Alberta First Nation finishes first phase of search at former residential school site

KAPAWE’NO FIRST NATION — A northern Alberta First Nation says it has completed the first phase of ground penetrating radar in its search for children's remains at a former residential school site

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

Kapawe’no First Nation, which is located northwest of Edmonton, says in a written statement that finding any unmarked graves at Grouard Indian Residential School, also known as St. Bernard Mission School, is imperative to the community's collective healing.

The school was opened by the Roman Catholic Church in 1894 and closed about 60 years ago.

Kapawe’no First Nation says the archeology department at the University of Alberta is leading the project and a report on its findings should be finished by the end of the year.

The First Nation says they are also working with Treaty 8 First Nation to search for unmarked graves at 10 other residential school sites in Treaty No. 8 Territory.

The statement says the work has not received funding from the federal or provincial government.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2021.

The Canadian Press

PMO says it will do all it can to ensure all residential school records are provided


OTTAWA — The Prime Minister's Office says "to the best of our knowledge," it has provided all residential school records to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

  

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The PMO says in a written statement that it has provided more than four million documents to the centre, and if all the records haven't been supplied, "we will do everything we can" to make sure all the parties of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement have them.

Earlier this week, the national centre in Winnipeg issued a statement saying it's still waiting for Ottawa to provide documents used in the assessment process for compensation claims stemming from abuse at the institutions, despite comments from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that all federal records had been turned over.

Trudeau told a gathering on Monday of Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc leaders, residential school survivors and their families in Kamloops, B.C., that the federal government had, "in our understanding," already provided all of its records to the centre and it would continue looking to make sure no further records remained.

The centre says it is also missing records from Library and Archives Canada and it has been negotiating with the government about access to records since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was created in 2015, including records to be generated from the database used in the claims resolution process.

The visit to Kamloops was Trudeau's first since the Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc Nation announced in May that more than 200 unmarked graves had been located at the site of the former residential institution there. Since then, numerous Indigenous nations have reported locating unmarked graves at former residential schools with the same ground-penetrating radar technology used in Kamloops.

A letter sent to the prime minister on Thursday by NDP MPs Niki Ashton and Leah Gazan urged the prime minister to immediately provide the centre with all federal records, saying that would be "a small step towards true justice."

"In light of the recovery of children at residential institutions, if there were ever a time in history where it is critical that we work together to ensure true justice is realized, it is now," the letter says.

"Indigenous Peoples and all Canadians deserve to have a true account of the magnitude of crimes committed by Canada against Indigenous Peoples as a result of the residential school system."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Trudeau slams Alberta Premier Jason Kenney for his ‘incredibly political’  & DEVISIVE referendum on equalization

POSTED ON OCTOBER 21, 2021 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau slammed Alberta Premier Jason Kenny on Thursday, saying the recent referendum on equalization payments was “incredibly political” and that the federal government could not reform equalization without consensus from provinces. Trudeau added that his government is working hard to help Alberta with its surge in COVID-19 cases “linked to decisions that the premier himself made and didn’t make over the past few months.”

THE HURTIN ALBERTAN 

Alberta country stars band together on song opposing Rocky Mountain coal mining

EDMONTON — When Alberta country singer Corb Lund wrote a song 12 years ago about a rancher determined to defend the landscape he loves against encroaching development, it was just a campfire yarn

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

"It was just kind of a story, a fictional story," Lund said.

Events have since caught up to the tune "This Is My Prairie." The summits and foothills of Alberta's Rocky Mountains have been leased along a vast stretch of their range for coal exploration and a series of companies have announced plans for open-pit mines.

Lund's imagined defender was suddenly very real.

"This coal thing happened and I looked at (the song) and it was just word for word," Lund said from his home in Lethbridge, downstream from the proposed mines.

"It occurred to me that this might make a good reissue and then it occurred to me that maybe we should recruit a few more people. I called up some people who had been supporting me on Twitter and they were all for it."

Lund, together with a posse of pals, have re-recorded and re-released the song as what Lund hopes will become an anthem of opposition to mining development in the Rockies.

Fellow country stars Terri Clark, Brett Kissel and Paul Brandt joined in. Cree-Dene singer Sherryl Sewepagaham also sings a verse in Cree.

"They can drill, they can mine, over my smouldering bones," the song opens. "This is my Prairie, this is my home."

Lund hasn't been shy about his opposition to the mines, speaking out on social media and in news interviews. Apart from mining's impact on the area's beauty, he's concerned about its effect on water supplies and contamination in a perennially dry region.

