Mass shootings do seem to be an American phenomenon

Richard Sudan
June 28, 2022

Man holds gun in front of US flag (Shutterstock.com)

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The Buffalo and Uvalde massacres shocked the nation and have rightly reinvigorated the debate around tighter gun laws and gun controls.

But the problem isn’t just easy access to guns.

It’s the sheer number of them.
The United States is a country in which there are more guns than people. A 2018 study called The Small Arms Survey revealed that approximately 1 billion firearms were in global circulation. Of that number, 857 million were thought to be in civilian hands, with 393 million alone estimated to be in the hands of American civilians.

That number exceeds the country’s total population.

And that’s surely an undercount. The Small Arms Survey was conducted nearly half a decade ago. Who knows how many more weapons there are in circulation, including semiautomatic rifles?

While it might be tempting to see mass shootings solely through the lens of easy access to guns, it doesn’t explain the whole problem.

While the US leads the world in the number of guns in circulation (other nations don’t come close), the fact remains that many countries still do have huge numbers of guns in circulation.

Second to the US is India with more than 70 million. China is third with almost 50 million. You’d think such numbers would create conditions for mass shootings in those nations as in America, but that’s wrong.

That’s why the world is side-eyeing America.

Now, some people have attempted to explain mass shootings by pointing to what they argue is an inherently violent culture in the US.

To some extent this is true.

But at the same time, the US does not have a monopoly on violence.

India is run by an increasingly authoritarian regime with almost daily videos emerging that show deadly, violent and brutal crackdowns on Indian Muslims. But there are no mass shootings. Not like in the US. The same can be said of China despite its many, many problems.

Mass shootings do seem to be an American phenomenon.

Ted Cruz was recently cornered by a British journalist and asked to explain why the shootings seem to take place only in America. Cruz ducked the question by accusing the reporter of playing politics.

Cruz could have been honest. He could have said easy accessibility is a serious issue - and he’d have been right. He could have said the violent defense of white supremacy’ is the cause – and he’d have been right.

Because the thing that distinguishes the US from other countries is not simply its longstanding love of guns – other countries have an abundance of love, too – but the relationship with white supremacy.

It’s unclear how many mass shooters are white men, particularly young white men, who are motivated by some kind of white supremacist ideology. But some of the most high-profile mass shootings were certainly committed by men who fit that description. The shootings seem to be in line with the rise in hate crimes generally.

Naysayers will point to mass shootings committed by nonwhite men but how many of those were motivated by a racist ideology?

And how many such individuals are out there? Authorities are struggling to keep tabs. High profile cases where perpetrators openly identify with white supremacist ideology make headlines.

But we also know that not every white supremacist publishes a manifesto or has a swastika on their chest. The true number of white supremacists, incubating online, plotting the next massacre, might never be known. But one thing is certain. The number is growing.

Former federal agents have blown the whistle many times, warning of the growing number of white supremacist groups in the US, and of the corruption of law enforcement by white supremacist groups.

Director of the FBI Christopher Wray has spoken of how white supremacy is the fastest growing form of domestic terrorism.

Joe Biden echoed as much when he claimed domestic terrorism from white supremacists is the most lethal terrorist threat in the nation.

It’s not hard to join the dots.

Hate crimes are on the rise.

Mass shootings are on the rise.

White supremacy is on the rise

I believe that over time, the link between a surge in mass shootings and the growth of white supremacy will become ever clearer.

But those in power must not sit on their hands and wait for more carnage to get to grips with the problem. There’s no time for thoughts and prayers. Faith without works is dead, as the saying goes.

It won’t be possible overnight, and it may not even be possible, but white supremacy is the most important issue facing America. The past will continue to haunt the present unless a new course is charted.

Sections of the media, often framing young white men, who have internalized white supremacist ideology to the point that they want to murder, as misguided youth who went off the rails is as stupid as presenting Azov (Ukrainian neo-Nazis) as freedom fighters.

The United States has the most firearms in circulation in the entire world. I would bet too, that it is also home to the greatest number of white supremacists in the world. That’s a lethal combination.

Richard Sudan covers human rights and American foreign affairs. Based in London, his reporting has appeared in The Guardian, Independent and others. Find him @richardsudan.

'King Trump' dreams of a glorious return: It seems preposterous, but we laugh at our peril

Chauncey Devega, 

Salon
June 28, 2022

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at the Canyon Moon Ranch festival grounds on Jan. 15, 2022, in Florence, Arizona. - Mario Tama/Getty Images North America/TNS

The House Jan. 6 Select Committee has Donald Trump dead to rights. Over the course of four public hearings — with a fifth unexpectedly scheduled for Tuesday — the committee has presented a compelling de facto indictment of Trump and his coup cabal for their crimes on and around Jan. 6, 2021, including treason. The evidence is so conclusive that if Attorney General Merrick Garland does not prosecute Trump, that choice will itself be a crime against American democracy and society.

Ultimately, if Garland refuses to act, future history books will forever connect him to Trump's coup attempt. Such hypothetical accounts may observe that after a defeated president and his confederates attempted to overthrow American democracy, the nation's top law enforcement official declined to hold him accountable — and that led directly to the collapse of democracy and the rise of a fascist regime.

How has Trump himself reacted to the Jan. 6 hearings and their devastating depiction of his gross criminality and bottomless ignominy? He is a criminal mastermind and apparent sociopath, who throughout his life has demonstrated a profound ability to evade responsibility for his misdeeds. He has learned from his experience in hundreds of lawsuits and dozens of accusations: He never accepts responsibility for any wrongdoing, always depicts himself as the real victim and always goes on the attack.

