SORRY JOHN BUT IT IS

Jon Stewart Is ‘Frustrated’ Over Americans’ Absent Public Support For Veterans: ‘This Country Can’t Be This Broken’

Melissa Romualdi - Yesterday 7:38 p.m.
ET Canada
© Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Jon Stewart is standing up for former military personnel by calling out their lack of public support.

During AMVETS’ Rolling to Remember Rally in Washington, D.C., Stewart, an advocate for veterans’ and first responders’ rights, asked “Where are the American people?"

The Memorial Day weekend rally raises awareness for HR 3967, the Honouring our PACT Act of 2021, during the annual three-day motorcycle demonstration ride, shedding light on veterans’ issues like high suicide rates among former service people and those missing.

The PACT Act, on which Stewart was ordering congressional action, particularly aims to address “health care, presumption of service-connection, research, resources, and other matters related to veterans who were exposed to toxic substances during military service,” like burn pits.

Stewart was appalled by the small crowd and seemed to have an issue with the attendees present, which only included those with a personal connection to veterans’ rights.

Related video: Jon Stewart delivers powerful address on healthcare protections for veterans

“The people sitting behind me — it’s hard not to be here today and not get frustrated again because as I look out in the crowd, I see the same thing I always see: veterans and their families and caregivers. But where [are] the American people?” he asked during his speech.

The former host of “The Daily Show” criticized the surface-level and performative support for veterans which he said will surely appear on social media feeds.

“This is Memorial Day weekend. Man, you’re going to read the tweets this weekend. You’re going to look at the Facebook pages and you’re going to think to yourself, ‘Oh, does America love me. Boy, they love us.’ You’re going to go to Applebee’s. They’re going to give you them baby back ribs. Probably 20% off, not even 10%, because of how much they support you," Stewart said.

The comedian added that real action among nonveterans is often missing, despite the online support.

“And yet we come out here today looking for the support of the American people, and what do we have behind me? It’s veterans organizations. It’s veterans. It’s their families. This country can’t be this broken. If we can’t do the simple sh**, we have nothing,” he concluded.

In 2019, Stewart was awarded New York City’s highest civic honour, the Bronze Medallion, for his "tireless advocacy, inspiration, and leadership,” which gave rise to the passing of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act.

DISARM, DEFUND, DISBAND

‘Deployed out of frustration’: Charges stayed after judge rules Edmonton police broke own Taser policy

\

“The state conduct here, as described, risks undermining the integrity of the judicial process.”

Matthew Black - EDMONTON JOURNAL - Yesterday 

© Provided by Edmonton Journal

A police officer's holstered Taser X26 stun gun.


Charges against a man have been stayed after a judge ruled an Edmonton city police officer broke policy and used excessive force when he deployed a stun gun.

Cory Badger of Edmonton was charged with being unlawfully in a dwelling house and obstructing a peace officer after a June 11, 2021, incident at a house near Whyte Avenue and 110 Street.

Police were called before 7:30 a.m. that morning when the woman renting the house found a man on her back deck and told police he was refusing to leave.

Two officers arrived, and a foot chase ensued that ended when the unarmed man was zapped with a Taser multiple times before his arrest.

Alberta Provincial Court Judge Olugbenga Shoyele ordered the charges be stayed and ruled the officer broke city police policy by using the Taser five times against the fleeing Badger, calling it “unnecessary and unreasonable.”

“The constable’s use of the Taser, in the circumstances here, where there was no clear or real risk to officer safety, was a blatant contravention of the EPS (Edmonton Police Service) Procedure,” he wrote in the May 6 ruling.

“It appears to me that the Taser was deployed out of frustration.”

‘Wasn’t sure what it was’

Two officers responded to the home after Badger was found sitting on the back deck, where he told the complainant his “feet hurt.”

The chase began when officers arrived to the call and Badger fled.

Const. Carson, one of the two officers, testified that Badger appeared to be reaching for something as he was being pursued.

“(He) turned and started reaching down to his waist or rotating by his waist and holding some sort of object. I wasn’t sure what it was.”

The object was later determined by a plastic sports drink bottle.

