US to return looted Veiled Head of a Female antiquity to Libya

$1.2m piece had been stolen from a tomb in north African country and bought by billionaire Michael Steinhardt

'Veiled Head of a Female', a marble antiquity dating back to 350 BCE

 valued at about $1.2 million. Handout

Ahmed Maher

Jan 13, 2022

American prosecutors and law enforcement officers have announced they are to return an ancient antiquity to Libya after investigators concluded that smugglers had stolen the marble artefact from its country of origin.

“It is with great pleasure that we are returning the Veiled Head of a Female back to the nation of Libya, from where it was looted during civil unrest,” said Erik Rosenblatt, deputy special agent in charge at Homeland Security Investigations in New York.

“Though this antiquity has a monetary value of more than $1.2 million, it is the historical and sentimental value of the antiquities that renders it priceless to the people of Libya.”

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Chastised US tycoon returns $70m of looted antiquities from Iraq, Lebanon and beyond

A long investigation last month concluded that New York billionaire Michael H Steinhardt bought the antiquity in 2000. It came from a tomb in the ancient city of Cyrene, modern day Shahhat, in north-eastern Libya.

Prosecutors have worked over the past five years with investigators from several countries including Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Israel, Turkey and Lebanon.

They said Mr Steinhardt – whose net worth is estimated by Forbes to be $1.2 billion – has owned and traded more than 1,000 antiquities since 1987 and his art collection has been valued at about $200m.

American billionaire Michael Steinhardt has agreed to turn over $70 million worth of stolen antiquities and will be subject to an unprecedented lifetime ban on acquiring such items. AP

His lawyers said he agreed to surrender 180 stolen antiquities valued at $70m. Mr Steinhardt, 81, from Brooklyn, has been banned for life from acquiring antiquities.

“I’m committed to ensuring transactions in the art industry are legal and those peddling in stolen or looted antiquities are shut down," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. "While the million-dollar price-tag on this relic is impressive, you can’t put a price on a country’s cultural heritage.

The Veiled Head of a Female is the first object of the looted collection from 11 countries to be repatriated.

A Neolithic mask (C) loaned by Michael Steinhardt is displayed at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. AP

The antiquities had been trafficked for years by 12 illicit networks and appeared on the international art market without legal paperwork.

New York state laws allow prosecutors to return stolen property such as antiquities to its rightful owners irrespective of when the theft took place.

The US is one of the first countries to sign and ratify the 1970 Unesco Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.

Unesco estimates the illegal trading in antiquities and cultural valuables rakes is worth about $10bn a year.

Updated: January 13th 2022, 2:18 AM

PRACTICE RUN

Ransomware attack locks down US prison

There was no information about who was behind the cyberattack, or what their demands were.

By AFP News January 13, 2022

A ransomware attack locked down a US jail, knocking out security cameras and leaving inmates confined to their cells, court documents show.

Cyber attackers hacked into the computer system that controls servers and internet access at the prison in Bernalillo County, New Mexico last week.

For a short time, the jail's automatic door system was knocked out, meaning staff at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) had to manually unlock each cell when detainees needed to get out for exercise or recreation.

"The lack of camera coverage... creates a significant security concern for the safety of staff and inmates during out of cell time," a court filing from January 6 says.

"This means inmates, even inmates in general population, are temporarily limited to their cells.

"Inmates will still be removed from their cells for medical care, but they will not receive unstructured 'time-out.'"

The jail was just one facility affected by the cyberattack, which also felled services across Bernalillo, New Mexico's most populous county.


Ransomware attacks are thought to cost US companies billions of dollars a year Photo: AFP / OLIVIER DOULIERY

A news release dated January 10 said the county continued to be affected by "cyber issues," including the issuing of marriage licenses, voter registration and real estate transactions.

"The public is being asked to understand the gravity of this ransomware issue and that, at this time, county services are still limited," the release said.

AFP was unsuccessful in attempts to contact the prison.

There was no information about who was behind the cyberattack, or what their demands were.

Ransomware attacks, where a hacker takes data from the victim or takes control of a computer system until a ransom is paid, are becoming increasingly common as more official and commercial business is conducted online.

The United States last year offered a $10 million reward for help finding the leaders of the "Darkside" gang, a Russia-based outfit Washington blames for an assault that shut down one of the country's largest oil pipelines.

More than half a billion dollars in ransomware-related payments were reported to US authorities in the first half of 2021 alone, though the true cost is thought to be considerably higher.

Companies and institutions face intense pressure to pay up in order to get their data unlocked, but also to keep the attack from potentially angry clients and authorities who issue stern warnings not to give cash to criminals.