RELATED: Dr. Lance Dodes: Trump is a dangerous sociopath — but he's sane enough to stand trial

True to form, Trump has responded to the hearings by inciting violence against Democrats, liberals and other individuals and groups he deems to be his enemies — exactly the same offense he so clearly committed in connection with the coup attempt and Capitol attack on Jan. 6.

In a speech at the "Faith and Freedom" conference two Fridays ago in Nashville, Trump basically promised to pardon his followers who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6. He told the audience that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Liz Cheney should be prosecuted for investigating him and his cabal. Needless to say, he showed no contrition for willfully endangering the life of Vice President Mike Pence. As legal experts have observed, these statements offer more evidence of Trump's state of mind and malice aforethought in connection with the events of Jan. 6.
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Trump has no fear of speaking out in public, since to this point the Department of Justice has not shown any substantive indications that he will face prosecution. Trump also believes, with good reason, that he can command his followers to engage in acts of violence if he is indicted or prosecuted, and that they will obey.

On his Truth Social site, Trump has unleashed a number of enraged diatribes in response to the committee hearings:

The Fake News Networks are perpetuating lies, falsehoods, and Russia, Russia, Russia type disinformation (same sick people, here we go again!) by allowing the low rated but nevertheless one sided and slanderous Unselect Committee hearings to go endlessly and aimlessly on (and on and on!)

It is a one sided, highly partisan Witch Hunt, the likes of which has never been seen in Congress before. Therefore, I am hereby demanding EQUAL TIME to spell out the massive Voter Fraud & Dem Security Breach! I demand equal time!!!

For Trump to accuse anyone else of telling lies is of course massive projection He is a professional victimologist. Nonetheless, Trump's followers hear his repeated demands for violence (whether explicit or implied) for violence very clearly.

As such, Trump's Truth Social platform has also featured an increase in threats of assassination or other acts of political violence against members of the House Jan. 6 committee. CNN reports that users on Truth Social and other right-wing sites "are openly calling for the execution of committee members, with Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney appearing to be a specific target. Calls for former Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged ... continue to be echoed online":

An analysis by the group Advance Democracy, a not-for-profit that conducts public interest investigations, shared with CNN found posts on Truth Social calling for the execution of January 6 committee members and others. The researchers searched for specific terms on the platforms like "execute."

One post on Truth Social includes a picture of a noose and reads, "The J6 committee are guilty of treason. Perpetuation of a insurrection hang them all."

On another post referencing Cheney, a user posted a GIF of a guillotine with the message, "#MGGA #MakeGuillotinesGreatAgain."

Trump and his spokespeople continue to circulate the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen by Joe Biden and the Democrats through "voter fraud" — effectively meaning any or all votes cast by Black and brown people. That is part of a larger propaganda strategy to justify Trump's coup attempt and the Capitol attack, as well as future right-wing political violence.

This propaganda is working: A new Quinnipiac University poll shows that a large majority of Republicans believe that "Trump bears not much of the responsibility (25 percent) or none at all (44 percent) for the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6."

As the Jan. 6 hearings continue, Donald Trump and his acolytes have ramped up their email messaging and fundraising campaign, urging supporters to send Father's Day cards to Trump, who will supposedly read a list of his "favorite" followers at a rally. He continues to seek constant validation and demands that followers boost his self-esteem by responding to polls asking if he is "the greatest president" of all time. He is also giving away "limited edition" autographed MAGA hats and photos of himself — for a donation, of course. Trump is also titillating his followers by offering to include them in a "top secret poll," which they must promise not to share with anyone else.

As always, Donald Trump wants more money. He asks and pleads for it. He browbeats and threatens his followers for it. The House Jan. 6 committee has shown that Trump raised more than $250 million from his followers, supposedly to investigate nonexistent voter fraud, by way of a fund that also did not exist. The money instead went to Trump's political action committee, his personal and family businesses and various other members of his inner circle. Trump's fundraising is in all likelihood an act of criminal fraud, although exceedingly unlikely to be prosecuted as such.

Those facts are of little importance to the Trumpists, they are cult followers who will continue to give him money as an act of love and loyalty. For them, the money is a way to become one of the chosen, the MAGA elect.

Trump's fundraising emails have become dangerously absurd. One recent example appears to describe Trump as a godlike authority with the power to confer "GREAT MAGA KING STATUS" on a fortunate few among his followers. Here is the explanation:

The Patriots that have reached this status are the ones that President Trump has always been able to count on to answer the call when the Left comes after us — his MOST RELIABLE and DEDICATED supporters.

It's too easy to dismiss such an email as buffoonish and ridiculous, or to declare that Trump's followers are "idiots" for responding to such a shameless grift. But that laughter and mockery are a form of defensive humor or contempt by liberals (and others) who are terrified of Trumpism and the larger American fascist movement.

Fascists and authoritarians can often be buffoonish, and sometimes highly entertaining. That is part of their power and charm over their followers, especially if they wield "populism" as one of their primary weapons. Adolf Hitler was described by a prominent magazine editor in 1930 as a "big mouth," a "half-insane rascal," a "pathetic dunderhead" and a "nowhere fool."

Donald Trump is a malignant narcissist and may be so mentally unwell that he actually believes that he is some type of king. Many of his followers are prepared to kill and die at his command, and a significant number believe that he is a divinely inspired ruler.