Carson eventually closed to within four metres of Badger and warned him that he would use his Taser as Badger began to climb a nearby fence.

When Badger continued to climb, Carson deployed the Taser, eventually cycling the device five times and sending Badger to the ground from his position near the top of the fence.

‘Could result in death’

Crown prosecutors noted the Criminal Code grants police the authority to use “an allowable degree of force” and that EMS personnel found no significant injuries to Badger after his arrest.

But Badger’s lawyer argued that he could not have been a threat to Carson as he was climbing the fence with his back turned to the officer at the time he was hit with the stun gun.

He also argued the use of force was disproportionate and violated EPS policy, given Badger was not accused of any violent conduct.

Shoyele sided with Badger and challenged Carson’s assertion that he was at risk.

“How is it feasible for someone to simultaneously rotate as if to pull a firearm and climb a fence?”

Shoyele also cited the five times the Taser was used and how it struck a fleeing Badger’s rear torso and head, noting both actions are against EPS policy.

“The EPS Procedure unequivocally discourages multiple deployments … particularly when a suspect is fleeing from an officer, given the possibility that multiple activations … could result in death,” he wrote.

The stay means Badger is found neither guilty or not guilty.

Shoyele wrote the stay was necessary to preserve confidence in the justice system.

“The state conduct here, as described, risks undermining the integrity of the judicial process.”

mblack@postmedia.com
@ByMatthewBlack

LGBTQ advocates fear monkeypox stigma could 'spread like a virus'
Friday
The Canadian Press

Advocates warn that stigma could pose a public health threat as a cluster of monkeypox cases stokes concern in the queer community.

Health authorities are investigating more than two dozen confirmed monkeypox cases in Canada as part of an unprecedented outbreak of the rare disease that seldom spreads outside Africa.

Twenty-five infections have been confirmed in Quebec and one in Ontario, the Public Health Agency of Canada said Thursday, predicting the tally will rise in coming days.

While everyone is susceptible to the virus, clusters of cases have been reported among men who have sex with men, officials say.

For some LGBTQ advocates, this raises the spectre of sexual stigmatization that saw gay and bisexual men scapegoated for the spread of HIV-AIDS in the 1980s. Others say the early detection of the monkeypox cases by sexual health clinics shows how the queer community has mobilized to dismantle shame and promote safe practices.

Canada's deputy chief public health officer said he's mindful of the potential for stigma and discrimination, reiterating that the virus's spread isn't limited to any specific group or sexual orientation.

The disease can be contracted through close contact with a sick person, including but not limited to sexual activity, Dr. Howard Njoo told a news conference Thursday. Scientists are still working to determine what's driving cross-border transmission of the virus.

But as early signs suggest the virus is currently circulating in certain communities, authorities are working with partners on the ground to raise awareness among those at elevated risk of exposure, Njoo said.

Quebec officials said both transparency and sensitivity are needed to contain the outbreak and provide care to those infected.

"Stigmatization is really a big challenge in controlling this disease, so we’re trying to fight it," Montreal public health official Dr. Geneviève Bergeron told reporters Thursday. "It's important to understand that our enemy is the virus, it's not the people who are affected."

Aaron Purdie, executive director of the Health Initiative for Men in B.C., said he worries that the spread of stigma could present a greater threat than the disease itself, citing the lasting legacy of the panic and prejudice around HIV-AIDS in the early years of the epidemic.

"Stigma spreads like a virus," Purdie said. "Yes, it's treatable. Yes, it's containable. But it spreads nonetheless."

Beyond its corrosive societal harms, stigma can deter people from accessing testing and treatment, as they fear how a diagnosis could jeopardize their social standing, employment and safety, Purdie said.

These concerns are particularly potent among LGBTQ people given their long history of discrimination by the health-care system, said Purdie. That's why it's vital that public health agencies assist queer activists, educators and clinicians in leading the monkeypox response.

"We all hold trauma from our histories, and the reality is when something like monkeypox comes in, it scares people," he said.

"We need to decrease the stigma. Because if we don't, people aren't able to fully express their identities, and ... (that has the) downstream effect of making the community sicker."

