical Research Fellowships: $370,000
March 16, 2017
In partnership with the American Academy of Neurology (AAN)
Press Release
Dr. Sabrina Paganoni, University of Massachusetts Medical School: Clinician Scientist Development Award: $130,000: A phase 2 study of urate elevation in ALS
Dr. Nicholas Olney, University of California San Francisco: Clinical Research Training Fellowship: $240,000: Cervical spine imaging and CSF neurofilament light chain as biomarkers in patients with ALS
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ALS Online Genetics Database (ALSoD) Update: $150,000 ALS Association commitment
April 21, 2017
In partnership with the Motor Neurone Disease Association and PatientsLikeMe
Press Release
Dr. Ammar Al-Chalabi, King’s College, London: $250,000 total grant
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Additional Funding to the Neuro Collaborative: $2,000,000 total
April 2017
Dr. Don Cleveland, University of California San Diego: $1,000,000
Dr. Clive Svendsen, Cedars-Sinai: $1,000,000 to ALS on a Chip project
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ALS Association 2017 Multi-Year Investigator-Initiated Grant Awards: $3,850,000
December 2017
Dr. Carlos Castañeda, Syracuse University, $300,000, Molecular basis and effects of Ubiquilin-2 phase separation on association with ALS-linked proteins
Dr. Magdalini Polymenidou, University of Zurich, $300,000, Understanding the role of dynamic polymerization of TDP-43 in health and disease
Dr. Philip Wong, Johns Hopkins University, $300,000, TDP-43 splicing repression as a therapeutic target for ALS
Dr. Shuying Sun, Johns Hopkins University, $300,000, RAN translation of hexanucleotide repeats in C9ORF72-ALS/FTD
Dr. Marka Van Blitterswijk, Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, $250,000, Identification of novel biomarkers for C9ORF72-linked diseases, combining a targeted approach with an unbiased screen
Dr. Claudia Fallini, University of Massachusetts Medical School, $300,000, Dissecting the link between cytoskeletal disruption and mRNA processing in ALS
Dr. J. Paul Taylor, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, $300,000, How disturbance in stress granule dynamics is converted into TDP-43 pathology
Dr. Mart Saarma, University of Helsinki, $300,000, CDNF and CDNF variants - a novel therapy for ALS
Dr. Antonella Favit-VanPelt, Thera Neuropharma, $300,000, Selection of a novel target clinical candidate for the treatment of ALS
Dr. Randall Tibbetts, University of Wisconsin, $300,000, Drosophila models of ubiquilin-associated ALS
Dr. Jeffrey Agar, Northeastern University, $300,000, Tethering cysteine pairs with cyclic disulfides: a method for stabilizing fALS SOD1 variants
Dr. Chunlai Wu, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - New Orleans, $300,000, Enhancing Mask/ANKHD1 activity as a therapeutic approach for treating ALS
Dr. Elijah Stommel, Dartmouth College, $300,000, Investigating aerosolized cyanobacteria in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
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ALS Association 2017 Starter Grant Awards: $500,000
December 2017
Dr. Krista Spiller, University of Pennsylvania, $50,000, Uncovering ALS-related changes in motor circuits and their functional consequences on subsequent disease progression in rNLS8 mice
Dr. Gabriella Viero, Institute of Biophysics CNR, $50,000, Tag-free axonal translatome of mouse models of ALS/FTD to reveal defects in axonal mRNA transport and association to axonal polysomes
Dr. Qiang Zhu, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, $50,000, Determining whether gain of toxicity from ALS/FTD-linked hexanucleotide repeat expansion synergizes with reduced C9ORF72 function to drive age-dependent ALS/FTD
Dr. Jacob Ayers, University of Florida, $50,000, Developing a mouse model to study the cell-type specific effects on ALS disease spread
Dr. Sandrine Da Cruz, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, $50,000, Identifying molecular targets to enhance muscle innervation in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Dr. Megan McCain, University of Southern California, $50,000, Engineering robust and functional human neuromuscular junctions in a dish for ALS disease modeling and drug screening
Dr. Mariana Pehar, Medical University of South Carolina, $50,000, RAGE inhibition as a therapeutic approach in ALS models
Dr. Philip Smaldino, Ball State University, $50,000, Enzymatic regulation of toxic G-quadruplex structures in ALS cells by G4 resolvase 1
Dr. Meredith Jackrel, Washington University, $50,000, Countering TDP-43, FUS, and dipeptide repeat protein toxicity with engineered Hsp104 variants
Dr. Timothy Lu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $50,000, Ameliorating TDP-43-associated pathogenesis with global transcriptional perturbations
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New Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellows – Class of 2017: $500,000
December 2017
Dr. Anthony Giampetruzzi, University of Massachusetts Medical School, $100,000, Identifying therapeutics for ALS using ALS-linked mutant Profilin-1
Dr. Maria Purice, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, $100,000, Linking TDP-43 pathology with stress granule dynamics
Dr. Yue Li, Scripps Florida, $100,000, Development of RNA-templated small molecules to treat C9ALS/FTD
Dr. Nibha Mishra, Massachusetts General Hospital, $100,000, Identifying determinants of FUS nucleocytoplasmic localization by CRISPR/Cas9 genetic screen in ALS patient cells
Dr. Meredith Corley, University of California San Diego, $100,000, Accurate RNA structural studies of transcripts targeted by RNA binding protein hnRNP A2/B1
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2017 Clinical Management Grants: $534,392
December 2017
Dr. Stephen Goutman, University of Michigan, $200,000, Utility of 3D printed masks for improving compliance and efficacy of non-invasive ventilation in subjects with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A pilot feasibility study
Dr. Orla Hardiman, Trinity College Dublin, $200,000, A randomised controlled study of psychological intervention in ALS to address the significant and complex mental health issues facing caregivers
Dr. David Walk, University of Minnesota, $134,392, A pilot study of lung volume recruitment combined with expiratory muscle strength training to facilitate ventilatory and bulbar function in ALS
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2017 Lawrence and Isabel Barnett Drug Development Program Awards: $1,100,000
December 2017
Dr. Raymond Roos, The University of Chicago, $200,000, Combating ER stress in G85R ALS mice
Dr. Nicolas Maragakis, Johns Hopkins University, $200,000, A GLP-1 analog for the treatment of ALS
Dr. Antonius Bunt, Izumi Biosciences LLC, $100,000, Complement DoD grant W81XWH-16-1-0072 for PK enhancement of cART in HERV-K + ALS-FTD patients to reverse neuroinflammation, multi drug resistance and improve outcomes
Dr. John Landers, University of Massachusetts Medical School, $200,000, Investigating pridopidine, a Sigma-1 receptor activator, as a novel therapeutic treatment for ALS
Dr. Timothy Miller, Washington University, $77,750, Pathological analysis of selective autophagy in sporadic and familial ALS
Dr. Wen Hwa Lee, University of Oxford, $200,000, Generation and validation of open access recombinant monoclonal antibodies for reproducible ALS research
Dr. Eliahu Heldman, Lauren Science LLC, $75,000, Treatment of ALS by non-invasive, targeted delivery of GDNF to motor neurons using novel V-SmartTM nanovesicles (LAUR-301)
Dr. John Ravits, Regents of the University of California, $47,250, Pathological analysis of selective autophagy in sporadic and familial ALS
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2017 Strategic Initiatives: $2,713,512
December 2017
Dr. Chad Heatwole, University of Rochester, $225,241, Development of a clinically relevant outcome measure for ALS therapeutic trials
Dr. Gilles Guillemin, Macquarie University, 60,000, New directions for early diagnosis of MND: a large-scale longitudinal analysis of multiple biomarkers to find diagnostic and progostic "fingerprints"
Dr. Steven Finkbeiner, The J. David Gladstone Institutes, $1,000,000, ALSA-Neuro Collaborative identification and validation of therapeutic targets and developments of therapeutics for ALS
Dr. John Landers, University of Massachusetts Medical School, $841,271, Project MinE US-Whole genome sequencing of a large cohort of sporadic ALS patients
Dr. Don Cleveland, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, $60,000, Trans-cellular transmission of misfolded TDP-43 and ALS progression
Dr. Adele McCormick, University of Westminster, $327,000, Trans-cellular transmission of misfolded TDP-43 and ALS progression
Dr. Markus Otto, University of Ulm, $200,000, Neurofilament Assay
Top ||||| NEW YORK, July 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Data Analysis Examines Effectiveness Of The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge One Year Later
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge raised more than $220 million for the ALS Association, more than 12 times what the organization had raised the previous year, but the influx of donations and massive awareness received during last summer's Ice Bucket Challenge will be challenging to maintain, according to a data analysis released today by consumer healthcare insights organization, Treato. A survey of more than 500 Treato.com users reveled that only 14 percent of participants indicated that they are very likely to donate again this year; however, 50 percent indicated that they are somewhat likely to give again, indicating that with proper outreach, the ALS Association could maintain strong momentum.
Keeping up the awareness momentum will also prove challenging for the ALS Association as 43 percent of participants felt they were no more familiar with ALS after the Ice Bucket Challenge last summer; however when narrowed down to those who actually participated in the challenge, awareness of ALS rose three times higher concluding that direct participation leads to increased awareness.
In addition to the survey, Treato compiled and analyzed more than 254,000 online conversations about ALS discussing awareness, drugs and a cure, discovering ALS discussions grew close to six times normal activity last summer. Specifically, online conversations about ALS and a cure peaked the same time as the Ice Bucket Challenge demonstrating the effectiveness of the campaign.
When asked about how the funds raised for the ALS Association should be spent, 63 percent of survey participants felt the most important way to spend the funds is on finding a cure for the disease including drug research where as 16 percent felt the funds should be used for financial support for those living with the disease, 13 percent felt the funds should be used on educational support and 8 percent felt the funds should be used on public policy advocacy efforts.
Additional Treato findings include:
Engagement didn't guarantee donation: 23 percent of survey participants who reported participating in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge did not donate to the Association
Participation drove awareness: 29 percent of survey participants who reported participating in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge said they had never heard of or were not very familiar with ALS before participating
Hollywood also drove disease awareness: online mentions of ALS and Stephen Hawking were three times higher than average during last year's Oscar season in which The Theory of Everything , the Stephen Hawking biopic, won best actor
also drove disease awareness: online mentions of ALS and Stephen Hawking were three times higher than average during last year's Oscar season in which , the Stephen Hawking biopic, won best actor Generics are on the rise: discussions about Riluzole, the generic of Rilutek, which is a drug used to reduce the symptoms of ALS, has doubled in conversations over the past five years
"Breaking through online health conversations allows us to understand the performance and effectiveness of marketing," says Ido Hadari, CEO of Treato. "The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge proved to be an effective campaign not only terms of immediate money raising, which is relatively easy to measure, but also in terms of awareness creation, consumer engagement and building long-term disease and organization advocates."
Find more information on Treato's ALS Ice Bucket Challenge data analysis by viewing the Infographic.
About Treato:
Treato™, the leading source of real health insights from millions of real health consumers, uses patented analytics and big data technology to turn billions of disparate online conversations into meaningful social intelligence. With two billion posts analyzed and continuously expanding, Treato has partnered with 13 of the top 50 pharmaceutical companies and its consumer website helps millions of visitors each month.
Treato is privately held with offices in Israel, New York and Princeton, NJ. Investors include Reed Elsevier Ventures, OrbiMed Partners and New Leaf Venture Partners, among others. For more information please visit http://treato.com and corp.treato.com.
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SOURCE Treato ||||| Members of the ALS community aim to reignite the ice-bucket challenge with an eye to making it an annual fundraising event, while acknowledging it will likely continue on a smaller scale.
Their rallying cry: Every August until a cure.
"A lot of people think it was a one-time shot," said Pat Quinn, who was diagnosed with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, in 2013 and helped catalyze the ice-bucket challenge last year. "But there are a lot of ridiculous things that caught on that are now worldwide movements every year."
As an example, he and others cited Movember — an annual campaign in which men grow mustaches during the month of November to raise money and draw attention to prostate cancer.
To stay true to the organic roots of the ice-bucket challenge, it will be set in motion next month by some of its originators. The ALS Association is to play a supporting role. The nonprofit has redesigned its ice-bucket challenge web page and prepared a series of emails for its donors, among other steps designed to spur on the challenge once again.
ALS Association officials said they have a fundraising goal but declined to make it public. They do not expect to match last year’s $115 million in donations. Still, in the wake of the inaugural ice-bucket challenge, 600,000 new donors requested ongoing communication from the nonprofit, and at the national level its monthly fundraising numbers have be running about $500,000 ahead of pre-ice-bucket challenge levels.
"This will be an interesting time," said Carrie Martin Munk, chief communications and marketing officer for the ALS Association. "We know some people give donations once a year. Some of these people could be once-a-year ice-bucket donors."
Internet Rocket Fuel
The ice-bucket challenge has its own chapter in the annals of nonprofit fundraising, and it goes like this: In July 2014, people activated a grass-roots social-media campaign to generate attention and donations for ALS, also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Mr. Quinn, 32, and 30-year-old Pete Frates, who also has ALS, were among the first to rope in family members, friends, colleagues, and neighbors.
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In the challenge, participants were prompted to douse themselves with buckets of ice water or donate to the ALS Association, one of a number of ALS-dedicated groups. Many chose to do both. The soakings were captured on video and then uploaded to Facebook and Instagram with challenges to three new participants.
The water may have been icy, but the videos proved to be Internet rocket fuel. By August, the ice-bucket challenge was tearing through social-media feeds, stoked by celebrities, professional athletes, business leaders, and politicians.
The ALS Association, which had welcomed a new CEO just months earlier, found itself the beneficiary of a viral nonprofit fundraising campaign with no precedent. Organization officials fielded a wave of media attention. They began releasing regular fundraising tallies, which further stoked excitement and participation, said Ms. Munk of the ALS Association.
Pre-ice-bucket challenge, the nonprofit had a $20 million operating budget. At the peak of the campaign, in August, it received $11.5 million in donations in 24 hours. By the time the water stopped flying, the public had donated $220 million worldwide to the cause, a little more than half to the ALS Association.
The ALS Association gained 2.5 million in new donors, and 600,000 requested to be added to the nonprofit’s standing donor list.
One-Time Magic?
The ice-bucket challenge, as it occurred in 2014, probably was a one-time phenomenon, many experts say. June Bradham, chairman of the fundraising consulting firm CorporateDevelopMint, said that part of the magic was that it was set in motion not by an organization but by caring individuals. The ALS Association does have a "great opportunity to build deeper relationships with those who participated and their contacts," she said.
Fundraising consultant Edith Falk said that the publicity generated by the ice-bucket challenge reminded her of a 1999 publicity stunt by the City of Chicago called Cows on Parade, in which 300 ornately decorated, life-size cows were installed around the city and then later auctioned off. It was a huge hit, and there were attempts to repeat it in Chicago and other cities in subsequent years. But it never generated anywhere near the interest and excitement of the first event, she said.
"Certainly the ALS Association might consider some variation of this — a different, fun, creative event that lends itself well to going viral, but even that is unlikely to generate the amazing level of attention and support that the ice-bucket challenge did," Ms. Falk said.
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While it is unlikely that the campaign will capture the same attention that it did in 2014, it could still represent a significant fundraising and public-education event, said fundraising consultant Roger Craver. The building process starts with setting reasonable expectations.
"If the founding folks don’t get too hyperbolic and promise a mirror-image repeat of last year, they may well make this the year when the ice-bucket challenge starts down the path of coming a tradition," he said.
Spending Detailed
On Wednesday, the ALS Association and the ALS Finding a Cure Foundation said they would spend $3 million on ALS-related clinical studies. It follows the $21.7 million in ice-bucket-related-spending announced by the ALS Association in October. The bulk of that sum, $18.5 million, is supporting four research projects.
The organization also increased spending on direct services, provided via a network of 43 treatment centers, to $25,000 per center for the next three years. Previously, the funding was $12,500 per center.
The balance of the initial outlay is earmarked for policy work in Washington.
It can cost as much as $2 billion to move a drug through research and development and into the market, said Lance Slaughter, chief chapter-relations and development officer at the ALS Association.
"What that means is we would need 10 to 20 ice-bucket challenges to actually deliver on the promise of what was launched last summer," Mr. Slaughter said.
And as impressive as the estimated 5 million participants were, there are many more to be stirred to action, he said.
"There are 295 million people in this country who didn’t take the ice-bucket challenge," Mr. Slaughter said. "We are going after those people. "
While the 2014 campaign was extraordinary, little has changed, say ALS Association officials. There is no treatment for ALS, much less a cure.
"It is such a difficult disease to break down and study," said Mr. Quinn. "Really, what happened last year was just a start." ||||| The ALS Association Rhode Island Chapter has utilized the funds generated by the Ice Bucket Challenge to expand and enhance its level of support for several important Care Service initiatives. For instance, the chapter has added additional staffing to increase the rate and frequency of clinics being offered at the chapter-sponsored “Louise Wilcox Multidisciplinary ALS Clinic.” This has increased the number of clinics from approximately one meeting every three to four weeks, to one every two or three weeks. This new schedule has helped eliminate the growing back log of repeat patients waiting for their next appointment, as well as the waiting list of new patients who want to participate in the clinic.
The chapter also allocated $500 in Respite Care Funds per family to provide additional in-home services to ALS families that have exhausted their annual Respite Fund allocation. The chapter increased its total annual Respite Fund allocation by 25 percent per ALS family, from $2000 to $2,500.
Additionally, the chapter expanded its Home Access Program that offers grants to help individuals pay for items like handicapped ramps and stair lifts. These reimbursement grants were increased by 50 percent, from $1,000 to $1,500 per household.
Finally, to help meet the requests of ALS patients and caregivers, the chapter purchased new items for its Equipment Loan Program. These new medical equipment purchases included a Hoyer Lift, several Recliner/Lift Chairs and five new Transport Wheelchairs. ||||| Treato helps patients and caregivers make more informed healthcare decisions by analyzing online conversations about medications and health conditions and sharing what others like you are experiencing and sharing online. While the information we gather isn't from trained medical professionals, we aim to empower patients to better understand what’s ailing them, get insights to make decisions and connect with others like them.
"My eczema was itching for hours, after reading this site, I put on Capazsin cream and finally it stopped itching. Burned a little which felt great at least it wasn't itching."
"I got a bit better but then called another dermatologist who thought I might have a staph infection . She told me to take a bleach bath and I was cured almost immediately."
"Let me offer my experience. Prior to starting radiation, my nurse suggested I get a PEG. My RO, said no, wait and see - the PEG could be added later. The key would be weight loss."
"It was hard to eat and keep it down after a few radiation treatments. I think the main thing that helped was gargling with salt and baking soda every hour. I drank a lot of warm liquids, herbal teas."
Treato does not review third-party posts for accuracy of any kind, including for medical diagnosis or treatments, or events in general. Treato does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Usage of the website does not substitute professional medical advice.
The side effects featured here are based on those most frequently appearing in user posts on the Internet. The manufacturer's product labeling should always be consulted for a list of side effects most frequently appearing in patients during clinical studies. Talk to your doctor about which medications may be most appropriate for you.
The information reflected here is dependent upon the correct functioning of our algorithm. From time-to-time, our system might experience bugs or glitches that affect the accuracy or correct application of mathematical algorithms. We will do our best to update the site if we are made aware of any malfunctioning or misapplication of these algorithms. We cannot guarantee results and occasional interruptions in updating may occur. Please continue to check the site for updated information. ||||| Bill Gates taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
The ALS Association, the organization behind last-year’s ubiquitous Ice Bucket Challenge, is plotting a re-launch of the marketing stunt in August.
The non-profit it trying to revive the viral video craze that had millions of people including celebrities, politicians and tech moguls dumping buckets of ice water on their heads in an effort to raise money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) last summer.
To help jump-start the effort, the ALS Association will be launching a small advertising campaign, which will include ads on social media sites, at the end of July. The organization says the ad space is being donated. The campaign also will unveil a new microsite, created pro bono by Omnicom Group’s TBWA, that will host some of the more popular videos and also allow people to more easily donate online.
Repeating last year’s success won’t be easy. The Ice Bucket Challenge wasn’t a carefully orchestrated marketing stunt but instead a grass roots effort that started when a golfer in Sarasota, Fla. created a video that showed him dumping a bucket of ice water on his head. Thanks to social media sites such as Facebook, the effort took off and helped ALS Association raise $115 million from July 29 to Sept. 15, a far cry from the $5 million it raised in the year-earlier period.
All told, 17 million videos were created, 159 countries participated, and 70 billion video views were counted, ALS said.
ALS knows recreating the viral nature of last year’s effort may be an uphill climb and the organization says it will tread lightly when it comes to marketing.
“We never want this to be something that is too corporate or too slick,” said Brian Frederick, chief of staff at the ALS Association.
The group wants to maintain the “integrity” of the original challenge but also “remind people that it’s happening again,” Mr. Frederick added. “There is a fine line between orchestrating it and having it be organic.”
Mr. Frederick and Pat Quinn, a New Yorker who has ALS and is one of the people that helped start the challenge, spent last week making the rounds at the Cannes Lions advertising festival visiting with media, technology and ad companies in an effort to drum up help for the relaunch of the challenge.
–ALS team receiving their Cannes Lion award.
In between meetings, the Ice Bucket Challenge raked up over 11 Cannes Lion awards including landing the Grand Prix for Good award, which recognizes exceptional campaigns for charities or public service messages.
“It’s been awesome,” said Mr. Quinn, during an interview last week.
CORRECTION: Social media services are donating ad space for the ALS campaign. An earlier version of this post said the organization was paying for ads.
|
– On July 15, 2014, Chris Kennedy posted a video to YouTube—one that's widely regarded to be the first ALS Ice Bucket Challenge video. From there, more than 17 million people followed suit, and 2.5 million people handed the ALS Association $115 million between July 29 and Sept. 15, per the Wall Street Journal, an amount the association says could be the biggest single giving event unrelated to a disaster or emergency. So how much has been used and what will happen to the rest? Some $47.1 million has thus far been spent or budgeted, but all of the money has been generally earmarked. All spending and grants to date can be viewed here, but it's a pretty scientific read. (For instance, $2.5 million is going to a University of Massachusetts researcher for the "Development of AAV-Mediated SOD1 Gene Silencing Therapy in ALS.") More: To frame things in layman's terms: The largest chunk—67%, or $77 million—will go to research geared toward identifying treatments or a cure. The muscle-wasting disease tends to kill patients within 5 years of diagnosis, and there's currently only one life-extending drug on the market, CNN reports. The second biggest amount, $23 million, will go to "patient and community services" to help those living with the disease. One example: the restocking and expansion of equipment loan closets with items like Hoyer lifts and transport wheelchairs. The remaining $15 million will go to education ($10 million), fundraising ($3 million), and processing fees "for credit card transactions and web overage charges due to increased volume of daily web visitors during the 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge." The "2014" in the previous sentence is somewhat noteworthy: The association would like there to be a 2015, 2016, and so on. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported earlier this month that the association intends to relaunch the challenge in August. As the publication puts it, "Their rallying cry: Every August until a cure." It references the mustache-growing/prostate cancer effort Movember, which happens each November, as a sort of model. How successful might it be? A survey of 500 people by Treato found that while only 14% of those who participated are "very likely" to give, a full 50% are "somewhat likely." More on the Ice Bucket Challenge, which didn't end so well for everyone, here.
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The Trayvon Martin verdict showed “questionable judgment” on the part of Florida’s judicial system, Colin Powell said in an interview airing Sunday.
The former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the white Florida man who shot and killed Martin, an unarmed black teenager, won’t be something with much lasting impact on the nation’s politics.
“I think that it will be seen as a questionable judgment on the part of the judicial system down there, but I don't know if it will have staying power,” Powell said on CBS's "Face the Nation." “These cases come along, and they blaze across the midnight sky and then after a period of time, they're forgotten.”
Powell said he would like to see President Barack Obama express more passion about race relations in America.
“I'd like to see him be more passionate about race questions, and I think that was an accurate characterization of some of the things that we were exposed to. I mean, in my lifetime, over a long career in public life, you know, I've been refused access to restaurants where I couldn't eat, even though I just came back from Vietnam, we can't give you a hamburger, come back some other time,” Powell said. “And I did, right after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, I went right back to that same place and got my hamburger, and they were more than happy to serve me now. It removed a cross from their back, but we're not there yet. We're not there yet. And so we've got to keep working on it. And for the president to speak out on it is appropriate. I think all leaders, black and white, should speak out on this issue."
Read more about: Colin Powell, Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman ||||| WASHINGTON -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell warned Republicans on Sunday that the strict voter identification laws they're pursuing around the country will damage the party's standing with growing blocs of voters.
"[H]ere's what I say to my Republican friends: The country is becoming more diverse," Powell told Bob Schieffer on CBS' "Face the Nation." "You say you want to reach out, you say you want to have a new message. You say you want to see if you can bring some of these voters to the Republican side. This is not the way to do it."
"The way to do it is to make it easier for them to vote and then give them something to vote for that they can believe in," Powell added.
In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling that struck down a key portion of the Voting Rights Act, Republicans in states like North Carolina, Florida and Texas have sought voter restrictions that critics, including Powell, say will disproportionately hurt minorities at the polls. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed legislation earlier this month that requires voter identification, rolls back early voting hours and ends a state-supported voter registration drive. Powell condemned that particular law at an event in Raleigh last week.
Powell pointed out that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud, the very premise of the identification statutes.
"You need a photo ID. Well, you didn't need a photo ID for decades before," Powell said. "Is it really necessary now? And they claim that there's widespread abuse and voter fraud, but nothing documents, nothing substantiates that. There isn't widespread abuse."
Powell predicted that such measures will blow up in Republicans' faces.
"These kind of procedures that are being put in place to slow the process down and make it likely that fewer Hispanics and African Americans might vote, I think, are going to backfire, because these people are going to come out and do what they have to do in order to vote, and I encourage that," he said.
During the interview, Powell also reflected on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, recalling times when he couldn't eat in certain places due to the color of his skin, even though he'd just served his country.
"In my lifetime, over a long career in public life, you know, I've been refused access to restaurants where I couldn't eat, even though I just came back from Vietnam: 'We can't give you a hamburger, come back some other time,'" Powell recalled. "And I did, right after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, I went right back to that same place and got my hamburger, and they were more than happy to serve me now. It removed a cross from their back, but we're not there yet. We're not there yet. And so we've got to keep working on it."
Related on HuffPost:
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– Colin Powell today called out the Trayvon Martin verdict, calling it "questionable judgment on the part of the judicial system down there," but predicting that the case would fade quickly from national memory. "I don't know if it will have staying power,” Powell said on Face the Nation, as per Politico. “These cases come along, and they blaze across the midnight sky and then after a period of time, they're forgotten.” He also applauded President Obama's comments on the verdict, saying, "I'd like to see him be more passionate about race questions, and I think that was an accurate characterization of some of the things that we were exposed to." Powell said he himself had been "refused access to restaurants, even though I had just come back from Vietnam," and told "we can't give you a hamburger." Powell also had a little advice for fellow Republicans pushing voter ID laws, adds the Huffington Post: "Here's what I say to my Republican friends: The country is becoming more diverse. You say you want to reach out. You say you want to see if you can bring some of these voters to the Republican side. This is not the way to do it. The way to do it is to make it easier for them to vote and then give them something to vote for that they can believe in."
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North Korea accused South Korea of using civilians as human shields around artillery positions on an island attacked by the North, seeking to justify a bombardment that killed four South Koreans and sent tensions soaring.
North Korean female soldiers and people clear the snow on a road near the river bank of the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. China, under... (Associated Press)
A North Korean soldier stands guard outside a post located along the river bank of the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. China, under... (Associated Press)
A North Korean soldier stands watch along the river bank of the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. China, under pressure from the U.S.... (Associated Press)
South Korean marines repair the electronic lines near their military base on the Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. Tensions have soared between the Koreas since the North's strike... (Associated Press)
South Korean marine stands guard with a mourning pin for two marines killed in Tuesday's North Korean artillery attack near his military base on the Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 27,... (Associated Press)
South Korean marines stand guard near the their military base on the Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. Tensions have soared between the Koreas since the North's strike Tuesday destroyed... (Associated Press)
South Korean marines stand guard near their military base on the Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. Tensions have soared between the Koreas since the North's strike Tuesday destroyed... (Associated Press)
South Korean marines carry two flag-draped caskets containing the remains of marines killed in Tuesday's North Korean bombardment during a funeral service at a military hospital in Seongnam, South Korea,... (Associated Press)
Burned bottles of alcohol sit on a shelf of a destroyed restaurant on South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. Tensions have soared between the Koreas since the North's strike Tuesday... (Associated Press)
A South Korean Marine arrives at a grocery store on South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island to pick up supplies Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. Tensions have soared between the Koreas since the North's strike Tuesday... (Associated Press)
South Korean marines carry coffins during a funeral service for two marines killed in Tuesday's North Korean bombardment, at a military hospital in Seongnam, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. (AP... (Associated Press)
North Korean soldier stand watch outside a post located along the river bank of the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. China, under pressure... (Associated Press)
A North Korean soldier stands guard outside a post located along the river bank of the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. China, under... (Associated Press)
Marine veterans salute in front of the portraits of South Korean marines killed in Tuesday's North Korean bombardment, during a funeral service at a military hospital in Seongnam, South Korea, Saturday,... (Associated Press)
Family members of Seo Jeong-woo, a South Korean marine killed in Tuesday's North Korean bombardment, cry during a funeral service at a military hospital in Seongnam, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010.... (Associated Press)
South Korean marines repair the electronic lines near their military base on the Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. Tensions have soared between the Koreas since the North's strike... (Associated Press)
Police tape is stretched across the ruins of a neighborhood on South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. Tensions have soared between the Koreas since the North's strike Tuesday destroyed... (Associated Press)
A South Korean Marine picks up supplies at a grocery store on South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. Tensions have soared between the Koreas since the North's strike Tuesday destroyed... (Associated Press)
South Korean marines carry a flag draped casket containing the remains of a marine killed in Tuesday's North Korean bombardment during a funeral service at a military hospital in Seongnam, South Korea,... (Associated Press)
A burnt-out area of a mountain is seen near the military base on the Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. Tensions have soared between the Koreas since the North's strike Tuesday destroyed... (Associated Press)
South Korean marines prepare to repair their military base on the Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. Tensions have soared between the Koreas since the North's strike Tuesday destroyed... (Associated Press)
A South Korean man walks by carrying a bag of food supplies in a destroyed neighborhood on South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. Tensions have soared between the Koreas since the North's... (Associated Press)
South Korean marines carry two flag-draped caskets containing the remains of marines killed in Tuesday's North Korean bombardment during a funeral service at a military hospital in Seongnam, South Korea,... (Associated Press)
South Korean marines carry a flag-draped casket containing the remains of a marine killed in Tuesday's North Korean bombardment during a funeral service at a military hospital in Seongnam, South Korea,... (Associated Press)
A North Korean man stands on a boat parked along the river bank of the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. China, under pressure from the... (Associated Press)
The comments Saturday came on the eve of U.S.-South Korean war games in the Yellow Sea that have enraged the North and worried neighboring China, and after the South Korean marine commander vowed revenge at a funeral for two marines killed in the barrage.
Tuesday's attack on Yeonpyeong Island, which houses military bases and tiny fishing communities, also killed two civilians in one of the worst artillery attacks on South Korean territory since the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea's state news agency said that although "it is very regrettable, if it is true, that civilian casualties occurred on Yeonpyeong island, its responsibility lies in enemies' inhumane action of creating a 'human shield' by deploying civilians around artillery positions."
The North said its enemies are "now working hard to dramatize 'civilian casualties' as part of its propaganda campaign, creating the impression that the defenseless civilians were exposed to 'indiscriminate shelling' all of a sudden from the" North.
South Korea was conducting artillery drills Tuesday from the island, located just 7 miles (11 kilometers) from North Korea's mainland, but fired away from the mainland.
The North said it warned South Korea to halt the drills on the morning of the attack, as part of "superhuman efforts to prevent the clash to the last moment."
The North said that Sunday's planned U.S.-South Korean war games showed that the United States was "the arch criminal who deliberately planned the incident and wire-pulled it behind the scene."
The South Korean commander, Maj. Gen. You Nak-jun, said the South's retaliation would be a "thousand-fold" as dignitaries and relatives laid white flowers at an altar during Saturday's funeral.
As protesters in Seoul demanded their government take sterner action against North Korea, the North issued new warnings against the war games scheduled to start Sunday with a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the Yellow Sea.
The North called the games an "unpardonable provocation" and warning of retaliatory attacks creating a "sea of fire" if its own territory is violated. The comments ran on North Korea's state-run Uriminzokkiri website a day after the North's warnings that the peninsula was on the "brink of war."
China, under pressure from the U.S. and South Korea to rein in its ally Pyongyang, urged both sides to show restraint while Washington played down the belligerent rhetoric, noting that the weekend war games were routine and planned well before last week's attack.
"The pressing task now is to put the situation under control and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton by phone, according to the ministry's website.
The North's artillery fire Tuesday destroyed civilian homes as well as military bases on Yeonpyeong Island in a major escalation of their sporadic skirmishes along the disputed sea border. The attack _ eight months after a torpedo sank a South Korean warship, killing 46 sailors _ laid bare Seoul's weaknesses in defense 60 years after the Korean War.
North Korea does not recognize the maritime border drawn by the U.N. at the close of the three-year war in 1953, and considers the waters around Yeonpyeong Island, just 7 miles (11 kilometers) from its shores, as its territory.
The heightened animosity between the Koreas comes as the nuclear-armed North undergoes a delicate transition of power from leader Kim Jong Il to his young, inexperienced son Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s and is expected to eventually succeed his ailing father.
Tuesday's attack came days after North Korea revealed a new uranium enrichment program that could improve its ability to make and deliver nuclear weapons, sending the message that new regime is as tough and volatile as ever and highlighting the urgency of restarting disarmament talks with the North.
South Korea's government, meanwhile, struggled to recoup from the attacks, replacing is defense minister Friday.
About former 70 special forces troops, wearing white head bands, scuffled with riot police in front of the Defense Ministry to protest what they called the government's weak response to the attacks, pummeling the riot troops' helmets with wooden stakes and spraying fire extinguishers.
Several hundred police pushed back with shields.
Elsewhere in Seoul activists held a peaceful, but noisy, rally to denounce North Korea.
China's foreign minister met with the North Korean ambassador to Beijing, Chinese state media said _ an apparent effort to trumpet China's role as a responsible actor, and placate the U.S. and the South. China has expressed mild concern about the impending war games, in contrast to its strong protests over earlier rounds.
"The Chinese government is trying to send Pyongyang a signal that if they continue to be so provocative, China will just leave the North Koreans to themselves," said Zhu Feng, director of Peking University's Center for International and Strategic Studies.
China is impoverished North Korea's biggest benefactor and one of its only allies.
In Washington, the Pentagon played down any notion that the weekend maneuvers with South Korea _ set to include the USS George Washington supercarrier _ were a provocation.
"We have exercised there regularly," Capt. Darryn James, a Defense Department spokesman in Washington, said Friday. "And all of these exercises are in international waters."
President Lee Myung-bak ahas ordered reinforcements for the 4,000 troops on Yeonpyeong and four other Yellow Sea islands, as well as top-level weaponry and upgraded rules of engagement.
Most of the islanders fled to the mainland after Tuesday's hail of artillery set off fierce blazes that destroyed many of their communities. It will take six months to two years for island communities to rebuild, disaster relief official Kim Sang-ryul said.
Soldiers assembled toilets Saturday for temporary shelters being built on the island by teams of relief workers.
In Seongnam, near Seoul, South Korea's prime minister and marine commander joined some 600 mourners attending the funeral for the two dead marines at a packed gymnasium at a military hospital.
As a brass band played somber music, they placed chrysanthemums _ a traditional mourning flower _ before framed photographs of the two men. One marine's mother fell forward in her seat in grief.
"Our marine corps ... will carry out a hundred- or thousand-fold" retaliation against North Korea for Tuesday's attack, said You, the marine commander. He did not elaborate.
Passers-by paused at Seoul's main train station to watch funeral footage on a big screen.
"Once the enemy attacks us, it is our duty to respond even more strongly," said student Jeon Hyun-soo, 19. "The South Korean people want this."
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Kim Kwang-tae reported from Seoul. AP writers Foster Klug and Ian Mader in Seoul, Christopher Bodeen in Beijing and Pauline Jelinek in Washington contributed to this report. ||||| DANDONG, China—Beijing on Friday lodged its first official protest of a joint U.S.-South Korean military exercise planned for Sunday, even as the aircraft carrier USS George Washington steamed toward the region.
North Korea also responded angrily. "The situation on the Korean peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war," the state controlled Korean Central News Agency responded Friday to the maneuvers, which are set to take place in the Yellow Sea between the Koreas and northeastern China.
Protesters chant anti-North Korea slogans and scuffle with police in Seoul as U.S. and South Korean war game begins. Video courtesy of Reuters.
The strong talk was the latest fallout from North Korea's hour-long artillery attack of a South Korean island on Tuesday that killed four people. The next day, the U.S. and South Korea said planned joint exercises would go ahead over the weekend, heightening fears in some quarters that already-tense relations between North and South Korea—and their respective international protectors, China and the U.S.—could be heading for a showdown.
Yet China's outwardly defiant response belies a more delicate political reality: Beijing's continued support of North Korea's erratic, martial regime is beginning to extract real costs. China's statement Friday included a face-saving formulation that appeared to open the door for a scenario China has long sought to avert—a U.S. aircraft carrier, a potent symbol of U.S. military might, plying the edge of Chinese waters.
China's Foreign Ministry suggested it wouldn't escalate its protests against the naval exercises as long as they took place outside China's "exclusive economic zone," a term of international maritime law for an area where countries enjoy mineral and fishing rights, generally 200 nautical miles from a country's coast.
View Full Image Associated Press The U.S. military aircraft carrier USS George Washington sets sail from Yokosuka naval base.
"We hold a consistent and clear-cut stance on the issue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei was quoted as saying in a ministry statement. "We oppose any party to take any military actions in our exclusive economic zone without permission."
The U.S. doesn't announce precise locations for such maneuvers for security reasons. But there are parts of the Yellow Sea, including those near South Korea, that fall outside China's exclusive economic zone, giving the U.S. areas where it can conduct drills without incurring China's wrath.
China's stance appeared firmer in July, when officials said they opposed any military exercises in the entire Yellow Sea. Beijing protested so vociferously that the U.S. and South Korea shifted planned maneuvers to the Sea of Japan, east of South Korea.
A History of Korean Tensions A detailed timeline of the recent skirmishes between North and South Korea. View Interactive Photos From the Scene View Slideshow Associated Press A train-station TV screen in Seoul shows smoke pouring from Yeonpyeong island Tuesday.
China has long frustrated U.S. efforts to bring its nuclear-armed neighbor to heel, fearing any radical change could sow chaos in the region and potentially lead to a unified Korea with a U.S. military presence directly on its border. Beijing refused this week to blame North Korea for Tuesday's attack. Privately, its officials maintain, the weekend's exercises could be a grave mistake that risk further provoking the North.
But current and former U.S. officials who have worked on North Korea said Friday that they saw China in a growing quandary in how to square its support for Pyongyang with the regime's continued provocations.
Beijing has sought in recent months to deepen its economic and strategic relationship with North Korea, despite U.S. objections, arguing it would help contain leader Kim Jong Il's nuclear work and military provocations. As Pyongyang has continued to challenge the international community, however, China has been placed in an increasingly weakened position to protest U.S. military action.
"China is having a much harder time in defending its policy, but they only have themselves to blame," said Michael Green, who oversaw Asia policy for the White House during George W. Bush's first term. "You talk to any Chinese official, and they're furious with the North Koreans."
Beijing is also facing renewed criticism from Chinese foreign-policy experts, journalists and Internet activists who question whether unqualified support for North Korea is still in China's interests.
China's apparently softened stance on Yellow Sea exercises appears to demonstrate a concern that the North Korean crisis will overshadow a planned trip to Washington in January by President Hu Jintao. It may also reflect an acknowledgment that China would be unlikely to prevent the U.S. and South Korea from staging their drills following the week's attack, requiring a compromise to avoid appearing weak before an increasingly nationalist and demanding Chinese public.
U.S. military officials insisted Friday that the exercise scheduled for this weekend shouldn't be interpreted as anything but an attempt to deter North Korea from further attacks on the South.
"This exercise is not directed at China," said Capt. Darryn James, a Pentagon spokesman. "The purpose is to strengthen the deterrence against North Korea."
U.S. officials on Friday said the Obama administration continues to focus its diplomacy in Northeast Asia on gaining China's cooperation to exert more pressure on North Korea.
China also made an attempt Friday to mediate among all sides in the crisis, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking by telephone with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, briefed on the phone conversation, said "the secretary encouraged Beijing to send a clear message that North Korea's behavior is unacceptable."
Mr. Yang, who also talked with officials from North and South Korea, said he was "worried" by this week's developments, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry. He urged the two Koreas to stay calm and resolve their differences through negotiations, saying it was important to "control the situation" and avoid further incidents, according to the ministry statement.
President Barack Obama is expected to speak with Hu Jintao on the North Korea crisis in the coming days, according to U.S. officials.
The White House declined to comment on China's response so far to the North Korea attack, noting that U.S. consultations with Beijing are ongoing. "The president's conversation with Hu Jintao will be extremely important," said a senior U.S. official.
The U.S. has been planning a naval exercise in the Yellow Sea since July, when an expanded list of training events was announced in response to the March sinking of the South Korean patrol ship Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors and was widely blamed on the North.
The July exercises also came after China had objected strongly to a speech by Mrs. Clinton in which she said that the U.S. had a national interest in protecting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. Ever since, China and the U.S. have been engaged in a tussle for influence in the region, where many Southeast Asian nations that have territorial disputes with China are looking to beef up defense relations with the U.S.
Since July, military officials have acknowledged that they understand China's concerns with the exercises but have defended their intention to operate in the Yellow Sea. "These exercises will take place in international waters," Pentagon spokesman Capt. James said. "We routinely operate in international waters, east and west of the Republic of Korea."
"We have been completely transparent with China about our intent to conduct these exercise and their purpose," added a U.S. military official.
China has challenged U.S. vessels operating in what it considers its economic zone. In March 2009, Chinese vessels harassed the USNS Impeccable, a U.S. vessel staffed with civilians from the military Sealift Command. The Impeccable was in international waters but within China's exclusive economic zone.
The U.S. last conducted exercises in the Yellow Sea in October 2009. Those drills also involved the USS George Washington.
One high-level South Korean official said the maneuvers would be off South Korea's southwest coast, far from the disputed maritime border with North Korea.
Write to Jay Solomon at [email protected]
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– As tomorrow’s US-South Korea military exercises loom, China lodged its first official protest yesterday—but left the door open for the exercises to continue. Beijing is balancing its support of North Korea with its fears, expressed only privately, that the country is going too far, the Wall Street Journal reports. Thus, China’s statement suggests that it will only take further action if the exercises infringe on China’s “exclusive economic zone.” Other parts of the Yellow Sea fall outside the zone and near South Korea. China’s stance has softened since July, when officials opposed military exercises anywhere in the Yellow Sea. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton added her voice to the throng asking China to intervene with North Korea and send a message that its “behavior is unacceptable,” says a spokesperson. Meanwhile, North Korea blamed South Korea for the civilian deaths that occurred in Tuesday’s attacks. The state news agency accused South Korea of “creating a 'human shield' by deploying civilians around artillery positions,” the AP reports.
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A view of the Rio Platano biosphere reserve in Honduras, where explorers over the past century have claimed several times to have spotted the White City (AFP Photo/Orlando Sierra)
Tegucigalpa (AFP) - Honduras said Thursday it was starting a major archeological dig for a mysterious, ancient "White City" supposedly hidden in jungle in its northeast that explorers and legends have spoken of for centuries.
"Today a group of archeologists and scientists is traveling to the White City to start excavations in coming days," President Juan Orlando Hernandez said in a speech to private universities.
The hope is that they will uncover incontrovertible proof of the existence of the fabled site, which has also been called "the City of the Monkey God" and, in Spanish, "la Ciudad Blanca."
According to 16th-century Spanish conquistadors and to legend, the settlement, dating back thousands of years, is meant to be filled with fabulous riches.
Explorers over the past century have claimed several times to have spotted the White City in the thick jungle inside the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve on Honduras' Caribbean coast. Archeologists in recent decades found what looked like ancient mounds.
Then in 2012 an American documentary team using mapping technology in a small plane discovered what appeared to be the overgrown remains of an ancient civilization. National Geographic magazine reported last October that some carved stone artefacts had been found at the site.
The new expedition by Honduras intends to confirm the find by digging down to discover what lies under the soil. ||||| March 6, 2015
To Whom It May Concern:
We write to express serious concerns over the recent articles proclaiming the discovery of a lost city or lost civilization in Honduras. We find that these articles: 1) make exaggerated claims of ‘discovery,’ 2) ignore extensive previous research in the region, 3) fail to acknowledge local residents’ familiarity with the region, 4) sensationalize the practice of archaeology, and 5) employ an offensive and dated discourse that is at odds with anthropology’s substantial efforts at inclusion and multivocality. In addition to appearing uninformed and focused on self-aggrandizement, these articles implicitly violate a basic tenet of science, attributed to archaeologist David Hurst Thomas: ‘It’s not what you find; it’s what you find out.”
1) Exaggerated Claims of ‘Discovery’
As in previous articles and press releases, members of the expedition incorrectly claim that this team of filmmakers, former soldiers, and archaeologists have ‘discovered’ a ‘lost civilization’ in the Mosquitia region of eastern Honduras. In reality, as members of the expedition well knew, this region has been the object of archaeological research for most of the last century and especially in the last two decades. Intensive previous research has been conducted by archaeologists, geographers, and other scientists. Far from being unknown, the area has been the focus of many scholarly and popular works, including two Master’s theses, one doctoral dissertation, two popular books, two documentary films, numerous articles and presentations, and a series of booklets recently published by a Honduran newspaper. Furthermore, mentions of a “vanished civilization” are especially offensive given the likelihood that the people responsible for the ancient remains were the ancestors of living indigenous people who have not “vanished” despite genocide, disease, and ongoing injustices.
2) Failure to Acknowledge Previous Research
Archaeologists with expertise in this region contacted team members after earlier press releases and articles in 2012 and 2013, so ignorance of prior research cannot be claimed. Statements in these article suggest a lack of familiarity with previous scholarship. However, easily accessed online resources, such as the Mosquitia website (http://mosquitia.com) and a detailed Wikipedia article on La Ciudad Blanca, makes this indefensible.
3) Failure to Acknowledge Local Knowledge
These articles blatantly disregard significant local knowledge of the archaeological resources in this region. Local indigenous groups and long-time residents of the area have made essential contributions to the location, documentation, and interpretation of archaeological sites. These have been acknowledged in previous published works by archaeologists such as Begley, Hasemann, Lara Pinto, Dixon, and Gomez Zuniga, making them especially conspicuous by their absence in this reporting.
4) Sensationalizing the Archaeology of the Region
By focusing on the White City legend, citing the “Lost City of the Monkey God” (a name invented in 1940 for a tabloid news story), and by presenting the area as ‘one of the last scientifically unexplored places on earth,’ these articles exploit hyperbolic, sensational, and unscientific rhetoric. Explanation of research questions and other essential aspects of a scientific approach are largely ignored.
5) Problematic Discourse and the Trope of Discovery
These articles set up the expedition members as ‘discoverers,’ a common trope in 19th and early 20th century adventure travel writing in which external superiority is emphasized at the expense of local knowledge. The positioning of the expedition members as latter-day explorers who ‘discover’ sites in the jungle, in areas where ‘the animals appear never to have seen humans before’ shows ignorance and disrespect for indigenous Pech, Tawahka, and Miskito peoples and other Hondurans who have lived there all their lives. Archaeologists know that even the most remote areas are routinely visited by hunters and fishers. Claiming to be the first person to discover a large archaeological site, much less a “lost city” or “lost civilization” is not only improbable, but evokes a problematic past when local and indigenous contributions to knowledge were ignored and in which things already known to residents of the region were claimed to have been ‘discovered’ by foreign explorers.
We urge you to make an effort to correct the inaccuracies and damaging rhetoric in these articles and to give more sophisticated consideration to the publication of this and future articles that sensationalize archaeology, make false claims of discovery, show a general ignorance of the region and previous research, and exploit rhetorical elements that represent antiquated and offensive, ethnocentric attitudes. ||||| For a century, explorers and prospectors in Honduras told tales of the white ramparts of a lost city glimpsed above jungle foliage. Indigenous stories speak of a “white house” where Indians took refuge from Spanish conquistadores.
While the notion of a fabulous White City or a “Lost City of the Monkey God” buried in the jungle remains the stuff of legend, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez paid a visit Tuesday to a real and recently discovered lost city—complete with earthen pyramids, plazas, and a cache of stone artifacts—to participate in the excavation of the first artifact from the cache.
Archaeologists announced the discovery of the ancient community in the remote Mosquitia region in eastern Honduras last March. The stone objects, including an effigy of a “were-jaguar,” were left untouched under military protection until a second expedition could be mounted to return to conduct a carefully managed excavation. The archaeological team, led by Christopher Fisher of Colorado State University and supported by the Honduran government and a grant from the National Geographic Society, will spend a month recovering the artifacts.
“We’re hoping to find out what culture was here,” says Virgilio Paredes, Director of the Honduran Institute for Anthropology and History, who is accompanying President Hernandez to the site. ||||| Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The location of the White City lies in the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve, a vast region of jungle, mountains, swamps and rivers
The President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, says scientists plan to explore a jungle site where they believe a mysterious ancient city is hidden.
Spanish colonisers searched for it believing "the City of the Monkey God" or "the White City" was filled with fabulous riches.
Over the centuries there have been reports of more sightings.
Then in the last three years ruins and carved stones were found.
In 2012 an American documentary team using mapping technology flew over the site inside the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve on Honduras's Caribbean coast and discovered what appeared to be the overgrown remains of an ancient civilisation.
National Geographic magazine reported last October that some carved stone artefacts had been found at the site deep in the reserve - a vast region of forests, swamps and rivers.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption President Juan Orlando Hernandez says the White City is an opportunity for the country to built its tourism industry
President Hernandez said the expedition would begin to dig in the next few days to try to discover what lay under the soil at the site.
He said that the coverage of the site in international magazines and in the documentary had given Honduras useful international publicity at a time when the country was seeking to bring in more tourists.
"The rest of the world is talking about us and the White City in tourism terms and we want to put that in the context of the new infrastructure we are building - highways, airports, ports. We need to be ready to take advantage of this great opportunity."
Archaeologists from Honduras and the United States had made a first examination of the site of the White City and had found artefacts, earth works, mounds and an earth pyramid made by an ancient civilization.
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– For centuries locals, travelers, and Spanish conquistadors alike have spoken of the legend of the "Lost City of the Monkey God," or "White City," in a remote section of the Mosquitia jungle of Honduras. Now President Juan Orlando Hernandez is announcing a joint partnership with Colorado State University archaeologists and the National Geographic Society to excavate a large swath of jungle where stones and ruins have been recently unearthed in search of the root of the legend, reports the BBC. "The rest of the world is talking about us and the White City in tourism terms," says Hernandez, adding that "we need to be ready to take advantage of this great opportunity." The recent discoveries began in 2012, when an American documentary crew flew over the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve on the Caribbean coast with a plane-mounted lidar scanner and caught glimpses of not just one but three lost cities and what scientists surmise could be remnants of an entire civilization. Then last March archaeologists discovered several stone objects, including an effigy of a "were-jaguar," National Geographic reports. Over the next month, "we're hoping to find out what culture was here," says the director of the Honduran Institute for Anthropology and History. They'll expand the search from there, but they expect that the civilization dates back thousands of years, reports AFP. (After the March news was announced, several scholars penned an open letter calling the claim exaggerated.)
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President Barack Obama finally broke his silence on an issue of national importance Friday – he thinks it’s time to retire the penny.
The possible extinction of the one-cent coin was a featured economic question in a Google+ Hangout with the Commander in Chief last week as John Green, the co-creator of a popular YouTube channel, applied a little presidential peer pressure.
“Australia, Canada, New Zealand, many other countries have gotten rid of their pennies,” Green said. “Why haven’t we done it?”
“I gotta tell you, John, I don’t know,” Obama responded, adding, “Anytime we’re spending money on something people don’t actually use, that’s an example of things we should probably change.”
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But why should anyone care? They’re pennies. Aren’t there more valuable things to worry about?
First, pennies actually cost more to make than they’re worth. In 2012, every penny cost 2.41 cents to make – more than twice their face value.
And as zinc and copper – materials used in minting the penny – have become costlier due, in part, to manufacturing shifts in China, which are likely to raise costs further.
Granted, the total cost of minting pennies was only $58 million last year – less than one-tenth of a percent of total federal spending in 2012 – but groups like Citizens to Retire the U.S. Penny have long been making the economic case for getting rid of the penny (plus, the group adds, fishing for pennies adds about 2 seconds to each cash transaction per day).
And the U.S. military has already decided they’re essentially useless; all Army and Air Force Exchange Service stores on bases round all cash purchases up or down to the nearest nickel.
With both parties looking for ways to cut government spending, it seems as though cutting penny production could be a relatively painless, if insignificant, place to start. But in the Google+ Hangout, Obama ceded that Washington has bigger fiscal fish to fry.
“The penny is an example of something that I need legislation for,” he said. “And, frankly, given all of the big issues that we have to deal with day-in/day-out, a lot of times it just doesn't -- you know, we're not able to get to it.”
There have actually been efforts to pass penny-banning legislation. Back in 2001, then-Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) introduced the “Legal Tender Modernization Act,” which would have made pennies obsolete by requiring retailers to round up or down to the nearest nickel on cash purchases.
That bill failed, and Kolbe’s second attempt in 2006, the “Currency Overhaul for an Industrious Nation (COIN) Act,” after zinc costs nearly doubled, met a similar fate.
But the president doesn’t need Congress to explore other, cheaper alternatives to zinc – the main metal in pennies. In fact, the administration’s 2013 budget encourages the Treasury to “explore, analyze, and approve new, less-expensive metals for all circulating coins like aluminum, iron and lead.”
It wouldn’t be the first time Abe Lincoln’s coin got a makeover. Back in 1982, the penny changed from 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc to 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper.
(And lest so-called “penny hoarders” try to melt that valuable pre-1982 copper down, the Mint in 2006 prohibited the melting of pennies and nickels. It also made it a crime to carry more than $5 in one and five-cent coins out of the country).
Changes to the composition of pennies do have Congressional champions: Ohio Rep. Steve Stivers (R) introduced the “Cents and Sensibility Act” in December 2011, which would mandate that pennies were out of American steel (much of which comes from the Buckeye State) and dipped in copper.
But these efforts will be met with some serious resistance from the zinc lobby (yes, there is one). The company Jarden Zinc, which creates “metal and zinc coinage,” according to its website, paid lobbyist Mark Weller $340,000 in 2012 to discuss issues related to “minting/money/gold standard” with members of Congress and the Mint, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Weller also represents the pro-penny group Americans for Common Cents, whose website warns of the risk of inflation that eliminating the penny would bring, and whose headquarters are on K Street, known for its many D.C. lobbyist offices.
“Americans for Common Cents aims to inform and educate policymakers, consumers, and the media about the penny’s economic, cultural, and historical significance,” the group’s website reads.
The political power of the penny is likely another reason Obama hasn’t acted on getting rid of it. As far back as 2008, when he was still a candidate, the “penny lobby” appeared to mystify Obama.
Asked about it at a town hall in Pennsylvania, he said, “We have been trying to eliminate the penny for quite some time -- it always comes back,” joking, “I need to find out who is lobbying to keep the penny.”
This story was originally published on ||||| Image caption Uzbekistan's one-tiyin coin, a 100th of a som
This month the Canadian mint stopped distributing the penny, or one-cent piece, as it costs more to make than it is worth. It's far from being the lowest-value coin around, however. Some central banks are clinging on to coins that are truly "small change".
There are many precedents for scrapping small coins. The US abolished the half-cent in 1857 and the UK's halfpenny was withdrawn in 1984. New Zealand and Australia abandoned the one-cent and two-cent coin in the 1990s.
Now some campaigners in the US and UK want the penny to be scrapped, because nothing can be bought with a one-cent or one-penny coin.
"The point of currency is to facilitate cash transactions. It used to be that a penny could serve that purpose because it was worth something but that's no longer the case" says Jeff Gore, president of Citizens to Retire the US Penny.
In Tanzania it's unlikely to find the five-cent coin in circulation because it literally cannot buy anything Emanuel Boaz, Tanzanian Central Bank
Handling them wastes time at tills, he argues - between two and two-and-a-half seconds per cash transaction, according to one study.
Imagine, then, the possible delays if someone in Tanzania insisted in paying for shopping with a pocket-full - or more likely a bag-full - of five-cent coins. One UK penny is equal to 494 of these, while a US cent is equal to 325.
But there are coins, still legal tender, that have even lower value.
Take the Burmese Pya - the UK penny is worth 1,300 of them (the US cent is worth 850).
The lowest-value coin of all is the Tiyin from Uzbekistan. Some 3,038 equate to one UK penny (and 2,000 tot up to one US cent).
In practice, however, while these coins are legal tender, you would struggle to find them in everyday life.
"In Tanzania it's unlikely to find the five-cent coin in circulation because it literally cannot buy anything. The smallest you would probably find in the streets is 20 cents and you can buy a bunch of spinach in the local market for this," says Emanuel Boaz from the Tanzanian Central Bank.
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Most five-cent coins in Tanzania languish in the vaults of the central bank or have been lost forever in the nooks and crannies of people's homes.
In Uzbekistan, the Uzbek Tiyin is also a rare sight. These days, you are more likely to get a box of matches or a sweet, as change.
Inflation has consigned even the largest-denomination Tiyin coins to history, though they remain legal tender.
Image caption Coin throwing for luck in Armenia: A 10 Luma coin is worth a 40th of a US cent
While some countries are happy to get rid of their smallest coins, others are less ready to part with them.
"A lot of people find that they are used to coins - they want that part of their heritage to remain," says Philip Mussell, director of Coin News Magazine.
There is also the fear that scrapping small coins would lead to price inflation and that charities would lose vital funding.
The World Wildlife Fund in the US for example, has received over $490,000 in coin donations made through Coin Star since 2003, proving just how much money can be made by collecting small change.
Officially recalling coins can also be a laborious and lengthy process which some countries are reluctant to undertake, preferring to wait for coins to naturally fall out of circulation.
Emmanuel Boaz from the Tanzanian Central Bank says they have been thinking about withdrawing their five-cent coin.
"The metal that was used was bronze and bronze will probably fetch something in today's market," he says. "We could probably think of selling it."
Tiyin pictures courtesy of Yuriy Dema and Horizonfr.com
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– The Canadian mint has started its effort to wipe the penny from existence, and plenty of people in the US (including President Obama) would like to do the same. But the BBC reminds us that the one-cent piece isn't the smallest to change hands in US history—the half-cent was done away with in 1857—and it's far from the least valuable coin currently in circulation. That honor goes to Uzbekistan's Tiyin, which is worth 1/1999th of a penny. But the Tiyin lacks purchasing power, so it's rarely seen or used these days, explains the BBC. And while it sits atop the heap of chump change, it's not alone: Burma's Pya is worth 1/855th of a US penny, while Jamaica's cent equals 1/92nd of a penny. But there is a flip side: Norway's Krone is the equivalent of 18.2 US pennies.
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This March 10, 2018 photo shows an early morning view of the main span of the a pedestrian bridge that is being positioned to connect the City of Sweetwater, Fla., to Florida International University... (Associated Press)
This March 10, 2018 photo shows an early morning view of the main span of the a pedestrian bridge that is being positioned to connect the City of Sweetwater, Fla., to Florida International University near Miami. The 950- ton new bridge collapsed Thursday, March 15, over several cars causing several... (Associated Press)
MIAMI (AP) — As Florida authorities work to identify the people who died in Thursday's catastrophic bridge collapse, state and federal investigators will begin the task of figuring out how and why the five-day-old span failed.
Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Dave Downey said Thursday night that his crew is using high-tech listening devices, trained sniffing dogs and search cameras in a race to find anyone still alive in the rubble. The $14.2 million pedestrian bridge was supposed to open in 2019 as a safe way for students to cross the busy road. It linked the community of Sweetwater with the campus of Florida International University.
"We have to remove some of this piece by piece. It's very unstable." Aerial footage at the site showed a trained dog running atop fallen concrete and sniffing in the crevices for any victims," he said.
But Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez acknowledged the likelihood of finding more victims under the rubble is slim.
"We know that there's going to be a negative outcome at the end of the day," Perez said.
Four people were found dead and at least nine others were injured and taken to local hospitals; officials at one point said 10 were injured.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio attended the evening briefing.
Rubio said the public and the families of the dead and injured deserve to know "what went wrong."
Scott added that an investigation will get to the bottom of "why this happened and what happened." He said that if anyone did anything wrong, "we will hold them accountable."
National Transportation Safety Board chairman Robert Sumwalt III said a team of specialists was heading to Miami on Thursday night with plans to begin its investigation Friday morning.
Rubio, who is an adjunct professor at the school, noted the pedestrian bridge was intended to be an innovative and "one-of-a-kind engineering design."
An accelerated construction method was supposed to reduce risks to workers and pedestrians and minimize traffic disruption, the university said. The school has long been interested in this kind of bridge design; in 2010, it opened "The ABC (accelerated bridge construction) Center," to help bridge professionals. Other universities around the country partnered with FIU to "provide the transportation industry with the tools needed to effectively and economically utilize the principles of ABC to enhance mobility and safety, and produce safe, environmentally friendly, long-lasting bridges."
Renderings showed a tall, off-center tower with cables attached to the walkway to support it. When the bridge collapsed, the main tower had not yet been installed, and it was unclear what the builders were using as temporary supports.
The project was a collaboration between MCM Construction, a Miami-based contractor, and Figg Bridge Design, based in Tallahassee. Figg is responsible for the iconic Sunshine Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay.
Figg issued a statement Thursday saying the company was "stunned" by the collapse and promising to cooperate with investigations.
"In our 40-year history, nothing like this has ever happened before," the company's statement said. "Our entire team mourns the loss of life and injuries associated with this devastating tragedy, and our prayers go out to all involved."
MCM Construction Management, which is building the bridge, posted a message to the company's Facebook page promising "a full investigation to determine exactly what went wrong."
Robert Bea, a professor of engineering and construction management at the University of California, Berkeley, said it was too early to know exactly what happened, but the decision to use what the bridge builders called an "innovative installation" was risky, especially because the bridge spanned a heavily traveled thoroughfare.
"Innovations take a design firm into an area where they don't have applicable experience, and then we have another unexpected failure on our hands," Bea said after reviewing the bridge's design and photos of the collapse.
The FIU community, along with Sweetwater and county officials, held a "bridge watch party" March 10. That's when the span was lifted from its temporary supports, rotated 90 degrees across an eight-lane thoroughfare and lowered into its permanent position over the busy road.
FIU President Mark Rosenberg said during a news conference that tests were being done on Thursday. Authorities said two construction workers were on the bridge when it collapsed; it's unclear what the tests were or if they contributed to the failure.
"This bridge was about goodness, not sadness," Rosenberg said. "Now we're feeling immense sadness, uncontrollable sadness. And our hearts go out to all those affected, their friends and their families. We're committed to assist in all efforts necessary, and our hope is that this sadness can galvanize the entire community to stay the course, a course of goodness, of hope, of opportunity."
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Associated Press writers Jason Dearen in Gainesville, Kelli Kennedy in Fort Lauderdale, David Fischer and Curt Anderson in Miami and Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg contributed to this report. ||||| The death toll rose overnight in the catastrophic collapse of a 950-ton pedestrian bridge at Florida International University in Miami-Dade County, as a search for survivors became a mission to recover bodies, police said before dawn Friday.
At least six people are confirmed dead, Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta told reporters at the scene along a normally busy, eight-lane thoroughfare where the 174-foot-long bridge came down Thursday afternoon.
Five people died at the scene and another person died at the hospital, Zabaleta said.
At least one of the deceased was an FIU student, Sweetwater Mayor Orlando Lopez said during a second press conference Friday morning. Students had been on spring break and the campus was less busy than usual this week.
Authorities withheld victims’ names. The death toll could rise, Zabaleta warned.
“There is the possibility, the sad possibility, that under the concrete there may be additional vehicles.” Zabaleta said.
At least eight vehicles were beneath the broken concrete slabs, officials have said.
Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez said for the time being, they would not provide information about casualties.
“We’re not going to talk numbers anymore,” Perez said about updating tallies of the injured and the dead. “We expect to find other individuals down there. So what’s probably best is we wait to find all the vehicles and we’ll give you a grand total of the fatalities and the magnitude of this event.”
A new 950-ton pedestrian bridge at Florida International University in Miami-Dade county collapsed Thursday afternoon, killing an unknown number of people.
The bridge was put in place Saturday and was to be completed in 2019. It crossed Southwest Eighth Street and was intended to be a safe passageway for students and connect the school’s campus to the city of Sweetwater to the north.
State and federal investigators began Friday to figure out why the span failed.
The university was open Friday. A main entrance to campus was closed because traffic along Southwest Eighth Street between Southwest 107th Avenue to Southwest 117th Avenue will be detoured indefinitely.
“The people of South Florida have been through a lot, obviously, over the last several weeks, ” National Transportation Safety Board chairman Robert Sumwalt III said Friday, referring to the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, when 17 were killed and 17 wounded. “And this is just yet one more tragedy to add to that sad book.”
A “go team” of specialists, including experts in civil engineering and materials science from NTSB will study the failed project. He expects the NTSB team to work on the scene for five to seven days. Investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were also working at the fallen bridge.
“Our entire purpose is to find out what happened so we can keep it from happening again,” Sumwalt said.
Authorities declined to address reports about whether the bridge had undergone testing before the Thursday afternoon collapse.
“Those are answers we’re looking for was well,” said Perez, the county police director. He added that the entire project, from contract to catastrophe, will be reviewed and will go on long after the broken concrete and victims are removed.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio had tweeted Thursday night, “The cables that suspend the #Miami bridge had loosened & the engineering firm ordered that they be tightened. They were being tightened when it collapsed today.”
Miami-Dade County Deputy Mayor Maurice Kemp said Friday, “We have not confirmed that there was a stress test. The key here is not to jump to conclusions, not to speak on speculations, but to work on fact. And that’s what we plan to do.”
Steps taken Friday will include moving in heavy equipment to break the largest, still solid piece of concrete and remove it so victims can be recovered, what Perez called a “tedious process. Our goal is to get everything removed so we can get to those victims.”
Firefighters got the call for help at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Search and rescue crews worked into the night to try to find survivors.
The $14.2 million bridge, which FIU said “swung into place” on Saturday, had not yet opened to the public.
Witness Susie Bermudez told WTVJ-Ch. 6 she was driving toward the bridge when she saw it fall.
"There’s probably like seven or eight cars under the bridge, so it was very shocking to me, and I’m very grateful to be alive," Bermudez said.
Gov. Rick Scott and Rubio flew to Miami Thursday night and while speaking from the college campus, pledged to figure out what led to the collapse.
“There will clearly be an investigation to find out exactly what happened and why this happened and we will hold anybody accountable if anybody has done anything wrong,” Scott said Thursday. “But the most important thing we can do right now is pray for the individuals that ended up in the hospital, for their full recovery, and pray for the family members that have lost loved ones.”
Rubio, who has taught at the university as an adjunct professor for the last decade, said the bridge was built as a safety feature after a student was killed while crossing the busy street there last year.
“It was also going to be a signature project, one that people would identify with the school and this community, and one of a kind in terms of its engineering design,” Rubio said. “To see it on the ground there today and underneath it those who lost their lives as a result of this and those who have been injured, it’s just so tragic.
“There will be an exhaustive review that will get details on an engineering and scientific level as to what the errors were and what led to this catastrophic collapse, of that you can rest assured … The public deserves to know and the families of those who have been hurt and lost their lives deserve to know what went wrong.”
It was unknown how long the investigations and reviews could take.
Photographs from the scene showed a partially crushed cranberry-colored sedan, its rear end trapped beneath the rubble, its front end free from debris. The grilles of two other vehicles could be seen beneath the edge of a concrete slab. ||||| UPDATE: As of Friday morning, six people are confirmed dead.
A pedestrian bridge under construction collapsed Thursday, just days after crews had dropped an elevated 950-ton span in place on a signature project that was intended to give Florida International University students a safe route across the busy roadway.
The massive span — in a sudden, catastrophic failure — crashed down across eight lanes of heavily traveled Tamiami Trail, flattening eight cars. The death toll remained uncertain as rescue crews continued to work into the night to reach vehicles but late Thursday Miami-Dade fire chief Dave Downey confirmed at least four people had been killed, including a student from FIU, police sources said.
Nine people had been pulled from the rubble by evening and rushed to Kendall Regional Medical Center’s trauma unit, including two who required immediate surgery. The others sustained injuries ranging from scrapes and bruises to broken bones, which were not considered life threatening. On campus, some families waited for word on missing loved ones.
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Even before the dust from the disaster settled, motorists scrambled from their cars to help. At least one woman, Katrina Collazo, was pulled from her half-crushed car, miraculously unscathed.
“Thank God ... my daughter is alive,” said her mother, Ada Collazo, in Spanish, after rushing to the scene, fearful that another family member also might have been riding in the back. “I thought my granddaughter was in the car, but she wasn’t. She’s in school.”
Collazo said her daughter, who had been on campus for a nursing meeting, stopped at a red light when she said she heard what sounded like small rocks falling on her car. As she turned around, the span mashed everything behind the driver seat. The car next to her was not as lucky. That vehicle was flattened like an aluminum can.
The FIU bridge collapsing... I’m still in shock pic.twitter.com/ZNqO2z5ch6 — Megan (@meganmfernandez) March 15, 2018
It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse of a $14.2 million structure FIU had touted as an innovative “instant” bridge because of construction techniques intended to speed up the work and minimize disruption to commuter traffic. The bridge’s main 175-foot span, assembled on the side of the road, was raised into place across Tamiami Trail on Saturday in less than six hours. But the project was far from complete and not expected to open to student foot traffic until 2019.
Several witnesses reported that two workers were on the bridge when it collapsed shortly before 2 p.m. Early in the day, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said the bridge had undergone a “stress test” but it was unclear what, if any, role that might have played in the failure. FIU President Mark Rosenberg confirmed there was testing on the bridge sometime before the collapse, but said the testing was proper.
“I have not spoken directly to Munilla Construction, but I am satisfied that the testing that was occurring was consistent with best practices," Rosenberg said shortly after 8 p.m. “I’m not an engineer, so I'm not privy to those details. I know that tests occurred today. And I know, I believe, that they did not prove to lead anyone to the conclusion that we would have this kind of a result. But I do not know that as a fact.”
Late Thursday, came the first definitive word from a government official about what was being done on the bridge when it fell. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, said in a Twitter post that: “The cables that suspend the #Miami bridge had loosened & the engineering firm ordered that they be tightened. They were being tightened when it collapsed today.”
Rubio, a Miami Republican, did not elaborate on the information. But he was in a position to know inside details about the catastrophe.
He traveled to the FIU campus Thursday on same plane with Rosenberg. He said he spoke to MCM partner Pedro Munilla amid the rubble and he attended private briefings at FIU.
The late post came soon after Gov. Rick Scott and Rubio both promised swift investigations.
“We will hold anybody accountable if anybody has done anything wrong,” Scott said.
Rubio also vowed an “exhaustive” review with scrutiny of “science and engineering” that went into the project. “The families and the survivors deserve to know what went wrong,” he said.
The National Transportation Safety Board announced that it was dispatching a team of 15 to examine the collapse and investigators expected to be on site by late Thursday.
Authorities stressed that it could take days or more to determine what went wrong. But one agency, the Florida Department of Transportation, quickly distanced itself, issuing a fact sheet saying it had a limited role in the project and emphasizing FIU’s responsibility for testing and safely completing the bridge.
Designed as a cable-supported bridge, the project was a collaboration between MCM Construction, a prominent Miami-based contractor, and FIGG Bridge Design, based in Tallahassee. FIGG is responsible for the iconic Sunshine Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay.
FIGG issued a statement Thursday saying the company was “stunned” by the collapse and promising to cooperate with every authority investigating the collapse.
“In our 40-year history, nothing like this has ever happened before,” the company’s statement said. “Our entire team mourns the loss of life and injuries associated with this devastating tragedy, and our prayers go out to all involved.” MCM Construction Management, which is building the bridge, posted a message to the company’s Facebook page promising “a full investigation to determine exactly what went wrong.”
Mayor Gimenez, in Hong Kong on a trade mission, said in a telephone interview that he instructed county rescue workers to identify license plates from the trapped cars as quickly as possible so that families could be notified.
Rescue crews with specially trained dogs and listening devices were poring over the wreckage, hoping to find survivors. About two hours after the collapse, crews also brought in heavy equipment to probe under sections of the shattered span.
“I don’t know what’s under the bridge, under the rubble,” said Lt. Alex Camacho of the Florida Highway Patrol. “It’s impossible to see.”
The injured were transported to the trauma center at Kendall Regional. Mark McKenney, chief of the trauma department, said the 10 injured patients ranged in age from 20 to 50 years old, including one man whose heart had stopped beating when he arrived.
Doctors revived the man, who was not identified, and wheeled him into the operating room. He is listed in critical condition with head and chest injuries.
A second patient arrived comatose with severe injuries that required orthopedic and neurosurgery, the hospital spokesperson said. The remaining eight patients are in stable condition with injuries ranging from scrapes and bruises to broken bones.
FIU spokesperson Maydel Santana-Bravo issued a statement, even as rescue crews were still working the scene.
“We are shocked and saddened about the tragic events unfolding at the FIU-Sweetwater Bridge,” she said. “At this time, we are still involved in rescue efforts and gathering information. We are working closely with authorities and first responders on the scene. We will share updates as we have them.”
FIU students are on spring break this week, but traffic was expected to be heavy with the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair opening nearby on Thursday.
President Donald Trump also posted a tweet, “Continuing to monitor the heartbreaking bridge collapse at FIU — so tragic.”
Students and faculty have long clamored for a bridge at the 109th Avenue crossing, where students on foot have to scurry across heavily traveled Tamiami Trail, which divides the campus from Sweetwater. Though FIU provides shuttles, many students prefer to walk. In August, FIU undergraduate Alexis Dale was hit and killed by a motorist while crossing the intersection.
The pedestrian walkway was installed in a single morning at Southwest 109th Avenue on Saturday, intended eventually to link FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus to the small suburban city of Sweetwater, where the university estimates 4,000 of its students live.
FIU, which has an “accelerated bridge construction” program in its engineering school, promoted the project’s innovative approach. A 175-foot section of the overall 320-foot long bridge was fabricated by the side of the Trail while support columns were erected in place. The 950-ton span was lifted off the ground by a mechanical transporter, swung into position across the Trail, then lowered into place over the support columns. That reduced to a minimum the time the trail had to be closed to traffic, and minimized risks to workers and people in the vicinity, FIU said.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more is learned.
Miami Herald Staff Writers Howard Cohen, Alex Harris, David J. Neal, Charles Rabin, David Smiley, Jennifer Staletovich, Carli Teproff and Martin Vassolo contributed to this report.
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– It was supposed to be a "signature project" that people would identify with Florida International University. Instead, it's the scene of a still unexplained tragedy that left at least six people dead. At least nine injured people were pulled from the rubble Thursday after a pedestrian bridge collapsed over eight lanes of traffic near the Miami-area campus, reports the Miami Herald. At least eight cars were flattened by the sudden collapse. Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Dave Downey said Thursday night that rescue workers were using sniffer dogs and high-tech listening devices in the search for survivors, the AP reports. Early Friday, police said the operation had moved from rescue to recovery. The main span of the "instant" $14.2 million bridge connecting FIU to the community of Sweetwater was swung into place on Saturday, though it wasn't scheduled to open to the public until 2019. Sen. Marco Rubio, an adjunct professor at the university, says the bridge was "one of a kind in terms of its engineering design," the Sun Sentinel reports. "There will be an exhaustive review that will get details on an engineering and scientific level as to what the errors were and what led to this catastrophic collapse, of that you can rest assured," he says. There were two workers on the bridge at the time of the collapse, and Rubio tweeted Thursday night that the cables that suspend the bridge had loosened and were being tightened when it collapsed.
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KTVU
A 59-year-old preschool teacher has been arrested on child endangerment charges for allegedly putting an unknown substance into the drinking cups of her young students.
Morgan Hill police said Deborah Gratz, of Hollister, had been arrested after Kiddie Academy preschool officials reported that she had put Sominex -- an over the counter sleeping aid -- into the drinking cups of some of the children on Friday March 8, 2013.
A witness told authorities they observed Gratz placing an unknown substance into the drinking cups in her classroom filled with toddlers between one and two years of age.
Investigators said they were still working on a motive.
Gratz, a five-year veteran employee of the facility, was arrested after a search of her home on Monday turned up evidence in the case.
She was placed under arrest on felony charges of child endangerment and booked in the Santa Clara County main jail.
Anyone who may have information regarding this incident or if you believe that your child was under the care of Gratz while at the Kiddie Academy, please contact Morgan Hill Police Department Detective Joe Burdick at 408.779.2101 or the anonymous tip line at 408.947.STOP(7867). ||||| March 12, 2013 5:24 PM
PLEASANTON (CBS SF) — A former teacher at a Pleasanton preschool is being investigated for allegedly binding a 2-year-old girl’s ankles and wrists after she refused to go to sleep during naptime, school officials said.
The incident allegedly occurred at Centerpointe Christian Preschool at 3410 Cornerstone Court in Pleasanton on an unknown date.
School officials said that when the child refused to nap, the teacher taped up the girl’s ankles and wrists, and then took a photo.
During a March 1 social gathering attended by current and former teachers, the teacher in question—identified by the state Department of Social Services as Angela Calcagno—showed the photo to the other teachers, one of whom was the little girl’s mother, according to the school.
Calcagno, who had recently resigned from the school, told her former colleagues that she had warned the girl that she would tie her up during naptime if she didn’t sleep, school officials said.
The incident was reported to Pleasanton police by the child’s parent on March 4, the Monday after the social gathering. The Police Department sent investigators to the school to interview staff.
Pleasanton police did not immediately return calls for comment Tuesday.
School leaders said they notified the California Community Care Licensing Division, part of the state Department of Social Services, which issued a “Class A” violation against the school last Thursday.
According to the state’s investigation report, Calcagno used masking tape to bind the girl. The report states that the allegations were substantiated and that the girl’s rights were violated.
The department has since issued an order of exclusion against Calcagno, meaning that Calcagno cannot be on preschool grounds or have contact with the students. She is also barred from being hired by any other state-licensed child care facility in California.
The school has sent a letter to parents notifying them of the incident, school officials said.
The church community affiliated with the preschool has taken additional actions, preschool spokesman Tim Hunt said.
A meeting is scheduled for tonight to respond to parents’ questions and concerns.
Additionally, the preschool will be temporarily shut down for five days starting Friday for what Hunt said will be “intensive staff training, review of procedures and a thorough top-to-bottom review of the program.”
Officials said operations will resume on March 20.
The preschool was founded in 2008 when the church moved to its location at Cornerstone Court. The Centerpointe Presbyterian Church previously operated a co-op preschool for more than 30 years at a different location, school officials said.
In a staff biography that no longer appears on the Centerpointe website, Calcagno said she had been working at the preschool since June 2008.
When the bio was written, she said she was attending California State University East Bay and working toward a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She said she wanted to continue her education with a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy.
Until last October, the school had never had a “Class A” violation at its Cornerstone Court campus, Hunt said.
Since then, its violations have included incidents on Oct. 19 and Jan. 24 in which bleach was left within the reach of children. On that same day in January, there was a violation because children were left in the care of a 17-year-old, according to the school.
In each of the incidents, corrective action was taken and staff received additional training, school officials said.
In response to the recent naptime incident, church Pastor Mike Barris released a statement on Monday evening.
“We are appalled and shocked that such an incident, if proven to be true, took place,” Barris said. “Every human person made in the image of God, all of the children in our care, deserve the highest degree of respect and protection from any action that dehumanizes them.”
(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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– Two Northern California preschool teachers are accused in separate, equally disturbing incidents: In Morgan Hill, Deborah Gratz was arrested after officials at the Kiddie Academy reported her for allegedly putting an over-the-counter sleeping aid into some kids' drinking cups. A witness saw Gratz, 59, putting Sominex into the cups in her classroom of 1- and 2-year-olds. Authorities found evidence in Gratz's home, but have not uncovered a motive, KTVU reports. In Pleasanton, Angela Calcagno is being investigated by police for allegedly using masking tape to bind the ankles and wrists of a 2-year-old girl who refused to take a nap, CBS San Francisco reports. Bizarrely, Calcagno took a picture of the bound toddler and showed it to other teachers, including the girl's mother, at a social gathering. Calcagno, who had recently resigned from Centerpointe Christian Preschool, told the teachers she had warned the girl what would happen if she didn't cooperate with naptime. The child's mother reported her.
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Women who reported eating a diet rich in iron were 30 to 40 percent less likely to develop pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) than women who consumed lower amounts, in a study reported this week by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS) and Harvard. It is one of the first to evaluate whether dietary mineral intake is associated with PMS development.Senior author Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, and others at UMass Amherst, along with lead author Patricia Chocano-Bedoya and colleagues at Harvard, assessed mineral intake in approximately 3,000 women in a case-control study nested within the prospective Nurses’ Health Study II. Participants were free from PMS at baseline. Results appear in the early online edition of the American Journal of Epidemiology.Women in the study completed three food frequency questionnaires over the 10-year study period. After 10 years, 1,057 women were diagnosed with PMS and 1,968 remained free from PMS. Adjusting for calcium intake and other factors, the researchers then compared previous mineral intake reported by the women diagnosed with PMS with that of women who had few or no menstrual symptoms.“We found that women who consumed the most non-heme iron, the form found primarily in plant foods and in supplements, had a 30 to 40 percent lower risk of developing PMS than women who consumed the lowest amount of non-heme iron,” says Bertone-Johnson. Women in the highest intake group for non-heme iron had a relative risk of PMS of 0.60 compared to women in the lowest intake group.She adds, “We also saw some indication that high intake of zinc was associated with lower risk. In contrast, we were somewhat surprised to find that women consuming the highest amount of potassium had a higher risk of being diagnosed with PMS than women consuming the lowest amount of potassium. In general, results for minerals from food sources and minerals from supplements were similar.”Overall, “Our findings need to be replicated in other studies. However, women at risk for PMS should make sure they are meeting the RDA for non-heme iron and zinc.”“The level of iron intake at which we saw a lower risk of PMS, roughly greater than 20 mg per day, is higher than the current recommended daily allowance (RDA) for iron for premenopausal women, which is 18 mg per day,” Bertone-Johnson says. This amount may be obtained in 1 to 1.5 servings per day of iron-fortified cereal or with supplements.“However, as high iron intake may have adverse health consequences, women should avoid consuming more than the tolerable upper intake level of 45 mg per day unless otherwise recommended by a physician,” she notes. Iron may be related to PMS because it is involved in producing serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps to regulate mood, she and colleagues point out.The unexpected finding of higher PMS risk with high potassium intake, even at levels below current recommendations of 4,700 mg per day, may be related to potassium’s role in regulating fluid balance in the body. It may affect PMS symptoms such as swelling in the extremities and bloating by affecting fluid retention. “More studies of potassium and menstrual symptoms are needed to better understand this,” they say.“The level of zinc intake at which we saw suggestion of a lower risk of PMS, greater than 15 mg per day, was also higher than current recommendations of 8 mg per day. However, as high zinc intake may also have adverse health consequences, women should avoid consuming more than the tolerable upper intake level of 40 mg per day unless recommended by a physician.”Intake of other minerals, including magnesium, copper, sodium and manganese were not associated with PMS risk, the authors point out.American Journal of Epidemiology: http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/02/23/aje.kws363.abstract ||||| By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Nov. 24, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Millions of women suffer through premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and now new research suggests that those with moderate-to-severe PMS may be at heightened risk for high blood pressure later in life.
While the study couldn't prove cause-and-effect, the finding may mean that "women with PMS should be screened for adverse changes in blood pressure and future risk of hypertension," wrote a team led by Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, an epidemiologist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
The investigators tracked nearly 1,260 women who developed clinically significant PMS between 1991 and 2005, as well as more than 2,400 women with mild PMS. Both groups were followed until 2011.
Women with moderate-to-severe PMS were 40 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure than those with mild or no PMS symptoms, the researchers found.
This higher risk remained after the researchers adjusted for high blood pressure risk factors such as being overweight or obese, smoking, drinking, inactivity, use of birth control pills, postmenopausal hormone use, and family history of high blood pressure.
The link between moderate-to-severe PMS and high blood pressure was strongest among women younger than 40, Bertone-Johnson's group said. In this age group, those with clinically significant PMS were three times more likely to develop high blood pressure.
"To my knowledge, this is the first large long-term study to suggest that PMS may be related to risk of chronic health conditions in later life," Bertone-Johnson said in a university news release.
She and her colleagues did find that moderate-to-severe PMS did not increase the risk of high blood pressure in women with high intakes of the B vitamins thiamine and riboflavin. Recently, the researchers found that women who consumed high levels of those vitamins were 25 to 35 percent less likely to develop PMS.
Clinically significant PMS affects as many as 8 percent to 15 percent of women, the researchers said. However, they believe that it may be possible to reduce the risk of high blood pressure in these women by increasing their intake of B vitamins.
Two experts said the new findings could be important, but questions remain.
"The study is important in identifying an important condition that should lead to closer observation for the onset of high blood pressure," said Dr. Stacey Rosen, vice president of women's health at The Katz Institute for Women's Health in New Hyde Park, N.Y.
She added, however, that "one important limitation is that the average age of these patients was 27 years -- it would be helpful to see if this association persisted in younger women as well."
Dr. Deena Adimoolam is assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. She said that, right now, "many physicians don't consider PMS as a risk factor for hypertension."
And while the study findings are "interesting," she added that "I don't think women should be overly concerned about this association for a few reasons."
First, the study didn't identify and exclude women with conditions that can look like PMS -- chronic fatigue syndrome, anxiety disorders and irritable bowel syndrome, for example -- so, "PMS might have been wrongly diagnosed in some patients," Adimoolam said.
"Also, high blood pressure was self-reported by study participants and not diagnosed by a physician, which makes me question if certain participants truly developed hypertension," she added.
The study was published Nov. 24 in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
More information
The U.S. Office on Women's Health has more on premenstrual syndrome.
Copyright © 2015 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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Symptoms By Mayo Clinic Staff
The list of potential signs and symptoms for premenstrual syndrome is long, but most women only experience a few of these problems.
Emotional and behavioral symptoms
Tension or anxiety
Depressed mood
Crying spells
Mood swings and irritability or anger
Appetite changes and food cravings
Trouble falling asleep (insomnia)
Social withdrawal
Poor concentration
Physical signs and symptoms
Joint or muscle pain
Headache
Fatigue
Weight gain related to fluid retention
Abdominal bloating
Breast tenderness
Acne flare-ups
Constipation or diarrhea
For some, the physical pain and emotional stress are severe enough to affect their daily lives. Regardless of symptom severity, the signs and symptoms generally disappear within four days of the start of the menstrual period for most women.
But a small number of women with premenstrual syndrome have disabling symptoms every month. This form of PMS is called premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).
PMDD signs and symptoms include depression, mood swings, anger, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, difficulty concentrating, irritability and tension.
When to see a doctor
If you haven't been able to manage your premenstrual syndrome with lifestyle changes and the symptoms of PMS are affecting your health and daily activities, see your doctor.
||||| AMHERST, Mass. – In the first prospective study to consider premenstrual syndrome (PMS) as a possible sentinel for future risk of hypertension, epidemiologist Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson and colleagues in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Harvard School of Public Health report that women with moderate-to-severe PMS had a 40 percent higher risk of developing high blood pressure over the following 20 years compared to women experiencing few menstrual symptoms.
Bertone-Johnson says, “To my knowledge, this is the first large long-term study to suggest that PMS may be related to risk of chronic health conditions in later life.” Details appear in the current issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
The higher risk persisted after adjusting for known risk factors including body mass index, pack-years of cigarette smoking, physical activity, alcohol use, postmenopausal hormone use, oral contraceptive use and family history of hypertension, the authors state. Results were strongest for hypertension occurring before age 40. In this age group, women with PMS had a three-fold higher risk of developing hypertension compared to women without PMS.
Clinically significant PMS affects as many as 8 to 15 percent of women, Bertone-Johnson says. Her findings suggest that PMS may be associated with future development of hypertension and that this may be modifiable. The authors recommend that “women with PMS should be screened for adverse changes in blood pressure and future risk of hypertension.”
Bertone-Johnson and colleagues evaluated the PMS-blood pressure relationship in 1,257 women who developed clinically significant PMS between 1991 and 2005 and in 2,463 age-matched control participants with few menstrual symptoms, all of whom were participants in the Nurses’ Health Study II. The authors assessed PMS with a modified Calendar of Premenstrual Experiences, which includes such symptoms as palpitations, nausea, forgetfulness, dizziness, hot flashes, insomnia, depression, acne and cramping.
In their sub-study, researchers followed participants for new diagnoses of hypertension until 2011. They found women with PMS had a hazard ratio for hypertension of 1.4 compared to women without PMS, a statistically significant increased risk of 40 percent. The risk associated with PMS was not modified by oral contraceptive or antidepressant use. However, the higher risk was not present in women with high intakes of the B vitamins thiamine and riboflavin.
Bertone-Johnson and colleagues recently found that women with high dietary intake of the B vitamins thiamine and riboflavin had 25 to 35 percent lower risks of developing PMS. Results from the present study are “consistent with these findings, and suggest that improving B vitamin status in women with PMS may both reduce menstrual symptom severity and lower hypertension risk,” they write.
Few studies have directly evaluated the association of PMS with blood pressure or risk of hypertension, but a handful provide some support for the existence of underlying differences in vascular physiology in women with PMS compared to symptom-free women, which could plausibly predispose PMS cases to hypertension and cardiovascular disease later in life, the authors state.
This work was supported by the NIH’s Office for Research on Women’s Health and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and by the National Cancer Institute. ||||| The headaches, fatigue and other symptoms of premenstrual syndrome may be more than just a monthly aggravation — they may also signal greater future health problems for those women suffering from the syndrome: Women who have PMS may have an increased risk of developing high blood pressure in the future, according to a new study.
Researchers found that the women who had PMS at the beginning of the study were 40 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure over the next 20 years, compared to women who experienced few menstrual symptoms. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
"To my knowledge, this is the first large, long-term study to suggest that PMS may be related to risk of chronic health conditions in later life," study author Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, an epidemiologist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said in a statement.
In the study, the researchers looked at the relationship between PMS and the risk of high blood pressure in about 1,250 women who developed clinically significant PMS between 1991 and 2005, and nearly 2,500 women with few menstrual symptoms.
The women were between 25 and 42 years old at the beginning of the study and the researchers followed them for six to 20 years. At the start of the study, and every two years afterward, the women were asked whether they had received a diagnosis of high blood pressure from their doctors in the past two years. [Beyond Vegetables and Exercise: 5 Ways to be Heart Healthy]
The researchers found that the link between high blood pressure and PMS was strongest among women who were younger than 40. The women in this age group who had PMS were three times as likely to also have high blood pressure, compared to women in the same age group who did not have PMS, they found.
The new findings suggest that women with PMS should be screened for high blood pressure, the researchers said.
"We are seeing hypertension increase in women younger and younger," said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of Women's Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, who was not involved in the new study. "And now we are really honing in on who is at risk for high blood pressure and subsequent heart disease."
The new study shows that it is important to "understand that what is happening to a woman — and her entire body — is going to affect her cardiovascular risk," Steinbaum said.
Exactly what mechanism might link PMS and high blood pressure is not clear, the authors of the new study said, but they suggested that there might be underlying differences in the blood vessels of women with PMS and those who do not have PMS. These differences could also predispose women who have PMS to an increased risk of high blood pressure later in life, the researchers said.
In the study, the researchers also found that, among women with PMS, those who consumed high amounts of the B vitamins thiamine and riboflavin were less likely to develop high blood pressure later than the women with PMS who consumed low amounts of these vitamins. The same researchers have previously found that women who consumed high amounts of these vitamins had a 25 to 35 percent lower risk of developing PMS, compared to those who consumed low amounts of these vitamins.
The new findings suggest that "improving B vitamin status in women with PMS may both reduce menstrual symptom severity and lower hypertension risk," the researchers wrote in their study, published today (Nov. 24) in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Follow Agata Blaszczak-Boxe on Twitter. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Live Science.
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– Women who suffer from moderate to severe premenstrual syndrome (PMS) appear to be at greater risk of having high blood pressure later in life, report researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the American Journal of Epidemiology. The team, which also worked with the Harvard School of Public Health, found that the 1,257 25- to 42-year-old women with moderate-to-severe PMS they studied had a 40% higher risk of hypertension over the next 20 years compared to 2,463 control women without significant premenstrual symptoms. Live Science points out that those with high blood pressure have an elevated risk of heart disease and stroke. The researchers noted that the PMS-high blood pressure relationship was most pronounced among women younger than 40, reports Live Science, though "one important limitation is that the average age of these patients was 27 years," an outside researcher tells HealthDay. "It would be helpful to see if this association persisted in younger women as well." Nearly three years ago, the same University of Massachusetts team found that iron may offer some protection against PMS, which the Mayo Clinic notes can be marked by a range of symptoms, including anxiety, depression, insomnia, headache, fatigue, acne, and diarrhea. (Previous research has shown that premenstrual women are the fastest at spotting, well, snakes.)
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Does chilli chomping make you a real man?
“Men who like spicier food are 'alpha males' with higher levels of testosterone,” The Daily Telegraph reports. A small French study found an association between a preference for spicy foods and elevated testosterone levels; but no evidence of a direct link.
Testosterone is a steroid hormone that in popular culture has long been associated with male virility. Men with high levels of testosterone are alleged to be more sexually active, domineering, brave and willing to take risks – the so-called “alpha male”.
So, is a liking for spicy foods a sign of “alpha male” risk taking and bravery? Is ordering the hottest thing on the menu a 21st Century equivalent of a tribal initiation ceremony? The quick answer is that we don’t know.
The study in question measured spice preference and testosterone level at the same time. This means it cannot prove cause and effect. It is possible that spicy food, or anticipation of spicy food, leads to higher testosterone levels. An effect that has been seen in rats.
Food preferences probably have genetic, psychological and social elements of influence. So actual behaviour regarding spice preference is likely to differ, depending on the situation. A man might be more likely to tackle a vindaloo while on a lively stag do than on his wedding day, for instance, not least to prevent any adverse effects on the wedding night.
Where did the story come from?
The study was carried out by researchers from The University of Grenoble, France. No funding source was stated.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed science journal Physiology and Behavior.
The UK media generally reported the study accurately, but failed to discuss any of the limitations and so took the findings at face value.
What kind of research was this?
This was a laboratory study testing human preferences for spicy food and how they might relate to testosterone levels in men.
Testosterone is a hormone released by the testicles of men and the ovaries of women. Although both genders secrete it, men secrete much more. It plays a key role in sexual growth and development and some research has linked high levels to financial, sexual and behavioural risk taking. They have also linked it to so-called “alpha male” behaviour, which can include domination and aggression.
This study ignored social influences and focused on whether there was a link between spice preference and testosterone level.
What did the research involve?
The study recruited 144 men aged between 18 and 44 living in Grenoble, France, and tested their preference for salt and spice in a number of ways under controlled conditions.
Recruits visited a testing centre and were first asked to rate how much they liked spicy and salty foods on a four point scale. They then sat down to a plate of mashed potato and were asked to flavour the mash to their taste with little sachets of Tabasco sauce (a hot sauce made from tabasco peppers) and salt, which was recorded.
They ate the mash and again rated how hot and salty the food was on a six point scale. Interestingly, the scale went up to “excessive burning sensation” for salt and “risks of temporary extinction of the sense of taste, risks of vomiting” for Tabasco. Finally, after finishing they were asked if their meal was too spicy or salty on a five point scale.
At some point all participants gave a saliva sample, which was used to measure their testosterone levels. It wasn’t clear whether this was tested before, during or after the meal.
The analysis looked for correlations between the different ratings of spice preference and level of testosterone.
As far as we can tell the tests were conducted in isolation so there was no social element to the study.
What were the basic results?
There was a positive and statistically significant correlation between testosterone and the quantity of hot sauce that individuals voluntarily and spontaneously ate (r=0.294). This means the more testosterone men had, the more hot sauce they put on the mash. A correlation of 0.29, is generally considered a weak correlation, as positive correlations can vary from 0 (no correlation at all) to 1 (perfect correlation).
Correlation between reported preference for spicy food (before the task) and testosterone was not statistically significant.
Age affected many of the results. Once this was accounted for, the only significant correlations were:
number of spicy doses put on the mash (r=0.32)
evaluation of the meal’s spiciness after eating (r=0.30)
preference for spicy food (r=0.19)
There was no correlation between testosterone levels and preference for salt for any measures.
How did the researchers interpret the results?
The authors concluded simply: “This study suggests that behavioural preference for spicy food among men is related to endogenous testosterone levels.”
Furthermore they indicated that: “To our knowledge, this is the first study in which a behavioural preference for spicy food has been linked to endogenous testosterone in a laboratory setting. The juxtaposition of using highly accurate laboratory measurement with a diverse community sample of male participants ensures adequate levels of both internal and external validity. This study provides new insights into the biology of food preference by expanding our understanding of the link between hormonal processes and food intake”.
Conclusion
This small human laboratory study found higher testosterone levels were linked to adding more spice to food in adult men. However, due to the study’s design, and a number of limitations cited below, it does not prove this link.
Many factors probably influence preference for spicy food. These could include physiological measures such as testosterone, but also involve social, genetic and psychological elements. For example, adding spice to food could be a learned habit, for example from family, or innate, passed on in genetics due to difference in the way spice is tasted on the tongue. We do not know how important each of these factors is in spice preference, relative to one another.
The study measured spice preference and testosterone level at the same time. This means it cannot prove cause and effect. It is possible that spicy food, or anticipation of spicy food, leads to higher testosterone levels. This sort of effect has been observed in rats, the study authors tell us.
The research team also highlighted a less obvious limitation in their research: colour. They indicated they used a red Tabasco spice sachet. Intriguingly, previous studies have shown a link between higher testosterone in men and a preference for colours signifying dominance and aggression, such as red. This could have played a role in influencing the results, but we don’t know how strongly.
Overall, the study suggests there might be a physiological reason for spice preference (testosterone level), but does not prove it. There are likely to be many factors involved and we do not yet know which are the most important. On further investigation testosterone might turn out be a very important factor, or more marginal. Given the weak correlations in this study, we would suspect it might be on the weaker side.
A final word of advice would be that while spice can be nice, we would never recommend eating food that causes you actual physical pain.
Analysis by Bazian. Edited by NHS Choices. Follow Behind the Headlines on Twitter. Join the Healthy Evidence forum. ||||| French gourmets have traditionally shunned hot, spicy food – so they may be a little piqued by a study indicating that curry-loving men have higher testosterone.
Scientists at the highly-respected University of Grenoble have published a report suggesting that regular consumption of chili peppers may raise levels of the hormone, which is believed to make men more adventurous, enterprising and sexually active.
Laurent Begue, one of the authors of the study, said: "These results are in line with a lot of research showing a link between testosterone and financial, sexual and behavioural risk-taking."
The research paper, titled "Some Like It Hot", is to be published in the US-based journal "Physiology and Behavior".
Professor Begue said 114 men aged from 18 to 44, living in Grenoble, in south-eastern France, had taken part in the study.
Their testosterone levels were measured from saliva samples and they were presented with a plate of mashed potatoes and invited to add chili sauce to taste. Those who added the most hot sauce had the highest testosterone.
The hormone drives men to seek thrills and new sensations, leading them to frequent "more stimulating social groups and take more risks," according to Professor Begue.
"In this case, it applies to risk-taking in taste," he said. "It is also possible that the regular consumption of spicy food contributes to increasing testosterone levels, although so far this has only been demonstrated on rodents."
The effect of hot peppers on women has yet to be studied, but commentators say the research may inspire Gallic chefs to spice up their recipes and provoke a radical change in the eating habits of French men.
Unlike their British counterparts, relatively few have acquired a taste for hot curries. Many see chili as an assault on their taste buds that hinders enjoyment of the subtler, more delicate flavours of classic French cuisine.
They may now start to view spice as a virility test and attempt to prove their manliness by consuming eye-wateringly hot food.
The American scientist James M. Dabbs described testosterone as the hormone of "heroes, rogues and lovers" in a book published in 2000. He also linked high testosterone with violent crime and sexual assaults.
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– Wonder if a guy has high testosterone? Just put a spice bottle next to him and see how much he pours on his dinner, according to a new study. Scientists at the University of Grenoble say that among 114 men aged 18 to 44, those who added the most spicy sauce to their plate of mashed potatoes had the highest levels of testosterone. Study co-author Laurent Begue tells the Telegraph that testosterone leads men into "more stimulating social groups" and inspires them to "take more risks," and adds that "in this case, it applies to risk-taking in taste." Perhaps, he says, regular spicy-food consumption "contributes to increasing testosterone levels, although so far this has only been demonstrated on rodents." Study participants were invited into a test center, asked to rate their love for spice, and told to spice up the mashed potatoes "to their taste with little sachets of Tabasco sauce," NHS reports. At some point the men gave saliva samples that scientists used to measure testosterone. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Physiology and Behavior, the study found a "statistically significant" but hardly impressive correlation of 0.29 between spice-love and testosterone-level (0 indicates no correlation and 1 a "perfect" one, says NHS). Called "Some Like It Hot," the study found no causal link between the hormone and spice. NHS reports that other studies have linked high male testosterone to men who love "dominant colors" like red, so who knows, maybe that was it. (Another recent study found that macho men have so-so sperm.)
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Gigantopithecus blacki stood as much as three meters high, and weighed as much as 500 kilograms. When European scientists first came upon its teeth in a Chinese pharmacy in the 1930s, they were being sold as “dragons’ teeth.”
But the enormous apes – cousins of orangutans – died out because they were too big to live in a changing environment where they needed massive amounts of food, a team of German researchers conclude in the journal Quaternary International.
“Orangutans have a slow metabolism and are able to survive on limited food,” said Herve Bocherens, of the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment at the University of Tubingen. “Due to its size, Gigantopithecus presumably depended on a large amount of food. When during the Pleistocene era more and more forested areas turned into savanna landscapes, there was simply an insufficient food supply for the giant ape.”
The enormous animal was first identified in 1935, and immediately compared to “King Kong” – the fictional subject of the Hollywood blockbuster just two years earlier.
Debate has continued ever since as to whether the Gigantopithecus was a meat eater, or whether they subsisted on plants.
Bocherens and his team analyzed the few fossils available – hundreds of large teeth, and lower jawbones. The scientists picked apart the carbon isotopes in the tooth enamel – and found data that offered clues, even several million years later.
Read more: Primal Pugilism: Men’s Hands Evolved to Fistfight
“Our results indicate that the large primates only lived in the forest and obtained their food from this habitat,” said Bocherens. “Gigantopithecus was an exclusive vegetarian, but it did not specialize on bamboo.”
During the glacial periods of Southeast Asia, “drastic forest reduction” pinned in the giant. The limited forage space, and its massive appetite, apparently doomed the primate, they conclude.
“We were able to shed a little light on the obscure history of this primate,” added Bocherens.
Debate over the Gigantopithecus menu still remains, however. A Chinese team found in 2011 that the apes subsisted on bamboo – and a massive die-off in the plants also killed off the apes, in a way that panda populations are cut back by suffering bamboo crops. ||||| Gigantopithecus, which roamed the Earth 100,000 years ago, failed to adapt when climate change affected its favoured diet of fruit
Earth's largest ever ape died out because it refused to eat its greens – study
The largest ape to roam Earth died out 100,000 years ago because it failed to adapt to eating savannah grass after climate change affected its preferred diet of forest fruit.
Gigantopithecus – the closest nature ever came to producing a real King Kong – weighed five times as much as an adult man and probably stood 3m (9ft) tall, according to rough estimates.
Fossil of dog-sized horned dinosaur shows east-west divide in America Read more
In its heyday a million years ago, it inhabited semi-tropical forests in southern China and mainland south-east Asia.
Until now, though, almost nothing was known about the giant’s anatomical shape or habits.
The only fossil records are four partial lower jaws, and perhaps a thousand teeth – the first of which turned up in the 1930s in Hong Kong apothecaries, where they were sold as “dragon’s teeth”.
These meagre remains “are clearly insufficient to say if the animal was bipedal or quadrupedal, and what would be its body proportions”, Herve Bocherens, a researcher at Tübingen University in Germany, said.
Its closest modern cousin is the orangutan, but whether Gigantopithecus had the same golden-red hue, or was black like a gorilla, is unknown.
Examining slight variations in carbon isotopes found in tooth enamel, Bocherens and an international team of scientists showed that the primordial King Kong lived only in the forest, was a strict vegetarian and probably wasn’t crazy about bamboo.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Gigantopithecus, a giant gorilla that looks like King Kong, disappeared 100,000 years ago from the surface of the Earth due to the inability to adapt to environmental changes, according to scientists. Photograph: H. Bocherens/AFP/Getty Images
These narrow preferences did not pose a problem for Gigantopithecus until Earth was struck by a massive ice age during the Pleistocene epoch, which stretched from about 2.6m to 12,000 years ago.
That’s when nature, evolution – and perhaps a refusal to try new foods – conspired to doom the giant ape, Bocherens said.
“Due to its size, Gigantopithecus presumably depended on a large amount of food,” he said.
“When during the Pleistocene, more and more forested area turned into savannah landscapes, there was simply an insufficient food supply.”
And yet, according to the study, other apes and early humans in Africa that had comparable dental gear were able to survive similar transitions by eating the leaves, grass and roots offered by their new environments.
But for some reason, Asia’s giant ape – which was probably too heavy to climb trees, or swing in their branches – did not make the switch.
“Gigantopithecus probably did not have the same ecological flexibility and possibly lacked the physiological ability to resist stress and food shortage,” notes the study, which is to be published in a specialist journal, Quaternary International.
Whether the mega-ape could have adapted to a changing world but didn’t, or whether it was doomed by climate and its genes, is probably one mystery that will never be solved.
• The picture caption to the second image was amended on 12 January 2016. An earlier versions said the Gigantopithecus disappeared a million years ago from the surface of the Earth. This has been corrected to say 100,000 years ago.
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– The world may not have had a King Kong as Hollywood imagined him to be, but the next best thing was a creature called Gigantopithecus that roamed 100,000 years ago. The largest ape known to man stood some 9 feet tall and weighed half a ton, gorging on fruit in what used to be semi-tropical forests of Southeast Asia, explains AFP. As it turns out, the giant ape's demise had nothing to do with unrequited love and everything to do with its diet in a changing world, according to a new study. When the forests began turning into grasslands, Gigantopithecus ran out of food, say researchers. Other apes were able to adapt by adding grass, leaves, and roots to their diet, but for reasons that remain unclear, Gigantopithecus didn't make the switch. “When during the Pleistocene, more and more forested area turned into savannah landscapes, there was simply an insufficient food supply," says researcher Herve Bocherens of Germany's Tübingen University. "Gigantopithecus probably did not have the same ecological flexibility and possibly lacked the physiological ability to resist stress and food shortage." Fossil records for the ape are skimpy: A post at Laboratory Equipment notes that it wasn't identified until 1935, and then drew quick comparisons to King Kong because the movie had come out just two years prior. In the new study, researchers analyzed carbon isotopes in teeth and jaw bone fossils to conclude that the ape was a strict vegetarian that probably even shied away from bamboo. (Another famous animal—Darwin's finches—might soon be on the extinct list, too.)
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22:56
Ted Cruz said: “Barack Obama, in the first weeks of his administration, sent the bust of Winston Churchill back to the United Kingdom. If I’m elected president, Winston Churchill is coming back.”
WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN? THIS IS LIKE LISTENING TO A RADIO SHOW YELL A BUMPER STICKER AT A PRINTOUT OF AN EMAIL FORWARD. COULD THIS BE ANY MORE TRIFLING AND STUPID?
[Ed note: The bust was loaned to then-President George W Bush by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair and returned as a matter of protocol. A separate bust of Churchill, given to then-President Lyndon B Johnson, remains in the White House today.] ||||| (CNN) Marco Rubio showed why he spooks Democrats, while Ted Cruz tried to put a scare into Donald Trump during CNN's town hall Wednesday night.
The first three candidates to participate in the two-night event moderated by Anderson Cooper showcased their different styles of conservatism.
Ben Carson quoted Scripture to show how faith guides his politics. Rubio, the senator from Florida, told stories about the values he learned as a child. And Cruz, the senator from Texas, argued he's the most rock-ribbed of them all, saying he has defended conservative values throughout his private and public career.
Here are five takeaways from the town hall's first night:
Cruz attacks Trump
After a day of denouncing Trump on the campaign trial -- even calling a press conference to blast the billionaire businessman -- Cruz kept it up on the town hall stage.
Within the first minute of his appearance, Cruz unloaded on Trump, lambasting his history of supporting abortion rights, donating to Democratic candidates and filing what Cruz called frivolous lawsuits (including the one Trump is threatening to file against Cruz to challenge his eligibility to be president).
He slammed Trump's cease-and-desist letter aimed at an attack ad Cruz is running in South Carolina.
"It is quite literally the most ridiculous theory I've ever heard, that telling the voters what Trump's actual record is is deceitful and lying," Cruz said.