Under the European feudal system, kings had no regard for democracy, human rights or the rule of law. There was no contradiction: They were literally the state, and possessed the arbitrary power of life and death over their subjects. Donald Trump desires such power for himself.

The Trump movement's coup attempt and its ongoing assault on American democracy clearly resemble the actions of a would-be king, explicitly rejecting the idea that the legitimate majority will of the people should govern a democracy. Trump and his allies also reject other basic principles of democracy, such as that a government should be transparent and accountable to the people, and should be viewed as holding legitimate authority through the consent of the governed. None of that is important to Trump and his followers in the larger white right, who would prefer tyranny in the form of an Apartheid Christian-fascist plutocracy.

The framers of the U.S. Constitution personally understood the dangers of kings and their tyranny. Trump and his fascist insurgency represent exactly the type of authoritarian force that the framers rejected.

What will King Trump do if he (or another younger and more vigorous aspiring monarch) returns to power in 2024 or thereafter? Like the kings of old, the Trump regime will pursue violent retribution against everyone they believe has wronged them. Those who laugh at King Trump now are trying to find safety and comfort in gallows humor. It will not be enough. Such laughter will not save them.

Life in the abyss, a spectacular and fragile struggle for survival


Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS

AFP
Tue, June 28, 2022 


Cloaked in darkness and mystery, the creatures of the deep oceans exist in a world of unlikely profusion, surviving on scant food and under pressure that would crush human lungs.

This extremely hostile environment, which will come under the spotlight at a major United Nations oceans summit in Lisbon this week, has caused its inhabitants to develop a prodigious array of alien characteristics and idiosyncratic survival techniques.

A vast assortment of animals populate the sunless depths, from the colossal squid, which wrapped its tentacles around the imaginations of sailors and storytellers, to beings with huge cloudy eyes, or whose bodies are as transparent as glass.

And the angler fish, with its devilish looks illuminated by a built-in headlamp, showing that the deep dark is alive with lights.

- 'Incredible' creatures -

Until the middle of the 19th century, scientists believed that life was impossible beyond a few hundred metres.

"They imagined that there was nothing, because of the absence of light, the pressure, the cold, and the lack of food," Nadine Le Bris, a professor at Sorbonne University, told AFP.

Between 200 and 1,000 metres (650 to 3,300 feet), the light fades until it vanishes completely, and with it plants; at 2,000 metres the pressure is 200 times that of the atmosphere.

From the abyssal plains to the cavernous trenches plunging deeper than Everest is high, aquatic existence continues in spectacular diversity.

"When people think of the deep sea they often think of the seafloor," said Karen Osborn of the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum.

"But all that water in between is full of incredible animals. There is a ton of life."

These open water inhabitants face a formidable challenge: they have nowhere to hide.

"There's no seaweed to hide in, no caves or mud to dig into," said Osborn.

"There are predators coming at them from below, from above, from all around."

- Masters of disguise -

One tactic is to become invisible.

Some creatures are red, making them difficult to distinguish in an environment where red light no longer filters through.

Others render themselves transparent.

Take the transparent gossamer worm, which ranges in size from a few millimetres to around a metre long and shimmies through the water by fluttering its frilly limbs.

"They look like a fern frond," said Osborn.

"They're beautiful animals and they shoot yellow bioluminescent light out of the tips of their arms. What could be better than that."

Bioluminescence is particularly common among fish, squid, and types of jellyfish, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which says around 80 percent of animals living between 200 and 1,000 metres produce their own light.

This chemical process might be helpful for defence, reproduction or to find food -- but no one knows for sure why so many creatures have evolved it, says NOAA.

- "Sea snow" -

With no plants around and animals scattered in the vastness doing their utmost to disappear, creatures in the ocean depths often have a hard time finding a live meal.

"If you happen to get lucky and hit a patch of your food, bingo! But you may not see another one for three weeks," said Osborn.

Another option is to feast on the dead.

Organic particles from the surface waters -- disintegrated bodies of animals and plants, mingling with fecal matter -- drift down in what is known as "marine snow".

This cadaverous confetti forms part of a process that sequesters carbon dioxide in the ocean depths.

It is also a lifeline for many deep sea animals, including the blood red vampire squid which, contrary to its reputation, peacefully hoovers up marine snow.

When giants like dead whales sink to the seabed, they are swiftly reduced to bone by scavengers.

- Final frontier -

With most of the oceans still unexplored, it is often said that we know more about the surface of Mars than we do about the seafloor on our own planet.

But unlike outer space, scientists keep finding life even under the most hostile of conditions.

Like the searing hydrothermal vents at the cracks between oceanic plates that spew chemical compounds such as hydrogen sulphide.

Microorganisms use this to create organic matter via "chemosynthesis", like plants use the sun for photosynthesis, which in turn feeds "exuberant" ecosystems, said Pierre-Marie Sarradin, head of the Deep Ecosystems department at the French research agency Ifremer.

These hydrothermal springs were totally unknown until the 1970s.

Scientists have so far identified some 250,000 marine species, though there could still be at least a million to be discovered.

Could there be an elusive sea monster lurking in the depths? Despite measuring more than 10 metres in length the colossal squid has only very rarely been seen.

"I don't think we're going to find a megalodon," said Osborn, referring to the giant ancestor of the shark.

Humans may not have explored much of the deep seas, but they have left their mark, via global heating, overfishing and pollution.

Oceans are acidifying as they absorb more and more CO2, there is a growing prevalence of "dead zones" without oxygen, while microplastics have been found in crustaceans at a depth of nearly 11 kilometres in the Mariana Trench.