Dane Griffiths, director of the Gay Men's Sexual Health Alliance of Ontario, said stigma thrives in silence, so one of the most effective strategies to combat it is to provide timely and accurate information without "shame or blame."

The alliance is working to do just that by sharing the latest developments about the virus, encouraging people to pay attention to the risks and take steps to protect themselves.

Griffiths said obscuring the risk the virus poses to the queer community could prompt people to drop their guard.

"I wouldn't want that to be an opportunity for the community to tune this out," said Griffiths.

Instead, the queer community should be commended for helping authorities track the virus's spread by getting tested at sexual health clinics in such high numbers, which could be a factor in why so many cases have been identified in men who have sex with men, Griffiths said.

"There are gay and bisexual men who have been showing up around the world at clinics and doctor's offices and are being seen and therefore counted," said Griffiths. "That's a good thing, and it's actually to be encouraged within our community."

More than two years into the pandemic, University of Toronto bioethicist Kerry Bowman said he hopes people have realized infectious disease doesn't discriminate on the basis of identity, so we don't see a resurgence of the stigma and bigotry that pervaded our initial responses to both COVID-19 and HIV-AIDS.

"This is kind of a litmus test to see if we've moved on as a society, if we're capable of looking at illness without ... the cruelty of laying stigma on people," said Bowman.

— with files from Jacob Serebrin in Montreal

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2022.

Adina Bresge, The Canadian Press

 

Report From China Says Nio Is Hiring For Manufacturing Positions In The US
Andrei Nedelea - Yesterday
 InsideEVs


NIO ES6 production

If this report is true, then it would confirm other rumors that Nio was looking to set up manufacturing in America.

Rumors have been floating around for months that Nio is looking to set up a manufacturing location in the United States, but today is not the day we get official confirmation. We instead came across some information that indirectly confirms it, this time straight from China, claiming that Nio is already hiring people for manufacturing-related jobs in the US, even though it has not officially announced building the facility.

According to Yicai, Nio (known in China by its company name, Wei Lai) is not only hiring people for manufacturing-related jobs, but is also looking to build a factory in the United States. We don’t yet know if it will purchase an already existing plant and repurpose it or build one from scratch in a new location.

They are also looking for an experienced designer with 10 years or more of blueprint planning and design experience for for an established automaker. It is in this particular job description that it is directly stated that the person to be appointed for this position would be

Responsible for above two experience of general drawing projects, including at least one US factory project.

The others are infrastructure experts, logistics managers and park planning experts, exactly the kind of professionals they would need to set up a factory. Nio already has a research and development center in the United States, in San Jose, California, where its American headquarters are also located.

And the way the job ad is phrased, it makes it perfectly clear that Nio may not stop at just having one factory in the US if things go according to plan.

Nio is also looking to open a new R&D center in Singapore, which will focus on the development of self-driving technology and artificial intelligence (AI). Singapore was apparently chosen because it would enable Nio to link its facility up with local science and research institutions; the country’s financial sector is also very well connected and this too would be useful for the automaker.

The company also has a design office open in Munich, right in the heart of the German automotive industry, in Bavaria. Nio’s expansion strategy is seen as aggressive by industry analysts who point to the fact that it now wants to expand into Europe, Southeast Asia and North America; last year it built around 200,000 vehicles, most of which were sold in China.

More on this
Looks Like NIO May Expand To The US, New Job Listings Found

NIO Leases Bigger San Jose Office Building For US HQ, R&D Center

Source: China News Daily via Yicai, Electrek

JOSEPH NEEDHAM WOULD AGREE

Xi calls for advancing study of Chinese civilization, strengthening cultural confidence

Updated 28-May-2022
CGTN


Two visitors take photos of a bronze mask discovered at the Sanxingdui Ruins site, in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, China, February 15, 2022. /CFP

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday stressed the strengthening of awareness and confidence in Chinese culture by inheriting and carrying forward its fine traditions and unswervingly following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks during the 39th group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on a national research program dedicated to tracing the origins of the Chinese civilization.

Chinese civilization has a long history, is extensive and profound and is the unique spiritual identity of the Chinese nation, he said. It is also the foundation of contemporary Chinese culture, he said, as well as the spiritual bond that binds Chinese people around the world and the treasure of Chinese cultural innovation.