 Document showing KLA’s efforts to join forces with US during WWII uncovered

Posted on : Jan.13,2022 17:41 KST Modified on : Jan.13,2022 

• 
  

The document, authored in 1942, illustrates the Korean Provisional Government’s concerted efforts to reach out to the US

Korean Liberation Army Chief of Staff Lee Beom-seok (second row, center) and other members of the KLA's 2nd Company. (provided by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs)

South Korea’s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs announced Tuesday that it had uncovered the first official proposal for a military coalition between Korea and the US that was drafted during World War II by the Korean Liberation Army (KLA), the army of the Korean Provisional Government.

The document takes the form of a 10-page report composed on June 3, 1942, by KLA Chief of Staff Lee Beom-seok with the intent of sending it to the US federal government. It vividly illustrates how the KLA aggressively sought to reach out to the US and join forces with it after fighting began in the Pacific theater.

The document in question describes in detail the necessity of Korean independence, the KLA’s mission, the role the KLA could play in the Pacific theater of the war, and what matters would need to be negotiated with the US.

“This document is of great significance since it’s an official document produced by the Korean Liberation Army that shows the army’s initial attempt to make diplomatic contact with the US and offer to take part in the war,” the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs explained.

The document states that the KLA, as the military arm of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, would “form the basis of the national army of Korea following the future establishment of an independent state.”

“The KLA’s mission is to achieve not only Korean independence but also peace for humanity alongside the Allies,” it reads.

One revelation in the document is the concrete proposal it makes for a military coalition with the US. “The KLA will deploy its forces in the Pacific War and with American aid will form Korean guerilla units in China that can roil the Japanese army at its rear.”

The document mentions specific aspects of carrying out the war that the KLA needed to negotiate with the US including “the size of the deployment, the place of operations, transportation and logistics, chain of command, and the issue of supply,” showing how seriously the KLA had explored forging a military coalition with the US in World War II.

In the document, shown in part here, Lee Beom-seok listed the items that Korea needed to negotiate with the US including “the size of the deployment, the place of operations, transportation and logistics, chain of command, and the issue of supply.” (provided by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs)

“This document shows specifically that figures in the Korean Provisional Government, the Korean Liberation Army and the Korean Commission in the US tried to set up a military coalition with the US during the war in the Pacific,” said Jung Byung-joon, a professor of contemporary Korean history at Ewha Womans University.

“This is a rare document, the first of its kind to be discovered in Korea or elsewhere. It is therefore of great historical significance,” said Kim Gwang-jae, a researcher with the National Institute of Korean History who researches the KLA.

“We plan to analyze the papers of George McAfee McCune, which contain a detailed record of the activities of the US Office of Strategic Services, to identify more Koreans who contributed to the cause of independence. Moving forward, we will release more documents related to the independence movement that remain unknown in Korea,” the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said.

This document was one of many donated by George McAfee McCune to the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawai’i. It was uncovered by the ministry last December as part of a project to collect records about the independence movement outside of Korea.

George McAfee McCune was the son of George Shannon McCune, an American missionary and freedom fighter who was awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Independent Medal, in 1963. The younger McCune came to possess documents related to the Korean independence movement while serving as a Korean expert at the US Office of Strategic Services and the State Department during World War II.

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

NO HONOUR IN IT
On the prowl: Mali child cat hunters honour age-old tradition

Author: AFP|Update: 14.01.2022 

Their weapon of choice is a crate-like wooden trap, which contains a piece of mutton as bait and can be pulled closed with a piece of string / © AFP

Fifteen-year-old Kadi Ben Wahab puffs out his chest and poses for a photo with several friends, before setting off to hunt cats in northern Mali's Timbuktu.

As part of an age-old tradition in the city, in the desert north of the troubled Sahel state, Kadi and his band of hunters hit the streets after dark in order to trap, skin and cook cats.

They dance and sing after a successful hunt, throwing the skins of their prey over the electric cables that hang over the alleyways.

"I killed this one a few days ago," says Kadi, pointing to a cat skin hanging nearby -- not an uncommon sight in Timbuktu.

The boy says he is the best cat hunter in his neighbourhood and, as such, is the leader of his gang.

Timbuktu children also use torches to hunt, and kill their feline prey with clubs / © AFP

The children standing beside him are between six and 12 years old.

Despite their nighttime escapades, they lead otherwise ordinary lives: going to school during the day and eating dinner with their families in the evening.

But after dinner they often sneak out to hunt cats -- always targeting neighbourhoods other than their own.

Their weapon of choice is a crate-like wooden trap, which contains a piece of mutton as bait and can be pulled closed with a piece of string.