The fight with Trump has become all-consuming for Cruz's campaign in recent days -- a stark departure from the months the two spent courting each other last year.
Cruz attacked Trump while defending his own credentials as he argued that he's the candidate voters know will appoint right-leaning Supreme Court justices.
"Don't tell me you're pro-life. Tell me what you've done to defend the right to life," Cruz said.
His comments underscored his position in the race. Cruz feels he is within striking distance of Trump, and he's fighting for first place rather than reprising his debate-stage battles with Rubio, who polls show is currently in third, behind Trump and Cruz.
Cruz's performance showed why he was an effective lawyer. He touted fighting for constitutional freedoms his entire adult life, both as a government attorney and in private practice. He easily fielded a question about whether his Canadian birthplace calls his eligibility for the presidency into question, saying he's "never breathed a breath of air" as anything but an American citizen.
And he explained why many of his Senate colleagues, as one questioner said, don't like him.
JUST WATCHED Ted Cruz: Here's why people think I'm unlikable Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Ted Cruz: Here's why people think I'm unlikable 00:49
"I'll tell you why they say Ted is unlikable in Washington," Cruz said. "Because I'm actually honoring the commitments I made to the men and women who elected me."
Rubio on race
Rubio showed why he strikes fear into Democrats' hearts -- and he did it in a single answer.
Asked how he'd address racism, the senator from Florida showcased perhaps his most valuable skill: an ability to connect his life story and personal experience to his political values.
He said he has an African-American friend who is a police officer himself -- yet was pulled over "seven, eight times" over several years, without ever being ticketed.
"What is he supposed to think?" Rubio asked.
JUST WATCHED Marco Rubio addresses racism in America Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Marco Rubio addresses racism in America 01:03
When Cooper asked Rubio whether he'd experienced racism in his own life, the senator recalled being 7 years old in Las Vegas during 1980's Mariel boatlift -- a mass emigration of Cubans to the United States. He remembered neighborhood teenagers yelling at his Cuban-born parents to "get back on the boat."
"What boat? My mom doesn't even swim! She's afraid of water," he said, explaining his thoughts as a child, prompting laughter in the audience.
He spoke with ease and compassion about academic underperformance, "broken homes, dangerous housing, substandard housing" and other race-related challenges.
"A child that's born with four strikes against them is going to struggle to succeed unless something breaks that cycle," Rubio said.
Carson gets personal
It's becoming a go-to joke for Ben Carson at debates: He never gets enough time to speak.
But on Wednesday, without the buzzers, interjecting moderators and other candidates contending for talk time, he was able to delve more deeply into his life story.
The retired neurosurgeon used that time to talk about his mild-mannered demeanor and argue that -- despite GOP concerns -- it would help him confront a Democratic opponent in the general election.
JUST WATCHED Ben Carson on Christian values and role of government Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Ben Carson on Christian values and role of government 02:03
"I had a program at the hospital where I'd bring in 800 students at a time, frequently elementary students, and you would say, 'How are you going to be able to speak to 800 elementary students and keep them quiet?' You know what? By speaking softly. Because then they'd say, 'Oh, what's he saying?' And they would shut up," Carson said.
Carson also talked about his hobbies, saying he loves to shoot pool -- particularly with his wife, who can beat him.
"I like to win," Carson said. "And I'll tell you, it relaxes me. When I would come home from a busy day of surgery, I would shoot pool."
Straddling security and civil liberties on Apple
The town hall unfolded a day after the U.S. government won a key court ruling that would require Apple to unlock one of the San Bernardino shooters' iPhones -- a decision that alarmed both the company and advocates of civil liberties.
To varying degrees, the candidates backed the government -- even as they tried to acknowledge the powerful strain of libertarian politics in the GOP.
Cruz argued the company can't defy the legal process.
"Any time you're dealing with issues of security and civil liberties, you've got to balance them both," he said. "And I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can protect ourselves from terrorism and also protect our civil rights."
Rubio, meanwhile, acknowledged Apple's concerns that if it is forced to create a "backdoor" into its iPhones, it's possible a "criminal gang could figure out what the backdoor is."
"There has to be a way to deal with this issue that continues to protect the privacy of Americans, but creates some process by which law enforcement and intelligence agencies could access encrypted information," Rubio said.
He continued: "I don't have a magic solution for it today. It's complicated. It's a new issue that's emerged just in the last couple of years. But I do know this: It will take a partnership between the technology industry and the government to confront and solve this."
Rubio did, however, say the company will end up having to comply with the court order.
Carson said Americans "have to get over" their distrust of the government.
He called for a public-private partnership to address technical and cybersecurity challenges.
"So it's going to be a matter of people learning to trust each other, which means Apple needs to sit down with trustworthy members of the government," Carson said. "And that may have to wait until the next election, I don't know, but we'll see."
Battle of the bands
Carson digs Baroque. Rubio loves EDM (that's electronic dance music). And when Cruz calls his wife, he makes up new lyrics for "corny" songs.
As Rubio embraced EDM, which has grown increasingly popular among young people in recent years, he explained the genre for the conservative audience. He joked that "maybe people thought it was something else."
When Cooper asked Rubio if he's ever been to a rave, though, things really got good. An incredulous Rubio said he hadn't, and then added, "It's a Republican primary, Anderson!"
He joked about the tall black boots he once wore in New Hampshire -- which became the butt of jokes from candidates like Trump.
"I'm a little old to be going to a rave. Although I have the boots for it!" Rubio said.
Then he made the most conservative-sounding case in history for the often lyricless EDM, saying that "the lyrics are clean."
Carson's iPod likely doesn't have so much pump-me-up music.
"I primarily like classical music, particularly Baroque music," he said.
He said he used to have new doctors in their rotations learn about music in addition to medicine.
Cruz said he sometimes sings to his wife, Heidi, when he calls. "And I am a painfully horrible singer."
Cooper asked: "Is this punishment?" And a laughing Cruz responded, "I'm hoping it is sort of sincere and endearing."
"I actually don't sing musicals," he said. "I will sing things like, 'Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling, Heidi-tine.' Which is really corny, but I used to do it when she'd put it on speaker phone in her office, and embarrass her."
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– Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz took turns fielding questions at a Greenville, SC, town hall event Wednesday night, hosted by CNN's Anderson Cooper. It will be Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Donald Trump's turn on Thursday night. Some highlights from CNN, the Los Angeles Times, and the Greenville News: Ben Carson weighed in on the Antonin Scalia debate, saying that if he were in President Obama's shoes, he would probably nominate a Supreme Court replacement. "I probably would take the opportunity to nominate someone," he said. "Doesn't necessarily mean that person will be acted on or confirmed." The retired neurosurgeon, who quipped that he has probably taken more 2am phone calls than any other candidate, also addressed the issue of a "backdoor" that would let the FBI access the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. He said that there may be good reason for "people not to trust the government, but we're gonna have to get over that, because today we're faced with incredible threats." The Guardian reports that Donald Trump, appearing at a town hall event on MSNBC, took a harder line, saying it is "disgraceful" that Apple isn't helping and the company should be forced to assist investigators. Asked whether he had experienced racism, Marco Rubio recalled being 7 years old during the Mariel boatlift in 1980 and hearing his Cuban-American parents taunted with shouts of "Why don't you go back on your boat?" When the conversation turned to music, he said his favorite genre was electronic dance music, though when Cooper asked if he had ever been to a rave, he denied it, saying, "It's a Republican primary, Anderson!" Like Rubio, Ted Cruz said he was angered by reports that Obama is going to visit Cuba. He attacked both Rubio and Trump for claiming he had lied, saying they did so to deflect attention from their own records. "Marco followed the same strategy as Donald. He just screamed 'liar, liar, liar,'" Cruz said. "Truth matters." In a lighter moment, he sang a few bars of "I Just Called to Say I Love You" and "My Darling Heidi-Tine," which he said he sings to his wife when he calls.
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HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Rangers in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park have discovered the carcasses of 26 elephants at two locations, dead of cyanide poisoning along with 14 other elephants who were found last week, officials said Wednesday.
Patrolling rangers discovered the carcasses Tuesday, according to Bhejani Trust and the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority. Bhejani Trust undertakes joint animal monitoring and welfare work with the parks agency
Parks spokeswoman Caroline Washaya Moyo said 14 tusks were recovered from these elephants and others were not recovered. She said rangers found 16 of the elephants in an area known as Lupande and 10 others in Chakabvi.
Washaya-Moyo said no arrests have been made and investigations are in progress. Rangers recovered one kilo (2.2 pounds) of cyanide and are increasing patrols in the park, she said. Cyanide is widely used in Zimbabwe's mining industry and is easy to obtain.
"The poachers were probably disturbed by rangers on patrol, which is why some of the tusks were recovered. Cyanide poisoning is becoming a huge problem here and we are struggling to contain it," Trevor Lane, founder of Bhejani Trust and a leading wildlife conservationist told The Associated Press.
Last week, the parks agency reported that 14 elephants were poisoned by cyanide in in three separate incidents. In 2013, as many as 300 elephants died in Hwange park after poachers laced salt pans with cyanide.
On Monday, environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri blamed a ban on Zimbabwean elephant sport hunting by the United States for increased poaching.
"All this poaching is because of American policies, they are banning sport hunting. An elephant would cost $120,000 in sport hunting but a tourist pays only $10 to view the same elephant," she said, adding money from sport hunting is crucial in conservation efforts. ||||| It is an image that will haunt conservationists: one of Africa’s most majestic creatures lying dead on the ground as a white Western hunter poses proudly by its side.
Barely three months after the shooting of Cecil the lion caused global outrage , a German hunter has risked the wrath of animal lovers once more by shooting dead one of the largest elephants ever seen in Zimbabwe.
Mystery surrounded the identity of the elephant, which was estimated to have been between 40 and 60 years old, but had never been seen before in Zimbabwe’s southern Gonarezhou National Park.
But its tusks, which touch the ground in a photograph taken moments after its shooting, confirmed its exceptional nature, weighing an estimated 120lb each.
It was shot on October 8 in a private hunting concession bordering Gonarezhou by a hunter who paid $60,000 (£39,000) for a permit to land a large bull elephant and was accompanied by a local, experienced professional hunter celebrated by the hunting community for finding his clients large elephants.
The German national, who the hunt’s organisers have refused to name, had travelled to Zimbabwe to conduct a 21-day game hunt including species among the Big Five of elephants, leopards, lions, buffalo and rhinoceros.
“Individual elephants such as these should be accorded their true value as a National Heritage and should be off limits to hunting" Anthony Kaschula, Safari firm owner
The kill was celebrated in hunting forums around the world, where it was suggested he might have been the biggest elephant killed in Africa for almost 30 years.
Conservationists and photographic safari operators in the area expressed their outrage on Thursday night, saying the animal was one of a kind and should have been preserved for all to see.
Anthony Kaschula, who operates a photographic safari firm in Gonarezhou, posted pictures of the hunt on Facebook, said the elephant had never been seen in the area before but would have been celebrated by visitors and locals alike.
“We have no control over poaching but we do have control over hunting policy that should acknowledge that animals such as this one are of far more value alive (to both hunters and non-hunters) than dead,” he wrote.
“Individual elephants such as these should be accorded their true value as a National Heritage and should be off limits to hunting. In this case, we have collectively failed to ensure that legislation is not in place to help safeguard such magnificent animals.”
Unlike Cecil, the black-maned lion beloved by tourists who was shot by American dentist Walter Palmer in Hwange National Park using a bow and arrow in July, the animal’s origin was not immediately known.
It was speculated that he might have come up from South Africa, since there is no border between the Kruger National Park and Gonarezhou, which form part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park created by former South African president Nelson Mandela.
Some suggested that the elephant might be a massive bull called Nkombo, who was a satellite collared elephant from the Kruger who lost his collar in 2014. Nkombo was however spotted in the Kruger on October 3, making it unlikely that he would have completed a journey of several hundred miles in five days.
William Mabasa, of South Africa’s National Parks, said Kruger’s elephant experts were looking into the case. “If this elephant came up from the Kruger, he would have had to go through all the communities on the edge of Gonarezhou and someone would have seen him. It’s not possible.”
Louis Muller, chairman of the Zimbabwe Professional Hunters & Guides Association, said the hunter had only realised how large the “tusker” was once he had been shot.
"He told me when he and his client were stalking this elephant he saw the tusks were big but did not realise just how big until afterwards and he saw them close. He is going back to see if he can find the lower jaw and bring it back so we can accurately age this elephant,” he told The Telegraph.
"We checked everywhere and this elephant has never been seen before, not in Zimbabwe nor Kruger. We would have known it because its tusks are huge. There have been five or six giant tuskers shot in the last year or so, and we knew all of them, but none as big as this one.”
He said his organisation had suggested that unique elephants should be collared to protect them from hunting. “We have suggested before to all concerned parties that each elephant area should collar a few with biggest tusks, so that we do not shoot them,” he said. "Nobody responded to our suggestion last year. We believe this might now be taken seriously.”
The man who helped arrange the hunt, who did not want to be named, defended his client. “This was a legal hunt and the client did nothing wrong,” he said. “We hunters have thick skins and we know what the greenies will say. This elephant was probably 60 years old and had spread its seed many many times over.”
He said his organisation paid as much as 70 per cent of its hunting fees back to the local community and observed quotas for animals. “This is good for Zimbabwe and good for local people,” he said. “It’s not uncommon for hunters to spend $100,000 (£64,551) each trip.”
Meanwhile Zimbabwe National Parks has called for stiffer penalties for poachers following the discovery on Tuesday of 26 more elephant carcasses that died of cyanide poisoning at two different locations in the Hwange National Park.
Cyanide poisoning is a growing problem in the country since a mass poisoning in October 2013 resulted in up to 100 deaths.
The 26 elephants were discovered by rangers following another discovery last week of 14 other elephants, also poisoned to death by cyanide. ||||| Story highlights An elephant with massive tusks was killed recently in a legal hunt just outside a national park in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe has lost 26 elephants to poachers using cyanide in the past month
(CNN) This time it is not a lion named Cecil, but an unnamed "tusker" elephant whose death is causing controversy.
Photos: Save the elephants Photos: Save the elephants Save the elephants – Elephants, particularly in Africa, have long been the target of poachers, who look for a quick profit on ivory from their tusks at the expense of a global treasure, says paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey Hide Caption 1 of 5 Photos: Save the elephants Save the elephants – A single tusk from an elephant can bring $30,000, says Leakey. Between 2010 and 2012, some 40,000 elephants were illegally killed each year, according to research published this year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Hide Caption 2 of 5 Photos: Save the elephants Save the elephants – A Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) ranger stands guard over an ivory haul seized as it transited through Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Nairobi. In 1989, Leakey, then head of the Kenya Wildlife Services, arranged for a very public burning of 12 tons of ivory in Kenya to discourage trafficking and reduce demand. Hide Caption 3 of 5 Photos: Save the elephants Save the elephants – A study earlier this year showed that more African elephants are being killed each year than being born. Nations, states, cities should ban the ivory trade, says Leakey, and individuals should stop buying items of any kind that have ivory in them. Hide Caption 4 of 5 Photos: Save the elephants Save the elephants – The fight to save the elephants "shows that we cherish the world and appreciate its complexities," says Leakey. "It's essential to preserving the biodiversity of our world and to continuing our ongoing understanding of its evolution -- how we became what we are today." Hide Caption 5 of 5
Conservationists estimate it is one of the largest tuskers they have seen in the region in 50 years, each tusk estimated to weigh around 55 kilograms (120 pounds). It's so large it looks prehistoric, almost like a wooly mammoth.
One of the tusks of the killed elephant.
The hunt that killed this elephant was completely legal. It followed all the regulations and paperwork. In Zimbabwe, like Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique and other countries, controlled hunting is legal.
How it often works is that a professional hunter will bid for a quota of animals from the government. For example: six elephants, four buffaloes, two lions, and smaller game such as gazelles.
But there are restrictions. Hunters can't kill endangered animals, and certain ethical considerations prevail. It's considered unethical, for example, to hunt a young bull elephant who can probably still mate. However, it's illegal to kill young females that could be nursing a baby.
Read More
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– A disturbing number of elephants have been killed in Zimbabwe in recent weeks, including the biggest one seen in decades. An enormous bull elephant was killed on Oct. 8 just outside a national park by a German hunter who had paid $60,000 for a permit, the Telegraph reports. (The link has an image of the elephant.) Conservationists tell CNN that with tusks that weighed around 120 pounds each, the elephant was one of the biggest to be seen in the region for 50 years—and if it hadn't been shot, it could have become a tourist attraction worth a lot more than $60,000. The hunter, who has not been identified, was on a 21-day hunt that also included leopards, lions, buffalo, and rhinoceros, according to the Telegraph. The chairman of Zimbabwe's hunters and guides association tells the Telegraph that the elephant had not been seen in the country before and it was bigger than any of the other five or six "giant tuskers" shot over the last year. He says the client didn't realize just how big the elephant was until it was shot, and he suggests that authorities start collaring unique elephants if they don't want hunters to shoot them. Elsewhere in Zimbabwe, the bodies of 26 elephants that poachers had poisoned with cyanide were found this week, the AP reports. Another 14 were killed in three separate incidents last week and no arrests have been made, authorities say. (The American dentist who killed Cecil the lion appears to be in the clear.)
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Iris Grace, who lives with her family in Leicestershire, began painting last year, and has already been praised by buyers, collectors and galleries for her work's intense colour, immediacy, and open composition.
Her paintings are sold to private art collectors in the UK and around the world for thousands of pounds each, with all profits going towards art materials and therapy.
Arabella Carter-Johnson, Iris’s mother, said that Iris loves being outside and that she can see “so much of nature in her paintings”.
Iris with her cat Thula “She will watch water, trees, wind, leaves, flowers, birds, clouds… she is so interested in movement and how it changes things.”
She added that Iris is “very musical” and has been since she was a baby.
“It was the one thing that always calmed her,” she said. “Iris is particularly into classical music at the moment and knows all of the orchestra instruments. She adores the violin.”
Iris’s cat Thula is another source of inspiration, and features regularly in her work, such as her painting ‘Raining Cats’.
'Raining Cats' by Iris Grace “There have been a lot of references to Monet because of the Impressionistic style. We have had many artists, dealers and galleries contact us who are very complimentary about her work which is lovely,” Iris's mother said.
“For us though the joy that Iris gets from creating her pieces is the highlight, how it changes her mood, how happy it makes her.”
Due to a lack of awareness, people with autism and their friends, family and carers often struggle to explain just how strong an impact it can have on a person’s life. Iris's mother said that her daughter had great success with play therapy, music therapy, and now a new form of speech therapy which uses video, created by a company called Gemiini.
“By following Iris’s interests, her ‘spark’, I have been able to engage her in many things,’ Iris's mother said.
"We have started our own activity club that supports children with autism, and run that every Saturday morning."
Iris at work Celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher have shared Iris’s work on social media, while three-time BAFTA award winner Olivia Colman showed her support by reading a poem for a video about Iris.
Several high-profile figures are active in raising awareness of autism, including actor Daniel Radcliffe, who is a patron for the Autism Research Trust.
“I am sure his [Ashton Kutcher’s] post has had a huge impact, said Iris's mother. "Our society now is so interested in what celebrities say or do that any comments from them will undoubtedly raise awareness."
You can learn more about Iris's work on her website ||||| When Iris Grace Halmshaw's parents introduced her to painting, they were hoping the activity would be a fun diversion and a way to get their autistic child to express herself.
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But as soon as Iris picked up a brush, her parents were blown away by how she approached the painting. She shied away from doing simple paintings of houses or smiling stick figures and, instead, created colorful abstract pieces that appeared to express deep emotion.
“It was on her first painting I noticed a difference in her painting compared with how you would normally expect a child to paint,” Iris’ mom, Arabella Carter-Johnson, wrote to ABC News in an email. "She filled the page with colour but with thought and consideration. ... We didn't think [too] much of it at the time, we were just so happy to have found an activity that brought her so much joy."
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When her parents shared her artwork online, people started to contact them and ask to purchase prints. When the parents started to sell her work online, Iris' name and work grabbed headlines and high prices.
Last summer, several of Iris’ paintings were sold individually for as much as 1,500 pounds and the pint-size painter has nearly 90,000 likes on Facebook.
But as Iris’ work grabbed the spotlight, the family also focused on protecting her and keeping her day-to-day life stable.
“We are trying to keep our lives as normal as possible for Iris, so our same routine continues,” wrote Carter-Johnson. "I am educating her at home and this week we have been concentrating on animals, so nothing has changed in Iris's world."
Courtesy Arabella Carter-Johnson
While Iris’ parents say her autism likely helped her to create incredible artwork, it can also make her anxious around new people and she had trouble speaking until recently. While her art has been a way to express herself, her parents are careful not to overwhelm the 5-year-old.
“She has a fantastic concentration span but as her parent and educator I have to keep an eye on that and help her move onto other things,” said Carter-Johnson. “I can see nature in her paintings, water, trees, flowers, and also we can see Thula her cat in many of them.”
Courtesy Arabella Carter-Johnson
The family decided to sell Iris’ paintings both as a way to fund her private therapists and to raise awareness about her condition. According to the family, all the profits from Iris’ work will go to pay for her art materials and her ongoing private therapists. The money also goes to a savings account for Iris and to fund a club for autistic children run out of the Halmshaw home called the Little Explorers Activity Club.
After Iris was introduced to art, Carter-Johnson said, her daughter can now express herself in other ways besides speech or words. Iris’ mother said Iris can get lost in her work and spend as long as two hours painting her abstract pieces.
“She has an understanding of colours and how they interact with each other,” wrote Iris’ parents on a website dedicated to her work. “She beams with excitement and joy when I get out the paints, it lifts her mood everytime.”
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– When Iris Grace Halmshaw's parents first supplied their daughter with painting supplies, they hoped it would be a fun way for the autistic girl to express herself. But instead of stick figures, Iris Grace immersed herself in abstract impressionist painting for hours at a time, often depicting movement in nature such as water, trees, wind, birds, and of course her cat, Thula. Now 5, Iris Grace is already selling her paintings for thousands of dollars a print, with art collectors and galleries gushing over the vibrancy and openness of her work, reports the Independent. "She is so interested in movement and how it changes things," her mother tells the paper, noting her daughter has received "a lot of references to Monet because of the Impressionistic style." It all started simply enough, with her parents opting to share their daughter's early works online. Now Iris Grace has more than 95,000 likes on Facebook, and the proceeds from her art help fund her art supplies and private therapy for her disorder, which made it difficult for her to speak until recently. Meanwhile, her mother tells ABC News they have to shield their daughter from all the attention and keep her schedule as stable and routine as possible. "Nothing has changed in Iris' world," notes her mom. (One biochemist claims to have cured her daughter of autism by removing this from her diet.)
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Parasailing Russian donkey 'unhurt after flight'
MOSCOW — The Russian donkey who shot to international fame after flying high above the sea in a parasailing stunt has been located and is physically unscathed after her trauma, police said on Thursday.
The donkey ended up in the skies above the Sea of Azov in the south of Russia as a result of an impromptu advertising campaign by several entrepreneurs to attract holidaymakers to their beach, according to police.
The donkey had been examined by a veterinarian, who found that her half-an-hour-long flight over heads of holidaymakers last week did not inflict any physical damage, regional spokesman Igor Zhelyabin told AFP.
"The veterinarian has come to a conclusion that the animal is clinically healthy," he said.
The donkey's mental state however remained unclear.
Animal rights activists, who condemned the stunt as cruel, have said the animal must have been very distressed by the flight as well as a rough landing on the water.
Pictures broadcast on state television showed the donkey taken high into the sky by the stunt, frantically swinging its legs in panic as the speedboat circled around the water.
Zhelyabin said a decision on whether to open a criminal animal cruelty case would be made on Friday.
The owner of the donkey, who lives in the nearby town of Temryuk, however has told the authorities he does not see anything wrong in forcing his donkey to fly because the beachgoers "were having fun," Zhelyabin said.
Dina Goncharova, another local police spokeswoman, said police had confirmed that the donkey was a female.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More » ||||| Russian police have no plans to take further action against the owner of the famous “flying donkey”.
Investigators had been considering pursuing animal cruelty charges over the July 15 incident on the Sea of Azov.
But after a medical inspection of the donkey on Thursday concluded it was physically unharmed by its ordeal, charges will be dropped on Friday or Saturday, Krasnodar Region police told RIA Novosti.
Shackled to a parachute
The donkey was attached to a parachute and taken for a spin in the skies above the Azov beach village of Temryuk while horrified on-lookers claimed it was screaming in terror.
A motorboat was towing the parachute in what was initially claimed to be a promotional stunt for a local parasailing company.
On landing the donkey was dragged through the water and witnesses told RIA Novosti it was “half dead” when it reached dry land.
Police launched a search for the animal and its owner, finally tracking them down on Thursday.
International fame
The story made worldwide headlines – and Moscow News readers were quick to offer help and support.
From a potential new home in the Shetland Islands to healing vibes from Canada, messages poured into our offices.
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– The owner of a donkey that went parasailing over a Russian beach, terrifying both the animal and onlookers, will not face animal cruelty charges, the Moscow News reports. The donkey, a female, "is clinically healthy," a local official tells AFP, adding that the owner didn't see any problem with the stunt. But the news service notes: "The donkey's mental state remained unclear."
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Original member of the Beastie Boys, John Berry, died on Thursday (May 19) at the age of 52.
Berry passed away at 7:30 a.m. at a hospice in Danvers, Massachusetts, Rolling Stone reports. The outlet confirmed the death with Berry's father John Berry III, who said his son had suffered from frontal frontal lobe dementia that had recently worsened.
Berry began playing guitar in the band when it formed in 1981 with Michael Diamond (Mike D), Adam Yauch (MCA) and Kate Schellenbach in the New York Hardcore scene. He is credited for coming up with the name Beastie Boys and hosting the group's first practices and performances in front of an audience at his apartment.
In a speech written by Adam Yauch and read by Adam Horowitz (Ad-Rock) at the Beastie Boys' 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Yauch thanked Berry and his loft on 100 Street and Broadway "where John's dad would come busting in during our first performances screaming, 'Will you turn that fucking shit off already?!'"
Berry was the first to leave the Beastie Boys after playing on the band's first seven-inch EP Polly Wog Stew in late 1982, followed soon by Schellenbach. Horowitz came in to replace both members, creating the lineup that's well known today.
Rolling Stone reports Berry was a member of a number of other bands, such as Even Worse, Big Fat Love, Highway Stars and Bourbon Deluxe. ||||| STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — Founding Beastie Boys member John Berry has died at the age of 52.
His stepmother, Louise Berry, tells The Associated Press that Berry died Thursday morning at a hospice in Danvers, Massachusetts. She says Berry suffered from frontal lobe dementia and had been in declining health for several years.
His father, John Berry III, says Berry helped found the Beastie Boys in the early 1980s after meeting future bandmate Mike Diamond at the Walden School in New York. Berry III says the band used his Manhattan loft for their first practices and shows. Berry left the group after playing guitar on its first EP. His father says the band was becoming more professional and Berry "wasn't up for that rigor."
The family plans a public celebration of life in the fall. ||||| Th year 2016 has been a rough year for music, and the month of May is only making it worse for fans of New York hardcore punk. John Berry, founder of The Young Aborigines and the Beastie Boys, died of complications of frontal lobe dementia on Thursday morning.
John Berry Dead: Original Beastie Boys Member Dies at 52 https://t.co/CCWQI9wa1F pic.twitter.com/ziPaA6125z — Ana Sadela (@SadelaAna) May 20, 2016
Berry founded the Beastie Boys in 1981 with friends from high school and left the band shortly after the release of their first EP, Polly Wog Stew.
For those who don’t recall the Beastie Boys before they were named Billboard magazine’s top-selling rap group in 1987, here’s a bit of history.
It all began in the late 1970s at Walden High on New York’s Upper East Side. The progressive “hippie” school, as Michael Diamond described it to New York Magazine, was where he first befriended Adam Yauch, Jeremy Shatan, and John Berry. Kate Schellenbach, an acquaintance who would become an original Beastie Boy, attended nearby Stuyvesant High. Diamond was a drummer in the Walden school jazz band, but that wasn’t destined to last. Dante Ross, who later became an A&R executive at Def Jam Recordings, and future Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jennifer were also part of the close-knit crowd of punk rock kids.
Schellenbach and Yauch were the first of the bunch to test their rapping skills, playing Sugarhill Gang’s “Apache” while recording their own vocals on a Radio Shack cassette deck. Soon another friend, singer Sarah Cox, joined them, and they named their new group Triple Sly Crew. They never gigged or performed in public, but Adam Yauch did make buttons for the band.
Which bring us to the naming of the Beastie Boys. According to Darryl Jennifer, he and his unnamed associates “sold a little ganja” on Avenue A near the Ratcage Records store. Adam Yauch, Adam Horovitz and John Berry, while not described as selling herb, were often sitting on a nearby stoop. If and when police were seen in the area, the friends would call out, “Beast!” According to band legend, John Berry came up with the name Beastie Boys after such an incident, and Yauch made buttons commemorating the event shortly thereafter. According to the band bio at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the name stood for “Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence.”
In 1978, Michael Diamond left the Walden high jazz band and joined musical forces with percussionist Kate Schellenbach, bassist Jeremy Shatan, and guitarist John Berry to form the experimental hardcore group The Young Aborigines. Three years later, Diamond put down his drumsticks and picked up the mic, Schellenbach took over drum duties, and Adam Yauch replaced Shatan on bass. Diamond raps about being an “original young aboriginal” in the following YouTube clip:
Former WNYU radio host Tim Sommer told New York Magazine that in 1981, Diamond and/or Yauch often called in while his “Noise the Show” was on the air. With disguised voices, they’d demand “Play the Beastie Boys, play the Beastie Boys!” and hang up. At the time of the prank calls, there were a few “Beastie Boys” buttons floating around, but no Beastie Boys band, much less any Beastie Boys music to play. That changed later in 1981 when The Young Aborigines changed their name to the Beastie Boys and recorded a cut for a punk cassette compilation called New York Thrash.
John Berry’s loft at the corner of Broadway and West 100th Street was home to the first official Beastie Boys shows. As the band gained credibility, they played important punk venues including CBGB and Trudy Hellers Place, opening for The Misfits, Bad Brains, and Reagan Youth.
The Beastie Boys recorded and released Polly Wog Stew in 1981, after which Berry left the band. In later years, Berry played with Highway Stars, Big Fat Love, Bourbon Deluxe, and Even Worse, but never again achieved the fleeting fame that he enjoyed as a member of the brand-new Beastie Boys.
Beastie Boys co-founder Adam Yauch died from salivary gland cancer in 2012.
Original Beastie Boys member John Berry has died at age 52 https://t.co/yiaN0OoV2Q pic.twitter.com/LwRThyApVN — Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) May 19, 2016
RIP John Berry 1964-2016
[Photo by Dennis Brekke | Creative Commons | Cropped and Resized | CC by 4.0]
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– One of the original Beastie Boys—and the one said to have coined the hip-hop band's name—has died at the age of 52, Rolling Stone reports. Guitarist John Berry died at a Danvers, Mass., hospice Thursday, his stepmother, Louise Berry, tells the AP, noting that he had suffered from frontal lobe dementia that had been intensifying in the months before his death. Per his dad, John Berry III, Berry helped found the group in the early '80s with Mike Diamond when they were both students at NYC's Walden School, joined afterward by Adam "MCA" Yauch and Kate Schellenbach. The group's first 7-inch EP was Polly Wog Stew, and Berry left the band shortly after its release; his departure was followed by Schellenbach's, and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horowitz came in to replace the two of them, per Billboard. Berry's dad tells the AP that as the band started hitting the big time, his son simply "wasn't up for that rigor," which prompted his decision to leave. Billboard relays part of the Beasties' 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech, written by Yauch, in which it was revealed how Berry's dad would often burst into their early jam sessions, held in his loft, exclaiming, "Will you turn that f---ing s--- off already?!" In that same speech, Yauch acknowledged Berry's contributions to the band. Other bands Berry played in after his Beastie days included Even Worse and Big Fat Love. Berry's family says it's planning an autumn celebration of his life for the public. He's the second Beastie to pass: Yauch died of cancer in 2012 at the age of 47. The Inquistr explains how Berry came up with the band's name.
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A Toronto-based doom metal band announced to its fans in the most brutally honest way that they will be taking an “extended hiatus” after the guitarist apparently slept with another band member’s girlfriend and “also our drummer died.”
Witchrot shared a photo of a smashed guitar and told fans Sunday the band is taking a break because it lost a crucial member but mostly because “the unfortunate reality of our guitarist f***ing my girlfriend of almost 7 years.”
READ MORE: Dave Grohl cooks up some BBQ for firefighters battling California wildfires
“WITCHROT will be taking an extended hiatus,” the band said on Facebook. “I however will continue the band in another space and time, being ripe with hate the music is slowly flowing and without a doubt will become the most devastating, torturous music I have ever created.”
The band, known for non-classics like Crypt Reaper, Druid Smoke Part i (The Keeper), thanked fans for their support.
“Stay heavy,” the band said. “Also our drummer died…” (possibly a Spinal Tap reference).
The breakup noticed spread quickly on social media with some suggesting it was nothing more than a publicity stunt.
READ MORE: Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose lashes out at Donald Trump for using band’s music
“Amazing publicity stunt, you had no posts before November 4th and your likes have jumped up by 30 – 40 in the last 7 minutes,” reads a comment.
“Kinda disrespectful to put the death of the drummer and I assume a close friend, as the afterthought foot note,” reads another.
“I have so many questions about the drummer,” reads another. ||||| Due to the unfortunate reality of our guitarist fucking my girlfriend of almost 7 years WITCHROT will be taking an extended hiatus. I however will continue the band in another space and time, being ripe with hate the music is slowly flowing and without a doubt will become the most devastating, torturous music I have ever created. Thanks for the support, stay heavy - Peter
Also our drummer died... ||||| They are now on an "extended hiatus"
As band breaks-up go, they don’t come much more dramatic than that of Toronto-based doom metal outfit Witchrot, who broke up at the weekend.
Described as “hex, drugs and rock-n-roll”, the band, who have a self-titled EP, posted an update on Facebook on Sunday (November 25) which alleged: “Due to the unfortunate reality of our guitarist fucking my girlfriend of almost 7 years, WITCHROT will be taking an extended hiatus.”
The post, signed off by an individual named Peter, goes on to say that he is “ripe with hate” and about to write some “devastating torturous announcement.” Then, as an aside at the bottom of the post, Peter wrote: “Also our drummer died.” Beneath the caption was a picture of a broken, smashed up guitar in the trash.
Sadly, it doesn’t look like Witchrot will be going on tour anytime soon – but Peter did leave a link to his other band, ‘Crazy Bones’, whose music you can listen to here.
Meanwhile, music fans have been reacting to the news on social media:
Witchrot are not the first band to go through a spectacular break up, though. Oasis, Fleetwood Mac, The Smashing Pumpkins and Rage Against the Machine have all had their fair share of messy break-ups in recent years.
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– Well, this is awkward. A Canadian metal band has broken up after two members of it were part of an infidelity triangle—dirty laundry that was aired very publicly. "Due to the unfortunate reality of our guitarist f---ing my girlfriend of almost 7 years WITCHROT will be taking an extended hiatus," band member Peter Turik wrote on Facebook alongside a picture of a broken guitar in the trash. "I however will continue the band in another space and time, being ripe with hate the music is slowly flowing and without a doubt will become the most devastating, torturous music I have ever created. Thanks for the support, stay heavy." In a fun twist, Sky News notes the band wasn't well-known before the message, but it is now. The post has been shared more than 13,000 times so far. "This is some Fleetwood Mac drama!!" gossip blogger Perez Hilton wrote on Facebook. People were talking about it on Twitter, too, declaring their newfound love for the band and calling the breakup note "epic." It got discussed on KROQ's morning show, and media outlets were referring to the whole thing as "spectacular" and "amazing," among other things. Witchrot took advantage of the attention on Twitter, retweeting some of the most excited sentiments and declaring, "We will only do an interview with @joerogan." (One YouTube power couple's breakup video became a phenomenon.)
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Tesla Motors shares continued to fall Thursday as the automaker confirmed a third fire in one of its high-end electric cars and a major auto reviewer pointed out problems with its Model S luxury hatchback.
The 9%, or $13.40, decline in mid-morning trading to $137.76 followed a 15% plunge in the shares Wednesday after the automaker said limited supplies of batteries were hampering sales and that it was spending heavily on research and development to design new models. Tesla shares have been on a run for most of the year, rising about 400% before this reversal.
Car shopping website Edmunds.com said its 2013 Model S was “making an ominous noise under acceleration and deceleration. It originates from the rear of the car and seems to be getting worse.”
PHOTOS: Tesla Model S
It is a complaint that’s also starting to show up on Tesla’s owners forum, an online discussion group hosted by the automaker for drivers of its cars.
“Mine had that and it got bad at 70 mph,” said one owner, posting under the “mortgagebruce” moniker.
He said Tesla had to replace the drive unit twice to fix the problem.
Tesla also replaced the drive unit on the Edmunds car, but declined to tell the company what caused the problem. It also replaced the driver door mechanism because of another problem. The car has just less than 11,000 miles on the road.
“We're not sure what to think about the fact that both of these repairs were completed with just one overnight stay,” said Mike Schmidt, Edmunds’ vehicle testing manager. “Maybe the dealer is really on the ball. Maybe the supply chain is short. Or maybe the parts are readily available because they've seen these before.”
Tesla spokeswoman Liz Jarvis Shean said she was not familiar with the Edmunds complaint.
Meanwhile, another Model S electric car caught fire Wednesday near Smyrna, Tenn., following a crash. This was the third Model S to have caught fire in the last five weeks. One burned near Seattle and another in Mexico. Both cars were in crashes and the fires injured no one.
Normally, car fires are not significant events that influence investors. There are about 150,000 annually, according to the National Fire Protection Assn. However, safety officials have been tracking fires in electric cars, as well as computers and other equipment, out of concern that the lithium-ion battery systems might be fire-prone.
Earlier this year, federal regulators grounded Boeing 787 planes for four months after batteries on two planes overheated, with one catching on fire. Boeing later ordered modifications to the jets to increase ventilation and insulation near the batteries, but the company and investigators never determined the root cause of the overheating.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reviewed the Tesla fire in Seattle and concluded it was caused by the accident rather than a vehicle defect.
Tesla said it contacted the driver of the car in Tennessee and noted he was not injured and “believes the car saved his life. Our team is on its way to Tennessee to learn more about what happened in the accident.”
“The problem is that we have three fires in six weeks,” said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book, the car information company. “For a company with a stock price based as much or more on image than financials, those recurring headlines are highly damaging.”
The Palo Alto automaker said Tuesday it posted a loss of $38.5 million, or 32 cents per share, in the third quarter. That compares to a loss of $110.8 million, or $1.05 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Now that it is delivering cars, revenue grew to $431 million from just $50.1 million a year earlier.
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What's behind Toyota settlement of sudden acceleration lawsuit ||||| 1 of 2. A Telsa Model S automobile destroyed by a fire is seen in a handout picture from the Tennessee Highway Patrol taken in Smyrna, Tennessee November 6, 2013.
DETROIT (Reuters) - Tesla Motor Inc's (TSLA.O) Model S electric car has suffered its third fire in six weeks, sending its shares down nearly 9 percent in Thursday midday trading.
The Tesla Motors Club website contains pictures and a story about another fire involving a Model S that a company spokeswoman confirmed. The accident occurred on Wednesday in Smyrna, Tennessee, where Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) makes the Leaf electric car.
While none of the drivers in any of the accidents were injured, the glaring headlines about fires was not welcome for Tesla.
"For a company with a stock price based as much or more on image than financials, those recurring headlines are highly damaging," Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Karl Brauer said.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said the risk of a formal investigation by U.S. safety regulators "could raise near-term concerns to a higher level in terms of cost, image and production disruption."
Tesla said it has been in touch with the driver, who was not injured. The vehicle was driven by Juris Shibayama, 38, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, according to the highway patrol.
"Our team is on its way to Tennessee to learn more about what happened in the accident," Tesla spokeswoman Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean said in a statement. "We will provide more information when we're able to do so."
The company said the fire was the result of an accident and was not a spontaneous event.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol said the afternoon incident occurred on Interstate 24 in Smyrna when the electric car "ran over a tow hitch" that "hit the undercarriage of the vehicle causing an electrical fire."
The Model S undercarriage has armor plating that protects the lithium-ion battery pack. Tesla said it did not yet know whether the fire involved the car's battery.
Tesla's battery pack is made up of small lithium-ion battery cells that are also used in laptop computers, an approach not used by other automakers. The battery pack stretches across the base of the vehicle. In comparison, General Motors Co (GM.N) uses large-format battery cells in a T-shape in the center of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid car.
Other automakers have dealt with battery fires in electrified vehicles, including GM's Volt and Mitsubishi Motors Corp's (7211.T) i-MiEV.
The highway patrol report did not say how fast the 2013 model Tesla Model S was traveling in Tennessee, but the driver was able to pull off the roadway and get out of the car. The incident occurred four miles from the exit for the Nissan plant.
A woman who answered the phone at the lot where the car was towed said Tesla officials had arrived Thursday morning and were inspecting the vehicle.
On Tuesday, Tesla forecast a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter profit and posted third-quarter Model S deliveries that disappointed some analysts.
The first Model S fire occurred on October 1 near Seattle, when the car collided with a large piece of metal debris in the road that punched a hole through the armor plate protecting the battery pack. U.S. safety regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration later said they found no evidence to indicate a vehicle defect.
The second fire took place later in the month in Merida, Mexico, when according to reports a car drove through a roundabout, crashed through a concrete wall and hit a tree.
Neither driver was injured in the earlier accidents and in all three cases the company said the owners have asked for replacement cars.
After the first fire, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk defended the safety performance of electric cars. "For consumers concerned about fire risk, there should be absolutely zero doubt that it is safer to power a car with a battery" than a conventional gas-powered vehicle, he said on a blog post.
Company executives called that first fire a "highly uncommon occurrence," likely caused by a curved metal object falling off a semi-trailer and striking up into the underside of the car in a "pole-vault effect."
At the time, Musk did not say if Tesla would make any changes to the Model S battery design as a result of the first accident. Jarvis-Shean had no immediate comment when asked if such changes were being considered.
Tesla's shares fell as low as $137.62 on Nasdaq.
Since the first fire, Tesla's shares have lost more than 27 percent and this week's declines are the worst one-week drop since May 2012.
(Additional reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Maureen Bavdek) ||||| Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA)’s third fire in five weeks involving a Model S suggests U.S. regulators need to examine the luxury electric car, a safety advocate said after a Tennessee accident.
Shares of the Palo Alto, California-based carmaker led by Elon Musk slid 7.5 percent to $139.77 at the close yesterday in New York after reports of the newest fire. That decline follows a 15 percent drop Nov. 6 after the carmaker’s third-quarter results and fourth-quarter outlook disappointed investors. It was the biggest two-day plunge since Dec. 27, 2010.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “absolutely has to investigate” the Nov. 6 Tennessee incident, Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, based in Washington, said in a phone interview.
A Model S driver struck a tow hitch in the middle of a lane on Interstate 24 near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, damaging the car’s undercarriage and causing the fire, Dalya Qualls, a Tennessee Highway Patrol spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. The driver pulled the car over and was uninjured, Qualls said.
NHTSA declined to investigate a Model S fire in Washington state in October, the first such reported blaze, in which metal debris was involved.
Source: Tennessee Highway Patrol via Bloomberg A firefighter works at the scene of an accident involving a Tesla Model S sedan near Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Nov. 6, 2013. The driver, identified as Juris Shibayama, struck a tow hitch that was in the middle of a lane, which damaged the car’s undercarriage and caused the fire, said Dalya Qualls, a Tennessee Highway Patrol spokeswoman. Close A firefighter works at the scene of an accident involving a Tesla Model S sedan near... Read More Close Open Source: Tennessee Highway Patrol via Bloomberg A firefighter works at the scene of an accident involving a Tesla Model S sedan near Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Nov. 6, 2013. The driver, identified as Juris Shibayama, struck a tow hitch that was in the middle of a lane, which damaged the car’s undercarriage and caused the fire, said Dalya Qualls, a Tennessee Highway Patrol spokeswoman.
“It appears there’s inadequate shielding on the bottom of these vehicles,” Ditlow said. “Road debris is a known hazard to the undercarriage of vehicles.”
The U.S. agency “will contact the local authorities who are looking into the incident to determine if there are vehicle safety implications that merit agency action,” Karen Aldana, a spokeswoman for NHTSA, said in an e-mail.
Tesla Team
Liz Jarvis-Shean, a Tesla spokeswoman, declined to comment on Ditlow’s remarks and on whether the company needed to strengthen the aluminum casing that houses the 1,000-pound (454-kilogram) lithium-ion battery that powers the Model S.
“We have been in contact with the driver, who was not injured and believes the car saved his life,” Jarvis-Shean said in an earlier e-mail. “Our team is on its way to Tennessee to learn more about what happened in the accident. We will provide more information when we’re able to do so.”
Tesla, the best-performing automotive stock this year, has been under scrutiny as Chief Executive Officer Musk works to create the world’s biggest and most profitable seller of electric cars. Even with this week’s declines, Tesla shares have surged more than fourfold this year after reporting its first quarterly profits.
‘Rocket Science’
The Washington state Model S fire took place Oct. 1, and another occurred in Mexico in mid-October. NHTSA said Oct. 24 it found no evidence the first fire resulted from defects or violations of U.S. safety standards. The agency has said it doesn’t investigate vehicle accidents outside the U.S.
A possible fix for the Model S, priced from $70,000 to more than $100,000, “is not rocket science,” Ditlow said. “Probably the simplest task Tesla has is putting a strong steel shield on the bottom of the car.”
The Model S has “a six-millimeter thick armor plate on the bottom,” Musk told Bloomberg Television last month.
A U.S. investigation or recall of the Model S “could raise near-term concerns to a higher level in terms of cost, image and production disruption to Tesla,” Adam Jonas, an analyst for Morgan Stanley, said in a research report yesterday.
“We would be very surprised if Tesla has not already launched its own investigation into the cause of battery compartment intrusion to explore causes and potential remedies,” said Jonas, who rates the stock overweight. A voluntary recall “would be consistent with Tesla’s extraordinary efforts to build brand value and trust.”
Battery Issues
Lithium-ion batteries have come into widespread use in laptop computers, consumer electronics, rechargeable cars and hybrids, and even aircraft, owing to their lighter weight and high energy density.
Tesla isn’t the first company to experience battery pack-related fires. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of Boeing Co. (BA)’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft this year after meltdowns of lithium-ion batteries.
NHTSA formally investigated fires in two other battery-powered vehicles, General Motors Co. (GM)’s Chevrolet Volt and Fisker Automotive Inc.’s Karma.
GM conducted a voluntary program to strengthen the Volt’s battery pack. Fisker, which stopped making plug-in Karmas more than a year ago, issued recalls to fix flawed lithium-ion packs at risk of shutting down and for a separate wiring issue linked to a fire.
Tesla’s Image
Multiple reports of battery fires may harm Tesla’s image, said Karl Brauer, an industry analyst for Kelley Blue Book in Irvine, California.
“At some point the cause of the fire, the safety of the drivers and even the attitude of the owners -- all three apparently want another car -- stops mattering because you’re left with recurring headlines featuring the words ‘Tesla’ and ‘fire,’” Brauer said.
“For a company with a stock price based as much or more on image than financials, those recurring headlines are highly damaging,” he said.
Musk’s net worth has more than tripled this year to $7.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Share declines yesterday for both Tesla and SolarCity Corp., another Musk-affiliated company, cut his wealth by $576.8 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Musk is Tesla’s largest shareholder. Daimler AG and Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) are also investors in the company.
The Tennessee Model S fire was first reported on the ValueWalk website, which cited photos of the car fire posted on the Tesla Motors Club forum website.
To contact the reporters on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at [email protected]; Angela Greiling Keane in Washington at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at [email protected]
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– This would qualify as a bad day for Elon Musk and his Tesla Motors. The electric-car company got a spate of bad publicity after reports emerged of a third car fire in six weeks, reports Reuters. The company's stock slid nearly 8% on the news, which wasn't helped by a negative national review at Edmunds, notes the LA Times. As for the fire: The driver of a Model S in Tennessee ran over a tow hitch on an interstate, and the resulting damage to the undercarriage led to the fire. The driver pulled over and escaped unhurt. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “absolutely has to investigate," the director of an auto safety group tells Bloomberg. “It appears there’s inadequate shielding on the bottom of these vehicles." The negative review, meanwhile, complained that the Model S tested was “making an ominous noise under acceleration and deceleration. It originates from the rear of the car and seems to be getting worse.” Tesla then replaced the drive unit on the vehicle, along with a mechanism on the driver-side door. "We're not sure what to think about the fact that both of these repairs were completed with just one overnight stay,” says an Edmunds official. “Maybe the dealer is really on the ball. Maybe the supply chain is short. Or maybe the parts are readily available because they've seen these before.”
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Outsourcing has been a reality in the American workplace for years now, but we haven't heard of an employee outsourcing his entire job — until now. According to the BBC, a software engineer was apparently outsourcing his entire job to China by paying a fifth of his six-figure salary to a local firm in Shenyang who handled his job for him. The employee reportedly did this through a "fairly standard" VPN connection that was set up to allow employees to work from home. The man actually mailed his RSA security token to China so that workers there could log in to his account, and on the surface it seemed as if he was performing a normal day's work. However, further scrutiny revealed the connection to China, which at first was believed to be malware. Furthermore, a Verizon investigator told the BBC that evidence "suggested he had the same scam going across multiple companies in the area." It seems this was less a case of sheer laziness and more a case of someone using cheap foreign labor to pull off a fairly involved scam.
It seems this news is a bit of a case of life imitating art — check out this 2009 video from The Onion.
Update: An earlier version of this article mistaken said that the software engineer worked for Verizon. His employeer is unknown; Verizon was asked to audit the connection and discovered the link to China. ||||| Posted on 16 January 2013.
Log analysis can reveal a lot of security mistakes and fails, but a lot of security sins, too.Take for example the incident recently shared by Verizon's Risk Team: called in by a critical infrastructure company to investigate what seemed to be a breach of its networks by the hands of Chinese-based hackers, they ended up discovering a complex scam perpetrated by one of the company's most respected employees."We received a request from a US-based company asking for our help in understanding some anomalous activity that they were witnessing in their VPN logs. This organization had been slowly moving toward a more telecommuting oriented workforce, and they had therefore started to allow their developers to work from home on certain days. In order to accomplish this, they’d set up a fairly standard VPN concentrator approximately two years prior to our receiving their call," explains Verizon's Andrew Valentine.The company started monitoring logs being generated at the VPN concentrator, and discovered an open and active VPN connection from Shenyang, China, to one of their employees' workstation. What's more, they discovered evidence of the same VPN connection being established almost every day for months before.Fearing that some unknown malware was used to route traffic from a trusted internal connection to China and back - this being the only way they could explain themselves the fact that the VPN connection from China was successfully authenticated - they called in Verizon's team to investigate."Central to the investigation was the employee himself, the person whose credentials had been used to initiate and maintain a VPN connection from China," shares Valentine.He was a mid-40’s software developer versed in a number of programming languages, a family man, and an employee of the firm for quite a long time. He was "inoffensive and quiet", "someone you wouldn’t look at twice in an elevator."But, as it turned out, he wasn't as inoffensive as they believed at first glance.After having analyzed a forensic image of the employee’s desktop workstation and having found on the computer hundreds ofinvoices from a third party contractor/developer in Shenyang, they came to the shocking conclusion: the employee - whom they dubbed "Bob" - had only been pretending to work. In reality, he had outsourced his job."Bob spent less that one fifth of his six-figure salary for a Chinese firm to do his job for him. Authentication was no problem, he physically FedExed his RSA token to China so that the third-party contractor could log-in under his credentials during the workday. It would appear that he was working an average 9 to 5 work day," Valentine writes.If you were wondering what "Bob" did with all his free time, the answer is surf the Internet. He spent hours upon hours browsing Reddit and eBay, watching cat videos on YouTube, updating Facebook and LinkedIn. He only stopped for lunch and took his time to fire off an update e-mail to management at the end of his "working" day."Evidence even suggested he had the same scam going across multiple companies in the area. All told, it looked like he earned several hundred thousand dollars a year, and only had to pay the Chinese consulting firm about fifty grand annually," Valentine revealed.But the most interesting thing to note is that no-one spotted the deception earlier. The company's Human Resources department consistently gave him glowing performance reviews because he apparently wrote clean code and submitted it on time."We have yet to see what impact this incident will have, but providing programming code used to run critical national infrastructure providers' systems to off-shore firms seems dangerous at best," Nick Cavalancia, VP, SpectorSoft commented the revelation for Help Net Security. "What many organizations fail to understand is that with proactive monitoring that can alert IT security teams when unacceptable online behaviors occur, this type activity can be thwarted before it becomes an incident."
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– Lots of us sneak peeks at Facebook or the web while at work, but one worker at a US company took the habit to a whole new level. A software engineer identified by the Register only as "Bob" outsourced his own work-from-home job to a Chinese subcontractor, then spent his workday checking out posts on Reddit and Facebook, bidding on eBay, and watching cat videos. It worked really well ... for a while. His company's HR department gave his performance high ratings, and he paid the subcontractor only a fifth of his salary. Eventually, IT personnel caught on after noticing that someone using the employer's credentials was logging into the company's system from Shenyang, China. They brought in Verizon investigators, who figured out the scheme. Bob had apparently outsourced other jobs, making hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit. Verizon's security team shared the details with the Help Net Security website. (A case of life imitating art? The Verge notes a 2009 video from the Onion with similarities.)
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Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| SYDNEY — Australians are popping more ecstasy pills than any other country in the world, according to the United Nations World Drug Report.
The global 2014 report shows the dramatic rise of all types of recreational drug users in Australia. The country is rated first for ecstasy use, third for methamphetamine consumption, fourth for cocaine snorting and seventh for cannabis smoking when compared with the rest of the world.
According to the report, ecstasy use is on the decline from previous years, but Australia is now seeing a dramatic “increase in the consumption of cannabis, cocaine, hallucinogens, and solvents and inhalants”.
Cocaine use hasn’t increased as rapidly as other illicit drugs, likely due to the high street price of the party stimulant - close to $AUD300 ($280).
Drug experts say economical and social conditions in Australia are contributing to the shocking rise of illicit drug use.
Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation president Dr Alex Wodak told News Limited the rise can be attributed to a new generation of cashed-up social users and also a growing underclass.
“There is certainly greater demand for drugs and that is likely because of economic and social conditions.
“People on one hand have more money to spend and on the other there are more people who are at risk — and those that are at risk are getting worse because of high unemployment, poor job prospects, lack of optimism,’’ Dr Wodak told the Daily Telegraph.
The report also reveals Australians are ranked second only to the US in the use of prescription painkillers such as codeine and morphine.
In the five main countries surveyed, the report claims illicit drug use among men is higher but the illegal use of pharmaceutical drugs “is nearly equivalent, if not higher among women”.
“Nearly all drug use surveys indicate that men are more likely than women to use drugs such as opiates and cannabis,” the report said. “However the gender gap shrinks when data on the misuse of pharmaceuticals are considered.”
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– They're not just drinking Foster's oil cans Down Under. According to the 2014 "World Drug Report" released by the United Nations and cited on Mashable, Australia claims the world’s highest proportion of ecstasy users, with a 3% prevalence rate. It ranks fairly high in other categories, too: It's third for methamphetamines and fourth for cocaine. The country’s cannabis cravings are slightly more mellow, drifting in at No. 7 in the report (Americans continue to out-toke the Aussies, with the US coming in second in that category behind ... Iceland, reports the Daily Telegraph). Perhaps most worrisome to Australian officials: the nation’s No. 2 ranking for individuals who abuse prescription painkillers such as codeine and morphine. The US takes the lead in that category. Drug experts are pinning Australia’s stats on "economic and social" issues: people with too much money, and those struggling in the face of high unemployment. The UN report notes that despite having the largest proportion of ecstasy pill-poppers, Australia is experiencing a decline in ecstasy use overall. Planet-wide, about 5% of the population between the ages of 15 and 64 used an illegal drug in 2012; 0.6% of the population falls into the category of problem drug user, per the report.
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By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter
(HealthDay)
THURSDAY, Oct. 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Special devices used during open heart surgery may have been contaminated with bacteria that puts patients at risk for life-threatening infections, U.S. health officials warned Thursday.
Some LivaNova PLC (formerly Sorin Group Deutschland GmbH) Stockert 3T heater-cooler devices, which are used during many open heart surgeries, might have been contaminated with Mycobacterium chimaera bacteria during manufacturing, the officials said.
People who have had open heart surgery should seek medical care if they have infection-related symptoms, such as night sweats, muscle aches, weight loss, fatigue or unexplained fever, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a news release.
The agency also said that hospitals and doctors should identify and inform patients who might have been put at risk.
"It's important for clinicians and their patients to be aware of this risk so that patients can be evaluated and treated quickly," said Dr. Michael Bell, deputy director of the CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion.
"Hospitals should check to see which type of heater-coolers are in use, ensure that they're maintained according to the latest manufacturer instructions, and alert affected patients and the clinicians who care for them," he urged.
Each year in the United States, there are more than 250,000 heart bypass procedures that use heater-cooler devices. These devices help keep a patient's circulating blood and organs at a specific temperature during surgery.
About 60 percent of heart bypass procedures utilize the heater-cooler devices that may have been contaminated with M. chimaera. In hospitals where at least one infection has been identified, the risk of a patient getting an infection from the bacteria was between about 1 in 100 and 1 in 1,000, the CDC said.
Current information suggests that patients who had valves or prosthetic products implanted have a higher risk of infection.
For more information, patients and doctors can call 800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636).
More information
The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more on heart surgery. ||||| In the spring of 2015, investigators in Switzerland reported a cluster of six patients with invasive infection with Mycobacterium chimaera, a species of nontuberculous mycobacterium ubiquitous in soil and water. The infected patients had undergone open-heart surgery that used contaminated heater-cooler devices during extracorporeal circulation (1). In July 2015, a Pennsylvania hospital also identified a cluster of invasive nontuberculous mycobacterial infections among open-heart surgery patients. Similar to the Swiss report, a field investigation by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, with assistance from CDC, used both epidemiologic and laboratory evidence to identify an association between invasive Mycobacterium avium complex, including M. chimaera, infections and exposure to contaminated Stöckert 3T heater-cooler devices, all manufactured by LivaNova PLC (formerly Sorin Group Deutschland GmbH) (2). M. chimaera was described as a distinct species of M. avium complex in 2004 (3). The results of the field investigation prompted notification of approximately 1,300 potentially exposed patients.* Although heater-cooler devices are used to regulate patients’ blood temperature during cardiopulmonary bypass through water circuits that are closed, these reports suggest that aerosolized M. chimaera from the devices resulted in the invasive infections (1,2). The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CDC have issued alerts regarding the need to follow updated manufacturer’s instructions for use of the devices, evaluate the devices for contamination, remain vigilant for new infections, and continue to monitor reports from the United States and overseas (2).
Whole genome sequencing was completed on isolates from 11 patients and from five Stöckert 3T heater-cooler devices from hospitals in Pennsylvania and Iowa, two of the states where clusters of infections were identified (2). Samples from heater-cooler devices included swabs from the interior of the device, water drained from the devices, and air samples collected while a device was operating. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified after comparing patient and device samples against sequence data from an M. chimaera reference isolate. Results from pairwise comparisons among all sequences across a core genome of approximately 5 million base pairs revealed a maximum of 38 SNPs between any two isolates related to the outbreak investigation, versus a minimum of 2,900 SNPs between any single outbreak isolate and the epidemiologically unlinked isolate (sequence files available from the National Center for Biotechnology Information: Pennsylvania isolates Bioproject PRJNA344472; Iowa isolates Bioproject PRJNA345021; epidemiologically unlinked isolate RefSeq Assembly Accession GCF_001307335.1).
These results strongly suggest a point-source contamination of Stöckert 3T heater-cooler devices with M. chimaera. A recent report from Germany noted that preliminary typing results of M. chimaera from heater-cooler devices from three different European countries were almost identical to samples obtained from the manufacturing site, further supporting the likelihood of point-source contamination (4). Additional sequence comparisons between patient specimens and device samples obtained from facilities from various regions in the United States are ongoing. Sequence comparisons between U.S. and European samples, as well as samples from the manufacturing site, could provide additional information for evaluating the possibility of point-source contamination at the heater-cooler manufacturing site. Efforts are currently ongoing to obtain and compare European sequencing results.
Although thousands of patients in the United States have been notified regarding potential exposure to contaminated heater-cooler devices, the number who were exposed might be much larger. Over 250,000 procedures using cardiopulmonary bypass are performed in the United States each year (5). Stöckert 3T heater-cooler devices represent approximately 60% of the U.S. market (2). CDC and FDA are continuing their efforts to increase provider and patient awareness of the risk. CDC has issued guidance on identifying patients at risk to ensure timely diagnosis and treatment of these indolent and often unrecognized infections (2). FDA is continuing to gather information, issue communications, and assess the situation from both public health and regulatory perspectives (6).† |||||
Patients who had heart bypass procedures, such as coronary artery bypass shown here, could be at risk for a potentially deadly bacterial infection linked to a piece of commonly used equipment, health officials say. (iStock)
More than half a million patients who had open-heart surgery in the United States in the past several years could be at risk for a deadly bacterial infection linked to a device used during their operations, federal health officials said Thursday.
Although rare, such infections may cause serious illness or death. The infection is particularly insidious because it is difficult to detect. Patients may not develop symptoms or signs for months after initial exposure.
In just the past year, at least 28 cases have been identified, with hospitals in Iowa, Michigan and Pennsylvania reporting infections. Numerous infections also have been reported in patients in Europe; some were diagnosed almost four years after surgery.
The device in question is a piece of medical equipment known as a heater-cooler unit, an essential part of life-saving surgeries because it helps keep a patient’s organs and circulating blood at a specific temperature during the operation. It is used in an estimated 250,000 heart-bypass procedures in the United States every year. About 60 percent of these procedures use the German-made model that has been linked to the infections.
The bacteria, known as nontuberculous mycobacterium, or NTM, are commonly found in nature and aren’t typically harmful. But NTM can cause infections in patients who have had invasive procedures, especially when they have weakened immune systems.
Symptoms of infection are often general, such as night sweats, muscle aches, weight loss, fatigue or unexplained fever. As a result, diagnosis can be missed or delayed, making the infection more difficult to treat. Treatment involves a specific antibiotic combination because routine antibiotics won’t be effective against the slow-growing germ.
[Researchers: Medical errors now third leading cause of death in the U.S.]
During the past year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration have notified hospitals and doctors about the potential link between the machines and infection. But recently completed genetic fingerprinting has provided the strongest evidence so far that the machines were contaminated at a single source — during their production in Germany. That means many more machines could be contaminated with the bacteria than have been identified so far, placing thousands more patients at risk.
Federal officials want to raise awareness of the issue among doctors and patients.
“Although thousands of patients in the United States have been notified regarding potential exposure to contaminated heater-cooler devices, the number who were exposed might be much larger,” according to a CDC report released Thursday.
In a statement Thursday, the FDA said information "strongly suggests" that contamination occurred at the production facility, affecting models made before September 2014. On Thursday, the FDA issued an updated safety communication to help health care providers prevent the spread of infection related to the use of the device.
The equipment in question does not come into direct contact with the patient or the patient’s blood. But the device has a water reservoir, and bacteria can grow there. During use, some of the water evaporates or gets sprayed into the air of the operating room. It can then get into a patient’s open chest during the surgery.
[What you need to know about those deadly infections]
In U.S. hospitals where the infection has been identified, officials say the risk remains low — between 1 in 100 and 1 in 1,000, according to Mike Bell, CDC deputy director of health care quality promotion. While these infections can be severe, and some patients in this investigation have died, officials said it's unclear whether the infection was a direct cause of death. Patients who had valves or prosthetic products implanted are at higher risk of these infections, the CDC said.
Medical devices have been implicated in infections before. In 2015, lighted tubes known as duodenoscopes that are used during surgery were linked to more than two dozen outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant infections that sickened at least 250 patients in the United States and Europe.
With both pieces of equipment, health officials say design flaws didn’t take into account how difficult the equipment is to clean.
[Tainted medical scopes have sickened hundreds in U.S., Europe, investigators find]
In the case of the heater-cooler device, “some smart engineer designed it because surgeons said they need to keep this cool and that warm,” Bell said. “But no one probably said, it needs not to have a fan because it wasn’t part of the calculation. The person who wanted this machine, they weren’t thinking about maintenance and repair.”
The risk of these slow-growing infections is much lower than the more common surgical site infections, according to the CDC and FDA. And for someone facing a massive heart attack or an aneurysm that is about to rupture, the risk of NTM infection “becomes vanishingly small in comparison to the very real concrete risk that those medical emergencies pose to a patient who needs surgery,” Bell said.
But the CDC wants any patients with post-surgical symptoms to be aware that if other explanations have been ruled out, “they and their clinicians need to think about” a possible NTM infection.
[1 in 25 patients has an infection acquired during hospital stay, CDC says]
There is no test to determine whether a person has been exposed to the bacteria. Infections can be diagnosed by growing and analyzing the bacteria by laboratory culture. But the slow-growing nature of the bacteria can require up to two months to rule out the infection, the CDC said.
To date, eight hospitals in four states have notified about 15,000 of their patients who underwent an open-chest procedure, in some cases going back to 2011.
WellSpan York Hospital in York, Pa. was the first hospital in the country to identify a cluster of NTM infections in July 2015. Hospital staff, working with the CDC and the Pennsylvania health department, reviewed all the facility’s open-heart surgery cases and sent letters to about 1,300 patients who may have been exposed going back four years.
Twelve patients have infections most likely linked to the devices, including six who have died, hospital spokesman Brett Marcy said. Those who died also had complex medical conditions.
The Stöckert 3T heater-cooler devices have been available in the United States since 2006, according to the FDA. The manufacturer is LivaNova PLC, formerly Sorin Group Deutschland GmbH. The FDA estimates there are close to 2,000 devices in the United States.
The company has received complaints about patient deaths related to NTM infections and the devices since January 2014, according to the FDA.
Last year, the company notified hospitals to update cleaning instructions for the machines. But the FDA found the new guidance to be inadequate for reducing the risk of infection. In December, the agency placed an import alert on the devices, to restrict the import of the devices into the United States.
These are the six hospitals that have reported infections in Pennsylvania, Iowa and Michigan, the number of at-risk patients who were notified, the number of patients identified with NTM infections, and the dates of surgery:
• WellSpan York Hospital – 1,300 notified; 12 cases; 10/1/11 to 7/24/15
• Penn State Hershey Hospital – 2,300 notified; 5 cases; 11/5/11 to 11/5/15
• Penn Presbyterian Medical Center - 1,100 notified; 4 cases; 10/1/13 to 12/17/15
• University of Iowa – 1,500 notified; 3 cases; 1/1/12 to 1/22/16
• Mercy Medical Center in Iowa - 2,600 notified; 2 cases; 7/1/12 to 7/1/16
• Spectrum Health Medical Center in Michigan – 4,500 notified; 2 cases; 1/1/12 to 11/10/15
Read more:
Q and A about those deadly heart-surgery infections
Despite being shamed for overcharging patients, these hospitals raised their prices, again.
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Scientists find new antibiotic in human nose may be effective against MRSA
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– A life-saving device commonly used in heart-bypass surgeries across the nation may have been contaminated during the manufacturing process, US health regulators warned on Thursday. Some LivaNova PLC Stockert 3T heater-cooler devices may have been exposed to Mycobacterium chimaera bacteria, most likely at the manufacturing plant in Germany, the Washington Post reports. According to US News, the affected heater-cooler devices are responsible for regulating a patient's blood and organ temperature during surgery. There are around 2,000 of the devices in the US, and they're used in an estimated 60% of the 250,000 bypass procedures carried out here each year, per the CDC. At least 28 infections have been traced back to the devices in the last year, with cases in Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Michigan, according to the Post. While the risk of this specific infection is low, especially compared to general rates of surgical infection, the CDC and FDA are attempting to inform hospitals whose patients might have been affected. The Post reports that in some cases years have elapsed before a patient was diagnosed with the infection, which can be fatal. Symptoms include night sweats, muscle aches, weight loss, fatigue, and fever.
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The University of Cambridge will use your name and email address to send you emails about University events open to members of the public. We are committed to protecting your personal information and being transparent about what information we hold. Please read our email privacy notice for details. ||||| HOSPITALS
28. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, CAMBRIDGE
The tradition that this hospital was founded by Bishop Niel of Ely in the reign of Henry I appears to have been started by Archbishop Mathew Parker (fn. 1) and to have no foundation. (fn. 2) The earliest direct reference to the hospital is a grant of protection to 'the house and brethren of the Hospital of St. John' in 1204. (fn. 3) In 1207 the king claimed the advowson of the church of St. Peter (later known as Little St. Mary's) against Herbert the chaplain, Reynold son of Alfred, William de Caldecot, and Ives de Pipestre; they showed that the church had descended to Henry son of Segar, who had given it to the Hospital of Cambridge, and the verdict was that the hospital should have it. (fn. 4) Presumably Herbert was the master and the other three were brethren of the hospital. According to an inquiry (fn. 5) made in 1274 the hospital was founded on a valueless piece of waste ground belonging to the commonalty of the town of Cambridge, with whose assent Henry Eldcorn erected a wretched hovel to lodge paupers. He later obtained from Bishop Eustace (1197-1215) leave for the paupers to have an oratory and burial-ground. Eustace himself conferred the church of Horningsea upon the hospital, and in return the burgesses gave the patronage to the bishop. The jury add that it happened so long ago that they do not know whether it was in the time of King Richard or King John. As the site of the hospital was within the parish of All Saints, which belonged to the nunnery of St. Radegund, Bishop Eustace ordained that every master appointed should swear not to receive any parishioners of All Saints to the sacraments, or to take oblations from them, to the damage of that church. At the same time three burgesses gave the nuns rents to the value of 3s. in recompense for the loss of the land, and for the right of the brethren to bury members of the hospital. (fn. 6) According to another return, made in 1279, the site on which the hospital and chapel stood had been given for that purpose by one Henry Frost to the burgesses, who ought to have been patrons but had been deprived of the right of appointing the master by Bishop Hugh de Northwold some 30 years previously. (fn. 7) The two Henries (if they are not identical) may have been acting on behalf of the inchoate commonalty.
The hospital may therefore be said to have been founded about 1200. It soon received endowments, mostly small gifts of messuages and crofts from members of burgess families. (fn. 8) At the head of the roll of benefactors (fn. 9) stood Bishop Eustace, who not only gave them the church of Horningsea, reserving a vicarage of £5, but also allowed them to appropriate the church of St. Peter. (fn. 10) Next stood the family of Mortimer: one of them, Robert, received from King John land to the yearly value of £5 in Newnham in 1206, (fn. 11) which he or his son William had given to the hospital before 1212, when the men of Cambridge were paying the £5, as part of their fee farm, to William for the land 'which the brethren of the hospital have'. (fn. 12)
A remarkable instance of the endowment of beds in the hospital is found when Hervey [Dunning] son of Eustace, who died c. 1240, gave to St. John's 7 acres in the fields of Chesterton, in return for which the master and brethren granted to him and his heirs two beds, with the necessary bedclothes, for the use of the sick in the stone house of the hospital. (fn. 13) Hervey's son Eustace gave the brethren his lands in Madingley, for which they agreed to maintain a chaplain of their house to celebrate yearly for his soul and those of his ancestors. (fn. 14)
In 1250 the hospital obtained a bull from Innocent IV (fn. 15) taking them, with their possessions and privileges, expressly under papal protection. The bull contains the usual clauses against violence within the inclosures or granges, of exemption from certain tithes and exactions, right of sanctuary, burial, and the saying of low mass with closed doors during an interdict, and another, important at this juncture in the history of the house, that the 'prior' must be elected according to the Rule of St. Augustine, which Rule, instituted in the church of St. John, was to be inviolably observed there for ever. This may be the Rule preserved in the college muniments, upon which the Rule of the Hospital of St. John Baptist at Ely (q.v.) was based.
The Rule begins by laying down that all the brethren, clerical and lay, are to live as Regulars, to eat together, and to sleep in one dormitory, if the accommodation of the house allows of this, otherwise the priests are to sleep in one building, and the laymen in another near it. There is to be silence in the chapel during celebration, and no one is to absent himself from mass or the Hours except for evident necessity. Every chaplain is to have 20s. a year for clothing money; each layman 13s. 4d., and the prior or master 40s. The master is also to receive a double portion of food and drink. All are to wear a habit of the same colour, and not to appear in choir or outside the gates without it. Sick brethren are to be used with all kindness, assigned a separate room where they can eat meat, and to enjoy such comforts as the means of the house allow. All occasion of acquiring private property is to be avoided. Quarrels are to be punished according to their degree. No one is to eat or drink outside the house without the prior's licence, and the bishop 'most strictly commands, upon their obedience' that they receive the sick and infirm with all kindness and mercy, except only pregnant women, lepers, the wounded, the paralysed, and the insane. The beds and bedding of the sick are to be inspected by the prior, or by some one deputed by him, and their food is to be as good as the house can afford. Above all, clerics as well as lay brethren are to obey the prior in all things concerning the good of the house, according to this Rule and the constitution of their Order. A chapter is to be held once a week: the brethren each and all are to go to confession to their own prior, unless they have an indult. (fn. 16) The Rule is to be publicly read in chapter twice or thrice in the year. Lay brethren are to say 20 Paternosters and 20 Aves for Matins, wherever they may be, 7 Paters and 7 Aves for each of the other Hours, and one Pater and one Ave for grace both before and after meat.
About the year 1267 Bishop Hugh de Balsham allowed the hospital to appropriate the vicarage of Horningsea and have the church served by a suitable chaplain sent out from the congregation of the hospital 'or elsewhere', because the house had suffered from depreciation of its property and from a fire, but also because of 'the great confluence of the sick and poor to your place'. (fn. 17) On 24 December 1280 he obtained the king's licence to make his famous experiment of introducing into 'his Hospital of St. John studious scholars living after the rule of the scholars of Oxford called of Merton', in place of the secular brethren. (fn. 18) Either because the hospital, to which there was constant resort of sick and poor, was found to be an unsuitable residence for scholars, or because his ideas had expanded, the bishop in 1284 took steps to remove his scholars to two hostels outside the Trumpington Gate adjoining the church of St. Peter, and thus inaugurated the first Cambridge college, Peterhouse. (fn. 19) The site of the college and the church, which he bestowed on his new foundation, belonged to the hospital, to which he assigned other lands and rents in compensation. There seems some evidence that the hospital occasionally received scholars as boarders, as in 1327 an order was made that food seized from forestallers and regraters should be given to the Master of the Hospital of St. John for the support of 'poor scholars and sick persons' there; (fn. 20) and this order was repeated in 1378. (fn. 21) The lay brethren displaced by Balsham do not seem to have been reintroduced and their place was apparently taken by boarders. Thus in 1377 when John de Stanton, rector of Rampton, died in the hospital, one of his executors was Richard Trukke, commorans in domo; and in the following year Christine de Luyton corrodiaria et prehendinans infra domum, and one Robert, formerly servant of John Segeirle, also described as prehendinans et commorans infra domum, died there. (fn. 22)
Although, as already mentioned, the Bishops of Ely had for many years appointed the masters, when William de Gosefeld resigned in January 1333 the brethren of the hospital, John de Shelford, John de Berton, Robert de Sprouston, and Alan de Hemmyngeston, announced to Bishop John de Hotham their choice of Alexander de Ixnyng, one of their number, and asked him to institute him as master. (fn. 23) This he did and took the opportunity to issue a letter, or ordinance, concerning future appointments, which was confirmed by John Crauden, Prior of Ely, and the convent, and on 2 March by King Edward III. In this, after denouncing the injuries done to the hospital and the cause of charity by some of the clerks who had ruled it, he laid down the rule that in future, on a vacancy occurring, the brethren should nominate one of their own number to the bishop. If it so happened that there was no member of their body suitable, then they should choose one of the brethren of the Hospital of St. John at Ely. If neither body could produce a fit candidate, then the bishop should appoint, but on future vacancies the presentation should revert to the brethren. (fn. 24)
The hospital seems to have been in a flourishing condition at this time, as in 1341 when assessment was made in Cambridge for the subsidy of a ninth of the value of movable chattels the master was rated at £9, (fn. 25) a sum only exceeded by the Prior of Barnwell (£13 10s.) and only approached by the Gilbertine canons of St. Edmund (£8 4s.). On 15 December 1341 the Bishop of Ely (fn. 26) gave a licence to Brother Alexander, Master of the Hospital of St. John, and to each of the brethren to say mass 'in a suitable part of the Hospital', a permission which suggests that the chapel may have been under repair; and on 16 February 1347, Thomas de Lisle, Bishop Montacute's successor, licensed Brother Alexander (fn. 27) to hear the confessions of the parishioners of Horningsea from the beginning of Lent to Easter. In April 1349 the Black Death fell upon the hospital. On 2 May Brother Robert de Sprouston (fn. 28) was nominated, admitted, and inducted upon the death of Alexander de Ixnyng. (fn. 29) The brethren named as taking part in this election are Alan de Heningeston, William Beer, Roger Broom, and Richard de Schetlyngton. Robert de Sprouston seems to have died at once, and Roger Broom was elected by the other three. (fn. 30) Early in June he too died, and on 28 June William Beer was admitted to the mastership, being elected by Richard de Schetlyngton and John de Swaffham. (fn. 31) It seems probable that Alan had also died, leaving only two of the brethren alive, and that John de Swaffham had joined the community during June. The Chancellor of the diocese, as one of Lisle's vicarsgeneral, installed William with all speed, seeing 'how much danger threatens the hospital through lack of a Custos'.
William Beer was master in 1362, when he and the brethren were licensed to receive from John de Seggewelle and Robert de Wynpole, rector of Kirtling, 3 messuages, 11 cottages, and 3 acres of land in Cambridge and some 30 acres in neighbouring villages. (fn. 32) This was probably a purchase for investment and not a pious gift.
On Friday 29 July 1373, Thomas de Wormenhale visited the Hospital of St. John. The chief comperta as regards discipline were that the brethren did not make their confessions to the master, as they were bound to do. It was also reported that the buildings were falling down for lack of repair. The master at this time was still William Beer. (fn. 33) It was not long after this that one William Potton entered the hospital, was professed as of the Rule of St. Augustine as a brother of the house, (fn. 34) and received sub-deacon's orders. After he had been there rather over a year, it was found that shortly before his entry he had married Agnes Knotte, widow of Ralph Clerk, at whose suit he was discharged of his religious profession and restored to her as her husband. (fn. 35)
In 1393 Pope Boniface IX granted a relaxation of penance to penitents who on the feast of St. John visited and gave alms to the church of the hospital; (fn. 36) and about 1470 Thomas Rotherham, Bishop of Lincoln, and Chancellor of the University, in view of the injuries often done to the hospital by laymen, extended to its brethren and servants the privileges of membership of the University. (fn. 37) At the end of 1477 the Pope commissioned the Archdeacon of Ely to deal with a petition of the master and brethren (here definitely said to be of the Order of St. Augustine) that masses for the souls of Sir John Moreys and his parents Stephen and Denise Moreys, for which the said John had given them lands producing 100s. yearly, might in future be said in their own church of St. John instead of in St. Botolph's. (fn. 38)
As a result of the extension of the privileges of the University to the hospital St. John's House ranked as a college, and as such was exempted from the subsidy of 1500. (fn. 39) By this time, however, the hospital was falling into decay; the brethren were few in number and lax in character, and the estates were in danger of being dissipated. (fn. 40) The Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII, having founded Christ's College, projected another scholastic foundation and was persuaded by John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, to place it here. (fn. 41) On 10 March 1509 she and James Stanley (her stepson), Bishop of Ely, agreed upon the conversion of St. John's into a college, (fn. 42) and although after her death, on the following 29 June, the bishop held matters up for more than a year, (fn. 43) when a papal bull suppressing the hospital had been obtained he gave his consent and wrote to 'the fellows of St. John's House in Cambridge' advising them to resign and promising that they should each have an annuity of 8 marks for life. (fn. 44) There were at this time, besides the master, William Tomlyn, only three brethren— Sir Christopher Wright, Sir John Ketenham, and Sir William Chandeler, none of whom, judging from the title 'Sir', was a graduate. (fn. 45) On 20 January 1511 the bishop's commissary handed over the hospital to the executors of Lady Margaret. (fn. 46)
?Herbert the chaplain, 1207 (fn. 48)
Anthony, occurs 1239-40 (fn. 49)
Richard, occurs 1246, (fn. 50) 1256 (fn. 51)
Ralph, occurs 1257, (fn. 52) 1261 (fn. 53)
Geoffrey de Alerheth (fn. 54)
Hugh de Stanford, occurs 1271 (fn. 55)
Guy, occurs 1274 (fn. 56)
Robert de Huntindone (fn. 57)
Richard Cheverel, occurs 1284
William, occurs 1299 (fn. 58)
John de Colonia, occurs 1321
William de Gosefeld, resigned Jan. 1333
Alexander de Ixnyng, elected Feb. 1333, died 1349
Robert de Sprouston, inducted 2 May 1349, died
Roger de Broom, elected May, died June 1349
William Beer, elected 28 June 1349, occurs 1362, 1373
Henry Brown, occurs 1377, (fn. 59) 1379 (fn. 60)
John de Stanton, resigned 1400
William Killum, elected Jan. 1401, resigned 1403
John Burton, elected May 1403
John Dunham, occurs 1426, died 1458
John Dunham, the younger, elected 17 Feb. 1458, died Dec. 1474
Robert Dunham, elected Jan. 1475, died 1498
William Thomlyn, admitted 19 Nov. 1498, last master
The 13th-century seal of the hospital (fn. 61) displays an eagle rising to sinister with its head turned back and supporting a cross-headed staff between its uplifted wings. Legend: SIGILL' OSPITALIS S' IOHĀNIS DE CĀTE.
The 14th-century seal has a similar eagle rising to dexter but without the cross-staff. Legend: IN PRINCIPIO ERAT VERBVM. ||||| The audience of an event at this year’s Cambridge Science Festival found themselves staring into the face of a fellow Cambridge resident – one who spent the last 700 years buried beneath the venue in which they sat.
The 13th-century man, called Context 958 by researchers, was among some 400 burials for which complete skeletal remains were uncovered when one of the largest medieval hospital graveyards in Britain was discovered underneath the Old Divinity School of St John’s College, and excavated between 2010 and 2012.
The bodies, which mostly date from a period spanning the 13th to 15th centuries, are burials from the Hospital of St John the Evangelist which stood opposite the graveyard until 1511, and from which the College takes its name. The hospital was an Augustinian charitable establishment in Cambridge dedicated to providing care to members of the public.
“Context 958 was probably an inmate of the Hospital of St John, a charitable institution which provided food and a place to live for a dozen or so indigent townspeople – some of whom were probably ill, some of whom were aged or poor and couldn't live alone,” said Professor John Robb, from the University’s Division of Archaeology.
In collaboration with Dr Chris Rynn from the University of Dundee’s Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification, Robb and Cambridge colleagues have reconstructed the man’s face and pieced together the rudiments of his life story by analysing his bones and teeth.
The work is one of the first outputs from the Wellcome Trust-funded project ‘After the plague: health and history in medieval Cambridge’ for which Robb is principal investigator. The project is analysing the St John's burials not just statistically, but also biographically.
“Context 958 was over 40 when he died, and had quite a robust skeleton with a lot of wear and tear from a hard working life. We can't say what job specifically he did, but he was a working class person, perhaps with a specialised trade of some kind,” said Robb.
“One interesting feature is that he had a diet relatively rich in meat or fish, which may suggest that he was in a trade or job which gave him more access to these foods than a poor person might have normally had. He had fallen on hard times, perhaps through illness, limiting his ability to continue working or through not having a family network to take care of him in his poverty.”
There are hints beyond his interment in the hospital’s graveyard that Context 958’s life was one of adversity. His tooth enamel had stopped growing on two occasions during his youth, suggesting he had suffered bouts of sickness or famine early on. Archaeologists also found evidence of a blunt-force trauma on the back of his skull that had healed over prior to his death.
Click on images below to enlarge:
The face of Context 958. Image credit: Dr. Chris Rynn, University of Dundee 1 of 4 Facial reconstruction of Context 958. Image credit: Dr. Chris Rynn, University of Dundee 2 of 4 Dr Sarah Inskip examines the skull of Context 958. Image credit: Laure Bonner 3 of 4 Context 958 buried face-down in the cemetery of St John's. Image credit: C. Cessford 4 of 4 Prev
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“He has a few unusual features, notably being buried face down which is a small irregularity for medieval burial. But, we are interested in him and in people like him more for ways in which they are not unusual, as they represent a sector of the medieval population which is quite hard to learn about: ordinary poor people,” said Robb.
“Most historical records are about well-off people and especially their financial and legal transactions – the less money and property you had, the less likely anybody was to ever write down anything about you. So skeletons like this are really our chance to learn about how the ordinary poor lived.”
The focal point of the ‘After the Plague’ project will be the large sample of urban poor people from the graveyard of the Hospital of St John, which researchers will compare with other medieval collections to build up a picture of the lives, health and day-to-day activities of people living in Cambridge, and urban England as a whole, at this time.
“The After the Plague project is also about humanising people in the past, getting beyond the scientific facts to see them as individuals with life stories and experiences,” said Robb.
“This helps us communicate our work to the public, but it also helps us imagine them ourselves as leading complex lives like we do today. That's why putting all the data together into biographies and giving them faces is so important.”
The Old Divinity School of St John’s College was built in 1877-1879 and was recently refurbished, now housing a 180-seat lecture theatre used for College activities and public events, including last week’s Science Festival lecture given by Robb on the life of Context 958 and the research project.
The School was formerly the burial ground of the Hospital, instituted around 1195 by the townspeople of Cambridge to care for the poor and sick in the community. Originally a small building on a patch of waste ground, the Hospital grew with Church support to be a noted place of hospitality and care for both University scholars and local people. ||||| This may look like a photograph, but the highly realistic face staring back at you belongs to a man who died over 700 years ago. The researchers who performed this unbelievable facial reconstruction say their work is providing new details about the way ordinary people lived in medieval England.
This 13th-century man—dubbed “Context 958"—is one of approximately 400 complete burials found and excavated beneath the Old Divinity School of St. John’s College in Cambridge, England, between 2010 and 2012. Back during the medieval era, this spot was home to the Hospital of St. John, a charitable institution set up to care for the poor and sick in the community. For centuries, the dead were buried in a cemetery right out back.
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The reconstruction of Context 958 is part of a collaborative effort between Cambridge University’s Division of Archaeology and the University of Dundee’s Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification. The Wellcome Trust-funded project, called “After the plague: health and history in medieval Cambridge,” is an effort to catalogue and analyze the burials in as much depth and detail as possible.
Based on an exhaustive analysis of his remains and the burial site, here’s what we know about Context 958.
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He was just slightly over 40 years old when he died. His skeleton showed signs of considerable wear-and-tear, so he likely lead a tough and hard working life. His tooth enamel stopped growing during two occasions in his youth, suggesting he likely lived through bouts of famine or sickness when he was young. The archaeologists found traces of blunt force trauma inflicted to the back of his head, which healed over before he died. The researchers aren’t sure what he did for a living, but they think he was a working-class person who specialized in some kind of trade.
Context 958 ate a diverse diet rich in meat or fish, according to an analysis of weathering patterns on his teeth. His profession may have provided him with more access to such foods than the average person at the time. His presence at the charitable hospital suggests he fell on hard times, with no one to take care of him.
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“Context 958 was probably an inmate of the Hospital of St John, a charitable institution which provided food and a place to live for a dozen or so indigent townspeople—some of whom were probably ill, some of whom were aged or poor and couldn’t live alone,” noted John Robb, a professor from Cambridge University’s Division of Archaeology, in a statement.
Strangely, he was buried face down, which is rare but not unheard of in medieval burials. Robb and his colleagues are fascinated by Context 958 and those like him. Their analysis shows what it was like to live as an ordinary poor person back then—warts and all.
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“Most historical records are about well-off people and especially their financial and legal transactions—the less money and property you had, the less likely anybody was to ever write down anything about you,” said Robb. “So skeletons like this are really our chance to learn about how the ordinary poor lived.”
Of course, facial reconstructions are only as good as the data they’re based on, in this case a highly-weathered skeleton. We can’t be completely certain that this is exactly what Context 958 looked like. But at the very least, it’s bringing his remains back to life. Work on other skeletons found at the site will continue, as the researchers are putting together a kind of biography of every individual studied. It’s a fitting tribute to regular folks whose lives would have otherwise been completely forgotten.
[University of Cambridge]
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– Gizmodo calls his face "haunting," but to UK researchers, seeing the mug of the man known as Context 958 is nothing short of astounding. His visage was revealed at the two-week-long Cambridge Science Festival this month, as were details about who he was: in short, a 13th-century working-class man who died in middle age, had apparently lived a life of indigence, and whose face was reconstructed by scientists based on his teeth and bones, per a Cambridge press release. Context 958's skeleton, analyzed as part of the university's "After the Plague" project, was discovered along with about 400 others between 2010 and 2012 in a medieval-era graveyard underneath one of the college's schools. The bodies, which date from the 1200s to the 1400s, came from the Hospital of St. John the Evangelist, which used to exist across from the cemetery. Context 958, who was found buried face-down in his burial spot, is believed to have been a few ticks older than 40 and boasted a "robust skeleton with a lot of wear and tear," which means he likely had a physically challenging job, says Cambridge professor John Robb. However, unlike others who lived in poverty, Context 958 appears to have chowed down on meat and fish, suggesting that he worked in a specialized niche that gave him access to this ample food supply. What makes the discovery of his body and others in the same demographic notable, Robb says, is that it gives researchers a chance to study how the poor lived in England more than 700 years ago. "The less money and property you had, the less likely anybody was to ever write down anything about you," he notes. (This living man's face was reconstructed using 3D printing.)
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VIDEO: New Jersey Ethics Official Resigns Over Ethics Violations, Berating Officer
This is a story about how a tinted window, an oversize license plate frame and some profanity led to the resignation of a state ethics committee chairwoman for ethics violations.
It started with a traffic stop in Tenafly, N.J.
Two officers pulled over a Toyota Corolla that police records indicate had tinted windows at its front seats — barred in the state — and a license plate frame that partially obstructed the Nevada tags on the car. It turned out the vehicle registration had expired and the driver couldn't show proof of insurance. So, following procedure, police called for an impound. The car's four occupants called for a ride.
Enter Caren Z. Turner, a Port Authority commissioner at the center of the scandal and mother of one of the backseat passengers.
Turner arrived on the scene demanding answers and flaunting her powerful connections. The full 15-minute confrontation was recorded by a patrol car dashcam. (Warning: The video contains profanity.)
When Turner was asked whether she was there to provide a ride for the stranded group, she replied, "I'm here as a concerned citizen and friend of the mayor."
Twenty-nine seconds later she flashed her gold Port Authority badge.
"Are you a commissioner?" Officer Matthew Savitsky asked.
"I am a commissioner of the Port Authority and I'm heading up over 4,000 police officers so if there's a problem ..." Turner trailed off.
At the time Turner was chairwoman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's Ethics Committee. She was appointed to the commission by former Gov. Chris Christie in March 2017.
"There's no problem," Savitsky responded calmly as Turner became more agitated. She continued to ask why the driver was pulled over.
Moments later Savitsky called her "Miss," and that set Turner off: "No, don't call me Miss. I'm 'Commissioner.' Thank you," she rebuked him.
Officers Savitsky and Thomas Casper proceeded to engage in a tedious argument with Turner. She insisted she had a right to know what led to the traffic stop while the policemen repeated the same refrain: that they were under no legal obligation to tell her because the driver of the car as well as the others — all adults — had already been informed.
Turner's efforts to persuade the officers to explain what had happened included exclamations of "Shame on you," "I'm disappointed in you" and more name-dropping.
"Do you know Lewis ... what's his name? [Unintelligible]?" she asked. The answer was no.
When Savitsky told her she was free to leave the scene, Turner said, "You may shut the f*** up."
She also called one of the officers "an ass" and said he had a "smug-ass look" on his face.
Upon learning of the incident, Port Authorities officials launched an investigation.
"The video speaks for itself. The conduct was indefensible," the Port Authority told NPR in a statement.
"The Board takes its recently adopted Code of Ethics for Commissioners extremely seriously and was preparing to form a special committee to review the findings of the Inspector General investigation and take action at this Thursday's Board meeting. Commissioner Turner's resignation was appropriate given her outrageous conduct."
Turner resigned on April 20 effective immediately.
"I have enjoyed my involvement in overseeing the critical work of the Port Authority and advancing values common to the residents of New York and New Jersey including the proposed improvements to the Port Authority airports and bus terminal, and the proposed increase to the minimum wage for airport employees," she wrote in her resignation letter. ||||| Flashing her commissioner's gold badge and boasting of her influence during a routine traffic stop involving her daughter, Caren Z. Turner demanded to know why police had pulled the car over and why it was being impounded.
Then she launched into a tirade at the two officers.
All of it was captured on camera.
Tenafly Police released a video Tuesday revealing just why Turner abruptly resigned last week as a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The video and a police incident report, both made public after requests by NJ Advance Media and other news organizations, showed Turner apparently seeking to leverage her influence, talking about who she knew, and complaining that the police had "ruined" a holiday weekend with the stop of her daughter and three friends on rural Route 9W in Bergen County.
Turner, 60, a Democratic lobbyist who served as the ethics chair of the powerful bi-state agency, could not be reached for comment Tuesday and the phone number of her Washington public affairs office has been disconnected. No one came to her front door when a reporter knocked on Tuesday.
Tenafly Police Chief Robert Chamberlain said he would let the video speak for itself.
The Port Authority, asked for comment, also referred back to the video.
"The conduct was indefensible. The board takes its recently adopted Code of Ethics for commissioners extremely seriously and was preparing to form a special committee to review the findings of the Inspector General investigation and take action at this Thursday's board meeting," said spokesman Benjamin Branham. "Commissioner Turner's resignation was appropriate given her outrageous conduct."
The Easter weekend incident led to an investigation by the Port Authority's Inspector General, after Chamberlain sent the agency a copy of the video taken at the scene, along with the incident report by the officers who had been on the scene.
According to the March 31 police report, Turner had been called to the traffic stop by her daughter, after one of the patrol officers ordered the car to be impounded when he determined its Nevada registration had expired.
"She demanded to be informed of what is going on and why they were stopped," stated one of the patrol officers in the report, who said Turner pulled out a Port Authority gold badge and identified herself as a commissioner.
The officer said "based on her demeanor, the tone of voice, the way she was presenting herself and the way she was attempting to misappropriately use her professional position to gain authority in this situation, I advised her to speak with the driver of the vehicle for more information."
The video shows her demanding to know why the car was stopped, and becoming increasingly frustrated when the officers refuse to give her any details of the summonses that were issued. When they call her "miss," she insists on being addressed as "commissioner."
The officer said he told her he was under no legal obligation to "fill her in" on what had transpired because all the occupants of the car were adults. He said "she became further enraged and began using profanity."
At one point, as the officer tries to end the discussion, she tells him: "You may not tell me when to take my child. You may shut the f--- up!"
The Saturday afternoon traffic stop itself apparently was sparked by nothing more than front side tinted windows and a Nevada license plate with a dealer-installed chrome bracket that proclaimed: "Henderson-I am a VIP at Findlay Toyota," which partially covered the name of the state. Obscuring even part of a license plate can lead to a ticket in New Jersey.
There were three passengers in the car and the driver, who had a valid license but could not produce the car's registration or insurance card.
The police called a tow truck to impound the car and issues a series of summonses for "unclear plates," the insurance card, and driving an unregistered motor vehicle.
That's when Turner showed up, said police.
She was never charged with any wrongdoing, according to the report.
Chamberlain said he had no comment on the matter, other than to say that that it was a Port Authority matter.
"When the incident was passed on to my attention, I felt it warranted calling the Port Authority," he said.
Turner was appointed to the Port Authority last year by former Gov. Chris Christie. According to her company bio, she served on finance committees for Hillary Clinton and Gov. Jon Corzine.
The Port Authority announced Turner's abrupt resignation on Monday and disclosed that an investigation had been opened into allegations that Turner had violated the board's code of ethics.
"The investigation revealed conduct that was profoundly disturbing. After Commissioner Turner became aware of the investigation, she resigned," the Port Authority said in a statement on Monday.
Even before the announcement, Turner's name and photo had already been removed from the Port Authority website
Staff writer Amy Kuperinsky contributed to this report.
Ted Sherman may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
||||| After days of silence, former Port Authority commissioner Caren Z. Turner, who resigned last week, responded Wednesday to the public outcry over her intervention, caught on a police dashcam, in connection with a Tenafly traffic stop involving her daughter.
This is her statement:
"Last month, my daughter and three of her friends were in a car that was pulled over by a Tenafly police officer for non-moving violations, including having tinted windows. The officers subsequently decided to impound the vehicle, leaving the four young adults on the side of a busy highway.
"Concerned, I hurried to the scene to assist them. As a parent, I was upset and uncomfortable with the unfolding events. I let my emotions get the better of me and regret my tone toward the police officers and use of off-color language. For this, I apologize.
"However, at no point did I violate the Port Authority's Code of Ethics or ask for special treatment for anyone involved, nor did I suggest, in any way, that I would use my position at the Port Authority to affect the outcome of the violations issued to the driver. My resignation from the Port Authority is a recognition that this unfortunate incident could and should have been avoided.
"As a long-time Tenafly resident, I have always taken an active role in the community, including working with law enforcement officials, and I encourage the Tenafly Police Department to review best practices with respect to tone and de-escalation, so that incidents like this do not recur."
Ted Sherman may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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– A traffic stop in New Jersey over Easter weekend was pretty routine—a car with tinted front windows, obstructed tags, and expired registration was impounded—until the ethics chair of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey turned up. Caren Turner, the mother of one of the car's passengers, resigned last week, just a few days before Tenafly police released a dashcam video showing the 60-year-old cursing at police officers, flashing her Port Authority badge, and describing herself as a "friend of the mayor" on the side of a highway on March 31, per NPR. Turner had arrived to pick up her daughter but became enraged when officers said they weren't legally required to tell her what led to the traffic stop because those involved were adults. A police report notes Turner "was attempting to misappropriately use her professional position to gain authority," reports NJ.com. At one point, Turner called an officer "an ass" who had a "smug-ass look" on his face, per NPR. When told she was free to leave, Turner continued, "You may shut the f--- up and not tell me when I may take my kid and her friends who are PhD students from MIT and Yale. I will be talking to the chief of police and I will be speaking to the mayor," reports Ars Technica, describing the officers as "exercising remarkable restraint." The Port Authority says Turner resigned Friday after learning about an investigation into possible ethics violations. "The video speaks for itself. The conduct was indefensible," the agency adds, per NPR. In a statement Wednesday, Turner said "at no point did I violate the Port Authority's Code of Ethics or ask for special treatment for anyone involved." She did apologize for "my tone toward the police officers and use of off-color language," per NJ.com.
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View the July 20, 2017 draft of the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) here, and related section by section summary here.
View the July 13, 2017 draft of the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) here, and related section by section summaries here and here.
View the June 26, 2017 draft of the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) here.
REVISIONS TO THE BETTER CARE RECONCILIATION ACT
After extensive consultations across the Senate Republican Conference, below are the primary revisions to the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) discussion draft:
MORE HELP TO COVER OUT-OF-POCKET COSTS:
An additional $70 billion is dedicated to encouraging state-based reforms, which could include help with driving down premiums through cost-sharing, Health Savings Accounts (HSA), and other innovative ideas to help pay for health care costs. This is in addition to the $112 billion in funding already in the original bill.
HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS TO PAY FOR PREMIUMS:
In order to ensure that more people have financial support to pay for health care costs, a provision has been included in the bill that would, for the first time, allow people to use their HSAs to pay for their premiums. This is a policy that both the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) say will increase health care coverage.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES TO COMBAT THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC:
With the opioid crisis hitting Americans in every state, an additional $45 billion is dedicated for substance abuse treatment and recovery.
MORE OPTIONS FOR AMERICANS TO BUY LOWER-PREMIUM PLANS:
Individuals who enroll in catastrophic plans would be eligible for the tax credit so long as they meet other tax credit eligibility requirements. Obamacare prohibited individuals enrolled in catastrophic plans from receiving a tax credit even if they met all other eligibility requirements.
Anyone in the individual market would be allowed to purchase a lower-premium health insurance plan, including Americans with their federal tax credit assistance. These plans are higher deductible plans that cover three primary care visits a year and have federal protections that limit an individual’s out-of-pocket costs.
TAX REVISIONS:
The new draft bill will not include any changes from current law to the net investment income tax, the additional Medicare Health Insurance (HI) Tax, or the remuneration tax on executive compensation for certain health insurance executives.
MEDICAID REVISIONS:
To allow for more accurate Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) related decisions and maximum benefit to states to assist in providing uncompensated care, the new discussion draft changes the DSH calculation from per Medicaid enrollee to per uninsured.
To improve management of vulnerable populations, states may apply for a waiver for the purpose of continuing and/or improving home and community-based services for aged, blind, and disabled populations.
If a public health emergency is declared, state medical assistance expenditures in a particular part of the state will not be counted toward the per capita caps or block grant allocations for the declared period of the emergency.
Expanded block grant option to allow states to also add expansion population under the block grant if they opt to do so.
Enhanced Focus On Higher Risk Individuals:
Creates a fund for the purpose of making payments to specified health insurance issuers for the associated costs of covering high risk individuals enrolled in the qualified health plans on the Affordable Care Act’s Individual Exchange. In order to qualify for such funds, an issuer must offer sufficient minimum coverage on the Exchange that remains subject to Title 1 mandates. Offering such coverage would enable the issuer to also offer coverage off the Exchange that would be exempt from certain Title 1 mandates.
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Overview of the Better Care Discussion Draft
Help stabilize collapsing insurance markets that have left millions of Americans with no options. Short-Term Stabilization Fund : To help balance premium costs and promote more choice in insurance markets throughout the country, this stabilization fund would help address coverage and access disruption – providing $15 billion per year in 2018 and 2019; $10 billion per year in 2020 and 2021. Cost-Sharing Reductions : Continues federal assistance – through 2019 –to help lower health care costs for low-income Americans.
that have left millions of Americans with no options.
Free the American people from the onerous Obamacare mandates that require them to purchase insurance they don’t want or can’t afford. Eliminates the individual and employer mandate penalties.
that require them to purchase insurance they don’t want or can’t afford.
Improve the affordability of health insurance , which keeps getting more expensive under Obamacare. Long-Term State Innovation Fund : Dedicates $132 billion, over 8 years, to encourage states to assist high-cost and low-income individuals to purchase health insurance. Tax Credits : Targeted tax credits will help defray the cost of purchasing insurance; these advanceable and refundable credits - adjusted for income, age and geography - will help ensure those who truly need financial assistance can afford a health plan. Health Savings Accounts : Expanded tax-free Health Savings Accounts to give Americans greater flexibility and control over medical costs; increased contribution limits to help pay for out-of-pocket health costs and expensive prescription medications.Additionally, for the first time, individuals will be able to use HSAs to pay for their premiums in excess of any tax benefit they already receive for the purchase of health care. Repeals Obamacare Taxes : Repeals costly Obamacare taxes that contribute to premium increases and hurt life-saving health care innovation, like the taxes on health insurance, prescription drugs, medical devices, and “high-cost” employer sponsored plans. Empowers states through state innovation waivers : Provides states additional flexibility to use waivers that exist in current law to free their health insurance markets from Obamacare regulations, reduce the cost of health insurance, and better allow customers to buy the health insurance they want. Allows the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to fast-track applications from states experiencing an Obamacare emergency. Support for State Opioid and Substance Abuse Crisis: Provides $45 billion in state grants to support treatment and recovery support services for individuals who have or may have mental or substance use disorders.
, which keeps getting more expensive under Obamacare.
Strengthen Medicaid for those who need it most by giving states more flexibility while ensuring that those who rely on this program won’t have the rug pulled out from under them. Targets Medicaid to Those Most in Need : In 2021, begins gradual reductions in the amount of federal Obamacare funds provided to expand Medicaid, restoring levels of federal support to preexisting law by 2024 while providing fairness for non-expansion states. New Protection for the Most Vulnerable : Guarantees children with medically complex disabilities will continue to be covered. Provides additional state flexibility to address the substance abuse and mental health crisis . Flexibilities for Governors: Allows states to choose between block grants and per-capita allotments for their Medicaid population beginning in 2020, with a flexibility in the calculation of the base year. Allows states to impose a work requirement on non-pregnant, non-disabled, non-elderly individuals receiving Medicaid. New Protections for Taxpayers: Curbs Medicaid funding gimmicks that drive up federal costs.
for those who need it most by giving states more flexibility while ensuring that those who rely on this program won’t have the rug pulled out from under them. ||||| Senate Republican leaders on Thursday unveiled a revised version of their bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare as they race toward a high-stakes vote next week.
The measure includes changes intended to win over additional votes, with leadership making concessions aimed at bringing both conservatives and moderates on board. (READ THE BILL HERE.)
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellTrump dismissed warnings from GOP leaders that party could lose House: report Gender and race shouldn't define your politics Trump’s budget chief talks spending clawback with key chairman MORE (R-Ky.) is facing a tough task in finding enough votes to pass the bill. Sens. Susan Collins Susan Margaret CollinsHow long must women wait? Senators hope Trump's next VA pick will be less controversial GOP moves to cut debate time for Trump nominees MORE (R-Maine) and Rand Paul Randal (Rand) Howard PaulPompeo vote won’t guarantee Democrats a win in November Overnight Defense: Uncertainty for VA after Trump pick withdraws | Veterans groups hope for more input | Pompeo confirmed as secretary of State | Mattis defends Iran deal as Trump deadline nears Overnight Cybersecurity: DHS chief eyes new ways to bolster cyber workforce | Dems grill Diamond and Silk | Senate panel approves bill to protect Mueller | Two-thirds of agencies using email fraud tool MORE (R-Ky.) appear to be firmly against the measure, and one other defection would kill the bill.
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Overall, McConnell appears to have shifted the revised bill more toward the conservatives than the moderates.Importantly, the bill largely keeps the Medicaid sections the same, meaning that deeper cuts to the program will still begin in 2025, and the funds for ObamaCare’s expansion of Medicaid will still end in 2024.The changes to Medicaid have emerged as a top concern for moderates such as Sens.(R-Ohio),(R-W.Va.) and(R-Alaska).The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that those Medicaid changes in the original bill would result in 15 million fewer people being enrolled in the program and cut spending by $772 billion over 10 years.
Collins said she still plans to vote against a motion to proceed to the bill, adding that the legislation should move through the normal committee process.
"My strong inclination and current intention is to vote no on the motion to proceed," Collins told reporters after leaving a briefing on the legislation.
"The only way I'd change my mind is if there's something in the new bill that wasn't discussed or that I didn't fully understand or the CBO estimate comes out and says they fixed the Medicaid cuts, which I don't think that's going to happen."
For the conservatives, the measure includes a version of an amendment from Sens. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzBritish toddler at center of legal battle dies after taken off life support Kushner expected to attend opening of Jerusalem embassy: CNN Handholding with South Korea aside, North Korea still has its nukes MORE (R-Texas) and Mike Lee Michael (Mike) Shumway LeeOvernight Cybersecurity: DHS chief eyes new ways to bolster cyber workforce | Dems grill Diamond and Silk | Senate panel approves bill to protect Mueller | Two-thirds of agencies using email fraud tool The Hill's 12:30 Report Senate panel approves bill to protect special counsel MORE (R-Utah) aimed at allowing insurers to offer plans that do not meet all of ObamaCare’s regulations, including those protecting people with pre-existing conditions and mandating that plans cover certain services, such as maternity care and mental healthcare.
Conservatives argue the change would allow healthier people to buy cheaper plans, but moderates and many healthcare experts warn that premiums would spike for the sick people remaining in the more generous insurance plans.
Cruz said he will support the bill so long as the provisions he sees as a priority are not changed in amendment votes on the floor.
"If this is the bill, I will support this bill," Cruz told reporters after a meeting of GOP senators. "Now, if it’s amended and we lose the protections that lower premiums, my view could well change."
Senate Republicans had vowed to not change the ObamaCare protections for people from being charged more based on their health in their bill, which is why the debate over the Cruz-Lee amendment has been heated.
A Senate GOP aide said Thursday it is possible that the Cruz amendment would not be analyzed by the CBO in time for the vote next week. It is possible the Department of Health and Human Services could provide an alternative analysis.
Lee cautioned that he was not involved in the changes to the proposal, including the amendment, and would have to review the new language before deciding whether to support it.
The bill does include new funding, $70 billion over seven years, aimed at easing costs for those sick people remaining in the ObamaCare plans.
However, the new measure does not boost the generosity of the tax credits, as some moderates wanted. It still replaces ObamaCare’s tax credits to help people afford insurance with a smaller, scaled-down tax credit that provides less assistance.
The Kaiser Family Foundation found premium costs would increase an average of 74 percent for the most popular healthcare plan, given the reduced assistance in the GOP bill.
The new measure will leave in place two ObamaCare taxes on the wealthy, in a departure from the initial bill.
That original measure lacked the support to pass, as more moderate members pointed to the CBO's finding that 22 million fewer people would have insurance over a decade.
Senate Republicans are now awaiting a new score of the revised legislation from the CBO, which could come early next week.
