RELIGIOUS RITES VS HUMAN RIGHTS

Jehovah’s Witness elders made teen listen to recording of her rape for hours, lawsuit claims

At issue is whether courts can hold churches liable for inflicting emotional distress during religiously motivated processes

Josh Marcus NOV 12, 2020


Dozens of lawsuits across the country have accused the Jehovah’s Witnesses of mishandling abuse allegations inside the church.

Elders at a Utah congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses allegedly forced a 15-year-old to listen to a recording of her rape over and over again for hours as part of a religious inquiry, a lawsuit before the Utah Supreme Court claims.

The case seeks to hold the leaders and the church at large responsible for inflicting emotional distress.

The church claims, and lower courts have ruled, that to hold them liable would violate the religious freedoms of the First Amendment of the US Constitution, since it involves weighing the appropriateness of religious conduct.

In duelling briefs, as well as oral arguments for the case on Monday (recordings of which are not yet available), the two sides wrestled over the meaning of this bedrock of American civil rights law.

Karra Porter, a lawyer representing the church, argued there was a difference between the government regulating physical harm and that of the facts in the case, according to the Desert News.

But at least one justice seems not see it that way.

The suit, originally filed in 2016, argued that the leaders of a congregation in Roy, Utah, made the teen girl sit and listen to the recordings for hours in 2008 as part of a religious inquiry. The woman in question, now an adult in her 20s, said in court documents a fellow Jehovah’s Witness, age 18, bullied her and allegedly raped her three times, including one instance in which the man involved recorded the incident.

This triggered an investigation from the church in early 2008, where the leaders called the girl and her parents into a committee which would decide whether she had engaged in sinful conduct. During the meeting, they played the recording on and off “for hours” in an attempt to extract a confession, according to court documents, as the girl “continued crying and was ‘physically quivering’ from the trauma of having to listen to her assault over and over.”

This led, her lawyers say, to anxiety, nightmares, loss of appetite, and poor performance in school, leading her to seek damages from the church.

But two lower courts found that the church couldn’t be held liable.

As the Utah Court of Appeals held in 2019, doing would require “an inquiry into the appropriateness of the Church’s conduct in applying a religious practice and therefore violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment," which bars the government from instituting particular religious practices.

Dozens of suits nationwide have accused the Jehovah’s Witnesses of mismanaging or covering up abuse inside the church, including one in early 2020, when the Montana Supreme Court reversed a $35 million judgement against the church for not reporting a girl’s abuse to authorities

“The allegation here is a mental a nd emotional equivalent of waterboarding,” Justice Deno Himonas said. “I’ve been a judge for a long time and a lawyer for a long time. I’ve never seen, in court, anything like this that’s alleged.”

The lawyers on the other side have previously argued that neglecting to challenge the church’s alleged actions here would set a precedent that “would give actors free rein to injure others under the guise of religious freedom—a proposition that the US Supreme Court has rejected repeatedly for over a century.” 

Lawyers representing the church and the alleged victim did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read more

Jehovah’s Witnesses deny sexual abuse within church was covered up

Russia’s Jehovah’s Witnesses allege ‘21st-century Inquisition’

Jehovah’s Witnesses targeted under Russia's anti-extremism laws

Meet Rebekah Mercer, the deep-pocketed co-founder of Parler, a controversial conservative social network

Rebekah Mercer, a prominent conservative donor, revealed Saturday that she is helping to bankroll Parler, the rapidly growing but controversial conservative social media platform that was at the top of App Store charts last week.

© Patrick McMullan/Getty Images Rebekah Mercer in 2017

Mercer is the daughter of Robert Mercer, a hedge fund manager and the co-founder of the now-defunct political data-analysis firm Cambridge Analytica. The Mercers have been prominent supporters of President Donald Trump and conservative causes. 

THEY FOUNDED AND FUNDED BREIBART NEWS

"John and I started Parler to provide a neutral platform for free speech, as our founders intended, and also to create a social media environment that would protect data privacy," Mercer said in a statement on the platform. "The ever increasing tyranny and hubris of our tech overlords demands that someone lead the fight against data mining, and for the protection of free speech online. That someone is Parler, a beacon to all who value their liberty, free speech, and personal privacy."

What is Parler?

Parler, founded in 2018 by Mercer, John Matze and Jared Thomson, bills itself as "unbiased social media" and a place where people can "speak freely and express yourself openly without fear of being 'deplatformed' for your views," according to its website and App Store description. It looks like a mashup of Twitter and Instagram, with its main feed, follower counts and ways to share posts and links.

The platform became the most-downloaded free app in the Apple App Store on the weekend of November 8 -- the day major media outlets called the election for Joe Biden.

Parler mostly attracts conservative users. Some of Parler's most-active users include Fox News host Sean Hannity, radio personality Mark Levin, far-right activist Laura Loomer, Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Devin Nunes. Eric Trump and Donald Trump's presidential campaign also have accounts on the platform.

A substantial number of users have followed these voices onto the platform, fueled by complaints over actions major social media platforms have taken against election misinformation and false allegations of voter fraud, such as disputing claims with fact-check labels.

Twitter, more than Facebook, took aggressive action on many of President Trump's tweets during the election. At one point, the social network applied warning labels to more than a third of Trump's tweets after polls closed. Some of Trump's tweets were hidden behind a warning label which users had to click through before being able to read what they said.