But Timbuktu children also use torches so they can hunt and kill their feline prey with clubs. Others use dogs.

© AFP

Bemused adults allow the children to use cooking utensils so that they can cook their kill.

The unusual pastime offers children an escape in an otherwise tough environment: landlocked and conflict-torn Mali is one of the poorest nations in the world.

Compounding the shortage of distractions from the daily grind, Timbuktu is in Mali's volatile north, where a jihadist insurgency has raged since 2012.

- 'The best hunter' -

None of the Timbuktu residents interviewed by AFP were able to date the origin of the city's cat-hunting tradition, although several cast it as a rite of passage for boys.

The unusual pastime offers children an outlet in an otherwise tough environment / © AFP

The practice nonetheless appears to be older than living memory.

Timbuktu poet Sane Chirfi said that after one of his octogenarian relatives had died, an old cat trap was found in his possession.

"It goes back a very, very long time," he said.

"It's impossible to find anyone in town who didn't hunt cats as a child."

Another Timbuktu writer, Salem Ould El Hadj, told AFP that he ate cats as a child "like any other Timbuktu citizen".

However, poet Chirfi said that aspects of the tradition are being lost.

Once, only runaways or strays were hunted. Nowadays, hunters target domestic pets too.

Bemused adults allow the children to use cooking utensils so that they can cook their kill / © AFP

Abdoulaye Sow, a man in his twenties who is from the same neighbourhood as Kadi, said that he had lost his own pet cat Pipo to the hunters two months ago.

"It didn't stand a chance", he said, adding that his pet was likely hard to kill.

Despite the violent loss of his feline companion, there appeared to be no hard feelings.

"It's just the way it is," said Sow, shrugging his shoulders, before pointing out that kids from his own neighbourhood killed cats belonging to others.

One need only look up, he said, to see the dozen or so cats that Kadi's gang had hung on the nearby cables in recent weeks.

"He's the best hunter".

A Portland restaurant eliminated tipping, added a 22% service fee, and raised its lowest wage to $25

dreuter@insider.com (Dominick Reuter) - 

© Provided by Business Insider10'000 Hours/Getty Images

The owners of a restaurant in Portland have swapped tips for a 22% service charge on all checks.

They also increased the lowest wage to $25 and are offering health insurance for all employees.

Co-owner Bonnie Morales said the new policy is more equitable for kitchen and dining room workers.

The owners of a nationally recognized Russian gourmet restaurant in Portland, Oregon, have ended optional tips on their guest checks in favor of a 22% service charge on all orders.

In a statement on its website explaining the policy, Kachka says "tipping, at its most innocent, creates inequity between 'front-of-house' and 'back-of-house' workers, and at its most sinister, continues a tradition of racism."

The new policy began last week after several months of planning, co-owner and head chef Bonnie Morales told Insider.

The move smooths out the ordinarily variable revenue from traditional tipping, and helps her provide a minimum wage of $25 and health insurance to all employees.

"With inflation with staffing shortages, with more challenges with guests," she said. "This started to become less and less of a 'would be nice to have' and kind of turned into a 'we need to have.'"

While critics have commented that they would like to reserve the right to tip less than 22% to express dissatisfaction with poor service, BS EXCUSE, TAKE IT UP WITH THE MANAGER

Morales told Insider that those diners are not really Kachka's typical clientele.

"Our customers on average leave 22%, which is how we arrived at that number, so in fact, your bill will be exactly the same as it was beforehand," she said.

Other critics of mandatory service charges have also said that restaurants should instead raise the prices of specific menu items, but Morales argues that diners in the US have a hard time digesting those increases, even when the final bill comes out even in the end.

In other words, years of culinary tradition have psychologically conditioned most people to have a particular attachment to paying for service separately.

If anyone is getting shorted in this arrangement, it's the front-of-house staff, who can sometimes earn more than the owners or head chefs at some restaurants. Meanwhile the big winners here are the back-of-house staff, who typically receive little to no extra income from tips.

COMMONWEALTH

Morales said Kachka's servers have had several months to consider the situation and look for higher-paying positions elsewhere, but so far nobody has quit.

"Not a single person said that I deserve to make more than the folks in the kitchen or that my job is harder. Everyone recognizes the inequity, and it's something that's sort of an unspoken truth of the industry," she said.

Although the actual policy has only been in place for a week, Morales is optimistic, having run parallel payrolls since September in order to model the effects on Kachka's finances.

"The only thing that wasn't involved in that math is Omicron," she said of the coronavirus variant, which is again disrupting businesses across the US and around the world.