Food reaches the bottom in smaller quantities.

Nadine Le Bris said species that "already live at the limits in terms of oxygen or temperature", are already "disturbed".

abd/klm/cdw/fg

HUGS ARE AGGRESSIVE?

Ted Cruz criticizes Elmo for ‘aggressively’ advocating COVID vaccine for kids in new ‘Sesame Street’ PSA

2022/6/29
© New York Daily News

Ted Cruz, R- Texas, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on May 4, 2022, in Washington, D.C.. - Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/TNS

Elmo, the beloved red Muppet character on the long-running children’s television show “Sesame Street,” is now vaccinated against COVID-19 — but not everyone is happy.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz took to Twitter to express his outrage at a public service announcement featuring Elmo and his dad Louie, which was designed to encourage parents and caregivers to get informed about COVID shots for younger kids.

“You were super duper today getting your COVID vaccine, Elmo,” Louie says during the 60-second spot. “Yeah, there was a little pinch, but it was OK,” the little furry red monster, who’s 6 1/2 years old, responded.

Not too long after the video was shared on social media on Tuesday morning, the Republican lawmaker thanked Sesame Street “for saying parents are allowed to have questions,” but also noted Elmo’s intentions.

“You then have @elmo aggressively advocate for vaccinating children UNDER 5,” he wrote. “But you cite ZERO scientific evidence for this.”

“Was it safe? Was it the right decision?’ I talked to our pediatrician so I could make the right choice,” Louie said in the PSA. “I learned that Elmo getting vaccinated is the best way to keep himself, our friends, neighbors and everyone else healthy and enjoying the things they love.”

The PSA — launched by Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind “Sesame Street” in collaboration with the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative’s COVID-19 Vaccine Education — followed recent FDA emergency use authorization and CDC recommendation of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID vaccines for children aged 6 months and older. It was produced in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“Parents have been waiting a long time to vaccinate their youngest children and protect them from serious illness and hospitalization,” AAP President Moira Szilagyi said in a statement. “The months, and even years, of worry have been especially hard on these families as they adjusted their activities through the pandemic to keep their children safe. COVID vaccination for this age group is one more tool parents now have in their toolbox to help their children thrive.”

That was not the first time the Republican lawmaker objected to a “Sesame Street” character encouraging COVID vaccination on children.

Late last year, after fellow Muppet Big Bird — a 6 1/2-year-old, 8-feet-2-inches tall yellow bird — announced he had gotten his shot, Cruz slammed the news as “Government propaganda … for your 5-year-old!”

Nearly 5.7 million child cases of COVID-19 have been reported nationally in 2022 alone, making vaccination an important step to protecting both kids and their families against the highly contagious virus and its variants, Sesame Workshop said in a news release.

UMBRELLA'S FOR SUN SHADE NOT RAIN

As Tokyo's June flames out in record heatwave, a power plant shutdown stokes blackout concern
Reuters
June 30, 2022



TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's electricity grid creaked on Thursday under the strain of Tokyo's hottest June streak since 1875, as the sudden shutdown of a power plant left tens of millions of residents a step closer to blackouts that would bring air conditioners to a halt.

Temperatures of around 40 C were predicted in some areas in greater Tokyo, home to 37 million people, on the sixth day of a heatwave that kicked in after the earliest end to the capital's rainy season in decades. Maximum highs are not forecast to drop to 30 C before next Tuesday.

With power producers already scrambling to bring nearly 50-year-old turbines out of mothballs, the unexpected closure of a 600 megawatt (MW) plant in northern Japan that sends supplies to Tokyo came with reserve power capacity hovering around 3% - the level below which blackouts can kick in.

Operator Joban Kyodo Thermal Power Company cited unexplained technical issues for the closure, adding no schedule for restart had been decided. Industry ministry officials said they expected the plant to be back on line on Thursday evening.

A mid-morning estimate showed the reserve ratio of power generation capacity for the Tokyo area could fall as low as 3% between 4.30 p.m. and 5 p.m. local time on Thursday, according to national grid monitor OCCTO.

The industry ministry issued a power shortage warning for the fourth consecutive day in areas surrounding Tokyo, urging both households and businesses to conserve electricity as best they can - without stinting on air conditioning where it would endanger the health of the vulnerable, as heatstroke hospitalistions rise.

Some firms, like auto parts maker Yorozu Corp, have said they will scale back manufacturing shifts, while others, like retailer Seven & i Holdings and tech giant Sony, have asked employees to save power by turning off unnecessary lighting or devices among other steps.

Automaker Nissan Motor said it began operating in-house power generators at its Tochigi plant north of Tokyo from Wednesday through Friday this week, while calling on offices and factories to conserve energy where possible.

Japan's government and utilities had been preparing since spring to deal with tight power supplies during peak summer demand - but not until July kicks in on Friday.

That tightness was triggered by a series of known issues: the suspension of some power plants after March earthquakes in the Fukushima area; a long-term drop in the number of thermal power plants amid a push for decarbonisation; and delays to the restart of nuclear reactors because of stricter regulation following the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

To deal with that, the government and utilities had lined up the rebooting of ageing gas-fired power plants, and changing maintenance schedule for nuclear reactors.