"It's important that we stress this is a non-political issue. This is a water issue. Rural people are upset, First Nations people are upset, urban people are upset. This is very wide-ranging."

Lund, who promised any revenue from the re-release will be donated to grassroots groups opposing the mines, said while the public controversy about the developments may have subsided, the fight hasn't ended.

"It's hard to keep the public engaged. There hasn't been a lot of things in the news. One of the main things about releasing this now is that we have to remind people that this is far from over."

The province is waiting on a report from a panel that has spent the last several months hearing from Albertans about how — or if — coal mines should be allowed near the headwaters of most of the province's drinking water. That panel is expected to deliver its report to Energy Minister Sonya Savage on Nov. 15.

The head of that panel, Ron Wallace, said this week that most of the submissions are "strongly opposed" to mining.

Nobody will be keener to see the panel's recommendations than the musicians of "This Is My Prairie."

"We're going to insist that we see those," said Lund. "If the government thinks they can take those recommendations and put them on a shelf, we're going to be squawking about that."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2021.

— Follow Bob Weber on Twitter at @row1960

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

Corb Lund x Terri Clark x Brett Kissel - This Is My Prairie (Official Music Video)

Oct 19, 2021

Corb Lund

Official video for "This Is My Prairie" by Corb Lund featuring Brett Kissel, Terri Clark, Sherryl Sewepagaham, Paul Brandt, Armond Duck Chief, Katie Rox and Brandi Sidoryk (Nice Horse). Stream/

Buy here: https://corblund.lnk.to/TIMP 

Produced by Ryan HK @ryanhk.com 

LYRICS: 

This is my prairie, this is my home 

I'll make my stand here, and I'll die alone

 They can drill, they can mine

 o'er my smouldering bones 

(Cuz) this is my prairie, this is my home 

The water is poison, my calves are all dead 

My children are sick, and the river’s been bled 

They want a big coal mine, right thru Pop's grove 

But this is my prairie, this is my home 

I can't blame the miners or the guys drivin’ truck 

For feedin’ their families and makin’ a buck 

But take a close look at the stock that you own

Cuz this is my prairie, this is my home

 I don't got the money that lawyers can buy

 I don't got my own government's laws on my side

 But I still hold the title that my granddaddy owned 

And this is my prairie, this is my home

 Nîya ôma nitaskî, nîya ôma nîkih N'ka nipawan ôta n'kapon pimatisin ôta Kwayask itôta manâcitâ askî They can drill and they can mine o'er my mouldering bones

 (Cuz) this is my prairie, this is my home 

This is my prairie, this is my home

 I'll make my stand here, and I'll die alone 

They can drill and they can mine o'er my mouldering bones

 (Cuz) this is my prairie, this is my home

  #corblund #thisismyprairie

TAXPAYER FUNDED  WITCHHUNT FINDS NO WITCH

Alberta inquiry finds no wrongdoing in anti-oilsands campaign despite foreign funds


EDMONTON — Canadian environmental groups were exercising their democratic rights of free speech when they accepted foreign funding for campaigns opposing oilsands development, a public inquiry has reported.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

However, Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage said environmentalists were still wrong in opposing energy development that cost the province jobs and money.

"The report didn't suggest anything illegal was going on," she said. "But if you ask people in Alberta who lost their job if anything wrong happened, I'm pretty sure they would say yes."

On Thursday, the province released the final report of a commission, struck in July 2019, to look into allegations that environmentalists were accepting foreign money to fund campaigns aimed at impeding expansion of Alberta's oilsands, a major source of greenhouse gases.

The environmental groups have never denied that. Commissioner Steve Allan also seemed to shrug at the charge in his report, which cost $3.5 million.

"I have not found any suggestions of wrongdoing on the part of any individual or organization," wrote Allan, who did not appear at the press conference releasing the report.

"No individual or organization, in my view, has done anything illegal. Indeed, they have exercised their rights of free speech."

Allan also says the campaigns have not spread misinformation.

While he finds that at least $1.28 billion flowed into Canadian environmental charities from the United States between 2003 and 2019, only a small portion of that has been directed against the oilsands. Auditors Deloitte Forensic Inc. estimate that money at between $37.5 million and $58.9 million over that period — which averages to $3.5 million a year at most.

Alberta's United Conservative government funds its so-called "war room," an arm's-length agency instituted to counter environmental groups, at up to $30 million a year.

Although the report finds charities working in support of the oilsands received at least $1.6 million a year from foreign sources, Savage said foreign money shouldn't be used to influence Canadian political decision-making.

"Alberta's natural resources belong to Albertans and decisions about their development should be made by people of this province."