Manchin and Sinema have been allowed to lie about the filibuster

Michaelangelo Signorile, 

The Signorile Report
January 13, 2022

Senator Joe Manchin speaking to reporters. (Screenshot)

We’ve now reached a critical stage in which President Biden went full force in attacking those standing in the way of voting rights, comparing them to the racists of the past, including George Wallace. And the president, in his powerful speech in Georgia yesterday in which he demanded the Senate create a filibuster carve-out for voting rights, didn’t distinguish between Republicans and those two Senate Democrats, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who refuse to back a carve-out.

This article was originally published at The Signorile Report

The media has, however, allowed Manchin and Sinema to distinguish themselves from GOP senators — who don’t support the voting rights legislation at all — as defending democracy in opposing a carve-out for the filibuster even as they support the voting rights bills. Reporters do this by not challenging the lies and distortions the two senators offer up.

Manchin, who has steadfastly refused to support a carve-out to the filibuster for voting rights legislation — ready to allow democracy to be destroyed — said this to reporters just a few days ago:

Democrats can win the Senate in 2022 -- and make it Manchin-proof
[The filibuster is] the tradition of the Senate here in 232 years now. … We need to be very cautious what we do. … That’s what we’ve always had for 232 years. That’s what makes us different than any place else in the world.

The statement is completely false (yet wasn’t challenged by the reporters), as the Washington Post’s fack-checker Glenn Kessler explained today:

The filibuster, contrary to Manchin’s suggestion, is not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, which went into effect 232 years ago…
…[I]t was decades — 1856 — before the Senate established a right of unlimited debate…The word “filibustering” was first used on the Senate floor to connote unlimited debate in 1853, according to [legal scholars Catherine] Fisk and [Erwin] Chemerinsky. But it was not until the 1880s that filibusters were successful in derailing legislation…

That would make it 166 years that it’s been around, not 232 (and certainly not created by the nation’s founders, who explicitly rejected a supermajority for passing bills). Except even that is not exactly true. The current form of the filibuster, in which 60 votes are needed to even open debate — and an opposing senator is no longer required to hold the floor, speaking throughout the filibuster (eventually giving up or changing minds of proponents of a bill) — has only been around since 1975, as attorney Max Kennerly notes.

The filibuster has been changed, modified, reformed — whatever word you want to use — several times during the 20th century, and many exemptions have been made to it. That included just last month when the Senate raised the debt ceiling.

Moreover, while Democrats led by then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid voted to end the use of the filibuster for lower court federal judges during the Obama years — because Republicans were blocking every one of President Obama’s appointees — Republicans led by Mitch McConnell ended the filibuster for Supreme Court justices just in time for Donald Trump to pack the court with extremists.

None of this is ever raised by reporters and interviewers with Manchin, or with Sinema, as they refuse to support ending or reforming the filibuster while Republicans are intent on blocking everything President Biden and Democrats want to accomplish for the American people.

Both Manchin and Sinema are allowed to promote themselves as upholding constitutional principles — again, though the Constitution has no stipulation for a filibuster — and the sanctity of Senate rules and procedures, as if those haven’t changed hundreds of times.

Sinema claimed last year that, “the filibuster was not created to accomplish one thing or another. It was created to bring together members of different parties to find compromise and coalition.”

That was preposterous, as many noted on social media. The filibuster wasn’t “created” so there would be comity; it was put in place many years after the nation’s founding and has been used by the minority to obstruct, overwhelmingly used to block civil rights legislation.

Sinema rarely gives interviews, though she goes to one reporter, Burgess Everett, at Politico — who never raises any of these issues or her lies. A recent rare CNN sit down with her also was a puffy interview that didn’t challenge her on her lies and distortions about the filibuster. It seems as if interviews aren’t granted unless certain conditions are met — like not bringing up specific issues — and media outlets are only too willing to get an interview with an elusive subject and beat out competition, even if means that subject gets a pass.

In the case of Manchin, he does give interviews in the hallways of Congress and elsewhere as he goes about his business, but he decides whom he allows to question him on the spot and ignores questions from others. Those he does speak with don’t challenge him on the lies he spouts in response — as we saw this week — and allow him, like Sinema, to promote himself as a defender of something sacred.

But if Sinema and Manchin really believed the minority should always have outsized power they wouldn’t support budget reconciliation — which is how the American Rescue Plan, which they voted for, was passed — since that is a filibuster carve-out itself, passed with only 51 votes. Of course, Republicans used the procedure to pass massive tax cuts for the wealthy under Trump, so it would be hard for Manchin and Sinema to oppose its use.