Japan's biggest power generator JERA is restarting a 45-year-old gas-fired unit in Anegasaki, near Tokyo, on Thursday, followed by a 44-year-old unit at Chita in central Japan on Friday in a bid to provide extra electricity to make up for any shortfalls.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi and Nobuhiko Kubo; Additional reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama and Sam Nussey; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

EXCHANGE VALUE

Francis Bacon painting of Lucian Freud sells for £43.3mn: Sothebys

Agence France-Presse
June 29, 2022

 CARLOS JASSO AFP

A painting by Irish-born British artist Francis Bacon of fellow UK painter Lucian Freud sold on Wednesday for £43.3 million ($52.5 million, 50.2 million euros), according to Sotheby's auction house.

The price is an auction record for a painting by Bacon sold in London and also for any single panel painting by the artist.

"Study for Portrait of Lucian Freud", painted in 1964, "exemplifies an iconic pairing of two of the most significant painters within the canon of twentieth-century art", said the auction house.

The figurative work depicts a restless, bare-chested Freud, with a distorted face, sitting on a bench.

"The present work is testament to Francis Bacon's capacity to provoke emotion and capture in paint the complexities of the human psyche," added Sotheby's.

The artists were close friends but also artistic rivals fascinated by the human figure and sat for each other on multiple occasions.

Bacon's 1969 triptych "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" sold in 2013 for $142.4 million, and held the record for the most expensive work of art at auction until being unseated by Picasso's "The Women of Algiers (Version O)" in 2015.

Snapped up by a New York gallery, it is composed of three panels or pieces which show the artist Freud sitting on the same chair but painted from different angles.

Bacon died in 1992 and Freud in 2011.

© 2022 AFP

Competition authorities fail to see the high levels of concentration among liners: Global Shippers Forum

 June 29, 2022

 Port of Long Beach

Current measures of competitiveness in the global liner shipping market are incomplete and therefore inaccurate and fail to take full account of the degree of co-operation between carriers which results in a more highly concentrated industry, claims a new report prepared by maritime economists at MDS Transmodal (MDST) in collaboration with the Global Shippers Forum (GSF).

The rhetoric against record profit-making liners shows little sign of easing, even as the first signs of the freight rate bonanza cooling off filter through. After the US recently introduced federal legislation to have greater oversight on liner activities, calls are growing for other jurisdictions, notably the UK, to follow suit.

The GSF has urged the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) in Washington DC and all other competition authorities to relook at the level of concentration across many trades, arguing that many of the most used data sets do not give a complete picture of the close cooperation between carriers and alliances.

“This breakthrough analysis lays bare the degree of dominance that many shipping lines actually have in the key global trades,” commented GSF’s director James Hookham. “Current measures of market concentration are only seeing part of the picture. Not only are there consortia operations within the three main alliances, the number of separate consortia that exist consisting of lines from different alliances is also significant.”

The report also argues that the lack of competition has contributed to the dire schedule reliability of all liners over the past two years as well as the shunning of less profitable regions with the number of port calls skipped continuing to grow.

Meanwhile, a new campaign to raise awareness of high shipping costs in the UK has been launched by Nick Glynne, the CEO of Buy It Direct Group, who is determined to get local politicians to take action. Buy It Direct is one of the UK’s largest online retailers.

According to Glynne, the price hikes in ocean shipping have resulted in £29bn ($35.4bn) being sucked out of the UK economy in 2021 alone and into the coffers of the shipping lines. This is equivalent to four pence on the UK value added tax (VAT) rate.

“In the US the shipping industry is regulated as it is considered an essential element of the US economy. Due to the obscene level of profiteering by the lines and the suspicion of cartel-like behaviour between the three global alliances during and after covid, president Joe Biden has just introduced new laws tightening regulation. It’s time for the UK to do the same,” Glynne said.

Investigations by the US, the EU and others have repeatedly dismissed cartel claims over the past two years of extreme profit making for global container lines, but shippers continue to fight their case – most recently a gourmet food producer from Illinois suing Asian carriers Yang Ming and HMM over collusion claims.

Shipper complaints come at a time where freight prices, while still four or five times their historical average, are now falling with many analysts suggesting the peak has passed.

“Shippers on the major trades are seeing spot rates and premium surcharges fall in many trades. Getting capacity allocations is becoming easier, and carriers are starting to adjust to no longer being all-mighty,” a new report from freight rate benchmarking platform Xeneta suggests.

Hydrogen: What's the big deal?

Hydrogen has been hyped as key to a global energy transition. After a slow start, it has received a boost from a Canada-Germany deal. So what does the future hold for the low-carbon fuel?

Hydrogen is being touted as the fuel to clean up our most carbon-intensive industries

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, which is probably why it deserves pole position on the periodic table. It’s a colorless, odorless and non-toxic gas that consists of a single proton and a single electron. It's also highly combustible. Each kilogram of hydrogen or H2 contains about 2.4 times as much energy as natural gas. Impressive, right? 

It is. Industry has long been in on the benefits and has been using hydrogen for decades in the petrochemicals sector —  mainly for oil refining, producing ammonia for fertilizers, and in the production of methanol and steel. But it has also been touted as a means of speeding up our transition to clean energy. Even the European Commission has described hydrogen as "the missing part of the puzzle to a fully decarbonized economy".

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also sees it as key to reducing reliance on Russian gas and reaching climate targets: the country has signed a deal with Canada to begin importing hydrogen on a large scale from 2025.  

Hydrogen is crucial in the oil refining process

What's so good about it?  

It's a clean, versatile fuel that doesn't produce any direct greenhouse gas emissions — all it takes to release the energy is oxygen, and the only byproduct is water.  