The project to explore the origins of the Chinese civilization has made remarkable achievements, Xi said, but there is still a long way ahead as the successes are still preliminary and phased.

The project to explore the origins of Chinese civilization has made an original contribution to the study of the origin of world civilizations, he said, but more efforts are needed in conducting research, interpretation, and display of unearthed cultural relics and sites to enhance the influence and appeal of Chinese civilization.

He pointed out that exploring its origins helps to show the development of the sense of community in the Chinese nation.

In promoting the creative transformation and development of fine traditional Chinese culture, he underlined carrying forward revolutionary culture, developing advanced socialist culture and seeking the source of vitality from China's fine traditional culture.

He stressed upholding the values of equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness among civilizations, saying that people should understand the values of different civilizations with an open mind and respect people of different countries in exploring their own development paths.

In handling relations among civilizations, let us replace estrangement with exchange, clashes with mutual learning, and superiority with coexistence, he said.

He also stressed the importance of cultural relic preservation and historical heritage protection.

On Science and Civilisation in China | Shellen Wu - Inference ...

 

   https://inference-review.com › article › on-science-and-...

The conversations Needham had with Chinese scientists and the network he built during his four years in the country provided the material for what he initially ...

The Needham Question - Chinese Studies - Oxford ...

https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com › document › o...

Apr 22, 2013 — The basis of Needham's work is the massive Science and Civilisation in China (Needham 1954–; twenty-five volumes published since 1954).

Four Great Inventions of Ancient China

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn › ceza › eng › zgabc

Dr. Needham cites one of the first books to describe the magnetic compass, Dream Pool Essays (1086) by Shen Kuo in the Song Dynasty, about 100 years ...

The impact of China on the history of technology

https://www.sjsu.edu › people › patricia.backer › china

Science in China has a long history and developed quite independently of Western science.Needham (1993) has researched widely on the development of science and ...

Joseph Needham's contribution to the history of science and ...

For more than 30 years, Joseph Needham's work on the history of Chinese science and technology has been carried out as a contribution toward the detailed ...

According to Needham, Chinese innovations, such as gunpowder, the compass, paper, and printing, helped transform European Feudalism into Capitalism. By the end of the 15th century, Europe was actively financing scientific discoveries, and nautical exploration.

TORY ANTI-GRAMSCI CAUCUS

Government ‘pushing England’s universities out of teacher training’ over leftwing politics

Higher education leaders say ministers think departments are full of ‘Marxists’, as top universities fail accreditation process

There are concerns universities walking away from teacher training might exacerbate teacher shortages.

 Photograph: Peter Cade/Getty Images


Anna Fazackerley

Sat 28 May 2022 

Leaders in higher education said this week they believed the government was trying to push universities out of teacher training for political reasons because ministers thought their education departments were “hotbeds of leftwing intellectualism” and full of “Marxists”.

Under changes announced last summer, all initial teacher training providers in England must be re-accredited by the Department for Education to continue educating teachers from 2024. However, two-thirds of providers, including some top universities, were told this month that they had failed the first round of the new accreditation process. The DfE said last week that just 80 providers, out of 216 who are understood to have applied, had made the cut.

Those currently out in the cold include some from the prestigious Russell Group. The University of Nottingham, a member of the elite group, said it was “very disappointed and perplexed” to have been failed only two months after Ofsted rated it as outstanding, with inspectors praising the “exceptional curriculum taught by experts”.

The University of Birmingham, which the DfE has chosen as one of the specialist partners for its new school-based National Institute of Teaching, also failed the first round of accreditation.

The head of one university that failed, who asked not to be named for fear of deterring applicants, said: “Our staff involved in teacher education, who are excellent, were devastated by not being successful. They find it hard to believe because of our track record.”

The DfE has said providers can reapply, but experts say some big universities are so outraged they may walk away from teacher training altogether, exacerbating fears about teacher shortages in many subjects. Cambridge University did not apply for the accreditation due to fears its curriculum would be compromised.

Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “This was the brainchild of [former schools minister] Nick Gibb, who was obsessed with the idea that university departments of teacher education were hotbeds of leftwing intellectualism. I told him I didn’t know how to convey my frustration that he was coming out with this rubbish.”