The truth is that Manchin and Sinema are bowing to donors who want the filibuster in place for legislation like voting rights because they don’t want Democrats advancing their agenda and want the GOP to have power in the minority, and, ultimately, to seize back the majority. As we’re headed for a showdown on the filibuster and a carve-out for voting rights, blame should also be laid at the feet of the media, which has allowed the lies to go unchecked.

Oath Keepers founder got 'white glove treatment' from FBI during arrest: report

John Wright
January 13, 2022

Stewart Rhodes in his booking photo from Thursday (Collin County Jail)

The founder of the extremist Oath Keepers group, Stewart Rhodes, reportedly got "white glove treatment" from FBI agents during his arrest Thursday after being indicted for seditious conspiracy in connection with the Capitol insurrection.

Rhodes was on the phone with an attorney, Jonathan Moseley, at the time of his arrest, according to BuzzFeed News' Ken Bensinger.

Bensinger said he spoke with Moseley on Thursday night.

Rhodes and Moseley reportedly were discussing whether the Oath Keepers founder would answer questions from the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection, when the FBI called on the other line.

"Unlike typical FBI arrests, which tend to happen at 6 a.m. and often involve battering rams and dogs, Rhodes appeared to get the white glove treatment," Bensinger reported. "He was asked politely to come outside and given time to dress, Moseley said."

According to a 2020 report in The Atlantic, about two-thirds of Oath Keepers members "had a background in the military or law enforcement."

Moseley told Bensinger that when the FBI called, Rhodes "clicked over the line then added him to the call with the FBI special agent and that he helped negotiate the surrender while Rhodes got ready."

While Moseley isn't Rhodes' attorney, he does represent another Oath Keeper charged in the insurrection, Kelly Meggs.

"The FBI called at roughly 11:40 a.m. CT, while Moseley was discussing Rhodes' options w/ the Select Committee, before which he was due to appear on Feb. 2," Bensinger reported. "Moseley noted that the FBI seized many of the documents Congress subpoenaed. 'So that complicates things!' he added."

The Dallas Morning News' Jamie Landers reported that FBI agents searched the house where Rhodes was staying, in Dallas the suburb of Little Elm.

"FBI agents were seen searching the garage, the black Suburban in the driveway and taking boxes of evidence out of the house," Landers reported. "It is unclear why Rhodes, who is from Granbury, was staying here. The homeowners and their dogs are still inside, but haven’t answered the door.

Multiple Dallas police officers arrived just now. They tried to enter the house again, but no one responded."

Rhodes is scheduled to appear in court on Friday.

Read the full threads from Bensinger and Landers below.

 

Hundreds of doctors petition Spotify to address Joe Rogan’s ‘history of broadcasting misinformation’

2022/1/13 
© New York Daily News

A collection of 270 medical professionals reportedly signed an open letter to Spotify asking the media platform to rein in Joe Rogan, its most listened to podcaster, whom they accuse of promoting junk science with regards to the COVID pandemic.

Their chief complaint is aimed at a Dec. 31 episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” featuring right-wing media darling Dr. Robert Malone, who is a COVID-vaccine skeptic.

The group behind the letter — first published by Rolling Stone — describes itself as a “coalition of scientists, medical professionals, professors, and science communicators spanning a wide range of fields such as microbiology, immunology, epidemiology, and neuroscience.”

Their concerns include that year-ending program with Malone, which has “been criticized for promoting baseless conspiracy theories” on a podcast those experts accuse of having a “concerning history of broadcasting misinformation.”

Among the things Malone asserted during his visit with Rogan was that “mass formation psychosis” is leading people to get vaccinated against the deadly and highly contagious coronavirus, which has killed more than 800,000 Americans since early 2020. Malone, who did not have a hand in developing COVID vaccines, was involved in early research of mRNA technology more that 20 years ago. mRNA technology is at the core of Pfizer and Moderna’s tested and effective vaccination shots.

“Though Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, the company presently has no misinformation policy,” the team of medical experts writes in its letter.

Malone was suspended from Twitter earlier this month for violating its rules regarding the dissemination of misinformation. YouTube removed a clip of his interview with Rogan for the same reason.

“The average age of (The Joe Rogan Experience) listeners is 24 years old and according to data from Washington State, unvaccinated 12-34 year olds are 12 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID than those who are fully vaccinated,” Rogan’s critics state in their missive.

The medical experts charge that the spreading of bad science is a “sociological issue of devastating proportions” and blames Spotify for giving bogus information a home. They call on the platform to “immediately establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform.”

Spotify did not respond to a Daily News request for comment about the letter from the 270 medical professionals.

Speaking on his own behalf, Rogan told listeners last year that they should not come to him for medical advice.