It could potentially help some polluting sectors slash their CO2 emissions. Think heavy-duty transport or buildings, where hydrogen could be blended into existing natural gas networks for heating. But it could also be used to store  renewable energy in the power sector and replace fossil fuels in chemicals and fuel production.  

Sounds like a green dream  

Let's not get carried away. Thing is, hydrogen doesn't exist on this planet in its pure form. It's great stuff once you can get your hands on it, but unlike fossil fuels, it's not just lying around waiting to be dragged from some ancient slumber. In fact, separating it from other substances so we can store and use it requires time and energy. Which also equates to money.   

4:05 min

H

There's a catch then...  

Yeah, afraid so. But isn't there always?   

The hydrogen catch is how it's made. From an environmental perspective, the energy-intensive ways of extracting it  become secondary if it's produced without CO2 emissions. But that is by no means always the case. Ranging from clean to dirty, the myriad H2 production methods are complicated. And what do we do when things get too complex?   

Bury our heads in the sand? 

Not advisable. No, we introduce a snazzy color scheme. So for the next couple of paragraphs, maybe try to forget that hydrogen is in fact a colorless gas. 

The most common form of H2 used today (ca. 95%) has been labeled gray hydrogen. If that calls to mind emissions, that's about right. Every ton of the gray variety comes with a footprint of about 10 tons of CO2 emissions because the production process — also known as steam methane reforming or SMR — relies on gas or fossil fuels.   

Blue hydrogen sounds a lot cleaner. But that's just color trickery because it is, in fact, also produced with methane. The only seemingly redeeming feature is that the CO2 emissions from the production process are captured and stored underground. 

Extracting green hydrogen requires a lot of energy

Pink hydrogen, which has a 1980s ring to it, relies on nuclear power. So while it might work in some countries where nuclear is big, it's not a global solution. It's also not pink.  

Other versions include brown, black, yellow, turquoise and green hydrogen. To cut to the chase, the only one that makes any real sense in terms of reducing our carbon footprint, is green. That's because green hydrogen is made via electrolysis (splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen) with the help of renewable energy. This means zero CO2 emissions and no mess to clear up. And it wouldn't harm global water supplies either.  

That said, it currently makes up less than 1% of global hydrogen production.  

What are we waiting for?   

In a nutshell, for prices to fall. At the moment, production of green hydrogen costs more than twice as much as its mucky grey counterpart. But things are changing.  

The more renewables we have — and global expansion is predicted to rise to 45% by 2040 — the more affordable green hydrogen will become. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), a surge in clean energy infrastructure could see  the cost of production fall 30% by 2030.   

4:05 min

Germany's hydrogen infrastructure

So once the prices have come down, we're sorted?  

Full disclosure, there's another catch. Hydrogen is much harder to store than fossil fuels because it has a very low density. It is the lightest gas in the universe, followed by helium. It's also highly explosive. All these special features mean the gas has to be trapped under vast pressure in special containers. Or stored as a liquid at a frigid minus 253 degrees Celsius. So, it's not exactly something that can be picked up at the local DIY store and kept in the garage for when gas supplies run low.  

The extremely low density of hydrogen also make it a challenge to transport on a large scale, so before it goes on the move it needs to be pressurized into a compressed gas or liquefied. It can then be exported either along pipelines or by trucks and ships. Germany plans to ship Canadian hydrogen, produced mostly by wind energy, across the Atlantic in the form of ammonia.

What's really sobering though is the sheer amount of electricity we would need to produce green hydrogen on a larger scale. Right now, about 70 million tons of hydrogen are produced globally each year — spewing some 830 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in the process. Which even more soberingly is roughly equivalent to the carbon emissions of the United Kingdom and Indonesia combined.  

And get this: replacing those 70 million tons with green hydrogen would require about 3,600 TWh, more than the annual electricity amount generated by the  entire European Union. We would need A LOT more to decarbonize sectors such as heavy-duty transport.

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Renewable energy makes up about 25% of global power generation

Where does that leave us? 

Good question. Green hydrogen certainly isn't the answer to our medium-term energy needs, but it can play a crucial role in decarbonizing sectors that are tricky to electrify by 2050 — such as heavy-duty transport and industry. In other words, the last 20% that are difficult to wean off fossil fuels.  

But it won't be cheap. According to the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC), to build a hydrogen economy that accounts for 15-20% of energy consumption we would need to fork out $15 trillion (€12.6 trillion) between now and 2050.  

And yes, that is more than a bit of loose change, but compared to predictions from leading economists who reckon failure to tackle climate change could cost us more than $50 trillion over the same period, green hydrogen actually sound like a steal.  

So it's ultimately cash talking?  

Cash certainly has its say, but the bottom line is that the case for green hydrogen is strongest when the supply of renewable energy outstrips demand. Might sound like science fiction, but it's where we're supposed to be heading.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker/Kathleen Schuster

FBI opens sweeping probe of clergy sex abuse in New Orleans

The probe could deepen the legal peril for the archdiocese as it reels from a bankruptcy brought on by a flood of sex abuse lawsuits and allegations that church leaders turned a blind eye to generations of predator priests.
Archbishop Gregory Aymond conducts the procession to lead a livestreamed Easter Mass in St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, April 12, 2020. The FBI has opened a widening investigation into Roman Catholic sex abuse in New Orleans, looking specifically at whether priests took children across state lines to molest them. The FBI declined to comment, as did the Louisiana State Police, which is assisting in the inquiry. The Archdiocese of New Orleans declined to discuss the federal investigation. “I’d prefer not to pursue this conversation,” Aymond told AP. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

June 29, 2022
By Jim Mustian

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The FBI has opened a widening investigation into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans going back decades, a rare federal foray into such cases looking specifically at whether priests took children across state lines to molest them, officials and others familiar with the inquiry told The Associated Press.