The new bill does include $45 billion to fight opioid addiction, but moderates such as Capito and Portman who hail from states where the problem is rampant have said they also want changes to the Medicaid portion of the legislation.
Portman said his position on the bill had not changed, but he did not give a clear answer on whether he'd back his party on the procedural vote.
“I'm the same position I've been in. I'm looking at the language,” he said.
Capito also said she doesn’t know whether she’ll vote to proceed to the bill.
“We have another meeting this afternoon on the Medicaid cuts,” she told reporters. “I need to really look at it, look at the score; I still have concerns.”
Asked if she would vote for the motion to proceed next week, she said, “Wait and see.”
In a change that could appeal to Murkowski, the bill sets aside 1 percent of the stability funds for states with costs that are 75 percent above the national average, which would benefit high-cost states like Alaska.
— This story was updated at 3:15 p.m. Alexander Bolton contributed. ||||| Vice President Mike Pence arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, July 13, 2017, to meet with lawmakers on the Republican health care bill which is under attack from within the party. (AP Photo/J.... (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell released his new but still-reeling health care bill Thursday, bidding for conservative support by letting insurers sell low-cost, skimpy policies and reaching for moderates with added billions to combat opioid abuse and help states rein in consumers' skyrocketing insurance costs.
However, allowing insurers to offer bare-bones plans threatens to alienate moderates and perhaps other conservatives. And the measure retains cuts in Medicaid — the health insurance plan for the poor, disabled and nursing home patients — that moderate Republican senators have fought.
The legislation, the Senate GOP's plan for rolling back much of President Barack Obama's health care law, faces a do-or-die vote next week on which McConnell has no margin for error. Since Democrats uniformly oppose the effort, McConnell needs the votes of 50 of the 52 GOP senators to prevail, and two seem certain to vote "no" — conservative Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and moderate Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
Conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has demanded language letting insurers sell plans with minimal coverage, as long as they also sell policies that meet strict coverage requirements set by Obama's 2010 statute. Moderate Republicans have objected that the idea would make policies excessively costly for people with serious illnesses because healthy people would flock to the cheaper coverage.
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who'd partnered with Cruz, tweeted that the version they crafted wasn't put in the bill, adding, "Something based on it has, but I have not seen it or agreed to it."
Adding to the uncertainty, the Cruz provision appeared in the legislative text in brackets, meaning specific language was still being composed. That could give McConnell, Cruz and other conservatives time to work out a provision with broader support.
The retooled measure retains McConnell's plan to phase out the extra money 31 states have used to expand Medicaid under Obama's statute, and to tightly limit the overall program's future growth. Since its creation in 1965, the program has provided open-ended federal funds to help states pay the program's costs.
The rewritten package would add $70 billion to the $112 billion McConnell originally sought that states could use to help insurers curb the growth of premiums and consumers' other out-of-pocket costs.
It has an added $45 billion for states to combat the misuse of drugs like opioids. That's a boost over the $2 billion in the initial bill and an addition demanded by ok
Republicans from states in the Midwest and Northeast that have been ravaged by the drugs.
To help pay for the added spending, the measure would retain three tax increases Obama's law slapped on higher- earning people to help finance his law's expansion of coverage. Under the current statute, families earning more than $250,000 annually got a 3.8 percent boost on their investment income tax and a 0.9 percent increase in their payroll tax. Obama also imposed a new tax on the salaries of high-paid insurance executives.
The revised bill would also allow people to use money from tax-favored health savings accounts to pay health insurance premiums, another favorite proposal of conservatives.
McConnell's new bill offered only modest departures from the original version, which he yanked off the Senate floor two weeks ago to avoid certain defeat at the hands of a broad range of unhappy Republicans.
The reworked measure's key elements remain. It would ease Obama's requirements that insurers cover specified services like hospital care, erase Obama's penalties on people who don't buy coverage and make federal health care subsidies be less generous.
In an interview Wednesday with the Christian Broadcasting Network's "The 700 Club," President Donald Trump said he will be "very angry" if the Senate fails to pass the health care measure and said McConnell must "pull it off."
Paul told reporters the revised measure has nothing "remotely resembling repeal."
Collins has long complained the measure will toss millions off coverage. Spokeswoman Annie Clarke said Collins would vote "no" next week "if the Medicaid cuts remain the same" as those that have been discussed.
Besides Paul and Collins, other Republican senators have also been noncommittal on whether they will back McConnell's bill next week, including Tim Scott of South Carolina and Rob Portman of Ohio.
___
AP reporters Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Erica Werner contributed to this report.
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– President Trump said he'd be "very angry" if senators fail to repeal ObamaCare as promised, and GOP leaders have just taken a step in their quest to quell that anger. The second draft of the Better Care Reconciliation Act was released on Thursday with revisions aimed at getting 50 of the Senate's 52 GOP votes. The Congressional Budget Office should score the bill early next week, and next week should also see a vote. The Hill's take: "Overall, [Mitch] McConnell appears to have shifted the revised bill toward the conservatives, without giving the moderates much of what they want." The AP sees "only modest departures" from the original. Indeed, Medicaid cuts are mostly unchanged, to the likely displeasure of moderates. This means the funding that 31 states have used to expand Medicaid under ObamaCare ends in 2024, and further cuts follow the next year. Five things that were changed: Ted Cruz's amendment appears, sort of. He, along with Sen. Mike Lee, proposed allowing insurers to offer bare-bones plans as long as those insurers also sell at least one policy that conforms to ObamaCare requirements. What's included is based on their version, though the AP notes it appears in brackets, meaning the language hasn't been finalized. The "stability fund" grows from $112 billion to $182 billion. This is the money states could dole out to help tamp down premiums and other costs. Opioids get more funding, to the tune of $45 billion, up from the $2 billion in version one. Two ObamaCare taxes on the wealthy are back. Currently, families earning more than $250,000 a year see a 3.8% increase in their investment income tax and a 0.9% bump in their payroll tax. The taxes had been removed in version one. Premiums could be paid for using money from pre-tax health savings accounts, an approach conservatives favor.
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Donald Trump has a new definition of small.
In a New Hampshire town hall hosted by the Today show, the Republican candidate for president talked about his start in the real estate business that has made him a billionaire.
“It’s not been easy for me,” Trump said. “I started off in Brooklyn, my father gave me a small loan of $1 million. I came into Manhattan. I had to pay him back. I had to pay him back with interest. But I came into Manhattan, I started buying up properties. I did great.”
Eventually Today show host Matt Lauer interrupted to say what most of America was thinking.
“By the way, let’s just put this in perspective. You said that it hasn’t been easy for you, but my dad gave me a million dollar loan. That is probably going to seem pretty easy to a lot of people,” Lauer said.
Trump said, “You’re right. But a million dollars isn’t very much compared to what I built.” ||||| In a town-hall style interview with Matt Lauer on "Today" Monday morning, GOP hopeful Donald Trump insisted that he can relate to "the average American," saying that like them, he has eaten at McDonald's and driven himself in a car -- and received a "small loan" of $1 million from his father to get his first business up and running.
"My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars," Trump said, as people in the audience gasped audibly and asked, "Small loan?" Trump insisted that the money allowed him entry into the Manhattan real estate market, and that his father made him pay the loan back with interest, but the damage was already done, as even other Today show hosts found that statement absurd:
I predict we'll be hearing more about that "million dollar loan" from his father Trump mentioned during the @TODAYshow town hall — Savannah Guthrie (@SavannahGuthrie) October 26, 2015
But they weren't the only ones:
And a small loan is like $100, not no $1,000,000. Just being real. #TrumpTODAY — Reneé Larson (@whoaitsreesy) October 26, 2015
@TODAYshow Did he just say a SMALL LOAN of a MILLION DOLLARS!???? #TrumpTODAY — MR. PAUL K. FRISON (@Just_paul215) October 26, 2015 ||||| poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201510/1959/1155968404_4578946422001_tttrrrummmp.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true During a town hall event in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on NBC's 'Today,' Donal Trump discussed a 'small loan' from his father. Trump: My dad gave me a 'small loan' of a million dollars
As Donald Trump tells it, he has been told no his entire life. For example, he said Monday, his father gave him a "small loan of a million dollars" that he had to repay with interest at the start of his career.
“Oh many times. I’ve been told no by him. My whole life, really has been a no," the Republican presidential candidate said during a town hall event in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on NBC's "Today."
Story Continued Below
“It has not been easy for me. It has not been easy for me. I started off in Brooklyn. My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars," Trump remarked. "I came into Manhattan, and I had to pay him back, and I had to pay him back with interest. But I came into Manhattan and I started buying properties, and I did great."
Trump said his father had told him that going to Manhattan would not work, and later in his life, other people told him that a presidential campaign would not pan out.
NBC's Matt Lauer followed up on Trump's "small loan" remark: "By the way, let's just put this in perspective, you said it hasn't been easy for you, but my dad gave me a million-dollar loan. That probably is going to seem pretty easy to a lot of people."
"You're right, but a million dollars isn't very much compared to what I've built," Trump countered. "I mean, I've built one of the great companies, but it's always been, you know, you can't do this, you can't do that." ||||| During a town hall held and broadcast by NBC’s Today, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that he had a life full of adversity, because he only ever got a million dollar loan from his father.
An audience member asked Trump if at any point in his life, anybody had ever told him ‘no.’ “Oh, many times,” he responded. “I’ve been told ‘no’ many times. I mean, my whole life really has been a ‘no,’ and I’ve fought through it.”
“It’s not been easy for me,” Trump continued. “It has not been easy for me, and, you know, I started off in Brooklyn my father gave me a small loan of $1 million. I came into Manhattan, and I had to pay him back and pay him back with interest.”
“Let’s just put this in perspective,” host Matt Lauer said. “You said it hasn’t been easy for you, ‘but my dad give me a million dollar loan.’ That probably is going to seem pretty easy to a lot of people.”
“You’re right,” Trump conceded. “But $1 million isn’t very much compared to what I built, I’ve built one of the great companies.”
Watch above, via NBC.
[Image via screengrab]
——
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– It's early, but it's a safe bet that Donald Trump already has uttered the line that will get the most attention of all the candidates on Monday: "My father gave me a small loan of $1 million." He made the comment at a town hall event in New Hampshire hosted by the Today show, reports Politico. When a member of the audience asked whether anyone had ever said no to him, Trump set out to establish an up-by-the-bootstraps narrative, notes Mediaite: “It’s not been easy for me. It has not been easy for me, and, you know, I started off in Brooklyn my father gave me a small loan of $1 million. I came into Manhattan, and I had to pay him back and pay him back with interest.” Moderator Matt Lauer circled back to the remark, noting that a million-dollar loan from dad doesn't exactly sound like a hardship. "You’re right," Trump responded. "But $1 million isn’t very much compared to what I built, I’ve built one of the great companies." The response has been swift, with a Reuters headline conveying a common sentiment: "Trump's teeny tiny $1-million loan from daddy." After all, "what 'ordinary American' can't relate to their father fronting them a cool million to buy Manhattan real estate," wonders a post at Salon. And a story at USA Today suggests it's a "new definition of small."
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The official death toll from Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines has risen to 2,344.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council released the figures Wednesday evening.
It said 3,804 were injured, with a further 79 missing.
The storm, one of the most powerful on record, hit the country's eastern islands on Friday, destroying tens of thousands of buildings and displacing about 600,000.
A massive relief operation is underway, though many in the disaster zone have yet to see much assistance. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Typhoon Haiyan has presented huge logistical challenges for aid distribution, as Jon Donnison reports
The Philippine government says it is facing its biggest ever logistical challenge after Typhoon Haiyan, which affected as many as 11 million people.
Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras said the government had been overwhelmed by the impact of Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms on record.
The official death toll stands at more than 2,300, but local officials and aid workers say it could rise much higher.
Mr Almendras said the government had responded to the disaster "quite well".
Some residents have expressed anger at the slow speed of the government relief effort.
Aid at a glance Asian Development Bank: $500m emergency loans and $23m in grants Australia: $9.3m (£5.8m) package, including medical staff, shelter materials, water containers and hygiene kits European Commission: $11m Japan: $10m, including tents and blankets. 25-person medical team already sent South Korea: $5m plus a 40-strong medical team Indonesia: Logistical aid including aircraft, food, generators and medicine UAE: $10m in humanitarian aid US: $20m in humanitarian aid, 90 marines, aircraft carrier plus logistics support UK: $16m (£10m) package including emergency shelter, water and household items Donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Typhoon Haiyan: Aid in numbers Rush to get hospital online Q&A: Haiyan disaster management
But the BBC's Jonathan Head in Tacloban, a devastated city of 220,000 on Leyte island, says Wednesday brought the first signs of an organised response.
US military planes have been arriving at Tacloban's ruined airport, delivering World Food Programme supplies, which can be carried by helicopter to outlying regions, and a French-Belgian field hospital has been set up.
Many people have left Tacloban, says our correspondent, but among those left behind there is a growing sense of panic and fear, not just of food running out but of law and order breaking down.
On Tuesday, eight people died when a wall collapsed as thousands of desperate survivors mobbed a food warehouse.
And on Wednesday there were reports of shots being fired in the street and of a teenaged boy being stabbed in the stomach.
With warehouses empty, the main concern for people still in Tacloban was food and water. Some survivors resorted to digging up water pipes for supplies.
On a visit to the city, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said aid was coming in but "the priority has got to be, let's get the food in, let's get the water in".
Health officials warn the worst-affected areas are entering a peak danger period for the spread of infectious diseases.
Image caption But there is not enough room for everyone on board, and many people remain stranded at the airport in Tacloban. In pictures: Waiting for aid
'Like never before'
Mr Almendras told the BBC he believed the administration was "doing quite well" in handling the crisis, especially as it came weeks after a major earthquake in the same region.
"We have never done anything like this before," he said.
Police spokesman Reuben Sindac denied there was a breakdown in law and order in Tacloban, telling the BBC there was a lot of rumour and misinformation spreading among people who were "in a state of shock".
He said security forces were now in control of key installations, preventing looting and ensuring the safety of aid deliveries.
Image caption Bodies are still in the streets of Tacloban on Leyte island, and many people have received no aid.
Image caption People in the city have been living in the open.
Image caption Harrowing scenes were witnessed at Tacloban airport as people were evacuated.
Image caption Hundreds of hungry and exhausted people gathered at the airport in the hope of getting aid, or a flight out.
Image caption Most of the damage has been concentrated on Leyte and the neighbouring island of Samar, above.
'More bodies'
Typhoon Haiyan - one of the most powerful storms ever recorded on land - hit the coastal Philippine provinces of Leyte and Samar on Friday.
It swept through six central Philippine islands before going on to kill several people in Vietnam and southern China.
Disaster management officials in the Philippines have put the confirmed death toll there at 2,344, with another 3,804 injured as of 20:00 local time (12:00 GMT). They said 79 people were still missing.
However, a congressman in Leyte told the BBC he believed the government was giving conservative estimates of the death toll "so as not to cause undue alarm".
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Gen Paul Kennedy, commander of US Marine Taskforce: Larger aircraft "will completely change the pace of our build-up of supplies"
"Just viewing the disaster's scope - its magnitude and the areas affected - we believe that the 10,000 figure is more probable," said Martin Romualdez.
The head of the Philippines Red Cross, Gwendolyn Pang, also said she expected the official death toll to rise.
Christine Atillo-Villero, a doctor from Cebu, managed to board a flight on a military plane to Tacloban, to reach her family home in San Jose, on the outskirts of the city.
"There were dead people lying around. In our backyard we have, I think, six corpses just lying there," she told Newsday on the BBC World Service.
"People are walking around like zombies just looking for food and water.
"My hometown will never be the same again. About 90% of the city is destroyed - nothing left."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Sara Pantuliano from the ODI says such an "immense" disaster would test the most seasoned governments in the developed world
The mayor of Tacloban, Alfred Romualdez said a mass grave had been dug on Tuesday. Bodies were still being processed by the authorities on Wednesday but he was hopeful they could be buried soon.
'No climate debate'
The Philippines now puts the number affected at just over 8 million, but the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says 11.3 million people are in need of vital goods and services, because of factors such as lack of food, healthcare and access to education and livelihoods.
On Tuesday the UN launched an appeal for $301m (£190m) to help survivors. The UK's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has also launched its own appeal., raising £13m ($20m) in its first 24 hours.
US and British navy vessels have been sent to the Philippines and several nations have pledged millions of dollars in aid.
Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Philippine President Benigno Aquino warned that storms like Haiyan were becoming more frequent, and there should be "no debate" that climate change was happening.
He said either the world was committed to action on climate change "or let us be prepared to meet disasters".
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said record sea levels this year combined with rising temperatures mean that coastal devastation such as that caused by Haiyan is likely to occur more frequently.
Interim figures released by the WMO show this year is heading towards being among the top ten warmest on record. ||||| Story highlights "We don't have medicines. We don't have supplies," a doctor tells CNN
The elderly and children are the priority in military airlifts, a Philippine officer says
The latest death toll in the Philippines is 2,357, disaster officials say
Relief effort "far too slow," U.N. emergency aid chief says
The cries of the suffering carried through a small, cramped one-story clinic in typhoon-ravaged Tacloban where the medicine was all but gone Thursday, but the number of wounded in the hard-hit Philippine city continued to grow.
The clinic at the airport in the decimated capital city of Leyte province is one of the few places where those injured in Super Typhoon Haiyan and its aftermath can turn for help, what little help there is six days after the storm.
"We don't have any medicines. We don't have any supplies. We have IVs, but it's running out," Dr. Katrina Catabay told CNN.
"Most of the people don't have water and food. That's why they come here. Most of the kids are dehydrated. They are suffering from diarrhea and vomiting."
Help is coming, on military and civilian transports, by air and by sea. But much of it has been piling up at airports.
While relief organizations say they have been able to deliver limited aid to some victims, many CNN crews reported seeing little sign of any large-scale organized relief effort in the hardest-hit areas.
JUST WATCHED Typhoon survivors: Where is the help? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Typhoon survivors: Where is the help? 01:40
Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Photos: Typhoon Haiyan – A man reconstructs his house in the bay of Tacloban, Leyte province, Philippines, on Wednesday, November 27, 2013. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms on record, hit the country's eastern seaboard on November 8, leaving a wide swath of destruction, including more than 5,000 deaths. Hide Caption 1 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Photos: Typhoon Haiyan – A man rests on his damaged house along the shore in Tacloban on Monday, November 25. Hide Caption 2 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Photos: Typhoon Haiyan – Road traffic moves past destroyed houses in Palo, Leyte province, on Sunday, November 24, weeks after typhoon Haiyan caused heavy damage to life and property in the Philippines. Hide Caption 3 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Hide Caption 4 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A woman rests inside the damaged Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine in Tacloban, Philippines, on Sunday, November 24. Hide Caption 5 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A woman looks over the devastated waterfront in Tacloban on November 24. Hide Caption 6 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Typhoon survivors walk down a road in Palo, Philppines, during a procession for typhoon victims on November 24. Hide Caption 7 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A vehicle lies in the water in Tacloban on Saturday, November 23. Hide Caption 8 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man searches through the debris in Tacloban on November 23. Hide Caption 9 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man scavenges piles of wood amid damaged container vessels on November 23 in Tacloban. Hide Caption 10 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Local people begin to help clear debris near the shoreline where several tankers ran aground on November 23 in Leyte. The death toll from the storm stands at more than 5,000, according to a government-run news agency. Hide Caption 11 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man clears debris from in front of his home near the shoreline on November 23 in Leyte. Hide Caption 12 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Groups of men clear debris near the shoreline on November 23 in Tacloban. Hide Caption 13 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan inspect the damage to their houses in Tacloban, Philippines, on Friday, November 22. Hide Caption 14 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Filpinos clear rubble from a hard-hit area in Tacloban on November 22. Hide Caption 15 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – An airplane lands in Tacloban as Antonio Lacasa rebuilds his house on Thursday, November 21. Hide Caption 16 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People carry a coffin through an opening in the wall of a public cemetery for burial in Tacloban on November 21. Hide Caption 17 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A member of the Philippine air force drops relief goods for survivors in Tolosa on November 21. Hide Caption 18 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Children blow bubbles in a destroyed market in Tacloban on Wednesday, November 20. Hide Caption 19 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Workers clear mud and debris in Tacloban on November 20. Hide Caption 20 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A boy climbs across debris in Tacloban on November 20. Hide Caption 21 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People at the airport in Tacloban react to a blast of wind from an aircraft on November 20. Hide Caption 22 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man walks through water in the typhoon-ravaged city of Tacloban, Philippines, on November 20. Hide Caption 23 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man sleeps on Tuesday, November 19, on a tanker that ran aground during Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban. Hide Caption 24 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Firemen unload bodies November 19 for forensic experts to register and bury in a mass grave outside of Tacloban. Hide Caption 25 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Firemen unload more victims outside of Tacloban on November 19. Hide Caption 26 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man fans the flames of a fire in Tanauan, Philippines, on November 19. Hide Caption 27 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Survivors salvage wood next to stranded ships in Tacloban on November 19. Hide Caption 28 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Philippine military personnel carry an injured survivor to an evacuation flight at the Tacloban airport November 19. Hide Caption 29 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People in Tacloban march in the rain November 19 during a procession calling for courage and resilience among survivors. Hide Caption 30 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People play cards by candlelight Monday, November 18, in Tacloban. Hide Caption 31 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A U.S. Navy helicopter delivers relief goods to typhoon victims in Ormoc, Philippines, on November 18. Hide Caption 32 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Men take food back to their families in Leyte on November 18. Countries all over the world have pledged relief aid to those affected by the typhoon, but damage to airports and roads have made moving the aid very difficult. Hide Caption 33 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People are held back as the U.S. Navy delivers aid from a helicopter in San Jose, Philippines, on November 18. Hide Caption 34 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A helicopter flies over a call for help in Ormoc on November 18. Hide Caption 35 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man cleans up mud inside a church in the hard-hit city of Tacloban on November 18. Hide Caption 36 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A boy bathes November 18 at a Tacloban school turned into a temporary shelter. Hide Caption 37 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Hundreds of typhoon survivors are packed into a U.S. military airplane November 18 for evacuation from Tacloban's airport. Hide Caption 38 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Typhoon survivors run toward a passing U.S. Navy helicopter in San Jose on November 18. Hide Caption 39 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A boy holding a toy machine gun sits Sunday, November 17, on a ship that ran aground in Tacloban. Hide Caption 40 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People gather around a helicopter as it delivers relief supplies November 17 in Guiuan, Philippines. Hide Caption 41 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Filipinos board an HC-130 Hercules airplane as U.S. sailors carry relief supplies November 17 in Guiuan. Hide Caption 42 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Survivors clean mannequins found among the debris in Tacloban on November 17. Hide Caption 43 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man leans against a statue of the Crucifixion before a Mass at Santo Nino Church in Tacloban on November 17. Hide Caption 44 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man carries a piece of wood from the debris in Tacloban on November 17. Hide Caption 45 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Survivors wait in line in Tacloban for relief goods on November 17. Hide Caption 46 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man looks over the devastation from his damaged home in Tacloban on November 17. Hide Caption 47 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A trapped resident braves the dust created by a U.S. Navy helicopter taking off Saturday, November 16, on Manicani Island, Philippines. Hide Caption 48 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Corpses are collected and loaded on trucks to be taken to mass graves in Tacloban on November 16. Hide Caption 49 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A victim's corpse floats on a river in Tanauan on November 16. Hide Caption 50 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A pregnant survivor waits to give birth in a hospital November 16 in Tanauan. Hide Caption 51 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A dead dog lies in front of a house destroyed by the typhoon in Tanauan. Hide Caption 52 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man carries a bicycle as he walks through the ruins of a Tacloban building November 16. Hide Caption 53 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Survivors of the typhoon stand in a Tanauan street partially blocked by debris November 16. Hide Caption 54 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – An elderly survivor walks past toppled cars outside a church in Tacloban on November 16. Hide Caption 55 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man in Tanauan cleans meat after slaughtering his only cow that survived the typhoon. Hide Caption 56 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Survivors gather in Tacloban to await transport to a neighboring province on November 16. Hide Caption 57 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Men carry a coffin toward a Leyte cemetery on November 16. Hide Caption 58 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A survivor cooks dinner in front of his damaged home in Marabut, Philippines, on Friday, November 15. Hide Caption 59 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Toppled coconut trees dot a mountain in an area devastated by the typhoon in Leyte province. Hide Caption 60 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A typhoon survivor keeps her husband alive by manually pumping air into his lungs after his leg was amputated at a Tacloban hospital November 15. The hospital has been operating without power since the typhoon. Hide Caption 61 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A survivor reacts to the damage at a residential area in Tacloban on November 15. Hide Caption 62 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Typhoon victims are treated in the lobby of a Tacloban hospital on November 15. Hide Caption 63 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Philippine Army soldiers carry the body of a civilian in Tanauan on November 15. Hide Caption 64 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Residents wait to board a Singaporean cargo plane at the Tacloban airport on November 15. Many survivors have converged on the city's airport to wait for flights. Hide Caption 65 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Search and retrieval teams carry a body bag in Tacloban on November 15. Hide Caption 66 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Haiyan survivors carry food that a U.S. military helicopter dropped off in Guiuan on Thursday, November 14. Hide Caption 67 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Dozens of bodies are placed near Tacloban City Hall on November 14 as workers prepare a mass grave on the outskirts of the hard-hit city. Hide Caption 68 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A girl plays inside her house amid the devastation in Tacloban on November 14. Hide Caption 69 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A Filipino soldier hands out bread to survivors in Maraboth, Philippines, on November 14. Hide Caption 70 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A boy takes cover from rain while waiting for an evacuation flight from Tacloban's airport November 14. Hide Caption 71 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Workers arrange bodies at a mass burial site at a Tacloban cemetery November 14. Hide Caption 72 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – The weary wait for evacuation from Tacloban on November 14. Hide Caption 73 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A truck lies in the water in Hernani, Philippines, on November 14. Hide Caption 74 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Children play with fallen power lines near a damaged school in Guiuan on November 14. Hide Caption 75 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Teresa Mazeda hangs laundry in the ruins of her Tacloban home on Wednesday, November 13. Hide Caption 76 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Nina Duran searches for belongings at her family's destroyed house in Tacloban on November 13. Hide Caption 77 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Survivors walk through the ruins of their neighborhood outside Tacloban on November 13. Hide Caption 78 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man sits in front of his destroyed business November 13 in Tacloban. Hide Caption 79 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A family, desperate to charge their mobile phones to search for family and friends, tries to use a ceiling fan to generate electricity November 13 in the Philippine province of Cebu. Hide Caption 80 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – An injured man in Tacloban rests beneath a picture of Jesus Christ on November 13. Hide Caption 81 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man takes a shower amid the rubble in Tacloban on November 13. Hide Caption 82 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A rescue team wades into Tacloban floodwater to retrieve a body on November 13. Hide Caption 83 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Residents take shelter in a Tacloban church on November 13. Hide Caption 84 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Residents make their way through a destroyed neighborhood in Tacloban on November 13. Hide Caption 85 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A boy cycles past a coffin left on a street in Tacloban on November 13. Hide Caption 86 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man looks at his destroyed home November 13 in Tacloban. Hide Caption 87 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Body bags are lined up in Tacloban on November 13. Hide Caption 88 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Survivors prepare to board a military plane November 13 at the Tacloban airport. Hide Caption 89 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Photos: Typhoon Haiyan – Men walk through smoke as they burn debris from a Tacloban church on November 16. Hide Caption 90 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – An aerial view of Tanuan shows signs pleading for help and food November 13. Hide Caption 91 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Soldiers help a woman after she collapsed November 13 while waiting in line to board a military plane at Tacloban's airport. Hide Caption 92 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Survivors wait to be evacuated from Tacloban on November 13. Hide Caption 93 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – An injured survivor gets carried on a stretcher before being airlifted from Tacloban's airport November 13. Hide Caption 94 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A survivor begins to rebuild his house in Tacloban on November 13. Hide Caption 95 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Evacuees wait to board a military aircraft in Leyte on Tuesday, November 12. Hide Caption 96 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People walk through damage in Tacloban on November 12. Hide Caption 97 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A young man waits at the airport November 12 in hopes of being evacuated from Tacloban. Hide Caption 98 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A woman comforts a crying relative as a plane leaves the Tacloban airport November 12. Hide Caption 99 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A man sits crying on a packed aircraft in Tacloban on November 12. Hide Caption 100 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Debris lays scattered around a damaged home near the Tacloban airport on November 12. Hide Caption 101 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A girl sits inside a bus as she waits for a ferry in Matnog, Philippines, on November 12. Hide Caption 102 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Police line up bodies for processing in Tacloban on November 12. Hide Caption 103 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People in Tacloban pass debris on November 11. Hide Caption 104 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Survivors in Tacloban board a military plane bound for the Philippine capital of Manila on November 11. Hide Caption 105 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Residents carry bags of rice from a Tacloban warehouse that they stormed November 11 because of a food shortage. Hide Caption 106 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A woman in Tacloban walks amid the debris of destroyed houses on November 11. Hide Caption 107 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People make their way across a flooded street in Shangsi, China, on November 11. Haiyan moved toward Vietnam and south China after devastating the Philippines. Hide Caption 108 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Buildings lie in ruins on Eastern Samar's Victory Island. Hide Caption 109 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Emily Ortega rests on November 11 after giving birth to Bea Joy at an improvised clinic at the Tacloban airport. Hide Caption 110 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – U.S. Marine Corps Osprey aircraft arrive at Manila's Villamor Airbase to deliver humanitarian aid on November 11. Hide Caption 111 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People ride past destruction in Tacloban on Sunday, November 10. Hide Caption 112 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A body lies amid the Tacloban devastation on November 10. Hide Caption 113 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People cover their noses to block the smell of bodies in Tacloban on November 10. Hide Caption 114 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Bodies of victims lie along a Tacloban road on November 10. Hide Caption 115 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A large boat sits aground, surrounded by debris in Tacloban on November 10. Hide Caption 116 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People walk past the Tacloban devastation on November 10. Hide Caption 117 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People stand under a shelter in Tacloban. Hide Caption 118 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A girl peeks out from a makeshift shelter in Tacloban. Hide Caption 119 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Typhoon survivors wait to receive relief goods at the Tacloban airport on November 10. Hide Caption 120 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A woman mourns in front of her husband's dead body November 10 in Tacloban. Hide Caption 121 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Fallen trees litter the ground at the Tacloban airport on Saturday, November 9. Hide Caption 122 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A resident passes victims' bodies on a Tacloban street November 9. Hide Caption 123 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People in Tacloban carry a victim of the typhoon November 9. Hide Caption 124 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A vehicle lies amid Tacloban debris on November 9. Hide Caption 125 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – People walk past a victim left on the side of a road in Tacloban. Hide Caption 126 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A resident passes an overturned car in Tacloban on November 9. Hide Caption 127 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Rescue workers carry a woman about to give birth November 9 at a makeshift medical center at the Tacloban airport. Hide Caption 128 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – An airport lies in ruins in Tacloban. Hide Caption 129 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Astronaut Karen L. Nyberg took a picture of the typhoon from the International Space Station on November 9. Hide Caption 130 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Women walk past fallen trees and destroyed houses in Tacloban on November 9. Residents scoured supermarkets for water and food as they slowly emerged on streets littered with debris. Hide Caption 131 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A soldier pulls a cable inside the devastated airport tower in Tacloban. Hide Caption 132 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Tacloban houses are destroyed by the strong winds caused by the typhoon. Hide Caption 133 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Dark clouds brought by Haiyan loom over Manila skyscrapers on November 8. Hide Caption 134 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A woman carries a baby across a river November 8 at a coastal village in Las Pinas, Philippines. Hide Caption 135 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A resident walks along a fishing village in Bacoor, Philippines, on November 8. Hide Caption 136 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A house in Legazpi, Philippines, is engulfed by storm surge November 8. Hide Caption 137 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A child wraps himself in a blanket inside a makeshift house along a Bacoor fishing village. Hide Caption 138 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A woman and her children head for an evacuation center November 8 amid strong winds in Cebu City, Philippines. Hide Caption 139 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Huge waves from Haiyan hit the shoreline in Legazpi on November 8. Hide Caption 140 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A fisherman lifts a post to reinforce his home at a coastal village in Las Pinas on November 8. Hide Caption 141 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – A resident unloads nets off a fishing boat in Bacoor on November 8. Hide Caption 142 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Residents reinforce their homes in Las Pinas on November 8. Hide Caption 143 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – The storm approaches the Philippines in this satellite image taken Thursday, November 7, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Hide Caption 144 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Workers bring down a billboard in Makati, Philippines, on November 7 before Haiyan makes landfall. Hide Caption 145 of 146 Photos: Photos: Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan – Philippine Coast Guard personnel stand in formation beside newly acquired rubber boats after a blessing ceremony in Manila on Wednesday, November 6. The boats were to be deployed to the central Philippines in preparation for Haiyan. Hide Caption 146 of 146
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Blame Haiyan and its unprecedented strength and scope, said UNICEF spokesman Christopher De Bono.
"I don't think that's anyone's fault. I think it's the geography and the devastation," he said.
Still, the desperation is increasing, and becoming more serious.
"We mostly need food and water, that's the most important," Catabay said. "We need supplies."
At the clinic, a Philippine military officer called names off a clipboard, the names of those who will be airlifted out of the city.
"The elderly, the children that are sick" are the priority, the officer said.
For at least one man, the evacuation came too late.
The man died at the clinic. His body was put on a gurney and pushed to the end of a hallway because there is nowhere to put him, the clinic staff said.
Death toll climbs
Throughout the devastation, bodies of victims lie buried in the debris or out in the open.
The government hasn't counted them all yet, but initial fears that 10,000 may have died have subsided.
By Thursday morning, the official death toll had climbed to 2,357, disaster officials said. The typhoon left 3,853 people injured and 77 people missing, according to the Philippines' National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
The toll is "going to be horrific," Philippine Interior Minister Mar Roxas said.
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"There are still many towns that have not sent in complete reports and out of the 40 towns of Leyte, for example, only 20 have been contacted. So there's another 20 towns with no communication," he said.
"It's going to be a high death toll. I don't want to go into just throwing out numbers."
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday that he expected the final number would likely be around 2,000 to 2,500.
When it struck Friday, Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Yolanda, flattened entire towns.
The storm destroyed at least 80,000 homes, according to the latest Philippine government accounting. Although estimates of the number left homeless vary, the Philippine government puts it at more than 582,000.
Expecting to die
The storm also shattered families. Mayple Nunal and her husband, Ignacio, lost their two daughters, Gnacy Pearl and Gnacy May -- washed away when the storm's ferocious storm surge ripped through Tacloban.
"The big waves, we were like inside the washing machine," Mayple Nunal said. "And we were expecting that we would die."
While Nunal and her husband are safe, receiving treatment in Cebu, United Nations officials have warned of increasing desperation and lawlessness among those left homeless.
Eight people died when a wall collapsed Tuesday during a stampede at a government warehouse in Leyte province, Philippine National Food Authority administrator Orlan Calayag said Wednesday. Police and security stood by as people stormed the building and took some 100,000 sacks of rice, he said.
The United Nations said the situation is especially dangerous for women and children. Some areas haven't been reached yet, according to Valerie Amos, the U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief.
Police warned a CNN crew to turn back Wednesday on the road south of Tacloban, saying rebels had been shooting at civilians.
"Maybe they are looking for food," a police commander told CNN.
"Pushing aid" to Tacloban
There were, however, some successes.
U.S. Marines arrived Wednesday in Cebu, transforming the sleepy airbase there into a buzzing center of activity as cargo aircraft, tilt-rotor Ospreys and camouflaged Marines got to work preparing for the enormous job of receiving, sorting and delivering aid to millions in need.
Two 747 airplanes loaded with humanitarian aid from the United States have arrived, and Marines are "pushing aid" from Cebu to Tacloban, Brig. Gen. Paul Kennedy said on CNN's "Situation Room"
"It's a serious situation down here," Kennedy said. "...Some of those neighborhoods are inundated with water, and some of it's inaccessible" because of the debris.
One of the big problems is figuring out how to get needed supplies, including heavy machinery, to these areas.
"It's a matter of capacity at this point. This just doesn't come out of a box. It has to be moved down here. It's a remote location," he said.
The Royal Australian Air Force also landed at Cebu, delivering a portable field hospital that was soon sent on its way to Tacloban. Taiwanese troops also arrived with medical aid, and Doctors Without Borders said three of nine cargo shipments it has planned also arrived in Cebu on Wednesday.
The planes carried medical supplies, shelter materials, hygiene kits and other gear, the agency said.
U.N.: Pace of relief lacking
Teams from Doctors Without Borders also have reached remote Guiuan, a village of about 45,000 that was among the first areas hit by the full force of the storm, the agency said.
"The situation here is bleak," said Alexis Moens, the aid group's assessment team leader. "The village has been flattened -- houses, medical facilities, rice fields, fishing boats all destroyed. People are living out in the open; there are no roofs left standing in the whole of Guiuan. The needs are immense and there are a lot of surrounding villages that are not yet covered by any aid organizations."
Meanwhile, the U.N. World Food Programme began distributing food in Tacloban, handing out rice to 3,000 people on Wednesday, the agency said, and the U.S. Agency for International Development also said it expected to deliver its first shipment of relief supplies to victims on Wednesday.
The uptick in aid deliveries comes a day after the road between the capital, Manila, and hard-hit Tacloban opened, holding out the promise that aid will begin to flow more quickly.
But six days after the storm struck -- with more than 2 million people in need of food, according to the Philippine government -- even the U.N.'s Amos acknowledged the pace of relief is still lacking.
"This is a major operation that we have to mount," she said Wednesday. "We're getting there. But in my view it's far too slow."
Philippine President Aquino has defended relief efforts, saying that in addition to all the challenges of blocked roads and downed power and communication lines, local governments were overwhelmed, forcing the federal government to step in and perform both its own role and those of local officials.
Most of all, he told CNN on Tuesday, "nobody imagined the magnitude that this super typhoon brought on us." ||||| Philippine military personnel try to prioritize children and women first as people wait for evacuation flights in Tacloban, central Philippines, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013. / AP Photo/Wally Santana
WASHINGTON The State Department says two Americans have died in the typhoon tragedy in the Philippines.
Spokeswoman Jen Psaki says that number could go up as the department receives additional information.
She says the U.S. Embassy in Manila is providing consular assistance to the families of those who died. She says a team of embassy officials planned to travel to the impacted area on Wednesday to further assist victims.
The official death toll is more than 1,700, but as many as 10,000 are feared dead and more than 9 million people have been affected by the storm in the archipelago nation of more than 7,000 islands. ||||| Thousands of people stormed a rice warehouse on an island devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, authorities said Wednesday, highlighting the urgent need to get water, food and medical supplies into an increasingly desperate region.
Soldiers rush a typhoon survivor after she collapsed in a queue to board a military transport plane Wednesday Nov. 13, 2013 from the damaged Tacloban airport in Tacloban city, Leyte province in central... (Associated Press)
Typhoon survivors prepare to board a military transport plane Wednesday Nov. 13, 2013 from the damaged Tacloban airport in Tacloban city, Leyte province in central Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan, one of... (Associated Press)
An aerial view shows the destruction left from Typhoon Haiyan in the coastal town of Tanawan, central Philippines, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms on record, slammed... (Associated Press)
An injured typhoon survivor is carried on a stretcher prior to being airlifted in a military transport plane Wednesday Nov. 13, 2013 from the damaged Tacloban airport at Tacloban city, Leyte province... (Associated Press)
In this aerial photo taken on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013, and released by the Philippine Air Force, a ferry boat is seen washed inland from a massive storm surge caused by Typhoon Haiyan, in the city of Tacloban,... (Associated Press)
Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan are stopped by rescue workers as they try to board a C-130 cargo plane at the airport in Tacloban city, Leyte province, central Philippines, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013. Four days... (Associated Press)
Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan comfort each other after not being allowed to board a C-130 cargo plane because of limited space, at the airport in Tacloban, central Philippines, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013. Four... (Associated Press)
Survivors carry clothes along a road at typhoon-ravaged Tacloban city, Leyte province, central Philippines on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013. Four days after Typhoon Haiyan struck the eastern Philippines, assistance... (Associated Press)
Filipino troopers control survivors who want to board military planes to flee the typhoon ravaged Tacloban city, Leyte province, central Philippines on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013. Thousands of typhoon survivors... (Associated Press)
An aerial view shows signs for help and food amid the destruction left from Typhoon Haiyan in the coastal town of Tanawan, central Philippines, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest... (Associated Press)
A policeman escorts canned goods after Typhoon Haiyan slammed Tacloban city, Leyte province, central Philippines, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013. Four days after Typhoon Haiyan devastated islands in the central... (Associated Press)
Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan wait at the airport in hopes of being evacuated on C-130 cargo planes, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013 in Tacloban city, Leyte province, central Philippines. Four days after Typhoon... (Associated Press)
Survivors wait for relief goods on a flooded road at typhoon-ravaged Tacloban city, Leyte province, central Philippines on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013. Four days after Typhoon Haiyan struck the eastern Philippines,... (Associated Press)
A soldier carries one-day-old baby Ian Daniel Honrado to a waiting military transport plane Wednesday Nov. 13, 2013 from the damaged Tacloban airport at Tacloban city, Leyte province in central Philippines.... (Associated Press)
An aerial view shows men waving down the passing Philippines Air Force helicopter from a decimated beach from Typhoon Haiyan in the coastal town of Tanawan, central Philippines, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013.... (Associated Press)
Five days after one of the strongest tropical storms on record leveled tens of thousands of houses in the central Philippines, relief operations were only starting to pick up pace, with two more airports in the region reopening, allowing for more aid flights.
But minimal food and water was reaching people in the devastated city of Tacloban, on Leyte island, which bore the brunt of the storm, and outlying regions due to a lack of trucks and blocked roads.
"There's a bit of a logjam to be absolutely honest getting stuff in here," said Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
"You've had quite a lot of security coming in over the last couple of days, less so other things. So then it gets here and then we're going to have a real challenge with logistics in terms of getting things out of here, into town, out of town, into the other areas," he said from the airport in Tacloban.
"The reason for that essentially is that there are no trucks, the roads are all closed."
In the first reported deaths as a result of looting, eight people were crushed to death Tuesday when a wall collapsed as they and thousands of others stormed a rice warehouse on Leyte Island, said National Food Authority spokesman Rex Estoperez.
The looters in Alangalang municipality carted away up to 100,000 sacks of rice, he said.
Since the storm, people have broken into homes, malls and garages, where they have stripped the shelves of food, water and other goods. Authorities have struggled to stop the looting. There have been unconfirmed reports of armed gangs involved in some instances.
Police were working to keep order across the ravaged wasteland. An 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew was in place.
"We have restored order," said Carmelo Espina Valmoria, director of the Philippine National Police special action force. "There has been looting for the last three days, (but) the situation has stabilized."
U.S. Brig Gen. Paul Kennedy said that later Wednesday his troops would install equipment at Tacloban airport to allow planes to land at night. Tacloban, a city of 220,000, was almost completely destroyed in Friday's typhoon and has become the main relief hub.
"You are not just going to see Marines and a few planes and some helicopters," Kennedy said. "You will see the entire Pacific Command respond to this crisis."
A Norwegian ship carrying supplies left from Manila, while an Australian air force transport plane took off from Canberra carrying a medical team. British and American navy vessels are also en route to the region.
At the damaged airport in Tacloban, makeshift clinics have been set up and thousands of people were looking for a flight out. A doctor here said supplies of antibiotics and anesthetics arrived Tuesday for the first time.
"Until then, patients had to endure the pain," said Dr. Victoriano Sambale.
At least 580,000 people have been displaced by the disaster. In some places, tsunami-like storm surges swept up to one-kilometer (mile) inland, causing more destruction and loss of life. Most of the death and destruction appears concentrated on the islands of Samar and Leyte.
The damaged infrastructure and bad communications links made a conclusive death toll difficult to estimate.
The official toll from a national disaster agency rose to 1,883 on Tuesday. President Benigno Aquino III told CNN in a televised interview that the toll could be closer to 2,000 or 2,500, lower than an earlier estimate from two officials on the ground who said they feared as many as 10,000 might be dead.
"There is a huge amount that we need to do. We have not been able to get into the remote communities," U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said in Manila, launching an appeal for $301 million to help the more than 11 million people estimated to be affected by the storm.
"Even in Tacloban, because of the debris and the difficulties with logistics and so on, we have not been able to get in the level of supply that we would want to. We are going to do as much as we can to bring in more," she said. Her office said she planned to visit the city.
Relief officials said comparing the pace of this operation to those in past disasters was difficult.
In Indonesia's Aceh, the worst-hit region by the 2004 tsunami, relief hubs were easier to set up than in Tacloban. The main airport there was functioning 24 hours a day within a couple of days of the disaster. While devastation in much of the city of Banda Aceh was total, large inland parts of the city were undamaged, providing a base for aid operations and temporary accommodation for the homeless.
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AP writers Oliver Teves, Chris Brummitt and Teresa Cerojano in Manila, Kristen Gelineau in Cebu and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report. ||||| Here are the latest casualty figures and damage reports from the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan. All figures are preliminary and based on national and regional government officials and media reports.
Typhoon Haiyan survivors walk through the ruins of their neighborhood in Tacloban, central Philippines on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013. A man named J.R. Apan painted a plea for help in front of his destroyed... (Associated Press)
_ National: 2,344 confirmed deaths, with another 3,804 hurt, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. President Benigno Aquino III told CNN that the death toll could be 2,000 or 2,500, lower than earlier estimates by two officials on the ground that it could hit 10,000.
_ Leyte province: Thousands feared dead or missing. Widespread severe damage. Tacloban, its main city with a population of 220,000, lies in ruins. Communications, transport cut in many areas.
_ Samar: 400 estimated dead, 2,000 missing.
_ Eastern Samar: 211 dead, 45 missing and 174,000 residents affected.
_ Cebu: 63 dead.
_ Iloilo: 162 dead, according to Gov. Arthur Defensor. He said 68,543 houses were destroyed and 536,584 people have been affected. Aid is reaching the province, but delivery of relief goods to island villages is hampered because 90 percent of motorized boats have been destroyed. Helicopters are delivering food and other goods but cannot fly when the weather is bad.
_ Capiz: 44 dead and 1 missing. TV footage showed damage to some houses, but it did not appear extensive.
_ Aklan: 10 dead.
_ Antique: 7 dead. ||||| Eight people have been killed in the typhoon-ravaged central Philippines after thousands of Haiyan survivors stormed a government-owned rice warehouse seeking food supplies.
The Philippines National Food Authority said police and soldiers stood by helpless as people streamed into the warehouse in Alangalang, Leyte province – an area where hunger and desperation are running high after Haiyan made landfall early on Friday morning, ravaging vast swaths of Leyte and Samar islands. The security forces could only watch as more than 100,000 sacks of rice were carried away.
The eight were crushed to death when a wall in the warehouse collapsed, spokesman Rex Estoperez told the Associated Press. Other rice warehouses were dotted around the region, he said, refusing to give their locations for security reasons.
The Philippines government has come under fire for failing to deliver aid adequately or quickly enough, with growing frustration in the hardest hit areas, such as Tacloban, the capital of Leyte province where dead bodies have piled up on the streets and residents have resorted to looting to find food.
A military official told the Guardian on Wednesday that the government was aiming to double its relief efforts within the next two days. Attempts to provide help were buoyed by the expected arrival of two extra US military C-130 planes and one additional Australian air force plane.
Three relief distribution points were being set up in the Leyte island towns of Tacloban, Guiuan and Ormoc, the official said, with the main aid effort operating out of neighbouring Cebu instead of Manila, the capital, which is 360 miles to the north.
More than 10,000 people are feared to have been killed in the Philippines due to Haiyan, most of them in Leyte province, with aid workers suggesting that number may rise significantly. As many as 29 municipalities have still not been reached due to impassable roads and downed telecommunications.
President Benigno Aquino III said on Tuesday that he believed the number killed to be far lower – around 2,500 – and told CNN that the 10,000 figure may have come from an "emotional" official, with government figures alleging that the death toll stands at 2,275. The UN has said more than 670,000 people have been displaced and a total of 11.3 million people directly affected by the super storm.
International relief efforts intensified with the launch of a UN appeal and the dispatch of American, British and Japanese troops to the affected regions. But minimal amounts of aid have reached the worst‑hit areas.
More than 3,000 people surged on to the tarmac of Tacloban airport on Tuesday morning in the hope of flying out on the two Philippine air force planes that had just arrived.
Babies and sick or elderly people were given priority but only a few hundred were able to leave. Others were held back by soldiers and police. Many had walked for hours and camped at the base overnight.
"I was pleading with the soldiers. I was kneeling and begging because I have diabetes," said Helen Cordial as she lay on a stretcher, shaking. "Do they want me to die in this airport? They are stone-hearted," she told the Associated Press.
Dean Smith, an Australian who has been living with his family near Palo, Leyte province, for the last five years, told the Guardian that he waited eight hours to be able to get one of the first commercial flights out of Tacloban to Cebu. On the way to the airport he said he saw "horrifying things that I know I have seen but my brain hasn't processed yet".
He described scenes of chaos in the city centre, where police were stealing money from the local cashpoints, people in cars were refusing to drive the injured to get help, and the bloated body of a man floating in dirty water was being gnawed at by a dog.
"What people have gone through, what they have seen – there is going to be a lot of post-traumatic stress after this event I assure you," he said shakily. "No one has ever seen anything like this."
Having arrived on Tuesday in Cebu, Smith was planning to stock up on food, medicine and water and take it back to his Palo home, where his wife, six children, a 92-year-old grandmother and a pregnant nanny were all desperately awaiting supplies. He departed for Tacloban early on Wednesday morning.
Domestic and international relief efforts were being hampered by wet weather, poor communications and damaged infrastructure, with aircraft only able to land in Tacloban during daylight hours because the air control tower had been destroyed by Haiyan. Unsubstantiated reports of aid convoys being attacked by hungry victims circulated, with the Telegraph reporting that communist rebels had been killed whilst trying to intercept a Red Cross convoy destined for the island of Samar.
Still, Corizon Soliman, secretary of the Philippine department of social welfare and development, said aid had so far reached a third of the city's 45,000 families.
However armed forces spokesman Ramon Zagala told the BBC that relief workers were struggling to deliver aid for a number of reasons.
"The area is very vast and the number of helicopters – although we have a lot of helicopters at the moment – it's really a challenge for us to bring [aid] to all the places and [bring] the number of goods that are needed."
The BBC quoted a Leyte official as saying that although relief goods like medicine and equipment were arriving into the province "it's just not reaching the people affected".
The UN released $25m (£15.7m) in emergency funds for shelter materials and household items, and for assistance with emergency health services, safe water supplies and sanitation.
The UN aid chief, Valerie Amos, launched an appeal for $300m as she arrived in Manila. "We have deployed specialist teams, vital logistics support and dispatched critical supplies but we have to do more and faster," she said.
The US, Britain, Japan, Australia and other nations have pledged tens of millions of dollars in immediate aid, and some businesses have also offered help: banking group HSBC announced a $1m (£630,000) cash donation.
In Tacloban shops were stripped of food and water by hungry residents. While some tents had arrived, the widespread damage left many people sleeping in the ruins of their homes or under shredded trees.
Military doctors at a makeshift clinic at the airport said they had treated about 1,000 people for cuts, bruises and deep wounds but did not have enough medical supplies.
"It's overwhelming," said Antonio Tamayo, an air force captain. "We need more medicine. We can't give anti-tetanus vaccine shots because we have none."
The typhoon flattened Basey, a seaside town in Samar province about six miles across a bay from Tacloban. About 2,000 people were missing there, its governor said. Rescue and relief workers were yet to reach many of the more remote areas.
"There are hundreds of other towns and villages stretched over thousands of kilometres that were in the path of the typhoon and with which all communication has been cut," said Natasha Reyes, emergency co-ordinator in the Philippines at Médecins Sans Frontières. "No one knows what the situation is like in these more rural and remote places, and it's going to be some time before we have a full picture."
Damage to communications left the armed forces struggling to reach local authorities and many officials were dead, missing or trying to protect their own families.
"Basically the only branch of government that is working here is the military," Ruben Guinolbay, a Philippine army captain, told Reuters in Tacloban. "That is not good. We are not supposed to take over government."
The interior secretary, Manuel Roxas, said on Tuesday that only 20 of Tacloban's 293 police had arrived for work. But he added: "Today we have stabilised the situation. There are no longer reports of looting. The food supply is coming in. Up to 50,000 food packs are coming in every day, with each pack able to feed up to a family of five for three days."
A team of British medical experts and the first consignment of aid from the UK was leaving for the Philippines, David Cameron said on Tuesday.
The UK surgical team, led by Anthony Redmond, Manchester University professor of international emergency medicine, includes three emergency physicians, two orthopaedic surgeons, a plastic surgeon, two accident and emergency nurses, a theatre nurse, two anaesthetists and one specialist physiotherapist.
The USS George Washington aircraft carrier, transporting about 5,000 sailors and more than 80 aircraft, plus four other US navy ships, should arrive in two to three days, the Pentagon said.
Britain's HMS Daring, a warship with equipment to make drinking water from seawater, and a military transport aircraft should arrive around the same time.
Japan is sending a team of 40 from its self-defence force.
Aquino has declared a state of national calamity, allowing the central government to release emergency funds more quickly and impose price controls.
Initial estimates of the cost of the damage vary widely, with a report from German-based CEDIM Forensic Disaster Analysis putting the total at anywhere from $8bn to $19bn. ||||| 1 of 18. Residents gather to make free calls to their relatives after Typhoon Haiyan devastated Tacloban city, central Philippines November 12, 2013.
TACLOBAN, Philippines (Reuters) - The death toll from Typhoon Haiyan's rampage through the Philippines is closer to 2,000 or 2,500 than the 10,000 previously estimated, President Benigno Aquino said on Tuesday as U.S. and British warships headed toward his nation to help with relief efforts.
"Ten thousand, I think, is too much," Aquino told CNN in an interview. "There was emotional drama involved with that particular estimate."
Aquino said the government was still gathering information from various storm-struck areas and the death toll may rise.
"We're hoping to be able to contact something like 29 municipalities left wherein we still have to establish their numbers, especially for the missing, but so far 2,000, about 2,500, is the number we are working on as far as deaths are concerned," he said.
The official death toll stood at 1,774 on Tuesday.
Philippine officials have been overwhelmed by Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons on record, which tore through the central Philippines on Friday and flattened Tacloban, coastal capital of Leyte province where officials had feared 10,000 people died, many drowning in a tsunami-like wall of seawater.
Aquino revealed the lower estimated toll after the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington set sail for the Philippines carrying about 5,000 sailors and more than 80 aircraft to accelerate relief efforts. It was joined by four other U.S. Navy ships and should arrive in two to three days, the Pentagon said.
"The weather is pretty bad out there, so we are limited by seas and wind," Captain Thomas Disy, commander of the USS Antietam, a missile cruiser that is part of the carrier group, said in Hong Kong. "But we are going to be going as fast as we possibly can."
Relief supplies poured into Tacloban along roads flanked with corpses and canyons of debris as the rain fell again. Rescue workers scrambled to reach other towns and villages still cut off, which could reveal the full extent of the casualties and devastation.
"There are hundreds of other towns and villages stretched over thousands of kilometers that were in the path of the typhoon and with which all communication has been cut," said Natasha Reyes, emergency coordinator in the Philippines at Médecins Sans Frontières.
"No one knows what the situation is like in these more rural and remote places, and it's going to be some time before we have a full picture."
She described the devastation as unprecedented for the Philippines, a disaster-prone archipelago of more than 7,000 islands that sees about 20 typhoons a year, likening the storm to "a massive earthquake followed by huge floods."
About 660,000 people have been displaced and many have no access to food, water or medicine, the United Nations said.
Britain is also sending a navy warship with equipment to make drinking water from seawater and a military transport aircraft. The HMS Daring left Singapore and expects to arrive in two or three days.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the development lender was considering boosting its conditional cash transfer program for the Philippines in the wake of the storm.
CORPSE-CHOKED WASTELAND
Aquino has declared a state of national calamity and deployed hundreds of soldiers in Tacloban, a once-vibrant port city of 220,000 that is now a wasteland without any sign of a government, as city and hospital workers focus on saving their families and securing food.
"Basically, the only branch of government that is working here is the military," Philippine Army Major Ruben Guinolbay told Reuters in Tacloban. "That is not good. We are not supposed to take over government."
Tacloban's government was wiped out by the storm, said Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas. Officials were dead, missing or too overcome with grief to work. Of the city's 293 police officers, only 20 had shown up for duty, he said.
"Today, we have stabilized the situation. There are no longer reports of looting. The food supply is coming in. Up to 50,000 food packs are coming in every day, with each pack able to feed up to a family of five for three days," he said.
Corazon Soliman, Secretary of the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development, said aid had reached a third of Tacloban's 45,000 families. Most of its stores remain closed - either destroyed or shut after widespread looting.
"Those that opened saw their goods wiped out of their shelves right away," Soliman said.
CHAOS AT AIRPORT
Two Philippine Air Force C-130 cargo planes landed at Tacloban airport early on Tuesday, but unloaded more soldiers than relief supplies. Among dozens of troops was a unit of Special Forces, underscoring concerns about civil disorder.
The Special Forces immediately deployed at the airport to hold back angry and desperate families waiting in heavy rain in the hope of boarding the planes returning to Manila.
"Get back! Get back in the building!" shouted air force officials through megaphones, gesturing the crowds back inside the wrecked terminal. Many had walked for hours from their destroyed homes, carrying meager possessions.
The sick, infants and the elderly were taken on board first. Pale-faced babies were passed over the crowd and carried on with several injured people. Many people wept and begged officials to let them on.
Residents told terrifying accounts of being swept away by a surge of water in city hopelessly unprepared for power of Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Yolanda.
Some stayed behind to protect their property, including Marivel Saraza, 39, who moved her six children farther inland before Haiyan struck, but stayed behind to look after her home only a stone's throw from the sea.
She ended up battling through chest-high water to reach higher ground, while the storm surge destroyed her two-storey concrete home.
"My house just dissolved in the water," she said.
Saraza now struggles to feed her children. The government gave her 2 kg (4.4 lb) of rice and a single can of sardines - barely enough for a family meal - so her husband foraged for fruit farther inland. But trees have been flattened by winds of 314 kph (195 mph) and rice fields inundated with salt water.
RELIEF EFFORTS PICKING UP
Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the economic damage in the coconut- and rice-growing region would likely shave 1 percentage point off of economic growth in 2014.
"Fixation over numbers at this stage is not going to be useful," Purisima, the top finance ministry official, told reporters. "I was overwhelmed by the pictures, not the numbers."
The overall financial cost of the destruction was harder to assess. Initial estimates varied widely, with a report from German-based CEDIM Forensic Disaster Analysis putting the total at $8 billion to $19 billion.
International relief efforts have begun to gather pace, with dozens of countries and organizations pledging tens of millions of dollars in aid. U.N. aid chief Valerie Amos, who has traveled to the Philippines, released $25 million for aid relief on Monday from the U.N. Central Emergency Response Fund.
Rescuers have yet to reach remote parts of the coast, such as Guiuan, a city of 40,000 people that was largely destroyed.
"We don't need aerial surveys. It won't help the people of Guiuan," one resident posted on the Armed Forces Facebook page. "You've already done an aerial survey and you've seen the extent of the damage, seen the devastation that Yolanda brought... The people are desperate, hungry and feeling dejected. WE ARE CRYING FOR HELP!!!"
The typhoon also leveled Basey, a seaside town in Samar province about 10 km (6 miles) across a bay from Tacloban. About 2,000 people were missing in Basey, its governor said.
(Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco and Karen Lema in Manila; Phil Stewart and Susan Heavey in Washington; Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Belinda Goldsmith in London and Greg Torode in Hong Kong; Writing by Jason Szep and Jim Loney; Editing by Nick Macfie and Doina Chiacu)
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– Relief operations have been stepped up in the Philippines but the situation remains desperate for large numbers of people in areas ravaged by Typhoon Haiyan. In the worst-hit region, eight people were killed in a stampede as thousands of survivors stormed a government rice warehouse, the AP reports. Security forces could only watch as the survivors made off with 100,000 sacks of rice from the government-owned warehouse. Elsewhere: The official death toll is up to 2,344, with 3,804 wounded and 79 missing, according to the AP. For a more detailed look at the current numbers, click here. At least two Americans, possibly more, are among the dead, CBS reports. The State Department says it is providing assistance to their families and is sending a team to the typhoon-battered region. "There are hundreds of other towns and villages stretched over thousands of kilometers that were in the path of the typhoon and with which all communication has been cut," an emergency coordinator at Medecins Sans Frontieres tells Reuters. "No one knows what the situation is like in these more rural and remote places, and it's going to be some time before we have a full picture." Those geographical difficulties are also bedeviling the World Food Programme, which has sent 270,000 tons of rice to the country, but is having trouble distributing it, CNN reports. The Philippine government estimates that more than 2 million people need food aid. So far, 22 countries have sent help in some form. Filipino soldiers have been joined by American, British, and Japanese troops in affected regions, and US Navy ships are expected to arrive in two days, the Guardian reports. US military planes are arriving in Tacloban as well, bearing food supplies, the BBC adds, while France and Belgium have jointly set up a field hospital.
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Justin Bieber's early success and dramatic personal life has led critics to compare the young star to celebrities such as Justin Timberlake, Michael Jackson, and as of late, Lindsay Lohan.
But The Biebs is comparing himself to someone entirely different. Jay-Z.
“I don’t need to address every speculation,” Bieber said an interview with Teen Vogue. “Remember when Cam’ron dissed Jay-Z? Jay-Z didn’t even respond. Why didn’t he respond, because he’s Jay-Z.”
Bieber covers the May issue of Teen Vogue, addressing his "crazy year" and justifying his decision not to address every rumor.
Unfortunately for Bieber, who was 12 at the time of Cam'ron's Jay-Z diss, his memory didn't serve him quite correctly.
Jay-Z did, in fact, respond to Cam'ron. After Cam'ron released diss tracks targeting Jay-Z, Hov told MTV, "It's such a ploy. ... N----s is holding press conferences behind [the dis record]. The MC in me is like, 'That's too easy [to come back at him.]' That's not even a good diss record. That s--t is trash... Cam's s--t is not artistic. There's nothing good about it. Everything about it is an obvious ploy to get attention. Nobody wants to get used. You're just using me. Of course he had to go that far."
Similarly, Bieber has been addressing many of the rumors in the press. The 19-year-old pop star has taken to his Twitter over the past couple of months to respond to the so-called "crazy stuff" concerning his career and personal life. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| Mally, the pet monkey of Canadian singer Justin Bieber, is seen at a home for animals in Munich April 2, 2013.
BERLIN |
BERLIN (Reuters) - Teenage pop sensation Justin Bieber has been given a month to provide German authorities with the papers they need to release his pet monkey "Mally".
Customs officials seized Bieber's capuchin monkey at Munich Airport last week when the 19-year-old failed to present the health and species protection certificates required to bring the pet into the country.
Bieber was visiting Munich to give a concert and has since continued on his tour.
"If he doesn't (present the papers), Mally will be taken to a good animal shelter that has experience rearing groups of young capuchin monkeys and can ensure disoriented Mally becomes a healthy little capuchin," the shelter currently caring for the monkey said.
The shelter said Mally, who is around 14 weeks old, had been taken away from its mother too early and was receiving veterinary care.
A spokesman for Munich's customs office said it would decide whether to keep the animal at the current shelter or move it elsewhere at the end of the four-week deadline.
He added that Bieber would likely have to pay a fine, but declined to give details of the amount.
(Reporting by Michelle Martin, editing by Paul Casciato)
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– Justin Bieber is in danger of losing his monkey. Yes, you read that correctly. The singer's capuchin monkey, Mally, was seized by customs agents when Bieber landed in Germany last week and couldn't produce the necessary documents. The 14-week-old monkey has been quarantined in a city animal shelter (which has been "besieged" by reporters) since then, and now German authorities have given Bieber four weeks to present the papers and pick Mally up, Reuters reports. If he doesn't, the animal will be placed in permanent care, the AP reports. Bonus tidbit: The German shelter says Mally shouldn't even have left its mother until it was at least a year old. Could this (and all of Bieber's recent bizarre behavior) all be Selena Gomez's fault? Friends tell TMZ the Biebs has been acting out because he's so heartbroken that Gomez dumped him. He's also reportedly upset that she's sending mixed signals—calling him often, for example—and has been expressing his anger in not-so-great ways. He also recently compared himself to Jay-Z—click to read.
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The contrast could not have been clearer.
Just as Ukraine's Defence Minister Igor Tenyukh boldly declared that Crimea "was, is and will be our territory," Crimean officials were announcing plans to introduce the ruble, formally merge the territory with Russia and change the clocks to Moscow time. By late Monday afternoon, Crimea's leaders had stripped all references to Ukraine from the government's website and made it clear that Ukrainian institutions, assets and state agencies in the peninsula now belonged to the Republic of Crimea.
It highlighted the growing powerlessness of Kiev as Crimea moves ever closer to Russia, emboldened by the results of Sunday's referendum which Crimean election officials said showed nearly 97-per-cent support for joining Russia. Ukraine, the United States, Canada and the European Union have condemned the referendum as illegitimate and introduced limited sanctions. But Russia has accepted the results and, on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing Crimea as a sovereign state, considered a prelude to annexation.
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On Monday, Mr. Tenyukh and other Ukrainian cabinet ministers talked about mobilizing the army, calling up 40,000 reserves and suing Russia in international courts. The government ruled out using the one bit of leverage it has: cutting off food, water and gas supplies to the peninsula, arguing that would only hurt people it believes are still fellow countrymen. And it has no plans to evacuate Ukrainian soldiers trapped on bases in Crimea, who are surrounded by troops from Russia and Crimean self-defence forces, for fear of provoking a clash.
Analysts say there isn't much else Kiev can do.
"I would say we have lost Crimea, probably for 10 years. Probably, we have lost it forever," said Taras Berezovets, a political analyst who runs a Kiev-based think tank called Politech.
Mr. Berezovets said the Ukrainian government has to hope for some kind of diplomatic solution to the crisis at the international level. The sanctions introduced Monday by the U.S. and the EU will help, he said, noting that they are targeted at specific individuals who have a lot to lose.
"This is especially harmful for [Crimea's leaders] because they have businesses in Europe," he said.
He added that Ukraine also risks losing its hold on some Eastern regions unless it moves ahead with reforms including making Russian an official language and handing more power to regional governments. Otherwise, he warned, "these areas may follow the example of Crimea."
Mychailo Wynnyckyj, a business and sociology professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, said the conflict with Russia is only beginning. "This is just Stage 1 of a war that is going to last for another two to three weeks," he said. "And when the end game in fact does come, there is going to be negotiation between the Western powers and Russia and hopefully Ukraine will have a little bit of a voice in that."
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University of Toronto political science professor Lucan Way also believes Crimea has been lost to Ukraine, but he isn't convinced Russia will invade eastern Ukraine. That would be more difficult and costly because support for joining Russia is far lower there than in Crimea. However, he added: "In the 25 years that I have been studying Eastern Europe, I know it can always get worse."
Many people in Kiev are convinced things will get worse and that Russian troops will extend their reach beyond Crimea. "For me, it is a war," said Ivan Reshytniak as he sold coffee in Kiev from the back of a small truck. However, he believes Ukraine can prevail. "This is a really big strong state and a lot of people are supporting Ukraine. Russia can't go against everyone alone."
Follow me on Twitter: @pwaldieGlobe ||||| (CNN) -- Cheers in Moscow. Outrage in Kiev. Bloodshed in Simferopol.
Tuesday saw Russian President Vladimir Putin announce the annexation of Crimea, two days after voters in that semiautonomous territory approved a hastily called referendum on separating from Ukraine.
Putin told a joint session of Russia's Parliament that the nearly 97% of Crimean residents who voted to join Russia over the weekend was "an extremely convincing figure."
"In our hearts, we know Crimea has always been an inalienable part of Russia," he said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk called it "a robbery on an international scale," one that Kiev will never accept.
"One country has come and temporarily stolen part of of the territory of an independent country," he said. "It will be difficult to find a quick resolution to this problem, but Russia is now isolated by the whole international community."
And after a member of its military was killed, another wounded and more captured when masked gunmen seized their base near the Crimean regional capital, Simferopol, Ukraine's defense ministry authorized its forces to open fire.
Yatsenyuk warned that the crisis was shifting "from political to the military form, and the blame is on the Russian military."
Crimea, which has an ethnic Russian majority, has long been a semiautonomous region within Ukraine. It has had its own Parliament, but the Ukrainian government had veto power over its actions.
After the revolt that forced pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych from office in February, Russian troops poured into the Crimean Peninsula, effectively cutting it off in support of a pro-Russian government that took power in Simferopol.
Putin said Tuesday that Russia had to act as Ukraine's new government, backed by the United States and European powers, prepared "to seize the state through terror and murders."
"The main executors of this were nationalists, Russia-phobes and anti-Semites," he said. "Those people define what is happening today in Ukraine."
But international observers have said Moscow saw its chance to annex a strategic territory, one that was transferred to Ukraine in the Soviet era and which still hosts the home port of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
Ukraine's interim President, Oleksandr Turchynov, told reporters that Putin is "mimicking the fascists of the last century" by annexing Crimea.
"The political leadership of Russia will have to answer before the whole world for crimes they are committing today in our country," Turchynov said.
Cameron: Annexation sends 'a chilling message'
Putin declared Tuesday that "We have not used our armed forces in Crimea," despite what has been stated by international observers and the government of Kiev. He said the 22,000 Russian troops in Crimea did not enter during the current crisis, but "were already there," in accordance with previous international negotiations.
Russian forces were allowed in Crimea under a treaty that allowed the Black Sea Fleet to be based there, but the movements of its forces within Crimea are supposed to be agreed upon with Kiev.
Putin praised those forces for avoiding bloodshed, but the tensions appear to have boiled over into violence Tuesday.
Masked gunmen killed a member of Ukraine's military, wounded another and arrested the remaining staff of Ukraine's military topographic and navigation directorate at Simferopol, Defense Ministry spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov told CNN.
After that, the Defense Ministry authorized its forces in Crimea to use weapons "to protect and preserve the life of Ukrainian soldiers," according to a statement posted on its website.
Petro Poroshenko, a Ukrainian member of Parliament and former foreign minister, said Tuesday that his country stands at "the beginning of a very dangerous conflict, and we should do our best to stop this process."
"Several weeks ago, we had a guarantee that nothing [would] happen with the Crimea. Several weeks ago we had [a situation] that there is not any military presence on Ukrainian territory, including the Crimea," he told CNN's "Amanpour " program. Now, he said, "I strongly believe that this is not only Ukrainian territory is now threatened."
"Now under attack can be any country in the European Union, including other parts of Ukraine," said Poroshenko, a billionaire and leading potential candidate for president. "That's why we should think that it can never happen again."
U.S. and EU officials imposed sanctions on more than two dozen Russian and Crimean officials Monday and have urged Russia to avoid escalating the crisis, but Moscow has ignored those calls.
Tuesday's annexation brought a new round of condemnation from the West, with British Prime Minister David Cameron saying it sends "a chilling message across the continent of Europe."
"It is completely unacceptable for Russia to use force to change borders, on the basis of a sham referendum held at the barrel of a Russian gun," Cameron said in a statement issued by Downing Street. "President Putin should be in no doubt that Russia will face more serious consequences, and I will push European leaders to agree further EU measures when we meet on Thursday."
Russia faces 'more than just sanctions,' Biden says
The G7 group of industrialized nations had already suspended preparations for a planned G8 summit in the Russian city of Sochi. Now, U.S. President Barack Obama has invited his counterparts from the other G7 countries and the European Union to a meeting of next week on the margins of a nuclear security summit in The Hague, U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.
The planned meeting comes amid speculation that Russia will get kicked out of the G8 -- which comprises the G7 countries plus Russia -- because of its actions in Crimea.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry criticized "this rise of a kind of nationalism that is exercised unilaterally, to the exclusion of the international legal process."
"That's what we have worked hard to avoid ever since World War II," Kerry said. He acknowledged that Russia has interests in Crimea and "an enormous historical connection to Ukraine," but said he was "really struck and somewhat surprised and even disappointed" by Putin's case for annexing the territory.
"With all due respect, it just didn't (jibe) with reality or what's happening on the ground," Kerry said. "The President may have his version of history, but I believe that he and Russia, for what they have done, are on the wrong side of history."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the "so-called referendum" and the acceptance of Crimea to the Russian Federation "goes against international law," while French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and a French delegation have postponed a planned visit to Moscow because of the Ukrainian situation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
And U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, dispatched to reassure NATO allies in Eastern Europe, said Russia faces "more than just sanctions" unless it abandons its "land grab" in Crimea.
"We're talking about Russia putting itself on a path that undermines long-term confidence and creates obstacles for its full participation in the global economy," Biden said after talks in Poland's capital, Warsaw. "That path that they've placed themselves on does nothing to help the next generation of Russians compete and succeed in a world that will be led by the most dynamic and open economies."
Condemnation abroad, cheers at home
But lawmakers in Moscow met Putin's address with regular and enthusiastic applause. The Russian leader accused the West of "double standards" and cynicism in its response to the Crimean crisis, citing Kosovo -- which split from Russia's historical ally Serbia over fierce objections from Belgrade -- as a precedent.
"It's absolutely in favor of their own interests -- black today, white tomorrow," he said.
Russia's Parliament is expected to vote on ratifying Crimea's accession to the Russian Federation by the end of the week. The speaker of Russia's upper house of Parliament, Valentina Matvineko, told state-run Russia-24 TV that the process of adding a new member to the Russian Federation "can be done rather promptly."
And hours after the annexation announcement, Putin appeared at a huge celebration on Red Square organized by his supporters -- a sign of his widespread popularity at home. An opinion poll by the Moscow-based Levada Center puts his approval rating at 72% -- the highest in more than three years, and the second-highest point of his presidency. The highest point came in 2008, during Russia's conflict with Georgia, another former Soviet republic.
"Putin in many senses, on many levels, crystallizes the Russian national consciousness," biographer Alexander Korobko told CNN. "For the past 100 years perhaps, we have never had a leader who would appeal to the Russian soul ... as much as Putin."
Most Russians and Crimeans feel Crimea "is coming back home," and a country that can produce "pretty much anything" has little fear of sanctions, he said.
"It is absolutely not in the U.S. interest to impose sanctions on Russia, because who will take American astronauts to space if not us Russians?" Korobko asked.
Crimea's vote: Was it legal?
Opinion: Obama can't have it both ways on Crimea
West's sanctions on Russia: Are they just for show?
Opinion: Putin won't stop at Crimea
CNN's Alla Eshchenko reported from Moscow and Matt Smith wrote in Atlanta. CNN's Laura Smith-Spark, Frederik Pleitgen, Nick Paton Walsh, Elena Sandreyev and Mick Krever contributed to this report. ||||| WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Denouncing Russia's actions in Crimea as "nothing more than a land grab," Vice President Joe Biden warned Russia on Tuesday that the U.S. and Europe will impose further sanctions as Moscow moved to annex part of Ukraine.
RECROPED VERSION OF XAK154 - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, sitting at right, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, left and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, third left begin talks in Warsaw, Poland,... (Associated Press)
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, speaks to the media after talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, right, in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday, March 18, 2014. Biden arrived in Warsaw for consultations... (Associated Press)
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk look at each others during a press conference after talks in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday, March 18, 2014. Biden arrived in Warsaw... (Associated Press)
With few good options, the United States was scrambling for ways to show it won't stand idly by as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty for the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea to join Russia. So far, Putin has been undeterred by sanctions and visa bans levied by the U.S. and the European Union, and there's no U.S. appetite for military intervention.
"Russia has offered a variety of arguments to justify what is nothing more than a land grab, including what he said today," Biden said in Poland, which shares a border with both Russia and Ukraine. "But the world has seen through Russia's actions and has rejected the flawed logic behind those actions."
Biden arrived early Tuesday in a region on edge over Russia's nascent aggression in Crimea. Amid eerie echoes of the Cold War, U.S. allies including Poland have raised concerns that they could be next should the global community be unable to persuade Putin to back down.
Former Soviet states are among the most alarmed by the prospect that Moscow could be resuming its traditional imperial ambitions. But Ukraine is at greater risk militarily because it lacks membership in NATO and the promise of collective defensive measures that NATO membership provides.
The first round of sanctions having failed, Biden promised more would be coming, as he declared that Russia's actions constituted a blatant violation of international law.
Meanwhile, major Western powers sought fresh ways to show that Russia would incur real costs unless it changes course.
The White House announced that President Barack Obama was inviting the leaders of the G-7 group of nations to a meeting in Europe next week to discuss further action. The group normally meets under the banner of the G-8, including Russia, but has suspended preparations for upcoming G-8 talks.
And in London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague says the U.K. was suspending military cooperation with Russia in light of the crisis.
"It's a simple fact that Russia's political and economic isolation will only increase if it continues down this dark path," Biden said, adding that virtually the entire world rejects the referendum in Crimea on Sunday that cleared the way for Russia to absorb it.
For his part, Putin seemed to shrug off the tough talk from the West, describing Russia's move to add Crimea to its map as correcting past injustices. In an emotional, live speech from the Kremlin, he said that "in people's hearts and minds, Crimea has always been an integral part of Russia."
Russia's move in clear defiance of its neighbors and the U.S. ups the pressure on Biden to convince its NATO allies that the U.S. won't roll over. After meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Biden headed to the Poland's presidential palace to consult with President Bronislaw Komorowski.
In sessions Tuesday in the Polish capital and later in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius, Biden was to discuss the crisis with the leaders of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia — three Baltic nations that are deeply concerned about what Russia's military intervention in Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula might portend for the region.
All four countries share borders with Russia, while Poland also borders Ukraine. Poland broke away from Moscow's domination in 1989 and was a vocal advocate for Ukraine forging closer ties with the E.U. — a dispute at the heart of Ukraine's political crisis.
"This trial, this challenge that we are facing will not be for a month or a year," Tusk said after meeting with Biden. "We are facing a strategic perspective for many years to come."
Biden said the goal is for NATO to emerge from this crisis stronger and more unified than ever. While in Europe, Biden planned to discuss what additional steps the U.S. can take to shore up security for Poland and the Baltics, such as increased training, said a senior administration official, who wasn't authorized to comment by name and demanded anonymity.
At Warsaw's request, the U.S. last week sent some 300 air troops and a dozen F-16 fighters to Poland for joint training in a show of military support for a key ally.
Also on the agenda: long-term energy security in Europe, a key factor that has confounded the West's attempts to display a united front in punishing Russia. Much of Europe is heavily dependent on Russian natural gas, and European countries have major economic interests in Russia that could be in jeopardy if Moscow retaliates with sanctions of its own.
Republican lawmakers and a handful of European countries, including Poland, have urged the White House to accelerate approval of U.S. natural gas exports, but the White House has insisted that would take too long and says Russia is too dependent on gas revenues to cut off Europe.
One option that doesn't appear to be on the table: rethinking the U.S. posture on missile defense in the region. Poland is still bruised from Obama's 2009 decision to cancel the final phase of a defense system sorely Poland wanted as a hedge against Russian missiles. Biden said the smaller, phased-in system Obama chose instead is on schedule for completion.
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Associated Press writers Monika Scislowska in Warsaw and Nedra Pickler in Washington contributed to this report.
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Follow Josh Lederman at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
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– Moscow has officially signed a treaty making Crimea part of Russia, and the West is not happy. President Obama today called for an emergency meeting of the G7 to decide whether to kick Russia out of the G8, the AP reports. The G7, which consists of the US, Britain, Japan, France, Italy, and Canada, became the G8 when Russia joined in the 1990s. The original members will meet on the sidelines of next week's 53-nation nuclear meeting at the Hague—which Russia will also be attending. "Russia has offered a variety of arguments to justify what is nothing more than a land grab," Joe Biden said today during a visit to Poland, which as a neighbor of both Russia and Ukraine, is a bit on edge. Ukraine's interim president offered an even stronger condemnation, saying Russia was "mimicking the fascists of the last century," while the interim prime minister called it "robbery on an international scale," CNN reports. But Crimea and Russia are working fast to cement the annexation, as Crimean officials announced plans today to switch to the ruble, and change their clocks to match Moscow's, the Globe and Mail reports.
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[Public Domain] 1 Jul 2015 Dylan O'Donnell
CATEGORY : Astrophotography, Notable
275,712 others viewed this post.
I was super happy to catch the silhouette of the ISS over the disc of the moon last night! The CalSky website sends me alerts for potential fly overs for which I’ve been waiting a long time – about 12 months. I got one this week and this was adjusted by 15 seconds by the time of the “occultation”.
If you think that it might be a case of sitting there with your camera and a clock, with one hand on the shutter release, you’d be absolutely correct! The ISS only passed over the moon for 0.33 seconds as it shoots by quite quickly. Knowing the second it would pass I fired a “burst” mode of exposures then crossed my fingers and hoped it would show up in review – and it did!
The setup was my Canon 70D attached to the rear cell of my Celestron 9.25″ telescope (2350mm / f10). The shutter speed was a quick 1/1650th of a second and ISO 800 in order to freeze the ISS in motion.
I took about a second of further exposures on either side of the pass to stack the lunar surface detail using AutoStakkert2, and the increased the saturation in post to create this colour enhanced version of the moon. The colours on the moon relate to the chemical composition of moon geology.
Here is a close up so you can see the modules and the solar arrays captured fairly clearly!
UPDATE : This kinda went viral on all the major social networks. I’m so glad others were as excited as I was about this photo! Thank you everybody for all your kind words.
UPDATE 2 : I’ve reprocessed the image into a higher resolution! The new version above is 2998 pixels wide and much cleaner.
ABC http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2015/07/02/4266055.htm
NORTHERN STAR : http://www.northernstar.com.au/news/holy-grail-shot-for-byron-photographer/2692816/
CANON AUSTRALIA https://instagram.com/p/4k2LoVGksb/?taken-by=canonaustralia
ICE IN SPACE (Image of the week) http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=136328
CNET : http://www.cnet.com/au/news/stunning-photo-catches-the-iss-in-transit-over-the-full-moon/
GIZMODO : http://gizmodo.com/photographer-catches-the-iss-flying-past-the-moon-1715563657
PETAPIXEL : http://petapixel.com/2015/07/03/photographer-captures-the-iss-flying-across-the-face-of-the-moon/
FSTOPPERS : http://fstoppers.com/landscapes/photographer-captures-image-iss-crossing-front-moon-75310
HUFFINGTON POST : http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/07/03/international-space-station-flying-past-moon_n_7720776.html
9MSN : http://www.9news.com.au/National/2015/07/04/17/20/Spot-the-space-station-in-this-incredible-celestial-portrait
DAILY MAIL : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3148960/Can-spot-space-station-Australian-photographer-captures-stunning-image-ISS-moon.html
BOING BOING : http://boingboing.net/2015/07/04/epic-photo-of-the-internationa.html
CHRIS HADFIELD : https://www.facebook.com/AstronautChrisHadfield/posts/1043752455642491
EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA) : http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/International_Space_Station/Highlights/Station_Moon_transit
SPIEGEL : http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/weltall/mondtransit-der-internationalen-raumstation-iss-a-1042545.html
TIME MAGAZINE : http://time.com/3948830/international-space-station-moon/
FLIPBOARD : https://flipboard.com/@inphotos/the-shot-5vranjmcz
SPACE.COM : http://www.space.com/29889-space-station-crosses-moon-photo.html
AOL NEWS : http://www.aol.com/article/2015/07/09/photographer-captures-insanely-rare-view-of-space-station-crossi/21207308/
SPACEFLIGHT NOW : http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/07/07/photographer-catches-space-station-transiting-the-moon/
YAHOO : http://news.yahoo.com/space-station-crosses-moons-face-stunning-photo-114904983.html
SILICON REPUBLIC : https://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/2015/07/03/the-iss-from-earth-is-stunning
FOX NEWS : http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/07/08/guy-takes-incredible-photo-iss-flying-by-moon/
TV mentions included 7 News (AU) & Weather Channel (USA)
UDPATE 2 : Just had a request for the RAW straight off the camera.. sure, why not? Enjoy! IMG_0093-ISS.CR2
Download Full Resolution (2998x1996) 3998KB ||||| This image of the Moon was taken by amateur photographer Dylan O’Donnell as the International Space Station passed by at 28 800 km/h. At such speeds the weightless research laboratory was visible for only about a third of a second before returning to the dark skies.
Dylan captured the moment in Byron Bay, New South Wales, the eastern-most point of Australia, where the absence of larger towns offers low levels of light pollution.
The image was taken on 30 June 2015 at 19:54 local time with the Space Station flying 400 km above the Pacific Ocean. A conventional camera was placed behind a 2300 mm / f10 telescope and Dylan took as many pictures as possible during the Station’s brief passage and hoped for the best.
Five images of the Moon taken before and after the Station passed by were processed using freely available astrophotography tools to improve sharpness, a process called stacking. Lastly, the colours were enhanced to bring out the Moon’s colourful surface geology.
This is the first picture of the Station Dylan has published, commenting, “I take many types of pictures but the International Space Station is a wonderful target and one I’ve wanted to capture for a long time.”
Spotting the orbital complex yourself is easier than you might think. It can be seen and photographed without special equipment as it passes overhead. As it moves so fast, the hard part is to know when and where to look. ESA’s tracker shows you where the Station is at any time and you can sign up to receive alerts for your neighbourhood here.
Once you know where the Space Station will be, it is best to wait for dawn or dusk. It looks like a very bright star or aircraft gliding through the sky. For less advanced pictures without using the Moon as a background, use a tripod and set the shutter speed to a long exposure of up to a minute. The Station will always arrive from the west and will appear as a white streak in the photograph.
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– All it took for Dylan O'Donnell to capture this image from his perch in southeastern Australia of the International Space Station (visible in the upper-right part of the frame) passing in front of the moon: a Canon camera set to burst mode, a Celestron telescope, and a quick eye, per his website. The European Space Agency says the amateur photographer took the photo on June 30 as the ISS, soaring 250 miles above the Earth, flew by at almost 18,000mph, meaning it was only in view for about a third of a second. O'Donnell credits alerts from an online astronomical calendar for letting him know when the space station does its "flyovers," noting he had been waiting a full year for this photo op. "If you think that it might be a case of sitting there with your camera and a clock, with one hand on the shutter release, you'd be absolutely correct!" he notes. (Too bad his telescope-camera contraption couldn't pick up the space station's new espresso machine.)
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Greenland's many supraglacial lakes have been seen suddenly and mysteriously draining as climate change causes this region to warm, and now scientists have finally explained the mechanism behind this phenomenon.
The findings were published in the journal Nature.
The Greenland Ice Sheet, the second largest ice sheet in the world, has long been of concern to scientists as rising temperatures continue to melt its glaciers. Consequently, this meltwater forms thousands of lakes atop the ice sheet each spring and summer. And yet, these vast bodies of water can empty in a matter of just a few hours.
When they drain, they send torrents of water to the base of the ice sheet thousands of feet below, lubricating the interface between rock and ice. That allows the ice sheet to flow faster to the ocean and discharge ice into ocean, which causes sea levels to rise faster.
So what exactly is causing this sudden drainage?
In 2008, scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of Washington documented for the first time how the icy bottoms of lakes atop the Greenland Ice Sheet can crack open suddenly. Initially, they thought the sheer weight of water was putting too much pressure on the ice to the point that it cracked. However, this theory did not explain why some lake bottoms cracked while others did not.
"Our discovery will help us predict more accurately how supraglacial lakes will affect ice sheet flow and sea level rise as the region warms in the future," lead author Laura Stevens from WHOI said in a press release.
Stevens and her colleagues deployed a network of 16 GPS units around North Lake, a 1.5-mile-long supraglacial lake in southwest Greenland. This lake was among those seen suddenly cracking and draining. They recorded ice movement before, during and after three rapid lake drainages in summer 2011-2013.
It turns out that tension from below the ice sheet, and not above it from the lakes, was causing cracks in the ice. (Scroll to read on...)
According to the data, in the 6 to 12 hours before the lake cracked and drained, the ice around the lake moved upward and slipped horizontally. The scientists say that meltwater had begun to drain through a nearby system of moulins - vertical channels through the ice - which connected the surface to the base of the ice sheet 3,215 feet below. The accumulating water creates a bulge that floats the entire ice sheet, creating tension at the surface underneath the lake. The stress builds up until it is relieved by a sudden large crack in the ice below the lake.
"In some ways, ice behaves like Silly Putty - if you push up on it slowly, it will stretch; if you do it with enough force, it will crack," Stevens explained. "Ordinarily, pressure at the ice sheet surface is directed into the lake basin, compressing the ice together. But, essentially, if you push up on the ice sheet and create a dome instead of a bowl, you get tension that stretches the ice surface apart. You change the stress state of the surface ice from compressional to tensional, which promotes crack formation."
Though once this tension initiates the crack, the volume of water in the lake does play a role. Lakewater pours into the crack and widens it even more, keeping it filled with water all the way to base of the thick ice sheet and forming what are called hydrofractures.
"You need both conditions - tension to initiate the crack and the large volume of water to amplify it - for hydrofractures to form," Stevens said. Meaning, the weight from meltwater alone is not enough to cause supraglacial lakes to suddenly drain.
This entire underlying mechanism is so impactful, it can reportedly drain more than 11 billion gallons of water out of North Lake in about 90 minutes. That's even faster than the water goes over Niagara Falls.
By better understanding these sudden drainages scientists hope to determine how supraglacial lakes will affect sea level rise as climate conditions shift in the future.
For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN). ||||| In 2008 scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of Washington documented for the first time how the icy bottoms of lakes atop the Greenland Ice Sheet can crack open suddenly--draining the lakes completely within hours and sending torrents of water to the base of the ice sheet thousands of feet below. Now they have found a surprising mechanism that triggers the cracks.
Scientists had theorized that the sheer weight of the water in these supraglacial lakes applied pressure that eventually cracked the ice, but they could not explain why some lake bottoms cracked while others did not.
"Our discovery will help us predict more accurately how supraglacial lakes will affect ice sheet flow and sea level rise as the region warms in the future," said lead author Laura Stevens, a graduate student in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (MIT/WHOI) Joint Program in Oceanography.
The research was published June 4 in the journal Nature.
To find out what triggers sudden lake drainages, a research team, including Stevens and colleagues from WHOI, the University of Washington, MIT, and the University of Tasmania, deployed a network of 16 GPS units around North Lake, a 1.5-mile-long supraglacial lake in southwest Greenland, where the scientists first documented large-scale cracks and lake drainages. They used these instruments to record movements of the ice before, during, and after three rapid lake drainages in the summers of 2011, 2012, and 2013.
Their study showed that in the 6 to 12 hours before the lake cracked and drained, the ice around the lake moved upward and slipped horizontally. The scientists say that meltwater had begun to drain through a nearby system of moulins (vertical conduits through the ice), which connected the surface to the base of the ice sheet 3,215 feet below. The accumulating water creates a bulge that floats the entire ice sheet, creating tension at the surface underneath the lake. The stress builds up until it is relieved by a sudden large crack in the ice below the lake.
"In some ways, ice behaves like Silly Putty--if you push up on it slowly, it will stretch; if you do it with enough force, it will crack," said Stevens. "Ordinarily, pressure at the ice sheet surface is directed into the lake basin, compressing the ice together. But, essentially, if you push up on the ice sheet and create a dome instead of a bowl, you get tension that stretches the ice surface apart. You change the stress state of the surface ice from compressional to tensional, which promotes crack formation."
Once the tension initiates the crack, the volume of water in the lake does play a critical role, surging into the opening, widening and extending it, and keeping it filled with water all the way to base of the thick ice sheet. These are called hydrofractures, and the scientists have documented how they can drain more than 11 billion gallons of water out of North Lake in about 90 minutes. At times, water flowed out of the lake bottom faster than the water goes over Niagara Falls, the scientists estimated.
"You need both conditions--tension to initiate the crack and the large volume of water to amplify it--for hydrofractures to form," Stevens said. The key finding of this study is that without the former, even large supraglacial lakes will retain their water.
At the base of the ice sheet, the water that drains from the lake lubricates the interface between ice and rock, allowing the ice sheet to slide faster toward the coast. That in turn accelerates the outflow of ice from land to sea and causes sea levels to rise faster. So understanding the mechanisms that trigger the drainages will help scientists predict more precisely how supraglacial lakes will affect sea level rise as climate conditions shift in the future.
The GPS network also recorded the more sudden and momentous movements of the ice sheet surface at the time of the hydrofracture, showing that portions of the ice sheet bed beneath the lake can slip up to a foot and a half. That is equivalent to the movement caused by a magnitude-5.5 earthquake.
"It's just a different type of solid crystals--ice instead of rock--breaking due to stress," said Jeff McGuire, a co-author on the study and a seismologist at WHOI. The research team spanned scientific disciplines, including McGuire, a seismologist; Mark Behn, a geophysicist at WHOI who studies faults in Earth's crust; glaciologists Sarah Das of WHOI, and Ian Joughin and David Shean of the University of Washington; Tom Herring, a GPS expert at MIT, and Matt King, who studies geodesy, Antarctic ice sheets, and sea level at the University of Tasmania.
Thousands of supraglacial lakes form each spring and summer on top of the Greenland Ice Sheet as sunlight returns to the region. The heat melts snow and ice into water that pools in depressions in the ice sheet to form lakes. As the region becomes warmer, more lakes will likely form, leading to a first-order prediction of more hydrofractures, more lubrication, more ice sheet slippage, and faster-rising sea levels.
However, discovering the new trigger mechanism changes the equation, because the trigger is less likely to occur at lakes at higher elevations on the ice sheet--even though water volumes in those lakes can be large. Stevens explained that the ice sheet further inland is thicker and moves more slowly. The ice deeper down flows viscously, dampening impacts on the surface topography. That results in a flatter surface where fewer lake basins and crevasses form. Fewer crevasses mean less water leakage to the base, which reduces bulging that increases surface stresses.
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The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Mass., dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean's role in the changing global environment. For more information, please visit http://www. whoi. edu .
Funding for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs and National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Cryospheric Sciences Program ||||| Geoscientists have solved a decade-long mystery of how some of the large lakes that sit atop the Greenland ice sheet can completely drain billions of gallons of water in a matter of hours.
In 2006, Greenland's North Lake, a 2.2 square-mile (5.6 square kilometers) supraglacial meltwater lake, drained almost 12 billion gallons of water in less than two hours. In a study published two years later, researchers determined that this astonishing phenomenon is possible because giant hydro-fractures(water-driven cracks) can form directly beneath the lake basin and stretch down to the bed of the ice sheet, emptying the lake of water. But just how these fractures developed has been unknown — until now.
In the new study, published today (June 3) in the journal Nature, scientists using GPS technology discovered that the hydro-fractures form from tension-related stress caused by movements of the ice sheet. These movements are, in turn, triggered by the trickling meltwater. [See Gorgeous Images of Greenland's Supraglacial Lakes]
The new research may help scientists better understand how much the ice sheet is contributing to sea level rise, researchers say.
Most of Greenland's supraglacial lakes drain slowly when superficial streams route water into nearby, permanent crevasses or moulins (vertical conduits or shafts in a glacier). Fairly recently, however, satellite images showed that about 13 percent of the lakes drain quickly, emptying completely within 24 hours.
"The images would show the lake there one day, and gone the next day," said first author of the new study, Laura Stevens, a glaciology doctoral candidate with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (MIT-WHOI) Joint Program. "So we've known for the last 10 to 15 years that the water could disappear quickly."
A moulin, or crack, formed along the hydro-fracture through Greenland's North Lake basin continues to drain meltwater to the bed after the 2013 North Lake rapid drainage. Credit: Ian Joughin
The 2008 research, led by Stevens' co-author Sarah Das, a WHOI geological scientist, showed that temporary hydro-fractures could cause rapid lake drainage on an unprecedented scale. But that research was unable to determine what triggered the cracks in the first place. Two other, similar studies of different rapidly draining supraglacial lakes were also unable to identify what caused the hydro-fractures.
"The coverage of GPS stations was not dense enough," Stevens told Live Science. "This study goes beyond previous studies on the lakes, because we have 16 GPS stations, as opposed to one or four."
When meltwater in the summer drains to the bed from the ice surface through crevasses or moulins, it can cause the area within and around the lake basin to be "jacked up," Stevens said. Additionally, it can decrease the surface area of the ice-sheet bed that's in contact with the underlying bedrock, lubricating the bed and making it easier for the bed to move horizontally.
Placed around North Lake, the team's 16 GPS stations recorded these two types of movements — called uplift and slip — between 2011 and 2013. This provided an in-depth perspective on the meltwater injected into the bed before, during and after the yearly drainages.
"We found that before we get the main expression of the lake drainage, there is a period of time (about six to 12 hours) where uplift and slip increase," Stevens said. "That motion is enough to take the surface of the ice sheet and put portions of it in high tension that allows cracks to start forming."
The study provides a clearer picture of the amount and location of the meltwater that travels down to the ice-sheet bed, which could help scientists better understand how fast the ice sheet flows during the summer, Stevens said.
This is important because the inland ice that moves toward the coast gets funneled to so-called outlet glaciers, which are tonguelike protrusions that can break off to form icebergs that may drift off into the ocean and eventually melt.
"It's half of the equation of how the Greenland ice sheet contributes to sea level rise, with the other half being the years when the ice sheet melts quicker than the snow is deposited," Stevens said.
Follow Joseph Castroon Twitter. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on Live Science.
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– For years, scientists have known glacial lakes can rapidly empty themselves of billions of gallons of water—in at least one case, faster than the speed at which water flows over Niagara Falls. Now, they finally know how it's done. Researchers had guessed that the weight of the water caused cracks to form in the lake's icy bottoms that let water drain thousands of feet to the ice sheet’s bed, but that didn't explain why some lakes cracked and others didn't. To solve the mystery, researchers arranged 16 GPS units around Greenland's supraglacial North Lake and recorded ice movements over three summers, in 2011 to 2013, per a press release. They found that tension comes from below: Movements during three lake drainages showed ice was "jacked up" six to 12 hours before a lake bottom cracked, lead author Laura Stevens tells LiveScience. What's happening: Meltwater drains through vertical channels to the ice sheet's base, where it accumulates between the bedrock and ice sheet, causing a bulge. The bulge floats the ice sheet, placing tension on the lake bottom. Then, snap, a crack forms. "In some ways, ice behaves like Silly Putty—if you push up on it slowly, it will stretch; if you do it with enough force, it will crack," Stevens says. But volume does come into play. "You need both conditions—tension to initiate the crack and the large volume of water to amplify it—for hydrofractures to form," Stevens says. In the case of North Lake, a hydrofracture drained 11 billion gallons of water in 90 minutes. That draining water lubricates the base of the ice sheet, allowing the sheet to move faster toward the ocean, where it "discharges" ice, spurring sea-level rise, per Nature World News. Stevens says the research "will help us predict more accurately how supraglacial lakes will affect ice sheet flow and sea level rise as the region warms in the future." (Read about what lies under the Greenland Ice Sheet.)
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NEW YORK – Barnes & Noble only a short time ago announced its latest Android-powered tablet: the Nook Tablet, designed to command the upcoming holiday season, and to take on Amazon, its closest competitor.
The Nook Tablet has an improved dual-core 1Ghz processor with 1GB RAM, and will retail at $249. Weighing under a pound, the company claims the tablet will have the lowest reflection and glare of any tablet on the market.
The device will be the same shape as the Nook Color, with a 7-inch screen, and will last on battery for 11.5 hours of reading.
It also boasts 9 hours of video playback, supports 1080p video, and will offer Netflix, Pandora and Hulu Plus as preloaded applications, according to William Lynch, the company’s chief executive officer.
(Source: CNET, CBS Interactive)
The tablet, though has “safe and dependable” Nook Cloud storage offered by the company, will offer 16GB internal memory, with an expandable storage slot for 32GB more. Compared directly to Amazon’s competitor, the Kindle Fire “only has 8GB and is not upgradable”, whereas the Nook Tablet has a potential capacity of 45GB storage.
But can it appeal to those hell-bent on buying a $199 priced Kindle Fire?
Though only $50 more, the Kindle brand alone will hold more weight, even though Barnes & Noble may have the larger selection of books. Plus, specification wise, the Nook Tablet has greater hardware, making the device somewhat more enticing for those with a higher budget.
In other, but related news, the Nook Color will go on sale at $199, while the Nook SimpleTouch will feature a new e-ink display in the update, and will be 25 percent faster than other e-ink products on the market. Claiming that it will last twice as long on battery, there will also be “no annoying ads”.
It will go on sale at $99, rivalling the Kindle Touch directly in price and feature specification.
The devices are available for pre-order today, and will be in stores beginning next week.
Related: ||||| In late September, Amazon unveiled a $199 tablet called the Kindle Fire. Obviously this left a massive divide in the market between the much pricier iPad 2 and the new Kindle Fire, which Barnes & Noble has this morning responded to. Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I’m pleased to introduce you to the Nook Tablet.
B&N CEO Willian Lynch made sure to note the Nook tablet’s superior (fully laminated) display isn’t the only feature that is “better” than the Amazon Kindle Fire. He also touted the fact that the Nook tablet offers almost twice the RAM, along with in-store support that just isn’t possible with Amazon.
The 7-inch Nook Tablet looks much like a thinner (less than a pound) and lighter Color, but has innards that couldn’t be more different. Under the hood you’ll find a dual-core 1GHz processor courtesy of Texas Instruments, along with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage (including a microSD slot supporting up to a 32GB card). When Nook cloud isn’t available, all that storage will certainly come in handy. But that’s not to say that Nook cloud won’t be involved — the new Nook tablet has the same Nook cloud support you’ve grown accustomed to.
But the real differentiator between this and the Kindle Fire will be the amount of content available, which B&N contends should be no trouble. The book seller touts 2.5 million books, thousands of apps, and deals with Hulu Plus and Netflix for our video lovers. Oh, and speaking of video, the tablet also supports video playback in full 1080p HD, although the Netflix app will only play video in 720p.
All those books and videos galore mean strong battery life is a must — luckily B&N promises at least 11 hours. Past that, there are plenty of other fun features to keep things interesting, including “Read & Record,” which lets parents record children’s stories so that kids can have their parents voice reading them to sleep at times when parent and child can’t necessarily be together. Angry Birds is also in tow.
The Nook tablet will begin to arrive in stores at the beginning of next week for $249. Meanwhile the rest of the Nook line is getting some price drops: the Nook color has been dropped down to $199, and the more basic Nook Simple Touch has gone from $139 to $99.
This slideshow requires JavaScript. ||||| Article Excerpt
Barnes & Noble Inc. jumped into the tablet computer market Monday, unveiling a Nook Tablet priced at $249, $50 more than Amazon.com Inc.'s new Kindle Fire but half the price of Apple Inc.'s cheapest iPad.
The launch represents a significant digital bet for the nation's largest bookstore chain, which is battling to increase its share of the thriving e-books market while overseeing more than 1,300 book stores. Barnes & Noble has had some success with its Nook line of e-readers, which have helped it gain what it estimates is a 27% stake in the e-book market. But by introducing a ...
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– The Nook Tablet is here, and while it won’t cost you nearly as much as an iPad, at $249 it still comes in a bit more expensive than Amazon’s Kindle Fire. Barnes & Noble unveiled the tablet in New York City today, just in time for the holiday shopping season, the Wall Street Journal notes. That extra 50 bucks will snag you better memory capacity, a superior display, a larger selection of content, and in-store service, TechCrunch adds. The internal 16GB storage is twice Amazon’s, and the Nook also offers the option for an additional 32GB. The 7-inch Android-powered tablet also features a 1Ghz processor with 1GB RAM and comes with free cloud service, access to Nook newsstand and comics, and a battery that will last 11.5 hours for reading and nine hours for video playback. The Nook Tablet will be in stores next week, ZDNet reports. Barnes & Noble also cut the price of its non-tablet Nooks: A Nook Color will now run you $199, or you can pick up a Nook SimpleTouch for $99.
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HO Old/Reuters
Teenage heartthrob Justin Bieber continues to draw ire after his visit to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam on Friday. After noting in the museum’s guestbook how “inspiring” it was to visit the home where Frank and her family hid from the Nazis for two years during World War II, he went on to opine that she “was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber.” Staff posted Bieber’s note to the museum’s Facebook page, prompting many to “cringe at the insensitivity and the sheer ego of” the counterfactual fan club invitation. Frank died in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945, so there is no way of knowing whether she would have enjoyed the nuanced strains of “Baby.” However, in addition to being one of the most important chroniclers of her time, Anne Frank was also a normal teenager. Was she a fan of pop culture?
Somewhat. A few clues on this front can be found in the famous diary itself. In one of the earliest entries, dated Sunday, June 14, 1942, Frank imagines what it would be like to own a pet like Rin Tin Tin and writes of her and her classmates’ enjoyment of a movie featuring the dog on the occasion of her birthday party, a few weeks before the family was forced into hiding. Frank was also fond of the young adult novels of her era, particularly the books of Cissy van Marxveldt: “I’ve read The Zaniest Summer four times, and the ludicrous situations still make me laugh.” In these preferences, Frank was like most girls her age.
Musically speaking, though, Frank’s tastes seem to have run highbrow. Along with the rest of her family, she enjoyed listening to classical music in private home performances before the war and later on the radio, and devotes much of a June 1944 entry to a loose review of a biography of Franz Liszt. Classical music also played into Frank’s nascent romantic life: “Sunday afternoon Peter came to see me at four-thirty, at my invitation. At five-fifteen we went to the front attic, where we stayed until six. There was a beautiful Mozart concert on the radio from six to seven-fifteen; I especially enjoyed the ‘Kleine Nachtmusik.’ I can hardly bear to listen in the kitchen, since beautiful music stirs me to the very depths of my soul.”
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Frank did have a touch of tabloid fever however. She was so fond of collecting pictures of actors such as Greta Garbo and Ray Milland—she laments in a May 1944 entry that her “movie stars are in a terrible disarray and are dying to be straightened out”—that, according to Melissa Müller’s biography, at least one of her childhood friends found her “flightiness and fascination” with them annoying. But even as she drew some delight from celebrity culture, Frank resisted being lumped in with young girls who, as a contemporary polemic had put it, “occupy themselves with superficial things, without giving a thought to true beauty.”
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– First the Anne Frank museum came to Justin Bieber's defense after he speculated that the iconic Holocaust diarist might have been a Belieber; now Frank's own stepsister says she's on Bieber's side, too. "She probably would have been a fan. Why not?" says Eva Schloss, who was Frank's childhood friend before her mother married Frank's father after the war. Bieber is "a young man and she was a young girl, and she liked film stars and music," Schloss continues. And, as the Sun notes, Frank's diary does include mentions of celebrities like Greta Garbo and Ray Milland. Click for more on what sort of pop culture she loved.
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Is alcohol good or bad for your health? With no shortage of contradictory findings, it's understandable if you're left feeling like you've had a little too much to drink.
Now, new research from Denmark suggests that moderate levels of alcohol drinking — not binge drinking — may be linked to a lower risk of developing diabetes. But it's not just how much people drink, but how often they drink, that plays a role, the researchers said.
It's important to note, however, that most experts recommend that if you don't already drink alcohol, you shouldn't start because of possible health benefits.
In the study, published today (July 27) in the journal Diabetologia, researchers found that drinking alcohol three to four days a week was associated with a lower risk of diabetes compared with drinking less than one day a week. [7 Ways Alcohol Affects Your Health]
The "findings suggest that alcohol drinking frequency is associated with risk of diabetes, and that consumption of alcohol over three to four days per week is associated with the lowest risk of diabetes, even after taking average weekly alcohol consumption into account," the researchers, led by Charlotte Holst, a doctoral student of public health at the University of Southern Denmark, wrote.
In the study, the researchers looked at data on more than 76,000 adults who participated in the Danish Health Examination Survey in 2007 to 2008. The people in the study filled out questionnaires about their drinking habits, including how much and how often they drank alcohol, and what type of alcohol they drank. Using information from the Danish National Diabetes Register, the researchers determined if the people in the study developed diabetes.
The researchers noted that they weren't able to distinguish between type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes using the available data. However, it's more common to develop type 2 diabetes as an adult than type 1 diabetes, which usually develops during childhood.
The people in the study were tracked for a median of 4.9 years, the researchers wrote. Over this time period, about 850 men and 890 women developed diabetes.
In men, drinking alcohol three to four days per week was associated with a 27 percent lower risk of diabetes compared with drinking less than one day per week, the researchers found. For women, the same frequency was associated with a 32 percent lower risk.
The researchers also looked at the amount of alcohol consumed. Their findings were similar to those of earlier studies, which have shown that drinking a moderate amount of alcohol is associated with the lowest risk of diabetes. Specifically, the study found that for men, drinking 14 drinks per week was associated with a 41 percent lower risk of diabetes compared with no drinks, and for women, drinking nine drinks per week was associated with a 58 percent lower risk of diabetes.
When the researchers looked at alcohol type, they found that different alcohol types were associated with different levels of risk. For example, drinking seven or more glasses of wine per week was associated with a 25 to 30 percent lower risk of diabetes compared with drinking less than one glass of wine per week.
There were also differences between men and women: For beer, for example, drinking between one and six brews was associated with a 21 percent lower risk of diabetes in men compared with drinking less than one beer a week, and there was no link found between beer consumption and diabetes risk in women. Drinking seven or more drinks made with liquor per week, on the other hand, was associated with an 83 percent increased risk of diabetes in women compared with one liquor-based drink per week. [Here's How Much Alcohol Is OK to Drink in 19 Countries]
The study only looked at the association between drinking alcohol and risk of diabetes — it didn't prove cause and effect. However, the researchers hypothesize that wine's beneficial effects may stem from compounds called polyphenols, which may help the body control blood sugar levels and, in turn, lower a person's risk of diabetes, according to the study.