With big tech companies flagging false information, Parler has become a free-for-all for conservative voices. According to an ADL report released on Thursday, members of the Proud Boys, adherents of conspiracy theory QAnon, anti-government extremists and white supremacists all openly promote their views on Parler. "Holocaust denial, antisemitism, racism and other forms of bigotry are also easy to find," the ADL said.


Who is Rebekah Mercer?

For years, the Mercers have been key benefactors of conservative groups, ranging from the Heritage Foundation think tank, where Rebekah Mercer serves on the board of trustees, to organizations that have produced anti-Hillary-Clinton books and movies.

But the family emerged in national politics in the 2016 election cycle when Robert Mercer, who helped oversee Renaissance Technologies hedge fund, and his wife Diane, donated more than $23 million to groups that backed conservative candidates, according to a tally by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.

In that election, the Mercers financed a super PAC that initially backed Texas Senator Ted Cruz's bid for the Republican presidential nomination before throwing its support behind Trump.

The media-shy Rebekah Mercer is widely reported to have persuaded then-candidate Trump to reshuffle his campaign organization and hire Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway to help run his presidential bid in the final stretch of the 2016 election. Rebekah Mercer went on to serve on the executive committee of Trump's transition team,

Rebekah Mercer did not respond to a request for comment. Robert Mercer stepped aside from Renaissance in 2017.

-- CNN's Fredreka Schouten and Kaya Yurieff contributed to this re

Peru's interim president resigns as chaos embroils nation


LIMA, Peru — Peru’s interim president resigned Sunday as the nation plunged into its worst constitutional crisis in two decades following massive protests unleashed when Congress ousted the nation’s popular leader

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

In a short televised address, Manuel Merino said Congress acted within the law when he was sworn into office as chief of state Tuesday, despite protesters’ allegations that legislators had staged a parliamentary coup.

“I, like everyone, want what’s best for our country,” he said.

The politician agreed to step down after a night of unrest in which two young protesters were killed and half his Cabinet resigned. Peruvians cheered the decision, waving their nation’s red and white flag on the streets of Lima and chanting “We did it!” But there is still no clear playbook for what comes next.

Congress called an emergency session for Sunday evening to select a new president, but was still debating the question late into the night. Meanwhile, ex-President Martín Vizcarra – whose ouster sparked the upheaval – called on the country’s highest court to step in.

“It can’t be that the institution that got us into this political crisis, that has for five days paralyzed Peru, with deaths, is going to give us a solution, choosing the person who they best see fit,” Vizcarra said.

Peru has much at stake: The country is in the throes of one of the world’s most lethal coronavirus outbreaks and political analysts say the constitutional crisis has cast the country’s democracy into jeopardy.

“I think this is the most serious democratic and human rights crisis we have seen since Fujimori,” said analyst Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg, referring to the turbulent rule of strongman Alberto Fujimori from 1990 to 2000.

Congress kicked Vizcarra out using a clause dating back to the 19th century that allows the powerful legislature to remove a president for “permanent moral incapacity.” Legislators accused Vizcarra of taking more than $630,000 in bribes in exchange for two construction contracts while governor of a small province years ago.

Prosecutors are investigating the allegations but Vizcarra has not been charged. He has vehemently denied the accusations.

Merino, previously head of Congress, stepped in as interim president, but his six-day rule was marred by constant protests. The little-known politician and rice farmer promised to keep in place a scheduled vote for a new president in April. That did little to sway Peruvians who were loath to accept him.

Half of those in Congress are themselves under investigation for alleged crimes including money laundering and homicide. Polls show most wanted Vizcarra to carry out the rest of his presidential term, due to expire in July. As Peruvians took to the streets, police responded with batons, rubber bullets and tear gas.

A network of human rights groups reported that 112 people were hurt in Saturday’s protests and the whereabouts of 41 others were unknown. Health authorities said the dead included Jack Pintado, 22, who was shot 11 times, including in the head, and Jordan Sotelo, 24, who was hit four times in the thorax near his heart.

“Two young people were absurdly, stupidly, unjustly sacrificed by the police,” Peruvian writer and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa said in a recorded video shared on Twitter. “This repression – which is against all of Peru – needs to stop.”

The protests rocking Peru are unlike any seen in recent years, fueled largely by young people typically apathetic to the country’s notoriously erratic politics. Protesters are upset at Congress for staging what they consider an illegal power grab.

In remarks before Saturday’s upheaval, Merino denied the protests were against him, telling a local radio station that young people were demonstrating against unemployment and not being able to complete their studies because of the pandemic. For many, that showed just how out of touch Congress is.

“We want the voice of the people to be heard,” protester Fernando Ramirez said as he banged a spoon against a pot at a protest.

The protests sent a resounding message to political elites that Peruvians will serve as a check on Congress if they try to illegitimately grab power, said Steven Levitsky, a Harvard University political scientist who has extensively studied Peru.

“This is a very good day for Peruvian democracy,” he said.

According to the National Association of Journalists, there were 35 attacks against members of the media between Monday and Thursday, almost all by police officers. Rights groups have also documented excessive force against protesters, the use of tear gas near homes and hospitals and the detention of demonstrators.

“We are documenting cases of police brutality in downtown Lima,” José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director of Human Rights Watch, wrote on Twitter Saturday. “Everything indicates repression against peaceful protesters is intensifying.”