Prof David Spendlove, associate dean of Manchester University’s faculty of humanities and former head of initial teacher education, said: “As education secretary, Michael Gove talked about fighting ‘the Blob’ [the education establishment]. He and Nick Gibb had this idea that universities and teacher education departments were all Marxists. Their influence hasn’t gone away.”

The University of Nottingham was the first university to publicly confirm it had failed the first round of the new accreditation process. 

Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA Media

Manchester passed the accreditation, but Prof Spendlove believes the new process is “damaging the very bedrock” of university teacher education and it is now “harder to stay in it than to leave”.

“People who have been doing this for a very long time are being told they aren’t fit for purpose, despite all the positive inspections they’ve been through. That’s a farce,” he said.

Prof David Green, vice-chancellor of Worcester University, which has a strong focus on teacher education, said: “Gibb had a clear agenda to remove universities from teacher training. Some officials may have remained faithful to his outdated perspective.”

He said: “This new DfE system risks destroying much existing high quality teacher training. That would be a disaster for children who will be recovering from the educational devastation wrought by the pandemic for years.”

Prof Spendlove said no university should celebrate its success in the first round, arguing that the next stage of the accreditation process, which focuses on the curriculum, means losing autonomy over what is taught. “It involves increased scrutiny of the content of courses and a review of curriculum materials, which is utterly bizarre,” he said. “The DfE is hoping people will be so desperate to pass they will just roll over and accept it.”

This idea is worrying to many universities. Cambridge, which had more than 250 teaching entrants this year and is rated outstanding by Ofsted, said its decision not to apply was because of concerns about the government’s “highly prescribed curriculum” and its model of mentoring, both of which it said “do not look at all like what we do”.

Bousted said: “Universities are right to fear the DfE trying to control their teaching curriculum. That is what is happening.”

Teaching unions have been warning for many months that forcing providers to jump through new bureaucratic hoops risks damaging the supply of teachers. Teacher training applications are down 24% on last year after a brief Covid boom, with recruitment dropping below pre-pandemic levels.

A report by the National Foundation for Educational Research in March said that a large range of secondary subjects would not meet teacher recruitment targets in 2022. These include shortage subjects such as physics, maths, chemistry and computing, but also those that typically recruit well such as English, biology and geography.

Prof Chris Husbands, the vice-chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University, whose initial teacher training provision passed the first round of accreditation, said: “I think this is indeed intended to drive some providers out of the market. But the risk the government runs is driving out some of the people they should be aiming to keep.”

He said universities were committed to teacher training “but not at any cost”. “Large organisations always have choices,” he said. “I don’t really understand why the government is picking this fight. The evidence from Ofsted inspections shows the sector is in pretty good shape. This doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Nottingham was the first university to confirm publicly that it did not pass through the first round of accreditation. The news was met with anger in the sector.

Green described the decision as “simply ludicrous”, coming so soon after Ofsted rated all aspects of Nottingham’s teacher education as outstanding.

John Dexter, who was director of education at Nottingham city council until February and spent more than 30 years in teaching and school management in the city, tweeted that he was “baffled, cross and frustrated” about the result.

He said: “It’s extraordinary. Getting an outstanding from Ofsted on ITT [initial teacher training] is pretty impressive.” He said the Nottingham course was good for helping students to understand the environment they would be teaching in. “I really don’t understand why the DfE is doing this.”

The government announced on Thursday, after a year-long contract dispute thought to have cost hundreds of thousands, that its National Institute of Teaching would open in September 2023, led by a consortium of four school trusts called the School Led Development Trust.

The DfE was approached for comment.

In remote U.S. territories, abortion hurdles mount without Roe

Women from places like Guam would have to travel farther than other Americans to terminate a pregnancy if the national right to the procedure is overturned.

Sunday Mass at a church in Tumon, Guam, in 2017. It’s already difficult to get an abortion in Guam, a small, heavily Catholic U.S. territory in the Pacific.