Still, she acknowledged environmental groups weren't the only reason for troubles in the oilpatch.

"The commissioner could not conclude that the campaigns were the sole cause of project cancellations."

Savage also warned that Allan's findings outlined the method by which environmental groups would attack the next generation of energy projects, such as carbon capture and storage or hydrogen.

Video: Alberta anti-oilsands inquiry finds no wrongdoing despite foreign funds (Global News)

"This is money in search of a cause," she said.

Allan's work found support from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

"The public inquiry ... brings to light the highly co-ordinated, well-funded and international nature of these campaigns," said president Tim McMillan. "The (association) hopes the findings of the report will help bring greater transparency and a more positive approach to the Canadian conversation about our oil and natural gas industry and the role it can play to help meet growing global demand.”

Others lined up to criticize both the inquiry and Savage's reaction.

Opposition New Democrat Leader Rachel Notley said Allan’s report and Savage’s comments inflame and polarize debate when Alberta should be opening new markets and helping develop more sustainable production.

“What Albertans are looking for is a government that will create jobs, not a government solely focused on creating anger,” said Notley.

“We’ve got this government running around telling lie upon lie and demonizing people who are simply trying to engage in free speech and talking about important issues.”

Keith Stewart of Greenpeace, one of the groups mentioned in the report, agreed.

"A government should not be saying it's terrible that citizens are trying to influence policy," he said, pointing out that his organization gets more money from Albertans than it does from foreign sources.

"(Alberta Premier) Jason Kenney is hoping everyone will get mad at environmentalists instead of at him. It doesn't save anyone's job to keep saying things that aren't true."

Devon Page of Ecojustice, which lost a court challenge against the inquiry and forms part of its analysis, described Savage's call for more transparency from environmental groups as "bonkers."

"Ninety per cent of the report is through web searches based on publicly available information," he added.

Martin Olszynski, a University of Calgary law professor who presented to the commission, saidthe inquiry sets an "incredibly dangerous precedent" that needs to be challenged in court.

"The whole purpose of this thing was to make Albertans angry at NGOs. It would be bad for democracy in Canada to let this report go unchallenged."

Vivian Krause, a researcher whose work helped convince Kenney to call the inquiry, said Allan ignored much of the information she provided. A CONSPIRACY THEORIST CLAIMING TO BE A MUCKRACKER 

"He cherry-picked," she said, adding that she found evidence of much more money going into anti-oilsands campaigns than appears in the report.

She also said his finding of no wrongdoing is not a legal opinion.

Allan recommends a series of reforms to improve transparency in the charitable sector. He says charities should be subject to the same standards of disclosure as private corporations.

He also calls for an industry-led campaign to rebrand Canadian energy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2021

— Follow Bob Weber on Twitter at @row1960

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

Paintmakers Are Running Out of the Color Blue



Tara Patel
Wed, October 20, 2021,

(Bloomberg) -- Dutch paint maker Akzo Nobel NV is running out of ingredients to make some shades of blue, the latest fallout from the global supply-chain disruptions that are spreading across manufacturers.

“There is one basic color tint that is extremely difficult to get,” Chief Executive Officer Thierry Vanlancker said in an interview Wednesday after publishing third-quarter earnings. “It’s creating complete chaos.”

In addition to the bluish hue, Akzo Nobel is having trouble sourcing the tinplate used to make metal cans, forcing the Amsterdam-based company to ship empty pots from one country to another for filling. It also called a force majeure on deliveries of some exterior wall paints because an additive needed to make them waterproof is unavailable.

The supply-chain snarls that have sown disarray across industries are raising prices and creating shortages of some basic household products. Paint makers, which typically rely on hundreds of additives and chemicals, have warned for months of higher costs and logistical issues.

Akzo Nobel earlier Wednesday said the spiraling costs and materials shortages will last through the middle of next year.

While demand is coming back to 2019 levels as some countries appear to be getting past the worst of the pandemic, the installed capacity for making raw materials hasn’t changed, Vanlancker said.

“There isn’t really a reason why this big panic is happening,” the CEO said. “This should be a transient situation that could take six to nine months to get back to normal, but there is no fundamental reason why there would be a lasting supply and demand imbalance.”

A Brief History of Blue - Artsy

What's the big deal about minimum wage in Germany?

Germany is relatively new to the list of countries with a minimum wage. Now, government coalition talks are considering raising it without using the country's independent expert commission. There are pros and cons.

Some in Germany live in poverty despite the country's high minimum wage

Ever since the first modern minimum wages were introduced in the late 19th century in New Zealand and Australia, they have been very controversial.