More than a dozen alleged abuse victims have been interviewed this year as part of the probe that’s exploring among other charges whether predator priests can be prosecuted under the Mann Act, a more than century-old, anti-sex trafficking law that prohibits taking anyone across state lines for illicit sex.

Some of the New Orleans cases under review allege abuse by clergy during trips to Mississippi camps or amusement parks in Texas and Florida. And while some claims are decades old, Mann Act violations notably have no statute of limitations.

“It’s been a long road and just the fact that someone this high up believes us means the world to us,” said a former altar boy who alleged his assailant took him on trips to Colorado and Florida and abused him beginning in the 1970s when he was in the fifth grade. The AP generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted.

The FBI declined to comment, as did the Louisiana State Police, which is assisting in the inquiry. The Archdiocese of New Orleans declined to discuss the federal investigation.

“I’d prefer not to pursue this conversation,” Archbishop Gregory Aymond told the AP.

The probe could deepen the legal peril for the archdiocese as it reels from a bankruptcy brought on by a flood of sex abuse lawsuits and allegations that church leaders turned a blind eye to generations of predator priests.

Federal investigators are now considering whether to seek access to thousands of secret church documents produced by lawsuits and shielded by a sweeping confidentiality order in the bankruptcy, according to those familiar with the probe who weren’t authorized to discuss it and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. Those records are said to document years of abuse claims, interviews with accused clergy and a pattern of church leaders transferring problem priests without reporting their crimes to law enforcement.

“This is actually a big deal, and it should be heartening to victims,” said Marci Hamilton, a University of Pennsylvania professor and chief executive of Child USA, a think tank focused on preventing child abuse. “The FBI has rarely become involved in the clergy sex abuse scandals. They’ve dragged their feet around the country with respect to the Catholic Church.”

The U.S. Justice Department has struggled to find a federal nexus to prosecuting clergy abuse, hitting dead ends in cases as explosive as the ones outlined in the 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report that disclosed a systematic cover-up by church leaders. Federal prosecutors subpoenaed church records in Buffalo, New York, the same year in an inquiry that similarly went quiet.

“The issue has always been determining what is the federal crime,” said Peter G. Strasser, the former U.S. attorney in New Orleans who declined to bring charges in 2018 after the archdiocese published a list of 57 “credibly accused” clergy, a roster an AP analysis found had been undercounted by at least 20 names.

Strasser said he “naively” believed a federal case might be possible only to encounter a host of roadblocks, including the complexities of “putting the church on trial” for charges like conspiracy.

But federal prosecutors have in recent years employed the more narrowly focused Mann Act to win convictions in a variety of abuse cases, including against R&B star R. Kelly for using his fame to sexually exploit girls, and Ghislaine Maxwell for helping financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls. In 2013, a federal judge in Indiana sentenced a Baptist pastor to 12 years in prison for taking a 16-year-old girl across state lines for sex.

Among the priests under federal scrutiny in New Orleans is Lawrence Hecker, a 90-year-old removed from the ministry in 2002 following accusations he abused “countless children.” Hecker is accused of abusing children decades ago on out-of-state trips, and other claims against him range from fondling to rape.

Hundreds of records currently under the confidentiality order “will reveal in no uncertain terms that the last four archbishops of New Orleans knew that Lawrence Hecker was a serial child predator,” Richard Trahant, an attorney for Hecker’s alleged victims, wrote in a court filing.

“Hecker is still very much alive, vibrant, lives alone and is a danger to young boys until he draws his final breath,” Trahant wrote.

Asked by telephone this week whether he ever abused children, Hecker said, “I’m going to have to hang up.”

More recent allegations are also drawing federal attention, including the case of Patrick Wattigny, a priest charged last year by state prosecutors after he admitted molesting a teenager in 2013. His attorney declined to comment.

Wattigny’s 2020 removal from the ministry came amid a disciplinary investigation into inappropriate text messages he sent a student. The case sent shockwaves through the Catholic community because church leaders had frequently characterized clergy abuse as a sin from the past.

“It was happening while the church was saying, ‘It’s no longer happening,’” said Bill Arata, an attorney who has attended three of the FBI interviews.

“These victims could stay home and not do anything,” he added, “but that’s not the kind of people they are.”

Clergy abuse is particularly fraught in Louisiana, a heavily Catholic state that endured some of the earliest scandals dating to the 1980s. Last year, it joined two-dozen states that have enacted “lookback windows” intended to allow unresolved claims of child sex abuse, no matter how old, to be brought in civil court.

But with few exceptions, most notably a former deacon charged with rape, the accused clergy have escaped criminal consequences. Even at the local level, cases have been hamstrung by statutes of limitation and the political sensitivity of prosecuting the church.

The archdiocese’s 2020 bankruptcy case has also frozen a separate court battle over a cache of confidential emails describing the behind-the-scenes public relations work that executives for the NFL’s New Orleans Saints did for the archdiocese in 2018 and 2019 to contain fallout from clergy abuse scandals.

While the Saints say they only assisted in messaging, attorneys for those suing the church have alleged in court records that Saints officials joined in the church’s “pattern and practice of concealing its crimes.” That included taking an active role in helping to shape the archdiocese’s list of credibly accused clergy, the attorneys contend.