The researchers noted that they didn't find an association between binge drinking (defined in the study as drinking five or more drinks at a time) and diabetes risk, but this may be because there weren't enough binge drinkers in the study to observe a link. In other words, it's possible that binge drinking is linked to diabetes risk, but more research is needed.
One limitation of the study was that the people self-reported their alcohol consumption, which means that it could be inaccurate, the researchers wrote.
Originally published on Live Science. ||||| Drinking alcohol three to four times per week could significantly reduce a person's chances of developing diabetes, according to a new study.
Wine is tipped to be the most beneficial, followed by beer, but researchers warn that clear spirits, such as gin and vodka, could substantially increase a woman's chances of succumbing to the condition.
Experts argue, however, that the health impacts of alcohol consumption can vary from person to person and the study should not be taken as a "green light" for excessive drinking.
The new research, published in European medical journal Diabetologia, surveyed more than 70,000 Danish participants on their drinking habits over the course of five years.
Of the 859 men and 887 women who developed diabetes over this period – either type 1 or type 2 – those who drank frequently emerged as the least at risk.
The lowest risk of diabetes was observed at 14 drinks per week in men and nine drinks per week in women.
"Our findings suggest that alcohol drinking frequency is associated with the risk of diabetes and that consumption of alcohol over three to four weekdays is associated with the lowest risks of diabetes, even after taking average weekly alcohol consumption into account," Professor Janne Tolstrup from the University of Southern Denmark noted in the report. ||||| TIME Health For more, visit TIME Health
Drinking alcohol—especially wine—every few days may help protect against type 2 diabetes, suggests a new study published in the journal Diabetologia. People in the study who drank three to four days a week were about 30% less likely to develop diabetes than those who drank less than once a week.
This isn’t the first study to find a link between drinking moderately—having up to 7 drinks a week for women and up to 14 drinks a week for men—and a reduced diabetes risk, compared to not drinking at all. (Heavy drinking, however, is known to increase the risk of diabetes.)
For the new study, researchers analyzed data from more than 70,000 healthy Danish adults who were surveyed about their health and drinking habits around 2007. They tracked them for five years to see who developed type 2 diabetes.
People who had the lowest risk for diabetes were those who drank alcohol at moderate—and slightly more than moderate—levels. Men who drank 14 drinks a week had a 43% lower risk of diabetes than men who did not drink at all; women who drank nine drinks a week had a 58% reduced risk.
TIME Health Newsletter Get the latest health and science news, plus: burning questions and expert tips. View Sample Sign Up Now
The timing of those drinks also mattered. Drinking three to four days a week was linked to the biggest risk reduction. For women, very infrequent drinking (less than one day a week) was also associated with slightly lower diabetes rates, compared to being a lifetime abstainer.
“For the same total weekly amount of alcohol, spreading it out on more days is better than drinking it all together,” said lead author Janne Tolstrup, professor of epidemiology and intervention research at the University of Southern Denmark’s National Institute of Pubic Health, in an email.
Wine seemed to have a special edge. This study, and previous ones, found that moderate-to-high intake of wine was associated with lower diabetes risk—possibly because the polyphenol compounds in red wine may help manage blood sugar, the authors wrote.
MORE: Here’s What Happens When You Drink Red Wine Every Night
Moderate consumption of beer was also linked to lower diabetes risk for men in the study, but not for women. The researchers say that may be because not enough women in their sample reported drinking beer to show a strong association. (Most drank wine.)
As for spirits, the researchers found no association with diabetes risk in men—but women who had at least seven hard-liquor drinks per week had an 83% increased risk of diabetes compared to those who had less than one. These results are also uncertain, says Tolstrup, since fewer people in the study reported drinking spirits regularly.
While the study suggests a link between alcohol and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, the study cannot determine that alcohol causes these protective effects. Tolstrup also points out that alcohol is related to more than 50 different diseases and conditions—in both positive and negative ways. The study did not, for example, take into account the increased risk of breast cancer that’s been associated with even low levels of alcohol consumption.
“Any recommendations about how to drink and how much to drink should not be inferred from this study,” she says, “or any study investigating associations between alcohol and a single outcome such as diabetes.” Alcohol affects virtually every organ system in the body, Tolstrup says. She recommends that people stick to current guidelines for moderate drinking, and doesn’t advise current abstainers to start drinking for health reasons.
MORE: Alcohol Is Good for Your Heart — Most of the Time
The results, while interesting, call for more research.
Dr. Ronald Tamler, medical director at the Mount Sinai Clinical Diabetes Institute, was not involved in the new study, but says it confirms observations from previous research. He also recommends drinking in moderation, “up to one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men,” he said in an email.
“My patients are happy when they ‘confess’ that they have a glass of wine with dinner, and I tell them they should feel free to continue their evening routine,” Tamler says. “However, I do not advise patients to start drinking just to reduce risk of developing diabetes.”
Tamler also points out that the study focused on people developing a new diagnosis of diabetes. “Once somebody has diabetes, different forms of alcohol can have very different effects,” he says. “Beer may increase blood sugar levels (carbs!) while hard liquor may lead to dangerously low glucose levels.”
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– Good news, wine and beer lovers: A new study finds that "moderate but regular" alcohol consumption appears to be linked to a lower risk of developing diabetes. Researchers surveyed more than 70,000 Danish participants over a five-year period and found that men who reported drinking 14 drinks a week and women who reported drinking nine per week were at the lowest risk (41% lower for men than those who did not drink, 58% lower for women), CNBC reports. "Our findings suggest that alcohol drinking frequency is associated with the risk of diabetes and that consumption of alcohol over three to four weekdays is associated with the lowest risks of diabetes," a researcher says. The lead author adds, "For the same total weekly amount of alcohol, spreading it out on more days is better than drinking it all together." Overall, drinking three to four days a week was linked to a 27% lower risk of diabetes (men) or 32% lower risk (women) than drinking less than one day a week, LiveScience reports. A caveat: While wine was found to be the best choice (the researchers hypothesize this could be because the polyphenol compounds in red wine could help with blood sugar management), followed by beer (for men only), clear spirits including gin and vodka were found to be linked with an increased risk of developing diabetes for women. Of course, outside health experts are warning people to be careful and not take this study as an excuse to over-indulge. And Time notes that while other studies have found a link between moderate drinking and a reduced risk, heavy drinking is known to increase diabetes risk.
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Death by suffocation seems like an awfully protracted way to go and death by suffocation in the grip of a boa constrictor's coils is the stuff of nightmares. Yet Scott Boback from Dickinson College, USA, wasn't so sure that suffocation was all there was to the boa constrictor's technique. 'It looks like the [prey] animals are gasping for air', says Boback, but in 1994, Boback's colleague, Dave Hardy, had proposed an alternative. 'What Hardy saw was the speed at which the animals were dying... they were dying way too quickly for it to be suffocation. He suspected that it was circulatory or cardiac arrest because of the speed at which death was occurring', says Boback. But there were few data to support Hardy's suggestion and, although hard-core members of the herpetology community were aware of the possibility, the rest of us were left clinging to the old-wives' tale that constricting snakes kill by suffocation: until Boback put the crushers to the test. He and his colleagues publish their discovery that boa constrictors rapidly shut down the victim's circulation. They suggest that the snakes kill their prey by cutting off the blood supply to the heart, brain and other vital organs causing their victims to pass out in a matter of seconds and die more quickly than if they were being suffocated in The Journal of Experimental Biology at http://jeb. biologists. org .
'We have been studying constriction for a number of years,' says Boback, explaining that he had measured the pressure exerted by snakes crushing dead rats in earlier experiments. However, to find out what was really going on inside the snake's victims, he had to measure blood pressure in living anesthetised rodents as they were squeezed. 'It was not something that we took lightly and we wanted to make sure that the animals [rats] did not experience pain or suffer', says Boback. Having anesthetised a rat, Boback and his colleagues, Emmet Blankenship and Charles Zwemer - backed up by undergraduate researchers, Katie McCann, Kevin Wood and Patrick McNeal - inserted ECG electrodes and blood pressure catheters into the rodent's body before offering the sedated animal to a hungry boa constrictor.
Fortunately for Boback, the snake struck, aiming a bite at the rat's head and coiling its body around the rodent as it began to squeeze. And, as the team watched the blood pressure and heart rate data stream onto the computer, they were amazed to see the rat's blood circulation shut down in a matter of seconds. 'I remember being in the room and the students were looking at the data in disbelief that it happened that fast. We could see the arterial pressure go down, the venous pressure go up and we could see this right when the snake was doing it [squeezing]', says Boback. As soon as the rat's circulation stopped and the oxygen supply was cut off, the team could also see the rat's heart beating more and more irregularly. Boback suspects that without blood flow to the brain, any animal caught in the snake's coils probably passes out in a matter of seconds, before other critical organs begin to fail.
Boback also suggests that the boas provide a glimpse into the evolution of crushing behaviour in snakes. He explains that ancient snake species that had not evolved constriction were probably restricted to capturing small meals that they could subdue easily. However, once the earliest boas had developed their quicker constriction technique for despatching victims, they were free to scale up the size of meals, sometimes tackling animals that are even larger than themselves. 'By understanding the mechanisms of how constriction kills, we gain a greater appreciation for the efficiency of this behaviour and the benefit it provided early snakes', says Boback.
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REFERENCE: IF REPORTING THIS STORY, PLEASE MENTION THE JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AS THE SOURCE AND, IF REPORTING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A LINK TO: jeb.biologists.org/lookup/doi/10.1242/jeb.121384
REFERENCE: Boback, S. M., McCann, K. J., Wood, K. A. , McNeal, P. M., Blankenship, E. L. and Zwemer, C. F. (2014). Snake constriction rapidly induces circulatory arrest in rats. J. Exp. Biol. 218, 2279-2288.
This article is posted on this site to give advance access to other authorised media who may wish to report on this story. Full attribution is required, and if reporting online a link to jeb.biologists.com is also required. The story posted here is COPYRIGHTED. Therefore advance permission is required before any and every reproduction of each article in full. PLEASE CONTACT [email protected]
THIS ARTICLE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL WEDNESDAY, 22 July 2015, 18:00 HRS EDT (23:00 HRS BST) ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Boa constrictors were long thought to kill their prey by suffocation, slowly squeezing the life out one ragged breath at a time.
But a new study reveals that these big, non-venomous serpents, found in tropical Central and South America, subdue their quarry with a much quicker method: Cutting off their blood supply.
When a boa tightens its body around its prey, it throws off the finely tuned plumbing of the victim's circulatory system. Arterial pressures plummet, venous pressures soar, and blood vessels begin to close. ( Read how snakes know when to stop squeezing their prey .)
"The heart literally doesn't have enough strength to push against the pressure," says study leader Scott Boback , a vertebrate ecologist at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Most animals can actually survive a relatively long time without breathing: Think about drowning people who are later resuscitated, he says. But the same isn't true for a body without a heartbeat.
If executed perfectly, the powerful squeeze causes the animal to pass out within a matter of seconds. Death follows soon after.
Snakes on a Vein
To better understand the snakes' constriction mechanism, Boback and his colleagues at Dickinson anesthetized lab rats and then rigged the animals with various instruments.
Vascular catheters measured blood pressure, for instance, while electrodes secured within the rats' chest cavities provided information about the heart's electrical activity. (Also see "Pictures: How a Python Can Swallow a Crocodile.")
Then they fed the outfitted rats to captive boa constrictors and measured what happened to the lab rats. Surprisingly, the pressures at which the snakes cinched against the rats weren't all that remarkable. But then again, they don't need to be.
"A boa constricting a small rat is generating the kind of pressure that would stop the blood flow in your arm," says Boback, whose study appears July 22 in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
But even this light pressure, when applied to a rat's torso, makes its system goes haywire, the team discovered. (See "Giant Python Meals That Went Bust.")
Once blood flow ceases, organs with high metabolic rates—such as the brain, the liver, and the heart itself—begin to shut down. Doctors call this ischemia .
Snakes call it lunch.
An Evolutionary Advantage
The team theorizes that killing by circulatory arrest has given all constricting snakes—which includes pythons and anacondas —an evolutionary advantage. The quicker the snakes can disable their prey, the lower the chance the predator will get hurt in the process.
"That absolutely makes sense," says Paul Rosolie , a conservationist who has spent the last decade working with anacondas.
Think about other animals living alongside boa constrictors in tropical rain forests , says Rosolie: They have teeth, hooves, and claws capable of kicking and ripping. But a snake just has a mouth—making it extremely vulnerable. ( Watch a video of an anaconda taking down its prey .)
"Almost every time an anaconda takes something down, it's putting its face on that animal," says Rosolie, who wasn't involved in the new research.
"If it doesn't get the attack exactly right, something big like a capybara can chew right through the body of an anaconda."
Watch a video of an anaconda stalking a capybara.
Anaconda Hunts When you're an anaconda, you don't need venom to take down your prey, even if it's the world's largest rodent, a capybara, weighing nearly 100 pounds (45 kilograms)!
Ectotherm's Revenge
As interesting as his revelation is, Boback says there's still much we don't know.
For instance, there's evidence that boa constrictors have a tougher time killing ectotherms, animals such as lizards and snakes that rely on external heat to regulate their body temperatures.
During a recent expedition to Honduras , for instance, Boback and several other scientists observed a boa constrictor attacking a spinytail iguana . After the snake constricted its prey for an hour, the team collected both animals—assuming the iguana was dead—and went to bed.
In the morning, they were surprised to discover the animals at either end of the observation tank, with the iguana alive and well. (Also see " Freshly Eaten Snake Makes Amazing Escape—Find Out How .")
"We have no idea what was going on," says Boback, "but [the iguana] seemed totally fine."
No worse for wear, the team released the lucky survivor back into the wild.
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– Most people think constrictors like boas and anacondas squeeze the air out of their prey with their muscular coils. And most people are wrong, according to a new study that offers an entirely different theory. Dickinson College researcher Scott Boback explains that colleague Dave Hardy first noticed two decades ago that the speed at which prey die in the clutches of a boa is far too quick to be from suffocation—a painful, drawn-out process, per a release. He supposed an animal's death was caused by circulatory or cardiac arrest, says Boback, but there were no studies to back him up. Twenty years later, Boback says his study in the Journal of Experimental Biology proves Hardy was right: Boas cut off prey's blood flow to the heart, brain, and other vital organs by closing blood vessels and sending pressure in the arteries plummeting. The animals pass out in seconds and die relatively quickly, researchers say. It wasn’t pleasant work coming to that conclusion. Researchers anesthetized 24 rats, put ECG electrodes and vascular catheters into their bodies to monitor heart rate and blood pressure, then watched as they were squeezed by nine boa constrictors, reports Smithsonian. After six seconds, a rat's blood circulation dropped by half. "I remember being in the room and the students were looking at the data in disbelief that it happened that fast," says Boback. The oxygen supply was eliminated within the next minute as the rat's heartbeat began to falter. After six minutes, more than 90% of the rats had died, likely from irreparable heart damage as their veins were crushed, though they were probably unconscious from the first seconds, Boback says. "The heart literally doesn't have enough strength to push against the pressure," he tells National Geographic. Boback adds snakes' quick crushing skills probably evolved to protect them from prey with sharp teeth and claws. (Snakes once had ankles.)
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F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. (AP) — Moments before he launched a carefully planned pep talk to members of the Air Force's nuclear missile force, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was undercut by yet another sign of trouble in their ranks: a drug probe of two missile officers.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks with airmen of the 20th Air Force 90th Missile Wing during a trip to F.E. Warren Air Force Base on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014 in Cheyenne, Wyo. It was the first time since... (Associated Press)
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks with airmen of the 20th Air Force 90th Missile Wing during a trip to F.E. Warren Air Force Base on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, in Cheyenne, Wyo. It was the first time... (Associated Press)
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel greets an airman from the 20th Air Force 90th Missile Wing during a trip to F.E. Warren Air Force Base on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014 in Cheyenne, Wyo. It was the first time since... (Associated Press)
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks with airmen of the 20th Air Force 90th Missile Wing during a trip to F.E. Warren Air Force Base on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014 in Cheyenne, Wyo. It was the first time since... (Associated Press)
Hagel flew here Thursday to deliver a message he felt needed to be heard by men and women who sometimes tire of toiling in a job that can seem like military oblivion. He wanted to buck them up, while also insisting they live up to their own standards, which he said should never be compromised in a business as potentially dangerous as the launching of the world's deadliest weapons.
"We depend on your professionalism," he declared to an assembly of members of the 90th Missile Wing, which operates 150 Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles, one third of the entire ICBM force.
What Hagel did not count on was the news — disclosed just as he was preparing to deliver his words of praise and encouragement — that two Minuteman 3 launch control officers at an ICBM base in Montana had been removed from duty because they were under investigation for illegal narcotics.
Details of the illegal narcotics case were not released, but the two officers were members of the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations was handling the probe.
Hagel did not mention the news, which he was told about by aides while he was visiting a missile launch control center in "Flight Echo" of the 319th Missile Squadron at a remote site just across the state line in his home state of Nebraska. The Pentagon's press secretary, Rear Adm. John Kirby, said Hagel was the first defense secretary to visit an ICBM launch control center since Caspar Weinberger in 1982. Since then, defense secretaries have visited ICBM bases but none has ventured to a launch center, a pill-shaped capsule buried at least 60 feet below ground.
In his speech later back at F.E. Warren, Hagel stepped lightly on the sensitive issues of misbehavior and occasional performance, training and leadership lapses in the ICBM force.
"You are doing something of great importance to the world," Hagel told the group. Lest they sometimes doubt that importance, he said, "You have chosen a profession where there is no room for error — none."
Hagel made no direct reference to problems revealed in the past year by The Associated Press, including an unprecedented sidelining last spring of 17 launch control officers at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., after commanders deemed them unfit to fulfill their duties, which include the potential launching of nuclear war, and none in his audience asked his views on the state of their profession.
One asked Hagel what the future holds for ICBMs, and the Pentagon chief said the Obama administration was committed to preserving all three legs of the strategic nuclear triad: ballistic missile submarines, heavy bombers and ICBMs. He said the Pentagon was making progress on a study it began last year to determine what kind of missile should replace the Minuteman 3, which was first deployed in 1970 and is approaching obsolescence.
Some have questioned whether the U.S. can afford to further modernize its ICBM force at a time of shrinking defense budgets.
"You are doing something of great importance for the world," Hagel said. At the same time, he said he realizes that their jobs must be carried out in isolation, with little public recognition or acclaim.
"No fanfare, no TV cameras," Hagel said.
The unsung nature of their work, coupled with increasing talk about ICBMs being an expendable element of the U.S. nuclear force, has weighed on the morale of many in the missile force. The AP disclosed in November that a RAND Corp. study of the ICBM force had detected signs of "burnout" among a sample of missile launch officers and some missile security forces.
In an apparent allusion to breakdowns in discipline, Hagel said, "How you do the job really is as important as the job itself."
F.E. Warren Air Force Base, which is headquarters for the organization in charge of all 450 U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles, has more than 3,000 enlisted airmen and officers and saw 12 courts-martial in 2013, compared with nine the year before, 12 in 2011 and eight in 2010, according to Air Force statistics provided to the AP last week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
In each of the past four years, the courts-martial rate at F.E. Warren was higher than in the Air Force as a whole, the statistics show.
Drug offenses have been at or near the top of the list at F.E. Warren. Of the seven top offenses that led to courts-martial there last year, for example, the most common was "use of controlled substances," and also on the list was the distribution of controlled substances, according to statistics provided by the Air Force Legal Operations Agency. In 2012 the top offense in courts-martial was "wrongful use of marijuana."
___
Follow Robert Burns on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP ||||| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two missile-launch crew members at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana have been implicated in an illegal narcotics operation and have had their access to classified information suspended, a U.S. defense official said on Thursday.
The two officers were members of the 341st Missile Wing at the base, the official said.
News of the investigation came as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was visiting a sister missile base in neighboring Wyoming to deliver a message about the importance of the U.S. nuclear weapons mission, which has been troubled by morale problems.
The major general in charge of U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles was fired last year for drunken and inappropriate behavior while leading a security delegation to Moscow.
(Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Peter Cooney) ||||| Two Air Force ICBM launch officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana have been implicated in an illegal-narcotics investigation, a U.S. defense official said Thursday, adding to the list of troubles uncovered by Associated Press reporting in the past year on the country's nuclear force:
—In April, 19 missile crew members in the 91st Missile Wing at Minot, N.D., were deemed temporarily unfit for duty and given weeks of remedial training. The wing's deputy commander of operations complained of "rot" in the force. Later, the officer in charge of the 91st's missile crew training and proficiency was relieved of duty.
—In August, the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom failed a safety and security inspection. Nine days later the officer in charge of security forces there was relieved of duty. In October the unit passed a do-over test.
—On Oct. 11, the Air Force fired Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, commander of the 20th Air Force, which is responsible for the entire Minuteman 3 missile force, amid an investigation of an alcohol-related complaint. This happened two days after a Navy admiral who was second-in-command at U.S. Strategic Command, the military's main nuclear war-fighting command, was relieved of duty amid a gambling-related investigation.
—The AP reported that twice last year the Air Force has punished officers involved in separate incidents of opening the blast door of their launch control center while one of the two launch officers was asleep, in violation of Air Force rules.
—In November, the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Mark Welsh, disclosed that as a result of the Carey firing, the Air Force would take a closer look at the background of candidates for general officer-level nuclear command jobs.
—Also in November, the AP reported that key members of the Air Force's nuclear missile force are feeling "burnout" from what they see as exhausting, unrewarding and stressful work. The finding, in an unpublished RAND Corp. study provided to the AP in draft form, also cited heightened levels of misconduct such as spousal abuse and said court-martial rates in the nuclear missile force in 2011 and 2012 were more than twice as high as in the overall Air Force.
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– America got yet another reason to worry about the men who have their fingers on the nuclear button yesterday, when two Air Force ICBM launch officers were suspended and named as targets of an illegal narcotics investigation. The two men, part of the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force base in Montana, have had their security clearances suspended pending an investigation, NBC News and Reuters report. The timing of the news was hilariously bad—it came just moments before Chuck Hagel was set to deliver a speech to another Air Force ICBM unit intended to boost morale in the face of the rampant problems that have plagued America's nuclear force. Hagel's aides told him about the news, the AP reports, but Hagel left it out of his speech. "You are doing something of great importance," he said. "There is no room for error—none." But there have been a lot of errors recently; the AP used the drug case as an opportunity to run down some of the recent snafus: In April, 19 members of one crew were deemed unfit for duty and given weeks of remedial training. In August the 341st Wing—the same one now involved in the drug scandal—failed a safety inspection. Nuclear guards have twice been caught sleeping with the blast door to their control center open. The general in charge of the entire missile operation was fired for acting like a "drunken boor" on an official trip.
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President Obama just concluded his primetime address to the country, a speech in which he largely remade arguments he had offered over the past 96 hours for why it is in America's interest to consider a military strike against Syria.
Obama spoke for roughly 15 minutes, but the speech will be analyzed for a LOT longer than that. My takeaways on what he said -- and why he said it -- are below.
* This was a speech Obama had to give, not one he wanted to deliver. The reality of the situation -- the rising congressional opposition to a use-of-force resolution coupled with the uncertainty surrounding a nascent Russian-led effort to force Syria to hand over its chemical weapons -- meant that there really wasn't much definitive the president could say about the future of U.S. action in the region. And, he didn't. This was a holding-pattern speech.
* The core of the Obama argument was -- as it has been for days now -- a moral appeal. "When dictators commit atrocities, they depend on the world to look the other way," Obama said at one point. But, it wasn't just an appeal to our common morality. It was that if an act -- gassing your own people -- is condemned but tolerated by America, then the chances of other rogue actors pressing the bounds of acceptable behavior in the future increases. What Obama seemed to be saying is that this isn't about Syria -- it's about the next Syria and the one after that.
* Obama made a very carefully argued case for how America should think of its place in the world in the 21st century. He said twice that America was "not the world's policeman" but that in a case like Syria -- where the United States could send a moral message around the globe with small risks -- we should do so. That's a complex calculation that has a level of subjectivity built into it -- what small risks, large rewards actually are often lies in the eye of the man or woman making the decision.
* This is not Iraq. The president went above and beyond, rhetorically speaking, to drive home the point to the public that Syria is not Iraq and he won't let it be. "We cannot resolve someone else's civil war through force," he said bluntly at the start of his speech. He also made clear that he knew people want him to focus on growing the economy at home, not litigating other nations' conflicts. It was, in that way, a remarkably frank speech about the political realities/difficulties he faces in making the case for action.
What did you take away from the speech? Did what President Obama say change your mind? Why or why not?
More on this story:
Obama takes case for Syria strike to the public
Where Congress stands on Syria vote
Read the transcript of Obama's speech ||||| WASHINGTON -- President Obama did not appear to immediately change many minds in one crucial voting bloc that watched his national address Tuesday on Syria: Congress.
Lawmakers on both the left and right remained largely dug into their positions, or stayed undecided, after Obama urged the nation to back his bid to launch punitive missile strikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government for allegedly using chemical weapons against its people.
Obama said he had asked Congress to delay voting to authorize the use of force so the United Nations Security Council could consider a Russian diplomatic initiative to get Assad’s government to give up its chemical arsenal.
TRANSCRIPT: Obama makes his case to the nation
In a joint statement, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who are among the most outspoken in calling for a military response, said they regretted that Obama “did not lay out a clearer plan to test the seriousness of the Russian and Syrian proposal to transfer the Assad regime’s chemical weapons to international custody.”
Others seized on the Russian offer as a potential way out of the crisis.
A group of eight senators, including McCain and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), began writing an amended resolution that would authorize a U.S. military strike only if the U.N. failed to pass a resolution to empower the international community to remove Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons.
“The president tonight made a forceful and persuasive case to the American people that confronting Syria’s use of chemical weapons will keep our people and our troops safer,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee. “I believe Congress can best support the goal of a diplomatic solution by approving a resolution that authorizes the use of force if Syria refuses to give up its chemical weapons.”
The White House outreach to both sides of the aisle picked up almost immediately after the speech.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who attended a meeting at the White House earlier Tuesday with Vice President Joe Biden, tweeted that he received a call from Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, only moments after the president finished his address to see if he had reconsidered.
He had not. "I am still a NO," Chaffetz wrote.
FULL COVERAGE: The debate over Syria
Lawmakers are watching public opinion, and several sought input from viewers as they weighed the options before them.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), the tea party conservative, said her office had been “flooded” with calls of opposition. She will vote against authorizing use of force.
“Pres. Obama's speech didn’t convince me,” tweeted Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), among the most outspoken opponents of a U.S.-led military strike on Syria.
With next year’s midterm campaigns about to launch, Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said earlier Tuesday that the 2014 elections would not be a referendum on the administration's handling of Syria.
But Obama's speech did little to sway potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbents in favor of a possible military strike.
Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) said a military response was "something that we may ultimately need to consider" but that a diplomatic solution was preferable. "The choice to take military action is one of the most significant decisions a government can make and should only be used as a means of last resort," he said.
Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.), a freshman who was an enthusiastic backer of Obama in the 2008 primaries, said she continued "to have very grave concerns about the unintended consequences of U.S. military intervention in the region."
And Rep. Bruce Braley, the likely Democratic Senate nominee in Iowa, likewise said he was "still unconvinced that a limited U.S. military strike is the appropriate response to the atrocities committed in Syria."
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Obama: Diplomatic talks on Syria 'encouraging,' but threat remains
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You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| First, the news: President Obama announced tonight that he has "asked the leaders of Congress to postpone a vote to authorize the use of force while we pursue this diplomatic path."
So for now, the vote is off. The deal with Russia is on.
Mohammad Hannon/AP - Syrian protesters carry placards showing dead children to condemn the alleged poison gas attack on the suburbs of Damascus, during a protest in front of the Syrian Embassy, in Amman, Jordan, on Friday.
The problem is that if the diplomatic path is going to work, Russia and Syria need to believe Obama's threat to use force is credible. That means Obama needs to win enough public and congressional support that his threats remain credible. The result was an odd speech: One that had to make the case for war the administration was seeking on Sunday even as it pivoted toward the diplomatic solution the administration lucked into on Monday.
The White House had a surprisingly encouraging story to tell tonight: Already, the threat of military force has gotten Russia and Syria to propose concessions that were unthinkable mere weeks ago. The two have agreed, at least in principle, that if the United States forswears force against Syria, then Syria will sign the treaty against chemical weapons and give up its stockpiles of deadly gas. It would be a huge victory in the century-long fight to eradicate chemical weapons.
That deal will fall apart if Syria and Russia conclude that the White House's threats are empty. Obama needs the country's backing to strike Syria so he can strike a diplomatic bargain to get rid of Assad's chemical arsenal, thus ending America's interest in striking Syria.
But Obama can't get that support by going on prime time and asking Americans to help him bluff Russia. So in trying to win the country's backing, Obama opened with a very bad argument -- one that fundamentally misleads Americans about the nature of the intervention the president is proposing.
The situation profoundly changed, though, on August 21st, when Assad's government gassed to death over a thousand people, including hundreds of children. The images from this massacre are sickening, men, women, children lying in rows, killed by poison gas, others foaming at the mouth, gasping for breath, a father clutching his dead children, imploring them to get up and walk. On that terrible night, the world saw in gruesome detail the terrible nature of chemical weapons and why the overwhelming majority of humanity has declared them off limits, a crime against humanity and a violation of the laws of war.
He made a similarly emotional argument at the end:
And so to my friends on the right, I ask you to reconcile your commitment to America’s military might with the failure to act when a cause is so plainly just. To my friends on the left, I ask you to reconcile your belief in freedom and dignity for all people with those images of children writhing in pain and going still on a cold hospital floor, for sometimes resolutions and statements of condemnation are simply not enough. Indeed, I’d ask every member of Congress and those of you watching at home tonight to view those videos of the attack, and then ask, what kind of world will we live in if the United States of America sees a dictator brazenly violate international law with poison gas and we choose to look the other way?
The middle of the speech included more careful points about chemical weapons. But the big opening and closing were dedicated to a vivid, urgent and moral case against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's atrocities. But that just serves to highlight what Obama is not proposing: Ending the bloodshed in Syria.
Most Americans aren't paying close attention to the civil war in Syria. They don't know that more than 100,000 Syrians have died, and that chemical weapons account for less than 1 percent of those casualties. It's borderline perverse to use descriptions of pain, suffering and death to justify an intervention that would leave the cause of more than 99 percent of these deaths untouched. As Time's Michael Crowley tweeted, "The images of children crippled by conventional bombs were sickening, too."
To put it simply, if it is "the images of children writhing in pain and going still on a cold hospital floor" that motivate our intervention in Syria, why should we care whether the children were attacked with gas or steel?
If Obama's diplomatic path works, Assad will begin destroying his chemical weapons even as he continues slaughtering the opposition with conventional weapons. The Obama administration hopes, of course, that that won't happen -- that the deal to disarm him will open negotiating space for a deal to end the conflict. But there's no guarantee of that. France's draft U.N. Security Council resolution -- which the United States supports -- is silent on Assad's conventional weapons, and his use of them. That's a silence no reasonable viewer would infer from Obama's speech.
At this point, the White House has a surprisingly good plan to avoid war while achieving the limited goal of disarming Assad's chemical arsenal. But it relies on them making a very bad argument for a much larger war with much broader, more humanitarian, objectives. ||||| President Obama’s speech Tuesday night was the address of a deeply conflicted man.
One could almost see his relief that Russia has provided what may be a face-saving proposal that allows him to pull back from war while claiming victory. He is fighting a losing battle to persuade the world, the American people, and Congress that an attack on Syria is necessary. He doesn’t have the votes, and he knows it.
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reset Obama: U.S. military doesn't do 'pinprick' strikes
In his speech Tuesday night, the president focused narrowly on the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons, casting them only indirectly as threats to U.S. security. He bent over backwards to assure the American people that any actions he takes will be strictly limited (though the United States does not do “pinpricks,” he insisted).
(WATCH: Obama’s full speech on Syria)
The American public’s skepticism is often blamed on war-weariness. But the reality is that every central point the president, the administration, and war supporters have made has been almost impossible to defend. The American people might not be foreign-policy experts, but they know a weak argument when they see one. Here are nine examples of the contradictions in the case presented so far:
1. We are defending international “norms.”
How can one defend international norms by going against international majorities? How can we defend one norm (a prohibition on the use of chemical weapons) while breaking another (attacking another state, without U.N. Security Council support, in a case that’s clearly not about self-defense)?
2. If we don’t act, Bashar Assad will use chemical weapons again.
The Syrian leader doesn’t need to use them against his own people, especially when Russia is more than happy to supply him with conventional arms. In fact, one of the weaknesses of the evidence against him is that, in the absence of a real smoking gun, the administration still hasn’t explained why he used them in the first place; we know he is ruthless, but he had other means and he stood to lose more than he would gain. That remains the case in the future.
Then there’s Israel, often seen as threatened by Assad’s arsenal of poison gases. But the use of chemical weapons against the helpless is different from using them against states that can retaliate; since 1973, Assad hasn’t sent a single soldier to try to liberate the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, knowing what Israel could do to him if he tried.
In desperation, of course, leaders will often do the unthinkable. Whether or not we intervene, if Assad is going down, nothing — especially not “norms” — will stop him from using them.
3. If we don’t act, terrorist groups and militias may draw the lesson that they can use chemical weapons with impunity.
Terrorist groups don’t care about international norms; they are the anti-norm, and they are also less sensitive to deterrence; the only thing preventing al Qaeda from using WMD against its enemies is its lack of WMD.
What’s more, Syria is awash in jihadist groups, including affiliates of al Qaeda. Further weakening Assad’s control over his chemical arsenal would increase rather than decrease the possibility of such weapons falling into the wrong hands.
As for Hezbollah, Assad’s critical ally, if he is going down, the chances that he will try to hand the group chemical weapons increase, not decrease.
4. U.S. credibility is on the line if Obama doesn’t act.
What credibility? Arabs think America intervenes too much, not too little, and conspiracy theories blame the United States for most problems in almost every country. The problem is not the absence of American will to intervene, but lack of trust in American aims. Intervention will only increase that anger and suspicion.
It is not enough in any case to go to war over “credibility”; that’s the kind of thinking that got us into Korea and Vietnam.
5. Iran will be emboldened if we don’t act:
Iran, like the rest of the region, doesn’t believe a possible American intervention in Syria would be over WMD. And seeing how hard it has been to get even a limited strike approved by Congress, this will hardly scare them.
Moreover, if U.S. voters see the consequences of a Syria strike as costly, imagine how they’ll feel when they contemplate the price tag of bombing Iran.
Nor is it clear how Iran would react. Iranian leaders might well note that the United States attacked Iraq and Syria, but not nuclear North Korea. Their incentive to acquire nukes only increases.
6. It’s the moral thing to do.
While Assad’s behavior is almost universally acknowledged to be morally abhorrent, even beyond his use of chemical weapons, what’s at stake now is whether the world’s response is seen as “moral.”
If a military response without a Security Council resolution is moral, why is it the case that even many U.S. allies, who are offended by Assad’s behavior, think it is the wrong thing to do? These allies worry that the proposed action is unlikely to impact the balance of the war; any degradation of Assad’s army will likely be met by an increase in Russian support and in anti-American sentiment.
All of which raises the question: Can moral action be taken without regard to consequences? Is punitive action moral if it has no behavioral consequences — knowing that innocent lives will inevitably be lost in the process?
7. Assad has broken the world’s red line.
The case that Assad broke norms on the use of chemical weapons is strong. But where is the international norm requiring that the response in such cases must be military action, or that this military action must be taken by the United States?
8. Assad has broken Obama’s red line.
Perhaps, but defending a president’s words is hardly reason for a nation to go to war. It’s also worth noting that the president never said that if Assad used chemical weapons, the United States would use force against him, let alone without the Security Council’s support. Obama has allowed his opponents to define the meaning of his own words.
9. “We are the United States of America.”
This is hardly persuasive when memory of the Iraq war looms large: the lowest estimate of civilians killed in the American-led war is higher than all the casualties in the Syrian conflict so far. And if anything, precisely because the United States is a proud democracy, our presidents shouldn’t go to war without the support of the American people.
***
While the president’s address focused mostly on preventing Syria from using chemical weapons and keeping those weapons from falling into the wrong hands, it is clear that the proposed military action does not promise either. Its presumed effectiveness, moreover, rests on the assumption that the mere threat of escalation will deter Assad in the future. And yet the president promised only limited action, and all but promised not to act without the consent of Congress.
The Russian proposal cuts both ways for the president. On the one hand, it enhances his case with Congress, where arguably the credible threat of using force is the best leverage to get a favorable deal. On the other hand, it promises, through diplomacy, to neutralize Assad’s chemical weapons, exposing the fact that the proposed military action does not do the same.
Shibley Telhami is Anwar Sadat professor at the University of Maryland and senior fellow at the Saban Center of the Brookings Institution. His new book is The World Through Arab Eyes: Arab Public Opinion and the Reshaping of the Middle East. ||||| The president's White House speech played it safe, doing little to answer the concerns of doves who oppose the war and hawks who find his plan too small to matter.
Reuters
With public opinion on Syria ebbing away from him, President Obama seemingly had two choices for his address to the nation Tuesday night: He could deliver a newly impassioned and emotional version of his case that limited military strikes were necessary and effective. Or he could seize on the premise that circumstances had changed and announce a new policy for how to handle them.
Instead of either, however, Obama chose to play it very safe.
The president's speech in the White House's East Room was short -- clocking in at a neat 15 minutes -- and offered hardly anything new. As he has for days, Obama argued that while the the civil war in Syria is a tragedy, there was no justification for American intervention until the use of chemical weapons necessitated it. And he praised, if tentatively, the day's major development -- a nascent but fragile agreement involving Russia that would see Syria surrender its chemical weapons and sign an international treaty prohibiting their use.
He also emphasized that any attack would be very limited in scope. "I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria," he said. "I will not pursue an open-ended action like Iraq or Afghanistan. I will not pursue a prolonged air campaign like Libya or Kosovo. This would be a targeted strike to achieve a clear objective: deterring the use of chemical weapons and degrading Assad's capabilities."
Much of the speech was structured as a response to common objections to attacking Syria. And it was here that the lack of novel or more developed replies was most striking. A White House address like this is necessarily targeted to all a wide audience, including those who have paid little attention to the Beltway battle over an attack and might be unfamiliar with the debate. Still, with the minimal support he has for a strike collapsing, he seems to be in no position to hit the same notes.
Nor did he make much of an emotional plea, though he cited the same horrible deaths of children in sarin attacks that Samantha Power and Susan Rice have made in recent days. The president got most fired up, instead, as he closed his remarks. Asking the right to follow through on its commitment to American military force and the left to follow through on it humanitarian ideals, he asked:
What kind of world will we live in if the United States of America sees a dictator brazenly violate international law with poison gas and we choose to look the other way? ... Terrible things happen across the globe, and it is beyond our means to right every wrong. But when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act. That's what makes America different. That's what makes us exceptional.
Yet despite the FAQ-like format, Obama perhaps left more questions unanswered than he resolved.
Disappointingly for hawks and liberal interventionists, the president stubbornly insisted he would not seek to topple Bashar al-Assad -- though in a concession to critics who groaned at John Kerry's promise than an attack would be "unbelievably small," Obama said even a limited campaign would get results: "The United States military doesn't do pinpricks. Even a limited strike will send a message to Assad that no other nation can deliver." But the president didn't offer much reassurance to anyone skeptical about the deterrent power of such a strike, nor did he answer the critique that Assad has killed civilians --including, yes, children -- quite effectively with conventional weapons.
The administration's argument that sarin attacks in a Syrian neighborhood threaten national security has failed to rouse many in Congress. Obama's reply tonight was elaborate, imagining that failure to act would encourage further attacks by other dictators, endanger regional allies, and in the future perhaps result in American soldiers being gassed. He didn't explain why, for example, Saddam Hussein's use of gas in the 1980s and 1990s didn't create a rash of chemical-weapons attacks, and the vague domino effect and indeterminate timeline seem unlikely to convince the many Americans who have turned against intervention after a decade of wars. Obama's circumspection sometimes undermined his own case, as when he pointed out, "The Assad regime does not have the ability to seriously threaten our military."
If the speech was intended to sum up the case for war against Syria, it seemed mostly to provide the sharpest summation of Obama's central paradox. Though the president seems personally upset by the chemical-weapons attacks, he knows Americans are weary of war and has little apparent appetite for it himself, so he has to play it safe. That means he does things like promise American boots won't be on the ground, and insists Assad can't touch America.
But those arguments undermine the case for war, too. If Assad can't hurt Americans, why is it a national-security concern? If American attacks will be so limited, will they even really make much difference, either to stop the slaughter or as a future deterrent? And if it's so important to prevent gas attacks that "brazenly violate international law," why is Obama so willing to conduct a punitive strike that seems to most experts to violate international law?
With the nation watching, Obama had a chance to resolve these contradictions, and he didn't do it -- he didn't even try. Luckily for him, speeches seldom matter. If the diplomatic maneuverings to get Assad to turn over his chemical weapons succeed, this speech will look like a moment of wise caution when the president treaded water rather than making waves. If they fail, however, he will have squandered a chance -- will anyone really heed his second White House speech on Syria, should he have to make one?
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– President Obama's Syria speech last night was only 15 minutes long, but it "will be analyzed for a LOT longer than that," writes Chris Cillizza in the Washington Post. But—because Congress isn't onboard with a strike on Syria and we don't yet know how Russia's plan to get Syria's chemical weapons will turn out—"there really wasn't much definitive the president could say," Cillizza writes. "And, he didn't. This was a holding pattern speech." It was also an "odd" one, writes fellow Post columnist Ezra Klein. Obama "had to make the case for war the administration was seeking on Sunday even as [he] pivoted towards the diplomatic solution the administration lucked into on Monday." More reactions: Shibley Telhami, writing at Politico, offers up nine examples of weak arguments Obama made—including that inaction sends terrorists the message that they can use chemical weapons with no consequences. But "terrorist groups don’t care about international norms ... the only thing preventing al-Qaeda from using WMD against its enemies is its lack of WMD." On Twitter, Bloomberg View columnist Jeffrey Goldberg points out another contradiction: "After two years of saying Assad should go, the message now is Assad can stay. We just want to take away one of his weapons systems." There's more where that came from. Indeed, Klein points out in his column that Obama is not actually proposing we end the bloodshed. "Chemical weapons account for less than 1%" of the more than 100,000 casualties in Syria. "It’s borderline perverse to use descriptions of pain, suffering, and death to justify an intervention that would leave the cause of more than 99% of these deaths untouched." Among other unresolved critiques, David A. Graham points out these in the Atlantic: "If Assad can't hurt Americans, why is it a national-security concern? If American attacks will be so limited, will they even really make much difference, either to stop the slaughter or as a future deterrent? And if it's so important to prevent gas attacks that 'brazenly violate international law,' why is Obama so willing to conduct a punitive strike that seems to violate international law?" Many congress members of both stripes were similarly unconvinced, the Los Angeles Times reports, including John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who said in a statement that Obama failed to "lay out a clearer plan to test the seriousness of the Russian and Syrian proposal to transfer the Assad regime’s chemical weapons to international custody." In the National Journal, Ron Fournier actually does find some things to praise ("the president deserves credit for rethinking his plan to wage war without congressional approval," for one thing), but in the end, both his best and worst characteristics were on display—and "it's far easier to catalogue the worst." One anonymous Democratic strategist tells Fournier the Syria situation is "one of the most humiliating episodes in presidential history."
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Nicole Sedgebeer took a picture with Mark after he helped her return home from London
Nicole Sedgebeer sets up JustGiving page for homeless man who helped her get...
A Milton Keynes woman has set up a JustGiving page to raise money for a homeless man who helped her find her way home from London.
Nicole Sedgebeer, 21, was on a work night out in the capital last Thursday (March 9) when she became stranded outside Euston at about 3am.
With the station doors locked and her phone out of battery, Nicole was alone and fearful of what to do next.
But in her hour of need, a homeless man called Mark walked her to a nearby all-night café to make sure she was safe, and even led her back to Euston in time for the first train home at about 5.25am.
Stunned by his kindness, Nicole posted her story on Facebook to thank him, and says the experience has changed her view on homelessness.
She said: "I was a bit emotional and panicked, so I approached Mark and asked him what should I do?
"We had a motivational speaker come into work recently, and he mentioned about moments in life you will never forget, and this is one of them for me.
"We are so caught up in our normal day-to-day life, we walk past and do not think about their stories. Now I think completely differently – it has completely changed my perception."
After sharing several phone conversations since, the pair are due to appear on ITV this evening (March 9) after Nicole's Facebook post went viral – racking up almost 13,000 shares.
To thank Mark for his help, Nicole has set-up a JustGiving page and is aiming to raise £1,000 to help support her new friend."
She added: "We had breakfast and he told me about his life. He used to work with the army and has been homeless for 12 years.
"So I have set up a JustGiving page to help him get back on his feet and get a job.
To read more about Nicole and Mark, visit their JustGiving page here: https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/helpthehomeless.
For all the latest news in Milton Keynes check out our website, and to keep up-to-date with us on social media you can like our Facebook page and follow our Twitter account. ||||| The seed for Wide00014 was:
- Slash pages from every domain on the web:
-- a ranking of all URLs that have more than one incoming inter-domain link (rank was determined by number of incoming links using Wide00012 inter domain links)
-- up to a maximum of 100 most highly ranked URLs per domain
- Top ranked pages (up to a max of 100) from every linked-to domain using the Wide00012 inter-domain navigational link graph ||||| A woman who was helped by a homeless man after becoming stranded when she missed the last train home in London has raised nearly £10,000 for him.
Nicole Sedgebeer, from Milton Keynes, took to social media to tell the story of how a homeless man called Mark stepped in to help her when she was on the verge of bursting into tears at Euston Station.
Recounting how Mark walked her to an all-night cafe as it was dangerous for Nicole to be walking by herself at night, she said she hoped the story would "make people look twice when they see a homeless person".
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– If a homeless man had asked her for spare change before March 3, Nicole Sedgebeer admits she would have turned the other way. Then came "the most eye-opening event in my life." The 21-year-old from Milton Keynes, England, says she missed the last train home from London after a night out with friends and was left stranded outside a locked train station at 3am with a phone that had died, per OneMK and ITV News. That's when a homeless man named Mark found her and led her to a 24-hour cafe. "We had breakfast and he told me about his life. He used to work with the army and has been homeless for 12 years," Sedgebeer says. He then left for his sleeping bag but returned at 5am to escort her back to the train station, Sedgebeer writes on Facebook. "He went out of his way to help me, a complete stranger, when the reality of his situation is that people walk past him every day without offering him help," she adds on a JustGiving page. It has raised $16,600 for Mark and other homeless people as of this writing.
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Methods Floating debris items with attached gooseneck barnacles (Fig. 1A) were opportunistically collected during the 2009 Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (SEAPLEX) and two 2012 Sea Education Association (SEA) research cruises onboard the SSV Robert C. Seamans: S242, an undergraduate voyage from Honolulu, HI to San Francisco, CA (mid-June to mid-July 2012), and S243, the Plastics at SEA: North Pacific Expedition from San Diego, CA to Honolulu, HI (early October to mid-November 2012). Collection occurred by several means, including (1) from the vessel using a long-handled dip net (335 µm mesh, 0.5 m diameter mouth); (2) incidentally during neuston net (335 µm mesh, 0.5 × 1.0 m mouth) tows at the air-sea interface; and (3) from small boat surveys within 0.5 km of each vessel when sea conditions were calm. No specific permissions were required for these samples, since they were taken in international waters and did not involve protected species. Seven debris items were sampled on SEAPLEX and 29 by SEA (5 during S242 and 24 on S243). Stations within 8.5 km of each other were combined for a total of 19 sampling locations within in the northeastern Pacific Ocean (Fig. 2, Table 1). Figure 1: Barnacles and ingestion microplastic. (A) A dense aggregation of Lepas spp. barnacles growing on a buoy and attached line, collected in October 2012. (B) Basic anatomy of Lepas denoting the capitulum, which includes the body and its enclosing plates, and the peduncle, the muscular stalk that attaches the barnacle to the substrate. (C) Microplastic ingested by an individual barnacle. Figure 2: Ingestion of microplastic by barnacles across the study area. Circles indicate sampling stations and dark fill indicates the proportion of barnacles that had ingested microplastic at each site. Station coordinates, sample sizes, and ingestion proportions are given in Table 1 Station ID Date of collection Latitude (°N) Longitude (°W) Total no.
barnacles Proportion
with plastic Proportion
without plastic S242-021-DN 1-Jul-12 36.135 154.957 5 0.80 0.20 S242-023-DN 2-Jul-12 37.672 152.163 20 0.00 1.00 S243-083-DN 31-Oct-12 27.000 146.782 10 0.00 1.00 S243-069-DN 27-Oct-12 30.057 145.057 15 0.47 0.53 S243-055-057-058-DN 24-Oct-12 30.140 141.220 80 0.68 0.33 S243-051-052-DN 23-Oct-12 30.230 140.690 34 0.18 0.82 U39.F32 15-Aug-09 34.076 140.474 53 0.40 0.60 S243-046-DN 22-Oct-12 31.330 140.338 52 0.42 0.58 S3.F6 10-Aug-09 32.911 140.320 2 0.00 1.00 S242-031-NT 6-Jul-12 39.178 140.160 12 0.00 1.00 S4.F30-F26 14-Aug-09 34.090 139.870 9 0.33 0.67 S242-032-DN 6-Jul-12 39.270 139.570 10 0.10 0.90 S2.F22-U40.F11 9-Aug-09 32.050 137.928 15 0.07 0.93 F13 9-Aug-09 32.075 137.223 1 1.00 0.00 S243-032-DN 16-Oct-12 33.563 135.432 17 0.59 0.41 S242-035-DN 8-Jul-12 39.717 135.325 10 0.00 1.00 S243-025-027-DN 14-Oct-12 33.700 133.460 13 0.00 1.00 S243-023-DN 13-Oct-12 33.051 132.445 14 0.00 1.00 S243-011-DN 9-Oct-12 33.493 127.715 13 0.00 1.00 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.184/table-1 During SEAPLEX, the entire piece of debris with attached barnacles was preserved in 5% Formalin buffered with sodium borate. When the item was too large to be preserved (e.g., a fishing buoy), barnacles were removed and preserved separately. On SEA cruises, as many barnacles as possible to a maximum of 50 were removed from the debris object and preserved in 10% ethanol. Where feasible, a fragment of the item itself was also sampled. In the laboratory, capitulum length was measured using a ruler and species identification (L. anatifera or L. pacifica) determined for all intact individuals (Fig. 1B). Barnacles less than 0.8 cm were present, but not sampled in this study. Barnacles greater than approximately 0.8 cm in length were dissected and the contents of their stomach and intestinal tract examined under a dissecting microscope (6–25 × magnification as needed). Barnacles were cut open with a scalpel, and the intestinal tract removed and placed in a separate section of the petri dish. The intestinal tract was opened lengthwise, and the contents examined systematically both visually and with forceps. To avoid cross-contamination between samples, each barnacle was dissected in a unique, clean petri dish and the scalpel was thoroughly rinsed with deionized water between each samples. Only microplastic fragments and monofilament that were clearly present inside the intestine were considered. Fine microfibers were discounted, as they could not be distinguished from airborne contamination. Because the vast majority of microplastic found were relatively large degraded fragments (>0.5 mm in diameter), visual examination was sufficient to confirm that the microplastic was present in the intestine, and not a result of contamination (Fig. 1C). Plastic particles found in the stomach or intestine were quantified, photographed digitally against a ruler for size assessment, rinsed with fresh water and stored in a glass vial for later analyses. The maximum diameter (feret diameter) and two-dimensional area of each particle were digitally measured with the software package NIH ImageJ (Schneider, Rasband & Eliceiri, 2012). On the SEAPLEX cruise in 2009, we also measured the diameter and area of all plastic particles captured in surface-towed plankton nets (number of particles = 30,518) using NIH ImageJ-based tools in the Zooprocess software calibrated against manual measurements (Gilfillan et al., 2009; Gorsky et al., 2010). We identified the type of plastic recovered from a randomly selected subset of barnacles (Barnacles N = 42; particles N = 219). A Raman spectrometer (PeakSeeker Pro-785 with AmScope operated at 10–50 mW and 5–20 s integration time; Raman Systems MII, Inc/Agiltron, Inc., Woburn, MA) and associated RSIQ software were used to identify plastic type. The Raman spectrum for each plastic piece was compared to a reference library of known plastic types for identification. Particles of clear, white, gray and pale-colored (light blues and greens, oranges and yellows) plastics yielded high quality Raman spectra and were readily identifiable. Those that were darker (medium to dark blues, reds and greens as well as black; 35% of particles subjected to Raman spectroscopy) were heated by the laser beam and melted even at the lowest possible power and integration time settings, resulting in no usable spectra. We also identified a subset of the debris items to which the barnacles were attached. Fragments of 18 objects were collected for analysis, but 6 could not be identified due to darker pigmentation which caused melting under the laser. Statistics and figures were generated with the R statistical environment, version R-2.15.1 (R Development Core Team, 2012) and QuantumGIS, version 1.8.0-Lisboa (QGIS Development Team, 2013).
Results Of the 385 barnacles examined, 129 individuals (33.5%) had ingested plastic (Fig. 2, Table 1). These included 243 Lepas anatifera and 85 Lepas pacifica (57 barnacles could not be identified to species), of which 90 L. anatifera, 34 L. pacifica, and 5 Lepas spp. contained plastic. Forty-one of the barnacles that ingested plastic had one plastic particle in their stomach or intestines, 26 individuals had two particles, and 57 individuals contained three or more particles, to a maximum of 30 particles (Fig. 3A). Figure 3: Number of microplastic particles ingested by barnacles. (A) Frequency distribution of microplastic pellets ingested by individual lepadid barnacles (N = 385). (B) Frequency distribution of ingestion by capitulum length (N = 369; sample size is smaller than above since capitulum length was not measured for 16 barnacles). Black bars are the number of individual barnacles that ingested plastic and grey bars are the number of individual barnacles that did not ingest plastic. Bins of capitulum length are greater than the first value, and less than or equal to the second value (e.g., >0.5 cm and < = 1.0 cm). Percentages of ingestion by size class are as follows: 6.7%, 0, 23.2%, 43.9%, 45.2%, 35.3%, 25.0%, 40.0%, 0. Overall, the number of ingested particles was positively correlated to capitulum length (Kendall’s tau = 0.099, p = 0.015). However, when we considered only barnacles that had ingested plastic, the correlation between plastic ingestion and capitulum length was not significant (Kendall’s tau = −0.080, p = 0.229). Individuals with a capitulum length between 2 and 3 cm consumed the greatest number plastic particles (Fig. 3B). With the exception of one individual, all the barnacles that consumed plastic had a capitulum length of 1.7 cm or greater. In total, 518 plastic particles were recovered from barnacle digestive tracts. Of these, 99% were degraded fragments and 1% were monofilament line. None of the pre-production pellets known as “nurdles” were found. The median diameter of ingested particles was 1.41 mm, and the median surface area 1.00 mm2, smaller than the median diameter of 1.78 mm and median surface area of 1.27 mm2 for all particles collected in nets during 2009 (Fig. 4, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test p < 0.001). The smallest particle ingested by barnacles had a maximum diameter of 0.609 mm and the largest (a long thin fragment) a maximum diameter of 6.770 mm. No blockage of the stomach or intestine was observed, and particles did not accumulate in any area of the digestive tract. All particles were of a plausible size to pass through the anus. Figure 4: Size of microplastic particles ingested by barnacles. Size–frequency distributions for (A) maximum diameter and (B) two-dimensional surface area of particles ingested by barnacles (black; N = 507) compared to of all microplastic particles collected in 2009 (grey; N = 30,518). Note: 518 microplastic particles were recovered from barnacles, but 11 were lost before they could be photographed for this analysis. Of the randomly selected subset of 219 ingested plastic particles that were analyzed for plastic type, 58.4% were polyethylene, 5.0% were polypropylene, and 1.4% were polystyrene. As noted in the Methods section, we were unable to identify 35% of the subset due to darker pigmentation in these particles, which caused melting under the Raman spectrophotometer. Of the 29 barnacles that had ingested more than one piece of plastic, 66% contained more than one type of plastic. The plastic types of 12 floating debris items to which barnacles were attached were more diverse than those of ingested particles. Four substrates were polystyrene, 3 were polyethylene, 2 were polypropylene, 2 were polyethylene terephthalate, and one was tire rubber. ||||| Plastic litter dots the surf line on a beach on the island of Hawaii.
Credit: Stephanie Pappas for LiveScience View full size image
The oceans are full of plastic. Now, research finds that even barnacles are feeling the consequences.
A third of barnacles caught in the North Pacific gyre, a region of the ocean notoriously littered with scraps of plastic, have microfragments of the plastic material in their digestive systems at a given time, a new study finds. Researchers aren't sure whether ingesting the non-food harms the barnacles, but it could crowd out real nutrition.
Plastic debris is a major problem in the oceans, particularly when sea life becomes entangled in the garbage or ingests it. At least 267 marine species have been documented eating plastic, including turtles, fish and birds, researchers report today (Oct. 22) in the open-access journal PeerJ.
The North Pacific gyre is so heavily laden with plastic that it's earned the nickname, "The North Pacific Garbage Patch." Here, Miriam Goldstein of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California and Deborah Goodwin of the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Mass., tested an unknown question: Are marine invertebrates, such as barnacles and other animals without backbones, also consuming plastic garbage?
Laboratory studies suggested filter feeders like barnacles do pick up plastic pellets, but only three examples of plastic-eating invertebrates were known in the wild. (Sandhopper amphipods, or sand fleas, the Norway lobster and flying squid, for those keeping score.)
The researchers collected barnacles of two species, Lepas anatifera and Lepas pacifica, on two separate trips to the gyre. They then conducted barnacle autopsies, checking the digestive systems of the animals for microplastics, or plastic pieces worn by wind and waves to less than 0.2 inches (5 millimeters) in diameter.
Of the 385 barnacles collected, 129 had ingested plastic, the researchers found. Most of those individuals had a pellet or two in their gut, but 57 had more than three pieces, with one containing a whopping 30 individual plastic particles.
Researchers aren't sure whether these particles are affecting the barnacle's health; there were no signs of digestive backup in this group, at least. The long-term effects are unknown, they wrote.
Unfortunately for the oceans, this tendency for barnacles to eat plastic doesn't help remove the litter permanently.
"The barnacles just poop out the plastic & it floats away again," Goldstein wrote on Twitter.
Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitterand Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.
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– Today's most unfortunate number: 267. That's the number of marine species that have been found to have eaten plastic, and a new study zeroes in on one such species— barnacles. Researchers traveled to the North Pacific Gyre (better known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch) with a question: Are marine invertebrates eating plastic trash, too? LiveScience explains that the knowledge on the subject was fairly limited, with lab studies indicating the answer is "yes," but field research having revealed only three backbone-less species known to consume it. And so researchers gathered 385 barnacles and zeroed in on their gastrointestinal tracts ... and found something there. "Microplastics," which LiveScience defines as small pieces winnowed down by the elements to sizes of less than 0.2 inches. Such particles were present in 33.5% of the barnacles' tracts; 44% of those had more than three particles there. So what does this mean? "The implications ... remain uncertain," write the study authors. They found no evidence of stomach or intestinal blockage, but the possibility exists that the particles could have an effect on barnacles' nutrition. What it won't have an effect on, notes LiveScience: the amount of plastic in the ocean. What barnacles eat, they eventually "poop out."
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In an effort to blunt the American Health Care Act’s disastrous effect on older Americans, House Republican leaders are adding a provision that would set aside $75 billion to do ... something unspecified.
Really. According to Politico, the new version of the bill will not say at all what to do with the $75 billion. Instead it will just “instruct the Senate” to come up with a plan to use the money to help people between the ages of 50 and 64.
This is a very unusual way to legislate and reflects House Republicans’ desperation to push through basically anything as soon as possible and pass the buck to the Senate.
The underlying issue is that the Affordable Care Act provides people earning less than 400 percent of the poverty line with sliding-scale subsidies to purchase health insurance. The less you earn, the more help you get. The ACA also limits insurance companies’ ability to charge older customers higher premiums than they charge to younger ones.
AHCA changes the subsidies around, ensuring that everyone who makes less than $75,000 a year gets a subsidy that’s based on age. The older you are, the more help you get. This leaves the neediest families out of luck — the subsidy isn’t enough to buy an insurance plan if you’re just barely above the poverty line regardless of your age, so they would end up going uninsured and get nothing from the government at all.
But even though older people get more generous subsidies, they are worse off than before too. That’s because AHCA allows insurers to charge older people as much as five times what they charge younger ones, so older people’s premiums will skyrocket far beyond anything the subsidy can deliver.
The result is a health insurance system that really only works for relatively young, relatively affluent people.
Older people are the Republican base, however, so a bill that badly damages their financial interests is a political problem for many House Republicans. Coming up with an actual fix to this problem is not conceptually impossible. But it would require a pretty substantial rethink of the underlying architecture of the AHCA, which is designed, on a deep level, to better serve the interests of people who don’t need much help while doing less to serve the interests of those who do.
But Paul Ryan is determined to have the House vote on this bill on Thursday, which means they don’t have time for any big rethink or prolonged negotiation. So what they’ve come up with instead is, apparently, this $75 billion magic asterisk. The House will pass a bill with what amounts to a blank spot, and then members can say they repealed Obamacare and toss the hot potato of working out the details to their colleagues in the Senate. ||||| So after all of that talk about big changes to the House Obamacare replacement bill, Republican leaders skipped some of the biggest ones they could have made. They did give some concessions to conservatives and moderates in the manager's amendment they released last night, but they also did a lot of punting. That means we will still have lots of drama between now and Thursday night.
The biggest actual changes the House GOP is making:
States can now choose Medicaid per capita caps or block grants.
There will be an optional Medicaid work requirement (with extra federal funds for states that do it).
There will be a more generous Medicaid inflation adjustment for the costs of elderly and disabled.
Obamacare taxes get repealed a year earlier.
The punty change:
A reserve fund to beef up the tax credit, especially for the low-income elderly, but no actual change to the tax credit. That's up to the Senate.
What they left out:
It doesn't end the Medicaid expansion earlier, as conservatives wanted. Rep. Joe Barton could still bring that to the Rules Committee on Wednesday.
It doesn't try to repeal Obamacare's insurance regulations. GOP leaders say that can't be done in a budget "reconciliation" bill, but conservatives want them to try.
It may not be good enough for the Freedom Caucus. Chairman Mark Meadows told Jonathan Swan that "our leadership is going to put forth a bill that does not address any of the concerns in a meaningful way and will dare us to vote against it." He says the group won't take a formal position against it, so that frees up some group members to vote for it.
But not Rep. Justin Amash, who tweeted: "They haven't changed the bill's general framework. They don't have the votes to pass it. They have seriously miscalculated." Get ready for suspense!
For the radar: The Club for Growth is launching a $500,000 TV and digital ad buy to urge House Republicans to vote against the bill. (Mainly ones who are already opposed or leaning against it.)
||||| President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 21, 2017, to rally support for the Republican health care overhaul by taking his... (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned House Republicans they could lose their seats in next year's midterm elections if they failed to back the GOP health care overhaul and fulfill a long-promised goal to undo Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.
In a rare trip to the Capitol, the president met behind closed doors with rank-and-file Republicans, some wavering on the legislation two days before a climactic vote. Top House Republicans unveiled revisions to their bill Monday night in hopes of nailing down support.
Trump's message to Republicans: "If you don't pass the bill there could be political costs," said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C.
The lawmaker said Trump said House GOP seats could be at risk if the bill fails and "the danger of your not voting for the bill is people could lose their seats."
Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters Trump was "all-in" on repeal-and-replace, and attending the meeting "to do what he does best: to close the deal."
At a rally Monday night in Louisville, Kentucky, Trump underscored what he called "the crucial House vote."
"This is our long-awaited chance to finally get rid of Obamacare," he said of repealing former Obama's landmark law, a GOP goal since its 2010 enactment. "We're going to do it."
Trump's closed-door meeting with House Republicans was coming as party leaders released 43 pages worth of changes to a bill whose prospects remain dicey. Their proposals were largely aimed at addressing dissent that their measure would leave many older people with higher costs.
Included was an unusual approach: language paving the way for the Senate, if it chooses, to make the bill's tax credit more generous for people age 50-64. Details in the documents released were initially unclear, but one GOP lawmaker and an aide said the plan sets aside $85 billion over 10 years for that purpose.
The leaders' proposals would accelerate the repeal of tax increases Obama imposed on higher earners, the medical industry and others to this year instead of 2018. It would be easier for some people to deduct medical expenses from their taxes.
Older and disabled Medicaid beneficiaries would get larger benefits. But it would also curb future growth of the overall Medicaid program, which helps low earners afford medical coverage, and let states impose work requirements on some recipients. Additional states could not join the 31 that opted to expand Medicaid to more beneficiaries under Obama's law, the Affordable Care Act.
In a bid to cement support from upstate New Yorkers, the revisions would also stop that state from passing on over $2 billion a year in Medicaid costs to counties. The change was pushed by Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., one of Trump's first congressional supporters. Local officials have complained the practice overburdens their budgets.
The GOP bill would dismantle Obama's requirements that most people buy policies and that larger companies cover workers. Federal subsidies based largely on peoples' incomes and insurance premiums would end, and a Medicaid expansion to 11 million more low-income people would disappear.
The Republican legislation would provide tax credits to help people pay medical bills based chiefly on age, and open-ended federal payments to help states cover Medicaid costs would be cut. Insurers could charge older consumers five times the premiums they charge younger people instead of Obama's 3-1 limit, and would boost premiums 30 percent for those who let coverage lapse.
Republican support teetered last week when a nonpartisan congressional analysis projected the measure would strip 24 million people of coverage in a decade. The Congressional Budget Office also said the bill would cause huge out-of-pocket increases for many lower earners and people aged 50 to 64.
Democrats have opposed the GOP repeal effort. They tout Obama's expansion of coverage to 20 million additional people and consumer-friendly coverage requirements it imposed on insurers, including abolishing annual and lifetime coverage limits and forcing them to insure seriously ill people.
House approval would give the legislation much-needed momentum as it moves to the Senate, which Republicans control 52-48 but where five Republicans have expressed opposition. Trump used Monday's trip to single out perhaps the measure's most vociferous foe — Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul.
"He's a good guy," Trump said of one 2016 rival for the GOP presidential nomination. "And I look forward to working with him so we can get this bill passed, in some form, so that we can pass massive tax reform, which we can't do till this happens."
Enactment of the health care bill would clear the way for Congress to move to revamping the tax code and other GOP priorities. Defeat would wound Trump two months into his administration and raise questions about his ability to win support from his own party moving forward.
Among the disgruntled were GOP lawmakers in the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, though the strength of their opposition was unclear. The group has seemed to have around 40 members, but that number may be lower now and some have expressed support or an open mind for the bill.
___
Associated Press reporters Matthew Daly and Julie Bykowicz contributed to this report. ||||| House Speaker Paul Ryan and his top lieutenants have been meeting with holdout moderates to find out what's needed to secure their support. | AP Photo GOP leaders pile on sweeteners to sell Obamacare repeal The revisions are part of a last-ditch effort to get the measure passed.
House Republican leaders are making a last-ditch attempt to win enough support to pass their Obamacare repeal, revealing an expansive series of changes to the bill on Monday night designed to woo wary GOP lawmakers.
Requested by President Donald Trump, the amendment includes perks for restive conservatives who wanted optional work requirements and block granting in Medicaid, as well as a potential olive branch to wary centrists who demanded more help for older Americans to buy insurance, POLITICO has learned.
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But it is still unclear whether the changes are enough to win over the 216 Republicans needed to pass the measure in a high-profile vote planned for Thursday. GOP leadership insiders and White House officials firmly believe the changes will corral the necessary votes. But several rock-ribbed conservatives emerged from a closed-door session Monday night vowing to vote against the bill, and bragging that they have the votes to block it.
"House leadership does not have the votes to pass this very liberal bill unless they have a bunch of Democrats on board!" declared Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) while exiting the meeting. He called it "the largest Republican welfare bill in the history of the Republican Party."
The changes to the bill come just a few hours before Trump will address the full House GOP Conference. He's expected to urge them to vote for the bill. House Speaker Paul Ryan and his top lieutenants have been meeting with holdout moderates to find out what's needed to secure their support, while White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, a former Freedom Caucus member, has been working the far right.
The amendment is expected to entice some to vote "yes" on the bill, on both sides. For moderate and centrist Republicans, it would set aside funding — about $85 billion, according to Republican sources — for tax credits to help Americans between 50 and 64, who would see their premiums skyrocket under the current repeal plan. The amendment would not set up the tax credits but would instruct the Senate to do so, forcing House Republicans to take a vote on something the upper chamber would do later. It would be paid for by allowing consumers to write off less medical debt.
The boost for baby boomers was designed to counter the huge financial hit that Americans in that age group would take under the bill. The Congressional Budget Office said last week a 64-year-old making $26,500 would have paid about $1,700 for an insurance policy under Obamacare. Under the repeal plan, that would jump to about $14,600, CBO said.
That number scared a bunch of centrists on Capitol Hill. The powerful interest group AARP mobilized its members to oppose the bill in part because of the potentially huge cut to baby boomers.
Trump wanted the beefed-up tax credit in part because voters that age are a core element of his constituency and helped propel him to the White House.
The bill also includes provisions nodding at anti-abortion GOP leaders. Among other changes to the repeal bill, the amendment would delete a provision that would have allowed consumers to move leftover tax credit money into a Health Savings Account. Anti-abortion groups had raised concerns that the provision might be eliminated under the Senate's strict budget rules and inadvertently allow for taxpayer funding of abortion.
After learning of the change, at least one member of the anti-abortion caucus — Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) — told POLITICO she changed her vote to "yes."
It also includes some red meat for the right. Two of the changes, first reported on Friday, were essential to winning over the support of the Republican Study Committee. Trump met with leaders of the conservative group last week and agreed to allow work requirements in Medicaid as well as to give states the option of converting their Medicaid programs into block grants. Both concessions were heralded by conservatives as necessary modifications to the health entitlement and long-term wins. Some states sought work-requirement approval under the Obama administration but were rebuffed by federal officials.
The amendment would also repeal about a dozen Obamacare taxes a year earlier than originally planned, a win for conservatives who want to eliminate the Affordable Care Act as quickly as possible. It would also delay the implementation of the Cadillac tax again, this time from 2025 to 2026.
House GOP leaders also threw the New York delegation a bone to secure a whole host of "yes" votes. The amendment included a targeted change to Medicaid funding that’s specifically designed to garner support from New York’s delegation. It would attempt to transfer more Medicaid spending from counties to the state by blocking New York from obtaining federal reimbursements for payments made by counties.
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Rep. Chris Collins and other New York Republicans had been pushing leaders to add the amendment. Rep. Claudia Tenney told local reporters that the inclusion of the amendment would be essential to win her support for the whole repeal bill.
The amendment would also change federal Medicaid reimbursement rates for the elderly and disabled, a win for governors who were concerned about cuts.
In spite of all the changes, conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus are still defiant about the bill. Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows told reporters Monday evening that the negotiations on the bill appear to be over. But he doesn't think it's necessarily the end.
"I'm confident that we have enough concerns that a vote of 216 votes in the House would not happen today," he said.
John Bresnahan, Rachana Pradhan and Paul Demko contributed to this report. ||||| There are three problems you could have imagined the manager’s amendment to the American Health Care Act trying to fix:
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the AHCA will lead 24 million more Americans to go uninsured, push millions more into the kind of super-high-deductible care Republicans criticized in the Affordable Care Act, and all that will happen while the richest Americans get hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts. Voters — including the downscale rural whites who propelled Donald Trump into the presidency — aren’t going to like any of that. Virtually every health policy analyst from every side of the aisle thinks the AHCA is poorly constructed and will lead to consequences even its drafters didn’t intend. Avik Roy argues there are huge implicit tax increases for the poor who get jobs that lift them out of Medicaid’s ranks. Bob Laszewski thinks the plan will drive healthy people out of the insurance markets, creating even worse premium increases than we’re seeing under Obamacare. Implementing this bill, as drafted, would be a disaster. As written, the AHCA is unlikely to pass the House, and so GOP leadership needs to give House conservatives more reasons to vote for the bill, even if those reasons leave the legislation less likely to succeed in the Senate. For this bill to fail in the House would embarrass Speaker Paul Ryan and President Trump.
Of the three problems in the AHCA, the third is by far the least serious — but it’s the only one the manager’s amendment even attempts to solve. These aren’t changes that address the core problems the GOP health care bill will create for voters, insurers, or states; instead, it’s legislation that tries to solve some of the problems the bill creates for conservative legislators. It might yet fall short on even that count.
This is a trap for Republicans. Both the process and the substance of the American Health Care Act have revealed a political party that has lost sight of the fact that the true test of legislation isn’t whether it passes, but whether it works.
Republican leaders have moved this bill as fast as possible, with as little information as possible, and with no evident plan for what will happen if the bill actually becomes law and wreaks havoc in people’s lives. This is not the health reform package Donald Trump promised his voters, it’s not the health reform package conservative policy experts recommended to House Republicans, and it’s not the health reform package that polling shows people want.
About the only thing that can be said for the revised bill is this might be the health reform package that can pass the House. And that appears to be the only problem Republicans care to solve right now.
What changes are Republicans making to the AHCA?
The major changes to the bill, which were first reported Politico and which Vox has now confirmed, are:
A change in the tax deductibility of medical expenses that the Senate could harness to boost tax credits for older Americans, to the tune of an estimated $85 billion
More flexibility for states to add work requirements to Medicaid
More flexibility for states to take their Medicaid funding as a lump-sum block grant rather than a per-person check
Accelerating the repeal of Obamacare’s tax increases by one year
Restricting people from rolling unused tax credit money into health savings accounts (apparently to ease concerns of anti-abortion groups)
Changing Medicaid reimbursement procedures in a way that advantages county governments over state governments (for idiosyncratic reasons, Republicans from New York are high on this provision)
Changing Medicaid reimbursement rates for the elderly and disabled
States that haven’t accepted Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion will no longer have the opportunity to do so.
None of these provisions meaningfully change the underlying legislation, nor any of its flaws. These are mostly tweaks meant to win over hardcore conservatives and Congress members from New York.
Will these changes push the bill through the House?
The locus of effective opposition to the American Health Care Act has been the House Freedom Caucus. Monday night, its leader, Rep. Mark Meadows, sounded a pessimistic note.
"There are some small tweaks that are good tweaks, but there's not substantial changes in the manager's amendment that would make anybody be more compelled to vote for this," he said. "I don't think that the bill will pass without substantial changes."
Meadows & Amash have both told me w/ full confidence that the GOP Obamacare replacement bill won't have enough votes despite Ryan's changes — Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) March 21, 2017
Meadows may, of course, be wrong. Trump is lobbying individual House Republicans hard, and it’s possible a critical number of conservatives will be swayed by Ryan’s argument that this is their last, best, and only chance to repeal Obamacare.
But it’s also possible that the bill fails in the House. Some conservatives think they can get a better deal by holding strong, even though the better deal they seek would ensure the legislation is dead on arrival in the Senate, if it even makes it to the Senate.
One dynamic that may work against Ryan and the legislation is the secrecy, speed, and unilateralism of the process. The bill hasn’t been heavily debated or seriously amended in the committees. The changes to the bill were made by leadership, and they were made fast. Long legislative efforts are annoying for everyone involved, but the reason they’re undertaken is that the process leaves members feeling heard, and feeling bought into the end result.
Other than pressuring Ryan, rest of the membership has no direct control over bill text or votes for the remainder of the AHCA debate. |6 — Josh Huder (@joshHuder) March 20, 2017
The House GOP leadership has decided that their bill is unlikely to survive a longer and more open drafting process, and so they need to jam it through the House as fast as humanly possible. It took the House more than five months to pass the first iteration of the Affordable Care Act. Republicans are trying to clear their bill in mere weeks. (See this excellent Sarah Kliff piece for more on the stunning hypocrisy at play here.)
What do Republicans think will happen if they actually pass this into law?
I keep thinking about something that New York Times columnist Ross Douthat wrote today. “Republican politicians may offer pandering promises of lower deductibles and co-pays, but the coherent conservative position is that cheaper plans with higher deductibles are a very good thing,” he said. It’s a gently written sentence, but it’s damning beyond measure.
Republicans have been promising the literal opposite of the bill they are trying to pass. Trump swore he’d oppose Medicaid cuts — but this law has more than $800 billion of them. He said everyone would be covered — but the CBO estimates this bill will push up the ranks of the uninsured by 24 million people. Republicans everywhere said they would replace Obamacare with a plan that ensured more competition, lower premiums and deductibles, and an end to skyrocketing annual increases — but this bill will have the opposite effect for most of those affected.
So what happens when voters realize their new tax credit doesn’t cover anything close to the insurance they had? What happens when they find themselves with fewer choices, paying much higher premiums after their smaller subsidies, and being told by insurers that costs are doubling because Republicans changed how much more the old could be charged than the young?
Voters will notice all this. And what are Republicans going to say then? That it’s all Barack Obama’s fault? That high deductibles are actually good, they just forgot to mention it? That they needed something they could pass quickly so they could move on to tax reform?
This bill has always seemed like an answer to the question, “What can we pass that would count as repealing and replacing Obamacare?” But that’s not the right question. The right question is, “What can we pass that will actually make people’s lives better?” Given the truncated, fearful process Republicans have retreated behind, I’m not persuaded even they believe this bill is the answer. ||||| WASHINGTON—Conservative House Republicans said Monday night that they have enough votes to block the GOP’s legislation to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, as House leaders proposed changes to the bill in a late effort to draw support.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R., N.C.), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative lawmakers, said more than 21 members opposed the bill, enough to block passage should House leaders hold the... ||||| U.S. President Donald Trump (C) and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price (L) enter the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., March 21, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump warned Republican lawmakers on Tuesday that voters could punish them if they do not approve a plan he favors to dismantle Obamacare, applying new pressure in the first major legislative fight of his presidency.
In one of the few visits he has made to the U.S. Capitol since taking office, Trump told Republicans in the House of Representatives they would face "political problems" for opposing the bill that takes apart Obamacare and partially replaces it.
"The president was really clear: he laid it on the line for everybody," House Speaker Paul Ryan, the leading proponent of the bill, told reporters. "We made a promise. Now is our time to keep that promise ... If we don't keep our promise, it will be very hard to manage this."
Attendees at the meeting said Trump singled out lawmakers opposed to the bill by name, doing so in a jovial tone.
Party leaders hope to move the legislation to the House floor for debate as early as Thursday. But the administration and House leadership can only afford to lose about 20 votes from Republican ranks or risk the bill failing since minority Democrats are united against it.
Repealing and replacing Obamacare, former President Barack Obama's healthcare reform formally known as the Affordable Care Act, was one of Trump's main campaign promises and has been a goal of Republicans since the law was enacted in 2010.
Republican Representative Walter Jones said Trump told lawmakers in a closed-door meeting if the Republican bill does not pass, they would face "political problems." Jones said he thought Trump meant lawmakers could lose their seats.
Republican leaders face a difficult task in uniting their majority. They need to win over conservatives who believe the bill does not go far enough, as well as moderate Republicans who fear it goes too far and that millions of Americans will be hurt by dismantling Obamacare.
Republican leaders recrafted the bill on Monday to satisfy critics, mainly fellow Republicans, in part by proposing major changes to tax credits and provisions to alter the Medicaid insurance program for low-income people.
FOCUS ON FREEDOM CAUCUS
On Trump's brief Capitol Hill visit, Representative Bill Flores said the president predicted House Republicans voting against the bill likely would face primary challenges. He said Trump mentioned Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, saying he eventually would come around to vote for the bill.
"Mark Meadows, he called out two or three times," Flores told reporters. "The reaction, when he said, 'Mark Meadows, I'm coming after you', was pretty loud cheers ... I think he was tongue-in-cheek, half joking."
Despite Monday's changes, the Wall Street Journal reported the House Freedom Caucus has enough votes to block the bill.
Trump, who took office two months ago and has not offered Obamacare repeal legislation of his own, did not talk "a whole lot about the healthcare bill except to vote for it," Jones said.
The Club for Growth, an influential conservative lobby group, said it would spend at least $500,000 for ads on television and digital platforms urging members of Congress to defeat the bill.
The Senate also will vote on the legislation and more changes could still be made.
At a rally in Kentucky on Monday night, Trump said he wanted to add a provision to the bill to lower prescription drug costs through a competitive bidding process. There was no such provision in Monday's changes.
Republican chairmen for two key committees late Monday said they proposed more funding for tax credits, which conservatives have opposed, that would give the Senate flexibility to help older people afford health insurance. Additionally, Obamacare's taxes would be eliminated in 2017 instead of 2018.
Monday's amendments also addressed Medicaid, the nation's largest health insurance program that covers about 70 million people, mostly the poor. The changes would allow states to implement work requirements for certain adults and to decide how they receive federal funds.
The Congressional Budget Office is expected to update its analysis of the legislation with the proposed changes after it said last week the original bill would cause 24 million to lose coverage over the next decade.
Democrats oppose Republicans' plan, which they say would throw millions off health insurance and hurt the elderly, poor, and working families while giving tax cuts to the wealthy.
Click tmsnrt.rs/2nO7sj0 for graphic on How U.S. healthcare stacks up under the ACA and AHCA
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason Susan Heavey, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Richard Cowan; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Bill Trott and Kevin Drawbaugh)
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– The week got off to a rough start for President Trump, but the potential of a smoother finish does exist. The House is expected to vote Thursday on the GOP's ObamaCare replacement, and Trump met with party members Tuesday morning in an effort to bolster support. The meeting follows what Politico describes as an "expansive series of changes" to the bill made Monday night in hopes of doing that very same thing. What you need to know about the amendment, which reportedly came at Trump's behest: Reuters explains the stakes: 216 GOP votes are needed, which means the party can suffer only about 20 defections. There are two major camps of concerned GOP parties: centrists who worry an ObamaCare repeal will hurt their constituents, and fierce conservatives who think the replacement isn't aggressive enough. An $85 billion bone was thrown to moderates, reports Politico, which explains that per the amendment, that amount would be earmarked as tax credits for those ages 50 to 64, whose premiums would soar under the American Health Care Act. For context, it gives this scenario from the Congressional Budget Office: a 64-year-old making $26,500 would see what he pays explode from $1,700 to $14,600. But there's a twist, observes Matthew Yglesias at Vox: The amendment doesn't define those tax credits, instead shifting that task to the Senate. His take: "This is a very unusual way to legislate and reflects House Republicans’ desperation to push through basically anything as soon as possible and pass the buck to the Senate." Also at Vox, Ezra Klein bullets the other substantial changes: The amendment bumps up the repeal of some ObamaCare taxes in a concession to those who want to erase the Affordable Care Act ASAP; prevents the rollover of used tax credit money into a Health Savings Account, ostensibly because anti-abortion activists feared the money could then fund abortions; and gives more wiggle-room around how states handle Medicaid. Klein's take: the "tweaks" are designed to win over conservatives, but don't really address the bill's "flaws." More here. Axios expects "drama" between now and Thursday night, in part because of what the amendment doesn't address. More here. As for what's next, the Washington Post gives context to Trump's Tuesday meetings: They indicate "GOP leaders and the president consider larger-scale talks with key blocs of House members to be essentially complete. The effort now turns toward persuading individual members to vote for the package." The AP reports on the message Trump presented: Pass it or there may be hell to pay, essentially. How Rep. Walter Jones framed it: "If you don't pass the bill there could be political costs," those costs being lost seats. Will it work? The Wall Street Journal reported Monday night that House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Meadows says more than 21 members remain a "nay."
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AprilDRyan ಮರುಟ್ವೀಟಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ 🇺🇸 Lynne Patton
Kick rocks little girl. Find a job! @ LynnePatton I ain’t the one! Girl bye. Blogger girl I do news. What do you do? Do you work at HUD or play at it you washed up wedding planner. Girl bye!https://twitter.com/lynnepatton/status/956314866968559617 … ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Trump campaign surrogate who now holds a job in the administration is apologizing after attacking a reporter on her personal Twitter account.
Lynne Patton, who heads a regional office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, referred to reporter April Ryan as "Miss Piggy" in a tweet Wednesday. Ryan is the White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks and frequently appears on CNN.
Patton later tweeted, "Tonight, I made an inexcusable comment on my personal Twitter account that I deeply regret & deleted on my own volition." Patton is apologizing to Ryan, HUD Secretary Ben Carson and the "#trump family."
Patton was an event planner for Donald Trump and his family before his 2016 presidential campaign. ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Tweets are my own & do not represent , including images, links, tags & comments by readers | Follow me at for official tweets | NY DC
Trump World ||||| An official for the Department of Housing and Urban Development called a reporter “Miss Piggy” during a nasty beef that played out on social media Wednesday.
Lynne Patton, who was an event planner before taking the government job, issued the insult during a vicious Twitter spat with American Urban Radio’s April Ryan.
“I hear #MissPiggys still on a rampage,” read the since-deleted tweet by Patton over an unflattering image of Ryan. “Gee, I must’ve struck a nerve.”
Patton — a longtime Trump family friend — had earlier tweeted numerous gifs at Ryan with captions referring to the reporter as a “bankrupt blogger.”
Ryan, who has endured multiple bouts with White House officials, took a shot at Patton for her lackluster resume.
“Do you work at HUD or play at it you washed up wedding planner,” Ryan tweeted at the HUD official.
After deleting the “Miss Piggy” tweet, Patton posted a statement.
“I deleted my last tweet by choice,” she wrote.
“No one from this Administration contacted me. It was beneath me & I apologize to @AprilDRyan. My parents raised me to respect others & I regret my response. I apologize to them, @SecretaryCarson & the Trump family. They deserved better.”
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– A former Trump campaign surrogate who now holds a job in the administration is apologizing after attacking a reporter on her personal Twitter account. Lynne Patton, who heads a regional office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, referred to reporter April Ryan as "Miss Piggy" in a since-deleted tweet Wednesday. Ryan is the White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks and frequently appears on CNN, reports the AP. The New York Post reports the "Miss Piggy" slight came after a bunch of jabs back and forth between the two. Patton had tweeted a series of gifs (featuring the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Ryan Gosling) directed at Ryan, whom Patton referred to as a blogger for a "bankrupt outlet." Ryan fired back with this: "Do you work at HUD or play at it you washed up wedding planner. Girl bye!" Then came the tweet in which Patton wrote, "I hear #MissPiggys still on a rampage. Gee, I must’ve struck a nerve." Patton later tweeted, "I deleted my last tweet by choice. No one from this Administration contacted me. It was beneath me & I apologize to @AprilDRyan. My parents raised me to respect others & I regret my response. I apologize to them, @SecretaryCarson & the Trump family. They deserved better." Patton was an event planner for Donald Trump and his family before his 2016 presidential campaign.
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Skywatchers are getting an unexpected treat: Comet Lovejoy, which was discovered in August, has brightened, making it visible without a telescope. By Jan. 7, the comet, which is rising in the northern sky, will be appearing to the right of the bottom half of Orion's bow.
Comet Lovejoy, C/2014 Q2, is framed like a cosmic Christmas tree with starry decorations in this colorful telescopic portrait, snapped on December 16th. Its lovely coma is tinted green by diatomic C2 gas fluorescing in sunlight. Discovered in August of this year, this Comet Lovejoy (not to be confused with past Comet Lovejoys) is currently sweeping north through the constellation Columba, heading for Lepus south of Orion and bright enough to offer good binocular views. Not its first time through the inner Solar System, this Comet Lovejoy will pass closest to planet Earth on January 7 and then closest to the sun on January 30. A long period comet, this Comet Lovejoy should return again ... in about 8,000 years.
Grab the binoculars, or if you live in a location free of urban glow, just use your eyes to enjoy a year-end surprise: Comet C/2014 Q2 – Comet Lovejoy or Comet Q2 for short.
Comet Lovejoy is making its first pass by the sun in 11,500 years, and because the planets have tweaked its orbit during its approach, it won't be back for another 8,000 years.
The comet, discovered Aug. 17, initially wasn't expected to become a naked-eye object. But it has brightened, highlighting comets' tendencies to turn brightness predictions on their heads. Often, it's been the "comet of the century" that has turned out to be a visual dud. Think Comet Kahoutek in 1973, for instance.
When it comes to predicting a comet's brightness, "there are no nice, clean set of rules you can apply," says Alan Delamere, who has designed instruments for robotic space missions, including the European Space Agency's Giotto mission, which made the first close-up observations of Comet Halley in March 1986, and has served on the science teams of several NASA missions, including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
This time around, skywatchers are getting an unexpected treat.
Comet Lovejoy was discovered by Terry Lovejoy, an amateur astronomer who lives outside of Brisbane, Australia, and has four other comet discoveries to his credit since 2007.
The comet currently appears as a fuzzy blob in the constellation Lepus, almost on a direct line below Orion's brightest star Rigel and nearly level with Sirius, the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major, Orion's hunting hound.
Weather, as well as a moon trending toward full through Jan. 4, may make the viewing a bit challenging. But conditions should get better. On Jan. 7, Comet Lovejoy makes its closest approach to Earth at some 44 million miles away, before making its closest approach to the sun on Jan. 30.
The comet also is rising higher in the northern sky. By Jan. 7, the comet will be appearing to the right of the bottom half of Orion's bow, just above the constellation Eridanus. With the comet's path taking it ever higher in the sky each night and the moon heading to its "new" phase, the comet should put on a good show in mid January, and remain a binocular object through at least through the end of the month, depending on your location and levels of urban glow.
Because of its long travel time through the solar system, Comet Lovejoy falls into the long-period category of comets. These comets come from an extended cloud of orbiting, oddly shaped relics composed of ice and dust from the dawn of the solar system. It's known as the Oort cloud. The cloud begins roughly 2,000 to 5,000 astronomical units from the sun, or 2,000 to 4,000 times the distance from Earth to the sun. By some estimates, the outer edge of the Oort cloud, with billions of comet-like objects, extends to 1.5 light-years from the sun – slightly less than halfway to the sun's nearest neighbor, Proxima Centauri.
Comets whose orbits bring them within the inner solar system naturally brighten as they warm and the ices they contain heat up and jump from ice to gas with no intermediate stage as a liquid. This process, known as sublimation, generates the gas that glows in the comet's halo, or coma, as well as the tails of dust and ionized gas that trail away from it.
But how bright that coma glows varies comet by comet, depending the amount of ices it contains, how warm it gets, the number of passes it has made into the inner solar system, and from a skywatcher's point of view, how close it comes to Earth, notes Carey Lisse, a senior research scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
Long-period comets, such as Comet Lovejoy, spend most of their time traveling through the farthest reaches of the sun's gravitational influence, where temperatures hover around -360 degrees Fahrenheit. If they never reach the inner solar system as they orbit, they don't thaw enough to release much gas. If they do, and ices are close enough to the surface, they can undergo an initial burst of brightening.
The first gases to appear come from a comet's reservoir of frozen carbon monoxide, then carbon dioxide, and finally water ice, Dr. Delamere adds.
Brightening can continue, fizzle, or fluctuate, depending on the structure of the core and how much ice gets exposed to the sun's warmth as the comet heads toward its closest approach.
Indeed, the structure of comets are of keen interest beyond trying to estimate changes to a comet's brightness. Scientists haven't yet figured out how they form, acknowledges Dr. Lisse.
Models of early solar-system formation can show how dust grains a millionth of a meter across grow to the size of BBs, he says. And they can reconstruct the pathway that leads from comet-sized objects perhaps a half a mile across to planets thousands of miles across.
But what happens in between remains a mystery, presumably locked up within comets themselves. Comets' structure and composition reflect the environment in which they formed, which would have varied somewhat from one region of the protoplanetary disk to another.
Little wonder then that comets are like cats, Lisse says. "They're very interesting, and they do what they want." ||||| View Images Comet Lovejoy, snapped here through a telescope on December 16, is streaking through the night sky this holiday season.
Just in time for the holidays, the skies are serving up a special cosmic gift: a brightening comet that may not have been in our part of the solar system for nearly 12,000 years.
Discovered only this past August, comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) is now quickly brightening to naked-eye visibility as it moves from the deep southern sky into prime viewing location for observers throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The comet already put on a Christmas show, glowing green thanks to molecules that glow when hit by the sun's solar wind.
This icy visitor to the inner solar system was first spotted by its namesake, Terry Lovejoy, an Australian astronomer using a common backyard telescope with only an eight-inch mirror. He spotted the comet while it was still a very faint 15th magnitude.
The comet wasn't predicted to become visible with the unaided eye until late January or February 2015. But comets can be unpredictable, with chaotic surface activity as they heat up and melt while nearing the sun during orbit. Since summer, the comet's brightness has shot up by hundreds of times.
View Images This diagram shows the orbit and location of comet Lovejoy on Christmas week in relation to the orbits of Earth and its neighboring planets. Note that the comet is approaching the inner solar system nearly perpendicular to Earth's orbit; that's the reason the comet is appearing to switch from a Southern to Northern Hemisphere object in the sky over the next week or so.
Illustration by Andrew Fazekas, SkySafari Software
In fact, the comet has brightened to magnitude 5, meaning that it has technically reached naked-eye levels already. It's now an easy target to find with binoculars, showing up as a distinct hazy ball.
And if comet Lovejoy continues its current course of brightening, astronomers say it may even plateau at magnitude 4.1 in mid-January, which would make it just barely visible to the unaided eye viewing it from light-polluted city suburbs.
View Images Time to break out those shiny new binoculars and telescopes and take a gander at comet Lovejoy hanging low in the late-night southeastern sky.
Illustration by Andrew Fazekas, SkySafari Software
As of December 21, comet-watchers using large binoculars under dark skies were reporting on an online comet-observing forum seeing a hint of a very faint tail sweeping about 5 to 6 degrees back from the comet's coma, the hazy cloud around the main body—that's about equal to ten full moon disks side-by-side in the sky. To see comet Lovejoy's path in the sky, check out this nice printable finder chart.
To spot the tail yourself, you'll first want to try using averted vision, an observing technique using peripheral vision to bring out details in a faint object. But hopes are that the sky show will continue to get easier to see in early January.
View Images This sky chart shows comet Lovejoy parked next to the globular cluster M79 (also shown in telescope view) on the night of December 28, 2014.
Illustration by Andrew Fazekas, SkySafari Software
See for Yourself
The best way to glimpse the comet is using binoculars as it travels through the low southern constellation Columba, the Dove, about 30 degrees south of the constellation Orion.
Wait until late night, near or after local midnight, for the comet to rise in the southeastern sky and away from the hazy horizon. Hunt for it to the lower right of the brightest star in the sky, Sirius.
As comet Lovejoy continues to climb higher in the northern sky, it will offer a pretty photo opportunity. It's now passing close to the stunning globular star cluster Messier 79 in the constellation Lepus, the Rabbit. Amazing to think that this city of stars lies approximately 40,000 light-years from Earth, compared with comet Lovejoy's distance of 4.4 light-minutes.
Happy hunting!
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– Comets are basically like cats, a senior researcher at Johns Hopkins University tells the Christian Science Monitor: "They're very interesting, and they do what they want." That may explain that even though scientists didn't think Comet C/2014 Q2 (also known as Comet Lovejoy) would prove to be visible to the human eye when it was discovered back in August, it now will be to viewers in non-light-polluted areas, thanks to the unpredictability of comet brightness. Peak viewing times will be in mid-January, the Monitor notes, with the comet appearing to the right of the bottom half of Orion's bow on Jan. 7—the day the comet will come closest to Earth at 44 million miles. There won't be an encore performance in our lifetime, either: The comet isn't scheduled to loop around this way for another 8,000 years. The comet was discovered over the summer by Australian astronomer Terry Lovejoy, who employed nothing more than a simple backyard telescope with an 8-inch mirror, National Geographic reports. The comet, a "long-period" object believed to be on an extended journey through the skies, likely originated from the Oort cloud, a mass of orbiting ice and dust artifacts from the beginning of the solar system. Scientists weren't expecting a strong light show, but comets are notoriously touch and go, with a variety of factors affecting their ultimate brightness, including how much ice they hold, their temperature, and how close they streak past the Earth. Because the comet will be ascending higher into the sky each night, skywatchers should be able to see it through the end of January, depending on location. (Last year, the Hubble Space Telescope spotted a comet-like object with six tails.)
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An avalanche near McBride, B.C., has killed five snowmobilers, say local authorities.
RCMP say they were notified of two separate GPS beacon activations in the Renshaw area east of McBride around 1:30 p.m. PT, at which point they activated the Robson Valley Search and Rescue Team.
There were at least three separate groups of snowmobilers caught in the slide, say RCMP. Six to eight people lost their snowmobiles and had to be shuttled off the mountain.
This photo taken near Fernie, B.C., on Dec. 30, 2008, shows the area where several avalanches killed eight snowmobilers. (Canadian Press)
"We are a small and mostly tight-knit community," McBride Coun. Sharon Reichert said.
"We live in a rugged country where many in the community enjoy the outdoors. That comes with danger, and today, our worst fears have been realized."
RCMP said search and rescue technicians were on the scene almost immediately, and a helicopter was deployed.
Donita Kuzma, the regional coroner with the BC Coroners Service, said police conducted interviews with people as they came down the mountain to see if there were any other snowmobilers still missing.
"It's a very busy time of year with snowmobilers," said Kuzma, adding that there were many of them in the area for the weekend.
BC Emergency Health Services said it also transported one person to hospital in stable condition.
An avalanche killed 5 snowmobilers near McBride, B.C. 0:56
Human-triggered avalanche
Avalanche Canada said it had received a report of what appears to be a "very large, significant avalanche event" in the North Rockies.
"There are layers of concern in the snowpack in many parts of this region (and others) and a fairly significant weather event added rain and snow to the snowpack over the last few days," said Karl Klassen with Avalanche Canada.
"This may have produced stresses in the snowpack capable of producing large avalanches and this condition could take several days to settle and bond."
Klassen said the avalanche was human-triggered.
At least three groups of snowmobilers were caught in the avalanche near McBride, RCMP say. (Canadian Press) ||||| Story highlights 6 people were rescued
An NGO that tracks avalanches says the event was "human-triggered"
(CNN) An avalanche near McBride, British Columbia, has killed five people, according to Donita Cuzma of the British Columbia Coroners Service.
The avalanche struck at 1:30 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. ET) Friday.
Two groups of snowmobilers were involved, Cuzma said. A search team rescued six survivors from one of the groups.
Karl Klassen, the warning service manager at Avalanche Canada, a nongovernmental organization, said the group received a report of "what appears to be a very large, significant avalanche event," and knows it was human-triggered.
"Fairly significant weather event added rain and snow to the snowpack over the last few days followed by clearing and cooling today," Klassen said. "This may have produced stresses in the snowpack capable of producing large avalanches and this condition could take several days to settle and bond."
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– At least five people were killed when a massive and apparently human-caused avalanche hit a group of snowmobilers in BC on Friday. At least one other person was hospitalized after the avalanche near the town of McBride at around 1:30pm. A spokesman for the Avalanche Canada warning group tells CNN that the "very large, significant avalanche event" on Mount Renshaw appears to have been triggered by human activity. The RCMP says at least three groups of snowmobilers were in the area when disaster struck and search-and-rescue technicians who had been snowmobiling made it to the area to start the search almost immediately, the Vancouver Sun reports. The RCMP says it is still trying to make sure everybody who was in the area has been accounted for, and up to eight people who lost snowmobiles in the avalanche have been taken off the mountain. People in the small southeastern BC community say the disaster happened during a busy week for snowmobilers. "We are a small and mostly tight-knit community," McBride town councilor Sharon Reichert tells the CBC. "We live in a rugged country where many in the community enjoy the outdoors. That comes with danger, and today, our worst fears have been realized." (After an avalanche in Alaska last year, three snowmobilers rescued a buried moose.)
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Story highlights Victims identified
Suspect believed to be in abandoned building
The man is also believed to have blown up his house, source says
Schools and a hospital were in lockdown
A man suspected of killing four people and injuring two others in a 10-minute shooting spree in Herkimer County, New York, is believed to be surrounded by police, authorities said Wednesday.
The upstate New York man also is believed to have blown up his house, according to a federal law enforcement source briefed on the investigation.
Policing searching for Kurt R. Myers, 64, surrounded an abandoned building, State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico and Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. Myers ditched his vehicle following shootings at a barber shop and an auto maintenance business, police said.
Officials provided no possible motive.
Schools and a hospital in the Mohawk Valley area, about 70 miles west-northwest of Albany, went into lockdown while police searched for the suspect.
Police first received a report of a fire at a residence at 9:29 a.m., D'Amico said. The call was followed minutes later with reports of shootings at John's Barber Shop in Mohawk and Gaffey's Fast Lube in Herkimer, authorities said.
Myers allegedly spoke with individuals at the barber shop before firing multiple rounds, D'Amico said.
Harry Montgomery, 68, and Michael Rancier, 57, were pronounced dead at the scene. Two other people were in critical condition at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica.
Gaffey's employee Thomas Stefka and Michael Renshaw, a 20-year veteran of the State Department of Corrections, were killed at the auto business.
Police believe Myers drove away from the auto shop and left his vehicle outside an abandoned building in Herkimer before shooting at officers, D'Amico said. No officers were injured during the shootout.
Cuomo said he came to Herkimer to make sure the state was providing as many resources as possible.
"This is truly an inexplicable situation; there was no apparent, rational motive to the best of our knowledge ... to provoke these attacks," Cuomo said. "These are the types of peaceful, quiet communities that one would say 'this could never happen here,'" he said, referring to Mohawk and Herkimer.
"We're concerned about officer safety, so we're in no rush to bring this to a conclusion; we want to make sure no one else gets injured today," D'Amico said.
A 1973 drunken driving arrest is the only past incident on Myers' record, D'Amico told the media.
Reporters on Wednesday pressed Cuomo about New York's new gun-control laws, which were the first in the nation to be enacted after the Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre.
The laws fortified New York's existing assault weapons ban, limited the number of bullets allowed in magazines and strengthened rules that govern the mentally ill, which included a requirement to report potentially harmful behavior.
Cuomo said he would discuss the laws later.
"Gun violence has been with us for a long, long time," the governor said. "I think the challenge for government, the challenge for society, is to do the best that it can." ||||| Authorities in upstate New York say the suspected gunman in a rampage at a car wash and a barbershop that left four people dead has been killed by police in a shootout.
This undated photo provided by the New York State Police shows Kurt R. Meyers, the man being sought in connection with the shooting of six people in two incidents in upstate New York, Wednesday, March... (Associated Press)
Police floodlights shine on the abandoned building on Main St. in Herkimer, N.Y. early Thursday morning March 14, 2013. Police kept vigilant watch there into Thursday morning, periodically blaring sirens... (Associated Press)
A man watches from the window of a barber shop as officials search down the street for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on, Wednesday, March 13, 2013 in Herkimer, N.Y.... (Associated Press)
Law enforcement officers take cover along Main Street when shots were fired while searching for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, in Herkimer,... (Associated Press)
Law enforcement officers run for cover along Main Street in Herkimer, N.Y., when shots were fired while they were searching for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on,... (Associated Press)
Law enforcement officers take cover along Main Street when shots were fired while they were searching for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on, Wednesday, March 13,... (Associated Press)
A law enforcement officer stands on Main Street in Herkimer, N.Y., during the search for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Authorities... (Associated Press)
Chief Joseph Malone of the Herkimer Police Department briefs the media on the search for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, in Herkimer,... (Associated Press)
Law enforcement officers walk along Main Street while searching for a suspect in two shootings Wednesday, March 13, 2013, in Herkimer, N.Y. Two people were shot and killed Wednesday morning at a car... (Associated Press)
This undated photo provided by the New York State Police shows Kurt R. Meyers, the man being sought in connection with the shooting of six people in two incidents in upstate New York, Wednesday, March... (Associated Press)
Law enforcement officers block off Main Street in Herkimer, N.Y., while searching for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Authorities... (Associated Press)
Law enforcement officers stand in an alley near Main Street while searching for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Authorities were looking... (Associated Press)
Law enforcement officers walk along Main Street in Herkimer, N.Y., while searching for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Authorities were... (Associated Press)
A police officer crosses Main Street as officials search for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on, Wednesday, March 13, 2013, in Herkimer, N.Y. A man neighbors said... (Associated Press)
People stand outside the Empire Diner near the police line as officials search for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on, Wednesday, March 13, 2013, in Herkimer, N.Y.... (Associated Press)
They say 64-year-old Kurt Myers was killed Thursday by police who had surrounded a block of small businesses in the village of Herkimer since Wednesday afternoon.
Trooper Jack Keller says police went into the building around 8 a.m. He says the shootout occurred in the basement, where Myers shot a police dog. Keller says police returned fire, killing him.
Myers' rampage started with a fire in his apartment in the nearby village of Mohawk on Wednesday morning. They say he then shot two people dead and wounded two others at a barbershop around the corner before killing two more at a Herkimer oil change and car wash business.
Hours later, a flurry of gunfire was heard near where police had narrowed their search.
A college and schools were locked down, and people told to stay inside as police hunted Myers.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
A 64-year-old loner sauntered into a barbershop in upstate New York, coolly asked if the man cutting hair remembered him and then opened fire with a shotgun, the first shots in a burst of violence that would leave four dead, two critically wounded and people in this small village aching to find out what set the gunman off.
New York state police vowed to wait out Kurt Myers, the man suspected of gunning down the victims then holing up in an abandoned building. Police kept vigilant watch there Thursday morning, periodically blaring sirens in an apparent attempt to encourage Myers to surrender, if alive. Booms also were heard.
Police said Thursday they are confident he is still in the building, but don't know if he's dead or alive.
John Seymour, one of the men wounded in the attacks told his sister, Mary Hornett, the barbershop attack came out of nowhere.
"He just said that the guys were in the barbershop and this guy comes in and he says, `Hi John, do you remember me?' and my brother said, `Yes, Kurt, how are you?' and then he just started shooting," Hornett said.
Hornett said her brother, who was hospitalized in critical condition, was doing well after being shot in the left hand and right hip.
"My brother couldn't think of any reason why he would do such a thing," she said of Myers, a former customer who hadn't been in the shop for a couple of years.
Officers were fired on from the abandoned building on Wednesday afternoon while looking for Myers, state police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico said. At least one officer returned fire.
"We're in no rush to bring this to a conclusion," D'Amico said, adding that the main objective was to make sure no one else was hurt.
The shootings shattered the peace and rattled the nerves of Mohawk and Herkimer, two small villages about 170 miles northwest of New York City, separated from each other by the Mohawk River and the New York State Thruway. Police snipers waited on rooftops on a block of small businesses in Herkimer as they waited for Myers to emerge.
Police said Myers' rampage started with a fire in his apartment in the nearby village of Mohawk at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. He then drove to John's Barber Shop around the corner and used a shotgun to kill two customers, D'Amico said, identifying them as Harry Montgomery, 68, and Michael Ransear, 57, a retired corrections officer. In addition to Seymour, the shop's owner, another customer, Dan Haslauer, also was listed in critical condition at a Utica hospital.
The gunman then drove to Gaffy's Fast Lube in nearby Herkimer and used the shotgun to kill Michael Renshaw and Thomas Stefka. Renshaw was a 23-year employee of the state corrections department who worked at Mid-State Correctional Facility near Utica. Stefka worked at Gaffey's and attended Mohawk Reform Church, where he played guitar during services.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in a press conference in Herkimer, called it "truly an inexplicable situation."
"There's no apparent motive to the best of our knowledge at this time to provoke these attacks," he said.
Police had not had any communication with Myers, whose only known police record was a 1973 drunken-driving arrest, D'Amico said.
Police were positioned in front of a block of small businesses topped with apartments in the village of Herkimer on Wednesday evening.
A local businessman, jeweler Fred Weisser, said police were trying to get people out while Myers was believed to be in a building next door.
"They're sending in a robot to check the place out," he said by telephone. "I guess we're stuck. We're between him and the cops. I don't want to step out and get clipped by a sniper."
Myles Smith, who lives in one of the apartments above the shops, said by cellphone he had heard police trying to talk to Myers.
"The snipers on the roof are sitting there," Smith said. "I ain't seen a whole lot of movement. I heard about five gunshots. I keep hearing them trying to talk him out, but I don't think he's coming out."
The rear of the small building where Myers lived was burned out, and police continued to guard the building, where they found guns and ammunition. It was unclear if they were in his apartment.
Neighbors said they barely knew Myers, who rarely spoke, left every morning in his red Jeep and came back.
Traci Randall said the only time she remembers speaking to her next-door neighbor was when he yelled at her son because he thought he had shot an air pellet at his Jeep.
"He would walk by himself. He was kind of a loner. No wife," she said.
Neighbors said he never had visitors or friends. Gary Urich said Myers wouldn't even say much as `Hi' to him when walking by his porch.
"I said, `How are you doing?' No response. He just walked by," he said.
Michele Mlinar, a bartender at Cangee's Bar and Grille in Herkimer, said Myers frequently went in and had a bottle or two of Coors Light and left without speaking to anyone. She said he was always alone and she didn't even know his name until police released his mug shot on Wednesday.
Cangee's owner Candy Rellin called Myers "just an odd little man."
The two villages are about 65 miles east of Syracuse on opposite sides of the Mohawk River _ which connects the Erie Canal to the Hudson River and from there, the sea _ in a region known as the Mohawk Valley.
James Baron, the mayor of Mohawk described his village as close-knit and friendly, "the kind of place where you'd say, `Oh, it would never happen here.'"