As the name suggests, a minimum wage is the lowest amount employers must pay employees. Around the world, most countries have some sort of minimum wage in place, though there are often many exceptions to the rules.

In Germany, a federal minimum wage was introduced in January 2015, under Christian Democrat (CDU) Chancellor Angela Merkel, though mainly due to pressure from the CDU's coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD).

It replaced various wages negotiated within different sectors and was set at a pretax rate of €8.50 across the country. Since then, it has slowly crept up, with the most recent increase in July bringing it up to €9.60 ($11.20). Two more increases are planned; by July 2022 workers can expect to earn at least €10.45 an hour.

Within Europe, Germany's minimum wage is on the high side, topped only by Luxembourg and France. A number of European Union countries — such as Denmark, Italy, Austria, Cyprus, Finland and Sweden — have no national minimum wage. They rely on unions and individual sectors to set their own wages.

Who gets a minimum wage in Germany?

Germany's minimum wage covers a majority of workers in the country who are over 18. This includes seasonal workers, no matter where they are from.

As in most places, there are a number of exceptions to the rule. Apprentices, workers taking part in job-promotion schemes, long-term unemployed people in the first six months after reentering the labor market and self-employed individuals are not covered by the minimum wage law.

Workers transiting through the country, such as airline pilots and truck drivers, are likewise not covered.

The initial 2015 minimum wage rate was set by the then-government. After that, an independent government body known as the Minimum Wage Commission took charge of setting the rate and making adjustments. In all decisions, the commission has to balance worker protection, fair competition and employment levels. Political considerations should be left at the door. But now, the independence of this commission is being called into question.

In Germany, servers start out earning minimum wage, but don't typically get much in tips

SO TIPS ARE NOT REALLY FOR SERVICE, THEY ARE A PITY WAGE

Minimum wage as political football

What has brought the minimum wage back into the spotlight in Germany is ongoing coalition talks to form a new government. The talks between the Social Democrats, Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) will continue in earnest after an initial exploratory phase. Coalition parties now need to agree on a plan for governing.

One SPD and Green campaign promise that may turn into reality is a plan to raise the minimum wage to €12 an hour within a year. Doing so would not only negate years of work by the Minimum Wage Commission: It would go over the body's head and take away its independence. Unfazed by this paradox, the parties say that, after this one-off increase, the commission can once again take over.

Critics are up in arms about this sudden politicization of a supposedly autonomous body. The parties point out that the minimum wage was too low to begin with and that raising it is a way to fight poverty — but many experts say a minimum wage is not the way to fight poverty.

Such a large increase could make it less likely that when the commission is back in charge, it would agree to more increases in the near future, potentially keeping the wage stuck indefinitely at €12.
Why is minimum wage controversial?

When the minimum wage was originally implemented in Germany in 2015, many feared that higher wages would induce businesses to move to where labor is cheaper, or replace workers with machines. Some experts predicted up to 900,000 job losses. This did not happen then. It could be a gamble to see if the economy is once again strong enough to deal with such an increase.

Youth unemployment is particularly bad for those who want to start careers

Over the years, various studies have come to different conclusions about the pros and cons of a mandated minimum wage. Some found no correlation between employment and a minimum wage; others found negative impacts, such as reduced hiring or fewer hours for workers. Still others claim a direct positive impact.

The positive effects typically cited include helping low-skilled workers earn more, decreasing poverty, encouraging legitimate employment, creating more technological innovation and reducing employee turnover.

The supposed negative impacts are just the opposite. Opponents say a minimum wage hampers the flexibility of firms, encourages the use of machines instead of people, leads to fewer jobs, makes it harder for first-time job-seekers and adds to long-term unemployment as jobs move abroad.

Also some in the elder care sector earn the minimum wage

For the naysayers, the biggest threat from a minimum wage is a wage-price spiral. This happens when business have to pay more for labor, giving workers more money to spend, which causes demand and therefore prices to increase. To make up for these increased prices, wages then go up. It is a circle where everyone ends up paying more in the end, also causing inflation increases.

But the story is not the same everywhere, and wages are only one piece of the complex economic picture; pinpointing the true impact of minimum wages will keep experts busy for the foreseeable future.

One thing most will be able to agree on is that workers should be able to live from what they earn. What that means to the future German government will slowly come into focus as it agrees to a governing platform over the weeks to come.

Bolsonaro welfare plan shakes Brazil markets, sparks resignations

FASCISTS (EL CAPO)LOVE ONE TIME PSEUDO-WELFARE PLANS JUST ASK PERON

Issued on: 22/10/2021 - 

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is proposing a controversial and expensive welfare program a year before elections he is expected to lose EVARISTO SA AFP

Brasília (AFP)

The program could cost the government an extra 30 billion reais ($5.3 billion dollars) at a time when inflation is already high and exceed the government spending ceiling established by law.