If Congress proceeds with selecting a new leader, they may have relatively few options that would appease demonstrators. An overwhelming majority – 105 of 130 – voted in favour of removing Vizcarra. They are widely expected to choose among those who were against the ex-president’s surprise rushed removal.

“You look for someone who is clean — not corrupt, not tainted, not behaving in some sort of ridiculous self interest way — you don't have a lot of options,” Levitsky said.

There is also still a possibility that Congress could find a way to usher in Vizcarra's return.

The timing of the crisis could not be worse: Peru has the world’s highest per-capita COVID-19 mortality rate and has seen one of Latin America’s worst economic contractions. The International Monetary Fund projects a 14% decline in GDP this year.

In stepping down, Merino said he’d fulfilled his responsibility with “humility and honour” and that it was a challenge he “accepted and did not seek.” He accused unnamed actors of trying to “confuse the country” into thinking Congress wanted to kick out Vizcarra in order to delay the upcoming presidential vote.

Merino's resignation is likely to quell protests, at least temporarily, but much still hangs in the balance with the future of the presidency uncertain, said Cynthia McClintock, a political science professor at George Washington University.

“The longer he was in office, the more reactionary and old-school his administration appeared likely to be,” she said. “A lot will depend, though, on the successor.”

___

Associated Press writer Franklin Briceño reported this story in Lima and AP writer ChristineArmario reported from Bogota, Colombia.

Franklin BriceñO And Christine Armario, The Associated Press

North Korea may be training military dolphins, according to new satellite images

© Provided by National Post 

Dolphins in the waters off Lovina Beach on Bali island's Singaraja regency on Oct. 30, 2020.

Not only is North Korea building a submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles, the hermit kingdom also appears to be training military dolphins to do its underwater bidding.

New satellite images obtained by the United States Naval Institute (USNI), a non-profit, appear to reveal dolphin pens off the coast of Nampo, a naval base and port city in South Pyongan Province. The apparent animal pens are floating between a shipyard and a coal loading pier, with naval units based nearby.

Satellite images suggest a dolphin training program has existed at Nampo since at least October 2015, USNI reported , adding that the dolphins appear to be bred at a second site, on the edge of town, which has existed since October 2016. The program may be part of Kim Jong Un’s broader modernization of North Korea’s navy, USNI reported.


What makes the animals so useful is their sensory and diving capabilities. A dolphin’s natural sonar is superior to man-made devices and they can be trained to hunt for mines, recover equipment and stop hostile swimmers and divers.

USNI reported that it is possible that the animal pens in the satellite images are actually fish farms, which are increasingly common in North Korea, but they look different than those in other areas of the country.

North Korea would not be the first nation to try to weaponize dolphins.

The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program has been training bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions since the 1960s, but it was only in the early 1990s that the program was declassified.

Canada does not use aquatic animals in its military operations and apparently has no plans to do so, The Canadian Press reported after Canadian soldiers got a chance, in 2011, to train with bomb-detecting dolphins during a U.S. military exercise off the coast of British Columbia.

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, navy dolphins helped U.S. forces clear anti-ship mines and underwater booby traps planted in the port of Umm Qasr by Saddam Hussein’s forces.

In 2016 the Russian military spent $33,750 to purchase five bottlenose dolphins . Of course, Russia refused to say at the time what it planned to do with the dolphins, but the country’s military has a history of training marine mammals.

The Soviet Union had a dolphin unit at a seaport near Sevastopol in Crimea, but when it collapsed, the training facility was placed under the control of Ukraine. The dolphin program was reportedly restarted in 2012, and when Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 the Russian military assumed control of the training facility.

A declassified 1976 report by the CIA notes that the Soviet Union launched its marine mammal training program in response to the success of the U.S. one.

The document also notes the exceptional capabilities of dolphins and other marine mammals, which have been trained to locate objects, place packages on moving targets, and deliver objects to submerged divers.

“Marine mammals can perform operational tasks which are well beyond even a trained frogman’s capabilities. A man with swim flippers can maintain a speed of four to five knots for several minutes in quiet water; a dolphin can cruise at five to six knots for several hours and sprint to a speed of 15 to 20 knots for several minutes,” the report says.

“Animals could be trained to attack a magnetic package to a submarine which could record information, transmit a tracking signal or explode.”

In fact, according to a 2017 study , a lack of hands may be the only thing holding dolphins back from world domination.

Despite the apparent success of marine mammal programs, the use of animals in military operations remains controversial.

Animal-rights groups have criticized the U.S. military for putting dolphins in harm’s way. Dolphins are big enough to set off a mine by accident, although the navy insists the animals never get close enough to the explosives to detonate them.

With files from The Canadian Press and National Post

Thai protesters rally again, promoting a diversity of causes



BANGKOK — Pro-democracy protesters in Thailand rallied again on Saturday, promoting a diversity of causes and taking an opportunity to display their rejection of the country’s power structure directly to the monarch

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

Some 20 groups called the rally at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument under the name “Mob Fest” as the latest in a series of protests calling for significant reforms in government. Secondary school students, women’s right advocates and LGBTQ activists were among them.

The core demands of the student-led protest movement are that Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha step down, the constitution be amended to make it more democratic, and the monarchy be reformed to be made more accountable.