Elizabeth Cirelli was shocked by Stefka's slaying. He was a neighbor in Herkimer.
"He was a great guy, a really nice person. This is horrific. We really couldn't believe it," she said.
Herkimer County Community College lifted a lockdown during the afternoon, and schools near the scene released students. D'Amico said most of the three-block neighborhood around the search scene was evacuated.
Herkimer is a village of 7,700 named for the German immigrant family that settled in the western Mohawk Valley in the 1720s. The economically distressed villages are 2 miles away from Ilion, where a 2-century-old Remington Arms gun plant is a major employer.
___
Associated Press writers Chris Carola and Mary Esch in Albany and Tom McElroy in New York contributed to this report.
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– Kurt Myers, the suspect in an upstate New York shooting spree, has been killed in a shootout with police, the AP reports. Cops surrounded Myers, 64, in an abandoned building yesterday afternoon, and had traded fire with him. This morning, police entered the building and Myers shot a police dog. Police returned fire, killing him. CNN adds that cops still have no motive; witnesses say Myers entered a barbershop yesterday and said, "Do you remember me?" before opening fire. He is also thought to have blown up his own home. "This is truly an inexplicable situation; there was no apparent, rational motive to the best of our knowledge," said Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier; he was on the scene in Herkimer County. Meanwhile, the names of the four people killed in the shooting spree have emerged: Harry Montgomery, 68, and Michael Rancier, 57, were reportedly killed in the barbershop after Myers spoke with people there; and worker Thomas Stefka and corrections department worker Michael Renshaw were killed at an auto shop. Myers was a former customer at the barbershop but hadn't been there in years, according to the sister of the owner, who was wounded. Just before shooting, "he says, 'Hi John, do you remember me?' and my brother said, 'Yes, Kurt, how are you?'"
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The outrage over the replica gun on the back of a patriotic jeep is the left trying to attack guns and your # 2A rights. I will not back down in the face of a snowflake meltdown and outrage culture. https://buff.ly/2kNFdR8 # kslegpic.twitter.com/TEtyFtQ7rT
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– Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says the outrage over his appearance in a parade atop a Jeep with a giant replica of a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on the back is "the left trying to attack guns" and the Second Amendment, the AP reports. A pastor who was at the parade says there were "audible gasps" as people caught a glimpse of Kobach in his vehicle, per the Kansas City Star. "Why was that necessary sir?" Johnny Lewis wrote on Facebook to Kobach, adding that he respects different perspectives on the Second Amendment but that his 6-year-old daughter and other kids at the parade have been scared lately due to recent school shootings. "My child didn't need that today." The Republican gubernatorial candidate, however, said in a tweet Sunday that he will "not back down in the face of a snowflake meltdown and outrage culture." And Kobach's spokeswoman, Danedri Herbert, said in a text to the Star that "the gun is a replica" and that "the Secretary says those who use the excuse of school violence to restrict the right to bear arms are deeply misguided. We need to ... recognize the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." The Kansas City suburb of Shawnee apologized in a statement to those who felt unsafe after Kobach's appearance at the Saturday morning parade. The Kansas Division of Emergency Management says someone subsequently hacked its Twitter account and sent a message that read: "Hey Kris, I think you are a bad guy with a gun. Also, maybe worse, you a dumb guy with a gun."
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A generation ago, Republicans sought to protect President Richard Nixon by urging the Senate Watergate committee to look at supposed wrongdoing by Democrats in previous elections. The committee chairman, Sam Ervin, a Democrat, said that would be “as foolish as the man who went bear hunting and stopped to chase rabbits.”
Today, amid a growing criminal inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, congressional Republicans are again chasing rabbits. We know because we’re their favorite quarry.
In the year since the publication of the so-called Steele dossier — the collection of intelligence reports we commissioned about Donald Trump’s ties to Russia — the president has repeatedly attacked us on Twitter. His allies in Congress have dug through our bank records and sought to tarnish our firm to punish us for highlighting his links to Russia. Conservative news outlets and even our former employer, The Wall Street Journal, have spun a succession of mendacious conspiracy theories about our motives and backers.
We are happy to correct the record. In fact, we already have.
Three congressional committees have heard over 21 hours of testimony from our firm, Fusion GPS. In those sessions, we toppled the far right’s conspiracy theories and explained how The Washington Free Beacon and the Clinton campaign — the Republican and Democratic funders of our Trump research — separately came to hire us in the first place. ||||| A generation ago, Republicans sought to protect President Richard Nixon by urging the Senate Watergate committee to look at supposed wrongdoing by Democrats in previous elections. The committee chairman, Sam Ervin, a Democrat, said that would be “as foolish as the man who went bear hunting and stopped to chase rabbits.”
Today, amid a growing criminal inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, congressional Republicans are again chasing rabbits. We know because we’re their favorite quarry.
In the year since the publication of the so-called Steele dossier — the collection of intelligence reports we commissioned about Donald Trump’s ties to Russia — the president has repeatedly attacked us on Twitter. His allies in Congress have dug through our bank records and sought to tarnish our firm to punish us for highlighting his links to Russia. Conservative news outlets and even our former employer, The Wall Street Journal, have spun a succession of mendacious conspiracy theories about our motives and backers.
We are happy to correct the record. In fact, we already have.
Three congressional committees have heard over 21 hours of testimony from our firm, Fusion GPS. In those sessions, we toppled the far right’s conspiracy theories and explained how The Washington Free Beacon and the Clinton campaign — the Republican and Democratic funders of our Trump research — separately came to hire us in the first place.
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– The political research firm behind an infamous dossier on then-candidate Donald Trump defends its work in a New York Times op-ed and accuses the president and his allies of trying to downplay explosive allegations about Russian collusion. Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, founders of Fusion GPS, lay out how they enlisted former British spy Christopher Steele to look into Trump's Russian contacts after being separately hired by the conservative paper the Washington Free Beacon and the Clinton campaign. "What came back shocked us," they write. "Mr. Steele's sources in Russia (who were not paid) reported on an extensive—and now confirmed—effort by the Kremlin to help elect Mr. Trump president. Mr. Steele saw this as a crime in progress and decided he needed to report it to the FBI." The pair write that they helped Steele get the report to the FBI via Sen. John McCain. They have provided 21 hours of testimony to congressional committees and called for their testimony to be made public because they say it debunks conspiracy theories on the far right. "We don't believe the Steele dossier was the trigger for the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling," they write, naming one of those theories. "As we told the Senate Judiciary Committee in August, our sources said the dossier was taken so seriously because it corroborated reports the bureau had received from other sources, including one inside the Trump camp." They accuse Republicans of "chasing rabbits" by going after them instead of looking more seriously into the allegations against the president. Click for the full op-ed.
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In the setting of profound ocular blindness, numerous lines of evidence demonstrate the existence of dramatic anatomical and functional changes within the brain. However, previous studies based on a variety of distinct measures have often provided inconsistent findings. To help reconcile this issue, we used a multimodal magnetic resonance (MR)-based imaging approach to provide complementary structural and functional information regarding this neuroplastic reorganization. This included gray matter structural morphometry, high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) of white matter connectivity and integrity, and resting state functional connectivity MRI (rsfcMRI) analysis. When comparing the brains of early blind individuals to sighted controls, we found evidence of co-occurring decreases in cortical volume and cortical thickness within visual processing areas of the occipital and temporal cortices respectively. Increases in cortical volume in the early blind were evident within regions of parietal cortex. Investigating white matter connections using HARDI revealed patterns of increased and decreased connectivity when comparing both groups. In the blind, increased white matter connectivity (indexed by increased fiber number) was predominantly left-lateralized, including between frontal and temporal areas implicated with language processing. Decreases in structural connectivity were evident involving frontal and somatosensory regions as well as between occipital and cingulate cortices. Differences in white matter integrity (as indexed by quantitative anisotropy, or QA) were also in general agreement with observed pattern changes in the number of white matter fibers. Analysis of resting state sequences showed evidence of both increased and decreased functional connectivity in the blind compared to sighted controls. Specifically, increased connectivity was evident between temporal and inferior frontal areas. Decreases in functional connectivity were observed between occipital and frontal and somatosensory-motor areas and between temporal (mainly fusiform and parahippocampus) and parietal, frontal, and other temporal areas. Correlations in white matter connectivity and functional connectivity observed between early blind and sighted controls showed an overall high degree of association. However, comparing the relative changes in white matter and functional connectivity between early blind and sighted controls did not show a significant correlation. In summary, these findings provide complimentary evidence, as well as highlight potential contradictions, regarding the nature of regional and large scale neuroplastic reorganization resulting from early onset blindness.
Data Availability: Data are available from the MEEI-Harvard Institutional Data Access / Ethics Committee for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data. Restrictions are imposed to protect patient identities and not to prohibit public sharing of any or all data. Any questions can be addressed to [email protected] of the MEEI-Harvard Institutional Data Access / Ethics Committee or the corresponding author.
To our knowledge, no previous study has attempted to address this issue using a comprehensive multimodal imaging approach. Here, we investigated potential differences between early blind and sighted control individuals with respect to morphometry obtained from standard anatomical MRI, white matter connectivity and integrity obtained by diffusion MRI, as well as functional connectivity characterized by resting state fMRI. In so doing, we aimed to examine the interrelationship between these multiple imaging parameters, with particular attention to structural and functional connectivity.
Certainly, these results continue to raise interesting questions regarding the nature and extent of neuroplastic changes within the context of profound blindness. However, uncertainty remains regarding the relationship between changes in brain structure and large-scale changes in anatomical and functional brain connectivity. This is particularly evident when one considers that previous imaging studies have usually focused on analyzing one parameter at a time, thus making reconciliation of observed results across multiple studies particularly challenging. Given these gaps in our understanding, it would be of value to capture multiple measures of morphometry, structural, and functional data throughout the brain as a means to better characterize the nature and extent of these changes resulting from visual sensory deprivation.
At the regional level, structural morphometry studies of the occipital cortex in blind humans show evidence of decreased gray matter volume [ 14 , 34 – 36 ] as well as concomitant increases in cortical thickness [ 34 , 37 – 40 ]. Findings provided from diffusion based imaging studies (i.e. diffusion tensor imaging, or DTI) have consistently reported wide spread reductions in the structural integrity of geniculocalcarine structures and tracts such as the optic radiations [ 35 , 36 , 41 – 44 ], as well as a general trend of decreased overall connectivity throughout the brain [ 43 , 45 – 47 ]. Analysis based on resting state functional connectivity MRI (rsfcMRI) has also been used to characterize large-scale functional network properties in the absence of task performance [ 48 – 50 ] but with mixed results. This includes reports of enhanced functional connectivity between occipital areas and other regions of the brain including parietal and frontal areas [ 23 , 47 , 51 – 54 ] while other studies have suggested patterns of overall decreases in connectivity between occipital areas and somatosensory cortex as well as temporal cortical areas implicated with auditory processing [ 23 , 31 , 53 , 55 , 56 ] (see also [ 57 ] for recent review). Furthermore, in the case of reported enhanced functional connectivity (e.g. between occipital and frontal regions), there appears to be a lack of evidence of concomitant increases in white matter connections that may putatively support crossmodal sensory and cognitive processing.
Despite accumulating evidence of these dramatic neuroplastic changes (and in particular implicating occipital cortical areas), a number of reports have suggested that the functional organization (i.e. domain specificity) of the occipital cortex may develop independently of visual experience (e.g. [ 27 – 31 ]). Importantly, it has been argued that this organization is maintained by an intrinsic pattern of anatomical and functional connectivity between occipital and other brain regions that process non-visual properties within corresponding cognitive domains (the “connectivity-constraint hypothesis”; see [ 31 – 33 ]). However, it remains unclear as to how an unaltered connectivity profile would in turn support compensatory behaviors in relation to crossmodal processing and reconcile the accumulating evidence of extensive functional reorganization described above. At this juncture, it would be reasonable to posit whether current views and interpretations are largely driven by focused analytic strategies (i.e. region of interest rather than a whole brain approaches) and inherent limitations related to data obtained from independently acquired imaging modalities.
Ocular blindness has served as an important model in helping to understand the consequences of sensory deprivation on brain development. Extensive work in animal models has provided compelling anatomical and behavioral evidence regarding the dramatic neuroplastic changes that result from altering visual experience (e.g. [ 1 – 3 ]). In humans, there has been considerable interest in relating neuroplastic changes with compensatory behaviors observed in individuals living with profound blindness (see [ 4 – 6 ] for reviews). Indeed, there is mounting support that blind individuals (particularly, when blind from birth or very early in life) demonstrate comparable, and in some cases even superior, behavioral skills as compared to their sighted counterparts (e.g. [ 7 – 11 ]; for review see [ 12 , 13 ]). Taken together, a contemporary view suggests that these compensatory behaviors may be intimately related to underlying changes in the overall structural and functional organization of the brain [ 14 ]. This reorganization implicates areas responsible for the processing of intact senses such as touch, hearing, and smell [ 15 – 17 ]. At the same time, there is also evidence of crossmodal reorganization within occipital cortex; that is to say, the area of the brain normally ascribed to processing visual information. Specifically, numerous neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that blind individuals show robust activation within occipital cortical areas while performing a variety of nonvisual tasks (e.g. Braille reading [ 18 ], sound localization [ 19 – 21 ], and odor perception [ 22 ]), as well as higher order cognitive tasks including language processing [ 23 – 25 ] and verbal memory recall [ 7 , 26 ].
The term connectome has been used to refer to the development of comprehensive maps characterizing neural connections within the brain [ 77 ]. In this study, we employed the circular connectogram to depict large-scale structural and functional connectivity patterns in early blind and sighted controls as well as differences between these two groups. The format is based on the freely available Circos software ([ 78 ]; http://www.circos.ca/ ) and processing pipelines adapted for neuroimaging data have been previously explained in detail [ 79 ]. Briefly, the circular connectogram design allows for the depiction of regional structural and inter-regional connectivity data within the same two-dimensional graphical representation. The circular layout facilitates the display of relationships between pairs of positions by using color coded links (in the case of HARDI and rsfcMRI connectivity data) and heat maps (in the case of morphometry data) presented along a circular array of radially aligned cortical parcellations (the “connectogram” [ 79 ];).
As a final analysis, a Pearson’s r-coefficient was used to determine the degree of association between the acquired measures of structural (number of fibers obtained by HARDI) and functional (partial correlations obtained by rsfcMRI) connectivity. Prior to correlation analyses, HARDI matrices were z-transformed to ensure normality. Correlations between early blind and sighted control subjects for both white matter fiber number and resting state connectivity were examined separately. Finally, to explore if alterations in the profile of white matter connectivity were related to alterations in the profile of resting state functional connectivity, correlations were determined between changes in structural connectivity (i.e. early blind and sighted controls) with changes in functional connectivity (i.e. early blind and sighted controls). For this correlation analysis, the difference between groups was calculated by subtracting the mean sighted control connectivity data from the mean ocular blind connectivity data (separately for HARDI and for rsfcMRI data). These difference matrices were z-transformed prior to the final correlation analysis.
To assess differences in connectivity (HARDI and rsfcMRI) between individuals in the sighted and blind groups, a two-sample t-test was performed for each connection between pairs of ROIs. This resulted in a total of 2278 (i.e. 68 X 67/2 = 2278) connections. A False Discovery Rate (FDR) analysis was performed at a rate of q = 0.05 to correct for multiple comparisons within the structural and functional connectivity matrices [ 74 ] as previously done in past studies [ 75 , 76 ].
Statistical analyses on surface based morphometry was carried out at two levels. First, an exploratory analysis regarding potential group differences in cortical thickness and volume were evaluated using a significance threshold of p<0.005 (two-tailed, uncorrected) as was done in previous studies (e.g. [ 14 , 40 ]). Volume measures were corrected for mean-centered intra-cranial volume to account for the potential effect of head size (e.g. [ 64 – 66 ]). A second level of analysis was performed by fitting a general linear model (GLM) in FreeSurfer. A series of 10,000 Monte Carlo simulations were then performed on the resulting data using a vertex-size threshold of p<0.005 and a cluster-wise threshold of p<0.05. For both levels of group comparisons, individual surfaces were registered to standard space and spatially smoothed using a Gaussian kernel of 5 mm full width half maximum (FWHM). The volume of each subcortical or white matter region was corrected using residuals of intra-cranial volume (e.g [ 71 – 73 ]). Differences between groups in subcortical and white matter volume were analyzed using SAS (University Edition).
Resting state data was pre-processed with FEAT v. 6.00 (FMRI Expert Analysis Tool) from FSL. Preprocessing steps included removal of non-brain tissue using BET, B0 unwarping in the -x direction, and motion correction using MCFLIRT. To further control for the effects of motion, 6 motion covariates and their temporal derivatives were regressed out of the resting state signal, discarding any motion outlier data. Prior to applying motion correction, individual head movement was quantified and visually assessed for each subject. No subjects exceeded 0.27 mm absolute or relative motion (frame to frame measure of displacement), which was well below the acquired voxel size of 3 mm. Subsequent analysis confirmed that there were no statistically significant differences in head motion between the two groups (mean sighted controls = 0.10 mm absolute, 0.08 mm relative and mean early blind = 0.15 mm absolute, 0.11 mm relative; p>0.05). rsfcMRI data were co-registered using BBR [ 69 ] to the anatomical T 1 -weighted scan. Cortical parcellations [ 61 ] were reverse transformed into subject-specific rsfcMRI space. An in-house MATLAB program was used to calculate temporal partial correlations between ROIs. A high pass filter of 0.01 Hz and a low pass filter of 0.1 Hz were applied. Data were also de-trended and Fischer’s z-transformed to ensure normality. Similar to HARDI data, a 68 x 68 symmetrized connectivity matrix was generated for each subject whereby the z-transformed correlation coefficient between each parcellated region (node) was stored at a unique position in the matrix and representing the functional connectivity strength between nodes.
HARDI data was skull-stripped and corrected for eddy currents using the brain extraction tool (BET) and Eddy-correct from FSL 5.0.8 (FMRIB Software Library, http://fsl.fMRib.ox.ac.uk/fsl ). The orientation distribution function (ODF) was reconstructed in DSI-Studio ( http://dsi-studio.labsolver.org ) using generalized q-sampling imaging (GQI) [ 67 ] with a diffusion sampling length ratio of 1.25 and ODF sharpening via decomposition [ 68 ]. A decomposition fraction of 0.04 and maximum fiber population of 8 were used. Three fibers per voxel were resolved with an 8-fold ODF tessellation. HARDI data was co-registered to the corresponding T 1 -weighted structural image for each subject using boundary-based registration (BBR) in FreeSurfer [ 69 ]. Registration accuracy was verified for each subject by visual inspection and manual corrections were performed where necessary. Each of the 68 cortical and 68 white matter parcellations [ 61 ] for the T 1 -weighted image were reverse transformed into subject-specific HARDI space, creating the seed (start) and target (end) point regions of interests (ROIs) for tractography analysis. An in-house program utilizing the tractography function from DSI-Studio generated streamlines to produce a whole brain connectivity matrix symmetrized between each pair of ipsi- and contra-lateral ROI pairs. A 68 x 68 connectivity matrix was generated using a termination angle of 45°, subject-specific quantitative anisotropy (QA) threshold (range 0.025 to 0.15, mean 0.054), smoothing of 0.5, step size 0.5 mm, minimum length = 5 mm, maximum length = 300 mm, random fiber direction, Gaussian radial interpolation, and 100,000 seeds. To capture the maximum possible number of streamlines associated with each cortical region, the start ROI was placed in the white matter. To ensure that the target cortical region was reached, the end ROI was placed in gray matter. Any circular fibers were automatically removed as part of the algorithm, as were tracts that extended beyond the target and seed ROIs. Two areas were considered to be connected if one or more fibers were present between them [ 70 ]. Individual subject matrices were generated for the number of streamlines/fibers between ROIs as well as average QA for each connection. Similar to the fractional anisotropy (FA) measure obtained in DTI, QA is an analogous metric obtained with HARDI and is an indicator of overall white matter structural integrity [ 67 ]. Average QA was calculated by sampling the HARDI maps at each step of the selected streamline.
Anatomical T 1 -weighted scans were processed using FreeSurfer 5.3.0 ( https://surfer/nMR/mgh/harvard.edu ). Details regarding this procedure have been described elsewhere [ 60 ]. Briefly, two structural T 1 -weighted scans were co-registered, intensity normalized, skull stripped, and the gray matter and white matter surfaces were defined based on intensity gradients. The accuracy of brain extraction and gray and white matter surfaces were confirmed by visual inspection and manual edits were applied when necessary. The cortex was parcellated into 68 discrete regions (34 per hemisphere) according to the Desikan atlas [ 61 ]. For surface-based analyses, gray matter cortical thickness and volume were calculated for each vertex. White matter segmentations for HARDI tractography were estimated 2 mm into the white matter from the gray/white matter boundary for each of the overlying cortical gray matter parcellations. Subcortical gray matter structures were also segmented [ 62 , 63 ]. Volume was calculated for subcortical and white matter regions as part of the standard FreeSurfer processing pipeline. As done in previous studies (e.g. [ 64 – 66 ]), estimated total intracranial volume was also calculated for each subject and mean-centered (i.e. with respect to the mean of all subjects).
Following standard preprocessing, gray and white matter were divided into anatomically-derived parcellations (Desikan atlas). Surface based morphometry (SBM) was used to analyze cortical thickness and volume as well as the volume of subcortical gray matter and white matter regions. Following preprocessing of HARDI data, the orientation distribution function (ODF) for each voxel was calculated. The gray and white matter segmentations from the Desikan atlas were transformed into HARDI space and used as seeds for ROI to ROI tractography. Resting state connectivity data were preprocessed and ROIs from the Desikan atlas were transformed into rsfcMRI space for each subject and used as seeds for ROI to ROI analysis. For both HARDI and rsfcMRI data, connectivity matrices for each subject were created from which group average matrices were made.
All imaging data were acquired on a 3T Philips Achieva System (Best, the Netherlands) with an 8-channel phased array coil. Subjects were instructed to lie still and foam padding was used to minimize head motion. Two structural T 1 -weighted scans were acquired using a turbo spin echo sequence (TE = 3.1 ms, TR = 6.8 ms, flip angle = 9°, voxel size 0.98 x 0.98 x 1.20 mm). Diffusion based imaging was carried out using high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI). Images were acquired with a single-shot EPI sequence (TE = 73 ms, TR = 17844 ms, flip angle 90°, 64 directions, EPI factor = 59, B0 = 0 s/mm 2 , Bmax = 3000 s/mm 2 , voxel size 1.75 x 1.75 x 2.00 mm, enhanced gradients at 66 mT/m, and a slew rate of 100 T/m/ms). Resting state functional connectivity (rsfcMRI) was acquired with a 7 min single-shot EPI sequence (TE = 30 ms, TR = 3000 ms, flip angle = 80°, voxel size 2.75 x 2.75 x 3.00 mm, prospective motion correction). For the resting state sequence, subjects were blindfolded and instructed to lie still and let their minds “wander” while remaining awake. Finally, a field map was acquired to correct for EPI related field inhomogeneities using a fast field echo sequence (TE1 = 2.3 ms, TE2 = 4.6 ms, TR = 20 ms, flip angle = 10°, voxel size 1.02 x 1.02 x 3.00 mm).
A total of 28 subjects were recruited for the study and separated into two groups comprised of 12 early blind (6 females, mean age 33.58 years ± 7.51 S.D.) and 16 normally sighted controls (8 females, mean age 30.44 years ± 5.84 S.D.). Comparing demographic factors between both groups revealed no statistically significant differences in terms of age (p = 0.26) or gender (Chi-square = 0.86). For the purposes of this study, we defined “early blind” as documented residual vision no greater than light perception and/or hand motion acquired prior to the age of three (i.e. prior to the recall of visual memories and the development of high level language function; see [ 58 , 59 ]). While the majority of participants had diagnoses that could be considered as a “congenital” cause, we relied on documented clinical evidence of profound blindness based on a structured and functional assessment. The etiologies of blindness were varied and included retinal dystrophies as well as ocular malformations. However, no single diagnosis was represented in more than three subjects. All blind participants were highly independent travelers, employed, college educated, and experienced Braille readers. They were predominately right handed (based on self-report), but most used two hands for the purposes of reading Braille text (see Table 1 : Subject Demographics for complete details regarding the demographics of the blind participants). Sighted controls had normal, or corrected-to-normal, visual acuity. Apart from blindness, the participants had no documented history of neurological abnormalities. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects prior to participation and all experimental procedures were approved by the Institutional Review Board at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, MA, USA.
Group differences in morphometry and connectivity were more evident using differential maps illustrating relative increases ( Fig 5C ) and relative decreases ( Fig 5D ) in early blind as compared to sighted controls. Specifically, increased number in white matter connections in the early blind (blue lines) were evident between occipital regions and parietal and temporal (predominately intrahemispheric with greater white matter connectivity evident within the left hemisphere). The greatest increases in white matter connectivity were between left parietal (precuneus) and precentral cortices as well as left temporal (fusiform and superior temporal) and frontal cortices (lateral orbital frontal and rostral middle frontal respectively). Increases in functional connectivity (intra- and interhemispheric) were also evident between occipital and other cortical areas (i.e. cingulate, frontal, and temporal cortices; indicated by red lines). The greatest increases (dark red lines) in functional connectivity were observed between bilateral pars orbitalis of the inferior frontal gyrus and the temporal and parietal lobes (specifically left superior temporal, right middle and transverse temporal, and the left supramarginal gyrus). The observed increases in cortical thickness in left lateral occipital cortex as well as additional increases in cortical thickness and volume are shown within the inner rings. In contrast, trends for overall decreases in white matter and functional connectivity in the early blind appeared to be largely inter-hemispheric. The most significant decreases in structural connectivity in early blind compared to sighted controls were observed between interhemispheric occipital regions (dark blue lines), as well as between the right precentral (i.e. motor) and entorhinal cortices. Regions showing multiple (i.e. ≥ four) significant changes in functional connectivity (dark red lines) included the right medial orbitofrontal cortex, paracentral lobe, and parahippocampus, as well as the left superior parietal and fusiform cortices, and the bilateral lingual gyrus. Finally, corresponding differences in gray and white matter morphometry between early blind and sighted controls can also be easily visualized confirming an overall trend for decreases in morphometry measures rather than increases (inner rings).
Circular connectograms illustrating regional differences in morphometry as well as white matter and functional connectivity networks in early blind (A) and sighted controls (B). The outermost ring corresponds to the various parcellated brains regions arranged by lobe and from anterior to posterior. The inner three rings (outermost to innermost) correspond to measures of gray matter volume, cortical thickness, and white matter volume (relative magnitudes shown in inset). The line segments in the center of the connectogram correspond to different levels in connectivity strength between parcellated brain regions. Blue lines represent streamlines between regions computed using HARDI white matter tractography. Red lines correspond to functional connections computed through performing partial correlations based on rsfcMRI data. Group average measures (uncorrected data) reveal trends across all imaging parameters in regional morphometry and connectivity profiles for early blind (A) and sighted controls (B) (absolute magnitudes shown in inset). Group differences between early blind and sighted controls are illustrated by relative increases (C) and decreases (D) in the blind compared to sighted controls (relative magnitudes shown in inset). See text for further details regarding connectome construction and description of morphometry and connectivity analyses.
To help better visualize the inter relationships between all the data modalities acquired, the results of the exploratory morphometry analysis (cortical thickness and volume, and white matter volume; all uncorrected), white matter connectivity (uncorrected), and functional connectivity (uncorrected) were presented simultaneously using a circular connectogram (individual group connectivity connectograms for early blind and sighted controls are shown in Fig 5A and 5B respectively).
A) Scatter plot depicting the degree of association characterizing white matter structural (upper panel) and resting state functional (lower panel) connectivity between early blind and sighted controls. The measure of association (Pearson’s coefficient) was found to be highly significant (p<0.0001) for both white matter structural connectivity and resting state functional connectivity (r = 0.9512 and r = 0.8623, respectively). B) Scatter plot depicting correlations on all t-statistics of early blind compared to sighted controls for both white matter structural connectivity (HARDI fiber number) and functional connectivity (resting state partial correlations). Associating relative changes in white matter and functional connectivity between early blind and sighted controls were not statistically significant (r = -0.008, p>0.05).
As a final analysis, the degree of association characterizing structural connectivity (i.e. white mater fiber number obtained by HARDI) and functional connectivity (i.e. partial correlations obtained by rsfcMRI) between early blind and sighted controls was independently determined. Regarding white matter structural connectivity, the measure of association was found to be very high (r = 0.9512; p<0.0001) ( Fig 4A upper panel). Similarly, the measure of association for resting state functional connectivity was also found to be very high (r = 0.8623; p<0.0001) ( Fig 4A lower panel). Secondly, the degree of association between measured changes in structural connectivity and changes in functional connectivity between early blind and sighted controls was also determined. In this latter analysis, correlations on differences (i.e. early blind minus sighted controls) between early blind compared to sighted controls for both structural connectivity and functional connectivity were not statistically significant (r = -0.008, p = 0.5843) ( Fig 4B ).
In the exploratory analysis, there was an overall greater trend for decreases rather than increases in temporal correlations between regions when comparing early blind to sighted. In particular, bilateral intra-hemispheric and inter-hemispheric connections involving the occipital, temporal, frontal, parietal, cingulate, and sensorimotor cortices ( Fig 3A ). Of the observed decreases in functional connectivity, a total of 22 survived FDR correction for multiple comparisons. Specifically, these involved bilateral decreases in connections between the lingual gyrus and primary somatosensory (i.e. post/paracentral gyri) cortex. Further decreases were observed between the right primary somatosensory cortex (i.e. post/paracentral gyri) and areas of the temporal lobe involved with spatial navigation and face recognition, namely the parahippocampal and fusiform gyri. Other notable inter-hemispheric decreases in functional connectivity were observed between occipital and sensorimotor regions, occipital and frontal regions, as well as between temporal (primarily fusiform and parahippocampal gyri) and sensorimotor areas. A listing of all significant connections following FDR correction can be found in Table 4 : rsfcMRI Functional Connectivity (corrected).
A) Exploratory analysis (uncorrected; p<0.05) of ROI-pairs revealed widespread differences in functional connectivity between early blind and sighted control individuals. While patterns of increases and decreases in functional connectivity were evident, the overall trend was for a decrease in resting state temporal correlations in early blind compared to sighted controls. This included between occipital-motor regions, occipital somatosensory connections, as well as decreases in occipito-frontal and occipito-memory-related structures. Increases in functional connectivity were evident bilaterally between occipital regions and the pars orbitalis in the inferior frontal lobe. Bilateral increases involving the pars orbitalis were also observed to portions of the temporal lobe involved with auditory processing (namely, the transverse temporal, banks of the superior temporal sulcus, superior temporal, and middle temporal cortices). B) Ball and stick representation of increases and decreases in resting state connectivity between early ocular blind and sighted controls following FDR correction. Differences in connectivity strength are represented by line thickness, whereby thicker lines represent larger differences between the two groups (based on p-value). Increases are represented by orange lines, whereas decreases are represented by cyan lines. Dark blue spheres represent the nodes (i.e. ROIs) associated with the start and/or end points of the connections. A total of two connections showed an increase in functional connectivity after FDR correction (upper panel). These were between right transverse temporal and left pars orbitalis, as well as the right middle temporal and right pars orbitalis. A total of 22 connections showing a decrease in functional connectivity survived correction (lower panel). These were mainly inter-hemispheric and occipital connections were centered around the fusiform gyrus, orbitofrontal regions, and sensorimotor cortices. Additional decreases within both left and right hemispheres were seen between occipital and primary sensori-motor cortices. Abbreviations: L = left, R = right, cing = cingulate, front = frontal cortex, par = parietal cortex, ins = insula, temp = temporal cortex, occ = occipital cortex.
Similar to the results obtained regarding white matter connectivity, an exploratory analysis of ROI-pairs of the rsfcMRI data also revealed a mixture of widespread increases and decreases of functional connectivity between the two groups of interest (p<0.05). Notably, increases in temporal correlations in early blind compared to sighted involved bilateral intra-hemispheric occipital, temporal, and frontal connections, as well as inter-hemispheric connections involving the occipital, temporal, frontal, and sensori-motor cortices ( Fig 3A ). Of the observed increases in functional connectivity, only two survived FDR correction for multiple comparisons. Specifically, these were temporal correlations between the right pars orbitalis and the right middle temporal lobe, and between the left pars orbitalis and the right transverse temporal gyrus (i.e. Heschl’s gyrus) ( Fig 3B ).
An analysis of QA was also carried out as an index of white matter integrity. Exploratory analysis of ROI-pairs revealed a number of connections that differed for QA in early blind subjects compared to sighted controls (p<0.05). Specifically, increased QA was observed in early blind compared to sighted for bilateral intra-hemispheric connections involving the occipital, temporal, parietal, frontal, and cingulate cortices. Additional inter-hemispheric increases in QA were also observed, however these were less numerous than intra-hemispheric increases. Increased QA was observed in five connections following FDR correction for multiple comparisons. Increases in QA in the early blind compared to sighted were mainly left lateralized involving fronto-temporal and temporal-temporal white matter connections. Exploratory analysis also revealed a number of connections showing decreases in QA in early blind compared to sighted subjects (p<0.05). These were equally distributed between inter-and intra-hemispheric connections and involved occipital, temporal, parietal, frontal, and cingulate cortices. Decreased QA was observed in 14 connections after FDR correction for multiple comparisons. Decreases in QA included the interhemispheric connections between the occipital lobes through the splenium were among those that survived FDR correction. Further decreases surviving FDR correction included the left occipito-cingulate, left entorhinal to insula, as well as right lingual to parahippocampal gyrus, and right entorhinal to precentral gyrus (see S2 Fig and S2 Table for a complete description of connections surviving FDR correction relating to QA).
A) Exploratory analysis (uncorrected; p<0.05) of ROI-pairs revealed trends for increased as well as decreased white matter connectivity (as indexed by fiber number) in early blind compared to sighted control individuals. These included increases between occipital and frontal cortices, motor (i.e. precentral gyrus), and somatosensory regions (i.e. postcentral gyrus). B) Ball and stick representation of the increases and decreases in white matter fiber number between early ocular blind and sighted controls following FDR correction. Differences in connectivity strength are represented by line thickness, whereby thicker lines represent larger differences between the two groups (based on p-value). Increases are represented by orange lines, whereas decreases are represented by cyan lines. Dark blue spheres represent the nodes (i.e. ROIs) associated with the start and/or end points of the connections. A total of 5 connections showed an increase in fiber number after FDR correction (upper panel). These were mainly in the left hemisphere and included fronto-temporal, as well as parieto-precentral connections. A total of 18 connections survived FDR multiple comparisons correction for the decreased fiber number in early ocular blind subjects (lower panel). These were evenly distributed between the hemispheres and included significant decreases between occipital and frontal cortices, as well as the entorhinal and precentral regions. Abbreviations: L = left, R = right, cing = cingulate, front = frontal cortex, par = parietal cortex, ins = insula, temp = temporal cortex, occ = occipital cortex.
Exploratory analysis of ROI-pairs revealed a number of connections that differed significantly in early blind subjects compared to sighted controls (p<0.05). Specifically, increased connectivity (indexed by fiber number) in early blind compared to sighted was observed for bilateral intra-hemispheric and inter-hemispheric connections involving temporal, parietal, and frontal lobes, as well as the left occipital and sensorimotor cortices ( Fig 2A ). Five of these connections survived FDR correction for multiple comparisons. These were mainly left-lateralized and evident between temporal and frontal regions, as well as between primary motor and the precuneus ( Fig 2B ). Exploratory analysis also revealed a number of connections showing decreased fiber number in the ocular blind group compared to controls throughout the entire cortex. These were inter- and bilateral intra-hemispheric connections involving the occipital, temporal, parietal, frontal, cingulate, and sensori-motor cortices ( Fig 2A ). Decreased connectivity was observed between 18 connections after FDR correction for multiple comparisons. These were equally distributed across both hemispheres. Within the left hemisphere, and the majority of decreases involved the frontal lobe (e.g. frontal to primary sensory, fronto-frontal, fronto-insular, and fronto-parietal cortices). An additional connection demonstrating decreased structural connectivity in early blind was noticed between the occipital lobe and cingulate cortex. Additional decreases included right intrahemsipheric connections also implicated the frontal lobes (e.g. occipito-frontal and frontal-cingulate) as well as the sensori-motor cortices. Concerning interhemispheric connections, decreases in occipito-occipital connections were most significant ( Fig 2B ). Connections surviving FDR correction are outlined in Table 3 : HARDI White Matter Connectivity (corrected).
Trends for widespread increases and decreases in cortical thickness were also observed following the initial exploratory analysis. Specifically, clusters showing increased cortical thickness in the ocular blind compared to sighted controls was observed bilaterally in the occipital, temporal, and parietal lobes. Clusters showing decreased cortical thickness in the ocular blind were observed bilaterally in the occipital, temporal, frontal, and parietal lobes (p<0.005 uncorrected). However, the only cluster to survive correction for multiple comparisons was a significant decrease observed in the left fusiform gyrus ( Table 2 : Surface Based Morphometry Analysis (corrected); see also S1 Fig ).
An initial exploratory analysis (uncorrected, p<0.005) revealed widespread differences (i.e. trends of both increases and decreases) in cortical volume throughout both hemispheres when comparing early blind to sighted controls. Specifically, clusters showing increases in cortical volume were observed bilaterally in the temporal, frontal, cingulate, and motor (i.e. precentral gyrus) cortices, as well as the right parietal cortex. Decreases in cortical volume in early blind were more widespread and clusters showing decreases in volume were observed bilaterally in the occipital, temporal, parietal, and frontal, as well as the left cingulate and sensorimotor (i.e. pre-and post-central gyri) cortices (p<0.005 uncorrected). In the subsequent analysis, only two of these clusters survived correction for multiple comparisons. Specifically, a significant decrease in volume of the left pericalcarine cortex (p = 0.0066) and a significant increase in volume of the right inferior parietal cortex (p = 0.0032) was evident when comparing early blind to sighted controls ( Table 2 : Surface Based Morphometry Analysis (corrected); see also supplementary materials 1).
Discussion
Overview of results In this study, we employed a multimodal MR-based imaging approach to provide multiple lines of evidence consistent with extensive morphological, structural, and functional reorganization within the brain and in the setting of early onset and profound ocular blindness. These observed changes were widely distributed, implicating areas responsible for the processing of intact sensory modalities (such as touch and hearing), occipital cortical regions (normally implicated in the processing of visual information), and regions involved in higher order cognitive functions (such as language, memory, and executive functions). In summary, outcomes of morphometry in early blind compared to sighted controls revealed co-occurring decreases in cortical volume and cortical thickness within visual processing areas of the occipital and temporal cortices respectively. Increases in cortical volume in the early blind were evident within regions of parietal cortex (corrected results). White matter connectivity in the blind was increased predominantly within the left hemisphere, including between frontal and temporal areas implicated with language processing. Decreases in structural connectivity were evident involving frontal and somatosensory regions as well as between occipital and cingulate cortices. Changes in white matter integrity (as indexed by QA) were also in general agreement with observed pattern changes in the number of white matter fibers. Analysis of resting state sequences revealed patterns of increased connectivity between temporal and inferior frontal areas in the blind while decreases in functional connectivity were observed between occipital and frontal and somatosensory-motor areas and between temporal (mainly fusiform and parahippocampus) and parietal, frontal, and other temporal areas. Finally, correlations in white matter connectivity and functional connectivity observed between early blind and sighted controls showed an overall high degree of association. However, comparing the relative changes in white matter and functional connectivity between early blind and sighted controls did not show a significant correlation. While extensive differences were observed along all three MRI-based modalities, the most notable finding was the evidence of increased inter- and intrahemispheric white matter connectivity in blind individuals. Taken together, the combination of these morphological, structural, and functional connectivity changes may underlie the neurophysiological substrate that supports crossmodal sensory processing and compensatory behaviors observed in individuals who are blind.
Relationship to previous studies Morphological changes in gray and white matter as well as subcortical structures have been investigated previously by a number of groups. In general, our differences in morphological findings from the exploratory analysis are in agreement with previous studies using both volume and surface based morphometry approaches investigating cortical and subcortical morphometry. We observed trends for co-occurring decreased cortical volume and increased cortical thickness within occipital cortex in the blind as compared to sighted controls as reported by other groups [34, 37–40, 80]. Specifically, we found increased occipital cortical thickness within the left lingual gyrus and bilateral lateral occipital regions [37, 39, 40], although these increases in cortical thickness did not survive correction for multiple comparisons in our sample. For areas that did survive correction for multiple comparisons, we found decreased cortical volume with pericalcarine calcarine cortex and decreased cortical thickness in fusiform cortex. A concomitant increase in volume with inferior parietal cortex was also noted. The observed decreased cortical and white matter volume within pericalcarine can be interpreted within the context of geniculo-calcarine transneuronal degeneration ([39]; see below for further discussion). However, the significance of morphological changes in higher order regions are less clear at this time. This is also of particular interest given the purported roles of these areas in the sighted namely; fusiform gyrus in face recognition [81] and inferior parietal cortex implicated in visual control of action [82]. Notably, we did not find statistically significant differences between both groups with regards to the morphometry of subcortical structures (including the hippocampus, amygdala, caudate, and putamen) although a previous group of studies did report increased hippocampal volume in the blind [35, 83, 84]. However, closer examination of these studies revealed that increases in volume were specific to the anterior (head) of the right hippocampus (with no changes in the body or tail) in one study [83] and decreases in the posterior right hippocampus in another study [85]. In our study, the hippocampus was segmented and measured as a single unit. Thus, it is possible that methodological differences may explain the observed discrepancy. In contrast to previous reports, we found evidence of both significant increases and decreases in white matter connectivity (both inter- and intrahemispheric) in the blind compared to sighted controls. The vast majority of prior studies have highlighted evidence of marked reductions in the structural volume of numerous brain areas, and in particular, geniculocalcarine structures and tracts including the optic radiations [35, 36, 41, 42, 44]. Furthermore, decreases in overall FA within occipital cortical areas [42, 43, 86] have also been reported. These decreases in structural volume and integrity have been interpreted within the context of volumetric reductions observed within occipital cortical areas, possibly consistent with geniculo-calcarine transneuronal degeneration [39]. In contrast, the only reports of increases in white matter volume were observed in sensorimotor cortex [87] and evidence of increased white matter integrity within the cortical spinal tract [88]. Regional changes were also reported within the corpus collosum [35, 44]. Using a whole brain analysis approach, Shu and colleagues (2009) (employing DTI) reported an overall decrease in white matter connectivity in the blind including connections between occipital and inferior frontal areas [43, 86]. However, evidence of increased connectivity was observed within regions implicated with sensorimotor functioning [43]. In another study, Wang and colleagues (2013) compared changes in FA between congenital and late blind (i.e. after 18 years of age) individuals as well as in sighted controls [47], confirming findings of overall reduced white matter integrity within the optic radiations. However, increased FA was found within the corticospinal tracts in both blind groups as compared to sighted controls [47]. Finally, Reislev and colleagues (2016) used anatomical connectivity mapping based on DTI data obtained from congenitally blind subjects and found reduced anatomical connectivity in the splenium and mid-body of the corpus callosum, as well as decreased FA in the cortical spinal tract with no further evidence of increased anatomical connectivity [46]. As opposed to these aforementioned studies employing DTI, our study concentrated on white matter whole-brain connectivity patterns reconstructed by diffusion data acquired by HARDI. Using fiber number as the main outcome of interest, we found evidence of both increases and decreases in white matter connectivity in the blind compared to sighted controls. These observed white matter changes were also supported by analyzing an index of white matter structural integrity: quantitative anisotropy (QA). In particular, we found evidence of increased connections involving superior temporal cortex; a region of the brain that is involved in spatial awareness [89]. The reason for our ability to observe both significant increases and decreases in white matter connectivity (as opposed to only decreases as in previous studies) can likely be explained by the variant of the diffusion MRI approach used in this study. In contrast to previous studies carried out with blind individuals, we employed HARDI rather than DTI to characterize white matter connectivity and integrity. While both techniques provide information regarding the degree of water diffusivity in the brain in order to derive local axonal fiber orientation, DTI is unable to correctly resolve multiple individual orientations within the same voxel such as crossing fibers (note that it has estimated that one third of white matter voxels may be affected by this issue; see [90]). In contrast, HARDI collects diffusion weighted images with many more gradient directions (i.e. 64) compared to the minimum of six required for DTI. As such, it has become increasingly established that HARDI is superior to DTI in its ability to delineate crossing fibers and ultimately the overall microarchitecture of the brain [91–93]. Finally, with regards to resting state functional connectivity, our results are in general agreement with previous findings reporting patterns of both increases and decreases in connectivity in the blind. In a recent study, Burton and colleagues (2014) found evidence of decreased functional connectivity between occipital cortex and auditory as well as somatosensory cortices in early blind individuals as compared to normally sighted controls. In contrast, increased functional connectivity was reported between occipital and frontal cortical areas (specifically, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) along with parietal regions of the brain [55]. Enhanced functional connectivity between occipital and frontal cortical areas implicated with executive control was reported, particularly with regards to working memory function (i.e. medial supplementary motor areas and prefrontal cortices, precentral sulcus, inferior frontal gyrus as well as superior frontal sulcus) [94]. Interestingly, we also noted increased functional connectivity between occipital structures and the frontal cortex (specifically, bilateral pars orbitalis in the inferior frontal gyrus) in our exploratory analysis. However, we observed decreased functional connectivity between occipital and somatosensory cortex and the medial orbitofrontal cortex after correction for multiple comparisons. Occipital connections to the medial orbitofrontal and the somatosensory cortices also showed decreased structural connectivity in our exploratory analysis, however these did not survive correction for multiple comparisons.
Interpretation of findings within the context of neuroplasticity As mentioned earlier, there has been considerable interest in relating compensatory behaviors in blind individuals within the context of observed structural and functional neuroplastic changes in the brain. While compensatory abilities in the blind have been reported across a wide variety of behavioral tasks and implicating different sensory modalities, it is important to note that these abilities are not universally evident across the blind population. Indeed, while there is evidence of enhanced sensory and cognitive task performance, there are also other reports suggesting that the blind are equal or even impaired on certain tasks compared to the their sighted counterparts [12, 13, 95]. This suggests that the absence of visual experience can induce either sensory compensation or the absence of calibration depending of the task-cognitive domain at play [96] (see also [53] for further discussion). Specifically, comparable (or even superior) perceptual and cognitive processing abilities in the blind (through the use of intact sensory modalities) would be in line with a “compensatory” hypothesis of neuroplasticity. If indeed adaptive behaviors observed in the blind are intimately related to changes in the overall structural and functional organization of the brain, evidence of increased morphological changes (e.g. gray matter volume or structural hypertrophy) and connectivity (white matter projections and functional connectivity) may be indicative of enhanced organization and facilitation of information processing occurring locally and/or between remote brain regions [97]. In light of this view, neuroplastic changes may be indicative of enhanced coordination between functional systems associated with heightened task performance. Our observation of enhanced intra- and interhemispheric white matter connectivity would be in line with evidence supporting the compensatory hypothesis. In contrast, impairment of perceptual performance and/or a lack of compensatory behaviors would be consistent with a “general loss” hypothesis. This in turn would be linked with potential decreases in brain morphometric and connectivity indices. In the same way, blind individuals with impaired crossmodal sensory and/or higher order cognitive functions may be explained within the context of associated decreases in morphometric and connectivity measures. Evidence of combined increases and decreases in functional connectivity throughout the brain (obtained from rsfcMRI) was also observed. This may be further suggestive of mixed compensatory and general loss mechanisms. ||||| Wiring diagram of the human brain, also known as the connectome. (Image: NIH/Laboratory of Neuro Imaging and Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Consortium of the Human Connectome Project)
It’s often said that the loss of one sense improves the others. New research shows the dramatic extent to which this is true in blind people, and how their brains make new connections to boost hearing, smell, touch—and even cognitive functions such as memory and language.
A new study published today in PLOS One is the first to show structural, functional, and anatomical differences in the brains of blind people that aren’t present in normally sighted people. These changes, which are associated with hearing, smell, touch, and cognition, are more widespread across the brain than previously thought, highlighting the dramatic extent to which our “plastic” brains can compensate in the absence of sensory information.
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Using MRI scanners, researchers from the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear analyzed the brains of 12 people diagnosed with early profound blindness. All subjects were either blind at birth, or became blind prior to the age of three. This group was compared to 16 normally sighted people. Unlike previous studies that only considered changes to the occipital lobe (the part of the brain where vision is processed), the new study looked at the entire brain.
“While we were able to replicate many of previously reported findings, our whole-brain data-driven approach enabled us to observe changes in other areas of the brain not previously reported,” said Corinna Bauer, the lead author of the new study, in an interview with Gizmodo.
An MRI scanner used in the study. (Image: Boston University Medical School Center for Biomedical Imaging)
The structural and functional changes observed show that the brains of blind people are uniquely configured, sending information back and forth in a way that’s not observed in normally sighted people. Some of these changes boosted the connections between certain parts of the brain, while others regions displayed a decrease in connectivity.
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“Similar to previous studies, decreases in connectivity were observed which often involved the occipital visual processing areas,” explained Bauer. “On the other hand, increases in connectivity were observed in areas involved with motor, auditory, or language processing, which may lend support to the increased demands placed on these systems in individuals who have lost their sight.”
These increases, says Bauer, are boosting the “cross-modal processing” capabilities of the brain, allowing the normally vision-oriented occipital cortex to process information from the other senses, such as touch, smell, or hearing, while also enhancing non-visual sensory processing. In blind people, the occipital cortex is not processing visual information, but it’s still working—and in way that could explain why blind people experience a heightening of the senses. For example, studies show blind people are better at localizing sounds and differentiating sound frequencies. Daniel Kish, who has been blind since he was a baby, is able to use a human version of echolocation to “see” the world.
Bauer says these may not be “new” connections per se, but that they may represent areas where more or stronger connections exist compared to normally sighted individuals.
This latest research shows just how resilient and malleable our brains truly are, and how the brain is capable of reworking itself and naturally adapting to our experiences. When vision is lost, the neurons in the occipital cortex don’t go to waste; instead, the region goes to work processing the remaining senses. This finding in consistent with previous work showing that blind test subjects can locate sounds using both the auditory cortex and the occipital lobe, whereas normally sighted people only use the auditory cortex.
“This study represents an important effort to use multiple MRI imaging methods in the whole-brain to understand the structural and functional changes that accompany altered sensory experiences during development,” said neuroscientist Christina Karns from the University of Oregon, who was not involved in the research. “With a lifetime of sensory experience that is different from what is typical, a number of different cortical systems are altered. This study raises the question of which, if any, perceptual or cognitive changes might accompany these structural and resting-state changes.”
The researchers did not perform any behavioral or sensory tests that would determine if their subjects truly had heightened senses of touch, hearing, smell, but admit it’s an area ripe for future examination. “There are multiple reports in the literature of heightened abilities in other non-visual senses and cognitive functions in individuals who are blind, and we imagine that the same is true in our participants,” said Bauer.
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This study was performed on people who have been blind for their entire lives, but it would be interesting to know if the same processes and patterns emerge for people who lose their sight later in life. Back in 2013, researchers from the neuroscience lab of François Champoux at the University of Montreal presented evidence showing that just 90 minutes of training can help blindfolded sighted people pick out subtle sounds, or layers of “harmonicity,” in tones that they were initially unable to hear. This may not be indicitive of the same process documented by Bauer’s team, but it’s another infringing hint that our senses may be malleable than we realize. Given the study’s sample size in Bauer’s study, it would also be a good idea to replicate his findings with another group.
Looking ahead, Bauer’s team would like to use this study as a model for studying brain changes in a different population of individuals with visual impairments, specifically those with visual dysfunctions not because of damage to the eyeball, but because of early developmental brain damage to areas of the brain responsible for visual processing. This condition, known as cortical or cerebral visual impairment (CVI), is the leading cause of pediatric visual dysfunction in developed countries around the world.
[PLOS One] ||||| The brains of those who are born blind make new connections in the absence of visual information, resulting in enhanced, compensatory abilities such as a heightened sense of hearing, smell and touch, as well as cognitive functions (such as memory and language) according to a new study led by Massachusetts Eye and Ear researchers. The report, published online today in PLOS One, describes for the first time the combined structural, functional and anatomical changes in the brain evident in those born with blindness that are not present in normally sighted people.
"Our results demonstrate that the structural and functional neuroplastic brain changes occurring as a result of early ocular blindness may be more widespread than initially thought," said lead author Corinna M. Bauer, Ph.D., a scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute of Mass. Eye and Ear and an instructor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. "We observed significant changes not only in the occipital cortex (where vision is processed), but also areas implicated in memory, language processing, and sensory motor functions."
The researchers used MRI multimodal brain imaging techniques (specifically, diffusion-based and resting state imaging) to reveal these changes in a group of 12 subjects with early blindness (those born with or who have acquired profound blindness prior to the age of three), and they compared the scans to a group of 16 normally sighted subjects (all subjects were of the same age range). On the scans of those with early blindness, the team observed structural and functional connectivity changes, including evidence of enhanced connections, sending information back and forth between areas of the brain that they did not observe in the normally sighted group.
These connections that appear to be unique in those with profound blindness suggest that the brain "rewires" itself in the absence of visual information to boost other senses. This is possible through the process of neuroplasticity, or the ability of our brains to naturally adapt to our experiences.
The researchers hope that increased understanding of these connections will lead to more effective rehabilitation efforts that will enable blind individuals to better compensate for the absence of visual information.
"Even in the case of being profoundly blind, the brain rewires itself in a manner to use the information at its disposal so that it can interact with the environment in a more effective manner," said senior author Lotfi Merabet, O.D., Ph.D., director of the Laboratory for Visual Neuroplasticity at the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Mass. Eye and Ear and an associate professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. "If the brain can rewire itself -- perhaps through training and enhancing the use of other modalities like hearing, and touch and language tasks such as braille reading -- there is tremendous potential for the brain to adapt."
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– Ever wonder whether being blind was in some way an advantage for pianists like Ray Charles, George Shearing, Art Tatum, and Stevie Wonder? New research published in the journal PLOS ONE finds that the brains of people blind from a young age are dramatically different than the brains of normally sighted people—showing increased connectivity in areas that deal with touch, hearing, smell, and even memory and language processing. The study was small (12 subjects who were blind before age 3) and needs to be replicated, but researchers say the differences caught by MRI highlight how flexible the human brain is as it compensates for the absence of visual feedback. "Even in the case of being profoundly blind, the brain rewires itself ... so that it can interact with the environment in a more effective manner," the senior author says in a news release. Follow-up research could look at people whose visual impairment at a young age was the result of brain damage to parts of the brain involved in visual processing instead of damage to the eye. Another research avenue: people blinded later in life instead of at or near birth. Gizmodo flags a 2013 study showing that sighted people who are blindfolded can learn to pick out sounds they first hadn't heard after just 90 minutes of training. Gizmodo allows the same process may not be at play, "but it's another ... hint that our senses may be [more] malleable than we realize." (Bill Cosby's attorneys say he is now legally blind.)
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Nicole Eramo (Photo: Marshall Bronfin)
A defamation lawsuit filed by a former University of Virginia dean against Rolling Stone magazine for its botched article about an alleged gang rape at the Charlottesville school is set for trial starting Monday.
Nicole Eramo was the associate dean of students who counseled "Jackie," an otherwise unidentified student whose tale of sexual brutality in a fraternity house set off a nationwide firestorm when the magazine published the article in November 2014. Eramo is suing the magazine for almost $8 million, saying A Rape on Campus cast her as the "chief villain."
Lawyers for Eramo have included Jackie on their witness list.
The gripping article detailed Jackie's claim that she was at a fraternity party on Sept. 28, 2012, when she was lured upstairs, raped and beaten by several men over a three-hour period. The fraternity immediately challenged the article's claims, which quickly drew intense media scrutiny followed by skepticism.
Charlottesville police investigated and found no evidence of rape. The magazine commissioned the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism to study the way the article was handled. That 13,000-word report — 4,000 words longer than the article itself — found a systematic failure by the magazine, starting with relying too heavily on a single source: Jackie. The report also said the magazine, not Jackie, was to blame for the botched piece.
The magazine issued an apology in December 2014 for its failures in reporting and editing. The story was fully retracted four months later.
Eramo's lawsuit claims writer Sabrina Rubin Erdely and the magazine sought "to weave a narrative that depicted the University of Virginia as an institution that is indifferent to rape on campus, and more concerned with protecting its reputation than with assisting victims of sexual assault."
The lawsuit says Rolling Stone falsely accused Eramo of being instrumental in persuading Jackie not to report the rape and discouraging Jackie from sharing her story with others or telling police.
Eramo still works for the university, but no longer as a dean of students. She spoke with ABC News last week, saying Rolling Stone depicted her as insensitive to students who were sexual assault victims.
“They made it look like I used the trust of, yeah, women to cover up rapes,” Eramo said. “And that was so far from anything I would ever do. It was just unbelievable to me.”
The magazine issued a statement accusing Eramo's lawyers of "attempting to shift the focus of her lawsuit in the media to Rolling Stone’s reporting errors." The statement pointed to a U.S. Education Department investigation of the university's practices — an investigation that found a "mixed record of responding to reports of sexual harassment and sexual violence."
Rolling Stone said the depiction of Eramo in its ill-fated article "was balanced and described the challenges of her role.”
Eramo's lawsuit also has drawn the ire of the National Organization for Women. In an open letter to university President Teresa Sullivan in January, NOW said demands made by Eramo's lawyers for detailed information from Jackie amounted to "re-victimization."
"It is exactly this kind of victim blaming and shaming that fosters rape culture, re-victimizes those brave enough to have come forward, and silences countless other victims," the letter said.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2eGsQFu ||||| Steve Helber / AP ID: 9801032
Attorneys defending Rolling Stone in a libel case will be allowed to use a controversial interview between a student journalist and Nicole Eramo, the University of Virginia administrator who is suing the magazine over a retracted article about campus rape.
The trial in Eramo’s $7.8 million defamation suit against Rolling Stone and reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely begins Monday in Charlottesville and refocuses attention on the story of an alleged gang rape of a woman identified in the article as Jackie. The story rocked the campus, but the circumstances of the assault as described in Erdely’s November 2014 story “A Rape on Campus” were discredited by other media outlets and by local police. Rolling Stone retracted the 9,000-word article in April 2015.
US District Judge Glen E. Conrad issued several rulings Thursday about what evidence he’s permitting in the trial. In a boon to Eramo, Conrad will allow a report by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism highlighting the story’s failures, and a letter signed by dozens of students defending Eramo after Rolling Stone’s article was published. He will also permit witnesses to refer to the results of the Charlottesville police investigation.
In a decision sought by Rolling Stone, Conrad will let witnesses bring up the findings of a federal investigation that found the university violated Title IX when dealing with sexual assault cases, and he’ll allow testimony about Eramo’s interview with student news station WUVA.
The WUVA interview attracted widespread attention before the article unraveled. In it, Eramo, then an associate dean of students, defended a school practice of not expelling students who admitted to committing sexual assault. While many news outlets wrote about it after the Rolling Stone article, portions of the interview came out more than a month before “A Rape on Campus” was published. The magazine will use the interview to try to show that Erdely had reason to believe Jackie’s claims that Eramo was callous toward her when she reported that she had been raped.
Rolling Stone’s reporting drew condemnation throughout the journalism world after reports showed that Erdely had failed to contact Jackie’s alleged assailants, her friends, or “Drew,” the supposed ringleader of the attack, who didn’t actually exist. In fact, details of Jackie’s gang rape story are similar to the plotline of a 2013 episode of Law & Order: SVU — which the judge ruled will not be allowed in the trial.
Despite the evidence showing Rolling Stone’s failures of journalism’s best practices, the judge has ruled that Eramo is a “limited-purpose public figure,” which means she must convince the jury that Erdely acted with “actual malice” and intentionally ignored doubts about her sourcing.
“If she is a limited public figure, then you look for evidence of whether this was a convincing-enough source, or were there red flags that required more inquiry,” John Diamond, a University of California, Hastings, law professor, told BuzzFeed News.
Eramo’s lawyers will try to show that Erdely “went so far down the road with this story, she was never going to let the facts get in the way of a good story,” Stuart Karle, former general counsel to the Wall Street Journal, told BuzzFeed News. “They’ll try to say to the jury, this woman — the dean — never had a chance of being covered fairly.”
But Rolling Stone will use the WUVA interview as evidence that its staff had reason to believe Jackie’s accusations that Eramo may have been indifferent to sexual assault reports.
“I feel like this litigation is somewhat of a challenge of the full [WUVA interview], frankly,” Eramo said in a deposition cited in court documents. She told Rolling Stone’s lawyers that she agreed to do the interview with Catherine Valentine, then a UVA student, because she thought it was a class project. She did not request a correction or retraction of the interview, Eramo said, but she considered pursuing disciplinary action against the students involved because they did not warn her that it would be published.
The Full WUVA Interview With Nicole Eramo youtube.com ID: 9801047
“I strongly considered filing honor charges against one of the students, against Catherine in particular, but I felt like maybe I was being petty, and I didn’t really think it was that — a serious enough offense to be expelled from the university, so I didn’t feel like I should do that,” Eramo said in a May deposition.
The interview was later cited in the 2015 findings of a Department of Education investigation of how UVA handles sexual assault cases. Eramo’s statements in the interview, federal officials said, caused students to believe the school would not impose serious sanctions on offenders, and so fewer victims would report assaults.
Lawyers for Eramo said in court filings they did not want the WUVA interview cited because it had nothing to do with Jackie, and they did not want to let Rolling Stone turn the trial “into a referendum on UVA’s sexual assault policies.”
Reached this week by BuzzFeed News, Libby Locke, Eramo’s attorney, said her team aren’t worried about the WUVA interview or the Department of Education findings because evidence will show her client encouraged Jackie to pursue criminal charges against the alleged assailants.
“Rolling Stone knew these facts, but they didn’t allow these inconvenient truths to get in the way of the narrative that they sought to tell about Ms. Eramo’s supposed indifference to Jackie’s claims,” Locke told BuzzFeed News in an email.
Eramo’s suit against Rolling Stone argues that the magazine piece damaged her reputation and harmed her health. The judge ruled that her lawyers will be allowed to question a medical expert about whether stress from the story affected Eramo’s recovery from a surgery.
Eramo no longer handles sexual assault cases at UVA and now works in the vice president for student affairs’ office, dealing with administrative planning for various campus initiatives.
The trial in federal court is expected to last at least two weeks. ||||| Photo: Jay Paul/Getty Images
Two months after Rolling Stone published a female student’s account of being gang-raped at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house, the story began to unravel. Sabrina Erdely, who wrote the story, eventually admitted she had not interviewed the men whom her primary source, “Jackie,” accused of gang rape, and the magazine officially retracted the story in April 2015. A month later, University of Virginia associate dean of students Nicole Eramo filed a defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone.
Eramo’s suit claims Erdely deliberately depicted her as an unsympathetic administrator more concerned with protecting the school’s reputation than with encouraging “Jackie” to report the incident. The trial, which begins on Monday, will focus heavily on whether Erdely and Rolling Stone acted with actual malice when reporting the story. In other words, to win the case, Eramo’s lawyers will have to prove that Erdely knew what she was writing about Eramo was false or inaccurate but chose to print it anyway.
According to a statement made to ABC, Eramo’s legal team will present “overwhelming evidence showing that Sabrina Erdely and Rolling Stone knew that what they published about Ms. Eramo was false and defamatory.” But lawyers for Rolling Stone argued the magazine’s depiction of Eramo was nuanced and accurate.
“Dean Eramo’s lawyers are attempting to shift the focus of her lawsuit in the media to Rolling Stone’s reporting errors surrounding Jackie,” Kathryn Brenner, a spokeswoman for the magazine, said in an email. “The depiction of Dean Eramo in the article was balanced and described the challenges of her role. We now look forward to the jury’s decision in this case.”
The trial will begin on Monday and is set to include testimony from “Jackie,” which, ABC reports, could be presented in video form.
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– A defamation case against Rolling Stone magazine over a botched article on campus rape at the University of Virginia gets underway Monday. Some related developments: "Jackie," the student who claimed to have been gang-raped at a frat party, is expected to testify as a live witness during the two-week trial, reports the Charlottesville Daily Progress. (The magazine retracted the article after Jackie's claims began unraveling and police found no evidence it happened.) Former UVa dean of students Nicole Eramo is suing for $8 million because she says writer Sabrina Erdely portrayed her as uncaring toward students and willing to sweep allegations under the rug. "To win the case, Eramo’s lawyers will have to prove that Erdely knew what she was writing about Eramo was false or inaccurate but chose to print it anyway," notes New York magazine. The judge will allow witnesses to discuss a federal report that previously faulted UVa for its investigation of sex assault cases, as well as interviews given by Eramo defending the school's policy. See BuzzFeed. The National Organization for Women hates that Jackie must testify. "It is exactly this kind of victim blaming and shaming that fosters rape culture, re-victimizes those brave enough to have come forward, and silences countless other victims," it says in a letter, per USA Today. This isn't the only lawsuit Rolling Stone faces over the story; a second, from the accused frat, seeks $25 million. But legal experts don't think the magazine is headed toward a Gawker-like fate even if it loses them. See the New York Times. For reporter Erdely, this has been her "worst nightmare."
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Buy Photo The Cargill salt mine sits on the east shore of Cayuga Lake in Lansing. Seventeen salt mine workers were trapped after an elevator malfunctioned a few minutes before 10 p.m. Wednesday. By 8:30 a.m., all workers had been rescued. (Photo: KELLY GAMPEL / Staff Photo)Buy Photo
They huddled together to keep warm. They chatted with each other to keep their spirits up. And after being stranded overnight some 900 feet down a mine shaft, 17 Cargill mine workers were pulled to safety Thursday morning in Lansing.
Addressing reporters during a news conference following the rescue, Cargill Mine Manager Shawn Wilczynski spoke with relief: "Everybody's out."
"This is really a proud day for a lot of us," he said. "We came to the rescue of ourselves."
Cargill salt mine workers, some of whom who spent up to 10 hours stuck in a elevator 900 feet below the surface, are rescued using a basket and crane Thursday morning in Lansing New York. Pool Video
The 17 miners, all men ranging in age from their 20s to 60, were just descending down the shaft to a salt mine below Cayuga Lake at the start of a 10 p.m. shift Wednesday. The men were working as part of a third-shift underground production crew.
WHAT HAPPENED? What caused the Cargill elevator to stop?
HELP: Families waited for Cargill miners' safe return
NY RESPONSE: Gov. Cuomo issues statement on Cargill mine rescue
e-NEWSPAPER: See coverage in The Ithaca Journal
Cargill spokesman Mark Klein said Thursday afternoon that a steel guide beam that keeps the elevator centered is the most likely cause of the mechanical failure. The beam might have come out of line, he said, and that could have caused the elevator to stop in the shaft.
An outgoing shift had used the same two-level elevator about five minutes before the 17 men descended down the shaft, Wilczynski said, and there had been no indications of a possible problem.
Cargill Mine Manager Shawn Wilczynski talks at an early morning press conference at the Lansing Fire Department after 17 mine staff were stuck in an elevator at 900 feet below the ground. SIMON WHEELER / Staff Video
Cargill intends to perform a full safety check of the elevator once it can be removed from the shaft, according to Wilczynski, who described that process as a "slow and purposeful approach," without a timetable as of Thursday.
He said Cargill will work with the federal Mine Health and Safety Administration, or MSHA, regarding safety plans in light of the accident, in addition to performing an inspection of the malfunctioned elevator. If necessary, he said, the elevator could be replaced.
“We will not go back to work until all our infrastructure is back in 100 percent safe operating conditions. We will take whatever time is necessary.” Shawn Wilczynski, Cargill Mine Manager
"We will not go back to work until all our infrastructure is back in 100 percent safe operating conditions," Wilczynski said. "We will take whatever time is necessary."
Cargill also has a stockpile of salt in its inventory, he added, so there is no concern about the company's inability to serve customers with work temporarily suspended.
The rescue
The crane rescue effort at Cargill Salt Mine in Lansing recovered the first group of workers at about 7 a.m. The last workers were pulled up at about 8:10 a.m.
A crane from Auburn Crane & Rigging was used to lower a rescue basket and bring the men up four at a time.
Throughout the endeavor, company officials and emergency responders kept in radio contact with the miners, said Joe Mareane, Tompkins County administrator.
Buy Photo The fourth group of workers emerge from an elevator Thursday after they were stuck overnight in a shaft at Cargill salt mine in Lansing. (Photo: Simon Wheeler / Staff photo)
Emergency management officials said the miners did whatever they could to keep in good spirits during the rescue efforts. Wilczynski said officials got them blankets, heat packs and other supplies, but the miners managed to keep themselves in fair condition while waiting for their rescue.
"All 17 miners carry with them at all times their personal equipment, and that includes their own cap-lamp for illumination," Wilczynski said. "They also had their full complement of food they'd bring down for their dinners; there's one individual ... he brings a lunch bucket full of food every time."
Apart from being cold due to their prolonged exposure to low temperatures, the miners were all in good physical health at the time of their rescue, officials said.
The mine shaft descends 2,300 feet to the deepest salt mine in North America.
The mine produces road de-icing salt from deposits deep beneath Cayuga Lake. According to the company's website, it has been in operation since 1921 as the Rock Salt Corp. Cargill has operated it since 1970.
911 call
An emergency call was placed to the Tompkins County 911 Center at 11:40 p.m. Wednesday, according to a Tompkins County news release. Firefighters from Lansing, Ithaca, Cayuga Heights, along with Tompkins County Sheriff's deputies and the Tompkins County Department of Emergency Management answered the call.
"Our first job was to make sure the elevator was secure and the miners were safe," said Assistant Lansing Fire Chief Dennis Griffin. "We might've changed our game plans five or six times."
Firefighters were prepared to rappel down the shaft and pull out the stranded miners one at at time, he said, but the crane rescue became the best available option.
The elevator has two levels for passengers and, according to Wilczynski, there were passengers on both levels of the device.
Safety issues
Cargill has reported 21 problems with hoists at the Cayuga Lake salt mine since the start of 2013, according to data compiled and made available online by the MSHA. Most of them involved electrical problems that interrupted power to the hoist.
“Hoist” is the term used for elevators and other vertical conveyances at mines. Any time a hoist is out of service for 30 minutes or more, it must be reported as an accident, according to Ellen Smith, owner and managing editor of Mine Safety and Health News, an independent news publication based in Pittsford, Monroe County.
Buy Photo Miners from the second-last group to be removed from a stuck elevator at the Cargill salt mine in Lansing are given blankets after spending the night trapped in an elevator 900 feet below the surface. (Photo: SIMON WHEELER / Staff Photo)
The other active salt mine in New York, American Rock Salt’s facility in Livingston County, has reported only four hoist-related accidents in that time period, the MSHA data show.
The most recent incident at Cargill occurred just five days ago, when a hoist known as No. 3 lost power when an electrical breaker tripped and would not reset. It took 45 minutes to repair. No one was working underground in the mine at the time.
Elevators have failed numerous times while miners were at work, however. Workers were forced to evacuate the mine five times in 2014 and five times in 2013 after one of the elevators failed.
By law, underground miners must have two separate means of egress, Smith said. If one is out of service, the mine must be evacuated.
Cargill officials confirmed Thursday afternoon that hoist No. 3 was involved in the incident.
The MSHA data noted past problems with hoists 1, 2 and 3, although No. 3 had by far the most reported problems.
No injuries have been associated with the incidents, according to accident summaries on the MSHA data website. There is no mention of workers being stranded on a stalled elevator in the past three years.
In March 2010, a contract truck driver was killed at the Lansing mine when a 150-ton salt bin collapsed.
According to the MSHA, the piece of a 150-ton salt bin that corroded and caused the collapse that killed contract truck driver Rolland F. Clark on March 24 was not visible from the ground, and MSHA inspectors are not "trained or expected" to carefully examine such structures.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a statement Thursday praising the rescue and calling for an investigation into the incident.
Steve Orr, of the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, contributed to this story.
Read or Share this story: http://ithacajr.nl/1RbFI2X ||||| LANSING, N.Y. (AP) — Seventeen miners are stuck in an elevator 900 feet underground at a central New York salt mine and emergency crews are working on a rescue.
This photo provided by the Ithaca Fire Department shows a crane that will assist the rescue of seventeen miners stuck in an elevator underground at the Cargill Salt Mine in Lansing, N.Y., on Thursday,... (Associated Press)
Cargill Inc. spokesman Mark Klein says the miners got stuck around 10 p.m. Wednesday while descending to the floor of the company's 2,300-foot-deep mine in Lansing, about 40 miles outside Syracuse.
Klein says emergency rescue crews and equipment are on the scene and the miners aren't in danger. He says emergency officials are able to communicate with the miners via radio.
A crane has been brought to the scene and will be used to hoist the miners to the surface in a basket. Klein says he doesn't know how long the rescue operation will take.
The mine operated by Minneapolis-based Cargill produces road salt that's shipped throughout the northeast. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Emergency crews raced Thursday morning to free the remaining miners trapped in an elevator more than 70 stories below ground in upstate New York, officials said.
By 8:40 a.m. ET, the 17 men were hoisted to safety following the "major rescue" over nearly 11 hours at the Cargill Salt Mines in Lansing.
The workers had been trapped in an elevator about 800 to 900 feet down an access shaft, the company said. Ultimately, the mine shaft itself plunges about 2,300 feet — the deepest salt mine in North America.
Shawn Wilczynski, Cargill's mine manager, said at a news conference that the miners had just started their shift late Wednesday when a steel beam linked to the two-level elevator appeared to break, halting operations.
A crane was brought in to assist with extricating the workers, according to the Tompkins County Department of Emergency Response. It said the trapped workers were given radios and supplies.
Wilczynski said the men, ranging in ages from their 20s to their 60s, stayed positive. "As is typical with them, (they were) joking, sharing stories, having a good time with each other," he added.
Mark Klein, a spokesman forCargill, said earlier that no one was injured when the incident occurred around 10 p.m. ET. ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video
LANSING, N.Y. — All 17 miners who were stuck hundreds of feet below the surface in an elevator at the deepest salt mine in the Western Hemisphere have been rescued.
Cargill Inc. spokesman Mark Klein says the last two miners were raised to the surface by a crane around 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the mine in the central New York town of Lansing.
Their rescue ended an ordeal that lasted about 10 hours. Klein says the miners were never in danger.
Klein says the miners got stuck 900 feet underground around 10 p.m. Wednesday while descending to the floor of the 2,300-foot-deep mine to start their shift.
Tompkins County Emergency Management officials said the miners have been trapped since Wednesday night.
Authorities told local media they're able to communicate with the miners and have delivered them blankets, heat packs, and other supplies.
According to Cargill's website, the mine just north of Ithaca has been in operation since 1922 and annually processes about 2 million tons of road salt that is shipped throughout the northeast United States.
Messages left at Cargill's corporate headquarters were not immediately returned early Thursday.
Lansing is more than 200 miles away from New York City.
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– All 17 miners trapped overnight in an elevator more than 70 stories below ground have been rescued in upstate New York. Miners at the Cargill salt mine in Lansing were starting their shift around 10pm Wednesday when an elevator became jammed 775 feet down an access shaft, officials say. Cargill rep Mark Klein says no one was injured in the incident and rescue workers were in "constant contact" with the miners, per NBC News and the AP. Emergency crews, including the Ithaca Fire Department, worked through the night to deliver radios, heat packs, blankets, and water to the miners, per PIX11. A crane arrived from Auburn, NY, early Thursday and helped lift miners out of the shaft, reports the Ithaca Journal. The first four miners were lifted to the surface around 7am ET, according to a post on Ithaca Fire's Facebook page. Officials say they're investigating what caused the elevator to jam.
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“I deserved the criticism,” the wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says as she apologizes for the Instagram post seen ’round the world.
I first met Louise Linton in early August, two weeks before her name would dominate headlines ÔÇö before she was likened to Cruella de Vil. The Scottish-born actress had wed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin six weeks prior and now Washington Life was asking her to participate in a story about her new home and life as a Cabinet wife. She wanted to meet in person before committing to the interview, so she invited me for tea.
Linton wore no makeup for the occasion and was dressed in exercise pants and a SoulCycle sweatshirt. We sat at her kitchen table, where she poured me a blend of Earl Grey and green tea topped with vanilla soy milk, a favorite combination. She was bubbly and open, her Scottish lilt becoming increasingly evident as we discussed her wedding, time in Washington and her three rescue Chihuahuas, who lay in their beds nearby.
We decided to meet again for a formal interview and photo shoot two weeks later, after she returned from a delayed honeymoon in Europe. I asked that she pose in evening gowns as the story would run in our September Balls & Galas issue and she agreed to do so.
In a follow-up email, Linton informed me she wouldnÔÇÖt be available on Monday, Aug. 21. ÔÇťI am going to visit Kentucky with Steven and IÔÇÖm very excited about it,ÔÇŁ she wrote. We rescheduled our interview for Tuesday, yet that was the day the headlines came: ÔÇťMnuchin Wife Goes Full Marie Antoinette in Instagram MeltdownÔÇŁ screamed a Vanity Fair web piece. ÔÇťLouise Linton has proved herself to be an exceptionally obnoxious human being,ÔÇŁ wrote Robin Givhan of the Washington Post.
During her trip to Kentucky, Linton had posted an Instagram photo of herself disembarking a government plane with her husband in which she tagged the designers she was wearing. The post garnered criticism from another user, Jenni Miller, an Oregon mother of three, who insinuated in a comment that taxpayer dollars had paid for LintonÔÇÖs ÔÇťlittle side tripÔÇŁ and signed the message with the hashtag #deplorable. Linton, who as a child spent weekends at her familyÔÇÖs castle in Scotland and is married to a multi-millionaire former hedge fund manager, fired back, calling Miller ÔÇťadorably out of touchÔÇŁ and writing ÔÇťPretty sure the amount we sacrifice per year is a lot more than youÔÇÖd be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours.ÔÇŁ Cable news programs and the Internet soon pounced and by the end of the following day, when we were to meet for our interview, it seemed she had been universally vilified for what many perceived as flaunting her wealth and shaming the poor.
Still, Linton held to our date, and once again served tea, but was distracted, excusing herself several times to take phone calls from her publicist, husband and friends calling to check in. She did not answer questions about the episode and the next morning canceled our photo shoot and asked that we not run a story as planned, concerned about posing in ball gowns the same week her picture was plastered next to headlines reading, ÔÇťLet Them Eat Cake.ÔÇŁ
I offered her the opportunity to tell her side of the story on the record, and after changing her mind twice, Linton acquiesced. Five days after her infamous Instagram post, which resulted in innumerable social media messages calling her, among other things, a ÔÇťscumbagÔÇŁ and ÔÇťa disgusting human being,ÔÇŁ she sat down for an emotional interview in which she blamed herself without question and expressed remorse for writing words she says do not reflect who she truly is. >>
WASHINGTON LIFE: Have you even left the house this week or have you just sort of hunkered down?
LOUISE LINTON: IÔÇÖve popped out a couple of times but IÔÇÖve spent this week really reflecting and absorbing and thinking about all of it. Something like this requires extreme thought and introspection and I had to absorb the criticism and figure out how I can influence the world in a positive way instead of how I did by making that post.
WL: What has it been like to have stolen headlines and received such backlash for your Instagram post?
LL: It was scary and surreal but it forced me to take a deep look at what I had done. I donÔÇÖt feel like a victim. I feel like the world gave me a good, hard wake-up call and IÔÇÖm OK with that.
WL: I know youÔÇÖve been thinking about this a lot over the course of the week and that you would like to address the situation and your critics directly. HereÔÇÖs your chance.
LL: I want to say I concede completely to the comments of my critics. My post itself and the following response were indefensible. Period. I donÔÇÖt have any excuses, nor do I feel any self-pity for the backlash I experienced. I sincerely take ownership of my mistake. ItÔÇÖs clear that I was the one who was truly out of touch and my response was reactionary and condescending. I wish I hadnÔÇÖt spoken in such a patronizing tone. It was an out of character, knee-jerk reaction, and I felt so awful about it that I removed it.
WL: What about the comments mentioning sacrifice?
LL: I had no place to talk about sacrifice when there are millions of men and women making real sacrifices for this country every day. My husband is very fortunate to be part of the government. It is a great honor and privilege and in no way is his work, or my part in this, any kind of sacrifice.
WL: How have you and Steven dealt with this together?
LL: We love each other through thick and thin, through good times and through bad and thatÔÇÖs all I can really say about that. WeÔÇÖve been through good things, weÔÇÖve been through bad things and we love each other like any other couple and that means sticking together through all life events. ThatÔÇÖs really it.
WL: So, why did you respond the way you did to the comment from Jenni Miller?
LL: IÔÇÖve had torrents of social media criticism before and never really responded. I donÔÇÖt know why I did this time, but I really regret it. I wish I could take it back, but all I can do is learn from this and turn my focus to things that actually matter and place my energy behind causes I care about. [She pauses, suddenly overcome with emotion.]
WL: Would you like to take a moment?
LL: No. IÔÇÖm OK. I was just thinking, remember how those old computers would go into safety mode and you couldnÔÇÖt access all your applications? IÔÇÖve been in black and white safety mode like that all week.
WL: Do you understand why this became such big news?
LL: Yes. It was newsworthy because I was on a government trip and my husband is a government employee. As his wife, I am now a more public person and I am, and should be, held to a higher standard of ethics and care. Instead of emphasizing the things I truly care about, like family, animal rescue and my work, as I had in the past, I was trying to portray a certain public image. It was a moment of weakness and misdirection that doesnÔÇÖt reflect who I really am. IÔÇÖm not used to this level of scrutiny. This is a fairly new world, but thatÔÇÖs not an excuse. I one hundred percent embrace the comments of my critics and I concede wholeheartedly that the post was boastful and materialistic and my response was extremely thoughtless. I should have known better than to be so insensitive.
WL: Were you trying to be boastful and materialistic?
LL: I was just trying to portray what I thought was a public image that isnÔÇÖt me. This is me. [Pointing to herself in a sweatshirt and leggings] This is me every day. IÔÇÖm this girl. IÔÇÖm a no makeup girl. I was trying to create this public image that was elegant and stylish, but that was just so clueless because I should have focused on who I really am instead.
WL: Did you feel the criticism was overblown?
LL: No. I feel like I deserved the criticism and my response is ÔÇśthanks for waking me up quickly and for turning me back in the right direction.ÔÇÖ My response is, ÔÇśIÔÇÖm sorry.ÔÇÖÔÇś
WL: If you could talk to the woman you interacted with on Instagram face to face what would you say?
LL: I would say IÔÇÖm very sorry, sincerely. I would ask her about the causes that are important to her and perhaps find something that we could work on together in the spirit of unity and love.
WL: You just said this is who you really are. Who are you?
LL: IÔÇÖm a person who tries to be compassionate, caring and warm to every single person I meet. IÔÇÖm gentle-natured and I respect people tremendously, which is why that reply was so out of character. On a daily basis, IÔÇÖm a girl thatÔÇÖs at her desk, barefoot in gym clothes working on films and animal welfare. I love my family. IÔÇÖm a fiercely loyal friend. IÔÇÖm a homebody at heart and I love to be around my dogs.
WL: So, the social media Louise is not the real Louise?
LL: The social media Louise of that week was not me. I should have stuck to posting pictures of rescue dogs and daily life. I donÔÇÖt know why I felt pressure to portray an image that was all about the clothes. It was short lived, and I got my slap on the wrist pretty quick. I received the message loud and clear. I understand the criticism and I am keen to move forward with my life and to proactively help others. Really. And I hope that my actions over the next few weeks, next few months, next few years and over the rest of my life show that. I feel I can show through my actions who I really am.
WL: How do you get past this and look ahead?
LL: Mistakes happen and we must choose what to do with them. We can ignore them or we can learn and evolve into someone better and wiser. This experience has been a life-changing event and has given me renewed focus on things that actually matter. Since this happened IÔÇÖve been researching social issues in my community and reading the heartbreaking stories of peopleÔÇÖs experiences with homelessness and abuse. This has truly opened my eyes and humbled me. And IÔÇÖm turning my focus back to the charities IÔÇÖm passionate about such as Mutt Match animal rescue group that IÔÇÖve been working with for nearly a decade, and IÔÇÖd like to support the Humane Society as well as local rescues here in D.C. IÔÇÖve applied to volunteer at a homeless mission here … as well as at a womenÔÇÖs organization that offers housing, health and employment programs to empower homeless women to change their lives.
WL: It took some persuading after all of this to convince you to pose in beautiful dresses for the photos. Are you concerned that people are going to criticize you for wearing a gown on a magazine cover just after you were likened to Marie Antoinette?
LL: Yes. And I know that they will … I see the irony of making an apology in a ball gown! But it would be dishonest to proclaim that IÔÇÖm never going to go to another social function. ThatÔÇÖs also part of my life. Charity fundraising galas have always been a wonderful way to support a myriad of causes. Whether IÔÇÖm in a ball gown or a pair of jeans, itÔÇÖs not about me, or what IÔÇÖm wearing, itÔÇÖs about what I can be doing to support and empower others going forward. I hope my actions speak more for me in the future than my hashtags!
Makeup by Nour Kazoun | Hair by Marleny Rodriguez for Veluxe | Styling Assistance by Diana Mercier Sorrentino | Gowns provided by Carine’s Bridal Atelier, Washington, D.C.
This story appears in the September 2017 issue of Washington Life Magazine.  ||||| "I want to say I concede completely to the comments of my critics. My post itself and the following response were indefensible. Period. I don't have any excuses, nor do I feel any self-pity," she said. "I sincerely take ownership of my mistake. It's clear that I was the one who was truly out of touch and my response was reactionary and condescending. I wish I hadn't spoken in such a patronizing tone."
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– The wife of Treasury chief Steven Mnuchin has doubled down on her apology over a social media snub that saw her likened to Marie Antoinette. "I want to say I concede completely to the comments of my critics," Louise Linton tells Washington Life magazine. "It’s clear that I was the one who was truly out of touch and my response was reactionary and condescending," says the 36-year-old Scottish actress, adding, "I wish I hadn’t spoken in such a patronizing tone." Linton spoke to the magazine a week after the incident in which she called Oregon's Jenni Miller "adorably out of touch" after Miller criticized an Instagram post by Linton about her designer clothes and accessories. In the ensuing backlash, Linton offered an apology through her publicist, and she amplified that in the interview. "I feel like I deserved the criticism, and my response is, 'Thanks for waking me up quickly and for turning me back in the right direction." Linton also offered to work with Miller on some type of charity "in the spirit of unity and love." Miller sounded receptive to the idea Monday evening, per the Daily News, saying she would be "very happy" to work with Linton on a mutual cause. Linton's new comments came during a photo shoot for the magazine that had been scheduled before the controversy. "I see the irony of making an apology in a ball gown," she says. "But it would be dishonest to proclaim that I'm never going to go to another social function."
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As police continue searching for a missing Raymore, Missouri, woman, they have arrested a man with ties to her case and that of another unsolved disappearance that dates back to 2007.
Jessica Runions was last seen at a party Thursday night in Grandview. Her burned car was found in an area near 95th Street and Blue River Road in south Kansas City over the weekend.
"She's super-sweet, has such a kind heart," said friend Elizabeth Humphrey. "She works at a retirement home and so she was server there and got moved up to cook. It's crazy to think that it could happen to her."
The last man Runions was known to be with, Kylr Yust, 28, was arrested without incident Sunday in Benton County. He’s charged with burning Runions’ car.
Yust is also the former boyfriend of missing Belton teenager Kara Kopetsky, who vanished in 2007 while trying to sever ties with him.
Rhonda Beckford, Kopetsky’s mother, said a week before her daughter disappeared, she had a terrifying incident with Yust.
“She actually had to jump out of his moving vehicle,” Beckford said. “Her phone saved her that time because people were starting to call her and she was able to answer the phone, and then people knew that he had her, so he turned around and headed back to Belton. She jumped out of his car and she made the choice to call the police that night.”
A few days later, Kopetsky was seeing leaving Belton High School after talking on the phone with Yust. She has not been seen since.
Yust has since spent time in prison for drug sales and was just released in February.
Beckford said she's confident Yust is the key to both cases.
"More than suspicions," she said. "I mean, we knew when she went missing that he was responsible."
She said she felt that Yust would probably do something else upon his release.
"Kylr isn't going to change," she said.
Beckford said she’s focused on the Jessica Runions case and hopes that police will be able to find answers for her family soon. She said she knows someone out there can provide those answers.
"Please call in and tell what you know," she said. "You may not think it's important, but it could be the missing piece of the puzzle in finding her."
Anyone with information in the case is asked to call the Crime Stoppers TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.
||||| RAYMORE, Mo. - Kylr Yust, the man arrested in connection to the disappearance of Jessica Runions, was transferred to the Jackson County Jail from Benton County.
Kylr Yust now in custody of KCPD.
Headed back to KCMO.@41ActionNews pic.twitter.com/LOkle8XVgC — Richard Sharp (@RichardKSHB) September 14, 2016
KSHB reporter Richard Sharp was able to question Yust as he was escorted out of the Benton County Jail but he declined to comment on Runion's disappearance.
Previous story: Kylr Yust, man questioned in Jessica Runions' disappearance, has violent past
Yust arrested in Benton County
Benton County Sheriff deputies arrested Yust Sunday morning in southeast Benton County. He was held on a $50,000 cash only bond.
According to police, Yust was taken into custody on an arrest warrant on charges for knowingly burning in relation to Jessica Runions's vehicle. Missouri Search and Rescue has searched two large areas twice with negative results.
Days before police arrested Yust, a Kansas City, Kansas tattoo parlor considered hiring him for a piercing apprenticeship. However, red flags caused some of the owners to rethink the decision.
“I didn’t resonate with this guy. I did not like his presence, I felt uncomfortable,” said Jeff Ollerich, a co-owner of Tried and True Tattoo.
Ollerich told 41 Action News he and other owners sat down and decided not to hire Yust. The next day, he was arrested in Benton County in connection to burning Runions’ car.
“I didn’t want to believe this was going on. I thought I was dreaming or something,” said Cordis Woods, another co-owner of Tried and True Tattoo.
Police search for missing Jessica Runions
Police are looking for 21-year-old Jessica Runions.
She is a white female and was last seen on September 8 at 9:30 p.m. driving a 2012 black Chevy Equinox with license plate number MN2-C8B.
Just before 2 a.m. on Saturday, Runions's vehicle was located in the area of 95th Street and Blue River Road.
Her vehicle was found unoccupied and burned. The vehicle was towed to a KCPD vehicle processing facility where it is being processed.
Her aunt Michele Runions is simply distraught.
"She's loving, caring, she helped raise her sisters. She's strong, independent," her aunt said.
Runions's family told 41 Action News that Jessica Runions went to a house party with her boyfriend Thursday night. This was the last time she spoke with her mother.
"She had constant contact it's not like her to not return phone calls maybe a long period of time but she would eventually get back with you," Michele Runions said.
She added at the party was also Jessica Runions's boyfriend's childhood buddy - Kylr Yust.
Yust is the same man who was the boyfriend of Kara Kopetsky. The young woman vanished in 2007; her case remains unsolved.
He's also the same man who was convicted of assaulting another woman, stealing from a tattoo shop and of animal cruelty for stomping a kitten and tossing it into a river.
Runions's aunt said Jessica's boyfriend left early, leaving Yust and the 21-year-old woman behind.
"We just know that they left the party together," Michele Runions said.
Runions’s mother called police Friday around 10:30 p.m.
Just before 2 a.m. police found Jessica’s car burned near an underpass.
"Just locating her vehicle in that condition that just that's just suspicious in nature and we're just concerned for her welfare," Captain Stacey Graves, a spokesperson with KCPD said.
So is her family.
"We just want her to come home safe," Michele Runions said.
Please call KCPD Missing Persons at 816-234-5136, TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477(TIPS) or 911 if you have any information.
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Like 41 Action News on Facebook: ||||| Family members of a young Raymore woman missing since Thursday see an ominous parallel to a girl who disappeared in 2007.
The family has been told by her friends that Kylr Yust — the off-and-on boyfriend of Kara Kopetsky, then 17, before she disappeared nine years ago — was the last person seen last week with 21-year-old Jessica Runions of Raymore.
He was taken into custody Sunday and was being held in Missouri’s Benton County jail.
Multiple Kansas City police sources confirmed that Yust, 27, was a person of interest in the Runions case but wasn’t the only person being sought for questioning. Authorities arrested Yust at 8:30 a.m. Sunday on charges of “knowingly burning” Runion’s 2012 black Chevy Equinox, which police found about 2 a.m. Saturday near 95th Street and Blue River Road.
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“Right now I have positive news that my daughter wasn’t in the car when they found it,” Jamie S. Runions told The Star on Sunday. “And that’s what’s going to keep me going right now. There’s hope.”
Missouri Search and Rescue scoured two large areas twice looking for Runions, without results, according to a Kansas City police news release.
Yust’s grandfather said Sunday night that he doesn’t know what’s going on with his grandson.
“I don’t know what they’re saying. I don’t know what all went on,” said the grandfather, who asked that his name not be used. “He hasn’t been around for a while.”
The Raymore woman was at a gathering of friends Thursday evening with Yust, against whom Kopetsky had filed for an order of protection days before she vanished in May 2007. Since that gathering, no one has reported seeing Runions. She failed to meet her mother at a doctor’s office on Friday for a critical follow-up to an appendectomy.
Jessica’s mother doesn’t know Yust and said she only knew he was a longtime friend of her daughter’s boyfriend. On Sunday, Jamie S. Runions spoke with Kopetsky’s mother, Rhonda Beckford, and leaned on her for support.
“People say they understand what you’re going through, but they don’t really understand. She does,” Runions told The Star. “She knows this numbness I’m feeling, this anger I’m feeling because I can’t do anything.”
Beckford said when she first learned of the missing Raymore woman, and that Jessica Runions had last been seen with Yust, her heart sank.
SHARE COPY LINK Rhonda Beckford of Belton, Mo., mother of Kara Kopetsky, 17, whose has been missing for nine years, expressed her concerns for family members of missing 21-year-old Jessica Runions of Raymore. Runions has been missing since Thursday.
Anxious waiting
The last text Runions received from Jessica was Wednesday evening. Jessica wrote: “Sweet dreams.” And her mom responded by sharing a selfie of herself with Jessica’s little sister.
Jessica then sent back a picture of her with her cat, Tig.
On Thursday around 2 p.m., Jessica responded to a post on Facebook. From there, her mother heard nothing.
Jessica works in the restaurant at the Foxwood Springs senior living community in Raymore. A family member said she’s moved up to baker.
A text message Runions sent Jessica around 8 p.m. Thursday wasn’t read. After that, calls to her phone went straight to voicemail, as if the device was turned off.
“This girl can never be without her phone on,” Runions said. “Her phone will be on silent, but it’s never turned off.”
On Friday, Runions went to the doctor’s office to meet Jessica there. She never showed. But her mother knew how important the appointment was. Jessica needed clearance after her surgery to go back to work. Runions reported her daughter missing Friday night.
Detectives spent Saturday night interviewing everyone they could find who may have seen Runions in the past few days.
Family and friends wait by the phone.
“She’s just the sweetest girl,” said Linda Runions, Jessica’s grandmother. “She never hardly gets mad. She’s a loving sister. She’s loving to everyone.
“We’re all praying every single minute,” Linda Runions said. “Just to hear that she’s OK.”
Jamie Runions doesn’t want to focus her attention on Yust. The police will do that, she said.
She wants to make sure everyone sees Jessica’s face and knows she needs help.
“If she’s trying to get away and runs, I want someone to find her,” she said. “That is my hope. … If she’s seen, I want someone to say, ‘That’s Jessica Runions, I saw her on Facebook.’
“I just want her home.”
Long missing
On April 24, 2007, Kara wrote on her Myspace page: “So life hasn’t been the greatest for me lately, over the last 9 months of my life iv dedicated my life to kylr ... I made no other time for any of my friends nor my family. over those 9 months i forgot the person that I was. im trying to find that person again.”
Police said then that a few days before she disappeared, Yust and Kara had a conflict that resulted in an order of protection requiring Yust to stay away from her.
Kara hasn’t been heard from since.
Yust was never charged in the case, although he did serve time in Jackson County for stealing, according to online court records.
Earlier this month, Yust was ordered by the federal Bureau of Prisons to serve a weekend in confinement for an undisclosed probation violation. He had been sentenced to 45 months in federal prison in 2013 on a drug trafficking charge and was placed on three years’ supervised probation.
A security camera showed Kara leaving Belton High School just before 10:30 a.m on May 4, 2007. That was about the same time as the last call on her cellphone. Law enforcement officers have searched various locations over the years, but the mystery continues.
Kara decided to walk to school on that Friday morning. She did not come home, and she did not show up for work after school. Kara’s mother and her stepfather, Jim Beckford, reported her missing that evening.
More than 50 people turned out in May for an annual walk on Missouri 58 in Belton to remember Kara. The walk takes place on the closest Sunday to May 4 each year.
A website, searchingforkara.com, has more information. Signs along the highway read “Still searching. Nine years is too long” and “Kara is loved. We won’t give up.”
Now, Rhonda Beckford’s focus is on supporting Jessica’s mom. When the two talked she could understand Jamie Runions’ need to concentrate on the positive.
“When you’re going through something like this, you have to hold on to hope,” Beckford said. “If you don’t, you end up in a very dark place. That’s what helps you go on, that sliver of hope you have to hold on to, because you just don’t know.”
She clung to that for years, she said. But admits, after nine years without her daughter, that’s harder to do.
“As time goes by and coming up on 10 years, if there was any way she could come home or contact us, she would have,” Beckford said.
With Yust in custody, she hoped her family will learn more about Kara.
“That is what we pray for every day,” Beckford told The Star. “To get resolution to this, to find Kara’s remains and put her to rest.”
Anyone with information should call the Kansas City Police Department’s missing persons hotline at 816-234-5136, or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (816-474-8477).
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– After 17-year-old Kara Kopetsky disappeared without a trace in 2007, ex-boyfriend Kylr Yust was considered a person of interest but was never charged. Now Yust, said to be 27 or 28, is a suspect in another disappearance—and the circumstances are chilling. Witnesses say Yust was the last person seen with 21-year-old Jessica Runions, who disappeared Thursday evening and whose burnt-out car was discovered early Saturday in Raymore in suburban Kansas City, Mo., the Kansas City Star reports. Yust was arrested early Sunday on charges of "knowingly burning" the vehicle and is being held in the Benton County jail. “Right now I have positive news that my daughter wasn’t in the car when they found it,” says Runions' mother. "There’s hope.” Family members tell KSHB that Runions was at a party Thursday with her boyfriend, who has been Yust's friend since childhood. The boyfriend reportedly left the party early, leaving Yust with Runions. KMBC reports that Yust was released in February from prison, where he was serving time on a drug conviction; his other convictions include assault, theft, and animal cruelty for stomping a kitten and throwing it in a river. Runions' mother says she has received support from Kopetsky's mother. "People say they understand what you're going through, but they don't really understand," she tells the Star. "She does." (Cops are digging for the remains of a Cal Poly student who disappeared 20 years ago.)
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(Reuters) - Puerto Rico announced a historic restructuring of its public debt on Wednesday, touching off what may be the biggest bankruptcy ever in the $3.8 trillion U.S. municipal bond market.
While it was not immediately clear just how much of Puerto Rico’s $70 billion of debt would be included in the bankruptcy filing, the case is sure to dwarf Detroit’s insolvency in 2013.
The move comes a day after several major creditors sued Puerto Rico over defaults its bonds.
Bankruptcy may not immediately change the day-to-day lives of Puerto Rico’s people, 45 percent of whom live in poverty, but it may lead to future cuts in pensions and worker benefits, and possibly a reduction in health and education services.
The island’s economy has been in recession for nearly 10 years, with an unemployment rate of about 11.0 percent, and the population has fallen by about 10 percent in the past decade.
The bankruptcy process will also give Puerto Rico the legal ability to impose drastic discounts on creditor recoveries, but could also spook investors and prolong the island’s lack of access to debt markets.
BANKRUPTCY UNDER PROMESA LAW
The debt restructuring petition was filed by Puerto Rico’s financial oversight board in the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico on Wednesday, and was made under Title III of last year’s U.S. Congressional rescue law known as PROMESA.
The Title III provision allows for a court debt restructuring process akin to U.S. bankruptcy protection. Puerto Rico is barred from a traditional municipal bankruptcy protection under Chapter 9 of the U.S. code.
The filing includes only Puerto Rico’s central government, which owes some $18 billion in debt backed by the island’s constitution.
On paper, it does not include $17 billion of sales tax-backed debt, known as COFINA debt, or debt from other agencies.
But those debts are likely to be pulled into the bankruptcy, or included in separate bankruptcy proceedings in coming days, Elias Sanchez, an adviser to Governor Ricardo Rossello, told Reuters on Wednesday.
Puerto Rico’s massive pension debts will also likely get restructured in the bankruptcy.
“Title III was especially compelled by the commonwealth’s need to restructure $49 billion of pension liabilities,” the oversight board said in Wednesday’s filing.
BIGGER BANKRUPTCY THAN DETROIT
The previous largest U.S. public bankruptcy, Detroit’s in 2013, covered some $18 billion in debt. The city was able to reach an agreed debt restructuring with stakeholders, in part by soliciting huge contributions from philanthropic foundations so it did not need to sell the city’s art collection.
But “unlike Detroit, there isn’t billions of unencumbered artwork to fund a restructuring” in Puerto Rico, said David Tawil, whose fund, Maglan Capital, held Puerto Rico general obligation debt but has since sold it.
The legal proceeding does not mean negotiations toward a compromise must stop, Governor Rossello said in a statement on Wednesday.
“It is my hope that the Government’s Title III proceedings will accelerate the negotiation process,” the governor said in the statement.
Rossello’s fiscal plan for the island, approved by the oversight board in March, forecasts Puerto Rico having only $800 million a year to pay debt, less than a quarter of what it owes. The low figure alienated creditors and negotiations toward an out-of-court restructuring foundered.
Andrew Rosenberg, a lawyer for the general obligation bondholders, criticized the Title III filing, saying in a statement a consensual deal could have been reached.
“Just as a deal was within reach [on Tuesday], we understand that the oversight board intervened to block it,” Rosenberg said in a statement. “For months, the oversight board has made every effort to sabotage consensual negotiations.”
Francisco Cimadevilla, a spokesman for the board, denied the allegation, saying in an interview, “I can understand that might be a narrative on the other side, but it’s just not the case.”
Conversely, Susheel Kirpalani, a lawyer for COFINA bondholders, called bankruptcy “sound public policy,” saying in a statement it “enables Puerto Rico to freeze numerous lawsuits” and “maintain essential services.”
Analysts and experts agreed the case is likely to take time.
“It will be an orderly process that should be better for creditors in the aggregate than a chaotic and uncertain period involving proliferating lawsuits,” said Moody’s Investor Services analyst Ted Hampton.
Puerto Rico's Governor Ricardo Rossello addresses the audience during a meeting of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico at the Convention Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico March 31, 2017. REUTERS/Alvin Baez
Some expect creditors to challenge the filing, arguing the board did not meet requirements under PROMESA to conduct good faith negotiations out of court.
“We would agree there is a case to be made here,” said Keefe Bruyette & Woods analyst Chas Tyson, who follows Puerto Rico. ||||| Puerto Rico Makes Unprecedented Move To Restructure Billions In Debt
Enlarge this image toggle caption Joe Raedle/Getty Images Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Puerto Rico has asked for a form of bankruptcy protection to help it grapple with more than $70 billion in public-sector debt. The unprecedented maneuver, requested by the governor and filed shortly afterward by a federal oversight board, sets in motion what would likely be the largest municipal debt restructuring in U.S. history.
By comparison, Detroit's 2013 bankruptcy, which sought relief from some $18.5 billion in debt and liabilities, made it the largest such filing in the country's history at the time.
"After extensive discussions in good faith and the opening of the financial books of the Government of Puerto Rico to the creditors, there has not been sufficient progress in the negotiations," the U.S. territory's governor, Ricardo Rossello, said in a statement.
The situation now heads to federal court, where the struggle between Puerto Rico and its disgruntled creditors will be decided. The territory also has more than $49 billion in pension liabilities.
But don't call it a "bankruptcy," exactly, since the territory isn't technically eligible for the same Chapter 9 protection as states. Rather, Congress passed a law last year specifically to deal with Puerto Rico's debt problem, which has been simmering for years. Among other things, the law, called PROMESA, set up a federal oversight board to handle the territory's debt negotiations and imposed a stay on financial obligations it owed.
It set up a bankruptcy-like process tailor-made for Puerto Rico. NPR's Camila Domonoske recently broke down the procedure:
"PROMESA doesn't call this 'bankruptcy,' and it's not identical to Chapter 9. But the underlying principles are the same. " 'It mirrors conventional bankruptcy processes that are ordered and arbitrated through a court system,' says Eric LeCompte, the executive director of Jubilee USA Networks, a religious development organization that supports debt relief and debt forgiveness. "The 'Title III' process, as it's called in PROMESA, allows Puerto Rico to address all of its debts at once, in a comprehensive process — which even Chapter 9 doesn't allow, LeCompte says. It's essentially a bankruptcy process custom-built for Puerto Rico's debt crisis."
The island has been grappling with runaway debts for years, though the situation finally reached a crisis in 2015, when the island's governor at the time announced that its debts were unpayable as long as it hoped to provide basic services to residents.
Camila notes that since then, Puerto Rico has been buffeted by "defaults on loan payments, budget cuts and tax hikes" — including significant austerity measures for Puerto Ricans.
And those economic woes have taken their toll. In a court filing Wednesday, the federal oversight board laid out some grim numbers:
Puerto Rico's labor participation rate is only about two-thirds that of the U.S. mainland.
The territory's population has dropped by 10 percent since 2007.
Nearly half of Puerto Rico's residents live below the federal poverty level.
The stay imposed by PROMESA expired overnight Monday, and The New York Times reports that right on cue, "bondholder groups and at least one bond insurer sued" on Tuesday.
As The Wall Street Journal reports, Puerto Rico will now "face off against angry hedge funds, mutual funds and bond insurers in the court-supervised proceeding known as Title III, a legal mechanism created by Congress to restructure debts by force if negotiations broke down."
In its filing, Puerto Rico's federal oversight board expressed optimism about the legal wrangling to come.
In other words, the board remains "hopeful that continued negotiations (including through mediation) will lead to consensual resolutions such that Puerto Rico will once again be able to experience economic and social prosperity after this difficult process is resolved." ||||| The island’s lawyers may view some district courts as more likely to be favorable to them than others. Some creditors fear Puerto Rico will seek to have the case handled in the Southern District of New York.
Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló, issued a statement Wednesday aiming to offer some reassurance, even as he sought the federal court’s protection. “We remain committed to holding good-faith negotiations to reach agreements with our creditors,” he said, adding that he hoped the court proceedings would “accelerate the process.” He appeared to be referring to the extraordinary power Puerto Rico will now have in court to unilaterally impose big losses on creditors.
Some of those creditors are furious.
“The Commonwealth’s proposal is not a credible starting point for negotiations,” Andrew Rosenberg of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison, an adviser to the Ad Hoc Group of Puerto Rico General Obligation Bondholders, said in a statement. He said that moving the proceedings to bankruptcy court would put the situation in “free-fall.”
The creditors got a shock this year when Mr. Rosselló issued a five-year fiscal plan that allowed only about $800 million a year to pay principal and interest on Puerto Rico’s bond debt, far less than the roughly $3.5 billion a year it would cost to make those payments on time. The prospect of losses on that scale prompted some creditors to argue that most of the $800 million was rightfully theirs.
“That things are starting out in such a highly adversarial way strongly suggests this will be a long and contentious journey for Puerto Rico,” said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics who closely tracks activity in the municipal bond market.
Puerto Rico’s case will be the first ever heard under a federal law for insolvent territories, called Promesa, which was enacted last summer; the Obama administration had warned that a “humanitarian crisis” would ensue if Puerto Rico were not given extraordinary powers to abrogate debt. There is no existing body of court precedent for Promesa, but the island’s creditors — who range from hedge fund managers to mom-and-pop investors — are bracing for a titanic battle.
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– Puerto Rico has taken a big step toward a bankruptcy that would be unprecedented in two ways: It would be the first by an American state or territory, and it would be by far the biggest of its kind, dwarfing Detroit's $18 billion restructuring in 2013. Puerto Rico's financial oversight board filed a debt restructuring petition in federal court Wednesday, the day after several creditors sued over bond defaults, reports Reuters. The island territory has been mired in economic crisis for a decade and has seen its population shrink by a tenth over that time as residents move to the mainland US. The New York Times reports that the filing includes $74 billion in debt and $49 billion in pension obligations. NPR describes the process Puerto Rico has entered as a "bankruptcy-like process" tailor-made for the island, with the same underlying principles as Chapter 9 protections. It's not clear how much holders of Puerto Rico government bonds will receive, the Washington Post reports, but a group representing senior bondholders described the filing as a necessary step forward. "The move enables Puerto Rico to freeze numerous lawsuits, maintain essential services for its residents, and rely on a court-driven restructuring process to objectively determine respective creditors' rights," the group said. The petition was filed under the terms of a Puerto Rico rescue bill lawmakers passed last summer.
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DALLAS -- An all-male restaurant inspired by Hooters is now open for business in Dallas.
The restaurant, named Tallywackers, hires attractive men and serves comfort food including steaks, pizzas, pasta, and hot dogs.
The restaurant's grand opening was on Saturday.
Tallywackers says their restaurant is a "bar, restaurant and entertainment destination for everyone. There is eye-candy -- for boys and girls -- great food and a really good time."