The government announced earlier this week that it was setting up a new social welfare program to replace the "Bolsa Familia" system created by the leftist administration of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The new program would start in November with a 20 percent increase in benefits paid to nearly 17 million Brazilians in need.

Coming just a year before a presidential election in which Bolsonaro is widely expected to be defeated by Lula da Silva, the move was seen by several analysts as a pre-election sweetener.

The measure rattled investors. The Sao Paulo stock market fell 2.75 percent, while the price of the US dollar rose to 5.65 reais, its highest level in six months.

Concerned by the plan, several economic officials quit their posts, including top treasury officials Bruno Funchal and Jeferson Bittencourt, authorities said.

Bolsonaro denied that his project, whose source of funding has not been specified, is against the law.

"There are around 16 million people registered with the 'Bolsa familia', and though the financial aid reaches an average of 192 reais, many people receive 40, 50, 60 reais. What we are saying is: 400 reais for all," he said Thursday.

Bolsonaro also offered to "help" 750,000 truckers with compensation for increases in the price of diesel.

The president made the announcements at a time when his popularity is at its lowest level since he took office in 2019, and amid high inflation and high unemployment.

© 2021 AFP

Juan Peron against Capitalism and Communism

Edited footage of speeches given by Juan Peron whilst forming bonds with the leaders of other Latin American countries in an attempt to form an alliance that excluded the United States of America.  The US had already set up its own South American anti-communist bloc, which only one country, other than itself, had joined.  It was extremely hostile to Peron influence and stature, since it would only accept a Pan American association with itself as the leader - of course

Consumer watchdog to probe Big Tech payment systems


 In this May 8, 2019, file photo, Federal Trade Commission commissioner Rohit Chopra testifies during a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. In its first move since getting a new director, Rohit Chopra, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is ordering Apple, Amazon, PayPal and other tech giants to disclose how they operate their proprietary payment networks, which have to come to dominate large portions of e-commerce and person-to-person payments. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)


NEW YORK (AP) — In its first significant action under a new director, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is ordering Apple, Amazon, PayPal and other tech giants to reveal how their proprietary payment networks function.

Apple Pay, Google Pay and other payment systems created by big tech companies now dominate large portions of e-commerce and person-to-person payments. CFPB Director Rohit Chopra is seeking more transparency, as well as more details about what consumer protections have been put in place.

The CFPB also raised potential antitrust concerns.

“Big Tech companies are eagerly expanding their empires to gain greater control and insight into our spending habits,” Chopra said in a prepared statement.

Before being confirmed as director last month, Chopra was a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission where he used his role to raise concerns about anticompetitive behavior at large technology firms. He also raised the issue during his confirmation hearing at the Senate Banking Committee.

The CFPB has rescinded or scaled back a number of policies put in place by the Trump administration. And the bureau is adding staff in anticipation of taking a more active role in regulation and enforcement, as it did during the Obama administration.

In the past decade, technology companies have rolled out full-featured payment systems and networks like Apple Pay, AliPay and Google Pay, which are often embedded into smart devices. Apple sells its Apple credit card product right inside the iPhone, and if a consumer opens an account, it is automatically integrated into the customer’s payment options. In many ways, a consumer’s smart phone has replaced their wallet.

While the innovation has been largely celebrated by those who use it, banks and consumer groups have raised concerns about tech companies running their own independent payment networks. While banks have tried to compete with Silicon Valley in payments through services like Zelle, they have struggled to keep up and do not have the integrated systems Apple or Google operate that is seen a competitive advantage. Consumers can add their credit or debit cards to their iPhone or Android devices, but it usually requires additional steps.

“Since the Bureau was founded, a growing share of banking activity has occurred outside of the purview of leading regulators, putting consumers and the resiliency of the financial system at risk,” said Richard Hunt, CEO of the Consumer Bankers Association, the trade group for the nation’s big consumer banks.

In its letter to companies, the CFPB asked for information on how their products store consumer information, how the data is aggregated or sold or shared with other companies, as well as how consumers’ information may be used to sell them additional products.

The Electronic Transactions Association, which represents Apple, Amazon, Google and other technology companies when it comes to payments, said they plan to fully cooperate with the CFPB’s order.

“The digital transactions industry has a good story to tell about its efforts to protect consumer data. We look forward to working with Director Chopra and the CFPB on this important effort,” said ETA CEO Jodie Kelley in a prepared statement.