Tassanee Vejpongsa / AP

May 27, 2022 / Source: Associated Press

HONOLULU — Women from the remote U.S. territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands will most likely have to travel farther than other Americans to terminate a pregnancy if the Supreme Court overturns a precedent that established a national right to abortion in the United States.

Hawaii is the closest U.S. state where abortion is legal under local law. Even so, Honolulu is 3,800 miles away — about 50 percent farther than Boston is from Los Angeles.

“For a lot of people who are seeking abortion care, it might as well be on the moon,” said Vanessa L. Williams, an attorney who is active with the group Guam People for Choice.

Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics

It’s already difficult to get an abortion in Guam, a small, heavily Catholic island of about 170,000 people south of Japan.

The last physician who performed surgical abortions there retired in 2018. Two Guam-licensed doctors who live in Hawaii see patients virtually and mail them pills for medication abortions. But this alternative is available only until 11 weeks gestation.

Now there’s a possibility even this limited telehealth option will disappear.

A recently leaked draft opinion indicated the Supreme Court could overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision and allow individual states to ban abortion. About half of them would most likely do so, abortion rights advocates say. Oklahoma got a head start Wednesday when its governor signed a measure prohibiting all abortions with few exceptions.

All three U.S. territories in the Pacific — Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa — also have the potential to adopt prohibitions, according to a 2019 report by the Center for Reproductive Rights. None have legal protections for abortion, and they could revive old abortion bans or enact new ones, the report said.

Traveling to the nearest states where abortion is allowed — Hawaii or the U.S. West Coast — would be prohibitive for many women.

A nonstop flight from Guam to Honolulu takes nearly eight hours. Only one commercial airline flies the route. A recent online search showed the cheapest tickets going for $1,500 roundtrip in late May.

Williams said many Guam residents need time off work, a hotel room and a rental car to travel for an abortion, adding more costs.

Hawaii legalized abortion in 1970, three years before Roe. The state today allows abortion until a fetus would be viable outside the womb. After that, it’s legal if a patient’s life or health is in danger.

Flying to a country in Asia that allows abortion would be quicker, but several reproductive rights advocates on Guam said they hadn’t heard of anyone doing that. For one, it would require a passport, which many don’t have, said Kiana Yabut of the group Famalao’an Rights.

Without Roe, Guam could revert to an abortion ban dating to 1990. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the law unconstitutional in 1992, but it has never been repealed.

James Canto, Guam deputy attorney general, agreed under questioning by a Guam senator this month that existing abortion laws in various states and territories would “be the law of the land” if Roe was overturned.

But Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, deputy director of the reproductive freedom project at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the 9th Circuit permanently enjoined the 1990 law, meaning Guam’s attorney general would have to ask the local U.S. District Court to lift an injunction to begin enforcing it.

The 32-year-old statute made it a felony for a doctor to perform the procedure except to save a woman’s life or prevent grave danger to her health, as certified by two independent physicians, or to end an ectopic pregnancy, which is a dangerous abnormal pregnancy that develops outside the uterus.

It made it a misdemeanor for a woman to have an abortion, or for anyone to ask or advise her to have one.

The 21-member unicameral Legislature unanimously approved the ban after then-Archbishop Anthony Apuron threatened in a television interview to excommunicate any Catholic senator who voted against it. All but one of the senators was Catholic, but most senators said they were unaware of the threat.

Guam’s Legislature has been considering additional measures to restrict abortion. This month it held hearings on a bill modeled after a new Texas law that bans abortion once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks. The Texas law, which has withstood legal challenges so far, leaves enforcement up to private citizens through lawsuits instead of criminal prosecutions.

The possibility that abortion may become less accessible on Guam has spurred some nonprofits to come together to increase their support for pregnant women in need, said Mona McManus, executive director of the island’s Safe Haven Pregnancy Center.

Her organization, which opposes abortion, provides free pregnancy tests, prenatal and parenting classes and information on adoption and abortion. It recently started a “wraparound service group” with other nonprofits that can help secure housing, foster care for teen mothers, adoption and other services.

Jayne Flores, director of the Bureau of Women’s Affairs, a Guam government agency, believes residents would still have access to medication abortions from off-island if Roe is overturned. But she wonders whether the Legislature might outlaw that too.