The movement has put pressure on Prayuth’s government, which after failing to stop it through the use of police force has now scheduled a session of Parliament for Tuesday and Wednesday to debate changes to the constitution.

The protest movement, anticipating that the lawmakers will not take substantive action, has already called what it expects will be its biggest march so far for Nov. 21.

The demand over the monarchy is the most controversial one because the royal institution is traditionally regarded as the heart and soul of the nation, and to be treated with the utmost respect. It is protected by a law that makes defaming the monarch punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The army, a major influence in Thai politics, has declared defence of the monarchy to be one of its main duties, and many ordinary citizens also regards it with devotion.

The protest movement, however, has prioritized the issue of reforming the monarchy because it believes that the institution holds too much power and that change is the key to establishing true democracy. So they are undertaking their unprecedented challenge even at the risk of violent blowback from hardcore royalists.

A crowd of several thousand protesters at Democracy Monument on Saturday showed their sentiment when a royal motorcade with King Maha Vajiralongkorn passed by. They turned their backs, put their hands in the air to display their three-finger protest gesture and sang the national anthem. A small contingent of royalists across the street shouted “Long live the king.”

The king and Queen Suthida were headed to preside over the opening of a new mass transit station elsewhere in the capital. The royal couple in recent weeks have maintained a busy schedule of public events, buoying their followers.

As has been the case at several recent events, after taking part in the formal ceremony, they stepped out to mingle with reverent members of the general public who cheered them loudly and waved Thai flags, many wearing the yellow shirts identified with loyalty to the crown.

The pro-democracy protesters back across town, meanwhile, wrapped a large white cloth around Democracy Monument on which they wrote messages to the government with their demands and their wishes for the future. The effect of the covering was especially dramatic when lights shone on the monument after dark.

Police initially tried to stop their action, triggering a small clash that left one police officer with a leg injury that caused him to be taken to a hospital.

However, the general atmosphere at the rally was festive as a variety of groups promoted their causes with petitions and speeches, and music entertained the crowd.

The “Bad Students” group, as they mockingly call themselves, gathered earlier at the Education Ministry to air their complaints about an education system they consider antiquated and authoritarian, with unreasonable regulations. They have already won some concessions on dress codes and hairstyles, but seek reforms in the curriculum as well.

The students displayed a white coffin with a photo of Education Minister Nataphol Teepsuwan, and declared they support the broader movement’s demand for constitutional change.

The group Women for Freedom and Democracy did lobbying work concerning laws on abortion, domestic violence, prostitution and other issues. One booth supported prisoners' rights.

Other speakers included a Buddhist monk and an advocate for stateless people, who in Thailand usually belong to hilltribe minorities.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul, The Associated Press

Our Milky Way’s Biggest Collision Was With The ‘Kraken Galaxy’ Not The ‘Gaia Sausage,’ Say Scientists

Jamie Carter

Senior Contributor
Science
I inspire people to go stargazing, watch the Moon, enjoy the night sky
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN ? NOPE; Forbes 

M80/NGC 6093, one of the densest globular star clusters in the Milky Way galaxy, which contains ... [+] SSPL VIA GETTY IMAGES

Where does our galaxy come from?

It’s one of the biggest questions in cosmology and yet only now are astronomers beginning to unravel the mysterious mergers that resulted in the Milky Way.

The first complete family tree of our home galaxy has been reconstructed by an international team of astrophysicists. They used artificial intelligence to decipher the movements of the 150 globular clusters that orbit the Milky Way.

In doing so they’re uncovered a massive collision billions of years ago between our galaxy and what they’ve dubbed the “Kraken” galaxy, an event that added millions of stars to the Milky Way.

It’s thought that globular clusters—dense clumps of stars older than most in the Milky Way and related to each other—are the leftovers of galaxies that merged to form our galaxy. Scientists have known for some time that galaxies can grow by the merging of smaller galaxies, but until now little has been known about how the Milky Way came to be.

Using globular clusters as “fossils” to reconstruct the early assembly histories of galaxies, the researchers developed an AI suite of advanced computer simulations called E-MOSAICS that show how globular clusters form, evolve, and are destroyed.

“The main challenge of connecting the properties of globular clusters to the merger history of their host galaxy has always been that galaxy assembly is an extremely messy process, during which the orbits of the globular clusters are completely reshuffled,” said Dr Diederik Kruijssen at the Center for Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg (ZAH) in Germany.

Cue a new an artificial neural network. “We tested the algorithm tens of thousands of times on the simulations and we were amazed at how accurately it was able to reconstruct the merger histories of the simulated galaxies, using only their globular cluster populations,” said Kruijssen.


Galaxy merger tree of the Milky Way inferred by applying the insights gained from the E-MOSAICS ... [+] D. KRUIJSSEN / HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY

In the simulations, the researchers were able to wind the cosmic clock back 10 billion years to place individual globular clusters into one of the progenitor galaxies that eventually merged to become the Milky Way.

The researchers were also able to accurately predict when each globular cluster merged with the Milky Way and how many stars it brought with it.

In doing so the researchers essentially found the debris of more than five progenitor galaxies. The first four—Gaia-Enceladus, the Helmi streams, Sequoia and Sagittarius—were already known to astronomers. The team also uncovered a previously unknown collision between the Milky Way and an enigmatic galaxy that they dubbed “Kraken.”