COPS LIE & EXAGERATE

Official: Narrative of riders filming train rape is false

 In this Friday, Oct. 30, 2009 file photo, A SEPTA transit map is shown outside the Pattison subway station near the Wachovia Spectrum, left, and the Wachovia center, right in Philadelphia. The narrative that passengers watched a man rape a woman on a train in suburban Philadelphia last week and “filmed it for their own gratification instead of calling the police” is false, the prosecutor handling the case said Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021 as he asked witnesses to come forward. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)


MEDIA, Pa. (AP) — The narrative that passengers watched a man rape a woman on a train in suburban Philadelphia last week and “filmed it for their own gratification instead of calling the police” is false, the prosecutor handling the case said Thursday as he asked witnesses to come forward.

Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said during a news conference that the other passengers on the train were not present for the entire 40-minute interaction on Oct. 13 and may not have understood what they were seeing.

“People get off and on at every single stop,” Stollsteimer said. “That doesn’t mean when they get on and they see people interacting that they know a rape is occurring.”

Stollsteimer’s recount of surveillance video and plea to witnesses came after days of authorities saying multiple passengers were present for the assault, with some appearing to hold their phones in the direction of the attack as police allege 35-year-old Fiston Ngoy raped the woman in a train seat.

Police and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority officials initially expressed dismay that passengers did not call 911 or report the attack, even if they didn’t understand the seriousness of what was happening.

Upper Darby Police Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt told reporters over the weekend there were passengers present who “should have done something,” in his opinion.

Nevertheless, Stollsteimer said Thursday “the narrative that there is a group of people callously filming and didn’t act, is simply not true.” He added that witnesses of the attack could share information without fear of being charged.

He said Wednesday that Pennsylvania law does not allow for the prosecution of someone for simply witnessing a crime.

Surveillance video shows two passengers holding phones up toward the assault, Stollsteimer said. One of those people provided video to authorities as part of the investigation, he said.

Requests by The Associated Press for surveillance video from the attack on the Market-Frankford line have been denied by SEPTA, citing the ongoing criminal investigation.

In an arrest affidavit for Ngoy, police said he boarded the train shortly after the woman, quickly sitting next to her, and repeatedly tried to touch and grope her over the next almost 40 minutes. Investigators say surveillance video also shows the woman pushing Ngoy away several times.

Ngoy, who told police he had seen the woman before and that the sexual encounter was consensual, is charged with rape and several related offenses and is being held on $180,000 bail. The woman, who was taken to the hospital, said she had never met Ngoy and did not give him permission to touch her.

A public defender assigned to represent Ngoy declined to comment, saying it was still very early in the case. A hearing is scheduled for Monday.

SEPTA Police Chief Thomas J. Nestel III’s best estimate was there were about 10 passengers in the close vicinity of Ngoy and the woman during the rape, which started about 9:52 p.m. and ended when SEPTA police pulled Ngoy off of the woman about 10 p.m., authority spokesman Andrew Busch said Wednesday.

An off-duty SEPTA employee was one of those 10 people. That employee alerted SEPTA police because he believed something wasn’t right with the interaction, Busch said. He praised the employee’s actions, saying he likely prevented Ngoy from being able to walk off the train and escape arrest.

Three minutes after the employee reported the assault, SEPTA officers stationed at the 69th Street terminal responded to the train car and stopped it.

An arrest for a separate sexual assault at the 69th Street terminal was also announced at the news conference Thursday. Bernhardt said a woman had missed her stop and asked the suspect how to get to the platform to go in the opposite direction. As he showed her, Bernhardt said he groped the woman and pushed her into a seclude area.

A passenger on the platform heard her screams for help and intervened. SEPTA police ultimately stopped the attack and took the man into custody.

Inaction on climate change imperils millions of lives, doctors say


Inaction on climate change imperils millions of lives, doctors say

Sarah Kaplan, (c) 2021, The Washington Post
Wed, October 20, 2021, 4:50 PM·11 min read

Climate change is set to become the "defining narrative of human health," a top medical journal warned Wednesday - triggering food shortages, deadly disasters and disease outbreaks that would dwarf the toll of the coronavirus. But aggressive efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions from human activities could avert millions of unnecessary deaths, according to the analysis from more than 100 doctors and health experts.

In its annual "Countdown on health and climate change," the Lancet provides a sobering assessment of the dangers posed by a warming planet. More than a dozen measures of humanity's exposure to health-threatening weather extremes have climbed since last year's report.