Just as the “Hooters” name is a play on a euphemism for women’s breasts, “Tallywackers” is a not-so-subtle nod to men’s genitals. Guests will be able to choose their scantily clad waiter prior to ordering.
Owner Rodney Duke told the hosts of the Kidd Kraddick Morning Show last month that “he has pondered for 10 years why there wasn’t a male equivalent of this type of 'breastaurant' eatery where women are dressed in skimpy and revealing clothing.”
"I expected to see cute men scantily clad. And so far, I'm not disappointed," a customer told KDAF on Saturday.
The waiters are fully clothed while serving food, as required by the City of Dallas Health Department.
"The establishment will be a fun, respectable environment — of course with a little eye candy," Tallywackers spokesman Winston Lackey told the New York Daily News last month.
The restaurant hired 24 young men to serve cocktails and food. More than 125 people applied for the positions, the restaurant said in a statement.
The restaurant said last month they plan to open another location in Houston.
Report a typo ||||| The Texas eatery that promised to put a male spin on the popular Hooters franchise has opened for business.
Clad in short shorts and skin-tight tank tops, hunky waiters welcomed an enthusiastic crowd to Dallas' Tallywackers this weekend, local news station KDAF reported. One delighted customer said he'd hoped to see "cute men, scantily clad," and wasn't disappointed with the experience.
"I think it's about time men had a place to go to -- gay men, at least -- instead of places like Hooters and Twin Peaks," he told the network.
In late April, a spokesperson told The Huffington Post that Tallywackers, the name of which is a not-so-subtle nod to men's genitals, was devised for beefcake-seeking diners.
[Owner Rodney Duke] asked himself the same question we’ve all been asking for years, “Why isn’t there a male version for the opposite demographic?” After thorough planning and scouting for the perfect location we are excited to launch Tallywackers, a Bar, Restaurant, and Live Entertainment venue here in the heart of Dallas, Texas.
The restaurant is situated in Dallas's Oak Lawn neighborhood, which has a large gay population. Still, the spokesperson stressed that Tallywackers is a place for all customers.
"While we are aiming towards the LGBT community as part of our audience, we are also expecting and welcome, a diverse clientele including women," the spokesperson told HuffPost in April.
Sinewy staff members aside, the restaurant offers a diverse menu of salads, steaks, pasta and flatbread pizzas. Meanwhile, plans for a second location, to be situated in Houston, are in the works.
H/T Towleroad ||||| ROSWELL, Ga. — Don Thomas is a longtime regular at a Hooters in Roswell, Georgia.
But it’s not the beer or the chicken wings that kept him and his wife coming back. Instead, it’s the generosity of one of the waitress who offered him the gift of life.
After learning that Thomas lost both his kidneys to cancer, waitress Mariana Villarreal offered him one of hers.
Villarreal doesn’t know Thomas outside of work, but she said felt it was a higher calling since her grandmother recently passed away from kidney failure.
“I wasn’t able to do anything for my grandma. If he can live two more years happy as he’s ever been, that’s completely fine with me,” Villarreal said. “I did my part, now it’s God’s part to keep him alive.”
Now Don will have a new life, thanks to a special bond born at the unlikeliest of places.
Report a typo
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– First, there was Hooters—now there's Tallywackers. Get the idea? An all-male version of the not-named-after-owls restaurant opened in Dallas over the weekend with good-looking guys serving American fare like hot dogs, pizzas, and steaks, KFOR 4 reports. The owner, Rodney Duke, said last month on a morning show that, for a decade, he had wondered why there was no male version of the so-called "breastaurant" eateries that feature scantily-clad female servers. Now there is one, and while his servers do wear clothes, per Dallas health regulations, they're not exactly overdressed. Tallywackers provides "eye-candy—for boys and girls—great food and a really good time," the restaurant says. Boys and girls? Yep, Tallywackers is located in the Oak Lawn neighborhood, which has a good-size gay population, Huffington Post reports. "While we are aiming toward the LGBT community as part of our audience, we are also expecting, and welcome, a diverse clientele including women," a Tallywackers rep said in April. One wonders whether the servers can outperform Mariana Villarreal, a Hooters waitress in Roswell, Ga., who donated a kidney to a longtime customer with cancer, as KFOR 4 reports. "If he can live two more years happy as he’s ever been, that’s completely fine with me," she says. (This restaurant owner had an interesting solution when a customer complained his servers should show more skin.)
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ISTANBUL A member of a Turkish leftist group that accuses Washington of using Turkey as its "slave" carried out a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. embassy, the Ankara governor's office cited DNA tests as showing on Saturday.
Ecevit Sanli, a member of the leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C), blew himself up in a perimeter gatehouse on Friday as he tried to enter the embassy, also killing a Turkish security guard.
The DHKP-C, virulently anti-American and listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and Turkey, claimed responsibility in a statement on the internet in which it said Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was a U.S. "puppet".
"Murderer America! You will not run away from people's rage," the statement on "The People's Cry" website said, next to a picture of Sanli wearing a black beret and military-style clothes and with an explosives belt around his waist.
It warned Erdogan that he too was a target.
Turkey is an important U.S. ally in the Middle East with common interests ranging from energy security to counter-terrorism. Leftist groups including the DHKP-C strongly oppose what they see as imperialist U.S. influence over their nation.
DNA tests confirmed that Sanli was the bomber, the Ankara governor's office said. It said he had fled Turkey a decade ago and was wanted by the authorities.
Born in 1973 in the Black Sea port city of Ordu, Sanli was jailed in 1997 for attacks on a police station and a military staff college in Istanbul, but his sentence was deferred after he fell sick during a hunger strike. He was never re-jailed.
Condemned to life in prison in 2002, he fled the country a year later, officials said. Interior Minister Muammer Guler said he had re-entered Turkey using false documents.
Erdogan, who said hours after the attack that the DHKP-C were responsible, met his interior and foreign ministers as well as the head of the army and state security service in Istanbul on Saturday to discuss the bombing.
Three people were detained in Istanbul and Ankara in connection with the attack, state broadcaster TRT said.
The White House condemned the bombing as an "act of terror", while the U.N. Security Council described it as a heinous act. U.S. officials said on Friday the DHKP-C were the main suspects but did not exclude other possibilities.
Islamist radicals, extreme left-wing groups, ultra-nationalists and Kurdish militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.
SYRIA
The DHKP-C statement called on Washington to remove Patriot missiles, due to go operational on Monday as part of a NATO defense system, from Turkish soil.
The missiles are being deployed alongside systems from Germany and the Netherlands to guard Turkey, a NATO member, against a spillover of the war in neighboring Syria.
"Our action is for the independence of our country, which has become a new slave of America," the statement said.
Turkey has been one of the leading advocates of foreign intervention to end the civil war in Syria and has become one of President Bashar al-Assad's harshest critics, a stance groups such as the DHKP-C view as submission to an imperialist agenda.
"Organizations of the sectarian sort like the DHKP-C have been gaining ground as a result of circumstances surrounding the Syrian civil war," security analyst Nihat Ali Ozcan wrote in a column in Turkey's Daily News.
The Ankara attack was the second on a U.S. mission in four months. On September 11, 2012, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three American personnel were killed in an Islamist militant attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
The DHKP-C was responsible for the assassination of two U.S. military contractors in the early 1990s in protest against the first Gulf War, and it fired rockets at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul in 1992, according to the U.S. State Department.
It has been blamed for previous suicide attacks, including one in 2001 that killed two police officers and a tourist in Istanbul's central Taksim Square. It has carried out a series of deadly attacks on police stations in the last six months.
Friday's attack may have come in retaliation for an operation against the DHKP-C last month in which Turkish police detained 85 people. A court subsequently remanded 38 of them in custody over links to the group.
(Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Mark Heinrich) ||||| Pictured: Suicide bomber who attacked U.S Embassy in Turkey as it's revealed he was jailed for FIVE YEARS on terrorism charges
Ecevit Sanli, 40, has been named as the suicide bomber in Friday's attack on US Embassy in Ankara
Sanli was convicted on terrorism charges in 1997 and released after he was diagnosed with a hunger-strike related brain disorder
Was armed with six kilograms of TNT and a hand grenade
A security guard was killed at the entrance alongside the suicide bomber
Obama administration calls it an 'act of terror' and told Westerners to be vigilant across the country
New Secretary of State John Kerry's first job was to deal with the act of terrorism
Bomber: Turkish officials identified the suicide bomber who attacked the US embassy as convicted terrorist Ecevit Sanli, pictured
The first pictures of the suicide bomber who attacked the U.S. Embassy in Ankara on Friday have emerged as Turkish officials identified him as convicted terrorist Ecevit Sanli.
Armed with six kilograms of TNT - enough to blow up a two-story building - and a hand grenade, Sanli, killed himself and a Turkish security guard in the brazen attack, which has been labelled an act of terror by U.S. officials.
As the U.S. flag flew at half-staff today and security at the embassy was heightened, details about the 40-year-old assailant emerged.
Sanli was not linked to al Qaeda, rather he was a member of the outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C. He had spent five years in prison on terrorism charges after he was arrested in 1997 for alleged involvement in attacks on two official buildings in Istanbul.
But he was released in 2001 after being diagnosed with a brain disorder that he suffered during a prison hunger strike that killed dozens of inmates.
He fled Turkey after he was freed but managed to come back 'illegally' using a fake ID, Turkish officials said. It wasn't clear how long before Friday's attack he returned to his home country.
DHKP-C, which has claimed responsibility for assassinations and bombings since the 1970s but has been relatively quiet in recent years. Compared to al Qaeda, it has not been seen as a strong terrorist threat.
Sanli's motives were still unclear. But some Turkish government officials have linked the attack to the arrest last month of dozens of suspected members of the group in a nationwide sweep.
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Terrorist: Sanli, pictured, spent five years in prison on terrorism charges after he was arrested in 1997 for his alleged involvement in attacks on two official buildings in Istanbul
Speculation has also abounded that the bombing was related to the perceived support of the U.S. for Turkey's harsh criticism of the regime in Syria, whose brutal civil war has forced tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to seek shelter in Turkey. But Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denied that.
Sanli was diagnosed with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome and released on probation in 2001, following the introduction of legislation that allowed hunger strikers with the disorder to get appropriate treatment.
The syndrome is a malnutrition-related brain illness that affects vision, muscle coordination and memory and that can cause hallucinations.
Sanli fled Turkey after his release and was wanted by Turkish authorities. He was convicted in absentia in 2002.
Half-staff: The U.S. flag at the embassy flies at half-staff a day after a suicide bomber attack, in Ankara, Turkey
Heightened security: Turkish security officers stand outside the US Embassy a day after Sanli targeted the building
On Saturday, a street in front of the security checkpoint where the explosion knocked a door off its hinges and littered the road with debris was blocked off. Police vehicles were parked in streets surrounding the building.
The guard who was killed was standing outside the checkpoint. The U.S. ambassador on Saturday attended his funeral in a town just outside of Ankara. A Turkish TV journalist was seriously wounded and two other guards had lighter wounds.
The White House was quick to declared the bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara an 'act of terror' on Friday as Westerners in Turkey were warned to be vigilant.
Sanli detonated his stash of TNT outside the embassy in the Turkish capital at 1.15pm local time, killing a guard and himself.
Turkish officials blamed the attack on domestic leftists but U.S. officials were not immediately clear who was responsible.
Smoke: Two police officers arrive at gate two of the U.S. Embassy just minutes after Sanli detonated an explosive device Fire: Stills from an unverified online video purport to show the aftermath of the Ankara bombing
Injuries: A Turkish journalist, pictured, was seriously injured in the bombing Crews: Paramedics stretcher an injured person into a waiting ambulance after the blast
New Secretary of State, John Kerry, who was sworn in as Hillary Clinton's replacement on Friday, faced a tough introduction to the job as officials in Istanbul warned there could be further outrages.
Didem Tuncay, 38, a television journalist who was reportedly at the embassy to get a U.S. visa, was said to be 'seriously wounded' but not in a life-threatening condition.
T wo other guards sustained lighter wounds in the blast, Turkey's interior minister, Muammer Guler, told reporters. He said they 'were standing in a more protected area.
He also blamed the attack on a domestic left-wing militant group but did not explain why.
The group, DHKP-C, has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States but had been relatively quiet in recent years. The explosion occurred inside the security checkpoint at the side entrance to the U.S. embassy, which was being used by staff.
Aftermath: Medics carry an injured woman on a stretcher to an ambulance after the attack on the U.S. Embassy in the Turkish capital, Ankara
Emergency: Emergency personnel are seen in front of a side entrance of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara Victims: Crews take a victim of the blast to a waiting ambulance. Two were killed in the blast outside the U.S. embassy, local television reported
Scene: People stand outside the entrance of the US embassy in Ankara where the blast killed two security guards Police and ambulances swarmed the area and authorities immediately cordoned it off. TV footage showed the embassy door blown off its hinges. The windows of nearby businesses were also shattered by the power of the blast, and debris littered the ground and across the road. The inside of the embassy did not appear to be damaged. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack demonstrated a need for international cooperation against terrorism and was aimed at disturbing Turkey's 'peace and prosperity.' 'But we will stand firm and we will overcome this together,' he said. In a statement, the U.S. Embassy thanked Turkey for 'its solidarity and outrage over the incident.' The embassy building is heavily protected and located near several other embassies in Ankara, including that of Germany and France. The Hurriyet newspaper said staff at the embassy took shelter in 'safe room' inside the compound soon after the explosion. Damage: Turkish police begin the search for clues at the scene of the blast Leftist group: Sanli belonged to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C Aftermath: Phones were not being answered at the embassy 'We can confirm a terrorist blast at a check point on the perimeter of our embassy compound in Ankara, Turkey, at 1.13pm local time,' State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in Washington. 'We are working closely with the Turkish national police to make a full assessment of the damage and the casualties, and to begin an investigation,' she said on Friday.
Turkish police were examining security cameras around the embassy. Forensics: Police forensic experts work on the site of a blast outside the US Embassy in Ankara Suicide: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed the explosion was a suicide attack Security: Turkish police secure the area after an explosion in front of U.S. Embassy in Ankara U.S. diplomatic facilities in Turkey have been targeted previously by terrorists. In 2008, an attack blamed on al-Qaida-affiliated militants outside the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul left three assailants and three policemen dead. Elsewhere, terrorists attacked a U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11 last year, killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The attackers in Libya were suspected to have ties to Islamist extremists, and one is in custody in Egypt.
Checkpoint: The bomb exploded near the security checkpoint at the entrance of the visa section of the embassy
The blast went off in the Turkish capital Ankara (marked on map) Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned the attack 'in the strongest terms,' and said Turkey and the U.S. will get the U.K.'s full support as they seek to hold those responsible to account. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, speaking to reporters during a visit to Belgrade, Serbia, said he was saddened that the attacked had occurred in Turkey. 'We have always shown great sensitivity to the protection of foreign missions and we will continue to do so,' he said. Homegrown Islamic militants tied to al-Qaeda have also carried out suicide bombings in Istanbul, Turkey's bustling commercial center. In a 2003 attack on the British consulate, a suspected Islamic militant rammed an explosive-laden pickup truck into the main gate, killing 58 people, including the British consul-general. Turkey is also being deeply affected by the brutal civil war in neighboring Syria, and has become a harsh critic of President Bashar Assad's regime there. The war has left at least 60,000 people dead so far, according to the U.N., and Turkey is sheltering tens of thousands of Syrian refugees. The first of six Patriot missile batteries being deployed to Turkey to protect the country against attack from Syria was just declared operational and placed under NATO command. Others are expected to become operational in the coming days.
VIDEO Chaotic scenes after suspected suicide bomber kills two in Turkey
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– DNA tests confirm that Marxist revolutionary Ecevit Sanli perpetrated the bombing attack at a US embassy in Ankara, Turkish officials said today. Sanli killed himself and a guard in the attack. A member of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front, Sanli served five years for his role in attacking two official buildings in 1997 but was released with a brain disorder after taking part in a hunger strike, the Daily Mail reports. He fled the country in 2003 and re-entered Turkey using false documents. An image of Sanli wearing an explosives belt and black beret appeared on the Army-Front's website beside the message, "Murderer America! You will not run away from people's rage." The site took responsibility for the embassy attack and warned that Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is also a target, Reuters reports. The group wants Washington to remove Patriot missiles from Turkey before they become operational on Monday. Turkey accepted the missiles as part of a NATO plan to defend Turkey against spillover from Syria's civil war.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — For years, scientists have been looking for ways to bring the long-extinct woolly mammoth back to life — and although the exercise sounds like a science-fiction movie plot of "Jurassic Park" proportions, there's progress to report.
The result almost certainly won't be a resurrection of the tusked behemoth exactly as it was thousands of years ago. It's more likely to be a genetically modified elephant that's adapted to the mammoth's traditionally chilly Pleistocene habitat.
"If we can make one, the second one will be easier," Harvard geneticist George Church, who's spearheading a project to engineer a cold-resistant elephant, told NBC News. Church discussed the de-extinction effort this week during the ScienceWriters2014 conference in Columbus.
Building a more mammoth-like elephant involves blending ancient mammoth DNA and modern-day elephant cells, but there are at least two approaches to the task: One research team has been trying to recover intact DNA from a 28,000-year-old mammoth carcass recovered from Siberian permafrost.
The remains appear to have been preserved well enough to retain liquid blood, but so far, the blood samples have been too degraded to provide useful genetic material, Russian scientists say. The team still hopes to find suitable samples.
Starting with the elephant
In contrast, Church and his colleagues are starting with the elephant rather than the mammoth: They're editing the elephant genome to insert the codes for traits associated with woolly mammoths, using a gene-splicing method known as CRISPR. Fifteen changes have been made so far, focusing on factors ranging from freeze-resistant hemoglobin to subcutaneous fat to sweat glands, Church said.
The researchers are being guided by the genetic sequence that was extracted in 2008 from woolly mammoth hairballs that were found frozen in Siberia. "We are not limited by it, but we are certainly inspired by it," Church said of the mammoth genome.
To test out those changes, the edited genetic code would be inserted into elephant stem cells, which would then be coaxed to grow into organoids, cellular structures that perform organ functions in the lab. Church said that placental cells and umbilical-cord cells harvested during the recent birth of a baby elephant in Tucson, Arizona, should serve his purpose nicely.
Church said it would take "a couple of years" to put the organoids through their test runs. Once the fully edited genome is ready to go, the mammoth-like traits would be inserted into an elephant egg cell for activation and implantation. Church suspects that an Asian elephant would be better-suited for the project, on the grounds that its genome is a closer match for mammoths.
Why do it?
To some, tweaking the elephant genome to produce creatures that are more like mammoths may sound like an adaptation of mad-scientist tales ranging from "Frankenstein" to "Jurassic Park." But Church and others argue that humans would have at least as much justification for restoring extinct species as they did for rendering them extinct in the first place. "De-extinction" is seen as a way to make up for what our ancestors did to such species as passenger pigeons, dodos and thylacines.
Another objection has to do with the idea of reviving a cold-tolerant species in a warming world. Is it really such a good idea to make elephants more like mammoths if the ancient permafrost is fading? Church maintains that mammoths might be just what the Siberian ecosystem needs. "Returning this keystone species to the tundras could stave off some effects of warming," he argued last year in a Scientific American essay. ||||| Scientists at Harvard University are one step closer to bringing Woolly mammoths back to life, after successfully inserting some sequences of mammoth DNA into an elephant genome. The study is yet to be published, though, as there is still work to do.
No recreation of the Ice Age would be complete without large, shaggy woolly mammoths stomping across the frozen tundra. That is what George Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard University and his team ultimately hope to achieve once more.
Taking a preserved Arctic permafrost specimen of a Woolly mammoth, scientists analyzed mammoth DNA before reproducing exact copies of fourteen mammoth genes.
“We prioritized genes associated with cold resistance including hairiness, ear size, subcutaneous fat and, especially, hemoglobin,” Church told The Sunday Times.
The woolly mammoth was one of the last in the line of the species that emerged in the early Pliocene age some 2.5 million years ago but almost completely died 10,000 years ago. Some mammoths, however, continued to survive on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean, between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea, until around 3,300 years ago. These were the specimens which researchers used for the DNA analysis.
The scientists inserted mammoth genes into the cells of its closest living relative, the Asian elephant.
The introduction of the genes was done through a new developed technique CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat), that allows for precise editing of DNA taking out parts of modern elephant DNA and replacing them the prehistoric genes.
“We now have functioning elephant cells with mammoth DNA in them,” Church announced.
“We have not published it in a scientific journal because there is more work to do, but we plan to do so,” he added.
Beth Shapiro, University of California professor, in her new book, ‘How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction’ explores the possibility of mammoth resurrection, as a number of well-preserved species have been found in the past.
“If we really want to bring mammoths back to life, then we’re in luck, as far as DNA preservation goes. It’s in pretty shoddy condition, so hard to piece together, but if we sort through these tiny pieces, finding where they fit along the elephant genome, then we can slowly build a lot of the mammoth genome.”
Professor Church believes that bringing the ancient mammoth back eventually could have a positive impact on the ecosystems in Russia. “The Siberian permafrost is melting with climate change, but research suggests large mammals could stabilize it,” he said.
|
– For the first time since the woolly mammoth went extinct, its genes are working again, Popular Science reports. Sure, it's only in a lab; woolly mammoths haven't wandered the planet for about 4,000 years. But the effort at Harvard has brought the return of the animal a tiny bit closer, the magazine notes. Researchers were able to splice mammoth genes—specifically, those coding for aspects of their hair, ears, and fat—into the DNA of Asian elephants. The genes came from a mammoth preserved in Arctic permafrost, RT reports. "We now have functioning elephant cells with mammoth DNA in them," geneticist George Church told the Sunday Times, per RT. But it's a baby step, because "just making a DNA change isn’t that meaningful," Church says. The next step is getting the cells to become specific tissues; after that, the goal would be combined mammoth-elephant embryos to be placed in artificial wombs—though developing the wombs themselves is still pie in the sky. Why do all this? One idea is to engineer hybrid elephants that can survive in colder climates, thus helping them avoid the dangers of humans and other threats. Church's work offers hope for the idea of "de-extinction" by genetic splicing, but that's just one method under investigation: As NBC News reported last year, other teams have been working on simply getting usable woolly mammoth DNA from existing remains. We may owe it to the animals to bring them back, as the possible cause of their extinction. (There's also a chance dogs could be responsible.)
|
CLOSE A USA TODAY investigation revealed that a secret program collecting phone call data for international calls started in 1992. USA TODAY
Starting in 1992, the Justice Department amassed logs of virtually all telephone calls from the USA to as many as 116 countries, a model for anti-terror surveillance after Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo: Photo: Mike Christy, AP)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government started keeping secret records of Americans' international telephone calls nearly a decade before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, harvesting billions of calls in a program that provided a blueprint for the far broader National Security Agency surveillance that followed.
For more than two decades, the Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration amassed logs of virtually all telephone calls from the USA to as many as 116 countries linked to drug trafficking, current and former officials involved with the operation said. The targeted countries changed over time but included Canada, Mexico and most of Central and South America.
Federal investigators used the call records to track drug cartels' distribution networks in the USA, allowing agents to detect previously unknown trafficking rings and money handlers. They also used the records to help rule out foreign ties to the bombing in 1995 of a federal building in Oklahoma City and to identify U.S. suspects in a wide range of other investigations.
The Justice Department revealed in January that the DEA had collected data about calls to "designated foreign countries." But the history and vast scale of that operation have not been disclosed until now.
The now-discontinued operation, carried out by the DEA's intelligence arm, was the government's first known effort to gather data on Americans in bulk, sweeping up records of telephone calls made by millions of U.S. citizens regardless of whether they were suspected of a crime. It was a model for the massive phone surveillance system the NSA launched to identify terrorists after the Sept. 11 attacks. That dragnet drew sharp criticism that the government had intruded too deeply into Americans' privacy after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked it to the news media two years ago.
More than a dozen current and former law enforcement and intelligence officials described the details of the Justice Department operation to USA TODAY. Most did so on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the intelligence program, part of which remains classified.
The DEA program did not intercept the content of Americans' calls, but the records — which numbers were dialed and when — allowed agents to map suspects' communications and link them to troves of other police and intelligence data. At first, the drug agency did so with help from military computers and intelligence analysts.
That data collection was "one of the most important and effective Federal drug law enforcement initiatives," the Justice Department said in a 1998 letter to Sprint asking the telecom giant to turn over its call records. The previously undisclosed letter was signed by the head of the department's Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Section, Mary Lee Warren, who wrote that the operation had "been approved at the highest levels of Federal law enforcement authority," including then-Attorney General Janet Reno and her deputy, Eric Holder.
Attorney General Janet Reno, accompanied by Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, meets reporters at the Justice Department in Washington Aug. 4, 1998. Both approved the DEA phone data collection, according to a Justice Department letter sent to Sprint executives that year. (Photo: KHUE BUI, AP)
The data collection began in 1992 during the administration of President George H.W. Bush, nine years before his son, President George W. Bush, authorized the NSA to gather its own logs of Americans' phone calls in 2001. It was approved by top Justice Department officials in four presidential administrations and detailed in occasional briefings to members of Congress but otherwise had little independent oversight, according to officials involved with running it.
The DEA used its data collection extensively and in ways that the NSA is now prohibited from doing. Agents gathered the records without court approval, searched them more often in a day than the spy agency does in a year and automatically linked the numbers the agency gathered to large electronic collections of investigative reports, domestic call records accumulated by its agents and intelligence data from overseas.
The result was "a treasure trove of very important information on trafficking," former DEA administrator Thomas Constantine said in an interview.
The extent of that surveillance alarmed privacy advocates, who questioned its legality. "This was aimed squarely at Americans," said Mark Rumold, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "That's very significant from a constitutional perspective."
Holder halted the data collection in September 2013 amid the fallout from Snowden's revelations about other surveillance programs. In its place, current and former officials said the drug agency sends telecom companies daily subpoenas for international calling records involving only phone numbers that agents suspect are linked to the drug trade or other crimes — sometimes a thousand or more numbers a day.
Tuesday, Justice Department spokesman Patrick Rodenbush said the DEA "is no longer collecting bulk telephony metadata from U.S. service providers." A DEA spokesman declined to comment.
HARVESTING DATA TO BATTLE CARTELS
The DEA began assembling a data-gathering program in the 1980s as the government searched for new ways to battle Colombian drug cartels. Neither informants nor undercover agents had been enough to crack the cartels' infrastructure. So the agency's intelligence arm turned its attention to the groups' communication networks.
Calling records – often called "toll records" – offered one way to do that. Toll records are comparable to what appears on a phone bill – the numbers a person dialed, the date and time of the call, its duration and how it was paid for. By then, DEA agents had decades of experience gathering toll records of people they suspected were linked to drug trafficking, albeit one person at a time. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, officials said the agency had little way to make sense of the data their agents accumulated and almost no ability to use them to ferret out new cartel connections. Some agents used legal pads.
"We were drowning in toll records," a former intelligence official said.
The DEA asked the Pentagon for help. The military responded with a pair of supercomputers and intelligence analysts who had experience tracking the communication patterns of Soviet military units. "What they discovered was that the incident of a communication was perhaps as important as the content of a communication," a former Justice Department official said.
The military installed the supercomputers on the fifth floor of the DEA's headquarters, across from a shopping mall in Arlington, Va.
The system they built ultimately allowed the drug agency to stitch together huge collections of data to map trafficking and money laundering networks both overseas and within the USA. It allowed agents to link the call records its agents gathered domestically with calling data the DEA and intelligence agencies had acquired outside the USA. (In some cases, officials said the DEA paid employees of foreign telecom firms for copies of call logs and subscriber lists.) And it eventually allowed agents to cross-reference all of that against investigative reports from the DEA, FBI and Customs Service.
Thomas Constantine, the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, boards the US Coast Guard cutter Gallatin in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on April 3, 1997. (Photo: John McConnico, AP)
The result "produced major international investigations that allowed us to take some big people," Constantine said, though he said he could not identify particular cases.
In 1989, President George H.W. Bush proposed in his first prime-time address using "sophisticated intelligence-gathering and Defense Department technology" to disrupt drug trafficking. Three years later, when violent crime rates were at record highs, the drug agency intensified its intelligence push, launching a "kingpin strategy" to attack drug cartels by going after their finances, leadership and communication.
THE START OF BULK COLLECTION
In 1992, in the last months of Bush's administration, Attorney General William Barr and his chief criminal prosecutor, Robert Mueller, gave the DEA permission to collect a much larger set of phone data to feed into that intelligence operation.
Instead of simply asking phone companies for records about calls made by people suspected of drug crimes, the Justice Department began ordering telephone companies to turn over lists of all phone calls from the USA to countries where the government determined drug traffickers operated, current and former officials said.
Barr and Mueller declined to comment, as did Barr's deputy, George Terwilliger III, though Terwilliger said, "It has been apparent for a long time in both the law enforcement and intelligence worlds that there is a tremendous value and need to collect certain metadata to support legitimate investigations."
The data collection was known within the agency as USTO (a play on the fact that it tracked calls from the U.S. to other countries).
The DEA obtained those records using administrative subpoenas that allow the agency to collect records "relevant or material to" federal drug investigations. Officials acknowledged it was an expansive interpretation of that authority but one that was not likely to be challenged because unlike search warrants, DEA subpoenas do not require a judge's approval. "We knew we were stretching the definition," a former official involved in the process said.
Officials said a few telephone companies were reluctant to provide so much information, but none challenged the subpoenas in court. Those that hesitated received letters from the Justice Department urging them to comply.
Former deputy assistant attorney general Mary Lee Warren speaks with a Colombian prosecutor in 2007. Warren wrote a letter in 1998, asking Sprint to turn over telephone records. (Photo: MAURICIO DUENAS, AFP/Getty Images)
After Sprint executives expressed reservations in 1998, for example, Warren, the head of the department's drug section, responded with a letter telling the company that "the initiative has been determined to be legally appropriate" and that turning over the call data was "appropriate and required by law." The letter said the data would be used by authorities "to focus scarce investigative resources by means of sophisticated pattern and link analysis."
The letter did not name other telecom firms providing records to the DEA but did tell executives that "the arrangement with Sprint being sought by the DEA is by no means unique to Sprint" and that "major service providers have been eager to support and assist law enforcement within appropriate bounds." Former officials said the operation included records from AT&T and other telecom companies.
A spokesman for AT&T declined to comment. Sprint spokeswoman Stephanie Vinge Walsh said only that "we do comply with all state and federal laws regarding law enforcement subpoenas."
Agents said that when the data collection began, they sought to limit its use mainly to drug investigations and turned away requests for access from the FBI and the NSA. They allowed searches of the data in terrorism cases, including the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people in 1995, helping to rule out theories linking the attack to foreign terrorists. They allowed even broader use after Sept. 11, 2001. The DEA's public disclosure of its program in January came in the case of a man charged with violating U.S. export restrictions by trying to send electrical equipment to Iran.
At first, officials said the DEA gathered records only of calls to a handful of countries, focusing on Colombian drug cartels and their supply lines. Its reach grew quickly, and by the late 1990s, the DEA was logging "a massive number of calls," said a former intelligence official who supervised the program.
Former officials said they could not recall the complete list of countries included in USTO, and the coverage changed over time. The Justice Department and DEA added countries to the list if officials could establish that they were home to outfits that produced or trafficked drugs or were involved in money laundering or other drug-related crimes.
The Justice Department warned when it disclosed the program in January that the list of countries should remain secret "to protect against any disruption to prospective law enforcement cooperation."
At its peak, the operation gathered data on calls to 116 countries, an official involved in reviewing the list said. Two other officials said they did not recall the precise number of countries, but it was more than 100. That gave the collection a considerable sweep; the U.S. government recognizes a total of 195 countries.
At one time or another, officials said, the data collection covered most of the countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean, as well as others in western Africa, Europe and Asia. It included Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Italy, Mexico and Canada.
The DEA often — though not always — notified foreign governments it was collecting call records, in part to make sure its agents would not be expelled if the program was discovered. In some cases, the DEA provided some of that information to foreign law enforcement agencies to help them build their own investigations, officials said.
The DEA did not have a real-time connection to phone companies' data; instead, the companies regularly provided copies of their call logs, first on computer disks and later over a private network. Agents who used the system said the numbers they saw were seldom more than a few days old.
The database did not include callers' names or other identifying data. Officials said agents often were able to identify individuals associated with telephone numbers flagged by the analysis, either by cross-referencing them against other databases or by sending follow-up requests to the phone companies.
To keep the program secret, the DEA sought not to use the information as evidence in criminal prosecutions or in its justification for warrants or other searches. Instead, its Special Operations Division passed the data to field agents as tips to help them find new targets or focus existing investigations, a process approved by Justice Department lawyers. Many of those tips were classified because the DEA phone searches drew on other intelligence data.
That practice sparked a furor when the Reuters news agency reported in 2013 that the DEA trained agents to conceal the sources of those tips from judges and defense lawyers. Reuters said the tips were based on wiretaps, foreign intelligence and a DEA database of telephone calls gathered through routine subpoenas and search warrants.
As a result, "the government short-circuited any debate about the legality and wisdom of putting the call records of millions of innocent people in the hands of the DEA," American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Patrick Toomey said.
Listen to Brad Heath detail his investigation into decades of bulk data collection in the audio player below:
A BLUEPRINT FOR BROADER SURVEILLANCE
The NSA began collecting its own data on Americans' phone calls within months of Sept. 11, 2001, as a way to identify potential terrorists within the USA. At first, it did so without court approval. In 2006, after The New York Times and USA TODAY began reporting on the surveillance program, President George W. Bush's administration brought it under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the government to use secret court orders to get access to records relevant to national security investigations. Unlike the DEA, the NSA also gathered logs of calls within the USA.
The similarities between the NSA program and the DEA operation established a decade earlier are striking – too much so to have been a coincidence, people familiar with the programs said. Former NSA general counsel Stewart Baker said, "It's very hard to see (the DEA operation) as anything other than the precursor" to the NSA's terrorist surveillance.
Both operations relied on an expansive interpretation of the word "relevant," for example — one that allowed the government to collect vast amounts of information on the premise that some tiny fraction of it would be useful to investigators. Both used similar internal safeguards, requiring analysts to certify that they had "reasonable articulable suspicion" – a comparatively low legal threshold – that a phone number was linked to a drug or intelligence case before they could query the records.
"The foundation of the NSA program was a mirror image of what we were doing," said a former Justice Department official who helped oversee the surveillance. That official said he and others briefed NSA lawyers several times on the particulars of their surveillance program. Two former DEA officials also said the NSA had been briefed on the operation. The NSA declined to comment.
There were also significant differences.
For one thing, DEA analysts queried their data collection far more often. The NSA said analysts searched its telephone database only about 300 times in 2012; DEA analysts routinely performed that many searches in a day, former officials said. Beyond that, NSA analysts must have approval from a judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court each time they want to search their own collection of phone metadata, and they do not automatically cross-reference it with other intelligence files.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., then the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, complained last year to Holder that the DEA had been gathering phone data "in bulk" without judicial oversight. Officials said the DEA's database was disclosed to judges only occasionally, in classified hearings.
For two decades, it was never reviewed by the Justice Department's own inspector general, which told Congress it is now looking into the DEA's bulk data collections.
A SMALLER SCALE COLLECTION
Holder pulled the plug on the phone data collection in September 2013.
That summer, Snowden leaked a remarkable series of classified documents detailing some of the government's most prized surveillance secrets, including the NSA's logging of domestic phone calls and Internet traffic. Reuters and The New York Times raised questions about the drug agency's own access to phone records.
Officials said the Justice Department told the DEA that it had determined it could not continue both surveillance programs, particularly because part of its justification for sweeping NSA surveillance was that it served national security interests, not ordinary policing. Eight months after USTO was halted, for example, department lawyers defended the spy agency's phone dragnet in court partly on the grounds that it "serves special governmental needs above and beyond normal law enforcement."
Three months after USTO was shut down, a review panel commissioned by President Obama urged Congress to bar the NSA from gathering telephone data on Americans in bulk. Not long after that, Obama instructed the NSA to get permission from the surveillance court before querying its phone data collection, a step the drug agency never was required to take.
The DEA stopped searching USTO in September 2013. Not long after that, it purged the database.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder speaks on criminal justice and sentencing at the National Press Club on Feb. 17 in Washington. (Photo: MANDEL NGAN, AFP/Getty Images)
"It was made abundantly clear that they couldn't defend both programs," a former Justice Department official said. Others said Holder's message was more direct. "He said he didn't think we should have that information," a former DEA official said.
By then, agents said USTO was suffering from diminishing returns. More criminals — especially the sophisticated cartel operatives the agency targeted — were communicating on Internet messaging systems that are harder for law enforcement to track.
Still, the shutdown took a toll, officials said. "It has had a major impact on investigations," one former DEA official said.
The DEA asked the Justice Department to restart the surveillance program in December 2013. It withdrew that request when agents came up with a new solution. Every day, the agency assembles a list of the telephone numbers its agents suspect may be tied to drug trafficking. Each day, it sends electronic subpoenas — sometimes listing more than a thousand numbers — to telephone companies seeking logs of international telephone calls linked to those numbers, two official familiar with the program said.
The data collection that results is more targeted but slower and more expensive. Agents said it takes a day or more to pull together communication profiles that used to take minutes.
The White House proposed a similar approach for the NSA's telephone surveillance program, which is set to expire June 1. That approach would halt the NSA's bulk data collection but would give the spy agency the power to force companies to turn over records linked to particular telephone numbers, subject to a court order.
Follow investigative reporter Brad Heath on Twitter at @bradheath.
CLOSE The Justice Department began secretly collecting records of Americans' international phone calls in 1992.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1FyBMkt ||||| CLOSE A USA TODAY investigation revealed that a secret program collecting phone call data for international calls started in 1992. USA TODAY
Starting in 1992, the Justice Department amassed logs of virtually all telephone calls from the USA to as many as 116 countries, a model for anti-terror surveillance after Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo: Photo: Mike Christy, AP)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government started keeping secret records of Americans' international telephone calls nearly a decade before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, harvesting billions of calls in a program that provided a blueprint for the far broader National Security Agency surveillance that followed.
For more than two decades, the Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration amassed logs of virtually all telephone calls from the USA to as many as 116 countries linked to drug trafficking, current and former officials involved with the operation said. The targeted countries changed over time but included Canada, Mexico and most of Central and South America.
Federal investigators used the call records to track drug cartels' distribution networks in the USA, allowing agents to detect previously unknown trafficking rings and money handlers. They also used the records to help rule out foreign ties to the bombing in 1995 of a federal building in Oklahoma City and to identify U.S. suspects in a wide range of other investigations.
The Justice Department revealed in January that the DEA had collected data about calls to "designated foreign countries." But the history and vast scale of that operation have not been disclosed until now.
The now-discontinued operation, carried out by the DEA's intelligence arm, was the government's first known effort to gather data on Americans in bulk, sweeping up records of telephone calls made by millions of U.S. citizens regardless of whether they were suspected of a crime. It was a model for the massive phone surveillance system the NSA launched to identify terrorists after the Sept. 11 attacks. That dragnet drew sharp criticism that the government had intruded too deeply into Americans' privacy after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked it to the news media two years ago.
More than a dozen current and former law enforcement and intelligence officials described the details of the Justice Department operation to USA TODAY. Most did so on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the intelligence program, part of which remains classified.
The DEA program did not intercept the content of Americans' calls, but the records — which numbers were dialed and when — allowed agents to map suspects' communications and link them to troves of other police and intelligence data. At first, the drug agency did so with help from military computers and intelligence analysts.
That data collection was "one of the most important and effective Federal drug law enforcement initiatives," the Justice Department said in a 1998 letter to Sprint asking the telecom giant to turn over its call records. The previously undisclosed letter was signed by the head of the department's Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Section, Mary Lee Warren, who wrote that the operation had "been approved at the highest levels of Federal law enforcement authority," including then-Attorney General Janet Reno and her deputy, Eric Holder.
Attorney General Janet Reno, accompanied by Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, meets reporters at the Justice Department in Washington Aug. 4, 1998. Both approved the DEA phone data collection, according to a Justice Department letter sent to Sprint executives that year. (Photo: KHUE BUI, AP)
The data collection began in 1992 during the administration of President George H.W. Bush, nine years before his son, President George W. Bush, authorized the NSA to gather its own logs of Americans' phone calls in 2001. It was approved by top Justice Department officials in four presidential administrations and detailed in occasional briefings to members of Congress but otherwise had little independent oversight, according to officials involved with running it.
The DEA used its data collection extensively and in ways that the NSA is now prohibited from doing. Agents gathered the records without court approval, searched them more often in a day than the spy agency does in a year and automatically linked the numbers the agency gathered to large electronic collections of investigative reports, domestic call records accumulated by its agents and intelligence data from overseas.
The result was "a treasure trove of very important information on trafficking," former DEA administrator Thomas Constantine said in an interview.
The extent of that surveillance alarmed privacy advocates, who questioned its legality. "This was aimed squarely at Americans," said Mark Rumold, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "That's very significant from a constitutional perspective."
Holder halted the data collection in September 2013 amid the fallout from Snowden's revelations about other surveillance programs. In its place, current and former officials said the drug agency sends telecom companies daily subpoenas for international calling records involving only phone numbers that agents suspect are linked to the drug trade or other crimes — sometimes a thousand or more numbers a day.
Tuesday, Justice Department spokesman Patrick Rodenbush said the DEA "is no longer collecting bulk telephony metadata from U.S. service providers." A DEA spokesman declined to comment.
HARVESTING DATA TO BATTLE CARTELS
The DEA began assembling a data-gathering program in the 1980s as the government searched for new ways to battle Colombian drug cartels. Neither informants nor undercover agents had been enough to crack the cartels' infrastructure. So the agency's intelligence arm turned its attention to the groups' communication networks.
Calling records – often called "toll records" – offered one way to do that. Toll records are comparable to what appears on a phone bill – the numbers a person dialed, the date and time of the call, its duration and how it was paid for. By then, DEA agents had decades of experience gathering toll records of people they suspected were linked to drug trafficking, albeit one person at a time. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, officials said the agency had little way to make sense of the data their agents accumulated and almost no ability to use them to ferret out new cartel connections. Some agents used legal pads.
"We were drowning in toll records," a former intelligence official said.
The DEA asked the Pentagon for help. The military responded with a pair of supercomputers and intelligence analysts who had experience tracking the communication patterns of Soviet military units. "What they discovered was that the incident of a communication was perhaps as important as the content of a communication," a former Justice Department official said.
The military installed the supercomputers on the fifth floor of the DEA's headquarters, across from a shopping mall in Arlington, Va.
The system they built ultimately allowed the drug agency to stitch together huge collections of data to map trafficking and money laundering networks both overseas and within the USA. It allowed agents to link the call records its agents gathered domestically with calling data the DEA and intelligence agencies had acquired outside the USA. (In some cases, officials said the DEA paid employees of foreign telecom firms for copies of call logs and subscriber lists.) And it eventually allowed agents to cross-reference all of that against investigative reports from the DEA, FBI and Customs Service.
Thomas Constantine, the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, boards the US Coast Guard cutter Gallatin in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on April 3, 1997. (Photo: John McConnico, AP)
The result "produced major international investigations that allowed us to take some big people," Constantine said, though he said he could not identify particular cases.
In 1989, President George H.W. Bush proposed in his first prime-time address using "sophisticated intelligence-gathering and Defense Department technology" to disrupt drug trafficking. Three years later, when violent crime rates were at record highs, the drug agency intensified its intelligence push, launching a "kingpin strategy" to attack drug cartels by going after their finances, leadership and communication.
THE START OF BULK COLLECTION
In 1992, in the last months of Bush's administration, Attorney General William Barr and his chief criminal prosecutor, Robert Mueller, gave the DEA permission to collect a much larger set of phone data to feed into that intelligence operation.
Instead of simply asking phone companies for records about calls made by people suspected of drug crimes, the Justice Department began ordering telephone companies to turn over lists of all phone calls from the USA to countries where the government determined drug traffickers operated, current and former officials said.
Barr and Mueller declined to comment, as did Barr's deputy, George Terwilliger III, though Terwilliger said, "It has been apparent for a long time in both the law enforcement and intelligence worlds that there is a tremendous value and need to collect certain metadata to support legitimate investigations."
The data collection was known within the agency as USTO (a play on the fact that it tracked calls from the U.S. to other countries).
The DEA obtained those records using administrative subpoenas that allow the agency to collect records "relevant or material to" federal drug investigations. Officials acknowledged it was an expansive interpretation of that authority but one that was not likely to be challenged because unlike search warrants, DEA subpoenas do not require a judge's approval. "We knew we were stretching the definition," a former official involved in the process said.
Officials said a few telephone companies were reluctant to provide so much information, but none challenged the subpoenas in court. Those that hesitated received letters from the Justice Department urging them to comply.
Former deputy assistant attorney general Mary Lee Warren speaks with a Colombian prosecutor in 2007. Warren wrote a letter in 1998, asking Sprint to turn over telephone records. (Photo: MAURICIO DUENAS, AFP/Getty Images)
After Sprint executives expressed reservations in 1998, for example, Warren, the head of the department's drug section, responded with a letter telling the company that "the initiative has been determined to be legally appropriate" and that turning over the call data was "appropriate and required by law." The letter said the data would be used by authorities "to focus scarce investigative resources by means of sophisticated pattern and link analysis."
The letter did not name other telecom firms providing records to the DEA but did tell executives that "the arrangement with Sprint being sought by the DEA is by no means unique to Sprint" and that "major service providers have been eager to support and assist law enforcement within appropriate bounds." Former officials said the operation included records from AT&T and other telecom companies.
A spokesman for AT&T declined to comment. Sprint spokeswoman Stephanie Vinge Walsh said only that "we do comply with all state and federal laws regarding law enforcement subpoenas."
Agents said that when the data collection began, they sought to limit its use mainly to drug investigations and turned away requests for access from the FBI and the NSA. They allowed searches of the data in terrorism cases, including the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people in 1995, helping to rule out theories linking the attack to foreign terrorists. They allowed even broader use after Sept. 11, 2001. The DEA's public disclosure of its program in January came in the case of a man charged with violating U.S. export restrictions by trying to send electrical equipment to Iran.
At first, officials said the DEA gathered records only of calls to a handful of countries, focusing on Colombian drug cartels and their supply lines. Its reach grew quickly, and by the late 1990s, the DEA was logging "a massive number of calls," said a former intelligence official who supervised the program.
Former officials said they could not recall the complete list of countries included in USTO, and the coverage changed over time. The Justice Department and DEA added countries to the list if officials could establish that they were home to outfits that produced or trafficked drugs or were involved in money laundering or other drug-related crimes.
The Justice Department warned when it disclosed the program in January that the list of countries should remain secret "to protect against any disruption to prospective law enforcement cooperation."
At its peak, the operation gathered data on calls to 116 countries, an official involved in reviewing the list said. Two other officials said they did not recall the precise number of countries, but it was more than 100. That gave the collection a considerable sweep; the U.S. government recognizes a total of 195 countries.
At one time or another, officials said, the data collection covered most of the countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean, as well as others in western Africa, Europe and Asia. It included Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Italy, Mexico and Canada.
The DEA often — though not always — notified foreign governments it was collecting call records, in part to make sure its agents would not be expelled if the program was discovered. In some cases, the DEA provided some of that information to foreign law enforcement agencies to help them build their own investigations, officials said.
The DEA did not have a real-time connection to phone companies' data; instead, the companies regularly provided copies of their call logs, first on computer disks and later over a private network. Agents who used the system said the numbers they saw were seldom more than a few days old.
The database did not include callers' names or other identifying data. Officials said agents often were able to identify individuals associated with telephone numbers flagged by the analysis, either by cross-referencing them against other databases or by sending follow-up requests to the phone companies.
To keep the program secret, the DEA sought not to use the information as evidence in criminal prosecutions or in its justification for warrants or other searches. Instead, its Special Operations Division passed the data to field agents as tips to help them find new targets or focus existing investigations, a process approved by Justice Department lawyers. Many of those tips were classified because the DEA phone searches drew on other intelligence data.
That practice sparked a furor when the Reuters news agency reported in 2013 that the DEA trained agents to conceal the sources of those tips from judges and defense lawyers. Reuters said the tips were based on wiretaps, foreign intelligence and a DEA database of telephone calls gathered through routine subpoenas and search warrants.
As a result, "the government short-circuited any debate about the legality and wisdom of putting the call records of millions of innocent people in the hands of the DEA," American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Patrick Toomey said.
Listen to Brad Heath detail his investigation into decades of bulk data collection in the audio player below:
A BLUEPRINT FOR BROADER SURVEILLANCE
The NSA began collecting its own data on Americans' phone calls within months of Sept. 11, 2001, as a way to identify potential terrorists within the USA. At first, it did so without court approval. In 2006, after The New York Times and USA TODAY began reporting on the surveillance program, President George W. Bush's administration brought it under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the government to use secret court orders to get access to records relevant to national security investigations. Unlike the DEA, the NSA also gathered logs of calls within the USA.
The similarities between the NSA program and the DEA operation established a decade earlier are striking – too much so to have been a coincidence, people familiar with the programs said. Former NSA general counsel Stewart Baker said, "It's very hard to see (the DEA operation) as anything other than the precursor" to the NSA's terrorist surveillance.
Both operations relied on an expansive interpretation of the word "relevant," for example — one that allowed the government to collect vast amounts of information on the premise that some tiny fraction of it would be useful to investigators. Both used similar internal safeguards, requiring analysts to certify that they had "reasonable articulable suspicion" – a comparatively low legal threshold – that a phone number was linked to a drug or intelligence case before they could query the records.
"The foundation of the NSA program was a mirror image of what we were doing," said a former Justice Department official who helped oversee the surveillance. That official said he and others briefed NSA lawyers several times on the particulars of their surveillance program. Two former DEA officials also said the NSA had been briefed on the operation. The NSA declined to comment.
There were also significant differences.
For one thing, DEA analysts queried their data collection far more often. The NSA said analysts searched its telephone database only about 300 times in 2012; DEA analysts routinely performed that many searches in a day, former officials said. Beyond that, NSA analysts must have approval from a judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court each time they want to search their own collection of phone metadata, and they do not automatically cross-reference it with other intelligence files.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., then the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, complained last year to Holder that the DEA had been gathering phone data "in bulk" without judicial oversight. Officials said the DEA's database was disclosed to judges only occasionally, in classified hearings.
For two decades, it was never reviewed by the Justice Department's own inspector general, which told Congress it is now looking into the DEA's bulk data collections.
A SMALLER SCALE COLLECTION
Holder pulled the plug on the phone data collection in September 2013.
That summer, Snowden leaked a remarkable series of classified documents detailing some of the government's most prized surveillance secrets, including the NSA's logging of domestic phone calls and Internet traffic. Reuters and The New York Times raised questions about the drug agency's own access to phone records.
Officials said the Justice Department told the DEA that it had determined it could not continue both surveillance programs, particularly because part of its justification for sweeping NSA surveillance was that it served national security interests, not ordinary policing. Eight months after USTO was halted, for example, department lawyers defended the spy agency's phone dragnet in court partly on the grounds that it "serves special governmental needs above and beyond normal law enforcement."
Three months after USTO was shut down, a review panel commissioned by President Obama urged Congress to bar the NSA from gathering telephone data on Americans in bulk. Not long after that, Obama instructed the NSA to get permission from the surveillance court before querying its phone data collection, a step the drug agency never was required to take.
The DEA stopped searching USTO in September 2013. Not long after that, it purged the database.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder speaks on criminal justice and sentencing at the National Press Club on Feb. 17 in Washington. (Photo: MANDEL NGAN, AFP/Getty Images)
"It was made abundantly clear that they couldn't defend both programs," a former Justice Department official said. Others said Holder's message was more direct. "He said he didn't think we should have that information," a former DEA official said.
By then, agents said USTO was suffering from diminishing returns. More criminals — especially the sophisticated cartel operatives the agency targeted — were communicating on Internet messaging systems that are harder for law enforcement to track.
Still, the shutdown took a toll, officials said. "It has had a major impact on investigations," one former DEA official said.
The DEA asked the Justice Department to restart the surveillance program in December 2013. It withdrew that request when agents came up with a new solution. Every day, the agency assembles a list of the telephone numbers its agents suspect may be tied to drug trafficking. Each day, it sends electronic subpoenas — sometimes listing more than a thousand numbers — to telephone companies seeking logs of international telephone calls linked to those numbers, two official familiar with the program said.
The data collection that results is more targeted but slower and more expensive. Agents said it takes a day or more to pull together communication profiles that used to take minutes.
The White House proposed a similar approach for the NSA's telephone surveillance program, which is set to expire June 1. That approach would halt the NSA's bulk data collection but would give the spy agency the power to force companies to turn over records linked to particular telephone numbers, subject to a court order.
Follow investigative reporter Brad Heath on Twitter at @bradheath.
CLOSE The Justice Department began secretly collecting records of Americans' international phone calls in 1992.
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Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty
Total count of independent states: 195
* Diplomatic relations with the United States
+ Member of United Nations
! New change, since previous list
STATE
Short-form name Long-form name GENC 2A Code (see Note 2) GENC 3A Code (see Note 2) Capital Afghanistan *+ Islamic Republic of Afghanistan AF AFG Kabul Albania *+ Republic of Albania AL ALB Tirana Algeria *+ People's Democratic Republic of Algeria DZ DZA Algiers Andorra *+ Principality of Andorra AD AND Andorra la Vella Angola *+ Republic of Angola AO AGO Luanda Antigua and
Barbuda *+ Antigua and Barbuda AG ATG Saint John's Argentina *+ Argentine Republic AR ARG Buenos Aires Armenia *+ Republic of Armenia AM ARM Yerevan Australia *+ Commonwealth of Australia AU AUS Canberra Austria *+ Republic of Austria AT AUT Vienna Azerbaijan *+ Republic of Azerbaijan AZ AZE Baku Bahamas, The *+ Commonwealth
of The Bahamas BS BHS Nassau Bahrain *+ Kingdom of Bahrain BH BHR Manama Bangladesh *+ People's Republic
of Bangladesh BD BGD Dhaka Barbados *+ Barbados BB BRB Bridgetown Belarus *+ Republic of Belarus BY BLR Minsk Belgium *+ Kingdom of Belgium BE BEL Brussels Belize *+ Belize BZ BLZ Belmopan Benin *+ Republic of Benin BJ BEN Porto-Novo
Cotonou (seat of government) Bhutan + Kingdom of Bhutan BT BTN Thimphu Bolivia *+ Plurinational State of Bolivia BO BOL La Paz (administrative)
Sucre (legislative/judiciary) Bosnia and
Herzegovina *+ Bosnia and Herzegovina BA BIH Sarajevo Botswana *+ Republic of Botswana BW BWA Gaborone Brazil *+ Federative Republic of Brazil BR BRA Brasília Brunei *+ Brunei Darussalam BN BRN Bandar Seri Begawan Bulgaria *+ Republic of Bulgaria BG BGR Sofia Burkina Faso *+ Burkina Faso BF BFA Ouagadougou Burma *+ Union of Burma MM MMR Rangoon
Nay Pyi Taw (administrative) Burundi *+ Republic of Burundi BI BDI Bujumbura Cabo Verde *+ Republic of Cabo Verde CV CPV Praia Cambodia *+ Kingdom of Cambodia KH KHM Phnom Penh Cameroon *+ Republic of Cameroon CM CMR Yaoundé Canada *+ Canada CA CAN Ottawa Central
African Republic *+ Central African Republic CF CAF Bangui Chad *+ Republic of Chad TD TCD N'Djamena Chile *+ Republic of Chile CL CHL Santiago China *+ (see note 3) People's Republic of China CN CHN Beijing Colombia *+ Republic of Colombia CO COL Bogotá Comoros *+ Union of the Comoros KM COM Moroni Congo (Brazzaville) *+
(see note 4) Republic of the Congo CG COG Brazzaville Congo (Kinshasa) *+
(see note 4) Democratic Republic
of the Congo CD COD Kinshasa Costa Rica *+ Republic of Costa Rica CR CRI San José Côte d'Ivoire *+ Republic of Côte d'Ivoire CI CIV Yamoussoukro Croatia *+ Republic of Croatia HR HRV Zagreb Cuba *+ Republic of Cuba CU CUB Havana Cyprus *+ Republic of Cyprus CY CYP Nicosia Czechia *+ Czech Republic CZ CZE Prague Denmark *+ Kingdom of Denmark DK DNK Copenhagen Djibouti *+ Republic of Djibouti DJ DJI Djibouti Dominica *+ Commonwealth of Dominica DM DMA Roseau Dominican Republic *+ Dominican Republic DO DOM Santo Domingo Ecuador *+ Republic of Ecuador EC ECU Quito Egypt *+ Arab Republic of Egypt EG EGY Cairo El Salvador *+ Republic of El Salvador SV SLV San Salvador Equatorial Guinea *+ Republic of Equatorial Guinea GQ GNQ Malabo Eritrea *+ State of Eritrea ER ERI Asmara Estonia *+ Republic of Estonia EE EST Tallinn ! Eswatini *+ ! Kingdom of Eswatini SZ SWZ Mbabane (administrative) Lobamba (legislative) Ethiopia *+ Federal Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia ET ETH Addis Ababa Fiji *+ Republic of Fiji FJ FJI Suva Finland *+ Republic of Finland FI FIN Helsinki France *+ French Republic FR FRA Paris Gabon *+ Gabonese Republic GA GAB Libreville Gambia, The *+ Republic of The Gambia GM GMB Banjul Georgia *+ Georgia GE GEO Tbilisi Germany *+ Federal Republic of Germany DE DEU Berlin Ghana *+ Republic of Ghana GH GHA Accra Greece *+ Hellenic Republic GR GRC Athens Grenada *+ Grenada GD GRD Saint George's Guatemala *+ Republic of Guatemala GT GTM Guatemala City Guinea *+ Republic of Guinea GN GIN Conakry Guinea-Bissau *+ Republic of Guinea-Bissau GW GNB Bissau Guyana *+ Co-operative Republic of Guyana GY GUY Georgetown Haiti *+ Republic of Haiti HT HTI Port-au-Prince Holy See * Holy See VA VAT Vatican City Honduras *+ Republic of Honduras HN HND Tegucigalpa Hungary *+ Hungary HU HUN Budapest Iceland *+ Republic of Iceland IS ISL Reykjavík India *+ Republic of India IN IND New Delhi Indonesia *+ Republic of Indonesia ID IDN Jakarta Iran + Islamic Republic of Iran IR IRN Tehran Iraq *+ Republic of Iraq IQ IRQ Baghdad Ireland *+ Ireland IE IRL Dublin Israel *+ State of Israel IL ISR Jerusalem Italy *+ Italian Republic IT ITA Rome Jamaica *+ Jamaica JM JAM Kingston Japan *+ Japan JP JPN Tokyo Jordan *+ Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan JO JOR Amman Kazakhstan *+ Republic of Kazakhstan KZ KAZ Astana Kenya *+ Republic of Kenya KE KEN Nairobi Kiribati *+ Republic of Kiribati KI KIR Tarawa Korea, North + Democratic People's Republic of Korea KP PRK Pyongyang Korea, South *+ Republic of Korea KR KOR Seoul Kosovo * Republic of Kosovo XK XKS Pristina Kuwait *+ State of Kuwait KW KWT Kuwait City Kyrgyzstan *+ Kyrgyz Republic KG KGZ Bishkek Laos *+ Lao People's
Democratic Republic LA LAO Vientiane Latvia *+ Republic of Latvia LV LVA Riga Lebanon *+ Lebanese Republic LB LBN Beirut Lesotho *+ Kingdom of Lesotho LS LSO Maseru Liberia *+ Republic of Liberia LR LBR Monrovia Libya *+ State of Libya LY LBY Tripoli Liechtenstein *+ Principality of Liechtenstein LI LIE Vaduz Lithuania *+ Republic of Lithuania LT LTU Vilnius Luxembourg *+ Grand Duchy of Luxembourg LU LUX Luxembourg Macedonia *+ Republic of Macedonia MK MKD Skopje Madagascar *+ Republic of Madagascar MG MDG Antananarivo Malawi *+ Republic of Malawi MW MWI Lilongwe Malaysia *+ Malaysia MY MYS Kuala Lumpur Maldives *+ Republic of Maldives MV MDV Male Mali *+ Republic of Mali ML MLI Bamako Malta *+ Republic of Malta MT MLT Valletta Marshall Islands *+ Republic of the
Marshall Islands MH MHL Majuro Mauritania *+ Islamic Republic
of Mauritania MR MRT Nouakchott Mauritius *+ Republic of Mauritius MU MUS Port Louis Mexico *+ United Mexican States MX MEX Mexico City Micronesia,
Federated States of *+ Federated States
of Micronesia FM FSM Palikir Moldova *+ Republic of Moldova MD MDA Chisinau Monaco *+ Principality of Monaco MC MCO Monaco Mongolia *+ Mongolia MN MNG Ulaanbaatar Montenegro *+ Montenegro ME MNE Podgorica Morocco *+ Kingdom of Morocco MA MAR Rabat Mozambique *+ Republic of Mozambique MZ MOZ Maputo Namibia *+ Republic of Namibia NA NAM Windhoek Nauru *+ Republic of Nauru NR NRU Yaren District
(no capital city) Nepal *+ Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal NP NPL Kathmandu Netherlands *+ Kingdom of the Netherlands NL NLD Amsterdam
The Hague (seat of government) New Zealand *+ New Zealand NZ NZL Wellington Nicaragua *+ Republic of Nicaragua NI NIC Managua Niger *+ Republic of Niger NE NER Niamey Nigeria *+ Federal Republic of Nigeria NG NGA Abuja Norway *+ Kingdom of Norway NO NOR Oslo Oman *+ Sultanate of Oman OM OMN Muscat Pakistan *+ Islamic Republic of Pakistan PK PAK Islamabad Palau *+ Republic of Palau PW PLW Ngerulmud Panama *+ Republic of Panama PA PAN Panama City Papua New Guinea *+ Independent State
of Papua New Guinea PG PNG Port Moresby Paraguay *+ Republic of Paraguay PY PRY Asunción Peru *+ Republic of Peru PE PER Lima Philippines *+ Republic of the Philippines PH PHL Manila Poland *+ Republic of Poland PL POL Warsaw Portugal *+ Portuguese Republic PT PRT Lisbon Qatar *+ State of Qatar QA QAT Doha Romania *+ Romania RO ROU Bucharest Russia *+ Russian Federation RU RUS Moscow Rwanda *+ Republic of Rwanda RW RWA Kigali Saint Kitts and Nevis *+ Federation of Saint
Kitts and Nevis KN KNA Basseterre Saint Lucia *+ Saint Lucia LC LCA Castries Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines *+ Saint Vincent and the Grenadines VC VCT Kingstown Samoa *+ Independent State of Samoa WS WSM Apia San Marino *+ Republic of San Marino SM SMR San Marino Sao Tome and Principe *+ Democratic Republic of
Sao Tome and Principe ST STP São Tomé Saudi Arabia *+ Kingdom of Saudi Arabia SA SAU Riyadh Senegal *+ Republic of Senegal SN SEN Dakar Serbia *+ Republic of Serbia RS SRB Belgrade Seychelles *+ Republic of Seychelles SC SYC Victoria Sierra Leone *+ Republic of Sierra Leone SL SLE Freetown Singapore *+ Republic of Singapore SG SGP Singapore Slovakia *+ Slovak Republic SK SVK Bratislava Slovenia *+ Republic of Slovenia SI SVN Ljubljana Solomon Islands *+ Solomon Islands SB SLB Honiara Somalia *+ Federal Republic of Somalia SO SOM Mogadishu South Africa *+ Republic of South Africa ZA ZAF Pretoria (administrative)
Cape Town (legislative)
Bloemfontein (judiciary) South Sudan *+ Republic of South Sudan SS SSD Juba Spain *+ Kingdom of Spain ES ESP Madrid Sri Lanka *+ Democratic Socialist
Republic of Sri Lanka LK LKA Colombo
Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (legislative) Sudan *+ Republic of the Sudan SD SDN Khartoum Suriname *+ Republic of Suriname SR SUR Paramaribo Sweden *+ Kingdom of Sweden SE SWE Stockholm Switzerland *+ Swiss Confederation CH CHE Bern Syria *+ Syrian Arab Republic SY SYR Damascus Tajikistan *+ Republic of Tajikistan TJ TJK Dushanbe Tanzania *+ United Republic of Tanzania TZ TZA Dar es Salaam
Dodoma (legislative) Thailand *+ Kingdom of Thailand TH THA Bangkok Timor-Leste *+ Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste TL TLS Dili Togo *+ Togolese Republic TG TGO Lomé Tonga *+ Kingdom of Tonga TO TON Nuku'alofa Trinidad and Tobago *+ Republic of
Trinidad and Tobago TT TTO Port of Spain Tunisia *+ Republic of Tunisia TN TUN Tunis Turkey *+ Republic of Turkey TR TUR Ankara Turkmenistan *+ Turkmenistan TM TKM Ashgabat Tuvalu *+ Tuvalu TV TUV Funafuti Uganda *+ Republic of Uganda UG UGA Kampala Ukraine *+ Ukraine UA UKR Kyiv United Arab Emirates *+ United Arab Emirates AE ARE Abu Dhabi United Kingdom *+ United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland GB GBR London United States + United States of America US USA Washington, DC Uruguay *+ Oriental Republic of Uruguay UY URY Montevideo Uzbekistan *+ Republic of Uzbekistan UZ UZB Tashkent Vanuatu *+ Republic of Vanuatu VU VUT Port-Vila Venezuela *+ Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela VE VEN Caracas Vietnam *+ Socialist Republic of Vietnam VN VNM Hanoi Yemen *+ Republic of Yemen YE YEM Sanaa Zambia *+ Republic of Zambia ZM ZMB Lusaka Zimbabwe *+ Republic of Zimbabwe ZW ZWE Harare
OTHER
Short-form name Long-form name GENC 2A Code (see Note 2)! GENC 3A Code (see Note 2)! Capital Taiwan (see note 5) (no long-form name) TW TWN Taipei
Source: Office of The Geographer and Global Issues, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C
NOTES
Note 1: In this listing, the term "independent state" refers to a people politically organized
into a sovereign state with a definite territory recognized as independent by the US.
Note 2: Geopolitical Entities, Names, and Codes (GENC) Standard two-letter and three-letter codes. GENC is the replacement standard for FIPS 10-4 and is the U.S. Government profile of the ISO 3166 international country code standard. For more information on GENC please see https://nsgreg.nga.mil/genc/discovery.
Note 3: With the establishment of diplomatic relations with China on January 1, 1979, the
US Government recognized the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government
of China and acknowledged the Chinese position that there is only one China and that
Taiwan is part of China.
Note 4: "Congo" is the official short-form name for both the Republic of the Congo and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. To distinguish one from the other, the U.S. Department
of State adds the capital in parentheses. This practice is unofficial and provisional.
Note 5: Claimed by both the Government of the People's Republic of China and the authorities
on Taiwan. Administered by the authorities on Taiwan. (see note 3)
|
– Edward Snowden's revelations about the NSA and its surveillance tactics may have riled people up, but the agency apparently took its cue from two other government departments: the DEA and the DoJ. For almost 10 years before 9/11 took place, the agencies secretly kept records of billions of international phone calls placed by Americans, a USA Today investigation has uncovered. Current and ex-officials involved in the clandestine program spoke to the newspaper (mostly anonymously) and say that when the surveillance was in full swing, it was collecting data for calls to more than 100 countries (one official placed the number at 116, out of 195 countries the US recognizes worldwide as independent states). The purpose of the data collection, per USA Today: to flesh out US distribution networks for international drug cartels. The initiative took root in the '80s when the DEA wasn't making headway using undercover agents and other methods to bust up Colombian drug cartels, the newspaper reports. The call database reportedly didn't include callers' names or even the content of the calls—instead, it noted the date and time that international numbers were called, which it then attempted to cross-link back to data from other intelligence databases. AG Eric Holder is said to have halted the program in 2013 after "it was made abundantly clear ... they couldn't defend both [the DEA and NSA] programs," a Justice Department official tells the paper; the database was also allegedly "purged" by the DEA. A DoJ spokesman says the department "is no longer collecting bulk telephony metadata from US service providers"; a DEA spokesman declined comment. (Read the entire history documented in the USA Today article, including how similar the DEA program was to the NSA one.)
|
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2017
Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, Michael W. Young Share this:
Press Release
2017-10-02
The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award
the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
jointly to
Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young
for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm
Summary
Life on Earth is adapted to the rotation of our planet. For many years we have known that living organisms, including humans, have an internal, biological clock that helps them anticipate and adapt to the regular rhythm of the day. But how does this clock actually work? Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young were able to peek inside our biological clock and elucidate its inner workings. Their discoveries explain how plants, animals and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronized with the Earth's revolutions.
Using fruit flies as a model organism, this year's Nobel laureates isolated a gene that controls the normal daily biological rhythm. They showed that this gene encodes a protein that accumulates in the cell during the night, and is then degraded during the day. Subsequently, they identified additional protein components of this machinery, exposing the mechanism governing the self-sustaining clockwork inside the cell. We now recognize that biological clocks function by the same principles in cells of other multicellular organisms, including humans.
With exquisite precision, our inner clock adapts our physiology to the dramatically different phases of the day. The clock regulates critical functions such as behavior, hormone levels, sleep, body temperature and metabolism. Our wellbeing is affected when there is a temporary mismatch between our external environment and this internal biological clock, for example when we travel across several time zones and experience "jet lag". There are also indications that chronic misalignment between our lifestyle and the rhythm dictated by our inner timekeeper is associated with increased risk for various diseases.
Our inner clock
Most living organisms anticipate and adapt to daily changes in the environment. During the 18th century, the astronomer Jean Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan studied mimosa plants, and found that the leaves opened towards the sun during daytime and closed at dusk. He wondered what would happen if the plant was placed in constant darkness. He found that independent of daily sunlight the leaves continued to follow their normal daily oscillation (Figure 1). Plants seemed to have their own biological clock.
Other researchers found that not only plants, but also animals and humans, have a biological clock that helps to prepare our physiology for the fluctuations of the day. This regular adaptation is referred to as the circadian rhythm, originating from the Latin words circa meaning "around" and dies meaning "day". But just how our internal circadian biological clock worked remained a mystery.
Figure 1. An internal biological clock. The leaves of the mimosa plant open towards the sun during day but close at dusk (upper part). Jean Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan placed the plant in constant darkness (lower part) and found that the leaves continue to follow their normal daily rhythm, even without any fluctuations in daily light.
Identification of a clock gene
During the 1970's, Seymour Benzer and his student Ronald Konopka asked whether it would be possible to identify genes that control the circadian rhythm in fruit flies. They demonstrated that mutations in an unknown gene disrupted the circadian clock of flies. They named this gene period. But how could this gene influence the circadian rhythm?
This year's Nobel Laureates, who were also studying fruit flies, aimed to discover how the clock actually works. In 1984, Jeffrey Hall and Michael Rosbash, working in close collaboration at Brandeis University in Boston, and Michael Young at the Rockefeller University in New York, succeeded in isolating the period gene. Jeffrey Hall and Michael Rosbash then went on to discover that PER, the protein encoded by period, accumulated during the night and was degraded during the day. Thus, PER protein levels oscillate over a 24-hour cycle, in synchrony with the circadian rhythm.
A self-regulating clockwork mechanism
The next key goal was to understand how such circadian oscillations could be generated and sustained. Jeffrey Hall and Michael Rosbash hypothesized that the PER protein blocked the activity of the period gene. They reasoned that by an inhibitory feedback loop, PER protein could prevent its own synthesis and thereby regulate its own level in a continuous, cyclic rhythm (Figure 2A).
Figure 2A. A simplified illustration of the feedback regulation of the period gene. The figure shows the sequence of events during a 24h oscillation. When the period gene is active, period mRNA is made. The mRNA is transported to the cell's cytoplasm and serves as template for the production of PER protein. The PER protein accumulates in the cell's nucleus, where the period gene activity is blocked. This gives rise to the inhibitory feedback mechanism that underlies a circadian rhythm.
The model was tantalizing, but a few pieces of the puzzle were missing. To block the activity of the period gene, PER protein, which is produced in the cytoplasm, would have to reach the cell nucleus, where the genetic material is located. Jeffrey Hall and Michael Rosbash had shown that PER protein builds up in the nucleus during night, but how did it get there? In 1994 Michael Young discovered a second clock gene, timeless, encoding the TIM protein that was required for a normal circadian rhythm. In elegant work, he showed that when TIM bound to PER, the two proteins were able to enter the cell nucleus where they blocked period gene activity to close the inhibitory feedback loop (Figure 2B).
Figure 2B. A simplified illustration of the molecular components of the circadian clock.
Such a regulatory feedback mechanism explained how this oscillation of cellular protein levels emerged, but questions lingered. What controlled the frequency of the oscillations? Michael Young identified yet another gene, doubletime, encoding the DBT protein that delayed the accumulation of the PER protein. This provided insight into how an oscillation is adjusted to more closely match a 24-hour cycle.
The paradigm-shifting discoveries by the laureates established key mechanistic principles for the biological clock. During the following years other molecular components of the clockwork mechanism were elucidated, explaining its stability and function. For example, this year's laureates identified additional proteins required for the activation of the period gene, as well as for the mechanism by which light can synchronize the clock.
Keeping time on our human physiology
The biological clock is involved in many aspects of our complex physiology. We now know that all multicellular organisms, including humans, utilize a similar mechanism to control circadian rhythms. A large proportion of our genes are regulated by the biological clock and, consequently, a carefully calibrated circadian rhythm adapts our physiology to the different phases of the day (Figure 3). Since the seminal discoveries by the three laureates, circadian biology has developed into a vast and highly dynamic research field, with implications for our health and wellbeing.
Figure 3. The circadian clock anticipates and adapts our physiology to the different phases of the day. Our biological clock helps to regulate sleep patterns, feeding behavior, hormone release, blood pressure, and body temperature.
Key publications
Zehring, W.A., Wheeler, D.A., Reddy, P., Konopka, R.J., Kyriacou, C.P., Rosbash, M., and Hall, J.C. (1984). P-element transformation with period locus DNA restores rhythmicity to mutant, arrhythmic Drosophila melanogaster. Cell 39, 369–376.
Bargiello, T.A., Jackson, F.R., and Young, M.W. (1984). Restoration of circadian behavioural rhythms by gene transfer in Drosophila. Nature 312, 752–754.
Siwicki, K.K., Eastman, C., Petersen, G., Rosbash, M., and Hall, J.C. (1988). Antibodies to the period gene product of Drosophila reveal diverse tissue distribution and rhythmic changes in the visual system. Neuron 1, 141–150.
Hardin, P.E., Hall, J.C., and Rosbash, M. (1990). Feedback of the Drosophila period gene product on circadian cycling of its messenger RNA levels. Nature 343, 536–540.
Liu, X., Zwiebel, L.J., Hinton, D., Benzer, S., Hall, J.C., and Rosbash, M. (1992). The period gene encodes a predominantly nuclear protein in adult Drosophila. J Neurosci 12, 2735–2744.
Vosshall, L.B., Price, J.L., Sehgal, A., Saez, L., and Young, M.W. (1994). Block in nuclear localization of period protein by a second clock mutation, timeless. Science 263, 1606–1609.
Price, J.L., Blau, J., Rothenfluh, A., Abodeely, M., Kloss, B., and Young, M.W. (1998). double-time is a novel Drosophila clock gene that regulates PERIOD protein accumulation. Cell 94, 83–95.
Jeffrey C. Hall was born 1945 in New York, USA. He received his doctoral degree in 1971 at the University of Washington in Seattle and was a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena from 1971 to 1973. He joined the faculty at Brandeis University in Waltham in 1974. In 2002, he became associated with University of Maine.
Michael Rosbash was born in 1944 in Kansas City, USA. He received his doctoral degree in 1970 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. During the following three years, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Since 1974, he has been on faculty at Brandeis University in Waltham, USA.
Michael W. Young was born in 1949 in Miami, USA. He received his doctoral degree at the University of Texas in Austin in 1975. Between 1975 and 1977, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in Palo Alto. From 1978, he has been on faculty at the Rockefeller University in New York.
Illustrations: © The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine. Illustrator: Mattias Karlén
The Nobel Assembly, consisting of 50 professors at Karolinska Institutet, awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Its Nobel Committee evaluates the nominations. Since 1901 the Nobel Prize has been awarded to scientists who have made the most important discoveries for the benefit of mankind.
Nobel Prize® is the registered trademark of the Nobel Foundation
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MLA style: "The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - Press Release". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 20 Jun 2018. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2017/press.html>
Recommended: ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to three Americans on Monday for discoveries about the body's daily rhythms.
The laureates are Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michal W. Young. Rosbash is on the faculty at Brandeis University, Young at Rockefeller University and Hall is at the University of Maine.
The citation for the 9-million-kronor ($1.1 million) prize says the researchers isolated a gene that controls the normal daily biological rhythm. They "were able to peek inside our biological clock and elucidate its inner workings."
Circadian rhythms adapt the workings of the body to different phases of the day, influencing sleep, behavior, hormone levels, body temperature and metabolism.
The winners have raised "awareness of the importance of a proper sleep hygiene" said Juleen Zierath of the Nobel academy. ||||| Published on Mar 21, 2012
Alongside Michael Young, Drs. Michael Rosbash and Jeffrey Hall of Brandeis University have pioneered our understanding of the Circadian Rhythm, the day-night cycle that controls sleep and wakefulness, as well as other rhythmic systems.
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– The first Nobel winners of 2017 have been announced, and three Americans have collected the prize for medicine. Jeffrey C. Hall of the University of Maine, Michael Rosbash of Brandeis University, and Michael W. Young of Rockefeller University were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for shedding light on our biological clocks, reports the AP. In their work with fruit flies, the scientists were "able to peek inside our biological clock" to make discoveries that "explain how plants, animals and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronized with the Earth’s revolutions,” the Nobel prize committee said in a statement. "You are kidding me," Rosbash said in response to getting the call, per the Guardian. He and his colleagues will share the $1.1 million prize. The researchers isolated a gene that plays a vital role in regulating circadian rhythms, showing how it is responsible for a protein that accumulates at night and degrades during the day. Among other things, the scientists raised “awareness of the importance of a proper sleep hygiene," said Juleen Zierath of the Nobel academy. Hall is a native of New York, Rosbash of Oklahoma City, and Young of Miami, reports the Washington Post. Rosbash and Hall talk about their work in this 2012 video.
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Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| On Thursday, notoriously social media-shy Apple revealed a new Twitter account, @AppleSupport, which responds to technical questions from users and tweets out tips and tutorials.
24 hours later, Apple Support has over 121,000 followers, and has tweeted over 2,200 times directly to Apple users with instructions for how to fix their problems. Turns out, there was quite a bit of pent-up demand for Apple support on social media.
That works out to between 2 and 3 responses per minute, given that Apple Support only works for 15 hours per day. In addition, Apple's support representatives have to filter out joke tweets:
@AppleSupport I think you guys should unlock that iPhone — Zac Hall (@apollozac) March 3, 2016
Apple already had a robust online support service with lots of customer service tutorials. Users could also schedule a phone call with Apple Support. Plus, Apple's network of retail stores serve as contact points for technical support as well.
Apple retail boss Angela Ahrendts tweeted she was "thrilled to have another wonderful support option for customers."
Among tech giants, Apple is late to embrace Twitter. For example, Microsoft's Xbox Support accounts have been on Twitter since 2009 and are famous for fast response times.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey welcomed Apple Support and used the account to make a point that he believes that Twitter is well-suited for real-time customer service.
And more broadly, companies using Twitter for customer service see a +19% lift in customer satisfaction. — Jack (@jack) March 3, 2016
The Apple Support Twitter account appears to be managed with the help of Sprinklr, a social media software from a high-flying New York startup. Other Apple social media accounts tweet through Sprinklr, including iBooks.
However, despite the new account, Apple continues to have a relatively light presence on social media in general. Although most of its top executives tweet, the @Apple handle on Twitter is dormant, and the company does not have an overall Facebook page.
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– "We’re here to provide tips, tricks, and helpful information when you need it most," reads the bio for the @AppleSupport Twitter account, which launched Thursday. Many, many people needed it. Business Insider reports that within 24 hours Apple's new customer service account had more than 121,000 followers and had tweeted them more than 2,200 times. Since it's only operational 15 hours a day, that's two to three hopefully helpful tweets per minute. "Turns out, there was quite a bit of pent-up demand for Apple support on social media," Business Insider concludes. Apple's nascent Twitter account is already outpacing similar support accounts from Comcast and Dell, though it trails the 300,000 followers of @MicrosoftHelps, Network World reports. The existence of @AppleSupport is a bit of a surprise, as Apple as a company tends to avoid social media, lacking both a main Twitter account and Facebook page. But Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey claims companies who use Twitter for customer service show a 19% improvement in customer satisfaction. Plus it gives bored Twitter pranksters an outlet. "I need help unlocking an iPhone 5c running iOS 9 that I forgot the passcode to," @JamesComeyFBI tweeted @AppleSupport on Thursday.
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A bitcoin sign is seen during Riga Comm 2017 fair in Riga Thomson Reuters
Bitcoin passed $10,000 for the first time on Tuesday evening.
Cryptocurrency passed $11,000 per coin on Wednesday lunchtime.
LONDON — The price of bitcoin is leaping after passing the symbolically significant level of $10,000 on Tuesday evening.
Bitcoin passed $10,000 per coin at around 6.30 p.m. GMT (1.30 p.m ET) on Tuesday after flirting with the level all day. The level was seen as symbolically significant and, now it's passed $10,000, the price is motoring.
Bitcoin hit $11,000 per coin at 1.55 p.m. GMT (8.55 a.m. ET), up over 10% on the day. Markets Insider Charles Hayter, the CEO of CryptoCompare, called breaching the $10,000 level a "seminal moment" for the cryptocurrency.
He said in an email: "$10k represents the closing of the second cycle in Bitcoin which has drawn the interest of institutional investors who have so far been constrained from trading by their remits. This is starting to change as more sophisticated and regulated instruments are made available. This will lead to Bitcoins third cycle."
Mati Greenspan, an analyst with trading platform eToro who follows the crypto space closely, said in an email: "Wall Street's resident bitcoin buff Mike Novogratz has moved his target to $40,000 by the end of 2018, stating that not only is this a bubble but that the bubble is going to get a lot bigger from here due to the global nature of this unique asset.
"Whether it is indeed a bubble or something else entirely remains to be seen. What I can tell you from my conversations with clients is that more and more people are starting to see bitcoin as money and the potential to replace the current fiat central banking system that has gotten out of hand."
Elsewhere in the cryptocurrency space, Litecoin, the sixth largest cryptocurrency by value, has reached a new all-time high of $103.46 overnight.
The entire cryptocurrency market is now worth over $330 billion, just two days after passing $300 billion for the first time. The market has rallied hugely this year despite some people warning that the market is in a bubble. ||||| FILE - In this Monday, April 7, 2014 file photo, Bitcoin logos are displayed at the Inside Bitcoins conference and trade show, in New York. The price of bitcoin, the most widely used virtual currency,... (Associated Press)
LONDON (AP) — The price of bitcoin surged through $10,000 on Wednesday, adding to its ten-fold jump in value this year and fueling a debate as to whether the virtual currency is gaining mainstream acceptance or is merely a bubble waiting to burst.
But as soon as bitcoin went through $10,000, it surged past $11,000, only to plummet from those lofty levels. The cost of buying one bitcoin as measured by the website Coindesk was hovering around $9,800, and was as low as $9,300 on Wednesday afternoon. A price of one bitcoin had been roughly $1,000 at the beginning of the year.
The vertiginous rise in the price of bitcoin and other virtual currencies this year has divided the financial community on their merits and whether — or when — the value might come crashing back down.
The CEO of JPMorgan Chase has called bitcoin a "fraud," as it is not based on anything other than software code and is not backed by any monetary authority.
Other executives, including International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, say virtual currencies should not be dismissed and could have useful applications, such as a means of payment in countries with unstable currencies.
Some countries, like China, have tried to stifle bitcoin exchanges. But in a move that gave further credibility to the virtual currency, the U.S. exchange operator CME Group said last month that it plans to open a futures market for the currency before the end of the year, if it can get approval from regulators.
Bitcoin was created about a decade ago as an alternative to government-issued currencies. Transactions allow anonymity, which has made it popular with people who want to keep their financial activity, and their identities, private.
The digital coins are created by so-called "miners," who operate computer farms that verify other users' transactions by solving complex mathematical puzzles. These miners receive bitcoin in exchange. Bitcoin can be converted to cash when deposited into accounts at prices set in online trading.
Whereas virtual currencies were initially used primarily as a method of payment, in recent months they have become a hot investment among speculators.
Daniele Bianchi, an assistant professor of finance at the Warwick Business School in England, says that the price increases are due to rising demand but also to the fact that the supply of bitcoins is kept fixed. There are currently only 21 million that can be mined in total.
Bianchi also noted that trading in bitcoin is becoming more professional and open to the general public. He believes virtual currencies are "here to stay" and expects the price to rise higher still.
"The increasing demand pressure from investors and speculators makes the case for an even further increase in bitcoin prices in the near future," he said.
Others are far more skeptical.
Neil Wilson, a senior market analyst at ETX Capital in London, says bitcoin is "following the playbook for a speculative bubble to the letter."
A new market enjoys a boom when professional investors start entering the market. That's followed by euphoria as others rush in to partake in the gains. Wilson says bitcoin could rise a lot further, but says it is merely a question of when, not if, the bubble bursts.
"This sort of thing never, ever lasts," he said. ||||| Bitcoin's velocity a sign it's parabolic, and parabolic moves don't last: Jim Cramer 10:02 AM ET Wed, 29 Nov 2017 | 00:56
Bitcoin's velocity is a sign that its surge is "parabolic," and that could mean the cryptocurrency's rally won't last, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Wednesday.
Cramer spoke moments after the digital currency spiked through $11,000, according to industry site CoinDesk, hours after surpassing the $10,000 level for the first time. Bitcoin has surged more than 1,000 percent this year.
"Even if you believe in bitcoin, the velocity of the move is a sign that it is parabolic. And parabolic moves don't last," Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street."
"And I know that when I look at that, I say to myself, 'OK, if I owned it, what would I really be doing?'" Cramer added. "And the answer is when you have that big of gain you have to take some profits. That velocity is crazy."
Cramer's comments on bitcoin resembled that of closely followed trader Art Cashin. Cashin, UBS director of floor operations at the New York Stock Exchange, said Monday that the cryptocurrency has reached "parabolic" levels, and the cryptocurrency has some at the Federal Reserve worried.
"I think we're in the fear-of-missing-out phase now," Cashin said on "Squawk on the Street." "I think initially there was some concern. I am told — and take this with a huge grain of salt — that the movement is even beginning to worry some people in the Federal Reserve."
Earlier Wednesday, William Dudley, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said the Fed is exploring the idea of its own digital currency, according to Dow Jones.
Bitcoin has risen as exchanges such as the CME Group and Cboe Options announced plans to launch futures contracts for the currency.
—CNBC's Evelyn Cheng and Reuters contributed to this report. ||||| LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bitcoin zoomed past $11,000 to hit a record high for the sixth day in a row on Wednesday after gaining more than $1,000 in just 12 hours, stoking concerns that a rapidly swelling bubble could be set to burst in spectacular fashion.
After soaring more than 1,000 percent since the start of the year, bitcoin rose as much as 15 percent on Wednesday.
It topped $10,000 for the first time in early Asia trading, before surging above $11,000 less than 12 hours later to reach $11,395 on Luxembourg-based Bitstamp BTC=BTSP, one of the largest and most liquid cryptocurrency exchanges, and then dipping back below $11,000. (Graphic: Bitcoin's blistering ascent - tmsnrt.rs/2AHKJPd)
Bitcoin’s rapid ascent has led to countless warnings that it has reached bubble territory.
But the warnings have had little effect, with dozens of new crypto-hedge funds entering the market and retail investors piling in. (Graphic: Bitcoin's blistering ascent Image - tmsnrt.rs/2AeMjHe)
London-based Blockchain.info, one of the biggest global bitcoin wallet-providers, told Reuters on Wednesday that it had added a record number of new users on Tuesday, with more than 100,000 customers signing up, taking the total number to more than 19 million. (Graphic: Bitcoin price rockets - reut.rs/2zPekGm)
The evidence suggests that few of the users are buying bitcoin to use it as a means of exchange, but are speculating to increase their capital.
“What’s happening right now has nothing to do with bitcoin’s functionality as a currency – this is pure mania that’s taken hold,” said Garrick Hileman, a research fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School.
“This is very much a bubble that will very much correct itself at some point and people need to be very careful.”
Hileman, who last week gave a lecture to the Bank of England on the risks of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, also flagged the risk of the whole market collapsing entirely.
“There’s always the possibility that some fundamental cryptographic flaw that we can’t solve craters the whole space, or that regulators unite and decide this represents systemic risk and actually could trigger the next financial crisis,” he said.
Bitcoin (virtual currency) coins placed on Dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration picture, November 6, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
“EXIT RAMPS”
Created in 2008, bitcoin uses encryption and a blockchain database that enables the fast and anonymous transfer of funds outside of a conventional centralized payment system.
It has far outstripped gains seen in any traditional asset classes or currencies this year. It rise accelerated in recent months as exchanges such as the CME Group Inc (CME.O) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange announced plans to offer futures contracts for the cryptocurrency.
Skeptics say it a classic speculative bubble with no relation to real financial market activity or the economy - most famously JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon, who labeled it a “fraud”.
But even Dimon and others who say bitcoin represents a bubble - now the consensus view among mainstream investors - do not deny its price rise could still have further to go.
“It’s got all the shapings of your tulip bubble chart (but) that tells you nothing about where that price line could go depending on the number of people who wish to own it,” Standard Life’s head of investment strategy, Andrew Milligan, said on Wednesday. “Who is to say it doesn’t reach $100,000?”
In some emerging markets, bitcoin had hit well over $10,000 previously. In Zimbabwe, bitcoin traded at $17,875 on Monday. Tuesday’s price in Zimbabwe was not available.
In South Korean exchanges, too, bitcoin was already close to $11,000 or higher early this week.
The fact that bitcoin now provides “exit ramps” from national currencies that were becoming easier to use, Hileman said, could exacerbate any future financial crisis. Coordinated regulatory action might therefore be necessary in order to stave off an “economic calamity”, he said.
Despite its mushrooming value, however, Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said on Wednesday bitcoin was not big enough to pose a risk to the global economy.
Mike Novogratz, a former macro hedge fund manager at Fortress Investment Group, said in a Reuters Investment Summit earlier this month that mainstream institutional investors were about six to eight months from adopting bitcoin.
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– What goes up must come down. CNBC reports that bitcoin passed the $11,000 mark for the first time Wednesday just hours after surpassing $10,000 for the first time. Wednesday was the sixth day in a row the cryptocurrency hit a record high, increasing its value 15%, according to Reuters. But later Wednesday, the value of a bitcoin plummeted to as low as $9,300, the AP reports. Regardless, that's still a massive increase over the $1,000 value of a bitcoin at the start of the year. And the CEO of CryptoCompare tells Business Insider the passing of $10,000 was a "seminal moment" for bitcoin. The cryptocurrency market as a whole is now worth more than $330 billion total. The recent meteoric rise of bitcoin has brought increasing warnings of a bubble set to burst. "Even if you believe in bitcoin, the velocity of the move is a sign that it is parabolic," CNBC's Jim Cramer says. "And parabolic moves don't last." It appears few people are actually using bitcoin as currency, instead stockpiling it in hopes of increasing their capital. “What’s happening right now has nothing to do with bitcoin’s functionality as a currency—this is pure mania that’s taken hold,” research fellow Garrick Hileman tells Reuters. Hileman says "people need to be very careful" about the coming burst. But it appears few are heeding his message. One provider signed up more than 300,000 new bitcoin users over the Thanksgiving holiday. And one analyst predicts the bubble is going to get a lot bigger still—say $40,000 by the end of 2018.
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(CNN) Two guinea pigs and a cat belonging to former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, poisoned in a nerve agent attack in the UK last month, have died, British authorities have said.
The two guinea pigs were found dead in Skripal's house some time after the attack, apparently from dehydration, and a cat was put down after being discovered in a "distressed" state. Police sealed the house after Skripal and his daughter Yulia were discovered unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on March 4.
"When a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died," the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said in a statement. "A cat was also found in a distressed state and a decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanise the animal to alleviate its suffering."
The guinea pigs "most likely... died due to a lack of water," a DEFRA spokesperosn told CNN later.
The deaths are the latest peculiar developments in a story that has taken a turn for the absurd in recent days. Apparently in an effort to shift the debate away from the issue of culpability, a succession of Russian officials have attempted to make light of the whole affair. ||||| Ex-spy’s improving condition raises prospect he will be able to give vital clues to poison attack
Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, have become caught up at the centre of an international tussle between the UK and Russia following an announcement by doctors that the former Russian spy was getting better and was “no longer in a critical condition”.
One month after the pair were found collapsed on a park bench in Salisbury in Wiltshire, having been poisoned with a deadly nerve agent, the hospital treating them said on Friday that they were both recovering.
Amid reports that Viktoria Skripal, Sergei Skripal’s niece, had been denied a visa to visit the UK, news of the improvement in his condition raises the prospect that he will be able to give police vital clues as to who might have poisoned him and why.
The testimony of the Skripals would be crucial in establishing the credibility of the government’s claim that it was “highly likely” the Russian state targeted them with the nerve agent novichok. Moscow has waged a furious media battle in an attempt to discredit this account and will probably want to bring Yulia Skripal back to Russia.
Play Video 0:59 Sergei Skripal responding well to treatment, says Salisbury hospital – video
Dr Christine Blanshard, the medical director at Salisbury district hospital, revealed the Skripals’ improving condition on Friday afternoon.
In a statement that she said was made in response to intense media coverage, Blanshard said Yulia Skripal’s strength was improving daily and she would be leaving hospital soon.
She added: “I also want to update you on the condition of her father, Sergei Skripal. He is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said the government was pleased that the Skripals were in better health but added: “Let us be clear, this was attempted murder using an illegal chemical weapon that we know Russia possesses.”
The Russian embassy to the UK tweeted: “Good news!”
According to the BBC, the government has refused to give a visa to Viktoria Skripal, who has made repeated appearances on Russian state TV in recent days and has sought to travel to Britain. She has suggested that her relatives may have been the victims of food poisoning.
“It appears the Russian state is trying to use Victoria as a pawn,” a government source told the BBC, adding: “If she is being influenced or coerced by the Kremlin, she has become another victim.”
In a telephone conversation apparently recorded by Viktoria Skripal in Moscow on Thursday, Yulia Skripal was asked about her father’s condition. She said: “Everything’s OK, he’s resting now, he’s sleeping. Everyone’s health is OK. No one has had any irreversible [harm].” She appeared to decline her cousin’s offer of a visit.
It is unclear if detectives have yet had the opportunity to interview Sergei Skripal about events leading up to his poisoning. On Thursday, his daughter released a statement through the Metropolitan police in which she said she was getting stronger by the day.
Russian diplomats have been insisting they gain access to Yulia Skripal, who is a Russian citizen. Her father has a British passport following his arrival in the UK in 2010, as part of a spy swap. On Thursday, Yulia Skripal described waking up to find herself at the centre of a global incident as “extremely disorientating”.
The Kremlin’s strategy has been to exploit weaknesses and inconsistencies in the UK’s case. It seized on a blunder by the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, who claimed, wrongly, that the government science facility at Porton Down had attributed the nerve agent to Russia. In fact, the attribution was based on intelligence and analysis of previous Russian state hits.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, accused the UK government of engaging in “frantic and convulsive efforts to find arguments to support their indefensible position”. Photograph: Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
On Friday, Russia’s foreign ministry opened a new and surreal front in its information war. Sergei Skripal’s two guinea pigs died after the nerve agent attack from dehydration after his home was sealed off, the UK government said. The ex-spy’s cat was found in a “distressed” state and had to be put down.
“What happened to these animals? Why doesn’t anyone mention them? Their condition is also an important piece of evidence,” the foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook, adding: “The more we know, the worse the picture looks.”
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, accused the UK government of engaging in “frantic and convulsive efforts to find arguments to support their indefensible position” instead of producing evidence. Lavrov’s comments echoed those of Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, who on Thursday likened the UK’s claims to Alice and Wonderland and the TV series Midsomer Murders.
The Skripal case bears comparison with the 2006 murder of Alexander Litvinenko, who was killed by two Russian spy agency assassins with a radioactive cup of tea. Before he died, Litvinenko had given nine hours of evidence to detectives. This proved invaluable to Scotland Yard’s investigation and shaped a public inquiry, which ruled that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, “probably approved” the operation.
Litvinenko’s father, Walter, blamed Putin for his son’s death. After living in exile in Italy, where he was broke and unhappy, he returned in 2012 to Russia, seemingly having struck a deal with the state.
Last week, he appeared on Russian TV talk shows. He blamed the CIA for his son’s death and even shared a sofa with the alleged killer Andrei Lugovoi, a deputy in Russia’s Duma, who has been commenting on the Skripal case. At one point, Walter Litvinenko clasped Lugovoi warmly by the hand.
The international alliance that has expelled 342 diplomats in solidarity with Britain is holding firm. The UK’s stand against Moscow was boosted on Friday when members of the US Congress introduced a legislative initiative to target Russian financial institutions and to reinforce US support for the UK government.
Mike Turner, a Republican, and Joaquin Castro, a Democrat, said that they were introducing the bipartisan stand with UK against Russia violations bill in response to the attack on the Skripals.
“The Russian government-sanctioned attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal and Officer Nick Bailey last month on British soil violated international law and indicates Putin’s growing aggression and disregard for international standards of conduct,” said the two members of the House intelligence committee.
What will happen now Sergei Skripal is no longer critically ill? Read more
“It’s imperative that the United States stands with the United Kingdom and our international partners in signalling resolve with a strong response.”
They said the bill would target Russian financial institutions until Russia ceased the practice of assassinating expatriates and dissidents outside of Russia.
Meanwhile, British and American authorities have been given several chemical analyses of a substance believed to be the nerve agent novichok produced in Russia’s closed Shikhany military facility.
Boris Kuznetsov, a lawyer who fled Russia in 2007, said he had handed British diplomats the police case files from the 1995 murder of a Russian banker and his secretary with a toxic substance. Scientists have identified it as a product of the Soviet-designed Foliant programme.
Among the documents are the results of a mass spectrometry and an infrared spectroscopy of the poisonous substance. It was scraped off a telephone receiver used by the businessman Ivan Kivelidi and his secretary. Both died in agony. ||||| Image caption Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, remain in hospital
Russian former spy Sergei Skripal is no longer in a critical condition after being poisoned by a nerve agent, doctors have said.
Salisbury District Hospital said Mr Skripal is responding well to treatment and "improving rapidly".
Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, have been in hospital for more than a month after being found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury.
They had been poisoned with a toxic nerve agent called Novichok.
Ms Skripal is conscious and talking in hospital.
The UK government claims Russia is behind the attack but Moscow has denied all involvement, calling the accusations "horrific and unsubstantiated".
Meanwhile, the UK has refused to grant a visa to Yulia's cousin, Viktoria Skripal, the BBC has learned.
The Home Office said the application did not comply with immigration rules. A government source told the BBC it appears Russia is "trying to use Viktoria as a pawn".
The Russian Embassy said Sergei and Yulia Skripal "remain hidden from the public" as a result of the visa decision and the "only relative" who could reasonably expect to see them is "kept out of the UK".
"The stubborn refusal to cooperate, to provide transparency and to answer the numerous questions means Britain has something to hide," an embassy spokesman said.
Viktoria later told the BBC she did not have enough money in her bank account to satisfy the visa requirements.
It comes after Russian TV aired a recording of an alleged phone conversation between Viktoria and Yulia on Thursday.
Doubts were raised over its authenticity but Viktoria has told Newsnight she was 100% certain it was Yulia.
'Strength is growing'
In a statement from the hospital, medical director Christine Blanshard urged people to respect Ms Skripal's privacy "while she continues to get better".
"As Yulia herself says, her strength is growing daily and she can look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital," Dr Blanshard said.
"Any speculation on when that date will be is just that - speculation."
Image copyright BBC Russian Image caption Viktoria Skripal gave the BBC this picture of Sergei Skripal (centre) with his daughter Yulia and late son Alexander
The BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Landale said Mr Skripal's recovery meant "we now have two individuals at the heart of this incident in Salisbury who can now speak".
He said: "They can speak to investigators about their last movements, were there any threats, were there any other circumstances?"
Following the update on Mr Skripal's condition, the Russian Embassy tweeted: "Good news!"
The embassy later issued a statement wishing the Skripals "get well soon" and expressed hope that their recovery will "contribute to the investigation".
"We are confident that the objective probe will ultimately establish that the claims against Russia by [the] UK government are null and void," it added.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also called Mr Skripal's condition "great news" and a testament to the emergency services and NHS staff.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was "very pleased" that the Skripals were improving.
"The NHS will continue to provide ongoing care for the Skripals, both of whom are likely to have ongoing medical needs," the FCO said.
"Let us be clear, this was attempted murder using an illegal chemical weapon that we know Russia possesses."
Analysis: Long-term recovery
By BBC Health and Science Correspondent James Gallagher
Recovery from a nerve agent attack is not guaranteed, but it is not always a surprise either.
Nerve agents including sarin, VX and novichok all prevent nerves functioning normally. This includes those that are necessary to breathe and keep the heart beating.
They work by disrupting an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase at the junction between nerves.
But over time, the nerve agent is metabolised and excreted by the body and new acetylcholinesterase is made. The question is whether doctors can keep patients alive long enough for that to happen.
This would have been the focus of Sergei and Yulia Skripal's care at Salisbury District Hospital. It could have included heart and lung support, the drug atropine to counteract the effect of nerve agents and sedation to prevent brain seizures.
There is still a question about the Skripals' long term recovery and whether there will be any impact on memory and brain function.
Former double agent Mr Skripal, who was jailed by Russia for spying for Britain's intelligence service but released as part of a spy swap between the US and Russia in 2010, was being visited by his daughter Yulia when the attack happened on 4 March.
The pair became ill in the centre of Salisbury after visiting The Mill pub and Zizzi restaurant.
The incident sparked an escalating diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West, with more than 20 countries expelling Russian envoys in solidarity with the UK.
Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Emergency service workers in biohazard suits fix a tent over the bench where pair were found
On Thursday, Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, told the UN Security Council that Britain was "playing with fire" and had invented a "fake story".
Mr Nebenzia said Britain's main goal had been "to discredit and even delegitimise" Russia and accused the government of waging a "propaganda war".
'Respect my privacy'
In a statement released to police on Thursday, Ms Skripal said she was grateful for the many messages of goodwill she had received and the people of Salisbury who came to her aid.
She said: "I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that you'll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence."
Britain's UN ambassador, Karen Pierce, said Russia's request for consular access to Ms Skripal has been passed on. ||||| New York (CNN) Russia, at a United Nations Security Council meeting, warned the British government Thursday it was "playing with fire" with accusations that Moscow was behind the poisoning of a Russian former spy and his daughter in the United Kingdom.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia blasted the UK, calling the allegations against Russia a "fake story."
The Russian UN diplomat warned "we have told our British colleagues that they are playing with fire and they will be sorry."
Asked after the meeting what he meant by saying the UK would be sorry, Nebenzi replied that if the UK's accusation was untrue, "a normal person should be sorry for that."
He accused the United Kingdom of turning other countries against Russia.
"You started a wave that even reached New York," he said.
Moscow, emboldened after the UK was forced to withdraw a claim that its scientists had pinned the blame on Russia for the attack, further attempted to embarrass Britain in front of its international allies.
But the UN ambassador from the UK, Karen Pierce, said she would not be lectured by Russia, which she said had blocked inquiries into the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
"Everything we have done ... has been consistent with the Convention on Chemical Weapons," she said.
Russia refused to help when the UK asked early in the investigation, Pierce said.
Pierce told the Council "we all know why that investigation is underway. It's because a military-grade nerve agent was used in an attempt to kill civilians on British soil. It was carried out recklessly and it was carried out without regard for public safety."
She questioned the need for Thursday's meeting, saying the chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, has yet to release its report on the incident.
Battle of barbs continues
A month after former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in the English city of Salisbury, the United Kingdom and Russia remain locked in a battle over who is to blame.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May has said it was "highly likely" the attack was ordered by the Russian government. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied the accusation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday that the affair was a "pretext" for the expulsion of Russian diplomats around the world.
On Wednesday, Moscow failed in its efforts to persuade OPCW to allow a joint UK-Russia investigation into the attack. The OPCW is already carrying out an independent investigation at the UK's request, and expects to receive the results of its analysis within a week. Britain is also carrying out its own inquiry, with support from the OPCW.
Attention has turned to the United Nations. It was the second time the Security Council discussed the poisoning. At a March 15 meeting that was called by the UK, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley blasted the Russian government for the attack and called for a firm international response.
Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, remain in Salisbury District Hospital following the attack on March 4. Sergei Skripal is described as in a critical but stable condition.
Yulia Skripal announced Thursday that she had woken up "over a week ago" and that her "strength is growing daily."
"I am grateful for the interest in me and for the many messages of goodwill that I have received," Skripal said in a statement released on her behalf by London's Metropolitan Police.
"I have many people to thank for my recovery and would especially like to mention the people of Salisbury that came to my aid when my father and I were incapacitated. Further than that, I would like to thank the staff at Salisbury District Hospital for their care and professionalism," she said.
"I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that you'll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence," she added.
Pierce said the UK has relayed a request for a visit from a Russian consular official to Skripal.
"We await her response," Pierce said.
A Russian state television station reported Thursday that Viktoria Skripal, the cousin of Yulia Skripal, said she had spoken to Yulia by phone.
UK experts believe the Skripals were poisoned with a Russian-made nerve agent, Novichok
The Times of London, citing unnamed sources, reported on Thursday that UK security services had pinpointed the location of the Russian laboratory that manufactured the nerve agent.
Putin: Common sense must prevail
On Wednesday, speaking at a trilateral summit with Turkey and Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters he wanted to see "a healthy political process" based on international law.
"We are not expecting anything but common sense to prevail; international relations will not tolerate the recent damage done," he said.
The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the wake of the attack, sparking a wave of similar moves by UK allies around the world. The US expelled 60 Russian diplomats as part of the international effort. Moscow responded by kicking out diplomats from at least 23 countries , including 60 American diplomats. It also ordered the closure of the US consulate in St. Petersburg.
Lavrov said Thursday that Russia wants "to find the truth" about the poisoning in Salisbury and that "provocations are being arranged" in the Skripal case to demonize Russia.
He claimed that many countries had been pressured into supporting the UK and described the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats as "an open mocking of diplomatic ethics" that had not seen for a long time.
Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Alexander Yakovenko told a news conference Thursday that Russia has "no information about Yulia Skripal, we don't know about Sergei."
Speaking to reporters at the Russian Embassy in London, Yakovenko said Yulia's cousin Viktoria was "waiting for the visa in Moscow, a British visa. We will see what will be the outcome of that visit."
He repeated Russia's complaint that Britain is not allowing it access to its citizens, Sergei and Yulia Skripal, or to the British investigation into their poisoning. The UK government must be "transparent" about the evidence, he said.
Yakovenko said Russia would accept the result of the OPCW investigation -- but suggested that its validity would depend on which nations' experts were involved. "These results should be confirmed by the international community, so we want to see who are the experts," he said.
Questions around nerve agent's source
Questions continue to dog the investigation into the attack on the Skripals, who were found slumped on a bench at an outdoor shopping complex in Salisbury. UK police believe they came into contact with the military-grade nerve agent on Skripal's front door.
On Tuesday, UK scientists said that while they had identified the nerve agent as Novichok, they were unable to say exactly where it had been manufactured.
"We have not identified the precise source, but we have provided the scientific info to government, who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions you have come to," Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the UK government laboratory at Porton Down, told Sky News on Tuesday.
Further complicating the picture, the UK Foreign Office confirmed on Wednesday it had deleted a tweet that claimed that British chemical weapons experts believed Russia had produced the nerve agent. The Foreign Office said the tweet was "truncated and did not accurately report" a briefing by the British ambassador to Moscow last month.
The British government says the scientific analysis from Porton Down forms only part of the picture. It insists that only Russia had the capability to carry out the attack, that Moscow had identified former double agents as legitimate targets, and was known for its involvement in state-sponsored attacks in the past.
In its report on Thursday, the Times of London cited security sources claiming that the location for the manufacture of the Novichok had been identified "using scientific analysis and intelligence in the days after the attempted murder of Sergei and Yulia Skripal a month ago."
The Times said security sources didn't have "100% certainty" but there was a high degree of confidence in the location. The UK government had known about the facility's existence before the attack on March 4, it added.
The UK Foreign Office refused to comment on The Times' report. "We have nothing more to add to that story," a spokesman told CNN.
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– First good news on Yulia Skripal; now an optimistic outlook for her dad. Doctors at the UK hospital where Sergei Skripal has been convalescing since his March 4 poisoning report the 66-year-old ex-Russian spy is "responding well to treatment, improving rapidly, and is no longer in a critical condition," per Christine Blanshard, the medical director at Salisbury District Hospital. Skripal is said to be "conscious and talking," per the BBC. The Guardian reports that Blanshard also confirmed Yulia Skripal's improving health, noting Yulia "can look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital." In one sad development, however, CNN does report three deaths: that of Skripal's two guinea pigs, which British authorities say apparently died of dehydration, and his cat, which had to be euthanized after being found in a "distressed state." The animals were found "some time after the attack," and some are wondering why it took so long to find them—including the Russian Embassy in London. "Are they seriously saying that nobody had a look at the pets at alleged crime scene?," the embassy tweeted Friday. "Were the animals' remains tested for toxic substances? Or just disposed of as an inconvenient piece of evidence?" At a UN Security Council meeting Thursday, Russia's UN ambassador accused the UK of "playing with fire" in accusing Russia of being behind the poisonings, per CNN.