“I’m not a doctor, I’m a f---ing moron,” he said during in April podcast. “I’m not a respected source of information, even for me.”

The 54-year-old podcaster admitted to his 11 million listeners that he doesn’t usually think about what he’s going to say before he speaks. Rogan is described on his website as a “stand up comic, mixed martial arts fanatic, psychedelic adventurer, host of the ‘Joe Rogan Experience’ podcast.”

'To defy Trump's wishes is to defy God's plan': The scary truth about modern right-wing misinformation

John Stoehr
January 13, 2022

U.S. President Donald Trump appears on stage at a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. April 29, 2017. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Death threats will change a person. During previous testimony before a Senate panel, the nation’s top infectious disease expert was calm and deferential. This week marked a break from the past. Enough is enough, apparently. Dr. Anthony Fauci was no longer in the mood.

Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas kept pressing the question of financial disclosures, implying that Fauci was benefiting from the effort to vaccinate the country against the covid pandemic.

Fauci, as head of the White House pandemic response, is a public servant. By law, he must disclose financial information. So of course he didn’t understand Marshall’s question, because his “financial disclosure is public knowledge” and has been for more than three decades.

Two things. Marshall knew this and was pretending not to or he didn’t know this, which should be embarrassing for a sitting senator. Either way, Marshall said his staff could not find the document. Well, it’s here. Ultimately, he was pandering to believers of rightwing misinformation.

After a heated exchange in which Marshall kept insisting Fauci was hiding something and Fauci kept insisting he’s not – “all you have to do is ask” for the disclosure – Fauci said, “What a moron! Jesus Christ!” (He said this to himself, obviously, not realizing his mic was still on.)

Is Fauci showing us how to handle rightwingers? That’s what I asked Sara Aniano on Wednesday. She’s a Monmouth University graduate student studying rightwing rhetoric and conspiracy theories on social media. She co-authored a new report for the Global Network on Extremism and Technology analyzing QAnon trends a year after J6.

She said Fauci’s pushback felt good, but in the end, it probably doesn’t help. “The reality is pretty dire,” she said. Propaganda, conspiracy theory and misinformation have “already infected the population.” It’s too late even for the Washington press corps to do much about it.

The way Anthony Fauci talked to the Republicans is how everyone should talk to rightwing extremists. Am I on to something?

Absolutely. For a lot of people on the left, Fauci's pushback was refreshing. People are tired of the pandering, and of watching misinformation be lumped into the category of “free speech.”

While Fauci’s “moron” comment was indeed a great moment of transparency, we should also consider his ability to humanize the situation with the anecdote about his own harassment.

The left is often considered "soft” in contrast with the alleged "hard truth" attitude of the GOP. While Fauci's position is not about partisanship, anti-vaxx movements have unfortunately aligned with the right and the far-right. So it feels like Fauci is speaking for us, even though he's really speaking on behalf of everyone.

It seems to me speaking for everyone is often interpreted as soft. In other words, acting for the benefit of the common good immediately marks you as an enemy by rightwingers.

For a party that increasingly demonizes collectivism, it's in their best interest to continue promoting "individual responsibility,” as it works for their messaging politically. But for the extreme far-right, it's more sinister. In their minds, there is a war going on between good and evil. And if you're not on their side, their black-and-white thinking places you into the "enemy" category.

The irony is that they are actually collectivists, too, no?

I hear that a lot. In comparison to other countries, America is not a collectivist culture. In my opinion, anyone who pushes extreme nationalism here is also pushing extreme individualism.

As a leftist researcher of far-right misinformation, I admit to a certain level of bias. But January 6 marked a clear turning point in how we view partisanship, I think, and we can't discard that.

Why is it a turning point? We turned from what to what?

For a lot of us studying far-right extremism and misinformation, we couldn't help but feel this collective "we told you so" when January 6 happened. For the first time, we had a visual manifestation of far-right conspiracism that wasn't limited to social media or fringe news programs. In other words, everyone saw people act on the ideologies that misinformation researchers sift through every day.

Of course, how people interpret what they saw is what's shaping their opinion now.

Which is where misinformation comes back, right?

Here's something I tweeted on the anniversary of the insurrection: “By the end of January 6, 2021, Americans were left with the most damaging relic of all: Yet another unfathomable event, born of hate and delusion, for far-right conspiracy theorists to contort into a self-serving narrative that unfairly demonizes the innocent.”

I want to cry.

A lot of us can relate to that.

To what extent is anti-vaccination about purity of blood? To what extent is anti-vaccination cover for plain old white supremacy?