"Humanity faces a crucial turning point," the doctors say, with nations poised to spend trillions of dollars on economic recovery from the pandemic and world leaders set to meet in Glasgow for a major U.N. climate conference in less than two weeks. The United States is working to assemble a set of climate policies to help coax bigger commitments from other top emitters at that conference, even as the Biden administration is scaling back its climate legislation, given opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., who represents a coal-producing state.

Rising temperatures have led to higher rates of heat illness, causing farmworkers to collapse in fields and elderly people to die in their apartments. Insects carrying tropical diseases have multiplied and spread toward the poles. The amount of plant pollen in the air is increasing, worsening asthma and other respiratory conditions. Extreme floods and catastrophic storms have boosted the risk of cholera and other waterborne diseases. Smoke from fires in California infiltrates the lungs and then the bloodstreams of people as far away as Texas, Ohio and New York. Droughts intensify, crops fail, hunger stalks millions of the world's most vulnerable people.

"If nothing else will drive the message home about the present threat that climate change poses to our global society, this should," said Lachlan McIver, a Doctors Without Borders physician who was not involved in writing the Lancet report. "Your health, my health, the health of our parents and our children are at stake."

The Lancet study is just the latest salvo from health professionals demanding a swift end to burning fossil fuels and other planet-warming activities. In a special report released last week, the World Health Organization called climate change "the single biggest health threat facing humanity," warning that its effects could be more catastrophic and enduring than the coronavirus pandemic. Dozens of public health experts are headed to the U.N. climate summit starting at the end of the month, aiming to convince world leaders that they must take bolder action to curb their nations' carbon output.

Yet just half of countries surveyed said they have a national climate and health strategy in place, the Lancet study said. Trends in renewable energy generation and adaptation initiatives have improved only slightly. And most of the world's biggest emitters, including the United States, continue to subsidize fossil fuels at rates of tens of billions of dollars per year - rivaling the amounts they spend on public health.

The outcomes of national spending debates and international climate negotiations will either "lock humanity into an increasingly extreme and unpredictable environment," the report says, or "deliver a future of improved health, reduced inequity, and economic and environmental sustainability."

"Lowering greenhouse gas emissions is a prescription," said Renee Salas, an emergency medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital who helped write the "Countdown" and an accompanying policy brief aimed at U.S. lawmakers. "The oath I took as a doctor is to protect the health of my patients. Demanding action on climate change is how I can do that."

The world has not committed yet to cutting emissions enough to avert the worst effects of warming. Based on countries' current pledges under the Paris climate accord, average temperatures are on track to increase by a catastrophic 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.9 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century. The planet has already warmed about 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) since the preindustrial era.

And a U.N. report released Wednesday found that governments are still planning to boost fossil fuel use on a scale far beyond even those insufficient targets. G-20 countries have directed more new funding to fossil fuels than clean energy since the start of the pandemic, the report says.

The United States is one of the worst offenders, slated to increase oil and gas production by a combined nine exajoules by 2030 - the equivalent of about 215 million tons of oil - despite President Joe Biden's pledge to more than halve emissions by the end of the decade.

"A carbon-intensive COVID-19 recovery would irreversibly prevent the world from meeting climate commitments," the Lancet report warns.

The report draws repeated parallels between the coronavirus pandemic and the health crisis posed by climate change. Both have exposed and exacerbated inequality, and highlight the folly of prioritizing short-term economic interests over long-term consequences.

Yet the death toll from climate change will outstrip that of the coronavirus, the scientists warned - unless drastic action is taken to avert further warming and adapt to changes underway.

Already, climate change routinely threatens to overwhelm health systems' capacity to respond. When record-high temperatures scorched the Pacific Northwest this summer, the rate of emergency room admissions spiked to 69 times higher than the same period in 2019.

David Markel, an emergency physician at Swedish Medical Center's Cherry Hill campus in Seattle, said at the time that the surge of patients rivaled the worst days of the pandemic. He and his colleagues were treating patients in hallways, stuffing ice packs into people's armpits to bring their temperatures down.

"This is going to impact us all," Markel said. "The more crises like this we face, the more clear it is."

Just 0.3% of global climate change adaptation funding has been directed at health systems, the Lancet report says, despite an explosion of evidence for the health consequences of unchecked emissions. In the past month, studies in academic journals have reported the following:

El Niño weather patterns - which are projected to intensify as the planet warms - cause about 6 million children to go hungry.

Air pollution causes tens of thousands of early deaths among Americans each year, even at low levels deemed safe by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The warming of the Amazon, combined with deforestation, will expose roughly 11 million people to potentially lethal heat by the end of the century.