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Chris Watts, the man accused of killing his pregnant wife and two young daughters in August, has been sitting in the Weld County Jail for more than a month.
A source who has spoken to Watts tells PEOPLE the severity of his predicament has sunk in.
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“He’s not doing well at all,” the source tells PEOPLE. “The gravity of the situation has hit him like a ton of bricks. Depression is setting in, and he’s despondent.”
A source at the Weld County Jail recently confirmed to HLN’s Crime & Justice with Ashleigh Banfield that the 33-year-old murder defendant is under “Close Watch Protocol” — a technical name for suicide watch. PEOPLE has independently confirmed the report.
Guards must check on Watts every 10-15 minutes to ensure his well-being and must make visual contact with him. Additionally, Watts is not allowed the same privileges as other people at the jail, including no access to weights, reading material and television.
With nothing else to do, the source says, Watts spends most of his time in bed. “He sleeps all day and isn’t really talking to anyone, including his family.”
Chris Watts Joshua Polson/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Watts does occasionally speak with the guards who are assigned to his cell block.
Watts is physically searched several times per day and each day there is a complete cell inspection to ensure he is not hiding any contraband with which he could harm himself.
One hour per day, he is allowed to leave his cell; he is taken to a small room where he is allowed to shower and make phone calls to his family or to counsel. The room — known as the “hour-out room” — is not occupied by any other prisoners during the time he is there. He is also not allowed any commissary privileges.
RELATED: Shan’ann Watts Beat Odds to Have Kids Despite Lupus — and ‘Was So Excited’ About It
Chris Watts, Shan'ann Watts Shanann Watts /Facebook
Watts was arrested on Aug. 15 and charged with first-degree murder, among other crimes, in the deaths of his wife Shan’ann, 34, and daughters, Celeste, 3, and Bella, 4.
They were reported missing on Aug. 13 and their bodies were found on the property of Chris’ former employer Anadarko Petroleum not long after he was taken into custody. Anadarko fired Chris the same day as his arrest.
In a document obtained by PEOPLE, investigators revealed they discovered Chris’ affair with an unnamed co-worker, which he initially denied. The document also alleges that he confessed to killing Shan’ann.
RELATED VIDEO: Pregnant Mom & 2 Daughters Killed at Home — Allegedly by Husband — Before Bodies Were Dumped
However, the affidavit shows, Chris allegedly said he only strangled his wife after watching her kill Celeste when he told her he wanted to separate.
Chris claimed that, at the same time, he saw Bella apparently lifeless nearby, according to the affidavit. Then he “went into a rage” and killed Shan’ann, later hiding all three bodies at an oil work site, he said.
RELATED: Chris Watts’ Defense Might Try to Blame Slain Wife for Killing Girls, Legal Expert Says
Chris has not yet entered a plea. His lawyer did not respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment but, according to a statement from the state’s public defender’s office, their attorneys are barred from discussing ongoing criminal cases. ||||| WELD COUNTY, Colo. — In a motion filed in court Wednesday, prosecutors in the Chris Watts case are seeking inked footprints of both the defendant’s left and right foot.
The request for Watts’ prints comes after investigators discovered possible barefoot impressions at the scene where the victims’ bodies were located, according to court documents.
According to records released thus far, the bodies of Shanann and her two daughters were found on property belonging to Anadarko Petroleum Company. The bodies of Celeste and Bella were hidden inside an oil tank and Shanann’s was buried nearby in a shallow grave, the documents say.
MORE: Chris Watts murder case: Everything we know so far
Watts was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in their deaths, though he claimed that Shanann killed their daughters before he killed her at their home in Frederick. Police and prosecutors have not said officially how any of them died, though court records suggested they were strangled.
In earlier filings this week, prosecutors asked the judge to keep the autopsy reports private until the trial is underway, arguing the findings “could result in tainting witnesses that have not yet been interviewed” and could impact future jurors in the case.
It’s unclear how soon a judge might rule on the latest motions from prosecutors. Watts remains jailed in Weld County as he awaits a status conference set for Nov. 19.
||||| When the bodies of Shan’ann Watts and her two young daughters were discovered at a remote Colorado oil field in mid August, police found something else at the scene which may further link the three deaths to Chris Watts, Shan’ann’s husband the father to her girls.
A non-porous bag with a possible footprint was found, according to a prosecution motion obtained by PEOPLE.
In the filing, dated Tuesday, authorities requested to take a print of Chris’ bare feet so they can determine if it matches those found on the bag.
A source close to the investigation confirms to PEOPLE that a bag bearing a possible footprint was found at the oil site, some 40 miles east of the Watts home.
But the source declined to divulge the size or the material of the bag.
RELATED: How the Watts Family Murder Case Unfolded
Chris Watts in court Joshua Polson/AP/REX/Shutterstock
“There was a lot of evidence collected at the scene,” the source says. “and each piece is being carefully inspected to see if it pertains to the case or not.”
Citing “numerous items of evidence” that are being tested, prosecutors have sought to obtain Chris’ DNA and fingerprints as they continue to build a case against him.
The defense has vigorously disputed this request, describing it as too vague and lacking established probable cause. The judge has not yet ruled.
Chris has been sitting in the Weld County Jail for more than a month.
He was arrested late on Aug. 15 and charged with first-degree murder, among other crimes, in the deaths of 34-year-old Shan’ann, who was 15 weeks pregnant, and daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3.
RELATED: Shan’ann Watts Beat Odds to Have Kids Despite Lupus — and ‘Was So Excited’ About It
The three were reported missing on Aug. 13, not long after Shan’ann returned from a work trip, and authorities announced their bodies were found on the property of Chris’ former employer Anadarko Petroleum within hours of him being taken into custody.
Anadarko fired Chris the same day as his arrest.
Shan'ann Watts (center) and her daughters Shanann Watts /Facebook
RELATED VIDEO: Pregnant Mom & 2 Daughters Killed at Home — Allegedly by Husband — Before Bodies Were Dumped
In Chris’ arrest affidavit, obtained by PEOPLE, investigators revealed they discovered his affair with an unnamed co-worker, which he initially denied.
Afterward, he confessed to “the truth,” the affidavit states — claiming he strangled Shan’ann in a rage after watching her strangle Celeste when he told her he wanted to separate. Bella was seen apparently lifeless on her bed, according to the affidavit.
He allegedly told police he then hid all three bodies at the oil site.
RELATED: Chris Watts’ Defense Might Try to Blame Slain Wife for Killing Girls, Legal Expert Says
However, a source close to the investigation previously told PEOPLE that “there is absolutely no evidence that she [Shan’ann] killed her children.”
“Just based on the preliminary evidence, everything is consistent with him killing them all,” the source said.
Chris has not yet entered a plea. His lawyer did not respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment but, according to a statement from the state’s public defender’s office, their attorneys are barred from discussing ongoing criminal cases.
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– Prosecutors want inked footprints from Chris Watts, the Colorado man accused of killing his pregnant wife and two young daughters in August. The request came in the form of a motion filed on Wednesday, Denver7 reports. Investigators reportedly found barefoot impressions at the location where Chris Watts allegedly hid the bodies of Shanann Watts, 34, and daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3. In the motion, prosecutors say they have "developed possible barefoot impressions" from "items of evidence," according to the Denver Post. While the motion does not describe the evidence that yielded the possible footprint, People cites a source who says it is a "non-porous bag." The bodies were reportedly found last month on property belonging to Anadarko Petroleum—Shanann Watts was in a shallow grave, and her two daughters were found submerged in oil tanks nearby. Chris Watts, who claims he strangled his wife only after she killed both of the children, faces nine felonies, including three counts of first-degree murder. According to another People report from earlier this month, the 33-year-old is on suicide watch, with a source telling the magazine: "He's not doing well at all. The gravity of the situation has hit him like a ton of bricks. Depression is setting in, and he's despondent."
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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Three North Koreans wanted for questioning over the murder of the estranged half-brother of their country’s leader returned home on Friday along with the body of victim Kim Jong Nam after Malaysia agreed a swap deal with the reclusive state.
Malaysian police investigating what U.S. and South Korean officials say was an assassination carried out by North Korean agents took statements from the three before they were allowed to leave the country.
“We have obtained whatever we want from them...They have assisted us and they have been allowed to leave,” police chief Khalid Abu Bakar told a news conference in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, saying there were no grounds to hold the men.
Kim Jong Nam, the elder half-brother of the North’s young, unpredictable leader Kim Jong Un, was killed at Kuala Lumpur’s airport on Feb. 13 in a bizarre assassination using VX nerve agent, a chemical so lethal the U.N. has listed it as a weapon of mass destruction.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the remains of a North Korean citizen killed in Malaysia were returned to the North via Beijing along with “relevant” North Korean citizens.
Malaysian authorities released Kim’s body on Thursday in a deal that secured the release of nine Malaysian citizens held in Pyongyang after a drawn out diplomatic spat.
Malaysian police had named eight North Koreans they wanted to question in the case, including the three given safe passage to leave.
Television footage obtained by Reuters from Japanese media showed Hyon Kwang Song, the second secretary at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and Kim Uk Il, a North Korean state airline employee on the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
The police chief confirmed they were accompanied by compatriot Ri Ji U, also known as James, who had been hiding with them at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysian prosecutors have charged two women - an Indonesian and a Vietnamese - with killing Kim Jong Nam, but South Korean and U.S. officials had regarded them as pawns in an operation carried out by North Korean agents.
Related Coverage Malaysia says won't break ties with North Korea
Kim Jong Nam, who had been living in exile in the Chinese territory of Macau for several years, survived an attempt on his life in 2012, according to South Korean lawmakers.
They say Kim Jong Un had issued a “standing order” for the assassination in order to consolidate his own power after the 2011 death of the father of both.
The other North Koreans named by Malaysian investigators are all back in North Korea.
Police believe four fled Malaysia on the same day as the murder and another was held for a week before being released due to insufficient evidence.
Angered by the probe, North Korea ordered a travel ban on Malaysians this month, trapping three diplomats and six family members - including four children - in Pyongyang.
Malaysia, which previously had friendly ties with the unpredictable nuclear-armed state, responded with a ban of its own, but was left with little option but to accede to the North’s demands for the return of the body and safe passage for the three nationals hiding in the embassy.
“CLEAR WINNER”
Malaysia will not snap diplomatic ties with North Korea following the row, Prime Minister Najib Razak said during an official visit to India, state news agency Bernama reported.
“We hope they don’t create a case like this again,” Najib told reporters in the southern city of Chennai. “It will harm the relationship between the two countries.”
On Thursday, Najib had announced the return of the body, but did not mention Kim by name.
“Following the completion of the autopsy on the deceased and receipt of a letter from his family requesting the remains be returned to North Korea, the coroner has approved the release of the body,” Najib said, adding that the murder investigation would continue but the travel ban on North Koreans was lifted.
Hyon Kwang Song (R), the second secretary at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and Kim Uk Il, a North Korean state airline employee, arrive in Beijing intentional airport to board a flight returning to North Korea, in Beijing. Kyodo via REUTERS
North Korea has maintained that the dead man is not Kim Jong Nam, saying instead the body is that of Kim Chol, the name on the victim’s passport.
Malaysian police used a DNA sample to establish the victim was Kim Jong Nam. Police chief Khalid said the North Korean embassy had at first confirmed the identity, but changed its stance the next day.
The swap agreement brings to an end a diplomatic standoff that has lasted nearly seven weeks.
Both countries managed to “resolve issues arising from the death of a DPRK national,” a North Korean statement said on Thursday, referring to the country by the abbreviation of its official name.
“It is a win (for North Korea), clearly,” Andrei Lankov, North Korea expert at Seoul’s Kookmin University, said on the swap deal. “I presume the Malaysians decided not to get too involved in a remote country’s palace intrigues, and wanted their hostages back.”
SIMULTANEOUS TAKE-OFF
The nine Malaysians who had been trapped in Pyongyang arrived in Kuala Lumpur early on Friday on board a small Bombardier business jet operated by the Malaysian air force.
Pilot Hasrizan Kamis said the crew dressed in civilian clothes as a “precautionary step” for the mission.
The Plane Finder tracking website showed the Bombardier took off from Pyongyang at the same time the Malaysian Airlines flight MH360 left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing.
Mohd Nor Azrin Md Zain, one of the returning diplomats, said it had been an anxious period but they “were not particularly harassed” by the North Korean authorities.
The episode, however, is likely to have cost North Korea one of its few friends.
Slideshow (9 Images)
“I think this relationship is going to go into cold storage for a very long time,” said former Malaysian diplomat Dennis Ignatius. ||||| Kim Jong Nam arrives at Beijing airport in Beijing, China, in this photo taken by Kyodo February 11, 2007. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - The body of Kim Jong Nam, half-brother to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the victim of a bizarre murder at Kuala Lumpur airport, is expected to leave by plane on Thursday, media reports and an aviation industry source said.
Kim’s body was believed to be on Malaysia Airlines flight MH360 to Beijing, en route to North Korea, that was currently preparing for take off, media said.
The flight was behind its scheduled departure of 6 p.m. (1000 GMT)
“It is planned for...but not sure if (it’s) happening,” said the aviation industry source, when asked if the body would be flown out on Thursday.
The release of the body by Malaysia - which recently imposed a ban on North Korean nationals leaving the Southeast Asian country - was arranged to secure the return of nine Malaysians stranded in Pyongyang after North Korea imposed a travel ban on Malaysians leaving its borders.
Malaysian police say Kim was killed on Feb. 13 by two women who smeared super toxic VX nerve agent on his face at the Kuala Lumpur budget terminal.
North Korea is demanding Kim’s body and three remaining suspects inside its embassy be returned to Pyongyang in exchange for an end to the travel ban on Malaysians, diplomatic sources have said.
Some media reports said the North Korean suspects were also leaving for Beijing on the same flight. Reuters could not independently verify this.
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– A diplomatic dispute between Malaysia and North Korea appears to have come to an end with the release of Kim Jong Nam's body. The body of the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un—officially identified earlier this month—left Malaysia on a plane bound for Pyongyang via Beijing on Thursday "following the completion of the autopsy on the deceased and receipt of a letter from his family requesting the remains be returned to North Korea," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak says. Nine Malaysians stranded in North Korea as a result of a travel ban following Kim's assassination at Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13 also left North Korea on Thursday aboard a Royal Malaysian Air Force jet, reports Reuters. North Koreans stuck in Malaysia are also allowed to return home, though it isn't clear if three suspects in Kim's assassination, believed to be holed up in the North Korean embassy in Malaysia, are exempt, reports the BBC. Reuters initially cited media reports suggesting the suspects were to leave Malaysia on the same flight carrying Kim's body, but those reports were unverified. While a statement from North Korea says "the importance of bilateral relations was reaffirmed," Najib says "our police investigation into this serious crime on Malaysian soil will continue. I have instructed for all possible measures to be taken to bring those responsible for this murder to justice." Two women have already been charged with murder.
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View Images A life restoration of the newfound titanosaur Savannasaurus elliottorum, based on the defining specimen and comparisons with other titanosaurs
Image By Travis Tischler, Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum Natural History
To get to Australia, giant dinosaurs known as titanosaurs may have had to trek across an even more down-under continent: Antarctica.
That’s the conclusion drawn by a new family tree for sauropods, a group of herbivorous long-necked dinosaurs that includes the largest land animals to ever walk the Earth. The report is based on new sauropod fossils found in Australia that are between 95 and 98 million years old, including a new genus and species dubbed Savannasaurus elliottorum.
The findings—published October 20 in Scientific Reports—suggest that Australia’s sauropods, including titanosaurs, didn’t get to the continent until about a hundred million years ago, tens of millions of years after other types of dinosaurs arrived.
Moreover, the family tree strongly suggests that Australia’s sauropods descended from South American forebears. If those results hold, then it means that sauropods must have traveled by land from South America to Australia during the Cretaceous, when the drifting continents were almost in the positions we see today.
The only available land route at the time? An ice-free Antarctica, made hospitable to sauropods by an ancient bout of natural global warming.
“By plotting the evolution of these sauropods against changes in the positions of the continents, we’ve possibly been able to constrain when these titanosaurs migrated,” says study author Stephen Poropat, a paleontologist with the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum in Winton, Queensland, Australia.
Charting titanosaurs’ Antarctic trek wouldn’t have been possible without the newly described bones, a crucial addition to Australia’s fossil record, which has long been thin on sauropods. In addition to Savannasaurus, the semicomplete remains include the first sauropod skull ever found in Australia, which belongs to a previously known species called Diamantinasaurus matildae.
“Australia has always been one of those unfortunate black holes,” wrote Stephen Brusatte, a University of Edinburgh paleontologist who wasn’t involved with the study, in an emailed statement. “We just know so little about the dinosaurs that lived here, and that has made it difficult to study how dinosaurs moved around the globe.”
He adds that “the new skeleton of Savannasaurus … gives us a really nice glimpse at what the giant, long-necked sauropods that used to call Australia home would have looked like.”
A Dinosaur That Stood Apart
As Savannasaurus’s name suggests, its bones were found in a grassland in eastern Australia in 2005. The remains were first spotted by David Elliott, an Australian sheep farmer and dinosaur enthusiast who has revitalized the study of Australian fossils, founding the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum.
Excavations in 2005 turned up more of Savannasaurus, encased in rock harder than concrete. It took years of work from volunteers to liberate the bones from their casing, and more years still for Poropat and his colleagues to analyze the remains.
“It’s been a long time coming to get this dinosaur described, but it’s extremely exciting,” Elliott says in a statement. “It’s quite unlike most of the other [sauropods] around the world.”
Like all sauropods, Savannasaurus had hollow bones and air sacs throughout its body, an evolutionary attempt to lighten its enormous skeleton. The dinosaur probably stood about 20 feet tall and may have weighed between 15 to 20 tons.
But in some respects, Savannasaurus stands apart—literally. Study co-author Paul Upchurch, a University College London paleobiologist and sauropod expert, says that the dinosaur’s hips were extremely wide, possibly giving it more stability and flexibility when tromping around in inland environments.
Its pelvis also strikes Upchurch as peculiar. “There are places where the bones are paper-thin,” he says. “I’ve never seen such a thin sheet of bone in a sauropod pelvis.”
Poropat adds that the dinosaur’s belly would have been enormous, suggesting that its digestive system would have been convoluted and extensive—absorbing more nutrients from its food than its svelter relatives.
“Savannasaurus seems like a giant fermenting vat … [and] like a long-necked, long-legged hippo, in terms of the actual build of the body,” Poropat says.
But both researchers say that much more work remains to understand Savannasaurus and its relatives—and how they all got to the continent.
Poropat says that the team will soon double back and comprehensively describe the new fossils, confirming the species assignments. And Upchurch says the team is already improving its just published family tree, which should help scientists better grasp how the titanic animals lived, died, and spread across ancient Earth. ||||| 95m-year-old Savannasaurus elliottorum leads researchers to propose new theory of how sauropods spread around the world
A new species of giant herbivorous dinosaur has been found in outback Australia, helping to rewrite the textbooks on how the gentle giants spread around the globe.
The species is a member of the group of dinosaurs known as sauropods – such as the brontosaurus, which have long necks and four thick, pillar-like legs. It belongs to a subgroup called “titanosaurs”, thought to have evolved in South America.
Monster haul: Three new dinosaurs discovered Read more
Named Savannasaurus elliottorum after the savannah landscape it was found in, and David Elliott, who discovered the bones on his sheep station in central Queensland, its 40-or-so fossilised bones make up one of the most complete sauropod skeletons found to date in Australia.
The species was reported on Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports alongside a specimen of another similar but previously described species, known as Diamantinasaurus matildae.
Together, the two specimens led researchers to redescribe the evolutionary tree of sauropods, and propose a new theory of how they spread across the ancient megacontinent of Gondwana, which joined Australia, Africa, Antarctica and South America.
The 95m-year-old savannasaurus specimen, nicknamed Wade, was found by Elliott, who runs the Australian Age of Dinosaurs museum on his farm near Winton. It documents a series of other dinosaur discoveries dating back nearly 20 years.
“I was mustering sheep for crutching,” Elliott said. “It was in 2006 and I found a little toe bone. I thought it was a theropod dinosaur, actually – it looked like a bit of a limb bone. I was really excited about it. It turned out to be a sauropod.”
Elliot’s wife, Judy, looked at two parts of the bone and saw they fitted together, revealing it was a single complete toe of a sauropod, rather than two different parts of a theropod toe.
Over the following years, the Elliott family, scientists and volunteers excavated 17 pallets’ worth of fossil fragments, reconstructing about 20% of a complete skeleton. The dinosaur was found to be between 12 and 15 metres long.
Cretaceous dinosaur footprints uncovered on Western Australian beach Read more
About the same time, Elliott discovered part of another sauropod skeleton, which turned out to be a specimen of a species called Diamantinasaurus matildae. The find included the only skull of that species ever seen.
The two discoveries helped the researchers redraw the evolutionary tree of related dinosaurs, helping them to reconstruct their movement around the world.
“The more anatomical information you can derive from a specimen, the more accurately you can place it on the dinosaur family tree,” said Stephen Poropat, a paleontologist who works with the Australian Age of Dinosaurs museum.
With the new information, Poropat and colleagues found the diamantinasaurus was a less advanced member of the family than previously thought. The new savannasaurus was also to found to be a primitive member of the group.
The evolutionary analysis, which compared the specimens with similar ones in South America, meant there was a small window between 100m and 105m years ago when an ancestor of the two dinosaurs must have crossed over land from South America, through Antarctica, to Australia.
While the evolutionary analysis suggested the dinosaurs only made the journey about 100m years ago, the position of the continents at the time showed it should have been possible earlier.
“We realised there must have been some sort of barrier to them dispersing between South America and Australia before about 105m years ago,” Poropat said.
Oldest fossil of bird's voicebox gives new hint at soundscape of the Cretaceous Read more
The researchers argued the cool climate of the polar region could have been that barrier. And a period of global warming that occurred about 105m years ago could have made the polar region more suitable to the dinosaurs. “Whether by accident or by choice, some of them found themselves in Australia,” said Poropat.
John Long, a paleontologist from Flinders University in Australia who wasn’t involved in the research, said the find was amazing.
“The Winton formation keeps yielding this amazing material and it’s showing such a great diversity of titanosaurs that were around in Australia in this middle cretaceous period,” Long said.
He said it was previously thought that most Australian dinosaurs travelled south from Asia. “It’s now emerging that most of our dinosaurs have a South American affinity,” he said.
The researchers’ theory about climate change allowing the dinosaurs to spread was interesting and “fair enough”. “It’s only putting an idea out there that needs more evidence.”
Long said if the theory were correct, it could be confirmed by other finds.
“Based on that, we could make the prediction that we would find more exciting dinosaurs that occur in South America. Like, for example, the horned carnotaurus – it’s a theropod meat-eating dinosaur with horns on its head.” ||||| Systematic Palaeontology
Dinosauria Owen, 1842
Saurischia Seeley, 1887
Sauropoda Marsh, 1878
Macronaria Wilson and Sereno, 1998
Titanosauriformes Salgado, Coria and Calvo, 1997
Titanosauria Bonaparte and Coria, 1993
Savannasaurus elliottorum gen. et sp. nov.
Etymology
From the Spanish (Taino) zavana (savanna), in reference to the countryside in which the specimen was found, and the Greek σαῦρος (lizard). The species name honours the Elliott family for their ongoing contributions to Australian palaeontology.
Holotype
Australian Age of Dinosaurs Fossil (AODF) 660: one posterior cervical vertebra; several cervical ribs; eight dorsal vertebrae; several dorsal ribs; at least four coalesced sacral vertebrae with processes; at least five partial caudal vertebrae; fragmentary scapula; left coracoid; left and right sternal plates; incomplete left and right humeri; shattered ulna; left radius; right metacarpals I–V; left metacarpal IV; two manual phalanges; fragments of left and right ilia; left and right pubes and ischia, fused together; left astragalus; right metatarsal III; and associated fragments. This disarticulated skeleton was found within a single concretion. The dorsal vertebrae and ribs were in approximate order but were somewhat scattered immediately in front of the incomplete sacrum and puboischiadic sheet (Fig. 3).
Figure 3: Savannasaurus elliottorum gen. et sp. nov., holotype specimen AODF 660. Type site map showing the approximate association of the bones. Scale bar = 1 m. Full size image
Type horizon and locality
Winton Formation (Cenomanian–lower Turonian26); Australian Age of Dinosaurs Locality (AODL) 82 (the “Ho-Hum site”), Belmont Station, Winton, Queensland, Australia.
Diagnosis
Wide-bodied titanosaur diagnosed by the following autapomorphies: (1) anterior-most caudal centra with shallow lateral pneumatic fossae; (2) sternal plate with straight lateral margin (reversal); (3) metacarpal IV distal end hourglass shaped; (4) pubis with ridge extending anteroventrally from ventral margin of obturator foramen on lateral surface; and (5) astragalus proximodistally taller than mediolaterally wide or anteroposteriorly long.
Description
The sole preserved cervical vertebra of Savannasaurus is opisthocoelous and possesses a deep lateral pneumatic foramen. It bears a mid-line ventral keel, a feature uncommon among Macronaria27. The cervical ribs are elongate, such that they overlap at least two vertebrae additional to the one to which they were attached. All preserved dorsal centra are opisthocoelous and show camellate internal texture as in Titanosauriformes28,29. They possess deep, posteriorly acuminate, lateral pneumatic foramina that are set within fossae (Fig. 4a–e); the latter characteristic is mainly restricted to somphospondylans29. All preserved dorsal vertebrae possess ventrolateral ridges but lack ventral keels; both keels and ridges are present in Opisthocoelicaudia30 and Diamantinasaurus22. As in most advanced titanosaurs27,31, hyposphenes and hypantra are absent in all preserved vertebrae of Savannasaurus. The dorsal neural spines are not bifid, distinguishing Savannasaurus from Opisthocoelicaudia30. The dorsal neural spines are angled posterodorsally at 45° to the long axis of the centrum in the anterior-most vertebrae, a synapomorphy of Somphospondyli29; this angle decreases along the column, with the posterior-most spines sub-vertical. As in all members of Titanosauriformes29, the dorsal ribs bear proximal pneumatic cavities. The incomplete sacrum, comprising at least four vertebrae with lower sacral acetabular processes, is over one metre wide transversely at its narrowest point (Fig. 4f), contributing to the wide-hipped appearance of Savannasaurus. All preserved caudal vertebrae are amphicoelous (Fig. 4g,h), distinguishing Savannasaurus from most titanosaurs32. The anterior-most caudal vertebra preserved bears shallow lateral pneumatic fossae, unlike those of most somphospondylans27, including Wintonotitan33. Within Macronaria, the presence of such fossae has been regarded as a synapomorphy of Brachiosauridae (or a slightly less inclusive clade)31; as such, the discovery of fossae in the anterior caudal vertebrae of Savannasaurus indicates that this feature was more widespread within Titanosauriformes.
Figure 4: Savannasaurus elliottorum gen. et sp. nov., holotype specimen AODF 660. (a–e) Dorsal vertebrae (left lateral view). (f) Sacrum (ventral view). (g,h) Caudal vertebrae (left lateral view). (i) Left coracoid (lateral view). (j) Right sternal plate (ventral view). (k) Left radius (posterior view). (l) Right metacarpal III (anterior view). (m) Left astragalus (anterior view). (n) Coossified right and left pubes (anterior view). A number of ribs were preserved but have been omitted for clarity. Scale bar = 500 mm. Full size image
Unlike those of titanosaurs29,32, the dorsoventrally thin, but transversely broad, sternal plates (Fig. 4j) lack a reniform shape, although each sternal plate is approximately 70% the length of the humerus, a feature shared with other titanosaurs34. Relative to the long axis of the shaft, the distal end of the radius is bevelled at ~20° (Fig. 4k), and the mediolateral width of the proximal end of the radius is one-third its overall proximodistal length, characteristic of Titanosauria35. As is known for Diamantinasaurus22, and presumed in Wintonotitan33, the metacarpals are, from longest to shortest, III-II-I-IV-V, and manual phalanges were present on at least some of the digits. The maximum length of the longest metacarpal (Fig. 4l) is greater than 0.45 times that of the radius (0.49), a synapomorphy of Macronaria29, but this value is lower than in both Diamantinasaurus22 and Wintonotitan33. The distal condyle of metacarpal I is reduced, as in other Titanosauriformes29, and the distal end of metacarpal IV has an autapomorphic hourglass shape.
Both pubes and ischia are fused, forming a sheet-like structure over one metre wide at its narrowest point (Fig. 4n), and less than one centimetre thick at the junction of the four elements. An autapomorphic ridge extends anteroventrally from the ventral margin of the obturator foramen along the lateral surface of the pubis. The posterolateral process of the ischium is less-developed than in Wintonotitan33. Distally, the ischia are coplanar, and are significantly shorter than the pubes (ratio < 0.8), as in most somphospondylans27,34. As is typical for Neosauropoda29, the astragalus of Savannasaurus is wedge-shaped; however, its morphology differs markedly from that of Diamantinasaurus22 and, indeed other sauropods, in that it is proximodistally taller than either mediolaterally broad or anteroposteriorly long (Fig. 4m).
Titanosauria Bonaparte and Coria, 1993
Diamantinasaurus matildae Hocknull, White, Tischler, Cook, Calleja, Sloan and Elliott, 2009
Holotype (including paratypes from the same individual [marked with an asterisk])
AODF 603: three partial cervical ribs; two incomplete dorsal vertebrae*; dorsal ribs; four coalesced sacral vertebrae with bases of two sacral processes*; two isolated sacral processes; right scapula; right coracoid*; right and left humeri; right ulna; right radius*; left metacarpal I; right metacarpals II–V; five manual phalanges; left ilium; right and left pubes; right and left ischia; right femur; right tibia; right fibula; right astragalus20,22.
Referred specimen
AODF 836: left squamosal; nearly complete braincase; right surangular; skull fragments; atlas-axis; five post-axial cervical vertebrae; three dorsal vertebrae; partial sacrum; dorsal ribs; right scapula; both iliac preacetabular processes; paired pubes and ischia; associated fragments (Fig. 5).
Figure 5: Diamantinasaurus matildae, referred specimen AODF 836. (a,b) Braincase (left lateral and caudal views). (c,d) endocranium (left lateral oblique and ventral views). (e) Axis (left lateral view). (f) Cervical vertebra III (left lateral view). Abbreviations: bt, basal tuber; cca, internal carotid artery; coch, cochlea; crb, cerebral hemisphere; crbl, cerebellum; dds, dorsal dural sinus; fm, foramen magnum; hfp, hypophyseal fossa placement; ioa, internal ophthalmic artery; jug, jugular vein; lbr, endosseous labyrinth; mf, metotic foramen; midb, midbrain; mo, medulla oblongata; nc, nuchal crest; occ, occipital condyle; ofb, olfactory bulb; oft, olfactory tract; pp, paroccipital process; II, optic tract; III, oculomotor nerve; IV, trochlear nerve; V, trigeminal nerve; V 1 , ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve; V 2+3 , maxillo-mandibular branch of the trigeminal nerve; VI, abducens nerve; VII, facial nerve; IX, glossopharyngeal nerve; X, vagus nerve; XI, accessory nerve; XII, hypoglossal nerve? structure of unknown or disputable identity/placement. Scale bar = 100 mm. Full size image
Horizon and locality
Winton Formation (Cenomanian–early Turonian26); AODL 127 (the “Elliot site”), Belmont Station, Winton, Queensland, Australia.
Description of AODF 836
The frontal of Diamantinasaurus would have formed the anterior margin of the supratemporal fenestra, a feature shared with Saltasaurus36 and Rapetosaurus37, but not Nemegtosaurus38. A posteroventrally directed occipital condyle (Fig. 5a) and the extension of the paroccipital processes as distoventral prongs (Fig. 5b) are both features characteristic of titanosaurs29. The dorsoventral height of the supraoccipital is less than that of the foramen magnum, and the basal tubera are greater than 1.5 times the width of the occipital condyle, lacking a raised lip and diverging at less than 50°—these features are shared with saltasaurids (e.g. Saltasaurus36), but not with nemegtosaurids (e.g. Nemegtosaurus and Rapetosaurus38). The foramen on the posterior surface of the basal tubera is also present in most titanosauriforms, but is absent in Nemegtosaurus and Rapetosaurus38. As is also the case in derived titanosaurs39, the opening for cranial nerve VI does not penetrate the pituitary fossa (Fig. 5c). The external foramen for the internal carotid artery lies medial to the basipterygoid process (Fig. 5d), a characteristic only observed in derived titanosaurs39.
All preserved postaxial presacral vertebrae are opisthocoelous, and show a camellate internal tissue texture. Diamantinasaurus has an anteroposteriorly short axis (Fig. 5e), a feature previously suggested as characterizing Saltasauridae31. The prezygapophyses of each preserved anterior cervical vertebra project further anteriorly than the anterior condyle of the centrum (Fig. 5f), distinguishing Diamantinasaurus from Saltasaurus36 and Rapetosaurus37. As is also the case in the holotype of Diamantinasaurus22, the dorsal surfaces of the cervical ribs are not excavated. In the middle dorsal vertebrae, the postspinal lamina extends ventral to the neural spine.
The scapular glenoid is laterally bevelled, and a flattened surface posterior to the ventral triangular process is present (Fig. 6), as in the holotype of Diamantinasaurus22, but not Wintonotitan33. No fossa is present on the medial surface of the scapula, and the posterolateral process of the ischium is weak; both of these features distinguish Diamantinasaurus from Wintonotitan33. The pubes and ischia are robust, and the morphology of these elements far more closely approximates those of the Diamantinasaurus holotype33 than those of the Savannasaurus or Wintonotitan type specimens33.
Figure 6: Scapulae of Diamantinasaurus matildae. (a) Diamantinasaurus matildae holotype right scapula AODF 603 (right lateral view). (b) Diamantinasaurus matildae referred right scapula AODF 836 (right lateral view). Abbreviations: fs, flattened surface; vtp, ventral triangular process. Scale bar = 200 mm for (a) and 140 mm for (b). Full size image
Additional comparisons between Savannasaurus and Diamantinasaurus
The dorsal vertebrae of Savannasaurus and Diamantinasaurus are quite similar overall, but there are several differences. The type specimen of Diamantinasaurus includes two dorsal vertebrae22, one posterior (described as “dorsal vertebra A” by Poropat et al.22) and one anterior (“dorsal vertebra B”). Based on comparisons with Savannasaurus, the type anterior dorsal vertebra of Diamantinasaurus is Dv3, and its morphology is extremely similar to that of Savannasaurus. Both lack ventral keels, and both possess paired posterior centroparapophyseal laminae (PCPLs). However, the centroprezygapophyseal laminae (CPRLs) of Savannasaurus are paired, whereas those of Diamantinasaurus are not. Ventrally, the middle–posterior dorsal centra of both taxa are transversely concave, between ventrolateral ridges. However, the type posterior dorsal vertebra of Diamantinasaurus is quite different from the posterior dorsal vertebrae of Savannasaurus inasmuch as it possesses a ventral mid-line keel and has a vertical neural spine. In both taxa, the postspinal lamina extends ventral to the neural spine, beyond the postzygapophyseal articular surfaces.
The forelimbs of Savannasaurus are proportionally quite different from those of Diamantinasaurus. In Savannasaurus, the longest metacarpal (III) is 0.49 times the length of the radius, and the radius is less than 0.75 times the length of the humerus, whereas in Diamantinasaurus, the longest metacarpal (III) is 0.61 times the length of the radius, and the radius is 0.63 times the length of the humerus. The maximum diameter of the proximal end of the radius divided by the proximodistal length is 0.3 or greater in both taxa.
Perhaps the most notable differences between the two specimens lie in the pelvic girdle. Whereas the pubis and ischium of Diamantinasaurus are slightly proximodistally longer than those of Savannasaurus, the mediolateral width of the articulated pubes and ischia of the latter greatly exceeds that of the former (ratio of 1.2–1.4 depending on point of measurement). Thus, Savannasaurus must have been proportionally wider across the hips than Diamantinasaurus, which is corroborated by measurements of the sacral vertebrae. Both taxa share the presence of an anteriorly expanded ‘boot’27 at the distal end of the pubis.
Phylogenetic results
Following a priori pruning of ten unstable and highly incomplete taxa (see Supplementary Information), our equal weights analysis resulted in 12 MPTs of 1,508 steps and produced a largely resolved strict consensus tree (Supplementary Fig. S1), with polytomies restricted to: (1) a clade within Brachiosauridae; (2) the base of Titanosauria; and (3) several lithostrotian taxa outside of Saltasauridae. The agreement subtree (i.e. the largest fully resolved topology common to all MPTs) required the a posteriori pruning of four further taxa (Supplementary Fig. S2) and is shown in Fig. 7 as a time-calibrated phylogenetic tree, with basal nodes collapsed for simplicity. Bremer supports vary from 1 to 3 throughout the tree, with the best supported clades including Euhelopodidae and Lithostrotia. The tree topology is largely congruent with that presented in previous iterations of this data matrix22,23,27,33; consequently, we focus on the results pertaining to the Australian taxa.
Figure 7: Time-calibrated phylogenetic tree, with basal nodes collapsed for simplicity. (see Supplementary Fig. S2 for full version). The box next to each taxon demarcates its temporal range (including stratigraphic uncertainty), whereas the colour of the box reflects the continent(s) from which the taxon derives (light blue = North America; light green = Europe; red = Asia; dark blue = South America; yellow = Africa; purple = India; dark green = Australia). Full size image
Wintonotitan is recovered as a non-titanosaurian somphospondylan, just basal to the titanosaur radiation (Fig. 7), similar to its position in previous analyses of this data matrix22,27,33. Diamantinasaurus was recovered as an opisthocoelicaudine by Poropat et al.22; by contrast, it is resolved herein as a non-lithostrotian titanosaur (Fig. 7), forming the clade Savannasaurus + (Diamantinasaurus + AODF 836) (Bremer support = 2). Further results pertaining to Titanosauria, and those based on our implied weights analysis, are reported in the Supplementary Information and in Supplementary Figs S1–S8.
Palaeobiogeographic results
The results of our unconstrained BioGeoBEARS analyses (i.e. those that do not take palaeogeography into account) estimate Asia as being the sole area occupied by the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of the Diamantinasaurus + Savannasaurus lineage and other titanosaurs, as well as the MRCA of Wintonotitan and other somphospondylans (Supplementary Table S26; Supplementary Figs S9–14). These results are consistent with previous suggestions that mid-Cretaceous Australian dinosaurian faunas are most similar to those of East Asia13,14, and that such faunas represent the product of direct trans-oceanic dispersal between these two regions40. The incorporation of palaeogeographic data in our analyses, however, has a marked effect on the inferred biogeographic history. In particular, the MRCAs of the two early Late Cretaceous Australian sauropod lineages are estimated to have occupied both Asia and South America minimally, and in several analyses these ancestral ranges also encompass Africa and Indo-Madagascar (Supplementary Table S26; Supplementary Figs S15–22). Moreover, when palaeogeographic data are included, the best-fitting maximum likelihood (ML) models are BAYAREALIKE and BAYAREALIKE + J (although DEC + J is also favoured in analyses where taxon midpoint ages are used to time-calibrate the tree, and constraints on intercontinental dispersal are more relaxed—see discussion in Supplementary Information for further details). BAYAREALIKE and BAYAREALIKE + J are ML models that exclude the possibility of vicariance41. Although it would be premature to rule out a role for vicariance in determining the palaeogeographic distributions of Cretaceous macronarians (see Supplementary Information), such a result does imply that the dominant biogeographic processes at work include dispersal, founder-event speciation, sympatry, and regional extinction.
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– An Australian sheep farmer has discovered a beast far bigger than he's ever handled—along with new clues as to how dinosaurs ended up Down Under. Paleontologists, together with dinosaur enthusiast/sheep farmer David Elliot, say they've uncovered a new monster of a dinosaur belonging to the titanosaur subgroup of sauropods—long-necked herbivores like brontosaurus—which may have migrated to Australia from South America. Experts previously thought nearly all dinosaurs reached Australia through Asia, reports the Guardian. But one of the most complete sauropod skeletons ever found in Australia—pieced together after Elliot found a toe bone on his Queensland property about a decade ago—says otherwise. Elliot found fossils from another known sauropod species as well; it and the Savannasaurus elliottorum allowed paleontologists to complete an evolutionary analysis that suggests Australia's sauropods descended from dinosaurs in South America and must've crossed Antarctica during a warm spell 105 million to 100 million years ago, per National Geographic. As for the defining characteristics of the 20-foot-tall, 50-foot-long Savannasaurus, which roamed some 95 million years ago: Stephen Poropat, lead author of the report on the find in Scientific Reports, describes the 20-ton beast as "a long-necked, long-legged hippo" with wide hips, some unusually "paper-thin" bones in its pelvis, and a huge belly. (It also might have cooed.)
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(SHELBY COUNTY D.A. NEWS RELEASE) - A 67-year-old man whose dentures were found at the scene of a sexual assault 16 years ago pled guilty to rape charges Monday and was sentenced to eight years in prison, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Amy Weirich.
Thomas Maupin’s dentures were made while he was serving a prison sentence for the 1988 murder of a 6-year-old girl in Washington State. His name also was imprinted in the dentures.
The dentures were collected and tagged by crime scene investigators and placed in the police property room. A sexual assault kit including DNA evidence also was collected, but became part of a backlog that was not tested until many years later.
In July of 2016, the dentures were taken to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for testing, and a partial DNA profile was developed that showed to be consistent with that of Maupin.
He entered his guilty plea before Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee. The victim, who remains emotionally traumatized by the case, did not want to testify in a trial, and approved the settlement.
The rape occurred Aug. 19, 2001, when a 31-year-old woman walking in the 1200 block of Thomas Street north of Frayser Boulevard was approached by a motorist who got out of his car and began walking with her.
After a few moments, the man forced her into an alley and stabbed her with a metal object under her chin with such force that it struck the roof of her mouth. He also used the object to sexually assault her after forcing her to perform oral sex.
Maupin came to Memphis after serving 12 years in Washington for killing a young girl in Spokane, Wash. He was twice convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison, but the convictions were overturned on appeal.
The Memphis rape case was handled by Asst. Dist. Atty. Abby Wallace who has been a member of the DA’s Special Victims Unit which prosecutes cases of child sexual abuse and severe physical abuse of child victims; rape and aggravated rape of adult victims, and abuse of elderly and vulnerable adults. ||||| CLOSE Memphis Crime Stoppers allows people to anonymously submit tips to crimes they may have witnessed. Here are several ways you can submit a tip to Crime Stoppers. Wochit
Thomas Maupin (Photo: Shelby County)
A 67-year-old man pleaded guilty this week to raping a woman in 2001 after a DNA profile was developed years later from dentures left at the scene.
Thomas Maupin pleaded to raping the 31-year-old woman on August 19, 2001 in the 1200 block of Thomas Street. Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee sentenced him to eight years in a plea agreement.
Investigators recovered Maupin's dentures, imprinted with his name, and the woman's sexual assault kit became part of an accumulation of untested kits.
The dentures were taken to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in July 2016, and a partial DNA profile "showed to be consistent with that of Maupin," the office of the Shelby County District Attorney General said.
Maupin was previously convicted twice of killing 6-year-old Tricna Cloy in 1988 in Washington State, but the convictions were thrown out, said attorney Juni Ganguli. Maupin pleaded to a lesser charge and was subsequently freed.
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– While in prison for a murder for which he was twice convicted and later acquitted, Thomas Maupin had a set of dentures made. Years later, that set would become a key piece of evidence helping to put him behind bars again. According to Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich, dentures bearing Maupin's name were found at the scene of a rape in Memphis, Tenn., on Aug. 19, 2001. But for 15 years, they went untested due to a department backlog, reports the Commercial Appeal. Only in 2016, when a partial DNA profile was developed from the dentures and found "to be consistent with that of Maupin," was he finally arrested, according to a release. Twice convicted of the 1988 murder of 6-year-old Tricna Cloy in Spokane, Wash., Maupin served 12 years in prison before his convictions were overturned; he then traveled to Memphis. On Aug. 19, 2001, he began walking alongside a 31-year-old woman, per the release. Maupin then forced the woman into an alley, where he stabbed her under the chin with a metal object that went all the way up to the roof of her mouth. He also used the object to rape the woman after forcing her to perform oral sex. Now 67, Maupin pleaded guilty to rape charges on Monday and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
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LONDON (Reuters) - Scotland voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to allow same-sex marriages, becoming the 17th country to give the green light to gay marriage despite opposition from its main church organisations.
The Scottish government, which will hold a referendum on independence from Britain in September, said passing the same-sex marriage bill was an important step for equal rights and paved the way for same-sex wedding ceremonies later this year.
The move was opposed by the Scottish Catholic Church and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland but the law will not compel religious institutions to hold ceremonies on their premises.
The approval, in a vote of 105 to 18 in Scotland's devolved parliament, follows similar legislation passed by the British parliament last year that allows same-sex marriage in England and Wales, with the first weddings to take place from March 29.
Scotland Health Secretary Alex Neil said it was "right that same sex couples should be able to freely express their love and commitment to each other through getting married".
"Marriage is about love, and that has always been at the heart of this issue," Neil said in a statement.
Gay campaigners said the vote was a milestone for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality in Scotland and welcomed the Scottish government's efforts to advance the approval from an expected time frame of 2015. Currently in Scotland, same-sex couples can enter into civil partnerships.
"This is a profoundly emotional moment for many people who grew up in a country where being gay was still a criminal offence until 1980," Tom French, policy coordinator for the Equality Network, said in a statement.
The legislation to allow same-sex marriage first entered the Scottish parliament for debate in June last year despite opposition from church and other religious groups.
Under the law, civil marriage ceremonies can take place in any place agreed between the couple and the registrar, other than religious premises.
Opposing the move, the Church of Scotland said same-sex marriage fundamentally changed marriage as a relationship between one man and one woman.
The Evangelical Alliance Scotland described the move as "legal fiction" and a "blow to society" at a time when Scotland is about to vote in September on whether to split from the rest of Britain and become an independent country.
"At a time in Scotland when we are considering what kind of nation we want to live in, this legislation sends all the wrong signals about the place of marriage and family in modern day Scotland," spokesman Fred Drummond told Christian Today website.
The fourth British link, Northern Ireland, has stated it does not intend to introduce same-sex marriage legislation.
Scotland is among a growing number of countries as well as parts of the United States and Mexico that allow same-sex marriage. The Netherlands was the first in 2001, and last year England and Wales, Brazil, Uruguay, New Zealand and France joined the list.
(Editing by Mark Heinrich) ||||| Bill passed by 105 to 18 after several attempts to add extra protections for religious celebrants are voted down
The first same-sex weddings in Scotland could take place in October after MSPs voted by a majority of 87 to legalise gay marriage.
The vote, passed by 105 to 18, came after the Scottish parliament voted down several attempts to amend the bill to add extra protections for religious celebrants who opposed the new law.
The amendments were backed by up to 21 MSPs, chiefly Catholic and Baptist churchgoers, but Alex Neil, the Scottish health secretary, argued there were already "robust protections" for religious organisations and celebrants.
"We have always maintained at the heart of this issue there is one simple fact: a marriage is about love," Neil said. "All couples in Scotland in a loving relationship must know that they have the same rights and responsibilities and, regardless of their gender, the same opportunity to get married."
Religious bodies will be allowed to carry out same-sex weddings if they formally opt in to the legislation; individual celebrants who still reject the reform after their churches introduce it will be protected, after the UK government agreed amendments to the Equalities Act.
Gay and civil rights campaigners were jubilant with the result. Tom French, policy co-ordinator for the Equality Network, said: "This is a profoundly emotional moment for many people who grew up in a country where being gay was still a criminal offence until 1980.
"Scotland can be proud that we now have one of the most progressive equal marriage bills in the world, and that we've sent out a strong message about the kind of country we are."
Colin Macfarlane, director of Stonewall Scotland, said it was a historic moment. "We're delighted that MSPs have overwhelmingly demonstrated that they're committed to building a Scotland fit for the 21st century," he said.
Scotland will become the 17th country and legislature around the world to introduce same-sex marriage. The first in England and Wales are due to take place this March.
Scotland's first marriages are expected this autumn, after ministers promised to rush through the legal powers.
The two main churches, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic church, have opposed the reform, alongside other faiths and churches including Muslim leaders. More than 50 ministers and church officials wrote to the Scottish government expressing their "deep concern" before the vote. The multi-faith Scotland for Marriage group said more than 54,000 people had signed a new petition opposing the law by Monday evening.
Opponents of the measures fear that equalities legislation could be used to force public servants such as registrars or schoolteachers to support gay marriage. Christian MSPs pressed for clauses stating "for the avoidance of doubt" that marriage is "between one man and one woman".
They believe churches could be refused funding or council buildings if they are known to oppose same-sex marriage. John Mason, an SNP MSP and Baptist, tabled several amendments to bolster the statutory rights of opponents of same-sex ceremonies, including one stating that no one could be "compelled by any means" to solemnise a gay marriage.
"If the parliament accepts none of these amendments this afternoon, we are sending out a signal that we've not been listening," Mason argued.
Richard Lyle, another SNP MSP, said prospective foster carers could be turned down if they opposed same-sex marriage. "What is more likely, yet not less tragic, is that applicants with so-called traditional views on marriage will be put off applying in the first place, fearing they will be branded homophobic," he said.
That argument was resisted by Jim Eadie, also an SNP MSP. "Speaking as someone who is both gay and adopted, I believe this amendment is both discriminatory and unnecessary because it singles out beliefs about same-sex marriage of being worthy of protection. Why should other beliefs not be similarly protected, for example a belief that divorce is wrong."
Jackson Carlaw, the Scottish Tory deputy leader, said there was a "celebratory attitude" during the Holyrood debate, and wholeheartedly supported the new legislation.
"There has been a huge change in my lifetime, from the brutal atmosphere that existed in respect of gay people when I was a teenager and a young man," he said. "But I regard today as a fantastic, celebratory change in the mood, style, signature and stamp of my country, Scotland." ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption MSPs applauded after plans to allow same-sex marriages passed by 105 votes to 18
A bill which allows same-sex weddings to take place in Scotland has been passed by MSPs in the Scottish Parliament.
MSPs voted by 105 to 18 in favour of the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill.
The Scottish government said the move was the right thing to do but Scotland's two main churches were opposed to it.
The first gay and lesbian weddings could take place this autumn.
Religious and belief bodies can "opt in" to perform same-sex marriages.
Ministers said no part of the religious community would be forced to hold such ceremonies in churches.
Image copyright PA Image caption Equal Marriage campaigners gathered outside the Scottish Parliament
During a debate at Holyrood, MSPs rejected amendments which were said to provide "protection" for groups and individuals opposed to same-sex marriage.
The SNP's John Mason tabled an amendment stating that no-one could be "compelled by any means" to solemnise gay marriage, including by a contract or a legal requirement.
Analysis Gay and lesbian couples are allowed to marry in sixteen countries around the world. That includes England & Wales where the first same-sex weddings are due to take place at the end of March. In Scotland, the government says it wants ceremonies to become available "as soon as possible". The BBC understands that it will be October - at the earliest - before this happens. By the end of 2014, Northern Ireland is expected to be the only part of the UK that does not allow same-sex marriage. Critics fear the Scottish legislation could lead to those with a traditional view of marriage facing discrimination. But the Scottish government insists that freedom of expression is fully protected. It has yet to decide whether or not to open civil partnerships to mixed sex couples.
Mr Mason said that this was similar to a measure included in the bill passed by the UK Parliament allowing same-sex marriage in England and Wales.
Health Secretary Alex Neil insisted there were "robust protections for religious bodies and celebrants" in the bill and the amendment was unnecessary.
Mr Mason tabled further amendments, including one calling for recognition that "a belief in marriage as a voluntary union between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others for life is a belief worthy of respect in a democratic society".
He said: "This has been the prevailing view in Scotland for centuries, and may now be considered a minority view or even old fashioned, but it is an integral tenet of faith for many Christians, Muslims and others as well as the belief of many of no faith position at all."
Mr Mason added: "We have seen volunteers in the third sector removed from the board for publicly supporting traditional marriage."
The first same-sex weddings in England and Wales will take place from 29 March, in the wake of legislation already passed by the Westminster parliament.
In Scotland, same-sex couples currently have the option to enter into civil partnerships, but SNP ministers brought forward their Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill, saying the move was an important step for equality.
MSPs were allowed a free vote, rather than along party lines.
'Not far enough'
Mr Neil said passing the bill meant "a historic day in the history of the Scottish Parliament", which received the front-bench backing of Labour's Jackie Baillie and Conservative Jackson Carlaw.
Gay rights organisations, including the Equality Network and Stonewall Scotland, and a range of other groups, have supported the legislation.
But the Scottish Catholic Church and Church of Scotland oppose the move, and have said they have no plans to conduct same-sex marriages.
And the campaign group Scotland for Marriage said the safeguards in the bill did not go far enough.
Image copyright PA Image caption Those against the move to introduce gay marriage protested outside Holyrood
Key measures in the Scottish government's bill include:
Religious and belief bodies opt in to perform same-sex marriage.
Civil marriage ceremonies can take place anywhere agreed by the registrar and the couple, other than religious premises.
Celebrants who are part of an organisation which has not opted in would not be allowed to conduct same-sex marriages.
Individual celebrants who felt it would go against their faith to carry out same-sex weddings would be protected.
Establishing belief ceremonies, such as humanist ceremonies as a "third form of marriage", alongside religious and civil events.
Authorising Church of Scotland deacons to solemnise opposite sex marriage.
Possible tests for religious and belief bodies to meet when solemnising marriages or registering civil partnerships, in light of increasing concerns over sham and forced marriages.
Introducing religious and belief ceremonies to register civil partnerships.
Allowing transgender people to stay married, rather than having to get divorced, when obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate.
Provision making it clear that the introduction of same-sex marriage has no impact on existing rights to freedom of speech and that it is possible to oppose same-sex marriage "without being homophobic".
Amended guidance on the teaching of the issue in schools.
And an intention to recognise same-sex marriages registered elsewhere in the UK and overseas.
Quakers have campaigned in favour of same-sex marriage and have said they would allow ceremonies to take place on their premises.
Other religious groups which back change include Buddhists and the Pagan Federation.
The Church of Scotland - whose ruling General Assembly last year voted to allow actively gay men and women to become ministers - has said the institution stood against homophobia, but added that the "wide spread of opinion" on gay marriage was reflected among members of congregations across the country.
As well as the main bill, Scottish ministers have also reached an agreement with the UK government for an amendment to the 2010 Equality Act.
Blessings offer
The move aims to protect individual religious celebrants, who do not wish to conduct same-sex marriages, from the threat of court action claiming discrimination.
Westminster's Marriage Act which became law last July, will allow religious organisations to "opt in" to offering weddings, with the Church of England and Church in Wales banned in law from doing so.
The Church of England, the Church in Wales and other faith groups have stated their opposition to gay marriage.
A report commissioned by the Church of England has recommended that members of the clergy should be allowed to offer blessings to same-sex couples.
The Northern Ireland Assembly is not currently considering any legislation to allow same-sex marriage.
The Scottish government's marriage bill was brought forward after a government consultation, which produced a record 77,508 responses.
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– Scotland's churches want no part of the move, but the Scottish parliament today overwhelmingly approved gay marriage, reports the BBC. Scotland becomes the 17th country to sanction the marriages, with the first ones expected to take place in the fall, notes the Guardian. The Scottish Catholic Church and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland opposed the law, and they will not be required to perform same-sex ceremonies on their premises, reports Reuters. "This is a profoundly emotional moment for many people who grew up in a country where being gay was still a criminal offense until 1980," says the policy coordinator for one advocacy group. Scotland's next big vote will be a referendum on independence from Britain in September. (England already has legalized gay marriage.)
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Note: If you want to print this post or read it offline, the PDF is probably the way to go. You can buy it here.
And here’s a G-rated version of the post, appropriate for all ages.
_______________________
Last month, I got a phone call.
Okay maybe that’s not exactly how it happened, and maybe those weren’t his exact words. But after learning about the new company Elon Musk was starting, I’ve come to realize that that’s exactly what he’s trying to do.
When I wrote about Tesla and SpaceX, I learned that you can only fully wrap your head around certain companies by zooming both way, way in and way, way out. In, on the technical challenges facing the engineers, out on the existential challenges facing our species. In on a snapshot of the world right now, out on the big story of how we got to this moment and what our far future could look like.
Not only is Elon’s new venture—Neuralink—the same type of deal, but six weeks after first learning about the company, I’m convinced that it somehow manages to eclipse Tesla and SpaceX in both the boldness of its engineering undertaking and the grandeur of its mission. The other two companies aim to redefine what future humans will do—Neuralink wants to redefine what future humans will be.
The mind-bending bigness of Neuralink’s mission, combined with the labyrinth of impossible complexity that is the human brain, made this the hardest set of concepts yet to fully wrap my head around—but it also made it the most exhilarating when, with enough time spent zoomed on both ends, it all finally clicked. I feel like I took a time machine to the future, and I’m here to tell you that it’s even weirder than we expect.
But before I can bring you in the time machine to show you what I found, we need to get in our zoom machine—because as I learned the hard way, Elon’s wizard hat plans cannot be properly understood until your head’s in the right place.
So wipe your brain clean of what it thinks it knows about itself and its future, put on soft clothes, and let’s jump into the vortex.
___________
Contents
Part 1: The Human Colossus
Part 2: The Brain
Part 3: Brain-Machine Interfaces
Part 4: Neuralink’s Challenge
Part 5: The Wizard Era
Part 6: The Great Merger
Part 1: The Human Colossus
600 million years ago, no one really did anything, ever.
The problem is that no one had any nerves. Without nerves, you can’t move, or think, or process information of any kind. So you just had to kind of exist and wait there until you died.
But then came the jellyfish.
The jellyfish was the first animal to figure out that nerves were an obvious thing to make sure you had, and it had the world’s first nervous system—a nerve net.
The jellyfish’s nerve net allowed it to collect important information from the world around it—like where there were objects, predators, or food—and pass that information along, through a big game of telephone, to all parts of its body. Being able to receive and process information meant that the jellyfish could actually react to changes in its environment in order to increase the odds of life going well, rather than just floating aimlessly and hoping for the best.
A little later, a new animal came around who had an even cooler idea.
The flatworm figured out that you could get a lot more done if there was someone in the nervous system who was in charge of everything—a nervous system boss. The boss lived in the flatworm’s head and had a rule that all nerves in the body had to report any new information directly to him. So instead of arranging themselves in a net shape, the flatworm’s nervous system all revolved around a central highway of messenger nerves that would pass messages back and forth between the boss and everyone else:
The flatworm’s boss-highway system was the world’s first central nervous system, and the boss in the flatworm’s head was the world’s first brain.
The idea of a nervous system boss quickly caught on with others, and soon, there were thousands of species on Earth with brains.
As time passed and Earth’s animals started inventing intricate new body systems, the bosses got busier.
A little while later came the arrival of mammals. For the Millennials of the Animal Kingdom, life was complicated. Yes, their hearts needed to beat and their lungs needed to breathe, but mammals were about a lot more than survival functions—they were in touch with complex feelings like love, anger, and fear.
For the reptilian brain, which had only had to deal with reptiles and other simpler creatures so far, mammals were just…a lot. So a second boss developed in mammals to pair up with the reptilian brain and take care of all of these new needs—the world’s first limbic system.
Over the next 100 million years, the lives of mammals grew more and more complex, and one day, the two bosses noticed a new resident in the cockpit with them.
What appeared to be a random infant was actually the early version of the neocortex, and though he didn’t say much at first, as evolution gave rise to primates and then great apes and then early hominids, this new boss grew from a baby into a child and eventually into a teenager with his own idea of how things should be run.
The new boss’s ideas turned out to be really helpful, and he became the hominid’s go-to boss for things like tool-making, hunting strategy, and cooperation with other hominids.
Over the next few million years, the new boss grew older and wiser, and his ideas kept getting better. He figured out how to not be naked. He figured out how to control fire. He learned how to make a spear.
But his coolest trick was thinking. He turned each human’s head into a little world of its own, making humans the first animal that could think complex thoughts, reason through decisions, and make long-term plans.
And then, maybe about 100,000 years ago, he came up with a breakthrough.
The human brain had advanced to the point where it could understand that even though the sound “rock” was not itself a rock, it could be used as a symbol of a rock—it was a sound that referred to a rock. The early human had invented language.
Soon there were words for all kinds of things, and by 50,000 BC, humans were speaking in full, complex language with each other.
The neocortex had turned humans into magicians. Not only had he made the human head a wondrous internal ocean of complex thoughts, his latest breakthrough had found a way to translate those thoughts into a symbolic set of sounds and send them vibrating through the air into the heads of other humans, who could then decode the sounds and absorb the embedded idea into their own internal thought oceans. The human neocortex had been thinking about things for a long time—and he finally had someone to talk about it all with.
A neocortex party ensued. Neocortexes—fine—neocortices shared everything with each other—stories from their past, funny jokes they had thought of, opinions they had formed, plans for the future.
But most useful was sharing what they had learned. If one human learned through trial and error that a certain type of berry led to 48 hours of your life being run by diarrhea, they could use language to share the hard-earned lesson with the rest of their tribe, like photocopying the lesson and handing it to everyone else. Tribe members would then use language to pass along that lesson to their children, and their children would pass it to their own children. Rather than the same mistake being made again and again by many different people, one person’s “stay away from that berry” wisdom could travel through space and time to protect everyone else from having their bad experience.
The same thing would happen when one human figured out a new clever trick. One unusually-intelligent hunter particularly attuned to both star constellations and the annual migration patterns of wildebeest1 herds could share a system he devised that used the night sky to determine exactly how many days remained until the herd would return. Even though very few hunters would have been able to come up with that system on their own, through word-of-mouth, all future hunters in the tribe would now benefit from the ingenuity of one ancestor, with that one hunter’s crowning discovery serving as every future hunter’s starting point of knowledge.
And let’s say this knowledge advancement makes the hunting season more efficient, which gives tribe members more time to work on their weapons—which allows one extra-clever hunter a few generations later to discover a method for making lighter, denser spears that can be thrown more accurately. And just like that, every present and future hunter in the tribe hunts with a more effective spear.
Language allows the best epiphanies of the very smartest people, through the generations, to accumulate into a little collective tower of tribal knowledge—a “greatest hits” of their ancestors’ best “aha!” moments. Every new generation has this knowledge tower installed in their heads as their starting point in life, leading them to new, even better discoveries that build on what their ancestors learned, as the tribe’s knowledge continues to grow bigger and wiser. Language is the difference between this:
And this:
The major trajectory upgrade happens for two reasons. Each generation can learn a lot more new things when they can talk to each other, compare notes, and combine their individual learnings (that’s why the blue bars are so much higher in the second graph). And each generation can successfully pass a higher percentage of their learnings on to the next generation, so knowledge sticks better through time.
Knowledge, when shared, becomes like a grand, collective, inter-generational collaboration. Hundreds of generations later, what started as a pro tip about a certain berry to avoid has become an intricate system of planting long rows of the stomach-friendly berry bushes and harvesting them annually. The initial stroke of genius about wildebeest migrations has turned into a system of goat domestication. The spear innovation, through hundreds of incremental tweaks over tens of thousands of years, has become the bow and arrow.
Language gives a group of humans a collective intelligence far greater than individual human intelligence and allows each human to benefit from the collective intelligence as if he came up with it all himself. We think of the bow and arrow as a primitive technology, but raise Einstein in the woods with no existing knowledge and tell him to come up with the best hunting device he can, and he won’t be nearly intelligent or skilled or knowledgeable enough to invent the bow and arrow. Only a collective human effort can pull that off.
Being able to speak to each other also allowed humans to form complex social structures which, along with advanced technologies like farming and animal domestication, led tribes over time to begin to settle into permanent locations and merge into organized super-tribes. When this happened, each tribe’s tower of accumulated knowledge could be shared with the larger super-tribe, forming a super-tower. Mass cooperation raised the quality of life for everyone, and by 10,000 BC, the first cities had formed.
According to Wikipedia, there’s something called Metcalfe’s law, which states that “the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system.” And they include this little chart of old telephones:1
But the same idea applies to people. Two people can have one conversation. Three people have four unique conversation groups (three different two-person conversations and a fourth conversation between all three as a group). Five people have 26. Twenty people have 1,048,555.
So not only did the members of a city benefit from a huge knowledge tower as a foundation, but Metcalfe’s law means that the number of conversation possibilities now skyrocketed to an unprecedented amount of variety. More conversations meant more ideas bumping up against each other, which led to many more discoveries clicking together, and the pace of innovation soared.
Humans soon mastered agriculture, which freed many people up to think about all kinds of other ideas, and it wasn’t long before they stumbled upon a new, giant breakthrough: writing.
Historians think humans first started writing things down about 5 – 6,000 years ago. Up until that point, the collective knowledge tower was stored only in a network of people’s memories and accessed only through livestream word-of-mouth communication. This system worked in small tribes, but with a vastly larger body of knowledge shared among a vastly larger group of people, memories alone would have had a hard time supporting it all, and most of it would have ended up lost.
If language let humans send a thought from one brain to another, writing let them stick a thought onto a physical object, like a stone, where it could live forever. When people began writing on thin sheets of parchment or paper, huge fields of knowledge that would take weeks to be conveyed by word of mouth could be compressed into a book or a scroll you could hold in your hand. The human collective knowledge tower now lived in physical form, neatly organized on the shelves of city libraries and universities.
These shelves became humanity’s grand instruction manual on everything. They guided humanity toward new inventions and discoveries, and those would in turn become new books on the shelves, as the grand instruction manual built upon itself. The manual taught us the intricacies of trade and currency, of shipbuilding and architecture, of medicine and astronomy. Each generation began life with a higher floor of knowledge and technology than the last, and progress continued to accelerate.
But painstakingly handwritten books were treated like treasures,2 and likely only accessible to the extreme elite (in the mid 15th century, there were only 30,000 books in all of Europe). And then came another breakthrough: the printing press.
In the 15th century, the beardy Johannes Gutenberg came up with a way to create multiple identical copies of the same book, much more quickly and cheaply than ever before. (Or, more accurately, when Gutenberg was born, humanity had already figured out the first 95% of how to invent the printing press, and Gutenberg, with that knowledge as his starting point, invented the last 5%.) (Oh, also, Gutenberg didn’t invent the printing press, the Chinese did a bunch of centuries earlier. Pretty reliable rule is that everything you think was invented somewhere other than China was probably actually invented in China.) Here’s how it worked:
It Turns Out Gutenberg Isn’t Actually Impressive Blue Box To prepare to write this blue box, I found this video explaining how Gutenberg’s press worked and was surprised to find myself unimpressed. I always assumed Gutenberg had made some genius machine, but it turns out he just created a bunch of stamps of letters and punctuation and manually arranged them as the page of a book and then put ink on them and pressed a piece of paper onto the letters, and that was one book page. While he had the letters all set up for that page, he’d make a bunch of copies. Then he’d spend forever manually rearranging the stamps (this is the “movable type” part) into the next page, and then do a bunch of copies of that. His first project was 180 copies of the Bible,3 which took him and his employees two years. That‘s Gutenberg’s thing? A bunch of stamps? I feel like I could have come up with that pretty easily. Not really clear why it took humanity 5,000 years to go from figuring out how to write to creating a bunch of manual stamps. I guess it’s not that I’m unimpressed with Gutenberg—I’m neutral on Gutenberg, he’s fine—it’s that I’m unimpressed with everyone else.
Anyway, despite how disappointing Gutenberg’s press turned out to be, it was a huge leap forward for humanity’s ability to spread information. Over the coming centuries, printing technology rapidly improved, bringing the number of pages a machine could print in an hour from about 25 in Gutenberg’s time4 up 100-fold to 2,400 by the early 19th century.2
Mass-produced books allowed information to spread like wildfire, and with books being made increasingly affordable, no longer was education an elite privilege—millions now had access to books, and literacy rates shot upwards. One person’s thoughts could now reach millions of people. The era of mass communication had begun.
The avalanche of books allowed knowledge to transcend borders, as the world’s regional knowledge towers finally merged into one species-wide knowledge tower that stretched into the stratosphere.
The better we could communicate on a mass scale, the more our species began to function like a single organism, with humanity’s collective knowledge tower as its brain and each individual human brain like a nerve or a muscle fiber in its body. With the era of mass communication upon us, the collective human organism—the Human Colossus—rose into existence.
With the entire body of collective human knowledge in its brain, the Human Colossus began inventing things no human could have dreamed of inventing on their own—things that would have seemed like absurd science fiction to people only a few generations before.
It turned our ox-drawn carts into speedy locomotives and our horse-and-buggies into shiny metal cars. It turned our lanterns into lightbulbs and written letters into telephone calls and factory workers into industrial machines. It sent us soaring through the skies and out into space. It redefined the meaning of “mass communication” by giving us radio and TV, opening up a world where a thought in someone’s head could be beamed instantly into the brains of a billion people.
If an individual human’s core motivation is to pass its genes on, which keeps the species going, the forces of macroeconomics make the Human Colossus’s core motivation to create value, which means it tends to want to invent newer and better technology. Every time it does that, it becomes an even better inventor, which means it can invent new stuff even faster.
And around the middle of the 20th century, the Human Colossus began working on its most ambitious invention yet.
The Colossus had figured out a long time ago that the best way to create value was to invent value-creating machines. Machines were better than humans at doing many kinds of work, which generated a flood of new resources that could be put towards value creation. Perhaps even more importantly, machine labor freed up huge portions of human time and energy—i.e. huge portions of the Colossus itself—to focus on innovation. It had already outsourced the work of our arms to factory machines and the work of our legs to driving machines, and it had done so through the power of its brain—now what if, somehow, it could outsource the work of the brain itself to a machine?
The first digital computers sprung up in the 1940s.
One kind of brain labor computers could do was the work of information storage—they were remembering machines. But we already knew how to outsource our memories using books, just like we had been outsourcing our leg labor to horses long before cars provided a far better solution. Computers were simply a memory-outsourcing upgrade.
Information-processing was a different story—a type of brain labor we had never figured out how to outsource. The Human Colossus had always had to do all of its own computing. Computers changed that.
Factory machines allowed us to outsource a physical process—we put a material in, the machines physically processed it and spit out the results. Computers could do the same thing for information processing. A software program was like a factory machine for information processes.
These new information-storage/organizing/processing machines proved to be useful. Computers began to play a central role in the day-to-day operation of companies and governments. By the late 1980s, it was common for individual people to own their own personal brain assistant.
Then came another leap.
In the early 90s, we taught millions of isolated machine-brains how to communicate with one another. They formed a worldwide computer network, and a new giant was born—the Computer Colossus.
The Computer Colossus and the great network it formed were like popeye spinach for the Human Colossus.
If individual human brains are the nerves and muscle fibers of the Human Colossus, the internet gave the giant its first legit nervous system. Each of its nodes was now interconnected to all of its other nodes, and information could travel through the system with light speed. This made the Human Colossus a faster, more fluid thinker.
The internet gave billions of humans instant, free, easily-searchable access to the entire human knowledge tower (which by now stretched past the moon). This made the Human Colossus a smarter, faster learner.
And if individual computers had served as brain extensions for individual people, companies, or governments, the Computer Colossus was a brain extension for the entire Human Colossus itself.
With its first real nervous system, an upgraded brain, and a powerful new tool, the Human Colossus took inventing to a whole new level—and noticing how useful its new computer friend was, it focused a large portion of its efforts on advancing computer technology.
It figured out how to make computers faster and cheaper. It made internet faster and wireless. It made computing chips smaller and smaller until there was a powerful computer in everyone’s pocket.
Each innovation was like a new truckload of spinach for the Human Colossus.
But today, the Human Colossus has its eyes set on an even bigger idea than more spinach. Computers have been a game-changer, allowing humanity to outsource many of its brain-related tasks and better function as a single organism. But there’s one kind of brain labor computers still can’t quite do. Thinking.
Computers can compute and organize and run complex software—software that can even learn on its own. But they can’t think in the way humans can. The Human Colossus knows that everything it’s built has originated with its ability to reason creatively and independently—and it knows that the ultimate brain extension tool would be one that can really, actually, legitimately think. It has no idea what it will be like when the Computer Colossus can think for itself—when it one day opens its eyes and becomes a real colossus—but with its core goal to create value and push technology to its limits, the Human Colossus is determined to find out.
___________
We’ll come back here in a bit. First, we have some learning to do.
As we’ve discussed before, knowledge works like a tree. If you try to learn a branch or a leaf of a topic before you have a solid tree trunk foundation of understanding in your head, it won’t work. The branches and leaves will have nothing to stick to, so they’ll fall right out of your head.
We’ve established that Elon Musk wants to build a wizard hat for the brain, and understanding why he wants to do that is the key to understanding Neuralink—and to understanding what our future might actually be like.
But none of that will make much sense until we really get into the truly mind-blowing concept of what a wizard hat is, what it might be like to wear one, and how we get there from where we are today.
The foundation for that discussion is an understanding of what brain-machine interfaces are, how they work, and where the technology is today.
Finally, BMIs themselves are just a larger branch—not the tree’s trunk. In order to really understand BMIs and how they work, we need to understand the brain. Getting how the brain works is our tree trunk.
So we’ll start with the brain, which will prepare us to learn about BMIs, which will teach us about what it’ll take to build a wizard hat, and that’ll set things up for an insane discussion about the future—which will get our heads right where they need to be to wrap themselves around why Elon thinks a wizard hat is such a critical piece of our future. And by the time we reach the end, this whole thing should click into place.
Part 2: The Brain
This post was a nice reminder of why I like working with a brain that looks nice and cute like this:
Because the real brain is extremely uncute and upsetting-looking. People are gross.
But I’ve been living in a shimmery, oozy, blood-vessel-lined Google Images hell for the past month, and now you have to deal with it too. So just settle in.
We’ll start outside the head. One thing I will give to biology is that it’s sometimes very satisfying,5 and the brain has some satisfying things going on. The first of which is that there’s a real Russian doll situation going on with your head.
You have your hair, and under that is your scalp, and then you think your skull comes next—but it’s actually like 19 things and then your skull:3
Then below your skull,6 another whole bunch of things are going on before you get to the brain4:
Your brain has three membranes around it underneath the skull:
On the outside, there’s the dura mater (which means “hard mother” in Latin), a firm, rugged, waterproof layer. The dura is flush with the skull. I’ve heard it said that the brain has no pain sensory area, but the dura actually does—it’s about as sensitive as the skin on your face—and pressure on or contusions in the dura often account for people’s bad headaches.
Then below that there’s the arachnoid mater (“spider mother”), which is a layer of skin and then an open space with these stretchy-looking fibers. I always thought my brain was just floating aimlessly in my head in some kind of fluid, but actually, the only real space gap between the outside of the brain and the inner wall of the skull is this arachnoid business. Those fibers stabilize the brain in position so it can’t move too much, and they act as a shock absorber when your head bumps into something. This area is filled with spinal fluid, which keeps the brain mostly buoyant, since its density is similar to that of water.
Finally you have the pia mater (“soft mother”), a fine, delicate layer of skin that’s fused with the outside of the brain. You know how when you see a brain, it’s always covered with icky blood vessels? Those aren’t actually on the brain’s surface, they’re embedded in the pia. (For the non-squeamish, here’s a video of a professor peeling the pia off of a human brain.)
Here’s the full overview, using the head of what looks like probably a pig:
From the left you have the skin (the pink), then two scalp layers, then the skull, then the dura, arachnoid, and on the far right, just the brain covered by the pia.
Once we’ve stripped everything down, we’re left with this silly boy:5
This ridiculous-looking thing is the most complex known object in the universe—three pounds of what neuroengineer Tim Hanson calls “one of the most information-dense, structured, and self-structuring matter known.”6 All while operating on only 20 watts of power (an equivalently powerful computer runs on 24,000,000 watts).
It’s also what MIT professor Polina Anikeeva calls “soft pudding you could scoop with a spoon.” Brain surgeon Ben Rapoport described it to me more scientifically, as “somewhere between pudding and jello.” He explained that if you placed a brain on a table, gravity would make it lose its shape and flatten out a bit, kind of like a jellyfish. We often don’t think of the brain as so smooshy, because it’s normally suspended in water.
But this is what we all are. You look in the mirror and see your body and your face and you think that’s you—but that’s really just the machine you’re riding in. What you actually are is a zany-looking ball of jello. I hope that’s okay.
And given how weird that is, you can’t really blame Aristotle, or the ancient Egyptians, or many others, for assuming that the brain was somewhat-meaningless “cranial stuffing” (Aristotle believed the heart was the center of intelligence).7
Eventually, humans figured out the deal. But only kind of.
Professor Krishna Shenoy likens our understanding of the brain to humanity’s grasp on the world map in the early 1500s.
Another professor, Jeff Lichtman, is even harsher. He starts off his courses by asking his students the question, “If everything you need to know about the brain is a mile, how far have we walked in this mile?” He says students give answers like three-quarters of a mile, half a mile, a quarter of a mile, etc.—but that he believes the real answer is “about three inches.”8
A third professor, neuroscientist Moran Cerf, shared with me an old neuroscience saying that points out why trying to master the brain is a bit of a catch-22: “If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn’t.”
Maybe with the help of the great knowledge tower our species is building, we can get there at some point. For now, let’s go through what we do currently know about the jellyfish in our heads—starting with the big picture.
The brain, zoomed out
Let’s look at the major sections of the brain using a hemisphere cross section. So this is what the brain looks like in your head:
Now let’s take the brain out of the head and remove the left hemisphere, which gives us a good view of the inside.9
Neurologist Paul MacLean made a simple diagram that illustrates the basic idea we talked about earlier of the reptile brain coming first in evolution, then being built upon by mammals, and finally being built upon again to give us our brain trifecta.
Here’s how this essentially maps out on our real brain:
Let’s take a look at each section:
The Reptilian Brain: The Brain Stem (and Cerebellum)
This is the most ancient part of our brain:10
That’s the section of our brain cross section above that the frog boss resides over. In fact, a frog’s entire brain is similar to this lower part of our brain. Here’s a real frog brain:11
When you understand the function of these parts, the fact that they’re ancient makes sense—everything these parts do, frogs and lizards can do. These are the major sections (click any of these spinning images to see a high-res version):
The medulla oblongata
The medulla oblongata really just wants you to not die. It does the thankless tasks of controlling involuntary things like your heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure, along with making you vomit when it thinks you’ve been poisoned.
The pons
The pons’s thing is that it does a little bit of this and a little bit of that. It deals with swallowing, bladder control, facial expressions, chewing, saliva, tears, and posture—really just whatever it’s in the mood for.
The midbrain
The midbrain is dealing with an even bigger identity crisis than the pons. You know a brain part is going through some shit when almost all its functions are already another brain part’s thing. In the case of the midbrain, it deals with vision, hearing, motor control, alertness, temperature control, and a bunch of other things that other people in the brain already do. The rest of the brain doesn’t seem very into the midbrain either, given that they created a ridiculously uneven “forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain” divide that intentionally isolates the midbrain all by itself while everyone else hangs out.12
One thing I’ll grant the pons and midbrain is that it’s the two of them that control your voluntary eye movement, which is a pretty legit job. So if right now you move your eyes around, that’s you doing something specifically with your pons and midbrain.7
The cerebellum
The odd-looking thing that looks like your brain’s scrotum is your cerebellum (Latin for “little brain”), which makes sure you stay a balanced, coordinated, and normal-moving person. Here’s that rad professor again showing you what a real cerebellum looks like.8
The Paleo-Mammalian Brain: The Limbic System
Above the brain stem is the limbic system—the part of the brain that makes humans so insane.13
The limbic system is a survival system. A decent rule of thumb is that whenever you’re doing something that your dog might also do—eating, drinking, having sex, fighting, hiding or running away from something scary—your limbic system is probably behind the wheel. Whether it feels like it or not, when you’re doing any of those things, you’re in primitive survival mode.
The limbic system is also where your emotions live, and in the end, emotions are also all about survival—they’re the more advanced mechanisms of survival, necessary for animals living in a complex social structure.
In other posts, when I refer to your Instant Gratification Monkey, your Social Survival Mammoth, and all your other animals—I’m usually referring to your limbic system. Anytime there’s an internal battle going on in your head, it’s likely that the limbic system’s role is urging you to do the thing you’ll later regret doing.
I’m pretty sure that gaining control over your limbic system is both the definition of maturity and the core human struggle. It’s not that we would be better off without our limbic systems—limbic systems are half of what makes us distinctly human, and most of the fun of life is related to emotions and/or fulfilling your animal needs—it’s just that your limbic system doesn’t get that you live in a civilization, and if you let it run your life too much, it’ll quickly ruin your life.
Anyway, let’s take a closer look at it. There are a lot of little parts of the limbic system, but we’ll keep it to the biggest celebrities:
The amygdala
The amygdala is kind of an emotional wreck of a brain structure. It deals with anxiety, sadness, and our responses to fear. There are two amygdalae, and oddly, the left one has been shown to be more balanced, sometimes producing happy feelings in addition to the usual angsty ones, while the right one is always in a bad mood.
The hippocampus
Your hippocampus (Greek for “seahorse” because it looks like one) is like a scratch board for memory. When rats start to memorize directions in a maze, the memory gets encoded in their hippocampus—quite literally. Different parts of the rat’s two hippocampi will fire during different parts of the maze, since each section of the maze is stored in its own section of the hippocampus. But if after learning one maze, the rat is given other tasks and is brought back to the original maze a year later, it will have a hard time remembering it, because the hippocampus scratch board has been mostly wiped of the memory so as to free itself up for new memories.
The condition in the movie Memento is a real thing—anterograde amnesia—and it’s caused by damage to the hippocampus. Alzheimer’s also starts in the hippocampus before working its way through many parts of the brain, which is why, of the slew of devastating effects of the disease, diminished memory happens first.
The thalamus
In its central position in the brain, the thalamus also serves as a sensory middleman that receives information from your sensory organs and sends them to your cortex for processing. When you’re sleeping, the thalamus goes to sleep with you, which means the sensory middleman is off duty. That’s why in a deep sleep, some sound or light or touch often will not wake you up. If you want to wake someone up who’s in a deep sleep, you have to be aggressive enough to wake their thalamus up.
The exception is your sense of smell, which is the one sense that bypasses the thalamus. That’s why smelling salts are used to wake up a passed-out person. While we’re here, cool fact: smell is the function of the olfactory bulb and is the most ancient of the senses. Unlike the other senses, smell is located deep in the limbic system, where it works closely with the hippocampus and amygdala—which is why smell is so closely tied to memory and emotion.
The Neo-Mammalian Brain: The Cortex
Finally, we arrive at the cortex. The cerebral cortex. The neocortex. The cerebrum. The pallium.
The most important part of the whole brain can’t figure out what its name is. Here’s what’s happening:
The What the Hell is it Actually Called Blue Box The cerebrum is the whole big top/outside part of the brain but it also technically includes some of the internal parts too. Cortex means “bark” in Latin and is the word used for the outer layer of many organs, not just the brain. The outside of the cerebellum is the cerebellar cortex. And the outside of the cerebrum is the cerebral cortex. Only mammals have cerebral cortices. The equivalent part of the brain in reptiles is called the pallium. The neocortex is often used interchangeably with “cerebral cortex,” but it’s technically the outer layers of the cerebral cortex that are especially developed in more advanced mammals. The other parts are called the allocortex. In the rest of this post, we’ll be mostly referring to the neocortex but we’ll just call it the cortex, since that’s the least annoying way to do it for everyone.
The cortex is in charge of basically everything—processing what you see, hear, and feel, along with language, movement, thinking, planning, and personality.
It’s divided into four lobes:14
It’s pretty unsatisfying to describe what they each do, because they each do so many things and there’s a lot of overlap, but to oversimplify:
The frontal lobe (click the words to see a gif) handles your personality, along with a lot of what we think of as “thinking”—reasoning, planning, and executive function. In particular, a lot of your thinking takes place in the front part of the frontal lobe, called the prefrontal cortex—the adult in your head. The prefrontal cortex is the other character in those internal battles that go on in your life. The rational decision-maker trying to get you to do your work. The authentic voice trying to get you to stop worrying so much what others think and just be yourself. The higher being who wishes you’d stop sweating the small stuff.
As if that’s not enough to worry about, the frontal lobe is also in charge of your body’s movement. The top strip of the frontal lobe is your primary motor cortex.15
Then there’s the parietal lobe which, among other things, controls your sense of touch, particularly in the primary somatosensory cortex, the strip right next to the primary motor cortex.16
The motor and somatosensory cortices are fun because they’re well-mapped. Neuroscientists know exactly which part of each strip connects to each part of your body. Which leads us to the creepiest diagram of this post: the homunculus.
The homunculus, created by pioneer neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield, visually displays how the motor and somatosensory cortices are mapped. The larger the body part in the diagram, the more of the cortex is dedicated to its movement or sense of touch. A couple interesting things about this:
First, it’s amazing that more of your brain is dedicated to the movement and feeling of your face and hands than to the rest of your body combined. This makes sense though—you need to make incredibly nuanced facial expressions and your hands need to be unbelievably dexterous, while the rest of your body—your shoulder, your knee, your back—can move and feel things much more crudely. This is why people can play the piano with their fingers but not with their toes.
Second, it’s interesting how the two cortices are basically dedicated to the same body parts, in the same proportions. I never really thought about the fact that the same parts of your body you need to have a lot of movement control over tend to also be the most sensitive to touch.
Finally, I came across this shit and I’ve been living with it ever since—so now you have to too. A 3-dimensional homunculus man.17
Moving on—
The temporal lobe is where a lot of your memory lives, and being right next to your ears, it’s also the home of your auditory cortex.
Last, at the back of your head is the occipital lobe, which houses your visual cortex and is almost entirely dedicated to vision.
Now for a long time, I thought these major lobes were chunks of the brain—like, segments of the whole 3D structure. But actually, the cortex is just the outer two millimeters of the brain—the thickness of a nickel—and the meat of the space underneath is mostly just wiring.
The Why Brains Are So Wrinkly Blue Box As we’ve discussed, the evolution of our brain happened by building outwards, adding newer, fancier features on top of the existing model. But building outwards has its limits, because the need for humans to emerge into the world through someone’s vagina puts a cap on how big our heads could be.9 So evolution got innovative. Because the cortex is so thin, it scales by increasing its surface area. That means that by creating lots of folds (including both sides folding down into the gap between the two hemispheres), you can more than triple the area of the brain’s surface without increasing the volume too much. When the brain first develops in the womb, the cortex is smooth—the folds form mostly in the last two months of pregnancy:18 Cool explainer of how the folds form here.
If you could take the cortex off the brain, you’d end up with a 2mm-thick sheet with an area of 2,000-2,400cm2—about the size of a 48cm x 48cm (19in x 19in) square.10 A dinner napkin.
This napkin is where most of the action in your brain happens—it’s why you can think, move, feel, see, hear, remember, and speak and understand language. Best napkin ever.
And remember before when I said that you were a jello ball? Well the you you think of when you think of yourself—it’s really mainly your cortex. Which means you’re actually a napkin.
The magic of the folds in increasing the napkin’s size is clear when we put another brain on top of our stripped-off cortex:
So while it’s not perfect, modern science has a decent understanding of the big picture when it comes to the brain. We also have a decent understanding of the little picture. Let’s check it out:
The brain, zoomed in
Even though we figured out that the brain was the seat of our intelligence a long time ago, it wasn’t until pretty recently that science understood what the brain was made of. Scientists knew that the body was made of cells, but in the late 19th century, Italian physician Camillo Golgi figured out how to use a staining method to see what brain cells actually looked like. The result was surprising:
That wasn’t what a cell was supposed to look like. Without quite realizing it yet,11 Golgi had discovered the neuron.
Scientists realized that the neuron was the core unit in the vast communication network that makes up the brains and nervous systems of nearly all animals.
But it wasn’t until the 1950s that scientists worked out how neurons communicate with each other.
An axon, the long strand of a neuron that carries information, is normally microscopic in diameter—too small for scientists to test on until recently. But in the 1930s, English zoologist J. Z. Young discovered that the squid, randomly, could change everything for our understanding, because squids have an unusually huge axon in their bodies that could be experimented on. A couple decades later, using the squid’s giant axon, scientists Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley definitively figured out how neurons send information: the action potential. Here’s how it works.
So there are a lot of different kinds of neurons—19
—but for simplicity, we’ll discuss the cliché textbook neuron—a pyramidal cell, like one you might find in your motor cortex. To make a neuron diagram, we can start with a guy:
And then if we just give him a few extra legs, some hair, take his arms off, and stretch him out—we have a neuron.
And let’s add in a few more neurons.
Rather than launch into the full, detailed explanation for how action potentials work—which involves a lot of unnecessary and uninteresting technical information you already dealt with in 9th-grade biology—I’ll link to this great Khan Academy explainer article for those who want the full story. We’ll go through the very basic ideas that are relevant for our purposes.
So our guy’s body stem—the neuron’s axon—has a negative “resting potential,” which means that when it’s at rest, its electrical charge is slightly negative. At all times, a bunch of people’s feet keep touching12 our guy’s hair—the neuron’s dendrites—whether he likes it or not. Their feet drop chemicals called neurotransmitters13 onto his hair—which pass through his head (the cell body, or soma) and, depending on the chemical, raise or lower the charge in his body a little bit. It’s a little unpleasant for our neuron guy, but not a huge deal—and nothing else happens.
But if enough chemicals touch his hair to raise his charge over a certain point—the neuron’s “threshold potential”—then it triggers an action potential, and our guy is electrocuted.
This is a binary situation—either nothing happens to our guy, or he’s fully electrocuted. He can’t be kind of electrocuted, or extra electrocuted—he’s either not electrocuted at all, or he’s fully electrocuted to the exact same degree every time.
When this happens, a pulse of electricity (in the form of a brief reversal of his body’s normal charge from negative to positive and then rapidly back down to his normal negative) zips down his body (the axon) and into his feet—the neuron’s axon terminals—which themselves touch a bunch of other people’s hair (the points of contact are called synapses). When the action potential reaches his feet, it causes them to release chemicals onto the people’s hair they’re touching, which may or may not cause those people to be electrocuted, just like he was.
This is usually how info moves through the nervous system—chemical information sent in the tiny gap between neurons triggers electrical information to pass through the neuron—but sometimes, in situations when the body needs to move a signal extra quickly, neuron-to-neuron connections can themselves be electric.
Action potentials move at between 1 and 100 meters/second. Part of the reason for this large range is that another type of cell in the nervous system—a Schwann cell—acts like a super nurturing grandmother and constantly wraps some types of axons in layers of fat blankets called myelin sheath. Like this (takes a second to start):20
On top of its protection and insulation benefits, the myelin sheath is a major factor in the pace of communication—action potentials travel much faster through axons when they’re covered in myelin sheath:1421
One nice example of the speed difference created by myelin: You know how when you stub your toe, your body gives you that one second of reflection time to think about what you just did and what you’re about to feel, before the pain actually kicks in? What’s happening is you feel both the sensation of your toe hitting against something and the sharp part of the pain right away, because sharp pain information is sent to the brain via types of axons that are myelinated. It takes a second or two for the dull pain to kick in because dull pain is sent via unmyelinated “C fibers”—at only around one meter/second.
Neural Networks
Neurons are similar to computer transistors in one way—they also transmit information in the binary language of 1’s (action potential firing) and 0’s (no action potential firing). But unlike computer transistors, the brain’s neurons are constantly changing.
You know how sometimes you learn a new skill and you get pretty good at it, and then the next day you try again and you suck again? That’s because what made you get good at the skill the day before was adjustments to the amount or concentration of the chemicals in the signaling between neurons. Repetition caused chemicals to adjust, which helped you improve, but the next day the chemicals were back to normal so the improvement went away.
But then if you keep practicing, you eventually get good at something in a lasting way. What’s happened is you’ve told the brain, “this isn’t just something I need in a one-off way,” and the brain’s neural network has responded by making structural changes to itself that last. Neurons have shifted shape and location and strengthened or weakened various connections in a way that has built a hard-wired set of pathways that know how to do that skill.
Neurons’ ability to alter themselves chemically, structurally, and even functionally, allow your brain’s neural network to optimize itself to the external world—a phenomenon called neuroplasticity. Babies’ brains are the most neuroplastic of all. When a baby is born, its brain has no idea if it needs to accommodate the life of a medieval warrior who will need to become incredibly adept at sword-fighting, a 17th-century musician who will need to develop fine-tuned muscle memory for playing the harpsichord, or a modern-day intellectual who will need to store and organize a tremendous amount of information and master a complex social fabric—but the baby’s brain is ready to shape itself to handle whatever life has in store for it.
Babies are the neuroplasticity superstars, but neuroplasticity remains throughout our whole lives, which is why humans can grow and change and learn new things. And it’s why we can form new habits and break old ones—your habits are reflective of the existing circuitry in your brain. If you want to change your habits, you need to exert a lot of willpower to override your brain’s neural pathways, but if you can keep it going long enough, your brain will eventually get the hint and alter those pathways, and the new behavior will stop requiring willpower. Your brain will have physically built the changes into a new habit.
Altogether, there are around 100 billion neurons in the brain that make up this unthinkably vast network—similar to the number of stars in the Milky Way and over 10 times the number of people in the world. Around 15 – 20 billion of those neurons are in the cortex, and the rest are in the animal parts of your brain (surprisingly, the random cerebellum has more than three times as many neurons as the cortex).
Let’s zoom back out and look at another cross section of the brain—this time cut not from front to back to show a single hemisphere, but from side to side:22
Brain material can be divided into what’s called gray matter and white matter. Gray matter actually looks darker in color and is made up of the cell bodies (somas) of the brain’s neurons and their thicket of dendrites and axons—along with a lot of other stuff. White matter is made up primarily of wiring—axons carrying information from somas to other somas or to destinations in the body. White matter is white because those axons are usually wrapped in myelin sheath, which is fatty white tissue.
There are two main regions of gray matter in the brain—the internal cluster of limbic system and brain stem parts we discussed above, and the nickel-thick layer of cortex around the outside. The big chunk of white matter in between is made up mostly of the axons of cortical neurons. The cortex is like a great command center, and it beams many of its orders out through the mass of axons making up the white matter beneath it.
The coolest illustration of this concept that I’ve come across15 is a beautiful set of artistic representations done by Dr. Greg A. Dunn and Dr. Brian Edwards. Check out the distinct difference between the structure of the outer layer of gray matter cortex and the white matter underneath it (click to view in high res):
Those cortical axons might be taking information to another part of the cortex, to the lower part of the brain, or through the spinal cord—the nervous system’s superhighway—and into the rest of the body.16
Let’s look at the whole nervous system:23
The nervous system is divided into two parts: the central nervous system—your brain and spinal cord—and the peripheral nervous system—made up of the neurons that radiate outwards from the spinal cord into the rest of the body.
Most types of neurons are interneurons—neurons that communicate with other neurons. When you think, it’s a bunch of interneurons talking to each other. Interneurons are mostly contained to the brain.
The two other kinds of neurons are sensory neurons and motor neurons—those are the neurons that head down into your spinal cord and make up the peripheral nervous system. These neurons can be up to a meter long.17 Here’s a typical structure of each type:24
Remember our two strips?25
These strips are where your peripheral nervous system originates. The axons of sensory neurons head down from the somatosensory cortex, through the brain’s white matter, and into the spinal cord (which is just a massive bundle of axons). From the spinal cord, they head out to all parts of your body. Each part of your skin is lined with nerves that originate in the somatosensory cortex. A nerve, by the way, is a few bundles of axons wrapped together in a little cord. Here’s a nerve up close:26
The nerve is the whole thing circled in purple, and those four big circles inside are bundles of many axons (here’s a helpful cartoony drawing).
So if a fly lands on your arm, here’s what happens:
The fly touches your skin and stimulates a bunch of sensory nerves. The axon terminals in the nerves have a little fit and start action potential-ing, sending the signal up to the brain to tell on the fly. The signals head into the spinal cord and up to the somas in the somatosensory cortex.18 The somatosensory cortex then taps the motor cortex on the shoulder and tells it that there’s a fly on your arm and that it needs to deal with it (lazy). The particular somas in your motor cortex that connect to the muscles in your arm then start action potential-ing, sending the signals back into the spinal cord and then out to the muscles of the arm. The axon terminals at the end of those neurons stimulate your arm muscles, which constrict to shake your arm to get the fly off (by now the fly has already thrown up on your arm), and the fly (whose nervous system now goes through its own whole thing) flies off.
Then your amygdala looks over and realizes there was a bug on you, and it tells your motor cortex to jump embarrassingly, and if it’s a spider instead of a fly, it also tells your vocal cords to yell out involuntarily and ruin your reputation.
So it seems so far like we do kind of actually understand the brain, right? But then why did that professor ask that question—If everything you need to know about the brain is a mile, how far have we walked in this mile?—and say the answer was three inches?
Well here’s the thing.
You know how we totally get how an individual computer sends an email and we totally understand the broad concepts of the internet, like how many people are on it and what the biggest sites are and what the major trends are—but all the stuff in the middle—the inner workings of the internet—are pretty confusing?
And you know how economists can tell you all about how an individual consumer functions and they can also tell you about the major concepts of macroeconomics and the overarching forces at play—but no one can really tell you all the ins and outs of how the economy works or predict what will happen with the economy next month or next year?
The brain is kind of like those things. We get the little picture—we know all about how a neuron fires. And we get the big picture—we know how many neurons are in the brain and what the major lobes and structures control and how much energy the whole system uses. But the stuff in between—all that middle stuff about how each part of the brain actually does its thing?
Yeah we don’t get that.
What really makes it clear how confounded we are is hearing a neuroscientist talk about the parts of the brain we understand best.
Like the visual cortex. We understand the visual cortex pretty well because it’s easy to map.
Research scientist Paul Merolla described it to me:
The visual cortex has very nice anatomical function and structure. When you look at it, you literally see a map of the world. So when something in your visual field is in a certain region of space, you’ll see a little patch in the cortex that represents that region of space, and it’ll light up. And as that thing moves over, there’s a topographic mapping where the neighboring cells will represent that. It’s almost like having Cartesian coordinates of the real world that will map to polar coordinates in the visual cortex. And you can literally trace from your retina, through your thalamus, to your visual cortex, and you’ll see an actual mapping from this point in space to this point in the visual cortex.
So far so good. But then he went on:
So that mapping is really useful if you want to interact with certain parts of the visual cortex, but there’s many regions of vision, and as you get deeper into the visual cortex, it becomes a little bit more nebulous, and this topographic representation starts to break down. … There’s all these levels of things going on in the brain, and visual perception is a great example of that. We look at the world, and there’s just this physical 3D world out there—like you look at a cup, and you just see a cup—but what your eyes are seeing is really just a bunch of pixels. And when you look in the visual cortex, you see that there are roughly 20-40 different maps. V1 is the first area, where it’s tracking little edges and colors and things like that. And there’s other areas looking at more complicated objects, and there’s all these different visual representations on the surface of your brain, that you can see. And somehow all of that information is being bound together in this information stream that’s being coded in a way that makes you believe you’re just seeing a simple object.
And the motor cortex, another one of the best-understood areas of the brain, might be even more difficult to understand on a granular level than the visual cortex. Because even though we know which general areas of the motor cortex map to which areas of the body, the individual neurons in these motor cortex areas aren’t topographically set up, and the specific way they work together to create movement in the body is anything but clear. Here’s Paul again:
The neural chatter in everyone’s arm movement part of the brain is a little bit different—it’s not like the neurons speak English and say “move”—it’s a pattern of electrical activity, and in everyone it’s a little bit different. … And you want to be able to seamlessly understand that it means “Move the arm this way” or “move the arm toward the target” or “move the arm to the left, move it up, grasp, grasp with a certain kind of force, reach with a certain speed,” and so on. We don’t think about these things when we move—it just happens seamlessly. So each brain has a unique code with which it talks to the muscles in the arm and hand.
The neuroplasticity that makes our brains so useful to us also makes them incredibly difficult to understand—because the way each of our brains works is based on how that brain has shaped itself, based on its particular environment and life experience.
And again, those are the areas of the brain we understand the best. “When it comes to more sophisticated computation, like language, memory, mathematics,” one expert told me, “we really don’t understand how the brain works.” He lamented that, for example, the concept of one’s mother is coded in a different way, and in different parts of the brain, for every person. And in the frontal lobe—you know, that part of the brain where you really live—”there’s no topography at all.”
But somehow, none of this is why building effective brain-computer interfaces is so hard, or so daunting. What makes BMIs so hard is that the engineering challenges are monumental. It’s physically working with the brain that makes BMIs among the hardest engineering endeavors in the world.
So with our brain background tree trunk built, we’re ready to head up to our first branch.
Part 3: Brain-Machine Interfaces
Let’s zip back in time for a second to 50,000 BC and kidnap someone and bring him back here to 2017.
This is Bok. Bok, we’re really thankful that you and your people invented language.
As a way to thank you, we want to show you all the amazing things we were able to build because of your invention.
Alright, first let’s take Bok on a plane, and into a submarine, and to the top of the Burj Khalifa. Now we’ll show him a telescope and a TV and an iPhone. And now we’ll let him play around on the internet for a while.
Okay that was fun. How’d it go, Bok?
Yeah we figured that you’d be pretty surprised. To wrap up, let’s show him how we communicate with each other.
Bok would be shocked to learn that despite all the magical powers humans have gained as a result of having learned to speak to each other, when it comes to actually speaking to each other, we’re no more magical than the people of his day. When two people are together and talking, they’re using 50,000-year-old technology.
Bok might also be surprised that in a world run by fancy machines, the people who made all the machines are walking around with the same biological bodies that Bok and his friends walk around with. How can that be?
This is why brain-machine interfaces—a subset of the broader field of neural engineering, which itself is a subset of biotechnology—are such a tantalizing new industry. We’ve conquered the world many times over with our technology, but when it comes to our brains—our most central tool—the tech world has for the most part been too daunted to dive in.
That’s why we still communicate using technology Bok invented, it’s why I’m typing this sentence at about a 20th of the speed that I’m thinking it, and it’s why brain-related ailments still leave so many lives badly impaired or lost altogether.
But 50,000 years after the brain’s great “aha!” moment, that may finally be about to change. The brain’s next great frontier may be itself.
___________
There are many kinds of potential brain-machine interface (sometimes called a brain-computer interface) that will serve many different functions. But everyone working on BMIs is grappling with either one or both of these two questions:
1) How do I get the right information out of the brain?
2) How do I send the right information into the brain?
The first is about capturing the brain’s output—it’s about recording what neurons are saying.
The second is about inputting information into the brain’s natural flow or altering that natural flow in some other way—it’s about stimulating neurons.
These two things are happening naturally in your brain all the time. Right now, your eyes are making a specific set of horizontal movements that allow you to read this sentence. That’s the brain’s neurons outputting information to a machine (your eyes) and the machine receiving the command and responding. And as your eyes move in just the right way, the photons from the screen are entering your retinas and stimulating neurons in the occipital lobe of your cortex in a way that allows the image of the words to enter your mind’s eye. That image then stimulates neurons in another part of your brain that allows you to process the information embedded in the image and absorb the sentence’s meaning.
Inputting and outputting information is what the brain’s neurons do. All the BMI industry wants to do is get in on the action.
At first, this seems like maybe not that difficult a task? The brain is just a jello ball, right? And the cortex—the part of the brain in which we want to do most of our recording and stimulating—is just a napkin, located conveniently right on the outside of the brain where it can be easily accessed. Inside the cortex are around 20 billion firing neurons—20 billion oozy little transistors that if we can just learn to work with, will give us an entirely new level of control over our life, our health, and the world. Can’t we figure that out? Neurons are small, but we know how to split an atom. A neuron’s diameter is about 100,000 times as large as an atom’s—if an atom were a marble, a neuron would be a kilometer across—so we should probably be able to handle the smallness. Right?
So what’s the issue here?
Well on one hand, there’s something to that line of thinking, in that because of those facts, this is an industry where immense progress can happen. We can do this.
But only when you understand what actually goes on in the brain do you realize why this is probably the hardest human endeavor in the world.
So before we talk about BMIs themselves, we need to take a closer look at what the people trying to make BMIs are dealing with here. I find that the best way to illustrate things is to scale the brain up by exactly 1,000X and look at what’s going on.
Remember our cortex-is-a-napkin demonstration earlier?
Well if we scale that up by 1,000X, the cortex napkin—which was about 48cm / 19in on each side—now has a side the length of six Manhattan street blocks (or two avenue blocks). It would take you about 25 minutes to walk around the perimeter. And the brain as a whole would now fit snugly inside a two block by two block square—just about the size of Madison Square Garden (this works in length and width, but the brain would be about double the height of MSG).
So let’s lay it out in the actual city. I’m sure the few hundred thousand people who live there will understand.
I chose 1,000X as our multiplier for a couple reasons. One is that we can all instantly convert the sizes in our heads. Every millimeter of the actual brain is now a meter. And in the much smaller world of neurons, every micron is now an easy-to-conceptualize millimeter. Secondly, it conveniently brings the cortex up to human size—its 2mm thickness is now two meters—the height of a tall (6’6”) man.
So we could walk up to 29th street, to the edge of our giant cortex napkin, and easily look at what was going on inside those two meters of thickness. For our demonstration, let’s pull out a cubic meter of our giant cortex to examine, which will show us what goes on in a typical cubic millimeter of real cortex.
What we’d see in that cubic meter would be a mess. Let’s empty it out and put it back together.
First, let’s put the somas19 in—the little bodies of all the neurons that live in that cube.
Somas range in size, but the neuroscientists I spoke with said that the somas of neurons in the cortex are often around 10 or 15µm in diameter (µm = micrometer, or micron: 1/1,000th of a millimeter). That means that if you laid out 7 or 10 of them in a line, that line would be about the diameter of a human hair (which is about 100µm). On our scale, that makes a soma 1 – 1.5cm in diameter. A marble.
The volume of the whole cortex is in the ballpark of 500,000 cubic millimeters, and in that space are about 20 billion somas. That means an average cubic millimeter of cortex contains about 40,000 neurons. So there are 40,000 marbles in our cubic meter box. If we divide our box into about 40,000 cubic spaces, each with a side of 3cm (or about a cubic inch), it means each of our soma marbles is at the center of its own little 3cm cube, with other somas about 3cm away from it in all directions.
With me so far? Can you visualize our meter cube with those 40,000 floating marbles in it?
Here’s a microscope image of the somas in an actual cortex, using techniques that block out the other stuff around them:27
Okay not too crazy so far. But the soma is only a tiny piece of each neuron. Radiating out from each of our marble-sized somas are twisty, branchy dendrites that in our scaled-up brain can stretch out for three or four meters in many different directions, and from the other end an axon that can be over 100 meters long (when heading out laterally to another part of the cortex) or as long as a kilometer (when heading down into the spinal cord and body). Each of them only about a millimeter thick, these cords turn the cortex into a dense tangle of electrical spaghetti.
And there’s a lot going on in that mash of spaghetti. Each neuron has synaptic connections to as many as 1,000—sometimes as high as 10,000—other neurons. With around 20 billion neurons in the cortex, that means there are over 20 trillion individual neural connections in the cortex (and as high as a quadrillion connections in the entire brain). In our cubic meter alone, there will be over 20 million synapses.
To further complicate things, not only are there many spaghetti strands coming out of each of the 40,000 marbles in our cube, but there are thousands of other spaghetti strings passing through our cube from other parts of the cortex. That means that if we were trying to record signals or stimulate neurons in this particular cubic area, we’d have a lot of difficulty, because in the mess of spaghetti, it would be very hard to figure out which spaghetti strings belonged to our soma marbles (and god forbid there are Purkinje cells in the mix).
And of course, there’s the whole neuroplasticity thing. The voltages of each neuron would be constantly changing, as many as hundreds of times per second. And the tens of millions of synapse connections in our cube would be regularly changing sizes, disappearing, and reappearing.
If only that were the end of it.
It turns out there are other cells in the brain called glial cells—cells that come in many different varieties and perform many different functions, like mopping up chemicals released into synapses, wrapping axons in myelin, and serving as the brain’s immune system. Here are some common types of glial cell:28
And how many glial cells are in the cortex? About the same number as there are neurons.20 So add about 40,000 of these wacky things into our cube.
Finally, there are the blood vessels. In every cubic millimeter of cortex, there’s a total of a meter of tiny blood vessels. On our scale, that means that in our cubic meter, there’s a kilometer of blood vessels. Here’s what the blood vessels in a space about that size look like:29
The Connectome Blue Box There’s an amazing project going on right now in the neuroscience world called the Human Connectome Project (pronounced “connec-tome”) in which scientists are trying to create a complete detailed map of the entire human brain. Nothing close to this scale of brain mapping has ever been done.21 The project entails slicing a human brain into outrageously thin slices—around 30-nanometer-thick slices. That’s 1/33,000th of a millimeter (here’s a machine slicing up a mouse brain). Anyway, in addition to producing some gorgeous images of the “ribbon” formations axons with similar functions often form inside white matter, like— —the connectome project has helped people visualize just how packed the brain is with all this stuff. Here’s a breakdown of all the different things going on in one tiny snippet of mouse brain (and this doesn’t even include the blood vessels):30 (In the image, E is the complete brain snippet, and F–N show the separate components that make up E.)
So our meter box is a jam-packed, oozy, electrified mound of dense complexity—now let’s recall that in reality, everything in our box actually fits in a cubic millimeter.