It's interesting, because even if anti-vaxxers don't realize it, the "pure blood" characterization of the unvaccinated has roots to eugenics, which of course has roots to white supremacy.

But to go back to the idea of "infiltration," I think vaccine skepticism ties into that too.

Please go on.

I've been thinking about what types of infiltration the far-right finds most threatening. So far I've come up with three categories: 1) member infiltration, 2) spiritual infiltration and 3) bodily infiltration.

Member infiltration seems to stem from a fear of the "other" hiding in plain sight, trying to live among them but with heinous intentions. We see that a lot with paranoia about Antifa, the feds, Jews or journalists "posing" as patriots.

Spiritual infiltration has a lot to do with "demonic forces" among us. Satanic panic stuff. With QAnon, we see allegations of Satanic rituals in Hollywood or even reptilians wearing skinsuits to pass as humans.

Physical infiltration is a lot about co-opting "my body my choice" messaging to push back against the vaccine, which many think is the mark of the beast or a 5G transmitter or radioactive or a microchip. A lot of crossover with pseudo-science.

There is so much overlap that it's hard to make exclusive categories, but you get the idea.

We haven't talked about religion. What does your research say?

Yes, religion or spirituality is inextricable from far-right narratives overall. My thesis, currently in progress, focuses on QAnon Instagram comments in the week leading up to J6.

Rhetoric that pushes a higher power is always mixed in with far-right narratives, and overwhelmingly, that's Christianity. A lot of people who believe election fraud theories in QAnon circles genuinely think that Donald Trump was anointed by God – he is the chosen leader to usher in "the storm" and defeat the evil Democrats, once and for all.

In their minds, to defy Trump's wishes is to defy God's plan. I wouldn't say that this is ubiquitous across the right, to be clear. That's a pretty extreme version. But religion presents itself across far-right rhetoric in general, even when it doesn't involve Donald Trump.

Trump abruptly hung up on Steve Inskeep after the host of NPR’s “Morning Edition” challenged him repeatedly on the big lie? Are such challenges what a democratic republic needs?

I think Inskeep did a great job, although many were upset with NPR for bringing Trump on in the first place. Your question is a hard one. People asked the same thing during and after the 2020 election when Trump alleged fraud on TV before the ballot counting was even complete. Some networks cut his speech off, while others aired it.

Any time we platform misinformation, especially when we can see it coming, we must provide context and a good reason for showcasing it. If we can shut it down in the meantime, then yes, we should.

But if I'm being honest, I think that ship has sailed.

I don't know if it matters anymore if we cut off conspiratorial rhetoric from Trump and others when it's already infected the population.

Are you suggesting the press can’t really mitigate the spread?

Once Trump normalized discourse that was hateful, xenophobic, conspiratorial and sexist, he made it more mainstream. People who previously self-censored those thoughts felt free to not only think them, but say them – particularly on social media, where anonymity removes accountability. That hasn't really changed.

I guess my point is – the press should do what it can to mitigate misinformation, of course, but the reality is pretty dire.

There's a serious epistemological crisis going on, and that's gonna require systemic change.

Again, I want to cry.

John Stoehr is a fellow at the Yale Journalism Initiative; a contributing writer for the Washington Monthly; a contributing editor for Religion Dispatches; and senior editor at Alternet. Follow him @johnastoehr.

College Football Coaches Making $25,000 a Day? Let’s Sideline This Lunacy!

The gridiron game has a penalty for illegal holding. We need one for hoarding.

JANUARY 12, 2022
by Sam Pizzigati

This past Monday, in the waning moments of Georgia’s upset victory in the college football national championship game, TV cameras panned to a frail old man in a stadium suite. The aged onlooker had a big grin on his face, as well he should. Just over four decades earlier, this smiling onlooker — the 89-year-old football legend Vince Dooley — had coached Georgia to its last national championship.

Dooley likely saw plenty of parallels on Monday night between his 1980 triumph and this year’s success of Georgia’s current coach, Kirby Smart. Both coaches had started their seasons off with only an outside shot at the national title. Both nurtured teams that showed grit and perseverance. Both now enjoy the adulation of an entire state.

And the differences between the two coaches? Only one stands out. Compensation.

For his championship-year labors, the current Georgia coach Kirby Smart will pocket $7.13 million. Vince Dooley’s annual pay never came anywhere remotely close to that.

Dooley started his Georgia coaching career in 1964, back in a time when big-time college coaches earned about the same as big-time college profs. The nation’s top celebrity college coach back then, Notre Dame’s Ara Parseghian, pocketed just $20,000 in salary, the equivalent of just under $180,000 in today’s dollars.