This drumbeat of new studies has been accentuated by a crescendo of recent climate-linked disasters: Drought in Madagascar has pushed more than 1 million people to the brink of starvation. Flash floods in Niger worsened the West African nation's cholera epidemic.

According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data, at least 538 Americans have died in major climate disasters this year. That doesn't account for the less-direct deaths: people who get sick from mold that forms after their home is deluged during a hurricane and patients whose chronic conditions are exacerbated by extreme temperatures. Studies suggest that smoke from wildfires led to thousands more coronavirus cases out West, and in one county was linked to 41% of deaths.

Recent disasters "are grim warnings that for every day that we delay our response to climate change, the situation gets more critical," said Marina Romanello, research director and lead author for the "Countdown."

Yet climate change's greatest dangers are not always associated with the most obvious weather extremes. Other threats will emerge from relatively slow, subtle transformations of the Earth and air.

By far the deadliest hazard comes from the act of burning fossil fuels, which generates tiny, lung-irritating particles known as PM2.5. One estimate published this February put the toll of this pollution at more than 10 million excess deaths each year. The Lancet study is more conservative, putting the figure closer to 1 million.

When it comes to the consequences of warming, heat is the world's worst killer. Elderly people and infants younger than 1 - the groups most vulnerable to heat - are exposed to roughly four more extremely hot days per year now than a generation ago, the Lancet report found. Almost 350,000 people died of heat-related illness in 2019.

Steadily rising temperatures, combined with habitat disruption and globalization, have also given infectious diseases a chance to evolve and expand.

Fungal illnesses, which can't be treated with vaccines or antibiotics, may be on the rise. Historically, there haven't been many fungi capable of infecting humans, because the microbes don't thrive at typical body temperatures. But as global warming increases the average temperatures in the environments where fungi live, it may be pressuring these species to adapt. This in turn could make them better suited for invading human guts or respiratory tracts, scientists suggest.

An April study in the journal PLOS Pathogens noted that Candida auris, a treatment-resistant infection that was first identified only 12 years ago, may have evolved this way. Same goes for a new kind of Cryptococcus gattii, a lung-infecting fungi typically found in the tropics, that recently emerged in the Pacific Northwest. In the Southwest United States, scientists have documented a rise in Valley Fever cases, which are caused by a fungus whose spores are spread on dusty, windy days that are now common because of climate-induced drought.

"They are kind of lurking in the soil and lurking in the environment," said Anita Sil, a microbial geneticist at the University of California at San Francisco who studies disease-causing fungi. "They're in the air we breathe."

Meanwhile, disease-carrying mosquitoes are moving to more temperate areas and higher elevations, their life cycles accelerated and their biting behaviors intensified. Shifting environmental factors have raised the basic reproductive rates of illnesses like Zika and chikungunya, enhancing their potential to explode into epidemics. A study published by the Lancet Planetary Health this July found that unabated carbon emissions would put almost 90% of the world's population at risk of malaria and dengue by the end of the century.

In the past decade, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified at least 128 cases in which people contracted dengue within the mainland United States. One case emerged as far north as New York.

But the diseases will continue to hit hardest in the low-lying, tropical nations where they are already endemic. In sub-Saharan Africa, McIver said, the toll could amount to as many as 50 additional deaths every hour, most of them in children under 5.

Other studies suggest that the rate of diarrheal diseases in children will increase as much as 5% for every 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) of temperature rise.

The particular danger to young children underscores what McIver calls the "cruel irony" of climate-related health threats: "Those who are being the most affected by the problem are those contributing least to the phenomenon of climate change," he said. "That's the thing we should all be staying awake at night thinking about."

On Capitol Hill and in international negotiations, the high price tag of addressing these impacts and moving the world away from fossil fuels has been an obstacle to climate legislation.

The Lancet "Countdown" argues that inaction will be even more expensive.

Last year, the direct costs of climate disasters totaled more than $178 billion, the report says. Drought affected 19% of the world's total land surface area, damaging yields of crucial crops such as wheat, corn and soy. Extreme heat harmed workers and shut down operations at farms and factories, depriving the world of 295 billion potential work hours.

But curbing emissions, investing in clean energy and funding adaptation efforts could save money as well as lives, the report says. The reduced air pollution that would result from eliminating fossil fuels alone could deliver global health benefits in the trillions of dollars. A 2019 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that deaths from fine-particle pollution cost the United States more than $800 billion per year; more than half of those costs were attributable to pollution from the energy and transportation sectors.

"We have an enormous opportunity to get to the root cause of health harms from the burning of fossil fuels," Salas said. "To me there is no greater treatment that will have the widest health benefits for my patients than reducing greenhouse gas emissions."