“At what point do you start looking in people’s mail?” she said.

The Associated Press

‘Stranger Things’ filmed in Lithuania jail where Nazis held Jews

Season 4 of Netflix teen hero sci-fi series features scenes shot at Lukiškės Prison in Vilnius; Menachem Begin was jailed there in 1940 for Zionist activity in Soviet Union

NORMALLY JTA WOULD BE DENOUNCING THIS

WITH FAUX OUTRAGE

By PHILISSA CRAMER

28 May 2022

David Harbour in a scene from season four of 'Stranger Things.' (Screenshot from YouTube/JTA)

JTA — Now streaming on Netflix: scenes from inside a notorious Lithuanian prison whose inmates have included Jews en route to being murdered by Nazis and future Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin.

Part of season four of “Stranger Things,” the teen hero sci-fi series, was filmed inside Lukiškės Prison in Vilnius, according to promotional materials distributed by the Lithuanian capital’s tourism board.

The prison was used for a century before closing in 2019; it has now been converted into a cultural center where guests can stay in a “Stranger Things”-themed cell for 107 Euros ($114) a night.

During Lukiškės’s century of operation, it was the site of imprisonment, torture and executions for political prisoners.

In 1941, the first people to be murdered in the Ponary massacre were 348 Jews and others who had been imprisoned at Lukiškės. Nearly 100,000 people, mostly Jewish, would be murdered at the Ponary site near Vilnius, formerly known as Vilna, in the subsequent months.

Lukiškės was also where Begin was imprisoned for eight months in 1940 and 1941 because of his Zionist activity within the Soviet Union. His time there was marked by “extremely cold and hungry conditions,” according to a timeline assembled by the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, and was followed by deportation to a Soviet penal colony.

That ultimately may have saved his life, as he was freed when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union and ultimately was able to make his way to what would become Israel, where he became the sixth prime minister in 1977. Much of his family was murdered.

 

New England psychiatrists, pediatricians say more kids are experiencing climate change anxiety

By Gabriela Lozada, Report for AmericaMay 28, 2022

On average, the sea level has risen 8 inches along the New England coast since 1950, and that trend is expected to accelerate due to climate change. Scituate, Mass., March 2018. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Psychiatrists and pediatricians from New England say that children they see in their practice show increased anxiety around climate change.

At a webinar Thursday, hosted by the National Alliance of Mental Illness of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Health Care Workers for Climate Action, Elizabeth Pinsky, a child, and adolescent psychiatrist and pediatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital, said her family’s personal experience with these emotions brought her to study climate change-related anxiety more deeply.

Pinksy recounted that she was consuming too much news on social media and waking up at night worrying about the environment.

“I thought I was doing a good job of keeping that anxiety contained,” she said. But she noticed one day that her kids were feeling that anxiety too.

A 2021 survey of 10,000 young people ages 16 to 25 from the global north and south revealed that 68% feel anxious, 58% angry, 57% powerless, and 51% guilty when it comes to our changing climate.

Pinsky explained that not all youth are equally vulnerable. She said climate change is a threat multiplier that can be a catalyst for other disparities such as structural racism, language barriers and economic inequality.

According to Pinsky, communities in the United States at the greatest risk of climate change, which may result in anxiety, are young people of color, young people with disabilities, and children already living in poverty.

She pointed out that climate change anxiety, rage, or despair are not mental illnesses.

“It means that we care about the planet,” she said. But when that turns into uncontrollable or pathological behavior, that can be a problem for the child.

When it comes to solutions for climate change anxiety, Pinsky recommended that parents talk with their kids, providing accurate information and remaining open to discussion.

She said it’s important not to minimize their thoughts.

“More and more people will be eco-anxious as the crisis deepens, but we want people to engage and not deny it so they can move on and take action,” she said.

This story was originally published by NHPR, a partner of the New England News Collaborative.

It is now irresponsible not to talk about UFOs

BY DOUGLAS MACKINNON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 05/28/22 
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HIL

Department of Defense via AP
In an image from video provided by the Department of Defense labelled Gimbal, from 2015, an unexplained object is tracked as it soars high along the clouds, traveling against the wind.