“The collision with Kraken must have been the most significant merger the Milky Way ever experienced,” said Kruijssen. “Before, it was thought that a collision with the Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage galaxy, which took place some 9 billion years ago, was the biggest collision event.”

The merger with Kraken took place 11 billion years ago when the Milky Way was four times less massive. “The collision with Kraken must have truly transformed what the Milky Way looked like at the time,” said Kruijssen.

To date the Milky Way has merged with about five galaxies of more than 100 million stars, but also around 15 others of at least 10 million stars.

At top right is the Large Magellanic Cloud, near to the leftovers of the Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage  [+] UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP VIA GETTY IMAGES

So where are the remains of these five galaxies? When the Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage dwarf galaxy collided with the Milky Way it’s thought that eight globular clusters were added to the our galaxy. The leftovers of that galaxy are called the “Gaia Sausage,” which is near the Large Magellanic Cloud.

“The debris of more than five progenitor galaxies has now been identified,” said Kruijssen. “With current and upcoming telescopes, it should be possible to find them all.”

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

SpaceX, NASA ready first commercial taxi trip to Space Station

Justin Bachman, Bloomberg News
Nov 13, 2020

The International Space Station is about to get more crowded.

NASA will launch four astronauts aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule this weekend in the company’s first regular crew rotation to the orbiting lab. The trip, three months after SpaceX completed a high-profile trial run, will open a new era in human spaceflight for NASA as commercial firms start dominating U.S. missions in low-earth orbit.

“I hope people realize this isn’t just another launch -- this is something a lot bigger,” Michael Hopkins, commander of the Crew-1 mission scheduled for Saturday, said in a NASA post on Tumblr. “Hopefully it’s setting the stage, one of those first steps to getting us to the Moon and on to Mars.”

For Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and founder Elon Musk, the flight caps almost two decades of efforts to fly people as well as cargo. The Dragon and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket won NASA approval for regular crewed missions this week, making them the first vehicles the U.S. has certified to carry humans since the Space Shuttle, which was retired in 2011.

The Crew-1 launch is scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 7:49 p.m. on Saturday, with docking at the station planned eight and a half hours later. If that attempt is scrapped, a backup launch would be set for 7:27 p.m. on Sunday with docking 27 hours later due to orbital mechanics.

Beyond becoming the U.S. space agency’s first regular commercial launch, the Crew-1 mission is also the first NASA-staffed mission licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration. The regulator is assuming responsibility for public safety because the flight will be conducted by a commercial company.

NASA on Friday was checking on Musk’s recent contacts with agency personnel after he tweeted late Thursday that he might be infected with the new coronavirus. His health isn’t likely to affect the launch, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a news conference. Astronauts self-quarantine for two weeks before liftoff.

Hopkins, 51, an Air Force colonel and test pilot, will make his second sojourn to the space station, seven years after his first. He will be joined by three others on the mission:
Shannon Walker, 55, a physicist and Houston native, will serve her second stint on the orbiting lab.

Victor Glover, 44, a Navy pilot from California, will be taking his first flight to space. He will be the first Black astronaut to stay on the space station for a full six-month rotation, according to NASA.

Soichi Noguchi, 55, a Japanese astronaut and aeronautical engineer, has the most space experience among the crew and will become one of the very few people to leave the Earth on three vehicles: Russia’s Soyuz, the retired NASA Space Shuttle and the SpaceX Dragon.

The four astronauts will push the space station to maximum occupancy when they join the three people already there. That will require changes in how mission controllers schedule the daily exercise regimen for each crew member. There will also be a squeeze on personal quarters where the astronauts sleep and have time to themselves.

The space station currently has a half-dozen crew berths, and NASA is completing work on a seventh. In the meantime, Hopkins will sleep aboard the Dragon capsule.

If that doesn’t work out, a crew member could “camp out” in one of the space station’s modules, David Wiedmeyer, a training officer at Johnson Space Center, wrote Nov. 12 in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session about the mission.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration began its commercial crew program in 2010 to field a replacement for the shuttle. NASA selected SpaceX and Boeing Co. in September 2014. Boeing, which suffered delays in its work following a botched December 2019 test flight, plans a second trial without crew in the first quarter of next year.

SpaceX completed its test-flight program Aug. 2 when astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley returned from a two-month stay aboard the station.

Since then, the company has bolstered parts of the Dragon’s heat shield, made adjustments so that the landing parachutes deploy at a slightly higher altitude and reinforced some areas of the capsule so it can withstand rougher seas.

Three months ago, when Behnken and Hurley splashed down south of Pensacola, Florida, recreational boaters approached the spacecraft. When the crew of the latest mission returns in the spring of 2021, NASA has already announced one major change for the landing site: A larger flotilla of Coast Guard ships to keep pleasure craft away.

 

• MARIJUANA

Nov 14, 2020

Cannabis Canada: Industry starts process of legislation review, eyes economic impact

David George-Cosh, BNN Bloomberg

Marijuana joints rolled with Canadian-themed paper are photographed at a "Wake and Bake" legalized marijuana event in Toronto on Wednesday, October 17, 2018. , THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

Two years after Canada legalized cannabis, it's become clear that the regulated market isn't perfect. 

Since legalization more than 60 producers have sold into the legal market, over 1,200 licensed pot stores opened their doors and $8.6 billion has been contributed to the Canadian economy. Still, challenges remain. 