Attorneys for those suing the church have attacked the bankruptcy bid as a veiled attempt to keep church records secret — and deny victims a public reckoning.

“Those victims were on the path to the truth,” Soren Gisleson, an attorney who represents several of the victims, wrote in a court filing. “The rape of children is a thief that keeps on stealing.

New World Council of Churches head draws criticism over Israel remarks

Jewish leaders voiced frustration with the Rev. Jerry Pillay's comparison of the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians to apartheid in South Africa.

The Rev. Jerry Pillay, the general secretary elect of the World Council of Churches. 

Photo by Peter Williams/WCC

June 30, 2022
By Jack Jenkins

(RNS) — Since being elected to lead the World Council of Churches earlier this month, the Rev. Jerry Pillay, former general secretary of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa, has been rebuffing critics who accuse him of making antisemitic remarks by referring to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as tantamount to apartheid.

Pillay, the dean of the University of Pretoria, is slated to assume leadership of the global ecumenical Christian group at the beginning of next year. As many in the WCC celebrated his June 17 election at a meeting of the group’s central committee, some Jewish leaders expressed outrage that the WCC would elevate someone who has in the past called out Israel in language that many Jews believe crosses a line.

David Michaels, director of United Nations and intercommunal affairs at B’nai B’rith International, a Jewish service organization, described Pillay’s election as “astounding and alarming” and accused him of espousing “simplistic ideological extremism” and having “a problem with Jews — at least those supportive of Zionism.”

Michaels and other critics pointed to a theological paper Pillay published in 2016 titled “Apartheid in the Holy Land: Theological reflections on the Israel and/or Palestine situation from a South African perspective.” The paper concludes that a “comparison between the Israel-Palestine conflict and the South African apartheid experience is, indeed, justifiable.”

Pillay also reportedly gave a speech at a 2014 event organized by the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which took place during the denomination’s general assembly. Like the paper, the title of the talk delivered by Pillay was reportedly “Apartheid in the Holy Land.”

Besides Pillay’s invocation of apartheid — the term used to describe the historic, racist subjugation of people of color in South Africa — Michaels also challenged Pillay’s positive references to the controversial “boycott, divestment and sanctions” movement directed at Israel.

Michaels accused the WCC itself of being “complicit in a predominant contemporary strain of anti-Semitism,” saying a faction in the WCC has worked to “weaponize” the organization against Israel.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, South Africa’s Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein called on Pillay “to retract his 2016 statements accusing Israel of apartheid and calling for a boycott of the Jewish state.”

Pillay responded in a statement issued by the WCC on June 23, saying: “I support the Jewish people preserving their identity and practicing their religious beliefs and values. I believe that all religions must be respected and people of all faiths — and no faith — must work together to create a world of justice and peace in which we express love, unity and reconciliation.”

The World Council of Churches logo. Image courtesy of WCC

“This stance has been and continues to be that of the World Council of Churches, and it would never elect a leader who practiced or preached antisemitism in any way, shape or form,” the statement said.

“Consequently,” it continued, “the WCC will continue to stand firmly behind United Nations (UN) resolutions on the occupied territories and speak out against all forms of injustice, regardless of where or who they come from.”

Comparisons between South African apartheid and the occupation of the West Bank, long invoked by Palestinian activists, have increased since at least 2007, when former President Jimmy Carter drew criticism for titling a book on Israel “Peace Not Apartheid.” The late Desmond Tutu, a South African archbishop renowned for his work as an anti-apartheid activist, also sparked pushback for invoking the comparison later in his life.

“When you go to the Holy Land and see what’s being done to the Palestinians at checkpoints, for us, it’s the kind of thing we experienced in South Africa,” Tutu told Religion News Service in 2013. “Whether you want to say Israel practices apartheid is immaterial. They are doing things, given their history, you think, ‘Do you remember what happened to you?’”

In January of last year, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem published a report describing the Israeli government as overseeing a nondemocratic “apartheid regime.” Human Rights Watch also used the word in a 2021 report accusing Israel of “apartheid and persecution.” Amnesty International followed in February of this year, releasing a report titled “Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel system of domination and crime against humanity.”

At least one prominent Israeli has made the allusion: In February, former Israeli Attorney General Michael Benyair declared Israel “an apartheid regime.”

Jewish groups in the United States rebuked the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, in February for characterizing the occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel as “21st century slavery.” He also referred to “dismantling apartheid” in the same speech.

On Wednesday, the PCUSA’s International Engagement Committee passed a resolution in a 28-3 vote that argues the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians “fulfill(s) the international legal definition of apartheid.”

An array of Israeli officials, Jewish leaders and Jewish organizations has passionately condemned the apartheid characterization, calling the term inaccurate, offensive and dangerous, saying it can encourage antisemitic views.

The Israeli foreign ministry railed against Amnesty’s report even before it was released, calling it “false, biased, and antisemitic.” The Union for Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish group in the U.S., also blasted the report and singled out its use of the label apartheid, calling it “deeply wrong.”

“It is particularly incumbent upon those of us who have condemned the Occupation as a moral travesty, advocated strongly for its end, and who have a lengthy record of advocating for the human rights of the Palestinian people including the right to self-determination, to express our profound disappointment and explicit condemnation of this report,” read the group’s statement.

In January, the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent anti-hate organization dedicated to combating antisemitism, criticized use of the label as “inaccurate, offensive, and often used to delegitimize and denigrate Israel as a whole.” The group further argued invoking apartheid is “counterproductive to resolving issues related to injustices within Israeli society or the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”