And the brain-machine interface engineers need to figure out what the microscopic somas buried in that millimeter are saying, and other times, to stimulate just the right somas to get them to do what the engineers want. Good luck with that.
We’d have a super hard time doing that on our 1,000X brain. Our 1,000X brain that also happens to be a nice flat napkin. That’s not how it normally works—usually, the napkin is up on top of our Madison Square Garden brain and full of deep folds (on our scale, between five and 30 meters deep). In fact, less than a third of the cortex napkin is up on the surface of the brain—most is buried inside the folds.
Also, engineers are not operating on a bunch of brains in a lab. The brain is covered with all those Russian doll layers, including the skull—which at 1,000X would be around seven meters thick. And since most people don’t really want you opening up their skull for very long—and ideally not at all—you have to try to work with those tiny marbles as non-invasively as possible.
And this is all assuming you’re dealing with the cortex—but a lot of cool BMI ideas deal with the structures down below, which if you’re standing on top of our MSG brain, are buried 50 or 100 meters under the surface.
The 1,000X game also hammers home the sheer scope of the brain. Think about how much was going on in our cube—and now remember that that’s only one 500,000th of the cortex. If we broke our whole giant cortex into similar meter cubes and lined them up, they’d stretch 500km / 310mi—all the way to Boston and beyond. And if you made the trek—which would take over 100 hours of brisk walking—at any point you could pause and look at the cube you happened to be passing by and it would have all of this complexity inside of it. All of this is currently in your brain.
Part 3A: How Happy Are You That This Isn’t Your Problem
Totes.
Back to Part 3: Brain-Machine Interfaces
So how do scientists and engineers begin to manage this situation?
Well they do the best they can with the tools they currently have—tools used to record or stimulate neurons (we’ll focus on the recording side for the time being). Let’s take a look at the options:
BMI Tools
With the current work that’s being done, three broad criteria seem to stand out when evaluating a type of recording tool’s pros and cons:
1) Scale – how many neurons can be simultaneously recorded
2) Resolution – how detailed is the information the tool receives—there are two types of resolution, spatial (how closely your recordings come to telling you how individual neurons are firing) and temporal (how well you can determine when the activity you record happened)
3) Invasiveness – is surgery needed, and if so, how extensively
The long-term goal is to have all three of your cakes and eat them all. But for now, it’s always a question of “which one (or two) of these criteria are you willing to completely fail?” Going from one tool to another isn’t an overall upgrade or downgrade—it’s a tradeoff.
Let’s examine the types of tools currently being used:
fMRI
Scale: high (it shows you information across the whole brain)
Resolution: medium-low spatial, very low temporal
Invasiveness: non-invasive
fMRI isn’t typically used for BMIs, but it is a classic recording tool—it gives you information about what’s going on inside the brain.
fMRI uses MRI—magnetic resonance imaging—technology. MRIs, invented in the 1970s, were an evolution of the x-ray-based CAT scan. Instead of using x-rays, MRIs use magnetic fields (along with radio waves and other signals) to generate images of the body and brain. Like this:31
And this full set of cross sections, allowing you to see through an entire head.
Pretty amazing technology.
fMRI (“functional” MRI) uses similar technology to track changes in blood flow. Why? Because when areas of the brain become more active, they use more energy, so they need more oxygen—so blood flow increases to the area to deliver that oxygen. Blood flow indirectly indicates where activity is happening. Here’s what an fMRI scan might show:32
Of course, there’s always blood throughout the brain—what this image shows is where blood flow has increased (red/orange/yellow) and where it has decreased (blue). And because fMRI can scan through the whole brain, results are 3-dimensional:
fMRI has many medical uses, like informing doctors whether or not certain parts of the brain are functioning properly after a stroke, and fMRI has taught neuroscientists a ton about which regions of the brain are involved with which functions. Scans also have the benefit of providing info about what’s going on in the whole brain at any given time, and it’s safe and totally non-invasive.
The big drawback is resolution. fMRI scans have a literal resolution, like a computer screen has with pixels, except the pixels are three-dimensional, cubic volume pixels—or “voxels.”
fMRI voxels have gotten smaller as the technology has improved, bringing the spatial resolution up. Today’s fMRI voxels can be as small as a cubic millimeter. The brain has a volume of about 1,200,000mm3, so a high-resolution fMRI scan divides the brain into about one million little cubes. The problem is that on neuron scale, that’s still pretty huge (the same size as our scaled-up cubic meter above)—each voxel contains tens of thousands of neurons. So what the fMRI is showing you, at best, is the average blood flow drawn in by each group of 40,000 or so neurons.
The even bigger problem is temporal resolution. fMRI tracks blood flow, which is both imprecise and comes with a delay of about a second—an eternity in the world of neurons.
EEG
Scale: high
Resolution: very low spatial, medium-high temporal
Invasiveness: non-invasive
Dating back almost a century, EEG (electroencephalography) puts an array of electrodes on your head. You know, this whole thing:33
EEG is definitely technology that will look hilariously primitive to a 2050 person, but for now, it’s one of the only tools that can be used with BMIs that’s totally non-invasive. EEGs record electrical activity in different regions of the brain, displaying the findings like this:34
EEG graphs can uncover information about medical issues like epilepsy, track sleep patterns, or be used to determine something like the status of a dose of anesthesia.
And unlike fMRI, EEG has pretty good temporal resolution, getting electrical signals from the brain right as they happen—though the skull blurs the temporal accuracy considerably (bone is a bad conductor).
The major drawback is spatial resolution. EEG has none. Each electrode only records a broad average—a vector sum of the charges from millions or billions of neurons (and a blurred one because of the skull).
Imagine that the brain is a baseball stadium, its neurons are the members of the crowd, and the information we want is, instead of electrical activity, vocal cord activity. In that case, EEG would be like a group of microphones placed outside the stadium, against the stadium’s outer walls. You’d be able to hear when the crowd was cheering and maybe predict the type of thing they were cheering about. You’d be able to hear telltale signs that it was between innings and maybe whether or not it was a close game. You could probably detect when something abnormal happened. But that’s about it.
ECoG
Scale: high
Resolution: low spatial, high temporal
Invasiveness: kind of invasive
ECoG (electrocorticography) is a similar idea to EEG, also using surface electrodes—except they put them under the skull, on the surface of the brain.35
Ick. But effective—at least much more effective than EEG. Without the interference of the skull blurring things, ECoG picks up both higher spatial (about 1cm) and temporal resolution (5 milliseconds). ECoG electrodes can either be placed above or below the dura:36
Bringing back our stadium analogy, ECoG microphones are inside the stadium and a bit closer to the crowd. So the sound is much crisper than what EEG mics get from outside the stadium, and ECoG mics can better distinguish the sounds of individual sections of the crowd. But the improvement comes at a cost—it requires invasive surgery. In the scheme of invasive surgeries, though, it’s not so bad. As one neurosurgeon described to me, “You can slide stuff underneath the dura relatively non-invasively. You still have to make a hole in the head, but it’s relatively non-invasive.”
Local Field Potential
Scale: low
Resolution: medium-low spatial, high temporal
Invasiveness: very invasive
Okay here’s where we shift from surface electrode discs to microelectrodes—tiny needles surgeons stick into the brain.
Brain surgeon Ben Rapoport described to me how his father (a neurologist) used to make microelectrodes:
When my father was making electrodes, he’d make them by hand. He’d take a very fine wire—like a gold or platinum or iridium wire, that was 10-30 microns in diameter, and he’d insert that wire in a glass capillary tube that was maybe a millimeter in diameter. Then they’d take that piece of glass over a flame and rotate it until the glass became soft. They’d stretch out the capillary tube until it’s incredibly thin, and then take it out of the flame and break it. Now the capillary tube is flush with and pinching the wire. The glass is an insulator and the wire is a conductor. So what you end up with is a glass-insulated stiff electrode that is maybe a few 10s of microns at the tip.
Today, while some electrodes are still made by hand, newer techniques use silicon wafers and manufacturing technology borrowed from the integrated circuits industry.
The way local field potentials (LFP) work is simple—you take one of these super thin needles with an electrode tip and stick it one or two millimeters into the cortex. There it picks up the average of the electrical charges from all of the neurons within a certain radius of the electrode.
LFP gives you the not-that-bad spatial resolution of the fMRI combined with the instant temporal resolution of an ECoG. Kind of the best of all the worlds described above when it comes to resolution.
Unfortunately, it does badly on both other criteria.
Unlike fMRI, EEG, and ECoG, microelectrode LFP does not have scale—it only tells you what the little sphere surrounding it is doing. And it’s far more invasive, actually entering the brain.
In the baseball stadium, LFP is a single microphone hanging over a single section of seats, picking up a crisp feed of the sounds in that area, and maybe picking out an individual voice for a second here and there—but otherwise only getting the general vibe.
A more recent development is the multielectrode array, which is the same idea as the LFP except it’s about 100 LFPs all at once, in a single area of the cortex. A multielectrode array looks like this:37
A tiny 4mm x 4mm square with 100 tiny silicon electrodes on it. Here’s another image where you can see just how sharp the electrodes are—just a few microns across at the very tip:38
Single-Unit Recording
Scale: tiny
Resolution: super high
Invasiveness: very invasive
To record a broader LFP, the electrode tip is a bit rounded to give the electrode more surface area, and they turn the resistance down with the intent of allowing very faint signals from a wide range of locations to be picked up. The end result is the electrode picks up a chorus of activity from the local field.
Single-unit recording also uses a needle electrode, but they make the tip super sharp and crank up the resistance. This wipes out most of the noise and leaves the electrode picking up almost nothing—until it finds itself so close to a neuron (maybe 50µm away) that the signal from that neuron is strong enough to make it past the electrode’s high resistance wall. With distinct signals from one neuron and no background noise, this electrode can now voyeur in on the private life of a single neuron. Lowest possible scale, highest possible resolution.
By the way, you can listen to a neuron fire here (what you’re actually hearing is the electro-chemical firing of a neuron, converted to audio).
Some electrodes want to take the relationship to the next level and will go for a technique called the patch clamp, whereby it’ll get rid of its electrode tip, leaving just a tiny little tube called a glass pipette,22 and it’ll actually directly assault a neuron by sucking a “patch” of its membrane into the tube, allowing for even finer measurements:39
A patch clamp also has the benefit that, unlike all the other methods we’ve discussed, because it’s physically touching the neuron, it can not only record but stimulate the neuron,23 injecting current or holding voltage at a set level to do specific tests (other methods can stimulate neurons, but only entire groups together).
Finally, electrodes can fully defile the neuron and actually penetrate through the membrane, which is called sharp electrode recording. If the tip is sharp enough, this won’t destroy the cell—the membrane will actually seal around the electrode, making it very easy to stimulate the neuron or record the voltage difference between the inside and outside of the neuron. But this is a short-term technique—a punctured neuron won’t survive long.
In our stadium, a single unit recording is a one-directional microphone clipped to a single crowd member’s collar. A patch clamp or sharp recording is a mic in someone’s throat, registering the exact movement of their vocal cords. This is a great way to learn about that person’s experience at the game, but it also gives you no context, and you can’t really tell if the sounds and reactions of that person are representative of what’s going on in the game.
And that’s about what we’ve got, at least in common usage. These tools are simultaneously unbelievably advanced and what will seem like Stone Age technology to future humans, who won’t believe you had to choose either high-res or a wide field and that you actually had to open someone’s skull to get high-quality brain readouts or write-ins.
But given their limitations, these tools have taught us worlds about the brain and led to the creation of some amazing early BMIs. Here’s what’s already out there—
The BMIs we already have
In 1969, a researcher named Eberhard Fetz connected a single neuron in a monkey’s brain to a dial in front of the monkey’s face. The dial would move when the neuron was fired. When the monkey would think in a way that fired the neuron and the dial would move, he’d get a banana-flavored pellet. Over time, the monkey started getting better at the game because he wanted more delicious pellets. The monkey had learned to make the neuron fire and inadvertently became the subject of the first real brain-machine interface.
Progress was slow over the next few decades, but by the mid-90s, things had started to move, and it’s been quietly accelerating ever since.
Given that both our understanding of the brain and the electrode hardware we’ve built are pretty primitive, our efforts have typically focused on building straightforward interfaces to be used with the areas of the brain we understand the best, like the motor cortex and the visual cortex.
And given that human experimentation is only really possible for people who are trying to use BMIs to alleviate an impairment—and because that’s currently where the market demand is—our efforts have focused so far almost entirely on restoring lost function to people with disabilities.
The major BMI industries of the future that will give all humans magical superpowers and transform the world are in their fetal stage right now—and we should look at what’s being worked on as a set of clues about what the mind-boggling worlds of 2040 and 2060 and 2100 might be like.
Like, check this out:
That’s a computer built by Alan Turing in 1950 called the Pilot ACE. Truly cutting edge in its time.
Now check this out:
As you read through the examples below, I want you to think about this analogy—
Pilot ACE is to iPhone 7
as
Each BMI example below is to _____
—and try to imagine what the blank looks like. And we’ll come back to the blank later in the post.
Anyway, from everything I’ve read about and discussed with people in the field, there seem to be three major categories of brain-machine interface being heavily worked on right now:
Early BMI type #1: Using the motor cortex as a remote control
In case you forgot this from 9,000 words ago, the motor cortex is this guy:
All areas of the brain confuse us, but the motor cortex confuses us less than almost all the other areas. And most importantly, it’s well-mapped, meaning specific parts of it control specific parts of the body (remember the upsetting homunculus?).
Also importantly, it’s one of the major areas of the brain in charge of our output. When a human does something, the motor cortex is almost always the one pulling the strings (at least for the physical part of the doing). So the human brain doesn’t really have to learn to use the motor cortex as a remote control, because the brain already uses the motor cortex as its remote control.
Lift your hand up. Now put it down. See? Your hand is like a little toy drone, and your brain just picked up the motor cortex remote control and used it to make the drone fly up and then back down.
The goal of motor cortex-based BMIs is to tap into the motor cortex, and then when the remote control fires a command, to hear that command and then send it to some kind of machine that can respond to it the way, say, your hand would. A bundle of nerves is the middleman between your motor cortex and your hand. BMIs are the middleman between your motor cortex and a computer. Simple.
One barebones type of interface allows a human—often a person paralyzed from the neck down or someone who has had a limb amputated—to move a cursor on a screen with only their thoughts.
This begins with a 100-pin multielectrode array being implanted in the person’s motor cortex. The motor cortex in a paralyzed person usually works just fine—it’s just that the spinal cord, which had served as the middleman between the cortex and the body, stopped doing its job. So with the electrode array implanted, researchers have the person try to move their arm in different directions. Even though they can’t do that, the motor cortex still fires normally, as if they can.
When someone moves their arm, their motor cortex bursts into a flurry of activity—but each neuron is usually only interested in one type of movement. So one neuron might fire whenever the person moves their arm to the right—but it’s bored by other directions and is less active in those cases. That neuron alone, then, could tell a computer when the person wants to move their arm to the right and when they don’t. But that’s all. But with an electrode array, 100 single-unit electrodes each listen to a different neuron.24 So when they do testing, they’ll ask the person to try to move their arm to the right, and maybe 38 of the 100 electrodes detect their neuron firing. When the person tries to go left with their arm, maybe 41 others fire. After going through a bunch of different movements and directions and speeds, a computer takes the data from the electrodes and synthesizes it into a general understanding of which firing patterns correspond to which movement intentions on an X-Y axis.
Then when they link up that data to a computer screen, the person can use their mind, via “trying” to move the cursor, to really control the cursor. And this actually works. Through the work of motor-cortex-BMI pioneer company BrainGate, here’s a guy playing a video game using only his mind.
And if 100 neurons can tell you where they want to move a cursor, why couldn’t they tell you when they want to pick up a mug of coffee and take a sip? That’s what this quadriplegic woman did:
Another quadriplegic woman flew an F-35 fighter jet in a simulation, and a monkey recently used his mind to ride around in a wheelchair.
And why stop with arms? Brazilian BMI pioneer Miguel Nicolelis and his team built an entire exoskeleton that allowed a paralyzed man to make the opening kick of the World Cup.25
The Proprioception Blue Box Moving these kinds of “neuroprosthetics” is all about the recording of neurons, but for these devices to be truly effective, this needs to not be a one-way street, but a loop that includes recording and stimulation pathways. We don’t really think about this, but a huge part of your ability to pick up an object is all of the incoming sensory information your hand’s skin and muscles send back in (called “proprioception”). In one video I saw, a woman with numbed fingers tried to light a match, and it was almost impossible for her to do it, despite having no other disabilities. And the beginning of this video shows the physical struggles of a man with a perfectly functional motor cortex but impaired proprioception. So for something like a bionic arm to really feel like an arm, and to really be useful, it needs to be able to send sensory information back in. Stimulating neurons is even harder than recording them. As researcher Flip Sabes explained to me: If I record a pattern of activity, it doesn’t mean I can readily recreate that pattern of activity by just playing it back. You can compare it to the planets in the Solar System. You can watch the planets move around and record their movements. But then if you jumble them all up and later want to recreate the original motion of one of the planets, you can’t just take that one planet and put it back into its orbit, because it’ll be influenced by all the other planets. Likewise, neurons aren’t just working in isolation—so there’s a fundamental irreversibility there. On top of that, with all of the axons and dendrites, it’s hard to just stimulate the neurons you want to—because when you try, you’ll hit a whole jumble of them. Flip’s lab tries to deal with these challenges by getting the brain to help out. It turns out that if you reward a monkey with a succulent sip of orange juice when a single neuron fires, eventually the monkey will learn to make the neuron fire on demand. The neuron could then act as another kind of remote control. This means that normal motor cortex commands are only one possibility as a control mechanism. Likewise, until BMI technology gets good enough to perfect stimulation, you can use the brain’s neuroplasticity as a shortcut. If it’s too hard to make someone’s bionic fingertip touch something and send back information that feels just like the kind of sensation their own fingertip used to give them, the arm could instead send some other signal into the brain. At first, this would seem odd to the patient—but eventually the brain can learn to treat that signal as a new sense of touch. This concept is called “sensory substitution” and makes the brain a collaborator in BMI efforts.
In these developments are the seeds of other future breakthrough technologies—like brain-to-brain communication.
Nicolelis created an experiment where the motor cortex of one rat in Brazil was wired, via the internet, to the motor cortex of another rat in the US. The rat in Brazil was presented with two transparent boxes, each with a lever attached to it, and inside one of the boxes would be a treat. To attempt to get the treat, the rat would press the lever of the box that held the treat. Meanwhile, the rat in the US was in a similar cage with two similar boxes, except unlike the rat in Brazil, the boxes weren’t transparent and offered him no information about which of his two levers would yield a treat and which wouldn’t. The only info the US rat had were the signals his brain received from the Brazil rat’s motor cortex. The Brazil rat had the key knowledge—but the way the experiment worked, the rats only received treats when the US rat pressed the correct lever. If he pulled the wrong one, neither would. The amazing thing is that over time, the rats got better at this and began to work together, almost like a single nervous system—even though neither had any idea the other rat existed. The US rat’s success rate at choosing the correct lever with no information would have been 50%. With the signals coming from the Brazil rat’s brain, the success rate jumped to 64%. (Here’s a video of the rats doing their thing.)
This has even worked, crudely, in people. Two people, in separate buildings, worked together to play a video game. One could see the game, the other had the controller. Using simple EEG headsets, the player who could see the game would, without moving his hand, think about moving his hand to press the “shoot” button on a controller. Because their brains’ devices were communicating with each other, the player with the controller would then feel a twitch in his finger and press the shoot button.
Early BMI type #2: Artificial ears and eyes
There are a couple reasons giving sound to the deaf and sight to the blind is among the more manageable BMI categories.
The first is that like the motor cortex, the sensory cortices are parts of the brain we tend to understand pretty well, partly because they too tend to be well-mapped.
The second is that in many early applications, we don’t really need to deal with the brain—we can just deal with the place where ears and eyes connect to the brain, since that’s often where the impairment is based.
And while the motor cortex stuff was mostly about recording neurons to get information out of the brain, artificial senses go the other way—stimulation of neurons to send information in.
On the ears side of things, recent decades have seen the development of the groundbreaking cochlear implant.
The How Hearing Works Blue Box When you think you’re “hearing” “sound,” here’s what’s actually happening: What we think of as sound is actually patterns of vibrations in the air molecules around your head. When a guitar string or someone’s vocal cords or the wind or anything else makes a sound, it’s because it’s vibrating, which pushes nearby air molecules into a similar vibration and that pattern expands outward in a sphere, kind of like the surface of water expands outward in a circular ripple when something touches it.26 Your ear is a machine that converts those air vibrations into electrical impulses. Whenever air (or water, or any other medium whose molecules can vibrate) enters your ear, your ear translates the precise way it’s vibrating into an electrical code that it sends into the nerve endings that touch it. This causes those nerves to fire a pattern of action potentials that send the code into your auditory cortex for processing. Your brain receives the information, and we call the experience of receiving that particular type of information “hearing.” Most people who are deaf or hard of hearing don’t have a nerve problem or an auditory cortex problem—they usually have an ear problem. Their brain is as ready as anyone else’s to turn electrical impulses into hearing—it’s just that their auditory cortex isn’t receiving any electrical impulses in the first place, because the machine that converts air vibrations into those impulses isn’t doing its job. The ear has a lot of parts, but it’s the cochlea in particular that makes the key conversion. When vibrations enter the fluid in the cochlea, it causes thousands of tiny hairs lining the cochlea to vibrate, and the cells those hairs are attached to transform the mechanical energy of the vibrations into electrical signals that then excite the auditory nerve. Here’s what it all looks like:40 The cochlea also sorts the incoming sound by frequency. Here’s a cool chart that shows why lower sounds are processed at the end of the cochlea and high sounds are processed at the beginning (and also why there’s a minimum and maximum frequency on what the ear can hear):41
A cochlear implant is a little computer that has a microphone coming out of one end (which sits on the ear) and a wire coming out of the other that connects to an array of electrodes that line the cochlea.
So sound comes into the microphone (the little hook on top of the ear), and goes into the brown thing, which processes the sound to filter out the less useful frequencies. Then the brown thing transmits the information through the skin, through electrical induction, to the computer’s other component, which converts the info into electric impulses and sends them into the cochlea. The electrodes filter the impulses by frequency just like the cochlea and stimulate the auditory nerve just like the hairs on the cochlea do. This is what it looks like from the outside:
In other words, an artificial ear, performing the same sound-to-impulses-to-auditory-nerve function the ear does.
Check out what sound sounds like to someone with the implant.
Not great. Why? Because to send sound into the brain with the richness the ear hears with, you’d need 3,500 electrodes. Most cochlear implants have about 16.27 Crude.
But we’re in the Pilot ACE era—so of course it’s crude.
Still, today’s cochlear implant allows deaf people to hear speech and have conversations, which is a groundbreaking development.28
Many parents of deaf babies are now having a cochlear implant put in when the baby’s about one year old. Like this baby, whose reaction to hearing for the first time is cute.
There’s a similar revolution underway in the world of blindness, in the form of the retinal implant.
Blindness is often the result of a retinal disease. When this is the case, a retinal implant can perform a similar function for sight as a cochlear implant does for hearing (though less directly). It performs the normal duties of the eye and hands things off to nerves in the form of electrical impulses, just like the eye does.
A more complicated interface than the cochlear implant, the first retinal implant was approved by the FDA in 2011—the Argus II implant, made by Second Sight. The retinal implant looks like this:42
And it works like this:
The retinal implant has 60 sensors. The retina has around a million neurons. Crude. But seeing vague edges and shapes and patterns of light and dark sure beats seeing nothing at all. What’s encouraging is that you don’t need a million sensors to gain a reasonable amount of sight—simulations suggest that 600-1,000 electrodes would be enough for reading and facial recognition.
Early BMI type #3: Deep brain stimulation
Dating back to the late 1980s, deep brain stimulation is yet another crude tool that is also still pretty life-changing for a lot of people.
It’s also a type of category of BMI that doesn’t involve communication with the outside world—it’s about using brain-machine interfaces to treat or enhance yourself by altering something internally.
What happens here is one or two electrode wires, usually with four separate electrode sites, are inserted into the brain, often ending up somewhere in the limbic system. Then a little pacemaker computer is implanted in the upper chest and wired to the electrodes. Like this unpleasant man:43
The electrodes can then give a little zap when called for, which can do a variety of important things. Like:
Reduce the tremors of people with Parkinson’s Disease
Reduce the severity of seizures
Chill people with OCD out
It’s also experimentally (not yet FDA approved) been able to mitigate certain kinds of chronic pain like migraines or phantom limb pain, treat anxiety or depression or PTSD, or even be combined with muscle stimulation elsewhere in the body to restore and retrain circuits that were broken down from stroke or a neurological disease.
___________
This is the state of the early BMI industry, and it’s the moment when Elon Musk is stepping into it. For him, and for Neuralink, today’s BMI industry is Point A. We’ve spent the whole post so far in the past, building up to the present moment. Now it’s time to step into the future—to figure out what Point B is and how we’re going to get there.
Part 4: Neuralink’s Challenge
Having already written about two of Elon Musk’s companies—Tesla and SpaceX—I think I understand his formula. It looks like this:
And his initial thinking about a new company always starts on the right and works its way left.
He decides that some specific change in the world will increase the likelihood of humanity having the best possible future. He knows that large-scale world change happens quickest when the whole world—the Human Colossus—is working on it. And he knows that the Human Colossus will work toward a goal if (and only if) there’s an economic forcing function in place—if it’s a good business decision to spend resources innovating toward that goal.
Often, before a booming industry starts booming, it’s like a pile of logs—it has all the ingredients of a fire and it’s ready to go—but there’s no match. There’s some technological shortcoming that’s preventing the industry from taking off.
So when Elon builds a company, its core initial strategy is usually to create the match that will ignite the industry and get the Human Colossus working on the cause. This, in turn, Elon believes, will lead to developments that will change the world in the way that increases the likelihood of humanity having the best possible future. But you have to look at his companies from a zoomed-out perspective to see all of this. If you don’t, you’ll mistake what they do as their business for what they do—when in fact, what they do as their business is usually a mechanism to sustain the company while it innovates to try to make that critical match.
Back when I was working on the Tesla and SpaceX posts, I asked Elon why he went into engineering and not science, and he explained that when it comes to progress, “engineering is the limiting factor.” In other words, the progress of science, business, and industry are all at the whim of the progress of engineering. If you look at history, this makes sense—behind each of the greatest revolutions in human progress is an engineering breakthrough. A match.
So to understand an Elon Musk company, you need to think about the match he’s trying to create—along with three other variables:
I know what’s in these boxes with the other companies:
And when I started trying to figure out what Neuralink was all about, I knew those were the variables I needed to fill in. At the time, I had only had the chance to get a very vague idea of one of the variables—that the goal of the company was “to accelerate the advent of a whole-brain interface.” Or what I’ve come to think of as a wizard hat.
As I understood it, a whole-brain interface was what a brain-machine interface would be in an ideal world—a super-advanced concept where essentially all the neurons in your brain are able to communicate seamlessly with the outside world. It was a concept loosely based on the science fiction idea of a “neural lace,” described in Iain Banks’ Culture series—a massless, volumeless, whole-brain interface that can be teleported into the brain.
I had a lot of questions.
Luckily, I was on my way to San Francisco, where I had plans to sit down with half of Neuralink’s founding team and be the dumbest person in the room.
The I’m Not Being Self-Deprecating I Really Was Definitely the Dumbest Person in the Room Just Look at This Shit Blue Box The Neuralink team: Paul Merolla, who spent the last seven years as the lead chip designer at IBM on their SyNAPSE program, where he led the development of the TrueNorth chip—one of the largest CMOS devices ever designed by transistor count nbd. Paul told me his field was called neuromorphic, where the goal is to design transistor circuits based on principles of brain architecture. Vanessa Tolosa, Neuralink’s microfabrication expert and one of the world’s foremost researchers on biocompatible materials. Vanessa’s work involves designing biocompatible materials based on principles from the integrated circuits industry. Max Hodak, who worked on the development of some groundbreaking BMI technology at Miguel Nicolelis’s lab at Duke while also commuting across the country twice a week in college to run Transcriptic, the “robotic cloud laboratory for the life sciences” he founded. DJ Seo, who while at UC Berkeley in his mid-20s designed a cutting-edge new BMI concept called neural dust—tiny ultrasound sensors that could provide a new way to record brain activity. Ben Rapoport, Neuralink’s surgery expert, and a top neurosurgeon himself. But he also has a PhD in Electrical Engineering from MIT, allowing him to see his work as a neurosurgeon “through the lens of implantable devices.” Tim Hanson, whom a colleague described as “one of the best all-around engineers on the planet” and who self-taught himself enough about materials science and microfabrication methods to develop some of the core technology that’ll be used at Neuralink. Flip Sabes, a leading researcher whose lab at UCSF has pioneered new ground in BMIs by combining “cortical physiology, computational and theoretical modeling, and human psychophysics and physiology.” Tim Gardner, a leading researcher at BU, whose lab works on implanting BMIs in birds, in order to study “how complex songs are assembled from elementary neural units” and learn about “the relationships between patterns of neural activity on different time-scales.” Both Tim and Flip have left tenured positions to join the Neuralink team—pretty good testament to the promise they believe this company has. And then there’s Elon, both as their CEO and a fellow team member. Elon being CEO makes this different from other recent things he’s started and puts Neuralink on the top tier for him, where only SpaceX and Tesla have lived. When it comes to neuroscience, Elon has the least technical knowledge on the team—but he also started SpaceX without very much technical knowledge and quickly became a certifiable rocket science expert by reading and by asking questions of the experts on the team. That’ll probably happen again here. (And for good reason—he pointed out: “Without a strong technical understanding, I think it’s hard to make the right decisions.”)
I asked Elon about how he brought this team together. He said that he met with literally over 1,000 people in order to assemble this group, and that part of the challenge was the large number of totally separate areas of expertise required when you’re working on technology that involves neuroscience, brain surgery, microscopic electronics, clinical trials, etc. Because it was such a cross-disciplinary area, he looked for cross-disciplinary experts. And you can see that in those bios—everyone brings their own unique crossover combination to a group that together has the rare ability to think as a single mega-expert. Elon also wanted to find people who were totally on board with the zoomed-out mission—who were more focused on industrial results than producing white papers. Not an easy group to assemble.
But there they were, sitting around the table looking at me, as it hit me 40 seconds in that I should have done a lot more research before coming here.
They took the hint and dumbed it down about four notches, and as the discussion went on, I started to wrap my head around things. Throughout the next few weeks, I met with each of the remaining Neuralink founders as well, each time playing the role of the dumbest person in the room. In these meetings, I focused on trying to form a comprehensive picture of the challenges at hand and what the road to a wizard hat might look like. I really wanted to understand these two boxes:
The first one was easy. The business side of Neuralink is a brain-machine interface development company. They want to create cutting-edge BMIs—what one of them referred to as “micron-sized devices.” Doing this will support the growth of the company while also providing a perfect vehicle for putting their innovations into practice (the same way SpaceX uses their launches both to sustain the company and experiment with their newest engineering developments).
As for what kind of interface they’re planning to work on first, here’s what Elon said:
We are aiming to bring something to market that helps with certain severe brain injuries (stroke, cancer lesion, congenital) in about four years.
The second box was a lot hazier. It seems obvious to us today that using steam engine technology to harness the power of fire was the thing that had to happen to ignite the Industrial Revolution. But if you talked to someone in 1760 about it, they would have had a lot less clarity—on exactly which hurdles they were trying to get past, what kinds of innovations would allow them to leap over those hurdles, or how long any of this would take. And that’s where we are here—trying to figure out what the match looks like that will ignite the neuro revolution and how to create it.
The starting place for a discussion about innovation is a discussion about hurdles—what are you even trying to innovate past? In Neuralink’s case, a whole lot of things. But given that, here too, engineering will likely prove to be the limiting factor, here are some seemingly large challenges that probably won’t end up being the major roadblock:
Public skepticism
Pew recently conducted a survey asking Americans about which future biotechnologies give them the shits the most. It turns out BMIs worry Americans even more than gene editing:44
Neuralink co-founder Flip Sabes doesn’t get it.
To a scientist, to think about changing the fundamental nature of life—creating viruses, eugenics, etc.—it raises a specter that many biologists find quite worrisome, whereas the neuroscientists that I know, when they think about chips in the brain, it doesn’t seem that foreign, because we already have chips in the brain. We have deep brain stimulation to alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease, we have early trials of chips to restore vision, we have the cochlear implant—so to us it doesn’t seem like that big of a stretch to put devices into a brain to read information out and to read information back in.
And after learning all about chips in the brain, I agree—and when Americans eventually learn about it, I think they’ll change their minds.
History supports this prediction. People were super timid about Lasik eye surgery when it first became a thing—20 years ago, 20,000 people a year had the procedure done. Then everyone got used to it and now 2,000,000 people a year get laser eye surgery. Similar story with pacemakers. And defibrillators. And organ transplants—which people at first considered a freakish Frankenstein-esque concept. Brain implants will probably be the same story.
Our non-understanding of the brain
You know, the whole “if understanding the brain is a mile, we’re currently three inches in” thing. Flip weighed in on this topic too:
If it were a prerequisite to understand the brain in order to interact with the brain in a substantive way, we’d have trouble. But it’s possible to decode all of those things in the brain without truly understanding the dynamics of the computation in the brain. Being able to read it out is an engineering problem. Being able to understand its origin and the organization of the neurons in fine detail in a way that would satisfy a neuroscientist to the core—that’s a separate problem. And we don’t need to solve all of those scientific problems in order to make progress.
If we can just use engineering to get neurons to talk to computers, we’ll have done our job, and machine learning can do much of the rest. Which then, ironically, will teach us about the brain. As Flip points out:
The flip side of saying, “We don’t need to understand the brain to make engineering progress,” is that making engineering progress will almost certainly advance our scientific knowledge—kind of like the way Alpha Go ended up teaching the world’s best players better strategies for the game. Then this scientific progress can lead to more engineering progress. The engineering and the science are gonna ratchet each other up here.
Angry giants
Tesla and SpaceX are both stepping on some very big toes (like the auto industry, the oil and gas industry, and the military-industrial complex). Big toes don’t like being stepped on, so they’ll usually do whatever they can to hinder the stepper’s progress. Luckily, Neuralink doesn’t really have this problem. There aren’t any massive industries that Neuralink is disrupting (at least not in the foreseeable future—an eventual neuro revolution would disrupt almost every industry).
Neuralink’s hurdles are technology hurdles—and there are many. But two challenges stand out as the largest—challenges that, if conquered, may be impactful enough to trigger all the other hurdles to fall and totally change the trajectory of our future.
Major Hurdle 1: Bandwidth
There have never been more than a couple hundred electrodes in a human brain at once. When it comes to vision, that equals a super low-res image. When it comes to motor, that limits the possibilities to simple commands with little control. When it comes to your thoughts, a few hundred electrodes won’t be enough to communicate more than the simplest spelled-out message.
We need higher bandwidth if this is gonna become a big thing. Way higher bandwidth.
The Neuralink team threw out the number “one million simultaneously recorded neurons” when talking about an interface that could really change the world. I’ve also heard 100,000 as a number that would allow for the creation of a wide range of incredibly useful BMIs with a variety of applications.
Early computers had a similar problem. Primitive transistors took up a lot of space and didn’t scale easily. Then in 1959 came the integrated circuit—the computer chip. Now there was a way to scale the number of transistors in a computer, and Moore’s Law—the concept that the number of transistors that can fit onto a computer chip doubles every 18 months—was born.
Until the 90s, electrodes for BMIs were all made by hand. Then we started figuring out how to manufacture those little 100-electrode multielectrode arrays using conventional semiconductor technologies. Neuralink co-founder Ben Rapoport believes that “the move from hand manufacturing to Utah Array electrodes was the first hint that BMIs were entering a realm where Moore’s Law could become relevant.”
This is everything for the industry’s potential. Our maximum today is a couple hundred electrodes able to measure about 500 neurons at once—which is either super far from a million or really close, depending on the kind of growth pattern we’re in. If we add 500 more neurons to our maximum every 18 months, we’ll get to a million in the year 5017. If we double our total every 18 months, like we do with computer transistors, we’ll get to a million in the year 2034.
Currently, we seem to be somewhere in between. Ian Stevenson and Konrad Kording published a paper that looked at the maximum number of neurons that could be simultaneously recorded at various points throughout the last 50 years (in any animal), and put the results on this graph:45
Sometimes called Stevenson’s Law, this research suggests that the number of neurons we can simultaneously record seems to consistently double every 7.4 years. If that rate continues, it’ll take us till the end of this century to reach a million, and until 2225 to record every neuron in the brain and get our totally complete wizard hat.
Whatever the equivalent of the integrated circuit is for BMIs isn’t here yet, because 7.4 years is too big a number to start a revolution. The breakthrough here isn’t the device that can record a million neurons—it’s the paradigm shift that makes the future of that graph look more like Moore’s Law and less like Stevenson’s Law. Once that happens, a million neurons will follow.
Major Hurdle 2: Implantation
BMIs won’t sweep the world as long as you need to go in for skull-opening surgery to get involved.
This is a major topic at Neuralink. I think the word “non-invasive” or “non-invasively” came out of someone’s mouth like 42 times in my discussions with the team.
On top of being both a major barrier to entry and a major safety issue, invasive brain surgery is expensive and in limited supply. Elon talked about an eventual BMI implantation process that could be automated: “The machine to accomplish this would need to be something like Lasik, an automated process—because otherwise you just get constrained by the limited number of neural surgeons, and the costs are very high. You’d need a Lasik-like machine ultimately to be able to do this at scale.”
Making BMIs high-bandwidth alone would be a huge deal, as would developing a way to non-invasively implant devices. But doing both would start a revolution.
Other hurdles
Today’s BMI patients have a wire coming out of their head. In the future, that certainly won’t fly. Neuralink plans to work on devices that will be wireless. But that brings a lot of new challenges with it. You’ll now need your device to be able to send and receive a lot of data wirelessly. Which means the implant also has to take care of things like signal amplification, analog-to-digital conversion, and data compression on its own. Oh and it needs to be powered inductively.
Another big one—biocompatibility. Delicate electronics tend to not do well inside a jello ball. And the human body tends to not like having foreign objects in it. But the brain interfaces of the future are intended to last forever without any problems. This means that the device will likely need to be hermetically sealed and robust enough to survive decades of the oozing and shifting of the neurons around it. And the brain—which treats today’s devices like invaders and eventually covers them in scar tissue—will need to somehow be tricked into thinking the device is just a normal brain part doing its thing.29
Then there’s the space issue. Where exactly are you gonna put your device that can interface with a million neurons in a skull that’s already dealing with making space for 100 billion neurons? A million electrodes using today’s multielectrode arrays would be the size of a baseball. So further miniaturization is another dramatic innovation to add to the list.
There’s also the fact that today’s electrodes are mostly optimized for simple electrical recording or simple electrical stimulation. If we really want an effective brain interface, we’ll need something other than single-function, stiff electrodes—something with the mechanical complexity of neural circuits, that can both record and stimulate, and that can interact with neurons chemically and mechanically as well as electrically.
And just say all of this comes together perfectly—a high-bandwidth, long-lasting, biocompatible, bidirectional communicative, non-invasively-implanted device. Now we can speak back and forth with a million neurons at once! Except this little thing where we actually don’t know how to talk to neurons. It’s complicated enough to decode the static-like firings of 100 neurons, but all we’re really doing is learning what a set of specific firings corresponds to and matching them up to simple commands. That won’t work with millions of signals. It’s like how Google Translate essentially uses two dictionaries to swap words from one dictionary to another—which is very different than understanding language. We’ll need a pretty big leap in machine learning before a computer will be able to actually know a language, and we’ll need just as big a leap for machines to understand the language of the brain—because humans certainly won’t be learning to decipher the code of millions of simultaneously chattering neurons.
How easy does colonizing Mars seem right now.
But I bet the telephone and the car and the moon landing would have seemed like insurmountable technological challenges to people a few decades earlier. Just like I bet this—
—would have seemed utterly inconceivable to people at the time of this:
And yet, there it is in your pocket. If there’s one thing we should learn from the past, it’s that there will always be ubiquitous technology of the future that’s inconceivable to people of the past. We don’t know which technologies that seem positively impossible to us will turn out to be ubiquitous later in our lives—but there will be some. People always underestimate the Human Colossus.
If everyone you know in 40 years has electronics in their skull, it’ll be because a paradigm shift took place that caused a fundamental shift in this industry. That shift is what the Neuralink team will try to figure out. Other teams are working on it too, and some cool ideas are being developed:
Current BMI innovations
A team at the University of Illinois is developing an interface made of silk:46
Silk can be rolled up into a thin bundle and inserted into the brain relatively non-invasively. There, it would theoretically spread out around the brain and melt into the contours like shrink wrap. On the silk would be flexible silicon transistor arrays.
In his TEDx Talk, Hong Yeo demonstrated an electrode array printed on his skin, like a temporary tattoo, and researchers say this kind of technique could potentially be used on the brain:47
Another group is working on a kind of nano-scale, electrode-lined neural mesh so tiny it can be injected into the brain with a syringe:48
For scale—that red tube on the right is the tip of a syringe. Extreme Tech has a nice graphic illustrating the concept:
Other non-invasive techniques involve going in through veins and arteries. Elon mentioned this: “The least invasive way would be something that comes in like a hard stent like through a femoral artery and ultimately unfolds in the vascular system to interface with the neurons. Neurons use a lot of energy, so there’s basically a road network to every neuron.”
DARPA, the technology innovation arm of the US military,30 through their recently funded BRAIN program, is working on tiny, “closed-loop” neural implants that could replace medication.49
A second DARPA project aims to fit a million electrodes into a device the size of two nickels stacked.
Another idea being worked on is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), in which a magnetic coil outside the head can create electrical pulses inside the brain.50
The pulses can stimulate targeted neuron areas, providing a type of deep brain stimulation that’s totally non-invasive.
One of Neuralink’s co-founders, DJ Seo, led an effort to design an even cooler interface called “neural dust.” Neural dust refers to tiny, 100µm silicon sensors (about the same as the width of a hair) that would be sprinkled through the cortex. Right nearby, above the pia, would be a 3mm-sized device that could communicate with the dust sensors via ultrasound.
This is another example of the innovation benefits that come from an interdisciplinary team. DJ explained to me that “there are technologies that are not really thought about in this domain, but we can bring in some principles of their work.” He says that neural dust is inspired both by microchip technology and RFID (the thing that allows hotel key cards to communicate with the door lock without making physical contact) principles. And you can easily see the multi-field influence in how it works:51
Others are working on even more out-there ideas, like optogenetics (where you inject a virus that attaches to a brain cell, causing it to thereafter be stimulated by light) or even using carbon nanotubes—a million of which could be bundled together and sent to the brain via the bloodstream.
These people are all working on this arrow:
It’s a relatively small group right now, but when the breakthrough spark happens, that’ll quickly change. Developments will begin to happen rapidly. Brain interface bandwidth will get better and better as the procedures to implant them become simpler and cheaper. Public interest will pick up. And when public interest picks up, the Human Colossus notices an opportunity—and then the rate of development skyrockets. Just like the breakthroughs in computer hardware caused the software industry to explode, major industries will pop up working on cutting-edge machines and intelligent apps to be used in conjunction with brain interfaces, and you’ll tell some little kid in 2052 all about how when you grew up, no one could do any of the things she can do with her brain, and she’ll be bored.
I tried to get the Neuralink team to talk about 2052 with me. I wanted to know what life was going to be like once this all became a thing. I wanted to know what went in the [Pilot ACE : iPhone 7 :: Early BMIs : ____] blank. But it wasn’t easy—this was a team built specifically because of their focus on concrete results, not hype, and I was doing the equivalent of talking to people in the late 1700s who were feverishly trying to create a breakthrough steam engine and prodding them about when they thought there would be airplanes.
But I’d keep pulling teeth until they’d finally talk about their thoughts on the far future to get my hand off their tooth. I also focused a large portion of my talks with Elon on the far future possibilities and had other helpful discussions with Moran Cerf, a neuroscientist friend of mine who works on BMIs and thinks a lot about the long-term outlook. Finally, one reluctant-to-talk-about-his-predictions Neuralink team member told me that of course, he and his colleagues were dreamers—otherwise they wouldn’t be doing what they’re doing—and that many of them were inspired to get into this industry by science fiction. He recommended I talk to Ramez Naam, writer of the popular Nexus Trilogy, a series all about the future of BMIs, and also someone with a hard tech background that includes 19 software-related patents. So I had a chat with Ramez to round out the picture and ask him the 435 remaining questions I had about everything.
And I came out of all of it utterly blown away. I wrote once about how I think if you went back to 1750—a time when there was no electricity or motorized vehicles or telecommunication—and retrieved, say, George Washington, and brought him to today and showed him our world, he’d be so shocked by everything that he’d die. You’d have killed George Washington and messed everything up. Which got me thinking about the concept of how many years one would need to go into the future such that the ensuing shock from the level of progress would kill you. I called it a Die Progress Unit, or DPU.
Ever since the Human Colossus was born, our world has had a weird property to it—it gets more magical as time goes on. That’s why DPUs are a thing. And because advancement begets more rapid advancement, the trend is that as time passes, the DPUs get shorter. For George Washington, a DPU was a couple hundred years, which is outrageously short in the scheme of human history. But we now live in a time where things are moving so fast that we might experience one or even multiple DPUs in our lifetime. The amount that changed between 1750 and 2017 might happen again between now and another time when you’re still alive. This is a ridiculous time to be alive—it’s just hard for us to notice because we live life so zoomed in.
Anyway, I think about DPUs a lot and I always wonder what it would feel like to go forward in a time machine and experience what George would experience coming here. What kind of future could blow my mind so hard that it would kill me? We can talk about things like AI and gene editing—and I have no doubt that progress in those areas could make me die of shock—but it’s always, “Who knows what it’ll be like!” Never a descriptive picture.
I think I might finally have a descriptive picture of a piece of our shocking future. Let me paint it for you.
Part 5: The Wizard Era
The budding industry of brain-machine interfaces is the seed of a revolution that will change just about everything. But in many ways, the brain-interface future isn’t really a new thing that’s happening. If you take a step back, it looks more like the next big chapter in a trend that’s been going on for a long time. Language took forever to turn into writing, which then took forever to turn into printing, and that’s where things were when George Washington was around. Then came electricity and the pace picked up. Telephone. Radio. Television. Computers. And just like that, everyone’s homes became magical. Then phones became cordless. Then mobile. Computers went from being devices for work and games to windows into a digital world we all became a part of. Then phones and computers merged into an everything device that brought the magic out of our homes and put it into our hands. And on our wrists. We’re now in the early stages of a virtual and augmented reality revolution that will wrap the magic around our eyes and ears and bring our whole being into the digital world.
You don’t need to be a futurist to see where this is going.
Magic has worked its way from industrial facilities to our homes to our hands and soon it’ll be around our heads. And then it’ll take the next natural step. The magic is heading into our brains.
It will happen by way of a “whole-brain interface,” or what I’ve been calling a wizard hat—a brain interface so complete, so smooth, so biocompatible, and so high-bandwidth that it feels as much a part of you as your cortex and limbic system. A whole-brain interface would give your brain the ability to communicate wirelessly with the cloud, with computers, and with the brains of anyone with a similar interface in their head. This flow of information between your brain and the outside world would be so effortless, it would feel similar to the thinking that goes on in your head today. And though we’ve used the term brain-machine interface so far, I kind of think of a BMI as a specific brain interface to be used for a specific purpose, and the term doesn’t quite capture the everything-of-everything concept of the whole-brain interface. So I’ll call that a wizard hat instead.
Now, to fully absorb the implications of having a wizard hat installed in your head and what that would change about you, you’ll need to wrap your head around (no pun intended) two things:
1) The intensely mind-bending idea
2) The super ridiculously intensely mind-bending idea
We’ll tackle #1 in this section and save #2 for the last section after you’ve had time to absorb #1.
Elon calls the whole-brain interface and its many capabilities a “digital tertiary layer,” a term that has two levels of meaning that correspond to our two mind-bending ideas above.
The first meaning gets at the idea of physical brain parts. We discussed three layers of brain parts—the brain stem (run by the frog), the limbic system (run by the monkey), and the cortex (run by the rational thinker). We were being thorough, but for the rest of this post, we’re going to leave the frog out of the discussion, since he’s entirely functional and lives mostly behind the scenes.
When Elon refers to a “digital tertiary layer,” he’s considering our existing brain having two layers—our animal limbic system (which could be called our primary layer) and our advanced cortex (which could be called our secondary layer). The wizard hat interface, then, would be our tertiary layer—a new physical brain part to complement the other two.
If thinking about this concept is giving you the willies, Elon has news for you:
We already have a digital tertiary layer in a sense, in that you have your computer or your phone or your applications. You can ask a question via Google and get an answer instantly. You can access any book or any music. With a spreadsheet, you can do incredible calculations. If you had an Empire State building filled with people—even if they had calculators, let alone if they had to do it with a pencil and paper—one person with a laptop could outdo the Empire State Building filled with people with calculators. You can video chat with someone in freaking Timbuktu for free. This would’ve gotten you burnt for witchcraft in the old days. You can record as much video with sound as you want, take a zillion pictures, have them tagged with who they are and when it took place. You can broadcast communications through social media to millions of people simultaneously for free. These are incredible superpowers that the President of the United States didn’t have twenty years ago.
The thing that people, I think, don’t appreciate right now is that they are already a cyborg. You’re already a different creature than you would have been twenty years ago, or even ten years ago. You’re already a different creature. You can see this when they do surveys of like, “how long do you want to be away from your phone?” and—particularly if you’re a teenager or in your 20s—even a day hurts. If you leave your phone behind, it’s like missing limb syndrome. I think people—they’re already kind of merged with their phone and their laptop and their applications and everything.
This is a hard point to really absorb, because we don’t feel like cyborgs. We feel like humans who use devices to do things. But think about your digital self—you when you’re interacting with someone on the internet or over FaceTime or when you’re in a YouTube video. Digital you is fully you—as much as in-person you is you—right? The only difference is that you’re not there in person—you’re using magic powers to send yourself to somewhere far away, at light speed, through wires and satellites and electromagnetic waves. The difference is the medium.
Before language, there wasn’t a good way to get a thought from your brain into my brain. Then early humans invented the technology of language, transforming vocal cords and ears into the world’s first communication devices and air as the first communication medium. We use these devices every time we talk to each other in person. It goes:
Then we built upon that with another leap, inventing a second layer of devices, with its own medium, allowing us to talk long distance:
Or maybe:
In that sense, your phone is as much “you” as your vocal cords or your ears or your eyes. All of these things are simply tools to move thoughts from brain to brain—so who cares if the tool is held in your hand, your throat, or your eye sockets? The digital age has made us a dual entity—a physical creature who interacts with its physical environment using its biological parts and a digital creature whose digital devices—whose digital parts—allow it to interact with the digital world.
But because we don’t think of it like that, we’d consider someone with a phone in their head or throat a cyborg and someone else with a phone in their hand, pressed up against their head, not a cyborg. Elon’s point is that the thing that makes a cyborg a cyborg is their capabilities—not from which side of the skull those capabilities are generated.
We’re already a cyborg, we already have superpowers, and we already spend a huge part of our lives in the digital world. And when you think of it like that, you realize how obvious it is to want to upgrade the medium that connects us to that world. This is the change Elon believes is actually happening when the magic goes into our brains:
You’re already digitally superhuman. The thing that would change is the interface—having a high-bandwidth interface to your digital enhancements. The thing is that today, the interface all necks down to this tiny straw, which is, particularly in terms of output, it’s like poking things with your meat sticks, or using words—either speaking or tapping things with fingers. And in fact, output has gone backwards. It used to be, in your most frequent form, output would be ten-finger typing. Now, it’s like, two-thumb typing. That’s crazy slow communication. We should be able to improve that by many orders of magnitude with a direct neural interface.
In other words, putting our technology into our brains isn’t about whether it’s good or bad to become cyborgs. It’s that we are cyborgs and we will continue to be cyborgs—so it probably makes sense to upgrade ourselves from primitive, low-bandwidth cyborgs to modern, high-bandwidth cyborgs.
A whole-brain interface is that upgrade. It changes us from creatures whose primary and secondary layers live inside their heads and whose tertiary layer lives in their pocket, in their hand, or on their desk—
—to creatures whose three layers all live together.
Your life is full of devices, including the one you’re currently using to read this. A wizard hat makes your brain into the device, allowing your thoughts to go straight from your head into the digital world.
Which doesn’t only revolutionize human-computer communication.
Right now humans communicate with each other like this:
And that’s how it’s been ever since we could communicate. But in a wizard hat world, it would look more like this:
Elon always emphasizes bandwidth when he talks about Neuralink’s wizard hat goals. Interface bandwidth allows incoming images to be HD, incoming sound to be hi-fi, and motor movement commands to be tightly controlled—but it’s also a huge factor in communication. If information were a milkshake, bandwidth would be the width of the straw. Today, the bandwidth-of-communication graph looks something like this:
So computers can suck up the milkshake through a giant pipe, a human thinking would be using a large, pleasant-to-use straw, while language would be a frustratingly tiny coffee stirrer straw and typing (let alone texting) would be like trying to drink a milkshake through a syringe needle—you might be able to get a drop out once a minute.
Moran Cerf has gathered data on the actual bandwidth of different parts of the nervous system and on this graph, he compares them to equivalent bandwidths in the computer world:
You can see here on Moran’s graph that the disparity in bandwidth between the ways we communicate and our thinking (which is at 30 bits/second on this graph) is even starker than my graph above depicts.
But making our brains the device cuts out those tiny straws, turning all of these:
To this:
Which preserves all the meaning with none of the fuss—and changes the graph to this:
We’d still be using straws, but far bigger, more effective ones.
But it’s not just about the speed of communication. As Elon points out, it’s about the nuance and accuracy of communication as well:
There are a bunch of concepts in your head that then your brain has to try to compress into this incredibly low data rate called speech or typing. That’s what language is—your brain has executed a compression algorithm on thought, on concept transfer. And then it’s got to listen as well, and decompress what’s coming at it. And this is very lossy as well. So, then when you’re doing the decompression on those, trying to understand, you’re simultaneously trying to model the other person’s mind state to understand where they’re coming from, to recombine in your head what concepts they have in their head that they’re trying to communicate to you. … If you have two brain interfaces, you could actually do an uncompressed direct conceptual communication with another person.
This makes sense—nuance is like a high-resolution thought, which makes the file simply too big to transfer quickly through a coffee straw. The coffee straw gives you two bad options when it comes to nuance: take a lot of time saying a lot of words to really depict the nuanced thought or imagery you want to convey to me, or save time by using succinct language—but inevitably fail to transfer over the nuance. Compounding the effect is the fact that language itself is a low-resolution medium. A word is simply an approximation of a thought—buckets that a whole category of similar-but-distinct thoughts can all be shoved into. If I watch a horror movie and want to describe it to you in words, I’m stuck with a few simple low-res buckets—“scary” or “creepy” or “chilling” or “intense.” My actual impression of that movie is very specific and not exactly like any other movie I’ve seen—but the crude tools of language force my brain to “round to the nearest bucket” and choose the word that most closely resembles my actual impression, and that’s the information you’ll receive from me. You won’t receive the thought—you’ll receive the bucket—and now you’ll have to guess which of the many nuanced impressions that all approximate to that bucket is the most similar to my impression of the movie. You’ll decompress my description—“scary as shit”—into a high-res, nuanced thought that you associate with “scary as shit,” which will inevitably be based on your own experience watching other horror movies, and your own personality. The end result is that a lot has been lost in translation—which is exactly what you’d expect when you try to transfer a high-res file over a low-bandwidth medium, quickly, using low-res tools. That’s why Elon calls language data transfer “lossy.”
We do the best we can with these limitations—and over time, we’ve supplemented language with slightly higher-resolution formats like video to better convey nuanced imagery, or music to better convey nuanced emotion. But compared to the richness and uniqueness of the ideas in our heads, and the large-bandwidth straw our internal thoughts flow through, all human-to-human communication is very lossy.
Thinking about the phenomenon of communication as what it is—brains trying to share things with each other—you see the history of communication not as this:
As much as this:
Or it could be put this way:
It really may be that the second major era of communication—the 100,000-year Era of Indirect Communication—is in its very last moments. If we zoom out on the timeline, it’s possible the entire last 150 years, during which we’ve suddenly been rapidly improving our communication media, will look to far-future humans like one concept: the transition from Era 2 to Era 3. We might be living on the line that divides timeline sections.
And because indirect communication requires third-party body parts or digital parts, the end of Era 2 may be looked back upon as the era of physical devices. In an era where your brain is the device, there will be no need to carry anything around. You’ll have your body and, if you want, clothes—and that’s it.
When Elon thinks about wizard hats, this is usually the stuff he’s thinking about—communication bandwidth and resolution. And we’ll explore why in Part 6 of this post.
First, let’s dig into the mind-boggling concept of your brain becoming a device and talk about what a wizard hat world might be like.
___________
One thing to keep in mind as we think about all of this is that none of it will take you by surprise. You won’t go from having nothing in your brain to a digital tertiary layer in your head, just like people didn’t go from the Apple IIGS to using Tinder overnight. The Wizard Era will come gradually, and by the time the shift actually begins to happen, we’ll all be very used to the technology, and it’ll seem normal.
Supporting this point is the fact the staircase up to the Wizard Era has already started, and you haven’t even noticed. But there are thousands of people currently walking around with electrodes in their brain, like those with cochlear implants, retinal implants, and deep brain implants—all benefiting from early BMIs.
The next few steps on the staircase will continue to focus on restoring lost function in different parts of the body—the first people to have their lives transformed by digital brain technology will be the disabled. As specialized BMIs serve more and more forms of disability, the concept of brain implants will work its way in from the fringes and become something we’re all used to—just like no one blinks an eye when you say your friend just got Lasik surgery or your grandmother just got a pacemaker installed.
Elon talks about some types of people early BMIs could help:
The first use of the technology will be to repair brain injuries as a result of stroke or cutting out a cancer lesion, where somebody’s fundamentally lost a certain cognitive element. It could help with people who are quadriplegics or paraplegics by providing a neural shunt from the motor cortex down to where the muscles are activated. It can help with people who, as they get older, have memory problems and can’t remember the names of their kids, through memory enhancement, which could allow them to function well to a much later time in life—the medically advantageous elements of this for dealing with mental disablement of one kind or another, which of course happens to all of us when we get old enough, are very significant.
As someone who lost a grandfather to dementia five years before losing him to death, I’m excited to hear this.
And as interface bandwidth improves, disabilities that hinder millions today will start to drop like flies. The concepts of complete blindness and deafness—whether centered in the sensory organs or in the brain31—are already on the way out. And with enough time, perfect vision or hearing will be restorable.
Prosthetic limbs—and eventually sleek, full-body exoskeletons underneath your clothes—will work so well, providing both outgoing motor functions and an incoming sense of touch, that paralysis or amputations will only have a minor long-term effect on people’s lives.
In Alzheimer’s patients, memories themselves are often not lost—only the bridge to those memories. Advanced BMIs could help restore that bridge or serve as a new one.
While this is happening, BMIs will begin to emerge that people without disabilities want. The very early adopters will probably be pretty rich. But so were the early cell phone adopters.52
That’s Gordon Gekko, and that 1983, two-pound cell phone cost almost $9,000 in today’s dollars. And now over half of living humans own a mobile phone—all of them far less shitty than Gordon Gekko’s.
As mobile phones got cheaper, and better, they went from new and fancy and futuristic to ubiquitous. As we go down the same road with brain interfaces, things are going to get really cool.
Based on what I learned from my conversations with Elon, Ramez, and a dozen neuroscientists, let’s look at what the world might look like in a few decades. The timeline is uncertain, including the order in which the below developments may become a reality. And, of course, some of the below predictions are sure to be way off the mark, just as there will be other developments in this field that won’t be mentioned here because people today literally can’t imagine them yet.
But some version of a lot of this stuff probably will happen, at some point, and a lot of it could be in your lifetime.
Looking at all the predictions I heard, they seemed to fall into two broad categories: communication capabilities and internal enhancements.
The Wizard Era: Communication
Motor communication
“Communication” in this section can mean human-to-human or human-to-computer. Motor communication is all about human-to-computer—the whole “motor cortex as remote control” thing from earlier, but now the unbelievably rad version.
Like many future categories of brain interface possibility, motor communication will start with restoration applications for the disabled, and as those development efforts continually advance the possibilities, the technology will begin to be used to create augmentation applications for the non-disabled as well. The same technologies that will allow a quadriplegic to use their thoughts as a remote control to move a bionic limb can let anyone use their thoughts as a remote control…to move anything. Well not anything—I’m not talking about telekinesis—anything built to be used with a brain remote. But in the Wizard Era, lots of things will be built that way.
Your car (or whatever people use for transportation at that point) will pull up to your house and your mind will open the car door. You’ll walk up to the house and your mind will unlock and open the front door (all doors at that point will be built with sensors to receive motor cortex commands). You’ll think about wanting coffee and the coffee maker will get that going. As you head to the fridge the door will open and after getting what you need it’ll close as you walk away. When it’s time for bed, you’ll decide you want the heat turned down and the lights turned off, and those systems will feel you make that decision and adjust themselves.
None of this stuff will take any effort or thought—we’ll all get very good at it and it’ll feel as automatic and subconscious as moving your eyes to read this sentence does to you now.
People will play the piano with their thoughts. And do building construction. And steer vehicles. In fact, today, if you’re driving somewhere and something jumps out in the road in front of you, what neuroscientists know is that your brain sees it and begins to react well before your consciousness knows what’s going on or your arms move to steer out of the way. But when your brain is the one steering the car, you’ll have swerved out of the way before you even realize what happened.
Thought communication
This is what we discussed up above—but you have to resist the natural instinct to equate a thought conversation with a normal language conversation where you simply hear each other’s voices in your head. As we discussed, words are compressed approximations of uncompressed thoughts, so why would you ever bother with any of that, or deal with lossiness, if you didn’t have to? When you watch a movie, your head is buzzing with thoughts—but do you have a compressed spoken word dialogue going on in your head? Probably not—you’re just thinking. Thought conversations will be like that.
Elon says:
If I were to communicate a concept to you, you would essentially engage in consensual telepathy. You wouldn’t need to verbalize unless you want to add a little flair to the conversation or something (laughs), but the conversation would be conceptual interaction on a level that’s difficult to conceive of right now.
That’s the thing—it’s difficult to really understand what it would be like to think with someone. We’ve never been able to try. We communicate with ourselves through thought and with everyone else through symbolic representations of thought, and that’s all we can imagine.
Even weirder is the concept of a group thinking together. This is what a group brainstorm could look like in the Wizard Era.
And of course, they wouldn’t need to be in the same room. This group could have been in four different countries while this was happening—with no external devices in sight.
Ramez has written about the effect group thinking might have on the world:
That type of communication would have a huge impact on the pace of innovation, as scientists and engineers could work more fluidly together. And it’s just as likely to have a transformative effect on the public sphere, in the same way that email, blogs, and Twitter have successively changed public discourse.
The idea of collaboration today is supposed to be two or more brains working together to come up with things none of them could have on their own. And a lot of the time, it works pretty well—but when you consider the “lost in transmission” phenomenon that happens with language, you realize how much more effective group thinking would be.
I asked Elon a question that pops into everyone’s mind when they first hear about thought communication:
“So, um, will everyone be able to know what I’m thinking?”
He assured me they would not. “People won’t be able to read your thoughts—you would have to will it. If you don’t will it, it doesn’t happen. Just like if you don’t will your mouth to talk, it doesn’t talk.” Phew.
You can also think with a computer. Not just to issue a command, but to actually brainstorm something with a computer. You and a computer could strategize something together. You could compose a piece of music together. Ramez talked about using a computer as an imagination collaborator: “You could imagine something, and the computer, which can better forward predict or analyze physical models, could fill in constraints—and that allows you to get feedback.”
One concern that comes up when people hear about thought communication in particular is a potential loss of individuality. Would this make us one great hive mind with each individual brain as just another bee? Almost across the board, the experts I talked to believed it would be the opposite. We could act as one in a collaboration when it served us, but technology has thus far enhanced human individuality. Think of how much easier it is for people today to express their individuality and customize life to themselves than it was 50 or 100 or 500 years ago. There’s no reason to believe that trend won’t continue with more progress.
Multimedia communication
Similar to thought communication, but imagine how much easier it would be to describe a dream you had or a piece of music stuck in your head or a memory you’re thinking about if you could just beam the thing into someone’s head, like showing them on your computer screen. Or as Elon said, “I could think of a bouquet of flowers and have a very clear picture in my head of what that is. It would take a lot of words for you to even have an approximation of what that bouquet of flowers looks like.”
How much faster could a team of engineers or architects or designers plan out a new bridge or a new building or a new dress if they could beam the vision in their head onto a screen and others could adjust it with their minds, versus sketching things out—which not only takes far longer, but probably is inevitably lossy?
How many symphonies could Mozart have written if he had been able to think the music in his head onto the page? How many Mozarts are out there right now who never learned how to play instruments well enough to get their talent out?
I watched this delightful animated short movie the other day, and below the video the creator, Felix Colgrave, said the video took him two years. How much of that time was spent dreaming up the art versus painstakingly getting it from his head into the software? Maybe in a few decades, I’ll be able to watch animation streaming live out of Felix’s head.
Emotional communication
Emotions are the quintessential example of a concept that words are poorly-equipped to accurately describe. If ten people say, “I’m sad,” it actually means ten different things. In the Wizard Era, we’ll probably learn pretty quickly that the specific emotions people feel are as unique to people as their appearance or sense of humor.
This could work as communication—when one person communicates just what they’re feeling, the other person would be able to access the feeling in their own emotional centers. Obvious implications for a future of heightened empathy. But emotional communication could also be used for things like entertainment, where a movie, say, could also project out to the audience—directly into their limbic systems—certain feelings it wants the audience to feel as they watch. This is already what the film score does—another hack—and now it could be done directly.
Sensory communication
This one is intense.
Right now, the only two microphones that can act as inputs for the “speaker” in your head—your auditory cortex—are your two ears. The only two cameras that can be hooked up to the projector in your head—your visual cortex—are your two eyes. The only sensory surface that you can feel is your skin. The only thing that lets you experience taste is your tongue.
But in the same way we can currently hook an implant, for example, into someone’s cochlea—which connects a different mic to their auditory cortex—down the road we’ll be able to let sensory input information stream into your wizard hat wirelessly, from anywhere, and channel right into your sensory cortices the same way your bodily sensory organs do today. In the future, sensory organs will be only one set of inputs into your senses—and compared to what our senses will have access to, not a very exciting one.
Now what about output?
Currently, the only speaker your ear inputs can play out of is your auditory cortex. Only you can see what your eye cameras capture and only you can feel what touches your skin—because only you have access to the particular cortices those inputs are wired to. With a wizard hat, it would be a breeze for your brain to beam those input signals out of your head.
So you’ll have sensory input capabilities and sensory output capabilities—or both at the same time. This will open up all kinds of amazing possibilities.
Say you’re on a beautiful hike and you want to show your husband the view. No problem—just think out to him to request a brain connection. When he accepts, connect your retina feed to his visual cortex. Now his vision is filled with exactly what your eyes see, as if he’s there. He asks for the other senses to get the full picture, so you connect those too and now he hears the waterfall in the distance and feels the breeze and smells the trees and jumps when a bug lands on your arm. You two share the equivalent of a five-minute discussion about the scene—your favorite parts, which other places it reminds you of, etc. along with a shared story from his day—in a 30-second thought session. He says he has to get back to what he was working on, so he cuts off the sense connections except for vision, which he reduces to a little picture-in-picture window on the side of his visual field so he can check out more of the hike from time to time.
A surgeon could control a machine scalpel with her motor cortex instead of holding one in her hand, and she could receive sensory input from that scalpel so that it would feel like an 11th finger to her. So it would be as if one of her fingers was a scalpel and she could do the surgery without holding any tools, giving her much finer control over her incisions. An inexperienced surgeon performing a tough operation could bring a couple of her mentors into the scene as she operates to watch her work through her eyes and think instructions or advice to her. And if something goes really wrong, one of them could “take the wheel” and connect their motor cortex to her outputs to take control of her hands.
There would be no more need for screens of course—because you could just make a virtual screen appear in your visual cortex. Or jump into a VR movie with all your senses. Speaking of VR—Facebook, the maker of the Oculus Rift, is diving into this too. In an interview with Mark Zuckerberg about VR (for an upcoming post), the conversation at one point turned to BMIs. He said: “Touch gives you input and it’s a little bit of haptic feedback. Over the long term, it’s not clear that we won’t just like to have our hands in no controller, and maybe, instead of having buttons that we press, we would just think something.”
The ability to record sensory input means you can also record your memories, or share them—since a memory in the first place is just a not-so-accurate playback of previous sensory input. Or you could play them back as live experiences. In other words, that Black Mirror episode will probably actually happen.
An NBA player could send out a livestream invitation to his fans before a game, which would let them see and hear through his eyes and ears while he plays. Those who miss it could jump into the recording later.
You could save a great sex experience in the cloud to enjoy again later—or, if you’re not too private a person, you could send it over to a friend to experience. (Needless to say, the porn industry will thrive in the digital brain world.)
Right now, you can go on YouTube and watch a first-hand account of almost anything, for free. This would have blown George Washington’s mind—but in the Wizard Era, you’ll be able to actually experience almost anything for free. The days of fancy experiences being limited to rich people will be long over.
Another idea, via the imagination of Moran Cerf: Maybe player brain injuries will drive the NFL to alter the rules so that the players’ biological bodies stay on the sidelines, while they play the game with an artificial body whose motor cortex they control and whose eyes and ears they see and hear through. I like this idea and think it would be closer to the current NFL than it seems at first. In one way, you’ll still need to be a great athlete to play, since most of what makes a great athlete great is their motor cortex, their muscle memory, and their decision-making. But the other component of being a great athlete—the physical body itself—would now be artificial. The NFL could make all of the artificial playing bodies identical—this would be a cool way to see whose skills were actually best—or they could insist that artificial body matches in every way the biological body of the athlete, to mimic as closely as possible how the game would go if players used their biological bodies like in the old days. Either way, if this rule change happened, you can imagine how crazy it would seem to people that players used to have their actual, fragile brains on the field.
I could go on. The communication possibilities in a wizard hat world, especially when you combine them with each other, are endless—and damn fun to think about.
The Wizard Era: Internal Control
Communication—the flow of information into and out of your brain—is only one way your wizard hat will be able to serve you.
A whole-brain interface can stimulate any part of your brain in any way—it has to have this capability for the input half of all the communication examples above. But that capability also gives you a whole new level of control over your brain. Here are some ways people of the future might take advantage of that:
Win the battle in your head for both sides
Often, the battle in our heads between our prefrontal cortex and limbic system comes down to the fact that both parties are trying to do what’s best for us—it’s just that our limbic system is wrong about what’s best for us because it thinks we live in a tribe 50,000 years ago.
Your limbic system isn’t making you eat your ninth Starburst candy in a row because it’s a dick—it’s making you eat it because it thinks that A) any fruit that sweet and densely chewy must be super rich in calories and B) you might not find food again for the next four days so it’s a good idea to load up on a high-calorie food whenever the opportunity arises.
Meanwhile, your prefrontal cortex is just watching in horror like “WHY ARE WE DOING THIS.”
But Moran believes that a good brain interface could fix this problem:53
Consider eating a chocolate cake. While eating, we feed data to our cognitive apparatus. These data provide the enjoyment of the cake. The enjoyment isn’t in the cake, per se, but in our neural experience of it. Decoupling our sensory desire (the experience of cake) from the underlying survival purpose (nutrition) will soon be within our reach.
This concept of “sensory decoupling” would make so much sense if we could pull it off. You could get the enjoyment of eating like shit without actually putting shit in your body. Instead, Moran says, what would go in your body would be “nutrition inputs customized for each person based on genomes, microbiomes or other factors. Physical diets released from the tyranny of desire.”54
The same principle could apply to things like sex, drugs, alcohol, and other pleasures that get people into trouble, healthwise or otherwise.
Ramez Naam talks about how a brain interface could also help us win the discipline battle when it comes to time:55
We know that stimulating the right centers in the brain can induce sleep or alertness, hunger or satiation, ease or stimulation, as quick as the flip of a switch. Or, if you’re running code, on a schedule. (Siri: Put me to sleep until 7:30, high priority interruptions only. And let’s get hungry for lunch around noon. Turn down the sugar cravings, though.)
Take control of mood disorders
Ramez also emphasized that a great deal of scientific evidence suggests that moods and disorders are tied to what the chemicals in your brain are doing. Right now, we take drugs to alter those chemicals, and Ramez explains why direct neural stimulation is a far better option:56
Pharmaceuticals enter the brain and then spread out randomly, hitting whatever receptor they work on all across your brain. Neural interfaces, by contrast, can stimulate just one area at a time, can be tuned in real-time, and can carry information out about what’s happening.
Depression, anxiety, OCD, and other disorders may be easy to eradicate once we can take better control of what goes on in our brain.
Mess with your senses
Want to hear what a dog hears? That’s easy. The pitch range we can hear is limited by the dimensions of our cochlea—but pitches out of the ear’s range can be sent straight into our auditory nerve.32
Or maybe you want a new sense. You love bird watching and want to be able to sense when there’s a bird nearby. So you buy an infrared camera that can detect bird locations by their heat signals and you link it to your brain interface, which stimulates neurons in a certain way to alert you to the presence of a bird and tell you its location. I can’t describe what you’d experience when it alerts you, so I’ll just say words like “feel” or “see,” because I can only imagine the five senses we have. But in the future, there will be more words for new, useful types of senses.
You could also dim or shut off parts of a sense, like pain perhaps. Pain is the body’s way of telling us we need to address something, but in the future, we’ll elect to get that information in much less unpleasant formats.33
Increase your knowledge
There’s evidence from experiments with rats that it’s possible to boost how fast a brain can learn—sometimes by 2x or even 3x—just by priming certain neurons to prepare to make a long-term connection.
Your brain would also have access to all the knowledge in the world, at all times. I talked to Ramez about how accessing information in the cloud might work. We parsed it out into four layers of capability, each requiring a more advanced brain interface than the last:
Level 1: I want to know a fact. I call on the cloud for that info—like Googling something with my brain—and the answer, in text, appears in my mind’s eye. Basically what I do now except it all happens in my head.
Level 2: I want to know a fact. I call on the cloud for that info, and then a second later I just know it. No reading was involved—it was more like the way I’d recall something from memory.
Level 3: I just know the fact I want to know the second I want it. I don’t even know if it came from the cloud or if it was stored in my brain. I can essentially treat the whole cloud like my brain. I don’t know all the info—my brain could never fit it all—but any time I want to know something it downloads into my consciousness so seamlessly and quickly, it’s as if it were there all along.
Level 4: Beyond just knowing facts, I can deeply understand anything I want to, in a complex way. We discussed the example of Moby Dick. Could I download Moby Dick from the cloud into my memory and then suddenly have it be the same as if I had read the whole book? Where I’d have thoughts and opinions and I could cite passages and have discussions about the themes?
Ramez thinks all four of these are possible with enough time, but that the fourth in particular will take a very long time to happen, if ever.
So there are about 50 delightful potential things about putting a wizard hat on your brain. Now for the undelightful part.
The scary thing about wizard hats
As is always the case with the advent of new technologies, when the Wizard Era rolls around, the dicks of the world will do their best to ruin everything.
And this time, the stakes are extra high. Here are some things that could suck:
Trolls can have an even fielder day. The troll-type personalities of the world have been having a field day ever since the internet came out. They literally can’t believe their luck. But with brain interfaces, they’ll have an even fielder day. Being more connected to each other means a lot of good things—like empathy going up as a result of more exposure to all kinds of people—but it also means a lot of bad things. Just like the internet. Bad guys will have more opportunity to spread hate or build hateful coalitions. The internet has been a godsend for ISIS, and a brain-connected world would be an even more helpful recruiting tool.
Computers crash. And they have bugs. And normally that’s not the end of the world, because you can try restarting, and if it’s really being a piece of shit, you can just get a new computer. You can’t get a new head. There will have to be a way way higher number of precautions taken here.
Computers can be hacked. Except this time they have access to your thoughts, sensory input, and memories. Bad times.
Holy shit computers can be hacked. In the last item I was thinking about bad guys using hacking to steal information from my brain. But brain interfaces can also put information in. Meaning a clever hacker might be able to change your thoughts or your vote or your identity or make you want to do something terrible you normally wouldn’t ever consider. And you wouldn’t know it ever happened. You could feel strongly about voting for a candidate and a little part of you would wonder if someone manipulated your thoughts so you’d feel that way. The darkest possible scenario would be an ISIS-type organization actually influencing millions of people to join their cause by altering their thoughts. This is definitely the scariest paragraph in this post. Let’s get out of here.
Why the Wizard Era will be a good thing anyway even though there are a lot of dicks
Physics advancements allow bad guys to make nuclear bombs. Biological advancements allow bad guys to make bioweapons. The invention of cars and planes led to crashes that kill over a million people a year. The internet enabled the spread of fake news, made us vulnerable to cyberattack, made terrorist recruiting efforts easier, and allowed predators to flourish.
And yet—
Would people choose to reverse our understanding of science, go back to the days of riding horses across land and boats across the ocean, or get rid of the internet?
Probably not.
New technology also comes along with real dangers and it always does end up harming a lot of people. But it also always seems to help a lot more people than it harms. Advancing technology almost always proves to be a net positive.
People also love to hate the concept of new technology—because they worry it’s unhealthy and makes us less human. But those same people, if given the option, usually wouldn’t consider going back to George Washington’s time, when half of children died before the age of 5, when traveling to other parts of the world was impossible for almost everyone, when a far greater number of humanitarian atrocities were being committed than there are today, when women and ethnic minorities had far fewer rights across the world than they do today, when far more people were illiterate and far more people were living under the poverty line than there are today. They wouldn’t go back 250 years—a time right before the biggest explosion of technology in human history happened. Sounds like people who are immensely grateful for technology. And yet their opinion holds—our technology is ruining our lives, people in the old days were much wiser, our world’s going to shit, etc. I don’t think they’ve thought about it hard enough.
So when it comes to what will be a long list of dangers of the Wizard Era—they suck, and they’ll continue to suck as some of them play out into sickening atrocities and catastrophes. But a vastly larger group of good guys will wage war back, as they always do, and a giant “brain security” industry will be born. And I bet, if given the option, people in the Wizard Era wouldn’t for a second consider coming back to 2017.
___________
The Timeline
I always know when humanity doesn’t know what the hell is going on with something when all the experts are contradicting each other about it.34
The timeline for our road to the Wizard Era is one of those times—in large part because no one knows to what extent we’ll be able to make Stevenson’s Law look more like Moore’s Law.
My conversations yielded a wide range of opinions on the timeline. One neuroscientist predicted that I’d have a whole-brain interface in my lifetime. Mark Zuckerberg said: “I would be pretty disappointed if in 25 years we hadn’t made some progress towards thinking things to computers.” One prediction on the longer end came from Ramez Naam, who thought the time of people beginning to install BMIs for reasons other than disability might not come for 50 years and that mass adoption would take even longer.
“I hope I’m wrong,” he said. “I hope that Elon bends the curve on this.”
When I asked Elon about his timeline, he said:
I think we are about 8 to 10 years away from this being usable by people with no disability … It is important to note that this depends heavily on regulatory approval timing and how well our devices work on people with disabilities.
During another discussion, I had asked him about why he went into this branch of biotech and not into genetics. He responded:
Genetics is just too slow, that’s the problem. For a human to become an adult takes twenty years. We just don’t have that amount of time.
A lot of people working on this challenge have a lot of different motivations for doing so, but rarely did I talk to people who felt motivated by urgency.
Elon’s urgency to get us into the Wizard Era is the final piece of the Neuralink puzzle. Our last box to fill in:
With Elon’s companies, there’s always some “result of the goal” that’s his real reason for starting the company—the piece that ties the company’s goal into humanity’s better future. In the case of Neuralink, it’s a piece that takes a lot of tree climbing to understand. But with the view from all the way up here, we’ve got everything we need for our final stretch of the road.
Part 6: The Great Merger
Imagine an alien explorer is visiting a new star and finds three planets circling it, all with life on them. The first happens to be identical to the way Earth was in 10 million BC. The second happens to be identical to Earth in 50,000 BC. And the third happens to be identical to Earth in 2017 AD.
The alien is no expert on primitive biological life but circles around all three planets, peering down at each with his telescope. On the first, he sees lots of water and trees and mountains and some little signs of animal life. He makes out a herd of elephants on an African plain, a group of dolphins skipping along the ocean’s surface, and a few other scattered critters living out their Tuesday.
He moves on to the second planet and looks around. More critters, not too much different. He notices one new thing—occasional little points of flickering light dotting the land.
Bored, he moves on to the third planet. Whoa. He sees planes crawling around above the land, vast patches of gray land with towering buildings on them, ships of all kinds sprinkled across the seas, long railways stretching across continents, and he has to jerk his spaceship out of the way when a satellite soars by him.
When he heads home, he reports on what he found: “Two planets with primitive life and one planet with intelligent life.”
You can understand why that would be his conclusion—but he’d be wrong.
In fact, it’s the first planet that’s the odd one out. Both the second and third planets have intelligent life on them—equally intelligent life. So equal that you could kidnap a newborn baby from Planet 2 and swap it with a newborn on Planet 3 and both would grow up as normal people on the other’s planet, fitting in seamlessly. Same people.
And yet, how could that be?
The Human Colossus. That’s how.
Ever wonder why you’re so often unimpressed by humans and yet so blown away by the accomplishments of humanity?
It’s because humans are still, deep down, those people on Planet 2.
Plop a baby human into a group of chimps and ask them to raise him, Tarzan style, and the human as an adult will know how to run around the forest, climb trees, find food, and masturbate. That’s who each of us actually is.
Humanity, on the other hand, is a superintelligent, tremendously-knowledgeable, millennia-old Colossus, with 7.5 billion neurons. And that’s who built Planet 3.
The invention of language allowed each human brain to dump its knowledge onto a pile before its death, and the pile became a tower and grew taller and taller until one day, it became the brain of a great Colossus that built us a civilization. The Human Colossus has been inventing things ever since, getting continually better at it with time. Driven only by the desire to create value, the Colossus is now moving at an unprecedented pace—which is why we live in an unprecedented and completely anomalous time in history.
You know how I said we might be living literally on the line between two vast eras of communication?
Well the truth is, we seem to be on a lot of historic timeline boundaries. After 1,000 centuries of human life and 3.8 billion years of Earthly life, it seems like this century will be the one where Earth life makes the leap from the Single-Planetary Era to the Multi-Planetary Era. This century may be the one when an Earthly species finally manages to wrest the genetic code from the forces of evolution and learns to reprogram itself. People alive today could witness the moment when biotechnology finally frees the human lifespan from the will of nature and hands it over to the will of each individual.
The Human Colossus has reached an entirely new level of power—the kind of power that can overthrow 3.8-billion-year eras—positioning us on the verge of multiple tipping points that will lead to unimaginable change. And if our alien friend finds a fourth planet one day that happens to be identical to Earth in 2100, you can be pretty damn sure it’ll look nothing to him like Planet 3.
I hope you enjoyed Planet 3, because we’re leaving it. Planet 4 is where we’re headed, whether we like it or not.
__________
If I had to sum up the driving theme behind everything Elon Musk does, it would be pretty simple:
He wants to prepare us for Planet 4.
He lives in the big picture, and his only lens is the maximum zoom-out. That’s why he’s such an unusual visionary. It’s also why he’s so worried.
It’s not that he thinks Planet 4 is definitely a bad place—it’s that he thinks it could be a bad place, and he recognizes that the generations alive today, whether they realize it or not, are the first in history to face real, hardcore existential risk.
At the same time, the people alive today also are the first who can live with the actually realistic hope for a genuinely utopian future—one that defies even death and taxes. Planet 4 could be our promised land.
When you zoom way out, you realize how unfathomably high the stakes actually are.
And the outcome isn’t at the whim of chance—it’s at the whim of the Human Colossus. Planet 4 is only coming because the Colossus is building it. And whether that future is like heaven or hell depends on what the Colossus does—maybe over the next 150 years, maybe over only the next 50. Or 25.
But the unfortunate thing is that the Human Colossus isn’t optimized to maximize the chances of a safe transition to the best possible Planet 4 for the most possible humans—it’s optimized to build Planet 4, in any way possible, as quickly as possible.
Understanding all of this, Elon has dedicated his life to trying to influence the Human Colossus to bring its motivation more in line with the long-term interests of humans. He knows it’s not possible to rewire the Human Colossus—not unless existential risk were suddenly directly in front of each human’s face, which normally doesn’t happen until it’s already too late—so he treats the Colossus like a pet.
If you want your dog to sit, you correlate sitting on command with getting a treat. For the Human Colossus, a treat is a ripe new industry simultaneously exploding in both supply and demand.
Elon saw the Human Colossus dog peeing on the floor in the form of continually adding ancient, deeply-buried carbon into the carbon cycle—and rather than plead with the Colossus to stop peeing on the floor (which a lot of people waste their breath doing) or try to threaten the Colossus into behaving (which governments try to do, with limited success), he’s creating an electric car so rad that everyone will want one. The auto industry sees the shift in consumer preferences this is beginning to create, and in the nine years since Tesla released its first car, the number of major car companies with an electric car in their line went from zero to almost all of them. The Colossus seems to be taking the treat, and a change in behavior may follow.
Elon saw the Human Colossus dog running into traffic in the form of humanity keeping all of its eggs on one planet, despite all of those tipping points on the horizon, so he built SpaceX to learn to land a rocket, which will cut the cost of space travel by about 99% and make dedicating resources to the space industry a much tastier morsel for the Colossus. His plan with Mars isn’t to try to convince humanity that it’s a good idea to build a civilization there in order to buy life insurance for the species—it’s to create an affordable regular cargo and human transit route to Mars, knowing that once that happens, there will be enough value-creation opportunity in Mars development that the Colossus will become determined to make it happen.
But to Elon, the scariest thing the Human Colossus is doing is teaching the Computer Colossus to think. To Elon, and many others, the development of superintelligent AI poses by far the greatest existential threat to humanity. It’s not that hard to see why. Intelligence gives us godlike powers over all other creatures on Earth—which has not been a fun time for the creatures. If any of their body parts are possible value creators, we have major industries processing and selling those body parts. We sometimes kill them for sport. But we’re probably the least fun all the times we’re just doing our thing, for our own reasons, with no hate in our hearts or desire to hurt anyone, and there are creatures, or ecosystems, that just happen to be in our way or in the line of fire of the side effects of what we’re doing. People like to get all mad at humanity about this, but really, we’re just doing what species do—being selfish, first and foremost.
The issue for other creatures isn’t our selfishness—it’s the immense damage our selfishness can do because of the tremendous power we have over them. Power that comes from our intelligence advantage.
So it’s pretty logical to be apprehensive about the prospect of intentionally creating something that will have (perhaps far) more intelligence than we do—especially since every human on the planet is an amateur at creating something like that, because no one has ever done it before.
And things are progressing quickly. Elon talked about the rapid progress made by Google’s game-playing AI:
I mean, you’ve got these two things where AlphaGo crushes these human players head-on-head, beats Lee Sedol 4 out of 5 games and now it will beat a human every game all the time, while playing the 50 best players, and beating them always, all the time. You know, that’s like one year later.
And it’s on a harmless thing like AlphaGo right now. But the degrees of freedom at which the AI can win are increasing. So, Go has many more degrees of freedom than Chess, but if you take something like one of the real-time strategy competitive games like League of Legends or Dota 2, that has vastly more degrees of freedom than Go, so it can’t win at that yet. But it will be able to. And then there’s reality, which has the ultimate number of degrees of freedom.35
And for reasons discussed above, that kind of thing worries him:
What I came to realize in recent years—the last couple years—is that AI is obviously going to surpass human intelligence by a lot. … There’s some risk at that point that something bad happens, something that we can’t control, that humanity can’t control after that point—either a small group of people monopolize AI power, or the AI goes rogue, or something like that. It may not, but it could.
But in typical Human Colossus form, “the collective will is not attuned to the danger of AI.”
When I interviewed Elon in 2015, I asked him if he would ever join the effort to build superintelligent AI. He said, “My honest opinion is that we shouldn’t build it.” And when I later commented that building something smarter than yourself did seem like a basic Darwinian error (a phrase I stole from Nick Bostrom), Elon responded, “We’re gonna win the Darwin Award, collectively.”
Now, two years later, here’s what he says:
I was trying to really sound the alarm on the AI front for quite a while, but it was clearly having no impact (laughs) so I was like, “Oh fine, okay, then we’ll have to try to help develop it in a way that’s good.”
He’s accepted reality—the Human Colossus is not going to quit until the Computer Colossus, one day, wakes up. This is happening.
No matter what anyone tells you, no one knows what will happen when the Computer Colossus learns to think. In my long AI explainer, I explored the reasoning of both those who are convinced that superintelligent AI will be the solution to every problem we have, and those who see humanity as a bunch of kids playing with a bomb they don’t understand. I’m personally still torn about which camp I find more convincing, but it seems pretty rational to plan for the worst and do whatever we can to increase our odds. Many experts agree with that logic, but there’s little consensus on the best strategy for creating superintelligent AI safely—just a whole lot of ideas from people who acknowledge they don’t really know the answer. How could anyone know how to take precautions for a future world they have no way to understand?
Elon also acknowledges he doesn’t know the answer—but he’s working on a plan he thinks will give us our best shot.
Elon’s Plan
Abraham Lincoln was pleased with himself when he came up with the line:
—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Fair—it’s a good line.
The whole idea of “of the people, by the people, for the people” is the centerpiece of democracy.
Unfortunately, “the people” are unpleasant. So democracy ends up being unpleasant. But unpleasant tends to be a dream compared to the alternatives. Elon talked about this:
I think that the protection of the collective is important. I think it was Churchill who said, “Democracy’s the worst of all systems of government, except for all the others.” It’s fine if you have Plato’s incredible philosopher king as the king, sure. That would be fine. Now, most dictators do not turn out that way. They tend to be quite horrible.
In other words, democracy is like escaping from a monster by hiding in a sewer.
There are plenty of times in life when it’s a good strategy to take a risk in order to give yourself a chance for the best possible outcome, but when the stakes are at their absolute highest, the right move is usually to play it safe. Power is one of those times. That’s why, even though democracy essentially guarantees a certain level of mediocrity, Elon says, “I think you’re hard-pressed to find many people in the United States who, no matter what they think of any given president, would advocate for a dictatorship.”
And since Elon sees AI as the ultimate power, he sees AI development as the ultimate “play it safe” situation. Which is why his strategy for minimizing existential AI risk seems to essentially be that AI power needs to be of the people, by the people, for the people.
To try to implement that concept in the realm of AI, Elon has approached the situation from multiple angles.
For the by the people and for the people parts, he and Sam Altman created OpenAI—a self-described “non-profit AI research company, discovering and enacting the path to safe artificial general intelligence.”
Normally, when humanity is working on something new, it starts with the work of a few innovative pioneers. When they succeed, an industry is born and the Human Colossus jumps on board to build upon what the pioneers started, en masse.
But what if the thing those pioneers were working on was a magic wand that might give whoever owned it immense, unbreakable power over everyone else—including the power to prevent anyone else from making a magic wand? That would be kinda stressful, right?
Well that’s how Elon views today’s early AI development efforts. And since he can’t stop people from trying to make a magic wand, his solution is to create an open, collaborative, transparent magic wand development lab. When a new breakthrough innovation is discovered in the lab, instead of making it a tightly-kept secret like the other magic wand companies, the lab publishes the innovation for anyone to see or borrow for their own magic-wand-making efforts.
On one hand, this could have drawbacks. Bad guys are out there trying to make a magic wand too, and you really don’t want the first magic wand to end up in the hands of a bad guy. And now the bad guys’ development efforts can benefit from all of the innovations being published by the lab. This is a serious concern.
But the lab also boosts the efforts of millions of other people trying to create magic wands. This generates a ton of competition for the secretive early pioneers, and it becomes less likely that any one inventor can create a magic wand long before others also do. More likely is that when the first magic wand is eventually created, there are thousands of others near completion as well—different wands, with different capabilities, made by different people, for different reasons. If we have to have magic wands on Earth, Elon thinks, let’s at least make sure they’re in the hands of a large number of people across the world—not one all-powerful sorcerer. Or as he puts it:
Essentially, if everyone’s from planet Krypton, that’s great. But if only one of them is Superman and Superman also has the personality of Hitler, then we’ve got a problem.
More broadly, a single pioneer’s magic wand would likely have been built to serve that inventor’s own needs and purposes. But by turning the future magic wand industry into a collective effort, a wide variety of needs and purposes will have a wand made for them, making it more likely that the capabilities of the world’s aggregate mass of magic wands will overarchingly represent the needs of the masses.
You know, like democracy.
It worked fine for Nikola Tesla and Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers and Alan Turing to jump-start revolutions by jumping way out ahead of the pack. But when you’re dealing with the invention of something unthinkably powerful, you can’t sit back and let the pioneers kick things off—it’s leaving too much to chance.
OpenAI is an effort to democratize the creation of AI, to get the entire Human Colossus working on it during its pioneer phase. Elon sums it up:
AI is definitely going to vastly surpass human abilities. To the degree that it is linked to human will, particularly the sum of a large number of humans, it would be an outcome that is desired by a large number of humans, because it would be a function of their will.
So now you’ve maybe got early human-level-or-higher AI superpower being made by the people, for the people—which brings down the likelihood that the world’s AI ends up in the hands of a single bad guy or a tightly-controlled monopoly.
Now all we’ve got left is of the people.
This one should be easy. Remember, the Human Colossus is creating superintelligent AI for the same reason it created cars, factory machines, and computers—to serve as an extension of itself to which it can outsource work. Cars do our walking, factory machines do our manufacturing, and computers take care of information storage, organization, and computation.
Creating computers that can think will be our greatest invention yet—they’ll allow us to outsource our most important and high-impact work. Thinking is what built everything we have, so just imagine the power that will come from building ourselves a superintelligent thinking extension. And extensions of the people by definition belong to the people—they’re of the people.
There’s just this one thing—
High-caliber AI isn’t quite like those other inventions. The rest of our technology is great at the thing it’s built to do, but in the end, it’s a mindless machine with narrow intelligence. The AI we’re trying to build will be smart, like a person—like a ridiculously smart person. It’s a fundamentally different thing than we’ve ever made before—so why would we expect normal rules to apply?
It’s always been an automatic thing that the technology we make inherently belongs to us—it’s such an obvious point that it almost seems silly to make it. But could it be that if we make something smarter than a person, it might not be so easy to control?
Could it be that a creation that’s better at thinking than any human on Earth might not be fully content to serve as a human extension, even if that’s what it was built to do?
We don’t know how issues will actually manifest—but it seems pretty safe to say that yes, these possibilities could be.
And if what could be turns out to actually be, we may have a serious problem on our hands.
Because, as the human history case study suggests, when there’s something on the planet way smarter than everyone else, it can be a really bad thing for everyone else. And if AI becomes the new thing on the planet that’s way smarter than everyone else, and it turns out not to clearly belong to us—it means that it’s its own thing. Which drops us into the category of “everyone else.”
So people gaining monopolistic control of AI is its own problem—and one that OpenAI is hoping to solve. But it’s a problem that may pale in comparison to the prospect of AI being uncontrollable.
This is what keeps Elon up at night. He sees it as only a matter of time before superintelligent AI rises up on this planet—and when that happens, he believes that it’s critical that we don’t end up as part of “everyone else.”
That’s why, in a future world made up of AI and everyone else, he thinks we have only one good option:
To be AI.
___________
Remember before when I said that there were two things about wizard hats we had to wrap our heads around?
1) The intensely mind-bending idea
2) The super ridiculously intensely mind-bending idea
This is where #2 comes in.
These two ideas are the two things Elon means when he refers to the wizard hat as a digital tertiary layer in our brains. The first, as we discussed, is the concept that a whole-brain interface is kind of the same thing as putting our devices in our heads—effectively making your brain the device. Like this:
Your devices give you cyborg superpowers and a window into the digital world. Your brain’s wizard hat electrode array is a new brain structure, joining your limbic system and cortex.
But your limbic system, cortex, and wizard hat are just the hardware systems. When you experience your limbic system, it’s not the physical system you’re interacting with—it’s the information flow within it. It’s the activity of the physical system that bubbles up in your consciousness, making you feel angry, scared, horny, or hungry.
Same thing for your cortex. The napkin wrapped around your brain stores and organizes information, but it’s the information itself that you experience when you think something, see something, hear something, or feel something. The visual cortex in itself does nothing for you—it’s the stream of photon information flowing through it that gives you the experience of having a visual cortex. When you dig in your memory to find something, you’re not searching for neurons, you’re searching for information stored in the neurons.
The limbic system and cortex themselves are just gray matter. The flow of activity within the gray matter is what forms your familiar internal characters, the monkey brain and the rational human brain.
So what does that mean about your digital tertiary layer?
It means that while what’s actually in your brain is the physical device—the electrode array itself—the component of the tertiary layer that you’ll experience and get to know as a character is the information that flows through the array.
And just like the feelings and urges of the limbic system and the thoughts and chattering voice of the cortex all feel to you like parts of you—like your inner essence—the activity that flows through your wizard hat will feel like a part of you and your essence.
Elon’s vision for the Wizard Era is that among the wizard hat’s many uses, one of its core purposes will be to serve as the interface between your brain and a cloud-based customized AI system. That AI system, he believes, will become as present a character in your mind as your monkey and your human characters—and it will feel like you every bit as much as the others do. He says:
I think that, conceivably, there’s a way for there to be a tertiary layer that feels like it’s part of you. It’s not some thing that you offload to, it’s you.
This makes sense on paper. You do most of your “thinking” with your cortex, but then when you get hungry, you don’t say, “My limbic system is hungry,” you say, “I’m hungry.” Likewise, Elon thinks, when you’re trying to figure out the solution to a problem and your AI comes up with the answer, you won’t say, “My AI got it,” you’ll say, “Aha! I got it.” When your limbic system wants to procrastinate and your cortex wants to work, a situation I might be familiar with, it doesn’t feel like you’re arguing with some external being, it feels like a singular you is struggling to be disciplined. Likewise, when you think up a strategy at work and your AI disagrees, that’ll be a genuine disagreement and a debate will ensue—but it will feel like an internal debate, not a debate between you and someone else that just happens to take place in your thoughts. The debate will feel like thinking.
It makes sense on paper.
But when I first heard Elon talk about this concept, it didn’t really feel right. No matter how hard I tried to get it, I kept framing the idea as something familiar—like an AI system whose voice I could hear in my head, or even one that I could think together with. But in those instances, the AI still seemed like an external system I was communicating with. It didn’t seem like me.
But then, one night while working on the post, I was rereading some of Elon’s quotes about this, and it suddenly clicked. The AI would be me. Fully. I got it.
Then I lost it. The next day, I tried to explain the epiphany to a friend and I left us both confused. I was back in “Wait, but it kind of wouldn’t really be me, it would be communicating with me” land. Since then, I’ve dipped into and out of the idea, never quite able to hold it for long. The best thing I can compare it to is having a moment when it actually makes sense that time is relative and space-time is a single fabric. For a second, it seems intuitive that time moves slower when you’re moving really fast. And then I lose it. As I typed those sentences just now, it did not seem intuitive.
The idea of being AI is especially tough because it combines two mind-numbing concepts—the brain interface and the abilities it would give you, and artificial general intelligence. Humans today are simply not equipped to understand either of those things, because as imaginative as we think we are, our imaginations only really have our life experience as their toolkit, and these concepts are both totally novel. It’s like trying to imagine a color you’ve never seen.
That’s why when I hear Elon talk with conviction about this stuff, I’m somewhere in between deeply believing it myself and taking his word for it. I go back and forth. But given that he’s someone who probably found space-time intuitive when he was seven, and given that he’s someone who knows how to colonize Mars, I’m inclined to listen hard to what he says.
And what he says is that this is all about bandwidth. It’s obvious why bandwidth matters when it comes to making a wizard hat useful. But Elon believes that when it comes to interfacing with AI, high bandwidth isn’t just preferred, but actually fundamental to the prospect of being AI, versus simply using AI. Here he is walking me through his thoughts:
The challenge is the communication bandwidth is extremely slow, particularly output. When you’re outputting on a phone, you’re moving two thumbs very slowly. That’s crazy slow communication. … If the bandwidth is too low, then your integration with AI would be very weak. Given the limits of very low bandwidth, it’s kind of pointless. The AI is just going to go by itself, because it’s too slow to talk to. The faster the communication, the more you’ll be integrated—the slower the communication, the less. And the more separate we are—the more the AI is “other”—the more likely it is to turn on us. If the AIs are all separate, and vastly more intelligent than us, how do you ensure that they don’t have optimization functions that are contrary to the best interests of humanity? … If we achieve tight symbiosis, the AI wouldn’t be “other”—it would be you and with a relationship to your cortex analogous to the relationship your cortex has with your limbic system.
Elon sees communication bandwidth as the key factor in determining our level of integration with AI, and he sees that level of integration as the key factor in how we’ll fare in the AI world of our future:
We’re going to have the choice of either being left behind and being effectively useless or like a pet—you know, like a house cat or something—or eventually figuring out some way to be symbiotic and merge with AI.
Then, a second later:
A house cat’s a good outcome, by the way.
Without really understanding what kinds of AI will be around when we reach the age of superintelligent AI, the idea that human-AI integration will lend itself to the protection of the species makes intuitive sense. Our vulnerabilities in the AI era will come from bad people in control of AI or rogue AI not aligned with human values. In a world in which millions of people control a little piece of the world’s aggregate AI power—people who can think with AI, can defend themselves with AI, and who fundamentally understand AI because of their own integration with it—humans are less vulnerable. People will be a lot more powerful, which is scary, but like Elon said, if everyone is Superman, it’s harder for any one Superman to cause harm on a mass scale—there are lots of checks and balances. And we’re less likely to lose control of AI in general because the AI on the planet will be so widely distributed and varied in its goals.
But time is of the essence here—something Elon emphasized:
The pace of progress in this direction matters a lot. We don’t want to develop digital superintelligence too far before being able to do a merged brain-computer interface.
When I thought about all of this, one reservation I had was whether a whole-brain interface would be enough of a change to make integration likely. I brought this up with Elon, noting that there would still be a vast difference between our thinking speed and a computer’s thinking speed. He said:
Yes, but increasing bandwidth by orders of magnitude would make it better. And it’s directionally correct. Does it solve all problems? No. But is it directionally correct? Yes. If you’re going to go in some direction, well, why would you go in any direction other than this?
And that’s why Elon started Neuralink.
He started Neuralink to accelerate our pace into the Wizard Era—into a world where he says that “everyone who wants to have this AI extension of themselves could have one, so there would be billions of individual human-AI symbiotes who, collectively, make decisions about the future.” A world where AI really could be of the people, by the people, for the people.
___________
I’ll guess that right now, some part of you believes this insane world we’ve been living in for the past 38,000 words could really maybe be the future—and another part of you refuses to believe it. I’ve got a little of both of those going on too.
But the insanity part of it shouldn’t be the reason it’s hard to believe. Remember—George Washington died when he saw 2017. And our future will be unfathomably shocking to us. The only difference is that things are moving even faster now than they were in George’s time.
The concept of being blown away by the future speaks to the magic of our collective intelligence—but it also speaks to the naivety of our intuition. Our minds evolved in a time when progress moved at a snail’s pace, so that’s what our hardware is calibrated to. And if we don’t actively override our intuition—the part of us that reads about a future this outlandish and refuses to believe it’s possible—we’re living in denial.
The reality is that we’re whizzing down a very intense road to a very intense place, and no one knows what it’ll be like when we get there. A lot of people find it scary to think about, but I think it’s exciting. Because of when we happened to be born, instead of just living in a normal world like normal people, we’re living inside of a thriller movie. Some people take this information and decide to be like Elon, doing whatever they can to help the movie have a happy ending—and thank god they do. Because I’d rather just be a gawking member of the audience, watching the movie from the edge of my seat and rooting for the good guys.
Either way, I think it’s good to climb a tree from time to time to look out at the view and remind ourselves what a time this is to be alive. And there are a lot of trees around here. Meet you at another one sometime soon.
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More Wait But Why stuff:
If you want to understand AI better, here’s my big AI explainer.
And here’s the full Elon Musk post series:
Part 1, on Elon: Elon Musk: The World’s Raddest Man
Part 2, on Tesla: How Tesla Will Change the World
Part 3, on SpaceX: How (and Why) SpaceX Will Colonize Mars
Part 4, on the thing that makes Elon so effective: The Chef and the Cook: Musk’s Secret Sauce
If you’re sick of science and tech, check these out instead:
Why Procrastinators Procrastinate
Religion for the Nonreligious
The Tail End
Thanks to the Neuralink team for answering my 1,200 questions and explaining things to me like I’m five. Extra thanks to Ben Rapoport, Flip Sabes, and Moran Cerf for being my question-asking go-tos in my many dark moments of despair. ||||| FILE PHOTO: Tesla Chief Executive, Elon Musk enters the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, U.S., January 6, 2017.
(Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk said his latest company Neuralink Corp is working to link the human brain with a machine interface by creating micron-sized devices.
Neuralink is aiming to bring to the market a product that helps with certain severe brain injuries due to stroke, cancer lesion etc, in about four years, Musk said in an interview with website Wait But Why.
"If I were to communicate a concept to you, you would essentially engage in consensual telepathy," Musk said in the interview published on Thursday. bit.ly/2oWJcMw
Artificial intelligence and machine learning will create computers so sophisticated and godlike that humans will need to implant "neural laces" in their brains to keep up, Musk said in a tech conference last year.
"There are a bunch of concepts in your head that then your brain has to try to compress into this incredibly low data rate called speech or typing," Musk said in the latest interview.
"If you have two brain interfaces, you could actually do an uncompressed direct conceptual communication with another person."
The technology could take about eight to 10 years to become usable by people with no disability, which would depend heavily on regulatory approval timing and how well the devices work on people with disabilities, Musk was quoted as saying.
In March, the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk had launched a company through which computers could merge with human brains. Neuralink was registered in California as a "medical research" company last July, and he plans on funding the company mostly by himself. ||||| Elon Musk has been working on a Neuralink, a human-computer brain interface company, in whatever spare moments he has between running Tesla and also running SpaceX. Neuralink’s ultimate aim may actually be the most ambitious of all three of his companies, surprisingly, and a new exploration of the foundational ideas behind Neuralink on Wait But Why goes deep within what Musk hopes to achieve by creating better, higher-bandwidth connections between our brains and computers.
Musk has confirmed that he will indeed occupy the CEO role at Neuralink, which means he’ll be the CEO of three separate companies. But Neuralink’s goals definitely sound the most science fictional of all three of his ventures, which is saying something considering Musk’s SpaceX is all about making humans an intergalactic colonial species.
Basically, Musk seems to want to achieve a communications leap equivalent in impact to when humans came up with language – this proved an incredibly efficient way to convey thoughts socially at the time, but what Neuralink aims to do is increase that efficiency by multiple factors of magnitude. Person-to-person, Musk’s vision would enable direct “uncompressed” communication of concepts between people, instead of having to effectively “compress” your original thought by translating it into language, and then having the other party “decompress” the package you send them linguistically, which is always a lossy process.
Neuralink’s tech would also be able to help humans keep pace with the rapid advances in AI, and would achieve this by basically integrating AI with human consciousness. Neuralink’s tech would enable human use of AI as just an additional faculty – like our sense of selves or other higher in-brain thought faculties. Making it possible to connect with such high bandwidth directly into the brain would allow us to integrate cloud-based AI computing within our selves in a way that’s indistinguishable from our core selves, Musk proposes, much like how most people would now find it difficult to separate their statements and expressions in language from the parts of the brain that generate them.
This tech is still far away from any kind of broad commercial application – maybe farther than a SpaceX trip to Mars. Musk says that it’s probably going to be at least “eight to 10 years” before tech the company produces can be used by someone without a disability. Neuralink is aiming to create therapeutic applications of its tech first, which will likely help as it seeks the necessary regulatory approvals for human trials.
Musk taking on a third CEO role is bound to raise eyebrows among his company’s investors, but Neuralink’s mission is in keeping with the aim of his other two companies: All three focus on solving problems that present what Musk would term existential threats – Neuralink’s agenda of countering AI not least among them.
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– Elon Musk might be somewhat skittish at the prospect of artificial intelligence (or at least at its more nefarious potential), but that hasn't curbed his latest goal: merging human brains with computers by the time we reach the next presidential inauguration, Reuters reports. In what TechCrunch calls "the most science fictional of all three of his ventures," the Tesla and SpaceX CEO discussed his new company Neuralink with Tim Urban of the Wait but Why blog, who comments on the "mind-bending bigness" of the firm's mission. That mission—which TechCrunch notes may irk some investors, as Musk has confirmed he'll spread himself a little thinner and take the CEO helm for Neuralink, too—is to get a technology to market in four years' time that would create a high-bandwidth link between machines and severely injured human brains (injuries caused by strokes or cancer lesions, for example). TechCrunch explains that Musk's literal brainchild would streamline communications between people by allowing for "uncompressed" signals to pass back and forth, rather than the current way we "compress" our thoughts into language, which the recipient then must "decompress." You'll need a large cup of coffee and a block of free time to get through Urban's lengthy post about Musk's "wizard hat," but Urban implores people to "wipe your brain clean of what it thinks it knows about itself and its future" and "jump into the vortex" with him. "I knew the future would be nuts but this is a whole other level," Urban tweeted Thursday while promoting his story.
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