Eric Foster, a Toronto-based partner at Dentons Canada LLP, plans to tackle those challenges after being tasked with leading Canadian Chamber of Commerce's industry-led review of the Cannabis Act over the course of the next year. 

"When the government starts their review, we're going to be hopefully in a position where we can go to them and very credibly say: 'Look, we've done a lot of this work for you,'" Foster told BNN Bloomberg in a phone interview. "It's so important when you're advocating for things, especially with the government, that you can credibly say you're speaking with one voice as an industry."

Lawmakers will begin their review of the Cannabis Act when the legislation turns three in Oct. 2021. Foster expects the process to take roughly 18 months to complete. Once that's done, the government may decide to ease or strengthen certain parts of the law, or do nothing at all. 

Foster's work will take him (virtually for now) to six roundtables examining concerns and ideas brought forth from across the cannabis industry. That agenda is expected to include regulatory burdens, retail sustainability, addressing the illicit market and preventing money laundering. 

"This was a novel piece of legislation," Foster said. "Generally speaking, the government did a really nice job with it. But a couple of years into this, there is no doubt - and we've heard time and time again - that there are pressure points that are making it very hard for these companies to compete. So everybody's really excited about the opportunity to hopefully drive that meaningful change."

But if there's one thing Foster believes the government should focus on, it's creating an economic mandate tied to the Canadian cannabis industry. That may see an increased focus in an economy tattered by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"Right now, this is not really part of anybody's economic mandate. It's solely being looked at under the purview of Health Canada," Foster said. "I can't stress that enough, but from our understanding, there's been no real economic focus on this legislation."

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THIS WEEK'S TOP STORIES

U.S. election remains in focus as Canopy, Aurora & Tilray report quarterly results 

The week kicked off with a slew of earnings from Canadian cannabis giants Canopy Growth, Aurora Cannabis and Tilray. While Canopy's results came in above expectations (despite still posting an adjusted EBITDA loss of $85.7 million), Aurora and Tilray both reported mixed results that sent the companies’ shares tumbling during the week. However, it was clear that the U.S. election piqued analysts interest, as they inquired about the companies’ American plans amid growing momentum toward cannabis legalization stateside. Canopy and Aurora are keeping their eyes on U.S. developments, with the former already building out some of its brands via its relationship with Acreage Holdings. Aurora, meanwhile, sees its research into cannabis science and genetics as ways to port over its expertise to the U.S. without the need to develop a physical presence there.  

Pot may be a common ground to unite Democrats and Republicans, Bloomberg columnist says 

If President-elect Joe Biden is looking to find some common ground with Republicans, cannabis may be a good place to start, writes Bloomberg Opinion columnist Tara Lachapelle. With cannabis now legal in some form in about 70 per cent of the U.S., the marijuana industry needs some political will to flourish - and the prospect of the federal government weighing in and nudging it in the right direction is suddenly looking better, Lachapelle writes. More than half of Republicans say cannabis should be legalized, while a recent survey by Pew found that about two-thirds of U.S. adults are in favour of marijuana legalization. That percentage jumps to 91 if you include those who at least support it for medicinal purposes. "This is the moment that cannabis companies and their investors have been waiting for: to be considered a legitimate industry rather than a hot voting issue. From here, the goal is to make weed every bit as normal as junk food, wine and other vices long found in stores across America," Lachapelle wrote.  

Israel on track to legalize recreational cannabis within the next year      

Israel is set to be the next country to legalize cannabis for recreational use after the country's justice minister issued a memorandum stating legalization would go into effect nine months after a bill is passed in the Knesset, the Times of Israel reports. The law will allow people 21 and over to purchase cannabis at specialized stores, which will also be allowed to make deliveries, the Times reports. However, the stores will be barred from selling edibles that resemble candy. Prices for Israeli cannabis will be "reasonable" to avoid encouraging people to purchase from the illicit market, according to the Times. The law is also likely to issue a blanket ban on smoking cannabis in public spaces and will not permit home growth unless a special licence is obtained.

Canada should explore consumption lounges to boost tourism, hospitality industries: Op-ed     

If Canada is looking for new ways to boost its tourism and hospitality industries, they might want to take a look at how cannabis can help, writes Nathan Mison, co-chair of the National Cannabis Working Group. In an op-ed published in the Edmonton Journal, Mison said that cannabis consumption lounges and pop-up cannabis retail outlets could create an entire new revenue stream associated with both domestic and international cannabis tourism. He added that cannabis presents a unique "economic opportunity" to aid Canada’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it may require federal and provincial governments to do a little creative thinking to reduce red tape and such things make a reality.

Village Farms, Pure Sunfarms subsidiary extend quarterly profit run     

It was another banner quarter for Village Farms International and its Pure Sunfarms cannabis subsidiary. The company reported third-quarter results on Friday with revenue and EBITDA figures of $17 million and $4.3 million, respectively, that handily beat analyst expectations. Roughly half of its sales were comprised of dried flower, while about five per cent were from vapes and oil products. Wholesale accounted for the rest of Pure Sunfarms' revenue. The company also claimed that it had a 15.2-per-cent share of dried flower in Ontario's online cannabis store in October, although there's no way to verify that figure.   