When I was 11 years old and living in the small town of New Boston, N.H., a friend and I saw something that was not only never explained, but actually denied. It was the middle of summer and we were walking up Meeting House Hill Road, toward our homes, after buying a couple of sodas at the general store. Suddenly, flying fairly high above us, a pure white, cigar-shaped object zipped across the cloudless blue sky, in complete silence.

My friend and I looked at each other in shock, and ran the few hundred feet remaining to our houses to tell our parents. They came outside, as did several neighbors, and as if on cue, this strange object whipped back across the sky. This time, however, it was being chased by a couple of Air Force fighter jets — until it accelerated to a seemingly impossible speed.

By strange coincidence, there was an Air Force tracking station (now part of the Space Force) in New Boston, as well as what was then Pease Air Force Base about 60 miles away. My father called both places and was promptly — and officially — told that there were no Air Force jets in the area and it must have been a figment of our imagination.

Two days later, still upset by the denial of something we all saw, the child sleuth in me decided to walk the five miles to the Air Force tracking station and — I hope the statute of limitations has run out on this — break into the facility by digging a small tunnel under the fence. But after finding no Area 51/Roswell-like smoking gun evidence, I dejectedly walked home and then mostly forgot about it.

That is, until last week.

For the first time in more than five decades, Congress held a hearing on the possibility of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs — now wisely renamed unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs. More specifically, the hearing was held by the House Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.).

Carson wasted no time cutting to the chase by calling out the Department of Defense (DOD) for ignoring a potential threat: “For too long, the stigma associated with UAPs has gotten in the way of good intelligence analysis. Pilots avoided reporting, or were laughed at when they did,” he said. “DOD officials relegated the issue to the back room, or swept it under the rug entirely, fearful of a skeptical, national security community. Today, we know better. They are real; they need to be investigated, and the many threats they pose need to be investigated.”

Carson could not be more correct, and should be applauded for dragging this subject out of the shadows. Whether UAPs are advanced foreign weapons systems or something infinitely more complicated, there have been too many sightings, from too many credible witnesses, to pretend they don’t exist. From this moment forward, turning a blind eye to these sightings would be not only irresponsible but a dereliction of duty.

Of course, part of what has made witnesses hesitant to come forward and the DOD to “sweep these reports under the rug” is the reaction from many in the news media. Often, reporting on UFOs — or UAPs — is accompanied by artwork depicting a little green man in a flying saucer, the old-fashioned view of “life” from elsewhere in space. It’s as if editors include these illustrations as a wink and nod to other news outlets to say, “We may have to cover this nonsense, but we will cheapen the reporting to let you know we are in on the joke.”

Now there is a chance that the joke is on those condescending skeptics.

With top Pentagon intelligence officials sitting before him, Carson told them that UAP sightings represent “a potential national security threat and need to be treated that way.” And — no surprise to those paying attention — both Ronald Moultrie, the under secretary of defense for intelligence and security, and Scott Bray, the deputy director of naval intelligence, agreed with the congressman. Both men are overseeing the newly created Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group.

The group’s creation came about because, over the past 15 years, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence reported last year that there have been at least 144 credible yet unexplainable sightings of UAPs.

Again, are these aerial phenomena highly advanced foreign aircraft, unknown weapons systems, or something beyond that? It is the Pentagon’s responsibility to find out — and quickly. Bray agreed with Carson that UAPs “represent serious hazards.” More than that, he acknowledged that the Pentagon must do more to remove the stigma associated with reporting such sightings.

“We also spent considerable efforts engaging directly with our naval aviators to help destigmatize the act of reporting sights and encounters,” Bray said. “The direct results of those efforts have been increased reporting.”

Both Bray and Moultrie said they are not aware of any technological advances among our foreign adversaries or other nations that could explain any of the sightings. Military pilots have recorded some of the encounters. As Bray showed footage of one such sighting during the hearing, he commented, “I have no explanation for what this specific object is.”

We need an explanation, and we need the media to stop using patronizing caricatures and start getting back into real journalism to help our government get to the bottom of it.

Douglas MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration. His latest book is “The 56: Liberty Lessons From Those Who Risked All to Sign the Declaration of Independence.”