By the early 1980s, the dawning of the Reagan era, the coaching pay picture had begun to change. In 1982, Dooley was still basking in his national championship spotlight — and collecting $100,000 annually for his coaching prowess, about $288,000 today. Dooley retired from coaching in 1988. Seven years later, Florida State signed Bobby Bowden to a million-dollar annual guarantee.

The bottom line here: Even after adjusting for inflation, current Georgia coach Kirby Smart has earned significantly more just in the past year than Dooley made over the course of his entire 24-year Georgia coaching career. Even more remarkable: Kirby Smart has “cause” to feel underpaid. The long-term pay deal he signed with Georgia after the 2017 season has left him trailing his biggest coaching rivals.

In 2018, the year after Smart signed his current contract, Texas A & M committed $75 million over 10 years to Jimbo Fisher. The next year, Clemson pledged $92 million for ten years of Dabo Swinney’s gridiron genius. This past year gave us a windfall trifecta: Michigan State inked its coach to $95 million over the next decade, Louisiana State University commited $100 million for the same span, and Southern Cal upped the college football’s ten-year ante to $110 million.

And, oh yes, LSU’s end-of-the-year wheeling and dealing just happened to include a $16.9-million severance package for the departing coach.

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Kirby Smart’s paycheck at Georgia currently ranks as only the fifth-highest in his football conference, one of the ten conferences that compete in major college football. Overall, reports USA Today, 21 college football coaches now make at least $5 million a year, and 37 other sideline prowlers are grabbing more than $4 million.

“These days,” sums up Washington Post reporter Kent Babb, “every major college program has a corporate, win-now mentality while engaging in arms races for the biggest stadium, poshest locker room, richest coach.”

Defenders of this insanity consider successful college football coaches worth every penny in their paychecks. LSU’s national championship team two years ago, they point out, brought in $95 million in revenue and turned a profit over $53 million.

“I hear people say all the time, ‘Well, you make a lot of money,’” Alabama football coaching giant Nick Saban told the New York Times this past August. “Yeah, but I create a lot of value.”

Where’s all this “value” in college football going? Not into the desperately poor communities that ring many of college football’s biggest stadiums. Not far from LSU’s Tiger Stadium, in North Baton Rouge, the poverty-stricken streets have 46 payday lending offices and zero grocery stores. The state legislative district that includes North Baton Rouge has a median income of $24,865 a year. LSU’s new football coach, writes the Post’s Kent Babb, will be making “no less than $24,657 a day.”

The payoff from paying multiple millions to college football coaches also isn’t doing much to help the college students who most need help. The U.S. student debt burden, now nearing $2 trillion, continues to swell, soaring ever faster and higher than any punt.

Some big-time football universities, to be sure, are pumping “value” back into student affairs. One major state university, for instance, has spent big on student amenities like a “state-of-the-art recreation center with a climbing wall” and a campus dining hall with “steak cooked to order.” Amenities like these make state schools more attractive to out-of-state affluent families that can afford to pay higher tuition. This particular cook-to-order state school just happens to be Nick Saban’s Alabama.

But let’s not blame football for all this “enrollment management.” The concentration of wealth we see on our gridiron turf reflects a much broader concentration of wealth within higher education writ large.

“Increasingly, more and more universities operate like hedge funds, looking to maximize profit centers. And with executive salaries to match,” observes Brandeis economist and American Prospect co-editor Robert Kuttner, “What has suffered is teaching. The number of actual professors has scarcely grown. What has grown is armies of adjuncts, often not even making minimum wage.”

Football, to be sure, plays a key role within higher education’s widening internal economic divide. Outrageous coaching salaries, University of Colorado law prof Paul Campos argued earlier this week in the Chronicle of Higher Education, can serve to justify academe’s “administrative overpay.”

“By a kind of perverse psychological effect,” explains Campos, “paying a college football coach $10 million per year makes paying a university president $1.5 million, a provost $800,000, and various vice provosts and vice chancellors $500,000 each seem positively parsimonious by comparison.”

So what can we do to restore sanity not just to college football, but to the overall academic world? Kuttner has some thoughts. For starters, he notes, we could legislate some egalitarian “strings” into federal aid for higher education. We could, for instance, deny or limit federal support for universities with outrageously large pay gaps between their highest- and lowest-paid employees.

A college football coach making $10 million a year is making 500 times more than a $20,000-a-year university custodian. Back in the 1960s, only a handful of major U.S. corporate CEOs made over 30 times what their lowest-paid employees were making.

Sam Pizzigati co-edits Inequality.org. His latest books include The Case for a Maximum Wage and The Rich Don’t Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class, 1900-1970. Follow him at @Too_Much_Online.