Analyst Call of the Week: Green Thumb Industries

Canaccord Genuity analyst Matt Bottomley raised his 12-month price target on U.S. cannabis operator Green Thumb Industries (GTI) to $34 from $27 while maintaining a "speculative buy" on the company's stock. GTI released banner quarterly results on Tuesday that represented another strong period of financial performance, generating US$157.1 million in revenue and US$53.2 million in adjusted EBTIDA. Bottomley highlighted GTI's favourable balance sheet relative to its peers and its presence in Illinois and New Jersey as key factors that investors should keep an eye on.

"We believe GTI’s exposure in Illinois is one of the most material value drivers for the company at this time." - Matt Bottomley

For more stock info and news on Green Thumb Industries, click here​.  
 
CANNABIS SPOT PRICE: $5.93 per gram -- This week's price is up 0.3 per cent from the prior week, according to the Cannabis Benchmark’s Canada Cannabis Spot Index. This equates to US$2,059 per pound at current exchange rates.
 

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WEEKLY BUZZ

 

"A Biden win does not guarantee federal legalization, which could be more closely at hand if Democrats also win control of the Senate." -- Beacon Policy Advisors putting the likely election outcome into more practical terms for cannabis legalization in the U.S. amid a volatile week for pot stocks.

Cannabis Canada is BNN Bloomberg’s in-depth series exploring the ongoing growth of the Canadian recreational cannabis industry. Read more here and subscribe to our Cannabis Canada newsletter to have the latest news delivered directly to your inbox every week.

Can marijuana help Biden heal a divided nation?
Tara Lachapelle, Bloomberg News
NOV 12,2020

After five states — Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota — passed ballot measures for marijuana use last week, the drug will soon be legal in some form for 70 per cent of the U.S. population. A third of the country won’t even need a medical excuse. But that’s not the surprise.

What’s more notable is that unlike in the past, all of this happened without much of a public uproar. To be fair, there have been bigger concerns on Americans’ minds these days. But this is the moment that cannabis companies and their investors have been waiting for: to be considered a legitimate industry rather than a hot voting issue. From here, the goal is to make weed every bit as normal as junk food, wine and other vices long found in stores across America.

In order for the industry to flourish it needs the federal government’s help, and the prospects of that are suddenly looking better. Two-thirds of U.S. adults are in favor of marijuana legalization — 91 per cent if you include those who support it at a minimum for medicinal purposes, according to Pew Research Center. That’s more than the number of Americans who support abortion rights or who think human activity contributes to climate change.

The partisan gap in attitudes toward pot is also shrinking, with more than half of Republicans saying it should be legalized. In the reliably red state of Mississippi, Initiative 65 — the less-restrictive of two medical marijuana proposals that were on its ballot — was criticized by Governor Tate Reeves as too “liberal” for “non-stoners”:

And still it passed by 74 per cent. As Joe Biden takes office in January and the makeup of Congress continues to reflect a divided nation, marijuana may end up being the one issue almost everyone can agree on.

The increasing support for pot in red states bodes well for a Senate vote on the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act, which would allow financial institutions to legally do business with marijuana companies. It would be one of the most constructive developments for the industry short of legalizing weed at the federal level.

Cannabis companies have reason to be hopeful that a new administration will also usher in other changes such as reclassifying or excluding marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act. De-scheduling the drug would leave states to decide how to handle pot, which may be more palatable to conservatives than attempting to change federal laws, Isaac Boltansky and Merrill Ross, analysts for Compass Point Research & Trading LLC, wrote in an Oct. 26 report. Marijuana is currently considered a Schedule 1 drug, right alongside heroin, in a category reserved for narcotics with the highest potential for abuse and dependence and with no accepted medical use. Examples of Schedule 2 substances are cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine and oxycodone — some of them at the root of America’s opioid addiction crisis. For cannabis proponents, that just doesn’t add up.

Removing cannabis from the CSA would provide a meaningful benefit to companies’ income statements:

The industry is also asking the federal government to allow interstate commerce between states that have legalized. Right now, if a company has a manufacturing plant in, say, Colorado and wants to transport some of that product to its dispensary in Montana, that’s trafficking — a pretty serious crime. And it’s time-consuming and expensive to build infrastructure everywhere.

In fact, some of the biggest challenges in getting licensed weed businesses off the ground are around the regulatory hurdles and costly process of having to work piecemeal in expanding around the U.S. That’s helped the illicit weed market maintain a competitive advantage by undercutting prices. In California, where marijuana can be legally purchased, illegal transactions are still estimated to make up the overwhelming majority of sales.

It’s no wonder that pot stocks — at one point the darlings of the market — have lost their exuberance this year. The so-called cannabis index has dropped 38 per cent. In one example, beleaguered multistate operator MedMen Enterprises Inc. was forced to walk away from Virginia, where a limited but potentially lucrative medical marijuana market is just beginning to open up; its shares have slumped 73 per cent this year.

An unintended effect of squelching the market may be to drive cash-strapped cannabis companies into the arms of food and beverage giants, which are preparing to pounce on pot once laws become more lax. For brewers and tobacco companies, it may be the most promising growth avenue. That said, a bunch of upstarts getting swallowed by behemoths would seem to go against Democratic legislators’ efforts to level competitive playing fields through more aggressive antitrust enforcement.

Everyday consumer products are a key way for cannabis companies to target a wider customer base than pot smokers. Canada-based Canopy Growth Corp., valued at US$9 billion, wants to start selling drinks containing THC — the psychoactive chemical in cannabis — next year to compete with beer. Even though Canopy is backed by liquor conglomerate Constellation Brands Inc., it’ll be tough going up against Anheuser-Busch InBev AB, which controls 42 per cent of the North American beer market.

Bit by bit, things are moving in a positive direction for the industry, albeit slowly. Meanwhile, cannabis companies have strategically entered states where medical marijuana is allowed so that they're ready to roll once recreational use for adults is made legal. For example, the more immediate winners of last week’s ballot measures include Curaleaf Holdings Inc., a US$5.9 billion company that holds the No. 1 market share in New Jersey and No. 2 in Arizona, and Harvest Health & Recreation Inc., which gets 50 per cent of its sales from Arizona, according to a Nov. 4 report by Pablo Zuanic, an analyst for Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. New York and Pennsylvania are expected to be next, with budget shortfalls caused by COVID-19 potentially incentivizing them to move faster on the issue.

At the national level, if Biden is looking for common ground with Republicans, marijuana of all things seems like a reasonable place to start. The year 2020 truly is bizarre.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Cannabis, no longer so divisive, draws more conservative support

Tiffany Kary, Bloomberg News
Oct 28, 2020

As Americans head to the polls more divided than ever on social and economic issues, there’s one thing they’re actually coming together on: cannabis.

Much has been made of whether a victory for Democratic nominee Joe Biden, or a potential liberal sweep in the Senate, could bolster marijuana companies. But initiatives on the ballot in a handful of conservative states show Republicans are increasingly on board with legalization as well -- perhaps paving the way for an end to federal prohibition, no matter who controls Washington.

“The prevailing wisdom has been that a conservative administration would be less receptive, but I think legalization is now inevitable on its own kinetic energy,” said Sturges Karban, chief executive officer of cannabis logistics company ManifestSeven. While federal legalization was a political “third rail” as recently as 2016, he said, it now looks as though 2021 will be a turning point for the industry.

Pot pundits have long said national legalization will only gain ground once Republican senators have a reason to bring up the issue. After Nov. 3, that could happen, with more of their constituents supporting the measure. Three of the four states voting on recreational use are red ones: Arizona, Montana and South Dakota. New Jersey, which swings liberal, is also considering adult-use legalization. Medical use is on the ballot in conservative Mississippi and South Dakota.

Gaining Traction

Ahead of the election, 33 states had already adopted medical or adult use, so any additional states would just add to what’s already a critical mass of support.

A survey of 500 New Jersey voters from law firm Brach Eichler LLC earlier this month showed not only is the state likely to vote to legalize adult recreational use by a 2-to-1 margin, but Republican support is also there. Democrats were still the ones more in favor -- at 75 per cent, but the majority of Republicans also supported the measure -- at 52 per cent.

“People are just much less afraid of marijuana than they used to be,” said John Fanburg, who co-chairs the cannabis practice at the New Jersey-based law firm that conducted the poll. He attributes that to the state’s successful medical program, which has grown from 20,000 participants three years ago to 90,000, removing the stigma of marijuana for thousands of people on both sides of the political aisle.

Similar trends are playing out in red states. In Arizona, by far the most populated of the traditionally conservative states considering legalization, the measure is polling at 56 per cent support, according to a recent poll from Monmouth University. Only in Montana, where around 49 per cent of voters are in favor, is the initiative less likely, according to a recent report from Eight Capital analyst Graeme Kreindler.

“The red states are empirical evidence that there’s enough demand and support at the grassroots that the issue is agnostic to party,” Karban said. “How do you ignore that if you’re in Washington?”



Federal Hopes

As bipartisan support for legalization grows in states across the country, there’s increased likelihood of change at the federal level, too. First up might be the STATES Act, which wouldn’t legalize cannabis but would defer authority to states, giving them leeway to allow interstate traffic and further develop their own laws.

The act has a good chance of passing in the first year of a new administration. If it does, it would pave the way to get rid of the industry’s biggest albatross -- tax code 280E. Without the measure, which bars cannabis companies from deducting their operating expenses for tax purposes, many companies would suddenly have better cash flow, Cowen analyst Vivien Azer said in a Sept. 24 research note. Three multi-state operators that she rates outperform -- Green Thumb Industries Inc., Curaleaf Holdings Inc. and Cresco Labs Inc. -- would immediately have positive earnings.

The STATES Act would also pave the way for banks to serve the cannabis industry, letting companies take out loans, accept credit and debit cards, and have checking accounts if they comply with state laws, said Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg. He predicts the STATES Act could pass quickly under a Biden victory, but that even President Donald Trump might also sign the bill from a Democratic Senate if he returns to the White House.

If the STATES Act doesn’t gain support, either candidate could get behind the SAFE Act, which would allow banking. The MORE Act, which would altogether legalize marijuana, is only on the table under a Biden victory, Seiberg said.

But in the new COVID era, with a new need for tax revenue and job creation, there’s no telling what could happen.

“We’re cresting the summit on changing federal law,” said Graham Boyd, who heads the New Approach Political Action Committee, which has run ballot initiatives on recreational use. “Its been a painful uphill climb until now with the Senate being unmoved. But with South Dakota and Arizona and Montana on board, it starts to change that because they have Republican senators.”